or, "I didn't know this came with a d20 Monster Manual?"
I purchased American Nerd: The Story of My People by Benjamin Nugent last night, after dinner. I randomly couldn't fall asleep and decided it would behoove me to stay up and read the whole damned book. I had become interested in the book shortly after seeing Mr. Nugent on the Carson Daly Show.
Nerds are certainly an interesting subject for a cultural studies/sociological book, but they're also a subject which lacks any real hard research or extended study. So it was with a little trepidation, and a lot of anticipation, that I began the book at 4 a.m. this morning.
The book started out fairly strong with an explanation of the origins of the term (and terms used before) nerd. It's a fairly straight forward origin, but interesting nonetheless. Much of the exploration, though, centers on extrapolating the key characteristics of the archetypal nerd from fictional characters. It's a good idea for illustrating that nerd traits existed early in history, but it is not definitive proof of nerds before 1900.
Throughout the history section, it felt like attention was paid to the historical facts of why the word exists and not so much why nerds exist. And there is only a brief mention of geeks, but no effort is made to explain if they are synonymous or even just related terms. So while it is a great etymological look at the word nerd, without a good deal of context, it doesn't explain why nerds exist at all, other than a pithy (and thrice repeated) Thomas Jefferson probably was a nerd.
The second part of the book focuses on illustrations of nerddom in America. However, most of these miss the mark. Instead of explaining differences among the nerd sub-groups (LARPing, debaters, gammers, etc.) it basically just presents the author's observations of their activities. And they're often not wrapped up in any finite way. It's as if the author is afraid to label the nerds, but the whole point of the book is to explain the story of a labeled people.
What becomes clear through reading the book is that this isn't so much "The story of [Nugent's] people" but "the story of Nugent's evolution beyond nerddom." He admits to a certain amount of alienation from some of the nerd groups. He often talks about growing away from his friends Darren and Kenneth (the two "Case studies" of the book). And, indeed, there are some curious, unnerd-like errors. (The author states that Princess Peach, in the game Super Smash Bros. Melee, is married to "The Prince." A character not in the game.)
And finally we get an awkward epilogue about the author's bad experiences with therapy as a child. It's a bit incongruous to the book, especially since it falls under the heading "My qualifications."
Ultimately, American Nerd is a fun, light read that will help shed some light on nerd-culture. It doesn't attempt to study nerds and it certainly isn't reflective of the author as he is today. Or at least, the author would have you believe he has vastly distanced himself from nerds. It reads more as part memoir, part history book. Perhaps it should be reexamined as being part of "cultural studies." And moved to a more appropriate part of the book store.
Here's a link to the book's home page as well. Be warned, apparently they didn't realize that Wired's review calling it a "mock ethnography"is a bit of a backhanded compliment and shouldn't be so prominently placed.
I was born in the late 80s. February 2, 1986 to be exact. It was an interesting time. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was in reruns, The Transformers were in their prime and G.I. Joe: The Movie was right around the corner. It's important to remember that these are three of the most infamous "Toys first" series. For those that don't know, action figures existed for all three franchises before there was linking material, either comics or a cartoon. It was conceived of as a good way to market toys to children, build a series around a set of interesting looking figures. And from what I know it worked. A trip down my basement today would reveal a big 20 gallon tub full of He-Man toys. Many of my Transformers took a trip to the yard sale, including an original die-cast Optimus Prime. (Extremely valuable if you had all the accessories, but, of course, I had lost all but the largest piece: Optimus himself.) I had a lot of G.I. Joes, but they were often lost "scuba diving" in the sump pump in the basement when I was 4. These were three very important shows for children of my era, we may have been a bit older than much of the first run shows, but all three series were successful. As a matter of fact He-Man was briefly on two channels, though I mostly remember it being on USA.
However, the most important cartoon of my childhood wasTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles it followed me as I grew, premiering two months shy of my second birthday and running till about 1995. TMNT figures, the liar, the Turtle-Van all can be found on shelves in my basement. The Technodrome is, admittedly, a little mildew-y. Turtles sort of defined my generation. My cousin, Harry demanded the He-Man Castle Grey Skull playset to just a year before I was born to be the ring bearer at my aunt's wedding. When it was Christmas and I was three, only one thing ruled my mind: TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES -- HEROES ON A HALF SHELL. TURTLE POWER! And ask most kids, even some girls, around my age and you'll find Turtle fans.
It seems that even before I could be exposed to anything else I had these four cartoons vying for my attention. I was a loyal TMNT fan, but there was something about Prince Adam, Cringer (Err... that is, He-Man and Battlecat!), Orko and Man-at-Arms that drew me in. Drew me in enough that at three or four I pretty much figured out that the show switched to another network. A cable network at that. Big doings in '89 and '90.
But then I discovered something waiting in the wings after He-Man finished it's two episode a day rotation on USA (usually after really creepy public service announcements with Orko telling you to tell an adult if someone touches your "private spots.") I can't say for certain, but this is probably something like the first image I saw of this following show: Yes. That's right, chum. Batman. Adam West and Burt Ward quickly became my new action heroes. The campy 1960s series had found a home on USA. (Unfortunately fans such as myself, the rights to this series are very, very screwed up and it will probably never see DVD.) There's not much I can say about this series. If you've seen it you know all about. The Bat-Computer. The Bat-Microphone (both of which can be seen above; Missing are the Bat-Beaker and Bat-Thermometer. No, for real). And of course the Shark Repellent Bat-Spray. (And the best joke ever, from the tie-in movie. "It happened at sea. Sea for Catwoman!" Thanks for playing, Boy Wonder, you get this... WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT WAS AN ACTUAL CLUE?)
Perhaps the most "disturbing episode" of Batman was when Robin was turned to the "darkside" by the terrible team-up of The Riddler and Catwoman. They employed the bizzarely sexy Pinky (one of Catwoman's cat-themed henchmen, except with a pink costume) with her extra long, red pinky nail to scratch Robin with an evil poison that made him turn on Batman. Only... Robin was acting the whole time! Huzzah!
But the cliffhanger that gave me nightmares for a week (ensuring I did tune in Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel) was when Robin gets devoured by a giant clam! I still think this might be why I don't eat seafood. You can see the stunning "reveal" of that cliffhanger in this clip:
But the final nail in the "geek for life" coffin I was falling into was comic books. My mother owned a dancing school when I was little. She would have to bring me to the school after pre-school and such. Normally we'd walk over to the Pharmacy on the corner and I'd pick out a coloring book. But that's about all I did. Then one day, I ran out of coloring books to choose from in the drug store. I was three at the time, so my mother sought out something else to occupy my time. She took me across the street to a newsstand, and upon walking in I saw them. Their dark, pre-90s chrome and pre-13 variant cover, covers amazed me. Here was an issue with the Batman fighting the Joker. Here was one with Robin on his own. Here was one with a colorful cast of misfits called the X-Men, though I wouldn't pick that one up till later. More or less my mother bought me the superheroes she knew: Superman & Batman. I was never the biggest Superman fan, but, any port in a storm.
While I wasn't the best reader, I could imagine dialog to go with the panels. Sometimes I made my own stories, sometimes I struggled through the ones that were there. But I loved every minute of them! I didn't really keep my comics at that age, and it's a shame. Really until 1992, I read mostly Batman comics with he occasional Superman. Or maybe there was a colorful DC book out that week and picked it up. I don't recall much about the content of the stories around this time, just that Batman won.
But that was it. Cartoons and comics got me started on the path. The interesting thing is that I more or less became a better reader because of comics. So much for the "They rot your mind" argument. Rot this!
While there are far more influences that I was aware of at the time, looking back 18 to 20 years later, I don't feel the impact. A show like Thundercats is considered a big cult hit, I can tell you I've probably seen about 1 episode.
What this blog will be for is an exploration of my evolution as a geek from humble beginnings as a mild-mannered 3 year old to full-fledged Graduate Student at 22. And hopefully beyond. It's a bit of a task, enumerating my many influences, but I imagine it's probably a fantastic writing exercise and a good way to find other geeks. From time to time you may see a review or commentary on something I've just read, seen, heard or made up on the spot, but mostly this will be a record of my influences.
The germ for this blog came about after I read Benjamin Nugent's American Nerd: The Story of My People. It was an interesting read (and quick). While reading it, I got to thinking about my experiences as a young geek/nerd in the 90s and early aughts. And then Bada-bum-ba! I realized this might be the best way to get my thoughts out there on geekdom and nerd culture. So that's it on the content of the blog from here on, now here's a bit of background.
About the Blogger For as long as I can remember I've been a geek. Cartoons, music, movies, books & comics. You name it; I love it. Now I wouldn't say I'm the "classical" nerd/geek. Despite my origins in the four-color, pulp world, I was heavily shaped by the sounds of 70s punk idols like the The Damned, The Clash and SeX pIsToLs as well as early 90s grunge and punk. That's me in a nutshell. I hope you stick around to find out more.
I'm 22 years old and a recent graduate of Fordham University with a BA in Anthropology and Communications & Media Studies. In September I'll be attending Teachers College, Columbia University to study Anthropology & Education for an MA.
I'm a member of the Media Ecology Association and the American Anthropologist Association.
