Nerd News in Brief

By rights, I should be decorating the house for Halloween today. Sadly, I am currently in the throes of the kind of virus than only someone with young children can contract.

The whole family's got it. We are now bound by blood as well as mucus.

Which, now that I think about it, is pretty goddamn Halloweeny.

Go us!

• Nerd Ink, the Continuing Adventures: How can you out-geek a Hello Kitty Boba Fett tattoo? Only with the power of the Hawkman!
• Divine Intervention: In what can only be interpreted as a sign from the Geek Gods, the Online Hip-Hop Awards have extended their nomination season. So vote for Random some more!
• Church Submits the Following: A doctorial student from Purdue examines the "hyperhwiteness" (and, to some degree "hypermaleness") associated with nerd culture. Meanwhile, MIT seeks to shed its geeky image by any means necessary. Me? I went to community college, so I am thankfully far below this level of critical analysis.
• WTS: funky49 is looking to sell some music and gaming tech on eBay. If you're currently in the market for an Atari 2600 or a Yamaha TX7 synth, he will fucking hook you up.
• Bend it Like Blip Fest: Highly Liquid is now selling a kit that allows you to add a MIDI input to a classic Casio keyboards. Circuit benders and chipheads rejoice!
• The Real GWB: After a fairly long wait – yeah, like I have room to talk – The Geekly Weekly crew is back with another podcast. This edition includes talk about the new DSi, the Ig Nobel Prizes, the Stephen Colbert/Spiderman crossover, and music from my man ZeaLouS1. Give it a listen.
• We're a Happy Family: And if you're looking for some fresh musical hotness, check out the newly released Nerdcore Family Vol 1. It features MC Topher, T.y.T., 'Moans, MC Lars, nYgel and many more of your favorites. It's also free, so you've got no reason not to love it.
• Stolen Glasses and Pilfered Usernames: And speaking of MC Lars, he and YTCracker recently made an appearance on Revision3's Internet Superstar, the web talkshow hosted by Martin Sargent. He's the American Tom Green. Talk covers everything from their new album (slated for a November 1st release) to how YT scored such a sweet Gmail account.
  
• Zombies! Chaos! Cleavage!: Call is zombie erotica. Call it rancid cheesecake. Call it… disturbing. Whatever you call it, My Zombie Pinup is an interesting diversion. With blood. And boobs.
  
• Sins of the Father: And taking us home this week is the trailer for the new James Potter fanfilm series The Elders' Crossing. It's based on the writings of G. Norman Lippert and is scored by none other than Nina of The Butterbeer Experience. Behold the face of fandom!

Complete Carnage

Vermont is known for many things: Newhart, Woodchuck Cider, Orson Bean (the voice of Bilbo). It is also known, in nerdier circles, as the home of annual gaming and geek culture convention Carnage.

This year's celebration – the convention's 11th – arrives under the auspicious theme "We Go to 11." As such, it has taken on a bit of a musical theme. So, in addition to regular events like CCG, miniature, RPG, and board gaming, attendance will also be encouraged to test their mettle in Rock Band and Guitar Hero tournaments. To the victor of such undertakings go the spoils, but, uh, spoils are sort of hard to come by in small New England towns.

To that end, the con’s venerable Dr. Nik approached me regarding his attempt to secure some handsome prizes from the greater geeky music community. It turns out that Carnage is also looking to screen nerdy documentaries, so, in short, they’re pretty much looking to help promote your projects in the greater northeastern US. But rather than steal Nik’s thunder, I’ll let him drop the knowledge concerning specifics:

Greetings Nerds & Geeks!

I am Dr. Nik. I am not a real doctor, but I play one in RPGs. Currently I am secretary of Carnage Gaming Convention, now in its eleventh year. (http://www.carnagecon.com Nov 7-9th, 2008)

This year’s convention has a "rock n role" theme, because, much like Spinal Tap, this one goes to 11. And to help keep with the theme, we have two console game tournaments: Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

We plan on giving the winners a Rock Band II kit, but we’re currently looking for secondary prizes with more pizzazz than a puny iTunes gift card. This is where you come in.

Are you a nerdcore, geek rock, filk, or Wizard Rock performer? Do you have DVD, CD, or promotional material (T-shirt, sticker, etc) that you’d be willing to donate to help us make a nice prize package?

Time is short, but if you have any swag that we could use as prizes for our Rock Band and Guitar Hero contests, we'd be honored to distribute them to the geeks and nerds participating.

Alternately, if you have any rockumentaries, concert footage DVDs, or other geek culture docs, we would likewise be honored to show them at Carnage 11!

Mail your nerd documentaries or prize support by Oct 31st to:

Carnage Gaming
64 County Road-Hartland
Windsor, VT 05089

Or contact us at info@carnagecon.com for more details.

We promise to send you something special from CARNAGE in return.

-dr.nik-

So there you have it, folks. If you’ve got some nerdy goods you’d like to donate or a geeky documentary for which you’d like to arrange a screening, hit up Nik and the Carnage crew. In exchange, Ben & Jerry’s promises not to make the switch to breast milk.

Those Vermonters looks after each other!

Radio Free Hipster Ep. 53: Monster Manual

If I sound a little rusty in this podcast, it's only because I am.

Taking a full month off between shows gives me a chance to rest, sure, but it also gives me just enough time to lose my podcasting sea legs. Still, this is another Halloween episode, and these types of shows are generally my favorite. What better place to pick back up?

I made some intentionally odd decisions with regard to the track list this time around, but I think it came together quite well.

You, of course, are the real judge. So lemme know what you think, my scary monster and super creeps.

Download Radio Free Hipster Ep. 53: Monster Manual [hosting provided by Antisocial] Size: 44 MB Running Time: 48:05

Show Notes:

Intro: Baddd Spellah – "Radio Free Hipster Theme (feat. Beefy)"
This Halloween, I'm dressing up like Baddd Spellah.

Track 1: DJ Not I – "Dracula's 77 Nation Army"
There are some songs that I hear and immediately mark for certain podcasts. This was such a track.

Z's 1st interlude: "And truthfully, I kinda missed you guys."
Guilty as charged. :)

Track 2: Uncle Monsterface – "Mashed Potato vs. Vampire"
Uncle Monsterface has surprisingly few songs about monsters. I'm just sayin'.

Track 3: The Consortium of Genius – "March of the Skaletons"
I always say I'm going to play more ska on this podcast, but I seldom actually do it.

Track 4: The Ghastly Ones – "Shockmonster Stomp"
This surf track really served as a nice follow-up to CoG, doncha think?

Track 5: Monster Squad dialog / Math the Band – "Fight for Wear Wolf Fever"
"Wolfman's got nards!"

Track 6: Cheekyboy – "Bad Moon Werewolves"
Where is this year's Halloween mash-up comp?

Track 7: The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets – "Six-Gun Gorgon Dynamo"
Because there aren't enough songs about Shub-Niggurath.

Track 8: Godzilla dialog / Heightened Titans – "1 Stomp"
It's nice when 3 top-shelf MCs come together to work on a new project. Real nice.

Z's 2nd interlude: "No pun intended."
mc chris is dead continues to grow on me. I actually really enjoy the skits from this album, which, I admit, is a rarity.

Track 9: Shaun of the Dead dialog / mc chris – "mc chris is dead"
Apparently, he ain't never coming back.

Track 10: Mr. Fab and His Bag o' Heads – "I Want My Mummy"
Y'know, I hear zombies are a lot like mummies.

Track 11: Lords of the Rhymes – "Black Riders"
I gotta get me a fell beast. I hear they're fuel-efficient.

Track 12: Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers – "Abominable Snowman in the Market"
Easily the least scary song of this episode.

Track 13: Richard Prior dialog / Simon Iddol – "Overkill of the Beast"
Simon Iddol actually follows me on Twitter, and I follow him too. Simon tweets links to hot new bootlegs. I tweet Dr. Dre lyrics. It's a pretty one-sided relationship.

Z's final interlude: "The perverse legacy of the Great Old Ones."
And here's a call for conversion.

Track 14: Zombies! Organize!! – "Sweet Sweet Blood" / Army of Darkness dialog
I fear you guys'll get tired of Zombies! Organize!!, as I plan to play the shit out of them over the coming weeks.

And so ends part one of the Halloween Crap-tacular. Was it crap-tastic enough for you? I hope it was.

While this episode was monster-themed, I think the next edition will be focused loosely on the supernatural world, and all that it entails. If you've got requests, please pass them on. We can also swap costume ideas. Just don't dress like the Joker. I sense a disturbing trend.