Anthony Lane says that Bruno is puerile. Though I laughed when he quoted Bruno's best national gag—that all he craves is to live “ze Austrian dream:
‘get a job, find a dungeon, raise ein family in it’ ."
100 Basic Skills for a Geek. Highlights:
46. Build amazing structures with LEGO and invent a compelling back story for the creation.
47. Understand that it is LEGO, not Lego, Legos, or Lego’s.
90. Be able to explain why it’s important that Han shot first.
91. Know why it is just wrong for Luke and Leia to kiss.
92. Stop talking Star Wars long enough to get laid.
More later.
Big blond boy came off the camp bus with a sprained ankle. Oh the
drama! [insert joke about men not being able to handle pain.]

Surely puerile is a feature not a bug when it comes to Brüno? Lane didn’t think all that much of Borat either.
Knowing the names of the Dwarves in The Hobbit is just excessive (who cares whether it was Blowin and Glowin, or Funken and Gruven who got put in the barrels first?); knowing the verse about the rings of power is essential, with bonus geek points for being able to quote any of it in the language of Mordor.
Wired’s right about Han, though.
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For LoR geekery, I think the key line of demarkation is the Silmarillion and having the gist of that.
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Silmarillion has a gist?
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Ductigami is not origami. Any good geek would know that. Duct tape is cool, and crafting with it super geekery (I think one should get bonus points for having been duct taped to a wall), but it’s not origami.
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Doug, I guess I meant the basic outline of the history of the 1st, 2nd and early 3rd ages. Because if you ask me, the Noldor seem just a bit too proud of themselves.
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I would view extreme LoR geekery as getting through all of the poetry instead of skimming until somebody draws a sword.
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Ok, LotR geek but not extreme. I also skip the Tom Bombadil bits and go straight to the Barrow-Downs.
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Hop along! fal lal the willow! Tom can’t keep his lady Goldberry waiting.
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There’s a beautiful audio version (Rob Inglis’s) that takes a lot of the pain out of the verse in LOTR. Tom Bombadil’s songs are especially nice. Give it a listen! It’s 52 hours long, and as soon as I escape Bleak House, I’m hoping to lose 15 pounds while listening to LOTR on the treadmill (I did it last spring with the Jane Austen canon).
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MH:
“Tim! Tim! Benzedrine!
Hash! Boo! Valvoline!
Clean! Clean! Clean for Gene!
First, second, neutral, park
Hie thee hence, you leafy narc!”
Amy, that’s a lot of listening! It’ll go on the Christmas wish list, I think…
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Ayeee! The Ballhog.
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I keep seeing the ‘Evony’ ad in the sidebar. Which is clearly an attempt to hit the same demographic as the preface to “Bored”.
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