Round II

It’s a good day for nerdcore as the second disk of the Nerdcore Hip-Hop Compilation CD Project is now available for download. Get it while it’s hot.

Star Wars Gangsta Rap Special Edition

Okay, so I’m not the biggest Star Wars fan in the world, but even I was impressed with the revamped version of this geeksta classic. Experience it again for the first time.

(I do love a good oxymoron!)

The Nerdcore Hip-Hop Compilation CD Project Vol. 1

Volume 1 of the famed Nerdcore Hip-Hop Compilation CD Project is now available for download. The last three volumes should be up soon: High-C is only one man, and I’m sure he’s working as fast as he can. Why not go and pull the torrent for the first so as to whet your appetite? And be sure to read the liner notes too. That shit is fascinating!

Get thee quickly to Rhyme Torrents so as to enjoy the earthly delights afforded by such economical tunage. Nerd up!

The evilest geek of them all \m/\m/

If the media is to be believed (and fuck knows that’s a crapshoot), then today is the most malevolent day of the whole of this millennium. Of course I couldn’t let that slip by without at least some mention. While some will spend this day locked in their closets of prayer and others still wile away their hours in more diligent pursuits, I’ve decided to use this day to honor one among our number who is generally overlooked by the nerd community at large.

Since Black Sabbath first cranked out a song about a mutated time-traveler on a blood-thirsty rampage across the world he had originally set out to preserve, heavy metal has had an unseen, often unmentioned, nerd element. So today, on good ol’ 6~6~6, I would like to honor Anthrax's Scott Ian; metal’s premiere closet geek.

From the early days of Anthrax, where the band named-checked the likes of the then-independent (and quite entertaining) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and (pre-Stallone) Judge Dread comic books, Scotty and the boys seemed to have a fine eye for geekery. And anyone keeping score at home (read: anyone who’s watched any of the abundance of VH1 list shows aired in the past three years) knows that Ian never relinquished his nerdly ways. Whether he’s talking toys on television or geeking out about Battlestar Galactica on the Thraxcast, Scott Ian continues to let his geek flag fly.

For always sticking close to his roots and for letting the world know that there was nothing wrong with enjoying heavy metal, rap, and comic books, Hispter, please! bestows upon Scotty Ian Rosenfeld (He gets extra nerd points just for being a Jew!) the mantle of "Metal-Geek Defender of the Faith." May you always find succor and solace within the haven that is your local comic book retailer and may all your saving throws be successful.

-- nerdus antea, nerdus modo, nerdus eternus --

Nerd news in brief

With summer well underway I find myself bogged down with all of the idle fucking around that I’ve been putting off for months. Thankfully, our nerd news nuggets of the past few days are conveniently bite-sized!

• DS Lite leak – One of our old pals at CAG discovered yesterday that some local retailers had put DS Lites on the shelves well before the June 11th street date. Feel free to head out to your local (b&m) Wal-Mart or Target and try your luck.
• Win a Free DS Lite form Kotaku – Want a DS Lite but you’re too damn cheap to drop $130? Try decoding this week’s secret message at Kotaku and win one (and some other groovy shit). Here’s what you need to know for this week's drawing:
  "To enter the contest you must break this code: nrytt xrfwy ktwdt zuzsd ptyfp znyjx
  One hint: the Key to the code can be found in Eliza's first post on Kotaku. If you search for the story you'll come to the month that leads the first sentence. Perhaps the third month isn't the only one Caesar should beware.
  To enter, email the answer in the subject line to: kotakucontest@gmail.com by midnight Friday EST. One entry per a person please. If you enter more than once per a weekly contest Kotaku reserves the right to have fits and ban you from this and future contests."
  It's a damn clever set-up, and, while I won't give you the answer, I will wish you the best of luck.
• Penny Arcade and the ESRB – Gabe and Tycho are in cahoots with the ESRB! Yup, the Entertainment Software Rating Board has asked our heroes for help in spreading the good word of self-regulation. The Penny Arcade boys have created characters symbolic of the current ratings system in hopes of fostering understanding in the famously clueless modern parent.
  "That's not an easy task but we took the job for a couple reasons. Number one Tycho and I are both fathers now. The discussion about the ESRB and its place in the gaming industry is no longer just academic for us. Our kids will be playing games before we know it. Second, we much prefer the ESRB to government regulation and let's all be honest here, that's the alternative. "
  Way to take one for the team, guys!
• Nerdcore mix – I’ve been holding off mentioning this for weeks now, but, for those not already in the know, the cats at bedoper.com have crafted not one, not two, not three, but four delightful nerdcore compilation CDs for FREE MUTHA-GRABBIN’ DOWNLOAD! Links will go live on Rhyme Torrents in just a few days. The line-up includes damn-near every nerdcore artist available, some (read: many) going so far as to contribute new tracks. It’s a wonder to behold, and you can bet your greasy grandma that I’ll be milking the torrents for all they’re worth!

And, with that, you should be pretty well caught up. Long days and pleasant nights.

Geek movie news

Not content to have a mere 6 versions of his film-noir cyber-punk classic floating around, Ridley Scott has elected to grace us with yet another goddamn version of Blade Runner.

The DVD, featuring the 1992 "director's cut," will be deleted after four months, and replaced by a 25th anniversary "final cut," which Warner Home Video is billing as Scott's "definitive new version" of the film.

I’m guessing this is the version where we find out that Thelma and Louise are both Replicants.

RIP Desmond

I know this isn’t geek related in the slightest, but, considering of my rudeboy roots, I feel it has to be done.

Just a few hours ago, reggae pioneer Desmond Dekker died of a heart attack in his English home. Though not acknowledged as much around the states, Dekker will forever be remembered by those in the know as the man who birthed reggae’s first worldwide hit. You heard it here, kiddies: It was Dekker, not Marley, who put reggae on the map.

When asked to explain the lyrical complexity of this hit, Israelites, Dekker once replied, "I was really saying, don't give up, things will get better if you just hold out long enough."

Here’s hoping that, wherever he is, Des is enjoying whatever lies beyond. We miss you, brudda.

GoNintendo goes to the symphony

It appears as if RawMeatCowboy and his pals over at GoNintendo are heading out to the inaugural performance of Play!: A Video Game Symphony at Chicago’s Rosemont Theatre this weekend. The GoNintendo crew has even been invited to a special press conference, and, in the spirit of sharing some love with the Nintendo faithful, their own Nicky Hill is currently soliciting questions to propose to the composers/producers. Anyone who’d like to submit a question is encouraged to head on over to GoNintendo’s Forums and let his voice be heard.

Sister doing it for herself

In recent nerdgirl news, Kari Byron, of MythBusters fame, posed for the June 2006 issue of FHM magazine. I’m not generally a stickler for rules, but I don’t reckon she’s wearing proper lab attire.

Nerdcore Rising

This was my first interview. Well, that’s not exactly true: In 5th grade, I interviewed my gramps for a project about the Great Depression. I aced that fucker!

Seriously, I’m not exactly renowned for my interviewing acumen, and this meet-up rather rapidly devolved into a pair of old geeks casually gabbing about nerdly endeavors and participating in good-natured self-deprecation. I blame Frontalot. He wasn’t difficult or distracted or rushed – none of the things you mentally prepare yourself for before meeting an artist. He was relaxed. He was complimentary. And, for a professional nerd, he was actually pretty damn cool. Behold the fruits of my half-assed labor:

------------------------------

I understand that this is your first national tour. Where did the idea for the corresponding documentary come from?

Well, my keyboardist Gminor7 knew Negin Farsad from New York and she heard about the band that he was in and thought it would be a good subject. And she’s a filmmaker so she really took it seriously and is actually doing it and I was surprised. When she first said it I thought oh nobody’s going to make a documentary about me, that’s crazy talk! But here it’s happening so that’s exciting.

Do you feel that having the cameras rolling has put even more pressure on you, this being your inaugural tour?

*laughs* Sort of. I mean, there’s definitely a bigger pressure to be amusing all the time than I usually experience. Usually I just save all that up for the stage. I think I might have been out of amusing this evening.

No, no. You were great! Definitely amusing. If this is your first tour, then that begs the question: what is your day job? I know you’ve mentioned previously that you primarily do freelance work. Is this still true?

Ummm… not currently, no. I actually just sort of wrapped things up with my last couple of clients so I can do this full-time.

Which then begs the question: do you find the “freelancer lifestyle” conducive to one who is pursuing his first ever nerdcore tour?

Yeah. Luckily I don’t have house payments. I didn’t have a job that it was really important to hold on to. I just had clients, and I can get more clients if I have to at some point, I guess.

So your education. You were an English major, is that right?

That is correct.

I’m just glad to see another English major who’s actually doing something somewhat related to language! Were you involved in any other types of bands or other performance projects before becoming MC Frontalot?

No, I was in some bands in college – nothing really serious, but we did perform and write songs and play and stuff. I’ve done a lot of Song Fight! stuff besides the MC Frontalot thing, and then Gabby my keyboardist, Gminor7, and I were both involved in a musical theatre company in San Francisco and Berkley called Emerald Rain Productions. Gabby was the music director of that troupe, and I was, like, a founding troupe member, and we did that for 10 or 12 years. And we did lots of original pop-rock musicals that we would write. So that was most of my stage experience.

Several of the people who are in the nerdcore/alternative rap scene (like MC Lars) started out in punk bands. There really seems to be an inherent punk/DYI ethic to nerdcore. Are you still recording everything yourself? Are you still laptop-ing it up?

So far, yeah, just home recording. I don’t know, I guess that is a big punk rock thing: doing it all in your basement. I love that it’s so much easier these days to make things that sound borderline professional just with a computer. It’s pretty great.

Here comes the shameless begging: Since you are self-producing, is there any hope that some MC Frontalot a capellas could escape onto the Internet so that aspiring djs and mash-up artists might be able to get their hands on them? (Hint-hint!)

*laughs* Actually I’ve got my crack team of high-powered developers working on my brand new Web site even as we speak, and it is going to be up, I hope, in about 7 weeks – 6 1/2, maybe. And it will have a whole section called the Open-Source Beats Program where I will post source kits for songs and let people post their remixes back to the site, and there will be, like, voting on which ones are the greatest and stuff like that.

The number of nerdcore acts really seems to have ballooned. (I’ve got here: mc chris, MC Lars, MC Hawking, and yourself of course, Ytcracker, MC Plus+, Monzy, Paulb, Jesse Dangerously, Optimus Rhyme, and the list goes on and on.) Do you feel that this constitutes a movement? Is that what Nerdcore Rising is about? Is there a scene developing, and, if so, what do you feel your place is within that scene?

It’s kind of funny to think of something that’s just a bunch of people looking at Web sites and sending email to each other as a scene. Like, traditionally scenes (especially music scenes) have been around a place. But it has some stuff in common, I guess, with a scene like a music scene. There are certainly a lot of people who have latched onto the idea that you don’t have to be cool to write down raps and even share them with people. So I’m glad that that’s happening. I see myself as uniquely positioned to, um, exploit the current ballooning popularity because people generally mention me when they talk about nerdcore because I stuck the phrase together a few years ago, I guess.

Of those acts, you’ve worked with both the Hawkman and Jesse Dangerously. Is there anyone else from the nerdcore movement whom you’ve worked with or would like to work with in the future?

Bedsides Hawking and Dangerously? Well, you know, I’d love to do something with mc chris. We talked about it once a long time ago, but he’s very busy being famous. *laughs*

Do you hope to find yourself in the same position where you start a tour and it just never ends? Because mc went out how long ago and he is still on the road? That’s crazy!

It’s true. Well, that is certainly what inspired me to get off my ass and actually go do this: his, you know, seemingly effortless success. I’m sure it was a real pain in the butt, but he did really well with it last year and I said well alright, there really is an audience for the stuff that we’re doing. He has a bigger audience a) because he’s better at rapping and b) he’s got national exposure from doing the Adult Swim stuff. So it’s probably not going to be anywhere near as easy for me to, um, draw that audience on this tour. But if it draws well enough then I can keep going. That’s sort of how I’m looking at it.

Tracks like "I Heart Fags" and "Special Delivery" have a definite political slant. How important is this political element to nerd music and nerd culture? Don’t folks generally think of nerds as being fairly apathetic?

I don’t know if I can speak for nerdcore music in general and its relation to politics. I know that when I was trying to make those songs I was really almost trying not to. It’s like, I knew that the kids who were already drawn to the music were probably interested in it being funny and not having; well, having complex and funny jokes to unravel out of the lyrics, but not necessarily having to think about the world and what a mess it is. It’s like, a lot of people turn to music, especially funny music, in order to escape from all that kind of stuff, but I’m from Berkeley, California and I just couldn’t help myself! That’s how the lyric to the "Special Delivery" song starts “I tried to go clean from protesting,” but I there’s just no… I couldn’t – I couldn’t not do that. Um, and same with the "I Heart Fags" song. I think I must’ve, like, probably lost at least a couple of fans off of that, but, you know, hopefully my fans have an open enough mind that, at least, if they don’t dig a song they don’t have to listen to it and they don’t have to reject everything about it. So, I don’t know, uh, if nerds in general tend to be political. Most of the intellectuals I know from home and from college, they’re all very political and they’re usually geeks too. But the sort of wider, gaming culture nerds, like, math nerds tend to be Libertarians. Definitely not a left-wing crowd naturally. But, I mean, that’s me. I gotta, like, actually express myself.

I guess that’s sort of an important thing about the archetypal nerd: you can be liberal, you can be conservative, there’s not really, you know, you don’t really have to wear a certain shirt to be a nerd. It’s just something that naturally occurs.

Very true, yeah.

What are the signs and symptoms of a swollen hip-hop gland?

*laughs* Well, it sort of engorges, and then you kind of squeeze it and it’s painful, and some rapping comes out. And you find that you have to express your hip-hop gland, through squeezing, repeatedly. Or you can just go to the vet – they’ll do it.

So the expression: that would be the proper course of treatment?

Yes. It’s like when a dog drags his ass on the carpet. He’s just trying to express the anal gland.

Aside from dropping geek rhymes, what’s your nerdiest hobby/obsession? Are you a comic geek? A gamer? An anime guy? What’s your thing?

Not deep into anime, although I love watching it. I do still, even at my advanced age, spend an inordinate amount of time on certain video games. Um, I mean I just lose a month to Civ IV, you know, and it’ll give me worse carpal tunnel than when I’m working. It’s awful. So, I definitely am deep into video games. Much less, like, the RPGs and tabletop stuff since maybe junior high/early high school; I haven’t done a lot of that. But, deep into video games. I still love comic books very dearly. Ever since college I’ve been much more interested in, um, like the Fantagraphics stuff, the Dark Horse stuff. Dan Clowes and Chris Weir are my favorites. Julie Doucet and Jim Woodring. Um, I love a lot of different comics, but I don’t meet a lot of people who love the same comics as I do. Mostly the comic nerds I know are into, like, Justice League and Marvel and whatnot.

Penny Arcade Expo: is it as amazing and geek-awe inspiriting as it seems? I know you’ve said before that that’s what you look forward to. Is it geek Mecca when you get to PAX and there’s the table-top gaming and the comic guys and the people with their noses in their DSes? Is it what it appears to be? Is it all that and more?

Um, it’s pretty wild. It’s definitely everything you would imagine it to be, and it’s very impressive. I wish I could enjoy it more when I go. The year before last I was able to go just for the night and then I had to disappear. And last year I also had to disappear right after. And then, even the whole time I was there, I had to staff my booth. So I didn’t get to play any videogames last years. This year I’ll bring a PSP so that I can.

That’s another question: PSP or DS? Where are you stationed in the handheld war? Am I to take it you’re firmly entrenched in the Sony camp?

It’s funny; I’ve only ever owned two dedicated gaming consoles in my whole life. I was always on computers. Like TRS-80, the Commodore 64, then PCs. The first time I ever bought a consoles I bought on Craigslist a used PS2 so that I could play San Andreas ‘cause I’m so obsessed with those Grand Theft Auto games. And, um, so I have a PS2 and then I bought a PSP so I could play this fucking Liberty Cities. It’s like the amount of money I’ve spent to play Grand Theft Auto games is totally outrageous!

Lastly, what would you say -- since we’ve sort of discussed the types and levels of nerd-dom -- is the essence of nerd? Can you pin it down, or is it just too nebulous?

Well, it’s easy to sort of define what it’s not, right? The nerds are the kids who aren’t cool. Um, but what a nerd is? I always thought, growing up and constantly being hollered at being told that I was a nerd and getting put down, I always thought that maybe those other kids have their shit together in a way that I don’t socially. But I have, you know, a rich inner life. I have an imagination. I’m smart enough to enjoy Dr. Who and Monty Python. I have a sense of humor. I have all of my pretty little comic books. And what do they have? They get to smoke pot with the other popular kids. How long is that gonna last? And, hey, I was right. That, like, lasted through junior college, and now where the hell are they?

------------------------------

And that was it. Front and I rapped for a few more minutes about nerdly self-indulgence, and then I bid him adieu.

When it was all said and done, he had taken a half-hour to sit down and answer a bunch of goofy-assed questions from some guy with a blog that all of a half-dozen people actually read. He had even closed down his merch table early, probably missing a load of t-shirt and CD sales that could’ve otherwise bought food, beer, gas, and comics on his first ever tour, to do so. What’s more, he had done so gladly and for no other reason than to talk with a fan. It didn’t really behoove him to do it. I mean, shit, there’s no amount of free publicity to be found here. I’m actually guessing most of you reading this linked in from his site. The truth is, I suppose, it was just a friendly gesture. It was nerd love. It was geek solidarity. And when Front comes to your town, you go out and show him some love too. He’s working hard to bring the nerdcore to the masses. Shouldn’t you be doing the same?

Nerd Up!

**The accompanying Frontalot-as-zombie images scanned from my personal collection and used without permission. Interested fans can easily catch these illustrations (and a damn fine story) in Image Comics’ The Walking Dead Volume 1: Days Gone Bye by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore available at finer comic shops and online retailers everywhere. Please don’t sue me.**

Seen hobnobbing

As both of my regular readers should know, this past weekend marked the inaugural show of MC Frontalot’s Nerdcore Rising tour in my native Spartanburg. The crowd was an odd mix of the punker kids there to see the openers and the nerd element of the Frontalot camp. Despite the uneasy truce between these two factions, Front and his cohorts had no trouble rocking the house to a level as yet unheard-of in civilized society. Even the skeptical hardcore aficionados were awe-struck by the by drumming prowess of Sturgenius, Blak Lotus’s funktastic bass stylings, and the grandeur that is the Gm7. You could see them, slightly doubled at the waist so as to avoid unnecessary attention, drawing ever closer to the stage to see the fellows do their thing.

Front, of course, bought his “A game” and dropped the lyrics not so much as if they were hot, but in a similar manner that one might drop an object he hurriedly picked up only to discover there was doodoo on it.

The set list was a mixture of old favorites and new jams. Crime Spree was preformed with much fervor, Simpsons samples in tact, and Special Delivery was succinctly delivered with all the passion expected of a heated protest song set to driving bass. Several exclusive tracks off Front’s Nerdcore Rising album reared their knobby heads. New jams Charity Case (hear it for free!) and Goth Girls delighted the nerdiest of those in attendance, while Song Fight! winners Floating Bridge and Yellow Lasers reminded us all why we showed up in the first place.

Nerdcore let itself be truly known as Front tossed Magic: The Gathering cards into the crowd before beginning Hassle: The Dorkening; even more nerd-worthy was Front reliance on a twenty-sided die to determine part of the set list -- a role of 7 or greater would mean Braggadocio while anything less would mean Which MC Was That?. Of course, Front easily made the throw (even without the addition of his +2 to rock modifier).

Front was outrageously cordial to all who approached him, including yours truly. As the capo of Front’s Spartanburg street team, I was more than a little disappointed by the attendance, but Frontalot assured me that the crowd was fine and thanked me graciously for the time and money I’d invested in making and spreading flyers. To that end he treated me (and my cohort Jeremy) to a free tour shirt in addition to the certificate of awesomeness mentioned on his site.

As if that weren’t enough, Frontalot even closed down the merch table early so he could answer a few questions for Hipster, Please! The ensuing interview is currently being transcribed and should be posted later this week.

After the experience, I humbly recommend that you make every effort to attend the nearest Nerdcore Rising club date. The show is phenomenal, and Frontalot himself is a delight to talk to. He makes no secret of just how much he appreciates all the nerdgirls and boys who come out to show support, and he rewards them well with a fine set and modestly priced merchandise.

Hey, if you are planning to check out Front in your hometown, why not sign on for the street team? You’ll be doing a great service for the nerdcore community and you’ll get a snazzy certificate suitable for framing. The street team is an important means by which you the fan can, to take a leaf from Frontalot’s book (not to mention the title track from his new disk and the stand-out from his Friday night set list), do your part to help nerdcore rise up.

Shit, he’ll even do an interview for your lame-ass blog if you ask nice!

Concerning E3

Today marks the beginning of what is akin to a holy week in the nerd community. The week of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is like Ramadan for gamers: You can call is Ramadork or maybe Ramendan, but I digress.

E3 is, for those few of you who are, as yet, uninitiated, the most celebrated domestic video game conference in existence. The trade show is (on paper) strictly for game industry professionals and journalists, but each year it seems more and more about the fans and celebrities who find a way to skeeze entrance into the hallowed halls of the LA Convention Center.

There is a plethora of coverage of said event, which belies its industry focus. As usual, IGN promises a crush of E3 related links, feeds, and features, as does television network G4 with their E3 Insider site. Likewise, several smaller sites offer up their own unique brand of E3 news and views. CheapyD (over at CAG) assures us a post-E3 wrap-up CAGcast, and he’s even set up an E3 moblog/picture gallery for attending CAGs. RawmeatCowboy and his team from GoNintendo, all aflutter concerning their first invite to the event, pledge to keep fans of the big N abreast of all important developments concerning Iwata and company.

The big stories this year, as with every year in recent memory, concern Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, and their offerings for the foreseeable future. The big questions: Will the Playstation3 be playable? Will the Xbox 360 offer up any truly next-gen goodness? Is Nintendo serious about that fuckin’ “Wii” thing?

For me, though, it comes down to one question: When will North America see the release of the DS Lite in additional colors? Last week Nintendo let us know that the Lite will drop on June 11th at a price of 130 bones, but only in Crystal White. When can I expect to see that handsome Enamel Navy model here in the States?

Sure, it’s a bit sad that I’m wishing away all the earth-shattering game news afforded by the event for a simple matter of color, but what can I say? I’m a slave to aesthetics!

Lack of updates Update

There has been a recent dearth of updates to this blog for two principle reason:

Reason, the 1st: It is final exam season and English Lit I is currently having its way with my GPA.

Reason, the 2nd: I offered to do some work on MC Frontalot’s street team for the inaugural gig of his Nerdcore Rising tour in my native Spartanburg, SC, and thus I’ve been sending a lot of time gathering supplies and printing flyers.

More news from the Frontalot camp

I know all you good boys and girls have already signed up for Frontalot's mailing list, but what about the bad boys and girls? I say repent and sign the fuck up. In the meantime, here’s a modest proposal for fans in the NYC area (that doesn’t involve eating Irish babies).

Front writes:

I'm doing a fan meet & greet at Forbidden Planet comics in NYC (Broadway &13th). Everyone who shows up can put one word on a list and then on the busride home I will write a rap that has all the words in it. Then I will makea recording of it. So if someone has always wanted to have his or herfavorite word in a MC Frontalot song, he or she should come to the comicstore at the appointed time.

Also, the person who puts in the best word (judge of best word: me) gets asigned Penny Arcade Expo 2005 DVD. I'll have shirts and CDs too.

Monday, May 1st
8-9PM
MC Frontalot chats you up and signs things
Forbidden Planet
840 Broadway (at 13th)
New York, NY
(FREE of course)

Taking the Wii (another non-music related venture)

Okay, anyone who read this blog before the changeover knows that I am a die-hard Nintendo fanboy. That being said, the news (straight from the horse's mouth) that the forthcoming Nintendo Revolution console is to be released under the name Nintendo Wii strikes me as interminably odd. I understand the reasoning, at least from the PR slant, but you gotta admit: having a console that’s name sounds like a euphemism for taking a piss is a weird step.

Of course, this isn’t the first time Nintendo has thrown us a curve. The DS, when initially offered up, seemed like a ridiculous idea, but damned if they haven’t turned that two-screened monster into a gaming juggernaut. Even the Revolution… er, Wii controller(which looks like a television remote control, in case you’ve been living under a rock since before E3 05) seemed outlandish to many until developers began to praise the innovation inherent in it’s simple yet groundbreaking design.

The bottom line, for me at least, is that the name sounds silly, the controller looks bizarre, and the machine admittedly lacks the horsepower of the competition’s next-gen offerings, but I still see myself picking one up. Games make a system and Nintendo continually puts out the kinds of games I yearn to play. I’m excited about the prospect of the kind of motion sensitive interface that this new system sports and can’t wait to see what in-house and 3rd party offerings emerge.

If it comes down to it, I’ll take a Wii.

You heard me.

A noble diversion

Shit, two days of relevant posts have me itching for distraction. How 8-bit are you?

I am 8-bit. I got 16/16 on the 8-Bit Gamer test. Take the test!

Coming to your cit-tay

The weather’s warming up, the pollen count is through the roof, and the ladies are breaking out their fair-weather skivvies. That can only mean one thing: The summer concert season can’t be far behind. Some artists have elected to get their tour on a little early this year. Never content to rest on their laurels, both MC Frontalot and mc chris may be coming to a city near you! Ain’t that some shit?

MC FRONTALOT ~ The Nerdcore Rising Tour 2006

May 12th Spartanburg, SC Ground Zero ~ map with Emotron
May 13th Mt. Pleasant, SC The Village Tavern ~ map tickets online
May 14th Chapel Hill, NC Local 506 ~ map tickets online
May 16th Johnson City, TN The Hideaway ~ map
May 18th West Columbia, SC The New Brookland Tavern ~ map
May 19th Atlanta, GA the Drunken Unicorn ~ map tickets online
May 20th Tallahasee, FL The Beta Bar ~ map
May 22nd Baton Rouge, LA The Spanish Moon ~ map tickets online
May 23rd New Orleans, LA Republic ~ maptickets online
May 24th Houston, TX The Proletariat Club ~ map
May 25th Ft. Worth, TX The Aardvark ~ map
May 26th St. Louis, MO Creepy Crawl ~ map (advance sales via paypal on club's page, under "upcoming")
May 27th Lawrence, KS The Jackpot Saloon ~ map
May 28th Minneapolis, MN The Triple Rock Social Club ~ map
May 31st Kalamazoo, MI The Club Soda ~ map

mc chris ~ Revenge of the Nerd Tour 2006

Friday, May 12 Avalon (aka Limelight) NYC With MSI more info
Friday, May 19 The Underground Hartford, CT all ages more info
Thursday, May 25 The Temple Club Lansing, MI more info
Friday, May 26 Vamps Toledo, OH
Saturday, May 27 The House Cafe Dekalb, IL all ages more info
Monday, May 29 Hifi Cleveland, OH
Friday, June 02 The Nanci Ray Gun Richmond, VA 18+ more info
Saturday, June 10 Harpers Ferry Boston, MA 18+ more info
Sunday, June 18 Mr. Smalls Pittsburg, PA 18+ more info

A geek manifesto

I have spent a staggering chunk of my life composing via the tried and true 5-paragraph essay style. As such, I generally apply this same rubric to other areas of my life. Does my argument hold water? Are my ideas clear and concise? Is my thesis, the crux of my project, narrow enough to focus only on what’s important?

It’s that last question that gets me.

When I first started Hipster, please! my mission was broad: It was “one man’s view of fashion, tech, music, and all things geek chic.” In that lay the problem. I had spread myself too thin. Sure the focus was on music I found interesting, the items I was spending my free time and disposable income on, the tech news that caught my eye, but what did that amount to?

Thesis too nebulous – consider revision.

At the same time I was coming to grips with the ineffectiveness of my blog, I was also becoming aware of a disturbing trend. It wasn’t that the kind of music that spoke to me, that spoke for me, wasn’t getting the kind of respect it deserved. It was, in fact growing in popularity through the kinds of grassroots means that legitimize independent music. The problem was that fans of The Minibosses were unaware of MC Lars. Fans of mc chris had never heard of virt. 8-bit aficionados were unaware of NESkimos. It wasn’t that music for nerds by nerds wasn’t catching on, but that there was a rift between the sub-genres… or would that be sub-sub-genres?

Sure, there are folks who still think hip hop is all about guns and hos who have never heard nerdcore, and this site’s for them too. But mostly this site is for people who enjoy the nerdcore (or 8-bit or geek rock or game music) scene, but don’t quite know where to go from there. The truth is there is a wealth of talented, motivated artists out there making music about the kind of shit that got you beat up in high school, and doing it well. Whether you’re a gamer, a lit nerd, a comic book guy, an old school table-top RPGer, a computer science major, or a sci-fi/fantasy/horror buff, there are some great tunes out there that should be nestled snuggly in your iPod.

So, in one regard this site is about keeping those fanboy dreams alive, about celebrating your inner poindexter. Yet on the other hand, it’s also about smashing those same stereotypes. For every acne-faced cellar dweller yelling at his mom to make him a pb&j while he and the guys play through another death match, there is a well-adjusted, well kempt, happily married, and broadly attractive nerd boy (or nerd girl) living a very un-dorky life.

In my opinion, the nerd lifestyle revels in a powerful self-awareness. The very core of nerd-dom (or, geekery, if you will) is not dependant upon IQ, hobby, or hygiene, but an unyielding sense of self. It is that self that leads me to celebrate my geek brethren. That, in a nutshell, explains this blog’s new focus.

Hipster, please! is a specialty entertainment blog dedicated to nerd music and culture.

Notice I said nerd music and culture. The order of those words is of particular importance. The focus, at least on paper, will be on the music. As such, I’m currently pursuing several avenues for potential interviews and features with artists that sport a uniquely nerd-centric slant. But don’t forget about the culture. This leaves me enough wiggle room to drop in a little bit of tech news, game related info, comic trivia, or other such distraction when the music well runs a bit dry o when I really want to get some shit off my chest. I’ll make a valiant effort to keep the focus on music, and to clearly label all unrelated entries, but I make no promises. I am but a mortal man, chock full of foibles and eccentricities that may render me unable to distinguish between what is relevant to the reading public and what’s just cool to me.

And with that begins this new journey. If you were a regular reader of the old blog, I hope you hang around. If you’re a n00b, I hope you found what you were looking for. And if you found your way here because I used the word “shellfish” in my keyword meta-tag, I’d just like to say that I thoroughly enjoy clams, crab, and lobster.

Now, ready? Get set. Get your geek on!

Excuse the mess

The recent “other project” that I spoke of has just become this project. You will be noticing some changes here at HP, and I hope you find them to your liking. Expect an elaborate explanation of the blog’s new slant in the near future, and, in the meantime, enjoy the random cosmetic changes that I’m making daily!

Mid-Week MP3

This week’s Mid-Week MP3 is especially close to my heart. It is, after all, my first attempt at a mash-up. I understand that Beastie Boys mashes are sort of the lowest common denominator, but the band was kind enough to furnish fans with easy access to acapella versions of so much of their catalogue that it seemed silly for me not to take advantage of such bounty.

While not as polished as many of the recent mash-up tracks I’ve featured, I hope you’ll at least give it a try. I’m actually fairly proud of it. Oh, and two little tidbits of info:

1) While editing the artist tag on this track I sarcastically typed in “Kid Charlemagne,” which is, of course, a reference to Hal’s pirate radio persona on the FOX sitcom Malcolm in the Middle. I liked it so much that it stuck.

2) The odd spoken-word sample that drops in after the 3 minute mark was taken from Cheap Ass Gamer's CAGcast 23. It’s a little riff that co-host Wombat let’s fly concerning his disdain for the Kingdom Hearts video game series.

Kid Charlemagne – Lust for Now