A review by freshkatsu
Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd by Cecil Castellucci, Holly Black
3.0
I don't have much geek-cred.
The only star trek I've seen is the new one with Simon Pegg, and I only read Lord of the Rings because it was on sales. I watched Firefly because my ex was a massive fan, and I still confuse Star Trek with Star Wars (don't even talk to me about Battlestar). Although I love comix, JLA and anything too DC is out of my league. Most superheroes are misogynistic and my appreciation of fantasy is limited to the one Discworld I borrowed for a train trip. I also failed history, and physics if it wasn't for the maths. People think of me as a geek not because I can play chess or code in Python, but rather my indifference to other non-geek interests. I can't tell if video games are geeky anymore, is L4D or Modern Warfare geeky? Or only MMORPGs like Age of Empire?*
What makes someone a geek? After all, it doesn't matter if you're into comics or dinosaurs or guns or Lovecraft, they are almost all equal in terms of geek-cred. Is it the cult following aspect? If so, why isn't NBA or Ingmar Bergman geeky? Or is it the escapist tone? Then unrealistic mainstream chic flicks should also be part of the nerd culture. I think what makes a geek has more to do with devotion and obsession rather than the subject. I know geeks who are into ancient history, as well as geeks who are into argumented reality programming or Mexican culinary, fields that are completely unrelated. A fan of something usually remembers trivial details and has a concern for continuity and character profile. It isn't so much about the story, but rather identifying familiar quotes and references. Geektastic is an example of this. Most of the stories consist of little more than just a bunch of nerd brands put together. For a geek, it's exciting because you can laugh at so many names and places nobody else would 'get', yet feel frustrated at the same time because We are worth more than a machine that can recite the complete history of the doctor. Contrary to other reviews, I didn't find the geekeries in the book too hard-core. The first few stories may require more than rudimentary knowledge of pop culture with titles that go STAR-something (starfleet, starcraft, stargate, star-in-case-you-don't-know-I'm about-science). Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed Scott Westerfeld's story which exempts itself from the name-dropping humour (since when is Westerfeld a geek? I guess most of his fiction deals with vampire and random monster/magic things, but wasn't his fist book worshiped by hipsters?). Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O'Malley's drawings are adorable as well (in a geeky way, of course).
Anyway, you've done it. I'm officially renting the whole series of Star Wars tonight.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
*Edit: Apparently AoE isn't a MMORPG, I guess this proves my geekiness.
The only star trek I've seen is the new one with Simon Pegg, and I only read Lord of the Rings because it was on sales. I watched Firefly because my ex was a massive fan, and I still confuse Star Trek with Star Wars (don't even talk to me about Battlestar). Although I love comix, JLA and anything too DC is out of my league. Most superheroes are misogynistic and my appreciation of fantasy is limited to the one Discworld I borrowed for a train trip. I also failed history, and physics if it wasn't for the maths. People think of me as a geek not because I can play chess or code in Python, but rather my indifference to other non-geek interests. I can't tell if video games are geeky anymore, is L4D or Modern Warfare geeky? Or only MMORPGs like Age of Empire?*
What makes someone a geek? After all, it doesn't matter if you're into comics or dinosaurs or guns or Lovecraft, they are almost all equal in terms of geek-cred. Is it the cult following aspect? If so, why isn't NBA or Ingmar Bergman geeky? Or is it the escapist tone? Then unrealistic mainstream chic flicks should also be part of the nerd culture. I think what makes a geek has more to do with devotion and obsession rather than the subject. I know geeks who are into ancient history, as well as geeks who are into argumented reality programming or Mexican culinary, fields that are completely unrelated. A fan of something usually remembers trivial details and has a concern for continuity and character profile. It isn't so much about the story, but rather identifying familiar quotes and references. Geektastic is an example of this. Most of the stories consist of little more than just a bunch of nerd brands put together. For a geek, it's exciting because you can laugh at so many names and places nobody else would 'get', yet feel frustrated at the same time because We are worth more than a machine that can recite the complete history of the doctor. Contrary to other reviews, I didn't find the geekeries in the book too hard-core. The first few stories may require more than rudimentary knowledge of pop culture with titles that go STAR-something (starfleet, starcraft, stargate, star-in-case-you-don't-know-I'm about-science). Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed Scott Westerfeld's story which exempts itself from the name-dropping humour (since when is Westerfeld a geek? I guess most of his fiction deals with vampire and random monster/magic things, but wasn't his fist book worshiped by hipsters?). Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O'Malley's drawings are adorable as well (in a geeky way, of course).
Anyway, you've done it. I'm officially renting the whole series of Star Wars tonight.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
*Edit: Apparently AoE isn't a MMORPG, I guess this proves my geekiness.