Tag Archives: Media

12.31.24
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Getting Personal #308: My Favorite Things of 2024

Image Credit: Quote Master

Books

Adventures With Claudie: An American Girl

Meet Isabel and Nicki

A Special Kind of Evil: The Colonial Parkway Serial Killings

Movies

Argylle (Apple TV)

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (Netflix)

Deadpool & Wolverine (Disney+)

Die Hard (Hulu)

Dune: Part Two

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (Seen in theaters, March 2024)

Inside Out 2 (Seen in theaters, June 2024)

Kung Fu Panda 4 (Seen in theaters, April 2024)

The Fall Guy (Seen in theaters, May 2024)

Twisters (Seen in theaters, July 2024)

Woman of the Hour (Netflix)

TV

Babylon 5 (Tubi)

Blown Away (Seasons 1-4, Netflix)

Cold Case (Seasons 1-7, Max)

Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey (Netflix)

Community (Netflix)

Degrassi: The Next Generation (Pluto TV)

Finding Your Roots (PBS)

FRONTLINE (YouTube)

Glow-Up (Seasons 1-5, Netflix)

Guy’s Grocery Games (Max)

Hotel Hell (YouTube)

Into The Fire: The Lost Daughter (Netflix)

Is It Cake? (Netflix)

MasterChef (Seasons 1-14, Hulu)

Next Level Chef (Hulu)

Unsolved Mysteries (Amazon Prime, Netflix)

What Jennifer Did (Netflix)

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (YouTube)

Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? (YouTube)

Who Killed Jill Dando? (Netflix)

Podcasts

20/20

48 Hours

48 Hours: NCIS

Criminal

Dateline NBC

Dateline Originals

Forensic Files

Forensic Files II

Media Pressure

Mind Over Murder

Radioactive

Small Town Dicks

Snapped

The City

Unsolved Mysteries

Up and Vanished

Well, that wraps up my favorite things for 2024!

What about you? What were some of your favorite things of the year?

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

04.12.24
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Commentary #121: What Is “Deferred Judgement?”

In my local community, we have our fair share of fascinating and interesting cases that emerge from our seven cities. Today, I want to talk about “deferred judgement” and how it applies to a man who has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

In September 2023, our local news stations reported that a 20-year-old man had been arrested for allegedly giving a 7-year-old girl an Apple AirTag hidden in a pack of stickers while he was working his cashier job at a Virginia Beach grocery store. The girl’s mother discovered the AirTag and threw it away before they went home. This incident occurred in mid-July 2023.

The man was fired from his job, and then there wasn’t a lot of other news until the end of March.

He pleaded guilty. The judge reviewed all the facts and decided to defer judgement until June 2024. The judge was able to do this because of a Virginia law that was passed in 2020.

SB133 “allows a court to defer and dismiss a criminal case where the defendant has been diagnosed with autism or an intellectual disability and the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the criminal conduct was caused by or had a direct and substantial relationship to the person’s disorder or disability.”

Prior to 2020, the only similar remedy was for the defendant to plead insanity.

It turns out the woman in the grocery store wasn’t this man’s only victim. He had accidentally violated a restraining order that was taken out against him. He spent 12 hours in the Newport News City Jail. The victim in that case was a student at Christopher Newport University (CNU).

Both victims in court disagreed with the motion for a deferred judgement.

The defendant was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in 2023. He’s been in weekly counseling sessions and supposedly made progress in group therapy, admitting that he now recognizes his action were creepy. In addition, “he also acknowledged that he may have caused his victims to have to seek out mental health care — just like he’d had to — and apologized.”

In addition to Autism Spectrum Disorder, a psychosexual evaluation identified impulse control and two sex-related disorders.

The intention for the deferred judgment is to give the defendant time, three months, to continue treatment and attend therapy.

The defendant is slated to appear in court again on June 24, 2024.

Resources

SB 133 Criminal cases; deferred disposition | Virginia’s Legislative Information System

Checkout crime: Wegman’s employee tried to hide tracker to track mother | WAVY

VB man with autism get deferred judgment after planting tracker in Wegman’s checkout | WAVY

12.31.23
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Getting Personal #303: My Favorite Things of 2023

Image Credit: Quote Master

Books

Isabel’s Journal

Jim Henson: The Biography

Nicki’s Journal

The Night Swim

Movies

Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania (Seen in theaters, February 2023)

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (Seen in theaters, May 2023)

Barbie (Seen in theaters, July 2023)

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Seen in theaters, May 2023)

Haunted Mansion [2023] (Disney+)

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Seen in theaters, July 2023)

Jesus Revolution (Seen in theaters, March 2023)

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Seen in theaters, July 2023)

Murder Mystery 2 (Netflix)

No Hard Feelings (Netflix)

Pete’s Dragon [1977] (Disney+)

Pete’s Dragon [2016] (Disney+)

Remember The Titans (Disney+)

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (Seen in theaters, June 2023)

The Beanie Bubble (Apple TV+)

The Marvels (Seen in theaters, November 2023)

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Peacock)

We Have A Ghost (Netflix)

TV

Babylon 5 (Tubi)

Bake Squad (Netflix)

Cold Case (Seasons 1-7, Max)

Doogie Howser, M.D. (Seasons 1-4, Disney+)

Family Matters (Max)

Finding Your Roots (PBS)

For All Mankind (Seasons 3-4, Apple TV+)

Glow Up: Britain’s Next Make-Up Star (Season 5, Netflix)

Guy’s Grocery Games (Max)

Killer Sally (Netflix)

LEGO Masters (Seasons 3-4, Hulu)

Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God (Max)

Next in Fashion (Netflix)

Only Murders in the Building (Season 3, Hulu)

Poker Face (Peacock)

Pressure Cooker (Netflix)

Secret Chef (Hulu)

The Afterparty (Season 2, Apple TV+)

The Mandalorian (Season 3, Disney+)

Unsolved Mysteries (Hulu)

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (YouTube)

Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? (YouTube)

Podcasts

48 Hours

Cold Cases

Criminal

Dateline NBC

Disappearances

Embedded

Mind Over Murder

Serial Killers

Small Town Dicks

Snapped

Solved Murders: True Crime Mysteries

StoryCorps

Unsolved Murders

Unsolved Mysteries

Up and Vanished

Well, that wraps up my favorite things for 2023!

What about you? What were some of your favorite things of the year?

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

12.31.22
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Getting Personal #290: My Favorite Things of 2022

Image Credit: Quote Master

Books

I made it to 100 Book Reviews!

A Civil Action

Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America

Evette: The River and Me (World By Us)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Makena: See Me, Hear Me, Know Me (World By Us)

Maritza: Lead With Your Heart (World By Us)

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Movies

All The President’s Men (HBO Max)

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Seen in theaters, November 2022)

Blast from the Past (Hulu)

Elvis (HBO Max)

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix)

I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Seen in theaters, December 2022)

Mack and Rita (Seen in theaters, August 2022)

Senior Year (Netflix)

The Adam Project (Netflix)

The Batman (Seen in theaters, March 2022)

The Curse of Bridge Hollow (Netflix)

The Lost City (Paramount Plus)

Top Gun: Maverick (Seen in theaters, June 2022)

Turning Red (Disney+)

Uncharted (Netflix)

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (The Roku Channel)

West Side Story (Seen in theaters, January 2022)

TV

Baking Impossible (Netflix)

Cold Case (Seasons 1-7, HBO Max)

For All Mankind (Season 3, Apple TV+)

Ghostwriter (YouTube)

Glow Up (Seasons 1-4, Netflix)

LEGO Masters (Season 3, Hulu)

Only Murders in the Building (Seasons 1 & 2, Hulu)

Stranger Things (Seasons 1-4, Netflix)

The Way Down (Season 1, HBO Max)

Podcasts

48 Hours

Cold Cases

Crimes of Passion – Ended 2022

Dateline NBC

Disappearances

Dr. Death

Embedded

Female Criminals – Ended 2022

Forensic Files II

Mind Over Murder

Missing in America (Dateline)

Serial Killers

Small Town Dicks

Solved Murders: True Crime Mysteries

StoryCorps

The Seduction (Dateline)

Up and Vanished

Very Scary People (HLN)

Well, that wraps up my favorite things for 2022!

What about you? What were some of your favorite things of the year?

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

05.05.22
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Book Review #100: “Maritza: Lead with Your Heart” (World By Us)

The third book in the World By Us from American Girl was as equally compelling and thought-provoking as the other two.

As an American Girl collector, I wish I had the space for all of the community center items and accessories. It’s so colorful and fun!

I appreciated the fact that American Girl tackled immigration and deportation in this book. Like Evette’s and Makena’s books, it’s clear that this was well-researched and carefully crafted.

4 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

04.24.22
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Book Review #99: “Makena: See Me, Hear Me, Know Me” (World By Us)

After reading Evette’s book, I quickly moved to Makena’s book in the World By Us collection from American Girl.

Makena loves fashion, and posts her #OOTD (outfit of the day). I love how expressive she is!

Similar to Evette’s story, racism is a major theme in Makena’s story. Despite Makena’s struggles to come to terms with not one, but two incidents in her young life, I applaud American Girl for addressing both incidents in a thoughtful way. It definitely educated me.

It also encourages open communication between family members, and how talking about your feelings with someone that you can trust is so important.

Reading Makena’s story was another eye-opener for me, as a white woman, to how one phone call or one remark could very easily put someone else’s life at risk in an instant.

4 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

04.23.22
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Book Review #98: “Evette: The River and Me” (World By Us)

I’m always up for new books from American Girl. When they announced the new World By Us line with three books, I was excited. I was able to get the books practically brand-new from a seller in the big American Girl Obsessed BST group that I’m a member of on Facebook.

The first book that I read is Evette’s book. She’s passionate about the environment. The book also addresses the pandemic, social media, and other real-life issues. Racism is one big topic that’s incorporated. I also love the community center that’s featured!

I read through the whole book in one night several months ago. Most American Girl books don’t take me long to read at all, but this one was also beautifully illustrated!

The interesting part about these books, and this line/collection, is that the characters are 13 years old, which is older than the typical target demographic for the company. I personally think this is a great thing, and it shows that American Girl is dedicated to diversity, inclusion, education, and other things.

Given that the target audience is quite a bit younger than myself, I had to put myself in the shoes of a 13-year-old while reading it.

I really appreciated how the author and the diversity team that is recognized in the book did their homework and tried to respectfully and carefully craft a story that was relevant and would potentially resonate with readers, families, and others.

4 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

03.18.22
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Getting Personal #275: Stranger Things The Upside Down LEGO Set

Al got me the massive Stranger Things The Upside Down set for Christmas!

Part 1

Part 1 was building four things: Hopper, the mini-fig stand with the Stranger Things title card, Hopper’s Hawkins Police Department SUV, and the bike.

The wheels really move!

Part 2

The second part was building the base of the “real world” house and Mike.

The base took the better part of two hours! But you can start to see parts of the house and the yard.

Part 3

Part three began building the house and Joyce. She is holding Will’s drawing in one hand and a flashlight in the other. Plus, her mini-fig head has two different facial expressions.

The enclosed room is Will’s bedroom. It has his bed, desk, boom box, and shark poster.

The other room is the living room with the couch and coffee table. The yellow phone is on the wall. You can see the alphabet and Christmas lights on the wall next to the door.

Part 4

Part 4 saw the completion of the living room, with the green chair, and building Lucas. He’s holding his slingshot and a flashlight.

The siding was added to the house, along with the front porch furniture and accessories.

Part 5

Part 5 included the roof and building Dustin.

Dustin is holding a walkie-talkie and his compass.

Part of the ceiling is this cool light brick that lights up when you push the button!

Part 6

Part 6 included building Will and the base of the Upside Down house.

It’s definitely darker!

March 18th: This post was scheduled to publish before I finished the set, so I will update soon!

Part 7

Part 7 is building the Upside Down house bedroom and living room.

Part 8

Part 8 is continuing the Upside Down house, with the living room, and the outside details, like the siding, chairs, and other finishing touches.

I love the blues and grays.

Part 9

Part 9 was the roof and additional details.

Love the spooky vines and leaves.

Parts 10 and 11

This is the end!

12.31.21
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Getting Personal #269: My Favorite Things of 2021

Image Credit: Quote Master

So, before starting the lists of favorites, here’s my tally for books and Book Reviews for 2021:

Now, on to my favorites!

Favorite Books

Favorite Movies

  • Baby Driver
  • Beanie Mania (HBO Max)
  • Black Widow
  • Coming 2 America (Amazon Prime Video)
  • Don’t Look Up (Netflix)
  • Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (Disney+)
  • Ghostbusters: Afterlife
  • Moxie (Netflix)
  • Noelle (Disney+)
  • Richard Jewell (HBO Max)
  • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
  • Space Jam: A New Legacy (HBO Max)
  • Spider-Man: No Way Home
  • The Tomorrow War (Amazon Prime Video)
  • Without Remorse (Amazon Prime Video)

Favorite TV Shows

  • Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children (HBO Max)
  • Black and Missing (HBO Max)
  • Cold Case – Seasons 1 – 7 (HBO Max)
  • Hawkeye (Disney+)
  • Head of the Class – Original Series (HBO Max)
  • Hoarders (YouTube)
  • LEGO Masters – Season 2 (Hulu)
  • Loki (Disney+)
  • LuLaRich (Amazon Prime Video)
  • Midnight Mass (Netflix)
  • Supermarket Sweep (YouTube)
  • Ted Lasso – Season 1 (Apple TV+)
  • The Baby-Sitters Club – Season 2 (Netflix)
  • The Muppet Show (Disney+)
  • WandaVision (Disney+)

Favorite Podcasts

  • 48 Hours
  • American Radical
  • Auld Lang Gone: The Lost Carmen Sandiego
  • Criminal
  • Cold – Season 2
  • Crimes of Passion
  • Dateline NBC
  • Embedded
  • Harsh Reality: The Story of Miriam Rivera
  • Life After MLM
  • Mind Over Murder – Seasons 1 and 2
  • Operator
  • Over My Dead Body – Season 3
  • Suspect
  • The Thing About Helen and Olga
  • Up and Vanished – Season 3
  • Small Town Dicks
  • StoryCorps

Well, that wraps up my favorite things for 2021!

What about you? What were some of your favorite things of the year?

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

11.19.21
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Hot Topic #33: Not Guilty Verdict for Rittenhouse

Joseph Rosenbaum (left), and Anthony Huber (right) were shot and killed on August 25, 2020 in the wake of protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin over the shooting of Jacob Blake. Image Credit: NBC News

I cursed out loud earlier today when I caught wind of the Not Guilty verdict for now-18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse. He was acquitted of all charges today in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Am I surprised? No.

Am I angry, disappointed, and frustrated? YES.

I’m not going to rehash the case here since it’s been such a high-profile case with tons of media coverage.

However, I’m thinking of the families of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, along with Gaige Grosskreutz today.

As I mulled over my own thoughts and feelings today, I sincerely hope that something good will come out of this. According to NPR (article linked below), even though he was acquitted of criminal charges, it’s likely that he faces one or more civil lawsuits in the very near future.

I also think that Judge Bruce Schroeder should be investigated. His courtroom conduct during this trial has been beyond bizarre to say the least. I’m really curious to see what happens with Judge Schroeder now that a verdict has been reached.

Resources

Kyle Rittenhouse is acquitted of all charges in the trial over killing 2 in Kenosha | NPR

Kyle Rittenhouse acquitted on all charges | ABC News

EXPLAINER: Which charges did Kyle Rittenhouse face? | AP News

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂