Where are your games? Displayed?

I look back at the stuff I had hanging on my walls when I was in my twenties and all I can think is 'Tacky tacky tacky...'. The only thing that has survived the years is a block-mounted poster of The Blues Brothers (one of my top three movies and possibly number one) and even then this hangs in the garage/man cave - I would never have it in the house again.

I leave the decoration of the rest of the house proper to my wife who has better taste than me. She has also recently embraced minimalism and is reducing any remaining clutter daily. I like this. We have a lot of the children's 'art' on the walls these days. It makes the house feel like a home and more importantly, makes the children feel like it's their home.

Shellhead wrote: Is your home decorated in a way that expresses your interests and personality? How so?

Yeah, sort of. We've only been in our house just shy of a year. Most of the stuff on the walls are paintings and drawings my wife did. Some of them are pretty random. I think she paints & draws very well and like to support it. Most of our pictures around the house are of us; mostly wedding and honeymoon stuff because that's mostly when we've had a camera with. I'm in my living room right now and there are seven pictures of us in various places. I'd be happy if there were zero but she likes 'em and that's good enough reason to have them out. I did put a limit on it though. Seven is already a lot.

When we moved in we had all these great furniture ideas and then we found out how much that stuff costs. So we've mostly got IKEA stuff that isn't super tacky. It's primarily functional without looking spartan.

Shellhead wrote: Should people be ashamed of nerd culture? Why? Is mainstream culture better? In what ways?

No to all questions here. But people should decide if they're enthusiastic about whatever culture their into, enthusiastic about being into a culture, or a walking advertisement. I fall into the first category. I don't have a single "culture"-related thing hanging in our house, and most of my shirts are random things I got for cheap. I grew up in a small farming & football town; I don't really have any connection to comics or Dr Who or any of that stuff. I like the LoTR movies, some fantasy books, and board games, but I got into most of that stuff recently enough that I don't identify myself with it.

I don't push my interests on to people if they don't see to already be interested and receptive. I equate doing that to being that one guy that won't shut up about some college lacrosse team I don't care about. No amount of evangelism is going to make me start caring.

Shellhead wrote: Has nerd culture become more mainstream in the last 20 years? To what degree?

To an extremely high degree, at least for me. When I grew up I knew maybe five other kids that had a video game system. Now I can't name five that don't. Twenty years ago A Game of Thrones would have been a low-budget PBS show or straight to VHS release.

Shellhead wrote: What kind of people do you welcome into your home on a regular basis? Extended family, most likely, but what about friends? Friends that share your interests? Friends that don't share your interests? Neighbors? Co-workers? More to the point, to what degree do you feel the need to conceal your interests from the people that you invite into your home? Why?

We have all kinds of friends and family. Got some buddies that I used to room and/or be in a band with, and we mostly drink & tell stories. Got other friends that are into games and we mostly game. Got some buddies that are a mix of the two. Different sides of the family are into games more than others, too. My wife gives everybody a tour because she's still excited that we have a house, so nothing's hidden. I'll talk about guitars or video games or board games if asked, but that's about as far as it needs to go.

At least until I get way too drunk and then WE ARE GOING TO PUT THE WHO LIVE AT THE ISLE OF WIGHT IN THE DVD PLAYER. THIS IS HAPPENING.

JonJacob wrote: I still have some nerd shirts. An old Star Trek one, Green Lantern... maybe a Batman one kicking around. But that isn't really me... it's just a costume, hell, I don't even read Green Lantern, I just liked the logo on this one shirt.

Damn straight.

Addendum: although today's youth seem to think the Green Lantern logo has more to do with Sheldon Cooper rather than the Corps. That's cool though. If Sheldon can bring more obscure heroes into the light I say go for it. I'm even thinking of picking up an Aquaman t-shirt or two, especially since the Geoff John's books were fun to read and Aquaman kicks ass in Injustice: Gods Among Us.

*sorry for interrupting this discussion with over caffeinated rambling*

Space Ghost wrote: I'm curious where one obtains an inflatable sarcophagus. I tried google but didn't see anything resembling what I envision you having.

At Bed, Bath, and Beyond, I reckon.

I'm in the same boat, but opposite.

We're moving to Phoenix sooner rather than later, and because my wife is an "organized hoarder" (read: everything is in neat little piles but should never have been saved) we have spent a week going through items such as...
- Convenience store receipts from 7 years ago
- Directions to toys that our children haven't owned in years, and worse, toys that never REALLY needed instructions to begin with (read: insert batteries, turn to ON to play)
- Victoria's Secret catalogs that might as well be carved on stone tablets as old as they are
- Every single picture or homework bit either of my kids (read: 12, 5) have ever produced
- Maternity clothes and "big girl" (read: her words, not mine...it's not my job to call my wife fat, it's my job to call her amazing) clothes from the "I'm going to drink daily, starting at noon" years (read: Size 8,6, and 4) as well as a huge box of purses that she didn't know she had, as well as "professional suits and skirts" that she will never, ever, ever need again since they DON'T FUCKING FIT and are from 1996-99.

So, we're going through the GREAT PURGE OF 2014 because I refuse to move refuse. (<--see what I did there?)

SuperflyTNT wrote:

Space Ghost wrote: I'm curious where one obtains an inflatable sarcophagus. I tried google but didn't see anything resembling what I envision you having.

At Bed, Bath, and Beyond, I reckon.

Nice, Pete

I will add that i do like the look of a hand made, wooden crokinole board hanging on the wall. I think fewer than %5 of the folks that would come into my house would think it was anything more than some hand crafted art we picked up on some travel.

Not sure where I'd put it, and I don't feel _that_ strongly about it, so probably won't happen. Kind of neat though.

Space Ghost wrote: I'm curious where one obtains an inflatable sarcophagus. I tried google but didn't see anything resembling what I envision you having.

I bought mine at a Minneapolis bookstore called Dreamhaven, about 20 years ago. Miraculously, it has survived all these years with only one tiny puncture wound, in the base. It cost about $25. When I did a Google image search just now, I saw a partial picture of one early on, from Ebay. Somebody recently sold their inflatable sarcophagus for $11.50. I can't find my old box of photos, and the lighting isn't ideal in my living room at this time of night, so here is the Ebay pic, plus one other that I found online as "inflatable mummy":

thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/m/m8Ma60JRx2rgEL3G4eNIwTA/96.jpg

robertfishbone.com/wp-content/uploads/20...Scream-and-Mummy.jpg

My sarcophagus stands nearly five feet tall.

I'm going to buy one of these ridiculously expensive throwback Bo Jackson jerseys, because that guy is awesome/inspirational and I need some airy clothing for cycling to work anyway. I also don't expect anyone here to recognise that, so I hope showcasing my interests around so obtrusively is okay with you guys.

SuperflyTNT wrote: I'm in the same boat, but opposite.

We're moving to Phoenix sooner rather than later, and because my wife is an "organized hoarder" (read: everything is in neat little piles but should never have been saved) we have spent a week going through items such as...
- Convenience store receipts from 7 years ago
- Directions to toys that our children haven't owned in years, and worse, toys that never REALLY needed instructions to begin with (read: insert batteries, turn to ON to play)
- Victoria's Secret catalogs that might as well be carved on stone tablets as old as they are
- Every single picture or homework bit either of my kids (read: 12, 5) have ever produced
- Maternity clothes and "big girl" (read: her words, not mine...it's not my job to call my wife fat, it's my job to call her amazing) clothes from the "I'm going to drink daily, starting at noon" years (read: Size 8,6, and 4) as well as a huge box of purses that she didn't know she had, as well as "professional suits and skirts" that she will never, ever, ever need again since they DON'T FUCKING FIT and are from 1996-99.

So, we're going through the GREAT PURGE OF 2014 because I refuse to move refuse. (<--see what I did there?)

Sure, sure, just keep pretending those Victoria Secret catalogues were hers...

Schweig! wrote: I'm going to buy one of these ridiculously expensive throwback Bo Jackson jerseys, because that guy is awesome/inspirational and I need some airy clothing for cycling to work anyway. I also don't expect anyone here to recognise that, so I hope showcasing my interests around so obtrusively is okay with you guys.

Weirdly, Bo Jackson was my favorite baseball player. I don't have his jersey, but I do have about 100 different baseball/football cards -- the only cards I really care to keep anymore.

Inflatable sarcophagus- Haha. Sounds like something you get an "adult" toy store. If you check on Amazon I'm sure it says users that bought this also purchased Triple Ripple Buttplug and Ballgag. Didn't the gimp come out of one of those in Pulp Fiction?