Radio Active #31: Geek Moms, Summer Reading List, X-Men 3

Radio Active PodcastThe podcast opens with the old X-Men cartoon theme song in honor of X-Men 3: The Final Stand and the launches into a review of geek mom and geek parenting web sites.

There’s no fiction review this time around, as I’m still slugging my way through George R.R. Martin’s A Feast for Crows but I do have my summer reading list, which includes books by John Scalzi, Warren Ellis, Jack Vance, Keith Baker, Peter Hamilton and Joe Hadleman.

Getting the Podcast

Show Notes

  • Opening Music: X-Men Cartoon Theme Song
  • Intro
    • Busy, Busy: Quiet two weeks for Nuketown, busy two weeks for real life.
      • Had our garage sale; made about $50 but more importantly, got a lot of stuff out of the basement.
    • Geek Chores: With many of the baby-related preparatory chores done, I’ve been trying to get a handle on my geek chores:
      • All of the baby’s stuff is finally out; not all put away, but at least know where it all is. And the baby’s car seat is now strapped in.
      • Inventorying HeroClix
      • Filing Comics
      • Organizing the D&D campaign: posting saga notes, finding ways to store minis, etc.
    • X-Men 3: The Final Stand
      • Saw it on Memorial Day with my brother-in-law Dave (we both needing a little escapism before our respective wives went into labor.
      • Full review on Nuketown
    • Nuketown Beta
      • Progressing quickly; sometime later this month Nuketown will go on a (hopefully short) hiatus while I put the final tweaks on the new design and get some guinea pigs to check it out. If you’d like to be one (I already have a few but more are welcome) e-mail me at nuketown@gmail.com
  • Promo: Geek Fu Action Grip
    • Geek Fu Action Grip
  • Sites of Note
    • Since Mother’s Day just passed, I thought I’d talk about some mom/parenting geeky blogs.
    • Geeky Mom
      • “raising children on nothing but brains and gadgets”
      • Thoughts on parenting and life from a geek mom pursuing her Ph.D. And she’s apparently in Pennsylvania, since she’s discussing the Democratic primary for Senator.
      • http://www.geekymomblog.com/
    • Parent Hacks
      • Tips and tricks for parenting. Many from the mom perspective, but there more than a few dads visiting the blog as well.
      • http://www.parenthacks.com/
  • Promo: Escape Pod
  • Summer Reading List
    • The Ghost Brigades
      • By John Scalzi
      • Buy it from Amazon
      • Set in the somewhat distant future where humanity fights an unending war against alien species for control of a handful of habitable worlds. It’s a follow up to “Old Man’s War”, in which you could join the military at age 75 and get a brand new body … but then had to fight in a war that would almost certainly get you killed.
      • In the new book, it looks at the “Ghost Brigades”, a military unit staffed by clones whom have a lifetime of memories, but the practical experience of 5 year olds.
    • Transmetropolitan, Vol. 1
      • By Warren Ellis & Darrick Robertson
      • Buy it from Amazon
      • This graphic novel features a dystopian future following journalist Spider Jerusalem. A Amazon.com review says ” Spider investigates a controversy involving an emergent subculture of genetically altered humans.
      • It’s supposed to be a great read, and it should be a fast once since it’s a graphic novel.
    • Tales of the Dying Earth
      • By Jack Vance
      • Buy it from Amazon
      • I’ve heard people talking about Jack Vance, one of the grand masters of fantasy, since I started playing D&D in 4th grade. The books are set in a far distant future in which Earth is about to be consumed by its now-red-giant Sun and magic is real. I’m reading it to complete this bit of my fantasy education.
    • Camouflage
      • By Joe Haldeman
      • Buy it from Amazon
      • Two immortal aliens battle their way through history in a story that sounds like a bad Highlander movie but it was apparently good enough to win a Hugo.
    • The City of Towers
      • By Keith Baker
      • Buy it from Amazon
      • I’ve been itching to run an Eberon campaign for a while no, and reading this book helps me scratch that while satisfying my need for an fast-reading soft-cover fantasy novel at the beach.
    • Pandora’s Star
      • By Peter F. Hamilton
      • Buy it from Amazon
      • Intelligent space opera in which humanity discovers and imprisoned mass mind hell bent on galactic conquest. Heard good things about it, and I like the idea of a hive mind as the bad guys, rather than an ideal.
  • Promo: Science Fiction Podcast Network
  • Outro
    • Next on Radio Active: A review of Stephen King’s Cell, which I also listened to while painting Jordan’s room.
    • Looking for more pure science fiction themed podcasts. Also looking for blogs and podcasts by geek moms and dads. Know of one? E-mail me about it.
    • E-mail: nuketown@gmail.com
    • Skype: nuketown
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