(11-13-2014, 12:34 PM)Louise Wrote: This is soooo true. LOTR, Harry Potter, superheroes...these things are at the very tip-top of popularity, in terms of current pop culture. They are huge, monster, smash-hit moneymakers. The idea that the average person has never heard of Star Wars or Star Trek is just ludicrious.

I've never read a comic book in my life, and my brother is about as far from geeky as you can get, but when I was back home in the US, we had a tradition of going to all the sci-fi or superhero-themed movies, together. That was our thing.

Incidentally, there is sooo much Avengers merchandise here in Korea, and most of it is probably bootleg/fake. Some of it is pretty cool. I might have to buy a few items, though I would feel kind of like a poser because I've only seen the movies and never read the comics...

I suppose it's the *level* and *intensity* of one's involvement that makes the difference between a geek and a casual fan.

I always thought a nerd was specifically someone who's into math and science, and a geek is someone with an intense interest in an obscure topic, whatever that topic might be...

(11-14-2014, 07:12 AM)Louise Wrote: Thanks.

You know, I'm a huge sucker for anything fantasy-related or anything with a magical/supernatural twist to it, but I don't often read fantasy novels, lately, because it's the writing style that sometimes turns me off, not the content. I tend to like a fairly minimalist, fast-paced writing style, and Tolkein-esque fantasy is the opposite of that. I've read the Hobbit a bunch of times, but never the trilogy.

I sometimes joke that if a book opens with a description of the landscape or the weather, I'm like "Next!"