John Howe’s famous painting of Gandalf the Grey was stolen from a gallery in 1997 and has never been recovered!
John Howe is a Canadian book illustrator living in Switzerland. He studied for a year in France and is best known for his artwork based on the world created by J.R.R. Tolkien. Throughout his first years in Europe, Howe was taking in as much as he could in the way of art, architecture and everything that was "simultaneously ancient and novel." He says the only piece of his art work that survived from this period is his "The Lieutenant of the Black Tower of Barad-dûr", a piece inspired by Tolkien's, The Lord of the Rings. He says if this is not his first published piece, it must certainly be the earliest.
Howe's earliest commissions included political cartoons, magazine illustrations, comics, animated films, advertising, of which he says were nightmares. He said that he would end up redoing sketches so many time that there was nothing left of "his" in them. This frustrated him, and he wondered how he would ever make it in the profession. Since the earlier days of his career, John has managed to find his place in the profession of art. His most famous piece, Gandalf the Grey, was stolen in 1997 from an art gallery and has never been recovered.
An 18 year old was recently sentenced to 2 years in prison and a 15 year revoke on his drivers license for vehicular manslaughter by texting! Studies have been done that show the dangers of texting. while driving. It causes motor accidents and some say it can be more dangerous than driving drunk. Some states have outlawed texting while operating a motor vehicle altogether. A study in 2006 revealed that 37 percent of teens say texting while driving is extremely distracting and another study had 46 percent of teens that said it was very distracting. Some celebrities like Oprah Winfrey have done campaigns against texting while driving.
Regarded by many as one of the best shows to have ever been made, The Sopranos had a huge and loyal following throughout its six seasons. The show broke many records and accumulated numerous awards, yet to this day its finale remains controversial among viewers and critics alike. When the last episode aired, over 300,000 people rushed to their computers to read the synopsis and argue about what they had just seen.
At 3p.m. on August 13 2004, a man by the name of Akku Yadav was attacked by 200 women in the middle of a court room! The women stabbed him over 70 times, threw chilli powder in his face, threw stones at him, and cut off his genitals with a vegetable knife!
In the US, by law, classic vodka is near flavorless. US regulations require that vodka produced in the US be "neutral" and be sold without distinctive character, aroma, taste or color. Vodkas with added flavoring such as vanilla or raspberry are treated differently. The average person who orders a vodka-tonic cannot taste the difference; and even in blind taste tests average drinkers cannot consistently distinguish between different bottles, according to analysis by market research firm Mintel.
