Nerd News in Brief

Before I kick off this edition of Nerd News in Brief, I have to pose a question to my geektastic readership, particularly those of the southern persuasion: who else plans to catch the mc chris/I Fight Dragons show at Atlanta's Masquerade next month?

It's a Thursday night gig – scheduled for November 12th, for those of you too lazy to click the above link – so the ticket price is only $12. Plus, it's going down in the level of the venue known as Hell on the eve of the traditional day of great misfortune, so it's got that going for it.

• Late to the Party: As promised, here's a link to the first half of Epic Default Productions' most epic drunkcast. Featuring me. Shitfaced.
• You've Come a Long Way, Baby: For an amazing look in the rearview mirror of nerdom, check out Newsweek's slideshow about the origin of the Star Trek convention. It also strikes an odd chord when compared to this Airlock Alpha piece regarding the Trek XI's cast unwillingness to get their con on.
• The Future is Now: In a related story, Church was quick to point out that George Takei and Brad Altman are the first gay contestants to appear on The Newlywed Game. Boldly going where no self-respecting gay men have gone before.
• Sink the Green: Oh, and he also followed up with news about a book called Gender and Sexuality in Star Trek. I don't even have a joke for this. Color me intrigued.
• Guess Who's Back: And just when you thought you'd seen the weirdest Star Trek story of this round-up: Klingon Eminem.
• True Player for Free: You can currently download the video for MC Lars's "True Player for Real" from iTunes for the low, low price of nothing. Get on that shit.
• My Little PWNies: Also from Church comes news that nerdy art emporium Nakatomi has garnered some love from the Washington Times. Props to Tim Doyle for playing the ultra-rare "dork" card in the write-up.
• Gut-Chomping Glory: Solidly in the Halloween vein, here's a CNN piece on why we love zombies. I'd thank everyone who passed it on to me, but I'm afraid that would eat up the rest of my weekly word allotment.
• Parts is Parts: In more actual music news, you can pre-order mc chris's Part Six Part Three right the fuck now. You know you want it.
• Look at His Mouth: And speaking of the souls of the damned, mCRT dropped a new video this week. You can peep "I'm A Shark" over at the YouTubes. You can also hear Rob serving as the host of his own live internet radio show on RKOL. Do I even need to give that a content warning?
• Must Spell TV: If your internet entertainment needs skew toward things a bit less profane, be sure to check out Potter TeeVee. It's a new 24/7 Potter fandom-centered online television network. What's not to love?
• Napping With Steffo: Back in the land of Shit-You-Should-Buy, we find some amazing new offerings from My Parents Favorite Music. Not only can you snag all three of the group's official releases, but you can also pick up t-shirts and hoodies. And pillows… blankets… hockey jerseys… I guess what I'm saying here is everyone else needs to step up their merch game.
• Rhymes From the Future That Will Take You to the Past: Hip-hopper par excellence and coder girl enthusiast Dale Chase recently released a remix of "Original Digital Gangsters" by MC Lars, YTCracker and in eighty. It's the kind of thing you need to download. Now-ish.
• Sweet Lemon-aid: On the subject of Digital Gangsters, there is also this. That horse truly is amazing.
• Making the Band: And speaking of Lars, be sure to check out his latest podcast. It concerns the new Schaffer the Darklord album Manslaughterer. Which is awesome.
• His Name was Lucifer: In one last piece of Lars-related news, funky49's remix of "Roomate from Hell" is freely available from his site. It too is awesome.
• The Language of Music: While I still retain my fear of zombies, I am rapidly becoming more concerned by the threat of robots. What with the crazy new heights achieved in the field of artificial intelligence and all. As Masu shows us via this clip, science has recently taught a piano how to talk. And apparently it's pretty concerned with preserving the environment. I feel my fears are justified.
• Magically Prolific: If you've been wondering what Harry and the Potters have been getting into lately, the answer appears to be… everything. The guys have some special gigs lined up for both Halloween and early November. Part of the latter includes a spot at Maine's Wrock 4 Equality event. Check out their site for full details.
• It was so Much Better When I Wasn't a Zombie: Closing out this edition of NNIB is the video for the song "I Love Brains" by ALL CAPS, a project of The Parselmouths' Kristinia Horner and Luke Conard from Ministry of Magic. The clincher is that all the songs on their new album were written via email correspondence. They're like Supercommuter, with a smaller carbon footprint.

Radio Free Hipster Ep. 75: We Are Monsters

This is it, folks: part one of this year's Halloween Crap-tacular. I doubt you look forward to these episodes as much as I do, but I do hope they manage to strike an appropriate seasonal chord.

This edition in particular has a bit of an odd focal point. Instead of employing my typical scatter-shot approach, I instead elected to use dialog samples from a single source.

The show in question is the BBC's Being Human. If you haven't checked it out, I would highly recommend doing so.

Download Radio Free Hipster Ep. 75: We Are Monsters [hosting provided by Antisoc] Size: 47.9 MB Running Time: 52:23

Show Notes:

Intro: Baddd Spellah – "Radio Free Hipster Theme (feat. Beefy)"
Little know fact: Baddd Spellah is a Yeti.

Track 1: Schaffer the Darklord – "Monsters of Rock (feat. MC Lars)"
I've already written my review of Manslaughterer, but let me sum up: buy it!

Z's 1st interlude: "Today's theme is just that."
Yes, my friends, this show is all about the (surprising) things that go bump in the night.

Track 2: Being Human dialog / J. Arthur Keenes Band – "Skulls"
"We are monsters!"

Track 3: MC Kreacher – "Voices In My Head"
I know a significant portion of the nerdcore crowd will never give Wizard Rock a proper chance, but I see MC Kreacher as an ideal cross-over artist.

Track 4: Jonathan Coulton – "Creepy Doll"
I need to get myself some of this "big city money" of which JoCo speaks.

Track 5: The Ghastly Ones – "Spooky Girl"
Gotta give it up to Matt for hipping me to The Ghastly Ones' Target: Draculon.

Track 6: Mazedude – "Drax of Holy Spirits" / Being Human dialog
"I'm not eating raw meat like an animal just because a ghost is ovulating."

Track 7: Metaforce – "Slasher" / Being Human dialog
For those not already aware, Metaforce is dope, because you are what you smoke.

Track 8: Captain Dan & the Scurvy Crew – "Sea Monsters"
I know it's an easy answer, but I think this is my favorite Scurvy Crew joint.

Z's 2nd interlude: "Probably the second worse premise in television history."
In case you were wondering, the worst premise in TV history belongs to ill-fated series My Mother the Car. The third worst? Hogan's Heroes.

Track 9: The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets – "Colour Me Green"
It's really not Halloween without The Thickets.

Track 10: Zombies! Organize!! – "Happy Zombies"
And of course we can't talk about monster without delving into the darkened lair of the sinister celebutante.

Track 11: Starla – "You'll Always be My Zombie Friend"
I've been playing a lot of Starla lately. It is a trend I hope to continue.

Track 12: Shael Riley & the Double Ice Backfire – "tipehtfomottobeht"
How the fuck am I supposed to pronounce this title anyway?

Track 13: Being Human dialog / TOT – "Sucker MC's Are Werewolves In London"
The Warren Zevon mash-up: another fine Halloween tradition.

Z's final interlude: "Because you just can't dig your way out of a hole."
Southern colloquialism like whut?!

Track 14: Being Human dialog / Glenn Case – "Escape From the Hotel California"
Admittedly not the spookiest of ending tracks, but given the urban legend surrounding "Hotel California," I thought it worked. That bit of leading dialog helped too.

Expect the second part of the Crap-tacular to drop in two weeks. In the meantime, I'm more than happy to entertain any and all song suggestions for our next journey behind the veil.

I've already got some more STD, some new hotness from The Bloodclan and a few devilish mash-ups on tap. What dark delights would you like to hear?

Your Store Could Use Some Fixin'

While not your typical nerd, cowpunker Mojo Nixon has everything that a discriminating music geek could possibly ask for. His lyrics are clever without being overly intellectual, his delivery is always frantic and humorous, and his overall style of beer-soaked redneck rock has, in the past three decades, been heavily imitated but seldom duplicated. Plus, Mojo's a Carolina hillbilly, and, as you're reading this blog, we can all assume you like those. :D

I bring this up because Amazon MP3 is giving – yes, I said giving – away the bulk of Nixon's musical catalog for the next three weeks. From his early work with Skid Roper to his 90s output as backed by the Toadliquors and even his intermittent solo efforts are all freely available for a limited time. And considering that Amazon has a good ¾ of his official releases, this isn't the kind of thing you'll wanna pass up.

I'd recommend downloading everything, but at the very least you should cop Root Hog or Die ("Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant With My Two Headed Love Child," "She's Vibrator Dependent"), Otis ("Destroy All Lawyers," "Don Henley Must Die"), Bo-Day-Shus ("Elvis is Everywhere," "Don't Want No Foo-Foo Haircut on My Head") and Whereabouts Unknown ("Tie My Pecker to My Leg," his amazing cover of The Smiths' "Girlfriend in a Coma"). If nothing else, head over the Amazon and browse the album selection and track listings. I'm sure you'll find something you dig.

And afterward, make it a point to pass on your thanks to Snipe, as she's the one who hipped me to this unbelievable deal!