January 26th, 2009 By Justin Williams
When I gripe about a local news story it has to do with ABC25. Their needless fear mongering promos and news teases drive me insane.
All is forgiven because of the hiring of Randall Parmley to do sports. Anyone with a fauxhawk and a striking resemblance to Chuck Liddell is OK by me. You guys can have as many unncessary child safety stories as you want from now one.
In other media related news, Jeff Lyons is on Twitter
January 26th, 2009 By Justin Williams
I get a bit of email from the site, and I thought this one would make for an interesting discussion topic.
Hi Justin! My name is Amy and my husband has recently applied for a job in Evansville. We are currently living (and have lived for most of our lives) in Central Illinois. I am trying to learn as much as I can about Evansville and the in’s and out’s of the city. Good part of town, bad part of town? Good neighborhood, bad neighborhood? Good schools, bad schools? Could you please shed some light of Evansville for me, please? I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you in advance.
I would say the best part of town is the East side (hate on me now West siders), or if you’re younger and don’t have kids, the new downtown condos. I don’t really know much about the local public schools since I graduated from Day School, so I’ll leave that for others to chime in on.
Once you get to town, the first place you need to head to is GD Ritzy’s for a hamburger, fries and cherry coke. Mmm
If you’ve got any advice or suggestions for Amy, and other Evansville newcomers, share them in the comments.
January 20th, 2009 By Justin Williams
I’m just sitting around today watching inauguration coverage, so I figured I’d put up a thread if you want to share your thoughts on all the festivities. It certainly is impressive to see how many people really are in DC right now.
Hulu, NBC and a variety of other places are providing a live stream of the day’s events for those that are stuck in an office. Check it out above.
January 17th, 2009 By Robyn Oglesby
Valkyrie, an historical thriller, is based off of the true story of Operation Valkyrie, a German military plan, which would call the reserve troops of the German Army to service during WWII. In 1944, some German dissidents conspired to use Operation Valkyrie to take control of the German SS and bring order back to the German government in order to make peace with Allied forces and end the war. In order for this plot to be successful, Adolf Hitler would have to be killed so that German soldiers would be free of their oath to be loyal to him.
The German dissidents enlisted the help of Colonel Claus von Staffenberg, a German Army officer who had shown some resistance to the Nazi party movement. Staffenberg was placed in charge of the reserve army, which also gave him the security clearance to be apart of Hilter’s inner circle. Because of this, Staffenberg was also given the assignment to terminate Hitler.
On July 20, 1944, the plot was attempted and failed. When the conspirators were caught, they were excecuted in the courtyard of the Bendlerblock, which was used as an administrative building for the military during the war.
I was pleasantly surprised by this film. Going into it, I really didn’t expect much. Not knowing much about the historical aspect of Valkyrie, I found the movie to be pretty suspensful. I knew that it was a failed attempt at an assassination of Hitler, but did not know all the details. The action of the movie starts very early on and as a viewer, I didn’t ever really get a chance to relax. Director Bryan Singer (X-Men, Superman Returns) gave Valkyrie an action movie feel while maintaining the historical nature of it.
After doing a little bit of research on Operation Valkyrie, I have found that the movie stays pretty close to the original plot. I’m sure some liberties were taken, but the basic story is the same. Tom Cruise plays the part of Colonel Staffenberg and is joined by other acting heavy hitters such as, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson.
Cruise took a very active role in getting Valkyrie made. He first took interest in the picture because Singer was directing it and later decided to commit to the lead role because Cruise and Staffenberg have similar profiles. Because the picture is financed by United Artists, Cruise is also listed as an executive producer. Cruise also led the crew in a moment of silence prior to the filming of the excution of the conspiritors at Bendlerblock.
While this film certainly does not reach the status of other WWII films such as, Saving Private Ryan or Schindler’s List, it is a good portrayal of Operation Valkyrie and not a bad way to spend winter afternoon.
January 16th, 2009 By Justin Williams
This isn’t as bad as some of the other stories I’ve seen on 25, but it’s ranks up there:
NEWS 25 Looks at Threat of Bird Strikes Locally:
After this week’s story of an airplane, splash-landing in the Hudson River in NYC, we wanted to know more about what caused the accident. Bird strikes can threaten all size of plane, in many areas across the country, so as this threat is brought into the limelight, we wanted to know what Tri-State pilots could face.
A few things that should be noted on this story. First, I am pretty sure there is nothing different between a bird and plane collision at EVV, JFK, ORD or any other small or large airport in the country. Second, I’m sure I’m not the only one that thinks it is slightly disingenuous to try to turn the focus of a national story locally as if there is some potential widespread pandemic of birds attacking jets.
If you want to do a news piece on the statistics and likelihood of something like this happening, fine. Just please stop with trying to prey on people’s fears and acting like anything and everything may come to haunt Evansville.
January 6th, 2009 By Justin Williams
The Courier & Press published a story this morning about almost $15,000 worth of bras being stolen from the Victoria’s Secret store at Eastland Mall. In total, 320 bras were stolen.
As with any goofy story, it has sparked a joke contest in the comments of the story. As I aspire to have It’s Evansville be the home of boob jokes in town, I’ve sifted through all 142 and present the best of the bunch. It’s a pun a minute, folks.
MrsEvansville: What kind of boob would do that?
GRock: So, we have serial snake thiefs and now bra thiefs. I love this city.
destin106: What a titillating story!
MrEvansville: Were they off the rack?
taterman: Thank you C&P for keeping us abreast of this developing story.
Blacklabel: I think they’ll turn up when the weather gets a little colder.
krazzzy: Victoria’s Secret isn’t a secret anymore. Now at least 300 sets of boobs know about it.
lowridermaxx: sounds breast related
underdog: “Surveillance tapes are being reviewed.” I bet they are!
December 31st, 2008 By Justin Williams
The Vanderburgh County Solid Waste Management District is holding their annual holiday recycling day on January 3. The event begins at 8:00 and runs until 12:00 in the Civic Center parking lot.
In addition to tree recycling, residents will be able to recycle the following household items:
- Newspaper
- Mixed household paper
- Cardboard
- Gift wrap
- Magazines & catalogues
- Greeting cars
- Gift wrap
- Hardback books
- telephone books
- Aluminum cans
- Steel cans
- Glass containers
- Household batteries
- #1 & #2 plastic bottles
- Festivus Poles (ok, I made this one up)
Thanks WFIE for the tip
December 30th, 2008 By Justin Williams
So what if Christmas is over? albany_tim uploaded a daylight photo of everyone’s favorite Christmas house over on Oregon Street.
In Focus spotlights a photograph taken by a reader of It’s Evansville. If you’d like a chance to have your photo featured, upload your photo to Flickr and tag it with “itsevansville”.
December 28th, 2008 By Justin Williams
2008 is about to be behind us, which gives us a time to reflect on the year that was. The Courier has an article today about the top 5 local stories of the year.
- The downtown arena debate
- Indiana finally mattering in presidential politics
- The school referendum
- The April earthquake
- Aztar’s sale fail
If I were to pick the top story, I’d say that Indiana’s importance in the presidential election was the most important story. While it’s the least local of the five stories they selected, I think it had an impact that reached much wider than our city limits.
What’s your pick?
photo courtesy of barackobamadotcom
December 28th, 2008 By Justin Williams
Before Jonathan Weinzapfel was at the helm of our fair city, a relatively quiet and low key guy was running the city, lobbying for a downtown baseball stadium and skipping city council meetings for Cher concerts. That’s right, folks. Russ Lloyd Jr is back in public service. Lloyd Jr. will be a member of the Vanderburgh County Council in 2009 and 2010. Lloyd will succeed 4th District Councilman Lloyd Winnecke and take the last two years of his term on the council.
You may not remember much about Lloyd’s tenure as mayor. I don’t think he broke anything while in office, but he didn’t accomplish much either. The high point (or low point depending on who you ask) was his appearance on the Daily Show back in 2003. Welcome back, Russ.
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