No one is upset that it's mainstream, it's a fucking awesome show. What we (real nerds) have a problem with is people who have never had a nerdy interest in their life calling themselves nerds for watching this one show. It's similar to March 14th when a bunch of people who can't add fractions call themselves math geeks for recognizing it as pi day. You're not a nerd/math geek/dork for having this ONE interest that has some nerdy elements to it. Think about it this way, if someone who never participated in a sport played catch once and then called themselves a huge jock all all the time after it, you'd probably think that person was a tool. Your face is silly
Apparently the best way to piss off nerds is to rip on their favorite show. Never knew that. From the reactions that my comments have garnered you'd think I'd have called all your mothers whores.
It's probably a lot to do with how your posts read, at least to me. You use "nerd" as a pejorative, then say GoT is a nerd show, and thus, by extension, are attempting to insult everyone who watches it. So people react.
Makes sense. I understand different people like different things. Doesn't mean other things are worse or better. Just naturally I don't get it and some aspects seem unusual to me.
This whole "real" "fake" nerd thing is hilarious to me. Why the hell does it matter if they call themselves nerds? You're right that I would think the guy playing catch once would be a tool, but I certainly wouldn't get worked up about it. Maybe you should just challenge these people to a LARP.
That's fair, but were they to do so, it isn't as if baseball wouldn't be a jock activity. It seems silly to suggest that something ceases to be nerdy just because it's well-produced and popular. Remembering entire histories, mythologies, geographies, etc. so complicated that the author needs to hire someone just to keep track of what he's written? That's pretty nerdy, and there's nothing wrong with that.
That's why the show isn't nerdy, though. It does all the nerd grunt-work for you. It sifts through all the backstory and the mythology and cuts out the (many, many) overblown parts of the tree and what you're ultimately left with is a leaner, streamlined, more accessible experience. You sense the colossal depth of the tapestry, but it's all behind the scenes, enriching your ultimately passive viewing experience. In much the same way, it's a loss less nerdy to enjoy the LOTR trilogy than it is to go learn Elvish and study the Appendices at the end of Return of the King like they're a goddamn history book, though they stem from the same nerd wellspring. And unless you have the attention span of a goldfish or are a retard, you should really have no problem keeping track of who's who and who's doing what. Also, there's a world of difference between LARP in the US and LARP in Europe. Witness (not a music video): Yes, those are blunted steel swords they're battering each other with.
Man, Europe sure gets elaborate about their games of pretend. HA, n00b, modern guns would totally wipe out that whole army in like 8 seconds, so that training isn't even going to help HAHA tanks
I recommend watching Darkon or Monster Camp for anyone intrigued by this stuff. I was fascinated (and a little jealous) by how much people get into it. I don't think Im into anything as much as they're into LARP.
This should be interesting to watch in a few months. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kristinbrumley/841999190?token=c47ae02e" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kri ... n=c47ae02e</a> Monster Camp, unfortunately, is terrible about picking out the most stereotypical people they can find.
I used to live next door to an old church converted to a Medieval arms and armor museum. They would have weekly LARP-in sessions in the front yard with hockey gloves and broomsticks in preparation for big annual "battle" in the nearby park. On occasion they would get all dressed up in their Medieval gear like they were headed to the Rennaisance Festival. It was great entertainment for us. Spoiler Practice jousting? Absolutely. Sometimes they would get serious with metal swords and fencing gear.
Do it right, go big Spoiler FOCUS: define nerdy In my opinion if you have some element of fantasy then it is nerdy. If those fellows with the sticks are practicing swordsmanship of historical European martial arts then they could be jocks. When they start casting spells – nerds. Edit: I am a big history buff, which is nerdy, so fuck it
They would start talking in fake English accents once the LARP gear came out and would take breaks every time someone got hit. Also I've never seen a jock wear denim shorts that go well below their knees with tall white cotton socks Now when the real metal swords came out, you had to give them some real respect.