More Nerd News in Brief

A lot of people who happen upon this blog or the podcast or the HP MySpace tend to assume that I refer to myself as “Hipster,” and they generally address me as such. Let me clear that one up right now; honestly, folks, I’m just Z. Hipster, please! is the name of the site.

I’m actually not a hipster. I’m not cool in the slightest. I’m pretty much a huge dork.

The name originally came about as an inside joke, and then became relevant when hipsters began adopting elements of nerd culture into their uber-ironic styles of dress. Like so many things I do, it was supposed to be funny… but no one really gets it.

For more information on hipsters, check your local library. Or just cut through the bullshit and peep Hipster Hunter. It’s funny because it’s true.

• Where my chemists at?: The big talk between Church, Matt, and me over the last couple of days has centered on a number of narcotics related stories, but none so bizarre as this one. Apparently a popular Australian toy turns into GHB when ingested. The fuck?! My prediction for next week: Ketamine found in glow-in-the-dark Play-Doh. You heard it here first.
• More than condoms, gun control, and Bill O'Reilly: Boston’s Weekly Dig has an… oddly aggressive piece up about our beloved MC Frontalot. Schaffer the Darklord and mc chris are both mentioned in passing, and designations like “backpack battlecats” and “roughneck gat-clappers” are bandied about like so much hateful confetti. Plus, it includes the phrase “socially retarded,” just in case you’d finally started to feel good about yourself.
• Ego trippin’: While looking for totally unrelated information, I stumbled across a blurb about nerdcore at hip-hop marketing blog ProHipHop from earlier this year. Writer Clyde Smith took some time to relate his thoughts on the relative importance of The White Rapper Show versus both nerdcore hip-hop documentaries. Smith even makes the astute observation that “nerdcore appears to be an authentic representation of a subculture that's going to do its thing regardless of what the so-called hip hop community thinks.” How the fuck did I miss this until now?
• You awaken in a large complex: Have you ever thought that Pac-Man would be way better as a text adventure game? Of course not. No one has. And yet, it exists. Thank Church when you’ve wasted your lunch hour on this farcical venture.
• Wrock around the clock: Wizard Rock also got some love this week, in the form of Wrock-themed edition of Webzine Brown Paper Bag. Personal favorites The Remus Lupins, The Whomping Willows, and The Moaning Myrtles are all represented, as well as at least one Wrock outfit who doesn’t begin with a definite article. Thanks Professor Trelawney and Her Crystal Balls!
• Kill him first!: Nerdcore MC and fervent Radio Free Hipster supporter Captain Spalding has a new song about Team Fortress II available on his MySpace. Strap on your healing gun and enjoy.
• The artist formally known as friendly: Prince hates you. He honestly hates you. How dare you display his likeness on your meager fansite! How dare you post the lyrics to “Erotic City.” How dare you, y’know, talk about how you dig his music and shit. For shame! Glenn, I’m afraid he’ll be coming for you soon enough.
• Can you feel the love tonight?: Dan recently posted a link to a Grand Buffet interview from The San Francisco Station in which member Lord Grunge claims the group “invented [the nerdcore] genre 10 years ago with [their] first record.” Of course, he’s thrilled about this, going on to say: “I know for a fact that we influenced some of the people that went on to make some of the worst music in the fucking world. I’m not proud of it, but fuck it, there are way worse things out there than shitty nerd rap. I’m not psyched about it. Call us the biggest poser, limp-dick half-assed rappers, but don’t call us nerdcore.” How lovely.
• The nerd herd: YTCracker, MC Frontalot, MC Router, mc chris, and an ass-load of other artists got namedropped in XLR8R magazine last month. The piece touches on the ever-sticky topic of what is nerdcore, and goes on to interview Nerdcore Rising director Negin Farsad.
• Pancake makeup and meditation: I know this one’s a month too late, but Church hipped me to a new self-help book for the living impaired and those who’d like to emulate them. Watch the zombie yoga bit and try not to feel inflexible and downright un-centered. I dare you.
• DMC got straight A’s too: Matt presented this one to me as the world first nerdcore hip-hop track. I’m not sure if I wholly agree with that summation, but it is truly a thing of beauty. Here’s hoping Mos Def will pop up on The Wiggles to teach my kids how to conjugate verbs.