December 03
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Confessions of a “Real Nerd”
Confessions of a “Real Nerd”
By: Meg Humphrey
No one would ever think that I’m one of those oh-so-dreaded “fake geek girls,” even when I am in an adorable cosplay. Yes, I’ve had my fair share of boys quizzing my Star Wars knowledge to see if I’m up to par (YOU get on MY level, jerks), but overall my “nerd cred” hasn’t needed to be checked. I am thankful for this, but I also feel upset about girls (or boys) having to prove themselves in what should be a welcoming community. Here are some pretty well kept secrets of mine that just goes to show that you can be a geek but not know about ~everything~ others deem to be quintessential to nerdom.
Confessions:
Movies I’ve never seen from start to finish (that I remember) that would make any geek gasp:
- E.T.
- The Princess Bride
- Ghost Busters and Ghost Busters II
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Fight Club
- The Godfather Trilogy
- Any James Bond movie (minus Skyfall which I just saw)
- Back to the Future Trilogy
- THX 1138
- Top Gun
Books I’ve never started reading (or ones I threw against the wall because they I could not stand them*):
- His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman
- Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
- Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson* (could not even get through the first 15 pages)
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
- Anything by H.G. Wells
- Anything by Ray Bradbury that wasn’t Fahrenheit 451
- Anything by Kurt Vonnegut that wasn’t Slaughter House Five
- Anything by H.P. Lovecraft
- Anything by Terry Pratchett
- The Game of Thrones books/ The Hunger Games/ Twilight
Anime I haven’t seen more than one episode of, but are inescapable at cons:
- Bleach
- Hetalia
- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
- One Piece
- Azumanga Daioh
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica
- Dragon Ball
- Full Metal Alchemist
- Death Note
A portion of a One Piece photoshoot at Sakura-con2010 from J!-ENT
Don’t even get me started on video games! If it wasn’t for the SNES, if it doesn’t involve Kirby, Donkey Kong, or Cooking Mama or if it is made for people with higher skills then elementary schoolers then it is HIGHLY LIKELY I will have nothing to do with it.
So go ahead, JUDGE all you want. But know that I am no less of a nerd for these truths and should any of this ever change, I will not be a “better” nerd because of it.
I’ve never seen Firefly.
gasp! 🙂
Of the ones you listed alone, that I haven’t perused:
E.T.
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Godfather Trilogy
THX 1138
Top Gun
His Dark Materials
Ender’s Game
Snow Crash
Hitchhiker’s Guide
H.G. Wells, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut
The Hunger Games
Twilight
Hetalia
One Piece
Puella Magi Madoka Magica
I’m no cinephile, so consider movies to be my idgaf category. 🙂
Still, when there’s so much literature and anime to consume, it’s impossible to get it all. I gave up watching shounen odyssey series when I calculated the time-sink and decided that while holding down a day-job and launching my writing career, that’s simply too much time lost!
Some of the ones you marked onto your Missed list, I’ve no desire to even read (Twilight and Ender’s Game to be specific), even though they’ve left an indelible stamp on my favorite genres.
I’ve also only ever watched two episodes of original Star Trek. Guess my nerd card’s revoked!
Short of it is, geek out about what you want to geek out about, don’t feel pressured by nerd-culture to watch the thing’s that you don’t! That’s no better to me than the expectation growing up that I watch NFL football to fit in… and certainly no fun.
Aw yeah! That’s the point! That you don’t have to have to partake in certain things in order to be a geek! Geek about what you like, don’t pretend to know about stuff you don’t know about (just because lying is bad), and be happy! I’m tired of hearing people be like “UGH, she hasn’t seen Star Trek? How can you be a nerd?” Maybe because she’s into SOMETHING ELSE. There’s no checklist for being a nerd.
Amen, Greg! 🙂
Seriously, we’ve had nerd convos about so much we share in common as well as things we have passion for but the other is only semi-interested in or never even seen/heard of. I will never cosplay, but it doesn’t take away my cred. I can’t claim to be very into anime, but hell, I’ll sit down and watch it with you if you think it’s awesome. OTOH I will read *anything and everything* I can get my hands on and I have read pretty much everything by the authors on the list (aside from Twilight) that you mentioned. If there isn’t a book somewhere in my vicinity, I must be dead. So yeah, choose what you love and geek ’til your heart’s content. Even if what you geek out about is Paul Rudd 😛