Mez: Cranked Up Kill Clips -

Promotions have begun for Hayden Panettiere's new Teen Slasher movies on both TV and the Internet. The actress appears in Scream 4 and a Lifetime Cable TV production about the hand-wringing over Foxy Knoxy.

Panettiere was seen the other evening here in the U.S. on Access Hollywood, an American Celeb Tabloid program which is broadcast after the regular news. But, as a ditzy unguided missile, she's had to compete with the latest reports about Lindsay Lohan.

Now that film clips of the Perugia Slasher dramatization have been posted on the Internet, Meredith Kercher's father has expressed his horror at the depictions.

Lawyers for Amanda Knox have also reacted by issuing some kind of "cease and desist" notice to Lifetime, demanding the removal of the material, which they seem to feel could prejudice the appeals process for their client.

Any publicity about a movie is usually viewed by the Industry as better than no publicity, especially when its free. And controversy tends to fuel publicity.

Scream 4 is scheduled to debut on
April 15th. It is directed by Wes Craven.

"Ghostface often calls his victims
on the phone, taunting or threatening them
before killing them with a 6 inch hunting knife."

Panettiere plays Kirby Reed, the best friend
of Sidney Prescott's cousin, Jill Roberts.

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Tahrir Square Geeks (2#) -

Even when patched together with all kinds of crazy gadgets, obscure phone numbers, and magic formulas, the communication network with Egypt has managed to hang together somehow.

Sandmonkey just checked in to his blog. After posting an impassioned entry, he is headed back to Tahrir Square to bring some First Aid medical supplies to the injured.

"People were complaining that they miss their lives. That they miss going out at night, and ordering Home Delivery. That they need us to stop so they can resume whatever existence they had before all of this."

:: Read the rest ::

:: And from Wired: Cairo's Band of Geeks ::

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Egypt Connected Again (4#) -

Egypt is plugged into the Internet again, according to a ZDNet specialist, but he thinks it may be a bumpy ride for a while. Read the tech details if you understand that kind of stuff.

:: BBC [print] :: Egypt online again ::

"We confirm that Facebook and Twitter are up and available inside Egypt, at least from the places we can monitor,” the [Renesys] company wrote in a blog post. “No traffic blocks are in place, DNS answers are clean, IP addresses match, no funny business. For now."

Google Geek Wael Ghonim . . .

:: From Twitter at #jan25:

Wael Ghonim has been found, severely beaten
and injured. He is said to be currently resting.

Not officially confirmed!

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Violent Hegemony Efforts (2#) -

To what lengths are some people willing to go
in order to impose their will on Florida legislators?

And will their persistence ever pay off?

A man has been charged with sending a threat to Florida state Rep William Snyder (R) of Stuart an hour after the mass shooting in Arizona.

The e-mail message implied that harm would come to him or his family members if he didn't drop his Immigration issue position.

Like the Arizona Act, a proposed Florida bill would permit law enforcement officers to request proof that a person is in the U.S. legally, if the officer has reasonable suspicion that they are not.

In light of this second threat: it now seems likely that the Immigration issue was the real motive for the threats sent to talk radio host Joyce Kaufman who supported Allen West's successful political candidacy.

"Allen West, unlike most South Florida members of both parties, opposes any path to legal status for those who reside here illegally, including those brought as children."

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Egypt's Million Protest (4#) -

All roads into the city of Cairo have been
shut down in addition to the railroad lines.

Sandmonkey is updating on Twitter
via Jordan. He says he's stuck on the
highway trying to get into downtown.

Google Geek Wael Ghonim is missing; his
friends and colleagues are very concerned about him.

Washington has sent veteran diplomat
Frank Wisner to meet with Egyptian leaders.

:: Updates :: Guardian Live Blogging:

"The march will go from Tahrir Square
towards Mubarak's presidential palace,
which is currently under heavy guard."

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Not Quite Sneaker Net (8#) -

Media Briefs & More . . .

No photographers on the scene? No problem!

Sometimes surrealistic Taiwanese computer animated antic news scenarios, described by Richard Vine, who profiles Next Media Animation (NMA), the company producing them.

# Is there Life after
The Village Voice? Wayne Barrett
will be a special contributor to NewsBeast.

# Prof Frances Fox Piven, 78, has had to get police protection due to threats she has received which were allegedly inspired by Glenn Beck's adverse remarks about her, according to Paul Harris at The Guardian Observer.

# Patch Made: Egyptians can SAY it
to Twitter now with voice connection.

:: Jan 25 Voices on Twitter ::

# Verity Stob delves into Swedish Noir by reviewing Stieg Larsson's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Henning Mankell's Firewall from a technical computing point of view; plus comments.

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