Culturite

Lil Wayne will continue his journey from MC to mogul this autumn as the platinum-selling rapper readies his own line of champagne, dubbed “Halo.” The champagne had previously cameoed in Weezy’s “Lollipop” video. Four different variations of “Halo” will be bottled: Halo Brut, Halo Brut Vintage, Halo Rose and Halo Pinnacle, each with its own mix, taste, blend and texture. “Champagne is for celebrating,” Lil Wayne said. “I’m ready to put my foot in a new door. There are so many different business opportunities; I want to take advantage of it all.”

If you’re not familiar with Wikileaks, you should be because, since it debuted last year, the international transparency network behind the site has forced governments and news media to take notice, most recently with the posting of whistleblower documents that indicate “thousands of sterilizations, and possibly some abortions, took place in 23 Texas Catholic hospitals from 2000 to 2003,” as reported by the Catholic News Service in the wake of the leak.

Wikileaks describes itself as a site that’s “developing an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis. Our primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to people of all regions who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations. We aim for maximum political impact.”

Besides having been briefly banned by a judge in the U.S. (the site appears to be based in Sweden), the anonymous founders are international computer geeks who know how to hide in cyberspace and get around things like the Great Firewall of the government in China. In fact, Wired magazine notes that one of Wikileaks’ advisers, security expert Ben Laurie, “doesn’t even know who runs the site — other than (co-founder Julian) Assange (who lives in Kenya) — or where the servers are.”

What makes Wikileaks a unique “news” site is that instead of “breaking stories,” it publishes leaked documents, now boasting “over 1.2 million documents … from dissident communities and anonymous sources.”

An early criticism of Wikileaks was its posting of anonymously leaked documents without running it through an editing process and without providing any context — something that many industry insiders (and military brass), including prominent open government advocates like Steve Aftergood, view as “irresponsible,” at best.

While Wikileaks Web masters seem immune from government and press criticism, they’re not unresponsive, having changed the site a bit since it first hit the net in January 2007. The home page now features analysis of recently leaked documents, as well as “fresh leaks requiring analysis.”

The site also notes: “Wikileaks is not like Wikipedia. Every submitted article and change is reviewed by our editorial team of professional journalists and anti-corruption analysts. Articles that are not of high standard are rejected and non-editorial articles are fully attributed.”

“Wikileaks believes that the best way to determine if a document is authentic is to open it up for analysis to the broader community — and particularly the community of interest around the document.”

“So for example, let’s say a Wikileaks document reveals human rights abuses and it is purportedly from a regional Chinese government. Some of the best people to analyze the document’s veracity are the local dissident community, human rights groups and regional experts (such as academics). They may be particularly interested in this sort of document. But of course Wikileaks will be open for anyone to comment.”

“Journalists and governments are often duped by forged documents. It is hard for most reporters to outsmart the skill of intelligence agency frauds. Wikileaks, by bringing the collective wisdoms and experiences of thousands to politically important documents, will unmask frauds like never before.”

No man had beaten Roger Federer at Wimbledon since 2002. But in near darkness, one of the greatest tennis matches ever played concluded Sunday with Roger Federer hitting a short forehand into the net and with a victorious Rafael Nadal flat on his back with camera flashes illuminating his drained and delighted face.

Nadal had come the closest to beating Federer in last year’s final, pushing his friendly rival to five sets before ending up in tears in the locker room as Federer equaled Bjorn Borg’s modern men’s record with his fifth straight victory.

Last year’s emotional tussle immediately took its place among the best Wimbledon finals, but this five-set classic — played on a rainy, gusty day — was better yet.

At 4 hours 48 minutes, it was the longest singles final in Wimbledon’s 131-year history and did not finish until 9:16 p.m. local time.

“The most important thing is to win the title,” said Nadal, who won, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7. “After that, you think about winning against the No. 1, probably the best player in history or close, and the fact it was so dramatic. But it’s one of the most powerful feelings I’ve had in my life.”

Indie rock from both emerging and established bands dominates the short list for the 2008 Polaris Music Prize, which organizers unveiled Monday morning in Toronto.

Michael Turner first began work as an artist for Top Cow. There he did background art before eventually co-creating Witchblade. In ‘98 he came out with Fathom, a comic he wrote and illustrated. Soon after this he was diagnosed with cancer. He recovered and in ‘02, created his own publishing company, Aspen MLT. Under Aspen MLT he continued the Fathom comic(after a year-long lawsuit over the rights to the title), coming out with another volume and several miniseries. He is currently working on Soulfire and Shrugged, two other series he created, and has a fourth comic (Ekos) to be released after Soulfire is underway. Aside from his own projects, he also does cover work for both Marvel and DC.

Michael Turner very recently passed away, after his long battle with cancer, at the young age of 37.  He died on the Friday of the opening of the Wizard World Chicago Convention, 2008, and there was a minute of silence dedicated to him on the Saturday.

Michael Turner, a comic book artist who drew covers for major titles such as “Superman/Batman,” “The Flash” and “Civil War,” has died. He was 37.

Nicole Kidman has delivered her first child, a baby girl, her agent, Wendy Day, said.

A publicist for Keith Urban says Nicole Kidman has given birth to a baby girl in Nashville.

In a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press, the publicist said: “Nicole and Keith Urban are delighted to announce that Nicole Kidman gave birth to a baby girl on Monday morning, July 7, 2008, in the United States. Sunday Rose Kidman Urban weighed 6 pounds, 7 1/2 ounces. Husband Keith was by Nicole’s side and mother and baby are very well.”