What I'm Geeking Out About This Week - 05/09/14

Hello and welcome to another week of awesome geek outs. This week, I chose to highlight some current events that I wanted to provide some commentary on and keep the discussion going.

• Black Milk Clothing

This story broke a few days ago and essentially involved the company, Black Milk Clothing, botching the response to a distasteful picture that held to the old nerd stereotype that we're all ugly and unfashionable. They could have just apologized and took the photo down but instead, Black Milk engaged with their audience trying to defend their post and never took down the photo that people found to be offensive. Check out the post for the full saga but it just reaffirmed my support for the nerd community that we still have to put up with this sort of behavior that makes us feel ashamed for being into all the awesome stuff we enjoy. We'll just have to keep fighting the good fight it looks like.

• #BringBackOurGirls

I've seen this social media campaign gaining some steam lately, which focuses on the effort to find missing Nigerian girls who were kidnapped last month. The story blew up when it was discovered the likely fate of these girls; sex trafficking. The entire world is getting behind the effort to support finding them before it is too late, even First Lady Michelle Obama (click above). I'm always proud of the potential of social media in times like this, when a global community is formed behind a single cause.

• Colleges' Hiring Practices..."Amateur, Inconsiderate, & Unprofessional"

I've been chronicling my own job search for a series of posts over at The Student Affairs Collective, and it has been a rough few months. Between the stress of a gauntlet of interviews, the travel, and the anxiety of not hearing back while others are accepting offers, it has been hard for me and I know a great deal of the chaos is due to the hiring practices of colleges and universities. A large gap is the lack of communication. This article goes into this and it is just the simple gesture of keeping the candidates informed of what is going on rather than letting them come up with their own worst-case scenarios in their minds to torture themselves with. I understand it is a busy time for everyone but we could a lot better with how the "process" we're all supposed to trust is run.

Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome weekend!

New Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Trailer!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sHMCRaS3ao] I was just talking about this movie in a recent geek out! This trailer is awesome and I am even more excited for this movie now!

What I Was Geeking Out About: April 2014

Hail good geeks and nerds! I had another month of fantastic geek outs in April. Check out the lists of everything below!

• Week of April 04
• Week of April 11
• Week of April 18
• Week of April 25

Let that geek flag fly, my friends!

Movie Review Monthly: April 2014

Hey movie fans! April was another great month for movie reviews. I tried to provide a wide breadth of films for you all to enjoy. Check them all out below!

• Flight
• How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
• Terminator 2: Judgement Day
• The Kitchen

Live long and prosper my friends!

Book Review: Nerds

One of the recent pinnacle texts exploring the anti-geek bias, Nerds: How Dorks, Dweebs, Techies, and Trekkies Can Save America, And Why They Might Be Our Last Hope (originally released in 2007 with a 2011 reprint) is written by David Anderegg, Ph.D who comes from a child therapy background and takes the focus of his book to what he knows best; childhood.

Much of our perceptions of the world, good or bad, are formed when we are children. If we are praised or bullied about certain things, especially in a recognizable pattern over time, we're going to develop an understanding of how the world works from these experiences. An unfortunately common occurrence in schools is kids being bullied for being "nerdy". This could take shape in any number of ways, and Anderegg goes in depth to explore where this comes from in a historical context as well as a cultural one for America specifically. It is a fascinating topic to explore, especially due to the fact that America is rather unique in its bias towards geeks and nerds or a certain anti-intellectualism, as it is formally referred to in the book.

A strong point that Anderegg makes is how dangerous this bias towards geeks and nerds is for our country in terms of our collective psyche as well as our economy if we create a culture where being interested in math, science, and/or technology is constantly discouraged by bullying in our schools and negative images in our media. While strides have been made in recent years, we still have a lot of work to do to break down these stereotypes and take back the mantle of geek pride.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the topic of geek culture. I read it on the recommendation of a mentor of mine in this space and was glad I took some time for it. It definitely adds some scholarly credibility to any discussion you have on the topic.

Movie Review Monday: Don Jon

Greetings! This week, we're talking about the recent movie Don Jon (2013), which is the brainchild of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who wrote, directs, and stars in this fresh, unique, and original romantic comedy. Starring alongside Levitt is Scarlett Johansson and Julianne Moore. All of the actors in this movie do a splendid job with the material, which showcases a more realistic love story for the main characters, which we have come to expect from JGL in such movies as 500 Days of Summer and 50/50 (both of which I highly recommend). Part of the unique aspect of this movie is the main character's obsession with pornography and how that affects his relationships with women, which I think is a very interesting avenue to explore for a romantic comedy.

The cinematography of this movie and the pacing is kinetic, keeping you engaged throughout. It ends in an unexpected fashion and defies all the typical rom-com stereotypes, which I enjoyed greatly. I admit that I was initially drawn to this movie for the creative influence of JGL (who I respect greatly), but I am happy to have seen it in theaters when it was released and am glad to see it streaming for more to enjoy.

*Fair warning, however, since much of the plot surrounds JGL's character's obsession with porn, you'll see a lot of flashes and sounds from him caving into his addiction. Just know this going in!

So, if you want an original romantic comedy to stream that will keep you engaged (and don't mind the aforementioned glimpses of porn) check this movie out and come back next week for another great movie available on Netflix!

Take care!

Steal These Innovative Ideas from Courtney O'Connell

I'm a big fan of Courtney's and I love these new, simple, innovative ideas she came up with. Check them out and use them to get out there to better engage students on your campus!

What I'm Geeking Out About This Week - 05/02/14

Hey folks! Check out this cinematically focused week in geek:

• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

I was checking out an anticipated list of Summer 2014 movies recently, and it dawned on me (see what I did there?!) that this movie is coming out in a few months. It hasn't gotten a lot of press since X-Men and Spider-Man have been dominating lately, but I am really looking forward to this movie. The first film was a dark horse that surprised everyone and I was a huge fan. I am very eager to see where they take the story further.

• The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Needless to say I am very excited for this movie. I'm a huge Spidey fan and all the stuff I've seen looks pretty great. I do worry that I have seen like all of the movie from all the promo images and trailers but I am sure there is still great stuff I haven't seen yet. I'm going to see it this weekend sometime so check out my tweets to get my immediate thoughts.

• Star Wars: Episode VII

So the new cast was announced recently and as I reflected on the reveal, I am still maintaining my initial thoughts on the possibility of this new proposed trilogy; cautiously optimistic. The cast as it stands now had a severe lack of female actors in it and I was never committed to the need for the original trilogy cast to be involved. I'm happy to have them passing the torch but it still feels like they are shoehorned in somehow without knowing exactly the story they want to tell. There is so much potential here but there is also the chance for another prequel trilogy that is divisive and becomes just a cash grab. We'll see what comes from all this as the months go on.

Thanks for stopping by! Come back next week for more geeky awesomeness. Have a great weekend!

Should You Drink a Bottle of Wine a Day?

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzUYAQZnQyw] This is an awesome video from the folks over at Discovery News (DNews for short). I really enjoy all the cool, educational videos they put up on their YouTube channel, all in short little clips no longer than a couple of minutes. I feel better about spending time with these videos rather than some of the other fodder on the Internet. It does a brain good!

Movie Review Monday: The Kitchen

This week, I'm reviewing a hidden gem that has been lurking on my "recommended" swath of films from Netflix, The Kitchen (2012), which stars Laura Prepon (now of Orange is the New Black fame) and fine ensemble of actors who all help create a unique, originally crafted film that I very much enjoyed.

This unexpected cinematic joy centers around, you guessed it, a kitchen on the day of Prepon's 30th birthday. The movie takes place over the course of that single day but the viewpoint we take stands centered on the kitchen, never leaving this setting, while only peering out toward other rooms in the house. It's a neat way to shoot a movie and allows for us to see "private" conversations between characters about other characters, see people just passing through and there is just a feel like you're actually just hanging out in the kitchen all day, witnessing whatever happens to pass by. There is a kinetic feel as well that is well captured once the birthday party begins.

All the actors, while all unknown to me for the most part (I've seen Dreama Walker from Don't Trust the B**** in Apt. 23), all do a great job in their roles, showcasing three-dimensional characters, creating a cool group of people who are all hanging out for the day. This movie is great for the sole fact of it's originality. It's a simple story told in a unique fashion so I enjoyed it for this accomplishment; that it didn't try to do too much but seemed to do just enough.

Check out The Kitchen, streaming now on Netflix!

Come back next week for another great film to watch! Take care and thanks for stopping by!