Monday, August 27, 2007

Nerd News in Brief

Has technology crippled our natural, human ability to intuit?

I haven’t the foggiest. In fact, I’d never even considered the question until I came across this piece from NEWSWEEK concerning the staggering power of data mining.

Conceptually, I find the concept fascinating; I mean, why go with a “gut feeling” about what your customers want when you can crunch meta-data and know for sure.

Unfortunately, for me there’s no real practical application.

At any given time, the things you see (or hear) at Hipster, please! are basically just the items that I find interesting, infuriating, or simply confounding.

And right now I could go for some Nerd News in Brief.
  • Dear Nerdcore community: Y’all need to step it up. The Wrockers are totally gaining on you. Sure, you got some love on MTV Canada, but the Wizard Rock scenesters have countered with a pair of segments on rival Much Music! Plus, in addition to their own documentary, the sensitive kids with scars and glasses also have their own music festival in the works. And have you seen how many chicks show up a Wrock shows? Someone should be taking notes!
  • What rhymes with Horcrux?: In other Potter-related news, it looks like there’s gonna be a musical. Not even kidding.
  • I deserve what?!: Okay, so Church found this over at the Adland, and it was too chock full o’ nerdy goodness not to share. I mean, how the fuck do you not know what a “redshirt” is?
  • Fun with Libertarians: Matt passed along this gem in which Hit and Run, the blog of the Libertarian magazine Reason, discussed the NY Times nerdcore article. As you can well imagine, wackiness ensued. Read the comments for a healthy dose of posturing and a little exposition by the great Jesse Dangerously.
  • Steve totally didn’t fall!: The first few pictures from Nerdapalooza SE are now available for your viewing pleasure over at funky49’s Web site. More images (and a post-show report from Denika) are forthcoming.
  • 24 Hour Takeover: Join Silent D., Zealous1, and a literal slew of guests on Saturday September 1st at 6:00 PM Pacific as The Takeover celebrates its triumphant return to the airwaves with “24 hours of non-stop madness all leading up to the premiere of the Fall 2007 Takeover.” And what, exactly, can listeners expect? Well, performances, the aformentioned special guests, a séance, a Wii tournament, pancakes, a Madden tournament, karaoke, and… hell, who knows what else?!
  • Still sunny: Last week I received sneak previews of two new tracks from Rai’s forthcoming album, and, while I’m sworn to secrecy as to the specifics, I can tell you that both are excellent (even in the rough-cut format to which I was privy). One song is a danceable, up-tempo number, while the other is damn-near ballad-y. Perhaps most surprisingly, both contain a lot more English than you might expect. While there’s no solid release date for the new album, I, for one, am looking forward to it more than ever.
  • Billy Mitchell’s quaff: The Nerdcore and Wrock documentaries have to be the nerdiest films of note at present, right? ‘Fraid not.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Much Music clips are actually a single piece with two different intros. First with the cute boy, the second with the cute girl. That way everyone gets what they want.

Either way the video is worth it if for no other reason then hearing one of the WRock documentary girls say 'gumption' multiple times. A word that does not get nearly as much usage as it should.

Church said...

"Perhaps most surprisingly, both contain a lot more English than you might expect."

How could it not?

Church said...

Forgot to add, the HP RSS doesn't seem to be working.