Once Upon a Geek

Here are 10 really cool Sci-Fi related gift ideas for geeks.  Today’s post comes directly from the MSN Sci-Fi Superfans blog.  Check it out by clicking here.  Thanks to my wonderful wife, The Irrepressible Gena, for sending me the link.

Valentine’s Day is this weekend and you may be on the lookout for something special for your sci-fi-loving sweetheart. Here are 10 ideas that are sure to please both men and women.

The Ladies of “Star Wars” Playing Cards

Hey, ladies. You probably don’t care for the Playboy poker cards your boyfriend pulls out when his pals come over. Why not compromise and get him some stunning playing cards with kickass “Star Wars” heroines on them?

“Star Trek” Cologne

From “Tiberius” to “Red Shirt,” there is a scent here to please everyone.

Personalized “Avatar” Canvas Art

Or why not personalize some wall art inspired by “Avatar” with your sweetie’s picture on it? Make him or her a Pandora native.

X Wing Pilot Hoodie

A warm, snuggly hoodie is a cute gift for both guys and girls and it doesn’t get any cooler than this X Wing pilot hoodie.

Fandango Bucks

Netflix Gift Card

Of course, date night is even more perfect with some privacy… so you could always just download something from Netflix.

Star Registry

Sci-fi fans are always looking to the stars, so why not honor your love by naming a star in their tribute?

I Love My Geek T-Shirt

Let’s face it, most of us sci-fi movie fans embrace the word “geek.” We have reappropriated the word, so show your geek love with pride on Valentine’s Day.

Princess Leia Slave Bikini

Better yet, the ladies can slip into even less at the end of the night. You can’t go wrong with some Princess Leia-inspired lingerie.

Flux Capacitor Replica

Show your true love that time with them is relative by gifting a replica flux capacitor.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

Here are some sweatpants I picked up back in 1995.  I really like the novelty of having “Property of Starfleet Academy Athletic Department” printed on them.  Most people don’t even notice what is printed on the sweatpants because so many schools print “Property of … Athletic Department” on their clothes.   Also, if you enjoy Starfleet Academy stuff, then dig up back issues of Marvel’s Star Trek Starfleet Academy comic book series from 1996-1998.  It was very enjoyable!

Here is a close up of the logo.

I’m such a dorky Trekker.

After more than a decade in the attic, we decided to give the old Star Trek: The Next Generation collectible card game a try.  Ed’s in town this weekend (pictured below in his “Nerd Herd” t-shirt from the TV series Chuck) and he decided we should tackle the game again after all these years. After procrastinating for hours, we finally cracked the decks sometime after midnight. Needless to say, this is not a game you can simply jump right into without reviewing the rules closely.  I cleaned Ed’s clock (or Romulan Outpost in this case) and we called it quits after one game.

Below is Ed building his inferior Romulan/Klingon deck.

Here I am trying to remember the rules after something like 14 years.  I suppose we could have bothered to read them before playing, but that would have taken all the fun out of it.  And we discovered we’re getting too old to sit on the floor for very long.

Finally, in going through my old cards we re-affirmed how insanely geeky I really am.  We came across two custom cards I produced myself for the game.   Check them out below.  I color-copied images, then literally cut-and-pasted them together.  Also, it appears I used my old Commodore 64 dot matrix printer for the text boxes.  How frikkin’ hilarious!  I’m such a dork!   As Ed has pointed out, he proclaimed my dorkiness long before these cards were stumbled upon.

Live long and geek out!

Great weekend coming up!  Lots of folks coming into town, including Ed, Serv, and Lore (the irredeemable brother).  In case you are wondering, the random picture above represents things we’ll probably get up to this weekend.  The new Star Trek DVD will most likely be watched (love the Enterprise shaped DVD case).  Lore and I will likely battle wits in a thrilling game of Bananagrams.  Ed wants to dust off our Star Trek: The Next Generation collectible cards from the mid-90s and give it a go again.  And the stuffed R2-D2 is there to represent all the Star Wars chatting that will go on with Serv.

In case you’re wondering, yes that is an original 1977 R2-D2 stuffed animal.  What can I say… I don’t throw things away.

Next Tuesday (November 17th), Paramount Home Entertainment will release STAR TREK on DVD & Blu-ray!!!  Hot dog!  I loved this movie and can’t wait for the release.  To capitalize on this release, several retailers are offering incentives for you to purchase your copy from their store (as opposed to their competition).

Here is a rundown so you can plan your shopping trip:

• Hollywood Video – Rent/Buy any Star Trek DVD and be entered to win an autographed poster of Uhura (Zoe Saldana).
• Transworld (FYE/Coconuts/Suncoast) – Collectible Steelbook packaging (shown below).

• Best Buy – Collectible Gift Set with four pack of badge pins (shown below).

• CVS – Consumer Offer. Buy $15 (or more) in itunes gift cards and get the DVD (single disc) for only $9.99 (First week only).
• Target – Limited Edition Collectible Starship Enterprise Packaging on both 2-Disc DVD and 3-Disc Blu-ray (shown below).

• Amazon.com – Star Trek Limited Edition Replica Gift Set (Three-Disc + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] (shown below)

CANADA

• Best Buy Canada – 3-Disc Special Edition Blu-Ray Collectible packaging – Easily assembles to become a Star Trek U.S.S. Enterprise DVD Package! (same as Target in the US).
• Future Shop – Exclusive 2 Disc Steelbook Edition and 3-Disc Blu-Ray Steelbook Edition.
• HMV – Limited Edition Blu-Ray Gift Set – includes Star Trek 3-Disc Blu-Ray set with Digital copy and Four Replica Starfleet Division Badges.
• Wal-Mart Canada – Exclusive Lenticular o-sleeve package on the Star Trek 2 disc DVD.

Happy shopping!

Today we are presenting the latest collection of geek related t-shirts from my closet.  This time around I’ve included some baseball caps and even one pair of new boxers.  For past entries featuring geek apparel, please click here.  These shirts are all fairly recent acquisitions.  Please note nearly all of these were gifts.  My wife has put a strict moratorium on buying myself anymore geek t-shirts as the closet is already bursting at the seams.  Happily my friends are under no such ban. 

This t-shirt and ball cap combination was a gift from Serv.  Notice how the colors on the Superman symbol are reversed.  I find that striking.  In fact, this hat has become my favorite to wear lately.  The shirt came pre-faded.

This Red Lantern t-shirt was another gift from Serv, this time for my birthday.  Can’t you feel it?  The shirt just radiates rage.  Rage!  RAGE!

Neat mega-print Batman shirt from Lore (the irredeemable brother) for my birthday.  I really like the Bronze Age styling of the image.

Hilarious Star Trek t-shirt from Lore (the irredeemable brother).  This gag still makes me laugh!

Neat Superman hat I’ve had for a while.  I picked it up at Wal-Mart of all places.  I really like the bold colors and that the hat is fitted.  Where there would normally be an adjustable strap on the back, it’s just solid fabric with the stitched Superman symbol shown in the insert.

This Ghostbusters shirt is actually billed as a “T-shirt Costume”.  I picked this up at Target last Halloween.  The slime glows in the dark also.  I’ve been slimed!

A birthday gift from my boss.  This shirt is hilarious!  I tried to make the image big enough for you to read all the various powers.  I think my favorites are, “Communicate with Fruit” and “Summon a Lamp… Once”.  LOL!

This Scooby-Doo t-shirt is another birthday gift from Lore (the irredeemable brother).  I really like the coloring on this shirt. The mystery machine is faded and everyone in the foreground is really solidly colored.  Just looks sharp.

A friend gave me this Star Wars ball cap about 15 years ago.  It’s served me well, even in the years before Star Wars was cool again.

I picked up this Unique Geek t-shirt prior to DragonCon to help promote the website.  The insert shows the back of the t-shirt.

Okay, I don’t normally post pictures of underwear, but this is an exception.  I already featured these boxers on FIRESTORM FAN, but thought they were worth mentioning here also.  I just picked these up last week from K-Mart.  While there are tons of DC Comics boxers on the market, these are astonishing because they include both Firestorm and Doctor Fate.  Seriously?!?!?  Firestorm and Doctor Fate?!?!?  Two of my favorite characters that have proven time and again they can’t support their own monthly comic books?!?!?  Two characters that almost no one in the general public would recognize?!?!?  You betcha!  The other characters (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Robin, and even Green Arrow) aren’t surprising to see on apparel as they are fairly well known.  I just never imagined they’d make Firestorm or Doctor Fate boxers.  I’m thankful they have!  I will say it’s a bit awkward where they’ve placed Firestorm.  He’s right on the flap. Kinda creepy.

I’m in a Star Trek mood.  Here are some cool wallpapers featuring our favorite Starfleet ships.  I don’t claim ownership of any of these images, they were simply found while surfing.  Click on the images to enlarge.

The original Enterprise, circa TOS.  NCC-1701

The replacement Enterprise, circa Star Trek V.  NCC-1701-A

The first Enterprise in years that was not under the command of James T. Kirk, circa Star Trek: Generations.  NCC-1701-B

The lost Enterprise, circa STNG episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise“.  NCC-1701-C

The STNG Enterprise, circa the TV series.  NCC-1701-D

The second STNG Enterprise, circa the movies.  NCC-1701-E

The prequel Enterprise, circa the “Enterprise” TV series.  NX-01

The updated “classic” Enterprise, circa the new Star Trek film. NCC-1701

I’m not sure where this image came from, but it’s a gorgeous shot.  At first I thought it was from the new Star Trek film, but the design isn’t quite right.  Regardless, nice ship and breathtaking background.

The Defiant and Deep Space Nine.

Voyager under attack by a Borg cube.

A Borg cube.

The battle of Wolf 359, circa STNG episode “The Best of Both Worlds, Part II“

Geek long and prosper.

I had a fantastic birthday celebration this past weekend with my family!  I was out of town for work on my actual birthday, so we chose to postpone the festivities until the weekend.  The best present of all was seeing my children after being on the road for five days.

We started the birthday fun with pizza and cake on Saturday night.  I chose Papa Johns pizza, primarily because their breadsticks are nearly identical to the old Noble Romans breadsticks (my favorite back in the 1980’s).  Anyone besides me remember Noble Romans?

Then we moved on to the cake.  As you can see in the picture below, my kids picked out a Star Trek themed cake.  They know me too well!  Now the children are competing for playing time with the little Enterprise ship.  They also scored me a Superman balloon.  Sweet kids!

Sunday morning we got up early and drove to Wild Adventures theme park.  It’s only about 90 minutes away from our house.  We chose a trip to the park to celebrate my birthday because this year instead of tangible presents from my family, I asked for a group experience to remember.  As I get older, I typically buy the things I want.  I’d rather have a precious memory with my family than some DVD or toy.  We had a blast at the park!  I’d never been there and was surprised by all the great rides they had.  There were very few people at the park, so we had the run of the place!  Rascal, my nearly ten year old step-son, and I conquered all the major roller coasters right away.  While on one called the Boomerang, I found myself questioning our sanity.  There were some pretty frightening moments on that coaster.  I gotta say Rascal was very brave and a real trooper on those roller coasters.  He’s a champ!  I also took time for the family-friendly rides with my three year old daughter.  She was bubbling over with enthusiasm and excitement.

I noticed the park background music was almost all John Williams soundtracks; Jurassic Park, Superman, Star Wars, E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark, etc.  It was a bit odd given that none of the rides were related to those films, but really who cares.  It’s awesome riding some monster coaster with the theme to Superman blazing in the speakers!

It was a really great birthday that I’ll remember for years to come.  Well… at least until I’m really old and the Alzheimer’s kicks in.

I’m closing out my DragonCon 2009 coverage with my favorite costume photos. Some have been shown here previously, but they bear repeating. To see all of my DragonCon photos, be sure to visit my Flickr page. If you have a favorite costume that I left out, be sure to mention it in the comments. A small handful of these photos were taken by folks other than me. In those cases, I’ve linked to their original photo.

A really great Bumblebee from “Transformers”

These ladies were having a blast in their gender-bender “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” costumes.  They were totally in character and so were the screaming fans!

Cookie Monster Michael Jackson.  Really funny, but is it too soon?

The Convention Vixens return to DragonCon.  You can find more on the ConVixens by clicking here.

Star Wars Jedi impaling a Clone Trooper.  This was a really neat and creative costume.  The lightsaber was connected to the trooper on both sides and was lit up.  Impressive, most impressive.

A really good Snake Eyes from “GI Joe”

Is this the future of Marvel Comics now that they’ve been bought by Disney?

The Ghostbusters!  This group won the Hall Costume Contest for Best Movie Group.  The detail on their costumes is amazing!

The popularity of the new “Star Trek” film inspired quite a few simple, yet effective costumes.

The most in character group at the convention! Tony Stark (from “Iron Man”), his assistant Pepper, and his security guards.  Tony was dead-on and never broke character. The security guards actually frisked anyone who wanted their picture with Tony.  Pepper was sure to inquire if you had an appointment.  Brilliant!

The most creative costume at the convention in my opinion.  The two-person AT-AT from “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back”!

With the popularity of the “Blackest Night” comic book this year, there were quite a few different Lantern Corps represented.  Here is a member of the Sinestro Corps…

… and here is a member of the Red Lantern Corps.

A really great Supergirl!

The second most creative costume at the convention in my opinion.  He perfectly captured Peter Parker’s Spider-Sense tingling from the comics.

An astonishing “Doctor Who” look-a-like.  Several people were doing double-takes to ensure it wasn’t really David Tennant.

An impressive Catwoman from the “Batman Returns” film.

Spaceman Spiff from “Calvin & Hobbes”.  Notice the stuffed tiger on his shoulder!

“Watchmen” – Thankfully Doctor Manhattan went for the briefs, rather than what was shown in the movie.

Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld

An impressive Silver Surfer from “Fantastic Four 2″

A really well done “Barbarella”

If you’ve never seen “Logan’s Run”, then go rent it right now.

A recreation of the famous picture taken in Times Square at the end of World War II

Really clever way to represent the video game “Mario Cart”

The Harry Potter/Hogwarts bad-girl thing continues to be popular.  Understandably.

Remember, the Visitors are our friends.

A really obscure Boba Fett costume from Star Wars.  This particular version of the costume was only used in his first appearance in the animated portion of the 1978 televised “Star Wars Holiday Special”.  Like I said… really obscure, but also really neat that someone took the time to make this particular variation.

An eight-foot Sasquatch from the Alpha Flight comic book!

A fun Stormtrooper variant in the parade – the Indianapolis Colts Trooper!

And finally Max from “Where the Wild Things Are”.  This young lady was having a blast hopping around as Max!  She mentioned that lots of people didn’t know what her costume was supposed to be.  That surprised me, but I guess they’ll all figure it out next year after the movie comes out.

Coverage of Dragon*Con 2009 continues here!  I’ve already recapped Friday and Saturday, so today will cover Sunday and Monday.  If you’d like to see over 600 pictures I took at the event, you can view them on Flickr and THE UNIQUE GEEK photo gallery.

SUNDAY

After going to sleep around 5am the night before, we all slept-in on Sunday morning.  Eventually I awoke, cleaned up, and got in line to see Patrick Stewart.  Yes, THE Patrick Stewart!  Patrick Stewart, as in Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Patrick Stewart, as in Professor X from X-Men.  Patrick Stewart, as in the famous Shakespearean theatre actor.  Patrick Stewart, as in teh awesome!

I waited in line for about 80 minutes with the Methvin clan for the Patrick Stewart panel.  We were in another one of those lines that stretched outside and wrapped around the block.  Surprisingly, even though I was around the block, I was only number 400 in line for a room that holds 1,500.  Just before showtime, we got into the room and scored great seats.  Patrick Stewart was wonderful!  From what I’ve heard, he doesn’t do a lot of conventions.  Based upon his apparent nervousness and unrehearsed stories, I’d guess that was true.  I’m really glad his stories were unrehearsed because they sounded a lot more genuine that some celebrities at conventions.  He talked at great length about his time on Star Trek, mostly focusing on experiences he had during filming (rather than about the stories themselves).

I waited in the Q&A line, unfortunately they didn’t get through many audience questions.  So I returned to my seat about 15 minutes before the end of the session saddened that I didn’t get to ask my question.  Then surprisingly Patrick Stewart seemed to fumble while trying to answer someone else’s question.  After a really protracted pause by Stewart, I saw the opportunity to ask my question from my seat (without the benefit of a microphone).  The question Stewart was attempting to answer was something like, “What things did you enjoy while filming Star Trek?”  He seemed to have run out of things to say on the subject and was pausing quietly on stage.  So I took it upon myself to fill the uncomfortable silence and yelled out my question with my loudest stage voice, “What about the dune buggies?”  I wanted to ask this question because in the movie Star Trek: Nemesis, Patrick Stewart genuinely looks like he’s having the time of his life during the dune buggy scenes.  My question from the audience caught Stewart by surprise, but it was apparently a pleasant surprise.  His face lit up at the mention of the dune buggies!  He then made a joke about the audience leading him by the elbow (which I was pretty embarrassed about, deservedly so).  Next he went on to talk cheerfully about filming the dune buggy scenes for about ten minutes.  In fact, someone tried to change the subject and he responded with, “I’m not done talking about the dune buggies.”  PATRICK STEWART LIKED MY QUESTION!  Hooray!  I guess I was thrilled with this because celebrities have usually heard just about every question.  It’s rare to catch them off-guard or,  even better, to excite them with the subject matter of your question.

Overall, Patrick Stewart was an amazing guest and a real joy to listen to.  I’m not sure how many opportunities I’ll have in my life to see him, so I’m really glad I did.

Next up was lunch with an internet buddy of mine, Adama.  Adama runs the Green Arrow blog, Dispatches from the Arrowcave. This was the first time we’ve met face-to-face.  I’ll detail this meeting more in a future post over at my other blog, FIRESTORM FAN.

While all this was going on, I missed out on the DC Comic cosplay photo shoot.  While I didn’t get any pictures of it, thatdjspider on Flickr did.  It looks like it was truly amazing!

I did a little shopping at the Tales of Wonder booth and picked a couple amazing deals.  First up was Marvel’s Hulk Visionaries: Peter David volume 1 which normally retails for $19.99, but I got it there for $6.  This trade covers Peter David’s earliest Hulk issues with art by Todd McFarlane.  I’ve never read these issues, so this was a real steal!  Next up was Dark Horse’s Star Wars: A Long Time Ago… Volume 5 which normally retails for $29.95, but I got it there for $15.  The A Long Time Ago… series of trades reprints the original Marvel Star Wars comic.  I’m a huge fan of the old Marvel run and have been slowly picking up these trades.

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Sunday evening was the night for THE UNIQUE GEEK Board of Directors dinner!  This is basically a chance for all those that participate in THE UNIQUE GEEK to get together and hang out. It’s open to anyone who participates in our listserv, listens to our podcast, or that we find randomly wandering the streets.  This time 21 of us descended upon a local Mexican place to cause havoc!  We had good food, lots of booze, and lots of laughs.  The gang included: Serv, Doctor Jen, Jon, Choco Taco, Damian, Leigh, Rox of Spazhouse, Scott C, Eli, Jemma, Jamin, Ron, Holly, Race, Erika and her husband John, Ravenface, Shockwave, myself, and Michael Bailey and his wife Rachel.  Shockwave’s spouse made her annual brief appearance decked out in her Cobra Baroness costume! Below are a couple pictures from dinner.  Again, visit Flickr or THE UNIQUE GEEK photo gallery for a great deal more photos from dinner.

After dinner (and working out everyone’s share of the bill using differential calculus), we headed off to play late night games.  We played several rounds of Werewolf (also known as Mafia or Assassin) into the wee hours of the morning.  This game is becoming a DragonCon tradition for us!  Another tradition is for our game moderator to become completely wasted!  It makes the game more interesting, trust me.  We were joined (unwillingly for us) by a freshly-turned 18 year old girl in full Michael Jackson zombie make-up.  She didn’t exactly gel with the crowd, so we soon dispersed.  We wandered the hotels for a while and eventually settled in a room party.  Sometime around 3am (I think) we finally crashed.

MONDAY

Since I had an early afternoon flight, Monday was really a day for goodbyes and last minute shopping.  Back at Tales of Wonder again I picked up another great bargain.  Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson normally retails for $24.95, but I got it there for $5.  I’ve never read these issues, in fact I’ve read very few issues of Thor in my life.  However, Walt Simonson has never disappointed and I’ve heard rave reviews of these issues.  Can’t wait to jump into this book!

I also picked up the Big Finish Doctor Who spin-off audio adventures Dalek Empire at a reasonable discount.  I picked up the first four disks for $40.  This is one of the few Big Finish Doctor Who spin-offs I haven’t picked up. Given the discount, I just couldn’t pass it up.

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That wraps up my on-site coverage of DragonCon 2009.  Come back tomorrow when I’ll feature the best of DragonCon 2009 costumes!