NOT QUITE SUPERHUMAN

Kid President "Robert Frost" T-Shirt Kid President's SoulPancake Swag Shop

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 21:29:47 -0400

Kid President "Robert Frost" T-Shirt Kid President's SoulPancake Swag Shop

Kid President- I think we all need a Pep Talk!

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 22:43:41 -0500

Kid President- I think we all need a Pep Talk!

operationbatgirlinc: The DC reboot has been a rough one for...

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 13:12:55 -0500

operationbatgirlinc:

The DC reboot has been a rough one for fans of female superheroes. We’ve watched many of our favorite characters disappear or, even worse, become unrecognizable parodies of themselves. Women of color have less representation than ever, and female characters in general have had their histories drastically changed to a much greater degree than male characters. Several have been replaced with alternate versions of themselves. Several remain ostensibly the same, but have undergone massive changes to their canon: Wonder Woman’s origin has been altered to include not only a father figure, but also a long Amazonian tradition of infanticide. Starfire has undergone a dramatic personality change. Barbara Gordon was never Oracle…and so on. Sadly, countless characters are simply missing: Donna Troy, Mia Dearden, Lian Harper, Renee Montoya, Scandal Savage, Charlie Gage, Sin, Holly Robinson, Zinda, and many more. Not to mention, of course, the ones everyone has been talking about: Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain.

The loss of Cass and Steph has been especially galling to many. For all that we as fans of the characters have felt their loss, we as female comic book fans have felt it even more acutely. After their respective mistreatments in canon- Cass’s extraordinarily random and out-of-character descent into villainhood and Steph’s brutal, sexualized torture and death in War Games- these characters garnered incredible support from female fans. Initially, it seemed like we had been heard: Cass returned to being Batgirl, then after disappearing and passing on the mantle in the aftermath of Batman RIP, she became Black Bat. Stephanie Brown was brought back to life, then took on the Batgirl mantle herself. These two characters came to stand as symbols of what the female DC fanbase could do if we worked together.

And then came the reboot, and they were gone. DC broke their promise that Barbara Gordon would never be miraculously cured and made her Batgirl again, thereby removing one of the few disabled characters DC had and erasing Cassandra and Stephanie’s legacies in one fell swoop. And nothing, not even efforts by several of DC’s top creators, has changed that.

It is for these reasons that we are introducing Operation Batgirl, Inc.

The what: cosplay up as anyone who’s been Batgirl in any identity that has not been included in the DCnU.

This means:

Cassandra Cain - Batgirl, Black Bat
Stephanie Brown- Spoiler, Robin IV, Batgirl, Nightwing
Nell Little- Batgirl
Barbara Gordon- Oracle

However, this does not mean Barbara Gordon as Batgirl. We love Babs, of course, and we even love Babs as Batgirl, but Babsgirl has become rather a sensitive topic in the DCnU. Sadly, Batgirl Babs has become almost a symbol of the erasure of not only Oracle- one of the few heroes with disabilities- but also all of the other Batgirls who carried on the legacy.

Our goal? Have fun! Dress up! Get together! Take pictures of yourself and post them on the internet! But if you at all can, make sure to meet up with everyone sometime during…

The when: October 10-13, 2013

The where: New York Comic Con, 2013, the Javits Convention Center

You heard it right, folks: We’re crashing Comic Con. Every single person who can get there, man, woman, or nonbinary, cosplay as your favorite erased Batgirl identity. Amateur costumes, professional quality costumes, homemade, storebought, rule 63 or not, whoever you are and whatever you will be wearing, if you can get to NYCC, bring out the Batgirls.

And if you can’t get to NYCC? Dress up anyway! Take pictures of yourself and post them to your various social media sites, hashtag #Opbginc. Be especially sure to send them to @dccomics and @opbginc on Twitter, and include the reasons that you love the Batgirls, or anything else you have to say about the state of female representation and employment in the DCnU.

The how: In order to make this whole thing a success, we are prepared to offer a variety of resources. And, of course, we’ll want help from all of you!

So far, we’re planning to get together various tutorials. Our intention is to make cosplaying easy and affordable for everyone. We will also be opening up a forum soon to allow participants to interact, meaning that people will be able to exchange costume tips and supplies, find tickets, share lodging, etc. Basically, we’re going to do our best to make sure everyone knows how to make their costumes, can make their costume, can get tickets, can get to the con, and can sleep in an actual bed when they get there.

Get it? Got it? Good! We’ll be giving you guys more updates very soon, and we hope to see you all in October!

Nikola Tesla Museum Might Actually be Happening; Science History Geeks the World Over Rejoice

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 13:28:06 -0400

Nikola Tesla Museum Might Actually be Happening; Science History Geeks the World Over Rejoice:

Ladies and gentlemen: We are one step closer to a Nikola Tesla museum. In case you haven’t been following the efforts of The Oatmeal’s Matthew Inman and the non-profit group previously know as Friends of Science East to turn the final laboratory of the eccentric genius and inventor of alternating current into the Tesla Science Center, here’s a brief summary: In 2009 the Agfa Corporation, which owned the Long Island site on which Tesla’s Wardenclyffe estate is situated, put the property up for sale. Using crowdfunding, Inman hoped to raise $850,000 to go towards purchasing the property, which was listed at $1.6 million. He breezed past that mark in six days and eventually went on to raise $1.4 million. And last Friday Friends of Science East, now known as the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, officially bought the property. Take that, Thomas Edison Center.

Big Bird Reacts To Last Night's Presidential Debate (Really)

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 12:07:16 -0400

Big Bird Reacts To Last Night's Presidential Debate (Really):

Did you watch the Presidential debates last night? If so, you heard candidate Mitt Romney talk about cutting the government’s funding of PBS (all 0.01% of it). As if that wasn’t awkward enough, considering the debate was being moderated by long-time PBS journalist Jim Lehrer, Romney also name checked Big Bird. And it was the “OH SNAP!” heard around the world. Twitter saw a huge rise in “Big Bird” tweets seconds later and continuing on through the night with mostly everyone coming to the yellow fowl’s defense. But today, something even more amazing happened. Big Bird responded, in his own Big Bird way, from the Sesame Street twitter account. Sesame Workshop, the group behind Sesame Street, also had something to say…

loveincolororg: After this I’m officially done with my Chick...

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 11:45:54 -0400

loveincolororg:

After this I’m officially done with my Chick fil-a spam.

"Steampunk Spiderman!"

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 15:21:15 -0400

“Steampunk Spiderman!”

- Denis Medri - Steampunk Spiderman

CDC: There Is No Zombie Apocalypse

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 16:11:58 -0400

CDC: There Is No Zombie Apocalypse:

It’s crazy times, people — in the last couple of weeks, we have heard about more than one instance of people eating people, and that is exactly “more than one” too many. Add in the tweet from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign about a leak of hazardous materials from the Institute of Genomic Biology, and let’s just say we’re all in a bit of a tizzy about a possible zombie apocalypse. But the Center for Disease Control says we really have no need to worry. (Even though they are on it like Comet in case it does happen, which it’s totally not, they swear.)

WHERE WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO VISIT ON YOUR PLANET?

Sun, 20 May 2012 09:48:12 -0400

Japan, Australia, Hawaii…but I would settle today for the grocery store.

My friends seem to think I have a Pinterest addiction…46 boards, 2k+ pins, and 146 likes...

Sun, 20 May 2012 09:46:04 -0400

My friends seem to think I have a Pinterest addiction…46 boards, 2k+ pins, and 146 likes isn’t an addciton yet…right?

Check out my boards http://pinterest.com/jhopwood80/

Two Macaws by me —-Digital Fingerpainting using ArtRage...

Sun, 20 May 2012 09:42:08 -0400

Two Macaws by me —-Digital Fingerpainting using ArtRage for iPad

Genderswapped Harry Potter Characters Will Make You Think All The Things

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:36:10 -0400

Genderswapped Harry Potter Characters Will Make You Think All The Things:

You’ve read all seven books. You’ve seen all eight movies. You know the characters of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter inside and out. Or do you? Take a look at what happens when DeviantArtist maaria decided to tweak your memories just a bit by laying good ‘ol Rule 63 on the cast of the books.

Forty Seconds of The Hunger Games

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 10:21:13 -0500

Forty Seconds of The Hunger Games:

Okay, I know we just did a Hunger Games post like three posts ago, but A) come on that was yesterday and B) lets face it, a lot of you are rabid for any bit of Hunger Games footage you can get before the film’s release in… twenty one days. If you’re not, then this is not the post you’re looking for. Move along. (No spoilers.)

"Ali Baba is an honest man. He has a family that he cherishes and a job that he enjoys. When he has a..."

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 10:46:27 -0500

“Ali Baba is an honest man. He has a family that he cherishes and a job that he enjoys. When he has a suspicious customer in his autorickshaw who over pays for his fare, Ali Baba feels that it is his duty to stop the man and give him his change back.”

- Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves: Reloaded

Casting Call For A New Geek Reality Show...From The Creators Of The Jersey Shore

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:06:41 -0500

Casting Call For A New Geek Reality Show...From The Creators Of The Jersey Shore:

Television has tried to capitalize on nerds before. Beauty & the Geek, Freaks and Geeks and Geek Love just to name a few. Well now MTV wants to make a few good geek stars with their new reality show, Fandom Rising. Did I mention the creators of The Jersey Shore are putting it together? What could possibly go wrong…

Internet Justice League Says as Much About Justice League as it Does About Internet

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:35:22 -0500

Internet Justice League Says as Much About Justice League as it Does About Internet:

Now, now, I’m sure HuffPo is a lot of people’s favorite. And the idea of a very serious Wondy facing off against an adorable Lolspeaking Cheetah amuses me. How did the rest of the Internet JLA wind up?

X-Men Covers With Googly Eyes

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:17:07 -0500

X-Men Covers With Googly Eyes:

Man, just when we were getting a little tired of Magic Cards with Googly Eyes, here comes X-Men covers with googly eyes, to make us love the googly eyes trick all over again. It’s true. The Juggernaut with Googly eyes might be the funniest thing I’ve seen all day.

"According to a recent study, only 27% of kids from poor families have access to smartphones compared..."

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 12:00:30 -0500

“According to a recent study, only 27% of kids from poor families have access to smartphones compared to 57% of their more affluent peers. For media expert Henry Jenkins, the issue isn’t access to technology, it’s the lack of access to skills, knowledge, and experiences. Speaking at the 2011 Mobility Shifts conference, he underscored the important role of schools in closing the participation gap, adding “If we don’t bring this into the public libraries, we’re in trouble.””

- Ishizuka, Kathy. “SLJ’s Top 10 2011 Tech .” School Library Journal . (December 2011): 46-47.

The Giftinator: The Ultimate Way to Find Your Man a Last-Minute Gift

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:40:16 -0500

The Giftinator: The Ultimate Way to Find Your Man a Last-Minute Gift:

Face it: You need a cool, last-minute gift for the special guy in your life. Boyfriends and husbands love tech toys, but chances are your man already owns the smartphone, tablet or game system of his choice. What he will enjoy are media, accessories and unique offerings that only our precious Int…

Photo

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:41:43 -0500