Geek Fire

Yes, geeky I am and have always been, but unconventionally; I'm OBSESSED with the Lord of the Rings films, but I never finished the books... and many more examples just like that.

So I've indulged in my geeklove (in German, geeklieb), and wrote a new tune inspired by Frodo. No, I am not kidding, and yes, I'm a bit embarrassed... It's called Getting By and I'm debating whether or not to add the rock cliche parenthetical ("Getting By (Frodo)")

I got my start in the computer geek world in 1986 when my parents got me my beloved Commodore 64. I won't tell the story here, but I was knee-deep in the BBS world at age 12.

Anyway, I find very interesting the kind of things that become popular in the geek niche world (Jonathan Coulton being a great example). I'm no code monkey, but I feel a kinship with them - maybe it's the discouragement of anything mainstream or from the conformed world.

On a related note, Coulton is such a great example of a new path to success for the indy musician: niche writing. The key is not to be too deliberate. But that's another post.

I discovered this Zoe Keating today. Very interesting stuff - she's an avant-cellist (self proclaimed), and huge in the geekdom (check out her Google performance with Radiolab) - why is yet another blog post.