The "rent party" for hacker collective Resistor's downtown Brooklyn space was awesomely nerd-tastic. We woke up with a hangover from the Bar-bot, a robot programmed to make mixed drinks in beakers. Also a mystery: a diagram of a circuit drawn in permanent marker across our entire forearm that we're still trying to explain, as well as wash off. "It's basically just a device that would blink on and off. See the LED?" said one charming hacker. Naturally. Click to see the Bar-bot!

Hey nerds, guess what? Being smart is no longer an excuse for being fat. The "ripsters" thing Nick Sylvester made up comes to terrifying life in today's Observer, where Doree Shafrir investigates tall tales of New York boys who read contemporary fiction but secretly have defined abdominal muscles. These literary Lotharios are real, and they're totally embarrassed about how they look good shirtless:

Remember in 1984 when you went to see Dune and you were totally psyched but 20 minutes into it you started thinking maybe you got a hold of some bad fish sticks at lunch? And after an hour the theater was all hot and twisting and you were sure you had mono? And then in 2000 there was that Dune miniseries that only had three parts but felt like it had a lot more? Well, Paramount is having another go at bringing Frank Herbert's 1965 sci-fi novel to the screen. Friday Night Lights director Peter Berg is signed to helm what producers promise will be a "more faithful" interpretation of the book. Is that a good thing? [Wired]

This new Broadway musical-themed ad for the Mohegan Sun Casino has inspired reaction on the ad blogs that spans the entire spectrum from "trite" to "gag" to "shit" to "I'd quit if I worked on that" (and indeed, the ad has been mysteriously pulled from YouTube—and UPDATE, the agency tells us that they didn't "pull the spot," just replaced a "rough cut" with the final version). What is for sure is that this is one casino where you are not in danger of, say, waking up in the morning with cocaine strewn across your room and a hazy memory of marrying a hooker; a more likely scenario is having a helluva energetic song and dance session with other goofy, middle aged whites, then going straight to bed to wake up in time for church. Count us in! The full ad [via Agency Spy], after the jump.

Hey, raging creative underclass! Remember playing pencil-and-paper role-playing games in high school college? I don't, because I was cool and played real-time strategy games on my computer instead. But my friends did! And they were among millions who played Dungeons & Dragons, the first commercial role-playing game. My friends weren't stereotypical nerds (they were unique and unpeggable nerds); they loved plot and character, and in addition to writing and drawing, they told each other stories through RPGs like D&D and Mage. So after the death of D&D creator Gary Gygax this week, I asked my friend Mark Beall to talk about his experience as a literary RPG fan.

Everybody knows that books are a bitch to move and pack! They're even harder to store and display in cramped urban quarters. How to fix? Go the obsessive route and turn every square inch of your apartment into a custom-made book-storage unit. Check out this staircase-bookshelf!

The National Book Critics Circle blog, called "Critical Mass," is the place we go to get unreasonable and uninformed comment on matters of the day. But now it's reaching new heights of excitement! Blogs Joan Silber, a 2004 National Book Award Finalist: "As it happens, I'm talking to you during the particular week when I'm moving out of a loft in Noho where I've lived for 33 years."

Facebook's "secret" New York office is at 551 Fifth Avenue, just up from 45th Street. That is where we will all find adorable but nerdy and newly-rich boyfriends together. RACE YOU. GET 'EM WHILE THEY'RE (SORTA) HOT. [Alley Insider]

Watch out, Randi Jayne. Hollywood actor Sean Hayes is moving in on your nerd-chic musical territory. Earlier this week, Hayes joined a reading of "Nerds://A Musical Software Satire." Unlike the work of Jayne, however, the Facebook employee and sister of CEO Mark Zuckerberg, "Nerds" is far from Techmeme-current. Instead, the musical explores the decades-old rivalry of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and Apple CEO Steve Jobs. As such, it's unlikely to draw much of an audience in the Valley, to whom the story's all too familiar, and old. But the names of Gates and Jobs may just be familiar enough to draw in the the Midwestern tourists who fill Broadway's seats, and Hayes's star power won't hurt. Here's an idea for the producers to draw Silicon Valley fans: Cast the petite but sparky Jayne as diminutive venture capitalist Ann Winblad, Gates's ex-girlfriend and occasional vacation companion.

The ability to appreciate fine pizza — or the ability to reject utter shit pizza — is pretty much inversely proportionate to alcohol intake. So, if one plans on visiting any of New York's temples of fine pies, such as Patsy's or Lombardi's, one had best make it the first stop of the evening. Otherwise, you end up hitting a Ray's at 3 a.m., telling the counterman not to even bother heating up whatever scabrous nastiness they've got left. You just need something to soak up the booze. There's a whole other level of exalted pizza appreciation in the person of Jeff Varasano, who spent years (years!) trying to clone the recipe for Patsy's pizza after he left New York. Just how much of a super-nerd is Jeff? In addition to precise equipment, exacting technique, and obsessive measuring of flour and yeast, there's also spreadsheet involved. And many of Jeff's pizza experimentation photos take on the clinical air of a dissection (or autopsy). We're pretty sure the Italians (or more likely Ecuadorians) actually making the pies at Patsy's are not Excel-proficient.

Unbelievable catch by Brian Stelter at TVNewser, courtesy of an eagle-eyed tipster: CBS visibly altered Katie Couric's photo in its Watch Magazine, slenderizing her waist, arms and neck. Yowsers! TVNewser id's the first photo as Katie's official CBS photo, taken at the upfronts in May. Let's hear it for transparency and accuracy in the news! Paging Adnan Hajj...

The Post provides a startling reminder of the raw courage that is the American celebrity: