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Nerve@SXSW 2006.
Blogging the Roman Orgy of Indie-music Festivals.
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The Daily Siege
An intimate and provocative look at Siege's life, work and loves.
Kate & Camilla
two best friends pursue business and pleasure in NYC.
Naughty James
The lustful, frantic diary of a young London photographer.
The Nerve Blog-a-log: kid_play
The Nerve Blog-a-log: Super_C
The Nerve Blog-a-log: ILoveYourMom
A bundle of sass who's trying to stop the same mistakes.
The Nerve Blog-a-log: The_Sentimental
Our newest Blog-a-logger.
The Nerve Blog-a-log: Marking_Up
Gay man in the Big Apple, full of apt metaphors and dry wit.
The Nerve Blog-a-log: SJ1000
Naughty and philosophical dispatches from the life of a writer-comedian who loves bathtubs and hates wearing underpants.
The Nerve Video Blog
Deep, deep inside the world of online video.
The Nerve Blog-a-log: charlotte_web
A Demi in search of her Ashton.
The Prowl, with Ryan Pfluger
Nerve @ Cannes Film Festival
May 16 - May 25
ScreenGrab
The Nerve Film Blog
Autumn
A fashionable L.A. photo editor exploring all manner of hyper-sexual girls down south.
The Modern Materialist
Almost everything you want.
The Nerve Blog-a-log: that_darn_cat
A sassy Canadian who will school you at Tetris.
Rose & Olive
Houston neighbors pull back the curtains and expose each other's lives.
The Nerve Blog-a-log: funkybrownchick
The name says it all.
merkley???
A former Mormon goes wild, and shoots nudes, in San Francisco.
chase
The creator of Supercult.com poses his pretty posse.
The Remote Island
Nerve's TV blog.
Brandonland
A California boy capturing beach parties, sunsets and plenty of skin.
61 Frames Per Second
Smarter gaming.
The Nerve Blog-a-log: Charlotte_Web
A Demi in search of her Ashton.
The Nerve Blog-a-log: Zeitgeisty
A Manhattan pip in search of his pipette.

The Modern Materialist

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  • Live Forever, For Pennies A Day [Really]

     

    I know this is going to sound like science fiction, and for now, it is; but very, very soon, there could be drugs on the market that will prolong your life to 120, and beyond, for the price of a bottle of Aspirin.

    How does it work? Well, I’ll tell you in simple terms:

    Read More...


    Posted Jun 03 2008, 01:30 PM by Alex Zalben with | with no comments
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  • Free Stuff: Go To Outer Space



    Want to see the world an entirely different way than you normally do? Don't have a million dollars? Well, no worries... You could go to space. For free.

    Seriously.

    Find out how, after the jump... 

     

    Read More...


    Posted May 30 2008, 10:30 AM by Alex Zalben with | with no comments
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  • Telescopes, Both Big and Small



    For those of you who missed the news this morning, the giant tunnel between New York and London is finally finished. Though you can’t walk through the center of the Earth yet, you can look through a giant Telectroscope, and see friends from across the world looking back at you. This is partially true, of course… The Telectroscope is an art exhibit created by Paul St. George to honor his father. However, you can actually see what’s happening on the opposite end of the Earth via an HD camera, and a high speed Internet connection. There are even greeters on each end with dry erase boards, so you can write messages. It’s probably the most darling thing ever, though I wonder how long it’ll be until someone has sex in front of it.

    On the other end of things is this secret Telescope Walking Stick:

    Read More...


    Posted May 23 2008, 04:30 PM by Alex Zalben with | with no comments
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  • Frog Anatomy Puzzle, or Why I Wanted To Be a Doctor

     

    In seventh grade biology class, like most kids, we were given the assignment to dissect a frog. I don’t remember whether we had lab partners at the time, but I do know that the class was given the assignment to remove the frog’s entire digestive tract. Of the ten groups in the class, I was the only student to successfully remove the entire tract, intact. Not only that, but after noticing a bulge in the stomach, and making a small incision, I found that there were two entire cicadas that had been perfectly preserved in the frog’s stomach!

    This gets less disgusting, after the jump... 

    Read More...


    Posted May 06 2008, 11:00 AM by Alex Zalben with | with no comments
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  • Get Your Own Space Suit

     

    When I was younger, and, as I was a little boy, I desperately wanted to be an astronaut. Now that I’m older, and have become aware of the dangers of space through documentaries like Armageddon, I’m fine here on Mother Earth, thank you.

    Find out how to reclaim your childhood, after the jump... 

    Read More...


    Posted May 05 2008, 05:30 PM by Alex Zalben with | with no comments
    Filed under: , ,
  • Fun Fact Measuring Cup

     


    Time for your daily dose of Think Geek… I tell you, though, I wouldn’t keep posting their stuff if it wasn’t so darn kewl.

    Direct from the Gods of Nerd themselves comes this delightfully dorky 20oz. measuring cup, which gives you measurements in ounces, and in fun facts, like “volume of the brain of a Tyrannosaurus Rex,” and “water in a cumulus cloud the size of a bus.”

    More science fun, after the jump... 

    Read More...


    Posted May 02 2008, 03:30 PM by Alex Zalben with | with no comments
    Filed under: ,
  • The Sweet & The Low: Home Planetarium



    A friend of mine recently had her first Bebeh, so naturally, I had to bring a super cool gift when I visited them. I went scouring several different stores, spent days trying to find something… Okay, that’s a lie. I walked into a baby store down the street, and the first thing I saw, I bought.

    Find out the exciting conclusion to the story, and another, related item, after the jump... 

    Read More...


    Posted Mar 13 2008, 03:30 PM by Alex Zalben with | with 3 comment(s)
    Filed under: ,

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  • about the blogger

    Wendy Atterberry is a recent transplant to New York City via Chicago. You can often find her at some karaoke dive bar singing her repertoire, which includes "Midnight Train to Georgia," "Daniel," and most recently, "Sweet Dreams." Don't expect her to always hit the right notes. She lives in Manhattan with her boyfriend and two cats, and has a blog like everyone else.

    Alex Zalben is a writer living in New York City. He's written for McSweeney's, Modern Humorist and PulpSecret.com. As one-fifth of the sketch comedy group Elephant Larry, he has been written up in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and pretty much every other major publication. Their blog was named one of PC Magazine's Top Blogs for 2007, and they recently won an ECNY Award for their viral short, "Minesweeper: The Movie." Alex did not know love until he bought his first Mac.

    Steph Auteri is a freelance just-about-everything, with a special fondness for home goods she can't afford. She has been published in Publishers Weekly, New York Press and Nerve. She runs the blog selfhelpme.net, and her work can be found at stephiswrite.com.

    Editorial Director, Nerve Media:
    Michael Martin

    Send tips to modernmaterialist@nerve.com