Right now, Congress is discussing two bills, the “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA) and “PROTECT-IP Act” (PIPA), which could effectively censor the Internet, akin to the situation in countries like China, under the guise of preventing piracy and protecting copyright.

If passed, websites could be effectively shut down, blocked off, have their domain names revoked, and their owners/administrators held criminally liable for the flimsiest of copyright infringement claims. Yes, even the Georgia Ghostbusters and its faithful Hat Rack webmaster would be at risk for rampant copyright infringement on a certain beloved ’80s comedy film.

Websites like Reddit, Wikipedia, and others have totally blacked out in opposition to this threat, while others such as Google have joined the cause by raising awareness.

To find out more, read below:
https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/sopa-pipa/
http://americancensorship.org/

Please contact your representatives and let them know what a colossally bad move passing these bills would be.
If you’re in Georgia, bad news. Your Senators are BOTH cosponsors of PIPA.

Johnny Isakson
http://isakson.senate.gov/

Saxby Chambliss
http://chambliss.senate.gov/

Thank you all for your time, and keep fighting the good fight, children.

Jairus out.

Dragon*Con is the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the universe!

This year, Dragon*Con will be held Labor Day weekend (September 2-5, 2011) in Atlanta, GA, and for the third year in a row DragonCon will also be the home to PKE Surge, the largest gathering of Ghostbuster fans this side of the Mississippi!

Dragon*Con is a 4 day event and PKE Surge will be a presence all 4 days, but the main day of our little con-within-a-con is Saturday. What can you expect? Well….

The day starts with the annual Dragon*Con parade, we already have over 60 Ghostbusters planning to march alongside at least 6 Ectomobiles!

Saturday night brings our annual NIGHT ON THE TOWN!

WHERE: Mellow Mushroom (400 W. Peachtree St | Map)
WHEN: Saturday, September 3, 2011
MEET: Outside the front lobby of the Hyatt at 7 p.m. EDT. We are walking as a group to the dinner.

Remember that cool little pizza joint where we had our Night on the Town dinner last year? They loved us! We’re going back!

It’s time to once again put down the throwers and traps, and stuff your face with some of the best pizza Atlanta has to offer!

Saturday night, you are cordially invited to eat and relax at Mellow Mushroom! Please leave your packs and gear behind, but if you’d like to throw on your flight suit, please do!

We are asking that you meet as a group in front of the Hyatt promptly at (or a little before) 7 p.m. We are leaving at that time. We encourage you to walk as a group to the restaurant.

You will be ordering on your own ticket, and please remember to tip nicely. These guys at MM are being very gracious to us once again. There will be plenty of pizza, salads, beer, calzones, hoagies … you name it! We’ll have a big room all to ourselves, so come and enjoy!

But the Night on the Town isn’t JUST about pizza and beer….there’s also AWARDS!

We are proud to announce the categories for the 2011 Crunch Awards!

The awards will be given away at a brief ceremony during the Night on the Town dinner
The awards are constructed and complete thanks to the magical skill and talent of Tennessee Ghostbuster Jamie Hitchcock!

The cateories are a little different this year and are as follows.

GOLD
“Iron Man Award” -Owner of the heaviest gear
“Best Representation of a Ghostbuster”
“Best Represented Female Ghosthead”
“Best New or Original Prop”

SILVER
“How the bayeeby?” -Best kids costume
“You have been a bad monkey!” -Best GB Villian Costume
“There’s Something you don’t see every day.” -Most Unusual GB Costume
“The Traveler has come” -GB who made the longest trek to the con
“You poor, poor man.” -Best Big D Impersonation.

NICE JOB YOU DID!
Just when you thought NJYD was dead…this award goes to the GB who had the most gear break, get crushed, or generally fall apart, primarily during the parade, but anytime at the con up to the dinner qualifies.

IT THE CAR!
This goes to the owner of the Ecto who drove in from the greatest distance! Distances will be recorded during the parade lineup so you must run your ecto in the parade to win.

And finally, many Ghostbusters franchises, including ours like to help out charities. So we are proud to announce the first ever PKE Surge Charity Auction! Presented by..

The auction will be LIVE ONLY and will take place at the “Night on the Town” dinner, Saturday Sept. 3rd at the Mellow Mushroom.

The auction will benefit the Shriners Hospitals for Children (more on them here: http://www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org/ )

And now, the items!

A new in package ComicCon Exclusive Ghostbusters II Ecto-1 plate by Diamond Select

A Matty Collector PKE Meter still in the unopened white box

an autographed pic of Slimer herself, Robin Shelby! (Special thanks to Brock and of course Ms Shelby for the contribution!)

And yes…a PROTON PACK!!!!!
The pack to be auctioned off is currently being built by Jairus Whitley. It will have lights but NO SOUND.

Chace Ambrose and Jarius Whitley will be at the dinner dressed in their finest old timey auctioneering outfits, so get ready to bid for a good cause!

So come on out to Dragon*Con and PKE Surge! We’re ready to believe you!

For more info on DragonCon check http://dragoncon.org

Yep another joint operation! We’re joining Alabama, Tennessee, and several other franchises for a special screening of Ghostbusters II at the historic Alabama Theatre in Birmingham, July 30th at 7:00…

BUT WAIT! THERE”S MORE!

YOUR CHANCE TO HELP OUT SOME PEOPLE IN NEED, WHILE ALSO OBTAINING SOME AWESOME SWAG!!!

“What Kind?” you ask? The answer after the bump!

Many areas of our country have been devastated by tornadoes this year, and Alabama saw a massive outbreak on April 27.  Many people not only lost their lives, but numerous folks lost everything they own. Despite slowly fading from the media and public eye, recovery and relief efforts are still ongoing.  We’re hoping we can help, while giving you the chance to bid on some awesome “Ghostbusters” items in return.

On July 30, 2011, the Alabama Ghostbusters will be screening “Ghostbusters 2″ at the Alabama Theatre in Birmingham.  The week of the screening, they are holding a tornado relief auction.  All money raised will go directly to the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham’s Alabama Tornado Recovery Fund.  We are absorbing all administrative costs for this auction.

You’ll be able to bid on these items even if you’re unable to make it to the showing.  We will have all the items on eBay (direct links to be given later) the week of the screening.  If you are able to make it, we will have computers set up so you can bid, or feel free to use your smartphones, etc.  All the auctions will end that night, and if you win and are there in person, you’ll be able to take the item home right then.

So … what will you be able to bid on?

To begin, how about some items donated from Ernie “Winston” Hudson himself?  Ernie graciously donated signed photos, a signed copy of “Ghostbusters” on DVD and an “I’ve Been Slimed” shirt (size Large).  Our captain and webmaster, Kevin Gardner, donated a Mattel PKE meter which Ernie has also signed.

We will hold a couple of the signed photos to auction off that night at the screening. The others will be on eBay. The mini GB2 poster you see will also be up for grabs, but it will have another signature on it.

I don’t have a photo at this moment because the items have not yet returned (I’ll post it when they do), but Dan Aykroyd is also signing the mini GB2 poster. He is also signing a pair of Ecto Goggles built/donated by Roberto Suarez and a trap built/donated by Todd Campbell.  Dan has had the items since mid-June, so hopefully they’ll return in time.  If not, we’ll auction them off as soon as we get them.

Up next, “Ghostbusters” comic book artist “Dapper” Dan Schoening has donated a signed copy of “What in Samhain Just Happened?” and three original sketches from that book (watermarks obviously not on the real artwork).

Next, Jaime Hitchcock pulled out her creative talents and customization skills.  You know, the 12″ Mattel figures of our favorite guys are just plain lonely without … Janine!  Here are two versions, one from each movie!  Movie-accurate accessories will be included.

Jaime also created a plush RGB version of our beloved ugly green spud, Slimer!

Speaking of plush items, Liz Vitale from Puppatoons has created a large Stay Puft Marshmallow Man!  He’s super cuddly without the sugary goo!

Liz’s husband, Steve, is an animator for Cartoon Network and Turner Studios.  He has combined two forms of addiction into one art piece.  The artwork is 11×14, Giclée printed using pigmented inks onto Museo Silver Rag, archival fine art 16×20 paper, matted and framed in a 16×20 frame (again, watermarks not on the final print).

You know you want this book donated by Chris Weller. To the big GB fan, I don’t have to tell you how rare this is. It’s in great shape, too!

To round it out, how would you like to own the original light bar from one of the most recognizable fan-made Ectomobiles out there?  Chace Ambrose is donating the original lightbar from the Ecto-1G

There you have it!  There may be one or two extra items to sneak in here, but we hope you like what you see, and please remember this is all about helping out people who lost so much during the tornadoes.  We’re doing this because our friends, neighbors, families and some of our own members were affected. The auction will be on eBay AND some items will be live at the screening!

You already know who to call.  July 30th at 7:00pm you know where to BE! The Alabama theatre for GB2!!!!

Sabin in the lead with the Ecto-1S

Sabin' the Day! (See what I did there?)

Special thanks to Robin Cook Photography for all the these awesome photos, AND for our impromptu mini-photo shoot!

Nice job you did! :)

And last but not least, the little girl that stole the show!

That’s right! March 20th at 3pm the Georgia Ghostbusters will march in the annual parade (which will be aired on televison  Tuesday March 22 on 41 WNBC at 7:00pm)

This will be our first time back at the Cherry Blossom parade in a few years and we are happy to return!

Ecto-1G, ERV (the Ecto Response Vehicle), and possibly the awesome Ecto-1S (Sabin’s Power Wheels Ecto) will make be there along with a few of the best, the beautiful, the ONLY Georgia Ghostbusters!

Come out and say hello!

Team member Michael Koske has created an awesome new Ecto by thinking a little outside the box. Ladies and Gentlemen we present the ERV (Ecto Response Vehicle)

One of our newer members is Joseph Lavender who has officially earned “SUPERDAD” status by creating the Ecto-1S for his son Sabin! (We still need to have him drive it out of the back of the 1G!)

Sabin is pleased

And speaking of Joe Lavender, he’s also working on a funeral coach based Ecto! We’ll keep you updated as he progresses. GOOD LUCK JOE!

To be Continued

We took Santa to 3 homes that night and rather than try to explain how heartwarming it was, I’ll let one of our members, Matt Odom’s photos do the talking.

Also special thanks to members Leon and Betsy Wilkes who brought food for one of the families

We WILL be taking part in this great event again next year!

Also NewsCentral did a story on one of the families.

http://www.newscentralga.com/news/local/Meet-the-Family-That-Saved-Christmas–112573714.html

The Alabama and Tennessee Ghostbusters were also well represented at the Con. Oh…did I mention Ernie Hudson was there?

Nice job you did! :)

From left to right: Tom, Ernie, Rookie

And speaking of lucky, we’ve been invited back next year and promised a larger table and space for multiple vehicles!