Chicago Sun Times is reporting that a 22 year old Chicago woman, spent two nights in jail and could spend up the three years in prison for recording 3 minutes of the Twilight: New Moon on her cell phone. She is being charged with Criminal Use of a Motion Picture Exhibition, a Class 4 felony designed to keep pirates from recording blockbuster films and putting them up on the internet.

The woman, Samantha Tumpach, claims that while there was some New Moon footage on her phone and that the main intention was to record her 29 year old sister’s birthday party. (You’re probably asking yourself the same question, what 29 year old wants to celebrate their birthday watching New Moon?) But the theater workers saw her with her cell phone out during the feature (she apparently didn’t read Dustin’s articles) recording. They didn’t buy her story and decided to press charges, even though the content on her phone proved her story.

I understand the zero tolerance of these copyright laws, but honestly this is just a little ridiculous, and these suits never go well, but with ACTA on the horizon things are only going to get worse. Well that is another woman’s life that Edward ruined.

Read more here.

I was having a discussion with a co-worker of mine last week about the docu-horror film Paranormal Activity, strangely enough this conversation was not about the gazillions of dollars this film had made; but the fact that he thought the film to be in fact true, and not a fictional account put to film under the ruse that it was indeed the documentation of a real incident. This brought to mind an article I read several years ago about the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the fact that to this day people still believe that film is true, simply due the title card before the film stating so. I understand that use of this device: announcing the film is based on true events is indeed a powerful ploy to those people open to suggestion to start to stir the pot if you will. But does there really needs to be a reset switch after the film is over, so people don’t spend the rest of their lives avoiding the great state of Texas due to their overwhelming fear of men in masks made of human flesh wielding chainsaws?

The point I think that made this argument even more ridiculous, was the fact that in our very break area we had a copy of the Entertainment Weekly with both stars of the film on the cover heavily made up and in a mock pose from the film, with an article detailing the actors and their feelings on the overnight success of the film. My co-worker simply stated that because “the film is dedicated to Katie and Micah at the end they have to be dead and the film has to be true.” I can’t argue with that, in our great country where we have to put warning labels on hot coffee to indeed say “hey this coffee is hot, don’t pour it on your face while singing Farmer in the Dell”, do we need warning labels on films saying “yeah, we made this up and badly”? I coined the term for this implied reality, simply because your accepting that a reality implied by a film is recognized by you to be in fact real and living with that world where these things exist.

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It’s been a while since an Etsy seller really managed to capture my craft-loving heart. But when Tim sent me a gchat a few days ago, simply with a link to DesignDude’s Etsy shop… well, it was love at first bacon.

DesignDude, who’s real name is a mystery to me (he could be Bacon Jesus), is a 24 year old dude from Minneapolis, but he’d fit right in here in Philadelphia, what with our love of bacon. Us geeks adore it and National Mechanics clearly loves it (bacon infused vodka, anyone?). So I’m hereby issuing you, DesignDude, a formal invite to our city. Come visit and make magnets in the City of Baconly Love. You are welcome here.

His Push Button, Receive Bacon magnet featured above will run your pockets $3. There’s also his simple I Love Bacon magnets. They come in packs of two, and will only cost you $2. And the Pièce de résistance, are his bacon slice magnets, which look startlingly like real bacon slapped against your fridge. DesignDude is one of the few Etsy sellers I’ve come across that charge exactly what shipping costs. His magnet packs range from 50 cents to $1.50 to ship.

Anyhow, full images of his bacon magnets after the jump. Enjoy, and try not to lick your monitor. I just cleaned it.

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I know I am not the only camera geek who reads this site, and when I saw this video I almost lost it. The Nikon vs Canon divide quite literally has almost a Montague vs. Capulet air to it, which sometimes rivals your typical internet argument over Mac vs. PC. It me reminded of that moment when you scope a friends camera rig for the first time, and seeing whether he is a “Nikon guy” or a “Canon Guy” and how that sits with your personal belief system in camera hardware. Warning some language maybe a bit NSFW so turn down you speakers and don’t bother that guy next to you working on his TPS reports, enjoy the video.

On Saturday tomorrow, our buddies at The Hacktory are hosting an electronic jewelery workshop, giving you the chance to make unique gifts for your friends and family, while simultaneously saving the planet. Well, a little bit, at least. You’re not going Captain Planet on us or anything. Just recycling used, retro electronic components.

You’ll learn basics in jewelry making, assembly skills, how to identify materials for future projects, and how to use a soldering and glue gun. The class will only run you $20, which includes all the supplies and materials needed to create your jewelery. The class takes place from 1PM to 5pm at the Hacktory’s space in the Nonprofit Technology Resources building.

For more details and to buy tickets, visit the Hacktory’s official website.

The Hacktory
www.thehacktory.org

Well I know it’s not in Philadelphia, but this was quite honestly too good to miss. If there is one thing we love here on Geekadelphia more than Battlestar Galactica it’s Star Wars. Well Charles Ross who does the off-Broadway show One-Man Star Wars Trilogy will be coming to The State Theatre Regional Arts Center in New Brunswick, New Jersey January 30th for 2 shows at 6:00 and 9:00pm.

Ross has been doing the play since 2001 and it runs for approximately 75 minutes, with Ross playing all the characters and doing sound effects and score as well in some spots. The show is actually licensed by Lucasfilm, he did do a One-Man Lord of the Rings but was asked to stop by the intellectual property holder.  You can get tickets here. Thanks Rob!

Comic too small to read? Full strip after the jump.

To give you an idea of how much I love Battlestar Galactica, fellow Geekadelphian Tim and I threw a BSG finale party–complete with themed food. I also painted the Eye of Jupiter on a canvas and am looking for the right place to hang it on my wall. So, it’s no surprise I’m a giant EJO fan. And yes, the boys know how I love my Edward James Olmos… so you can imagine how thrilled I was when both Tim and Eric pinged me this web comic from Hijinks Ensue earlier today.

For the record, to spite the Twilight teeny boppers (and their scary cougar fan-mommies), I will be making a Team Edward (James Olmos) tee-shirt, and if any of you punks attempt to steal my idea and produce it, I will go all sorts of Starbuck on your sad behind. That is, unless you’re making one for me (and you bet that will end up on the blog), and in that case, you can find out where to ship it by emailing me at geekadelphia@gmail.com.

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I’ll confess. The dudes at Brave New Worlds told me about this week’s Hellboy show almost a month ago. Brian has seen me gazing lovingly at the Hellboy Qee for way too long. Perhaps this is the weekend that I finally buy the thing. That and a ton of art from the Autumn Society. After-all, Hellboy is my favorite comic character.

This Friday, the Autumn Society are celebrating the 15th anniversary of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy, with this special show. You can preview some of the pieces that will be appearing in the gallery on their blogspot. There are some gorgeous ones up there. Expect to fight me for a few.

This all goes down on Friday at 6PM, in the Brave New Worlds’ lobby / gallery. See you there.