Kiva Karma

A few months ago I decided once and for all that World of Warcraft was not for me. I barely touched it in the months after Christmas, and despite getting back into it for a little while in April it seemed like a bit of a waste of money. 

Around the same time I was contemplating kicking WoW to the curb, I heard about Kiva. From Oprah. Oprah told me about it. Specifically, the episode of Oprah's Favourite Things where she gave everyone a Kiva gift card told me about it. Essentially, you loan money to a small business owner in a developing country (usually, I've seen some USA loans) so they can start/expand their business, and then they pay you back. It's kind of nice knowing that giving as little as $25 can make such a huge difference towards someone's life. And it was a far more worthwhile thing to spend money on than battling internet dragons.

I've currently got two loans on the go:

Ariel Francisco is 26, from Nicaragua, has two kids, and a business selling CDs and DVDs. The loan was to buy more stock, so he'd have more variety. I couldn't NOT give money to a dude with a record store. From everyone's first viewing of Empire Records, up until they're old enough to realise it's a stupid idea, they dream of owning a record store. Livin' the dream Ariel. Livin' the dream.

Sudura Qafarova is from Azerbaijan, has two kids, and wanted a loan to buy more cows and  fodder for her cattle breeding business. This one is less out of personal interest than the last one. I saw someone from Azerbaijan, went 'I loved their entry in this year's Eurovision!' and gave money. No matter how ridiculous the motivation, all the dollars count.

The reason I chose to throw my good deeds in your faces today is because Kiva are giving away a limited number of $25 free trial loans. There were over 2000 still available when I first looked this morning, but it's down to a little over 250 now. Click HERE to check out Kiva and sign up if you wish. Go on! Help someone buy a goat today!

PS. If anyone's in Azeroth, could you do me a favour and pop in and feed Wuff, my wolf and Vince, my turtle? It's been a while, they've probably started a fight club to see who gets the last of the food. My money's on Vince, tbh.

EDIT: Due to the success of the first lot of freebies, they've just released 4000 more. Go go go!

The one time it's not cool to be a Jedi Knight

Now, it's not very often that I talk about Serious Things on here, but I've had to take a bit of a detour on this particular issue (though essentially, it's still pretty nerdy, woo!). On the 9th of August Australians will take part in the Census, something that I didn't really give a shit about until I started watching Who Do You Think You Are and they were getting all this bitchin' info from the Census like 200 years ago.

Anyway, during the course of the Census exam paper we will be asked which religion we follow. In previous years people have put 'Jedi' or 'Jedi Knight' for the lulz. Specifically, around 55000 people put that as their answer in 2006. Instead of Jedi Knight being recorded as an actual religion, it is recorded as 'Not Defined', which is as good as being lumped under the greater 'religious' banner. By specifically putting 'No Religion' it will decrease the political impact these groups will have when it comes time to formulate new laws and policies for the entire country. 'Oh, gay marriage? Hm, seems we have a religious majority in this country, and they won't like that. DE-NY'.

From censusnoreligion.org:

'The Atheist Foundation of Australia believes all government laws and policies should benefit all members of society, not just those who adhere to a particular religious faith - even when that religion holds a majority position. As such, all government decisions should be based on empirical evidence rather than religious beliefs.'
 

I have no issue with people who believe in God, it is absolutely their personal choice. But it is not my personal choice for my country to be run on guidelines set by some 'hokey religion'. So, if you have no particular allegiance to a faith, put 'No Religion', and leave the Jedi Knight stuff for when you're LARP-ing with your friends.

Ugh. LARP-ers.

Barrowman. And Rainbows.

One of the best things about having a blog is checking your stats occasionally to see what things people are searching for when they stumble upon your posts. Usually, they're pretty normal. This blog hasn't been going very long from its current location, so most of the hits have been from people searching 'cosplay' or 'James Marsters' or 'Sean Maher' etc. Reasonable. HOWEVER, the other day I logged into Wordpress where the blog had previously been hosted for ~3 years and found some wonderful gems. The most common? Variations on the theme of 'John Barrowman & rainbows'. Interesting. Pop below the cut for more nuggets of crazy.

Supanova 2011: Supastar Guests

We have reached the final post of my Supanova wrap up, which I've deliberately left til last cause I'm slack and I knew it would be a big undertaking. But first, before I go any further:

Yep. Ok. Now, with that out of the way, pop below the cut to see my wrap-up of the celebrity-laden part of my Supanova experience.

Supanova 2011: Artists Alley

Artists Alley is the place at Supanova to discover both established and indie comic artists, as well as artists who create works based on cult pop culture themes. The comics above are from chums who occupied the Monster & Robot Industries stall. Pop below the cut to see more of their work, and some of my other favourites from the weekend.

Sunday HNNNG #1

Those Supanova posts are still on their way, but I need an outlet for a few bits of squee I've had bottled up for a while. Firstly:

 

HNNNG! The first movie was so good that I pretty much have no words for how much I'm looking forward to the sequel. Since Iron Man 2 and Transformers 2 I've been a bit wary at getting excited over sequels, but this can't POSSIBLY stink as much as they did, so it's all good (I am however prepared to eat my words in 6 months time)! It's released in the USA on the 16th of December, but we're not getting it in Australia until the 5th of January. Boooooo! At this stage I wouldn't expect I'd be desperate enough to torrent it, but we'll see how well my resolve stands up in December.

David Tennant as an eyeliner-wearing vampire hunter with a shotgun. HNNNG. Delightfully, we get this BEFORE the USA, on the 18th of August (they get it on the 19th, but whatever, small victories). You know what, I don't even really know what this is about, apart from him hunting vampires, and Colin Farrell being a vampire. That's all I need tbh. I always thought 'Fright Night' was a fairly campy name, so I was surprised when the movie seemed quite dark in the trailer. I know it's a remake, but still. Camp.

THIS. Oh my word. This looks so wonderfully terrible. When I first saw this was coming out, and I read the cast list, I was pretty excited. Orlando Bloom! The guy who played Mr Darcy in the new Pride & Prejudice! The kid who played Percy Jackson! The dude from Inglourious Basterds! Then I saw this trailer. My dreams of Orlando being a shit-hot Musketeer were dashed. My dreams of D'Artagnan not being a total twerp were dashed. HOWEVER. Buckingham has the most badass hair I have seen in a long time. And there's flying ships with cannons. And flamethrowers! And Milla Jovovich doing a whole lot of that slo-mo fighting thing that seems to be her forte. And D'Artagnan almost being stabbed in the face. This cannot possibly be as shit as Pirates of the Caribbean 4, so I am holding high (okay, slightly above average) hopes for this one. It comes out in Australia on October 13, and I plan on seeing it opening weekend before everybody else goes first and tells me it's shit and breaks my heart.

Pimpin'

Supanova 2011: Cosplay

One of the things I most look forward to every year is seeing what characters people choose to come along dressed up as. Most people aren't particularly hardcore about wanting to entering the cosplay competition, so there's some hilariously DIY concoctions to go along with all the jaw-droppers which are clearly the result of a lot of money and effort. Most of the really fancy ones tend to be anime or video game characters that I know nothing about, so the ones that get me excited are the more 'conventional' and creative ones, like last year's kick-ass Batman, and these guys dressed up as the crew from Misfits. Overall I'd say the cosplay probably wasn't as plentiful as last year. After seeing some photos from the east coast Supanovas, Perth has to pick up its game! There were some really cool ones though, so head below the cut for a few snaps from both days.