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Saturday night at the Nat Ballroom I’ll be doing something I’ve never really done…performing with a full band.  Granted, I’m only doing one song (Ryan Adams’ “Shakedown on 9th St.), but after rehearsing today I’m confident that I’m going to rock balls.  Of course it really helps to have a few of the most talented musicians I’ve ever known backing me up…my in-laws.  Seriously, they’re amazing.  I’ve been playing guitar for 15 years and my wife’s 15 year-old cousin makes me look like I started playing yesterday.  It’s ridonkulous.  The main act is the original Vic Fontana and the Automatics (of which my father-in-law is the drummer) Below is all the information you need.  I’ll post pics and a video after it goes down.  I’m so frickin’ pumped.

2nd Annual Rock-&-Soul-Rhythm-&-Blues REUNION
Starring all your favorites, past and present:
Mike & Todd Merriman
The Smeaton Brothers
Bouncin’ Buddy Squyres
Jim Rayburn
Smokin’ Joe Hendrick
Jay Weeks
The Horn Dogs

With a special appearance by:
The Average Joes

Plus rockin’ sets from the new generation:
Amarillo’s own
Four Faces West

And direct from Dallas
Chris II, Brad, Jake, & Mike
The SmeeTones

Saturday, August 2, 2008, 7 p.m.
Nat Ballroom
6th & Georgia, Amarillo, Texas
• BYOB • DONATIONS ENCOURAGED •
(PROCEEDS TO BENEFIT LOCAL CHARITIES)

For this Weekly Nerdery, we’re going to delve into the world of nerdy videogames. I’m not talking about the more generally accepted games such as Halo and Call of Duty. I’m talking about more obscure games that are often complicated and not appealing to your average “I wanna blow stuff up” gamer. Now don’t get me wrong, I love blowing crap up just as much as the next guy and love getting online and talking trash to 13-year-olds, but occasionally, I want something a little more involved…something to make me think. Most of these games are overwhelming at first, but after spending a little time with them, you’ll get the hang of it. So here, in no particular order, are my picks for nerdy videogames.

• Galactic Civilizations II (PC) – Galactic Civilizations (or GalCiv as it’s referred to by nerds) is a turn-based strategy game. The short description is that players pick a race, then conquer the galaxy. The longer description is players pick a race and attempt to conquer the galaxy by force, subterfuge, diplomacy, or by converting everyone to their culture. There is a lot to keep track of, including taxes, production, industry, your people’s happiness, and of course, your supply of money. A little humor here and there makes the game very enjoyable.

• Sins of a Solar Empire (PC) – Sins of a Solar Empire is a lot like GalCiv (it’s published by the same company) with one catch. Instead of it being turn-based, it’s in real-time. Luckily, the game is perfectly paced, allowing you to build up a little bit before you’re having to defend yourself from your enemies. It’s not a complicated as GalCiv and I think is much more fun. The gorgeous graphics help a lot too. The most incredible aspect of Sins is the scale. You can zoom in on the tiniest ship and then zoom out and view the entire galaxy. Observe:

• Chessmaster (multiple platforms) – Now I wouldn’t say chess itself is nerdy. It’s an ancient game that most people at least are familiar with and have played a few times. The nerdiness of Chessmaster isn’t the chess, it’s the chess courses. You can spend many many hours going through the individual lessons, covering the very basic concepts (which piece can move where), the intermediate concepts (forks, discoveries, pawn structure), to the advance concepts (openings, end-game strategy, studying historical games). A few of the courses are taught by Josh Waitzkin who was the subject of the movie “Searching for Bobby Fischer.” If you like chess at all and want to realize just how much you suck at it, get Chessmaster.

• Dwarf Fortress – Now we come to the ultimate nerdy game. Dwarf Fortress. I could do an entire series of posts on the intricacies of Dwarf Fortress (which now that I think about it, I may, so you have that to look forward to) but for now I’ll stick to the very basics and try not to gush like a fanboy. Dwarf Fortress is the work of one man, Tarn Adams, a former Texas A&M professor of mathematics, so you can see right away that it’s probably full of nerdery. The object of the game is to take your initial group of seven dwarfs, build a fortress, and survive. Sounds easy right? Well, I forgot to mention the motto of the game: Losing is Fun. And it is. In fact, it can be downright hilarious. Dwarf Fortress can be compared (with a very long stretch) to the Sims…if The Sims were full of moody, alcoholic dwarfs who fall victim to horrifying tragedy, become possessed and craft bizarre items, and go insane when their cat dies. To truly understand the things that Dwarf Fortress is capable of, you must read (or at least skim through) the Saga of Boatmurdered. There are a few things that keeps people from getting into the game, but which can be overcome by mods or going through a tutorial or two:

1. The graphics are entirely in ASCII. Luckily, there are graphical upgrades available that bring the graphics up to a Super Nintendo level.
2. It’s controlled entirely with the keyboard which can take some getting used to.

Thankfully, there are a ton of online resources to help you get started. I’ve included a pile of links at the bottom. Far and away though, the best thing about Dwarf Fortress is the fact that it is entirely free.

I hope I’ve turned some of you on to a new game or two. Maybe it’s time to stop cursing at pubescent teens, put down the controller, and do a little thinking.

Pile ‘O’ Links

Galactic Civilizations
Sins of a Solar Empire
Dwarf Fortress
Dwarf Fortress Wiki
I use this graphic upgrade for DF
The Saga of Boatmurdered

I saw a bumper sticker today (and I’m sorry for not snapping a pic) that read:

Cthulu for President
Why vote for the lesser of two evils?

If you’re not a nerd, you won’t get it.

Maybe this will help.

New Weekly Nerdery should be going up tonight or tomorrow.

If you haven’t seen the Dark Knight yet, then you are a moron.  That’s pretty much my review right there.  Go see it and try not to crap your leg from the all of the awesomeness that pours forth from the screen.  If you know me, you know I’m not one for hyperbole ::cough cough:: so you know my thoughts are sincere.  After the movie, I got to thinking, who will they use for the next villain?  The director, Christopher Nolan, has said he doesn’t want these movies to be too comic-booky or campy, and wants to keep them somewhat grounded in reality (thus the joker goes from goofy trickster to sociopathic, anarchist, nihilistic serial killer).  I don’t really want them to bring the Joker back because I don’t think Heath Ledgers performance can be topped (although apparently they’ve talked to Daniel Day Lewis about taking on the role, which would be awesome if he would yell “I drink your milkshake” every five minutes).  So here are the villains that I can think of that would be good for the next film:

1.  The Riddler – I would love to see a dark take on the Riddler.  I’m not talking Jim Carrey’s unitard-wearing, red-flattopped Ace Ventura version either.  I don’t know how this could be pulled off but I have faith in the Nolan brothers.

2.  The Penguin - A Nolanized version of the Penguin could quite possibly rule all things.  Just make sure he’s not Danny Devito.  Jeez Batman Returns sucked.  Penguins with missiles on their back?  Come on.

3.  Catwoman – Meh.  Maybe.  I don’t think Catwoman could beat Christian Bale’s Batman.  Nevermind.  Catwoman is lame.  Maybe just an opening scene where he punches Michelle Pfeiffer in the face.

4.  Bane – Maybe as a secondary villain.  In the comics he made Batman a parapalegic (he got better).  Just a giant, roided up dude who beats Batman down before he takes a batarang to the face.

5.  Superman – Yeah, you read that right.  Superman.  It’s happened before in what I consider my favorite graphic novel of all time:  The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller (the guy who wrote 300).  Superman has always been a stupid goody goody anyway.  Let’s see a kryptonite encrusted Batmobile run him over and knock that stupid little hair curl right off his head.

Did I miss anyone?

On a site management note.  I may have fixed the spam comments so I have diabled the need to register to leave a comment, but if I start getting spam again, I’ll reenable it.

I’ve changed the blog to require you to log in to comment.  I’m sorry for the inconvenience but I’m tired of spam comments.  Just register with wordpress.  It takes 2 seconds.

This week, I’m going to give you a rundown of my favorite geeky television shows.  They are in no particular order.

Ghost Hunters (airs on SciFi Network, Wednesdays)

Ghost Hunters follows real life paranormal investigators Grant and Jason, the founders of The Atlantic Paranormal Society (or TAPS), as they investigate places that are supposedly haunted.  Now I eat up anything to do with ghosts or the paranormal (which is why half the books on my shelf are by Stephen King), but I do remain a skeptic.  Most of the time they don’t find much, but occasionally they capture some pretty chilling things, usually really creepy recordings of disembodied voices or objects moving on their own.  Say what you want, I don’t think they fake it.  I like it because they go to a place to disprove the haunting and they don’t bring along idiotic Psychics who supposedly can channel spirits.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (available on DVD)

If you’ve always thought that this show was just a stupid WB teen drama, you’re missing out.  I should know, I thought it was stupid too until I caught a couple of reruns a few years ago and was instantly hooked.  Buffy is well written, entertaining, and funny with characters you come to love.

Angel (available on DVD)

A spinoff of Buffy featuring David Boreanaz (currently starring in Bones, another one of my favorite shows, though not geeky enough to make the list).  All the same reasons to watch are listed above.

Sports Night (available on DVD)

If you’re a fan of the West Wing or Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip then you will love Sports Night.  Instead of people walking around the White House and talking, they’re walking around the set of a nightly sportscast of the fictional ESPN-like station, CSN.  It was created by Aaron Sorkin in the late 90′s and lasted for two seasons before it was canceled because the normal population was too stupid to get it.

Arrested Development (available on DVD)

Probably my favorite sitcom of all time.  Arrested Development follows the Bluth family, quite possibly the most dysfunctional and hilarious group of people ever.  Narrated by Ron Howard and starring Jason Bateman, Jeffry Tambor, David Cross, Will Arnett, and Michael Cera, Arrested Development was another show canceled way before it needed to be, pretty much for the same reason Sports Night was.  This show will cause you to laugh hysterically every time you hear the song “The Final Countdown” by Europe.

In other news, my wife and I are celebrating our one year anniversary today and she’s making it special by having her wisdom teeth taken out.  Woo Hoo!

It’s mid July which means that WT is crawling with pubescent band geeks.  They’re everywhere.  The streets are literally crawling with them.  I pity the people who work at United and Hastings and are inundated with the little geeks coming in to buy soft drinks and coffee and shoplift.  Police are patrolling like crazy which makes me feel a little better.  Maybe they can keep the kids from running out in front of cars all the friggin’ time.

I’m planning a new feature for my blog.  Since it is a blog of high nerdery, it’s only fitting that I start a weekly column dedicated to my nerdery.  It will be entitled “Weekly Nerdery” and will mainly feature lists of things that I think are cool or fascinating and that other people would usually view as stupid.  The first column coming in the next few days will be my favorite geeky movies and TV shows.  So there’s that to look forward to.