Top Five Favorite geekdoms, in no particular order, and why I love them

11)      Star Wars. This will always, no matter what George Lucas does to it,  be one of my favorite geek epics. The story transcends the genre; an epic adventure of the under dogs over coming galactic sized odd s to free the people from tyranny. A fight for what is right against what is wrong. And Ewoks.  As an adult I have read a LOT about the ideas behind the story and found that, though I did not know anything about “the hero with a thousand faces” at eight years old, the epic tale touched me on a deeper level even then. Plus; Han Solo and light sabers are totally rad.

22)      Lord of the Rings. For years I said that nothing could come close to my love of Star wars. I had read the books and seen the 80’s cartoons and wasn’t expecting much more than a fantasy flick when I went to see The Fellowship in the theater. I was moved. Firstly, Peter Jackson had taken the long winded story of Tolkien and made it real, bringing to life one of the most visually stunning worlds of fantasy I have ever seen. Keeping to true to real film making (Take note Lucas) he used models and camera tricks instead of giving into the computer world. The story was edited in the perfect way, peeling away all the extras Tolkien felt necessary, and giving us a true film.  Wonderful casting, gorgeous settings and Andy Serkis together make Lord of the Rings one of the best trilogies of all time.

33)      Nightmare before Christmas…( also anything Tim Burton touches)

The music, the world, and the story all speak to some weird girl part of me that still lurks in corners with her hair dyed black knowing no one gets her. Well, jack gets her. A friend makes fun when I say I love jack, but to hear his mournful cry for some lost part of himself brings a tear every single time. Also, for those of us who enjoy the secular, pagan aspects of the December holiday, Burton and his team brought new meaning to X-Mas, giving us a new holiday to celebrate from October to December.

44)      Harry Potter.  Some of you may know my Maiden names happens to be Potter, and so, in an ongoing effort to be nothing like the masses ( Pretty sure I’m losing) I refused to read the books, though I did get them for my brother since they were really written for his age group ( he would be that same age as harry). I saw the first movie and found it cute; typical kid movie with a neat wizard idea. And then my son was born and I was stuck in a chair nursing for hours. “I need a book,” I told my husband “a long one” And so he brought me the newly released fifth book of the series, The Order of the Phoenix. As an avid reader I normally wouldn’t start a book series in the middle, but at the time I didn’t care too much about being caught up…until Sirius fell behind the curtain. I needed more. I stole back the books I had given my little brother and dove in. Since then I can’t get enough Potter. I have read the entire series at least twice (some of the books three or four times); I have a cloak of my own and have knitted many a Gryffindor scarf for those I love.  J.K created a story for children that became a story for everyone.  Her skill grows as the characters do, and as we learn about the Deathly Hallows our hearts are full of a fine mix of hope and dread for the characters we grow to love. The movies have been done in a way to allow everyone to love Potter, and though I like them it is the books I LOVE!

55)      Books. That’s right, all of them. It is a rare day when I come across a book I won’t finish. Heck, I even read the Twilight series (she says, hanging her head in shame).

When I was very young, going through the grind that is elementary school, I was a late reader. Really late. So late they put me in special class with the kid who eats buggers and occasionally wets himself.  They gave me test after test, kept telling me I was smart and asking why I didn’t get it. Turns out my brain isn’t like everyone else’s, I am dyslexic. It was a fight, at times I wanted to give up; who cares about reading anyway. Then a teacher, one of the four or so I had throughout my whole school experience that actually seemed to care about my future, told me I would make a great writer ( mostly because I was a big liar on show and tell days). So I fought on, and then, one day on the freeway, I read a sign. All on my own.  From that day on I read everything I could get my grubby mitts on.  Books became my best friends; they didn’t care that I wasn’t as rich as some of the other kids, or that I was a little weird. In fact, in the pages of books I found that most of the heroes ARE the weirdoes!  And so it was that I embraced my weirdness and made my lifelong goal becoming a writer, to tell stories to the weirdoes without friends; without hope.

 And here you are, reading my words. Success?

So, if you’ve read something good, let me know.