More Nerd News in Brief

When folks ask me if I make any money off this site, which happens occasionally, I laugh. I then go on to explain that to make money in ye olde blogosphere you need one of two things: A) enough regular traffic to court serious sponsors or B) a fanbase both expansive and dedicated enough to warrant some serious merch opportunities. In short, in order to sellout one must first have a brand worth selling.

That was my old answer.

My new answer is “None, and that’s why I can say and do pretty much what I want.”

As much as I’d love for writing to be my real job, I have certain freedoms, being the unapologetic amateur that I am, that more professional cats may not. Case in point.

If I don’t like something, I’m free to say so, but much more likely I’ll just ignore the offending product. That’s why my album reviews are so overwhelmingly positive, why my interviews are so unabashedly complementary. I have the liberty to focus only on stuff I like, and, all things considered, that’s a pretty good place to be.

• What’s the Christmas equivalent of Skanksgiving?: In other game-related news, Kotaku stumbled across a pair of very interesting eBay auctions. The lucky winners will receive copies of the PS3 or 360 versions of Rock Band, hand-delivered Christmas day by one of two Suicide Girls. Let the lewd jokes commence!
• Beefy’s Wii = best headline ever: If you’re looking for some love for the third major console, look no further than Beefy’s auction for a new Nintendo Wii and a copy of Wii Play. While he (probably) certainly won’t dress all tarty and deliver it to your house, he’ll be more than happy to include some Beefy swag and a pre-release copy of his forthcoming album Rolling Doubles, should a fan end up winning.
• I am also an italics thinker: Therefore, I support the One DS Per Child program. Church, Matt, and I had a pretty good laugh at this one. Is the humor misplaced? Probably, but when has that ever stopped me from blogging about something?
• ‘Tis the Season: And if gaming’s not your thing, how about scoring the rights to a Sufjan Stevens track for the holidays? No shit! As part of The Great Sufjan Song Xmas Xchange, you submit an original track of your own and, should you win, you and Mr. Stevens trade ownership of your songs. What would you do with the exclusive rights to a Christmas song by America’s foremost indie-folk superstar? If you answered “sell it to someone in the adult entertainment industry for use in holiday-themed pornography” you’re absolutely right!
• Sounds like electro-clash hip-hop to me: In non-holiday news, FL nerdcore MC Benjamin Bear is (erroneously?) included in a recent hardcore/metal/punk compilation from Carbon Drum. You can score this or any of three other genre-specific (maybe!) promotional albums for 12 bones apiece.
• My what?!: Comedy rap act Sudden Death just released a song about the Atari 2600 over at the Funny Music Project. If you weren’t planning on downloading it based solely on Sudden Death’s reputation for the delightfully ridiculous, allow me to state that it’s a Run DMC parody. Get to downloadin’!
• From the desk of Doctor Popular: Doc Pop’s got his own suggestion for your listening pleasure. So says the Doc: “My friend, and beat-making hero, Bomarr released his new EP Scraps today. The album, which is a compendium to his recent album Freedom From Frightened Air, is available online for free. Click here for the official album info and file.” I am downloading it even as I type this.
• The gig that was: Cali nerdcore scenester cupcake has a fairly expansive review of the Frontalot/STD show from earlier this month at the Knitting Factory. She speaks very complimentary of Schaff and of MC Frontalot, and apparently she was interviewed during the proceedings for a piece about nerdcore. Check out the full review at her MySpace blog, and don’t forget to peep this “fireside chat” with her and BOSSFIGHT’s IllGill concerning the show.
• Good news/bad news: The good is that those of us who’ve not had the opportunity to attend in person will get a chance to see a nationally televised performance of Video Games Live! The bad is that it’s for the Spike TV Video Game Awards.
• A new collectable: mc chris favored fans with a veritable fire sale on merch earlier this week. Unfortunately, some of it was slightly defective. Did any of you get one of these “mchris” messenger bags? I'd kinda like to see a better pic.
• My apologies to the Wrock constituency: Church just hit me with this link to a set of tranny action figures used to advertise drag night at a Manila gay bar. Not bad custom figs. These folks are no Sucklord, but they’ve got potential!
• BRB, OMG, LOL: And wrapping it all up today is another vid that Church turned me on to. It’s hexachordal with “Internet Love Song,” and I dig it the most.