Nerd News in Brief

I actually went out sans family this weekend. That’s a rarity. In fact, I’m hard-pressed to recall the last time that I actually went somewhere that wasn’t work without Em and/or Lil’ X. in tow. As guys’ nights out go, it was actually pretty fun.

Two of my oldest friends took me out to see a Led Zeppelin tribute band. Not exactly my first choice for entertainment, mind you, but it was a good time.

I’m sort of amazed by the concept of tribute acts. It’s pretty much musical LARPing, and that’s simultaneously amazing and a little bit sad.

I sometimes wonder what the new generation of tribute bands will bring. I mean, what’s the next logical step? Bartender: The Ultimate T-Pain Experience?!

/shudder

• Calling all cars: Church wanted me to pass along this helpful link regarding the Radio Free Rollover podcast. DJ Gwyn is looking for some nerdcore, remixes, and mash-ups to play on this Tuesday’s show. So if you’re looking to get a little promo, this seems like an excellent opportunity.
• Fair & Balanced: Last week, when self-help author Cooper Lawrence joined Fox News pundits in mischaracterizing Mass Effect as interactive pornography – despite the fact that she’d admittedly not even played the title – gamers reacted in kind. They headed over to Amazon to give her new book, The Cult of Perfection: Making Peace With Your Inner Overachiever, 1-star reviews and tag the book with the keywords “ignorant,” “garbage,” and “hypocrisy.” The outcome? Lawrence eventually admitted that she misspoke. I reckon that just shows to go ya.
• Tag. You’re it.: Doc Pop came across this graffiti on the corner of 18th and Mission in San Fran. It “seems to say INFO in one area, and NERD on another.” This makes Doc (and me) wonder if it’s at all connected with the Internet Nerdcore Family Outing.
• You’re all clear, kid: The fine folks at Toronto’s Hand’Solo Records have just provided underground hip-hop fans a little taste of their forthcoming release Hokey Religions & Ancient Weapons (are no match for a good blaster). This free mixtape is already nearing completion and “will consist of classic tracks from previous Hand'Solo releases, a few unreleased tracks from the vaults, some exclusives from upcoming albums, and a bunch of exclusive verses over instrumentals from Hand'Solo vinyl.” In the meantime, check out this track featuring Big Ref, Myf, and Noah 23 over the Beatmason-produced track “The Wordburglar.”
• Sny-Fi: DJ Snyder’s also got a new remix making the rounds. It’s of YTCracker's “flow.c” verse, and you can hear it on Sny’s MySpace. And you should do just that.
• More rap/rock that doesn’t suck: Don Vito stepped up to D-Form’s remix challenge and took on seminal Chubby Chasers’ track “BBW BBQ.” You can download the track from DV’s profile on thesixtyone. You should also probably add it to your listener page. I’m just sayin’.
• New nerd in town: Looks as though the media has crowned another potential presidential candidate “the election’s new geek.” Mitt Romney, it seems, has replaced Ron Paul as ’08’s political geek of the week. Sometimes I can’t tell if we’re being pandered to or if journalists are just trying out a new buzzword.
• Don’t blame me: I’m admittedly pretty liberal, but if I were to vote for a right-winger, it’d have to be this guy. He’s certainly got potential.
• The hits just keep on coming: Church found this post from blog Sources and Methods that promotes MC Frontalot’s “Secrets from the Future” as the NSA’s unofficial theme song. It’s funny ‘cause it’s true.
• Beautiful musics: I’m a fan of Pixel8, micromusic in general, and my Nintendo DS, so this vid is aimed squarely at people who are my gender, my approximate age, and are me. Pix demos a new piece of software that turns your DS (via slot 2 device) into a real time synth.