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Recently popularized in America by the big screen adaptation of Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s V for Vendetta, the opening sequence of this poem originated as part of an annual religious sermon to English royal subjects as a reminder of The Gunpowder Plot, and that treason would never be tolerated.

The sermon, originally entitled ‘Please to Remember the 5th of November’ is commonly read as:

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I know of* no reason

Why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t’was his intent

To blow up the King and Parli’ment.

Three-score barrels of powder below

To prove old England’s overthrow;

By God’s providence he was catch’d (or by God’s mercy*)

With a dark lantern and burning match.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring. (Holla*)

Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

The story goes that in the spring of 1604, Thomas Percy, resentful of England’s position towards Catholicism, plotted with a league of conspirators to detonate kegs of Gunpowder underneath the House of Lords for the purpose of killing King James and other prominent members of the Church of England, which would ultimately incite a revolt culminating in Catholic reformation across England.  Historical revue maintains that while the gunpowder had actually degraded to a state of uselessness, the full force of the blast would have been devastating:  complete demolition of the house of lords and residual impact to neighboring structures within a 1 km radius.

As the man chiefly responsible for ensuring the positioning and detonation of the powder kegs, Guy Fawkes has received considerable notoriety for his role in this event.  Specifically, the evening of November 5th is commonly referred to as “Guy Fawkes Night” and his image burned in effigy during bonfires while children ask for a ‘penny for the guy’.  These proceeds are used to purchase fireworks and candy.  Just as the Sun once never set on the English empire, this event is remembered among many of England’s most prominent colonies including New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa.

As mentioned earlier, Alan Moore used this event and Guy Fawkes as a plot device in his 10-issue comic book run V for Vendetta.  However, Mr. Moore reconsiders the significance of this event with startling insight.  Instead of using the Gunpowder plot as a means of inspiring loyalty to governance, Mr. Moore suggests government should always be mindful of the power of its citizens when united in common cause.

Welcome to another exciting edition of scavenger hunt.

In honor of the most awesome launch to launch this week (not including that massively delayed shuttle into space) I bring you a ‘groups’ centric scavenger hunt!

1. While I am the member of a few groups, I am the creator and owner of one in particular. What is the name of the group I created?

2. Our next group is described by it’s wonderful owner as ‘A veritable bento box of movies, comics, anime, TV shows, science, tech and culture all hailing from the Land of the Rising Sun. Pantsu!’

3. Last but not least this group is also featured prominently on our homepage and deserves its own word scramble: ENSW.  Also, this describes my personality type according to several personality and behavioral exams I was required to take before joining an elite group of crime fighting and ghost hunting slayers.

The last is a gimmie, and I hope you know that our nifty search feature should help you find the homepages for these new groups. When in doubt, just insert some text from above. COPY + PASTE

‘Till next time friends!

Lecti

Online Community Team

Hello and welcome to this week’s scavenger hunt.  By the title you can probably guess that this weeks selections include new movie releases.

1. Easy: Our very own Brett_Erlich asked you to submit your reviews via webcam.
2. Over-Easy: This submission was featured on our homepage, and claimed that a certain show for which the film is based on represented a “a socialist Utopia where merit determined one’s station in life.”
3. Hard-Boiled*:  Long before his famous on set screaming tyrade against the film’s Director of Photography, there was the first image of Christian Bale as John Connor on current.com.

*Again, it seems incredibly difficult to find, but I’ll give you a hint:  Sort your search by “newest”.  There.  Wasn’t that easy?

Good Luck to All.

-Lecti

Hello and welcome to this week’s scavenger hunt.  I hope you enjoyed the last one as much as I did.  For those of you who want to confirm your selections, here are the correct links:

1. Easy: Woody Harrelson claims he mistook photographer for Zombie
2. Over-Easy: Texas Declares State Sovereignty
3. Hard-Boiled:  ‘Daggering’

As always, this week provided a number of catchy headlines and clips.

1. Not the best title:  “By God, the drugs must be in her underpants”.
2. You wear it on your face, but it’s not clothing or jewelry.  And I’m not certain it will make a difference.
3. This is the ONLY VIDEO (hint hint)* of Obama discussing possible candidates to replace Justice Souter.

*Yeah, I know that’s a toughie  Here’s a tip:  After you’ve entered in your search and received your results, you can refine your search by un-selecting stories and responses options next to our search button.

Good Luck to All.

-Brandon

I thought it would be really fun if I set up a scavenger hunt on current.com to see some of  the more interesting posts from this week.  This requires keen detective skills, persistence, and a strong index finger.  I’ll leave quotes from the posts, and the first person to correctly identify the articles should post the links in the comments section below.  Ready?  I knew you were you eager beavers!  Let’s Go!

1. [easy] “defended his clash with a photographer at a New York airport Wednesday night as a case of mistaken identity”

2.  [moderate] “except for austin.  it’s cool.”

3.  [hard]  “voting up.  way up”

Good luck to you all, and I hope you find them fascinating and quickly.

-Brandon

Our collective conscious is shifting, our mood changing, and we are leaving escapism in favor of aspiration.  Within a few days Superpowers, Comics, and Politics (an article about why type of superhero you aspire to be) managed to grab 518 views and 38 comments, while equally awesome Awesome Super Powers Ruined by Science (an article about how you really really don’t want that super power you think you do) grabbed none.

Why?

I think it represents a shift in the way you are thinking and feeling right now.  Thanks to the power of metadata – that neato stuff you choose to give us when you like us (which turns out to be often and a lot), we can see what tickles your fancy, and I see something significant here.  A year ago (perhaps even less), I think these two articles would have resulted in opposite success, but between then and now, a Sea Change occurred:  The election ended, change began to take shape, and Current members searching for symbols of heroism stopped turning to escapism and started looking in more tangible places…  themselves.

Aren’t communities grand?  A few years ago, the national psyche a one way street.  Most people were dictated to rather than allowed to participate.  Everyone watched the same evening news and read the same newspaper articles, and shared the same generic conclusions.  Automatons, sharing the exact same thoughts. Maybe a select few who were representative of a general viewpoint had their opinions featured.  Now things have changed, and we can see it going on right here right now.  Everyone has a unique spin, and the cumulative knowledge shared via comments is greater than the original post.  Leave me now.  Go to your articles.  Make sure your tags are good.  You’re voting things up (or down) and participating in the discussion by commenting.  By doing so, you’re telling me how the world feels right now.