Thursday, March 04, 2010

Nerd News in Brief

A lady from human resources once had the audacity to ask me the color of my parachute. This is a rather asinine inquiry, as one can learn so much more about me by simply asking my DEVO color.

Seriously.

It is red. That means I have a fiery personality and inherent love of energy domes.
  • S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y: This weekend the world will tremble as a direct result of the NYC premiere of Uncle Monsterface performing with a real, live drummer! Attendants can also bask in the glory of the live debut of the song"Heart" featuring Jocelyn Mackenzie of Pearl and the Beard! Come on down to Brooklyn's Death By Audio, and bring a fiver.
  • Hip-Hop, Feminism & Nerds: On the more scholarly end, this weekend's Society for Photographic Education conference will include a panel entitled "Potential Feminist Performances of Masculinity in Music: The Hip Hop Subculture of Nerdcore." The Message Is in the Music: Hip Hop Feminism, Riot Grrrl, Latina Music & More is hosted at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY, and is both free and open to the public.
  • A Decade in the Making: This year marks the 10th bandiversary of seminal VG rockers The Minibosses. The guys celebrated this landmark by talking about the ten favorite gigs of their career with The Phoenix New Times.
  • Spoiler – Wear Deodorant: Meanwhile, our own MC Frontalot compiled a list of 5 indispensable survival tips for PAX East. It’s a comprehensive piece for the potentially ill-prepared masses.
  • Artichoke: Also on the subject of PAX, my literary homey Lev Grossman recently interviewed the Gabe and the Tycho for a piece over at Techland. Give it a read.
  • (Ack)Bar None: The first of Church’s outlandish contributions to this edition of NNIB is news of a student initiative to replace Ole Miss’s potentially offensive rebel mascot with a far nerdier alternative. It’s a Trap!
  • Old School: Also from Church comes news of NPR’s recent blurb about filk. Not exactly an earth-shattering piece, but a nice nod to perhaps the oldest nerd music community.
  • Fear the Beard: Big ups to geeky academic Jason Tocci, who recently talked about his dissertation research concerning nerd identity with Technically Philly. Sadly, there’s no plug for Hipster, please! therein, but even Jason needs to take a break from pimping my projects every once in a while. ;)
  • In Space: I did, however, get a plug – of the self-induced variety – over at John Anealio's Sci Fi Songs blog. There I contributed to John's new "Interstellar Jukebox" feature, writing about my favorite space song.
  • Nerd Ink, Supplemental: I would similarly like to congratulate this gentleman. You win at nerd ink!
  • Comedy, of the Highest Order: I don’t even have a witty accompanying line for this piece on geek chic, so allow me instead to quote: "Geeks are the most important natural resource the world has ever known. Without them gravity would be nothing more than a shitty John Mayer song."
  • Underwhelmed at the Helm: Last month at London's Millennium Bridge, a new Guinness world record was set for the largest gathering of people dressed as Star Trek characters. The magic number? 99. Way to aim low, British Trekkies!
  • Who's Better, Who's Best: Still, Church is quick to point out that UK nerdlingers easily redeem themselves in this Guardian piece concerning the SFX Weekender. All it took was a little Tom Baker!
  • Bazinga!: Back on this side of the pond, my pal Raz was nice enough to hip me to a site specializing in the dorktastic wearables featured in the Big Bang Theory. There's even a page dedicate to Howard's belt buckles.
  • New YT/Old YT: Closing us out today is a pair of videos featuring the incomparable YTCracker. As YT will be shaving his head for charity later this month, it seemed only right to let him take us home. This first is a new video directed by Irina Slutsky and featuring Doc Pop and Unwoman. The second is a portrait of the artist as a young man.



5 comments:

Jason T said...

Actually, I think I mentioned you in both that interview and in another one I did for a Quebecois news magazine the same week, but reporters can only fit so many of my inane ramblings.

Also, I mentioned you in a Web Committee meeting at work today, talking about how you meet other people online when you actually bother to blog regularly.

Also, I am behind you right now, looking at you.

funky49 said...

The writer in the "Spock Tattoo" link has it wrong. That's MISTER Spock.

Dr. Spock is a 70's child care book writer dude.

Jimi said...

pffff, why did nobody tell me about the record attempt for number of people dressed as Star Trek characters? I could have been number 100!

MPFM said...

YT, your dad was a rock.

J.Goodwin said...

For Texans, courtesy The Front's newsletter:

Saturday kicks off a whole week of Frontalot and The Sturgenius (with
DJ CPUv4 in tow) at South By Southwest in Austin TX.

Sat night 3/13: io9 party, free! With free liquor, storm troopers, you
name it. Front's on around 10. Purevolume House. You're supposed to
RSVP because of some kind of Texas law about free liquor. And yet
storm troopers are unregulated? AWESOME.
http://www.purevolume.com/thehouse

Sun night 3/14: Front does a couple songs at the SXSW Web Awards at
the Hilton Austin.
http://sxsw.com/interactive/webawards/ceremony

Mon night 3/15: Public performance at Flamingo Cantina, 9PM, tix a
mere six bucks.
http://www.flamingocantina.com/

Wed afternoon 3/17: "Nerdcore 101" panel at noon:thirty in Con Center
Rm 16B. W/ Ran, ytc, JD.
http://my.sxsw.com/events/eid/7790
Followed by signing stuff at the SXSW bookstore... Front will be there
just, you know, hanging out with Smokey Robinson or whatever. No big
deal. Might even bring a few copies of Zero Day to sell at this thing.
http://sxsw.com/node/4424

Wed night 3/17: Tons of your favorite nerd rappers in their official
fest showcase, at Karma Lounge. Starts at 8p and Front's on around 1a,
but you don't want to miss a minute of it. Jesse Dangerously, Schaffer
The Darklord, ytcracker, K-Flay, Random... it's going to be an amazing
evening. It's technically just for SXSW attendees, but last year they
decided to sell tickets at the door, so give it a shot.
http://www.karma-austin.com/

If you're able to catch any movies at SXSW, don't miss The People Vs
George Lucas -- our own MC Front appears as a chattering head.
http://sxsw.com/