15 Biggest Internet Controversies of the Past Decade

Written by Cameron Chapman

The Internet has been a breeding ground for controversy from the start. Part of this is a result of the fact that the Internet is the great neutralizer; it empowers everyone to have a voice.

As the first decade of the new millennium ends, let’s examine some of the most infamous and scandalous events that started, happened, and/or escalated on the web.

If we missed something, tell us in the comments and let’s have the last great Internet controversy of this decade.

1. Climategate

When hackers gained access to a server used by the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, they leaked over a thousand emails and other documents that call into question much of the data that has been used to support climate change models and predictions.

This controversy is still ongoing, with one side calling it a smear campaign, and the other, asserting that it shows collusion among scientists to manipulate data. Some have even begun to contend the validity of man-induced climate change.

The situation challenges the reputation of the scientific community as a whole, and whether this is an isolated incident or rampant practice among all fields of science.

More coverage of the controversy:

• Climatic Research Unit E-mail Hacking Incident – Wikipedia
• Climategate Computer Codes are the Real Story – Pajamas Media

2. The Great Firewall of China

Censorship has always been a hot button issue in society. China is probably the most notorious country to practice strict online censorship garnering the moniker, “The Great Firewall of China”.

Other sites have cropped up to try to get around the censorship and provide access to blocked sites. There are also sites that let you test whether your site is blocked.

Censored material includes sites that incite Chinese citizens to resist or break their constitution, criticism of laws or regulations of the Chinese government, sexually suggestive material, talk about gambling and violence, and more.

The censorship has come under fire from governments around the world. President Obama has openly criticized China’s censorship programs. The biggest event that brought the situation to light occurred during the recent Beijing Olympics, where foreign journalists’ ability to report freely was blighted.

More coverage of the controversy:

• The Great Firewall of China – BusinessWeek
• Opera Plugs Hole in Great Firewall of China – The Register
• Slipping Over the Great Firewall of China – The New York Times

3. Amazon removes sales rankings of gay and lesbian books

In the spring of 2009, a number of authors and site users were outraged when they learned that Amazon had stripped the sales rankings of thousands of gay and lesbian oriented books on their site. This meant that books aimed at gays and lesbians would not be able to show up on Amazon’s search.

The issue was proclaimed as a technical error that affected more than 57,000 books in other categories. Amazon issued an apology and restored the sales rankings.

More coverage of the controversy:

• Amazon Follies – Mark R. Probst
• Amazon Error Removes Gay, Health Books from Search – Wall Street Journal
• Why is Amazon Removing the Sales Rankings from Gay, Lesbian Books? – Jezebel

4. Google Street View invades privacy

Google Street View takes photos while driving through various towns and cities around the world, creating an alternate view within Google Maps.

via Google Sightseeing

That also means they’re snapping photos of people, often on their private property, and sometimes in not-so-flattering situations. While so far Google has prevailed in lawsuits targeting the service, it does raise a number of interesting privacy issues.

More coverage of the controversy:

• All-Seeing Google Street View Prompts Privacy Fears – Times Online
• Google Zooms In Too Close for Some – The New York Times
• Swiss Say Google’s Street View is Too Revealing – The New York Times

5. Google Books indexing copyrighted material

When Google announced in 2004 that they wanted to index the content of millions of copyrighted books from university libraries as part of the Google Books project, publishers and authors took to protesting the decision by claiming copyright infringement.

In 2005, a group of publishers and authors, including Penguin and McGraw-Hill, sued Google over the project. A settlement was reached where users will be able to purchase out-of-print books in digital format through Google or access them in subscribed libraries and universities. The settlement has been given preliminary approval, though final approval is still pending.

More coverage of the controversy:

• Google Settles Books Lawsuit – The Washington Times
• Publishers Battle Google Book Index – Boston.com

6. The Net Neutrality debate

The prevalence of Net Neutrality is a big concern to people who use the Internet. In the U.S., net neutrality is practiced universally though there are no laws in place to guarantee that it remains that way. Nothing prevents Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from charging consumers different rates based on the sites they visit or the services they use.

via Looking Glass News

There have been five different bills in the U.S. Congress over the past few years, and heavy lobbying by corporations on both sides of the debate. So far, no laws have been passed regarding net neutrality.

For the most part, many technology bloggers and other sites have come out in favor of protecting net neutrality.

Full disclosure: the loss of net neutrality affects websites such as the one you’re reading now. Help us by reading up on the issue and being proactive in voting for government representatives that support your rights to a free Internet.

More coverage of the controversy:

• Network Neutrality in the United States – Wikipedia
• Save the Internet – Coalition in favor of net neutrality
• The Net @ Risk – Moyers on America, PBS
• We Are The Web – Another coalition in support of net neutrality
• U.S. as Traffic Cop in Web Fight – Wall Street Journal
• McCain Moves to Block FCC Net Neutrality – PCWorld
• Facebook and Twitter Founders Join Net Neutrality Wars – Wall Street Journal
• The Net Neutrality Debate All On One Page – TechCrunch

7. Internet Service Providers throttle bandwidth consumption

Bandwidth throttling is a common practice among some ISPs to restrict excessive consumption of service resources, specifically when they’re using file-sharing services. ISPs proclaim that it helps ensure all their customers have reasonable bandwidth access, but critics assert that it’s unethical and unfair to consumers that have to pay the same price for less service.

More coverage of the controversy:

• Google Launches Tools to Test for Bandwidth Throttling – Sitepoint
• Comcast to Throttle Biggest Bandwidth Hogs – PCWorld
• 5 Questions About Comcast’s New Bandwidth Throttling Plan – GigaOm

8. The Digg Revolt

In 2007, Digg users posted the encryption keys for HD-DVD. Digg took the keys down on advice from their legal team. Digg’s users revolted, posting links to the codes and voting them up to the front page.

In the end, Digg listened to its users, stating they’d rather do what their users wanted, even if it meant the site would be shut down.

• Digg Suffers User Revolt – Wikinews
• Digg Surrenders to Mob – TechCrunch
• Looking Back on the Digg Revolt – The Huffington Post

9. Pedophiles on MySpace

MySpace has long been popular with teenagers. Underage children use the social networking site to share photos, post videos, and document their events in their lives. At one point of MySpace’s existence, adolescent users could make their profiles public, accessible to anyone.

Parents, and those concerned with child welfare, were outraged when incidents emerged of adults preying on young users of the social networking site. As a response, MySpace took measures to protect users under the age of 16 by making site adjustments such as restricting anonymous viewing of their user profiles and blocking unknown users from sending them messages.

While the problem won’t be resolved completely, MySpace has taken a more proactive role in ensuring the safety of its younger participants. Of course, MySpace is not the only social networking site out there that is experiencing this problem.

More coverage of the controversy:

• Why Parents Must Mind MySpace – MSNBC
• Parents Fear MySpace is Playground for Pedophiles – Dallas Morning News
• MySpace Predator Caught by Code – Wired

10. Prostitutes on Craigslist

Craigslist has an adult services category that allows users to solicit adult-oriented services from site users. It’s really no surprise that prostitution rings conducting illegal activities would eventually take advantage of the favorable situation of anonymity on the web. It has made the job of cops so hard that some have sued the site for being the largest source of prostitution.

Though Craigslist’s purpose for the category is well-intentioned, promoting free speech and a fostering an open-minded community, the Internet is the biggest magnet of unscrupulous characters, and it was only a matter of time before the situation would escalate into the eyes of mainstream media.

More coverage of the controversy:

• As Prostitutes Turn to Craigslist, Law Takes Notice – The New York Times
• 7 Charged in Alleged Prostitution Ring on Craigslist – CNN
• Judge: Craigslist Not Liable for Prostitution Ads – CNET

11. Filesharing gets hammered down for copyrighted materials

Online file sharing has been happening since the early days of the Internet. But 2000 brought the first major lawsuit and take-down of a file-sharing service. Napster was sued by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for facilitating the transfer of copyrighted material in December 1999, and was finally shut down in July 2001.

Other popular P2P services have suffered similar fates. The Pirate Bay, a torrent-indexing site, has been involved in a number of lawsuits. The site’s servers were raided by Swedish police in 2006.

In 2009, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm, Carl Lundstrom and Peter Sunde were all found guilty of “assistance to copyright infringement” in Swedish courts and sentenced to a year in prison and a fine of over $3.6 million.

More coverage of the controversy:

• Judge Expands on Napster Shut Down Order – CNET News
• Napster Judge Calls for Major Copyright Reform – Wired
• Pirate Bay Trial: The Hottest Ticket in Stockholm – Wired

12. Protesters use social networks during Iran elections

Iran’s election protesters and demonstrators took to Twitter and other social networking sites in the wake of the 2009 election to organize themselves and garner support for their cause. Though the situation precipitated out of the web, it was escalated and brought to mass media attention via the Internet.

More coverage of the controversy:

• Iran Elections: A Twitter Revolution? – The Washington Post
• Iran Protests: Twitter, the Medium of the Movement – TIME
• Iranian Election – The Huffington Post

13. Facebook’s Privacy Policy changes

In February 2009, Facebook altered their Terms of Service to allow them to use and retain any content posted to user accounts indefinitely and without limitation, claiming ownership of its user’s content once it’s uploaded to their site even after a user’s account is deleted.

Unsurprisingly, this caused quite a stir among users. Others formed groups on the site itself, calling for the ToS to be reverted back.

Facebook asserts that they never intended for the change to be that far-reaching, and that it was a misinterpretation of the new terms.

Users weren’t buying it, and in the end, Facebook changed the ToS back to the original version, and has seen sought user input before implementing changes.

More coverage of the controversy:

• Facebook Changes Terms of Service to Control More User Data – CNET
• Changes to Facebook Terms of Service Outrage Users – Mlive.com
• Facebook Yields to User Outrage, Reverts to Old Terms of Service – Macworld

14. Facebook deems breastfeeding as offensive

Facebook has a strong policy against what they term “obscene” content, something most parents would embrace. But many mothers went crazy when photos of breastfeeding moms were removed from the site due to the policy of censoring obscene content. It sparked boycotts, user groups, and even a protest (a “nurse-in”) at Facebook’s headquarters. The most popular group, “Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!” has nearly 250,000 members.

Facebook wouldn’t budge on the policy.

More coverage of the controversy:

• Breastfeeding Protest Over Facebook Policy – ZDNet
• Facebook Won’t Budge on Breastfeeding Photos – The New York Times
• Facebook Nudity Policy Angers Nursing Moms – MSNBC

15. Blogger, Dooce, gets fired for blogging about work

In 2002, Heather Armstrong, aka Dooce (also the name of her blog), was fired for blogging about the company she worked for and some of her coworkers in a less-than-flattering manner. She’s possibly the first person ever fired for blogging, and definitely one of the most well known. There’s even a term that spawned from her experience: dooced (which means to lose one’s job because of one’s website according to Urban Dictionary).

Since being fired, she’s turned Dooce into the sole source of income for her family. She was even named as one of the most powerful women in media by Forbes. The site still drums up plenty of controversy, as her posts are brutally honest.

More coverage of the controversy:

• 7 People Fired for Blogging – Mental_Floss
• About Dooce – Dooce.com
• Dooce’s Dilemma – Forbes

Conclusion

It’s unlikely the Internet will ever be controversy-free. And would we really want it to be? Many Internet users enjoy (at least in part) the controversy that is so prevalent on the web. We all have a chance to be heard, whether it’s in matters of global importance or the latest celebrity gossip.

Posted via email from A Collection of Curiosities

The Matrix (Trinity Help) - Lego

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Merry Christmas (2008 & 1994)

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This Year's Christmas Lights Extravaganza

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10 Must-Have Google Chrome Extensions

Written by Sebastian Anthony

With the Chrome Extensions gallery now fully up and running, the number of awesome extensions is multiplying at a rapid rate. What I’ve tried to do here is offer up the best, the most useful and the must-have extensions for Google Chrome.
To use the extensions you will need to install the Beta if you’re under Windows, or the Developer build for Mac. Linux users will also need the Beta version. Google has a quick walkthrough that I suggest you read, if you’re new to extensions — but mostly, it’s just a matter of installing the Beta (30 seconds), clicking the links in this article and hitting ‘yes’. Easy enough, right?

The main thing you’ll notice from this list of extensions is that all the big Firefox add-on developers are now on-board with Chrome. It’s still very early days but the offerings are already surprisingly extensive. There’s something for everyone in this list, I assure you.

1. WOT (Web Of Trust) — Direct Install Link

From what I can tell, this is like your usual ‘link scanner’ that’s present in most security suites… only it’s faster, and a lot more informative. WOT is a huge community that rates and appraises a vast majority of the popular Web. This is one of the many add-ons that has made the (quick) transfer from Firefox to Chrome — it was incredibly popular over on Firefox, so I think you’ll find this an invaluable extension if you’re now exclusively using Chrome.
For every page you can view its ’scorecard’ using the extension’s icon in the top right of your browser, pop open the extended details (as you see in the screenshot above) — and of course, you are encouraged to add your own ratings to the web of trust! Also of note, when you install the extension, you can choose default security settings — this extension is ideal for protecting your kiddies from the dangers of the world wide web…!

2. Evernote Web Clipper — Direct Install Link

This is an odd one, but cool. Basically, it allows you to annotate and tag any page on the web — a bit like Delicious or Stumble Upon, but it’s not social. It attempts to differentiate itself from the social bookmarking services with a few features. For a start, you can take clippings of entire pages, or just blocks of text that you like. There’s also Twitter integration — Evernote can be set to stalk your tweets — and also easy access to the website (and your clips) from any Internet-connected device. Good for taking notes at home and then reading them on the move!
It’s worth noting that the service could definitely be a bit quicker though. I imagine it’s just a teething issue, with so many new users suddenly using the extension.

3. Feedly — Direct Install Link

I’d never even heard of this extension until today, and it’s totally unlike any other extension you’ll install. Instead of directly interacting with how you surf it… does some clever stuff. From what I can tell, it sniffs out your Twitter and Google Reader login details and collates everything into a ‘magaziney’ homepage.
Seriously, it’s as cool as it sounds. I guess it does it via my cookies or something clever like that — but really, the first time you install this extension and hit that icon in the top right corner… you are suddenly looking at a web page that feels strangely familiar, but also not. Then you slowly realise it’s your RSS feeds from Google Reader… and recommended items from Amazon… and shared Reader items from your friends! It’s really quite odd, rather daunting, but very, very neat — and well worth playing with!

4. Google Wave Notifier — Direct Install Link

You probably know by now that I’m a bit of a Google Wave fan — I’m one of those nutcases that thinks it’s the key to Google’s continued world domination — and this extension is another neat way of keeping up to date with Wave, but without leaving its the resource-intensive monster open in another tab. Now you can close that CPU cycle-hogging behemoth and just keep an eye on the notifier in the top right corner.
It even shows you which waves have been updated, and links you directly to them. There are a few configuration options too, such as update frequency, and the colour of the icon (it’s important for some people, damnit!)

5. Shareaholic — Direct Install Link

No list of extensions or add-ons could ever be complete without the wunderkind that is Shareaholic. It’s like… a social sharegasm, in an extension. It’s all right there, in a single drop-down menu: share it, save it, email it, tweet it… you get the idea — Shareaholic is really all you need, instead of pesky and bloated application-specific extensions.
As far as options go, pickings are pretty slim. All you really have to do is choose what services appear in the menu… and that’s about it! Oh, it also automatically generates a shortened bit.ly link too, so no need for any of those pointless URL-shortening extensions either.

6. LastPass — Direct Install Link

This one I’m lifting straight from Lee’s excellent ‘pre-release’ list of Chrome Extensions that he did last month. LastPass is the password manager — no other tool or add-on even comes close to LastPass in its functionality or usability. You can import password databases from almost every other similar service, and the developers say that it picks up more password fields (AJAX forms for example) than any other password-scanning tool.
LastPass has other neat bits too, like the ability to store secure notes and generate secure passwords. This is one of those vital extensions that every security-aware user should download.

7. Mouse Stroke — Direct Install Link

I always love reviewing mouse-gesture tools; I revel in anything that can give those five remaining Opera users a reason to join the Chrome or Firefox revolution!
Mouse Stroke is about as good as gestures get in Chrome, at least so far. It can be a bit tricky initially, using gestures, but after a little bit of training you’ll wonder how you ever got by without them. I guess there are two ways you can go: either keyboard-only, with something like Gleebox, or mouse-only with a gesture extension like Mouse Stroke. Either solution is going to save your fingers and hands a world of RSI pain, so I suggest you pick one or the other!
Getting to the Mouse Stroke options screen is a little harder than usual: you have to hit the spanner, then Extensions and then ‘options’ next to the Mouse Stroke entry. Documentation is pretty slim, so the options page is your best bet — U, D, R and L are the four directions. That should be enough to get you started with gestures (and if not, there’s a rudimentary FAQ on their Google Code page).

8. AdBlock, FlashBlock, FacebookBlock et al. (Direct Install Links below)

Talking about the vast variety of ‘block’ extensions seems a little bit of a waste. If you want to block ads, or Flash elements or anything really, there’s an extension that will do it. Yes, they have white lists for specific sites, and some are better than others, but at the end of the day… you all know what they do, so what’s the point in me telling you something you already know?

But in any case, here are some links to the most popular Chrome ‘blocking’ extensions:

FlashBlock — Direct Install Link — this one blocks Flash! (there are two FlashBlocks with the exact same name on the Chrome Extensions site, doh!)
AdBlock — Direct Install Link — I’m told this one blocks ads… (and it has some neat in-line black- and white-listing functions — take a look at the options page for more info)
Facebook Adblock — Direct Install Link — if you just want to block ads on Facebook… (why?)

9. Speed Tracer — Direct Install Link (requires the ‘–enable-extension-timeline-api’ command line flag)

We actually covered Speed Tracer in its own article on Download Squad; it’s that neat — at least if you’re a developer! This isn’t a tool for the average user (unless you’re the curious type), but I’m including it because it really is useful if you’re a website admin or designer — or even an executive type that wants to smack down your tardy webdesign department with great vengeance and furious anger.
It basically gives you a wealth of information about where your web pages/apps are being slowed down, be it in the Javascript execution or the AJAX callbacks. There’s a cool video on the extension’s page too, which is worth a watch so you can see just how much this extension does.

10. Chromed Bird — Direct Install Link

Ladies and gentlemen, the customary Twitter extension. No! Don’t throw rotten tomatoes at me! Really, this is quite cool. Think about it — how often do you navigate to the Twitter website, or alt-tab to TweetDeck? Fairly often, if you’re a contemporary social-networking nerd like me. Chromed Bird lets you send tweets and watch tweets as they come in from your friends in real time.
It would be nice if there was an ‘automagic’ button that tweets whatever page you’re currently on — you have to copy and paste at the moment — but other than that, this is a very concise and cute Chrome extension. It even changes colour and notifies you when new tweets come in — it lets you view @replies and direct messages too!

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List of Top 50 free applications for Windows

Written by Nidhi

Are you tired of buying utilities or renewing license to your utilities on your already expensive Windows system? Here is a list of 50 such applications that are free to use. Furthermore, these applications do not require any fees and are available absolutely free.

1    Advanced SystemCare Free

Helps to protect, repair, clean and optimize your PC.

Owner : IObit

2    Wise Registry Cleaner Free

Helps you speeds up your PC by cleaning up your registry. Basically it provides windows registry clean up features with pretty easy to use interface.

Owner: WiseCleaner

3    Ccleaner

Helps you optimize your system by cleaning up the system. Cleanup includes Browser history, Trash Files, Temporary files and Log files. Further, it features un-installation of unused application and the registry cleanup.

Owner : Piriform Ltd.

4    Adobe Reader 9.1

Adobe Reader lets you

•    Open up and interact with all PDF documents.

•    View, search, digitally sign, verify, print and collaborate on Adobe PDF files.

Owner : Adobe Systems Incorporated

5    PDF-XChange

PDF – Xchange standard features includes

•    Add Comments and Annotations

•    Add & apply Custom Stamps

•    Mark-up pages with text and objects

•    Type directly on any PDF page

•    Extract text from a PDF page and few more.

Owner : Tracker Software Products (Canada) Ltd

6    AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

Protection against viruses and spyware

•    Compatible with Windows Xp or higher

•    Light weight and less overhead on OS.

Owner : AVG Technologies

7    avast! Home Edition

Simplest of application in terms of usability.

•    Daily automatic updates

•    Continuous data protection against all types of malware and spyware

•    Available in 30 different languages.

Owner : ALWIL Software

8    Avira AntiVir Personal – FREE Antivirus

Provides Basic protection

for your computer against dangerous viruses, worms, Trojans.

•    Available in 5 different languages

Owner : Avira.com

9    Avant Browser

Its salient feature include online profile storage to let user save users’ bookmarks, RSS Feeds, configurations or web passwords etc, in Avant Online Storage.

Owner : Avant Force

10    Open Office 3.0

Open office is an open source office suite for Windows. This is available for free download and serves as good alternative to well know Microsoft’s Word & Excel. It has full-featured set of office applications for word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation programs.

Owner : CollabNet, Inc., Sun, Sun Microsystems

11    DropBox

This application lets your share files with an account and you could use up to 2 GB (greater space requires paid accounts). This is quite handy tool for sharing your file over internet.

Owner : DropBOX.com

12    SKYPE

This popular freeware is VOIP based application which helps you voice call and is available for free download. You may make computer to computer calls for free. Moreover, Skype is one of the cheap VOIP service available to make computer to Phone calls.

Owner : Skype Limited

13    Smart Defrag

Smart Defrag helps defragment your hard drives more efficiently.

•    Ease of use along with Data Safety and Reliability Guaranteed

Owner : IObit.com

14    Download Accelerator Plus

• Provides Mirroring Speed Boost to download from the fastest sources.
• Available in 38 languages
• Built-in Twitter integration to Tweet directly from DAP

Owner : SpeedBit Ltd

15    Flash Player

Plays multimedia design made with Flash.

Owner : Adobe Systems Incorporated

16    VLC Media Player

•    It supports various audio and video formats which include MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, etc.

•    Further, it is handy for use with DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.

Owner : Videolan.org

17    YouTube Downloader

•    YouTube Downloader is software that allows you to download videos from YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo Video, and many others

•    This lets you convert them to other video formats for Ipod, Iphone, PSP, Cell Phone, Windows Media, XVid and MP3.

Owner : Biennesoft

18    Irfan View

•    Fast directory view (moving through directory)

•    Batch conversion (with image processing)

•    Multipage TIF editing

•    File search

•    Email option

•    Multimedia player

•    Print option and many more.

Owner : Irfan skiljan

19    Notepad++

•    It is a very good source code editor with support for several programming languages.

•    Very good search and replace option.

•    It has good Bookmarking and Multi-document support feature.

Owner : sourceforge.net

20    Textpad

•    Huge files can be edited, up to the limits of 32-bit virtual memory.

•    Good search and replace files in huge files.

•    Warm Start feature lets you restart exactly where you left off.

•    And many more.

Owner : Helios Software Solutions

21    Word Web

•    Provides Definitions, Synonyms and Usage for 150000 root words.

•    Includes audio pronunciations

•    Light-weight to the system

Owner : WordWeb Software

22    Applian FLV Player 2.0

•    Play FLV Files on any PC

•    Zoom to 2x or full screen.

•    Includes free audio/video recorder & converter option.

Owner : Applian Technologies Inc.

23    Easeus Partition Manager 3.5

•    Resize/Move partitions without data loss

•    Extend system partition easily and safely

•    Create, Merge, Split, Delete and Format partitions

•    Support up to 2TB partition or hard drive

Owner : CHENGDU YIWO Tech Development Co., Ltd.

24    Free YouTube to MP3 Converter

•    Lets you convert the YouTube video and download it as MP3 or Wav format.

•    Automatically fills the title tag and the artwork in the downloaded mp3 files.

Owner : DVDVideoSoft Limited

25    Undelete Plus

•    Restore accidentally deleted files

•    Image recovery from Compact Flash, SmartMedia, MultiMedia and Secure Digital cards.

Owner : Phoenix Technologies Ltd

26    Video mp3 Extractor 1.8

•    Convert Video Files (AVI, ASF, WMV files)  to mp3

•    Fast audio extraction algorithm

•    Easy to use interface.

Owner : GeoVid.

27    Diagram Designer 1.22

•    Creating flowcharts, UML class diagrams, illustrations and slide shows.

•    Import/export WMF, EMF, BMP, JPEG, PNG, MNG, ICO, GIF and PCX images.

•    Consists of slide show viewer and Simple graph plotter to plot mathematical expressions.

Owner : meesoft.logicnet.dk

28    Real Temp

•    Reads temperature information for all inter Core processors.

•    Keep track of the minimum and the maximum temperature of the processor.

•    Provides calibration features for each core of your processor.

Owner : www.techPowerUp.com

29    Pidgin

•    Free chat client with support for Msn, Yahoo, AIM Google Talk and other chat networks all at once.

•    Supports more than 60 different languages.

Owner : pidgin.im

30    VNC Viewer Free Edition 4.1 

•    Easy connect and use remote computer screen.

•    Easy to install and use.

•    Supports loading and saving of .vnc a file which contains a set of connection options.

Owner : RealVNC Limited

31    Free Video to iPod and PSP Converter

•    Helps convert full video or the part of video to Apple iPod, Sony PSP, BlackBerry and mobile phones MP4 video format

Owner : DVDVideoSoft Limited

32    LimeWire

•    Helps user connect to P2P network and share the file they want to share.

•    Faster starup and less waiting time.

•    Better memory usage

•    Free download and usage for basic usage.

Owner : Lime Wire LLC

33    FrostWire

•    Completely free and open source.

•    Provides Faster Torrent Speeds, I-Tunes compatibility, Friendly online chat rooms, easy navigation and many more.

Owner : frostwire.com

34    JetAudio

Even though plus Vx cost but basic version is absolutely free. Features it consists are as

•    Audio CD ripping

•    Voice recording

•    File conversion between various formats and

•    Audio CD buring.

Owner : JetAudio Inc.

35    Sql Tools

•    This tool is for Oracle 8/9i/10g PL/SQL development.

•    Provides good basic editor services

•    Easy to install and connect to ORACLE server

Owner : Aleksey Kochetov

36    Tortoise SVN

Tortoise SVN is Subversion client having features such as

•    Atomic Commits

•    Directory and File versioning,

•    Versioned Metadata

•    Consistent Data Handling

•    Reliable and quick tagging and branching and many more.

Owner : subversion.tigris.org

37    7 Zip

•    High Compression ratio

•    Compression ratio in the new 7z format is 30-50% better than ratio in ZIP format

•    Supports multiple formats such as 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, LZH, CHM, GZIP, BZIP2, Z, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB formats

Owner : Igor Pavlov

38    The Gimp

The GIMP is a more of the complex image editor like Photoshop available for windows platform. This application is free for download. It is quite good alternative Adobe’s Photoshop with similar features available for use.

Owner : The GIMP Team

39    iTunes

ITunes is a freeware that helps you play your digital music and video. It helps you synchronize your iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV.

Owner : Apple Inc.

40    JCreator

Jcreator is a light weight IDE for Java Programmers. Project management, project templates, code-completion, debugger interface, editor with syntax highlighting, wizards and a fully customizable user interface are some of the functionality that it provides.

Owner : Xinox Software

41    Eclipse

Eclipse is Software Development environment with support for multiple programming languages such as Java, C++, perl, PHP and others.

Owner : The Eclipse Foundation

42    MySql

MySql is a free open-source relational database management system (RDBMS).  This is the most popular open source RDBMS and offers free download and usage. Further this has adequate features needed by small to medium scale database.

Owner : Sun Microsystems, Inc

43    Cygwin

Cygwin is a Linux-like environment for Windows.

This provides a DLL which acts as a Linux API emulation layer providing substantial Linux API functionality.

Owner : Cygwin

44    Apache

•    This is free/open source http web server.

•    This provided Server-side programming language support to authentication schemes.

Owner : Apache Software  Foundation

45    Xampp

•    Xampp is a comprehensive set of web development resources under a bundle.

•    This is integrated package that consist PHP, PHP myAdmin, Mysql RDBMS, Apache Web server, Filezilla Ftp Client and few more.

Owner : Apache Friends

46    HTTrack

•    This is freeware that you download the full website into your local folder.

•    Arranges the file in the same directory structure.

•    Further, lets you browse the pages with offline browser utility.

Owner : Xavier Roche & other contributors

47    AVS TV Box Free

•    AVS TV Box Beta is a FREE universal software TV viewer and comes along with Personal Video Recorder functionality (PVR) .

•    PVR allows you to schedule TV recordings.

•    It works with any windows video capture device like satellite, TV and DVB cards, miniDV cameras, video capture cards and others.

Owner : Online Media Technologies Ltd., UK

48    Mozilla ThunderBird

•    This is good alternative to Microsoft’s Outlook. This is an email client email and Usenet client.

•    Provides features such as easy mail setup, attachment re-minder, One click Address Book and many more.

Owner : Mozilla

49    Free Guitar Tuner

Free guitar tuner provides features for tuning acoustic and electric guitars. It provides few set of tones to tune it.

Owner : GCH Guitar Academy

50    mTorrent

mTorrent is free to download and use torrent client. This is one of the finest, speedy, efficient, and free torrent clients. Ease of installation and use along with user friendly GUI makes it quite popular.

Owner : BitTorrent, Inc.

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Fishing Show Bloopers (very shallow gene pool)

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Why Men Should Not Write Advice Columns

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I Am SUCH The Geek For Airstream (and TED)

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Most Unfairly Overlooked Movies Of The Decade

Written by Josh Tyler

When people look back on the early years of the new millennium they’ll remember it for movies like The Dark Knight and Lord of the Rings. Or they’ll geek out with their friends about the cult classics they discovered together, rewatching copies of the original version of Donnie Darko or spreading around copies of Idiocracy and laughing at its accuracy. Or we’ll remember the prestige movies, the big Oscar winners like No Country For Old Men and Chicago.

But in a better world, maybe we’d remember these movies. These are the other guys, the great films you missed through circumstance or stupidity, through studio stumbling or simply bad timing. The best movies don’t always get seen, the best movies don’t always win the awards. This isn’t a list of critically acclaimed indies which didn’t do well at the box office, or films with huge fan followings which couldn’t get anyone else to turn out (sorry Serenity). Nor is this a list of movies which flopped at the box office but later found cult success. These movies fell between the cracks and never really found the audience they deserved. When you’re thinking back on the aughts, you won’t think of these films, but maybe you should. Consider giving these movies a second chance. Unique and strange, funny and weird, challenging and sexy; they’re the most unfairly overlooked movies of the past decade.

Black Snake Moan (2007)

Samuel L. Jackson will be forever remembered for Pulp Fiction but he gives the best performance of his career as Lazarus, an aging, god-fearing blues man in Black Snake Moan. When he finds a half-naked, whored-up party girl (Christina Ricci) lying in his driveway, he carries the beaten up, high, and unconscious hottie into his house, nurses her back to physical health, and soon decides the writhing, sexed-up, drugged out girl’s mental health is his responsibility as well. His southern hospitality goes a little too far when he chains the girl to his radiator to keep her out of trouble, but despite the chains Black Snake Moan is a movie about healing and redemption. Writer/director Craig Brewer’s film is smart and savvy but the movie’s also a big bomb of sensuality and southern grit. Soulful, down and dirty blues grinds its way through the movie as the soundtrack of Lazarus’s life. It’s sweet sound that stitches this underappreciated, brazen film together. Why didn’t anyone see it? I can’t explain it as anything other than uptight Americans skipping it based on the posters which featured Ricci scantily clad and in chains. Ironically, it’s a deeply spiritual film, one with a lot of good things to say about the religious fervor which likely kept audiences away in the first place.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Shane Black’s wicked script and the spot on timing of Robert Downey Jr., and most especially Val Kilmer as the hilariously named detective Gay Perry, made Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang the most badass piece of film noir since Fred MacMurray dropped dead in Double Indemnity. But this was before Robert Downey’s big return to the limelight, back when he was still in recovery mode and everyone still seemed to be boycotting him. So this murder mystery went unwatched and what should have been Robert Downey’s coming out party ended up on dusty, video store shelves where it was eventually shoved out of the way to make room for more copies of Iron Man. But it’s better than Iron Man and ten times more fun. The chemistry between Kilmer and Downey is spot on, they’re a classic on screen duo the kind which deserves a whole series of movies. Now the continuing adventures of Harry Lockhart and Gay Perry will never happen and all I can do is plead with you to hop on to Netflix and give Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang a chance.

Zack and Miri Make A Porno (2008)

It was supposed to be filmmaker Kevin Smith’s breakout hit but whether because of bad timing or bad titling Zack and Miri barely managed to tread water, bringing in the same, limited crowd which show up for all of his films. But this was the Kevin Smith that deserved to be seen by the masses, a raunch-comedy of Apatow proportions which kills with out of control laughs and adult sincerity. It features stellar performances from Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks, who, come together in one awkwardly perfect moment to create what is almost without question one of the greatest, most strangely moving fully-clothed sex scenes ever captured on screen. It’s also sweet, really sweet and romantic in a way the title probably doesn’t suggest. Most of all though it’s funny, really funny, in a way we’ll probably never see from Smith again. The movie’s failure has prompted the indie director to abandon his more personal filmmaking style in favor of taking on big studio projects. The next time you see his name on screen, it’ll be in the closing credits of a buddy cop movie.

Frailty (2001)

Bill Paxton is at his absolute freakiest in this little seen horror movie about fundamentalism gone awry. At first he’s father to a happy little family. Father and two sons, they live in small-town Texas minding their own business, until of course Dad gets a message from God. God says there are demons in the world and it’s up to Pop and his sons to destroy them. One catch, the demons look like normal, every day humans. Older brother Fenton is skeptical but his young brother Tommy has a case of hero worship, and does whatever Dad says. As the kids are perverted and twisted into serial killers and as the body count rises, the movie becomes a spine-tingling thriller of the highest order; a slow, creepy build with a mind-blowing twist ending that would have left you shattered if, of course, you’d seen it. Paxton is brilliant and sympathetic… even while scaring the hell out of you. Most of all it’s the subtle little touches that make it so goddamn disturbing. There’s a moment when Dad threatens a supposed demon with an axe and in the background, if you listen closely you’ll hear Tommy whisper, “kill him” off camera and in the background. It’s a small touch, but one that sticks with you in the dark ride on the way home. Is that Tommy whispering for your death in the seat behind you? Maybe you’re a demon. Maybe you deserve death.

The Girl Next Door (2004)

The Girl Next Door had the gross misfortune to be released at the height of America’s religious fervor back in 2004. The Passion of the Christ was the biggest movie in the world and covering up Janet Jackson’s nipples was our new obsession. So it’s no surprise that a no holds barred teen raunch-comedy would slip out of theaters with barely a notice. That doesn’t make it right. Sure The Girl Next Door is down with nudity and sex as entertainment and sure a lot of it takes place at a porn convention. But Emile Hirsch plays the lead and makes it something special beyond that, with a character that it becomes impossible not to identify with while whatever crazy hijinks ensue. It’s legitimately hilarious and beneath the movie’s tits and ass veneer is a movie that John Hughes would have been proud to call his own back in 1984. Timothy Olyphaunt steals scenes as a porn king and the movie’s soundtrack kicks ass. Even now it seems like somewhere along the way there should be some sort of cult audience for a movie like this. Maybe it’ll find it yet.

City of Ember (2008)

We’ve been awash in second-rate fantasy movies since the very first Lord of the Rings, so perhaps it’s understandable that audiences would give this one a pass, assuming perhaps that it’s another lame entry in the vein of Legend of the Seeker. City of Ember is anything but. It dared to be different. The story of a lost, steam-powered city buried deep beneath the ground after the apocalypse should have been a crowd pleaser with stunning, eye-popping set design and a big stars in Tim Robbins and Bill Murray. Unfortunately 20th Century Fox seemed to forget to advertise it and its detailed set design and complex world of decaying civilization unspooled unwatched in theaters. Still there’s never been anything quite like City of Ember, a complete picture of a dying civilization and the struggle of a scant few to find a way to escape it. It’s ambitious and smart, and nothing like any other fantasy movie you’ve seen.

Jet Li’s Fearless (2006)

While over the past decade other aging action stars like Jackie Chan abandoned their ass-kicking ways in favor of Disney-style babysitter comedies, Jet Li delivered one of the biggest roundhouse kicks of his career. Jet Li’s Fearless embodied everything that has made Li, Li. As so many of these movies are, it’s set in China’s past, but in a way that’s utterly grounded. There’s no fantasy here and the fight scenes are gritty and feel completely real. They’re even more eye-popping because of it and it contains some of the best fights this side ofDrunken Master II. But more than that, it’s a deeply personal film for Li and it shows in his performance which is, easily, the best of his career. It’s based on the life of Huo Yuanjia, a real person who changed the path of Chinese fighting away from killing towards a simple battle of skill. He made it dishonorable for fighters to kill their opponents in the ring, and started the Jin Wu Sports Federation to ensure that future generations would learn from his mistakes. Apparently one member of those future generations was Jet Li who delivers a movie of deep honor, style, and intensity. And you missed it.

Below (2002)

Take The Hunt for Red October and turn it into a ghost story and you’d have Below, the scariest movies ever to take place below the waves. In the midst of World War II the submarine U.S.S. Tiger Shark prowls the ocean on a rescue mission. But below the surface, the sub’s walls are closing in as the ship’s shell-shocked crew falls prey to sensory delusions and mental madness which send them over the edge. Or is it real? The ship could be haunted or cursed and they could be a damned crew sinking rapidly toward their doom. It’s a psychological thriller and a war movie and a study in what happens when men spend too much time in confined spaces all at once. Or maybe it really is the story of a horrific underwater haunting. Below keeps you guessing and wondering and scared shitless throughout it’s entire running time. For some reason though, this taut little thriller never got a decent theatrical release. It was dumped in a couple of theaters without advertising where, it never had a chance. Now’s your chance. Grab a copy on DVD, if you can find it.

Choke (2008)

Vile, seedy, and morally bankrupt Choke didn’t contain any fight scenes so no one bothered to see it. Sex doesn’t sell, apparently, but a good decapitation does. Amoral and filthy in the most glorious of ways, Choke starred Sam Rockwell as a sex addict and historical re-enactor who wanders through life screwing everyone he knows. Based on a book by Fight Clubauthor Chuck Palahniuk, it’s viciously funny and, in a dark and twisted way, even a little poignant. But a confusing theatrical release pattern made it nearly impossible to figure out where or if it was ever playing and so Choke just sort of passed everyone by. Deep conversations about relationships are had during handjobs and true love is uncovered while trying to convince a stripper she has cancer. It’s the film’s seediest moments that seem the most real,when Victor’s life is at its most despicable and unstable Choke shines. With the help of one of the coolest soundtracks you’ve never heard (Satan Said Dance!) it creates something unlike anything else you’ve never seen on screen.

Ghost Town (2008)

Do mainstream audiences know Ricky Gervais? Ghost Town proved rather definitively that they do not. Geeks know who Ricky is, but there simply aren’t enough nerds left out there anymore to matter. They’re all on the internet or they’ve morphed into Twilighters or something. But Ghost Town was a surprisingly smart, funny, and emotional movie. The premise seems stupid (A man talks to the dead? Doesn’t seem fresh does it?) but Gervais was too brilliant to let it stay that way. He makes magic out of thin air. If only anyone had shown up to see him do it. What if Jesus had turned water into wine in an empty room? Would we still have Christianity? If people had bought tickets to Ghost Town, would we be praying to Ricky Gervais? Maybe we should be anyway.

25th Hour (2002)

In 25th Hour Edward Norton gives what is perhaps the best performance of his career in what is easily one of the best movie’s of Spike Lee’s filmography. Norton plays a convicted drug dealer headed to prison for seven years. Before he goes Monty Brogan has twenty-four hours to say goodbye, and he spends most of them coming to grips with his father and friends while venting his anger and frustration at the path he’s taken. Anyone who’s seen it will particularly remember Brogan’s massive tirade against New York, America and everyone in it. “Fuck you all,” says Monty Brogan as his anger pours out of the screen. It’s Lee’s most compelling and thoughtful film, one that puts a new spin on the types of choices we’re all faced to make. You’ll identify with Monty Brogan, or you would have, if the movie had gotten enough attention to talk people into seeing it. A little movie like this needs support from critics and awards givers and somehow, 25th Hour never really got it.

Open Range (2003)

The Western has been dead since Lonesome Dove and shows no sign of returning. When they’re attempted we tend to instantly dismiss them, and usually with good reason, as yet another carbon copy of the hundreds of Westerns which have come before. Maybe that’s why so much of the world missed out on Open Range, easily the best Western sinceUnforgiven and perhaps even worthy of being listed as one of the best ever made. Opening with a beautiful and irresistibly realistic portrayal of trail riding life, Open Range eventually morphs into a balls to the wall, shoot-em-up save the town flick. It’s the chemistry between Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall that sells it, their interplay coming easy and slow, with a sometimes humorous and sometimes touching chemistry that would normally seem impossible to achieve with two such staunchly stoic characters. I suppose it also doesn’t hurt that Duvall blows a guy to hell through a wall, with the rumbling blast of a killer shotgun. It’s a visually stunning, gripping film. One which probably deserves to have been seen on the big screen, but since you missed that, just make sure you see it.

Spartan (2004)

David Mamet’s films are usually an acquired taste but Spartan is a rare Mamet effort that works on slightly more accessible level. Nameless special operations soldier played by Val Kilmer, at the forefront of a massive manhunt for a kidnapped VIP. Who Kilmer is and just who it is that he’s hunting unfolds as a part of the events swirling around the film, never as a piece of obvious exposition that awkwardly lays things out for you. Mamet never really explains anything and the movie just sort of happens as if we’ve really stepped into the middle of something. And since it’s a Mamet movie, yeah sometimes it’s talky. But it’s also an action packed, gritty thriller. An intense military puzzle which doesn’t wait around for you to figure out the answers and leaves you with plenty to ponder later.

The Lookout (2007)

Scott Frank’s brilliantly written and directed heist movie should have earned, at the least, an Oscar nomination for star Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Instead, in part because it was released too early in the year to stick with Oscar voters and in larger part because it never received any real promotion, almost no one seems to realize it exists. The Lookout stars Levitt as a young man with brain damage. He’s not exactly stupid he just has trouble keeping things straight. Through circumstance he finds himself involved in a complicated heist plot and things spiral out of control while Levitt tries to remember brush his teeth. Jeff Daniels co-stars as a blind roommate and delivers one of the best visually impaired characters this side of Scent of a Woman. But Gordon-Levitt is the film’s anchor and he’s stupendous in his portrayal of a former prom king reduced to disability assistance and a janitorial job at the bank after a reckless accident. The heist plot is just the icing on the cake as Levitt’s Chris Pratt gets in over his head.

Eagle vs. Shark (2007)

This is the movie Napoleon Dynamite wanted to be. Funny and quirky but without the vicious hatred for its own characters that seems to seep throughout Jared Hess’s cult hit, Eagle vs. Shark is a beautiful and delicate where Dynamite is clumsy and stupid, an awkward film about awkward people looking for someone. It’s the performance of unknown New Zealand actress Loren Horsley that really carries it. Lily is a completely magical character. Shy and uncomplaining, Lily says little but somehow says everything. Horsley makes her incredibly alive for a woman of so few words. On the outside she’s a façade of almost painfully shy reserve, on the inside she burns with passion and bravery unmatched by any woman you’re likely to see in any other film.

The Woodsman (2004)

It’s a testament to just how good The Woodsman is that everyone ignored it. The topic is pedophilia and we’re not talking about some revenge fantasy in which a pedophile gets his due. Instead it stars a pedophile and what’s more a nearly sympathetic one. Kevin Bacon plays a man struggling with his own inner demons, as a recovering molester who served his time and now desperately wants to reintegrate into normal society. But he’s at odds with himself, fighting to resist the urges inside him, his own lust for little kids. It’s a compulsion. one which he doesn’t want to give into but almost can’t resist. The Woodsman tackles its topic with unflinching determination, showing the true face of what is definitely a sickness, without in any way condoning it. Bacon deserved and Oscar and the film deserved accolades, but awards givers and critics mostly refused to touch it, scared away by just how raw and real The Woodsman is. Without anyone to champion it, most audiences never even heard about it, and so what may be Kevin Bacon’s greatest and most horrifying performance sits on a DVD somewhere, unwatched and underappreciated.

Grindhouse (2007)

Grindhouse was the most fun to be had in theaters in a decade, so of course no one bothered to show up for it. Audiences were confused by the premise and intimidated by the four or five hours necessary to sit through two movies back to back. But those who took the plunge had a blast. Sure Tarantino’s half, Death Proof, is talky and slow. There’s a decent car chase, but he spends most of his running time wandering around the rural areas outside Austin with annoying coeds. But the fake movie trailers shown during intermission are comedic gold and Robert Rodriguez’s zombie film, Planet Terror, is as insane and over the top as Tarantino’s movie is not. It’s more than enough to compensate for Quentin’s inexplicable naval gazing. He has a stripper with a machine gun leg! What’s not to love? The real tragedy here is that it’s just not something you can properly experience at home on DVD. Grindhouseis all about atmosphere, and you can’t get atmosphere at home on your couch. If you missed it in theaters, then you missed it.

The Weather Man (2005)

Nic Cage’s complicated character study The Weather Man is downbeat and dejected, by design. So maybe it’s understandable that no one showed up to see it. Sure it’s not the quick and easy gratification we’re used to but there’s something emotionally connected about Gore Verbinski’s movie. Cage has taken a lot of crap for making, well, crap over this past decade. But this is one of his true gems. It’s the story of a weatherman named Dave, but not a meteorologist, who’s good at his job but finds no satisfaction in it. He only spends two hours a day doing actual work, the rest is spent looking awkward and unimpressive while the real meteorologist figures out what Dave is supposed to say. Sometimes people throw things at David. His life is going badly and that’s just one of the symptoms. Weirdly, it’s so downbeat it’s actually funny. The jokes and the misery play off one another, amplified by the contrast between them. At some point Dave’s unhappiness becomes so profound it becomes intentionally hilarious.

The Notorious Bettie Page (2005)

In an era of sexual repression Bettie Page got out the whips and chains, but there’s more to her biopic than the kink you’ve seen on posters flaunting the iconic pin-up. Gretchen Mol delivers an epic performance as Page, who, didn’t really understand the impact her pictures had in a time when sexual repression and censorship fought with freedom. She challenged the establishment, but almost inadvertently. For Bettie, it was just a good time playing dress up. The story of America’s first sex icon is compelling and yeah, of course, also sexy as hell. But mostly it’s the story of a beautiful, purely innocent soul and a love for life which made her sometimes dark pinup pictures endure and end up on your bi-sexual girlfriend’s t-shirt. Unfortunately awards voters overlooked Mol’s performance and, of course, general audiences were scared off by nudity. Oh the irony.

Stardust (2007)

Stardust was really weird, but knew it and seemed to have no problem poking fun at itself and the fantasy genre for just how strange it all is. That wickedly sarcastic sense of fun made the story of a boy’s quest to save a fallen star (which happens to be a woman) with the help of unicorns and gay air pirates one of the most inspired bits of filmmaking in the last decade. A lot of the credit has to go to director Matthew Vaughn who took an 80s story in the vein of Willow or The Dark Crystal and used his own sense of style to make a completely unique fantasy film. So of course no one saw it. As funny and engaging as the movie was, it proved too challenging for the average moviegoer. Stardust was another flop. Let’s hope Matthew Vaughn’s next movie, the equally inventive looking superhero movie Kick-Ass, fares better.

Open Water (2003)

Open Water is the exact opposite of almost every horror movie you’ve seen lately. A couple on holiday goes scuba diving and through accidental circumstances gets abandoned out in the ocean without a boat, all alone, with sharks circling around. What follows is pure, gut-wrenching terror as they float together, waiting for death as sharks circle and clouds form and things go from bleak to certain doom. It’s an exercise in stripped down restraint, almost the entire movie is spent on these two people. It works because they seem so real, they’re any couple you’ve known. Maybe they’re you and your mate. Open Water is Jaws on a much more intimate and personal level. Its unflinching, uncompromising approach not only makes you afraid to go in the water, but makes you question all sorts of things about the way you spend whatever amount of time you have left on rock hard earth. It’s the kind of movieParanormal Activity was supposed to be, and wasn’t. So of course no one saw it, preferring instead to watch the same horror movie over and over again, in which a large man with a knife chops off pretty girls’ heads.

Death at a Funeral (2007)

It’s getting remade with Chris Rock in the lead but before you bother with the redo you owe it to yourself to catch the original, one of the funniest movies no one has ever seen. Directed by the great Frank Oz, Death at a Funeral takes an ensemble cast and drops them into the funeral from hell. There’s a blackmailing midget and a drugged out Alan Tudyk. The body in the casket isn’t the family’s beloved father and the oldest son is trying to keep it a secret. Cranky uncles and insane family members abound. The only reason you haven’t already seen it and pronounced it one of your favorite movies is because, for some inexplicable reason, MGM never bothered to market it. Even surprisingly few critics saw it. There’s literally no way the remake can top it, so why settle for second best when you can pick up the original comedic insanity on DVD?

The Wackness (2008)

The Wackness, despite a lot of buzz from blogs like this one, was another victim of Sony Pictures Classic. They’re the indie distributor you don’t want buying their movie. They release the occasional Rachel Getting Married but for the most part, SPC is where good indies go to die. And The Wackness is a good indie. Those who have seen it know that it’s a special little film, a perfect homage to growing up in the 90s, even for those of us who didn’t grow up in New York dealing pot. Josh Peck, who till now had shown no aptitude for well, anything, acts his ass off and Ben Kingsley does the most strangely effective and affecting Robin Williams impression I’ve seen since Williams did one of himself in Aladdin. Oh and it has one of the Olsen Twins! Wait, that may not seem like a positive. But really she doesn’t suck. A movie where an Olsen Twin doesn’t suck? Come on, that has to be something pretty dope doesn’t? Seek it out. Watch it. Itunes the soundtrack and imagine the Fly Girls dancing in your living room while you listen. You’ll thank me for it.

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His and Her Reactions to Awkward Roommate Situations

Written by Emily

Situation: Not Doing the Dishes

Hers: “Someone left their dishes in the sink! Someone who eats Lucky Charms! Didn’t you buy Lucky Charms? I really don’t want to point fingers, I want to share the responsibilities of living together, but it just upsets me when people don’t respect my space and thus, don’t respect me. We can all be adults about this and talk it out. If it doesn’t change, I’m going to schedule a mediation with the RA.”

His: “Whoa, check out this mold! Cool!”

---

Situation: Keeping the Lights/Music on Late

Hers: “Hey, um, so, I noticed your light is still on, and it’s, like, 3AM.”

“I’m just having a hard time falling asleep.”

“Oh my God, is there something you need to talk about?! Is this about Brad? It is, isn’t it.”

“I don’t understand why he doesn’t want to be with me!”

“You’re so much better than him! I’m coming over there and we are spooning until you feel better!”

His: “Shut off that fucking light or I will smother you to death with this pillow once you do finally fall asleep.”

---

Situation: Not Cleaning the Bathroom

Hers: “Help! The tub isn’t draining because of all of this mold! I don’t understand how it happened, I cleaned the bathroom last Saturday and then this Saturday…as long as you cleaned it…this shouldn’t be happening! Maybe we have an extreme drainage mold problem and we need to call maintenance! That is…if you cleaned on Saturday like the bathroom chart said you were supposed to…”

His: “Isn’t your mom visiting this weekend? Do you think you can get her to clean the bathroom?”

---

Situation: Using Your Stuff

Hers: “Someone is using my bath towels because I keep finding them folded a different way. I really don’t want to make things weird, I’m sure it’s my problem, but it bothers me…I don’t want to resort to writing a passive-aggressive article on College Humor so you get the picture!”

His: “Dude, seriously. Is that my towel?”

“My bad. Wanna play XBox?”

“Sure.”

---

Situation: Bringing Home a Special Friend

Hers: “Nice!”

His: “Nice.”

Bonus:   If I Had One Hour to Live

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Just say NO

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I Want What These Guys Are Having For Breakfast

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Tiger Woods' Gatorade "Focus" (now 11 to a pack)

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Tramp Stamp-B-Gone

Download now or watch on posterous

tattoo.wmv (3555 KB)

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