April 07, 2008

Humiliated On The Silver Screen

Somebody's press release reached the right person! Or, rather, Andre Bennett works at KYW 1060. But, hey, that's okay! KYW 1060's John McDevitt has a piece today on the Rock Paper Scissors movie showing at the Philadelphia Film Fest on Saturday.

Frankie13 versus The World, airing as part of the Rocky Balboa Picture Show (cute), follows RPS competitor Bennett (aka Franky Thirteen, aka an all-around cool guy) as he takes on the Philadelphia RPS City League and the RPS World Championships in Toronto.

But, wait, there's more! Longtime readers may remember when I refereed a RPS match (and Kottke linked it, something I still freak out about) at the 2006 Keystone Classic. I didn't do all that good of a job, having never even seen a competitive RPS match before being asked to ref.

Whoops! I did a bad job, I was heckled and -- whoops! -- a film crew was there to capture it all on tape. Yes, not only am I in this documentary, I believe there is a scene of me being humiliated in this 30-minute movie. (I'm not sure if that scene made it in, but I have to imagine it did. The filmmakers, very nice guys originally from Newtown,

So, yes, go see it, laugh at me, et cetera, et cetera. This is also a good time to let you know about the 2008 City League season, which begins a week from tonight at the Khyber. Finally, an excuse other than quizzo to drink on weeknights! It's been a long offseason.

Posted by D-Mac at 12:25 PM | Comments (1)

March 05, 2008

Pub Team Wins Battle Of Flaming Birds

Last night, Philadelphia Public League champion Communications Tech advanced easily in the state basketball tournament, improving to 28-3 and moving on to the state quarterfinals Friday.

Comm Tech defeated my alma mater, Holy Ghost Prep, by scoring the first eight points of the game and jumping out to a 22-7 lead. The game was the nerdiest one in state tournament history, as it pitted the Phoenix (Comm Tech) against my Firebirds. Not only was this a battle of birds on fire, but it was also a game between the two previous names of Web browser Firefox.

A bunch of teams in the state basketball playoffs have oh so hilarious names, or at least ones that are hilarious when you spent 100 percent of your time online and everything seems funny at some point: Millionaires, Konkrete Kids, "Milton Hershey Spartans" (I assume this school is nicknamed the Hershey Spartans and named after Milton Street). Girard College is nicknamed the Hummers, apparently, and Math, Civics & Science Charter School is nicknamed the Mighty Elephants. There's also a team simply labeled "Moon Tigers."

There's actually apparently a ton of Public League schools still left in the state tournament, proving that Philadelphia can no doubt put a ball through a little circle better than anybody else in this state.

Posted by D-Mac at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)

January 11, 2008

Turtles, Redcoats Delay Casino

It appears nature and the past are banding together to attempt to stop SugarHouse Casino from opening in Fishtown. The Bulletin reports environmental activists want to check if the red-belled turtle lives at the proposed casino site, because that's a threatened species.

The paper talks to the Casino's communications director, Leigh Whitaker: "We did an investigation during the turtles' normal, natural nesting season. Our study found there was no evidence of turtles nesting or living on the site." Oh. That's not going to work. Let's get to the other one, then.

Daniel Rubin reports American history could stop the casino from building on the site, as a bunch of history nerds think there was a British fort there and want to get a chance to excavate the site first. Nerds are always getting in the way.

Rubin, by the way, also reports this: "If a Revolutionary War fort can't slow the SugarHouse casino, it surely can slow it." Indeed it can.

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December 17, 2007

Westbrook Play Upsets Nerds Like Me

Alycia Lane wasn't the only one allegedly delivering a stiff punch to the face over the weekend. Yes, the Eagles had their biggest win of the season yesterday, a 10-6 upset over the Cowboys that kept the team's meager playoff hopes alive -- and therefore probably delays the misery of Philadelphia fans for one more week.

Let's focus for now on the play Brian Westbrook made with just over two minutes to play, though. Check the video highlights and you'll see Westbrook cut past two Cowboys defenders, seemingly headed in for a touchdown. On the one yard line, though, he stops and lies down so the Eagles can run out the clock and clinch the victory.

Clearly, it was a smart play. But it was also the semifinals of the fantasy football playoffs for most leagues. Since our friend with the impressive traps is on a bunch of teams in the fantasy playoffs, there are tons of football nerds smarting from the loss of six points -- and, possibly, the game -- yesterday. Brian Westbrook, you owe a ton of people a drink.

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September 05, 2007

Revenge Of The, Erhm, Dorks

Ahh, yes, but wither the child (me) who goes to school between the high points of this genre, post-Revenge of the Nerds and pre-Rocket Science et al. I got American Pie and (as the article notes) Election, but by then it was my senior year, and those movies weren't nerd-centric anyway. All I got in high school were a series of horrible movies about teams of losers overcoming all the odds to win it all, occasionally by cheating. Screw you, Little Giants. Don't even talk to me, Ladybugs.

Theme of nerds popular in movies [Gannett/Courier-Post]

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October 13, 2006

Breaking: Over A Month Before Launch, Nerds Already Forming Line For New Nintendo Product

Yes, today is the official start of pre-ordering for Nintendo's new Wii console, which goes on sale on Nov. 19. (On a side note, that Wikipedia page for the console is protected, which means people who are extremely loyal to Xbox, Playstation or Nintendo have been getting into edit wars over it. Hilarious. I love people.)

And Phillyist is on the case, snapping this photo of those in line at the Gamestop at around 8:30 this morning:

Awesome. Better get those pre-orders in, boys, before they sell out! (Yes, I know, consoles tend to sell out ridiculously quickly, even in pre-order. That doesn't mean I can't make fun of these guys. Plus, if I discourage people, then maybe I can sneak in and get one.)

It's Time To Pre Your Wii, Philadelphia [Phillyist]

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June 19, 2006

NBC 10 Still Asking The Tough Questions

If you haven't heard, Dustin "Screech" Diamond is selling t-shirts in order to raise money to avoid a foreclosure on his Wisconsin house. (If you want one of the shirts -- they're ugly, but it's for a good cause, I guess -- you can get them at getdshirts.com.) The AP story led NBC 10 to run this poll:

What, those two kids from last night's Entourage episode aren't on the list?

90s TV Star Faces Eviction [AP/NBC 10]
Entourage: Season 3 [Wikipedia]

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June 12, 2006

They're Mad As Hell, And They're Not Going To Take It Anymore

If there's one thing a newspaper that prides itself on not having any opinions can't do, it's piss off the nerds.

Late last year, Metro posted an apology for making fun of the Philadelphia science fiction convention. Well, there was big news recently in the comic book world, and Metro attracted the nerds' ire again.

DC Comics is bringing back Batwoman as a lesbian. But Metro wrote that Batgirl was coming back at a lesbian, a mistake also made in a throwaway joke here. While one could be corrected with a simple comment, the other required a Metro letter to the editor (scan here):

Comic news has glaring mistakes

Regarding "New incarnation of Batgirl: She's a lesbian" (June 6): It seems every time your paper tries to give the public a bit of comic book news, you make glaring mistakes. For example, Storm and Black Panther getting married was referred to as "the first marriage between two prominent African-American characters" in comics. The problem is, Black Panther isn't African-American, he's African. He is the king of the first civilization on the planet, a technologically advanced nation in the heart of Africa called Wakanda, which in facts butts heads with the American government quite frequently.

More recently, your paper published that Batgirl was going to be reinvented as a lesbian. The implications of this change would be tremendous, but it was not Batgirl at all -- it was Batwoman, a little-known character who disappeared in the '70s. I don't care if it's only a slight misrepresentation. It's my paper, and I won't stand for it.

In conclusion, public: Batwoman is a lesbian, and Black Panther is the king of Wakanda.

June 2: Like A Bat Out Of Northeast Philly
Dec. 14, 2005: Breaking: Nerds even nerdier than once thought

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June 05, 2006

'Inquirer' Turns To Underrepresented Nerd Fanbase

In an apparent effort to boost readership of nerds, the Inquirer covered the live video game concert held Saturday night at the Merriam Theater. In all fairness, this looked pretty cool, but for Inky reporter Rob Watson, it was apparently heaven.

The concert features live orchestras performing the music of video games from Pong to Halo, which is fairly nerdy in itself. But, when you write this, you've eclipsed even my nerdiness factor:

Thankfully, I wasn't alone as other fans of these old school games made their voices heard in the audience.

"Tell me that's not Dragon's Lair up there," a gamer asked his friend in front of me. "That game took all of my allowance for years!"

Me too, brethren, me too.

Coming soon: Inquirer special edition 'Magic: The Gathering' cards.

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June 02, 2006

Blogicized: 'In The Itchy & Scratchy CD-ROM, Is There A Way To Get Out Of The Dungeon Without Using The Wizard Key?'

• If you're into this sort of thing, you can wail on some nerds this weekend since the Wizard World convention is in town. Or, uh, you can go to the convention and see Kevin Smith and Jim Lee. Either one. [Phillyist]

• Yes, Philadelphia sure needs a Philadelphia Journalism Review. Perhaps we can staff it with bloggers. [PressThink]

• It's unanimous: Nobody in Philadelphia wants Gavin Floyd anymore. Sigh. [Huge Tiny Mistake]

• And, hey, let's throw some plugs: Johnny Goodtimes at the Planetarium; Philebrity Beach Party in, uh, Northern Liberties.

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May 30, 2006

Dating, But Not For Nerds

NBC 10 recently looked at a question that, surely, many parents must be worried about: When is a good time for your child to start dating?

The gist of the story is that if you don't do something right this instant, your child will die. One parent says kids shouldn't date until after high school. More teenage girls get pregnant at four in the afternoon than any other time. Et cetera.

But the key quotation comes from family counseling expert Lynne Marie Boykin, about when a child should start dating:

"Some kids are hot at 12, and some are nerds and just not ready until they are 16, 17. They're just not ready for dating."

Gee, I'm sure that makes the nerds feel much better, Lynne.

Is Your Child Ready To Start Dating? [NBC 10]

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December 15, 2005

Update: Sci-Fi convention attendees all (poor) virgins

One of my favorite things about doing this blog is that I get to nitpick on really stupid things in newspapers that (I assume) nobody else notices. Yesterday was one of those days, as I noted the strangest retraction in Metro. Items like that are what I like to call Philadelphia Will Do Christmas.

The story is this: Metro ran an item last Friday about Philcon, the Philly sci-fi convention that read: "We hate to even think about how many people are going to get laid this weekend at Philcon, the annual science-fiction and fantasy convention being held this weekend. But we bet tons." And some sci-fi people obviously saw it and Metro ran a retraction.

Today, Metro ran a letter from -- I'm assuming -- a Philcon attendee, who addresses Friday's item, which you can also see a scan of here:

Item about Philcon was very offensive

The item on Dec. 9 that speculated about the sex lives of people who attend the Philadelphia science fiction convention, Philcon, was incredibly offensive. Is Metro's normal practice to wonder in print about how many people are going to "get laid" at the many other conventions that occur in Philadelphia? Or do you think that people who read science fiction have no money and thus you can sneer at us without worrying about loss of revenue? It will be a long time before I read Metro again.
Gary McGath

That second reason he made up is great. Look, science-fiction readers have a lot of stereotypes about them, but not having any money? That's a new one to me. I'm going to do my best to spread that rumor, though. And, although Gary McGath will no longer be reading Metro, I'm sure they'll do just okay without him. Even better: he's angry about being told he's going to get laid. (I know it wasn't meant that way, but for the purposes of this joke, let it be.) If somebody made a comment about bloggers getting laid all the time -- uhh, this is true -- I'd give that person a hearty handshake.

This leads me to assume only one thing: All Philcon attendees are virgins. And poor ones at that. Hey, you really do learn something new every day!

U.S. Editions [Metro]
Yesterday: Breaking: Nerds even nerdier than once thought

Photo by ckirkman

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December 14, 2005

Breaking: Nerds even nerdier than once thought

Yesterday, I linked to the corrections of the year and pointed out the winner: A typo that said "Jew Jersey."

There's a "retraction" in today's Metro that, while it doesn't top the "Jew Jersey" correction, might be the best one of the local media in 2005. It reads, in full:

Retraction

In Friday's issue of Metro, we made a joke about the Philcon society. At the time we were unaware that Philcon is a very serious festival that is composed of three days of science fiction and fantasy with panels, readings, workshops, exhibits and presentations on science, literature, art, costuming, movies and more. We regret we made light of the festival.

Click here for a scan of the retraction.

I don't have Friday's Metro anymore, but I remember it saying something like "How many people will get laid at this thing? We bet lots!" Which is kind of funny.

And, I'm guessing someone at Philcon got his Harlon Harlan (Editor's Note: Ha! Whoops.) Ellisons all in a bunch and called up Metro to complain. Which proves one thing: These science fiction geeks are even geekier than we outsiders previously thought. And this retraction has exposed that. Good show, Metro. Good show.

Philcon 2005
The Year in Media Errors and Corrections [Regret the Error]
Yesterday: Quickies: And you wonder why I don't live in Manayunk

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December 13, 2005

Your nerdy joke of the day

West Philly criminals are going to have to stick to robbing Penn (and Pharmacy USP ones, too, natch) kids and not Drexel ones pretty soon:

Drexel University has partnered with a local firm to develop a new wireless security technology that could extend well beyond the borders of its West Philadelphia campus.

Once the system is developed and put into place, security guards at Drexel will be moved around like pieces on a chessboard.

Oh, good idea, Drexel. The bishops are going to get hit by cars when you try to move them across the street diagonally!

Drexel U. Designs Security System With Far-Reaching Possibilities [KYW 1060]

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December 05, 2005

The Metro: Picking up your spirits every workday

I don't really think I need to tell you that I'm not quite the coolest person in the world. I mean, I'm a professional blogger for Christ's sake. (Note to potential suitors: Professional bloggers are known for their virility.)

But sometimes it's good to know there are a few people who are nerdier than I am. Case in point, a letter in today's Metro:

Info on Dungeons & Dragons fans

I've frequently seen you run inane letters from readers expressing outrage at poorly written photo captions but never thought I'd have the chance to write one. In your article "Google ogled" (Dec.i). you ask "Is it good to know if the new love of your life is secretly into Dungeons & Dragons?" Only two groups of people are "secretly" into Dungeons & Dragons: 1) Insecure college students irrationally afraid of being labeled "geek" or 2) People who play superior games, such as Kenzer & Company's HackMaster, and who would fear ridicule for participating in something as watered down as Hasbro's Dungeons & Dragons game.

This is someone who's too nerdy for Dungeons & Dragons. I'm just kind of happy there are people on Earth like that.

U.S. Editions [Metro]
Photo by splatt

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