BIGELOW FIRST FEMALE FILM DIRECTOR TO WIN DGA AWARD

Women ruled at the DGA tonight for top honors in both film and TV drama direction. The DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film has traditionally been one of the Industry's most accurate barometers for the Best Director Academy Award. Only 6 times since the DGA Awards began in 1948 has the Feature Film winner not gone on to win the Oscar.

But tonight's honor for The Hurt Locker's helmer Kathryn Bigelow is the first DGA win not just for her but the first for any female film director. Her team on the 2009 Summit Entertainment consisted of Unit Production Manager Tony Mark, First Assistant Director David Ticotin, and First Assistant Director (Canadian Unit) Lee Cleary. Bigelow beat out Precious' Lee Daniels, Up In The Air's Jason Reitman, Inglourious Basterds' Quentin Tarantino, and, most surprising of all, her ex, Avatar's James Cameron. Bigelow, who was only the 7th female to be nominated for the DGA award, was quoted as saying, "This is the most incredible moment of my life."
Norman Jewison received the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award, while Disney's Bob Iger and Warner Bros' Barry Meyer were given the 2010 Honorary Life Membership Awards.

Other DGA winners were:
Documentary: Louie Psihoyos for The Cove (Oceanic Preservation Societyand Roadside Attractions)
TV drama series: Lesli Linka Glatter for "Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency" episode of Mad Men (AMC). Directorial Team: Unit Production Manager Dwayne Shattuck, First Assistant Director Adam Ben Frank, Second Assistant Director Jessica L. Lowrey, Second Second Assistant Director Elion S. Olson.
TV movie: Ross Katz for Taking Chance (HBO). Directorial Team: Unit Production Manager Lori Keith Douglas, First Assistant Director Robert C. Albertell, Second Assistant Director Vanessa Hoffman, Assistant Unit Production Manager Carla Raij, Second Second Assistant Director Brendan Walsh
TV comedy series: Jason Winer for the pilot of Modern Family (ABC). Directorial Team: Unit Production Manager Howard Griffith, First Assistant Director Lisa Statman, Second Assistant Director Helena Lamb, Second Second Assistant Director Shannon Speaker.
Musical variety: Don Mischer for We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial (HBO). Directorial Team: Associate Directors Gregg M. Gelfand, Lori Margules; Stage Managers Arthur E. Lewis, Dency L. Nelson, Douglas P. Smith, Tammy Raab, Douglas M. Fogel, Jeffrey Pearl, Lauren Schneider, Karen T. Weiss, Chris Hines, Elise Reaves
Daytime serials: Christopher Goutman for the now cancelled As The World Turns (CBS). Directorial Team: Associate Directors Michael Kerner, Carol Sedwick; Stage Managers Nancy Barron, Jennifer Blood; Production Associates Brett Hellman, Alexandra Von Roalsvig, Jared Lynch
Reality TV: Craig Borders for Build It Bigger Season 3: Hong Kong Bridge (Discovery Science)
Children's programming: Allison Liddi-Brown for Princess Protection Program (Disney Channel). Directorial Team: Unit Production Manager Carlos Anibal Vázquez; First Assistant Director José Gilberto Molinari-Rosaly; Second Assistant Director Colleen Comer
Commercials: Tom Kuntz of MJZ UK

J.D.SALINGER LEFT BEHIND A WORLD OF PHONIES...

ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK -- J.D. Salinger, the legendary author, youth hero and fugitive from fame whose "The Catcher in the Rye" shocked and inspired a world he increasingly shunned, has died. He was 91.Salinger died of natural causes at his home on Wednesday, the author's son said in a statement from Salinger's literary representative. He had lived for decades in self-imposed isolation in the small, remote house in Cornish, N.H."The Catcher in the Rye," with its immortal teenage protagonist, the twisted, rebellious Holden Caulfield, came out in 1951, a time of anxious, Cold War conformity and the dawn of modern adolescence. The Book-of-the-Month Club, which made "Catcher" a featured selection, advised that for "anyone who has ever brought up a son" the novel will be "a source of wonder and delight -- and concern."Enraged by all the "phonies" who make "me so depressed I go crazy," Holden soon became American literature's most famous anti-hero since Huckleberry Finn. The novel's sales are astonishing -- more than 60 million copies worldwide -- and its impact incalculable. Decades after publication, the book remains a defining expression of that most American of dreams -- to never grow up.Salinger was writing for adults, but teenagers from all over identified with the novel's themes of alienation, innocence and fantasy, not to mention the luck of having the last word. "Catcher" presents the world as an ever-so-unfair struggle between the goodness of young people and the corruption of elders, a message that only intensified with the oncoming generation gap.Novels from Evan Hunter's "The Blackboard Jungle" to Curtis Sittenfeld's "Prep," movies from "Rebel Without a Cause" to "The Breakfast Club," and countless rock 'n' roll songs echoed Salinger's message of kids under siege. One of the great anti-heroes of the 1960s, Benjamin Braddock of "The Graduate," was but a blander version of Salinger's narrator.The cult of "Catcher" turned tragic in 1980 when crazed Beatles fan Mark David Chapman shot and killed John Lennon, citing Salinger's novel as an inspiration and stating that "this extraordinary book holds many answers."By the 21st century, Holden himself seemed relatively mild, but Salinger's book remained a standard in school curriculums and was discussed on countless Web sites and a fan page on Facebook.Salinger's other books don't equal the influence or sales of "Catcher," but they are still read, again and again, with great affection and intensity. Critics, at least briefly, rated Salinger as a more accomplished and daring short story writer than John Cheever.The collection "Nine Stories" features the classic "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," the deadpan account of a suicidal Army veteran and the little girl he hopes, in vain, will save him. The novel "Franny and Zooey," like "Catcher," is a youthful, obsessively articulated quest for redemption, featuring a memorable argument between Zooey and his mother as he attempts to read in the bathtub."Catcher," narrated from a mental facility, begins with Holden recalling his expulsion from a Pennsylvania boarding school for failing four classes and for general apathy.He returns home to Manhattan, where his wanderings take him everywhere from a Times Square hotel to a rainy carousel ride with his kid sister, Phoebe, in Central Park. He decides he wants to escape to a cabin out West, but scorns questions about his future as just so much phoniness."I mean how do you know what you're going to do till you do it?" he reasons. "The answer is, you don't. I think I am, but how do I know? I swear it's a stupid question.""The Catcher in the Rye" became both required and restricted reading, periodically banned by a school board or challenged by parents worried by its frank language and the irresistible chip on Holden's shoulder."I'm aware that a number of my friends will be saddened, or shocked, or shocked-saddened, over some of the chapters of 'The Catcher in the Rye.' Some of my best friends are children. In fact, all of my best friends are children," Salinger wrote in 1955, in a short note for "20th Century Authors.""It's almost unbearable to me to realize that my book will be kept on a shelf out of their reach," he added.Salinger also wrote the novellas "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" and "Seymour -- An Introduction," both featuring the neurotic, fictional Glass family which appeared in much of his work.His last published story, "Hapworth 16, 1928," ran in The New Yorker in 1965. By then he was increasingly viewed like a precocious child whose manner had soured from cute to insufferable. "Salinger was the greatest mind ever to stay in prep school," Norman Mailer once commented.In 1997, it was announced that "Hapworth" would be reissued as a book -- prompting a (negative) New York Times review. The book, in typical Salinger style, didn't appear. In 1999, New Hampshire neighbor Jerry Burt said the author had told him years earlier that he had written at least 15 unpublished books kept locked in a safe at his home."I love to write and I assure you I write regularly," Salinger said in a brief interview with the Baton Rouge (La.) Advocate in 1980. "But I write for myself, for my own pleasure. And I want to be left alone to do it." (...)

J.D.SALINGER LEFT BEHIND A WORLD OF PHNOIE

ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK -- J.D. Salinger, the legendary author, youth hero and fugitive from fame whose "The Catcher in the Rye" shocked and inspired a world he increasingly shunned, has died. He was 91.Salinger died of natural causes at his home on Wednesday, the author's son said in a statement from Salinger's literary representative. He had lived for decades in self-imposed isolation in the small, remote house in Cornish, N.H."The Catcher in the Rye," with its immortal teenage protagonist, the twisted, rebellious Holden Caulfield, came out in 1951, a time of anxious, Cold War conformity and the dawn of modern adolescence. The Book-of-the-Month Club, which made "Catcher" a featured selection, advised that for "anyone who has ever brought up a son" the novel will be "a source of wonder and delight -- and concern."Enraged by all the "phonies" who make "me so depressed I go crazy," Holden soon became American literature's most famous anti-hero since Huckleberry Finn. The novel's sales are astonishing -- more than 60 million copies worldwide -- and its impact incalculable. Decades after publication, the book remains a defining expression of that most American of dreams -- to never grow up.Salinger was writing for adults, but teenagers from all over identified with the novel's themes of alienation, innocence and fantasy, not to mention the luck of having the last word. "Catcher" presents the world as an ever-so-unfair struggle between the goodness of young people and the corruption of elders, a message that only intensified with the oncoming generation gap.Novels from Evan Hunter's "The Blackboard Jungle" to Curtis Sittenfeld's "Prep," movies from "Rebel Without a Cause" to "The Breakfast Club," and countless rock 'n' roll songs echoed Salinger's message of kids under siege. One of the great anti-heroes of the 1960s, Benjamin Braddock of "The Graduate," was but a blander version of Salinger's narrator.The cult of "Catcher" turned tragic in 1980 when crazed Beatles fan Mark David Chapman shot and killed John Lennon, citing Salinger's novel as an inspiration and stating that "this extraordinary book holds many answers."By the 21st century, Holden himself seemed relatively mild, but Salinger's book remained a standard in school curriculums and was discussed on countless Web sites and a fan page on Facebook.Salinger's other books don't equal the influence or sales of "Catcher," but they are still read, again and again, with great affection and intensity. Critics, at least briefly, rated Salinger as a more accomplished and daring short story writer than John Cheever.The collection "Nine Stories" features the classic "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," the deadpan account of a suicidal Army veteran and the little girl he hopes, in vain, will save him. The novel "Franny and Zooey," like "Catcher," is a youthful, obsessively articulated quest for redemption, featuring a memorable argument between Zooey and his mother as he attempts to read in the bathtub."Catcher," narrated from a mental facility, begins with Holden recalling his expulsion from a Pennsylvania boarding school for failing four classes and for general apathy.He returns home to Manhattan, where his wanderings take him everywhere from a Times Square hotel to a rainy carousel ride with his kid sister, Phoebe, in Central Park. He decides he wants to escape to a cabin out West, but scorns questions about his future as just so much phoniness."I mean how do you know what you're going to do till you do it?" he reasons. "The answer is, you don't. I think I am, but how do I know? I swear it's a stupid question.""The Catcher in the Rye" became both required and restricted reading, periodically banned by a school board or challenged by parents worried by its frank language and the irresistible chip on Holden's shoulder."I'm aware that a number of my friends will be saddened, or shocked, or shocked-saddened, over some of the chapters of 'The Catcher in the Rye.' Some of my best friends are children. In fact, all of my best friends are children," Salinger wrote in 1955, in a short note for "20th Century Authors.""It's almost unbearable to me to realize that my book will be kept on a shelf out of their reach," he added.Salinger also wrote the novellas "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" and "Seymour -- An Introduction," both featuring the neurotic, fictional Glass family which appeared in much of his work.His last published story, "Hapworth 16, 1928," ran in The New Yorker in 1965. By then he was increasingly viewed like a precocious child whose manner had soured from cute to insufferable. "Salinger was the greatest mind ever to stay in prep school," Norman Mailer once commented.In 1997, it was announced that "Hapworth" would be reissued as a book -- prompting a (negative) New York Times review. The book, in typical Salinger style, didn't appear. In 1999, New Hampshire neighbor Jerry Burt said the author had told him years earlier that he had written at least 15 unpublished books kept locked in a safe at his home."I love to write and I assure you I write regularly," Salinger said in a brief interview with the Baton Rouge (La.) Advocate in 1980. "But I write for myself, for my own pleasure. And I want to be left alone to do it."

BEFORE "2012" THERE WAS 2010....

150.000 DEAD IN HAITI AND COUNTING...

WRITERS IN TV WIN $70M DISCRIMINATION SUIT...

www.huffingtonpost.com

Two dozen entertainment firms said Friday they have agreed to pay $70 million to settle age discrimination claims by 165 television writers over the age of 40 in the largest settlement of its kind.

The defendants include 17 television networks and production companies, including ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, and seven talent agencies including the now-merged William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, Gersh and UTA.

The settlement caps nearly a decade of court battles. Just one outstanding case, against Creative Artists Agency, remains.

The writers said the defendants refused to hire or represent them because of their age. When they were represented, the writers alleged their agents didn't present them aggressively to studios for job openings.

The money covers attorneys' fees and damages, and writers must apply to access the funds. It was not immediately clear how much each plaintiff was entitled to receive.

About $2.5 million will go to a fund that will give writers grants and loans to further their careers, and to study ways to supplement pensions and improve medical coverage.

Two-thirds of the settlement money is being covered by insurance carriers...

NASA: PHOTOS FROM THE SAND DUNES OF MARS...

HOW CAN ANYBODY ENJOY THE AWARDS SEASON IF WE HAVE 100.000 (?) DEAD FROM THE EARTHQUAKE IN HAITI...

ETZ HAYYIM SYNAGOGUE IN CHANIA OF CRETE, GREECE BURNT DOWN BY ARSONISTS...

By NICHOLAS STAVROULAKIS
ETZ HAYYIM DIRECTOR

(...)We have tried at Etz Hayyim to be a small presence in the midst of what is at times almost aggressive ignorance. We have done this to such a degree that our doors are open from early in the morning until late in the day so that the Synagogue assumes its role as a place of prayer, recollection and reconciliation. In many ways we have been successful through this quiet presence – perhaps our ‘silent presence’ wears not too well on some and is even a source of annoyance to others. Often I have pointed out that we are perhaps the only synagogue of significance in Greece, possibly Europe, where there is little if any overt sign of protective security. Hand-bags are not checked, ID cards and passports are not examined, and one is not obliged to sign in. This character of the Synagogue must not change and the doors must remain open – or we have given in to the ignorance that has perpetrated this desecration. Our awareness of what ignorance can do to us will certainly determine how certain repairs are to be made – but at the same time we must be cautious about allowing ignorance to affect or determine the nature of our presence. We will have a heavy burden of funding the necessary renovations and we hope that you as either old friends or new ones will assist us.Any donations will be deeply appreciated and, of course, welcome.
ALPHA BANK (Hania, Crete)Account name: Friends of Etz HayyimAccount # 776-002101-087154IBAN: GR74 0140 6600 7760 0210 1087 154Nicholas Hannan-Stavroulakis / Director Etz Hayyim Synagogue/ HaniaIn the USA, tax-deductible charitable contribution will also be received by the International Survey of Jewish Monuments (ISJM).
Checks can be sent to ISJM, P.O. Box 210, 118 Julian Place, Syracuse, NY 13210. Write "Hania" on the memo line. 100% of all funds will be transferred for use by Etz Hayyim.

AVATAR SPOILER FROM DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD: THIS HAD BEEN MAKING THE ROUNDS OF INTERNET FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS...

DGA AWARDS 2009

The nominees are (in alphabetical order):
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment)
Ms. Bigelow's Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Tony Mark
First Assistant Director: David Ticotin
First Assistant Director (Canadian Unit): Lee Cleary
This is Ms. Bigelow's first DGA Feature Film Award Nomination.

James Cameron, Avatar (Twentieth Century Fox)
Mr. Cameron's Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Colin Wilson
First Assistant Director: Josh McLaglen
Second Assistant Director/Add'l Unit First Asst Director: Maria Battle Campbell
This is Mr. Cameron's second DGA Feature Film Award Nomination. He previously won the Feature Film Award for Titanic in 1997.

Lee Daniels, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (Lionsgate)
Mr. Daniels' Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Tony Hernandez
First Assistant Director: Chip Signore
Second Assistant Director: Tracey Hinds
Second Second Assistant Director: Michael "Boogie" Pickney
Additional Unit Production Manager: Patrick D. Gibbons
Additional First Assistant Director: Tom Fatone
Additional Second Assistant Directors: Kim Thompson, Mirashyam Blakeslee
Location Manager: Gregory Routt
This is Mr. Daniels' first DGA Feature Film Award Nomination.

Jason Reitman, Up In The Air (Paramount Pictures)
Mr. Reitman's Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Michael Beugg
First Assistant Director: Jason Blumenfeld
Second Assistant Director: Sonia Bhalla
Assistant Unit Production Manager: Samson Mucke
Second Second Assistant Director: Joseph Payton
Additional Second Assistant Director: Heather L. Hogan
This is Mr. Reitman's first DGA Feature Film Award Nomination.

Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds (Weinstein Co/Universal Pictures)
Mr. Tarantino's Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Gregor Wilson
Unit Production Manager (Germany): Michael Scheel
First Assistant Director: Carlos Fidel
Second Assistant Director: Miguel Angelo Pate
Second Second Assistant Directors: Jill Moriarty, Tanja Däberitz
This is Mr. Tarantino's second DGA Feature Film Award Nomination. He was previously nominated in this category for Pulp Fiction in 1994.

*The six exceptions are as follows:
1968: Anthony Harvey won the DGA Award for The Lion in Winter while Carol Reed took home the Oscar® for Oliver!
1972: Francis Ford Coppola received the DGA's nod for The Godfather while the Academy selected Bob Fosse for Cabaret.
1985: Steven Spielberg received his first DGA Award for The Color Purple while the Oscar® went to Sydney Pollack for Out of Africa.
1995: Ron Howard was chosen by the DGA for his direction of Apollo 13 while Academy voters selected Mel Gibson for Braveheart.
2000: Ang Lee won the DGA Award for his direction of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon while Steven Soderbergh won the Academy Award for Traffic.
2002: Rob Marshall won the DGA Award for Chicago while Roman Polanski received the Academy Award for The Pianist.

WHITE HOUSE CRASHERS FUNNIEST POSTER OF THE YEAR:

THE DEVIL CAN WAIT FOR ME: LILLY ALLEN FOR HARPER'S BAZAAR RUSSIA...

NATIONAL SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS AWARDS: BEST DIRECTOR KATHRYN BIGELOW "THE HURT LOCKER"

Picture: The Hurt Locker (Summit)

Director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

Actor: Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Actress: Yolande Moreau, Seraphine (Music Box)

Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds (Weinstein/Universal), and Paul Schneider, Bright Star (Apparition)

Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, Precious (Lionsgate)

Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen, A Serious Man (Focus)

Foreign-Language Film: Summer Hours (IFC)

Nonfiction Film: The Beaches of Agnes (Cinema Guild)

Cinematography: Christian Berger, The White Ribbon (Sony Classics)

Production design: Nelson Lowry, Fantastic Mr. Fox (Fox)

PRODUCERS GUILD NOMINATIONS

LOS ANGELES (January 5, 2010) - The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced today the ten nominations for the Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures category that will advance in the voting process for the 21st Annual PGA Awards, which will take place on Sunday, January 24th at the Hollywood Palladium. The PGA also announced nominees in other categories including: the PGA Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures; the PGA Producer of the Year Award in Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures; and the David L. Wolper Producer of the Year Award in Long-Form Television.

The nominated films and programs are listed below in alphabetical order by category, along with producers. The producers' names listed for each nominated production are listed in alphabetical order and are not necessarily the proper order of credits:

Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures:

AVATAR (Fox)
Producers: James Cameron, Jon Landau
DISTRICT 9 (Sony)
Producers: Carolynne Cunningham, Peter Jackson
AN EDUCATION (Sony Classics)
Producers: Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey
THE HURT LOCKER (Summit)
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (Weinstein/Universal)
Producer: Lawrence Bender
INVICTUS (Warner Bros)
Producers: Clint Eastwood, Rob Lorenz, Lori McCreary , Mace Neufeld
PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE (Lionsgate)
Producers: Lee Daniels, Gary Magness, Sarah Siegel-Magness
STAR TREK (Paramount)
Producers: J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof
UP (Disney)
Producer: Jonas Rivera
UP IN THE AIR (Paramount)
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.

PGA Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:

9 (Focus)
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
CORALINE (Focus)
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
FANTASTIC MR. FOX (Fox)
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG (Disney)
Producer: Peter Del Vecho
UP (Disney)
Producer: Jonas Rivera

PGA Producer of the Year Award in Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures:

BURMA VJ
Producer: Lise Lense-Moller
The COVE
Producers: Paula DuPre Pesman, Fisher Stevens
SERGIO
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
SOUNDTRACK FOR A REVOLUTION
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.

David L. Wolper Producer of the Year Award in Long-Form Television*:
GEORGIA O'KEEFFE
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
GREY GARDENS
Producers: David Coatsworth, Lucy Donnelly, Rachael Horovitz, Michael Sucsy
LITTLE DORRIT
Producers: Lisa Osborne, Anne Pivcevic
PRAYERS FOR BOBBY
Producers: Stanley M. Brooks, Damian Ganczewski, David Permut, Daniel Sladek, Chris Taaffe
THE PRISONER
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
TAKING CHANCE
Producers: Lori Keith Douglas, Ross Katz, Brad Krevoy, Cathy Wischner-Sola

*Special note: The Long-Form Television category encompasses both movies of the week and mini series. The eligibility period for this category was January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009.

In November 2009, the PGA Awards announced the nominations for Television Series and Non-fiction categories.

COPERNICUS (FROM AIN'T IT COOL NEWS) ON THE SCIENCE OF JIM CAMERON'S AVATAR:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/43440

....I’ll address the different aspects of the science in sections.

FLORA AND FAUNA

From a visual perspective, Avatar’s Pandora is breathtaking. While
most movies have only hinted at the exotic nature of their worlds with
an establishing matte painting or two, here Cameron takes us on an
elaborate three-dimensional tour though various habitats, from the
treetops to the forest floor. He’s created a whole ecosystem, from
semi-intelligent trees to giant land and air creatures. Most seem
inter-related via symbiotic relationships. In fact, Cameron has taken
the Gaia hypothesis, that the biosphere of the Earth is itself a kind
of living entity, and sexed it up – the biosphere of Pandora is
essentially a god, and it’s networked! Creatures can plug into each
other via what amounts to USB hair and fiber optic roots. While some
of these ideas are not without their faults (see below), Cameron gets
points for creativity – this is true science fiction, not space opera.

I do have one minor complaint, that given their networking abilities,
the Na’vi should not be so technologically inferior to the humans. On
Earth, the largest barrier to technological progression was that
information that existed in the brains of primitive humans could not
be easily shared or preserved. As soon as writing was developed,
suddenly it was possible to store information outside of the brain,
and record and build upon knowledge. The knowledge available to a
human or tribe went from one brain’s worth (and a minimal amount of
oral tradition), to thousands, and ultimately billions of brains’
worth. The result was a technological and social explosion. Hominids
have had technology like spears for about half a million years, but
only 7,000 years after the development of writing we had left the
planet. And the sharing of knowledge is still undergoing a revolution
with the development of the internet. Now we have instantaneous
access to the combined knowledge of the entire history of humanity.

Since the Na’vi have had the ability to download information and share
it in a massive network for long periods of time (evolutionary
timescales), they should be way ahead of us in terms of technological
development. Still, I have to give Cameron a pass here. It is
thematically necessary that the Na’vi are technologically primitive,
and their root-network is necessary to the plot. Maybe you could say
that they could have evolved more technology, but they don’t need it
or want it. Still, that reeks of the “Noble savage” idea, and I have
to agree with Stephen Pinker that that is a bunch of hoo-ha.

But my major complaint from an evolutionary standpoint is that there
is no way in hell that life on Pandora would evolve to look so similar
to Earth life: there are humanoids, space horseys, hammerhead
rhinoceri, and pseudo-pterodactyl beasties. And to make it worse,
they have DNA, and the DNA is close enough to our own that Na’vi and
human DNA can be combined! Again, I have to give Cameron a pass.
First, it is easier for the audience to relate to familiar things.
And more than that there is a significant plot point that I won’t
spoil towards the end of the film that hinges on humans and Na’vi
having similar DNA.....(...)

MOVE YOUR MONEY TO COMMUNITY BANKS...

A VIDEO BY EUGENE JARECKI AND HUFFINGTON POST

ATHENA ANDREADIS ON JAMES CAMERON:"BLOATED LIKE HINDENBURG"...

"...full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
~ Shakespeare, MacBeth, Act V, Scene V

James Cameron made two films that are high on my list of favorites: Terminator 2 and Aliens -- not least because powerful women are central to the stories (even though he gave them the most conservative and clichéd motivation for heroism: maternal protectiveness). He was a taut, visually inventive storyteller once. But all his films after The Abyss increasingly resemble the Hindenburg: bloated, self-indulgent, lacking originality and subtlety in all but F/X.

(READ MORE BELOW)...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/athena-andreadis-phd/camerons-iavatari-jar-jar_b_402576.html

BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR (SO FAR...)

1) DISTRICT 9 by Neill Blomkamp. Science fiction at its very best by a remarkable talent.
2) RED CLIFF by John Woo. The master is back at his roots.
3) TROOPER (not released yet) by Chris Martini. A powerful indie movie about a Trooper returning home. Written, directed, edited and starring Chris Martini, this is one of the most remarkable debuts in recent years. Method actor Gary Swanson (pictured here with Chris Martini at the "CELL" in NYC at the film's very successful screening)steals the show pulling out the most natural perfomance in recent years. Great acting. Eddie Manley also makes a big impression.

CRAZY HALLOWEEN NIGHT IN NEW YORK!

UNIVERSITY PLACE, 12 VAN DAM STREET (VAN DAM DINER), 8TH STREET, MCDOUGAL STREET...

1.000.000 EUROS AWARD FOR THE TWO THUGS WHO THROW ACID TO UNION ORGANIZER KONSTANTINA KOUNEVA...

A remarkable initiative from Minister of Public Order Michalis Chrysohoides in Athens Greece. ONE MILLION EUROS are offered to that certain somebody that is going to give info leading to the arrest of the criminals and the mastermind behind this sadistic act. A few months ago two thugs throw acid at the face of union organizer Kouneva (for laborers cleaning the subway stations in Athens. A contract handled by a very specific company).

Kouneva is forgiving her attackers.

We don't.

TONY JAA ROCKS AT "ONG BAK 2"...AT THE VILLAGE CINEMAS...

"ONG BAK 2", directed by Tony Jaa and John Hamburg, is part Robin Hood, part Mogly in the jungle and the exotic locations of Malaysia. Has very good cinematography, a few lines of dialogue, well-trained and choreographed elephants, superb casting, and an action hero with a miserable childhood that never quits.

The genre of action never sleeps.

An enjoyable action trip.

I would see this movie again!

"THE RED SHOES" (MICHAEL POWELL & ERIC PRESSBURGER, 1948) AT THE FILM FORUM...

....The Archers-a UK production company now defunct- take on Art with a capital A: Æstheticism as a life-philosophy, Sergei Pavlovich Dyagilev and the Ballets Russes. And it works: a magnificent, moving film, not just about ballet but Art as a vocation, a religion. It is a Romantic-Æsthetic epiphany. Remarkably for a film of this era, the hero is a wise, dignified, elegant, inspiring, 50-ish gay man, courageously played by a gay actor (...)

This masterpiece has been restored to a pristine quality 35mm print thanks to the love and dedication of Thelma Schoonmaker-Powell and Martin Scorcese among others.

Go see it!

Then you are going to understand the difference between garbage like "PARANORMAL ACTIVITY" and real cinematic pleasure like "THE RED SHOES".

DYLAN RATIGAN: "HOW GOLDMAN SACHS MADE TRILLIONS THANKS TO THE AMERICANS TAXPAYERS.."

How did Goldman, Sachs & Co. -- saved a year ago by the US taxpayer -- magically make $3 billion in 3 months a year later?
This as the US dollar collapses, unemployment soars and foreclosures hit a record?
Here is the Goldman, Sachs & Co. revenue break down for the past 3 months:
Financial Advisory-M/A: 325 million.
Equity Underwriting: 363 million.
Debt Underwriting: 211 million.
Trading-Principal Investments: 10 billion.
Notice that 10 billion is much bigger than two or three hundred million made from the traditional Wall Street businesses.
That $10 billion is evidence of their magic trick. For we the taxpayer gave Goldman Sachs the following:
10 Billion in TARP
11 Billion from the Fed
30 Billion from the FDIC
13 Billion from AIG
For a grand total of almost $70 Billion (Goldman along with every other bank and AIG would have been defunct without this money).
Goldman at the apex of the crisis is delivered this money -- which they then use to borrow against at $20 or $30 for every $1. Which at 30x equals $2.1 trillion in available capital.
As one of the only banks in the world with money at the time, Goldman Sachs was able to buy billions in distressed assets around the world at record low prices -- only to watch $23.7 trillion in US taxpayer money be deployed during the past year to re-inflate the asset's values that Goldman had purchased with our tax money.
The question is not why did we bail out the banks.
The question is why did we give the banks billions of our money so they could then buy assets by the trillions with our money and they keep the profits?
The answer is Henry Paulson, former Goldman Sachs CEO who ran the US Treasury, and Tim Geithner, current Treasury Secretary who at the time ran the New York Federal Reserve, willingly delivered Goldman Sachs the $70 Billion -- with no strings attached. Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dylan-ratigan/goldman-sachs-black-magic_b_324095.htmlHow did Goldman, Sachs & Co. -- saved a year ago by the US taxpayer -- magically make $3 billion in 3 months a year later?
This as the US dollar collapses, unemployment soars and foreclosures hit a record?
(...)Here is the Goldman, Sachs & Co. revenue break down for the past 3 months:
Financial Advisory-M/A: 325 million.
Equity Underwriting: 363 million.
Debt Underwriting: 211 million.
Trading-Principal Investments: 10 billion.
Notice that 10 billion is much bigger than two or three hundred million made from the traditional Wall Street businesses.
That $10 billion is evidence of their magic trick. For we the taxpayer gave Goldman Sachs the following:
10 Billion in TARP
11 Billion from the Fed
30 Billion from the FDIC
13 Billion from AIG
For a grand total of almost $70 Billion (Goldman along with every other bank and AIG would have been defunct without this money).
Goldman at the apex of the crisis is delivered this money -- which they then use to borrow against at $20 or $30 for every $1. Which at 30x equals $2.1 trillion in available capital.
As one of the only banks in the world with money at the time, Goldman Sachs was able to buy billions in distressed assets around the world at record low prices -- only to watch $23.7 trillion in US taxpayer money be deployed during the past year to re-inflate the asset's values that Goldman had purchased with our tax money.
The question is not why did we bail out the banks.
The question is why did we give the banks billions of our money so they could then buy assets by the trillions with our money and they keep the profits?
The answer is Henry Paulson, former Goldman Sachs CEO who ran the US Treasury, and Tim Geithner, current Treasury Secretary who at the time ran the New York Federal Reserve, willingly delivered Goldman Sachs the $70 Billion -- with no strings attached. Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dylan-ratigan/goldman-sachs-black-magic_b_324095.html

SMASHING VICTORY FOR PAPANDREOU AND "SOCIALIST" PARTY IN GREEK ELECTIONS...

With an overwhelming 10% difference Hellenes bid adieu to the corrupted Costas Karamanlis government that for 5 years looted, destroyed, corrupted the Hellenic republic.
Among the countless sex and financial scandals that of secretary of Ministry of Culture Zahopoulos, a protege from Thessaloniki of incompetent laid-back prime minister Karamanlis, a nephew of Costas Karamanlis the elder. Karamanlis the younger was famous for leaving office at 2 pm, commuting to the suburb of Rafina to eat chop steaks...
Karamanlis also quit tonight from president of New Democracy. New leader to be elected in 30 days.
New Democracy=A bunch of crooks, and BShitters that destroyed Peloponnese in the wildfires of August 2007 and then offered 3.000 euros to people that lost their properties only to take it back after the elections.
Exteme right wing, Jew-bashing, immigrant-hunting political party LAOS (FOLKS) claims victory with 15 asseblymen.

Some LAOS members claim that Holocaust never happened. Imagine that!

ROMAN POLANSKI ARRESTED IN ZURICH

ZURICH (Reuters) - Film-maker Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland on a 31-year-old U.S. arrest warrant, the Zurich Film Festival said in a statement Sunday.
Polanski's arrest Saturday evening was in connection with an arrest warrant issued by U.S. authorities in 1978 for having unlawful sex with an underage girl, the statement said.
The film-maker had been due to receive the prize for his life's work at the Film Festival Sunday evening, kick-starting a retrospective of his film career.
"Roman Polanski, one of the greatest film directors of our time, would have received an award for his life's achievement at the Zurich Film Festival," the statement said.
"However, he was detained by the police upon his entry at Zurich Airport. His detention is linked to the demand by U.S.-authorities to a warrant for his arrest in 1978."
"The festival directors have received this news with great consternation and shock," the festival said, adding that the tribute to Polanski would go ahead so that festival-goers could express their solidarity and admiration for the film-maker.
He was arrested in the late 1970s and charged with giving drugs and alcohol to a 13-year-old girl and having unlawful sex with her at a photo session at Jack Nicholson's Hollywood home.
Polanski, who maintained the girl was sexually experienced and had consented, spent 42 days in prison undergoing psychiatric tests but fled the country before being sentenced. His U.S. visa has since been withdrawn.
Polanski's agent in Los Angeles was not immediately available for comment.

CREATOR'S ESTATE FIGHTS OVER THOR, CAPTAIN AMERICA...

The estate of Jack Kirby, co-creator of Captain America, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, The Avengers, Iron Man, Hulk, The Silver Surfer and Thor and has sent notices terminating copyright to publishers Marvel and Disney, as well as film studios that have made movies and TV shows based on characters he created or co-created, including Sony, Universal, 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures.Just as the Jerry Siegel estate has done so with rights to Superman, so Kirby's estate is looking to regain his share of copyright in the characters and their use in comics and other media. the estate is using the same lawyers as the Siegels, Toberoff & Associates, who have been fairly successful in their case against DC/Warner so far.Such claims, if found valid, would begin from 2014 and, as always, its worth noting that Marvel/Disney will still own the trademarks of the characters in comics, and the studios in movies. The likelihood is that, if successful, the Kirby estate would enter into negotiation with Marvel over terms to continue publishing comics based on his work.Kirby battled Marvel for years over the return of the physical artwork to his comics, and was asked to sign documents that would have irrevocable and specifically signed away rights to the characters, something he refused to do. He also contributed to other creators fights with Marvel, including Steve Gerber, co-creating Destroyer Duck with Gerber in a benefit book over the Howard The Duck deal.Born Jacob Kurtzberg, Jack Kirby is considered the most influential superhero comic artist in the world, though he also worked for decades in romance, war and science-fiction comics. His DC work also provided much of the backbone for the recent blockbuster series Final Crisis from DC. Currently Dynamite, in agreement with the Kirby Estate, is working on a new Kirbyverse line, publishing characters that Kirby created independently of Marvel and DC.He has four surviving children, Susan, Neal, Barbara and Lisa and two grandchildren, Jeremy and Tracy.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/

(...)That's the news from the website bleedingcool.com, which covers all things comic book. Normally these kinds of lawsuits are run of the mill for Hollywood. But not when they're litigated by Marc Toberoff, who is the bane of Big Media. He's had so many victories they're hard to count, especially in he comic book arena on behalf of Superman creator Jerry Seigel against DC Comics and Warner Bros. Like that case, Kirby’s estate is looking to regain his share of copyright in the characters and their use in comics and other media. "Such claims, if found valid, would begin from 2014 and, as always, it's worth noting that Marvel/Disney will still own the trademarks of the characters in comics, and the studios in movies. The likelihood is that, if successful, the Kirby estate would enter into negotiation over terms to continue publishing comics based on his work," the website wrote. Other recent cases which Toberoff has won or settled lawsuits on Lassie, Get Smart, The Dukes of Hazzard, The Wild Wild West, and Smallville. On the Superman case, Warner Bros could have been draped in black mourning the loss of a shitload of Superman dollars because of U.S. District Court Judge Stephen G. Larson's ruling: "After 70 years, Jerome Siegel’s heirs regain what he granted so long ago — the copyright in the Superman material that was published in Action Comics, Vol. 1. What remains is an apportionment of profits, guided in some measure by the rulings contained in this Order, and a trial on whether to include the profits generated by DC Comics’ corporate sibling’s exploitation of the Superman." Think about it: Siegel sold the rights to the action hero he created with Joseph Shuster to Detective Comics for $130, and his heirs got back ownership of the character in 1999 and could possibly lay claim to $50+ million of Warner Bros' and/or its DC Comics' cash. Can that happen in the Kirby case? The iron is that Disney CEO Bob Iger's ties to Marvel go back two generations to Kirby himself. That's because Iger's late great-uncle (his grandfather's brother) was illustrator/cartoonist Jerry Iger, who partnered with illustrator/cartoonist Will Eisner back in the 1930s to create the comic book packager Eisner & Iger Studios. And their first hire was Jack Kirby, who as you know later became the co-creator of many of Marvel's best known characters with then Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee. Lee, meanwhile, has been supportive of the Disney/Marvel deal (though he is fighting lawsuits of his own on other fronts.)

NIKKI FINKE

http://www.deadline.com/

REST IN PEACE PATRIK SWAYZE....

Everyine has a "DIRTY DANCING" story.

After a long fight with cancer Patrik Swayze, the leading actor of "DIRTY DANCING" and "GHOST" and countless others, and a real nice human being by all accounts, escaped to Heaven.

Hope there's no more pain, and sorrow, over there.

DEBTOR'S REVOLT AGAINST BANK OF AMERICA...

30% INTEREST ON CREDIT CARD!!!!!!!!!!!
BANK OF AMERICA RENTS(LOANS) MONEY TO AMERICAN CONSUMERS WITH SIMILAR TO MAFIA'S LOANSHARKING INTEREST RATE!!!!!

CORRUPTED VOTERS-CORRUPTED POLITICIANS...

...are ready for another round of looting. On October 4, 2009 when the national elections will be held Greek politicos will have another chance to burn, destroy, loot, steal, corrupt, one of the most beautiful countries in the world and, possibly, start a new chapter in the Siemens saga.

One of the most useful "tools" for Greek politicians is the "anti-americanism" ploy. Any and every problem of the daily life is blamed to the American foreign policy through mass media interviews. When the night falls these same politicians and assemblymen, "communists" and "socialists" robber barons are begging the US ambassador in Athens for his favor.

IN THE PICTURES ABOVE you can enjoy all the glory and the scandals of right-wing BBQ Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis...

It's a shame!!!

Pictures from:

http://asimonis.wordpress.com/

GOODBYE TO TED KENNEDY FROM PRESIDENT OBAMA...

"Through his own suffering, Ted Kennedy became more alive to the plight and suffering of others - the sick child who could not see a doctor; the young soldier sent to battle without armor; the citizen denied her rights because of what she looks like or who she loves or where she comes from. The landmark laws that he championed -- the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, immigration reform, children's health care, the Family and Medical Leave Act -all have a running thread. Ted Kennedy's life's work was not to champion those with wealth or power or special connections. It was to give a voice to those who were not heard; to add a rung to the ladder of opportunity; to make real the dream of our founding. He was given the gift of time that his brothers were not, and he used that gift to touch as many lives and right as many wrongs as the years would allow.
We can still hear his voice bellowing through the Senate chamber, face reddened, fist pounding the podium, a veritable force of nature, in support of health care or workers' rights or civil rights. And yet, while his causes became deeply personal, his disagreements never did. While he was seen by his fiercest critics as a partisan lightning rod, that is not the prism through which Ted Kennedy saw the world, nor was it the prism through which his colleagues saw him. He was a product of an age when the joy and nobility of politics prevented differences of party and philosophy from becoming barriers to cooperation and mutual respect - a time when adversaries still saw each other as patriots.
And that's how Ted Kennedy became the greatest legislator of our time"...