Sunday, March 27, 2011

Geeking Out on Nerdery

A certain type of phenomena has swept through our society that I am reaaaaaalllly diggin'. The Dawning of the Age of the Geek. It might just be me, but I give you evidence in the form of the highly popular merch website thinkgeek.com, the youtube channel of the Vlogbrothers, and the hit series The Big Bang Theory. From fashion choices (hipster glasses used to be the glasses you would gouge out your eyes before actually submitting to wearing and subjecting yourself to the mockery that those thick rimmed demons evoked... whoa flashback) to TV personalities (you might not think Jim and Pam or Conan O'Brien are geeks and to that I say you are wrong and probably stupid) to rapidly expanding our reservoir of knowledge (thank you Iphone) the people have spoken, and they're saying "We Want Geek."
To give you a basic background on how much of a Nerdy McNerderson I am (so as to quell your fears) I give you a list of things I go absolutely fangirl for:
1. Video Games
   -Super Street Fighter (and all other subsequent Street Fighters except for Beta and Beta 2, they can go straight to hell) Marvel vs. Capcom (every 1,2, and 3 of them), Dead or Alive, and I'm sure you're seeing a pattern here. Give me a fighting game where I can play a hot chick and I'm golden. I've been attempting Call of Duty Black Ops (Nazi Zombies) with Robot (nickname for my manfriend, I'll explain later) and truth of the matter is, I really suck at first person shooter games despite my very real passion for laser tagging. Oh yeah.
2. Laser Tagging
   -Simulating a video game with your very own body? Exercise you don't even notice because you're stalking the enemy, who is also your best friend? Being drunk while doing so? Yes please, I'll take three.
3. Books
   -I'm in long term relationships with a few of my books, Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, Fahrenheit 451, Scott Pilgrim graphic novels (Graphic Novels should have it's own heading but I'm kind of tired, soooo.) and everything written by David Sedaris. However, any book will do. I like encyclopedias too, oh BOY do I. There's a place in Midtown (Sac) that is a literary mecca and that place is Beer's Books. I want to go to there. When I was a child one of my dreams was to live in the library, and when I was a teenager the only job I coveted was that of an independent book seller. I'm a nerd. And I love books.
 4. Scrabble, Boggle, Chess, Munchkins (it's basically Magic the Gathering for Beginner's)
   -. I will pwn you in Scrabble. Unless you're Dave Pierini and win every game against me except one, you rat bastard.
5. I had a point before I made this list and now I've forgotten what it was, let me scroll up and find out....

The point is I have a question. If all the geeks are the cool kids now, what happens to the cool kids? There's got to be a theorem or equation that explains the consequences of this transition. Also, why is it now that society has chosen to lift the nerd upon its shoulders and not when I was going through puberty? Hey Universe, refuse to bend to my will much? Gahhh. Rude. Anyways, I'm pretty happy about it and here's why. What society thinks is cool gets the most attention from the people who make and sell things. So what's happening is I'm finding more and more things that actually interest me and that I care about in mainstream easily accessible venues. I don't have to go to collector's to find a vintage something something from Star Wars or a Banksy wall decal of an adorable panda with handguns (Etsy.com). They're bringing this stuff to me and you now, and expanding our interests while we're at it. Welcome to the Age of the Geek, nerd.  

2 comments:

  1. I feel you on the "not when I was going through puberty." Highschool would have been COMPLETELY different then, haha. And on the topic of thinkgeek.com, I have bought SO MUCH there for my son, haha. One of the best websites ever, especially if you want to buy edible spiders for some reason...

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  2. Why don't we trade books more? We should trade books more.

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