When I was a kid, I used to rush home from elementary school to watch Toonami. And although my teachers would hound me for missing my homework the next day, I spent hours in front of the television, glued to hours of animation. Between each episode were inspirational AMVs (animated music videos) that gave me the strength to get through school the next day.

My siblings and I would take breaks between shows to watch MTV and BET, catching up on all of the insane 90’s music videos featured at the time. Busta Rhymes and Missy Elliot were taking weird to a whole new level in hip-hop, while the Foo Fighters and Beck were showing us that rock music can be just as loony. We lived in that space, musically. Jammin’ out to Outkast in the car just as easily as the video game soundtracks I’d download-very, horrifically slowly-on our dial up internet connection.

A few years later I was sacrificing sleep to sneak into the living room to watch Adult Swim. Late night programming for “definitely-not-kids” that all my friends would rave about in middle school. Space Ghost, Cowboy Bebop, Full Metal Alchemist. All packed between soundclips of J Dilla, MF DOOM, and Flying Lotus. I would later become huge fans of all three.

I spent my time absorbed in all of it, nerd media and a hodgepodge of miscellaneous music. Punk rock shook my world (and my grades) while the high school library fueled my comic book addiction. People couldn’t get a vibe on what kind of person I was, and I didn’t really know either. I rolled my first d20 at age 14, the same year I memorized College Dropout from beginning to end. My weekends were spent walking the several miles to the movie theater, arguing with friends over who would win between Captain America and Iron Man, or planning how to make money for the newest video game.

But between all of the excitement and journeys to find myself, I realized something that every nerd does.

I was different.

All the shonen I’d absorbed in my youth made me feel as if I was destined for something incredible, and that it was all waiting for me just around the next corner. It made me believe that even though I was the weird black kid, that I would become Hokage or Lupe Fiasco or the next Blade.

Remember Blade? Blade was fuckin’ raw. But I digress.

I’ve turned a lot of corners and I’m not the Navigator of the Trimaxion Drone Ship. Darn. Nor am I the Chosen One, and I’m about 80% sure that I’m not a replicant. My parents are my real parents so I’m not from Krypton (and neither are they), and I’ve yet to be bitten by any radio-active spiders.

Greatness is what you make of your life, as I’ve learned from the nerds before me. Those who create from a place of passion and honesty find themselves surrounded by others who no longer have to feel something we have all felt in our lives.

Otherness.

This is where I’ve gathered together people with similar backgrounds, in that we were raised off of nerd media and want to use our lives to promote, analyse, and create more. Because all of it helped make us who we are. Because the people out there creating are the ones who felt the same way that we all have. And they chose to make stories for us, to be a guiding light through troubling times.

Whether those times consist of dealing with racism, sexism, bullying, transphobia, homophobia; we’re all nerds. We bond over our sameness and enjoy the perspectives that our differences bring to the table.

So here is the home where we digest it all. Games, film, music, art, animation, and all the nerdy news we feel inclined to share. Our purpose is to understand and expand on what makes high quality media work, and to reflect on what low quality media is lacking. And of course if you truly appreciate something, you should be able to see both the flaws and strengths of its character.

We’re dedicated to releasing one post daily at 12pm PST, and The DesC podcast will be releasing bi-weekly with some fun stuff in between. You can find season one of the podcast here. Check it out, leave a comment and a like, and feel free to share what you dig.

Welcome home.

Editor-in-Chief
David “DC” Collins
@bukowskionice