'Twilight' fans: The wait is almost over!

On August 2, if you go to any bookstore, TARGET, or WAL-MART, you may see a crowd of people, each carrying a Bible-thick book and reading away.
These are the fans of TWILIGHT, a breakthrough teen series that has broken more records than Harry Potter in first-day printings.
In 2006, Stephenie Meyer published a novel for Young Adults. It was a fantasy/romance novel about teen Isabella Swan, living in Forks, Washington, and meets and falls in love with dashing vampire Edward Cullen.
Since TWILIGHT has been published, fans have created sites dedicated to the characters, podcast discussions have been created by many fans, and a movie has already been in filming two years prior to the publication date of the first book in the series.
The new installment in the TWILIGHT saga is BREAKING DAWN, the last book in the series that will, as Stephenie Meyer quoted, "wrap everything up in a small bow."
Meyer also said one of her inspirations for the final installment was Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.

TWILIGHT fans will not be disappointed!

Jackson

Full Solar Eclipse

On August 1, there will be a total Solar Eclipse seen at sunrise. The eclipse will start towards the northwest passage of Canada and continue its "tour" (Olympic pun) untill it hits the Silk Road Trade Route in Chine. A slice of Northeastern North America will see the full eclipse.

For more information:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20080725/sc_space/viewersguideaug1solareclipse

Look to the skies!

Jackson

'Last Lecture' Randy Pausch Dies @ 47

If anyone has been on their email, or at bookstores, or on YouTube lately, then they are familiar to the name Randy Pausch. Today, Pausch passed away at 47 years old in his home at Chesapeake, Virginia.
Losing this great hero is certainly a tremendous loss, but we can still remember him for his legacy he left behind and one that continues to change countless lives.

On September 27th, 2007, Pausch gave his speech, the 'Last Lecture', at an auditorium on the Carnegie-Mellon University campus, where he taught.
In his lecture, Pausch stressed the importance of living life and the fact that, if you set your mind to it, you can really achieve your childhood dreams.
Sparked with endless optimism and sparkling wit, Pausch was never hesitant about sharing his story with any news team or spokesperson and continued to share his story long after the lecture was given.

Below, I have posted two videos. The first, a condensed version of his lecture while on Oprah. The woman in the audience is his wife.
The second is the full version of the lecture which can also be found on ITunes in Video or Audio format for your mp3 or IPOD player. His book, "The Last Lecture" is available wherever books are sold.

Last Lecture (condensed):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BODHsU3hDo4

The Last Lecture (Full):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

RIP A true, American Hero.

JC

Welcome!

Hello and Welcome to SPIN ALLEY!

My name is Jackson Cooper and I hope you will enjoy this blog and all it has to offer.

This blog was centered around my friends. It has become increasingly difficult to discuss weird news stories, the political campaign, and so on so forth, with them. So, to help with sharing weird news, top stories, and little sleepers, this blog was created.

I will try to update weekly, depending on how good many news stories are. As far as the political campaign goes, I will try to avoid things like the rallies and speakings and keep the sides balanced by extending on stories like Jesse Jackson's tape, McCain's Bar-B-Q, and countless others.

Again, I will not share my political side entirely, for this blog is fair and balanced.

Enjoy!

JC