Comic-CON or how Mindlessness has Influenced Geek Culture

Preface: I began this article over a year ago, and of course I was busy at that time as well.  I feel like this is an important topic, so I'm going to develop it a bit more.

It's been a while, I know.  Predominantly I've gotten caught up in school, work, exams, etc..  However, underlying this has been what I guess we could refer to as a crisis of faith.
In order to understand how fall I have fallen, let's first establish where I was three years ago as a geek.  I'm pretty confident that when I left America for Poland I was at the top of what was and is considered the hierarchy of the typical pop culture geekdom.  I had believed unquestioningly that Joss Whedon was brilliant, Doctor Who was great, and that I would believe this for my entire life.
Kind of funnily, my foreign classmates initially couldn't believe that I actually existed.  International schools are not such a breeding ground for geek culture for the most part.
The problem back then was that I was unquestioningly accepting everything that the "Geek Machine" of culture was throwing out.  If I'm told to like The Dark Knight Rises, I will like it.  If I'm told to like The Avengers, I will like it.  This blind acceptance of film, comics, television has resulted in the opposite of the foundation of a geek.  Geeks were (and still are) those who discover what they love, and usually for personal reasons.
Having left Poland, I feel more of a geek than when I came.  I collect stamps for example.  It's not something that everyone can love.  It's about a particular love for something because you find it interesting, not because the 130,000 people who  attended comic-con loved it.  It's something that I discovered that I loved, not something that I tried because everyone else was doing it.
Studying psychology for two years in IB we learned about conformism and the need to feel part of the in-group.  Because one of the selling points of being a geek is this individualism it's become a marketable commodity.  (Just step into Hot Topic for two seconds)  It's an easy way to feel accepted with a larger group of people.
My challenge to you is to look at what you love, and then evaluate why you love it.  If you can come up with 5 concrete and well-thought-out reasons why it holds up, then I think you can continue endorsing your show.
We need to move away from being a society of mindless consumers of marketable culture and instead start evaluating the reasons why we like the particular television show or movie.

A New Life

Life has recently snuck out of nowhere and smacked me right in the face.  I've been pretty busy lately, what with school and work, so the posts haven't really been coming along.  However, I'm on a vacation of sorts now, so I might as well honor that with some writing.
As this will now be my primary blog, I'm introducing some new topics and focuses.  This is also because my interests have vastly changed from last summer.  My challenge is to find interesting ways to make these hobbies seem interesting a fun!

1. Postcards and Stamps
• A small confession, I've recently taken to carrying around my stamp collection, just in case someone wants to read it.  This is a self-enforced intervention of sorts - I'm reaching out to all of you humans with some interesting facts, tidbits, and samples from my collection.  Enjoy!
2. Must Read Books
• Lately I've been reading a bunch of academic articles and journals, so it might be refreshing to process some of that information into a more palatable form.
3. Places to Be Seen
• I've recently become rather ambulatory, so I will be writing more about great places to visit where I travel, or places I have been while travelling.  I've travelled to almost all corners of Europe, so I'll try to write a piece about all of them.
4. Knitting
• Perhaps carpal tunnel syndrome is a high price to pay for socks, but I've recently been bitten by the knitting bug with a diagnosis of fatal.  Perhaps I'll put in a good plug for Ravelry and post some photos.

Things get Blasphemous

Continuing in the spirit of "singularity" I'm going to mildly criticize one of the "Pillars of Nerdom".  That is, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (or BtVS).  Might I just caution those "newbs" who haven't watched the show that this article will contain major spoilers.
I was recently watching Season Three with VeganZombie when I realized that if the going gets rough, nobody sides with Buffy.  Better yet, nobody believes her when something goes wrong.
The opening of the season leaves Buffy painfully alone, and it's hard to really believe that the other characters feel anything for her emotionally after they neglect her in such a time of need.
Perhaps Buffy's isolation is a sign of Whedon's storytelling genius.  Of course the role of the Slayer is a solitary one, but Buffy has always had the help of her friends and family.
Over time Buffy is isolated from her friends and in turn they from each other. By the end of the seventh season it seems that "The Scooby Gang" is tied together forever with friendship, but are all completely alone.
In this way Whedon paints a picture of reality.  In all our struggles, we must ultimately face them alone.  Perhaps friends will help you conquer the demon, but the choices that you make will haunt you, and only you.
A great example of this is the episode titled Once More with Feeling, or the musical episode of BtVS.  Yet again Buffy is left  to fight her inner demons alone, not wanting to even bother her friends. This way of looking at BtVS is a whole lot more depressing.  However, plenty of evidence links to the contrary, so I could just as easily write an article supporting The Scooby Gang's efforts to help Buffy.
We feel like we've violated the 1st Commandment.  Ah well, in the name of honesty! Of course this article is short and oversimplifies it, but do you agree?

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Happy Thursday

It's a bird!  It's a plane!  It's just plain awesome.

PostCrossing: A Safe Addiction?

In order to best write this article I'm going to have to break the stylistic code of writing in plural and instead slide over into the first person.  It feels like I'm taking a chainsaw to the Mona Lisa, but I'm forging ahead.

For the past two months I've been exchanging postcards with complete and total strangers.  Perhaps it's because I've run out of friends to send cards to, but it's become an addiction.  Like any addiction, it's not without it's rituals.
Every day I check my mailbox.  Unfortunately, my mailbox is the kind where you really have to be at a weird angle to see inside it without unlocking it (a long and arduous process, trust me).  That's how I got a face full of spider webs yesterday....  so it's safe to say that PostCrossing comes with a price.
That's not to mention the cost of stamps.  I've spent over 16 dollars on stamps in the past two months.  If my poor math won't fail me, that's about 100 dollars a year.  Who has that kind of money?  Well, apparently I do.  And that's not even on the cost of postcards.  So we double it, and then we have 200 dollars a year.  Ack!
Let me just stress that none of this matters when you get a new postcard in the mail from a random user.  I've gotten cards from Austria, Belarus, Germany, and Turkey.  It's so satisfing to know that someone somewhere feels just the same way about stationary and postage that you do.
I suppose I could take up drug abuse, or perhaps gambling, but for the time being this seems like a safe enough addiction.

For more information, go to www.postcrossing.com.

14 Reasons Why We Love Harry Dresden

In honor of the November 27 release of Cold Days (book 14 of The Dresden Files), we are going to provide you with 14 reasons why you should read the works of Jim Butcher.
14. Witty Dialogue
Dresden gets in trouble for talking too much, but frankly that's not something we have a problem with.
13. Gory Fast-paced Action
Blood and guts everywhere!  Only tastefully.  There are some truly hair-raising bits to The Dresden Files which only contribute to the fast and dark pace of the novels.
12. A Dark Past
Believe it or not our favorite wizard is a tortured soul.  However, it's his rise out of "evil" beginnings that truly illustrates his character.
11. A Genuinely "cool" Author
We have a signed copy of Ghost Story, which prompted us to look into the life Jim Butcher.  This guy actually LARPs and otherwise lives the lifestyle that we wish we could.
10. Allusions Galore
We don't know if you like a clever reference as much as the next nerd, but Butcher really does his research in creating an intricate and detailed universe of magic.
9. Steamy Scenes
No complaints here.  Dresden's love life may be complicated, but there is certainly enough interactions between his three great loves to create believable relationships between all of them.
8. Believability
Which brings us to point 8!  In the same way that BtVS ends up being emotionally accessible despite a hard-to-believe-is-real premise,
7. Completely original
Butcher has created a blend of fantasy and mystery novels into Dresden's self-professed career, wizard detective.  There are elements of Sherlock Holmes in Dresden as well as Merlin the wizard.  Fun, witty, pithy, and ultimately noble, while Dresden may have characteristics of other famous protagonists, he remains utterly unique.
6. Unreliable Narrator

This image perfectly sums up the series.  Classical wizard in
front while in the background we have Chicago.  Awesome.

But not entirely good.  There are times when his perception of reality can't entirely be trusted insofar as the reader's perception of the novel goes.
5. Dynamic Characters
All is not what it seems.  Almost all characters are accessible, and no matter how mystical they may be, there is something vaguely "human" in them.
4. Magic!
WE LOVE IT.  By vicariously placing yourself in Dresden's shoes, you have the world of magic at your fingertips.  However, what makes this series so great is that even magic can come at a cost, sometimes the cost is unimaginable.
3. Painful Cliffhangers
We refuse to spoil anything, but we'll just say that there is a moment in the thirteenth book that has us rolling on the floor in anguish and misery.  And then the book ends.
2. The Geekiest Superhero Around
We know what geeky is, and honestly Dresden is full of geek.  Going back to point number 10, Dresden really is everything we want to in a Superhero.  (except for maybe Invincible, but that's a different article)
1. We felt compelled to write this article
We love The Dresden Files so much that we spent the time writing this fairly lengthy article.  Can that speak for itself?

Later on I'll post a picture of my signed copy of Ghost Story.  Prepare to wet your pants.