Geek Rant Topic 21: Horrifying

When All Else Fails, the only person afraid around here is Mousa The 14

I pose a question: Horror. Why?

I'm seriously asking you here folks, what is it with geeks and horror? Next to Science Fiction and Fantasy it seems the next genres that seem to appeal to our base is Horror and Monster Movies.

Dare I ask why exactly? Why is it whenever the best episodes of Doctor Who come up they're the horror episodes like Midnight where a copycat creature that exists as nothing but a voice that takes your mind by repeating everything you say until it overtakes you and nobody listened to the solutions from the main hero. Or The episode Blink where if you look away from the stone angels statues they'll come alive and kill you. Those are considered some of the best for many reasons but many report to how scary it was.

Then there's zombies. I hate zombies, but normal geeks can't get enough of them. Zombies are so prevalent among geek culture they're bonus content in our military First Person Shooters. And many acclaimed games are horror based or involve zombie apocalypses like Eternal Darkness, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Left 4 Dead, and so... Much... More....

Want to know a geek's favorite movie? Evil Dead and it's ilk. Favorite movie maker? Sam Raimi. New anime they just got into? High School of the Dead. Favorite writer? None other than our eldritch horror writing non-euclidean maniac known as H.P. Lovecraft. There's so much geek-driven merchandise and tributes and games as tributes to Lovecraft's stories that we have Cthulu plushies! Plushies!

And dare I mention that we have "zombie apocalypse survival guides"? I mean really, of all the novelty items one could create... And yet I've seen it, I've heard it, entire discussions about surviving a possible zombie apocalypse.

I'm a geek, I understand many things, I understand the love for science fiction, mystical creatures, speculation, mythology, astrology, legends, fantasy, Lovecraft (I mean really, Elder gods and The Necronomicon were all his ideas and briliant ones at that), werewolves, vampires, all that stuff, but horror as a genre does not make sense to me.

I'm not ragging on anyone's tastes, I mean not everyone loves superheroes like I do, and I'll never understand the market for a movie like The Expendables, but at some point something stops becoming a personal taste thing and starts becoming a pattern of thought and when you are on the very outside of this pattern of thought, everything within it confuses you and I want answers. Even my own sister is in love with Chiller TV and she's the least geeky geek I know. What. Am. I. Missing?

What does it all have in common? What's the appeal? I'm all about answers and instead I just have questions, there's just too many questions.

Geeks of all walks of life, tell me your secrets: What's with the Horror and zombies?

-Good Bye, Good Luck, and Imagination is Your Greatest Power
Mousa The 14

Geek Rant Topic 19: Hipster

When All Else Fails returns, there is irony abounds as Mousa The 14 talks about hipsters. Sigh...

Thank you Coelasquid. Oh by the way, you guys should totally read Manly Guys Doing Manly Things


So yeah, a few months ago I heard this term thrown around and I had no idea what the heck it meant. After a lot of osmosis I finally figured a solid-ish definition of this nebulous and insulting term.

Now what the hell is a hipster and why do geeks seem to hate them above all else?

Well to begin, hipsters are like this time period's Emos. Back when I was in middle school in like 2004-06, Emo kids were a big deal. Like Hipsters of today they aren't exactly easy to define but the short version of what I understood at the time was that they were over emotional attention seeking goth wannabes and their biggest claim to fame was cutting themselves. the song most associated with them is Untitled (How Could This Happen To Me) by Simple Plan and the song that best describes them is well this...



Hah hah ha, hilarious.

But yeah, back in my day it was a big deal to call people emo or make fun of emos. I never saw to many but they were "there". Now today we have Hipsters. Slightly easier to define it turns out. Hipsters are defined by "Irony" and being "Indie". Through some irritating sense of self-worth they only listen to underground music so underground even the Indie kids think they're being pretentious. This video by Graham Stark of Loading Ready Run describes the music aspect of Hipsters perfectly though he refers to them as scenesters.

And really you take that policy and apply that to every other interest and you essentially have a Hipster, one famous quote associated with their sort is "I liked (insert previously obscure media here) before it was mainstream/cool/popular." They also tend to like things... "Ironically" even though they usually don't know what irony means. Like if it's bad or kiddy or mainstream they like it but they don't genuinely like it.

I suppose as an artist I take note of their visual stylings and come to realize that the best way to describe a hipster's appearance is to take the things you'd associate with a geek and put it on the personality of aforementioned scenesters. Thick black glasses? They have those. Those wonderful fedoras and other such dapper clothing? They have a monopoly on those too. And while I'm probably the only straight male that likes flat caps nowadays, Hipsters have taken those away from us too. The Rummage Sale Reject style of fashion our ladies occasional take to? Make the colors a little drabber and poof instant hipster. Neckbeards? Uh.. yeah, Hipsters can keep those. One of my funnier ways of describing a hipster is taking all the things geeks love and perverting it into something unlikeable. I've also come to figure out they seem to be like "White Trash with Money."

Or so I thought.

Turns out not all Hipsters are annoying whiny underground people, those are just the most prevalent. In fact one could say that geeks and hipsters have a lot more in common than many would think.

The idea of a hipster is to conform to anti-conformity, the value of independent thought. Which means that if something is popular by definition they will vehemently dislike it. This would be similar to a typical geek's nonconformity where it's not that we actively dislike things that are mainstream, and sometimes we do, it's just that we enjoy a lot of things that just happen to be mainstream or straddle the line between well known and being something only geeks know. In fact geeks seem to be able to make the distinction within our ranks and if someone actively dislikes thing because they're mainstream, we'll... be less kind towards them.

Hmm, let's take this definition from urban Dictionary and see if there's anything more I can parse out....

Hipsters are a subculture of men and women typically in their 20's and 30's that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter. The greatest concentrations of hipsters can be found living in the Williamsburg, Wicker Park, and Mission District neighborhoods of major cosmopolitan centers such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco respectively. Although "hipsterism" is really a state of mind,it is also often intertwined with distinct fashion sensibilities. Hipsters reject the culturally-ignorant attitudes of mainstream consumers, and are often be seen wearing vintage and thrift store inspired fashions, tight-fitting jeans, old-school sneakers, and sometimes thick rimmed glasses. Both hipster men and women sport similar androgynous hair styles that include combinations of messy shag cuts and asymmetric side-swept bangs. Such styles are often associated with the work of creative stylists at urban salons, and are usually too "edgy" for the culturally-sheltered mainstream consumer. The "effortless cool" urban bohemian look of a hipster is exemplified in Urban Outfitters and American Apparel ads which cater towards the hipster demographic. Despite misconceptions based on their aesthetic tastes, hipsters tend to be well educated and often have liberal arts degrees, or degrees in maths and sciences, which also require certain creative analytical thinking abilities.

Let's see, I've already covered the counter culture thing in the previous paragraph and the music stuff before that and I've vaguely covered the clothing thing, though I forgot to mention in addition to be a little scruffy, their clothing is stuff you'd find a thrift store, some odd amalgam of old clothing, taking a bunch or either cool things and bringing them together like the aforementioned fedoras. They almost look like your stereotypical "Ze Arteest" character archetype with a side order of of "I'm so cool without even trying", things that look thrown together. Geeks tend to dress like... well casually and if we look cool while doing it then that's awesome, but generally our most hipster-esque aspects tends to look like costumes from our favorite media, fedoras and trench coats, and rummage sale reject-like looks are a part of that.

Ooh, the independent thought and progressive politics, well geeks are a fascinating breed where you'd be hard pressed to find a conservative one and if you do then you will rightly shout them down because how dare they support equal rights for white males and only them and anyone who is less fortunate than them should stay that way.
(Note, I don't actually think all conservatives are horrible people to be shouted down, it's a joke, please don't hurt me.)

Point is, most geeks are either liberal or libertarian and clearly this is the same for hipsters it would seem, only one supports individual and independent thought regardless of when it could be a detriment above all else whilst the other is really more in favor in the freedom of information and not having information destroyed or obfuscated above all else. Or at least that's what I've come to understand.

Hmm, typically in their 20s and 30s..... yes. Definitely. I'll cover this in a future installment but basically one of the bigger aspects of geekdom is being interested in interests and hobbies that many "mainstream" people or adults of old would say are childish things we should've abandoned long ago, so the age group is the same, especially since geeks are associated a lot with nostalgia and being in our 20s and 30s is around the time we start to look back at our childhood as we arrive at adulthood and decide either or not we want to move on or not.

Now the liberal arts degree thing is interesting considering I hear a lot of geeks, when not entering an engineering field, is more likely to be in liberal arts because we consume a lot of media and what better way to go immerse ourselves in media than liberal arts where you can learn about journalism, literature, language, communications, all that stuff, and with the math and science aspects which can overlap with the engineering majors this is even more so.

In many ways we have more in common than we think and perhaps Geeks hate so much because perhaps too many Hipsters that are jerks and we don't want to be associated with them. I mean we are one or two attitude and hobby shifts away from being considered a hipster which can be more scary than being considered a geek. I mean really, no one has a phrase like "Douchebag geek" or "Geek trash" but "Hipster trash" and "douche-bag hipster" are thrown around far easier. They're like a dark reflection of what we could be seen as by the uninitiated and really, some people don't want to have a worse stigma than they already have.

-Good Bye, Good Luck, and Imagination is Your Greatest Power
Mousa The 14

P.S. Wow, I can't believe I didn't look to Tv Tropes, I didn't think there was an article there on this. Well, I suppose it hasn't changed much besides the inclusion of a love of art house films which can coincide with a geek's love for b-movies and "So Bad It's Good" movies or film geeks having an interest in art house movies in general.

Geek Rant Topic 16: Revisiting the Geek Definiton

When All Else Fails, you call Mousa the 14, that one ranting geek.

Remember this old thing?

I've been doing a bit of net gallivanting and have found that I'm a bit conflicted in my definitions.

What? What is it? What's with the giggles?

Oh Right. Get your jollies out of the way first.

Done making fun of me and the laughing? Good, now on to the real discussion.

A I was saying, I have found that my definitions and the manner in which I have come upon the have been a little off.

But first, before I elaborate on the geek definition, I wan to shove the Nerd one out of the way

NERD: A socially inadequate person who is noted not only for their poor social skills or lack of caring of mainstream interests and styles, but for their intelligence, display of said intelligence, and deep knowledge of a wide variety of fields or a specified field. The big difference between a geek and a nerd is that a Nerd's brilliance is usually within academic pursuits. They are Science geeks, math geeks, computer geeks. If it is an academic field with real life applications or at least has a real field of study and you are intellectually vested in it, you are a nerd.

Was my old definition and little has changed. The social inadequacy isn't quite necessary but basically a nerd is someone who is just plain smart. He's the guy who fixes your computer and does your homework for you. Those guys that TV shows put in glasses and button down shirts and suspenders and make them spout facts, just facts, ad nothing but the facts because they're that smart.

Basically 95% of the lyrics to this song:

Are about them.

Now for the other 10% about Dungeons and Dragons and choosing between Kirk or Picard and X-Men comics and Renaissance Faires? Geek, or at least geek as how I defined it previously

The geek has always been a different monster.

GEEK: A subset of hobbyist, people who have an deep interest in traditionally non-mainstream subjects that are often considered childish in nature. Similar to the Nerd, they are usually socially inadequate and brilliant. Unlike the nerd, their brilliance tends to be dedicated to their specific hobby. Usual interests of Geeks fall under Science-Fiction and Fantasy Genres spanning all mediums.

Problem is, I was defining geek by what we like rather than how we like it which appears to be the common theme I found in my journeys.

The definition I've stumbled across, which I agree with, is the second half of my previous definition:

Another aspect of Geeks as defined by The Game Overthinker in his video on continuity found here. the short and paraphrased version is this: "Geeks glean fun from turning something that is already fun into work" such as playing video games competitively, Stop Having Fun Guys, or collecting the entirety of the Marvel universe's comics to "keep the continuity straight".

I, for some reason, always viewed it as a content thing, like we like specific things rather than liking things a certain way. The Game Overthinker basically had it as "Likes things to a degree deeper than common knowledge". He even goes further into the subject here on The Big Picture though to be fair, him using the word nerd bugged me to high heaven. Though Bobbo does bring up excellent points about how the general public enjoys content considered "Geeky", its simply the manner in which it is enjoyed. Geeks like things on a deeper level and while I think Bob's description of "Turning something in a math problem" is going too far, it's basically in that direction of turning something fun into work but still deriving fun from it.

Which means it's not just sci-fi and fantasy fans, anybody can be a geek if they're obsessive enough about their respective hobby. Sports, history, Lego, whatever, I mean this is how experts are born.

That still leaves one little problem. The content-based description. There is still a specified group of somewhat socially awkward individuals that are part of some internet-based conglomerate of anime fans, Japan officianados, Magic: The Gathering players, video gamers, Trekkies, Star Wars fans, nostalgia nuts, cartoon lovers, media junkies, comedian reviewers, overthinkers, sci-fi lovers, fantasy lovers, Webcomic readers and makers, and comic book lovers. I mean these interests are filled with geeks and the fandoms overlap greatly (Which is why I called myself the Omni-Geek, since I loved all and specialized in none.) and they are still considered primarily non-mainstream and seen as childish or unwilling to let go of things that are aimed at kids and young teens.

In short, there's a working definition, but what do you call it?

I mean, it sounds like I'm obsessing but I like seeing things properly labeled in their proper space.

....

Now my membership at TvTropes suddenly makes sense....

-Good Bye, Good Luck, and Imagination Is Your Greatest Power.

Mousa The 14

Geek Rant Delay: Writer's Sphere

I was planning on dishing these things out at least once enough, but you know what happened?

Writer's Sphere: Concept patented by Daniel Shive of the El Goonish Shive fare where you have too many ideas instead of not having any.

I am sort of busy with college and I also cannot quite focus on one subject. Over the past couple of months I have been working on drafts for The Barrier OF Entry for Geekdom, it's followup The Old, The New, and The Left Behind, TvTropes, Namco's Tales Series Embargo, and The Green Lantern and I'm already making plans for one aboutthe insanity of the Sonic fandom and the origin and perpetuation of Furries. All of these have been delayed due to me being unable to focus on a single one (And the Green Lantern one kept getting deleted after all of my hard work so I'm discouraged to continue.).

I'm going to try to get better but if anyone can provide inspirational ideas on any of the topics so I can continue on that'd be helpful.

But who the heck actually reads this anyway?

You know what? Nevermind, just.... To those who care, I have more and I'm working on it.

Geek Rant Topic 11: The Fairer Geek

When All Else Fails, you call Mousa the 14, that one ranting geek.

Ever notice the geeky activity (i.e. video games, card games, role playing, anime, cartoons, etc) you're most likely to see a high number of women in is anime and manga? Not an objective fact necessarily (though it might be and I just don't know), just an observation. In fact I may see more girls into anime and manga than I go guys. I've been to quite a few anime conventions and the stereotype of fat sweaty guys in sailor moon cosplay (costume play to those not in the loop) is like 1 to 200. Most of the slack is picked up by hordes and hordes of women. They're the male characters, the female characters, the animal characters, The furries(I've only ever seen male fursuiters so far.) everything! The artist's alley tables is filled largely with women, The anime club I ran in high school was primarily female/potentially primarily female (Even though there were more male regulars in the club, there were more girls in the school in general that were anime fans. It was a small school so I could gauge this easily.), and the anime club at the college I'm attending now is primarily female, and my the demographic of my anime-related videos on youtube is primarily female (Assuming they're telling the truth of their sex.).

Anecdotal evidence: it's right and wrong.

Anyhow, I thought this was fascinating because you always hear about how there are less girls in gaming (at least we used to) and there are all these articles on sexism in game, why the games that try to draw in girls are stupid, etc, etc. My dorm is filled to the brim with Magic: The Gathering geeks but not a single one is a girl. This is the same with the anime clubs I've been in. And When I'm in bookstores I see more ladies (though people in general) perusing the manga rather than the section where the Bone and Tintin compilations are. Tabletop RPGs are a different monster, there are definitely ladies in that area. In fact I think the ladies are drawn more towards JRPGs, not sure why, just a thought.

Anyhow, let's assume my observations have a modicum of truth, why are things the way they are? I can think of a few good reasons:

1) Marketing demographics
2) Most geeky activities have always had a "boy's club" exclusionary feel to them. 3) Handsome Men
4) Variety

1) Marketing demographics.
What's the difference between American comic books (Yes, Europe, I see The Beano, Tintin, and Asterix and I love those, but I need to go with what I know here.) and Japanese comic books? Well besides the fact when I say American comics you immediately think Superhero comics, you're more likely to find comic books in Japan that appeal to everyone and every interest. American comics used to do this until the comic code fiasco occurred and effectively purging the comic book scene of almost everything but surreal superhero comics. Nowadays you have tons of superhero comics that overshadow your occasional very good independently made comic. But in Japan, while the shounen (term for young boys) demographic is large, it doesn't necessarily overshadow everything else. I mean, I own a manga that teaches you statistics! There isn't exactly a limit to what is made there (due mostly to cheap production values).

This means there is a larger percentage of stuff, manga and their anime counterparts, geared primarily towards the ladies. In video games their attempts towards getting more girls involved have been a little... sexist. Not all of them are bad shovelware, but most of them are pretty bad stereotypical pink shovelware. That is not how you do it, game industry. You make things more gender neutral or gender inclusive in your games, that's how you draw the ladies in. I mean come on, who in the world is kidding themselves, The Spartans in Halo or the protagonist in any and all first person shooter is a dude. Or games like God of War where, what's this? A male protagonist? Why couldn't the god of war be a chick? Chicks too flimsy? What's that I hear? There's sex scenes and naked ladies in your game? What's wrong with doing a complete reversal? I'm not asking for people to just switch the sex around for all the popular game, I'm saying try to get into what a girl may like in a game without always going stereotype or... doing a cop-out like in pokemon where you just choose "Are you a boy protagonist or a girl protagonist" and the game be exactly identical, men and women experience things differently.

Card games I'm not involved in enough to figure out why it's a sausage fest. But superhero comics. Oh superhero comics... Obviously they're big fat teeanged boy power fantasies, look no further than nerdy loser Peter Parker becoming awesome yet nerdy when he becomes Spider-man and gets all the ladies. You get your muscular manly men and women that look like supermodels with more tracts of land. Gee, such respectful depictions of our fair ladies, I wonder why girls aren't interested. True, some are dressed more modestly and well characterized but really they're more likely to be the male power fantasy's object of desire than a female power fantasy.

2) Most geeky activities have always had a "boy's club" exclusionary feel to them.
Most geeky activities are fairly 'boys only" clubs. For some reason most of the stuff is advertised towards boys while the girls get dolls, fashion, pink, baby care, etc. Totally equal. So obviously for years, women have not been growing up with geeky things geared towards them due to sexist standards that never end.

Most of this is covered in section 1 but additionally, not only have these things been geared towards boys for years, they're hard to get into for people with casual interest, i.e. girls who mostly haven't been given a reason to be interested in thee things to begin with. Video games aren't hard to get into that's more of covered in section one. Everything else has years of continuity and rules. Superhero comic books have years of annoying continuity I'll explain next essay, tabletop RPGs have editions and edition wars, Magic the Gathering have different editions and rules and card types and card colors and for some insane reason people are able to memorize a bazillion of these, and different entry levels for different interests. Like my sister finds even the most basic and self contained fantasy or sci-fi to be "too complex" and I can see each different one as their own thing, but I think she sees it all as a single conglomerate she has to get attempt to understand all of. I mean Elves, orcs, vulcans, dwarves, wookies; to the casual viewer it's all the same to them and if it's not their cup of tea it makes even less sense.

But manga and anime are just single stories, every thing is right there for you like a book and since they're done by a single person (with their assistants) you have consistency unless the author says so. As as stories they have a beginning and an end, simple as that but with all the complexity you need in a story. No easy exclusion.

3) Handsome Men
This was partly a joke, but seriously, our space marines and superheroes are usually rugged male power fantasies, they're not there to look good for the ladies, guys don't know what attract ladies, that's why we suck so much and try so hard. But since it appears some manga writers/artists are women so they know exactly what they're doing and doing it right.

There's just something about the anime and manga art style, specifically of pretty boy that seem to draw girls in. I'd like to see say God of War's Kratos right next to Kyo Kara Maoh's Gwendal in an attractiveness poll and I'm almost willing to bet real money that Gwendal would win by a landslide.

And you know what else is abundant with beautiful men? The Video game equivalent of an Anime: BOOM! Japanese Role Playing Games. Final Fantasy, The Tales series, Even Kingdom Hearts.

So Is this silly? Yes. But does it have merit? Potentially. I suggest a study should be done; handsome men bringing in the ladies into geek oriented things. It's a stupid idea but I'm just spit balling like I always do.

4) Variety
So most card games are rooted in fantasy or sci-fi, same with video games because video games can be outlandish (they have things like dating sims, racing games, some first person shooter, etc, of course, it's the principle of the matter.), superhero comics, the books geeks tend to read and the movies they tend to watch.

Anime and Manga are like every other sort of book only with picture which tells you a lot about it's variety, like the aforementioned one that teaches you statistics. Which means whatever you could be interested in is potentially in that format. Cooking, action, adventure, mystery, romance, magical realism, historic fantasy, it's going to be there, trust me. There are some limitations due to Japan being sort of isolated but it's still a lot of stuff.

So in conclusion, yeah, just something to think about, check around your organizations involving geeky activities, and measure out the guy to girl ratio and get back to me, I'm rather curious about this and this is something you can take a look into too. Obviously things have diversified over the years, that's just the way things go, but these things go slowly so my observations might still be sound.

-Good Bye, Good Luck, and Imagination is Your Greatest Power
Mousa the 14

Geek Rant Topic 10: Geeky Men Are Not Men

When All Else Fails, you call Mousa the 14, that one ranting geek.

What happened to me? College happened! Yeay higher education! This also means I've postponed my "Namco's Embargo" and "Geek Entitlement and General Jerkassery" topics, mostly due to writer's block on the topics. Now, back to the show:

Geeky men are sexless homos. Kind of. Some of us are not, some of us are. Men are allowed to be geeky and still be fully functional members of society simultaneously, even though these qualities tend to almost contradict each other. But any of us who may be insecure, or might have poor social skills, or that unusually high number of us on the net with Aspergers, ADD, OCD, and ADHD (Not me, I'm not trying to be speshul on the net.), not so much. There's just something about this confidence thing that some people can't get enough of. It makes them look like leaders, look reliable and in charge. That's probably why some of them can get away with being jerks: If you're damn confident and charismatic enough, nobody is going to care what a jerk you really are or they'll at least tolerate it.

And of course they get it out of being sure of themselves, these confident men. A belief that they can feel good about themselves and gosh darned it, everyone else should feel good that this person exists. Color me shocked, turned out vinegar attracts more flies than honey becuase those who are insecure enough to be doormats aren't going to get squat. Turns out the movies lie, what a concept. Excuse me while I make a few false dichotomies for your entertainment value:

• Don't hold doors, that's for pansies and losers that let the world walk all over them. Let the people open their own doors.
• Nobody's gonna take you seriously if you say yes. Helping people's for pansies and losers that let the world walk all over them. Say no all the time, be a b******, they can help themselves, no I don't care how heavy that couch is.
• What's this? You're showing some semblance of feelings? What crap is this? Chuck Norris doesn't cry! The only thing you should feel is joy, lust, and RAEG! Having feelings and talking about them at any time is for pansies and losers that let the world walk all over them. MEN are emotionally deficient, got it?

Now class, what have we learned from this? That's right, to our shock and awe some people think like this. Broad strokes are easier than having to evaluate people individually so if you're into sports or some sort of athlete or at least a charismatic business student, the likelihood of having confidence and charm is so high it's not even a question. You will have it becuase it makes you a MAN. After all, MEN are designed to be hunters and gatherers, to compete, to kill, to go for blood. Be a "MAN" physically and mentally, you are ideal. Tradition and genetics and familiarity build today's standards.

Which mean those who are less then fit either by too much or too little weight have lost a portion of the battle but that's not a deal breaker. The insecurity is still there, becuase let's face it, some of us can be proud and pretty danged confident about our interests or whatever it is the heck we do, but really, those of us in the geeky and nerdy spectrum haven't exactly been praised for our encyclopedic knowledge of the Magic: The Gathering expanded universe. We're not allowed to like what we do without the general public looking upon us with with either ignoring us or general disdain. I mean, we have homebody interests: computers, documenting, organizing, math(a.k.a. Modifying Counter Strike, making wikis about Hunter X Hunter, collecting the entire DC Universe, and Dungeons & Dragons respectively, just to name some examples.)? These aren't MAN'S skills! Go outside and kill yourself ten buffalo and feast upon their testes while you make a sport out of their inflated stomach that involves beating each other up, you pansies!

So nothing to be proud of, skills traditionally unmasculine, extreme doormat tendencies if you're good and an entitlement obsessed overbearing jerkass if you're bad. And of course my entire post was self-deprecation which is also frowned upon becuase it implies insecurities and nobody likes insecurities. Good. Flipping. Grief.

Why can't the world just screw their standards of masculinity? Who cares about these flimsy standards? Yes I know men are providers, have their heads together and in the right place, I'm not talking about disregarding that, I'm talking about disregarding the standards of being a MAN in the social sense, not the familial or interpersonal relationship sense, but just the being yourself sense. Apparently anyone who deviates the norm doesn't deserve companions other than themselves or some other human low on the gender hierarchy than geeks, which is probably the homosexuals, because you can't get any more unmanly than digging dudes, amirite?

But of course this is just whining about a problem that I'm unwilling to change for myself. Most of your confident men friends may tell you changing is easy, just go out there and get our of your comfort zone. If that's their advice, obviously their minds are wired too differently for them to understand the roadblocks or history that built you up to your current mindset, or they don't want to/care to understand, or they are so far ingrained in their confidence mindset of doing anything easily that anything less is too unusual for them to comprehend. Either way, it's helpful unhelpful advice. It's basically helpful for confident people in hiding or in a rut and anybody who is even less than that are boned. You can try, but why put on a mask of being all "MANly" it accomplishes so much, but you may as well live a lie. Not everyone is raised to the proper standards of MANliness and some can act, but it's not who they are. Perhaps some of us are averse to violence, aggression, competition, athletics, or enjoy coding, showtunes, platformers, Dungeons and Dragons, or some combination of the above and more, why should it matter? Why should those all fall into other dark recesses of society with all who have those qualities as part of their make up?

Being the best version of yourself should be all that it takes to be a man. If confidence is difficult, then it is, and it may take a while to get it out there, but if people are going to look down on you for it, then to heck with them. An insecurity or two isn't going to kill anybody, though making an effort to break out of them would be preferred but we're only human, guide-dangit.

Look, I'm going around in circles and it appears I'm having trouble figuring out which parts I'm endorsing and condemning so I'm going to add this last bit of polish and head to sleep. The point is :The Standards are exclusionary, pointless, and demeaning and only breed insecurities, bitterness, and anger and not of the MANly kind either, but something cold and dark that breeds jerkasses and doormats.

-Good Bye, Good Luck, and Imagination Is Your Greatest Power

Mousa the 14

Geek Rant Topic 05: Nerd or Geek

When all else fails, you call Mousa the 14, that one ranting geek.

call me a semantics freak, but I coulda swore that these terms had specific definitions, but that could just be me. More a long time people have used the words interchangeably to simply mean "Socially inept guys we mainstream people don't like because they have non-mainstream interests, dress casually, act weird, and aren't particularly attractive."

Then why have two words? Words that are different yet supposedly mean the same or similar thing? and I'm sure people have their own personal mental dictionaries that give each of these words a specific term. even my mainstay, TvTropes.org, has separate definitions for each.

Geek

Nerd

The distinction is subtle, too subtle for anybody to really care so they ignore it. However I believe that from all I've heard and read I can glean some sort of distinction.

I realize this may be futile. I mean, XKCD is laughing at me right now for it. But the alt text proves to me that even the XKCD guy has a version of it and in fact mine is quite similar. So without further ado I present the definitions.

NERD: A socially inadequate person who is noted not only for their poor social skills or lack of caring of mainstream interests and styles, but for their intelligence, display of said intelligence, and deep knowledge of a wide variety of fields or a specified field. The big difference between a geek and a nerd is that a Nerd's brilliance is usually within academic pursuits. They are Science geeks, math geeks, computer geeks. If it is an academic field with real life applications or at least has a real field of study and you are intellectually vested in it, you are a nerd.

GEEK: A subset of hobbyist, people who have an deep interest in traditionally non-mainstream subjects that are often considered childish in nature. Similar to the Nerd, they are usually socially inadequate and brilliant. Unlike the nerd, their brilliance tends to be dedicated to their specific hobby. Usual interests of Geeks fall under Science-Fiction and Fantasy Genres spanning all mediums. Another aspect of Geeks as defined by The Game Overthinker in his video on continuity found here. the short and paraphrased version is this: "Geeks glean fun from turning something that is already fun into work" such as playing video games competitively, Stop Having Fun Guys, or collecting the entirety of the Marvel universe's comics to "keep the continuity straight".

Geeks follow this mantra "(Insert Hobby here), My Anti-Drug: Because Crack is Cheaper"

Agree with me, don't agree with me. I think I'm right, but I'm just that one ranting geek among millions. I doubt I'm wrong but I dare thou to challenge me.

Though it does seem strange that some, including myself, are arguing over the semantics of an insult pointed in our general direction.

Oh well.

-Good Bye, Good Luck, and Imagination Is Your Greatest Power.
Mousa The 14

Geek Rant Topic 04: To Most Furries

Previously on When All Else Fails: The 14 chastised the geek community for putting down Furries.

And now....

When all Else Fails, you call Mousa the 14, that one ranting geek.

I had a lot to say about how geeks are all hating on furries. But now, I'm turning this car around. It's time I complain to the furries. Because you guys, furries, you give geeks so much material to hate you. You're mostly relatively normal people, I know that, One of my good friends is a furry. You're all people too. I understand that. But I also understand that a vocal minority, and a moderate majority of you are all IDIOTS!

You perpetuate negative stereotypes that give people a reason to make fun of you. And I'm going to use the exact same list I used to scold the haters Just to prove my point:

1) They are easy to get a rise out of

2) They act like a repressed minority when they are at a minimum hobbyists, and at the most a subculture, but not a real one, but like how "gamers" and "Otakus" are subcultures.

3) Otherkin. 'Nuff said

4) You had a bad first experience with one and are projecting on them all because you are a deaf bigot.

5) There was furry porn and you assumed all of them were sexual deviants.

6) The furry porn thing part 2: They like animal-people, ergo, They are into bestiality, the sick perverts.

I'm going to go down this list bit by bit except number 6, for that doesn't apply to you guys.

1) Seriously, you guys are so sensitive it hurts. You're easier to get a rise out of than Keith Olberman and Glenn Beck combined. And as we all know, Olberman can complain about anything and Beck's a frikkin' maniac! So where does that leave you guys? You don't wanna know. The point is, you whine and complain and sob at the teensist criticism vaguely aimed in your direction and then you react, and the Trolls go wild! You're Not supposed to do that! You don't make a loud stink because someone makes fun of you, that only makes them look right about it. Which leads me to number

2) The whole "fursecution" thing. Get over yourselves, you're a particularly large hobby group that is fascinated with a certain aesthetic and interest in the anthropomorphizing of animals. You're not a lifestyle choice, you're hobbyists or a poor-man's subculture. You're the same as gamers, Anime fans, Trekkies, Star Wars Fans, all that stuff. Don't make yourselves bigger than you really are. You're just geeks like the rest of us, not an entire subspecies. You are not a lifestyle choice, which actually leads me to number

3) Otherkin. 'Nuff said.

Okay, for real, You guys are Nuts, there is nothing I can say that will change your perception of reality. Just keep it to yourselves.

4) I got nothing here, not everybody can be affable. All you decent furries just have to make good impressions and don't make jokes for the sake of screwing with people's heads. There are always bad eggs that will color people's opinions of you, nothing can be done here. Smart tip though: "Hi my name is X and I'm a furry" is not a good conversation opener. Only tell people if they ask about it. Remember, Baby steps.

5) Keep your exceptionally hot furry porn to yourself. Don't use it to mess with people, don't show it off often. It's bad enough people who hang out on the internet or enjoy porn are labeled as sexual deviants. You wanna make it worse by making the participants have traits that vaguely resemble their dog or pet canary? Look I hate intolerant morons as much as you do, but baby steps people.

And that's all I have to say to you furries. Leave the trolls alone and they'll leave you alone. Oh, and Otherkin? Seek help. Please. I beg of you.

-Good Bye, Good Luck, and Imagination Is Your Greatest Power.
Mousa The 14

Geek Rant Topic 02: Furry Hate

When all else fails, you call Mousa the 14, That One Ranting Geek.

Everybody hates Furries! Geeks hate them, normal people hate them, the media hates them, apparently CSI hates them but I'd rather kill myself than watch that utterly uninteresting show.

Why exactly? I mean seriously, why?

I want to say you all have no reason to, but honestly you have many reasons to.

1) They are easy to get a rise out of
2) They act like a repressed minority when they are at a minimum hobbyist, and at the most a subculture, but not a real one, but like how "gamers" and "Otakus" are subcultures.
3) Otherkin. 'Nuff said
4) You had a bad first experience with one and are projecting on them all because you are a deaf bigot.
5) There was furry porn and you assumed all of them were sexual deviants.
6) The furry porn thing part 2: They like animal-people, ergo, They are into bestiality, the sick perverts.

Obviously the last 3 are not legitimate reasons but they're real reasons nevertheless. I can understand why normal people would alienate them.

However I do not understand why we, the Geeks and Nerds, do. Why would we, the guys who love X-men (an allegory for tolerance), hate on a group of people based on their interests? Need I remind why why we're called Geeks and Nerds? Because we are ostracized by mainstream and popular people for having non-mainstream interests. Oh, and because a vocal minority of you refuse to maintain decent hygiene but that's a rant for another day.

But as I was saying, we enjoy fantasy, science-fiction, video games, superheroes, comic books, card games, anything that comes from Japan, and so muc hmore, and we're ridiculed for it or rather, we're ignored to the point of making use exiles. In fact, this is it, isn't it? That's the reason.

Geeks have a persecution complex!

We have always been considered pretty low on the frikkin' "food chain". And That sucks. We supposedly learned to deal with it. But then we find something even we consider too strange and we come down on it like a ton of bricks.

Need I remind you of the Geek Heirarchy?



Here's the Unabridged version. Either way, Furries get a raw deal. And for what reason? They're easy to troll? Well that's mean-spirited and non-nonsensical, but then, not everybody can be rational, tolerant, and not living proof of GIFT. Oy vey...

So anyhow, where was I? Ah yes, we were bullied so we bully someone even lower than we are. Now that's mature. I'm so proud that a group supposedly filled with intellectuals or at least reasonably smart people can be such idiots. I mean what are we, Republicans?

I mean seriously, why should we direct our fury at them when they did nothing to us? If anything we should be raging against the mainstream, the cool kids, the popular people, the sportsmen, all those guys, not our fellow shut-ins. But then, maybe we just don't like each other.

I mean us geeks are a divisive group. Besides a common interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy, our interests beyond that get pretty diverse and divided. we get further away from the common genre and become more interested in our particular niches. I mean how do you enjoy expressing your interests in genre fiction? Video Games? Reading? writing? Magic The Gathering? Anime? See? Our methods are so divided we have no reason to like each other. I've seen it all before. Everybody's got to hate on something from the "Weeaboos" to the "Casual/Hardcore/Retro Gamers", it gets pretty silly. We shouldn't be doing this. We enjoy stuff that practically bleeds, breaths, and sweats tolerance. Why aren't we learning?

So I guess all I'm saying is, we've been out-casted for our interests, so why all the hate?

-Good Bye, Good Luck, and Imagination Is Your Greatest Power.
Mousa The 14