I’m one of those rare species referred to as a “Girl Gamer” (though, seriously, I honestly don’t think we’re so rare – I know A LOT of girl gamers and to think that we’re a minority is kind of insulting). My drug game of choice? World of Warcraft. Both Ash and I have been out of commission for the past year I think for lack of funds, but in the coming weeks we’ll be starting up our characters again (the sole reason of my getting an office job is to pay for my addictions, you see). I hesitate to give our out names and server because it is more likely we’ll be switching soon and starting anew since it’s been so long (though I’m not sure I want to give up my Glenwyn Belf quite yet). In any case, I’ll keep you informed (because you care).

The other reason for this post. This:

Because there’s always that slim chance that someone has not seen it, I thought I’d post it (again? I think? I’m pretty sure I already posted this when it first came out but I can’t find the original entry).

Come on. Felicia Day? In character? Hot. (Also, be sure to check out The Guild. Funny stuff.)

Growing up, I loved comic books.

Yeah, who am I kidding? I never grew up, and I still love comic books. Graphic novels. Writings with pictures. The works. It started with X-Men and Archie, became an obsession with Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, and culminated into a fascination with how art evolved in comics throughout the years. I love learning about comic histories and back stories of superheroes. Really, I just love comic book heroes in general, so I thought I’d share with you a few of my favorites.

The Comic Book Heroes!

Storm (Marvel)
Best Known From: X-Men

Ororo Iqadi T’Challa, the daughter of a Kenyan Princess and an African photojournalist, was a promising thief in Cairo when she met Professor X of the X-Men. He saw within her great potential and took her under his wing. With the X-Men, she became one of its leaders and the beautifully dangerous Storm was born.

Beast Boy (DC Comics)
Best Known From: Teen Titans

Garfield Mark “Gar” Logan had the unfortunate mishap of being bitten by a green monkey when he was a boy, and due to the medicine given to him to save his life, his own skin turned green and his powers to shape-shift were established. Beast Boy (or Changeling as he was known as for awhile) was a part of the Doom Patrol and later the Teen Titans.

Batwoman (DC Comics)
Best Known From: Batman

Batwoman is the alter ego of Katherine “Kate” Kane and was originally the love interest of Batman in the 50s. The modern Batwoman, however, is a Jewish lesbian with several tattoos and a punk persona. Like Batman, her powers rely more on her feminine-disguised gadgets rather than any super human powers.

Abe Sapien (Dark Horse Comics)
Best Known From: Hellboy

Abraham “Abe” Sapien is an Icthyo sapien, which can best be described as a “merman.” Originally a man named Langdon Everett Caul who was turned into his current appearance by an underwater deity and a misplaced ritual, was saved by Hellboy a century later from curious scientists who named him Abraham after the date that was written on the side of the tube they found him in: April 14, 1865 (the day Lincoln was shot).

Death (Vertigo)
Best Known From: The Sandman

The second oldest of the family of Endless, Death is the only one not tied with limitations. She is portrayed as a young goth girl, perky, with an silver ankh around her neck. She comes to humans when they are born and when they die, and one day a century, she becomes a mortal doomed to die to better understand those she works with.

The Comic-Con Contest

In exactly ten days from today, Comic Con will take over San Diego, and in honor of this event, I have decided to hold a contest, because who doesn’t love winning free stuff? Since I can’t actually attend the event, I thought this would be a fun way to take part.

The Rules

01. You may comment one time on this entry.
02. Tell me who your favorite Superhero or Comic book character is and why.
03. On the first day of Comic Con (July 22rd – 12:01am) the contest will end and I will pull together all the entries and randomly pick a winner.
04. The winner will be announced here and receive an email by the last day of Comic Con (July 26th).

The Prize

The winner of the contest will receive a brand new unwrapped DVD copy of Hancock: 1-Disc Unrated Edition. Hancock is a movie about a down-and-out super hero who has kind of fallen to the wayside until a friendly publicist decides to turn things around for him. Unfortunately, neither took into account the publicist’s wife. The movie features Will Smith and Charlize Theron and was directed by Peter Berg. It is rated PG-13 and is a total of 102 minutes long.

So what are you waiting for? Comment with your favorite Comic book character and enter the contest – it’s free, so why not join in? Everyone loves winning.

Hey, something to blog about (thanks Amanda). It’s March 24th, Ada Lovelace Day! What does this mean? It means that today is a day to celebrate all women in technology!

Who was Ada?
Born Augusta Ada Byron, but now known simply as Ada Lovelace, she wrote the world’s first computer programmes for the Analytical Engine, a general-purpose machine that Charles Babbage had invented. she translated Luigi Menabrea’s memoir on Babbage’s Analytical Engine, appending notes that included a method for calculating Bernoulli numbers with the machine – the first computer programme. She also wrote the very first description of a computer and of software.

Roberta Williams: Graphic Adventure Queen

Some people, over the years, thought that I only achieved what I had achieved because of my husband, but, I always countered those people that the company was started because of a game that I wrote…not something my husband wrote. Therefore, it could be argued that he was there because of ME, not vice versa.

My Tech Heroine: Roberta Williams (quoted above)

To those of you who know Roberta Williams, it should be of no surprise to you that I chose her as my tech heroine. I am a gamer. I have loved playing computer games, and Roberta Williams was the only woman to be included in PC Gamer’s Game God Exclusive. She is the genius behind one of the first huge computer adventures games: King’s Quest. She also created the much lesser known Dark Crystal computer game (a game I always wanted). She and her husband were the original masterminds behind Sierra On-line, one of the first computer game companies, and her company was the first to include a female as a main character in a game (which not only did NOT ruin the game, but brought in even more gamers – girls!).

Known as “Queen of the Graphic Adventure,” Williams made a significant impact in the world of computer gaming. She laid down the foundations of generations of adventure games. In a world dominated by men, Williams became the first successful female game designer, paving the way for the many females who have followed her footsteps. Adventure Classic Gaming even called her “the single most successful adventure game designer ever lived.” Between 1984 and 1998, eight different games came out in the series King’s Quest.

If you’ve ever had the chance to play these games, you’ll understand right away why I say that Roberta Williams is a worldbuilder. I guess that’s one of the reasons why I love adventure games. Not only does the games have their own histories and worlds, but I also just love games that challenge my mind – I love having to think about things and figure out how to do something to get to the next step. I prefer it over the brute-strength and waging battles of other games (even though I love WoW). King’s Quest is a great game because you have to take things you find earlier in the game and use them to solve something later on. One of the reasons I’m such a hoarder in Warcraft is because in King’s Quest, every single item might have meaning later on in the game (even a rotten apple core!) and you shouldn’t throw away anything. You never know what might be useful.

Roberta Williams created a new way to play adventure games. You could say that she’s the reason we have such deep layers of history in even the most heavily played MMORPGs. When it comes to computers, gaming, and technology, Roberta Williams has cemented her place in history. She is the number one female gamer ever.

Who’s your female tech heroine?

I’m currently 112 in the queue to play World of Warcraft. Better than being in the thousands, I suppose.

That’s Rufus wearing the doggy kerchief I made him. I got some new yarn today in the mail today so after I finish the kitschy kerchief I’m working on (for myself), I want to try something a little harder. I’m happy to be knitting again, I just wish I had more time for it. Since I’m jobless at the moment, my time is generally divided up between drawing with my new art supplies, knitting, or playing WoW. All the while watching documentaries on the History channel. This morning we did take a break from all that and went outside and played with my remote control Dragonfly. That was fun and we’ll probably do it again tomorrow (if it doesn’t rain – which it looks like it will).

I am so craving chocolate right now. Oh man, oh man. And I’ve moved up to 69 in the queue. It’s going fast tonight. Almost WoW time!

Playing WoW, talking about knitting, and watching Banned from the Bible. What a night. I’m a wild child, can you tell?