Romanians admit stealing art works in Netherlands

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Three Romanians have pleaded guilty to stealing seven paintings, including works by Picasso, Monet and Matisse, from a Dutch museum in a daring daytime raid that shocked the art world.

The suspects, Radu Dogaru, Alexandru Bitu and Eugen Darie, told a Bucharest court on Tuesday that they took the multimillion-dollar paintings from Kunsthal Museum in October 2012.

The works have never been found.

In their depositions to prosecutors, the suspects said they brought the paintings to Romania, tried to sell them on the black market, then left them with Olga Dogaru, the chief suspect's mother.

She told investigators she burned the paintings, and a Romanian museum said that ash found in a stove at her home contained paint, canvas and nails. But she later denied that her story was true.

• Society & Culture
• Crime & Justice

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/romanians-admit-stealing-art-works-netherlands-122844063.html
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Can You Click Your Way To Happiness? New Self-Help Service For The Stressed & Sad, Happify, Makes Big Claims

A new website catering to the stressed out, emotionally unfulfilled, and generally down called Happify is launching publicly today backed by $3.8 million in seed funding. Its goal? To bring the latest scientific advancements in positive psychology and positive neuroscience to consumers in the form of games, activities and exercises designed to “hack your inner self” and “optimize your well-being.” Or at least that’s how co-founder Ofer Leidner puts it.

Leidner previously co-founded and built several digital media businesses, most recently iPlay/Oberon Media (a casual games company, where he had executive roles), as well as Gate42 Technologies, a software startup in the customer relations space which he also co-founded. Meanwhile, Happify CTO and co-founder Andy Parsons has served as CTO at several companies including Outside.in (acquired by AOL), Bookish and Digital Railroad.

The two believe that technology and interactive experiences can help deliver more meaningful services, Leidner tells TechCrunch. These services can be “actually healthier, time well spent and lead users to a happier more fulfilling life,” he says. “The concepts innovate at the intersection of the science of happiness, quantified approach and human emotions.”

It may sound like a bunch of feel-good babble, but Happify isn’t alone in targeting those using online and mobile platforms to go after the modern-day self-help crowd. A number of companies have also attempted to reach this audience including: relaxation resource Calm.com, social motivation app Carrot, goal setting site Wishberg, dream-focused Everest, goal tracker and self-improvement app Lift, and many others.

The games and activities in Happify are based on concepts from a decade’s worth of science from UPenn, Harvard, and Stanford, Leidner explains. “Happify partnered with leading scientists in the field, engagement designers and marketers to create an experience that help develop emotional skills shown by the scientists to lead to greater wellbeing,” he says.

On the site, tracks have four parts that guide you through a week’s worth of content, all designed to boost your overall happiness by focusing on areas like: building self-confidence, fueling your career success, and coping better with stress.

I haven’t had long enough to test the service to confirm its claims here, though I’m a prime candidate for stress reduction right now. So far, all I’ve managed to do is walk through the introductory quiz and play a simple game where you pop hot air balloons with “positive” words on them, like “luck,” “jubilant,” “great,” “joy,” “hope,” etc. (My three-year old had a similar game, but it involved tapping the balloons to learn her colors instead.) I don’t feel happier or less stressed by this activity alone, but Happify takes time to have an effect, I’m told.

The company claims that  86% of the users showed an increase in their happiness score after 8 weeks of regular use, and the average time spent per user per session is about 20 minutes, with members returning 2-3 times per week to practice their emotional skills.

Call it the power of positive thinking.

I tend to raise a skeptical eyebrow at services like these. After all, companies like Lumosity claimed to be able to “train your brain” using games that make you smarter, and for years, consumers bought into its pseudo-science, which later was revealed to be largely bogus (despite what you may have read elsewhere.) Similarly, Happify is leveraging research, while arguably with good intentions, but in a way that’s not definitively quantifiable at this point in time.

Will the majority of users really become happier? Will an online solution mean users who are actually clinically depressed, or suffering from an emotional or mental disorder think they can fix their feelings, DIY-style? Will those it could potentially help, follow through with their coursework for the months it takes to have an effect? Would they have been better served by therapy?

There are a lot of questions which self-help resources, like Happify, can’t really answer. But even if you try and fail to achieve a happier state of being, it probably didn’t hurt you to give it a go.

That being said, it’s clearly not for everyone.

Happify is a freemium subscription service, with 20 four-part tracks, 10 of which are free. The additional eight are included with the Happify Plus membership option. Happify costs $14.95 per month, $6.95 for month for one year and $4.95/month for two years.

Investors in the startup’s seed round for Happify include Founder Collective, BtoV Partners, and angels including Eric Aroesty, Lewis Katz, Craig Kallman, Brian Bedol, David Kleinhandler, Founder Collective, BtoV Partners.

The New York-based company was founded in December 2011, and has a team of nine. The service has been in private beta for the past six months, to test its concepts with 100,000 members. The subscription plan was offered to users three months ago, and Leidner says it’s now seeing good initial growth in terms of paying subscribers.

Now that it has launched to the public, the company is focusing on its Happify iPhone app which it plans to bring to the App Store soon. In the meantime, interested users, the stressed and sad, can try Happify for themselves here.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/xADr1TPpbPw/
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Fake Jerseys Work In A Pinch For Bogota Soccer Team

Walk around any city in Colombia and you'll find vendors selling counterfeit soccer jerseys. That came in handy for Bogota's Independiente Santa Fe team. They showed up for an away game in the wrong color, so a team official bought knockoffs from vendors.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/22/239572568/fake-jerseys-work-in-a-pinch-for-bogota-soccer-team?ft=1&f=1055
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Nokia adds 500, 502 and 503 to its Asha lineup, starts at $69

Nokia's biggest announcements in Abu Dhabi today will no doubt focus on Lumia devices first and foremost, but it's not leaving the Asha lineup out in the Finnish cold. After boasting that 26 million Ashas have sold so far, the company's announced that it's adding three successors to the Asha 501, ...

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/mrTFXREDbOo/
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The Hunger Games: Characters

Character Guidelines.
Character's can not be canon in the Hunger Games verse (i.e. can't have been mentioned in the books e.g. Katniss, Peeta, Haymitch, Prim, Gale, Effie etc.)

The character sheet must be filled out thoroughly. Please remember that this is my main source of seeing your posting average, and if I feel you are not literate enough for the roleplay I will not accept you. I have the right to deny your character or suggest changes to it, please do not be offended.

Reservations last 48 hours, though longer if I see a WIP put up within this time. Please ask for an extension. Even if you reserve, I can deny your character if I feel it is not right for the roleplay.

Do not make your character all powerful. Make it mortal - make it have fears, doubts, weaknesses. Preferably, your character should have more weaknesses than strengths, though this is not required. Please don't make your character smart, fast, strong, brave, adventurous, kind, etc. all in one. No one likes Mary-Sues, and they're not very fun to play anyway.

Also remember that your character can and probably will die. Don't have too many characters volunteer - it is extremely uncommon unless you're in a wealthy district as many people from here have had (illegal) training.

Character Sheet Example.

An example of a character sheet would include the following:
Name:
Age:
Gender:
District:
Sexual Orientation:
Appearance: Picture included but description as well. Realistic preferred, and if it is a face claim please list who.
Personality:
History:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Fears:

Not all of the above are necessary in your character sheet, but try to include as much detail as possible. Some more details you could include are likes, dislikes, theme song. etc.

You don't have to include your character's token here - there is an OOC thread for that. You can mention your character's chosen training stations, but please remember to also post them in the training stations thread.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/YUVfnBxZkx4/viewtopic.php
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Touched: Afterscape

This is very much raw, unfiltered ideas about a possible setting I've been playing around with for the past year. It's somewhat of a fusion of multiple genres; very much like Shadow Run but not as advanced. Here's the lowdown.

Touched: Afterscape

All life on the surface of the planet had been told it's expiration date. We were going to die.

Some deep space sensors had managed to detect an incoming asteroid the size of Alaska. It would hit the east coast of what was the United States and unleash a massive shock-wave that would decimate the entire planet. It was surmised that it would likely create a tsunami that would flood most of the land, cause massive volcanic activity, and block out the sun with the resulting debris that would plunge the surface of the planet into another ice age.

People started making plans within the three months that it would take for oblivion to arrive. The International Space Agency was given every material, every worker, every consideration in order to find a way to survive. The ISA worked together with governments around the globe to create a ship that could deliver a nuclear payload and an international team of astronauts trained to drill into the asteroid and plant the payload. They would not be able to return.

As the team piloted the ship named 'Salvator' toward the asteroid many of the people on the ground, those of us normal and unable to assist with the Herculean effort, tried to live our lives. It took a week for the Salvator to get visual of the asteroid and many of us huddled around our televisions and radios and listened as the International Space Agency spoke with the astronauts on board.

As the Salvator neared the asteroid, most of the astronauts began to feel ill. As they set up the drills, an American man from somewhere in Florida threw up in his suit and made his way back to the shuttle. As he neared the door he fell over and stopped responding. Thirty minutes later another, a woman from Tokyo, Japan, complained about her visor fogging up and numbness. She simply stopped moving and floated away. At this point, the ISA told the astronauts to cease waiting for orders unless they needed help and to proceed as quickly as possible. Something was wrong.

By the time the nuclear payload was planted, almost five agonizing hours later, only two astronauts were still alive, a Russian man from Moscow and an American woman from New York City. As they sat in the shuttle and reflected on their work, a council of the astronaut's families and world leaders thanked them for everything they did, for what they had saved their home from. As both astronauts slowly faded, the ISA sent the order for detonation. The astronauts fell silent as they and the asteroid were subjected to a combined nuclear payload of over one thousand kilotons of explosive force.

As the light from the nuclear blast faded and most of the dust drifted away, the ISA was delighted to discover that the resulting pieces of the asteroid were now drifting apart. Celebrations erupted the world over. What we called the 'impact generation' was conceived that night, products of elation of good will.

The next day came news nobody wanted to hear. While most of the asteroid had dispersed, many of the resulting pieces were still on a crash course with the Earth. Two months later the remaining pieces of the asteroid crashed into the earth's surface, spread out and causing destruction and mayhem across the globe.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While it was true that the resulting physical damage from the impact was lessened, there was an unforeseen side effect resulting from the physical makeup of the asteroid itself. It was nothing we as a civilization could have ever expected, but strangely something we've written about for centuries, millenniums even.

It contained crystals, emitting high doses of a strange radiation, what we've come to know as M-Radiation. What creatures didn't die from the impact, earth quakes, tsunamis, or extreme winters also had to contend with the M-Radiation ripping apart their nervous systems. I've estimated that about eighty percent of the humanity, if not most of life on earth's surface, died from the asteroids impact itself. A further fifteen percent then died from the M-Radiation. In short, of the approximately eight billion people on earth, only four-hundred million survived.

About a decade afterward, those who survived it all started to notice something. We became stronger and faster. We had mutated, re-written by the strange forces released by our oblivion. And those of us who would later investigate the remains of the asteroid came to understand them as the source of this strange radiation.

Many called it a miracle, some called it a conciliation prize. Some claimed it was given to us by their gods, others that some alien race had predicted what we would do and sent it to us to make us pure enough to interact with. After many years of trying to survive the savage environment around us, we noticed something else that was beyond odd. Some of us had stopped aging. For every one-million people, one of us never visibly went beyond the age of thirty. I was one of them.

Can you imagine that? Immortality. To be chosen by fate, luck, or the whim of some celestial being, and stop aging. All that time, all that possibility. It became a nightmare in the first few decades. Many were killed out of jealousy, bigotry, paranoia, exile, and guilt. Of course for every 'Touched' killed, there were twenty trusted with oral histories, teaching children of the past, operating Pre-Sunder Machinery. And it didn't stop with the generations left over from the old world, the children also were under the effect of the one in a million lottery.

After many years of Touched being exiled, one defended himself from a mob by throwing fire. Fire! With his bare hands! He was the worlds first wizard. I managed to talk with him after hearing about it and he had no idea what he was doing, he just managed to will a ball of force and heat into existence. He had lived long enough to have subconsciously learned to create a spell and use it. The practice spread like wildfire. At first it was only the Touched, but as they learned more they were able to pass on the teachings to the mortals and they too could perform what we thought to be Magic.

Life became much more interesting. Civilization exploded as 'Wizards' began to lean how to manipulate the strange energy known as M-Radiation and use it to stop rivers, plow fields, lift boulders, and quell fires. Nomads turned into villagers, villages turned into towns, towns turned into cities. Of course we couldn't stay peaceful, could we? The wars were destructive beyond compare. Imagine the destructive power of a cannon. Now imagine dropping pieces of a nearby mountain onto a cities defenses and tell me with one is more effective.

Of course the 'Wizards' pushed themselves to hard during the initial skirmishes. Those who were mortal simply died as their nervous systems became fried and the organs shut down. Those who were Touched suffered a much worse fate. They became deranged and savage, monsters in the skin of man with eyes black as pitch. We don't know exactly what happens, but whatever forces were keeping us from aging supported our bodies but not our minds. While the poor bastard's gray matters cooked their bodies became weapons without masters and struck out at everyone, save for other deranged.

There were less people throwing mountains at each other after that happened a few times, but it didn't stop the eternal war machine. Some people discovered what came to be called 'Sorcery' and the world became much more dangerous.

They were able to take people's souls, or what we called souls. More appropriately, it was the electrical energy generated by the human mind and, somehow, the consciousness of that human. And not just people, animals too. They could use this energy to imbue objects with arcane effects, ensnare the senses of the living, and even create armies of hypnotized warriors.

The fools, a world covered in mutated life and mostly unfit for humanity and all they could think about was making sure they had more than everyone else.

It's been almost two centuries since 'The Fall.' My life has taken me along a path that has been both dangerous and peaceful, destructive and productive. Today peace is the way of the world, but I have come to know of a plot that threatens that peace. Something is coming, I don't know what. I just hope that I and the people of the Afterscape are ready for it.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/EsZlS9jWi5Q/viewtopic.php
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The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers: Film Review

The Bottom Line

While not as comprehensive or objective as one would hope, this vivid documentary will prove fascinating to history buffs.

Director

Richard Trank

Screenwriters  

Richard Trank, Rabbi Marvin Hier 

 

Cast

Sandra Bullock, Michael Douglas, Christoph Waltz, Leonard Nimoy

Not quite as expansive in its scope as its title suggests, Richard Trank’s documentary relates much of Israel’s early history as seen through the eyes of 84-year-old Yehuda Avner, on whose memoirs the film is based. The avuncular Avner, who serves as the film’s primary talking head, delivers a true insider’s perspective, having served as an aide and speechwriter to such key Israeli historical figures as Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin and Shimon Peres. His often personal recollections form the heart of The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers.

Since Avner was not personally connected to such earlier personages as Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, the film provides only a cursory examination of the country’s founding and early years. Its focus begins with Eshkol’s tenure, which included the epochal 1967 Six-Day War. One of the highlights is Avner’s recollections of a meeting between Eshkol and Lyndon Johnson at the latter’s Texas ranch, where Eshkol, who had spent his early years on a kibbutz, impressed the down-home U.S. president with his veterinary skills. More enlightening is Avner’s account of spotting a note passed by Johnson to his Secretary of State Dean Rusk featuring the instruction, “Dean -- Go slow on this thing,” which Avner pocketed and still has to to this day.

The film then proceeds to Meir, who led the nation through a series of terrorist attacks and ultimately the 1973 Yom Kippur War. It presents a fascinating portrait of the indefatigable female prime minister who triumphed in wartime despite her utter lack of military experience. Subsequent segments detail the in-fighting that went on between Meir’s successors and such figures as Foreign Minister Abba Eban, who Avner cites for his verbosity.

The film is somewhat sketchy in its recounting of its historical details and the use of such Hollywood stars as Sandra Bullock, Leonard Nimoy, Michael Douglas and Chrisoph Waltz to voice the speeches of Meir, Eshkol, Rabin and Begin respectively is unnecessarily distracting. It also suffers from its one-sided perspective which often fails to provide sufficient informational context. But it nonetheless provides a vividly personal account of the country’s travails during some of its most tumultuous times that will prove fascinating to history buffs. A sequel scheduled for release next year, entitled The Prime Ministers: Soldiers and Peacemakers, promises to include segments devoted to such later events as the raid on Entebbe, the Camp David and Oslo accords, and the war in Lebanon.

Opened: Friday, Oct. 18 (Moriah Films)

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Michael Douglas, Leonard Nimoy, Christoph Waltz

Director: Richard Trank  

Screenwriters/producers: Rabbi Marvin Hier, Richard Trank

Director of photography: Jeffrey Victor

Editor: Nimrod Erez

Composer: Lee Holdridge

Not rated, 115 min.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thr/reviews/film/~3/SoSvDZtVPic/prime-ministers-pioneers-film-review-649758
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How Did The Chicken Cross The Road? In Style

We all know why the chicken crossed the road. Now, a new product wants to make sure they get to the other side safely. As chickens become more popular as pets, the British company Omlet is selling high-visibility chicken jackets — tiny fluorescent safety vets for when they're on the streets.

Copyright © 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne.

We all know why the chicken crossed the road. A new product wants to make sure they get to the other side safely. As chickens become more popular as pets, British company Omlet is selling high-visibility chicken jackets; tiny fluorescent safety vets when they're out on the street. The jackets also protect the birds against rain and cold. But the website warns that owner should be sure to remove them before bedtime. They are not suitable as pajamas.

It's MORNING EDITION.

Copyright © 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/21/238933718/how-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road-in-style?ft=1&f=3
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Deadly attack on Copts in Egypt draws condemnation

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's government and religious leaders on Monday condemned an attack outside a Coptic church in Cairo that killed four people, including an 8-year-old girl, the latest in a rising wave of assaults targeting the country's Christian minority.

The prime minister pledged the Sunday night attack would "not succeed in sowing divisions between the nation's Muslims and Christians." Hazem el-Beblawi called it a "callous and criminal act," and vowed perpetrators would be brought to justice.

Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population of 90 million and attacks targeting them have increased in the aftermath of the popularly-backed July 3 coup that ousted the country's Islamist president.

But the attack late Sunday was among the deadliest in weeks. Two masked gunmen riding on a motorcycle opened fire at a wedding party in Cairo's Waraa neighborhood as guests were leaving the Virgin Mary church, killing four people, including a woman and a little girl, said Khaled el-Khateeb, a senior health ministry official. The attack also wounded 17, he said.

The top cleric at Al-Azhar, the world's primary seat of Sunni Islamic learning, also condemned the attack in a statement Monday. "It is a criminal act that runs contrary to both religion and morals," said Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb.

Egypt's Coptic Christians have long complained of discrimination by the country's Muslim majority, and more recently, over what they see as the failure by the government to protect their churches against militant Muslims.

"What is happening is that all of Egypt is being targeted, not just the Christians," said Fr. Dawoud, a priest at the Virgin Mary church. "Enough! People are getting sick and tired of this."

The manner of Sunday's attack harkens back to Egypt's Islamist insurgency of the 1980s and 1990s, when militants attacked foreign tourists, Christians and senior government officials.

It is also the latest in a series of high-profile attacks blamed on Islamic militants in the country's capital — a city of some 18 million people — since the July ouster of President Mohammed Morsi.

In September, the interior minister, who is in charge of police, survived an assassination attempt by a suicide car bombing in Cairo. Earlier this month, militants fired rocket propelled grenades on the nation's largest satellite ground station, also in Cairo. The Interior Ministry reports near-daily discoveries of explosives planted on bridges and major roads.

Clashes between Morsi's supporters and security forces, occur daily in Cairo. At least 50 people, mostly supporters of the ousted president, were killed in the capital on Oct 6.

The army and security forces are fighting what in effect has become a full-fledged insurgency in the northern part of the strategic Sinai Peninsula. Sinai, which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip, has for years seen intermittent attacks by militants on security forces, but they have grown to be more frequent and deadly since the ouster of Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood-led government.

Ansar Jerusalem, a Sinai-based militant group, claimed responsibility Monday for a car bomb attack Saturday that targeted the military intelligence compound in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia. In a statement posted on a militant website, the group said the attack was in retaliation for what it called the army's oppressive practices in Sinai.

The same group had also claimed responsibility for the failed assassination attempt on the interior minister, a suicide car bomb attack on a security headquarters in the town of el-Tor in southern Sinai earlier this month, along with attacks on gas pipelines to Israel and rockets targeting the Jewish state. The group also said it was behind a 2012 shootout along the Israeli-Egyptian border that killed three militants and an Israeli soldier.

Egypt's tenuous security was reflected in a statement issued late Sunday night by the National Defense Council, a body that includes the president, prime minister, the defense and interior ministers, and senior army commanders. The statement signaled new measures amid growing street unrest and militant attacks but gave no specifics.

A wave of attacks in August destroyed about 40 Coptic churches, mostly in areas south of Cairo where large Coptic communities and powerful Islamic militants make for a combustible mix. Those attacks followed the death of hundreds of Morsi supporters when police raided their sit-in encampments in Cairo on Aug. 14.

Islamic extremists are convinced that Christians played a significant role in the mass street protests that led to Morsi's ouster. Their spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II, has publicly supported the coup.

However, an association of Christian activists blamed the military-backed government of el-Beblawi for Sunday night's attack outside the Virgin Mary church, saying it has failed to protect churches since the August attacks south of the capital.

A Coptic youth group, known as The Association of Maspero Youth, also called for the dismissal of Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim, accusing him of "sponsoring" an April attack on the papal seat of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo.

The Maspero Youth Association was formed soon after more than 20 Christians were killed by army troops in 2011 outside Cairo's landmark, Nile-side state television building, known as the Maspero.

"If the Egyptian government does not care about the security and rights of Christians, then we must ask why are we paying taxes and why we are not arming ourselves if the police are not protecting us," said the group.

___

Associated Press writer Maamoun Youssef contributed to this report in Cairo.

• Act Of Terror
• Unrest, Conflicts & War
• Egypt

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/deadly-attack-copts-egypt-draws-condemnation-115937012.html
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UAE mosque shows Rihanna the door over photo shoot

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Overseers of Abu Dhabi's Grand Mosque say they asked pop star Rihanna to leave the compound after she posed for photographs considered to be at odds with the "sanctity" of the site.

Rihanna hasn't publicly responded to the actions by staff at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Her show took place on Saturday in Abu Dhabi.

Photos posted on various websites show the singer posing on white marble, dressed fully in black, with her hair covered according to the mosque's guidelines.

The mosque statement, published Monday in local newspapers, said Rihanna was in an area normally off limits for visitors. It says the fashion-style photo session violated rules on the "status and sanctity of the mosque."

The mosque is a major tourist site in the United Arab Emirates' capital.

• Religion & Beliefs
• Arts & Entertainment
• Rihanna
• Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
• United Arab Emirates

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uae-mosque-shows-rihanna-door-over-photo-shoot-105652469.html
Category: Government Shutdown Over   Tom Clancy  

Car ‘still not exactly as I want it’ says Raikkonen | 2013 F1 season

Kimi Raikkonen^[1] says that although Lotus have made improvements to the E21 over recent races, the car is still not yet fully to his liking.

The Finn has finished two of the last three races on the podium and managed a fifth place finish at last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.

“The car felt pretty strong all weekend and we’ve made good progress with it recently,” says Raikkonen. “It’s still not exactly as I want it and we’re trying to get rid of some understeer which is something I don’t like.”

“In Japan it was hard to show our real pace at the beginning of the race as I was stuck behind slower cars for quite a long time. After the final pit stop when I got a bit of free air the car was working much better. It ran well in the last half of the race and I was very happy with it.”

After failing to qualify in the top five in any of the last six races, the 2007 world champion is targeting a stronger showing on Saturday during next weekend’s Indian Grand Prix.

“Hopefully we finally get it right in qualifying as the last five qualifying sessions have not been that great for me,” says Raikkonen. “If we don’t, it’s going to be a difficult Sunday afternoon, although of course we’ll keep pushing. If we do get it right, then we can really go for it!”

“It’s quite an interesting track; one of the better ones from the modern circuits. It’s quite similar to Korea; long straights, not terribly challenging corners and hard braking. It’s not as technical as Korea which was another new track for me last year, but it’s good.”

With four races remaining in the 2013 season, Raikkonen is currently third in the Drivers’ Championship with 177 points – 16 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton and 30 points behind Fernando Alonso.

2013 F1 season

Browse all 2013 F1 season articles^[2]

Share this with your friends:

References

1. ^{^} Kimi Raikkonen (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
2. ^{^} Browse all 2013 F1 season articles (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/6c97t9m9NH8/
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Disney-UTV Expands South Indian Slate With First Telegu Language Project

Disney UTV India

Disney UTV's "Settai," a Tamil language remake of hit Hindi comedy "Delhi Belly"

MUMBAI – Disney-UTV announced its first South Indian Telegu language project, which will feature top star Mahesh Babu. Presented in association with Indira Productions, the film, as yet unnamed, will begin production in July 2014 and will be written and directed by Koratala Siva whose credits include the hit Mirchi.

While the studio has been active in the South Indian industry with features in Malayalam and Tamil languages, its first Telegu language project aims to further expand Disney UTV's South Indian footprint. The studio is already a major player in the mainstream Hindi Bollywood industry with recent hits including Chennai Express, featuring Shah Rukh Khan.

PHOTOS: Indian Talent Going Global

“We are extremely delighted to commence our journey in the Telugu film industry, which is the second biggest industry in India after Hindi films,” said Disney-UTV chief of South Indian business, G. Dhananjayan. “We believe in the power of great storytelling and have proven the same in the south with our Malayalam and Tamil slate.”

The studio first ventured into south Indian cinema in 2011 with Tamil titles Deiva Thirumagal and Muran, and followed with this summer's Settai (a remake of Hindi comedy Delhi Belly) and comedy hit Husbands in Goa in Malayalam.

The Hollywood majors who are active in local productions have been expanding southwards after first establishing a beachhead in Bollywood. Fox Star Studios has also been bolstering its south Indian slate via a recent alliance with well-known producer C. V. Kumar's banner Thirukumaran Entertainment. The agreement covers two projects -- Mundasupatti and V. Chitram -- both slated for release in 2014. After establishing itself in Bollywood with mainstream releases including My Name Is Khan, FSS expanded into south India by pacting with leading Tamil producer/director A. R. Murugadoss, which saw the 2011 release Engaeyum Eppothum (Anywhere, Anytime) and this year's Vathikuchi (Matchstick).

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Around the Web…

Happy hump day! Click through Wednesday’s riveting reads: Giuliana Rancic: Why Bill and I put our marriage first — Modern Mom 50 fun and affordable Halloween costumes for kids — Parenting.com Watch a clip from Owen Wilson, Amy Poehler‘s movie, Free Birds — POPSUGAR 5 million babies born using IVF in past 35 years — NBC […]Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/rxz8TmNY23o/
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Batman Calls Superman 'F---ing Boring' in Team-up Parody (Video)

We won't be seeing Batman and Superman's big screen team-up until 2015's Man of Steel sequel, but comedian Pete Holmes is already imagining what'll go down.

In his version, Superman comes to Batman (Holmes) to propose a team-up. But the Dark Knight isn't too keen on this, saying Superman only wants to partner up so he'll have a cooler image.

PHOTOS: Batman's Onscreen Villains: 10 Greats From the Joker to Bane

"You're f---ing white bread. You're boring. Look at you in your stupid outfit," Batman says. When Superman says his dad gave him the uniform, Batman chides the hero, telling him to "get over" his dead parents.

"Didn't your parents die?" Superman asks, which causes Batman to burst into tears.

Holmes previously played Batman in a series of CollegeHumor videos, which channeled Christian Bale's version of the Caped Crusader. Earlier in the week, Holmes debuted a sketch showing Professor X (Holmes) firing Wolverine from the X-Men.

PHOTOS: Batman Through the Years

The Pete Holmes Show, which partnered with CollegeHumor for the Batman vs. Superman video, premieres Monday, Oct. 28 at Midnight/11 Central on TBS.

Watch both videos below.

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As Strike Continues, Two Bay Area Transit Workers Killed By Train

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) trains sit idle at a BART maintenance facility on the first day of the BART strike on October 18, in Richmond, Calif.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) trains sit idle at a BART maintenance facility on the first day of the BART strike on October 18, in Richmond, Calif.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Two Bay-Area transit workers performing a track inspection were killed by an out-of-service train on Saturday, the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency said.

The accident comes amid a strike that has paralyzed the system. The New York Times reports:

"One of the workers was an employee and the other a contractor for the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, known as BART. The agency's workers went on strike Friday in a dispute over their contract, leaving thousands of commuters to find other ways to get to work.

"The names of the workers who were killed have not been released. They had 'extensive experience working around moving trains in both the freight train and the rapid transit industry,' according to a statement from BART officials."

The transit agency said the train that hit the workers was in automatic mode. The employees, said BART, work in a team of two. One performs the maintenance, while the other watches out for incoming trains. The accident is still under investigation.

One of the workers killed was part of the striking union, but the Times reports a BART official said he chose to come to work anyway.

As for the strike, The San Francisco Chronicle says there is no end in sight. While the union has suspended picketing for today, the paper reports:

"The labor unions and BART management continued their exhausting finger-pointing routine, giving strap-hangers little hope that trains might be rolling before the Monday commute.

"With no negotiations scheduled, both sides said Saturday that they were waiting for the other side to budge, an institutional game of chicken."

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/20/238418435/as-strike-continues-two-bay-area-transit-workers-killed-by-train?ft=1&f=1001
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'Covert Affairs' EP on Annie's Plan B, Calder/Auggie's Cover-Up and What's Next

Ian Watson/USA Network

"Covert Affairs" star Piper Perabo

[Warning: Spoilers ahead from midseason premiere.]

Annie Walker's deep undercover mission is proving more difficult than she thought.

"It's going to be messier, a little bit more chaotic," co-creator Matt Corman promises The Hollywood Reporter of the next five episodes.

With a completely new look (dark hair!), a new name (Jessica Matthews!) and a new plan of action to take down Henry, Annie is approaching things with a no-holds-barred attitude. Completely separated from the once-stable CIA world, Annie is completely alone -- and that won't change any time soon.

VIDEO: 'Covert Affairs' Returns: Auggie Confronts Calder Over Annie's 'Death'

Corman hints that the coming weeks will see "more Annie on her own, acting independently," pointing out that Annie going completely dark is a CIA goal. "That's what the CIA wants and wants their spies to aspire to but very few people go to a level that we're now seeing where Annie is where she's totally autonomous," he says. "It's what everybody would want out of their job, where they're making decisions all on their own without any supervision. But when you're in that position, the mistakes are yours as well."

The co-showrunner talks to THR about where Annie goes from here, the thought process behind her new look, the sacrifices Calder and Auggie are taking and much more.

How much discussion was there with how dramatic you wanted Annie's look to change?

There was a fair amount of thought that went into it. We realized that it was probably important to embrace it fully and everything that it represented. That's where decisions like actually having her dye her hair rather than wearing a wig came from. We wanted to commit to what this meant in a physical transformation standpoint but also from a storytelling standpoint. It's a little bit of a different paradigm. With things like that, you can't dip your toe, you have to go all in.

Is there significance to the Jessica Matthews name that she uses?

Not really. It's just an innocuous name. She wanted something that wasn't going to draw a lot of attention to itself. It's a fairly common first name and a fairly common last name. Those decisions when you're a spy aren't arbitrary. They can save your life. If it's too distinctive or too specific, it can draw attention. That goes along with her wardrobe as well. It allows her to be a chameleon, allow her to blend into situations. Her goal in the back six episodes is to not only bring down Henry, but to survive. When you're in survival mode, every decision matters.

STORY: 'Covert Affairs' Bosses Discuss Annie's Life-Altering Move and What's Next

With her new identity, Annie's gotten a lot more brutal with how she operates, which we got a sense of in the interrogation scene. Is that just a preview of more to come?

Yeah, she's definitely making decisions that she wouldn't have made in the past. I think being alone and the stakes force her to be a little harder, a little edgier and a little more brutal in certain instances. If she doesn't do these things, no one else is going to do these things for her. All this life as spy, all these missions, all the treachery and deceit, it starting to make her see the world in a slightly darker way.

We don't see her interacting with Calder, Auggie, Joan or Arthur. How does she go about communicating with them?

The short answer is it's important that she not communicate with them. Now in this past six, she will have interactions with them but whenever she chooses to do so, it's going to become loaded with meaning, importance and danger. Let's not forget, Calder played a role in covering this up so if she were to emerge alive, he would be in considerable trouble at the agency.

Speaking of the CIA, they're taking more measures to spy on their own with things like polygraph tests. How does this affect Calder and Auggie as they continue to keep Annie's whereabouts hidden?

It makes it much more challenging. You'll see an agency on a back tilt and a very paranoid agency. That certainly makes it very difficult to maintain a sophisticated cover-up, which is what Calder and to a lesser extent, Auggie, have perpetrated.

Are the risks that they're taking with their careers and lives by doing this going to bite them in the butt later on?

(Laughs.) If it came out in the wrong way, they would certainly lose their careers and possibly tried for treason. The risks are enormous. What you'll see is that these back six episodes build to a very dramatic place where literally more is at risk for all of our characters in [episodes] 15 and 16 than we've ever seen before. That's what we're shooting now. We sent a lot of crew and cast to Hong Kong, which is an enormous undertaking. It's going to be a rollercoaster ride and those last two episodes are absolutely filmic -- they're really big in scope and we're building toward that.

Calder is being put in a position to be a double agent, in a sense, by befriending Henry and his group while maintaining his loyalty to Auggie and Annie. Does that put him in a compromising situation down the line?

He's definitely in a complicated place. Interestingly, he has engendered a lot of good will from Henry for what he supposedly do, so Henry, who's a pretty distrustful person -- at least in the beginning of the season. That's an interesting spot for Calder to be in. The first 10 episodes we were always wondering whether Calder was good or bad and I don't think that's the case anymore. I think we know hes on the side of good. but that doesn't mean he'll always agree with Auggie or Annie. He's a very opinionated character, that's why we love him. He's going to be bring his own agenda to every situation.

Does he have another agenda that we don't know of yet?

It's more just about process and the way they're handling the Annie situation. He and Auggie are really going to have a lot of conflict about that but it's not that he's a true double.

What about Joan and Arthur?

They have a lot on their plate. Arthur and Joan still have a lot of legal issues, or at least Arthur does. Joan is increasingly pregnant and also relegated to a menial job at Langley. It's quite a dramatic change from where we saw her from at the beginning of the season. All of that puts a toll on their marriage and they'll also be some new reveals that will put further strain on it -- or a better way of putting it, Arthur will be privy to some of the things that Joan did that we saw.

They're not aware of Annie's true status?

They're understanding of the situation at the beginning of the season is that she's truly dead so they're mourning. They're mourning her and they're mourning Teo, who's really dead.

Do they find out about Annie?

I think it'll be better to not talk about that. That will be a big part of this back six but I don't want to give stuff away.

Annie's original plan that she had is now off the table, so what's her next move?

She continues to try to bring Henry down and Jai's mom is an integral part to that. The first 10 episodes our team is playing defense a lot, and now we're going to start to see them start to play offense and strike back in some dramatic ways. It's tricky. Henry's a master manipulator and a master chess player. It's hard to outflank him but that's what this is about.

Right now Annie and the CIA are running on two parallel tracks, so how do these worlds collide?

At a certain point, Annie will emerge from the dark and it's going to be very dramatic. It's in the middle of these episodes but they will collide through her actions.

Covert Affairs airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. on USA Network.

E-mail: Philiana.Ng@THR.com
Twitter: @insidethetube

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A Law Doomed From the Start

The Republican Party, it’s generally assumed, suffered a devastating loss on Oct. 16 when it was forced to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling. After it was over, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell told National Review’s Robert Costa that when the new budget agreement expires in mid-January, “a government shutdown is off the table. We’re not going to do it.” A chastened Republican Party has learned its lesson.

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2013/10/20/a_law_doomed_from_the_start_318211.html
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Why You, Yes You, Might Enjoy A Superhero Documentary

Christopher Reeve in Superman: The Movie.

Courtesy Everett Collection/PBS

Christopher Reeve in Superman: The Movie.

Courtesy Everett Collection/PBS

Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle, a documentary in three hour-long segments that will premiere back to back (to back) tonight on many PBS stations, begins with a curious image: Vincent Zurzolo of Metropolis Comics explains that a recent copy of Action Comics #1, which contained the first appearance of Superman, recently sold for over $2 million. He shows us Action Comics #1, and then ... he locks it in a safe.

It makes all the sense in the world: it's worth a couple million dollars. You lock it up. But locking it in a safe is an interesting image in part because it underscores what makes comics — and, more specifically, superheroes — a complex cultural phenomenon for a lot of people. As they've become more collectible, as they've become fetish objects, as they've become obsessions for their most ardent fans, they've become harder and more imposing for other people to wrap their minds around. And that's too bad, because comics — and, more specifically superheroes — make a marvelous lens through which to look at American popular culture more generally, even if you're not an enthusiast.

That's what Superheroes does well. None of what's here is going to be a big surprise to people who follow comics closely, but it's a fine three-hour tour of superheroes as an example for other people of the way popular culture is always in a dialogue with the other things that are going on around it.

In the evolution of superheroes over these three hours, you see the markings of immigration, World War II, the civil rights movement, the Space Age, censorship, feminism, corporatization of media, the evolution of print and the rise of digital, and the eternal nature of merchandising. You don't learn about superheroes just to understand how superheroes work; you learn about superheroes because it helps explain how everything in entertainment works and has worked for almost a hundred years. (This is also a recurring theme of Monkey See comics blogger Glen Weldon's book about Superman, by the way.)

There's a nice balance in the documentary between good and thoughtful placing of culture in context on one hand, and colorful stories on the other. Maybe you've heard all of Stan Lee's stories, but if you haven't, he's fun to listen to. The same goes for Jim Steranko, an artist who has maybe the best hair you'll see on PBS this year. (And that includes Downton Abbey.) And they speak pretty candidly at times — it's fascinating to hear one of the artists say he was always a pacifist, he always considered himself pro-civil-rights, but that when feminism came along, his first thought was that he should support it, rather than that he did entirely understand it.

You can't really understand current entertainment culture without comics and superheroes — for good or for ill — and while Superheroes isn't news to the ardent fan, it's a good and entertaining backgrounder for the curious, which is always to be appreciated.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2013/10/15/234837378/why-you-yes-you-might-enjoy-a-superhero-documentary?ft=1&f=1008
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HBO Sets 'Girls,' 'True Detective' Premiere Dates

HBO has set premiere dates for a slew of scripted series.

Girls will return for season three on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2014, at 10 p.m. with a special hourlong return, the premium cable network announced Wednesday.

The return of the Lena Dunham vehicle follows the debut of True Detective, a scripted detective series starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, at 9 p.m.

Looking, the gay-themed San Francisco-set dramedy, will launch Sunday, Jan. 19, at 10:30 p.m. following an original episode of Girls.

Jonathan Groff, Frankie J. Alvarez and Murray Barlett star in the series created by Michael Lannan and executive produced by Andrew Haigh and Sarah Condon. Russell Tovey and Scott Bakula also star.

E-mail: Philiana.Ng@THR.com
Twitter: @insidethetube

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Making Sense of Science Infographics

Modern science infographics can show everything from rising temperatures to population growth�"if you know how to read them. The Best American Infographics 2013 editor Gareth Cook and neuroscientist Stephen Kosslyn explain how to be a savvier infographics reader, and how to spot graphics that mislead.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/18/237100766/making-sense-of-science-infographics?ft=1&f=1032
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Booker's campaign path bumpier than anticipated

In this Oct. 9, 2013, photo. Senate candidate Democrat Cory Booker answers a question after debating Republican Steve Lonegan at Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J. Booker's path to the Oct. 16 Senate election has been bumpier than anticipated. Even Republicans had expected Booker to cruise to victory by a wide margin over Lonegan in the special election to replace former Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who died in June. While Booker holds a double-digit lead in most polls, the Newark mayor has faced sustained Republican criticism that has exposed vulnerabilities that could hamper him should he seek even higher office someday. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

In this Oct. 9, 2013, photo. Senate candidate Democrat Cory Booker answers a question after debating Republican Steve Lonegan at Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J. Booker's path to the Oct. 16 Senate election has been bumpier than anticipated. Even Republicans had expected Booker to cruise to victory by a wide margin over Lonegan in the special election to replace former Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who died in June. While Booker holds a double-digit lead in most polls, the Newark mayor has faced sustained Republican criticism that has exposed vulnerabilities that could hamper him should he seek even higher office someday. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Republican candidate for Senate Steve Lonegan, center right, striped tie, greets people in Flemington, N.J., Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013, as he campaigns for Senate at a trade show. Lonegan is running against Democratic Newark Mayor Cory Booker in Wednesday's election. Cory Booker's path to Wednesday's U.S. Senate election has been bumpier than anticipated. Even Republicans had expected Booker, a Democrat in a Democratic-leaning state, to cruise to victory over little-known Steve Lonegan. But the charismatic Newark mayor has faced sustained Republican criticism that has exposed vulnerabilities that could hamper him should he seek higher office someday. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, right, talks to reporters near his tour bus while visiting supporters at a senior center, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013, in Newark, N.J. Booker will be going up against his Republican opponent Steve Lonegan Wednesday, Oct. 16, during a special election to fill New Jersey's vacant seat in the U.S. Senate. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, center, laughs while talking to supporters at a senior center, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013, in Newark, N.J. Booker will be going up against his Republican opponent Steve Lonegan Wednesday, Oct. 16, during a special election to fill New Jersey's vacant seat in the U.S. Senate. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Cory Booker's path to Wednesday's U.S. Senate election has been bumpier than anticipated.

Even Republicans had expected Booker, a Democrat in a Democratic-leaning state, to cruise to victory by a wide margin over little-known Republican Steve Lonegan in the special election to replace former Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who died in June.

While Booker holds a double-digit lead in most polls, the charismatic Newark mayor has faced sustained Republican criticism that has exposed vulnerabilities that could hamper him should he seek even higher office someday.

Lonegan has hammered Booker on Newark's economic troubles, tax increases, and violent crime. The GOP also has assailed him over a 2008 statement that a drug dealer he called a friend was actually an "archetype"; his G-rated Twitter exchanges with a Portland, Ore., stripper; his out-of-state fundraising trips; and a Washington Post interview where Booker, who talks about past girlfriends but prefers to keep his personal life private, said he "loves" when people on Twitter say that he is gay and asked, "so what does it matter if I am?"

After weeks of mostly ignoring Lonegan, the sustained assault has gotten Booker's attention.

He has aggressively hit back in the past several weeks, castigating Lonegan seemingly at every turn, using the brass-knuckled political skills he learned in the rough-and-tumble world of Newark politics.

"Sending him to Washington would be like pouring gasoline on a fire," Booker said, calling Lonegan a member of the "tea party fringe" that "hijacked" the government and caused a shutdown.

In a debate last week, Booker said the former mayor of Bogota, a small borough in Bergen County, "ran his city into a ditch" and asked for a state bailout. He painted Lonegan as an extremist, and said sending another Republican who supports the government shutdown to Washington would hurt the country.

Before deciding to return heavy fire, Booker had focused more on policy differences with Lonegan on issues like child poverty and criminal justice reforms, painting himself as a political uniter, while promoting Newark's growth. He told Lonegan to "bring on your wrecking ball" after the primary, but almost immediately shifted toward highlighting policy differences, fundraising and disregarding attacks. Booker largely avoided local media interviews, but held regular "run with Cory" events, where a group of supporters jogged a mile with the mayor.

For most of the campaign, Lonegan has gotten little help from Republicans outside the state, save for endorsements from Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, both tea party favorites. The Senate Republican campaign arm hasn't sent any staffers into New Jersey — a standard practice in competitive races — and hasn't spent money on radio or television ads.

Booker had raised $11.2 million for his campaign through early October, compared to Lonegan's $1.4 million, according to campaign finance reports reviewed by the Newark Star-Ledger.

In an 11th hour push for Lonegan, tea party leaders have begun coordinating phone banks and a get-out-the-vote effort. The nation's largest tea party political action committee — the Tea Party Express — brought former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in to campaign for the GOP nominee last weekend.

Tea party supporters dream of another surprise upset like Republican Scott Brown's unexpected victory in Democratic-leaning Massachusetts in a 2010 special election to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.

Democrats in Washington mostly stayed out of the race until the final week. President Barack Obama released a video Monday urging voters to cast ballots for Booker and Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz stumped with Booker on Sunday. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a longtime Booker supporter, spent $1 million on a television ad for Booker.

Booker campaign officials say they expected all along that the race would tighten, because no New Jersey Democrat running statewide has won with more than 60 percent of the vote in a generation. But they say they're confident that the double digit lead in the polls will be borne out on Election Day.

"We knew there would be a narrowing," Booker said in an interview with The Associated Press, "and so far the election has gone for us exactly according to plan."

Still, Republicans in Washington say they're pleased that Booker has had to work harder than anyone imagined. They're privately cheering the tea party's involvement.

And they suggest that Booker is making mistakes that could come back to haunt him as he eyes his political future. Some Democrats have mused about the possibility that Booker — a gifted public speaker who is young at age 44 — could make an attractive vice presidential candidate in 2016.

There's little doubt that Booker has national aspirations. He's spent a chunk of his mayoral tenure traveling the country, meeting with big Democratic donors and raising money in places like Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Hollywood star Matt Damon helped organize one Booker fundraiser in California.

Booker advisers suggest that the aggressive fundraising schedule has dual benefits, generating resources quickly for the special election, while giving Booker a head start for his next election. If he wins on Wednesday, he'll have to defend his seat next November.

Lonegan, however, says his campaign is "cresting."

"It's not a longshot," he told the AP. "We're going to win on Wednesday."

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-10-15-NJ%20Senate/id-4d43a89f9862475abcda0c99157a00dc
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Alt-week 10.19.13: A bird's eye view of Grasshopper, cyber poaching and why you probably need more sleep

Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days.



Rockets. Just the word sounds exciting. Rock-et. SpaceX's vertical-take-off-and-landing Grasshopper is how many of us here at Engadget vicariously live our unfulfilled engineering dreams, so any ...

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/67OfCDIKN-Q/
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Michel Martin's Movie Suggestions For Politicians

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Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/16/235384253/michel-martins-movie-suggestions-for-politicians?ft=1&f=1014
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Rooting For The Home Team

The TV Guide

Posted by: Trent on October 17, 2013|

Last night Sarah and I got to hang out with our dear friends Erik and Steve at their home before we stepped out to catch up over dinner (while the Detroit Tigers were handily beating the crud out of the Boston Red Sox on TV). My sweet kitty Majik is buried in Erik and Steve’s backyard and I was able to say my goodbyes to her in person. I will never be able to thank Erik for all the care he provided for Majik in her last days. I will love him and Steve forever for allowing me the opportunity to say goodbye to her. The rest of the night, I’m happy to say, was spent in happy revelry and we all laughed and talked together and, yes, rooted for the Tigers baseball win :)

We supped together at Diablo’s in Royal Oak and then made our way to Valentine Distillery in Ferndale to finish out the night over drinks. It had been a long time since we all got to spend time together so I enjoyed every second of it. Steve and I bonded while Sarah and Erik were cooing over old photos … it was a lot of fun. The fact that the Tigers beat the Sox was just the icing on the cake. Tonight, a bunch of us are heading downtown to Comerica Park to see the Tigers take on the Red Sox in person for Game 5 of their playoff series. It’s a bit cold and rainy but I know we’re going to have a blast!! I hope you are having the best Thursday ever :)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/pinkisthenewblog/~3/uPeb_oWNp5k/rooting-for-the-home-team
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Wheeldon's 'Cinderella': New twist on an old tale

NEW YORK (AP) — Sure, "Cinderella" is a fairy tale. But still, wouldn't it feel just a tad more realistic if Cinderella and her Prince had a bit more time to get to know each other before falling madly in love? That meeting at the ball has always seemed a little, well, rushed.

That's just one of the intriguing variations that popular choreographer Christopher Wheeldon has made in his new "Cinderella," which hits New York's Lincoln Center next week, via the San Francisco Ballet. Here, Cinderella and the prince get to know each other a little before they even get to the ball, and Wheeldon gets to play up the parallels in their lives.

"I was interested in the idea that they have similar circumstances," says Wheeldon. "They meet and recognize similar qualities in each other. She's trapped in this familial environment that is vitriolic, whereas he's feeling trapped with his responsibilities. All he wants is to fall in love and be a normal guy. I thought of the royal princes today in the UK."

Just how the two meet before the ball, and who each think the other is, is better saved for the viewing. But it's not the only change Wheeldon has made to the most familiar ballet version: Frederick Ashton's, for the Royal Ballet in 1948. Wheeldon notes that he's based his version not on the lighter (and more familiar) Perrault version of the tale, but the later — and darker — Brothers Grimm version. As for the prince-Cinderella early meeting, he took that from the 19th-century Rossini opera. (The music, though, will be familiar to many: Wheeldon uses the well-known Prokofiev score.)

The 40-year-old British choreographer is one of the busiest in the business. Just this week, it was announced he'd be directing a new stage musical aimed at Broadway, "An American in Paris," based on the Oscar-winning film (a premiere is planned for December 2014 in Paris, with an eye to Broadway in 2015.) Wheeldon has the role of artistic associate at the Royal Ballet in London, but he's best known for his many works for New York City Ballet, where he also was a dancer.

"Cinderella," though, is from neither New York nor London. A joint production of the San Francisco Ballet, with which Wheeldon also has a long association, and the Dutch National Ballet, it premiered in Amsterdam last December and played in San Francisco in May, where it earned largely glowing reviews and sold out its run.

"Oh my gosh, standing room was five deep," says Helgi Tomasson, director of the San Francisco troupe. He attributes the popularity to several factors: enthusiasm for Wheeldon's work, advance word of its highly colorful and distinctive look, and, of course, the universally known story.

Indeed, it's a reality these days that the name "Cinderella" — or "Swan Lake," or "Nutcracker" — can fill a huge theater with eager families, and company directors need to consider the economics of the situation, particularly when creating a full-length production with elaborate sets and costumes. Still, say both Wheeldon and Tomasson, there's enough that's new and different about this "Cinderella" to more than justify a new version of the old tale.

"We all know Ashton's, but Chris wanted this one to be different," Tomasson says, "and he succeeded. Visually it's stunning to look at. The choreography is beautiful. And there's a real sense of magic in these changes that happen right before your eyes."

He's referring to the noted sets, which include, among many things, a tree that transforms into Cinderella's chariot to take her to the ball. That tree is connected to a central force of the story: Cinderella's late mother.

"The tree grows at Cinderella's mother's grave," Wheeldon says. "It becomes the magical essence of Cinderella's love for her mother." Also stemming from that tree are four "Fates," who together serve as a Fairy Godmother.

And what of the choreography? Principal dancer Sarah Van Patten, who plays Cinderella and, in other performances, one of the ugly stepsisters, says it feels "organic."

"You feel like you can breathe with the movement," she says. "It really comes across when the choreography makes you feel light."

"It's really stunning to watch," she adds of the entire production. "Even when I'm dancing it, I'm thinking, 'Wow, this is impressive.'"

_

Online:

www.sfballet.org

• Performing Arts
• Dance
• Christopher Wheeldon
• San Francisco Ballet

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wheeldons-cinderella-twist-old-tale-190038201.html
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