Avatar 3D (2009)

There is only one film worth seeing in the cinema this week. Avatar. Well, if we are to believe the hype anyway.

Personally, I had been rather apprehensive about this whole Avatar business. I can't remember the last time a film promised so much (well... maybe Snakes on a Plane but that was really a different kind of promise). It's been 12 years since James Cameron made a feature film... 12 years is a long time. Of course that film was the highest grossing movie of all time ($1.8 billion worldwide, just so you don't have to look it up)... but then again, not everyone looks back kindly on Titanic.

I actually liked and still like Titanic, but the idea of Titanic in space with a load of blue monkeys? Uh... I just wasn't so sure about that. And of course Cameron also directed Terminator, Aliens and True Lies. All great films but I just don't know how this all fits together.. what kind of films does James Cameron do? What kind of film was Avatar going to be? And there's so much riding on Avatar - Cameron's reputation of course, but the way it's being sold, the future of 3D cinema as well. This film is supposed to push 3D out of kids films and horror and into the mainstream. It was too much, too puzzling, I just couldn't get behind this film wholehartedly.

I'm almost hesitant to tell you what I thought of it. I think you'd be better off if you go see it yourself first. Stop reading now if you haven't seen it... or read on if you've seen it, or if you prefer to hearing other people's opinions before you see a film... it's up to you, just don't say I didn't warn you, but I do think it's one that you might want to keep your ears and eyes closed about it beforehand.

If you are still reading on then I think Avatar is going to be a bit of a divisive one, particularly because I think there's a chance it'll draw in more than a few people who don't watch movies a lot... I hope it does anyway. Which is not to say that I think people who don't watch movies a lot will particularly love it or hate it. Some will and some won't. I just mean that there'll be more people talking about it than your average genre film. For example, I doubt My Bloody Valentine was particularly divisive. Not many people who don't like horror would go to see such an obvious horror/slasher film so it's not like there'd be many arguments about it. Avatar on the other hand is being sold very wide, wider than I think the genre/s fit. I'm not sure exactly what genre it is but it's definitely being sold outside it.

Mind you, the genre is irrelevent in a way... I think everyone should see this film. Not everyone will like it but I definitely think everyone should see it. There will be people out there who just aren't going to buy into the big blue aliens. There'll be other people who just don't like sci-fi. There'll be sci-fi fans who aren't happy because it's not sci-fi enough... that doesn't matter. The fact is, it looks amazing... let me say it again, AMAZING. I could go on with a few more superlative adjectives but it's not worth it, you'll just think I sound nuts. Amazing I tells ya. You just have to go see it. It is worth it.... Even if your brain hates it your eyes will enjoy the feast. I liked the 3D in it too. It was used very effectively, there were a few "coming out of the screen at you" moments but a lot of it was giving depth to scenes, just making things look more realistic. It was different from the other 3D I've seen. Then again, it's a very different film from the other 3D films out there.

Will it revolutionise cinema though? I don't know. First of all, I don't how much this kind of thing costs and let's face it, big budget film making is all about the money. But also I don't know how well it would work with other films. I can see it with the big summer blockbusters, certainly Transformers and Star Trek would benefit from it but I still don't think that it's worth it in every case. I guess it really depends on the maths...

In general though, it's not a great film, it's a good film but not a great one. Or at least I wouldn't put it up there with the rest of Cameron's work. I think in another review, I mentioned that I don't particularly watch individual films in the context of a director's overall work. And that's true. But in this case it's easier because... well... I'm just finding it difficult to find a genre to review it in. It's not really a sci-fi film. Sure, it's in space and there's aliens all over the place, but it's really just a normal drama set against the backdrop of an alien planet. But, you couldn't compared it to something like... I dunno, Almost Famous or something. I was very much reminded of The Lord of the Rings trilogy watching it. It truly is an epic film. Cameron has created a whole world for us, so I can't say it wasn't great because it was a bit of a corny love story. It's like saying The Lord of the Rings films are just three films about a very long walk. That's just bollocks.

Ok anyway, this film has really got me waffling. Let's get down to it. Avatar is a good film but it's a bit mainstream for my taste. It's not really entirely a straight up love story like Titanic but it's more than half way there. The pacing is reasonable but it's slightly long (about 2 hours 40 mins) and I found the music more than a little annoying (it's comments like that that are the reason you should watch a film before reading the reviews - now when you watch it you might be listening out for the music and this isn't a film where you should be worrying about the music... but anyway...). That said, it's not like the music spoiled it for me, it was just annoying. Characterwise, it's ok. I wouldn't say they are well developed but it's not that kind of film so it doesn't matter. Acting is fine, a bit shaky in places and the best actors probably aren't on screen for long enough - I'm pointing at Sigourney Weaver and Giovanni Ribisi here - but there's nothing painful or shocking about it. The plot is predictable... but again, that's just the type of film it is. Some films are predictable, it's not a bad thing, it's just a thing. It's not awful though, it's engaging enough and generally sustains itself across the 160 minutes or so.

All these complaints aside though it's still a good film. In fact it's almost a great film. I found myself immersed in this alien world and if a film can do that then it can't be bad. It is thanks in no small part to the visual effects but also it's pretty much a full realised world. The Na'vi are a distinct culture and they are a believable culture in my eyes given the world they inhabit.

Anyway I do urge you to go and see it if you haven't already. It does look AMAZING and yes, it is worth it just for that. And do spend the money on seeing it in 3D. This kind of work deserves to be seen the way it was designed to be seen. Just don't expect too much from the story. In that respect it's competent but it's not worthy of those superlative adjectives I didn't use to describe the visual effects.

It’s little over a decade since the first Hindi 3D movie, Chhota Chetan, was released. Back then, in 1998, movie lovers were enthused by this new experience. But, the interest died when theatres could not adapt to this expensive technology and as a result producers became wary of producing 3D films.

Now, a Hollywood science fiction epic, Avatar, from James Cameron, the maker of Titanic, has done what Bollywood could not do in years. It has convinced multiplex owners to ramp up the number of 3D screens before the movie hits the screens on December 18. In the last six months, most multiplexes and theatres have installed 3D screens with zest, bringing the count to 50 from 17 earlier. The 50 screens include those set up by PVR Cinemas, Big Cinemas, Inox, Fame India, Fun Cinemas and Cinemax India.

A 3D screen plays out images of the movie in three dimensions, giving the viewer an illusion of depth. Each multiplex has to provide special glares to the audience, which involves significant investment. According to an industry estimate, installing a single 3D screen costs Rs 40 lakh, while a normal screen costs 15 lakh. “It is a worthwhile investment since audiences want an enhanced movie-watching experience, especially for such flicks. Going by the promos of Avatar, the movie will have a huge opening,” said Aditya Sharoff, assistant vice-president, Fame India. The investment will have to be covered by the cost of tickets, say multiplex owners. Most theatres will increase ticket prices by nearly 20 per cent, say industry sources. Says Vishal Kapur, COO, Fun Cinemas, “Avatar is a big film and most multiplexes have decided to convert their screens into 3D for this movie and for the 20-odd movies that will be released next year.”

Fox Star Studios is set to release Avatar with a record 650-plus prints in India alone, in four languages: English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. This is the highest-ever for any Hollywood flick in India. Spider-Man 3, till date, has topped the list with over 550 prints, followed by Casino Royale, with 427 prints.

“The digital quality of the film is like never before. We are certain that Avatar will get a huge response and that’s why we have decided to go for a mega release,” said Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios.

Avatar is a 3D science fiction epic film which stars Australian actor Sam Worthington in the lead role. “Avatar is a much awaited film, since it’s James Cameron’s. People still remember Titanic,” said Devang Sampat, VP, Cinemax India.
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James Cameron’s Avatar : Movie Review

This Friday James Cameron’s sci-fi epic Avatar (featuring Star Trek’s Zoe Saldana), finally hits screens world wide, finishing off a big year for sci-fi movies (including the aforementioned return of Trek). In an extensive review, Jeff Bond takes a look at the much-discussed Avatar and the new state of sci-fi movies.
As James Cameron’s Avatar finally sees the light of day in theaters across the country we seem to be just beginning to see the backlash to the backlash to the backlash for one of the most highly anticipated movies in recent years. The backlash began in July at the San Diego Comic Con, where 15 minutes of footage from the film thrilled some but befuddled and annoyed others, with the naysayers instantly spreading their grumbling all over the internet. Was this what Cameron was crowing about, a $300 million videogame? A remake of Ferngully: The Last Rain Forest? 10 foot Smurfs in the jungle? Jar Jar Binks in blue?

Avatar and a Great Year for Sci-Fi on Film
NOTE: This review contains spoilers
The dangers and limitations of the film were right there on the screen: a plot that even Cameron admitted was Dances With Wolves on another planet; a race of noble primitives designed to play off the collected guilt of industrialized nations; the usual "white guy saves a primitive minority race" story approach, and an obsessively designed world that depended on ones and zeros to make it seem "real." But even in this fraction of footage made available, Cameron’s obvious strengths were also on view: his ability to maintain focus and drama in the most outlandish situations, and that same obsession with detail that in this case has the possibility of bringing the most fully realized alien environment ever put on film to fruition.

Alas, the drumbeat for lynching Cameron was the loudest one from July to now, with various bloggers and websites (chiefly Gawker and to a lesser extent its offspring io9) practically guaranteeing that "Avatar will suck."

Then followed the backlash to the backlash—early reviews that were almost 100% raves screaming that Cameron had pulled it off. Yesterday gawker.com actually, bravely published a public apology admitting that Avatar was terrific. And now…the backlash to the backlash to the backlash—some tough reviews taking the film to task for its storytelling limitations. Just as with J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek, Avatar will clearly be divisive—an overrated white elephant for those for whom a movie is story, originality and, tellingly, the right kind of politics…and a revelation to anyone who can be pulled through a movie by the power of pure filmmaking.

Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington in Avatar

I fall into the latter camp. The 15-minute tease of Avatar last July seemed very satisfyingly immersive to me. We got to see all the film’s chief creatures, but they actually mattered less than the enveloping views of Pandora’s luminescent jungles and the relatable blue faces of the alien Na’vi and "Avatar" Jake Sully. That’s the stuff that left me hungry for more.

At two hours and forty minutes in length, Avatar delivers a full meal. Cameron blends—sometimes uneasily—the tropes of both widescreen epics and his characteristic brand of industrial strength, crowd pleasing action. The first half of the film is quite simply a hypnotic, magical fever dream of stuff you always wanted to see in a big sci fi film, from the brief but satisfying glimpses of a complicated and realistic interstellar spacecraft to the dizzying shuttle dive into the atmosphere of Pandora and the first broad pans across its infinite layers of forest and mountains. Cameron introduces his characters (Sam Worthington as the wheelchair-bound Sully, Sigourney Weaver as tough talking exobiologist Grace Augustine, Stephen Lang as the human base’s hard-as-nails military overseer, Giovanni Ribisi as the symbol of venal capitalism, and Michelle Rodriguez as a helicopter pilot with a heart of gold) efficiently and brilliantly decodes his "Avatar" high concept in a scene in which Sully wakes up inside his 10-foot tall blue Avatar body, staggers out of a medical holding room and burst out onto the grounds of the compound to see other Avatars training in the open air of Pandora.

Cameron quickly gets Sully and the others into the jungle and just as quickly separates him from his team, getting him lost so that he—and we—experience the awe-inspiring jungle flora and fauna alone…until he runs into Zoe Saldana’s Neytiri, a Pocahontas-like, fierce warrior princess that is our first view of the Na’vi. Cameron inundates us with CG imagery from the opening moments of Avatar, but his director’s eye and attention to detail is so keen we barely notice. What’s truly amazing is the way the Avatar Jake and Neytiri characters work—despite design work that really does call to mind Jar Jar, the Dark Crystal Gelflings and all sorts of other unwholesome associations, these beings fully register as characters, working almost better in close-up than long shots. Saldana, great but underused in Star Trek, does awesome work here. She’s an impressive warrior but an involving, soulful presence too, and her give and take with Worthington is terrific.

Sam Worthington and Stephen Lang in Avatar

It’s true that Cameron’s plot ingredients are familiar, and there’s definitely some predictability to the story—once Cameron introduces a story element it’s fairly easy (although not in all cases) to see what the payoff will be. Saldana is so good she overcomes any cultural baggage her character might carry, but other players like C.C.H. Pounder, as the Na’vi tribal sorceress, and Wes Studi as their patriarchal leader, are less fortunate. At times the Na’vi are irritatingly on-the-nose stand-ins for Native Americans, even whooping like something out of a John Ford movie during tribal gatherings. They ride horses (that look like six-legged sea horses) and dragons, and Sully’s journey of discovery as he becomes one of the tribe involves standard rites of passage: learning to use a spear and a bow and arrow, riding a horse, riding a dragon…oh yes, riding a dragon. See, while the basics are familiar, it’s the details that matter. Saying Avatar is just Dances With Wolves in space is like saying Star Wars is The Hidden Fortress in space—it’s true, but ultimately that’s just a small slice of each film’s impact. Following Jake Sully’s Avatar around Pandora, you quickly feel like you’re there, experiencing the sights and sounds of this strange new world and even feeling the strange agility and power of this giant blue body with Sully. The script might read "Jake jumps on a dragon and flies it" but that doesn’t get across the impact of watching Jake and his Na’vi brothers run along miles of highway-like vines hanging thousands of feet in the air and clamber up a chain of floating hillocks to reach the dragons’ aerie, or the thrill of watching Sully’s lithe, savage form rocketing through the air on the back of his "banshee."

I did tune out, oddly, midway through Avatar when Cameron begins the human war on the Na’vi with a titanic-sized massacre pitting squadrons of helicopter gunships against the native populace. It might be that Cameron’s immersive vision and the power of 3D imagery on this level can only grip you by the heart valves for so long. Cameron stages two mammoth battles in the second half of the film, and by a few minutes into the climactic conflagration I did find my pulse getting back into the game. The logistics of action scenes and the plotting of the micro and macro moments of these sequences are in Cameron’s blood. He can even get away with the imagination-beggaring coincidence of bringing his three chief players together for a face to face final showdown in the middle of a battle involving thousands of warriors on each side that seems to cover miles of space both vertically and horizontally. I walked out on Ed Zwick’s The Last Samurai over just this sort of manipulation, but Cameron is such a superior filmmaker that he makes it work.

Battle scene in Avatar

Like the basic plot elements, the science fiction ideas in Avatar aren’t blazingly original. The idea of the Avatars themselves apparently owe a lot to a Poul Anderson science fiction novel, while the Gaia-ish concepts of the Na’vi’s connections to their world, and the multilayered jungle planet conception reminded me a lot of Alan Dean Foster’s seventies sci fi novel Midworld. Cameron dots most of his I’s and crosses his T’s as far as the technical details of his world go, dealing realistically and consistently with the idea of an atmosphere humans can’t breathe and the way the Avatar technology operates. But he leaves some ideas unexplored and unexplained. The human forces are mining something called "unobtanium," a tongue in cheek term also used in The Core. There’s no explanation of what unobtanium does or why humans need it. One of the film’s most spectacular images is the gigantic, floating mountains (seemingly inspired by an old Yes album cover) that hover over the Na’vi’s jungle stronghold, but aside from some vague, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it doubletalk about a "vortex" of some kind, there’s no explanation for this phenomenon. It’s not related to the planet’s gravity because rocks and people fall off the floating hills just fine. It would have been nice if Cameron had tied the ideas together—maybe unobtanium is some exotic, gravity-defying ore. That sounds like a good power supply to me. Thankfully, Cameron does take pains to ground the Na’vi’s mysticism in science, and in so doing he comes up with a fairly surprising and emotionally satisfying ending to his film.

You can’t discount Avatar as an important science fiction film. The occasional groaner line of dialogue or plot turn does not, ultimately, put a dent in this film’s impact unless you’re predisposed to reject the movie’s "tree hugger" philosophy (something Cameron cannily makes Jake reference early in the film). The film is a landmark in terms of putting an original, science fiction reality on film in utterly convincing, and often breathtaking terms—and that makes it the perfect punctuation for a year that has really been pretty great for the genre. Every sci fi film released this year has produced its share of arguments, but one thing you can’t argue is that the genre has made a huge comeback from a period in which films set in outer space and dealing seriously with science fiction ideas have been all but absent from movie screens, replaced by endless supplies of costumed superheroes. Zach Snyder’s Watchmen seemed to put the nail in that coffin in more ways than one. It’s a faithful and in many ways superbly done adaptation of the graphic novel, although with its celebrated "squid" finale removed (much to the dismay of Hitler!), it loses a big chunk of its conceptual sci fi mojo. But the realization of Dr. Manhattan alone gives the film at least a deserved cult status. Similarly, J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek (probably familiar to readers of this site) isn’t one of the strongest entries of the series in terms of its sci fi concepts and execution, particularly when someone can view a basketball-sized Vulcan in the sky from some mysterious planet called Delta Vega. The tired madman-on-the-quest-for-revenge plot was in fact a sideshow to the film’s far more successful reboots of the Star Trek characters and worlds themselves—although the idea of permanently reconfiguring the Trek universe by way of interference in the timeline is a daring—if to some, infuriating—idea.

This summer also saw the much less ballyhooed but in a way equally satisfying Moon with Sam Rockwell—an extremely well made (for a pittance) outer space drama with very intentional echoes of Doug Trumbull’s Silent Running, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, and even Peter Hyams’ Outland, from director Duncan Jones. Equally intelligent and derivative—but far more controversial—was Neil Blomkamp’s terrific District 9. It spins off of things like Alien Nation and Cronenberg’s The Fly while creating a harrowingly up front parable about apartheid, with some of the most convincing, and strangely compelling alien creatures ever put on film and one of the most unusual tragic heroes since Brazil’s Sam Lowry. District 9’s documentary filming style drove some viewers crazy (or made them come down with motion sickness) but the technique serves the film beautifully and the crazy brutality of the movie’s climactic action is white-knuckle gripping. Even the Ben Foster dogPandorum, for the most part a complete train wreck that barely survived a tiny one weekend release, is an ambitious outer space thriller about the fate of the crew of a multi-generation colonization starship, a classic SF concept if ever I’ve seen one. And if you wanted to check your brain at the door, there was 2012—a brazen remake of When Worlds Collide that is probably no dopier than the classic George Pal production was. It made a good pile of money as did Star Trek, District 9 and even Moon on its own independent movie terms. And Avatar is pretty much guaranteed to earn enough worldwide to justify its $300 million budget, and maybe even justify the sequels Cameron has talked about. Hopefully studios will take the right lessons from these films, ensuring that strong characters and daring science fiction concepts become an integral part of future sci fi productions. 2009 ought to be remembered as a banner year for the genre and will hopefully be the launch point for a true revival of science fiction in film.

Star Trek, Moon, District 9, & Avatar – part of a great year for sci-fi movies

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Hurricane Ida Update

Well there's a couple of bits of good news for you all in this entry.
First, Ida's circulation (technically the vorticity) is beginning to
diminish. Yesterday, when I said she was a hurricane, the vorticity was
strong throughout almost the entire troposphere (lowest ~10-15km of our
atmosphere). Today it looks like the highest levels have lost it, which is
an indication that she won't intensify much further. The second piece of
good news is that although I tried, I couldn't think of any 'original'
jokes today so you are spared that. ;-)

Ida was officially (finally) named a hurricane late last night. Again, a
number of hours after I think she became one. She's got winds of 90mph at
the moment, making her a strong cat 1 (range: 74-95 mph). I think she
might be a weak cat 2 actually (range: 96-110mph). Currently centered at
about 21.2 N, 86 W, she's moving NW at 10mph. Central pressure 983mb.

I know the forecast now has her as a hurricane until Tuesday, when she
reaches the northern Gulf coast. But I'm not convinced that she will be a
hurricane by the time she gets up there. There are a number of reasons I
think this, apart from the circulation issue. The wind shear is stronger
in the Gulf, which will take it's toll. Although the surface water temps
are high enough in the southern Gulf, they begin to cool off in the
northern Gulf. Also, the deeper warm water that she has just crossed in
the Caribbean does not extend into the Gulf as much as it has done in
previous years (the Loop Current). The only factor I see that will keep
her as a hurricane in the northern Gulf is the fast speed she's forecast
to move at. Having said all this, even if she does decrease in intensity,
the interaction with the front will create some wet & windy conditions
around the Gulf. It will be like a normal day in Scotland ;-).

Of course, please ignore me and listen to your Emergency Managers & NWS &
NHC. I know those of you who are in the watch zones will be prepared. Drop
me a line if you have any questions.

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Steelers vs Broncos

Watch Broncos vs Steelers 2009 live game in NFL Monday night football week 9. After opening the season 1-2, the Steelers have gone undefeated to give themselves a legitimate shot to win a third straight AFC North title. Pittsburgh is looking for its fifth straight victory Monday night against the Broncos who is trying to bounce back from its first defeat of the season. Steelers will also try to snap a three-game losing streak over Denver Broncos and they also hasn’t won a regular-season game since a 34-17 victory on Oct. 14, 1990. Can Steelers snap a three-game losing streak against Broncos? Broncos, meanwhile, is looking for their defense a rebound from its worst effort of the season. The Broncos will also try to avoid another scoreless first half which became the big factor in their first lost of the season. Can Broncos continue its dominance over the Steelers? Just watch Steelers vs Broncos 2009 live stream from Denver. Broncos vs Steelers game time starts 8:30 pm EST Mon Nov 9, 2009. Stay tune to ESPN for the 2009 NFL Monday night week 9 football score and result.

Steelers dominated time of possession in the 2nd half. And as viewers heard during tonight’s broadcast, 80% of games are won by the team that leads time of possession.

Steelers vs. Broncos numbers tonight lined up as follows. Total passing yards were 375 vs. 242. Total passing yards were 202 vs. 215. And total rushing yards were 173 vs. 27.

23 for 38 and 221 yards were Orton’s passing numbers tonight compared to Steelers with 21 for 29 and 233 yards. Hines Ward was the star of the game. With just 7 receptions and 44 yards he had 2 TDs today bringing his season total to 4. Mendenhall as also on fire - 22 carries, 155 yards.

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Elizabeth Lambert Suspended

ESPN soccer analyst Julie Foudy on the violent actions of New Mexico’s Elizabeth Lambert in a Mountain West tournament game Thursday vs. BYU

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY U.S.M.C

The United States Marine Corps was established 10 November 1775 as the Continental Marines to provided infantry support to the Navy. Today, USMC stands as our amphibious force-in-readiness capable of rapid deployment as first responders to international incidents. As of Oct 2009, there are currently 203,000 active duty Marines, with another 40,000 in the reserves.

Marines have seen action in the Revolutionary War, Quasi-War, Barbary Wars, Ware of 1812, Seminole Wars, Mexican-American War, American Civil War, Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War, Boxer Rebellion, Banana Wars, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War I, Kosovo War, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In 234 years of history, Marines have been decorated by the governments of France, the Philippines, Korea, and Vietnam. Marines have been awarded nearly 300 Medals of Honor and scores of other decorations for valor in action.

The current Commandant of the Corps is General James T Conway. The Assistant Commandant is General James F Amos. Sergeant Major of the Corps is SgtMaj Carlton W Kent.
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Carrie Prejean Sex Tape

This will totally make your day and almost make up for Maine. TMZ is reporting that Carrie Prejean has suddenly withdrawn her million-dollar lawsuit against Miss California USA after the pageant's lawyers showed her a clip from her own XXX sex tape.
The video the lawyer showed Carrie is extremely graphic and has never been released publicly. We know that, because TMZ obtained the video months ago but decided not to post it because it was so racy. Let's just say, Carrie has a promising solo career. We're told it took about 15 seconds for Carrie to jettison her demand and essentially walk away with nothing. As we first reported, the Pageant is paying around $100,000 to her lawyers and publicist -- a fraction of her bills. She pockets nothing in the settlement.

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Glee Episode 5

Watch Glee Episode 5. Glee Season 1 Episode 5 is entitled “The Rhodes Not Taken." Episode Synopsis:

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Neocon

Defense Hawks and those of us on the Libertarian Right who are concerned about the rising threat from Islamic Radicalism have repeatedly argued that NeoConservatives are just fair-weather supporters of the War on Terror; that they're more concerned about protecting the interests of international bodies and less concerned about protecting the American homeland and of our Nation's sovereignty. At least one prominent NeoCon is proving Pro-Defense critics right.

The Village Voice described Newsweek Editor Fareed Zakaria in 2005, as a "NeoConservative Muslim Heartthrob Superpundit." He is known as a deeply rooted "multi-lateralist" For example, Zakaria supported the War in Iraq in 2003, but only if it was run by the United Nations.

Now Zakaria is living up to that standard with a decidedly soft on Radical Islam approach.

His latest syndicated column from the Washington Post: "Obama Betting That Machismo Is Not A Foreign Policy." The editorial praises Obama's speech to the United Nations, and harshly criticizes critics of the speech on the Right.

Writes Zakaria:

For Michelle Malkin, the speech was evidence that Obama was "the great appeaser"... For Rush Limbaugh, Obama's speech was "basically a coup against America."

Obama's outreach to the world is an experiment, and not merely to see if the world will respond. He wants to demonstrate at home that engagement does not make America weak. For decades, it's been thought deadly for an American politician to be seen as seeking international cooperation. Denouncing, demeaning and insulting other countries was a cheap and easy way to seem strong. In the battle of images, tough and stupid always seemed to win.

Obama is gambling that America is mature enough to understand that machismo is not foreign policy and that grandstanding on the global stage won't succeed. In a new world, with other countries more powerful and confident, America's success -- its security, its prosperity -- depends on working with others. It's a big, bold gambit. I hope it works.
Of course, Pro-Defense advocates would argue, that it's precisely weakness that the radical Islamic enemy thrives on. The more weakness they sense, particularly in American will to fight and commit to a long struggle such as Afghanistan, the more they will be emboldened to escalate their insurection.

Let's hope Republicans who are committed to a Strong on Defense policy, or as Zakaria calls it a "Machismo" approach, win coming elections in 2010, and 2012, and that the Zakarian NeoCons are marginalized in future foreign policy debates.

Otherwise we could see a resurgence in Islamic Radicalism in Afghanistan, Somalia, and maybe even the rise of Muslim terrorist cells here in the United States.

Or perhaps, Obama's Girlie Man approach to foreign policy has already produced that result?

Additional Information: Libertarian Republican article, Oct. 20, 2008 - "Muslim NeoCon Fareed Zakaria, Editor of Newsweek International, endorses Obama for his Globalist perspective."
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Kimbo Slice Vs Roy Nelson Video

Kimbo Slice vs Roy Nelson Video Results Get to watch the amazing recap video for the clash of the heavyweights, get to watch Kimbo Slice vs Roy Nelson on there non stop brawl over on the MMA fights. FOr those who are looking for the Kimbo Slice vs Roy Nelson results and fight video, then there are a lot of ways to do so, the fight for Kimbo Slice vs Roy Nelson through live stream, has already started, so its i wont probably be giving the live streams but this time the video results for Kimbo Slice vs Roy Nelson. Check out below for the full details for the Kimbo Slice vs Roy Nelson fight.


UFC fans will finally see Kimbo Slice inside the Octagon on the September 30 edition of The Ultimate Fighter, and when Spike shows Kimbo taking on former International Fight League heavyweight champion Roy Nelson, it will be one of the most-watched fights in the history of mixed martial arts.

Kimbo Slice vs Roy Nelson Video Results Here is the preview video for the fight on kimbo slice vs Roy nelson. THis will be the preview video for the MMA fights event TUF or The ultimate fighters 10. See the results and for this video.Stay tune for more updates on this Kimbo Slice vs Roy Nelson Video Results.
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High Frequency Trading

High Frequency Trading is a scam? New York Times has recently posted something that if read carefully will make you see how HFT is a scam. Here it is:
It was July 15, and Intel, the computer chip giant, had reporting robust earnings the night before. Some investors, smelling opportunity, set out to buy shares in the semiconductor company Broadcom. (Their activities were described by an investor at a major Wall Street firm who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his job.) The slower traders faced a quandary: If they sought to buy a large number of shares at once, they would tip their hand and risk driving up Broadcom’s price. So, as is often the case on Wall Street, they divided their orders into dozens of small batches, hoping to cover their tracks. One second after the market opened, shares of Broadcom started changing hands at $26.20.

The slower traders began issuing buy orders. But rather than being shown to all potential sellers at the same time, some of those orders were most likely routed to a collection of high-frequency traders for just 30 milliseconds — 0.03 seconds — in what are known as flash orders. While markets are supposed to ensure transparency by showing orders to everyone simultaneously, a loophole in regulations allows marketplaces like Nasdaq to show traders some orders ahead of everyone else in exchange for a fee.

In less than half a second, high-frequency traders gained a valuable insight: the hunger for Broadcom was growing. Their computers began buying up Broadcom shares and then reselling them to the slower investors at higher prices. The overall price of Broadcom began to rise.

Soon, thousands of orders began flooding the markets as high-frequency software went into high gear. Automatic programs began issuing and canceling tiny orders within milliseconds to determine how much the slower traders were willing to pay. The high-frequency computers quickly determined that some investors’ upper limit was $26.40. The price shot to $26.39, and high-frequency programs began offering to sell hundreds of thousands of shares.
What does this bring traders into? Here's what Market Ticker has to say:

The disadvantage was not speed. The disadvantage was that the "algos" had engaged in something other than what their claimed purpose is in the marketplace - that is, instead of providing liquidity, they intentionally probed the market with tiny orders that were immediately canceled in a scheme to gain an illegal view into the other side's willingness to pay.

Read more about this here: http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1259-High-Frequency-Trading-Is-A-Scam.html

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Jesse Eisenberg

The Pacific Park amusement park at L.A.’s Santa Monica Pier was the perfect location for our interview since “Zombieland” unfurls like a giant, freewheeling amusement park ride. It’s a wildly funny, violent, and even romantic cross-country road movie that takes us from the Heartland to Hollywood, then pulls in for a climatic finish at a local amusement park.

Directed by Ruben Fleischer, “Zombieland” is refreshingly different -- a delicate balance of genres that’s elevated by a terrific cast including a killer cameo in full zombie make-up by an Academy Award winning actor who just happened to be working on location in Georgia while “Zombieland” was filming.

Survival in “Zombieland” requires killer instincts, a good aim, fast wheels, and a perverse sense of humor. In short, you need to be prepared for anything -- and these characters are.

Emma plays a hot looking, car stealing con artist named Wichita who teams up with her kid sister, Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). The two have learned how to survive entirely by their wits and they know how to use the post-apocalyptic zombie world to their best advantage.

Woody plays an AK-toting badass named Tallahassee who’s a bit of a loner. He’s gone through a lot of heartbreak in life, but he’s determined to get the last Twinkie on earth before he succumbs to the zombie onslaught.

Tallahassee joins forces with Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), a compulsive-obsessive wuss with a set of 47 rules for survival and a bottle of Purell that’s become essential survival gear since the zombies took over. When the unlikely duo bumps into Wichita and Little Rock, they join forces to combat major zombie mayhem.

Emma Stone, Wood Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg are fantastic in “Zombieland” and we really appreciated their time. Here’s what they had to tell us about their zombie killing adventures:

Q: Woody, did you have any input into your character’s wardrobe?

Woody: I’ve never worked so hard on the outfit before. That’s the stuff I usually don’t put so much time into, but there were so many fittings and attempts to get that right. Ruben and I almost endlessly went back and forth on how much color to put in this or that, and I liked the way it turned out.

Q: Was it your idea to have the Willie Nelson reference in the film, or was that already in the script?

Woody: That Willie Nelson section was pretty much the last day and (director) Ruben [Fleischer] was like, “You guys sit in the car and just improvise stuff.” So, that was a cool, lucky section. And, also, that stuff about Hannah Montana was improvised. This was a wonderful script, but that particular section was improvised.

Q: Jesse, you get to play the mild-mannered guy that gets to kick some serious ass. Was that what attracted you to the script?

Jesse: No. I prefer the mind-mannered parts of the script. They usually have another guy in my clothing do all the stuff that's exciting looking. I prefer the scenes that are quiet and talking and the action stuff was okay. It keeps you in shape I guess but otherwise, it's really just exhausting.

Q: For all of you, what was your favorite zombie kill in the film?

Emma: I like when I get to butt a zombie in the back of the head with my shotgun. It also has the added effect of being in slow motion in the movie. He really got hurt, but I never saw him bleed.

Woody: My favorite kill was the one with the butter knife to the jugular.

Jesse: This script was endless violence. All the kills were so creative. I guess my favorite was the top of the toilet. What do you call that part? They called it the porcelain lid but the 15-year-old demo isn't going to appreciate that so we called it the killer toilet.

Q: How did Bill Murray end up in the movie?

Emma: No comment. Right?

Jesse: Are we allowed?

Emma: We’re not allowed.

Woody: I thought we weren’t supposed to talk about it. I never felt more censured. (Laughs)

Q: Emma, did you think about your character’s backstory at all? Why were Wichita and Little Rock already doing cons, before Zombieland happened?

Emma: We’re both very smart characters. The whole backstory didn’t really make it into the movie, but there was an issue with our father, so we’d been away from home for awhile, before Zombieland even occurred. We needed to find a way to make money, and we both happen to be pretty smart girls, and there’s not much a 12-year-old can do for work, but if she’s as cool as Abigail is, then she can con. So, I think we started, just trying to survive on our own. We had survival instincts kicking in, even before Zombieland.

Q: Can you talk about working with Abigail?

Woody: Not only did she summon the tears, every time we shot that scene, but when the camera wasn’t on her, she still did it. When the camera was on us, she was still summoning tears. It was really amazing.

Emma: We went by Emma-gail. It was just amazing. You couldn’t ask for anybody better to play your little sister. We got along so well. I felt really, really lucky. She’s not just a cool kid. She’s a really cool person. She’s like a small person. She’s incredibly developed, but she also really likes Twilight and the Jonas Brothers, so she’s still normal. Every chance I got to hang out with her was so much fun. It was a blast. I was incredibly lucky.

Q: Jesse, during your opening voiceover, you mention a virus which seems very timely given what’s been in the news lately. Was that something that was planned?

Jesse: We actually planned the swine flu to coincide with the movie. You know, there’s some collateral damage but ultimately we’ll have a big opening weekend.

Q: Woody, do you have a fondness for Twinkies yourself, or was that just in the script?

Woody: That was my biggest acting challenge. I’m not a big Twinkie lover. So, they made up a bunch of Twinkies that were actually edible for a guy like me, meaning without dairy and sugar, and all that nonsense. They were cornmeal. They were really delicious, good Twinkies. There is the possibility that Hostess could do a healthy Twinkie. It’s a thought. Maybe this movie could spark a revolution.

Q: If a zombie attack happened right now and you had to sacrifice somebody, who would it be?

Jesse: Well, there are two writers.

Woody: We’ve gotta keep Ruben. We have to protect him at all cost. I think I might be more scared than my character was.

Q: Emma, were you attracted to this because of all the action you got to do in the film? Was that aspect of it fun?

Emma: I’m terrible at action. I really am. I’m just bad at action movies. But, it was definitely interesting. It was something I had never done before. I loved the character, but I just can’t run to save my life, literally. I did not limber up, or do cardio. I hurt my muscle. I had to do some ultrasound physical therapy while we were shooting. After every take, I was crying and in so much pain, and it was nice of Ruben to be like, “You’re not cut out for this! That looked horrible!” But, it’s true that I’m horrible at it.

Q: If you were to do a sequel, where would you like to see your characters go? Is there anything you’d like to see them do?

Jesse: If God wills a sequel, I say we go to New York.

Emma: Let’s go to New York!

Jesse: It’s such a short trip.

Woody: Or, maybe Paris or something.

Emma: Let’s go international! Let’s take this overseas.

Jesse: The producer wants the Caribbean because it’s there. Haiti. That’s where it began. Zombieism.

Woody: The point is to get to a place where there aren’t going to be zombies. Then, maybe they show up on a boat or something. It’s all in the casting. Zombies singing on Broadway.

Q: Jesse, what can you tell us about your character, Mark Zuckerberg, in The Social Network? In preparing for that, what have you learned about the whole Facebook revolution?

Jesse: I’m learning more about the creation of it than about the site itself because I haven’t been on it yet. But, the story is really remarkable – like the creation of the website and the legal aftermath. It’s a really fascinating story. I supposed if I say anything else, I’ll be sued probably by the movie company and the internet company. There’s a book that was written about it, if people are interested, called The Accidental Billionaires that details the story pretty thoroughly.

Q: Woody, what made you want to do this for your first horror film?

Woody: I guess it took Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to write it and Ruben Fleischer to ask. That had never happened before.

Q: So, you didn’t have any prejudice against the genre?

Woody: No, I wouldn’t say I was prejudiced. I had no prejudice.

Q: Natural Born Killers was kind of a horror movie. Was there any of Mickey Knox in Tallahassee?

Woody: I disagree. I think Natural Born Killers was more of a misunderstood romantic comedy.

Q: Woody, who do you play in 2012?

Woody: In 2012, my character is a radio DJ who believes that the world is gonna come to an end, and he has an attitude about how it’s gonna happen. Of course, a lot of people think he’s nuts, but he turns out to be not so far off.

Q: How much fun was it for you guys to smash up the tourist shop?

Woody: I think all of us can attest to the fact that it was really cathartic to come in and just smash the shit out of that place. With respect and reverence to all the items in there, I thought it was helpful for all of us, emotionally, to just get that out.

Q: Jesse, what rule would you add if you could add your own rule to Columbus’ list?

Jesse: I did add a few because I was filling out my prop notebook. We had some good ones like tie your shoes with double knots.

Q: Woody, can you talk about your friendship with Paul McCartney? Does he want to see this movie?

Woody: I don’t know how psyched he is about seeing the movie. I haven’t asked him. Naturally, I’ve sent him trailers and one-sheets. No. But, I did actually take Emma over for dinner with him, one night. That was fun.

Emma: Yes, it was. It was fucking awesome!

Q: Do you guys ever listen to music to get into character and, if so, what’s on your playlists?

Emma: A lot of Paul McCartney.

Woody: The new Paul McCartney album. To get fired up for something, there’s almost no better album to listen to than U2's Pop. That’s probably their least popular album, but to me, it’s their best and most under-rated album. It just rocks! I think that’s a good one.

Q: Emma, how did you identify with this character?

Emma: I felt more like I was living vicariously through her. I just tried to key into that one part of me that feels brave and like a bad-ass, in a situation where you feel out-of-control, and do that constantly, instead of just as a fleeting feeling in me. There were also parts of her that were vulnerable and scared and human. She wasn’t brave, all the time. There was a lot about her that I could relate to, just as a human being.

Q: Woody, was there a certain degree of playing in the backyard as a kid, with Tallahassee’s last stand in the film?

Woody: Well, I really didn’t kill anybody, honestly. That was more just fiction. But, it was fun. I remember thinking about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid during all those cool shots. I wanted to go back and look at that, but naturally being lazy, I didn’t. But, it was a fun thing to get to do that.

Q: Did you enjoy reloading the two guns on the counter?

Woody: I think that was already in the script like that. That is a really hard thing to do, which is why my stunt double did it.

Q: How was it to shoot the guns while you were going down the roller coaster?

Woody: That was a lot of fun. We had to do the roller coaster ride quite a bit, and shoot one person after the other. It was good times! It was cathartic.

Q: Woody and Emma, which scene was the toughest for you do to with a straight face?

Emma: Woody always keeps a straight face. I never keep a straight face, ever. I constantly break, all the time. I should not be in comedies, or action movies. I just shouldn’t be doing movies. Anytime anybody does improv, I laugh. Anytime a joke is funny, I laugh. I’m like an audience. You should just bounce it off of me. If it’s gonna be funny, I will laugh. Woody doesn’t break.

Woody: No, I did. During our mysterious celebrity cameo, it was real hard to keep it together. In fact, I think we probably lost some good jokes of his because he was framed with us in it, and they couldn’t use it because we were laughing so hard, which was really unprofessional, but understandable.

Q: Woody, your character is very particular about his car in this movie. How are you about that, in real life?

Woody: I’m particular, in the sense that I either ride a motorcycle, or electric or bio-diesel vehicles, pretty much exclusively.

“Zombieland” opens in theaters on October 2nd.

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Andhra CM Dead:Bell 430 chopper crash

NEW DELHI - Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajshekhera Reddy and four others are feared dead after their Bell 430 chopper crash-landed about 40 nautical miles east of the Kurnool mountainous area.

Congress sources said that they had received reports of five bodies being discovered at the crash site, and added that an official confirmation would be forthcoming in short while. Among the dead are Reddy, his principal secretary, his personal security officer and two pilots.

Earlier, Union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai said the chopper was in a very damaged state.

The Home Ministry had ordered paratroopers to immediately airdrop themselves at the location to determine the exact physical status of Reddy and the four others.

The State Government is due to address a press conference in a short while to formally confirm the news of his death.

The Congress party is reported to be in a state of shock and the Union Cabinet is meeting to discuss the next steps. (ANI)


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Andhrapradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajshekhar Reddy is Missing

HYDERABAD - Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister K.Rosiah on Wednesday confirmed that the state government helicopter carrying Chief Minister Y.S. Rajshekhar Reddy has landed in a forest area in Chitoor District, and efforts are on to locate it.

Addressing a news conference in the state capital, Rosiah said: “All state and central forces are on alert. At the moment, we are still tracing the location of the missing chopper, which has landed in the forests in the Chitoor-Nellore area. We are finding a way to reach the place.”

Rosiah said the state government has alerted the Union Home Ministry about the missing chopper. He said search choppers, including two Indian Air Force Chetak helicopters have been roped in for the search operations. He said that after 9.35 a.m., contact had been lost with the chopper carrying the chief minister.

Rosiah said that the Prime Minister’s office as well as the offices of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Defence Minister A.K. Antony are being kept posted about the latest developments.

He also issued an appeal to the public to contribute to the search effort.

Rosiah’s briefing came as Andhra Pradesh Police continues their search for the missing chopper of the chief minister.

According to police sources, a civilian copter, air force helicopters and the army has been pushed in to the search operation.

Panic was created around Wednesday noon as Reddy was reported untraceable for nearly four hours.

Reddy was on his way to Chitoor, by chopper which initial reports said had made an emergency landing near Kurnool due to inclement weather.

The chopper took off at 8.45 a.m. for Chitoor and was scheduled to arrive here at 10.45 a.m, sources said.

The chopper was said to have landed in the middle a of thick forest, said to be affected by Maoist activities.

The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) confirmed receiving a message of the emergency landing of the chopper, but nothing thereafter.

Till now, no one has confirmed the movements of Reddy.

The Union Home Ministry is monitoring the search operations, as Kurnool is a Naxal affected area.

Air Traffic Control (ATC) sources said the chopper went off the radar due to heavy rains.

The CMO maintains there is no need to worry as the area has no mobile connectivity. (ANI)

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ThirtySomething

I've been away a bit, but now I'm back. It's funny how things can get neglected without good reason, but I want to build on the readership I've established here, so am resolving to post at least twice a week, on the themes on which this blog was originally founded to explore - health, wealth and happiness as applied to a thirtysomething bloke who's been through it a bit but still tries to be cheerful.

I suppose the major development is that the Big-X has found out about the existence of this little journal of mine. Which wouldn't have been hard as enough people read it who know her. Naturally she doesn't appreciate that I am airing our dirty linen in public, as she sees it, and has asked me to stop writing and delete what is already here.

Well, I thought about it, but I'm not going to, on the grounds that it's not really about her, or that in particular. My marriage and divorce are instances in my life that I am dealing with, and I mention as and when something happens that I wish to share, and don't ever slag her off.
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Texting While Driving PSA

The UK is running a pretty gruesome PSA against texting while driving. Could something like this run on American television?

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Avi Ben Stella Car Crash

I don't know what to say about this one but this is a trending topic on the web. They say that the news regarding the 12 yr old Avi Ben Stella is a hoax.
Also, Avi Ben Stella snopes term is being used to search the truth regarding the Avi Ben Stella Hoax.

I performed some search and all I can find is some support like this:

Please say tehillim for Avi Ben Stella--a 12 year old boy who was in a very serious car accident and is now in critical condition. He is lying in a coma.

and this:

Please say a prayer for Avi Ben Stella--a 12 year old boy who was in a very serious car accident and is now in critical condition. If you would change your status for even one hour it would help spread the word. I do not personally know this child but was asked to paste to my wonderful friends...power in prayer!!!

So still, I don't know what is the real detail with Avi Ben Stella acc1dent, is it a Hoax or another way around?

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Danyl Johnson Video

When you have Simon Cowell saying "That was single handedly the best first audition I have ever heard," you know it must be good and Danyl Johnson audition for X-Factor is a must see. After listening to Danyl Johnson performing The Beatles classic "With A Little Help From My Friends" you will ask yourself why does he not have a record contract already.

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Aung San Suu Kyi Sentenced To Eighteen Months Of House Arrest

Nobel Laureate, democratically-elected leader of Burma, and Causecast Leader Aung San Suu Kyi was found guilty by a Myanmar court today and sentenced to another 18 months of house arrest.

The court initially sentenced Suu Kyi to three years in prison, but the sentence was commuted by General Than Shwe, leader of the Myanmar military junta, who altered the punishment to 18 months of house arrest, a move he said is aimed to curb instability.

Suu Kyi will have access to television and newspapers and will be allowed to meet with guests the junta deems appropriate.

Lawyers for Suu Kyi must appeal the decision within 60 days, if they choose to do so. The sentence, as it stands, will keep Suu Kyi imprisoned during the highly-anticipated Burmese elections of next year.

If you believe Aung San Suu Kyi is being wrongfully imprisoned, here is what you can do right now to help:
•Go to Causecast’s FREEDOM TO LEAD page to download Shepard Fairey’s iconic image of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
•Write to President Obama asking him to print the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on all U.S. passports.
•Send Shepard Fairey’s iconic image of Aung San Suu Kyi to everyone you know.
•Ask UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to increase pressure on Burma
•Donate to the Human Rights Action Center.

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CA Results on August 13th

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India is likely to declare CA Final (new course) results on August 13, 2009 (Thursday).

The students can approach following website for the results http://caresults.nic.in/

The CA Final results will be out anytime on Thursday.

You can also receive the result in your mail box after registering at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India website.

So hurry up! And get registered at http://caresults.nic.in/ for detailed CA final results.

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Typhoon Hits China

BEIJING (AP) — A powerful typhoon toppled houses, flooded villages and forced nearly 1 million people to flee to safety on China’s eastern coast before weakening into a tropical storm Monday.

Named Morakot, the storm struck after triggering the worst flooding in Taiwan in 50 years, leaving dozens missing and bringing down a six-story hotel. It earlier lashed the Philippines, killing at least 22 people.

Morakot, or emerald in Thai, slammed into China’s Fujian province Sunday afternoon as a typhoon carrying heavy rain and winds of 74 miles (119 kilometers) per hour, according the China Meteorological Administration. At least one child died after a house collapsed in Zhejiang province.

By early Monday, the storm packed winds of 52 miles per hour (83 kilometers per hour) and churned at about 6 mph (10 kph), it said.

Hundreds of villages and towns were flooded and more than 2,000 houses collapsed, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

People stumbled with flashlights as the storm enveloped the town of Beibi in Fujian in darkness, Xinhua said. Strong winds uprooted trees or snapped them apart, while farmers used buckets to catch fish swept out of fish farms by high waves.

Village officials in Zhejiang rode bicycles to hand out drinking water and instant noodles to residents stranded by deep floods, while rescuers tried to reach eight sailors on a cargo ship blown onto a reef off Fujian, Xinhua reported.

About 1 million people were evacuated from China’s eastern coastal provinces.

Morakot hit Taiwan late Friday and crossed the island Saturday causing the worst flooding in half a century.

Authorities used helicopters to drop food Monday at a mountainous village in southern Kaohsiung county, which was hit by a massive landslide. Official Yang Chiu-hsing said rescuers failed to reach the 1,300 villagers because bridges and roads were damaged by floods.

Taiwan’s Disaster Relief Center said Morakot killed 12 people and another 52 were missing, including 14 people whose makeshift home was swept away. Two policemen were washed away while helping to evacuate villagers in southeastern Taitung county.

The government set up a task force to coordinate relief work in the worst-hit counties in the south, where many towns and villages remained inundated by floodwaters, officials said.

In Japan, meanwhile, Typhoon Etau slammed into the western coast Monday. Nine people were killed in raging floodwaters and landslides and nine others were missing, police said.

In the northern Philippines, the death toll from Morakot rose to 22 Monday with 18 injured and four missing, including three European tourists who were swept away.

—

Associated Press writers Annie Huang in Taipei, Jim Gomez in Manila, and Shino Yuasa in Tokyo contributed to this report.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Virenza Swine Flu Drug

Virenza
Zanamivir

COMPOSITION

Each capsule contains
Zanamivir…5 mg

INDICATIONS

Treatment of Influenza
VIRENZA is indicated for treatment of uncomplicated acute illness due to influenza A and B virus in adults and pediatric patients 7 years and older that has been symptomatic for no more than 2 days.

Prophylaxis of Influenza
VIRENZA is indicated in adults and pediatric patients 5 years of age and older for prophylaxis of influenza.

VIRENZA is not recommended for treatment of patients with underlying airways disease (such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)

DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION

VIRENZA is for administration to the respiratory tract by oral inhalation using Revolizer device only.

Patients scheduled to use an inhaled bronchodilator at the same time as VIRENZA should use their bronchodilator before taking VIRENZA.

Treatment of Influenza
The recommended dose of VIRENZA for treatment of influenza in adults and pediatric patients aged 7 years and older is 2 inhalations (one 5-mg capsule per inhalation for a total dose of 10 mg) twice daily (approximately 12 hours apart) for 5 days.

Two doses should be taken on the first day of treatment whenever possible provided there is at least 2 hours between doses. On subsequent days, doses should be about 12 hours apart (e.g., morning and evening) at approximately the same time each day. There are no data on the effectiveness of treatment with Zanamivir when initiated more than 2 days after the onset of signs or symptoms.

Prophylaxis of Influenza
Household Setting: The recommended dose of VIRENZA for prophylaxis of influenza in adults and pediatric patients 5 years of age and older in a household setting is 10 mg once daily for 10 days. The 10-mg dose is provided by 2 inhalations (one 5-mg blister per inhalation). The dose should be administered at approximately the same time each day. There are no data on the effectiveness of prophylaxis with VIRENZA in a household setting when initiated more than 1.5 days after the onset of signs or symptoms in the index case.

Community Outbreaks: The recommended dose of VIRENZA for prophylaxis of influenza in adults and adolescents in a community setting is 10 mg once daily for 28 days. The 10-mg dose is provided by 2 inhalations (one 5-mg blister per inhalation). The dose should be administered at approximately the same time each day. There are no data on the effectiveness of prophylaxis with VIRENZA in a community outbreak when initiated more than 5 days after the outbreak was identified in the community. The safety and effectiveness of prophylaxis with VIRENZA have not been evaluated for longer than 28 days duration.

CONTRAINDICATIONS

VIRENZA is contraindicated in patients with a known hypersensitivity to any component of the formulation

PACKAGING INFORMATION

VIRENZA is available in a container with 20 capsules and the Revolizer.

For full prescribing information, click here
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ISRO launches Bhuvan

The common man can now view sharper pictures of any part of the world on their personal computer using satellite images with ISRO today unveiling 'Bhuvan', its version of Google Earth.

Minister of State in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan launched the beta version of the geoportal www.bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in at a day-long workshop of the Astronautical Society of India on "21st Century Challenges in Space -- Indian Context."

The new web-based tool allows users to have a closer look at any part of the subcontinent barring sensitive locations such as military and nuclear installations.

The degree of resolution showcased is based on points of interest and popularity, but most of the Indian terrain is covered upto at least six meters of resolution with the least spatial resolution being 55 meters, an ISRO official said.

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Hells Kitchen Season 6 Episode 3

Watch Hells Kitchen Season 6 Episode 3 on FOX for FREE this 29th of July 2009. The title of this episode, Hells Kitchen Season 6 Episode 3 is “14 Chefs Compete”. In this episode, there is a challenge for these 14 chefs in the middle of the night. If you’re curious about this challenge, you should Watch Hells Kitchen Season 6 Episode 3 on the mentioned air date above. If FOX is not available on your area, you can just Watch Hells Kitchen Season 6 Episode 3 Online by looking for live stream sites or video sites where this episode is available.
Hells Kitchen Season 6 Episode 3: 14 Chefs Compete

The contestants are called into the kitchen in the middle of the night for a new challenge: A room full of hungry firefighters waiting to be fed! The teams must prepare a pasta dinner with garlic bread, and the team that feeds their firefighters first wins a day of relaxation, while the losers are forced to wash, polish and wax the fire engines. Later, two contestant’s dreams might go up in smoke when they are rushed to the hospital after being injured.

Link to Watch


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Kevin Federline New Size

Kevin Federline turned heads at a California sporting event Monday.

But it wasn't over his golfing skills; it was over his size.

Kevin Federline’s size attracted attention at a recent celebrity sporting event. So what happened to his svelte dancer’s body?

While other celebrities like Verne Troyer, Frankie Delgado and Josh Henderson participated in competitive activities, Federline, 31, spent some time with girlfriend Victoria Prince sitting on a shaded patio sipping vodka and orange juice cocktails and smoking cigarettes.

Kevin Federline sure has packed on the pounds. His weight gain shocked many of his fans when he appeared at the California sporting even Monday. Maybe Kevin’s payment from ex-wife Britney of $20-$40K per month is all going to food!

Kevin’s other ex Shar Jackson had commented previously on Kevin’s weight saying, “It’s daddy weight!” she told . “When you are a full time parent, sometimes you can’t focus on you. If gaining a few pounds is your only problem, life’s not too bad!”

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Bryce Dallas Howard

Bryce Dallas Howard will be playing the role of Victoria in the twilight saga Eclipse which means she will be actress replacing Rachelle Lefevre.
Bryce Dallas Howard is the daughter of Ron Howard and appeared in other movies such as “Terminator: Salvation” and “Spiderman 4″.
Actress Rachelle Lefevre is still playing Victoria in the upcoming Twilight Saga: New Moon. However due to “scheduling conflicts” she won’t be able to be in the Eclipse movie. The filming of Eclipse next month in August at Vancouver.
Both actresses have red hair and blue eyes but what is your opinion on changing the actresses on the third movie? Either way Victoria dies in Eclipse according to the Twilight Saga Eclipse book.

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Steve Zahn

Steven James “Steve” Zahn (born November 13, 1967) is an American comedian and actor of both film and stage. He has appeared in many films, and could be considered to be typecast into the role of a goofy comic relief sidekick.

Biography

Early life
Zahn was born in Marshall, Minnesota, the son of Zelda Clair (née Gades), who worked for the YMCA, and Carleton Edward Zahn, a retired Lutheran pastor.Zahn spent part of his childhood in Mankato, Minnesota, attending Kennedy Elementary School. After attending Robbinsdale Cooper High School, Gustavus Adolphus College and the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at American Repertory Theater at Harvard University, his first professional acting role was in Biloxi Blues, a Minnesota production at the Old Log Theater; but his first big break came in 1994, when he was noticed by Ben Stiller, who cast him in his picture, Reality Bites.

Career
Zahn with Jennifer Aniston at the premiere of the movie Management which he acted in.Zahn’s early roles were split between movies, touring companies of Broadway shows, and TV shows. In 1992-1993, he toured as Hugo with the Barry Weissler production of Bye Bye Birdie with Tommy Tune, Ann Reinking, and Marc Kudisch. He played Phoebe Buffay’s husband Duncan in a 1995 episode of Friends. Zahn appeared in several films in the mid-1990s, including Tom Hanks’ That Thing You Do! These films garnered him enough respect that he was offered the starring role in the critically-acclaimed indie film Happy, Texas (1999). Some of Zahn’s most popular movies have been his most recent ones, including National Security (2003), Daddy Day Care (2003) and Sahara. Zahn received his strongest critical acclaim for his performance in Riding in Cars with Boys, in which he co-starred with Drew Barrymore as her dim-witted, drug addicted husband. Roger Ebert, Richard Roeper and the BBC stated that the performance was deserving of an Oscar nomination. He also voiced Runt of the Litter in Chicken Little. He recently gave dramatic performances in Rescue Dawn and the television mini-series Comanche Moon.

Personal life
Zahn is an avid fly fisherman, and he owns a farm in Lexington, Kentucky. Zahn is married to Robyn Peterman, an actress and the daughter of John Peterman, whom Zahn met on a touring production of Bye Bye Birdie. The two have a son, Henry James Zahn (born 3 April 2000 in New York), and a daughter, Audrey. In 2004, the family moved from New Jersey to a small horse farm in Georgetown, Kentucky, near Lexington, Kentucky, his wife’s hometown.
He is very close friends with Tom Everett Scott, his costar in That Thing You Do, and was the best man at Scott’s wedding.

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Jim Johnson Dead

Jim Johnson, former Philadelphia Eagles Defensive Coordinator, died at the age of 68 due to skin cancer.
Jim Johnson lost his fight against skin cancer and passed away this Tuesday afternoon. He was the Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator for 10 years.
Jeffrey Lurie, Eagles chairman, said: “Jim epitomized the traits of what a great coach should be — a teacher, a leader and a winner. He positively touched the lives of so many people in and out of the Eagles organization. It was easy to feel close to him. We will miss him greatly.”
Our condolences go out to his family and friends. That’s the news on Jim Johnson Dead.

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Sandstone retreat

To take full advantage of Flickr you should use a JavaScriptenabled browser and install the latest version of the Macromedia Flash Player. Scene from West Kirby classic sandstone walls and a classic West Kirby band. Tags street the laze west kirby. sandstone pattern by scribbleClick. Posted on July 27 2009 743 am by Matt under Photography Wirral.

Via Watermill Center. Two Lions Sam TaylorWood. Piss Elegance Andres Serrano. Via Watermill Center. Up on silent auction at 16th Annual Watermill Benefit. At 16th Annual Watermill Benefit. And its not healthrelated which means its not that big of a problem. Shit Is Coming Andres Serrano Actually its already here and Ive been dealing with it. So that and just the usual cleaning of the pipes that needs to go on.

aLan alan es mejor que lo veas con tus propio ojos ajajajaaj esta cura. com20090720miesposamehizounamamadaa. Que tal que el 3 ms comn es mi esposa mi amigo y yo Amigos Si tienen una esposa de buen ver mochilas on 27 Jul 2009 at 1044 am 62. por Follador hace 3 dias 6 horas 24 minutos publicado hace 2 dias 2 horas 52 minutos. Mi esposa me hizo una mamada a mi y a mi amigo avatar www.

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Sandstone retreat


sandstone – andres serrano – mi esposa y mi amigo – sandstone 1969 – claus von bulow –


To take full advantage of Flickr you should use a JavaScriptenabled browser and install the latest version of the Macromedia Flash Player. Scene from West Kirby classic sandstone walls and a classic West Kirby band. Tags street the laze west kirby. sandstone pattern by scribbleClick. Posted on July 27 2009 743 am by Matt under Photography Wirral.

Via Watermill Center. Two Lions Sam TaylorWood. Piss Elegance Andres Serrano. Via Watermill Center. Up on silent auction at 16th Annual Watermill Benefit. At 16th Annual Watermill Benefit. And its not healthrelated which means its not that big of a problem. Shit Is Coming Andres Serrano Actually its already here and Ive been dealing with it. So that and just the usual cleaning of the pipes that needs to go on.

aLan alan es mejor que lo veas con tus propio ojos ajajajaaj esta cura. com20090720miesposamehizounamamadaa. Que tal que el 3 ms comn es mi esposa mi amigo y yo Amigos Si tienen una esposa de buen ver mochilas on 27 Jul 2009 at 1044 am 62. por Follador hace 3 dias 6 horas 24 minutos publicado hace 2 dias 2 horas 52 minutos. Mi esposa me hizo una mamada a mi y a mi amigo avatar www.

In 1969 Kallmann McKinnell and Knowles was awarded with an AIA Award for Architecture as well as the Harleston Parker Medal from the City of Boston for thw buildings design. The Point Loma Formation is Campanian and Maestrichtian in age Sliter 1968 Bukry and Kennedy 1969 and. The campanile or tower stands 246 tall and houses the congregations 2020 pound bell. Ornate stone and ironwork trace the roof lines. It is composed mostly of marine sandstone siltstone and conglomerate sequences that together form massive turbidite deposits. The exterior combines colorful courses of Roxbury pudding stone and rose sandstone. Members of the congregation included notable. The surrounding plaza known as.

But it should also serve as a reminder that Claus was found innocent at his second trial and rightly so. Her death will of course rake up the accusation of attempted murder levelled at her husband Claus von Blow. Prosecutors claimed Claus von Bulow had injected his wife with insulin twice in an effort to inherit much of her fortune and he was charged with two counts of attempted murder. In what correspondents say was one of the most sensational.

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Sandstone Retreat
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