How To Grow Your Geek: Parenting and More!

Hi guys,

This time I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted to do a book and a movie review at the same time. Now I know what you are going to say right off, “Darcy, movies about books are seldom as good as the book itself.” Yeah that is usually true, but not this time. Trust me, you are going to like this.

The name of the book and movie is Inkheart.

From the book: One cruel night, Meggie’s father reads aloud from the book Inkheart; and a evil ruler named Capricorn escapes the boundaries of fiction and lands in their living room. Suddenly, Meggie is smack in the middle of the kind of adventure she has only read about in books. Somehow Meggie must learn to harness the magic that has conjured this nightmare. Only she can change the course of the story that has changed her life forever. Read more… »

 

 HTGYG #25: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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This week we have a great interview with RapidEye, who is a listener and also works at a vaccine manufacturing plant. He tells us about the process and the vaccines his plant creates, and then we discuss vaccine issues from a parenting standpoint.

Don’t forget to check out the 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast!

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!

Promo: Dragon Page Cover to Cover

Logo Art by Tim Coffey

Theme music courtesy of Jonathan Coulton
Sound effects and other music courtesy of pacdv.com

“Ghost Hunt” anime
25 episodes available in two 2-pack DVD sets
From Funimation, easily available
Japanese and English language
Unrated, guessing PG-13

Modern Japanese high school.  Three girls are taking turns telling ghost stories.  The room is dark except for the small lights they have.  After all the stories are done the girls count off to three, if someone says “four” that is a ghost.  Imagine their surprise when a male voice says “four.”  This guy Kazuya Shibuya is there and turns on the light.  He is handsome and cool and there is some swooning.
Mai Taniyama is suspicious though, who is this guy?  He is not a student, there is something wrong in look in his eyes. A regular Nancy Drew.

Read more… »

Title: Pluto – The Planet that isn’t a Planet Anymore

Beginning with a convoluted discovery in 1930, then being named by an 11-year-old girl, Pluto got off to a rather non-traditional start as a planet. It continued to be largely uninvestigated until only the last few decades. It became the subject of much debate when it was demoted to “dwarf planet” status in 2006, which caused much hullabaloo in the scientific world as well as with schoolchildren. Pluto continues to be unusual within our solar system, as it is now classified as a dwarf binary planet with Charon. I will discuss this history briefly and get insight and commentary from my daughter Amanda, 8 yrs old, and my son Kevin, 6 yrs. old, on this captivating little planetary body and its trials and tribulations.

Check it out at 365 Days of Astronomy!

What if you made a anime movie, put it out in theatres; and hardly anyone went to see it? Well that is pretty much what happened to this movie, and that is really to bad. People really missed out on seeing something good up on the big screen.

Delgo is the story of not just a young boy, but of two groups of people. One peace loving, the other more war like, And all the problems that war brings to both sides. But let me start at the begining, I always get in a rush. hehe.

After having left their own world due to a loss of natural resources, the Nohrin settle on Jhamora with the permission of the Lokni.

Read more… »

I went to see “Push” Monday. A 19:25 showing, there were about a dozen people.

The following review includes some plot spoilers.

“Push” does fill the gap left by the disappointing “Heroes.” Shot in Hong Kong, I don’t think I have seen a movie that film so much on location since “Lost in Translation.” I will like “Push” even more if it is a yearly series. For example, in the next chapter I would like to see the Chinese directly confront the American government instead of using a proxy. Waiting three years or more will be bad.

In this world since Nazi experimentation on people with powers the governments of the world have tried to weaponize these people. Naturally, someone with powers can affect one or two people at a time. This is not enough to control the world so the US, for example, injects people with a formula to bring the power up to a large scale combat level.

Read more… »

Hi Susie,

I saw the anime movie “The Sword of the Stranger” Thursday and the theater messed up enough that I was upset for awhile. Now, the plot, the good, the bad.

Japan’s Warring States Period.  No country, just different Lords fighting.  A team of Chinese are paying for a special temple to be built by a lord in order to perform a ceremony for the Chinese Emperor.  This involves a specific boy to be sacrificed at a specific time.  The lord’s troops help the Chinese look for him.

Read more… »

Something that came out almost three years ago is “Bokurano.”
It will make you cry and would have at least PG-13 rating if ever released here.
Plot/topics: middle school kids are tricked into piloting a giant robot.  At first “pretty cool.”
Then they learn the price that has to be cool and the rest of the show is about getting out of the contract
and how different people face certain death and the government covers ups that the planet depends on kids.
And how do we get this technology for ourselves?
Multiverse as well.  Also, has bursts of static between scenes (did I just miss something important?)

Something else I would like to see all of, but have not is “Giantic Formula.”  Giant stone heads of the Greek gods are found. They nearly destroy the world.  They have the human build them giant robot bodies and fight one another.

Each country in the world has its own god/robot.  It is not that messed up and should be find with middle schoolers. In a demoralizing start the Russian airforce runs rough-sod over the Japanese military, then the Russian god/robot shows up. Much time of the series is spent with the different pilots of the god/robots.

Enjoy!

David

Hi guys,
And happy Valentine’s day! I hope you guys remembered the girls and got them lots of flowers. I like candy, btw. I mean if you have some left over.

I wanted to do something different this time and review one of most favorite things. Anime!!! I LOVE good anime. Like Pixar and other stuff, some can get kinda weird and not all of it is good for kids. I watch some that are, and some that aren’t. But for here I will review ones that everyone can see, because it’s always best when you get to share stuff with your whole family. Also I thought it best to review these in case someone saw them and wanted to buy them, and anime is expensive to buy. So it best to know what’s good and what’s not before you spend money on them. This first one I can tell you is one of the best. It was introduced by one of the Pixar guys who said, “what you are about to see is one of my all time favorite movies.” Dude, when a guy like that says something like that, you just know its good right?

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind –

from the back of the box:  from one of the most celebrated filmakers in the history of animation and the creator of the academy award winning Spirited Away, comes Hayao Miyazarki’s epic masterpiece Nausicaa of the valley of the wind.
A thousand years after a global war, a seaside kingdom known as the valley of the wind remains one of only a few areas still populated. Led by the courageous Princess Nausicaa, the people of the valley are engaged in a constant struggle with powerful insects called Ohmu, who guard a poisonous jungle that is spreading across the earth. Nausicaa and her brave companions, together with the people of the valley; strive to restore the bond between humanity and the earth.
Read more… »