Don’t brush off us geeks when it comes to style. We’re sick of the stereotype of matted hair, days/weeks without showers, oily skin, and b.o. that would scare off our foes in our Dungeons & Dragons tournaments.

Welcome to the New Geek. This geek not only cares about how they are perceived for their knowledge of things but also for how they look, how they act, how they smell, and what they do.

Sure, we may sport a ThinkGeek t-shirt that talks about Fragging or sysadmin routines. But we wear it because we think it’s cool. However, don’t be surprised to be seeing us sporting faded jeans and a nice Diesel jacket (pictured on top) with that tee. We think that’s cool too.

In fact, Geeks are the ones setting many trends.

You know why? We’re earning more than ever. Those of us who were Geeks in the 80s and 90s discovered that the balance of the world is in our hands. The worlds largest financial institutions, business conglomerates, and international warrooms were all built by the hands of Geeks. But it wasn’t until recently that the geeks stopped hiding in the basements of the world and started becoming the Megarich.

We drive cars such as Mercedes and Cadillacs. We own penthouses in Soho or condos in Silicon Valley. We have more frequent flier miles than the Hawaiian House and Senate. We wear leather and gold. And we shop at places like Tobi (which is a kickass store I just discovered).

Never mind that we might enjoy a game or two on our PS3 instead of watching Gray’s Anatomy like the rest of America. We’ll still get up and work harder and smarter than you in the morning.

So get past the pasty white faces and pocket protectors. Geeks ARE sexy! Get used to it: we’re the future of America. No, the World!

And most importantly, we’re not all dudes. Maybe you can’t tell by the gamertags or IRC nicks, but a lot of Geeks have a different set of plumbing than the stereotype describes. And don’t try to spot a Lady Geek on the street. She’s just as likely to be wearing Paige jeans and Vince sweaters with her Busted Tee and Linux tattoo.

Yes, Geeks have arrived and we’re going to break your hearts.

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The Yamaha Tenori-On is the most amazing piece of hardware that I’ve seen this year. Don’t brush this off as just another synth toy for house music geeks. This musical gadget has so many options and configurations that it makes the Chromatone 312 feel like it’s made by Fisher Price.

Although, after looking at it, the Tenori-On kind does look like a toy.

However, in order to truly appreciate what this thing-a-majig is truly capable, you need to see what it can do in the hands of the masters. Yamaha provides a video of Robert Lippok taking the Tenori-On for a spin. There’s also Atom Heart who molds this device like play-doh with his house tracks. And Jim O’rourke from Sonic Youth fame (and a few others) demos how easy it is to just dive in and play.

If that’s not enough for you (it wasn’t for me), take a look at the tech demos found on YouTube. This first one gets really interesting around 4 mins into it:

This next video shows how simple it can be to build a sequence and loop it:

If the concept looks familiar, that’s because it really isn’t that new of a concept. Check out this guy uses the KORG Kaoss Pad KP3 touchpad as a MIDI Pad:

Remember Electroplankton, that crazy import “game” from Japan? It also had killer looping effects.

Combine the Kaoss Pad w/Electroplankton and it gets crazy:

Ever since the introduction of synthesizers and wah wah pedals, adjustable touch interfaces have truly advanced the music industry in the past couple of decades. The Tanori-On by Yamaha looks like it’s the musical device to take us into the next decade and well beyond. I’m anxious to see what other tricks this has up its sleeve as more and more artists start toying around with it.

It launches next week in Europe. Yamaha hopes its launch does well so it can open up other markets. But the Tenori-On is so damned cool that I’m thinking of jumping on the next Virgin America flight out of here to be there for the launch parties!

{Source is Gizmodo.}

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I’m a fan of the Heroes series on NBC, but I just found out I’m not an avid die-hard fan of the series like I thought I was (unlike some people I know). It happened when I opened my Sunday paper and read through the Best Buy ad. I saw that first season of the series was being released on HD-DVD this Tuesday and knew immediately I wouldn’t be buying it…

…because it’s being sold for $100!!

This is Best Buy that we’re talking about. They’ve been known to sell seasons of 24 on DVD for $20 to $30 more than Target, Costco, Amazon, etc. So I wasn’t surprised by the source. But $100?! Are fucking kidding me?

I know it’s HD-DVD. I know that it has fancy menus, interactive content, and a ton of extras that the DVD couldn’t carry. But seriously, who would pay $100 for the first season? I don’t think any extra information that they may have on the series would be worth that extra markup. The regular DVDs for the series are going for $37 at Best Buy. That’s an extra $63 for the HD version! A pretty penny to pay for premium content.

If HD-DVD hopes to make a dent in the next generation market, their prices are going to need to drop considerably. I know we get a lot more content and features with HD-DVD, and therefore should have a justifiable cost increase. But I also know that HD-DVD could build a user base much faster if the costs of HD-DVD were competitive not just with Blu-Ray, but also with regular ol’ standard definition DVD too. Think about it, if you saw Heroes on DVD for $37, and right next to it you saw Heroes on HD-DVD for $37, which would you buy? Even if you didn’t have an HD-DVD player, would you consider upgrading to one if the content choices were in the same ballpark as regular DVD? Think about what this would do for HD-DVD disk sales. Think about how that number would compare to Blu-Ray sales.

The winner of the next gen disk wars (besides IPTV and digital delivery) will be whichever side can get to closer in pricing to current DVD prices. Don’t bore me with “But HD-DVD/Blu-ray costs more to produce!” or other whiney arguments. When I hear those I hear “blah blah blah”. The content is created already, there may be some extra time in the editing room, and the disks are marginally more expensive (but not $60 worth!) to produce. They would just be losing a little margin to win a few more users to the format. It would be worth it in the end to win the format war.

So, back to Heroes. For those that still are set on buying the HD-DVD because you ARE die-hard fans, you can save $30 by buying it from Amazon instead of Best Buy. It was going for $70 when I checked today.

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You can’t be a geek without having a little movie love in ya. We know we love to debate over who the hottest movie chick is, which comic book has the best movie adaptation, and who would win in thumb war between Steven Spielberg and George Lucas (the answer: Stanley Kubrick). With our writing staff of one, we can’t possible cover all the movie reviews and news you need, so we turn you to our friends at Critics Rant.

We found Critics Rant through an advertiser directory and immediately knew this was a must read. It wasn’t just that they offered movie reviews, it was that they offered them with a bit of geek attitude. That means brutally honest reviews. There isn’t any second guessing whether or not they truly enjoyed a movie or if they thought it sucked like dry pickles.

Oh and because simply reviewing movies isn’t enough, they also review TV shows too. This works perfectly because the summer movie release schedule is kinda slow right now, but there is plenty of good (and so horrible it’s good) TV to watch. They appear to have a love for Big Brother and Anchorwoman in a way I can appreciate, at least the Anchorwoman–never was a Big Brother fan since the bipolar chick with pink hair was there.

The content is constant. Daily updates, reviews and news in the world of showbiz. All with a flavor any geek can love and appreciate.

Verdit: CriticsRant.com gets two geek thumbs up!

[Full Disclosure: If you haven’t guessed already, this post is a Sponsored Review from SponsoredReviews.com. But I do reserve that the opinions are mine and mine fully. In fact, we picked to review CriticsRant, they didn't pick us. Show em some love and subscribe to their site today.]

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CScout went on vacation to a popular water park in Japan. Looks like they ran out of water:

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Here in the U.S. we get to try to stack up a tower of boring brown wooden blocks and hope that it doesn’t tumble over. As further evidence of “everything is better in Japan”, their board games include little transparent Mario characters that players balance on a color-matching floor of a wobbly tower. If they place a piece wrong and tower tumbles, then Jenga! (or however they say it Japan).

There is actually two ways to play the game. The first involves the steady hand of a 5-year-old Oreo stacking champion. The second game is for those of us who are always tempted to pull the most-likely-to-tumble block from any stacking game to just to watch it’s horrendous crash with destructive glee. This version involves a little cannon, in the shape of a green warp tube from the video games nonetheless. You load your Mario cast member into the cannon and then launch it at opposing players pieces. Last man standing wins!

Now if only the canon (or “Mario launching apparatus” for the PC challenged) would make the warping sound effect from the video games, it would make for a pretty fun little office toy, game or no game included.

Find the Mario GuraGura game at Play-Asia.com [$24.90 at time of post].

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Don’t get me wrong, I love my wireless router. But it’s not really what I’d call a pageant winner. It’s a Linksys and it looks about as eye-catching as a blue-painted cardboard box. It has some blinkelichts on it, but nothing fancy. It serves its purpose and I didn’t think I “needed” anything else.

Then I saw the Belkin N1. Hawt Damn! I didn’t think there was a market for router pr0n. Apparently I was wrong.

It comes out this summer and will retail for about $200. It supports 802.11b, g, and draft N spectrums and includes 4 10/100 ports and 1 gigabit port. A gigabit port! I have all sorts of new needs now.

So now my fugly linksys sits on my desk with a paper bag over its head until I get my hands on this beauty!

[Source: Belkin N1 Vision via Giz]

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I’m trying not to make this become a music blog, but I cannot NOT post my latest addiction to KOL. Kings of Leon is just good, plain ol dirty guitar rock. It’s like Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, and the Black Crowes all got together to form VOLTRON a jam session soaked in tragic and passionate lyrics. Check out the poetry in Arizona on their latest album Because of The Times:

The taste all I ever needed
All I ever wanted too dumb to surrender
She shakes like the morning railway
Checking me out with someone on her shoulder

The lamp flickers in the bedroom
She must feel as awkward
Whorehouse Arizona

And I go stand up to a giant
Say that I’m a fighter too drunk to remember

My face laying on the pavement
Tasting something awful
I hate it when that happens

And she waves thinking that it’s sexy
She must be plum crazy
I kind of think I like her
Kind of think I do

And on the same CD is the love affair within True Love Way:

I want in, like a substitute
I’ve been working awful hard for you
But you don’t say, you just hold your breath
So I can’t touch what I haven’t yet
She’s a poor one and it hurts me so
And it’s a dark path and a heck of a cold
And she can feel me like she did before

Oh we’d be so free
Happy alone
Sharing a smile
So far from home

Push in and I pull it away
It a hard part but the true love way
Girl you’re wanted like a wanted man
With your smart mouth and your killer hands
With a potion oh that I have made
For a young man its a heck of a wage
And i feel crazy when I see your face

Cause we’d be so free
Happy alone
Sharing a smile
So far from home
And we would laugh
Laugh till we cry
Making a song
Making me lie

And people say I’m crazy for walking this town
And people say I’m bigger for walking this town
And people say maybe that its coming around
And people say I’m bigger for walking a…

And we’d be so free
Happy alone
Sharing a smile
So far from home
And we would laugh
Laugh till we cry
Making a song
Making me lie
Happy alone

Both songs represent their lyrical genius. There’s also Fans, Knocked Up, Black Thumbnail, and Ragoo to just name a few. Almost every song has the potential of being release as a single. This CD is the second actual CD I’ve purchased in the past 4 years. Everything else I bought (does borrowed count?) digitally. Because of the Times is THAT good.

UPDATE: Kings of Leon are playing The Joint in Las Vegas on September 11. I have already bought my tickets, now I need to convince my wife to come along with me (I told her it would be the religious experience she had been seeking for). Maybe I’ll just have to find someone else that appreciates good music.

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Sometimes a song comes on the radio (or the Pandora) at exactly the right moment and because it delivers exactly what you needed to hear for what was happening in life, you can’t help but wonder about the coincidence. These types of songs sometimes never get the audience and following they deserve. The Fleecing by Pedro the Lion is exactly that type of song. Everyone has lull points in their life where they feel lost and find themselves in situations where they don’t know how to cope. This song perfectly describes the numbness felt during those times in life. It doesn’t offer hope or resolution or any other emotions to encourage one to take action. Instead, it’s simply a song that tells us “I’ve been there. I understand.” Sometimes that’s all we need.

Title: The Fleecing
Album: Achilles Heel (amazon) (pandora)
Artist: Pedro The Lion

Deep green hills whose shoulders fade, into the gray tall wet grass.
Whose flesh makes fools of grazing sheep, whose fleecing makes a fool of me.

And who shall I blame for this sweet and heavy trouble?
For every stupid struggle?
I don’t know.
I could buy you a drink.
I could tell you all about it.
I could tell you why I doubt it, and why I still believe.

But I can’t say it like I sing it.
And I can’t sing it like I think it.
And I can’t think it like I feel it.
And I don’t feel a thing.
Oh no - I don’t feel a thing.

And who shall I blame for this sweet and heavy trouble?
For every stupid struggle?
I don’t know.
I could buy you a drink.
I could tell you all about it.
I could tell you why I doubt it, and why I still believe it.
And why I need it.
And what the pharasies don’t see.

And we’d have more drinks. We’d speak of so many things.
But I don’t know you, and you don’t know me.

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Modest Mouse may have caught the mainstream wave just a few years ago, but they’ve been putting out good shit for years. One of their best albums and my favorite by far, This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About, was released the same year I graduated High School. There are many great tracks on that album, all of them striking a very personal note with anyone coping with what to do with their rest of their life. But there is one song in particular, Talking Shit About a Pretty Sunset, that has become my personal anthem through the years and is just as true today as it ever has been in the past. With lyrics like “I claim I’m not excited with my life any more. So I blame this town, this job, these friends. The truth is it’s myself.” and “When I finally get it figured out, I’ve changed the whole damn plan.” Could truer words ever be spoken. This album almost seemed ahead of its time. I know it would have gained a bigger following for Modest Mouse with the emo teens of today rather than a decade ago. But I guess Float On took care of all that, right?

Title: Talking Shit About A Pretty Sunset
Album: This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About (amazon) (pandora)
Artist: Modest Mouse

Oh noose.
Tied myself in, tied myself too tight

Looking kind of anxious in your cross armed stance
Like a bad tempered prom queen at a homecoming dance
And I claim I’m not excited with my life any more
So I blame this town, this job, these friends
The truth is it’s myself.

And I’m trying to understand myself
and pinpoint who i am.
When I finally get it figured out,
I’ve changed the whole damn plan.

Oh noose.
Tied myself in, tied myself too tight
Oh noose.
Tied myself in, tied myself too tight

Talking shit about a pretty sunset
Blanketing opinions that i’ll probably reget soon.

I’ve changed my mind so much I cant even trust it
My mind changed me so much I cant even trust myself

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