Geek of the Week: Shigeru Miyamoto, Bertie Bott

Welcome to "Geek of the Week"; here we honor one Muggle geek and one Wizard geek who embody Ravenclaw spirit...
when they succeed, they soar, and when they fail, they fail spectacularly!

Shigeru Miyamoto (b. 1952)
"To create a new standard, you have to be up for that challenge and really enjoy it."

There was life before Nintendo -- but wasn't life so much more fun after the advent of that gaming system?  Shigeru Miyamoto is the imaginative mind behind such game series as The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Star Fox, and (of course) the world of Mario and his brother Luigi.

But wait!  There's more!  Miyamoto was also the lead designer of the DS, the 3DS, and the Wii.  He also plays the mandolin and carries a tape measure with him wherever he goes (you know, for guessing the size of things and then double-checking. No, really! That's what he does!).

Feel free to play some emulated Super Mario Brothers below (but turn down your volume if you do, fair warning, this stuff gets loud...):

+ other great arcade games!
Read Miyamoto's profile in The New Yorker magazine.
Find out more about Shigeru Miyamoto on Wikipedia.
Inspired?  Check out Muggle Studies this month!

Bertie Bott (b. 1935)

Bertie Bott accidentally included a pair of dirty socks in his jelly bean experimentation... and his famous Every Flavour Beans were born!

What's your favorite flavor?  Dirt?  Rotten Eggs?  Black Pepper?  Earwax?  Please don't say "earthworm" -- then we can never be friends.

Find out more about Bertie Bott on the Harry Potter Wiki.