LIFE WITHOUT THE SCENE - A RETROSPECTIVE
category: general [glöplog]
Foundations of the 'Nerds'
by Magic/Nah-kolor
Published in Generation #16 (amiga diskmag)
Prologue
Michael Jackson is one of them, just like the British ex-politicus John Major. They both belong to the society of 'nerds'. The brotherhood of inattractive, not understood and socially unadapted but ooh so intelligent people. Not seldomly they can use a computer better than anyone else, their dedication (almost) reaches to an obsession, where they neglect their direct surroundings alot to all of the time.
Nerds aren't popular, far from this even. Because of their social appearance and their zero capabilities to communicate they are the outlaws of society. Socially that is, since the well paid jobs are well at their reach. Yet the 'Nerd' needs more respect, simply because they are happy and unique human beings, who stand for something in our world.
Some small introducing words to this article, which should sound familiar to alot of Sceners in the Amiga Scene. VIS or no VIS. Yet the word 'Nerd' has anno domini 1998 evolved to a larger area. Towards people who are different and looked at as 'strange' by other people, but for sure has their qualities.
Nerd's vs Hatred
The most popular Nerd on Earth is also the guy who has the most money on our entire planet. Obviously I am pointing at Bill Gates; THE man behind Microsoft. He is the typical Nerd. He has glasses, a lousy face, a thin body, does something with computers and does predictions about the future of mankind. The man is hated and is the prototype of a Nerd.
It seems mankind has trouble to admit that the Nerd is responsible for all the blessings of the computer era. Not the powerfull and rich policy makers are behind the success of the computer era, but the young wizzkids with most of the time a below average appearance. You know what I am talking about: the kids who couldn't come along with gymnastics at school but who got the highest grades in class.
Fashion? NO Fashion!
Everyone knows how Nerds look like. The stereotype defines them as thin males with lousy faces and glasses. Jeans with high-heels, the wrong shirts and ties. They don't care much about the out-side world, they just wear what they find in there closet or what their mother buys for them. Because Nerds simply don't care about fashion. Nerds don't appeal to the image of the mass and THAT is what makes them Nerds. 'Worldstrange' it's called. Not looking at their clothes, doesn't the Nerd have filty hair or filty teeth, a smell of sweat and a bad breath?
And they all lived happely ever after..
Ah well, most Nerds will have a nice existence afterall. After a certain age that is. After University or Highschool they will spend about 8-10 years behind a computer screen at some firm like Funcom, IBM, Eidos, Nintendo, Microsoft or Sega before they discover that they are still single. But who are we to judge? Although the Nerd looks for sex later than other people of his generation he will once reach the age of maturity. (The real Die Hard exceptions ignored) Some nice clothes and of course contactlenses instead of glasses. Or they will become the richest person on the planet.
Long live Bill Gates!
(Yeay right!!?!?)
by Magic/Nah-kolor
Published in Generation #16 (amiga diskmag)
Prologue
Michael Jackson is one of them, just like the British ex-politicus John Major. They both belong to the society of 'nerds'. The brotherhood of inattractive, not understood and socially unadapted but ooh so intelligent people. Not seldomly they can use a computer better than anyone else, their dedication (almost) reaches to an obsession, where they neglect their direct surroundings alot to all of the time.
Nerds aren't popular, far from this even. Because of their social appearance and their zero capabilities to communicate they are the outlaws of society. Socially that is, since the well paid jobs are well at their reach. Yet the 'Nerd' needs more respect, simply because they are happy and unique human beings, who stand for something in our world.
Some small introducing words to this article, which should sound familiar to alot of Sceners in the Amiga Scene. VIS or no VIS. Yet the word 'Nerd' has anno domini 1998 evolved to a larger area. Towards people who are different and looked at as 'strange' by other people, but for sure has their qualities.
Nerd's vs Hatred
The most popular Nerd on Earth is also the guy who has the most money on our entire planet. Obviously I am pointing at Bill Gates; THE man behind Microsoft. He is the typical Nerd. He has glasses, a lousy face, a thin body, does something with computers and does predictions about the future of mankind. The man is hated and is the prototype of a Nerd.
It seems mankind has trouble to admit that the Nerd is responsible for all the blessings of the computer era. Not the powerfull and rich policy makers are behind the success of the computer era, but the young wizzkids with most of the time a below average appearance. You know what I am talking about: the kids who couldn't come along with gymnastics at school but who got the highest grades in class.
Fashion? NO Fashion!
Everyone knows how Nerds look like. The stereotype defines them as thin males with lousy faces and glasses. Jeans with high-heels, the wrong shirts and ties. They don't care much about the out-side world, they just wear what they find in there closet or what their mother buys for them. Because Nerds simply don't care about fashion. Nerds don't appeal to the image of the mass and THAT is what makes them Nerds. 'Worldstrange' it's called. Not looking at their clothes, doesn't the Nerd have filty hair or filty teeth, a smell of sweat and a bad breath?
And they all lived happely ever after..
Ah well, most Nerds will have a nice existence afterall. After a certain age that is. After University or Highschool they will spend about 8-10 years behind a computer screen at some firm like Funcom, IBM, Eidos, Nintendo, Microsoft or Sega before they discover that they are still single. But who are we to judge? Although the Nerd looks for sex later than other people of his generation he will once reach the age of maturity. (The real Die Hard exceptions ignored) Some nice clothes and of course contactlenses instead of glasses. Or they will become the richest person on the planet.
Long live Bill Gates!
(Yeay right!!?!?)
how come someone with happy brilliant successful life feels the urge to post this stupid shit?
![[self-ban]](https://content.pouet.net/avatars/intro.gif)
this isnt about me but about a greater 'social discussion' started with wade's article in pain#10
stereotypes! generalizations!
what a ridiculous shit. magic, you have no writing talent whatsoever.
Dipswitch: what about wade's article in pain#10 ? Any comment?
quit and dont make a drama out of it.
or simply -> stfu.
or simply -> stfu.
Oh man.. :D
magic, i love you! please come to the next scene.nl pubmeet or bierbij, whenever it is!
SO INTERESTING TOPIC. EVEN MY PET ROCKS ARE INTERESTED.
bla bla bla bla
magic, every once in a while some nerd like you or wade wakes up, finds out there's something called "real life" out there, calculates the obvious 1+1=2, decides it's time to change, and then, in a desperate attempt to distantiate himself from his previous background, writes such a totally pointless article. i wouldn't say your or wade's conclusions are totally wrong, it's just that it's not going to help anyone anywhere. first of all those who still have to adapt to real life: they won't hear you, or they'll simply misinterpret anything you say to fuel their self-pity. then those who already have a real life, like the majority of sceners i know: they'll just go 'doh' and continue with whatever it was they were doing before some recently converted nerd started mumbling his incoherence. and finally you are wasting your own time: since nobody really cares about such articles, you are writing for "the cat's pussy" (de kat z'n kut ja!). :P
magic, every once in a while some nerd like you or wade wakes up, finds out there's something called "real life" out there, calculates the obvious 1+1=2, decides it's time to change, and then, in a desperate attempt to distantiate himself from his previous background, writes such a totally pointless article. i wouldn't say your or wade's conclusions are totally wrong, it's just that it's not going to help anyone anywhere. first of all those who still have to adapt to real life: they won't hear you, or they'll simply misinterpret anything you say to fuel their self-pity. then those who already have a real life, like the majority of sceners i know: they'll just go 'doh' and continue with whatever it was they were doing before some recently converted nerd started mumbling his incoherence. and finally you are wasting your own time: since nobody really cares about such articles, you are writing for "the cat's pussy" (de kat z'n kut ja!). :P
I'm formally declaring that people with this problem have "Optimus Syndrome".
Optimus: any advice on how to beat it?
Optimus: any advice on how to beat it?
Sorry but since 1991 this is called the "Mahoney syndrome".
Nothing to see, move along.
Nothing to see, move along.
I don't know why I'm even replying to this thread, as we all know that the original point made by magic is, well, silly, and the thread's going down with the "link every random image you can find here" boat. But here goes...
Magic is clearly writing about the nerd stereotype cultivated by the mass media, not the demo scene. As the saying goes: "That's so stupid that it's not even wrong".
I'm not a "succesful" scener (we'll see what '06 or '07 will bring;) but I too have struggled with balancing the scene with the rest of my life (see magic, scene is a _subset_ of life). So the issue is not really demo scene related at all - it's an issue of balancing the aspects of your life.
So how do you know that your life is in balance? I think that the answer is stability. The longer you can live the way you are living, the stabler your life is. Creating a demo, even a mediocre one that will be forgotten after the compo, is a long process. You can only plow through that process if the scene part of your life is in balance with all the others - otherwise you'll end up in trouble on some sector (you don't finish the demo, your gf kicks you out, etc.) before you've picked up your prize at the party.
Case in point: without going into details, I've had a lot of changes in my life during the past two years (the army, 3 moves, 2 unis, blahblah) - and suprise surpise, the last demo I've participated in was released in 2003. Now, finally, I'm living in a way that I'll probably continue living for the next 5 years or so. And guess what, I'm working on a demo again.
To sum up this post of epic, even Optimus-like proportions:
magic, you're the one with problems in your life - that is, if you consider yourself a scener. In my book weeding your garden does not make you a better person than if you had spent the time on a scene production. Quite on the contrary.
Magic is clearly writing about the nerd stereotype cultivated by the mass media, not the demo scene. As the saying goes: "That's so stupid that it's not even wrong".
I'm not a "succesful" scener (we'll see what '06 or '07 will bring;) but I too have struggled with balancing the scene with the rest of my life (see magic, scene is a _subset_ of life). So the issue is not really demo scene related at all - it's an issue of balancing the aspects of your life.
So how do you know that your life is in balance? I think that the answer is stability. The longer you can live the way you are living, the stabler your life is. Creating a demo, even a mediocre one that will be forgotten after the compo, is a long process. You can only plow through that process if the scene part of your life is in balance with all the others - otherwise you'll end up in trouble on some sector (you don't finish the demo, your gf kicks you out, etc.) before you've picked up your prize at the party.
Case in point: without going into details, I've had a lot of changes in my life during the past two years (the army, 3 moves, 2 unis, blahblah) - and suprise surpise, the last demo I've participated in was released in 2003. Now, finally, I'm living in a way that I'll probably continue living for the next 5 years or so. And guess what, I'm working on a demo again.
To sum up this post of epic, even Optimus-like proportions:
magic, you're the one with problems in your life - that is, if you consider yourself a scener. In my book weeding your garden does not make you a better person than if you had spent the time on a scene production. Quite on the contrary.
now after the 'save the scene' episode a new 'save the sceners' one. what comes next?
easy. cagefighting at breakpoint 2006.
Like that's ever gonna happen. Every year there's talk about mud or cage fighting at breakpoint, preferable with people like EP. but it never actually happens :-(
sparcus: sucks that all these pseudo-sceners who just whine the scene is dead and never deliver any new prods themselfs all the time, never quite seem to ever show up at demoparties.. i wonder why.. :)
They ain't got 'nuff BASS.
That's why.
That's why.
La hora chanante...
Chanante!
REESTROSPECTORSSSSS
Chanante!
REESTROSPECTORSSSSS
