The Misfits, the first and greatest horror Punk band ever, is releasing their first new music since 2003.  The 12″ LP maxi single will feature two brand new songs– “Land of the Dead” & “Twilight of the Dead” both written by founder Jerry Only.  The new LP will be released Halloween, 2009, but will be available for pre-order soon at the Misfits’ Fiend Store.  As an added bonus, you can download both tracks from iTunes starting October 27th.  Oh, & if you are lucky enough to see them on tour this fall, you can pick up a limited edition clear orange vinyl copy of Land of the Dead at the show.  Only 1000 copies of both the limited edition and the 1st pressing will be available, so grab yours fast.

Rock Band for iPhone sneak peek from IntoMobile on Vimeo.

The 2009 Fall League of Grifball is accepting registration now. Go claim your spot grifball.com

Now, this of course is to be expected– this is what hackers do.  They see a challenge and rise to it.  Hacking facebook is no different than hacking into school records, medical reports, phishing for bank or credit card info, except that the penalties are not nearly as harsh.  Malicious hackers do it for fun, for the challenge, to prove a point, & in some cases to get a job.  A job you ask?  Really?  Well, if a hacker can prove there is a problem with a system, in many cases they either know the solution or can establish one with little effort.  Companies hire both convicted and “reformed” hackers all the time for security positions.  I recently saw an article on Monster.com with tips on how to make a hacking hobby into a career.

Users of facebook, right or wrong, share information that is sensitive– even private to all but their closest friends and family.  Many post photos of their kids, where they are at, what they are doing and when– this opens up all kinds of scenarios for ne’er-do-wells to take advantage of.  Many facebook users use the same password for everything, so if their account is compromised a domino effect can occur that leads to their email, im accounts, bank accounts, and more.  So how do you keep  yourself from facebook infiltration?  The short answer is you can’t, but you can take steps to protect yourself.

First, don’t use the same password for the email account associated with your facebook account and your facebook log-in.  If the hacker gets into your facebook account with your password, they can also get into your email.

Second, change your passwords often.  It may seem like a pain, but changing your password frequently on all of your accounts is a good idea.  Many banks require that all of their employees change their log-in info at least twice a month.  This is not fool proof, but it does create a bigger challenge.

Third, don’t accept friend requests from people you do not know.  Even if you recognize the name & the photo, make sure that you click on their name to find out a bit more information before accepting them as a friend.  First look to see if you have any friends in common, if not they may not be who they say they are.  Also, look to see if there are any other details you recognize such as what schools they attended, where they work, what city they live in.  If anything looks fishy, it probably is.  Now most of us don’t want someone to think we don’t remember them, but its not out of line to send a message to them before you add them as a friend.  Send a direct message that doesn’t reveal too much and ask directly how you know them, or if its someone you know fairly well– ask about their life, family, etc. and see what comes back.  But don’t accept them as a friend until you are confident they are who they say they are.

Forth, be cautious about the information that you make public to friends and non-friends alike.  Facebook by default shares all of the information that you plug in from your birthday to your phone number, all of which can be used to access all kinds of private account information from banking to email accounts.  It can also be used to verify “identity” to family, friends, even schools.  So, make sure to go into your privacy settings and turn off the things that can be used to exploit not only your facebook account, but the rest of your life as well.  Remember, your closest friends will already know your mother’s maiden name and your mobile number, no reason to post it to your 5th grade kick ball partner who neglected to mention on his facebook page that he spent his college years in the state pen for identity theft.

Fifth, go through your friends list now and again to not only make sure that you haven’t added anyone by mistake, but to also weed out “friends” that it was nice to say hi too, but you haven’t communicated with in months.  Removing friends may seem like a terrible thing to do, but chances are that if you really don’t care what they had for breakfast, they don’t care what you had either.  Facebook does not notify the friend when you remove them, but you will no longer show up on their news page & they won’t be able to access your profile (& vise versa).  The exiled friend can always request friendship again & you can choose whether or not to accept the request.

So, now you know a bit more about how to protect yourself– but what do you do if one night you are about to cuddle up into bed and check your profile one last time on your iPhone only to find that you have broken up with your better half and declared that person to be a F*ck! to the world? Log out.  That’s right, log out of your account and don’t open it again from any device.  Then, go to your email account and make sure it is secure– first check for any unusual emails (it is USUALLY safe to open a suspicious email, just don’t open any attached files or download any pictures) & then immediately change your password.  If your wife, husband, live in, room mate, kid, etc. has their own computer and a Facebook account, log in from that account on a different computer (you may have a virus) and view your profile.  Make sure that you indeed did not make the posts or alter your profile & then go to Facebook’s help page under security/ account was hacked and click on “My friend’s account has been hacked, “phished,” or is sending me spam that he/she didn’t send.”  You can then report the hack to facebook.  If there is not another computer or account available in your house, you will need to make sure you are logged out of your account, go to Facebook’s Help page under security/ account was hacked but this time click on “My account has been hacked by another user.”  You will also need to do this as well if you submitted it from another account or had someone do it for you first.  Then, just wait for facebook security to get back to you.

What not to do.  Don’t delete the malicious posts, don’t post anything saying “I’ve been hacked”, don’t leave messages for the hacker or im your own account, & by all means DO NOT DISABLE YOUR ACCOUNT.  Facebook has this funny quirk that does not let you instantaneously delete your account. If you deactivate your account, facebook will hold it in suspension allowing it to be reactivated at anytime by reentering your email address and password.  If the hacker has gotten into your account, they can reactivate it and change your password as soon as they realize you shut it off.  So now, you not only have been hacked, but locked out as well.

Hackers are resourceful, inventive, and sneaky.  They unfortunately are also part of the social media universe.  So be careful and safe, follow the tips above, and hopefully you will avoid the violation of your personal internet space.  Facebook and others do take your privacy and security seriously and will work to resolve hacking and phishing incidents quickly.  Finally, always keep in mind that most of the time these exploits are not personal and can be resolved quickly returning you to your virtual home to share the story with all of your friends.

This looks fantastic!  You can check out the offical site at zombieland.com, Follow them on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook. Thanks to heysteven.com for the heads up via Twitter.

Well, I haven’t been posting much and I sincerely apologize. When you work for yourself, sometimes doing the actual work takes priority over personal things like, I don’t know, blogging.  So what tore me away from my meal ticket, why Fanboys of course.  If you are reading this you know what a fanboy is and are probably one yourself, but you may not be aware of Fanboys, the movie.  I first heard about this cinematic masterpiece in 2007 when its original release date was pushed back due to the unbelieveable event of additonal funding.  Director Kyle Newman was given more funding to shoot additional scenes that the original budget did not include. Which is really cool if you think about it.  Most fan movies barely have enough funding to be shown on YouTube, but this one actually had George Lucas’ seal of approval and even had Kevin Smith begging for a cameo.  So, learning about all this I was willing to wait until 2008 for it to be released in a theater near me, but the movie was again pushed back because the reshoots could not take place before December 2007. These reshoots were directed by Steven Brill and not by Newman, so some of the critical plot points were left out– this caused internet unrest with fans of the project.  Ultimately the movie was recut and finally released in the US in February of 2009, but only in limited markets & my local theater not being one of them.  This was not too surprising considering that most critics didn’t get it, and a lot of fans didn’t either.  The good news?  A quick release on DVD– May 19th, 2009 to be exact.  Unfortunatley due to a missing Netflix rental, I did not receive a copy until more than a month later.

I must preface my next litte bit here by saying that I am not a die hard Star Wars fan, I am a fan of the franchise (and many others) but my fanboyishness can not be defined by Star Wars, but I get it.  This is the root for my post.  I loved this movie.  It hit home.  I really got everything I expected out of it, and more.  I am not going to give a play by play of the plot here– if you want that, go to IMDB and you can learn all you need to know, but I am going to share my thoughts on the film and those who just don’t get it.  With the recent explosion of pure geek couture films with die hard fan bases (and more on the way) you expect to have purists who just won’t be happy with anyone elses’ translation of the thing but their own (or the original).  And there in lies the issue.  Sure movies are made to entertain the masses, but they are purely based on one individual’s perspective.  Now Fanboys was not a remake of another movie or an interpetation of another media, it was a thing all by itself.  It doesn’t really matter what you are into, but we can all relate to being obsessed with something at some time and I truely believe that this movie captures that.  It is irreverent, and pokes fun at not only other franchises (Star Trek for one, BTW I have no issues if you call me a Trekkie) but also at Star Wars itself.  And even with all the dick and fart jokes, it still holds true to the culture that George Lucas started back in 1977 and in no way takes away from that.

So, if you are expecting a Party Monster for the Star Wars scene, this is not it.  But it is a great movie that was never to be taken too seriously (even with its’ serious undertone)  It has some great Actors & hottie Kristen Bell to keep you entertained, along with some unexpected cameos by fans and Star Wars Alum as well.  So my final word is give it a try, and by all means don’t take it too seriously.

Boy does it.

Brilliant is the only word that I can use to describe the newest installment of the Star Trek film franchise.  I have waited a few days to write this because I really wanted the film to soak in before I tried to express how I felt about it.  Being a Trekkie, I have been excited about this movie since the first rumblings back in 2005.  I downloaded wallpaper for my computer, re-watched all of the original episodes & films (even “The Voyage Home” which is my least favorite), & for the last 4 years have been throwing out random “live long & prospers” to perfect strangers.  I went opening night, bought my tickets the day before, and got in line an hour early.  I sat mesmerized by the sites and sounds of a very familiar story told in an entirely new and exciting way.  J.J Abrams thrust Star Trek closer to the 22nd century than any other director before him, while still capturing the essence of the original series.  Gene Rodenberry, who created the series and who died shortly after Star Trek VI premiered, would have had a hard time creating a more perfect version of his world.  It had everything you would expect from a Star Trek movie– action, adventure, great cinematics, better than real CGI, bad ass aliens, & a hot scantily clad Orion chick (played by Rachel Nichols who will also be in this summer’s GI Joe movie).  And as much as I miss William Shatner as good old Captain James T. Kirk, Chris Pine, who starred in Bottle Shock, did an almost seemless job of filling his shoes. Speaking of Cast, Zachary Quinto (heros) as Spock, Karl Urban (Lord of the Rings, Doom) as Bones, Zoe Saldana (Vantage Point, Black Out) as Nyota Uhura, Freaking Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Run Fatboy Run) as Scotty, John Cho (Harold and Kumar) as Sulu, & new comer (if you don’t count TV) Anton Yelchin as Chekov.  Plus, Leonard Nimoy as Spock Prime and a cameo by Winona Ryder as Spock’s Mom (betcha didn’t catch that one).  I don’t think a better cast could have been assembled.  I did miss Mark Lenard playing Ambassador Sarek (Spock’s Father) who has been in every variation of Trek since the beginning, but was glad to see a new Crewman #6 disposed of so readily on Vulcan.

Even without the stellar cast and amazing cinematics this movie would still be at the top of my list solely based on its story.  Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman, both seasoned writers, were instrumental in developing a script that was not only true to Roddenberry’s original premise, but also new and exciting in almost everyway.  Finally someone portrayed the Romulans exactly how I always envisioned them.  Without giving anything away the movie starts at Kirk’s birth, and if you know your Trek you will realize something is amiss right away.  This is where the 11th film does not fall the way of so many other long lived franchises, you will feel like you are watching the series for the first time. Orci & Kurtzman are slotted for the untitled Trek sequal slotted for 2011, so I am sure the sequel to this prequel will be just as awe inspiring.

Unlike other sites I am not going to recap the movie play by play– if you are a fan, go see it you won’t be dissapointed.  The new Trek has grossed over $72 million in its first weekend, so it looks like I’m not alone in my feelings for this film.  I’m definitely looking forward to the new adventures of the Starship Enterprise.  And Oh, Live long and prosper.