Who the people?

Jeff, South Windsor, CT — Thu, 10 May 2007 14:07:48 GMT

Will, did you notice the difference between Emma Watson's hair style in the two posters. In the regular Harry Potter poster, it's been changed so that it doesn't obscure the actor behind her. In addition to the better use of color, I would guess that the IMAX poster is probably an earlier version of the same image meaning they were probably edited the other way. Disney did something similar to Lindey Lohan in the promotional materials for "Herbie Rides Again" to demphisize her natural curves.

Who the people?

Laura, Chicago, IL — Thu, 10 May 2007 14:47:46 GMT

My heart sort of breaks for David Hasselhoff's daughter. I hope that the public release of this video, while unintended by the daughter, becomes the best thing that could have happened for both her and her father in that it forces him to confront this issue not just privately but in such a way that he feels a public accountability. Ordinarily, I'd pooh-pooh that idea as I think his private life is completely his own - but clearly, he's an addict and doesn't recognize the private toll it is taking.

Who the people?

Jason Li, Canada — Thu, 10 May 2007 15:01:31 GMT

The thing about 'virtual' rape that sets it apart from online sexual abuse of a child is that there's no way to 'force' a clear thinking rational adult to stay online. A child may not realize that turning off the computer is an option but an adult certainly should. Additionally, while I've never used Second Life I would think it rather thoughtless of them to not include a /ignore style command so there probably is one.

Who the people?

Melinda M, Tampa, FL — Thu, 10 May 2007 15:15:14 GMT

Okay, so the two Polish movie posters that confuse/freak me out the most are the Weekend at Bernie's poster and the one for Cabaret. Maybe I am remembering Cabaret wrong, but I don't remember a terrifying set of four legs cart wheeling down the stage while it's screaming scary face sits helplessly at it's spinning middle.

Who the people?

Patrick, Minneapolis — Thu, 10 May 2007 16:02:19 GMT

Criticisms of the media's political coverage are perfectly legitimate. They spend way too much time on "the trail" and with these candidates and get tunnel vision. Also, the 24/7 news stream requires them to constantly come up with more news, however irrelevant it is, which is often a quote that gets completely blown out of proportion. With the Dems, it's Clinton/Obama/Edwards. That's what all the talk is about. The media hardly acknowledge the other candidates, thus giving them no shot. Same thing with Rudy and McCain and, only because he's not running, Thompson. Ask the average person to name the candidates on either side and you'll most often get the top two or three on each side. Also, the media are far too willing to simply repeat politicians' quotes, which is why they are so good with the sound bytes. The media need to have the guts to find the story for themselves, not let politicians and candidates feed it to them. That's exactly what happened with Iraq. Days of investigative journalism are long gone and the media are largely irrelevant as far as the Fourth Estate is concerned.

Who the people?

Devon, Cincinnati, OH — Thu, 10 May 2007 16:48:24 GMT

In reference to "Goodbye to the Normals", check out IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0925088/). You've actually seen the whole movie! It was actually a promo piece for a new Robbie Williams album. I could see it developing into a longer piece, though...

Who the people?

Tom, Toronto, ON — Thu, 10 May 2007 17:47:14 GMT

Will, that's all there is to the 'Goodbye to the Normals' film. It was a short that was commissioned by Robbie Williams to help promote his new album Rudebox. Funny though.

Who the people?

David McLean, Greensboro, NC — Thu, 10 May 2007 18:39:34 GMT

Will: Regarding Ron Paul and the debate poll, why must there be a conspiracy at all? Is it possible to watch the debate snippets (or not) and then vote for the same guy more than once, or even multiple times? "Early and often," as they say. If so, then maybe it's simply that a bunch of Ron Paul supporters flooded the poll with positive ratings, thus skewing the results. If so, then msnbc.com would probably remove the results, because at that point they'd be meaningless. I have absolutely no idea if that DID happen, but it sure seems plausible to me. And, if true, definitely non-conspiratory.

Who the people?

Paula- Benton,Kentucky — Thu, 10 May 2007 19:06:31 GMT

Will, thanks for the ariel pics of Greensburg..having seen the coverage and knowing firsthand the destruction a tornado can do,this really put a perspective on the devastation..Americans, please remember these folks in your hearts and prayers....

Who the people?

Sean, Torrington CT — Thu, 10 May 2007 19:56:12 GMT

The media doesn't represent me. If they did, they'd be screaming for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. If they represented me in 2003, they would have been screaming about Bush's lies. But they didn't. The media sat down and watched Bush crap all over our constitution and reputation. For all the shrill low-income conservative insistance that the liberals run the media, an awful lot of conservatives hold the purse strings.

Who the people?

Ben Johnson, Chicago IL — Thu, 10 May 2007 20:18:19 GMT

The lack of coverage of Ron Paul by the media should be a clear signal to everyone that most of the 'mainstream media' is little more than a big propaganda machine. In this day and age, you would think the one Republican candidate to receive more positive than negative votes on a major 'liberal' media website (msbnc.com) would receive some coverage. Yet the average person that pays some attention to politics has no idea about Ron Paul's widespread online popularity. True, that does not mean it translates to real world popularity, but nonetheless it should be a newsworthy event.

Who the people?

Ben Johnson, Chicago IL — Thu, 10 May 2007 20:20:46 GMT

Thanks Will for covering the Ron Paul situation. Hopefully it will 'wake up' some more folks to how the game is rigged.

Who the people?

Always a Plainsman, Auburn, AL — Thu, 10 May 2007 21:19:04 GMT

"Lifehacker's Top 10 Body Hacks, #1: Impress your friends and scare the hell out of your Mom at the pool with this breathing technique, which can buy you up to 10 more seconds underwater. Before you dive: "take several short breaths first -- essentially, hyperventilate. When you're underwater, it's not a lack of oxygen that makes you desperate for a breath; it's the buildup of carbon dioxide, which makes your blood acidic, which signals your brain that somethin' ain't right. "When you hyperventilate, the influx of oxygen lowers blood acidity," says Jonathan Armbruster, Ph.D., an associate professor of biology at Auburn University. "This tricks your brain into thinking it has more oxygen."" (Source: Men's Health)" I just want to say "War Damn Eagle!"

Who the people?

Ben, Chicago — Thu, 10 May 2007 21:50:24 GMT

Regarding Ron Paul supporters voting 'early and often' (which I can appreciate coming from Chicago), I read somewhere both the msnbc and abc websites record IP addresses so one can only vote once. Will, any inside info on this?

Who the people?

dan rapson, bad axe, mi — Thu, 10 May 2007 23:08:58 GMT

Say that Hasselhoff is only 'acting' drunk. Or the pedophile is acting like a pedophile. Just like the mark is acting like a child. Too many acting likes for my tastes. We are getting too virtual here. The courts are getting to the point of being able to judge our actions in advance. I just don't like this direction.

Who the people?

LV — Thu, 10 May 2007 23:38:51 GMT

Jeff is right; Hermione's hair is different (it's more windswept and even obscures the person behind her). And, oddly enough, her face appears to have LESS makeup. I'm curious to know what the original picture looked like and where exactly in the process the versions were diverged.

Who the people?

LV — Fri, 11 May 2007 00:10:37 GMT

It seems to me that the big element in the Duke case was that it involved Duke athletes. Events involving university athletes always garner more national news coverage than other types of events. While what happened in Tennessee is awful, there's nothing about it that makes it attractive to a national news outlet. Of course, it really bothers me that the tone of the email implies that it's normal for black people to be depraved killers. There isn't a group (race, religion, etc.) on the planet that doesn't include some seriously sick, twisted, disgusting people. But the only factor I see in this case that would have prompted the national outlets to take notice is how horrible the crime was. One factor just isn't going to be enough.

Who the people?

KW — Fri, 11 May 2007 00:35:50 GMT

On the Snopes confirmation of the Tenn. killings, I think it quite odd that this story hasn't gotten more than local coverage. The extreme violence and torture of those two people is far more unusual than 99% of the murders that occur. And Ms. Mikkelson's using the OJ Simpson murder as a racial comparison is completely ridiculous. Racism might have been the dynamite, but OJ's celebrity was the match. No way that trial would have gotten publicity if he had even been as much as a second stringer on a semi-pro team. In TN, one possible explanation other than racism would be that the killers were caught and there seems to be a mountain of evidence, thus there's no suspense for the media to play upon. Maybe it is possible that the gruesomeness of the crime makes reporting it widely just too sensationalist...but I think that would also mean that hell has frozen over.

Who the people?

Will Femia — Fri, 11 May 2007 04:11:18 GMT

Ben, our regular "live votes" are cookie based, so if you clear your cache you can vote again. I'm not sure how that positive/negative flash app works, but I'd guess it also cookies your machine to make it harder to vote more than once. I wish there were screen grabs of what the Ron Paul supporters are talking about with the vote resetting. I'm wondering if it was another candidate's supporters who were voting early and often and temporarily dropped Paul's numbers until his own people came back and put him back on top (which is where he was last time I looked). We note on all of our polls that they're unscientific so no one here takes the results very seriously.

Who the people?

Mike S, Plainfield, IL — Fri, 11 May 2007 05:21:53 GMT

At first I was surprised at the strong showing of Ron Paul in the post-debate polling (though I liked seeing him get some attention). After thinking about it though I suspect his strong anti-war position was the thing bringing in the votes (from non-Republican types). The anti-war folks in this country seem quite focused on keeping themselves front and center, and I suspect this was just another platform to push their agenda.

Who the people?

Wayne Chilcote — Fri, 11 May 2007 12:08:16 GMT

Do bloggers and blog readers vote? Do they influence voters? I haven't seen anything on the demographics of the voting population. Food for thought...

Who the people?

Will Femia — Fri, 11 May 2007 15:09:04 GMT

Wayne, bloggers do vote, but not as a block so we don't really talk about "the blogger vote." That said, bloggers do appear to be disproportionately libertarian and it's easier to find alternative political views, so the political perspective online is not quite the same as what we see in the mainstream.

Who the people?

Randall K, St. Louis, MO — Fri, 11 May 2007 17:24:09 GMT

I think you might need to talk to you fellow MSNBC.com'ers... somehow they left Desktop Tower Defense off the list of TOP 5 games to play at work... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18560137/

Who the people?

Anonymous — Fri, 11 May 2007 18:51:03 GMT

More on the Harry Potter poster: Debunkery.com says it's a 3D image (maybe for a hologram poster), and we just happen to be seeing the right camera's shot. http://nyquil.org/archives/852-Debunkery-I-demonstrate-how-Emma-Watsons-Boobs-Were-NOT-Altered-for-the-IMAX-Poster.html

Who the people?

Russell in Maryland — Fri, 11 May 2007 20:36:56 GMT

I don't support Ron Paul for president but I had noticed the complete absence of any news of his campaign in the main stream media. I did notice some bottom of the poll candidates getting repeated coverage reporting that they are still at the bottom of the polls but not including Ron. Also non-candidates got more coverage as potential candidates. Very curious.

Who the people?

Paul M. — Fri, 11 May 2007 21:04:13 GMT

The Richardson commercial was BRILLIANT. Gets straight to the heart of his qualifications while injecting his brand of humor. I loved it.

Who the people?

Leslie, NM — Fri, 11 May 2007 21:39:53 GMT

Ahh....thanks for posting that Goodbye to the Normals link. I feel happier having seen it, especially since Rudebox was such a wretched cd. Now I don't feel quite as cheated. Poor Robbie's slipping.

Who the people?

Aaron Myers, Fort Wayne, Indiana — Sat, 12 May 2007 14:24:01 GMT

Not sure where the Matthew Stafford link is going, but I don't mind it!