Nerd News in Brief

I'm actually preparing to mail off the first round of Hipster, please! bumper stickers next week. (Well, those and also one much-delayed CD!)

I had planned to include a little something extra for you early adopters: ultra-limited edition badges. Not just any old pinbacks, mind you, but HP buttons emblazoned with the mighty d20.

Unfortunately, they were nicked by some random passerby. Or possibly an unscrupulous FedEx guy. :(

For the life of me, I can't imagine why anyone but me would want 50 Hipster, please! badges!

• Do the Donkey Kong: Our friends at OverClocked Remix have just released another one of their astounding game music projects. Donkey Kong Country 2: Serious Monkey Business is 3 discs of banana-collecting fury, and boasts tracks from VGM legend virt and the game's original composer David Wise. Oh, and it's free. So get on that shit!
• Shat-talkin': There are some questions that are of great, almost cosmic importance to all mankind. One such example concerns whether or not William Shatner wears a rug. And one brave blogger seeks to uncover the truth.
• Those Were the Days: On the subject of Trek, Church found this post from Moviefone in which they examine some silent 8mm footage from the 1975 Chicago Star Trek Convention. He also found this fantastic set of insider Trek photos. Get your nostalgia on. 
• Scotty Needs Brains: Also from Church comes news of another literary mash-up from Quirk Books. Night of the Living Trekkies finds a convention floor overrun by flesh-eating ghouls. Think of it as a tribute to nerd survivalists. Failing that, hope it's a better read than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
• Needs More Squash: And on the topic of the undead, here's a song about Plants vs. Zombies. Because music aids photosynthesis.
• Undatable? That's Debatable: Apparently roleplayers don't date or have sex. Which means my children… aren't really mine?
• Baby Booties: And since I've invoked the subject of youngins, let me pause to congratulate Captain Dan Dolan (of Scurvy Crew fame) on the recent birth of his son! But take that patch off his eye, Dan. It's just confusing the lad.
• Girls on Film: Also let me congratulate my homegirl Eye-Shuh the OmegaBat, who was this week featured on her local Fox affiliate's news show in a bit about gamer girls. Okay, so maybe the piece was actually about the abysmal GameCrush service and the real lady gamers thing was just a tack-on. Still, Eye-Shuh was on TV. That's the important part.
• Random Access: Mega Ran has once again found himself on the receiving end of some good press. Spinner caught up with him at SXSW for a nice sit-down, and you can also read about him in this month's Nintendo Power. (The latter of which, it bears mentioning, was written by my journalistic homey Nathan Meunier.)
• Chesticles: Another cat who got some much-deserved SXSW love was the great Jesse Dangerously. Peep this feature to learn Jesse's favorite childhood cartoon and to get some hot topless Canadian MC action.
• Marathon Man: Marc with a C will be playing Stardust Video in Orlando, FL on Saturday, April 3rd. It's a free, all ages event, and the plan is to stretch it into one of his old style "marathon shows" (of Wikipedia fame). Make plans to attend if you're in the area, and request "You've Got This Curse" on my behalf.
• For the Win: And mid-month, don't miss the mc chris goes to hell cd release party at Comix in NYC. This gig is made even more interesting by the fact that, if the event page is to be believed, it marks mc's first attempt at stand-up.
• The Final Countdown: In other new album news, MC Frontalot's Zero Day is set for a proper release on April 6th. You can, however beat Dame Time by pre-ordering right the fuck now, which entitles you to instant downloads of the whole album. Consequently, you can also snag an early copy at PAX East. If, that is, you are sufficiently bold.
• Sneak a Peak: Not to be outdone by Church's earlier contributions, my friend Matt came through this week with news of a brand new nerd culture outlet: Geek Peek Post. Give it a peak (peek?) for some preliminary posts on nerdcore, geeky TV and general dorkiness.
• Nerd Ink – Muppets Edition: And this round of nerd ink, also provided by Matt, features the most epic Doctor Teeth and the Electric Mayhem tat I have ever seen! An admittedly narrow field, of course, but still a phenomenal piece of work.
• His Feet are Longfellows: Much love to poetry geek Radames Ortiz for pimping my site/show out on a recent edition of The PoetTech Podcast. Give is a listen for more info on his current collaboration with electronic musician Jonathan Jindra.
• Phone Home: Also on the electronica front, the venerable Doctor Popular has released some information concerning his current musical project. The tentatively entitled Beeps & Smudges will feature a number of notable contributors and is being composed chiefly via the iPhone version of Nanoloop!
• Fully Functional: And speaking of podcasts, Sci Fi Songs' John Anealio has just announced that he and author Patrick Hester are hard at work on a new project called the Functional Nerds Podcast. Give it a listen.
• The Air up There: Taking us out of this week is an excellent solo piano rendition of Air Man's theme from Mega Man 2. It's performed by Rob Kovacs of progressive indie band Return of Simple. And it is ridiculously awesome.