CONvergence: Best of the Twin Cities

I'm astonished that CONvergence was chosen by City Pages as Best of the Twin Cities. Not because we were picked -- but that the category was even created this year.

It is a great compliment to the hundreds of people that have been involved in putting the event on, especially since the publicity was not searched for.

True, they had a typo and changed Marv Wolfman's gender (to Mary) -- but otherwise it was a very nice description and something I'm happy to point to.

A More Perfect Union

I'm very pleased with how Sen. Obama handles the issue that is really just underneath his whole campaign -- and it hits me as a direct, sophisticated, and honest approach to the issues of race in this country. I'm as hopeful as ever that he can make it through this campaign as we look towards making our country better.



(full text here)

Of course, in the less serious fashion, it is fun to know that the Obamas have been watching Heroes on the campaign trail as well. One of the things that I enjoy about Science Fiction fandom -- and why it is important to me that MISFITS takes its non profit status seriously is that while at times it's not *the most* diverse population around, it is also more diverse than many communities of choice that I've experienced -- we don't all share the same racial background, or religious background, or political background, or economic background -- but we can all work for common cause by choice. It may be "just for fun" -- but really, the pursuit of happiness is a good goal.

Coultonfield

If you're waiting for Jonathan Coulton to return to the Twin Cities on May 1st, you can keep an eye for him here...

Gary Gygax created the world

I recommend the New York Times tribute to Gary Gygax -- as many of these things are, it says what I wish I had said myself.

Very good stuff.

The Geek Gods

Every now and then one will get into one of those late night convention or web forum discussion about the people that everyone on the slightly geeky side look up to.

In every one of those discussions, Gary Gygax would end up as one of those names on the list, no matter how much or how little role playing games you actually did. If you're in this sort of subculture -- Gary Gygax had an influence that reached beyond just the hard core gaming community.

So his legacy is there -- even if you, like me, haven't role played in a very long time.

Still Alive Rock Band

Jonathan Coulton performs "Still Alive" in Rock Band from Joy Stiq on Vimeo.

First of May

I'm very psyched to see that Jonathan Coulton is planning a return trip to Minneapolis on May 1st.

And since he's got a song called First of May -- which doesn't have work safe lyrics -- it's a particularly good day for the show.

io9

Gawker media -- which brings you some of my favorite blogs like Lifehacker, Valleywag, and Wonkette -- has launched a new blog about science fiction. So obviously I've subscribed...

One more Geek Christmas

Found at For Tax Reasons as well as half the internets.



The response is just as funny:

Code Monkey

My favorite new song of 2006 has a collection of remixes that have just been posted as part of a remix contest done by Quick Stop.

For more information, check out Jonathan Coulton's page out as well..

Everyone's Favorite Hero

It's great to read interviews like this one with Masi Oka from Heroes. It's great because just like the character he plays, he is One Of Us. Even though his character originates from Japan, he's not a foreign character -- he's much more someone I would know that just about any other character in the series.

And what makes Masi so interesting is that he's not just an actor -- his original "day job" is as a CG special effects day job. And so I imagine that his character comes by his geekiness honestly -- and that's refreshing, because it's much better when it is genuine, and not just a simplistic outsider parody. And as such, I think Hiro Nakamura is one of the best "geeks" to appear on television.

She's Such A Geek (follow up)

About a year ago I referenced a call for submissions for a book called She's Such A Geek. I got an e-mail pointing out that there is now a new She's Such A Geek website as well as ">the book now being out.

Digging through, I saw reference to this list of ten women geeks. It's obvious to me that Paris Hilton isn't on the list because she's really a geek, but as link bait and wishful thinking. I'm also not sure it's a good idea to mix real people and fictional ones on the same list.

In my list of top fictional girl geeks, I'd certainly include Kitty Pryde of the X-Men, and probably the three geek women from Joss Whedon shows -- Willow Rosenberg, Winifred Burkle, and Kaylee Frye. But I suppose since Joss is writing Kitty in Astonishing X-Men, it's really obvious that they're all pretty much from the same mold.

Very quickly as you look at a list like that you are looking at what the definition of geek is in general -- it is not the same as just being smart. And at least for me, it's not quite the same thing as just being a techie -- it certainly includes a lot of the entertainment interests that seem to coincide with that as well. (We're such a stereotype.)