We didn’t get quite enough material for a complete segment, though, so we’re planning to combine your interviews with more that we’ll get at Supanova Melbourne, which is on early next month, and do a segment covering cosplayers both anime and otherwise. Watch this space for more about that in the coming weeks!

In the meantime, you can check out the Planet Nerd YouTube channel to relive our past glories.

By the way, if you’re reading this, you might like to know that Ben will be geeking out live on stage monthly this year, with his Dungeons & Dragons inspired show, Dungeon Crawl. Check it out at Shaolin Punk!

You can check out their unique brand of Pirate-themed hip-hop at CD Baby. Personal favourite: “That’s How We Row”.

Dance. Sing. Smash glasses of ale on each others’ heads. Pillage. Rape if you must. But most of all, buy it.

As occasionally happens, I have a show in Fringe. This time it’s an improvised musical show — we create a new band at that the beginning of the show from audience suggestions, and then play a whole gig as that band. The music is rehearsed, but the lyrics are improvised based on our interaction with the audience. It’s a truly unique new form of theater, and we really enjoy playing it.

Each week is a different genre, so you can come along to all 3 if you like!

For this event we’ve assembled some of the finest improvisors and musicians in Melbourne to play our 3 debut genres: Folk, Jazz and Rock. We’ve got members of folk ensembles, orchestras, music theater shows, rock bands and more to create an improv supergroup that you will blow your mind.

The gigs are on Saturdays at 4:30pm at Trades Hall and run for about an hour:

• 27th September @ 4:30pm: Folk
• 4th October @ 4:30pm: Jazz
• 11th October @ 4:30pm: Rock

Tickets are $15 full price, $12 concession. The theater is gorgeous, with 200 seats encircling the stage complete with Rolling Stones-style walkway. Oh yeah, baby! And of course in the same building there’s the Bella Union Bar for drinks before and after the show.

Tickets are already selling fast, so book today through Melbourne Fringe (03 9660 9666), or online at http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/season/2008/show/174

Thanks for reading, and I hope to catch you all during Fringe.

For those that don’t know, Baron recently inked a seven-figure deal with Sony to distribute Rocketboom via their various channels. He was in Australia to talk all things video at the Portable Film Festival.

So without further ado, from his throne carved of platinum virgins atop his massive pile of money, Lord Baron (as he now prefers to be known) dictates the new Laws of the World to Dan Walmsley and Ben McKenzie.

Enjoy!

Head over to his personal blog to check out the latest.

The Antennas award excellence in community television, which is why we didn’t win. However! It was an honour to be nominated, and muchos congratulationes must go to The Bazura Project for not only winning Best Comedy, but also several other awards including Best Sound and People Whose Skin I Would Most Like To Wear Like A Jacket And Pants. Those guys r0x0rz.

Hopefully our nomination will result in us be showered with opportunities to remake Planet Nerd into something truly award winning – stay tuned!

1. Planet Nerd has gone live on Triangle TV, broadcasting from satellite and terrestrial stations at 9pm Friday nights, and
2. New Zealand is going to be my life-raft when the rest of the world is drowning/boiling/starving in about 40 years’ time

I congratulate the New Zealanders on their good taste, robust climate, fertile soil and high mountains.

The core task for the weekend was to create an original online series, and below you can watch Episode 1 of our series called “Forever”. This was produced by myself, Johnny Blank and Sebastian Goldspink.

Also a huge thanks to our star Oliver Clark, who was just brilliant as Karl. He nailed every scene in one or two takes, which was great because we were under a lot of time pressure.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Or so it seems.

This piece was filmed for Channel 31′s Breakfast Show Live.

Alright, fine, it’s Todd Woodbridge. There you go. Are you happy now? You made me spoil it.

Just watch the damn video.

A Planet-Nerd-produced music video of a song by Melbourne most magnificent comedian/cabarettist/rock-star, Geraldine Quinn. Featuring cameos by many of Melbourne’s rising stars of comedy, and other people who we just roped in on the promise of free cookies

…man. How good is that goatee? Plus the soundtrack of the trailer will make metalheads (or more likely, since this is Planet Nerd, Guitar Hero fans) go mental.

Kyle was one of my favourite interviews ever.

Thanks Tania!

It contains… stuff. Heaps of stuff. Music, dancing, jedi fan-films, independent gaming, warcrack, snowboarding and more.

Get into it people!

No, it’s not a brilliant re-imagining of our origins and our early trials in our new role; rather, it’s the Planet Nerd year one wrap party! If you’ve enjoyed the show this year, why not come along and show your support and appreciation. There’ll be clips from the show and great moments of nerdiness on the big screens, and merchandise, including DVDs and possibly even T-shirts, for sale. So come on – you know you want to.

What: Planet Nerd: Year One wrap party

Where: Glitch Bar + Cinema, 318 St Georges Road, Fitzroy North (Melways 30 C11) [map]

When: Saturday, September 8th, from 7pm

This week’s Planet Nerd comes to you from the future. But not our future – the future of the past! A time when we would have had flying cars, glittering roads surrounded by hovering purposeless silver spheres, and kitchens that cook food for you – were it not for reality and greed getting in the way.

So, put on your jet-pack and hover to the video for the following moon-dwelling gems:

• Simon Barber reviews the original Might and Magic
• Wayne Dixon shows us the origins of Linux
• Ben McKenzie illustrates the flaws of Wikipedia – and the solution: Wikia!
• Dan Walmsley explores the Prelinger Archives and digs up some kitsch futuristic treasures

In this uncertain age, more than ever, we need Planet Nerd to bring back the blinkered post-war optimism that makes old people so nostalgic.

Signing Off,
Captain Dan

Which turns out to be true.

It’s a magazine that you can buy in the store. You can also download it for free as PDF. The latest edition features Daniel Kitson as guest writer.

I’m in heaven.

Viewer Bec wasn’t impressed. She laid down a challenge. And, like a Phoenix rising from… well, Parkville… he showed that he still has what it takes to navigate the vast sea of information that we call Teh Intarwebs.

Uni High is home to one of Australia’s first accelerated programs for gifted students. Dan Walmsley interviews the staff, teachers and students in an effort to find out the benefits and drawbacks of putting a bunch of smart kids in the same room.

Not long ago in a galaxy that’s quite close by, an evil tyrant and his cruel henchman terrorised planets with devastating literary subterfuge.

Only the Planet Nerd team stood in their way. Reduced to a skeleton crew by a galactic plague known only as “I’m too busy this week”, our valiant heroes struggle to fight the galactic menace, while also producing family-friendly infotainment – ENTIRELY USING HAND-DRAWN ANIMATION.

• Wince as they barely manage to squeeze a cogent narrative out of University High School’s Accelerated Program
• Cheer as they reduce the Six Wikis of Separation to Five
• Shrug as they blatantly pad the episode with popular content from previous weeks

All this and more in this week’s Planet Nerd!

If you ever got up early on a Saturday and wrapped yourself in a blanket to watch cartoons while your grandma brought your weeties and milk, then this is for you.

Only the Planet Nerd team stood in their way. Reduced to a skeleton crew by a galactic plague known only as “I’m too busy this week, fuck off”, our valiant heroes struggle to fight the galactic menace, while also produced family-friendly infotainment.

• Wince as they barely manage to squeeze a cogent narrative out of University High School’s Accelerated Program
• Cheer as they reduce the Six Wikis of Separation to Five
• Shrug as they blatantly pad the episode with popular content from previous weeks

All this and more in this week’s Planet Nerd. Watch it. Channel 31, tonight (Thursday) at 10pm or Saturday night at 1:30am. The fate of the galaxy depends on it.

Signing Off
Captain Dan Walmsley

This is that film.

It’s Aussie. It’s Star Wars. It’s… well, just go watch it. It’s worth it just to hear one Jedi should to another “You SON of a BITCH!”. And it’s made right here in Melbourne!

Yet, despite the complexity and randomness of these millions of individual contributions, occasionally a meme emerges. A sort of super-thread. The first one I remember is “Mister T Ate My Balls“. A few years ago, we had “All Your Base Are Belong To Us“. And now, it’s Lolcats.

The best part of these super-threads that arise on the internet is that they give ordinary people a kind of creative hook. Just as 70s punks proved you didn’t need to know how to play an instrument to make music, so these internet-based pop-culture cults have shown that you don’t need to be a graphic designer to make a compelling image.

And with that, I give you the latest brilliant permutation of the lolcatz phenomenon. Lolpresidents.

Thanks Mr. Hut!

a duo of researchers at the University of Cincinnati have built a computer program “that is able to get a specific type of joke, one whose crux is a simple pun.” By loading up a database of words and then using relational programming to detect when a pun-involved joke is uttered, the bot can respond by laughing out loud and creeping any bystanders completely out.

Yet more proof, as if any was needed, that the pun in the basis of all humour. Or that puns are the lowest and cheapest form of humour.

Pick one.

In other news, Planet Nerd is now clearly smoking the bad crack.

As well in this episode:

• Dan visits mobile game development house “Firemint”
• Paul reviews Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – don’t worry, he doesn’t give away the plot!

So, get downloading, people. There ain’t much in this world you get for free.

Grandly,
Dan, Orbital Nerd in Chief.

p.s. Other famous nines include “Seven of Nine” and “Plan 9 From Outer Space“.

I write this from space. That is to say, the space between my mountain of cables and mountain of hard drives. For I have just finished editing the most ambitious Planet Nerd ever.

This week, we focus on NASA.

Our favourite agency is under fire, and we feel honour-bound to defend the men and women whose great deeds fuel our own delusions of grandeur.

From alcoholism to kidnapping to sabotage, one-by-one we demolish the criticisms and restore the good name of NASA. It is our United Federation of Planets. And the Space Shuttle is our Enterprise. And the ISS is our Deep Space Nine. And Neil Armstrong is our James Tiberius Kirk. Blah blah I’m sure you get the idea.

Just go watch it already! 10pm, Channel 31. Or, wait and see it on the web whenever I get around to encoding it!

Live Long and Prosper,
Captain Dan T. Walmsley of the Starship Nerdterprise

You can contribute to Planet Nerd! Coming soon, a citizen journalism plugin for everyone’s favourite social network, Facebook.

To be kept up-to-date, subscribe by entering your email address in the subscribe box on the right of the web site, or join the Planet Nerd facebook group.

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We knew that once the truth was out, it was just a matter of time before heads would roll. We didn’t realise that action would happen so swiftly.

Less than 24 hours after Planet Nerd’s explosive exposé of a political conspiracy to ruin the ending of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Deputy Premier John Thwaites has resigned, taking the premier down with him.

Bracks’ resignation has consumed the bulk of the media attention (he blames “family reasons” on the decision), allowing Thwaites to quietly leave politics without any questions being asked. It is simply assumed that his political future lay with Bracks.

As viewers of Planet Nerd (and soon the world) well know, last Satuday John “Acting Minister for Magic” Thwaites and Lord Mayor John “Counting Is Hard” So conspired to ruin the ending of Harry Potter by reading the last page of the book aloud and amplified to a crowd of adoring fans.

So compounded the sin by repeating the last line of the book in an exclusive interview with Planet Nerd.

Stay tuned for exclusive video which provides damning evidence of this most heinous of crimes. In the meantime, you can watch the entire story unfold as part of Planet Nerd Episode 8.

Also in this episode:

• Simon and Ben report from the launch of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!
• The World Premiere of the Planet-Nerd-produced “Doctor Who’s Assistant”, by International Superstar Geraldine Quinn

Planet Nerd. We have programmed you to watch it.

Despite his remote location, Brian has access to more television stations and Internet bandwidth than most urban residents, thanks to a house bristling with satellite dishes and antennae. And he’s bringing that bandwidth to his mates as well.

Well, okay, yes, it’s both of those things too, but what we’re all really excited about is the release of the most anticipated book in human history: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Of course your faithful Planet Nerd correspondents were up at the crack of dawn to ask the hard questions of the fans in the queue, so be sure to watch the show this week (and Channel 31′s Breakfast Show on Monday morning) to see the excitement and hilarity that ensued! We’ll all be engrossed in reading the new book over the next day or two (except for Dan, of course, who’ll just be waiting for the movie).

Perhaps the most exciting thing is that Book 7 is almost guaranteed to break with the usual conventions of Books 1 through 6 – and at “only” 600 pages, with four horcruxes to find and the final battle to take place, there’s no room for mucking about, so it’s sure to be a rollercoaster ride. I’m strapping myself in right now – and staying the hell away from all media until I finish reading it!

Interestingly, we found something of a split in opinion during our interviews: younger readers consistently felt that Snape was indeed evil, while the older readers (i.e. those who at least considered buying the “adult edition” with the classy black cover) mostly thought that he was ultimately good. What do you think? (And no spoilers, please!)

But don’t forget Moon Day! It’s the oldest traditional geek holiday, and our second favourite next to Towel Day.

The response was rapid and vicious – many comments so voracious we can’t repeat them here. But I saw that nobody had yet taken the time to post a video response. So, here’s ours.

Update: We’ve been inundated with feedback, both positive and negative. It’s great to be part of the debate – keep those comments coming! I’ve witnessed a non-stop barrage of criticism from mattus52 and HowardsBeast.

Almost everyone else has been fairly positive, apart from a few criticising my debating/reading/lighting skills, and one smart kid who noticed the glaring factual error right in the middle. By 2010, Howard’s measures will have prevented 87 million tonnes of CO2 per year, not in total, leaving the amount saved closer to 9% (rather than 0.85%), relative to where we would have been if we’d polluted our asses off. Still rather depressing considering yearly output has gone up by around 100 million tonnes anyway.

Update 2:

• We’ve been embedded in an article at news.com.au which has generated a great deal of traffic to the video.
• Howard’s people have paused his video comments (after wiping them 3 times and also attempting to “filter” them to only positive comments. Like people wouldn’t notice!)
• Howard’s channel page has had comments disabled. Earlier I noted that there was a very large number of negative comments on his channel. No more!

Our beloved Paul has a side venture. Another one, besides Planet Nerd. Read all about it in his message below.

Incidentally, [ "modern day enthusiasts" hedge ] is a Google Whack. There is only one reference on the web to both the Modern Day Enthusiasts and a hedge.

Over the coming months, hopefully, this will change.

***

Hey everyone,

Some of you may already know that myself and Luke (Or “tito”) have a radio show on SYN starting this Saturday entitled The Modern Day Enthusiasts. It’s a two-hour show in which we pick a theme, and duel with a kind of mixtape each, based on said theme. Our inaugural episode is themed “songs to impress girls with”.  It starts at 5pm and runs until 7pm, and should be a blast (Matty of Action Battle Team is working the panel for us). We’ll be picking songs and hurling them at each other with reckless geek abandon, so tune in and enjoy.

If you couldn’t be shagged reading all of that…

THE MODERN DAY ENTHUSIASTS.
SYN 90.7
5pm – 7pm Saturdays.
Old(ish) school battles new(ish) school. Hilarity ensues.

The web site will be up sometime over the next few weeks hopefully. Tune in! Or we might just send rats after you!

You can catch Planet Nerd every Thursday night at 10pm and every Saturday night/Sunday morning at 1am on Melbourne’s Channel 31 community television station.

OR you can subscribe using any of the methods listed on the Subscription page.
OR you can watch/download the clips directly on the website:

http://planetnerd.tv

• A geek of the week with an actual lisp and actual retainer.
• An exploration of the intersection of Maths and Comedy by Ben “Friendly Number” McKenzie.
• One must leave, one must stay – Paul Verhoeven embarks on the Adventure of an Afternoon.
• A visit to the Temple of Microchips: Dan Walmsley visits Intel’s home in Silicon Valley.

And now I must away, for the Gods of Sleep are angry, and have attacked (and slightly discoloured) the skin under my eyes. BEHOLD!

Entertainment. n.

1. An artifact of thought and effort, the creation of which has sent its progenitors completely barking mad.

2. A type of hat made from osterich feathers and poo, thought to hold the secrets of the Universe.

Huh!

We’ve just started broadcasting online, and we’d love it if you could help us out by filling in a quick survey. Click here to get started. Thanks!

Parking. The simple act of stopping a car and getting out. And yet, it can cause so much heartbreak for so many. In this one-minute performance piece, I highlight the futility of a modern urban existence by exploring a line of cars that will never move again.

HAHAHAHA U STUPID LAMERZ R PARKED IN!!!!!!!!!lolz

To commemorate the launch of the Apple iPhone, Planet Nerd is selling the cardboard iPhone from our pilot episode.

Please visit eBay to bid for this startling example of miniaturisation and ease-of-use.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120137404644

Cheers,
Cap’n Dan

Episode 4 of Planet Nerd is upon us. Produced in record time and handed piping hot to those simpering knuckleheads at Channel 31 just hours before we go to air, Ep4 contains more of the informed hilarity you’ve resigned yourself to over the last few weeks.

• Quake in your boots at a clash of civilisations at Flinders St Station!
• Cower in fear before Rob Lloyd reviewing the first ever series of Dr Who!
• Make a mess in your pants as Dan Walmsley tells you how to save energy by turning things off!
• Literally poop your own spine out as Dan Walmsley introduces you to robo-scultor Nemo Gould!
• Slam your head in a door until you pass out to avoid watching Steve Yakovich’s hilarious cartoon satirising the stupidity of stupidity

Plus, for those who haven’t see it, do check out our glowing mention (I hesitate to call it a review) in this week’s Green Guide.

Now run… run for your lives!

Dan, Robot-in-Chief

If you have suggestions for the show, please send them using the form below:

Simon Barber knows Joss Whedon better than Joss Whedon knows himself. When Serenity was launched, he was there. When the latest Buffy comics came out, he was there. When Joss Whedon walked outside last Saturday morning to put out the garbage, he was there. When will Joss realise they were always meant to be together?

The Critic
with Paul Verhoeven

Paul Verhoeven (no relation to director Paul Verhoeven) is a critic looking for something to criticise. And, frequently, he finds it. And it is criticised. And one more small but important facet of reality is illuminated for us all.

Geek of the Week
with Ben McKenzie

Ben McKenzie knows quite a lot of geeks. Witness the only interviewer whose willing to ask the hard questions – “Superman or Batman?” – as well as the soft ones – “What’s the quantum spin of a Higgs Boson?”

One-Minute DVD Review
with Rob Lloyd

Rob Lloyd reviews classic and modern DVDs in rapid-fire style. Rob’s knowledge of pop culture is unmatched in his suburb. And surrounding suburbs. And certain parts of outback Australia.

Documentaries

Nothing brews my Darjeeling like a full-bodied investigation of the nerdier side of life. And that’s exactly what our documentaries provide.

Sketches

Well, it would hardly be variety without sketches.

Music

Music Videos from local and international superstars. He said, confidently. Well in advance of contacting any superstars.

It’s broadcast every week on Channel 31 at 10pm on Thursdays, and 1am on Saturday night. Season 1 begins June 7 and ends August 30.

Join the Mailing List

To receive notifications of new episodes, upcoming specials or anything else we can think of, please subscribe to our mailing list using the form below.

• Dan Walmsley reports pseudo-live from Steve Jobs’ keynote speech at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference
  
• Paul Verhoeven and Ben McKenzie investigate the brainy world of Zombies
• Simon Barber brings us the Weekly Whedon
• Musical parody heaven from Anyone for Tennis

And so much more!

Nerdalicious!