Hello everyone!

Karen, a freshman in Northview High School, contacted me today asking for some help from me – and my great readers. Here is what she wrote:

Hi! I’m Karen, a freshman in Northview High School. For my research project, I
am testing the efficiency of giveaways. For said project, I must conduct a
survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/579WPTR My target audience is
people who have taken at least one giveaway before, and since you hosted a few
giveaways, It’d be awesome if you could post it on your blog. Or facebook, or
twitter, or anywhere actually. My due date is the first of February. I’ll be
forever in your debt if you do this!

So let’s help Karen out! Please go and fill out this survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/579WPTR if you have ever entered a giveaway! Thanks!

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Geek Girl Dythia’s new favorite shows

So I have decided that this fall/spring season on TV have had the best new shows. I am in love with Go On, Guys with Kids, and The Neighbors. All three are excellent 30 minute comedy shows. I was very disappointed with Revolution and 666 Park Avenue. I could only stomach a few episodes of each. I really wanted to like 666 Park Avenue, but the story just didn’t rivet me to come back week after week. Revolution had huge plot holes and I just couldn’t connect with any of the characters, so my interest on that show died. Beauty and the Beast was a bust for me, but I do love Arrow. Arrow is based on the comic book hero the Green Arrow….they have taken an old story and twisted it in  a way that draws me in.

As far as shows on their second season or more – I am still in LOVE with Once Upon a Time. Every week they leave me begging for more.  Raising Hope is a gem of a 30 minute comedy show. The story is well written and it is actually funny. Glee is a guilty pleasure of mine, however this season has left me not really caring about the cast. Some of the stories are still alright, but I just don’t see and feel the dynamic with the new cast, as I did with the old.

Well, I just wanted to give you guys an update on what I thought of the new shows. If you get a chance, turn on your satellite tv, and get to watching some of this seasons new shows.

Disclosure: This article may contain sponsored links.

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Did you know Come Home Disney  has a podcast? Well they do – and it is AWESOME!

On this weeks podcast they interviewed Jeff Heimbuch from micechat.com and the communicore weekly podcast. He is also the author of a book called It’s Kind of a Cute Story. The book is all about one of the original Disney Imagineers Rolly Crump and tells his stories.

This podcast episode has some great tid bits of information about Rolly
and Walt. So make sure to stop by and give it a listen.

I love listening to podcasts while I do my daily computer work. I just pull up the podcast I want to hear and minimize it, so that I can continue buzzing around on my computer, but I also get some fun commentary on different subjects (it depends on which podcast I am listening to )

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Each one of these Chewbacca’s are a separate piece of art

Geek Art by Chet Loggins

I recently went to coffee and dinner with a good friend of mine from high school. We were discussing Just a Dash of Geek and geek art, and she told me about these awesome Star Wars pictures done by Chet Loggins. She pulled out her iPhone and started to show them all to me. I instantly fell in love, and knew that I had to share Chet Loggins’ artwork with all of my readers.

Here are a few of his pieces that I nabbed from his website - of course with his permission  (the prev and next are not parts of the art)

Skeletor (with Paisley and Love) oil on canvasboard

Darth Sh*thead, oil on canvas board

Like Gold and Faceted, oil on wood

The Hex, oil on wood

Chet also has plenty of non-geek art…. I just focused on the great geeky ones.

Chet was kind enough to answer a few “interview” questions I had via email….so yes, talented and a nice guy! I wanted to include his answers, so that you all could get a sense of Chet’s personality, and hear a little back ground on him and his art.

1) Could you start with telling us a little about yourself and your art history?

I grew up in Florida, mostly in the Panhandle, but I’ve lived all over the state. Right now I live in Sarasota. I was interested in art at an early age. My artwork was always saved and used by my art teachers as examples for the rest of the class in elementary school. I guess I was born with the talent. I did take college credit art classes in high school, and I went to FSU and got a degree in Studio Art. But I really feel like I mostly just learned how to talk about art in school and that I mainly taught myself.

2) What is you favorite art medium and why? 

I definitely like oil painting the best. There is no other medium that is as fun to work with and forgiving of my mistakes. I hardly even sketch things out anymore. I just can’t wait get the paint on the canvas. I really probably rush into the paint without sketching too much these days, cuz I’ve fallen so in love oil painting. Also the style or theme I work in is called pop-surrealism. I think that’s the best way to describe what I’ve been doing the last 10 years or so. I’m a pop-surrealist oil painter.

3) What is your muse? What really makes the creativity flow?

My muse? I don’t know. I just try to impress myself and keep getting better. Crazy ideas for paintings pop in my head all time. It feels great when I can actually make one of these ideas come to life. I like to do things that I think would be funny or weird as oil paintings. I don’t think about where anyone would actually hang the paintings.

4)Being a HUGE Geek, I must ask, what is your favorite geek property? I see you have done Star Wars and He-Man – but are there others?

I did a lot of Star Wars and Godzilla stuff in the past, because I used to be primarily a still-life painter, and if I could get my hands on the toys I loved to paint them. Godzilla and Star Wars toys are much more fum to paint than bowls of fruit and vases of flowers, not that I don’t paint those sometimes too. Lately I’ve been trying to get away from relying on painting from objects me or friends of mine actually own, and using more of my imagination. I really liked doing the series of portraits of Chewbacca in front of flowery Van Gogh wallpaper. I did those without having Chewbacca figures to look at. You can see one HERE.

5) What can we expect to see in the future as far as geek oriented properties? Do you have any ideas in the works?

Right now I’m working on a family style portrait of Chris Elliot from the early 90′s cult classic sitcom “Get a Life” with the alien SPEWEY from one of the episodes of the show. I don’t know if that’s exactly geeky, but I know that at the time (1990- 1992) a lot of geeky people liked the show. All the episodes were finally released on DVD last year, and I was inspired to do a painting about it somehow. Besides that I also would like to do a Van Gogh style portrait of Azog the Defiler from the new Hobbit movie soon.

I want to say “Thank you so much” to Chet Loggins for allowing me to badger him with questions, and borrow his art for you all to see. Please visit Chet’s website at chetloggins.com. He also has a blog, so you can keep up on him and his art. And like everyone now-a-days he has a Facebook art fan page and his actual Facebook page. Please take a moment to go visit and say hi

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Just a Dash of Geek’s Moment in the Spotlight with Interview

Hey Guys!

Well this is it! I finally got my moment in the spotlight. *Packs bags and buys tickets to Hollywood* Just a Dash of Geek, and myself, were picked by Andrew, owner of Mommy’s Busy….Go Ask Daddy, to be this weeks spotlighted blog. Ok, so maybe I won’t be going to Hollywood yet *Starts unpacking bag* but it is a real honor to be recognized by another blogger.

Andrew contacted me a few weeks ago and asked if I would like to be spotlighted and be interviewed. I jumped at the chance. Being a blogger, it was easy to answer the interview questions. What subject do I know more about than myself?

So, I would be honored if you would take a moment and go read All about Just a Dash of Geek and if you leave a comment I will be even more honored. While you are there – make sure to enter Mommy’s Busy….Go ask Daddy’s Her Universe Giveaway (it is on the right hand side under LATEST GIVEAWAYS) You know how much I adore Her Universe!

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The Ringling Circus – so much has changed, but one thing has not

So I didn’t get any pictures at the circus – so you guys get to suffer my art – yet again…. OH THE TORTURE!

On Thursday night, we took the Geekling to his first circus. It was a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus….the best. I won 4 tickets to see the show and I wanted to share the experience with my readers.

First of all, let me give you a bit of background information. I was born and raised in Sarasota, Florida. Sarasota is/was known as a circus town (don’t get me started on whether it still is – touchy subject) Anyways, it is known to be a circus town, because in 1927 John Ringling decided to bring his circus to that town in their off seasons. He built his house the Ca’ d’Zan Mansion which still stands today. It is gorgeous, and I want to live there……but lets not deviate into dream land. Sarasota has the Ringling Museum, the Circus Museum, AND the Ringling School of Art and Design. My mother has even told me stories of playing with the Wallendas’ children (The Flying Wallendas) when she was a child.

So when I found out I had won tickets and would be able to take my son to see Ringling Bros as his first circus, I was happy, to put it mildly.

The circus was in Orlando, which is a 1 1/2 drive from my home, but a real circus is worth it. So we drove – traffic was a nightmare. Finally we arrived at the Amway Center. Yep you got that a center. No big colorful tent. No clowns mingling with the circus goers. It was odd. We pay the $10 parking fee – OUCH!, and make our way to will call to pick up the tickets. We get the tickets, go inside, and are directed to the escalator to go up. And then up more. And then up even more. That’s right – 3rd floor, nose bleed. I got the tickets for free, so I wasn’t upset, but they charged $15 per ticket to sit that high up. I would hate to see what floor level cost.

Since we had skipped dinner, we went to the concession stand. Hot Dogs – $4.50, a small thing of french fries (the basket fit in the palm of my hand) $4, a bottle of water – $4, Popcorn – $10, Cotton Candy – $12. Needless to say, the Geekling ate and hubby and I waited to eat. We just couldn’t afford to all eat there. (The geekling had 2 hotdogs, fries, and a water, which we did share)

After we got our food, we went and sat down. All of the bad negative things I was thinking melted away when I saw my son’s expression when he saw the animals and performers. He LOVED it. I do have to say the circus has changed, but my son doesn’t know that. I feel sad that he won’t know the circus I knew, the smells, the sounds, and the experiences. But that is just the progression of our society. Things were different for me than they were for my parents…. some changes are good and some are bad, but the kids still smile, laugh and enjoy it. We will just have to roll with the punches of change – whether we like it or not.

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