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.



Sunday, February 28, 2010

Radio Free Hipster Ep. 84: Inspect the Unexpected

I am not particularly clever or preternaturally sneaky. It is rare, in fact, that I ever "get the drop" on anyone. But with this podcast I at least give it a try.

You see, I seek to leverage the element of musical surprise to delight and amaze.

And no reading the show notes before you listen! That's cheating.

Download Radio Free Hipster Ep. 84: Inspect the Unexpected [hosting provided by Antisoc] Size: 45.1 MB Running Time: 49:15


Show Notes:


Intro: Baddd Spellah – "Radio Free Hipster Theme (feat. Beefy)"
Okay, so not exactly the most surprising way to open a show.

Track 1: Glenn Case – "So Emotional"
I'm a big fan of Glenn's acoustic cover of the day project. And not just because he takes my unintentional requests.

Z's 1st interlude: "What wouldn't you expect to hear afterward?"
Now I'm thinking 45 minutes of silence, but that's no way to run a railroad!

Track 2: The White Panda – "Throw Some Tik on That Tok"
There are, by my estimation, 3000 Ke$ha mash-ups currently available. This is one of them

Track 3: "Dig Dug Theme" / Insane Ian – "DiG Dug"
I really don't play enough Demento-style music. That and filk are the progenitors of most modern incarnations of nerd music, so we owe both styles an immeasurable debt.

Track 4: Jonny Nero Action Hero – "Experimutations"
Jonny's got a great chiptune/guitar rock hybrid thing going on. I think you're really gonna dig his album.

Track 5: Kabuto the Python – "Those Minerals"
This track's garnered Kabuto some serious attention over the past couple of weeks. Good for him!

Track 6: Radames Ortiz & Jonathan Jindra – "GTA"
Poetry is another thing I seldom include in the show rotation, but Radames's stuff certainly fits in.

Track 7: Monty Python dialog / Action Adventure World vs. The Plasmas – "Contra 2010"
This unholy union was brought to my attention by my friends at Game Music 4 All.

Z's 2nd interlude: "This internal logic to the ebb and flow of my song selection."
Or at least that's the plan. Not sure how it actually translates.

Track 8: Spamtec Crew – "Life is an Inbox"
STC is the greatest!

Track 9: Divide and Kreate – "Kissie Minogue"
Because no one expects a KISS mash-up.

Track 10: Scrubs dialog / The Boobles – "Oh Won't You Show Your Cans"
This one also played into the fact that we just celebrated Fat Tuesday.

Track 11: Kevin Figueiredo – "Stand Up (Rock Remix)"
This episode contains 125% of your RDA of Luda!

Track 12: Deafinition – "The Abyss"
Peep the other cuts from this particular One Hour Compo here.

Z's final interlude: "He did so on a whim."
Speaking of The Clash, the background music for this episode is bithoven's chip cover of "Rock the Casbah."

Track 13: Navi – "Grayscale" / Voicemail
Much love to Glenn and Shael for the messages. I've always wanted to accept listener call-ins, and the magic of Google Voice has made it possible.

The short month has thrown my schedule off a bit, but I'm already prepping for March's episodes. Theme and song suggested are, as always, appreciated and encouraged.

I'm also slightly terrified to realize that, if my current output stays consistent, this year will see my 100th episode. Who woulda thunk?

Not me.

Certainly not me. :)