Hi, folks.

As you may have noticed, a bunch of articles from the last few months have been pulled down off our site. The reason for this is that we are doing a few upgrades and something in one of them (not sure exactly which) was causing problem. We'll be putting things back up as we can go through them one-by-one, but please stick with us in the meantime! We also have a few new articles coming up this week, so stay tuned.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

Also, we will be participating in tomorrow's SOPA Strike, joining website like Mozilla, Wikipedia, and Reddit in showing our disapproval of bills like the (temporarily shelved) SOPA and PIPA. These are not the first bad bills nor will they be the last that allow censorship of speech online because it upsets corporate interests. While we all agree online piracy is a tremendous problem that needs to be dealt with, allowing the MPAA to censor free speech is not the way to go about it. As former US Senator and current head of the MPAA Chris Dodd said: "When the Chinese told Google that they had to block sites or they couldn't do [business] in their country, they managed to figure out how to block sites."

Check out http://sopastrike.com for more info.

Console gamers everywhere spend a good deal of time looking forward to the E3 convention. E3 sets the stage for coming year in gaming, letting all the gamers know what is heading down the pike for them to enjoy. For those lucky enough to attend, it showcases playable demos for many games, as well as the ability to test out any new hardware. While it has toned down a bit from years past, with far fewer "Booth Babes" and less of a general public attendance allowed, it is still an event eagerly looked forward to in the geek world.

“The clocks stopped at one seventeen one morning. There was a long shear of bright light, then a series of low concussions. Within a year, there were fires on the ridges and deranged chanting. By day the dead impaled on spikes along the road. I think it's October but I can't be sure. I haven't kept a calendar for five years. Each day is more gray than the one before. Each night is darker - beyond darkness."

I am a fan of the Avatar: The Last Airbender series. So, when I first heard of an upcoming movie based on the series, I was eager to see this new translation.  When I found that M. Night Shyamalan was involved, I told myself to be cautious. On the one hand, it’s M. Night Shyamalan, who’s directing and writing style is far different from the fast paced action of Avatar: The Last Airbender. On the other hand, he talked about how deeply he was pulled into the series when his daughter introduced him to it.

So, on the opening weekend, I was cynical enough to tell myself not to get my hopes up, but not cynical enough to take that advice. You can guess how this story ends.