Book Tour Virgin is Will Clarke.com

Exactly

Like A Chicken-Fried Phoenix Rising From The Ashes

My all-time favorite magazine, Oxford American, has been reincarnated once again. Born out of Marc Smirnoff's hyper-literate tenacity and its own odd, Southern karma, OA is one of the few national magazines that still publishes fiction in every issue. Over the years, this non-profit magazine has featured such notables as Roy Blount, Jr, Walker Percy, and Carson McCullars while unearthing great musical talents like My Morning Jacket, Memphis Minnie, and The Blind Boys of Alabama. 

OA has won countless awards and diehard readers over the years because it delivers some of the best writing, illustration, and photography around. In this age of Britney and Paris, it is a rare magazine that delivers culturally significant work, and in order for this rarity to survive, the OA needs smart people like you. It's time to vote with your wallet. Order your subscription today. You won't be sorry.

Beirut's "Postcards from Italy" in celebration of my impending weekend nuptials

And We All Sang "Satellite" By The Dave Matthews Band

By THOM SHANKER

 

THE NEW YORK TIMES, Published: February 21, 2008

 

WASHINGTON — Just hours after a Navy missile interceptor struck a dying spy satellite orbiting 130 miles over the Pacific Ocean, a senior military officer expressed high confidence early Thursday that a tank filled with toxic rocket fuel had been breached. Read more here.

As a special Valentine treat, my brother Dan angrily guest-blogs about Net Neutrality

> Will:

>  I guess you stop covering/following Net Neutrality.......nothing on 
> your site but 4 freaks....3 with mohawks and their bald mentor/cult 
> leader,

Dan

Net neutrality bill would bar Internet providers from blocking, slowing traffic

10:36 AM CST on Thursday, February 14, 2008
Associated Press
WASHINGTON – A Democratic lawmaker on Wednesday proposed legislation to stop network providers from playing traffic cop on the Internet.
Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet, introduced the bill to promote the principle, known as "Net neutrality," of treating all Internet traffic equally.

Markey, who introduced similar legislation in 2006, said the bill doesn't regulate the Internet, only makes sure the rules of online engagement are fair. His spokeswoman said he wanted to defuse critics' arguments that the bill amounts to regulation, which she called inaccurate.
"It does, however, suggest that the principles which have guided the Internet's development and expansion are highly worthy of retention, and it seeks to enshrine such principles in the law as guide stars for U.S. broadband policy," Markey said of The Internet Freedom Preservation Act
Phone and cable companies say they want the freedom to charge content providers for access to the Internet's fast lane. Any legislation affirming Net neutrality, they argue, would harm investment and innovation in the Internet.

The Hands Off the Internet coalition, whose members include AT&T, Qwest Communications International Inc. and others, said Markey's bill leaves regulatory fingerprints, regardless of what he calls it.
Supporters of the bill, including Google and public interest groups, contend it just protects consumers without hamstringing development or driving up costs.
The bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss., requires the Federal Communications Commission to assess whether broadband providers are "blocking, thwarting or unreasonably interfering" with consumers' rights to access, send, receive or offer content, applications and services over networks.
The FCC would also be required to determine whether providers charge extra for certain services and if it's lawful.

The bill also requires the agency to hold at least eight summits around the country to get input from various groups about Internet service competition and services.
An FCC spokesman declined to comment on pending legislation.
The bill was drafted in response to reports that some companies, including Comcast Corp., are unfairly stifling communications over the Internet.

Markey spokeswoman Jessica Schafer said the agency already has the authority to enforce such practices.
She cited the agency's investigation of Philadelphia-based Comcast, the country's second-largest Internet provider. On Tuesday, Comcast told the FCC in formal comments that hampering some file-sharing by its subscribers was a justifiable way to keep Web traffic flowing for everyone.
Consumer groups, lawmakers and other critics have complained that Comcast violated Net neutrality. The company declined to comment on Markey's bill.

Schafer also said a North Carolina telephone company, Madison River Communications LLC, paid $15,000 to the FCC in 2005 to settle allegations it blocked phone lines that customers used to make calls over the Internet. Under the settlement, the company could not block Internet calls in the future, but did not admit to violating any rules

Who won the writers strike?

Who Won the Writers Strike?
From New York Times, February 12, 2008
By David Carr

When the Writers Guild of America held its annual awards ceremony Saturday night in Manhattan, it felt more like a victory celebration. So after a long and bitter strike, the writers won, right?

On points, yes, probably. On principle, certainly. From a practical perspective, maybe not so much.

True, the writers guild was able to wrest a major concession from management — winning a piece of digital revenues — the kind of victory that has largely eluded organized labor in the past few years.

To read the complete article, click here.

Be Very Wary of the 10th of February

Be Very Wary of February 10th, originally uploaded by molotovmartinis.

So the chanology protests of Scientology centers have occurred all over the world. And the mainstream media seems to have not paid much attention. Which is weird because this protest hits so many hot button issues. Freedom of religion. Freedom of Speech. If it's anything, it's really an amazing case study in the undeniable power of online memes. (Actually, Defamer has covered this a few minutes ago so my guess is that the mainstream media will now pick up on it, maybe a day later and a dollar short.)

What's interesting to me about this phenomenon is that in Dallas, Texas alone there were at least 50 people protesting outside the Scientology Celebrity Center. (That's what was reported to me by an eye-witness. I wasn't there to actually see the protests myself.) 50 people all from a YouTube video. You can't get 50 people to go out and buy toothpaste on an exact date and time with a million-dollar media buy. Let alone get people to call in sick from work or come in late all because a YouTube video asked them to do it.

This just in: Chanology chose February 10 because it is the birthday of Lisa McPherson who they allege was murdered by Scientologists in Clearwater, Florida in 1995 when she was 36 years old. She would have been 49 yesterday.

On YouTube protesters have begun posting their videos of this event and it seems like way more than 50 people showed up around the world. It's really staggering if you think about how powerful the original chanology video was.

 

Writers Strike Is Over

According to the BBC, "Leaders of striking US film and TV writers have voted in favour of a deal that will end their three-month strike." Click here for more details as seen from across the pond.

"Industry hit
Some 10,500 writers stopped work on 5 November, a few days after their old contract with studios ended.

The strike has said to have cost Los Angeles' film and TV industry at least $650m (£330m) in lost wages, with the wider economy losing over $1bn (£508m). Studio executives say it would take about two months for new TV programmes to emerge.

Studios will have to decide which of the 65 affected series will come back, with hits House, CSI, Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives likely to get priority.

Movies have been less severely affected because they have longer production times.

Two high-profile productions, the Da Vinci Code prequel Angels and Demons and Johnny Depp's Shantaram, could be up and running quickly." [BBC.com]

If you want the blow-by-blow as it's still developing the lovely Nikki Finke is keeping an up-to-the heartbeat account on her blog. Click here for that.

Why doesn't Starbucks recycle? Does anyone know? It seems so off-brand for them. Not to mention grossly irresponsible.

Target's "hello good buy" campaign should have taken the gold but the "live vote" went to the cute critters in the Seattle Aquarium spot. This is why I hate award shows. Justice is rarely served.