Elegy for Geek Culture

Patton Oswalt on the death (and inevitable Jean Gray-like resurrection) of geek culture. He hits the high notes of 80's haut-nerd life, and then spirals into a glorious fantasia of otaku:

Since there’s no going back—no reverse on the out-of-control locomotive we’ve created—we’ve got to dump nitro into the engines. We need to get serious, and I’m here to outline my own personal fantasy: We start with lists of the best lists of boobs. Every Beatles song, along with every alternate take, along with every cover version of every one of their songs and every alternate take of every cover version, all on your chewing-gum-sized iPod nano. Goonies vs. Saw. Every book on your Kindle. Every book on Kindle on every Kindle. The Human Centipede done with the cast of The Hills and directed by the Coen brothers.

Possibly the best essay of the year.