Oscar Wao Geek Factor
I didn’t make it to the Junot Diaz reading at the UMN last week, but I’ve taken the Geek Q test from Confessions of an Aca-Fan, that lists a huge number of the often arcane geek touchpoints from The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. How many can you identify? I scored 115. Bonus point if you detect the misspelled item on the list that is abbreviated plus misspelled here, often. Want to up your score quickly? Read Watchmen. Which you should have read already, even if you’re not a geek.
Muhammad Ali
Akira
Lloyd Alexander
Appleseed
Isaac Asimov
Atari
Jeans Pierre Aumont
Balrogs
Billy Batson
Battle of the Planets
“Beam Me Up”
Big Blue Marble
Biggie Smalls
Blake’s 7
Ben Bova
Bon Jovi
Brotherhood of Evil Mutants
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Captain America
Captain Horlock
Chaka
Chakobsa
Champions
Clay’s Ark
Daniel Clowes
Dark Knight Returns
DC
D&D
Samuel Delaney
Deathstroke
DM
Doctor Who
Dr. Manhattan
Dr. Zaius
Dorsai
Dune
Eightball
Elvish
Encyclopedia Brown
The Exorcist
The Eyes of Mingus
Fantasy Games Unlimited
Final Fantasy
George Foreman
The Fountainhead
Galactus
Galadriel
Gamma World
Gen. Urko
Ghost
Gondolin
Good People of Sur
Gorilla Grod
Gary Gygax
Green Lantern
Hardware
Hector Lavoe
Robert Heinlein
Frank Herbert
Herculoids
Hernandez Brothers
Tracy Hickman
Harry Houdini
Robert E. Howard
Ill Will
Incredible Journey
Intellivision
Jabba the Hutt
Jack Kirby
Jedi
The Jeffersons
Kaneda
The Great Kazoo
Stephen King
Land of the Lost
Stan Lee
Ursula Le Guin
Lensman
Lothlorien
H.P. Lovecraft
Luba
Magic
Manhunter
Man Without a Face
Marvel
Mary Jane
Master Killer
John Merrick
Frank Miller
Minas Tirith
Miracle Man
Maria Montez
Alan Moore
Mordor
Morlock
My Side of the Mountain
“Nanoo-Nanoo”
Neo Tokyo
New Order
Andre Norton
“Oh Mighty Isis”
Palomar
Phantom of the Opera
Phantom Zone
Planet of the Apes
Roman Polaski
Project A
Rat Pack
Lou Reed
Return of the King
Robotech Macross
Rorshach
The Sandman
Sauron
Doc Savage
Shazam
Sindarin
Slan
“Doc” Smith
Robert Smith
Solomon Grundy
Sound of Music
Space Ghost
Squadron Supreme
Olaf Stapledon
Star Blazers
Star Trek
Street Fighter
Tom Swift
Sycorax
Take Back the Night
Teen Titans
Tetsuo
The Terminator 2
This Island Earth
Three’s Company
J.R.R. Tolkien
Tomoko
Tribe
Tripods
Twilight Zone
U2
Ultraman
Adrian Veidt
Veritech Fighter
Virus
The Watcher
Watchman
Watership Down
Margaret Weis
H.G. Wells
What If
What’s Happening
Wonder Woman
X-Men
Zardoz
November 4th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
sadly (or, maybe, a good sign), I only scored 98. It’s easier to identify the one’s I DIDN’T know:
Appleseed
Jeans-Pierre Aumont
Billy Batson
Big Blue Marble
Biggie Smalls
Blake’s 7
Brotherhood of Evil Mutants
Captain Horlock
Chakobsa
Champions
Clay’s Ark
Daniel Clowes
Samuel Delaney (actually own Dhalgren, but failed the one time I tried to start it – knew the name sounded familiar, but had to look it up!)
Deathstroke
Dr. Zaius
Eightball
Eyes of Mingus
Fantasy Games Unlimited
Gamma World
General Urko
Gorilla Grod (so this is where G.Grod comes from!)
Hardware
Hector Lavoe
Hernandez Brothers
Robert E. Howard
Ill Will
Jack Kirby
Kaneda
The Great Kazoo
Lensman
Luba
Master Killer
John Merrick
Mircale Man
Maria Montez
Alan Moore
Neo Tokyo
“Oh Mighty Isisâ€
Palomar
Project A
Sindarin (turns out, I can read it, just didn’t know what it was called!)
Slan
“Doc†Smith
Robert Smith
Squadron Supreme
Olaf Stapledon
Star Blazers
Sycorax
Take Back the Night
Tetsuo
This Island Earth
Tomoko
Tribe
Ultraman
Adrian Veidt
Virus
What If
Zardoz
November 4th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
Dang…only 90. But I practically have Watchmen memorized, and both of my teenage sons are nearly there - that must be worth something!
November 5th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
I got 125. But I already knew I was a geek.
November 5th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I think the list is 156 long. Whoa, Kai, that’s some serious geekage. We’ll have to see what my husband gets. WL, many of the ones you didn’t get are comic book references or fantasy/role playing refs, which are often part of comic book culture.
Sycorax may be a comic character, but I only know her as the Caliban’s mother in Tempest.
November 6th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
It’s official. I am not a geek.
November 6th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
But, I play well with others.
November 7th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Only 109. I didn’t count Tetsuo and Neo Tokyo, even though I had a feeling I knew them; it’s been a while since I’ve seen that one. I also failed on Sycorax; I knew the name but couldn’t place her. Never liked the Tempest, really. And most of the Manga/Anime references I only know exist, I couldn’t tell you anything about them (like Appleseed).
November 9th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
127.
Familiarity with Tolkien’s world was worth quite a few. As were comics, seminal science fiction lit., role-playing games of the early ’80s, and ’70s era TV shows (Big Blue Marble, Fantastic Journey, What’s Happening?, etc.).
OK, Blogenheimer and the Big Brain, I’ve got to figure one of you can top 127 …
November 11th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
121.
I didn’t know many of the anime references. (And I’m OK with that.)
However, I’m not sure knowing all these references makes you a geek. Why is “Take Back the Night” included? Are there a lot of people who haven’t heard of Muhammed Ali?