My name is Ben Leach, and I am a geek.
But I'm not the only one. Far from it. In fact, I'll bet there are a lot of you geeks out there. You're the reason that Family Guy is back on Fox. You're the reason why Superman is finally getting a new, decent looking movie made. You're the reason why Seth Green is creating comic books like "The Freshman." You're the reason why Kevin Smith is a god among men.
The truth is that we're living in an era where it's not only okay to be a geek ... it's kind of cool. People listen to us because we're smart, we're creative, and generally we have lots of money to spend, which is why movies, television, comic books, video games and other areas of entertainment are listening to geeks and making the things we want to see. Years ago, we were being force fed stuff that we didn't want, and the stuff we did want didn't last nearly as long as we would have liked.
But the sad truth is that all of this wonderful geek stuff we love isn't covered nearly as much as it should. Is People magazine going to talk about how great Bruce Campbell is, or are they going to print 10 more pictures of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan? Is "Access Hollywood" going to tell you to rush out to stores to buy "Thundercats" on DVD, or are they going to talk about what's happening on the next "American Idol?"
The other annoying thing about geek coverage is that when this stuff actually gets covered, very rarely do the authors know anything about their subjects. How many glaring errors did you catch when all those Star Wars articles were being written back in May? It's Queen Amidala, not Princess Amidala! Sorry ... but hey, you know you've done it too!
That's where I come in - to give you geeks a voice, to let everyone know and discuss what we think is cool and maybe key some others in on what they're missing out. Not only that, it will bring us geeks together, and clue geeks in on some of the stuff they may be missing out on.
And this isn't just about me, this is also about you. If there's something you want me to write about, or there's something in the world of geek that the campus deserves to know about, let me know! I will be starting a facebook.com group entitled "This Week in Geek," so that all the geeks on campus can regularly discuss this stuff and determine what should be the focus of each week's article.
A few years ago, I would feel like I'd be really going out on a limb here. But judging by how many "Napoleon Dynamite" fans there are out there, I'm not so worried now. I may not have bow staff skills, but at least I can give this cool stuff all the attention it so rightly deserves.
