And now, off to vote.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11510006 Oswalt and Brad Bird on Fresh Air w/Terry Gross. He’s been on that show a few times, and it’s always entertaining, but this is my favorite (and it’s short).

http://www.maximumfun.org/blog/2007/07/podcast-tsoya-patton-oswalt.html I posted this in another comment on this site when someone questioned Oswalt’s geekiness. I figure there’s no harm in a little redundancy.

As for Ivan and the other Smith lovers, I can tell you that the reason I voted Munroe over Smith is because Munroe is both a geek and has a much higher ratio of good work vs. bad work than Smith. Smith’s work is definitely geeky, but it’s also terribly uneven and often poorly executed. Smith makes movies featuring character who have conversations much like some of the ones I had back when I was younger. But that’s the thing — by those standards, I should be in this competition. Munroe writes stuff that I WISH I had said, because they’re funny, insightful and terribly, terribly geeky.

Also, I’m sad the Revenge of the Nerds crew is losing out to Steve Jobs. I don’t think Jobs is really a geek. He’s a genius at marketing and has a great sense of aesthetics, but he’s not a geek. Wozniak was the geek/engineer of that pair. Just as Gates is the geek in the Gates/Ballmer pair (Ballmer would be the apeshit insane part of the pair). I don’t think geekiness and arrogance go well together.

Also, I definitely don’t think there’s anything wrong with making choices based on personal feelings. Geek-dom, after all, is based on having emotional attachments to rationally-based things.

My votes:
#1 – Torvalds vs Peabody
Torvalds. Myself being unamerican, I picked the name I recognised. Also, Finnish people are, by definition, cool. (sorry)
Current standings: Torvalds 61%, Peabody 39%

#2 – Pegg vs Parker
Pegg. Both because I very much enjoyed Spaced and SotD, and because Parker would be too busy going out and saving the world from supervillains to do much in the position.
Current standings: Pegg 67%, Parker 33%

#3 – Allen vs Oswalt
Allen. Sorry Oswalt, but being in Ratatouille doesn’t qualify you for the position. If that’s your biggest “geek” accomplishment, then I have to vote against you.
Current standings: Oswalt 64%, Allen 36% (anti-MS fanboys swinging this vote?)

#4 – Smith vs Munroe
Munroe. This was a really tough decision, but in the end I think Jersey Girl marked Smith down for me. Call it superficial maybe. On a more reasonable note, Munroe doesn’t divide the populace into love/hate camps like Smith does.
Current standings: Munroe 58%, Smith 42%

#5 – Frye vs Professor
Professor. A vote for the Professor is a vote against Whedon, and I’m all for anything against Whedon.
Current standings: Frye 80%, Professor 20% (as noted above, Whedon Fanboy Squad go!)

#6 – Trillian vs Moranis
Moranis. Not a tough one for me, because I just can’t get into H2G2, so I have no idea about Trillian. Re Lance: no, there is no absolutely crap chat program named “Moranis”, which turns into plus points for him.
Current standings: Trillian 53%, Moranis 47%

#7 – Stallman vs Gadget
Stallman. I actually have no idea who he is (let the lynching begin!), but I don’t really want to see the mouse get through. Just a personal opinion really on that one.
Current standings: Stallman 59%, Gadget 41%

#8 – Jobs vs Nerds
Nerds. Jobs did give the world the iPhone, so points for that. And he headed Pixar, so points for that. But he also gave the world the annoyance of one-button mouses, option keys, completely separate and incompatible standards among all software, both local and web, and most importantly he split the community into two – PC fans vs Apple fans. Meanwhile, everyone backs the nerds!
Current standings: Jobs 60%, Nerds 40%

Kinda glad I didn’t vote for the leader on all of them.

LET’S GO PENGUINS!
LET’S GO PENGUINS!
LET’S GO PENGUINS!

A nerd, to my mind, is someone whose sole interest lies in the mathematical fields. Present a nerd with a complex mathematical equation with a deliberate mistake in it, and he’ll find it in less than ten minutes, regardless of how complicated the equation is.

A dweeb is someone who’s just out of place. Never quite fits in, always a little bit behind the times and fashion, kinda dowdy.

A dork is a healthy mix of all three, but not to the extent that one or another on it’s own is.

That’s all just my opinion, though, and you’re welcome to prove or disprove any of it. I consider myself a geek, as I’m fairly well read, would rather be inside with a book than out in the world, and read a lot of fantasy. I’m also über-conversant on Star Wars.

I chose Smith over Munroe because Smith talks comics and comic movies like no one else. The man still geeks out over comic book movies, and he’s almost 40 years old. Munroe, while having a degree in physics fits, to my mind, more in the nerd category.

Oswalt over Allan, I will admit was simply a personal choice because I don’t really know either one. I did love Ratatouille, and that’s a fantasy, so he gets my vote by association. I probably should have chosen Allan, because of the whole co-founding Microsoft thing, but I’m not sure that’s a geek. Maybe it is.

And it wasn’t a vote against Pegg as it was a vote for Peter Parker. Though, again, that was, in retrospect, probably a mistake. Parker is a nerd, definitely, and I dropped the ball on that one.

So, there you go. Hope that helps.

-M
-SDOHM
-OotISG

I will challenge this about your votes, though: when it comes to entertainers, it seems like you value personal or implicit geekiness over explicit geekiness expressed in someone’s work. Thus, you chose Smith over Munroe, Oswalt over Allen, and vote against Pegg.
Pegg is a bit too big of a movie star these days to have any really good interviews where he might geek out, IMO, but I think he absolutely expresses his fandom in Spaced, and, to a lesser extent Shawn of the Dean and Hot Fuzz. That said, I do have an interview that includes a bit about geekery (and Marxism seen through Star Wars): http://thephoenix.com/blogs/outsidetheframe/archive/2008/09/23/pegg-of-my-heart-part-one.aspx . I definitely don’t see him as a dweeb, but I’m curious why you think he is.

This talk of Pegg has me thinking of making a bold statement I may or may not be able to defend: Spaced is the best representative of geekery in TV outside of the Sci-fi/fantasy genre. I’m curious if anyone has any other nominations for geeky TV not in sci-fi/fantansy. Oh, geez that show sure was neato-keen!

Oh, and my votes: 1. Torvalds, 2. Pegg, 3. Oswalt, 4. Munroe, 5. Frye, 6. Trillian, 7. RMS, 8. RotN

-Michael Wiczer

P.S. Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich for SOGA 2012! (www.radiolab.org)

-Mike Cuellar
-Self-Demoting Half Minion
-Order of the Inner Sanctum Guard

On the other hand, pitting Smith against Munroe this early is such a shame. I’ve seen Clerks; Smith has some genuine geek background. But I’ve also seen “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”, and I’m still waiting for him to send me my money back (and I saw it on cable). Whereas Munroe has already given the position some thought. Alas, Kevin. If only you’d been up against a lightweight like The Professor in Round 1.

2. Simon would be an ideal sub-secretary under JoCo in the event JoCo’s army of office zombies (Re Your Brains) got unruly. I don’t think Peter Parker has ever dealt with zombies.

3. Random pick, not as familiar with the two.

4. While Smith does understand the value of knowing when not to open his mouth, Monroe can motivate a country to visit near-random geographic coordinates (Geohashing), and we need that sort of motivation in this day and age.

5. I hate to vote entirely on hotness, but let’s be honest, The Professor is far too easily undermined by even the slightest incompetence under his command. Kaylee takes it.

6. Tough call. Trillian is highly resourceful and has had plenty of experience in extraterrestrial relations, making her an ideal ambassador to such, though Rick Moranis does have a fundamental understanding of the undead population, much like Simon Pegg. I’m giving this one to Rick.

7. As much as I respect RMS’s work in his field and all he’s brought to the open-source community, there is no chance in hell I want him anywhere near a presidential secretary position.

8. See answer for number 7, replacing “RMS” with “Steve Jobs” and “the open-source community” with “GUI design”.

I mean… uh… come to life of malnourishment. Yeah.

And yeah, definitely Steve Wozniak over Steve Jobs. Woz rocks, and is not at all a dick in person. But Steve Jobs still wins over the cast of some show I’ve never seen, per previously stated voting methodology.

Steve Wozniak over Steve Jobs.