Spring Cleaning Time

My home office is starting to get a little cluttered and dingy so this year I'm going to get a jump start on Spring cleaning beginning this weekend.  The walls are going to get a new paint job, files I don't need are being archived and all the "stuff" that has accumulated around the room over the last year is going to be cleaned up. Oh yeah ... and maybe it is time for a new desk?!

Become a follower of "A Geek Daddy" blog and leave a comment below on whether you think I should pick:

OPTION A:  The bright and sleek star fighter that will help me TIE all my tech together:

OPTION B: The cool dark piece of furniture that portrays an elegant desk for a civilized time

Let me know in the comment section below which is your favorite desk & why?

Please note though that my wife has final veto power on any furniture decisions so it may end up looking more like this guy's home office I saw on www.epidemicfun.com:

I'll post the vote winner on my twitter account @Geeky_Dad next week so give the blog a follow now and vote for your favorite Star Wars desk in this post's comment section.

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Battlestar Galactica returns to SyFy Channel

For years SciFi Friday was a fixture in my life as I always made an effort to watch or tape (wow talking about VCRs just sounds so out dated now) Ronald Moore's BATTLESTAR GALACTICA series on the SciFi Channel (now SyFy Channel).  The show started with a three-hour miniseries in 2003 and was than picked up for a four season run wrapping up in 2009.  The premise is that humans had fought a previous war with their  robotic servants, known as Cylons, who had rebelled against them.  The war ended with a truce where the robots were exiled to their own area of space and the humans kept control of their home planets known as the "Twelve Colonies."  The show, which is based on Glen Larson's 1978 television series of the same name, begins with the Cylons breaking their truce with a devastating ambush that wipes out most of the humans except for a ragtag fleet of survivors led by their last warship, the Battlestar Galactica, under the control of Commander William Adama, that flees the carnage and looks for the original home of their ancestors, Earth.

Since BattleStar Galactica concluded its run on the SyFy Channel many of us fans had been hoping for a sequel television series that would bring back the excitement of the futuristic robotic villains and sleek starfighters that put the show on TIME MAGAZINE'S "100 Best TV Shows of ALL-TIME" list.  Well guess what folks, BattleStar Galactica is coming back to the SyFy Channel ... not as a sequel but rather as a prequel.   The SyFy Channel will broadcast a pilot it developed, Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, as a two-hour movie on Sunday, February 10, 2013 @ 9 pm E.T.

According to the SyFy Channel:

Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome (a prequel to the critically acclaimed hit series, Battlestar Galactica) takes place in the midst of the First Cylon war. As the battle between humans and their creation, the sentient robotic Cylons, rages across the 12 colonial worlds, a young, talented fighter pilot, William Adama (Luke Pasqualino), finds himself assigned to one of the most powerful battlestars in the Colonial fleet: the Galactica. Full of ambition and in pursuit of the intense action that the Cylon war promises, Adama quickly finds himself at odds with his co-pilot, the battle-weary officer Coker (Ben Cotton). With only 47 days left in his tour of duty, Coker desires an end to battle just as much as Adama craves the start of it. Though they clash at first, the two men forge an unlikely bond when a routine escort mission with an enigmatic passenger (Lili Bordan) turns dangerous and becomes a pivotal one for the desperate fleet.

Can't wait until February 10th to catch Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome on the SyFy Channel well guess what you are in luck because the pilot has also been posted on youtube as ten mini-episodes! 

Episode 1: Ensign William Adama finds himself assigned to the newest Battlestar in the colonial fleet

Episode 2: William Adama's rookie mission aboard the Galactica quickly turns lethal as his small crew pilots their Raptor through Cylon territory

Episodes 3&4: Adama, Coker, and Dr. Kelly battle enemy Raiders and make a shocking discovery deep in Cylon space

Episodes 5&6: Adama dogfights Raiders while the Battlestar Osiris tries to hold off a Cylon Basestar.

Episodes 7&8: Adama, Coker, and Becca take shelter on a snow planet, but they aren't alone as Cylons attack their defenses.

Episodes 9&10: Secrets are revealed! 

Unfortunately, as of now it looks as if the two-hour pilot may be the end of the line for Blood & Chrome and there won't be an ongoing tv or web series following it ... but you never know if the rating are good enough on February 10 who knows if it might get picked up for a series or they could make another straight to DVD movie like they did with Battlestar Galactica: Razor. So if you want to see more Battlestar Galactica on TV it wouldn't hurt to tune in to the SyFy Channel broadcast!

In addition to Blood & Chrome being broadcast on cable and via the Internet, an unrated version of the film will also be sold on DVD & Bluray starting on February 19, 2013.  You can pre-order the video at the SyFy online store or Amazon.com. 

I really enjoyed watching the web-series of Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome.  It has some great space battles and close-up portrayals of Cylons that any science fiction aficionado will appreciate.  The best part for me though was how the story delved into the transformation of Cylons from their creation in the short-lived tv drama Caprica (which was more soap opera than space opera) to the battle machines and organic human duplicates they transform into in the 2003 mini-series and the following TV seasons.  Seeing the Cylons experimenting to create cyborg monsters was a stunning insight and story arc.  Than seeing Cylon Centuarians that look like in-between models of the ones we are familiar with from classic 1978 show and the ones from the rebooted television series was exciting.  I was really geeked though to be given a glimpse of one the first Cylon/Human duplicate that was not perfect but rather a first try of attempting to evolve from a sentient machine to an organic-based life form.  I really felt that Blood & Chrome did a better job of going into the transformation of Cylons in the Battlestar Galactica tv show than the series itself had done itself with its goofy story line of survivors from another timeline joining with them to promote their evolution.

While the special effects were tremendous, the only down side of the film was its over reliance on green screens.  There are a lot of flashes and light effects that distract from the sequences on the screen.  I believe these are meant to enhance the illusion of there being real things before your eyes because otherwise it would be more obvious that so much of the scenery is computer generated.  The original sets from Battlestar Galactica were dismantled and essentially the whole world of Blood & Chrome is portrayed via actors in front of green screens.  While this isn't a fatal flaw, the film would have been nicer if some more funds had been invested in set designs and modeling. I also didn't like the co-pilot Coker character who I felt was just a little too whiny for a military guy.

All in all though I though Blood & Chrome was GREAT and would really like to see it expanded on in the future whether that be through a cable television series, web-broadcasts, DVDs, or maybe even video games.

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There really are hidden messages in movies!

If you look closely into the scenes of your favorite movies you can see mysterious and spooky clues about events that will take place in the future.  Really … try it out by looking past the main characters and action sequences deep into the scenes and all will be revealed to you! 

Recently DISNEY purchased the Star Wars franchise from George Lucas which was a move that caught many people off guard, but look closely in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and you can see Mickey Mouse everywhere. Was this a clue to the future?

Now just this last week,  J.J. Abrams (the director of the rebooted STAR TREK franchise) was given the helm by DISNEY for also leading the creation of a brand new STAR WARS movie.  Is this brand new news or was it pre-ordained in 2009 when Abrams included a reference to Star Wars in his Star Trek movie? Check this out:

YES, that is R2-D2, one of Star Wars’ most popular characters flying through the debris as the crew of the Enterprise looks on!

Wow! Are these mysterious messages that give us a glimpse into the future?!  No, not really. Actually in many movies there are images hidden within the scenes as inside jokes by the Director.  These images have come to become known as “easter eggs” and often are meant as hidden salutes to other movies.  It’s just ironic that George Lucas included a salute to one of his mentors Walt Disney in the Empire Strikes Back and J.J. Abrams gave a poke to George Lucas in Star Trek.

Sometimes though easter eggs are meant to give a glimpse of the future. Pixar is an example of a studio that has become amazingly astute with inserting easter eggs into its movies to give a sneak peak of things to come.

Monsters, Inc.  in 2001 gave us a glimpse of Nemo whose movie came out in 2003:

In Finding Nemo  (2003) we are given a preview of Mr. Incredible from the movie The Incredibles that was released in 2004:

Movie goers were given a peak at Doc Hudson from CARS (2006) during The Incredibles (2004):

Is that Dug the Dog from UP! (2009) in Ratatouille (2007)?

And the bear villain from Toy Story 3 (2010) makes an appearance inUP (2009)!

And look there’s a poster of Finn McMissile on Andy’s Wall in Toy Story 3 giving a sneak peek at CARS2!

In BRAVE we see a wood carving of Sully … is that the easter egg for “Monsters University”?  The Monsters Inc. sequel “Monsters University” hits theaters on June 21, 2013! 

Here are a couple of other examples of easter eggs in films I’ve seen:

In Raiders of the Lost Ark you can see Star Wars characters R2-D2 & C3PO in the hieroglyphics in this scene:

Did you also notice Indiana Jones escapes from the CLUB OBI WAN in The Temple of Doom?

George Lucas repaid the Indiana Jones references with a nod to Steven Spielberg in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.  Look it’s E.T. in the galactic senate!

In this scene from Kevin Smith’s Mall Rats Jeremy London’s character TS Quint picks up a hat that has “Clerks” printed on it in reference to Smith’s first film, Clerks. 

In the movie TRON, is that Pac-Man I see in the scene?

What easter eggs have you found in movies? Become a member of my "a geek daddy" blog and share with us in the comment section below what your favorites are: 

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Warming up to Winter

I have to admit that despite being known as a “kid at heart” with my friends and family when it comes to winter with its snow, ice and cold temperatures I’ve become somewhat of a scrooge.  I used to love snow days where I’d spend hours sledding down the neighborhood's boat ramp onto the icy lake by our house or spend the afternoon in battle royal snow ball fights with all the kids on the block celebrating a day off from school.  As an adult though, I’ve found myself with more of a Bah Humbug attitude when it comes to the winter.  I’m not actually sure what led to this digression of attitude. Was it the bone chilling walks to class in college, the long commutes to work surrounded by people who are either too scared to or too reckless to drive safely on icy roads, or maybe the next door neighbor who snow blows everything in his driveway directly into the road so that the city snowplow piles it up blocking my garage that changed my attitude?  It doesn’t really matter; I had lost my childhood appreciation of snow days.

Then it snowed over this Christmas holiday.  This was the first time since my children were born we’ve had a thick enough snow fall to go out and play in it and we really took advantage of it!  The kids made snow angels, I helped my son build his very first snow man, and we spent a day sledding at a local park.  I was reminded by my children about the magic of a snow day and how I had loved winter myself as a child.  During these recent snow days, I was able to help my son and daughter enjoy a childhood love of winter and we created some cherished memories that everyone in our family is always going to appreciate.  Do I love winter again now? NO, but I am warming up to it!

What are your favorite winter activities? Are there any special or unique things you do on snow days with your children? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.

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Comic Book Review: Alice in Wonderland

Our bedtime reading this week has been Dark Horse Comic’s adaption of “Alice in Wonderland”. This hardcover book demonstrates that comics can be a fun outlet for parents to enjoy with their young children...in my case 4 year old twins.  I enjoy finding books that have artwork that will draw their attention into the pages, help expand my childrens' interaction in the story-telling, and foster an appreciation of creativity and the arts.  Eisner & Ignatz Awards-nominated Rod Espinosa accomplishes just that in his sketched version of Lewis Carroll’s classic tale that provides a mind’s eye of Wonderland to its readers.

I appreciated that this book was entertaining enough to keep my children’s attention as we read through the pages together and didn’t have content that would be concerning in regard to potentially creating nightmares for the kids.  Many of the recent revisions of Alice in Wonderland in movies, television, and publications have had a very dark and dangerous tone to them and I was pleased that the comic did not take that tact in its interpretation of Alice’s adventures.  That being said there are challenges and dangers portrayed in this comic where anyone could risk at anytime losing their head at the displeasure of her Majesty ... you just can’t have a Queen of Hearts who doesn’t say “Off with her Head” ...  which demonstrates that Wonderland may be a fascinating place for a visit, but you really don’t want to stay too long.

Espinosa illustrates this comic with a Manga-influence that gives a light air to the artwork which helped capture my kids’ attention.  We had recently read some Beatrix Potterbooks at bedtime and my daughter was delighted to tell me the drawings in this “Alice in Wonderland” story reminded her of some of the watercolors from the Potter stories.  The other thing the artwork reminded me daughter of, which has become somewhat amusing, is she believes the Mad Hatter character looks like Jay Leno so whenever she sees a commercial for the Tonight Show (of course she doesn’t stay up that late to watch the show) she yells out “look daddy it’s the Mad Hatter”.  One critique is that while characters like the Cheshire Cat, Caterpillar, and Deck of Card Knights really boldly pop out from the pages at you, the White Rabbit just has this blah uninteresting appearance to him that really isn’t up to par with the rest of the drawings in the comic and becomes somewhat of a mild distraction from enjoying that character’s portions of the story.

All in all Dark Horse Comic’s “Alice in Wonderland” was an enjoyable read that passed the Geek Daddy’s bedtime reading test in that it was exciting and interesting enough to entertain my children, kept their attention long enough for them to get sleepyheaded, and didn’t have any content or pictures that result in either of my kids waking up in the middle of the night because they became scared from the story.  My daughter who dressed up as Alice for Halloween last year really enjoyed us reading the story together and seeing how the character was portrayed in the comic so an extra kudos to Rod Espinosa from her as well!

 I was provided a free advance copy of the comic to review from the publisher.  The thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

“Alice in Wonderland” is scheduled to go on sale February 19, 2013 for a suggested retail price of $19.99.  Amazon.com has the book available for pre-order at a discounted $13.59 and Barnes & Noble has it available to pre-order for $13.45.

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Countdown to Darkness

UPDATE:  Issue #4 of Countdown to Darkness that IDW is publishing in April will feature the first appearance of a fan favorite alien race, the Klingons,  in J.J. Abram's reinvisioned Star Trek universe. Check out this sneak peek of the cover:

Apologies in an earlier version of this post we announced the release date of STAR TREK "Countdown to Darkness" as January 16 but have subsequently found out the date will be Wednesday, January 23, 2013.

Have you seen the trailer for STAR TREK: Into Darkness yet?

Can’t wait to see the new STAR TREK movie Into Darkness? The adventure begins Wednesday, January 23! No it’s not the release of the movie which is coming out May 17, but rather the first of a four issue arc by IDWPublishing that provides a comic book prelude to the events of J.J. Abrams’s STAR TREK sequel is hitting retail shelves and the Internet.  IDW has developed a four-issue comic series based upon a story provided by STAR TREK Into Darkness co-writer Roberto Orci that serves as the official prologue to the Paramount Pictures movie.  Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness will feature artwork from David Messina (who has inked several of IDW’s Star Trek comic series) and provide readers with a tale that bridges the gap between the 2009 blockbuster Star Trek, which rebooted the franchise, and its upcoming sequel while also setting the stage for the events taking place in the new movie. The price of individual print issue from your local comic store or to download as an e-book through i-tunes is $3.99 and amazon.com is also taking pre-orders for a graphic novel that bundles the 4-issues which is currently priced at $12.14 which will be published this summer.

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Look - Baby Jaguars!

My son and daughter love to race around the house pretending they are Dora & Diego, from the popular Nick Jr. television cartoons, playing along with a stuffed animal in their adventures they imagine to be one of the show’s sidekicks called Baby Jaguar.  In fact, I believe they talk more about Baby Jaguar when they are playing than Diego, Dora, or any other aspect of the show…well maybe accept Swiper the swiping fox as I often hear them saying “Swiper no Swiping” as they go about exploring the wild jungle of our living room.  So they were really excited to have the chance to see two real life baby jaguars!

They don’t have any jaguars on display at our local zoo, but in November two cubs were born at the Milwaukee County Zoo and we've been able to catch glimpses of them by a live webcam feed that has been posted.  My kids were so excited to see the jaguar cubs that have unofficially been named Gaps & Dots  due to the markings on their heads by the zoo staff caring for them, that my monitor is covered with finger print smudges from them pointing the cubs out to me.  Here’s a link if you’d like to check out Dots and Gaps for yourself:  

http://www.milwaukeezoo.org/explore/webcams/jaguarcubs.php

These two jaguar cubs are also very important to the species because their father was captured in the wild and brought to the zoo because he was deemed a nuisance for attacking cattle and so these births introduce a new gene pool to the captive population that will help promote healthy breeding in future generations.  Jaguars are the third largest “big cat” behind  the lion and tiger and is the largest feline native to North & South America.  Wild jaguars can be found in the southern United States, Mexico, Central America and South America.  Unfortunately, they are a threatened species with declining numbers.  For more information on wild jaguars and how you can help in the effort to protect them, visit the conservation group PANTHERA:  http://www.panthera.org/species/jaguar

The Milwaukee County Zoo has also posted a  nice video with more information about Gaps and Dots that  is interesting to watch:

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