From YubaNet:
A rabid Harry Potter fan took his life yesterday after inadvertently learning a plot spoiler from the soon-to-be-released J.K. Rowling opus, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6).
Jude Ralston, 32, of Hudson, Ohio left a suicide note indicating that since overhearing the plot spoiler at a shopping mall earlier in the day, “I no longer have a reason to live.”
Family and friends who gathered for a candlelight memorial outside Mr. Ralston’s house remembered a man who seemed to live only for Harry Potter – and wondered if they could have done anything to prevent his tragic fate.
“When Jude got that vanity license plate that said ‘Hogwarts,’ that seemed harmless enough,” said Polly Clovis, who attended Model U.N. with Mr. Ralston while the two were in high school. “But when he started wearing that wizard hat around town, we really should have seen that as a cry for help.”
According to friends of Mr. Ralston, the Potter fanatic had done everything in his power to protect himself from stumbling across Potter plot spoilers, even disconnecting his computer from the Internet and avoiding his favorite vintage comic book store.
Ms. Clovis said that she hoped Mr. Ralston’s death would cause federal authorities to tighten the flow of Harry Potter plot information to prevent similar tragedies from taking place.
“In my heart I believe that could have saved Jude’s life, even if he didn’t have one,” she said.
Elsewhere, President Bush called the jailing of a New York Times reporter “a positive step,” but warned that many other reporters were still at large.
So just don’t do it!
In other news: Peter is on a well-deserved vacation this week, so I ascend to the heady/patsy position of Acting Editor for the Hesperia Star. I’ll be white-knuckled until my early deadline of Thursday evening. If the paper ends up being nothing but huge photographs to fill up space, you’ll know I had a breakdown somewhere along the line.
Rock Star: INXS is what American Idol should have been, but realistically, stood no chance of being, Bo Bice aside.
American Idol, if you’re one of the five Americans unaware of it (I think even natives of the Amazon jungle are aware of it at this point), gives us the dubious spectacle of winnowing down hopefuls (who will then be shown in endless special episodes, like a bizarre videotaped version of chorus geeks mocking the wannabe chorus geeks) and then, once they have their 16 or so fresh-faced teenagers and twentysomethings, make them sing songs their grandparents liked. This last season was a little better — it was mostly songs their parents liked, instead. But still, for a show that professes to be a hunt for the next great pop star (although, to date, none of the winners or runners-up have realistically made a claim on that title), it’s relentlessly dorky. It might be interesting, sort of, to know that some 19-year-old kid from an Alabama trailer park can belt out Rogers & Hammerstein tunes, but what, exactly, does that say about this kid’s chance of making it as a pop musician? Barring meteorites wiping out Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Miami and anywhere else modern pop music is created and produced, not much.
In contrast, Rock Star: INXS has a certain real-world urgency to it. Formerly one of the biggest rock acts of the early 1990s (I saw INXS in concert twice in college, and they were amazing each time around, both at the beginning and end of their tour supporting their “Kick” album), their lead singer, Michael Hutchence, died under circumstances that will probably remain somewhat hazy forever.
The rest of INXS, though, doesn’t want the band to follow Michael, and are currently working on a new album. The only problem, though, is that Michael’s death greatly overshadows the band in the modern day, and they both need to find a new lead singer (one who can be soulful, but who can also rawk when rawking is required) and generate positive publicity to push the bad stuff out of the public’s mind.
Enter Survivor creator Mark Burnett and his light (for reality TV) touch. The resulting show essentially follows the same formula as AI (as the cool kids call it), but the series began having already winnowed the hopefuls from around the globe way, way down. And instead of the somewhat sadistic way AI handles eliminations, drawing it out more and more, and openly laughing at the discomfort of people being humiliated on national television as they chase their dream, the members of INXS are singularly mature and polite about the process. Rejected hopefuls aren’t sent off in disgrace, as they are on other reality shows like America’s Top Model, but instead or treated with respect: “I’m sorry, but you’re just not a good fit with INXS.”
(On the other hand, eye candy Brooke Burke is forgettable at best in her role as host. Survivor host Jeff Probst apparently only makes it look easy to do that sort of job well.)
Given the mediocre track record of AI, it’s perhaps surprising that, at this point, there are several hopefuls who look like real viable candidates. (Of course, many of the hopefuls play in bands or solo already, and one even was a headliner in a West End rock and roll musical.) And even more surprising, at this point, it looks more likely than not that INXS’ new lead singer will be a woman. There has been a lot of talk about how women rockers can really rawk over the years, but it’s been a long time since they’ve really proven it — every time the phenomenon is talked about, the current subjects of the scrutiny seem compelled to dump rock for introspective singer-songwriter treacle. The female contestants on Rock Star, at least so far, deal with their demons the way rock singers are supposed to, by punching back musically.
Maybe this will all blow up in INXS’ and the viewers’ faces, but right now, it sure feels like the band is about to get at least one more great moment in the sun with their new lead singer, whoever it might end up being.
This is a welcome e-mail:
Hello from Amazon.com.
We’re happy to let you know that we’ve begun preparing your order for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for delivery.
You should have the book(s) in your hands no later than 7:00 p.m. in your time zone on Saturday, July 16. Most books will be delivered by U.S. Mail, either with your regular mail delivery or in a separate, special mail delivery. Some orders may be delivered by UPS.
Because our carriers are delivering hundreds of thousands of books on that day, we do ask that you wait until 7:00 p.m. before contacting customer service if you haven’t received your order.
Although we’re not requiring a signature, we still recommend that someone be home to accept the package, as the driver may not leave it on your doorstep if they don’t feel it’s safe to do so.
You’ll receive our usual shipment confirmation e-mail after your package leaves our fulfillment center.
Thanks for shopping at Amazon.com, and happy reading!
Normally, I’d be spending the weekend on this, but it’s a busy, busy one for me.
Friday night and Saturday day, I’m manning the Daily Press/Hesperia Star booth at the Hesperia Community Expo run by the Hesperia Chamber of Commerce in cooperation with the city and school district.
And all weekend long, I’ll be editing and posting stories from Comic-Con International in San Diego by correspondents for Comic Book Resources.
But, with Dumbledore as my witness, I will still make a dent in that book.
It should be no surprise that the patriarchs of Dallas and Dynasty were among the best-paid dads in television history (adjusted for inflation), but who knew that George Jefferson pulled in more than a half-million dollars a year? Who knew that the dry-cleaning business was that lucrative? Or that Homer Simpson brings home $65,000 a year before taxes?
These, and other shocking revelations — Tony from Who’s the Boss made an estimated $21,000 a year — are from a study sponsored by Salary.com, looking at the jobs held by television dads and comparing them to the data the site collects about salaries, both nationally and regionally.
The only journalist on the list, sportswriter Ray Barone, makes $46,617. Clearly Newsday is a pretty good place to work.
It’s not quite Faith the Vampire Slayer, but much of the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel will be returning to television next season.
Frankly, a lot of these look like dogs, but I remember critics saying that Friends would be dead by mid-season its first year, so who knows.
