Movie Nerd Event

Goonies was released in the U.S. on June 7, 1985

The Goonies is a 1985 American adventure-comedy film directed by Richard Donner. The screenplay was written by Chris Columbus from a story by executive producer Steven Spielberg. The film’s premise is that a band of pre-teens who live in the “Goon Docks” neighborhood of Astoria, Oregon try to save their homes from demolition, and in so doing, discover an old Spanish map that leads them on an adventure to unearth the long-lost fortune of One-Eyed Willie, a legendary 17th-century pirate. Film critics were generally favorable toward The Goonies. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 63% of critics have given the film a positive review, based on 41 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10 and the critical consensus: “An energetic, sometimes noisy mix of Spielbergian sentiment and funhouse tricks that will appeal to kids and nostalgic adults alike.” At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, it has a rating score of 60, indicating “mixed or average reviews”. Several reviewers noted that the film appeared to be enjoyable for children and teens, but not so much for adults.

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Artist Nerd, Music Nerd

Edgar Froese (founder of Tangerine Dream) was born on June 6, 1944

Edgar Wilmar Froese is a German artist and electronic music pioneer, best known for founding the electronic music group, Tangerine Dream. Although his solo and group recordings prior to 2003 name him as “Edgar Froese”, his solo albums from 2003 onward bear the artist name “Edgar W. Froese”. Froese was born in Tilsit (Sovetsk), East Prussia, during World War II. He took piano lessons from the age of 12, and started playing guitar at 15. After showing an early aptitude for art, Froese enrolled at the Academy of the Arts in West Berlin to study painting and sculpture. In 1965, he formed a band called The Ones, which played rock and R&B standards. While playing in Spain, The Ones were invited to perform at Salvador Dalí’s villa in Cadaqués. Froese’s encounter with Dalí was highly influential, inspiring him to pursue more experimental directions with his music. The Ones disbanded in 1967, having released only one single (“Lady Greengrass” / “Love of Mine”). After returning to Berlin, Froese began recruiting musicians for the free-rock band that would become Tangerine Dream. Froese’s composition “Stuntman” has been used as the opening theme music for “Mabat Sheni” (“Second Look”), an investigative news program from Channel One television in Israel, since the 1980s. Edgar Froese has declared himself to be a non-smoker, non drug user, and vegetarian.

Computer Nerd Event

The first Apple II computers went on sale on June 5, 1977

The Apple II (styled as Apple ][ ) is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products,[2] designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) and introduced in 1977. It is the first model in a series of computers which were produced until Apple IIe production ceased in November 1993. The first Apple II computers went on sale on June 5, 1977 with a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor running at 1 MHz, 4 kB of RAM, an audio cassette interface for loading programs and storing data, and the Integer BASIC programming language built into the ROMs. The video controller displayed 24 lines by 40 columns of monochrome, upper-case-only (the original character set matches ASCII characters 20h to 5Fh) text on the screen, with NTSC composite video output suitable for display on a TV monitor, or on a regular TV set by way of a separate RF modulator. The original retail price of the computer was 1298 USD (with 4 kB of RAM) and 2638 USD (with the maximum 48 kB of RAM). To reflect the computer’s color graphics capability, the Apple logo on the casing was represented using rainbow stripes, which remained a part of Apple’s corporate logo until early 1998. The earliest Apple II’s were assembled in Silicon Valley, and later in Texas; printed circuit boards were manufactured in Ireland and Singapore.

Movie Nerd Event, Science Fiction Nerd Event

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was released on June 4, 1982

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a 1982 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. The film is the second feature based on the Star Trek science fiction franchise. The plot features James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the starship USS Enterprise facing off against the genetically-engineered tyrant Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán), a character who first appeared in the 1967 Star Trek television series episode “Space Seed”. When Khan escapes from a 15-year exile to exact revenge on Kirk, the crew of the Enterprise must stop him from acquiring a powerful terraforming device named Genesis. The film concludes with the death of Enterprise crewmember Spock (Leonard Nimoy), beginning a story arc that continues with the 1984 film Star Trek III: The Search For Spock and concludes with 1986’s Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

Actor Nerd, Comedy Nerd, Television Nerd, Writer Nerd

John Hodgeman (American author, actor, and humorist) was born on June 3, 1971

John Kellogg Hodgman is an American author, actor and humorist. In addition to his published written works, such as The Areas of My Expertise, More Information Than You Require, and That Is All, he is known for his personification of a PC in contrast to Justin Long’s personification of a Mac in Apple’s “Get a Mac” advertising campaign, and for his work as a correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. His writings have been published in One Story (to which he contributed the debut story), The Paris Review, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Wired and The New York Times Magazine, for which he is editor of the humor section. He contributes to Public Radio International’s This American Life, and CBC Radio One’s Wiretap. His first book and accompanying audio narration, The Areas of My Expertise, a satirical tongue-in-cheek almanac which actually contains almost no factual information, was published in 2005. His second book, More Information Than You Require, went on sale October 21, 2008. His third book, That Is All, went on sale November 1, 2011. Hodgman was the headline speaker at the 2009 Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, D.C.

Music Nerd, Writer Nerd

Tim Rice-Oxley (musician, producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist) was born on June 2, 1976

Timothy James “Tim” Rice-Oxley is a musician, producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist best known for being keyboardist, singer and songwriter in the British band Keane. In 2010 he formed a side-project, Mt. Desolation, with his Keane bandmate Jesse Quin. In 1997, Rice-Oxley convinced Scott and Hughes to let Chaplin join the band. It was in this year that the band took the name “Keane”. During their stint in London, Rice-Oxley shared a flat with Chaplin in Stoke Newington and they attempted to raise money for rehearsal time. When Scott left the band in July 2001, Rice-Oxley started playing the piano. He continues to play bass; however now the parts are pre-recorded and are sampled in live gigs through an Apple Powerbook.

Technology Nerd, Writer Nerd

Don Tapscott (Canadian author and business strategist) was born June 1, 1947

Don Tapscott is a Canadian business executive, author, consultant and speaker, specializing in business strategy, innovation, organizational transformation and the role of technology in business and society. Tapscott is chairman of business strategy think tank New Paradigm (now nGenera Insight), which he founded in 1993. Tapscott is also a member of World Economic Forum and Adjunct Professor of Management at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Tapscott consults with heads of state, cities and corporations under Tapscott Group advisory services. Tapscott holds a B.Sc. in Psychology and Statistics, and an M.Ed. specializing in Research Methodology. He also holds three honorary Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) granted by the University of Alberta in 2001, Trent University in 2006, and McMaster University in 2010. While earning his Master’s of Education at the University of Alberta, he ran for mayor of Edmonton in the 1977 municipal election. In 2011, Tapscott placed ninth in the Thinkers50 ranking of the world’s most influential management thinkers. In 2012, Tapscott received the Yorktown Humanitarian Award for community service. Tapscott has authored or co-authored thirteen books on the application of technology in business and society. His fourteenth book Macrowikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World, co-authored by Anthony D. Williams was released in September 2010 and was shortlisted for the Thinkers50 Book Award. Macrowikinomics is the follow-up to Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything (2006) also co-authored by Anthony D. Williams. Wikinomics was an international bestseller, #1 on the 2007 management book charts, and was translated into 20 languages.