Penny Arcade

I went over to Arcane Comics for my six month “check-up,” filling out trade paperbacks for ongoing lines and interrogating the proprietor as to what I should be reading.  He’s never steered me wrong yet - Gotham Central, Saga, and Locke & Key  have provided me with stalwart, much-needed company lately.  I read too fast, and I don’t see art, so (as I’ve discussed) comics aren’t usually a good investment.  These books have kept going in my head, though - long after I’ve read them.  Easy recommendations, all.

The bag the comics came in was trying to tell me about a show called “King Of The Nerds,” which seemed like the sort of thing I would not like, and I felt confident that I could consign the show and indeed the very notion of the show to the nega-zone.  Then I started to see the advertisement everywhere, everywhere someone in my “demographic” was likely to look.  A “full-court press.”  That’s a sports term, but I think it’s right.

The trailer snared my compatriot, though; as he related the strange experience of watching the pilot, I found my curiosity piqued.  Ben and Sophie from the Penny Arcade Report also weighed in, compounding this state.  I’m afraid to watch it; I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.  I live my life according to the Third Shoe Doctrine: there is always, always another shoe.  I have to wait for an All Clear before I commit.  I’m sorry.

We have an investment in this terminology, which is bizarre, but still true; I suspect that Jesus had no great love for the cross, or the lash, but here we are traipsing around in the fetters of our enemies’ ill-will.  This isn’t a state that can long continue, its tenacity is simply a function of the pain with which it was applied.  Will this be true for our larvae?  Who knows.  It’s hard to see the changes when you are looking with passionate intensity at your own time-shifted torment.

I picked up my son from school last week, and his “thinking face” was apparent; I waited until he had finished chewing.

“Some kids called me a nerd today,” he said.

How did that make you feel?

“It didn’t make me feel like anything,” he replied.  “There’s no such thing as a nerd.”

(CW)TB out.

why do they gotta front

I sat down to watch King of the Nerds last week fully intending to hate it. In fact the only reason I watched it was because I figured we could get a good comic out of how horrible it was. Boy was I surprised when I actually liked it.

First of all I really liked the people they picked to be on the show. These are the sorts of nerds I would love to hang out with. These kids are the real deal, they are hardcore nerds. Mathematicians, engineers, professional gamers, comic book and video game super nerds and I loved all of them. Now my fear was that the show would revolve around making fun of them.

The first challenge was to pick teams. Each team needed to have five people and being as there were eleven contestants, it seemed pretty obvious that we would be losing our first nerd in a classic way. Team captains were chosen at random and they spent a few hours getting to know each other and talking about the strategy of picking a team. When it came time time to pick the teams we were indeed left with one young lady unchosen. The host of the show pointed out that there is nothing nerdier than NOT being picked for a team and then explained that she was in fact the winner of the competition. It was at this point that they sold me.

Two contestants were picked to attend the “Nerdoff”. A competition that would end up sending one of them home. It was revealed that this particular contest would be chess and the contestants were given some time to prepare. Yes you heard me right, the contest was chess.In my head I had immagined nerds pitted against each other in American Gladiator style battles or forced through obstical courses. No, they made them play chess and it was awesome.

Now obviously we’ve only seen one episode but I have to say I was impressed. This was not a show about laughing at nerds although I’m sure some people will. King of the Nerds seems like it’s actually designed to celebrate nerds and their unique skills. Now I’m not saying the show will continue this way. They could very easily have tricked us all with this first episode. Perhaps later in the series they will send the nerds on blind dates or make them arm wrestle pro football players. If that happens I will be the first to turn off the television. As of right now, after just one episode though, I am impressed. It’s very strange because while none of the advertising seems targeted at me, it feels like the show actually is. I’ll go ahead and wrap this up with a movie quote since that seems appropriately nerdy. “Gentlemen,you had my curiosity…but now you have my attention.”

-Gabe out

(Click for bigness)

-Gabe out