All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

In Wales they are just astounded at the reaction to their public service announcement about the dangers of texting while driving.

The 30-minute video was made for use in schools in South Wales; it wasn’t even due to go into the curriculum till next year.

But a 4-minute excerpt landed on YouTube, a million and a half people saw it, and – police say – mostly positive reaction has flooded in.

See Richard Roth's Story here

There is much more to the video than the crash sequence that’s circulated on the internet. It is not just a record of a horrific fatal car crash caused by a distracted teen; it’s also the story of what happens next: the after shocks that change the lives of the young survivor and her family, and upset the equilibrium of the whole community.

It’s startling, seeing it, to learn it was made on such a small budget: about £10,000 or less than $20,000. The Gwent Police Force funded most of it; many of its officers and staff are in it, along with police and fire rescue vehicles and helicopters. Some of the actors are professional; but three of the most memorable characters – the driver of the car and her two friends and passengers – are very engaging local teenagers who were among 300 kids who auditioned.

I met Jennie Davies, Amy Ingram - both university students, and Laura Quantick who’s finishing at a local secondary school. What they shared before the experience of making the video was an interest in drama or music and a bit of experience in local productions. What they share now is an almost zealous – and very articulate – passion for spreading the lesson the video teaches, about the danger of texting while driving.

They are a bit astounded about the sudden attention that’s come to them and their work. Jennie plays “Cassie Cowan,” the “Cow” of the video’s title; she’s the driver of the crash car and, horribly scarred, its only survivor. “I figured I was doing a small film,” she told me, “a local film for Gwent police; and it’s turned into a massive YouTube sensation. It’s pretty crazy.” It was interesting, too, I thought – that Jennie doesn’t drive. Some of her scenes were recorded with the camera mounted on a towing truck pulling her car; and in some, a double was used.

When Flight 1549 went down in the Hudson River, images and video of the plane floating, surrounded by ferries and rescue boats, abouded. But video of the actual ditching and the plane's actions before any emergency response arrived? It was rarely seen. Now, one of our Investigative Team producers, Pat Milton, has obtained newly released surveillance camera video captured from a Con Edison facility on Manhattan's West Side, which has a view of the Hudson river. You can watch it below:



Also, in exclusive video obtained by CBS News, a security camera from the Intrepid Air Sea and Space Museum in the Hudson River captured the moment flight 1549 touched down.

Director David Fincher's latest film, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," tells the story of a life lived while aging backwards. The tale, adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story of the same name, begins with a baby born with all of the wrinkles and arthritis of an 80-year-old man and follows his life as he grows into a semi-mobile senior, a middle-aged man and a strapping young adult. Brad Pitt plays Benjamin from the cradle to the grave – with more than a little help from some remarkable technology. Tonight on the Evening News, Katie Couric takes a behind-the-scenes look at how Pitt – er, at least Pitt from the neck up – went from elderly to infant … and everything in-between. Check out the clip after the jump to see Pitt demonstrating some of his, well, acting technique – and read on for an extended portion of our interview.

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Brad Pitt: This, you know … before, if you were attempting a film like this, you would have to plug in different actors or different ages … to … just to perform the thing. And … it always, I mean, becomes disjointed. Sometimes it connects, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the actors kinda look alike. But they seldom have the same kind of personality, or verve, or even dignity.

And in this … we, for the first time, got an opportunity to play the character from childhood to death, from birth to old age, or, in my case, from old age, which was still young, to birth. And, we got to drive the performance all the way. It was an … incredible luxury. It'll become the norm. Right now, it's a luxury.

CBS News: But I understand you're saying that now, but I understand when you read the script, you said, "That's what I want. I want to play it all." And how did you?

Pitt: Well, you have to ...

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Okay, so you've heard "man's best friend" cliche over and over. But one dog moved on to a bigger - much, much bigger - mammal to befriend. She was the subject of Friday's Assignment America with Steve Hartman. Meet Tarra and Bella, the pachyderm-canine duo of the Tennessee's Elephant Sanctuary.

Sarah Palin's speech at the Republican National Convention drew a lot of praise. But none sounded quite like what Mo Rocca told Katie last night on her Convention Webcast. You'll want to watch the clip below, but in short, he said he's become "obsessed with" the Palin family … and loved when they all appeared on stage "like the cast of 'Alaska 90210.'"

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If you read the New York Times story today about what researchers say is the earliest known audio recording, you probably went online to actually hear the 10-second clip. To our CD- and mp3-honed ears, it barely sounds like music. To be honest, it sounds more like muffled snoring layered over a static track.

Nevertheless, it's pretty remarkable.

To give Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville some credit, when he recorded the French folk song Au Claire de la Lune in 1860, "the idea of audio play-back had not been conceived," according to the Times. So de Martinville likely didn't have any idea how it sounded – or if his ditty would ever be heard. (Since I'm already geeking out here, I'll note that ditty derives from the French for "to speak.") This was all 17 years before Edison patented his phonograph.

Well, we've heard it now, thanks to scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. They meticulously converted lines on paper to sound.

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Hear the 10-second recording.

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The Democratic primary in Michigan was a lot less memorable than the Republican one — mostly because the ballot was all-but bare. But Hillary Clinton was there, and got 55 percent of the vote.

Speaking at the RNC Winter Meeting in Washington, Karl Rove pokes fun at Clinton's 15 percent edge over "uncommitted." He also has some tongue-in-cheek thoughts about "the guy who believes in UFOs."

Check out the full video on our sister blog, Horserace.

President Bush may be staying at Saudi King Abdullah's "lavish desert retreat," but the White House traveling press corps is staged at the less-glamorous Marriott Downtown Riyadh. CBS News' Bill Plante gives a behind-the-scenes look at how the press corps operates en masse while covering the president during his eight-day Middle East trip.

Highlights to watch for: "a great deal of hummus," and a tour of the roof-top stand-up location (hint: it's right behind the tennis courts).

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Though recently banned in Britain, the extremely violent video game "Manhunt 2" is about to hit the shelves in the United States. But when played on Nintendo Wii, players must actually act out assaults. Is it simply too violent for kids?

Click the video player for more.

Over at Tech Talk, Daniel Sieberg wrote this month about a controversial new video game in which players must stab, torture and kill. Is it going too far? He notes:

By now you're wearily familiar with the controversy surrounding Rockstar Games, specifically the "Grand Theft Auto" series. For years, the company has been speared by critics as the purest of evil within the video game software market. Its newest title, "Manhunt 2," is slated for release on Oct. 31, which is obviously a tie-in with Halloween. (Oh, scary!)

Rockstar has updated the previous version of the game that hit stores back in 2003 with a new storyline and characters. Except this time, "Manhunt 2" was initially deemed so gruesome that the Electronic Software Ratings Board or ESRB gave it an "AO" rating or Adults Only (18 and older). That means virtually every major retailer wouldn't stock it, and console makers may not support it.
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But the nature of "Manhunt 2," which involves escaping from an insane asylum, requires players to, well, essentially murder people on your way out. There's no question it's violent. There's no question (at least I hope not much) that young children shouldn't play it. The reason Nintendo is getting more attention than Sony is the Wii controller. You can hold it like a knife and stab with it, or slash, etc. There are those in the blogging community who — perhaps jokingly — call it a "murder simulator." That may be taking it a little bit too far, but the comments certainly raise some questions about how people (and kids) interact with games, and what that physical involvement does to the brain.

Daniel has some other observations. Surf over and read more — and check out his full story tonight on the CBS Evening News.

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