Cool Stuff Abounds

Monkey Shines Promo PosterA couple neat things we keep meaning to post, but haven’t quite gotten to lately:

Merlin Mann—he of the 43 Folders and the You look Nice Today and the Twitters and whatnot—has taken our meta-textual tribute to Randy Newman, The 25 Days of Newman, and gone one meta-step further by recording a tribute to our tribute. Go here and listen to his original creation, “Everybody Likes Paul and Storm (In America)”. (“Inbox Zero? More like WIN-box Zero!” [SLAP!] “Sorry.”)

Meanwhile, monster maker-slash-podcaster-slash-friend of the band Len Peralta has drawn yet another Rectangle of Awesomeness; this time, it’s a promotional poster for “Monkey Shines“, the mostly-lost TV show we did with Jonathan Coulton a couple decades ago. Wow; it seems like it was only yesterday…

Posted December 19th, 2008
By Paul and Storm | Posted in Look what YOU did! | Comments (6)

Show #020: I Am Curious Green/Orange

pennantsThe twentieth episode of our podcast, Paul and Storm Talk About Some Stuff for Five to Ten Minutes (On Average), is now online.

In this episode: Geek Madness kicks off with a bang; Paul’s lamentable decorative tastes, and a callback to his fractional homosexuality; Storm’s color-name blindness and pennant fever; and the relative comedic merits of various projectiles, especially foodstuffs.

Audience participation alert! Don’t forget to vote in Geek Madness and spread the word; also, let us know how you decorated your bedroom walls as a youngster.

Featured post-show song: “Goober Peas” – Burl Ives

Show #020: I Am Curious Green/Orange (Some content NSFW)

[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/www.paulandstorm.com/podcasts/PS_5-10_020.mp3]

Enjoy the podcast? Maybe donate, why don’tcha?


Posted December 16th, 2008
By Paul and Storm | Posted in Podcast | Comments (33)

GEEK MADNESS: Do’Urden Region, Week 1

Let the games begin! Our first sixteen competitors jump into the fray for the inaugural round of the Battle for Secretary of Geek Affairs. Voting for Round 1 of the Do’Urden Regon is now open, and will close on Sunday, D

ec. 21st at 7 pm (a completely arbitrary stop time, as is our wont), at which point the next round (Bombadil Region, Round 1) will begin.

Read about all the matchups and go vote, after the break. And tell your friends!

Click here to see the matchups and VOTE!

Posted December 15th, 2008
By Paul and Storm | Posted in Geek Madness | Comments (30)

GEEK MADNESS: Revised Brackets!

Geek Madness: The Battle for Secretary of Geek Affairs

Our Geek Madness Tournament kicks off tomorrow; and just in time, we’ve posted revised brackets. Over the past week, we’ve heard your requests, suggestions, complaints and threats; we’ve ignored the vast majority of them, but a couple have made some degree of sense. Those particular ideas have been especially ignored; but we did indeed change a few things around anyway.

A few old favorites have been replaced with new favorites; some pairings have been switched up…the one thing we know for sure is that everyone will be disappointed and/or annoyed to some degree. Nonetheless, the revised brackets below are the FINAL, officially official ones. So, candidates, rally your troops, bring your “A” game, and get ready to battle it out for the right to become the first U.S. Secretary fo Geek Affairs…

Geek Madness: The Battle for Secretary of Geek Affairs

(click the above image for a larger version, or download the Adobe Acrobat version)

You can also view the individual region brackets: Bombadil, Do’Urden, Jor-El, and Lobot.

Posted December 14th, 2008
By Paul and Storm | Posted in Geek Madness | Comments (3)

Show #019: About Four Percent Gay

Sucks.Buy cheap viagra soft

/>The nineteenth episode of our podcast, Paul and Storm Talk About Some Stuff for Five to Ten Minutes (On Average), is now online.

In this episode: we rail against Dig Dug and other milquetoast names; as we have stalked, so we are stalked in return; lengthy ruminations on fame, and exactly how gay Paul is; a gardening metaphor is pushed to the breaking point; mutual ego boosting; and we officially announce our new tournament, Geek Madness (although we don’t call it that at the time)

Audience participation alert! Geek Madness: The Battle for Secretary of Geek Affairs begins Monday, December 15th; check out the brackets, and feel free to argue/complain about our choices.

Featured post-show song: “Monkey Shines” – Jonathan Coulton

Show #019: About Four Percent Gay (Some content NSFW)

[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/www.paulandstorm.com/podcasts/PS_5-10_019.mp3]

Enjoy the podcast? Maybe donate, why don’tcha?


Posted December 8th, 2008
By Paul and Storm | Posted in Podcast | Comments (12)

GEEK MADNESS: The Battle for Secretary of Geek Affairs

Per our discussion in Episode #015 of “Paul and Storm Talk About Some Stuff for Five to Ten Minutes (On Average)“, as the first geek President, Barack Obama would do well to reward this important and influential constituency by creating a new cabinet post: the Secretary of Geek Affairs.

And it’s up to YOU (the collective you, that is) to make sure the right person gets the job. As such we present GEEK MADNESS: a 64-“team” elimination tournament decided by public voting as to which person (or persons), real or fictional, is best for the job.

What exactly will the SoGA do? Only time will tell. Maybe they’ll just be a figurehead, sent to represent the government at cons, beta releases, and gaming tournaments across the country. Or perhaps they’ll provide a larger vision for greater geekdom, encouraging and fostering the careers, hobbies, memes that are the lifeblood of our nation.

But in general terms,

  1. Advise the POTUS on matters concerning, affecting, and/or of interest to geeks (as well as nerds and similar constituencies);
  2. Implement POTUS policies generated by first responsibility; and
  3. Act as liaison on POTUS’ behalf between greater U.S. geek community and other national and international stakeholders.
  4. Does not to be a U.S. citizen, because we say so.

But enough of our yakkin’; let’s see who’s in the running…

COMPLETE SECRETARY OF GEEK AFFAIRS TOURNAMENT FIELD

Geek Tourney - Full Bracket

Click on the image for a larger version; or download it as an Adobe Arcobat file.

You can also view the individual region brackets: Bombadil, Do’Urden, Jor-El, and Lobot.

Voting begins on Monday, December 15th. Let the arguments over pairings, omissions and inappropriate choices begin!

Posted December 7th, 2008
By Paul and Storm | Posted in Latest News | Comments (31)

Einstein vs. Monkeys

Our tireless chum Len has lent his skills of an artist once again to an endeavor of ours—this time, it’s to the subject of our poll asking who would win in a fight: Albert Einstein with a flamethrower, or the flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz.

Not one, but two pictures, for a total of 2,000 words…

Einstein vs. monkeys. Part the First Einstein vs. monkeys. Part the Second

For the record, Einstein kicked the monkeys’ butts.

Posted December 7th, 2008
By Paul and Storm | Posted in Look what YOU did! | Comments (4)

“Monkey Shines”

Jonathan Coulton‘s short-lived sitcom “Monkey Shines” had an extremely brief run on ABC in 1985; it was cancelled during the first commercial break of the first episode, and was ordered destroyed by then-ABC President Grant Tinker. The show slowly developed a cult following through the years, however but although numerous rumors of bootleg recordings of the show circulated, they all proved to be hoaxes or, in several cases, episodes from season 3 of “Felicity“.

In early 2008, in a sub-basement of the Yale University anthropological studies department, researchers unearthed a Betacam master video recording of the pilot episode opening credits. (Unfortunately, the remainder of the episode was apparently recorded over with footage of the Yale Whiffenpoofs “1991 Holiday Jamboree Sing-a-bration”) To date, this remains the only authenticated footage from “Monkey Shines”. (Reclusive star Coulton has not returned repeated requests for comment)

In the interest of science, history, and primate studies, we present the “Monkey Shines” opening credit sequence…

Posted December 5th, 2008
By Paul and Storm | Posted in In the Media | Comments (14)

Monkey!

Here’s a very brief sneak peek at something cool we’re working on (we know; how coy of us!):

Our pal Jonathan Coulton meets a friend, and maybe learns a thing or two…

Posted December 4th, 2008
By Paul and Storm | Posted in Latest News | Comments (8)

Show #018: Freeballin’ It

spicy riceThe eighteenth episode of our podcast, Paul and Storm Talk About Some Stuff for Five to Ten Minutes (On Average), is now online.

In this rather wander-y episode: apparently, we’re big in China; we discuss how to order around our growing minion brigade; Storm wants to spread falsehoods; and we go over the responsibilities, marketing and videogame adaptation of the shabbos goy. Also, ninjas and spicy rice.

Audience participation alert! If you’re not already a minion, you have only one more week to submit your minion photo to us in order to become a member of the Order of the Inner Sanctum Guard. Also, let us know if you are, or know, a shabbos goy, and tell us about the job.

Featured post-show song: “Randy Newman’s Theme from The Godfather” – Paul and Storm

Show #018: Freeballin’ It (Some content NSFW)

[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/www.paulandstorm.com/podcasts/PS_5-10_018.mp3]

Enjoy the podcast? Maybe donate, why don’tcha?


Posted December 1st, 2008
By Paul and Storm | Posted in Podcast | Comments (17)