by A.J. Focht

With The Amazing Spider-Man set to release this coming July, it might seem a little early to be thinking of a spin-off movie for the series, but it looks like Sony already is. The company is negotiating with Josh Trank, director of this year’s indie superhero hit Chronicle, to take the lead on the Venom movie. The idea of a Venom movie has been tossed around by Sony since 2008, but they are hoping to use the success of the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man to launch the spin-off. Trank has already shown us he knows how to handle the hero-to-villain transformation so a Venom film should come as natural to him.

Speaking of The Amazing Spider-Man, last week, Stan Lee revealed he is a playable character in the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man videogame. There is no word on who Stan Lee’s character in the game will be, or if this will tie into his cameo in the movie. But fear not true believers, The Amazing Spider-Man game will be released on June 26 and all will be revealed then.

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by Jen Friel

Hi friends,

We haven’t met yet, but I’d like to introduce myself…I’m @JenFriel. I am a lifecaster and corporate sponsored minimalist that went out on over 103 dates in 9 months while I was couch surfing for a year building my website (TalkNerdyToMeLover.com) and bartering social media to live. I’m an accidental expert in dating, and am here to share with you some tips and tricks that I learned during the course of my ongoing OKCupid project.

What is OKCupid, you may ask? Well, it’s only the nerdiest of nerdy dating websites! They use math to get you dates, and created an algorithm for compatibility that I can attest is pretty darn accurate!

Algorithms aside though, the one thing that I have noticed is that guys don’t understand how to actually set up a profile. I mean, they get the very basics – but they don’t understand what a female is looking for in a profile, or WHY some profiles work over others. This is where I would like to help. Here, pull up a chair…

1. Choose your username wisely.

I can’t begin to tell you how important choosing a username is – it’s one of the FIRST things a chick will notice.

A good username will consist of something that reflects your personality, and shows off who you are (while still remaining anonymous if that’s your cup of tea). Example: JohnLuvsGiants

A username such as that might tell me that one, your name is John, and two that you either love the football team The Giants, or you have a Paul Bunyan fetish. Either is kosher for Passover, but does tell me a bit about who you are.

A less than desirable username is anything that includes and of the following words: crazy, horny, mofo, bad, 69, fyckr, humpyoulikedogandyoulllikeit.

Chicks notice this, man – be true to you, and keep it real.

2. Answer the questions

I know that that sounds weird and straight forward since that is what the site is about – but I can’t begin to tell you how many guys have said to me, “I just wanted to wait for the date before getting to know the person.” The problem with that statement is the fact that you are NEVER going to get to know the girl, because she won’t reply back to your message because you had a 0% compatibility because you didn’t answer any friggen questions! Yes, dating has an ebb and flow, and yes, first dates are about discovery – however, to get that first date you have to get her attention. How are you going to do that? Be the guy that answers questions and show her how compatible you are by commenting on one single detail from her profile, and asking her to elaborate on it in the email.

3. Select a default that is a clear shot of a face with you genuinely smiling, and then have the rest of the pictures in your profile tell the story of your life.

I can’t begin to tell you how many guys mess this part up. They put a picture of themselves at a bbq with a sunglasses and hat on. I even had one friend have himself in a field with flags as his default picture. When I inquired as to why he selected that for his default his response was, chicks love flags!

*facepalm*

Dude, chicks don’t like flags. A chick wants to see your FACE!!! A clear shot, with a genuine “this is me actually being happy and not forced” smile. Let the female judge your attractiveness; it is your job in the default to be as neutral as possible.

Then, in all of the additional photos uploaded to the album (up to 10), you tell the story of your life. Like hiking? Show off some pics of you on various trails. Have you gone skydiving? Or like something equally cool and rad? Show it off!!! Post those pics, be you – have fun with it, tell the female your story.

4. Keep your profile brief and to the point.

I heart twitter. The microblogging site has conditioned me to get CRAZY good at finding ways to say things in as short of characters as possible. Do this with your profile!! Spit it out, get it out, but keep it brief. No one wants to be reading a novel when it comes to a dating profile. Keep things light and funny, while showcasing your personality. (Unless of course you are a horribly boring human being that enjoys watching paint dry and counting the holes in your ceiling; in that case, maybe online dating isn’t for you.)

Best of luck out there guys, and if you have any questions please hit me up on twitter: @JenFriel. I’d love to hear from you! xoxo

Like what you’ve read? You can also join Jen and her friends in the Talk Nerdy To Me, Lover live stage show called the Dirty Truth About Nerdy Girls on March 23 at 9:30 PM at The Little Modern Theater in Hollywood, CA. For more info visit TalkNerdyToMeLover.com/stage-show/

by Steven-Elliot Altman (SG Member: Steven_Altman)

Our Fiction Friday serialized novel, The Killswitch Review, is a futuristic murder mystery with killer sociopolitical commentary (and some of the best sex scenes we’ve ever read!). Written by bestselling sci-fi author Steven-Elliot Altman (with Diane DeKelb-Rittenhouse), it offers a terrifying postmodern vision in the tradition of Blade Runner and Brave New World…

By the year 2156, stem cell therapy has triumphed over aging and disease, extending the human lifespan indefinitely. But only for those who have achieved Conscientious Citizen Status. To combat overpopulation, the U.S. has sealed its borders, instituted compulsory contraception and a strict one child per couple policy for those who are permitted to breed, and made technology-assisted suicide readily available. But in a world where the old can remain vital forever, America’s youth have little hope of prosperity.

Jason Haggerty is an investigator for Black Buttons Inc, the government agency responsible for dispensing personal handheld Kevorkian devices, which afford the only legal form of suicide. An armed “Killswitch” monitors and records a citizen’s final moments — up to the point where they press a button and peacefully die. Post-press review agents — “button collectors” — are dispatched to review and judge these final recordings to rule out foul play.

When three teens stage an illegal public suicide, Haggerty suspects their deaths may have been murders. Now his race is on to uncover proof and prevent a nationwide epidemic of copycat suicides. Trouble is, for the first time in history, an entire generation might just decide they’re better off dead.

(Catch up with the previous installments of Killswitch – see links below – then continue reading after the jump…)

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by A.J. Focht

The Avengers | Samuel L. Jackson | Robert Downey Jr. | Chris Evans | Movie Trailer | Review

A new trailer for The Avengers came out today, and a new official movie poster has been released. The movie hits theatres on May 4, and will launch the summer superhero season.

There has been a lot of talk about Ryan Reynolds reprising either of his super powered rolls as the Green Lantern or Deadpool. While promoting his upcoming movie Safe House, Reynolds gave us some more insight on both projects. Deadpool is a work in progress, and Reynolds thinks the script is fantastic. Thankfully, he mentioned the new script has nothing to do with the Wolverine movie. The main concern is getting the producers to cut a check for a rated R superhero movie. As far as Green Lantern, Reynolds knows nothing of plans to do a sequel after the horribly received first film, but he did immediately turn the conversation back to how awesome a rated R Deadpool movie would be.

A new member has been added to the cast of The Walking Dead. David Morrissey has been cast as the Governor on the show. The Governor is the dreadful leader of another group of survivors and will be a regular next season. The third season has also been expanded to sixteen episodes.

To go along with the first photos from the set of Star Trek 2, a behind the scenes video has hit the web showing Spock getting the shit beaten out of him by Benedict Cumberbatch’s character over and over again. While we still don’t know who Cumberbatch is, it’s clear he is a villain able to overpower Spock – which is no easy feat.

Despite the years of backlash and ridicule Star Wars: The Phantom Menace has received since its release in 1999, it is now on its way to being the 10th highest grossing film ever worldwide. Due to the fact the 3D version sales are being added directly onto the original movies sales (a cheap move if you ask me), The Phantom Menace has been gradually climbing the charts since its extra dimensional release. If it makes just $1.5 million more it will overtake The Dark Knight, which currently hold the #10 spot.

While Star Wars is cheating its way into the record book, The Hunger Games has legitimately broken the record for most advance tickets sold a full month before its release. With a major following growing to match that of Harry Potter or other such fan backed literature, we can only hope The Hunger Games will take the spotlight away from the Twilight series.

The first official trailer for The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra animated series has been released. It takes place seventy years after the events of Avatar: The Last Airbender and follows the adventures of the new Avatar, Korra. The trailer still doesn’t give a firm release date, but it does say coming soon.

After the incredibly successful Black & White sequels to the Pokémon game series, Nintendo has now announced two more sequels currently titled, Black & White 2. This is an odd move for the Pokémon games as their past sequels have always been titled after different colors on different islands. This may mean these are the first Pokémon games to directly sequel previous games (if we don’t count offshoots like Yellow, Crystal, etc.) and if they keep the title, it will be the first to have a number moniker in the title. The game is scheduled to release in Japan in June 2012 and here in August 2012.

by Nicole Powers

“Omfgomfgomfgomfgomfg you have no idea how amazing you are!!!!!” was the exact turn of phrase used by my Twitter friend @EisMC2 when I told her I’d just interviewed Little Brother author Cory Doctorow and had returned with a signed copy of the book for her. Indeed it was @EisMC2 and her fiancé @JackalAnon who first turned me on to Doctorow’s epic updated spin on George Orwell’s Big Brother vision, which was first published in 2007. Uncannily prophetic, the novel serves as a veritable playbook for the Occupy movement, and with online pranksters turned hacktivists as its heroic protagonists, it is also an inspirational work for many Anons (hence the need for at least five omfgs). Combining an action packed and V-relevant plot with a solid historical perspective on activism, in retrospect, Little Brother may be considered one of the great civil liberties texts of our time.

The math, science, and sociopolitical commentary spun into the prose of Little Brother is pure genius, while the story makes for a gripping reading experience. As @EisMC2 puts it, Doctorow has a knack “for distributing the #Truth in a manner everyone can understand.” For example, during an expository paragraph regarding a key plot point, Doctorow also manages to simply and concisely explain how Bayesian mathematics (which puts the spam in your filter) is being deployed in an unscientific way to find “statistically abnormal” people to put under the security microscope – irrespective of whether they’re actually likely to have done anything wrong. Even if advanced probability theory isn’t your thing, by the time you’ve finished Little Brother, you’ll have a deep understanding of how this kind of statistical analysis – which government agencies routinely rely on to make policy and find targets in the war of terror – can be misinterpreted and manipulated with chilling effect.

Though set in an unspecified near future, much of the fictional dystopian world Doctorow depicted when he wrote Little Brother five years ago is now a reality (such as the indefinite detention of US citizens without trial or due process). It’s a tale of terrorism, society’s overreation to it, the psychology of fear, and the erosion of our constitutional rights. It also contains many elements occupiers will be all too familiar with: protests, out of control cops, pepper spray, tear gas, smoke bombs, police brutality, and a biased and lazy media “reporting” on it all.

At the start of the year, having spent some quality time at OccupyLSX, I met up with Doctorow at his North London workspace. Surrounded by cool gadgets, toys, and all manner of geek memorabilia (such as an original 1973 set of D&D boxed game instructions), I chatted at length with the author, digital rights champion, and Boing Boing co-editor about Little Brother, its forthcoming sequel Homeland, the realities of Big Brother, and how to stay under the radar when living in a surveillance state.

Read our exclusive interview with Cory Doctorow on SuicideGirls.com.

For more on Cory Doctorow visit craphound.com/. A free copy of Little Brother can be downloaded under a Creative Commons license here.

A staged version of Little Brother by The Custom Made Theatre Co. is currently playing through February 25 in San Francisco. Visit Custommade.org for full details.

by A.J. Focht

Last summer, X-Men: First Class all but made up for the failures of the previous two movies in the franchise. The prequel was shockingly good, and now the sequel to the prequel is in the works. In an interview with Simon Kinberg, screenwriter of both films, it was revealed that this sequel will focus heavily on Magneto’s storyline and Magneto’s growth as a character into a villain.

The pilot for Arrow is coming along, and thanks to Stephen Amell, who was cast as Green Arrow, we have some insight into the process. Amell keeps a video blog on his Facebook where he answers fan questions. In the last video, he revealed several of the changes he has had to make in training for the part. He also said there is one more major character left to be cast that he knows of.

Last week, I reported about a comic documentary focusing on female super heroes that was seeking funding. Now, the first trailer for that film, WONDER WOMEN! The Untold Story of American Superheroines, is available. The film will make its debut at SXSW.

In a recent interview with Kotaku, Geoff Johns announced DC is working on a Suicide Squad video game. Amongst all of DC’s game projects, John’s is particularly excited about this game because it will present a new conundrum where lead characters can be killed off for real, and it’s not a gimmick. For those not familiar with the Suicide Squad comic, it features prominent DC villains working on government espionage missions, and it is common to see main characters die off each issue.

Doctor Who season seven has begun filming. The first stills from the set have hit the internet. Two more actors have also signed on for the run, Mark Williams (Inspector Lestrade in Sherlock) and David Bradley (Argus Filch from Harry Potter).

Fear not Community fans. Show creator, Dan Harmon, tweeted the show will be returning on March 15th. Community will be back on Thursday nights at 8 PM. Let’s just hope it doesn’t go off air again, it’s was starting to feel like another Arrested Development scenario for a moment.

Amongst vampire and werewolf killing presidents, another historical fiction story has been optioned by Hollywood. I Killed Adolf Hitler has been picked up by Studio Eight. The Eisner Award winning graphic novel follows the adventures of a hitman and his complications with travelling back in time to kill Hitler.

Netflix has pulled another one over on cable and premium television. The Weinstein Company announced a deal that will make its movie releases exclusive to Netflix members. The studio has become well known for its production of Oscar award winning movies. Those same movies will be joining the internet revolution.

by Rourke Suicide

A column which highlights Suicide Girls and their fave groups.

This week Rourke takes a shot at explaining why she loves SG’s Girl Gamers group.

Members: 838 / Comments: 3,402

WHY DO YOU LOVE IT?: A less testosterone-filled, but still sometimes competitive, take on the world of gaming. It’s always great to see what others are playing, share opinions, and get stoked for new releases with other ladies. Also, breaking the stereotype of nerdy boy gamers and proving that talented and knowledgeable gamers can be fun, sexy, badass, and female!



Also, on a side note, Oogie recently started a new blog called Teek’s Gitties for pictures of all us nerdy gamer gals to post sexy pics with our gaming gear! You can find the thread here.

DISCUSSION TIP: Firstly, use your spoilers! No one wants parts or the ending of a game they’ve been working hard on and/or enjoying ruined for them. Also, remember that everyone has their favorite type of game, so bring respect and don’t be overly competitive.



BEST RANDOM QUOTE: “[Store Harassment] Have any of ya’ll ladies ever experienced this? When you step into a game retailer and for some reason guys think it’s okay to start holla-ing at you like they’ve never seen a girl before?”



MOST HEATED DISCUSSION THREAD: “Best Zelda Game Ever?” – Who can really decide?!



WHO’S WELCOME TO JOIN?: Girls (only) gamers (obviously)!


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