He may not tweet often, but when he does it's incredible.

yakillyourheroes.tumblr.com

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Creepy Uncle Sam is back and he's even creepier than before. The anti-Obamacare mascot from Generation Opportunity, which urges people to opt out of Obamacare, is making his way over to Snapchat and is launching a first-of-its-kind campaign to gut the Affordable Care Act. Chat requests may be made to "creepyuncle.sam."

youtube.com

Thank you, internet.

ripplin.deviantart.com

phroth.com

The fact this happened on Countdown.

Channel 4

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Letters Of Note , Shaun Usher's compilation of fascinating letters, postcards, telegrams, faxes, and memos is brilliant. Here, he chooses his 11 favourite entries for BuzzFeed.

In 1998, aged just 14, aspiring young cartoonist Amir Avni decided to send a letter to the creator of Ren & Stimpy, John Kricfalusi, along with a few cartoons he'd drawn.

He received this reply, along with a picture and a book by Preston Blair. Amir went on to become an illustrator for the Cartoon Network.

Via lettersofnote.com

Via lettersofnote.com

Via lettersofnote.com

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It takes a certain kind of person to call this city home.

The people of SEPTA.

Via Facebook: People-Of-Septa

Via Facebook: People-Of-Septa

This monstrosity.

Via pages.drexel.edu

These bills.

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Christian Bale's gritty 'Out Of The Furnace' flops while 'Frozen' takes the top spot.
By Ryan J. Downey

The second 'Hobbit' film has left some critics cold, but even detractors agree that its titular dragon is a hot-ticket item.
By Josh Wigler

Singer busts out of his break up mode and has some fun on his ninth offering in 'Music Mondays' series.
By Gil Kaufman

Telltale Games, the studio behind the 'Walking Dead' and 'The Wolf Among Us' video games, will release a new game based on the HBO fantasy series.
By Josh Wigler

Fox is searching for a ten-year-old actor to play Bruce Wayne in their upcoming drama set in gothic Gotham City.
By Josh Wigler

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The release of the feature, which won best screenplay honors in Cannes, has been delayed amid censorship issues.

Chinese director Jia Zhangke says he is confident his new film, A Touch of Sin, will get a theatrical release in China, despite touching on topics which often lead to films being banned by the country's censors.

Touch of Sin, which won the best screenplay honor in Cannes, was due to be released in China in early November but has not yet been given a screening date.

Jia told local media that he was still communicating with various government departments to get approval for the film, which is seen as potentially provocative for the normally deeply conservative Chinese market.

"Because this film indeed has some breakthrough moments and challenges, it is very normal if there is some doubt," Jia said. "For me, it is not surprising. What I can do is to communicate with them rationally." He added he believed communication with the censorship department was progressing.

Jia is beloved at international festivals -- his Still Life won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2006 -- but his work is rarely seen in China.

In recent weeks, there have been reports of directives issued by the Chinese government to local media to avoid covering the movie.

There were a fair number of eyebrows raised when Jia said in Cannes that he was sure A Touch of Sin would get a Chinese theatrical release, despite its provocative subject matter.

The movie is told in four loosely linked parts, each based on a true-life violent incident in contemporary China. There are references to corruption, prostitution and the tragic back story to China's remarkable economic growth, such as a suicide at an assembly plant, similar to the real-life series of suicides at Foxconn in Shenzhen, where Apple products are assembled.

Jia is one of the leading figures of China's so-called "sixth generation" of directors. His early work, such as landmark films The Pickpocket (Xiao Wu, 1997) and Platform (2000), were produced independently, outside of the official Chinese film system.

There are also reports that A Touch of Sin may fall foul of the quota system in self-ruled Taiwan which allows 10 movies a year from the rival mainland China market to screen there.

The public broadcaster will also broadcast its flagship political discussion program "Question Time" from South Africa in the wake of Nelson Mandelaas death.

The BBC said Monday (Dec. 9) it will launch five new subscription-free HD  channels for BBC Three, BBC Four BBC News, kids’ channels CBeebies and CBBC.

The public broadcaster said that all five will roll out across Freeview HD, Freesat HD and along with YouView, Sky HD and Virgin Media.

Viewers will also be able to catch-up on HD programs from these channels on BBC iPlayer, the broadcaster said.

The channels will be launching in time for Christmas, "when families gather together to enjoy some of the best TV from the BBC," according to BBC director general Tony Hall.

All five new HD channels will broadcast the same programs as their standard definition equivalents in HD.

Over 50 per cent of homes in the U.K. are already HD enabled, with research estimating that the number of HD homes is expected to grow to reach over 20 million (80 per cent of all UK homes) by 2016 and over 23 million homes (90 per cent of all UK homes) by 2019, the BBC said.

The corporation also said that following the news of Nelson Mandela’s death, BBC One’s flagship political debate program Question Time will be hosted from Johannesburg Dec. 12.

Regular host David Dimbleby will chair the program from the South African city and the panel members  be announced "in the near future."

Question Time show editor Nicolai Gentchev said: “With widespread global news coverage and tributes being paid to South Africa’s first black president by world leaders and the public alike, we have decided to take Question Time to Johannesburg. It will be a chance to debate Mandela's legacy, South Africa today and the outlook for the continent.”

Question Time is produced by Mentorn Media for BBC Scotland and transmits weekly on BBC One.

The deal will reportedly see Yuri Sapronov swap his stake in RWS owner Sistema Mass Media for just under half of the film studio.

MOSCOW - Yuri Sapronov, general director of Russia’s biggest privately owned film studio Russian World Studio (RWS), has acquired a 49% stake in the company, said a report run by local business daily Kommersant.

According to Kommersant, Sapronov exchanged his 12.5% stake in Sistema Mass Media (SMM), which owns RWS, for a 49% share in the studio.

A spokesperson for RWS declined to comment. An SMM spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter that it is too early to speak about ownership changes in RWS.

“So far, the only development has been that [the federal anti-monopoly service] FAS has issued an approval to a possible deal between two companies that are part of SMM,” she said. “Applications to FAS are made long before any deal is actually struck. At the moment, the ownership structure of the Russian World Studios remains unchanged.”

RWS owns the 118,000 sq. meter studio complex in St Petersburg. It also operated studio facilities in Moscow but pulled out of the city last year. Two years ago, RWS was attached to another studio project in St Petersburg, Lenfilm XXI, which it planned to develop as a joint venture with the state-run broadcasting corporation VGTRK, but the future of the project is still uncertain.

In response, the government points to "victims' rights," the lengthy delay of the extradition hearing and Kim Dotcom's tweets.

Since Kim Dotcom and other leaders of Megaupload were indicted by the Justice Department nearly two years ago, proceedings in a Virginia federal courtroom have screeched to a near halt. No big courtroom showdown will take place until New Zealand judicial authorities decide sometime next year whether to extradite the defendants accused of racketeering and criminal copyright infringement.

Until then, Dotcom's attorneys and government lawyers engage in side battles. The latest came late last week when the parties traded letters to the court over a sealed ex parte order that allowed the government to disseminate to entertainment industry trade associations some of the evidence in the case. The newest controversy raises the specter that Hollywood studios could soon bring a civil lawsuit against Megaupload and addresses the tricky balance between due process against a foreign defendant and victims' rights.

VIDEOS: 6 Outrageous Kim Dotcom Moments

Although Dotcom and the U.S. government don't agree on much, both sides appear to be frustrated at the lack of action in the Virginia court.

For Dotcom, he'd love to challenge an order seizing property that the U.S. government claims is subject to forfeiture. He's been denied that opportunity because the government insists he must first show up in the country. In the absence of submitting himself to the jurisdiction of the Virginia court, Dotcom's lawyers have made limited appearances.

Now, the defendants are upset at word that the government late last month obtained a secret order to share information related to the case. In a letter to the judge last Wednesday, they wrote: 

"In the present instance, the Government's covert filing has deprived Defendants of their due process right to meet and oppose the Government's request, and has done so without justification. The defendants in this case have been indicted, their assets have been frozen, their business has been destroyed, and their liberty has been restrained. Given these constraints, it is unclear what evils the Government fears the Defendants will inflict if provided notice of the Government's submission, beyond having Defendants' counsel come into court to make opposing arguments." 

Dotcom's attorneys further argue that allowing the dissemination of a "one-sided, cherry-picked set of facts" threatens to prejudice them by "improperly infect[ing] the jury pool before Defendants are afforded any opportunity to present their side of the story."

On Friday, the Justice Department responded. The government reiterated its objection to allowing the defendants to have any say in the matter when Dotcom has refused to appear in court. In fact, they argue the judge shouldn't recognize the Megaupload lawyers' involvement and suggest that the above letter that discussed a sealed order was itself a violation of the court's orders.

Nevertheless, government attorneys debate the merits of Dotcom's request to be provided information and an opportunity to oppose.

Megaupload is accused of causing the entertainment industry hundreds of millions of dollars in damages by knowingly aiding piracy. The same evidence that has precipitated a criminal action against Dotcom and his cohorts could become grounds for civil lawsuits on behalf of copyright holders. But any entertainment companies wishing to sue Megaupload might not have the luxury of waiting around forever. Typically, in copyright lawsuits, the statute of limitations is three years.

The government is equally, if not more, irked that an extradition hearing in New Zealand originally scheduled for August 2012 has now been pushed back to April 2014.

"This lengthy delay until more than two years after the arrest of the defendants may jeopardize known and unknown victims’ rights, including their right to full and timely restitution under laws around the world," says the government in its response to Dotcom's lawyers. "Such restitution claims could now theoretically be available against not only those awaiting extradition, but corporate entities, other fugitives, and associates; such claims may not be available or may be severely curtailed by the time the extradition hearing does actually take place."

Justice Department lawyers also give the example of an independent movie producer whose works were shared on Megaupload. Without knowledge of that information, they say, "her right to provide specific evidence that may be helpful to the New Zealand court’s determination of eligibility for extradition may go unfulfilled and her claim for full and timely restitution could be barred."

And as to claims that the sharing of evidence might taint the jury pool, the government says such a view would be "more credible" if the defendants didn't have such a high profile and many opportunities to present their side of the story. "To summarize Kim Dotcom’s many appearances, interviews, webpages, articles, statements, and tweets about his claims about the evidence, witnesses, personalities, and circumstances in the criminal case pending before this Court would take thousands of pages and many hundreds of hours of video and audio," they say.

The extradition hearing is scheduled for April, although it won't be terribly surprising if it's delayed once again. If the hearing happens in springtime, U.S. government says the release of records will become public then.

Email: Eriq.Gardner@THR.com
Twitter: @eriqgardner

The American whistleblower was the overwhelming favorite for the honor, as voted on by readers of the British newspaper.

The Guardian newspaper has named U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden its person of the year.

Snowden won the honor, voted on by Guardian readers, with 1,445 votes, more than 40 percent of the total. A distant second, with 314 votes, were Marco Weber and Sini Saarela, the Greenpeace activists who staged the oil rig protest over Russian Arctic drilling. Pope Francis was third with 153 votes.

This was the second year running that the Guardian's top newsmaker honor went to an American whistleblower.  Chelsea Manning, who was given a 35-year jail sentence in July for violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses connected to his leaking of classified documents to WikiLeaks, was the Guardian's Person of the Year 2012.

Snowden's revelations about the NSA's extensive programs of telephone and Internet surveillance has been front page news for the Guardian for months. The left-of-center newspaper was itself a key player in the revelations.  In May, after leaving the U.S. for Hong Kong, Snowden met with Guardian journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill to hand over the documents that exposed the NSA programs. Snowden then went into exile, eventually seeing asylum in Russia.

The Guardian said its readers were impressed by “this his personal sacrifice, as much as his revelations."

Fergie Fergs yearbook photo is EVERYTHING #glamorous #flossyflossy pic.twitter.com/Q8eVgDFzeR

a Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) December 8, 2013

by Vito Valentinetti

The Treefort Music Fest, one of the MFJ crew's favorite festivals, will return to downtown Boise from March 20-23,

Full post here: 2014 Treefort Music Fest: Built to Spill, Joy Formidable

Facing a backlash

We see if value is enough to beat Apple's latest flagship smartphone

Looking for terrorist cells

Everything you need to know about Samsung's flagship smartphone for 2014

But both ISPs are shamed by the Netherlands

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Pearl Jam, a pot party....the fun never seems to end in Seattle, does it? But wait, there's more: concerts, swell art and ... a chance to win a $100 Starbucks gift card.

Music: Locally sourced rappers Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, who now have 7 Grammy nominations to their collective name, roll into Seattle for three sold-out shows, Tuesday-Thursday, KeyArena.

Ballet, theater: Holiday tradition-keepers "Nutcracker" at Pacific Northwest Ballet and "A Christmas Carol" at ACT Theatre are up and running full-steam. You'd never know the "Nutracker" was 30 -- it's so bright and shiny, and the crowds are as much fun to watch as the ballet. (On the night ArtsPage HQ was there, a marriage proposal took place.) Also festive: "Oliver!" at the 5th Avenue.

Art: If you've never heard Seattle Art Museum's personable, knowledgeable chief conservator, Nick Dorman, hold forth, get thee to

this: He'll lecture on Wednesday at SAM about his painstaking restoration and conservation of Jackson Pollock's painting "Sea Change," created during a period that Christie's auction house referred to as "a legendary three-year burst of creativity between 1947 and 1950 that completely revolutionized American painting and reshaped the history of twentieth century art." (Thanks, ArtDaily!) This project was watched closely by curators worldwide, and helped enhance how institutions repair and care for their treasures.

Books: Author Daniel James Brown discusses "The Boys in the Boat," the story of the UW crew team that won gold at the 1936 Munich Olympics, at 7 p.m. Tuesday at University Book Store in Seattle. BTW, Brown's book is tops in The Seattle Times' book critics list of best books of 2013.

Holiday lights: Does your yard resemble a thousand points of light? A shining city on a hill? Glitter Gulch? Share a photo with Seattle Times readers here; we'll publish a couple of favorites and pick a winner, who will get a $100 Starbucks gift card. Deadline: Dec. 18.