The Grim Adventures of... The Avengers?

I have a copy of The Last Avengers Story. (henceforth "TLAS") [The Avengers is a comic book super hero group, with a roster that includes or included the Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America.] It's in two parts, but I only have the first issue. I got it at a bargain from a Booksale stand, I think, and I have since looked for the second issue, but haven't found one. So I continued looking for it, in digital form now, however, and on the 'Net. This morning I did so again. And I stumbled upon a website summarizing the story.

[This reminds me... I'm waiting for the next Marvel movies: on Thor and Captain America. Initially, although I was expecting that Marvel is setting things up for one of the biggest -- if not THE biggest -- movie event in human history (more on this later), I didn't see the pattern; but I've now realized that they're really setting up the stage for The Avengers on the silver screen. Hopefully it would be on IMAX 3D. Wow. with the right crew, it would truly be historical. Of Star Wars and Matrix standards]

[see Avengers on Wikipedia; see Avengers on their official Marvel website]

Now, I also watch the Cartoon Network, and one of my favorites was The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. It's a story of "Happy-go lucky Billy and cynical Mandy [who] become best friends with the Grim Reaper after winning an otherworldly limbo contest against the messenger of Death."


Now, what's with this blog entry? Well, I learned through Jay's Notes on the TLAS summary I've mentioned earlier that "The Grim Reaper is actually Billy, the other twin of the Scarlet Witch and Vision.**" In TLAS, the Grim Reaper is a main villain. That certain Billy in the Marvel Universe is William "Billy" Kaplan, a.k.a. Wiccan, twin brother of Thomas Shepherd, son of separated Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch) and Vision.

Billy the Grim Reaper. Hmmm...?



____________
*all images, characters and logos trademark and copyright their respective owners.
**Scarlet Witch and Vision = take note that there are three versions of Scarlet Witch and two versions of Vision based on my research on the Marvel website. See here: Marvel Universe characters list Q-R (for "Scarlet Witch") and U-W (for "Vision")

Dreams and promises

Promises are free.

And dreams are made to be broken.

Just something I thought about.

Just so I can say that I'm a thinking man.

But I have feelings too.

How could you? Hu, hu, hu...

See?

='p

Here We Go Again (HWGA) - E-mail Hoax 1

I've seen a lot of e-mail hoaxes being forwarded to my e-mail or Friendster inboxes or to various bulletin boards that I visit.

This time, I received one from one of my Yahoo! Groups pals. So I decided to write this stuff. I know there are a lot more sites out there that offer the same service of Internet hoax slaying [one of which is Hoax-Slayer] -- actually the info I'll post here will be from those sources -- I'm doing this for everyone who's following me on my blog (dreams are free).

Although this is the first entry I've made of this sort (but I'm planning to make this into a "series"), I dubbed this as "Here We Go Again" because, as mentioned, I've received countless e-mails from well-meaning family and friends who thought that the e-mail warnings and offers were true. No harm in that, really. At least I know what hoaxes are circulating at the moment and how people respond to them.

So, here we go. Again. But, for the first time.

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/olympic-torch-virus-hoax.html

Olympic Torch Invitation Virus Hoax

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/olympic-torch-virus-hoax.html

[Do not click on the above links! Or all your hard drive partitions will be wiped out!]

[Here's an excerpt from Hoax-Slayer]

[Read at your own risk!]

_ ___ _ ___ _ ___ _ ___ _ ___ _ ___ _ ___ _

Olympic Torch Invitation Virus Hoax

Summary:
Message claims that an email with an attached file called "Invitation" contains a virus that will open an Olympic Torch that destroys the computer's hard drive (Full commentary below.) 

Status:
False

Update:
A new version of the hoax email falsely claims that the information in the message has been verified by Hoax-Slayer.com and Snopes.com (details below).

Update:
February 2008 - Yet another version claims that an email with an attachment entitled "POSTCARD" will destroy the hard drive of the infected computer. (Read an article about the Postcard Image Virus Hoax)

Example:(Submitted, February 2006)

WARNING

You should be alert during the next days: Do not open any message with an attached filed called "Invitation" regardless of who sent it. It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch which "burns" the whole hard disc C of your computer. This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list, that is why you should send this e-mail to all your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it.

If you receive a mail called "invitation", though sent by a friend, do not open it and shut down your computer immediately.

This is the worst virus announced by CNN, it has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever. This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus. This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept. SEND THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW, COPY THIS E-MAIL AND SEND IT TO YOUR FRIENDS AND REMEMBER: IF YOU SEND IT TO THEM, YOU WILL BENEFIT ALL OF US

_ ___ _ ___ _ ___ _ ___ _ ___ _ ___ _ ___ _

- - - There are lots more on the Hoax-Slayer site - - -

Here's the result of my Google search of the words "virus" and "invitation"

[Take note: I haven't even included the word "hoax" there]

If the links don't work try this one:

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=virus%20invitation&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

[Please disable your anti-virus software before visiting the links above]

[If you paid serious attention to the bold words in red in between the square brackets, like this one, it's likely that you may have already been a victim. Of a hoax!]

Gullibility is a choice. Mostly just out of laziness.

'till next time!

Here I go.

Goodbye, WinXP... Goodbye, World

I was browsing the 'Net looking for Visual Styles to change my Windows interface (got bored with it again). I decided to drop by TGTSoft again for StyleXP. Somewhere in the StyleXP page was this line:

"Also, see XP at the Microsoft site: Windows XP Tours & Demos"

I clicked the link...

and then I saw this:

["The facts about the future: Microsoft Windows XP"]
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsxp/future.mspx

Well, I thought that WinXP, being so successful an operating system as it is, would be "forever". I'm not really that comfortable having to relearn a lot about a new OS. I haven't tried the new OS, but based on what I've been hearing and reading, I hate Vista for being so buggy and unsupported. Or unsupportive. Guess, I'll have to really learn the new OS then. My hardware is ready now, anyway.

All is not lost however, for the site said that the discontinuance of Windows XP will only be by sales, but support will continue until 2014.*

Well, yeah, right. (It depends on what you'd believe... read on...) Ever heard of the Mayan Doomsday Prophecy? I learned about it through Raymond Lazaro -- a brilliant friend with a penchant for the "eccentric" (all geniuses were eccentric) -- who read about it last year, I think, which led me to follow it through the 'Net and finally getting a hold of a copy of The History Channel's episode. So... 2014, huh? That's actually barely two years beyond the Mayan Calendar's date of doomsday (12-21-2012), so that date (2014) may just be a fallacy =')

Have a nice day, everyone.
c",)

____________
*Well, they should. They just released Service Pack 3 -- and I've already installed it -- a few weeks (2 months?) ago, and it still isn't as spiffy as it should be (as I've heard).