Neil Patrick Harris has been racking up a hell of a lot of cred. He’s done well on How I Met Your Mother and has parlayed the geek crowd’s young memories of his Doogie Howser, M.D. role into a mature fanbase thanks to appearances in Starship Troopers, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, the Harold and Kumar movies and even a star turn hosting the Emmys.

And now he’s going to spend that cred on Smurfs: The Movie?

Deadline Hollywood has the scoop on Harris appearing in the film. He won’t be a Smurf; instead he’ll play the lead live-action character in the live-action CGI hybrid story. The film has reportedly been under development for a few years, and we’ve only recently begun to learn anything about it. But it’s the freakin’ Smurfs. Not really rocket science.

Raja Gosnell (Scooby Doo and Beverly Hills Chihuahua) directs, and the story involves ‘real’ characters like the one played by Harris encountering the society of little blue dudes and one blue dudette.

We saw some of a casting call sheet for the film not long ago, which described two “Major supporting roles,” which presumably suggests that the real major roles are (as you’d expect) the Smurfs. One is a late 20’s/early 30’s first-time expectant mother named Grace who is juggling an overworked husband and a household fill of Smurfs. The second character is Odile, a beautiful, charming (when she wants to be), high-powered executive for a high-end French cosmetics company.

Is it a stretch to think that Neil Patrick Harris might be playing Grace’s husband? And, for the love of all that is good, why am I thinking about it even this much? Again, it’s the freakin’ Smurfs. Three-apple high little mushroom dwellers who fight a wizard named Gargamel. I’m actually sad that Harris is doing this.

Unless he’s playing Gargamel. If we get a singing, dancing, cat-petting Neil Patrick Harris as the evil Smurf-hating wizard of this thing, then all may be forgiven.

Smurfs: The Movie shoots in April.

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What was once just a Seattle event — first started by Brady Forrest of O’Reilly Media and Bre Pettis formerly of Etsy.com in 2006 — Ignite has grown to become an ongoing series of International geek gatherings where the brightest minds get five minutes of stage time to make their point.

Today marks the start of Ignite’s most ambitious endeavor to date: Global Ignite Week. This week-long Ignite extravaganza has been eight months in the making and is a first of its kind.

You can find an Ignite event to attend or watch online, but either way you’ll want to familiarize with the movement that is Ignite. To catch you up to speed, we’ve put together a list of reasons why Global Ignite Week (@ignite) should be on your radar.

10 Reasons to Attend or Watch Online

1. Be a part of history in the making

While Ignite has been around since 2006, this year’s coordinated Global Ignite Week initiative is a first of its kind — with more than 12,000 people slated to attend 72 events spanning six continents — that’s bound to become the talk of the Web over the coming week, and perhaps after.

2. It’s global

We’ve already mentioned that events are taking place in six continents, but given that that Ignite is one hundred percent volunteer organized we think it’s remarkable that this single week will encompass events happening in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and even Africa. Six out of seven is no small feat, but we hear that next year we could even see Ignite events in Antarctica.

3. No keynotes

Trust us, this is a pro. Instead of putting a few special guests on a pedestal for a keynote speech or panel, Ignite events are structured such that all presenters are equal. All speakers are treated the same, alloted the same amount of time, and must follow the same set of rules. Still, some of the greatest minds from all walks of life participate and get their five minutes under the spotlight.

4. Talks are only 5 minutes (hint: you won’t get bored)

Ignite is perhaps the most structured event we know of that still manages to inspire creative thinking. Each presenter is limited to five minutes and there is absolutely no wiggle room. None. Period.

5. Presentation slides auto-advance

In order to up the challenge factor, Ignite speakers are only alloted 20 slides. The catch is that each slide auto-advances after 15 seconds, regardless of whether or not the presenter has finished their thought. This makes for an atmosphere that crackles with intensity and forces presenters to stay on topic and get their points across quickly and succinctly (or be left behind by their own slides).

6. It’s pitch-free

As conference goers, we all always fear that conference sessions will derail into tedious and unwanted pitch fests. Fear not! Ignite is a pitch-free zone and talks are guaranteed to encompass an array of topics like the above example, How To Work a Crowd.

7. There’s booze

Event organizers — volunteers though they may be — are still tasked to find venues that have bars. Enough said.

8. There’s science fair-like contests

At some Ignites, organizers will opt to include a contest portion in addition to the standard five minute talks. Contests vary depending on location but they’re meant to be activity-based exercises with rules that inspire creativity and yet make winning a challenge. Contests from years past include egg slams, Popsicle-stick bridge contests, paper airplane challenges, and cupcake contests.

9. Video is live streamed to the Web (and archived)

Even if you can’t make it out to the Ignite event in your neighborhood, you can tune into the Ignite events from all areas as each local event will be live streaming their talks to the web. You can turn to Ignite’s recently unveiled video site to eavesdrop on sessions happening around the world or catch up on popular talks from previous events.

10. You can unlock a Foursquare badge

The Foursquare badge is starting to become choice du’jour for the hidden gem of any geeky event and Ignite is no different. If you’re attending an event in person and check-in on Foursquare, you’ll be welcomed with a custom Ignite Foursquare badge. As any Foursquare fanatic knows, each badge is like a trophy that highlights your adventurous nature.

Disclosure: Mashable is a media partner of Global Ignite Week

[Img credits: LaughingSquid, Yukon White Light, NYTVF]

Tags: Events, foursquare, ignite, List, Lists, live video, o'reilly

This week was abuzz with social networking news from Canada.  Several Canadian politicians appear to have embraced the simple, direct communication found in Tweets as part of their plans for engaging citizens in politics. A recent study examining Canadian Members of Parliament use of Twitter comes on the heels of the announcement that the budget speech on March 4th will be Tweeted from the office of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty – news that displays the potential as well as the limitations of Twitter as a political tool.

Using the free Twitter analysis tool Twitalyzer, Mark Blevis, the author of the study “The House of Tweets“, measured Canadian federal politicians in terms of their clout, influence, and generosity on Twitter. He found that only 20% of these politicians used Twitter at all, with even fewer using it effectively. However, there were a handful of politicians, notably James Moore, Canadian Heritage Minister and Denis Coderre, Liberal Quebec MP, who had a small but engaged following.  Although this group of  politicians effectively using Twitter is small, their constant updates – from their reactions to the tragedy in Haiti to links to opinion polls – and replies to followers make theirs a template for other politicians to follow.  Blevis found that the category of politicians with the largest followings, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, and NDP leader Jack Layton,  tended to use Twitter as a broadcasting tool, rather than a means to engage the public.

In other news from Canada, the Finance Department announced that it will broadcast pieces of the Federal budget live as it is read in the House of Commons on March 4th. These Tweets will include links to sections of the budget online and summaries of what Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says during his speech. Although Flaherty has touted this move as something used to connect with citizens and show his government’s commitment to both digital communication and transparency of their economic policies, it is interesting to note that the Tweets will be coming from Finance Canada’s Twitter account – according to Canadian MP Twitter tracker website PoliTwitter.com, Jim Flaherty doesn’t have his own account set up.

The use of Twitter as a way to broadcast a short-burst political message is directly in line with the ongoing trend of politicians playing into both citizens’ demands for up-to-date, real-time information and the media’s voracious love of short, condensed political sound bites. Canadian politicians’ use of Twitter is clearly still in its infancy, but with examples like James Moore, Denis Coderre, and the Finance Department using Twitter as a two-way, information-driven communication tool, there’s a distinct possibility that it will become an even more prominent method of political engagement in the future.

Twitter’s 140-character messages lend themselves equally to quick and useful links, policy highlights, and conversations with citizens on the one hand, and campaigning, political grandstanding and negative partisan mudslinging on the other. It is up to the politicians to follow the examples of engagement and political deliberation laid out by the handful of their colleagues using it positively and create a true Twitter-led digital dialog in the realm of politics.