The A.V. Club - Gateways To Geekery

Games: Gateways To Geekery: Graphic adventure games

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:00:00 -0600

Why it’s daunting: Though they once ruled the software sales charts, graphic adventure games endured near-extinction for most of the 2000s. That makes many of the genre’s classic games hard to track down. Fortunately, graphic adventure games are having an unlikely renaissance in this era of browser-based Flash games and indie creations, though seeking out the best of them may still take some work. Broadly speaking, a graphic adventure game is any game where the player controls a character through a tightly told, usually linear storyline, often helping that character out by solving puzzles. Usually, these puzzles will ...

Music: Gateways To Geekery: SST Records

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:00:00 -0600

Geek obsession: SST Records Why it’s daunting: Greg Ginn, founder of SST Records as well as its flagship band, Black Flag, recently announced the release of his own electronica-influenced music. It might have been the final straw for most SST fans—if most SST fans hadn’t given up on the label long ago. By the time Ginn started squandering SST’s good name in the late ’80s, the label had already done more than any other single entity to promote and propagate underground American rock in the post-punk era. In fact, SST’s legacy has become so exalted ...

Film: Gateways To Geekery: Dystopian science-fiction films of the 1970s

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:00:00 -0600

Why it’s daunting: If the ’50s were science fiction’s rock ’n’ roll period, and the ’60s were its psychedelic phase, then the ’70s were when SF finally went emo. The genre was always uniquely equipped to reflect a particular era’s hang-ups and anxieties, and the early ’70s found science-fiction films grappling with some doozies: war, technology, hedonism, authority, freedom, and the environment. Oh, and sex. Gone were 1950s Cold War allegories and 1960s escapism. In their place were cerebral, angsty films that wallowed in visions of post-apocalyptic societies gone to seed. Dystopian views of the future were ...

Books: Gateways To Geekery: The Adventures Of Tintin

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:01:00 -0600

Why it’s daunting: Comprising 24 volumes published between 1930 and 1986, the Belgian-produced The Adventures Of Tintin is one of the world’s most popular and enduring comic-book series—the thrilling, globetrotting exploits of the intrepid boy reporter Tintin, his loyal dog Snowy, and his quirky band of comrades. So why is the series scarcely more than a cult phenomenon in the United States? Chalk it up to odd timing. During Tintin’s initial run, American audiences were accustomed to consuming comics in one of two ways: adult-friendly newspaper strips and kid-aimed newsstand pamphlets. To its credit, Tintin—created ...

Music: Gateways To Geekery: Madchester

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:00:00 -0600

Geek obsession: Madchester Why it’s daunting: Earlier this year, The Stone Roses announced they were reuniting after a 15-year breakup. It took a long time, but it was a no-brainer that it would happen sooner or later; after all, The Stone Roses are one of the few truly timeless bands to come out of England in the fertile period of late ’80s and early ’90s. But the group was most closely associated with a trend that wasn’t quite so timeless: Madchester. The clunkily titled movement originated in Manchester in the wake of the city’s early-’80s scene ...

Music: Gateways To Geekery: The Monkees

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 12:01:00 -0600

Geek obsession: The Monkees Why it’s daunting: The stigma of The Monkees’ origins lingers on. The group was entirely prefabricated, and it has a reputation as a group that didn’t write its own songs or play its own instruments. Those impressions have put a tarnish on the group’s recorded output, making it hard for purists to move beyond the band’s best-of collections. Assembled by Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider in 1966 under the musical supervision of producer Don Kirshner, The Monkees came into existence when Rafelson and Schneider saw The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night ...

Books: Gateways To Geekery: Terry Pratchett novels

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:00:00 -0600

Geek obsession: The novels of Terry Pratchett Why it’s daunting: Pratchett is best known for his long-running Discworld series, which is 39 novels deep as of the October 2011 publication of Snuff. Wildly popular in the UK, and reasonably popular in the United States, the Discworld books combine silliness, satire, philosophy, and strong characterization to create a unique, often wonderful tone that’s more than capable of supporting a series with so many installments. But the number of installments can seem overwhelming, especially given that while the books have standalone narratives, they also have consistent sets of characters who ...

Music: Gateways To Geekery: British folk-rock

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:01:00 -0500

Geek obsession: British folk-rock Why it’s daunting: When Bert Jansch died on October 5, he was rightly eulogized as the quiet, quintessential figurehead of the British folk-rock movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Coincidentally, he died the same year a folk-rock band, Mumford & Sons, became one of Britain’s biggest exports and Rob Young published his definitive history of the original British folk-rock movement, Electric Eden. Jansch figures heavily into Electric Eden, and in spite of some major musical differences, Mumford & Sons wouldn’t exist without him. And yet, vintage British folk-rock remains a genre that’s often treated ...

Film: Gateways To Geekery: Giallo

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:00:00 -0500

Pop culture can be as forbidding as it is inviting, particularly in areas that invite geeky obsession: The more devotion a genre or series or subculture inspires, the easier it is for the uninitiated to feel like they’re on the outside looking in. But geeks aren’t born; they’re made. And sometimes it only takes the right starting point to bring newbies into various intimidatingly vast obsessions. Gateways To Geekery is our regular attempt to help those who want to be enthralled, but aren’t sure where to start. Want advice? Suggest future Gateways To Geekery topics by ...

Music: Gateways To Geekery: The Wainwright/McGarrigle clan

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:00:00 -0500

Geek obsession: The music of Loudon Wainwright III, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Rufus Wainwright, and Martha Wainwright Why it’s daunting: Imagine Thanksgiving dinner, only everyone has a guitar, a razor-sharp wit, and a major chip on his or her shoulder, and you’ll have a sense what it’s like picking out the autobiographical crosscurrents in what Time’s David Browne called “the first family of reality folk-pop.” Wainwright, whose marriage to Kate McGarrigle begat Rufus and Martha, is the son of a columnist for Life magazine, and as he told The A.V. Club in 2010, “my best ...

Music: Gateways To Geekery: Nick Cave

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:58:00 -0500

Geek obsession: Nick Cave Why it’s daunting: Nick Cave is a creep. Or at least, he’s long cultivated and capitalized on his ominous appearance and persona, a mix of debauched tent-revivalist, junkie poet, gothic troubadour, and lately in Grinderman, a sleazy, mustachioed hustler. But over the course of his 30-plus year career—most of that spent with his longest-running, best-known band The Bad Seeds—Cave has substantiated his mystique with raw, bawdy, ecclesiastically orgasmic songs that aren’t afraid to flaunt their vulnerability. While his thicket of influences may seem impenetrable at first, he’s managed to consistently ...

TV: Gateways To Geekery: Mystery Science Theater 3000

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 12:00:00 -0500

Geek obsession: Mystery Science Theater 3000 Why it’s daunting: A true cult classic, Mystery Science Theater 3000 maintained a fervent following (a.k.a. “MSTies”) over and beyond the run of its 10 seasons and 198 episodes, which were originally broadcast between 1988 and 1999. The premise is simple enough to be encapsulated by the series’ jaunty theme song: Every episode involves a two-hour “experiment” wherein mad scientists subject the series’ human host and his robot friends to one of the worst movies ever made. The subjects fight back with the only weapon they have: a rapid-fire barrage of ...

Music: Gateways To Geekery: Oi!

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 12:00:00 -0500

Geek obsession: Oi! Why it’s daunting: Skinheads. Yes, Oi! is a subgenre of punk rock played predominantly by skinheads. And depending on what kind of experience you may or may not have with such folks (or what kinds of movies you’ve watched about them), your view of Oi! may be duly influenced. Of course, not all skinheads are racist; the working-class youth movement began in England in the late ’60s and originally had reggae as its primary soundtrack. Oi!, however, didn’t rise until the following decade, when a chunk of the punk subculture chafed at the pop ...

Books: Gateways To Geekery: Beat poetry

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 23:59:00 -0500

Why it’s daunting: Few art movements are as ripe for parody as the Beat generation. Thanks to the likes of Maynard G. Krebs, Scooby-Doo’s Shaggy, and Mike Myers’ jazz poet in So I Married An Axe Murderer, the cartoon image of the stereotypical beatnik long ago reduced most of the actual literature created during this short-lived affectation to an amusing burlesque: all earnest, adjective-laden observations, rhythmic repetition, and pronouncements against authority, man! But the Beat poets—the best of them, anyway—had a genuine love of language to rival that of Walt Whitman and James Joyce, and they ...

TV: Gateways To Geekery: Frank Tashlin

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:00:00 -0500

Geek obsession: Frank Tashlin Why it’s daunting: Frank Tashlin trafficked merrily in the disreputable. He was a peerless vulgarian with no respect for the fourth wall. His characters addressed the camera directly, commented on the action, and generally did everything in their power to remind audiences that they were watching a movie. At his most precious, Tashlin had an Academy Award statue narrate the show-business satire Susan Slept Here. That kind of game-playing can be off-putting to audiences who like to lose themselves in movies and not be constantly reminded of the director or writer’s presence. Tashlin was ...

Music: Gateways To Geekery: Ween

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:00:00 -0500

Geek obsession: Ween Why it’s daunting: Among the handful of ’90s alt-rock bands to build a sizeable, consistently great body of work that stretches over the course of several decades, Ween still hasn’t gotten the respect it deserves as one of the better bands of its generation. There are two reasons for this. The first is obvious: In spite of releasing albums adored and respected for their top-notch songwriting and breathtaking command of wildly varying genres, and a live show that’s transcended the gaps among the indie, jam-band, and classic-rock crowds, Ween is still perceived by the ...

Books: Gateways To Geekery: Harvey Pekar

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:01:00 -0500

Geek obsession: Harvey Pekar Why it’s daunting: Despite the fact that he worked as a V.A. file clerk while creating his observational comic book series American Splendor, Harvey Pekar was a prolific writer, leaving behind several thick anthologies as well as a slew of shorter stories, some collected into single volumes, many not. That Pekar collaborated with dozens of artists inevitably means some stories strike home more forcefully than others, and even the most solid anthologies have their rough patches. Plus, there’s the fact that American Splendor’s stories tend to center on a balding crank with ...

Music: Gateways To Geekery: R.E.M.

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:00:00 -0500

Geek Obsession: R.E.M. Why it’s daunting: It’s hard to claim a band as popular as R.E.M. has a daunting discography. But the group has constantly shifted identities throughout its career, never settling too long in one place. While some signature elements have remained identifiable throughout R.E.M.’s career—Bill Berry’s lock-step drumming (up to a point, at least), Peter Buck’s jangly guitar chimes, Mike Mills’ sweet harmonies and melodic basslines, Michael Stipe’s distinctive vocals—the group has also continually tinkered with that sound, resulting in a sprawling discography filled ...

Music: Gateways To Geekery: Tropicália

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:00:00 -0500

Geek obsession: Tropicália Why it’s daunting: Tropicália, or tropicalismo, as it is sometimes called, is not the rhythmic Carnival music of samba, nor its gentler successor, bossa nova, though it sometimes contains elements of both. It is just one brief offshoot of musica popular Brasileira—MPB—the catchall for the country’s post-bossa pop music. Being from Brazil, the tropicalistas sang in Portuguese. They were psychedelic dabblers, part of a broader art movement that included poetry, spontaneous theater, and pop art. They had political notions that grew out of the worldwide revolution of 1968. Tropicália was ...

Books: Gateways To Geekery: George R.R. Martin

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 12:00:00 -0500