March 9, 2007
| Winona Ryder: Not Dead |
Turns out that actress/shoplifter Winona Ryder is not dead. If you missed this shocking and tragic story that never happened, let us explain. Emails of a "breaking story" circulating the Internet yesterday about Ryder having died in an apparent suicide.
The article from the alleged "Global Associated News" read as follows:
"Breaking News: Actress Winona Ryder Found Dead
"In what appears to be an apparent suicide, Winona Ryder was pronounced dead as a result of cardiac arrest after consuming more than two-dozen sleeping pills.
Complete details are not yet available, as this story is still developing."
Anyway, the whole thing was a "joke" from a website called fakeawish.com.
Ha ha. We bet Winona's parents really appreciated that!
Okay, enough with our finger wagging. Now let's give some credit where credit is due. Fakeawish.com is kind of sick and dangerous … but sort of a cool idea.
The site works this way: they have an array of fake news item templates that range from the completely adolescent and puerile to an array of "dead" celebrity stories. The fun part is you can put the name of anyone – ANYONE – into the template and then you can email the link to friends and suddenly a pretty real looking web page opens with the doctored story.
Check it out, and beware.
