More Nerd News in Brief

I haven’t riffed on the news in a bit, so let me scratch that particular itch.

For those of you currently unaware, earlier this week Ohio State Representative Matthew Barrett inadvertently displayed a photo of a topless woman to the high school civics class to which he was delivering a presentation. It appears as though the memory stick that held his presentation materials also held a directory of porn. Barrett, of course, had no idea where the images came from as the USB drive in questions “was a gift.”

Lesson learned: never keep your work files and your spank bank in the same place.

• Drycleaning and/or animal husbandry: Don’t forget to tune in to ShoutCast tonight to hear from Shael Riley and Glenn Case. Start-time info and a direct link to the ‘cast can be found at The Grammar Club site. And, on a related note, it appears as though I was totally right concerning the band’s focus.
• Mega remix: DON VITO took advantage of those Mega Ran acapellas that were floating around by making his own remix of the track “Robot City.” Check it out and let DV know what you think.
• Where no man has gone before: The International Astronomic Union has elected to rename asteroid "1994 GT9" to 7307 Takei in honor of Hikaru Sulu. Please keep your gay jokes to yourself.
• Sweet home Chicago: Matt reports that the Wrock world is all aflutter over the news that 24 Wizard Rock bands have announced their involvement in Wrock Chicago. This uber-concert is planned for August 6th of next year as a part of the Terminus convention. The catch is that the roster will actually be 25 bands strong, with the final band being decided by a contest.
• New hotness: I’ve recently been informed by both Beefy and Ultraklystron that their new releases will be available soon. Ultraklystron states that all that Opensource Lyricist has been recorded and now he simply needs to “finalize the cover art, get the discs printed, get the covers printed and add it to [his] store.” Meanwhile, Beefy teases that Rolling Doubles is “closer and closer to being completed.” I was also afforded a sneak preview of a track from ZeaLouS1’s new disk, and – without giving too much away – I can attest that it’s exactly what I’ve been hoping for from the BOSSFIGHT camp.
• Silent yet supportive: In his continuing mission to help me waste time at work, Church has found a ninja social network. If anyone can find me a pirate social network… well, then I’ll be summarily impressed.
• i wants to die: Church also directed me to LOL Secretz, a blog that spoofs communal art project and laugh-a-minute anonymous confession site Post Secrets. It’s like a meme made love to Taxicab Confessions and this is their cock-eyed offspring.
• Heading for the hills: On a more personal note, the family Z. is heading for the mountains this weekend. As far as the wife and Li’l X. know, we’re simply going on vacation. Truthfully, I’m scouting out the area as a potential relocation point during the ensuing zombie holocaust. Word from Atlanta seems grim. Thankfully, there are teams of diligent individuals helping to spread the word. Shit, even the president, a man with whom I seldom find myself in agreement with, is hip to the jive.

The power of words

Shael Riley and Glenn Case will be on “a somewhat popular college radio program” this Thursday evening at 11:00 PM Eastern to talk about that delightful bundle of musical weirdness known simply as The Grammar Club.

Now, I don’t want to get your hopes up or anything, but I am led to believe that this interview may finally answer the burning questions concerning the project such as what, exactly is The Grammar Club and why the fuck is Beefy now robot made of cardboard. Of course, given the enigmatic nature of the information currently circulating about the group (or total lack thereof), I won't be totally surprised if they just talk about dry cleaning or animal husbandry.

Regardless, be sure to check out the Club's Web site for further details, and don't forget to tune in!

Addendum

This was supposed to be the top story in yesterday’s NNIB post, but I totally flaked and forgot it as I was writing.

Senility is a bitch! A bitch that catches you unawares; it’s also like a ninja.

Senility is a ninja bitch!

But I digress.

Anywho, a week and a half or so ago Mark Vidler (also known as Go Home Productions) began making his entire back catalogue freely available via his Web site. Disks 1 through 12 of his 16 disk body of work are presently free for the taking, and the final few volumes should join them soon.

The disks themselves are arranged chronologically, so you can get a real sense for how GHP has grown as an artist. In addition to the mash-ups for which Mark is famous, the collection also boasts a lot of unofficial remixes and unreleased material. Hell, the files are even tagged for those iPod machines with artwork and whatnot.

In short, this is a helluva find and I highly recommended you take advantage of Mr. Vidler’s generosity.

You can score individual disks through the RAR links on his site, but your best bet is hitting the torrent for the whole kit-and-or-caboodle.

Nerd News in Brief

As most of you already know, Halloween is a month-long event in the Z. household.

The festive season kicks off this very evening, when Em and I sojourn into town to find Li’l X a suitable trick-or-treating getup. And it doesn’t conclude until the first of November, when I start stocking up on discounted Halloween swag for next year.

And I’m not the only country gentleman who’s preemptively getting his Halloween on. Church was nice enough to direct me to the Web site for Operation Dead: 1, a z-grade zombie flick that was filmed in nearby Atlanta. (Which is fitting, as anyone who’s read The Walking Dead knows that Atlanta is a zombie death-trap waiting to happen!)

Promotion for the film is kicking into high gear pending its Halloween release, so take a gander at the trailer and enjoy the cheesy carnage.

• Even scarier than the undead: Church also hipped me to the chilling news that NBC wants to revive the Knight Rider series. Surely the end is near. “And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals...” and out came David Hasselhoff.
• A loser is me: mc chris finally dropped some knowledge on his fans concerning this fall’s tour dates. Sadly, my humble burg did not make the cut. Check the following to see if your locality faired any better: 10/01/2007 07:00 PM - Roxy Theatre Atlanta, Georgia; 10/02/2007 08:00 PM - The Orange Peel Asheville, North Carolina; 10/03/2007 08:30 PM - Cat's Cradle Carrboro, North Carolina; 10/04/2007 08:00 PM - Satellite Ballroom Charlottesville, Virginia ; 10/05/2007 08:00 PM - The Fillmore @ Theatre of Living Arts Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 10/06/2007 07:30 PM - Stone Pony Asbury Park, New Jersey; 10/07/2007 10:00 PM - 9:30 Club Washington DC, Washington DC; 10/09/2007 09:00 PM - Nokia New York, New York; 10/10/2007 07:00 PM - Roxy Boston, Massachusetts; 10/11/2007 07:00 PM - Tralf Buffalo, New York; 10/12/2007 08:00 PM - The Opera House Toronto, Ontario; 10/13/2007 07:00 PM - The Crofoot Pontiac, Michigan; 10/14/2007 08:00 PM - Metro Chicago, Illinois; 10/15/2007 - The Annex Madison. See mc’s digs for the full list.
• Expect big things: The Sinister Six have posted a remix of the track “Scientistik” to their MySpace. Check it out for yet another glimmer of these enigmatic MCs’ level of collective ass-kickery.
• “Hip-hop first and geek second.”: MAJA got some love last week from both Phoenix’s New Times and Japan’s eyevio TV. The New Times piece is both in-depth and very well written, so be sure to read the duration. However, for the non-otaku who just wanna see MAJA in the eyevio clip, look for him around the 4:17 mark in episode 4.
• Use the Force: New Zealand’s own MC Stormtroopa made his brief introduction to the Rhyme Torrents community last week. You can learn a bit more about the world’s first Kiwi nerdcore artist at his site.
• Speed Run: Conyeezy has posted a new track over at the CSHC MySpace profile. Peep “Homie (feat. T. Wilson),” a track that breaks down like so: “lyrics written ... in one hour… , song recorded in one hour… , [with the track itself] engineered in three hours.”
• Dude and Catastrophe: If you live in Oregon and enjoy Achewood then you are not alone. And also, you can probably swing a free tattoo of Roast Beef. Web comic fans are weird.
• The fur flies: Aside from its looming zombie problem, the greater Atlanta metropolitan area also boasts its share of gang activity. Two principle players have elected to settle their disputes like men. Or, rather, like Klingons and anthropomorphic animals. Ladies and gentlemen, behold the Furry vs. Trekkie Bowl-o-rama!