Geek poetry contest winners!
The results are in!
We sponsored a geek poetry contest with GeekMom.com and here are the winning poems.
Readers of Geek Mom were asked to submit a poem in any form of their choosing (haiku, rap, free verse, Klingon sonnet) on any geeky topic: Tolkien, Star Wars, Star Trek, gelatinous cubes, World of Warcraft war chants, hobbit drinking songs, odes to Harry Potter, ballads to honor Gary Gygax.
Sample winning haiku:
Samwise and Frodo:
You think they’re about to kiss,
But they never do.
--Natalie Jones
Poems that somehow managed to work in the name "Ethan Gilsdorf" (which, according to legend, is either Elvish or Elvis) were hard to resist. Winners got autographed copies of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms.
Hope you enjoy! The rest of the bards' fabulous winning works can be read here.
You can also read the other non-winning but nonetheless worthy entries here
Geek pride comes to Providence
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WRNI) - For role players, gamers and sci-fi fans alike, the term geek doesn't have the same sting it used to. In fact, many are now embracing that very term. You can include authors Ethan Gilsdorf and Tony Pacitti on that list. They'll both be panelists tonight in Providence for R2-D20, and Evening of Sci-Fi Fandom and Fantasy Gaming Geekery. WRNI's Elisabeth Harrison spoke to the two authors about the event.
a night with "Dormia"
Last night at the Brookline Booksmith, Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski read from (and acted out) their new YA/all-ages novel Dormia. The book tells the story of another young boy (not THAT young boy) with special gifts and a hidden lineage that he gradually figures out on a world-girdling quest.
Twelve-year-old Alfonso Perplexon has a sleepwalking problem -- sometimes he wakes up and find himself at the top of a tree or having accomplished some amazing feat. In his hometown of World’s End, Minnesota, the dad is out of the picture (a familiar theme in Star Wars, E.T., HP, and other boys-to-men coming of age stories).Alfonso and Mom carry on. Then a stranger comes to town, a quirky man who claims to be Alfonso’s long lost uncle. The man tells of the kingdom of Dormia, far in the Ural Mountains, and that Alfonso has the gift of "wakeful sleeping." This lost land is in trouble, and only Alfonso has a chance to save it. So out the door they go, headed for adventure, picking up oddball characters and mishaps along the way.
At the reading, Halpern did a masterful job play-acting some key scenes from the book, and Kujawinski deadpanned the tale of how this team of authors managed to write the book from the distance of New York, Paris, Israel and a Navajo Reservation in northwestern New Mexico. Their story inspired me to try my hand at spinning my own tale, or perhaps collaborating with my pal JP (the dude who taught me D&D; you can read about that in Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks.)
And the funny thing is, there's a 12 year old boy gamer named Alex who I talk to in my book. And I was 12 when I began to play D&D. What's the attraction to age 12 and all this fantasy stuff?
No longer 12 years old: Ethan Gilsdorf and Jake Halpern show off their books
Harry Potter comes to Boston!
The Museum of Science in Boston made this announcement today:
"This fall, Harry Potter fans will get the chance to step inside the famous wizard's magical world through Harry Potter: The Exhibition, which opens at the Museum of Science, Boston on October 25, 2009, at 9 a.m. Tickets are now available online at mos.org or by calling 617-723-2500, 617-589-0417 (TTY). Visitors will be able to experience dramatic displays inspired by the Hogwarts™ film sets and see the amazing craftsmanship behind authentic costumes and props from the films. Harry Potter: The Exhibition will run in Boston through February 21, 2010."
Cool stuff includes "display Harry Potter artifacts in settings inspired by film sets, including the Great Hall, Hagrid's hut, and the Gryffindor common room" and "a 500-pound, 10-foot tall chess piece"
Great news. But it raises the question: what business does a science museum have displaying movie props and special effects displays? Don't get me wrong: I love these movie magic exhibits. The MOS hosted both a Lord of the Rings and Star Wars movie show. But I wonder if, in the words of Ioannis Miaoulis, President and Director of the Museum of Science, "This exhibit will spark their curiosity and imagination, leading them to experience the excitement of discovery that's also at the heart of the Museum's science and technology exhibits and programs."
Or maybe, just maybe, it will net the museum a crapload of money. Which isn't a bad thing. But I'd rather Miaoulis just call a spade a spade and say, hey, this is going to pay the heating bills and help update our cutting-edge technology displays that date back to the 1980s.
The best fantasy franchise is...
Harry Potter?
According to a poll conducted by the website Moviefone and Bebo, Harry Potter has been voted the Best Fantasy Franchise in a new Internet poll. The result are striking: Harry got 73 per cent of votes, Lord of the Rings got 16, Twilight eight and lowly Chronicles of Narnia nabbed just three percent of the votes. Of course, this is probably a classic case of short-term cultural memory loss. Because of the frenzy surrounding the Half-Blood Prince release, everyone has Harry on the mind. Had you asked folks at the height of Rings mania back in 2001-2003, you might have gotten a much different answer. And probably fewer teenage girls voting. The other issue being, none of the news reports of this poll stated how the data was gathered, how many or who was surveyed, or anything else about the methodology. Maybe only catholic girls schools were targeted in online banner ads showing a half-naked Daniel Radcliffe.
--- Ethan Gilsdorf, author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks
wizard rock radio!
If you need your fix of Harry Potter-themed "wizard rock," look no further.... thanks to the coolness over at Paste magazine.
--- Ethan Gilsdorf, author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks
Egad! someone who does not like Harry Potter?
Ok, so let's say you hate Harry Potter. Bryony Gordon, the author of this story (originally appearing in the Telegraph UK) bravely if foolhardily admits he'd enjoyed a blissful period thinking that Harry Potter did not exist at all, because no book or movie had been released in ages (ages for Harry Potter fans, anyway). "For two blissful years my life has been a Harry Potter-free zone. No talk of muggles, or quidditch, or Hogwarts or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." And for this London resident, "nobody has made any really unfunny jokes about the train leaving from platform 9¾, which is good, because it means I have had less cause to hit people over the head with a rolled up newspaper." Yuk yuk.
Which just goes to show you, you can't force geekdom on anyone. You can't make a person like a book, a movie, a pop cultural phenom. But this author goes out on a limb a little further, to say, "it won't surprise you to learn that I don't understand grown adults who like Harry Potter... It's a bit sinister, actually. In my mind, you may as well sit on the train reading a Thomas the Tank Engine picture book making choo-choo noises." Then the "escape" claim: "I know that mature fans of Harry Potter claim it allows them to escape to another world, that it helps them to feel young again."
For me, there's nothing wrong with that. But for Mr. Gordon, I sense the kid's play that Harry Potter evokes is shameful.
Gordon cleverly exits on a joke "But when the first one came out I was 17 and by the time that the final movie instalment is released I will be 31. That doesn't make me feel young. It makes me feel really, really old. And there's nothing magic about that." And leaves me wondering if there's something else here, unexamined, that explains his aversion to all things Hogwarts.
--- Ethan Gilsdorf, author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks
Harry and the Potters in a cave
If you happen to be in the Boston area, come help celebrate the July 15 release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with "A FREE SHOW in a CAVE!" Well, Harry and the Potters say, "Actually, not a cave, but a chasm. CLOSE ENOUGH! How cool is that? You gotta come!" This is an unplugged concert/hike/sing-a-long in a place called Purgatory Chasm (which, coincidentally, I wrote about ages ago for the Boston Globe). Anyway, their event info is here:
07.14.09 | Sutton, MA | Purgatory Chasm | ALL AGES | 8:15pm | FREE!!! | Facebook
Here’s the plan: Meet at 8:15pm in the parking lot of Purgatory Chasm. Bring a flashlight! At 8:30, we will hike up into the chasm (it is a very short hike - <10min). Once we're in the chasm, Harry and the Potters will play a bunch of unamplified songs. Sing-alongs galore! Bring your voice! After we've done a bunch of singing and stuff, we will go to the movies together! We're planning on attending the 12:05am screening of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at the Blackstone Valley 14 in Millbury, MA which is only about 10 minutes from the Chasm. Follow this link to buy tickets to the 12:05am screening!
--- Ethan Gilsdorf, author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks
Harry and Potters video
here's the direct link, in case you missed it
--- Ethan Gilsdorf, author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks
Harry and the Potters 500th show
If you haven't seen Harry and the Potters, here's a good introduction. Two brothers -- Paul and Joe DeGeorge -- who are the sweetest guys you'll ever meet. And they can rock. Here's them playing their 500th show in their own hometown of Norwood, Massachusetts. As their website puts it: "mere blocks from our boyhood home, in the very elementary school that we attended so long ago, in the same cafetorium where Paul sang the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” theme song in the 5th grade musical and where Joe witnessed Ellen Greely throw up through her recorder (@vomitwords) during the 3rd grade recital."
I profile them in my book (chapter 9, in fact).
Lyrics to "Dumbledore"
You were the best we ever had
You were the best we ever had (you were the best)
I wish that we could go down to the Room of Requirement
And we could go bowling just like you used to
Back when Hogwarts Bowling Club was cool
You were the best we ever had
You were the best we ever had (you were the best)
Dumbledore
We're here with you tonight
We'll carry on the fight
Everything will be alright
And everyone is fine
You were the best we ever had (you were the best)
I wish we could have shared more together
But now you're off on your next adventure
Dumbledore
We'll fight for you tonight
Dumbledore
We all fight for you tonight
In our hearts we'll never let you die
Your love is keeping us alive
You'll never be gone as long as we're here
You'll never be gone as long as we're here
You'll never be gone as long as we're here
We'll carry on 'cause there's nothing to fear
Dumbledore
We'll fight for you tonight
Dumbledore
We all fight for you tonight
In our hearts we'll never let you die
Your love is keeping us alive
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
You'll never be gone as long as we're here
You'll never be gone as long as we're here
You'll never be gone as long as we're here
We'll carry on 'cause there's nothing to fear
Dumbledore
We'll fight for you tonight
Dumbledore
We all fight for you tonight
In our hearts we'll never let you die
Your love is keeping us alive
Dumbledore
We'll fight for you tonight
--- Ethan Gilsdorf, author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks
This is the direct URL for the Harry and the Potters movie I shot -- apparently amazon.com does not allow you to embed videos ...