Last year, to celebrate successful completion of a project milestone, our group went on a “cultural expedition” to a glass-blowing studio where we were to learn about the craft of glass blowing and even do some of it ourselves. (By the way, it was fun.)

One of the glassblowers had been making a lot of little jokes about Frodo and Mount Doom. Working with molten glass does that to a person, I guess. When it came time to break up into smaller groups, each working with a different glassblower, the Tolkein-obsessed glassblower announced, “Okay, let’s do it this way. Lord of the Ring fans on this side of the room, Star Trek on the other.”

After a brief pause, a few of us casually crossed to the other side of the room.

Okay, maybe we’re nerds. You decide.

Hey, at least nobody asked, “What about Harry Potter?”