New to Boston? Time for a fresh start? Try one of these identities on for size.
THE GEEK
Always wanted to let your geek flag fly? Congratulations; you'll be hard-pressed to find a nerdier city in the union. Mae govannen, young transplant. You've arrived.
COSPLAY TIME
•Rock and Shock | October 12-14 | rockandshock.com
•Arisia | January 18-21 | arisia.org
•Boskone | February 15-17 | nesfa.org/boskone
•PAX East | TBA, Spring 2013 | east.paxsite.com
•Boston Comic Con | April 20-21 | bostoncomiccon.com
•Anime Boston | May 24-26 | animeboston.com
•ROFLcon | TBA | roflcon.org
REQUIRED READING
•Comicopia | 464 Comm Ave, Boston | 617.266.4266 | comicopia.com
•New England Comics | 215B Harvard Ave, Allston | 617.566.3509 | newenglandcomics.com
•Comicazi | 407 Highland Ave, Somerville | 617.666.2664 | comicazi.com
•Hub Comics | 19 Bow St, Somerville | 617.718.0987 | hubcomics.com
•JP Comics and Games | 603 Centre St, Jamaica Plain | 617.553.4247 | jpcomicsandgames.com
•Pandemonium Books & Games | 4 Pleasant St, Cambridge | 617.547.3721 | pandemoniumbooks.com
•The Compleat Strategist | 957 Comm Ave, Boston | 617.254.1166 | thecompleatstrategist.com
PAY HOMAGE TO NERDS OF YORE
•Museum of Science | 1 Museum of Science Driveway, Boston | 617.723.2500 | mos.org | We're still a little sore over how they cut down Leonard Nimoy's "Who Put the Bomp" intro on the IMAX films — but we'll forgive them as long as they continue to make huge fuck-off lightning bolts shoot out of the world's largest air-insulated Van de Graaff generator in the Theater of Electricity.
•MIT Museum | 265 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 617.253.5927 | web.mit.edu/museum | Holograms? Mesmerizing kinetic sculptures? Terrifying disembodied kangaroo-hopping robot legs? MIT's got it covered.
•Museum of Natural History | 26 Oxford St, Cambridge | 617.495.3045 | hmnh.harvard.edu | Revel in the Victorian splendor of the Mammal Hall and the 3,000 eerie silicate blooms in the Glass Flowers collection.
•Warren Anatomical Museum | 10 Shattuck St, Boston | 617.432.6196 | countway.harvard.edu/menuNavigation/chom/warren.html | Nestled in the Longwood area is a curio cabinet of medical oddities fit for David Lynch: among them, phrenology casts, a seven-fingered hand, and Phineas Gage's famously iron-rod-mauled skull.
POINDEXTERS ON THE TOWN
•Nerd Nite @ Middlesex | boston.nerdnite.com
•Game Over @ Good Life | facebook.com/GameOverBar
•Geeks Who Drink | geekswhodrink.com
•Barcraft Boston | facebook.com/BarcraftBoston
•Boston 8-Bit | Facebook.com/Boston8Bit
•Women In Games Boston | WIGBoston.wordpress.com