“People throw around ‘nerd’ like it’s a new subculture, but I am happy kids whose lives would have been terrible before are doing well now.”

nerds_flickr_robert-couse-baker

Brendan says that when he was asked about Star Trek trivia about the new movie, that he had been preparing for that moment his whole life.

Suess, RPI, SNL, and the early works of Anthony Michael Hall

Burrows (2005) and Nugent (2007) both cite Dr. Seuss’ If I Ran the Zoo (1950) as the first documented used of the word “nerd.”  Seuss’ nerd is not much of a character, but appears in a list of creatures the protagonist might include in the zoo were he in charge.  The nerd, hailing from Ka-Troo, [...]

The Nerd Emergence: A History(ish)

Just as Hall asks, “Is a ‘queer’ history even possible?” (2003, p.21), I wonder about the possibility of writing a history of the nerd.  Just as there has been sexual activity between same-sexed bodies in other places and times, there have also been those who preferred to spend their time in libraries and laboratories in [...]

Nerd Aesthetics

Dr. Horrible

If, as Butler (1990) suggests, gender is the repetition of acts and gestures, performances that may be somewhat malleable but cannot be escaped (as one can not step outside of the discursive process), then “camp” might be understood as the queering of those performances through the intentional exaggeration and remix of those acts and gestures.  [...]

Queer the Nerd

Somewhat ironically, my first introduction to queer theories came in the form of biblical criticism (how nerdy is that?). Derived from literary theories, these queer approaches to scriptural analysis consist of reading strategies that either disrupt heteronormative assumptions, privilege queer identifications, or both. In Queering Christ (2002), Goss suggests three primary strategies for reading scripture [...]

Queering the Nerd/Nerding the Queer

photo by Outcast

What can queer theories offer in examining nerd masculinities?

Failing Shop: Musings on Nerd Masculinity, or Anthony Hall was the man

anthonymichaelhall31

“See we had this assignment, to make this ceramic elephant, and um–and we had eight weeks to do it and we’re s’posed ta, and it was like a lamp, and when you pull the trunk the light was s’posed to go on. My light didn’t go on, I got a F on it.”

Great Moments in Greatness: @BarackObama & Nichelle Nichols (@RealNichelle) Rep For #StarTrek

Living long and prospering from Pennsylvania Avenue to the farthest reaches of the Neutral Zone.

Fashion: Geek Beauty of The Month for January 2012 [#starwars, Blaxploitation Leia]

Komplicated presents a monthly taste of geek beauty for your desktop wall paper.

Fashion: Geek Beauty of the Month for December 2011

Komplicated presents a monthly taste of geek beauty for your desktop wall paper.

Music: Virtual Listening Party for Malcolm “Verbal” Barrett TONIGHT at 9PM PST [@malcolmbarrett]

The self-proclaimed nerd and widely acclaimed actor and rapper will be in studio tonight, playing both his new projects.

I Am a Female Nerd. Apparently.

photo by cristiano_betta

Marianne Cassidy thinks being a female nerd is trendy. Except when that’s all guys see in her.

Fashion: Geek Beauty of the Month

Komplicated presents a monthly taste of geek beauty for your desktop wall paper.

My Idea of Gender: Being The Family Nerd

photo by william brawley

Benjamin Wilkoff can’t think of a better way to express his gender identity other than by being the geek that he is.

Fashion: Geek Beauty of the Month

September geek beauty of the month

Humor: We Defy You To Find A Geekier Image Than This! [@billcosby]

The good doctor educates you in math as well. As he should!