Behind the allure of bikinis and board shorts, Miami residents possess a sea of Star Trek costumes.
At least that's one conclusion you might draw from a recent article in Movodo, a real estate website. The criteria used to determine the winners, while not scientific, is telling of the "nerd demographic" that our city has nurtured over the years. Here is a quick rundown of the data used to determine the winners:
- Number of annual comic book, video game, anime and sci-fi / fantasy conventions
- People per comic book store
- People per video game store
- People per traditional gaming store
- People per computer store
- People per bookstore
- People per LARPing (Live Action Role Playing) group
- People per science museum
- Distance to the nearest Renaissance faire
Somehow, the Magic City eeked out the number 8 slot on the list.
To some, this might not come as a surprise. The annual FLORIDA SUPERCON convention draws crowds in the thousands, including many from Central Florida, which is even nerdier, according to some responses in the comments section of the post. Folks from North Florida tend to flock to the wide range of super conventions in Atlanta, the top ranking city of the 'study.'
Strangely, when you take a dive into the North American LARP meetup list, you only find one organization in Miami-- the apparently defunct but appropriately named Bloody Beach. Orlando, on the other hand, has nine to its name. But if you want to skip the bar for the night and get your vampire on, local groups like the Masquerade can be found on Meetup.com.
Local comic shops like Mac's Comics, A&M Comic Books and Villains keep the dream alive in print form, with Books and Books doubling as a comic shop and book store.
Science Museums? Well, we kind of have one and a half right now. And judging from the designs we've seen, we're pretty sure the new Miami Science Museum at Museum Park in downtown Miami will be a new nerd mecca upon completion.
We should probably take the computer stores metric with a grain of salt, since every time I go into an Apple Store I meet foreigners who plan on shipping their new computers overseas. Somehow we have such a surplus of nerd gear that exporting it is actually a huge job creator, warranting its own conventions.
If reading all of this is making you want to embrace the inner nerd, never fear! The Renaissance Festival is here. Literally.
The festival has made a stop in South Dade's Cauley Square Historic Village, and will be there through Sunday, April 14. Just don't tell them you own a computer.
Remember that being a nerd isn't bad. Just check out the video below. If you are a nerd, you are in pretty good company. And if you have any nerd credentials that we neglected to mention, just drop us a line in the comments below, or shoot us a tweet to @WLRN.
