Australia announces mandatory internet filters to protect children. “Labor [Party] makes no apologies to those that argue that any regulation of the internet is like going down the Chinese road,” telecommunications minister Stephen Conroy said. I’m not sure which is a greater sign of your country moving to a totalitarian state: internet censorship or leaders referring to their party as object (Labor makes not apologies…).
Monthly Archive for December, 2007
Zach Braff Quotes. In the vein of Chuck Norris facts, somebody created a site full of made up quotes attributed to Zach Braff, satirizing Braff and movie stars in general. My favorite so far: “Is ‘Garden State’ the next ‘Citizen Kane’? Of course not. I’d like to think we aimed a little higher than that, frankly.” - Zach Braff
New Lost Season 4 Trailer. Lost is coming back in January to satisfy the needs of strike weary TV viewers (and possibly leave an awkward cliffhanger since only 8 episodes were filmed pre-strike). This trailer is longer than the first preview I saw and gives a good idea of what’s to come. It looks like the show is going to take on the seismic shift alluded to in last year’s finale and this season might actually have a little more plot than past years. (credit: Ain’t It Cool News)
Inquirer: Outdoor game with Pens floated. Flyers GM Paul Holmgren wants to see his team play an annual outdoor hockey game with Pittsbugh at Beaver Stadium. IN. Of course there is that little problem of JoePa not letting anyone on the field (probably for fear of overshadowing football as much as protecting the field). Still, its an exciting idea.
ZDNet: WordPress vs. an army of clunky content management systems. As someone who has attempted to build and maintain one of those “other” content management systems, I agree 100% with this article. My only compliant is that more people haven’t extended WordPress or built plug-ins to add the features that print publishers want/need.
Inquirer: Stripped of their rights. Part 2 of a series on police abuses in Pennsylvania, this article discusses how local police strip search people for minor crimes despite court rulings that ban them. Yesterday they discussed how suburban police harass minorities. What strikes me most about these stories is they are exactly the type of stories that a metropolitan newspaper should be doing and demonstrates what will be lost if these papers go under. What I don’t understand is why this story is the top on Philly.com right now instead of the in-depth series.
Earlier this month the NPR podcast All Songs Considered released their annual year in review episode, which made me realize I have been listening to the show for 2 years now. I remember finding their 2005 year in review episode and getting caught up in their opening track: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s “The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth”. I’ve been listening ever since and its been a great treat to look forward to on Thursday evenings. All Songs Considered does a pretty good job of sampling the latest in contemporary music and had helped me shape and refine my musical tastes. So in honor of two years of good podcasts and great music, here are some of the artists and albums I discovered through the show.
  Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Clap Your Hands Say Yeah |
  Picaresque The Decemberists |
  Z My Morning Jacket |
  Illinois Sufjan Stevens |
  St. Elsewhere Gnarls Barkley |
  The Crane Wife The Decemberists |
  Return to Cookie Mountain TV on the Radio |
  Boys and Girls in America The Hold Steady |
  Boxer The National |
  Memory Almost Full Paul McCartney |
  The Stage Names Okkervil River |
  Challengers The New Pornographers |
I could have listed many more, but I tried to limit myself to artists or albums I heard for the first time on the show. The exception to that is The Decemberists’ The Crane Wife because I probably would not have bought the album if I hadn’t heard it on All Songs. It’s also worth noting that I downloaded more than half of these albums from eMusic, a DRM-free music download service that’s great for discovering independent artists. I look forward to hearing All Songs’ listetener’s picks for best albums of 2007 this week.
I finally got my Christmas lights up at the apartment - I’m just hoping the hooks and suction cups continue to hold up 
Last Collegian post for a while hopefully. During my sophomore year a documentary filmmaker followed the students at the Collegian around to make a movie about the American media. Tonight it’s premiering on PBS’ Independent Lens at 10pm. I’m not in the movie (I actually took a semester off from the Collegian that year), but I worked with a lot of the people who were featured in it. I saw the film this spring and its pretty well done so if you get a chance tonight, check it out.
The Daily Collegian Online launched a new redesign with wider pages and improved navigation. It was a little bittersweet to see my original design fall by the way side but its great to see that they’re constantly improving the site. They’re really upped the ante with their multimedia features and sports blogs. I’m very proud to see how far we’ve come since we started in 2005 and since the new guys took over this summer. Kudos to Ryan, Dan, and the rest of the staff.