GeeksOn

It may have come to some readers' attention that I tend to be a bit...geeky about things. By geeky, I don't necessarily mean simply being a sci-fi or rpg (role playing game) fan. Actually, I'm not an rpg fan. I mean having interests that are researched until a deeper-than-usual knowledge is gained on particular topics. Almost to the point of making less obsessive people a bit uncomfortable.


If my husband is a classical music geek (I've learned the answer to most of his questions is either Ralph Vaughan Williams or Handel), I've always been a history geek. When I was about 12, I became fascinated by the end of the Tsarist era in Russia. It probably was triggered by the movie Nicholas and Alexandra, though I have no idea why it grabbed hold of my imagination so strongly. It was unspeakably beautiful and horrible all at the same time. I read every book the library had on the last of the Romanovs and had acquired a huge collection of interesting facts about the people, places, and events of that period. I would have been an excellent conversationalist on the subject, but never managed to find anyone remotely curious about the topic. And that lack of an audience is unfortunately a frequent hallmark of geekiness. People politely express interest in your subject, but make it clear they have their limits.


My friend, Susan, and I always tend to delve deeply into a variety of movies or television shows that interest us. I mean, way beyond the, "Who stars in it?" kind of casualness. We've not yet been able to out-geek each other. And, as I'd written before, she frequently encouraged me to listen to a podcast called GeeksOn. My podcast backlog always seemed too long as it was, but I finally gave it a listen. And I haven't stopped.


What struck me was that I was listening to people like Susan and myself (not to mention my more typically geeky son), people who find out everything they possibly can about subjects that are of interest to them. They had astonishing amounts of detail about film, video games, television shows, technology, comic books, rpgs, and more. And, wonderfully, they had an audience to listen to them. An audience of people like them...people like us, who do not set limits as to how much detail we'll listen to about a topic. Based in LA, one of the hosts is a graphic artist, one a video game professional, one a screenwriter and director, and another, an actor. So, they're often able to find even more background on topics than the rest of us. It also helps tremendously that the hosts are entertaining, engaging individuals in their own right.


There's a basic format to the show: The hosts first discuss their Geek Week, followed by Geek News, then on to the geek topic of that particular episode. The latter is the heart of the podcast, when lively, often impassioned discussions erupt over any number of subjects: civil rights in sci-fi worlds, robots and AI, non-traditional comics, interviews with guests like Joss Whedon and George R. R. Martin, reports on events like Comic-Con and the Electronic Entertainment Expo, and, of course, episodes focused on specific films or television shows.Some of the topics are things I know little about, others are right on target to my interests.

I listened for some time before actually going to their website, http://www.geekson.com/, and joining the forums. I was reluctant since my experience with other forums or message boards had been that they became a little bland after a while. One post would look like another. Geekson has been very different. The members are usually intelligent, creative individuals with strong opinions. That alone prevents things from getting dull. But, I love the uniqueness of each member. I believe someone could show me a post with no name or avatar attached to it and I could guess with some accuracy who wrote it. I'm not sure I could do that successfully with many people from my daily life.

Ultimately, GeeksOn is all about community. A community of people who feel passionately about their interests and have, at long last, found their audience.