Are we all just a bunch of wayward Star Wars/Treckie nerds?

I recently had a hard time explaining this site to a friend. All I could come up with is, I talk on line to a bunch of tiki nerds, of which I am one.
Don't be sending me any viruses but I just may be figuring something out here. I've never thought of myself as a geek but...
Think about it-
We have our own costumes-Hawaiian shirts, vintage dresses, etc.
Which we wear to our conventions-crawls
You guys oh and ah over a naked chick, like you've never seen tail before
We have "My parents were cooler than yours" arguements
We have our own collectibles and stars
We are on line all the time
Shoot, we are even developing our own language

Isn't it kind of dorky or is it all Zazz?

[ Edited by: laney on 2003-02-04 08:10 ]

[ Edited by: Laney on 2003-02-04 08:31 ]

damn :o ... I am so out of here now :P

Well I'd like to take exception to these comments laney!

First of all, using the term nerds is totally inappropriate. I think the majority of us (including me) here were "The Cool Kids in School" and certainly being social eliminates us from any nerd grouping for life.

Second, tikis are more about a lifestyle that WAS in exsistance. Not something that is "suppose" to happen in the future or on some made up place. Tikis are REAL and Treky and SW stuff is from the mind of TV and movie writers! Enough said right there.

And thirdly, I will always ohh and ahhh over a naked broad regardless of how much tail I've gotten or will continue to get. We all know here that a mai tai or two will get a chicks pants off quicker than any light saber would! Right ladies??

I don't want to get off on a rant here but, I would sugest that you don't try to explain this site or even "tiki" to the un-informed just give them a mai tai put some Denny on and allow them to figure it out on thier own.

But then again that's just my opinion... I could be wrong.

[ Edited by: tikimug on 2003-02-04 08:51 ]

Laney,

Tikimug is right. I've never seen a 'nerd' with a much ink as I have or one who rocks as hard, or drinks as much, or surfs as much, or is an a-hole as much, ad infinitum...

Hey, I've seen a few light sabers that got my pants off quicker than any number of mai-tais!
Second are tikis really "real" Are they gods made up by an ancient civilization? Or in the case of Easter Island, there are many theories, some even include alien encounters. I am absolutely no historian but I'm also not as "cool" as tikimug!

Well, I personally know I'm a geek. And you know what? I don't care! I enjoy my (tiki) hobby and to be honest, I really don't give a rat's ass about what others think.

*** * * The Polynesian Popster * * ***

[ Edited by: PolynesianPop on 2003-02-04 09:14 ]

On 2003-02-04 08:57, laney wrote:
Hey, I've seen a few light sabers that got my pants off quicker than any number of mai-tais!

Really? :o I always thought mai tais were the original roofie

Second are tikis really "real" Are they gods made up by an ancient civilization? Or in the case of Easter Island, there are many theories, some even include alien encounters.

Yes, tikis are real! Hapawood is not! As I've slurred numerous times... theories, schmeories! The whole alien thing was a farce. Created by the CIA or some agency to back up thier crop circle theory.

I am absolutely no historian but I'm also not as "cool" as tikimug!

laney, you are to "cool" what bird-calls were to Arthur. And don't you ever change that about yourself, babe.

Everyone who knows about my obsessive/compulsive love for Tiki or my preoccupation with Tiki Central think it's "really" some wife swapping drunkard swinger, dorks with to much time on their hands, freak cult. But NEVER (thank God) have they ever, never, ever called me a nerd! I am cool...I am cool...I am..cool

[ Edited by: DawnTiki on 2003-02-04 16:33 ]

Starwars cool. Startrek not. I guess people who are suddenly exposed to our "thing" think we are nerdy. I remember some nerd-a$$ lady asking me "if I was born an a$$hole or did I have to work at it" because I was bagging on the Startrek movie in the theatre. Whew! that lady got all crazy on me, kind of like how we get all crazy on each other. I say screw what other people think "cool" is what makes you happy.

It's not 'nerds' or 'geeks'. It's a sub-culture. Like any other. There are people who are into a huge variety of very specific things, from tiki to even subsets of tiki like exotica. And there are sci-fi and Harlequin Romance people. Also astrophysics and asian porn devotees.

It's just a sub-culture that also dovetails for many of us, into vintage and polynesian or musical or preservationist ideas.

Hell, I don't understand people who collect Coke ads or glass electrical insulators or creepy porcelin dolls or Beeney Babies. Now those people are freaks!

The Swank Pad Broadcast - If it's Swank...

[ Edited by: Swanky on 2003-02-04 09:26 ]

I'm a geek for Tiki. I'm also a geek for Film, and I'm even a hardcore Star Trek geek that's traveled cross-continent for a Star Trek Convention and has made over 4000 posts at http://Trekbbs.com. That said, I was also one of the fringe cool kids in school who girls wanted to be with, and boys wanted to emulate or beat up.

What Tikiphiles and Trekkies and other pop culture junkies share is a serious passion about some small, relatively insignificant aspect of the larger culture. What distinguishes Tikiphiles, Trekkies, and other pop culture junkies from society as a whole is that most people can appreciate having an exotic cocktail served in a Tiki mug when they stumble upon it in a Chinese restaurant, or may have an episode of Star Trek on in the background while balancing the checkbook. A geek, on the other hand, can't stop there. The Tikiphile is compelled to own more tiki mugs than the number of guests his home can accomodate, and a Trekkie is compelled to know the names of every actor and the title of every episode of the show. A pop culture junkie is a geek whether the object of fixation is Tiki, Trek, or Hummel. All rationalizations aside, it's really just plain geeky to obsess over something as inconsequential as ceramic mugs or a 60's television show.

My 2 cents.

So Bong......
We're still cool right?

LuckyD,

Damn right we're still cool! Hey, let's fire up the band this Saturday. I'll call you towards the end of this week to confirm.

Man, the lap steel's just a waiting to wail on some tunage.

Which brings up another point regarding this thread. I'm not only into tiki, but a number of things of polynesian origin. I, like LuckyD, surf, play hawaiian lap steel guitar, study the Hawaiian language, have and appreciate polynesian tattoos, prepare true Hawaiian food, and always live aloha.

To me it's more than 'just a collection'.

A geek is a nerd with social skills.

I've been called a geek plenty of times when trying to explain tiki and TC. But then, I've been called a geek plenty of times for other things, too.

If the shoe fits... I've got no problem with wearing it.

laney wrote:
Think about it-
We have our own costumes-Hawaiian shirts, vintage dresses, etc.
Which we wear to our conventions-crawls
You guys oh and ah over a naked chick, like you've never seen tail before
We have "My parents were cooler than yours" arguements
We have our own collectibles and stars
We are on line all the time
Shoot, we are even developing our own language

Isn't it kind of dorky or is it all Zazz?

If I may replace your "think about it" list with the following:

Think about it-
~We have made friendships. Some that will be acquaintances, some will be friends for life.
~We have increased our knowledge of an interest and all the tangents and facets of this (tiki) subject.
~We have seen places, enjoyed foods, drinks and conversations that make us laugh & think.
~We have found an outlet that provides an escape from the world (which in itself can be "geeky").

This isn't a complete list by an means.
So, is it dorky or is it Zazz?

It's all Zazz baby, it's all Zazz!

Lastly, I would like to say~

I will always ooh and aah at a naked chick!

ok im convinced , im back now, if we're geeks ,nerds or just cool on the side, we still got some of the hottest girls around.

ok where did I put that lightsaber again?

On 2003-02-04 10:16, Humuhumu wrote:
A geek is a nerd with social skills.

I have never heard of this. A nerd or a geek with social skills is an oxy-moron.

The Cool Kids in School

I was never cool in school, i had my arse kicked on a regular basis and became a upstanding weirdo, "shunned and loathed at school".
But I did become "the Un-cool Kid in school who lives a much more exciting and amazing life than my tormentors ever have".
Also I can't be a nerd or geek coz every night i sleep beside an honest to goodness nekkid lady who is married to me.
(ooh suppresed nicotine withdrawl rage venting)

On 2003-02-04 08:09, laney wrote:
We have our own costumes-Hawaiian shirts, vintage dresses, etc.
Which we wear to our conventions-crawls
You guys oh and ah over a naked chick, like you've never seen tail before
We have "My parents were cooler than yours" arguements
We have our own collectibles and stars
We are on line all the time
Shoot, we are even developing our own language

Uh-oh.

Between this & my Disneyland obsession, I'm afraid I qualify for uber-geekdom (something my wife has been reminding me of for years...)

Okay, first I had to whip out the ol' Oxford English Dictionary to get a better understanding of this whole nerd/geek thing:

nerd:
An insignificant or contemptible person, one who is conventional, affected, or studious; a 'square'

Hmm.... that doesn't sound like us....

geek
a carnival 'wildman' whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken or snake; a dumb sideshow stooge

Well, aside from Bong, that doesn't really sound like us either.

I often hear and use the word 'freak' to describe us:

freak

• a. A person regarded as strange or contemptible, esp because of markedly unusual appearance or behavior.
• b. A person who enjoys unorthodox sexual practices; a fetishist.
• c. An attractive young woman or (rarely) man. Also derogatory: a promiscuous or 'easy' woman.

I think a good number of us fall under one of the 'freak' definitions, so, we're not nerds or geeks at all... we truly are a bunch of FREAKS!
:tiki:

Nicely said, Pup.

No worries.

Just dig the vibe.

You dig what you are.

You are what you dig.

Can you dig it?

I don't know how many of you are old enough to remember the shining glory of the Minutemen but to quote a little Dennis Boone sarcasm: "How do others see me? ...I'm worried." :) Now...on the naked chick...I think you're right...nerds would just oooh and ahhh but the difference here is that us guys know what to do with it!

I agree with Swanky here - tiki is simply a subculture, one that appeals to many of our other interests. I've long had an interest in mid-century design, exotica music, and architectural preservation, so when I discovered the subculture of tiki, and how it merged many of these elements - I became a happier person. It became even more fun when I discovered that the subculture included others who had the vision and the know-how to throw very fun weekend tiki parties.

People have been seeking other like-minded people ever since the days long ago when Fred and Barney were members of the Royal Order of Water Buffalo. It is one small step from their password of "Ack Acka Dak, Dak Daka Ack" to our own sing-along anthem 'In the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room.'

Of course, we are smarter than Fred and Barney - we invite Wilma and Betty to come and join us when we party.

Vern

D. BOONE!!!!! I was wondering when The Minutemen would get into a topic, with all the people from the south bay area, I thought it would have been sooner. I don't know about any of you, but I have embraced the nerd within and am at one with my nerdness!

[ Edited by: DawnTiki on 2003-02-04 13:38 ]

The man was a genious. "What of the people who don't have what I ain't got? Are they victims of my leisure?"....."The dirt, scarcity and the emptiness of our south...there on the beach...I can see it in her eyes...I only had a Corona (five cent deposit)" ..."Our story could be your song...me and Mike Watt 'playin guitar" ..."Me, naked with textbook clothes, bowed out against the Nazis, like some wierd kind of sex symbol" .....God I love "Double Nickels On The Dime"!

My husband (boyfriend at the time) dragged me to gig after gig to see them (that was my Cure stage) see I really am a nerd! The Anti-Club sticks out in my mind the most. It is so sad to think about what was lost! Here is Mike Watt's website, http://www.hootpage.com/ No one Jam's Econo like Mike!

[ Edited by: DawnTiki on 2003-02-04 14:13 ]

"freak

b. A person who enjoys unorthodox sexual practices; a fetishist."

They said the tape was ersased! I figured if the monkey could shoot the tape, the monkey could erase it, too. Just goes to show you, don't trust a dwarf farther than you can throw him.

That little simian could really set a scene too...quite the cinematographer! I knew I should kept the Nixon mask on the WHOLE time.
No way I am getting into the seminary if this keeps popping up.

midnite

Live long and prosper.

http://geekgirl.dk/startrek/

[ Edited by: Tikified on 2003-02-04 16:19 ]

The moth don't care if the flame burns.
Tiki, thy name be nerd? I couldn't care less. Make mine a Fogcutter, friend!

[ Edited by: Kava King on 2003-02-04 18:36 ]

The moth don't care if the flame burns.
Tiki, thy name be nerd? I could'nt care less. Make mine a Fogcutter, friend!

Yes we're nerds, But we're drunk nerds.
So do you care.

Thank U, Drive Thru

Tranya tastes best when served in a tiki mug. :)

I don't think being into Tiki has ever been hip, except maybe in the '50s and '60s, and it was more of a cultural reflection than a cult-art form. That said, right now, the best part about being into Tiki is drinking booze that tastes good and the idea of escaping your own reality.

The collecting, for me, is really about understanding a part of our cultural past that was/is amusing and interesting in nature. I've never been able to get into the new Tiki movement too much, and I rarely buy any contemporary Tiki products. I prefer finding old matchbooks of torn down or renovated Tiki bars. To me, Tiki is just one facet of the larger picture, which is mainland fascination with the natives, the Polynesian islands... the exotic elements. When you get right down to it, that's probably why people like Star Wars and Star Trek so much: it gives them the ability to escape their own reaility.

I like George Lucas's "THX 1138," so I'm not going to bum rap him, nor put down people who have an interest in something as benign as these fairy tale-futuristic stories. To each their own.

Gee, Look what little ol' me started.. seems I hit a few nerves. Three pages in less than a day, hmmmm. Well post on you zazz tikifiles! (look that up in the dictionary)
Remember the Aloha Sprit, Laney

What an AWESOME thread! What a response!

I agree with TikiMug and others 100%.

I think this is a hobby…and at times an obsession for us. As where Trekkies make it a ‘lifestyle’.
Although I will agree that there are similarities with our Crawls and tiki bars and recreation of things past.

About naked chicks, Basement Kahuna said, “nerds would just oooh and ahhh but the difference here is that us guys know what to do with it!"

Amen brother!

Also, when Trekkie’s get mad they point a plastic gun at you and go “Pwew-Pew!” Or try to give you some Vulcan nerve pinch.
Tikiphiles will generally just kick your ass, sit back down, have another Mai Tai and continue to ogle the wahinies.

I never claimed to be cool in my obsession for Tiki and Polynesian stuff in general. In fact, thats why I liked it - because not everyone else is into it except for a select few who I precieve to have generally good taste in pop culture.

I still like Star Wars because I grew up with that 'fantasy'. But the difference is that this pop culture thing actually happened. It happened before most of us could enjoy it, but we appreciate it none-the-less.

I really have enjoyed reading this thread. I don't think it makes me any more or less geeky than I already am.

But, if any of us gave a good crap about what people thought of us, we'd all be doing something differently anyways.
Which, to me, makes us cool in our own right.

Personally, I like being different. Always have. It's what makes me, me!

:sheckymug:

I wasn't a nerd in school. I was a damn haole. Now that I live in Florida, I'm a damn Yankee. Damn.

[ Edited by: Kailuageoff on 2003-02-05 08:21 ]

I guess the whole nerd thing would explain my tapa pocket protector and the glob of poi i use to hold my glasses together. Any chance some of the more skilled carvers might carve me some spock ears?
Chongolio

I'm still a nerd. I just have better clothes now.

[ Edited by: tikifish on 2003-02-05 09:54 ]

uh-huh, but a babe nerd. over and oot.

On 2003-02-05 09:53, tikifish wrote:
I'm still a nerd. I just have better clothes now.
[ Edited by: tikifish on 2003-02-05 09:54 ]

Jane,

Can you lower your left arm, please?

:wink:

ogling the babes...
JT

...

Here go my two cents:

As far as school time coolnes, I was a nerd and a geek all the way through elementary school (for god's sake I used to hang out at the library and study greek mythology because I thought it was fun), junior high (got heavily into comics), and for the first half of high school (I was just a class clown, class clowns are funny but never cool). I didn't really become cool or whatever until like sophmore year (and that was only because I was very good at graphitti, anything illegal you're doing during high school makes you popular).

The mark of a nerd is excessive knowledge, the mark of a geek is excessive passion about trivial subjects. I have found that when I came across something that I really liked it always made me want to learn more about it, and made me want to start collecting, wether it was pin up art, tiki, classic cars, etc, etc...

Am I a geek and a nerd, yes, I believe I am. But when is a topic nerdy and when is it cool? I remember some of my cool friends used to mock me because I was really into the old Planet Of The Apes movies. Later on, I guess at some point they became cool and the same friends would come and try and tell me about those movies. When I pointed out to them that they used to give me a hard time for being into them one of them flat out denied it, the other did ancknowledge that fact but just didn't mention it again.

I think nerds and geeks are allot more interesting than cool people. If you go to someones house and their playing Christina Augilera does it make them cool just becasue she sells allot of CDs? If you go to someone else's house and their playing Arthur Lyman does it make them a geek because the general public doesn't even remember who Arthur Luman was?

I guess everyone has to make up their own mind, but while their thinking about it though I'll be rocking the most gorgeous Iolani Executive shirt I picked up on Ebay for $6 and having a tropical drink out of one of my geeky frined Holden's mugs, while looking through The Book Of Tiki, some guy that knew way to much about tiki wrote that.

That was way more than two cents, that was at least a buck fifty!!!

You know, I think there's enough diversity within the scene that some of us may indeed be nerds or geeks and some of us may not.

Is tiki a nerd-like preoccupation? Based on who's interested, it doesn't seem like it to me. It seems like a solid plurality of folx on this board are hail-fellow-well-met types who's interest in likker, nekkidness and hot rods would preclude their being categorized as nerds. I think it's unfortunate for our purposes that, looking at all of those vintage shots of tiki bar patrons, so many of the men are wearing chunky black plastic glasses. That was all you could get back then that was office-appropriate! I think the original crop of tikiphiles was a lot more like Greg Kinnear in "Auto-Focus" than they were like Robert Carradine in "Revenge of the Nerds." (Not that the nerds didn't get around too, of course.) Bigbro maintains that we should look to tiki as God of the Artists, and artists are rarely nerds.

I'M definitely a nerd though, of the movie-geek variety, although Trekkies are beneath my contempt.

Are you a Tiki Geeki? Take this simple quiz to find out.

1. Do you check any (or all) of the following web sites several times a week looking for new Tiki items to add to your collection:

http://www.tikifarm.com
http://www.munktiki.com
http://www.tikibosko.com
http://www.ebay.com
http://www.shagmart.com

2. Is your web browser's homepage http://www.konakai.com?

3. Do you often pester the clerk at the liquor store for demerara rum, marascino liquor or other exotic spirits?

4. Do you wear aloha shirts (or dresses with hawaiian prints) 4 or more days per week (not applicable to Hawaiian residents)?

5. Do you own and display more than 25 tiki mugs, of which you know every detail, including the most recent successful completed auction price for each?

6. Are there more than 25 paper parasols in your house at this very moment?

7. Have you travelled more than 100 miles to eat/drink at a tiki-themed establishment?

8. When you look at a beautiful landscape, whether real or a photo or painting, do you almost always think "a giant, flaming moai would look excellent there?"

9. When driving somewhere, have you ever made a U-Turn because you thought you saw a cool A-frame that may have at one time been a tiki themed establishment?

10. Do you think your friends who aren't into Tiki are not as cool as you?

Give yourself 1 point for every YES answer, and 0 points for every NO answer.

0 points - you are not a geek

1 - 3 points - you are a nerd. Your friends think you are strange, but you can't hang with the hard core geeks either, thus you are relegated to Nerdom.

4-7 points - you are a Functioning Geek. Obsessed, but not dangerously so, you are capable of having normal relationships with non-tiki geeks provided they accept your geek tendencies.

8-10 points - You are a 10th level Tiki Geek. You are lost in a tropical paradise of your own mind and will never return to Earth. You consider this state of being "paradise," however most people define it as "loco."

-Mike

Hey Fish Babe! I love that top foto... it reminds me of this one time? ...in band camp? :wink:
...it take a big set of coconuts to post that one, thanks.

Alright suicide_sam, I'm with you on your two cents and I think you touched on something. See, the cool kids would make fun of you not for diggin' Planet of The Apes but for REALLY being into POTA. Even though they liked it they thought it wasen't cool to be that into it. So later on when it was "cool" to like it and you called them on it for bustin on you, they did what any cool kid would do.
Rule 1 of cool kids, DENY Deny everything!

See I guess they really were the cool kids.

Regardless of it all Tikis always have been and always will be... COOL

You know, I really don't think that "nerds" and "geeks" exist outside of school. (High school or college).

With the exception of the computer programers and web designers that make $100k a year and proudly refer to themselves as geeks.

One's perception of whats cool and uncool matures, with any luck, and becomes 'character'.
I read on some church sign today, "Character is easier to keep than to regain".

And I thought, "Wow...what a neat saying."

You're reading signs on Churches, 75Stingray. That's kinda sad in it's own way, isn't it? Not that I don't do it, too. There are, pretty much, more churches than houses in these parts.

There are Nerds and Geeks out of high-school. It's only because most of us have perceptions of what is cool and uncool that we understand that it is not nice to walk up to a geek (or a nerd) and call him/her a geek (or a nerd) to his/her face. It may, actually, be because of our acceptance of Politically Correct Values, though. Anyhow... I don't call them names to their faces, but I know 40 year old Geeks and Nerds when I meet them. If they like Mai-Tais, or have never had them and say they might like to try one, I might invite them over. Then again, I might not. Who knows.
Punks were just Geeks with cool shirts. WERE, of course, is the important word there. Does anyone who made enough money off of Punk to still be a Punk who is still alive deserve any level of respect or admiration? Yes! For what good music they ever created! Has any real Punk produced a good song in the last 20 years? Uh... No.
Why do you think we're all listening to Exotica?

This thread is getting funnier by the minute. Here’s some of the classics:

****About naked chicks, Basement Kahuna said, 'nerds would just oooh and ahhh but the difference here is that us guys know what to do with it!'

Amen brother!****

My god, what have we come to. Next you’re going to be high-fiving eachother, and lending change for the next Judas Priest song on the jukebox. It seems to be that you guys aren’t so much writing this to prove it to us that you’re not geeks, as much as to prove it to yourselves. I don’t know what is more pathetic, writing day after day on an internet board about plastic or ceramic collectibles, or doing just that and then trying to act like it is cool. For crissakes, get over it. It might be socially acceptable to be into golf or have weekly get-togethers to bet on and watch football, but if that’s not you, let’s not try to sit here and act like our penis’s are too big for our pants. We collect Tikis… we sit here and write about Tikis… we get drunk. Wow! We are so superior to Star Trek fans.

Here’s another:

Also, when Trekkie’s get mad they point a plastic gun at you and go “Pwew-Pew!” Or try to give you some Vulcan nerve pinch. Tikiphiles will generally just kick your ass, sit back down, have another Mai Tai and continue to ogle the wahinies.

I’ve never seen a Tikiphile kick anyone’s ass. Basically, most of the people who were at the Big Ol’ Tiki Bash 2002 were either Gen X’ers who were socially left of the right or they were Baby Boomers who remembered their parents throwing backyard luau’s, and somehow found it interesting, fun, maybe nostalgic, and something more underground than they had been involved in quite a long while. I know I’ll get blasted for these comments, and this is not to over-generalize or stereotype anyone. I thought everyone was great, and I fit into the former category. But, before we pat ourselves on the back about “kicking some ass,” let’s just call a spade a spade. No big deal… we have a hobby; we collect things. To people who don’t collect what we collect, it might be seen as nerdy. If you really care that much, instead of kicking ass, just watch ESPN. There’s enough heavy metal music there to achieve what you'd get out of a whole week’s worth of anger management classes.

One more:

Punks were just Geeks with cool shirts. WERE, of course, is the important word there. Does anyone who made enough money off of Punk to still be a Punk who is still alive deserve any level of respect or admiration? Yes! For what good music they ever created! Has any real Punk produced a good song in the last 20 years? Uh... No. Why do you think we're all listening to Exotica?

Gotta say, this is pretty stupid. You do realize that the former members of Combustible Edison, who basically started the whole contemporary Exotica scene, used to be in Punk bands, right? Besides, I love what Mark Mothersbaugh has done, as far as soundtracking goes. I have both Mescaleros CDs, and they were different from the Clash, but wonderful still. Frank Black, Paul Weller and Bob Mould are still releasing great records to this day, as are the Bad Brains. The Ramones and Sex Pistols weren’t the only Punk bands.

BC-
Ouch!