How To Grow Your Geek: Parenting and More!

Hey guys,
Got a question for you. When you are out at a bookstore, what first catches your eye? The covers, right? Well that is how it is with me at least. A great cover can pull me in, or push me away from a book. And they always say, don’t judge a book by it’s cover. That is so true I am finding out more and more, and is really true when it comes to this book. When I first saw the cover I said, “Hmmm, this might be a cute kid’s book.” I was right, but also very, very wrong. Turns out, it is a lot more here than what I thought there would be. But I am  getting a head of myself.

The Mousehunter – By Alex Milay
A book review by Darcy Low

From the cover: ” Across seventeen seas, there is no mousehunting pirate as feared as the legendary Captain Mousebeard. He seeks out the rarest and most precious breeds of mice to collect and trade, his fearsome reputation preceding him wherever he goes. Emiline, mousekeeper to one of Old Town’s wealthiest citizens; is anything but feared. So when her master puts a bounty on Mousebeard’s head, she sees it as the chance of a lifetime. Her journey takes her on a high seas adventure, filled with swords and sea monsters, betrayal, lies, and the chance to capture the most dangerous man in mousing history.”

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 HTGYG Show #81: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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In this podcast, I talk about things to consider when deciding when and where to send your little geeks to school. Preschool, public school, private school and home schooling – all need to be investigated by visits, getting information from the sources, finding a good support network in the area and weighing the costs and benefits. I give my experiences and opinions on what to look for and consider! As always, this is just my opinion as another parent, but sometimes it helps to hear about experiences of other parents!

We’re starting a new podcast for those fans of Eureka and Warehouse 13 on SyFy – the EurekaVerse Podcast! Follow us on Twitter at @EurekaVerse!

Dragon*Con is coming next week! I can’t wait – I’ll be helping out Clinton from comedy4cast a little with his show live on Friday, and will be hanging around the Podcasting Track most of the weekend.

Don’t forget about the Parsec Awards coming up at Dragon*Con -I urge everyone to visit the Parsec Awards site to check our our list of finalists! These are some of the best offerings out there in speculative fiction podcasting! And I encourage us all to get our booster vaccines, and here’s info about free pertussis vaccine clinic at Dragon*Con, thanks to the Skepchicks!

Please email me with your own comments at howtogrowyourgeek-at-gmail-dot-com, or call my NEW voicemail number at  206-337-8533 and leave your thoughts.  And last but not least, you can follow me on Twitter at SusietheGeek or the show at HowToGrowGeek!

Theme music courtesy of Jonathan Coulton

Promo: Technorama and the Safe Haven Podcast

 

 HTGYG Show #80: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Oh boy, finally the kids are back to school! In honor of this “most wonderful time of the year,” I talk about some of our mini-vacation outings to the water park and the Tellus Museum planetarium. Then I discuss back-to-school shopping and the benefits of our school’s uniform policy. Then I gush about the Parsec awards coming up at Dragon*Con -I urge everyone to visit the Parsec Awards site to check our our newly posted list of finalists! These are some of the best offerings out there in speculative fiction podcasting! And finally, I highlight the pertussis outbreak and encourage us all to get our booster vaccines, and give info about the free pertussis vaccine clinic at Dragon*Con, thanks to the Skepchicks!

Two special treats in this week’s cast -the first being Ben Stirling’s “Precious Moments”-style Cthulhus, hand made for his children. You can get your own, plus other adorable Lovecraft-inspired figures at his site!

The second treat is the song “Close Your Eyes,” by Marc Gunn, from his new albumn “Kilted for Her Pleasure,” which are Celtic-style geeky songs.

Please email me with your own comments at howtogrowyourgeek-at-gmail-dot-com, or call my NEW voicemail number at  206-337-8533 and leave your thoughts. You can also visit our forum at the Farpoint Forums. And last but not least, you can follow me on Twitter at SusietheGeek or the show at HowToGrowGeek!

Theme music courtesy of Jonathan Coulton

Promo: Marc Gunn’s Irish & Celtic Music Podcast

Hi guys – the voicemail number has changed for HTGYG!

The new phone # is 206-337-8533

Give us a call!

It’s not Oz, It’s a Marvel.

Hey Guys,
Well my summer is almost over, I start a new school year next monday. I will be studying a lot of new things, chemistry, computer science and drama classes. I am looking forward to it.

this past summer, I choose to read smaller books, and a lot of graphic novels. They are just easier for busy days when you really don’t want be sitting around indoors. So I thought I would share the best ones out of the bunch.

Marvel’s Wonderful world of Oz graphic novel – By Eric Shanower and Skottie Young
Reviewed by Darcy Low

Growing up, my mom loved this movie. We watched it every time it came on. I am sure everyone has seen it, so nothing I will say here should be a spoiler to anyone.

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Sometimes you just need the silly.

Hey guys!
Yep even on a trip to Wisconsin Dells, I still manage to do reviews for you all.

I thought I would stick with the adventure thing and this time do a dvd review of a old old pulp fiction hero. Back in the day there was Buck Rodgers, Flash Gordon, Sargent rock and one more…Doc Savage.

I had heard of him a long time now, never read any of the books; but sounded a lot like Indiana Jones to me. So when I came across this in dad’s dvds I was like cool! Dad said I may not like it, but I……well lets just see.

Doc Savage. Man of Bronze  – A dvd review by Darcy Low

From the dvd case: “Clark Savage Jr. aka Doc Savage was at his Fortress of Solitude when his empathic abilities sense something is wrong. So he returns to New York and is informed by his confidants, The Fabulous Five that his father, a missionary died somewhere in South America of a tropical disease. He is also told that his father sent him something before he died, and his associates locked it in his safe. He was about to open it when someone takes a shot at him but misses. Doc chases him down and he falls to his death. He appears to be some kind of native, quite possibly from South America. Someone blows up the safe destroying the papers his father sent him, and Doc’s empathic ability goes off again, telling him that his father was murdered. Doc decides to go to the country where his father died to see if he can find out what happened. But after their plane takes off someone tries to shoot it down but Doc had the foresight to send a drone. When he gets there someone tries to kill him, in a peculiar manner.”

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A pirate named Tommy

Hi Guys,
I got a rare one for you this time. It is out on dvd, just not sure how easy it to get anymore. It is one dad had on the shelf I pulled down.
Way back before Indy, and long before Captain Jack. There was a Pirate by the name of Bully Hayes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bully_Hayes

A real life pirate, that roamed the South Sea. This is his story.

Nate and Hayes – A dvd review by Darcy Low.

“Nate and Hayes. After wiping out half a village of native South Pacific tribesmen, Captain Bully Hayes (Tommy Lee Jones) is eventually captured, put in prison, and the rest of this swashbuckling action film is told in a series of flashbacks as he remembers the recent past. The lead-in scene may be off-putting, but its larger context is soon revealed. Hayes had just left a young couple, Nate (Michael O’Keefe) and Sophie (Jennie Seagrove) on an island so they could set up housekeeping and follow in the missionary footsteps of an uncle, when the villain Ben Pease (Max Phipps) shows up, kidnaps Sophie and leaves her husband for dead. Pease runs into a German naval officer who feels it would be advantageous to join up with him — so when Captain Hayes saves Nate and, the two go looking for Sophie, their enemies are formidable villains indeed. Laced with humor and acting in the grand pirate-movie tradition.”  – From the All Movie Guide.

I really liked this one. Dad said when it first came out, it was a flop at the box office. Which is weird to me, because it is really good. It has action, a great plot and Tommy Lee Jones as a pirate with a beard! I mean what more could you want?

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 HTGYG Show #79: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Sponsor: Try GotoMeeting free for 30 days!

*SPOILER ALERT*

The kids and I present a review/summary of the movie “Despicable Me,” and encourage you all to go see it! It was a thoroughly enjoyable movie for kids and adults, and well worth a visit to the theater – which is saying a lot, considering our family usually waits for everything on Netflix!

Then, we have a few voicemails from Lizzie, Tim and Wyatt, and then I urge everyone to visit the Parsec Awards site to check our our newly posted list of finalists! These are some of the best offerings out there in speculative fiction podcasting!

Please email me with your own comments at howtogrowyourgeek-at-gmail-dot-com, or call my voicemail number at 206-202-7309   and leave your thoughts. You can also visit our forum at the Farpoint Forums. And last but not least, you can follow me on Twitter at SusietheGeek or the show at HowToGrowGeek!

Theme music courtesy of Jonathan Coulton

Promos: Parsec Finalists: Variant Frequencies and The Babylon Podcast

A boy and his Opus

A lot of things happened in the eighties. Pac man was big, as was rubik’s cube. Walter Cronkite retired after nineteen years doing the news and Harrison Ford stared in Raiders. Meryl Streep took home…..well everything. My dad cast his first vote and Ronald Regan was president. (Please note, dad says he is not to be held responsible for that last one.)
And a young college student set out writing one really cool and funny comic strip, then went on to write screen plays, novels, ect. His characters have become American icons, say one of their names and people all over the world know who you are talking about.

This time around I thought I would review a book collection of one of dad and Jenny’s favorite strips.

Bloom County The complete collection volume one. By Berkeley Breathed.
Review by Darcy Low

The book has comic strips from Mr Breathed very first comics that he did in his college paper, up to 1982. His first drawings were funny, but doesn’t look at all like they do later on. But you can still see his humor and a few of his characters that he stuck with.
The book starts out with even more of a treat after, we get to see for the first time anywhere; six comic strips he did “For emergencies” ; which means these are one papers can use when they need one quick. I guess cartoonist have to do that, i mean think about it; they must have to do a lot and turn them in at once? Just to keep up.

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The last Starfighter you will ever need.

Back twenty five years ago, a lot of things were different. Music kinda sucked, clothes were different, man dad had actual hair, and video games were just getting started. In fact, back then if you wanted to play the lasted one out there, you had to go to a arcade or a bowling alley. Wow how things have changed huh? Back then, a kid playing a video game had dreams; some of getting the high score and others a much larger dream. Something on the verge of becoming a hero, rising above their drab and boring lives, and gaining something epic. Such is the dream of Alex, but I am getting a head of myself….

The Last Starfighter – A dvd review by Darcy Low

From the back of the dvd: ” Greeting Starfighter! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Kodan armada.
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