Nerd News in Brief

My slow and laborious crawl toward C-list Internet stardom made some real inroads this year. I landed feature interviews with My Parents Favorite Music, mc chris, Dan Lamoureux, YTCracker, ZeaLouS1, Random, and Dual Core. I scored countless free CDs and other delightful swag, as well as successfully put together my own compilation album. I, myself, was interviewed by the always entertaining Jason Tanz for Esquire magazine, and just the other day received an early Christmas present – Pac-Man for the Wii Virtual Console – from legitimate Internet celebrity Shael Riley. (Thanks, Shael!)

I am, indeed, moving on up to the East side. Hopefully, by this time next year, I will have finally received my piece of the pie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie.

• Work in progress: Yesterday, Dan announced that Nerdcore For Life is nearing completion. For real this time. By his estimation, the rough cut of the film should be done by year’s end, with the 90-minute final cut being completed by the end of January. Congrats to the NC4L crew on reaching such a milestone!
• Unscrewing the Crocs: Earlier this month, employees of The Crocodile Cafe in Seattle were spontaneously informed – via voicemail, no less – that they no longer had jobs. To help offset this shittyness, nerdcore haven and all-around kick-ass venue Chop Suey has joined forces with Three Imaginary Girls to host a benefit for the club’s former workers. The first of these benefits goes down next Sunday, December 30th, with a second show recently added for Friday, January 4th. So head out to Chop Suey, listen to some music, and help a brother out. Thanks to Matt for directing me toward this information.
• The damnedest places: Matt also hipped to a recent mention of Jaylyn (the former Fanatical) at Relix. Matt says of the magazine, “If you're not familiar with Relix, it started out as basically a zine for deadheads. It covered the Dead and various other 60s groups or groups that had some kind of connection to the Dead. After Jerry died they started covering more of the Jamband scene groups.” Sort of a weird place for Jaylyn to pop up IMHO, but it’s always nice to see her get some press.
• In ur internets, messin up ur memes: Yesterday, I tried to make a lolcat. I’m pretty sure I failed. I blame Shael.
• WWHD: In her runner-up featurette for Person of the Year (?!), J.K. Rowling shouts out both the HP Alliance and Wrock in general. I find it comforting that not only are folks using Wrock as platform for social consciousness, but that the author of their ultimate inspiration acknowledges and supports such a movement.
• The beautiful people: Uber-sex-ay author/educator Violet Blue just released her list of the top ten sexiest geeks of 2007. Coming in at the number 2 spot is our own MC Frontalot, whom Violet describes as “insanely panties-on-the-stage h4wt in his glasses and headlamp and tie.” Also just barely missing inclusion is my girl Nikki Nefarious, known here-abouts as Nikki "Buttnik" Lachen. Congrats to all y'all sexy nerdlingers.
• The OC: Front also made an appearance in Web comic Over-Compensating a couple weeks back. Is Jeffrey Rowland launching a scathing commentary on the state of nerdcore hip-hop? Well, that or he’s just fuckin’ around.
• Where is my beautiful (l)ife?: Old school nerd rocker David Byrne wrote an amazingly interesting piece for WIRED (?!) concerning “Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists.” The article breaks down the relative level of consumer spending on digital vs. traditional music media, outlines 6 primary distribution models, and traces the ever-winding path of where your money actually goes when you buy an album from a major label artist. It’s a fascinating read for anyone interested in an insider’s prospective. Further thoughts can be found at Headphone Sacrament.
• Oh, Christmas Wii: The Former Fat Boys have another mini-film/Christmas video single to help you wile away your days off. This one’s full of Laotians, eyes getting put out, and countless allusions to a certain Macaulay Culkin vehicle. You can check out the vid at YouTube and even download the single for a limited time. Outtakes FTW!
• Be sure to check the responses: To wrap up what will most likely be my last post before X-mas, let me share with you a little vid that Church turned me on to. I think you’ll dig it as it is uniquely appropriate both for the season and my usual readership.