New ARG: Xpand - The Cerebra Group

It may seem a bit early to post this, but I figured I could just keep updating as I go along. If you like words such as "mind" "experiment" or "mkultra" like I do, read on friend. Via email:

Free Your Mind!

We here at The Cerebra Group would like to offer you the exclusive opportunity to expand you mind!
Through out innovative new Xpand program, we are helping people just like you "unlock" their full potential,
with virtually no effort at all!

With The Cerebra Group Xpand program, you can (and will):

* Sharpen your focus!
* Increase your short- and long-term memory!
* Reduce headaches!
* Enhance learning capabilities!


The Cerebra Group is looking for individuals eager to become more that they
ever thought possible.
If you are interested in taking this exciting step toward the future of the human
mind, please respond to this message with a brief bio. We'd love to get to know you!
If you are selected to be a part of our Xpand program, all necessary materials will be
sent directly to you! Hassle-free, and free of charge.

We look forward to hearing from you, and helping you reach your full potential

Sincerely,

A.Townsend
The Cerebra Group

Thanks to ninjaPhilanthropist for the info!

If you are interested, come check it out at unFiction!
And watch for updates here as well!

Lost Fan Art

"Do Not Bother Cthulhu With TPS Reports!"

Click to see detail

BP Oil Spill Solutions. The Best Of The Best So Far.

It's important to remember that the solutions don't actually have to work. They just need to be creative.

Hay - The results in scaled down tests showed it actually worked... the hay became soaked with motor oil. What a wonderful idea. Dump a crapload of natural hay into the ocean

The Top Hat - Yes, on Saturday it failed, but they wanna make it smaller. It will channel the leak through a pipe to the surface for collection, and at the same time give the ocean the appearance of an early 17th century gentleman. Or Abe Lincoln. You pick. I propose a cane made out of hay to complete the ocean's attire

Fill the ocean with trash - Because oil leaking everywhere isn't enough. Golf balls (GULF balls i made a funny), shredded tires (white wall preferably), paperweights, collectible dolls, beanie babies, footballs, perhaps peanut butter to bind the materials together, all injected into a blowout preventer to clog it

The Houdini aka The Saucy Sailor - Take some rope and tie various knots and jam it in there

The Vanishing Act - Re-route the oil to the Bermuda Triangle

Do we really want something so evil infecting our waters like so:

THE RAFT part 2 from TNUC on Vimeo.

The fact is, something must be done.
Remember the results of the last spill?



---------------

Winning solution? Wait until something comes out of there, then nuke it.

If you have any other award winning ideas, leave comments and I'll post em next week. Trust me, BP won't have the ball rolling by then.

GUYS: HOT CHICK LIGHTSABER FIGHT!

Honestly, it doesn't get much better than this. Hot chicks. Lightsabers. Nuff said. Watch the video.

Vidivodo.com : hot woman saber fight Etiket: star wars hot girls jedi

GIRLS AND COMICS: Survey Results

Illustrator and cartoonist Hope Larson (Salamander Dream, Gray Horses) recently took a survey titled "Girls & Comics" for girls and women who read comics. Here are the results via her livejournal:

How old were you when you started reading comics?
Most respondents read newspaper comics quite young, at age 4 or 5, but didn’t get seriously into comics until between the ages of 8 to 13. The most common age to become a fan of comics was 12. There’s a significant drop in girls coming to comics after age 14.

How did you first discover comics?
Most respondents (about a third) were introduced to comics by a parent, usually Dad, and most started out reading Archie and newspaper comics.

The second most popular gateway to comics was TV: the X-Men cartoon, Sailor Moon, or a live-action show like Sabrina the Teenaged Witch, Smallville, or Buffy.

The third most popular gateway was through a male relative or male friend.

What comics were your favorites as a teen/tween?
Superhero comics were the most popular category of comic, closely followed by manga. Goth/horror and webcomics were also popular.

The most popular comic named was X-Men, followed by Sandman, Batman, Rumiko Takahashi’s work (Ranma ½, Inu Yasha, etc.), Spiderman, Sailor Moon, Alan Moore’s work, and comics by CLAMP.

What appealed to you about your favorite comic?
The thing that drew most respondents to their favorite comics was the characters: Either relatable, realistic characters (like the misfit X-Men) or “kick-ass” wish-fulfillment characters.

A compelling story and strong artwork were of nearly equal importance to teen readers, with the story being slightly more important.

Many also craved dark or “adult” subject matter.

Where did you get your comics?
Most respondents acquired their comics from a variety of sources. More than half shopped at a local comic store, and about a third shopped at chain bookstores. The next most popular sources of comics were a grocery, newsstand or corner store, a library, or hand-me-downs/comics borrowed from friends.

Downloads & Scanlations
A quarter of respondents admitted reading scans, but saw them as a last resort and said they would prefer to read the books on paper. Reasons given for reading scans were lack of money and a desire to read manga which hadn’t yet been published in English.

Conventions
Almost half of respondents attended cons, mainly anime conventions. Many mentioned engaging in cosplay.

Free Comic Book Day
A quarter attended FCBD as a teen.

Comics-related Library Event
5 girls had attended a comics-related library event.

Author Signing
4 girls had attended an author signing.

What can authors, publishers, retailers do to better serve teen/tween girls?
1) More and better female characters, especially protagonists. Girls want to see strong, in-control, kick-ass women calling the shots.

2) A welcoming atmosphere in local comic stores is key. Many respondents reported feeling uncomfortable in comic stores. They were stared at, talked down to, and generally treated without respect.

3) Pink, sparkly cutesy comics about boyfriends, ponies, cupcakes and shopping are widely reviled. Condescend to female readers at your peril, writers and comic publishers.

4) The hypersexualization/objectification of female superheroines makes female readers uncomfortable, and sexual violence as a plot point has got to stop.

5) Girls need good stories in a variety of genres.

6) Most girls don’t even know comics exist, or that they would enjoy them. Publishers need to advertise in mainstream media and comic shops need to reach out to girls.

7) Make comics for boys and girls. Comics with dual male and female protagonists. Comics with large casts that offer something for everyone.

8) Use licensed properties to lure new readers into comics.

9) Availability is a problem. Get more comics into schools. Get more comics into libraries—especially school libraries. Get more comics into bookstores, especially large chains.

10) There need to be more women creating comics and working in the industry as editors and publishers.

Everyone likes a kick in the balls. Unless You're on the receiving end.

I mean really, what can be said? It's not a wiffle ball! The kid was above the bar!
Powerful Swinging Nutshot - Watch more Funny Videos

Dr. Michio Kaku on String Feild Theroy and the Multiverse

Dr. Michio Kaku is not what you'd expect as a physicist. A graduate from Harvard University who's held a lectureship at Princeton, Dr. Kaku has been featured in many television productions from theories on parallel universes to the possibilities of extra-terrestrial life. He specializes in string field theory, which in definition can become quite confusing alone. Dr. Kaku is the man who makes it all sound so simple.

His latest book, "Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration Into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel" is every sci-fi fanatic's dream. Invisibility, Electromagnetism, and other speculative technologies are presented as well as the barriers that stand before us in making these things a reality.

An interview with Michio Kaku is posted below. He discusses the Universe, parallel dimensons, alternate universes and the Multiverse. Enjoy!

Sundays @ 12:30 on Adult Swim. Check It Out.

If you're like me, then you just LOVE local access programming with all it's glitches and goofs. Actually I'm joshing you. I can't stand it. It's just as fun to watch screensavers on an XT with CGA graphics!

However- John C. Reilly (Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job, Walk Hard) delivers local access in a way that's straight up entertaining.

Just watch the video ya dingus!

Via funnyordie.com:

Check it Out w/ Steve Brule: Brule on Sushi - watch more funny videos

STOP F***ING UP NINJA TURTLES.

It was May 1984 that Mirage Studios first released the black and white comic created by artist Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. These mutant heroes were a mixture of bad-ass martial arts and mild humor.

Boy have we come a long way. In the wrong friggin direction.

I do admit I did nothing but collect the Mirage comics, Image comics and when desperate for a new issue, even the horrendously bubbly Archie series. I watched the cartoon and set my VCR to tape every episode. Little by little they began to lose their bad-assness.
The shit hit the fan in a first and sequel double threat. Cowabunga was now a middle school staple phrase. Secret of the Ooze hit the big screen and Vanilla Ice RAPED the shit out TMNT with ninja rap, those retarded pants, and that sorry ass... well, everything about it.

But the raping didn't stop there. The marketing machine was still ravenous, hoping to squeeze the last tear from every child's dream. Enter TMNT the movie. AGAIN. I had hoped (and don't ask me why) that this CGI film may actually redeem some of the nonsense. Nope.

Nickelodeon now owns all of Mirage's rights to the TMNT property.

2012: The Mayan calendar ends, with it perhaps the world... But not Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. WTF DID YOU SAY? In 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

Michael Bay's New Live Action TMNT movie.

It may only get worse. Platinum Dunes has been hired to produce this movie - and they are equally great at RAPING the hell out of classics:

• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
• The Amityville Horror (2005)
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)
• The Hitcher (2007)
• Friday the 13th (2009)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

And now add Ninja Turtles to the list. If you want a good Ninja Turtles experience, read Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from First Graphic Novel. There's ninjas, blood, Baxter Stockman is a black guy who DOESN'T turn into a fly, Shredder gets the shit stabbed out of him and takes a thermite grenade to the face after Leonardo gives him the option of suicide.

Support Eastman and Laird's ORIGINAL creation.

Tell Nickelodeon to SUCK IT.

Locke Vs. Vader

Welcome to my first post. In light of the recent finale of Lost, I thought it would be interesting to note the similar traits that my favorite six episode movie shares with my favorite six season show.

The image above is from "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham", and pictured is John Locke (or so it had seemed) wrapped in a dark Ajira Airways blanket. The blanket covered his head, much like a robe.

This isn't the first clue that these characters are similar. Villains are often distinguishable from heroes by their scars. Both Anakin and John have a scar over their right eye, indicating that they are in some way flawed. Anakin donned his black hood when he became evil, as did Locke with the Ajira "hood".

It is important to note that both these characters during their journey were given power. Locke's wasn't as obvious as Anakin's, but clearly Locke had hoped to become a leader, a master of the island as Anakin had also wished. They were given a choice, and once they branched off on to the darker path, their power became stronger and self-centered.

Anakin became Vader, and he would destroy anything in his path with the wave of his hand. "Locke" became Smokey, and would destroy anything in his way.

Something stood in the way of both these villains. For Vader it was Luke, a symbol of purity and goodness that had transformed from an ignorant man into a Jedi, for Smokey it was Jack...

...but that's another post for another day.

Namaste and May the Force be with you!