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.)

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.

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?

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?

Here are the details. She has a NVIDIA GeForce 6150 on her HP Pavilion dv6000 (which runs Windows XP Media). Blizzard recommends a ATI Radeon X1600 or a NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT class card to successfully play their game. We’re currently trying to find something affordable that we can get right away that fits the requirements. She found a NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GT on eBay for $64 but it says it goes to Vista. Does it matter or is it really not made for XP? And does this sound like it would work?

I’m not sure how many of you are computer nerds/gamer nerds, but any help will be great. I’d really like to be able to play with her without having to lead her around because she can’t see the ground she’s running on. Not that I mind, but I know it annoys her greatly. Thanks in advance!

I’m already missing Austin. We’ll be back soon, I know, but I still miss it. There was just always so much to do and warm and wonderful. I love the mountains here, but it’s also been raining the last few days and it will continue to rain for the next few days and I’m bored of being stuck inside.

Thank goodness for WoW. Ash made herself a new Belf Hunter so I ran my Glenwyn (Belf Lock) out to Silvermoon to help her level. While there, I also got my first mount, with many thanks to Meg for lending me the gold to accomplish this task. I’m really liking the new stuff that Blizzard has put into the game. The calendar is awesome and displaying the achievements makes me feel more successful (and makes me want to keep playing – definitely something Blizzard thought out carefully, I’m sure). I got WotLK for Christmas but I haven’t installed it yet – I figured I’d just wait till I got high enough for it to really matter.

At some point today or tomorrow we need to go out to the pet store so I can pick up some hoppers for Kendi. We’re looking for jobs too, though from what I’ve seen in the papers and online there’s really nothing. I might end up heading over to Staples since they seem to have some positions available. Though that’s definitely not what I was hoping for. I miss my old job. That reminds me though, I have to update my resume.

Ash is currently working on an in-depth post on our adventures over Christmas break, so I’ll tweet that when she’s done. Apparently she’ll breaking it up into several different posts so you’ll have to continue reading it over the next few days. Speaking of Christmas, here’s the list of goodies I racked up:

From work: Tons of Candy, a set of cards, a puzzle, offers for references
From Ash’s work: A really sugary good-bye cake when we left
From my parents: A pair of PJs, The Daily Coyote by Shreve Stockton, WotLK Expansion pack, Childrens Writer and Illustrated Market book, candy, earphones, crayons, a sketchbook, socks, Flogging Molly CD, Great Big Sea CD, Kingdom Hearts Remix, Far From Home, There’s a Nightmare in my Closet by Mercer Meyer, Dark Whispers by Bruce Coville, some gas money
From my Oma and Opa: $15
From my Aunt Rosemary and Uncle Bob: $50
From my cousin Eric: his annual mix CD
From my cousin Randy and his wife Kelly: Not sure, it’s still in the mail
From my Grandma: Her annual $2 bill
From Ash’s mom: hand-knitted hat and scarf, The Idiot’s Guide to Children’s Book Publishing, Stitch n’ Bitch book, some yarn (I kind of stole it), a remote control Dragonfly copter
From Ash’s Ricky Daddy: $50 (and he took us out for a lot of meals)
From Ash’s Teddy Daddy: Lots and lots of meals that he took us out for
From Ash’s Grandma and Grandpa: $20, a t-shirt from North Carolina, a beautiful Asian dinnerware set
From Ash’s Uncle Bo and Aunt Jen: What’s your Dog Thinking book
From Ash’s Grandma and Grandpa Niels: candy, a cool LED flashlight, blank greeting cards
From Ash’s sister Courtney and her husband Harry: $15 giftcard to Target

Ash and I have not exchanged our real presents to each other yet since the one she got me is still in the mail, but I did give her the Journey MP3 player I bought her, a pair of Coca Cola boxer shorts (she collects Coke stuff), a car adapter for her MP3 player, season two of Charmed, and I got her a used Okami game for the PS2 but her mom bought her a new one so we’re gonna go exchange the used one for another game (woot!). She gave me a How to talk Southern Dictionary (I got a lot to learn) and while we were in Texas we went to the Disney Store (I’ve never been there) and she bought me a giant stuffed Eeyore. He’s so super soft and great to cuddle with. I can’t remember if I’ve missed anything. It was a great Christmas this year – better than I ever thought it could be.

I also loved celebrating New Year’s in Austin. I honestly cannot wait to go back. One of my favorite things? Yep:

I was excited to see cacti. There is some in central Wisconsin, but it’s all small stuff and dies fast and it not at all nearly as impressive as the stuff here. It was everywhere! I think I surprised everyone by not getting hurt when I ran up to them to get my picture taken. I got my picture taken with palm trees too, and lichen, but I don’t think either of those are as fun as cacti. There are few people who honestly understand and relate to my nerdy fascination with lichen. It’s cool, okay?

Anyway, I’m either going to go play WoW, knit, or watch some TV. Who knows. I love the rain, but I want to go outside and play basketball. I hope it clears up tomorrow. Ta.

My About section needs a serious update now. I think I’ll go do that. I’m currently watching Speed Racer a second time (good movie, though extremely long) while waiting to get into Kel’Thuzad for some gaming. The queue is long time.

My girlfriend is hot. How’s your 2009 been?

It’s the last day of 2008. How crazy is that? Where did the year go? It marks the first full year Ash and I have been together and my first meeting of her whole family. It was a year of many things, but none that I’m really going to get into right now.

It’s ten o’clock – two more hours until 2009. What will I be doing until then?

Playing World of Warcraft. What’s a better way of ringing in the new year than killing a few murlocs?

So what we know so far is that there is a definite KH3, and that Sora has to be a main character (it’s his story, he has to be in it – even if not physically). But supposedly there are three new characters somehow related to characters from the previous games. We also know that Xehanorth plays a big part in it (in his memories) and a Keyblade War is going to happen.

For those of you who haven’t seen it, the secret KH3 trailer that’s at the end of KH2 can be seen here. It’s been out in awhile, so there’s no old news and tons of rumors about who the three are and what’s going on.

But some of those rumors have been fed and now there are even more, because this week the extended KH3 trailer has been released and oh my goodness, is it intess.

You can check out the trailer at Kingdom Hearts 3 with English Subtitles, or you can download the original here.

Let me tell you, I’ll admit, there were tears after I finished watching this. The graphics look absolutely amazing, the characters, the plot, everything looks like this is going to be the darkest Kingdom Hearts yet. And despite the fact that two of the knights in the video look like Roxas/Sora and Riku, we’ve been told that they aren’t. And because this game is going to be relying heavily on memory and the past, I wonder if this is something that had already happened… I don’t know. But I’m sure as hell going to be in line for my copy when it comes out.

Other than that, since KHII:FM has been released, KH-Vids has a whole mess of videos from the game that you can view and see what you too are missing out on. I really want that game. If you have, let me know how you like it!

Oh, and KH-Vids has created the Super trailer, with both the original and the new trailer combined:

Any thoughts/theories are more than welcome for the new game.

So what’s new? Well in the gaming world, KHII: Final Mix will be released in Japan on the 28th of this month. Unfortunately, it won’t be released in North America or Europe until this Fall at some point, though the actual date hasn’t been announced. I’ve heard rumors that a KHIII might be in the making, but I won’t say anything else until I find out more.

I’m insanely interested in the Lord of the Rings Online MMORPG, Shadows of Angmar, but if I even attempt at thinking of signing up for the Beta run I’m afraid my computer with sponataneously combust. So, if any of you are playing it already or interested in it, I’d like to hear what you have to say about it.

And just to throw in a little WoW since that will forever be my favorite of all the online gaming world, the Armory is up and running in Beta mode. It’s been up for awhile, I just haven’t gotten around to saying anything about it. It seems pretty helpful though I admit I haven’t fully delved into its treasures yet.

In other news: I missed my favorite band playing tonight, and I’m incredibly sad about – I shouldn’t be, but I am. So I’ll spread the wealth. Go check out Great Big Sea and listen to some of their clips. If you like them, I’ll upload one of their CDs for you. Because I’m generous and I don’t have that big of an audience.

That’s it for now.