This week Derek, Deeps and I talk about the MIT Mystery Hunt and the stench of failure. We take a look at two new series -
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Fox (check out the creepy Web site) and
Breaking Bad on AMC. Plus we offer a few thoughts on
Cloverfield and then dive into the latest entry in the Big Red Film Festival,
Chinatown.
Our fifth entry in the Big Red Film Festival - for next week's podcast - is going to be the 1942
Jacques Tourneur movie
Cat People.
Listen to this week's episode.Subscribe to the podcast with
iTunes or your favorite
podcatcher. Don't forget to leave us some iTunes feedback.
Subscribe to Big Red Podcast by Email
Labels: 2008, nerds, podcast
By: Alyssa | Monday, January 21, 2008 at Monday, January 21, 2008 | | 
I rolled in to see the nerds very briefly on Friday night. After a long day at the office, I was kind of beat. So I didn't stay long, but I offered up a few helpful identifiers for puzzles.
Apparently I'm your source for photos of young celebrities who are now old, once prominent German tennis players, founding fathers, and ex-presidents. It's a gift, really.
Deeps came home after the first "night" sometime around 4:30 in the morning. Like all people coming home late at night, trying not to wake their spouses he is at his loudest. Luckily, he just smelled of Mountain Dew and Doritos.
After an exciting brunch at a local diner, he headed back to the grind. I ran a bunch of errands. And last night, I dreamed in German. I made jokes, I was witty, and I chatted with German tourists visiting Boston.
To the best of my knowledge, I don't speak German. At least when I'm awake.
Labels: 2008, marriage, nerds, weird stuff
By: Alyssa | Sunday, January 20, 2008 at Sunday, January 20, 2008 | |
And so it begins. And so it shall be.
The
MIT Mystery Hunt is here again and I am left a Nerd Widow. And, come to think of it, I'm a
podcast widow too.
Here they stand, friends from college (which was a long time ago fellas), ready to sit inside a dank room on the MIT campus for a couple of days and solve puzzles. They look forward to it all year.
What do I do while all this puzzling is happening? I show up for a bit, sometimes I help out - but my brain isn't built for puzzles. I stare at something for a few minutes and become frustrated. I'm an intellectual blunt instrument, Deeps' brain is a precision tool.
Usually I hang out at home, catch up on E! and go to the movies. This year I'm planning a double or triple-feature of films to be determined. I call friends for dinner. I might get a pedicure. And I suppose I should clean the bathroom.
Whatever happens, you'll hear about it on the
podcast. (Yes, even the bathroom cleaning parts - I have tips!) It's a glamorous life I lead - nerd or no nerd.
Labels: 2008, nerds
By: Alyssa | Friday, January 18, 2008 at Friday, January 18, 2008 | |
After saving for a couple of years and reading dozens of articles in a feverish state - we pulled the trigger and upgraded our old television to the new flat screen HD TV.
As you may know, we record a
weekly pop culture podcast, so we watch a lot of stuff on the TV so you don't have to. Don't believe me?
I watched four hours of a show on Lifetime about vampires.
When HD first came on the market we'd get excited and inspired when we'd walk by to see big screens flash with amazing imagery. But they were expensive and we were saving for a house.
But through diligent savings (on my part) and a well-timed coupon (on Deeps' part) we thought the time was right. We hit the Costco and fought our way past the hordes of shoppers to load up a flat bed cart and haul big TV to the front.
I don't have a lot of advice to share, but if you're interested in buying a HD TV I'd suggest ordering your HDMI cable (you need that to get the Hi Def programming from your HD equipped cable box to your television) on the internet before you buy your TV. When it arrives, go buy the television because you'll have shopped and saved and been smart and then you'll want the instant gratification of HD television - and you'll have to buy a $60 cable. Online it costs around $12-20.
If
you didn't know about the cable racket - the cost of those little component cables for your fancy AV equipment - then surprise!
Last night we watched some of the Discovery Channel's HD programming - specifically the
Planet Earth mini series. If you have HD television you've probably seen it.
There isn't that much HD programming so you'll spend a lot of time watching nature documentaries - which are incredibly impressive. Planet Earth is especially interesting and impressive when you look past the images and think about what it took to capture them. The mind boggles.
I also caught up with a few episodes of
Dexter on Showtime HD. As much as I was impressed by the Planet Earth - the
opening credits of Dexter are even more stunning in their composition and metaphor for everyday violence.
I'll try to de-nerd for tomorrow's entry.
Labels: 2007, nerds, podcast
By: Alyssa | Wednesday, April 11, 2007 at Wednesday, April 11, 2007 | |
Tonight we make our second annual pilgrimage to Costco to procure supplies for the Nerd Party (aka the
MIT Mystery Hunt). Tomorrow the nerds make their way to their headquarters.
I have heard two interesting things. Word on the street is that some producers from
This American Life will be on the MIT campus documenting the event. I’ve had no confirmation, and frankly I don’t get paid to run down stories anymore. It seems semi-reliable, but who knows.
The second interesting thing is that
the team that both Deeps and Derek play for has shrunk considerably. The guy who is most invested in organizing the team (since travels a fair distance for the event) is, alas, grown up now and is awaiting the birth of his child. Any day now.
This could mean curtains for the nerd team, as I’ve known it. It could mean the end of my one weekend a year of being a nerd widow.
I don’t like it one bit.
Sure the nerds smell, they eat horribly and they never sleep – but this is their last, best chance to recapture whatever camaraderie they all had in college. They’re getting older and busier and more responsible. I’m not sure the nerds know how to let loose.
Nerds need to flourish in their natural environment – however unnatural that might seem to others. But this is the way of things; old nerds find other things to do to make room for the next generation of nerds.
I read that in a book by Darwin.
Labels: 2007, Boston, nerds
By: Alyssa | Thursday, January 11, 2007 at Thursday, January 11, 2007 | |
It is Sunday and another Sunday means another podcast.
This week Derek and I thank our nice fans for leaving us iTunes feedback. Then we review three new shows:
In Case of Emergency,
The Knights of Prosperity, and
Dirt. I review
Slither and Derek shares his insider view of the annual
MIT Mystery Hunt. Plus we keep it under 30 minutes. Happy 2007!
Listen to this week's podcast!
Subscribe to the podcast
with itunes.
Labels: 2007, nerds, podcast
By: Alyssa | Sunday, January 07, 2007 at Sunday, January 07, 2007 | |
In less than two weeks I will lose my husband, Deeps, and my podcast partner, Derek, to a weekend full-blown nerd-dom – the
2007 MIT Mystery Hunt.
I’ve
written about this before, but it happens every year. Nerds – I call them extra nerds –
descend on MIT and unleash their special nerd powers on a weekend-long cornucopia of puzzles and projects and schemes.
Now, I have my own special brand of nerdiness. Some would say that having a weekly podcast about pop culture is pretty nerdy. I think of it as recording my cocktail party chatter for posterity. I’d do one on politics but I don’t want to get people angry at me.
We all have some inner nerd. If you love something so much that you obsess over every detail – you’re a nerd. That means you, insane football and baseball fans. Baseball is sport totally built for nerds, there is so much minutia you could (and have) write thousands of books, host dozens of radio and television shows.
Where was I?
Oh yes, my nerd. I have kept myself relatively removed from the nerd weekend because boys need their special time together. I find puzzles to be somewhat tedious. Last year I did show up and tackled a puzzle about America the Book – I answered all the questions and still missed the correct answer. Damn you nerds!
I haven’t decided if I’ll play any role in the festival of nerds this year. I’m inclined to clean the house and do our taxes. Say what you will about taxes, but if you’re getting cash dollars back – they get pretty exciting.
Each nerd has a job: someone books a room on the MIT campus, someone else gets the laptop gear, and another person brings printers, paper and pencils. Deeps has appointed himself the grand poobah of the food.
If I participate I am often in charge telling people when they smell, when they need to eat or when they should go home.
My job isn’t so different from my blog. Or my life.
Get excited kids – just eight more days until Nerd-a-palooza!
Labels: 2007, marriage, nerds, weird stuff
By: Alyssa | Thursday, January 04, 2007 at Thursday, January 04, 2007 | |
Deeps and I are going to an Election party tomorrow night.
Oh yes people, that’s how wild we are on a Tuesday night. Veronica Mars be damned! That’s why we have the TiFaux!
I’ve been told we’ll have food, watch the results as they float in and play a drinking game. I should be drunk by 7:15.
That sounds pretty nerdy, right? So I shouldn’t be too embarrassed if I run out of stuff to say and I fall back on my “That sure puts the goober in gubernatorial” joke, right?
I’ve been
cramming all kinds of
political knowledge in preparation.
God, that looks even worse when I type it in a blog.
Labels: 2006, nerds, news
By: Alyssa | Monday, November 06, 2006 at Monday, November 06, 2006 | |
Kids Eat FreeAfter the nerd festival ended we rallied for dinner at a place in Cambridge.
Someone called us around 7 to tell us where to meet at 8:30 – I looked up the restaurant. We went to one of those Japanese steakhouses where they cook the food on the griddle in front of you. I suspect this is why kids eat free – most parents wouldn’t take their kids to a place like that. First, it is expensive and second, well – I think the place might start to smell like lightly grilled kid if you weren’t paying close enough attention.
Our lovely waitress quickly took drink orders and then disappeared for a while.
Deeps joked that service was slow because they were training a new guy. Turns out his guess wasn’t that far off the mark. Sometime around 10 PM (when the restaurant closes) a guy rolls out a cart with some hunks of fish and meat. Behind him another guy walks out. We have the new cook and the seasoned cook watches and gently coaxes the new guy.
Things didn’t go so well – knives were dropped, food wasn’t quite cooked to order, the tricks didn’t quite come off (shrimp tails were flying everywhere), and none of us was particularly impressed with the “knife work.”
By the time we got our food we were starving and didn’t care. The one guy who really wanted to go to this place was happy and the rest of us weren’t going to disabuse him of the notion that “this place is cool.” I’m not sure how we came to this conclusion, but we did.
Deeps and I paid like $70 for some uninteresting sake and rubbery shrimp. I smelled like a diner afterwards and none of us could hear each other over the din of the giant fans placed over the griddle tables. Of course, after the first hour passed without any food – there wasn’t much to talk about except how hungry we were.
“This place sucks,” one of the nerds muttered quietly to me.
I smiled and gestured around at the awkward tables where multiple parties were forced to sit together. One guy away on his cell phone while his bored date stared off.
“This place is where bad dates go to die,” I said. “But kids eat free.”
Labels: 2006, nerds
By: Alyssa | Tuesday, January 17, 2006 at Tuesday, January 17, 2006 | |
Where The Nerds AreUsually I don’t participate in the
annual Nerd festival – I like to get reports and then attend the post-nerdening luncheon. This year, for the sake of the blog (and because I was a little bored), I decided to check out things.
Deeps came home late on Friday night (okay, technically Saturday morning) and got a few hours of sleep. We arrived at the MIT campus by 8 AM. As we stepped off the elevator I smelled the nerds before I saw them.
FYI – several men trapped in a room for hours and hours almost always smell like feet.
My nerds were not different. I wandered around the room throwing away cups and trash to help tidy up.
Then I looked over Deeps’ shoulder to see what puzzle he was working on. I gave him a few suggestions, next thing I new I was helping with the Nerd hunt.
I didn’t have much to offer, but I did what I could. After a day of running errands and cooking, I returned to the nerds. I offered to help a bit, I did okay with a puzzle about America: The Book – but ultimately I couldn’t crack it.
The contest ended shortly after midnight. My nerds were not victorious - but then again, they have no delusions about winning. They just really like to do puzzles.
So the nerds are quietly tucked into their beds now, resting and recuperating for next year. Lessons were learned: printers are important, someone needs to take-charge on the food front, it wouldn’t kill them to have an air freshener in the room and for the love of Santa – they should stop eating burritos late at night.
I can only hope they remember that for next year.
Labels: 2006, nerds
By: Alyssa | Sunday, January 15, 2006 at Sunday, January 15, 2006 | |
The Care and Maintenance of Your NerdThe nerds will hole up in a room
somewhere on the MIT campus this weekend. They need provisions to survive the 72 hour event. Some will go home – but many will not leave that room (more or less) for the next three days. Hijinks will ensue.
My nerds have food. We hit the CostCo hard last night – armed with a list (after a few frantic “Where is the list?”) and my Amex card, we did damage.
First, we got a cart which I usually avoid doing. I think I got the “avoid the cart” tip from Lifehacker – or maybe Mike Pope. Anyway, I usually avoid the cart so that I can keep the trip in the $50-range. Carts easily push you up to $250+. And then you wonder where the hell you’re going to put all that food.
We lucked out and put all the food at D’s house. He seemed quite happy to go shopping with us and volunteered to keep all the food. Then we went to work: I strongly advised the nerds to remember that they are now over 30 and need to eat something besides Doritos.
“Think of your colon,” I pleaded.
They were pretty responsive to my suggestions for fresh fruits and vegetables that didn’t require lots of work: apples, grapes, carrots, and upon D’s suggestion clementines.
I didn’t try to get them to go junk-food free this weekend. It seemed cruel and unusual – so they’re loaded with brownies, candy, and sodas that come in colors not seen in nature.
Deeps was happy that the food trip went so well. At our last stop he made sure to help increase the overall level of hygiene at the weekend: he bought some Altoids.
Labels: 2006, nerds
By: Alyssa | Friday, January 13, 2006 at Friday, January 13, 2006 | |
Never nerd aloneDeeps: I’m not the only
nerd in the family.
Me: What?
Deeps: You are also nerdy.
Me: True – but I can’t even come close to your nerdiness.
Deeps: I disagree. Your nerd is just different from mine.
He’s not wrong. I am also a nerd. I’m more of a book/movie/pop culture nerd. He’s all over science and math. Together, we’re very fun at parties and we kill at Trivial Pursuit.
In fact, at a New Year’s party I spent a lot of time talking about a book I’d read called a Treasury of Deception. I regaled young parents with stories about fake infantries, lying reporters and the Cardiff Giant while their children slobbered on the floor. Then I went off on some tangent about aliases and FTP. Okay - so I'm not fun at parties.
And there is my deep abiding interest in weather and my ability to predict the feasibility of forecasts, which has earned me the name Doppler Girl. That’s not a good nickname.
So I fly my nerd flag proudly. But we’ll nerd in different ways this weekend: he will go do Soduku and I will do some casual estate planning.
Because someone has to plan for the future.
Labels: 2006, nerds
By: Alyssa | Wednesday, January 11, 2006 at Wednesday, January 11, 2006 | |
Chronicles of Nerdia: MIT Mystery HuntThat’s right folks; it is nerd season ‘round these parts. The
MIT Mystery Hunt is
nearly upon us again and my house is bustling with preparations.
Or rather, my husband is sending out emails and making lists on small pieces of paper that he carefully tucks into his pocket. He’s plotting his nerd plans.
For those unfamiliar –
MIT hosts a big
3-day puzzle-a-thon over Martin Luther King Day weekend. Old college friends fly in from all over and they
rally somewhere in the bowels of MIT to spend hours together quietly hunched over computers and paper. Sounds like a real barnburner.
I spend the weekend doing decidedly non-nerd things like drinking, eating meat, and getting a mani/pedi. Or I take naps and roll around in my own filth.
This year most of the nerds have crossed over from the late 20s into their early 30s. And some of them have been domesticated – they have wives who keep them clean and fed. I have heard rumblings that some of the nerds are more high maintenance this year demanding food without trans fats and asking for actual beds to sleep in. No more sacking out on the floor in a pile of backpacks. They want a good night’s sleep. They want fresh water!
So all week - or whenever the fancy strikes – I’ll be updating the Chronicles of Nerdia and keep you, good readers, abreast of latest nerd developments. This year they’re in it to win it. Well, they’re in it to like… place in the top 10. My nerds keep it real.
And tomorrow, we’ll plan our nerd pilgrimage to CostCo where I have been asked to help
“coordinate shopping efforts.” Because when the nerds don’t have any expertise in an area, they know to ask for help. And surely if they asked me about spending money, they’ve asked the right person.
Labels: 2006, nerds
By: Alyssa | Tuesday, January 10, 2006 at Tuesday, January 10, 2006 | |
Follow up: Nerd fest
I found a couple of pictures from the MIT Mystery Hunt this year – from Deeps’ camera. And I was going to post them online, but they look exactly like you’d expect them to look. Basically a bunch of dudes sitting around at computers with furrowed brows. If you can’t visualize that –
I found this picture of MIT students (not 30-something dudes who are posing as MIT students).
Not really as sexy as like – action photos of
me on a giant mountain of snow – that to quote
Mike Pope was “several Alyssas high”. Yeah, the pile was probably in the 20-foot range, which is slightly less than 4 Alyssas high.
I’m seriously considering measuring everything in terms of “Alyssas high” because I think it might make our pending house hunt a lot more interesting.
Labels: 2005, nerds
By: Alyssa | Wednesday, January 26, 2005 at Wednesday, January 26, 2005 | |
Terrible new discoveries
I married a nerd, but I did not think I was nerd. Apparently I am wrong. Gah.
Seriously - look at
this post, now how could I possibly be
nerdier than this guy? Honestly! I think it was because I know stuff from the periodic table. It's in my head, I cannot help it. I also know a lot of stuff about
Dallas.
How embarassing.
Labels: 2005, nerds
By: Alyssa | Wednesday, January 19, 2005 at Wednesday, January 19, 2005 | |
In the company of Nerds
I just wanted to offer a final wrap up of the Nerd Fest (known officially as the
MIT Mystery Hunt).
Deeps reported that he had a very good time. The team didn't win, but they had their most successful run of puzzle solving to date. His only complaint was about the food. He said he'd like to take a more proactive role in the procuring of food.
“I need to be in charge of the food,” he said.
I nodded.
“They eat too much sketchy stuff – and it is all bad,” he added.
Oh my nerd – he’s gone soft since entering the world of
marriage and gainful employment. This is what it is like to be a grown up – you have higher standards.
In other news, I learned that the Nerds running the contest had created a special
Television Without Pity Puzzle.
Deeps took the time to explain it to me. There was a list of words that were from recaps posted on the site. You had to combine a vertical list of words with a horizontal list of words to derive all the….
I fell asleep at that point.
When I woke up – he explained it again and I smiled.
“You know we’re very similar, but it’s good to know that we have diverging interests,” I said.
“Yeah, I guess we found the exact spot where they diverge,” he laughed.
And for the record – apparently the nerds participating in the contest figured out that they had to spend a lot of time searching the TWOP archives. In doing so, they allegedly took out the site for a few hours (too many people trying to hit it at one time). So sorry for that
DHAK, I know the nerds are truly sorry.
Labels: 2005, nerds
By: Alyssa | Tuesday, January 18, 2005 at Tuesday, January 18, 2005 | |
Girl Poker
Last night, in an effort to keep myself entertained whilst my husband was occupied with Nerd Fest – I hosted girl poker.
Girl poker is not that different from regular poker except that we talk a lot more and play many fewer hands of poker. We spent a surprising amount of time talking about real estate and very little time talking about our periods.
We did talk about bad ex-boyfriends, we gossiped and we ate sandwiches. It was delicious.
I think the oddest part about girl poker was that we had two dudes in the game as well. They were incredibly game for girl poker – they gossiped and giggled and chatted as happily as any of us ladies.
We laughed and talked and played until the wee hours of the morning. My cheeks hurt from laughing. I think girl poker was a success - almost as big a hit as my "Pigs in a Blanket."
However, there was some weirdness during the evening.
At one point we demanded to know what had happened to the real “CC” – as he had exhibited a lot of uncharacteristic behavior including: encouraging table discussion (specifically gossip), he had folded hands several times, and spent a great deal of time eating fruits and vegetables. He was 20 minutes away for agreeing to join us for pedicures.
Labels: 2005, nerds
By: Alyssa | Sunday, January 16, 2005 at Sunday, January 16, 2005 | |
Nerds go home
Oh nerds – you have mysterious powers over my husband. He came home for such a brief period of time on Saturday morning that I never actually saw him during what I like to call “awake time”.
Sometime around 5 AM I rolled over and noticed that he’d made it home to bed. I sighed and went back to sleep. At about 7:45 I heard a couple of beeps. I opened my eyes and he was standing over me, dressed (smartly – not so nerdly, in fact) and kissing my forehead.
“I’ll see you later,” he said.
“But, when did you get home?” I asked – very groggy.
“Around 4,” he replied.
“And what time is it now,” I asked.
“It’s a little before 8,” he said.
“Ugh,” I grunted and went back to sleep.
He made a repeat performance last night – although I think the lack of sleep is catching up with him since he slept until about 9 (but didn’t roll in until closer to 5). At ten he was out the door again and hanging with the nerds. Usually I get a call around 1 to go have nerd brunch – they regale me with their exciting nerd adventures from the weekend.
It’s around 5:15 and I have not heard from Deeps since he left. The nerds have him in their clutches.
I hope he comes home soon – I really wanted to go to Target.
And I guess I miss him.
Labels: 2005, nerds
By: Alyssa | at Sunday, January 16, 2005 | |
Adventures in Marriage #214: Keeping it real
“Our house is totally disgusting,” my husband remarked this morning as he was searching for a sweater. “It is really, really dirty.”
“I know,” I replied casually sipping my coffee.
“We should clean it,” he suggested (thanks Mr. Obvious).
“Yeah, I figured I’d wait until you went to the
Nerd Fest to clean it. It’s easier when you’re not around,” I said.
“I’m not sure if I should be pleased….or offended.”
Labels: 2005, nerds
By: Alyssa | Thursday, January 13, 2005 at Thursday, January 13, 2005 | |
In a word: Nerd
Once again the annual
Nerd Festival will commence this weekend. Ladies and Gentlemen, I am married to a nerd.
He’s a research scientist. But he keeps a lot of his nerdy habits to himself. For the most part he seems smart and respectable and clean and funny. My friends attributed the clean part to the married status. I’m not convinced. Regardless, he is what he is and I love him anyway. This is like sports for him - an excuse to catch up with old friends and flex his mad nerd skillz.
I am not really a nerd. I’m more of a loser or what some in high school might call a burn out. Oh my God, am I old.
Back the
Nerd Festival. There’s a big wingding at MIT (Nerd Mecca) over the MLK holiday weekend. People fly in and drive in. The Nerds arrive and take over – well that part is hard to tell given that we live in Cambridge – but they arrive and wreak havoc in their nerdly way until sometime on Sunday.
I’m not really sure what they do – but I do know it involves the following things:
Cheetos
Not sleeping
Yelling
Greasy pizza
Not showering
Wearing the same clothes for 2-3 days
More yelling
Writing stuff down
Computers
Coffee
The following topics
may come up:
Tron
Tekken
Lord of the Rings
Star Wars
Star Trek
Marvel vs. DC
The Black Hole
How much everyone else sucks
In the end, they play games and solve puzzles and win no prizes. It’s like a long British game show. If you win you have to run the Nerd Festival next year
I will be a Nerd Festival widow as my husband always says he’s just going to hang out for a few hours and come home. I don’t usually see him until late on Sunday when I get a call to join them for lunch. If I’m lucky – because usually there are no girls involved with the Nerd festival. Because based on the list above, it’s not something girls want to be around
He’s been staying up for the past week or two “training” for the Nerd Festival since he has a job and usually sleeps at normal hours. Not all the Nerds have normal jobs – many are doing post-doctoral things and other nerdly endeavors and don’t sleep. He’s training to keep up with them.
I can’t believe I typed that.
So in honor of my Nerd Festival widow status, I am hosting girl poker – where we will talk about the smelly boys that are not with us and enjoy the delights of champagne mixed with peach nectar.
Last night Deeps asked me what I’d be doing this weekend.
Me: Let’s see. I’m really looking forward to the alone time. I have big plans.
Deeps: Like what?
Me: I’m going to lie around in my underwear and watch bad TV and eat Ding Dongs.
Deeps: So how is that different from any other weekend?
Me: I usually don’t have the Ding Dongs.
Labels: 2005, nerds
By: Alyssa | Wednesday, January 12, 2005 at Wednesday, January 12, 2005 | |
