By Gilbert Falso :: 11:28 AM
Authorities in the college town of Isla Vista, California, adjacent to U.C. Santa Barbara (UCSB) are still piecing together details of a mass murder that took place there late last night. However, one thing is becoming increasingly clear as the investigation begins – the shooter had detailed his plans to attack the community in a YouTube video posted hours beforehand.
UCSB student Elliot Rodger allegedly drove around the community spraying bullets from a semi-automatic handgun out the window of his black BMW. Six people were killed, and numerous others injured in the melee.
Rodger’s vehicle crashed after a brief gunfight with law enforcement officials, and Rodger was found inside, dead with a bullet wound to the head. It was not immediately clear if Rodger’s wound was self-inflicted, or was a result of the shootout with police.
In the hours leading up to the shooting, it appears that Rodger had posted a video to YouTube outlining his plan to enact retribution on his fellow college students, and specifically named the community of Isla Vista as his target.This video is below. It was removed from YouTube earlier today, but has been rehosted.
The video shows Rodger lamenting the fact that he has been ignored by women at college, and that they have rejected his advances. He specifically calls out women, and sorority women in particular, as his intended targets.
“Tomorrow is the day of retribution,” Rodgers says, staring into the camera while behind the wheel of his car. “The day in which I will have my revenge against humanity.”
It is not known if law enforcement officials were aware of Rodger’s video before the attacks occurred. However, in addition to the retribution video, another video was found by a Reddit user several days ago that also apparently had some threatening overtones to it. That video was removed by Rodger.
By Paul Thomson :: 10:07 PM
By now you may have heard about, and seen pictures of, the horrific landslide in the city of Baltimore that claimed the side of an entire city block, and dozens of cars when the rain soaked ground gave way earlier this week.
On Wednesday, heavy rains loosened the soil and and collapsed a retaining wall adjacent to a sidewalk that skirted above a set of CSX rail freight tracks. When the land gave way, the sidewalk, cars, fence, roadway and lightposts spilled down onto the tracks below.
The landslide occurred on East 26th St., between North Charles and North Lovegrove Streets. No bystanders or drivers were injured by the event.
A local resident captured the moment when the ground gave way in the video, below.
By Gilbert Falso :: 11:07 PM
If you’ve been hesitating to cut the cord and ditch your cable company, you might want to hurry up with those scissors. Why? Because one of the more popular non-cable alternative sources, Netflix, will soon be raising its rates for broadband streaming video services.
In an announcement made earlier today, Netflix said that it is planning to increase subscription prices for new subscribers by up to two dollars per month. This change will occur sometime in the next few months. A more specific date was not given.
Existing Netflix subscribers will be allowed to continue the service at their current rate for a while longer. How much longer? Netflix wouldn’t say exactly, but referred to the grandfathered time period as “generous.”
Netflix streaming customers in the U.S. currently pay $7.99 plus tax per month for the service. This price has remained unchanged since the service debuted in 2010.
In a conference call with industry analysts today, Netflix’s CEO, Reed Hastings, said, “if we want to continue to expand, to do more great original content, we have to eventually increase prices a little bit.”
The news came during the company’s first-quarter earnings call. During the call, it was also revealed that Netflix added 2.25 million new streaming video customers during the first quarter of this year. Shares in the stock jumped nearly 7% in after-hours trading on this news, as the number of subscribers was well above analysts expectations.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 10:38 PM
The year was 1993. Grunge was in, along with flannel and angst. And Robin William was on the big screen – playing the part of nanny Euphegenia Doubtfire – a persona he took on while playing divorced dad Daniel Hillard to spend more time with his children.
Over 20 years ago, Mrs. Doubtfire was a huge hit for Williams and director Chris Columbus. The film brought in $441 million worldwide, on a budget of just $25 million. It was the second highest grossing film of 1993, behind Jurassic Park.
Now, it looks like a new generation will get to meet Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire, with sources at Fox 2000 confirming that a sequel is now in the works.
The script will be written by David Berenbaum, who wrote Elf in 1993, and followed with The Haunted Mansion, Zoom and The Spiderwick Chronicles.
No plot details or release timetable have been made available yet.
Below – watch the original Mrs. Doubtfire trailer:
By Gilbert Falso :: 5:41 PM
The HBO drama Game of Thrones returns tonight for its fourth season, and plans to be even more bloody and violence-filled than the previous three seasons.
Rumors are abounding that this season, and perhaps even the very first episode of this season, will see some of the major characters killed off. Although who and when is still very much the subject of guesswork.
In addition to watching out for deaths, watch for some great character growth as well. It looks like Daenerys, played by Emilia Clarke, is set to become a force to be reckoned with. She’ll be fighting to free the slaves of Meereen and take over the city while her dragons will continue to grow more powerful under her care.
The setting of the first episode, said to be the wedding of King Joffrey, will reunite a number of characters, both recent and from earlier in the series. This reunion should prove to be lively and action-packed – to say the least.
If you haven’t yet caught up with Game of Thrones, or missed some of the action from last season – don’t worry. Amazon’s Streaming Video service has the last three seasons
Season 4 begins tonight, at 9:00 PM on HBO. If you want a quick refresher before that, catch the final episode of season 3 on HBO2 just beforehand, starting at 8:00 PM, part of an all-day marathon of last season’s episodes.