Posted By Teeni on November 9, 2010

On October 31, TGH and I went to an event in Boston called W00stock (read Woodstock for nerds).  It was a fun-filled evening that the geeks in us really enjoyed.  I hope that W00stock comes to Boston again in the future because I would definitely want to repeat the experience.  Anyway, TGH actually wrote up a guest post for me to share with you all.  The photos are ours but the links to various websites and videos are not, and we are thankful to the people who took the time to post their media to share.  Over to TGH!

Hugs,

w00tstock: 3 hours of Geek and Music; Geek Vaudeville; Nerd Church; The Variety Show for the Internet Set.  This is how w00tstock.net describes the show that Teeni and I saw on Halloween.  Since Geek is what the G in TGH stands for, this show was right up my alley and interesting enough for Teeni to tag along, not really knowing what she might be getting herself into.

w00tstock is the brainchild of Paul and Storm (a comedic music duo), Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: TNG, Stand By Me) and Adam Savage (Mythbusters).  They all perform and bring along other special guests for each show.  Our particular show did not have Wil Wheaton, since he was filming in Canada, but he was replaced by Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy, who you may know as Tom Servo and Crow from Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Our special guests were Grant Imahara (also from Mythbusters), Marian Call (a geek, folk singer), and Mark Abrahams (Annals of Improbable Research/Ig Nobel).

Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett started the night doing a riff of a short documentary about grass.   Yes, there is plenty to make fun of in a documentary about grass.  They came back later and riffed an old movie about grocery shopping.  They returned once more to show us that they had some musical talent by playing songs, including one about “sparkling” vampires and another about Plan 9 from Outer Space.

Paul and Storm then came on playing 6 songs ranging from werewolves to a short musical based on the video game Frogger to a nun boxing match.  Two of the songs were very short and were tribute songs to influences: If James Taylor Were on Fire and If Bob Dylan Were Hiding at the Bottom of a Well.  They were a fun act to watch and were entertaining between songs.

Grant Imahara once worked for Lucasfilm and Industrial Light and Magic.  During his time there, he was asked to wear the C-3PO suit and do appearances.  He told stories about how awful the suit is and some of the humorous positions he was placed in.

Marian Call played 4 songs including her new song about karaoke, the theme song from “Zombie Cheerleading Camp,” and her nerd anthem.  A guitarist accompanied her, but her instruments included a rain stick and an old fashioned typewriter.  This was the section of the show I was looking forward to the least, but she was very good.

Intermission came about 2 hours into the show and we knew the 3 hours they describe was going to be 4+ and we were right, but the time flew by.

After the intermission, Mark Abrahams explained that Ig Nobel Prizes are similar to the Nobel Prizes, but they research must make you laugh.  He went through the list of winners from this year, including research on “Swearing as a Response to Pain,” collecting whale snot using remote control helicopters, and disproving that oil and water don’t mix (in part funded by BP).

There were two film breaks during the night that included the following videos:

-          Some original short films from Wil Wheaton

-          Paul and Storm’s Double Rainbows Ad Nauseum (aka Okay, Let’s Kill This Meme Dead)

-          Paul and Storm’s Nerd Protests

-          Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom

-          Trailer For Every Oscar-Winning Movie Ever

-          Chimpanzee Riding on a Segway (the original video was removed but this song is still on youtube)

-          Axe Cop Ep. 1 & 2 (a comic strip written by a 5 year old with art done by his 29-year-old brother)

We saw Adam Savage once before the show and once during, but we didn’t realize it was him because he was wearing a full Chewbacca outfit.  He sang “I Will Survive” in the voice of Gollum.  He talked about his Mythbuster co-host Jamie Hyneman and getting him to do a skit for the Craig Ferguson show as well as telling some other funny personal stories.

To close out the night Paul and Storm, Adam Savage, and Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy (as Wil Wheaton) returned to the stage to do a Paul and Storm song about pirates that is usually 2-3 minutes, but turned into almost an hour of silliness that had the whole place in laughter.  There we constant interruptions getting the audience to yell out Arrrrrs of various types.  Examples included dejected arr, pensive arr, and Scooby Doo arr.  There were bad pirate jokes, such as “What kind of socks do you like best? ARRgyle!” and “What’s your favorite chemical element? ARRgon!”.  Paul and Storm also have a running joke where they say _____ is the name of my ______cover band.  Obviously, you need to fill in the blanks, but there were about 40 of these.  Examples include: “Hand Too Much is the name of my Michael Jackson cover band”, “At Some Point During This 97 Minutes of Song We Have Left is the name of my Dave Mathews cover band”, and “These People Are Getting Tired of Us” is the name of my Eagles cover band” (Note from Teeni - you can go here to get a sample of what they did throughout the show - it goes into the next act if you let the video keep running.  Now, back to TGH.)

Everyone involved stayed after the show for pictures and autographs and they freely allow all recording of the show, so they are very accessible.  I believe the entire show is on You Tube already if you want to investigate further.

TGH

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Category: Guest Post, Uncategorized
Tags: Boston, geek, halloween, MST3K, w00tstock, Wil Wheaton