Ready Player One

Although I watch a lot of movies I hardly go to a theater anymore....

The simple truth is that if I saw every film I was interested in at a theater then I'd need a second mortgage on my house, the theater going experience has become progressively more expensive over the years!

With that in mind I'm very selective about where I invest my movie going dollars, for example this month I will be investing in the film adaptation of Ernest Cline's Ready Player One.

Directed by Stephen Spielberg, Ready Player One is set in the dystopian future of 2044 and tells the story of Wade Watts, a teenager residing in a poverty stricken district known as the stacks.  Obsessed with the 1980's and seeking to escape the realities of his world, like many others Watts seeks comfort through a virtual reality experience known as The OASIS.

When James Halliday, the creator of the OASIS dies it becomes public knowledge that somewhere within this VR utopia is a hidden Easter Egg, and whomever finds this digital treasure will be gifted Halliday's real-world fortunes.

Let the hunt begin!

Much like the book, this film promises to be ripe with pop-culture references from the '80's, encompassing a multitude of movie and gaming genres.

And although the film adaptation has received some harsh criticism on social media these past few months, Ready Player One is expected to do well at the box office as the film promises to feed that "geeky hunger" - at least until the release of Avengers: Infinity War Part One!

Let us know if you're excited for the release of Ready Player One and please remember to follow us on social media via our website at CanGeek.com .

The Geek I Am.... My Homage To My Dad

As I write this weeks blog it is May 21st, 2016 and here in Canada we're celebrating the Victoria Day long weekend, well most of us are anyways.

I am sitting here on my parents back deck falling asleep, its been a long week.

CanGeek is a dream slowly becoming reality,  but at this point it doesn't pay the bills,  so I also work 40 hours a week as a Store Manager for a 'As Seen On TV" retailer, the things we do to chase our dreams......

My father is sitting next to me and he's falling asleep too, his fatigue is of a much different nature, brought about by unimaginable pain and discomfort.

My father is dying, he has terminal cancer and this weeks blog is my homage to him.

I have been asking myself for weeks whither this blog was appropriate given the nature of its content and I've decided it is, I wouldn't be who I am today if not for the influence my father has had on my life.

Without dating myself, I went through adolescence at a time when society was slightly less accepting of what we now refer to as fandom and pop culture.  That`s not to say that we didn't celebrate our shared enjoyment of genre films and television shows, and we absolutely bought our comics and games on a weekly basis, but it felt like to avoid unfair judgement and peer pressure we weren't so open about our likes and dislikes.

We didn't wear our geek on our sleeves, not like we do today, and wearing Marvel or DC attire to anything other then elementary school was a good way to get an ass kicking.

It was the dark times indeed.

Through all this however I always seemed to have the love and support of my father.  Born in 1931 he grew up in a much different time, and his experiences could have just as easily drove a wedge into our relationship, but he was always supportive of my choices and decisions.

So well other kids were off joining sports teams and going to Friday night parties, I was playing video games with a close group of friends, being introduced to RPG`s such as D&D and Shadowrun, and playing tabletop games like Battletech and Magic: The Gathering (We Did a lot of that!)

And my Dad was always there to take interest in what we were doing, asking questions and in a lot of cases adding to my gaming collection wherever possible.

Eventually I fell in love with a truly beautiful woman, she is both kind and considerate to everyone around her, and I was considering popping the question. 

The advice I received from my friends was "Do more with your life and then maybe get married"
The advice I received from my father was  "Do what feels right in your heart"

We married, bought a house, and since then have begun to raise two wonderful children and spent many amazing years together.

Last June I was laid off after giving 6 1/2 years of my life to EB Games Canada, this happened three months after the news of my fathers cancer, and I was forced to come to terms with so much at once.

It took me months to decide my next move, CanGeek, a business I'd been considering for years and years. One afternoon I explained my plans to my father, this was in an attempt to focus him on something other then his pain, and once again he surprised me by offering money to invest in the business.

With so much going on for both him and my mother he was still thinking of his children first, that is the type of man he is and the type of father he has been to his three children.

Fathers day is just under a month away now, and CanGeek will be introducing a limited edition product celebrating all the Gamer Dads out there, it will be available for purchase through our new Facebook store.  Our hope is that it will be a gift both you and your fathers will treasure for years to come.

As both a father and a son my hope is that I will have the opportunity to celebrate one more fathers day weekend with my dad because if not for him I would not be the geek I am today.....

Thanks for reading.

Once A Geek.....

Twelve months, a lot can happen in the course of one year........

For example, twelve months ago I was employed as a middle level manager for EB Games Canada, a division of Gamestop international, and I liked my job.  Now that isn't to say that I liked the people I worked for or their policies, although at one time I'm sure I did.   I think my attitude towards the job changed around the time I found myself having to repeatedly defend my staff against a district manager who viewed my customers as nothing more then walking wallets.   

And I liked the majority of my customers.

So after 6 1/2 years of assuming the position it should have come as no shock when my former manager arrived with their immediate supervisor and walked me to the door, but it did and I was devastated.

So I did what many have done in my situation, I took to social media and lamented about how poorly the company had acted towards me, all this in the hopes that the right person would see it and by some fluke of nature I would once again be wanted and needed for my expertise, but that didn't happen.

What did happen was the people who I worked with, the ones who called me friend, no longer wanted any association with me and I felt even more alone and hurt then ever.

Then somewhere along the way I realized what needed to happen, I needed to capitalize on one of my greatest strengths and assets, being a geek!

Long before I was employed by McGameshop I was a gamer, in fact I have been gaming most of my life, regularly playing tabletop games such as Magic: the Gathering and Battletech and video games including anything with the Dragon Age or Elder Scrolls label attached to it. 

Long before I worked in the gaming industry I spent a fair amount of time working for another home entertainment leader, Blockbuster video.  My time at Blockbuster was spent fulfilling my constant craving to see the next great movie and sharing that joy with those around me, in short helping to bring a smile to the faces of those around me, hoping to entertain them......

I'm a geek!  I don't view this as shameful, I actually wear it like a badge of honor.

Being a geek has allowed me to develop long lasting friendships with like-minded people.

Being a geek has allowed me to find love and happiness with an extremely beautiful woman, a geek in her own right,   

Being a pair of geeks has allowed my wife and I to continue the circle of life by raising the next generation of geeks.

Being a pair of geeks has motivated us to begin a new venture together - CanGeek!

Our mission with CanGeek is a simple one, through our active involvement on multiple social media platforms we want to engage and entertain like minded people from around the world.

In the coming months we will be lunching CanGeek.com, which will include a small online store offering a very select lineup of products geared to our various online communities.  Our website will also include a calendar of up coming events that you can connect with us at and a weekly blog and vlog update.

From movies and television to comics and gaming we want to have some fun and hope you'll join us on this adventure.

"CanGeek is an online community dedicated to the open and free discussion of all things science fiction, fantasy, and gaming related"

So please come check us out: Facebook.com/cangeek