Friday evening, a little disjointed

[cleolinda]

Ohhhhh, I had such a nice sleeps last night, and then I had a nice nap this afternoon. And then our hostess-discount jewelry from Lia Sophia came in and I felt pretty.

A story you need to hear about, but the media--for some bizarre reason--won't cover: Indiana man beaten to death over several hours... and his killers are claiming the "sudden heat" of "gay panic." Even though he might not have been gay. Even though they took their sweet time torturing and beating him. Even though they took camera-phone pictures mid-beating and texted them to a friend. And this was two months ago.

Either Aaron Hall was brutally beaten to death because he was gay, or else his murderers are attempting to exhort a sick sympathy from homophobic jury members by portraying beating a man to death as a natural response to homosexuality.

The Indianapolis Star won't print this story. The Herald-Times won't print this story. The Associated Press won't print this story.

What did Aaron Hall die for? And what will his murderers learn from their trial?

Will they learn that Indiana is a state where you can get away with murder, as long as you murder the right person in the right extenuating circumstances?

Tell everyone you know about Aaron Hall. Tell everyone. Tell them that he was beaten over 75 times and left to die in a field like Matthew Shephard and the press has done nothing. Email your local paper and ask them why they aren't reporting the Aaron Hall story. Talk to everyone you know.

There's nothing good to follow that up with, is there?

Girl's feet severed on ride at Six Flags; Teen who lost feet on Six Flags ride has surgery. JESUS. Story highlights: "Drop-tower thrill rides shut down at parks across the country, the AP reports"; "Girl's feet were severed on ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville." I think I keep focusing on tangential issues--how Six Flags must be reacting, for example. Just imagine the phone call that had to be made to corporate headquarters--to this to keep from replaying what must have actually happened in my head. "Her parents are going to own that park," my mother observed--not in the "pwn" sense, but literally, in the Lo, We Will Sue You Unto the Dark Ages sense. "Not that it's going to do them any good," I said. "No one will go to that park ever, ever again."

Ohio sheriff: Found baby is not missing woman's. My mother and I are true-crime buffs, but for some reason, she's particularly interested in following this one. I don't know, I guess I'm over here being too horrified by that girl and her FEET, JESUS.

pinstripe_bindi: "First FDA-approved OTC diet pill tends to make people shit their pants, basically. The best way to avoid this is by eating a low-fat diet. And exercising is good. So why the hell should we spend $60 a month on the pills??" From what I saw on the Today show last week (yes, this is what I watch when I'm up in the morning taking out the pups), the whole thing is that Alli prevents you from absorbing fat, which is great. The bad news is... the fat has to go somewhere, and it gets there via the Excretion Express. It's the same problem people were having with Olestra--the fat substitute they were putting in chips; are they still using it?--back there for a while.

Brazil Yogurt Ads Cause Controversy, or, "Must we offend large women to sell them yogurt?" Okay, actually? The American Beauty model is really attractive.

Crayola's new emo shades. Includes "Openly Gray," "Dorian Gray," and "My Soul."

"Have you ever seen surfing mice?"

Invisible UFO.

I drink to kill the pain.

Sweet Lord, that's a cute Scottish Fold kitten.

Fantastic OOTP stills. Commence squee... now.

Potter Actors Have Grown.

New Contest from Amazon.com, Get "Deathly Hallows" Delivered At Midnight ... if you're under 18. Dammiiiiiit.

Steve McQueen's Widow Wants Daniel Craig for a Biopic. Wow, he would actually be a pretty good likeness.

Morgan Freeman to Play Mandela.

Stephen King Defends "Torture Porn," But Not 'Captivity.'

Joe Queenan Says John McClane Is Responsible For all the Deaths in 'Die Hard 2.'

Margot at the Wedding Trailer and Poster.

Teacher Shows Bootlegged 'Shrek the Third' to Class.

High-Res Version of Where the Wild Things Are still. I don't know how they're going to make it into a full-length feature, but the look of it is pretty good.

Sam Jackson is in Everything, 'Iron Man.' I'm going to guess that Jackson is at the Hasty Pudding awards, or something very like it, in the picture. Because I just can't explain the hamburger bra otherwise.

Exclusive: Patrick Wilson on Evening. Somehow, Samuel L. Jackson is not in this movie. That I know of. Today.

Exclusive Videos/Photos: ‘Dark Knight’ Batpod and ‘Speed Racer’ Mach 5.

Final Becoming Jane poster. No, it still hasn't come out here yet.

First Official Indiana Jones 4 Photo. Warning: Actually an on-set pic taken by Spielberg of a very weary-looking Harrison Ford in a director's chair.

Pics from The Darjeeling Limited.

Children of the Lamp Film Rights Sold.

30 Days of Night looking pretty good? This is probably a strange reason to be rooting for this movie, but I've been interested ever since I heard Danny Huston was involved. I mean, besides the vampires and all. I don't know why, but ever since The Constant Gardener he's just one of those actors I've started following around for no good reason. Also, Josh Hartnett has apparently finished growing up, quoth the review.

"Evan Almighty just isn't funny." Oh God. And I so wanted it to be for Steve Carell's sake--I probably wouldn't have seen it in the theater either way, but now that it's the Most Expensive Comedy Ever, you know shit's gonna go down if it doesn't make big money this weekend.

Hugh Laurie + Keanu Reeves on Night Watch set. And Keanu is totally doing the Blue Steel!

Comments

[theendofallthat.livejournal.com]

my roommate and I are obsessed with danny huston. I watched "Birth" for that man and--gah.

I really hope that rumored orson welles biopic starring him actually gets made.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, that would be awesome. Also, I don't feel so alone now--I was ridiculously excited when he turned up in both Marie Antoinette and Children of Men.

[greenwitch.livejournal.com]

OKAY.

DEAD FROM SCOTTISH FOLD CUTE.

COMPLETELY DEAD.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

SERIOUSLY, HOW CUTE?

[lauramcvey.livejournal.com]

I remember a guy at Canada's Wonderland dying when he went on the bungee cord ride (basically you get tied to a bungee cord and jump off a tall platform) and the cord snapped. And CW is still up and running. But then, two of their bungee cords didn't snap.
*goes to post the Aaron Hall story*

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

At the same time... that seems like a reasonable bungee injury. I mean, not "reasonable" in that it is, after all, death, but you can at least imagine it happening. I STILL can't figure out how this girl's FEET got SEVERED WTF. They said something about a cord, but SERIOUSLY.

[scornedsaint.livejournal.com]

I saw something about the Aaron Hall murder yesterday on CNN, although I believe they were calling his death the result of a "riot", which sounds a little suspicious. I didn't hear the whole report since I was at the gym, getting my ass kicked by the treadmill, but this will be an interesting story to follow.

[ter369.livejournal.com]

Wow, Craig would be a good match for McQueen, and he does American well. (See Infamous.)

[kateshort.livejournal.com]

[http://www.myalli.com/howdoesitwork/treatmenteffects.aspx]

You may feel an urgent need to go to the bathroom. Until you have a sense of any treatment effects, it's probably a smart idea to wear dark pants, and bring a change of clothes with you to work.

Uhhhhhh, NO.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I did think it was hilarious that they were actually like, "No, seriously. You're going to," as opposed to all those commercials that are like, "Side effects may include dizziness, upset stomach, spontaneous combustion and death."

Sigh...

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

This is one of those times when I wish I was with my ex, whose mother tried so hard to call me a wimp for not riding roller coasters or thrill rides with them. (She was addicted to amusement parks.) I just looked straight at her when she tried to pull that garbage, mentioned the neck injury I got years ago on a roller coaster, and said that I didn't think that I had anything to prove to her, and that I'd just wait quietly in the shade until she and my ex were done riding. It turned out that her SO couldn't get on one ride because he has heart trouble, and my ex couldn't get on another because he couldn't fit in the narrow seats, which they found out after 15 minutes in line.

It would give me some satisfaction to be able to point to that article and ask her if she still thinks those rides are so much fun.

[wednesday]

Olestra/Olean is still deployed, but it's not fabulously popular. You can find it in chips, mostly.

Alli (and its prescription-strength counterpart) is a behavior modification tool. Theory is, if you have the unpleasant experience after having the high-fat food often enough, you won't want to eat that way anymore.

It doesn't work so well.

[poinsley.livejournal.com]

When I heard about the girl at Six Flags, I was freaked out not only because of the severed feet (SEVERED FEET!!!), but also because it's the type of ride I'd go on and eek!

[megalion.livejournal.com]

I felt sick cause not 3 weeks ago I went on a similiar ride at Knotts Berry Farm.

And I was disappointed then cause my friends didn't want to go on again. One had forgotten about her fear of heights til we were strapped in and rising.

[reynardine.livejournal.com]

It doesn't surprise me that the media in Indianapolis aren't covering a story about the Aaron Hall case...back when Herb Baumeister (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Baumeister) was doing his killing spree among the gay community in Indianapolis, no one would touch the story. He might well have been caught sooner if there had been some awareness about gay men going missing.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Ohhhhh, I had such a nice sleeps last night

Oh good, you got them. I sent all my best sleeps that I downloaded on Morpheus, but I was afraid they'd clog your inbox.

[sapphires13.livejournal.com]

Okay, just the other day my brother and I made plans to go to Six Flags in Louisville for the 4th. But now. DO NOT WANT. Looks like we'll be going to St. Louis instead, which I considered to be a better park even before the severed feet.

Not trying to be all "I can top that" but...

[kirsdarke.livejournal.com]

I HAVE been to that park. I don't remember being on that ride, but my mother's family lives in Louisville, so we went there all the time when I was younger.

This story FREAKS ME OUT.

[banakil.livejournal.com]

Random comments from a lurker:

When I read that report about the girl losing her feet my first thought after I finished freaking out was that Cleo would probably have it in her linkspam. Then I wondered what Cleo would say. Then I thought if it were me, I would only be able to write one word - Jesus. Because, yeah...

No offense intended but that Scottish Fold kitten totally creeps me out and I think I may have nightmares for a week.

My dog is under 18 - do you think Amazon will fall for it?

I was relatively calm about the impending OoTP movie but it's safe to say I've officially got my squee now.

[word-herder.livejournal.com]

The kitten started to creep me out a little until I realized it looked kinda like a baby polar bear.

[eleigh.livejournal.com]

"Not that it's going to do them any good," I said. "No one will go to that park ever, ever again."

Oh, I'm pretty sure people will. It's Kentucky. What else is there to do? For people who live in the boonies anyway. Still, there is a reason I refused to ever get on that ride. Certainly not when it was called The Hellavator.

[angelan.livejournal.com]

Oh, course they will. Someone DIED on Hydro at Oakwood, and I still really want to go on it.

Dear Amazon Contest...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_stormthesea/]

My least favorite character is Harry Potter. Boy needs to stop emoting and get laid! When is that "beast" within him going to have a headrush, stand up suddenly, and enter a dark, moist cave?

Hey, I'm a 17-year-old boy! It's all about the sexin', for me!

[lady-moriel.livejournal.com]

Okay, now I'm really, really nervous about going to Disney World in a few months. Thank you. Although Disney is probably more professional than Six Flags, and I'm pretty sure they don't have any rides like that. 'Course, Universal does, and we might be going there...great.

ZOMG SCOTTISH FOLD. I AM DEAD FROM TEH CWOOTNESS.

Re. 30 Days of Night--I just...ugh. I can't feel anything but hate for this movie. Population of Barrow = 156? Try 4,600. And for the love of all that's good and holy, Barrow gets two or three 737 flights every day. No such thing as all the flights shutting down over the winter.

[laddical.livejournal.com]

Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is a ride like that - it's just enclosed in a "set" to look like an old hotel.

It's horrifying, but it's also a freak accident. This stuff is not normal, and people shouldn't react thinking they're going to die if they go to a theme park. For every one horror story like this, there are millions of satisfied customers who enjoyed their trip (and probably millions who were miserable, but not because they suffered any physical harm).

[artemis-archer.livejournal.com]

Kreacher O_O

[xanath.livejournal.com]

I've been on a similar ride at Knotts Berry Farm. At the time, I thought I should just be scared of throwing out my back. And while I loved the ride, after this I think I will wait a long, long time before I get back on one.

My mother just remarked, "Instead of Six Flags over Louisville, that park'll be known as Six Flags In Chapter Eleven." She's all for the "sue 'em back to the Stone Age" gambit. When she was a young woman, she witnessed the death of a young boy who stood up in a carnival rollercoaster; this story has freaked her out almost as badly as it did you.

I love those OOTP stills! I can't decide if my favorite is Luna or Lucius just yet--I do see, however, that Lucius has somehow gotten his hands on Vincent's vest and sinistered it up a little. :D

--Kris

[laddical.livejournal.com]

"Not that it's going to do them any good," I said. "No one will go to that park ever, ever again."

No, people will. People have died at Disney, and people still go. It's unfortunate, but those kinds of things happen, and for the thousands (millions?) of people who have ridden those things without anything more than a queasy stomach, there's no reason to stop.

[methodicmadness.livejournal.com]

Hee, Neville is so cute. ^_^

[vampirepig13.livejournal.com]

I know, right? I'd be all over him if I was at Hogwarts. He's so nerdy and adorable.

[edda.livejournal.com]

New Contest from Amazon.com, Get "Deathly Hallows" Delivered At Midnight ... if you're under 18. Dammiiiiiit.

And how, praytell, do they know if you're OVER 18? They gonna have the FBI run a background check?

[newsong.livejournal.com]

What offends me 50x more than the Yogurt ads are the comments on the community post you linked to.

Like I always say, fat is the last acceptable prejudice.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

The sad thing is, that's all in a day's work for ONTD. I read the comm on Google Reader so I don't have to deal with the commenters.

[ajs1.livejournal.com]

Personally, I'm glad the news isn't blasting off on the murderers' sorry excuse for, uh, an excuse. Considering how the media tends to dogpile on shocking stories involving homosexuality and smother the people involved in the process, I'm just happy they're leaving this joke alone. Don't tell people about it. That guy they killed, was just a guy that got killed.

Of course, this all means nothing if they actually get off on such a lame defense.

[sfmarty.livejournal.com]

I have had a thing for Scottish Folds ever since I read the book A Cat Who Went to Paris". True story.

[sheilazc.livejournal.com]

i will now delurk to comment on lia sophia! i just discovered it last month when my friend hosted a party and i got my jewelry from it last week. it is very pretty! i love it.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

What kills me is that it doesn't look all that exciting in the catalogue, but it's really pretty when you get it. And it looks the same, it's not that there's anything different about it... maybe they need to photograph it differently, I don't know.