MOVIE GIVEAWAY: The Book Thief

The critically acclaimed movie THE BOOK THIEF is now available for purchase as a HD Digital download and Blu-ray/DVD editions will be hitting store shelves on Tuesday March 11, 2014 .  To help promote the movie's digital / Blu-ray/ DVD movie releases, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will provide a reader of my blog a Blu-ray/DVD/Digital THE BOOK THIEF movie package.

THE BOOK THIEF, based on the best-selling novel of the same title by Australian author Markus Zusak, is the story of a girl who transforms the lives of those around her during World War II.  When her mother can no longer care for her, Liesel (Sophie Nelisse) is adopted by a German  couple ( OSCAR Winner Geoffrey Rush & OSCAR Nominee Emily Watson).  Although she arrives illiterate, Liesel is encouraged to learn to read by her adoptive father. When the couple then takes in Max (Ben Schnetzer), a Jew hiding from Hitler's army, Liesel befriends him.  Ultimately, words and imagination provide the friends with an escape from the events unfolding around them in this extraordinary film directed by Brian Percival.  Of other note, the movie's musical score is conducted by John Williams [the man behind the Star Wars musical theme] who has earned his 49th Oscar Nomination this year for "Best Original Score" for his work on THE BOOK THIEF.

To help enhance the educational value of this film, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment  has published a nice Discussion Guide which I've posted below to help teachers and parents utilize THE BOOK THIEF as a teachable lesson.  For a chance to win this movie please look over the Discussion Guide and answer the following question:  Who is the film's (and book's) omniscient narrator?  E-mail your answer along with your name and address to thegeekdaddy @ yahoo [dot] com to be entered to win.  One entry per person and only open to USA/CANADA.  I will randomly pick one correct answer and provide the winner's information to Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment for the prize's delivery. Contest entries must be received by 11:59pm EST Thursday, March 6, 2014.  Good luck everyone!

CONTEST RULES/DISCLAIMER:  By participating in this contest, entrants acknowledge the Giveaway Prize will be provided by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and I am not liable for the prize to the randomly selected winner.  By submitting an entry to win this prize, winner grants the right to have his or her name published to identify them as the winner of this contest.   I did not receive financial compensation for hosting this contest or writing about the movie, but as a member of the FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT INSIDERS bloggers team I do receive a complimentary DVD review copy of the movies that I post about and host contests for on this blog, including THE BOOK THIEF.  The opinions expressed are my own and I am not obligated to write a positive review.

VIKINGS RAID CABLE TV HOPING FOR A SECOND SEASON OF HIGH RATINGS FOR THE HISTORY CHANNEL

The History Channel's VIKINGS are back for a second season of of brawling and pillaging.  Season 2 starts Thursday, February 27th and the show that raided other networks viewers during its first season by gaining an average viewership of 5 million U.S. households per episode is hoping to build on its popularity in 2014.  VIKINGS airs at 10pm EST.

I hadn't started watching the show when it first aired because I thought it was going to be a documentary on the Vikings, but caught an episode while flipping channels one night and became hooked on the show.  It is more drama than documentary with action scenes and plots that are reminiscent of Games of Thrones but without the fantasy elements of the HBO series.  

VIKINGS while not entirely historically accurate is inspired by true tales of the raiding, trading and exploring of medieval Scandinavian Norsemen.  The show is based on the exploits of a legendary Viking chieftain Ragnar Lothbrok and his family.  In Season 1, Ragnar builds a new longship that can travel further across the sea than any Viking ship beforehand.  He uses this ship to raid unexplored North East England returning to Scandinavia with enough loot and influence to overturn his local village ruler and take charge himself.  As the new village leader, Ragnar pledges his loyalty to the Norse King and is sent as an emissary negotiate a solution to a land dispute with a neighboring kingdom.

Season 2 begins with negotiations in the land dispute faltering leading to war, disease ravaging the village Ragnor left behind where his wife and children are residing, and a princess seducing the Viking chieftan becoming pregnant with his child. So what will befall Ragnar Lothbrok, his crew and his family?  I don't know, we'll all have to tune in this season on the History Channel to find out.

While you are waiting for Season 2 to begin, check out this FREE comic book by Zenescope on Comixology: www.comixology.com/Vikings . The saga of the History Channel's VIKINGS begins with this thrilling prequel to Season 1.  Join Ragnar and Rollo as they bravely fight for their father in his final battle.  This battle plants the seeds for the brothers' epic rivalry and introduces a fierce shieldmaiden destined to change their lives forever.  You can also currently watch all of Season 1's episode on the Vikings section of the History Channel website if you need to catch up with the show before watching the Season 2 premiere. I encourage you to check out Season 2 of the Vikings...that's what I'll be watching Thursday night after I've put the kids to bed for the night.

Disney Movies Float to the Cloud

Along with today's digital release of the movie FROZEN, a month before it is available to purchase for DVD, Walt Disney Studies also debuted a new cloud-based movie viewing service called Disney Movies Anywhere. Disney Movies Anywhere will allow people to watch Disney, Pixar, and Marvel Studios movies on an Internet browser, Apple TV (through iCloud or Airplay) or via a free app for their iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch.  Disney's 400-plus active library of digital movies will be available to users who will still need to pay for each movie but won't need to store it on DVDs or on their own hard drives anymore.  Purchased movies will be available for online streaming from the Cloud 24/7.  Cloud storage means that the data files for the movies will be stored on centralized computer services and transmitted to your computer or IOS device through the Internet upon your requesting to view them.

 

Consumers who have previously purchased a Disney movie through iTunes or redeemed a digital copy from the codes that have been included with DVD and Blu-ray products since 2008 will be able to have those transferred to this new service.  Disney Movies Anywhere users can connect their iTunes and Disney Movie Rewards accounts to transfer their past purchases to this new service.  New purchases made via the Disney Movies Anywhere website or app will also automatically be connected to a user's iTunes account for accessibility and will receive Disney Movie Rewards points for their digital purchases.

For a limited time, iTunes users who register their accounts with Disney Movies Anywhere will also get a free digital copy of the Disney-Pixar movie THE INCREDIBLES.  A nice free bonus for synchronizing your accounts.

For more information, visit:  disneymoviesanywhere.com

Star Wars: The Clone Wars finds its way to Netflix

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 6 "The Lost Missions" coming to Netflix March 7, 2014

Star Wars: The Clone Wars spent 5 seasons on Cartoon Network portraying the adventures of Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and their fellow Jedi Knights during the time period set between Episodes II and III of the Star Wars movie franchise.  Of course the resolution of the tv series was somewhat of a given with Anakin Skywalker becoming Darth Vader, Kenobi and Yoda going into exile, and the rest of the Jedi massacred by the Clones they spent fighting alongside that gave show it's name .   Yet some mysteries and cliffhangers remained that many fans hoped would be answered in a sixth season.  Than Disney purchased the Star Wars franchise and it was announced that the series would be concluded with Season 5 on Cartoon Network.

Production on Season 6 had already been begun by the animated series creative team at the time the show was cancelled.  Where any of these episodes completed? Would fans of the show ever be provided resolution to some of the series story arcs that hadn't been closed and movie mysteries that had yet to be answered?  Well we'll know on March 7th as Disney has recently announced that The Clone Wars will be moving to Netflix for its sixth and final season.  It appears there are 13 episodes of The Clone Wars that have been produced to makeup this sixth season. All 13 episodes will be available starting March 7, 2014 on Netflix streaming video service for U.S. and Canadian subscribers.

In one of the story arcs for Season 6 "The Lost Missions", Yoda will be visited by the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn, played by Liam Neeson in a reprisal of his Episode I - The Phantom Menace movie role.  This story arc may provide some answers to how Obi-Wan Kenobi disappeared in Episode IV -  A New Hope yet stayed in contact as a spiritual adviser to Luke Skywalker after his death in that movie and its sequels.  Another story arc will reportedly focus on the mysterious Order 66 that killed off the Jedi told from the Clones perspective.

One story that won't be concluded is that of Darth Maul.  The episodes that had been planned to wrap up his character's role in the series never made it to production.  That has been addressed though by the series' creative team through a partnership with Darkhorse Comics.  Darkhorse will be producing a 4 issue mini-series that will tell that story arc as had been intended to air on television but through comic books instead.  Look for Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir on retail shelves this summer as it adapts the screen plays drafted for the season 6 Darth Maul episodes that weren't produced.

In addition to the newly released 13 episodes of The Clone Wars, Netflix will also have the first 5 seasons of the show, never seen before footage/deleted scenes from the series, and other special content available for streaming viewing through a multi-year deal with Disney. While The Clone Wars will be available for an extended period of time for viewers to enjoy, I hope the Internet doesn't crash with people rushing to see "The Lost Missions" all at once becauseI know I'll be visiting Netflix on March 7th myself for a Star Wars watching marathon.

UPDATE:  Here's a more detailed trailer posted by IGN on youtube:

REVENGE OF THE JACK O’ LANTERNS - COMBAT JACKS PART DEUX

Did you ever think plants could be sentient?  Could jack o’ lanterns just be biding their time plotting their revenge against humanity after generations of Halloween mutilation at our hands?  You will never look at pumpkins the same way after reading Mark Mckenna’s COMBAT JACKS comic books.

While you may not be familiar with the name Mark McKenna, if you read comic books you probably have seen his work at some point over the years.  McKenna has been a comic book artist for 29 years working for both Marvel , Darkhorse & DC comics on popular titles such as Batman, Justice League, Spiderman, Star Wars and The X-Men.  There are more than 500 comic books in circulation with 8,000 pages of artwork that he has contributed to during his career.  In 2012, he wanted to bring a concept he developed to print and through a Kickstarter campaign self-published a one shot comic book that combined the action of science fiction with the unnatural sensation of horror, titled COMBAT JACKS.

COMBAT JACKS is the story of space marines from a futuristic Earth visiting a planet that is being colonized after contact has been lost with pioneers stationed there.  The only known life on the planet other than the pioneers is pumpkin like vegetation….there could be no danger in that, could there?!

Based upon a great fan base that has developed since COMBAT JACKS was published, McKenna is now working on expanding COMBAT JACKS into a four issue series that will eventually be combined and published as a collection in a trade paperback.  McKenna has just launched a new kickstarter campaign to self-publish the second installment of the COMBAT JACKS franchise, Combat Jacks:  The Continuing Saga.  The Kickstarter campaign for the second issue of COMBAT JACKS runs through March 8 and is seeking $6,000 to cover the cost of the creative team, printing and fundraising donor rewards.  The campaign has already raised more than $4,500 towards its goal:  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/391541891/combat-jacks-2-the-continuing-saga

The newest COMBAT JACKS comic book features more than just tough Marines and killer gourds.  This time around, an action movie and martial arts star has joined the fray as well.  Cynthia Rothrock has agreed to take on the lead role in Combat Jacks: The Continuing Saga. Rothrock is a five time World Karate Champion who is one of the few Caucasians to achieve genuine stardom in the Hong Kong martial arts movie industry.  She will be portrayed in COMBAT JACKS 2 as the leader of the First Squad against a planet full of Jacks.  If you want to support entrepreneurship, originality and artistic creativity in the marketplace, while obtaining a reward for yourself, this may be the Kickstarter campaign for you.

In addition to being able to obtain digital and hard copy editions of COMBAT JACKS issues 1 & 2 for making donations to the Kickstarter campaign there are some rewards that are listed that have been contributed by friends of McKenna's from the comic industry like art prints and photos. Also for  a $40 donation an exclusive one of a kind 2 sided Combat Jacks t-shirt can be yours to wear.

Ever wanted to have your face on the cover of a comic book? For a $100 donation you can make that happen.  For a $250 donation, McKenna will actually draw you into the comic book as one of the 5 marines taking orders from Cynthia Rothrock.  How cool is that to have your actual likeness featured in a published comic book?!  Hurry if these opportunities catch your fancy because as of the time I posted this article there was only one slot of each of these opportunities to insert yourself into the book available in the Kickstarter campaign's rewards.

Yes, COMBAT JACKS may be a little cheesy, but hey I love Halloween, science fiction, and the artwork produced by this creative team.  Check out this Kickstarter campaign and these comics if you are interested in an adventurous romp through an interstellar man-eating vegetable garden.  Hey life is too short to be too serious...have some fun joining in on the fight against alien jack o' lanterns.

New toys let you create your own ultimate Marvel Super Hero

Wouldn't it be great to be able to take the features you like the best from your favorite super heroes and villains mashed together to create your own ultimate creation?!  Now you can with Hasbro's newest line of toys MARVEL Super Hero Mashers.

My 5 year old son and I always take a run through the toy department during our weekend grocery shopping trip at Meijer and these toys caught both of our attention this week.  So when we returned home from shopping I looked them up online to find out a little more info.

Because of issues with severe food allergies in our household to peanuts and tree nuts many candy treats associated with holidays like Easter are off limits to our kids so we often supplement trick or treat bags and Easter baskets with a few toys in lieu of sweets.  According to the Hasbro website, MARVEL Super Hero Mashers are figures that you can take apart and interchange the parts from other figures in the collection to create your own super hero, or villain, combinations.  Figures are sold individually and currently feature Captain America, Dr. Doom, Hawkeye, The Hulk, Iron Man, Iron Patriot, Spiderman, Thor and Wolverine to choose from. There are 3 categories of these toys, ELECTRONIC ($19.99) which have battery powered special effects [ Iron Man / Wolverine ], UPGRADED ($14.99) which has additional accessories like missile launchers included [Hulk / Thor / Iron Patriot], and BASIC figures ($9.99) which include Captain America, Dr. Doom, Hawkeye & Spiderman. The age range for these toys is listed as 4 & up.

On the Hasbro website they have an app that lets you create your own Marvel Mashers and make a poster that you can print out like the one I've posted above: http://www.hasbro.com/heromashers/en_US/mash-up.cfm

These seem like fun toys, but one concern I had was the price.  As individual toys they actually appear to be reasonably priced, but when you take into consideration that you need to buy multiple figures to enjoy the mashup benefits of the toy line that price starts to become somewhat expensive.  If you were to buy 3 figures (one from each category) for your child you are suddenly spending nearly $50+ dollars. You know your child isn't going to want just one figure because the point is to get these for the mashup ability.  I'm still on the fence about buying these toys but not necessarily ruling out that my friend the Easter Bunny may stop by with a couple of them (they are mashups you really need to buy at least 2 or otherwise just buy the regular super hero action figures on store shelves).

PLANES: FIRE & RESCUE flies into theaters July 18th

Dusty Crophopper fresh from his victory in the "Wings Across the World" race is returning to the big screen in a new DISNEY PLANES movie opening in theaters on July 18, 2014.  In PLANES: FIRE & RESCUE, Dusty has become world famous from winning the big race but now he faces the troubling news he may never be able to race again due to engine damage.  The crop duster with a never say die attitude shifts gears and becomes involved with the world of aerial fire fighting.  Dusty joins up with a fire rescue helicopter, Blade Ranger, and team of all-terrain vehicles known as The Smokejumpers.  Together they battle a massive wildfire and Dusty learns what it takes to become a true hero.

Does anyone remember the 1989 Stephen Spielberg movie ALWAYS?  Whenever I see the trailer and promos for PLANES: FIRE & RESCUE that classic movie starring Richard Dreyfus, Holly Hunter, and John Goodman which was a romantic adventure about a legendary pilot's passion for both dare-devil firefighting and his girlfriend.  Could this new PLANE's movie be an animated re-spinning of ALWAYS?  Or am I just being nostalgic about a date movie from my high school years.

The first PLANES movie didn't receive very high marks from the critics and rumor is Disney almost dropped it from a theater release to go straight to DVD instead until it needed a replacement for The Little Mermaid 3D on its 2013 summer movie lineup.  That being said, my 5 year old kids loved seeing PLANES at the movie theater last year, watch the movie several times a week while playing with their diecast PLANES toys since it came out on DVD, and are excited to see FIRE & RESCUE this summer.  So obviously PLANES has been a hit in our household!  Who else is excited to see this PLANES sequel flying into theaters this summer?

Cedar Point adds High Flying Thrill Ride to Amusement Park Lineup for 2014

Living in Metro Detroit for a vast majority of my life, I've been to Cedar Point more times than I can count...well at least more than I have digits on my fingers and toes.  This amusement park located on Ohio's Lake Erie shoreline between Toledo and Cleveland had developed from a regional attraction when I was a kid to a national/international destination for thrill ride seekers.  Cedar Point, located in Sandusky Ohio, has been voted "Best Amusement Park in the World" by the industry professionals who subscribe to the highly respected Amusement Today trade publication for 16 consecutive years now.  They've earned this reputation by becoming known for constantly adding new and exciting thrill rides, especially roller coasters, to Cedar Point's lineup of attractions.  2014 will be no exception with 3 new rides being added to the amusement park, the Slingshot, Pipe Scream, and Lake Erie Eagles.

The Slingshot which will be opening later this summer is an exciting vertical thrill ride that secures riders into an open-air, two-person before being launched 360 feet into the air at speeds up to 62 miles per hour.  After reaching the ride's initial peak, riders will experience a brief feeling of weightlessness, before descending back to Earth, than repeatedly catapulting back up and down until the capsule eventually comes to a final rest at its launching point. Here's a promotional video promoting the Slingshot to amusement park operators:

 

A new roller coaster will be at Cedar Point to greet people in May when the park opens for its 2014 Season called the Pipe Scream.  What is neat about this coaster is that the cart you are riding in spins as you are coasting along the tracks.  It is like a combination of a spin ride, pirate ship rocker, and roller coaster combined into one fun ride.  The Pipe Scream will rock and roll you over 302 feet of track, flying 43 feet above the ground at 43 miles per hour.

Also debuting in May 2014 will be the Lake Erie Eagles where riders are suspended 28 feet in the air from suspension arms in one of eight "eagles".  As  the ride spins, the eagles will swing outward and allow riders to control their flight experience from mild to wild.

In addition to the new rides, Cedar Point is also adding a new eatery to the amusement park, a sports bar I haven't heard of called CHICKIE'S & PETE'S but USA TODAY recently named it one of the "Ten Best Sports Bars" in the country.  The menu will include Lisa's Blonde Lobster Pie and Crabfries which both sound tremendous and are making my mouth water as I type this post up.  I'm really looking forward to checking out CHICKIE & PETE's as well as all the new thrill rides being introduced this year at Cedar Point.

For more information, visit www.cedarpoint.com

LEGO creates a new niche for Kindergarteners

Up until now, my son's all time favorite toy has been his DUPLO BLOCKS.  He'd spend hours having fun with imaginative play building all sorts of things with those building blocks.  Duplo Blocks are made by LEGO for kids aged 18 months to 5 years old.  They are bulkier blocks with large props and no small parts compared to standard LEGO meant for toddlers to safely and easily play with.

My son turned 5 in December and I noticed towards the end of last year, he was losing interest in his Duplo's and even told me that "Duplo's were for babies."  So at Christmas we gave him some "real" Lego building block sets.  Although the age range for the LEGO CITY item from Santa was listed at 5 - 12, we still had some troubles.  My son had a hard time with some of the motor skills necessary to build, and more importantly take apart, the Lego City vehicles and I found myself barraged with requests from a frustrated child to constantly be pulling apart bricks for him.  And than there was, I'm embarrassed to admit this, the visit to the doctor's office.  Our other 5 year old twin thought it would be funny to steal one of her brother's really small lego pieces and stick it up her nose so he couldn't take it back from her while grandma wasn't babysitting.  My daughter couldn't pull it back out herself, Grandma couldn't get it out, my wife came home early from work to help try and get it out, and finally a trip to our pediatrician's office and an extra long pair of tweezers saved the day.  So the Lego's were put away until our kids get a little older and we also stored away a memory that we can use to embarrass our daughter when she has a family of her own.

We must not be the only parents who are finding themselves in a gap when it comes to transitioning from Legos to Duplos because in a few weeks LEGO will introducing a new line of building block sets aimed at children ages 4 to 7, a kindergarten niche so to speak.  The new LEGO JUNIORS sets will be compatible with tradition Lego sets for continued use as children get older but will have easier components to assemble and not include the small parts that could potentially get stuck in a child's nose, ear, or who knows where else they might be stuck.

LEGO JUNIORS will be on store shelves starting March 1 2014, just in time for Easter gifts.  We're planning on the Easter bunny leaving "DEFEND THE BATCAVE" Batman playset and THE PRINCESS PLAY CASTLE playset in our kids' baskets this Spring.  Other interesting playsets include a pony farm, race car rally, spiderman adventure, and a teenage mutant ninja turtles assortment.  Check out all the sets here:  http://www.lego.com/en-us/juniors/products/products

Obviously, I haven't bought these products yet but once we've picked them up and given them to our kids, I'll post A Geek Daddy review.While we're waiting you may want to check out the FREE Lego Juniors Create & Cruise game available on Apple App Store & Google Play.  Kids can create their own minfigures and vehicles to cruise around a 3D world collecting coins.  As they gather coins they will be able to unlock virtual LEGO sets that can be build with a few easy touches.  The game is aimed at the same age group for the Lego Juniors toys 4 - 7, but looks  like an app kids' geek daddies and mommies may enjoy playing along with their little ones as well.

Winter is a great time to visit the Zoo

If you are willing to brave the cold and snow, winter can be a great time for a roadtrip to a zoo providing for closeup views of animals without the summer crowds.  Many zoos are open to the public all year long, but have limited attendance during the winter months.  Often there are multiple indoor exhibits to enjoy along with the chance to see animals outdoors who don't mind frigid temps.  Our family uses our annual pass to go on several winter visits each year to our local zoo.  Just remember to pick a somewhat mild day, dress warmly, and if you are taking children along play it safe by being observant to how they are handling to weather conditions.  Have some fun and go on an arctic expedition to the zoo.

At our local zoo, the DETROIT ZOO, the polar bears are active when there is snow on the ground.  The zoo provides multiple heated indoor locations where you can view the bears, as well as an assortment of seals that are also native to the arctic climates, and while these areas are often crowded when the weather is warmer my kids normally have the run of the place.  This exhibit always has docents staffing it who LOVE the chance to talk with people and it is a great opportunity to have some nice conversations with these volunteers who have received training on educating the public about the animals on display.

There are plenty of animals on display outdoors even when snow is on the ground.  We have seen our best views of the tiger at the Detroit Zoo on winter visits.  You wouldn't think that Lions from Africa or Kangaroos from Australia would be out in the cold, but we've seen them outside during winter trips as well.

If standing outdoors when the temps are low isn't your thing as long as you're willing to do a brisk walk between buildings there are often plenty of things to occupy your time and attention indoors at zoos.  Here are a few things to do inside at the Detroit Zoo:

The Giraffe House is heated, open and has benches to sit on.  You can get up close to these gigantic creatures with a much better view than what you can see outdoors during the warmer months.  You really don't understand how tall these animals are until you stand up right next to one.

I don't believe many people realize their is an indoor Rhino Exhibit at the Detroit Zoo as it is always empty when we visit.  It provides nice views of the animals from a heated gallery, plus some cool benches to sit down and take the load off.

The Reptile House is in the middle of the grounds and a nice break to get out of the cold between the long walk between the indoor exhibits at the rear of the zoo and those at the front.  It is normally empty of people when we have visited in the winter and kept at a tropical humid temperature making it a very comfortable place to be on a cold day.  The real bonus though is that the snakes are always very active when we've stopped in on our snow day visits compared to the summer months when the crowd noise tends to send them hiding in their exhibits.

Other warn and comfy nooks you can visit during a winter trip to the Detroit Zoo include the exotic butterfly and bird house, otter exhibit, amphibian center, chimpanzee/gorilla display, meerkat and leemur building, and the penguin display.

Going stir crazy in your house, maybe a winter roadtrip to a zoo is just the ticket to get out and about.  Make sure you contact the zoo before you go to confirm their winter hours (which normally are normally different than during the peak months) and that they are actually open the day you want to go.  Check to see if the zoo has any special events going on during the winter too as part of your trip planning.  For example the Detroit Zoo has several WILD WINTER WEEKENDS with special themed activities going on during those events.  

Show some LOVE for people dealing with food allergies on Valentine’s Day

The first day of elementary school should be an exciting time for students and  their parents, unfortunately for the King family their daughter Amelie’s special day turned into a traumatic event that will be long remembered.  Like my daughter, Amelie is severely allergic to peanuts.  Her FIRST day of school ended early being sent home to her parents just after lunchtime with a face that looked like it had been used as a punching bag due to a food allergy reaction.  If there was any good news to the situation it was that Amelie had a somewhat mild reaction compared to what she could have had based upon her allergic diagnosis which may have included her throat swelling shut, cardiac arrest and organs shutting down from anaphylaxis shock…though looking at her picture from that day I don’t think many people would consider her reaction “mild”.

My own daughter went into anaphylaxis shock a few years when she was just 18 months old after eating some peanut butter which quickly became a very serious situation involving her face swelling up like Amelie’s but also her throat swelling shut resulting in a trip to the hospital where a great team of doctors and nurses in the emergency room saved her life.  Since that time, we’ve had to be very vigilant to protect our daughter from having another allergic reactions…it really isn’t as easy as some people think.  Preventing her from eating food with ingredients she can’t have is the EASY part…avoiding contamination from food that has been exposed to allergens while it is made or prepared or from residue that people have on them or may spill while eating something she is allergic too is the BIG challenge.

I didn’t realize until we had to deal with food allergies ourselves through our daughter’s diagnosis how much candy and food play a part in “celebrations” at schools, family functions, and community events for dates like Birthdays, Halloween, Christmas, and of course Valentine’s Day.   This year my daughter’s teacher invited parents to bake treats to bring in for the kids to have a Valentine’s Day Celebration.  I had to be the bad guy and complain saying that our doctor warned us not to let her eat treats baked at people’s homes that we didn’t know and could have potential contamination issues with allergens.  The teachers said instead of inconveniencing other parents they would give my daughter another treat we could bring ourselves.  That may seem OK until you take two things into consideration.

FIRST, treating a 5 year old girl different than her class mates can be very upsetting for her.  It also opens up the other kids to thinking of her differently which has contributed to what SCHOLASTIC MAGAZINE has reported is a growing trend of food allergy bullies at school.

SECOND, there is still a contamination issue in the class room from potential allergen exposure from contact with the other kids or spilled food.  When it comes to triggering an allergic reaction the cause can be microscopic in size and while the most common and dangerous exposure is through ingestion, reactions can also be triggered by inhalation or contact with the skin.

In the case of Amelie King a boy in her class was eating a bag of peanuts as a snack at lunch.  During recess he played with Amelie and the peanut oil on his hands transferred to her skin resulting in the reaction that occurred.  In another recent tragic case involving food allergies, 27 year old Chantel Giacalone from Metro Detroit, who had an allergic reaction while on vacation in Las Vegas with friends.  It appears that a scooper at an ice cream shop was contaminated from contact with a flavor other than the one she ordered with peanuts as an ingredient.  Chantel went into anaphylaxis shock resulting in her going into cardiac arrest twice until she could be stabilized.  This happened around Valentine’s Day in 2013, a year later this poor woman is still in a vegetative-state requiring around the clock care.

For parents with children who have food allergies, no matter what their age, you are always on edge waiting for an allergic reaction and always have to be vigilant in educating others to the seriousness of food allergies.  In my recent incident, after a lengthy “discussion” with school teachers and administrators, parents were asked not to bring in home baked snacks and instead could bring in prepackaged snacks that did not have food allergy warnings on them. 

If you child doesn’t have food allergies, please just keep into consideration that food allergies result in more than just a rash or sore throat and they can have a very severe and significant impact on a person who suffers with them; plus cause a lot of stress for their loved ones too, especially when dealing with young children.  Keeping in mind the spirit of the holiday, please show some love to people dealing with food allergies on this Valentines Day.  Take a moment to educate yourself on safety standards for people with food allergies and please be considerate when confronted with requests that you may think are inconvenient to your family but could save another family from a traumatic event like those suffered by Amelie King and Chantel Giacalone.

If you would like to learn more about the topic of food allergies, the Center For Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) has an excellent resources page:  

 http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/foodallergies/publications.htm.  

You can also visit the non-profit FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education at www.foodallergy.org for information.

This isn’t the JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA that I grew up with

As a kid a fixture of my Saturday was tuning in to see the newest episode of “SUPER FRIENDS” during the morning block of cartoons on television.  SUPER FRIENDS featured the adventures of DC COMICS greatest heroes working together as the Justice League of America to protect the world from the villainous Legion of Doom which united the comic publisher’s greatest villains to promote anarchy and destruction.  The Justice League of America featured a core membership of Aquaman, Batman & Robin, Flash, Green Lantern, Superman, Wonder Woman, Superman and the Wonder Twins (Wonder Twin Powers activate!).  They were occasionally assisted by other “junior” members of the team like Hawkman, Plasticman, and the Green Arrow. SUPER FRIENDS ran on ABC from  1973 to 1986, but this wasn’t the first time that DC COMICS brought together its individual characters to work together as a team.

The Justice League of America first debuted in the comic book THE BRAVE & THE BOLD #28 in February 1960.  After a few appearances by the Justice League of America in THE BRAVE & THE BOLD the team was given its own self-titled comic book series that ran until 2011.  JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA was one of DC COMICS best selling publications during a 50 year run.

 In September 2011 DC cancelled all their titles and relaunched all the comic books in their universe starting at issue #1 in what they called the NEW 52.  It was a fresh start for all their comic book characters and story lines and with that came some changes.  The JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA title with its core assemble of characters was changed to just JUSTICE LEAGUE.  Same cast, simpler title and the things move on…well not necessarily.  DC reintroduced JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA a year after the kick-off of the NEW 52 but it isn’t the same JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA that I grew up with or many people would think of when they hear the name.

In the NEW 52 era, the general public is just discovering the existence of individuals who have super powers and is scared of them whether they are using their talents for good or evil.  The U.S. Government doesn’t trust that the JUSTICE LEAGUE will always support its national security interests or in fact not be a threat itself to the Country.  So the United States creates its own super powered team, THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, meant to safeguard the country versus the Justice League and to perform secret missions for an agency called ARGUS (Advance Research Group for Uniting  Super-Humans).

The Justice League of America team in the NEW 52 is made up of essentially the type of characters who would be second-tier characters for the Justice League and pits them against DC’s core super heroes.  The cast for Justice League consists of Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, Stargirl, the new Green Lantern Simon Baz, Katana, and Vibe plus are led by someone most of us probably associate as a criminal, Batman’s lover and antagonist the Catwoman. 

So DC COMICs did make a gritty change in its NEW 52 reboot with the origin and cast of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA.  Did you miss the original monthly installments of Justice League of America?  If so and you are interested in this newly formatted team DC has just published a paperback book compilation of the first seven issues of the series titled JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: VOLUME ONE. This New 52 monthly series has decent artwork and storylines worth giving it a read.  This comic book is probably most interesting for those people intrigued about the angle of how this Justice League of America differs from the one most of us are more familiar with from before the New 52 timeline.

For more information, visit: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: VOLUME 1

DISCLAIMER:  The publisher provided me with  digital PDF advance copy of THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: VOLUME 1  for this review.  The comments and opinions in this post are my own.

Fun STAR TREK Parody of FROZEN Song

My Disney Princess crazed daughter was begging me the other day to take her to see the “Sing Along” version of the movie FROZEN the other day, I am really amazed how my 5 year old has the lyrics to the song LET IT GO memorized, and as I was looking online for show times stumbled across a really well done parody of my little girl’s favorite song that brought a smile to this Geek Daddy’s face.  A Toronto-based musical group called Debs & Errol have put together a very well done STAR TREK parody of LET IT GO based on the signature line of Captain Jean Luc Picard “Make is So.”  Check this out:

Debs and Errol have a youtube site which features 61 parodies, covers, and original songs.  Two of my favorites are their tribute to the Peanut’s Linus & Lucy and a STAR WARS parody of Cindy Lauper’s “Time After Time” titled TIE AFTER TIE.  These two singers do a very talented job in providing enjoyable performances through the creation of a “geek” musical niche to market themselves and have some fun with their music. 

For more information about Debs and Errol check out their website, DEBSandERROL.COM, which also features a comic strip that profiles the comedic group's adventures with the music industry and their travels on the comic book & scifi convention circuit promoting their CD and website.

LEGO and STAR WARS combine for fun starfighter game

A new game app for mobile devices was launched this week titled LEGOS: Star Wars Micro Star Fighters.   It is a vertical scrolling shooter game that lets the player pretend they are flying one of six vehicles from the Star Wars universe.  You blast your way through hostile terrain destroying enemies and collecting LEGO studs.  I bought the game for .99 cents and found it to be a fun distraction but it really isn't a lengthy detailed game with only 18 levels simulating  visits to just four planets from the Star Wars movies:  Geonosis (Episode II), Yavin (Episode IV), Hoth (Episode V) and Endor (Episode VI). I didn't notice any in-app purchase options in the game which I appreciated (HATE THOSE) but you can upgrade your ships or open other bonus features by collecting LEGO blocks and studs through game play.  Once you've collected enough LEGO blocks you can also open DARK SIDE campaigns that provide additional scenarios & game play.

The game play reminds me of the old school shooter 1941 and combining that layout with the Star Wars story makes the game somewhat nostalgic with a cool retro vibe.  The graphics on the game are simplistic yet very well done without the LEGO theme overwhelming or distracting the playing experience.  What really impressed me was the soundtrack...the music sounds great and made me feel like I was sitting in a movie theater listening to the Star Wars score.  The controls are very EASY making it great for kids to be able to play or for adults to pull out on their iphone during a lunch break.  You simply control the ship you are flying with your finger moving it around the screen...simple as that.  If you are looking for an indepth game experience this will probably be too short and dull for you, but if you are looking for a game you can play for just a few minutes at a time on an iphone or ipad I believe you'll really enjoy this.  Hey for .99 cents I felt it was a pretty darn good game....and hopefully they will add some free updates with new levels and vehicles down the road.

Check out this trailer to see the gameplay:

CLICK HERE to buy LEGO STAR WARS MICROFIGHTERS.  Sorry I don't know if it is available for android though you'd think all things Star Wars would be also accessible for Droids.

DC COMICS GOES STEAMPUNK

Keep in eye out this February for some interesting artwork coming from the folks at DC COMICS.  During the month of February twenty of their most popular titles will have steampunk themed variant covers.  What is steampunk?  Steampunk is a fantasy genre that is somewhat a combination of science fiction with the Wild West.  Essentially it presents a futuristic world where technology never advanced beyond the steam powered era of the 19^th Century British Victorian era or American Wild West.  Steampunk features lots of retro-futuristic images, in other words futuristic clothes, tools, machines and so on as the people of that time period would have envisioned them using the capabilities of that era.  

The stories themselves in these issues won’t be steampunk this promotion just involves providing variant covers…so it is a gimmick to sell some extra comic books during the month of February by the publisher.  That being said, if you appreciate cool, unique artwork these are some comic book covers you absolutely should keep an eye out for.

Here are a few samples of the upcoming steampunk variant covers:

Aquaman #28 variant by Richard Horle

Batman and Robin # 28 variant by Matteo Scalera

Batman/Superman # 8 variant by Tommy Lee Edwards

Earth 2 # 20 variant by Dan Panosian

Flash # 28 variant by Howard Chaykin with colors by Jesus Aburtov

Justice League #28 variant by Dan Panosian

Interested in actually reading a steampunk inspired comic?  You may want to check out FREE COMIC BOOK DAY which will be providing a sample of STEAM WARS, a Star Wars themed steampunk story.

A not so long ago, in a galaxy relatively close by began an epic struggle on a world seized in the grip of an evil Victorian empire.  Only a ragged alliance of rebels oppose the emperor and his black guard, but hope is fading.  While fleeing from the steam-driven war machines of her imperial pursuers, Duchess Imoen stumbles across the home of the last Dragoon: the legendary storm foil warriors of ancient lore!  This new (but strangely familiar) steam-fantasy epic will give thrills that haven't been felt since 1977!

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY is on May 3, 2014.  On the first Saturday in May each year participating comic book retailers provide comic books for FREE to anyone who visits their store.  To find a participating location or for more information about this event visit www.freecomicbookday.com