Film geeks are a special breed. They’re a bunch of people who straddle that line between art snobiness and hipster snarkiness. They’re extremely passionate about the movies they watch and can dissect a film into its integral parts – practically reverse engineering them. One of the most entertaining things on the web is to see a bunch of film geeks talk about a movie. It’s part entertainment, part scholarly debate and all fun. If you’re looking to see how fun a film discussion can get then head on out to ForeverGeek and its new forum.
ForeverGeek, the go to place for all things geeky on the internet, has recently opened the ForeverGeek forum. [Read more…]
The WikiLeaks Saga Goes On: New Data Center in Bunker
Every once in a while, something big breaks out and the whole world is caught up in the mess. The most recent worldwide source of a lot of yakking is WikiLeaks, the web site that is releasing juicy secrets of the United States government. Whatever you may think of the issue, the fact remains that the hullabaloo is far from over.
Just the other day, we heard about founder Julian Assange being arrested surrendering himself in the United Kingdom. More developments have been coming up – various entities have been dropping WikiLeaks as if it were hotcakes. Financial institutions have blocked funds. Even Amazon has stopped providing access to their servers.
All this has not stopped the controversial site from operating. As of this writing, WikiLeaks can still be accessed – try it by clicking on the first link in this post. How is this possible? They now have a new home in a Cold War bunker somewhere in Switzerland. The company that is providing the hosting services is called Bahnhof, and the physical equipment is protected by 30 meters of rocky ground, thick metal doors, and backup generators from German submarines – among many other security measures, for sure. Here’s an impressive video.
I guess it really is not a surprise that WikiLeaks has been able to find a new data center that quickly. In spite of how controversial it is – or maybe because of the controversy, actually – many international data service centers would probably jump at the chance to be part of this whole thing. Of course, some will not go anywhere near a mile of Assange at this point, but the same cannot be said of everyone.
I reckon we will be hearing from – and about – WikiLeaks for the foreseeable future.
Piers Morgan Replacing Larry King
America’s Got Talent host and British journalist Piers Morgan has signed on with CNN as Larry King’s replacement. Though he won’t be taking over King’s chair (or trademark suspenders), he’ll be launching a similar hour-long interview program in King’s longtime time slot.
Larry King Live is scheduled to air its final show on December 16th; Morgan’s as-yet-unnamed show will begin in January. In addition to his duties on America’s Got Talent — which he’s not giving up — Morgan is also well-known in Great Britain as a newspaper reporter and editor, and as host of the BBC show Piers Morgan’s Life Stories. Morgan is also expected to contribute regular columns to CNN.com.
Typo In Cookbook Causes Stir
My day job requires a lot of proofreading on a regular basis. Indeed, proofreading has become so much of a habit that I do it all the time. Sometimes, the habit actually becomes irritating, especially when I am reading for the sheer pleasure of it.
Still, no one can deny the importance of this task. I am pretty sure that the editing staff at Penguin Group Australia is beating themselves up for a “slight” proofreading error. What happened?
A cookbook dubbed the Pasta Bible has been published and released with a typo. So what’s the big deal? We all know that despite the rigorous processes involved in writing, editing, and publishing books, things do slip by people. That’s why we are called human.
In the case of the Pasta Bible, however, the slip is quite a significant one: one recipe calls for “salt and freshly ground black people!”
Obviously, this one-word typo is simply that – a typo. The implications of the incorrect word and the possible repercussions are quite intimidating, though.
On the part of Penguin, they are downplaying the issue. Bob Sessions, the head of publishing, says that it is nothing but a “silly” mistake, and agrees that the proofreader should have caught it. He further says that “We’re mortified that this has become an issue of any kind and why anyone would be offended, we don’t know. We’ve said to bookstores that if anyone is small-minded enough to complain about this … silly mistake, we will happily replace (the book) for them.”
Watch and Support “Hope for Haiti Now”
If there’s only one TV show you can watch this week I recommend that it be the “Hope for Haiti Now” telethon. The telethon is obviously meant to raise funds for Haiti.
Show schedule for the telethon is January 22, Friday, at 8PM ET/PT and 7PM CT. It will be shown simultaneously on the following networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1 and CMT. Since it will be showing on so many channels there’s no reason to miss it while channel surfing. However, what’s really important is not really watching the show but supporting the fundraising effort. It doesn’t matter if you give via the telethon or directly to charity organizations that are currently helping out in Haiti.
All proceeds of the fundraising telethon will be split evenly among the following: Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund, Oxfam America, Partners in Health, the Red Cross, UNICEF and Yele Haiti Foundation and World Food Programme.
And as if the cause is not enough reason to watch and give our support to they’ll have the yumminess of George Clooney as host in LA, my personal fantasy, Anderson Cooper to cover the story live in Port Au Prince, and Wyclef Jean in New York.
The show will be star-studded for sure with the music industry greats such as Jay-Z, Coldplay, Bono, Shakira, and Taylor Swift coming out in full force to lend their support.
Now it’s our turn to give ours.