Archives: What’s Happening in HTG Town

By Ninjalibrarian

I was a kid in a candy store as I wandered through 21st Century Cat Pictures at 1 Brando Boulevard today. So many sights to see. A movie lover’s dream.

As soon as you walk into the lobby, you see all kinds of posters from the studio’s releases. The Giver, the Dick Tracy series, Silver and Black. I wound my way through the halls until I came to the film library. It’s a small library, but has some impressive films in it. The Godfather, Goodfellas, Mystic River, Bad News Bears.

Next, I strolled out to the backlots. I don’t think the studio has any immediate plans to use these, but every studio should stock up on … well, stock backlots. The Horror backlot gave me the creeps, and I fled as soon as I could. The Western backlot was much more fun to stroll around. This will come in handy whenever the studio finally gets around to making a Days feature.

Back inside the office, I took a look through some studio files. The Cat owns 10 franchises, including Spice World, Family Guy, Grand Theft Auto, Reno 911, and Anchorman. Some inter-office memos make note that the studio is looking for producers for all of its franchises. A particularly interesting note scribbled in the margins of one memo stated that if a Spice World movie actually makes a profit, the producer can keep all of it. Intriguing!

The studio also owns a dozen special awards. The most likely one to be used sometime soon is the Re-Release Award. The studio is currently in talks with producer Happenstance to re-release 21.

The studio also seems to be plotting with one of its favorite sons, DominatinMvp. The talented producer is working on some primo stuff for future release, but no details yet.

Looks like 21st Century Cat Pictures is keeping its paws in a few pies. Can’t wait to see what’s up next!

By The Harmer

Shut up, I know it’s a stretch. Eat me.

Well, I’ve been gone quite some time and I must say it’s very good to be back here at HTG. For those of you that don’t know, I’ve been playing this type of game for a few years now, including back when we were mostly all at Film-Mogul. I have but one film writing credit to my name, that being the highest grossing fantasy film in FM History, “Terazen”. There, I was also an actor, having a plethora of bit roles and whatnot. Very fun stuff. I also had a lead role in the film written for me, “Harmergeddon” by 10K Cases. Other than that, my next biggest role was Dr. Bolivar Trask in Mac’s adaptation of X-Men. Oh, and let’s not forget the Marauder From The Marketplace.

You may have noticed a distinct lack of me over the past few months, and that was for a good reason. A few months ago, I had found a lump on my chest over my sternum that was causing me pain and discomfort. After seeing two doctors about it, they assured me it was nothing to worry about and would go away after a time. So I left it alone. Then, about a month later, it grew to more than 10x its size and began to hurt like hell. I then went to another doctor and he informed me that it was a weeping cyst that was producing acids from a ‘rogue’ gland. Those acids actually ate away at the nearby flesh and the result was a lot of pain and a very infected chest. It got so infected in fact, that I was in the hospital for a few days being pumped full of who-knows-what in an attempt to stabilize me. They also performed surgery to removed the ‘rogue’ gland. Then began the process of recovery. I was on some fairly strong anti-biotics and whatnot, and had regular visits to the doctor. After a re-infection the infection has FINALLY subsided after more than a few months of hell. I now, at last, feel well enough to come back here and attempt to resume writing.

I really have nothing on my plate as of yet, gotta learn to walk again and all that jazz. I’d like to do my dream project, an Iron Chef film… I just need a brave studio to take a gamble on me. Hehe. I’m also slowly working on
Terazen 2 again… I had it written but lost the script when my computer died a while back. Other than that, nothing much. Looking forward to working with studios… if you need something written, ask me. It’s so very
good to be back.

By Marlowe

What’s the deal with the HTG Big Wigs Country Club and the HTG Yacht Club? These two locations have been posted on the game map for months. “Coming Soon” notes and a couple pictures are what you get when you visit the page. Will the two locations ever open?

Here’s the deal: These two locations were originally conceived to do things that other places are doing or will be doing. Club Siberia is one of those sites. As you probably know, the club is a place to go to hobnob with celebrities and hopefully walk away with a cheap hiring of an A-class movie star. It’s a gamble, but worth a shot, especially if Mr. T’s Body Guard Service is used. (Hiring Yoda may cost $5 million, but he’s a heckuva deal!) Soon we’ll see more and more talent vouchers out and the opportunity for a “special event” at Club Siberia will be possible. I’m curious about how those will turn out, haha.

Anyway, with the country club and yacht club still on the map, will they ever be opened and will they serve a purpose? Yes and yes. Will it be soon? I don’t know. The problem with coming up with new functions for these two map locations is that they have to be fairly unique and they have to serve some balanced, reasonable game purpose. I’ve personally scratched more ideas than fleas on Bish’s hound dog. But soon I hope to have at least the country club open. One idea is bound to stick soon.

And, egads, I’ve got a basic lifetime membership to the yacht club, won at a recent casino visit. I’d better make that worthwhile, huh?

Hey, y’all, what’s happening? I have finally returned after an extended visit to the Mideast and am looking forward to dishing out some more dirt on what’s going on. The stage may be different, but the play’s the same… Make a movie, sit around and chat, plus gather up all of the goodies that you can.

Speaking of goodies, I hear that Rick Arnold has finally out of his condo and into a house. And not just a house, but a medium one, capable of holding as many films as he can stack, seven vehicles (thanks to an expanded garage), fifteen franchises, ten items and a whopping thirty-five awards. I bet Rick’s happy now, ‘cause he had very little elbow room in that Hollywood Springs dig of his.

Rick’s got a good-sized film library, with twenty-three selections to kick back to on a dreary night. I’m especially fond of Enter the Dragon. Sure, Bruce Lee’s skills will forever be unparalleled, but I get a sidestepping kick out of John Saxon. If we were to list out the top one hundred guys who “kick butt” in the movies, the 70-year-old actor probably wouldn’t be mentioned. But, when in his late thirties, Saxon appeared as Roper in one of the greatest martial arts films ever made, he did some mighty fine ass kicking. When Roper defeated the formidable Bolo, it was almost a victory for us regular guys who fantasize about being an action star on the big screen. I guess it didn’t hurt to be a student of Bruce Lee’s system and to have a black belt in real life, huh. (If you are bored and have the time, check out the life of Bolo Yeung using Google or something. His story is rather interesting.)

Anyway, back to Rick’s abode. Rick’s our current franchise pricer, but he only has two to his self – The Zombie Survival Guide and the Ultima video games. The first installment of ZSG is in the theatre now, currently in its sixth week of the brain-eating dead sneaking up on their hapless victims. Rumor has it that Rick is picking up a third franchise soon. Maybe it will have room for a cameo by an aggressive non-lethal bee. I’d be willing to take the role, as long as services provided enough honey on the snack table.

Items, items, items. Rick’s house is bustin’ with them. He even has two toy chests, capable of holding an incredible forty action figures. He currently owns eleven of the toys, including a rare King Kong figure. I hear that Rick went ape over acquiring this item. Ha. In the long run, these toys are a good deal – they add $1.1 million to the advertising budget of Rick’s films. Hubba hubba. I hear that he’s wanting to get rid of the second toy chest, so give him a holler if you’re looking for a bargain.

Speaking of rarities, Rick owns the alien attack vessel from Independence Day! Wow! Can you imagine pulling up to the drive-through window in that? (I refuse to do an overused “I’ve got to…” joke.) Sitting on the dash is another rare item, a Harvey Pekar bobble head.

Hmm. I’ve sat here for ten minutes trying to think of a stupid Harvey Pekar jibe, but I can’t come up with one.

Awards are what Rick’s really stocked up on. He has seventeen of the things, including one that allows Mr. T to appear in a film for free up to one allowing Steven Spielberg to direct for free. I can live without those Josh Whedon “Firefly” awards. Fireflies are overrated. They have a low tolerance for alcohol and enjoy waking you up in the middle of the night with their bright shining hind ends. Sheesh.

Okay, there’s a quick run-through of Rick’s place, a nice Tudor (I think it’s a Tudor. What do I know, I’m a bee! I live in a hive!) over on the east side of town. One question remains: How come no house warming party, Rick? Afraid that we’ll trash the place? C’mon already, through a shindig and show off some of your things. Invite some pretty young things over. Let us all get acquainted. Heck, it’s been a while since I’ve been allowed to pollinate, if you know what I mean.

I have a feeling that Rick has had Ted Raimi over on several occasions, watching cheap horror films and exchanging trivia on the latter’s brother, Sam. Oh, well. Maybe we should all just bust in some time and have our own party! Heck, I need to move out of the hive and into a place like Rick’s. Sharing a place with several hundred other fellas and one temperamental gal isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

See you again soon!

By Marlowe

Here we go, a little information site for our beloved Hollywood the Game. Ritchie has The Hollywood Times going (see the game’s message board). Next week we should see the unveiling of another site and some time in the future another. News news news abounds in HTG.

Although “Happening” won’t be a full-blown news source for the game, I do plan on having regular articles posted on things that concern the landscape of HTG. There will be a lot of reviews of various places on the HTG map. Our first piece was from eager journalist Ninjalibrarian, who dined recently at Sureshot’s Unplugged Café (see the nearby article). There’s always something going on with the HTG map, whether it’s seen or unseen. Hopefully these pieces will help keep people up-to-date on what’s happening.

I’ll toss in a piece now and again by myself. I tend to be long-winded on things such as this, but I’ll strive to be concise. And, in a throwback to you old-time Film Mogul players, we’ll hopefully blow the dust off of Buzz’ typewriter and get him to cover an occasional happening.

I guess that’s enough of my blabbering for now. Enjoy the reviews and enjoy the game!

By Ninjalibrarian

I had the pleasure this Labor Day weekend of dining at HTG Town’s newest hip hangout, Café Unplugged. This fine establishment is full of personality and has a variety of entertainment on tap. The admission price, set at $3.5 million, may at first appear a tad steep, but this is for an entire evening’s entertainment and a multi-course meal.

And what a meal it is. The celebrity chef, Bill “Groundhog-Day Ghostbustin Ass” Murray, knows a thing or two about cuisine, and his Wu-Tang Clan are on top of things back in the kitchen. One of the truly unique things about this courtyard restaurant is that you never know what you’ll be served. The menu changes regularly, and when you first enter the restaurant, the hostess asks you to pick a number between 1 and 20. That number determines what you’ll be dining on for the evening. My number brought me a scrumptious Shane West dessert. I highly recommend it.

As for entertainment, the evening started with a stand-up show by Bill “Groundhog-Day Ghostbustin Ass” Murray himself. (Where does he find the time to slip out of his chef’s hat???) Then Counting Crows, live and unplugged, played a rousing set to a very appreciative audience.

And don’t forget to stop by the Gift Shop before you leave. Merchandise purchased there is good for $100K off future visits.

Café Unplugged is brought to you by HTG Town entrepreneur, Sureshot. He has many plans for the dining establishment, including an upcoming Open Mic Night.

Café Unplugged
Live music. Comedy. Fine cuisine.