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!

About Gen Con
Gen Con, LLC produces the largest consumer fantasy, sci-fi and adventure game convention in North America. Its operations include Gen Con Indy and licensees for European and Asia Pacific Gen Con shows. Gen Con is a consumer and trade experience dedicated to the gaming culture and community. For more information visit the website at www.gencon.com


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Media Contact: Stacia Kirby 206-363-1492, stacia@speakeasy.net

Is Twitter the Next Second Life? - ClickZ

An online friend (ironically met through Twitter) forwarded to me a link to this article, after I had made some online huffings about social media and marketing gurus. Yeah, there are definitely some parallels but I think that the comparison between corporations and their attempted use of Second Life and their use of the social media like Twitter, Facebook, and etc. is really a different animal.

This is probably a topic that's going to be coming up for a while as I define my stances on things. Is this dorky? It's the internet...everything is dorky out there. And thanks, Chandra, for the link.

I'm sorry if I'm about to offend all you dedicated Twitter fanatics out there, but (in the spirit of the holidays) I'm just a big old Scrooge. Articles about Twittering for business make me want to shout 'Bah humbug!' and turn off my computer so I can run screaming into the night.

For the past year or so I've kept silent on this issue, but it now seems like there's an extraordinary parallel between the hype about using Twitter for business and the hype about Second Life and other now-embarrassing fads in the online press.

Remember Second Life? Lots of companies spent big bucks setting up their own islands in the 3-D virtual world so they could do virtual business and rake in the cash. Unfortunately, between protestors who didn't like their chat room sullied with filthy lucre and commercial interests and the sad fact that there's a huge gap between the number of registered users on the site and the number of people who actually use it on a regular basis. Though Second Life seemed like the next big thing, most people who registered for the service used it only once or twice.

Amnar | Experience it

Welcome to Amnar.

Amnar is a place that is not earth, but mirrors earth. Amnar is about all the things that happen on earth but in a place that is elsewhere.

Amnar has no orcs, no elves. The characters you will meet here are all human beings, just like you. They live in a world that you have never been to, but if you've travelled at all, walked through the Namibian Desert, sailed the Yangtzee in China, walked across the great stretches of pale savannah such as the Masai Mara or the Serengeti, then you might well recognise the landscape.

This is a place of great cathedral like halls built underground in a chthonic maze, a world that harbours the same darkness and light that our world does. And that darkness, that light, is thoroughly human in nature.

Amnar is political intrigue, psychological thriller, love story, drama, melodrama, spy tale, and personal legend with the added bonus of a few fire breathing dragons.

Rules of Twitter

I think that these are good guidelines for the use of Twitter, whether you are new or old to the site.

Who cares about all that junk? When you are new to twitter of course you are going to know to do that stuff! It might take you awhile to do it, but still, it will get done eventually. Here are the REAL things you need to do on twitter when you are a newbie.

Personal Blanding Blog

"Spinners after replicants" is just brilliant.

Social media has become the equivalent of commercial hippiewear: it's much more convenient to buy a prefab tie-dye shirt than make one yourself, and while it may appear great, there's not an interesting story behind it. (That changes if you wear the shirt and get into some strange counterculture misadventures, but that's another… story.)

Some people get afraid with all these 21st-century buzzwords passing by them like spinners after replicants. I feel your fear, dudes. And I'm here to tell you so much of it ultimately results in nothing. Just like the 1,000 archetypical fake MySpace friends you don't really know, those numbers… don't add up. But that's been brought up too many times. So let me move on!

I has Twitter

Just click the link above if you are curious, devious or looking for other ways to find out what is going throuh my head.

CD Exchange

So, I want some new music (hopefully things that I haven't heard already) and to get that I am going to try having a CD exchange. Send me a CD and I'll send one to you as well. Get a special "Dorkland Adventures" compilation of music for your dancing and dining pleasure. Interested in join in on the fun? Leave a comment here.

LiveJournal: The Russian Bear Slashes a Social Network

The bubble in social networking has burst, decisively. LiveJournal, the San Francisco-based arm of Sup, a Russian Internet startup, has cut about 20 of 28 employees — and offered them no severance, we're told.

The quirky site, part blog and part social network, is best known for its users' weird obsessions — like the troublesome clique of Harry Potter erotica writers, whose outre tastes ran afoul of LiveJournal's efforts to comply with U.S. child-pornography laws. (Oddly, the site also gained a following in Russia, which led to its acquisition by Sup.) All that adds up to an environment even more distasteful to advertisers than the typical social site.

Search for new Doctor Who's partner begins

The producers of Doctor Who have begun the search for a 'high profile' female companion after unveiling little-known actor Matt Smith as the new Time Lord. Smith, 26, a surprise choice for the 11th Doctor and the youngest actor ever to take the role, is largely unfamiliar to audiences and BBC bosses are keen to pair him with a showbusiness name.

The singer Lily Allen is an early favourite, while sources say Strictly Come Dancing stars Rachel Stevens and Kelly Brook are high on the BBC's wish-list.

Producers are looking for someone who is famous outside the world of acting – replicating the success of former Doctor's assistant Billie Piper, who was better known as a teenage popstar and the wife of DJ Chris Evans when she landed the role but proved a hit with viewers.

9 to Watch in 2009: Television

The New Year is wide open with comics firing on all cylinders in the upper echelons of superhero comics to the vibrant field of modern comics. But who rests at the top? Who are the biggest and brightest – who are the ones who pose to make 2009 a breakout year for themselves? From characters to comics to creators, and even to the wider spectrum of television and movies – who will be the breakout stars?

Newsarama gathered the facts, analyzed the fiction and reviewed the rumors to delineate who we think will the top – the 9 to Watch in '09. All this week, we'll be picking out the 9 To Watch in '09 in five categories: comic characters, comic creators, comic series/books, movies and television shows. The first three are clearly comics-centric, while the last two are wide open.

In the previous days, we've covered all corners of the comic spectrum for what's to come in 2009: the characters, the creators and the new series. Now we broaden our focus into the wider world of television. From shows based on comics to shows who have their own comics and even shows that should have their own comics. And yes, we know the fickleness of televsion production, so take the entries on shows that are yet to begin production with a heaping helping of optomism.

the high point for this blogger comes a little bit after that part:

One of Vertigo's biggest success stories throughout the years with fourteen Eisner Awards, it is now poised to take over the world of television in the 2009-2010 Television season - we hope. Announced on December 8th, it is to be shepherded by the creators of the underrated Six Degrees series Stu Zicherman and Raen Metzner, and director David Semel (Studio 60, Heroes) is onboard to direct. The shape of Fables is a perfect fit for comics – but could it work even better on television?