why god hates me

As we reported earlier, Travis Barker and celebrity music spinner, DJ AM were critically injured after their Learjet 60 crashed during takeoff from South Carolina’s Columbia Metropolitan Airport, just before midnight on Friday. The plane was headed for Van Nuys, CA.

The former Blink 182 drummer, Baker, and DJ AM are in critical condition and being treated for severe burns at an Augusta, Georgia burn center.

Barker was transported by ground to the burn facility from the site of the crash.

DJ AM was airlifted.

Four people died in the crash.

The deceased have been identified as pilot Sarah Lemmon, 31, of Anaheim Hills, CA co-pilot James Bland, 52, of Carlsbad, CA, Chris Baker, 29, of Studio City, CA, and Charles Still, 25 of Los Angeles, CA.

Chris was Travis’s assistant.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families.

The plane crash is still under investigation, however, during a press conference late Saturday morning a spokeswoman for the National Transportation Safety Board revealed that the plane overran the airstrip and proceeded to run into a number of the airport’s lights and antenna.

Air traffic controllers reportedly “saw sparks coming from the runway” before the crash. Investigators don’t know if that was from the aircraft or its engines.

A South Carolina resident named William Owens was driving down a highway next to the airport when he said he saw a fireball go across the road. He told local TV station WIS News 10:

“I didn’t know what I had seen — it was maybe 800 feet in front of me, but as I approached it closer though I made out a fire. By then I was able to see the tail of the jet and I recognized it as a jet,” Owens said.

Owens then described what he saw as he tried to make it to the wreckage.

“It’s in flames and the fuel is running across the road and I had to cross the fuel to get to the two guys that seemed to have been dumped on the highway,” Owens said.

Owens said the two men (Travis and DJ AM!) were running around and stripping down to extinguish themselves. He then asked the men if there was anyone else on board the plane and they said four more were with them.

“We turned to the jet to try and see if there was anything we could do, but immediately, there was nothing anyone could do,” Owens said.

Travis and AM were in Columbia, South Carolina Friday night for a T-Mobile sponsored concert at Five Points, a popular shopping district.

Musicians Perry Farrell and Gavin DeGraw were also part of the festivities. Their reps confirmed to us that they WERE NOT on the plane that crashed.

So sad, sad, sad.

[Image via WENN.]

CLICK HERE for all the latest details.

This is heartbreaking! So tragic.

Travis Barker was involved in a fatal private plane crash in Columbia, South Carolina early on Saturday morning, killing four and injuring two.

The former Blink 182 drummer is said to be one of the two injured.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen says the plane carrying six people was departing shortly before midnight Friday when air traffic controllers reporting seeing sparks.

She says the plane went off the runway and crashed on a nearby road.

Bergen says the Lear 60 was headed to Van Nuys, Calif.

She didn’t have the names of those killed and didn’t know the conditions of the two people injured.

Update: Nooooo!!!!!!!!

We are hearing that D.J. A.M. was also on the plane at the time of the crash.

Please pray to God that he is okay!!!!

Update #2: Travis is in “critical” condition.

He’s been transfered to the Agusta, Georgia Burn Center. We pray that his injuries are not severe.

Update #3: D.J. A.M. is alive!!!!!

It’s a miracle!!!!

We’re hearing he is in stable condition but in “shock.”

God was with Travis and A.M.!

Of the six people involved in the fatal plane crash, they were the only two that survived!

So incredibly sad about those lost.

Update #4: An airport spokesperson says the plane - a small lear jet - crashed just after take off a little before midnight Friday. It appears the plane was attempting to take off, ran off the runway, through a fence, and hit an embankment along Highway 302.

The plane then caught fire.

Our heart goes out to the family and friends of those who passed. Their names have yet to be released.

Update #5: Gavin DeGraw and Perry Farrell were also at the concert Travis and A.M. were performing at. It is unknown at this time if either of theme were also on the plane.

Update #6: Federal officials say two crew members and two passengers were killed. They are three males and one female.

Details are still unknown as to what caused the crash.

Update #7: Click here to see pictures and video of the horrific crash.

So sad.

Update #8: We have just learned that Perry Farrell was not on the plane.

[Image via WENN.]

This is heartbreaking! So tragic.

Travis Barker was involved in a fatal private plane crash in Columbia, South Carolina early on Saturday morning, killing four and injuring two.

The former Blink 182 drummer is said to be one of the two injured.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen says the plane carrying six people was departing shortly before midnight Friday when air traffic controllers reporting seeing sparks.

She says the plane went off the runway and crashed on a nearby road.

Bergen says the Lear 60 was headed to Van Nuys, Calif.

She didn’t have the names of those killed and didn’t know the conditions of the two people injured.

Update: Nooooo!!!!!!!!

We are hearing that D.J. A.M. was also on the plane at the time of the crash.

Please pray to God that he is okay!!!!

Update #2: Travis is in “critical” condition.

He’s been transfered to the Agusta, Georgia Burn Center.

Update #3: D.J. A.M. is alive!!!!!

It’s a miracle!!!!

We’re hearing he is in stable condition but in “shock.”

God was with Travis and A.M.!

Of the six people involved in the fatal plane crash, they were the only two that survived!

Thank you, God!

[Image via Pacific Coast News Online.]

It’s back to the surgery room for Shia LaBeouf.

The Transformers star was involved in a late night car crash earlier this summer, which was finally determined to be caused by another driver running a red light - though Shia was drunk driving.

The crash sent him to the hospital.

When he left, he did so with a cast on his left hand. And now, it looks like his hand might need some more surgery.

In a recent interview, LaBeouf says, “I’m working right now. We propped [my hand] together so I could get through ‘Transformers’ and then I’ll go have another surgery and be back to 100 percent.”

Shia is currently promoting his new flick, Eagle Eye. The movie comes out September 26th.

LaBeouf also admits that his hand was worse than what was originally reported.

Shia adds that his fingers are “good”, but just “broken.”

As for the accident causing delays while he was filming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Shia was very vague about that.

He did say about director Michael Bay that, “He plows through. I think we had a day down, two days down, and then we got back to some second unit stuff that we had to get anyways, and I was back two or three weeks before anybody projected me coming back.”

Let’s hope Shia’s late nights of drinking are over as well.

And after he’s done with all his surgeries and rehabilitation, he should be thankful it was only his hand that was injured.

It could have been a lot worse!

[Image via WENN.]

Two Apple customer service representatives told reader Mark to blame his MacBook’s four hard drive crashes on GarageBand, professional-grade software that his puny consumer-grade laptop ‘can’t handle.’ Every MacBook comes with GarageBand pre-loaded as part of Apple’s iLife suite.

Mark writes:

Hello Consumerist,

Recently I went into an Apple Store with a broken hard drive on a black Macbook. This was my third hard drive crash on the machine in 18 months. Previously I had another apple notebook which had no problems in the four years I used it.

After the second hard drive crash I took the machine to the Genius bar for service and it was sent away to Apple in California. After getting it back about ten days later I was informed that they had replaced the DVD drive (?) in addition to the hard drive and was told if I had any trouble with this hard drive they would replace the machine.

This time when my hard drive crashed I took it into to be replaced again. After a few days I called Applecare and asked them whether I could request a replacement machine. They informed me I should contact my local Apple store that was doing the repair and speak to them about a replacement and if that didn’t work I should speak to Customer Relations.

When I called the Apple store I was put on the phone with an Apple Genius again who told me that he wouldn’t replace the machine. I asked him if it was unusual to go through four hard drives in a year and a half and he asked me what I used my machine for.

I told him I was a musician and I recorded using Garageband in addition to surfing the internet, etc. He told me that Macbooks are consumer level machines and that often they can’t handle writing big files like the kind Garageband uses. He said I should use an external hard drive for recording with Garageband.

He refused to replace the machine and when I asked for the number for customer relations, he game me a number which was actually the Apple Care hotline.

After I navigated the Apple Care menu, I spoke to a tech support person who connected me to someone at customer relations. He agreed to replace the machine and was much more polite than the Genius I spoke to on the phone.

He put me on hold and called the store to cancel the repair. After that had been arranged he warned me that since they were replacing the machine if I continued to experience the same behavior with my next machine it would be my fault.

He also told me that Macbooks were consumer level machines and they weren’t made to handle certain programs. I asked him if that included Garageband, which comes in the iLife suite (http://www.apple.com/ilife/) and is obviously targeted at average consumers as it comes with the operating system. He didn’t address that directly, but seemed to agree with me.

I was pleased with the service I got from customer relations and also pleased with Apple agreeing to send me a replacement computer. I can’t say I’m pleased with the Genius bar guy I talked to , though my previous experiences haven’t been so bad and the guy I actually met at the store was nice).

I have to say I’m completely perplexed with why a black (supposedly high-end) Macbook can’t run Garageband without crashing the hard drive. In all their Macbook ads online they show Garageband in the dock of the Macbooks and they include it with all their new computers. Surely it’s meant to be used. Maybe just occasionally?

There’s a world of difference between “can’t handle” and “runs better.” We expect better performance from better hardware, but Apple claims clunky old G4s can handle iLife, so it’s not unreasonable to assume that it will smoothly on Apple’s top-of-the-line consumer notebook. Right? Tell us in the comments if we’re missing something.

Two Apple customer service representatives told reader Mark to blame his MacBook’s four hard drive crashes on GarageBand, professional-grade software that his puny consumer-grade laptop ‘can’t handle.’ Every MacBook comes with GarageBand pre-loaded as part of Apple’s iLife suite.

Mark writes:

Hello Consumerist,

Recently I went into an Apple Store with a broken hard drive on a black Macbook. This was my third hard drive crash on the machine in 18 months. Previously I had another apple notebook which had no problems in the four years I used it.

After the second hard drive crash I took the machine to the Genius bar for service and it was sent away to Apple in California. After getting it back about ten days later I was informed that they had replaced the DVD drive (?) in addition to the hard drive and was told if I had any trouble with this hard drive they would replace the machine.

This time when my hard drive crashed I took it into to be replaced again. After a few days I called Applecare and asked them whether I could request a replacement machine. They informed me I should contact my local Apple store that was doing the repair and speak to them about a replacement and if that didn’t work I should speak to Customer Relations.

When I called the Apple store I was put on the phone with an Apple Genius again who told me that he wouldn’t replace the machine. I asked him if it was unusual to go through four hard drives in a year and a half and he asked me what I used my machine for.

I told him I was a musician and I recorded using Garageband in addition to surfing the internet, etc. He told me that Macbooks are consumer level machines and that often they can’t handle writing big files like the kind Garageband uses. He said I should use an external hard drive for recording with Garageband.

He refused to replace the machine and when I asked for the number for customer relations, he game me a number which was actually the Apple Care hotline.

After I navigated the Apple Care menu, I spoke to a tech support person who connected me to someone at customer relations. He agreed to replace the machine and was much more polite than the Genius I spoke to on the phone.

He put me on hold and called the store to cancel the repair. After that had been arranged he warned me that since they were replacing the machine if I continued to experience the same behavior with my next machine it would be my fault.

He also told me that Macbooks were consumer level machines and they weren’t made to handle certain programs. I asked him if that included Garageband, which comes in the iLife suite (http://www.apple.com/ilife/) and is obviously targeted at average consumers as it comes with the operating system. He didn’t address that directly, but seemed to agree with me.

I was pleased with the service I got from customer relations and also pleased with Apple agreeing to send me a replacement computer. I can’t say I’m pleased with the Genius bar guy I talked to , though my previous experiences haven’t been so bad and the guy I actually met at the store was nice).

I have to say I’m completely perplexed with why a black (supposedly high-end) Macbook can’t run Garageband without crashing the hard drive. In all their Macbook ads online they show Garageband in the dock of the Macbooks and they include it with all their new computers. Surely it’s meant to be used. Maybe just occasionally?

There’s a world of difference between “can’t handle” and “runs better.” We expect better performance from better hardware, but Apple claims clunky old G4s can handle iLife, so it’s not unreasonable to assume that it will smoothly on Apple’s top-of-the-line consumer notebook. Right? Tell us in the comments if we’re missing something.

To everyone affected by the deadly train crash in Chatsworth and Hurricane Ike.