Occasionally, I get together with a good friend of mine and we “geek out” for the weekend. And this past weekend was one of those times.
It was filled with movies, conversation, sport, and some gaming. It had it all, and even encompassed a few seasons due to some odd weather, so I’ve decided to recap it.
He came down to visit on Friday night and we knocked out some Science Fiction right off the bat. He hadn’t yet seen Valerian, and I own it, so I introduced it to him. Then on Saturday we saw an early showing of Black Panther.
The discussion in the car ride back to the house consisted of who the best Marvel Cinematic Universe villains are, since Killmonger is arguable one of the better more fleshed out villains that Marvel has brought to the big screen.
Next up for the afternoon, a little nostalgia with the original live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which we both agree holds up surprisingly well, despite the outdated references and technology. Afterall, no one uses a walkman anymore, VCRs are basically obsolete, and some of the TVs stolen during the film wouldn’t even be picked up from the side of the road anymore.
Then, we headed off to a hockey game. And while we enjoyed a game that went into a shootout, it snowed four inches. Given the temperature when he arrived, and again when he left, it’s basically like we had Fall, Winter, and Spring all in a three day span.
After the game we watched Spider-Man: Homecoming, another movie my friend missed in the theaters last year. This again brought us back to the afternoon’s discussion of best MCU villain, since Vulture is really good.
Finally, on Sunday morning over coffee we dueled as Planeswalkers do with some Magic: The Gathering, a game I happily introduced him to years ago, after failing to get him into it for a time.
Four movies, a hockey game, and some gaming fueled by popcorn, pizza, and lots of coffee makes for a pretty solid weekend.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I need to take breaks like this more often, but the workaholic part of me has yet to subside. And of course, we spoke of some joint creative projects we have had over the years, and what could come to fruition in the future.
But aside from the movies, and the sport and the gaming, it’s the conversation that makes this a geek weekend. I currently live alone and although I have instant access to most of my friends via the internet or a phone, there’s something very different in watching something with a friend versus watching it separately and then discussing it, which I also do often.
My friend and I have some 20 years of shared experiences and weekends similar to this one, and they never disappoint. We both have our lives and they keep us apart more than they put us in the same time and place, but you have to enjoy the opportunities you are given.
Did you need to know all of this? Perhaps not, but I hope you, dear reader, get the chance to geek out with your friends. And soon, if you haven’t, or again if you have. Despite the rising integration of geek culture into popular culture, we still know our own well enough to understand the hardships that was geek and nerd culture before the blurring of those lines into general culture.
We still have the scars from our youth when comics, gaming, and incredibly miniscule movie knowledge wasn’t as widely accepted as it is now. And in being in the generation that endured hardships for those things, we have more than bonds us than divides us geeks of a certain age. Even if we disagree on Star Trek vs. Star Wars, Marvel vs. DC, or whether or not Tom Bombabil should have been included in Peter Jackson’s Fellowship of the Ring.
Besides, old friends are old friends, and we should always make time for them, regardless of how infrequently that may be.