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Ask your nerd friend to identify these awesome people for you.

Do you hear that -- that low hum of anticipation emanating from comic-book shops and Risk tournaments throughout St. Louis? That's the sound of every nerdstuff enthusiast 'gasming as they prepare for Wizard World St. Louis Comic Con, which takes place Friday, March 22, through Sunday, March 24, at America's Center. The event will be a cornucopia of sci-fi and fantasy celebrities, workshops, costumes, collectibles and more.

Yep, it's pretty much every fanboy or fangirl's wet dream.

See also:

- Hungry Nerd's Restaurant Guide to Wizard World Comic Con St. Louis

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CBS screengrab

Justice of the supreme cap?

Just before President Barack Obama took the oath of office for his second term, Senator Claire McCaskill went all Joan Rivers on the men of the Supreme Court and their curious taste in headgear.

Justice Antonin Scalia got it the worst for an odd little chapeau that looked a bit like an overturned bowling ball bag. McCaskill actually predicted the appearance of the "weird hat" on her Twitter account before Scalia even appeared.

After all the solemnity and decorum, it was apparently just what the doctor ordered. The internet went bonkers.

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Paul Goetz has been in the film business for a while, but he can't seem to get one in the can.

Well, that's not completely true. The "Arrested Development" mega-fan has already had some success on the big screen, notably sharing a scene with George Clooney in "Up in the Air."

But Goetz, a St. Louis-native (Lindbergh, class of '04), wants something more. Namely, a role in the fourth and final season of the terribly funny TV series "Arrested Development."

He wants it so bad, he went a little Tobias Funke on the casting director.

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BREAKING! A gigantic spider has ascended the Gateway Arch and is holding the downtown riverfront district hostage.

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"Muh-ommm! You're embarrassing us!"

Earlier this week, a letter written by "Jane Pitt" of Springfield in the News-Leader caused a minor stir. At first, the paper confirmed that, yes, it was Brad Pitt the Famous Actor's mother Jane. Then it retracted that. Then yesterday they retracted the retraction.

"To clear up earlier confusion," reads a new Editor's Note, "the News-Leader has verified the letter writer is the mother of actor Brad Pitt and local businessman Doug Pitt."

Despite the confusion, Jane Pitt was crystal clear about her feelings on gay marriage throughout.

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What constitutes manliness? Is it merely the presence of certain genitalia and a Y chromosome and the ability to manufacture large quantities of testosterone? Or is it something more complex and metaphysical like, say, knowing how to knot a necktie or possessing an understanding of certain complexities of life like the infield fly rule? Or is it merely a fondness for salty snacks?

Fortunately, the good folks at Combos have worked out an algorithm for determining civic manliness. (An accomplishment that, admittedly, pales beside figuring out how to insert cheese into the middle of pretzels.) And this year they've decided St. Louis is the seventh manliest city in America. That's three spots more manly than we were last year (and one spot less many than we were two years ago, but let's forget about that).

What makes us so darned manly? Sorry, damned manly.

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The St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank (one of 12 such regional banks in our nation) does cool stuff sometimes. One of its missions is to "disseminate economic research that is useful to a wide range of audiences, including the general public." Hence this simple video primer on the crisis in Greece, and how it's instructive for us Americans.:

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From these humbe beginnings springs a summer blockbuster.

Horror, rom com, science fiction -- your days are numbered. Hollywood has a new genre of film to exploit: board game movies. In the wake of the that-looks-so-bad-it-might-be-good Battleship (which is released tomorrow), a number of films are in the works that are inspired by, named after or based on board games. Childhood favorites such as Monopoly, Risk, Candyland and Quija may eventually come to a theater near you. We can't say whether these games-turned-films will be blockbuster hits or blockbuster flops, but we can say we'd (probably) pay matinee prices to see these board-game inspired movies, if only Hollywood would make them.More »

Elite Daily bills itself as "The premier online destination for aspiring men and women of Generation-Y," which explains why I'd never heard of it. (I'm far too old and not nearly as aspirational as I used to be.) These young go-getters made a list of "The Most Dangerous Colleges To Go To," and our town's Washington University showed up at number five.

The photo to the right is the image Elite Daily selected to illustrate the dangerous Washington University. It appears to be a veritable viper's nest of sin and human misery, don't it?

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Thanks, I will.

Kiplinger's has declared St. Louis to be the cheapest of the cheap. I feel I should defend our honor, but I am wearing a dead man's jacket at the moment, so I'll let it slide with naught but a glower. In compiling its list of the "10 Best Cities for Cheapskates," Kiplinger's ranked us tops because this is where your dollar stretches the furthest.

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