I was reminded of singer/actor Rick Springfield yesterday when I read about what’s apparently an annual Rick Springfield Cruise, with this year’s voyage taking off in November to the Caribbean. Now, I’m not even gonna front, I would totally go on this cruise if I wasn’t prone to seasickness, especially since I have about ten girlfriends who I know would go with me.

If you don’t know who Rick Springfield is, he was a popular chart-topping music artist here in the United States in the 1980s and is most famous for his hit song “Jessie’s Girl” (you totally know it). But before Springfield wished that he had Jessie’s girl back in 1981, did you know he was in the original 1970s television series Battlestar Galactica? That’s right, in 1978, he appeared in an episode called “Saga of a Star World” as Commander Adama’s younger son Lieutenant Zac Adama, a Viper pilot with the Galactica (BSG fans of all eras know the deal with Zac, right?).

Springfield’s foray into the world of sci-fi didn’t stop with his short stint on BSG. Matter of fact, the musician/actor has accumulated quite a bit of geektastic cred in his over 40-year career.

In 1983 (after leaving the soap opera General Hospital), he went back to focusing on his music, experimenting with the synth-heavy pop style of the time on songs like “Human Touch.” To go with the song was a music video — also on the rise back then thanks to the birth of MTV (back when they actually played videos). A sci-fi setting was chosen for this video, of which Springfield was front and center.

We here at Geeks of Doom like to share with you some of the world’s independent artists from time to time. We may not get to do it as often as we’d like to, but when we can it’s always exciting to share with you names and talent that you might not yet know.

Today we want to share with you someone that a lot of you may already be familiar with, but many others will not: Marian Call. Miss Call is an independent singer/songwriter/composer all the way from Anchorage, Alaska. She also happens to be quite the geek, making her the absolute perfect type of artist for us to gush about to you.

Call is on a mission unlike most you will ever see indie musicians undertaking. Her goal is to tour all 50 states, driving to all of them except for Hawaii of course, and without any kind of manager or label handling the mess that is scheduling and setting up shows in every state. No, this isn’t about the tour itself or money or anything musicians tour for; this is all about the music and the joy that it can bring in an intimate setting. Call will not only be playing small venues in all of our states, but many people are even setting up block parties and house concerts for the artist to perform at in certain towns.

Click on over to learn more about Marian Call, where you can hear her work and see her live, and to check out her songs that were inspired by geek-favorites Firefly and Battlestar Galactica!

If you’re not watching the first season run of Caprica, then you are truly missing out on a great new TV show. Folks who want or expect it to be Battlestar Galactica — the beloved series for which Caprica is a prequel to — will for the most part be disappointed, but for anyone open to a new kind of show set in that world, it’s really starting to stand up on its own two man-made legs.

Due to the undying popularity of Galactica and the growing popularity of Caprica, not to mention the spinoff movies that have been produced so far, it comes as no surprise that SyFy has a desire to create yet another spinoff series, and is exploring any possible options that there may be with Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore (and probably David Eick).

The remake of one of the most popular horror movies of all time, John Carpenter‘s The Thing, is moving forward, and it now has officially cast its two lead star in Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton.

Winstead will be playing a “Ph.D. candidate” who joins the Norwegian team after they discover an alien craft frozen solid in the ice. Edgerton will be playing a mercenary helicopter pilot, which would be the Kurt Russell role of the remake. The duo will eventually join up when a strange creature breaks free and starts killing people.

The movie is directed by Matthijs Van Heijningen, a long-time producer making his directorial debut. The screenplay is where some strong excitement can be discovered; it was written by Battlestar Galactica and Caprica god Ronald D. Moore, as well as Eric Heisserer, who wrote the A Nightmare on Elm Street remake script.

Because the pilot for Battlestar Galactica prequel series Caprica was released as a movie in what seems like a long, long time ago (Read: DVD Review: ‘Caprica’), it didn’t even feel like the show began last week. In case you missed it, the show did indeed start last week, and if you haven’t yet done so, you should find the pilot episode and watch it immediately.

Now that the pilot for this new adventure from BSG masterminds Ronald D. Moore and David Eick is done and over, that can only mean one thing: a wealth of brand new treasures in the creationism of Cylons as we know them! That’s right, tonight begins the first of the all-new episodes that we’ll see during the show’s maiden season voyage. It will take over from the epic ending point of the movie, and continue us on as Daniel Graystone digs deeper into his dark and revolutionary discovery and his daughter Zoe gets used to her new existence.

Click over to read the series’ synopsis and to check out a cool trailer for the post-pilot episodes of Caprica that we’re about to see, complete with appearances by Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s James Marsters and universally-popular funnyman, Patton Oswalt.