Grey Warden

(reblogged from Funk's House of Geekery)

A friend and I were recently discussing the plethora of fan fiction that’s out there.  The impetus for this discussion came from this nerdtastic revelation:

RPO

That’s right.  Andy freakin’ Weir wrote Ready Player One fan fic and Ernie Cline made it canon.  Granted the story isn’t great and I don’t particularly care for what was done by Weir as I think it runs counter to the character, but regardless it’s a big deal.

Most fan fiction is crap (50 Shades of Grey started out as Twilight fan fiction which answers the age old question:  Can shit reproduce?) but there is some solid stuff out there.  At one point my friend said something along the lines of, “Hey wouldn’t it be great if there was a Supreme Court of Nerds that decided various geek issues like what’s canon and what’s not, etc?”  Yes these are the things that occupy my spare time.

I’ve never claimed to be inventing the perpetual motion machine in my off hours.

Ultra nerd discussions aside, it’s a brilliant idea.  Imagine a Supreme Court of Nerds, or SCON if you will, that debate different topics and render decisions. The situations brought before the court could be Legion.  Think about it. Imagine a group of people who hear cases regarding the canon of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, who’s to blame for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, if all the credit for Deadpool’s creation should go to Rob Liefeld, or if David Lynch is a genius auteur filmmaker or a gloriously overrated hack.  The prospect is intriguing to say the least.

It got me thinking, if there was a SCON, who would be on it?  There’s a ton of prominent nerds out there, but what constitutes the criteria for being on the Supreme Court of Nerds is something altogether.  As such I decided on a few parameters for candidacy.

First, the number of Nerd Justices had to be exactly nine to mimic the number of Supreme Court Justices in the United States.  

Secondly, the candidate must be living.

Thirdly and most importantly, the candidate must have made a significant contribution to nerd culture and be well versed in nerd topics.  The latter doesn’t necessarily mean they have to be knowledgeable in EVERY geek related topic.  One will suffice.

Initially I came up with about 20+ names and it was difficult to narrow down the list.

Some of the ones who didn’t make the cut:  Kevin Smith, George R.R. Martin, Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Andy Weir, Neil deGrasse-Tyson, Bill Nye, Quentin Tarantino, Carlos Valdes, and Joss Whedon.  I’ll probably get flamed for that last one but damn it you weren’t there!  You can’t know!  I ALREADY NERD AROUND THE CLOCK!

Sorry didn’t mean to go all Harrison Ford in Extraordinary Measures. (Yes I reference six-year-old little known movies co-starring Brendan Fraser.)

Anyway, after careful deliberation here are the names I came up with:

MARY LOU JEPSEN

Mary Lou Jepsen may be one of the coolest nerds living today.  Her intelligence and innovation are second to none.  Jepsen’s resume speaks for itself.  She’s an executive at Facebook/Oculus VR.  In fact Jepsen’s current focus is advancing virtual reality as far as possible. Before teaming up with Mark Zuckerberg she worked in the Google X Display Division.

Mary Lou Jepsen is also the founder and CEO of Pixel Qi whose long-term goal is to create devices that never need recharging and use alternative energy sources. And for those who care she also went to Brown.  So computer whiz?  Check. Innovative? Check. Virtual reality-centric?  Check.  Environmentalist? Check.  Ivy League School Educated?  Check.

Jepsen is the Ruth Bader-Ginsberg of the SCON.

J.K. ROWLING

If justices were elected through popular vote, Rowling* would be a unanimous selection.

The woman went from being on food stamps to the first writer ever to become a billionaire.  The woman single handedly built an empire around Harry Potter, one of the most beloved and important fantasy characters of all time.  Harry Potter isn’t just a work of fiction, he’s a brand. The character and the novels/movies have transformed and inspired millions of people across the globe. Furthermore, she’s socially active against poverty and promotes child welfare.

FELICIA DAY

How can you not love Felicia Day?  She’s just awesome.  Day is not only an accomplished actress, writer, and comedian, she’s a prominent gamer and feminist in geek culture.  In an era where we have the MRA and GameGate, Day is a bright beacon of sanity.  Besides winning acclaim on the geek cult classic television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where she played Vi, Day’s also had roles in Eureka and Supernatural.  

Felicia Day also promotes table top gaming.  However, her most prominent geek act may be her creation of the premium YouTube channel “Geek and Sundry” which focuses on everything from comics to gaming.  It was recently bought by Legendary, a company that’s brought you such Indie films like Inception and Man of Steel. It’s Felicia Day’s world and we’re just living in it.  Just so happens to be that the world is Azeroth.

Read the rest of the post here.