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Archives: 'Nerdapalooza'
5 February 2009 | 9:45 PM
As a rule, when there’s an excuse to throw poo (or, more likely, pie) at Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, I’m first in line, loosening up my throwing arm. This is partly due to the fact that I – as an Apple fan-boy – am contractually and genetically obliged to hate the dude, but also because I’m a bit of an amateur historian regarding the creation myths surrounding the personal computer, and I’ll be damned if his (and his company’s) role in all of it doesn’t make me want to beat him to death with 640K of memory. However, even a Borg-hater like myself has to give the man a some credit for his charitable foundation which, despite some occasional reports of prickish shenanigans like tying philanthropic assistance with using Microsoft software, is doing some really important things in an effort to make the world substantively better. All this is my long-winded way of pointing you to a talk Gates gave today at the TED Conference which I found compelling and – dare I say it – a bit inspirational:
Good talk, Bill, really. Now I can go back to hating you, I presume? Interestingly, I don’t harbor any of the anger or resentment that I direct at Bill towards his old business partner Paul Allen, Microsoft’s other co-founder. Even though Allen has obscene amounts of money and is, in many ways, just as responsible for inflicting terrible software and predatory business practices on the world, it’s hard to be too pissed at an eccentric billionaire who pisses his money away on shit like this.
Posted by Andy in Nerdapalooza |
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19 January 2009 | 11:21 PM
Seriously, Microsoft? With all the shit that’s wrong with Vista and the epic New Year’s Day Zune debacle still fresh in people’s memory, you’re spending your time producing stuff like Songsmith, an application which attempts to create automated, contextual musical accompaniment for the human voice? Sweet Bajebus, no wonder Internet Explorer doesn’t work! Anyway, if you’re trying to decide whether you should listen to this odious Songsmith bastardization of The Police’s classic “Roxanne”, here’s a hint: no, you shouldn’t.
Cripes, it’s like imagining the song being covered by Miami Sound Machine. Say what you will about Apple or Google, but they’d never allow this sort of thing to happen. Ever.
Posted by Andy in Nerdapalooza |
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6 January 2009 | 10:27 AM
With the Macworld keynote – sans Dear Leader – about to kick off momentarily, it’s good to poke a little fun at the fanboyism that’s about to run rampant on thousands of websites, this one included. Bring it, Onion:
Oh, what I wouldn’t give for this spoof to be run in front of the keynote crowd to see how many of the faithful would swoon for it.
[Via /.]
Posted by Andy in Nerdapalooza |
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4 January 2009 | 1:13 AM
I realize that this is my second Star Trek post in less than a week, but you’ll have to trust me when I say I’m pretty sure this is something that your average Joe Trekkie (or is it Joe Trekker?) tries not to think about much. Namely, an exploration of the relationship between Kirk and Spock, set to Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer”. That’s right, Chief, so open your mouth and bug out your eyes in shock….now:
I’m already envisioning a follow-up, this time including Bones McCoy and set to New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle”. Yeesh, I need to go wash my brain out with soap.
Posted by Andy in Nerdapalooza |
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25 December 2008 | 12:07 AM
I won’t go so far as to say this project hits close to home…
…but it doesn’t not hit close to home, if you know what I mean?
I’m not saying, but I’m just saying.
Merry Christmahannukwanzakah, everyone.
Posted by Andy in Nerdapalooza |
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22 December 2008 | 3:20 PM
Back when I was but a young whippersnapper (read, through my mid-twenties), I was a pretty regular reader of The Far Side, Gary Larson’s oddball, non sequitur anti-comic. It always seemed to me the perfect blend of subversive geekery and bald-faced silliness, a sort of hipper and less-groan-worthy version of my father’s endless collection of puns. To be honest, I hadn’t given the comic much thought for the better part of a decade, but thankfully a Flickr pool of Far Side reenactments has sprung up, giving us a sort of post-modern homage to vaguely funny nerdishness.
I believe things like these might be the reason the digital camera and the internet were invented.
Posted by Andy in Nerdapalooza |
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30 November 2008 | 11:32 PM
As a latch-key kid whose formative years were spent suckling from the warm, glowing teat that was 80’s and early 90’s television, I can honestly say that everything I ever needed to know I learned from the boob tube. Alas, since I spent so much of my youth glued to the idiot box, I now remember next to nothing because, as my mother always used to point out to me, TV rots your brain. But being a classically trained (read, I was forced to take piano lessons) musician, the things that do still stick with me from that golden age of entertainment are the theme songs. To be honest, while I can only dimly differentiate Facts of Life’s Mrs. Garrett from Mona on Who’s The Boss, I can still sing you the songs that rolled under each show’s opening credits pretty much verbatim. While I’m prepared to admit that this memory quirk is evidence of some insidious moral turpitude and completely messed-up priorities on my part, one can hardly deny how awesome those old theme songs were.
Which brings me (finally!) to Television Tunes, an exhaustive archive of the theme music from just about every show ever aired, from The Jack Benny Program to That’s My Bush to Cop Rock, and everything in between. Here’s some of the awesomeness I found:
- Parker Lewis Can’t Lose – Synchronize swatches!
- Jennifer Slept Here – Boy, did I ever have an embarrassing crush on Ann Jillian…
- Dinosaurs – Inexplicably, I never missed this show when I was a freshman in college, and I was rarely (if ever) high.
- Hong Kong Phooey – Go back and watch some of these and you’ll be stunned by how much sexist content could be snuck into a kids cartoon in the early 80’s.
- Max Headroom – Imagine, a show who’s gimmick is based on the premise that buffering is hilarious!
- V – Damn, I miss those slimy green bastards.
- The Liberace Show – Somewhere, Noel Coward is thinking, “Um, really, that’s a bit much, don’t you think?”
- Tales Of The Gold Monkey – My favorite show as a kid and easily the best seaplane-themed adventure-comedy show of the mid 1980’s
I should warn you that I managed to blow well upwards of an hour in the dead of night down this rabbit hole, so beware if you venture down it yourself. And remember, if you get lost just look for this gem to get your bearings.
Posted by Andy in Nerdapalooza |
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27 November 2008 | 10:37 PM
How do you know when a goofy web meme has officially jumped the tracks and crossed over into everyday popular culture? Probably when something like this happens:
The only way things could’ve gotten any more meta is if they had figured out how to ironically avoid including the Garfield balloon or if they caught Matt Lauer coming back from break asking “I can haz cheeseburger?“
Posted by Andy in Nerdapalooza |
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23 November 2008 | 12:17 AM
As you know, it’s my civic duty to post anything related to geekly musician extraordinaire Jonathan Coulton. So it should come as no shock to you that I’m pointing to you this live performance of the early 20th century hit song “Tonight You Belong To Me” at the Live Wire Wordstock Extravaganza earlier this month. That said, it might interest you to know that this clip also includes John Hodgman, a ukulele, The Long Winters and what I can honestly say is the most wicked comb solo I’ve heard this year. Perhaps I’ve said too much?
Although there’s something disquieting about a Windows PC crooning those particular lyrics, don’t you think?
Posted by Andy in Nerdapalooza |
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21 November 2008 | 11:24 AM
I realize that I’m a hardcore Apple apologist, and that my preference for products with the company’s logo on them might make me a little biased about other companies’ stuff. That said, I think I’m on safe ground when I say that Microsoft would’ve been better served to never have created their god-awful “iPod killer”, the Zune. While its failure is the stuff of legend in the tech world, Redmond continues to push it upon the world, valiantly tilting at Apple’s windmills in the hopes of gaining even a zillionth of its market-share. One of the more hilariously Microsoftian elements of the product is the notion that you can “squirt” DRM-laden music from one Zune to another for some sort of social listening experience. Trust me, after seeing this ad (which, admittedly, is probably a fake), you won’t want to get within 500 yards of your average Zune user:
When one can easily relate your product to explosive (albeit colorful) diarrhea, perhaps that’s a good time for your company to ask if perhaps you’ve miscalculated a bit. Although, in my own experience, it’s pretty customary for Microsoft products to perform like shit, so maybe this is apropos?
Posted by Andy in Nerdapalooza |
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