April 21, 2011

Geek Merit Badges

The outstanding and Windy City-based Katydid mentioned last week that she was hanging at a Neil Gaiman reading sitting behind a couple of guys arguing about Primer. Geek heaven right there, folks.

Her tweet naturally lead to geek merit badges.

I swear there's a connection there somewhere.

It was a connection made.

Here's what I have for the initial listing of the geek merit badges, broken down by vague categories...Add your suggestions in the comments, please...

Sci-fi/comic geek
  • Attending a comic/gaming convention *
  • Knowing the rules for a Magic-the-Gathering-style card game *
  • Having a personal Magic-the-Gathering-style card game deck
  • Cosplaying in public
  • Arguing who would win: Batman or Superman (Hulk/Thor/Wolverine acceptable Marvel substitutes)
  • Arguing which is better: Star Wars or Star Trek
  • Owning a comic published by company other than DC & Marvel *
  • Owning a comic published by company other than DC / Marvel / Dark Horse / Archie / Image *
  • Having a standing pull list at a comic book store
  • Owning an entire series run (4+ season) on DVD *
  • Owning an entire series run (2+ season) on VHS
  • Owning an entire series run (1+ season) on any format for a series not commercially available
  • Owning every book by a sci-fi/fantasy author
  • Owning a long box full of comics (must be bagged, not necessarily all boarded) *
  • Wearing a comic t-shirt ironically
  • Playing an RPG (e.g. D&D) *
  • Attending ComicCon
  • Owning a piece of original comic artwork
Tech geek
  • Getting roped into providing IT support for family *
  • Being an official beta tester
  • Being the first adopter of a new technology (real world) among your circle of friends
  • Being the last to abandon an old technology (real world) among your circle of friends
  • Being the first adopter of a new technology (virtual world) among your circle of friends
  • Being the last to abandon an old technology (virtual world) among your circle of friends
  • Buying your first Apple product *
  • Building a case mod for a computer
  • Jailbreaking a phone/iPad/iPod
  • Buying a part from Radio Shack *
  • Reading xkcd *
  • Choosing open-source software when you can afford not to
Music geek
  • Standing in line to buy concert tickets at least 4hours before the ticket booth opens *
  • Attending multiple days of a multi-day music festival
  • Seeing consecutive shows by an artist in different cities
  • Making a mix-tape (or modern equivalent) for someone as a romantic advance (whether overtly stated or not) *
  • Having 10,000+ songs on iTunes/Zune/etc *
  • Buying a concert shirt at the concert *
  • Seeing an artist who is now dead *
  • Buying an album on vinyl (after ~1995)
  • Taping a concert for bootlegging purposes
  • Buying a bootleg of a concert (cd / cassette / vinyl) *
  • Downloading a bootleg of a concert *
  • Owning a bootleg of a concert you attended (digital / cd / cassette / vinyl) *
  • Forming a band
Movie geek
  • Seeing a movie at midnight on its first day of release *
  • Seeing a movie in theater before its first day of release *
  • Attending a movie premier (where actors in the movie are in attendance)
  • Dressing up in character to see a movie in the theater
  • Hosting a movie-themed dinner *
  • Attending an Oscar watching party (and actually watching the ceremony)
  • Being accepted by friends as a suitable imdb replacement when necessary
  • Buying a DVD of a movie you've never seen
  • Writing movie reviews on a regular basis (2 per month for at least a year) *
  • Watched at least 3 movies in a theater in one day (may stretch past midnight)
  • Attending ComicCon
  • Getting an actor's autograph in person
  • Getting a director's autograph in person
  • Seeing every best picture nominee for a given year before nominations are announced
  • Driving 30+ miles to see a movie in the theater
Food geek merit badges
  • Owning an autographed cook book
  • Traveling to a city (1+ hr drive/flight) just to eat at a restaurant
  • Eating at a restaurant with a five diamonds (Mobil Travel Guide)
  • Eating at a restaurant with three stars (Michelin Guide)
  • Owning a one-use kitchen utensil / small appliance *
  • Actually reading On Food and Cooking (I haven't completed it yet.)
  • Seeing a chef/cookbook author in a non-restaurant setting *
  • Attending a cooking class
  • Eating in more than one restaurant from a single chef in a day *
  • Ordering spices
  • Subscribing to a food/cooking magazine *
  • Making all the recipes in an magazine issue/cookbook
  • Taking & posting food/restaurant photos online (in a non-vacation format) *

    Other possible categories
    • DIY/Maker geek merit badges
      • Subscribing to Maker magazine
      • Soldering
    • Business geek merit badges
      • Getting inbox to zero (more than six months after opening account)
      • Having a job where ties are dress code for men
    • Band geek merit badges
      • Attending band camp
      • Buying an instrument because of a previous owner's fame/respect/renown
    Sources...

      7 comments:

      calencoriel said...

      So excited that I've already earned a few of those merit badges...

      I'd like to (of course) offer:

      LOTR geek merit badges
      - actually reading the book along with all the appendices
      - being able to explain the relationship between LOTR and The Simarillion
      - knowing what JRR stands for
      - knowing ALL the colors of the wizardry hierarchy
      - being able to describe how wizards can ascend to the different colors of the wizard hierarchy
      - being able to explain the geneological relationship between Frodo and Bilbo correctly
      - knowing who Sam Gamgee marries and being able to name all their children
      - being able to explain the relationship between Merry, Pippin and Frodo
      - knowing Merry and Pippin's actual first names
      - knowing how many meals hobbits will eat in a normal day
      - knowing all of Aragorn's names
      - being able to list (in sequential order) the differences between the books and the movies

      I could think of more...but I should probably get some work accomplished.

      PHSChemGuy said...

      Slug asked which of the merit badges I'd already earned. I've gone ahead and put stars next to the ones that I've achieved. That's twenty-seven stars so far..one more that I'm working on (On Food and Cooking).

      Can anybody top me?

      Katydid said...

      Oh please, I got 35. I suppose that's appropriate considering I was the genesis of this nerdy endeavor.

      coachsullivan said...

      Hmm...I can only own up to 9 of those. I'm such a slacker.

      PHSChemGuy said...

      Calen - I have absolutely none of the LOTR badges. I assume you know them all?

      Katydid - You do cross a number of those categories, though. That'll help.

      CoachSullivan - Wanna put together a list of sports geek merit badges as a companion piece? Maybe break 'em up by sports - basketball, tennis, baseball, football, Indiana high school basketball?

      Slug said...

      I hadn't actually counted when I first read this, but the total for myself is 39- excluding the "other possible" categories.

      Of course I'd get none of the LOTR one's.

      pigpenguin said...

      well i managed to get 24 of them hooray for being in the middle :D