TLC, the television station known for reality shows of “personal stories,” is taking on a new topic next month: geek dating. Geek Love follows something that is becoming a staple at conventions: speed dating. In this case, the cameras were at New York Comic Con, where the setup for speed dating is pretty conventional aside from the fact that most of the participants are in costume.
We wrote previously about the issue of geek disclosure in online dating, and so you can see the appeal of finding a date in the convention environment. The practice itself seems pretty great, but the question is how TLC will treat the subject matter.
The show will air in two back-to-back 30-minute installments on December 18, and there might be more, depending on ratings. Of course, I bet the real jackpot for TLC will be if a couple hooks up from the show, gets married, and has 20 kids.
For the past three decades (and even a little more!), people from all around the world have eagerly followed the tale of the Star Wars Saga as told on the big screen by George Lucas and on paper by countless other authors. But never before has the story been used in an exhibition to teach fans about the true force that actually shapes each and every one of them.
STAR WARS Identities, which will be held at the Montreal Science Centre starting April 19, 2012, comes from the same team who brought us Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology, and will feature an interactive identity quest as well as insightful scientific content about what makes us, human beings, so unique: our identity.
Working with the Montréal Science Centre exhibition developers and a committee of scientific advisers, STAR WARS Identities has divided its study of identity into three major themes: the origins of the characters, the influences that shape them, and the choices they make during their life. Within these three themes, ten components of human identity are explored: species, genes, parents, and culture in Origins; mentors, friends, and marking events in Influences; and occupation, personality, and values in the final zone, Choices.
These components form the backbone of the exhibition, exploring the complex notion of identity both in the real world and in creative fiction. Original content throughout the exhibition will shed light on each of the components of identity; simultaneously, “making-of” featurettes explore the stories behind the development of many iconic Star Wars characters, explaining how they became who they are, and showing how different creative choices might have made them different characters altogether.
The exhibition will also showcase items from Lucasfilm’s vast and exclusive collection spanning the entire Star Wars canon, from the classics to the prequels, without forgetting the animated feature (The Clone Wars) and the ongoing television series of the same name.
I invite you all to visit STAR WARS Identities’ website and mark your calendar to go and visit this must-see exhibition, whether you live in the region of Montreal or not.
Pick up your Lightsaber. Your adventure into identity awaits.
Merci, Vincent!
Edit: When you visit starwarsidentities.com, be sure to right-click on web page and hit “view source.” A pleasant surprise awaits you! :) (Thanks Sharif!)
I know of a 6-year-old boy who’d just love to have this hanging on his bedroom door… and of a father who would too!
The 8-Bit Holiday Wreath is the perfect solution for the old school gamer who wants to be festive and honor the old gods of 8-bit gaming. Crafted of durable EVA foam, the 8-Bit Wreath features shiny gold coins with blinking yellow LEDs, cherries, a controller, a pair of cherries, and a certain green mushroom in a Santa hat, among other goodies. Deck the halls with something geeky!
The Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen (or GISHWHES) is the brainchild of Misha Collins, best known as the actor playing Castiel on the television show Supernatural. Or maybe you saw him on that SyFy original movie about Stonehenge. Or perhaps his tweets, which are definitely some of the more entertaining for a celebrity. And if you had a 300,000 “minions” hanging on your every word, what would you do with that awesome power? Obviously the answer is “break the Guinness World Record for ‘largest game of digital scavenger hunt.'”
GISHWHES kicked off on Saturday night, and there are a little over 600 teams, consisting of 10 people each. For the most part the team members don’t know each other, and they’re spread out all over the world. Which is handy, since scavenger hunt items require pictures or video taken in locations from Barcelona to South Korea, from the Dead Sea to the Yangtze. And the items range from the relatively simple (“an arousing photograph of toe cleavage”) to the probably impossible (“a tent pitched in the middle of the back yard of the White House”). All entries have to be original and unique (nothing found on the Internet) and the organizers swear they can spot a photoshop job a mile away.
You can view the entire list of items here, but here are some of the more geeky/interesting ones, along with point values:
Display an artifact from the Ottoman Empire in a Pizza Hut in Bulgaria. (17 points)
Paint a librarian’s face with ash from Eyjafjallajokull. (27 points)
A hooters waitress reading a copy of Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique.” (41 points)
What do the lips of a Justin Bieber doll look like under a microscope? (58 points)
A judge at the bench in a Darth Vader mask. (36 points)
An ER doctor in an ER performing an emergency tracheotomy on a tickle-me-Elmo doll. (39 points)
Action figures/superheroes set up to resemble “The Last Supper.” (18 points)
Find the 48th Mersenne prime. (78 points)
Show an actual Nobel Prize winner telling the joke, “Why did the chicken cross the road? …To get to the other side.” His or her Nobel Prize must be visible. (55 points)
A one-minute unedited speed play of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy played by 4 characters with costume changes. We must hear the line “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!” And we must see the audience. (26 points)
One person is holding an iPhone; the other is holding an Android. They are engaged in a heated debate about which phone is better. They are speaking in the nearly extinct language of Gottscheerish. (40 points)
Video the reaction of an MIT undergrad when you ask them, “MIT is often considered the Harvard of Massachusetts. How does that make you feel?” (7 points)
The prize for the winning team is a trip to Rome and dinner with Misha. It’s too late to sign up for the hunt, but if you’re dying to contribute (who doesn’t want to photograph themselves walking around Peru dressed as a penguin?), this [GAS] writer may know someone who’s participating. Or you could just take to Twitter and offer your services, as I imagine there are some teams desperately seeking assistance, particularly if you’re the Duke of Luxemburg, or an actor on a CW show with access to a Justin Bieber tshirt.
The Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen (or GISHWHES) is the brainchild of