What geekery is this?

True story: I loved action figures as a kid. I know, not to surprising given my overall continued tomboy tendencies. But I LOVED them. I could play quietly for hours, lost in my own fantasy world where my Han Solo figure bickered with my Buck Rogers figure and Princess Leia went ahead and rescued Superman instead. My childhood fantasy world was kind of awesome. But being a geek then was different than being a geek now. Now it has a cache. Geeks, like bowties – if you ask The Doctor, are cool. But then, geeks were geeks. So it’s with a slightly bemused sense of satisfaction when I watched all the pretty ladies clamor to get their geek on last weekend weekend at Comic-Con.

So in celebration of everyone’s inner and outer geek, here are some lovely ladies getting geeky. Geekery, it’s not just for geeks anymore.

Alyson Hannigan

Willow will always be my favorite geek. Always.

Anna TorvThese should be Special Agent Olivia Dunham action figures, but otherwise, perfect.

Lucy LawlessWhen lesbian subtext and geek fandom collides.

Anika Noni RoseSo this is kind of more of a “doll,” but Anika looks so happy to be holding herself it’s pretty geeky.

Meryl StreepThis is her “Fantastic Mr. Fox” figure. If there was a real Meryl Streep action figure I would buy two. One to keep new in the box and another to play with. Wait, that sounded weird. Good.

Elizabeth MitchellThese aren’t technically action figures either, but getting this excited about your cake doppelgangers is's adorageeky.

Yvonne StrahovskiAlso, not an action figure. But it’s a light saber. So, you know, even better.

Sarah Michelle GellarBuffy is using Darth Vader as an armrest. Your argument is invalid.

Felicia DayIf Felicia in a squid hat doesn’t brighten your day, then you are probably not a geek.

Natalie PortmanGeeks and politics, two great things that go great together.

Karen GillanNow that is how you play with action figures.

Britt Robertson, Maggie Q, Yvonne Strahovski, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jennifer Morrison & Anna TorvI don’t know who Britt Robertson is, but otherwise, GEEKGASM.

Check out the special Comic-Con issue of The Hollywood Reporter for more on Sarah, Anna, Yvonne, Maggie et al.

Crack open a good book

Every New Year, I make a resolution to read more. Not that I don’t read, clearly. I read every single day, all the time, non-fucking-stop. Newspapers, magazines, books, The Internets. But I don’t always read the best writing. And I don’t always read as many really great books as I’d like to. So this New Year, once again, I’m making a pledge to be good to myself and my brain and pick up some excellent books. They say print is dead, but you’ll never look as sexy holding a Kindle as you do a book – trust me.

Christina Ricci
Audrey Hepburn
Emily Haines
Marilyn Monroe
Evangeline Lilly
Marion Cotillard
Jessica Stam
Kate Winslet
Winona Ryder
Alyson HanniganWillow is my favorite book nerd, period.

So ladies, let me have it, what should I be reading this year?

Tit for Tat

Things I love: Women. Boobs. Women touching other women’s boobs. What can I say? I’m a gal with simple pleasures. So, imagine my delight when they all came together in the new Funny or Die video “The Booby Scare.” Let me set it up for you as quickly as possible because me blathering on just keeps you seeing Alyson Hannigan, Emily Deschanel, Kat McPhee, Minka Kelly and Jaime King touch each others’ breasts. Wait, I think that's all the set up you need. And, go.

THE BOOBY SCARE Featuring Alyson Hannigan, Emily Deschanel, Kat McPhee, Minka Kelly and Jaime King - watch more funny videos

OK, three things:

1. Emily has amazing cleavage.

2. It’s amazing to watch Alyson touch Emily’s amazing cleavage.

3. “Touch a Tit, Save a Tit” is an amazing slogan.

But, in all seriousness, in an age of massive health care inequity, continued under funding of women’s health initiatives and close to 200,000 new breast cancer diagnoses each year it’s important to remember to touch ’em like there’s no tomorrow. And if it takes a bunch of gorgeous, smart, conscientious ladies groping each others’ breasts to remind you of that fact, well, that is what I call the best tit for tat ever. Happy Breast Cancer Awareness Month, ladies.

p.s. God, I can’t wait for them to do the pelvic exam PSA next. Ahem.

My Weekend Crush

My Buffy love to start out the week naturally got me thinking about the rest of the Scooby Gang. And when I think of the Scoobies, I automatically think of Willow. Now, there's nothing particularly new about the smart, geeky gal as a character. She has been around forever. For reference please see Anne Shirley, Velma Dinkley, Daria Morgendorffer, et al. But what made Willow different was always Alyson Hannigan. Alyson brought brains, vulnerability and an unshakable likability to Willow. She was never just the smart girl. Or just the geeky girl. Or just the girl who had to be rescued. She was a complete person, like someone you might actually run into in the halls at school – well, you know, if you were really lucky.

As Willow made her transformation from shy nerd to shy witch to not-so-shy lesbian witch, what stayed consistent in Alyson's portrayal was her basic decency and outrageous adorableness. Even when she went all dark and veiny and I'm going to end the world as we know it, you still rooted for Willow because she was Willow. To take a character from the softer side of Sears to the dark side of the moon is no small feat. But we never gave up on her because we believed in Alyson. She rewarded our loyalty by creating one of the richest, most adored lesbian characters on television to date. See, nice gals can finish first, and so can the geeky ones. Happy weekend, all.