Nerdcore Could Rise Up

My last post was a short look at the Nerdcore scene. We looked at MC Hawking and Frontalot. I have been listening to a lot of the latter, but have begun to diversify to 2 other big nerdcore names. mc chris and MC Lars. Both have ups and downs and if you care.... keep reading

mc chris, arguably one of the biggest names in nerdcore, sounds like a 10 year old. The fact has to be acknowledged and now that we have, we can move on. His lyrics are rock solid and his flow is good too. The themes of his songs are based on the not-nerd topics of sex and drugs (that aint nerdcore!) but he attacks them with a very geeky diction. Though some of his songs might scare nerds who have never conversed with a female, they are still solid music. Additionally, the CD's of this MC are not just laden with hot tracks. If you are to buy (LOL) or download one of the chris' albums than you get a few skits as well. These skits range from the humorous to the really dumb, but they "break up the monotony" as mc chris says himself. Check him out most definitely.

MC Lars is next week, because I need more time to digest his stylings.

In other news I have started writing another story, but it may take away. It will end up being about a private eye and will hopefully be interesting. Even if you don't care, you could pretend to to make me feel good about myself.

~Mike


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MC Hates My Blog

While many have most likely never heard of Nerdcore, it is hard to deny that its a fast growing genre. I recently downloaded a compilation of Nerdcore music (which is a combination of hip hop and nerd themes, for those who don't know) and am enjoying it thoroughly. In the compilation downloaded are such artists as MC Frontalot, mc chris, MC Hawking, MC Lars, Beefy, Optimus Rhyme, and a few tracks by Baddd Spellah.

I usually hate rap and hip hop with few exceptions, but I am glad to say that the witty lyrics and fantastic nerd-based beats of the Nerdcore rappers listed above have redeemed my faith in the rap genre. If you think you could enjoy such a random genre and haven't seen it yet, I recommend you watch what is available of "Nerdcore For Life". It is a movie about the genre of nerdcore. TRAILER!



Possibly the most popular nerdcore rapper, MC Frontalot has been featured on Penny Arcade a few times and recently returned the favour with a track entitled "Penny Arcade Theme". He has a pretty extensive library with some great tracks, however some of his songs really suck. I would recomend select tracks off of both Nerdcore Rising and Nerdcore Hip Hop namely This Old Man, Nerdcore Rising, Penny Arcade Theme, Nerdcore Hip Hop, and Special Delivery for some political rapping.

MC Hawking is another great Nerdcore rapper (the famous physicist Stephen Hawking after he took up a rap career with DJ Doomsday). He raps about topics such as entropy, his extensive collection of degrees, and his hatred for "MIT Bitches". While rapping, Hawking uses Microsoft Sam text to voice program to overcome being mute (which gets kind of annoying after a while). While the computerized voice can get somewhat tiresome, hearing MC Hawking talk about being "crazy as fuck" or bitch-slapping punk motherfuckers. He spits on a few tracks with MC Frontalot like "Bitchslap" and Frontalot's "Nerdcore Rising". Check him out in measured doses to avoid being annoyed by the MS Sam voice.

Later this week I will review some other Nerdcore rappers for the masses. Nerdcore For Life.

~Mike

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Jump Off a Cliff

The scene is a normal one, not uncommon in the life of an everyday teenager. A group of teens sit in a room, looking for something to do. "Lets go to the movies!" Says one young soul. "The movies! What a great idea!" Echoes another "What should we see?". The first teen says to the other "What about Jumper. That looks exciting!"

Freeze frame.

At times like this it is imperative for one to think. "Should I really forsake IMDB's rating of 6 Stars out of 10? Maybe the movie isn't that great." You may then cast aside those preliminary thoughts with a cursory ponderanceand ponder "What do they know at IMDB? They are just a bunch of random people from the internet and that means they are automatically wrong."

Fine. I accept that you may think like that. If you didn't then that would mean you might actually take stock in what I have say, and a world were people listen to what I have to say scares the shit out of me.

With all this appraisal, I implore you to consider the point of view of some professionals like those at Rotten Tomatoes. "Their reviews of FOURTEEN percent probably come from their high-faloot'n point of view as artsy hippies." You say surrounded by your peers who nod in approval. "Those chumps at Rotten Tomatoes give everything a bad rating."

Whatever. Totally ignore these critics. Fine, but consider my opinion (lolz, yeah right. am-I-right?):

The movie was terrible. The ghost of a plot was swallowed up by the terrible acting and annoying characters that made themselves incessantly apparent throughout the film. Whenever I began to forget the ghastly shell of a film in favor of thoughts of how cool it would be to teleport like the people in the movie, the painfully caustic cast members grated against my last nerve.

It seems like they made a rough draft of a film and then meant to bring the reel to the test audience rather than the real audiences. The main character, played by Hayden Christiansen, has little to no character development throughout the film apart from an "everyman" characterization; and it seems the director decided to add an awkward love interest halfway through the film.

After watching the movie I am forced to think that Rachel Bilson auditioned for the role of "Nagging, whiny girlfriend who is moderately attractive, but NEVER shuts the hell up", and if that is the role for which she auditioned then she deserves the goddamn best actress Oscar nomination.

If you have 10 dollars and think it would be great to go see a movie... go see Juno or... rent a better movie. I think 3:10 to Yuma is out on DVD. See that fantastic film.

~Mike

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The Battlestar Cometh

While muddling through a multitude of topics to write about, I happened upon a life-changing commercial, a simple commercial, a commercial I wish I could fucking find on the internet. The commercial had a simple message. "Battlestar Galactica is coming." and its season 4 is coming soon. It comes in March.

As could be inferred by the name of this blog, I am a fan of Battlestar Galactica. I think it is a fantastic show that should have appeal to even those who dislike science fiction. The show is a dramatic and suspenseful masterpiece. I am proud to say that I converted a friend to the BSG faith.

If you, the reader, have any access to Battlestar Galactica DVDs or Mpegs or ANYTHING! I implore you to watch it or at least read my previous review of BSG. Since the posting of the last review some things have changed. You may notice that despite the hopes and prayers of sci-fi fans across the country, the newest season that was scheduled for release in December was pushed back 3 months due to the recently ended writers strike. Also, I have gone from a rather tentative fan of the series to a die-hard fan who values BSG on the same level as the much-revered Star Trek.

In this really... insubstantive update, I hope that I can divert your attention from my lack of writing with this shiny commercial!

Hey look over here!



Tune in to Battlestar Galactica on the Sci Fi channel this March for some of the best television entertainment I have seen in years.

~Mike

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I Promise!

I swear I will write again soon. Really!

In the mean-time, I just updated the RSS feed for my blog. If you subscribe you may want to re-subscribe. The feed should redirect, but I figure I'll mention it here in case it doesn't.

~Mike

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The Cinematic Masterpiece That is Cloverfield

Upon first hearing of Cloverfield, I was skeptical. The idea, though vague, seemed like something that could be kinda cool... or really shitty. As the release date for the movie steeped in mystery came closer, I unconsciously became more and more excited waiting for it. The movie had grabbed me ferociously without my knowledge and tossed me into the frenzy that is the hype-machine.

I found myself rooting through theories and prospects concerning the movie from what the monster looks like to why the film was titled "Cloverfield". But yesterday... yesterday the movie was released (I love midnight showings in crisp, clean DLP). It was one of the few films that I have ever anxiously awaited that lived up to my outlandishly high expectations.

The film was a masterpiece. As I am sure most of you know, the events of the film were seen through the eyes of a simple citizen of New York recording the happenings through a video camcorder. A party is interrupted by explosions that rock the city, and without giving away too much plot, hell breaks loose.

I would really hate to accidentally ruin the movie for you, so I will be brief on details. In short, the movie is a credit to the Kaiju genre (if it can be called that). I hope to see the monster celebrated on a scale of Godzilla. In fact... I would thoroughly enjoy to see the Cloverfield monster attempt to take over Japan with the two monster's locked in epic mortal combat for the fate of Japan.

Critics have been talking about how the movie is disrespectful to the memory of 9/11 Scott "Rudy Giuliani" Foundas of LA Weekly described the events in Cloverfield "cheap and opportunistic". Calling Cloverfield cheap and opportunistic in regards to the tragedy of 9/11 is like saying Godzilla is cheap and opportunistic, benefiting off of the sad memory of Hiroshima. The movie is simply unrelated to 9/11 and to draw the parallel, one must think any destruction of New York City cheap and opportunistic. People who over-analyze things piss me off.

The movie is quickly paced, uniquely and magnificently directed (the first person view was the perfect, neigh the ONLY way to show the movie), and acted... adequately. If I had any problems with the movie the mediocre acting would be one. Another would be the lack of character development. I believed that some of the characters could have become likable and endearing with time, but the 90 minute time limit on the movie constricted it shortly. Speaking of the time limit, though it furthered the idea of in-character watching, I just wanted more! Call me selfish, but I would have been ecstatic if the movie went on for another 90 minutes.

That being said... I don't know how well a direct sequel will do. The veil of shadow and uncertainty about the movie and the monster are gone. The freshness of the first person view is fading, and ... I mean... New York is already mangled... Will the monster move to another city or something? I find this conundrum similar to that of Portal. Do we REALLY want a sequel? .

In short... See Cloverfield... now...


I'll wait...




Seen it yet?


~Mike

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The Downward Spiral pt.3

Here is part 3 to my short story The Downward Spiral. If you didn't catch the other parts they are as follows:

Part 1
Part 2

[Henri’s Quarters]

Henri sat in his quarters against a wall on the floor. He left the bridge and had immediately gone to his room. Why bother going anywhere else? He leaned against the wall, a few feet from the door with his head in his hands. He wasn't going to cry. He wasn't going to thrash about the room and tear it apart. There was no point. What could he do that wouldn't be fixed in a few seconds by the plunders of modern technology? What could he do to break the cycle

He rose from the floor with a groan and hovered to the replicator. "Whiskey" was all he said in a gruff voice.

{Synthohol is all that is available aboard Starfleet vessels. Would you like Synthohol whiskey?}, the computer replied, in a response warmer than Henri had received in days. Disgusted by the jovial reply, Russo swung a punch at the machine and heard a crack. He wasn't sure if it was the polymer on the replicator or the bones of his hand. He was numb to sensation of any kind. Without the relief of vacation from consciousness, Henri tripped back to his spot on the wall, in between his bed and the door. Sitting, Henri reached under his bed for a small, metal box.

With his legs outstretched, he slid the box in between them. The box could end this void of feeling in his pitiable life. The box could erase his apathy. Russo left the box where it was and resumed his stance, head in hands, against the wall. The pathetic lieutenant could make nothing different in life. His childhood made no mark on the world. His career in Starfleet made no one's planet a better place to be. He was in charge of power distribution of a star ship, a task that he could have automated months ago. He was a worthless cog that could be taken out of the machine with no consequence to the rest of the rushing locomotive of the crew. So why shouldn't he. Why shouldn't he take himself out of the gears of the locomotive?

Henri slapped the lid off of the box and reached for the glinting savior inside. The box could perpetuate the status quo, but without the worthless cog. Efficiency at work. Evolution in a sense. Natural Selection at its finest. The self-removal of the weak. What else could Darwin have asked for?

Henri held the Carbon-fiber Conservator to his chin and sighed. Why shouldn't he? There would be a short investigation, an open-and-shut case. No harm to anyone, just the automation of banal duties and a story to tell the new recruits; The Ops officer that went off the deep end. Even if he was remembered as a crazy and a basket-case, is being remembered as a perverted crack-pot any worse than not being remembered at all? The cold metal of the messiah at his chin was warming. His decision was made and it was time for decisive action.

Henri tensed his hand to pull the trigger, but nothing happened. Brain waves sent the message to the nerves. Nerves told the muscles to move. Tendons tightened and ligaments constricted. The broken bones of Henri's fingers slackened the muscles and nothing happened. Nothing. Just as every other moment in Henri's pathetic life, nothing happened.

Henri dropped the ancient hand gun from his limp hand to the floor beside him and replaced his head in his hands. As he sat in the dark corner, Henri Russo wept.

And that's all folks. I plan on writing some other fiction sometime soon. And for those who celebrate it, Happy Christmas.

~Mike

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