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

Mid-Week MP3

I took a week off to work on another project (which I’ll speak of later), but now I’m back with another Mid-Week MP3. This week’s offering is snaked directly from Tim’s Radio Clash podcast from last week. It’s a mash-up from Team9 featuring Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” and Prince’s “Sign o' the Times.” This one goes out to my boy Cromer, whose affinity for the purple one knows no bounds. I hope y’all dig it too.

Team9 – Crazy Times

Mid-Week MP3

How about we show some more geek love for Jake Kaufman?

This week we have virt doing what he does best: making music restricted only by the blips of the vintage Gameboy and his own boundless imagination. This one is a cover of Mark "Sisqó" Andrews’s "Thong Song." I’ll let this one speak for itself.

virt -- Thong Song (Gameboy Mix)

Shit I already knew...

Mid-Week MP3

Jake Kaufman is the kind of musician we could all learn a thing or two from: he is a multitalented artist who works in a large variety of styles and genres, and he sports an unwavering dedication to his craft. His chosen profession is video game music composer, and his résumé is particularly fascinating to those who, like me, have an affinity for handheld gaming.

Jake, better known as virt, also believes in the age-old concept of something for nothing. He has an amazing variety of tracks for free download from his site. While his self-crunched MIDI works are things of beauty, I found myself particularly drawn to his arrangements of classic gaming soundtracks. This week’s Mid-Week MP3 is a chamber music take on the iconic sounds of one of my favorite 8-bit titles: Castlevania II. Enjoy.

virt – What a Horrible Night

Mid-Week MP3

Okay, so I’m not entirely sure who Rx is, but it appears he (or she) remixes audio files of US politicians and couples the “lyrics” with dance beats. The results are awe-inspiring.

Tim over at Radio Clash played a bit from Rx’s “Dick is a Killer” on his show last week, and I have since become totally enamored by the track. It’s full of crude humor, profanity, and is, at the most basic level, an attack against the current administration. In other words: it may be the best goddamn song ever!

Rx – Dick is a Killer

Mid-Week MP3

Not content to let a good thing die, this week’s Mid-Week MP3 is another from that mad bastard Mark Vidler of GoHomeProductions. This one blends TLC’s angsty anthem Unpretty with The Specials' seminal classic A Message to You, Rudy.

The result is soul-shaking as it blends the drama of the former with the pop sensibility of the latter. It’ll make you dance!

GHP -- Pretty Rudy

Mid-Week MP3

This week’s Mid-Week MP3 is yet another mash-up. (Could be I’m going for a theme here.)

This one takes Echo and the Bunnymen’s Killing Moon and unceremoniously weds it with Abba. I’m not sure why anyone would want to do that, but GoHomeProductions’s Mark Vidler did. It’s the kind of track that will have you bobbing your head and feeling really bad about it the entire time.

Check out Mark’s site for more bootleg goodness. Also, look for his track Rapture Riders on Capitol’s “Blondie Greatest Hits Sound & Vision” due out next month here in the states.

GHP -- Abba and the Bunnymen

Mid-Week MP3

As much as I abhor repeats, this week I’m gonna do one. Upon further reflection on Party Ben’s catalogue I found a song that is equally as good, if not better, than last week’s offering.

This mash-up blends the raucous ragtime of The White Stripes with the smooth beats of Eric B. & Rakim. It’s good. Damn good.

Now download it and then go directly to Ben’s site to check out his other offerings. I ain’t got time to spoon-feed you all his shit! ;)

Party Ben -- Pump Up the Doorbell

What kind of Pocky are you?

what flavor pocky are you?

[c] sugardew

Truthfully, I'd rather be Pretz!

Mid-Week MP3

Perhaps a mash-up of Destiny’s Child and Fugazi seems a bit sacrilegious, a bit heretical. Well, that’s only because it is. Fortunately for us Party Ben, formally of the San Fran’s “The Sixx Mixx” fame, busts it out real good.

While I’m not going to put Ben dead at the top of my list of favorite djs this track really does showcase the power and passion of a mad genius at work. Who else would’ve heard “Independent Women Pt. 1” and thought it’d sound better over “Waiting Room?”

Party Ben – Independent Room

Farewell Black Table!

As of last Friday, seminal NY crap culture online mag The Black Table has closed its virtual doors. Having written several weekly reviews for their Black List and one legitimate piece for BT, I can honestly say I hate to see it go. In a veritable sea of mindless webjunk, it was one of only a handful of destinations that I could depend on to enlighten and amuse without fail. From Eric Gillin’s journalistic imploration to clean your bathroom to Laura Lang’s warts-and-all look at the life of the functional addict, The Black Table offered something that few other sites do – a damn-near rule free environment in which to be creative and cozy up to your inner journalist. To Will Leitch and company I just have to say good show, and thanks for all the fun. The Black Table will be missed.