| From an Iranian Childhood of More Work than Play, a Tycoon Rises
Were you to talk to Isaac Larian about his childhood in Iran, he would not wax nostalgic over childhood games or playthings. In fact, he would tell you that when his friends and cousins played or went on vacation, he did “constant, hard work" helping his father run a retail textile business. Today, Larian is president and chief executive of the largest privately held toy company in the world, MGA Entertainment, based in Van Nuys, California. (The ranking is based on market share comparisons.) On November 17, Larian was named national Entrepreneur of the Year at a ceremony in Palm Springs, California, for his “innovation, financial success and personal commitment" in building a world-class business, according to Ernst & Young, the accounting firm that sponsors the annual award.
Hidayat, Super Dan on course for HK clash
HONG KONG � Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat and world number one Lin Dan remained on course for a Hong Kong Open badminton quarter-final showdown after crushing wins here yesterday. Lin �Super� Dan dispatched Englishman Andrew Smith 21-17, 21-5 while Hidayat routed China�s Chen Hong 21-11, 21-13 in just 23 minutes in the first round. Hidayat, still in search of his first Super Series title, will play South Korea�s Park Sung Hwan in round two on Thursday while Lin is strong favourite against Shoji Sato of Japan. Hidayat and Lin share badminton�s hottest rivalry, although the famously hot-tempered Indonesian has not beaten his Chinese rival since the 2005 world championship final. �I�m not thinking about Lin Dan yet,� Hidayat shrugged. �We�ll see the day after tomorrow.
Games Asylum » The Simpsons Game
EA recently said that they were going to pull their socks up when it comes to DS development, and you can't argue with the effort they've put into this. It comes on the largest DS cart available, contains over twenty minutes of FMV, some 3,000 speech samples, a virtual Homer to play with and a handful of retro game parodies including Frogger, Space Invaders and Gauntlet. The thing is that EA themselves aren't responsible for the effort - Amaze did all the work. Oddly their company logo has been emitted from the start up sequence and isn't shown until the end credits. Bad show, EA. Although now in 2D, it follows the same story as the bigger console versions, right down to each Simpson having their own special skills. That story being that the yellow fellows know that they're in a videogame and eventually discover that they have to face their creator if they want to escape.
USC gaining recruits from the state of Alabama
The state of Alabama continues to be fertile recruiting territory for South Carolina. Last week, DB Jarrett Burns (6-3, 186) of Huntsville committed to the Gamecocks after getting an official offer from recruiter Ron Cooper and head coach Steve Spurrier. "It was a comfort level," Burns said. "I talked to coach Cooper all the time. He showed me he could be there for me if I need something. That was a big thing to me." Burns is viewed as a big corner by the Gamecocks and had 79 tackles with one interception this season. "My advantage is my height," he said. "And I like to beat up the receiver. I like to come up and hit. And I roam the field well." Burns had an offer from Louisiana Tech and said he was getting strong interest from Clemson, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia Tech, Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisville and Mississippi State.
China's badminton dominance dwindling
China's domination in badminton has suddenly been called into question after its best shuttlers suffered a string of losses during the recent IBF Super Series China Open, leaving many concerned about China's prospects for next year's Beijing Olympic Games. The China Open concluded at Tianhe Gymnasium in Guangzhou on Sunday as the host settled for only two out of the five titles, China's worst showing in 14 years at the tournament. .
Holiday shoppers storm local stores seeking deals on nation's busiest retail day
Bundled up in coats and giggling, Mary Ann Schewe and her sister Louise Harris tried their best Friday mornng to squeeze a luggage set and two buggies full of holiday presents into the back of her Mercury Grand Marquis. "I can't buy anything else," Harris said, standing in the Target parking lot. "My son was supposed to meet us in his truck." Like thousands of other shoppers across Middle Georgia, the sisters left their homes in Jones County before dawn to take advantage of Black Friday sales. Schewe said they started at Wal-Mart at 4 a.m. and had marked items off their lists at Goody's and Old Navy in hopes that the line outside Target would get shorter as the morning wore on. She said the line of shoppers waiting to get into Target stretched all the way to Dick's Sporting Goods on the other end of Eisenhower Crossing when they first arrived.
Military-themed phone charity makes bold goal - Army News, opinions, editorials, news from Iraq, photos, reports - ...
NORWELL, Mass. — At the holidays, for a service member at war, there's nothing like a phone call home. Brittany and Robbie Bergquist have provided more than $1.4 million worth of them — 24 million precious minutes. The Bergquists are teenage siblings who didn't even own a cell phone in 2004, when they heard that an Army reservist faced a $7,600 bill for making calls home from Iraq. They founded Cell Phones for Soldiers based on three ideas: Most people have an old, inactive cell phone lying around; they'd probably donate it to the right cause; and they'd probably agree that, as Brittany puts it, "Everyone has a right to call home." In three years, an effort that began with a piggybank raid and a car wash has turned into a booming home front charity — one that has turned its founders' lives upside down and won them devoted friends throughout the military and beyond.
Holiday wishbook
Straight from the mouths of Culpeper kids, here's the scoop on holiday gifts for grades 1-12. Back in the day you were in the hot seat asking Santa Claus for an A.C. Gilbert Erector set, an Atari 2600 game or a scented Strawberry Shortcake doll with Berrykin case. However, times have changed. The toys that fueled our imaginations so many years ago are now called "vintage." So what's a big bad adult supposed to do when a train set just doesn't cut it anymore? The Star-Exponent set forth to find out what this generation of technology-savvy children wants these days. We visited three Culpeper schools - Epiphany Catholic, St. Luke's Lutheran and Culpeper County High - and talked with a boy and girl from every grade to give you, oh clueless grownup, a better shot at getting it right this year.
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