Nerd News in Brief

Hey Floridians, your rightful place as the nerd motherland of the east coast is dangerously close to being usurped. Apparently the dorks in Baltimore are armed.

I am serious, kids, you do not want to fuck around with Johns Hopkins chem majors. They will cut you. Consider yourselves warned.

• Home Away from Home: Let me start this week's NNIB with a shout-out to Eye-shuh. In response to a shout-out she gave me at her blog. Which was based on a message I sent her with the last of the Hipster, please! promo stickers. Which she earned by sending me a nice donation to the site. As you can see, shit gets complicated, but the important thing to remember is that Seattle is obviously home to my kind of people.
• Rancor vs. Sarlacc: At this stage in the game, another puff piece about "geek chic" is all but expected. What is not, however, is a sports blogger catching hell for botching a Star Wars reference. This spectacular piece of reverse-nerdery was brought to you by the one and only Church Hates Tucker.
• Antique Optical: The latest album from the Protomen, Act II: The Father of Death, is currently available for purchase. On CD no less! Keep that digital dinosaur alive by buying one from the band's merch store.
• Horny Devil: Speaking of new albums, mc chris has just unveiled the official title of the new iteration of his "part 6" project. Peep the hellfire.
• Chryme Doesn't Pay: Also on the new album front, my pal Antisoc has dropped his latest free EP. And it's early! Who even knew that was possible in the realm of nerdcore?
• All Samples (Un)Cleared: Probably my favorite new (and also free) release of the past few weeks is K.Flay's MASHed Potatoes. It combines two of my favorite things: K.Flay's own unique brand of lyricism and bootlegged beats. Check out what she does with tracks from Usher, Paramour, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and others right cheer.
• Reach for the Stars: Also free, though not exactly new, is funky49's hip-hop space opera Starblazer. I'm not sure how much longer Steve is gonna let this one sit out there in his freebie folder, so get on that shit now!
• Ackbar's Lament: Meanwhile, a new song has also been dropped by my homie The HT. Enjoy the chippy goodness of his "A Trap" over at 8-Bit Daily.
• Tuesday's Gone: The Painted Man has begun publishing an ongoing interview with Shael Riley. Okay, so maybe "interview" isn't the right word. But as anyone who's ever talked to Shael can attest, you just gotta let the man preach. Semantic nitpicking aside, be sure to check it out.
• Wizardry: Congrats to my friends at Nerd Invasion for scoring an amazing sponsor. Wizards of the Coast, makers of every single game you play, have generously donated a metric shit ton of +1 swag for the event.
• Must-See TV: Don't know what to watch this new fall television season? Why not let geek rock troubadour Jonathan Coulton steer you in the right direction?
• Your Time to Shine: Have you ever watched an MC Lars video and said to yourself, "I can totally do that shit?" Well prove it, asshole!
• Prove Yourself (Again): And while you're at it, Lars has also challenged all comers to remix his 2005 collab with mc chris. Winning entries will be featured on his site.
• Single and Ready to Mingle: And speaking of collaborations, be sure to check out Kupek's new mope-rock amthem "Heard About You" featuring Canadian MC supreme Jesse Dangerously. Wait, how have you not downloaded that yet?!
• Everything's Coming up Front: If you have yet to see the MC Frontalot documentary Nerdcore Rising, you are fast running out of excuses. The film is now available via Netflix and rental copies have even been sighted at Seattle's Hollywood Video. In related news, the film's official site has set up a nerdcore-specific Song Fight! that I'm sure many of you will want to participate in. Meanwhile, Front has toasted his continued success by both dropping another track into the Rock Band store and opening his own virtual storefront for downloadable albums.
• Bangor? I hardly Know Her!: The film will even be screened at this weekend's BangPop! comic and pop culture con in Maine. If you're headed that way, be sure to give my buddy Lance a how-do on my behalf.
• Mostly Ghostly: Closing us out this week is the first execution of this year's PAX prank from our friends at Epic Default. Does it match the might of last year's Bad-Horsing? Wil Wheaton certainly thinks so.