Geek Wars

I was enticed into Amilal (only saved from becoming an unspeakable den of trendiness by the fact that it is near impossible to find) for a nightcap last night, and discovered two eminent China bloggers - erudite young Americans (a rare phenomenon, yes, but it can happen) - in residence with their laptops.

As the third member of our little group observed, it was quite uncanny how relentlessly geeky the sequence of topics they discussed (and researched online) was; they seemed to be trying to outdo each other in geekiness. Nothing ungeeky seemed to be permitted.

I can't now recall the entire list of things we talked about, but this is a representative sample:

1) The new Star Trek movie

2) The Watchmen movie

3) The superiority of the original Watchmen comics

4) Etymology

5) Profanity

6) The etymology of profanity (specifically, how old is motherfucker?)

7) Favourite Lost characters, and whether their deaths would be distressing (or permanent!)

8) Possible explanations of the Lost universe

9) Flann O'Brien, as he relates to 8) above

10) Flann O'Brien - which is his best novel, or the best one for a first experience?

I kid you not. And that is only a taster. They kept this up for two hours without a break! Perhaps the last one is finally straying out of pure geek territory - though maybe I only say that because I am literary snob and an O'Brien fan.