#nerddom

I found John's writing and by extension the Vlogbrothers during the very hard years of Middle School. It was comforting to have two people who were nerdy and intelligent to look up to. It's hard for me to describe the realization that when you grow up you can still be into the “nerdy” things and be excited about movies and books. Hank and John were adults, yet they showed me I don't need to grow out of the excitement of being nerdy. I came to the Vlogbrothers through This is Not Tom. A slightly unconventional way, but the community surrounding TiNT was the first time I felt like I was with my peers. A group of people all working towards a common goal and feeling frustration and sadness along the way. TiNT had a strange way of bringing people together and I looked forward to every week so that I could ignore my homework and work all night trying to figure out the riddles with the people around me. I know most people love The Fault in Our Stars, but that book has a special meaning to me. The January it came out was the same time that my principal was diagnosed with 4th stage pancreatic cancer. He was a mentor of mine and I have never felt pain so keenly as the day he died. But TFiOS helped me work through my grief. John showed the joy of life and the pain of death in a way that helped me move past mourning and into seeing the joy of my principal’s life. I hope John and Hank never stop making videos, books, or music. You've built a community where it's okay to be nerdy and it's okay to have real life problems. John, your openness about your mental health problems has helped me work through my own anxiety. Hank, I thought I would never again be interested in science, but you've made me love it again. Both of you are two very important people. 

Best Wishes,

- Emma Kaapana

A few days back at work this dude came in with a return, I forget what it was, that’s not important anyways he had this Doctor Who shirt.

It was the TARDIS but it looked like it was painted in a sort of Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”

I said I liked his shirt.

But instead of the usual responses I was expecting, I got “Do you know what it is?”

Which I have never gotten before when I compliment someone’s geeky thing. People are usually really excited at the random recognition.

But this bespectacled skinny white dude asked if I knew what it was.

And geeky me said “Well it’s the TARDIS and it looks like it’s painted by Vincent Van Gogh but it’s weird because the thing on the bottom right corner says “Doctor Who and the Daleks” which is the Peter Cushing movie, but Vincent and the Doctor is New Who, so I wonder what that’s all about.”

I think I may have confused him with some aspect of my response because he didn’t seem to be able to come up with a proper response and so just went about his day.

Hip-Hop homage to nerd culture video number fucking one: ALL CAPS by MF DOOM! Say something, I dare you! (I thought so.) ALL CAPS has everything a growing nerd needs. Bomb ass MadLib-produced jazz standard sampled track? Sound like you got Chick Correa and Roy Ayers in your headphones taking cues from Miles Davis. Boom.

ALL CAPS had MF DOOM dropping wild crazy NYC-related bars about a time long lost in the annals of Hip-Hop. This is a deep cut backflipping off another deep cut into an even deeper cut. The levels are stupid on this track and the video that went with it was godlike! Below: MF DOOM busting through these meta ass levels.

This joint was bleeding edge geek coolness. The album was titled MadVillainy (a personal favorite), and the whole shit is a concept album told from the perspective of two villain archetypes: the nemesis (Bane) and the antithesis (Joker). Album cover: