Thursday, April 16, 2015

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Launches Mortal Kombat X

Scorpion is ready for Kombat

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has announced the release of Mortal Kombat X, a new installment for the legendary Mortal Kombat series. Mortal Kombat is a video game franchise developed by NetherRealm Studios in which players select fighters to fight to the death. The Mortal Kombat series is known for its high levels of bloody violence, including its Fatalities (finishing moves, requiring a sequence of buttons to perform). Mortal Kombat X introduces a cinematic story filled with amazing graphics and all-new gameplay features to deliver the most brutal Kombat experience ever. The competition is taken to another level with over-the-top fighting game action and a roster made up of legendary characters including Scorpion, Sub-Zero and Raiden and a new generation of fighters including Cassie Cage, Jacqui Briggs and Takeda Takahashi. Mortal Kombat X is available for the PlayStation®4, Xbox One, and Steam on Windows PC.

Click here to read more about Mortal Kombat X.

Happy Birthday, Hubble!

During the week of April 20th-26th, NASA will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its most storied space telescope of all-time: Hubble. To mark the momentous occasion, NASA is hosting events and activities ranging from a running billboard of Hubble images in Times Square, an IMAX film in 3D, television specials, and in-person conferences and mixers.

Though headquarters is based in Washington, DC, fans from all over the world will be able to partake in the celebration online. This information is outlined in their recent press release, entitled, "Celebrate with NASA as Agency Commemorates Hubble Space Telescope's 25th Anniversary."

Link to press release: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/celebrate-with-nasa-as-agency-commemorates-hubble-space-telescopes-25th-anniversary-300067550.html

Cheng Zhao, Deconstruct 2, Pizza Hut is Being a Bit too Cute during Tax Season



To echo the end of tax season, Pizza Hut runs the “Pizza Hut National Pizza Return” raffle promotion from April 13th to April 18th.  Similar to filling out a tax form, people need to visit http://www.pizzareturn.com/ to download and fill out a Pizza Hut P2 form. Then they need to physically mail the form to Olson Attn: Pizza Hut/Pizza Return, 564 W. Randolph, fl. 5, Chicago, IL 60661. People who fill out the form and mail it to the address will have a chance to win a Pizza Hut gift card ranges from $10 - $50. 

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pizza-refund-pizza-hut-adds-a-little-flavor-to-tax-season-with-first-ever-national-pizza-return-300064607.html

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Almonds Fight Back! - Deconstruct Two

Summary:

In the wake of the ongoing California drought and Governor Jerry Brown’s mandated water restrictions, the usage of water in the state has been a hot topic of conversation. Publications like the Los Angeles Times have recently published stories complete with infographics about which produce products (As well as animals) require the most amount of water and how reducing intake of these products could help in water conservation efforts. One crop in particular that has come under fire is almonds. For a period of time numerous stories were circulating the Internet claiming that almonds require one gallon of water per almond and urging consumers to reduce their intake of the nut and it’s by products (almond milk, almond butter, etc.)

As one could assume, while consumers being conscious of water-usage by altering their shopping habits can positively effect the situation, this inadvertently affects the farmers growing those crops, and the associations designed to represent them.

In it’s April 8th news release, the Almond Hullers and Processors Association published a press release titled, “8 Facts about Almonds, Agriculture, and the Drought” as a direct response to these stories and a way to express it’s side of the story publicly.


News Release: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/8-facts-about-almonds-agriculture-and-the-drought-300062843.html

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Good Taste, Bad Taste, and Tasteless- Book Series Misses With 'Bring Back Slavery'



PR Newswire: “Bring Back Slavery” Book Series Trailer

“Volonians” Book Series Looks to Capitalize on Diversity: Representation and Media
PR Newswire’s release, “Black Authors’ Book Teaser Will Make Your Kids a Slave to Reading” presents the new book series “Volonians” and the ten minute companion YouTube ‘teaser-trailer’ for the series, “Bring Back Slavery.”

Trailer Insight: Teaser Illustrates the Series in the Color-Diverse Spectrum of the Volonian World
The focus of the release is the book series’ trailer which, over the course of the near-ten minute production, depicts a series of characters who presumably constitute the main characters of the texts (action summary of video below).[1]

For the authors, the bottom-line for this press release is to drive interest to their book series (sales) and to their “Let’s Read” initiative, a program for which they are looking for major sponsors.


[1] The imagery centers around a hooded figure in chains- later revealed to be a black woman- being judged and sentenced to slavery by two ‘lords’ of the realm, a white man and woman. The lords would seem to function at the behest of Roman, a black man who is later revealed to be the husband of the chained (and by the trailer’s end, runaway outlaw) woman. In the midst of this interchange of adults there are two young children who appear to engage with the chained woman and disappear after her own escape.
 

FREE, SAME-DAY Shipping to the Desert? REVOLVE has it covered!


REVOLVE clothing, a leading online retailer, will offer same-day shipping to customers in the Coachella Valley for the first two weekends of the festival – April 10-12 and April 17-19. This is the company’s first attempt at same day shipping and the products will reach customers faster than ever before. A fleet of REVOLVE branded vans will be delivering products within hours of placing the order; the vans will come straight from Los Angeles. The company’s CEO makes clear that the festival season has become a fashion season in its own right. By offering the same-day delivery, REVOLVE can make sure that the merchandise is available for the event of the year. The areas included will be Palm Springs, Indio, La Quinta, and Palm Desert. All orders placed by noon will be delivered by 6 that evening, anything ordered after will be delivered the next day. 

The release was featured in Forbes, Yahoo Finance and most major fashion outlets.