Morning session:
In the morning session the real standouts were Maria Shriver and Michelle Obama. Maria took the opportunity to reflect on the past 7 conferences. She spoke of her family and the fact that she doesn’t know what will come next. As Arnold’s term comes to end in California, Maria says she feels unsure as to what is coming but is just going to relax and let things happen.

Michelle Obama took the opportunity to talk about community and women helping each other in terms of military families. She spoke of the struggles wives have in terms of continuing education, helping the family adjust during moves and trying to find jobs.

What happens when Women Lead:
This panel started out very low for the volume and so I have more fragmented thoughts from it rather than a real Q&A session. While things are tough in Silicon Valley for women, if an idea is fantastic it doesn’t matter what your gender is. Although there has been recent discussions on TechCrunch about whether or not women do have it difficult in Silicon Valley or if it’s a matter of lack of interest. The most recent Women in Tech panel, turned into a fight instead of anything constructive. The jockeying for position is a major problem in companies and will only stop when there is a more even distribution of genders and races.

Work Life balance always comes up at a women in business talk and this one is no different. This time, however this talk led to solutions. Make sure when you are with family and friends that you are engaged with them. That means put the crackberry down and get off of twitter. Okay maybe you’re allowed to tweet that you are with friends.

Another great piece of advice is to sit with your family and discuss what events you can attend. That way everyone is aware and you have managed expectations. You have to take control of your career and make sure that you tell companies what is important and works for you in term of work life balance.

For the emotional, don’t fret, you can still be a leader. Be a human being as a leader, but remember that problems are just that and are not emotional. Part of leadership is that you don’t wear your emotions on your sleeve. It was suggested that women should act more in business and sometimes that means acting confident even when you aren’t. Which is something I have to do often in my role as CEO of GamingAngels. I get shy, and nervous and then I have to kick my butt in gear and make myself get out there.

Lunch session
Disney Television co-chair Anne Sweeney states that the conference is about finding ways to constantly move forward. Not about empowering but that all of us have the power already and the conference helps us find that. Diane Sawyer leads the talk which is a conversation with The Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg and The Honorable Sandra Day O’Connor. “Every bird flies faster together than they do alone.” Ruth Bader Ginsburg pointed out that women shouldn’t react in anger particularly when a sexist comment is made. React with intellect. Sandra Day O’Conner said to say when you need to say and then shut up.

Eve Ensler gets to the mic to talk about the gift of cancer. She was just here a year ago full of life and performing and this year she arrived with no hair and talking of her illness. Cancer forced Eve to take in love and be cared for and that she now lives with death as a companion. Point that we idolize people that take our money instead of people that serve.

Very interesting talk with Meg Whitman, Jerry Brown and Arnold Schwarzenegger about election and the position of governor. Meg, “the price on inaction is far greater than the price of making a mistake”. Jerry Brown states that everyone knows too much about him. Schwarzenegger did agree with Meg about the state that schools are in. Matt Lauer is taking both of them to the task by asking them both to pledge to get rid of negative ads off the air. To enable some time before the election to have no negativity. Not sure that that should be a focused topic when California is in such dire straits.

In the end, the Women’s Conference provided another great event for women to gather, network and be inspired. I wish that there was a stronger tech presence and that the business discussion was not limited to stories but to talks that encourage action. Business discussions that begin with VCs, maybe host a pitching session. I was very disappointed to hear from the Business session host, that women just needed to start to sell. Instead of really work on their business and protect their brand/IP. No one knows what will happen to the Women’s Conference next year, but these past few years, GamingAngels has covered the Conference and it’s been an honor. Now to get to work on my book, so I can speak at the event next year.

Watch videos from the Women’s Conference here.

Superfrog and LeBasse Projects have come together to provide an exhibit that consists of work from Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano. Amano is known for designing characters for the video game Final Fantasy as well as for anime films such as Vampire Hunter D, Guin Saga, Final Fantasy, and Front Mission. His DEVA LOKA exhibit first premiered in August at the Superfrog Gallery in San Francisco, and it’s now Amano’s first major show in Southern California in almost a decade.

The exhibit consists of 25 pieces, and be prepared for bright auto paint and metallic glitter which is said to be “an ode to the artist’s love of American comics, culture and automobiles”. The exhibit is launching TODAY (the 20th of February) in Los Angeles, and there will be a special opening reception starting at 7pm and running until 10pm if you would like to help celebrate the launch.

Yoshitaka Amano also has this to say about his exhibit:

“Between the late 60′s and the 70′s, and during my early years in the art world, I was greatly influenced by American comic books and pop culture. I’d like to show my gratitude for the inspiration America gave me with this exhibit. With the theme of DEVA LOKA, all of my concepts and influences are able to come together, centered in one place. I hope everyone enjoys my show.”

DEVA LOKA opens today and runs through March 13th at LeBasse Projects, located in Los Angeles’ Culver City Arts District and is located at 6023 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232. For more information visit www.lebasseprojects.com.

This weekend, January 9-10, the Shonen Jump Championships will be held in Los Angeles. On top of the main tournament, a variety of side events have finally been announced!

Yu-Gi-Oh! video game players interested in getting ahead of the competition for the Video Game World Championship in 2010 shouldn’t miss this chance to try out 5D’s “Reverse of Arcadia.” Duelists looking to play online, with friends or others, won’t want to miss to test out this game before anyone else. Konami will also have demos of a revamped Yu-Gi-Oh! Online game. 5D’s Tagforce 4 will also be available to check out.

If more TCG action is your thing, check out the Pegasus League side event tournaments. If you’ve been working hard on those creative building techniques, this is a great way to show off your skills. Turbo Pack 2 boosters will be the prize. There will also be an “Attack of the Giant Card” tournament, where Konami is offering four world premiere cards from the new Absolute Powerforce set as giant cards.

For those that are interested in the main tournament, it will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center. There is a $20 registration fee, and each player will receive five booster packs just for signing up. The top three finalists of this tournament, as well as the winners of the side event playoffs on Sunday, will receive a “Dark End Dragon” prize card.

I’d like to say before I get started that this is, in no way, the only way to make a deck. After playing for over 5 years, this is just the way I’ve discovered works best for me and my group of friends and local players. It’s meant to be a guide and to offer tips and a new way of thinking and looking at everything, not the sole way. That said, let’s get started.

The first thing any deck needs is an idea. This deck’s idea is mill, so I’m going to search my collection for any and all cards that have that effect. For, say, a burn deck, you would want all your cards that have instant effects on opponent life loss. A big creature themed green deck would need big creatures (base power/toughness of 3/3 minimum usually) and cards that give trample and +1/+1 or bigger counters.

After you’ve searched all your cards for the ones you want, lay them out. Do you have anything that really sticks out? For mill, it would be something like 3+ Hedron Crabs or a large number of Tome Scours. If you have a good collection of rares, then you might have a couple Twincasts or Traumatizes. If you’ve been playing for a long time, then you might have things like Glimpse the Unthinkable or Wall of Denial. With Zendikar released a few months ago, Archive Traps are available.

Keep in mind while you go through your stacks of cards that you can only have four of each. After you have all of your cards that fit your theme, sort out what you want in the deck. Not all decks will find the benefit of a Tome Scour when a Glimpse the Unthinkable is available. Some walls are better than others, so a Wall of Denial would probably be preferable over a Wall of Air. This is the first time that you have to start narrowing down what you might want in the final product. A good number for this stage, before land, is between 40 and 60. Keep in mind that a good deck won’t just focus on the style of it. For this deck, for instance, you might want to save room for Path to Exile.

A good deck has 24 lands, 36 spells. That’s 60 cards and the minimum for most tournaments, the exception being sealed and drafts. After you have your first round cuts, that stack of 40-60 cards, start narrowing it down to the key pieces. For this mill deck, you’ll probably want to make sure you have the Hedron Crabs, Traumatizes, and other big mill. Once you have this pool of creatures and spells, it should be at about 36 cards. That’s where it should be, but there might still be a few things that you’ll want to take out. Just because you have a lot of mill cards doesn’t mean the deck will work.

Once you have your base, then you should see where your deck is weak and what it’s not set up to deal with. For example, a slower deck like mill might have a weakness against burn cards. Aggro decks might be weak against quick swarm like Elf-themed decks. Keep in mind, no deck will be strong against everything or at least not without hours and hours of work and a very large collection of cards. If you know what your deck is good and bad against, then you know how to work on your sideboard. In most tournaments, you are allowed a 15-card side deck that can have any cards you might want as replacement.

A good side deck has a couple cards to work against any deck. A mill deck might have a couple extra bounce or removal cards, a few counters, and a couple extra walls. A burn deck might have bigger, more expensive burn sitting there in case they go against really big creatures. It really depends on what the current “big things” are, like Naya Zoo, in tournaments as to what you might be going up against and what you should prepare for. Like in Extended (Mirrodin and newer), Affinity is popular.

After you have your mana/lands in your deck of 36 spells, then it’s time to test it out. Either you can play the goldfish, which is a means of testing your deck in a mock game against an invisible opponent, or you can get a friend or two that want to play. Play a few games against different decks so you have a feel of what your deck can handle and how it plays overall.

Don’t be afraid of editing your deck in between games and after your testing session. A really good deck doesn’t come out of one shot. It requires some work and some thought. Keep at it and don’t be afraid to lose a few games. Even the pros lose. Now, a special treat for the curious. Below, in the little table, is my mill deck. I’ve spent a few months (and probably more money in trades) than I really should have, but I plan on testing it and taking it to the Grand Prix I mentioned earlier.

Happy Building!

I’m so happy to see Gamers United back again this year! The event will be collecting gifts for the Teen Lounge of the Mattel Children’s Hospital of UCLA.

“When I called and found out they had a teen lounge whose gaming equipment was in disrepair and just need an upgrade, I was decided – this was the organization I wanted to fight for this year,” says Chastity Irizarry, founding member. Gamers United will be helping to rejuvenate the teen lounge and pay special attention to the often overlooked ‘tween and teen sector of pediatrics. Amy Bullock, Child Life – Child Development of the hospital stated, “The equipment in our lounge gets a high rate of use and our equipment is donated so we are happy to be able to work with Gamers United for the patients.”

Of course we are in to help and so is Nyko Technologies, Custom Hotel, Mimoco, Pwned, Coin-Op TV, World Cyber Games, NFamous Gamers and the cast of Hellywood.

The event will be at the custom Hotel and to donate bring a game, or game accessory. Games have to be E, E10+ or T, no mature titles here. If you don’t live in the area, please contact me or info@thegamersunited.org to make shipping arrangements. I will gladly help donate anything from our readers!

Here are the event details:
Where: Custom Hotel
8639 Lincoln Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90045
Reservations: 877-287-8601
When: Wednesday, December 9, 2009
7:00pm
Attire: “After 5” [Cocktail hour or Business Casual]
Entry: Donation – Please bring a game, game accessory/peripheral or the like. To make prior arrangements, please email info@thegamersunited.org
Games cannot be rated ‘M’ or ‘Mature’ – please bring ‘E’ ‘E10+’ or ‘T’

I will definitely be there and I hope you will too if you are local. It’s a great organization for a great cause and we all have games or accessories we could donate.

A few GamingAngels staff are going to freak out about this, which means I better get something autographed for them. Tokyopop has announced that Tsuneo Goda, the creator of Domo character, will be appearing at the Northridge Borders store in Southern California on October 29, at 7pm. That’s the same borders I met Nathan Fillion, pretty popular stop.

Domo was originally created in 1998 as the mascot of Japanese public broadcaster NHK and now has stop-motion animated shorts for Japan and America. He’s also used in marketing for 7-Eleven and Target.

7-Eleven has posted the webisodes featuring Domo and has three collectible Slurpee cups.

[source via Ann.com]