Hey Weta fans,
Whether you celebrate Easter or not, perhaps in some little way you can celebrate spring. Unless you’re on our side of the planet, of course. We’re headed for Winter. Beanie, anyone?
Dr. Grordbort’s Easter Hunting Pack:
To celebrate the Easter Bunny Hunting Season, Dr. Grordbort’s have allowed us to bundle a few of their products AND slash the price. Used to be US$90, NOW $74! Save $26!
A Miniature F.M.O.M. Wave Disrupter gun
A Dr. Grordbort’s T-shirt with a pipes motif
A thick, useful notebook for species notes Check it out!
The 2nd Annual Star Trek Intergalactic Fan Fiction exhibition (best known as the S.T.I.F.F.e.) will be held in Vulcan during our annual Spock Days/Galaxyfest weekend on Saturday June 13th. If you are interested in displaying your fan fiction items please fill out the attached registration form and return it to me.
We look forward to seeing you all in Vulcan soon! For more information feel free to visit our website at vulcantourism.com.
StarWars.com wants to know what you think. Currently running at the Official Star Wars website is a user survey where you can voice your opinion on The Clone Wars, the website design, and the future of Hyperspace: The Official Star Wars Fan Club, and more!
In addition to your thoughts on Star Wars, we want to know some more information about you, so the site can better serve the needs and interests of its many diverse users. Do you think there should be more kids content? More fiction? More tabletop gaming news? More Flash-based games? Let us know your priorities!
For almost 13 years, the Official Star Wars website has been growing and adapting to the rapidly changing world of the Internet, and we greatly value the opinion of our users. Please head on over and fill out the survey today. You can find it here:
Every little girl should be issued a copy of Blueberry Girl on the day that she’s born. A lyrical poem that’s an enchanted wish for a life full of blessings, “what every new parent or parent-to-be dreams of for her child, what every girl dreams of for herself”, Neil Gaiman’s latest children’s picture book echoes the hopefulness of Sleeping Beauty and the gifts granted by the fairy godmothers who attended the newborn princess’ christening. (Unlike that classic fairy tale, though, no wicked fairy intrudes on Blueberry Girl with a curse.)
The book’s elegant watercolour illustrations are by master fantasy artist Charles Vess, whose traditional style of fairy tale art casts as much of a spell as the words they illuminate. Each spread is ripe with images of blueberries, idealized scenes of nature, and magical symbols, with the “blueberry girl” morphing in age and appearance from page to page, allowing girls of all types to identify with her. Smaller children will likely get more out of the pictures than the words, which employ more adult-level language and concepts, but will still thoroughly enjoy the large, flowing blue font and lullaby-like cadence of the poetry as it’s read aloud.
In “A Note From Neil”, Gaiman best describes the delightful Blueberry Girl, and how it was written for his goddaughter-to-be, Tash, as a favor for her mother, musician Tori Amos, a longtime friend of Gaiman’s who nicknamed her expected baby “the blueberry”:
Hello.
You’re probably wondering what kind of book this is.
This is the kind of book that comes about when a friend phones you and says, “I’ll be having a baby in a month. Would you write her a poem? A sort of prayer, maybe? We call her the Blueberry…” And you think, Yes, actually. I would.
I wrote the poem. When the baby was born, they stopped calling her the Blueberry and started calling her Natashya, but they pinned up the handwritten Blueberry girl poem beside her bed.
I kept a copy at my house, taped to a filing cabinet. And when friends read it, they said things like “Please, can I have a copy for my friend who is going to be giving birth to a daughter?” and I wound up copying it out for people, over and over.
I wasn’t going to let it be published, not ever. It was private, and written for one person, even if I did seem to be spending more and more of my time handwriting or printing out nice copies for mothers-to-be and for babies.
Then artist Charles Vess (whom I had collaborated with on Stardust) read it.
And somehow, it all became simple. I made a few phone calls. We decided to make some donations to some charities. And Charles began to draw, and then to paint, taking the poem as a starting point and then making something universal and beautiful.
On his blog he said, “Taking Neil’s lovely poetic meditation on the inherent joys of a mother-daughter relationship and developing a compelling narrative impulse without robbing the poem of its highly symbolic nature was an interesting conceptual journey.” Which I think is Charles for “It wasn’t easy to make that poem into a picture book.” He did an astonishing job, but I still worried. I stopped worrying the day the assistant editor at HarperChildrens, who was herself pregnant, called me to let me know that she’d got the artwork in, and read it, and then started crying in the office.
It’s a book for mothers and for mothers-to-be. It’s a book for anyone who has, or is, a daughter. It’s a prayer and a poem, and now it’s a beautiful book.
I hope you enjoy it. I’m really proud of it. And I hope this means I don’t have to copy it out any longer…
Neil
Part of the proceeds from the book will be donated to RAINN, Gaiman noted in his blog, “because I originally wrote Blueberry Girl for Tori and her as-yet-unborn-daughter, and that seemed like the right thing to do.” RAINN is an anti-sexual assault organization that Tori Amos is a founding member of and has been one of the main spokeswomen for, so your purchase will not only make the future brighter for little girls, it will help heal those that weren’t as lucky as the carefree everygirl represented in Blueberry Girl.
Publishers Weekly enthuses, “Fans of Gaiman and Vess will pounce on this creation; so too will readers who seek for their daughters affirmation that sidesteps traditional spiritual conventions.” Blueberry Girl is truly a must-have book for girls at any stage of life, and a sweet treat for readers.
Online bonus: Blueberry Girl — Listen to Gaiman read the entire picture book online, in the book’s animated trailer. The audio is from one of the readings the author did during his Graveyard Book reading tour.
In Giants, you play a chief competing for tribal prestige on Easter Island by building the biggest and most numerous statues your civilization has ever seen.
The monumental statues of Easter Island, known as moaïs, are one of the most fascinating exploits attributed to mankind. How did a handful of sculptors, tucked away on a miniscule island, ever manage such a feat? Isolated from the rest of the world, they built more than 800 statues, each weighing several tons with certain measuring nearly 10 meters tall. Cooperation between the tribes, innovative use of wood and their earnest hard work are certainly part of the explanation for their incredible feat. These stone giants are one of the rare vestiges of a highly refined civilization, the Rapanui, who prospered for more than a millennium in peace and tranquility. Now it’s your turn to relive their inspiring adventure as builders of the moaïs!
The game is set during the golden age of the Rapanui, the native inhabitants of Easter Island. As chief of your people, you must use your leadership skills to elevate your village to top status. While this mostly involves successful construction of complete moaïs (each statue has a headdress to cap it), you can enlist the help of opposing but like-minded tribes, either through peaceful teamwork or scheming tactics like seizing possession of materials that are still en route from quarries to their building platforms, and hoarding the logs used to transport the statue pieces. Tribe markers, which represent your level of influence on the island, are used to reserve the best ahus (stone building platforms) and moaïs for future use. In addition, you have a sorcerer who can put a magical whammy on rivals who interfere with your plans of island dominance, though, as chief, you also have the privilege of invoking the power of the sorcerer’s magical Rongo tablets. Be careful, as sneaky acts may grant your opponents some of the precious prestige points you need to ultimately win. If you lead well and use your resources wisely, your workers will thrive and “your masterpieces will stand tall for centuries.”
The gameboard for Giants is a huge, beautifully stylized map of Easter Island, with a representation of a stone mural on the reverse side that depicts a team of workers building a moaï. (The glyphs in the mural are decorative gibberish, as the Rongo tablet markings they’re modelled after have never been deciphered.) A great deal of thought has gone into the aesthetics of the entire game, from the box’s lush artwork and the insert tray with one section shaped like the profile of a moaï, to the visual diversity of the gamepieces. Each of the five players has a screen that not only handily lists a cheat sheet of the game rules, but is illustrated with a tranquil scene of island life done in one of the themed colours assigned to each tribe. The tribes also have individually designed figurines and symbol-emblazoned playing pieces in their colour, with different appearances for each tribe’s chief, sorcerer, and workers, a touch that gives the players’ little plastic avatars a bit of personality. The realistically sculpted moaï figurines, in three shades of grey plastic speckled to resemble stone, are similarly well-crafted, as are the double-sided playing pieces made of durably thick cardboard.
Giants takes a while to set up the first time out of the box, as there are many gamepieces to prepare and familiarize yourself with, but once you’ve read through through the rules the turn-based action is fairly straightforward. The rulebook provides illustrated example scenarios that clearly explain some of the more complex moves, as well as an entire page on the story of Easter Island. This latter inclusion elevates Giants from a fun adventure game to a potential teaching tool, as most people recognize the giant stone heads of Easter Island without knowing the history behind them, namely how the construction of the moaïs decimated the island’s forests and nearly destroyed its entire ecosystem as a result. There are a maximum of five players in Giants, but more can be included by turning tribes into teams of students, making this educational game perfect for the classroom setting. Hopefully, in playing Giants, you’ll be able to change the fate of the Rapanui clans for the better.
Giants supports 3-5 players, ages 10 and up. Game length: about 60 minutes.
“Paramount and Vulcan Tourism are thrilled to bring an exclusive pre-release screening of Star Trek to Vulcan residents. Knowing how special the series has been to the town of Vulcan, Paramount and Vulcan Tourism have been collaborating for months to plan just the right event. The private screening will be held for 300 lottery-winning Vulcan residents at a state-of-the-art movie theater in Calgary. The special event includes transportation, refreshments and Star Trek memorabilia. Everyone who worked on Star Trek is excited about bringing the highly anticipated film to fans everywhere and especially to the residents of Vulcan.”
Leonard Nimoy says, “I have been informed of the logical plan that Paramount Pictures and the town of Vulcan have been working on to host an advanced screening of Star Trek. The people of Vulcan have been heard and, although it is atypical for Vulcans, they are, in fact, excited. To all, live long and prosper.”
Steph Song ventures into sci-fi with "The Thaw" and "Paradox"
While she may have been voted “Sexiest Women in the World” by FHM magazine, Steph Song is anything but “just another pretty face”. From the moment she first began her acting career in Singapore in 2002, she’s been winning hearts and awards for her roles in dramatic and comedic television and film. Already a huge success in the Asian Pacific, in 2005 she decided to return to Canada, one of several countries she made her home in as a child. She quickly established herself in the Vancouver acting scene with roles in Everything’s Gone Green, Dragon Boys and jPod. With several films in post-production and others now making the festival rounds, Steph has kept herself very busy. She now splits her time between Vancouver and Australia, not only acting but producing with her company Island Films. She took some time out of her very busy schedule to talk a little bit about her past success, current projects and future plans.
ÜberSciFiGeek (ÜSFG) You hold degrees in nursing and journalism. Why did you decide to go into acting instead?
Steph Song (SS) Um, well, the thing with acting for me is it’s something that I’ve always wanted to do but coming from an incredibly academic family it was very much frowned upon me going into that line of career. Parents just… I guess that they, you know, just didn’t want me to be a bum on the couch, right; which probably happened for quite a few years when you first start acting. So, the thing with the nursing and journalism… I actually started off with an English Literature degree and my mother, who has a Masters Degree in Political Science and is a lecturer, she wanted me to be able to apply my skill set to something and she convinced me that English Literature is like a stepping stone degree; which it really is. I mean, if you want to apply it in any way, you need to get like a teaching degree or something. So then I put all my credits towards journalism and halfway through journalism I kind of found that I wanted to exercise something a little bit more scientific and my dad who has his PhD in Genetics encouraged me to go into medicine and well, I couldn’t quite make that commitment. So then I started something I guess kind of like Pre-med but I ended up applying most of the credits from that towards nursing and four years later I came out with a double degree in Journalism and Nursing and really not wanting to do either. I kind of told my parents, “Well, at least now you know I’ve got two degrees and I’ll never be that bum on the couch so ariva derche. I’m going to go out into the world and explore acting which is something I’ve always wanted to do anyway.” And that’s how that happened.
(ÜSFG) So, you’ve lived in other countries. You speak multiple languages. How did that end up affecting your new career goal?
(SS) Um, I wouldn’t say it affects it in any way. I speak a few languages, yes. That was due in part to my dad’s profession because as a geneticist he traveled around pioneering different programs and ended up towing his small little family as well. So we whent down to Colombia, South America, when I was young and I picked up Spanish and have subsequently and quite sadly lost that ability. Although when I hear it I understand every single word. Just the connection somewhere from brain to mouth isn’t there so I really wish I could speak it and it’s something I think I’m going to try to nourish again. And as for Chinese, I have always spoken that at home with my parents. I think that as an actor it’s very important to have, or very important to continually be expanding on, your skill set whether that is being able to sing or to dance or to do martial arts, which would be applicable I guess for me quite a bit even though I don’t know how to do it. I should, as an Asian actress. And languages are a good thing to be able to draw from as well.
(ÜSFG) You were hugely successful in the Asia-Pacific area, including a starring role in a series that was syndicated in more then a dozen countries. So, with your success abroad, why did you choose Vancouver for this step of your career?
(SS) Well, I grew up in the prairies in Canada and I’d always wanted to return to Canada, and plus I never really lost the Canadian accent and you know I feel I am Canadian. I wanted to come back here. That’s basically it, pure and simple. I loved my time in Asia because there was so… I got to do a variety of roles, like a gazillion. I got to do drama and comedy and sitcom, and sadly no sci-fi, there. It’s not a very big hub for sci-fi unfortunately, I don’t think, although there’s a lot of horror movies that come out of Korea and Thailand, right?
(ÜSFG) Yeah.
(SS) Yeah. So sadly I didn’t really get to experience that over there but hopefully it’s something I can do over here. And yeah, I came back because I’m Canadian and I love Canada despite the dreary winters.
(ÜSFG) I was looking at your Island Films website.
(SS) Oh, yeah.
(ÜSFG) You’ve really got a growing body of work there and I have to say your commercials are visual feasts. I could sit and watch those commercials all day long. Can you tell me a little bit about Island Films?
(SS) Island Films is a company that I started up with my partner Antony Redman, and he’s also an incredibly gifted writer and we decided to start it pure and simple because we just love stories. We love being told a really good story and I love going to the movies and, as I mentioned in a previous interview, my favorite thing about going to the movies is just the anticipation of being told a fantastic story, and I love sitting there with my popcorn as the lights dim and the title credits start rolling. It’s a fantastic, fantastic thing. And we started that because we just had stories and we’re always brainstorming different ideas. In fact, we’ve got a really great one called Strawberry which is a sci-fi and is set in the very, very far future and is about how… it’s dealing with cryogenics and what happens to your soul or your spirit, like if your brain is frozen and you come back does that mean your soul splinters off? It’s um… If you read the synopsis for Strawberry I think that might be something you might be interested in, Raven.
(ÜSFG) Okay. Thank you. I will definitely look that up. So, last year you were part of the award winning cast and critically acclaimed show jPod.
(SS) Mmm.
(ÜSFG) Yes, that’s actually how I became a fan of yours.
(SS) Aww.
(ÜSFG) What was it like being a part of such a dynamic cast and show?
(SS) Oh I LOVED it! Emilie (Ullerup) would be able to attest to just… It was just a joy being on set every single day with such a marvelous team of actors, and we all got along so great. Like, I count Emilie as one of my best pals.
(ÜSFG) She said the same thing about you.
(SS) Yeah, and you know I’m close with all of my other fellow podsters as well. Torrance (Coombs) lives just down the road and David (Kopp) and his girl Brandy I’m close with as well. I get to see Ben (Ayres) every now and then but he’s very busy. Um. I wish I got to see more of him. But it was fantastic. The writing is sharp. The sets were always phenomenal. We had almost a different director for every episode and they always brought fresh and wonderful ideas. And it’s Douglas Coupland. He’s just an iconic part of cultural history, the voice of a generation. So, there’s always a little trepidation going into a project that could profile in such a big way and it was such a joy, really wonderful and really quite sad. I was genuinely very distressed when the season ended and then we found out that the show was just a little bit too forward-thinking and had been canceled. And we had a legion of fans as well, which was, you know… The CBC was going for that demographic and I guess maybe, you know that particular demographic tends to download a lot more then they tend to watch TV so, um, I think it was due in part to ratings but also it was just too forward-thinking for that particular network.
(ÜSFG) Well, Emilie, when I talked to her about it, she said she thinks it’s dead but the fans are still hoping they can at least get a special to wrap up the cliffhanger ending.
(SS) Huh. Mmm. Well, I’m not… I can’t tell you anything that the writers had prepared for the second season, but let me tell you, it would have been freaking hilarious. Like, I was almost rolling on the floor laughing when the writers were telling me what they had prepared for the second season. It’s just, you know, if it’s crazy and strange and wonderful in the first season it just gets ten times more so in the second season, what they had prepared. And it’s just a dreadful shame, and you know what, I’m going to hold hope and be optimistic that the producers have enough sway to command a [special] but I’m not sure about that. I, too, feel that it might be dead.
"It was just a joy being on set every single day with such a marvelous team of actors, and we all got along so great."
(ÜSFG) Yeah, so… Right now you have two films in post-production, The Thaw with Val Kilmer and Paradox with Kevin Sorbo. Now, I’m familiar with Paradox slightly, because I am a comic book geek, but what is The Thaw about and who do you play in it?
(SS)The Thaw is about a group of science, or geology, students and they go up to… the Arctic I think is where it’s set, where they’ve discovered… where a scientist played by Val Kilmer has discovered the carcass of a woolly mammoth completely intact. And while he’s investigating, while he’s dissecting this carcass, he realizes that there is some kind of prehistoric bug that has initially killed the woolly mammoth that has thawed out, has started to thaw out in the mammoth and is quite open to infecting and killing other creatures. One of them being a polar bear and they, um, the students find out that the bug isn’t above infecting humans.
(ÜSFG) And then the fun starts.
(SS) Yeah, and then the fun starts.
(ÜSFG) Alright, so Paradox. It’s kind of a sci-fi/fantasy that takes place in an alternate universe Earth where magic is the rule, and you have a pretty significant part in this.
(SS) Yes. I play the female lead role opposite Kevin (Sorbo) and… I’ve always been fascinated with the concept of [other life] in the universe. I still kind of believe that there can be. I mean, it can’t just be us here, right? That’s just narrow-minded to think that we are the only… we’re the only living, logical creature in this universe. Even then, sometimes when you look around, it doesn’t really seem to make sense. But, um, the story came about… well, the script came to me about November of last year and at that time they hadn’t attached a male lead to it yet. It’s about a detective called Sean Nault and he is investigating a series of crimes and murders and he lives in a magic world. Things are run by magic and spells and it’s an Earth very similar to our Earth except where everything here runs on science, over there everything there runs on magic. Anyway, as he’s investigating these crimes he realizes there is something called a “gun” and something called “bullets” that go into that gun and “how is that possible? What is this weapon? We’ve never seen anything like this!” Which takes him to Lenore’s shop and I’m Lenore, a woman who believes in science in this magic world and therefore is kind of whispered about and not really accepted in society. He and Lenore start investigating these crimes and find a portal into the science world, and go into the science world, and that’s about all I can tell ya.
(ÜSFG) Now you got to…
(SS) And Emilie is actually in that!
(ÜSFG) Yes! I was just getting ready to ask about that. She said she…
(SS) It was so wonderful because the director, Brenton Spencer, has directed a few episodes of Sanctuary and when I met with him he was talking about Sanctuary and, um, it was our brilliant idea that Emilie must most definitely come in, her being a good pal of mine and him having worked with her before, and the whole Sanctuary connection. It was like, “Well, she has to be in it, no ifs, ands or buts” and so I got on the phone and I absolutely wrangled her into the project. It was great to work to work with Emilie again. Any time, any day.
(ÜSFG) Well, hopefully we’ll see you on Sanctuary in Season 2.
(SS) I’ve talked to her about that. I said, “You know, even if like I come back as a hideous monster or something and we have a big fight scene between the two of us. Awesome.” And she was like, “We’ll find something better for you than that.”
(ÜSFG) Well, when can we expect to see The Thaw and Paradox in theaters? Have there been dates set yet?
(SS) Um, there are quite a lot of visual effects that are going to be going into Paradox so I don’t expect to see or hear anything with Paradox for at least, minimum, at least six to eight months, although I am anticipating it coming out because we did some great work on that. It was a very, very fun set. Um, and The Thaw I think will be released in spring, I guess to coincide with…
(ÜSFG) The thaw…
(SS) Ya know, spring and everything thawing out, right. I think that’s when they are aiming for a release. I’m not 100% sure, although the trailer is already out so they can’t be too far away, and I’ve already done ADR on it so I think it’s just around the corner.
(ÜSFG) Well, I look forward to that. Are there any other projects that we should be keeping an eye out for this year?
(SS) Um, well, there’s Dim Sum Funeral, a film that I did just before The Thaw in March of last year, and that’s to do with an Asian-American family, four siblings who come together to bury their mother in a traditional Chinese funeral. Not science fiction at all, more of a family drama. They are completely antagonistic siblings… they are towards each other, which I’m guessing a lot of people can relate to. I know I didn’t like my sisters for a very long time and, um, that’s currently doing the film festivals. That’s going to, um… It just had its premiere at Pusan Film Festival last year and then was at AFI and then just, I think about a week ago, was at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, and now it’s going to the Singapore Film Festival and then the New Port Beach Film Festival and then the L.A. Film Festival and then the San Francisco Asian-American Film Festival… It’s just doing the circuit of festivals right now but I think it’s going to be airing at some stage on HBO. Apart from those three, nnn… not much.
(ÜSFG) Not much?
(SS) There are a few projects in the pipeline right now but I’m not allowed to talk about them until I get on set. A little… just a little superstition of mine that I shouldn’t start chitter-chattering about things I want to work on because I might not actually be on it.
(ÜSFG) I understand. I have the same problem. I do a lot of projects and if I… the more time I spend talking about it before I actually do it, the less I actually get done, so I understand.
(SS) Yeah.
(ÜSFG) Well, we covered everything that I really wanted to go over, so I know you’ve got a deadline. Is there anything else you want me to share before you run off?
(SS) Um, no, except I am, um… my first experience in sci-fi on Paradox I just loved, and I hope to do more of it. I guess The Thaw is kind of a…
(ÜSFG) Sci-Fi/Horror.
(SS) Sci-fiction kind of thing, more of a horror, but that was a fun experience too. I got to do a lot of screaming. It was a screamer. It was my first screamer and I feel like I’ve done permanent damage to my voice box. But it was good fun and, um, I hope to be able to show you guys something more. I hope to be able to produce something like Strawberry, so check that out on my Island Films website. Strawberry is a script that I would love to see made. The screenplay is finished. It’s fantabulous. I love it and I think we’re going to try to start funding it. I dunno; feature it on your website. You’ll find it on the Island Films website under Films. It opens up onto a bunch of, whachamacallit, I guess concept art posters and you’ll see Strawberry. It’s on the bottom right-hand corner, and click on that and it should take you right to a synopsis page so you can read the synopsis. I’m going to try to start finding funding for it so if anyone is interested, contact Island Films. Thank you very much, and I will keep you posted on those three… the two upcoming projects, and let you know where they are at and when they are going to come out, and so on and so forth.
"Strawberry" is a sci-fi thriller about what happens to your soul when your body's on ice.
(ÜSFG) Thank you, Steph!
While we have to wait a while for Paradox, you can expect The Thaw to arrive in theaters sometime this spring. Dim Sum Funeral is currently showing at festivals and will soon air on HBO. jPod is available to watch streaming on CBC.com and TheWB.com, and can be purchased from Amazon.com. Also, don’t forget to stop by stephsong.com and islandfilms.net to keep up-to-date on Steph’s latest projects.
Hey Weta fans,
It’s been a fantastic month — can’t believe it’s been that long since we relaunched the site. So many people have signed up, made reviews and comments, posted encouraging notes on forums all over the world. And even helped us out with photos and information. It’s all hugely appreciated. We thought we’d encourage you even further to review the pieces you own, so place product reviews for the items you own by April 15th and we will draw three winners who each get 60 Weta Dollars to spend. That’s enough for a Doctor Who helmet. Or a mini Raygun. So get reviewing — you enter automatically just by writing a review and I will pick a winner at random.
Barista: The Game from Discovery Bay Games is a Whole Latte fun!
I’ve been in the gourmet coffee business most of my adult life. As a longtime barista, the idea of the game Barista from Discovery Bay Games intrigued me. When I picked it up and examined it for the first time, I smiled at the faux burlap print that covers the box. (The newest edition comes in a black and blue pinstripe box.) As a coffee fanatic, I have a small collection of the burlap bags that green coffee is shipped and stored in. Then I opened the box and began examining the game pieces, and was pleased to see an accurate selection of drinks depicted on the cards and dice.
Starbucks may have been the first big company to make wide use of the drink marking boxes, but it is by no means the only company using them. While the customer may not understand the importance of drink calling in order, it helps assist the barista improve the accuracy of the drinks, especially during peak periods. That the creators of the game took the time to include proper drink calling in the gameplay thrilled me to no end. Baristas around the world should rejoice and purchase this game to play with their friends, and offer it along with their other in-store games for customers to play.
The gameplay is simple and easy to catch on to. The object of the game is to be the first barista to accurately “build” the customer’s drink. Along the way, you can slow down and trip up your fellow baristas, quite literally if you draw a “spill drink” card to lay on them. Some of the cards are similar to Uno, with wild cards that can be anything, steal cards that allow you to take an ingredient card from another player’s hand, or a re-roll that lets you change one of the drink dice. Each time you win a hand, you receive 2 golden “tip” tokens. The first player to get 5 tip tokens wins the game. With a 2-player game, we modified the tip rule for game win, increasing 5 coins to 10 to lengthen gameplay.
Another fun twist on the gameplay is betting with your tips in what is called a “Barista Challenge”. If you already have at least 1 token, you can bet it against any other player that you will have more correct ingredients than them at the end of the hand, even if you don’t win the hand. If you win the challenge, you get a tip coin. If you lose the challenge, you lose a tip coin.
One point of confusion in the gameplay is setting down matching ingredients. The instructions say that you can set your matched ingredients face down on the playing surface so you are only holding the unmatched ingredients in your hand. The cards that are set down are still considered to be part of your hand, though, so when another player gets a steal card, these cards would be the obvious targets to take. The instructions don’t specify if they can be taken or if they are safe. We chose before a few games not to lay down cards, so as to randomize success when the steal card is played.
The box has a molded insert that neatly and securely holds all of the game pieces, and is small enough to store on an average bookshelf. The large dice are easy to read and the cards are thick, coated, and seem to be highly durable for many years of fun gameplay. While the demitasse cup is the right size for a dopio espresso macchiato, it’s actually for shaking up the dice. Perfect for any coffee lover, Barista is fun, fast-paced, and educational for anyone who drinks coffee and never knows how to order their drink.
The game includes:
52 Playing Cards
4 Drink Order Dice
1 Tip Token Bag
20 Tip Tokens
1 Espresso Cup Shaker
The deck is made up of different coffee cards:
Drink — Cappuccino, Mocha or Latte
Size — Short, Tall or Grande
Milk — Nonfat, Breve or Soy
Shots — Single, Double or Triple
Wild — A wild card can represent any element of a specific drink order.
Roll — Player must re-roll one Drink Order Die.
Change — Player must change one Drink Order Die.
Take — Player must take one card from another barista.
Spill — Player can choose to spill one opponent’s drink.
At long last, we have finally received an answer from Paramount Pictures, about our quest to host the movie premiere of Star Trek.
There is good news and bad news:
Bad news first: Unfortunately, due to timing and logistics surrounding the production and release details for the film, it will not be possible for the premiere to happen in Vulcan. This is largely due to the lead time that we require to rent and special order the equipment needed to put on the event (i.e. projector, screen, sound system etc); and the much shorter timelines the movie industry works with, surrounding film releases.
The Good news is that Paramount Pictures does want to involve Vulcan Tourism with the release of the film in Alberta. Although it is premature to know specific details, they have informed us that we will be invited to participate in the promo-screening of the film in Calgary. This screening will likely will be scheduled for a day or two prior to the film’s wide release on May 8.
Although this may seem, on the surface, to be the end of a long and colourful journey for the Town of Vulcan, we are thrilled with the results of our efforts:
* The support you have shown Vulcan for our lofty Hollywood goal has been overwhelming;
* The media’s response to this campaign has been remarkable; and,
* The idea has clearly caught the imaginations of the travelling public, as our visitor statistics continue to hold strong.
We are looking forward to seeing what Paramount Pictures has in mind to include Vulcan in its plans surrounding Star Trek’s release in May.
Even though Star Trek won’t be premiering in Vulcan this spring, we are still looking forward to a fun and busy year:
* The Town of Vulcan is currently in negotiations with CBS to become an officially licensed Star Trek destination;
* We have put in an application to the Guinness Book of Records to have the “Most people in one location doing a Klingon Bat’leth military-style drill” at our annual Spock Days/Galaxyfest this coming June;
* The Town of Vulcan will be bracing for a Klingon Invasion, as KAG Kanada members descend on Vulcan to celebrate their 20th Anniversary as a fan club at this year’s Spock Days/Galaxyfest weekend.
* The Canadian Space Agency and NASA is considering doing a downlink video conference between our local high school and Canadian Astronaut Robert Thirsk, live from the International Space Station in September (an event that will be open to the public).
If you would like to stay in touch with all of the goings on in Vulcan, we invite you to join our other Facebook group: “Trekking to Vulcan, Alberta” or ask to be put on our mailing list by contacting: info@vulcantourism.com
Thank you so much for your enthusiasm and support for our small town’s ambitious goal to host the premiere of Star Trek XI.
If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Live Long & Prosper!
Dayna Dickens, Tourism Coordinator
Erin Melcher, Information Services Coordinator
Town of Vulcan and Vulcan County, Alberta, Canada
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After a long and colourful journey, the Town of Vulcan has finally received word, from Paramount Pictures, about its ambitious quest to host the movie premiere of Star Trek.
There is good news and bad news:
Bad news first: Unfortunately, due to timing and logistics surrounding the production and release details for the film, it will not be possible for the premiere to happen in Vulcan. This is largely due to the lead time the town required to rent and special order the equipment needed to put on the event; and the much shorter timelines the movie industry works with, surrounding film releases.
The Good news is that Paramount Pictures does want to involve Vulcan with the release of the film in Alberta. Although it is premature to know specific details, they have informed the town’s Tourism Coordinator that Vulcan will be invited to participate in the promo-screening of the film in Calgary. This screening will likely be scheduled for a day or two prior to the film’s wide release on May 8.
Although this may seem, on the surface, to be the end of a unique promotional campaign, Dayna Dickens, Vulcan’s Tourism Coordinator, is thrilled with the results of their efforts:
“The support Vulcan has received, for its lofty Hollywood goal — from both the government and our peers in the Tourism Industry has been overwhelming; the international media’s response to this campaign has been remarkable; and, the idea of Vulcan’s “Trekkie Tourism” has clearly caught the imaginations of the travelling public, as our visitor and gift shop statistics continue to hold strong, even through the current economic slow-down”.
Despite not being granted the premiere of the new Star Trek movie, Dickens is looking forward to seeing what Paramount Pictures has in mind to include Vulcan in its plans surrounding Star Trek’s release in May. She is confident that 2009 will be another excellent year for tourism in this little Trekkie Town on the Prairies.
For more information contact:
Dayna Dickens
Tourism Coordinator
Town of Vulcan/Vulcan Tourism
Box 1161, Vulcan, AB, T0L 2B0
Tel: 403-485-2994 Fax: 403-485-2878 dayna@vulcantourism.com
Website: vulcantourism.com
