Hello Friday: The Fiercest Nerds on the Block [Oct. 2-8]

placentateddyIs it just me or was this a really crazy week at (1-year) ole Fierce and Nerdy. We had placenta bears, religion, and cemeteries and it ain’t even Halloween yet! But here are the best of the best comments from the week.

HELLO FRIDAY

re: Guess the Random Lyric [Friday], in which guest lyric-giver CH tried to win the week with “Brown Sugar” by the Rolling Stones.

Joshua: Arg, I’m awful at these, so rather than simply try to guess it I’m going to, by process of elimination help the rest of you by saying with some hesitation that I’m RELATIVELY sure this song isn’t from Slayer :p


PHILOSOPHICAL MONDAY

re: Fierce in Seattle: That Time of the Year, in which Kelli Bielema encouraged all women to get an annual mammogram — even if you’re under 40. All of the comments were great, but I chose this one, b/c she used the word “boobies.”

Peg: very cool. I had a mammo b/c I was having pain in my boobies and they thought there may have been abnormalities so I had to have an MRI. It was very scary but everything came back ok. We kind of decided it was due to an increase in caffeine as I had just started drinking “water joe”. I don’t drink coffee or soda so I think my body was just freaking a bit.  Anyhoo, now I drink green tea and my boobs don’t hurt anymore but I’m still scared.


OH, IT’S TUESDAY

re: Book Simple: The Perfect Short Story for Office Drones, in which our newest blogger, Amy Brown admits she doesn’t like short stories, but then goes on to explain why Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener” just might be the perfect short story for office workers everywhere.

JWR: Ever looked up any crit. on Bartleby? It’s amusing, but more than anything, I think Bartleby survived because it’s so weirdly ambiguous. What is that point beyond the smile you get from his initial refusals? Why is he so dogmatically steadfast in his determination to perform no unpleasent chores? This story seemed like it was a satire of something pretty specific and of its period, so I started reading essays on it. Far from there being a critical consensus, the story has been read through every lens conceivable from Marxism to Nihilism to Buddhism. I can’t help but think the work survived because any theory can be projected on that blank wall. By the way, I hope you won’t reject the entire short story form because of the New Yorker. Check out the Selected Shorts podcast–that’s my advice.


WOW! IT’S WEDNESDAY

re: The New Doctor Who Logo, in which we revealed the revealing of the new Doctor Who logo and declared that we didn’t like it. One commenter totally agreed.

AmyQOTWF: I do not like it in the box. I do not like it with a fox. It’s so…Jack in the Box. (Please don’t get stabby. That child needs a mother.)


DEAR THURSDAY

re: Secret Life of a Nerd Girl: To Visit Jim, in which Gudrun Cram-Drach did a good job of convincing us that the Père Lachaise in France is pretty much the creepiest cemetery in the history of ever.

keldoo: One of my top suggestions for people visiting Paris is this cemetary. I love it! I’m sort of gross in the way that I love graveyards, but really, I see them as interesting stories dying (har har) to be told. What I love about Père Lachaise is that it’s super-Edgar Allen Poe-like. It is right out of a novel about old cemeteries and I almost was ready for a headless horseman to appear… I’m so glad you went & I dig your story! I would actually love to have something like that happen to me on my next visit there instead of a 3rd grader field trip at the Jim grave. Lame!