Nerd Nite Los Angeles - May 2025

Nerd Nite is fun-yet-informative lectures at a bar. It's like TED Talks...but with beer.

We all know that learning is more fun when you’re drinking with friends and colleagues. Thus, Nerd Nite is a monthly event held in more than 100 cities across the globe during which several folks give 20-minute fun-yet-informative and easily accessible presentations across all disciplines – while the audience drinks along.

https://linktr.ee/nerdnitela

FAQ's:

- Doors open at 7pm. Intro at 7:45pm. Presentations at 8pm.

- The Brewyard Beer Company is a 21+ venue.

- There is free street parking surrounding the bar, but we recommend utilizing a ride share service.

PRESENTATION LINE-UP:

PRESENTATION #1: Local Haunts: The Legacy of Late Night Horror Hosts

By Phil Tice

Summary: Have you ever been surfing the TV waves late at night and stumbled across a strange channel, with cardboard dungeon sets, rubber bats, and a mysterious character making corny Halloween puns? You're not in the Twilight Zone – you've stumbled into the wild world of Late Night Horror Hosts! Take a journey through the cathode tubes of TV history with Phil Tice as he introduces you to beloved regional frightmakers like "Vampira", "Svenghoulie", and "Dr. Acula", the unsung haunt heroes who have spent the seventy years bringing forgotten horror flicks to the small screen to spook the next generation of audiences. Are they just a fun bunch of eccentrics in vinyl capes, or are these late night hosts secretly essential to preserving humanity's oral tradition of scary storytelling? Tune in and find out, ghoulies!

Bio: Phil Tice is a horror filmmaker, author, and special effects makeup artist, originally hailing from the Great State of New Jersey, now making monsters here in Hollywood. After graduating from Boston's Emerson College with a BFA in Writing for Film and Television, Phil relocated to Los Angeles, where he works as a Creative Executive at Brass Mantle Entertainment alongside his mentor, 2-time Academy Award nominated screenwriter David Magee. Phil's films have been featured in festivals across the country and he published his first horror story collection – "High Strangeness: Tales from the Edge of the Unknown" – in 2022.


PRESENTATION #2: The Sith: A Dynasty of Evil

By Matt Scully

Summary: Darth Vader is one of the most iconic villains in fiction. Yet the Sith, the Dark Side order he is a part of, goes largely unexplained in the Star Wars films. Who are Sith? What are the Sith? Where did the Sith come from? Why do they seek revenge against the Jedi? The answers to these questions lie not in the films but in the novels, comics, and other supplemental material that make up the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Matt Scully, a lifelong Star Wars fanatic, will unveil the secrets of the Legends and Lore of the Sith.

Bio: Matt Scully is a creative coordinator at Marvel Studios Animation and lives in Burbank, California. He studied Sequential and Comic Art at the Savannah College of Art and Design, where he received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Art. Entranced by the magic of Star Wars at a young age, Matt has consumed Star Wars media for over 25 years. A nonprofessional expert, Matt strikes a healthy and balanced love for the franchise.


PRESENTATION #3: Lizards in Wonderland: Why You Should Stop Ignoring the Society of Small Scaly Beasts Living in Your Yard

By Emily N. Taylor

Summary: California is a wonderland for the small and scaly beasts we call lizards, yet most of us ignore them as background noise. Professor and author Emily N. Taylor cures our collective "sauroblivion" in her recent book California Lizards and How To Find Them, and in her presentation, she will regale us with delightful tails, beautiful photos, and hilarious footage of our tiny four-legged friends.

Bio: Emily Taylor was born in a year of the dragon, and she spends her days watching the antics of the little dragons that fill our yards and open spaces. She is a biology professor at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. She lives in Atascadero with a menagerie of rescued creatures, including a bearded dragon named Aperol Spritz and a bearded husband named Steve.