Seems like anyone can set up and blog nowadays. In fact, even inanimate objects can, too. My Xbox has a blog! It just started yesterday:

The Lady Athena’s Xbox - Dec 18 2008

I love to game, you love to game, The Lady Athena loves to game, we all love to game! 2,515 points FTW!!! She opened up Left 4 Dead, and then… yeah… that was awesome…

I signed up after seeing Corwin’s post about it. I’ll let him explain the details:

The guys over at 360Voice have coded up a site that grabs the public information from your Xbox Live gamer card and uses it to generate a daily blog written by your console. It chronicles what games you play and whether you earn achievements and increase your gamer score. Apparently, if you go for a certain period without playing anything, it will start talking smack about you, too.

The amusement will come when my Xbox will start talking smack. I don’t get to play every day, sometimes only getting in a couple of hours in during the weekend, so I’m sure by next week there will be lots of bad things said about me. I wonder if I go a reeeeeealy long time without turning it on, will it get depressed and turn emo? That would be even funnier.

Technorati tags: full of fun fridays, xbox, blog

It doesn’t seem like it, but it’s been 20 years since Tank Girl made her first appearance. Like many US fans, I became aware of the comic after seeing the 1995 movie with Lori Petty. I’ve seen it many, many times, but ashamedly I’ve not read the comics!

Well, now I don’t have an excuse, as there are many options for me and other fans. Not only are there collections of the old comics, but there are new ones out monthly in the UK. Skidmarks is the current arc, which started in August, and it is scheduled to be released in a 4 part series in the US next year. And there is a new art book called The Cream of Tank Girl with sketches, concept pics, and the covers…all collected into a huge book.

I’ve also found out that Alan and Rufus, the guys doing the comics, have a Tank Girl pinup every month at Suicide Girls. The first one is live, and the second one shows up on Sunday, December 7th.

As for me, I think I know what I’m going to ask for this Xmas. Some Tank Girl books to close the gaping hole in my comic reading!

Technorati tags: full of fun fridays, tank girl, comics

It seems that the consensus on Left 4 Dead among all my gamer friends is the same. It’s fucking *intense* and a hell of a lot of fun. The first time you get overrun by a zombie horde, we all were saying “Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!” and wildly firing into the crowd…often hitting our own teammates.

I’m the type of gamer who generally doesn’t like playing against others, although I love playing co-op. That’s where this game shines. You’re a team of four survivors fighting their way through the zombie infested city, and I’m glad there are 4 of us, since I can easily become overrun and die with just one person. There are thousands of zombies out there, and they’ll come from everywhere…sometimes all at once.

The one part I’ve not played yet is when a team plays co-op against another team, where one team plays the zombies and the other plays the survivors. I think we’ve got it lined up for this weekend. I’d really like to play as a zombie and chomp on someone. Although I’ll be playing against others, the co-op with the other zombies will make it worth it I think.

If you’re on Xbox Live, get the demo for free and give it a try. And leave me a comment if you wanna swap gamertags. I’m up for more online play.

PC gamers, you’re not left out. Get it via Steam.

Either way you play, you can’t go wrong with zombies.

Five years ago Child’s Play launched, and last week Penny Arcade made its annual announcement that the site is up and ready to receive donations!

Since 2003, over 100,000 gamers worldwide have banded together through Child’s Play, a community based charity grown and nurtured from the game culture and industry. Over two million dollars in donations of toys, games, books and cash for sick kids in children’s hospitals across North America and the world have been collected since our inception.

This year, we have continued expanding across the country and the globe. With over 45 partner hospitals and more arriving every month, you can be sure to find one from the map above that needs your help! You can choose to purchase requested items from their online retailer wish lists, or make a cash donation that helps out Child’s Play hospitals everywhere. Any items purchased through Amazon will be shipped directly to your hospital of choice, so please be sure to select their shipping address rather than your own.

When gamers give back, it makes a difference!

Last year gamers raised over $1.3 million, and they’re well on their way with over $100,000 so far. There are many ways to help out, too. Choose a hospital in your area, like I’d pick Children’s Hospital here in OKC, pick an item or two on their wish list, and Amazon will even ship it to the hospital. Easy peasy. There are tons of toys, games, and books to choose from, in all price ranges.

With the economy like it is, and with so many great charities that need help, I know it’s hard to give sometimes. But even just tossing a couple of dollars their way via PayPal helps out. If 100 people can give just $3, that would get a hospital a Wii and some left over!

Technorati tags: full of fun fridays, child’s play, charity, gamers

Everyone who has an email account has received spam. Most of the time I just delete them, if any actually gets through the spam filter. But recently two emails came to my inbox, sent to my email on Middle Raged Punk, and they are hilarious.

From email: mr_randyjame2008@hotmail.com
ARE YOU DEAD OR ALIVE.
¡Tengo nueva dirección de correo!
Ahora puedes escribirme a:web_atmmastercardpayment2008@yahoo.com.co

HELLO,

DID YOU ASSIGN JANET DURA TO CLAIM YOUR FUNDS OF ($15.5M) AND SHE IS CLAIMING YOU ARE DEAD.

- ATM MASTER CARD PAYMENT

First, I don’t even have a Master Card. Second, there isn’t a bank called ATM Master Card Payment that I would put that much money. Not to mention that “Master Card” wouldn’t use a Hotmail account to find out info like that. I can’t believe that anyone would fall for this kind of phishing scam.

The second email is just pure gold. Spot the irony!

From email: danegbuna@gmail.com
FROM DAN EGBUNA
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA Aso Rock villa, Asokoro

District, Abuja

CONFIDENTIAL DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY PAYMENT

ATTENTION BENEFICIARY

Based on our investigation department, we wish to warn you against some Miscreants, Hoodlums and touts who go about scamming innocent people by claiming to be who they are not and thereby tarnishing the image of this wonderful country.

I am Lt General Dan Egbuna (Rtd), National Security Adviser to the new Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. I am delighted to inform you that the contract panel, which just concluded its sitting in Abuja just released your name amongst contractors to benefit from the Diplomatic Immunity Payment. This Panel was primarily delegated to investigate manipulated contract claims, contracts and over-invoiced payment as the effect has eaten deep into the economy of our dear country.

However, we wish to bring to your notice that your contract profile is still reflecting in our central computer as unpaid contractor while auditing was going on. Your contract file was forwarded to my office by the auditors as unclaimed fund, we wish to use this medium to inform you that for the time being Federal Government of Nigeria have stopped further payment through bank to bank transfer due to contractors numerous petitions to United Nations against Nigeria on wrong payment and diversion of contract funds to different accounts.

In this regards, we are going to send your contract part payment of 20Million USD. To you via our accredited shipping company through diplomatic cash delivery down to our door step and I have secured every needed document to cover the money while the diplomat will get it delivered to you Note: The money is coming on two security proof boxes. The boxes are sealed with synthetic nylon seal and padded with machine as metallic trunk boxes.

Please you don’t have to worry for anything, as the transaction is 100% risk free. The boxes are coming with a Diplomatic agent who will accompany the boxes to your house address. All you need to do now is to send to me, your full house address and your identity such as, international passport or drivers license and your mobile phone and telephone number, The Diplomatic Agent will travel with it. He will call you immediately he arrives to your country’s airport. I hope you understand me.

As soon as the above-mentioned details are received, your payment will be made to you via diplomatic courier delivery in accordance to World Bank, United Nation and IMF recommendations. A diplomat with international travel immunity will be contracted to deliver the fund to you Kindly get back to me today also with the requested information so that we can proceed on this matter as soon as possible.

1) Your full name.
2) Phone, fax and mobile #.
3) Company name, position and address.
4) Profession, age and marital status.
5) Copy of int’l passport, drivers license, or any valid ID card via e-mail attachment.

Bear in mind that the diplomat does not know the original contents of the boxes. What l declared to them as the contents is Sensitive Photographic Film Materials for security reasons/valuable material of your personal effect. I did not disclose it as money to them please. If they call you and ask you the contents please tell them the same thing Ok. Call me on my direct phone +234-1-6637394 or email and I will let you know how far I have gone with the arrangement. I will secure the Diplomatic Immunity Clearance Certificate (D.I.C.C), which will make him pass every custom checkpoint all over the world without any hitches.

Confirm the receipt of this message and send the requirements to me immediately because your boxes are scheduled to leave as soon as we hear from you.

Best Regards,
Lt General Dan Egbuna (Rtd).
National Security Adviser to the President
Federal Republic of Nigeria

A Nigerian scam artist opens the email by warning against Nigerian scam artists! That’s pretty damn funny to me.

Anyone have some good spam emails?

Technorati tags: full of fun fridays, spam, nigera

Time for another cool and smart girl crush of mine. My generation knows Danica McKellar for Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years, but it wasn’t her acting that made her one of my heroes. It was her excelling in mathematics and writing two books about girls and math that got her there.

She graduated from UCLA, summa cum laude, with her Bachelors of Science in Mathematics, but the awesome part is that she co-authored a math proof (PDF), which is very rare for an undergrad. I won’t even pretend I know what they’re talking about in the paper. Way over my head. But thanks to that, she has an Erdős–Bacon number of 6:

A person’s Erdős–Bacon number is the sum of one’s Erdős number—which measures the “collaborative distance” in authoring mathematical papers between that individual and Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős—and one’s Bacon number—which represents the number of links, through roles in films, by which the individual is separated from American actor Kevin Bacon. The lower the number, the closer an individual is to Erdős and Bacon.

Wow, how geeky cool is that?

Her most recent mathematics involvement is her latest book, Kiss My Math. It was written for middle-school aged girls to help show them that math isn’t going to stop them from being anything they want to be. That math isn’t just for the stereotypical nerd, and that it’s important to learn, no matter what field they want to get into. She tackles pre-algebra, offering problems to work and help understanding how they can do it. It’s a follow up to her first book, Math Doesn’t Suck, which in an introduction to middle school math in general, and shows girls that they don’t have to hide their smarts; that they need to use them. An excerpt:

Let’s get a few things straight: Acne sucks. Mean people suck. Finding out that your boyfriend kissed another girl? That would totally suck. Too much homework, broken promises, detention, divorce, insecurities: suck, suck, suck, suck, suck.

But math is actually a good thing. Here are a few reasons why: Math builds confidence, keeps you from getting ripped off, makes you better at adjusting cookie recipes, understanding sports scores, budgeting and planning parties and vacations, interpreting how good a sale really is, and spending your allowance. It makes you feel smart when you walk in a room, prepares you for better-paying jobs, and helps you to think more logically.

Most of all, working on math sharpens your brain, actually making you smarter in all areas. Intelligence is real, it’s lasting, and no one can take it away from you. Ever.

And take it from me, nothing can take the place of the confidence that comes from developing your intelligence—not beauty, or fame, or anything else “superficial.”

That’s exactly what girls need to hear. When Baby Grrl gets old enough, I will definitely keep these books in mind. I want her to know that she doesn’t have to act dumb or dumb herself down for a boy or for anyone. I remember often doing that in class when I was young, because no one liked the smart kids. I wish I could go back in time and give myself a talking to, but I’ll have to live with trying to raise Baby Grrl, knowing what I would have liked to know back when I was a kid.

Anyway, for parents of girls to math geeks, there are plenty of people who are fans of Danica. I’ll be watching to see if she releases another math book!

Technorati tags: full of fun fridays, danica mckellar, math

On a previous Full of Fun Fridays! I talked about my girl crush on Mur Lafferty and that she wrote a superhero book called Playing For Keeps. I didn’t get into the details about what her book is about, but it relates to todays post.

It tells the story of Keepsie Branson, a bar owner in the shining metropolis of Seventh City: birthplace of super powers. Keepsie and her friends live among egotistical heroes and manipulative villains, and manage to fall directly in the middle as people with powers, but who just aren’t strong enough to make a difference. Or that’s what they’ve been told. As the city begins to melt down, it’s hard to tell who are the good guys and who are the bad.

For those of you who are fans of PFK, I’ve got the perfect book series for you. George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards series.

Into a world hungry for peace, comes a spaceship ferrying chaos…

An alien bomb is detonated above the planet, shedding an indiscriminate gene virus on an Earth barely recovered from the horrors of World War ll. The result: Wild Cards. ACES blessed with superhuman powers and JOKERS cursed with bizarre physical and mental disfigurements.

This is their story.

And so began a series of shared-world anthologies that would bring the metahuman into the real world - our world. Everything up until 1946 is how we remember it. After that watershed year, many things will have changed.

In addition, there are people like the Second Wave main characters in PFK. Deuces were infected by the Wild Card virus and gained a useless or trivial ability, like the power to levitate a penny, grow body hair at will, or the ability to turn into a puddle of water.

Everyone has their favorite Ace. Hubby likes Fortunato, a pimp with telepathic and telekinetic powers, derived from his use of tantric sex, while I’m partial to The Sleeper, who wakes up with a different power after every time he falls asleep. He never knows if he’ll wake up as an Ace, Deuce, or even a Joker. Both of us have a strong fondness for The Great and Powerful Turtle, the world’s strongest telekinetic.

It’s really hard to get into more specifics on the characters without giving away plot spoilers. Wiki and the above official site are chocked full of them, so if you go wandering around, be warned.

I *love* this series, if you can’t tell. Our house has the first 15 books on our shelves, and I’m in the process of getting 16 and 17. Yeah, there are a lot of books out already! But don’t let that discourage you from giving it a try. There are new books coming out, with no need to read the first 17. Published earlier this year, Inside Straight brings a new batch of Aces and Jokers. The trade is coming out in November, just in time before the next book, Busted Flush comes out in December.

But if you’re interested in the series, definitely try to get some of the earlier books. At least look at the graphic novel that was adapted from some of the anthologies, due out in collected form next year. Or if you can’t wait, track down the 6 issues of the comic mini-series.

If you’re a fan, or if I’ve created one, definitely let me know!

Technorati tags: full of fun fridays, wild cards, superhero novels

I’ve got another post brewing on the game Spore itself, but today brings you a creationist site dedicated to declaring Spore to be against God and pro-evolution:

Yesterday I found out about a new game called Spore when my son asked me to buy it for him. It looked innocent enough at first and has “E for Everyone” ESRB rating. But don’t be mislead, apparently “everyone” means everyone they want to teach evolution to.

This entire game is propaganda aimed directly at our children to teach them evolution instead of creationism, or “intelligent design”

…

I decided that Electronic Arts needs to hear from concerned people such as myself that this sort of game is not acceptable, and created this blog to find support and share information and progress with anyone who feels the same as I do.

Wait! I can hear you saying. How is that site supposed to fit in with your Full of Fun Fridays? That doesn’t sound like fun at all! My answer is to say just keep reading…

Over at Game Politics, they were suspicious about the site, and said it may be a hoax. Turns out they were right! From the most recent entry yesterday, the author starts out with a long diatribe on her religious views:

I think part of the problem that is going on here is that the bulk of you are ignorant as to the word of God. I don’t have these beliefs just because I want to, I have them because they are the beliefs that I was raised in. I understand that everyone didn’t have the chance to be taught these things, and learn about God as my family did so if I am going to have this kind of attention I should use it to help teach others about the words of God that helped to shape me into the woman I am today.

Then she begins quoting Genesis:

But the Bible teaches us that God was not done with man. For we were His creation and He then spoke to Noah in Genesis 8:21-27 after the flood.
“21. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never gonna give you up. 22. “Never gonna let you down.” 23.”Never gonna run around and desert you.” 24. “Never gonna make you cry.” 25. “Never gonna say goodbye.” 26. “Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.” 27.”Never truly believe anything you read on the Internet. There will always be cases of Poe’s Law.”

Oh. Your. God. It was all a Rickroll!!!! That was genius. And so many people fell for it (with a lot who just didn’t get the joke). Note that the Wiki has already been updated, too. I’m still laughing!

Technorati tags: full of fun fridays, antispore, rickroll, poes law

Ok, I’ll admit it. I’ve got a serious girl crush on Mur. She’s a huge geek, with tons of the same interests I have! I mean, check out her very awesome Suicide Girls article where she talks about having a Kindle, but being very anti-DRM. *swoon*

The best part is that she actually does what I just talk about doing…she writes! Her superhero novel, Playing For Keeps, is out in print, and on August 25th, there will be a rush on the Amazon sales charts to push her up onto the NY Times “bestseller” status. It was released as a free, serialized, podiobook, and as an added bonus, you can download the full PDF of the novel, plus a new short story, for free!

(Back in March, Scott Sigler’s book Infected got the same treatment, and it did pretty well!)

If superheros aren’t your thing but zombies are, at the very least check out her podcast The Takeover.

About The Takeover

The Takeover is our audio blog describing Zombinc’s merger with a local web company. Be sure to take a listen to find out what goes on in a day-to-day office environment with zombies, humans, and a mad scientist. Why does a web design company need a mad scientist? Well, why not?

So check out her stuff, and at the least, head over to her site and tell her to kick ass on the 25th!

Technorati tags: full of fun fridays, mur lafferty, girlcrush, playing for keeps

Another two-fer! Figure that’s the least I could do since I’ve hardly done any posts lately. Work has been super busy, and I’ve hardly had time to MINE, let alone do posts. I’ve got at least four in mind, if only I get the time! Anyway, let’s get on with the Fun!

British sitcoms, or Britcoms, are a normal part of a geek’s diet. Just saying the words “Monty Python” will often result in a barrage of quotes and discussions of favorite episodes. It’s natural, then, that geek culture made its way into the Britcoms.

Spaced is *finally* now available on DVD here in the US. It stars the brilliant Simon Pegg, and is directed by Edgar Wright, who are known for one of my favorite movies of all time, Shaun of the Dead. You’d also recognize Nick Frost, who plays…what else…the best friend of Simon’s character. I can’t recommend this show enough! It’s got lots of geek and pop-culture references like Star Wars, The Matrix (hey, it was relevant back in 1999!) and Resident Evil, with that unique and hilarious sense of humor Pegg and Wright fans have come to love. And a great techno-dance version of The A-Team theme song that will stick in your head for days.

The latest geek laced show is The IT Crowd. As you can guess, its focus is more on the IT geek, but the show “features a large number of references to geek culture, mostly in set dressing and props. Dialogue (both technical and cultural) is usually authentic and any technobabble used often contains in-jokes for geek viewers”. It’s a whole lot of fun to try and spot them all, like a Flying Spaghetti Monster, EFF stickers, and geek shirts. I enjoyed the show so much, I have the theme song as my ringtone. Plus I just love cracking myself up when I use Roy’s stock answers to an IT problem, “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” and “Are you sure it’s plugged in?”, for troubleshooting PCs where I work. Yes, I am easily amused.

Now, the coolest part is that the the writer of the show, Graham Linehan, just finished the scripts for the 3rd season, and he wants suggestions for the geek stuff that lays around the main set!

How would you like to help in designing the look of series 3? Specifically, you’d be helping us choose the stuff that litters the main set. I’m talking about posters, comics, fanzines, T-shirts… anything you’ve seen in the last few months that you think is pretty cool or captures the spirit of the show or a particular character. By now, most of you know the kind of things I like…weird toys, indie comics, sci-fi, geek references, internet memes, boardgames…normally I’d delight in tracking down the stuff myself, but as I say, it’s just not going to happen this time round.

…

Please send your suggestions to ben.capel@talkbackthames.tv

There are already a ton of good suggestions in the comments, so I’m getting excited to see what will come of it. And for those of you who haven’t seen the show, but are interested, it will begin airing in the US on Independent Film Channel, beginning September 29th! I will be watching it again, just to see what I missed the first watching.

Technorati tags: full of fun fridays, britcoms, spaced, the it crowd