Sunday, April 04, 2010

In Response to the Coolest Geek Question

My brother John
states the following:

"You know, most famous people just annoy me. They seem to
live in a constant state of tripping over themselves to conform to some lame social standard of coolness. In the process, they forget the first rule of the truly cool, which is : "Dude. Relax. Be Yourself." And here enters in the zen paradox:

The coolest people on the planet are the biggest geeks.

Cause they just don't care what the world thinks- they just get on with life comfy in thier own skin and do frickin cool schtuff."

and asks who the coolest geeks are (with the rule that no one earlier than Tolkein be allowed).

Here are my replies to John's list:

Rowan Atkinson - ABSOFRICKINLUTELY! Love him!

J.K Rowling - certainly yes, but I'm still a bit peeved about the whole "Dumbledore is gay thing, but not until AFTER all the books have been sold" Plus she seems a bit full of herself lately. Still she gets major props for inventing HP, which I love, so on the whole yes.


The actor guys yes, I liked them in their rolls, but I don't know much about them personally.

Peter Jackson - Yes!

Weird Al - TOTALLY AGREE!!

D & D / and Magic guy - They totally are not my thing. But they d
efinitely deserve props for inventing games so captivating that young white and nerdys are so willing to throw away so much of their lives and money. Whatever.

Rush guys - Um, not really my thing either, but I guess I can see why you like them.

Chess guys - Again just because I can't stand chess, it doesn't mean that they don't deserve major props for being so masterful at such a brainy game.

Carl Sagan - Yes, agreed!

Dresden guy - I don't know enough about to form an opinion

Douglas Adams - agreed.

SpaceX guy - again, I don't know much about him, but he sounds cool.

Now, here's my list (beyond the ones that I agreed to on yours):

I really want to add Sergei Rachmaninoff, but I don't know if he's allowed. He was born about 20 years Tolkien, but they were alive together for about 40 years. Anyway, allowed or not, he was totally awesome.

Wrote some of the hardest piano stuff ever. Totally awesome. Plus musically speaking, he's my great-grand-father.


John Rutter:
Writes and arranges some seriously awesome stuff. Not only does he write many great things that are nice and spiritual and all and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir uses his stuff frequently, but he also put together my all time FAVORITE CD: Three Musical Fables
which is awesome, hilarious and brilliant, and I ORDER you ALL to check it out forthwith!


Next, how could you have a list of cool geeks without putting something in for Monty Python?! Hello?! I'm adding Michael Palin because for some reason unknown to me, he's always been one of my favorite Pythons, plus I don't think he's stooped to do any gay appearances in stupid things, in his old age.


Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Sr.The father in Cheaper by the Dozen (the book, the newer movie has pretty much nothing to do with the book). He inspired that AWESOME book, he had some awesome parenting / teaching ideas, and come one anyone who can intentionally have 12 children, love it, and do such a great job must be VERY COOL!!



George GershwinWrote some seriously cool music.


Sally DeFord:

Writes and arranges AMAZING inspiring music! I want to be her.



Bill Nye

I LOVE that show! Makes science fun for kids.


James Alfred Wight - AKA James Herriot

Wrote some of my favorite books! Great stuff!


Harlan Hock (sorry I don't have a picture). He's not a celebrity, but he was my piano teacher and he's just a totally awesome all around person. I compare him to Dumbledore in many ways because he really is that good with a piano, but he prefers to teach.



Last but not least: Al GoreAfter all, he invented the internet and global warming. (PUHLEASE!)

10 comments:

Patwin55 said...

You can't leave out Fred Rogers! So awesome!

timpani76 said...

I just finished the Cheaper by the Dozen book! I was right, the old movie is really close to the book (as opposed to the new movie with Steve Martin which I'm not sure how they could even connect that to the book at all?).

Eyepoke said...

Hmmm. Some of these guys aren't geeks I dont think. What's so geeky about Rockman-in-off? Or James Herriot? I'll give you cool on these guys, but I dunno where the rate on the geekometer.

Bill Nye fits, and the pythons too I think.

The Gilbreth guy is an interesting choice. Geek? Well, yeah maybe- motion studies... pretty odd. So ok sure. I guess I just never thouhgt of serious composer/musican types as all that geeky. Maybe i am wrong. I dunno anything about it really do i?

Al Gore. Huge Dork, no cool. lol.

Janiebelle007 said...

I'm in agreement with Gilbreth, Herriott, Bill Nye, Fred Rogers, and the musicians are pretty wonderful geeks guys, too. And Hannah. She's Gibby Geek.

Mary said...

I was at the St. Louis Science Center with J and the kids and saw Bill Nye walking around! Good day.

Renae said...

Yeah, I can see where Fred Rogers could be a cool geek!

T, did you love that book? It's one of my all time favorites.

John, have you never heard the term "band geek?" Music theory definitely qualifies as a brainy thing I think. I've been getting a real kick lately sitting down with a piece of music and picking it apart to figure out how they put it together. It hits my geek spot.

Aunt J, you have good taste!

Mary, I am JEALOUS!

In case anyone didn't catch it, I was totally joking about Al Gore. He's an idiot.

timpani76 said...

Renae- I definitely love the book!

Trever and Heather said...

That's a lot of geeks!

(I believe that EVERY member of the Gibby family likely fits into this category)

Dana Cheryl said...

I'm with ya Nae...

Bank geek, music geek...

They definitely qualify as geeks.

Nice geek list!

Karen said...

LOL! Gotta love Gershwin, Gilbreth, and Herriot! And I agree on Fred Rogers. Have you read Belles on Their Toes (sequel to Cheaper by the Dozen)? It is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have you read Little Men? Also good, not as much as Little Women, but still good.