Category: News

My take on news from around the world…

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Stupid Region Codes

While the rest of us have been dealing with Hollywood’s stupid “DVD region system” for years, it’s only now that Tinseltown’s folly has hit the corridors of power. It seems that President Obama gave British PM Gordon Brown a basket of 25 “American classic” films during his recent visit to the US. Brown, not normally a film buff, was reportedly “touched” by the gesture… that is, until he actually tried to watch them. It seems that no one in the White House knew about regions, because when Brown popped one of the discs into his player he got the dreaded “Wrong Region” error message.

I find it hard to believe that no one in the White House knew about R1 vs. R2 (to say nothing about the NTSC\PAL thing). How hard would it have been to have someone order them from Amazon UK? Or have someone at the US embassy in London hit the nearest Virgin Megastore and Fedex them to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

This is our technology president?

Amusingly, one British journalist wondered if Clueless might have been included with the film…

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Elderly Charles Manson

Charles Manson

California corrections officials have released a new photograph of convicted mass murderer Charles Manson, who is now bald with a thick grey beard.

The photo of the 74-year-old Manson was taken yesterday as part of a routine update of files on inmates at Corcoran State Prison, where he is serving a life sentence for conspiring to murder seven people, said Seth Unger, spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

via Prison releases photo of elderly Charles Manson.

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R.I.P. Natasha Richardson

Natasha RichardsonNEW YORK – Natasha Richardson, a gifted and precocious heiress to acting royalty whose career highlights included the film “Patty Hearst” and a Tony-winning performance in a stage revival of “Cabaret,” died Wednesday at age 45 after suffering a head injury from a skiing accident.

Alan Nierob, the Los Angeles-based publicist for Richardson’s husband Liam Neeson, confirmed her death Tuesday night in a written statement.

“Liam Neeson, his sons, and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha,” the statement said. “They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time.”

The statement did not give details on the cause of death for Richardson, who suffered a head injury when she fell on a beginner’s trail during a private ski lesson at the luxury Mont Tremblant ski resort in Quebec. She was hospitalized Tuesday in Montreal and later flown to a hospital in New York City.

via Natasha Richardson dies at 45.

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There’s a camera in his eye!

BRUSSELS – A Canadian one-eyed documentary filmmaker is preparing to work with a video camera concealed inside a prosthetic eye, hoping to secretly record people for a project commenting on the global spread of surveillance cameras.

Rob Spence’s eye was damaged in a childhood shooting accident and it was removed three years ago. Now, he is in the final stages of developing a camera to turn the handicap into an advantage.

A fan of the 1970s television series The Six Million Dollar Man, Spence said he had an epiphany when looking at his cellphone camera and realizing something that small could fit into his empty eye socket.

via TheStar.com | Smile, you’re on eye-socket camera.

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Moe’s on East hit again

Holy cow!

CHARLOTTE, N.C.– One person was shot Sunday night at a popular restaurant in Dilworth.

Police say 2-3 men went into Moe’s Southwest Grill near closing time in an attempt to rob the store.

The store manager was shot in the incident but it is unclear if she was shot at directly or if she sustained her injuries from an indirect shot.

Two years ago two people were shot and killed at that same restaurant.

Jeez – you folks stay away from the Moe’s on East Blvd, okay? Seriously!

via WCNC.com | Local News.

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McGruff assaulted

WASHINGTON – McGruff the crime dog has been roughed up. D.C. police said the mascot, who urges children to “take a bite out of crime,” became a victim Saturday when a bus driver punched him in the face as he handed fliers to children. Police said the 38-year-old Metro bus driver, climbed off the bus, adjusted both sideview mirrors and then swung at Officer Tyrone Hardy, who was dressed as McGruff.

Police said McGruff staggered, children screamed and the bus driver drove off. Officers quickly pulled him over and charged him with assault.

Metro spokeswoman Candace Smith said the bus driver told a supervisor he was trying “to be funny.”

Smith said the driver will undergo drug and alcohol testing. His future with the agency was under review.

via Cops: Driver adjusts mirrors and roughs up McGruff.

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Paul Harvey dies at age of 90

CHICAGO – Paul Harvey, the news commentator and talk-radio pioneer whose staccato style made him one of the nation’s most familiar voices, died Saturday in Arizona, according to ABC Radio Networks. He was 90.

Harvey died surrounded by family at a hospital in Phoenix, where he had a winter home, said Louis Adams, a spokesman for ABC Radio Networks, where Harvey worked for more than 50 years. No cause of death was immediately available.

via Broadcasting pioneer Paul Harvey dies at age of 90.

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R.I.P. Randy Bewley

Randy Bewley, one of the founding members of the Athens, GA based band Pylon, has passed away from a heart attack. He was 53.

Bewley died around 5 p.m. on Wednesday at Athens Regional Medical Center. He flipped his van on Barber Street early Monday night; Bewley’s heart attack was the apparent cause of the crash.

In a statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe said that “[w]e are so very saddened to hear the news of Randy’s passing. Pylon have always been an inspired catalyst to R.E.M. and the Athens music and art scene, and beyond.”

EDIT: Full story\obit here.

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Mystery object crashes through roof

DALLAS – Police say an unidentified falling object dropped out of the sky with enough velocity to tear a hole through the roof and the second floor of a Dallas home. Senior Cpl. Kevin Janse said Wednesday the six-pound piece of metal with two drill holes in it fell Tuesday evening when the person who reported the incident wasn’t home. Janse said there were no injuries.

Officers couldn’t determine the source of the debris. Janse said radioactive tests on the metal were negative. Several state agencies were notified of the incident, but Janse said none offered a theory about what happened.

via Police: Mystery object tears through Dallas roof.