According to Patton Oswalt, Geek Culture is dying, thanks to endless remakes, prequels, people jumping on the band wagon, and what not.

Before, I continue with the post, I am going to start with what for me was my greatest defying moment for me.

Godzilla.

Or more speficly a book about Godzilla, I read in grade school. I was fancinated about the idea of films about giant monsters, cities being crushed under their weight, and the low level effects, it took to make the giant monsters.

My other favorite moments?

Going to a convention in Toronto, being amazed at how people showed up. People wiho more into comic book, sci-fi, and horror, then I'll ever be.

My final and most recent moment, came with seeing a re issue of Back To The Future, in a theatre.

It was packed, full of people who have seen it before, their kids who they brought along with them, and people seeing it for the very first time.

There was more enthusiasm for that film, then I have seen before or since then.

So, is Geek Culture dead?  What we are experiencing, is not a death, but rather a tip of the iceberg.

Years ago, you would be mocked, poked fun or rediculed. Now things, are different.  Case in point, there is this girl named Katie, who was teased by other kids, for daring to love Star Wars, because she is a girl, and obviously girls are supposed to like My Little Pony, Rainbow Brite, Barbie, and stuff like that.

Her adoptive mother, took to the net and blogged about the experience, and the out pouring was amazing.

So is Geek Culture, dying?  As long as there is good stories to tell, people who create them, and those who appreciate it, far from it.

Finally, here is Patton Oswald's article for those interested in reading it.  Normally, I don't get epic, but I felt the need to get it off my chest.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/12/ff_angrynerd_geekculture/all/1

I will always be a geek, no matter what. The geekdom will never die for me!

Geek culture isn't dying, it's just no longer 'underground'.

But if it's no longer underground, can it be called geek culture anymore?  ???

Geek culture isn't dying, it's just no longer 'underground'.

But if it's no longer underground, can it be called geek culture anymore?  ???


There's plenty of underground geek culture, primarily in the otaku (anime/gaming) crowd.

There's plenty of underground geek culture, primarily in the otaku (anime/gaming) crowd.


Than I guess it isn't dying.  :)

Geek culture isn't dying, it's just no longer 'underground'.

But if it's no longer underground, can it be called geek culture anymore?  ???


That was what his arguement, that things are so mainstream, that anyone can proclaim to be a geek, even f they are not into it and it dillutes true geekiness.

Some even argue, it should die and go and stay at it's ground roots, where only true die hard geeks, can proclaim their geekiness and be outsiders again, so that more originallity can come back.

That was what his arguement, that things are so mainstream, that anyone can proclaim to be a geek, even f they are not into it and it dillutes true geekiness.

Some even argue, it should die and go and stay at it's ground roots, where only true die hard geeks, can proclaim their geekiness and be outsiders again, so that more originallity can come back.


Si Senor.

There's plenty of underground geek culture, primarily in the otaku (anime/gaming) crowd.


Oddly, it neans in English a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga, and video games.

This word can have a very negative meaning depending on the context in which it is used. In Japanese society its usage is widely understood to mean someone who is an anti-social maniac.

Finally, here is Patton Oswald's article for those interested in reading it.  Normally, I don't get epic, but I felt the need to get it off my chest.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/12/ff_angrynerd_geekculture/all/1


Love the article.  If you can get past the (oh-so-00s-grasping-for-clickthroughs) inflammatory headline, he's actually got a point: in a world of ETEWAF - "Everything That Ever Was—Available Forever", what's truly geeky?

It's like fish not noticing the water in which they swim.  In order to appreciate the pop cultural references Bugs Bunny made in the 50s, you had to know a lot about the 30s and 40s, and occasionally the 20s.  In order to appreciate Family Guy's pop culture references, you've gotta be pretty well-versed in everything from about 1970 onward, with the odd nod to the 50s and 60s.

In order to not be a geek, all you have to do is watch American Idol and nothing else.  (Us geeks have a harder time - we have to watch enough American Idol to get the reference when someone says something about William Hung, but not so much that we actually start giving a damn about it.)

"Why create anything new when there’s a mountain of freshly excavated pop culture to recut, repurpose, and manipulate on your iMovie?"

Because that's what we were doing before it was cool.  Whether with comics, music, or movies.

"The coming decades—the 21st-century’s ’20s, ’30s, and ’40s—have the potential to be one long, unbroken, recut spoof in which everything in Avatar  farts while Keyboard Cat plays eerily in the background."

He says that like it's a bad thing.  (Actually, he doesn't.  He's just fooling with you here.)

"But I prefer to be optimistic. I choose hope. I see Etewaf as the Balrog, the helter-skelter, the A-pop-alypse that rains cleansing fire down onto the otaku landscape, burns away the chaff, and forces us to start over with only a few thin, near-meatless scraps on which to build."

And that's exactly what we're doing.  (Which he admits.)

"That’s when we’ll reach Etewaf singularity. Pop culture will become self-aware."

Sample it, loop it, f*TWEET*k it, and eat it.  Flag on the play.  Missed reference to Pop Will Eat Itself.  Five-yard penalty, still first down.  

"Someone BitTorrenting a Crass bootleg will suddenly find their hard drive crammed with Elvis Presley’s “lost” grunge album from 1994."

And now he's getting me mad, making up a nonexistent "grunge album from 1994" when he should have gone with the real lost dance album, from 2008, namely Elvis vs. Spankox, Re:Versions. As in, Elvis vs. Spankox, Blue Moon of Kentucky.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LBUkldstS4

Yes, that's the official video, if this Youtube link is viewable in your country.  (Copyright and DRM are the only things that can stall ETEWAF, but this link was apparently placed there by Sony BMG UK, and works from the USA.  Get thee behind a proxy if it doesn't work, it's an awesome video, especially in the context of this article.)

Patton Oswalt, if you're reading this, that was a great article.  But fumbled at the one-yard line, because about two years before your article, some kid beat you to it in a real video centered around Elvis, Las Vegas, a remix DJ, drugs, slot machines, arcades, the coin-op version of Dance Dance Revolution, and (of course) breakdancing.

What's truly geeky is getting the references.  In an age of ETEWAF, you have to know absolutely everything about everything in order to get the joke, let alone master the form, and only the most dedicated otaku can pull it off.

I've done my part in bringing about the self-awareness of pop culture.  ETEWAF then, ETEWAF now, ETEWAF forever: shine on the ones who've gone, blue moon.

Oddly, it neans in English a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga, and video games.

This word can have a very negative meaning depending on the context in which it is used. In Japanese society its usage is widely understood to mean someone who is an anti-social maniac.


Seriously now? I had no idea. We take Japanese words like otaku and baka (idiot) and use them like they're nothing, while in Japan they're highly powerful words.

I find that the biggest problem, at times is that to be truly geek, you have to follow a check list.

Like Star Wars (original preferably), Star Trek, FCLC, Cowboy Bebop, Firefly, or Tron?  Congradulations, you are accepted.

Like Clone Wars, Naruto, Scott Pilgrim, the Matrix  sequels, One Piece, or Tron Legacy?  Don't even bother.

It seems like an unending battle, between....

The Old School Geek  (1950's - 1960's)

Those who were at epicenter, when geekdom first started, where around for Dracula, Frankenstein, Creature From The Black Lagoon, Flash Gordon serials,
and read Famous Monsters Magazine, who either go along with current geek culture, or want it to be back at it's geek punk roots.

The  Second Generation Geek  (1960-1970's)

Into Batman (both comic book version and Adam West), Astro Boy, Speed Racer, Planet of The Apes, and 2001. They are trying to make sense of current geek culture, and it's sudden "coolness". Either they are kind of okay with it, or bemoaning the fact that geekiness, is no longer what they knew. 

My guess, is that Patton Oswalt, comes from this period.

The George Lucas Generation Geek (1970's - 1980's)

The period that grew up, with Star Wars, Raiders of The Lost Ark, the birth of the internet, the advent of Anime, and the dawning of the computer gaming age.

Either they line up with enthusiasm for the lastest awesome movie, eagerly waited for the nest issue of their favorite comic book to come, and more than happy to debate the finer points of their favorite films or TV series.  Or take to the net and vent about how "Evil George Lucas has become, he descricated my child hood memories, should burn in Hell forever."

As long as Glee is on the air, it's sill alive and well.

What's truly geeky is getting the references.  In an age of ETEWAF, you have to know absolutely everything about everything in order to get the joke, let alone master the form, and only the most dedicated otaku can pull it off.

Sorry, but this makes you little more than a walking sponge. Real geeks aren't just good at triva quizzes or playing "spot the reference". That is essentially memorization and regurgitation as opposed to being able to apply all that information or create something of your own. This, interestingly enough, is also said to be a real problem in the American education system.

Real geeks can create something of their own after having learned past knowledge. Original research, new theories, inventions. This is what scientists (today, a sadly overlooked subset of geek) do on a daily basis. Patton's point was that today's geeks are more consumers than producers. Essentially, mainstream media has taken geek culture and is selling it back to us while at the same time setting new standards based on different priorities. By giving the world a handbook on how to be a geek, the internet has made it easy for everyone and their sister to folow the instructions, dress the part, "learn the lingo", absorb all the right pop culture, and basically become what they are dictated is "the new cool".

I would say that most real geeks have better things to do than play "spot the reference". That's why you don't hear from them too often. It's not that they have little to say, it's just that being a pop culture junkie/hipster isn't what they're about. Anybody can do that. On the other hand, they're probably busy experimenting with things like DAZ Studio, Blender, AGS(Adventure Game Studio), OpenPCR, or something that actually takes patience, effort, and an above average learning curve but rewards you with something you've created or discovered. And when they do appear, the funny thing is, they don't talk or carry themselves like hybrid hipsters. They don't need to. Their work speaks for them.

I would say that most real geeks have better things to do than play "spot the reference". That's why you don't hear from them too often. It's not that they have little to say, it's just that being a pop culture junkie/hipster isn't what they're about. Anybody can do that. On the other hand, they're probably busy experimenting with things like DAZ Studio, Blender, AGS(Adventure Game Studio), OpenPCR, or something that actually takes patience, effort, and an above average learning curve but rewards you with something you've created or discovered. And when they do appear, the funny thing is, they don't talk or carry themselves like hybrid hipsters. They don't need to. Their work speaks for them.


I keep clicking where the Karma button should be, but since you're not registered, nothin' happens.

(And because actually accepting the challenge would require actual, you know, work on my part :)

In lieu of that mouse click, let me tip you my hat: you're right, and I gleefully admit to being part of the problem and not part of the solution.  I enjoy living in ETEWAF, but the problem of ETEWAF is that someone's probably done it before you thought of it.  The day I come up with an idea and someone hasn't already implemented it, is the day I take you up on that challenge.  (But neither of us should be holding our breaths!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRSNy5Gjgzk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRSNy5Gjgzk


I know where you're coming from, but no can do.

Even if I accept the fact that I'm probably too old and busted to do anything but enjoy the creations of others these days, it's OK.  (With apologies to Lt. Col. McCrae.)  To them, from gnarled hands I type a post; be theirs to let it flame.  I give no f*BLEEP*s for YouTube fame, but hail the nerds who bring me mirth; the geeks will inherit the earth.

Everybody tries to tell you that you're different,
So you run away and wonder if it makes sense,
But the day will come when you will get a new chance,
The tables turn...
And you know you'll be much more than they see...

Original: I Fight Dragons, Track 10 of Kaboom, The Geeks Will Inherit The Earth, touring Summer 2012.

I know where you're coming from, but no can do.

Even if I accept the fact that I'm probably too old and busted to do anything but enjoy the creations of others these days, it's OK.  (With apologies to Lt. Col. McCrae.)  To them, from gnarled hands I type a post; be theirs to let it flame.  I give no f*BLEEP*s for YouTube fame, but hail the nerds who bring me mirth; the geeks will inherit the earth.

Everybody tries to tell you that you're different,
So you run away and wonder if it makes sense,
But the day will come when you will get a new chance,
The tables turn...
And you know you'll be much more than they see...

Original: I Fight Dragons, Track 10 of Kaboom, The Geeks Will Inherit The Earth, touring Summer 2012.


The meek will inherit the earth...and then have to call the geeks for tech support!
::)

The meek will inherit the earth...and then have to call the geeks for tech support!
::)


On the other side of the coin, 3 years ago, Cracked (yes, the website that succeeded the magazine), took a great dig at the mainstreamization of nerddom:

"How many of you had a secret club when you were in school? Maybe you didn't have an actual tree house to meet in or a secret handshake, but at the very least you had a series of inside jokes and references that absolutely nobody else would get in a thousand years. But what if one day you heard the football team borrowing those jokes? Or worse, the teachers? What would that say about your club?"

 - 2008: The Year the Geeks Took Over, Parts 1 and 2

What I mean is, geek culture now runs the machines that run the world.

Ridicule them at your own peril.

'Nuff said:

http://www.gdargaud.net/Humor/Pics/Wouldyou.jpg

What I mean is, geek culture now runs the machines that run the world.


Hence my hat tip to Emkay 09 for the reminder.  Being a walking sponge is a useful business skill: identify trends, assimilate data, produce actionable response.  But it's not the sort of thing that changes the world.

TWyLOKjlAKA

 - 1999, Pirates of Silicon Valley, and the Apple equivalent to "would you have invested" starts at 7:00-7:30, but it's a good 90 minute romp through the early days.  Being a walking sponge is still useful for some things...

(Unfortunately, MSFT didn't go public until 1986, by which time nobody knew what Windows 3.0 would look like, but everybody knew that MS-DOS was a pretty good bet against PC-DOS.  Being a walking sponge is horribly disappointing when you know you don't know the answer, so you look it up, and you realize that your enjoyment of that picture will be forever tainted by the knowledge that the MSFT of 1978 still had eight years to grow before it went public.)