On Geeks

First off, this might be the greatest thing ever.

I'm not actually much of a geek. Oh, I appreciate the odd moment of geekiness, and think Star Trek's a good show*, but I'm not the kind to dress up and debate who would win in a cage match between Kirk and Picard. Because uh, Picard, obviously.

*For the record, Deep Space Nine is by far the best series. Okay, so I may be a geek...

In truth, I have a strange feeling of respect for people who get into costume and go to conventions. They know people make fun of them, and they do it anyway, because it's just what they like to do.

Likewise, it takes serious cojones to spend an afternoon LARPing... in public. For the most part people avoid them like a leper with SARS, as if geekiness were something you could catch. And still these uber-geeks, or Geeks 2.0 if you will, aren't the least bit deterred. Hell, they're having a blast. That's pretty admirable.

When you get right down to it, the only difference between dressing up as a wizard in a cardboard battle and painting your whole body blue for the Big Game is that the latter is almost certainly beer-induced.

You know the old saying "Dance like no one is watching"? These geeks have brought that shit to a whole 'nother level.