Locally Geek - Wicked World Scaregrounds

As we begin to wrap up the Halloween season, I thought I'd share some thoughts on a haunted attraction in Lexington in my second installment of Locally Geek. Locally Geek will be a way for me to showcase some awesome geeky places wherever I may be. I'm currently living in the Cincinnati metro, so it might be something up here, or it could be a place I happen to visit while visiting friends in Lexington, or it could be a location in a completely new city. There won't be a hard rule to the criteria other than it's something that contributes to the geek culture of a given place.

If you listened to Episode 3 of The Eclectic Geek Podcast, you'll know that Leila and I were trying to decide where we wanted to go for our haunted expedition when I was in town this weekend. We decided on Wicked World Scaregrounds, which took in Terror on Tates Creek and added the Nightmare Haunted House as a second component.

Trailer Tuesday 10/29

Gravity ruled the box office for several weeks since the last Trailer Tuesday. The Fifth Estate quickly tanked, though its star garnered much acclaim. Honestly, I had no intention of seeing it, even for Benedict Cumberbatch. I am excited, however, to see him in Twelve Years a Slave and August: Osage County, the latter I believe might be my family's Christmas movie now that Monuments Men has been moved to February. And, of course, I'm waiting patiently for The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug. This pretty much is the year of Cumberbatch and I'm perfectly okay with that.

Flashback Friday - Are You Afraid of the Dark

As a child of the 1990s, I spent many a weekend watching marathons of Nickelodeon's Are You Afraid of the Dark. The tales of the Midnight Society both entertained and frightened my childhood self and I have fond memories of the series.

Submitted for your approval, I call this story... Flashback Friday: Are You Afraid of the Dark?

This is a selection of my favorite episodes from the show. I've tried to find a video for all of them. Some are split into pieces, but some of these actually have the full episode online. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what your favorite episode is.

The Tale of Midnight Madness - Season 2, Episode 2
Dr. Vink sells a copy of Nosferatu to a failing theater and strange things begin to happen.



The Tale of the Night Shift - Season 5, Episode 12
A girl starts a volunteering with her local hospital and soon notices that patients and staff are being turned into some sort of vampire-zombie hybrid.

Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8scaAkakC0

The Tale of the Thirteenth Floor - Season 2, Episode 4
A vacant floor in their building suddenly becomes occupied and two kids realize that things aren't exactly as they should be.



The Tale of the Frozen Ghost - Season 2, Episode 9
Three words: I'm so cold. Bonus Melissa Joan Hart (still at the height of Clarissa Explains It All) as the babysitter!


The Tale of Quicksilver - Season 3, Episode 11
Demonic possession, witchcraft, and Tatyana Ali, who was riding the wave of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. This is a great episode!



The Tale of Laughing in the Dark - Season 2, Episode 2
Even for the second episode, I think that this had definite scare factor. I never had much of a problem with clowns when I was a kid, but this episode started changing my opinion, though this is more about the man behind the clown rather than the clown itself.



The Tale of The Lonely Ghost - Season 1, Episode 3
Another very early episode, this remained one of the best ghost stories of the series and even had a happy ending. Super creepy.



The Tale of The Hatching - Season 2, Episode 12
Okay, so this episode made me never want to attend a boarding school. Also, as I recollect, I think what scared me most about this episode was the idea of hiding in plain sight, that a harmless boarding school could be a mask for something much more nefarious. It also makes me think of Human Nature/The Family of Blood from Doctor Who, maybe because I think that Son of Mine would fit right in.



The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner - Season 4, Episode 9
A comic book villain a la The Joker turns his victims into drooling fools. Pretty darn creepy.



The Tale of Dead Man's Float - Season 5, Episode 1
A school is built on top of a graveyard. Nothing bad can happen, right? Spoiler alert: it can.



What's your favorite episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark?

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The Eclectic Geek Podcast Episode 3

Leila and I are back for Episode 3 of The Eclectic Geek Podcast! On this week's show we are celebrating all aspects of Halloween. We talk about fun activities in Central KY, costumes, movies, and share our love of Hallow's End in World of Warcraft. Our Fandom Farewell this week has a Doctor Who theme as we squee about the release of a trailer for the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Episode "The Day of the Doctor" and the discovery of several lost episodes from the Classic Who era.

Leila and I in 2010 at Lexington History Museum's Scary Night event

Hallow's End: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/7305445/
Haunt World Kentucky Haunted Houses: http://www.hauntworld.com/kentucky_haunted_houses
Lexington Public Library Events: http://www.lexpublib.org/calendar
Wicked World Scare Grounds: http://www.wickedworldscaregrounds.com/

Fandom Farewell

Lost Doctor Who episodes found: http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/oct/11/doctor-who-lost-episodes-found-download-bbc

Jedi Academy Giveaway at The Fandomonium: http://thefandomonium.blogspot.com/2013/10/an-eclectic-geek-podcast-celebration.html


Be sure to like Kentucky Geek Girl on Facebook and follow my daily updates on Twitter! If you have any questions or want to discuss partnership opportunities, be sure to send me an email.

Locally Geek: Cincinnati Haunts

As I said yesterday in my Flashback Friday post, I love scary stuff. I've always been a huge fan of horror movies, haunted houses, horror literature, et cetera. I absolutely love being scared. Psychological horror is my favorite rather than slasher films, though I am a fan of those too. With less than two weeks until Halloween, I wanted to go ahead and share something in what is the first in a continuing series on the blog called Locally Geek.

Locally Geek will be a way for me to showcase some awesome geeky places wherever I may be. I'm currently living in the Cincinnati metro, so it might be something up here, or it could be a place I happen to visit while visiting friends in Lexington, or it could be a location in a completely new city. There won't be a hard rule to the criteria other than it's something that contributes to the geek culture of a given place.

Flashback Friday - Awesome 80s Horror

With Halloween just 13 days away, I thought I'd use the next couple Flashback Friday posts to delve into the macabre, to excavate the terrifying, to unearth the otherworldly. Today I'm going to talk about some of my favorite horror movies from the 1980s. Having been born in 1987, I'm in this weird place when it comes to being an 80s kid or a 90s kid. I kind of have the best of both worlds. Watching a lot of cable TV as a kid, I got to watch a lot of awesome movies, especially horror films. We also had a couple of really great movie stores in Flatwoods, first Movie House Video then Monster Video, which specialized in scary flicks.

I've put together a few of my favorite horror movies from the 1980s. This is (as are all of my Flashback Friday lists) by no means exhaustive, I just wanted to showcase a few of my favorites, which is also why my posts aren't usually ranked.

I've always loved to be scared. I watched Are You Afraid of the Dark and read Goosebumps and Fear Street like it was my job, graduating to Stephen King when I got a bit older. I think it's a sign of a good movie when it stays with you for days, weeks, even months after. Though they both came out in the 1990s, a couple of examples of this is Jurassic Park and Ernest Scared Stupid. The former I didn't actually see until it premiered on NBC, but I watched it in its entirety and continued to have dreams about dinosaurs for weeks after. My mom took me to see the latter and the opening scene with the troll scared me so much I begged her to take me home. Yes, I know I'm a weenie.

But without further ado, here are a few of my favorite 80s horror movies:

The Eclectic Geek Podcast Episode 2 - Hero Hype

We are back for another episode of The Eclectic Geek Podcast, the podcast for the geek who loves everything. On this week's show we are talking comic book movies. We share our favorites, Leila dishes about movies that are almost 10 years old and we both blubber through terrible pronunciations of names and calling people by the wrong name. This episode is full of silly and awesome all at the same time!

Kiss My Assassin Blog Tour: Wine Pairings with Cara

 

I'm honored for Kentucky Geek Girl's stop on the Kiss My Assassin Blog Tour to celebrate the release of Uncontrollably Wasted, the second book of the Wasted series by C. Elizabeth Vescio. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but it looks like it's going to be another fantastic ride. Be sure to check out my review of Elegantly Wasted, which I absolutely loved.

Uncontrollably Wasted by C. Elizabeth Vescio

Amazon | Website | Goodreads | Paperback

"It's like there's a perfect storm brewing and we're going to be stuck in the middle of it..."

It's been a year since Francesca Fairholm met the rest of the Osiris team and the company heads, her two half brothers Nero and Lex. As they groom her for leadership, it's all Frankie can do to keep her cynical sarcasm in check as she starts training two new Strikers, avoids the romantic advances of Spark Dawson, and does her best to pry a little family history from her cold, distant Aunt Alexa. 

With the pressure of her secret dual life building and her mother acting suspiciously, Frankie's sanity is pushed to the brink when she makes a grisly discovery that shakes the young Striker to her core. Despite her cousins' fear that her panic attacks signal a full mental breakdown, Frankie is positive she's not crazy. Finding clarity in her personal investigation into Osiris's origins, she uncovers more about the company than she would rather know.

As her life starts to unravel, things get deadly and, before she knows it, she's facing down an old target's pissed-off widow, an unstoppable mercenary, and the one thing she's most terrified of admitting to herself. 

It's possible the whole situation won't explode in her face. Yeah, like Frankie has that kind of luck.

Now I'll let Cara take it away with some of her favorite book and wine pairings!

The Eclectic Geek Podcast Episode 1 - Fall TV Preview

We're back for another episode of The Eclectic Geek Podcast, the podcast for the geek who loves everything.

The official Episode 1 features Leila and Natasha giving a rundown of the Fall Television Premieres that they're excited for and a couple of shows that they've already checked out. In the First Watch segment, Leila shares her interest in Naruto, while Natasha laments her slow start of Battlestar Galactica. They also take a look at the newest trailer for Disney's Frozen, which will be released on November 27.

If you have questions for us or comments about the show, be sure to send us an email! Check out Leila's blog The Fandomonium, her Facebook page, and follow her on Twitter.

Be sure to like Kentucky Geek Girl on Facebook and follow my daily updates on Twitter! If you have any questions or want to discuss partnership opportunities, be sure to send me an email.

Trailer Tuesday 10/1

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 dominated the competition this weekend with over $35 million in box office earnings. I highly doubt that it will catch this year's animated powerhouse, Despicable Me 2, which has a total gross of over $361 million. Let's get to the trailers.