2009 Pacific Pinball Expo - San Francisco (in Japanese!)

パシフィックピンボールエキスポ2009 (Pacific Pinball Expo)(1) 

2009 (Pacific Pinball Expo)(2) 

2009 (Pacific Pinball Expo)(3) 

2009 (Pacific Pinball Expo)(4) 

2009 (Pacific Pinball Expo)(5) 

2009 (Pacific Pinball Expo)(6)

4 July 2011 Last updated at 13:34 ET

News of the World 'hacked Milly Dowler phone'

 

 

Schoolgirl Milly Dowler went missing nine years ago

Phone-hacking scandal

• Phone-hacking probe: Key people
• Timeline: Phone-hacking row
• How will pay-outs be calculated?
• How the papers got their stories

An investigator working for the News of the World allegedly hacked into the mobile phone of murdered girl Milly Dowler, a lawyer for the family says.

Mark Lewis said police told her parents that Glenn Mulcaire hacked into her voicemail while she was missing.
The Guardian has claimed he intercepted messages left by relatives and said the NoW deleted some, which gave her parents false hope she was alive.
NoW parent firm News International said the development was of "great concern".
Mr Lewis said the hacking dated from 2002 when the News of the World was under the editorship of Rebekah Brooks (nee Wade) - now News International's chief executive.
In a statement he said: "Sally and Bob Dowler have been through so much grief and trauma without further distressing revelations to them regarding the loss of their daughter.
'Despicable and evil' "It is distress heaped upon tragedy to learn the News of the World have no humanity at such a terrible time.
"The fact that they were prepared to act in such a heinous way that could have jeopardised the police investigation and gave them false hope is despicable."

Click to play

Solicitor for the Dowlers, Mark Lewis: "It is distress heaped upon tragedy"

He also said the Dowlers had been told their own phones were targeted.
The Guardian claims that after Milly's voicemail facility became full, the News of the World deleted messages it had already listened to.
It quotes one source as saying that this gave false hope to friends and family, who mistakenly believed that Milly herself had cleared her message inbox and that therefore she was still alive.
By that time, she had been murdered by a nightclub doorman, Levi Bellfield, who was convicted of the killing last month.
The Guardian also alleges that the News of the World employed another private investigator, Steve Whittamore, to illegally obtain ex-directory numbers for families called Dowler living in Walton-on-Thames, where Milly and her family lived.
A News International spokesman said it had been co-operating fully with the police inquiry into hacking since News International's "voluntary disclosure in January restarted the investigation into illegal voicemail interception".
He said: "This particular case is clearly a development of great concern and we will be conducting our own inquiries as a result.
"We will obviously co-operate fully with any police request on this should we be asked."
Public figures Reacting to the story, Tom Watson MP told the Commons it was a "despicable and evil act that will shock parents up and down the land".
He also said it strongly suggested that parliament was misled in the press standards inquiry that was held by the Department for Culture Media and Sport last year.
Former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott, who claims his phone was also hacked, said the case proved Rupert Murdoch - who owns the News of the World - should not be allowed to purchase the satellite broadcaster BSkyB.
He said: "It's quite appalling; I'm sure people will not believe this could have happened - but it's coming from the police."
In a separate development, a lawyer acting for Colin Stagg has confirmed police contacted him as part of the News of the World phone hacking investigation.
Mr Stagg won more than £700,000 in compensation after being wrongfully arrested over the Rachel Nickell murder.
His solicitor Alex Tribick told the BBC that police had advised Mr Stagg that his name had appeared in documentation associated with the police investigation.
The claims about Milly Dowler are significant in the overall phone hacking inquiry, which has until now focussed largely on the intrusion into the private lives of celebrities.
In January, the High Court will hear claims from five test cases involving public figures who say their phones were hacked into.
They are former footballer Paul Gascoigne, actor Jude Law, sports agent Sky Andrew, interior designer Kelly Hoppen and MP Chris Bryant.
The cases arise out of the disclosure of information by the Metropolitan Police relating to material forfeited by Mulcaire.
He and former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman were jailed in 2007 over tapping the phones of members of the royal household.
Five alleged victims have reached out-of-court settlements with the newspaper, including celebrity publicist Max Clifford, who received a reported £1m.
Five journalists have been arrested over the allegations.

4 July 2011 Last updated at 05:27 ET

JK Rowling splits with book agent Christopher Little

 

Rowling recently launched a new website featuring unreleased Harry Potter material

Related Stories

• Potter series to sell as e-books

Harry Potter creator JK Rowling has parted company with her longtime literary agent Christopher Little, it has been announced.

The millionaire author has worked with Mr Little since he found a publisher for her first novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 1996.
Rowling said it had been a "painful decision" but "was not taken without good reason".
Her books have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide.
"This was a painful decision, especially as Ms Rowling had actively sought a different outcome for some weeks," said a statement issued on her behalf.
"However, it was not taken without good reason and it finally became unavoidable."
A spokesman for Mr Little confirmed the news and said that the agent was "surprised" and "disappointed" at the decision.
"Christopher Little has worked closely with J K Rowling as her agent since the very beginning sixteen years ago.
"He greatly admires her and her extraordinary talent and is proud to have played his role throughout this journey.
"However he is disappointed and surprised to have heard the premature news about the proposed new arrangements."
Last month, Rowling launched a new website Pottermore that would feature previously unpublished Harry Potter material as a "give-back" to her fans.
"Some of it is new stuff in response to things fans have asked me over the years," she told the BBC.
The website, which launches in October, includes an online store where fans can buy Potter e-books for the first time.

Sarah Michelle Gellar on Conan 1998/1999/2001

YouTube - Sarah Michelle Gellar Conan 1998 06 23 - Banned from McDonald's at age 4!

Sarah Michelle Gellar 1999 05 13 Conan 

Sarah Michelle Gellar on Conan 2001

Shannen Doherty on High Chaparall, circa 2005

High Chaparall S04E02 - Shannen Doherty part 1 

High Chaparall S04E02 - Shannen Doherty part 2 

High Chaparall S04E02 - Shannen Doherty part 3 

High Chaparall S04E02 - Shannen Doherty part 4 

High Chaparall S04E02 - Shannen Doherty part 5 

 Comic strips published the same day as the photo above, 7-1-11.

 

 

 

 

Bill Maher with Elvis bust / WGN Weatherman flips out / Listen Up

Bill Maher with Elvis bust

 WGN Weatherman flips out - I'm Tom Freakin' Skilling

*************
Tweets from bottom to top:

1. DanWarp - For INSIDER NEWS about new "coming soon" episodes of iCarly and Victorious – and NEW PICS – CLICK THIS: http://fb.me/AC3iLJ5V 
2. Alyssa_Milano - My hubby is taking me out on a date! 
3. DanWarp - Check out @VictoriaJustice rehearsing for the BEST FRIEND'S BROTHER music video! LOOK----> http://fb.me/YF7Emn27
4. STEVIE_RYAN - How'd this rotation get fucked up?
5. Listen up 22 - Last Vegas - 3/3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpKt6Qncb_E 
6. Listen up 22 - Last Vegas - 2/3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R42ZwDi0Mh8 
7. Listen up 22 - Last Vegas - 1/3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy0LNo1XF8A
8. Listen up 18 - Coach Potato - 3/3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLUGl9B4Jrk 
9. Listen up 18 - Coach Potato - 2/3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnC6lvxyXxY 
10. Listen up 18 - Coach Potato - 1/3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIpWHUsFKPU
11. DaniellaMonet
    Awww, just came across this pic of @JanessaMarieL, @IJasonAlexander, the fam, and I on set of "Listen Up" :) http://t.co/MKlmAKB

Conspiracy Theory

Cassie Havlicek boat riding - from Facebook default picture 7-4-11

This has nothing to do with the HUGE Pink Panther stuffed animal she won & was photoed with in her local newspaper, or does it?  (1995-6) /  Current Cinnamon Life Cereal box (Looks like Cassie & younger sister Callie back in the day when I first met them.)

 

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iPad likes swimming too - iJustine

TheEllenShow

Good thing I bought Mama a wallet. http://say.ly/TnEt7t

STEVIE_RYAN

I should be bitter over the fact that I didn't get to audition for the girl in pink T-Mobile commercials, right?

DaniellaMonet

Happy Birthday America. Seems like just yesterday you were just dirt....

disasterpastor

  

Joe Dirt Fireworks Stand Scene. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH2uifOWP-k

disasterpastor

Joe Dirt - She's My Sister http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDKX1-_vQYw

jennettemccurdy

Happy 4th of July! May your day be filled with fireworks, corn on the cob, and toothpicks to get the corn out of your teeth.

disasterpastor

Joe Dirt Crapper Tank Scene http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F324755_oA&feature=related

ebertchicago

These spectacles could destroy social life as we know it. And diplomacy. http://bit.ly/mSTbs4

JennaElfman

But... RT @drfunkenberry: Tired of people's excuses. Wish it was like the fast lane at the market. 5 excuses or less. Can u all feel me?

KristinaHorner

Ready for the 4th of July! http://twitpic.com/5l8uvh

disasterpastor

Joe Dirt (dog got nuts frozen to the porch) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eiFMW_kD2A&feature=related

jennettemccurdy

Excited to light some fireworks tonight. Nothing says "free" like explosives!

Museum Review - The Old Bing, Bing, Bing, at Full Tilt

Museum Review

The Old Bing, Bing, Bing, at Full Tilt

Philip Scott Andrews/The New York Times

National Pinball Museum Vintage machines, some dating to the 1930s,
lined up at the museum, in a shopping mall in the Georgetown section
of Washington. More Photos »

By EDWARD ROTHSTEIN

Published: June 30, 2011

WASHINGTON — After Monday it may no longer be possible to slip between the two enormous flippers that frame a doorway in a shopping mall in Georgetown and bounce around in a strange world of sleekly raked playing boards, gleaming silver balls, rubber-wrapped pins, jittery bumpers and raucous bells. It looks as if the National Pinball Museum, which opened here only in December, is about to close, almost before an out-of-town critic could offer it the ringing approval it deserves.

Multimedia

Slide Show

There may be a last-minute reprieve extending its lease until September. But that would only be like getting a bonus ball in a too-brief game. David Silverman, a landscape gardener and artist, spent $300,000 to get this 14,000-square-foot space ready to display part of his collection of nearly 900 pinball machines.
He created a vivid opening gallery painted to resemble the playing field of a dinosaur-theme pinball game. He built a small theater for lectures and films. And he mounted a miniature history of the game in dioramalike galleries, one of which has a floor resting on water beds that sway underfoot to mimic the rocking of an 18th-century French vessel on which pinball’s ancestor, bagatelle, a mutated version of billiards, is being played.
All of this will have to be dismantled. But fortunately, as Mr. Silverman demonstrates, the history of pinball has as many sudden rescues, exuberant bounces and sweeping surprises as one of his favorite games. Why not the museum too?
He is vowing to resurrect it if he can find an affordable space for this nonprofit tribute. May his flipper fingers flourish!
For now, though, maybe we can just pretend that the ball is still leaping around the upper part of the playing board without rolling near the alleys and channels that guide it downward to oblivion. Visit before the museum is gone (even temporarily). Not just because one of the galleries allows you to play a range of games that span a half-century, but also because Mr. Silverman has created a museum in which he has illustrated pinball’s history with more than 130 restored and rare machines, and drawn attention to the companies and designers that for much of the 20th century defined the hypnotic lure of the arcade.
It is a tradition that, at first glance, bears little resemblance to virtual worlds conjured by PlayStations and Wiis. And it doesn’t take long before the machines packing these rooms begin to seem like wooden coffins, charmingly interring an earlier era’s tastes and technologies. Here is a primitive, flipperless 1936 evocation of a Yale-Harvard football game (Hold ’Em), using curved wire as bumpers; the 1952 game Coronation, which displays the newly crowned Elizabeth II as a bikini-wearing beauty-pageant winner; or the 1961 Space Ship game, whose artwork portrays babes in globular headgear soaring over the Moon’s surface. Surely an element of nostalgia is being put into play here.
Maybe more than an element. The golden age of pinball was, the museum tells us, from the 1940s through the ’60s — roughly when these electrical and mechanical contraptions reflected the cutting edge of gaming. In 1947, for example, the notion of connecting a button to a mechanical relay was still a novelty, but it led to the flipper’s invention, shown here with the first pinball game to have some, Gottlieb’s Humpty Dumpty. Even if we extend that golden age into the era when first Pong and then Pac-Man invaded the arcade, the pinball machine still seems like an artifact of gaming antiquity.
A time line here titled “The Building of an Industry” could as well have been called “The Demise of an Industry.” Beginning in the ’30s pinball companies proliferate; in more recent decades the proliferation is of their disappearance, purchase or conversion to “gaming” (gambling). Only one company still makes pinball games, Stern Pinball.
So pinball isn’t just associated with an earlier time; it is only associated with that era. Players of a certain age will look around and recall the atmospheric minutia of that lost world: cigarette burns on the games’ wooden rails, rings left on the glass by beer bottles, and lines of nickels or quarters arranged on their edges by waiting players. Now such players are collectors of these games and proselytize for their revival. Pinball museums have opened in Alameda, Calif.; Asbury Park, N.J.; Las Vegas; and Paris. The game has its own journal, resources, repair sites and an online database of 5,348 games.
Original pinball players are the main audience for his museum, Mr. Silverman said. But they also have their families in tow, and one point of the dinosaur gallery is to corrupt the young with the lure of the silver ball.
That lure is considerable, but one aspect requires some explanation: There has always been a hint of the forbidden associated with pinball. As we learn, pinball got its name from a game that involved pins stuck in a tilted board. Balls would be released (or shot upward by a plunger) and knocked about, landing in slots at the bottom or falling into holes with differing values. An 1898 game, Log Cabin, is displayed here as if in a California saloon, where a period photograph shows it, inviting competition and betting.
By the 1930s preflipper pinball gambling was big business, inspiring gangster involvement. The museum’s wall text recalls a 1936 film, “Bullets or Ballots,” in which Humphrey Bogart begins his career as a hoodlum who forces merchants “to accept his pinball machines.”
In 1941, we learn, the mayor of New York City, Fiorello La Guardia, began a campaign to ban any coin-operated gambling machine within city limits, including pinball. A blown-up news photo on one wall shows him theatrically pushing over Bumper (1936), while an actual example of that game sits below the photo, having the last laugh.

But the New York ban lasted until 1976, when the City Council received a demonstration that pinball was not a game of chance. Again we see a photo: Officials watch as an expert player catches a ball on the flipper and announces where he will shoot it. And below the photo we see that very game.

Multimedia

Slide Show

Despite sordid historical associations with gambling, though, most of these games could hardly appear more innocent. What could be more commonplace than a silver ball rolling down an incline, knocking into obstacles? In its path there is no hint of moral degradation, no sign of debauchery. It is amazing that so many themes could have been draped ornamentally over such rudimentary elements. But here we can see it happen.
In the early years pinball games tapped into familiar games for ideas, particularly those that, like pinball, mixed chance with skillful manipulation: card games and competitive sports. Then pinball grew more elaborate, alluding to the circus or the city, where events are sharp and quick, and later, more ornately, to the worlds of films and television. In much of the artwork sexual allusions are playfully formulaic: pin-ups coaxing men into flipper action.
But a sheen of innocence remains even on the raciest game here, Gottlieb’s 1954 Dragonette. Ostensibly an allusion to the television show “Dragnet,” it is actually full of references, Mr. Silverman points out, to drag outfits and sexual confusion. Its bumpers and painted numbers are strategically placed in suggestive locations. Only in more recent games does the artwork become more explicit, importing the style of the graphic novel.
Finally, after spending time looking at these games, it comes time to play. Visitors buy prepaid cards from the museum and can swipe their way through pinball history. I like earlier games — the golden age — before the industry felt it had to compete with video games: the logic is clearer, the game play straightforward. You know when you win and why. Sensations are different in the ’90s games — The Addams Family or Twilight Zone — which are almost baroquely extravagant with their moving creatures and exotic effects. Sometimes so much is going on, you can even lose track of the ball.
But in playing any of these games the lure is the same. They invoke the anxious thrills of an adolescent in a darkened room, illuminated with the blinking of multicolored lights, each machine the center of a group’s attention, each group focusing on the fate of a gleaming ball going almost too fast to track, as it teases and taunts or promptly sweeps downward to its death, daring you to try again with another coin.

National Pinball Museum is at the Shops at Georgetown Park, 3222 M Street NW, Suite M325 (street level), Washington; (202) 337-1110, nationalpinballmuseum.org.