March 2010 Archives

The new official Harry Potter web site went live just months before the opening of the new Harry Potter theme park in Orlando.

www.harrypotter.scholastic.com

According to Scholastic, the site took time off to revamp its image to include an all new digital experience for Potter fans.

"Each year, new young readers are beginning their Hogwarts journey, and we want to provide a truly memorable and magical experience they can call their own," said Scholastic president Ellie Berger.

The site launch is part of the multi-faceted Real Magic of Harry Potter campaign, which utilizes social media like Facebook and Twitter to create a multimedia experience for fans of the series.

The Facebook fanpage will also link readers to the brand new Harry Potter movie trailer this week.

On April 1 Scholastic plans to launch radio and online advertisements meant to remind fans of the campaign's message "There Is Real Magic In This World."

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-elinor-smith-sullivan28-2010mar28,0,3471306.story

This obituary uses a source from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Dorothy Cochrane for comment on the accomplished pilot's life saying, "She's not a household word, but she probably should be because she did some really significant flying."

The lead..

"At 19, she beat out Amelia Earhart to be named the best female pilot in the country. The 'intrepid birdwoman' was also featured on a Wheaties box."

does not follow a standard New York Times lead. It works, however, because it sets up the obituary as an interesting story. I was enticed to read on.

This obituary differs from a résumé in that, although it lists her accomplishments as a pilot, it reads more as a story about the woman. Perhaps it's because she was so accomplished that constructing this obituary to sound like a résumé-esque death notice would be an insult to her prominence in aviation.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-elinor-smith-sullivan28-2010mar28,0,3471306.story

This obituary uses a source from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Dorothy Cochrane for comment on the accomplished pilot's life saying, "She's not a household word, but she probably should be because she did some really significant flying."

The lead..

"At 19, she beat out Amelia Earhart to be named the best female pilot in the country. The 'intrepid birdwoman' was also featured on a Wheaties box."

does not follow a standard New York Times lead. It works, however, because it sets up the obituary as an interesting story. I was enticed to read on.

This obituary differs from a résumé in that, although it lists her accomplishments as a pilot, it reads more as a story about the woman. Perhaps it's because she was so accomplished that constructing this obituary to sound like a résumé-esque death notice would be an insult to her prominence in aviation.

One woman was shot and killed in a Mankato park Sunday. Mankato police are calling the incident a "mysterious death."

A witness said he heard gunshots while walking through the park. He said he saw smoke coming from the park's nature center parking lot. The witness revealed at least one person had been shot through the windshield of a car.

A suspect in a Cadillac Escalade SUV was arrested after being chased to a dead end south of Blue Earth County Road 90.

The park closed Sunday to allow for the investigation on the shooting. No names have been released yet.

Christian Peterson, 22, was arrested Saturday night after fleeing the police while topping 130 miles per hour through Interstate Highway 94, going east through Dunn County, Wisconsin.

Peterson was going 98 miles per hour when the State Patrol tried stopping him, at which point he tore off to the exit onto Highway 29, reaching speeds of 130 miles per hour.

Peterson stopped at 29 Pines travel center in Chippewa County and to hide his helmet and jacket. He tried hitching a ride from a driver at the travel center. State Patrol later found his bike hidden behind a business building about a half mile away from 29 Pines.

Police caught him at the travel center and arrested him. Peterson was pepper sprayed to cease resisting arrest.

Peterson refused aid from paramedics called to treat his cuts he endured while resisting arrest.

Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway told Military.com that single rooms need to be made in military barracks in order to prevent straight troops from living with gay troops.

"I would not ask our Marines to live with someone that's homosexual if we can possibly avoid it," Conway said.

The proposition Conway made comes in the wake of the embattled repealing of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which makes it possible to boot someone from the military for having same-sex sexual preferences, among other things.

Last month, Conway told Congress, "My best military advice to this committee, to the secretary, to the president, would be to keep the law such as it is."

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said the Pentagon will immediately ease up on enforcing Don't Ask, Don't Tell Thursday.

President Barack Obama made a trip to the Afghanistan capital Kabul to thank U.S. troops.

"My main job here today is to say thank you on behalf of the entire American people," Obama said in his speech at Bagram air base.

In December, Obama called for a surge of 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan of which only a few thousand have made it to the country.

In the past 14 months Obama has been in office he has nearly doubled the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan. This visit marks Obama's first since taking oath.

President Obama also met with Afghan president Hamid Karzai Sunday, praising him for the progress Afghanistan has made.

"The American people are encouraged by the progress that has been made," Obama said. He urged Karzai to "continue to make progress" in the fight against corruption in the country.

The White House said they want Karzai to take more control since Obama has taken most control over the war in Afghanistan.

"The White House feels that that [Obama taking "ownership" of the war in Afghanistan] has not really happened as far as President Karzai is concerned and they want to stress that he take more of a commander-in-chief role in the future."

The nine-and-a-half-minute video for Lady GaGa and Beyoncé's smash hit, "Telephone," premiered Thursday.

The video, which plays more like a short film, depicts Lady GaGa as an incarcerated bad girl, awaiting to be bailed out by her partner in crime Beyoncé. The video is said to be a continuation of GaGa's previous hit video for "Paparazzi," in which she kills her boyfriend.

The video continues as Beyoncé picks GaGa up from prison and takes her to a diner where she proceeds to kill Beyoncé's boyfriend with poisoned honey.

MTV.com made a "pop culture cheat-sheet," and called the video an all-you-can-eat buffet for those hungry for pop culture.

The video is a buffet indeed, featuring a slew of recognizable icons. To name a few, the bright red and yellow pick-up truck driven by the lead character in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" films as the dynamic duo's get-away car, the "Vogue"-esque dance routine in the jail cell emulating early the early Madonna video, the "Pulp Fiction" inspired diner where GaGa kills a restaurant full of people and proceeds to dance and finally a leopard skin outfit worn by GaGa at the end of the video to resemble Shania Twain in her "That Don't Impress Me Much" clip.

The video is near 14.5 million views on YouTube.com since its premiere.

Jacob Hancock, 25, and Carey Bissett, 26, were killed in an single-vehicle accident outside Madision early Sunday morning.

The pair was heading north on Highway 75 around 8 a.m. when the driver, Hancock, drove off a curve in the highway.

They were driving a 2003 Mitsubishi when they hit gravel and went airborne after driving off the curve.

Minnesota Highway Patrol said the car flew into the air and landed on its roof, killing the two passengers.

There were no other vehicles involved in the accident.

Early Sunday morning a driver blew through a stop sign near the intersection of University Avenue W. and Dunlap Street N., striking an officer's squad car, police said.

The driver, Candyce Jones of Maplewood, was driving three others when she struck the police car. Jones, 34, faces possible criminal vehicular operation charges.

Police suspect Jones was an impaired driver.

St. Paul police said the hurt officer suffered arm and ankle injuries. The officer may need surgery for his injuries.

A third vehicle near the scene of the accident endured minor damages but no one in that vehicle was injured.

A shooting at an outdoor party left 3 men and 2 women injured, Pomona police said. Two were seriously injured late Saturday night.

The victims were in a courtyard of an apartment complex when the gunman approached the group around 11 p.m.

After firing several shots the gunman, described as a Latino man in his 20s, fled the scene.

The victims range in age from 24 to 47, coming from Pomona, Los Angeles, Claremont and Ontario.

A bogus TV news report showing Russia invading Georgia sent the country into panic Sunday.

The report, aired on Imedi, showed Russian tanks invading Georgia's capitol. The report also stated Georgia's president was dead.

The report displayed a cautionary "simulation" tag as a forewarning of what could happen but according to Al-Jazeera, the report itself appeared to be genuine.

Georgy Arveladze, head of Georgia Media Production Holding, which owns Imedi, told Reuters that the aim of the report was to show the "real threat" of what could happen in Georgia. Imedi is recognized as a pro-government media channel in Georgia.

The news report has been interpreted as criticism of Georgian president Saakashvili's opponents who called for Georgia and Russia to mend their bridges after meeting with Vladimir Putin recently.

Imedi has since apologized for running the false news report after demonstrations against the channel Sunday.

Tim Burton's wacky interpretation of the classic story of 'Alice in Wonderland' managed to steal the record for biggest worldwide weekend opening ticket sales with ease, blasting by 'The Dark Knight's' $158 million record with $210 million in ticket sales.

This record also marks' Disney's biggest opening for a non-sequel film, making a profit above the film's $200 million price tag.

The film, starring Johnny Depp, Elijah Wood and Anne Hathaway, is also the biggest first quarter opening, even taking into account ticket price inflation.

'Alice' is expected to hold onto the number one spot for the next several weeks until 'How to Train Your Dragon' from Dreamworks is released on March 26th.

Denny Hecker's ex father-in-law, Bill Prohofsky, 71, shot himself in the head Thursday. Prohofsky was the stepfather of Hecker's ex-wife Tamitha.

The death comes a week after Prohofsky had been accused of aiding Hecker in hiding money from creditors.

A lawsuit against Prohofsky alleges Hecker paid Prohofsky $15,000 for holding money from bankruptcy court.

Police were called to a parking lot around 6:30 p.m. Thursday evening to find Prohofsky in his car with a gunshot wound in his head.

Prohofsky's family released a statement saying Bill is "a beloved father, grandfather, brother and uncle. He is near and dear to our hearts and the family is mourning and in shock."

No information as to whether Prohofsky left a note or not was released.

A 47-year-old man is suspected to be the shooter in a bar confrontation Saturday night.

Police said the suspect in the shooting case came to Jim's Sports Club Bar and Grill to confront his ex-wife.

The suspect left the bar after being confronted by a patron only to return with a gun. He shot Edward Walberg, 40, and two other men. Walberg died and the one other victims' injuries are not life threatening.

It was later reported by WCCO that the suspect was a police officer between 1983 and 1989 before taking a job at the city's water department.

The second victim, Cale Nelson, 29, is reportedly "fighting for his life," according St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth. Nelson was the bar patron who originally tried to intervene before the suspect returned with a gun.

An investigation is still going for this case.

In comparing a press release concerning Pawlenty's budget forecast for years to come against a Star Tribune article on the same forecast given at a news conference March 2nd, some things stand out notably.

First, the press release distributed by the State capitol features only quotes from Pawlenty. The quotes used in this release don't candy coat the state's financial status though, contrary to some people's expectations. The release paints a true picture of the state's "budget picture," but I sense some partisanship in the release's vernacular.

One example is the quote used about Pawlenty calling upon the legislature to devise a budget plan by March 17. He says...

"In recent years, the Democrats have waited until the final days of session to come up with a budget plan and it typically incorporates massive tax increases," Governor Pawlenty said. "That won't work and the people of Minnesota deserve a chance to react to their proposals."

Whatever goes into a press release is carefully and strategically thought out. This means the communicators at the capitol were consciously thinking of a way to blame democrats for unproductive budget proposals and whatnot. That quote could have easily been left out, too, but doing so would not have gotten Pawlenty's administration's message out the way they wanted it to.

Continuing with this idea, the quotes in the Star Tribune article also feature state economist Tom Stinson, who's known for remaining rather politically independent, having worked with both DFL and GOP governors for over two decades, with more optimistic words in comparison from the grimness of Pawlenty's statements such as:

"We think we've turned the corner and we are on the recovery side," said Tom Stinson, state economist. "But it's going to be long, and it's going to be slow."

What I don't like about the press release is that it was written and distributed after the news conference at which Pawlenty gave his report on the state budget.

I also dug for a release that announces the news conference as an upcoming event and could not locate one. The release seems like an article the capitol's communicators constructed to best suit their needs in hopes that newspapers would pick it up and use that material.

It's almost like they wrote this release as if no one actually saw the news conference. Perhaps some lazy journalists (who didn't learn how to cover speeches in journalism school) went ahead and used what the capitol doled out, but that would be some pathetic journalism. It seems as though Baird Helgeson and Rachel Stassen-Berger actually attended the event and wrote a cohesive and balanced article for the Star Tribune.

After an extensive cross-country road trip, John Patrick Bedell, 36, opened fire at the entry point of the Pentagon Thursday night, shooting two security officers.

Officers Marvin Carraway and Jeffrey Amos shot back at the gunman, killing him.

According to the shooter's family, Bedell suffered from mental illness long before the shooting Thursday. He was repeatedly a patient at mental health clinics.

"There's a history of mental health problems with him that the family's been dealing with for a number of years," San Benito County, California, Sheriff Curtis Hill said Friday.

Bedell suffered from bipolar disorder according to 2006 court records.

Bedell was also a heavy drug user.

"He was a heavy marijuana user and tended to self-medicate with marijuana. I don't know if he used other drugs," family friend San Benito County Supervisor Reb Monaco said.

Family described Bedell as their "beloved son, brother, grandson, nephew and cousin."

Bedell made a suspicious $600 purchase at a Sacramento shooting range, which he refused to discuss with his family. Once the purchase was made and Bedell took to the road, his father Oscar filed a missing persons complaint.

The complaint was closed when Bedell returned to his parents' Hollister home after a week of being missing.

Before the shooting, Bedell was reportedly "mumbling something," according to FBI Agent Lindsay Godwin.

Bedell parked his 1998 Toyota Avalon then opened fire at the Pentagon doors and was shot to death by security officers.

Iran's defense minister General Ahmad Vahid announced Sunday that a line of new ground-to-air missiles called the Nasr 1 has been produced.

The new missile is able to "destroy 3,000 ton targets," Vahid said. The missiles will soon be able to be launched from helicopters and submarines, thus strengthening Iran's naval power, he said.

Vahid opened two new missile production plants in February, Qaem and Toofan 5, which make ground-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles respectively.

Iran continues to deny seeking nuclear weapons despite its missiles that can target Israel.