T w e n t y S i d e d
Nerd culture is going to hell in a handbasket: (Warning: Colorful language.)
Dang kids.
I didn’t see Optimus Rhyme in there, which would have been nice.
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I’m speechless. I mean really, on one hand it is sort of cool, but on the other it is just sad. Not like nerds didn’t have enough things to get beat up over, I don’t think rapping about Shenmue or the Lord of the Rings is really going to help.
I do wonder though, will there be a whole East/West coast rivalry, or will the dividing lines be drawn based on the various consoles, animation styles, or what?
With all due respect to the creators and the people who might enjoy this sort of thing…
I couldn’t watch more than a few seconds. It made me uncomfortable. Just me. Not a value judgement. Rock on, “nerds”.
It’s not just you. That stuff is really low quality. Unfortunately not much better can be said about the current mainstream rap ‘regime’ either.
As a fan of both indie music movements and nerds, this was simultaneously intriguing and hilarious.
However, while I’m sure all of them fit the mental description of nerds, several of those depicted, of both sexes, didn’t fit the physical description of nerd. That makes it difficult for me to believe that they really suffer the hardships of “g33k lyfe”…
I couldn’t hear many of the lyrics, but I like the idea. It’s probably not great because we haven’t had much practice. As far as rivalry, I see a Windows/MacOS/Linux rivalry, and maybe a Nintendo/PlayStation rivalry. Rivalries among various anime protagonists (about which I know nothing — -3 NerdCore Points! — might also be in the cards. BTW, Weird Al seems to be the NerdCore Icon so far.
Personally I’m pretty opposed to this sort of attempt to “mainstream-ify” “nerd culture.” It seems to me to be basically about adopting the worst aspects of mainstream culture and nerd culture.
The attitude in this video, which is aggressive and assertive, strikes me as pretty antithetical to the “nerd” mentality — Which tends to be uninterested in or oblivious to social approval/disdain for its various intellectual pursuits/obsessions. I didn’t come away from this thinking about how nerdy these people were, I came away thinking how virtually all the people on the video are Alphas in this perverted version of nerdy subculture they’ve created, but the only reason they care is because they’re -not- Alphas in the culture-at-large.
Cineris, what got to me a few years ago was when I went to a They Might Be Giants concert and saw what was best described as “nerd-wannabes”. I mean, one example was this little teenage girl wearing a tight shirt saying “I (heart) Nerds” hanging all over this guy who dressed very preppy and looked more like a Fraternity member than any nerd I know. Maybe that’s what nerds now look like? I never kept up with all of that anyways.
*shrug* I guess this happened when “alternative” music because mainstream.
Ah well, back to this programming project. Yes, it’s after hours, I’m at the office in front of three screens, and have Dragonforce playing on the laptop. Life is good… ;)
It finally occurred to me what this clip reminded me of:
G4!
Yeah, wannabes. The whole lot of ’em.
Just kinda sad… even worse than some of the “open mike” poetry readings I’ve been to. Poetry “slams” have been around for a long time, and they’re generally populated by geeks, nerds, dorks, and the occasional punk or hipster. Seen it before, seen it done better, seen it done with more heart. NEXT!