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So, for teacherclass, we just watched "A Private Universe" which is basically being all "Oh hey, people don't know simple scientific facts like why there are seasons".
This led me to wonder about what other basic knowledge there is that people don't necessarily have. Certainly, it ties in with my basic pop culture thing --while I myself am *woefully* uneducated, there are still things that I will find jawdroppingly shocking if you admit you're not familiar with them. (Like what do you mean someone born, in America, fifteen years after it came out has never read Where the Wild Things Are. HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN!?)
I try very hard to not have any resounding pop culture biases, but I recognize that there is a list in the back of my mind of things I expect people in my circles to be familiar with. If not Flying Circus, every geek ever should probably have seen Holy Grail --even if you hate it, you now get roughly 1200% more references.
Or more importantly, The Princess Bride. I mean, I know I'm biased, what having acted in it, but how do you survive as a geek in this country without having seen The Princess Bride? Hell, while it's an amazing read, I don't even demand you read it, just...not having seen it? Dear lords.
Those are all part of the geek set, and I just more or less expect people to know them. Hell, I quoted "Why are you smiling" "Because I know something you do not know --I am not left handed!" last night, and will probably quote something else in the next twenty four hours, just because that's how I roll.
Additionally, I have a personal set of things that I think everyone ought to experience. I don't necessarily expect my friends to have seen Dr. Horrible or The Middleman, but dear lord, admit those gaps in your experience and I will do the best I can to help you fill them. Or holy hell lords, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. I don't demand anything past the first book, but seriously, if you *haven't* read at least that one? I...I'm afraid I can never look at you in the same way again.1
((Of course, I lose out on several people's personal sets for not ever being able to get through the second Lord of the Rings book. I'm sorry, I just...can't. I wish I could, but it's really not happening.))
SOYES! What are the overarching things that all geeks need to experience? What are the personal things, that you believe all people in your friends group need to experience?
Oh and bytheway? Before you leave a comment? Take twelve minutes out of your life in order to watch How To Kill A Mockingbird. Yes, yes it is worth it. It is basically what "To Kill a Mockingbird" would have been if Harper Lee had been aware of tvtropes.org's "Rule of Awesome"
~Sor
MOOP!
1: This is totally why Chris and I wouldn't have ever worked out in the long run. He dating KT for a couple years just saved us the inevitable argument and subsequent heartbreak.
This led me to wonder about what other basic knowledge there is that people don't necessarily have. Certainly, it ties in with my basic pop culture thing --while I myself am *woefully* uneducated, there are still things that I will find jawdroppingly shocking if you admit you're not familiar with them. (Like what do you mean someone born, in America, fifteen years after it came out has never read Where the Wild Things Are. HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN!?)
I try very hard to not have any resounding pop culture biases, but I recognize that there is a list in the back of my mind of things I expect people in my circles to be familiar with. If not Flying Circus, every geek ever should probably have seen Holy Grail --even if you hate it, you now get roughly 1200% more references.
Or more importantly, The Princess Bride. I mean, I know I'm biased, what having acted in it, but how do you survive as a geek in this country without having seen The Princess Bride? Hell, while it's an amazing read, I don't even demand you read it, just...not having seen it? Dear lords.
Those are all part of the geek set, and I just more or less expect people to know them. Hell, I quoted "Why are you smiling" "Because I know something you do not know --I am not left handed!" last night, and will probably quote something else in the next twenty four hours, just because that's how I roll.
Additionally, I have a personal set of things that I think everyone ought to experience. I don't necessarily expect my friends to have seen Dr. Horrible or The Middleman, but dear lord, admit those gaps in your experience and I will do the best I can to help you fill them. Or holy hell lords, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. I don't demand anything past the first book, but seriously, if you *haven't* read at least that one? I...I'm afraid I can never look at you in the same way again.1
((Of course, I lose out on several people's personal sets for not ever being able to get through the second Lord of the Rings book. I'm sorry, I just...can't. I wish I could, but it's really not happening.))
SOYES! What are the overarching things that all geeks need to experience? What are the personal things, that you believe all people in your friends group need to experience?
Oh and bytheway? Before you leave a comment? Take twelve minutes out of your life in order to watch How To Kill A Mockingbird. Yes, yes it is worth it. It is basically what "To Kill a Mockingbird" would have been if Harper Lee had been aware of tvtropes.org's "Rule of Awesome"
~Sor
MOOP!
1: This is totally why Chris and I wouldn't have ever worked out in the long run. He dating KT for a couple years just saved us the inevitable argument and subsequent heartbreak.
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Star Trek (not every episode by any means, but certainly characters, races, and major events)
Star Wars (definitely the original trilogy, and the prequels can't hurt (except perhaps to watch))
The Lord of the Rings (sorry, but it's true)
At least passing familiarity with major superhero comics
I agree about Monty Python, The Princess Bride, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Ghostbusters
The Muppets
Probably Babylon 5, though that may be shading into the personal category
At least passing familiarity with Lovecraft
And a separate category for classic science fiction and fantasy, since I'm not sure they belong above, but they're not just personal favorites, either:
The robot books and the Foundation series, by Asimov
The Earthsea trilogy, by LeGuin
Dune, by Herbert
2001: A Space Odyssey (movie and book) and The City and the Stars, by Clarke
Some amount of Heinlein
Some amount of Poe
The Narnia Series, by Lewis (and maybe the Space Trilogy, too)
The Once and Future King, by T. H. White
1984, by Orwell
The War of the Worlds, by Wells
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Verne
The Chronicles of Amber, by Zelazny
At least the first part of the Childe Cycle (a.k.a. the Dorsai series), by Dickson
Watership Down, by Richard Adams
Personal:
The Wizard of Speed and Time
The Martian Chronicles, by Bradbury
Neverwhere
Dark City
The Dark is Rising series, by Susan Cooper
The Chronicles of Prydain, by Lloyd Alexander
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, by Adams
Red Dwarf
Good Omens, by Gaiman and Pratchett
The Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories, by Leiber
Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse 5, by Vonnegut
Everything by Barry Longyear
A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness In the Sky, by Vernor Vinge
Some amount of Poul Anderson, Avram Davidson, and Theodore Sturgeon
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
And, in the non-geeky personal favorites category:
The Blues Brothers
Help!
I'm probably forgetting a bunch of things, but that's a start...
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