Arc Attack, our favorite Tesla coil-playing musicians, have apparently been appearing on America’s Got Talent and rocking the fucking house with their nerdy music. Here they are playing Sabbath’s “Iron Man” — complete with a Tesla coil version of Tony Iommi’s insane guitar solo — and it’s clear that Howie Mandel’s mind is just totally blown. I’m not saying you need to watch America’s Got Talent, but if you are, do your nerd duty and vote for these guys. And thanks to Sean S. for the tip.
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.