Free Baby Boy Shower Game

For writer Christopher Landon, the genesis for "Disturbia," a suspense thriller in which the upscale homes and manicured lawns of suburbia could be the perfect hiding place for a serial killer, arose from a visit to his sister's home "deep in the ‘burbs of Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley.

"Everyone pretty much considers suburbia as something that is idealistic and beautiful… but it's always kind of given me the creeps," Landon says. "One night, as I was driving home from my sister's place, this idea just popped into my head – a story about a kid who is stuck in his house and begins to notice bizarre things happening across the way. He eventually comes to suspect that his neighbor is a serial killer."

For Landon, the seeming calm of suburbia produces a "forest for the trees" effect, in which people go about their lives oblivious to the circumstances — benevolent or dangerous — surrounding them.

Making another pitch

Bobby Brownlie felt he was throwing the ball well. Perhaps that's why he never saw the writing on the wall. Then again, he didn't have to.

The unceremonious conclusion to the 26-year-old right-hander's professional baseball career was spelled out in six words on a post-it note attached to a stool in front of his locker at the Chicago Cubs minor-league spring training facility in Mesa, Ariz. last month.

"I walked to my locker and I saw the note," said Brownlie, who signed a $2.5 million deal as a first-round draft pick of the Cubs in 2002. "It said: "Before you get dressed, see Oneri (Fleita).' "

Brownlie, an Edison High School graduate and former Rutgers University star, watched dozens of former teammates get released in similar fashion during his four years in the organization.

Globe trotter

Vista Middle School student Katie Homa, 12, flips through the pages of a National Geographic magazine Wednesday in the library of VMS. Katie, along with 15 other students from the U.S., won a writing contest sponsored by National Geographic and she will get to travel to South Africa on Safari in August. .

Burn counting on indoor football veteran Levi Madarieta to bring ...

Chris Siegfried is thousands of miles and a year removed from last season in Spokane, when he was coaching Levi Madarieta with the arenafootball2 newcomer Spokane Shock. But Madarieta still makes the coach laugh."He came to practice every day like we were going to cut him," said Siegfried, letting out a laugh. "There was no way we were going to cut Levi. It's interesting to see (that) from a quality player. We found it pretty amusing."The former Weiser High standoutreturned to the Treasure Valley this season to play for another af2 expansion team — the Boise Burn, who play their first home game tonight against Everett."(When) I found out Boise was getting a team I knew I wanted to come here," said Madarieta, who is a personal trainer at Idaho Athletic Club.The Burn welcomed the 6-foot-3, 260-pound defensive end with open arms.

Kid-friendly recipes can be found online

Because children are more likely to eat healthy foods that they helped prepare, the Junior Leagues offer an online recipe collection featuring kid-friendly, nutritious recipes from celebrities, chefs and athletes.The Web site also features downloadable nutrition and exercise tips, quizzes to test kids on their nutritional knowledge and the USDA's MyPyramid Blast-Off game, an entertaining way for kids to learn guidelines for daily food consumption and physical activity, tailored to their nutrition and fitness needs. Visit http://kidsinthekitchen.ajli.org. .

The human cost of cheap high street clothes

In a network of mud-bricked sweatshops in the lawless Haryana area of New Delhi, India, this newspaper found dozens of children cramped together producing clothes for the UK high street. In one sweatshop, children were finishing a summer dress, now on sale for £16.99 in 250 Select clothing stores across Britain. 'I was brought here from Bihar [the poorest state in India],' said Shafiq who first claimed to be 14 but later admitted to being 11.

'All my family know is I have come to Delhi to work. They were paid a fee for me and I was brought by road from Patna with 40 other children. If they knew I had ended up here they wouldn't have let me go. But now I can't telephone them - they live in a small village. I am going to work off the fee the owner paid for me so I can go home but I am working for free.

Eli Roth Interview

We had a chance to sit down with the legendary Eli Roth to talk GrindHouse, The Cell, Hostel 2 and more! Needless to say this interview is for you die hard horror fans! Eli Roth burst onto the film scene at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival with his debut film Cabin Fever, which he produced, directed, and co-wrote. Cabin Fever polarized alot of horror fans. You either loved it, or you down right hated it. Either way I loved it, and it is to this day one of the more fun horror films in my collection. Produced independently on a low budget, Cabin Fever was the highest selling film at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival, after a frenzied bidding war between seven studios. Cabin Fever went on to be Lion's Gate's highest grossing film (no pun intended) of 2003, opening on 2,100 screens, and has to date grossed over $100 million dollars worldwide in theatrical, home video, and DVD sales.