More Nerd News in Brief

Lost. Lost! LOST!

There are a lot of really exciting things going on around Hipster, please! at present, but all I can think about this morning is Lost.

The Season 3 closer featured flashforwards of Jack’s miserable post-island existence, but knowing where things are going has only served to make me more excited about the remainder of the show. Well played, J.J. Well played.

With Charlie and Mr. Eko gone, I’m hoping that my two other faves Sayid and Sawyer get some good facetime/plot twists. I’m also hoping that Locke didn’t kill Naomi; I’m not sure if I like what she's bringing to the show character-wise, but she sure is nice to look at!

• It’s hard to pronounce: My pal Anthony and the other fine fellows at Game Music 4 All have officially announced their Super Mario RPG tribute compilation Heavy Troopa is Ready to Launch! There’s also plans for a nigh-incomprehensible B-side comp – that we’ll, of course, call Geno – that will accompany it. For a full rundown of the artists attached to the project, check out the GM4A forums, and be sure to Digg the story to help the boys out!
• A guy like him: And while we’re on the subject of cool things you should support, let me hip the uninitiated to a little Web show called A Guy Like Me. It features the music (not to mention the acting debut) of my bro Glenn Case, and you should totally check it out. I mean, we get two hours of Lost tonight and then what? A whole bunch of network TV nothing.
• Brutal compression = disdain: Matt recently called my attention to this post by Scary Go Round’s John Allison concerning xkcd’s Randall Munroe, and there’s been palpable tension in the air ever since. You see, Church and Matt are xkcd fans and I – though I do dig Randall’s humor – am solidly in the SGR camp. Our friendship has weathered worse (like that time I bought a Zune), so I imagine we’ll come through this intact. :)
• Mister B sounds like The Streets: Category just posted a new track featuring Mister B and Dan Plus Add called “Things That Suck.” Thankfully, I did not make the list. It’s very chippy and incredibly English. You can check it at Cat’s MySpace.
• Edutainment: Projekt Zero is once again calling for a little help in his pre-med studies. His Bio Album 2.0 project is currently accepting contributors over at Rhyme Torrents. PZ says, “For those who don't know, last year, I asked for some help memorizing a large amount of phylogeny for my General Biology course. This year, things are a bit more advanced, so the subject matter might be above people's heads. I'll do my best to explain what I can. Also, I do give all the material needed to rap up front, along with general instructions on how to use it.” So, if you’ve ever wanted to chance to rap about Cellular Biology and Vertebrate Zoology, this is it.
• Still gaming: If you’re interested in learning about what Random is currently up to – and let’s face it, you are – then pop over to RT and check out a couple of previews of his American Gamer album. You get a chance to peep “Party Life” (backed with the music of Final Fantasy) and “Ignorant Sh*t/No Hook” (backed with Mega Man beats). Ran’s looking for feedback, so let the man know your thoughts.
• The Oscar Wilde of this rap shit: Yesterday, Church directed me to this vid in which comedy rapper Bino White professes his love for nerdcore. He was nerdcore before there was nerdcore. Just like everyone else.
• I’d dream of beats: I gotta give it up to Jesse Dangerously for pointing me (and everyone else from RT) to the Sara St. Onge directed video for Wordburglar’s “Cream of Wheat.” I’ve included it below for your viewing pleasure. I’m sweet like that.

G33kD4dz

Last night I had the great honor of being a guest on the Wired Blogs GeekDads podcast. It was actually a really fun experience, and, while I was a bit nervous to start, it’s kind of impossible not to feel at ease around those guys.

I spend a good deal of my time here ruminating on geeky issues, but I seldom get to talk about “dad stuff” so it was it was a big deal for me to get to explore the latter and its relation to the former. We talked about everything from table-top gaming to bread making to the 50th anniversary of the modern Lego brick to Li’l X’s new “tattoo.” I had a blast, to say the least.

Special thanks go out to panelist Dan Olson and Vincent Janoski for being so welcoming, to my man Brian Little for extending the invite, and to editor Ken Denmead for making it all happen. Hopefully I didn’t come off sounding like a total jackass, and if I did, Ken, I expect you to fix that in post. ;)

The show in question is Episode 11, and it should pop up on the RSS soon. Take a listen, and be sure to give the Geekdad blog some love as well.

EDIT: And here it is! Check out The GeekDads Episode 11: You Too Can Purchase A Tattoo For Your Child.

Live from Black Mesa

I shared this with Matt and Church last week when it hit Joystiq, but it wasn’t until my pal Anthony mentioned it to me a couple of days ago that I actually considered passing it on to you. In retrospect, I can’t quite figure out why.

At any rate, since this one’s too good to wait until the next NNIB, I thought I’d spring it on you now.

The following audio is from a recent call-in to Coast to Coast AM in which a theoretical physicist named “Gordon” tells host and listeners about a mysterious government agent that seems to be following him. While this isn’t the first time someone’s given a voice to our usually silent Half-Life hero – Antisocial’s “Remember My Name” comes immediately to mind – it’s damn sure the funniest!

Nerd News in Brief

I actually went out sans family this weekend. That’s a rarity. In fact, I’m hard-pressed to recall the last time that I actually went somewhere that wasn’t work without Em and/or Lil’ X. in tow. As guys’ nights out go, it was actually pretty fun.

Two of my oldest friends took me out to see a Led Zeppelin tribute band. Not exactly my first choice for entertainment, mind you, but it was a good time.

I’m sort of amazed by the concept of tribute acts. It’s pretty much musical LARPing, and that’s simultaneously amazing and a little bit sad.

I sometimes wonder what the new generation of tribute bands will bring. I mean, what’s the next logical step? Bartender: The Ultimate T-Pain Experience?!

/shudder

• Calling all cars: Church wanted me to pass along this helpful link regarding the Radio Free Rollover podcast. DJ Gwyn is looking for some nerdcore, remixes, and mash-ups to play on this Tuesday’s show. So if you’re looking to get a little promo, this seems like an excellent opportunity.
• Fair & Balanced: Last week, when self-help author Cooper Lawrence joined Fox News pundits in mischaracterizing Mass Effect as interactive pornography – despite the fact that she’d admittedly not even played the title – gamers reacted in kind. They headed over to Amazon to give her new book, The Cult of Perfection: Making Peace With Your Inner Overachiever, 1-star reviews and tag the book with the keywords “ignorant,” “garbage,” and “hypocrisy.” The outcome? Lawrence eventually admitted that she misspoke. I reckon that just shows to go ya.
• Tag. You’re it.: Doc Pop came across this graffiti on the corner of 18th and Mission in San Fran. It “seems to say INFO in one area, and NERD on another.” This makes Doc (and me) wonder if it’s at all connected with the Internet Nerdcore Family Outing.
• You’re all clear, kid: The fine folks at Toronto’s Hand’Solo Records have just provided underground hip-hop fans a little taste of their forthcoming release Hokey Religions & Ancient Weapons (are no match for a good blaster). This free mixtape is already nearing completion and “will consist of classic tracks from previous Hand'Solo releases, a few unreleased tracks from the vaults, some exclusives from upcoming albums, and a bunch of exclusive verses over instrumentals from Hand'Solo vinyl.” In the meantime, check out this track featuring Big Ref, Myf, and Noah 23 over the Beatmason-produced track “The Wordburglar.”
• Sny-Fi: DJ Snyder’s also got a new remix making the rounds. It’s of YTCracker's “flow.c” verse, and you can hear it on Sny’s MySpace. And you should do just that.
• More rap/rock that doesn’t suck: Don Vito stepped up to D-Form’s remix challenge and took on seminal Chubby Chasers’ track “BBW BBQ.” You can download the track from DV’s profile on thesixtyone. You should also probably add it to your listener page. I’m just sayin’.
• New nerd in town: Looks as though the media has crowned another potential presidential candidate “the election’s new geek.” Mitt Romney, it seems, has replaced Ron Paul as ’08’s political geek of the week. Sometimes I can’t tell if we’re being pandered to or if journalists are just trying out a new buzzword.
• Don’t blame me: I’m admittedly pretty liberal, but if I were to vote for a right-winger, it’d have to be this guy. He’s certainly got potential.
• The hits just keep on coming: Church found this post from blog Sources and Methods that promotes MC Frontalot’s “Secrets from the Future” as the NSA’s unofficial theme song. It’s funny ‘cause it’s true.
• Beautiful musics: I’m a fan of Pixel8, micromusic in general, and my Nintendo DS, so this vid is aimed squarely at people who are my gender, my approximate age, and are me. Pix demos a new piece of software that turns your DS (via slot 2 device) into a real time synth.