Nerd Week Day 5 Finale: Nerdstuff and a Very Nerdy Giveaway

So my wife says to me the other day, “You’ve turned me into a nerd!” I was taken aback to say the least, but once she elaborated a little I realized just how true this was. When we met in college my wife was coming from being a popular “jock” of sorts in high school. She ate at Chili’s, drank light beer, and listened to whatever awful nonsense was on the radio at the time.

Now she sips pho and eats salmon sashimi like a champ. She’s seen every episode of Star Trek:TNG and read the entire Ender’s Game series, including the Bean subseries. And she’s seen Neutral Milk Hotel in concert. It’s true – I turned my wife into a nerd, and she loves it.

That conversation was the real catalyst for this series of posts. It made me realize just how much of a nerd I had become, and just how awesome that was. It’s not like I even try and hide it, really. A quick walk around my house will reveal just how big a nerd you are dealing with:

For example, I have an autograph collection, and the majority of the music-related ones end up on this wall. There’s plenty of not-nerdy items here in addition to a healthy mix from across the nerd spectrum:

Not all that nerdy: Brian Wilson, Dr. John, Herbie Hancock, Galactic, Fishbone

Pretty nerdy: Yo La Tengo, Grandaddy, The Refreshments, The Rentals

Indisputably nerdy: MC Chris, They Might Be Giants

There’s also a framed photo from when I got to interview Flansburgh, the bespectacled John of They Might Be Giants. Digital photography either didn’t exist back then or it was very expensive, so the photo is super grainy and my eyes are closed. :-(

My autographs get a lot nerdier as you leave the music realm and enter the Comic Con realm:

My wife got me the Star Trek:TNG VIP experience at Comic Con last year. I met everybody except for Patrick Stewart who was in Canada narrating a documentary. He was nice enough to sign everybody’s poster, but he didn’t make the group photo my wife and I got to take with the entire cast. I will not be showing that photo here because it would melt your screen. Here’s a funny tidbit from the signings:

Crusher’s hand is in Picard’s pocket in the poster photo, and she apparently did not remember that until seeing the poster so she wrote this fun little remark. Super nice lady, too. All of them were really cool. I especially enjoyed talking to John Delancey who played Q (you can see his sig in gold on the bottom) as well as Marina Sirtis and Levar Burton.

Grabbed one of these, too. Levar was a smiley delight, but try fitting that signature on a 2x3 card.  Or a sticker for that matter.  Can you imagine?

In case you’re not sick of Star Trek yet, the folks who ran the Con sent out an e-mail about the VIP package stating that it included a signed 8x10 of Patrick Stewart. I printed that baby out, and when I got to the Con the people in charge insisted that it was an error but let me pick one out, anyway. So, here’s Picard in his dress whites. Can you feel the nerd tonight?

I also met Kevin Eastman who was the friendliest, most accommodating person at the con. He even did some doodles for people if they were willing to wait in the crazy-long doodle line. I had nerdier places to be, so I got the fast-track “To T.J.”

One more Comic Con item: a scale model of the Arrakis Crysknife made from the tooth of the mighty worm. Spolier alert: the worm is the spice. Nerdgasm.

That’s it for the Comic Con stuff. Lucky for you (or possibly unlucky) I took a few minutes walking around my house looking for more things that are nerdy. I took a picture of the nerd-things as I found them. Here are a few of those pictures:

This is a Sailor Moon lunchbox. That’s pretty damn nerdy. What’s inside?

Yeesh: Star Wars and Trek Micro Machines. My God - it’s full of nerd (bonus nerd quote).

Okay, these were all gifts. Friends and family all know I’m a “collector of collections," but I’ve never been a big Pez dispenser guy even though I love the candy. Yet, here they are, mass-produced to the point of being worthless as a collectable. Still, I kinda like them as a big, sealed set, being a nerd and all.

I still have every Mad Magazine my Mom ever bought me at the supermarket. This one I bought long after I stopped reading the magazine just for the cover. Was Mad nerdy or cool? I can’t remember…

This poster is several levels of nerdy, but if you’re a nerd it’s several levels of awesome. My only gripe is that it shows a 20-sided die while the song references a 12-sided one. Other than that, it’s pretty amazing.  And yet...

...this puppy takes the prize as my nerdiest poster not signed by the cast of Star Trek.  It hangs in my office as opposed to somewhere my wife could see it.  It's just too damn nerdy for that girl.

This lives in the man cave with four controllers, always ready for battle. This cartridge along with my Portal 2 disc are in a tie for second place as my most-played video games (Civilization takes that prize #nerdbasedstrategy).

I pity the fool who don’t celebrate his own nerdiness with a blog post!

This is nerdy even for me, but don’t deny it: you want one.

I’m not sure if this is nerdy or just insane. Leaning towards insane. Like, certifiable. But if you ever get the chance to read what this book is made up of, its inherent nerdiness will reveal itself.  (Note: I've tried it.  Doesn't work.)

This is my media wall which resides in our spare bedroom. It used to be two walls and take up a LOT more space. I was strongly encouraged by my betrothed to downsize this collection, so what you’re looking at is about 20% of my former VHS collection, 40% of my CD’s, and about half of my DVD’s. While most of that stuff went to Goodwill, I still have all the DVD’s in bins at a friend’s house. A respectable media collection is one of the hallmarks of a nerdy collector.

Here’s a closer look at the DVD’s in case you feel like judging my taste. Frankly the DVD selection is one of my favorite things to look at when I go to parties at other peoples’ houses. It’s amazing the things you’ll discover, particularly that a lot of people like bad movies.

This is the They Might Be Giants portion of the CD collection. They do not have the most CD's of any band on those shelves (I have more of both Radiohead and the Beach Boys); but they do have the most discs represented of any nerdy band I love, so I thought they’d be appropriate for this post. I also have similar stacks for Yo La Tengo, The Magnetic Fields, and Grandaddy. Nerdy music rules.

Finally: I am the author of a baseball card blog. This is arguably my nerdiest attribute (right up there with that Sailor Moon lunchbox), but it’s also ridiculously fun. It’s tied to sports which is like the least nerdy thing there is, but it’s also tied to statistics which is widely regarded as – you guessed it – pretty nerdy, y’all. The result is an interesting mix of nerds, jocks, and everyone in between chasing the same cards, and some of them bothering to pen a word or two about them. That’s where I (and some of you) come in. Card bloggers are very much a form of nerd, and yet they’re some of the coolest people I know.

Nerd Epilogue and Giveaway

Now, this and previous posts could be construed as gloating. “Hey, look at my stuff! You jelly?” But keep in mind that I never would have shown people this stuff ten years ago, and fifteen years ago I would have buried my head in the sand if I knew a girl might see what I collect (girls were scary).

And yet there’s a certain amount of comfort in one’s identity and confidence of character that comes along with growing up. I guess that’s what these posts are really about. I’ve always considered myself a reasonably cool dude who happens to like nerdy things, but to heck with that. I’m clearly a nerd. In fact I’m damn proud to be a nerd, and you should be, too.

Kids seem a little more tolerant of nerds these days than when I was in school, and why shouldn’t they be? Nerds have higher average incomes, tend to be well-educated and well-spoken, can hold informed conversations, know how to do stuff (besides fix your computer), respect the warning of “spoiler alert” better than anyone, and most importantly they have the best taste in music, film, art, food, and t-shirts. Plus nerd girls are so much cuter than your run-of-the-mill sorority chicks it’s not even funny.

And they all watch Adventure Time

So in honor of nerds everywhere, I’m having a giveaway. I want to see the nerdiest thing you have. One item only, please. It can be an object, a tattoo, a book, a poster, a signed photo, a vinyl record, a report card, a ridiculous Lego creation, a fluffy cat sweater – whatever. A thing that announces to the world, “I am a nerd, world, and you can suck it.”

Here is the prize:

A sealed blu-ray of the final installment of the Family Guy Star Wars homages. I will also throw in other nerdy things and some baseball cards if that’s your thing (which it probably is if you found your way here, ya big nerd).

You can either make your own blog post about your nerd thing and link to it in the comments below, or you can e-mail me a photo at thejuniorjunkie at gmail dot com. Either is fine. If you include multiple images in either method, I will accept the first image by default unless another is indicated as your entry. No shyness. I will be showing some of them in a future post.

So let your freak flag fly, blogosphere. Keep calm, and nerd on.

Nerd Week Day 4: Star Trek Master Series

Not every post can be a Bart. Sometimes there must be a Milhouse post, that being a post that is just a little (lot) bit nerdy. I happen to have a few such posts waiting in the wings, so I figure why not shoot them all over the Internet in a single week of unforgiveable nerdiness I am lazily referring to as “Nerd Week.” Enjoy!

Today’s nerdy post is all about Star Trek, specifically a single set of cards I got from The Prowling Cat when he was cleaning out his closet all Eminem-style.  The set is called the Star Trek Master Series, and it was printed by SkyBox in 1993.  They are 90 really beautiful, finely-crafted cards that span the Star Trek Universe from the original series through Next Generation and ending just before the beginning Deep Space Nine. Personally I was most enamored with TNG, so these are right in my fandom wheelhouse.

The art is extremely solid, just stylized enough to not be considered one of those hyper-realistic paintings of a photograph which, while super neat, are kind of an artistic cop-out. The subjects are the principal characters, ships, races, aliens, and moments from the two series condensed nicely into a fan-friendly 90 cards. I mean “fan-friendly” in that the set is easy for fans of the shows to love. I’m sure there are a lot of fans who can spot glaring omissions from both series in the set. Those fans need to relax. These cards are excellent.

Okay, some of them are kind of silly, actually, but that's part of the charm.  And that Orion Slave Girl belongs in Maxim, or possibly my trunk.  Yowza.

I've picked out a bunch of my favorites from the set to show you.  For example, that card of Reg after he took over the Enterprise from the Holodeck.  And they discover that race of beings who are essentially floating old man heads who are like, "Oh, bipedal motion!  Electrochemical nerve induction!" because they are super observant and stuff.  Great episode.  Also, Q's hat.

I should go ahead and mention I'll be showing a LOT of the TNG cards because they are my homies and because the set is very TNG-centric in general, probably because of its 1993-ness.

Check out the disproportionately massive bat'leth (spelling?) and the goofy depiction of the Traveller who is Wesley's magical best friend (seriously).  These cards a little silly, but the episodes they depict are damn good.  And I like The Traveller, no matter how much I poke fun.  He's in one of my favorite episodes, "Remember Me," which is a fun but disturbing mind-f***.

The Borg are referenced a lot because everybody just loves them.  They're kind of the perfect enemy, and their assimilation modifications gave us an excellent look at Picard's nipples.

Shameless plug for the newest series, anyone?  I'll take it, but I never got as hard into that series as I was with TNG.  This card would be a whole lot neater if they got the proportions and angle of view right.

Finally, here are all the "Theatrical" cards.  The set must have come out just before the TNG movies started coming out, the first of which was Generations.  If you haven't seen the original Star Trek movies, go ahead and give 'em a try, but skip the first one.  If you get really into them, go back and watch.  The story is pretty cool, but it's a terrible first outing,

According to the checklist there are five "Spectra" cards to be had as well as some artist-signed editions of a dozen or so cards from the set.  Do I want all those?  I mean, yeah.  I guess I do.  This is nerd week.  I can admit to that.

If you're a Trek fan, you should probably watch this:

Thanks again for the cards, TPC, and see you tomorrow, fellow nerds!

Nerd Week Day 3: Legos!

Not every post can be an Alpha Beta. Sometimes there must be a Lambda Lamda Lambda post, that being a post that is just a little (lot) bit nerdy. I happen to have a few such posts waiting in the wings, so I figure why not shoot them all over the Internet in a single week of unforgiveable nerdiness I am lazily referring to as “Nerd Week.” Enjoy!

I’ve always been a Lego nut, and as I’ve gotten older they have only gotten cooler. Nowadays we get sets that pay homage to pop culture, TV shows, and movies, the most prolific of which has been the brand’s extensive line of Star Wars vehicles and figures.

The crown jewel of my Lego nerddom is definitely this behemoth Super Star Destroyer. It took roughly 11 hours to assemble.  Please forgive the asses in the top left corner - that's a giant Pink Floyd poster in the back room of my man cave where the Lego shelves live.

At 50 inches, the Super Star Destroyer is so big I can't really even photograph it properly.  The coolest part is this little regular-sized star destroyer shown for scale.

As you can see I have a fun mix of other Star Wars models and figures, too. I’m a big fan of the TIE fighter there on the left.

Below that on my man cave shelves are a few other fun items including the Ghostbusters ECTO-1, the Back to the Future Delorean, and the Simpsons house.

When Lego came out with the Simpsons Minifigures, my buddy Craig and I canvassed the town looking for them. It took several trips to different stores, but we eventually found a full end cap display at Target and bought the entire thing so we could bring them home and take our time feeling through the little packages until we had two of every figure. We returned the rest and called it a day. I’m happy to report that each of us now has the full first series, and we plan on doing the same thing again for the second. We are Simpsons completionists, and the Simpsons-Lego crossover cannot be resisted.

The recent line of Lego Architecture has been a blast to collect as well. Here are the White House, the Space Needle, the Eiffel Tower, and the Empire State Building in all their tiny little meticulously-detailed glory. These sets are kind of pricey, but a fun excuse to play Legos as an adult.  I only have some of the cheaper ones here, but Fallingwater and the Farnsworth House will be mine someday...

In addition to all this stuff, I have two massive bins full to the top with every Lego I’ve ever owned in my whole life. Whenever I come across a loose brick floating around in the world without a home, I rescue it. After Katrina I cleaned and disinfected thousands of my friends’ Legos rather than let them end up in the dump. I am positively anal about those expensive little bits of plastic.

See you tomorrow, fellow nerd!

Nerd Week Day 2: a Box of Star Trek TNG Season 3

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Nerd Week Day 1: Mystery Science Theater 3000 Superfan

Not every post can be a Fonzie. Sometimes there must be a Ron Howard post, that being a post that is just a little (lot) bit nerdy. I happen to have a few such posts waiting in the wings, so I figure why not shoot them all over the Internet in a single week of unforgiveable nerdiness I am lazily referring to as “Nerd Week.” Enjoy!

I am a massive MST3K fan. I was a huge tape circulator back in the day (I still have hundreds of source tapes I would dub episodes off of), and I have a few items in my collection that kind of put me over the top as a hopeless Mstie.  In fact, this post is by request.  Movie sign...

As for episodes of the show, there are ten seasons plus the original TV broadcasts from KTMA in Minnesota. The first three episodes, KTMA01-03, do not exist in any format, allegedly. Every other episode was recorded and passed along from Mstie to Mstie over the years. I have them all in digital format that I keep in a single, massive file on an external hard drive. In addition to every single gettable episode, I also have a large number of episodes in wonderful SP mode (better quality than EP, LP, or SLP – real Msties know what all those mean) still on VHS with personalized labels. I also have several VCR’s that still work which I keep in storage for if I ever need to dub again.

I’ve done a lot of dubbing in my time.

There are also a number of super-rare, fan-club-only releases of which I have the original VHS’s. These include The Last Dance RAW, The MST Scrapbook, Tom Servo’s Favorite Host Segments, and even some fan footage from one of the few Expo-Fest-Convention-Con-o-Ramas. That’s only a few of them. These are irreplaceable except on eBay and for probably way too much money.  That Rhino copy of The Amazing Colossal Man used to be the "forbidden episode" and go for a fortune ($60 +) on early eBay.  I found mine at Hollywood Video for $9.99.

This is the first release of the DVD.  It was discontinued for years before being re-released a few years ago, but in that in-between time it went on the 'Bay for over $100.  It was crazy, and lucky for me I found it used for incredibly cheap.  Looking back perhaps I should have sold it when it was going for a lot.

Nah.

These I doubt I'll ever sell.  They are original silver-bottomed discs you could only get through the MST3K Info Club.  They are hilarious listens to this very day.  Check out the backs:

How perfect is that?

Here is the original theatrical double-sided marquee poster.  It's massive at 41" x 28", and I have two of them.  The one in worse condition hangs proudly here in my home office.  The good condition one is stored archivally and flat.  You should see that box.  My wife hates it.

This is a limited-edition lithograph sold through Wizard magazine (remember that?!).  It's unframed right now, but the quality is excellent.  I used to have two, but Lord knows what happened to the second one.  Someday when I have more walls...

Here's an 8 x 10 of the original cast with fake autographs.  I bought it already matted and framed for ten bucks at a garage sale.  A local neighborhood garage sale with this.  What are the odds?

And, of course, the obligatory Amazing Colossal Episode Guide.  I laugh hard just reading descriptions of the host segments in this book.  It is a gem and sits on my evacuation shelf with all my photos.

That stuff is fun, but the best evidence of my MST3K nerddom is in my prop collection:

In 1999 when Best Brains, Inc., the company that made the show, went out of business they started taking things from the set and selling them on eBay with signed certificates of authenticity from the prop diva, Beez McKeever. You remember her from the credits, right?

I won three of the auctions and ended up with Pearl Forrester’s glasses, a baby monitor used as a bomb detonator, and a real, genuine, authentic, honest-to-goodness, camera-used Tom Servo head.

That Servo head is one of my prized possessions. I bought a special case for it and everything. It has come with me on every hurricane evacuation I’ve ever been on. That’s thousands of miles and many days’ worth of hours in the car.

I won’t say what I spent on the three props I bought, but I will say it was a lot of money to me back then. If those auctions happened today I would happily spend triple what I did. There was also one prop I missed out on by just a few dollars due to a computer error. It was a basketball covered in spray paint used as a planet during the opening sequence. There’s not a lot I regret in my life, but man. I really wanted that basketball…

I still occasionally do a search for "MST3Kprop."

I also have several t-shirts, a fan club pack with membership card, a few actual signed photos as opposed to the fake-autographed one above, all the bumper stickers and magnets from the info club, and tons more random stuff.  I also printed out hard copies of the Sci-fi part of the series which is not covered in the Episode Guide (which only goes to Season 7, I think).  Someone actually wrote the rest of the book and it never got published, but you could read it online for free.  I wonder if it's still there...

MST3K taught us a lot of lessons about life:  Make the best of a bad situation.  Don't take everything so seriously.  Stick with your pals to get you through a rough situation with a smile.  When your friends are not around, just build robot friends.  When life gives you lemons, make fun of those lemons.  And finally, it doesn't take a big budget and fancy special effects to produce quality results.

In closing, here's a quick story:  I put a "Movie Sign!" bumper sticker on my first car.  Once I came out of the Post Office to find a girl leaving a note on my windshield that read, and I quote, "Your MST3K bumper sticker rules! Keep circulating the tapes..."  I should have proposed on the spot.  I wonder what she's doing now. Probly bein' awesome somewhere.  I still have that note.

If you’re feeling saucy and want to check out a great episode of this show, allow me to recommend Space Mutiny. 

There it is, free, right now.  Do it.  Nerd with me!

See you tomorrow, fellow nerd!

Three-for-Three PWE: a Night Owl Trade Post

Night Owl killed it on the PWE front the other day.  Here's the proof:

Greg got a couple of these Puigs from his end of the Nachos Grande 2014 SC group break (he got lots of pairs of things, for that matter), and he was nice enough to set one aside for yours truly.  Cool shot of the Puigster being the Puigster, and a step closer to me completing the base set.

Greg is also a major contributor to my PC's of older guys due to his access to vintage.  This Vida Blue Kellogg's 3-D is absolutely gorgeous.  You should see the back.  Wait, why didn't I scan the back?  Anyway, the backs are really cool.

Finally we have a mini from last year's A&G set.  It also happens to be the A&G-back version which makes it an all-new addition to the Griffey collection.

So, yeah.  That PWE went three-for-three.  All new to me, all needed for the three different kinds of collections I chase the most: the occasional set, a handful of PC's, and all the Griffeys.  Great envelope, Greg!  Thanks again!