News and Analysis

Pro-Fan/Pro-Geek Pride: The Relaxation Orientation

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If you're a geek, a fanboy, fangirl, otaku, sports nut, what have you be proud that you know how to relax.

Seriously.  You know how to relax.  You know what you like, as I've said further, and that's not just important in your career, but in your life.  You have a life – a life where you know what you enjoy doing to blow off steam.

Think for a moment how fortunate you are to know that three issues of manga will help you chill out after a month of software releases.  Be glad that you know a marathon World of Warcraft session will restore your sanity after you met your publishing deadline.  Appreciate the fact that ESPN is therapeutic after a hard day at the hospital.

Thats one of your advantages as a progeek – when you've got too much pro going on (or too much else going on), you've still got the geek to help you get back in touch with yourself and in general just have fun.  Knowing how to have fun means you can relax and refresh.  Being relaxed and refreshed means you can recover from stress – or face stress that's still out there.

So embrace your geekines, progeek.  Your geekiness gives you a way to come down from a bad day that some people don't have.  Imagine what it would be like not to have your DVD collection, or your love of retrogaming, or your stack of well-worn Warhammer 40K novels.  Take a moment to feel some sympathy for those unable to relax as you do (and perhaps vow to help them out).

You're a progeek.  It's not just about your ability to work using fannish inclinations – you also have the ability to use your fandom to relax.

– Steven Savage

Superheroes and the Unlimited Power

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Why Superheroes?

They're in our movies.  Every few years there's a rush of superhero films (and apparently a big rush as of this writing).

They're on television.  We've been having superhero stories for quite a few years now.  We've also had "superheroesque" shows like Buffy and Supernatural, which are superhero stories with other trappings.

They're in games, despite the fact that superhero games have a dismal history with a few shining gems.

They are, of course, in comics.  Comics may expand their themes in North America, but it keeps coming back to superheroes.

So, why superheroes?  Why are they everywhere, and even when they fade, why do they come back?

Read more

News of the Day 2/15/2010

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Gawker grows in an unusual way, EA has yet more bad news, Apple gets ganged up on, and more. Download some geek news – RIGHT THROUGH YOUR EYES!

Career:
The catch-22 of entry level jobs – and how to get around it – I'm sure some of you have been there or are there now.

Do you have a resume or a marketing document? Hint – you really want a marketing document. A good read.

Economics/Geekonomics:
A look at labor force underutilization by income – Or unemployment, part time employment, etc. Basic summary, the lower income you are the more likely you're unemployed/underemployed. Also recall the news last week that unemployment varies widely by education, and you can see some potential problems on the horizon economically and class-wise.

A roundup of your Greek economic news with some good analysis of this mess. I'm still betting Goldman Sachs is going to get slapped by the EU, and Paul Krugman makes a good point that the Euro may have been introduced too early.

Media:
Gawker media buys Citylife – Why is this big news? Because Gawker usually builds instead of buys – and is doing pretty well with their media empire. Me thinks that we want to watch them to see what's next with them – they're getting awful big . . .

Publishing:
Two investors want a majority stake in Barnes and Noble – Some people apparently want control of whatever's going to happen . . . 

Mobile:

Two dozen mobile carriers team up for a standard app store/delivery model – Clearly in response to the Apple store, and quite a powerful INTERNATIONAL alliance it – US, German, Austria, China, and more. This is obviously helpful to solving fragmentation in the mobile app area – and may offer some future career opportunities down the road, both in app development and whatever store(s) this spawns. Now, where is Google in all of this? apparently quite skeptical.

Do we need another Linux OS for portable devices? Nokia and Intel think so.

Technology:
Adobe announces its strategy – Which is pretty much write-once, send anywhere, mixing AIR and Flash. They even have an iPhone workaround. This sounds actually pretty credible, and a good job pressuring Apple.

Video Games:
EA skips out on March Madness, has other issues – Looks like there's problems with sports franchises as well.

An analysis of why Sony is becoming a one-platform company which seems . . . kind of obvious.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Will Adobe's latest actions get Apple to back down on Flash issues?

– Steven Savage