October 4th, 2012Top Story 10 Kick-Ass Women Who Should Guest Star in Joss Whedon's New S.H.I.E.L.D. TV Show By Charlie Jane Anders The other day, we learned out first precious hints about the characters who'll appear in Joss Whedon's new TV show about the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. But we also know two things: 1) The show will have to include some glimpses of the Marvel Universe beyond S.H.I.E.L.D. 2) Joss Whedon loves poweful women. So here are 10 tough-as-adamantium women from Marvel Comics that Whedon ought to have as guest stars. Note: The women on this list aren't A-list heroes — who would be harder to feature without jumping through a ton of hoops. They're not part of the supporting cast of a major hero who already has a movie series, like Spider-Man or Iron Man. By and large, they don't have superpowers, because we're guessing the tone of Whedon's show will be more grounded and less "heat rays coming out of people's eyes." These are women we love, who could plausibly interact with S.H.I.E.L.D. at some point. 1) Misty Knight and Colleen Wing These two women ran Nightwing Restorations, a detective firm, and later restarted Heroes for Hire, Iron Fist's old superhero temp agency. They're basically like the female counterparts to Power Man and Iron Fist, whom they spent a lot of time hanging out with. Misty is a former cop with a bionic arm and a strong will — as villains who've tried to mind-control her have found out. And Colleen is a trained samurai who's the rightful leader of the Nail, the female assassin squad run by the ninja organization the Hand. Together, they team up to fight crime, hunt down missing superhumans, and solve mysteries. You could easily see how they could be hired as consultants for S.H.I.E.L.D. 2) Queen Divine Justice One of my all-time favorite characters, Queen Divine Justice is Chanté Giovanni Brown, a teenager from Chicago who doesn't realize she's the last remaining heir to a proud Wakandan dynasty. She's sort of a "confrontational spoken word artist" in the vein of Lacey Thornfield from The Middleman — she's always lecturing the ice-cream-truck guy about Congressional redistricting. In one particularly great storyline, she meets the Incredible Hulk, mid-rampage — and takes him clubbing while giving him some hilarious consciousness-raising. She and the Hulk wind up being fast friends. She has no superpowers, other than special Wakandan boots and some non-lethal guns. 3) Dakota North She's a private investigator who can handle herself in any kind of scrape — but she's also the daughter of a superspy who left behind a ton of secrets and questions. So it makes total sense that Dakota North would find her path crossing S.H.I.E.L.D.'s at some point. Her 1986 miniseries (written by Martha Thomases) is basically non-stop crazy fun, with Dakota wreaking mayhem on five continents while fending off lots of suitors. She's constantly giving off with the witty quips, as she moves among the high-fashion crowd as well as the espionage elite. Lately, she's had a recurring role in Daredevil's comic, but Marvel probably hasn't sold the rights to her to anyone. 4) Vienna She's a freelance spy who works for the highest bidder, and even S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn't been able to find out who she is or what her origins are. She first appeared in Master of Kung Fu back in the early 1980s, but has popped up a lot in recent years — often working for Misty and Colleen. She's the master of the double cross, tricking people into thinking she's working for them when she's actually running a sting operation. Plus she's liable to change sides in the middle of a job, if someone else offers her more money. Basically, an amoral rogue with awesome fighting and spy skills. (She's the "sassy spy" holding Power Man and Iron Fist's strings, in the cover at left.) 5) Mercedes Merced She's a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who started her organization, the laconically titled Org. And her main operative is the super-lethal martial artist Taskmaster — who's her husband but doesn't remember being married to her because every time he learns new martial arts skills he forgets everything else. Mercedes operates from the shadows, often pulling off long cons and going undercover for long periods in her quest to defeat the supervillain organization MILF — yes, that's really its name. 6) Monica Rambeau Okay, so she's more of an A-list hero that most of the others on this list, since she was in the Avengers and went by Captain Marvel at one point. And she's got superpowers and stuff. But mostly, we want Monica to pop up in the S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show in some form or another, because maybe then Marvel will see the light and give us a new Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. comics series by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen. Maybe the whole Nextwave team, of misfit superheroes and obscene robots and stuff. The thing I love about Monica, especially as portrayed by Ellis and Immonen, is that she's seen all of this crap at least five times, and she's just going to roll up her spandex sleeves and deal with whatever it is she's facing this week. 7) One-Eyed Jacquie She teams up with a guy named Ace to form a two-person team called Blackjack. Her finest moment probably comes when she faces down an alien invader with a totally fake Ultimate Nullifier — and it works! (See panels at left.) Basically, she's got a big spade on her eyepatch, and she's really good at bluffing. What's not to like about that? Also, she faces down a giant sea monster named Terminus, armed with a kind of glue gun. She also tricked Ultron, who had taken over Avengers Mansion, by using holograms to make the computer think Earth's mightiest heroes had returned. 8) Elsa Bloodstone She's basically like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with a few more daddy issues. The daughter of monster hunter Ulysses Bloodstone, she inherited his mystical Bloodstone Choker, which protects her against supernatural harm. She also has a djinn in a bottle that serves as an early warning system for supernatural threats. In her short career thus far, she's faced down Dracula, Nosferatu, some mummies and a plot to infect vampires with a virus that would mutate them into a food supply for the evil Nosferati. She's friends with Frankenstein's monster and has a vampire lawyer as her confidant. She was another member of Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E., too. 9) La Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine She's sort of an obvious choice, since she's frequently a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the comics — if you read the old Steranko comics, or the various S.H.I.E.L.D. series that came out in the 1980s or 1990s, "Val" is one of the main supporting characters. She's frequently a love interest for Nick Fury, but there's no need for that to be the case here. In any case, Val is one of the most fun S.H.I.E.L.D. characters — she's a femme fatale who kicks Nick Fury's ass the first time she meets him (at left.) And she's always written as sort of a sophisticated Sophia Loren type, who says things like, "Do you suppose you'd be the same, after a trip to hyper-space?" (I don't suppose so!) 10) Jessica Jones This is cheating somewhat, since Jessica Jones was already slated to star in her own TV show — which is probably in limbo now. But maybe if she guest-starred in Whedon's new show, she could eventually get her own spin-off? And she'd be perfect as a cynical, bitter operative who works for the S.H.I.E.L.D. crew on assignment. In the comics, she's now married to Luke Cage and they have a child together, but we could meet a somewhat younger, more bitter version, like in Brian Michael Bendis' Alias series — someone who's left the superhero world behind, but keeps getting pulled back into it. Additional reporting by Amanda Yesilbas.

What do fruits and vegetables look like inside an MRI? Short answer: "Whoa." An 11 year-old boy has discovered one of the most exquisitely preserved wooly mammoths ever 10 Kick-Ass Women Who Should Guest Star in Joss Whedon's New S.H.I.E.L.D. TV Show How do you end racism? Transform black people into white people! Grant Morrison wants to write a Doctor Who episode. Plus Guillermo del Toro talks about his Hulk TV show! Sluttiest and Weirdest Store-Bought Halloween Costumes for 2012 27 Of The Most Insane Martial Arts Battles Ever Filmed More Stories on io9 »

dwyld.kwu.11muchado2011@blogger.com: Change your e-mail address | Unsubscribe

Gawker Media, 210 Elizabeth Street, Floor 4, New York, NY 10012
Terms of use | Mailing List Policy

October 4th, 2012Top Story The 2014.5 Ford Mustang: Everything We Know By Raphael Orlove Recently, two Mustang owners claim they got to see the 2014.5 Mustang in the flesh at a consumer clinic. They've leaked everything they know about the upcoming car and a lot of what you've heard so far may be wrong. Many are expecting the next Mustang to be a major departure for the brand. It will be the car's 50th anniversary when it debuts, and if Ford's past few designs are anything to go by, the car will look futuristic and European. The new Ford Fusion looks like an Aston, and many expect the next 'Stang to look like the Evos concept. Of course, when we livesketched with Ford's head designer J. Mays, he let nothing out about the car. We've gone over all the past renders and heard rumors of independent rear suspension and a number of other major tweaks, but they don't all hold up, according to the two owners who rated the car at a recent consumer clinic. Exterior Before anything else, we have the looks. Jalopnik reader Slacks put this rendering together based on how those two people on AllFordMustangs.com described the as-yet-unrevealed car. It is the best rendering of the next Mustang that we've seen. Slacks based his design on this excellent rendering by Josh Byrnes forCarScoop. They remembered a longer nose, thin and straight headlights, and an open grill with a central chrome strip. They saw this rendering and said the side molding was "spot on." They also described the length of the rear side windows, and a shorter rear. They said that the back end was the best part of the car, with deeply louvered taillights all in red. It's supposed to be the standout feature of the new car, and here's the surprising description in their own words. There was three segments in each of the tail lights. (Traditional Mustang). Except each segment was louvered over the next. I reached in and grabbed one of the louvers. They are three dimensional and you can put your fingers inside the louvers (pretty deep). I had my fingers inside the louver and my thumb outside the louver and my palm was wrapped around the curved part. The outside of the louvers are rounded and have the appearance of the middle section of a plastic water bottle. The inside of the louvers are flat. The entire light is red, with no white at all. These were probably the coolest tail lights I have ever seen. They also said the recent popular and very Aston-like Car and Driver rendering was completely wrong. Yeah, I don't know why folks are stuck on that photo. It looked nothing like that. The size of the car has been a big question, but the car at the clinic was reportedly almost exactly the same as the current car. I didn't appreciate any size difference. We did evaluate the interiors, and I didn't feel it was any bigger inside, for sure. We have heard rumors that the car could be 200 to 300 pounds lighter than the current car. That would mean a curb weight of around 3,300-3,400 pounds for the V8 and 3,200-3,300 pounds for the V6. Interior There have also been some spyshots of the interior, and the two who saw the car have said they're completely wrong. The […] photo you posted is nothing like the interior I saw. The steering wheel had a large circle in the center with a Ford emblem in the center of it. The steering wheel looked really cool. The buttons on it were mounted higher on the wheel and not on the sides, like on mine. Also, the rectangle door over the cupholders is now gone. Just two holes in the plastic behind the shifter. The buttons and nav screen were bigger and not configured like your photo either. The biggest thing I remember is the hard black plastic parts have not changed. However, it appears the plastic is now padded as it was not as hard as my cars is. Powertrain The past two generations of the Mustang have been seriously impressive with their powertrains. The current V6 gets 300 horsepower and 30 mpg, and the current V8 is just awesome. Only one 2014.5 car was present, but the stat sheet had three options: a V8, and EcoBoost, and a four cylinder. They listed the V8 on the stat sheet and Ecoboost was listed. We did not get to actually see the engines. One of the questions the computer asked was, "would you buy the V8 over the 4 cylinder for $8000 more?" That does not mean that is what is going to happen. It was just one of the questions asked. The second person to see the car remembered three engine options as well. The questions about the Mustang included 3 engine options, one of which was the 5.0. We did not look under the hoods. We've basically already had the turbocharged Mustang confirmed, which would mean a turbo-four (SVO maybe>), a V8 for sure, and possibly an EcoBoost V6. Independent Rear Suspension Other than special editions and tuner cars, Mustangs have always had live axles. That's great for drag racing, but can prove troublesome in bumpy corners. While these spy pictures have shown prototypes with IRS, "there was nothing listed on the stats sheets about IRS," said one of the clinic attendees. A Global Mustang One particular point of interest for the two who went to the clinic was a large cluster of LED lights below the rear license plate. They could sketch what it looks like (seen on the left), but they mistook it for a federally-mandated center light. Other members of the AllFordMustangs forum recognized it immediately, however. It's not the third-brake light. It's a REAR FOG LIGHT, required in European countries and other few other places. they can have them in the driver side tail light cluster with or without passenger light, or it can be mounted in the centre (to get around the RHD/LHD issue) below the rear light clusters. Indeed, the new Mustang will definitely be sold in Europe, and a slightly more international look reflects this shift. Verification Some other forum members were naturally skeptical that either of users had actually attended the clinic. One produced the check he received as proof. Well they took the letter they sent us as the entrance ticket. They also would not let us bring anyone else into the location. The only proof I have is the check they gave me when I left. I covered the name and check number but you get the drift. Another forum member noted that the check comes from a third party market research party, which explains why the Mustang was presented beside three other cars at the clinic: a Charger, a Camaro, and a Hyundai Genesis. Other rooms included a Scion FR-S. What we're most surprised by is how different the car appears compared to the Ford Evos concept and how closely it sticks to the look of the current Mustang. It looks like the car may be more evolutionary than some people imagine. Many people have been expecting the next Mustang to look like "the poor man's Aston Martin." The new Fusion certainly gives a lot of evidence for this. If this rendering is to be believed, the Mustang will have a lot more of an American look to it. Diehard Mustang fans, you should be happy at this point. What do you think of this view of the next Mustang? Will you be happy if the car hits the showrooms looking just like this, or are you praying we're wrong? Photo Credit: Slacks

The 2014.5 Ford Mustang: Everything We Know This E-Fuel Works Just Like Gasoline But Is Entirely Carbon Neutral He Shot Up His Cadillac To Be Like Al Capone: Inside Pablo Escobar's Strange Car Collection 2012 Jaguar XKR-S Convertible: The Jalopnik Review VW Shows 2013 Beetle Convertible, Mercedes B-Class Is Finally Coming, And GM's Turbo Is Born From Jets How To Be A Master Of Driving In The Wet Here's How To Fix The Scion FR-S And Subaru BRZ Engine's Idle Problem More Stories on Jalopnik »

dwyld.kwu.11muchado2011@blogger.com: Change your e-mail address | Unsubscribe

Gawker Media, 210 Elizabeth Street, Floor 4, New York, NY 10012
Terms of use | Mailing List Policy

October 4th, 2012Top Story Blocking a Cockblocker, Keeping Your Baby Out of the Will, and Other Questionable Advice By Caity Weaver Welcome to Thatz Not Okay, a regular column in which I school inquiring readers on what is and is not okay. Please send your questions to caity.weaver@gawker.com with the subject "Thatz Not Okay." I recently got out of a long-term same-sex relationship and now I'm looking to have a fling with someone of the opposite gender to remind myself what it's like and to have a little fun. There are a couple of guys at work that I think are pretty cute and I've been flirting with them both. I told my female friend at work that I was interested in making out with either one of them and she's been really weird about it; telling me (with little explanation) that it's a bad idea, trying to set them up with other women in front of me, and constantly referring to me as a lesbian. She's married and has a kid, so I don't know what the big deal is but I feel she's really harshing my game. It's making me feel really insecure. The four of us hang out a lot all together but I feel like I have no chance while she's around. I want to start making plans that don't involve her. Is that okay? Thatz okay. But I think you might be misunderstanding her motivations. You go to great lengths to emphasize the gender and sexual orientations of the figures in this tableau, which suggests you believe your coworker may be cockblocking (that is: blocking cocks from you) over some objection to your bisexuality (intermittent or otherwise). While that's certainly possible, I read the situation a different way. It seems to me that she objects to you making out with either of your suitably cute coworkers just for funsies/the getting back of grooves because these cuties are your coworkers. Not because your ex is a girl. Think about it: You have a little fun, make out a little with some dude you work with; doesn't even particularly matter which dude – many a dude will do. You drop the dude quickly because he was just "a fling." Now you, the dude, and your female friend (maybe even dude #2, if he's aware we was in contention) are all stuck working together in the muggy, post-hookup haze. Her cockblocking shouldn't make you feel insecure; if anything, it should do the opposite. Her machinations show she has full confidence in your abilities to pull off this little ploy. She's (probably) resorted to repeating over and over again that you're a lesbian in an effort to deter the guys from making a move, not to convince you that you're a lesbian. You're perfectly free to hangout with your coworkers without her, assuming the four of you have not signed an official Pact of Best Friendship which lays out harsh penalties for those who dare to reconfigure the group for secret hang-outs. In fact, if your friend is the only married one, it seems natural that she would occasionally have things to do other than hang out with you guys. If nothing else, she should feel compelled, from time to time, to spare her husband the work talk/talk of how you're totally gonna meggout with one of these gentleman. Having said that, be warned that if she feels you are intentionally excluding her, her feelings might be hurt. With fair reason. You are intentionally excluding her. Since it doesn't seem to matter too much which of the world's dudes is your opposite-gendered fling, might I suggest searching for someone outside of your workplace? It doesn't sound like you're looking for a boyfriend, so your options are limitless. Unboyfriendable men can be found in many public places, as well as private social clubs. You can go out, find yourself a dude, French kiss him with light over-shirt fondling, and return to work the next day to a peaceful environment in which no one is flinging with their coworker. Your friend won't be around to harsh your game and you also won't be excluding her to hang out with your (and her) mutual friends. If you exclude everyone but yourself, no one is excluded. You are Doing You. Hopefully once she feels you are no longer a threat to workplace harmony, your friend will ease up and stop constantly reminding everyone that you are a lesbian. (Even if you decide to ignore all this advice and go for the low-hanging co-worker fruit, you're still well within your rights to request that your friend stop bringing up your sexual orientation to everyone. It's not her place. If it makes you feel a little uncomfortable, let her know. AND MAKE OUT WITH HER HUSBAND FOR REVENGE.) In two weeks it will be our daughter's first birthday. We have found the perfect party hats and matching plate/napkin sets, as well as sent out invites to a few of our close friends. Our parents are planning to travel 6 hours to be here for her special day, while my sister-in-law and her family are coming from 2 hours away. It will be a full house and we are excited to be sharing the special day with our friends and family. Out of the blue yesterday, my mother received a call from our weird aunt (doesn't everyone have one? Ours lives the next town over), saying that they might just drive up for the baby's one year to see everyone. They were not on the invite list and didn't play a big part in my life while I was growing up, so I'm not sure what the interest is now. They guessed that my parents will be here and plan to stop in for a visit. Can we turn off all the lights and pretend not to be home during our child's 1st birthday party in a house full of friends and family so that our weird aunt doesn't come? Is that okay? Thatz not okay. I'm sorry that your weird aunt wasn't there for you growing up, when you needed someone weird to turn to. Perhaps if she had been, she might have casually mentioned one day—out of the blue, as is her wont—that staging an elaborate fake-out to deter undesirables from attending your highly exclusive baby birthday party is not a good look. In your letter, you profess not to know what your aunt's interest is in attending a gathering at your house, then, in the next breath, add that she and her husband(? Footman? Lapdog? Whoever constitutes the remainder of the "they") guessed that your parents will be in town. So you are sure of what her interest is: your aunt wants to visit your parents, whom she likely does not often get to see because they live six hours away. Also, maybe she heard the rumor floating around town that, in addition to perfect party hats, you were also going to have matching plate/napkin sets. When you throw yourself a party on such a glam scale, you're bound to get some hangers-on. And, make no mistake, this is a party for you that happens to coincide with the anniversary of your daughter's birth. A one-year-old doesn't particularly care about party hats and tablescapes and guest list politics – ONE YEAR OLD BABY DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT DRAMA. The adults present will not make or break this party for your child unless one of them is dressed as a clown, in which case the experience will be scarring. I have to think you weren't serious about turning out the lights and pretending not to be home, but, just so we're clear, this is a bad idea for the following reasons: It is rude. Your mom, improperly briefed on the wretched weirdness of your aunt, may have already let the cat out of the bag and admitted your parents will be in town. Even if your friends are close to you, they will definitely remark post-party that it was weird when you turned off the music and made everyone sit in the dark wearing party hats while a kindly older couple rang the doorbell and called "Hellooooo?" over and over again. The baby might cry and blow the whole thing. It's best not to get into the habit of teaching your child to hide when something undesirable happens. If you're determined not to have your special day ruined by your family, you can always call your aunt and invite her to come out for dinner afterwards, or to lunch the next day (assuming your parents plan to spend the night). If you go this route, you should probably downplay the bumpin' party aspect of this bumpin' party. Maybe it's not a party at all. Maybe it's just your parents wanting to visit with their granddaughter a little bit, and then a group going out to dinner afterwards – you'd love for your aunt to join so she can have a chance to catch up with everyone. But, really, I would just let her come to the damn party. If you're short a hat, give her the baby's. No one loves wearing birthday hats, babies especially. The worst that could happen is that your weird aunt shows up and burns down your house and steals your baby and change's your daughter's name to her name and raises her to be hyper extra weird. But that is the worst that could happen! What is much more likely to happen is that your aunt will bring a gift for the baby (a soft toy or a $50 savings bond) and repeat this gesture every birthday and major holiday either until she dies or your child turns 18. And don't get me started on being remembered in the will. Your baby could be walking away with a nice chunk of change for minimal effort here. Have fun teaching your daughter to be a gracious hostess! Submit your "Thatz Not Okay" questions here. Photo by Jim Cooke.

Blocking a Cockblocker, Keeping Your Baby Out of the Will, and Other Questionable Advice 'Who Are You Banging?' And Other Questions Journalists Can't Ask One Direction Even for a Minute, Watching Hulk Hogan Have Sex in a Canopy Bed is Not Safe For Work but Watch it Anyway Jim Lehrer's Stuttering Was the Star of Last Night's Presidential Debate Romney's Incoherent Tax Plan Is Giving Me a Headache The Most Racist City In America: Chicago? A Nation Zinged: The Gawker 2012 Presidential Debate Liveblog More Stories on Gawker »

dwyld.kwu.11muchado2011@blogger.com: Change your e-mail address | Unsubscribe

Gawker Media, 210 Elizabeth Street, Floor 4, New York, NY 10012
Terms of use | Mailing List Policy