And the nominees are...totally up to you.

It's a random Friday in the middle of the month and you know what that means: nerdy man time. Let me know who you'd like to see nominated as Mr. May. You know the drill: he's got to have strong nerd credibility, loads of charm...and, well, beyond that, pretty much anything goes. So add your nominees in the comments and we'll start voting on Monday.

For a list of past winners, check out our Pantheon of Nerdy Men in the sidebar below.

News of the Day -- Thursday, May 8

+ Advertising is getting out of hand! Did you hear about the guy who can make clouds in the shape of corporate logos? Yup, Disney's going to have a giant, cloud mouse floating over Disneyland soon. And now, some real estate mogul in L.A. plans to recreate those video ads on the sides of skyscrapers from "Blade Runner." Yup, now residents of LA high-rises can live INSIDE a kitty litter billboard. Talk about dreams come true...

+ The one recurring item on my Christmas list every year since I was, well, born, has been a pony. I have always, always wanted a pony. And yet...not even I would get this: the Ridemaster Pro Horse Riding Simulator. I wasn't able to import the video directly but trust me, click on the above link and watch it. It's like a David Lynch movie.

+ New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art is currently hosting a nifty sounding exhibit called "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy," which looks at "how the superhero serves as the ultimate metaphor for fashion and its ability to empower and transform the human body." Nifty, indeed.

Review: Eddie Izzard's "Stripped"

Park Bench correspondent Meghann checks in with a fabulous report on Eddie Izzard new live show:

All my comedy fangirl dreams came true last night: I saw Eddie Izzard live and in person. And I am here to tell you folks, he is a stone cold fox.

I have never been shy about proclaiming my love and lust for Eddie Izzard – he’s hilarious, intelligent, and sexy. In this latest show, Stripped, Eddie proclaimed he’s going to talk about “everything.” He started with Wikipedia (since they have information about everything) and we go through the beginnings of the world, meandering off into tangents about hunters vs. gatherers (Eddie proclaims he would be a hunter), how giraffes could possibly hide, why the guy who plays “Flight of the Bumblebee” perfectly can’t get laid because he plays tuba, and of course, how there were millions of ducks after the Noah’s ark thing because ducks wouldn’t drown in the flood. Oh yeah, and he also talked about how there is no God. At length.

I was struck by the breadth of knowledge Eddie Izzard has about history, opera, world politics, religion, and the scope of the sounds he’s capable of making. I think this is the real genius of his work: it is at once absurd and smart like whoa. At one point, he impersonated an appendix- you know, the thing in your body. The strange thing about watching the show last night was that I totally enjoyed myself and had a great time but I couldn’t tell you any of the jokes or the punchlines. I could pretty much perform Glorious and Dress To Kill for you word-for-word, but that’s because I watched those videos a million and a half times back when I was single and needed company when I was falling asleep.

This show was a gift to my best friend for her birthday, so she and I and her sister and my boyfriend were all there at the Academy of Music last night...with just about every other theatre person in Philadelphia. We kept running into people we know and work with and honestly, I shouldn’t be surprised. Let’s distill the facts:

* Comedy
* Heavily quotable material
* Transvestite

OBVIOUSLY theatre people love Eddie Izzard.

Because people will ask, Eddie wore jeans, a black t-shirt, and black tails with red satin lining. Someone in the audience shouted “Where’s your stilettos!?” about 1/3 through the show, to which our hero replied “Fuck off, Nazi.” (Our audience was a bit shouty at times, which was lame.) Eddie sort of collected himself and did an explanation about being a transvestite and how it’s been kind of a double-edged sword for him in the States because he started stand up in the states wearing mens’ clothing, not sure he would get gigs in a dress. Then people started questioning if he really WAS a transvestite since he didn’t cross dress, so he started wearing dresses. THEN the reviewers started saying, “He looks like a mess.” So, he just wears what he feels like now. And then I fell in love with him all over again.

Long story short, I highly recommend seeing Eddie Izzard live if you get the chance. He’s off-the-cuff, bizarre and can handle a large room. He might even compliment your sneeze if you let one rip.

News of the Day -- Wednesday, May 7

+ Great news for fans of former Nerd Man of the Month honorees Simon Pegg and Nick Frost -- their acclaimed British TV series, "Spaced," is finally coming to DVD in the U.S. on July 22. Woo and hoo! (Thanks to tgrfan 23 for the tip!)

+ A full slate of Marvel films has been announced, starting with the Iron Man sequel on April 30, 2010. Other flicks to come focus on Thor, Captain America and The Avengers (sadly, not the one with Emma Peel and John Steed).

+ As you've probably heard, Stephen Colbert has won the "Webby Person of the Year" award for his brilliant manipulation of the Internet to do everything from push a presidential bid to getting his fans to earn him the title "greatest living American" in Google searches. I love that man.

+ Wow, how cool is this? The good people at Legoland in Windsor, England have built a 100-foot-tall Lego tower in celebration of the building blocks' 50th anniversary. This new tower tops the previous record of 96 feet, built last year in Toronto.

Back in my day, we had to watch TV in the snow, uphill and without shoes.

Most of you are probably too young to remember this, but there once was a time when TV shows were watched on specific nights at specific times. We call this B.D.V.R. or Before D.V.Rs. The advent of the DVR has been wonderful, allowing me to stockpile entire seasons of shows and have lost weekends eating waffles and watching 22 hours of “Top Chef.” It also has allowed me to compensate for distractions, complete incomprehension or those “he did not just say that, did he” moments that I get so much when I watch the news. All of those issues are solved with a quick press of the rewind button. In fact, rewinding live television is so awe-tastically-awesome, I find myself wanting to use it in other areas of my life, from listening to the radio to winning key arguments in spousal debates.

As with any invention, though, there are losses that accompany the advances. The worst, for me, is the loss of the Morning After TV Show Dissection and Recap. Back in the day, TV wasn’t as flexible. Sure, there were VCRs but it took actual effort to set a timer, find a blank top, making sure it wasn’t your Menudo All-Star Video and finally record the program. Not the easy “eh, I guess I’ll record that” way that we all have with our DVRs these days. Which meant that most people watched their favorite TV shows when they actually aired. Which meant the next day everyone in the dorm or office was talking about the same thing. Which was actually fun.

Back in the day, my office mates and I used to get together for lunch the day after X-Files aired just so we could go over what we’d seen the night before. We didn’t spend the whole hour talking about the show, but it was a great excuse to get together and catch up on each other’s lives…and talk about how hot David Duchovny was. Nowadays, you can excitedly ask someone, “Did you see ‘Lost’ last night?” and they’ll tell you no, they DVRed it and intend to watch it tomorrow or next weekend or are saving it up for their own lost weekend. (Of “Lost!” See what I did there?)

TV shows used to build camaraderie. Sure, there are message boards now where we can get fanatical en masse, but everything is so structured. You’ve got to worry about spoilers. You have to make sure you’re in the right thread. You worry if some insane Belgian is going to flame you. (Dear Belgians, I have a deep affection for you and your chocolates. Your nationality was chosen at random…and also because Belgian is a funny word.) Anyway, it’s just not the same as freewheelin’ geeky ladies getting together to talk sci-fi over a few cups of soup. Or booze. I do not judge.

I don’t regret the arrival of DVRs or online content or the dismantling of the TV seasons. All of those things have given flexibility to busy individuals and families. At the same time, though, I can’t help but lament the loss of fun, of excitement and friendship that went hand in hand in the days when we were all glued to the same screens at the same time.