Wikipedia, Craigslist, other sites go black in SOPA protest...

Following through on their threats to shut down for a day over controversial proposed anti-piracy legislation, a coalition of websites including the hugely popular user-generated encyclopedia Wikipedia went black as midnight struck the East Coast.

Visitors to English-language pages on Wikipedia, regularly ranked as one of the five most popular sites on the Internet, with an estimated 2.7 billion monthly pageviews in the U.S., instead found only a headline stating "Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge." Stating that the proposed SOPA and PIPA anti-piracy bills "could fatally damage the free and open internet," the message said Wikipedia would be blacked out for 24 hours and asked visitors to contact their congressional representatives, providing a search box to look them up by ZIP code.

Other sites that shut down and displayed similar language included classified listings site Craigslist and technology blog BoingBoing, while a note on the social news website Reddit said it would begin its blackout at 8 a.m. Eastern time. Hundreds of other websites were scheduled to go dark, according to SOPAStrike.com.

Google, meanwhile, didn't shut down but blacked out the logo on its home page and featured a message that said "Tell Congress: Please don't censor the Web!"

Opponents have argued that SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, and the similar U.S. Senate legislation PIPA, the Protect Intellectual Property Act, may be an attempt to stop international piracy of intellectual property but amount to censorship because they don't have proper protections for sites unfairly accused of enabling piracy and would "break the Internet" in the way the legislation blocks them.

Supporters, who believe the laws are needed to stop "rogue" websites that make it possible for Web surfers to illegally download or stream movies and television shows, went after organizers of Wednesday's Internet blackout, demonstrating the ongoing public battle between large media and technology companies.

"[S]ome technology business interests are resorting to stunts that punish their users or turn them into their corporate pawns, rather than coming to the table to find solutions to a problem that all now seem to agree is very real and damaging," Motion Picture Assn. of America Chairman Chris Dodd wrote in a blog post.

On Twitter, News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch wrote, "Nonsense argument about danger to Internet. How about Google, others blocking porn, hate speech, etc? Internet hurt?"

The Obama administration this weekend announced its objections to SOPA and PIPA in their current forms, meaning it's unlikely the bills will be passed soon. Supporters continue to hope, however, that a compromise can be reached.
Thank you Los Angeles Times

Have a great day ☼

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Supreme Court Strikes Down California Law Banning Violent Video Games To Minors.

In a long-awaited decision today, the U.S. Supreme Court sent a clear message to state governments looking to regulate the sale of violent video games to minors: Treat video games like movies, books, music, and any other artistic medium.

The Supreme Court struck down California's law banning the rental or sale of violent video games to children under the age of 18 by a decisive 7-2 margin.

In doing so, the court's justices emphasized in its decision the primacy of the First Amendment and that "basic principals of free speech" shouldn't be restricted without a "compelling government interest."

In defending the law, the government tried to point to psychological studies purporting to show a connection between exposure to violent video games and the harmful effects on children, but the Supreme Court found the evidence to be inconclusive, and that any demonstrated effects were "small and indistinguishable from effects produced by other media."

As a result, the Supreme Court ruled that standards applied to other media should also be applicable in this situation:
"Like the protected books, plays, and movies that preceded them, video games communicate ideas-and even social messages-through many familiar literary devices (such as characters, dialogue, plot, and music) and through features distinctive to the medium (such as the player's interaction with the virtual world). That suffices to confer First Amendment protection. Under our Constitution, "esthetic and moral judgments about art and literature . . . are for the individual to make, not for the Government to decree, even with the mandate or approval of a majority."

The decision is a victory for the video game industry in its many years of efforts to be treated equally to other entertainment businesses.

"We are gratified that our position that the law violates the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of expression has been vindicated and there now can be no argument whether video games are entitled to the same protection as books, movies, music, and other expressive entertainment," said Bo Andersen, President & CEO, Entertainment Merchants Association
The Supreme Court decision is also a triumph for entertainers at large.

In the decision, the Supreme Court notes that California attempted to craft an entirely new category of unprotected speech -- content aimed at children. The justices reject this idea and say that lawmakers must only regulate speech using the same kinds of content-neutral regulation standards used in the past.

"The motion picture industry is no stranger to governments' incursion on freedom of expression," said Chris Dodd, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America. "From the very inception of the movie industry, attempts to restrict speech have threatened the creativity of American movie-makers. We applaud the Supreme Court for recognizing the far-reaching First-Amendment implications posed by the California law."

The decision wasn't unanimous. Justices Thomas and Breyer dissented. In their view, "the practices and beliefs of the founding generation establish that 'the freedom of speech,' as originally understood, does not include a right to speak to minors (or a right of minors to access speech) without going through the minors' parents or guardians."

Some groups which have supported laws like California's statute pledged to continue working on the issue despite the Supreme Court ruling to ensure minors are adequately protected.
"Today's decision is a disappointing one for parents, educators, and all who care about kids," says Common Sense Media CEO James Steyer. "But the fight is far from over. Advocates for kids and families can work within the scope of this ruling to protect the best interests of kids...We respectfully disagree with the Court when it comes to their analysis of the First Amendment rights of children and families -- this is a sanity issue, not a censorship issue. If parents decide a violent game is okay for their kid, that's one thing, but millions of kids are not able to judge the impact of ultra-violence on their own"

Other groups said the decision would have a negative impact.
"This ruling replaces the authority of parents with the economic interests of the video game industry," said Parents Television Council president Tim Winter. "With no fear of any consequence for violating the video game industry's own age restriction guidelines, retailers can now openly, brazenly sell games with unspeakable violence and adult content even to the youngest of children."

Thank you Hollywood Reporter

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Festival Paris Cinéma du 2 au 13 juillet

La 9e édition du Festival Paris Cinéma, présidé par Charlotte Rampling, se tiendra du 2 au 13 juillet dans une quinzaine de salles et lieux parisiens.

Jouez avec Courrier international pour gagner des places pour les séances du festival*. Retrouvez l'intégralité de le programmation sur le site de Paris Cinéma et découvrez un aperçu du programme mexicain ci-dessous :
LE MEXIQUE À L'HONNEUR

Après le Brésil, la Corée du Sud, le Liban, les Philippines, la Turquie et le Japon l'an dernier, l'édition 2011 célèbre le cinéma contemporain mexicain. A travers un panorama inédit de la diversité du cinéma mexicain d'hier et d'aujourd'hui (courts- et longs-métrages, perles oubliées du patrimoine, films d'animation, films d'auteurs et grands succès populaires), partez à la découverte d'un univers cinématographique unique en son genre, marquée par une relation forte avec le voisin américain et par un renouveau incontestable de ses auteurs. De nombreux invités seront présents.

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18 charged in indie film investment scam

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Eighteen people from Southern California and Florida are facing federal charges in an alleged telemarketing scam that solicited more than $25 million for independent films.

According to two indictments filed Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court, the defendants lied to investors nationwide and falsely promised 1,000 percent returns.

One indictment says Cinamour Entertainment LLC took about $15 million from about 450 victims to promote "From Mexico with Love", which cost $5 million to make and earned only half a million at the box office.

The other indictment alleges telemarketers for Q Media Assets LLC fraudulently raised about $9 million for a film called "Eye of the Dolphin" and a sequel. The film made about $70,000 and the sequel went straight to video.

The charges include conspiracy, mail and wire fraud

Thank you AP.

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Great blog: The Points Guy : how to earn points for reward travel

The Points Guy is a blog written by a man who is committed and obsessed with showing readers how to earn points for reward travel, free hotel stays and more. Then when you have the points he helps you cash them in and find the best deal reward travel deals and tricks and tips to navigate reward travel booking sites. He recently quit his day job to focus on his Points Guy endeavor full time, so I can only imagine that the content will be better than ever going forward. I highly recommend that you peruse on over to the Points Guy and start learning about reward travel. You could be taking your next vacation using reward miles/points!

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LACMA presents a retrospective of Tim Burton's artwork and film

By Rob Lowman, Staff Writer
Posted: 06/05/2011 12:49:17 PM PDT
Updated: 06/05/2011 12:57:40 PM PDT

By the time Tim Burton turned 10 in 1968, everybody in America was familiar with the phrase "beautiful downtown Burbank." It had been coined by Gary Owens, who used it on the hit series "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In." The town fathers had even found it so catchy that they adopted it and trademarked it.

For the young future filmmaker, Burbank was not so sunny - or, more precisely, the suburban town did not inspire the sunniest of imagination in him. Accompanying the introduction to the coffee-table book "The Art of Tim Burton" (Steeles Publishing), there is a drawing called "Self-Portrait, 1990." Though by then the director was in his 30s, the black-and-white sketch shows a roundish-headed figure with unruly hair with the words "Boy From the Burbank Lagoon."

In the introduction, Leah Gallo, a writer and photographer who worked with the director on "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," tells the familiar story of Burton, who "never felt he belonged in the Southern California suburbia where he was raised. He identified with Universal film monsters more than the people around him."

As we well know, Burton channeled his sense of being an outsider into his creative sensibilities and became one of Hollywood's biggest directors. Now the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is presenting a major retrospective of his art. Originally curated by New York City's Museum of Modern Art, the exhibition revolves around the theme of Burbank. It includes

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more than 700 drawings, paintings, photographs, film and video works, storyboards, puppets, concept artworks, maquettes, costumes and cinematic ephemera, including art from a number of unrealized and little-known personal projects.
"About Burbank," says Britt Salvesen, who organized the LACMA exhibit, "I think (Burton's art) has always really honed in on the contrast between the blue skies and the trees and the perfect green lawns and the darkness within.... Finding that dark underside is crucial to his art, and I think that is part of what people identify with."

While the first part of the exhibition is called "Surviving Burbank 1977-1984," it was the city itself that helped give Burton a start. In ninth grade, he won a city contest to create an anti-littering poster, and in high school he placed third in a fire-prevention poster contest. With the encouragement of an art teacher, Burton then began to develop his own style.

"Tim would be the first to tell you that he wasn't haunting LACMA in those years," says Salvesen, "but later came to know a lot more about art history when he studied at CalArts. I think early on his influence was more pop culture."

In that sense, Burton's early drawing style exhibits traces of Mad magazine and Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel). At 17, he submitted a children's book to Walt Disney Productions called "The Giant Zlig," about the adventures of gentle monsters. It was turned down for being too similar to Seuss. Later you can see traces of illustrators and cartoonists like Edward Gorey, Ralph Steadman and Edward Sorel. There are also hints of gothic Victorian and Mexican dia de los muertos art as well as German Expressionism.

After graduating from high school, Burton went on to the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, where some of his classmates included directors John Lasseter, Brad Bird, John Musker and Henry Selick. After his third year there, he got a job as an animator at Disney, which was impressed with his 11/2-minute short "Stalk of the Celery Monster." Like Seuss, Burton is fond of wordplay. A number of Burton's short films are being shown on flat screens throughout the exhibition, including "Vincent" from 1982 (about a boy who wanted to grow up to be like the actor Vincent Price, who actually narrated it) and "Frankenweenie" (which combined Burton's love for dogs and "Frankenstein").

He worked at Disney for four years, but it was never a good fit. But Paul Reubens was looking for someone to direct "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" and chose Burton after seeing "Frankenweenie."

Burton's career quickly took off. He made "Beetlejuice," "Batman" and "Edward Scissorhands" in a row, and soon critics were using the term "Burtonesque."

You get that as you enter the "Tim Burton" exhibition through a toothy white character with branches for hair. The three-dimensional rendering is based on an unrealized project of Burton's called "Trick or Treat." Toothy creatures populate many of the works. You can draw your own psychological conclusion as to what that represents. What many of the works have in common involves transformation. While a creature in a painting or drawing begins as one thing, it may mutate into another, often something quite sinister.

What's fun, as Salvesen notes, is connecting the dots between an early drawing and a movie that might be made 15 years later. Seeds of, say, "Mars Attacks" can be seen in youthful works as well as later paintings. Films were always an influence, and one of the early documents is a list of some of Burton's favorite horror flicks as a teen. As part of the exhibition, LACMA is screening a retrospective of Burton's own films as well as a series of horror films and creature features that the director endorsed.

Much of the work in the exhibition - perhaps all of it ultimately - is related to his filmmaking. Outside the museum is an original topiary from "Edward Scissorhands," while inside is the costume worn by Johnny Depp as the character. There is also a model of the cookie-making robot, a hand created by Stan Winston Studios and sketches Burton made for the film.

Salvesen says over the years Burton has been able to do more with less with the sketches for his movies.

"The drawings in his early years were in great detail, probably reflecting the training he was getting at Disney and CalArts. Later, as he came to form this incredible team of collaborators that he works with film after film - the fabricators and costume designers - he is able to communicate to them with much more minimal suggestions."

The exhibition, which traveled to London and Toronto from New York before arriving in L.A., has not gone over well with some art critics, who see it mostly as movie memorabilia. (Indeed, Bonhams & Butterfields is coincidentally auctioning off props, drawings and storyboards from Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" on June 26. Items may be seen on the auction house website.)

Some of the works are manufactured by others, although to Burton's specifications, like "Carousel," a suspended flying-saucer object illuminated by black lights and accompanied by music of longtime Burton collaborator Danny Elfman. And while there are masks and the Penguin's black-wicker pram from "Batman," still most of it is from Burton's hand.

While a painting like "Blue Girl with Wine," showing a woman with bull's-eye breasts, or the objects "Brains With Coiled Feelers" or "Blue Baby With Nails" (both self-explanatory) are amusing, and the large-scale Polaroids like "Blue Girl With a Skull" are striking, often it is smaller items or letters that catch one's eye in the exhibition.

The filmmaker, who is working on a full-length version of "Frankenweenie" and a feature remake of the old TV vampire soap "Dark Shadows" with Depp (who else?), visited LACMA a couple of times as the show was being installed and made some decisions about certain works that were aesthetically important to him.

"That was all really useful for us," says Salvesen. "We wanted to reflect his very unique visual style. It wasn't my intention to make this a uniform museum exhibition. I wanted it to be his world."

Burton did visit the exhibition over the Memorial Day weekend, prompting hundreds of fans to show up at the museum. Many of them dressed in costumes like the bizarre characters of his films and waited in line to meet him and have him sign his book. The filmmaker is expected to return sometime in October, but no date has been set.

Of course, Burton has escaped Burbank. The filmmaker now lives in London with his companion, Helena Bonham Carter, and their two children. The pair famously keep homes next door to each other with a connecting room. And while he may live in England, no doubt the dark musings he had growing up in Burbank are etched forever in his mind. So in one way, what is on display at LACMA can be seen as a triumph of the filmmaker's imagination, rather than of his skills as an animator or painter.

"I think he has a certain nihilism at his core, but it's so counterbalanced by this drive to create," says Salvesen. "I find that interesting about so many artists - and Burton is one of them - that despite a pessimism or apprehension about the human condition they still always create something new in the world."

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Fanhattan Launches iPad App to Aggregate Movies, TV Shows From Netflix, Hulu Plus

"The current landscape for digital entertainment is overflowing with content, but it can be a confusing landscape for consumers to navigate," says CEO Gilles BianRosa.

NEW YORK - Amid ever-increasing online video services and evolving release windows, entertainment discovery service Fanhattan wants to help consumers find which film and TV content is available, where and in what form - from rental to purchase and subscription, for download, in streaming form, in theatres or on DVD.
To that end, Fanhattan, on Wednesday launched a free iPad app that brings together movie and TV show content from top digital media services, namely Netflix, Hulu Plus and Apple's iTunes, as well as the ABC Player. The latter comes into play when a Fanhattan user, for example, chooses to play ABC hit show Modern Family through it.

The company plans to add more digital services to its lineup of partners throughout the year and also expects to launch an Android app down the line. Among possible partners mentioned by executives is HBO Go.

Fanhattan, backed by venture capital firms NEA, Redpoint Ventures, GreyCroft Partners and BV Capital, as well as LA angel investor Jarl Mohn and independent investors, sees itself as the digital age's interactive program guide.

While consumers these days often have to look at various digital media stores and Web sites for available content, Fanhattan wants to help people find what they are looking for.
The app lets users browse content or search by titles, genres, talent, new releases and the like. Once a consumer chooses a title, the service shows which online or offline options a user has to watch - from a movie theatre to TV or a DVD purchase all the way to renting a series or using an existing digital media subscription, or even starting one. After all, if content is available via a service that the consumer doesn't currently subscribe to, he or she can sign up with Fanhattan's help.

Users can also easily access content featuring the same actors, reviews, ratings, trailers, related YouTube videos and basic info on talent, as well as buy fan gear from Amazon, movie tickets from Fandango or access soundtracks via iTunes.

Through a simple user interface, it also hopes to encourage exploration and discovery.
The company, which first outlined its technology and vision late last year, but didn't have any partners yet, will showcase its app later in the day at the D: All Things Digital conference.
"The current landscape for digital entertainment is overflowing with content, but it can be a confusing landscape for consumers to navigate," said Fanhattan CEO Gilles BianRosa. "Fanhattan brings the world of TV and movies into one rich platform that gives consumers a direct line into watching what they want without having to hunt and poke through a variety of services, prices and licensing rules."

BianRosa said the app will add more transparency to the windows and licensing arrangements of entertainment firms, which often confuse consumers. As a result, Hollywood and its partners will benefit from more discovery and easier access, he argued.

While it currently partners directly with digital distributors, which have licensing deals with entertainment firms, Fanhattan has also started reaching out to studios and pay TV operators.
"We are exploring ways to work with the studios directly, especially around marketing opportunities," such as related merchandise and other marketing assets, said BianRosa. Here, Fanhattan is pitching itself as a partner that can offer provides evergreen pages for movies and shows, allowing for further monetization.

And for pay TV companies, Fanhattan could serve as an interface to discover and access content.
Since its app is free, Fanhattan is looking to get revenue from paid-for premium service offers down the line and referral fees from partners - for example, for enabling a consumer to do a rental or other transaction or become a subscriber.

The company also plans to bring its service to connected TVs and various streaming devices in the future.

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Shakira mulls possibility of Arabic-language record

by Matt Glazebrook, Posted May 31, 2011

While plenty of her pop contemporaries struggle to express themselves coherently in one language, Shakira has long composed her idiosyncratic pop ditties in both her native Spanish and her English second tongue. Now she's just showing off, preparing to expand her songwriting fluency to another element of her expansive cultural make-up.

Though she was born and raised in Colombia, Shakira's father is an American of Lebanese descent and she credits her Arabic background for the Middle Eastern influence in her tunes and her propensity for belly-dancing on stage. According to Contactmusic, she is considering brushing up on her already-impressive language skills to make a more complete tribute to her heritage.

"It would be a challenge to do an album in Arabic, but I would first have to learn Arabic," she explains. "I am completely open to that experience -- at some point I would love that to happen in my life." At the moment, Shakira's Arabic extends as far as saying "ateeni boosa" which apparently translates as "can I have a kiss?"

A more tricky proposition is coming up with the Arabic for "lucky that my breasts are small and humble / So you don't confuse them, with mountains".

Shakira played her first concert in Arabic speaking Morocco on Saturday (28.05.11), closing the Mawazine World Rhythms Festival.
The 'Underneath Your Clothes' star has also previously been approached by Bollywood film makers about starring in an Indian production, which would likely see her singing in Hindi.

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The Bilingual Advantage

By CLAUDIA DREIFUS
Published: May 30, 2011

A cognitive neuroscientist, Ellen Bialystok has spent almost 40 years learning about how bilingualism sharpens the mind. Her good news: Among other benefits, the regular use of two languages appears to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease symptoms. Dr. Bialystok, 62, a distinguished research professor of psychology at York University in Toronto, was awarded a $100,000 Killam Prize last year for her contributions to social science. We spoke for two hours in a Washington hotel room in February and again, more recently, by telephone. An edited version of the two conversations follows.

Q. How did you begin studying bilingualism?

A. You know, I didn’t start trying to find out whether bilingualism was bad or good. I did my doctorate in psychology: on how children acquire language. When I finished graduate school, in 1976, there was a job shortage in Canada for Ph.D.’s. The only position I found was with a research project studying second language acquisition in school children. It wasn’t my area. But it was close enough.

As a psychologist, I brought neuroscience questions to the study, like “How does the acquisition of a second language change thought?” It was these types of questions that naturally led to the bilingualism research. The way research works is, it takes you down a road. You then follow that road.

Q. So what exactly did you find on this unexpected road?

A. As we did our research, you could see there was a big difference in the way monolingual and bilingual children processed language. We found that if you gave 5- and 6-year-olds language problems to solve, monolingual and bilingual children knew, pretty much, the same amount of language.

But on one question, there was a difference. We asked all the children if a certain illogical sentence was grammatically correct: “Apples grow on noses.” The monolingual children couldn’t answer. They’d say, “That’s silly” and they’d stall. But the bilingual children would say, in their own words, “It’s silly, but it’s grammatically correct.” The bilinguals, we found, manifested a cognitive system with the ability to attend to important information and ignore the less important.

Q. How does this work — do you understand it?

A. Yes. There’s a system in your brain, the executive control system. It’s a general manager. Its job is to keep you focused on what is relevant, while ignoring distractions. It’s what makes it possible for you to hold two different things in your mind at one time and switch between them.

If you have two languages and you use them regularly, the way the brain’s networks work is that every time you speak, both languages pop up and the executive control system has to sort through everything and attend to what’s relevant in the moment. Therefore the bilinguals use that system more, and it’s that regular use that makes that system more efficient.

Q. One of your most startling recent findings is that bilingualism helps forestall the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. How did you come to learn this?

A. We did two kinds of studies. In the first, published in 2004, we found that normally aging bilinguals had better cognitive functioning than normally aging monolinguals. Bilingual older adults performed better than monolingual older adults on executive control tasks. That was very impressive because it didn’t have to be that way. It could have turned out that everybody just lost function equally as they got older.

That evidence made us look at people who didn’t have normal cognitive function. In our next studies , we looked at the medical records of 400 Alzheimer’s patients. On average, the bilinguals showed Alzheimer’s symptoms five or six years later than those who spoke only one language. This didn’t mean that the bilinguals didn’t have Alzheimer’s. It meant that as the disease took root in their brains, they were able to continue functioning at a higher level. They could cope with the disease for longer.

Q. So high school French is useful for something other than ordering a special meal in a restaurant?

A. Sorry, no. You have to use both languages all the time. You won’t get the bilingual benefit from occasional use.

Q. One would think bilingualism might help with multitasking — does it?

A. Yes, multitasking is one of the things the executive control system handles. We wondered, “Are bilinguals better at multitasking?” So we put monolinguals and bilinguals into a driving simulator. Through headphones, we gave them extra tasks to do — as if they were driving and talking on cellphones. We then measured how much worse their driving got. Now, everybody’s driving got worse. But the bilinguals, their driving didn’t drop as much. Because adding on another task while trying to concentrate on a driving problem, that’s what bilingualism gives you — though I wouldn’t advise doing this.

Q. Has the development of new neuroimaging technologies changed your work?

A. Tremendously. It used to be that we could only see what parts of the brain lit up when our subjects performed different tasks. Now, with the new technologies, we can see how all the brain structures work in accord with each other.

In terms of monolinguals and bilinguals, the big thing that we have found is that the connections are different. So we have monolinguals solving a problem, and they use X systems, but when bilinguals solve the same problem, they use others. One of the things we’ve seen is that on certain kinds of even nonverbal tests, bilingual people are faster. Why? Well, when we look in their brains through neuroimaging, it appears like they’re using a different kind of a network that might include language centers to solve a completely nonverbal problem. Their whole brain appears to rewire because of bilingualism.

Q. Bilingualism used to be considered a negative thing — at least in the United States. Is it still?

A. Until about the 1960s, the conventional wisdom was that bilingualism was a disadvantage. Some of this was xenophobia. Thanks to science, we now know that the opposite is true.

Q. Many immigrants choose not to teach their children their native language. Is this a good thing?

A. I’m asked about this all the time. People e-mail me and say, “I’m getting married to someone from another culture, what should we do with the children?” I always say, “You’re sitting on a potential gift.”

There are two major reasons people should pass their heritage language onto children. First, it connects children to their ancestors. The second is my research: Bilingualism is good for you. It makes brains stronger. It is brain exercise.

Q. Are you bilingual?

A. Well, I have fully bilingual grandchildren because my daughter married a Frenchman. When my daughter announced her engagement to her French boyfriend, we were a little surprised. It’s always astonishing when your child announces she’s getting married. She said, “But Mom, it’ll be fine, our children will be bilingual!”

Thank you The NY Times!

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Jafar Panahi not in Cannes for This Is Not a Film premiere

Banned Iranian director who received prison sentence for criticising regime stars in movie smuggled out of Iran

by Catherine Shoard, guardian.co.uk, Saturday 21 May 2011 12.45 BST

Most prints for films premiering at Cannes are delivered to the Croisette by private helicopter, or clutched in the sweaty paws of their devoted directors. Jafar Panahi's new film, This Is Not a Film, was smuggled into the country on a USB stick buried inside a cake posted from Iran to Paris.

Panahi, the virtuoso neo-realist who won a prize at Cannes for his debut, The White Balloon, in 1995, and, at 50, now has one of the most sagging mantlepieces in cinema, is currently stuck in Iran, awaiting the verdict of his appeal against a six-year prison term, and 20-year-ban on film-making, talking to the press and travelling abroad. The sentence was passed in December 2010, after the Iranian government accused him of "colluding with the intention to commit crimes against the country's national security and propaganda against the Islamic Republic". Panahi denies the charges.

So This Is Not A Film was presented by its nominal director, Mojtaba Mirtahasebi, who spends a day with Panahi in his high-rise apartment, sipping tea, chewing sugarlumps and watching the director map out scenes from a screenplay he's been working on. It sounds earnest: in fact it's fantastically entertaining, full of incidents that would be too far-fetched for the wildest farce: endless animals get dumped on the director to babysit, for instance, including a 6ft iguana which paces the apartment restlessly, as unhappy to be cooped up as his temporary master.

For most of the film, Panahi endeavours to exploit a loophole in his sentence by being in front of the camera, rather than behind. But he becomes disillusioned with the project – "Why would you make a film if you could just talk through it?" – and he's a compulsive director, filming his companion and any visitors on his iPhone; documenting the scenes outside the window. The pair even manage to have some fun with the censorship – the end credits give special thanks to a blank screen; that title feels more tongue-in-cheek than drum-beating.

"We have a saying in Iran," said Mirtahasebi, "that when hairdressers get bored they cut each others' hair. That is what we were doing: filming one another." The image is as amusing as it is poignant: for both, simply the documentation of events is enough to make such a project valuable.

It's also a tool in lobbying round the world for Panahi's liberty. "I think making a film is like giving birth to a child – it's a very complicated thing," said Mirtahasebi. "But I think at the same time to spread it around is more difficult – it's like actually raising a child. And that is the function of festivals like Cannes."

It is also the function of emerging technologies: Panahi speaks passionately about the role of the digital world in creating lasting archives, even if they cannot be shared at the time. Mirtahasebi, too, suggests that a familiarity with the online world gave them a natural advantage over the Iranian establishment, which he suspected of ignorance about both cinema itself and the internet: "They don't realise that they can't adapt it to fit their own vision." Indeed, Panahi watched the Cannes press conference unfold through a Skype and an iPad camera – although all interaction was, by necessity, one way.

His colleague, meanwhile, was visibly nervous to be presenting the film in public, eager to emphasise how closely he needed to monitor his words to protect his own safety once he returns to Iran (even the type of cake was information not deemed shareable). Solidarity with his colleague, he confirmed, was a fraught business.

"We have decided to take the risks of what we're doing. Step by step, we are trying to fight. This has a price. But we wanted to use that energy that is not being used in film-making. We didn't want to give up."

Panahi's arrest in December was not his first. During last year's Cannes festival, Panahi was on hunger strike in prison in Tehran to protest against being imprisoned on unspecified charges. The actor Juliette Binoche paid tribute to him in an emotional press conference, and, accepting the best actress award for Certified Copy (directed by the Iranian film-maker Abbas Kiarostami), held up a placard bearing Panahi's name. These actions were widely believed to have aided his release less than a week later.

But his freedom proved shortlived. One might have forgiven Mirtahasebi and Panahi for feeling sceptical about the potential leverage of cinema. Martin Scorsese, Ken Loach, and thousands of others have signed petitions and campaigned for his release. Yet to no apparent avail. Surely there must be some disillusion? "Not at all," said Mirtahasebi. "Hope is what is guarding us. It's how we are able to work and to carry on. Hope is the last thing we've got."

Thanks The Guardian!

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Tricot actu ou DSK vu par delit maille

Tricote ton affaire DSK

Quand Délit Maille donne à voir son point de vue sur l'actualité, ça donne un truc un peu barré comme on aime chez Sew&Laine... L'affaire DSK version tricot...ou quand le tricot devient illustrateur de l'actualité.

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BBC: Loving Apple looks like a religion to an MRI scan

BBC: Loving Apple looks like a religion to an MRI scan
by Michael Rose (RSS feed) on May 17th 2011 at 12:30PM

Later today, BBC 3 will be airing Secrets of the Superbrands, a documentary about the relationship between consumers and the brands that shape our behavior, our desires and our lives. Series creator Alex Riley let slip an interesting tidbit in a preview post about the series:

"The Bishop of Buckingham -- who reads his Bible on an iPad -- explained to me the similarities between Apple and a religion. And when a team of neuroscientists with an MRI scanner took a look inside the brain of an Apple fanatic it seemed the bishop was on to something. The results suggested that Apple was actually stimulating the same parts of the brain as religious imagery does in people of faith."

Implying that Apple fandom equals zealotry may be attention-grabbing (and does indeed make me want to watch the program; too bad I can't use the BBC's iPlayer app here in the States), but the neurological similarity isn't surprising or particularly novel. You could almost certainly make the same observations about Red Sox fans, Twilight groupies, Van Halen lovers, Ducati collectors ... the list goes on, and whatever object of desire makes your heart pitter-patter will resonate in the neural patterns of your gray matter. Paraphrasing my colleague Chris Rawson, "This just in: the human brain is extremely susceptible to liking the things it likes to like. More details as we get them."

As to whether there's something particularly intense, sustained or worshipful about the relationship between the Apple brand and Apple owners... well, seriously now, this question is appearing on The Unofficial Apple Weblog, one of thousands of sites, magazines, conferences and less-public obsessions dedicated to all things 'i' and the company that makes them real. Do you even have to ask?

UPDATE: TUAW pal Alex Brooks from World of Apple let us know that it's his brain that's scanned on the program.

Thanks BBC and TUAW.

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Art induces a feel good sensation direct to the brain.

Brain scans reveal the power of art

Works of art can give as much joy as being head over heels in love, according to a new scientific study.
by Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter @ The Telegraph

Human guinea pigs underwent brain scans while being shown a series of 30 paintings by some of the world's greatest artists.

The artworks they considered most beautiful increased blood flow in a certain part of the brain by as much as 10 per cent – the equivalent to gazing at a loved one.

Paintings by John Constable, Ingres, the French neoclassical painter, and Guido Reni, the 17th century Italian artist, produced the most powerful 'pleasure' response in those taking part in the experiment.

Works by Hieronymus Bosch, Honore Damier and the Flemish artist Massys – the 'ugliest' art used in the experiment – led to the smallest increases in blood flow. Other paintings shown were by artists such as Monet, Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci and Cezanne.

Professor Semir Zeki, chair in neuroaesthetics at University College London, who conducted the experiment, said: "We wanted to see what happens in the brain when you look at beautiful paintings.

"What we found is when you look at art – whether it is a landscape, a still life, an abstract or a portrait – there is strong activity in that part of the brain related to pleasure.
"We put people in a scanner and showed them a series of paintings every ten seconds. We then measured the change in blood flow in one part of the brain.

"The reaction was immediate. What we found was the increase in blood flow was in proportion to how much the painting was liked.

"The blood flow increased for a beautiful painting just as it increases when you look at somebody you love. It tells us art induces a feel good sensation direct to the brain."
The test was carried out on dozens of people, who were picked at random but who had little prior knowledge of art and therefore would not be unduly influenced by current tastes and the fashionability of the artist.

The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan measured blood flow in the medial orbitofrontal cortex, part of the brain associated with pleasure and desire.
The study, which is currently being peer reviewed, is likely to be published in an academic journal later this year.

Professor Zeki added: "What we are doing is giving scientific truth to what has been known for a long time – that beautiful paintings makes us feel much better.
"But what we didn't realize until we did these studies is just how powerful the effect on the brain is."

The study is being seized upon as proof of the need for art to be made as widely available to the general public as possible.

There is currently concern in the arts world that widespread budget cuts could affect accessibility while also slashing acquisition budgets.

"I have always believed art matters so it is exciting to see some scientific evidence to support the view life is enhanced by instantaneous contact with works of art," said Dr Stephen Deuchar, director of the Art Fund, the national fund-raising charity which has spent £24 million over the last five years helping to buy art for galleries and museums.

Last month, the organisation launched a National Art Pass giving free entry to more than 200 museums and galleries and 50 per cent off entry to major exhibitions.

The Art Fund has pledged to increase its funding by 50 per cent to £7 million a year by 2014 to make up for widespread budget cuts in the arts world.

The charity has been praised by Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt for showing that "philanthropy can be about small as well as large donations".




Thanks The Telegraph!

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Online Ad Revenues Hit Record High in 2010

Advertisers spent a record $26 billion in the U.S. marketing their wares online last year, putting the Internet ahead of newspapers for the first time.
The 15 percent year-over-year surge in online advertising put the Internet second to television as the leading medium for generating ad revenue.

Television, which includes local, cable and broadcast spending, brought in $68.7 billion. Newspapers took in $22.8 billion.

The data was released Wednesday in a 26-page report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The report also compares the Internet's 16-year-growth trajectory as an advertising medium to the early days of broadcast and cable TV. Even adjusting for inflation, the Internet has been more impressive.

After the first 16 years of broadcast TV (beginning in 1949), the medium was raking in $16.1 billion in the U.S. Cable TV after its first 16 years (beginning in 1980) was generating $7.3 billion in ad revenue.

Internet advertising, though, has taken a rocky path to get to this point, reaching $8 billion in 2000 but taking four years to surpass that amount as the bursting Internet bubble had advertisers fleeing.

Online advertising took another hit in 2009 because of the recession.

But the IAB report touted five straight quarters of growth. The 2010 rebound, said PwC's David Silverman, "points to a continued focus on digital media ad spend, with dollars catching up to the eyeballs."

Search, the area dominated by Google, accounted for 46 percent of the online ad revenue generated last year, while display stood at 38%. Revenue from digital video commercials surged 40 percent to $1.4 billion, about 5 percent of the $26 billion spent last year.

For the first time, the IAB and PwC measured mobile advertising, which came in at $550 million-$650 million last year.

The biggest advertisers online in 2010 were retailers, accounting for 21 percent of the money spent, followed by telecom (13 percent), financial services (12 percent), auto (11 percent) and computing products (8 percent).
Further down the list of big advertisers were media (4 percent) and entertainment (4 percent). Those two industries spent $1.1 billion to advertise over the Internet last year. If combined into a single category, it would be tied with computing products for fifth on the list of largest online advertising industries.

Thank you Hollywood Reporter

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Le bout de plastique qui va révolutionner l'électronique

Le bout de plastique qui va révolutionner l'électronique

Il suffisait d'y penser, une société française l'a fait : le panneau solaire transparent

Par CLÉMENT PÉTREAULT
source:http://www.lepoint.f

C'est une petite avancée technologique qui pourrait donner lieu à un véritable bond en avant. La société française Wysips a mis au point un film photovoltaïque souple et transparent, capable de recharger un téléphone portable à la lumière du jour. La démonstration a été faite avec un smartphone, mais n'importe quelle surface peut être habillée de ce film souple. Une fenêtre, une façade, une voiture ou encore un ordinateur peuvent ainsi transformer la lumière en énergie pour un coût raisonnable. Une fois développée, cette technologie pourrait intégrer des tissus qui deviendraient, eux aussi, capables de produire de l'énergie. Le rendement énergétique est d'environ 10 % (soit 100 watts par mètre carré). C'est environ 30 % de moins qu'un panneau photovoltaïque classique que l'on retrouve sur les toitures.

Six heures pour recharger pleinement la batterie

Un prototype de téléphone équipé de ce film vient d'être dévoilé. Les démonstrations ont prouvé que le film, épais de 0,1 mm, ne venait pas perturber les capacités tactiles des appareils. En l'état actuel de la technologie, le système ne permet pas de recharger intégralement la batterie de ce téléphone (6 heures en plein soleil pour une recharge complète, c'est long), mais l'autonomie de l'appareil est largement améliorée. La révolution est en marche.

"Nous venons de finaliser un premier prototype et, d'ici à six mois, nous fabriquerons les premières unités en série. Comme nous sommes sur un modèle de licence non exclusive, à terme nos technologies seront accessibles à tous les fabricants", explique Ludovic Deblois au Point.fr. Ces modules solaires permettront de ne pas augmenter la taille des batteries des smartphones, qui ne seront, a priori, jamais en panne. Les pays en voie de développement sont aussi un coeur de cible privilégié pour la société française. Wysips prévoit de vendre chaque film pour moins d'un euro aux fabricants d'électronique. Un prix modique au regard du progrès accompli.

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SIX MAJOR MISTAKES FILMMAKERS OFTEN MAKE

SIX MAJOR MISTAKES FILMMAKERS OFTEN MAKE

BY ELLIOTT KANBAR, PRESDIENT
QUADCINEMA 4-WALL SELECT

Being in the movie business for over 38 years (the QUAD CINEMA in New York
opened in 1972), and being an enthusiastic IDA member, I‚ve spoken to,
worked with and advised hundreds of filmmakers. Here are the 6 mistakes I've
heard and seen most often:

1. Filmmakers become obsessed with having their film play at innumerable
Film Festivals. They often measure the film's success by how many festivals
they can play in. One or two of the majors are OK. But that should be the
limit. Chances are you will not meet a distributor who will buy your film
for big bucks and it‚s unlikely your film will be reviewed in the major
media. The Festival newspapers do not count.

2. Filmmakers fail to budget at least $20,000.00 for Self Distribution,
which they most likely will have to do. Without some Self Distribution money
to start off, your film will end up on your living room shelf, a reminder of
one of your major living achievements. Filmmakers should never say upon
completion of their film that "I do not have any money left to do anything.
Help me!"

3. If you want to take the road of finding a distributor, pick one that has
a defined record of booking films like yours. There are too many
distributors out there who will take all your film rights and do nothing.
Also, do not hook up with a distributor without having an Entertainment
Lawyer advise you. Your brother-in- law who handles real estate law for a
major firm will not know what to look for.

4. Never, never, never sign away your DVD/ONLINE rights to anyone unless you
carefully compare deals offered by others. Also, this is something you can
do yourself, probably as good a job as most DVD/ONLINE distributors. And,
you control the income. If you're going to make money with your film, it
will come primarily from DVD/ONLINE sales. Trust me!

5. Too many filmmakers pick a publicist who has a great reputation, comes
highly recommended, but does not know the film business. Good PR people know
the major film players in the media. If the PR person you're considering
can't show you past results in getting films reviewed, talked and written
about in the media, very politely show him or her, the front door.

6. Filmmakers lose sight of the most important goal, which is to get the
film reviewed by the major New York film critics. Unfortunately, no other
city will do. This is by far the best way to give your film exposure,
credibility and the "hook" to stand out in this field crowded with thousands
of other indie films.

Thanks IDA!

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Global news: "What Every Man Thinks About Apart From Sex"

What Every Man Thinks About Apart From Sex: book of blank pages become surprise bestseller.
A book with entirely blank pages has become a bestseller after becoming a hit with students.

“Professor” Sheridan Simove has produced a 200 page book entitled “What Every Man Thinks About Apart From Sex”.
The work has sold out online on Amazon following heavy promotion in student unions across Britain.
The £4.69 item, which was intended as a novelty gift, is being used by students as a notebook.
Nottingham university student Jess Lloyd said: “I bought a copy for my mate as a joke and he started using it as a note pad for lectures. Now everyone seems to have one. It’s started a real craze on campus.”
“Author” Sheridan Simove said: “This book is the result of 39 years of painstaking research and practical study into the subject. I left nothing to chance and really threw myself into my work.
“After many years of hard work I finally realised that men think of absolutely nothing apart from sex. It was a shocking conclusion and I realised that the world needed to be informed of my findings.
“I never thought for one moment that my life’s work would be embraced by Britain’s students in their thousands. It is very gratifying to see my book outselling many other academic works whose authors claim to have worked even harder than I to break new ground and further the extent of human knowledge.”
Mr Simove, 39, an Oxford University graduate who is an author, performer and entrepreneur, added: “I never anticipated that my book would be used for students to take their lecture notes in. In a sense they are proving me wrong by filling my book with content. But I wonder how many of them go back to thinking about sex once the lecture is over. I’d be willing to bet that answer is 100%. In fact I would go even further and estimate that 99% are thinking about sex even during the lecture. They probably think using my book as a notepad will help them get laid. And they are of course totally correct in that hypothesis.
“I now intend to develop my research further and am planning a PhD at the university of life on the subject of what women think about apart from sex. I hope to publish my findings in another decade.”

Thanks The Telegraph!

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