Whatcha reading?

[Silent Majority]

95) Just A Geek - Wil Wheaton. 2004. Audiobook. A complete period piece, a slice of nerd brain nice guy from the early twentieth century. He's unconsciously vile in a few ways, snobbish and sexist and classist, in a way I'm certain he's fully disowned since, in attempts to be funny. I don't doubt his heart's always been in the right place but what an interesting little reminder of what was cool among geeks at the time and the roots of the incel movement. The journey Wheaton goes on here is the making of peace with his time on Star Trek - he was treated like shit by more or less everyone but the cast - via conventions and writing a successful blog. He's since done better and I've got no reason not to wish him well.

[Kory]

95) Just A Geek - Wil Wheaton. 2004. Audiobook. A complete period piece, a slice of nerd brain nice guy from the early twentieth century. He's unconsciously vile in a few ways, snobbish and sexist and classist, in a way I'm certain he's fully disowned since, in attempts to be funny. I don't doubt his heart's always been in the right place but what an interesting little reminder of what was cool among geeks at the time and the roots of the incel movement. The journey Wheaton goes on here is the making of peace with his time on Star Trek - he was treated like shit by more or less everyone but the cast - via conventions and writing a successful blog. He's since done better and I've got no reason not to wish him well.

I went to the TNG reunion in Calgary many years ago and he made a point to apologize to the cast on stage for basically being a superior, snotty little shit on set—perhaps one of the reasons he was treated like shit by the cast at the time. I certainly wouldn't put up with it.

[Dr. Medulla]

95) Just A Geek - Wil Wheaton. 2004. Audiobook. A complete period piece, a slice of nerd brain nice guy from the early twentieth century. He's unconsciously vile in a few ways, snobbish and sexist and classist, in a way I'm certain he's fully disowned since, in attempts to be funny. I don't doubt his heart's always been in the right place but what an interesting little reminder of what was cool among geeks at the time and the roots of the incel movement. The journey Wheaton goes on here is the making of peace with his time on Star Trek - he was treated like shit by more or less everyone but the cast - via conventions and writing a successful blog. He's since done better and I've got no reason not to wish him well.

I read this at the time and appreciated it as the therapeutic exercise it was (I don't recall the ugly stuff that you allude to, but don't doubt it because, well, geeks …). A subsequent book that dissects the first season of TNG, episode by episode, is worth hunting down. Alas, he didn't pursue it further. That said, I've found him more and more annoying as he re-entered the celebrity world. I used to read his blog until every post seemed to be recaps of his adventures playing poker.

[tepista]

95) Just A Geek - Wil Wheaton. 2004. Audiobook. A complete period piece, a slice of nerd brain nice guy from the early twentieth century. He's unconsciously vile in a few ways, snobbish and sexist and classist, in a way I'm certain he's fully disowned since, in attempts to be funny. I don't doubt his heart's always been in the right place but what an interesting little reminder of what was cool among geeks at the time and the roots of the incel movement. The journey Wheaton goes on here is the making of peace with his time on Star Trek - he was treated like shit by more or less everyone but the cast - via conventions and writing a successful blog. He's since done better and I've got no reason not to wish him well.

the "nerd-is-cool" movement is insincere, I knew it!

[Kory]

95) Just A Geek - Wil Wheaton. 2004. Audiobook. A complete period piece, a slice of nerd brain nice guy from the early twentieth century. He's unconsciously vile in a few ways, snobbish and sexist and classist, in a way I'm certain he's fully disowned since, in attempts to be funny. I don't doubt his heart's always been in the right place but what an interesting little reminder of what was cool among geeks at the time and the roots of the incel movement. The journey Wheaton goes on here is the making of peace with his time on Star Trek - he was treated like shit by more or less everyone but the cast - via conventions and writing a successful blog. He's since done better and I've got no reason not to wish him well.

the "nerd-is-cool" movement is insincere, I knew it!

It's also as full of toxic masculinity as sports culture.

[tepista]

the "nerd-is-cool" movement is insincere, I knew it!

It's also as full of toxic masculinity as sports culture.

If they had only waited for the Girl-Ghostbusters to suck on its own rather that saying it sucked before it came out.

[Kory]

the "nerd-is-cool" movement is insincere, I knew it!

It's also as full of toxic masculinity as sports culture.

If they had only waited for the Girl-Ghostbusters to suck on its own rather that saying it sucked before it came out.

What a crazy world it would be if art was assessed on its own merits instead of whether it hurts some nerd's feelings.

[Dr. Medulla]

the "nerd-is-cool" movement is insincere, I knew it!

It's also as full of toxic masculinity as sports culture.

If they had only waited for the Girl-Ghostbusters to suck on its own rather that saying it sucked before it came out.

What a crazy world it would be if art was assessed on its own merits instead of whether it hurts some nerd's feelings.

What, you're telling me your childhood hasn't been retroactively ruined because so you saw a lady or person of colour in a recent sci-fi film? What are you, made of granite?

[Dr. Medulla]

Holy crap, an actual Garth Marenghi novel is coming out!
https://www.avclub.com/garth-marengthi- ... 1849427262

[Silent Majority]

Holy crap, an actual Garth Marenghi novel is coming out!
https://www.avclub.com/garth-marengthi- ... 1849427262

Surprised this has taken so long to exist, but damn I will be straight on it.

[Silent Majority]

97) The Elements of Eloquence - Mark Forsyth. Kindle. 2013. A catty, acidic run through various forms of rhetoric. Very readable. Alan Moore recommended this to me (and every one else who watched his Class on Writing).

98) A History of TV in 100 Shows - Phil Norman. 2015. Paperback. Much more interesting in its early days and feels like a blog which got extended into a book deal. Basically unsatisfying but with some interesting kernels. I'm ready to read a better history about the prehistory of the medium.

99) The Office BFFs: Tales of The Office from Two Best Friends Who Were There - Angela Kinsey and Jenna Fischer. Audiobook. 2022. Very positive boss ladies talk about their time on a beloved now classic sitcom. It wasn't really for me..

100) Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire - Akala. Audiobook. 2018. A great book, half memoir, half history, all gut wrenching. Strong recommend.

[Dr. Medulla]

98) A History of TV in 100 Shows - Phil Norman. 2015. Paperback. Much more interesting in its early days and feels like a blog which got extended into a book deal. Basically unsatisfying but with some interesting kernels. I'm ready to read a better history about the prehistory of the medium.

Perhaps not what you’re looking for, but one of the books I’m teaching this fall is Lynn Spiegel’s Make Room For TV, which examines the cultural politics of how Americans approached and adopted tv into their lives in the 1950s, including how television shows portrayed the medium at the time.

[Dr. Medulla]

A few books …

Finished listening to Paul Tremblay’s The Cabin at the End of the World. A strange book in that it continually defied expectation in terms of what comes next, yet I never got to the point of giving a shit. The premise is two men and their adopted daughter are on holiday in a remote cabin when four weirdos show up and claim that one of the three must agree to die to save the world.

Started listening to Gary Gerstle’s The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order, which has received good reviews. I look forward to renewing my loathing of Thatcher, Reagan, and Clinton.

Been re-reading Joseph Heath’s Enlightenment 2.0, which is a pushback against the truthiness of contemporary discourse. Reason still has a place in this world even if the original lofty claims of the Enlightenment have proven false. Reason is hard work, but it provides insights that intuitive understanding cannot, and so it must be cultivated.

Also been poking my way way thru Katie Mack’s The End of Everything, about the various ways our universe might someday end. She’s a wonderfully dorky and enthusiastic writer and mostly succeeds in translating the theory behind astrophysics.

And I’ve been reading Daredevil from the start. I’m up to the early 70s when the book became Daredevil and the Black Widow. It’s striking how much Frank Miller redefined the character. When Stan, Roy Thomas, and Gerry Conway were writing him, Matt Murdock was a bit of Peter Parker knock-off, but a bit more happy-go-lucky. The stories aren’t especially memorable either. Kind of surprising that DD survived whereas the X-Men had been canceled.

[Silent Majority]

98) A History of TV in 100 Shows - Phil Norman. 2015. Paperback. Much more interesting in its early days and feels like a blog which got extended into a book deal. Basically unsatisfying but with some interesting kernels. I'm ready to read a better history about the prehistory of the medium.

Perhaps not what you’re looking for, but one of the books I’m teaching this fall is Lynn Spiegel’s Make Room For TV, which examines the cultural politics of how Americans approached and adopted tv into their lives in the 1950s, including how television shows portrayed the medium at the time.

No, that does look interesting. Putting it on the longlist.

[Dr. Medulla]

98) A History of TV in 100 Shows - Phil Norman. 2015. Paperback. Much more interesting in its early days and feels like a blog which got extended into a book deal. Basically unsatisfying but with some interesting kernels. I'm ready to read a better history about the prehistory of the medium.

Perhaps not what you’re looking for, but one of the books I’m teaching this fall is Lynn Spiegel’s Make Room For TV, which examines the cultural politics of how Americans approached and adopted tv into their lives in the 1950s, including how television shows portrayed the medium at the time.

No, that does look interesting. Putting it on the longlist.

If you need a pdf, let me know.