Thursday, February 07, 2008

More Nerd News in Brief

Today begins the Year of the Rat.

I don’t know what that means, exactly, I just happened to notice it on my wall calendar and was kind of taken by the concept.

Further (half-assed) research at Wikipedia points out that this is more specifically the Year of the Earth Rat, which is kinda cool. Though personally, I would’ve preferred maybe a Were-Rat… or former Damned drummer Rat Scabies.

He deserves his own year, right?
  • But still, not very.: Arizona State University’s Web Devil has a nice article about MC Frontalot and the nerdcore scene entitled “The 1337 1if3.” (It seems that no nerdy mention escapes Church’s keen eye!) Rather than approaching the subject with that typical journalistic sense of disdain, the piece is actually fun and borderline complimentary. Check it out.
  • Calling all MCs: Decepticon-19 needs rappers. He’s just crafted a new club-banger and he’s looking for someone to help him flesh it out. He admits that the song “probably won't lead to a finished track, [he just needs] some practice mixing.” Check out “Apollo’s Son” at his MySpace, and holler at D-19 if you’re interested.
  • Calling all MCs again: Don Vito is also looking for MCs to add some supplementary verses to his new track “World of Whorecraft.” (Not to be confused with that other project of the same title.) Looks like Vito needs two more verses focus less on WoW and more on online attention whores. Check out the song so far at thesixtyone.
  • Take Back the Music: Sudden Death has just wrapped up a new album called Fatal Error. It features over an hour of music, all of SD’s hits from The FuMP, guest appearances, a video interview, and – get this – a video game. You can preview and pre-order the album over at the Funny Music Project. Hell, “My Atari” alone is probably worth the ten dollar price tag!
  • In Rai we trust: J-rap princess, otaku heartthrob, and cult leader Rai has a new demo available. “Hallow (Pinzu Bakudan Mix)” can be found at her MySpace. Rai admits that the quality is “teh suck” and that the track probably needs re-recording, but it’s definitely worth a listen.
  • Sadly, not a tribute act dedicated to my tattoo: Stan may be the worst ninja ever, but he’s got good taste in books and RPGs. Plus, as Church was quick to point out, he’s planning to make his first foray into nerdcore. One of several projects he’s working on in 2008 is a nerdcore hip-hop concept (or group or solo act) called D20. I don’t know much about the cat save that he writes a good blog, but he solicits for comments, questions, and ideas, and I figured who better to provide those than my own nerdcore legion?
  • But does it transform?: Knowing that I’m always on the look-out for more useless shit to buy, Matt sent me a link an Engadget post on the Autobot flash drive. One gig of storage? Check. Of questionable legality? Check. Runs on Energon? I’ll have to get back to you.
  • Untapped potential: Anthony from Game Music For All directed my attention toward the chiptunes doc Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet. It will be premiering at next months’ SXSW, and the screening will be followed by a musical showcase including Nullsleep, Bitshifter, and many, many more. Check out his post for more details.
  • Wrock Doc supplemental: Just as one Wizard Rock documentary is wrapping up, another is likewise making its grand entrance into the mainstream. We Are Wizards focuses not only on Wrock but also on other aspects of Potter fandom. It features everyone from Brad Neely to Melissa from The Leaky Cauldron. Most importantly, it too will be featured at this year’s SXSW film festival!
  • The years had gone by fast.: In other Potter-related news, Church also hipped me to this new retelling of Harry’s story a la Charles Bukowski. Yep, it’s full of foul language and allusions to naughty bits, just like Chuck would’ve wanted.
  • No more mess: As much time as I spend watching children’s programming with Li’l X, I somehow managed to miss this one. It’s a clip from Nickelodeon’s new show Yo Gabba Gabba! that features a track by ska greats GOGO13. Matt sent me this vid two weeks ago, and I’ve watched it religiously ever since.


6 comments:

Church said...

Yo Gabba Gabba is extremely weird to me. It must be the same feeling my 'rents felt when Happy Days premiered.

Laugh, but your transgressive culture will be fed to your own toddlers.

OK, in Z's case, he'll be doing the feeding. But the rest of you shall rue!

Z. said...

I'm just pissed that I never catch any of the cool animated shorts. I mostly just end up watching crazy-people-in-fuzzy-costumes action.

Anthony said...

Documentaries left and right! So who's going to do a "nerd music culture documentary" and go all out?

Also, here's one way to start off the year of the rat! click here!

It's terrifying to me, like, this is prime nightmare material. Also, I am shocked I never heard of these before today, seeing as how I'm a nerd, hence I have a predisposition to learning the hell out of mythical creatures. Anyway, ugh!

Anonymous said...

man that rat king thing is weird as fuck!

an squirrel kings? godamn...

whats next kangaroo kings?

jezzus...

J-chot said...

my friend has kids, and she says that they can't watch yo gabba gabba because they get too excited and breakthings/hurt themselves!

mark mothersbaugh and kid robot have their hand in that show, among other super cool people!!! I can't wait for my kid to come out so I can have an excuse to watch it.

if there was a nerdcore documentary, it would be like trekkies, but sadder.

Z. said...

That was positively horrible, Ant, and yet I'm fascinated by the concept!

Pink, if you find a Roo King (and live to tell about it) I need a full recollection.

Yeah, J-Chot, YGG has a real geek music pedigree. It's sort of startling.