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To celebrate the 11th anniversary of FINAL FANTASY XI, we will be holding twice the number of "double" campaigns as normal – at the same time! In addition to our regular double-dose of experience points, we will also be doubling the amount of design plans dropped from Salvage!

This is a prime opportunity to boost the levels of your jobs and procure powerful equipment to face-off against the dangers that lurk in Adoulin. Don't miss out on a chance to celebrate the 11th anniversary twice as hard!

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Double EXP Campaign

When

Starting on Thursday, May 30th, 2013 at 8:00 am (PDT)
Ending on Sunday, June 2nd, 2013 at 7:59 am (PDT)

Where

All areas of Vana'diel
* Please note that Abyssea areas are not included

Details

During the above time period, the amount of experience points gained by slaying monsters will be doubled.
* The Dedication effect gained from experience bonus equipment will also be doubled.
* Experience points earned by completing certain types of content or via the use of items will not be doubled.
* Adventuring fellows will also receive double experience points.

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Double Design Plan Drops Campaign

When

Starting on Thursday, May 30th, 2013 at 8:00 am (PDT)
Ending on Sunday, June 16th, 2013 at 7:59 am (PDT)

Where

The below Salvage areas:
Zhayolm Remnants II / Arrapago Remnants II / Bhaflau Remnants II / Silver Sea Remnants II

Details

During the campaign period, the amount of the following design plans dropped will be doubled:
Bloodshed Plans / Primacy Plans / Umbrage Plans / Tutelary Plans / Ritualistic Plans

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Microsoft has announced a Halo television series for Xbox One.

The show is being headed by award-winning filmmaker, director, and producer Steven Spielberg in partnership with 343 Industries and Xbox Entertainment Studios

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Nancy Tellem, from Xbox Entertainment Studios, said ”Until now, the TV viewing experience has been a one way street for the viewer. But now that’s about to change.”

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Remedy Entertainment, the developer behind Alan Wake and Max Payne, have announced Quantum Break, an all new IP for Xbox One.

Microsoft says it is a new type of gaming experience that “blurs the line between gaming and TV by integrating drama and gameplay into one seamless, uniquely immersive experience.” It continues, “How you play the game impacts the show, and the show informs how you play the game.”

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Forza Motorsport 5, from Turn 10 Studios, is the latest edition of the highest-rated racing franchise of the past 10 years. Forza Motorsport 5 sets a new bar for racing games. With the power of Xbox and the cloud, no game better delivers the sensation of being behind the wheel. Available exclusively for launch.

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The official Need for Speed Facebook page posted a mysterious new screenshot today.

The caption for the image, a police cruiser with the word “Pursuit” on the side, reads, “Have no rules, show no mercy.”

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Shadow Warrior is bold reimagining of 3D Realms' cult classic shooter from developer Flying Wild Hog (Hard Reset) and independent game label Devolver Digital (Serious Sam 3: BFE, Hotline Miami, LUFTRAUSERS) for PC and next-gen consoles. Blending the viciously over-the-top gunplay of its predecessor with the elegant precision of the powerful katana, Shadow Warrior is an imaginative take on the classic arcade-style shooter.

Follow the offbeat tale of Zilla Enterprise's corporate shogun, Lo Wang, who is ordered by his employer to track down and acquire a legendary blade known as the Nobitsura Kage. Forced into a timeless battle, Lo Wang learns of the blade's connection to ancient gods from another realm, pushing our world to the brink of destruction. Aided by Hoji, a banished spirit from this mysterious world, Lo Wang must use a masterful combination of gun, blade, magic and wit to discover the truth behind the demonic invasion and banish the encroaching forces back into the darkness.

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In observance of Memorial Day, live support via the North American SQUARE ENIX Support Center will be closed on May 27, 2012.

Live support via the SQUARE ENIX Support Center will resume at 9:00 (PDT) on May 28, 2012.

FINAL FANTASY XI and FINAL FANTASY XIV GM support will continue to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We thank you for your understanding.

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The Goodwin Games is an upcoming American television comedy series that will premiere on May 20, 2013 as a 2012–13 midseason replacement on Fox. It was created and written by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas (creators of How I Met Your Mother) alongside Chris Harris for Fox Television Studios.

The series revolves around a trio of estranged siblings—Henry, an overachieving surgeon, Chloe, a former child prodigy with a smart streak who became the popular girl working at a bar, and Jimmy, an ex-con guitarist with a daughter (and who is in trouble with a loan shark over a debt)—who return home after their father's death. However, prior to his death, their father made a unique arrangement with his will: the siblings will inherit $23 million if they can follow his trivial wishes (through the use of the game Trivial Pursuit, customized with questions about their lives), which means that they have to rediscover their lives and hopefully be the people he wanted his children to be. But they are going to have to deal with competition from another person who was picked by their father and the appointed executor with whom Chloe is a former friend.

Starring:
Scott Foley
Becki Newton
T. J. Miller
Kat Foster
Melissa Tang

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Brilliant robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada finds himself in the grips of a criminal plot that threatens to destroy the fast-paced, high-tech city of San Fransokyo. With the help of his closest companion, a robot named Baymax, Hiro joins forces with a reluctant team of first-time crime fighters on a mission to save their city.

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Hi, all!! This is Travis' friend, Melissa. I'd be honored if I could hear a bit of your expertise or any thoughts even mildly related to this at all...

I've been looking for "forum frameworks" that are similar to http://discourse.org -- that are written with Ruby on Rails. Would anyone have any leads, suggestions, or thoughts on frameworks --- or forum features you find useful in general? Thank you so much for your time!!

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Univision Communications Inc. announced today plans for the El Rey Network, a new general entertainment, English-language cable network geared towards young-adult audiences and created by renowned American filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and FactoryMade Ventures. The network will launch in December 2013 and have nation-wide distribution with initial carriage via Comcast.

Chairman Robert Rodriguez — who has been named one of Time magazine’s 25 most influential Hispanics and has directed films such as Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty, Spy Kids,Machete and Sin City — unveiled the plans for the new network and showcased one of its slated programs today at Univision’s 2013 Upfront presentation in New York.

As the lead curators of content for El Rey Network, Rodriguez and FactoryMade will cultivate a mix of reality, scripted and animated series, movies, music and sports programming. El Rey Network will provide English-language programming and will include action content that boldly features — or is created, produced or directed by – high-caliber talent, celebrities and public figures. Univision Communications will be responsible for the back office operations, sales and distribution of the network. Financial details for the agreement were not disclosed.

“Our partnership in El Rey Network is a testament to Univision’s culture of innovation, the power of our brand to live in both languages, and our constant quest to ensure we remain the ultimate resource for all Hispanics’ tastes and preferences. As we continue to grow, evolve and expand into new frontiers, Univision remains the one and only gateway to U.S. Hispanic audiences,” said Randy Falco, president and CEO of Univision Communications Inc. “We are pleased to partner with Robert, FactoryMade and the teams at El Rey Network to launch a new network to serve one of the most influential, rapidly growing audiences in America – young Hispanics. Today at our upfront, we spoke about Univision’s unparalleled brand connection and showcased our world-class content offerings across our multiplatform portfolio, as well as our firm commitment to providing Latinos with the best in-culture programming available.”

“I’m thrilled to be partnering with Univision on this groundbreaking initiative to deliver high-quality original programming to our community and the wider, mainstream audiences,” said Rodriguez. “El Rey Network will serve as a launching pad to satisfy the tastes of young adults looking for exciting, cinematic, action-packed content. As a broadcast leader in media, Univision is the best partner to support us in achieving this vision.”

Added FactoryMade CEO John Fogelman and co-CEO Cristina Patwa: “Univision’s investment in the network is a ringing endorsement of the strength of El Rey Network’s strategy and its potential not just through television, but also through social and mobile platforms. El Rey will offer a slate of visionary talent, adventurous stories and iconic characters that will entertain, engage and relate to younger audiences.”

At Univision’s upfront presentation, Rodriguez unveiled the first original scripted production for El Rey Network. Based on the hit action/horror franchise from Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, "From Dusk Till Dawn," the series will be written, produced and directed by Rodriguez. It will explore and expand on the characters and story from the original film, providing a wider scope and richer Aztec mythology.

In addition, Rodriguez announced that K/O Paper Products, the television and film production company founded by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, will produce a scripted, action adventure series for El Rey Network, which will start development at the end of June. Kurtzman and Orci are the writers and producers of blockbuster movies such as Star Trek, Transformers as well as broadcast shows such as "Fringe," "Hawaii Five-O" and the upcoming "Sleepy Hollow". The duo plans to announce a showrunner later this summer.

“Robert, Alex and Roberto exemplify the types of show creators that will ultimately set El Rey Network apart. We are honored to pave the way for their unprecedented debut into cable,” said the network’s Vice Chairman Scott Sassa.

The two original scripted shows are being developed as a part of the network’s co-financing pact with Reliance-backed television studio Georgeville Television and will be produced in Austin, Texas, home of Rodriguez’ 26-acre studio facilities. Georgeville, founded by Motion Picture Capital and Reliance, will be co-producing scripted programming for El Rey in a $250 million deal announced two months ago.

“As an independent studio, we were already thrilled to partner with El Rey Network on these series — we have been receiving tremendous interest in these shows internationally on multiple windows, given the filmmaker-driven stature and high-quality content of the series selection. El Rey’s partnership with Univision only strengthens our combined ability to bring more A-list content to a wider audience,” said Georgeville Television founders Marc Rosen and Leon Clarance.

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Biker adventure Ride To Hell: Retribution received another trailer this weekend. It's called "No Rules" and shows hero Jake Conway engaging in many frowned-upon activities.

Conway is seeking revenge against the Devil's Hand biker gang. He'll take the fight to them on and off the road. In one scene, he's slamming a door on some poor fool's head. In another, he's riding down the highway with a revolver in one hand.

The game is set during the late 1960's, so expect a lot of drug and sex references. In fact, at one point in the trailer, Conway's about to get his freak on. The soundtrack will probably be filled with rock 'n roll.

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Deep Silver has released the first trailer for downloadable strategy game Ride to Hell: Route 666. Route 666 puts players in control of their very own biker gang.

The ultimate goal of the game is to establish dominate over the highway. They do that by running other gangs off the roads. Players can issue commands to fellow gang members in battle. You can make them change formation to change their plan of attack.

Each gang member has distinct abilities. The trailer shows characters named Nurse, Sniper, and Poisoner among other things. You'll have to figure out how best to use these members' capabilities in your highway battles.

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Red 2 isn’t being released until July 19, but the Lionsgate division has signed Jon and Erich Hoeber to write a third installment of the action franchise.

The screenwriting siblings wrote Red as well as Red 2.

Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian will produce Red 3 via their Di Bonaventura Pictures banner.

Red was based on a comic book mini-series by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner and revolved around the conceit of over-the-hill operatives kicking the butts of younger agents.

The 2010 film assembled Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich and Morgan Freeman and proved to have legs at the box office, grossing $90 million domestically and $199 million worldwide.

Red 2 once again sees Willis as the retired black ops agent who has to reassemble his old team. Big names joining the fun this time around are Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Summit is the company behind the Twilight movie series and has been looking to develop new franchises since that one ran its course last year. Red may not have the same breadth or reach as Stephenie Meyer's phenomenon, but it still counts for something solid in today’s environment.

It also helps that sources say Summit has been supremely encouraged by Red 2's high test scores.

No deals with the cast have been made but insiders say if the script is approved, production could begin as early as January 2014.

Erik Feig, Lionsgate’s president of production, will oversee the project for the studio along with Summit’s president of production Geoff Shaevitz.

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A fascinating map of the world’s most and least racially tolerant countries
By Max Fisher, Published: May 15, 2013 at 3:28 pm


Data source: World Values Survey

When two Swedish economists set out to examine whether economic freedom made people any more or less racist, they knew how they would gauge economic freedom, but they needed to find a way to measure a country’s level of racial tolerance. So they turned to something called the World Values Survey, which has been measuring global attitudes and opinions for decades.

Among the dozens of questions that World Values asks, the Swedish economists found one that, they believe, could be a pretty good indicator of tolerance for other races. The survey asked respondents in more than 80 different countries to identify kinds of people they would not want as neighbors. Some respondents, picking from a list, chose “people of a different race.” The more frequently that people in a given country say they don’t want neighbors from other races, the economists reasoned, the less racially tolerant you could call that society. (The study concluded that economic freedom had no correlation with racial tolerance, but it does appear to correlate with tolerance toward homosexuals.)

Unfortunately, the Swedish economists did not include all of the World Values Survey data in their final research paper. So I went back to the source, compiled the original data and mapped it out on the infographic above. In the bluer countries, fewer people said they would not want neighbors of a different race; in red countries, more people did.

If we treat this data as indicative of racial tolerance, then we might conclude that people in the bluer countries are the least likely to express racist attitudes, while the people in red countries are the most likely.

Update: Compare the results to this map of the world’s most and least diverse countries.

Before we dive into the data, a couple of caveats. First, it’s entirely likely that some people lied when answering this question; it would be surprising if they hadn’t. But the operative question, unanswerable, is whether people in certain countries were more or less likely to answer the question honestly. For example, while the data suggest that Swedes are more racially tolerant than Finns, it’s possible that the two groups are equally tolerant but that Finns are just more honest. The willingness to state such a preference out loud, though, might be an indicator of racial attitudes in itself. Second, the survey is not conducted every year; some of the results are very recent and some are several years old, so we’re assuming the results are static, which might not be the case.

Here’s what the data show:

• Anglo and Latin countries most tolerant. People in the survey were most likely to embrace a racially diverse neighbor in the United Kingdom and its Anglo former colonies (the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) and in Latin America. The only real exceptions were oil-rich Venezuela, where income inequality sometimes breaks along racial lines, and the Dominican Republic, perhaps because of its adjacency to troubled Haiti. Scandinavian countries also scored high.

• India, Jordan, Bangladesh and Hong Kong by far the least tolerant. In only three of 81 surveyed countries, more than 40 percent of respondents said they would not want a neighbor of a different race. This included 43.5 percent of Indians, 51.4 percent of Jordanians and an astonishingly high 71.8 percent of Hong Kongers and 71.7 percent of Bangladeshis.

• Wide, interesting variation across Europe. Immigration and national identity are big, touchy issues in much of Europe, where racial make-ups are changing. Though you might expect the richer, better-educated Western European nations to be more tolerant than those in Eastern Europe, that’s not exactly the case. France appeared to be one of the least racially tolerant countries on the continent, with 22.7 percent saying they didn’t want a neighbor of another race. Former Soviet states such as Belarus and Latvia scored as more tolerant than much of Europe. Many in the Balkans, perhaps after years of ethnicity-tinged wars, expressed lower racial tolerance.

• The Middle East not so tolerant. Immigration is also a big issue in this region, particularly in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which often absorb economic migrants from poorer neighbors.

• Racial tolerance low in diverse Asian countries. Nations such as Indonesia and the Philippines, where many racial groups often jockey for influence and have complicated histories with one another, showed more skepticism of diversity. This was also true, to a lesser extent, in China and Kyrgyzstan. There were similar trends in parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

• South Korea, not very tolerant, is an outlier. Although the country is rich, well-educated, peaceful and ethnically homogenous – all trends that appear to coincide with racial tolerance – more than one in three South Koreans said they do not want a neighbor of a different race. This may have to do with Korea’s particular view of its own racial-national identity as unique – studied by scholars such as B.R. Myers – and with the influx of Southeast Asian neighbors and the nation’s long-held tensions with Japan.

• Pakistan, remarkably tolerant, also an outlier. Although the country has a number of factors that coincide with racial intolerance – sectarian violence, its location in the least-tolerant region of the world, low economic and human development indices – only 6.5 percent of Pakistanis objected to a neighbor of a different race. This would appear to suggest Pakistanis are more racially tolerant than even the Germans or the Dutch.

Update: I’ve heard some version of one question from an overwhelming number of readers: “I’ve met lots of Indians and Americans and found the former more racially tolerant than the latter. How can these results possibly be correct?” I’d suggest three possible explanations for this, some combination of which may or may not be true. First, both India and the U.S. are enormous countries; anecdotal interactions are not representative of the whole, particularly given that people who are wealthy enough to travel internationally may be likely to encounter some subsets of these respective populations more than others.

Second, the survey question gets to internal, personal preferences; what the respondents want. One person’s experiences hanging out with Americans or Indians, in addition to being anecdotal, only tell you about their outward behavior. Both of those ways of observing racial attitudes might suggest something about racial tolerance, but they’re different indicators that measure different things, which could help explain how one might contradict the other.

Third, the survey question is a way of judging racial tolerance but, like many social science metrics, is indirect and imperfect. I cited the hypothetical about Swedes and Finns at the top of this post, noting that perhaps some people are just more honest about their racial tolerance than others. It’s entirely possible that we’re seeing some version of this effect in the U.S.-India comparison; maybe, for example, Americans are conditioned by their education and media to keep these sorts of racial preferences private, i.e. to lie about them on surveys, in a way that Indians might not be. That difference would be interesting in itself, but alas there is no survey question for honesty.

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This introduces a new generation of star-crossed lovers, and a new series of antagonists in a battle of good and evil. It has a Knights Errant quality. There is an alternate universe in the books, a martial forest that exists alongside the real world, full of wandering sword fighters, medicine men, defrocked priests, poets, sorcerers and Shaolin renegades.

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ROVIO’S ANGRY BIRDS FEATURE FILM NESTS AT SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT

Animated 3D Comedy Slated For July 1, 2016

CULVER CITY, Calif., May 15, 2013 – Sony Pictures Entertainment has won the exclusive worldwide distribution rights to the eagerly anticipated Angry Birds animated film, making it one of the most high-profile deals of the year. The 3D film is being developed, produced, and financed by Rovio Entertainment and will be released worldwide by Sony Pictures on July 1, 2016. Several major studios pursued the global film rights in recent weeks, with Sony Pictures Entertainment emerging as the winner.

Michael Lynton, Chairman & CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, Amy Pascal, Co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio Entertainment jointly announced their partnership today. John Cohen and David Maisel – producer of Despicable Me and executive producer of Iron Man, respectively – are both on board for the new Angry Birds feature film. Cohen will serve as producer and Maisel is executive producer.

Commenting on the announcement, Mikael Hed said, “Sony impressed us with their great attitude, determination, and professionalism. They convinced us that we have found the right partners and team to help us market and distribute our first motion picture. Michael, Amy, Jeff Blake, Sony’s marketing and distribution head, and their teams will be the best possible collaborators as we get set to take our franchise to the next level.”

Lynton and Pascal said, “Every studio in town would love to add Angry Birds to their slate. There are few titles out there that bring this kind of excitement, brand awareness and built-in audience to the table. We’re thrilled to be distributing this film and we hope this is just the beginning of what will be a long relationship with Rovio as we look for ways to work on future projects together.”

David Maisel and John Cohen said, “We are very excited to join with Sony Pictures in presenting this movie to the world in 2016 and we will have many more announcements as we begin production in the coming months.”

Angry Birds is one of the world’s biggest entertainment franchises, starting in 2009 with the original mobile game that remains the number one paid app of all time. Angry Birds has expanded rapidly into entertainment, publishing, and licensing to become a beloved international brand.

Angry Birds has been praised for its great value and simple, casual gameplay. Players use a slingshot to launch birds at green pigs in an attempt to get their eggs back, with the game setting the model for what is possible in terms of game development and commercial success. To date, the Angry Birds and Bad Piggies games have been downloaded more than 1.7 billion times across platforms and versions.

The upcoming movie marks Rovio Entertainment’s first foray into feature films, although fans have already been introduced to the Angry Birds world with the weekly Angry Birds Toons animated series. Rovio launched the series in March through its Angry Birds apps as well as on select video-on-demand channel providers, Smart TVs, connected devices, and on select TV networks around the world. Paving the way for a full-length feature film, Angry Birds Toons has been a massive success for Rovio clocking in over 150 million views from the Angry Birds apps alone within the first six weeks.

While known for distributing world renowned motion picture franchises such as Spider-Man, Sony Pictures has been building a strong reputation in contemporary animation through its house production unit, Sony Pictures Animation, and hit films including Hotel Transylvania, The Smurfs, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Surf’s Up, Open Season, and Aardman’s Arthur Christmas and The Pirates! Band of Misfits.

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Rob Ford, Toronto's conservative mayor, is a wild lunatic given to making bizarre racist pronouncements and randomly slapping refrigerator magnets on cars. One reason for this is that he smokes crack cocaine. I know this because I watched him do it, on a videotape. He was fucking hiiiiigh. It's for sale if you've got six figures.

It began like this: We've made fun of Ford before for his lunatic pronouncements and nude pictures. Last week, we got a tip from someone claiming to have a videotape of Ford smoking crack. Would we like to buy it?

The tipster made the following claims:

• Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smokes crack cocaine.

• There is a video of Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine, taken within the last six months.

• Rob Ford purchases his crack cocaine from a crew of Toronto drug dealers that service a veritable who's who of A-list...Torontonians? Torontites? Anyway, a lot of prominent people in Toronto purchase and enjoy crack and powder cocaine, and they all buy it from the same folks. The same folks Ford buys it from. Ford's longtime friend, people on his staff, his brother, a prominent hockey analyst, and more.

As evidence of his claims, our tipster provided the photo above. It shows Ford hanging out with a number of people. The gentleman standing to his right, flipping the camera the bird, is Anthony Smith. Smith, a 21-year-old college student, was killed two months ago outside a Toronto nightclub in a gangland-style shooting. A photo, from a CBC story on his murder, is at left. Smith was, according to our tipster, a kid from the same neighborhood as the dealers who service Ford, and the photo was taken while Ford was going to the neighborhood to purchase and smoke crack cocaine.

If you're curious about the photo's veracity, at left is another photo, from the National Post, of Ford wearing the same sweatshirt.

Needless to say, the story intrigued me. I asked the tipster for a screengrab of the video to verify that he had what he claimed to have. He refused. If I wanted to see the video, I was going to have to go to Toronto. He sounded confident enough. Certain things that he told me checked out. So off I went.

Toronto is lovely. Our first effort to meet up, at a Toronto bus station at night, fizzled. The tipster was there, but the person who actually had possession of the video was a no-show. The tipster and I retired to a coffee shop to talk Toronto politics and Rob Ford's curious history—his rise as a sort of oddly drunken, brazenly honest conservative voice in a decidedly liberal and polite city. It was a nice night, but I was beginning to worry I'd been had.

The next morning, I connected again with the tipster. He was going to locate the owner of the video, he told me. Last night, there had been a mix-up. The video was being stored in a safe place, but the person who had access to the safe place had briefly disappeared, and so the owner couldn't get access to the safe place to get the device on which the video was stored. By the morning, however, the tipster and the owner had located the person who had access to the safe place. This was going to happen.

Checkout time was at noon. My flight was at 7:30 p.m. I loitered around downtown Toronto, checking out the mall, until I got the text: We were to meet up at a chain restaurant near the airport. The tipster picked me up from the restaurant and drove me to a housing development. The owner of the video would meet us there.

We sit idling in his car, making small talk. The tipster calls the owner and talks in language other than English. "He'll be right down," he says. Fifteen minutes pass. "Waiting for the elevator," he says. Ten minutes pass. A young gentleman opens the rear door of the car and gets in. The two men speak in a language other than English. The young gentleman immediately exits the vehicle. No video.

The tipster looks at me: "The battery is dead." The young gentleman—the owner of the video—needed to go back upstairs to charge the battery on the device that contained the video. We wait. More small talk.

The owner of the video returns. He thrusts a device, a phone with a touchscreen, in my face. "Can I hold it?" I ask.

"No."

I crane my neck. It plays.

Here is what the video shows: Rob Ford, the mayor of Toronto, is the only person visible in the frame. Prior to the trip, I spent a lot of time looking at photographs of Rob Ford. The man in the video is Rob Ford. It is well-lit, clear. Ford is seated, in a room in a house. In one hand is a a clear, glass pipe. The kind with a big globe and two glass cylinders sticking out of it. In the other hand is a lighter. A slurred voice off-camera is ranting about Canadian politics in what sounds like an attempt to goad Ford. "Pierre Trudeau was a faggot!" is the one phrase the lodges in my mind. Ford, pipe in one hand and lighter in the other, is laughing, and mildly protesting at the sacrilege. He seems to keep trying to light the pipe, but keeps stopping to laugh. He is red-faced and sweaty, heaving with each breath. Finally, he finds his moment and lights up. He inhales.

In one move, the owner stops the video and draws the device back into his pocket.

"You took this?" I ask.

"Yes."

"When?"

"Within the last six months."

"You're sure it's crack?"

"Yes."

"You've seen him smoke crack before?"

"Yes. Gotta jet."

And he is gone.

So: That was a video of the mayor of Toronto smoking crack. The trouble is, the owner wants money. More money than I am willing to pay. The tipster has already reached out to one other news outlet, a Canadian organization that he refused to name, which offered $40,000. The owner rejected that. He thinks he can get six figures. It's unlikely he's going to get six figures.

But I am going to try. The tipster wants this video out. Rob Ford needs to be held to account. The owner just wants money—preferably enough to get out of town after this blows up, since he doesn't think it will be safe for him. The tipster and I both fear that the owner will try to sell the video back to Ford. That would be a shame.

So if Gawker can't come up with enough money to ring this owner's bell, perhaps we can find a partner. This isn't just the mayor of Toronto smoking crack cocaine, after all: This is Toronto Confidential. There are a host of important local officials wrapped up in this drug ring. 60 Minutes? No. Dateline NBC? No. Inside Edition? No. National Enquirer? No. CNN? Maybe!

Well, no. But when I emailed an acquaintance at CNN this afternoon, laying out much the same information I've offered above and asking for discretion and confidentiality lest we screw up a pretty fucking great story about the mayor of the fifth-largest city in North America smoking crack cocaine on camera, he forwarded the email to his producer. The producer, in turn, asked CNN's Canada reporter about it. The Canada reporter—and this was a pretty fucking big mistake—called a source who used to work in Ford's office. Within 40 minutes, word had gotten back to me that "CNN called Ford's office asking about a crack tape."

And so here we are. The owner still hasn't found a buyer with pockets deep enough to meet his demands. But word is out around Toronto now that the tape exist, and Ford's circle knows about it courtesy a CNN reporter. So, with permission, I am laying out everything I know about the Rob Ford Crack Tape in the hopes that a) everyone knows that Rob Ford, the mayor of Toronto, smokes crack, and b) this knowledge might hasten the arrival of the Rob Ford Crack Tape on the internet or broadcast television, because really, it is something to behold.

If you want to buy it, let me know. I can put you in touch with a guy.

Ford's office did not immediately respond to an email.

Update: We've received an email from Dennis Morris, a gentleman with a hotmail.com email address purporting to be Ford's attorney. Here is the message. We haven't corrected its formatting.

Greetings;I am a lawyer,and have been contacted by Mayor Ford's office in reference to your indicating you will post a photo of Mayor Ford smoking crack cocaine. Mayor Ford denies such took place,and if such posting occurs,it is false and defamatory,and you will be held legally accountable.In reference to the photo,you wish to publish, Mayor Ford has his photo taken daily,sometimes with others.

If the person you mention is now deceased,it is sad,regardless of his alleged background.

Please govern yourself accordingly.

Dennis Morris.

To contact the author of this post, email john@gawker.com.

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