Verizoneers finally get iPhone 4
If you’re one of the Verizon customers who would sneer and murmur something about Samsung literally every time your friend got out their iPhone, good news—you can stop pretending. Verizon finally announced that they and Apple kissed and made up—the 4 is coming. Not all is well if you’re the type of flake to jump ship to Verizon just because the iPhone was the only thing keeping you at AT&T—don’t cancel your contract just yet. Verizon iPhones are markedly different from the AT&T versions, mostly in their network access. AT&T uses GSM, whereas Verizon uses CDMA-equipped iPhones. What does all this mean? Without boring you to death, you can’t use one with the other’s service. Also, if you’re the type to check Verizon’s site every hour on the hour, you may note that Verizon had an image up of an elusive white iPhone 4 available for purchase. Well, you might want to refresh that page; it’s not there anymore. Sorry to bum you out.
Neurosis to re-issue “Souls at Zero”
If you have an unkempt beard and are wearing a black t-shirt right this second, you will likely own this record on three different colors of vinyl, so this news may not be of immediate interest. For the rest of you, however, read on. Neurosis, AKA “the band that inadvertently got one million people to stop listening to Limp Bizkit,” has decided to re-release one of its best albums next to “Times of Grace.” For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, Neurosis is an awesome metal band who is essentially responsible for the likes of today’s current crop of crushingly heavy, slower-paced metal bands like YOB, Sunn 0))), Torche and others. They’re also from the unlikely city of Oakland, and they rarely play shows in the United States, because while beardos buy up their vinyl with the quickness, they don’t seem to do so well stateside. However, not all hope is lost. A couple days ago, they played in San Francisco, twice. Here’s to hoping they play anywhere near here.
Coolest man in the world unearths new video game secret
On Wednesday, January 12, longtime Angry Video Game Nerd collaborator Mike Matei discovered a method to jump over the flagpole on stage 1-1 of 1985’s “Super Mario Bros.” for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Long known as a classic game beleaguered with glitches, no glitch had yet been discovered to jump over the flagpole and enter an alternate “minus world” which cannot be completed. Similar glitches exist in stage 3-3 of the game, which only involve carefully-timed jumps. Matei’s method requires an interesting scrolling glitch with an equally clever enemy re-spawn technique. Nerds the world over rejoice.
Tom Waits gives back
In March, photographer Michael O’Brien will release a book of images of homeless people, which will be accompanied by the poetry of gravel-voiced hipster-sage Tom Waits. In the meanwhile, however, Tom Waits has posted the entire poem online to read without having to buy O’Brien’s book. What’s more, Waits’ work will be available in a hardbound chapter book—albeit a tiny one—in February. The proceeds from the book, titled “Seeds on Hard Ground” will go entirely to several organizations, namely the Redwood Food Bank, the Sonoma County Homeless Referral Service and the Family Support Center of Santa Rosa, Calif. Personally, this is a great move, seeing as how Tom Waits is arguably the most influential musician of the last few generations. However, I really hope this doesn’t inspire even more Portland hipsters to start dressing as homeless in hopes Tom Waits will write a poem about them. The city doesn’t need more people hanging outside Voodoo Doughnuts who are dressed better than the clientele asking for change for vegan food. ?