Yes, I Am This Much of a Geek

[mabfan]

Dear folks at Saturday Night Live,

As someone who is admittedly into role-playing games, Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc., I wanted to let you know how incredibly funny I found the sketch from last week's show in which Paris Hilton is advertising a phone sex line for nerds.

However, I do have one minor complaint. The references made during the sketch to things like a "nerf herder" and "pon farr" made it clear that your staff had done its research. Actually knowing what these things referred to made the sketch that much more hilarious.

However, I was disappointed when your "dungeon master" character told the unseen Dungeons & Dragons nerd on the other end of the phone line to throw a saving throw on his twelve-sided die. Anyone who has ever played Dungeons & Dragons knows that saving throws are thrown on twenty-sided dice, not twelve-sided.

Sincerely,
Michael A. Burstein

(P.S. Yes, I agree with you that it's pathetic that I have nothing better to do with my time than pick on this little point.)

Note to all: Yes, I really did send this email to NBC. Including the P.S.

Comments

[zhaneel69.livejournal.com]

So cute.

And honestly, they so stole that idea from S*P.

Or at least, that is my response from reading this only.

Zhaneel

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Actually, I just emailed Mr. Milholland to tell him about the sketch, because of his whole Nerdrotica storyline. I don't think he thinks they stole the idea from him, but yeah, he was first...

[querldox.livejournal.com]

Actually, if I recall correctly, he got the idea from an actual "Ask the Tech Girl" website.

[arib.livejournal.com]

Do let us know if they respond.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I doubt they will respond, as their automatic response warns that they don't have time to respond personally to email. But if they do, I'll be sure to report it.

[angwantibo.livejournal.com]

The P.S. really makes you sound like a nerd. Good for you! If I had watched the show (and been sober at the time), it would have irked me, too.

Now, in Tunnels and Trolls, we used the 12-sided die a lot more. In fact, one of my best friends in childhood, David Moskowitz wrote a Tunnels and Trolls adventure.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Did Tunnels & Trolls use the 12-sided die for saving throws? In this sketch, they specifically identified her as a dungeon master for Dungeons & Dragons. (I have to admit that they did refer to her as a "level 8" Dungeon Master, and have her say she was a "Lawful Neutral druidic monk" with a "vorpal sword," and I suppose I could have raised objections to those as well. But it was her exhortation to roll a saving throw on a 12-sided die that really irked me.)

[angwantibo.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I don't remember saving throws at all for T&T. But we never used 20-sided dice.

[aberrantangels]

Saving throws rolls in T&T were 2d6, doubles add and roll over, plus the relevant attribute, attempting to reach a target number determined by the level of the saving roll (20 at level 1, increasing by 5 for each level after that). Now you know, and knowing is half the Mandatory Educational Content Segment™.

[angwantibo.livejournal.com]

Thanks for bringing back the memories! It was 2d6, not 1d12 in T&T. I forgot about all the praying for doubles.

[fhwqhgads.livejournal.com]

we bow before our king.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

We acknowledge your presence. :-)

[beccaweccavt.livejournal.com]

That makes me feel better that I also recognized the term "pon farr" in that sketch, which caused me to fall off of my couch, due to a mixture of laughter and inebriation.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

That was what made the sketch work for me; all the references were accurate.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Hee hee hee hee hee. I like it.

(And I only know what Pon Farr is from amyegm, who also introduced me to the concept of slashfic, freshman year of college.)

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

I probably haven't watched SNL in 10 years... has the quality improved, or do you think this was a lucky fluke?

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

We don't really watch SNL that much, so I'd say that this sketch's quality was a fluke. Our usual method of watching SNL is that we record the episode on the TiVo and then watch only one segment, Weekend Update, which is usually quite funny. (Well, except when they bring on another comedian to do commentary or pretend to be some other celebrity.) However, as I was fast-forwarding through the show, I spotted a woman in a wizard's cap, then a woman in a Trek uniform from the original series...and I had to find out what it was about.

[arib.livejournal.com]

If it's okay with you, I'd like to put this on metaquotes.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Permission granted, as long as there's a link back here. (If anyone wants to comment to me, this is where I'll read it.)

[sdelmonte]

Didn't see this - like vettecat I haven't watched in years - but it seems reaction to this is split between fen who found it funny and fen who found it insulting.

The really funny thing is that I doubt anyone at SNL knows just how weird fen can be, or what oddness goes on at cons behind (hopefully) closed doors.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I am squarely in the "found it funny" camp, obviously; it reminded me of William Shatner's "Get a Life" sketch a few years back.

As for what people at SNL know or don't know about the weirdness of fen...my bet is that they know enough, which is where the sketch came from, I imagine.

[doeeyedbunny.livejournal.com]

I even watched some of that episode and it seems I missed the best part. Darn it!

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I am sure they'll broadcast it again. And knowing the Internet, it's possible someone has already made it available for downloading...

Just for the record...

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

You are freakin' hilarious. Just sayin'.

Re: Just for the record...

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

Hee! That's too funny. And reminds me of my gaming group mocking the D&D movie for dorky things that only dorkalicious dorks like us would know or care about.

Let us know if you get a reply?

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

If I get a reply, I will be sure to mention it in a separate post.

[oenone-borealis.livejournal.com]

[Forgot to follow the link before commenting. Ooops.]

Huzzah for geekery! Thanks to that entwined_in_ivy and I have been saying "Naughty hobbits go to Mordor" for the past several days and confusing everyone. That evening was a pleasant surprise.

Hmm... I wonder how just how many letter the staff will receive from D&D geeks. Well, I decree you our representative. Kudos.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you appreciated the letter, and will humbly serve as our representative to the powers that be over at SNL.

And that letter made my day.

[lucretia-borgia.livejournal.com]

(But this stupid script won't let me post a blank message field, relying only on the subject line. Why? If I had hit a single space, leaving a blank character there, would it let me? No! So I have to write some garbage here.)

Re: And that letter made my day.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Given how other parts of your day had gone, I'm glad to hear that the letter made your day.

You are so cool.

[sethcohen.livejournal.com]

I'm going to forward the link to your post to many friends. They will be equally amused.

Re: You are so cool.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Why, thank you!

If your friends enjoy this, they should feel free to check out all my other fun-filled posts...

Re: You are so cool.

[sethcohen.livejournal.com]

In responce to my posting the link, Lee replied: LOL! That was a bit better than the brick wall of shame!

I must not be enough of a geek, because I don't know what he means. I did say "This is the blog of SF writer Michael A. Burstein. This post is especially important to gamers/geeks." Our group doesn't do D20, but I cc'd one other person who does. I'll post his response if I get one.

Re: You are so cool.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Hm. I have no idea what the brick wall of shame is...

Re: You are so cool.

[sethcohen.livejournal.com]

This is apparently what he was referring to.

http://www.rockandrollconfidential.com/hall/index.php

He recommends reading the captions. He clearly has more spare time than I do.

[querldox.livejournal.com]

If you look at these three links to Google Video searches, I think the entire sketch is given, along with stills of the characters during it (there's some repetition from link to link; I couldn't manage to get it all in one link).

http://video.google.com/videopreview?q=line&docid=8826843651499881431
http://video.google.com/videopreview?q=roll&docid=8826843651499881431
http://video.google.com/videopreview?q=Rohan&docid=8826843651499881431

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I'm going to repost this as a new post and give you credit for finding it. People might not see it buried down here.