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Gary Cogill's Movie Reviews
 Posted 11/20/2009 5:08:00 PM
"The Blind Side" is a terrific film based on a true story and even better than I expected. Sandra Bullock gives one of the best performances of her career playing a Memphis wife and mother who welcomes a homeless gentle giant into their home known only as Big Mike, and it's beautiful to watch.
Big Mike starts improving his grades and goes out for the high school football team, at the same time being embraced by the family and the father, also played-well by country-singer Tim McGraw. Initially, Big Mike has trouble learning the game, that is until mom gets involved.
"The Blind Side" is written and directed by John Lee Hancock, he directed "The Rookie" and "The Alamo." This is by far his best film and like all sports movies, it's more about life than it ever is about football.
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Mangino photo
Posted 11/20/2009 3:32:00 PM
Family distraught city euthanized dogs
Posted 11/20/2009 3:20:00 PM
ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) - Tears filled Courtney Swoboda's already puffy eyes as she looked at the large picture of Boomer, taking up the entire background on the laptop computer sitting on the coffee table in her living room.
The 4-year old lab-pit bull mix had a black coat, except for a small patch of white on his paws and chest. A a black graduation cap was perched on his head. The photo was snapped about two years ago when he graduated from dog obedience school.
Next, Courtney pulled up a photo of Dart. He was an all black lab mix who quickly became Boomer's partner in crime. In their younger years, the two would make a mess inside the Swoboda's home on Ferndale Drive in Round Rock.
College students arrested for not paying tip
Posted 11/20/2009 3:15:00 PM
It was an evening out that college students Leslie Pope and John Wagner will long remember. Not only did they get what they called lousy service, they got handcuffed and arrested. All over a $16.35 tip.
They were with a half-dozen friends at the Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem last month, so the establishment tacked what it called a mandatory 18 percent gratuity onto the bill of about $73, according to reports. Pope and Wagner refused to pay.
"You can't give us terrible, terrible service and expect a tip," said Pope, a 22-year-old Moravian College senior who's a Pottsville native, according to the Lehigh Valley Express-Times. They had to find their own napkins and cutlery while their waitress caught a smoke, had to ask the bar for soda refills, and had to wait over an hour for salad and wings, they told NBC10.
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Oprah to wrap up the daytime conversation
Posted 11/20/2009 3:10:00 PM
Oprah Winfrey, one of the most powerful people in the entertainment industry, will announce Friday that her iconic daytime talk show will wrap at the end of its 25th season. But don't panic -- her final appearance as host of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" is nearly two years away. And it's still possible she'll launch another talk show on the cable network she's setting up, called, naturally, the Oprah Winfrey Network.
"The sun will set on the 'Oprah' show as its 25th season draws to a close on September 9, 2011," Winfrey's Harpo Productions President Tim Bennett said in an e-mail to TV station executives Thursday evening, urging them to spread the word.
"As we all know, Oprah's personal comments about this on Friday's live show will mark an historic television moment that we will all be talking about for years to come."
Phantom districts in Texas receive millions in 'stimulus'
Posted 11/19/2009 3:26:00 PM
According to the Obama administration's latest count, the President's economic stimulus package has created 45 jobs in Texas' 58th congressional district and 30 jobs in the state's 91st district. The White House's recovery.gov web site declares that Texas' 52nd district received exactly $8,937,289 in stimulus funds, while the 68th district has had precisely $310,963 funneled into it.
Trouble is, none of these congressional districts exist.
In its latest computer glitch, the Obama administration's much-ballyhooed accounting system for the $1.2 trillion stimulus law detailed government spending in 39 congressional districts in Texas -- a state that, in reality, has 32 congressional districts. More than $14 million in mystery money is attributed to seven phantom congressional districts, including the mysterious and fictional District 00.
Nationally, the recovery.gov site has mistakenly attributed $6.4 billion in stimulus spending to 440 non-existent districts in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and even four American territories, ...
Morale is low, say 25% of U.S. employers in poll
Posted 11/19/2009 3:20:00 PM
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Almost a quarter of U.S. employers say morale among workers at their companies is low, according to a survey released on Tuesday.
Among workers, two out of five had trouble staying motivated at work in the last year and a quarter do not feel loyal to their employer, according to the survey of employers and workers for CareerBuilder.com, an online jobs site.
Asked what could be contributing to low morale, two in five workers said stress levels were high, and about half said their workload has increased in the last six months.
"Low morale levels are an unfortunate side effect of this recession," said Jason Ferrara, vice president of corporate marketing for CareerBuilder, in a statement.
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Alcohol 'protects men's hearts'
Posted 11/19/2009 3:15:00 PM
Drinking alcohol every day cuts the risk of heart disease in men by more than a third, a major study suggests. The Spanish research involving more than 15,500 men and 26,000 women found large quantities of alcohol could be even more beneficial for men.
Female drinkers did not benefit to the same extent, the study in Heart found. Experts are critical, warning heavy drinking can increase the risk of other diseases, with alcohol responsible for 1.8 million deaths globally per year.
The study was conducted in Spain, a country with relatively high rates of alcohol consumption and low rates of coronary heart disease. The research involved men and women aged between 29 and 69, who were asked to document their lifetime drinking habits and followed for 10 years.
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Boy calls 911 when mom takes away the XBOX
Posted 11/19/2009 3:10:00 PM
A 15-year-old boy told Buffalo Grove police that his parents had taken away his video game system and asked whether they were within their rights. They were, police told him.
The teen called 911 about 12:50 p.m. Sunday but then hung up, said Cmdr. Steve Husak. Officers went to the house, and after hearing the story, told the youth that his parents have the authority to take away his Xbox as punishment.
He also was advised to listen to his parents, Husak said. Husak did not know why the boy was being punished.
About Half in U.S. Would Pay for Online News
Posted 11/18/2009 3:26:00 PM
Americans, it turns out, are less willing than people in many other Western countries to pay for their online news, according to a new study by the Boston Consulting Group.
Among regular Internet users in the United States, 48 percent said in the survey, conducted in October, that they would pay to read news online, including on mobile devices. That result tied with Britain for the lowest figure among nine countries where Boston Consulting commissioned surveys. In several Western European countries, more than 60 percent said they would pay.
When asked how much they would pay, Americans averaged just $3 a month, tied with Australia for the lowest figure — and less than half the $7 average for Italians. The other countries included in the study were Germany, France, Spain, Norway and Finland.
“Consumer willingness and intent to pay is related to the availability of a rich amount of free ...
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