[hodge podge]

CONTESTS: Win Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, House of Blues and Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek concert tickets [here]

Contests, letters, and random information

COVER
It must be admitted that Wilmington is thriving with local talent of every kind, demonstrated here in the pages of encore each and every week. One medium of creativity locally hailed presents itself from the many contests encore holds annually. This week we’re featuring winners of our annual Historical Fiction Contest, held in conjunction with our local Lower Cape Fear Historical Society, and our annual Creative Writing contest.

This year’s winner of the Historical Fiction Contest was Edith Edwards. Read her entire piece, entitled “Beautiful Betrayal,” [here]. Also check out the latest installment of “The Hook Café,” an ongoing fictitious series written by Elizabeth Doughtery, winner of our annual Creative Writing Contest.

For more information on these contests, stay tuned to HodgePodge, where we always announce when each gets underway!

LATE NITE FUNNIES
“John McCain’s economic adviser, former Senator Phil Gramm, is under fire for calling Americans a bunch of whiners. He also said the country is in a mental recession. Apparently we’re experiencing a mental slowdown—kind of like President Bush.” —Jay Leno

“The government of China has banned restaurants from serving dog meat during the Olympics. This is particularly bad news for the popular Chinese fast-food chain, ‘McDachsunds.’”—Conan O’Brien

“If you haven’t heard by now, on Fox News the other day, during an interview, Jesse Jackson, not realizing the mic was open, said some pretty nasty things about Barack Obama. I can’t say what he said, I’m paraphrasing, he said he would like to ‘cut his testicles off.’. . . Well, today, Hillary Clinton commented on the remarks, by saying, ‘I don’t know what the big deal is, I say that to Bill at least once a week.’” —Jay Leno

“Jesse Jackson has a bit of a scandal going on right now. Yeah, in case you don’t know, last night Fox News aired video of Jesse Jackson where Jackson was caught saying he wants to cut Barack Obama’s nuts off. That’s what he said. By the way, for the record, this marks the nicest thing ever said about Barack Obama on Fox News.”—Conan O’Brien

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
• July 16th, 1945: At 5:29am, the Manhattan Project comes to an explosive end as the first atom bomb is successfully tested in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

• July 17th, 1955: Disneyland, Walt Disney’s metropolis of nostalgia, fantasy and futurism, opens . The $17 million theme park was built on 160 acres of former orange groves in Anaheim, California, and soon brought in staggering profits.

• July 18th, 1940: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who first took office in 1933 as America’s 32nd president, is nominated for an unprecedented third term. Roosevelt, a Democrat, would eventually be elected to a record four terms in office, the only U.S. president to serve more than two terms.

• July 19th, 1799: During Napoleon Bonaparte’s Egyptian campaign, a French soldier discovers a black basalt slab inscribed with ancient writing near the town of Rosetta, about 35 miles north of Alexandria, later to become known as the Rosetta Stone. The artifact held the key to solving the riddle of hieroglyphics, a written language that had been “dead” for nearly 2,000 years.

• July 20th, 1969: At 10:56pm EDT, American astronaut Neil Armstrong, 240,000 miles from Earth, speaks these words to more than a billion people listening at home: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Stepping off the lunar landing module Eagle, Armstrong became the first human to walk on the surface of the moon.

• July 21st, 1861: In the first major land battle of the Civil War, the First Battle of Bull Run, a large Union force under General Irvin McDowell is routed by a Confederate army under General Pierre G.T. Beauregard.

• July 22nd, 2003: U.S. Army Private Jessica Lynch, a prisoner-of-war who was rescued from an Iraqi hospital, receives a hero’s welcome when she returns to her hometown of Palestine, West Virginia. The story of the 19-year-old supply clerk, who was captured by Iraqi forces in March 2003, gripped America.

SAVINGS 101
Attention advertisers who wish to capture the university crowd: encore is now accepting ad reservations for its student guide, Savings 101, which features directories of pizza parlors, coffee shops and other must-refer-to places that the student body will be utilizing while living in Wilmington. Reasonable rates and great distribution. Call Kris Beasley at (910) 791-0688, ext. 1011.

UPCOMING
Be sure to check out next week’s coverage of the annual Blue’s Fest. We’ll also be reprinting our Best-Of list in the July 30th edition. For folks who won the prestigious award, voted on by our community, give us a call for discounted rates if you’d like to attract more foot traffic to your business.

Attention all salons: Give us a call to inquire about our salon page. Again, call Shea for more information.