Vintage Geek

'Vintage Geek is Marshall Julius's super-fun trivia treasure-chest for nerds of all ages. Essential reading.' Mark Hamill The ultimate quiz book for old school nerds, Vintage Geek celebrates a splendid selection of 20th-century fandoms, from Fifties' sci fi cinema, Sixties' Star Trek and Seventies' Stephen King to Eighties' actioners, Nineties' Batman 'toons and more. What does the sign say on the gate of Kananga's crocodile farm? What's the first Thing Mary Jane Watson ever said to Peter Parker? Why does Robby the Robot rarely partake of Altair IV's high oxygen content? No matter what we're into, geeks of the world share a few common traits: intense and unconditional enthusiasm and the relentless urge to know, and then prove we know, every last thing about the objects of our affection. With a foreword from Simpsons writer Mike Reiss, Vintage Geek additionally features a fabulous fifty celebrity-penned questions from the likes of Mark Hamill, John Carpenter, George Takei, Sam Neill, Mark Millar, Tom Savini, Pat Mills, Yeardley Smith and Sam J. Jones. Vintage Geek is here to chew bubblegum and assess the limits of your trivia knowledge and it's all out of bubblegum!

New York Times Bestseller A breakout teen author explores the true meaning of popularity and how to survive middle school in this hysterically funny, touchingly honest contemporary memoir. “I was inspired by [Maya's] journey and made a point of saving a copy of ‘Popular’ for my sister, who starts middle school this fall. Maybe if I had read it when I was her age, it could have saved me from a world of hurt, or at least put that world in perspective.” —Maude Apatow, New York Times Book Review Can curlers, girdles, Vaseline, and a strand of pearls help a shy girl become popular? Maya Van Wagenen is about to find out. Stuck near the bottom of the social ladder at “pretty much the lowest level of people at school who aren’t paid to be here,” Maya has never been popular. But before starting eighth grade, she decides to begin a unique social experiment: spend the school year following a 1950s popularity guide, written by former teen model Betty Cornell. The real-life results are hilarious, painful, and filled with unexpected surprises. Told with humor and grace, Maya’s journey offers readers of all ages a thoroughly contemporary example of kindness and self-confidence, along with a better understanding of what it means to be popular.

Vintage Geek will not only test your trivia chops, but also celebrates a varied selection of 20th century fandoms, from fifties Sci-Fi cinema, sixties Star Trek, Tom Baker's Doctor Who and eighties Action Classics to Hanna-Barbera, 2000 AD, Star Wars, Spielberg, Disney, Marvel, Atari, The Twilight Zone and much more besides. With a foreword from Emmy Award-winning Simpsons writer and producer Mike Reiss, Vintage Geek also features a fabulous fifty celebrity questions from the likes of John Carpenter, George Takei, Sam Neill, Mark Millar, Tom Savini, Mark Hamill, Pat Mills, Yeardley Smith and Sam J. Jones.

Does the beer buyer at the liquor store ask your advice? Do you understand the difference between a turbid and a single infusion mash? Do you travel with a tulip glass handy? Have you even eaten ramen just to afford a vintage Cantillon gueuze? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you may be a Beer Geek and in need of this hilarious guide. Patrick Dawson provides everything you need to fully live a life ruled by beer, from the Ten Beer Geek Commandments and the Beer Geek Hall of Fame to guidance on what to drink, how and where to drink it, how to gracefully correct an uninformed bartender, where to buy “geek goods,” how to flawlessly execute a beer tasting, how to plan the ultimate beer-centric vacation, and much more. Includes quizzes to help you determine your level of geekery, as well as witty illustrations by Greg Kletsel.

This critical examination of two dystopian television series--Black Mirror and Electric Dreams--focuses on pop culture depictions of technology and its impact on human existence. Representations of a wide range of modern and futuristic technologies are explored, from early portrayals of artificial intelligence (Rossum's Universal Robots, 1921) to digital consciousness transference as envisioned in Black Mirror's "San Junipero." These representations reflect societal anxieties about unfettered technological development and how a world infused with invasive artificial intelligence might redefine life and death, power and control. The impact of social media platforms is considered in the contexts of modern-day communication and political manipulation.

What would today’s technology look like with Victorian-era design and materials? That’s the world steampunk envisions: a mad-inventor collection of 21st century-inspired contraptions powered by steam and driven by gears. In this book, futurist Brian David Johnson and cultural historian James Carrott explore steampunk, a cultural movement that’s captivated thousands of artists, designers, makers, hackers, and writers throughout the world. Just like today, the late 19th century was an age of rapid technological change, and writers such as Jules Verne and H.G. Wells commented on their time with fantastic stories that jumpstarted science fiction. Through interviews with experts such as William Gibson, Cory Doctorow, Bruce Sterling, James Gleick, and Margaret Atwood, this book looks into steampunk’s vision of old-world craftsmen making beautiful hand-tooled gadgets, and what it says about our age of disposable technology. Steampunk is everywhere—as gadget prototypes at Maker Faire, novels and comic books, paintings and photography, sculptures, fashion design, and music. Discover how this elaborate view of a history that never existed can help us reimagine our future.

Geeks, hackers and gamers share a common ‘geek culture’, whose members are defined and define themselves mainly in terms of technology and rationality. The members of geek culture produce and circulate stories to express who they are and to explain and justify what they do. Geek storytelling draws on plots and themes from the wider social and cultural context in which geeks live. The author surveys many stories of heated exchanges and techno-tribal conflicts that date back to the earliest days of personal computing, which construct the “self” and the “enemy”, and express and debate a range of political positions. Geek and Hacker Stories will be of interest to students of digital social science and media studies. Both geeky and non-technical readers will find something of value in this account.

It was called the New Badlands, home to the survivors of a cataclysm that altered the entire nation. Then the vampires arrived, and it was rechristened the Bloodlands. Not because of the vampire, but because of the gun-for-hire who'd decided to slay every monster in the country by any and every means necessary.