Celebrate Geek Pride Day - Return of the Geek

Or maybe this post should be called "Empire of the Geek" but this is the 3rd post and that would ruin continuity...

It's hard to believe, but 30 years ago was the release of the best of the Star Wars trilogy (imho) The Empire Strikes Back. I'm no critic (which should be fairly apparent based on the fact that I can find good in most every movie, even the bad ones) but Empire struck a chord with me. Maybe it was the fantastically cool scenery of the Ice Planet Hoth and the furry snow beast native to the planet, the Tauntaun.


Maybe it is the vision of ominous yet captivating AT-ATs marching across the icy tundra. They are still an iconic reference to me. Also I'd really love to ride on one. Can someone work on that? Thanks.


And while I favor the first part of the movie on Hoth (so desolate, so cold) there are so many other great moments in Empire.

The gang escapes the Empire (again). Meeting Yoda. And Cloud City, with of course, Lando. I mean, look at this guy. Does he not exude super hip administrator?

Finally, this is the movie that taught me a movie could end unresolved, without the "happily ever after" BS. And that it is ok, because there is another episode on the way (with Ewoks!). That even if you find out **SPOILER ALERT** Darth Vadar is your father and your best friend was just frozen into a carbonite block and sent to one of the Hutt's for debts owed, good guys do good, and will keep on fighting the good fight. Use the force, etc. etc.

Oh, yeah! And this is the same movie that introduced fandom to Boba Fett. If you do not know of the devotion and love of the Fetts, spend some time on the friendly interwebs. It will likely shock and amaze you.

Insert gratuitous Boba Fett picture here because he is so fu**ing cool!



I leave you with this quote from Han Solo, whom I've adored since I was 6 years old:

You like me because I’m a scoundrel. There aren’t enough scoundrels in your life.

So true Han, so true.

Happy Birthday, ESB.

Celebrate Geek Pride Day - Part Deux

When asked what is the difference between a geek, dork and nerd, I recalled a great Venn diagram that broke it down pretty well (h/t Rich):


I think I'm right in there between the Geek and the Nerd, as expected.

But in looking around for geek infographics (yes, it's a thing) I found this amazing diagram (click to embiggen):

I love the visual representation of the geek universe -- so many things connected to one another. I wish I could circle some stuff (hmmm, need to work on that) so I could point out where I show up. Turns out, all over the place. Where are you at? And what's missing? I would argue that there should be a branch for music geeks (a very special breed). I'm sure there are quite a few Geek Obsessions, Idols, and Activities still missing from the list. It would be fun to watch this evolve over time.

Yet one more reason, I'm proud to be a geek today.

Celebrate Geek Pride Day

(h/t Erica)

I'm new to the Geek Pride Day, but I'm fully endorsing this national holiday (or it should be)!

The Wikipedia says that the Geek Pride manifesto includes the following:

Rights:

1. The right to be even geekier.
2. The right to not leave your house.
3. The right to not like football or any other sport.
4. The right to associate with other nerds.
5. The right to have few friends (or none at all).
6. The right to have as many geeky friends as you want.
7. The right to be out of style.
8. The right to be overweight and near-sighted.
9. The right to show off your geekiness.
10. The right to take over the world.

Responsibilities:

1. Be a geek, no matter what.
2. Try to be nerdier than anyone else.
3. If there is a discussion about something geeky, you must give your opinion.
4. To save and protect all geeky material.
5. Do everything you can to show off geeky stuff as a "museum of geekiness."
6. Don't be a generalized geek. You must specialize in something.
7. Attend every nerdy movie on opening night and buy every geeky book before anyone else.
8. Wait in line on every opening night. If you can go in costume or at least with a related T-shirt, all the better.
9. Don’t waste your time on anything not related to geekdom.
10. Try to take over the world!

If these are the rights and rules, I'm in the right group!

Today is also referred to as Towel Day in some parts, paying tribute to the late (and amazing) Douglas Adams. From a passage from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy:

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

So, celebrate all that is geeky about you and the folks around you. In 2010, it's good to be a geek.