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Despite the Strikes, Comic Con Goes On with Some Big Brand Power

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:42:00 GMT

San Diego Comic Con has reigned and raged for decades now, building in popularity to become as influential to entertainment promotion as traditional advertising and media. But in the last few years, it can’t catch a break. After COVID forced its cancellation in 2020, an at-home event in 2021, and a smaller event in 2022, the 2023 convention has suffered a major blow too, thanks to the Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild of America strikes. What was hoped to be the full-fledged return for the convention in terms of scope and participants, is once again getting downsized.Guidelines for the strike make clear that members must not participate in publicity events including conventions like this one. At press time, several events have been canceled, including highly anticipated panels from ABC’s Abbott Elementary, Amazon Freevee’s Jury Duty, Amazon Prime Video’s The Wheel of Time and Gen V, AMC’s Season 2 of Interview With the Vampire, That ’70s Show and Dune-Part 2. Marvel announced th...

Elton John testifies in defense of Kevin Spacey at assault trial

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:42:00 GMT

By Brian Melley | Associated PressLONDON — Kevin Spacey ‘s lawyers enlisted the help of an A-list star Monday in his sexual assault trial, calling on Elton John and his husband to cast doubt on one of the Oscar winner’s accusers at the end of the defense case.John appeared briefly in the London court by video link from Monaco after his husband, David Furnish, testified that Spacey did not attend an annual gala ball at their Windsor home at the time that the accuser said he was attacked in a car.John was the final witness for the defense and was followed by character testimonials from colleagues, friends and family that had Spacey in tears in the dock when they were read aloud by his lawyer in Southwark Crown Court.Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty to a dozen charges that include sexual and indecent assault counts and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.One of the alleged victims said he was driving Spacey to the White T...

Mother: Suspect in Georgia killings sought help for years

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:42:00 GMT

By Kate Brumback and Jeff Amy | Associated PressHAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — The 40-year-old man who shot four people in the country’s 31st mass killing this year needed mental help for nearly a decade but his family and officials couldn’t force him to get treatment, his mother said.Andre Longmore walked through his neighborhood in the semi-rural suburb of Hampton, Georgia on Saturday and fatally shot four neighbors, all senior citizens. The killings set off a manhunt that ended Sunday with Longmore dead in a shootout in another suburb about 15 miles (25 kilometers) north of Hampton. The shooting wounded a sheriff’s deputy and two police officers, who all are expected to recover.Longmore had a “mental breakdown” in 2014, leading to an inpatient hospital stay, his mother Lorna Dennis, told WSB-TV on Sunday.She said her son “kept deteriorating” but refused to seek medical attention, and that officials said they couldn’t force him to seek care....

Tossing an old license plate in the trash landed this lawyer in jail for a theft he didn’t commit

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:42:00 GMT

Manuel Diego Soza had no idea the trouble ahead when he tossed his old Texas license plate in the trash at an AutoZone store earlier this year.Months after throwing away the old plate and putting his new Colorado plates on his silver Subaru Forester, police officers showed up to Soza’s Denver apartment and took him to jail on theft charges.Their investigation hinged on the expired Texas license plate. A Hispanic man had walked out of a Walmart store with a stolen $199 speaker and climbed into a vehicle bearing that license plate. A Westminster police detective said Soza, who is also Hispanic, was “clearly” the thief.But the thief had a neck tattoo; Soza does not. And the thief’s vehicle was a different model and color than Soza’s Subaru.Westminster police botched the investigation and missed several red flags that should have alerted authorities that they were looking at the wrong suspect, Soza said. The criminal case against him was officially dropped last week after a request from...

Spicy Korean-Chinese hot pot is coming to Oakland’s Temescal district

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:42:00 GMT

Fans of gargantuan cauldrons of spicy hot pot – with even a “dry” version – have a new place to sweat this week in Oakland’s Temescal district.Pixiu Mala Hongtang, which specializes in Korean-Chinese fusion, is having its soft opening on July 20 at 4419 Telegraph Ave. in the former location of Japanese spot, Izza. Among other menu items, it’ll be serving malatang, a spicy and numbing soup, and mala xiang guo, a brothless and stir-fried version of hot pot. Both dishes can be customized with as many as 50 ingredients you choose at a self-serve bar, such as udon or ramen noodles, tofu skin or fried tofu, rice cakes, vegetables, ham, different types of mushrooms and meats loaded onto skewers.The restaurant’s location in L.A.’s Koreatown – it also has offshoots in Texas and Portland, Oregon – promises on its Instagram a “flavor explosion that will take your taste buds on a fiery adventure.” There’s not much online presence for the Oakland location, but a new...

Hollywood & the bomb: Here are 10 films about the ultimate weapon

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:42:00 GMT

The atomic bomb has such a rich role in film history, we’re kind of surprised it doesn’t have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame yet.This week’s opening of Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” adds one more compelling chapter to the tradition. And what a compelling and extensive tradition it is. By our count, nearly 150 feature films, documentaries and series have been made that address nuclear weapons or atomic power either directly or metaphorically, and many more that use the weapon as a plot device.And there’s no mystery as to why. Few devices or developments in science offer such a fertile mix of intrigue, wonderment and abject terror. The idea that splitting an atom – the tiny, basic compound of all matter – can trigger the end of all life as we know it can, and should, keep us all up at night.And unlike vicious space aliens or homicidal supercomputers, this is no hypothetical boogeyman we’re talking about, but a run-of-the-mill, everyday science that we use to run our laptops ...

Russia blames Ukraine for strike on key Crimea bridge

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:42:00 GMT

Associated PressAn attack before dawn Monday damaged a bridge linking Russia to Moscow-annexed Crimea that is a key supply route for Kremlin forces in the war with Ukraine, forcing the span’s temporary closure for a second time in less than a year. Two people were killed and their daughter was injured.Vehicle traffic on the Kerch Bridge came to a standstill, while rail traffic across the 19-kilometer (12-mile) span also was halted for about six hours.The strike was carried out by two Ukrainian maritime drones, Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee said.Ukrainian officials were coy about taking responsibility, as they have been in past strikes. But in what appeared to be a tacit acknowledgment, Ukrainian Security Service spokesman Artem Degtyarenko said in a statement that his agency would reveal details of how the “bang” was organized after Kyiv has won the war.The bridge previously was attacked in October, when a truck bomb blew up two of its sections a...

Why Taylor Swift has more No. 1 hits on this chart than the Beatles

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:42:00 GMT

Billboard Magazine announced last week that Taylor Swift — whose song “Karma” made it to No. 1 on the Pop Airplay chart —  tied the record for the most No. 1 songs by an artist in the history of the chart.“Karma” is her 11th No. 1 hit on the chart, and that record puts her in good company, tying with Maroon 5, Katy Perry, and Rihanna who all also have 11. Just below them is Justin Bieber with 10. No other artists are in the double digits.You may be asking how that can be: What about The Beatles? The Bee Gees? Michael Jackson? Elvis?It’s not a technicality, but it has to do with what the list actually measures and how old the list goes back. In this case, it is a measure not of sales, but of how many times the song has been played by major stations across the country … and the Pop Airplay list only goes back as far as October 1992.RELATED: Students expecting a ‘fight to the death’ to get a spot in Stanford’s new Taylor Swift classIf you investigate the actual number...

Marine Protected Areas along California’s coast see success in first decade

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:42:00 GMT

California’s coastline is among the most diverse ecosystems on the planet and its protection the last 10 years through 124 separately designated areas has made the state a model and envy nationally and internationally.The California Department of Fish and Wildlife recently released its first study following the first decade since the creation of an ecologically connected network of Marine Protected Areas, or MPAs, and the results are promising, especially in Southern California’s Los Angeles and Orange counties, said Stephen Wertz, a senior scientist and manager of the wildlife agency’s Marine Protected Areas Management Project.Two paddlers pass each other in Upper Newport Bay in Newport Beach in 2021. The Upper Newport Bay State Marine Conservation Area is a marine protected area in Orange County(Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)Ochre sea stars, purple sea urchins, sea anemones, and California mussels hang out in a tide pool near Crescent Bay in Laguna Beach, C...

Man shot in East Oakland on Sunday night

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:42:00 GMT

OAKLAND — A 29-year-old man was shot Sunday night in East Oakland, authorities said.He was in stable condition at a hospital, officials said Monday.The shooting happened about 7:30 p.m. in the 1400 block of Seminary Avenue outside an apartment complex. Authorities said the man was not a resident of the complex.The man got another person to take him to a hospital.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Emeryville: One shot during attempted armed robbery in Bank of America parking lot Crime and Public Safety | Three Antioch shootings leave one dead, at least three wounded Crime and Public Safety | 17-year-old boy killed in East Bay shootout Crime and Public Safety | One man killed, another injured in Pittsburg shooting Crime and Public Safety | 8-year-old boy gravely injured in I-580 shooting A motive for the shooting was under investigation. No arrests were announced.The shooting is being investig...