Continued Nerditude

We followed up Wootstock and PAX with a concert at the Hat Factory, Jonathan Coulton and Paul and Storm. This was the second time they have come to this venue. They were great the first time and better this second time with new material on both sides.
We showed up ready for some Aperture Science



The show was great, with an awesome crowd. appropriate songs such as a Mother's day song

Mother's Day Song from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

In keeping with mother's day... the Vagina song

vagina song from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

and as usuall, another version of Fancy Pants by Jonathan Coulton

Fancy Pants from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

Great Show at a great venue.

A Season of Nerd

This is a late post on geeking it up with my kids. I previously posted on taking my daughter to W00tstock in NYC, and in return I took my son to PAX East in Boston this year.



PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) is perhaps the most fan based gaming exposition in the country. It is run the way gamers would enjoy, the unoficial motto is "Don't be a Dick" the security is all volunteer force of "enforcers" cookies are sold to benefit Childs Play and concerts are held on the first two nights.

Welcome to PAX from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

We cruised through the exhibitor section,



and my son liked this the most so we spent a lot of time playing prerelease games.



3d games, kinect games, etc. I had planned on attending more of the talks and sessions but the boy was having too much fun, so I hung with him.






We did have great food though we managed our time between the conference and great food. We ate at the Legal Test food Kitchen, which is a test restaurant for Legal Sea Food.



(During happy hour oysters are a dollar),



The Barking Crab great seafood, although a very crowded touristy place.





In the evenings concerts dominated the expo.



But on the first night, The Omeganauts dominated the scene with a live giant Jenga competition.

PAX Jenga 1 from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

PAX Jenga 2 from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

PAX Jenga 3 from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

PAX Jenga 4 from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

PAX Jenga 5 from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

PAX Jenga 6 from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

PAX Jenga 7 from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

That was followed by a concert, so we never made it back to the hotel till very late. The next morning



we rallied





we chilled in the sumo lounge



and hung out at the Harpoon brewery



Tremendous collection of beer cans... billy beer



old school ">Schafer


Generic beer



We played some old school arcade games



The concerts where awesome, but our favorite was Jonathan Coulton

Mr Fancy Pants from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

I am glad to be shopping here with you + Mandelbrot Set from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

Go check out his songs at JonathanCoulton.com
We had a great time, check out PAX with your kids.

w00tstock 2.7

Poster battle
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

This is a departure somewhat of where my blog has been headed for the last several years. Initially I imagined this would be more geek culture along with some food, but it has turned out to be way more food and cooking than gaming or geeking. So back to geeks and nerds. My daughter and I went to w00tstock 2.7 in NYC.



Just the two of us traveled to NYC, we did stay with my brother and his wife, and invited them to join us at the show. For the uninitiated w00tstock is a celebration of all that is nerdy, geek and otherwise awesome. Giving credit that in the real world we (geeks and nerds) run shit.
Jonathan Coulton stood in for Will Wheaton as the host at this show...



But we also had Grant Imahara (from Myth busters)



As well as Adam Savage (also from Myth Busters)



Most surprising and enjoyable was Marian Call

Marian Call at w00tstock 2.7 from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

MC Frontalot was there as well and rocked it out.

We got some photobombs with Coulton and Storm



and ultimately loved the show and total experience.



Some nice daughter dad bonding.

Geeking it up some

I have finalized my plans for two trips to geekdom. the first, I am taking my daughter to W00tstock in NYC. Jonathan Coulton is headlining. Should be a great time. Staying with my brother and his wife in Brooklyn for that one. My older brother asked how one gets into this subculture. It is a combination of music and celebration of geek and gaming culture. We ended up in it probably a combination of our video gaming lives + my wife and I grew up with They Might Be Giants. We saw Coulton open for TMBG and loved the show. He then played at The Hat Factory with Paul and Storm and we loved that show as well. They both play PAX regularly and I've been dying to go to a PAX show with the kids for several years. This year the plan is to take the boy to PAXeast in March, (as long as he takes care of business in school.) PAX is the Penny Arcade Expo, mutant child of Penny Arcade where they created the gaming show they would like to attend. Penny Arcade has also spawned my favorite charity Child's Play . Child's Play funds therapeutic recreation and child life services (two generally underfunded nonbillable servcies in many hospitals) which help with leisure skills, and general play and distraction for hospitalized children. Overall this is going to be a great pair of trips, hanging with my kids one on one seriously geeking out with "my people."

Brian Eno and David Byrne

Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is In Another Castle

Ok I'm going to plug some pod-casts
first of all the "show de Ruben Blades"
SDRB
I am biased as I grew up listening to Ruben Blades, and his counterculture salsa music.
http://youtube.com/profile?user=rubenbladescom
The second link is a solid podcast of observations, recipes and daily life on the farm/ranch interesting so much for it's humanity as it is for it's humor.
http://gardenfork.tv/blog/