Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Spirit Airlines = Advertising Excellence
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Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Gen Con Banruptcy News
Good news in an email sent by Gen Con Indy:Gen Con Scheduled to Emerge from Chapter 11!Gen Con LLC announced today that the US Bankruptcy Court of Western Washington has confirmed the company’s plan of reorganization and approved the company’s rejection of a hostile takeover bid.“This is bright day for us”, said Adrian Swartout, CEO of Gen Con. “The entire team is looking forward to 2009 and continuing our growth as a stronger, more focused company. Our emergence from Chapter 11 is a testament to the skill and perseverance of our employees and the strength of the phenomenal Gen Con brand. Everyone here is excited to begin working outside of Chapter 11.”Since filing for bankruptcy protection in February of 2008, Gen Con has significantly reduced its expenses and increased its cash position. The company’s cash flow is positive and prospects have never looked better. Under the confirmed plan,
Gen Con will pay all of it creditors in full over time and will continue to operate. A three-member Advisory Committee will assist the company and its board, and Peter Adkison will retain ownership. “This is an extremely successful case,” said Shelly Crocker of Crocker Kuno, Gen Con’s bankruptcy attorney, “largely due to the efforts of Ms. Swartout and her team, and the cooperation of the Creditors’ Committee.”Gen Con Indy 2009 will prove to be one of the best shows yet with thousands of events and hundreds of exhibitors. Gen Con attendees can expect to see all of their favorite programs such as the Costume Contest, Auction, Art Show, Family Fun Pavilion, eGame Arena and much more! 
Friday, January 23, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Heroscape: Release of Wave 9 Confirmed for Summer
I know this has been out for a while, I just got around to passing it on. Here is a post from December on Heroscapers:
I recently received an email from Paul Barclay, our lead contact at Wizards of the Coast. Paul had this to say:Wave 9 is confirmed for Summer 2009. There's no set release date yet, but given the current production schedule, I'd expect it in June or July. There's no guarantee of it being in WalMart, but they've been happy with how Wave 8 has performed so far this holiday season, so that’s looking promising too. And, to be clear, Wave 9 will come out no matter what happens with WalMart.Happy Christmas!
Thanks,Paul.
He also included a concept drawing of a marro figure that will appear in Wave 9.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Young 'Adolf Hitler' and Two Sisters Removed From Home
Another great Fox News story . I have some serious issues with the naming of these kids. What kind of life are you setting your kids up for when you name your kids Adolf Hitler Campbell, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell. I don't know if they were trying to be funny, serious, loser racists, or were that stupid but don't make life harder than it already is on your kids.
Megan Fox Says She Wants Salma Hayek's Chest
Fox News once again scoops the other news agencies with this breaking news about Megan Fox. Ms. Fox seems to think she is ugly and compares her body to that of a tranny, and really likes Salma Hayak's boobs. I have to agree with her on Salma's boobs but the rest? I have to disagree. Here are some pictures from Megan's FHM shoot for you to decide for yourself. 
And of course the always awesome Salma Hayek.
'American Idol' sues over 'Stripper Idol' contest
I think Yahoo is trying to keep up with Fox news with this news story. You'd think American Idol would have better things to do than hassle a strip club. The plus side is it gives me a chance to post some pictures of some strippers. Enjoy!!
22-Year-Old Sells Virginity Online -- and Feds Can't Do a Thing to Stop Her
Her'e a link to Natalie Dylan's story on Fox News. Does Fox News always have the best news stories?
Here is a link directly to the Bunny Ranch flyer, and Natalie's email if you feel the desire to inquire about Natalie's requirements: nataliedylan@bunnyranch.com .
And of course some pics of Natalie:
Natalie, good luck with wherever your life may lead.
Here is a link directly to the Bunny Ranch flyer, and Natalie's email if you feel the desire to inquire about Natalie's requirements: nataliedylan@bunnyranch.com .
And of course some pics of Natalie:
Natalie, good luck with wherever your life may lead.
How To: Audition For A Porn
Just in case you were wondering how I am providing a link to the AskMen.com article by Ashlyn Brooke (pictured below) and Shane Diesel:
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Fat Dragoin 2008 Review & 2009 Preview
A Message from Tom on his forum (sorry I'm so late in getting this out):
Hey all-Wow, where to begin... 2008 was an amazing year for us in every measurable way. Once again we grew at a rate exceeding our wildest expectations with revenues up dramatically over the previous year. Our advertising and convention outreach efforts paid off beyond our most optimistic forecast, resulting in huge numbers of new customers for us. We picked up Crafty Games as a partner, and have a number of exciting Spycraft releases planned for 2009. The new year will also see us expand into foreign sales markets, with Spanish, German and French translations of our most popular sets being offered to customers in those countries. I'll post more info on this marketing project in the spring.
First quarter 2009 will see several new DRAGONSHIRE releases, new sci-fi sets (more on this below) and more E-Z TERRAIN sets. We'll also be having some more wargame focused sets to appeal to the customers over at Wargamevault.com where we are now selling our products. Our model releases will continue as they have for the last three and a half years, but there will also be some new offerings in our catalog. In addition to releasing preprinted model sets later this year, FDG will also be publishing RPG supplements for several popular RPG systems, including our newest business partner (drumroll please...)
TROLL LORD GAMES! Last month we signed a contract with TLG to produce products supporting the wildly popular CASTLES & CRUSADES RPG. We have a number of things planned for this amazing game system in 2009, and work has already begun on several of them. I am a huge fan of the game (it's what I run for the FDG crew) and more than that, it is truly an honor to get to work with the Trolls. Steve and Davis Chenault are great guys whom I've really grown to admire and respect over the last few years. It is also very gratifying to me to work with the company that Gary Gygax chose to publish his work in his final years. Of all the companies that Gary could have gone with to publish his material, he chose Troll Lord Games, and for good reason. TLG reminds me of the old TSR we all knew and loved back in the early 80's and I am geeking out to be a part of that. All model sets will directly tie in with the game and/or include C&C stats. Our upcoming sci-fi releases will include stats for TLG's brand new sci-fi STARSIEGE RPG. For those of you who are not familiar with Castles & Crusades, I strongly urge you to click over to the TLG site and download the free quick-start rules. Trust me, you'll be glad you did: http://trolllord.com/cnc/ccqs.html
We're upping our convention appearances this year. Origins and Gen Con are for sure, with several more planned as well. I am really looking forward to seeing many of you again, and hope to see some of you for the first time. These cons are always a blast for us, and I am especially looking forward to Indy this year (we have an AMAZING booth planned for those of you attending with some really neat SWAG this year.)
Finally, I want to thank each and every one of you. All of you made 2008 an extraordinary year for us, and 2009 looks even better. I hope you all have a safe and prosperous new year.
Thanks all!Tom
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Ricardo Montalban, TV Star and Chrysler Pitchman, Dies at 88
From Bloomberg.com:Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Ricardo Montalban, the Mexican-born actor whose regal bearing and sonorous voice led to roles as a science-fiction villain, the host on the mysterious “Fantasy Island” and pitchman for the “soft Corinthian leather” of the Chrysler Cordoba, has died. He was 88.
Montalban died at his home in Los Angeles, the Associated Press reported today, citing City Council President Eric Garcetti. No cause or date of death was given.
Though he appeared in movies with stars such as Esther Williams, Lana Turner and Shirley MacLaine, Montalban said Hollywood wasn’t willing to make full use of a Latin-American actor. He once tried out for a part of a Mexican, only to lose out to American actor John Garfield.
So Montalban turned to television, starting with the live dramas of the 1950s that many actors shied away from. New Yorker magazine film critic Pauline Kael called Montalban “one of those potentially major actors who never got the roles that might have made them movie stars.”
Montalban was perhaps best known for his portrayal of the character Khan Noonian Singh, a genetically engineered, tyrannical super-human introduced in a 1967 episode of “Star Trek” that ended with the space ship USS Enterprise depositing Khan and his followers on an inhospitable planet. The plotline resumed 15 years later in the movie “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” (1982), with Montalban’s character seeking vengeance.
Getting Noticed
In 1974, Montalban played the title role in George Bernard Shaw’s “Don Juan in Hell” on a six-month national tour after two-dozen performances on Broadway. In Detroit, his performance drew the interest of executives at Chrysler Corp., which was about to unveil a new car with a Spanish name: the Cordoba.
In television advertisements for the car, Montalban extolled the “tastefulness of its appearance” and the “thickly cushioned luxury of seats available even in soft Corinthian leather.”
The phrase “Corinthian leather,” which rolled off Montalban’s tongue, had been made up by copy writers at Young & Rubicam, Adweek later reported. No matter: it became a popular line, widely imitated and parodied.
Montalban worked with Chrysler for 15 years, hawking other luxury models including the LeBaron and the New Yorker.
Aaron Spelling, the prolific TV producer whose creations dominated ABC prime time in the 1970s and early 1980s, saw the Cordoba commercial and thought of Montalban for a new show about an island that lets visitors live out a lifelong dream.
Dreams Fulfilled
As Mr. Roarke, the white-suited superintendent of “Fantasy Island,” Montalban oversaw the fulfillment of the dreams, urging his staff to welcome each week’s visitors with “smiles, everyone, smiles!”
Though Roarke’s powers were never explained, Montalban said he came up with a theory that informed his portrayal.
“I decided this man was an angel that still had a little bit of sin of pride in him -- too proud,” Montalban said in a 2002 interview with the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation. In this view, Roarke was in charge of purgatory, “where people go through tests, and some of them go for the better, and some for the worse.”
The series ran from 1978 to 1984 and cemented Montalban’s reputation as a congenial and cooperative star.
“Working with Ricardo was a joy,” Spelling, who died in 2006, wrote in “Aaron Spelling: A Prime-Time Life,” his 1996 memoir. “Ricardo made good scripts better and not-so-good scripts work. I don’t remember him ever doing any rewrites. He set a perfect example for the rest of the cast.”
Early Frustration
Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalban Merino was born Nov. 25, 1920, in Mexico City. His parents had emigrated from northern Spain so Montalban’s father could take a job running a store. After a few years the family settled in Torreon, in northern Mexico.
Montalban moved in with an older brother in Los Angeles to attend high school. There, he got the acting bug after landing the lead in a school play.
After moving to New York, he appeared on stage and in the short musical films known as “soundies.” Frustrated after losing the part of a Mexican to Garfield in “Tortilla Flat” (1942), he returned to Mexico.
Leaving the U.S. behind, he recalled feeling, “I have no chance in this country. They don’t write for Mexicans.”
He made 13 films in four years and became a star in his native country, then was rediscovered by Hollywood when Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer went on location in Mexico to film the Esther Williams matador movie “Fiesta” (1947). In an improbable pairing, given their different accents and appearances, he and Williams were cast as twins.
Leading Man
Signed by MGM, Montalban played twice more opposite Williams, as her fiance in “On an Island With You” (1948) and as the Argentinian polo player who wins her heart in “Neptune’s Daughter” (1949). In that film they sang “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” which won Frank Loesser an Academy Award for best original score.
Montalban also played a wealthy Brazilian who charms Lana Turner in “Latin Lovers” (1953).
After MGM chose not to renew his contract, Montalban turned to television, appearing in episodes of live drama shows including “Ford Television Theatre” and “Playhouse 90.”
He would go on to appear in movies including the John Ford- directed western “Cheyenne Autumn” (1964), “Madame X” (1966) with Lana Turner and John Forsythe, “Sweet Charity” (1969) and “The Naked Gun” (1988).
His biggest TV role after “Fantasy Island” was as Zach Powers on “The Colbys,” the Spelling-produced “Dynasty” spinoff that aired on ABC from 1985-87. Montalban played a scheming business rival of the Colby clan.
Awards, Recognition
Montalban won an Emmy award for outstanding supporting actor playing a Sioux Indian leader in “How the West Was Won” (1978), a television mini-series. The Screen Actors Guild gave him a lifetime achievement award in 1993.
He founded Nosotros, a Hollywood-based nonprofit that trains and supports Latino actors. The group bought and renovated a theater, which opened in 2004.
Montalban’s brother Carlos played a Latin American dictator in Woody Allen’s “Bananas” (1971) and appeared as El Exigente in TV commercials for Savarin coffee.
Montalban’s wife of more than 60 years, Georgiana, a half- sister of film star Loretta Young, died in 2007. They had four children: Mark, Victor, Laura and Anita.
Though he appeared in movies with stars such as Esther Williams, Lana Turner and Shirley MacLaine, Montalban said Hollywood wasn’t willing to make full use of a Latin-American actor. He once tried out for a part of a Mexican, only to lose out to American actor John Garfield.
So Montalban turned to television, starting with the live dramas of the 1950s that many actors shied away from. New Yorker magazine film critic Pauline Kael called Montalban “one of those potentially major actors who never got the roles that might have made them movie stars.”
Montalban was perhaps best known for his portrayal of the character Khan Noonian Singh, a genetically engineered, tyrannical super-human introduced in a 1967 episode of “Star Trek” that ended with the space ship USS Enterprise depositing Khan and his followers on an inhospitable planet. The plotline resumed 15 years later in the movie “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” (1982), with Montalban’s character seeking vengeance.
Getting Noticed
In 1974, Montalban played the title role in George Bernard Shaw’s “Don Juan in Hell” on a six-month national tour after two-dozen performances on Broadway. In Detroit, his performance drew the interest of executives at Chrysler Corp., which was about to unveil a new car with a Spanish name: the Cordoba.
In television advertisements for the car, Montalban extolled the “tastefulness of its appearance” and the “thickly cushioned luxury of seats available even in soft Corinthian leather.”
The phrase “Corinthian leather,” which rolled off Montalban’s tongue, had been made up by copy writers at Young & Rubicam, Adweek later reported. No matter: it became a popular line, widely imitated and parodied.
Montalban worked with Chrysler for 15 years, hawking other luxury models including the LeBaron and the New Yorker.
Aaron Spelling, the prolific TV producer whose creations dominated ABC prime time in the 1970s and early 1980s, saw the Cordoba commercial and thought of Montalban for a new show about an island that lets visitors live out a lifelong dream.
Dreams Fulfilled
As Mr. Roarke, the white-suited superintendent of “Fantasy Island,” Montalban oversaw the fulfillment of the dreams, urging his staff to welcome each week’s visitors with “smiles, everyone, smiles!”
Though Roarke’s powers were never explained, Montalban said he came up with a theory that informed his portrayal.
“I decided this man was an angel that still had a little bit of sin of pride in him -- too proud,” Montalban said in a 2002 interview with the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation. In this view, Roarke was in charge of purgatory, “where people go through tests, and some of them go for the better, and some for the worse.”
The series ran from 1978 to 1984 and cemented Montalban’s reputation as a congenial and cooperative star.
“Working with Ricardo was a joy,” Spelling, who died in 2006, wrote in “Aaron Spelling: A Prime-Time Life,” his 1996 memoir. “Ricardo made good scripts better and not-so-good scripts work. I don’t remember him ever doing any rewrites. He set a perfect example for the rest of the cast.”
Early Frustration
Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalban Merino was born Nov. 25, 1920, in Mexico City. His parents had emigrated from northern Spain so Montalban’s father could take a job running a store. After a few years the family settled in Torreon, in northern Mexico.
Montalban moved in with an older brother in Los Angeles to attend high school. There, he got the acting bug after landing the lead in a school play.
After moving to New York, he appeared on stage and in the short musical films known as “soundies.” Frustrated after losing the part of a Mexican to Garfield in “Tortilla Flat” (1942), he returned to Mexico.
Leaving the U.S. behind, he recalled feeling, “I have no chance in this country. They don’t write for Mexicans.”
He made 13 films in four years and became a star in his native country, then was rediscovered by Hollywood when Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer went on location in Mexico to film the Esther Williams matador movie “Fiesta” (1947). In an improbable pairing, given their different accents and appearances, he and Williams were cast as twins.
Leading Man
Signed by MGM, Montalban played twice more opposite Williams, as her fiance in “On an Island With You” (1948) and as the Argentinian polo player who wins her heart in “Neptune’s Daughter” (1949). In that film they sang “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” which won Frank Loesser an Academy Award for best original score.
Montalban also played a wealthy Brazilian who charms Lana Turner in “Latin Lovers” (1953).
After MGM chose not to renew his contract, Montalban turned to television, appearing in episodes of live drama shows including “Ford Television Theatre” and “Playhouse 90.”
He would go on to appear in movies including the John Ford- directed western “Cheyenne Autumn” (1964), “Madame X” (1966) with Lana Turner and John Forsythe, “Sweet Charity” (1969) and “The Naked Gun” (1988).
His biggest TV role after “Fantasy Island” was as Zach Powers on “The Colbys,” the Spelling-produced “Dynasty” spinoff that aired on ABC from 1985-87. Montalban played a scheming business rival of the Colby clan.
Awards, Recognition
Montalban won an Emmy award for outstanding supporting actor playing a Sioux Indian leader in “How the West Was Won” (1978), a television mini-series. The Screen Actors Guild gave him a lifetime achievement award in 1993.
He founded Nosotros, a Hollywood-based nonprofit that trains and supports Latino actors. The group bought and renovated a theater, which opened in 2004.
Montalban’s brother Carlos played a Latin American dictator in Woody Allen’s “Bananas” (1971) and appeared as El Exigente in TV commercials for Savarin coffee.
Montalban’s wife of more than 60 years, Georgiana, a half- sister of film star Loretta Young, died in 2007. They had four children: Mark, Victor, Laura and Anita.
I can't believe Kim Possible wasn't mentioned in the article. You will be missed.
Monday, January 12, 2009
JPG Magazine is Saved!!
From an email from the editors of JPG:
We couldn't ask for a better community. In the week or so since our last email, the outpour of support has exceeded our wildest expectations. Your efforts, such as starting savejpg.com, writing blog posts, commenting on Twitter and Flickr, and generally making your voices heard, have provided exciting new opportunities for us. We're thrilled to say that because of you, we have multiple credible buyers interested in giving JPG a home. We will be keeping the site up after all, and hope to have a final update in the next week or so on who the acquirer will be. Thank you for making all of this possible.
Laura Brunow MinerEditor in Chief
Hopefully it continues so we can all continue to enjoy the awesome pictures like the one above that were posted and published. Here's hoping they make it.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
"America's Hottest College Girl 2009" Contest
This is one contest I am going to follow:
All My Single Ladies, All My Single Ladies from Jake Hurwitz 21 hours ago
Greetings fellow Internet goers. Today is the day you have long dreamt of, long hoped for. Today is the day you thought of to keep you warm on rainy nights when you thought the sun may never come. Today, I declare, we begin our 4th annual search for America's Hottest College Girl. Today.The winner gets 5,000 dollars, so girls: Find as many pictures of you from the most flattering angles and send them to us. And guys: Go buy some Jergen's lotion and paper towels- and if you can, pass the word along to some of your hot (female) friends.If you're not a complete idiot, you should be able to follow these simple rules and apply moron! Just kidding, you're beautiful.And here, send this one to your friends: http://www.collegehumor.com/hottestgirl/2009/apply
