Big Brother's Bitch

[Jerry MacDonald]

heres a warm pepsi you forgot to put away last night!

[Jerry MacDonald]

Jackson Rathbone is on his way to box office glory
Published: Sunday, June 27, 2010

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By Amy Longsdorf, Special to The Mercury



Click to enlarge

Ashley Greene and Jackson Rathbone in a scene from "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," which opens Wednesday.

Move aside, Will Smith. This year, there's a new Independence Day powerhouse at the multiplex and his name is …. Jackson Rathbone.

Don't worry if you've never heard of him before. The 25-year-old Texan isn't exactly a household name, but thanks to his meaty roles in "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," opening June 30, and "The Last Airbender," opening July 2, Rathbone is fast-tracking his way to box office glory.

"It's very exciting," said Rathbone during a recent phone chat. "When I was a young actor starting out at 19, I could never have imagined this scenario. Being a part of two franchises opening the same weekend is really an amazing feeling."

So, did Rathbone ring up Will Smith for advice about how to reign supreme over the Fourth of July weekend?

"I wish, I wish," he said with a laugh. "If you can get me Will's number, I'd enjoy that phone call very much. 'Hey Will, you don't know me but please don't hang up on me.' No, I don't think Will Smith has anything to worry about from me."

Maybe, maybe not. After all, 2008's "Twilight" and its 2009 sequel "New Moon" have racked up more than $1.1 billion in worldwide ticket sales.

"Eclipse" is expected to bring in millions more. Unlike the brooding initial entries, the third installment is being hyped as more of an action film.

"I think a lot of boyfriends all across the world are going to breath a sigh of relief about this movie," said Rathbone of "Eclipse," which was adapted by screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg and "30 Days of Night" director David Slade from a best seller by Stephenie Meyer.

"There's a whole other level to the love story but also a visceral kind of vampire action, which I think people are really going to dig. ...The darker side of the vampire world explodes on screen really, really nicely."

As Twihards already know, Rathbone plays Jaspar, a key member of the Cullen vampire clan who, in previous films, hasn't had much to do but keep his distance from Bella (Kristen Stewart) as she falls deeper and deeper in love with Edward (Robert Pattinson).

This time around, Jaspar's past as a Civil War-era soldier is revealed and viewers will understand for the first time how the most courtly member of the Cullen clan came to embrace the bloodsucking lifestyle.

"It's so much fun to finally reveal who Jaspar used to be, and why I've been playing him the way I've been playing him," said Rathbone, who did extensive research into the Civil War era. "Here you get to see Jaspar back when he was a human, and how he was turned into a vampire in the 1800s."

The focus of "Eclipse" is, of course, Forks, Wash., teenager Bella Swan who, while weighing her attraction to Edward and wolf boy Jacob Black (Jacob Lautner), realizes that war is coming. A mysterious group of vampires called the Newborn Army has found a weak spot in the Cullen Family forcefield and they're about to attack.

In the name of protecting Bella, the neckbiters and their mortal enemies, the werewolves must join forces long enough to stamp out the Newborn nasties.

Jaspar's past becomes key to solving the whole mess. Back in the old days, he trained Newborn soldiers in the ways of battle. So before the murderous vamps arrive, he has to teach the Cullens (Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Nikki Reed, Ashley Greene) how to make the maximum use of their powers.

For "Eclipse," the already enormous "Twilight" cast was expanded to accommodate a handful of new actors, including Bryce Dallas Howard as Victoria, Jodelle Ferland as Bree and Xavier Samuel as Riley. Returning to the fold are Dakota Fanning, Anna Kendrick and Billy Burke.

Playing a "Twilight" bloodsucker requires hours of preparation. All of the actors portraying neckbiters undergo at least 60 minutes in the makeup chair so they have the same pale, almost-ghostly appearance. Rathbone needed an additional three hours so prosthetic bite-marks and scars could be added to his neck and arms.

Rathbone was also required to wear special, hand-painted contact lenses which turned out to be very disorienting during his elaborate fight sequences.

"You lose your peripheral vision with the contacts and you can't quite see what's going on," he said. "I had to do a scene where I'm taking on seven Newborn vampires in one go, which is no easy task, and I had no tunnel vision. It was like fighting drunk."

Luckily for Rathbone, by the time he got to the Vancouver set of "Eclipse," he had already trained extensively in martial arts thanks to his role in M. Night Shyamalan's "The Last Airbender."

Based on the wildly popular Nickelodeon series, "Airbender" spins the saga of Aang, a 12-year-old warrior who must unite the Air, Water and Earth nations against the dastardly Fire Lord ("Slumdog Millionaire's" Dev Patel). Rathbone portrays Sokka, Aang's right hand man.

Rathbone jumped at the chance to work for Shyamalan, who has scored box office hits with "The Sixth Sense" and "Signs," both of which were also shot in Philadelphia and surrounding areas.

"Night is an incredible director," noted Rathbone. "I love the ideas and almost magical elements he brings to the stories he tells. Besides, (Paramount) was going to pay me to spend four months learning kung fu. That's awesome right there."

While much of "The Last Airbender" was filmed in Greenland and Vietnam, Reading and Carbon County's Beltzville State Park also stood in for the movie's Asian-influenced fantasy world. Other locations include Lake Ontelaunee in Berks County, M&M Stone Quarry in West Rockhill Township, Bucks County, and the Naval Yard in South Philly.

One of the movie's earliest sequences, in which Aang discovers his homeland has been destroyed by the Fire Nation, was filmed at the Pagoda in Reading. Strangely enough, the Pagoda will be made to look like a ruined temple by digital artists from George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic.

"The Pagoda was definitely interesting," said Rathbone. "When I went to the Pagoda, I couldn't believe it. I said to the location scouts, 'You guys found this (structure) is Pennsylvania?' That's amazing.' No wonder M. Night shoots all of his movies there. I gotta say, y'all have a beautiful state in Pennsylvania."

Asked what else he did for fun while living in Pennsylvania, Rathbone said, "I definitely ate a lot of cheese steaks. The only thing I never got around to doing was meeting the Amish. I saw horses and buggies when I was in Reading. I really wanted to go to a swap meet but I never got around to it. Next time I'm back in Pennsylvania, that's going to be my priority."

It'll be a while before Rathbone has any free time. Coming up next for the actor is "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn," the fourth film in the series, which will be released in two installments. The first half of the story is scheduled to debut on Nov. 18, 2011, and the final chapter is likely to arrive in 2012.

Looking ahead to "Breaking Dawn," Rathbone said, "I'm excited to see what (Bella and Edward's) baby is going to look like. And I'm excited to work with Bill Condon, who's an Oscar-winning director. I think that's going to be an amazing experience.

"So, yeah, we get to go back and make not one more but two more movies, and that means two more family reunions, and lots and lots more family dinners."

And after that, what's in store for Rathbone?

"'Twilight: The Musical' of course," he said with a laugh. "I've got my tap dancing shoes all ready."

[Jerry MacDonald]

a little twilight reading for u

[Cody]

twilight gross

your worst news article so far

[Erikunt]

No I think the baseball one sucked more.

[Shadow]

twilight <3 pepsi <3 pizza <3
good job

cept it's from under the couch but that's okay i'm a cat

[Jerry MacDonald]

take what you get... dont be picky!

[Jerry MacDonald]

screw the cat... let's go with Christian.

Rise and shine, mofo! Goooooood morning San francisco!

[Jerry MacDonald]

This is prolly the hardest breakfast for me to make... sorry it didn't turn out, right!

[Jerry MacDonald]

I was to lazy to look in the fridge...

[Jerry MacDonald]

interesting... this might be more interesting than your breakfast meal.

10 alleged Russian secret agents arrested in U.S.
Published: Monday, June 28, 2010

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By Pete Yost, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ten people have been arrested by the FBI for allegedly serving for years as secret agents of Russia's intelligence service, the SVR, with the goal of penetrating U.S. government policymaking circles.

The Justice Department announced the arrests Monday in the multiyear investigation.

According to court papers in the case, the FBI intercepted a message from SVR headquarters, often referred to as Moscow Center, to two of the defendants stating that their main mission is "to search and develop ties in policymaking circles in US."

Eight of 10 were arrested Sunday for allegedly carrying out long-term, deep-cover assignments in the United States on behalf of Russia. As deep-cover agents they would have civilian jobs rather than serving in Russian diplomatic or military missions.

Two others were arrested for allegedly participating in the same Russian intelligence program within the United States. An 11th defendant, who allegedly delivered money to the defendants, is at large.

The court papers cited numerous examples of communications intercepted in the FBI probe that spelled out what the 10 allegedly were trying to do.

In advance of President Barack Obama's visit to Russia last year, intelligence headquarters in Moscow sent directives to the defendants living in New Jersey requesting information on the U.S. position regarding a new Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, Afghanistan and Iran's nuclear program.

Moscow indicated that it needed intelligence reports "which should reflect approaches and ideas of" four sub-Cabinet U.S. foreign policy officials.

According to the court papers, the defendants have been operating in the United States for years.

One of the defendants living in Boston made contact in 2004 with an unidentified man who worked at a U.S. government research facility.

"He works on issues of strategic planning related to nuclear weapon development," the defendants' intelligence report said of the man.

The defendant "had conversations with him about research programs on small yield high penetration nuclear warheads recently authorized by US Congress (nuclear 'bunker-buster' warheads)," according to the report.

One intercepted message said one of the defendants living in New Jersey, known as Cynthia Murphy, "had several work-related personal meetings with" a man the court papers describe as a prominent New York-based financier who was active in politics.

In response, intelligence headquarters in Moscow described the man as a very interesting target and urged the defendants to "try to build up little by little relations. ... Maybe he can provide" Murphy "with remarks re US foreign policy, 'roumors' about White house internal 'kitchen,' invite her to venues (to major political party HQ in NYC, for instance. ... In short, consider carefully all options in regard" to the financier."

One message back to Moscow from the defendants focused on turnover at the top level of the CIA and the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

The information was described as having been received in private conversation with, among others, a former legislative counsel for Congress. The court papers deleted the name of the counsel.

The court papers described a new high-tech spy-to-spy communications systems used by the defendants — a modern replacement or supplement for the old-style dead drop in a remote area or high-speed burst radio transmission.

In the papers, FBI agents said the defendants communicated with alleged Russian agents using this method, which has not previously been described in espionage cases brought here: They established a short-range wireless network between laptop computers of the agents and sent encrypted messages between the computers while they were close to each other.

The papers also said that on Saturday an undercover FBI agent in New York and another in Washington, both posing as Russian agents, met with two of the defendants, Anna Chapman at a New York restaurant and Mikhail Semenko on a Washington street corner blocks from the White House.

[Christian]

Burnt toast and tap water! Awesome! Thanks Jerry!

[Jerry MacDonald]

I knew you'd like it!

[Steven Daigle]

Such a trooper

[Erikunt]

That article was actually decent. Go gramps.

[Jerry MacDonald]

thanks Steven. Im trying to have some fun with this ludacris twist

[Jerry MacDonald]

So I don't know where the cat is... so i'll feed Amanda... oh the jokes I could make.

Rise and Shine, miss! Bad Morning to ya!

[Jerry MacDonald]

Here is some kellogs sugar SMACKS! for ya!

[Jerry MacDonald]

and a smoothie to wash it down!

YUMMMY!!!

[Jerry MacDonald]

a little gruesome... but hey, you got Sugar SMACKS you can handle it!

Hearing set in Chesco love triangle murder
Published: Tuesday, June 29, 2010

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By Katrina Dix, Journal Register News Service

The preliminary hearing for the woman accused in the murder of her West Goshen husband is scheduled for Thursday.

Morgan Mengel, 34, is charged with criminal homicide and first-degree murder, among other charges. She is slated to appear for her preliminary hearing at 10 a.m. Thursday before Judge William D. Kraut.

This is not Mengel's first time in front of a judge. In July 2003 she pleaded guilty to writing bad checks at a ShopRite, and in November 2006 she pleaded guilty to retail theft.

The alleged accomplice in the murder — Delaware County native Stephen Shappell, 22 — was apprehended in Denver, Colo., on Sunday evening. Court officials do not yet know when he will be extradited back to Pennsylvania.

Mengel and Shappell are charged with first-degree murder in the conspiracy to kill Kevin Mengel Jr., Morgan Mengel's husband and business partner and the father of her three children.

Morgan Mengel and Shappell allegedly plotted to kill Kevin Mengel by drugging a lemon Snapple planted where he would be sure to drink it, then beating him to death. Shappell allegedly bludgeoned Kevin Mengel with a shovel, burying the murder weapon with Mengel's body in a deep grave a short distance behind Shappell's alma mater, Newtown Marple High School.

Morgan Mengel claimed that her husband had left the family two days before Father's Day, but Kevin Mengel's mother, Kathleen Barton, who told police she and her son usually stayed in close contact, didn't believe the story, police reports say.

On June 24, four days after originally reporting her son missing to police, according to police reports, Barton told police that Morgan Mengel had been cashing company checks from the landscaping business she and her husband owned, and spent large amounts of money from the business' accounts.

Barton told police that Morgan Mengel had begun acting increasingly bizarre over the course of the week of June 18, police reports say. West Goshen police Det. David S. Maurer reported that he interviewed Morgan Mengel on June 24 at her home, where she at first denied she was involved with Shappell and insisted Kevin Mengel had packed up his belongings — despite the presence of his toothbrush in the bathroom and his clothes still in their bedroom.

Maurer asked Morgan Mengel to call Shappell and ask him to come to her apartment, police reports say. When Shappell showed up, Maurer reported, he gave inconsistent answers to Maurer's questions and eventually admitted that he and Morgan Mengel were having an affair.

The following morning, Maurer went to the landscaping business to interview employees, and Morgan Mengel and Shappell showed up together, police reports say. Shappell admitted he had spent the night at Morgan Mengel's apartment and agreed to speak to Maurer at the police station. Instead, he left as Sgt. Michael P. Carroll of the West Goshen Police Department arrived.

When Carroll went to look for the vehicle Shappell and Mengel arrived in, he could not locate it.

A warrant for Shappell's arrest was issued late Friday or early Saturday, and he was apprehended about 6:10 p.m. Sunday in Denver, Colo.

When Morgan Mengel allegedly confessed to Kevin Mengel's murder, she told police that because of a "bad home life," she and Shappell began to discuss how to kill Kevin Mengel so that they could be together, police reports say.

They allegedly carried out the plot sometime June 17, with both Shappell and Morgan Mengel claiming they had last seen Kevin Mengel on June 18 — Shappell at work in the early morning, and Morgan Mengel when he supposedly packed up and left, according to police reports.

Morgan Mengel reportedly told employees of the business that Kevin Mengel had left, but that business would continue "as usual."