Ultimate Geek Fu

 
Encyclogeekia Obscura

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Guest Post by Al

One of the hallmarks of the true geek is a trivia collection.

Every geek seems to have a knack—or is it a curse?—for remembering bits and pieces of odd information. Where does this strange ability come from? Is it a natural, inborn element of the geek brain, or something honed and practiced over the years? Are those trivial factoids lovingly adopted into the creases and folds of gray matter—or are they alien invaders, taking root and festering no matter what the brain's owner may have wanted?

Yes, I do think it's a natural tendency of the geek brain to connect to obscure data and refuse to let go. For some, it might be movies (as in, "I saw Star Wars twenty-five times in it's original theatrical run; I can still rattle off the dialog and can definitely say that Han fired first, the lightsabers looked fake when pointed at the camera, and Grand Moff Tarkin had to tell Darth Vader when it was okay to pretend to talk."), while for others, it's television ("Did anyone notice that Kirk was talking to the alien babe right before the commercial break...and putting his boots back on right after the commercial break...?")

Some geeks track better with music, or even a combination of music and movies. Now, getting a song stuck in your head for a short while is bad enough, but when the song is still there thirty years later, what can you possibly do about it...? (The theme song for the old Buck Rogers movie and TV show was called Suspension, and includes the words "Who am I, where am I, what will I be, where am I going, and what will I see...")

If you grew up on a steady diet of comic books, then certain super-hero factoids crawl into your mind and take up residence; anyone remember Captain America turning in his shield, putting on another costume, and then tripping over his own cape...?

But, probably the most common of all is the literature geek—the geek who can offer, in a single breath, the names of the three trolls Bilbo encountered, the name of Lancelot's castle, the first names of Sulu and Uhura (BEFORE the reboot), and the name of the speaker who would not eat Green Eggs and Ham.

So what are some of the most obscure, off-beat, deep-dark secret factoids that have crawled into your brains and made themselves at home? Are you a literature geek, or a movie geek, or some other bizarre hybrid cross-breed variety? Have you met any other geeks whose Geek Obscura skillset was actually frightening (like the guy from summer camp who could not only answer any Lord of the Rings question imaginable, he could tell you the PAGE NUMBER the answer came from)...?

And finally...how many of you can remember what TILTOWAIT does...?

Let the arguments begin.

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ULTIMAGE GEEK FU runs every Wednesday. Have a question that's just bugging the heck out of you about Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate, Battlestar Gallactica, Farscape, Firefly, Fringe, Heroes, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Smallville, The X-Files, X-Men, The Man From Atlantis, or pretty much any other SF-flavored media property? Send it to slushpile@thefridaychallenge.com with the subject line, "Geek Fu," and we'll stuff it in the queue.