Can you feel the heat from the fever, currently hovering around 312 K??? (Check it and see!) Well it’s about to get even hotter as the last four members of the Geek 16 are decided—voting is now open for Round 2 of the Lobot Region, and will close on Sunday, February 8th at 7 pm. All results up to this point are on the main Geek Madness page.
Review all the matchups and go vote, after the break.
click for larger image
MATCH #1:
Jonathan Coulton vs. Bill Nye 
Jonathan Coulton: Singer/songwriter known for tech-savvy music with high geek appeal, most notably through his “Thing A Week” project and the end credits song from the video game Portal (“Still Alive”).
Notes: Earned title of “Internet Superstar” by gathering a large, loyal following by employing online tools to enable his audience to find him; among his viral hits are “Code Monkey” and an acoustic cover of Sir Mix-a-lot’s “Baby Got Back”; major advocate of Creative Commons. Defeated Angus MacGyverin Round 1.
[FULL DISCLOSURE: Tournament hosts often tour with Mr. Coulton.]
Bill Nye: Science educator, mechanical engineer, and comedian popularly known for his television show “Bill Nye the Science Guy“.
Notes: May not have made science “cool”, but his humorous and engaging techniques at least showed kids that science did not have to be dreaded. Defeated Seth MacFarlane in Round 1.
[poll id=69]
MATCH #2
Doctor Who vs. Joss Whedon 
Doctor Who: Time-traveling character of self-titled BBC television sci-fi series.
Notes: An alien “time lord” who travels the universe righting injustice and fighting cheaply-rendered monsters, The Doctor’s intellectual curiosity and eccentric fashion sense have long been a favorite of British geeks, and then American geeks when the series was rebroadcast on PBS stations in the 1980s; has a cool ride. Defeated Larry Lessig in Round 1.
Joss Whedon: Writer/producer/director; creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film/TV), “Angel” (TV) “Firefly”/Serenity (TV/film) and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (interwebs)
Notes: Has strong track record of creating television shows marked by clever dialogue, smart and interesting characters, fantastical elements, and extremely short lifespans; ridiculously devoted following; as if geek cred wasn’t strong enough, was one of the co-writers of Toy Story. Defeated Ken Plume in Round 1.
[poll id=70]
MATCH #3
John Lasseter vs. Stan Lee 
John Lasseter: Animator; director/co-director, Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Cars; chief creative officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering.
Notes: Led the charge in making computer animation a viable, profitable medium for major motion pictures—and, more importantly, continually emphasized quality and entertainment value above all other considerations, leading to a nearly-unbroken streak of award-winning, universally-acclaimed films. (The jury is still out on Cars.) Defeated Lisa Simpson in Round 1.
Stan Lee: Comic book writer, editor and former driving force of Marvel Comics.
Notes: Co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Daredevil, Doctor Strange; pioneered new storytelling forms throughout his career; major player in transforming a format previously written off as “kids’ stuff;” also, “Excelsior!” Defeated Danica McKellar in Round 1.
[poll id=71]
MATCH #4
Tom Servo & Crow vs. Felicia Day 
Tom Servo & Crow T. Robot: Wise-cracking robots from “Mystery Science Theater 3000“.
Notes: Personal development of an entire generation of geeks likely influenced by these smart, snarky characters’ observations and delivery style; unafraid of esoteric references and show tunes. Defeated Eddie Deezen in Round 1.
Felicia Day: Actress/creator/writer of geek-centric internet show “The Guild“; broadened recognition with role in Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.
Notes: A genuine gaming enthusiast (not some Hollywood pretender) whose geek profile exploded in 2008; a genuine grass roots new media success story of a “homemade” internet show that, offered for free on YouTube, garnered a large following and eventual media sponsorship that manages to maintain a geek-friendly distribution model; also an accomplished violinist; has noticed us. Defeated Ernie Kovacs in Round 1.
[poll id=72]
37 Comments
First! Againt!
1) I went Nye. Coulton’s “I’m the underdog musician trying to make a living giving away free music on the Internets” shtick is getting old – he’s been on TV, at PAX, in a video game and makes lots and lots of well-deserved MO-NEH. Not to knock on Coulton too much or anything, but just pointing out the days of “Vote Coulton by default” are over, at least for me. It’s all about Nye, FTW. And BTW I voted Paul and Storm more often than I voted for Coulton in Song Fu. I also visit this site more than Coulton’s now. Take that… guy on the Internet… Yeah wow I must be the first guy who ever say something not nice to someone else over the Internet. Feels interesting.
2) Jess. Granted, I really like Larry Lessig, but this isn’t a revenge vote. Instead, it’s more of a “vote for the real dude” vote.
3) Stan Lee – definitely. If you go back and read the old comics, they were fighting the Nazis before the government was. This was at the time when the government thought appeasing Hitler was the right move, Lee and his comic bookers recognized the evil – and kicked some Nazi butt – at least in comic book form. We need some of that kind of moral clarity, especially in the upcoming administration, which many people are afraid of, for things like appeasing Iran and Hamas, and such.
4) Felicia. Again, real > fake. Plus I never saw/got into MST3K. Felicia definitely knows a thing or two about being awesomely geeky, and would very likely have some good advice to give to the Pres. Plus it would be very sitcommy hilarious if there was a silent feud between her and Mrs. Obama kind of thing…. Just saying…
Again* sorry, it’s almost midnight.
First guy to ever say something* I’m done correcting myself, you can figure out what I mean for anything else that may be awkwardly worded. OK, Internet?
1) JoCo. I’m just plain biased in his favor.
2) Joss Whedon. I’m biased against fictional characters.
3) This is the tough one in this round. Stan Lee. As much as I love everything Pixar has done, I’m not convinced Hollywood needs another voice in Washington. Besides that, Stan Lee is just that much more of a nerd. If it were Stan Lee vs. Ed Catmull, I might have gone the other way.
4) Felicia. Again, I’m biased against fictional characters. Even if I weren’t, I’m still a sucker for a cute nerd.
Tom Servo & Crow all the way. They were part of my childhood every Saturday morning and love them to death. I have a feeling they’re going to get rallied though :(.
Gotta go with John Lasseter over Lee. JoCo is obvious. The rest? Eh.
1) Bill Nye! I admit I’m biased, having grown up in Seattle, and having a 5th grade teacher who worked with him at the Seattle Science Center, and had him come to our school before he went on Almost Live! and before he had his own show. It was awesome.
2) Dr. Who, if only for Tom Baker, ‘fro and scarf man!
3) Stan Lee, but mostly because he’s willing to mock himself and show up in Kevin Smith films.
4) Felicia Day. (If I can’t vote for one of the creators of Dr. Horrible, I’ll vote for one of the stars!)
Bill Nye wasn’t as dangerous as Mr. Wizard nor as smarmy as Dr. Science so, JoCo got my vote.
I have only liked two of the incarnations of Dr. Who but I have enjoyed every incarnation of Joss.
My vote for John Lasseter was meant for Stan Lee but oh well.
If possible, I would have given every single vote to Felicia Day.
Felicia Day is very attractive, but c’mon…better than the Bots??? I think not.
Dr. Who & JoCo all the way!!
Ok, So, last week, I said this vote was impossible. I’ve decided that I will abstain from the impossible votes… Therefore:
1) Abstain. Too awesome to choose. Take this as, I vote for both.
2) The Doctor. He’s more geeky even if not more… real.
3) Stan Lee. Meh, I don’t have good reasoning for this other than I know him.
4) Abstain. (see #1)
The Stan Lee – John Lasseter battle is really heating up. Lasseter is only behind by one vote. Hopefully some votes will soon come out of Emeryville and give John the victory he deserves. (Nothing wrong with Stan Lee. But he’s a comic book creator, not a geek.)
Me choosing between Bill Nye and Jonathan Coulton would be like an ant choosing between the world’s largest pizza and the world’s most awesome ant farm.
Doctor Who vs. Joss Whedon? *whimper*
There were some soul crushers in this round. If I had a gun to my head and I had to choose between Jonathan Coulton and Bill Nye, I’d let the gun go off.
I had to vote against Lee because he defeated Danica in the first round. Unfortunately, Dr Who also beat Lessig, who I had picked to win the whole thing. But I have to go for the Dr. I mean, they’re playing a whole marathon for him on SciFi right now. I mean, they could play the entire Firefly series in the same amount of time (zing!)*. I take that as a sign from Science that I am to vote for The Doctor today.
* The “zing!” is supposed to be taken in humor, as Firefly, much like Farscape, was a show canceled way before its time.
1) Well, let’s see. I have 382 songs by Jonathan Coulton and one by (well, about, at least) Bill Nye. I have also met Jonathan Coulton several times, and he seems to be a pretty nice guy, who also is a good role model what with the whole quitting-his-job-right-after-his-baby-was-born thing. Wait, that didn’t come out right. Anyway, I have absolutely no other exposure to Bill Nye, so JoCo wins by more than 382:1.
2) I don’t think I’ll vote here. I don’t think I particularly liked Doctor Who, and Joss Whedon is another one of those people in the easily-confused-triangle (along with Wil Wheaton and Will Wright) so I can’t really vote for him. I’ve seen some Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and maybe I’d vote for Buffy if she were up against Doctor Who, but there’d be low enthusiasm on both sides.
3) John Lasseter. As I’ve said before, I love Pixar movies, I respect Lasseter as somebody who can stand up to Steve Jobs (but would probably lose a round to him nonetheless, if they were put up against each other in this competition) and although I do like superheroes, I never read comics and hadn’t really heard of Stan Lee.
4) The only thing I’ve knowingly seen Felicia Day in is Still Alive with JoCo at PAX. That was good. Not exactly something to win the entire competition with, but easily enough to win against a couple of characters in a show I’ve never seen which seems kind of boring from its wikipedia description. And anyway, it’s obvious she’s going to win another round, she seems to have a large following. At least partly because she’s female.
Let me jump out ahead here and predict JoCo vs Felicia Day for the finals! Also, agree with Wendy on the nearly impossible choice of the Doctor vs the Joss.
If Felicia Day beats Tom and Crow I’m kicking 2 puppies and 5 kittens.
“Tom Servo & Crow all the way. They were part of my childhood every Saturday morning and love them to death” -Candance
same for me to. I would watch it in the mornings with my dad. I remember becoming really upset when I realized it wasn’t on anymore.
I love joco to death but if there was one person who was solely responsible for the formation of my love of science it’s Bill Nye. Joco just can’t boast that. Dr. Who (im assuming new who cause that’s what the picture is of) is waaay better than some of the crap Joss Wheedon has put out, the creative force of Pixar is greater than the staleness of 90 percent of what Marvel puts out (taking those two men as representatives of their brands/employers) and cute or not MST3K is better than Felicia Day. sorry. I seem to be in the minority on every single one of these. at least im fighting the good fight 😉
This is such a lopsided 2nd round, you got two inside horses (Coulton, and Whedon), a comic god vs. much weaker opponents. The only close match up is number 4, but Felicia Day is dominating her opponents anyway.
1) Had to go with JoCo. Bill Nye seems sort of like Al Gore: well-credentialed and a good guy, but overall just too quirky to be a national frontman.
2) Dr. Who is a time lord. A TIME LORD. With that much experience under his belt, this is like hiring the TARDIS to taxi you to Taco Bell; they’re almost too good for the job.
And besides, Joss Whedon’s too funny to be doing anything other than making movies and shows. A government career would hurt production.
3) Same as above, really. Lasseter is the better manager and could really lead the geek world, but we need him in the trenches, making movies. Geeks don’t really need a leader anyway. They can and are pioneering new technologies all by themselves. The Secretary of Geek Affairs would be more of a public and Presidential advocate, and Stan Lee would do that much better.
4) Really had to think on this one, but then the obvious answer came to me: it’s Secretary of Geek Affairs. Singular, not plural.
1. Bill Nye. Hands down.
He’s The Science Guy. He’s got a subtitle on his name with “science” in it.
He has giant solar panels on his roof that he goes out and POLISHES BY HAND several times a week.
He was the resident expert on BattleBots.
He wears a fucking lab coat and a bow tie.
JoCo is like this hipster-geek hybrid that will power the future. Bill is just classic nerd. I don’t know, call me old-fashioned.
2. Joss, only because I know little to nothing about Dr. Who.
3. Stan Lee really ought to win this one, but I am a child of the 90s, and Toy Story was HUGE when I was in kindergarten.
4. ROBOT ROLL CALL. Not even a question.
(I feel that this might not be the most neutral forum for this vote, as the Paul&Storm crowd is pretty pro-Coulton and pro-Felicia by default.)
I can safely say that whoever is voting Felicia Day is making the wrongest choice ever. Crow and Servo are older, wiser, and are way more resistant!
1. JoCo. Bill Nye has been dead to me ever since “The Eye of Nye”. Stick to real science Billy boy!
2. Joss. Yeah, still not sure what the hell kind of name Joss is, but nothing in the ‘verse can stop him.
3. Stan Lee. Even if he was just some guy on the street I’d pick Stan because I’ve never seen him wearing a Hawaiian shirt.
4. Felicia Day. Because I love robots but I’m not robot gay!
i would just like to state for the record that i hate everyone who voted for joss big-ugly-bald-head-and-face-it-buffy-was-pretty-stupid whedon over david goddamned tenant, THE doctor. you are all tools.
that is all.
@Tim C: The nickname “Joss” is actually twofold. It’s (kinda) short for Joseph (his full name), but he mostly uses it because it’s also Chinese for “lucky”. [/Whedonite]
And @three08, before you yell at me, that matchup was particularly difficult for me. I grew up on classic Who and I love the new series, but I had to go with Joss because A) he’s real, and B) I saw firsthand how hard he fought during the Writers’ Strike.
This whole round was rough, actually, except for the last one. I’ve never been that fond of MST3K (please refrain from throwing virtual stones, thank you), and I find Felicia to be a really sweet, hard working person. The Guild, FTW!
My correspondents have lead me to believe that Jonathan Coulton should win the second round, as well.
Dr. Who wins for being English.
John Lasseter wins for making cartoons that I’ll actually watch.
Tom Servo and Crow win because they affected my childhood, where Felicia Day did not. Also, I had never heard of her before.
Crow & Servo will have much wiser things to say, and can reference hellsa more movies, pop culture nuggets, and show tunes at a higher rate than Felicia. If this were merely a looks contest, then yes Felicia. We’re going for all-around geekiness however.
ROBOT ROLL CALL indeed..
There’s no way JoCo should’ve beaten the mighty Big Mac, so Bill Nye gets my vote!
You know, looking back over the match-ups, you gotta appreciate that Paul and Storm actually made a really good job of making it interesting throughout!
So well done!
P.S. I’m British and as such have never heard of Tom Servo & Crow T. Robot before…
Gingerlink: They are from a show called “Mystery Science Theatre: 3000” in which they watch OLD movies (black and white style, most of the time) and they just critique them the whole time. They just say random nonsense sometimes, too. It’s basically you watching a movie with these random characters making their own commentary.
After both Sagan and the Mythbusters were booted out last round, if the Doctor (yes, the Doctor, not Doctor Who and NEVER Dr Who!) loses, I’m going to… give everyone very disapproving looks.
The elimination of the Mythbusters is the shocker in the Jor-El Region. Belmont may be the underdog, but the Woz will finish her off!
Lobot Region:
JoCo
Joss
Lee
Day
JoCo has some tough competition ahead against Joss, Lee, or Day.
My inital pic of Penultimate Four in the Lobot region was Lee, but I’m starting to think JoCo who will battle Randall Munroe in the Finals.
I think maybe I’ll just let mrgordon vote for me from now on. Exactly my picks. 🙂
Does anyone else feel like they’re consistently voting against the grain? I was crushed when Patton Oswalt was eliminated!
1) Bill Nye, all the way. I like JoCo, but I grew up watching Bill. Anyone with the rare gift of making learning as fun as he did must be praised without end.
2) Dr. Who. Whedon is okay, but I feel like his tendency to write things to specifically buck certain cliches has, itself, become cliche. That, and his terrible eye for certain details all through Buffy and Angel drove the OCD geek in me to frustration.
3) John Lasseter. I recognize Stan Lee as important, but I recognize Pixar as good. Stan Lee may have helped push comics in the right direction, but his writing was awful. Go back and read any of his dialogue. I adore Pixar.
4) MST3K bots. I really liked Day in Dr. Horrible, but I HATED HATED HATED The Guild. For some stories, I just can’t get over the initial plot hump. The fact that she didn’t just call the cops right off the bat and have the creepy guy carted off drove me crazy. I can’t stand plots that are entirely contingent on, “everything would be fine instantly if Character A did this one simple thing.”
“With a face like a monkey…”
Post a Comment