As the the peeps in the Big Bang Theory we are a bunch of over educated boys gone.. older. So we decided to have a go at playing war again, just like kids. In other words it was Paintball time.
Seven of us made it there through the hardships of being far away out in the woods outside of Stockholm. These where however seven damn brave samurai. Yup, damn right we were.
Realizing we where playing pros with pro guns and shit it was a bit more scary, but we had a blast anyway.
Besides it was a good opportunity to try out my new GoPro mounts. Sadly I have no other fast way to mix my footage than using MS live movie maker which keeps messing and bugging out.
Sadly I have no other fast way to mix my footage than using MS live movie maker which keeps messing and bugging out.
The evening was rounded off with some nice Indian Food with birthday boy Stefan who I think might be hurting the most of all of us. So it was almost like an Indonesian style birthday event, except for the cake.
"Nerd" might not be famous of being the most attractive social status. Specially not in the US. But nerds are defined climbing the ladder of popularity. I was thinking of this because when hearing the mention of games someone at HEC Paris imminently comented with some stereotyping of elf dressing people in the woods (Clearly "live action role playing" LARP). I remember when I relieved that I did a few of those games. This was followed by my friends great surprise at my nerdiness. For this was back in San Francisco where nerds are nerds but LARP nerds are much greater nerds. But nerds are not the same internationally. For example it's kind of cool to be a nerd in Sweden. Well as long as one embraces it and goes with it all out.
There are also some preconceived ideas of what Nerdery is. Here are two examples.
This first one is a tad more fantasy LARPing with magical powers a la America. I remember when I was first shown this. I have to admit I did laugh quite a bit about the marshmallow lightning bolts. After all what a waste. Marshmallows are for eating.
Here is another example of LARP but the European version, or German to be exact. It tends to seem a little more interesting. Given that the prodigy playing does help. But also the seriousness of the nerdiness. I remember my brother Patrik going to the Czech Republic partly to get a hold of some authentic plate mail gloves for his LARP gear. I figure if you go for something do it properly, at least it's way cooler if your the best at it..
Maybe this is why Nerdery and specially computer games are so well un-nerdy or main stream back home in Sweden. Cause we're good at it? or is it cause everyone kinda play's, making the minority situation defunct?
Here in France it's a tad different though. Nerds are still Nerds and the cool peeps need to wear that trendy shirt or whatever. But it's definitively going our way (yeah the nerdy way). As popular culture gets more and more inspired by movies and video games the experts on these are the nerds. Thus they rise in popularity as they are seen as the originals and early adopters.
But it seems as in cultures where it's less accepted to be nerdy the nerds are nerdier and more well nerdy and well less hard core.. Why might this be?
Anyway here in Paris I tend to connect more with the gamers just like everywhere else. Last night we visited movie maker and game enthusiast Robin to drink wine, watch one of his films and discuss games. I have to say I'm a bit jealous. Seriously where else can you at least drink good wine while you nerd away (also jealous of his radio controlled Wall-E unit). Ok true. back home it's beer but it's just not the same. Although I do love beer it just doesn't seem as refined.
One of Robint's many gadgets of multimedia art. A light saber or shower head, old hand grenade, ancient handheld flash mount and shower nob. Either way really cool or really nerdy, or Both!
More on games after the weekend as I have a board gaming date with a bunch of French gamers.
From the left: Anders my good friend and equally geeky boardgamer, Eva my mom trying out Dixit for the first time
As someone might have discovered reading about my Stockholm nights I'm quite the nerd coming back home. This is the cold truth of is. I am a nerd but not only a gaming nerd. My maybe bigger passion is board games and there are few more enjoyable things than enjoying an evening of board games with friends. Oh chess and monopoly might pop up for you right now but this is not the case. Nor is it "fia med knuff" for Swedish people. Board games are much more diverse and complicated than this. To check out a few good ones one can visit http://boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgame . The games we played where Dixit and Power Grid. Two very nice games.
Although powergrid might be even more fun on 4 people instead of 3 as we played it. Dixit worked well on 4 people. this even despite the different gaming experience we had.
Autumn nights when the rain if coming down and the wet darkness is creeping in around the cute little Swedish houses board-games are a excellent pass time.
