(no subject)

Depressing News Story of the Day.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060923/ap_on_re_us/toddler_stabbed_5

Father attacks his family on La. highway
2 hours, 49 minutes ago
BATON ROUGE, La. - A man repeatedly stabbed his toddler and estranged wife along an interstate while horrified people watched from their cars in rush-hour traffic Friday night, police and witnesses said.

The 2-year-old girl was in a car with her parents when her father started stabbing his wife with a kitchen knife along Interstate 110 near the Governor's Mansion, said Cpl. L'Jean McKneely, a Baton Rouge Police spokesman.

When the 26-year-old woman got out and ran for help from an East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's deputy in squad car just ahead of them, her husband stabbed his daughter, McKneely said.

"He kept stabbing her until the knife was stuck in her head," witness Gloria Spears told WAFB-TV.

The man then put the girl on the highway and drove off, side-swiping the deputy's car and striking his wife, police said. He sped into downtown Baton Rouge and knocked down at least three utility poles before his car hurtled through the air and overturned on top of another vehicle.

All three were taken to Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center. The child was in "extremely critical" condition, with a cut "along her midsection and a kitchen knife lodged in her head," McKneely said.

Her mother, who was thrown 20 to 40 feet by the impact of the car, also had numerous stab wounds, he said. She was expected to live. The man was being treated for minor injuries, McKneely said.

McKneely said the couple, who was not identified, has been married for about six years but were currently living apart. It was not immediately clear what led to the stabbings.

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This is absolutely horrifying.

DV

Voltron: Blue Lion DVD set

First off, yes, there are only 3 DVDs/15 episodes, and the $39.95 they have as the asking price is quite steep. However, Best Buy and Wal-Mart had early releases for $25, and they're well worth it. (It's also available for less at Amazon, naturally - $22.99 for this set, $27.99 for the next set.)

I think part of the reason for the price versus number of episodes is explained by the process they had to go through to restore it. Apparently the remaining American tapes weren't good enough for producing DVDs, so they used new film transfers from the Japanese originals. Then they had to clean up, color-correct, and edit them to match the originals. There's a little featurette on the DVD about it. They did a pretty good job, although there's 2 glaring errors that may have existed on the originals.

1) In the original bit where they get stuck on Arus and use the lions for the first time, despite the fact that they can't use the Black Lion, they still show Keith using the #1 tunnel. Stock footage use, I suppose.

2) Also, in the episode where the Princess "borrows" the Black Lion to practice with it, despite the fact that they make a big deal of the fact that Keith is using the Blue Lion, not only does he use the #1 Tunnel, but they used stock footage that CLEARLY shows him entering the Black Lion.

I understand using stock footage to save time and money, but still...

The quality is good, and it's mostly as fun as it used to be.

My only real issue is me finding the way they treat the Princess quite annoying. I had forgotten the "public spanking" bit, and several times I just wanted to remind the "boys" - Um, it IS her planet, her castle, and her big robot warrior. Y'all just drive the thing. K? That, and she does succumb to the girly stuff (fainting, screaming, panicking) a bit much.

It's also jarring to think that she and Scarlett are the same voice, because the characters are so different. There's some other usual suspects - Jack Angel, Michael Bell, Neil Ross, Peter Cullen.

Also, why do they bother to have Alfor say he's resting in peace in the original 4 eps? He pops up more often than Obi-Wan.

In addition to the original 4 eps, they also have: the ep where the new castle rises up, the ep where Sven gets his faced ripped up by the evil kitty-kat (IMO, the smartest villain), the ep where Nanny returns, the ep where the faker prince tries to kidnap Allura, the ep with escaped slave girl/spy, the ep with the white lion bit, the ep with the hostage village, the ep with the escaped slave from the desert planet, the ep where Haggar poses as Queen Orla, the ep where Yurak gets fired and turned into a robeast AND Prince Lotor's first appearance, and the ep where Allura "borrows" the Black Lion, which is also the first ep where Lotor attempts to steal the Princess away.

The extras include:

the original Voltron pilot (which after watching, I'm surprised they bought it)

a featurette about "The Birth of Voltron" with various staff (and OMG, Peter Keefe has a moustache that's a cross between a bad 70's porn star and a circus ringmaster - it looks like it's trying to take over his face. Not to mention the fact that it's grey-brown and he has what looks like a bad blond toupee. It's just fascinatingly scary.) talking about the origin of the concept, why they had to slice and dice the original japanese series, and the reaction to Voltron.

a feauturette about restoring and making the DVDs

the Robot Chicken sketch "Voltron Got Served" featuring the dancing robeast. If you haven't seen it, it's pretty funny - they have most of it here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6291996402487838065

Definitely worth the $25. I'm not patiently waiting for the next set (11/21/06).

DV