When it comes to spotting trends, your Mountain Times staff is there like pre-torn jeans at a frat party. Our stonewashed jeans are rad, and our sleeveless Genesis T-shirts are righteous. So, for us, it comes as no surprise that geek is becoming the new cool. When did Urkel become the Fonz? He didn’t, thank God, but we’ve collectively noticed a dramatic increase in cool geekdom. Even outside our office. However, geekiness is subjective, as one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. In that respect, here are some of our favorite “geeky” treasures.


Frank Ruggiero: Bad movies are like good movies, only bad

Pictures speak louder than words. Much louder.

Okay, so I have an affinity for B-movies, and many of them happen to be science fiction. But those are some of the best kind – humanity in filmmaking at its cheesy finest, attempts at storytelling gone pitifully, cheaply and humorously awry. I mean, as bad a movie as “The Devil Bat” might be, Bela Lugosi turns in a decent performance, trudging through the awful material like an octopus in a swimming pool. Even in his declining days, when the dollars were few and the jobs weren’t many, Lugosi handled those roles with an unparalleled dignity such films were not worthy of receiving.

Then take “Zardoz” (please, take it), a post-apocalyptic epic of sorts starring a pistol-wielding Sean Connery in a red diaper, who butts heads with a giant, floating stone head that vomits firearms. An awful movie on many levels, but the sheer audacity of the filmmakers bringing their bizarre vision to celluloid reality is nothing short of brilliant. “Zardoz” works, but on most of the wrong levels, and it’s this uniqueness that makes it worth watching.
The same can be said for other B-movie gems, like “Eegah!” starring Richard Kiel (Jaws from the James Bond series). Kiel plays the last caveman on Earth, facing a foe deadlier than the fiercest saber-toothed tiger – the 1960s. The film is directed by and stars Arch Hall Sr., who seems to have been dating the considerably younger female lead, who plays his daughter on screen. This is particularly evident in a stomach-churning scene that involves the daughter sensually shaving her father’s day-old beard, followed by an equally nauseating scene of Kiel trying to lap shaving cream off his own face, his tongue like some searching tentacle. One would hope that shaving cream never be used for such evil on the silver screen again. It’s an utterly disgusting scene, yet through the implications on screen, one can almost see what was going on behind the camera. Let’s just hope it didn’t involve shaving cream.


Caroline Monday: TV You Can Read

The Book TV bus is repeatedly pulled for reading while driving.

I don’t think this is particularly nerdy, but my co-workers say it is: I love CSPAN2’s Book TV. I mean, don’t most people who have cable watch Book TV? Maybe not. I guess if given the choice most television viewers would pick The Real World: Season 27 Omaha.

For you non-nerds out there, Book TV comes on every weekend on C-SPAN2 (channel 56 locally) and includes programming about nonfiction books. A lot of the books are about politics, but there is a good bit about social topics. Some of the programs are just recorded readings, but others are interview-style with a host speaking with an author and with viewers calling in.

Since I was a young English major at N.C. State University, I have enjoyed attending readings. Book TV allows me to have a similar experience in the comfort of my own home. Under what other circumstances would I have the opportunity to hear Tom Wolfe speak while I’m wearing my pajamas and eating ice cream straight from the carton?

As I reread that last sentence I realize I am the biggest nerd ever. In my last Mountain Top I admitted to being a crazy cat lady and I don’t think I’m redeeming myself any here. I promise, I do have a life.

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Jeff Eason: Not Exactly Top Forty Radio

“Pssst…you wanna hear a secret? Jeff loves to hear me sing ‘Popular!’”

My philosophy about what’s cool and what’s dweebish is that if you keep up with something for a certain length of time, it will eventually become cool again. For example, I’ve worn hooded sweatshirts since the 1970s. Imagine my surprise when my beloved “hoodies” became de rigueur for the college and high school crowds a few years ago. The same thing happened to my faded flannel shirt collection in the early 1990s. Go figure.

If I am a nerd for one thing, it would probably have to be music that most people do not consider to be cool. There are some old Broadway musicals, such as West Side Story and The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd, that I never get tired of hearing. And listening to Kristin Chenoweth sing “Popular” from the musical Wicked, makes me smile every time.

My vinyl album collection also contains some very strange music by acts such as Howard Devoto, the Fibonaccis, the Nails, the Residents, Fred Frith, Henry Cow, Matching Mole, Quiet Sun, the X-Teens and the Willem Breuker Kollektief, most of which I have to listen to when I’m not entertaining guests.

I think the time is right for a little nerdiness and that’s why I’m not surprised that movies like Iron Man, TV shows such as The Big Bang Theory, and bands such as The Decemberists are as popular as they are. So gather your pocket protectors, tape up your eyeglasses, warm up your soldering gun, and get ready to build something nerdy. It’s our time!

Jason Reagan: Geeky Top Ten

Jason still giggles when he hears the term “floppy disk.”

When Frank asked me to catalogue my geekiness, I was reminded of the old song made famous by Rosemary Clooney: “If they asked me, I could write a book.”

In no particular order and in an homage to David Letterman, here are the “Top Ten Reasons Why Jason Reagan is a Geek.”

10. Can recite 90 percent of the dialogue from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”
9. In fact, used to have a ring tone that played “The Tale of Sir Robin.”
8. Know what Star Wars fans mean when they screech “Han Shot First.”
7. Used and still own some 5.5-inch floppy disks.
6. Know what a “floppy disk” is.
5. Still thinks Rogue from the X-Men is a major-league hottie — mutant or not.
4. Cried a little when “Star Wars” finally came back to the big screen in 1999. Cried a lot at the end of “Phantom Menace” because it sucked so much.
3. Used to play with Micronauts and still would if I could find them.
2. Considers the Force a valid, personal philosophy rather than a cinematic plot device.
1. Believe debates about Marvel vs. DC superheroes should be injected into the presidential campaigns (Professor X for Prez!).