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04:29:49 01/14/12
Ricky Gervais Talks 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards to Broadcast on NBC 1-15-2012
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 04:29:49 01/14/12
Ricky Gervais Talks 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards to Broadcast on NBC 1-15-2012. THE 69TH ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS (TV-PG) LIVE FROM THE BEVERLY HILTON COMES THE 69TH ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS- In the only awards show to honor the best in film and television, Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Ricky Gervais ("The Ricky Gervais Show," "The Office") returns for his third time as host of "The 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards." This year's show will again be broadcast live coast-to-coast. Morgan Freeman is this year’s recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille award and Rainey Qualley (daughter of Andie MacDowell) is Miss Golden Globe. Multi-talented Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Ricky Gervais ("The Office," "The Ricky Gervais Show") returns for the third time as host of NBC's "The 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards" on Sunday, January 15, 2012. This year’s show will again be broadcast live coast-to-coast from 5-8 p.m. (PT) and 8-11 p.m. (ET) from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Creator and star of "The Office" and "Extras," Gervais has won three Golden Globes, two primetime Emmys, and seven BAFTAS. "The Office" is the most successful British comedy of all time, shown in more than 90 countries with seven remakes. The NBC version is the most successful U.S. remake of a British show in more than 30 years. "The 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards" will be seen in more than 160 countries worldwide and is one of the few awards ceremonies that span both television and motion picture achievements. The special will be produced by dick clark productions in association with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Dr. Aida Takla O’Reilly is President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Orly Adelson, president of dick clark productions and Barry Adelman will executive-produce the special. Bob Bardo is the executive in charge of production. For more information on "The 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards" please visit: http://www.nbc.com/golden-globes/ Source: EPK.TV Video for distribution to Diversity News TV courtesy EPK.TV/NBC Media Village.
10 Views
22:00:00 11/17/11
Act Today To Save The Internet - Oppose SOPA
[LESS INFO] 10 VIEWS | ADDED 22:00:00 11/17/11
The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing today on the "Stop Internet Piracy Act" (aka SOPA). In typical Republican fashion, it was not broadcast on CSPAN and many interested parties were excluded from the proceedings. In fact, the only technology company allowed to testify was Google , who opposes the proposed law along with a coalition of companies which includes Facebook, eBay and Zynga , along with others.
If ever there were a law designed to fatten the pockets of intellectual property attorneys, it is this proposed law. It has the potential to change the Internet, and not for the better. Written by and for large media companies like Comcast, it places full responsibility for intellectual property piracy on the shoulders of site owners rather than users.
As currently written, any website that quoted another site's content, or linked to a site that quoted another site's content could be declared a rogue site by the content owner, whether or not that content is subject to fair use rules. Once declared "rogue", companies like Paypal and Visa could then cut off payments immediately without the benefit of a hearing or due process of law. Fair use? Free speech? Forget about it. Here is the official summary from the House Judiciary Committee site. >
This bill focuses not on technology but on preventing those who engage in criminal behavior from reaching directly into the U.S. market to harm American consumers.
We cannot continue a system that allows criminals to disregard our laws and import counterfeit and pirated goods across our physical borders.
Nor can we fail to take effective and meaningful action when criminals misuse the Internet.
The problem of rogue websites is real, immediate and wide-spread. It harms all sectors of the economy.
And its scope is staggering. One recent survey found that nearly one quarter of global Internet traffic infringes on copyrights.
A second study found that 43 sites classified as ‘digital piracy’ generated 53 billion visits per year and that 26 sites selling just counterfeit prescription drugs generated 51 million hits annually.
Since the United States produces the most intellectual property, our country has the most to lose if we fail to address the problem of these rogue websites.
Responsible companies and public officials have taken note of the corrosive and damaging effects of rogue sites.
That last line is dripping with finger-pointing, as the announcement goes on to extol the virtuous Mastercard company while excoriating Google. Mastercard, of course, supports this wholeheartedly, while Google opposes it, along with Facebook and other websites. The Electronic Frontier Foundation points out that s ites like Vimeo, Flickr and Etsy would likely die as a result of this legislation.
Rebecca MacKinnon, former CNN reporter and senior fellow at the New America Foundation, had this to say : >
The bills would empower the attorney general to create a blacklist of sites to be blocked by Internet service providers, search engines, payment providers and advertising networks, all without a court hearing or a trial. The House version goes further, allowing private companies to sue service providers for even briefly and unknowingly hosting content that infringes on copyright — a sharp change from current law, which protects the service providers from civil liability if they remove the problematic content immediately upon notification. The intention is not the same as China’s Great Firewall, a nationwide system of Web censorship, but the practical effect could be similar.
Abuses under existing American law serve as troubling predictors for the kinds of abuse by private actors that the House bill would make possible. Take, for example, the cease-and-desist letters that Diebold, a maker of voting machines, sent in 2003, demanding that Internet service providers shut down Web sites that had published internal company e-mails about problems with the company’s voting machines. The letter cited copyright violations, and most of the service providers took down the content without question, despite the strong case to be made that the material was speech protected under the First Amendment.
Indeed. MacKinnon goes on to point out that this bill goes far beyond intellectual property protection. In particular, the House bill is set up to hold companies liable for users' actions. That would kill YouTube forever, but more importantly, it sets up an environment where power is freely wielded by those with the resources to shut down those without resources. Imagine Fox News declaring this site "rogue", for example. Search engines would block all traffic and results, and our right to speak freely (and criticize them freely) would be infringed upon. The same is true of Media Matters. Those with the lawyers and the money would win by default.
The Occupy movement? Dead. They'd shut down the Facebook and Twitter accounts along with the live stream without cause. Simply call it "rogue" and be done. That's how totalitarian societies operate and it's anathema to anyone who understands the Internet.
BusinessWeek : >
As Brad Burnham of Union Square Ventures says in a blog post, what these bills do is expose a fundamental disconnect between proponents of an open Internet and companies and legislators who would rather create their own kind of Internet: a version of the Web that’s less chaotic, more respectful, and most importantly, a lot easier to control. As Burnham notes, that kind of Internet would make things a lot easier for content producers and entertainment conglomerates, but it would remove or imperil a lot of the things that make the Internet so valuable:
“The Internet is not just a series of pipes. Its core architecture embeds an assumption about human nature.
> The Internet is designed to empower individuals, not control them. It assumes that the if individuals are empowered, they will do the right thing the vast majority of the time.
”
Over the past few days, I've seen reports that this bill is dead and other reports that it's alive and kicking. There are many who are raising their voices against it, including Oregon Senator Wyden, who has placed a hold on it. Unfortunately, it's a bipartisan bill. It shouldn't be. No Democrat should support this kind of suppression online. None. No conservative with true respect for the Constitution should support this kind of suppression, and indeed, one of those who oppose it is Ron Paul, to his credit.
As much as it pains me to admit this, I find myself on the same side as Darrell Issa. Via The Hill : >
Issa said the rush to hold the hearing was based on the flawed assumption that the bipartisan bill would quickly become law and said the sponsors didn’t want to hear from opponents, but must now accept that there is real opposition to their bill.
“What they’re realizing is there are so many unintended consequences that they can’t just use Google as a piñata and bash on it here,” he said, citing the broad coalition of opposition encompassing the tech industry, the left and the right.
“I don’t believe this bill has any chance on the House floor,” Issa added when asked about the odds of the bill moving forward after passing the Judiciary Committee. “I think it’s way too extreme, it infringes on too many areas that our leadership will know is simply too dangerous to do in its current form.”
The bottom line here? Many of these lawmakers don't know enough about the Internet to understand the issues at stake. Further, as companies like Amazon, Apple, Spotify, Hulu and others develop ways to stream their content at affordable prices to users, piracy will likely decline. Dropping a nuclear bomb on the Internet is unnecessary to prevent piracy. This is really about control. Comcast wants control of what users can see and stream on their pipes, something I predicted back when they first proposed merging with NBC-Universal.
This attempt by mega-corporations to take control of the Internet needs to be stopped cold. There has been a huge online response expressing opposition, but it needs to continue. Please sign the EFF petition here , or call your representatives to register your opposition to a law which is unnecessarily draconian and serves only the interests of corporations who do not serve yours.
22 Views
22:00:00 11/17/11
Act Today To Save The Internet - Oppose SOPA
[LESS INFO] 22 VIEWS | ADDED 22:00:00 11/17/11
The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing today on the "Stop Internet Piracy Act" (aka SOPA). In typical Republican fashion, it was not broadcast on CSPAN and many interested parties were excluded from the proceedings. In fact, the only technology company allowed to testify was Google , who opposes the proposed law along with a coalition of companies which includes Facebook, eBay and Zynga , along with others.
If ever there were a law designed to fatten the pockets of intellectual property attorneys, it is this proposed law. It has the potential to change the Internet, and not for the better. Written by and for large media companies like Comcast, it places full responsibility for intellectual property piracy on the shoulders of site owners rather than users.
As currently written, any website that quoted another site's content, or linked to a site that quoted another site's content could be declared a rogue site by the content owner, whether or not that content is subject to fair use rules. Once declared "rogue", companies like Paypal and Visa could then cut off payments immediately without the benefit of a hearing or due process of law. Fair use? Free speech? Forget about it. Here is the official summary from the House Judiciary Committee site. >
This bill focuses not on technology but on preventing those who engage in criminal behavior from reaching directly into the U.S. market to harm American consumers.
We cannot continue a system that allows criminals to disregard our laws and import counterfeit and pirated goods across our physical borders.
Nor can we fail to take effective and meaningful action when criminals misuse the Internet.
The problem of rogue websites is real, immediate and wide-spread. It harms all sectors of the economy.
And its scope is staggering. One recent survey found that nearly one quarter of global Internet traffic infringes on copyrights.
A second study found that 43 sites classified as ‘digital piracy’ generated 53 billion visits per year and that 26 sites selling just counterfeit prescription drugs generated 51 million hits annually.
Since the United States produces the most intellectual property, our country has the most to lose if we fail to address the problem of these rogue websites.
Responsible companies and public officials have taken note of the corrosive and damaging effects of rogue sites.
That last line is dripping with finger-pointing, as the announcement goes on to extol the virtuous Mastercard company while excoriating Google. Mastercard, of course, supports this wholeheartedly, while Google opposes it, along with Facebook and other websites. The Electronic Frontier Foundation points out that s ites like Vimeo, Flickr and Etsy would likely die as a result of this legislation.
Rebecca MacKinnon, former CNN reporter and senior fellow at the New America Foundation, had this to say : >
The bills would empower the attorney general to create a blacklist of sites to be blocked by Internet service providers, search engines, payment providers and advertising networks, all without a court hearing or a trial. The House version goes further, allowing private companies to sue service providers for even briefly and unknowingly hosting content that infringes on copyright — a sharp change from current law, which protects the service providers from civil liability if they remove the problematic content immediately upon notification. The intention is not the same as China’s Great Firewall, a nationwide system of Web censorship, but the practical effect could be similar.
Abuses under existing American law serve as troubling predictors for the kinds of abuse by private actors that the House bill would make possible. Take, for example, the cease-and-desist letters that Diebold, a maker of voting machines, sent in 2003, demanding that Internet service providers shut down Web sites that had published internal company e-mails about problems with the company’s voting machines. The letter cited copyright violations, and most of the service providers took down the content without question, despite the strong case to be made that the material was speech protected under the First Amendment.
Indeed. MacKinnon goes on to point out that this bill goes far beyond intellectual property protection. In particular, the House bill is set up to hold companies liable for users' actions. That would kill YouTube forever, but more importantly, it sets up an environment where power is freely wielded by those with the resources to shut down those without resources. Imagine Fox News declaring this site "rogue", for example. Search engines would block all traffic and results, and our right to speak freely (and criticize them freely) would be infringed upon. The same is true of Media Matters. Those with the lawyers and the money would win by default.
The Occupy movement? Dead. They'd shut down the Facebook and Twitter accounts along with the live stream without cause. Simply call it "rogue" and be done. That's how totalitarian societies operate and it's anathema to anyone who understands the Internet.
BusinessWeek : >
As Brad Burnham of Union Square Ventures says in a blog post, what these bills do is expose a fundamental disconnect between proponents of an open Internet and companies and legislators who would rather create their own kind of Internet: a version of the Web that’s less chaotic, more respectful, and most importantly, a lot easier to control. As Burnham notes, that kind of Internet would make things a lot easier for content producers and entertainment conglomerates, but it would remove or imperil a lot of the things that make the Internet so valuable:
“The Internet is not just a series of pipes. Its core architecture embeds an assumption about human nature.
> The Internet is designed to empower individuals, not control them. It assumes that the if individuals are empowered, they will do the right thing the vast majority of the time.
”
Over the past few days, I've seen reports that this bill is dead and other reports that it's alive and kicking. There are many who are raising their voices against it, including Oregon Senator Wyden, who has placed a hold on it. Unfortunately, it's a bipartisan bill. It shouldn't be. No Democrat should support this kind of suppression online. None. No conservative with true respect for the Constitution should support this kind of suppression, and indeed, one of those who oppose it is Ron Paul, to his credit.
As much as it pains me to admit this, I find myself on the same side as Darrell Issa. Via The Hill : >
Issa said the rush to hold the hearing was based on the flawed assumption that the bipartisan bill would quickly become law and said the sponsors didn’t want to hear from opponents, but must now accept that there is real opposition to their bill.
“What they’re realizing is there are so many unintended consequences that they can’t just use Google as a piñata and bash on it here,” he said, citing the broad coalition of opposition encompassing the tech industry, the left and the right.
“I don’t believe this bill has any chance on the House floor,” Issa added when asked about the odds of the bill moving forward after passing the Judiciary Committee. “I think it’s way too extreme, it infringes on too many areas that our leadership will know is simply too dangerous to do in its current form.”
The bottom line here? Many of these lawmakers don't know enough about the Internet to understand the issues at stake. Further, as companies like Amazon, Apple, Spotify, Hulu and others develop ways to stream their content at affordable prices to users, piracy will likely decline. Dropping a nuclear bomb on the Internet is unnecessary to prevent piracy. This is really about control. Comcast wants control of what users can see and stream on their pipes, something I predicted back when they first proposed merging with NBC-Universal.
This attempt by mega-corporations to take control of the Internet needs to be stopped cold. There has been a huge online response expressing opposition, but it needs to continue. Please sign the EFF petition here , or call your representatives to register your opposition to a law which is unnecessarily draconian and serves only the interests of corporations who do not serve yours.
97 Views
18:13:19 03/25/11
P. W. Singer on Wired for War: Robotics and 21st Century Conflict
[LESS INFO] 97 VIEWS | ADDED 18:13:19 03/25/11
Technology is rapidly evolving the state of modern war, notes political scientist P.W. Singer. But as our battles are increasingly fought at arm's length by unmanned drones and robotic soldiers, how will it change the way we think about conflict? This program was recorded in collaboration with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, on October 2, 2010.
The rate of technological change over the last century has been exponential. According to Moore's Law, computing power has doubled for the price every two years, a trend set to continue or even accelerate. It’s a trend that's seen robotics take centre stage in the theatre of war -- and in some cases, saved many lives.
But according to political scientist P. W. Singer, it may be taking us into the ultimate of ethical grey areas. Singer claims "YouTube wars," fought by remote consoles thousands of kilometres away from the battlelines, have profoundly compromised the gravitas that once accompanied the horrors of warfare. For example, unmanned squadrons of "Predator Drones" currently carry out five times the airstrikes in Pakistan that were waged on Kosovo ten years ago. But, as Singer points out, this isn’t actually referred to as a "war."
As the military becomes increasingly disconnected from the battles they are waging, Singer checks up on the cost to the operators and the targets of our newest "killer apps" -- the unmanned robot armies of the twenty-first century. - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Peter W. Singer was speaking to the Lowy Institute's Rory Medcalf at the Sydney Opera House for the 2010 Festival of Dangerous Ideas. - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Peter Warren Singer is Senior Fellow and Director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at the Brookings Institution. He is the youngest scholar named Senior Fellow in Brookings's 90-year history.
In his personal capacity, Singer served as coordinator of the Obama-08 campaign’s defense policy task force. In 2009, Singer was named by Foreign Policy Magazine to the Top 100 Global Thinkers List, of the people whose ideas most influenced the world that year.
Dr. Singer is considered one of the world's leading experts on changes in 21st century warfare. He was named by the President to Joint Forces Command's Transformation Advisory Group. He has written for the full range of major media and journals, including the Boston Globe, L.A. Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, Current History, Survival, International Security, Parameters, Weltpolitik, and the World Policy Journal.
Dr. Singer’s most recent book, Wired for War (Penguin, 2009), looks at the implications of robotics and other new technologies for war, politics, ethics, and law in the 21st century.
1 Views
22:22:40 02/22/11
Miller / Molenaar #03
[LESS INFO] 1 VIEWS | ADDED 22:22:40 02/22/11
TVGreen's Time Machine presents "The Miller" from the series "Claim to Fame" Now follows a spectacular and very necessary part of the trade. The runner has to be raised in order to edge the bed. That's why the area is first thoroughly cleared of flour. First, the millstone clamps are hooked on; it stays in place because it weighs approximately eighteen hundred kilograms. You lift the stone by turning the screw with its extra long handles. It rises inch by inch. And while the mill keeps grinding with the other stones, the handle creaks and groans under its weight. Slowly, slowly. There we go. Turn it. Right, that's the way. And now, just let the grindstone hang on its side. The stone first has to be cleaned up, of course. The grooves in the bed are deepened. It is these grooves which determine the quality of the flour. You can have beautiful grains of corn, but if they aren't ground well, forget it. The room is darkened and a bright light is put in place. Light from one angle is important, otherwise you can't see what you're doing. Elbows on thighs. The hammer's handle held tight, with two hands. Movement from the wrist. This is called dressing the stone. He likes working on the bluish rock. It doesn't bother him that his hands are full of blue marks from pieces shattered by the hammer. 'My hands show my trade,' he says proudly. The miller's tattoo. Meanwhile, the rest of the day at the mill is the same. The baker comes to pick up his sacks of whole-wheat. When his van is loaded, he heads for his bakery. 'A quiet mill doesn't grind' is the saying. And the truth is that increasingly more mills have become quiet in the past fifty years, for many reasons. The fact that the Dutch stopped eating whole-wheat bread after World War II added to the disappearance of many mills. The few millers who went on grinding worked for cattle-feeders. The revival of interest for the mill, whole-wheat bread, the old-fashioned baker, came in the Seventies. And partly thanks to the health craze which hit the Low Countries, the demand for real bread grew, with consequences for the once popular white bread. Frans has seen the fall and rise of the flour-mill and bakery. But whatever was in the air, he would never leave his mill. And his father had made sure that he would never become dependent on it. Frans is also a traditional baker. There are few millers who know every sound of their mill and what is behind it. A lot of craftsmanship has been lost in the last years. You have to want to do more than paint the outside every once in a while. The inside also has to look good to work. That requires a good deal of technical feeling, experience with wood and knowledge of the friction and wonderful mechanical energy let loose as the mill grinds and groans. You have to know how to maintain the mill, for instance on the cap floor, which is called a grease floor for good reason. If you own a mill, you have to turn it to preserve it. Again and again it is impressive to see and hear the sails being stopped with the brake, either-from inside or from outside on the gallery. The brake is the circular band which clamps on the outside of the axle wheel, so that the powerful grinding mechanism stops. By lowering the beam, the long sabre-like iron tightens the brake around the axle wheel. it looks like a simple operation, but without years of experience and feeling, you could ruin the mill. Once the system is stopped, you can turn the wings to the wind. The mill isn't just turned to the wind. There's storm in the air. He goes to cut the sails. 'It's the best job there is,' says Frans. 'You walk the whole day; you're outside, working with nature. Look, that's where it'll come. Ach, nothing will happen to me, boy. This miller has tackled every wind, eh. Isn't that something? Isn't that something wonderful? Doesn't that make every single day worth it?' broadcast footage: http://www.stockshot.nl/stockshots/beroepen.htm Music title Hypnothis by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) licensed under Creative Commons "Attribution 3.0" webcasted by http://www.tvgreen.nl
35 Views
04:46:21 02/03/11
Massacre of Egyptian People in Tahrir Square, Egypt 2.3.2011
[LESS INFO] 35 VIEWS | ADDED 04:46:21 02/03/11
Toll mounts as pro-democracy supporters apparently come under attack from Mubarak loyalists in the Egyptian capital. Heavy gunfire is being heard in Cairo's Tahrir (Liberation) Square as pro-democracy demonstrators continue to defy curfew in the Egyptian capital. Ambulances were seen heading to the area on Thursday morning and at least two fatalities were reported. Protesters from the pro-democracy and pro-government camps fought pitched battles on Wednesday in Tahrir Square, the epicentre of demonstrations against Hosni Mubarak for the past nine days. At least three people were reported to have died and more than 1,500 others injured in those clashes, according to officials and doctors quoted by the Reuters news agency. An Al Jazeera correspondent, reporting from just outside Tahrir Square late on Wednesday night, said dozens of pro-Mubarak supporters erected barricades on either side of a road, trapping the pro-democracy supporters. They were gathering stones, breaking streetlights and using balaclavas to cover their faces, apparently in preparation for a fresh standoff with the pro-democracy crowd. Our correspondent said local residents thought the men preparing for the standoff were police officers but the claim could not be independently confirmed. Just hours earlier, an Al Jazeera online producer reporting from near Tahrir Square said: "Someone - a few people actually - were dropping homemade bombs into the square from the buildings surrounding it." Gunshots were also regularly ringing out of the square. Army standing by Witnesses said the military allowed thousands of pro-Mubarak supporters, armed with sticks and knives, to enter the square. Opposition groups said Mubarak had sent in thugs to suppress anti-government protests. One of our correspondents said the army seemed to be standing by and facilitating the clashes. Though initially put on the backfoot by the sudden attack, determined anti-government protesters looked to be winning the battle against Mubarak supporters. Witnesses also said that pro-Mubarak supporters were dragging away protesters they had managed to grab and handing them over to security forces. Salma Eltarzi, an anti-government protester, told Al Jazeera there were hundreds of wounded people. "There are no ambulances in sight, and all we are using is Dettol," she said. "We are all so scared." Aisha Hussein, a nurse, said dozens of people were being treated at a makeshift clinic in a mosque near the square. She described a scene of "absolute mayhem", as protesters first began to flood into the clinic. "People are coming in with multiple wounds. All kinds of contusions. We had one guy who needed stitches in two places on his face. Some have broken bones." Mustafa Hussein, a physician who was treating the injured at a makeshift hospital near Tahrir Square, told Al Jazeera that most of the injured protesters "coming in today are suffering from head injuries resulting from rocks being thrown at them". Meanwhile, another Al Jazeera correspondent said men on horseback and camels ploughed into the crowds as army personnel stood by. At least six riders were dragged from their beasts, beaten with sticks by the protesters and taken away with blood streaming down their faces. One of them was dragged away unconscious, with large blood stains on the ground at the site of the clash. The worst of the fighting was just outside the world famous Egyptian Museum, which was targeted by looters last week. Concrete blocks Al Jazeera's correspondent said a group of pro-government protesters took over army vehicles. They also took control of a nearby building and used the rooftop to throw concrete blocks, stones, and other objects. Soldiers surrounding the square took cover from flying stones, and the windows of at least one army vehicle were broken. Some troops stood on tanks and appealed for calm but did not otherwise intervene. Many of the pro-Mubarak supporters raised slogans like "Thirty Years of Stability, Nine Days of Anarchy". Al Jazeera's Jane Dutton, also in Cairo, said that security guards have also been seen amongst the pro-Mubarak supporters, and it may be a precursor to the feared riot police arriving on the scene. Dutton added that a journalist with the Al-Arabiya channel was stabbed during the clashes. Fighting took place around army tanks deployed around the square, with stones bouncing off the armoured vehicles. Several groups were involved in fist fights, and some were using clubs. The opposition also said many among the pro-Mubarak crowd were policemen in plain clothes. "Members of security forces dressed in plain clothes and a number of thugs have stormed Tahrir Square," three opposition groups said in a statement. Mohamed ElBaradei, a prominent opposition figure, accused Mubarak of resorting to scare tactics. Opposition groups have reportedly also seized police identification cards amongst the pro-Mubarak demonstrators.
2 Views
01:58:13 12/21/10
Authors@Google: Lee Thomas
[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 01:58:13 12/21/10
Authors@Google: Lee Thomas
Lee Thomas is a playwright, journalist, and four-time Emmy Award-winning television broadcaster. The son of a military officer and a nurse assistant, Thomas got zest for life and love for people from his strong family and their many travels. Currently residing in Detroit, he is an anchor/entertainment reporter and regularly goes to Hollywood to chat with the stars. While dealing with the rich and famous he never thought the toughest story to tell would happen by turning the spotlight on himself, revealing a secret that was in plain sight. Lee Thomas, an African-American broadcaster, is turning white. In 1996 he was diagnosed with the pigment disorder, vitiligo. Thomas has a BA in Speech Communications from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. As a broadcast journalist he has worked for the national television show "Channel One"; WABC 7 Eyewitness News in New York City; and WJBK Fox 2 News in Detroit. He can be seen daily on Fox 2 morning in Detroit. From: AtGoogleTalks Views: 1511 2 ratings Time: 54:35 More in People & Blogs
23 Views
15:19:39 05/22/10
Gerd Leonhard live on Roda Viva / TV Cultura Brazil
[LESS INFO] 23 VIEWS | ADDED 15:19:39 05/22/10
This is the complete, 75-minute video of my appearance on Brazil's most popular talk show on Public TV, called Roda Viva http://www.tvcultura.com.br/rodaviva/ (on the TV Cultura channel). I was delighted to be invited to the show, and really enjoyed being 'grilled' by the super-smart journalists and Brazilian media experts in the studio. We could have talked forever! The show was originally broadcast on April 26 but unfortunately the webcast did not work very well so this is the first time I have seen the video, myself, and thanks to Roda Viva / TV Cultura I am delighted to be able to share this recording with you, as well. More information about the show is http://www.mediafuturist.com/2010/05/video-audio-roda-viva-tv-cultura-brazil-april.html. Related activities on this trip include: my presentation for NBS Brazil "The Future of Communications and Business", and my presentation at Fundacao Dom Cabral (one of Brazil's best business schools) on "The Open Network Economy". Please note: the video is half Portuguese (the questions) and half English (my replies)
20 Views
15:40:50 12/30/09
The Book of Eli- DENZEL WASHINGTON's stunt work
[LESS INFO] 20 VIEWS | ADDED 15:40:50 12/30/09
Synopsis
In the not-too-distant future, some 30 years after the final war, a solitary man walks across the wasteland that was once America. Empty cities, broken highways, seared earth--all around him, the marks of catastrophic destruction. There is no civilization here, no law. The roads belong to gangs that would murder a man for his shoes, an ounce of water...or for nothing at all.
But they're no match for this traveler.
A warrior not by choice but necessity, Eli (Denzel Washington) seeks only peace but, if challenged, will cut his attackers down before they realize their fatal mistake. It's not his life he guards so fiercely but his hope for the future; a hope he has carried and protected for 30 years and is determined to realize. Driven by this commitment and guided by his belief in something greater than himself, Eli does what he must to survive--and continue.
Only one other man in this ruined world understands the power Eli holds, and is determined to make it his own: Carnegie (Gary Oldman), the self-appointed despot of a makeshift town of thieves and gunmen. Meanwhile, Carnegie's adopted daughter Solara (Mila Kunis) is fascinated by Eli for another reason: the glimpse he offers of what may exist beyond her stepfather's domain.
But neither will find it easy to deter him. Nothing--and no one--can stand in his way. Eli must keep moving to fulfill his destiny and bring help to a ravaged humanity.
Alcon Entertainment presents a Silver Pictures production, a Hughes Brothers Film: "The Book of Eli." The film stars two-time Academy Award winner® Denzel Washington ("Training Day," "Glory"), Gary Oldman ("The Dark Knight," the "Harry Potter" films), Mila Kunis ("Forgetting Sarah Marshall"), Ray Stevenson ("Punisher: War Zone"), Jennifer Beals (Showtime's "The L Word"), Frances de la Tour and Michael Gambon (both of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire").
"The Book of Eli" is directed by the Hughes Brothers ("Menace II Society," "Dead Presidents") from a screenplay by Gary Whitta. It is produced by Joel Silver, Denzel Washington, Broderick Johnson, Andrew A. Kosove and David Valdes. Steve Richards, Susan Downey and Erik Olsen serve as executive producers, with co-producers Steven P. Wegner, Yolanda T. Cochran and John David Washington.
The creative team includes director of photography Don Burgess, production designer Gae Buckley, editor Cindy Mollo and costume designer Sharen Davis. Jon Farhat is the visual effects supervisor. Music is composed by Atticus Ross, and the music supervisor is Deva Anderson. The Cast
DENZEL WASHINGTON (Eli/Producer) has been honored with five Academy Award® nominations, winning the Oscar® twice: in 1989 for his performance in "Glory" and again in 2001 for "Training Day." He has earned numerous additional awards and accolades throughout his acting career as well as recognition for his work as a director.
Currently, Washington is in production on director Tony Scott's action thriller "Unstoppable," which is scheduled for a 2010 release. In Spring 2010, he will also star on Broadway in the revival of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama "Fences."
He most recently starred with John Travolta in Tony Scott's remake of "The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three"; directed and starred in, with Forest Whitaker, "The Great Debaters'; starred with Russell Crowe in Ridley Scott's "American Gangster," which grossed $43.6M in its first weekend to mark Washington's largest opening weekend to date; starred in Spike Lee's "Inside Man," with Clive Owen and Jodie Foster; and starred in Tony Scott's romantic thriller "Deja Vu." His other recent film work includes roles in Tony Scott's "Man on Fire," Jonathan Demme's "The Manchurian Candidate," Carl Franklin's mystery thriller "Out of Time" and Antoine Fuqua's "Training Day," for which Washington earned an Academy Award® for his critically acclaimed performance as a grizzled LAPD veteran who shows a rookie narcotics cop the ropes on his first day.
December 2002 marked Washington's feature film directorial debut with "Antwone Fisher." Inspired by the best-selling autobiography Finding Fish , the film won critical praise and earned the Stanley Kramer Award from the Producers Guild of America, as well as NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Motion Picture and Outstanding Supporting Actor for Washington. Also in 2002, Washington earned an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for his role as a down-on-his-luck father in "John Q," which established a Presidents Day weekend opening record.
In 2000 he starred in Jerry Bruckheimer's box office sensation "Remember the Titans," a fact-based film about the integration of a high school football team, and in "The Hurricane," which re-teamed him with "A Soldier's Story" director Norman Jewison. Washington received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and an Academy Award® nomination for his portrayal of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, the 1960s world middleweight champion boxer wrongfully imprisoned of murder.
Washington's feature film credits include "The Bone Collector"; Gregory Hoblit's crime thriller "Fallen"; Spike Lee's "He Got Game"; the terrorist thriller "The Siege" and the critically acclaimed military drama "Courage Under Fire" for director Ed Zwick; Penny Marshall's romantic comedy "The Preacher's Wife," opposite Whitney Houston; Tony Scott's underwater action adventure "Crimson Tide," with Gene Hackman; the futuristic thriller "Virtuosity"; and the 1940s romantic thriller "Devil in a Blue Dress," co-produced by the actor's Mundy Lane Entertainment. Another critically acclaimed, Oscar® -nominated performance was his portrayal of the complex and controversial 1960s black activist Malcolm X in director Spike Lee's biographical epic "Malcolm X," hailed by critics and audiences alike as one of the best films of 1992.
Washington took on a different role in 2000, producing the HBO documentary "Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks," nominated for two Emmy Awards. He also served as executive producer on the Emmy-nominated "Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream," a biography for TBS. Additionally, he narrated "John Henry," which was nominated for a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children, and he was awarded the 1996 NAACP Image Award for his performance in the animated children's special "Happily Ever After: Rumpelstiltskin."
A native of Mt. Vernon, New York, Washington originally had his career sights set on medicine at Fordham University when a theatrical production during a summer camp counseling job introduced him to the stage. Upon graduation from Fordham, Washington attended the theater program at San Francisco's prestigious American Conservatory Theater and began his professional New York theater career with Joseph Papp's Shakespeare in the Park. This was quickly followed by numerous off-Broadway productions including "Ceremonies in Dark Old Men"; "When the Chickens Came Home to Roost," in which he portrayed Malcolm X"; "One Tiger to a Hill"; "Man and Superman"; "Othello"; and "A Soldier's Play," for which he won an Obie Award. Washington's more recent stage appearances include the Broadway production of "Checkmates" and "Richard III," which was produced as part of the 1990 Free Shakespeare in the Park series hosted by Joseph Papp's Public Theatre in New York City, and in 2005 he returned again to his theatre roots with a Broadway starring role as Marcus Brutus in "Julius Caesar." The show was well-received by critics and fans alike.
He made his Hollywood debut in the 1979 television film "Flesh and Blood," but it was Washington's award-winning stage performance in "A Soldier's Play" that captured the attention of the producers of the NBC series "St. Elsewhere," and he was soon cast in that long-running hit series as Dr. Phillip Chandler. His other television credits include "The George McKenna Story," "License to Kill," and "Wilma."
In 1982, Washington recreated his role from "A Soldier's Play" for Norman Jewison's well-received film version, re-titled "A Soldier's Story," and went on to star in Sidney Lumet's "Power"; Richard Attenborough's "Cry Freedom," for which he received his first Oscar® nomination; "For Queen and Country"; "The Mighty Quinn"; "Heart Condition"; "Glory," for which he won the Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actor; and Spike Lee's "Mo' Better Blues." He also starred in the action adventure "Ricochet," Mira Nair's bittersweet comedy "Mississippi Masala," Kenneth Branagh's "Much Ado About Nothing," Jonathan Demme's controversial "Philadelphia," and "The Pelican Brief."
GARY OLDMAN (Carnegie) is known to millions as Harry Potter's godfather Sirius Black and Batman's crime-fighting partner Commissioner Gordon, as well as Dracula, Beethoven, Lee Harvey Oswald and Sid Vicious, to name just a few of the memorable roles he has created in nearly 20 years as a worldwide presence in motion pictures.
Oldman reprised the role of Commissioner Gordon in 2008's top-grossing film "The Dark Knight," having first portrayed Gordon in "Batman Begins." In 2007 he appeared for the third time as Sirius Black in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," following "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." He most recently starred with Jim Carrey in Robert Zemeckis' adaptation of Charles Dickens' holiday classic "A Christmas Carol."
Oldman began his career in 1979 on the London stage. Between 1985 and 1989 he acted exclusively at London's Royal Court Theatre and, in 1985, was named Best Newcomer by London's Time Out for his work in "The Pope's Wedding." That same year he shared the London Critics' Circle Best Actor Award with Anthony Hopkins.
In 1986, Oldman made his major feature film debut in "Sid & Nancy," winning the Evening Standard British Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer for his portrayal of punk rock legend Sid Vicious. The following year, he starred in Stephen Frears' "Prick Up Your Ears," winning the Best Actor Award from the London Film Critics Circle for his portrayal of doomed British playwright Joe Orton. He has since become one of the industry's most respected actors, appearing in both mainstream hits and acclaimed independent films. Oldman's early film credits also include Nicolas Roeg's "Track 29"; "Criminal Law"; "Chattahoochee"; Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead," for which he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actor; "State of Grace"; "Henry & June"; Oliver Stone's "JFK," playing Lee Harvey Oswald; and the title role in Francis Ford Coppola's "Dracula."
Oldman's subsequent film work includes memorable roles in Tony Scott's "True Romance"; "Romeo is Bleeding"; the Luc Besson films "The Professional" and "The Fifth Element"; "Immortal Beloved"; "Murder in the First"; Roland Joffe's "The Scarlet Letter"; Julian Schnabel's "Basquiat"; Wolfgang Petersen's "Air Force One"; the big screen version of "Lost in Space"; and Ridley Scott's "Hannibal."
In 1995, Oldman and manager/producing partner Douglas Urbanski formed the production company The SE8 Group, which produced Oldman's directorial debut feature "Nil by Mouth," which Oldman also wrote. The film was invited to open the 1997 50th Cannes Film Festival in the main competition, where Kathy Burke won the Best Actress Award for her role. In addition, Oldman won two BAFTA Awards for Best British Film and Best Screenplay; the Channel 4 Director's Award at the 1997 Edinburgh International Film Festival; and the Empire Award for Best Debut Film. He also executive produced and starred in the SE8 Group film "The Contender," which received two Oscar® nominations and brought Oldman a Screen Actors Guild Award® nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
On the small screen, Oldman earned an Emmy nomination for his guest appearance as an alcoholic actor on the hit comedy series "Friends." His earlier television work includes the telefilms "Meantime," directed by Mike Leigh, and "The Firm," directed by Alan Clarke.
MILA KUNIS (Solara) most recently starred in the Mike Judge comedy "Extract," opposite Jason Bateman and Ben Affleck. In 2008 she starred in Judd Apatow's hit comedy "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" as Rachel, opposite Jason Segel, Kirsten Bell, and Jonah Hill, and in the action thriller "Max Payne," with Mark Wahlberg.
Kunis will next be seen in the upcoming feature comedy "Date Night," with Ray Liotta, Mark Ruffalo, Tina Fey, and Steve Carell as one of the characters Fey and Carell encounter as a couple on a date gone awry. She will also star in Darren Aronofsky's supernatural drama "Black Swan," opposite Natalie Portman, as the rival character Lilly. Both films are set for a 2010 release.
The Russian-born actress started her entertainment career by landing several television commercials. She is best known for her roles on two of the Fox Network's most successful shows: as Jackie Burkhart in "That 70's Show," for which she earned two YoungStar Awards for Best Actress in a Television Series, and as the voice of Meg on the hit show "Family Guy."
RAY STEVENSON (Redridge) is perhaps best known for his starring role in the HBO/BBC television series "Rome," portraying the legionary Titus Pullo to both critical and public acclaim. Since the series wrapped, he has been working non-stop in a wide variety of feature films.
Stevenson most recently starred in the fantasy thriller "Cirque de Freak: The Vampire's Assistant," directed by Paul Weitz and based on the best-selling children's series by Darren Shan. In 2008, he was seen as the lead in "Punisher: War Zone," about the Marvel comics anti-hero Frank Castle and his quest to rid the world of evil after the death of his wife and daughter.
He will next be seen in director Jonathan Hensleigh's "The Irishman," as the title character in a true crime story of notorious mobster Danny Greene, with Christopher Walken, Vincent D'Onofrio and Val Kilmer, set for 2010. Hensleigh & Jeremy Walters wrote the screenplay based on the book To Kill the Irishman: The War That Crippled the Mafia, by Rick Porello. Also set for 2010 is Adam McKay's action comedy "The Other Guys," set in the world of the New York City cops, in which Stevenson stars with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg. Among his upcoming projects, Stevenson will play Volstagg, one of the leads in Marvel Comics' "Thor," inspired by the Shakespeare's Falstaff and described as being over 1,000 pounds of muscle and the life of the party. This will reunite him with director Kenneth Branagh, who acted opposite him in "Theory of Flight" for director Paul Greengrass.
Stevenson's film work includes Antoine Fuqua's "King Arthur," for producer Jerry Bruckheimer; the cult favorite "Outpost," for director Steven Barker; "The Return of the Native," opposite Catherine Zeta Jones; and "Some Kind of Life."
His stage work includes playing Christ in the York Mystery Plays in 2000 at York Minster. In 2001, he played Roger in "Mouth to Mouth," by Kevin Ely, at the Albery Theatre in London, and, in 2003, appeared as Cardinal in "The Duchess of Malfi," by John Webster with Janet McTeer, at the Royal National Theatre.
Born in Northern Ireland, Stevenson grew up in England. He studied acting at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
JENNIFER BEALS (Claudia) most recently appeared in the French film "Joueuse," which made its American premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Beals was twice nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series by the NAACP Image Awards for her role in the acclaimed Showtime series "The L Word," which wrapped its sixth and final season in 2009. Her work on "The L Word" has earned numerous accolades and appreciation from groups including the Power Up Award, the GLAAD Golden Gate Award and the Golden Satellite Award for Outstanding Actress. The L Word Book , Beals' highly anticipated photographic journal, takes an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look at the groundbreaking Showtime series and is set for release in January 2010. More information is available at www.lwordbook.com.
Beals recently joined the cast of the Fox Network series "Lie to Me," in a recurring role as the ex-wife of series lead Tim Roth.
Among her most memorable roles, Beals starred opposite Campbell Scott in the critically acclaimed film "Roger Dodger," winner of the 2002 Best Narrative Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival and Best First Film at the Venice Film Festival. She earned rave reviews for her role in VH-1's "They Shoot Divas, Don't They?" and was seen in the acclaimed "The Anniversary Party," written and directed by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cummings. In 2001, Beals starred in two Showtime features: the adaptation of Anne Rice's praised "A Feast of All Saints" and the WGA-nominated "A House Divided," in which she starred opposite Sam Waterston and Lisa Gay Hamilton and earned a Golden Satellite nomination as Best Actress in a Movie/Miniseries. For her extensive research for the film in Sparta, Georgia, where the story is based, she received an honorary Key to the City.
Originally from Chicago, Beals began her career after high school with a role in "Flashdance" that earned her a Golden Globe nomination and an NAACP Image Award for Best Actress. She then entered Yale University to study American Literature and graduated with honors. Beals went on to make an indelible impression in Carl Franklin's drama "Devil in a Blue Dress," opposite Denzel Washington, and in Alan Rudolph's "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle."
In recent years, she has starred in a myriad of film roles, including the lead in "Twilight of the Golds," for which she earned a Golden Satellite Award. Her film credits include "The Grudge 2"; "My Name is Sarah"; "Runaway Jim"; "Catch That Kid"; Whit Stillman's "The Last Days of Disco"; Alexandre Rockwell's "In the Soup," which won the 1992 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Audience Award at Deauville; "Four Rooms"; "Vampire's Kiss," with Nicolas Cage; Claude Chabrol's "Doctor M"; Nanni Moretti's "Caro Diario," which won the Director's Prize at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival; and Samuel Fuller's "The Madonna and the Dragon." On the small screen, she has appeared in the critically acclaimed ABC series "Nothing Sacred."
Beals is a winner of the 1999 Maverick Award from the San Jose Film Festival and, in 2004, was named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People.
FRANCES DE LA TOUR (Martha) won a Tony Award for her performance as Mrs. Lintott in Alan Bennett's multi award-winning play "The History Boys," directed by Nicholas Hytner, and was also nominated for a BAFTA in the 2006 screen version of the stage play. She has earned three Olivier Awards: in 1980 for Best Actress in Tom Kempinski's "Duet for One," for which she also won the Evening Standard Best Actress Award; in 1984 for Best Actress in a Revival for "A Moon for the Misbegotten"; and in 1992 for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for "When She Danced."
De la Tour trained at the Drama Centre in London in the 1960s before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company. Through 1971, her work there included the roles of Hoyden in "The Relapse" and Helena in Peter Brook's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." For the National Theatre, her credits include "Brighton Beach Memoirs," "Les Parents Terribles," the title role in "St Joan" and "The Good Hope." Her additional theater work includes Matthew Warchus's "Boeing-Boeing," Tennessee Williams' "Small Craft Warnings," "Hamlet," Edward Albee's "Three Tall Women," "Anthony and Cleopatra" for the RSC and Noel Coward's "Fallen Angels," for which she received a Variety Club Best Actress Award. De la Tour can currently be seen on stage at the National in the limited engagement world premiere of "The Habit of Art," which reunites her with playwright Alan Bennett and director Nicholas Hytner and also stars Michael Gambon.
De la Tour's filmography includes the comedy "Rising Damp," based on the popular television series, for which she won the Evening Standard's Best Actress Award. She more recently appeared as Madame Olympe Maxime in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and as Frau Eva in Andrei Konchalovsky's fantasy "Nutcracker: The Untold Story." She will next be seen alongside an all-star cast including Johnny Depp and Anne Hathaway in Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland," set for a 2010 release.
Her television appearances include the 1970s sitcom "Rising Damp," "Duet for One," for which she received a BAFTA Best Actress nomination, the BBC's "Waking the Dead," "Poirot: Death on the Nile," "Miss Marple: The Moving Finger," BBC's "Sensitive Skin" and, most recently, the CBS-TV series "3 lbs."
MICHAEL GAMBON (George) started his career with the Edwards/ Macliammoir Gate Theatre in Dublin. He joined the National Theatre for its inaugural season under Laurence Olivier at the Old Vic in 1963 and appeared there in "Hamlet," "Saint Joan," "The Recruiting Officer," "Andorra," "Philoctetes," "Othello," "The Royal Hunt of the Sun," "The Crucible," "Mother Courage," "Love for Love," "Juno and the Paycock" and "The Storm."
In repertory, principally at Birmingham Rep, Gambon played title roles in "Othello," "Macbeth" and "Coriolanus."
In the West End, he has appeared in Simon Gray's "Otherwise Engaged"; Alan Ayckbourn's "The Norman Conquest"; "Just Between Ourselves"; "Alice's Boys," with Ralph Richardson; Harold Pinter's "Old Times; the title role in "Uncle Vanya"; "Tom and Clem" and "No Man's Land."
With the Royal Shakespeare Company, he spent a season at the Aldwych and later played the title part in "King Lear" and Antony in "Antony and Cleopatra," opposite Helen Mirren, both at Stratford and the Barbican.
For the National Theatre, Gambon has appeared in the premieres of Harold Pinter's "Betrayal," Simon Gray's "Close of Play," Christopher Hampton's "Tales From Hollywood," Alan Ayckbourn's "Sisterly Feelings," and "A Chorus of Disapproval," for which he won an Olivier Award, as well as "A Small Family Business," "Richard III," "Othello," "Tons of Money," the title role in "The Life of Galileo," "Volpone" and "Skylight." He recreated his starring role in the latter on Broadway in 1996 for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. Also for the National Theatre, Gambon played Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge," which transferred to the Aldwych Theatre and for which he won all the major drama awards of 1987.
He was in Harold Pinter's "Mountain Language," "Cressida," at the Almeida, and Pinter's "The Caretaker," for which he earned an Olivier Award nomination. Gambon also directed the Platford Performance of Richard Harris' "Visiting Hour."
His television appearances include the BBC's first adventure series in color, "The Borderers," "Eyeless in Gaza," the series "The Other One," with Richard Briers, "The Seagull," "The Holy Experiment," Oscar," "Ghosts" and the Dennis Potter series "The Singing Detective," for which he won a BAFTA Award, a Broadcasting Press Guild Award and a Royal Television Society Award. He also starred in "The Heat of the Day," scripted by Harold Pinter from Elizabeth Bowen's novel, and was Archie Rice in John Osborne's "The Entertainer." More recently, he portrayed Lyndon Johnson in the HBO film "Path to War" and starred in HBO's "Angels in America," directed by Mike Nichols.
Gambon's film credits include "Turtle Diary," David Hare's "Paris By Night," "A Dry White Season," with Marlon Brando, "The Rachel Papers," Peter Greenaway's "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover," "The Gambler," "Mobsters," "Clean Slate," "Toys," "Indian Warrior," "Wings of the Dove," "The Innocent Sleep," "Dancing at Lughnasa," "Sleepy Hollow," "The Insider," "Gosford Park," Open Range" and four of the Harry Potter films: "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and 2009's "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."
In 1998, Gambon was awarded a KBE in the Queen's Honour List.
Genres: Epic Adventure Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, and Sigourney Weaver Directed By: James Cameron Produced By: James Cameron, Jon Landau
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19 Views
15:40:50 12/30/09
The Book of Eli- DENZEL WASHINGTON's stunt work
[LESS INFO] 19 VIEWS | ADDED 15:40:50 12/30/09
Synopsis
In the not-too-distant future, some 30 years after the final war, a solitary man walks across the wasteland that was once America. Empty cities, broken highways, seared earth--all around him, the marks of catastrophic destruction. There is no civilization here, no law. The roads belong to gangs that would murder a man for his shoes, an ounce of water...or for nothing at all.
But they're no match for this traveler.
A warrior not by choice but necessity, Eli (Denzel Washington) seeks only peace but, if challenged, will cut his attackers down before they realize their fatal mistake. It's not his life he guards so fiercely but his hope for the future; a hope he has carried and protected for 30 years and is determined to realize. Driven by this commitment and guided by his belief in something greater than himself, Eli does what he must to survive--and continue.
Only one other man in this ruined world understands the power Eli holds, and is determined to make it his own: Carnegie (Gary Oldman), the self-appointed despot of a makeshift town of thieves and gunmen. Meanwhile, Carnegie's adopted daughter Solara (Mila Kunis) is fascinated by Eli for another reason: the glimpse he offers of what may exist beyond her stepfather's domain.
But neither will find it easy to deter him. Nothing--and no one--can stand in his way. Eli must keep moving to fulfill his destiny and bring help to a ravaged humanity.
Alcon Entertainment presents a Silver Pictures production, a Hughes Brothers Film: "The Book of Eli." The film stars two-time Academy Award winner® Denzel Washington ("Training Day," "Glory"), Gary Oldman ("The Dark Knight," the "Harry Potter" films), Mila Kunis ("Forgetting Sarah Marshall"), Ray Stevenson ("Punisher: War Zone"), Jennifer Beals (Showtime's "The L Word"), Frances de la Tour and Michael Gambon (both of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire").
"The Book of Eli" is directed by the Hughes Brothers ("Menace II Society," "Dead Presidents") from a screenplay by Gary Whitta. It is produced by Joel Silver, Denzel Washington, Broderick Johnson, Andrew A. Kosove and David Valdes. Steve Richards, Susan Downey and Erik Olsen serve as executive producers, with co-producers Steven P. Wegner, Yolanda T. Cochran and John David Washington.
The creative team includes director of photography Don Burgess, production designer Gae Buckley, editor Cindy Mollo and costume designer Sharen Davis. Jon Farhat is the visual effects supervisor. Music is composed by Atticus Ross, and the music supervisor is Deva Anderson. The Cast
DENZEL WASHINGTON (Eli/Producer) has been honored with five Academy Award® nominations, winning the Oscar® twice: in 1989 for his performance in "Glory" and again in 2001 for "Training Day." He has earned numerous additional awards and accolades throughout his acting career as well as recognition for his work as a director.
Currently, Washington is in production on director Tony Scott's action thriller "Unstoppable," which is scheduled for a 2010 release. In Spring 2010, he will also star on Broadway in the revival of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama "Fences."
He most recently starred with John Travolta in Tony Scott's remake of "The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three"; directed and starred in, with Forest Whitaker, "The Great Debaters'; starred with Russell Crowe in Ridley Scott's "American Gangster," which grossed $43.6M in its first weekend to mark Washington's largest opening weekend to date; starred in Spike Lee's "Inside Man," with Clive Owen and Jodie Foster; and starred in Tony Scott's romantic thriller "Deja Vu." His other recent film work includes roles in Tony Scott's "Man on Fire," Jonathan Demme's "The Manchurian Candidate," Carl Franklin's mystery thriller "Out of Time" and Antoine Fuqua's "Training Day," for which Washington earned an Academy Award® for his critically acclaimed performance as a grizzled LAPD veteran who shows a rookie narcotics cop the ropes on his first day.
December 2002 marked Washington's feature film directorial debut with "Antwone Fisher." Inspired by the best-selling autobiography Finding Fish , the film won critical praise and earned the Stanley Kramer Award from the Producers Guild of America, as well as NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Motion Picture and Outstanding Supporting Actor for Washington. Also in 2002, Washington earned an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for his role as a down-on-his-luck father in "John Q," which established a Presidents Day weekend opening record.
In 2000 he starred in Jerry Bruckheimer's box office sensation "Remember the Titans," a fact-based film about the integration of a high school football team, and in "The Hurricane," which re-teamed him with "A Soldier's Story" director Norman Jewison. Washington received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and an Academy Award® nomination for his portrayal of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, the 1960s world middleweight champion boxer wrongfully imprisoned of murder.
Washington's feature film credits include "The Bone Collector"; Gregory Hoblit's crime thriller "Fallen"; Spike Lee's "He Got Game"; the terrorist thriller "The Siege" and the critically acclaimed military drama "Courage Under Fire" for director Ed Zwick; Penny Marshall's romantic comedy "The Preacher's Wife," opposite Whitney Houston; Tony Scott's underwater action adventure "Crimson Tide," with Gene Hackman; the futuristic thriller "Virtuosity"; and the 1940s romantic thriller "Devil in a Blue Dress," co-produced by the actor's Mundy Lane Entertainment. Another critically acclaimed, Oscar® -nominated performance was his portrayal of the complex and controversial 1960s black activist Malcolm X in director Spike Lee's biographical epic "Malcolm X," hailed by critics and audiences alike as one of the best films of 1992.
Washington took on a different role in 2000, producing the HBO documentary "Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks," nominated for two Emmy Awards. He also served as executive producer on the Emmy-nominated "Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream," a biography for TBS. Additionally, he narrated "John Henry," which was nominated for a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children, and he was awarded the 1996 NAACP Image Award for his performance in the animated children's special "Happily Ever After: Rumpelstiltskin."
A native of Mt. Vernon, New York, Washington originally had his career sights set on medicine at Fordham University when a theatrical production during a summer camp counseling job introduced him to the stage. Upon graduation from Fordham, Washington attended the theater program at San Francisco's prestigious American Conservatory Theater and began his professional New York theater career with Joseph Papp's Shakespeare in the Park. This was quickly followed by numerous off-Broadway productions including "Ceremonies in Dark Old Men"; "When the Chickens Came Home to Roost," in which he portrayed Malcolm X"; "One Tiger to a Hill"; "Man and Superman"; "Othello"; and "A Soldier's Play," for which he won an Obie Award. Washington's more recent stage appearances include the Broadway production of "Checkmates" and "Richard III," which was produced as part of the 1990 Free Shakespeare in the Park series hosted by Joseph Papp's Public Theatre in New York City, and in 2005 he returned again to his theatre roots with a Broadway starring role as Marcus Brutus in "Julius Caesar." The show was well-received by critics and fans alike.
He made his Hollywood debut in the 1979 television film "Flesh and Blood," but it was Washington's award-winning stage performance in "A Soldier's Play" that captured the attention of the producers of the NBC series "St. Elsewhere," and he was soon cast in that long-running hit series as Dr. Phillip Chandler. His other television credits include "The George McKenna Story," "License to Kill," and "Wilma."
In 1982, Washington recreated his role from "A Soldier's Play" for Norman Jewison's well-received film version, re-titled "A Soldier's Story," and went on to star in Sidney Lumet's "Power"; Richard Attenborough's "Cry Freedom," for which he received his first Oscar® nomination; "For Queen and Country"; "The Mighty Quinn"; "Heart Condition"; "Glory," for which he won the Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actor; and Spike Lee's "Mo' Better Blues." He also starred in the action adventure "Ricochet," Mira Nair's bittersweet comedy "Mississippi Masala," Kenneth Branagh's "Much Ado About Nothing," Jonathan Demme's controversial "Philadelphia," and "The Pelican Brief."
GARY OLDMAN (Carnegie) is known to millions as Harry Potter's godfather Sirius Black and Batman's crime-fighting partner Commissioner Gordon, as well as Dracula, Beethoven, Lee Harvey Oswald and Sid Vicious, to name just a few of the memorable roles he has created in nearly 20 years as a worldwide presence in motion pictures.
Oldman reprised the role of Commissioner Gordon in 2008's top-grossing film "The Dark Knight," having first portrayed Gordon in "Batman Begins." In 2007 he appeared for the third time as Sirius Black in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," following "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." He most recently starred with Jim Carrey in Robert Zemeckis' adaptation of Charles Dickens' holiday classic "A Christmas Carol."
Oldman began his career in 1979 on the London stage. Between 1985 and 1989 he acted exclusively at London's Royal Court Theatre and, in 1985, was named Best Newcomer by London's Time Out for his work in "The Pope's Wedding." That same year he shared the London Critics' Circle Best Actor Award with Anthony Hopkins.
In 1986, Oldman made his major feature film debut in "Sid & Nancy," winning the Evening Standard British Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer for his portrayal of punk rock legend Sid Vicious. The following year, he starred in Stephen Frears' "Prick Up Your Ears," winning the Best Actor Award from the London Film Critics Circle for his portrayal of doomed British playwright Joe Orton. He has since become one of the industry's most respected actors, appearing in both mainstream hits and acclaimed independent films. Oldman's early film credits also include Nicolas Roeg's "Track 29"; "Criminal Law"; "Chattahoochee"; Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead," for which he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actor; "State of Grace"; "Henry & June"; Oliver Stone's "JFK," playing Lee Harvey Oswald; and the title role in Francis Ford Coppola's "Dracula."
Oldman's subsequent film work includes memorable roles in Tony Scott's "True Romance"; "Romeo is Bleeding"; the Luc Besson films "The Professional" and "The Fifth Element"; "Immortal Beloved"; "Murder in the First"; Roland Joffe's "The Scarlet Letter"; Julian Schnabel's "Basquiat"; Wolfgang Petersen's "Air Force One"; the big screen version of "Lost in Space"; and Ridley Scott's "Hannibal."
In 1995, Oldman and manager/producing partner Douglas Urbanski formed the production company The SE8 Group, which produced Oldman's directorial debut feature "Nil by Mouth," which Oldman also wrote. The film was invited to open the 1997 50th Cannes Film Festival in the main competition, where Kathy Burke won the Best Actress Award for her role. In addition, Oldman won two BAFTA Awards for Best British Film and Best Screenplay; the Channel 4 Director's Award at the 1997 Edinburgh International Film Festival; and the Empire Award for Best Debut Film. He also executive produced and starred in the SE8 Group film "The Contender," which received two Oscar® nominations and brought Oldman a Screen Actors Guild Award® nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
On the small screen, Oldman earned an Emmy nomination for his guest appearance as an alcoholic actor on the hit comedy series "Friends." His earlier television work includes the telefilms "Meantime," directed by Mike Leigh, and "The Firm," directed by Alan Clarke.
MILA KUNIS (Solara) most recently starred in the Mike Judge comedy "Extract," opposite Jason Bateman and Ben Affleck. In 2008 she starred in Judd Apatow's hit comedy "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" as Rachel, opposite Jason Segel, Kirsten Bell, and Jonah Hill, and in the action thriller "Max Payne," with Mark Wahlberg.
Kunis will next be seen in the upcoming feature comedy "Date Night," with Ray Liotta, Mark Ruffalo, Tina Fey, and Steve Carell as one of the characters Fey and Carell encounter as a couple on a date gone awry. She will also star in Darren Aronofsky's supernatural drama "Black Swan," opposite Natalie Portman, as the rival character Lilly. Both films are set for a 2010 release.
The Russian-born actress started her entertainment career by landing several television commercials. She is best known for her roles on two of the Fox Network's most successful shows: as Jackie Burkhart in "That 70's Show," for which she earned two YoungStar Awards for Best Actress in a Television Series, and as the voice of Meg on the hit show "Family Guy."
RAY STEVENSON (Redridge) is perhaps best known for his starring role in the HBO/BBC television series "Rome," portraying the legionary Titus Pullo to both critical and public acclaim. Since the series wrapped, he has been working non-stop in a wide variety of feature films.
Stevenson most recently starred in the fantasy thriller "Cirque de Freak: The Vampire's Assistant," directed by Paul Weitz and based on the best-selling children's series by Darren Shan. In 2008, he was seen as the lead in "Punisher: War Zone," about the Marvel comics anti-hero Frank Castle and his quest to rid the world of evil after the death of his wife and daughter.
He will next be seen in director Jonathan Hensleigh's "The Irishman," as the title character in a true crime story of notorious mobster Danny Greene, with Christopher Walken, Vincent D'Onofrio and Val Kilmer, set for 2010. Hensleigh & Jeremy Walters wrote the screenplay based on the book To Kill the Irishman: The War That Crippled the Mafia, by Rick Porello. Also set for 2010 is Adam McKay's action comedy "The Other Guys," set in the world of the New York City cops, in which Stevenson stars with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg. Among his upcoming projects, Stevenson will play Volstagg, one of the leads in Marvel Comics' "Thor," inspired by the Shakespeare's Falstaff and described as being over 1,000 pounds of muscle and the life of the party. This will reunite him with director Kenneth Branagh, who acted opposite him in "Theory of Flight" for director Paul Greengrass.
Stevenson's film work includes Antoine Fuqua's "King Arthur," for producer Jerry Bruckheimer; the cult favorite "Outpost," for director Steven Barker; "The Return of the Native," opposite Catherine Zeta Jones; and "Some Kind of Life."
His stage work includes playing Christ in the York Mystery Plays in 2000 at York Minster. In 2001, he played Roger in "Mouth to Mouth," by Kevin Ely, at the Albery Theatre in London, and, in 2003, appeared as Cardinal in "The Duchess of Malfi," by John Webster with Janet McTeer, at the Royal National Theatre.
Born in Northern Ireland, Stevenson grew up in England. He studied acting at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
JENNIFER BEALS (Claudia) most recently appeared in the French film "Joueuse," which made its American premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Beals was twice nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series by the NAACP Image Awards for her role in the acclaimed Showtime series "The L Word," which wrapped its sixth and final season in 2009. Her work on "The L Word" has earned numerous accolades and appreciation from groups including the Power Up Award, the GLAAD Golden Gate Award and the Golden Satellite Award for Outstanding Actress. The L Word Book , Beals' highly anticipated photographic journal, takes an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look at the groundbreaking Showtime series and is set for release in January 2010. More information is available at www.lwordbook.com.
Beals recently joined the cast of the Fox Network series "Lie to Me," in a recurring role as the ex-wife of series lead Tim Roth.
Among her most memorable roles, Beals starred opposite Campbell Scott in the critically acclaimed film "Roger Dodger," winner of the 2002 Best Narrative Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival and Best First Film at the Venice Film Festival. She earned rave reviews for her role in VH-1's "They Shoot Divas, Don't They?" and was seen in the acclaimed "The Anniversary Party," written and directed by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cummings. In 2001, Beals starred in two Showtime features: the adaptation of Anne Rice's praised "A Feast of All Saints" and the WGA-nominated "A House Divided," in which she starred opposite Sam Waterston and Lisa Gay Hamilton and earned a Golden Satellite nomination as Best Actress in a Movie/Miniseries. For her extensive research for the film in Sparta, Georgia, where the story is based, she received an honorary Key to the City.
Originally from Chicago, Beals began her career after high school with a role in "Flashdance" that earned her a Golden Globe nomination and an NAACP Image Award for Best Actress. She then entered Yale University to study American Literature and graduated with honors. Beals went on to make an indelible impression in Carl Franklin's drama "Devil in a Blue Dress," opposite Denzel Washington, and in Alan Rudolph's "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle."
In recent years, she has starred in a myriad of film roles, including the lead in "Twilight of the Golds," for which she earned a Golden Satellite Award. Her film credits include "The Grudge 2"; "My Name is Sarah"; "Runaway Jim"; "Catch That Kid"; Whit Stillman's "The Last Days of Disco"; Alexandre Rockwell's "In the Soup," which won the 1992 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Audience Award at Deauville; "Four Rooms"; "Vampire's Kiss," with Nicolas Cage; Claude Chabrol's "Doctor M"; Nanni Moretti's "Caro Diario," which won the Director's Prize at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival; and Samuel Fuller's "The Madonna and the Dragon." On the small screen, she has appeared in the critically acclaimed ABC series "Nothing Sacred."
Beals is a winner of the 1999 Maverick Award from the San Jose Film Festival and, in 2004, was named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People.
FRANCES DE LA TOUR (Martha) won a Tony Award for her performance as Mrs. Lintott in Alan Bennett's multi award-winning play "The History Boys," directed by Nicholas Hytner, and was also nominated for a BAFTA in the 2006 screen version of the stage play. She has earned three Olivier Awards: in 1980 for Best Actress in Tom Kempinski's "Duet for One," for which she also won the Evening Standard Best Actress Award; in 1984 for Best Actress in a Revival for "A Moon for the Misbegotten"; and in 1992 for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for "When She Danced."
De la Tour trained at the Drama Centre in London in the 1960s before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company. Through 1971, her work there included the roles of Hoyden in "The Relapse" and Helena in Peter Brook's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." For the National Theatre, her credits include "Brighton Beach Memoirs," "Les Parents Terribles," the title role in "St Joan" and "The Good Hope." Her additional theater work includes Matthew Warchus's "Boeing-Boeing," Tennessee Williams' "Small Craft Warnings," "Hamlet," Edward Albee's "Three Tall Women," "Anthony and Cleopatra" for the RSC and Noel Coward's "Fallen Angels," for which she received a Variety Club Best Actress Award. De la Tour can currently be seen on stage at the National in the limited engagement world premiere of "The Habit of Art," which reunites her with playwright Alan Bennett and director Nicholas Hytner and also stars Michael Gambon.
De la Tour's filmography includes the comedy "Rising Damp," based on the popular television series, for which she won the Evening Standard's Best Actress Award. She more recently appeared as Madame Olympe Maxime in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and as Frau Eva in Andrei Konchalovsky's fantasy "Nutcracker: The Untold Story." She will next be seen alongside an all-star cast including Johnny Depp and Anne Hathaway in Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland," set for a 2010 release.
Her television appearances include the 1970s sitcom "Rising Damp," "Duet for One," for which she received a BAFTA Best Actress nomination, the BBC's "Waking the Dead," "Poirot: Death on the Nile," "Miss Marple: The Moving Finger," BBC's "Sensitive Skin" and, most recently, the CBS-TV series "3 lbs."
MICHAEL GAMBON (George) started his career with the Edwards/ Macliammoir Gate Theatre in Dublin. He joined the National Theatre for its inaugural season under Laurence Olivier at the Old Vic in 1963 and appeared there in "Hamlet," "Saint Joan," "The Recruiting Officer," "Andorra," "Philoctetes," "Othello," "The Royal Hunt of the Sun," "The Crucible," "Mother Courage," "Love for Love," "Juno and the Paycock" and "The Storm."
In repertory, principally at Birmingham Rep, Gambon played title roles in "Othello," "Macbeth" and "Coriolanus."
In the West End, he has appeared in Simon Gray's "Otherwise Engaged"; Alan Ayckbourn's "The Norman Conquest"; "Just Between Ourselves"; "Alice's Boys," with Ralph Richardson; Harold Pinter's "Old Times; the title role in "Uncle Vanya"; "Tom and Clem" and "No Man's Land."
With the Royal Shakespeare Company, he spent a season at the Aldwych and later played the title part in "King Lear" and Antony in "Antony and Cleopatra," opposite Helen Mirren, both at Stratford and the Barbican.
For the National Theatre, Gambon has appeared in the premieres of Harold Pinter's "Betrayal," Simon Gray's "Close of Play," Christopher Hampton's "Tales From Hollywood," Alan Ayckbourn's "Sisterly Feelings," and "A Chorus of Disapproval," for which he won an Olivier Award, as well as "A Small Family Business," "Richard III," "Othello," "Tons of Money," the title role in "The Life of Galileo," "Volpone" and "Skylight." He recreated his starring role in the latter on Broadway in 1996 for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. Also for the National Theatre, Gambon played Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge," which transferred to the Aldwych Theatre and for which he won all the major drama awards of 1987.
He was in Harold Pinter's "Mountain Language," "Cressida," at the Almeida, and Pinter's "The Caretaker," for which he earned an Olivier Award nomination. Gambon also directed the Platford Performance of Richard Harris' "Visiting Hour."
His television appearances include the BBC's first adventure series in color, "The Borderers," "Eyeless in Gaza," the series "The Other One," with Richard Briers, "The Seagull," "The Holy Experiment," Oscar," "Ghosts" and the Dennis Potter series "The Singing Detective," for which he won a BAFTA Award, a Broadcasting Press Guild Award and a Royal Television Society Award. He also starred in "The Heat of the Day," scripted by Harold Pinter from Elizabeth Bowen's novel, and was Archie Rice in John Osborne's "The Entertainer." More recently, he portrayed Lyndon Johnson in the HBO film "Path to War" and starred in HBO's "Angels in America," directed by Mike Nichols.
Gambon's film credits include "Turtle Diary," David Hare's "Paris By Night," "A Dry White Season," with Marlon Brando, "The Rachel Papers," Peter Greenaway's "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover," "The Gambler," "Mobsters," "Clean Slate," "Toys," "Indian Warrior," "Wings of the Dove," "The Innocent Sleep," "Dancing at Lughnasa," "Sleepy Hollow," "The Insider," "Gosford Park," Open Range" and four of the Harry Potter films: "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and 2009's "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."
In 1998, Gambon was awarded a KBE in the Queen's Honour List.
Genres: Epic Adventure Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, and Sigourney Weaver Directed By: James Cameron Produced By: James Cameron, Jon Landau
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1 Views
15:36:00 06/24/09
THAT OLD TAM FEELING **updated x3**
[LESS INFO] 1 VIEWS | ADDED 15:36:00 06/24/09
A
nd that stands for Tian An Men. But you knew that.
Image: Wasserman / Boston Globe Iranians had been further threatened with violence today, and it looks like the Ayatollah delivered on it. The free elections movement attempted to gather at Baharestan Square, near the parliament, in late afternoon. Khamenei's forces were out in force.
Citizen journalist persiankiwi was in the square, and I take the liberty of taking his series of tweets out of crimped-speak .> Just in from Baherestan Square, the situation today is terrible. They beat the people like animals. I've seen many people with broken arms, legs or head. Blood is everywhere, and pepper gas. It's like war.
They were waiting for us, they all have guns and riot uniforms. It was like a mouse trap, people being shot like animals. I saw 7 or 8 militia beating one woman with a baton on the ground. She had no defense, nothing. I'm sure that she is dead.
So many people are arrested, young and old. They take people away, we lose our group. People run into alleys, and militia are standing there waiting. From two sides they attack people in the middle of the alleys.
All the shops were closed. Nowhere to go, they follow people with helicopters. Smoke and fire is everywhere. An Iranian student, who had been twittering under his own name before things began heating up, stopped broadcasting on Saturday afternoon. His latest entry .> I'm going to sleep a little before joining with the others, please pray for all people of Iran & wish us peace & freedom
5:55 PM Jun 20th from web More from persiankiwi just now as I'm about to post this. I'll give them to you raw (hover your mouse over the icon here for current):> rumour they are tracking high use of phone lines to find internet users - must move from here now - #Iranelection34 minutes ago from web
reports of street fighting in Vanak Sq, Tajrish sq, Azadi Sq - now - #Iranelection - Sea of Green - Allah Akbar29 minutes ago from web
in Baharestan we saw militia with axe choping ppl like meat - blood everywhere - like butcher - Allah Akbar - #Iranelection RT RT RT27 minutes ago from web
they catch ppl with mobile - so many killed today - so many injured - Allah Akbar - they take one of us - #Iranelection25 minutes ago from web
Lalezar Sq is same as Baharestan - unbelevable - ppls murdered everywhere - #Iranelection24 minutes ago from web
they pull away the dead into trucks - like factory - no human can do this - we beg Allah for save us - #Iranelection20 minutes ago from web
Everybody is under arrest & cant move - Mousavi - Karroubi even rumour Khatami is in house guard - #Iranelection -15 minutes ago from web
we must go - dont know when we can get internet - they take 1 of us, they will torture and get names - now we must move fast - #Iranelection9 minutes ago from web
thank you ppls 4 supporting Sea of Green - pls remember always our martyrs - Allah Akbar - Allah Akbar - Allah Akbar #Iranelection6 minutes ago from web *UPDATE*: (23:30)
Embedded video from CNN Video
*UPDATE-2*: (01:40) CNN is playing around with the videos %mdash when I posted that at 11:30 pm, it was four minutes long. They cut off the most gripping descriptions of the carnage and her heart-rending pleas for help, right after she tells of the large mob emerging from a mosque to beat people. They trimmed it down to the first minute.
I'll leave it up there in case the following YouTube version doesn't stay up. This is the full segment. It's in a wide format and I can't make it any smaller, so if your browser window is too narrow and it doesn't appear directly below, scroll down past the end of the sidebar to see it:
*UPDATE-3*: (25/06/09: 15:30) I'm feeling really annoyed that CNN has apparently deep-sixed most of this interview. The one-minute family-friendly version replaced the four-minute original, as near as I can tell, within two hours of its first airing. Only the truncated interview has been broadcast today, at least on CNN International.
I know that some people can't view embedded videos, so for the non-clickers here is a transcript, partly done by The Lede Blog and finished by me.> I was going towards Baharestan with my friends…. This was everyone, not just supporters of one candidate or another, everyone — all of my friends, we were going to Baharestan to express our opposition to these killings these days, and demanding freedom. But the black-clad police stopped everyone at Saadi. They emptied the buses that were taking people there and let the private cars go on…. We went on until Ferdowsi then, all of a sudden, some 500 people with clubs and woods, they came out of [Hedayat] mosque and they poured into the streets and they started beating everyone.
[This is where CNN has trimmed off the rest of the interview, both from their online video offering and in its broadcasts.]
And they tried to beat everyone on Saadi bridge and throwing them off of the bridge…. And everyone also on the sidewalks. They beat a woman so savagely that she was drenched in blood and her husband, who was watching the scene, he just fainted. And I also saw people shooting, I mean the security forces shooting on people, on Lalezar. And of course people were afraid… the security forces …
They were beating people like — hell. This was a massacre. They were trying to beat people so that they would die. They were cursing — saying very bad words to everyone. They were beating old men. And this was — this was exactly a massacre. You should stop this. You should stop this. You should help the people of Iran who demand freedom. You should help us. …
[Here ends The Lede's transcript, the rest is added by yours truly.]
[nearly speechless interviewer: "How many of you were there in this terrible situation?"]
There were thousands of people on the streets, but it was me and ten of my friends.
[interviewer: "And you said the security forces were shooting at the people? Did you see anybody injured by gunfire?"]
No, as I explained earlier I didn't see, I heard the shooting and my friends and I we just scattered. We heard the shooting near Lalezar and we were near there, and we just ran away. I didn't see again what happened, I'm sure people are dead there but I couldn't see, I couldn't catch the film or anything.
[interviewer relates to her some other received reports of shooting and beating the people "like animals"]
Yes exactly, exactly, exactly. This is what's happening, they beat people so bad. You know in the previous days they are killing students with axe. You know they put the axe through the hearts of young men and it's so... devastating , I don't know how to describe it I can't find the words, but this is horrific. This is genocide, this is a massacre, this is Hitler! And you people should stop it! It's a long time we have been exposed to this and nobody takes action! It's time to act! If anyone is thinking, "Yeah, that axe thing is just a rumour," brace yourself. ThreatsWatch.Org has posted a photograph taken on Saturday, June 20 (the same day Neda Agha Soltan was murdered). Don't click through until you have prepared yourself to witness gruesome barbarity. If you're in doubt of your ability to handle it, don't. You can't unsee something like that.
.
1 Views
11:41:00 06/22/09
LIONESS DOWN, SPIRIT SOARS
[LESS INFO] 1 VIEWS | ADDED 11:41:00 06/22/09
Neda Agha Soltan, a 27 year old philosophy student, died by the hand of the Islamic Republic's Basij militia on Saturday.
Photo: "A Voice for Neda" H
er name is Neda. Her name will always be Neda. When she fell and left it behind her, it was raised by hundreds, then thousands, now millions. Not was — her name is Neda.
Neda Agha Soltan was a 27 year old student of philosophy in Tehran. The bare outline of her story can only be provisionally pieced together from the unconfirmed snippets of discussion trickling out of Iran by her compatriots in freedom's cause. Perhaps one day soon, when journalism is no longer illegal in that country, her full story will be told.
It is said that she was standing on the sidelines of Saturday's forbidden protest, watching beside her father teacher. A wobbly cell-phone video shows the two of them together among the crowd. He is the grey-haired man in a blue striped shirt, she wears black.
If the gentle reader has not yet seen what happened to Neda (some news outlets are showing it), and is willing to have his or her heart broken yet again, then click the button while observing my strong content warning . Neda was alive at the beginning of this scene, but not at the end.
Direct Video Link The original upload carried the following description:> At 19:05 June 20th
Place: Karekar Ave., at the corner crossing Khosravi St. and Salehi st.
A young woman who was standing aside with her father watching the protests was shot by a basij member hiding on the rooftop of a civilian house. He had clear shot at the girl and could not miss her. However, he aimed straight her heart. I am a doctor, so I rushed to try to save her. But the impact of the gunshot was so fierce that the bullet had blasted inside the victim’s chest, and she died in less than 2 minutes.
The protests were going on about 1 kilometers away in the main street and some of the protesting crowd were running from tear gass used among them, towards Salehi St.
The film is shot by my friend who was standing beside me.
Please let the world know. I've gathered from reading many Iranians (who have become like autonomous solo broadcasters) these past days that her name, Neda, means "Calling" or "Voice". The man believed to be her father is calling to her as she dies, which has been translated as:> "Neda, don't be afraid. Neda, don't be afraid. [obscured by others yelling] Neda, stay with me. Neda stay with me!" Courageous women have been the backbone of these demonstrations, according to many witnesses. I listened to an Iranian professor this morning talk about the phenomenon, which is not new. "Shirzan" is the Persian word he used for them, which he said Iranians will commonly use to describe such women without fear. It means "lioness" or "lion-woman," he said. Women have been estimated to comprise around 40% of the freedom protesters during the past 10 days.
No one knew whether the planned Saturday protest would go ahead or not, following the unveiled threat delivered by Supreme Ayatollah Khamenei on Friday. Everyone who considered going out of their house on Saturday knew that they could be risking their life. Mr. Moussavi had promised a statement in the afternoon, but it never came (his website has come under attack as well). Yet less than an hour after the planned meeting time of 4 pm, everyone who was following any of the many autonomous solo broadcasters (twitterers with a reliable reputation), knew that Tehran's people were in the streets again and were being foiled by huge numbers of riot police and Basijis already occupying their meeting places in the public squares. International media continued for hours saying the streets were quiet, while heads were already being cracked. CNN's not the "first name in news" anymore, and if they keep getting "Khomeni" and "Khamenei" mixed up and refering to demonstrators as "rioters" for defending themselves, they'll be the last name in news before long.
While earnest news anchors were saying that no one had seen Mr. Moussavi on Saturday, those who followed the solo tweet-casters already knew that he had spoken to the demonstrators in Jeyhoon Street. Before long, his words were translated, posted and linked by the Iranian tweeters.
By late night in Tehran the truth was evident to all, finally including international media. A vicious crackdown was underway, an unknown number of the freedom movement had been killed, and protests were continuing in most (if not all) Iran's major cities. Tweets from eyewitnesses circled the earth in seconds, thousands of citizen videos were uploaded to sharing sites, there are no secrets any more — at least, nothing this big can be kept secret when technology and an adept people are present.
I'm in a time zone two and a half hours ahead of Tehran. At around 2 am on Sunday morning here, the screen of the AP satellite feed showed a caption warning agencies to be ready. (paraphrasing) "Standby. White House statement 3:10 pm. Standby." The time corresponded to 02:10 am Bangkok time, in other words, imminent. It was just before midnight in Tehran, and we all knew what had happened during the afternoon and evening there. The White House was finally ready to take a stronger moral stand after these latest brutal killings, I thought. It could have come days earlier, after Basijis had raided Tehran University, beating and killing a number of students in their dorms. Or, a day or two before that when Basijis shot up a crowd around one of their bases, killing at least seven. But better late than never. I waited.
Nothing came across the AP feed after an hour, then after two hours of staying awake refreshing some pages of those solo broadcasters, I crashed out around dawn. Sunday afternoon, I learned what the "Standby" was all about.
Can't a man enjoy his waffle(cone)? The White House statement was that the President had taken his daughters out for a Father's Day ice cream. Seriously! And that's not all. Bo got frozen Puppy Pops to go. (The photo is from an earlier ice cream excursion, I can't find any pictures from Saturday's fun.) Take a look at Patterico's juxtaposition of contemporaneous tweets out of Iran and Washington. Hey, did you know that real journalists use Twitter too? It's true! But only click on that one if you don't mind your heart being broken yet again.
Earlier, President Obama had said something which seemed stronger than the previous "concern" and "bearing witness."> "I'm very concerned based on some of the tenor and tone of the statements that have been made that the government of Iran recognise that the world is watching," Obama said on US television on Friday.
"And how they approach and deal with people who are, through peaceful means, trying to be heard will, I think, send a pretty clear signal to the international community about what Iran is and is not." Well, it nudged the concern and witness ideas ahead a little bit (if ya squint!). A later written statement added the mourning of innocent life lost to the bearing of witness and concern. The toughest line was, "We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people."
Those brave 21st century Iranians need to hear that the free peoples of the world are with them. The placards, chants and comments of the demonstrators have often asked specifically for this, and it would mean a lot for them to hear it unambiguously from the leader of the free world. Whether he makes a strong, principled statement on the urgent need for liberty and the dignity of Iran's freedom-seeking people, or sticks with the current weak expressions of concern, makes no difference to the ruling hardliners in that country. They are blaming Britain, France, USA and all western countries for fomenting the rebellion in any case. To hell with them — speak directly to those millions of Iranians who are demanding their fundamental rights. They are the only ones who count, and the only ones listening anyway.
So far, the Prophet of Cairo seems to be all Barack and no bite. His original "on the one hand, but on the other hand" stance (that dealing with Ahmedinejad or Moussavi makes no difference to him, that they are about the same) certainly did offend many of those risking life and limb for liberty, and they should expect clearer messages from a US president. For better or worse, those who want to live in a free(r) country have gathered together with Mr. Moussavi, demanding the fair election they have yet to receive. That alone means that the two are not the same.
A Life Magazine photojournalist disappeared on Saturday in Tehran. You can view his gallery here , with the following notification:> A NOTE TO OUR READERS: We are saddened to report that the Iranian photojournalist, whose pictures appear in this gallery, is missing. He has not been in contact with us; this morning we received the following email from one of his relatives. We will update this space when we have more details.
THE EMAIL: Hi im [photographer’s relative], when he go outside yesterday for he never came back home and also his friend and a lot of our young brave people, government arrested them [. . .] don’t let them suffer in those bloody hands. With thanks. Here's a sample of some of the proven reliable Twitter feeds. Most are in Tehran. The last two are hashtag searches (categories). #Neda sprang up on Saturday night. #IranElection is very high volume (beware of rumours and regime dis-information there).> Raymond Jahan (StopAhmadi)
Iranian Student (Change_for_Iran)
Alireza Sedaghat (IranElection09)
TehranBureau.com (TehranBureau)
madyar (madyar)
Iran (IranRiggedElect)
oxfordgirl (oxfordgirl)
persiankiwi (persiankiwi)
#Neda
#IranElection If you need to get caught up on the important developments over the weekend, there's no better place at the moment than Hot Air. AllahPundit is keeping on top of things very well, and these were continually updated on Saturday and Sunday . Also very good is NYT's The Lede Blog . The blog of the National Iranian American Council is worth keeping an eye on, for nuggets like this — which stuck in my mind last week (and I had a hard time finding it again). Posted on June 17 :> 9:47 am: In response to Ahmadinejad calling Mousavi supporters “brushwood and thorns” at the victory rally Monday, Iran’s most famous classical musician has ordered that Iranian government television/radio never play his music again. Mohammad Reza Shajarian told BBC Persian in an interview:> “Don’t broadcast my voice on Seda va Sima [IRIB Music channel] ever again: my voice is like brushwood and thorns, and it will forever remain brushwood and thorns!”
5 Views
23:00:00 04/27/09
The Matsui Forum - Voting Today, Leading tomorrow: Will Young Voters Change America?
[LESS INFO] 5 VIEWS | ADDED 23:00:00 04/27/09
The 2008 presidential election has seen an unprecedented surge in the registration of young voters, a group that has often been disengaged from politics. Will young people remain engaged in politics beyond this election cycle? What can be done to encourage young people to stay involved in politics? What difference might it make for the country?
Panelists:
Mike Connery: Author of Youth to Power: How Today's Young Voters Are Building Tomorrow's Progressive Majority he also blogs full-time about progressive youth organizing at Future Majority.
Meghan McCain: McCain is a well known blogger and author: thedailybeast.com and mccainblogette.com, she is the daughter of John McCain and experienced first hand the campaign trail during this last election cycle.
Randi Zuckerberg: The face of facebook, Randi Zuckerberg is the spokeswoman for Facebook and worked closely with CNN on their integration with Facebook for the inauguration, even serving as a guest anchorwoman for CNN broadcasts from Facebook on the day of the inauguration.
Heather Smith: Executive Director of Rock the Vote, founder and former director of Youth Voter Strategies, and served as the national field director for the student PIRGs New Voters Project.
Nicole Lapin: News anchor for CNN.com Live. Lapin joined CNN in 2006 becoming on of the youngest news anchors in the company's history. She hosts a weekly interview series entitled, "Young People Who Rock," which focuses on young people under 30 who are doing amazing things.
Co-sponsors include: Berkeley College Republicans , Cal Berkeley Democrats , and the Undergraduate Political Science Association .
5 Views
00:00:00 08/20/08
Slimewalls Webisode
[LESS INFO] 5 VIEWS | ADDED 00:00:00 08/20/08
You have obviously seen snowboarding on T.V. over the past decade, but inthe past two years it seems to be every other commercial break or t.v. showthat you catch a glimpse of your favorite pro snowboarder. When will it end?Well, it won't. Ride is stoked to embark in the exciting world of commercialbroadcasting thanks to outlets like Fuel T.V., Youtube, podcasts and everyother T.V., website and channel out there. And as with everything we do atRide, we are going to have fun in the process. Just take this new commercialwe produced... how could we go wrong? I mean seriously, put a mustache onMikey and it was almost finished!
Here you can find the full length 3 minute version of our Ride webisodestarring Slimewalls%reg as themselves, Mikey Leblanc as "Officer Leblanc", Nico Droz as "shop kid" and Darrell Mathes as "Slimewall Junkie". A shorter 30second commercial will be broadcast on Fuel T.V. starting in October.Stay tuned for more from Ride studios and in the meantime, we hope youenjoy our webisode.
5 Views
16:30:00 08/24/07
GREAT PERFORMANCES | Nureyev: The Russian Years
[LESS INFO] 5 VIEWS | ADDED 16:30:00 08/24/07
RUDOLF NUREYEV is one of the enduring icons of 20th-century dance. NUREYEV: THE RUSSIAN YEARS is a new examination of the key period in his life prior to and immediately following his famous "leap to freedom" in 1961. Premiering Wednesday, August 29 on Thirteen/WNET New York's GREAT PERFORMANCES on PBS (check local listings), the special weaves recent interviews with Russian colleagues and rare archival footage of the young dancer never before seen in the West. For more information visit www.pbs.org/gperf. A BBC production in association with Thirteen/WNET New York, the program can also be seen in the U.K. on BBC (check local listings). One of the longest-running performing arts anthologies on television, the award-winning GREAT PERFORMANCES series presents the best in music, dance, and theater. The series is a production of Thirteen/WNET New York and funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts, public television viewers, and PBS.
0 Views
04:55:08 05/14/07
Another Funeral in Iraq
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 04:55:08 05/14/07
Doctor Khalid Abd' Al-Hadi Al-Ghawas was killed in January. This video shows his funeral in Baghdad, just one of the thousands of Iraqis already killed in 2007 during the ongoing fighting. In the last month, there are believed to have been at least 234 murders in Baghdad during the first 11 days of May alone .
Doctor Al-Ghawas had two sons and worked at Waqf Al-Sunni, the Sunni Endowment, an organization created to oversee Sunni Iraqi mosques and other important places. He worked at the Endowment for more than twenty years and was very famous in Iraq. Although he was a Sunni, he lived in the Al-Cairo neighborhood, east of Adhamiya, which is a primarily Shi'a district. When he was killed the news was broadcast by stations all over the Arab world, but we believe this to be the first time his funeral has been broadcast to the world.
The circumstances of his death are still a bit mysterious, however it is believed he was kidnapped by a militia while leaving his house on his way to work last January. Witnesses have said that his car was hijacked with the intent to kidnap him, but the militia members' plan went awry when one of their tires was punctured. It is believed at this point they took him back out of the car and shot him dead in the street a few blocks from his house in the Cairo neighborhood.
According to Iraqi Rabita[translated from Arabic]:
Some eyewitnesses claim a Shi'a militia assassinated Dr. Khalid Al-Ghawas, an advisor of the Sunni Endowment and that three cars with armed men attacked him in front his house, which sits behind Al-Shuhada mosque with a rain of bullets causing him immediate death.
Mr. Al-Ghawas was considered a famous man and he used to work as an advisor in the Sunni endowment, since the creation of the Endowment. He is an expert in the issues of the Endowment and its management, and his assassination is considered a new episode in the targeting of important Sunni men and educated people in the country.
The assassination of academics, professionals, and educated people has been an ongoing problem in Baghdad, leading to the emigration of many prominent Iraqis to other countries. This is seen by many as one of the primary issues that must be solved, if stability is ever to be achieved in Iraq.
For more about the assassinations of academics and professionals in Iraq, see this story written by Brian Conley and Isam Rasheed in 2006 , and the Brussels Tribunal keeps an updated list of academics killed during the war .
Finally you can watch this video of an Iraqi librarian for some of the difficulties faced by professionals, or for information about a cemetery in Baghdad, watch this video .






