Friday, June 15, 2007

More Nerd News in Brief

Is everybody truly working for the weekend? I'm just asking, 'cause, y'know, it's pretty much here. Is it okay if I just go ahead and stop working? Between you and me, I'm pretty much tapped.

Thankfully, I'll have a few days to recuperate. To recuperate and watch Go Diego Go Live!

I'm totally not joking about that.

While I ponder my fate, please enjoy More Nerd News in Brief.

  • Farewell, old friend: Earlier this week we lost a beloved television icon. Under the guise of Mr. Wizard, Don Herbert instilled within a generation of American children a love of science and a genuine fascination with the world around them. In doing so he also helped to inspire the first wave of contemporary nerds. He will be sorely missed, but never forgotten.
  • Penny Arcaded!: Congrats to int eight and c64 – collectively known as Dual Core – for their recent shout-out from Penny Arcade’s Gabe. As I stated previously, their debut album Zero One is a must-own, and I’m glad to know that others agree.
  • BRAINS!: How did it escape my keen eye that this Wednesday was Blog Like It’s the End of the World Day? How did I possibly miss out on a quasi-holiday for bloggers centered around the eminent zombie apocalypse? I’d imagine the only person more pissed about missing this than I am is my boy ZeaLouS1.
  • Epic Proportions: Speaking of, the BOSS FIGHT San Diego Comic-Con show I nigh finalized. Head over to ZeaLouS1’s site for the skinny including an incredibly impressive lineup!
  • Up in smoke: For those of you worried that the Wizard Rock community would begin taking itself a bit too seriously following the recent MTV exposure, may I present Harry Potter and the Magic of Music. Oh course, all thanks for this one go to my boy Church and his uncanny ability to find startlingly weird shit.
  • Gamers Unite: It’s no secret that I generally wrap up these posts with a video of the slap-nuts funny variety, but today I’m gonna break form. The guys at PBC Productions – the same folks who brought you The New Adventures of Captain S – have another project in the works. This one, however, is a bit more serious. Their Gamers Against Violence Documentary is a two-part mini doc centering on the events and outcomes of NYC’s recent Gamers Against Violence rally. If you’ve got a moment, take a look at the individual segments at the PBC Web site, and, if you feel so led, Digg the project. Gamer culture has taken many a hit of late, and it's always nice to hear someone from our side speak up.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

"uncanny ability to find startlingly weird shit"

It's a gift. Heck, I found this site.

Z. said...

And that, my friend, is a genuine testament to said ability. ;)

Anonymous said...

Woah shit!

OK, I was cautious about the gamer link, b/c I'm still a couple eps behind on Captain S (Yes, I'm embarassed by that.) More importantly, AWESOME defense of gamers*, you all go!

Criticism: Isaiah should have ditched his game glove, just for the evening.

*My only question is, where were these hot gamer girls when I was in that world? (OK, it's a moot point right now, but just satisfy my curiousity. And yeah, "in the womb" is a valid answer, unfortunately.)

Z. said...

In the womb and in New York. That about cover it? ;)

Anonymous said...

Nope. Grew up within commuting distance of NYC. Saw Cinemagic film fests there (Thanks, Dad! Happy Father's Day, BTW. Oh, and you too Z.)

I'm about as old school as it gets without a handy mainframe (Google Odyssey-2.) There has always been a big "where are the girls?" elephant in the room. I'm just quite struck by the fact that they have, in the past five-ten years, just plain shown up.

I'd love to hear some feedback from the grrlz. I suspect, though, that most of them would react to the question the same way guys would. "Why am I a gamer? WTF?" My suspicion is that the acceptability of being a gamer has changed, and that is why girls have been willing to venture into that world. But that's a tough theory to prove.

Anonymous said...

I was in all kindsa sadness when I missed the zombie apocalypse blog but if there was any one blog I'd want to read about such things it would definitely be from you Z....wait a minute....oh yeeeeahhh LoL

to be continued

Z. said...

Thanks for the Dad’s Day wishes, Church. (I wanted to do a big commemorative "geek dads" piece for the occasion, but I’m still a bit bogged down in other ventures. Maybe next year.) I think the recent explosion of girl gamers has a lot to do with the mainstreaming of game culture. For girls in there teens and twenties, gaming is a staple rather than an oddity. Gaming is all around us, and I think this new-found acceptance explains both the rise in girl gamers and in gamers in general.

I hear ya, ZeaLous! ;) Speaking of, after this initial zombie project sees the light of day, I'd love to do another one together. Maybe I can get you, Dennis, and Denika to help me do a zed-themed podcast in October. We’ll have to see what we can work out.

Church said...

Yeah, that's where I was starting to go with the whole girl-gamer thing. I think you're right.

The only reason I mentioned it, really, is that there was a lot of noise made back in the day of how to attract girls (and other groups, I'm sure, but I wasn't so concerned about them.) The general consensus, as I remember it, was that there needed to be more girl-friendly games (and there was a whole lot of debate as to what exactly that entailed. Except that it was unanimously agreed that Centipede played into it somehow.)

In the end, I suspect that it was just general acceptance, or general appeal, that won them over.

Z. said...

Yeah, I was always confused about what, exactly, constitutes a girl-friendly game. I know tons of chicks who play WOW and lots more that play Animal Crossing; there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of commonality between those to.