This coming Tuesday is going to be an excellent mashup of indie media and geeks. The evening starts with an awesome Intersection for the Arts event showcasing alternative media — the evening’s “spotlighted guests” are my very own other magazine and the super-cool local science fiction press Tachyon Publications. Show starts at 7:30, and is at the Intersection for the Arts (sliding scale $5-15 at the door). Reading for other are feminist blogger Liz Henry and fanboy extraordinaire Chris Garcia. Reading for Tachyon are the incomparable Terry Bisson and Peter S. Beagle (who changed my universe forever when I read his book The Last Unicorn in sixth grade).

Then, from 8-10 PM is another installment of NerdSalon, the semi-regular geek brawl I host with lawyer/freedom fighter/professor Jennifer Granick at 111 Minna. There will be the usual puzzle (winners get alcohol!) and at 9 PM — at which point I will race in from a taxi I’ve taken from Intersection for the Arts — we’ll have a special robot soccer game masterminded by RoboGames producers David Calkins and Simone Davalos. Three robots controlled by Star Wars fans will face off against three robots controlled by Trekkers. You can’t miss it.

Do you ever wonder what to do when somebody calls your cell phone and hangs up? I ask this question because now that most cell phones do automatic traces on calls, it’s reasonable to think that callers may expect you to know they’ve called. Maybe they expect a call back? What exactly are the new rules of politeness in an era when it’s not just the government who is tracking all your phone calls, but also your own handheld devices?

Find out more in my column this week, where I point out:

In an alternate universe, the National Security Agency’s database of every telephone call made over the past five years in the United States is being used in couples counseling sessions to prove that some guy really did say that mean thing his boyfriend says he said.

It’s been a long week and a half. I covered two interesting conferences for Wired News, and now you can read what I had to say about Sex in Videogames and Where 2.0. Discover how I satisfied my inner sex geek and my inner geospacial geek (in that order)!

I also spent a lot of time thinking about a new study demonstrating that dolphins name each other. Read about why dolphins need to get themselves some guns before humans start listening.

Late last week, Wired News published my story about visiting the set of Cherub, a highly successful fan-made Web satire of Joss Whedon’s TV series Angel.  Cherub just wrapped filming for its second season, and it was a real treat to see the cast and crew in action. They filmed in show creator Scott O. Moore’s converted garage, and yet managed to have a very professional setup with excellent camera equipment, as well as truly excellent actors. The group even let me play a bit part as an evil elf in the Christmas episode.

Fan shows like Cherub demonstrate how much our creativity is dependent on being able to use already-existing culture as a springboard for our fancies. Copyright expansionists would like to see fan films squelched because they dare to use familiar characters and situations to tell new stories. Though Cherub is a clear parody, and hopefully won’t be targeted by Warner Bros.’ lawyers, it’s part of a new wave of popular culture made possible by media remixing. To find out more about cool fan films set in the Whedonverse, read my article!

Find out why.

For the second year in a row, one of my articles has been featured in Cleis Press’ “Best Sex Writing” anthology! This Wednesday at Modern Times Bookstore, you can hear me and four other amazing contributors read from our essays in the book. The reading is free, though you’ll probably find yourself wanting to buy a book or two from Modern Times’ fantastic selection of progressive and small press books (I recommend you give in to your urges and support this great indie bookstore).

Show is this Wed., June 7, and starts at 7:30, and will include readings from me, Felice Newman, Paul Festa, Mark Pritchard, and Stephen Elliott.

See you there!

I got to talk about RFID chips and privacy on CBC’s Gen X news show “The Hour,” which was really fun. If you watch carefully, you’ll see that I’m wearing a Tor t-shirt!