Nerd News In Brief

I didn’t really watch the Super Bowl last night. Seriously.

I mean, it was on on the small TV in the bedroom – Li’l X. was getting his game on the larger set in the den – but I didn’t pay it much attention. Last week I managed to snag both Advance Wars: Days of Ruin and From the Abyss, so my mind was elsewhere.

I did put the DS down for halftime, though. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are, in all honesty, the band that got me into music in my early double digits, and any chance to catch them perform is like Christmas for me.

I dug it and it looks like some other folks did too. That’s good. Petty and Co. have been bringing solid, expertly crafted rock ‘n’ roll for longer than many fans have been alive, so it’s always nice to know people still get it. Despite performing a truncated version of “Freefallin’” and Mike Campbell’s weird white-guy dreads, it was an affair to remember.

• Kryptonite Lightsaber?: Church pointed me to this Gizmodo post asking the age old question: Which is more powerful, the Man of Steel or a Lightsaber? The answer may surprise you. Actually it probably won’t. Now that this is settled, on to more pressing matters.
  
• See mc: Once again mc chris will be opening for Pinback on there forthcoming tour. You can catch him throughout February at the following venues: 02/05/2008 07:00 PM - San Diego, CA - House of Blues; 02/06/2008 07:00 PM - San Diego, CA - House of Blues; 02/07/2008 07:00 PM - Pomona, CA - The Glass House; 02/08/2008 09:30 PM - Visalia, CA - Cellar Door; 02/09/2008 08:00 PM - Santa Cruz, CA - The Catalyst; 02/10/2008 07:00 PM - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore; 02/11/2008 - Arcata, CA - Humboldt State University / The Kate Buchanan Room; 02/13/2008 08:00 PM - Bend, OR - The Domino Room; 02/14/2008 08:00 PM - Seattle, WA - The Showbox; 02/15/2008 07:00 PM - Vancouver, BC - Richard's On Richards Cabaret; 02/16/2008 07:00 PM - Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom; 02/18/2008 06:00 PM - Berkeley, CA - University of California, Berkeley / Bear's Lair; 02/19/2008 08:00 PM - San Luis Obispo, CA - Downtown Brew; 02/20/2008 07:30 PM - Ventura, CA - Majestic Ventura Theatre; 02/21/2008 08:00 PM - Los Angeles, CA - The Avalon; 02/22/2008 11:00 PM - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle; 02/23/2008 09:00 PM - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle.
• Geek the vote: As Super Tuesday creeps ever closer, more and more geeks are sharing their thoughts on the current political clime. While Ron Paul and Mitt Romney have both been getting a bit of nerd love, it looks like the choice of two prominent nerdy rappers is none other than Barack Obama; MC Lars has long been promoting Obama, and recently mc chris did the same.
• Challenge of the Superfiends: February 1st marked the start of this year’s RPM Challenge. For those of you not in the know, the contest challenges musicians to create 10 songs (or 35 minutes) worth of material over the span of a month, similar to NaNoWriMo or the Crate Digger Death-match. Notable nerdy contestants for his year include funky49 and Redvoid and new duo Calvin & Hobbes (consisting of DJ Snyder and Entity).
• Remix the Ran: Random has the opportunity to get his Mega Ran track “Grow Up” on a movie soundtrack, but he needs you to make it happen. As that song is backed entirely by samples, Ran’s looking for someone to supply some original beats. Ran says that in return you get: “your name in the credits, my love and respect, and on top of that I'll gladly record anything new for your own project that you might need.” You can snag the 181 BPM aca easily enough, so get to mixin’!
• You’re strange to me: On the topic of remixes, Optimiss has a new remix available on her MySpace. It’s her take on the mc chris classic “Geek.” Should you check it out? Yes you should.
• More Beats: Ran isn’t the only man searching for beats. Nerdcore For Life is “on the brink of being done,” but the film requires more music (in the form of beats) to run under interview segments. Dan’s looking for “stuff that’s interesting but also subtle; beats that will add flavor and emotion to the film without distracting the viewer from the primary action.” If you’re interested in contributing, hit Dan up: Nerdcoreforlife@gmail.com.
• Math Rock for the rest of us: To wrap things up, here’s a vid that Matt turned me on to. It’s Lena from Wrock outfit The Butterbeer Experience. Apparently she’s trying to launch her career as an incredibly passionate Muppeteer.