• myvu™ personal media viewer: 3g wireless ipod glasses Iglasses
  (tags: ipod video)

My kitchen was the site of a toxic waste spill overnight. Something clogged the 2-inch pipe I share with the two floors above me. Then, more and more black water and sludge started flowing out of my sink and into my dishwasher and onto the floor.

So, like some cross between a one-man bucket brigade and a toxic waste cleanup crew, I tried to contain the spillage as best I could until the plumber arrived.

It took him 4 minutes to clear the pipe, and then I started cleaning. My hands still smell like bleach.

Now, I need to get back to work, since I got nearly nothing done today and I’m out Friday to go to the Podcast Expo in LA. Envy the glamour of my life.

Swung by the Revision3 “ReLaunch” party this evening up at The Mighty in SF. They announced a new site, new shows and basically just said thank you to all their fans with free beer and music. Saw Kevin, Alex, Praeger, Heather, Martin, and most importantly the Geekdrome guys, Jonathan and Dan.

Cool place, fun party… of course, I was only there for about an hour fifteen before I had to get back to work. A party in SF on a Tuesday… what were they thinking? Oh yeah, probably “We’d like to have an open bar and not go broke!” hehe. Anyways, thanks for the Coronas, Revision3.

I like to think I’m pretty good with words or, at least, sufficient with them. I’m no Tolstoy, Tolkein or even Tollhouse, but I do ok. However, this modicum of talent isn’t enough to help me construct a sentence than can truly communicate how much I hate Jackass and the parties involved.

Unfortunately, it isn’t enough to just avoid watching Jackass and believe me I do, lest the bile rise so high that it spills from my eyes. See, the big problem with a new Jackass movie is hearing about it everywhere. Or rather, hearing about howso many people like it.

Jackass isn’t interesting. It isn’t clever. It isn’t charming. It isn’t funny. But it is popular.

Ok, the “funny” part is subjective, obviously. But I don’t find it funny. I mean, come on. It’s intentionally dumb. “Let’s see what happens when I get hit with a tazer. Ow!” Yeah, fucktard, it hurts. You know what? Everyone already knew that. It was designed to hurt. The same thing goes for whatever dumb ass thing they’re doing to their testicles this time around. Oh, hit them with a pool ball? Guess what? It hurts. Newsflash. Fuck.

Anyways.

So, why do so many people like it? Is schadenfreude so prevelant in American society? Or, perhaps, this isn’t an American thing. Maybe the reach of Jackass is global and it’s more a statement of the human condition that so many people are amused by such intentional retardation?

As much as I hate Jackass, it depresses me how many people like or, worse yet, love it. Seriously. I do my best not to judge people for liking it (my collection of books and dvds isn’t exactly exclusively highbrow, ya know), but it still boggles the mind and crushes the spirit.

And just for the record, not a word of this has been hyperbole, I find this shit seriously depressing. Ok, except maybe the bile thing, since I don’t know if it’s physically possible. It certainly feels like it is, though.

So, anyways, if you like Jackass or want to see it, go right ahead. Just don’t talk to me about it if you’re not up for a really frank discussion about what I think, because it’s only been out a few days and I’m tired of biting my tongue and I gotta save some restraint for co-workers.

Yesterday, the Cable Guy™ came by and “installed” the cableCARDs for my new TiVo Series 3 box. I say “installed” because the cards are just PCMCIA style cards that slide into slots on the back of the TiVo unit. He didn’t even push them in far enough and I had to finish the “installation” by clicking them into place.

Well, at least the cards are free and installation was only $15. Some folks, as reported over on PVRblog, are having a helluva time dealing with Comcast over the cards. Some are being asked to pay a fee for the cards, some are having to rent them. Others are being told they will have to pay up to $75 for installation. Others still are getting them from the cable offices and installing the cards themselves. Some folk can’t even get ‘em.

All in all, my Comcast/Tivo Series3/cableCARD experience was very good, by comparisson. It only could have been better if they could have given me the cards at the office.

Anyways, it doesn’t matter now though, because good bye Motorola piece of crap DVR and welcome back TiVo. My living room has missed you.

Very happy with the Series 3 so far. TiVo + HD = awesomeness. It’s a proven mathematical fact.

• Airport BaseStations
  original title “Should you upgrade to a Airport Extreme Base Station?”
  (tags: apple network airport wireless)

I dunno why I take these very silly scientific tests, but I do. I guess they amuse me. So, this one tested how Nerdy, Geeky or Dorky you are. My results:

Well, there ya have it.

A few days ago, papal newbie, Pope Benedict XVI was addressing some of his fans at the Vatican. In a questionable career move, he made some remarks about Islam that has really pissed off a lot of people with beards.

The Pope, addressing the press, said “Man, I didn’t think any muslims would hear me. Who knew those guys even spoke Latin? Fuck, those guys are touchy.”

Muslim nutjobs everywhere have demanded that the Pope “take it back” or they will “kick his ass.” They further demonstrated their peaceful natures by shouting, burning effigies, firebombing churches and in one case, shooting a nun who spent her life helping sick people in Africa†.

“Hoo boy! Yeah, you guys are real rational. I see that now. My bad,” the Pope responded. “Sh’yeah right.”

The slightly less nutter muslims in the world responded with more peaceful retorts. “Look, the whackjobs with the guns and all the fire and stuff don’t speak for all muslims,” one muslim chilling at Starbucks said, “besides, we’re kinda ‘we’re rubber and you’re glue’ with the Pope anyways. Christians and Catholics and whatever shouldn’t go pointing the finger about violence. Remember the crusades, anyone?”

The Pope’s manager issued a very brief statement on behalf of the Pope this morning, stating that “the big guy” regretted pissing off his muslim fans. When pressed for further comment, the manager said that he knew the Pope was working on some new material, but didn’t realize it would be so “edgy” and that they might discuss toning it down.

When asked for comment, the Dali Lama simply shook his head and said, “Dude.”

A couple of years ago, an irc buddy introduced me to the sound of some freak calling himself “mc chris”. It was awesome. This guy was talented and funny as hell. Best of all, he was rapping about geek stuff. Some time passed, and I realized I wanted more of this stuff. So, I started digging and realized there were a lot of artists similar to mc chris. It was a whole sub-sub-sub-genre of awesomness.

So, now I think it’s time to write something about nerdcore.

In the beginning there was nothing, not even time
No planets, no stars, no hip-hop, no rhyme
But then there was a bang, like the sound of my gat
The universe was born, and the shit was phat
>Biz Bizang - M.C. Hawking

Nerdcore. It’s what you get when you mix hip-hop, humor, talented geeks, the internet and the ease of making music with modern technology. While all nerdcore has those elements in common, there’s a ton of individuality in every artist I’ve heard so far. Their styles, topics and attitudes differ.

Don’t fuck with a geek, just cuz he got a gift.
You get in my way bitch you get a Vulcan neck pinch.
One night I didn’t go to sleep, up playin’ Risk.
At dawn, I won, got global dominance.
>Geek - mc chris

Some artists, like mc chris ( iTunes - Wikipedia - MySpace ), are probably more of an acquired taste than others. His lyrics are full of both geek self-deprecation and geek bravado. He raps about grades, role-playing games, weed, girls and jocks with a style that’s like a cartoon gangsta rapper. (The cartoon bit isn’t a stretch, he does voices for Cartoon Network.)

MC Hawking ( iTunes - Wikipedia - MySpace ) takes the parody to the next level, though. Imagine if Stephen Hawking, yes, that Stephen Hawking, was a hard-core gangsta rapper, delivering his rhymes via a synthesized voice from a wheelchair. Some folks might think this irreverent pardoy an affront to Hawking and his brilliance, but MC Hawking pokes no fun at the astronomer and, if anything, honors him. And it’s funny as hell.

Obey the moderator, create a state of calm,
Scan sentences and announce who’s wrong.
You are the troller, one week ban.
I know your other screen name, man.
>Obey The Moderator - Optimus Rhyme

Optimus Rhyme ( iTunes - Wikipedia - MySpace ) and MC Frontalot ( iTunes - Wikipedia - MySpace ) are great examples of clever artists that might be better stepping stones for anyone put off by the “gangsta-ness” of mc chris or MC Hawking. It’s also worth pointing out that Optimus Rhyme is the best nerdcore name in existence.

DangerDoom ( iTunes - Wikipedia - MySpace ) is a great place to start for fans of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, since their songs are filled with references and clips. (Notable is the fact that Adult Swim endorses them.) Aside from the cartoon clips, they also have a sound that’s probably more aligned with current hip-hop trends than anywne else.

The nerdcore could rise up, it could get elevated.
Oh and wouldn’t all of those tough rappers hate it,
If the nerdcore rose up and got elevated?
We consider the possibleness of this not overstated.
>Nerdcore Rising - MC Frontalot

The last artist I’m going to mention is MC Lars ( iTunes - Wikipedia - MySpace ). I mention him last because he’s probably the most successful currently as he has the style that’s probably the most palpable to the mainstream. He blends a poppy-punk sound with happy hip-hop and a very non-threatening, indie-rocker, frat-kid voice. Songs like “Download This Song” and “Hot Topic is Not Punk Rock” have even gotten airplay on commercial stations. None of this is to say his success is not deserved, the kid is talented and creative. In fact, he might be the best starting point for anyone looking into nerdcore.

The Berlin Wall fell and out we came,
the post-Cold War kids laid claim to AIM.
LOL, OMG, yo, BRB.
Space, colon, dash, closed parenthesis.
We sat at our laptops and typed away,
and found that we each had something to say.
Web-logged our fears, our hopes and dreams.
Individuated by digital means.
>iGeneration - MC Lars

And that’s the end of me pretending to be a music critic.

There are a bunch of other artists out there, if your interested in exploring it further. Let me know what you find. If you already have, and this whole nerdcore thing is old hat to you, then fuck you fold holdin’ out, jack. Who do you like?

AKA Lazy Geeky Sunday.

Leaving your Sunday alarm set for the horrid hour of 08:30 has one benefit, if you’re willing to resist turning it off and rolling over. After a couple of snoozes, I realized if I got up early I’d be able to get a lot more done today. Crazy theory, I know.

So shower n’ shave and head out the door, I go. After a trip to Pete’s to caffeinate, I realized I should have gotten dressed too. So, I rectified that and headed to the local Rasputin Music and Tower Records to hunt down an mc chris (more about him in an upcoming nerdcore post soon) record that iTunes doesn’t have. No luck, but no surprise either since it’s still sort of under ground (I guess? how does one tell in these days of the internets?) Did end up with a Dropkick Muprhy’s disc I didn’t have though. So, I decided I’d try CD Warehouse, across town.

On the way, I hit up my local comic shop, Little Shop of Heroes (best comic book shop name evah, btw) to pick up a couple of issues of a book I was missing which was preventing me from reading the series.

Then I swung by EB Games to peruse their used X-box game section. Having never owned an X-box, I find the plethora of games out there that I’ve never played to be a wondrous thing. All at very likeable prices, btw. Crimson Skies for $5? ysplskthx

I took a moment to cheer up the dude at the cash register who just got burtally lambasted by the previous customer over some stupid store policy matter. I cracked wise, in more ways than one. He laughed and so I felt like I did a good deed and I leapt into the batgeek-mobile and sped away.

I was on my way home when I pulled up next to a “Geek Squad” car. I don’t appreciate them frontin’ and perpetratin’ like they’re true geeks, so I whipped out the nine-mil and blasted ‘em O.G. style.

Then I picked up some beer, got home, ordered a pizza and called my mom. She says hi, by the way.

I checked my mail (bills and a thank you note from a guy named Bill), then my email, and hey look… some new chick wants to be my friend on MySpace. Don’t they all? Her name is Angel (of course it is) and she “just moved here from college (I dunno where that is) and a horrible relationship (awww)”. I look at the picture. I blink. I look at the rest. Holy shit, I think this chick is a real doll (realdoll.com (NSFW) for those not in the know). Decide for yourself. Look into those eyes, man. Nothin’ there.

Ok, now I need to wrap up some chores, see if I can’t fix a perl script for work, crack open another beer and maybe get a little 360 in before it’s time to hit WoW with the gang. Ok, another beer. Check. One out of four down.

This blog posted is based on a true story. Some events may have been exaggerated to enhance the drama.