Great Essay on the Waning of Nerd Culture

Did you know that we are now in the decline of Nerd culture? All that stuff which used to be verboten and embarrassing, like knowing obsessive details about Star Trek trivia (guilty!), memorizing stats off the D&D Monster Manual (also guilty), being able to recite speeches from Blade Runner (not guilty, although I'm ashamed of that!), are now acceptable parts of internet culture. If you don't believe me, read this rant about it by Patton Oswalt, best known as the voice of Remy the rat from the Pixar movie Ratatouille.

Worth showing to your students then talking about.

Link to Trends in Science Fiction and Fantasy

One of my favorite websites is io9.com, which is a site dedicated to science fiction and fantasy in literature and movies. Besides the usual news and rumors about upcoming movies, there are some good essays abut science fiction trends. Those I enjoy the most.

The only problem with io9 is that it's a Gawker Media site. That means it's occasionally NSFW (Not Safe For Work), which means it's also NSFK (Not Safe For Kids). The language is fine, but sometimes the media links can get rather raunchy. It's a good resource for information, but I might not share it with my students, especially middle school students.

I also get jealous of the profiles of published authors, because I'm still trying to get my book published. Argh!

Teaching Science Fiction Website

There's a great website for teaching science fiction at the college level. This is the website of the Center for the Teaching of Science Fiction. The address is:

http://www2.ku.edu/~sfcenter/teaching.htm

If you start with this page, you'll begin with a good essay by James Gunn about the value of teaching science fiction and some of the history of teaching science fiction at the college level. Check it out.

A Great Link For “Star Trek” Information

Star Trek fans are nothing if not obsessive about the details about their show. Teachers might also need a resource for finding out information about this series. I suggest you go to the Star Trek wiki:

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Portal:Main

Here you will find enough information to out-nerd the most dedicated Star Trek geek.