More Nerd News in Brief

All in all, I’ve had a pretty fair week.

Sure, Li’l X. has taken to some late night hall wondering – always a dangerous hobby in the home of a rampant zombi-phobe – and E3 hasn’t yielded quite as much earth-shattering news as I’d’ve liked.

Plus, y’know, it’s not like I haven’t discovered yet another reason why Japan is cooler than the States.

But still, not a bad week at all, especially for Nerdy News.

• First-Person Gothloli: MC Handler scored a head-shot for nerdcore fans everywhere by not only getting some music in the newest iteration of open-source FPS OpenArena, but also helping to have a character named after our own Rai! Apparently, she has hover-boots. No good can come from Rai having an ability to fly; mark my words!
• A new dimension of awkward: In other gamer-centric news, Halo fans are no cooler than the rest of us. Ya hear that ya homophobic, face-humping ingrates? Cardboard Mjolnir armor ain’t gonna earn you any extra tail at the Greek mixer!
• WizRockStock: There’s something in the water in Washington. How else do you explain the high concentration of nerdy artists therein? Why, that state is even home to WizRockStock, which is a lot like Woodstock… only not so offensive to the olfactory sense… maybe. Anywho, check out Harry and the Potters at the Central Branch of the Seattle Public Library on Friday the 13th and The Parselmouths at University Book Store Mill Creek on Saturday the 14th.
• The Nerdcore Beach Party Massacre: The following Friday, July 20th, check out Optimus Rhyme at Alki Beach. OR will be performing at The End’s Beach House (2530 Alki Ave. SW in West Seattle), right across the street from the beach as part of the station’s summer festivities, and they’ll be doing it “BBQ style (think acoustic guitars and ocarina's).” The set’s only open to the first 40 folks who grab a spot, so come early and help the boys celebrate the release of their new album He Dies In Rocket School.
• Fuck-to-the-yeah!: The Advantage on tour! Check some high-quality game rock at one of the following events: 08/14 Salt Lake City, UT (Kilby Court); 08/15 Denver, CO (Hi-Dive); 08/17 Omaha, NE (Sokol Underground); 08/18 Minneapolis, MN (Triple Rock); 08/19 Chicago, IL (Beat Kitchen); 08/20 Detroit, MI (Magic Stick); and 08/21 Cleveland, OH (Grog Shop). Check their MySpace for more dates and locations.
• Nerdapalooza FTW: In other concert news, my brothers from the Nerdapalooza crew have just announced the final line-up for the nerd music festival to end all nerd music festivals. The (alphabetized) list boasts a most impressive array of artists:
  8 Bit Bandit, 8-Bit w0nder, 8bit bEtty, The Alphabetics, Beefy, Big Beat Battalion, Category, Decepticon-19, Drown Radio Therapy, Dual Core, Dungeon Master, Electro Static Discharge, Freezepop, The Great Luke Ski, Hot Waffles, Josiah the Messiah,
  Love You Long Time, MC Gigahertz, MC Lars, The Megas, My Parents Favorite Music, The OneUps, Optimus Rhyme, Pixelh8, Powerglove, Random, Rappy Mcrapperson, Robotronica, Rocket Propelled Geeks, Shael Riley, The Stunt Junkies, Super Barrio Bros, Temp Sound Solutions, Uncle Monsterface, Wordburglar, Worm Quartet, YTcracker, & ZeaLouS1
• Thank Church for This One: In lieu of further pimping this site's first ever free-to-download nerdy cover song compilation album, let me shift focus to another inspiring cover artist. Stand in awe as cutewithchris’s Chris Leavins recites the ever-poignant lyrics to T-Pain’s “Buy U a Drank.”