When we watch TV, go to the movies, or attend concerts (admittedly before Covid), we enjoy watching our favorite stars. But despite being role models for millions, celebrities sometimes break the law. The justice system's credibility then takes a hit when it all too often looks the other way. Of course, stars weaken the justice system's credibility because of their talent, charm, good looks, or wealth which shines so bright it often dazzles judges and juries. When judges and … [Read more...]
Popular Culture and True Crime – Tutorial III – Why women are such true crime fans.
As part of our series on Popular Culture and True Crime, our final tutorial looks at why women seem such devoted true crime fans. Tutorials I and II dealt with the fascination with serial killer trading cards and murderabilia (the collection of mementos), respectively. While I've written about crime all my life, I wouldn't call myself a true crime fan. In fact, I'm new to podcasts and true crime radio and I rarely have time for true crime stories on TV. Writing's pretty time … [Read more...]
Popular Culture and True Crime – Tutorial I – Serial Killer trading cards?
About the same time that Michael Aamodt, a professor at Radford University in Virginia, started cataloguing serial killers, trading cards popped up. Aamodt's Serial Killer Data Base, compiled with the help of students, is academic, respectable. See here for a prior blog re Aamodt's Radford work. Serial killer Trading cards are not respectable, at least they weren't back in 1992. They are still bought and sold on Amazon, Etsy, and Ebay. Aamodt's catalogue has over five thousand entries … [Read more...]
Actress Loughlin Sentence – only 2 Months, a fine & community service.
Photo: Steven Senne, AP Loughlin & hubby sentenced to 2 and 5 mos. A judge formalized Lori Loughlin and her husband's lenient plea bargain Friday. As noted in another blog , they got "Justice Lite" as frequently happens with celeb offenders. Actress Loughlin Sentence. Loughlin was shown to have been less involved in the family's college cheating scandal. Thus, she got less time and a smaller fine than her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli. The famous … [Read more...]
Crime – Car repair fraud – Tutorial for all of us & True-Crime Writers.
As I've noted in prior blogs, there's all manner of fraud abroad in the land.* True crime fans and writers might want to bone up on car repair fraud. Most of us lucky enough to own vehicles have experienced such fraud. Thus many readers can relate to it. And car repair fraud sometimes has a "wow" factor that writers strive for. Car repair fraud can even be elegant in its simplicity as the video below shows. A trend in writing true-crime stories is to make criminals so clever and resourceful … [Read more...]
Lori Loughlin getting less prison time ‘n other Admission Cheats!
A quick update in the long-simmering college admission scandal. The Lori Loughlin shoe has now dropped in the scandal, long after the Huffman one did. See my blog here for my predictions about this case would turn out for privileged celebs. Lori Loughlin, designer hubby, spent months fighting charges In a stunning development Hollywood star Lori Loughlin and her husband signed plea deals and admitted guilt yesterday. Her attractive face frowning at times, and nodding sadly at others, … [Read more...]
College admission scandal. Now, waiting for the Loughlin shoe to drop.
A quick update in the long broiling college admission scandal. The Huffman shoe has dropped in the scandal. See my Varsity Blues blog about this when the case broke. The Sentence. A judge just sentenced actress Felicity Huffman to 14 days behind bars in a federal prison, a $30,000 fine, one year of supervised release, and 250 hours of community service. For more about what went down today in Boston, go here. Celebs (Huffman in ctr) in college admission scandal. My take on the … [Read more...]