Wednesday 1 April 2009

Geek Chic


Who didn’t see this video of Pharrell Williams trying to sing his way into getting a big mac and fries at MacDonalds in Paris? He never got his big mac and fries but boy did I love him for trying. The performance was geekery in it’s finest form. There was a time when being called a geek or nerd was a huge insult; the term sums up visions of a social inept person with super large glasses who spends their time delved into computer books and comics. Not a good look. However over the last few years that image has been turned upside down as geeks have risen to the top of pop culture. With gadgets becoming de rigor in today’s society and Blackberrys, laptops, Twitter, Facebook now an integral part of our lives it is now chic to be a bit of a geek.

Take this quote from a character in an episode of the animated series, Freakazoid.
“Who writes all the best selling books? Nerds. Who directs the top grossing Hollywood movies? Nerds. Who creates the highly advanced technology that only they can understand? ...Nerds. And who are the people who run for the high office of the Presidency? No one but nerds.”

You can add President Barack Obama to that list, as well as a Blackberry addict, he admits to being a huge fan of Star Trek and collected comic books when he was younger. Not only that but Obama was the first President to embrace the web by introducing online voting which was instrumental in his historic victory. I am sure he is twittering his way through London at the G20 Summit as well as causing carnage in the capital. Other famous geeks are Kanye West, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook), Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple) and Tiger Woods. On the TV side who can forget lovely, Seth Cohen from The OC decked out in his scuffed sneakers and plaid shirts creasing us up with his quirky observations. His character was based on none other than Josh Schwartz, the creator of The OC and Gossip Girl who is big player in TV.

As individuals have learned to embrace their inner geek the corporate world have cotton onto the act as well. IT companies such as The Geek Squad (who are so cool that they have sponsored London Fashion Week), Geeks on Call and Dial a Geek use the term to display their highly sophisticated IT skills. What can I say - I am a geek and proud! Check out a scene from Sex and the City where Carrie has a one to one with a geek when her Macbook crashes. Very funny!!

My Motherboard, Myself Part 1



My Motherboard, Myself Part 2

6 cool comments:

ShonaVixen said...

I'm such a geek too...I do geeky stuff and love it!!! Gotta love geeks!!

Brown Girl Gumbo said...

My hubby calls me a geek all the time. I find it endearing because "geeks" rule the world!! ahahahahahahahah

Emeka Amakeze said...

AM I A GEEK?
Lol @Brown Girl Gumbo "geeks rule the world"

Aquarian Thoughts said...

Pharell--> soooo funny. I don't know if I would consider myself a geek or not. I'm not really into the gadgets, just use them as a means to an end, I guess. I am a lover of info, though...

Haute World said...

I think these days most people are geeks, whether they like to admit it or not. That Pharell video is hilarious by the way... if I had seen him in person, I would have pointed out to him that McDs is also available at the Charles De Gaulle airport if he was heading there anyway ;-)

There is a fine line between being a geek and being a completely obsessed geek though (i.e. merely liking Star Trek or actuallly getting the uniform, going to conventions and speaking the lingo all day...). Yes, I know people like that...

Anonymous said...

i can never decide if i'm a nerd or a geek - or perhaps both: i'm not socially-inept, nor do i wear glasses, but i love sci-fi; computers (as long as they're macs); obscure japanese animation; science & being intelligent.