Maurice Cherry

I really need to know why the GrubHub guy is naked on the couch...

Mon, 28 May 2012 23:28:40 -0400

I really need to know why the GrubHub guy is naked on the couch like that.

Great Comics that Never Happened: Batman and Jay-Z Solve 99...

Mon, 28 May 2012 22:07:00 -0400

Great Comics that Never Happened: Batman and Jay-Z Solve 99 Problems!

Check out the rest of Comics Alliance’s Great Comics that Never Happened.

thatjessjohnson: milodrums: The Scientific Method using...

Mon, 28 May 2012 16:59:51 -0400

thatjessjohnson:

milodrums:

The Scientific Method using memes

+1 for a reference from The IT Crowd!

BuildMobile | Make The Most of Your Time Offline: Save Articles,...

Mon, 28 May 2012 14:44:52 -0400

BuildMobile | Make The Most of Your Time Offline: Save Articles, Videos, and Images for Later Viewing with Pocket

My latest review for BuildMobile. Share, comment, reblog, and enjoy!

Freelance Freedom 260: A Good Fit

Mon, 28 May 2012 12:34:40 -0400

Freelance Freedom 260: A Good Fit

Memorial Day 2012: Remembering Soldiers Of Color

Mon, 28 May 2012 12:33:45 -0400

Memorial Day 2012: Remembering Soldiers Of Color:

Great post from Racialicious about veterans of color in our community.

le sigh

Mon, 28 May 2012 02:36:59 -0400

*le sigh*

blackfemalesuperheroes: Lois Lane in Black face...

Sun, 27 May 2012 23:44:24 -0400

blackfemalesuperheroes:

Lois Lane in Black face (Superman)

“Afro attire”, though.

blackfemalesuperheroes: Cipher She was a mysterious woman who...

Sun, 27 May 2012 23:42:35 -0400

blackfemalesuperheroes:

Cipher

She was a mysterious woman who appeared to inform Ink that the Young X-Men were in peril. Cipher has the mutant ability to phase through solid matter. Despite her similar name, she has no connection with the deceased New Mutant, Cypher.

Cipher used her mutant ability to remain undetected in the Xavier Institute, hiding from a mysterious threat that to this day remains unrevealed. The powerful telepathic known as Jean Grey, however, was able to barely detect her presence. Because Cipher was so terrified of whomever was chasing her, Grey and her then-husband Cyclops allowed her to remain at the mansion, receive private training, and help others in the background without making her presence known to anyone else.

Cipher made herself known to fellow student Blindfold, whose near-indecipherable manner of language and visual handicap rendered her helpless against a manipulated Beast, whose humanity was telepathically stripped from him by Cassandra Nova. Cipher helped guide her to safety on many occasions and even attacked Danielle Moonstar when she held Blindfold at gunpoint.

Cipher then began to focus her efforts on the Young X-Men, a group of teenage mutants who had formed under a Cyclops-impersonated Donald Pierce. She, along with a misguided mutant named Greymalkin, tried to defeat Pierce on their own. Greymalkin, who at first appeared schizophrenic when he was actually speaking to the invisible Cipher, was ultimately involved in his defeat.

Once Donald Pierce was outed, the group reformed under the real Cyclops with the X-Men in San Francisco. Blindfold, who had no real offensive capabilities, was put on the sidelines only to assist the team when needed. Another Young X-Men, Ink, also left the team after he discovered he was not a mutant, but instead received his powers through tattoos he were receiving from a mutant tattoo artist named Leon Nunez.

When the rest of the Young X-Men found themselves outnumbered by a gang of empowered thugs called the Y-Men, who received their powers the same way as Ink, Cipher had no choice but reveal herself to Ink and convince him to help his former team. Initially unwilling to help mutants if he was not one himself, he came around and was able to help save the day.

However, once Ink and Greymalkin began interacting more, the two both began to question each other about the mysterious girl named Cipher. Cipher finally decided to make herself known to the rest of the team and began actively participating in missions with them. However, she is still extremely guarded, revealing only necessary information to others and would get snippy with anyone who presses further. Nonetheless, she quickly became a compassionate member having already known them all long before they ever knew her.

Cipher is next seen with Colossus and Surge trying to stop the riots in San Francisco. While the trio scout the perimeter, the Dark Avengers arrive on the scene.

Venom (Mac Gargan) attacks them, citing a fight between Colossus and Rockslide, who participated in the riots. Colossus instructs the two girls to flee as he takes on the dangerous villain.

Cipher is a mutant whose abilities include flight, invisibility, phasing/ghosting, maintaining psychic invisibility (for example Emma Frost cannot detect her with her powers, but Jean Grey could), and emitting a bioelectric charge through people she phases through.

Cipher has also displayed proficient abilities in flying jets, having received advanced training as Cyclops and Jean Grey’s pupil.

blackfemalesuperheroes: Miranda Mercury Miranda isn’t exactly a...

Sun, 27 May 2012 23:41:26 -0400

blackfemalesuperheroes:

Miranda Mercury

Miranda isn’t exactly a new character. Archaia released the first and only issue of The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury a few years ago, but there were a number of unfortunate events and obstacles that temporarily shelved it.

In an interview, the creator was asked if he knew in the beginning if this character would be black. His response:

Brandon Thomas: Oh, absolutely, she was always black, and part of the reason I created the character was to challenge me as a writer, and really to challenge the industry I was working in. At the time I was feeling a little stifled and that I wasn’t getting the opportunities I wanted, so there came a time when I just had to go out and create the kind of comic that I would enjoy writing, and hopefully, that others would enjoy reading. The mission statement is that Miranda Mercury would never stop moving, never stop trying to improve the world she lived in, and that if I was going to keep up, I had to embrace something similar.

And as a black writer, the portrayal of characters of color, the advancement of creators of color and even the advancement of female creators, is all something I have a very personal stake in. Sci-fi and comics have become a bit notorious for having a lack of true representation, and maybe making Miranda a third-generation science hero, the product of a long line of black adventurers, was over correcting a bit, but it felt right in this case. In the universe Miranda lives in, no one cares that she’s black; it doesn’t come up. There is prejudice and intolerance, but it’s not always about skin color, and there’s no such thing as “black superheroes,” and I thought that was perfect.

Miranda Mercury is about celebrating and achieving the impossible, and I knew with that mandate, it was something I could write forever, and a project whose only limits were my own.

The fact that the heroine is dying from an incurable virus also hooks you right away.

Miranda is the personification of drive, determination, and selflessness, which came from what her family instilled in her at a very young age.

Miranda is at the young age of ten as she saves a planet with the help of the Mercury family. Then we jump years ahead where she and her right-hand man Jack Warning are attempting to keep a cosmic genie that is trapped in a very complex Rubik’s cube-like device from hitting the black market. Here is where we find out that Miranda is actually on borrowed time, and that Jack is determined to see that she gets more of it. Ferguson also uses this story to lay out some great character building with Miranda and Jack that puts this story over the top. I also like the way he writes Jack who we know is her sidekick, but he’s given a very prominent role and is just as entertaining to read. From here on, Miranda is betrayed by a lifelong friend, fights Time Raiders, is framed for murder, tortured, and has to deal with the death of her grandfather, the great James Mercury. His origin is probably one of the strongest written parts of the book as it’s more character driven and culminates in a great finale.

peachtreekeen: GPOY. ALSO! Did you know that Miss Yvonne is...

Sun, 27 May 2012 15:57:45 -0400

peachtreekeen:

GPOY.

ALSO! Did you know that Miss Yvonne is Charlie’s Mom from “It’s Always Sunny”? If so, you’re way ahead of me because I JUST LEARNED THAT!

“I don’t want the dog to eat my face, Charlieeeeee!”

Step 221: Carry at least $10 cash on you

Sun, 27 May 2012 15:57:29 -0400

adulting:

You never know when you’ll need it. Bus fare, the Lebanese restaurant that unexpectedly only accepts cash, the $2 tip obligation that springs out at you — it’s just a good, solid strategy. Don’t spend it unless there’s no way to use your debit card.

International readers: Apologies for this entry’s USA-centrism. I think the guiding principle is to carry enough cash to pay for a cheap lunch.

peachtreekeen: Google Earth blurs out the Confederate memorial...

Sun, 27 May 2012 14:15:17 -0400

peachtreekeen:

Google Earth blurs out the Confederate memorial carved into Stone Mountain LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.

The Story of Symbols We use them every day, but what are the...

Sun, 27 May 2012 12:53:56 -0400

The Story of Symbols

We use them every day, but what are the mysterious origins of these symbols we take for granted?

'Safe is bad': Andrew Keen on Digital Vertigo | The Verge

Sun, 27 May 2012 12:50:25 -0400

'Safe is bad': Andrew Keen on Digital Vertigo | The Verge:

This is the article I was reading last night which I pulled quotes from. I’m gonna pick up Digital Vertigo because it sounds like a pretty good read.

"Sharing online creates an ersatz intimacy that is easily shattered and requires very little risk...."

Sun, 27 May 2012 00:14:39 -0400

“Sharing online creates an ersatz intimacy that is easily shattered and requires very little risk. Sharing in person is a risky, emotional business. When you share in person, you have to look somebody in the eye; when you share online, you stare at the screen (which is like looking into the mirror).”

- Andrew Keen

"What’s replacing old media is social media. But the problem with the “like” media..."

Sun, 27 May 2012 00:06:25 -0400

“What’s replacing old media is social media. But the problem with the “like” media economy of Facebook and Twitter is that it doesn’t provide an economic model for journalists. So — as Eli Pariser notes in The Filter Bubble — social media turns into an echo chamber where the blind lead the blind and we all feel more and more virtuous and correct. It’s like Fox or MSNBC run by amateurs. We all become Bill O’Reilly or Rachel Maddow, curating our view of the world to our friends. But who is going to pay investigative journalists in this social media world?”

- Andrew Keen

"Narcissism isn’t new, but the web is both the cause and the consequence of our contemporary love..."

Sat, 26 May 2012 23:57:19 -0400

“Narcissism isn’t new, but the web is both the cause and the consequence of our contemporary love affair with our own opinions.”

- Andrew Keen

Daman Bahner: The Color of Success: Blacks in Tech on Twitter

Fri, 25 May 2012 18:08:11 -0400

Daman Bahner: The Color of Success: Blacks in Tech on Twitter:

damanbahner:

I’ve wanted to write this post for a while, but I wanted to come at it the right way. This isn’t an article about blacks in technology from an exclusionary standpoint, but from a positive empowerment one. I hope the day comes when it’s not a rare thing for non-asian minority males to be found in…

Awkward Black Girl Season 2 - Trailer (by iamOTHER) Season 2!

Fri, 25 May 2012 17:31:45 -0400

Awkward Black Girl Season 2 - Trailer (by iamOTHER)

Season 2!