Street lamps flicker when Debbie Wolf passes under them. Freezers defrost when she comes too close to them. TVs change channels without her having to touch the remote. While growing up, Debbie’s mother refused to take her into big electrical stores and refrained from touching her when she turned on a light.

The 38 year-old woman has earned international fame because of her strange electrical powers. She has been interviewed on numerous chat shows, as well as CNN. In Japan, she is compared to the magical Manga comic book characters.

Author and paranormal investigator, Hilary Evans calls this phenomenon Street Lamp Interference Data Exchange, which occurs when the subject is in an extreme emotional state. To learn more about this phenomenon, visit ASSAP.

Source: The Argus
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My former colleagues raved about this show last year. While I was intrigued by the first episode, I was skeptical about the show’s longevity. Also, I had become so disappointed with the neverending flashbacks of Lost that I wasn’t willing to devote more time to another TV show that I felt would have the same fate.

The kudos evidently made an impression because when I saw the DVD set at Best Buy two weeks ago, I decided to get it, along with Ghost Whisperer. My husband and I sat in front of the TV the entire weekend, watching all 7 discs. Heroes kept us that intrigued.

While Heroes has plenty of action scenes and special effects, it centers on the emotions of these supernatural characters. How would you feel if you:

1. Woke up lying on an autopsy table with your ribcage exposed, after dying several times before?
2. Heard what people really thought of you as you walked through the grocery store?
3. Saw the future in the paintings you had created while high on heroin?

These otherwise ordinary people are faced with an awesome responsibility when they learn that someone is going to blow up New York City. “Save the Cheerleader, Save the World” becomes the mantra of this series as these people position themselves to defeat a vicious killer who is out to collect all their powers, as well as a secret agency that wants to keep them hidden from the world.

Heroes contains so many storylines and plot twists that you have to pay attention if you want to catch every clue. Sometimes I was able to figure out what was going to happen next, while other times I was surprised. I’m looking forward to watching Season 2, when it finally comes out on DVD. I’m not sure when that’s going to happen. But in the meantime, I can watch the bonuses, which inclue behind-the-scenes featurettes, mini-documentaries, 50 deleted scenes, select episode commentaries, the original pilot (w/commentary), and a character map.

I remember catching sight of The Two Dead Girls book in the grocery store. I bought the book, took it home and began to enjoy what would be my first experience reading serial novels. Paul Edgecomb runs the death row section of the Cold Mountain Penitentiary in the middle of the Depression. We are first drawn into Edgecomb’s life before the giant John Coffey walks onto The Mile.

Edgecomb is dealing with a particularly nasty bladder infection. His colleague’s friend is dying of a brain tumor. And if that wasn’t enough, he has to deal with a power-hungry prison guard who likes to blackmail him with his “connections” with the governor. This guard escorts John Coffey into the Death Row cell block, yelling, “Dead man walking! This is a dead man walking!”

Coffey shuffles into his cell, looking scared and bewildered. He cries a lot. The guards, with the exception of Percy the power-hungry, feel sorry for him. Then, one day, Coffey calls Edgecomb up to his cell. With great reluctance, Edgecomb complies. Coffey grabs the guard by the groin and proceeds to rid him of his bladder infection.

Mystified, Edgecomb sets out to find out exactly how Coffey wound up on Death Row. He learns that the case isn’t as cut and dried as everyone thinks. He also learns that Coffey’s gift can do great things (like bringing a dead mouse back to life), but with a price.

Frank Darabont did an excellent job of recreating the story almost precisely as it is written, and the cast couldn’t have been any better than it was. This isn’t a normal Hollywood movie, but a leisurely 3-hour story and a very good one. I didn’t know about the alternate ending when The Green Mile was reproduced as a full-length novel. After watching this movie, I found that I wanted more. So, I may just go out and buy that novel. I highly recommend the movie. Just make sure you can set aside a full three hours to watch it.

NBC on Monday unveiled a fall lineup heavy on the supernatural, but light on comedy.

Heroes, about a supernaturally endowed group of fighters, all with different powers, is the biggest hit among NBC’s new programs this year, and the fall will bring a spinoff show and three other series involving the supernatural:

* Heroes: Origins: This show, featuring a new heroic character each week, will stretch the season for Heroes.
* Bionic Woman: A remake of the 1970s show, with Michelle Ryan in the lead role.
* Journeyman: A series about a San Francisco newspaperman who travels through time to alter people’s lives.
* Chuck: a computer geek has spy secrets embedded in his brain and is forced to become a government agent.

I was glad to hear that The Medium is still on the air, although it’s slated for Sunday nights. This may or may not be a bad thing, depending on the football schedule and when the new season of Battlestar Galactica begins. I’m looking forward to watching Heroes, but will have to check the availability of the DVD for the last season so I can catch up.

Source: CBC.ca