Revenge of the Nerd

You may have noticed a new box on the right-hand column featuring The Nerd Test, a cute little quiz to help you measure your nerdiness or lack thereof. (And, no, that’s not a picture of me above on the left. But it’s close.) Around the same time I found the test, Annie sent me a link to a story musing over whether Barack Obama is our Nerd-in-Chief. Annie and I proudly wear the mantle of nerds and will happily raise Alex to be a nerd as well. (Of course, Annie and Alex hide their nerdy exterior beneath a beautiful and stylish exterior, whereas I actually look more nerdish than I am, if that’s possible.)

Take the quiz and see how you do. However, keep in mind that the quiz tests more for the computer/mathematics strain of nerdishness than the arts and culture variety. That being said, I still scored a 62, making me nerdier than roughly two thirds of all the people who’ve taken the test, most of whom have built a computer with their bare hands. Just call me a nerd for all seasons.

I thus offer the following “Are You an Art Blog By Bob Type of Nerd?” Quiz:

1. Do you have your own art blog?

2. Have you ever gone to a wedding and gushed over a painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence as much as you did over the bride?

3. At the same wedding, did you reel off the names of the four top English portraitists of the reign of George III as if they had gone to YOUR wedding?

4. Have you ever had other museum visitors ask YOU questions rather than the people working there because they’ve overheard you talking to your spouse and friends?

5. Do you covet art books like a crack addict looking for a fresh pipe?

6. Do you save art calendars for years after they’ve expired just to look at the pictures?

7. Do you look at a painting and think of three other paintings similar to it but done by other people?

8. Did your spouse enlist her friends to find a Hawaii state quarter to put in your Christmas stocking and thus complete your collection, which you see as tiny sculptures?

9. Have you ever eaten at Hank’s Place in Chadds Ford, PA, hoping that Andrew Wyeth and Helga will stroll in for pancakes?

10. Have you ever compared a work of art to an episode of Seinfeld, a Shakespearean sonnet, or a Woody Allen movie and then blogged about it?

If you answered yes to most of these, you qualify as a full nerd. Go out and get a pocket protector! (If you answered yes to all of these, we may have been separated at birth. E-mail me.) Either way, embrace your inner nerd and celebrate (don’t curb) your enthusiasms, whether they be Starry Night or Star Trek, Pollock or politics, da Vinci or da Bears. The nerds shall inherit the earth, or at least have fun trying.

[Please feel free to include your own most nerdish art moments or experiences in the comments. It’s OK, you’re among friends.]

UPDATE: I took the 2.0 version of the quiz that has some literature and other arts-related questions and achieved “Cool Nerd King” status. Now that's an oxymoron if there ever was one.