Tonight, Current is kicking off a brand-new season of SuperNews! at 11/10c. This season will include the return of fan favorites including technology obsessed office workers Craig and Darren, the beleaguered Obama administration, the self-obsessed hipsters and continued scathing satires of today’s political, pop-culture, and infamous figures.
But that’s not all. The Thursday Night Block Party kicks off at 10/9c with a brand-new infoMania. This week, Sarah Haskins takes a look at home security in Target Women, so tune in to see her and the rest of the infoMania crew’s take on the week in news and entertainment. Missed an episode? Check out previous infoMania episodes on Current.com.
Then att 10:30/9:30c, tune in for a new episode of The Rotten Tomatoes Show. This week Brett and Ellen take on “Precious,” “The Men Who Stare At Goats” and “A Christmas Carol.” Watch previous episodes or leave a webcam with your review at The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current.com.
Finally, at 11/10c, the new season of SuperNews! premieres. Check out a sneak peek, or get a SuperNews primer on the SuperNews page.
There’s something about winter that makes it so tempting to spend a day inside, curled up with a blanket, a cup of tea, and a good book. So it’s a good thing that today is National Book Lovers Day–it’s the perfect excuse! Of course, if you’re not sure what to read Current is here to help.
Head on over to Booked for the latest literary news and check out what others on Current are talking about.
Ever wondered what to do with a book instead of reading it? Here are some tips! (I think this could be really useful for outdated reference books–I’m pretty sure I have a dictionary from 1995 sitting around somewhere–or old textbooks. Unless there’s a bustling market for outdated organic chemistry textbooks I don’t know about…)
Ah, Halloween. Time to break out the skeleteons, ghosts, and witches hats and gorge on candy. Halloween is hands-down my favorite holiday of the year, and one of the best things about it? A great excuse to scare yourself senseless!
Allow me, for a moment, to take a brief detour. Halloween has it’s roots in the ancient Celtic holiday of Samhain (pronounced sow-in), which was principally a harvest festival. Samhain is, however, also a festival of the dead and considered to be a time when the veil between the world’s is at it’s thinnest, a time when the spirits of ancestors and other spiritual beings to walk among us mere mortals…
Which, if you ask me, also makes it a really great time for ghost stories. I’m gonna let y’all in on a little secret: I love ghost stories. The creepier the better–the kind that make you get that chill down your spine, when you want to spin around real quick to catch whoever (or whatever) it is you can feel watching you.
In the spirit of Halloween (and Samhain) I want to hear your ghost stories! We’ve had a few creep up on Current–some of my favorites include this look at the haunted Moss Beach Distillery in Half Moon Bay (alas, I didn’t see any ghosts when I was there) or this possible video of a ghost from my own alma matter, Asheville High School. (Which was, as far as I could tell, was not haunted while I was a student. Shame, really, it would have made things far more interesting.)
You might also want to check out this video on the haunted Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, Kentucky for inspiration:
But enough from me–what about you? Have you had any brushes with ghosts or other supernatural entities? Leave a webcam or a comment, and we’ll post the spookiest responses on the Current.com blog!
If you’ve checked out the Music channel on Current.com lately, you might have noticed things are looking a little different. Here are some things to take note of on the new page layout:
So what’s up with all these changes?
Current is always evolving and changing, and we’re testing out a new layout for some of our top channel pages. Music is first, but we’ll be tweaking this layout, and will eventually roll it out for all six of Current’s top channels.
Where’s the most popular stories list?
The top five stories from Music are listed on the left — just click the “popular stories” link to see the full list, beginning with number five.
Where do I find all of the new music stories?
Want to see all the music stories submitted to Current Music? No problem! You can find them by clicking on the “new stories” link underneath the top 5 popular stories list.
Are there still featured stories?
Yep! The playlist at the top of the page will still be updated with a combination of community submitted stories and videos from our Current Music special, Embedded.
It was a pretty interesting talk. Much of the advice Mueller offered was basic–watch out for phishing scams, make sure you user firewalls and install virus protection, and use strong passwords. He also emphasized the importance of reporting phishing attempts, which you can do through the Internet Crime Complaint Center, and mentioned the recent successful take down of a phishing scam operating out of the US and Egypt. (I give it bonus points for having the code name “Phish Phry”. Hee!)
Some of the most interesting points came up during the Q&A session, and I wish that there had been more time to delve into those topics.
One of the points made was that, of course, criminals and terrorists have access to the same collaborative technologies we do. Things like Google Earth can be used for good…but can also be put to use by people with negative attentions. At the same time, Mueller noted that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies are struggling with the fact that they traditionally investigate things in a very compartmenetalized manner, and ways to integrate the same types of collaborative software and tech into their work.
The other interesting thing that came up was the undisciplined nature of the internet. Under the veil of anonymity, people feel free to say a lot of things, some of them very hateful. But how do you tell who is going to move from hateful rhetoric to action? Mueller referenced a few recent attack by lone wolf type assailants–the shooting of a Holocaust Museum guard in Washington DC, and the shooting of two soldiers at a recruiting station–and raised that question. How do you know who is going to move past that? Can you tell?
All in all, it was pretty interesting to think about. What are your thoughts?
Some of you may know this already, but one of the thing the community team does here at Current is to answer the questions you send in. Sometimes this is easy, but sometimes? Not so much. A lot of people are channel surfing late at night when they stumble upon Current and see an amazing piece that changes your life…but you just can’t remember what it is.
Normally, we’re pretty good at this kind of thing. Personally, I pride myself on being able to locate videos based on descriptions like “there was a guy on a stool playing harmonica” or “it was about a group of female soldiers, maybe in Iraq?” but sometimes y’all have me stumped.
That’s when it’s time to reach out to the pool of producers, talent, editors, and developers here at Current to see if we can track down your requests. It’s always interesting to see what videos people are asking about, so I wanted to share the latest batch of head-scratchers with all of you.
Al wrote:
I am looking for information on a segment aired on Current TV this morning (Friday, 9-25-9 @ about 6:25 am PST) regarding a gentleman from India who started an internet sales business @ 16, then sold it and started another internet sales business and sold it. He lives in a penthouse in San Francisco now. The name “G” was stated in the story. Raphael House and “Whatever Works” was also stated in the segment.
Alexander was looking for “the wonderful video of the French people with wigs who turn off lights at night to save energy!”
Many thanks to Ryan M., Toby, and Mer for helping find the be-wigged Neon Pirates.
Michael wanted to find the video “…about a shop or boutique in london. The shop took your old clothes and remade them into something new and hip. In the segment the interviewer had some items of his own clothing made into a jacket.”
I remember seeing a pod on current nearly a year ago about some guys that put together this machine that makes music by precisely shooting out little ball thingys at drums and different stuff.
If you’ve caught a video on Current, but can’t quite remember what it was called, shoot us an email at feedback(at)current(dot)com or leave us a comment and we’ll do our very best to track it down for you!
Here’s another Current TV host top favorite stories countdown. This time around we pulled together host Dominque Purdy’s top 8 Current TV videos, and gathered them here, for your enjoyment.
Dominque’s countdown is going to air today, at 6pm E / 3pm P on Current TV, so be sure to tune and join Dominique as he walks you through each story. For now, get a sneak peek at what he’ll be covering in the special. These are some pretty inspiring stories! Feel free to add links to some of your own favorite moments in Current TV in the comments.
Congrats to DeliaTheArtist and The Future! The Future is now featured on the Groups homepage, so check it out. We’ll be back tomorrow with more fastest growing groups, so tell all your friends about your fantastic new group and encourage them to join!
Congrats to US Politics, curated by current89, for taking the lead today! US Politics is now featured on the Groups homepage, so check it out, and if it looks interesting, why not join? I’ll be back tomorrow with a new set of fastest growing groups, so fire up your email and let all your friends know about your great new group.
5. Superhero Central (2 new members) — curated by smurph25
Congrats to Indie Film for making it to the top of today’s fastest growing groups list! If you’re a fan of indie films, why not stop by and join up? Indie Film will be featured in Current Stories, and on the groups homepage. Hooray!
If you think you’ve got a group that deserves a spot on the list, dust off your address books and tell your friends all about your awesome new group. Better yet, why not suggest they join
