(no subject)

[sorcyress]

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.

Comments

[thirdbase.livejournal.com]

And you have seen Blazing Saddles, right? And I don't mean the version on TV where no one who has seen the movies has any idea of what's going on and everyone who has seen the movie is laughing hysterically.

[netpositive.livejournal.com]

3 creative works that it helps to be really familiar with, in order to communicate with me: Animal House, Holy Grail, and not only Lord of the Rings but the Harvard Lampoon parody Bored of the Rings.

Bonus points if someone catches references to Airplane, Kelly's Heroes, or Support Your Local Sheriff.

Additionally, I have a personal set of things that everyone needs to experience... admit those gaps in your experience and I will do the best I can to fix them for you.

Do be careful with how you do that! I'm one of those people who the harder someone tries to actively sell something to me, the more resistant I get. I'm sure I've missed out on some good stuff¹ because of well-meaning friends recommending "oh, but you *must*!".

Simply communicating what makes _you_² enthusiastic -- and why -- about something can give others a better sense of whether it would appeal to them or not. (Though it's not infallible; I still shudder if I see "Stephen R. Donaldson" on the cover of a book.)

¹Yes, among the many things I have not seen, heard, or read are: Buffy, Dr. Horrible, Babylon 5, Dr. Who...

²I recommend this guy's LiveJournal for some examples of how to review and/or enthuse without overselling: http://spectralbovine.livejournal.com/tag/books.

It's All Your Fault!

[dhs.livejournal.com]

Now my brain hurts.

And now I have to pass this on to others.

[tirerim.livejournal.com]

General:
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...

[harena.livejournal.com]

i have to keep reminding myself that most people are not TMBG geeks. Heck, even most of the people i hang out with online aren't. Sadness.

Or Rocky Horror. Man, i keep quoting bits of that at my kids and then immediately think, "jinkies, i'm going to have to let them watch that before they'll ever get what i just said. ack." ;D

But then, i have to ask: The Big Orange Splot? If you have not read this, Run, don't walk, and find a copy of it. It's by Daniel Manus Pinkwater. Trust me.

*refuses to believe Sor has not read this*

[kittikattie.livejournal.com]

Not really geek, but I discovered my husband had never read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and insisted on rectifying this gross failure of childhood.

[rrainew.livejournal.com]

i heart princess bride.
i heart blazing saddles.
i really heart buckaroo banzai across the 8th dimension.

[benet.livejournal.com]

Real Genius is right up there and I see nobody has mentioned it yet...

[thorog.livejournal.com]

Memory leaks in C.

a tangent and a reply

[woozle.livejournal.com]

I was just ranting out loud to Harena about how the "real world" characters in the Inkworld series (which I've been reading to the chitlins for their bedtime story) seem to be almost completely oblivious to the benefits which 800 or so years of additional civilization has brought them.

What I wrote was too long to go here, so I posted it over here (http://wiki.hypertwins.org/User:Woozle/blog/2009-04-30_1751_A_rational_look_at_Inkworld) instead. (Comments are welcome in either place.)

Answering the actual question: you've covered most of the area where "quotable" and "humorous" intersect with "SF"; the following items are sort of outliers, then, in that they only cover 1 or 2 of those areas:
* Vorkosigan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorkosigan_Saga) (especially... especially... ah hell, read 'em all, in chronological order) - pure SF, grounded in empathy
* The Rutles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rutles) - music and quotable humor (like Spinal Tap, but earlier)
* The Goon Show (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goon_Show) - humor and the systematic application of illogic; spiritual ancestor of Python (but nobody on this side of the Atlantic seems to "get" them; maybe it's an acquired taste, like Marmite)
* Airplane! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airplane!) and/or Police Squad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_Squad!): funny, quotable
* Discworld (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld) is, like, The Hitchhiker's Guide to Fantasy. I read it to Harena in the same voice used for the BBC's H2G2 radio show (Peter Jones as "The Book").

I could go on, but I'm starting to have to think harder, so maybe that means it's time to stop.

Sound isn't working at the moment, so can't watch the video you linked... feh.

[ncarraway.livejournal.com]

I learned a whole lot about justice today.

I tend to assume that everyone I meet knows who Captains Kirk and Picard are, has read Lord of the Rings and has seen the three Star Wars movies. I'm surprised if someone hasn't seen Princess Bride or Holy Grail, and I expect most people my age to know PBS kids shows. I also expect most people to be familiar with the basic Shakespeares, the Odyssey and the general plot of the New Testament, I realize upon reflection. If someone didn't recognize the names "Scylla and Charybdis", I would be a little embarrassed for them.

Musically, I would be shocked if someone didn't know the Beatles. I expect people to know older and modern classics - Talking Heads, Radiohead, Anthony Stewart Head, that sort of thing - but most of my expectations depend on the way I categorize the person in question. Then there are the things that I expect no-one to know, thus increasing my enjoyment when I'm wrong: Red Dwarf, old series Doctor Who, the band Porcupine Tree ... those are always exciting.

[miriampenguin.livejournal.com]

SOYES! What are the overarching things that all geeks need to experience?
Star Trek, Star Wars, a passing familiarity with comics (or at least the movies made from them)... Monty Python... Hitchhiker's... LotR (at least the movies), The Matrix (at least the first one), Harry Potter... and xkcd.


What are the personal things, that you believe all people in your friends group need to experience?
Firefly, Dr. Horrible... Mel Brooks movies are common in my social circle (the aforementioned Blazing Saddles is one of them - though I haven't actually seen that one, either)... a smattering of webcomics (Questionable Content, Something*Positive, the aforementioned xkcd)... Fringe! Bones! House! HEROES!!! Oh, and Chuck, too. And... Dexter, though I wouldn't recommend it for everyone (some people wouldn't take to it, others I fear might a little too much).

Fringe is one of my favoritest shows. It has so much heart. It also has conspiracies, and freaky stuff. But mostly I watch it for the wonderful cast. It's one of those things where I wish I could write fanfic for it so I'd be able to experience it more, but nothing I write could ever be as good as the show itself.

[jestingly-yours.livejournal.com]

I love the book The Princess Bride. But every time I've tried to watch the movie, I have fallen asleep or gotten extremely bored. Same with RHPS.

Anyway, I think it's silly to have, like, a list of Geek Things to do or watch or see, just because you think you need to in order to Be A Geek. I mean, if you're investing that much time into actually *trying* to Be A Geek, that's... I don't know even know what to say about that. But it's silly to experience only the things, or try to experience all the things, in one certain labeled clique group. Nor is it fair to expect everyone you know to have experienced the same things as you to the point of considering a relationship doomed if they haven't read a certain book. Good heavens.
Go read some chick lit, or something. Get out of your box, woman!

[macaroniandtuna.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine who is...I think 38 was surprised to find that I had heard and read of Where the Wild Things Are, so there's that.

I don't think there's anything that all geeks need to experience in order to somehow be worthy of the label. There are many things that I personally think everyone should experience, but that's only because I enjoy them so much myself. Basically, the way I see it there are three categories: things I like, things I don't like, and things I haven't seen/heard/read/etc. which I may or may not like. If I by some chance quote or reference something (which doesn't happen often), and whoever's listening doesn't get it, they don't get it. No big deal.

I've done quite a bit of thinking about labels and self-identification, and at least for me, I can do without them. I'm just me, whatever things I do/watch/listen to/read/enjoy/etc. etc. and what they may be associated with.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

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.

Wait, what?