The Empire Sucks Back: The Zine

The Empire Sucks Back

The epic blog post is now a zine! Jakob’s controversial views on exactly what makes The Empire Strikes Back a bad movie are expounded in this 16-page essay. Since there is no “try”, it’s up to you to decide if he does or does not make a strong argument.  Afraid? You will be… you will be…

$3 CAD (shipping incl.)

Simply Syndicated Meet-UP Toronto 2011

Last Saturday MAndi and I hosted a meet-up. Of course that doesn’t mean we actually arrived on time. Luckily intrepid forum members were more punctual and opened up the party room at Betty’s On King for us.

People came from as far away as England, the US and Guelph to mix it up with other podcasters and podcastees. It was a lot of fun and we’re already looking forward to the next one.

Photos: Kennedy Gordon | Videos: Kevin Archibald

 

Loving and leaving

We’re going to be “off the air” for a few weeks. But to make things right, we’re going to love and leave you with this video from the Scattered Trees. See you (or, more accurately, hear us) on March 25th.

I gotta tell you though, it really pisses me off the girl is dressed like Amidala and not Leia.

There’s An App For That. For them. And For Us.

Our sister podcast Starbase 66 blogged a while back about something we should have mentioned before now. The following text is shamelessly cribbed from that post.

Simply Syndicated, our home base, has launched a new app for iPod touch, iPhone and iPad. It allows you to stream Nerd Hurdles and other fine programs (like Starbase 66) and take part in our virtual community of amazing people. You should download it right now.

Canzine 2010

Come say hello to Jakob and Mandi at the Ampersand Publishing / Arachnidiscs Recordings table at the Canadian mecca of indie-nerdery Canzine 2010!

If you identify yourself as a Nerd Hurdles listener you’ll get a FREE GIFT! And it won’t be a kick in the pants!

Sunday, October 24th | The Great Hall, 1087  Queen St. West, Toronto | 1pm-7pm

Upcoming NERDPRECIATION special!

 

One of the hallmarks of a good podcast is conscientious audience appreciation. Reading out letters and comments is a classy way of saying “we appreciate you, dear listener, and care about what you have to say.”

We’re not very classy.

On top of that, we’re forgetful and lazy. It’s probably been a year since we’ve read a letter on the air, so to speak. Perhaps not since the last “letters” show. So we’re doing another listener feedback appreciation special for the milestone 75th episode of Nerd Hurdles!

Along with letters we’ve saved, you have until the morning (EST) of July 24th to send in:

• questions
• suggestions
• observations
• criticisms
• audio comments

to nerds[at]nerdhurdles[dot]com. You can also ask us questions on our Formspring page and we’ll answer those “live” on the show.

If email and ego-aggrandizing vanity websites aren’t your speed, throw something on our Facebook fan-page and if it sticks, we’ll talk about that too.

Nerd Hurdles Liking Likers of Like Page on Facebook

Everyone* likes Nerd Hurdles, even you. And now you can officially “like” Nerd Hurdles on Facebook. Another great thing to do is suggest to your friends that they’d like Nerd Hurdles too. That is if you really like your friends and want them to have a happy and fulfilling life. Don’t be shy, click the screen-shot to get active with your Nerd Hurdles liking.

*Claim not audited by impartial third party.

Toronto Small Press Book Fair 2010

Drop by the Ampersand Publishing table and say hello to Mandi and Jakob. Special show prices on Nerd Hurdles merch. At the very least, you’ll walk away with a free postcard and an awkward conversation.

15 Best Google results for “nerd hurdles” that have nothing to do with our podcast

1. “It is in fasion these days to be a nerd. Well to be a geek. Truly, I don’t understand … Instead of jumping life’s hurdles, do they just walk around them? …”
2. “The Nerd life is a complex life. Especially in todays high-paced connected … Steps not taken and hurdles not cleared within a certain time …”
3. “Nerds love puzzles. Libraries love nerds. … And this project was realized by a group that had to jump over numerous hurdles. …”
4. “Nerd is short for nerd stance, and nerd stance is short for my short-duration …. isn’t the gear hurdles that I have to jump over. …”
5. ” am the nerd sitting outside the coffeeshop groking brain network dynamics …. rather diminishes the power of selection to overcome phylogenetic hurdles. …”
6. “‘Nerd’ and ‘douchebag’ aren’t mutually exclusive…”
7. “I think it’s unfortunate all the hurdles female players so often face…. the adoration of thousands of faceless nerds on the Internet …”
8. “hurdles – existing organizations defend their positions – apparent lack of alternatives for … the knitting nerd who got a tattoo of a knitting ball …”
9. “5 Best Tax Nerd Blogs: The First Annual Rick Moranis Awards …. several tax-collecting hurdles…”
10. “… I didn’t want there to be hurdles like registration forms and email … and other hurdles slow down adoption….”
11. “She identifies herself as “a nerd for valuing books, for reading them, … Some of those hurdles stemmed from Sugar Loaf not owning the wastewater treatment …”
12. “There are hurdles that have to be scaled to successfully hack the PS3. ….. me your retarded and have no idea what a electronic nerd can do“
13. “I want to be a bad ass cav scout, not a nerd. …. You have a lot of hurdles to pass before even considering what you’ll look like on graduation day. …”
14. “I am a trek nerd and pinball nerd so it combined two of my life’s passions. … forecasting must have one of the lowest performance hurdles in the game. …”
15. “If I found another nerd who was never married, no kids, …. Because we want to eliminate any hurdles that may exist in getting a marriage …”

Formsprung

Formspring.me isn’t, as one might assume, a mattress company. Instead it’s a website which allows people to ask other people who sign up for an account anonymous questions which they agree to answer. Only on the internet, hey?

Formspring.me, you will note, also bears the mysterious dot-me country code. Turns out .me denotes Montenegro. It’s kind of interesting reading.

Anyway, Nerd Hurdles uses Formspring.me as a promotional tool. Or, more accurately, we attempt to use it as promotional tool. Our account mostly gets ignored. But we have been asked some interesting questions. A sample of which are reproduced for your pleasure below.

Do you think Nerd Hurdling should be an event in the Olympic Games? by megamatt

Jakob: No. That would be absurd. Nerd Curling though, definitely. Also Nerd Pommel Horse. Any nerd who can support the weight of a gyrating, steroid-happy gymnast deserves a medal.

Do you believe there’s intelligent life on other planets?

Mandi : I don’t believe in intelligent life on this planet. Other than The Banana.

Jakob: Sure. Why not. The Universe is a pretty big place. What being infinite and all. But if they have monster trucks, I hope they never visit Earth.