In the relatively short amount of time that Empress Eve and I have been running Geeks of Doom we’ve had a multitude of stuff just show up in our mailbox. Some of these packages have been pretty geeky cool, like the one-of-a-kind props sent to us by the animators of the upcoming stop-motion feature Coraline. Others have been hard to swallow, like the cans of unreleased soda for us to sample (get it? Swallow… I make a pun). So yeah, some downright diverse shit just shows up in our mailbox on the daily, and after a time we started calling these unsolicited mystery packages Doom Deliveries, a moniker that works on multiple levels.

Well, this Tuesday brought one of the more intriguing Doom Deliveries to date. The intrigue began with the circumstances of its arrival, which took place as I was out for a lunch break. When I returned to my office there was a small metal briefcase on my desk, the kind with a numerical tumbler lock. The one thing that immediately tugged at my stomach was that it wasn’t in a parcel that had been mailed to me, but had been seemingly hand delivered — this in disregard to the fact that my office door was locked and I work in a moderately secured building. I had taken notice there was a small manila envelope taped to the top of it with simply “Dave” handwritten on it, but being me, I ignored it and immediately tried to open the lock with one of the old standards. 666 (ala Pulp Fiction), 911, 411, 212, 718, 917… nothing. That’s when internal Dave said, “Okay, genius. How about you open the envelope?“

At the end of October, I was invited by Laika Entertainment to a sneak peek here in NYC of their upcoming 3D stop-motion animated feature Coraline. I got to see 30 minutes of the film, after which writer/director Henry Selick came out for an audience Q&A.

Soon after the screening, I got an email from the Coraline Team out in Portland, OR, telling me to be on the lookout for a package from them specially made for me with me in mind and that I will be one of 50 people slated to receive such an item — each being one of a kind.

This is a big deal for me, because I’m a great fan of the Coraline book, I love stop-motion, and c’mon, it’s Henry Selick, director of The Nightmare Before Christmas. There’s a reason I can’t stop writing about this project! Anyhow, so I couldn’t imagine what they’d be sending, but the other day it arrived — a handcrafted aged box with an oval plate that read “Handmade in Oregon - 14/50.” Inside the box was a weathered letter with a wax seal with a black button just like the ones used in the film. The letter explained why I was getting such a unique gift and a bit about how it was made. From what I can tell, from the few other people online I saw who’ve gotten their own box, most of the message is a standard form letter, but there’s one paragraph that specifically addresses the recipient. My paragraph has some nice things to say about Geeks of Doom (we’re artistic, hilarious, unconventional…), but probably the coolest thing it said was …

THAT’S WHY WE ADMIRE GEEKSOFDOOM - (GREATEST NAME EVER).

The Fall television series is finally upon is, so for the last two or so weeks, I’ve been getting loads of preview material for upcoming shows.

I’ll admit, while I love television I have a major commitment problem. I’ll DVR some stuff, then never get around to watching it; then when it comes on DVD, I’ll feel like it’s too much pressure to bang out a whole season at once. I’m working on these issues, but in the meantime, each season I will try to catch a new series right from the beginning and then watch it in “real time” — this happened for me with NBC’s The Office, SCI FI’s Battlestar Galactica, and NBC’s Heroes. For the 2008 Fall season, the new Fox series Fringe, created by JJ Abrams, is definitely my “real time” show of this season.

I didn’t know too much about Fringe until the other day when a large box and poster tube arrived from Fox’s publicity department. In it were Fringe promo items — lenticular notepad, backpack, t-shirt, poster, and the limited edition 2008 Comic Con comic book — and an envelope from the FBI marked “CONFIDENTIAL.”

Time to get viral! …

In this new feature, the Geeks of Doom will talk about some cool stuff that randomly shows up in the mail, with this first entry about a pack of cans of Mountain Dew’s new limited-edition flavors.