“Creepy” is a broad term that should not be used to describe all weird dudes out there because there are various levels of “creepy-ness”.
On one end of the spectrum, you have the harmless weird co-worker who simply looms over your shoulder a couple “Mississippi’s” too long while you’re typing in your password first thing in the morning.
On the other end of the spectrum is the convict whose knees you would break if they come within 50 yards of your child.
Technology mogul Elon Musk’s father Errol is far from the harmless end of the spectrum.
He even looks like a douche!
Errol recently revealed that, not only had he fathered a child with his step-daughter (who he met when she was 4-years-old), but that it was “God’s plan.”
(In defense of Tesla and SpaceX founder (and geek boy man-crush heart throb) Elon Musk, he has nothing to do with his father and has even referred to him as “a terrible human being” in a November 2017 Rolling Stone interview.)
Elon Musk demonstrating the proper form for a backhand slap or “pimp slap”
The 72-year-old senior Musk told the Sunday Times of London that he fathered a son with 30-year-old Jana Bezuidenhout, the daughter of his former wife Heide. Jana was 4-years-old when Errol married her mother.
So 10-month-old Elliot Rush Musk is Elon’s nephew/ half brother I guess. Without a flowchart, I have a hard time with complex family trees. Unless it is Star Wars!
Apparently it is ok with Errol though because she lived away from family for part of her childhood. Sounds like odd rationale to me…
“We were lonely, lost people,” he said. “One thing led to another — you can call it God’s plan or nature’s plan.”
I’m not so sure mother nature intended man to father children with their own step children they met while pre-school aged…
Legos are one of the most popular and diverse toy lines created in the last 100 years. From the toddler friendly Duplo blocks to the intricate 7,500+ piece Millennium Falcon, everybody loves Legos!
Lego Japan recently released the findings of a real interesting study. The study asked 100 graduates from each of six of Japan’s most elite universities (the University of Tokyo and Waseda, Keio, Hosei, Meiji, and Rikkyo Universities) about their childhood habits and how they think it affected their development.
More than 60 percent of the graduates from each of the universities said they played with Legos as children and 92 percent of them didn’t even use the Lego provided instructions (i.e. built from scratch). When asked how they thought the Legos improved their brain development, more than half claimed it improved their concentration, spacial organization, and creativity.
Last September, the Geeky Family headed over to the Brickworld Fan Exposition to introduce Lil’ G-Man to the wonderful world of Legos. While he was a little too young to appreciate much of the engineering marvels that we saw, he did enjoy tossing the Duplos around.
A few of my buddies have been trying to convince me to get involved in building Legos. I keep hearing it is “a relaxing way to mentally decompress” after work and the kids.
So this weekend, the Geeky Family met up with my high school buddy Elon (Lego enthusiast and advocate) and his daughters for the Lego Brickworld show at the Surburban Collection Showcase Center in Novi Michigan.
Lil’ G-Man makes friends everywhere he goes
I was floored at the creativity and skill levels they had on display! (We left our mark on the graffiti wall!)
Geeky Daddy was here.
The world of Legos is so much more vast and complex than the basic solid color blocks I remember it as a kid.
Here is just a taste of what we saw. (Please keep in mind that pictures and videos can only do these sets so much justice)
Walking in the door, the first thing you see is a gigantic recreation of the U.S.S. Missouri battleship.
This ship was made famous in 1945 when representatives of the Japanese Empire officially surrendered on its deck, ending World War II.
I could not tell if MacArthur had his classic corn cob pipe.
But enough with the history lessons.
How about some “Geeky” stuff!
Like a space mining colony!
The work with the LED lights was amazing
One vendor had an amazing set up (over a hundred linear feet) of motorized Lego factory sets linked in unison. Utilizing computers and timing software, they were able to create an assembly line that moved tiny soccer balls along the entire circuit!
Or a little more classic Star Wars like the Moon of Endor and the second Death Star from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi!
The Lego sets were not just limited to good Star Wars movies either. There was also a gigantic set depicting a scene from Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. (Sorry for the video being horizontal, not sure what happened there)
There was lots of local flair as well as the Detroit area was well represented by the Lego creators!
General Motors Renaissance Center
Lego General Motors Renaissance Center
Ann Arbor’s Michigan Theater
Lego Ann Arbor’s Michigan Theater
Detroit’s Griswold Building
Lego Detroit’s Griswold Building
Detroit’s Dime Building/ Chrysler House
Lego Detroit’s Dime Building/ Chrysler House
Detroit’s Guardian Building
Lego Detroit’s Guardian Building
The Wayne County Building
Lego The Wayne County Building
The Renaissance Faire!
Lego The Renaissance Fair
Even the Grand Hotel on Machinac Island complete with horse poop (thankfully, Legos are not scratch ‘n’ sniff)
But the show wasn’t just for the adults, there were plenty play areas for the kids to do their thing.
Which, for Lil’ G-Man, meant crawling around aimlessly and tossing things on the floor. Just like home.
It was a lot of fun, we met some great people and are looking forward to the next Brickworld event! Thanks Elon!
My friend Elon, his daughter Scarlet, Lil’ G-Man and myself
With San Diego Comic-Con in full swing, we are now getting sneak peeks at the new toys and merchandise coming out this Fall.
You could outrun any sand people with the X-34!
Leading the pack is this incredibly awesome X-34 Land Speeder by Radio Flyer!
Whether heading down to Tosche Station for some power converters, fleeing roaring sand people or just taking a date out for Kool-Aid, this X-34 Speeder has you covered!
The Landspeeder features an interactive dashboard with light-up buttons and sounds taken from the original Star Wars movie, and in addition to two forward speeds (2mph and 5mph) it can also go in reverse.
“Want to swing by the Cantina for some Kool-Aids?”
Powered by a rechargeable 12-volt battery, this non-floating landspeeder will be available exclusively at Toys ‘R’ Us after September 5th at an astonishing price of $500!
The price may seem a bit high. Ever since the XP38 came out, they just aren’t in demand…
Make sure to follow our site and like us on Facebook for more San Diego Comic-Con news!
So Lil’ G-Man brought home another pathogen from the daycare last week. I have yet to see convincing evidence that the “daycare” is not a secret military black site where they are testing new biological weaponry…
Anyway, G is making a strong comeback and is back to setting new world speed records in army crawling. However, a week later, Geeky Daddy is still fighting off the plague that was brought into our home.
“Sorry Daddy”
This results in me simply not having the energy to chase him down every time he crawls off the padded play mat and onto the hardwood floor. I needed a quick and easy way to keep Lil’ G-Man from cracking his head against the floor, fireplace or any other hard objects (in spite of major baby proofing already!).
So I had to think: What would MacGyver do?
Enter the easy to assemble Geeky Daddy Play Pen for under $30!
All you need is an inflatable pool, a hairdryer, some blue painters tape and a pop/soda bottle (Coke if you are in the Greater Atlanta area). I prefer Mt. Dew due to the higher caffeine content!
Step 1: Drink the contents of the pop bottle.
Nectar of the gods!
Step 2. Using a razor blade, cut the pop bottle in half around the equator. (Keep the cut above the bar code and you can still return it for the 10 cent refund if you live in Michigan.)
Step 3. Using the blue painters tape(because it won’t leave a glue residue behind), tape the top of the pop bottle to the hair dryer as shown. Keep the hairdryer on “cool” so the plastic bottle won’t melt.
Step 4: Inflate the walls of the pool starting with the bottom level and working your way up. We chose this pool because it has 22″ tall walls.
Step 5: Inspect the floor of the pool for any plastic shavings of particles from manufacturing that may have fallen in. I vacuumed mine because there were some tiny rubberish pieces.
Step 6: Insert baby (face down) into the pool along with some baby toys.
Step 7: Sit on your recliner, pop open a cold one and congratulate yourself on a job well done, knowing that Richard Dean Anderson would be proud of you!!
(Obviously, you still should never leave your baby unattended, but at least this way you can relax knowing they are not going to crack their head on anything too hard.)
We have a padded playmate that I left beneath the pool. This keeps the floor of the pool soft. If you have a carpeted area, this is probably unnecessary.
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Mattel unveiled their new updated Ken doll line to go along with last year’s updated Barbie line and variety was the order of the day!
The new Ken line up will come with 3 different body types: slim, original and broad (i.e. Dad bod).
“Hey ladies (& guys)!”
The variety goes beyond body builds as well. Skin tones, eye color and accessories, such as hipster style glasses, will also be customizable.
Hairstyle is another way to express individuality and Ken will be expressing his through multiple cuts, such as cornrows and man buns.
(At a previous job, I was actually sent to the H.R. office for referring to a co-worker’s “man bun” as a “douche knot”. If that person is reading this right now, I am sorry. Your douchie-ness is completely unrelated to your hair style choice. My bad.)
Mattel updated their Barbie line-up last year with a similar variety of options so this is a logical continuation of their new all-inclusive and diversified initiative. Could this be the first salvo in a new arms race between Mattel’s Barbie and American Girl Dolls?
I wrote previously this year how American Girl launched their first boy doll “Logan“, so it makes sense that Mattel needs to defend their market share. Especially since the toy market has been declining as children prefer to play with screens now and days as opposed to molded plastic.
I wanted to quickly shout out a “Happy Father’s Day” to all the other daddies out there!
This is my first Father’s Day and the past 8 months have been one heck of a learning experience!
One of the first things I learned was to always be prepared by always having my diaper bag with me at all times (which is why you will see me wearing a ruck sack in most photos)!
“This is not the baby we are looking for. Move along, move along” (Thank you Ryan Adwers for the quote)
Please review my list, enjoy my humor and comment with any essentials you think I may have missed.
But most of all, everyone enjoy the day!
My Lil’ Mr. Stay Puft
Also, most these items are available through Amazon. Please help support the Geeky Family buy making your Amazon purchase through our affiliate link. Thank you.
I have always said, nothing says “I love you dad” like hard liquor and nothing says “I love you geek” more than comic book related merchandise.
Well now for Geeky Daddies you can kill 2 birds with 1 stone with the new Hellwater cinnamon whiskey! This micro distilled 66.6 proof corn whiskey is made with natural cinnamon flavoring and Smokey Mountain Spring water.
Hellwater is officially licensed through Darkhorse Comics and distributed by Prestige Imports.
The entire Geeky Family were at Motor City Comic Con this past weekend and one of the featured guest was Hellboy himself Ron Perlman! My only regret is that I did not have a bottle of Hellwater with us for Perlman to autograph… and possible share a couple shots with.
“I could sure use a shot of Hellwater right now”
Hellwater is available here but you will need to be 21 or over: no sidekicks!
Here in Geeky Manor we have some riveting dialogues. Most of the time GeekyMommie rolls her eyes, but every so often she gets into the conversation. After watching Lil’ G-Man’s interest in petting (and then trying to gnaw on) our kitties and dog, it spurred a conversation on fictional pets.
While there are some awesome fictional dogs (Brian from the Family Guy, Snoopy, Dog Wonder, Timber from G.I. Joe), fictional cats (Battlecat) and even fictional owls (Hedwig), I kept the list to include truly fictional critters.
Ewok
What: These cute, teddybear creatures from the moon of Endor are quite controversial in the Star Wars universe, creating a huge divide in Ewok lovers vs. haters. Thanks Jar-Jar Binks for making Ewok haters dislike you more than said Ewoks. There’s also a great clip on How I Met Your Mother where Barney discusses “The Ewok line” – essentially how the year you were born determines your love or hate of Ewoks. The recording is awful, but it’s too funny not to share.
Pros: These guys are pretty cute (they’re basically walking shih tzus), can take down the Empire with sticks and stones and have an adorable language.
Cons: You need to build them a tree house, I’m not sure if these guys would really be interested in being kept as pets and curious as to the poop situation. Can you litter train an Ewok, or are they more like feral Ewoks that can just poop outside in the trees? I wonder what the city’s policy is for picking up Ewok poop. They also might try to eat you, so yeah, there’s that.
Geeky Mommie shared her ewoks with Lil’ G. Yes, those are the Kenner originals!
Falcor
What: The dragon dog from The Neverending Story (which seriously also looks like a shih tzu!).
Pros: It’s a soft, fluffy dragon that can fly! Imagine how awesome the commute to work would be on Falcor. He’s also a luckdragon who can breathe blue fire, so who needs karma when you have Falcor instead. He also doesn’t need to eat (Luckdragons are constantly drawing heat and air into their scales) so no worries about a huge food bill and therefore making him better than any other dragon. I’d also assume this means he doesn’t have to poop, so total win-win scenario.
Cons: Falcor is a pretty big dragon so you’d need a lot of space for him. Maybe an RV port or something? Although it might be cool if he just wrapped himself around your house – I don’t think any burglars would mess with your house then. And while you’d probably save a ton on the heat bill in the winter, you’re going to get hammered on the air conditioning bill in the summer. I also think that the vet bill would be pretty high and he was kind of a wuss when he needed to get shots.
Still Want One: Falcor is super hard to find – you typically need to find one on Etsy for big bucks. Here’s an imported version that still has a steep price tag, but not as expensive as some of the others! It might make more sense to just get some Falcor artwork for way less money.
Grayson taking Falcor for a test drive.
Tribbles
What: Adorable little purring/cooing balls of fluff that come in multiple colors made famous in the Star Trek episode “The Trouble with Tribbles”. Harry Potter kind of knocked these off with Pygmy Puff’s, although those have cute little eyes, come in pink and purple and don’t breed quite as quickly.
Pros: They’re just so cute. And purring is pretty relaxing. It also has no claws or teeth, so safe and fun for the whole family.
Cons: These guys multiply like crazy and eat everything in sight. Think that you’d be fine with just having one? Nope – they’re born pregnant so you’re going to have multiple Tribbles no matter what. You can always sell them off though for a profit.
Still Want One: Try Tibble Toy’s dual-sound tribble. The balls of fluff in multiple, standard Tribble colors has cooing and agitated sounds. Luckily this one just makes sound – it doesn’t eat all your food and reproduce like crazy.
Grayson had no trouble with this tribble.
Mogwai
What: A small, furry cross between a rodent, koala and a Furby that can walk on two legs, grasp items in its cute little hands and make adorable sounds and sing. They have giant ears and expressive eyes. Made famous by Gizmo in the Gremlins, Mogwai actually means “devil” and “monster” in Cantonese. According to the novel before the movie, they were created on an alien planet to be peaceful little critters. The creator messed up though and only 1% of mogwai are loyal, adoring pet-like creatures. The rest pretty much want to kill you.
Pros: They’re really tiny and portable, you can dress them up in cute little outfits, they understand what you’re saying to them and are just super cute. You could also put them in little Barbie Corvettes or G.I. Joe armored vehicles and race them around the house! It seems as though they’d be easy to litter train as well. If you wanted to be evil, they reproduce pretty quickly and you can definitely sell these guys for a nice profit.
Cons: They just have so many rules. No sunlight, no water and no eating after midnight. Although honestly, is it really that hard to follow the rules? But I’ve always been curious, when can they start eating? Six in the morning, eight in the morning? And can they have liquids other than water? If you get them wet with Mt. Dew or a 5 Hour Energy Shot, will you have a half dozen Mogwai bouncing off the walls?
Still Want One: Get the 6″ Mogwai like Grayson has and likes to face palm or pony up a few more dollars for a replica puppet. It’s a Mogwai puppet – stand by as we go buy this right away.
Grayson enjoyed face palming the Mowgai pretty much every time we tried taking a picture!
Minions
What: Yellow, cylindrical critters that do your bidding. Minions look mostly the same, but can have one or two eyes with goggles over them and typically wear little overalls.
Pros: They are really loyal and are great around the house. They can cook, clean, run errands and even take care of your kids. I for one would love a pet who can change my kid’s diaper. And while they love bananas, I don’t think the overall food bill would be that high. I also think they’re functional enough to use a toilet on their own.
Cons: They can just as easily destroy your house while trying to clean it. I also am not sure that Child Protective Services would approve of minion baby-sitters. They also might steal your clothing to try on.
Just need goggles and G-Man would be the perfect Minion.
Honorable Mentions
Baby from Dinosaurs
This is another critter that probably wouldn’t appreciate being called a pet, but it would be so worth it to hear him say “Not the mama” on a regular basis, especially because Lil’ G-Man can only say “dada” right now. All. The. Time. Never “Mama”…not that I noticed or anything…
Buckbeak from Harry Potter
Flying creatures are always a plus in my book, but he’s a little moody, could eat you and seems a little unsafe for babies.
Toothless from How to Train a Dragon
Another amazing flying creature who can also destroy your enemies, but as mentioned with Falcor, since he has to eat and poop, he’s less appealing. He’s also not soft and fluffy like Falcor or Buckbeak.
What do you think? Are there any fictional critters you’d want as a pet?
Written in collaboration with Geeky Mommie, which is why the word “cute” is used repeatedly. Don’t want to dampen my street cred.
You can shop for Geeky stuffed pets at our affiliate Amazon.com.
Geeky Mommie and I recently watched Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and we both had the same recurring thought: Baby Groot reminded us so much of Lil’ G-Man!
Both Baby Groot and Lil’ G are unbelievably adorable (in my unbiased opinion), both go through life with an extremely limited vocabulary (so far), both love music, love to dance and get into mischief without (or even with) constant adult (or racoon) supervision.
Adorable
A picture says a thousand words.
Both babies can also pull off a cute look in uniforms.
Limited Vocabulary
As we all know, Baby Groot is limited to a strict vocabulary of 3 words in one particular order.
Lil’ G’s vocabulary so far has been limited to “da da da da da da” in durations varying from a few seconds to around 30 minutes.
Unfortunately for Geeky Daddy, one of the longest “da da da” marathons happened on Mother’s Day and Geeky Mommie has not forgotten that…
Love of Music
At the end of Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2, after an emotional roller coaster, Peter Quill sat down with some 80’s music for a quiet, personal, reflective moment. Baby Groot sheepishly approached and Quill shared an ear bud with him for a great father son moment.
This hit close to home for me. There are times where I rock out to some music, look over and see Lil’ G in his Fisher Price 4 in 1 Piano smiling at me and rocking along. Before I know it, an hour has passed and he and I have been sitting on the floor rocking out together the whole time.
Side note: Anybody with a little music lover needs to check out this Fisher Price Piano. G has been playing in it daily for nearly 3 months now. He loves it, never gets tired of all the musical toys on it and (most importantly) has never complained about being placed in it! Here is a quick video of the G enjoying the toy.
Love to Dance
One of our first impressions of Baby Groot is at the end of the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie where he is dancing and interacting with Drax. This scene is very similar to our family room most evenings with G playing the part of dancing Baby Groot and myself as Drax…with the one major difference being I genuinely don’t sharpen daggers in the family room.
Drax and I may have different sized biceps as well…
Nevertheless, when Blue Swede’s Hooked on a Feeling starts playing, neither baby is able to resist putting their moves on display! G’s favorite part is the “Uga Chaka’s”.
Constant Mischief
This might be a bit of an exaggeration in G’s case, but he is now rolling over and just starting to crawl, so images of G like this are on the way!
