Troop Drive Coincides with the July 13^th Premiere of HBO Films' Original Miniseries, Generation Kill, Based on Evan Wright's New York Times-Bestselling Book, Re-Released This Month by Berkley

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Penguin Group (USA) is partnering with HBO as a sponsor of the Generation Kill Troop Drive, a program that will deliver care packages to troops destined for Iraq and Afghanistan. The troop drive is scheduled to coincide with the July 13, 2008 premiere of HBO Films' original miniseries, Generation Kill, which is based on the award-winning, New York Times-bestselling Putnam/Berkley book of the same name by Evan Wright, who was embedded with the First Reconnaissance Battalion for the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. The seven-part miniseries, written and executive-produced by The Wire's David Simon and Ed Burns, airs on HBO every Sunday night through August 24^th.

Following Generation Kill screenings for veterans and active duty soldiers who were deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, HBO compiled a list of goods that soldiers request while overseas - an authentic Marine "Wish List" - that includes everything from razor blades and socks, to DVD's and video games. Penguin Group (USA) has donated 4,000 Tom Clancy books in support of the cause.

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Video games...two words that women hate. Our boyfriends and husbands can spend countless hours trying to beat the Patriots in Madden Football or mowing down pedestrians while driving through the streets of Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto 4. I used to sit there in boredom watching my college boyfriend (now my husband) play one of his three video game systems. He had a Playstation 2, Xbox and, at one point, a Game Cube as well. Of course I was trying to impress him and be the cool girlfriend that supports video games since most girls complained about it.

Well, one day, the unthinkable happened; I actually started enjoying watching him play, and then started playing them myself. It became fun and while I was working for MTV in NYC, my co-host, Damien, and his girlfriend would come over to play Condemned: Criminal Origins on Xbox 360. It was so much fun! I began to appreciate how difficult it was to play these games and how hard it was to beat them. It took us days to beat Condemned.

Recently, we got Guitar Hero 3 and let me tell you...it's a blasty! We get together with my husband's younger brothers or with friends in Los Angeles and have evenings of trying to out-do each other on the "guitar".