Our Italian Adventure: From Rome to Venice
Mama Mia! Talk about an empty nest. My wife and I have gotten fairly used to being Empty Nesters during the school year, but figured we’d get both our college boys back for the summer. Not exactly this year, because our oldest son Jason spent two months of it in Venice, Italy for a school project. He joined about 25 fellow students from WPI collecting research and putting a report together for a mandatory college …
Dune is a Total Star Wars Ripoff
After rewatching Dune with the family at home last week, I took them all to see Dune Part 2 yesterday in the theater. We liked it but our biggest takeaway was that Dune is such an obvious ripoff of Star Wars. Like how is George Lucas not suing the pants off of these guys? Sure, Dune is an epic tale of war, religion and betrayal, told in a slower, more cerebral manner than George Lucas’ …
Tim Burton’s Batman 1989 Movie Scores at the NJPAC
It was 1989. I was sitting in a theater in Nanuet, NY with my buddy Ethan ready to watch I’m Gonna Git You Sucka. No, I wasn’t really a fan of the Wayans Brothers. Nor did I have any desire to see this comedy. Like at all. So why did my best friend and I shell out a few bucks for a movie we didn’t even want to see? It sure wasn’t for the popcorn …
Dungeons and Dragons Cartoon Action Figures Bring the Party Home
As a kid, my Saturday mornings were filled with two things: Captain Crunch cereal and hours of cartoons. Tops among my favorites? Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends and the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon. From 1983-1985, CBS ran 27 episodes of one of the coolest cartoons ever, based on the world of Dungeons & Dragons. It starred a bunch of kids who go on a Dungeons & Dragons ride at their local fair, only to find …
What is PR? Unlock the Secrets with PR Confidential
I’ve worked in marketing for roughly 20 years. But I still can’t answer the simple question of, “What is PR?” My friends and family work in PR at big agencies like Golin and Hunter. I’m still not totally clear on exactly what a PR team does. I mean, yes, it stands for Public Relations. That much I get. But overall, I just don’t have a full grasp of what the heck PR really is. PR …
This Dad’s View on Living in an Empty Nest
It’s awful. Terrible. Horrendous. That’s pretty much my initial response when people ask me, “So, what’s it like living in an empty nest now?” It’s tough enough imagining that Jason, our oldest, is a junior in college this year. But our youngest son Ryan, a freshman? Inconceivable! But here we are. These days it’s just me, my beautiful wife Allison and our incredibly stubborn dog Ace. It’s been just the three of us for about …
A Super Grover Cake Rounds Out a Heroic 51st Birthday
I know I can’t be the only one. But I’d still wager that not many folks have had their incredibly talented spouse whip them up a Super Grover Cake for their birthday. Yeah, my beautiful wife Allison took me completely by surprise this year with my cake. It was truly the perfect ending to a 51st birthday I wasn’t quite expecting. I started with a relaxing morning working on a Lego Atari 2600 set and …
Atari Adventure Limited Edition Truly Slays
The Atari 2600 turned 50 last year. But that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped celebrating the greatest video game console of all time. And I even bought myself a little something to join in on the fun: The Atari Adventure Limited Edition cartridge. Now if you had an Atari growing up, no doubt you owned Adventure. Or knew someone who did. Or played it at a friend’s house. Or bribed that weird neighborhood kid with chocolate …
Ant-Man Coloring Pages and Activities
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is available to buy or stream pretty much anywhere nowadays. It’s a fun, colorful, action-packed film and now thanks to the fine folks at Marvel, you can keep the fun going right at home by downloading these Ant-Man coloring pages and activity sheets for free. I love sharing all sorts of printables and free activity pages here on Mommy’s Busy, Go Ask Daddy. But these are easily my favorite to date. …
Oh, deer. We fawn over our new houseguests
We always have deer walking around our property but this week we finally had an animal to fawn over. Yes, we now have a baby deer living (rent free, I might add) in our backyard. And its momma is most definitely keeping an eye on it. It started Thursday night when I let our dog Ace out into the backyard for his nightly routine. He immediately bolted to the far left corner of the fenced-in …
The Prisoner Action Figure Will Be Seeing You on Your Toy Shelf
Despite having only 17 episodes, the 1960’s psychedelic spy series The Prisoner has had a pretty big impact on my life. I first got into the Patrick McGoohan-starring series in high school when my friends Gary and Ethan introduced it to me. We devoured it and constantly quoted the eccentric series as we rode the school bus every morning. At the end of our travels, a quick, “Be Seeing You” soon replaced a simple, “Later.” …
I Can’t Stop Playing Marvel Snap
I don’t play a lot of apps on my phone. I usually find something I like (Clash of Clans for example) and just play that one for months until I’m ready for a new game. I’ve played a few of Marvel’s apps before and nothing really clicked with me. That is, until the recent Marvel Snap appeared. What hooked me on this game is not the usual “gems” to unlock different levels and whatnot (though …
The Lego Mos Eisley Cantina Brings Home the Galaxy’s Most Wretched Scum and Villainy
This post contains affiliate links. The Lego Mos Eisley Cantina may be a wretched hive of scum and villainy, but it’s also a true build-it-yourself testament to the essence of Star Wars. Next to the Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader lightsaber battle or the assault on the Death Star finale, the best part of the original Star Wars is easily the Mos Eisley Spaceport. A mix of danger, crazy looking creatures and violence all introduced …
All I Wanted for My 50th Birthday was a Galactus Cake
For the past decade, my wife has been preparing for my 50th birthday. No, not in regards to a big present. Uh uh. She wanted to know what special kind of birthday cake I wanted to celebrate half a century. For years, I’ve told her: a Galactus Cake. In the comics, Galactus is a massive, planet-eating (no, really!) being who’s tried to munch on the Earth countless times, only to be thwarted by the Fantastic …
The Pat McCallum You Never Knew
I wrote the following on Facebook today and thought I’d share it here for a wider audience. And also, because I want to use this space to share the amazing and ridiculous memories we all have of him. (Jump to the end for those…) I just found out that an old friend of mine, Pat McCallum, took his own life. He was an unbelievably big part of my life for more than 15 years right …
Watchmen Action Figures Worth Watching
Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen is one of my favorite comic book series of all times. This 12-issue mini-series from DC Comics is just an amazingly realistic look at a world with legitimate superheroes. At the time, it was a real departure from the more lighthearted comic books coming out. I devoured the series and wanted any merchandise I could find for it. Sadly, there wasn’t much beyond a few scant Watchmen T-shirts, a …
It’s My 10 Year Blog Anniversary at Mommy’s Busy, Go Ask Daddy!
The other day I started getting a few messages on LinkedIn from my contacts congratulating me and wishing me a “Happy Work Anniversary.” I thought that was a little odd since I started my current day job in December. So I reached out and asked what exactly they were congratulating me on. “Your blog. Mommy’s Busy, Go Ask Daddy,” is what they said. Huh. I know LinkedIn sends reminder messages to users sharing all sorts …
LEGO Muppets are Coming! This is Not a Drill!
This post contains affiliate links. Never before have two such great tastes that taste great together collided in the toy aisles. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, LEGO Muppets are coming. Besides Star Wars, Marvel and DC LEGO sets, the brick building company has tackled some amazing pop-culture properties as Back to the Future, Ghostbusters and The Simpsons. They recently released a Sesame Street set which basically laid the groundwork for Jim Henson’s furry, funny family. I …
Ace’s Favorite Dog Toy is Not What You Think
It’s been about a year and a half since we welcomed Ace into our home. And you better believe we’ve spoiled the little guy. The mini schnauzer with oodles of personality has way too many toys to count. Squeaky plush ducks. A Captain America dog toy or two. Some Star Wars shenanigans. Yes, that is a Baby Yoda dog toy, thank you very much. Not to mention a few dozen (no joke) bouncy and squeaky …
9 Wordle Games You Have to Play
I’ve always loved word games. Word searches. Cryptograms. Boggle. Scrabble. Just about any word puzzle you can think of, other than crosswords. So it’s no surprise that I’m a big fan of Wordle. Yes, I’m one of those many Facebook users who fill their daily news feed with green and yellow squares. I. proudly share my Wordle score with my friends and followers. For those keeping score at home, my current streak is 47. The …