Romney Speech Combines Life Story With Criticism Of Obama
The Republican National Convention has wrapped up with a speech by Mitt Romney that combined details of his life story with a pledge to create millions of jobs and "restore the promise of America."
After entering the convention hall down one of the aisles, shaking hands with dozens of delegates along the way, Romney began a speech in which he spoke of his youth as a Mormon, and then as a married man with five rambunctious sons.
He choked up at least twice, once when he recalled how he and his wife Ann would awake to find "a pile of kids asleep in our room."
But the speech also contained repeated criticism of President Barack Obama, particularly his failure to spur a more robust economic recovery. Romney said Obama can "tell us it was someone else's fault" and that in the next four years "he'll get it right" -- but that he can't tell Americans that they are better off than when he took office.
Romney said he will start his presidency with a "jobs tour" -- and he accused Obama of starting off with an "apology tour." He accused Obama of failing to support Israel, while showing patience with Israel's arch-enemy, Iran.
He drew cheers when he vowed to repeal Obama's signature health care law.
His speech ended with the now-traditional scene in which Romney and his wife Ann were joined by running mate Paul Ryan and his wife, and then by other family members, as delegates cheered and balloons fell.
Highlights from Mitt Romney's acceptance speech on Thursday to the Republican National Convention:
ECONOMY and JOBS: Romney said he will create 12 million new jobs by expanding domestic energy production, improving education and training, forging new trade agreements with other countries, balancing the budget, and helping businesses grow. "What America needs is jobs," Romney said. "Lots of jobs." Romney said he will not raise taxes on the middle class.
ENERGY: The United States will be independent from energy sources outside of North America by 2020, Romney said. He supports opening the Atlantic and Pacific outer continental shelves to drilling, as well as Western lands, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and offshore Alaska. He also has proposed reducing obstacles to coal, natural gas and nuclear energy development.
MILITARY: Romney said President Barack Obama wants to make major cuts in military spending that will eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs and put U.S. security at greater risk. Romney said he would "preserve a military that is so strong, no nation would ever dare to test it."
FOREIGN POLICY: Romney credited Obama for giving Seal Team Six the order to take out Osama bin Laden. But he criticized the president for failing to slow Iran's nuclear threat and for abandoning key allies Israel and Poland. Obama has been too easy on Russian President Vladimir Putin, he said. "Under my administration, our friends will see more loyalty, and Mr. Putin will see a little less flexibility and more backbone," Romney said.
SMALL BUSINESS: Romney said he would be a champion of small businesses, which he described as "America's engine of job growth." Taxes on businesses would be cut, not increased, under a Romney administration, he said. He would also repeal President Barack Obama's health care law in order to "rein in the skyrocketing cost of healthcare."
WOMEN: Romney made a direct appeal to this critical demographic by noting that women held important positions during his term as Massachusetts governor. He listed several of the women, including former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who addressed the Republican National Convention, and he also mentioned that his mother, Lenore Romney, had once run for the U.S. Senate.
BUSINESS EXPERIENCE: Romney stressed that his business background at Bain Capital, a private equity firm he helped start in 1984, makes him better qualified than Obama to turn around a struggling American economy. Among the successful companies Bain helped start, Romney said, are Staples, The Sports Authority, and Steel Dynamics, a steel mill in Indiana.
RELIGION: Romney tied his Mormon faith to the American experience. His family found community and kinship with "remarkably vibrant and diverse congregations" that prayed together and were quick to help each other out. He said that growing up Mormon in Michigan may have seemed out of place, but his friends cared more about the sports teams they followed than what church he and his family went to.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Mitt Romney to deliver most important speech of his political life at Republican National Convention
Mitt Romney to deliver most important speech of his political life at Republican National Convention
Mitt Romney’s political reinvention will culminate Thursday when he finally accepts the Republican Party’s nomination for President.
In the moments before the balloons drop from the ceiling of the Tampa Bay Times Forum, Romney will deliver the most important speech of his political life — a moment at least six years in the making and one that will sound very different from his convention address from four years ago.
VIDEO: MITT ROMNEY'S PLAN TO BALANCE BUDGET
Romney took the St. Paul stage in 2008 far from the prime-time spotlight. Vanquished in the presidential primaries by John McCain, he was given 11 minutes to tout the nominee and the woman who came out of nowhere to best him to be the Arizona senator’s running mate: Sarah Palin.
PAUL RYAN PLEDGES MITT ROMNEY WILL RESTART NATION'S STALLED ECONOMY
Romney, who was elected governor of Massachusetts in 2002 as a moderate, changed several of his political positions, most notably on abortion and gun control, to make him more palatable to the GOP’s conservative base.
His moves to the right weren’t enough in 2008, with primary opponent Rudy Giuliani saying they left him looking like he had no ideological core — a charge that has followed him ever since.
But now, armed with a giant war chest that crushed a weak primary field, Romney returns to a GOP convention as his party’s leader, and will try to make the case to the American public that he should be the next White House resident.
The former private equity CEO’s central campaign pitch is that he has the goods to fix the slumping economy, so expect his best fastball on that subject Thursday night.
Romney will also likely repeat some of the notes he sounded in his speech in Minnesota four years ago. Then, he accused Democrats of promoting government dependency and ignoring the importance of American workers and business owners.
“They think that we have the biggest and strongest economy in the world because of our government,” Romney said in ’08. “They’re wrong. America is strong because of the ingenuity, and entrepreneurship, and hard work of the American people.”
That theme is likely to be amplified this year, with Romney seizing upon President Obama’s “You didn’t build that” remark to suggest the Democrat is dismissive of American business and entrepreneurs.
Romney may tread more lightly on social issues, especially in light of the uproar created by Missouri Rep. Todd Akin’s now-notorious comments about “legitimate rape.” And though the first days of the 2012 GOP convention have featured very little discussion of foreign policy, Romney is expected to hit President Obama there on multiple fronts. He may have offered a sneak peak of this part of his acceptance speech when he spoke to the American Legion in Indianapolis, Ind., on Wednesday, warning about the dangers posed by Iran, North Korea and other rogue nations.
Romney also raised eyebrows in Indiana by joking about Hurricane Isaac.
“I appreciate this invitation to join you on dry land this afternoon,” Romney quipped, quickly switching to a more serious tone: “Our thoughts are of course with the people of the Gulf Coast states.”
The candidate, who is considering a trip to the Gulf Coast, returned to Tampa by nightfall Wednesday to watch his running mate’s RNC address — and put the finishing touches on the speech that may be his last, best chance to introduce himself to the nation.
Mitt Romney’s political reinvention will culminate Thursday when he finally accepts the Republican Party’s nomination for President.
In the moments before the balloons drop from the ceiling of the Tampa Bay Times Forum, Romney will deliver the most important speech of his political life — a moment at least six years in the making and one that will sound very different from his convention address from four years ago.
VIDEO: MITT ROMNEY'S PLAN TO BALANCE BUDGET
Romney took the St. Paul stage in 2008 far from the prime-time spotlight. Vanquished in the presidential primaries by John McCain, he was given 11 minutes to tout the nominee and the woman who came out of nowhere to best him to be the Arizona senator’s running mate: Sarah Palin.
PAUL RYAN PLEDGES MITT ROMNEY WILL RESTART NATION'S STALLED ECONOMY
Romney, who was elected governor of Massachusetts in 2002 as a moderate, changed several of his political positions, most notably on abortion and gun control, to make him more palatable to the GOP’s conservative base.
His moves to the right weren’t enough in 2008, with primary opponent Rudy Giuliani saying they left him looking like he had no ideological core — a charge that has followed him ever since.
But now, armed with a giant war chest that crushed a weak primary field, Romney returns to a GOP convention as his party’s leader, and will try to make the case to the American public that he should be the next White House resident.
The former private equity CEO’s central campaign pitch is that he has the goods to fix the slumping economy, so expect his best fastball on that subject Thursday night.
Romney will also likely repeat some of the notes he sounded in his speech in Minnesota four years ago. Then, he accused Democrats of promoting government dependency and ignoring the importance of American workers and business owners.
“They think that we have the biggest and strongest economy in the world because of our government,” Romney said in ’08. “They’re wrong. America is strong because of the ingenuity, and entrepreneurship, and hard work of the American people.”
That theme is likely to be amplified this year, with Romney seizing upon President Obama’s “You didn’t build that” remark to suggest the Democrat is dismissive of American business and entrepreneurs.
Romney may tread more lightly on social issues, especially in light of the uproar created by Missouri Rep. Todd Akin’s now-notorious comments about “legitimate rape.” And though the first days of the 2012 GOP convention have featured very little discussion of foreign policy, Romney is expected to hit President Obama there on multiple fronts. He may have offered a sneak peak of this part of his acceptance speech when he spoke to the American Legion in Indianapolis, Ind., on Wednesday, warning about the dangers posed by Iran, North Korea and other rogue nations.
Romney also raised eyebrows in Indiana by joking about Hurricane Isaac.
“I appreciate this invitation to join you on dry land this afternoon,” Romney quipped, quickly switching to a more serious tone: “Our thoughts are of course with the people of the Gulf Coast states.”
The candidate, who is considering a trip to the Gulf Coast, returned to Tampa by nightfall Wednesday to watch his running mate’s RNC address — and put the finishing touches on the speech that may be his last, best chance to introduce himself to the nation.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Putin’s life of luxury questioned
Putin’s life of luxury questioned
Russian President Vladimir Putin once compared ruling Russia to being a “galley slave,” but four yachts that come with the job, as well as a string of palaces and a wealth of luxury perks help explain his refusal to quit the presidency, leading critics said Tuesday.
Listing 58 planes and helicopters and 20 homes with opulent fittings worthy of the czars, not to mention 11 watches that alone are worth several times Putin’s annual salary, a report published under the ironic title The Life of a Galley Slave by opposition leader Boris Nemtsov denounced the lavish spending as an affront to millions of Russians living in dire poverty.
“One of the most serious reasons prompting (Vladimir) Putin to hold on to power is the atmosphere of wealth and luxury to which he has become accustomed,” wrote the authors. “In a country where more than 20 million people barely make ends meet, the luxurious life of the president is a blatant and cynical challenge to society. .”
The Kremlin, which has long portrayed the 59-year-old president as a man of simple tastes with a liking for popular sports and active outdoor pastimes, did not immediately comment.
Intended to foster faint stirrings of opposition to Putin’s recent re-election for a further six years, the report may struggle for attention. In a mark of the reluctance of Russians to challenge the Kremlin, Nemtsov said he had struggled to find a printer willing to produce the booklet. And after publication, it was largely ignored by the country’s major media outlets.
Many Russians seemed indifferent to opponents who revelled in eye-catching details, such as the $75,000 toilet on a presidential jet. The authors also calculated the total value of the 11 luxury timepieces on the wrist of the head of state at some $700,000, while noting Putin had declared an annual income less than $115,000.
The president has long denied rumours he has built up a vast personal fortune. The report did not address that but it illustrated how the former KGB spy has expanded the trappings of office since he rose to power in 2000.
Tales of extravagance in the leadership come at a potentially awkward time for Putin after the biggest protests of his 12-year rule, mostly from middle-class urban liberals who are now trying to fire up indignation more widely.
“I hope that after this report the numbers of people believing that Putin and his allies are swindlers and thieves will approach 70 per cent,” Nemtsov said, using the labels for the ruling elite which have become a slogan for the opposition.
“After that, I think we will be able to free the country of them,” he said at an event to launch the pamphlet.
But the responses of the likes of Moscow pensioner Yelena Nikitichna suggested it might be an uphill battle to turn any dismay over Putin’s perks into a boost for the protest movement.
“It’s obviously too much, way beyond what is needed to do the job,” she said. “But of course that is no surprise to me. I’ve lived here for 70 years. It’s always been like that.”
Among the young, too, many did not share Nemtsov’s anger:
“Russian authorities and leaders have always been famous for their rather luxurious ways. This is a historical pattern and he is not the first to live a fairly luxurious life,” said Yelena Malmova, a first-year university student in the capital.
“Personally, I don’t care,” she said. “For me, how well he does his job is most important.”
The text was accompanied by photographs of luxurious homes, jets, helicopters, cars and watches, complete with footnotes citing Russian media as sources for many of the items. Nine new residences had been added to the list available to the president since Putin first became head of state in 2000, it said.
One 53.7-metre yacht with a designer interior, a spa pool, waterfall and wine cellar is relegated to second best, it said.
“The real diamond of the Kremlin flotilla,” the authors judged, is a five-deck yacht with a Jacuzzi, barbecue, a maple wood colonnade and a huge bathroom faced in marble.
Russian President Vladimir Putin once compared ruling Russia to being a “galley slave,” but four yachts that come with the job, as well as a string of palaces and a wealth of luxury perks help explain his refusal to quit the presidency, leading critics said Tuesday.
Listing 58 planes and helicopters and 20 homes with opulent fittings worthy of the czars, not to mention 11 watches that alone are worth several times Putin’s annual salary, a report published under the ironic title The Life of a Galley Slave by opposition leader Boris Nemtsov denounced the lavish spending as an affront to millions of Russians living in dire poverty.
“One of the most serious reasons prompting (Vladimir) Putin to hold on to power is the atmosphere of wealth and luxury to which he has become accustomed,” wrote the authors. “In a country where more than 20 million people barely make ends meet, the luxurious life of the president is a blatant and cynical challenge to society. .”
The Kremlin, which has long portrayed the 59-year-old president as a man of simple tastes with a liking for popular sports and active outdoor pastimes, did not immediately comment.
Intended to foster faint stirrings of opposition to Putin’s recent re-election for a further six years, the report may struggle for attention. In a mark of the reluctance of Russians to challenge the Kremlin, Nemtsov said he had struggled to find a printer willing to produce the booklet. And after publication, it was largely ignored by the country’s major media outlets.
Many Russians seemed indifferent to opponents who revelled in eye-catching details, such as the $75,000 toilet on a presidential jet. The authors also calculated the total value of the 11 luxury timepieces on the wrist of the head of state at some $700,000, while noting Putin had declared an annual income less than $115,000.
The president has long denied rumours he has built up a vast personal fortune. The report did not address that but it illustrated how the former KGB spy has expanded the trappings of office since he rose to power in 2000.
Tales of extravagance in the leadership come at a potentially awkward time for Putin after the biggest protests of his 12-year rule, mostly from middle-class urban liberals who are now trying to fire up indignation more widely.
“I hope that after this report the numbers of people believing that Putin and his allies are swindlers and thieves will approach 70 per cent,” Nemtsov said, using the labels for the ruling elite which have become a slogan for the opposition.
“After that, I think we will be able to free the country of them,” he said at an event to launch the pamphlet.
But the responses of the likes of Moscow pensioner Yelena Nikitichna suggested it might be an uphill battle to turn any dismay over Putin’s perks into a boost for the protest movement.
“It’s obviously too much, way beyond what is needed to do the job,” she said. “But of course that is no surprise to me. I’ve lived here for 70 years. It’s always been like that.”
Among the young, too, many did not share Nemtsov’s anger:
“Russian authorities and leaders have always been famous for their rather luxurious ways. This is a historical pattern and he is not the first to live a fairly luxurious life,” said Yelena Malmova, a first-year university student in the capital.
“Personally, I don’t care,” she said. “For me, how well he does his job is most important.”
The text was accompanied by photographs of luxurious homes, jets, helicopters, cars and watches, complete with footnotes citing Russian media as sources for many of the items. Nine new residences had been added to the list available to the president since Putin first became head of state in 2000, it said.
One 53.7-metre yacht with a designer interior, a spa pool, waterfall and wine cellar is relegated to second best, it said.
“The real diamond of the Kremlin flotilla,” the authors judged, is a five-deck yacht with a Jacuzzi, barbecue, a maple wood colonnade and a huge bathroom faced in marble.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Snooki's Baby Boy: Life Advice For The Little Meatball
Snooki's Baby Boy: Life Advice For The Little Meatball
Early Sunday morning, "Jersey Shore" star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi gave birth to her first child, a 6-pound 5-ounce boy named Lorenzo Dominic LaValle. Lil' Lorenzo's arrival was celebrated by Snooki's "Shore" co-stars — including brand-new "uncle" Pauly D, who wasted no time bestowing an appropriate nickname on the bundle of joy, "Meatball" — and we'd like to join them in offering our sincerest congratulations to both the Snookster and Lorenzo's proud papa, Jionni LaValle.
But since Lorenzo's already got a cool nickname (not to mention more "Shore" onesies than we can possibly imagine), we figured that our congrats probably aren't enough. So we've decided to give him the next best thing: some life advice. Sure, he may be one day old, but it's never too early to start planning ahead. Here are some do's and don'ts for the newest member of the MTV family, in the hopes that all of his days are as magical as his first.
DO consider trademarking the phrase "Meatball." Not sure if this is even legally possible, but imagine the possibilities ... babywear, spicy strollers, a cookbook like Teresa Giudice's where you toss your fellow "Shore" offspring under the bus for only being "one-sixteenth Italian." Never too early to start building your brand, bro.
DON'T bring "Ron Ron Juice" to second-grade story time. Actually, don't bring Ron Ron anywhere.
DO use Uncle Pauly's connections to score a residency at Karma. We've been waiting 20 years for the American answer to Jordy.
DON'T forget, when talking to Aunt JWoww, it's "eyes up here, mister."
DO get a part-time job at the Shore Store. What better way to learn the value of a hard-earned dollar than ironing slogans like "DTF" onto the butts of sweatpants? Also, given everything we've seen on the show, Danny doesn't even require his employees to show up on time ... or be conscious, for that matter.
DON'T go to Italy. Everyone knows that season was a disaster.
DO take nutritional advice from your mom. After all, pickles are low in saturated fat and a good source of Vitamin A ... and sodium puts hair on your chest.
DON'T listen to Aunt Sammi about anything. Especially relationships.
DO get a tetanus shot before setting foot in any Seaside Heights hot tub.
DON'T go near Uncle Situation's special tin of Altoids.
DO carry on the proud traditions of your ancestors by returning to the Shore each summer, honoring the holy trinity of "Gym, Tan, Laundry." At the very least, it will lead to the inevitable "Jersey Shore Juniors" spinoff.
DON'T listen to any of our advice. After all, we're the ones who had to work this weekend while you were being born.
Early Sunday morning, "Jersey Shore" star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi gave birth to her first child, a 6-pound 5-ounce boy named Lorenzo Dominic LaValle. Lil' Lorenzo's arrival was celebrated by Snooki's "Shore" co-stars — including brand-new "uncle" Pauly D, who wasted no time bestowing an appropriate nickname on the bundle of joy, "Meatball" — and we'd like to join them in offering our sincerest congratulations to both the Snookster and Lorenzo's proud papa, Jionni LaValle.
But since Lorenzo's already got a cool nickname (not to mention more "Shore" onesies than we can possibly imagine), we figured that our congrats probably aren't enough. So we've decided to give him the next best thing: some life advice. Sure, he may be one day old, but it's never too early to start planning ahead. Here are some do's and don'ts for the newest member of the MTV family, in the hopes that all of his days are as magical as his first.
DO consider trademarking the phrase "Meatball." Not sure if this is even legally possible, but imagine the possibilities ... babywear, spicy strollers, a cookbook like Teresa Giudice's where you toss your fellow "Shore" offspring under the bus for only being "one-sixteenth Italian." Never too early to start building your brand, bro.
DON'T bring "Ron Ron Juice" to second-grade story time. Actually, don't bring Ron Ron anywhere.
DO use Uncle Pauly's connections to score a residency at Karma. We've been waiting 20 years for the American answer to Jordy.
DON'T forget, when talking to Aunt JWoww, it's "eyes up here, mister."
DO get a part-time job at the Shore Store. What better way to learn the value of a hard-earned dollar than ironing slogans like "DTF" onto the butts of sweatpants? Also, given everything we've seen on the show, Danny doesn't even require his employees to show up on time ... or be conscious, for that matter.
DON'T go to Italy. Everyone knows that season was a disaster.
DO take nutritional advice from your mom. After all, pickles are low in saturated fat and a good source of Vitamin A ... and sodium puts hair on your chest.
DON'T listen to Aunt Sammi about anything. Especially relationships.
DO get a tetanus shot before setting foot in any Seaside Heights hot tub.
DON'T go near Uncle Situation's special tin of Altoids.
DO carry on the proud traditions of your ancestors by returning to the Shore each summer, honoring the holy trinity of "Gym, Tan, Laundry." At the very least, it will lead to the inevitable "Jersey Shore Juniors" spinoff.
DON'T listen to any of our advice. After all, we're the ones who had to work this weekend while you were being born.
Monday, August 27, 2012
An actor’s life is sad
An actor’s life is sad
“An actor’s life is very sad. The biggest of superstars in our country fade away after some time and are remembered only when they die.
But what to do? It is very vulnerable, very sad, but that is the way it is. Nothing is permanent in their life,” Bipasha said in a recent interview.
A classic example is that of Rajesh Khanna, Bollywood’s first superstar. All but forgotten for almost a decade, he emerged briefly in a rather sad TV spot and the next thing fans knew was that he was in hospital, came out, went in again and came out for the last time - only to die a few days later. Of course, there was a nationwide outpouring of grief - and this is just the point Bipasha is making.
“Once you achieve success, you just want to work, you don’t want to be forgotten. It is an emotion that every actor worldwide, male or female, goes through,” said the 33-year-old, who plays an actress whose career is on the downfall in her forthcoming film Raaz 3.
Directed by filmmaker Vikram Bhatt, the movie, a sequel to the 2009 film Raaz, also stars Emraan Hashmi and Esha Gupta.
Bipasha says people want to know everything about an actor’s life and that is the reason films like The Dirty Picture, Raaz 3 and Heroine are made.
“Acting is a very enigmatic line. Being a celebrity people always want to know about your personal life - what you are? What you eat? How you live? Where you go? Who are you dating? How you breathe?”
Raaz 3 is about an actor’s struggle to attain fame and success. And the actress says that an actor’s life makes an interesting proposition for a movie theme.
“It is an interesting profession to make a film on - either the actor’s life or an actress’. In today’s time everybody wants to be an actor. It is a fascinating profession and people want to know what happens behind the scenes. And that is the reason there have been so many movies made on the same topic,” said Bipasha, who made her acting debut with the 2001 film Ajnabee.
So, are such films actually based on real life incidents?
“These are all fictional and drawn a little from reality. Such films are basically different types of storytelling of different directors, which make for very interesting stories,” added Bipasha.
‘THEY FORGET WE ARE ALSO HUMANS’
An actor’s personal life has always made headlines and even the Bengali beauty has not been spared - be it her relationship with Raaz co-star Dino Morea, or her romance with actor John Abraham and their break-up.
Though she does not let all that bother her a lot, she says the media and people should not forget that actors need some privacy.
“People are always interested to know what you are doing in your personal space. It makes great news for people to discuss over a meal. But they forget we are also humans, who have a personal life and we too go through good and bad times.
“It is quite harsh at times to expect an actor to be okay with whatever is written about him. Actors are not super humans, they are normal people,” said the actress, who has also worked in Tamil, Telugu and Bengali language films.
Known for her performances in films like Corporate and Dhoom 2, Bipasha is game for well-written comedies.
“An actor’s life is very sad. The biggest of superstars in our country fade away after some time and are remembered only when they die.
But what to do? It is very vulnerable, very sad, but that is the way it is. Nothing is permanent in their life,” Bipasha said in a recent interview.
A classic example is that of Rajesh Khanna, Bollywood’s first superstar. All but forgotten for almost a decade, he emerged briefly in a rather sad TV spot and the next thing fans knew was that he was in hospital, came out, went in again and came out for the last time - only to die a few days later. Of course, there was a nationwide outpouring of grief - and this is just the point Bipasha is making.
“Once you achieve success, you just want to work, you don’t want to be forgotten. It is an emotion that every actor worldwide, male or female, goes through,” said the 33-year-old, who plays an actress whose career is on the downfall in her forthcoming film Raaz 3.
Directed by filmmaker Vikram Bhatt, the movie, a sequel to the 2009 film Raaz, also stars Emraan Hashmi and Esha Gupta.
Bipasha says people want to know everything about an actor’s life and that is the reason films like The Dirty Picture, Raaz 3 and Heroine are made.
“Acting is a very enigmatic line. Being a celebrity people always want to know about your personal life - what you are? What you eat? How you live? Where you go? Who are you dating? How you breathe?”
Raaz 3 is about an actor’s struggle to attain fame and success. And the actress says that an actor’s life makes an interesting proposition for a movie theme.
“It is an interesting profession to make a film on - either the actor’s life or an actress’. In today’s time everybody wants to be an actor. It is a fascinating profession and people want to know what happens behind the scenes. And that is the reason there have been so many movies made on the same topic,” said Bipasha, who made her acting debut with the 2001 film Ajnabee.
So, are such films actually based on real life incidents?
“These are all fictional and drawn a little from reality. Such films are basically different types of storytelling of different directors, which make for very interesting stories,” added Bipasha.
‘THEY FORGET WE ARE ALSO HUMANS’
An actor’s personal life has always made headlines and even the Bengali beauty has not been spared - be it her relationship with Raaz co-star Dino Morea, or her romance with actor John Abraham and their break-up.
Though she does not let all that bother her a lot, she says the media and people should not forget that actors need some privacy.
“People are always interested to know what you are doing in your personal space. It makes great news for people to discuss over a meal. But they forget we are also humans, who have a personal life and we too go through good and bad times.
“It is quite harsh at times to expect an actor to be okay with whatever is written about him. Actors are not super humans, they are normal people,” said the actress, who has also worked in Tamil, Telugu and Bengali language films.
Known for her performances in films like Corporate and Dhoom 2, Bipasha is game for well-written comedies.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Prince Harry's life cannot be 'regulated' by royal protections officers, police chief says
Prince Harry's life cannot be 'regulated' by royal protections officers, police chief says
As third in line to the throne the Prince is one of the best protected members of the Royal Family and has at least two armed officers from the Metropolitan Police’s elite SO14 unit providing round the clock security.
Yesterday, there were questions about whether they should have done more to prevent the compromising photographs being taken.
But while the security detail will keep a close watch on the Prince’s activities and vet anyone he is in contact with, experts insist it is beyond their powers to provide a moral compass for the 27-year-old army captain.
Speaking about the incident yesterday (Wed), Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said it was not the job of the royal protection officers to oversee the Prince’s behaviour.
He said: “Royal protection officers are there to protect him for security reasons they are not there to regulate his life.”
But the fact members of the Prince’s entourage were able to take such embarrassing photographs will raise concern that he could have been targeted by blackmailers.
The former head of royal protection for the Metropolitan Police, Dai Davies, said there came a point when the Prince had to take some responsibility for his own security.
Mr Davies said: “The role of a royal protection officer is to protect, and that should cover all aspects of someone’s life. But the Prince is third in line to the throne, just two weeks ago he was representing the Queen and I don’t think he does himself any favours when he lets his guard down like this.”
“From a security point of view I’m sure he’s particularly safe. We are paying huge amounts of money for this young man to be followed everywhere he goes by security.
“But I don't envy their [security officers'] job. It must be a nightmare at times, trying to ensure that he doesn't get into these kinds of scrapes.
"I'm told he's a lovely man and everyone forgives him for whatever he has done almost as soon as he has done it. Of course, it's a difficult job. He's a young man with lots of testosterone.
"[William and Harry] are doing jobs they don't have to but on the other hand, with the privilege of being multi-millionaires, that has to come with a degree of responsibility. There's a balance and occasionally that balance slips.
Mr Davies added: “There are people who advise him, who should put the reins on occasionally. There are situations when, as the third in line, he's got to remember that but don't expect the rest of us to pay for that.”
The bill for royal security is estimated at around £120 million a year.
As third in line to the throne the Prince is one of the best protected members of the Royal Family and has at least two armed officers from the Metropolitan Police’s elite SO14 unit providing round the clock security.
Yesterday, there were questions about whether they should have done more to prevent the compromising photographs being taken.
But while the security detail will keep a close watch on the Prince’s activities and vet anyone he is in contact with, experts insist it is beyond their powers to provide a moral compass for the 27-year-old army captain.
Speaking about the incident yesterday (Wed), Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said it was not the job of the royal protection officers to oversee the Prince’s behaviour.
He said: “Royal protection officers are there to protect him for security reasons they are not there to regulate his life.”
But the fact members of the Prince’s entourage were able to take such embarrassing photographs will raise concern that he could have been targeted by blackmailers.
The former head of royal protection for the Metropolitan Police, Dai Davies, said there came a point when the Prince had to take some responsibility for his own security.
Mr Davies said: “The role of a royal protection officer is to protect, and that should cover all aspects of someone’s life. But the Prince is third in line to the throne, just two weeks ago he was representing the Queen and I don’t think he does himself any favours when he lets his guard down like this.”
“From a security point of view I’m sure he’s particularly safe. We are paying huge amounts of money for this young man to be followed everywhere he goes by security.
“But I don't envy their [security officers'] job. It must be a nightmare at times, trying to ensure that he doesn't get into these kinds of scrapes.
"I'm told he's a lovely man and everyone forgives him for whatever he has done almost as soon as he has done it. Of course, it's a difficult job. He's a young man with lots of testosterone.
"[William and Harry] are doing jobs they don't have to but on the other hand, with the privilege of being multi-millionaires, that has to come with a degree of responsibility. There's a balance and occasionally that balance slips.
Mr Davies added: “There are people who advise him, who should put the reins on occasionally. There are situations when, as the third in line, he's got to remember that but don't expect the rest of us to pay for that.”
The bill for royal security is estimated at around £120 million a year.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Match preview: India prepare to start life without Dravid, Laxman
Match preview: India prepare to start life without Dravid, Laxman
A reality check awaits the Indian cricket team as it gears up to begin life without the famed batting duo of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman when they take on a lowly New Zealand in the first Test of the two-match series in Hydrabad on Thursday.
Sachin Tendulkar is the only player left of the 'Fabulous Five' brigade after Sourav Ganguly, followed by Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, and most recently, VVS Laxman bid adieu to international cricket.
Now the challenge for India is to overcome the transition phase in the upcoming home season, in which the team would play 10 Tests, 13 ODIs and three Twenty20 Internationals, apart from the ICC World T20 in Sri Lanka in September.
It is no secret that the mighty Australians are still struggling after the fading away of their cricketing greats. Thus, India's young brigade would be keen to overcome this tough phase with the help of Tendulkar's experience before their real test starts in 2013 when they take on the current No. 1 Test side, South Africa.
Moreover, the Indian team is returning to Test action after a gap of seven months, which was preceded by two disastrous Test series.
After being drubbed 0-4 in England that stripped India off their No. 1 Test status, an identical rout followed in Australia.
The aftermath of the debacle was even more disturbing as Dravid and Laxman, the two important pillars of Indian cricket, retired ahead of the start of the new season.
Their absence would mean that India would be without the two prolific scorers, who had a total tally of 22,069 Test runs in 298 matches, almost after 16 years.
A reality check awaits the Indian cricket team as it gears up to begin life without the famed batting duo of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman when they take on a lowly New Zealand in the first Test of the two-match series in Hydrabad on Thursday.
Sachin Tendulkar is the only player left of the 'Fabulous Five' brigade after Sourav Ganguly, followed by Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, and most recently, VVS Laxman bid adieu to international cricket.
Now the challenge for India is to overcome the transition phase in the upcoming home season, in which the team would play 10 Tests, 13 ODIs and three Twenty20 Internationals, apart from the ICC World T20 in Sri Lanka in September.
It is no secret that the mighty Australians are still struggling after the fading away of their cricketing greats. Thus, India's young brigade would be keen to overcome this tough phase with the help of Tendulkar's experience before their real test starts in 2013 when they take on the current No. 1 Test side, South Africa.
Moreover, the Indian team is returning to Test action after a gap of seven months, which was preceded by two disastrous Test series.
After being drubbed 0-4 in England that stripped India off their No. 1 Test status, an identical rout followed in Australia.
The aftermath of the debacle was even more disturbing as Dravid and Laxman, the two important pillars of Indian cricket, retired ahead of the start of the new season.
Their absence would mean that India would be without the two prolific scorers, who had a total tally of 22,069 Test runs in 298 matches, almost after 16 years.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Bryant reflects on life-changing incident in 28 Seconds
Bryant reflects on life-changing incident in 28 Seconds
Ontario’s former attorney general is opening up about the life-changing experience he went through in Toronto nearly three years ago, when he was involved in an incident that claimed a cyclist's life.
Michael Bryant spoke to CBC News's Amanda Lang about the night that Darcy Allen Sheppard died and the subsequent criminal charges laid against him, which were eventually dropped.
"When I found out he died … that was the worst," said Bryant, who in his book about the incident, 28 Seconds: A True Story of Addiction, Injustice and Tragedy, also reveals for the first time publicly his own battle with alcoholism.
The incident occurred on Aug. 31, 2009, a night when Bryant and his wife, Susan Abramovitch, were out celebrating their anniversary.
They were sitting in their convertible, in a line of traffic on Bloor Street, when they first saw Sheppard.
Some garbage and pylons had been strewn about the street "as if someone had created an obstacle course for the cars," Bryant said.
He and his wife could see Sheppard at the corner of Yonge and Bloor streets.
Bryant said Sheppard appeared agitated and intoxicated.
"He was raging and he was throwing garbage on the street and he was screaming at someone through his car window, just screaming at someone," he said.
"And I assumed that he’d moved the pylons as well."
Bryant got out of his car and moved some pylons out of the way. Traffic started to move past Sheppard, who subsequently rode ahead and caught up with the stream of vehicles. Bryant said the man was riding his bicycle in "figure eights" on the road.
"It was stunning, I’d never seen anything like it … he was weaving in and out of ongoing traffic and laughing and he seemed to be enjoying that moment," said Bryant.
Bryant and his wife would soon pass Sheppard’s bicycle, but the cyclist soon came up to his car and "took a swing" at the former provincial cabinet minister.
To this day, Bryant said he doesn’t know why Sheppard confronted him. But the seconds-long altercation that followed would change both men’s lives forever.
Bryant said he tried to get away from Sheppard, at first struggling to get his vehicle started, though it lurched forward at one point and he hit the brakes.
But that made the situation worse.
"Something was triggered and he went to a whole other level of rage," Bryant said.
Bryant began backing his vehicle away. When he got his vehicle moving forward again, Sheppard came at the car.
"He started running at the car," said Bryant.
Bryant said Sheppard jumped on the car while he was driving. As the man tried to get into the vehicle, Bryant slowed down, but Sheppard held on.
But he would fall as Bryant drove on. When Sheppard was off the vehicle, Bryant pulled over at a nearby hotel and called police.
That evening, Bryant was arrested and taken into custody.
He later found out from his lawyer that Sheppard had died.
"She said: 'Michael, he’s dead. He died,'" Bryant said.
Bryant said he put his head in his hands.
Learning what had happened to Sheppard was "the worst part of it for me … being associated with a person’s death," Bryant said.
Within hours, Bryant faced charges of criminal negligence causing death and dangerous driving causing death.
But those charges were later dropped after the Crown was informed about prior altercations Sheppard had with people in vehicles. Video evidence also helped confirm Bryant's account of what happened on the street.
Bryant said the initial stories from that night suggested he was involved in a road rage incident "with an unnamed blonde in Yorkville after a night of celebrating."
"I was sober that night," said Bryant, who writes in his book that he finally gave up drinking in 2006 and only drank a Nestea on the night of Sheppard's death. "I offered to take a breathalyzer and they [the police] for whatever reason said no, I guess because they didn’t need to."
Book an 'offering'
Nearly three years on, Bryant said the experience has made him more humble and less focused on what other people think of him. It has also left him less certain of what lies down the road in his life.
"I’ve always had a master plan and 10 backup plans and a small team of advisers to figure out and test and adjust and innovate it. And there is not a plan," he said.
When asked whether he felt a kinship with Sheppard over their common struggles with alcoholism, Bryant said he didn't want to overstate their connection. But he added he and Sheppard likely were "in the same rooms" in their attempts to get help.
"We might have been in the same rooms of recovery at the same time but ... I don’t know we were," he said. "We were definitely in the same rooms, maybe not at exactly the same time."
Asked by the CBC's Lang why he chose to write the book, Bryant said it's "an offering" to help those who are facing a "challenge" in the criminal justice system and show they are "not alone."
"It's meant to share lessons learned from an attorney general who was charged with killing someone and the perspective that comes with that," he said.
"Many people have had the perspective of being in the criminal justice system and many people have had indescribably worse experiences — a wrongful conviction for example.
"But they didn’t used to run the system, and I got to run it for four years."
Reading other people's stories of addiction and recovery, he said, helped him get sober.
"I knew that here was an opportunity for me to do something like that, you know, lessons learned and here’s how I got through a crucible," Bryant said.
"It’s just, you know, here’s my experience and hope. And you know, for the suffering alcoholic, yeah, it’s brutal, but this way is better. Sober, better.... You’ve got to give up, you’ve got to surrender. You’ve got to cross over to the winning side."
Ontario’s former attorney general is opening up about the life-changing experience he went through in Toronto nearly three years ago, when he was involved in an incident that claimed a cyclist's life.
Michael Bryant spoke to CBC News's Amanda Lang about the night that Darcy Allen Sheppard died and the subsequent criminal charges laid against him, which were eventually dropped.
"When I found out he died … that was the worst," said Bryant, who in his book about the incident, 28 Seconds: A True Story of Addiction, Injustice and Tragedy, also reveals for the first time publicly his own battle with alcoholism.
The incident occurred on Aug. 31, 2009, a night when Bryant and his wife, Susan Abramovitch, were out celebrating their anniversary.
They were sitting in their convertible, in a line of traffic on Bloor Street, when they first saw Sheppard.
Some garbage and pylons had been strewn about the street "as if someone had created an obstacle course for the cars," Bryant said.
He and his wife could see Sheppard at the corner of Yonge and Bloor streets.
Bryant said Sheppard appeared agitated and intoxicated.
"He was raging and he was throwing garbage on the street and he was screaming at someone through his car window, just screaming at someone," he said.
"And I assumed that he’d moved the pylons as well."
Bryant got out of his car and moved some pylons out of the way. Traffic started to move past Sheppard, who subsequently rode ahead and caught up with the stream of vehicles. Bryant said the man was riding his bicycle in "figure eights" on the road.
"It was stunning, I’d never seen anything like it … he was weaving in and out of ongoing traffic and laughing and he seemed to be enjoying that moment," said Bryant.
Bryant and his wife would soon pass Sheppard’s bicycle, but the cyclist soon came up to his car and "took a swing" at the former provincial cabinet minister.
To this day, Bryant said he doesn’t know why Sheppard confronted him. But the seconds-long altercation that followed would change both men’s lives forever.
Bryant said he tried to get away from Sheppard, at first struggling to get his vehicle started, though it lurched forward at one point and he hit the brakes.
But that made the situation worse.
"Something was triggered and he went to a whole other level of rage," Bryant said.
Bryant began backing his vehicle away. When he got his vehicle moving forward again, Sheppard came at the car.
"He started running at the car," said Bryant.
Bryant said Sheppard jumped on the car while he was driving. As the man tried to get into the vehicle, Bryant slowed down, but Sheppard held on.
But he would fall as Bryant drove on. When Sheppard was off the vehicle, Bryant pulled over at a nearby hotel and called police.
That evening, Bryant was arrested and taken into custody.
He later found out from his lawyer that Sheppard had died.
"She said: 'Michael, he’s dead. He died,'" Bryant said.
Bryant said he put his head in his hands.
Learning what had happened to Sheppard was "the worst part of it for me … being associated with a person’s death," Bryant said.
Within hours, Bryant faced charges of criminal negligence causing death and dangerous driving causing death.
But those charges were later dropped after the Crown was informed about prior altercations Sheppard had with people in vehicles. Video evidence also helped confirm Bryant's account of what happened on the street.
Bryant said the initial stories from that night suggested he was involved in a road rage incident "with an unnamed blonde in Yorkville after a night of celebrating."
"I was sober that night," said Bryant, who writes in his book that he finally gave up drinking in 2006 and only drank a Nestea on the night of Sheppard's death. "I offered to take a breathalyzer and they [the police] for whatever reason said no, I guess because they didn’t need to."
Book an 'offering'
Nearly three years on, Bryant said the experience has made him more humble and less focused on what other people think of him. It has also left him less certain of what lies down the road in his life.
"I’ve always had a master plan and 10 backup plans and a small team of advisers to figure out and test and adjust and innovate it. And there is not a plan," he said.
When asked whether he felt a kinship with Sheppard over their common struggles with alcoholism, Bryant said he didn't want to overstate their connection. But he added he and Sheppard likely were "in the same rooms" in their attempts to get help.
"We might have been in the same rooms of recovery at the same time but ... I don’t know we were," he said. "We were definitely in the same rooms, maybe not at exactly the same time."
Asked by the CBC's Lang why he chose to write the book, Bryant said it's "an offering" to help those who are facing a "challenge" in the criminal justice system and show they are "not alone."
"It's meant to share lessons learned from an attorney general who was charged with killing someone and the perspective that comes with that," he said.
"Many people have had the perspective of being in the criminal justice system and many people have had indescribably worse experiences — a wrongful conviction for example.
"But they didn’t used to run the system, and I got to run it for four years."
Reading other people's stories of addiction and recovery, he said, helped him get sober.
"I knew that here was an opportunity for me to do something like that, you know, lessons learned and here’s how I got through a crucible," Bryant said.
"It’s just, you know, here’s my experience and hope. And you know, for the suffering alcoholic, yeah, it’s brutal, but this way is better. Sober, better.... You’ve got to give up, you’ve got to surrender. You’ve got to cross over to the winning side."
Monday, August 20, 2012
Life term for Gu Kailai, lawyer-turned-murderer
Life term for Gu Kailai, lawyer-turned-murderer
A paranoid killer or a persecuted scapegoat -- Gu Kailai, the woman at the centre of China's most politically explosive criminal case in a generation, remains an enigma. A court in the central city of Hefei handed the wife of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai a suspended death sentence related stories
No defence by Bo Xilai’s wife
Paranoid, depressed, on sedatives but Gu planned murder to protect son
on Monday, effectively life imprisonment, after she confessed to killing British businessman Neil Heywood, an ex-family friend.
The case has ended the career of Bo, a well-connected and ambitious politician who had made enemies in Beijing with his populist leadership style and with his strong appeal to Maoist leftists within the ruling Communist Party.
Gu, 53, is seen by many Bo supporters as a scapegoat, framed by flimsy evidence that was not properly tested, compelled at the 11th hour to make a confession as her best chance of avoiding the death sentence. She agreed not to appeal.
For many others, she is China's Lady Macbeth, a cold-blooded woman of doubtful sanity who felt she could kill with impunity.
Before the murder scandal surfaced early this year, when police began treating Heywood's death in southwest China last November as suspicious, Gu had a reputation as an intelligent and glamorous woman, a career lawyer who dressed elegantly.
She had used Heywood, an expatriate living with his family in Beijing, to help her son get into Harrow, the exclusive British boarding school, and then into Oxford University. According to the unchallenged official version of the case against her, she killed Heywood after a business deal turned sour and he made threats against her son, Bo Guagua.
On Monday, after a closed-door hearing for verdict and sentencing, a court official added that she had been suffering "psychological impairment" at the time of the murder.
A source with close ties to the Bo family described her as having been in a paranoid state of mind. "She was convinced her husband's political rivals are out to assassinate her husband and son," the source said on the eve of Gu's trial this month.
The prosecutors' case against Gu emerged on August 9 after a seven-hour trial that was closed to non-official media. According to a court statement, prosecutors described how Gu had enlisted the help of her aide, Zhang Xiaojun, to prepare a poison and to accompany Heywood from Beijing to far southwestern Chongqing, a vast municipality where Bo was party chief.
She met Heywood, 41, at a Chongqing hotel and they began drinking. He became drunk, vomited and then asked for a glass of water. Gu then poured cyanide into Heywood's mouth and scattered capsules around his room to make it appear as if he had been popping pills, according to the statement.
During the trial, Gu did not enter a plea to the murder charge and only a day later, after the hearing had ended, did she issue a confession -- through official news agency Xinhua. In it, according to Xinhua, she said she had suffered a mental breakdown and killed Heywood because he had made a threat against her son, Guagua, over the failed business deal.
"During those days last November, I suffered a mental breakdown after learning that my son was in jeopardy," Xinhua quoted Gu as saying in the confession.
The court, though, raised doubts on Monday over whether Heywood really meant to harm Guagua. Heywood's family has declined to speak to reporters about the trial.
Bo's career came to a crashing halt after Wang Lijun, the top policeman in his power base, the city of Chongqing, fled to the nearest American consulate in February with the claim that Bo had covered up Heywood's murder.
Within weeks of the allegations emerging, Bo, 63, was ousted from the elite Politburo, sacked from his post as party chief in Chongqing and placed in custody. Gu and Zhang were charged.
It has been a long fall from grace for Gu, one of modern China's first law graduates and the daughter of a famous general. She once wrote about her success defending Chinese companies in an American court.
Gu had become depressed and isolated as her charismatic husband campaigned for a spot in the new generation of party leadership that takes over this fall, sources who knew her said.
Other family sources say she also suffers from cancer.
None of the reports could be verified.
Gilded cage
Despite enjoying great privilege, Gu lost her professional identity as her husband's political career flourished. In China, most wives of high-ranking cadres fade discreetly into the background and many high-ranking women are unmarried.
Bo and Gu met in the early 1980s and were married in 1986, news reports have said. Bo, who was divorced at the time, has a son from his first marriage.
Bo, Gu and Guagua, the couple's only child, were unusual in seeking the spotlight. Her much-photographed short, chic haircut contrasted with the frumpy look favored by most leaders' wives.
When Bo governed the port city Dalian in the 1990s, Gu ran a law firm and consultancy. Journalist Jiang Weiping, later imprisoned for documenting corruption in Bo's circle, claims her firms channeled bribes from Taiwanese and foreign investors.
She went by the English name "Horus", referring to the falcon-headed Egyptian god of war, and depicted herself as a fearless attorney in her book, "Uphold Justice in America".
She stopped work to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest with Bo, whose political star was rising, but the decision appeared to have taken a toll on her.
"Ever since she stepped down, she lives like a hermit and doesn't attend any social events. When dad wants her to come to events, she won't," Bo Guagua said in a 2009 interview with the Chengdu Evening News, later expunged from its website.
"I can understand, she is most unwilling to exist in dad's shadow, and lose herself. Right now she reads all day and studies comparative literature."
For a time, Gu channeled her considerable energy into her son's education, tapping Heywood to help get him into school and moving with the boy to Britain. On her orders, Heywood pulled strings with British expatriates in Beijing to help get the youngster into Oxford, said one woman who met him then.
While in Britain, Gu attempted to go into business, selling promotional hot air balloons to Dalian and other Chinese cities. Heywood assisted with the arrangements.
She registered a company in the south of England with French architect Patrick Devillers, who left Dalian and divorced his Chinese wife around the same time. In June, he was detained in Cambodia by local police on China's request and he later flew to China on his own volition to help with the investigation.
Bo and Gu both came from pedigreed revolutionary families, with connections that brought power and wealth. Elite Chinese live in a world of infighting and suspicion, enduring repeated corruption probes, phone tapping and worries about betrayal.
Gu's paranoia after she returned to China could have intensified in the febrile atmosphere of Chongqing, where the couple moved in 2007.
Bo launched a bloody "strike black" anti-mafia campaign against alleged gangsters, featuring lurid tales of murder and corruption. He promoted choral songs from the Cultural Revolution, a dog-eat-dog period of political chaos in which his own mother died in the custody of fanatical Red Guards.
For Gu, the songs would have revived memories of a time when her parents were purged and she and her sisters were left to fend for themselves.
Her behavior became unstable around the time of Heywood's death in November last year. She strode into a meeting of police officials wearing the uniform of a major-general -- the same rank as her father. In a rambling speech she told them that she was on a mission to protect Wang.
Less than three months later, he accused her of murder.
A paranoid killer or a persecuted scapegoat -- Gu Kailai, the woman at the centre of China's most politically explosive criminal case in a generation, remains an enigma. A court in the central city of Hefei handed the wife of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai a suspended death sentence related stories
No defence by Bo Xilai’s wife
Paranoid, depressed, on sedatives but Gu planned murder to protect son
on Monday, effectively life imprisonment, after she confessed to killing British businessman Neil Heywood, an ex-family friend.
The case has ended the career of Bo, a well-connected and ambitious politician who had made enemies in Beijing with his populist leadership style and with his strong appeal to Maoist leftists within the ruling Communist Party.
Gu, 53, is seen by many Bo supporters as a scapegoat, framed by flimsy evidence that was not properly tested, compelled at the 11th hour to make a confession as her best chance of avoiding the death sentence. She agreed not to appeal.
For many others, she is China's Lady Macbeth, a cold-blooded woman of doubtful sanity who felt she could kill with impunity.
Before the murder scandal surfaced early this year, when police began treating Heywood's death in southwest China last November as suspicious, Gu had a reputation as an intelligent and glamorous woman, a career lawyer who dressed elegantly.
She had used Heywood, an expatriate living with his family in Beijing, to help her son get into Harrow, the exclusive British boarding school, and then into Oxford University. According to the unchallenged official version of the case against her, she killed Heywood after a business deal turned sour and he made threats against her son, Bo Guagua.
On Monday, after a closed-door hearing for verdict and sentencing, a court official added that she had been suffering "psychological impairment" at the time of the murder.
A source with close ties to the Bo family described her as having been in a paranoid state of mind. "She was convinced her husband's political rivals are out to assassinate her husband and son," the source said on the eve of Gu's trial this month.
The prosecutors' case against Gu emerged on August 9 after a seven-hour trial that was closed to non-official media. According to a court statement, prosecutors described how Gu had enlisted the help of her aide, Zhang Xiaojun, to prepare a poison and to accompany Heywood from Beijing to far southwestern Chongqing, a vast municipality where Bo was party chief.
She met Heywood, 41, at a Chongqing hotel and they began drinking. He became drunk, vomited and then asked for a glass of water. Gu then poured cyanide into Heywood's mouth and scattered capsules around his room to make it appear as if he had been popping pills, according to the statement.
During the trial, Gu did not enter a plea to the murder charge and only a day later, after the hearing had ended, did she issue a confession -- through official news agency Xinhua. In it, according to Xinhua, she said she had suffered a mental breakdown and killed Heywood because he had made a threat against her son, Guagua, over the failed business deal.
"During those days last November, I suffered a mental breakdown after learning that my son was in jeopardy," Xinhua quoted Gu as saying in the confession.
The court, though, raised doubts on Monday over whether Heywood really meant to harm Guagua. Heywood's family has declined to speak to reporters about the trial.
Bo's career came to a crashing halt after Wang Lijun, the top policeman in his power base, the city of Chongqing, fled to the nearest American consulate in February with the claim that Bo had covered up Heywood's murder.
Within weeks of the allegations emerging, Bo, 63, was ousted from the elite Politburo, sacked from his post as party chief in Chongqing and placed in custody. Gu and Zhang were charged.
It has been a long fall from grace for Gu, one of modern China's first law graduates and the daughter of a famous general. She once wrote about her success defending Chinese companies in an American court.
Gu had become depressed and isolated as her charismatic husband campaigned for a spot in the new generation of party leadership that takes over this fall, sources who knew her said.
Other family sources say she also suffers from cancer.
None of the reports could be verified.
Gilded cage
Despite enjoying great privilege, Gu lost her professional identity as her husband's political career flourished. In China, most wives of high-ranking cadres fade discreetly into the background and many high-ranking women are unmarried.
Bo and Gu met in the early 1980s and were married in 1986, news reports have said. Bo, who was divorced at the time, has a son from his first marriage.
Bo, Gu and Guagua, the couple's only child, were unusual in seeking the spotlight. Her much-photographed short, chic haircut contrasted with the frumpy look favored by most leaders' wives.
When Bo governed the port city Dalian in the 1990s, Gu ran a law firm and consultancy. Journalist Jiang Weiping, later imprisoned for documenting corruption in Bo's circle, claims her firms channeled bribes from Taiwanese and foreign investors.
She went by the English name "Horus", referring to the falcon-headed Egyptian god of war, and depicted herself as a fearless attorney in her book, "Uphold Justice in America".
She stopped work to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest with Bo, whose political star was rising, but the decision appeared to have taken a toll on her.
"Ever since she stepped down, she lives like a hermit and doesn't attend any social events. When dad wants her to come to events, she won't," Bo Guagua said in a 2009 interview with the Chengdu Evening News, later expunged from its website.
"I can understand, she is most unwilling to exist in dad's shadow, and lose herself. Right now she reads all day and studies comparative literature."
For a time, Gu channeled her considerable energy into her son's education, tapping Heywood to help get him into school and moving with the boy to Britain. On her orders, Heywood pulled strings with British expatriates in Beijing to help get the youngster into Oxford, said one woman who met him then.
While in Britain, Gu attempted to go into business, selling promotional hot air balloons to Dalian and other Chinese cities. Heywood assisted with the arrangements.
She registered a company in the south of England with French architect Patrick Devillers, who left Dalian and divorced his Chinese wife around the same time. In June, he was detained in Cambodia by local police on China's request and he later flew to China on his own volition to help with the investigation.
Bo and Gu both came from pedigreed revolutionary families, with connections that brought power and wealth. Elite Chinese live in a world of infighting and suspicion, enduring repeated corruption probes, phone tapping and worries about betrayal.
Gu's paranoia after she returned to China could have intensified in the febrile atmosphere of Chongqing, where the couple moved in 2007.
Bo launched a bloody "strike black" anti-mafia campaign against alleged gangsters, featuring lurid tales of murder and corruption. He promoted choral songs from the Cultural Revolution, a dog-eat-dog period of political chaos in which his own mother died in the custody of fanatical Red Guards.
For Gu, the songs would have revived memories of a time when her parents were purged and she and her sisters were left to fend for themselves.
Her behavior became unstable around the time of Heywood's death in November last year. She strode into a meeting of police officials wearing the uniform of a major-general -- the same rank as her father. In a rambling speech she told them that she was on a mission to protect Wang.
Less than three months later, he accused her of murder.
Friday, August 17, 2012
'Timothy Green's' life is more manipulative than odd
'Timothy Green's' life is more manipulative than odd
“The Odd Life of Timothy Green” is an achingly sweet parent-and-child tearjerker that’s every bit as precious as its title.
But it’s an oddly emotion-free fantasy, a film that strains to find the magic, joy and heartbreak in a story manufactured with those traits in mind.
Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton (“Warrior”) play the Greens, a small-town couple who long to have a child of their own. They’ve hit the end of the road, medically, for accomplishing that. In tears, Cindy Green declares “We’re moving on.” And husband Jim takes that one step further. They’ll write the baby-they-never-had’s traits on slips of paper.
A good-hearted child, a “glass half-full” sort of kid. “Honest to a fault.”
Musical? “Definitely! Our kid will rock!”
Artistic? “Picasso with a pencil.”
That’s important, because they live in Stanleyville, “America’s pencil capital.” Jim works at the ancient pencil works, and Cindy works in the pencil capital museum.
The Greens bury the slips of paper in a box in their garden. And one dark and stormy night, a 10-year-old boy (CJ Adams) pops out of the Earth, calls them “Mom” and “Dad,” and lives up to every trait they gave him. Oddly, Timothy Green has leaves growing out of his calves and feet.
The parents react to this stunning turn of events with conflicted feelings of science (they try to snip off the leaves) and faith. They immediately cover up his origins and plop him into school. And they get him lots of long athletic socks, because they want him to be treated as “a normal kid.” And children can be cruel.
The film’s charm, romance, comedy and heartache come from Timothy’s naive, open-hearted efforts to fit in, to live up to the credo his parents wrote for him. He melts the hearts of older relatives (M. Emmet Walsh, David Morse) and wins the affections of tweenage siren Joni (Odeya Rush, a dead ringer for a young Mila Kunis), while his parents fret and fuss over him and the way he impacts their home, social and working lives.
Garner is quite good at making us connect with a character’s emotions, and if “Odd Life” has a hope of earning tears, it’s through Cindy. The rough-edged Edgerton is more earnest and eager than good as a dad with dad issues of his own (Morse plays his father). But the kid is radiant, a convincingly buoyant boy who makes innocent mistakes because he is just that — utterly innocent.
Here’s the film’s fatal flaw: The story is told in flashback, with the Greens trying to convince an adoption counselor (Shohreh Aghdashloo) to give them another try at parenthood. Something went wrong with Timothy, but if they can just tell their incredible story to her, maybe they’ll get another shot.
Writer-director Peter Hedges (“Dan in Real Life,” “Pieces of April”) isn’t telling a story with enough magic to it to overcome that giveaway. This cumbersome device, interrupting whatever flow this “Edward Scissorhands” variation can muster (even the music sounds similar), robs the tale of the poignancy it aims for.
And without that heart, no wistful surprises earn anything more than a grin or a misty-eyed shrug.
1 hour, 45 minutes. PG for mild thematic elements and brief profanity.
“The Odd Life of Timothy Green” is an achingly sweet parent-and-child tearjerker that’s every bit as precious as its title.
But it’s an oddly emotion-free fantasy, a film that strains to find the magic, joy and heartbreak in a story manufactured with those traits in mind.
Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton (“Warrior”) play the Greens, a small-town couple who long to have a child of their own. They’ve hit the end of the road, medically, for accomplishing that. In tears, Cindy Green declares “We’re moving on.” And husband Jim takes that one step further. They’ll write the baby-they-never-had’s traits on slips of paper.
A good-hearted child, a “glass half-full” sort of kid. “Honest to a fault.”
Musical? “Definitely! Our kid will rock!”
Artistic? “Picasso with a pencil.”
That’s important, because they live in Stanleyville, “America’s pencil capital.” Jim works at the ancient pencil works, and Cindy works in the pencil capital museum.
The Greens bury the slips of paper in a box in their garden. And one dark and stormy night, a 10-year-old boy (CJ Adams) pops out of the Earth, calls them “Mom” and “Dad,” and lives up to every trait they gave him. Oddly, Timothy Green has leaves growing out of his calves and feet.
The parents react to this stunning turn of events with conflicted feelings of science (they try to snip off the leaves) and faith. They immediately cover up his origins and plop him into school. And they get him lots of long athletic socks, because they want him to be treated as “a normal kid.” And children can be cruel.
The film’s charm, romance, comedy and heartache come from Timothy’s naive, open-hearted efforts to fit in, to live up to the credo his parents wrote for him. He melts the hearts of older relatives (M. Emmet Walsh, David Morse) and wins the affections of tweenage siren Joni (Odeya Rush, a dead ringer for a young Mila Kunis), while his parents fret and fuss over him and the way he impacts their home, social and working lives.
Garner is quite good at making us connect with a character’s emotions, and if “Odd Life” has a hope of earning tears, it’s through Cindy. The rough-edged Edgerton is more earnest and eager than good as a dad with dad issues of his own (Morse plays his father). But the kid is radiant, a convincingly buoyant boy who makes innocent mistakes because he is just that — utterly innocent.
Here’s the film’s fatal flaw: The story is told in flashback, with the Greens trying to convince an adoption counselor (Shohreh Aghdashloo) to give them another try at parenthood. Something went wrong with Timothy, but if they can just tell their incredible story to her, maybe they’ll get another shot.
Writer-director Peter Hedges (“Dan in Real Life,” “Pieces of April”) isn’t telling a story with enough magic to it to overcome that giveaway. This cumbersome device, interrupting whatever flow this “Edward Scissorhands” variation can muster (even the music sounds similar), robs the tale of the poignancy it aims for.
And without that heart, no wistful surprises earn anything more than a grin or a misty-eyed shrug.
1 hour, 45 minutes. PG for mild thematic elements and brief profanity.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Reliance Life to hire 5,000 advisors to beat attrition
Reliance Life to hire 5,000 advisors to beat attrition
Leading private sector insurer Reliance Life will hire nearly 50,000 advisors and 5,500 full-time insurance consultants this fiscal to negate any impact of high attrition and to sustain growth.
The company, part of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group’s financial services arm Reliance Capital, plans to hire 5,500 full-time advisors by September 2012 itself as part of its efforts to improve customer services.
Reliance Life Insurance Company (RLIC) is planning to hire over 50,000 advisors this fiscal so that net employee addition remains positive, the company’s President and Executive Director Malay Ghosh said.
The company is also focusing on hiring employees on fixed salary basis to lower the attrition rate. “We are thinking to provide a minimum fixed salary to advisors, especially in semi-urban and rural areas, to retain the talent and provide better services,” he said, after launching a post-sales customer support initiative by the company, which would be first for any Indian insurer.
Ghosh said that Reliance Life has already hired around 7,000 advisors in April and May and the company expects the number to cross 50,000 persons in the entire fiscal, ending March 31, 2012.
The industry is facing high attrition rate due to a host of reasons such as slow growth and increased regulation, he said. The company had a total of about 1.2 lakh advisors as on June 30, 2012, down over 1.5 lakh advisors in the year ago period.
More people left the organisation due to challenging environment and changes in regulations, Ghosh said, while adding that the the environment would continue to be challenging this fiscal. “The life insurance industry is expected to have a moderate growth of 10 per cent in new business premium this fiscal.
Growth and profitability would be driven by renewal premium from existing customers,” Ghosh said.
Reliance Life’s total premium (net of reinsurance) in the last quarter ended June 30, 2012 was Rs 810 crore, while total funds under management stood at Rs 18,586 crore.
It recorded its first full-year net profit at Rs 373 crore for the fiscal ended March 31, 2012. It had sold over one million policies in 2011-12 and garnered a total premium of Rs 5,498 crore during the year
Leading private sector insurer Reliance Life will hire nearly 50,000 advisors and 5,500 full-time insurance consultants this fiscal to negate any impact of high attrition and to sustain growth.
The company, part of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group’s financial services arm Reliance Capital, plans to hire 5,500 full-time advisors by September 2012 itself as part of its efforts to improve customer services.
Reliance Life Insurance Company (RLIC) is planning to hire over 50,000 advisors this fiscal so that net employee addition remains positive, the company’s President and Executive Director Malay Ghosh said.
The company is also focusing on hiring employees on fixed salary basis to lower the attrition rate. “We are thinking to provide a minimum fixed salary to advisors, especially in semi-urban and rural areas, to retain the talent and provide better services,” he said, after launching a post-sales customer support initiative by the company, which would be first for any Indian insurer.
Ghosh said that Reliance Life has already hired around 7,000 advisors in April and May and the company expects the number to cross 50,000 persons in the entire fiscal, ending March 31, 2012.
The industry is facing high attrition rate due to a host of reasons such as slow growth and increased regulation, he said. The company had a total of about 1.2 lakh advisors as on June 30, 2012, down over 1.5 lakh advisors in the year ago period.
More people left the organisation due to challenging environment and changes in regulations, Ghosh said, while adding that the the environment would continue to be challenging this fiscal. “The life insurance industry is expected to have a moderate growth of 10 per cent in new business premium this fiscal.
Growth and profitability would be driven by renewal premium from existing customers,” Ghosh said.
Reliance Life’s total premium (net of reinsurance) in the last quarter ended June 30, 2012 was Rs 810 crore, while total funds under management stood at Rs 18,586 crore.
It recorded its first full-year net profit at Rs 373 crore for the fiscal ended March 31, 2012. It had sold over one million policies in 2011-12 and garnered a total premium of Rs 5,498 crore during the year
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Nellie Gray, 86, dies; was March for Life founder and emcee
Nellie Gray, 86, dies; was March for Life founder and emcee
Nellie Gray, who started the annual March for Life parade to protest the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion nationwide, died Aug. 13 at age 86 from natural causes.
She was found dead in her home in Washington's Capitol Hill neighborhood by a March for Life staffer.
The March for Life has grown into one of the signature events of the pro-life movement. After the first march in 1974, Gray, a Texas native, established the March for Life Education & Defense Fund to sustain it.
Each year in her remarks, Gray exhorted pro-lifers to promote and adhere to a series of "life principles" that would eliminate abortion and enhance life, to which she said there should be "no exception! No compromise!"
Gene Ruane, an administrative assistant with the March for Life, told Catholic News Service Aug. 14 that leadership of the organization would be assumed by Terrence Scanlon, who has been its vice president "since the beginning."
Funeral information was not immediately available. Gray was a member of St. Mary, Mother of God Parish in Washington.
Born and raised in Texas, Gray served as a corporal in the Women's Army Corps during World War II. She later earned a bachelor's degree in business and a master's in economics. She worked for the federal government for 28 years at the State Department and the Department of Labor, while attending Georgetown University Law School. Gray later practiced law before the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a 2010 profile, Gray said she wasn't a Catholic as a child, but "I had elements of the Catholic faith in my life." As a young woman, she encountered a priest who brought to light what the Catholic Church was about, and he tutored her until she joined the church.
Gray also spoke of the march's origins. "I received a call from the Knights of Columbus," she recalled. "I didn't even know who they were, but they explained their stance against abortion and needed a place to meet to discuss plans for a march. That place was my living room. About 30 people gathered there and they asked if I could help get speakers for the event since I knew Capitol Hill well.
"What I couldn't get was a master of ceremonies for the event," she added. "Politicians didn't want to get involved in a march, and people at that time weren't interested in marches after the civil rights movement and other things. That left the emcee job to me."
Tributes to Gray poured in as news of her death spread.
"The indelible mark she has left in this world can be seen in the generations of lives saved as a result of her dedicated work on behalf of the unborn," said an Aug. 13 statement from Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. "As we approach the tragic 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we are confident her legacy of pro-life activism will continue to inspire and effect change."
"She had a fierce heart that valued all people -- born and unborn -- fearlessly working to create a picture worth a thousand words -- the sight of hundreds of thousands of peaceful Americans calling on their courts and their legislators to defend life in law," said an Aug. 14 statement from Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life.
"As a colleague in national pro-life leadership, Nellie was always an inspiration to the rest of us," said an Aug. 13 statement by Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life. "Her devotion was on display that same year, 2008, when, despite being in the hospital during the March for Life, she nevertheless was present at all all-day meeting of national leaders the very next morning."
In 2008, the National Pro-Life Religious Council presented Gray with its Pro-Life Recognition Award. Later that day, she tripped and fell on the stage at the opening rally for the March for Life and had to be taken to the hospital with a head injury.
"My heart is broken by the loss of Nellie Gray, a true pro-life hero and role model. At the same time, I celebrate that Nellie is with our Lord who she loved so dearly, said an Aug. 13 statement by Bryan Kemper, founder of Stand True Ministry and director of youth outreach for Priests for Life. "I have had the honor of working with Nellie for years and every time I march in D.C. in January, I know she will be watching over us and praying for us."
U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who is co-chairman of the House Pro-Life Caucus, called her an "extraordinary pro-life leader" who was unstoppable as emcee of the march "even in the worst of weather and poor health."
Because of her leadership, the Roe decision "has been marked annually with a somber remembrance that gives voice to the defenseless unborn and the women wounded by abortion," Smith said Aug. 14. "In Nellie's name we will continue her legacy of unceasing commitment to defending the unborn."
"Many pro-lifers sometimes seem to take the annual march for granted, but the longevity of the March is actually a remarkable achievement, said an Aug. 14 blog posting on National Review Online by Michael J. New, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute and an assistant professor at the University of Alabama.
"Some 39 years ago, pro-life activists felt a need to properly commemorate the first anniversary of the tragic Roe v. Wade decision. That is when the idea for the March for Life was born. Interestingly, there was no plan to repeat the first march, but when deciding what to do with the leftover funds, someone suggested hosting a march the next year," New said. "Since then, the march has been a key contribution to the pro-life cause."
Gray is survived by three nieces and one nephew, all of whom live in Texas.
Nellie Gray, who started the annual March for Life parade to protest the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion nationwide, died Aug. 13 at age 86 from natural causes.
She was found dead in her home in Washington's Capitol Hill neighborhood by a March for Life staffer.
The March for Life has grown into one of the signature events of the pro-life movement. After the first march in 1974, Gray, a Texas native, established the March for Life Education & Defense Fund to sustain it.
Each year in her remarks, Gray exhorted pro-lifers to promote and adhere to a series of "life principles" that would eliminate abortion and enhance life, to which she said there should be "no exception! No compromise!"
Gene Ruane, an administrative assistant with the March for Life, told Catholic News Service Aug. 14 that leadership of the organization would be assumed by Terrence Scanlon, who has been its vice president "since the beginning."
Funeral information was not immediately available. Gray was a member of St. Mary, Mother of God Parish in Washington.
Born and raised in Texas, Gray served as a corporal in the Women's Army Corps during World War II. She later earned a bachelor's degree in business and a master's in economics. She worked for the federal government for 28 years at the State Department and the Department of Labor, while attending Georgetown University Law School. Gray later practiced law before the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a 2010 profile, Gray said she wasn't a Catholic as a child, but "I had elements of the Catholic faith in my life." As a young woman, she encountered a priest who brought to light what the Catholic Church was about, and he tutored her until she joined the church.
Gray also spoke of the march's origins. "I received a call from the Knights of Columbus," she recalled. "I didn't even know who they were, but they explained their stance against abortion and needed a place to meet to discuss plans for a march. That place was my living room. About 30 people gathered there and they asked if I could help get speakers for the event since I knew Capitol Hill well.
"What I couldn't get was a master of ceremonies for the event," she added. "Politicians didn't want to get involved in a march, and people at that time weren't interested in marches after the civil rights movement and other things. That left the emcee job to me."
Tributes to Gray poured in as news of her death spread.
"The indelible mark she has left in this world can be seen in the generations of lives saved as a result of her dedicated work on behalf of the unborn," said an Aug. 13 statement from Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. "As we approach the tragic 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we are confident her legacy of pro-life activism will continue to inspire and effect change."
"She had a fierce heart that valued all people -- born and unborn -- fearlessly working to create a picture worth a thousand words -- the sight of hundreds of thousands of peaceful Americans calling on their courts and their legislators to defend life in law," said an Aug. 14 statement from Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life.
"As a colleague in national pro-life leadership, Nellie was always an inspiration to the rest of us," said an Aug. 13 statement by Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life. "Her devotion was on display that same year, 2008, when, despite being in the hospital during the March for Life, she nevertheless was present at all all-day meeting of national leaders the very next morning."
In 2008, the National Pro-Life Religious Council presented Gray with its Pro-Life Recognition Award. Later that day, she tripped and fell on the stage at the opening rally for the March for Life and had to be taken to the hospital with a head injury.
"My heart is broken by the loss of Nellie Gray, a true pro-life hero and role model. At the same time, I celebrate that Nellie is with our Lord who she loved so dearly, said an Aug. 13 statement by Bryan Kemper, founder of Stand True Ministry and director of youth outreach for Priests for Life. "I have had the honor of working with Nellie for years and every time I march in D.C. in January, I know she will be watching over us and praying for us."
U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who is co-chairman of the House Pro-Life Caucus, called her an "extraordinary pro-life leader" who was unstoppable as emcee of the march "even in the worst of weather and poor health."
Because of her leadership, the Roe decision "has been marked annually with a somber remembrance that gives voice to the defenseless unborn and the women wounded by abortion," Smith said Aug. 14. "In Nellie's name we will continue her legacy of unceasing commitment to defending the unborn."
"Many pro-lifers sometimes seem to take the annual march for granted, but the longevity of the March is actually a remarkable achievement, said an Aug. 14 blog posting on National Review Online by Michael J. New, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute and an assistant professor at the University of Alabama.
"Some 39 years ago, pro-life activists felt a need to properly commemorate the first anniversary of the tragic Roe v. Wade decision. That is when the idea for the March for Life was born. Interestingly, there was no plan to repeat the first march, but when deciding what to do with the leftover funds, someone suggested hosting a march the next year," New said. "Since then, the march has been a key contribution to the pro-life cause."
Gray is survived by three nieces and one nephew, all of whom live in Texas.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Jennifer Garner cherishes 'The Odd Life of Timothy Green'
Jennifer Garner cherishes 'The Odd Life of Timothy Green'
America's most relatable celebrity mom, Jennifer Garner, has just made an unremarkable solo entrance at her favorite watering hole, Tavern, where the actress recently shared an anniversary dinner with her husband, Ben Affleck.
She waves from the hostess stand, slides into her seat and orders a skim latte. Her brown eyes aren't glazed, but they should be: Baby Samuel, 5 months, issued a 3 a.m. wake-up call last night. "I'm seven hours into my day, but it's looking up," she says in her characteristically upbeat tone.
Minutes later, Cougar Town co-creator Bill Lawrence strolls in with her keys, joking that parking cars is his new VIP service. Before her no-fuss arrival, Garner had been attempting to park on the street, with the latest swarm of paparazzi informing her that it was street-cleaning day. Lawrence gallantly offered to re-park her car, relieving Garner, momentarily, of the flashing cameras.
"One of my first early jobs, I did a tiny role on (Lawrence's) Spin City," Garner says. "I worked with Stephen Colbert, and I ended up babysitting for him — he had an even smaller role." This is a slice of the odd life of Garner, who, by all accounts, is the most "normal" movie star you'll ever share a fruit plate with.
In The Odd Life ofTimothy Green, out Wednesday, she plays Cindy Green, one half of a childless couple who has run out of ways to conceive. At wit's end, she and her husband, Jim (Joel Edgerton), split a bottle of wine and dream up attributes ("Picasso with a pencil") of the perfect child they'll never have. Overnight, the Greens are magically gifted with 10-year-old Timothy (CJ Adams), who embodies all of their handwritten notes.
The magic sprinkled over breakfast today is a result of Garner's resplendent candor. Makeup-free, Garner, 40, credits her cute black dress to a stop at her longtime stylist's, Rachel Zoe. She smiles wryly at the mention of her much-touted relatability quotient.
"It's because I always look like I'm wearing the first thing I could find, which is the truth," she says. "I don't understand how you can make breakfast, feed a baby, get hair braided, get a lunch put together and get an outfit on. And I don't have that gift anyway, to just put something on and have it look good. I just wasn't born that way."
Garner's toughest critics are of the pint-size variety. "My kids have a lot to say about the appearance of how I look naked," Garner says with a laugh, describing the three to four workouts she has been squeezing in with a trainer a week to lose her last 5 pregnancy pounds. In past pregnancies, "I've always kind of eaten what I wanted and gained 40 pounds," she says. "And it's a bummer to gain that much weight and then (have to lose it). But this time, I didn't want to gain that much weight, so I was really super-careful. And I gained 60." She shrugs and smiles, the universal what can you do?
"Jen's just such a regular girl," says Edgerton, extolling her "kindness" and "uncomplicatedness."
"Everything you feel about her on-screen in this movie or in Juno… that's just her nature."
Says director Peter Hedges (Dan in Real Life): "I've never met an actor who cares more about each member of the crew, who's more thoughtful in the gifts she gives." He wanted to instill the journey of being a parent in the film, which warns to be careful what you wish for. In Timothy Green, Hedges says, Garner is "Lucille Ball-funny, but then she comes around and breaks your heart."
As a new parent to Timothy, who arrives under a cloak of E.T.-like magic, curiously caked in garden dirt with green leaves sprouting from his ankles, Garner's character becomes a helicopter mom, smothering and worrying constantly. "She's willing to go to those places that are certainly unflattering and extreme," Hedges says.
Garner recognized the universality in Cindy Green and fought to play her. "I also floundered so much in the beginning," she says, recalling watching her and Affleck's lives change with the birth of their first daughter, Violet, now 6, and "falling in love again" with Seraphina, now 3.
"Now," she says, sharing a photo of her chubby-cheeked, blue-eyed baby boy, "I just have crazy, crazy baby love." Adding a boy to the family, so far, hasn't changed much, Garner says. "My husband says that I'm different with him, but I think I've always been crazy about babies. But he thinks that. What does he know?" she jokes.
Suddenly, Affleck calls and Garner apologizes as she answers; he's flying from shooting Runner, Runner in Puerto Rico. "Hi, sweetie," she says, learning he'll be home for dinner. "The girls are going to lose their minds," she says to him.
Cooking with Ben and Jen
At the Affleck-Garner house, "something is in the oven or about to come out of the oven," Hedges says. "You just kind of don't want to leave."
"When I first met her, I went to her house in L.A., and she was experimenting with making roast chicken," says Jim Field Smith, who directs her in Butter, an indie film due this fall. "And she had made, like, five different types of chicken using different recipes and insisted that I try a little piece of all of them."
("As it happened, they were all perfect," he quips.)
Garner and Affleck, 39, have a his-and-hers October in store; Butter, Garner's off-center comedy about an acid-tongued butter carver's wife, will be released a week before Affleck's newest directorial effort, Argo. The couple regularly screens the other's work. "I've seen (Argo) 15 times," Garner says. "Every cut."
Married seven years, both have "gotten better at it," she says. "It's really fun. I probably am up in his grill less about stuff. I don't think I'm a particularly controlling person, but I probably work less to make things fit a mold in my head. And he exceeds my expectations anyway."
What lies outside their Brentwood gates, however, is a study in the darker side of fame.
Garner's everyday activities are, like many Hollywood moms', excessively photographed. In her case, it's "every day," from 7 a.m. until bedtime, she says cautiously. Celebrities complaining about paparazzi is a tricky business, and not something she likes to "give energy to." In her world, nannies at the park act as tipsters. Garner shares a photo showing 14 photographers pressed sardine-like against a pottery shop's glass storefront, a row of lenses aimed straight at her.
Outwardly, she keeps calm, smiling, she says, for her children. "So inside, I rage, and outside, I go through it. I mean, life is good. I cannot complain. I would give anything for my kids not to be exposed, not to have to deal with this." At this, her eyes water, but she steadies herself. "It's just constantly a choice. Is it better for them to get (photographed) in the parking lot of this place but for me to be with them? It's just something that I try my best to navigate."
Leaving L.A. could help, "but it's complicated," Garner says. "Then we would be separated so much more."
Says Edgerton: "When she says that family and being a mum is more important than being a movie star, she really means it. I know that the paparazzi are a big concern to her. … She's very concerned about protecting her kids. She handles it exceptionally well considering that they go as far as trying to provoke her."
A choosy working mom
If only she could call upon Butter's devilishly mannered Laura Pickler, whose spiteful verbiage is delivered with relish by Garner. "Butter is kind of the other side of my personality," says Garner, who produced the R-rated comedy that features Hugh Jackman as her lover, Olivia Wilde as a stripper and Ty Burrell as her philandering husband. "Like, The Odd Life of Timothy Green is me, it's the nice side of me, and Butter is the naughty side of me." She raises an eyebrow and grins. "But it's not me, obviously, because she's a horrible person, but I love that she's horrible. It's so much fun."
It has been tough for Garner to decide on a next role. "I definitely get pickier with every baby," she says. "But I do still want to work." And Affleck is "really pro-me working. I think he thinks I'd go crazy if I didn't, which is probably true."
Coffee drunk, toast eaten, Garner stops on her way out to chat with fellow mom Reese Witherspoon, who's dining nearby. Outside, cameras wait.
But for Garner, Timothy Green was worth the trip. "I feel an evangelical need to let people know that they have to see this film. This movie is for people who don't leave the house very often, but this is so worth their while. I get it. I don't leave the house very often, but I would for this."
America's most relatable celebrity mom, Jennifer Garner, has just made an unremarkable solo entrance at her favorite watering hole, Tavern, where the actress recently shared an anniversary dinner with her husband, Ben Affleck.
She waves from the hostess stand, slides into her seat and orders a skim latte. Her brown eyes aren't glazed, but they should be: Baby Samuel, 5 months, issued a 3 a.m. wake-up call last night. "I'm seven hours into my day, but it's looking up," she says in her characteristically upbeat tone.
Minutes later, Cougar Town co-creator Bill Lawrence strolls in with her keys, joking that parking cars is his new VIP service. Before her no-fuss arrival, Garner had been attempting to park on the street, with the latest swarm of paparazzi informing her that it was street-cleaning day. Lawrence gallantly offered to re-park her car, relieving Garner, momentarily, of the flashing cameras.
"One of my first early jobs, I did a tiny role on (Lawrence's) Spin City," Garner says. "I worked with Stephen Colbert, and I ended up babysitting for him — he had an even smaller role." This is a slice of the odd life of Garner, who, by all accounts, is the most "normal" movie star you'll ever share a fruit plate with.
In The Odd Life ofTimothy Green, out Wednesday, she plays Cindy Green, one half of a childless couple who has run out of ways to conceive. At wit's end, she and her husband, Jim (Joel Edgerton), split a bottle of wine and dream up attributes ("Picasso with a pencil") of the perfect child they'll never have. Overnight, the Greens are magically gifted with 10-year-old Timothy (CJ Adams), who embodies all of their handwritten notes.
The magic sprinkled over breakfast today is a result of Garner's resplendent candor. Makeup-free, Garner, 40, credits her cute black dress to a stop at her longtime stylist's, Rachel Zoe. She smiles wryly at the mention of her much-touted relatability quotient.
"It's because I always look like I'm wearing the first thing I could find, which is the truth," she says. "I don't understand how you can make breakfast, feed a baby, get hair braided, get a lunch put together and get an outfit on. And I don't have that gift anyway, to just put something on and have it look good. I just wasn't born that way."
Garner's toughest critics are of the pint-size variety. "My kids have a lot to say about the appearance of how I look naked," Garner says with a laugh, describing the three to four workouts she has been squeezing in with a trainer a week to lose her last 5 pregnancy pounds. In past pregnancies, "I've always kind of eaten what I wanted and gained 40 pounds," she says. "And it's a bummer to gain that much weight and then (have to lose it). But this time, I didn't want to gain that much weight, so I was really super-careful. And I gained 60." She shrugs and smiles, the universal what can you do?
"Jen's just such a regular girl," says Edgerton, extolling her "kindness" and "uncomplicatedness."
"Everything you feel about her on-screen in this movie or in Juno… that's just her nature."
Says director Peter Hedges (Dan in Real Life): "I've never met an actor who cares more about each member of the crew, who's more thoughtful in the gifts she gives." He wanted to instill the journey of being a parent in the film, which warns to be careful what you wish for. In Timothy Green, Hedges says, Garner is "Lucille Ball-funny, but then she comes around and breaks your heart."
As a new parent to Timothy, who arrives under a cloak of E.T.-like magic, curiously caked in garden dirt with green leaves sprouting from his ankles, Garner's character becomes a helicopter mom, smothering and worrying constantly. "She's willing to go to those places that are certainly unflattering and extreme," Hedges says.
Garner recognized the universality in Cindy Green and fought to play her. "I also floundered so much in the beginning," she says, recalling watching her and Affleck's lives change with the birth of their first daughter, Violet, now 6, and "falling in love again" with Seraphina, now 3.
"Now," she says, sharing a photo of her chubby-cheeked, blue-eyed baby boy, "I just have crazy, crazy baby love." Adding a boy to the family, so far, hasn't changed much, Garner says. "My husband says that I'm different with him, but I think I've always been crazy about babies. But he thinks that. What does he know?" she jokes.
Suddenly, Affleck calls and Garner apologizes as she answers; he's flying from shooting Runner, Runner in Puerto Rico. "Hi, sweetie," she says, learning he'll be home for dinner. "The girls are going to lose their minds," she says to him.
Cooking with Ben and Jen
At the Affleck-Garner house, "something is in the oven or about to come out of the oven," Hedges says. "You just kind of don't want to leave."
"When I first met her, I went to her house in L.A., and she was experimenting with making roast chicken," says Jim Field Smith, who directs her in Butter, an indie film due this fall. "And she had made, like, five different types of chicken using different recipes and insisted that I try a little piece of all of them."
("As it happened, they were all perfect," he quips.)
Garner and Affleck, 39, have a his-and-hers October in store; Butter, Garner's off-center comedy about an acid-tongued butter carver's wife, will be released a week before Affleck's newest directorial effort, Argo. The couple regularly screens the other's work. "I've seen (Argo) 15 times," Garner says. "Every cut."
Married seven years, both have "gotten better at it," she says. "It's really fun. I probably am up in his grill less about stuff. I don't think I'm a particularly controlling person, but I probably work less to make things fit a mold in my head. And he exceeds my expectations anyway."
What lies outside their Brentwood gates, however, is a study in the darker side of fame.
Garner's everyday activities are, like many Hollywood moms', excessively photographed. In her case, it's "every day," from 7 a.m. until bedtime, she says cautiously. Celebrities complaining about paparazzi is a tricky business, and not something she likes to "give energy to." In her world, nannies at the park act as tipsters. Garner shares a photo showing 14 photographers pressed sardine-like against a pottery shop's glass storefront, a row of lenses aimed straight at her.
Outwardly, she keeps calm, smiling, she says, for her children. "So inside, I rage, and outside, I go through it. I mean, life is good. I cannot complain. I would give anything for my kids not to be exposed, not to have to deal with this." At this, her eyes water, but she steadies herself. "It's just constantly a choice. Is it better for them to get (photographed) in the parking lot of this place but for me to be with them? It's just something that I try my best to navigate."
Leaving L.A. could help, "but it's complicated," Garner says. "Then we would be separated so much more."
Says Edgerton: "When she says that family and being a mum is more important than being a movie star, she really means it. I know that the paparazzi are a big concern to her. … She's very concerned about protecting her kids. She handles it exceptionally well considering that they go as far as trying to provoke her."
A choosy working mom
If only she could call upon Butter's devilishly mannered Laura Pickler, whose spiteful verbiage is delivered with relish by Garner. "Butter is kind of the other side of my personality," says Garner, who produced the R-rated comedy that features Hugh Jackman as her lover, Olivia Wilde as a stripper and Ty Burrell as her philandering husband. "Like, The Odd Life of Timothy Green is me, it's the nice side of me, and Butter is the naughty side of me." She raises an eyebrow and grins. "But it's not me, obviously, because she's a horrible person, but I love that she's horrible. It's so much fun."
It has been tough for Garner to decide on a next role. "I definitely get pickier with every baby," she says. "But I do still want to work." And Affleck is "really pro-me working. I think he thinks I'd go crazy if I didn't, which is probably true."
Coffee drunk, toast eaten, Garner stops on her way out to chat with fellow mom Reese Witherspoon, who's dining nearby. Outside, cameras wait.
But for Garner, Timothy Green was worth the trip. "I feel an evangelical need to let people know that they have to see this film. This movie is for people who don't leave the house very often, but this is so worth their while. I get it. I don't leave the house very often, but I would for this."
Monday, August 13, 2012
Little shop on Tchernichovsky Street
Little shop on Tchernichovsky Street
The modest storefront window of the second-hand store, Little (also a nickname of the store's owner) on Tel Aviv's Tchernichovsky Street usually features excellent displays. Even though the shop has been around for two years, there is still no formal sign overhead, but the few items arranged in it create the impression they were carefully chosen both for the renewed relevance they have thanks to the cyclical nature of fashion, and also because of the emotional baggage they carry. If sometimes a single blouse is enough to fill the window with restrained tension, here the colorful and endearing backpacks designed by the store owner herself, Lital Fogel, are able to do that.
Fogel's bags are rectangular and made of fabrics that shrink to a triangular silhouette by pulling a white rope threaded along the upper edge that then becomes a carrying strap. These bags are the kind that can evoke childhood memories of day camps and after-school enrichment programs. The only difference, though it is a major one, is in the fabrics and their colorful prints. Sometimes they manage to elicit a broader smile than those prompted by the actual memories.
This nostalgia guided Fogel, 32, when she developed the concept, but the final product offers more than nostalgia. "For a while I have been noticing these triangular bags and they look great to me, but the fabrics they're made of are ugly," she says. "I couldn't understand why they couldn't be made to look nicer. It is after all a great bag, it's small and convenient, and there is something from our childhood in it."
Indeed, in the past few years, luxury brands such as Lanvin, or designers such as Rick Evans, have designed lovely versions of these bags, but their presence on the streets is limited because of the high prices. Fogel's bags, however, are inexpensive as well as environmentally friendly, because they are made of old pillowcases. The idea to use them came up randomly, she says, during her outings to collect clothes for the store.
"More than once, I came across collections of pillowcases no longer in use, some of them single units and therefore not in demand," she says, adding that now she is careful, to the extent possible, to take a pair of pillowcases, in order not to leave an orphaned one behind. "The idea of turning them into bags appealed to me because that way a second-hand item could be given a new life. Another factor was of course the wild prints that can't be found anywhere else."
Comfort zone
The appeal of the bags does indeed stem from the prints. While the focus now is on bold prints and raging patterns in livid colors, be it the influence of ethno-primitive or futuristic-digital styles, Fogel's bags reflect a bit of this frenzy in a way that still remains within the comfort zone of the less flamboyant dressers. The range of patterns is varied and uplifting, and according to Fogel, the initial sorting is done according to gender. "Blue checks are something boys will usually buy, for example, and for the girls there are all kinds of styles that relate to current trends," she says. The truth of the matter is that fewer people are drawn to the older styles and the vintage look of naive flowery bed linens, for example. Most prefer the African style, tribal designs, or the so-very-hip styles."
The latter refers to the geometric designs in fluorescent colors that gained popularity in the 1990s. One way or another, the reactions on the street are enthusiastic among men and women both. She pulls out a sheet for a child's bed from that decade, one she is now using to sew new models on the sewing machine set on a table in the middle of the store. The large swatches allow her to design unique, tailor-made bags.
"One day a Swedish tourist came in here and tried out a bag and was very enthusiastic, but it looked a little strange on him, because he was very tall. I asked him to come back in a few hours, and in the meantime I sewed a larger model for him to match his dimensions," she says. Another time she sewed a backpack for a woman who asked to print her original drawing on it and present it as a gift. "She printed her drawing on a pillowcase and I sewed the bag."
For those who nevertheless prefer solid bags with new designs, Fogel offers plain versions in shades of blue, burgundy or black. Apart from the types of patterns, she says, there are other gender differences related to the methods for carrying the bags.
"Usually men wear two straps over one shoulder. Apparently they feel a need to display strength, and of course it creates a much more comfortable look by casually tossing the bag over one shoulder," she says.
However, the inside pockets she creates with zigzag stitching are a matter of general convenience. You can store small items there that could easily get lost inside the bag, such as a cell phone or key ring. "These bags are great for the beach, and it's also a good option for parties or protests, because it's very light and convenient, and therefore you don't have to take them off your back," she says.
The modest storefront window of the second-hand store, Little (also a nickname of the store's owner) on Tel Aviv's Tchernichovsky Street usually features excellent displays. Even though the shop has been around for two years, there is still no formal sign overhead, but the few items arranged in it create the impression they were carefully chosen both for the renewed relevance they have thanks to the cyclical nature of fashion, and also because of the emotional baggage they carry. If sometimes a single blouse is enough to fill the window with restrained tension, here the colorful and endearing backpacks designed by the store owner herself, Lital Fogel, are able to do that.
Fogel's bags are rectangular and made of fabrics that shrink to a triangular silhouette by pulling a white rope threaded along the upper edge that then becomes a carrying strap. These bags are the kind that can evoke childhood memories of day camps and after-school enrichment programs. The only difference, though it is a major one, is in the fabrics and their colorful prints. Sometimes they manage to elicit a broader smile than those prompted by the actual memories.
This nostalgia guided Fogel, 32, when she developed the concept, but the final product offers more than nostalgia. "For a while I have been noticing these triangular bags and they look great to me, but the fabrics they're made of are ugly," she says. "I couldn't understand why they couldn't be made to look nicer. It is after all a great bag, it's small and convenient, and there is something from our childhood in it."
Indeed, in the past few years, luxury brands such as Lanvin, or designers such as Rick Evans, have designed lovely versions of these bags, but their presence on the streets is limited because of the high prices. Fogel's bags, however, are inexpensive as well as environmentally friendly, because they are made of old pillowcases. The idea to use them came up randomly, she says, during her outings to collect clothes for the store.
"More than once, I came across collections of pillowcases no longer in use, some of them single units and therefore not in demand," she says, adding that now she is careful, to the extent possible, to take a pair of pillowcases, in order not to leave an orphaned one behind. "The idea of turning them into bags appealed to me because that way a second-hand item could be given a new life. Another factor was of course the wild prints that can't be found anywhere else."
Comfort zone
The appeal of the bags does indeed stem from the prints. While the focus now is on bold prints and raging patterns in livid colors, be it the influence of ethno-primitive or futuristic-digital styles, Fogel's bags reflect a bit of this frenzy in a way that still remains within the comfort zone of the less flamboyant dressers. The range of patterns is varied and uplifting, and according to Fogel, the initial sorting is done according to gender. "Blue checks are something boys will usually buy, for example, and for the girls there are all kinds of styles that relate to current trends," she says. The truth of the matter is that fewer people are drawn to the older styles and the vintage look of naive flowery bed linens, for example. Most prefer the African style, tribal designs, or the so-very-hip styles."
The latter refers to the geometric designs in fluorescent colors that gained popularity in the 1990s. One way or another, the reactions on the street are enthusiastic among men and women both. She pulls out a sheet for a child's bed from that decade, one she is now using to sew new models on the sewing machine set on a table in the middle of the store. The large swatches allow her to design unique, tailor-made bags.
"One day a Swedish tourist came in here and tried out a bag and was very enthusiastic, but it looked a little strange on him, because he was very tall. I asked him to come back in a few hours, and in the meantime I sewed a larger model for him to match his dimensions," she says. Another time she sewed a backpack for a woman who asked to print her original drawing on it and present it as a gift. "She printed her drawing on a pillowcase and I sewed the bag."
For those who nevertheless prefer solid bags with new designs, Fogel offers plain versions in shades of blue, burgundy or black. Apart from the types of patterns, she says, there are other gender differences related to the methods for carrying the bags.
"Usually men wear two straps over one shoulder. Apparently they feel a need to display strength, and of course it creates a much more comfortable look by casually tossing the bag over one shoulder," she says.
However, the inside pockets she creates with zigzag stitching are a matter of general convenience. You can store small items there that could easily get lost inside the bag, such as a cell phone or key ring. "These bags are great for the beach, and it's also a good option for parties or protests, because it's very light and convenient, and therefore you don't have to take them off your back," she says.
Friday, August 10, 2012
‘NASA rover will prove life was found on Mars 30 years ago’
‘NASA rover will prove life was found on Mars 30 years ago’
The findings of NASA’s ‘Curiosity’ rover on Mars will prove that life was discovered on the Red planet 30 years ago, an American scientist has claimed.
Gilbert Levin, who led the “labelled release” experiment on Nasa’s 1976 Viking mission to Mars, is hoping that Curiosity will find evidence proving his claim to have found carbon-based organic molecules on the planet.
The findings could reinstate his refuted theory on discovery of life on Mars, the ‘New Scientist’ reported.
Gilbert Levin, a former sanitary engineer, led an experiment in 1976 which mixed Martian soil with a nutrient containing radioactive carbon.
His hypothesis argued that if bacteria were present in the soil, they would metabolise the nutrient and release some of the digested molecules as carbon dioxide.
The experiment found that carbon dioxide was indeed released and that it contained radioactive carbon atoms.
However, another experiment contradicted the findings.
Viking’s Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (GCMS) was looking for carbon-based molecules and found none.
NASA chiefs ruled that life could not exist without these modules, refuting Levin’s findings.
Since then, the team which carried out the GCMS experiment have admitted their apparatus was not sensitive enough to detect organic molecules, even in Earth soils known to contain microbes.
Now, if Curiosity does find organic molecules, Levin wants a reanalysis of his original data.
“I’m very confident that MSL (Mars Science Laboratory) will find the organics and possibly that the cameras will even see something,” Gilbert Levin said.
Robert Hazen, a geophysical scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington DC, says that the claim holds some water, since it had been widely accepted that Gilbert Levin’s findings could only have been seen if microbial metabolisms were present in the Martian soil.
“If you can’t explain that through an obvious inorganic process, then it follows that microbial life is a real possibility,” he added.
The findings of NASA’s ‘Curiosity’ rover on Mars will prove that life was discovered on the Red planet 30 years ago, an American scientist has claimed.
Gilbert Levin, who led the “labelled release” experiment on Nasa’s 1976 Viking mission to Mars, is hoping that Curiosity will find evidence proving his claim to have found carbon-based organic molecules on the planet.
The findings could reinstate his refuted theory on discovery of life on Mars, the ‘New Scientist’ reported.
Gilbert Levin, a former sanitary engineer, led an experiment in 1976 which mixed Martian soil with a nutrient containing radioactive carbon.
His hypothesis argued that if bacteria were present in the soil, they would metabolise the nutrient and release some of the digested molecules as carbon dioxide.
The experiment found that carbon dioxide was indeed released and that it contained radioactive carbon atoms.
However, another experiment contradicted the findings.
Viking’s Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (GCMS) was looking for carbon-based molecules and found none.
NASA chiefs ruled that life could not exist without these modules, refuting Levin’s findings.
Since then, the team which carried out the GCMS experiment have admitted their apparatus was not sensitive enough to detect organic molecules, even in Earth soils known to contain microbes.
Now, if Curiosity does find organic molecules, Levin wants a reanalysis of his original data.
“I’m very confident that MSL (Mars Science Laboratory) will find the organics and possibly that the cameras will even see something,” Gilbert Levin said.
Robert Hazen, a geophysical scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington DC, says that the claim holds some water, since it had been widely accepted that Gilbert Levin’s findings could only have been seen if microbial metabolisms were present in the Martian soil.
“If you can’t explain that through an obvious inorganic process, then it follows that microbial life is a real possibility,” he added.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Winehouse's Ex-Husband Fighting For Life
Winehouse's Ex-Husband Fighting For Life
Blake Fielder-Civil, 30, was found choking in bed by his partner Sarah Aspin last Friday, and was rushed to hospital with multiple organ failure.
The recovering drug addict had gone out drinking with a friend the previous day and Ms Aspin, who is mother to his 15-month-old son, said she believed he might have taken an illicit substance.
Fielder-Civil was put into an induced coma and is fighting for his life in hospital in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
Ms Aspin, 34, who met Winehouse's former husband in rehab three years ago, told The Sun: "The doctors said they put him in a coma to help him and due to infection.
"I'm praying he'll survive, but I'm having to prepare myself that he may never wake up."
She said Fielder-Civil attended an appointment with the Probation Service in Morley and then met a friend the day before he was rushed to hospital. He had returned home slurring his words and staggering before being put to bed.
Ms Aspin found him unconscious when she woke the next morning, and paramedics confirmed he had swallowed his tongue and choked on his vomit.
Fielder-Civil has had a long battle with heroin addiction and spent time in prison in 2007.
He was jailed again in June last year for burglary and possession of an imitation firearm and was only freed with a tag two weeks ago in preparation for his full release.
The former music video assistant married pop star Winehouse in 2007, but the couple divorced two years later.
Back To Black singer Winehouse was found dead in bed at the age of 27 at her home in Camden Square, north-west London, in July last year after a long battle with drink and drugs.
An inquest later found the star, who had kicked her drug habit, was more than five times the drink-drive limit.
Her father Mitch set up the Amy Winehouse Foundation in her memory following her death, which aims to help young people with problems and those who want to get into the music business.
Blake Fielder-Civil, 30, was found choking in bed by his partner Sarah Aspin last Friday, and was rushed to hospital with multiple organ failure.
The recovering drug addict had gone out drinking with a friend the previous day and Ms Aspin, who is mother to his 15-month-old son, said she believed he might have taken an illicit substance.
Fielder-Civil was put into an induced coma and is fighting for his life in hospital in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
Ms Aspin, 34, who met Winehouse's former husband in rehab three years ago, told The Sun: "The doctors said they put him in a coma to help him and due to infection.
"I'm praying he'll survive, but I'm having to prepare myself that he may never wake up."
She said Fielder-Civil attended an appointment with the Probation Service in Morley and then met a friend the day before he was rushed to hospital. He had returned home slurring his words and staggering before being put to bed.
Ms Aspin found him unconscious when she woke the next morning, and paramedics confirmed he had swallowed his tongue and choked on his vomit.
Fielder-Civil has had a long battle with heroin addiction and spent time in prison in 2007.
He was jailed again in June last year for burglary and possession of an imitation firearm and was only freed with a tag two weeks ago in preparation for his full release.
The former music video assistant married pop star Winehouse in 2007, but the couple divorced two years later.
Back To Black singer Winehouse was found dead in bed at the age of 27 at her home in Camden Square, north-west London, in July last year after a long battle with drink and drugs.
An inquest later found the star, who had kicked her drug habit, was more than five times the drink-drive limit.
Her father Mitch set up the Amy Winehouse Foundation in her memory following her death, which aims to help young people with problems and those who want to get into the music business.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Editorial: Signs of life
Editorial: Signs of life
Every now and then one of our mountains clears its throat and asserts its vibrancy.
This serves to remind us that it's not some inert natural skyscraper.
That powerful forces are at work deep within its innards.
Perhaps, even, that a bit of respect wouldn't go amiss, thank you very much.
This time it's Tongariro proclaiming its potency, as if to make the point that we need not look as far afield as Mars for signs of life.
And when the official threat status passed, at least for the time being, there might even have been a faint sense of disappointment from parts of the country that rightly or wrongly didn't particularly feel they were facing the prospect of disruption, let alone danger.
Perhaps it's a failure of empathy, but as far as volcanoes are concerned, we are still liable to regard eruptions not only in terms of threat, but theatre.
Certainly from this distance they do put on a show and in this case a good deal of the action happened at night. Inconvenient for spectators.
It was almost inevitable, given that so many of us are simultaneously in Olympic mode, that an element of almost competitive judgment is getting applied to some of the actual facts about Tongariro's mighty expulsion of effort.
When the judges reported back, it turned out the eruption was fairly small scale.
It shot almost 7000 metres into the air, which apparently put it into the "not insignificant" category.
Rock was ejected over a kilometre radius.
It turns out the eruption was some steam-driven venting rather than the mighty gushings of new molten lava.
Noteworthy, to be sure, but not sufficient to progress into the volcanic semi-finals, so to speak.
We ought to be pleased. Safety first, after all.
And yet when vulcanologists assert that heightened activity may continue, and that this may even be the start of a prolonged period of activity in the area, there's a fair section of the further-flung community who are closer to hopeful than frowningly concerned.
This, we are told, is a really good example of why New Zealanders need to be prepared for volcanic eruptions, and to think about how to be prepared for ash fall and other hazards.
Fair point. For a while there, Civil Defence had a Volcanic Activity Potential Threat to New Zealand alert going.
It certainly isn't a good idea to get blase about such things.
In late November 2004, we reported, lightly and in fun, a "teenie weenie tsunami" hitting our shores.
It had the dynamics of a tsunami but not the scale we tended to associate with them.
Had we thought of it at the time, we would have classified the 30-centimetre wave as a "not not-insignificant" event.
Barely a month later, there was no smirking at all as we found ourselves covering the extravagant consequences of the Indian Ocean Boxing Day tsunami.
A bit of respect, it turns out, is not too much to ask.
Every now and then one of our mountains clears its throat and asserts its vibrancy.
This serves to remind us that it's not some inert natural skyscraper.
That powerful forces are at work deep within its innards.
Perhaps, even, that a bit of respect wouldn't go amiss, thank you very much.
This time it's Tongariro proclaiming its potency, as if to make the point that we need not look as far afield as Mars for signs of life.
And when the official threat status passed, at least for the time being, there might even have been a faint sense of disappointment from parts of the country that rightly or wrongly didn't particularly feel they were facing the prospect of disruption, let alone danger.
Perhaps it's a failure of empathy, but as far as volcanoes are concerned, we are still liable to regard eruptions not only in terms of threat, but theatre.
Certainly from this distance they do put on a show and in this case a good deal of the action happened at night. Inconvenient for spectators.
It was almost inevitable, given that so many of us are simultaneously in Olympic mode, that an element of almost competitive judgment is getting applied to some of the actual facts about Tongariro's mighty expulsion of effort.
When the judges reported back, it turned out the eruption was fairly small scale.
It shot almost 7000 metres into the air, which apparently put it into the "not insignificant" category.
Rock was ejected over a kilometre radius.
It turns out the eruption was some steam-driven venting rather than the mighty gushings of new molten lava.
Noteworthy, to be sure, but not sufficient to progress into the volcanic semi-finals, so to speak.
We ought to be pleased. Safety first, after all.
And yet when vulcanologists assert that heightened activity may continue, and that this may even be the start of a prolonged period of activity in the area, there's a fair section of the further-flung community who are closer to hopeful than frowningly concerned.
This, we are told, is a really good example of why New Zealanders need to be prepared for volcanic eruptions, and to think about how to be prepared for ash fall and other hazards.
Fair point. For a while there, Civil Defence had a Volcanic Activity Potential Threat to New Zealand alert going.
It certainly isn't a good idea to get blase about such things.
In late November 2004, we reported, lightly and in fun, a "teenie weenie tsunami" hitting our shores.
It had the dynamics of a tsunami but not the scale we tended to associate with them.
Had we thought of it at the time, we would have classified the 30-centimetre wave as a "not not-insignificant" event.
Barely a month later, there was no smirking at all as we found ourselves covering the extravagant consequences of the Indian Ocean Boxing Day tsunami.
A bit of respect, it turns out, is not too much to ask.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Vilasrao Deshmukh on life support, doctors monitoring condition
Vilasrao Deshmukh on life support, doctors monitoring condition
Doctors were closely monitoring the condition of Union science and technology minister Vilasrao
Deshmukh who has been admitted to the Global Hospital in Chennai with a liver ailment, hospital sources said on Tuesday. "Deshmukh is in the intensive care unit (ICU). He has been admitted for related stories
Vilasrao may undergo liver transplant op: Cong sources
liver ailment. Doctors are attending to him in the ICU which is out of bounds for others," a Global Hospital official told IANS on condition of anonymity.
According to him, Deshmukh, 67, was rushed to the hospital Monday evening from Mumbai's Breach Candy hospital in an air ambulance.
"From the Chennai airport he was brought to our hospital in our ambulance," the official said.
Renowned liver specialist Mohammed Rela is attending to the former Maharashtra chief minister.
Dr Rela of the Kings Hospital, London, is also the head of the Global's Centre for Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary and Liver Transplantation.
Hospital officials said a proper medical bulletin would be issued and many of the media reports are speculative in nature.
Deshmukh was undergoing treatment at Breach Candy, where he was admitted a week ago. He was suffering from cirrhosis of liver and his two kidneys dysfunctional.
When his condition deteriorated further, he was put on life support systems and it was then decided to shift him to Chennai in an air ambulance, sources said.
In Chennai, doctors at Global Health City, hoped to carry out liver transplant once his condition stabilised. At present he is on ventilator.
It was around 6pm on Monday when the ambulance jet landed in Chennai from Mumbai.
It took some time for Dekhmukh to be shifted to an ambulance and driven to hospital at Tambaram, closer to city airport.
His wife Vaishali and two of his sons including actor Ritesh Deshmukh accompanied him on the air ambulance from Mumbai, airport sources said.
Global Hospital sources confirmed that the union minister was admitted for liver ailment.
But, so far, neither the Global Health City nor the government have requested for a liver on his behalf, sources at the TN Organ Sharing Network maintain.
Once a request is made, finding a cadaver matching his blood type would be a difficult task, the sources said.
Deshmukh, who had been complaining of abdominal pains for a while, had been taken to Breach Candy Hospital last week for what was described as "a routine check-up".
For the last few months, Deshmukh has been taking light assignments to avoid strain on account of his health condition, a Congress official indicated.
Doctors were closely monitoring the condition of Union science and technology minister Vilasrao
Deshmukh who has been admitted to the Global Hospital in Chennai with a liver ailment, hospital sources said on Tuesday. "Deshmukh is in the intensive care unit (ICU). He has been admitted for related stories
Vilasrao may undergo liver transplant op: Cong sources
liver ailment. Doctors are attending to him in the ICU which is out of bounds for others," a Global Hospital official told IANS on condition of anonymity.
According to him, Deshmukh, 67, was rushed to the hospital Monday evening from Mumbai's Breach Candy hospital in an air ambulance.
"From the Chennai airport he was brought to our hospital in our ambulance," the official said.
Renowned liver specialist Mohammed Rela is attending to the former Maharashtra chief minister.
Dr Rela of the Kings Hospital, London, is also the head of the Global's Centre for Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary and Liver Transplantation.
Hospital officials said a proper medical bulletin would be issued and many of the media reports are speculative in nature.
Deshmukh was undergoing treatment at Breach Candy, where he was admitted a week ago. He was suffering from cirrhosis of liver and his two kidneys dysfunctional.
When his condition deteriorated further, he was put on life support systems and it was then decided to shift him to Chennai in an air ambulance, sources said.
In Chennai, doctors at Global Health City, hoped to carry out liver transplant once his condition stabilised. At present he is on ventilator.
It was around 6pm on Monday when the ambulance jet landed in Chennai from Mumbai.
It took some time for Dekhmukh to be shifted to an ambulance and driven to hospital at Tambaram, closer to city airport.
His wife Vaishali and two of his sons including actor Ritesh Deshmukh accompanied him on the air ambulance from Mumbai, airport sources said.
Global Hospital sources confirmed that the union minister was admitted for liver ailment.
But, so far, neither the Global Health City nor the government have requested for a liver on his behalf, sources at the TN Organ Sharing Network maintain.
Once a request is made, finding a cadaver matching his blood type would be a difficult task, the sources said.
Deshmukh, who had been complaining of abdominal pains for a while, had been taken to Breach Candy Hospital last week for what was described as "a routine check-up".
For the last few months, Deshmukh has been taking light assignments to avoid strain on account of his health condition, a Congress official indicated.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Mars life-friendly in the past? Nasa's $2.5 bn dream machine Rover aims to find out
Mars life-friendly in the past? Nasa's $2.5 bn dream machine Rover aims to find out
Nasa plans to follow up a decade-long search for Mars' lost water with a mission to learn whether the Red Planet once harbored other ingredients necessary for life.
The astrobiological hunt begins once the $2.5 billion Mars Science Lab Rover Curiosity lands itself beside a related stories
MSL, EDL, huh? Guide to Nasa's Mars mission lingo
How to spot Mars on eve of NASA Curiosity’s arrival
towering mountain that rises from the floor of a vast, ancient impact basin called Gale Crater.
"It's a big science goal. We're not just looking for water anymore," said California Institute of Technology geologist John Grotzinger, the lead mission scientist.
"The expectations go up. The scientific challenge is much greater. It's just going to be harder to address this question of habitability," he told Reuters.
Scientists considered hundreds of landing sites before choosing Gale Crater, which probably formed when an asteroid or comet crashed into the planet some 3.5 billion to 4 billion years ago.
From high-resolution images taken by orbiting satellites, Gale Crater's central mound, known as Mount Sharp, appears to consist of layers of sediment rising like a stack of cards 3 miles (5 km) into the sky, taller than the crater's rim.
The most likely origin of the mountain is that it formed from the remains of whatever material filled up the basin long ago. How it was left standing in the middle of Gale Crater, a 96-mile-(154-km)wide bowl located near the planet's equator, is a mystery, one of many scientists hope to answer during Curiosity's two-year science mission.
Regardless of how it formed, scientists consider Mount Sharp a gift of time.
Nothing like it exists on Earth, where plate tectonics, erosion and other natural phenomena constantly reshape the planet's surface.
"We have the opportunity to start in the past, rove up the surface of Mount Sharp and come through time to see how the environments have changed," said Michael Meyer, Nasa's Mars exploration program scientist.
Warmer, wetter Martian past
A succession of previous rovers, landers and orbiting spacecraft have gathered compelling evidence that Mars, which is about half the size of Earth and 50% farther away from the sun, was not always the dry, acidic, cold desert that appears today.
Nasa's strategy since resuming Mars exploration following the 1970s-era Viking missions there has been to look for the chemical and physical fingerprints of water, which is necessary for life - at least as it has evolved on Earth.
The second ingredient in the recipe for life is carbon, which provides organic structure. Carbon will be far more difficult to detect on Mars, if it exists, because the same processes that produce rock tend to destroy organics.
The planet's harsh radiation environment doesn't help either.
"We have a radiation-rich environment on Mars that can destroy organics, so even if it was there, it may be hard to find a place where it's been preserved," Meyer said.
On Earth, the oldest evidence for life dates back about 3.5 billion years. Fossilized remains of single-celled microorganisms were found in 1958 inside a type of rock known as chert. This glass-like rock may exist on Mars as well, and it is not the only material that can preserve organics like a time capsule.
"The challenge for Mars exploration is to first try to identify environments that might have been habitable and then ask, 'Is this the kind of place where organic carbon could have been preserved?'" Grotzinger said.
"With Curiosity, we don't have the ability to look for life, or even fossil life, but we do have the ability to look for organic carbon, so we try to find those environments conducive for preservation. That's the hard part," he said.
The oldest sections of Mount Sharp may overlap the window when life emerged on Earth, a time when Mars is believed to have been warm and wet.
Curiosity's landing site inside Gale Crater is one of the lowest regions on Mars, stacking the odds that water, if it existed there, flowed down to the basin's floor. Mount Sharp
may be the remains of this ancient lake bed and perhaps a place that life once called home.
Nasa plans to follow up a decade-long search for Mars' lost water with a mission to learn whether the Red Planet once harbored other ingredients necessary for life.
The astrobiological hunt begins once the $2.5 billion Mars Science Lab Rover Curiosity lands itself beside a related stories
MSL, EDL, huh? Guide to Nasa's Mars mission lingo
How to spot Mars on eve of NASA Curiosity’s arrival
towering mountain that rises from the floor of a vast, ancient impact basin called Gale Crater.
"It's a big science goal. We're not just looking for water anymore," said California Institute of Technology geologist John Grotzinger, the lead mission scientist.
"The expectations go up. The scientific challenge is much greater. It's just going to be harder to address this question of habitability," he told Reuters.
Scientists considered hundreds of landing sites before choosing Gale Crater, which probably formed when an asteroid or comet crashed into the planet some 3.5 billion to 4 billion years ago.
From high-resolution images taken by orbiting satellites, Gale Crater's central mound, known as Mount Sharp, appears to consist of layers of sediment rising like a stack of cards 3 miles (5 km) into the sky, taller than the crater's rim.
The most likely origin of the mountain is that it formed from the remains of whatever material filled up the basin long ago. How it was left standing in the middle of Gale Crater, a 96-mile-(154-km)wide bowl located near the planet's equator, is a mystery, one of many scientists hope to answer during Curiosity's two-year science mission.
Regardless of how it formed, scientists consider Mount Sharp a gift of time.
Nothing like it exists on Earth, where plate tectonics, erosion and other natural phenomena constantly reshape the planet's surface.
"We have the opportunity to start in the past, rove up the surface of Mount Sharp and come through time to see how the environments have changed," said Michael Meyer, Nasa's Mars exploration program scientist.
Warmer, wetter Martian past
A succession of previous rovers, landers and orbiting spacecraft have gathered compelling evidence that Mars, which is about half the size of Earth and 50% farther away from the sun, was not always the dry, acidic, cold desert that appears today.
Nasa's strategy since resuming Mars exploration following the 1970s-era Viking missions there has been to look for the chemical and physical fingerprints of water, which is necessary for life - at least as it has evolved on Earth.
The second ingredient in the recipe for life is carbon, which provides organic structure. Carbon will be far more difficult to detect on Mars, if it exists, because the same processes that produce rock tend to destroy organics.
The planet's harsh radiation environment doesn't help either.
"We have a radiation-rich environment on Mars that can destroy organics, so even if it was there, it may be hard to find a place where it's been preserved," Meyer said.
On Earth, the oldest evidence for life dates back about 3.5 billion years. Fossilized remains of single-celled microorganisms were found in 1958 inside a type of rock known as chert. This glass-like rock may exist on Mars as well, and it is not the only material that can preserve organics like a time capsule.
"The challenge for Mars exploration is to first try to identify environments that might have been habitable and then ask, 'Is this the kind of place where organic carbon could have been preserved?'" Grotzinger said.
"With Curiosity, we don't have the ability to look for life, or even fossil life, but we do have the ability to look for organic carbon, so we try to find those environments conducive for preservation. That's the hard part," he said.
The oldest sections of Mount Sharp may overlap the window when life emerged on Earth, a time when Mars is believed to have been warm and wet.
Curiosity's landing site inside Gale Crater is one of the lowest regions on Mars, stacking the odds that water, if it existed there, flowed down to the basin's floor. Mount Sharp
may be the remains of this ancient lake bed and perhaps a place that life once called home.
Friday, August 3, 2012
The biggest night of my life
The biggest night of my life
One of the most nerve-wracking moments of my life happened tonight, as I waited for the final score on floor in the Olympic all-around final. I had finished and was in first place, but Russian gymnast Viktoria Komova was the last gymnast to go and had done an amazing floor routine. My heart was absolutely racing.
Do I have it? Do I not have it? Will I be first? Second?
My coach, Liang Chow, said, "You're the Olympic champion! You have it!"
But I couldn't believe him until I saw the scoreboard. When I finally saw the results, I was speechless. Tears of joy streamed down my face, and I started waving to the crowd and my family in the stands.
When my mom first took me to Chow's gym two years ago, she told him I wanted to be an Olympic champion someday. He told her he would do his best. He jokes now that he wasn't so sure he could do it.
He has pushed me so hard, and some days I would wonder, "Why do I have to do this?" In the end, though, he believed in me and all the hard work really did pay off. He and his wife Li have shaped me into a better gymnast than I ever thought I could be.
When I first got here to London, I was in some pain from a tweaked muscle. I was feeling a little down. But Chow reminded me that everyone has pain. He said, "Don't focus on that, you're at the Olympics! If you don't push it now, you'll regret it." He got me refocused, and, of course, he was right. When I got to the competition and all the nerves kicked in, I didn't feel a thing.
Tonight, I didn't think about avoiding mistakes -- that's what gets you into trouble. Instead, I just thought about going out there and representing Team USA, my coaches, my family and myself as best as I could. I just wanted to enjoy the moment. Chow told me not to fear what might happen, but to just believe in myself.
People have asked if I felt like I was on fire here in London, but I just feel normal, the same as I do every day in practice. The difference has been that I was ready to seize the moment, to focus and to trust in what I can do.
You say you want to do it and you dream about it every day, but then when it happens, it's hard to believe it really has. Tonight, when the U.S. flag was raised and the national anthem played, there were so many camera flashes going off I felt like I was at a concert.
And the crazy thing was, they were all taking pictures of me.
One of the most nerve-wracking moments of my life happened tonight, as I waited for the final score on floor in the Olympic all-around final. I had finished and was in first place, but Russian gymnast Viktoria Komova was the last gymnast to go and had done an amazing floor routine. My heart was absolutely racing.
Do I have it? Do I not have it? Will I be first? Second?
My coach, Liang Chow, said, "You're the Olympic champion! You have it!"
But I couldn't believe him until I saw the scoreboard. When I finally saw the results, I was speechless. Tears of joy streamed down my face, and I started waving to the crowd and my family in the stands.
When my mom first took me to Chow's gym two years ago, she told him I wanted to be an Olympic champion someday. He told her he would do his best. He jokes now that he wasn't so sure he could do it.
He has pushed me so hard, and some days I would wonder, "Why do I have to do this?" In the end, though, he believed in me and all the hard work really did pay off. He and his wife Li have shaped me into a better gymnast than I ever thought I could be.
When I first got here to London, I was in some pain from a tweaked muscle. I was feeling a little down. But Chow reminded me that everyone has pain. He said, "Don't focus on that, you're at the Olympics! If you don't push it now, you'll regret it." He got me refocused, and, of course, he was right. When I got to the competition and all the nerves kicked in, I didn't feel a thing.
Tonight, I didn't think about avoiding mistakes -- that's what gets you into trouble. Instead, I just thought about going out there and representing Team USA, my coaches, my family and myself as best as I could. I just wanted to enjoy the moment. Chow told me not to fear what might happen, but to just believe in myself.
People have asked if I felt like I was on fire here in London, but I just feel normal, the same as I do every day in practice. The difference has been that I was ready to seize the moment, to focus and to trust in what I can do.
You say you want to do it and you dream about it every day, but then when it happens, it's hard to believe it really has. Tonight, when the U.S. flag was raised and the national anthem played, there were so many camera flashes going off I felt like I was at a concert.
And the crazy thing was, they were all taking pictures of me.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Life's not just a football game
Life's not just a football game
With all that has been written on the horrific sexual abuse scandal at Penn State University involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, little commentary has been devoted to college football and what, if any, role it should have in higher education.
This is especially important as UAlbany is constructing an $18 million football stadium. With a sparkling new infrastructure in place, we can bet on a future proclamation stating the need for a higher level of competition, more scholarship money and more athletics staff.
In college sports, football is king. It drives decisions for every other sport. The conference realignment scramble we are witnessing now is proof of this. College presidents and athletics directors are falling all over themselves to get into the best conferences that can deliver the most in TV exposure and revenues.
While no one disputes the entertainment value of big-time college football, the truth is, that based on NCAA financial reports, only seven athletic programs — not just football programs — operated in the black in each of the past five years. The other programs are a huge financial drain increasingly being paid for by escalating student fees.
A number of colleges and universities are either dropping football altogether or downgrading their programs because it is way too expensive to compete at the highest levels. Because of the arms race in this sport, which results from the need to attract the best recruits, heavy investments in infrastructure (stadiums and training facilities), coaches' salaries (which often are the highest of anyone on campus, including the president), and athletic scholarships are at the forefront of institutional financial forecasts.
College sports expert and author Murray Sperber ("Beer and Circus: How Big-Time College Sports is Crippling Undergraduate Education") forecast a number of years ago that eventually only about 50 or 60 institutions would be able to afford to participate in big-time college football. This is what is happening now with the scramble by universities to join a conference in which they can compete for the national title.
University presidents and boards of trustees like to talk about football (and basketball) as being the front porch of the institution. They conclude that this is where success on the playing fields means more media attention, more alumni donations and more applications from future students.
The leaders of our institutions of higher learning continue to drink Kool-Aid in view of reliable data from sports economists like Andrew Zimbalist ("Unpaid Professionals: Commercialism and Conflict in Big-Time College Sports") showing that these are exaggerated claims and in some cases outright mythology.
Successful sports teams do bring in more donations, but they are typically targeted toward athletics and not academics. Applications do go up when sports teams are successful, but many are less serious students who do not become involved in the academic culture on campus, preferring instead beer and circus.
Let's also consider whether or not big-time college football is worth it when the inevitable scandals hit — academic corruption, recruiting violations, more concussions in athletes and more institutional cover-ups of malfeasance.
New to the list is Penn State's sex abuse scandals, which some legal experts estimate could cost the state of Pennsylvania somewhere close to $1 billion by the time all suits are settled.
My guess is that Penn State, and so other institutions where these scandals have hit, would wish, in retrospect, that they never started a football program.
The question is whether UAlbany, or any like-minded university, would want to have any part of this. There are more pressing needs than football.
UAlbany, like many state universities, is reeling from budget cuts. Capital improvements to a crumbling academic infrastructure are delayed, programs in the humanities are being deactivated, faculty who retire or go elsewhere are not being replaced, students increasingly are being taught by part-timers and graduate assistants, and class sizes are larger than ever.
My advice to UAlbany is to scuttle its dreams of King Football. It's time that we turned away from entertainment to education, and preparing the next generation for the real playing fields.
A degree from a university with a good football team but a second-rate educational program won't cut it any longer. Our young people, who live in a global economy that is more competitive than ever before, deserve much better than this.
With all that has been written on the horrific sexual abuse scandal at Penn State University involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, little commentary has been devoted to college football and what, if any, role it should have in higher education.
This is especially important as UAlbany is constructing an $18 million football stadium. With a sparkling new infrastructure in place, we can bet on a future proclamation stating the need for a higher level of competition, more scholarship money and more athletics staff.
In college sports, football is king. It drives decisions for every other sport. The conference realignment scramble we are witnessing now is proof of this. College presidents and athletics directors are falling all over themselves to get into the best conferences that can deliver the most in TV exposure and revenues.
While no one disputes the entertainment value of big-time college football, the truth is, that based on NCAA financial reports, only seven athletic programs — not just football programs — operated in the black in each of the past five years. The other programs are a huge financial drain increasingly being paid for by escalating student fees.
A number of colleges and universities are either dropping football altogether or downgrading their programs because it is way too expensive to compete at the highest levels. Because of the arms race in this sport, which results from the need to attract the best recruits, heavy investments in infrastructure (stadiums and training facilities), coaches' salaries (which often are the highest of anyone on campus, including the president), and athletic scholarships are at the forefront of institutional financial forecasts.
College sports expert and author Murray Sperber ("Beer and Circus: How Big-Time College Sports is Crippling Undergraduate Education") forecast a number of years ago that eventually only about 50 or 60 institutions would be able to afford to participate in big-time college football. This is what is happening now with the scramble by universities to join a conference in which they can compete for the national title.
University presidents and boards of trustees like to talk about football (and basketball) as being the front porch of the institution. They conclude that this is where success on the playing fields means more media attention, more alumni donations and more applications from future students.
The leaders of our institutions of higher learning continue to drink Kool-Aid in view of reliable data from sports economists like Andrew Zimbalist ("Unpaid Professionals: Commercialism and Conflict in Big-Time College Sports") showing that these are exaggerated claims and in some cases outright mythology.
Successful sports teams do bring in more donations, but they are typically targeted toward athletics and not academics. Applications do go up when sports teams are successful, but many are less serious students who do not become involved in the academic culture on campus, preferring instead beer and circus.
Let's also consider whether or not big-time college football is worth it when the inevitable scandals hit — academic corruption, recruiting violations, more concussions in athletes and more institutional cover-ups of malfeasance.
New to the list is Penn State's sex abuse scandals, which some legal experts estimate could cost the state of Pennsylvania somewhere close to $1 billion by the time all suits are settled.
My guess is that Penn State, and so other institutions where these scandals have hit, would wish, in retrospect, that they never started a football program.
The question is whether UAlbany, or any like-minded university, would want to have any part of this. There are more pressing needs than football.
UAlbany, like many state universities, is reeling from budget cuts. Capital improvements to a crumbling academic infrastructure are delayed, programs in the humanities are being deactivated, faculty who retire or go elsewhere are not being replaced, students increasingly are being taught by part-timers and graduate assistants, and class sizes are larger than ever.
My advice to UAlbany is to scuttle its dreams of King Football. It's time that we turned away from entertainment to education, and preparing the next generation for the real playing fields.
A degree from a university with a good football team but a second-rate educational program won't cut it any longer. Our young people, who live in a global economy that is more competitive than ever before, deserve much better than this.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Life was good said singer Darryl Cotton
Life was good said singer Darryl Cotton
Singer Darryl Cotton had a final message for his friends, family and fans: "Life's been good."
In a letter read at his funeral, the singer recalled his time as the frontman of 60s pop group Zoot saying: "We always had to battle the critics because we were regarded as being a little bit pretty.
"We stayed in the pink a little bit too long but did so just to stick it up to the people who didn't like the pink."
Cotton revealed he was always nervous before going on stage but said he was fine once he got up there.
He thanked and farewelled those he had worked alongside including Beeb Birtles, Rick Springfield, Ronnie Burns, Russell Morris, Jim Keays and Olivia Newton-John.
"Life's been good," he wrote.
His final address, like his life, was devoted primarily to his wife Cheryl and children Amy and Tim.
"I can't put into words how much I love you," Cotton wrote in a letter read at his funeral in Melbourne on Wednesday.
The 62-year-old lost his battle with liver cancer on Friday.
Friends and bandmates recalled Cotton the performer, who after heading Zoot embarked on an international music career, followed by a career on television and stage.
Singer Darryl Cotton had a final message for his friends, family and fans: "Life's been good."
In a letter read at his funeral, the singer recalled his time as the frontman of 60s pop group Zoot saying: "We always had to battle the critics because we were regarded as being a little bit pretty.
"We stayed in the pink a little bit too long but did so just to stick it up to the people who didn't like the pink."
Cotton revealed he was always nervous before going on stage but said he was fine once he got up there.
He thanked and farewelled those he had worked alongside including Beeb Birtles, Rick Springfield, Ronnie Burns, Russell Morris, Jim Keays and Olivia Newton-John.
"Life's been good," he wrote.
His final address, like his life, was devoted primarily to his wife Cheryl and children Amy and Tim.
"I can't put into words how much I love you," Cotton wrote in a letter read at his funeral in Melbourne on Wednesday.
The 62-year-old lost his battle with liver cancer on Friday.
Friends and bandmates recalled Cotton the performer, who after heading Zoot embarked on an international music career, followed by a career on television and stage.
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