He's not a 'code monkey' anymore
Who’s that bearded guy in the glasses and untamed auburn hair singing with thousands of fans in zombie voices?
That’s geek rock star Jonathan Coulton. You may not have heard of him, but to his fans "JoCo" is as much a household name as CoCo. Coulton got that way by writing songs about zombies, coding, gaming, math, technology and science fiction.
He’s got a new album out, “Artificial Heart,” which turns out to be a bit of a departure from his claim to nerd fame. Instead of zombies eating brains or creepy dolls that follow you, Coulton has been thinking a lot about turning 40. The result is a set of songs that are more mysterious, even to Coulton himself, than what he’s written in the past.
“It’s about the complicated nature of adult relationships and work and self-image,” he told us at Dragon*Con in September, with Paul and Storm (the opening band at many of his concerts) seated beside him. “It’s about being a grown-up. It’s about being a sad, old, not very relevant grownup.”
“Geeks can be grown-ups, too,” Storm chimed in. FULL POST
African-American women take on the comic book industry
Editor's note: Erika D. Peterman is a Florida-based writer and editor, and the co-creator of the comics blog Girls-Gone-Geek.com.
Cheryl Lynn Eaton is a comics and graphic novel fan who fell in love with the medium in childhood, courtesy of Archie and the X-Men. She knows plenty about comic books and their history, writes commentary about them and even produced her own webcomic, “Simulated Life.” You might say geekery is in her genes, as Eaton credits her dad for her love of science fiction.
Eaton, an African-American comic book creator from Edison, New Jersey, became fed up with the lack of diversity within the comic book publishing industry and the creative communities she encountered. In 2007, that frustration led her to found the Ormes Society, an organization dedicated to supporting African-American women who create comics, and promoting diversity within the industry and among fans. FULL POST
When buying gifts for a comic book fan ...
With literally hundreds of titles at your average comic book store, it can be a daunting task to search for holiday gifts for the comic book fan in your life. Lucky for you, CNN's Geek Out team is here to help!
While it's no surprise that a great gift for a comic book fan is a comic book, graphic novels are a gift worth the higher price tag. They consist of longer stories than the average comic book, are often (but not always) in hardcover and are sometimes a collection of multiple issues of previously-released comics.
This year, one particularly holiday-oriented graphic novel is "Batman: Noel," a brand-new story inspired by Charles Dickens' immortal classic "A Christmas Carol." "Batman: Noel" features a different interpretation of the Dark Knight from writer/artist Lee Bermejo.
This Batman-exploring-what-it-means-to-be-a-hero story is Bermejo's first go as the writer and artist, so it's a much-anticipated book for fans of Batman and DC Comics. [Note: DC Comics is a Time Warner company, as is CNN.]
So, if you purchase it for the Batman fan in your life, make sure to tell them that you heard it was from the same artist who worked on "Joker" in 2008. That is certain to give you a few bonus points. FULL POST
This is how to buy a gift for an otaku
So, the holidays are rolling around yet again, and you have an otaku in the family.
We can understand that you might feel a bit panicky about what to get them when it comes to the holidays. It's because you have no idea whose face is on those posters and the whole anime thing just seems like a universe unto itself.
How on earth do you delve into that? Or figure out what they like best? And even worse, what if you end up buying them something you think is cool, but they turn up their noses at?
It's hard to go wrong with a gift like a USB drive, especially since there are so many cool ones for fans of Japanese culture. For instance, the Voltron 2 GB USB drive is part pose-able toy and part storage monster, ready to transport your files with attitude. Plus, he comes with a blazing sword, which has no other function beyond making you look that much cooler. Voltron Force, go!
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Punkin’ Chunkin' a Thanksgiving favorite in Delaware
It’s Thanksgiving night and the turkey is reduced to a carcass. The family is near comatose on the sofa, and the clicker is poised to turn on a football game.
It’s an American tradition.
But Kari Byron, Grant Imahara and Tory Belleci from "Mythbusters" have other plans. They'll be hosting the 26th annual Punkin’ Chunkin’ competition in Delaware, airing tonight at 8 p.m. EST on the Science and Discovery channels.
Chunkers build machines, including trebuchets, air cannons and catapults, and use them to hurl the gourds as far as possible.
"Some of these air cannons are firing up to 4,000 feet," Belleci said.
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