THE NINJA NEWS
(Official online propaganda organ of Gene Autry's Ninja Warriors)

DECEMBER 2007

Greetings in Trivia and Happy Holidays to the Ninjas!

Well, friends, it is just about time for an update on all things Trivial!  I hope 
you all have had an enjoyable fall, and those of you in the midwest—how about that 
ice storm??  Yikes!  But you know what is coming up soon... the Rockin' New Years 
Eve, the Rose Parade, the Packers in the playoffs, Super Bowl commercials, the 
Oscars, and then TRIVIA!  Here are some news updates to get your motors running!!

*** TRIVIA THEME ANNOUNCED ***

On Saturday, December 1st, the theme for Trivia 2008 was announced by the Great and 
Powerful Oz.  Drum roll, please... the theme is THE TRIVIA INVASION!  Already the trivia 
buffs at the discussion board are trying to read deep meaning into this theme.  Does 
it refer to the 
"British Invasion" of pop music in the 60s?  Alien invasion movies (such as War of 
the Worlds and Invasion of the Body Snatchers)?  Something else?  Who knows, but 
I'm definitely interested in shoring up our sci-fi movie note collection!  Get 
ready for the TRIVIA INVASION, APRIL 11, 12, AND 13, 2008!!!

*** HAPPY ANNOUNCEMENTS ***

I'm sure I've missed some here, folks.  Let me know and I'll add more to this section!

Ninjas Matt and Jo announce the arrival of the latest Warrior, their baby KIAN!
Ninjas Tim and Jill V. are expecting baby number two next June!
Ninjas Rick and Luz announce the arrival of baby VICTORIA!
Ninjas Andrew and Megan are expecting baby number two in January!
Please send me more happy announcements!

*** MOVIE NOTE-TAKING—THE DRIVE FOR 1000 CONTINUES ***

As of this morning, when I typed up the notes for the 1957 version of "3:10 to Yuma," 
the Ninja movie-note collection sits at 928.  The goal?  1000 total movie notes by Trivia 
2008, which puts us, let's see here, 72 away!  If each one of you took notes on just 
ONE movie between now and then, we'd easily get there (because some folks take notes on 
lots of movies).  So please check out the list at ganw.tripod.com/movienotes.html 
and help us reach movie-note nirvana!!  There are lots of good movies left to get notes on!

*** HAS YOUR ADDRESS CHANGED? ***

Each time I send out a newsletter or an e-trivia update, I inevitably get error 
messages from the postal service or my computer, telling me someone's address 
has changed.  If you change your e-mail address or if you move, please let me know, 
so you can stay up-to-date with the friendliest trivia team on the planet.  Also, I'm 
always looking for NEW NINJAS, so please forward me contact info for potential new trivia nuts!

*** COMING IN JANUARY: THE OSCAR-PICKING CONTEST ***

Yes, that's right, the Oscar nominations are announced on January 22nd, and by the 
end of that week I will have mailed out the January newsletter, which will include 
the Oscar-picking contest.  I want to BREAK our record of participation in 
the contest!  So start thinking about all those great movies that you may or may not 
have seen!  The newsletter will also have other news and calls to action!

Folks, outside my window there are huge piles of snow, and the sidewalks are glazed 
over with ice, but inside GANW-land there is a slow build-up of trivia excitement!  
Enjoy your holidays, save any interesting wrappers or fast-food promotional items 
you might run across, watch some great movies, and get ready to play TRIVIA, Fast Eddie!!!!!!

Mike

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SEPTEMBER, 2007

Well, folks, I didn’t quite meet my goal of monthly trivia newsletters, 
but I hope you all had a wonderful summer.  It is now fall, the start of Trivia 
Season (although some would argue that the Rose Parade is the official start).  
Here is some news and a call for ACTION!

**** GANW BABY SHOWER FOR MATT AND JOANN THIS SATURDAY ****

You are all invited to a baby shower for Ninjas Matt and Joann, who are expecting 
a baby in a little over a month!!!  The shower will be this coming Saturday, 
September 15, at 1 p.m. and will be held at GANW headquarters in Stevens Point.  
Be there and help celebrate the impending arrival of the next Ninja Warrior!

**** FALL TV SEASON STARTS SOON! ****

Every fall hope springs eternal that the new crop of TV shows will be better than 
last season's.  There are some interesting-looking shows that will be premiering 
in the next few weeks, and we need NOTES.  Take a look at the schedule grid at

http://epguides.com/grid/fall.shtml

and pick out a show, or two, or three.  The Bionic Woman has already been claimed, 
but otherwise there are lots of good shows to choose from!  There are big trivia 
points to be gathered in these shows!

**** REPORT FROM SUMMER MOVIE NOTETAKING ****

Well, the results are in from our summer movie note "pledge drive" and it was a 
great success.  We had a total of 31 movie notes taken this summer, which is much 
better than our usual summer effort.  We are now less than ninety movies away 
from bringing our total collection to 1000 movies!  I’ll be having another "pledge 
drive" when trivia season really kicks off in January, but until then, feel free 
to check the movie note list at

http://ganw.tripod.com/movienotes.html

and help us add to the list!!

That is the news for now... best of luck to the Packers and to all of you as we head 
into fall.  I will be in touch before the snow flies!

Trivia On!

Mike



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JUNE, 2007

Greetings in trivia to all you Ninjas!  As I promised in the recap letter, I'll be 
publishing a SHORT online newsletter each month, to keep you thinking just a 
little bit "trivially" during the "off-season."  It is a gorgeous June day as I write 
this; I hope you have all had the chance to get out and enjoy the season!

**** QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS AVAILABLE FOR TRIVIA 2007! ****

A team of three Ninjas (myself, Donn M. and Don S.) have been busy analyzing the 
questions from this year's contest.  They have ALL been typed up (40 pages' worth), 
and are available to you as an e-mail attachment... just let me know if you'd like 
them!  I have also posted them in our Yahoo group "Files" 
section (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ganw is the website).

**** NINJA NOTE-TAKING PLEDGE DRIVE! ****

Here's a question for you: what do the following movies have in common?

Babel, Crash, Father's Little Dividend, Flags of Our Fathers, Hollywoodland, 
Invincible, Knocked Up, Letters From Iwo Jima, Lady in the Water, The Man Who Shot 
Liberty Valance, and Stagecoach.

If you guessed that those are the movies we have taken notes on since Trivia 2007, 
you are correct!  Give yourself 10 trivia points.  That's a good start to the movie 
note-taking season, but I've decided to create an ambitious goal for our team, and 
I need YOUR help.  

As I write this, our archive of movie notes is sitting at 893 films--not bad, not 
bad at all.  However, Network has at least one member who has taken notes on thousands 
of movies.  We're not aiming that high, but here is my goal... let's get our total 
movie note collection to ONE THOUSAND MOVIES by the start of Trivia 2008!

To get us on our way, I'm staging the very first GANW "Summer Movie Note-Taking Pledge 
Drive"!  I’m asking for pledges to take notes on movies (old or new, current releases, 
oldies on TCM, or DVDs, it doesn't matter).  If everyone on our team pledged to take 
notes on just TWO movies this summer, we'd just about make our goal, with many months 
to spare before Trivia 2008!

Now, I know that some folks just don't watch many movies--that's fine, there 
are lots of ways to support the team!  But if you DO like to catch the occasional 
flick in the air-conditioned comfort of a movie theater, or your home theater, 
the Ninjas would appreciate a couple of movie notes from you.  The SUGGESTED PLEDGE 
for movie lovers is just 2-3 movies (one per month), but feel free to pledge however 
many you'd like.  The payoff will come when, one fine April day, we use YOUR notes 
to answer a big-pointer!  Trust me, it's a great feeling to open your notes and 
find the answer there!

The pledge drive will cover June through August.  We may have another one later 
in the season.  I'll report how we did in the July issue of the e-newsletter!  
Please e-mail me at ganw1@yahoo.com with your pledge, and keep checking our 
online list of movie notes so that we don't duplicate our efforts.  Bookmark the list:

http://ganw.tripod.com/movienotes.html

THAT'S ALL FOLKS!  Keep enjoying your summer, enter our movie-note pledge drive, and stay in touch!