Category Archives: nerd

goodness, humor, nerd

Everyone loves Cthulhu

I found myself in the strange position of explaining the Cthulhu phenomenon to my dad over the weekend.

STOP COMPLAINING AND EAT IT

It started with this hilarious-looking game, Miskatonic School for Girls, where members of the H. P. Lovecraft universe make up the staff.  The point of the game is to help your house’s students retain their sanity longer than your opponent.  The card that pushed me over the edge?  Cthulhu as the lunch lady.

First I explained what Kickstarter is; an online service that allows people to raise funds for independent projects for which there are too few/zero financial sponsors.  Then I told him about the game.  Then I tried to explain how Cthulhu has become an internet meme for some reason, but I’m not sure how, so I found myself saying stuff like, “He’s an underwater god from the Lovcraftian universe, but people online make fun of him by making him out to be emo or adorable.”  Which makes no sense of course, but it’s an internet meme, so all it has to do is entertain in the void to be a success.

how do I even begin to explain Cthulhu Spock...?

Cthulhu really is the perfect internet meme, now that I think about it.  He’s an obscure reference to a piece of literature at the root of sci-fi/fantasy nerd country that few people have actually read, but somehow everyone knows and loves enough to poke fun of and ironically turn into plushies.  He devours souls, people.  And now he’s a knitted baby toy.

YOU WIN, INTERNET.

I made this

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anime, goodness, humor, life, martial arts, nerd

I am many nerds

I’m a nerd in a lot of ways; I read comics, play computer games, play video games, read Tolkien, read manga, watch anime, watch sci-fi, play table-top games, attend (and dress up for) Renaissance Faires… the list goes on and on.  I pulled out my keys the other day and noticed that some of my nerd-dom was fully on display, and had been for quite some time.

the weighted companion cube was a gift from Diminutive Roommate 🙂

Behold!  My awesome nerd keychain crap!   A Weighted Companion Cube from Portal, a light I got at ComicCon from the Battlestar Galactica booth, and a little carrot icon from the old days when a carrot on a stick was the most valuable item you could pick up at Gadgetzan in Tanaris from that one goblin, and god help you if you actually got those blue goggles instead, because that 3% meant life or death on a PVP server.

I get made fun of (mostly by Sister) for being a nerd, but she can eat shit for all I care.  I’m having a blast.  I’m not shutting myself in my room every weekend, hunched over a comic or my computer, avoiding sunlight and making no attempt at human interaction.  I am not a Gollum-nerd.  I am a modern-day nerd, enjoying my nerd friends and my eclectic interests.  Plus, I have a few anti-nerd weapons I can whip out: I’m female, I’m attractive, do KARATE HAI-YA!, I have many friends, I go out, I have an (attractive) significant other, I socialize easily with strangers, etc.

I am many nerds, and I am happy.

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anime, badness, goodness, nerd

Stop it, anime

So, *sigh* I was poking around Things from Another World, when I came across some anime inspired figurines of Catwoman and Wonder Woman.  Which, in a nutshell, means their outfits are even more impractical, Wonder Woman’s sword is absurdly large, and Catwoman is inexplicably wearing semi-mechanical-looking claw-shoes.  And of course they have to wear heels.  The thought dawned on me, “Stop it, anime.  Stop throwing up on everything.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And yet… I like Catwoman’s getup.  For a futuristic reboot, it totally works.  But for a present-day re-imagining, it doesn’t make sense for her character.  She’s a self-made, single-minded crook.  She doesn’t need or want a fancy costume; she’s a ninja that steals shit.  And in case you didn’t know, she’s the best character in the DC universe.  So stop fucking her up, anime.  ^__^ lol

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goodness, nerd

The only modern art I can handle

WANT

People like me are the reason why a place like Giant Robot exists.  They do art exhibits there often, and I’ve bought a few prints and one small painting.  Deth P. Sun is my current favorite artist on display over there.  This piece is for sale right now, and if I could justify spending $250 on a painting right now, I would snatch it up.  His stuff has such a great sense of adventure, exploration, and the unknown.

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goodness, nerd

Sarah Michelle Gellar is secretly ancient Maya royalty

I took an Art History class on the ancient Maya in college, and fell in love.  What an amazing culture.  They built pyramid temples so steep that tourists have been known to die from the fall… recently.  Their writing style is so creative and artistic that the word for “art” and “script” are the same.  One glyph features a face with blood flowing in the place of a missing jaw (yikes!).  Their calendar is just like ours, only better because it has four days of rest at the end of every year.  They were a complex and highly civilized people who loved wearing heavy stone (jade) jewelry and flattening their foreheads just like the rest of us.  There are even small pockets of their descendants living in Mexico today.  Living relics!

So.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered Sarah Michelle Gellar to be a member of their dwindling population.

above: indisputable proof

WTF, Buffy?!  Can’t trust your fans with your AMAZINGLY BRUTAL HERITAGE?  Where is the trust?  *sigh*

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goodness, nerd

Reasonably awesome

It’s frustrating being a nerdy female in large part because the majority of the stuff that fascinates me is geared to be sold to the male portion of our species, resulting it scantily clad female healer classes in (almost) every fantasy war story ever (Eowyn kinda rules).

Then something like this comes along, and I smile.  It’s Women Fighters in Reasonable Armor, and it’s a dream come true.  Awesome women in brutal armor without an inch of cleavage or chain-mail bikini in the bunch.  This is what I picture when I think of what I would be like as a Tolkien-esque fighter; probably a ranger of some kind, definitely hooded.

I was happy to see that Artesia made it onto that page.  Sure, she’s a witch/concubine/warrior, which is kinda the opposite of the point of this page, but she always wore the coolest armor.

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goodness, nerd

The Hobbit cometh

above: MAGIC

I just finished The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Aside from being totally epic, I was surprised that the writing was so palatable.  From what I was told, I thought it would be pages and pages of detailed elf lineage, and chapters full of unnecessary descriptions of the beauty of ladies in tall cities and the grand histories of long-dead kings.  What I found was a thoroughly engulfing universe I found my self longing to be a part of.  The writing is, frankly, poetic at times.  It’s easy to understand why people read these tomes over and over.  There’s so much to experience.

Of course, reading the trilogy got me all nostalgic for The Hobbit, which I read a couple of times growing up.  It has a shape-shifting druid in it!  And a dragon and trolls and treasure!  I was hooked.  I’d never read anything like it.  It took its time and then suddenly thrust you in the middle of something fantastic!  I lost the copy I had growing up, but eBay to the rescue!  I bought it from a nice lady in Aurora, Illinois for $4.  It just arrived at Office Job.  So excited 🙂

I hear there’s a movie or some such coming out… later.  If it’s done similarly to the LoTR, it should be good, but I really don’t give two shits about a movie when I can have the original experience of my childhood.  BOOKS, people.  BOOKS.

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goodness, life, manfolk, nerd

QR birthday

it's a secret code. it says... burfdah.

Today is Boyfriend’s birthday!  Apparently his parents didn’t make a big deal out of birthdays when he was growing up, so I take it upon myself every year to do something special for him.  Last year was a surprise party with Sprinkles cupcakes and about thirty people.  The year before… can’t remember, but I know I had a few things for him to unwrap (Hellboy?).  It must have been epic to have escaped my memory so thoroughly.

I didn’t get anything for him this year.  He doesn’t like collecting crap, so you can’t just buy anything.  For the surprise party, I told everyone to bring one pair of socks since he needed some, and now he’s flush.  This year I made up for a lack of wrapping paper with an abundance of nerd-inspired artistic creativity.  I generated a bunch of QR codes that read as little messages when decoded with an iPhone, wishing him happy birthday, and telling him about my plans for his birthday (DAIKOKUYA, driving my car while I sing happy birthday to him, etc.).

It was Diminutive Roommate’s idea to color them in, but omg it took forever.  I always underestimate how much time an art project will take me.  It’s crazy how time just slips away.  I started watching Kaze no Stigma last night as I colored.  I can’t decide if it’s funny, or the next generation of Fruits Basket.

I printed them out at work, colored them at home, woke up early and cut them out at his place, then closed myself in the closet and taped them up in a swirly pattern.  I snapped a photo while he asked for water (“Ok baby, one second…”).  Tee hee!

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goodness, life, nerd

I’m an egg driving an egg

ABSOLUTELY NOT

I got my car last week, and it is… just awesome.  I haven’t posted it about so far because I’ve been getting a feel for it, and didn’t want to jinx it by saying I loved it, only to discover some horrible flaw.

It’s such a fun car.  I chuckle  every time I glance behind me as I walk away from it; it’s so tiny, but it doesn’t feel small once I’m inside.  The trompe l’oeil is titillating.  I’ve spent the last week drive an unusually large amount.  I drove over to my folks’ place just to have cereal.  I’ve spent the past week sleep over at boyfriend’s place because the drive is no longer arduous.    My little Italian car.  I’m enjoying it so much.

The engine makes this nice little purring sound when I accelerate through first gear.  The wheel turns so easily at low speeds, I’m still getting used to it.  The little blinkers on either side of the car are adorable and bright.  The horn is polite and fully ignorable (might have to change that).  The sound system’s fidelity is like crystal.  The turning radius is laughably awesome.  I loaded the back with my first groceries last night; they fit with plenty of room to spare.

I had to break in the engine by driving under 60mph for the first hundred or so miles.  That was an educational experience.  I’ve re-discovered a quiet level of gut-wrenching that I haven’t experienced since I first started driving.  Even in the slow lane, irritated drivers tailgate, then zoom past me, furious that I would obey the speed limits in an obviously new car.  I’ve been cut off several times because I don’t bother speeding up to stop the offenders.  I can’t risk anyone tapping my beautiful new machine; plus I’m leaving the turbo button alone for now, and don’t have the pickup without it to cause any real trouble.

Surprisingly, I’ve actually enjoyed driving more slowly.  The whole experience of the car is heightened and stress-free.  I’m going to have to spend more time in the middle lanes.  The day I got it, on my drive home from Boyfriend’s place, a man in a Mercedes pulled up next to me at a stop light and asked me how much it was, and whether I liked it.  I was all smiles.

No one else has driven it yet, though I’m going to offer the keys to Boyfriend for his birthday tomorrow.  He’s such a cautious driver, and I’ve never sat in the passenger seat.  Should be a fun time.

SIDE NOTE: I cannot wait to illustrate the title.  Should be amazing.  I have a vision!

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humor, nerd

The real winner: Mavis Beacon

There’s nothing like a professional typing contest to make me feel simultaneously physically superior and intellectually inferior.  I’d rather maintain my currently level of mate-ability at 77wpm than achieve a whopping 163wpm at the cost of looking like this guy:

note the hunchback and complete lack of reaction to the supportive crowd

But hey, at least he’s modest in the post-event interview, during which he keeps his eyes locked on the ground in typical anti-social nerd fashion: “Yeah, there are only uh… a few other people in the United States I’ve seen at any of these typing tests who I think are as fast as me.”

The typing test you take online is typically a paragraph about badgers or planets, but the test these guys take has crap like this thrown in occasionally: “/a/&B#R{+1}>>[Bb] = X0 – 3 + @a rooftop * 32”

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