I am finally finishing the latest script that I have been avoiding like the plague. Your Productivity with posts and Tweets have inspired me. Thank you, Slackmistress! -
Also, Just noticed you hail from Glen Ellyn. I was just there a week ago - Visiting Family back there. I knew there was something " Midwest" about you . :)
I'm not hating on the Nerd Girls - I think education is a fabulous thing. I hate the idea that the thing that's supposedly amazing is that they like lipstick and high heels and things that "typical" girls like. Which may be more a function of how the Newsweek writers wrote them (and I think I even say this in my post) rather than who they are.
The whole idea of the NERD GIRLS arose because of a lack of females in the engineering community. The founder is a female professor who felt that she had to overcome to reach the same levels of success that she saw her male counterparts encounter with less [whatever] - typical story in any field.
The point then, that you can extrapolate, is that the NERD GIRLS are meant to be an outreach program. The image of the NERD GIRLS you see has little to do with the actual program, an image created by studios and photographers to sell an image to the bright lights and flashy colors media machine.
The NERD GIRLS are meant to show that girls who tend to shy away from science at a young age because of the stigmas attached to the 'Nerd/Geek/Whatha veyou' community which dictate that you cannot be both 'wanted/beautifuf ul/recognized/pop ular' and also study hard and use your brain for something other than color matching and body painting.
The NERD GIRLS are a good thing. Did they sell out the name a little by doing a super upbeat photoshoot/video shoot, sure. Will there be any negative side-effect as many of you have suggested, absolutely not. This will not cause girls to forget that they are smart. This will not cause girls who are smart to long for beauty any more than every magazine and tv show you've ever heard of already does. Hating (if i may use a colloquialism) on the NERD GIRLS seems to be nit-picking minor aspects of how you 'wouldn't have done this or that' and much less about constructively criticizing a group that is seeking to promote the value of education. So you're against education? Now I understand your point of view...
Love the site! That was the best smack in the jewels since "Man hit by Football in Groin" won an Academy Award. I enjoyed the science lesson as "pain receptors" let the body know to elevate pulse heart rate, etc... Maybe next time they'll show us how the amazing human body will shut down to protect itself when hit repeatedly in the head with a shovel. Sport truly is a sweet science.
There were so many excellent entries for My Nerd Crush that I couldn't whittle down the playing field to just four or five. So we're going to have two rounds of voting.
Vintage Caveman Nerd Crush: Yvonne Craig (aka Batgirl) I discovered the lovely Miss Craig around 14 years ago, one Saturday morning. I was flipping through channels looking for the ever elusive "Saturday Morning Cartoon" when I stumbled on a live-action Batman. The sheer 60's television violence and the whole Batman-ness drew me in but the thing that captivated me was Batgirl. I don't know what it was but there hasn't been a red-head that could make me go all "googley eyed" like her since... (the rest can be read here.)
Older SlackBrother J. Nerd Crush: Isis It was the Fall of 1975 that I first set my eyes upon her and knew the world and Saturday Morning Cartoons would never be the same again. She looked like any other mild mannered science teacher but when she found the amulet of Hatshepsut and cried out "Oh Mighty Isis!" I was powerless to turn away. My Evel Kneviel red, white, and blue dragster no longer held my interest. I was transfixed by her realistic flying ability. I was strangely upset when Shazam stopped by to make small talk. The Secrets of Isis lasted only two years and by the end of the run, I had found my father's collection of 1960's Playboys. It's tough to go back to Scooby-Doo when you've been to the mountain of Isis.
Brooke Nerd Crush: Buzz Aldrin That's easy! Buzz Aldrin. Ever since I was a little girl. Here are but a few of my reasons: 1.) Any man named Buzz who can still be revered and/or taken seriously (and who is not a kick-ass mechanic with pit stains) obviously possesses a ridiculous amount of panache. 2.) I had a thing for boys in moon boots growing up. That has not changed. 3.) The moon is the universal symbol of romance. Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. Therefore, I feel that Buzz Aldrin automatically gets to be the Human Manifestation of Romance. 4.) I'm sure he has a bitchin' moon rock collection. I choose to therefore pay no attention to the idle jibber-jabber that the moon landing was an elaborate hoax. Buzz would NEVER lie to me.
Julia Nerd Crush: Various 1) Parker Stevenson as Frank Hardy, The less loved Hardy Boy? 2) John Schneider as Bo Duke from the Dukes of Hazzard? (Oh yes I did! Every episode.) 3) Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian? 4) Richard Hatch as Apollo on the original Battlestar Galactica? Oh wait, it could also have been 5) Dirk Benedict -- NOT as Starbuck from Battlestar G, but Templeten "Faceman" Peck from The A-Team.
Do I have to choose JUST ONE?! Gawd I loved TV back then (still do) and we only had four (4) stations. Well, five (5) if you counted the Japanese station. And if we are counting the Japanese station (KIKU - 13 --that's for you Betsy!) then there is only one: KIKAIDA! (the entirety of the post is here, and Julia continues to explore her crushes here and here!)
Modesty Blaize Nerd Crush: Various My first crush was on Maya from Space:1999. I still want to be her, I think I first saw a dubbed into Spanish show when I was about 6 or so... maybe only a few other episodes.. but she has haunted me. I even have an address for Catherine Schell, though I have been too intimidated to actually ever write her and tell her how that character she played influenced my life. As far as girl crushes go I would have to add Modesty Blaise to the bunch. My dream is to have a Modesty Blaise doll. (the entire post can be found here!)
Liz Nerd Crush: Urkle When I was 7 I was in deep love with Mulder because of the X-Files. But David Duchuvony isn't so dorky himself so that barely counts. My BFF however has an undying, life long crush on Urkle and his alter ego Stefan. She wrote him monthly and only ever got the same urkle postcard in response. I believe there was even an Urkle poster, suspenders and all hanging on her bedroom wall.
MyraB Nerd Crush: Christopher Walken Oh, nerd crushes. While my little girlie friends were dying for dudes like Kirk Cameron, I was foaming for...
Christopher Walken.
It started when I watched The Dead Zone and realized that all of the creepiness wasn't really creeping me out. In fact, no matter what he did, Chris (cuz we're tight like that) was just plain hot. So, I started to keep my young, pre-teen eye on the lookout for him.
The universe blessed me with the best treat: aside from being the theater nerd who started seeing Shakespeare plays before I even read them, I almost passed out from excitement over the news that I would get to see Coriolanus. Why? Because Christopher Walken was starring.
It was a dream come true... Until we got there. As we made our way to our mid-theater seats (in a very small theater), there were people sitting there -- with the same tickets. Oh wait, it was even more of a dream come true -- we were lead down to other seats -- front row seats which meant our feet were resting on the stage. The stage that would be filled with the wonder of Walken.
For the entire show, I watched, enraptured, my jaw sagging and my pre-teen hormones in a whirlwind. At one point, so close that I could touch him, he gave me a little smile.
It was one of the best experiences ever, and since I saw his larger-than-life self in person, he's always been my main man, no matter how many wrinkles he has, or how many teleprompters he has to read during SNL. Heck, I even ironed his face onto my underwear. Mister Ampersand Nerd Crush: Various 4) Betty and Veronica, but not necessarily in that order. They were the yin and yang of comic strip hotness in my early adolescence. Betty was often a bit too much of a doormat; Veronica a bit too much off a manipulative bitch. If I had to choose right now though, give me Veronica's fire over Betty's submissiveness. (the rest of the post can be found here!)
So there you have it, folks. Voting is open until Thursday, July 3rd at midnight (PST) and the top three will fight it out head to head!
Remember when the Internet was a safe haven for the socially awkward? Antisocial Networking is a little bit of Nerdvana: a place to ask questions and wax poetic about the politics of dating and relating in a social networking world with your host and Nerd Yenta, the slackmistress & along with the Geek Girls Advisory Board.
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