IN WHICH hip-hop collides with chess in a smash-up of pure awesomeness, and Warren Ellis finally wraps up one of his 7,452 open storylines.
Briana's pick: Wu-Chess
Take heed hip-hoppers and chess nerds. WuChess is here to bring the online ruckus to your living room. If you haven’t discovered it by now (the site was launched back in 2008), then wuchess.com will come as good news to those of you who like to spend a fall afternoon, curled up on the couch, listening to hard-core rap and cultivating your chess skills.
“The game of chess is like a swordfight. You must think first, before you move.” If you’ve heard this line before then you’re either a big fan of kung-fu flicks or familiar with the classic album “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)” and the track off that album, “Da Mystery of Chessboxin’ ” by hip-hop collective, Wu-Tang Clan. If you are not familiar with the group, then it may come as a surprise to you that several of the members are huge chess fans and master players.
But the RZA took his love of the game one step further when he took the game off the streets, out of the parlor and online. The site is described as “the world's only hip hop and chess community. Connect with hip hop fans and chess enthusiasts from around the world. This is hardcore chess with half the stuffiness.”
You may never leave your home again!
James’ pick: Planetary #27
This one was a long time coming. A loooong time. But last week, after an eight-year hiatus, crazy genius writer Warren Ellis has finally wrapped up his comic book saga “Planetary” with the climactic issue 27. The story that started in 1998 is finally complete, and man is it good. Here's the fold-out cover of the final issue:
Planetary is a sort of superhero take on the X-Files concept – the three main characters are “archaeologists of the impossible,” researching the secret histories of the world. So you have massive global conspiracies and gleaming cities of gold and alien artifacts and evil corporations pulling the strings behind everything. (Not that far fetched, when you write it all out like that.)
The leader of the Planetary team is Elijah Snow, a wicked cool guy who is nearly 100 years old (he looks about 40) with the power of “heat subtraction” – he can freeze things (and people). Another member is The Drummer (“that’s my name – first name The, last name Drummer”), who communicates with electronic devices and radio waves by picking up vibrations in the air. And he carries drumsticks everywhere, which he usually taps on the machines while he’s “talking” with them.
All of this is about 100 times weirder and more imaginative than I’ve been able to suggest. It’s just a mind-blowing story, and now that it’s complete, the complete run makes for one hell of a Saturday afternoon.
[podcast]http://archive.wfpk.org/Podcasts/20091016-nerdy.mp3[/podcast]