Nerd News in Brief

I know, I know; you just can't get enough of my delightfully rural voice.

And how could you? I mean, I only record, what? Four podcasts a month?

Thankfully, there is a solution.

You can catch me drawling my way through a piece of short fiction written by my good friend Church on a recent edition of Starship Sofa's Aural Delights podcast.

It's a stark look into the future of digital music distribution. And no, it's not slash fic.

• Eat it, Picross!: Zen Albatross – known to some as the micro-musician in Shael Riley's live band – recently posted a really interesting piece over at Racktboy. It's about how Mario Paint kicked off his career as a digital artist, and it's damn well worth a read.
• Fireproof: And speaking of, here's some footage of the guys playing in the MAGfest Jamspace. The rendition of "Bank Holiday" in the second vid is especially cool. Also, this year: no fire alarm.
• Nerd Girls Wanted: Female roleplaying gamers are currently being sought for help with research for a forthcoming book on the subject. This celebration of female contributions to gaming culture needs your help, so head over to Geek's Dream Girl for the full skinny. And yes, guys, we can help too.
• The Balmy One: Big ups to my pal Joey for worming his way into a recent Popular Mechanics post on Guitar Hero/Rock Band hacks. His work comes in at number 7, and shows how to use the Rock Band drum kit as a midi controller in FL Studio.
• My Peeps: And also on the subject of worming one's way into the big time, Church has yet again hit Techdirt. The producer of the film adaptation of The Watchmen recently posted an open letter explaining why Fox – who has stymied the project in every way imaginable – shouldn't make any money off the finished product, but why they inevitably will anyway.
• Lost-core?: Also from Church comes this Washington Post article about concept band Previously On Lost. They get bonus points for having a band name that explicitly explains their purpose. Church even found the related NPR interview, for those who dig that sort of thing.
• I Hardly Even Know Her!: Bangor-area geeks, take heed! This weekend you must attend SnowCon at the Black Bear Inn and Convention Center. Running from 9:00 AM to midnight Saturday, January 17th and 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM Sunday the 18th, this homespun con features tabletop gaming, film screenings, and even some live VGM from The Sides Scrollers. Peep the official site for more info.
• In Which Schaffer Wants to Make Love to Me: Announced last week, and hinted about before the fact, is the live event compilation CD The Nerdapalooza Tapes. This collection of cuts from last summer's festival is currently available for preorder for a mere $10, which also grants you immediate access to the MP3 version. I scored an early release last month, and I gotta say that the recording quality is pretty amazing. Plus it manages to hit a lot of the high points from that lost weekend.
• The Sound of the DJ: One of my favorite nerdy producers, the ever-prolific nYgel, has just released a collection of b-sides. The cleverly named Self-titled presents a collection of older originals, remixes, and instrumentals that have yet to grace your ear hole. Plus, it'll give you something to groove to while nYg works on his forthcoming mixtape.
• Find Me Online, Search c64: And speaking of new old music, my boys Dual Core have just made available a pair of non-album tracks on their site. Peep a 2007 collab with the great ZeaLouS1 and the band's intro for the Lotta Linux Links podcast for free right here. Then, immediately thereafter, begin making plans to attend this year's iteration of Washington DC's ShmooCon, as the boys will once again be performing.
• Super, Like Schneider: And while you're checking out all the free goodness, don't neglect this new video from Maja. It's a remix of The Game's "Superman." Check out the vid, and then proceed to his site for a free MP3 download. I've also been assured that Maja is currently writing new material, and plans to hit the studio later this year to begin recording his sophomore release.
• Alive and Wily-fied: Random has dropped a number of interesting teasers of late relating to his new Mega Ran 9 concept album. The biggie, however, is this sneak preview of the phenomenal "MegaLude 9." Listen. Watch. Post comments.
• Early and Often: Please take a moment to vote for The Protomen in Deli Magazine's Best of Nashville 2008 poll. They are your constant heroes. Also, who the fuck else are you going to vote for? You don't even live in Nashville!
• Ninjas and Vampires: And on the subject of other fun things to do, have you tried out Scrub Club's heavily-nerdified text adventure RPG yet? It's called Burst Nexus and is, of course, free to play from your bestest friends in the whole Midwest.
• Dancing Nerds and Gratuitous Monitor Humping: And taking us home this week is another piece of greatness from the Scrub Club family. It's a video for MadHatter's "Overheat" from our brothers and sisters at PBC Production. Much of it was recorded at this year's MAGfest, and features a ton of hilarious cameos. Plus, the song itself fucking slays.