ECCC Story: Girl Power

I know, I know. Girl Power is a very 90s, Spice Girls thing to say. It's almost come to represent a superficial female empowerment that's often driven by embracing sexist attitudes in a half-hearted attempt to subvert them, yet in the end kind of reinforces them further. Sometimes when dealing with heavy issues like sexism and racism the illusion of change becomes more important than any sort of real, substantial, change.

Sorry that paragraph got way deeper than I usually get.

There were a lot of kick ass female artists/writers at Emerald City Comic Con this year. Out of the measly 10 books I did get signed, 5 were either written or drawn by women. And I'll be honest, the women that I talked to, like Kelly Sue DeConnick or Amanda Conner, were a lot nicer and more interesting as a whole than their male counterparts. That's not to say that I didn't have some great conversations with a couple dude artists. It's just that if I had to choose between hanging out with the gals or the guys, I'm picking the gals. Maybe that says more about me than anything else? I don't know.

It's amazing how quickly I can get away from my original point.

As the father of a 7 month old future geek girl, it was great seeing how many positive female role models there are in the industry and culture that I love so much. There's still a long way to go but it feels like the tide is turning. I know that one father's experience at one convention doesn't erase all the fake geek girl memes or the boorish behavior of some guys that think seeing cleavage is a free pass to harassment but it did provide some needed encouragement that this is a community I'd be happy to raise my daughter in.



ps. the girl dressed as Deadpool in the picture up top was one of my favorite cosplayers at the con. She was super bad ass. I didn't take the picture but I wanted to share it.

pps. I have lots to blather on about regarding Emerald City Comic Con this last weekend. I'm going to try and spread it all out over this week, so if you didn't want to read about ECCC, maybe you should hang out at Ars Technica this week. Go head, I won't hold it against you.

ah ha ha ha Staying Alive Gable 5

One of the panels I went to this weekend at Emerald City Comic Con (more on that later) was a Q&A with Eliza Dushku. She wasn't as entertaining as Richard Dean Anderson but she was a lot nicer to look at. She talked quite a bit about this short film called The Gable 5. I haven't watched it yet but a room full of nerds thought it was good. Ok, maybe just the 1/4 of the room that had seen it.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles looks awful

that is all.

Spank Prank? Spank Prank

Hidden camera pranks are usualy kind of stupid. Like what would you do if someone in a Yeti costume jumped out of a garbage can? You'd poop your pants is what you'd do. It's what anyone would do. You don't have to rent a Yeti costume to learn that.

This prank however involves butts, so it's pretty cool.

Can You Walk on Water? Yes, if You Cheat

Some geeks in Kuala Lumpur filled a small pool full of non-newtonian fluid and had people run across it. Looks fun. I'm going to propose this for the next bachelor party I'm invited to. Anyone know where you can get a couple thousand gallons of non-newtonian fluid?

Hello Scarlet Witch in Avengers: Age of Ultron

A bunch of set pictures from Avengers: Age of Ultron hit the interwebs yesterday. They're noteworthy because they're the first we've seen of The Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver. They also show a few pictures of a real half assed looking Ultron thing that I assume will end up pretty heavy with the cgi.

So far I think everything looks great. Scarlet Witch kinda looks like a cross between evil Willow from Buffy and Daria's best friend Jane, which really hits all the right buttons for me. A bunch of people are crapping all over Quicksilver's costume but I don't think it looks too bad. It's a guy in a tech shirt wearing Nikes. What did they expect? The spandex quicksilver suit with the deep v-neck and the high collar? Now that would look ridiculous.

The Durham Bulls will cosplay as RD-D2 this year

For Star Wars day the Durham Bulls, who I have been told are a minor league BA-SE-BA-LL (?) team, are dressing up as R2-D2 this year. It's all part of their "lets get people interested in Baseball by doing as many non-baseball things as possible" campaign. When asked for comment R2-D2 said "beep beep boop, wahoooooooo".

X-Men: Days of Future Past: The Trailer: Part 2

Nerds get ready to loosen your pants, here's a new trailer for X-Men: Days of Future Past, better known as the one where all the old X-Men minus Hugh Jackman get killed. Looks pretty cool to me. When it comes to X-Men movies I have lots of faith in Bryan Singer (Superman not so much). It should be fun seeing his directorial return to the franchise.

New Oregon Trail

They should have made a Red Dead Redemption expansion based on Oregon Trail. I would have played the snot out of that.

Top 10 Worst Knock Off Consoles

One of the fun things about having a young kid is they have no brand loyalty yet. My son is just as happy playing with my old GI Joes as he is the couple weird Mexican knock off GI José I have. 2nd hand, brand new, it doesn't matter to him. A new toy is a new toy. With that in mind I was VERY close to buying him one of those janky single controller plugs into your TV through AV cables atari game systems the other day. I was at half price books and they had one for like 5 bucks. I went with some Ninjago comics instead. It was a good deal, the Ninjago comics are kind of a pain in the ass to read for story time because they're hella long, but if I had to read Tiny Titans to him for the thousandth time I was going to shoot myself.

Oh yeah, here's a video about cheap knock off consoles. It entertained me for at least 5 minutes.

Captain America's to do List is kinda sad

This to do list of Captain America's from the movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier has popped up on my tumblr like a thousand times this week. After seeing it the 976th time I figured I'd share it here. I'm not sure what to take from the fact that Star Wars is crossed out but Trek isn't.

The idea of a man out of time is one of my favorite sci-fi/fantasy tropes. It's something I think about all the time when my mind wanders. Like If I drove my Passat wagon back to the 1920s would they think it was a space ship? Would someone from the 1960s thing my phone is magic? If 1985 Run DMC heard the new Kabuto the Python album would they even recognize it as hip-hop. I guess the moral of the story is that my brain is weird.

You know what day it is? Links.

Why Is The 'Retired' F-117 Nighthawk Still Flying? As a boy that grew up obsessed with military weapons and vehicles, the F-117 has a special spot in my memory-heart. It was the first really cool future weapon that I can remember. It didn't hurt that for the first few years of it's known existence it was still shrouded in mystery. No one really knew that much about the plane and what it was capable of they just new it was invisible and looked like it belonged to the rebel alliance. I love the idea that there's still a group of them flying around when there shouldn't be. Let's call them Rogue Squadron just for fun.

How a Boy, His Horse and a Swamp Basically Screwed up a Generation. Somehow The Neverending Story has come up a bunch in conversation and on-line lately. Outside of Bambi's mom I can't think a kids movie with a worse first 15 minutes. The horse literally died because it lost all hope. That ish is messed up.

It’s Not In the Game: Eight Features the NFL Made EA Sports Remove from “Madden”. I'll be honest I haven't played a Madden game since the PS2 when EA screwed the NFL2K series out of the NFL license (2005 maybe?). I had no idea they took away the ambulance. The ambulance was the BEST! Oh man I remember hours spent playing this on the snes just dying for the ambulance to show up. The only thing better was a in season snow game.

Essentially the 90s were boring and we were easily entertained.

31 Of The Most Exotic Pools On Earth. Some day I want to be rich enough to have a pool right next to or in another body of water. It's the most ridiculous expense I can think of. "Yeah that water 2 feet over there is ok, but this water right here has jets and an ipod hook up"

Forgotten Media: Cancelled Video Game Consoles

I'm just full of youtube videos lately, aren't I? This one is a little rough in presentation, the guy doing the voice over work uses some questionable pronunciation and is a bit dull. However, if you can get past that I think the list is really interesting. I kind of miss the days when some engineer at Atari would coke-dream up weird system and they'd actually try and build it. Wireless controllers with giant metal antennas? Awesome.

Also I love that there was a Sega system that was canceled because the Saturn was on the horizon. lolSega.

Dreamcast 2? Sure, why not?

In my heart and my mind I know that this is just a fake commercial for the Dreamcast 2 but I'm like Mulder over here and really want to believe. I don't know, I'm still really underwhelmed by everything I've seen with the XBone and the PS4. I wish there was a Dreamcast 2 just lying in wait... ready to blow the doors off the other consoles with something cool and unique. I was really riding the Steam Machine hype wagon but the more that I think about it, if I'm going to pay 1,000 bucks for a gaming PC it's not going to run Linux. I still need to use my scanner and load songs onto my mp3 player.

I guess what I'm saying is Dreamcast 2, make it a real thing Sega.

30 for 30: Brian

Brian Scalabrine is the worst. I can't even enjoy him in an ironic way. That being said I would watch the tar out of this 30 for 30 if it was real.



..thank goodness it's not real.

The Heaviest Garbage Bag in the World

I don't know what to say about this other than it's hilarious. This woman is either the weakest most uncoordinated woman in the world or that garbage bag must weigh a hundred pounds.

Ballad of a Wi-Fi Hero

I've already shared this Ballad of a Wi-Fi Hero on twitter and facebook so I figured I might as well put it up here. It's a must watch for anyone that's helped an older person with their computer.

Try Making a Computer that Suits You!

I'm not 100% sure what this actually is but I'm 100% sure that I love it.

Sin City 2 Trailer is a thing I forgot to post

I bookmarked this trailer when it hit the web about a week ago and never got around to posting it. It's not that I didn't like Sin City, it's more the fact that Frank Miller is kind of a loon and every time he tries to go back to the well on a project it usually turns out awful. I don't know, I like Robert Rodriguez movies so at the very least I'll check this out. Probably not in the theater though. Maybe on a Starz free preview weekend or something. That sounds about right.

Titanfall Has the Best Graphics Settings

50 Years of Links

A Project in Ruins: Steinert Music Hall, Boston, MA. I've mentioned a few times that I love me some abandoned places. One of these days I'm going to go on vacation and just tour a bunch of abandoned buildings. Maybe the wife will stay at home. My son and I will just climb around a bunch of garbage and see just how much tetanus we can pick up.

50 Things That Turn 50 in 2014. A couple of these were really predictable but some blew my mind. I had zero idea that the plasma screen was 50 years old. How about Basic? How did that happen? They had computers 50 years ago that could run basic? I thought back then everything was still vacuum tubes and punch cards.

The Lost Star Wars Movie. This one's a bit misleading. It's not so much as a lost "Star Wars" movie but a lost short that once played with The Empire Strikes Back... in Australia. Still an interesting look back into some cinematic history.

This one man made 134 of the weirdest movies ever. A nice little tribute to Fred Olen Ray who has directed some really top choice awful movies like The Girl With The Sex Ray Eyes, Cyclone or Star Slammers.

Eight Things You Might Not Know About The N64

This video about the Nintendo 64 was pretty interesting. Usually when I see one of these "things you didn't know about.." videos or lists I'm always that guy who's like harumph, I knew all that. This list had a lot of cool stuff I didn't know anything about, mostly because it happened in Japan. Like who knew there was a modem you could get for the N64? I knew the Sega Genesis had one but I had no clue the N64 did. Like I said good stuff, well worth the 7 minutes.

New Game of Thrones Season 4 Trailer

A new Game of Thrones trailer hit the interwebs this weekend. I'm a big big fan. One of my biggest complaints with the TV show is that due to budget restrictions Westeros feels much smaller than it does in the books. This trailer moves the camera back a bit and shows of some pretty impressive CGI sets, at least they're impressive for a TV show. The Titan of Braavos in particular looks really good.

Anyway here's to April 2nd and trying to remember how to torrent stuff!

Jurassic Park Cat Raptor

True story, my wife hasn't seen Jurassic Park. She's kinda hates scary movies so I have yet to convince her it's not that scary. Maybe if she saw this trailer I could get her onboard.

Cityhopper: Europe

What's the worst thing about rollerblading? Telling your parents you're gay. Ok, now that that's out of the way here's Dutch rollerblader Sven Boekhorst tearing it up all over Europe. This guy is like a real life Jet Set Radio. All he's missing is some Jurassic 5 and a couple cans of spraypaint.

Thanks Dan!!!

This commercial for the lawering services of Dan Muessig is pretty epic. I know that if I was in PA and got busted for a 187 or a 311 or a 5150 or a 182 or any number of crimes represented by band names, I'd be giving him a call.

"I may have a law degree but I think like a criminal"

Subaru R/C Car vs Stick Bomb

Oh my gosh this makes me want to go buy an RC car, like right now. My son (or daughter) better be into R/C cars because daddy has some really cool ideas for a couple jumps in the back yard.

One of the easiest traps of parenting is becoming obsessed with the next milestone. Like right now my baby girl is rolling over and can sit up on her own for a few minutes. It's really cool but all it does is make you think about them crawling. When they're crawling you get excited about the prospect of them walking. Once they're walking you start looking forward to no more diapers. When they're out of diapers you're looking at school... it's never ends and if you're not careful you'll ignore the cool things happening right now while focusing on the future.

I guess what I'm getting at is that as excited as I am to play R/C cars with my son I shouldn't ignore all the bad ass Lego sets laying around the house.

First Look at Batman: Arkham Knight

Talk about video games I can't afford, here's the first trailer to Batman: Arkham Knight. This game is from the makers of Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, it's not from the guys that made the reportedly half-assed Arkham Origins. It looks really great, and it's the first of the series where you get to drive the batmobile (squee!)

The kicker here is that this isn't coming out for the 360 or the PS3, so if you want to step into the next generation of Batman games it's gonna cost you.

Stupid Sexy Titanfall

This commercial for Titanfall is really starting to grind my gears. Like I mentioned yesterday I'm super prepared to blow all my extra cash this month on comic con. I am not prepared to go into debt so I can get a video card nice enough to do Titanfall justice. What am I supposed to do? Wait until April like a sucker? argh!

The Worf of Starfleet

I could care less if this was a spot on parody of the Wolf of Walstreet, I totes want to watch more Star Trek The Next Generation now. On a whim I watched a couple episodes on Amazon Prime the other day and man alive does it hold up well. Some of the special effects are cheezy but not many. The Enterprise still looks slick, and the stories are still top notch.

Screw Firefly, someone needs to bring back STNTG, like right now.

Guardians of the Links

Ars plays Titanfall: Editors share their thoughts on the beta. Ooooh, Titanfall. The only new game coming out that really makes me want an Xbox One. Of course I could probably just put a new video card into my computer and play it at a higher resolution but where's the fun in that? Oh that's right, there's a TON of fun in that. If only Emerald City Comic Con wasn't this month maybe I'd be able to squeeze a hundred dollars out of the budget.

The Ten Most Impressive Abandoned Military Bases In The World. I'm not a big travel guy. Generally speaking I'm just too lazy to be bothered with things like airports and foreign people but if I was a traveler I'd really want to see a few of these abandoned military bases. The anti-aircraft turrets in Germany blew my mind.

Guardians of the Galaxy? A very kind redditor put together this little info page on the Guardians of the Galaxy. It's a good read, particularly if you liked the trailer but don't read comics.

Black Milk’s Awesome New Batman Collection. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there's no way my wife will ever buy any of these but the other day she did wear a bat girl shirt I bought her for Christmas about 3 years ago so I guess I'll shut up and take the win.