Geekanerd Spotter: The Storm Troopers Rock Poster

Saw this in my new home base of San Francisco. August 19th? What a tease. And this band doesn't appear to exist on the internet. WHAT THE HELL. I know Star Wars took place in the past, but this is ridiculous. Clones need to get their shit together and post some MP3s.

If you didn't read the small print at the top, you're missing some brilliant stupid puns.

DJ Hero? More Like Passable DJ

Last Sunday, I stopped by my local GameStop to check out DJ Hero; the latest entry in the field of Pretend Musician Gaming. With this turntable sim, Activision is hoping to capture the attention of guitar heros and rock bandateers as well as a previously untapped market of music fans who like beats to their sweet guitar solos. They're throwing a lot of weight behind the game; talking up it's pre-sale numbers, hiring Jay-Z and Eminem as spokesmen, and buying up companies with competing DJ games and then firing half the staff. DAMN, guys! This game must be totally amazing!

After spending about fifteen minutes with the game, my gamer-sense detected a potential chink in the armor of this supposed juggernaut.

A semi-informed review after the jump...


After the initial thrill of discovering the new set of reflexes it takes to fade between tracks and scratch the little plastic turntable, I found myself thinking "this would be a lot more fun if this mix was any good." I don't want to pretend to be a DJ who mixes passable mashups of trashy pop hits and oldies; I want to pretend to be a DJ HERO! I played three demo tracks; "Hollaback Girl" vs Rick James' "Give It To Me", "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" vs "Feel Good Inc", and a third track I can't remember because, hey! it wasn't very memorable.

The DJ hero setlist includes tons of awesome artists mixed two at a time into "93 exclusive mixes". So who is actually mixing these mixes? They have a lot of professional DJs contributing tracks (DJ Shadow was the only one I knew or cared about), though I can't quite see pros bringing their A material to a children's video game. Go check out the DJ Hero website, and you'll notice something conspicuously absent; a music player that allows you to preview a few of these 93 exclusive mixes. The closest I could find is this video clip of a guest mix by Daft Punk, and even that is unimpressive.

A big part of what was great about previous Music Sim games is that they have all of music history to pull their setlists from, so the game isn't just about perfecting your twitch reflects, but also about enjoying cool tunes (Breaking the Wheel not withstanding). Knowing and loving a song also makes gameplay more intuitive, and sells the illusion that mashing plastic buttons is actually producing the musical artistry coming through your speakers.

It's definitely fun to pretend to scratch, but just because you can mix two songs doesn't necessarily mean you should. It's fun to listen to a DJ mix songs live because it's cool and technically impressive, even if you wouldn't want to listen to it over and over again. The kind of mixology that I DO like listening to over and over again falls into a more repetitive groove, and wouldn't make great gameplay. DJ hero feels more like a standard rhythm game where you're simply sitting on the couch with a stationary controller, and the gratification is getting your reflexes up to par. It doesn't capture the thrill of feeling like you are producing a work of musical art.

So from my limited demo playing experience, I don't see DJ Hero reinventing the Guitar Hero wheel. The wow factor that you got the first time you played Guitar Hero, or the first time you started pounding away on the Rock Band drums is simply not present. All the type and guest stars Activision can buy ultimately can't account for a music sim without great music. Of course it's possible they just picked three mediocre tracks for the demo, and there's some other really mind blowing stuff deeper in.


Probably not as mind blowing as this, though.

Video: The Ballad Of Hollis Wadsworth Mason Junior at the Bushwick Bookclub

Every month, a bunch of Brooklyn hipsters/book nerds get together at a bar for a program of local artists performing songs inspired by a selected book. It's called the Bushwick Bookclub, though it's less a bookclub and more an open mic night meets school book reports meet Iron Chef. This month the musician's not so secret ingredient was Watchmen, so Geekanerd was on the scene.

The evening saw a full hour and a half of music, and while as with any open-mic night there will be varying degrees of quality, it was definitely a good time. There was also at least one truly great song that got right to the heart and soul of one of Watchmen's most endearing characters.

Here is that song, The Ballad of Hollis Wadsworth Mason Junior by Franz Nicolay, who you may recognize as the keyboardist for The Hold Steady (among other things). In his introduction to the song, Nicolay explained he was drawn to Hollis both because of his verbose name and because he considers him "the book's most sympathetic character."

This is of course but a low-fi excerpt from the full song, but hopefully the Bookclub will post a classier full version on their MySpace before long.

More video highlights and photos, after the jump...

Here's my second favorite song of the night, which was by the host of the evening, who made many salient observations about how all the lady characters in this book are, how shall I put this, literal or figurative whores? Preoccupied by sex to an extent that is not likely healthy, let's leave it at that. I'll transcribe the lyrics because they're just so spot on.

Laura I don't believe you when you say that you're upset
By those folks who died for take-out tandoori
One minute you're crying, the next you're undressed
Which could be kind of deep or kind of whore-y

Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh
You never liked the life
Uh huh, uh huh
What is that in your pipe?
Uh huh, uh huh
She was raised to fight
Uh huh, uh huh
What IS that in your pipe?

Some dude in the audience explained later that it's some sort of super tabacc that Doctor Manhattan invented, which actually makes a lot of sense...but still. Look at this crap. It's clearly a meatball:



These girls came in awesome pseudo-costume to sing their musicalization of John and Laurie's heavy metaphysical conversation on Mars. Their introduction also contained the best line of the night; "I'm John and this is Laurie. You can visit us on Facebook, under relationship it says 'It's Complicated'."

The crowd.

This all happened at a Bushwick bar called Goodbye Blue Monday, by the way.

This is What Crazy Sounds Like: The Music of Batman

Batman's theme song. What's the first melody that comes to mind? I'd guess that most of the world's population would go with the pop culturally entrenched camp anthem of the 1970s: ba nananananana BATMAN!

But for those of a geekier stripe, there are other options. The classic minor ascent by Danny Elfman, or Shirley Walker's emotionally wrought variations on the theme. Aficionados of the Nolanverse might even be able to recall Hans Zimmer's two note motif from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. If you're a child of the 90s you might even come up with Elliot Goldenthal's booming score from the Joel Schumacher films; it's a far, far more recognizable theme than the average nerd might care to admit.

My point is that many fine composers have taken a shot at scoring the most emotionally rich superhero of our time, The Batman. An overview of these attempts can be found on "The Music of Batman", an album recently released by Silva Screen Records that takes a cross-composer tour of Batman scores as performed by the Prague Philharmonic. After several listens, I've come up with a unifying therom of what characterizes a Batman score.

Individual looks at each composer's take on the Dark Knight, and my shocking conclusion, after the jump....



Danny Elfman (Batman, Batman Returns)
As the first composer tasked with creating a dark theme for the recently re-imagined Dark Knight, Elfman knocks it out of the park and sets a standard that all subsequent composers had to have taken into account. The Batman of Tim Burton's world is a cold, intensely violent vigilante, who has the distinction of being the only movieverse Batman to actively attempt to kill the villain. Accordingly, Elfman's theme is that of a madman. The classic five note theme arcs up like a sneer, only to descend into a minor resolve.

The theme eventually speeds the pace up to galloping march, a headstrong "going to war" theme that could easily place in the mind of a psychotic with delusions of grandeur. This is just barely a hero's theme; there is something cruel and dangerous lurking beneath the false nobility of the french horns and string sections.

Elliot Goldenthal (Batman Forever, Batman and Robin)
Say what you will about Schumacher's Batman movies, but Eliot Goldenthal's score is solid. Goldenthal had the unenviable task of evoking Elfman's iconic score without repeating it, as well as creating a new theme more suited to Joel Schumacher's dayglo comic-strip idea of what Batman is about.

Given these parameters, Goldenthal's theme (making only a modest showing on the disc with the "Batman and Robin Main Titles") is a success. The motif still arcs up and back down like Elfman's, but the feel is much more grandiose. This is still the music of an outcast hero, but one who embraces the pageantry of his crimefighting ways.
Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight)
The fascinating thing about "Eptesicus", the lone track from Batman Begins, is that it introduces a theme not so much for Batman, but for Bruce Wayne. The first several minutes are pure sorrow, stuck in the sort of numb trance of grief that Bruce existed in before he realized his insane destiny. Only in the last 1/4 of the track does the music rise to the call of vengeance, ending in a fearsome resolve.

Then we get an idea of what Zimmer and Howard think Batman proper really sounds like, with "Aggressive Expansion" from The Dark Knight. The reoccuring "hero" motif is only a grim pulse of two notes, but it subtly captures both the menace and determination that defines Nolan's more realistic Batman. The track ends with a high tension "ticking time bomb" beat, which speaks more to the feel of the movie at large than the character of Batman, which is to say it is almost unbearably tense.

The CD also includes Shirley Walker's gorgeous hymnal reworking of the Elfman theme, Neal Hefti and Nelson Riddle's swingin' theme songs from the 1970s TV series and film, and even Christopher Drake's credits music for the direct-to-DVD Batman: Gotham Knight, which has lots of Elfmanesque flourishes and flat out repeats the first four notes of Goldenthalfs central motif.

The Unifying Factor

Every theme on this CD has one thing in common; repetition and momentum. I'm not talking about the simple repetition of a motif in a song; I'm talking about tightly looped musical phrases and that are pounded out over and over again. You hear it in underscore of Elfman's march, in the shrill, escalating string section of "Aggressive Expansion", and in the up and down waves of melories in Goldenthal's central melody line. These themes explore on the human ability to focus and keep going, no matter what. Even the campy 70s theme is fixed on a very distinct track, and I think this is because it's that sort of tunnel-vision stubbornness that defines Batman. Batman does not have the advantage of magic, alien technology, genetic anomalies or being born with the powers of a god. His only power is determination and mental sickness, and in these songs, we hear what righteous determination of a madman sounds like. Who could resist?

Photos: Lost Season Finale Party at the Bell House

Brooklyn's Bell House threw a massive party for the last Lost of 2009. Highlights included big screens, a Lostmobile cake, Dharma Beer, and a huge room full of alternately screaming and shushing fans.

The best part of the night for me was the performance by Previously On Lost, a NYC rock band who's songs are all based on episodes of Lost's 4th and 5th season. They have tons of MP3s on their site that I can't vouch for because I haven't listened to them yet, but I will tell you they f'in KILLED live on stage. Low-grade digital video won't fully express the explosive amounts of fan energy they emitted, but here is a short clip of the final lines from their song about SE04EP08, titled "The Island Won't Let You Die."



Lyrics:
Must venture to the temple on your own
will she make it safely to her friends, hey did you hear about the
PALM TREE MASSACRE
Palm Tree Massacre
You need to take my hand, he's toast, and on the count of three we'll coast let's go 123
DEAD

I'm not sure if that clip did them justice. They really were mind blowingly good.

Anyway, check this out!


Who doesn't like Geek Cakes?

Tons of the photos of all that other stuff I mentioned, after the jump....


Previously On Lost t-shirts.

Can you guess which episode they were singing about here?

These fools do it up with rainsticks. Need I say more?

More shots of the cake...



Here's an atmospheric one without the flash...

Let's hear it for the folks at nine cakes!

Filled to capacity.

I said Dharma Beer, and I meant it.


NERDS!

I don't think this was ever actually in Lost.

Kirby Krackle Sets Geekdom to Music

Nerd-Based Rock Music...it's not just for Harry Potter fans anymore!

Last weekend at NY Comic Con, I had a chance to pick up the debut album from Kirby Krackle, a pop rock duo that writes songs about things we can all relate to, including:

• Shooting people with the Blue Shell in Mario Kart
• The zombie apocalypse
• Becoming fed up with Event comics
• Playing Wii in a sexual context with your significant other

This is all well and good, you might say, but how's the rockage? Well, it's not Street Fighter: The Rock Opera, but KK certainly has some good hooks and snappy production quality for an independent debut. Stand-out tracks include Marvelous Girls, an ode to the more exotic girls of the Marvel Universe (the Genoshan verse is my favorite) and Another New Crisis, a heartfelt plea for Marvel and DC to ease up on the events.

Give em a listen with this handy widget, or you can head over to KirbyKrackleMusic.com for more info.





PS: If you have any lingering doubts about Kirby Krackle's Geek Cred, just know that I asked lead singer/guitarist Kyle Stevens what his favorite comic on the stands is, and his responce was The Walking Dead. That's a good answer. These guys check out.

Zunes Commit Ultimate New Years Eve Party Foul, Die

Are you one of those brave and noble souls who bucked the iPod trend and went with the road less traveled by? Well, jokes on you, Contrary Mary! As of December 31st, 2008, folks with the 30GB Zune found their music gone and their players frozen. Microsoft has posted various fixes on their site, though some folks on the forum appear to still be having problems.

The whole media is jumping on this story with shadenfruedic glee, but Computer World Magazine is the first one I've seen to report that the whole mess is due to the fact that this 2008 was a Leap Year. So Microsoft can probably just shift the blame to the Pope.

Henchmen 21 & 24 Wish You A Super Fabulous Christmastime!

It's ChristmasTime! That means Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick are gifting us all with their beautiful character voices via their annual Venture Brothers Christmas Carole. Is that coherent? I've got jetlag.

Venture Brothers Season 3 SPOILER after the jump! But chances are you won't really care, just click!


Merry Christmas! I always kind of hated 24, so this holiday season, his death is Astro Base Go's present to me. Hit the picture to go to QuickStop Entertainment, where you can download the MP3.

It's nice to hear Doc Hammer sing with something approaching a normal voice, freed from the constraints of his Doctor Girlfriend gravelvox. He's actually got a really nice signing voice. Has he had a chance to showcase that in the show? I don't think he has. Musical Episode? CAAMONN.

PS! If, like me, this song gives you the wonderful chance to feel young because you HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT IS, here is the original 1979 video by living legend, Paul McCartney.

Stars of Star Trek Sing Their Hearts Out

Nothing brings out the ham in an actor like a hotel bar and a grand piano. Thanks to the all-seeing eye of YouTube, those of us not fortunate to be at the Hyatt during ComicCon can still enjoy the spectacle of Riker belting out the jazz standard Ain't Misbehavin' as if it were the eleven o'clock number in the top show in town. Dude really gets hot at about :15 seconds in.

After the jump, Sisko musically humiliates some web cartoonists at the same hotel, and classic musical moments from three Star Trek captains and an android...


Here, Avery Brooks, Scott Kurtz, Kris Straub (of PvP and Starslip Crisis) try to make their way through "At Last" and "Summertime" with considerable prompting from the brassy lounge pianist.

Cringe Alert: Between Sisko's quasi-incoherent drunkery, Kurtz' frequent self-conscious looks at the camera, and the fact that this already interminable video was obviously edited down from a much longer take....this is the sort of nerd/idol fantasy meetup that is probably exceedingly painful when it's actually happening, but at least makes a great story afterwards.

Of course that all pales in comparison to this video, which of course has the advantage of higher production values (ie a straw boater and cane).

Seriously, this is pretty much the best thing ever. If you're seeing it for the first time, I envy you.



Also, here is the stalwart Captain Archer doing the voice of a cartoon cat in one of the most underrated American animated musical comedies out there, Cats Don't Dance.


Then there's Brent Spiner, in the original Broadway cast of Sunday in the Park with George (his stuff starts around 6:30 in), sporting a snappy fin de siecle suit and an intensely nasal German accent.


And what musical Star Trek post would be complete without this slice of heaven? I know people enjoy this segment in a sort of freak show context, but I have to say after a few viewings, I think I appreciate what he's trying to do here. I "get" you Bill, I do. I even get a little choked up at 4:14...he should have saved that reading for the end, you can't keep the pace after an emotional high point like that. And neither can this post.

UPDATE 7/31/08:
Reader Dracula Jones (awesome) has pointed me to something I shamefully overlooked....

Wow. If anyone is friends with Guillermo Del Toro, please be sure he sees this before he gets started on principal photography. Though I'm kind of enraged by the fact that this song is all about Bilbo and Bilbo NEVER EVEN SHOWS UP in the video. Total tease.

Robot Day: "I'm A Robot Programmed Not To Know That I'm A Robot"

Going on a Wall-E binge last night reminded me of one of my favorite pieces of robot related media; Pete Misner's video for Scent of a Robot. The song is a rap ballad in which an average guy realizes he and everyone else he knows are robots. It's a hilariously deadpan piece of absurdity that easily slides between humor and philosophy, and features some pretty fun CG robot models as well.

You can check out the YouTube video above for instant gratification, though a nice high quality Quicktime is available on Pete's official site.

Name That Tune, Music Geeks

Q: How is Girl Talk's new album like the Guggenheim after 6pm on Friday?

A: It's pay what you wish!

I could get used to this. As was the case with Radiohead's In Rainbows, the only time I pay for music anymore is when I can name my own price. O, what a spoiled generation to inherit this dying world. Download the Feed The Animals LP in it's entirety at Illegal-Art.

For those wondering who or what Girl Talk is, he's a mash-up artist and everyone just loves him. The gimmick is he samples equally from current commercial hip hop (o_O) and the history of rock, which for him runs from cheeseball 7os anthems to alternative radio one hit wonders. As one who came of age on alternative rock, I have to say GT has pretty impeccable taste in this arena. Only two songs into the new album I was recognizing personal all-time faves like Hunger Strike by Temple of the Dog and Boy/Girl by Aphex Twin, so my theoretical issues with him aside, I'm hooked.

The aforementioned issues and the racial politics of meaningless dance music, after the jump....


Alright, so this is what happens when you grow up in Berkeley. You can't not see racial politics in literally anything that you spend more than 30 seconds thinking about. GT's previous album, Night Ripper, is on frequent rotation on my iPod, and from my first listen I've been distracted by the implications of pulling sexually crude/aggressive lyrics from songs uniformly by black artists (and those creating music in one of the most derided genres today, commercial hip-hop) and presenting them in a sort of sideshow, laughably-flamboyant context by grouping these clips together in such high concentration. They're even further decontextualized when positioned against comparatively quaint musical and lyrical excerpts from uniformly white artists, which are taken from a much broader spectrum of decades and genres.

But to bring this critique into reality a little, I don't doubt that Girl Talk loves the rap samples he mixes in. Quote from a Nerve.com interview from the Night Ripper era:

"I've always been into juxtapositions of really different elements. Things like really overtly sexual rap mixed with clean-cut '70s pop music, stuff like that. You hear a guy rapping about having sex, and it's set over James Taylor. I think it's what makes the music fun."

So subjectively, I'm not trying to accuse Girl Talk of anything. Am I saying it's somehow not right to juxtapose sexy stuff from modern rap and precious stuff from the history of rock? That's a no. But any time you have a piece of work that pulls from the cultural ether of two distinct racial groups, I think it's fair to reflect on the significance of what's being extracted.

BUT: this new album actually bucks that critique by drawing from a much broader scope of black artists, and without the same pointed scope of subject matter. The music taken from white artists is also generally less precious, with some metal and trashy modern pop making appearances. In closing, let me remind the reader it is not the job of artists to impose meaning on their work, it's the job of critics. I don't know how I went from being an artist to a critic, but I think I have to go kill myself now.

Weekanerd NYC: Weird Musics, Wii Mario Kart, and 2001 at Tribeca

Hey Gnerd readers! We're thinking of making Weekanerd a weekend feature only. We'll still have daily event listings on the right-hand sidebar, but we'll only do write-ups for Friday through Sunday. Is that cool with you? Let us know at tips@geekanerdblog.com.


Friday, April 25

• The Bent Festival
• $10, 7pm @ DCTV, 87 Laffayette Street, Manhattan
  

"Circuit Bending" sounds kind of dirty, but it's not. It's the act of modifying electronic toys (getcha minds outta the gutta) to create all sorts of crazy audio, from symphonic melodies to R2D2esque doots and dweets. Tonight's concert includes seven performers from around the globe, plus Free Singha beer from 7pm to 7:30, which is important cause it seems like you might want to be just a leeetle bit altered in your perceptions to fully appreciate the festivities. Check out the website for full listings, including workshops on Saturday in case you want to bend some circuits of your own. If you know what I mean.

Mario Kart Wii and 2001 with the weirdest bunch of guests ever, after the jump...


Saturday, April 26

• Mario Kart Wii
• FREE, 2pm @ Nintendo World Store, 10 Rockefeller Plaza, Manhattan
  

Test drive the new game, see if those Wii Wheels are worth the cheap plastic their molded from, and get ready to learn how to do blue sparks all over again. Jason Priestly will be making a personal appearance, apparently he owns something called the Rubicon Race Team and well...I guess that's not keeping him too busy. All I want to know is if these guys will be there...


Sunday, April 27

• 2001: A Space Oddessy
• $25, 3pm @ Pace University, 3 Spruce Street, Manhattan
  

Before there was GLaDOS, there was HAL. Wait, 25 dollars?! Oh right, it's part of the Tribeca Film Festival. So in addition to the screening, you get a panel afterwards with this ragtag bunch: Buzz Aldrin(!), Contact screenwriter Ann Druyan, MIT Professor Marvin Minsky, Matthew Modine and Ira Flatow. Jeesh! Sounds like the cast of some nerd's fever dream.

Shrimp Glove Face Plant: MC Chris Pays Tribute To The Ghost With The Most

With the start of April comes many burnt blogosphere offerings, but the gem of the day was a nerdlicious new song from MC Chris. He'd been advertising an exclusive preview track from his upcoming album, though given the April 1st release date it seemed unlikely he'd be putting up anything legit. He ended up unleashing a song that won't be on the album, or presumably any other album since the backing track consists almost entirely of samples from the greatest Danny Elfman theme of all time...

UPDATE: Aw man, it got taken off YouTube! Oh well. You can still get it off Chris's MySpace, see the link below.



Awesome. It's available to download for free on mc chris's myspace. Annotated lyrics after the jump....


The following lyrics were posted by MC himself on the MC Chris forums and YouTube. Most of the references should make sense to anyone who counts themselves as a fan of the film, but I added a few annotations for some of the more obscure lines.

im deathly pale bad breath bad teeth
hate the sand and the sun never see me at the beach
i'll stick with goth chicks transfixed on death
that wear black britches i insist on nice breasts

i sleep in a grave lived through the black plague
actually that's all my fault but dont wiki that k?
green hair downstairs boogers farts and phlegm
that's my stock in trade see me startin trends

black and white striped suit or a blood red tux
got jack on my hat in japan it's a must (1)
i can change shapes do pranks and disguises
bioexorcist im the best in a cirisis

parents wanted me to clean up like my brother (2)
boss used to say i didnt work well with others
now im independent and my methods are effective
say my name three times if you want to get connected

beetlejuice beetlejuice one two three
i like a little lady name lydia deetz
her demeanor is depressed i confess that's sweet
dont try to deny she's my bride to be

hey kmart shoppers there's a sale on my services
im here to help there's no need for your nervousness
i'll eat what u wanna eat swallow what u say (3)
relieve you of your living that are ruining your day

have you read the handbook for the recently deceased
it's too thick like my dick when i think of little deetz
she's the key to my release from this model existence
coffin lining's confining and i want out this instant

me and the dragster of doom we're the baddest of dudes (4)
we hit the inferno room where the ladies get nude
but we're eternally screwed so i become a bridegroom
and get lovely lydia to lip synch an i do

i must move the maitlands out of my way
give'm zipperlips pitch a plate on their face
say hello to hammer hands say goodbye to goulet
and then off to fla where my review drew raves (5)

shrimp glove face plant
we like cassettes not 8 track
clown face much like
the one you'll see in dark knight
being dead kinda sucks
the afterlife's no fun to us
im the name that people trust
the juice that comes from beetleguts


(1) Kay, we're starting off slow because I actually don't really know what the hell he's talking about here. Possibly refers to the Beetlejuice stage show in Universal Studios Japan?

(2) Reference to Beetlejuice's Parents an episode of the Saturday Morning Cartoon show in which it's revealed that BJ's parents are conservative squares.

(3) Refers Beetlejuice's advertising jingle for his bioexorcism service; "I'll eat anything you want me to eat, I'll swallow anything you want me to swallow, come on down I'll....chew on a dog!" Perhaps the film's finest moment.

(4) Another reference to the cartoon, the Dragster of Doom (or Doomie) was Beetlejuice's sidekick from the second season on.

(5) Beetlejuice's Rockin' Graveyard Revue used to be a live show at Universal Studios Florida, but it's gone now, along with the amazing Back to the Future Ride. Kids today have to settle for some seriously tame bullshit based on The Mummy and Twister.

The Windows Song

This tune is made entirely from those Windows system sounds you all know and love, Mario Paint style.

Via Geekstir.

Weekanerd NYC: Coverboy Chris Ware, They Might Be Giants, and Great Films That Aren't The Superbowl

Friday, February 1

• Chris Ware: Drawings for New York Periodicals
  
• 6pm @ Adam Baumgold Gallery, 74 East 79th Street, Manhattan

Remember that soul-crushing New Yorker cover we posted last Thanksgiving? That was a mere taste of what Chris Ware has to offer the magazine reading public. An exhibit celebrating his work for publications such as the New York and NYTimes, there'll be a reception from 6pm to 8pm. Click the title link for some previews, including this rough version of the aforementioned Thanksgiving cover...
The Johns and two great movies, after the jump...

Saturday, February 2

• They Might Be Giants
• 8pm @ The Beacon Theater, 76th btw Broadway and Amsterdam, Manhattan

The ultimate in geek rock. Tickets for the floor are already sold out, so if you want to snag some $30 dollar balcony seats, act fast.

Here's a reminder of just how awesome these guys really are.


Sunday, February 3

• Casablanca and Punch-Drunk Love
  
• 8pm @ Galapagos Art Space, 70 North 6th Street, Brooklyn

Sure, the Super Bowl is a great excuse to get horribly drunk, and apparently it does feature some sort of New York theme this year, but it can' t be denied that a significant chunk of the nerd population has either a natural or learned aversion to sports. So if you're looking for something else to do this evening, you can choose between Punch-Drunk Love and Casablanca, playing on two separate screens at Galapagos as part of their MovieHouse series. Included with the evening is free popcorn, a short film before the feature, and a Casablanca trivia contest. All for only $5, and you can watch the superbowl commercials on YouTube when you get home.

Bring MC Chris' Rhymes to Life or: The Rise of Music Video Contests

Geek rap stalwart MC Chris is having a you-make-the-video contest for his new ode to the ladies, Nrrrd Girl. If the lyrics touch your heart (and they will) and you feel you can further illuminate the song's meaning with your video/animation mastery, enter the contest by February 29th for a chance to....what exactly? It's not clear, but probably the honor of having made an official MC Chris video, and possibly something else. There's no prize like a su-prize!

In related news, Chris will be a guest on Comic Book Club at the People's Improv Theater in NYC this Tuesday, January 22nd. He'll talk comics with the CBC hosts and classic comic artist Jim Starlin, and do a song or two to seal the deal. Tickets are surprisingly still available, only five bucks plus a dollar service charge.

In the wild west of user-generated new media, fan-made video contests have been embraced by a lot of mainstream artists in recent years. The winning entries vary widely in originality and profesionalism, but one tends to get what one pays for.

After the jump, we review high-profile winners and evaluate what it takes to give away your filmmaking talents for no royalties or monetary payment whatsoever. Take that, striking writers!

Kurt Nishimura won the infamous Decemberist Video Contest, one of the first challenges that promised the prize of a broadcast debut. Fans were challenged to build a video around footage of the band playing in front of a green screen, an idea Stephen Colbert contends was shamelessly stolen from his own Green Screen Challenge. The controversy culminated in a guitar battle between the Decemberist guy and Mr. Colbert, the humor of which was somewhat diminished when the Decemberists guy performed a yawner of a solo, which there's really no excuse for in the age of Guitar Hero. You might have gotten away with that in like, the 90s, but post-2005 nerds have been re-educated in the ways of the shred.

The winning video is something of a snooze itself, with a simple storyline stretched thin over the song's near four minute runtime. However, Nishimura did come up with the rather ingenious idea of encasing the pre-existing footage within a television set inside the world of the video, allowing total freedom to develop a storyline with original footage without having to use cutaways to get back to the band. More kudos for the muted cinematography, which makes everything feel a bit more professional, despite limited locations and not so polished actors.



By the way, here's the winner of the Colbert Contest, which can always use a second viewing.


From a pool of around 100 entries, Incubus selected both a Grand Prize Winner and a Band/Fan Pick. Wait, so who chose the Grand Prize Winner, the record company? Ooh, I hate those guys! The Grand Prize went to a film schoolie rape nightmare/fantasy with a generous helping of After Effects filters. The fan/band pick by Carlos Oliveira featured no band footage but instead a super emo-cartoon. Again, the problem here is a good idea stretched out to interminable lengths, achieved in case by having the characters move around verrrry slowly. But the art itself grabs you, and the story has a nice mix of literal lyric interpretation and angsty big eyed cartoons people. This entry did end up getting broadcast after all, though with cuts of the band interspliced. It's actually an improvement, and does a lot to improve the pacing issues.

Original Version

Broadcast Version


Bjork fans got the chance to create a video for Innocence, off the phenomenal Volta EP. The winning entry (chosen out of a whopping 500 submissions) was by Fred & Annabelle of France. Now THIS is a video. Perhaps there was a higher incentive for serious artists to submit their work, since Bjork has a rich history of groundbreaking music videos by the likes of Michel Gondry and Chris Cunningham. This video fits snugly into that proud lineage, even including some familiar bear and robot imagery. The breadth of CG techniques on display here sometimes venture a tiny bit into demo territory, they come on so abruptly, but over all the images match the feel of the music perfectly. Also, please note this video features not footage of Bjork, but a computer generated Bjork. Amazing stuff.



Here's Levi Ahmu's winning video for the Smashing Pumpkins song, Tarantula. When did they get back together? Chosen from a mere 60-something entries, this is another After Effects party that looks like Ray of Light meets some of the newer iPod Commercials, with some disaster porn thrown in about 1:45 in. At least it's relatively short.


You may notice all of these winners heavily feature band members. This is due to the fact that these are all commercially distributed artists, and music videos are basically commercials in one form or another. MC Chris, however, is self-distributing his new album, so I'd guess the pressure to advertise his image may not be necessary for the win. You never know though, there's little Chris cartoons all over his merch. I'm guess there will be a lot of flash cartoon entries, given the web savviness and abundance of time I'd expect his fan base to have.

Personal Epilogue:

I'm entertaining the idea of pulling a Nrrrd Girl video together myself. I only heard the song a few days ago while aimlessly browsing my way further into late night depression, and the song helped put me in better spirits. Lyrics like "She might seem shy in person, it's no lie/She's always nervous/But the verdict is she's worth it/She gets crap but don't deserve it" and "She's romantic, known to panic/With anxiety attacks/Literary, it's so scary/Reading Brontes back to back/" really hit home, because some of those qualities hit home personally, and others remind me of the kind of girl I fall for. The whole thing got me a little choked up, and maybe a reaction like that is worth mining for video ideas.

Conan O'Brien Out-Rocks Rock Band

Even the most dedicated Rock Band player can be instantly shamed by the presence of a person who can play an actual guitar. On his writerless show last week, Conan O'Brien showed his staff how to rock for reals, and also gave an amazing rendition of Sabotage as interpreted by Edith Bunker. Writers smiters!

Street Figher - The Rock Opera

The idea of a Rock Opera is hilarious in itself, so it's no surprise the genre is often used as gag material, some times to hilarious effect and sometimes not so much. The newly released Street Figther Rock Opera, however, has almost no precedent for it's awesomeness.

It's the work of collegiate rock band The Man Factory, and the seven songs that make up Act 1 are available for free download on the band's Myspace, complete with lyrics and liner notes. These are a welcome aid in following the plot, which concerns Chun Li's bid to revenge her father's death at the hands of M. Bison, which more or less adheres to the character's actual backstory. The songs are mostly sung from the first person view point of the characters, including a lovestruck Zangief, Interpol Agent E. Honda, and arrogant star of the Vegas boxing circuit, Balrog. Vega and Ryu are referred to, but we'll presumably have to wait until Act 2 for further lyrical insights into their characters.

The Man Factory has a powerpop rock sound that comes in somewhere between Ozma (remember them?) and a more low-fi version of The New Pornographers. The songs can be enjoyed solely as massive in-jokes about the Street fighter mythos, but the tone of the songs are not overtly jokey, and the band surprisingly manages to mine some effective musical drama from the characters and their street-fighting related tribulations. The most effective track is Chun Li, Outside, a tragic song of loss and revenge. You wouldn't think the lyric "Bison got away boat towards Thailand" could inspire a catch in your throat, but an abrupt change from major to minor in the music takes the song from fanart to something with value independent of it's source material.

Not every song flies as high as that one, and the fact that one high-voiced male singer sings all the male parts makes Balrog's strutting hip-hop number slightly cringe-inducing. But over all the lyrical quality is high, and the music is great in small doses. There are two more batches of songs on the way, but in the mean time you can check out a demo track on the band's official site, about fan fave Dhalsim. Well, I liked playing as him. I wasn't going to win anyway.

Weekanerd NYC: Strange Music, Great Drawings, and That Anime Con

Friday, December 7th

• RRIICCEE (featuring Vincent Gallo)
  
• 8pm @ The Green Room, 45 Bleecker Street, Manhattan

Now, I'm not necessarily suggesting you actually go to this event, but the geek snob credibility is undeniably through the roof; mad filmmaker Vincent Gallo and Hole's Eric Eriandson perform some sort of pseudo-musical improvised display. It "may be inappropriate for those under 18", so I can only imagine someone will be blowing Gallo on stage. $26 dollars.

Saturday, December 8th

• Shortcomings And Goings w/ Adrian Tomine
  
• 6:30pm @ Giant Robot, 437 East 9th Street, Manhattan

An exhibition of illustrations by Adrian Tomine, who'll also be on hand to sign copies of Shortcomings, his quietly brilliant new graphic novel. Seriously, it's the book of the year. Plus this is technically an art opening so, you know. Say it with me now. Free booze.

Sunday, December 9th

• New York Anime Festival
  
• 10am - 6pm @ The Javits Center, 655 West 34th Street, Manhattan

This thing is actually going on all weekend, but there's some particularly neat stuff going on on Sunday. Manga/Sci Fi published Del Ray and Marvel Comics are making a special announcement...Avengers: The Super Deformed Initiative? I'd buy it. Plus Kaiju Big Battel, a Tokyopop special event, the Who Wants To Be A Voice Actor contest/exercise in public humiliation, and....a panel on Japanese Woodblock Prints? Li'l something for everyone...with really specific tastes. $30 for a day pass, $55 for the whole weekend.

Protect Your Gadgets With Gelaskins

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Promotional Link

Indulge yourself with some brand new iphone cases with cool concept designs.

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You put your ipod in your pocket, and in your pocket are your keys and a pen that, unbeknownst to you, sprung a leak yesterday.

The moment will come when you feel like listening to the “No One” by Miss Alicia Keys.

You reach for your ipod and see this:





There’s a crapload of ink dried up permanently covering almost 2/3 of your screen. Friend: “Hey what song is this?” You: “I DON’T KNOW.”

That scratch takes itself right through the touchwheel.

Don’t hate yourself. It’s not like you were about to velcro your ipod into a forty-dollar accessory like it’s about to go on a trip to Mars. If you’d wanted to cart around a refrigerator-sized device that plays music, then you could just put your home stereo system into a wagon. Tell me I'm wrong. No, you wanted an ipod that was shaped like an ipod. And don’t step over here with an idea about some translucent royal blue holiday saran wrap googity moogity that, while sure it maintains your junk’s silhouette, is about as nice to look at as the CIA headquarters in DC and about as good at protecting you and yours as the CIA has been in recent years. Tell me I'm wrong.

There's hope. Four weeks ago, I was at an event with my friends A. H. Robe and Albertson Rather.

I came upon two gentlemen selling these. They're gelaskins. Check out how nice.

They come for a variety of ipod models, and some phones and computers too. Most importantly, they look good.

These gelaskins are made of a special adhesive designed for use on buses and cars. The adhesive is tough. Your keys won’t be able to scratch up your nano no matter how much they want to.

The gelaskins peel right off, too. Maybe you get tired of the beautiful artwork encasing your ipod. Well, remove it. Go ahead. What’s that, you applied your gelaskin last year? That shit peels off like it’s late for a meeting, no matter how long it’s been in place.

And the gelaskins collection is well curated. This is one of those opportunities to give the world a lot of information about yourself. What kind of person are you? A dreamy kid? Troy McClure? Proudly into golf?

Here’s my 2nd generation nano today: protected on all possible sides (there’s even a gelascreen on my screen protecting it from scratches).


Here’s a jacked-up modification AHR made using the sassy steam punk gelaskin she got at an expo. It’s for an iPod touch, not her classic kind, but she wanted to look cool, so she’s trying to make it work.