For 24 hours (beginning at 12:00am EST on the 18th of January, year 2012), Wikipedia will go dark to the English-reading world.

The online encyclopedia made the decision to make such a bold statement in hopes of educating the masses on SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), and the immense negative effects and restrictions that it could bring to the internet if it were to be made law. [...]

Back in September a story caught fire about a theater professor named James Miller at the University of Wisconsin–Stout who was threatened with criminal charges after intellectually challenged campus police removed a completely harmless Firefly poster for referring to killing, despite the fact that the poster actually stood for being fair and honorable.

The university stood behind the decision, and quite the battle unfolded as the professor sought his rightful freedom of speech. Then FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) got involved and contacted the university about stopping this nonsense, with no success, and so, being Firefly fans themselves, they took to the internet. [...]

On January 17, 2012 Quirk Books and debut author Jason Heller of The A.V. Club will be giving readers a brand new look at one of America’s 27th president, William Howard Taft, with Taft 2012.

The novel is a “what if” kind of book that looks at the possibility of Taft falling asleep for 100 years and waking to a whole new world. The distinguished gentleman is transported into a brand new world that is rich with technology and rapid social changes. In Taft 2012, we see what happens when William Howard Taft continues his presidential campaign to become the next President of The United States of America in the face of a vastly different society [...]

Late last Thursday evening protesters from New York’s Occupy Wall Street took their movement to an unexpected location: the set of an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

The protesters staged a “Mockpuation” at the city’s Foley Square where a replica of the movement’s former camp in Zuccotti Park had been set up, including a kitchen and library exactly like the real deal once had. The set was being used as the backdrop for an upcoming episode of SVU partially inspired by the Occupy movement.

You can watch a video of the protest here below [...]

Last week comic book writer-artist Frank Miller decided to share his opinions on the steadily-growing Occupy Wall Street movement that has spread to many major cities around the world. Miller, who’s best known for his acclaimed run on Marvel’s Daredevil — which gave the series its largest readership since its debut — as well as the classic and influential Batman miniseries The Dark Knight Returns and his own creations Sin City and Hard-Boiled, posted his thoughts at his blog. You can read the posting entitled “Anarchy” in full here below [...]

Iranian actress Marzieh Vafamehr has been sentenced to 90 lashes for her role in the 2009 Australian film My Tehran for Sale. The actress, who was arrested in July and sentenced by the court this past weekend, appeared in the movie without a headscarf on and a shaved head, and the story involved both drug use and an observation of Iran’s oppressive ways.

In a cruel twist of irony, Vafamehr played the lead in the film, also named Marzieh, an actress in Tehran whose theatre work is banned by the government, forcing her to lead a secret life in order to pursue her passions. One night she meets a fellow Iranian named Saman who now resides in Australia and offers her a chance to also escape the everyday fears of being who you want to be that come with living there.

Continue reading for more and to see a trailer for My Tehran for Sale. [...]

Area 51
An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base
Hardcover | Kindle
Written by Annie Jacobsen
Little, Brown and Company
Release date: May 17, 2011

Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base is an interesting read, as it provides an abundant history of the invention of nuclear weapons and spy planes, most of which took place at a military base that technically never existed: Area 51 in Nevada.

Annie Jacobsen provides fascinating insight and thorough history into the motives of the world’s most powerful men before, during and after the Cold War, that ends in the present day by explaining how unmanned drones save the lives of our many service members in the Middle East and, ultimately, every one of us back home on relatively safe ground.

Okay, so now we know the truth: The United States government does things we don’t know about in places that don’t officially exist. Revelation! Not so much. I’m sure by 2011, most Americans are aware that our government engages in all manner of secret shenanigans in the name of national security. And that sits just fine with me; I don’t have a “need-to-know” about exactly how the CIA, the U.S. Armed Forces, and all the President’s men (and women, but, let’s face it, mostly men) keep one step (and hopefully more) ahead of anyone who may wish to do us harm any more than I have a need-to-know about which fabric softener my favorite rock star uses. But way back in 1951 when Area 51 was created, though certainly not the first top secret government playground, the public had unlimited trust and faith that their leaders always told them the truth. Thanks to Watergate, of course, now we know different [...]

Not too long ago we shared that scientist had figured out a way to rewrite the genetic code of a worm, making us naturally think of the insane amounts of genetic alterations happening in the fantastic game, BioShock. But it doesn’t end there, folks. Everyday people are doing things that seem closer and closer to the underwater utopia built by Andrew Ryan, lovingly dubbed Rapture.

Peter Thiel founded the massive money–swapping website, Pay Pal, and also helped fund what would one day become Facebook, both being major factors in his $1.5 billion fortune, which he’s using to partake in some very interesting ventures. He’s also a geek’s dream best friend, fascinated and frustrated by that crazy future, full of unbelievable technological advancements we’ve seen so many times in movies and other forms of entertainment like jetpacks and flying cars, and how we, the human race, have yet to achieve such things. But it’s something much, much bigger than jetpacks that Thiel has invested well over a million dollars into. [...]

There’s no greater Lord of the Rings fan than Stephen Colbert, host of the most awesomest television show, The Colbert Report. So, it’s almost as if Congress was begging for a segment on his show when they recently referenced Lord of the Rings in comparison to the current debit crisis.

Watch the 4-minute segment here below from The Colbert Report, where the host tries to straighten out the Lord of the Rings analogies.

This latest incident was sparked by Sen. John McCain, who read from a Wall Street Journal editorial that referred the Tea Party members as “hobbits,” stating that “…the Tea Party hobbits could return to Middle Earth having defeated Mordor,” in regards to the Republicans refusal to raise the debt ceiling [...]

Irish-born illustrator Dave McElfatrick of popular Explosm.net web comic Cyanide & Happiness is asking for help in obtaining a work visa to the United States so he can continue working on animated shorts with co-creators Matt Melvin and Rob DenBleyker.

The only problem is that the U.S. doesn’t think C&H is legitimately popular enough to merit the type of visa McElfatrick would need to work in the country, which just seems insane until you realize how ridiculous it would sound trying to explain the humor of some of their comics to your grandma and/or crochety old uncle.

A little background on C&H for all of you who might be unfamiliar with it right off the bat: According to Alexa, Explosm.net is ranked #2,773 most popular website globally and #1,358 most popular in the U.S. America accounts for over 40 percent of the site’s total traffic. Yet, this isn’t sufficient enough to prove that he’s worthy of the visa apparently.

McElfatrick is asking fans who want to help to sign a petition and spread the word about his plight [...]

Funny or Die is known for their hilarious videos — many of which feature well-known actors in Saturday Night Live-like sketches.

Recently, the site released a new video directed by Ron Howard that reunited a bunch of SNL alumni and some special guests for a message about the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The hopes here is that this message will reach the eyes of President Barack Obama and help him with some majorly important decisions.

SNL is renowned for always having someone who creates a comical caricature of whomever the President is at the time for use in the many skits that will be written using that person. Currently, that job is owned by Fred Armisen, who portrays Obama whenever a skit for him is penned.

Continue on over to the other side to see the video!

In this skit, Armisen is joined by Maya Rudolph as his wife Michelle Obama for the current White House inhabitants. They’re also joined by the likes of Will Ferrell, who is returning to do his famous George W. Bush character; Dana Carvey as his pops, George H.W. Bush Sr.; Darrell Hammond bringing back Bill Clinton; as well as Dan Aykroyd as Jimmy Carter, Chevy Chase as Gerald Ford, and a very special appearance by Jim Carrey as Ronald Reagan. [...]

A new Robert F. Kennedy biopic based on the Evan Thomas biography, His Life, is now on the way at New Regency with superstar Matt Damon attached to star.

The film — which is currently untitled — will span a large portion of Kennedy’s life, including earlier days when all of the attention was on his older brother John F. Kennedy, to his rise up into the spotlight as a top political leader, and straight through to his assassination in 1968.

The movie will be directed by Gary Ross and written by Steven Knight. Ross wrote and directed Pleasantville and Seabiscuit, and also wrote Big, Dave, The Tale of Despereaux, and the upcoming remake of Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Ross was one of the many different people brought in to write a new draft for Spider-Man 4 and also was hired to pen the Venom movie. We all know how Spidey 4 played out and no one knows what the current status of Venom is. [...]

This post is simply for the purposes of fun hypothetical discussions.

Truth Out wrote a piece recently talking about why controversial documentary filmmaker Michael Moore should run for President of the United States. Now, I don’t know if this is some kind of random joke post, but it sounds like author is being pretty serious and he even makes multiple points as to not only why Moore should run, but how he could actually WIN. Yikes.

Obviously this is just crazy to think about. After Bowling for Columbine came out, Moore was the top dog in the world of documentaries, but it did not take long before he was attacking the world of politics with a vengeance. Some praised his strong stance and determination to get things changed in Washington, while others were turned off by his loud and aggressive tactics. And when many reports — such as this one — seemed to point out Moore’s apparent hypocritical words and actions as well as his sneaky methods of editing his films to create situations that didn’t actually take place, trust became a major issue. [...]

The trades are reporting that universal star Johnny Depp (you know aliens love him too) and Salma Hayek are both in “advanced negotiations” to star in a new biopic based on the life of famed Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. The film will be directed by Emir Kusturica, and will be called Seven Friends of Pancho Villa and the Woman With Six Fingers.

Kusturica says that he and Gordan Mihic have completed the script, but the project isn’t set to begin until 2011 due to Depp’s obviously jam-packed schedule. The director, who hails from Bosnia, has mostly only done foreign films before, but he has also worked with Depp in the past on a 1993 film called Arizona Dreams that co-starred Jerry Lewis and Faye Dunaway.

Seven Friends of Pancho Villa and the Woman with Six Fingers will concentrate on the tales of Villa and his men as they drank and bedded women and basically had a bunch of parties while often robbing the rich blind. It is based on James Carlos Blake‘s biography The Friends of Pancho Villa. [...]

One of the greatest joys of having Barack Obama as President of the United States is having a bona fide geek leading the country. The Pres is into comic books and Star Trek, and has even thrown up the Vulcan “live long and prosper” salute. When he was still a US Senator, he had on his website a photo of himself in front of a Superman statue. This is a man after our own hearts.

Now, the geeky Obama strikes again with a recent photo-op on the White House lawn where he’s wielding a toy lightsaber after a fencing demonstration. The event was held yesterday to promote Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympic Games [...]