I’ll write about a random subject that doesn’t really fall into my usual gamer/geek-themed posts. However, a female such as myself can’t really overlook things like these. It includes female advice for males, sarcasm, and jokes, but feel free to interpret it however you like. Whine. Write hate comments. Plot my demise.

Then shut the Hell up and follow my advice.

I was reading someone’s blog, where the blogger was talking about the very positive physical attributes of a guy she knew. Of course, amidst the comments to that particular post were the usual ‘he must be gay’ phrases that guys tend to say when us women check out a specimen with far better looks than their own.

I wonder what makes them say that? Jealousy of all the female attention, lack of confidence, or wishful thinking?

The first one has a solution (pay attention, males!): exercise so you don’t look like a human furball version of Jabba the Hutt and you can have just as nicely shaped abs/butt/biceps/etc as him. Oh, and very, VERY important: bathe. It’s not optional. Nothing is a bigger turn off than someone who smells like a chimpanzee who just ran a marathon in the desert and then rolled on some pig crap just for kicks. Also, wear washed clothes because if you bathe and then wear a t-shirt that smells like a four-week dead ostrich, you will still smell horrible. Plus, take care of stuff like your hair. Does it look like a three year old cut it? Are you bald but have a huge tuff of hair surrounding the glinting middle part of your head? Go to a hairdresser. Stop reading. Get up from your chair. Go. Now. Hairdresser.

On aside note: more and more girls prefer guys that don’t look like Tony Ramos, body hair-wise (sorry Tony, you’re a nice actor, but your shoulders and back still give me nightmares). Make the effort to at least remove the ones from your shoulders and back, as a vomit reflex is definitely a no-way sign for a girl. Most of us aren’t furries, thanks.

Yes, it’s a lot of trouble, but guess what? The ‘he must be gay’ guy who actually isn’t gets a lot more female attention than you ever will.

In case you think my advice is not really well intended (as it is) and you’ve interpreted it as a bitchy egotistical feminist rant, feel free to whine about it by commenting here. After that, go bathe, shave your shoulders/back, get a haircut, and start exercising, because odds are you do look like a human-sized Ewok who’s pissed off about us chicks also liking our men to pay the minimum attention to their looks and hygene instead of just sticking to every effort being from our part.

For those who do follow my advice, remember that looks alone are nothing if you’re a jerk. They make it easier for a girl to have an initial interest, but that’s mostly it. Be nice, respectful and polite. Good luck.

In case you’re fancying his abs, but in a ‘I want to rub them with my bare hands’ way: ask the guy out. With any luck, he is gay.

Finally, and somewhat off-topic, allow me to clarify a few things about me which may give you a better perspective on the validity of my points of view and advices:

I do not think ‘all men are the same’ and the women who say that constantly are simply idiots who pick retards for their boyfriends/husbands, instead of going for the not über looking, but really nice, thoughtful and respectful guy. Who, of course, bathes.

I’m not sexist. I do however fancy that equality thing people keep talking about. And yes, it’s stupid to give females things like political positions simply because they have female genitalia, when their knowledge and skills in that area suck more than a Thai prostitute.

Ta ta!

What Happens to Science Fiction Writers After They Die - what are the graves of those who were the greatest sci-fi literary geniuses like?

Rock, Paper, Scissors made a list of the 10 Things All PC Games Should Have. Worth a read. Personally, I also think the Escape key should close the present in-game menu, like Blizzard has on its games since at least Diablo.

Thrustmaster has made a wiimote glowing lightsaber add-on. About time someone made this. Too bad The Force Unleashed is so crappy for the Wii, that I bought the XBox 360 version instead. Maybe I can play Zelda using a lightsaber. Hmm…

My PC was finally moved to the new place on Saturday. Next weekend it’s time to get my other desk. We actually slept on the new place tonight. Unfortunately there were some issues with the water heater which I’ll have to sort today so we don’t have to use cold water again. Details. *ahem*

Not much Warhammering Online, since I’m sorta waiting for my kitten to catch up (he’s about 4 levels behind), and when there are consoles around, I have other stuff to play. Like Assassin’s Creed, and GTA4, both of which I barely started. I did finally manage to try out The Force Unleashed. Although I can’t really make an in-depth comment on it, I liked what I saw. I understood what reviewers had said about it being an ok game ‘but better for Star Wars fans’. There was already a little detail on the story so far that made my inner geek squee a little, but I don’t want to spoil you.

Tropical Thunder is the stupidest movie I’ve watched in a long time. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing, even with it being a comedy. Some funny parts, no doubt, but lots of ‘just stupid’ parts also.

I was introduced to a new bar (new to me anyway), near Saldanha, in Lisbon - Magnetic. I really liked the ambiance there. The look was good and both the cheesecake and decaf cappuccino were yummy.

Oh, and finally, all cheer my friend Alma for getting the legendary Atiesh, Great Staff of the Guardian after two years of waiting to get the Kel’Thuzad and C’thun pieces she was missing. Medivh surely approves of the new owner for his staff. It was now or never, since the 40 man Naxxramas will disappear from the game in October. I was unable to help as I wasn’t home that particular time and my WoW account isn’t even active right now.

But, you know what this means, don’t you? Free portals to Karazhan! Woohoo! Anyway, may her orange staff’s pretty fly-around birdies never poop on her! \o/

I am still drooling at this Star Wars space battle diorama, all made in LEGO.

Found via Geekologie. Complete flickr Rebel Attack! gallery over here.

For a few years now, we’ve had a quasi-yearly event here in Portugal about fantastic literature and other arts - Fórum Fantástico. This year the event is almost here, and as such I shall publicize it to whoever it may interest.

Fórum Fantástico 2008, will take place at the Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade de Lisboa, and starts on October 2nd, ending on October 5th.

This year’s program has several highlights, and I may drop by on Saturday if I have company. it’s a shame that the event I had most interest on, about fantasy illustration takes place on a weekday, and not after work hours. all well. You can

Be sure to visit the Fórum Fantástico site, and check out the event’s program (both in Portuguese).

Mark Jacobs, Mythic’s CEO recently gave an interview about Warhammer Online, MMOs and more. Really nice read if you’re interested in the MMO scene.

Some highlights:

It does seem like a big MMO killer is simply running out of money and having to launch in whatever state the game was in when the money ran out.

MJ: Absolutely

I’ve seen this happen several times, more recently in my memory is Age of Conan’s failure, but another good example was Star Wars Galaxies. I hope BioWare does what it’s known for and waits the right amount of game matureness and stability before releasing their Knights of the Old Republic MMO a few years from now. I’d like a good sci-fi MMO, especially if it’s Star Wars.

It’s the same thing we hope will happen with WoW versus WAR. We’re not saying we’re going to beat them, but we’re not afraid of them. We have our own hook; that’s RvR, and we’re pushing it and we’re pushing it, just as we’re pushing other innovations in the game. Blizzard is number one; we don’t mind being number two, especially if it’s a competitive number two. I can’t worry about that.

Mythic was smart. Instead of aiming to make the WoW-killer game, they decided to go for a niche market, who doesn’t have all their needs fulfilled by World of Warcraft - PvP fans. At the same time they didn’t neglect PvE fans such as myself and made a world, where you can level up by questing.

MJ: Well, you know where the visuals come from. The visuals come from Games Workshop, and if there’s any similarity to the WoW visuals, you need to ask Blizzard where they got their visuals come from. (laughs) We can trace our visuals directly to the Games Workshop IP, which came about before Blizzard was even a company. Just go back and look at the old Games Workshop books.

(…)

So, for the people who look at this and say, “Boy, some of these things are similar,” also keep in mind that we’ve been making MMOs since before Blizzard ever did. A lot of the things in the game, be they RvR or other things, come from Camelot.

But even having said that, knowing that full well, games — MMOs or not — have a tendency to be somewhat derivative of each other.

[ Source: Gamasutra ]

After reading this, I’m getting the sense that Mythic will be more demanding on GOA’s efficiency, and not let months go by where Europe is waiting for patches already out in the US. Today’s MMO reality is not the same as it was five years ago when I was playing Dark Age of Camelot and we accepted it because where else would we go MMO-wise? Mark Jacobs seems to be well aware that things are different now.

So far Warhammer Online managed to impress me. Like MJ says in the interview, I don’t think it will beat World of Warcraft (gimme Universe of StarCraft!). In fact, I’m a firm believer that if there will be an MMO that will beat WoW in numbers, it will be another Blizzard creation, based on WoW’s engine, which has been improved steadly for years.

WAR does manage to have innovations despite the more and more explored area of MMOs. Public Quests are definitely an innovation, the larger amount of things you can do from level one, also is (want to PvP? Go right ahead). I won’t mention Realm versus Realm in this context, because it was already there five years ago, on Mythic’s Dark age of Camelot. While playing it, I’m not looking for a replacement for World of Warcraft, but it is a very nice complimentary game for WoW-players, and a must if you’re more into PvP than PvE.

Maybe this could help me with my book-buying addiction.

This was the one weekend of the year where I end up meeting up with almost all my friends. Unlike what I had originally thought there was actually some Sun on Saturday, and the rain was timed well because we were all inside the restaurant having dinner while it started and ended, just in time for us to leave and head over to the bar were some of us stayed until close time.

After this huge meet-up, I realized once more that I need to not only go out more instead of spending most the weekend at home, but also that I should make the effort (not that there’s much effort involved) to arrange weekend meet-ups with people I see less of during the year and who I always love to see again.

It was a busy weekend, but it all turned out great, despite our almost meltdown inside the restaurant, where three different explanations were given to the reason why the AC was not working as it should. I didn’t enjoy my Calzone pizza as much as I did last year’s lasagna, but now I know better. Also, if I schedule another event to that particular restaurant, I’ll ask if they’re AC is fixed because this year there was a ridiculously high temperature inside.

Meantime, I’m almost completely out of my parent’s house for good. Some more shopping and moving of stuff this next couple of weeks and I should be 100% away. Then to proceed to move some more stuff while already living on my new place.

I managed to play a couple of hours of WAR during the weekend and am now at level 14 on my Disciple of Khaine, plus I also tried out playing a Bright Wizard and a Sorceress, both only until rank 3, and I didn’t dislike either. I’ll post more stuff about WAR soon, since I’ve tried out new stuff including Realm versus Realm since my last post.

Still no The Force Unleashed, but I don’t mind waiting a little longer if I save 15 euros in the process.

Danny Choo, known to most as Tokyo’s resident Stormtrooper was interviewed by CNN.

It’s being an almost trouble-free Warhammer Online: age of Reckoning launch here in Europe, in a bright contrast to the disaster that the open beta start was. Let’s forget about that part of the Open Beta, shall we?

The only non smooth thing about this launch are the huge server queues, but those were expected. The day before yesterday the pre order SE headstart begun and the queue reached over one and a half hours at prime time. Thankfully when I finally managed to get it, at around 21h30 GMT there was not only no queue, but also no horrifying lag issues. Maybe because I was no longer doing the level 1-5 zone, where most players were probably playing.

Anyway, there was also another glitch which influenced me. My main nickname was taken the second the servers opened for the CE headstart on Sunday. So I was disappointed, but accepted it as something that usually happens in MMOs. I was hoping it was due to a bug that locked some untaken names, but tried the rest of the day and also Monday morning and nothing. I was quite surprised that when I got home Monday evening, and having already been informed of the huge queues, deciding to try to register the name once more. And guess what? It worked. And I did the happy dance. By then my Disciple of Khaine was already level 9, and I wasn’t feeling inclined to start over, so that, plus the fact that the whole server seems to love Zealots and Disciples of Khaine… I shall make my Witch Elf have that name. It’s basically swapping between the name I’d chosen for the DoK and the one I wanted for the WE. No biggy.

Oh I also managed to get it on my Order server. Yay, and stuff.

Now onwards to some observations. I was wondering why both I and my boyfriend (playing a Black Ork) were losing most the time on PvP, when in the beta test while playing on Chaos we won most of the time. We reached the conclusion that this is happening because the Dark Elves lack a tank class and the greenskins lack a melee dps. Chaos has all of those plus casters dps and a decent healer class that everyone and their pets is playing - the Zealot. On the other hand, the Empire doesn’t have a tank either, so that also increases their chances of losing to their Chaos counterparts. This is a consequence of the class removal Mythic did a while ago, since the four classes all fit in the parts that are lacking in each faction. It leaves me wondering what it would be like of they hadn’t. Would the Destruction win most the time? Or the Order? Or… God forbid, would it be balanced? I do wonder.

All of this leads me to conclude that for me to get my Destruction PvP epix, renown rank and XP, I shall take my lady elven characters to the Chaos area and queue up for pvp there or to wherever they are lacking (Witch Elf to Greenskin territory, and so forth).

About the PvE, I’m liking it. So far I have never ran out of quests, always kept busy and managing to get XP at a decent pace. Also, the Public Quests I like. Not only do you get XP, but also the odd PQ chest loot (got my two swords doing the same PQ twice and ranking high enough/getting a decent roll. You can also get Influence points on each chapter which you can then use to get items from a vendor in the respective chapter. The PQs make it more of a multiplayer game while leveling than WoW’s PvE leveling.

I also need to check out the Renown Rank rewards. I’m at rank 6 or something like that and want to know what goodies I can purchase to help with my leveling speed as I want to play my Witch Elf soon. i was thinking of saving the gold for my mount, but it’s 6 gold and I’m already at over 2.5g half way to level 20, where you can get yer mount. So I don’t think gold will be an issue.

I haven’t tried out any instance yet, but would like to see if I could arrange a group with some friends who are also playing on my server soon.

EDIT: seems I was wrong and the mount is 15 gold. oops. :P