Happy weekend Blast community! Friday brings fun,  sleeping in and of course — Free Games!

This week, we’re bringing you a classic with a new twist. Arcade classic Dragon’s Lair launches today on the Xbox 360 and this time features full Kinect support. Want to play it for free? Here’s what you’ll have to do:

-Follow Blast Magazine on Twitter @BlastMagazine

-Mention us in a Follow Friday (#FF) post

-Use the hashtag #FGF

That’s it! We’ll pick one random winner later on in the day, and who knows — we may have some extra goodies to give out during the weekend too.

Blast Magazine is giving away one  PC boxed copy of the highly addictive and fun MMO World of Tanks. Want to win? All you’ve got to do is follow Blast Magazine on twitter @BlastMagazine, and tell us what you would do with a tank for a day.  

One random winner will be selected one week from today — next week Wednesday, April 3.

Good Luck!

Blast wants to congratulate our twitter follower Zully for their top score at Psych’s Squirrel Assassin game!

Did’t win? Don’t fret, We’re giving away PS3 games and Vita consoles over on Twitter! Follow us @BlastMagazine!

EA has announced that Klei’s Shank 2, the sequel to the highly acclaimed and stylish 2D side scrolling beat-em-up will release on PC and the PlayStation Network February 7 and will hit Xbox Live the next day.

Of course, we’ll have the full review for you here at Blast.

The above photo is of an apparent promotional sign spotted at a Best Buy in Rochester, MN touting the highly anticipated release of Blizzard’s Diablo III on February 1 of this year. A matter of weeks.

Several readers have pointed out that the sign features misspellings (the game apparently comes out in Febuary and not February) and the font seems off, point to an apparent photoshop. However, Joystiq, the site which originally ran the photo has called the store in questioned and verified that yes — the display is up.

Best Buy’s website also lists the game as being available on February 1, though Blizzard has not commented or set a date for the game. We’ll update this page when we hear more.

Phew. What a year for games 2011 was? We saw blockbusters, major disappointments and even a few surprises. We got our PSN’s shut off and a new Xbox Live Dashboard — which may or may not be the best/worst thing ever.  Here’s what we, at Blast Games think was the best of a packed year. Agree? Disagree? let us know! Oh, and just a note, we decided to keep things fair, we would limit the platform specific awards to games that were actually exclusive to that platform — unless of course a game was incredibly better for one platform than the others.

Game of the Year

Nominees: The Elderscrolls V: Skyrim, Portal 2, Uncharted 3, Batman: Arkham City, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Winner: Portal 2

In a year of amazing games, Portal 2 stood out from the rest. It made us laugh, amazed us, and even brought a tear to our eyes. Valve’s followup to it’s critically acclaimed and cult favorite original puzzler was not only better than the original —  it eclipsed it. The writing? Superb. The voice acting? Unparalleled. Oh, and the gameplay? Portal 2 straddles the line between accessible and infuriatingly difficult.

Perhaps what makes Portal 2 so great can best be summed up by Matthew Root’s review, saying “Portal 2 is, simply put, an amazing game. The new gameplay mechanics make for even more incredible puzzle solving; the sense of scale is astounding; and the twisted, dark sense of humor remains hilarious.Buy it without hesitation, play it, and then share it with friends who don’t play games so they can see what they’re missing out on.”

Xbox 360 Game of the Year

Nominees: Gears of War 3, Forza: Motorsport 4, Once Upon a Monster, Bastion

Winner: Gears of War 3

With Gears of War 3, Epic Games has taken the formula set by the first two games and tweaked it ever so much to create the perfect finale for their long running series. Everything you love is here, the chainsaw lancers, the grubs, the brumaks, but there’s also so much more.  The characters are deeper, the story is more engaging and the entire experience is deeply satisfying. Gears of War 3 is undoubtedly Microsoft’s biggest release of the year, and it’s also the best; one that if you own an Xbox – you simply have to experience.

Gears of War 3 is easily the best game in the franchise, and it makes its case for best Xbox 360 game period. It’s a deeply satisfying and at times touching game that takes the formula set forth by the previous iterations and tweaks it in just the right places to make an incredible gaming experience.

PS3 Game of the Year

Nominees: Infamous 2, Resistance 3, Killzone 3, Uncharted 3

Winner: Uncharted 3

I play most games in a predictable fashion. I sit down, play for a few hours and then I walk away. I do anything else. I let the game brew in my head. With Uncharted 3, I couldn’t do that, every time I tried to walk away, I was pulled back. I needed to know what happens next; and that my friends is the mark of a truly excellent game. Uncharted 3 is sure to wow you with its fantastic presentation, thrilling gameplay and all around complete package. This is a game that I can’t recommend enough, and your PS3 library is not complete without it.

Perhaps what makes the game so incredibly riveting to watch is just how well every part of the game works in unison. The story features absolutely brilliant pacing that rivals that of Hollywood movies, and the top notch voice acting combined with the stunning score and remarkable visuals makes for a great experience. With Uncharted 3, Naughty Dog has cemented their reputation as one of the best storytellers in not just the industry, but all of popular culture.  It’s seen in the relationship reveals, the stunning plot twists that make you rethink the entire strategy, and perhaps most importantly, the game’s feeling of resonance players are sure to have each time they step away.

Wii Game of the Year 

Nominees: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Fortune Street, Kirby

There weren’t a ton of AAA games for the Wii this year, but there was one that changed everything. One that represented what motion control can do and gave a long established franchise a brand new identity.

When Nintendo introduced the Wii, and motion control to the world, it made some hefty promises. Now, nearly six years later, with The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, those promises have been delivered on.  This isn’t just the best Zelda game or the best Wii game, it’s also the first game that makes motion controls make sense. With its incredible production values, new gameplay ideas and most importantly heart, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is simply one of the best games I’ve ever played.

It’s only fitting then that after 25 years and a lot of gaming, I’ve finally got that same feeling back – and it’s another Zelda game.  With incredible production values, bold new mechanics and a wonderous sense of exploration; The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword feels an awful lot like falling in love with gaming again. Each time I booted it up, I found something new that I made it not only the best Wii title or the best motion controlled game but the best Zelda in franchise history – and that’s truly saying something.

When Nintendo introduced the Wii, and motion control to the world, it made some hefty promises. Now, nearly six years later, with The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, those promises have been delivered on.  This isn’t just the best Zelda game or the best Wii game, it’s also the first game that makes motion controls make sense. With its incredible production values, new gameplay ideas and most importantly heart, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is simply one of the best games I’ve ever played.

Best Art Direction/Visuals

Nominees: Skyward Sword, Skyrim, Uncharted 3, Batman: Arkham City, Rayman Origins

Winner: Rayman Origins

In a day of computer generated graphics, pixels and rendering,Rayman Origins stands out for its hand drawn animation, charming visuals and fun and original score. It may sound cliche, but they simply just don’t make ‘em like this anymore.

Rayman drips with charm and color. Each of the game’s worlds features remarkable hand drawn animation that literally pops off the 2D canvas. The detail in the levels are absurdly well done, and shows a remarkably varied palate. In one level for instance, you’re gliding through waterspouts in lush jungles, then the next you’re in a fiery volcanic level – -and each of them looks remarkably stunning. The game’s score is also remarkably well done, as I would do certain things in the game just to hear some of the game’s sound effects. It harkens back to a time that’s long gone bye in gaming, and perhaps most importantly, it’s packed with content.

Best Sound

Nominees: Batman: Arkham City, Uncharted 3, Skyward Sword, Skyrim, Bastion

Winner: Batman: Arkham City

This could have been the toughest category of the year, but we just couldn’t get past how well done Arkham City’s score and voice acting really is. Sure, you can say that there’s a bit too much Nolan North, but every character, whether it be major, supporting, or just background is voiced so superbly. The work by Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill..and yes, even Nolan North stands out as not only believable, but unforgetable.

What sealed Arkham city’s win? The joker infused symphony that plays while you hunt down thugs in the Steel Mill.

Biggest Disappointment

Nominees: Duke Nukem Forever, Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3, X-men Destiny

Winner: Duke Nukem Forever

How could it not be?

Right from the get-go, Duke Nukem Forever looks ages behind most modern day shooters. Textures are messy and undetailed, there’s a ton of slowdown and screen tearing and the entire game just looks unpolished.Character models look robotic and outdated as well. Okay, I get it, Gearbox wanted to keep the spirit of the original game intact, they wanted it to look like it’s still from that era of gaming, but they better hope that the rest of the world, and not just the gaming public is in on the joke, and are willing to pay $60 for a game that looks like it’s decades old.

Of course, the appeal of Duke Nukem has always been it’s take no prisoners in your face adult humor. It’s here (the first  two minutes feature quicktime events of the game’s protagonist peeing and then ability to pick up poop and throw it), but unfortunately it too feels dated. Remember movies like Team America: World Police and the famous political scandals of the 90s? Because Duke Nukem and Gearbox sure do.

Most Anticipated Game

Nominees: Diablo III, Mass Effect 3, Bioshock Infinite

Winner: Bioshock Infinite

Looking back at 2011, one event sticks out, seeing the behind closed doors demo of Bioshock Infinite. I wrote the following words in my notebook regarding what I saw : “Amazing, outstanding, complelling…HOLY SHIT.”

Yes, Diablo III and Mass Effect 3 are going to be amazing, but every time we see more of the game, the wait until it comes out (no date has been announced, so it’s even worse) seems longer. With Bioshock Infinite, Ken Levine and Irrational Games are not only looking to redefine the series, but create their own revolution in the process.

We can’t wait to actually get out hands on it.

LOS ANGELES — Blast is seated at the Galen center and ready for the Microsoft E3 2011 press conference to begin. Will we hear about Star Wars Kinect? the next Halo? A new Kinect overhaul?  Click Here to follow along and find out!

Liveblog transcript:

9:23

hello folks! we’re seated and grtting ready here at the Gallen center!
Monday June 6, 2011 9:23
9:24

briefing begins in 5 minutes!
Monday June 6, 2011 9:24
9:27

By the way, this is Blast Games Editor Joe Sinicki and i’m incredibly greatful you’re all with us.
Monday June 6, 2011 9:27
9:29

one minute warning
Monday June 6, 2011 9:29
9:31

lights are dark. were underway
Monday June 6, 2011 9:31
9:31

were talking modern warfare 3
Monday June 6, 2011 9:31
9:32

whoops, the trailer was interrupted.
Monday June 6, 2011 9:32
9:32

impressive scope and pacing for mw3
Monday June 6, 2011 9:32
9:33

the trailer shows an underwater mission as seen in the teasers. live gameplay now.
Monday June 6, 2011 9:33
9:34

giant fucking sub passes over.
Monday June 6, 2011 9:34
9:35

submarine blown to bits, we come over the water to a birning new york city
Monday June 6, 2011 9:35
9:36

Critics be damned, modern warfare 3 looks very tight and polished
Monday June 6, 2011 9:36
9:39

were viewing an on rails section on a raft in the water, very tense. very awesome.
Monday June 6, 2011 9:39
9:40

robert bowling and glenn schofield on stage
Monday June 6, 2011 9:40
9:41

proud to be teaming with infinity wardsl to create biggest, most epic cal of duty yet
Monday June 6, 2011 9:41
9:41

don mattrick welcomes us now
Monday June 6, 2011 9:41
9:42

he promises new kinect, bigger blockbusters and a new way to enjoy tv
Monday June 6, 2011 9:42
9:43

were getting our first look at the new tomb raoder now
Monday June 6, 2011 9:43
9:44

new tomb raider much grittier, much darker. sort of like uncharted.
Monday June 6, 2011 9:44
9:47

cool way to hide amid the debris shown. very cool
Monday June 6, 2011 9:47
9:48

very cool platforming session shown. quick time events inclused.
Monday June 6, 2011 9:48
9:48

the scale on the new tomb raider is absolutley stunning
Monday June 6, 2011 9:48
9:49

game will launch in fall of next year
Monday June 6, 2011 9:49
9:49

peter moore hits the stage
Monday June 6, 2011 9:49
9:50

four ea sports titles, tiger madden, fifa and a mystery title will feature kinect functionality
Monday June 6, 2011 9:50
9:51

sims pets and family game night also getting kinect support
Monday June 6, 2011 9:51
9:51

bioware is on the stage to talk mass effect 3
Monday June 6, 2011 9:51
9:52

its true, mass effect 3 will support kinect via voice re ognition
Monday June 6, 2011 9:52
9:53

youll interact with characters via kinect
Monday June 6, 2011 9:53
9:53

you read the text on screen rather than pressing a button.
Monday June 6, 2011 9:53
9:54

very intuitive and very fluid
Monday June 6, 2011 9:54
9:54

kinect will also be used for combat, issue commands to squad members via voice commands
Monday June 6, 2011 9:54
9:55

kinect will also be used for combat, issue commands to squad members via voice commands
Monday June 6, 2011 9:55
9:55

kinect will also be used for combat, issue commands to squad members via voice commands
Monday June 6, 2011 9:55
9:56

very impressive.
Monday June 6, 2011 9:56
9:56

were now talking the kinect infused Ghost Recon, future soldier.
Monday June 6, 2011 9:56
9:59

flicking through and customizing weapons via kinect. really cool and futurisitc. 20,0000 different choices
Monday June 6, 2011 9:59
10:00

were now aiming and shooting with kinect
Monday June 6, 2011 10:00
10:01

all future tom clancy titles will support kinect
Monday June 6, 2011 10:01
10:02

marc witten is out to talk xbox live
Monday June 6, 2011 10:02
10:02

talks about making tech more fluid
Monday June 6, 2011 10:02
10:03

new xbox experience looks a lot like windows media center
Monday June 6, 2011 10:03
10:04

increasing content and partnerships for more content. you tube comibg to xbox live
Monday June 6, 2011 10:04
10:05

bing is coming to xbox live. ability to search all of your entertainment options
Monday June 6, 2011 10:05
10:05

bing makes finding things kn xbox live so much easier. take that google…
Monday June 6, 2011 10:05
10:06

live tv is coming to xbox 360
Monday June 6, 2011 10:06
10:06

live tv is coming to xbox 360
Monday June 6, 2011 10:06
10:07

new experience launches this fall
Monday June 6, 2011 10:07
10:08

dana white is on stage
Monday June 6, 2011 10:08
10:09

ufc partners with xbox, live fights and interactivity similar to that of espn
Monday June 6, 2011 10:09
10:10

phil spencer is next
Monday June 6, 2011 10:10
10:11

talking about games making the brand what it is.
Monday June 6, 2011 10:11
10:11

were talking Gears of War 3.
Monday June 6, 2011 10:11
10:12

war pigd teaser plays
Monday June 6, 2011 10:12
10:12

cliffy is here
Monday June 6, 2011 10:12
10:12

ice t is here too
Monday June 6, 2011 10:12
10:13

were looking at the campaign now. giant sea creature. huge set piece.
Monday June 6, 2011 10:13
10:14

im a scale whore. im in heaven
Monday June 6, 2011 10:14
10:15

were being shown silverback footage
Monday June 6, 2011 10:15
10:17

horde mode iw back.
Monday June 6, 2011 10:17
10:18

were now Finally getting a look at codename kingdoms.
Monday June 6, 2011 10:18
10:19

well, maybe its called ryse now
Monday June 6, 2011 10:19
10:19

and now were on to Halo
Monday June 6, 2011 10:19
10:20

the remake is real, and looms stunning
Monday June 6, 2011 10:20
10:21

fully remastered campaign, coop and seven favorite maps
Monday June 6, 2011 10:21
10:21

getting a lpok at Forza 4
Monday June 6, 2011 10:21
10:22

all in game footage is absolutley gorgeous
Monday June 6, 2011 10:22
10:24

peter molyneux is talking fable next
Monday June 6, 2011 10:24
10:24

yep. its fable: the journey
Monday June 6, 2011 10:24
10:25

its kinect controlled as we reported yesterday
Monday June 6, 2011 10:25
10:26

controlling and riding a horse, throwing magic via kinect
Monday June 6, 2011 10:26
10:27

kinda cool. crowd seems unimpressed.
Monday June 6, 2011 10:27
10:28

phil spencer back on stage
Monday June 6, 2011 10:28
10:28

minecraft!
Monday June 6, 2011 10:28
10:28

kinect controlled minecraft hits xbox this winter
Monday June 6, 2011 10:28
10:29

disney hits Kinect this year too. visit a virtual disneyland.
Monday June 6, 2011 10:29
10:30

peter pans flight controlled throgh kinect, as a Disney fanatic…i say yea
Monday June 6, 2011 10:30
10:32

available this holiday
Monday June 6, 2011 10:32
10:32

and were talking star wars
Monday June 6, 2011 10:32
10:33

lots of footage now. very diverse worlds
Monday June 6, 2011 10:33
10:34

were in cloud city as a jedi looking for prisoners. kinect light saber of course
Monday June 6, 2011 10:34
10:35

kinect force powers
Monday June 6, 2011 10:35
10:36

still shows lots of lag though.
Monday June 6, 2011 10:36
10:37

tim schaefer is out to talk once upon a monster
Monday June 6, 2011 10:37
10:41

coming out this fall
Monday June 6, 2011 10:41
10:42

kudo is on the stage
Monday June 6, 2011 10:42
10:43

kinect fun labs is official. its a way to let players use the kiect.mods weve been seeing
Monday June 6, 2011 10:43
10:43

kinect me makes an avatar for you. much like the 3DS
Monday June 6, 2011 10:43
10:44

really cool
Monday June 6, 2011 10:44
10:44

kinect finger tracking
Monday June 6, 2011 10:44
10:45

kinect sparkler lets you draw in 3d using your fingers.
Monday June 6, 2011 10:45
10:46

impressive
Monday June 6, 2011 10:46
10:46

also new is object capture
Monday June 6, 2011 10:46
10:46

scan any obkect, its n the game
Monday June 6, 2011 10:46
10:47

really cool kinect features here
Monday June 6, 2011 10:47
10:48

kinect fun labs is live today!
Monday June 6, 2011 10:48
10:48

kinect sports 2
Monday June 6, 2011 10:48
10:49

baseball, golf, tennis…football
Monday June 6, 2011 10:49
10:52

coming this holiday
Monday June 6, 2011 10:52
10:53

dance central 2 features voice commands and the ability to import tracks.
Monday June 6, 2011 10:53
10:53

simultaneous dancing
Monday June 6, 2011 10:53
10:55

this holiday
Monday June 6, 2011 10:55
10:55

don matrick is back
Monday June 6, 2011 10:55
10:58

were looking at new footage from Halo!
Monday June 6, 2011 10:58
10:58

its halo 4!
Monday June 6, 2011 10:58
10:58

holiday 2012.
Monday June 6, 2011 10:58
10:59

were done here. join us for ea

Can you feel that? It’s the calm before the storm, the storm that is E3.

Starting tomorrow, Blast will be descending upon Los Angeles for the world’s biggest gaming convention. We’ll be liveblogging each of the press conferences along with bringing you the latest news, interviews and hands on previews directly from the show floor. Be sure to tune in to our live blogs to get the latest news from the big companies as they happen. It’s as easy as going to the Blast Main page and clicking on the story as they appear in the gaming section. Here’s the schedule (all times are Pacific):

• Monday June 6  at 9:30 AM: Microsoft’s Press Conference
• Monday June 6 at 12:30 PM: EA’s Press Conference,
• Monday June 6 at 2:30 PM: Ubisoft Press Conference
• Monday June 6 at 5:00 PM: Sony Press Conference
• Tuesday June 7 at 9:00 AM: Nintendo’s Press Conference

We’ll also be going hands on with all of this year’s biggest games including Uncharted 3, Battlefield 3, Batman: Arkham City, Bioshock Infinite, Modern Warfare 3 and tons more. Be sure to keep it tuned right here.

So how else can you keep updated on the latest happenings from E3? Be sure to follow me on twitter @JoeSinicki, Blast’s Editor-in-Chief John Guilfoil @theGuilfoil and of course follow Blast @BlastMagazine.

See you guys on the show floor!

My god. Have we really been at this for four years already?

It seems like just yesterday I was watching the countdown clock on our original domain name, theblastarea.com as we prepared to edit and put out our first magazine issue on 1/1/2007.

A lot has changed in that time. Not only has the magazine undergone four complete redesigns and an epic expansion, but the world around us has changed.

When Blast launched, “Twilight” was a popular new book, but nothing like the religion is has become today. in November 2006, as we prepared the issue, Harry Potter reigned supreme, and the first trailer for “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” was released.

The world was not yet in a period of economic recession. Housing prices were high, and it was easy to buy a home. Bush was president and Obama was a rookie senator from Illinois.

Iraq was the main war.

I gathered my friends to edit and produce articles and web-pages to go with them and we launched our 20-somethings magazine with no real idea what we were doing.

I’m still not a natural businessman, but I made one good decision: I shelled out my last $500 at the time to buy the domain name blastmagazine.com.

Broke and debt-ridden, the first year was great in terms of content and awful in terms of popularity, readership and money. BlastMagazine.com was de-indexed by Google when we bought it, because it was being used as a placeholder/advertising page with no real content. It took six months to gain and real popularity, and we weren’t on Google news for another year.

We had 25,000 pageviews in December 2007. Today we gain nearly that number per day.

We have several excellent blogs and a hold on the video game industry. We cover hard news, breaking news, soft news, feature news, music news, and porn news.

In 2010, I put the focus on geography. We expanded from Boston to New York, Miami, San Diego, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver and Dallas.

In 2011, Blast will focus on function. In the coming year, Blast Magazine will launch a recipes page, a job listing service, a classifieds page, an events calendar, and we will finally launch our online journalism stylebook, which we have been playing with since we launched the site.

Blast Recipes will feature dishes from Blast contributors and chefs, celebrities and restaurant owners from around our coverage zones and beyond. It is about 80 percent done, and you can see its development progress at recipes.blastmagazine.com.

Get a Job will be our own miniature version of Monster.com, but instead of millions of impossible to search listings, it will have screened job listings from employers who are specifically looking for college students, recent graduates, grad students, and Gen X-Y-Z applicants. I just have to design the logo. Check out getajob.blastmagazine.com to see how it’s going to look.

Bvents: The Blast Calendar will feature events, shows, and happenings from every Blast coverage area. We have a rough structure at events.blastmagazine.com for now, but we expect to launch this in the spring and it may look totally different.

The B-List will be our answer to Craigslist. Things have really gotten out of control with online classifieds. We hope to bring some sanity back into it. Expect that in the late winter.

The Blast Online Journalism Stylebook is online at style.blastmagazine.com, but we have a lot of design work left to do. We’re looking for a grammar nerd to help be the editor, so let me know if you’re interested.

And that’s how we’ll go.

It’s been a hell of a ride so far. Thank you for reading and continuing to make it such an amazing journey!

-john

It is Christmas time. And if you’re like me, during this season of giving, it’s hard to draw the “Who should I get presents for?” line. That, my friends, is why baked goods were invented. They are an easy, thoughtful and cost-efficient way to say, “Hey, I think you are sweet, like these cookies I baked for you.”

So, instead of wondering what dinky little gift you should get all your co-workers (I got a flashlight one year; nice, but not edible), why not go for a cellophane-wrapped, baked goodie bag?

All you need to achieve this fabulous gift is some festive cellophane bags to assemble your swag and…some swag. You can get festive bags in bulk and for cheap from your local Wal-Mart, grocery store or Target. So go check it out. Some curly ribbons might be nice, too. And you can get some great ideas for baked goods right here and right now. If all goes as planned, I’ll be sharing a holiday recipe each week to help you achieve the perfect holiday medley of taste bud joy.

Scotch-a-roos

My first recommendation is Scotch-a-roos; they are completely sinful and totally delicious. Perfect for the holidays. This recipe makes a 9-by-13-inch pan’s worth, and the deliriously good product can easily be cut into squares to dispense to all of your “Hey, I like you a lot, but I can’t spend money on you for Christmas” friends. Read on for the details.

The Action:

Combine one cup of sugar and one cup of karo syrup in a sauce pan over medium heat. Don’t fight me on these ingredients. They’re worth it. And hey, there’s no butter. See? Much better.

Stir until boiling. Then remove from heat. Um, I just have to point out that I snapped an awesome boiling action shot, thank you very much.

Add one cup of peanut butter and six cups of Rice Krispies. You will get to enjoy a blissful “snap crackle pop” chorus as you stir and stir and stir until all ingredients are combined.

Place this glorious mixture into the greased pan of your choice.

Melt one cup of chocolate chips and one cup of butterscotch chips in the microwave. And I don’t know if I have to say this, but use a microwavable bowl. Nothing like a fire to extinguish the holiday spirit. Melt the chocolate in 30-second intervals, stirring in between. Burned chocolate is also no good for festiveness.

Finally, pour melted delight onto glorious Rice Krispie mixture. Halleluiah! Then arrange on your table, so you can take a picture of your masterpiece.

Cut into squares and share!! These can get dried out, so make sure to cover and wrap individually when dispensing to your BFFs.

If you try this recipe, you will thank me. Personally. And I know I am pushing the holiday goodie bag idea, but this recipe has also been a hit for me at holiday parties. I will warn you: these are rich, so that is why I only recommend them when you are surrounded by people who are also willing to eat high-calorie food.

Enough with all this technical lingo – you won’t see the words credit, mortgage or scuba diving in this post. After presenting a great reason to save up (healthy down payment) in Thursday’s article, it is only fair to share ideas on how to save money and still have a universally-recognized status of “cool” today.

I don’t want you to be a person who only eats peanut butter and rejects every social engagement in fear of spending a dime. You have to give yourself some leeway or you will go crazy and/or rebel. And then bye-bye savings. To avoid those two negative results, here are some fun ideas to help you along the cool saver’s path.

You ready for this? My suggestion for today takes into account that you like food, movies and TV, friends and a slight bit of cheesiness in your life. If this doesn’t sound like you, turn around, do not pass go, and do not take this priceless advice. But if you are open to such things, read on!

See how much better TV has gotten since the 50s?

TV is in a golden age. Mad Men, Modern Family, Lost (RIP) and 30 Rock (I could go on) are all easily available for your watching enjoyment. Most of these shows you can stream from Hulu or Netflix, and the others you can put on your Netflix queue. Here are some watching party ideas. Please tweak these for your tastes. Remember if you play host, it is okay to have your watching pals bring some elements of dinner. That way, you share the cost of food and spend less than restaurant prices. So here’s how to do dinner and a movie (or a TV ‘sode or 2) for a lot less dough, and in my opinion, a lot more fun.

Tex-Mex & Dex (translation, Fajitas and Dexter)

The show about our favorite serial killer takes place in hot and spicy Miami. What better to ease you through a tense season finale than some show-inspired food? So, okay. Tex-Mex doesn’t come from Miami, but the rhyme was just too good to resist. I’ve tried this combination and it was heavenly. Do it, I dare you.

Cookout & Mad Men

What says “early-1960s” better than a friendly cookout? If you want to get really wacky, why not have a dress up party for the premiere or finale? Ladies, come on, even if you think Betty Draper is the biggest baby ever, you have to admit her dresses are gorgeous. And guys, Don Draper is the lady killer of Madison Avenue. I think one night in 60s gear would do everyone some good. Don’t ask me why, just try it out and thank me later. But don’t take the theme too far and bring broken marriages hidden under those bright smiles.

Mystery Meat & Lost

Ha! I kid. In my opinion Lost is better on DVD or via stream anyway; less time between those infuriatingly lovable cliffhangers. If you haven’t opened the hatch or have friends who haven’t, this could be your next addictive pastime. After each ‘sode, you can all discuss theories and solutions. With Lost, the fun never stops. And you can leave the mystery meat at home, and perhaps go for a Hawaiian theme. I’ve never tried Pineapple pizza, but I think I just might if it means I get to watch Jack lead those survivors to the cave one more time.

Special Episode theme

What about those much-awaited episodes in your favorite series? I had friends in college who sent out invitations and served cake and punch for Phyllis’ wedding special on The Office. Suddenly, you aren’t just spending a Thursday night with your wallet under lock and key. Now, you are enjoying great TV with friends AND cake!

As you can see, TV presents endless options for a cheap and fun night with opportunities for regular re-occurrences. But, if you are a silver screen type of cat, here are a few movie night ideas to round out my time with you.

Foreign Movie Series

Asian film and Asian smorgasbord: Why not start with Stir Fry, Pot Stickers & Battle Royale (other film suggestions Mongol or any Akira Kurosawa film).
Get ready for a delicious meal and a shocking movie. I cannot think of a better scenario, and I’m trying.

Spaghetti & Meatballs with a dash of Michael Corleone: Okay, not exactly a foreign film, but The Godfather series does feature Italy and a lot of pasta. It is actually hard to watch these movies without getting hungry for some marinara, so why fight it?

Hot Chocolate (and breakfast) with Let the Right One In:This frosty Swedish film would go great with some hot cocoa or mochas. Why not throw in some waffles or pancakes to round out the meal. Who doesn’t love a little breakfast with their vampire action?

And there are so many more countries to try! Just look at the Netflix watch-instantly selection and go crazy.

Top 10 Thanksgiving Episodes

Back for more? Here are the meat of potatoes of Thanksgiving episodes. Please make room for these holiday treats in your mind and schedule. And please don’t forget to have a great Thanksgiving this Thursday.

5. Mad About You: Giblets for Murray

Remember that first Thanksgiving you had your parents over to your house? Yeah, it hasn’t happened for me either. But this episode captures the feeling of creating your own holiday traditions as an adult. Of course, Paul and Jaime quickly leave their adult Thanksgiving behind as they make multiple trips to the store to try to fulfill everyone else’s holiday quirks. The real mayhem begins when the dog helps himself to the turkey.

+8 for Jamie throwing the 2nd replacement turkey out the window
-1 for too much character smoking, that’ll kill you, you know
7 Wishbones

4. Cheers: Thanksgiving Orphans

Food fight! You get flying food, Birdzilla and more during this holiday spread. The Cheers gang, apparently without any family to spend TG with, decide to meet at Carla’s to celebrate. Diane is hilariously uptight as usual. My favorite gem from her teaches the true meaning of TG: “I don’t think watching television was the Pilgrims’ original intent when they created the holiday.” Well-said, Diane. I think that they meant for us to eat a lot of food and play family games.

+ 8 for Diane’s Pilgrim costume
8 wishbones

3. Gilmore Girls: Deep Fried Korean Thanksgiving

Gilmore Girls offers a delectable blend of four dinners and two fast-talking girls to bake up one great episode. I admit this one would be better watched with Gilmore Girls knowledge under your belt, but it still brings general Thanksgiving charm to the table. I especially love when Sookie’s prized turkey gets deep fried (along with everything else on the table). Good fun. That reminds me – I’ve never had fried turkey for the big day. Anyone know if it’s tasty?

+ 9 wishbones for the girls lamenting that they skipped the rolls after attending 3 TG dinners and 1 abridged one
- 1 wishbone for overdramatic drama over Rory’s application to Yale.
Total: 8 Wishbones

2. Friends: The One with the Rumor

There is much debate over which Friends TG episode is the best. I picked this one because Brad Pitt guest starred in it, and he is awesome. Thanks Brad for Fight Club, Seven and many other thrilling movie experiences. Even if you prefer “The One Where Ross Got High” or “The One With All the Thanksgivings” better, this one still piles on the laughs. The revelation of the “I Hate Rachel Green” club and all the rumors that come pouring out after that provide a well concocted holiday treat.

+9 Wishbones for Brad’s mouthed threats to Rachel across the Thanksgiving table
9 Wishbones

1. WKRP in Cincinnati: Turkeys Away

Poor Mr. Carlson, he’s the old guy on the block who bugs all the cool young people. Feeling left out of the newly Rock oriented WKRP, he plans a fantastic Thanksgiving promotion to put the station on the map. He does manage to leave a mark, but not the kind he expected. Let’s just say that live turkeys don’t fare well when dropped out of helicopters. Famous last line from Carlson: “As God as my witness, I thought Turkeys could fly.” Thanks for learning that lesson the hard way, so we didn’t have to.

+10 for Les’s live report of the Turkey drop. “Oh the humanity!”
- 1 for slow buildup to the hilarity
9 Wishbones

Thanksgiving is this Thursday. I’ll let you chew on that morsel for a bit. You done? Okay. Although most stores ushered in the Christmas season the second after Halloween, let me assure you that the eat-until-you-burst holiday is still on this year. Let’s all take a collective sigh of relief; I kept thinking I’d missed it too.

The Mom and Pop Store

Here are your first 5 episodes, let’s call them the appetizers and salad. Each is scored out of 10 wishbones for laughs, Thanksgiving relevance, and cheesiness factor. Come back tomorrow for the turkey and pie (or if you aren’t imaginative, the next 5 on the list).

10. Full House: The Miracle of Thanksgiving

Are you feeling the miracle (ba-bu-bu-baaa) of Thanksgiving? If not, maybe you should take 20 minutes of your life and watch this heartwarming episode. Yes, it is cheesy, and yes, it has “soft rock sharing time” but it is also funny and heart wrenching. This is the first TG without the girls’ mom, and with their grandma snowed in, all they have are three goofy and kitchen illiterate guys to cook their feast. But even a frozen turkey and a dropped Pumpkin pie can be healed with the power of family love.

+ 8 Wishbones for Jessie & Joey’s awesome mullets
- 2 for Joey getting his tongue stuck in a bottle for a little too long
6 Wishbones

9. The Cosby Show: Cliff’s Wet Adventure

The Huxtables are having everyone over for Thanksgiving including the random neighbor kid and Denise’s husband’s ex-wife. Of course awkward moments abound as the family plots how best to meet such the strange addition to the party. But the biggest laughs come from Cliff. He spends his holiday repeatedly braving the raging storm to gather the few items he keeps forgetting. Whenever he came on the screen, I couldn’t help but giggle.

+8 for Olivia’s darling Thanksgiving song for her mom (AND Cliff’s face every time he came in the door)
-2 Wishbones for a who cares convo between Denise and her husband’s ex-wife
6 Wishbones

8. The Brady Bunch “The Un-Underground Movie”

Greg has a really groovy history teacher, and for his creative class project he ropes his whole family into making a movie detailing the Pilgrims’ first year in the new world. Although the Brady’s put the corn in corny, I’ll admit there are a few genuine laughs cooked in. Alice wears a mustache, Bobby plays a dramatic death, and Mike’s slow motion shivers with the best of them. You may give Greg an A for his movie too.

+ 7 wishbones for the legitimately funny movie screening scene
- 1 for general overacting and cheesiness
6 Wishbones

7. Dexter: Hungry Man

And you thought your family gatherings were intense. Dexter gobbles up family awkwardness with his host and fellow serial killer, Trinity. Trinity heats up the psycho factor as his family’s perfect façade crumbles. No Trinity, breaking your son’s finger as punishment, locking your daughter in her room, or calling your wife a horrible name, is not normal TG behavior. Good thing Dexter has Rita and the kids to go home to.

+8 for awesome Trinity tension
-1 for Angel and LaGuerta’s random romantic side plot
7 Wishbones

6. Seinfeld: The Mom & Pop Store

Seinfeld heaps a big serving of quirky fun in this holiday ‘sode (that’s short for “episode”, Nana). And no, I’m not going to stop using food imagery, so get over it. Each character deals with their own tangled situation ranging from George buying Jon(h) Voight’s car, Kramer accidently running a small business out of town, to Elaine winning a spot for her boss on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. But Jerry’s struggle to figure out whether he’s invited to a friend’s Thanksgiving party taught me a great interpersonal lesson: interpreting inflection. It can be quite crucial.

+ 8 Wishbones for George’s personal rendition of “Everybody’s Talking”
- 1 For lack of holiday relevance. This is really a pre-Thanksgiving episode, not a pure day of let’s make a Thanksgiving feast kind of sode.
Total: 7 Wishbones

Come back ready for more tomorrow as I count down to the top Thanksgiving episodes!

Imagine this with me. (You don’t have to close your eyes, but concentrate hard, ok?) Your palms are sweaty as you stand in front of the cash register. The kind clerk at your local grocer has just rung up the ramshackle items you haphazardly threw in your cart for the last 30 minutes (come on, do you really need Corn Nuts and a barrel of beef jerky?).

So many opportunities to save!

You are suddenly having trouble breathing. Somehow you just managed to spend enough to feed a family of five for a month. As you hand over your hard-earned cash, you realize not only will you never eat all this food before it expires, but also you won’t be able to buy anything else for the next 2 weeks (and after all this sweating, you’re running low on deodorant).

Pretty bleak, huh? If this exact situation, or one slightly similar, has ever happened to you, you may need to revamp your grocery-shopping style. Or maybe you are one of those people whose pockets are filled with Captain D’s and Domino’s Pizza receipts wondering why your wallet is bare. Either way, read on; help (if you are willing to accept it), is on the way.

Let’s face it: food can be expensive. And unless you’re magical, you need it. With the guidance and tough love of my parents and people like money-managing expert Dave Ramsey, I think I’ve found the way to keep the food bill in check.

…Drum roll…JOY TO THE WORLD! (Sorry, too early for a Christmas Vacation reference?) The solution is Menu Planning!

This may sound horrid to some of you because, yes, it does contain the dreaded word “planning.” But once you start, I bet you will enjoy the feeling of control and all that excess cash.

Here’s how it works in my house:

Each week before I head to the store, I pull out my handy-dandy, menu-planning note pad. I have one of those nifty magnetic ones so it’s always right there on the fridge. I then write out each day between this week’s shopping trip and the next trip. (So far, pretty easy, unless you don’t know your days of the week.) Now here’s the challenge — filling out what I’ll eat for dinner each of those days.

My strategy is to pull out my cook books. If you’re new to cooking, don’t go crazy. Challenge yourself to try one new recipe a week, and then fill the rest of the days with “standards.” At my house, the repeat guests are generally quesadillas, homemade pizza and even Mac n’ Cheese. And everyday doesn’t need its own meal. If a recipe will feed you/your family more than once, then you’ve got left-overs! Side note: When I was growing up, I never liked eating left-overs (sorry mom!); but now that I cook and buy all the groceries I love them. Side note over.

Once I’ve mapped out my week’s menu plan, I go through each of the recipes and write down the ingredients I don’t already have on my grocery list note pad (also a nifty magnetic pad). As a budgeter and generally busy person, I find myself picking meals with the least amount of “weird” ingredients and time spent over the stove. I then double-check the pantry for “staples” we are running low on, add those to the list. Then I’m ready to go to the store!

Easy as 1,2,3, right? Like my first budget tip (no cable bills, remember?), this one is take it or leave it. But try it out for a month! You’ve really got nothing to lose, other than those depressing, spend-all-your-money-on-food grocery trips.

Tomorrow is the end of this money-saving series, and I’ll be covering what is, quite possibly, the most important thing to remember as you’re getting serious about money: Cash is king.

What do you struggle most with, money-wise (or money-dumb, as it were)? Let me know in the comments below and I’ll tell you my solution to your money-saving woes.

Lifetime’s Project Runway is back in New York City for season eight, premiering on July 29, 2010 at 9 p.m., with even longer episodes (90 minutes!) and a few other exciting changes. Seventeen designers have braved the summer heat (instead of the usual 16 contestants), with high hopes of showing off their collections at New York Fashion Week in the fall. With longer episodes, viewers will gain much more insight into what goes on in both the workroom and when the judges are discussing whose collections were and were not successful.

There are a few more changes on the horizon for this season to look forward to. A pregnant Nina Garcia, who is due in December; Bluefly replacing Piperlime; providing plenty of accessories to style the contestants looks; and an appearance by Selma Blair, the latest celeb judge to appear on the show. The season will be filled with plenty of drama, including medical mishaps, stress, and sensitivity, and of course tons of cutting edge fashion as the contestants sew their hearts out to make it through each challenge.

April Johnston, who is the youngest contestant (21 years old), is from North Carolina and a recent grad of fashion design at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. Johnston took the time to give Blast a sneak peak into what to expect this season, including more about her life and fashion influences:

BLAST MAGAZINE: You started off by designing your own prom dress, which is what lead you to where you are today. What did it look like? Do you still have pictures of it?

APRIL JOHNSTON: It was a black corset with a lace up pink ribbon and a long circle skirt of gathered layers of pink tulle. I do still have a picture of it!

BLAST: What was your first impression of Heidi Klum?

AJ: My first impression of Heidi Klum was that she was as beautiful in person as she looks in magazines and on TV.

BLAST: Who did you most relate with out of your fellow contestants?

AJ: Peach was one of my best friends on the show but I really had a lot in common with Ivy and AJ as well.

BLAST: Was your experience on the show what you expected?

AJ: Somewhat. I feel that the show made me a stronger person and also the public has no idea how hard we designers have to work and how hard this experience can be at times!

BLAST: When Tim would advise you on how to "make-it-work," would you stick to your "Gunn’s" or immediately make changes?

AJ: Sometimes I would notice things within the design that I was unsure of and would discuss with Tim about removing them or changing them around and he would encourage me to “edit” and that is something I really learned from Tim Gunn, is to edit myself. One time I didn’t listen to him and it didn’t “work” out very well, so yes you should always keep “making it work” in mind!

BLAST: You are said to be inspired by dark images like decaying asylums and morgues. How do you portray this in your fashion pieces?

AJ: I use the contrast of hard and soft and pull inspiration from these images by looking to texture and imagery and incorporating them into style lines and fabric textures.

BLAST: What is the most memorable costume or outfit you have seen on Lady Gaga, one of your favorite style icons?

AJ: In the “Bad Romance” music video, she is wearing an Alexander Lee McQueen futuristic textured outfit.

BLAST: You seem to be a quite outdoorsy, down to earth girl. What would people be surprised to know about you?

AJ: That I love camping with my family and I used to ride horses, ride 4-wheelers and go hunting with my grandfather.

BLAST: You also have a love for cooking and food and must have enjoyed all NYC has to offer. What is your favorite recipe to cook at home? And fave restaurant in the area?

AJ: My favorite recipe to cook at home is Salmon in lemon butter with asparagus. Hands down favorite restaurant in savannah is The Distillery! They have the best crab cake sandwich around!

BLAST: If you are the winner of Project Runway, what can we expect from you in the future?

AJ: The fashion industry is my playground, I am young and ready to work to be successful, so you will surely see me grow and develop into a great designer.

At the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2007, BlastMagazine.com launched. A new, scrappy little online magazine with two goals: To be an independent voice and to combine the monthly quality of a long-form magazine with the hourly timeliness of the web and blogs.

In 2007 we were born. In 2008 we gained direction. In 2009 we got popular. In 2010, Blast will explode.

Another thing that makes Blast unique is the fact that we never hide anything from you. Even when we do a redesign or major change on the site, we do it live, and we collect your feedback to make it better.

So here’s what we’re trying to do next year:

While most news outlets are closing their bureaus and getting rid of foreign news, Blast — an entertainment website — added reporters in Dublin, London, Rome, Brisbane, Sydney, Toronto and New Delhi. We have domestic reporters all over the country.

We’re looking to add some important things to the site in 2010.

Blast has always had a presence in New York. One of our biggest strengths as a publication is our ability to review concerts and interview bands a few days before they arrive in Boston — and a few days before the rest of the publications in Boston.

By the end of the winter, we will be able to announce specific details about expanding our New York operation. We are looking to add a New York Page to BlastMagazine.com, and we are currently looking for a sponsor (perhaps a NY company looking to expand to Boston or a Boston company looking for exposure in NY?) to get that off the ground. We have a domain name registered for New York that will either host a New York Page or (more probably) redirect to a NY page on BlastMagazine.com.

In 2009, Blast brought its unique style to the West Coast, with a fantastic entertainment reporter named Connie Allen at the helm. A bureau in California allows us better access to television and movie stories. She has pulled down exclusive stories for Blast.

On top of that, we have two tech/games reporters out west (including one in Seattle) and two general assignment reporters in Denver.

Even more out in the West Bureau: We have three political analysts writing a regular feature called Power Behind Closed Doors, and it’s really riveting stuff.

In 2010, we will continue to build strength out west, and we will continue to cover the E3 expo in Los Angeles, PAX in Seattle, and Comic-Con International in San Diego, making us the only publication in New England (online or in print) that sends reporters to all three conventions.

We are also recruiting for a reporter in Las Vegas.

We do not plan to make a West Coast site just yet, but we do have a domain name registered just in case.

Blast Miami/Blast South is something brand new, and still in development.

Miami — and the whole South really — has a unique scene. The beaches, the music, the people, even the food all make for interesting reading and viewing.

We’ve already been able to put out fantastic stories like this.

We can confirm that Gabriella von Rosen will be the chief of our Southern Bureau. We are in the process of recruiting freelancers and student interns to staff it right now.

We will launch a South/Miami page as soon as possible. We have secured a domain — again, probably for forwarding purposes.

We are looking for a primary advertising partner to get the page off the ground.

No, we’re not starting a theme park. (But how cool would THAT be?)

Since the start, world news and a truly global reach made Blast a much more serious force in modern media than people might think at first glance. I mean, did you really think a site that covers indie rock, porn and video games would also have coverage FROM the 2007 South Ossetia War? The Mumbai terror attacks? What about news from Rome about historic discoveries? A local Ted Kennedy hook on a news story reported from the UK?

Scary huh? Blast is the only local publication — print or online — that doesn’t rely on a wire service for international news.

We’ve taken that global reach and put it to work in much less serious situations, too. We dramatically expanded our travel section in 2009 to include Paris, Rome, Liege, Barcelona, San Juan, Santa Fe, Lisbon and more.

Admittedly, the first half of the year wasn’t too good for our blogs. We rebranded, refocused, or closed down all four of our sports blogs and had several fashion blogs come and go.

But we rebounded int he second half by focusing on established blogs that had dedicated writers already. We added Mark Baard’s Sci-Tech Heretic and a cars blog called The Diva of Driving, and both have been very successful. Our Terra World News blog expanded with a weekly podcast. Finally, we formed a relationship with YawkeyTalkies.com, a local sports blog, to make them part of our network and provide its owner with advertising.

In 2010 we will add a blog about traveling models and photographers — it’s glamorous and even a little scandalous. That’s an exciting one.

We are seeking a local Boston news blogger — someone who can aggregate and analyze the day’s top stories.

What other crazy crap are we focusing on in 2010?

2010 will be the Year of the Blast. Thanks for reading!

Happy freaking Halloween. Now listen to three of our hungover editors talk about what’s in Blast this month.

There will be some spoilers in the podcast. Click at your own risk.

Now that the movie has been shown to fans, we can finally sit down and talk about it.

I saw “Boondock Saints II” last week. I liked it.

I didn’t like it in the way that I’m a news editor and occasional film critic. I didn’t love it in the way that I’m an artist and I can appreciate a classic piece of film.

Let’s face it, there’s two kinds of people in the world: The ones that love “The Boondock Saints” and the ones who hate “The Boondock Saints.”

And I love “The Boondock Saints.”

Shit, I put it on the cover. But I’m not a damn fanboy. I’m not a fanboy about anything. In fact, the more I like something, the harder I tend to be on the people in charge. You can ask the people at Sony when PlayStation 3 first came out, and you can ask Boondock writer/director Troy Duffy, because I changed the pace on Monday and asked him some pointed questions.

What you’re going to hear in the podcast on the top of this article is my session on one of a series of roundtable interviews that Duffy and actors Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, and Billy Connolly put on at The Black Rose bar in downtown Boston. We had a good time and we laughed throughout most of the 20-minute session, but I was on a mission to bring home some data for this piece of our month-long coverage on the sequel, “All Saints Day.” But, besides that, the podcast is mostly hilariousness and gay jokes.

“It was just like riding a bicycle,” Duffy said about his return to directing.

“He sucked equally on this one as he did in the first one,” Flanery added after a pause, laughing.

But return it is. Duffy made Boondock in 1999 and hasn’t made a film since. He was a young director coming out to Hollywood, and he made some mistakes — and I’m probably being nice here. But he still managed to make a good movie amidst it all.

“They talk about Troy as a new director, but from day one it looks as if he was doing it his whole life,” Connolly said.

Just as people either love or hate Boondock, they either love or hate Duffy. (The Documentary “Overnight” really hurt him too)

The people in the original movie seem to be loyalists. Nearly everybody — including someone you don’t expect (it’s in the podcast) — is back for the sequel.

“Everything just happened,” Connolly said. “Everybody seemed to be there for the love of the piece, not just to be in a movie or earn some money.”

It showed. When you listen to the podcast and check out our other interviews, you’ll hear how good of a time they all had making both movies.

Boondock is an organic cult success, and the cast and crew know it.

“Half of Boondock was one guy sitting another guy down going ‘you’re watching this movie,’” Duffy said.

Will there be a third movie?

“Lets just ride this one into the shore and see what happens,” Duffy said. “I got some ideas.”

It’s also up to the studio and the fans. If the sequel makes money in theaters, I say bet on a trilogy.

At the end, I asked Duffy what we could expect from him going forward.

“During that 10-year period, I have written a bunch of scripts,” he said, “and I intend to knock them down like dominoes one by one. They’re in ascending budgets, all different stories. One is a period piece, a buddy comedy, a black comedy, one is about serial killers, one is called “The Peregrines” which would take me an hour to describe what the’s about, one is about a historical figure, which will take a lot of money to do that last one.”

The four guys also toured Boston College and Emerson College before premiering the movie for fans on Monday night. Here’s a vid from their day:

“Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” is in theaters October 30.

Thanks to everyone who participated in our “Land of the Lost” giveaway contest! The winners received free passes for two to a “Land of the Lost” pre-screening in Boston. Keep an eye on Blast for more screening giveaways and contests!

“Land of the Lost” hits theaters June 5.

1. Emily

Emily and her friends running from danger

2. Ribet

Ribet as one of the creatures in the Land of the Lost

3. Joshua

Joshua traveling down the river to escape the T-rex!

4. Daniel

Daniel captured by a ravenous T-Rex

5. Susie

Susie skillfully turned her fiance into Will Ferrell. Sneaky sneaky

6. Yusef

Yusef is caught in an alternate dimension

I realize this is the biggest message I’ve ever sent out to the staff, so I’ll break it down for you:

1. Expanding food coverage
1.5 MEETING!
2. Redesigned section pages
3. LOCAL
4. News coverage
5. Editors changing jobs
6. Our new intern

First of all, I’m happy to announce that we’re going to be expanding our food and drink coverage, adding regular content from John Forrester, who started at the Globe on the same day as me “way back in the day.” He’s the past editor-in-chief of the Suffolk Journal, and we’re lucky to have him.

He gave us a few stories last year, ( http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/culturefashion/2007/03/irish-eats-shepherds-pie/ ) and I’ve been badgering him ever since.

You’ll be hearing from him soon, because John has set up a Blast meet-up on November 12 in Boston. More on that soon.

Second big announcement: I have completely redesigned the Culture page. http://blastmagazine.com/culture/

I’ll be coding variations of our Food and Entertainment pages over the next few weeks. It takes a full day to do each page, so bear with me.

Please give me feedback on this! It will be vital as I do the rest of the sections.

Third big announcement: Blast is going local. Ok, maybe not totally local. But we’ve decided to base ourselves in the Northeast U.S., where we (mostly) live. That’s mainly Boston, New York, and then Philly for our sports guys. This will not change anything in a negative way — we won’t be removing anything, but we’ll be adding something very important that ties into the fourth announcement.

Fourth announcement, Blast is covering news. You’ve seen the amazing stylings of Sachin Seth and his Terra Blog http://blastmagazine.com/terra/ as our first foray into world news coverage. It’s been an amazing success and is drawing a ton of traffic. We’ll be creating a News Page on the site and incorporating a redesigned Boston/Local page that we’ll be promoting much more (JP, take notes). We’ll also incorporate the Terra Blog, and taking World News, People, and Enterprise out of Culture, and putting them into the news section. We’ll also add our Business section, which never really took off. We’re also adding a national and legal/crime news sub-section.

We’re not just going to cover news for the sake of covering news. We’re taking specific topics like cyber crime, privacy law cases, and topics that appeal to our Generation Y audience. For example: http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/technology/2008/10/fbi-major-cyber-attacks-in-the-rise/

And we’ll have a few new contributors to announce next month and at the meeting that are looking forward to tackling this section.

This is a big deal for Blast, because we always wanted to have a NEWS component that was separate from the magazine, and now we have it.

Going forward, it’s very important to push the concept of three totally different components to BLAST. There’s “The Issue” and “The Magazine” — our monthly content and regularly updated push content in our sections. There’s “The Blogs” — controlled directly by the writers. And “The News” which straddles the line between both.

The next announcement is that we’re realigning our editors. — Just bear in mind that this doesn’t mean that anyone is limited to only working within their sections. We all write everything, and we all help each other out.

Bessie King, who added culture and fashion to her repertoire when Dan Peleschuk went to Ukraine, will become the Culture Editor on November 1. She will oversee Culture, Fashion, Beauty, Politics, Automotive, Art, Love, Sex, Book Reviews and Travel in this diverse, vital section of the magazine. She will also be the editor in charge of our new “Literary” section ( http://blastmagazine.com/the-literary ) which takes original and public domain literature and features it for our readers.

Terri Schwartz will be elevated to Entertainment Editor on November 1. Terri proved herself after covering E3 and Comic-Con for Blast in California. She’s already built up a network of connections and recruited new writers, who you’ve seen this month. She will oversee Music, Movies, Celebrities (including an upcoming Celeb Gossip blog, shhhh, it’s still a secret) and that “Twilight” page that gets SO MANY freaking hits and comments, it’s not even funny. In her capacity, she is doing a ton of work with opinion pieces and reviews, so she will be contributing to the Technology section as well by helping out managing some of the video game reviews.

Joe Sinicki remains Technology Editor. This section is one of our main draws, and we’re hesitant to make any changes. I will say that we’ve flirted with the idea of making Technology more of a science and hard tech section and pulling video games and video game reviews into their own section. That’s not happening right now though.

Liz Raftery is still second in command. She’s the ace in the hole; one of the best writers and reporters I’ve ever worked with. Even the editors have to go through her when they want to put something on the cover. She’s also responsible for Enterprise, The Blast Interview, and we’re working her into News.

Micah and Perry are still sports. Though I’m sure they’d rather be in charge of world news.

That leaves me. In addition to the design and coding, I managing the staff and oversee Tech and Sports. I also manage the blogs, Food, Retro, Shoebox, and I will take point on News until someone takes it off my hands.

The rough, loose reporting structure has Terri and Bessie reporting to Liz for copy editing and guidance and Joe and Micah/Perry reporting to me.

That is just meant to give you a general overview of how a story goes from reporting to live on the site. Two sets of eyes need to see any non-blog post before we post it.

Last but not least, Blast took on an intern this semester. Liz McClendon is a student at Virginia Tech. She’s especially interested in Twilight and Literature, so she’ll be adding to The Literary and will be a big part of our News coverage going forward.

We’ve had a great few months, and the things we’re putting into place are going to take Blast to the next level.

And it’s all because of you.

John

Even with the popular “search everything” plugin, we’ve decided to move off the WordPress search feature and implement Google’s AdSense-based Custom Search.

The same search bar you see up top is now programmed for the Google Custom Search. Go to it!

The best thing about Custom Search is that it allows us to not only search by all facets of the site (like who wrote it) but that it lets us import all the sites in our network to one searchable database.

Therefore, you can search PSA, OTR, MadeHand, PRrag, Blast, all the internal blast blogs, This is God Given, and even some of our regular writers’ personal blogs all in one place!

Automattic, the company behind WordPress, has purchased the advanced next-generation web commenting system IntenseDebate for an undisclosed sum.

This is a big move for WordPress, which has been looking for a new commenting system for a while and seems to have found it finally.

In a blog post on their website, IntenseDebate describes the deal and what it means for the product.

1. We will be temporarily going back into private beta. This won’t affect our current users, but new installs will require an invite code. This is just to give us a little time to ramp up the hardware and get our ducks in a row as we join the Automattic team.

2. You’ll be seeing IntenseDebate a lot more often. We’re really excited about the distribution possibilities this opens up, so expect to see our comment system and use your IntenseDebate profile on a lot more blogs.

3. You can look forward to tighter integration with some of the other Automattic joints including‚ Akismet‚ and‚ Gravatar.

The next major release of WordPress, version 2.7, will be the first implementation of the popular blogging and content management system to incorporate the IntenseDebate features, which include threaded commenting, user reputation, comment analytics and better administrative tracking of comments than WordPress’ current system.

WordPress is the system that powers Blast Magazine.

When WordPress 2.7 is released, we will first install it on a test server, then begin to integrate it into our outside blogs first, testing for bugs and incompatibilities with Blast-specific features like our custom popup galleries, before we install it on the main magazine.

Congratulations to loyal Blast Magazine reader Jeff Hunt for being the most recent winner of a Blast Magazine prize package.

This month’s package included a full-size official poster from the movie “The Diving Bell And The Butterfly” with the film’s official soundtrack courtesy of Miramax. Jeff is also receiving a copy of outlandish new DVD, “Cougar Club” and a copy of The New Rivals CD courtesy of Universal. Jeff also gets an Art of Blast 2008 desk calendar.

How did Jeff get all this? By reading Blast and mentioning us in his blog. We knew he was a fan of “The Diving Bell And The Butterfly” so we’re shipping off a bunch of swag.

We’ve got more for you guys coming in 2008!

Not only do we have a bunch of copies of “Cougar Club” and The New Rivals but how about this? We have over a dozen Plantronics Audio 350 gaming headsets that we’re just throwing at our readers next month. Enjoy the ultimate gaming headset for free!

We also have copies of Roxio Crunch and Popcap’s hits for PS2 and Xbox 360.

And on top of all that, we have a “The Diving Bell And The Butterfly” mini poster and the novelization of the movie FREE.

What do you have to do to get any of these freebies? Write a review! Review a new movie, music album, video game, software, hardware, gadget, laptop, camera, pretty much whatever Santa gave you this year. Write up a review that’s at least 400 words, and if we use it, you’ll get a freebie!

Email all reviews to newsroom@blastmagazine.com, and include your name, address, website address if you have one, the review, any photos you have of the product and don’t forget the “Quick hits” info like you see here.

It’s free! Happy New Year from Blast!!

Here at Blast, we have a bunch of traditional, odd, and downright original holiday plans. We thought we’d share them with you.

One of Blast’s great mid-year staff editions, Holly Jobbagy decided to combine video golf and teddy bears for her boyfriend.

“He’s especially into golf, and since he can’t play this time of year, I got him the Plug-and-Play Golden Tee Golf Game from Brookstone — available online or in the store catalog,” she said. “I also went to Build-a-Bear and got built him one, but included a special, personalized message. When he presses the Bear’s hand, he will hear my voice.”

The bear will be holding the game in its paw!

Blast Correspondent Ashley Dean shared a unique tradition.

“After our big dinner we get out a big box of fancy chocolates and play a game. ,” she said The rules are:

1. Go in a circle, everyone takes on at a time
2. No looking at the guide to see what kind you’re taking
3. Take a bite, if you don’t like it you can put it back or finish it anyway. If you put the rest back, you’re out
4. The winner is the last person left!

Here’s Samantha Lavine’s recipee for super holiday Rice Krispies treats!

Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons margarine or butter (John says use butter)
1 Package regular marshmallows or 4 cups miniature marshmallows
6 Cups Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Cereal OR 6 Cups of Kellogg’s Cocoa Rice Krispies Cereal
Holiday Sprinkles
Red String-Licorice

Then:

• Melt margarine in large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.
• Add cereal. Stir until well coated.
• Using buttered spatula or waxed paper, press mixture evenly into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cut into 2-inch squares when cool.
• Decorate with holiday sprinkles and use red string licorice for ribbon.

Best if served the same day.

Mircowave Directions:
In a large microwave-safe bowl, heat margarine and marshmallows at HIGH for 3 minutes, stirring after 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Follow steps 2 through 4, above.

As for me, I’ll be in Connecticut embracing my Italianness, eating fresh fish and playing Pinochle. Pinochle is a game that I love so much that I’m letting you download a little DOS game for free as one of my Christmas gifts to you.

We have Carlos Watson and a 20-something who works as a mortician next month. Keep on reading!

Happy Holidays from Blast Magazine and Happy 2008!

I saw the stats, and I still didn’t believe it. We wrote a 189-word brief about Kyla Ebbert — a Southwest Airlines passenger who was almost kicked off for wearing a skimpy (it wasn’t even that skimpy really…) outfit.

Then the counter started ticking like dollars on a gas pump.

By the end of the day on November 15, more people visited our little story than any other article in the 12 months of Blast Magazine. And every day that number grows.

In many ways it’s a testament to the Internet user, but in another respect, the growth in traffic we received from this 24-year-old vixen was largely due to us getting the article out early and Google rewarding us for our efforts.

I didn’t believe the latter myself until we rushed to get the Mitchell Report online. We put the report out to our readers as soon as it was released to the media, and lo and behold we’re #2 on Google.

So we’re excited about out recent efforts to make search engine optimization an priority, given that the previous owner of Blastmagazine.com abused it like a dog that wouldn’t fight. For the first few months, we weren’t even listed on Google!

The big story this month is that Blast is now one year old! We’ve come a long way, through three major redesigns, but we’ve maintained our major design points, quality photography and written work and, of course, our monthly magazine cover.

As we go into 2008, we’ve already started expanding our coverage to include daily gaming news, ongoing movie reviews, entertainment news and political commentary. We’re looking to add more original video content and keep up our long-form reporting in 2008.

We have some big news this issue. We put out the first major American review of SunAge, an upcoming strategy computer game. We also reported on the controversial dismissal of a Gamespot editor.

In Culture, you have to read newcomer Jocelyn Carleton’s piece on what national restaurant chains are doing to attract local regulars.

We also sat down with fashion designer Paula Hian and talked about her new dress that’s sweeping the couture world.

Speaking of interviews, Bessie King put Dr. Jonathan Katz on her couch this month to talk about his new Comedy Central DVD.

Last but not least, our cover story this month is an excellent, intimate interview with Sara Quin of the sisterly music duo, Tegan and Sara. Don’t miss this one!

That’s December. Happy Birthday to us!