Caturday Night Special

Ahhh, Caturday. I has it. You can now has. Story here, Fark Thread here. Enjoyment: Let me show you it.













Heh. Peep Show...

Small Town

Well, things have pretty much settled in the aftermath of Thursday morning's insanity. The story so far:

From what I've gathered, Jessie has been wandering about for some time saying he was going to kill his mother. While I haven't pinpointed a reason yet, it looks like no one took him seriously, with the possible exception of Kacey. In the end, WTAJ (CBS10, Altoona) reported it that evening as Jessie acting alone, with no mention of Kacey's involvement. That was a bit of a relief, seeing as how I'm obviously very worried about someone I consider a good friend.

Cause of death is likely to be blood loss from slash wounds to the throat and wrists, but I've heard some reports of possible blunt force trauma as well, which wasn't reported by WTAJ during their 5pm newscast. If that's the case, then Cindy suffered a very frightening death at the hands of her own son.

But what would possess a child to kill his own mother, let alone do it in such a violent and nasty way? One possible scenario is that, mad at his mother for some reason and sent over his breaking point by something, he beat the ever-loving tar out of her and, scared of the consequences of that, killed her to silence her. If that's the case, wrong move, just made things worse.

What makes a kid rage against his mom like that? Any number of things, really, could - either on their own or, more likely, in tandem with more - contribute to a child's anger. Jessie is a part of a very selfish and spoiled generation, the grandchildren of the Boomers and children of TV Generation parents. With doting grandparents desperate to stay young by living through their grandkids, and parents who are either unwilling or unable to connect with them on much of any level, its really no surprise how these kids fall off the boat.

Most adopt a "Fuck The World" mentality, refusing to care about this or that or the other thing and only focusing on their narrow view of the world around them. They feel trapped by their surroundings, with a fear of inability to escape their mundane existence in their tiny niche of the world. They assault their ears with the overly-aggressive, testosterone-fueled anthems of Hardcore music, and at the same time feed their depression with the whiny crybaby sounds of Emo. The "fuck it all" attitude leads to indifference to school, work, life, and pretty much anything that isn't branded PlayStation or Aeropostale.

In effect, they've desensitized themselves to sympathy, empathy, and have failed to find outlets for the wellspring of emotions swimming around inside of them. Social interaction, even among family, is retarded, and bridges (rather than being burned) aren't even built in the first place.

With a parent who, while trying their best but still falling short, can't make a connection with their kid, the other side of the bridge doesn't even get past the foundation phase. With neither side making any effort, any emotional bond is all but erased.

The kids end up reacting negatively to any parental "intrusion," distrusting and coming to resent any effort by their parents for anything, over time becoming a conditioned response. Kid will run off, do what he/she pleases while they're out, consequences be damed because the parents lack the skills to enforce any punishments. Grounded or no, kids are right back out doing lord knows what.

But what drove Jessie to kill his mother, and in such a violent manner, is something that needs to be looked at in order to understand the true nature of the generation gap kids and parents these days have to deal with. If I were to go any further with this subject, though, I'd never get any sleep.

And yes, I know, it's Caturday. I'm going to try my best this time around...

UPDATE: 6:43am - Whoopsie. Eric too tired, forget to check teh Googles. Here's a Centre Daily Times blurb, although it's fairly limited at this time. Looks like I'm the only one releasing names other than perp and vic. Can that get me in trouble? Eh, fuck em.

BREAKING NEWS: MURDER IN HOUTZDALE

From what sources I have, signs point to holy shit.

All the information I have right now says this: Sometime very recently (probably last night or this morning), Kacey Fisher and Jessie Coleman Campbell killed his mother, Cindy Jo Coleman. Both are in Clearfield County Jail, held for murder 1, most likely. Currently, Jessie is being held without bond in Clearfield County Jail. I have yet to confirm the whereabouts of Kacey.

I wish it weren't true, but it is. Kacey was a friend of mine.

The who and the why will all become clear in time as I try to gather the facts. But I have one source who told me essentially that story, and another source who lives in the area who confirmed the heavy PSP presence since this morning, making it highly unlikely that the first source is wrong.

While I master a home video DVD for Teddy's grandmother, I'll be hitting teh Googles for whatever links and news I can find. For now, though, it looks like I'm the first to hit the net with this story.

UPDATE: 4pm: - Links to Kacey's Yahoo Profile and MySpace account. Kacey is at least 22 now, possibly 23, though I never really knew when her birthday was. From what I've heard, this Jessie kid is 20, and that's all I have on him at the moment. Kacey's MySpace page hasn't been update for a week, but still has pictures of her and her ex boyfriend on it.

An excerpt from Kacey's blog, dated April of last year:

Todays the day to start life over. I have no clue on what to do or how to live my life normal, or in the normal sense. I"m tired of fuckin around, i'm tired or wasting time and my life on the petty arguments, the fights and the tears i've had to cry. I want to start fresh, start anew, open my eyes and get a clear view. A new perspective. I need a challenge. I don't want to run anymore, and death is not an option. I miss my friends and my family, I miss being me. I feel very alone, depressed, scared and everything in between. Somebody, Anybody, please help me start my first new day or freedom.

I guess that won't be the case now. She'll be starting a new life, but not the one she'd hoped for. When the motive comes out, I'm sure I'll be able to piece together what went wrong...

UPDATE 2: 4:21pm - Via another source, though it has yet to be confirmed, Jessie's mother's cause of death was the old ear-to-ear grin. Man, something went really wrong here, and I aim to find out what the fuck it was. I need to find Jordan...

UPDATE 3: 4:30pm - Found Jessie Coleman's Campbell's MySpace account. Kid said he's just trying to live life and be happy. I guess offing the woman who gave him that life in the first place was part of his happy plan.

Interesting Observation: On Kacey's MySpace, the song is "The Kill" by 30 Seconds to Mars. On Jessie's, it's "Gravedigger" by Willie Nelson. Talk about creepy...

On a completely different note, my good friend Justin ended up in the hospital this morning, and they're keeping him for a bit for observation. For the most part, he's fine, but tests will reveal more. Get well soon, Old Man!

Harry Potter and the Protracted Film Series... Um... Of Doom, Or Something...

News has reached the Muggle masses that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final installment in the storied Harry Potter series, will have its film adaptation split into two seperate movies, thereby making it at least a three hour epic (FT). Chances are, though, that each film will most likely run closer two hours a clip.

The reason for this basically gives away the fact that these will be two (slightly) longer films than the other six: There aren't really many subplots you can cut out of Potter 7. The first film covered Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone almost in its entirety, since it was the shortest of the books by far. Weren't that many cuts from Chamber, either, but some did stand out a bit. From Prisoner on, though, large chunks were apparent, and honestly, they really didn't impact the central plot all that much (although cutting out Ron playing Quidditch (a big character progression for him) and Hermione's S.P.E.W. work (which highlights both Dobby and Kreacher more as well as Miss Granger) are arguable in many circles).

I would much have rather them done the actual Dumbledore's Army outing from the book rather than blame it on poor Cho, but what can you do, right? It's Hollywood: They'll fuck anything up (See Ang Lee's The Hulk or Star Wars Prequels), even if it's with tiny little oversights like that one.

Half-blood Prince will be coming soon, and we get some big moments in that one, but I'm not doubting that there will be important stuff cut. My guess is Harry's relationship with Cho will become the stuff of reflective dialogue, but you can't avoid the Harry-Ginny storyline, since it plays such a huge role in Potter 7/8. And oh yeah: SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE. Duh. If you don't know that by now, you've been living under a rock.

On the bright side, that's two more trips to The Rowland for me, Angel and Teddy, which will be fun. By the time Potter's 7 and 8 roll out (2010 and 2011 respectively), he'll have seen the first six, and hopefully read at least the first book (which, of course, Daddy has). Like I was born into a world just discovering Star Wars (it came out summer of 77, I came out that November), he was born into a world in love with a boy wizard at school with his friends, carrying the weight of the wizarding world on his shoulders and showing kids that, no matter what you have to deal with, it can be faced and dealt with in turn: From staring down the Dark Lord to just growing up and learning about regular life.

That's the true magic of Harry Potter...

You Fucked Up

No, the decline of the modern Record Industry didn't start with Metallica's whining about Napster. No, it started long before that, and even goes back to the very beginnings of recorded music itself.

Via Fark (FT) comes this Blender article detailing the 20 Biggest Fuck-ups in Recording Industry history, and wow, are these some glaring scars if I've ever seen them. Of course, Napster is mentioned as #1, but there are some choice brain farts in there as well, proving once and for all that record executives have their heads up their asses.

Shameless Nerd Gushing, Vol. 2

I know, I know. You know, I tend to say "I know" alot. Kinda like Justin likes to say "hold on." But yes, I know, yet another weekend where I dropped the ball. Things aren't the greatest in Prophyt World, but I'm working on changing that, and I'll be back to normal soon.

In the meantime, today's Nerd Gushing comes to us from fellow Blogger blog (Blogger blog? Did I just type that? Oh dear...) Blasphemes, via Fark (FT): The pressing issue for the day is Just how long was Luke Skywalker on Degobah with Yoda during Empire? It's since grown into a discussion about the physics and stellar geography of the Star Wars Galaxy (which, don't forget, is far, far away...), and we've even managed to work in some real world math.

Yes, we're nerds. Now go, participate in the Nerdgasm!