Kevin Pereira Gives Us a leetUp

Attack of a Different Kind of Show

Through G4's Attack of the Show and his appearances on the Nerdist podcast we feel like we've gotten to know Kevin Pereira pretty well. So when we found out he was planning a massive nerd party, we immediately emailed him to make sure he had the correct address for our evite and we also managed to ask him a few questions about the leetUp.

Nerdist News: leetUP is described as a "carnival of nerdly delights." What was the inspiration behind creating  a showcase like this and what do you hope to achieve with it?

Kevin Pereira: I'm interested in so many different things: gaming, music, technology, cotton-candy, art, communications, RC cars, cartoon tugboats, pop culture, etc. Every year, there are tentpole events that specifically cater to some of those passions, but I wanted to stuff a single night with a handful of 'em, then wrap that in bacon, deep-fry it in alcohol and call it a party! That's what I hope to create: a festive night of nerd-entertainment.

NN: With the success of Attack of the Show and other programming like The Nerdist on BBC America getting increased airtime, where do you see geek culture heading in 2012?

KP: 2012 will be a great time to be a "geek", regardless of your passion. The media landscape is changing; "airtime" that's measured by mouse-clicks is becoming just as relevant as airtime measured in minutes.

NN: What piece of advice would you give to an aspiring entrepre-nerd?

KP: Own you. I've heard this basic concept repeated countless times in various ways, but basically, own yourself. Nobody can be "you", you've got the market cornered on "you", so infuse all your projects and passions with a metric-ton of yourself.

The first leetUp from Kevin, Charles Hirschhorn and iam8bit takes place on March 1st at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. Read our full interview with Kevin here and get more info from @kpereira and @leetup on Twitter.

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