The other week I parked my car in an almost empty lot. I went into the store I was going into and came out 10 minutes later. In that time, only one more car had parked in the lot...right beside me...and was very close to the line. I thought to myself, "What the hell is this? Does this person not know proper parking etiquette?" and it got me thinking about what else we keep in our mind as unwritten rules. So here's a list of some rules to live by that won't make others fly off into a quiet rage, pulling the heads off of Barbie dolls while humming "Hanuna Matata".
1. If a parking lot is empty, there's no need to park next to the only other car.
2. Whether it's a toilet or a urinal, always leave at least one space between you and the next person unless there's no other choice.
3. Don't overcrowd the elevator. This will only lead to someone in the far back of the elevator needing to get off on the very next floor.
4. It is okay for a full theatre of people to go all "Lord of the Flies" on someone who hasn't shut off their laptop during either the trailers or the movie.
5. It's not okay to yell at people to keep it down before 10pm.
6. Don't call after 10pm or before 8am unless it's an emergency or you know they're awake; but you can text anytime.
7. When on a bus or other mass transit system, do not stand by the door and avoid other peoples space as much as possible.
8. The person next to you on the bus does not want to have a conversation with you. This is doubly true if they're wearing headphones.
9. Wear white after labour day. Nobody gives a shit about that anymore.
10. If someone has invited you over for a dinner, bring something as a gift. That's just polite.
11. Always offer to help clean up (dishes, bottles, bodies, whatever).
12. Always tell new parents that their newborn is cute, no matter how cone-headed or ugly that thing actually is.
13. Wait for everyone at the table to get their food before you begin to eat. Buttering a bun is acceptable though.
14. If you know a guy for more than 24 hours, his sister is off limits forever, unless you actually marry her.
15. On a road trip, the person in the passenger seat has 2 jobs: Navigation and feeding the driver.
16. Unless you're in prison, there's no reason to fight naked.
17. Do not talk to others in the bathroom unless you're both waiting in line to use that bathroom.
18. If you ask a girl what she wants for x-mas and she says "If you loved me, you'd know what I would want." gets either a Playstation or an X-box.
19. Never fart in the elevator...unless you're at your floor.
20. Never look at another man when using the urinal.
21. Never embarass a guy in front of a girl.
22. If you and some friends get a couple pitchers of beer, pour for yourself last.
23. Don't be a sore loser.
24. Don't be a bad winner.
25. Don't budge in line. This goes for any kind of line, even if you're in your car.
That's about it for now. Stay classy and I'll write more in this upcoming year than I did this past year.
Saturday 15 December 2012
Monday 13 February 2012
The Post of 2 Masters
So this post is kind of two posts rolled into one, so forgive the poor transition between the first part and the second.
I mentioned a while ago that some depression came part and parcel with unemployment. I'm pretty sure I weathered the storm okay. Christmas came and went and it was fantastic. I didn't get everyone gifts that I wanted to, but I was still getting back on my feet. January came around and JR's birthday came up. I managed to afford a decent gift for him, but it was a couple weeks later when I was in Legends (the greatest comic store in the world, Eisner's be damned), and I bought him a pretty nice book as a small thanks for helping support me last year, that I realized that I finally have gotten my life together, and it feels pretty damn good. I have a fantastic and beautiful girlfriend that I'm crazy about; who brought me to Christmas dinner with her family, is there for me when I need her most, and who made my birthday a fantastic day (it usually goes mostly uncelebrated [though JN did make a pretty awesome cake for me this year]). I have a job that pays a decent and liveable wage. Thanks to Weight Watchers (yeah, I'm on it), I've lost just over 30 lbs. I've registered and will be doing a 10K this year. I think some of this good fortune has rubbed off on others too. RR got a big promotion at his work, and I like to think I helped that a little bit. All things considered, things are okay...but there have been a few down points. My ex is still...let's just say that it's the opposite of angelic. Just after my birthday, my dad has an eye removed because it was still cancerous and the pressure on the eye was twice what it should be...so my dad is now a cyclops (not a pirate...no patch *sadface*). He's in a lot less pain now, which is good. The only other sour point is that my friend JH is moving back to New Brunswick; he will be missed.
So I've been working as tech support for a company that (without giving any specific names) provides cable TV, internet, and telephone service. For the most part, I've been enjoying my job quite a bit, and I'm pretty good at it too. I do, however, notice trends and common mistakes made by people when they phone in and I wanted to share with you some tips if you feel you need to call into tech support.
Reboot your computer. It's 2012...if you don't know to start troubleshooting by rebooting your computer, just take your life.
For the love of God, please just learn a little about the things you're using. Know what your operating system is on your PC. Know what version of Outlook you're using. If you don't know...DON'T GUESS! Just be honest and say you don't know. I can show you how to figure it out.
Listen closely to the instructions we give you and don't do ANYTHING that we don't tell you to do. You're calling support because you're not smart enough to solve the problem yourself. Don't try to act smart and do things on your own because you think it's right. Most of the time it will result in starting over again, wasting both your time and mine.
Make sure that the person you're calling is responsible for helping with your problem. If you managed to change your computers language to Mandarin, your ISP cannot help you. If your cell phone dies, call your cell phone company, not your cable company.
Your tech support guy does not care about your life story. We're more than happy to help, but I could care less about your stance on emoticons and how "life isn't life without emoticons" (yes, this actually happened). Just tell us what's wrong in the simplest form (like "My internet is down") and let us ask the questions.
I don't care what you've done before calling...if you've called me to help you and I tell you to do something, just do it. Don't argue.
If you need to phone tech support to have your e-mail password reset because you were too stupid to remember it, it's not allowed to be "livesmart".
When talking on the phone to someone you don't know, don't be racist. This happens more than you think it should and it can sometimes be disturbing.
No electronics work from magic. They all need electricity. If your device stops working, look to see if it's plugged in before calling.
If something goes wrong, don't wait a week to phone. Call right away. 90% of the time it can be fixed over the phone. 9% of the time it can be fixed inside a week. 1% of the time it can be fixed in over a week.
I know you're frustrated, I know you're angry, but whatever the problem is, I didn't do it to you...don't be rude and don't take it out on me. I'm the guy you called for help.
Don't call up drunk or stoned...it's not funny, and I can't understand half of the crazy shit you're saying.
If we need to send a technician out to your house to fix whatever is wrong with you and you live in a large city, don't expect to get an appointment in a day or two. There are only so many technicians and someone with no dial tone takes a higher priority than someone who is going to miss their favorite repeat of Sailor Moon.
If you have a router and you can't connect to the internet, bypass the router. Over 95% of my calls where people "have no internet" are solved by bypassing their broke ass routers.
Being old is no excuse for not knowing how to operate technology you own. Neither is being a girl. I get that excuse waaaay more than I should.
Telling the tech support guy "well it was just working earlier" is easily in the top 10 of dumb things we hear. We know it was working earlier. The fact that it stopped working is why you called in. Things work until they stop working; that's how we know they're broken.
If I tell you to remove a cable, please don't ask me if it's "the white one" or "the blue one". I'm not there; I can't see it.
This kinds goes with the last point, but please know how you have your equipment hooked up, or if you don't know how it's hooked up, at least be familiar with the different kinds of connections. I understand some of you may be unfamiliar with the different types of connections so I'm going to provide a handy guide.
This is COMPOSITE cable. It's a touch higher quality than coaxial. It provides video (through the yellow) and stereo sound (through the red and white). These are very common cables.
Both of these are COMPONENT cables. While a true component cable has only 3 connectors (as in the lower picture) that transmit only video (including HD video up to 720p), You may see a variation where they stick a white and red stereo audio conector onto it as welll (as depicted in the upper picture). Whatever you do, make sure you hook these up correcly, otherwise things get messy.
This funny looking connector is on an OPTICAL cable. It uses light and fiber optics to transmit sound from a cablebox or blu-ray player to a receiver. This cable is capable of sending only voice, NOT VIDEO.
Now we've come to the most recent of them all, HDMI. It stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface. It's the current market standard for high quality picture and sound transmission.
This is ETHERNET cable. Also called Network cable and by the more tech minded among us, RJ45. This is what gets the internet from your modem to your devices. You can see here why telling us what colour your cable is is super unimportant.
That's all I got for tonight.
[for JN: So today I got up, threw on my robe and was kinda flip flopping between playing games and watching shows. Then just after lunch, I finally had a shower, got dressed, made supper for later, and went off to work. I stopped by to see CvO at work first, and to ask her a favour. I spent the rest of my day at work. When I got home, I took off my pants, watched a show, made this blog, and now I'm about to crash into bed.]
I mentioned a while ago that some depression came part and parcel with unemployment. I'm pretty sure I weathered the storm okay. Christmas came and went and it was fantastic. I didn't get everyone gifts that I wanted to, but I was still getting back on my feet. January came around and JR's birthday came up. I managed to afford a decent gift for him, but it was a couple weeks later when I was in Legends (the greatest comic store in the world, Eisner's be damned), and I bought him a pretty nice book as a small thanks for helping support me last year, that I realized that I finally have gotten my life together, and it feels pretty damn good. I have a fantastic and beautiful girlfriend that I'm crazy about; who brought me to Christmas dinner with her family, is there for me when I need her most, and who made my birthday a fantastic day (it usually goes mostly uncelebrated [though JN did make a pretty awesome cake for me this year]). I have a job that pays a decent and liveable wage. Thanks to Weight Watchers (yeah, I'm on it), I've lost just over 30 lbs. I've registered and will be doing a 10K this year. I think some of this good fortune has rubbed off on others too. RR got a big promotion at his work, and I like to think I helped that a little bit. All things considered, things are okay...but there have been a few down points. My ex is still...let's just say that it's the opposite of angelic. Just after my birthday, my dad has an eye removed because it was still cancerous and the pressure on the eye was twice what it should be...so my dad is now a cyclops (not a pirate...no patch *sadface*). He's in a lot less pain now, which is good. The only other sour point is that my friend JH is moving back to New Brunswick; he will be missed.
So I've been working as tech support for a company that (without giving any specific names) provides cable TV, internet, and telephone service. For the most part, I've been enjoying my job quite a bit, and I'm pretty good at it too. I do, however, notice trends and common mistakes made by people when they phone in and I wanted to share with you some tips if you feel you need to call into tech support.
Reboot your computer. It's 2012...if you don't know to start troubleshooting by rebooting your computer, just take your life.
For the love of God, please just learn a little about the things you're using. Know what your operating system is on your PC. Know what version of Outlook you're using. If you don't know...DON'T GUESS! Just be honest and say you don't know. I can show you how to figure it out.
Listen closely to the instructions we give you and don't do ANYTHING that we don't tell you to do. You're calling support because you're not smart enough to solve the problem yourself. Don't try to act smart and do things on your own because you think it's right. Most of the time it will result in starting over again, wasting both your time and mine.
Make sure that the person you're calling is responsible for helping with your problem. If you managed to change your computers language to Mandarin, your ISP cannot help you. If your cell phone dies, call your cell phone company, not your cable company.
Your tech support guy does not care about your life story. We're more than happy to help, but I could care less about your stance on emoticons and how "life isn't life without emoticons" (yes, this actually happened). Just tell us what's wrong in the simplest form (like "My internet is down") and let us ask the questions.
I don't care what you've done before calling...if you've called me to help you and I tell you to do something, just do it. Don't argue.
If you need to phone tech support to have your e-mail password reset because you were too stupid to remember it, it's not allowed to be "livesmart".
When talking on the phone to someone you don't know, don't be racist. This happens more than you think it should and it can sometimes be disturbing.
No electronics work from magic. They all need electricity. If your device stops working, look to see if it's plugged in before calling.
If something goes wrong, don't wait a week to phone. Call right away. 90% of the time it can be fixed over the phone. 9% of the time it can be fixed inside a week. 1% of the time it can be fixed in over a week.
I know you're frustrated, I know you're angry, but whatever the problem is, I didn't do it to you...don't be rude and don't take it out on me. I'm the guy you called for help.
Don't call up drunk or stoned...it's not funny, and I can't understand half of the crazy shit you're saying.
If we need to send a technician out to your house to fix whatever is wrong with you and you live in a large city, don't expect to get an appointment in a day or two. There are only so many technicians and someone with no dial tone takes a higher priority than someone who is going to miss their favorite repeat of Sailor Moon.
If you have a router and you can't connect to the internet, bypass the router. Over 95% of my calls where people "have no internet" are solved by bypassing their broke ass routers.
Being old is no excuse for not knowing how to operate technology you own. Neither is being a girl. I get that excuse waaaay more than I should.
Telling the tech support guy "well it was just working earlier" is easily in the top 10 of dumb things we hear. We know it was working earlier. The fact that it stopped working is why you called in. Things work until they stop working; that's how we know they're broken.
If I tell you to remove a cable, please don't ask me if it's "the white one" or "the blue one". I'm not there; I can't see it.
This kinds goes with the last point, but please know how you have your equipment hooked up, or if you don't know how it's hooked up, at least be familiar with the different kinds of connections. I understand some of you may be unfamiliar with the different types of connections so I'm going to provide a handy guide.
This is COAXIAL cable. This is how call cable based services enter your house. It's a simple and reliable cable, but capable of transmitting and receiving data as well as audio and video. This cable is most likely hooked up from the outlet in the wall to your cablebox. If you're using this to connect to your TV...well you're a little old fashioned.
Both of these are COMPONENT cables. While a true component cable has only 3 connectors (as in the lower picture) that transmit only video (including HD video up to 720p), You may see a variation where they stick a white and red stereo audio conector onto it as welll (as depicted in the upper picture). Whatever you do, make sure you hook these up correcly, otherwise things get messy.
That's all I got for tonight.
[for JN: So today I got up, threw on my robe and was kinda flip flopping between playing games and watching shows. Then just after lunch, I finally had a shower, got dressed, made supper for later, and went off to work. I stopped by to see CvO at work first, and to ask her a favour. I spent the rest of my day at work. When I got home, I took off my pants, watched a show, made this blog, and now I'm about to crash into bed.]
Friday 6 January 2012
Big Surprise...I'm a geek.
In case you haven't been able to tell, I'm a geek (and when I talk about geeks in this post, I'm also including nerds). I like Star Trek and Star Wars, playing video games, board games and miniatures games, superheroes and comic books...hell, I even work as Tech Support. My favorite shows and movies are almost always sci-fi and fantasy. I wear thick framed glasses and I wear t-shirt that bear symbols and icons only other geeks will know. For this, I, and people like me, have been misrepresented by the media for cheap laughs and (at least when I was younger) ostracized from social groups. When I was in my early teens, liking Star Trek was akin to being a homosexual in terms of how others would treat you. I remember keeping my love of the show a tightly kept secret, until I found other, like-minded people and became much more comfortable with myself as a person...but I digress. This post is not about thatt. This post is to try to make people realize how terribly wrong the image of the geek is in popular culture. I've been watching tv shows and movies carefully over the last month to see exactly how we're portrayed and I've broken it down into its base components:
Highly intelligent but socially awkward/introverted
Physically Weak
inability to communicate with the opposite sex
lack of sexual experience
lives in parents basement
allows video games to dominate life
plays fantasy role playing (may or may not dress up for it)
read comic books
goes to conventions (may dress up for that as well)
dresses awkwardly
oddball or offbeat behaviour
Frequently in smart jobs like scientists or computer tech
Very thin or egregiously overweight
Needy
Take a few of these and make it a character and you can probably find them as a lead cast member on Big Bang Theory. This is not how we are. Sure, there are people who do fit into these stereotypes, but that's not what defines them, or geeks in general. Lets look at that list and see how much of it applies to me and how it affects my life.
Highly Intelligent but socially awkward/introverted - well I'm pretty smart, but I'm not a rocket scientist. I'm definitely not socially awkward or introverted. This doesn't affect me at all.
Physically Weak - Again not me, nor does this affect me.
Inability to communicate with the opposite sex - I think my lovely girlfriend would disagree.
Lack of sexual experience - Nope, not me at all.
Lives in parents basement - My parents don't even have a basement.
Allows video games to dominate life - Definitely not. Game compusion is a serious problem that I do not suffer from, but I really feel for people who do. For those of you who think you might be addicted to your game...watch this.
Plays fantasy role playing games - Absolutely. How has this affected my life? I see my friends on a regular basis and we all do something we enjoy.
Read comic books - This is definitely me. I spend a few dollars a week and enjoy the stories and the art. If I were to just read novels, or comment on movies or artwork, I would be considered cultured and refined. Why should comics be any different?
Goes to Conventions - Of course! More on this later.
Dresses awkwardly - I may wear things that would be considered an in-joke among geeks, but that's no less strange than paying hundreds of dollars for clothes with a name brand on them. In fact, financially, it makes a hell of a lot more sense.
Oddball or offbeat behaviour - Perhaps some could consider my behaviour offbeat or oddball, but that's only because you don't get it. Imagine someone walking into the middle of a showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show. To the outsider, it's a collection of mentally insane people doing oddball things; but to the insider, it's just all part of the fun.
Frequently in smart jobs like scientists or computer tech - Well I'll plead guilty to that one. I do tech support. How does this affect my life? I'm in a job I enjoy making enough money to live comfortably. Damn us geeks and our skills!!
Very thin or egregiously overweight - Yeah, I'm overweight. Did it come from being a geek? Of course not. That would be like saying, "Well she's fat because she watched too much Young and the Restless". Sounds ridiculous like that doesn't it?
Needy - I don't think of myself as needy, but if I was, it wouldn't be because I like Star Wars or watch Doctor Who.
All the geeks I've met come from all walks of life, are of all shapes and sizes, but they all usually do share one defining trait; acceptance. Never have I ever heard of a geek excluding someone because of their social standing, age, race, religion, gender, sexuality, physical attributes, profession, or any other ridiculous reason why people segregate themselves. Now what do we see in the media as a representation of geeks? We see kids using their smarts to make a woman to have sex with (Weird Science, 1985), uber-stereotypical nerds triumphing over even more stereotypical bully jocks (Revenge of the Nerds, 1984), or more recently a socially awkward and stapler obsessed office worker (Office Space, 1999), a 40 year old virgin (presumably because of his geeky lifestye, The 40 Year Old Virgin, 2005), a higly stereotyped Trekkie type character (Galaxy Quest, 1999). Those are as accurate a portrayal of geeks as The Good Wife is of practicing law. If you want to see an accurate description of 2 geeks having a conversation about a geeky subject...look right here.
This is a conversation between 2 people about Star Wars and it's further implications. Unlike Big Bang Theory, the topic of conversation isn't the main joke here, and neither is the inherent geekiness of the participants. All they have is an interesting exchange that ends up being a little poignant. Now compare that with this.
Do you see the difference? There's nothing inherently funny about what Sheldon is saying. So what's the joke here? The joke is "look at how goofy and silly the geek can be". Leonard is supposed to be the "grounded" character that we're all supposed to relate to, but when you look at it, he's really just being a dismissive ass to his friend who's trying to have a discussion about something that's on his mind. I'm not saying that we can't poke fun at ourselves, or we shoudn't make fun of geeky stuff. But a scene like this exemplifies how it's not a show for geeks, but about geeks; and again, a poor portrayal at best.
Truth be told, the geeks are all around you. You may even be a closet geek and not even know it. Do you realize how many movies these days are based on comic books? I'm sure you're aware of the big names, Superman, Batman, Captain America, Thor, etc. Maybe you even know The Watchmen (and kudos if you liked the movie). I bet you didn't know 300 was a comic book. How about A History Of Violence, Road to Perdition, Men In Black, RED, Wanted, The Surrogates, or V for Vendetta? These movies all did fairly well at the box office and were all based on comic books, and like movies that are based on novels, the (comic) books are usually better than the movie.
Geeks are all over your movies too...lurking in plain sight. Take a look at this guy.
You probably recognize Vin Diesel. He has played Dungeons and Dragons for the last 20 years. He even wrote the forward for the 30th anniversary edition. Even I gotta admit that's pretty geeky. But wait a minute, he isn't socially awkward. He's not weak or hyperintelligent. He doesn't dress strangely and I seriously doubt he has any problems with women. Do a search on youtube for him talking to Jimmy Kimmel about D&D. Note how he gets when he's talking about playing. He's a role model for all kinds of geeks who perhaps lack the confidence to come out and just say what they like, regardless of what others think. But wait, he's only the first geek on the list.
Chritian Slater...He's a huge Trekkie. So much so that he had to have a cameo in Star Trek VI.
Highly intelligent but socially awkward/introverted
Physically Weak
inability to communicate with the opposite sex
lack of sexual experience
lives in parents basement
allows video games to dominate life
plays fantasy role playing (may or may not dress up for it)
read comic books
goes to conventions (may dress up for that as well)
dresses awkwardly
oddball or offbeat behaviour
Frequently in smart jobs like scientists or computer tech
Very thin or egregiously overweight
Needy
Take a few of these and make it a character and you can probably find them as a lead cast member on Big Bang Theory. This is not how we are. Sure, there are people who do fit into these stereotypes, but that's not what defines them, or geeks in general. Lets look at that list and see how much of it applies to me and how it affects my life.
Highly Intelligent but socially awkward/introverted - well I'm pretty smart, but I'm not a rocket scientist. I'm definitely not socially awkward or introverted. This doesn't affect me at all.
Physically Weak - Again not me, nor does this affect me.
Inability to communicate with the opposite sex - I think my lovely girlfriend would disagree.
Lack of sexual experience - Nope, not me at all.
Lives in parents basement - My parents don't even have a basement.
Allows video games to dominate life - Definitely not. Game compusion is a serious problem that I do not suffer from, but I really feel for people who do. For those of you who think you might be addicted to your game...watch this.
Plays fantasy role playing games - Absolutely. How has this affected my life? I see my friends on a regular basis and we all do something we enjoy.
Read comic books - This is definitely me. I spend a few dollars a week and enjoy the stories and the art. If I were to just read novels, or comment on movies or artwork, I would be considered cultured and refined. Why should comics be any different?
Goes to Conventions - Of course! More on this later.
Dresses awkwardly - I may wear things that would be considered an in-joke among geeks, but that's no less strange than paying hundreds of dollars for clothes with a name brand on them. In fact, financially, it makes a hell of a lot more sense.
Oddball or offbeat behaviour - Perhaps some could consider my behaviour offbeat or oddball, but that's only because you don't get it. Imagine someone walking into the middle of a showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show. To the outsider, it's a collection of mentally insane people doing oddball things; but to the insider, it's just all part of the fun.
Frequently in smart jobs like scientists or computer tech - Well I'll plead guilty to that one. I do tech support. How does this affect my life? I'm in a job I enjoy making enough money to live comfortably. Damn us geeks and our skills!!
Very thin or egregiously overweight - Yeah, I'm overweight. Did it come from being a geek? Of course not. That would be like saying, "Well she's fat because she watched too much Young and the Restless". Sounds ridiculous like that doesn't it?
Needy - I don't think of myself as needy, but if I was, it wouldn't be because I like Star Wars or watch Doctor Who.
All the geeks I've met come from all walks of life, are of all shapes and sizes, but they all usually do share one defining trait; acceptance. Never have I ever heard of a geek excluding someone because of their social standing, age, race, religion, gender, sexuality, physical attributes, profession, or any other ridiculous reason why people segregate themselves. Now what do we see in the media as a representation of geeks? We see kids using their smarts to make a woman to have sex with (Weird Science, 1985), uber-stereotypical nerds triumphing over even more stereotypical bully jocks (Revenge of the Nerds, 1984), or more recently a socially awkward and stapler obsessed office worker (Office Space, 1999), a 40 year old virgin (presumably because of his geeky lifestye, The 40 Year Old Virgin, 2005), a higly stereotyped Trekkie type character (Galaxy Quest, 1999). Those are as accurate a portrayal of geeks as The Good Wife is of practicing law. If you want to see an accurate description of 2 geeks having a conversation about a geeky subject...look right here.
This is a conversation between 2 people about Star Wars and it's further implications. Unlike Big Bang Theory, the topic of conversation isn't the main joke here, and neither is the inherent geekiness of the participants. All they have is an interesting exchange that ends up being a little poignant. Now compare that with this.
Do you see the difference? There's nothing inherently funny about what Sheldon is saying. So what's the joke here? The joke is "look at how goofy and silly the geek can be". Leonard is supposed to be the "grounded" character that we're all supposed to relate to, but when you look at it, he's really just being a dismissive ass to his friend who's trying to have a discussion about something that's on his mind. I'm not saying that we can't poke fun at ourselves, or we shoudn't make fun of geeky stuff. But a scene like this exemplifies how it's not a show for geeks, but about geeks; and again, a poor portrayal at best.
Truth be told, the geeks are all around you. You may even be a closet geek and not even know it. Do you realize how many movies these days are based on comic books? I'm sure you're aware of the big names, Superman, Batman, Captain America, Thor, etc. Maybe you even know The Watchmen (and kudos if you liked the movie). I bet you didn't know 300 was a comic book. How about A History Of Violence, Road to Perdition, Men In Black, RED, Wanted, The Surrogates, or V for Vendetta? These movies all did fairly well at the box office and were all based on comic books, and like movies that are based on novels, the (comic) books are usually better than the movie.
Geeks are all over your movies too...lurking in plain sight. Take a look at this guy.
You probably recognize Vin Diesel. He has played Dungeons and Dragons for the last 20 years. He even wrote the forward for the 30th anniversary edition. Even I gotta admit that's pretty geeky. But wait a minute, he isn't socially awkward. He's not weak or hyperintelligent. He doesn't dress strangely and I seriously doubt he has any problems with women. Do a search on youtube for him talking to Jimmy Kimmel about D&D. Note how he gets when he's talking about playing. He's a role model for all kinds of geeks who perhaps lack the confidence to come out and just say what they like, regardless of what others think. But wait, he's only the first geek on the list.
Scott Bakula was such a huge fan of the original Star Trek series, that when a new show came along, he HAD to play the lead role.
Some of you may not recognize Dennis Kucinich. He's a congressman from Ohio's 10th District and former Presidential candidate. He plays D&D too, and judging by the picture of him and his wife, he's got no problem with the ladies. (and yes, that picture is him and his wife)
This woman, Asia Carerra, is a porn star and a geek. She's a member of Mensa with an IQ of 156 and plays Unreal Tournament like it was going out of style. I doubt she lives in her parents basement.
Most of you probably remember Dolph Lundgren from his role as Ivan Drago from Rocky. What you probably don't know is how much of a nerd he is. He has an IQ of 160, a Masters in Chemical Engineering, awarded the Fullbright Scholarship to MIT, speaks 5 languages, 3rd degree black belt, former Ranger, and Olympic Pentathlon team leader. Know many scientists that competed in the Olympic Pentathalon and still found time to star in Universal Soldier.
I'm not going to continue berating you with pictures....but here's a few more people and their geekiness.
Jerry Seinfeld: Huge Superman fan. Had a Superman somewhere in EVERY episode of Seinfeld.
Nicholas Cage: Not to be outdone, Mr. Cage named his sone Kal-El (Superman's birth name)
Kristen Bell: Goes to comic book conventions and is a huge fan of comic book creator Ed Brubaker.
Roasario Dawson:Huge Comic book fan
Christina Applegate: Video gamer. Owns PS3, Xbox, and Wii. Loves Guitar Hero.
Robin Williams: Goes to E3 every year. Such a huge video game fan that he named his daughter Zelda.
As you can see, geeks can really be anyone. Who would have thought that the thing that links Nicholas Cage and Jerry Seinfeld is Superman? Or that Dolph Lundgren speaks a language for every finger on one hand?
Now there is one more thing I want to go over and that is the topic of conventions. I don't know why this is so hard for people to grasp, but geeks like going to conventions. Think of it like multi-day music festivals, but instead of music, it's geek stuff. It's a chance to submerse oneself into the things that they love, and maybe meet some of the people responsible for its production. I went to the Emeral City Comicon last year and I had the time of my life. I got to meet tons of people who have laboured and created works that I have so deeply enjoyed. It was such a great experience that I'm definitely doing it again this year. You're welcome to join me if you can let loose your inner geek.
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