Feeding my Inner Geek

I'm a closet geek. I'm a geek in stilettos. People more often than not associate the term "geek" to a person who wears dark-rimmed glasses, considers his/her laptop as bestfriend and associates him/herself with a character from Star Wars, Star Trek or other outerspace-themed shows. However, geeks nowadays have evolved and definitely improved their social skills. Gone are the days when they are made fun of or riduculed for being different. Who would dare make a joke out of movie genius Steven Spielberg, Microsoft's Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Facebook god Mark Zuckerberg, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin? All these people have one thing in common -they were all considered geeks by their peers before hitting it bigtime! Geeks really do deliver!

I'm not as brilliant as these guys but I would like to think that my affinity for what's dubbed as geeky shows bring me a tad closer to what they have achieved (fingers crossed, knock on wood). In a heartbeat, I would choose to watch the following shows over the orange-y cast of Jersey Shore.



Photo from the web

1. Beat the Geeks (2001-2002) - this show was introduced to me by my brother where contestants pit their brains against the scholarly robe-wearing Music geek, TV geek,  Music geek and one guest geek. It was a good show that sadly lasted just one year.  The resident geeks would spew out a litany of information whenever they answer trivia questions and I would go "Wow" while the audience were chanting "geek! geek! geek"! Admittedly watching Beat the Geeks made me feel like a total idiot compared to the immense knowledge these geeks have. But what the heck, I learned and laughed a lot!


Photo from tv-junky.com

2. CSI - and I mean the original CSI Las Vegas. CBS broke ground by creating a crime drama that use cutting-edge forensic tools in examining evidence to solve a crime. I remember this episode where Warrick Brown (played by Gary Dourdan) used the "electronic nose" that breaks down the components of a perfume to identify the killer. The early episodes where geek Grissom (played by William Petersen) was still the head of CSI Las Vegas, full of twists and dark characters were my favorites and  made me realize that swabbing bodily fluids could be really sexy! 



Image from http://www.imdb.com/

3. The Agency - another CBS TV drama that chronicled the inner-workings of the United States Central Investigation Agency (CIA). Although the series just lasted for two seasons, it featured an unmatched filming from the actual CIA headquarters in Washington. It was launched following the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York. The plot is full of twists and turns, cover operations and a lot of historical correlation especially during the Cold War. It provided a glimpse of how vast the intelligence network of the United States is. Spies, double agents, conspiracy, nuclear attacks - name it, The Agency had it in their plots.

Image from History channel website

4. Brad Meltzer's Decoded - Brad Meltzer is a best-selling American political suspense novelist, non-fiction writer, award-winning comic book writer and lawyer (he never practiced as an attorney). What made him a famous name were his political thriller books which are written after thorough reseaches. In his novel The Tenth Justice, a young lawyer who was dating a US President escaped the watchful eyes of the Secret Service agents watching her by slipping into tunnels under the White House. The tunnels were supposed to be confidential information. So the Department of Homeland Security's Analytic Red Cell office, which brings together people from outside the department to brainstorm about how to prevent possible future terrorist tactics, invited him over (http://www.notablebiographies.com/). History Channel then signed him up to create a show that digs deep into the mysteries of history including the US Supreme Court, the Presidency, the Secret Service, Wall Street and the Bible. I am left in awe watching this show because of the extensive research that poured into every story. If you are someone who thinks there is always a backstory in every story, Brad Meltzer's Decoded is a show that will keep you glued to the boobtube.

Image from www.history.com

5. Ancient Aliens - currently my favorite on History channel. I religiously follow this show every week and I have not missed a single episode. Told you I'm a closet geek. What would you think if someone tells you that alien technology could be the missing link to explain the architectural marvels such as the pyramids? Or that aliens have mated  with humans and this union resulted to beings haf-human, half-alien such as the case of starchild? These and more are what Ancient Aliens discuss in-depth for an entire hour. Early civilizations have documented their encounters with beings not of our planet. "According to ancient alien theorists, extraterrestials with superior knowledge of science and engineering landed on our planet thousands of years ago, sharing their expertise and forever changing the course of human history" (http://www.history.com/). Warning: Watching this show may cause information overload resulting to epistaxis or in extreme cases, you might start questioning your own genealogy. But for geeks and closet geeks, it's an hour of relief from reality shows that insult intelligence! 



Image from http://www.adamsavage.com/



6. Mythbusters - if your idea of fun is blowing up objects or staying inside a lab to challenge famous myths, save yourself from trouble and just flick the remote control to Discovery Channel's Mythbusters. The show goes to extreme to test popular beliefs - from a ninjas ability to catch flying arrows to how talking on the phone while driving can result to accidents - using scientific and most of the time "geeky" experiments. To date, the team has tested more than 700 myths and they did so without losing any of their limbs. It's a rare mix of science and creativity all in the name of curiosity. The best part of the show? You can have your dose of experiments without blowing up your parents' house. And by the way, drinking vats and vats of coffee does not help you sober up after a drinking spree.