Another year, another Super Bowl not watched. I know lots of nerds are actually into watching the Super Bowl. I could never get behind watching a game I don’t play, played by people with whom I don’t have very much in common. I suppose there are passionate regional loyalties in play, plus genuinely interesting strategic calculations. …
Two Beloved Nerd Franchises Are Not Dead Yet
1. Red Dwarf. It’s coming back, in the form of a two-part special with the original cast that will take them back to Earth. I never got into Red Dwarf — I was in college when it was on and never really watched it. But everybody says it’s good. So it must be good. Now all that’s left is to bring back Quark. Or sorry, I meant Quark. Yeah, …
A New GROW Is Here
Maybe you’re not used to seeing the word GROW in all caps. Or used as a noun. And yet, weirdly, when you see a GROW you feel like you recognize it, as if surreal Flash sculpture/games have been with you all your life — indeed have evolved to co-exist with us as a species. Like dogs. The new one is here.
For those to whom family honor …
The Great Wikipedia Debate: Pledging Allegiance to the Flag
I mean great as in, really big, as opposed to, say, absolutely terrific.
As avidly as I follow the many subtle and well-tempered arguments in Wikipedia’s Village Pump section (yes, that was cheap sarcasm), I missed the fact that a few days ago Wikipedia jefe Jim Wales proposed an experiment: requiring that changes to Wikipedia pages …
Bill Gates Writes Home
America’s first nerd has issued his first annual letter since he took up a full-time position at his eponymous foundation. He held a press Q&A this morning (afternoon here on America’s time-shifted eastern coast), and I got a print copy FedExed to me first thing this morning. It’s a classy package: brown and cream, wide margins, bound …
Now In Paper-Vision: The Future of Books. And TV.
I wrote two articles for Time this week. Two. Because that’s how I roll. I roll prolific.
Article #1: A piece about the great switchover to digital TV — the “analog sunset,” if you will — which is supposed to happen on February 17. Except now, maybe not. My advanced polling techniques suggest to me that this event will not affect …
An Open Letter to Albert Uderzo
Dear Mr. Uderzo,
You do not know me, but I am a huge fan of the Asterix comics that you have drawn, and later written, for almost fifty years. Ever since I was a child, I have been delighted by the adventures of Asterix, Obelix, Getafix, Dogmatix, and all of the indomitable Gauls as they use their magic strength potion to bravely
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The Remnants
There’s a Web video pilot making the rounds called The Remnants, about a bunch of nerdy people who band together in the wake of a near-species-ending catastrophe and scavenge through suburban homes in search of leftover Pringles and video game consoles and such. It’s here.
(It’s a Vimeo video, which means I can’t embed it here because …
Flight of the Conchords; Harry Potter and the Elder Swear
I’m almost ready to forgive the Internet for Twitter, on account of you can watch the whole season premiere of Flight of the Conchords on it for free. It’s funny because they talk funny!
Commander-in-Geek
As if fist-bumping Spider-man wasn’t dorky enough, now Barack Obama is having every detail of his inauguration detailed by the master builders at LEGOLAND California. (Even a Lego Rick Warren, who opposes same-sex Lego marriage, and a Lego Dick Cheney, hiding out in a Lego bunker five feet under Lego Washington D.C.)
Now that …
Goodbye, Circuit City! I Will Not Miss You
Well, Circuit City died. And I want to be clear about something: it is a terrible, terrible thing that those people are losing their jobs. I would hate for that to happen to me or anyone I know. The fact that I loathed Circuit City is a completely separate thing.
They all felt the same, those windowless caverns crammed with consumer …
In Case You Thought Anything Was Sacred, They’re Remaking The Karate Kid
This, too, is true. Your cast includes Jaden Smith — son of Will — as the eponymous Kid, and no less a personage than Jackie Chan as the aging master Mr. Miyagi. Behind the camera: one Harald Zwart, the cinematic legend behind One Night at McCool’s and Pink Panther 2. It’s nice to know the cultural treasures of my childhood are in good …
