Movie Bites - In Which I Mess Up a Pie

For this week's installment of "Movie Bites" over at at the delectable food blog Smithbites.com, I tried to make one of the stunning pies from "Waitress". As usual, I failed. But I had fun doing it!

Not only can you learn from my mistakes, you can watch a gorgeous video of how to make chocolate ganache the right way at the end of the blog. Seriously, the video is mouth-watering.

If you're on a diet, you may want to skip it...it's too much temptation to bear. All that glossy melted dark chocolate. *Homer Simpson drooling noise*

The Week in Geek - June 24, 2011

It was one HECK of a week for a geek. Lots of amazing things happened. Let's recap, shall we?

J.K. Rowling made her official announcement about Pottermore. In a charming little short film, Rowling announced that we could literally write ourselves into the Harry Potter stories.

Yesterday was Joss Whedon's birthday. Happy Birthday to the man who brought us Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly. Thanks man.

Yesterday was also the birthday of The Enchanted Tiki Room which opened on June 23, 1963. Hooray for the pure joy of tropical magic.

I posted two interviews with Star Wars voice actress Ashley Eckstein. (Hear that? That's the sound of me tooting my own horn.)

Writer Cole Farrell wrote a sass-filled re-cap of So You Think You Can Dance that will have you giggling. (The phrases "Aquanet fund" and "backup pantsuits".)

Five Sprockets kept you up to date about what was happening in the world of screenplays and what movies are out this weekend.

Sadly, the last thing I have to report is that Peter Falk has passed away. Must've been tingling in the atmosphere because I watched "Murder By Death" on Netflix just this week. Most people knew him as Columbo. I knew him best...as Grandpa. Godspeed Mr. Falk. Thanks for all the great performances and for being so unique.

Origin Stories - Matt Bergin of "Comics Cure"

Part comic-book like origin story, part "Tales of Interest" from Futurama...enjoy the first in a series I'm calling "ORIGIN STORIES".

For several months I've been thinking about inviting other contributers to BFG. I've met and worked with so many amazing geeks over the years. Behind-the-scenes, the stories we share about our lives can sometimes be...well...inspirational.

After a recent conversation with Ashley Eckstein about the revolutionary idea of (gasp!) supporting our fellow geeks, I feel more compelled than ever to not just spew pop culture references, but to throw the spotlight on fellow writers and artists who are adding something good to the world.

To inaugurate the series, read how Matt Bergin uses his inner geek to spotlight others for a good (nay, great) cause...

Ashley Eckstein Interview - Part 2

In part 2 of Audrey's interview with Ashley Eckstein, the ladies talk creative empowerment, nerd stereotypes and purchasing power...





Please support Eckstein's company by visiting her website www.heruniverse.com to check out plenty of amazing merchandise and to chime in on the messageboards.

Interview with Ashley Eckstein: Why "Her Universe" is More Than Star Wars Shirts

Audrey,Ashley Eckstein and Asoka Tano.

UPDATE: I checked in with Ashley again, six years later. This time for Hello Giggles. And now, back to your regularly scheduled ancient blog post. I also wrote this follow-up treatise on why we care so much about celebrities.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled, ancient blog post:

On June 12th, 2011, I stood in a long autograph line like I have many times before. I had just moved to Orlando. It was the last day of Star Wars Weekends at Disney's Hollywood Studios and I came prepared to meet Ashley Eckstein  in the merchandise tent, Jabba's Hut.

If you don't know her, Ashley is the voice of Asoka Tano in the animated Star Wars show "The Clone Wars". I interviewed her a couple weeks prior about her new company "Her Universe". I thought meeting her in person might make a great ending to the story.

I wasn't prepared to stand in an autograph line and be surrounded by fellow female fans. Almost every other autograph line I've ever experienced has been...I'm sorry to say this...mostly comprised of men. That's not an innately negative thing. I was just used to the feeling of being the odd man out, so to speak.

But under the fluorescent lights of the merchandise tent, everywhere I looked I was surrounded by ladies. Moms wearing Star Wars shirts, pre-teens giggling with lightsabers in hand and tons of adorable littles.

I had never been to any geek-centric event where I was primarily surrounded by fans of my own gender.

This Happened on My Second Day of Living in Florida

THEY CLOSED THE ADVENTURER'S CLUB.

The very next night, I went grocery shopping, fearing that if I didn't stock up on essentials I would happily bankrupt myself on tourist food. (Cuban food! Irish food! A GHIRARDELLI'S CHOCOLATE SHOP!)

Standing in line at my nearest grocery store, I found myself behind an Imperial Guard and two helmet-less Stormtroopers who were also checking out at Publix. You win some, you lose some.

Oh yeah and P.S. I got my first call to do some video/hosting work for Orlando Attractions Magazine on Friday. To see a special sneak preview of Star Trek: The Exhibition at the Kennedy Space Center. A place I have dreamed about visiting ever since I saw Space Camp in fifth grade.

But enough of all this catching up nonsense. Let's talk about Star Wars Weekends. At the gates, crowds were greeted by stormtroopers scanning for Jedi and Star Wars music blasting over the loudspeakers. Again...a tear or two (of sheer joy, I assure you) were shed.

In case you missed it and you were wondering, "Why on Earth would she post a photo of herself making a face that gives her Sharpay forehead?" Look again, above my head and a little to the right. Stormtrooper!

There were dozens patrolling the parks all day. In fact, EVERYONE was in the parks. Vader, Luke and Leia, even the Mos Eisley Cantina Band was out and about.

See? More Jedi than you can shake a stick at. I wouldn't do that if I were you though.

But none of that is even the best part. The best part is the brand new Star Tours ride. Star Tours has been around for years and years. I first visited with my mom, aunt, and cousins around the time that the original ride opened.

There's been so much buzz about the new version of the ride that I tried to ignore completely because I wanted to be surprised...and boy was I surprised. And I want you to be surprised too! So I'm not sharing details. But I will give you some pictures from the ride line and some great shots of Star Wars merchandise from the event tent aptly named "Jabba's Hut".

That would be a Donalf Duck version of Han in Carbonite and if you look very very closely you will see my very favorite henchmen sitting near him on the top right. I heart Salacious Crumb.

No explanation neccesary for these right?

And now for the ride photos..well, line photos. But still. If you don't know, Star Tours follows the story that you're boarding a tourist shuttle in the Star Wars universe. Much like an airport, the line takes you through security and you can also see when flights are arriving and departing. You can even watch C3PO and R2 running pre-flight checks.

(I'll share videos below. Sorry for the jumpy quality, it was shot on my iPhone and I don't have a very steady hand with it yet. I'm used to shooting with a regular camera.)

The outdoor portion of the line is built to look like Endor. No Ewoks though. Bummer.

Here's the video of R2 and C3PO. 

The line has a million little details and flourishes that fans of all ages can appreciate. The level of theming at work here is stupendous. It feels like Star Wars fans get the most love back from their creators out of anyone. All this! This little slice of "Let's all play pretend that Star Wars is real life together for a few weekends." Just for us? Amazing. 

We should all be more thankful to Papa Lucas. (Did that just get weird? Too far?) Anyway, there are also lots of references to the original ride that I appreciated. Including a pilot droid you may recognize, with some occasional flourishes of Paul Reubens voice-over still in play.

Anyway, there was a fun little silhouette section of hallway in the line that I wanted you to see. Of course, when I pointed the camera at it, the fun ones stopped coming by. But still, I want you to get the idea. Here's some video. When you  visit, try to spot recognizable characters and Star Wars species as they pass. If you get motion sickness, you may want to skip this one.

Well, I gave myself an hour of my morning to write a quick blog before it was back to work for me. I'm sitting under a pile of work. All fun work, of course. But work that must be done nonetheless. Being the realist that I am, instead of giving myself the week off to move, I tried to continue working. Bad idea So now it's catch-up time.  Lots of editing and VO and writing.

So here is where I leave you, with the promise of another very cool post coming this week...from Geek Heaven, Wish You Were Here!!! Enjoy the view from my new office.

Busy Movin' On Up

I'm moving! Literally. I don't mean I'm changing url's. I mean I'm currently packing to undergo a thousand mile move. (Cue the Vanessa Carlton...no wait, don't.) Born For Geekdom still has a series of summer interviews that are going to knock your socks off with video, sound and pictures to boot as well as a brand new blog schedule. I'll only be absent for another week or so. Until then, please let Curtis Mayfield do the talking for me while I'm away. Listen to the man. He speaks the truth. (And you thought I was going to post the theme song for The Jeffersons, didn't you? Maybe next time.)