Some Facts About Godzilla

If you missed Nerd Nite last friday, one of NYC's finer nerd lecture series, you missed some important information about Godzilla, and how not to die by his massive scaly claws.



Luckily for you, the musical portion of the lecture, by fake scientist Shyporn Teerakulstit, is available for viewing on YouTube. Double points for sampling Simon Says, which has nothing to do with Godzilla by may be the coolest single riff of music ever composed. It was in Charlie's Angels.

Incidentally, this was the first Nerd Nite I'd attended, and it far exceeded my expectations. The next one is in September, and it'll definitely be on the Weekanerd sidebar. Highly recc'd.

Weekanerd NYC: Fantasy College Edition - Free Nerd-Oriented Lectures & Screenings

Monday, January 21

• Wholphin Shorts Program
  
• 7pm @ Barbes, 376 9th Street, Brooklyn

Wholphin is a quarterly DVD magazine from McSweeneys, named after the hybrid spawn of a dolphin and a false killer whale. Whimsy! This screening will feature various Wholphin approved films, including selections from their upcoming Spring 08 volume. Let's hope it Death to the Tinman, a visceral take on the tin man's story from the Oz books, which plays like a cross between Wes Anderson and Salvador Dali.


Tuesday, January 22

• Adult Education: The Micro-Genre
  
• 8pm @ Union Hall, 702 Union Street, Brooklyn
  

First of all, this event is being put on by a Brooklyn magazine called Stay Free!, and that makes me upset because "Stay Free" used to be my email sig. It's from my favorite Clash song. I don't like it when people steal my shtick. This is a Secret Science Club-esque lecture series, but with lower attention span requirements (yay!). Tonight, five speakers will discuss examples of Internet-enabled "micro-genres" such as the architecture of converted Fast-Food Restaurants and Photos of Tourists Taking Photos. This is in many ways the essence of geekery.

Here's that Clash song, because it's great.

Wednesday, January 23

• "Author Interview: Lee Siegel and Against the Machine
  
• 7pm@ McNally Robinson, 52 Prince Street, Manhattan
  

This talk would actually make a pretty good companion event to the Micro-Genre lecture. Against the Machine is writer Lee Siegel's critique of how the internet has changed the way we think about art, privacy, commerce, and other aspects of life and culture. Spoiler alert: For the worse. Siegel will be interviewed by National Book Critics Circle prez Jon Freeman, and will take questions from the audience as well.

Thursday, January 24

• Jack Repcheck Lectures and Signs Copernicus' Secret
  
• 6:30 @ Cooper Union's Wollman Auditorium, 51 Astor Place, Manhattan
  

Here's a hard history of science lecture for any of you who aren't impressed by all that socio-anthro internet nonsense. Repcheck's new book focuses on the last 12 years of Copernicus's life, when it still seemed unsure if his radical anti-earth research would ever see the light of day. The most scandosious part of his book is that Copernicus had a mistress, so be sure to bring that up in the Q and A.