I’ve blogged about Blurb before (see the photo book I made with them), and you know how much I love them. Blurb is a publishing company providing a print-on-demand book publishing service for the public. In other words: you can create your own books! Blurb offers a free downloadable book layout software client, BookSmart, with which you can create your own books with your own text and images. The completed book can then be uploaded to Blurb, and you can order any amount of copies.

Blurb is currently running a competition for their photo book users, where you can enter a photo book you’ve created for a chance to win $3000. All you have to do is submit any photo book you’ve made  before the 22nd of October (it has to be published though at least once after 17th September 2009). There are 3 different categories (Family, Travel, Pets) that will be judged and each has a $3000 category winner and a $1000 runner-up.

The wonderful people at Blurb have offered me 3 vouchers of £30 to give away to my readers, so that they can create and enter their own photo book into the competition. Just leave a comment behind here with your best photography tip. The contest closes on Monday 12th October 15:00 and the 3 winners will be drawn at random.

I kind of like the campaign for the new Ford Ka: it’s all about letting people find and explore the hidden gems out there, everything from cool funky fashion boutiques to the best music venues. The latest TV advert for the Ka doesn’t even feature the actual car until the last moment, but has hundreds of Ka silhouettes hidden in the decor:

Besides that their website Go Find It has all sots of cool “gems” featured for tons of cities. It’s great to find some cool and interesting new spots to visit.

I’ve got a cool competition for you all. One of my readers here will win the invite to an exclusive real life treasure hunt/private shopping session next Thursday (3rd of September) at the Bankside London JoY store, together with me and several other bloggers (and their readers). During the course of the evening you’ll get the chance to find silver Ka miniatures which will be hidden in the store, and redeem them against £60 worth of JoY vouchers.

All you have to do to have a chance to take part in this exclusive event is to find the Ford Ka hidden on this blog. To help you along I’ll tell you this: it’s within a post from 2009, and “butterflies”. Once you’ve found the Ka, leave a comment behind on that post answering this question: “Tell us about your hidden gem in London“.

The top three most amazing/funniest/brilliant responses will be chosen by the people at We Are Social (who set up this event) and I will then select a finalist. The competition ends on Tuesday, September 1st 17:00.

I really enjoyed some of the previous Need For Speed titles (I played a lot back in my old student flat), so when I got an email inviting me to a special press event I was psyched to go! Turns out though it’s in the Bay Area, not exactly easily reachable for me. Instead though I can give away two tickets here on my blog, so one of you lucky readers (plus a friend) is going to be able to enjoy this event.

Here’s the info:
Date: Thursday 13th August, 2009
Location: Icon Longe SF
Time: 5p-8p
Food & Beverage will be served. DJ will be on hand.

The event will offer the first glimpses of Need For Speed Shift. Plus you’ll have the opportunity to play the game, ask questions to developers & EA staff, and interact with your fellow gamers from the Bay Area! Here’s a trailer of the game:

If you want to enter this competition, all you have to do is leave a comment below with your name, email address, and which video game is your favourite (and why). Entries are open to anyone, but you have to be able to come to the Bay Area to enjoy this prize.

This contest is now closed.

In anticipation of Terry Gilliam’s latest movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, the BFI Southbank are holding a Terry Gilliam season. Each of Gilliam’s movies will be screened 2-3 times in August (excluding his short features). So that’s:

• The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
• Brazil
• The Brothers Grimm
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
• The Fisher King
• Jabberwocky
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail
• Tideland
• Time Bandits
• Twelve Monkeys

Check out the dates of all the screenings on the BFI website.

I think it’s a great idea that the BFI are screening all of Terry Gilliam’s movies again. I loved Twelve Monkeys, but never got to see it in the cinema. Plus I still haven’t seen Brazil, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or Tideland, even though they’ve been for ages on my list of films to watch. If anybody else is up for it, I’m thinking we should arrange a meetup to (at least) one of these movies; leave a comment behind if you’re interested.

Thanks to BFI, I’ve got two pairs of tickets to give away here to any of the Terry Gilliam screenings mentioned on their site. All you have to do is leave a comment below with your name, email address, and which Terry Gilliam movie is your favourite (and why). Entries are open to anyone, but you have to be able to come to London to enjoy this prize. Contest deadline is July 31st 13:00. I’ll contact the winners that same afternoon and they’ll be able to choose which movie and which screening to go to.

Check out the screenings for the Terry Gilliam season on the BFI website.

Yesterday I was shopping around in Central London and much to my surprised I found a painted kangaroo statue. I didn’t think much of it, just thought it was some new artwork they planted there. But then I came across a second one. And a third one.

Turns out it’s for a contest to promote South Australia, sponsored by Flight Centre UK and Qantas. The idea is that there are twenty adventurous kangaroos that have escaped from Kangaroo Island and you’ve got to round them up so that they can be reunited with their friends. You only need to find 4 of them to enter the competition to win a group holiday for 4 to South Australia. Here are pictures of all 20 kangaroos and easy tips to find them:

They’ve also got a cute Twitter account Roo Catcher, that gives tips and extra photo clues to find the roos. I’ve already found four of them (and entered the competition), but I’d love to try to track all 20 of them down before they’re gone. I didn’t have my camera with me last time, so I’m thinking of maybe organising a photo walk to find all 20 kangaroos. Thing is: they’re only still around for a week or so (according to the Twitter account), so you’ve got to hurry in finding them.

Check out Kangaroo Island Hunt and Roo Catcher for more details.

Win tickets to Sci-Fi London’s Italian Horror All-Nighter!

As part of Sci-Fi London’s line-up of events, there will be an Italian Horror All-Nighter at midnight on Saturday 2nd May.

The event, which is sponsored by Electronic Arts’ new title Dante’s Inferno, sees four classics being given a rare screening. These are: Mario Bava’s The Mask of Satan (aka Black Sunday); Dario Argento’s Sleepless; Lamberto Bava’s Macabre and Mario Bava and Salvatore Billitteri’s Black Sabbath.

The venue for the event is the Apollo West End Cinema and tickets for the all-nighter include a goody bag, Red Bull and ice-cream. Visit www.sci-fi-london.com for more information.

I’ve got a pair of tickets to this great event up for grabs. Just take a look at the following question:

What’s Your Favourite Horror Movie?

Email your answer to contest@missgeeky.com by the end of 30th April (that’s tomorrow!) and don’t forget to include your name and telephone number.

I will contact the winner of the 2 tickets on Friday 1st May. Please note that travel & accommodation is not included. Entrants must be over 18.

It’s still the Christmas Holidays, so I’m still allowed an attempt to finish my 12 Posts of Christmas series (this is post #6, do you still think I can finish it all on time?). To celebrate the holiday season, I’ll be giving a couple of cool books away in the next couple of days here on my blog.

The first one is Night Play from Sherrilyn Kenyon. It’s from one of my favourite romance series, the Dark-Hunters, and I’ve been meaning to write a blog post about it. In short, it’s a vampire and shapeshifter world, but with Greek mythology and it’s gods thrown into the mix. 

All you have to do to win this book, is leave a comment behind here with what your favourite book is. Entries must be left behind before next week Monday (so deadline is 23:59 Sunday 4th) and is open to all countries.