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Welcome to The Genre Traveler! Please sign up using the form to the right so that you'll get all the latest updates to the site. You also might want to sign up for the RSS feed, which you can do via email or your favorite RSS Reader. I'm sad to say that Terry Pratchett, who has transported me to the wonderful Disc World (which flies through space on some elephants and the great space Turtle A'tuan) and kept me in laughter and silly giggles for more than a decade, has announced that he has a rare form of early Alzheimer's disease. You can read more at BBC News. I'm bummed. I've read most of the Disc World series and always look forward to his next book filled with his unique imagination and British wit. Of course, as he says in the article linked above, he isn't dead yet and will be able to give a few more delightful romps through Disc World before he can no longer do so. For more information about Terry Pratchett and his books, visit his website: www.terrypratchettbooks.com

Always wanted to visit Italy but just haven't been able to get there? Well the next best thing will be available for your computer next month. "AnaCapri: The Dream", a unique first person adventure game for the PC, uses more than 8,000 detailed photographs taken around the real island of Capri and its charming village of AnaCapri. Created by Got Game Entertainment, the game allows players to search the island, learn its history while searching for clues to a mystery, or simply take a vivid virtual tour of the island in "exploration mode". In the game, players assume the role of an expert in ancient civilizations summoned to AnaCapri where they must search for an ancient artifact once believed lost to the ages. On the trail for clues, users encounter real villagers of AnaCapri, as well as historical figures who once lived on the island. "AnaCapri: The Dream" is rated "E 10+" (everyone 10 and older) by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board. The game's simple point and click interface is suitable for even those with the most basic of computer skills, while the game's story transports players to another time and place. For more information, visit www.anacaprithedream.com.

Haunted Amusement Park Closed Lake Shawnee Amusement Park may be haunted by spirits. www.wvva.com/News/index.php?ID=15480 World Series of Video Games The World Series of Video Games (WSVG) Presented by Intel will make its first-ever stop on Canadian soil this summer, at the Fan Expo Canada at the Metro Toronto Convention Center, August 24-26. www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/August2007/08/c4730.html New Convention Opens in Alabama OmegaCon, a science fiction and fantasy convention will be held at the Sheraton Birmingham in Birmingham, Al. portal.omegacon.us Maybe The Matrix Wasn't That Far Off Oxford University philosophy posits that we could all be AI. I first heard about this on the Buzz Out Loud podcast my husband listens to, but here's a link to a story about it on Wired. blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/08/fine-were-simul.html Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park Changes Its Name to Disney's Hollywood Studios. www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200708/435/

Thinking of going to Comic Con next year? Well, the venue certainly is going to be right. Although not scheduled to open until the fall of 2007, Hard Rock Hotel San Diego has already been secured through Travel Planners Inc. to host the 2008 attendees of Comic-Con International. The hotel has arranged for 300 rooms during the event, as well as space for private media events associated with the convention.

Located across the street from the San Diego Convention Center, the 12-story, 315,000-square-foot Hard Rock Hotel San Diego has more than 40,000 square feet of unique meeting space, a lobby lounge and rooftop pool bar created by Rande Gerber, a fourth floor urban garden overlooking the Gaslamp Quarter, a live concert venue, fitness club and more.

“We are excited to offer attendees of [Comic Con] the ability to enhance their experience by staying at Hard Rock, the ideal stay and play environment,” said Melissa Olsen, Hard Rock Hotel San Diego’s Director of Sales.

The hotel will also host the celebrities and high-profile guests in attendance at the 2008 Comic-Con. Every year, Comic-Con welcomes the most well-known names from the film and television industry, including actors such as Angelina Jolie and Samuel L. Jackson, director Kevin Smith, and the entire cast ensembles of such television series as Lost.

Comic-Con International is a non-profit organization dedicated to the comic and related popular art form industry.

For more information on the Hard Rock Hotel San Diego, visit www.hardrockhotelsd.com.

As I reported in the July issue of The Genre Traveler, the "Back to the Future - The Ride" at Universal Studios Hollywood is going to be transformed into a Simpsons thrill ride due to open in Spring 2008. Therefore, this ride will be closing soon.

Yesterday, Universal Studios Hollywood announced that "Back to the Future - The Ride" will close when the park closes on Labor Day, Sept. 3, 2007.

Not to say anything bad about the Simpsons -- I guffaw each night to the shows re-runs -- but I'm really going to miss the Back to the Future ride. I've ridden many times, both sober and intoxicated. It is a hoot and a half regardless of your state of inebriation. In fact, this ride was often the reason I would go to the L.A. Dance-a-thon when I lived in the area eight years ago.

"Back to the Future - The Ride" was introduced in 1993 as a continuation of the Oscar-winning blockbuster Back to the Future film trilogy directed by Robert Zemeckis and executive produced by Steven Spielberg for Universal Pictures. Since that time, more than 61 million visitors have experienced this time-travel adventure ride.

To give the ride a proper send off (and, I'm sure, as a ploy to increase summer visitorship), Universal Studios Hollywood is giving people the opportunity to win a 1981 DeLorean. To learn more about winning the DeLorean, visit www.universalstudioshollywood.com or the theme park to register at specially-created Back to the Future kiosks.