I came across this pre-trick-or-treating photo while rummaging around a box in my mother’s house, looking for photos for a documentary, and today seemed like a good day to share it. In case it’s not clear, this lineup includes a robot, a ninja, a pirate, and a zombie. (I’m the tall one.) All we were missing was a monkey, and we would’ve had a complete geek zodiac.
Thanks to Jarrod, Jeff, and Stephen for permission to share this one with the world, roughly 20 years after it was taken.
Geek Studies 
I like the idea of a geek zodiac. Got me thinking what else would be there. A zombie?
Hey, I am a zombie. (I mean, in that photo above, anyway. And before I have my coffee some mornings.) What are you trying to say? Are you hating on my zombie costume?
Credit for the concept of “geek zodiac” is shared with one of my anonymous interviewees from the dissertation. Speaking of his work in children’s television, he described how TV shows tend to cycle between ninjas, monkeys, and robots. I’d suspect your “sign” on the geek zodiac would be based on what was popular on TV when you were a kid. It’s harder to keep track of than constellation position, but I hear we’ve screwed that up over time too.
Sorry ’bout that. I was focused on the ‘ninja pirate robot’ trinity that I’ve heard touted more than once.
Anyway, I belatedly remembered that the geek zodiac has been done, and fairly close to your idea.
Okay, that’s way more comprehensive than anything I had in mind. Maybe I should’ve taken this beyond the one-sentence mention in my dissertation. I could be selling laminated placemats right now.
(But I don’t feel like I fit in the Year of the Spy…)
Holy crap, dude. I totally was born in the Year of the Spy.
do all zombies have acid-wash jeans w/holes in the knee?
i hope so (in the real zombieworld)…
If the zombie apocalypse had happened in 1991, then yes, I think some of “the infected” would’ve been caught in their old acid wash jeans. Today, I suspect you’d see more than a few zombies in somewhat ill-fitting skinny jeans.
What I really want to see is a zombie apocalypse that falls at just the right moment to catch a few of the undead in parachute pants.