Geeking Out

  • Ignoring the first image (which shows a scientist wearing improper personal protective equipment, tut tut), enjoy this article about science and Thanksgiving.
  • Regardless of the occasion, we love pie. Here’s an infographic about the 9 most popular pies this time of year, and an overwhelming list of pie and tart recipes.
  • Internet-famous cats, getting things done: not only was Lil Bub hired as a Buzzfeed editor, but this cutie from Japan is actually a stationmaster of her own train station.
  • Some of the women at Bioware are speaking out about troubling tendencies and plot tropes when it comes to rape.
  • Remember those dolphin curtains you had in your room? Maybe? Well, now you wish you’d kept them, because seapunk is totally a thing.
  • We really admire this man in Monrovia, Liberia who runs The Daily Talk, a perfectly hand-lettered chalkboard daily newspaper, to provide public access to current news.
  • We can’t stop staring at these animated GIFs by the rrrrrrrroll collective
  • Support the Troops! Especially support the ones who put together this Call Me Maybe cover, even if they were a little late in riding the viral train.
  • New studies indicate that women do ask for raises, they just get less when they do.
  • A long but worthwhile read about the gender pay gap, showing large differences in as little as a year after college.
  • The European Gender Summit hopes to make up for last year’s sexist “Science: It’s a Girl Thing” video by letting anyone submit a video. Vote on your favorites!
  • Notions of female attractiveness influence the gender imbalance in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields.
  • Two things: if you’re not following @Horse_ebooks on Twitter, you really should; and you should also check out the beautiful poetry composed by one Kimberly Walters, using the bot-account’s tweets.
  • These little wood-carved LEGO guys are the cutest, and oh so very sold out. Booooo.

And last but not least:

(via Open Culture)

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Geeking Out

  • How to make your own Weeping Angel Barbie.
  • Brad Bird’s mysterious sci-fi project keeps getting more mysterious; now the codename has been changed to Tesla, and George Clooney may be involved?
  • Kit Harington is set to star in Paul W.S. Anderson’s disaster movie Pompeii.
  • Clueless meets Twilight? We can’t stop reading about Vamps. The Mary Sue interviewed Amy Heckerling about her latest project.
  • Oz The Great and Powerful now has a full trailer, and we suggest watching it in HD.
  • Check out this Zelda-inspired Piece of Heart necklace! Sweet bling for the Hero of Time in your life.
  • Colin Baker says no Classic Doctors will be returning to BBC for the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. Boo.
  • S.H.I.E.L.D’s cast continues to get fleshed out, with two more agents added to the team.
  • We can hardly contain our excitement over Snow Piercer, the latest project from The Host director Bong Joon-ho. It appears to be set for a summer 2013 release.
  • In this interview featured in the latest edition of the New Statesman, Terry Pratchett talks about his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, writing, and his daughter Rhianna taking over the Discworld series.
  • Dan Henk created this beautiful tattoo sleeve of space.
  • Check out these awesome portraits of “Strong Female Characters” by heymonster! You can buy prints here.
  • Be an advocate for women in science! The AWIS shows you how.
  • This blog writer eviscerates Mary Robinette Kowal’s short story Weaving Dreams for its problematic characterization (and other flaws), and in a surprising turn, Kowal joins the comment section, thanks the blogger for honest feedback, and asks how she can do better. Nice!
  • Opening tonight at Galery1988 on Melrose in LA is Justin White’s show Rated G,  a collection of fake animated cells for Saturday morning cartoon shows that don’t (and probably couldn’t) exist. (Think Dexter’s Lab-style versions of Fargo, Drive, and Breaking Bad.) You can preview some of the art here.
  • Law & Order fans (and those who just love charts and data analysis), rejoice! A summary of all the verdicts from the series, a whole twenty seasons worth.
  • For those growing mustaches this Movember, Nick Offerman has some words of encouragement as you attempt to turn those sprouting hairs into full on facial topiary.
  • Say what you will about Cassandra Clare’s writing, but this trailer for Mortal Instruments: City of Bone looks kinda cool, although woefully short of Godfrey Gao. We also appreciate Clare doing all she can to preserve diversity in her characters, as they get translated from text to screen.
  • A 3D printing photo booth. We love living in the future. Seriously.
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“We’re No. 1!” The Double Sized Issue

Welcome everyone to our first double sized issue of We’re No. 1! The double issue, a common phenomena in comics, is making its debut here largely because I was out of town last week, but didn’t want our faithful readers to miss out on the best of the new stories in comics.

A highlight from last week, featuring the most disturbing cover art in recent memory, is the super natural thriller Colder #1. A little bit of a horror tale and a touch of a modern mystery, it features a young man named Declan, who for reasons unknown has been spending his time in a local asylum, right up until it catches fire. Declan in rescued in super natural fashion by the mysterious Nimble Jack, a barefooted, wildly coiffed devil in human form, who claims eternal hunger and mysteriously tells Declan that he will get “colder”. Surviving in a near catatonic state, with a body temperature of 47 degrees, is regarded as a medical marvel for over 60 years, when Nimble Jack, as murderous as he is mysterious, reappears to awaken him.  A chiller of a book, it features fantastic art by Juan Ferreyra. Continue reading

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Geeking Out

  • Meet the new faces of our 113th Congress! This election has been monumental not just because President Obama gained his second term, but also because of some tremendous changes in the House and Senate. Women’s presence is at an all time high and there are openly gay and pansexual representatives in office. Here are some notable individuals: Tulsi Gabbard, Mazie Horono, Mark Takano, Tammy Duckworth, and Tammy Baldwin. It seems that folks are finally coming round and admitting what we’ve already known – change has come. Given that minorities and women were the majority of Obama’s supporters, this shouldn’t be surprising to anyone, really.
  • Maine elects a WoW gamer to the senate!
  • Enjoy this adorable timeline of Sasha and Malia Obama growing up. (Those cuties!)
  • We love this set of photos of a devoted cat who accompanies his spunky octogenarian best friend every single moment. Just look at that cute cat posing on a pile of daikon!
  • Eee! Look at this hedgehog in his Stegasaurus Halloween costume!
  • Historical geek you should know about: Rachel Holloway Lloyd, the first American woman to get a PhD in Chemistry.
  • The staff behind Coilhouse, an alternative culture blog that has gleefully cross-posted several of our features, are a multitalented bunch. Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief Meredith Yayanos, for instance, is in the process of raising funds to release the debut album of her musical project, The Parlour Trick. Described as “ghostly, atmospheric chamber music,” it’s an album that’s long been in the works, so give it a peek.
  • We’d also like to thank the lady noted above for pointing us towards Gandalf the Owl. He doesn’t like going outside, so he lives in a brick shed and looks at the passing world through the window. Our hearts melt.
  • A short video where several artists and culture vultures wax nostalgic about cassette tapes, records, Super-8 film and VHS. Makes us miss the days of trading mixtapes on actual cassettes.
  • It’s Yuletide! No, not a holiday tradition, but probably the biggest event for the global fanfic community. Apparently, these are the top 10 most requested fics. Here’s a little more info on this Kris Kringle of fandom.
  • Details on Neil Gaiman’s next Doctor Who episode emerge.
  • This is a stop motion animation made with Moleskine notebooks (which have a cult following of their own) and it’s really cute.
  • You can never have too much zombieness. This Tarot card set is filled with gorgeous, pulp-art style zombie goodness.
  • io9’s Annalee Newitz wonders how our political views might have been influenced by science fiction. The discussion in the comments is lively, personal, and sure to give you some books to add to your reading list.
  • You need this “Fat Ladies in Space” coloring book. No, seriously, you need it.
  • Is Math Still a Man’s World?
  • Angry Birds is now Star Wars Angry Birds!
  • A short piece on NPR about Assasin’s Creed III.
  • Wolverine manicure! Beautiful and dangerous.
  • Starwarigami!
  • The Morgan Freeman dress up game, because why not.
  • And, this just in:

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Papo & Yo and the Three Pillars of Game Design

In video games, there are trends to be tracked and bandwagons to be jumped on, but prognostication is still nearly impossible. Will a game end up being influential in the long term, or will it join the ranks of obscure critical darlings and forgotten gems? Among such recent releases, and one I personally hope has an impact that lasts beyond the few initial weeks of press coverage, is Papo & Yo ($14,99; Minority Media for PlayStation Network). While the gameplay may be fairly conventional, perhaps even mediocre from a certain point-of-view, Papo & Yo represents a step forward for games as a legitimate medium for expression.

When debating whether videogames can be considered art, it’s become axiomatic that gaming has yet to produce its Citizen Kane, and that the medium is still growing through its cave painting/slapstick musical/penny dreadful phase. Not that I’m saying Papo & Yo is that game. What I am saying is that, when future gaming scholars – of course there will be gaming scholars – track the evolution of games from craft to high art, this game deserves a place on that family tree.

This isn’t a review; it is, in fact, a little late for one, with the game having been commercially available for quite a while now. If you’re interested in reading about gameplay, graphics, animation, and technical issues, take your pick. The existing body of reviews is also a great resource for those who want to find out about the basics of Papo & Yo‘s unique narrative in a spoiler-free way, because herein lie spoilers, speculation, and speechifying.

Continue reading

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If You Give a Mouse the Force…

Signed, sealed, delivered, Star Wars!

On October 30th, the Walt Disney Company announced that it would be acquiring Lucasfilm Ltd, including the rights to the Star Wars franchise. Included in the press release was the goal for a new installment of Star Wars, Episode VII, to be released in 2015. As could be expected, the internet exploded. Fans of both companies seemed simultaneously intrigued, frightened, and perhaps most commonly, worried. Though wildly popular, the Disney brand has become synonymous with global capitalism and horizontal integration, which is understandably disconcerting, and Lucasfilm’s status has been steadily slipping in the eyes of its fans, arguably since the release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 1999. When news broke that these two media giants would be uniting, geeks like myself everywhere wondered, what does this mean? And despite the flash of the Episode VII announcement and the promise of more Star Wars films in the future, it seems to me that the answer is… probably nothing.

A similar outcry arose three years ago when Disney acquired Marvel Comics, and fans lamented what they observed as the death knell of some of their favorite stories and characters, many of which may not have fit the wholesome, family-friendly “Disney” image. These fears were largely unfounded, as Disney has been buying smaller companies without holding their content to the “Disney” standard for years. Subsidiaries like ABC, Lifetime, Miramax, ESPN, and Touchstone have all managed to put out content for adult sensibilities without being excommunicated from the Disney family. As should have been apparent since the Marvel deal was struck, and has been made very clear in the years since, superheroes, sex appeal, and violence are doing just fine. The only major change has been that Disney is at the helm now and, with its abundance of capital and resources, is in a much better position to create megahits like, say, The Avengers (and of course, pocket the cash that comes with them.) Continue reading

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Geeking Out

  • Our thoughts have been this week with everyone on the East Coast dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. This is a helpful list of ways you might be able to help the relief efforts. Twitter hashtags #SandyAid and #SandyVolunteer can help you become involved directly by joining grassroots efforts like OccupySandy.
  • National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) kicked off November 1st! It’s not too late to get started!
  • One of our favorite sources for geeky news, The Daily What Geek, is shutting down.
  • Lindy West tells an amazing story about sizeism and compassion.
  • Congratulations to the new chairwoman of Dreamworks Animation, Mellody Hobson. Always good to see more women of color in decision-making positions.
  • The first poster for The Wolverine has been released, and with its brush painting/calligraphic style, seems to be capitalizing on the samurai aspect of the plot.
  • Shonda Rhimes is producing a sci-fi thriller for ABC called Mila 2.0. While the android storyline has been done to death, we’re hopeful that Rimes can provide a fresh spin.
  • For everyone who misses the classic Encarta trivia game “MindMaze”, there’s hope. WikiMaze captures gameplay very similar to the CD-ROM encyclopedia game, while using the ever expanding Wikipedia to keep their questions updated.
  • Brooklyn native Rochelle Ballantyne is poised on the edge of becoming the world’s first African-American female chess master.
  • The President answers questions from the Association of Women in Science.
  • How women scientists fare in Arab world.
  • Halloween might be over, but our love for Boy Meets World will never die. Check out a great interview with the cast and crew, as they talk about the writing process of the show, transitioning from high school to college, and the beloved Halloween episode “And Then There Was Shawn”.
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“We’re No. 1!” Halloween Hangover Edition

Happy Halloween, everyone!  It’s here at last, and the real treat for us all is that new comics Wednesday and October 31 fall on the same glorious day!  That means tons of special issues and some great new #1’s on the shelves!

Horror comics have ruled the month, and this week is certainly no exception with some of the darkest minds and scariest imaginations in the business hard at work.  We’re not talking lightweights, either, as some of the industry’s best teamed with legends of geekdom to bring us Ghosts #1 from Vertigo, a collection of chilling short stories that span a hellish litany of subjects.  Included in this hefty anthology are a short starring Nail Gaiman’s Dead Boy Detectives with art by Mark Buckingham (Marvelman, Fables) and Victor Santos (Mice Templar), an unfinished piece writen and penciled by the late and legendary Joe Kubert, and a horrifying tale about making a deal with the devil … for a bowl of chili. I’m in, and I’m hungry.

 

Continue reading

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Combat Zombie Fatigue with More Zombies!

Admittedly, the zombie niche is super saturated and requires wading through trash, but the few gems of brilliance you find shine ever so brightly. So, we’ve put together a few of our absolute favorite zombie offerings, so you don’t have to rely solely on AMC for your zedhead fix.

Movies:

28 DAYS LATER
This one gets zombies just right; the physiology may be up for hot debate, but the misery, heightened tension, and paranoia are just perfect. And the most important factor – fear – is constant.

RESIDENT EVIL
Before spawning into a never ending franchise, this movie was adapted from one of the “original” and most notable zombie video games. While the effects and makeup aren’t as spectacular as some of the handiwork we see today, the first film is as freshfaced and lovely as Mila Jovovich. Also, Michelle Rodriguez.

Continue reading

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Geekquality’s Favorite Horror Movies


This is Halloween! And we at Geekquality are pretty stoked about it, if you can’t already tell. It’s like Cosplay Christmas, what’s not to like! In the spirit of celebration, we have compiled a list of films we love to watch with the lights off. Not THOSE kinds of films: horror films. We hope you like them as much as we do. A Halloween night filled with any of these picks is sure to make a great alternative to handing out candy to babies (unless those babies are dressed like Gallagher). Continue reading

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Geeking Out (All Hallow’s Eve Edition!)

  • Did you put off your costume purchasing until last minute? Disappointed by what’s in the store? DIY pop culture costumes! Or be your favorite notable from women’s history!
  • Spend Halloween Night with Ghost Adventures: A bunch of bros wearing Ed Hardy shirts running around screaming “BRO!” in their night vision camera as they hunt for ghosts! They’ve offered to let you choose their lineup for the 31st.
  • What’s better than looking at our friends’ costumes? Our favorite TV characters! Oh Mindy, you cutie!
  • The only thing better than TV characters in costumes are pets in costume.
  • Speaking of animals, here are some adorable zoo animals with pumpkin treats!
  • And here are some creepy, real fish to give you nightmares.
  • Need inspiration for your pumpkin carving contest? Geek O’Lanterns!
  • Werewolf bar mitzvah, spooky scary, boys becoming men, men becoming wolves…
  • Halloween equals pumpkins equals pumpkin man. Besides, who you gonna call? GHOST BUSTERS.
  • You can’t celebrate Halloween without The Nightmare Before Christmas
  • We leave you with this:

 

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We’re No. 1! Punk Girls, Zombies, and Babies

Man do I love Halloween! Why, do you ask? Well, beyond the obvious reasons (it’s cosplay heaven and good practice for the zombie apocalypse) it means tons of fun new stuff in the world of comics. There are some fantastic new offerings this week, and two of my favorites just happen to have some of the same fingerprints all over them, so let’s get to it!

Let’s Play God #1 is the first of the two offerings this week featuring or created by Brea Grant. Ms. Grant is quite the geek renaissance woman: she’s acted in fan faves like Heroes and Dexter and was the driving force behind the Suicide Girls comic book endeavor, with her brother, Zane. Now the siblings have teamed up for a new comic tour de force with Let’s Play God, a slasher murder mystery extraordinaire. It focuses on the girl punk band Doomed Earth, whose members Mel, Billy and Kira have at least a couple of particularly unpleasant fans. One’s a photographer with a bit of a stalker in him. The other is a killer who blind folds and murder the pervy photographer with a straight razor! This book is all razor sharp punk rock, tattooed tough ladies, and bloody intrigue, but it’s also the beginning of a solid murder mystery, with tons of Halloween fun, and it’s one that’ll be worth following. Of the three ladies, Mel seems particularly confident in herself, until she begins to suspect her friends are not who they seem. Girl power aplenty in this one, don’t miss it! Continue reading

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Geeking Out

  • National Chemistry Week (Oct21-27) encourages chemists and chemistry enthusiasts to build awareness of the science at the local level. Fun and educational!
  • A little known Simon and Garfunkel tune, The Sound of Cylons, is wonderful, but also kinda NSFW and will probably spoil a bunch of things for you.
  • The second Doctor Who episode written by Neil Gaiman may reach the screen in 2013, not 2014 as previously thought.
  • We’re trying to offset the rage of watching the presidential debate with a dose of humor: Binders Full of Women, and this roundup of best reaction tweets.
  • Semi-related: do women need to be nude to make a political statement? Discuss.
  • Chucks are default footwear for many geeks, and now you can get them customized in the geekiest of style.
  • We’re all fighting over who gets to TA the class ?uestlove is teaching at NYU.
  • Robert Zemeckis insists the Roger Rabbit sequel is still possible despite Bob Hoskins’ retirement, but we’re not exactly holding our breath.
  • New pictures from The Hobbit! Is it December yet?
  • By the way,  here’s a chart that proves just how much of a sausage fest Middle Earth is.
  • Don’t pack your bags just yet, but the planet orbiting Alpha Centauri does have some cool implications.
  • Sometimes, great accomplishments and record breaking feats aren’t about exceeding known human limitations. Sometimes, it’s about setting the bar really, really low. Behold: The world’s new record for the shortest freefall (4 inches!).
  • Law enforcement still has ways to go in figuring out how to protect people online, while still preserving civil liberties. And then you have Susan McLean, an Australian consultant who thinks the police should step up when it comes to online hate crime. Either way, a discussion is emerging and changes are happening.
  • Comic book superheroes and beloved film characters, if they had been part of folklore in the Ottoman empire.
  • What’s better than just memes? Arrested Development memes!
  • Have an adorable feline that hates to wear clothes? This patient tabby models some awesome artful outfits your kitty just might get into.
  • If you want more feline photo madness, behold our new favorite Tumblr: cats that look like pinup girls.
  • Everyone says the death of print is exaggerated panic, but this memo from Tina Brown to the entire staff of Newsweek says otherwise.
  • Look everyone, look at these two year old pandas eating!
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“We’re No.1!” Curiouser and Curiouser (and Spookier)

It’s been a busy week in Comics, with New York City Comic Con; everyone at the big two and the indies alike have been doing their best to get your attention on the store shelves.  This week there are almost a dozen new #1’s on the market, so let’s see what’s worth reading.

The wildest comic I’ve seen in a while, and certainly the best of this week’s bunch, is The Zaucer of Zilk #1, by Brendan McCarthy and Al Ewing. A psychedelic acid trip of a comic, this offering from IDW is a trip, in more ways than one. Following a young English youth from the grungy streets of a forgotten hamlet, to the Technicolor dream world where he is the forgotten hero “The Zaucer of Zilk”, this wild book takes us on an electric ride inside a truly unique imagination. Equal parts fantasy adventure tale, modern Shakespearean comedy, and Day-Glo Terry Gilliam head rush, this is a tale of a haughty hero who is due a healthy comeuppance, and a little girl, the text crazed teen known as Tutu, who believes in him, to her detriment. Will she be saved? Or will she do the saving herself?  This two issue series will be worth the return encounter next month, for nothing but its sheer originality. Continue reading

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Review: Adaptation by Malinda Lo

Malinda Lo’s recent young adult novel, Adaptation, is a perfect blend of the sci-fi and romance genres, with a believable and diverse cast of characters. It’s also a departure from the author’s previous fairy tale novels, Ash and Huntress, making her a force to be reckoned with across the YA literature spectrum.

Reese Holloway, the main protagonist, is a teenage girl living in San Francisco in a not too distant future. She has a loving and supportive mother and a devoted best friend, her conspiracy theory obsessed buddy Julian (who just happens to be half-Black, Jewish and gay). Reese has been struggling with a sense of disappointment in love since her parents have separated, and she has vouched to herself that she will not date anyone. That still doesn’t keep her from having a big crush on David Li, her debate team partner, who has been cast in my mind as a slightly younger Steve Yeun (aka Moxie’s Boyfriend). On their way back from an out-of-state debate meet, a series of strange disasters involving flocks of disoriented birds leads up to a car accident, which would have left Reese and David for dead, were it not for a mysterious team of doctors and researchers in the Nevada desert. Returning home, the two young people find themselves with a lot of questions, which makes for an interesting and twisty plot. (Some very minor spoilers ahead.) Continue reading

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