About the Geek

Name: Andy
Location: Minnesota
Awesome Level: Pretty Awesome

Hello and welcome to my corner of the web! The Ramblings of a Minnesota Geek has existed - although not consistently updated - since 2008, thanks to the power of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. What can I say? After a movie like that, one can't quite not talk about it. I wrote weekly for the Minnesota State University - Mankato newspaper, The MSU Reporter, where my articles on movies and TV shows seemed to be well received. At least there weren't any letters or whispered musings to the contrary. While at the MSU Reporter, also got hit with the podcast bug, and co-hosted The Filmography Podcast with my friend and movie guru, Schuyler (visit his movie blog, Shoutsma Movies). Hopefully this site will have a reliable, consistent podcast in the not-too-distant future.

Over the years my passion for movies have sort of taken a backseat to the thrill of television drama. Sci-Fi's Battlestar Galactica, BBC's Doctor Who, FOX's 24, Starz's Shameless, etc., all these marvelous, thrilling shows are enough to make you eat floor with disbelief at how good they are, week after week. While I still cover movies, this rambling geek has sorta become a TV shut-in as of late. 

Monsters, dinosaurs, Batman, movies and pizza have been the main constants throughout my life, and this blog is dedicated to pretty much all of them. My first cinema experience was Disney's Aladdin, and the most distinct impression I had of that film was the uber-cool pathway to a underground treasure created by sand and morphed into this giant lion mouth. How cool of a visual was that? Not too long after, Jurassic Park ruled my world, and that eventually led to being shown Godzilla by my mom (a choice she probably, to this day, regrets) and boom -- my dinosaur/monster love was ignited, cemented, and refuses to extinguish. And Batman? Well, next to the after school dose of Power Rangers on FOX, Batman: The Animated Series was a gateway drug to the dark, the cool, the noir, and the superhero. These are my passions, and I hope any readers on this blog get inspired to see these movies and shows from my rambling expressions of love-gushing!

This blog aims to be fun, (somewhat) informative, and (somewhat) analytical, but mostly fun. Thanks for stopping by!

And for those interested, here's my pickings for favorite movies and TV shows:

Favorite Movies
1. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
2. Batman Begins
3. The Dark Knight
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
5. Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
6. The Mask of Zorro
7. The Dark Knight Rises
8. Hot Fuzz
9. The Chronicles of Riddick 
10. Clerks II

Favorite Shows
- Doctor Who
- Game of Thrones
- The Legend of Korra
- Orphan Black
- Arrow
- Supernatural
- The Flash
- Veep
- Justfied
- Shameless
- The Mindy Project
- Sherlock
- United States of Tara
- The Leftovers