I just loved this speech John Hodgman made at the Radio and TV Correspondents’ Dinner yesterday. Hodgman spoke for all us nerds, perhaps even including the president himself. And best of all, while talking about that fine nerd novel Dune, he showed the president a painting of a giant sand worm from Dune by John Schoenherr. (It shows up at 11:20.)
I grew up a couple miles from Schoenherr and spent much of my nerdy youth with his son Ian, hanging out in his fabulous old barn-slash-studio, filled with his classic science fiction art, new paintings of bears and geese, assorted Japanese swords, many cameras, a complete collection of National Geographic, and lots of bones and stuffed animal heads. I’m grateful to Hodgman for bringing back those times, and for showing off the work of a wonderful artist. I return Hodgman the final words of his speech: I extend that most American of greetings–I have been and always shall be your friend. Live long and prosper.
June 20th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
A wonderfully witty and highly inspired speech, though I’m only slightly affected by nerdishness myself
But doesn’t the president play his part gracefully, while many of the members of the audience look bored, boring and awkward. What were they expecting?
June 20th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
@Jonas – they must have been under the delusion that they were jocks…
June 21st, 2009 at 12:15 am
If you think he’s funny here, then there’s a film floating around in which he read from his entry in a state by state almanac published last year.
On a more serious note, he has done his share writing against evolution denialists, which, I am sure, Carl can attest to.
June 21st, 2009 at 9:50 am
Is there a secret Hodgman-Zimmer link we don’t know about, like Yale or Connecticut or Macs?
I liked the speech, too. Bush was/is really a jock. I went to Andover the year after Bush left; the nerd-jock schism was the major organizer of student life. “Head cheerleader” (Bush) was the center of the jock world. Somehow, Hodgman knew this. Even with his basketsball, Obama has a lot of nerd-geek in him.
Recommendation: Jon Coulton, a frequent Hodgman collaborator, is a very funny and talented singer-songwriter who has a number of great songs about or derived from nerd life (www.jonathancoulton.com; “Code Monkey”, “Your Brains”, “Mandelbrot Set”). Also a Connecticut Yalie.
June 21st, 2009 at 1:45 pm
@ johnk -
Well if there’s a secret link, then I’m sure it would have to include Rick Moody (His entry in the “State By State” almanac is CT; while Hodgman’s is on MA.). Both Moody and Hodgman are featured in a short film produced by Portland, OR’s famous Powells bookstore, and I think Hodgman is absolutely hilarious in it. (For more information about the film, you can look here:
http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9780971592322)
June 21st, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Wonderful!
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:24 pm
And left unanswered: Shai Hulud, thumper, and Water of Life.
June 23rd, 2009 at 12:37 pm
[...] Long & Prosper (Revenge of the Nerds) Carl Zimmer in his blog, The Loom, [...]
June 27th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Freakin’ Awesome!
September 18th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
[...] exhibition. – New York’s section of “Where’s Cool?’. – John Hodgman: I Hear They’re Going to Make Evolution Legal. – Statue Of Liberty’s Crown has reopened. – Patents may be harming our ability to innovate. [...]
April 8th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
[...] Today, I’m very sad to say, the artist John Schoenherr passed away. Among his honors, Schoenherr earned a Caldecott Award for his paintings for the book Owl Moon. His dark, textured artwork did justice to all manner of life, from a Canada goose to a giant sandworm. [...]
July 6th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
[...] In April, I noted with sadness the passing of the artist (and friend) John Schoenherr. (His New York Times obituary appeared a few days later.) His son, the artist Ian Schoenherr, has been sifting through his mountain of paintings and other effects, and yesterday he launched a blog to publish interesting things as he comes across them. It’s a wonderful way to celebrate a wonderful life full of bears, geese, astronauts, and, of course, giant alien sandworms. [...]