Trisha Lynn – Page 12 – Geeking Out About…

New edition of Munchkin to hear the lamentations of your women

2011-05-31 Trisha Lynn2 Comments

On Saturday, Steve Jackson himself went onto the stage at Comicpalooza, a comics convention in Houston, Texas, to announce that their wildly popular card game was getting a new booster set that’s themed to Conan the Barbarian. Drawn by original Munchkin artist John Kovalic, there will be 15 cards in the set from Steve Jackson Games including items such as the Mask of Acheron and characters such as Khalar Zym and Marique.

Munchkin Conan joins a group of booster card sets that already includes such wildly diverse themes such as Fairy Dust, Santa’s Revenge, and Marked for Death; however, this will be the first time that a game booster set has been themed to a specific property that isn’t in the public domain.

Priced at $5.95 per set and currently still in production, this seems like a no-brainer when it comes to adding to your collection. Pulling out an artifact that brings things back to life? Sounds like a perfectly Munchkinly thing to do. And if you end up being able to play Munchkin Conan while in line for the movie on August 19? Even better.

Reminder: Write a short story, win a fabulous prize!

2011-05-25 Trisha Lynn

Overcoming Writers Block — "Overcoming Writer's Block" (c) Stefan Mueller

Just a friendly reminder to let you know that there are only six more days remaining to enter the first annual GeekingOutAbout.com birthday contest! The deadline is May 31 by midnight Eastern time, and once again, here are the entry instructions and rules:

1. Write an original short story of exactly 50 words in length. Yes, “original” means no fan-fiction. You can enter as many times as you like, but each entry should be in a separate email, and only one of your entries can count as a winner.
2. Send the story in the body of an email to geekingoutabout@gmail.com, with the words “50 Word Story Contest” in the subject of the email. If you want to give your short story a title, you can also do that in the subject line of the email.
3. Tim Sevenhuysen, co-editor Jill Pullara and myself will be picking three winners, all of whom will receive an eBook bundle containing all of the electronic versions of Fifty-Word Stories: Volume One . One Grand Prize Winner will receive the above and a $25 dollar USD gift certificate to the online retailer of your choice.

Once the contest is over, we will be evaluating all the entries and the winner should hopefully be announced by no later than June 7, with the winning entries posted here in the blog.

And if you’re curious as to what a fifty-word story looks like, here two of my recent favorites of those posted by Sevenhuysen at his site: Continue reading “Reminder: Write a short story, win a fabulous prize!” →

Trisha’s Video of the Day: “FCU: Fact Checkers Unit”

2011-05-22 Trisha Lynn

Never let it be said that 1990s heartthrob Luke Perry (Dylan from “90210”) doesn’t have a sense of humor about himself:

Luke Perry thinks his house is haunted in "Paranormal Factivity" (c) NBC/Universal

[Note: I had previously embedded the episode in question here, but thanks to NBC and its penchant for creating pop-ups when you embed their videos, I’ve decided against it. Please click the image above if you’d like to view the video on their own site.]

Based on an original short from 2008, “FCU: Fact Checkers Unit” stars Brian Sacca and Peter Karinen as fact-checkers for a fictional magazine. The series got a second life on the NBC Internet portal as an advertorial for the Samsung Galaxy S, but please… don’t let that put you off from enjoying it. What I like about FCU is that it seems to take itself seriously and not-seriously at the same time. I really appreciate how in the videos, it establishes the personalities of some of the magazine staff as well as lets the guest star shine in an extended bit.

The part about the Galaxy S being able to record a whole night’s worth of video and audio? That could probably be something for the gang at “Mythbusters” to investigate.

Trisha’s Take: Midnight in Paris review

2011-05-20 Trisha Lynn

Midnight in Paris

Directed (and written) by Woody Allen
Starring Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates, Rachel McAdams, and more
Rated PG-13 for some sexual references and smoking

When I revealed earlier in the evening that I’d never seen an entire Woody Allen film, no less than five different people from all across the country (and Puerto Rico) and spanning in ages from younger than me to older than me were in shock. How is it that I, as a transplanted New Yorker, have never seen Annie Hall? Or Hannah and Her Sisters? Or even Mighty Aphrodite or Deconstructing Harry?

Believe me, I’ve wanted to. Back when I first moved to the East Coast, I rented Annie Hall on Netflix, and couldn’t finish it. My reaction at the time was this:

How am I supposed to cheer for Alvy Singer, a neurotic man who constantly puts down his lovers? He’s upset with his second wife for being so into intellectuals, and yet tries to get Annie to take college courses to become one.

However, I am not one to let one bad impression of a movie that came out the same year I was born keep me from seeing what writer/director Woody Allen brought with him to this year’s Cannes Film Festival. And unlike L.A. Times critic Kenneth Turan (whose review I accessed yesterday but is dated with today’s date) who deliberately was coy with the details of the plot, I’m afraid I have to let loose with a ton of spoilers. Continue reading “Trisha’s Take: Midnight in Paris review” →

Trisha’s Video of the Day: “Guess What’s on the Curator’s Desk?”

2011-05-20 Trisha Lynn

Any guesses?

“Guess What’s on the Curator’s Desk?” comes to us courtesy of The Mütter Museum at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, who would like to remind you that ever since humanity has sought to cure what ails it, the instruments we use to do so and the results of that science are truly, truly frightening.

Find out exactly what this and other fascinating finds from this museum are every Thursday.

Thanks to Tubefilter for this find!

Trisha’s Links of the Day: And this is why the law profession gets a bad rap

2011-05-19 Trisha Lynn

rsz_josephrakofsky — Joseph Rakofsky has a problem with the Internet...

Too lengthy for Failblog.org and perhaps too technical for the Phailhaüs, I bring to you the story of one Joseph Rakofsky, a 33-year old lawyer who made a huge series of mistakes:

1. Having never tried a case in court before, Rakofsky accepted the job of being the primary trial lawyer for one Dontrell Dean, a 21-year old who was accused of murder in 2008.

2. Rakofsky botched up the trial so badly that a mistrial had to be declared.

And here’s where Rakofsky erred the most:

3. Rather than lick his wounds and attempt to become a better trial lawyer, Rakofsky decides to sue the Internet for defamation, specifically the journalists and bloggers who wrote about or referenced to the mistrial.

In the amended 82-page lawsuit (embedded below), Rakofsky and his attorney Richard D. Borzouye, Esq. name such entities as the Washington Post (who first reported on the mistrial), AbovetheLaw.com (a prominent law blog), Carolyn Elefant (a small-firm law blogger), and even some email addresses and screen names of people who publicly spoke ill of Rakofsky’s competence to try the case, thus defaming him. Continue reading “Trisha’s Links of the Day: And this is why the law profession gets a bad rap” →

Take-Two stock rises with release of L.A. Noire

2011-05-18 Trisha Lynn

For gamers who also play the stock market, Tuesday was a good day. After all, not only did L.A. Noire hit the market, but stock prices rose for studio Rockstar Games’ parent company Take-Two Interactive.

According to Conrad Zimmerman at Destructoid.com, the price of shares rose as high as 10% of their starting value on the NASDAQ, before finally settling on a price of $17.10 at the close of business yesterday, netting an overall 7.75% increase.

This is all due to the successful launch of Noire, which currently has a MetaCritic score of 92 for the Xbox 360 version. Even the picky French site GameKult.com had decent things to say about the gameplay differences between Noire and its other open sandbox gaming cousins:

Globalement moins drôles et plus répétitifs que les à-côtés d’un Grand Theft Auto ou d’un Red Dead Redemption, les délits de L.A. Noire ont tout de même l’avantage de faire découvrir certains coins un peu paumés de la ville et d’offrir des points d’expérience supplémentaires.

or:

Overall less funny and more repetitive than [the extra missions in] Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption, the crimes L.A. Noire still have the advantage of discovering some bewildering corners of the city and provide additional experience points.

L.A. Noire is available on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Trisha’s Take: Jane Pratt is back, but is she relevant?

2011-05-18 Trisha Lynn

Jane Pratt - Then and Now (c) xoJane.com

Way back when I was a wee geekling, a series of books helped shape the notion in my head that I wanted to come to New York City and be a writer/publisher. One of them, a romance novel by Judith Krantz, was about the magazine publishing industry and a mythical new magazine called B&B which promised to its female readers that it would never condescend to them, never make them feel worthless (as much of the beauty and fashion industry does), always makes them laugh, and always have the right hangover medication ready when needed.

When Sassy magazine founder and wunderkind Jane Pratt and several of her other now-unemployed writers and editors founded Jane magazine in 1997, I was both elated and angry that she did so, because it felt as if Pratt had reached into my mind and stole the idea I had to bring B&B into the real world. Jane was a great and well-written magazine, which is why it came as such a shock to so many when publisher Conde Nast pulled the plug on the publication in July 2007, two years after Pratt “either quit or was forced out.”

Now, Jane Pratt never really went away. According to her Wikipedia page, Pratt had a child, miscarried two children, and is doing a call-in talk show on Sirius XM Radio Fridays at 6 pm Eastern. But you can’t keep a good publisher down, and yesterday, Pratt made her Internet publishing debut with xoJane.com.

And I should be totally ecstatic about that, right? Except, I’m not. Continue reading “Trisha’s Take: Jane Pratt is back, but is she relevant?” →

Geeking Out About.com’s first birthday comes with presents for readers and writers

2011-05-16 Trisha Lynn3 Comments

My first love has always been reading and the written word, so I was pleased to receive this guest post from Tim Sevenhuysen about microfiction. And after I finished formatting it for the website, I thought, “What better way would there be to celebrate GeekingOutAbout.com’s first anniversary (which was May 1), but with a creative writing contest?”

With gracious sponsoring from Sevenhuysen, we’re pleased and proud to announce the first-annual Geeking Out About.com birthday contest, and here’s how to enter:

1. Write an original short story of exactly 50 words in length. Yes, “original” means no fan-fiction. You can enter as many times as you like, but each entry should be in a separate email, and only one of your entries can count as a winner.
2. Send the story in the body of an email to geekingoutabout@gmail.com, with the words “50 Word Story Contest” in the subject of the email. If you want to give your short story a title, you can also do that in the subject line of the email.
3. Tim Sevenhuysen, co-editor Jill Pullara and myself will be picking three winners, all of whom will receive an eBook bundle containing all of the electronic versions of Fifty-Word Stories: Volume One. One Grand Prize Winner will receive the above and a $25 dollar USD gift certificate to the online retailer of your choice.
4. All entries must be received by midnight EST on May 31 in order to be eligible for a prize.

If you have any questions about the contest, reply to this post and we’ll answer them as best as we can.

Good luck, and good writing!

Summit Entertainment gets financial boost for Highlander remake

2011-05-16 Trisha Lynn3 Comments

When we first announced last year that the Highlander movie series would be receiving a remake/reboot courtesy of Summit Entertainment, Gordon McAlpin’s source told him that the budget would be from $80 to $100 million USD. Now, it looks like part of that financing has been completely secured.

In his article at the Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision blog, Jay Fernandez wrote that RCR Media Group will be co-financing the project with Rui Costa Reis and Eliad Josephson as executive producers.

If you’ve never heard of RCR Media Group, then you must not watch a lot of of direct-to-DVD movies, of which RCR has produced plenty. Completed films on their slate include sequels or sound-a-likes to S.W.A.T., Stomp the Yard, and Wild Things, featuring veteran actors like Robert Patrick and Jasmine Guy, and pretty unknowns like Jillian Murray.

The script’s first pass was done by Iron Man co-writers Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, and Twilight screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg has also worked on it as well. With the remake’s director Justin Lin’s Fast Five still in the top three on the weekend box office charts, the additional bump to the budget could mean that the new Highlander could afford to hire some additional top quality talent.

Just as long as Christopher Lambert, Adrian Paul, or Peter Wingfield get cameos, right?