Disclaimer: the following statement represents the personal views of the webmaster only.

Maybe some of you have heard of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), a bill backed by the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, Macmillan US, Viacom and many other. However, it wouldn’t stop online piracy at all, but instead devastate the economy and social texture of the internet, implement a system of censorship and give big businesses a powerful and dangerous tool to influence the internet and its users.

In short, SOPA is a thorn in the side of anybody who’s doing more on the internet than checking the weather.

What would SOPA do?

Let’s assume one of you guys posts a video of a news clip you’ve recorded off CNN and uploaded to Youtube to your wall on Facebook, to your Livejournal, posts a link to it on Twitter or embeds it in a comment here. So far, if the copyright holder felt that you infringed their copyright, they’d have come after you. With SOPA, they’ll come after the website. So Youtube, Facebook, Livejournal, Twitter or, hey, ambarussa.net could be blacklisted or taken down because somebody linked to a movie clip or a music video. Or a picture. Or anything else considered “copyrighted”. In a nutshell: you couldn’t link to websites anymore, unless you were 100% certain that nobody had posted any material or a link to material that infringes copyright there before.

Sites like Youtube, Vimeo, Reddit, Wikipedia, Livejournal, Dreamwidth, Etsy, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook etc. could all be held responsible for the content posted by their customers and, as a consequence, very likely cease to exist. This would mean the end of the internet as we know it, because the “net” part is linking, and most sites couldn’t exist under SOPA. Creativity, expression of free thought and criticism would be silenced.

To protest SOPA and the attempted censorship of the internet behind it, I’ll join in Reddit, Boing Boing, Wikipedia and many others in their Stop SOPA & PIPA Day tomorrow. All websites that I maintain will go dark on 18th January.

For those busy and with little time: WATCH THE VIDEO

WHAT IS SOPA? @ Reddit

BOING BOING WILL GO DARK

This year’s charity of the Webgnome’s choice:

The Trust’s primary objective is to respect and preserve the treasured relationship between owners and their pets. To this end it works in partnership with owners to overcome any difficulties that might arise. A national network of over 15,000 community service volunteers has been established to provide practical help when any aspect of day to day care poses a problem – for example, walking the dog for a housebound owner.

A national fostering service is provided for pets whose owners face a spell in hospital – volunteers take pets into their own homes and supply love and care in abundance until owner and pet can be reunited.

The Cinnamon Trust also provides long term care for pets whose owners have died or moved to residential accommodation which will not accept pets. Arrangements are made between owners and the Trust well in advance, so owners do have peace of mind in the knowledge that their beloved companion will have a safe and happy future.

Usual disclaimer: donations and support for this organisation is suggested by the Webgnome who’s running this website, not by Damian O’Hare.

CHLOE!

Congratulations! A Yuletide parcel with the PotC sticker book and lots of chocolate will soon be on the way across the big pond.

There were two correct answers to the question “what was wrong in the sticker book?”: the characters of Gillette and Groves were mixed up, and Gillette’s name wasn’t spelled correctly.

Thanks to everybody for participating!

The traditional Yuletide Contest! And this time you can win

THE FORMIDABLE “PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES” STICKER BOOK!

Stick the stickers in the book. Or stick Jack Sparrow to your windscreen! And Lieutenant Gillette to the wing mirror! Sky is the limit. And because it’s a much-loved tradition, you’ll also get

A SELECTION OF CHOCOLATE

Real chocolate. Not the tasteless factory stuff – chocolate-chocolate. Milk, dark, white, nuts, orange – your choice.

And what do you have to do to win sticker book and chocolate?

Just send an email to

webgnome at ambarussa. net

and answer the following question:

“What mistake has happened regarding Lieutenant Gillette in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides sticker book?”

A) They confused him with Lieutenant Groves

B) They misspelled his name

C) They called him a pirate

It’s never been easier than this year – and in case you’re still in doubt: check here.

IMPORTANT: Please put “Contest” or “Damian O’Hare” in the subject line.

Deadline: 12th December, 2011, noon GMT.

Please read the following rules before you send off your mail.

RULES:

1. By participating in this contest, you confirm that you have read, understood and accepted the rules.

2. You have to be at least 16 years old to participate.

3. Please be fair: only send in one mail per person.

4. No cash pay-out of your prize.

5. No correspondence will be held over the outcome of the contest.

6. If you are the winner, you’ll have to provide us with your name and address.

7. We’ll send your prize out asap, but have no influence on postal services.

8. Should, for any reason beyond our control, one of the prizes not be available, we’ll replace it with a different prize of the same value.

9. We accept entries from all over the world. If, however, your country does not allow the import of chocolate, you’ll “only” get the sticker book (sorry about that).

Good luck!

The story of the fight between the Hatfields and the McCoys seems to be very well-known and popular in the USA, but I admit that I’ve never heard of it before. But wikipedia is your friend. According to the wiki article, Ellison Hatfield was the brother of “Devil” Anse Hatfield, the head of the Hatfield family. “Devil” Anse Hatfield will be played by Kevin Costner, and it looks like Damian, sticking to tradition, will play once again a character who does not live to see the end. Well, we got used to it by now!

In lack of pictures, here’s a screencap from Damian in “Wild West: Billy the Kid”, to get in the mood.

the traditional ambarussa yuletide contest will be announced on 6th december. but here is a contest before the contest for you:

one of the kind souls who provide me with tv schedules has sent me a riddle, and i don’t have a clue. two bags of marks and spencers butterscotch mints are at stake for me, so if you should have a clue what the following “news item” is about, please drop me a line. i promise choccies.

“Official news but you must guess:

GILLETTE IS HANGING OUT WITH VAMPIRES AND DANCES WITH WEREWOLVES!”

talking about stakes: this better not have anything to do with twilight. don’t make me summon spike.

edit: riddle (mostly) solved! special thanks to tamara, chocolate is on its way!

more about this as soon as there is an official source.

It came with the information that “Officer Gilette” (sic) had also made it into the book. And indeed:

Great news! Lt. Gillette on the lid would give my laptop at work a little more credibility than the “I can haz brainz?” zombie sticker that it’s currently sporting, though one could argue that it’s perfectly fitting for our meetings.

Obviously, much care and consideration has gone into the production of this merchandise:

I guess the stickerbook was put together by the same professionals responsible for this masterpiece:

Anyway. If you’d like to buy this spectacular piece of movie memorabilia, you can do so here. Or you’ll just wait for our traditional Yuletide Contest and hope that you’ll win this beauty, among other lovely things.

GREG ELLIS WONDERS IF HIS “PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN” CHARACTER WILL BE RETURNING FOR THE FIFTH FILM IN THIS SERIES

Here’s a small excerpt from the interview:

“And at one point, there was a semi-serious discussion among the actors that we should just keep going. Just sail on in to Mexico and then see how the locals would react as all these pirates and Royal Naval Officers came up on shore.”

I can’t help but feel that an escape of Gillette and Groves to Mexico would have made for a far better movie.

ITV3 will repeat the episode “Among The Few” of “Foyle’s War” on Saturday, 22 October, 9pm.

Damian O'Hare as Sean Halloran and Honeysuckle Weeks as Samantha Stewart in "Foyle's War - Among The Few"

Foyle uncovers a black market gasoline racket. Two of the girls working at the local depot are seeing Andrew and his best friend from the unit. Sam goes undercover at the depot, but when one of the girls is found murdered, Andrew becomes a suspect.

Damian plays “Sean O’Halloran, an Irish fuel worker who tries to charm all the ladies but has a darker, more dangerous edge. He would think nothing of roughing up a woman to get what he wanted. Suspected IRA links but thankfully his bomb making skills this time are about as successful as his charm.”

And we have a winner! One copy of “Double Feature” vol. 1 (Edgar & Annabel / The Swan) will find a new hope in the city of Gulfport/USA with

LaTisha!

Congratulations! A mail has been sent to you asking for your full address; as soon as I receive your reply, the book will wing its way to you, LaTisha.