The Twit Crew from the Ellen DeGeneres Show stopped in Tucson on Wednesday, recorded a portion of the show and handed out 10K in prizes:  90 $100 gas cards and one $1000 gas card.

Her Twit Crew (short for Twitter crew) is traveling across the country and making surprise stops along the way.  Prizes are often gas cards, but there is a chance to win a brand new GMC Terrain.

Twitter messages are sent from Ellen, alerting followers of locations.  Early Wednesday a message was sent identifying Tucson as the next stop.  Around 1:00 p.m. another message was sent telling followers to go to the Shell gas station on Speedway & Alvernon at 4:30 p.m. with a current O Magazine (with Ellen and Oprah on the cover)  and to subscribe to the ThisIsGMC Twitter feed.  Once at the location, Ellen would give participants instructions to “do” something to win a bigger prize.

I stopped at a drug store on the east side of town and grabbed a magazine before heading to the station in central Tucson.  When the clerk saw the magazine, she simpy asked, “You going?”  “Yes,” I replied.  She closed her eyes and nodded and handed me the magazine as if it were an ancient scripture.  It was obvious she really wanted to go.

My friends and I arrived an hour early and missed out on the first 90 prizes.  A couple hundred people were already there.  I overheard a crew member say they had expected only 50ish people and they were surprised by the turnout.  I think by the end of the event, there could have been 500 people there.  Maybe they didn’t think we have Twitter in the Old Pueblo.

There was quite a bit of waiting and finally the big moment came where we became a live remote location and Ellen spoke to us.  She said hello to Tucson.  We screamed.  Then she gave the instructions: Come back in a bathing suit and cowboy hat.  The first one back would get a $1000 gas card.

Hundreds of people flocked across Speedway and Alvernon á la “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.”

They returned as requested – in bathing suits and cowboy hats.  There were even men in bikinis.  One person creatively fashioned a cowboy hat out of a silver car sunshade.

In the end, it was Frank Landino in flame swim trunks and a green cowboy hat with a light-up tiara and feathers who was awarded the $1000 gas card.

His wife, Christina Landino, says, “It was really quite an accident that he came about winning.”  They discovered the contest not via Twitter but because they live next door to the gas station and Kat had walked over to buy a soda and heard Ellen’s voice over the speakers giving the instructions.

She ran back home and told her husband to throw on a swimsuit and put on her sister-in-law’s cowboy hat.  When all was said and done, this was the result:

Winner Frank Landino on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Photo: David Tellez

His wife says, “He’s such a ball of energy anyway — this was right up his alley!”  Congratulations Frank!

This weekend I tagged along with my sister to TusCon36 touted as “The Best Little Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror Convention in Arizona!”

I admit while I am a die-hard sci-fi/scary book and Star Trek fan, I have not ever attended a convention for their genres.  I will leave the details to my sister in her blog, and let you know about my experience as a total noob (newbie) to all this.  I did not know what to expect.

This little convention has a 36-year history and has usually been small with no advertising and is mostly centered on the literary arts.  It was held at the Hotel Tucson City Center (also known as InnSuites).  This year they had authors, panels and readings.  They also had artists with an art show.  There were dealers, movie screenings, anime, computer gaming, and CosPlay.  I did not see anybody dressed as Spock, but I did see Kirk (below).  However, I mostly saw costumes that were kind of western, kind of futuristic and didn’t understand why at the time.

David Lee Summers of TalesOfTheTalisman.com

A pic of my boyfriend on a game box. He couldn't make it to TusCon this year.

CosPlay is short for “costume play” or in other words dressing up with an opportunity for role play.  This year they had a CosPlay competition with a steampunk theme.  Steampunk?  What the hec is that?

While trying to figure it out, I came across these steampunk guns in the art show section.  They looked like something from a Jules Verne novel.

Steampunk art by Gary Hayes

Just then I came across the artist who made them, Gary Hayes, all 6 feet 6 inches of him, in steampunk attire.

Artist Gary Hayes in steampunk attire

Gary designed the cover of the TusCon36 program book and also did triple duty as convention security.  I almost wanted to cause trouble just to be kicked out by him and get a picture of it.

I asked him, okay, what the hec is steampunk.  He asked if I had ever read Jules Verne.  Of course!  Or seen the Wild Wild West series or movie.  Yes!  Well, that’s steampunk – futuristic western themes.  Ahhhh.  (If you have never read Jules Verne, you better get on it).

His wife, Rebecca Hayes, was on the convention staff and took us around downtown Tucson that evening for a fantastic ghost tour where we learned more about Tucson’s history and it’s architecture with some ghostly stories sprinkled in.  I’m sure my sister will share more about that with you in her blog.  Rebecca is also lovingly known as “Ghost Girl” and the two of them are quite a pair.  If you attend a TusCon in the future, look for them.  They have been a part of the convention for 14 years.  They surely enhance the experience.

Here is Rebecca at the end of the ghost tour.  I also had to take a picture of the staff she wielded – created by her husband, made from items around the house.  In this case, the base is a shower curtain rod.

Rebecca Hayes at the conclusion of the downtown Tucson ghost tour, also in steampunk.

Rebecca's staff

I am also a little bit of a computer gamer, so I have to mention what I discovered in the ballroom dedicated to gaming.  There were a couple of modified computers that were hard to miss.  They were put on display by folks from pcwormhole.com, a site that is “a gateway to bleeding edge PC’s and the innovators who build and bench them.”  In layman terms this means people who modify their computers to make them go really fast for gaming.

Some people overclock their computers or make them run at a higher clock rate or GHz than it was designed to (it goes faster).  However their efforts are limited by the temperature of the processor or some other internal components.  Cooler temps allow more speed.  Computers come with a heatsink to keep temperatures down.  However for hardcore, extreme enthusiasts, it’s not enough and they modify it.  Check it out:

A water cooled computer CPU

A CPU cooled by liquid nitrogen

This is an Nvidia video card that has had putty applied to reduce the temperature

This CPU is cooled by a modified A/C unit and tubing

These computers were using i7 processors and got to temperatures as low as -90 degrees and speeds were increased from a clock speed of 2.6 GHz to 5 GHz – making it about twice as fast.

I had heard of this, but had never seen it in action.  Very interesting.  The kids at the convention got to touch and handle some of the items, making it a pretty popular area.

I personally came away from the TusCon36 convention with a new interest in steampunk, new book sources, and a hands-on view of why some of the people in my online game go so unbelievably fast.  Checking out Star-Trek/Star Wars items and dragon art was icing on the cake.

If you didn’t get to go and would like to attend the next one, keep an eye on their websites:

http://tusconscificon.com/
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~basfa/

About Bjay

Harkins Theaters in Tucson at Irvington and I-19. My cell phone picture doesn't do it justice or capture the scope.

My husband and I love going to the movies.  With an 8-year-old son, it’s hard to see movies that don’t involve the coordination of thousands of animators from all over the world.  When they do have real people in them, they often have a silly plot and revolve around a dog with special powers.

Don’t get me wrong, those movies are great, but as with anything you can reach an overdose point where you can’t take anymore.

So we have become regulars at Harkins Theaters, a 19-screen theater off of I-19 and Irvington, although it is quite a drive for us. This has become our theater of choice for new releases heavy on special effects and action or for 3D movies.

Many people don’t like to travel to the south side of town, so they have been missing out on a real treat.

This theater is a monstrously huge futuristic-looking structure in the desert with a bit of a retro feel.  At night it’s a colorful spectacle of light against the dark night sky. There aren’t many places like this in Tucson.

The theater sits in the middle of the desert. This is the beautiful view from the parking lot.

You have the option of buying your tickets from the box office, online, or self-serve ticketing kiosks.

Husband and son purchasing tickets from the box office

Once inside, you are greeted with  dark decor, low-key  lighting, preview screens sprinkled throughout the building and a large snack bar with expanded food choices.  In addition to the old standards, you can also order pizza, cheese sticks, popcorn chicken, churros, french fries, and White Castle burgers.

The the left side is an arcade and to the right is a play center.  Both are inconspicuously tucked behind a wall of movie posters interspersed with windows so you can peek inside.

The Play Center is behind this wall. Some of these "movie posters" are actually windows so you can see what's going on inside.

The movie experience has been great for us with all -digital projection and digital sound.  They also have 3D projection.  Each theater is large with stadium seating and roomy ultimate rocker seats with lots of leg room.  The theaters have many handicap accessible seats.  I’ve never had a problem with temperature – always been comfortably cool here.

In a time where many movie theaters seem to be cutting back by turning up the thermostat, cutting back on employees and maintenance, this theater is still cool throughout and has plentiful staff.  It has always been clean and well maintained.

The only complaint I’ve ever had is that the snack bar employees, while polite and helpful, have often been unusually slow.  I think they should realize a good number of customers are running late, but even ordering a soda can take a while – and there is a soda machine within arm’s reach of each cash register.  They seem to run and talk in slow motion.  A couple times in the past, the delay has been caused by an apparent higher-up pulling the concession worker aside to ask them a work-related question or to verify something while they are in the middle of filling an order.  There have been times I’ve debated adding something to my order for fear of adding minutes to my time standing at the counter.  So, I usually choose to keep my order simple. I suggest you arrive early if you plan to buy anything from the concession stand – extra early if you want to order an expanded snack bar item.

Yesterday we went to see Inglourious Basterds.  Athough I consider myself a mom who doesn’t shelter her son, this movie was an absolute no-no for him.  So we decided to use the Play Center for the first time.  It cost $6 for us to leave our son here.  There were at least three employees in the Play Center area.  Our child got an wrist band ID and we got a pager to take with us.  In addition, they got both of our cell phone numbers.  The Play Center has a window right by the southern restrooms, so it was easy to take a quick peek and see how he was doing.

View from the window by the restroom

The kid area offered popular children’s movies, video games, toys, books, craft and nap area.  They also gave the kids water and popcorn.

Harkins Theaters Play Center has video games for the kids

Our son enjoyed himself so much, we had a hard time getting him to come home with us when it was time to leave.

We had a hard time tearing him away from the toys.

We paid $15 for two movie tickets, $6 for the Play Center, and $2 for two large sodas and a medium  popcorn.  Yes $2.

We got all this for $2. See below for how.

Our concessions only cost $2.  We had two refillable cups we bought here last year.  You buy a drink the first time and pay $4.00.  Keep the cup and refills are $1 each for the year.  I bought one of their T-shirts last year for $20 and get a free medium popcorn whenever I wear it at this theater.  They have sold out of T-shirts for this year.  However they will start selling T-shirts for next year in November that can be used immediately.

Another thing I love about this theater is that when you call, you not only get a recording, but you can actually speak to a live person in Guest Services.

Prices are:

Adults:  $7 matinee (all shows prior to 6 pm every day), $9.50 after 6 pm.
Children:  $5.50
Senior Citizens:  $6.50 for 60 years and up
Students and Military:  $7

There is an extra $2 charge for 3D movies.

Personally, I love the location.  There is a huge shopping center next door that is sporting a brand-new Red Lobster.  We can always use more Red Lobsters.  We take the opportunity to get some great Mexican food on the way home.  There are many great restaurant choices on 12th and 6th avenues, as well as many roadside stands on the way home.  This time we stopped at a roadside stand next to Tucson Newspapers and had a couple Sonoran hot dogs and some cold sodas out of glass bottles. Yum.

All in all it was a great afternoon.