Friday September 9
4th Annual Nerd Nite Nerdtacular!
Nerd Nite NYC celebrates its 4-year anniversary at Galapagos with its 4th Annual Nerd Nite Nerdtacular! In addition to three funny-yet-smart presentations (one of which is in our Greatest Hits library), the Nerdtacular will feature musical guest and founders of the Brooklyn rock scene, Palomar, Science Acrobats (yes, you read that correctly) and other nerdery of all sorts as we kick-off another season.
*Presentation #1
Bodice-Rippin’ Good Time: A Consideration of the Romance Novel and Society
by Rachel Chu
Description: Most women have read them; most men have cursed the unrealistic expectations they set up. Go beyond the cheesy Fabio covers and learn about the history, publishing phenomenon and social implications of the much maligned genre romance novel.
Bio: Rachel Chu is the proud owner of a fully-paid-off English degree from a fancy school. She doesn’t think that’s at all incongruous with the junk she likes to read for fun. She is a professionally trained chef and food blogger, though she pays her rent as a lawyer for a big firm in the city.
*Presentation #2
Paleocosmology: New Findings in the Study of Extraterrestrial Dinosaurs
by Becky Ferreira
Description: We have long suspected that we are not alone in the universe. We have also suspected that dinosaurs wouldn’t go down without a fight. Both hunches are now confirmed with the help of a deep space, time-traveling camera, which has captured thousands of images of paleocosmological communities and behavior. It’s true that dinosaurs no longer rule the earth, but not because they are extinct. They’re just too damn busy ruling the galaxy.
Bio: Becky Ferreira is a writer, comedian and crappy musician whose work has appeared in Wired, Popular Science, Bust, Glamour and theAwl.com. She is a proud member of the Midnight Buffet team (www.midnight-buffet.com). She is also a purebred raptor.
*Presentation #3
Mathematicians: Behind the Music
by Paco Adam Hanlon
Description: Back by popular demand! Take a tour of the dank, trash-strewn alleys of the mathematical world. This portal into the seedy underbelly of math promises to be full of cheating scoundrels, meth-addiction, vagrancy, and no less than 4 cold-blooded murders. All this and more in the pursuit of inventing your iPhone, sewer system, and all those lovely ballistic missiles! Plus, you’ll finally be able to say you can name more than 1 important mathematician!
Bio: Paco is a math teacher and curriculum designer at the Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School for a Sustainable City. He is a Math for America fellow, has a BS in Actuarial Mathematics from University of Michigan and a Masters in Secondary Mathematics Teaching from Bard (where he also published a paper on stochastic cellular automata). He also records and performs hip-hop music under the name Dopest Nerd (album on iTunes and new mixtape coming soon).
*The Band
Palomar is a three-lady and one-man outfit that hails from Brooklyn where it was one of the founding bands of the 2000′s New York sound along with the likes of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Walkmen, and The Strokes. Palomar has released four albums and played shows with indie rock staples such as Luna, Mates of State, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, The Helio Sequence, Spoon, and The Wrens. Pitchfork described Palomar’s last album as having a “delicate balance between adorability and raw power” and now the band is gearing up to release its 5th album this Fall – and you get to hear it before almost anyone!
*The Performance
Science Acrobats
Act: Science Circus is the best way to learn the structures of some basic biologically significant molecules in the world. Watch a duo contort, lift, and bend their bodies into the shapes you have forgotten after that biochem final. Amino acids! Nitrogenous bases! and more!
Bio 1: Kerry Donny-Clark has been doing circus for exactly as long as biology, and now achieves his dream of uniting the two fields. He is a PhD biologist, circus performer, Google software engineer, 12/12 elven fighter/mage, father of two children and one developing fetus, and a bigger nerd than you.
You can contact Nerd Nite NYC Boss Matt Wasowski at matt@nerdnite.com or buy his new book here.
