Top 5 "Penn" Facebook Widgets: #1!

In my "Penn" related Facebook Widget countdown this week, I've covered widgets (what is a widget?) having to do with Penn basketball, ticketing, and videos.

And now today is the mother of all Penn facebook widgets.

Drumroll please...

Click here to see my #1 pick!

#1) "DuelingTampons.com" Widget
Of course it's going to be the DuelingTampons widget! As soon as I post the latest Penn Alumni and Undergrad news to my site, it automatically is updated into this news widget! Help me spread the word of this site by posting this widget on your profile. It would be much appreciated! :)

Click here to add my widget to your profile!

Got a "Penn" related widget I didn't cover? Comment below!

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If you haven't already, add yourself as a friend to my profile!

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The horrific results when 2 Penn creatives come together

What happens when a Penn alum film producer works with a Penn alum writer to produce a horror film?

Hopefully it gets made and hopefully it gets good reviews.

This is exactly what has happened in both cases when Todd Shotz (C'96, Glee Club, Penn Players), VP of Rifkin Eberts collaborated with writer Dan Kay (C'97) on Timber Falls.

I saw an advanced preview screening of the film about a month ago and I really liked it. I thought the story was scary and I especially thought the casting and acting was great (which is surprising for a horror film).

The film opens TONIGHT (12/7) in Los Angeles and I encourage all of you to check it out!

Click here to check out the trailer (as featured in Pennfest 2007)

Click here to check out a clip from the film

Click here to read the good review!

Check out other Penn writers

Check out other Penn film producers


Here's the review that appeared in Fangoria:

TIMBER FALLS

Reviewed by MICHAEL GINGOLD

The opening scenes of TIMBER FALLS are made up of ingredients that will seem remarkably familiar to anyone who’s been following the horror genre in recent years. A tearful female victim, painful bondage involving spikes and barbed wire, a dark cellar full of nasty metal implements, a deformed, weapon-wielding human monster…yep, it’s another backwoods torturefest scenario of the type that has really taken on a “been there, seen that” feeling by this point. (Hell, these movies have started to become so interchangeable that this one was actually released to Brazilian DVD as WRONG TURN 2!) Yet against the odds, and despite any number of predictable and implausible moments, TIMBER FALLS manages to engender genuine tension and a few good jolts that raise it above its imitative brethren.

Part of the film’s success derives from the fact that everyone involved, from director Tony Giglio and scripter Dan Kay to the actors on down, have attacked the material with the conviction of people mining this territory for the very first time—or at least believing they are. The level of craft on view makes it a little easier to accept the fact that, say, a couple hiking in the West Virginia mountains wouldn’t immediately turn around and head home after a humiliating encounter with a trio of shotgun-toting hillbillies. But Mike (Josh Randall, a long way from his sitcom roles on ED, SCRUBS et al.) and Sheryl (Brianna Brown, thankfully a long way from her previous starring turn in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 3D) are made of stronger stuff and press on anyway. Taking the advice of friendly-seeming local woman Ida (Beth Broderick), they decide to forego taking the more frequently patrolled Donner Trail (heh, heh) in favor of the titular, more scenic route.

The Timber Falls path does indeed lead to a remarkable site which both offers a gorgeous mountaintop view and is within walking distance of a pristine lake. (Just as impressive as Tobian Moore’s lush location photography is the fact that that location was Romania, standing in flawlessly for the American South.) It’s not long after the couple have set up camp, needless to say, that someone or someones in the woods begin stalking them, and Sheryl soon goes missing. Mike understandably suspects those good ol’ boys with the firearms, but any reasonably alert genre viewer will cotton quickly to the fact that it’s Ida, and equally friendly-seeming park ranger Clyde (NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH/DEADLY END’s Nick Searcy, portraying a very different but equally convincing nutcase), who pose the real threat.

This pair turn out to be Christian fanatics who have very specific and twisted plans for the sinning unmarried fornicators who have wandered into their midst. The exact nature of those plans won’t be given away here, but they have been cannily conceived in that they require Clyde and Ida to keep their prisoners alive, and also to subject them to unpleasant physical abuse to force them to comply. Some of this punishment is meted out by the aforementioned disfigured relation, pointedly named Deacon (Sascha Rosemann), and while Giglio doesn’t shy away from the gore (well-wrought splatter FX by Jason Collins and Elvis Jones), he doesn’t wallow unnecessarily in it either.

The director also keeps the tension humming at a good pitch, maintaining sympathy for his beleaguered couple even when one or the other is doing things like blundering into a bear trap lying in the middle of an open clearing. There’s also a nice bit of irony in the fact that the backwoods trio who at first seem to be the primary antagonists eventually come to be Mike and Sheryl’s potential saviors—though the movie doesn’t fully pay this off by having the victims realize it. In other words, TIMBER FALLS is a movie of mixed blessings: one with strong performances in the service of familiar and occasionally dubious characterizations, that contains a number of genuine scares even as it lacks any real surprises and that delivers very satisfying climactic mayhem before capping it with a groaner of a final scene. But since it’s inevitable that we’re going to be flooded with lots more of the illegitimate children of HOSTEL, THE HILLS HAVE EYES et al. in the next couple of years, we can only hope that at the very least, they’re as professionally put together as this one is.

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Alum produces "intolerable" movie

Mike Karz (C '89, W '89) will be producing a new comedy Mission: Intolerable starring comedian Katt Williams (Norbit, Epic Movie).

Per the Hollywood Reporter, "Williams will play a wannabe CIA agent who starts a business as a "temp from hell" whom companies hire to get unwanted employees to quit their jobs. His latest assignment goes awry, however, when his new target fights back."

Sounds like a fun premise. Having been a temp myself years ago, I know there's lots of "temp" humor which can ensue. (I only say this after the fact. Oh, I've got my stories...)

Click to see my other posts about Mike

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A new way to promote a class

This Penn professor really wants you to take his painting class.

This is pretty funny.

Click here to watch his plea.

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Top 5 "Penn" Facebook Widgets: #2

So far, my 3 "Penn" related facebook widget picks (what is a widget?) have centered around Penn basketball, phone books, ticketing and now today, it's all about video.

Click here to see my #2 pick.

#2) "myTV" Widget
Penn Entrepreneurs Nat Turner (W'08), Zach Weinberg (C'08), Scott Becker (C'09) and Michael Provenzano ('08) have built a slick application called "myTV" for Facebook which allows users to search YouTube and save videos to a personal playlist.

The talented founders of Invite Media, Inc. have recently launched their tech start-up which focuses on online video optimization and monetization. Backed by two Wharton statisticians, the myTV application is a launching point for the creation of a video discovery and recommendation engine based on behavioral targeting.

Stay tuned because Invite Media also struck a deal with a major video publisher that will enable them to largely distribute their content recommendation engine to over 40 million users. With personal recommendations already available for the music realm thanks to discovery services like Pandora Radio, the inclusion of video content into the discovery engine will greatly expand the online video industry and possibly lead to better ad monetization.

Click here to add the application to your facebook profile!

See all my Facebook widget picks!

If you haven't already, add yourself as a friend to my profile!

Check back tomorrow for my #1 pick!

READ MORE - Top 5 "Penn" Facebook Widgets: #2

The season is a changin'

Walk
Originally uploaded by wmliu.

Although Penn is practically in winter, I found this great photo on Flickr that was taken a few weeks ago which pretty much sums up Fall at Penn. Looking at this photo I remember it was these sorts of days when the weather was about to turn very cold.

With all those leaves, how many more people do you think have tripped over those crooked bricks on Locust?

Check out some other Photo posts

READ MORE - The season is a changin'

Top 5 "Penn" Facebook Widgets: #3

For the past 2 days, our #5 and #4 picks have centered around Penn basketball and phone books.

Today we've got a really useful widget (what is a widget?) developed by Penn alumni that will help all of you performing arts folks and party planners!

Click here to see my #3 pick.

#3) "Facebook Ticketing" Widget
Developed by Christopher Stanchak (W'03) and Iqram Magdon Ismail (Eng '05), this application allows users to sell tickets to their facebook events. I've already begun to see several Penn groups using this...

Click here to add this to your profile!

See all my Facebook widget picks!

If you haven't already, add yourself as a friend to my profile!

Check back tomorrow for my #2 pick.

READ MORE - Top 5 "Penn" Facebook Widgets: #3

Come on...THIS has happened to all of us

Check out this latest entry from Aaron Karo's (W'01) (video) Ruminations.

How many times has this happened to you?!

Watch the video here!

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Top 5 "Penn" Facebook Widgets: #4

Moving on from my #5 picks (a and b), our widget pick #4 (what is a widget?) is something that was developed by a Penn alum that is useful for the many Penn people I see on facebook who tend to lose their cell phones.

Click here to see my #4 pick.


#4) "Styky Phonebook" Widget
I've seen many people here on Facebook lose their cell phones and post messages to have their friends help them rebuild their phonebook.

With Penn alum Kunal Gupta's (C'04) Styky Phonebook application, you now can use your existing friend network on Facebook to quickly and easily build or rebuild a phonebook. This application puts a form on your profile which lets people give you their number or any number (your choice). This information is then given to you for approval and, once approved, it is added to your Styky phonebook!

See my past Facebook widget picks!

Click here to add this to your profile!

See all my Facebook widget picks!

If you haven't already, add yourself as a friend to my profile!

Check back tomorrow for my #3 pick.

READ MORE - Top 5 "Penn" Facebook Widgets: #4

Hot reporter alum about to "freeze" her assets

Penn alum Emmy award winning entertainment reporter Emily Frances is typically the one interviewing celebrities.

This time Emily herself is the subject of a 3 part, very personal story on NY's CW11.

Click here to find out why!

Over the next couple of weeks, Emily will allow the cameras to follow her as she undergoes a procedure to freeze her eggs.

Per the Daily News, Emily is quoted as saying "I represent the not-desperate woman. I'm not desperate to get married. I'm not desperate to have a boyfriend. A lot of women are feeling pressure to have to date, because we know we want to have kids." Further, Emily stated, "I just feel this is a process that's experimental, history-making in a way. As a person, as a human being, I owe it to other women to share this experience. There is a stigma, which is not fair. I feel like a lot of women researching this are embarrassed to admit it."

Click here to watch her first segment

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Top 5 "Penn" Facebook Widgets: #5 (Revisited)

Yesterday we covered my pick #5.

I actually have another Penn widget (what is a widget?) which is similar to yesterday's #5 pick but a bit more robust. I am going to lump this widget under my pick #5 and publish my pick number #4 later this afternoon.

Click here to see my additional #5 pick.

#5b) "UPenn Basketball Fans" Widget
Check out all the latest discussion, trivia, top players, standings and photos.

Click here to add this to your profile!

See all my Facebook widget picks!

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Check back later today for my #4 pick.

READ MORE - Top 5 "Penn" Facebook Widgets: #5 (Revisited)

More Freaks: Talent in reverse!

I was impressed by their last video, but this new video from Freaks of the Beat is just as compelling.

Combine talent with some reverse playback and we've got ourselves a very entertaining video.

Per the group's co-president (featured in photo to left), Ronny Gallegos (C' 08), the video is a tribute to Spike Jonze who directed the Pharcyde's music video 'Drop.' We put our own spin on it."

Is it me or do you think these guys are procrastinating from studying for finals? : )

Check out their new video!

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READ MORE - More Freaks: Talent in reverse!

Top 5 "Penn" Facebook Widgets: #5

Okay, if you haven't done it already, you'll just need to join facebook. Yes, it used to be just for undergrads gawking over the new incoming freshmen class (okay it probably still is), but over the past year it has expanded into something more powerful...for everyone of all ages. It's a much more powerful site than myspace or friendster has ever been.

One of the cool things you can do is add "widgets" to your page. And what is a widget? It's a self-contained application that you can add with the click of a mouse that acts almost like a desktop application and can be moved around mostly anywhere on your profile page. These widgets help someone decorate/personalize and add functionality to their profile page.

At this point there are thousands of widgets, but over the course of this week starting with #5 and counting down, I'm going to post my top 5 "Penn" related widgets you should add to your profile (if you haven't already). These widgets either have something to do with Penn or were built by Penn undergrads/alumni.

To start things off, click here to see my #5 pick.

#5) "Penn Quakers" Widget
Think you're a diehard Quakers fan? Show off what you know by making game predictions for the 2007-08 Men's Basketball season. This widget was developed by David Lei (C'10) and is brought to you by The Daily Pennsylvanian.

Click here to add this to your profile!

If you haven't already, add yourself as a friend to my profile!

Check back tomorrow for my #4 pick.

READ MORE - Top 5 "Penn" Facebook Widgets: #5

Smartest people in Hollywood: This Penn alum is # 26!

Have you seen the December 7 issue of Entertainment Weekly?

In it, Stacey Snider was named #26 (out of 50) of Hollywood's Smartest people!

More after the jump!

Per Entertainment Weekly,

"#26: Stacey Snider
Age: 46
Job Title: CEO, Dreamworks SKG
Because She mastered the art of steady leadership, Snider steered Universal through three ownership transitions emerging scratch-free, and now holds the tiller as DreamWorks weathers a rough sea with owner Paramount. She's strongest in times of crisis, whetger calming the staff or helping a director find (and fix) the problems with a film.
Oprah Effect: Assembles "favorite things" holiday gift baskets for industry friends."

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TV Actor turned director acts again!

Did you catch Ken Olin (C'76) on Brothers and Sisters last night (see image above)?

Typically directing this show's episodes, this Penn alum took off his director's cap, and put on his acting cap to perform opposite his real life wife Patricia Wettig.

As you may recall, both actors appeared together years ago on Thirtysomething (see photo to left).

Click here to see some photos I took of when Ken Olin came to campus back in 1992!

Check out other Penn alumni on TV this season!

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