The Summer of the Nerd

I’ve always been a nerd… I think.  I might be a geek instead.  I’ve recently discovered that either I don’t know the difference or there isn’t one. 

I’ve seen stuff online that basically says a geek is a high functioning nerd.  A nerd is an obsessed, intelligent, socially awkward person and a geek an obsessed, intelligent, not socially awkward person.  On the other hand, I’ve heard a geek is a more socially awkward, less intelligent nerd, or that a geek’s intelligence is limited to technology.  I’ve also read that a geek is obsessed with multiple things “nerdy” and a nerd with only one or two specific things, but I’ve also read the exact opposite of that two. 

Regardless, I identify myself as a nerd, mostly because I’ve always identified myself that way. 

My nerdy obsessions have always been limited to a couple of areas (comic books, horror and sci-fi movies, some cult TV shows) and I’ve never gotten into many others (video games and the whole gaming community have always been outside my area – I got an NES back when it was still cool, but my most recent game system purchase was a GameCube and when I bought it Wii, PS3, and X-Box 360 had all been around for a while). 

This summer though, I’ve been starting to expand my geekdom and nerd culture.  So, this week on Nerd Is the New Cool, I’m showcasing my Top Ten New Nerd Obsessions (in no particular order)

Conan the Barbarian

This one may be a little further back than “summer” but I recently started reading a collection of Robert E. Howard’s Conan short stories, and it has dominated my kindle ever since.  My current Conan obsession stems out of my long standing Lovecraft/Cthulhu obsession and this as a whole works well with my other new obsessions below. 

YouTube

Aw, YouTube, how have I lived without you?  Ok, that’s not true.  I have been watching YouTube for awhile now: Candy Mountain Charlie, The Guild, and Bite Me have long been in my browser history, but only recently did I truly become a YouTube junky.  Blame ScreenTeam’s Pokémon/Party Rock video.  I found it one night while watching the Party Rock music video, 6 hours later, I’d watched a ton of ScreenTeam and Black Nerd videos, plus discoved Felicia Day’s Geek and Sundry channel.  Now such nerd worthy names as Katie Wilson and Lisa Foiles have joined the ranks of my YouTube subscriptions. 

And speaking of Geek and Sundry…

TableTop

Wil Wheaton’s YouTube show about tabletop gaming has led to a number of purchase from Hastings, Barnes and Nobles, and Amazon, and a very long Amazon Wishlist to boot.  I have now watched every episode of the show and plan on continuing into the future.  Anyone needing birthday or Christmas gift ideas for me should check out the show, I want basically everything they’ve played plus more…Settlers of Catan and Munchkin are my top two wants.  I have bought both Zombie Dices and Star Munchkin and have played them both dozens of times already. 

Dungeons and Dragons

Also, brought on by TableTop, D&D is the quid-essential tabletop game.  Though a nerd/geek classic, I never played it largely due to its bad rap as a “satanic” game that leads to murder, witchcraft, and suicide, rumors that in recent years have largely faded way. 

I’ve recently purchased the basic set, the “Red Box,” and have downloaded a couple of adventures/modules off the internet.  My wife and I have both played the solo adventure from the Red Box and have a few friends – all also D&D virgins – lined up for our first campaign. 

World of Warcraft

Talking about (tabletop) gaming naturally lead to talking about video gaming.  Several of my friends play WOW, but it was one of my wife’s coworkers who, calling me out on not playing, got me too start.  I’m not sure what I think of the game, it isn’t the funnest thing I’ve ever played but it is good, mindless entertainment.  I downloaded the free version and my wife upped me to the “battlechest” – the basic game and first two expansions. 

Hot Nerds/Geeks

Ok, I’ve always been obsessed with hot girls, and geekiness is hot.  But this summer I’ve discovered some truly hot nerds.   ScreenTeam’s Angie Griffin, Lisa Foiles, Katie Wilson, Katrina “ActionFlickChick” Hill.  Yet, one more reason I’ve become a YouTube junky. 

Twitter

Is Twitter still nerdy? I’m not sure, but I’m more into twitter than I ever was facebook, probably because facebook is all funny cat pics (funny since YouTube is largely funny cat videos). 

Game of Thrones

This is another one of those, I’m not sures.  We rented the first two episodes and now I want to see the rest of the first season, but I’m not sure I like it.  I haven’t finished watching it yet so we’ll see.  I’ll let you know. 

The Summer of Valiant

Yes, I know, I said I was already into comics, but it had been months since I picked up a new issue before this came out.  It was my dad who started getting Valiant, both the classic 90s version and this new one.  I’m also picking up Hit Girl and Before Watchmen but so far I’m not impressed with either of them. 

So, last time I ended up with about 20 on my top ten list, so to balance out the universe I looks like I’m going to stop at 9.  I’d like to say this was intentional symmetry on my part but I’m just hard up to think of a 10^th entry.  Oh well and Say “La V.”

Now, I wanna see your nerd obsessions both old and new (or even your take on the nerd and geek definitions).  Let me know in the comments below or on my twitter page @nerdisnewcool. 

Nerd Is the New Cool, signing off.