Wot I no abut Guy Pearce

Source: PR-USA.net (press release) ()

Mad Money Scratchers® Ticket Goes on Sale This Week

The newest Scratchers® ticket, Mad Money,
goes on sale this week! This unique movie-themed Scratchers®
game represents a first time partnership between Overture Films and the
California Lottery. Directed by Oscar® winner
Callie Khouri, Mad Money stars Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah, and
Katie Holmes as three female employees of the Federal Reserve who plot
to steal money that is about to be destroyed. These $1 Mad Money
Scratchers® will be available at the over
19,000 Lottery retail locations throughout the state. To find a retailer
near you, click on http://www.calottery.com/retaillocations.
Mad Money hits theaters nationwide January 18, 2008.

Mad Money Scratchers® will not only
offer players the opportunity to win cash prizes ranging from $10 to
$1,000, but will also include unique second chance prizes as well.
Second chance draw prizes include: a trip for two to the Los Angeles
premiere of Mad Money, a trip for two to a future Overture Films
movie premiere, a set visit for a future Overture Films production, a
walk-on role for an upcoming movie, Mad Money DVDs, autographed Mad
Money movie posters, and a Starz subscription. Odds of winning any
prize are 1 in 5.45 and odds of winning a cash prize are 1 in 11.96.

“When people think of California, they think
of Hollywood, which is why the California Lottery is thrilled to enter
into a new partnership with friends in the movie industry, Overture
Films,” said Lottery Director Joan Borucki. “Mad
Money is a great tie-in for our products!”

Overture’s releases continue on March 14th,
2008, with Sleepwalking, emotional drama about a young girl’s
search for parental love, starring Oscar®
winner Charlize Theron. Following …

Source: Kansas.com ()

The death of an Americus teen by an alleged poacher’s bullet last weekend has some calling for more game wardens to enforce the state’s hunting laws.

But unless the Kansas Legislature can be persuaded to approve the hiring of more game wardens, hunting safety experts say it may fall to the public to help spot illegal activity — sort of an outdoor neighborhood watch.

Beau Arndt, 18, was hiding among decoys while hunting for geese with two friends when a rifle bullet fired from a passing pickup killed him. Lyon County authorities say the pickup’s driver, a 57-year-old Topeka man, mistook the decoys for real geese.

Shooting at geese with a rifle, shooting from inside a vehicle, and firing onto private property without permission are illegal. Kevin Jones, Wildlife and Parks law enforcement chief, said that Kansas has only about 70 game wardens.

“On average that means they’re responsible for about 1,200 square miles,” he said. “Out in southwest Kansas we have officers who are responsible for three or even four counties.”

That ratio is among the worst in the nation, Jones said. Missouri, for instance, has nearly 200 game wardens. Oklahoma has about 118.

Ideally, Jones would like to add about 25 more wardens. At a cost of $100,000 per game warden for salary, training and a vehicle, the price tag would be $2.5 million a year.

“If nothing else, it creates a better presence,” Jones said. “It lets people see they’re out and about.

“If someone occasionally sees a game warden, they’re going to think a little harder before they break some law,” he said. “It helps keep people honest.”

Mike Hayden, a former governor, has pushed for hiring additional game wardens since 2003, when he was appointed as the secretary of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.

Avid hunters can go years between seeing game wardens afield, he stop me on the street all the time and ask me when we’re going to get …

Source: The Age ()

From the UK, Tom Adair worries about the prospects for the
Ramsay Street clan.
I AM a pilgrim. I have seen the Promised Land — and its
name is Neighbours.
I’ve met the actors, swallowed the story lines, bought the
T-shirt. At home we have a pair of wally dugs we call Karl and
Susan, a tortoise named Lou and a budgie called Bouncer.
My wife, though, refuses to change her name to Mrs Mangel.
This twice-daily soap, shown on BBC1 (though not for much
longer, and there’s the rub), is a deadly virus.
I’ve tried to shake it. I even tune in the following day on the
Irish channel, RTE, reciting the lines along with the actors.
There was a time when the show was a paragon of virtue — a
bishop in residence, (fusspot Harold), a carpenter conjuring up the
wine, (an endless flow of generosity from Lou Carpenter, Ramsay
Street’s dapper Mr Fixit), plus, a bunch of teenage kids so full of
goodness they’d have to descend to get into heaven.
Down those green streets Death strolled like the mail man, dust
on his toe caps on a sunny afternoon. I nibbled my tea at 6pm, a
man content. Neuroses quelled.
Neighbours was bought by the BBC to revamp its jaded
daytime schedule late in 1986. The show — with viewing figures
in Britain, at its peak in 1990, of more than 19 million fans
daily, (the current figure is 5.6 million), became a cult, its fans
besotted.
In thrall, I found myself in Melbourne seven years ago, paying
homage. There, in the marvellous Melbourne Museum, I discovered the
kitchen-set once inhabited by the Robinsons, the Martins and the
Scullys. There Helen Daniels, a groovy pensioner, practised the
wisdom of a sphinx.
Inside the fridge Scott and Charlene’s wedding cake sat —
it was cardboard, just like the show — and across the
concourse was Charlene’s wedding frock, suspended, twirling
serenely. Visitors gazed at it in silence, as though at the ghost
of a fallen
Next morning early, at Global Studios where the show is shot, I
was greeted by Jan …

Source: Sydney Morning Herald ()

DESPITE several entreaties this year, the Transport Minister, John Watkins, has refused to meet a fellow Labor MP to discuss allegations of corruption inside RailCorp.

Since May 11 the member for Coogee, Paul Pearce, has sought a meeting with Mr Watkins to ask him to investigate allegations by a former RailCorp contractor of corruption and misconduct inside the organisation.

Larry Vincent, whose story was revealed by the Herald yesterday, went to Mr Pearce after RailCorp failed to contact him after submitting a seven-page sworn statement detailing irregularities in the way contractors were recruited.

Mr Pearce, who has vouched for Mr Vincent’s credibility, said he had still not been granted a meeting with the minister. “Getting an appointment from the Deputy Premier is not that easy.”

He said Mr Vincent, who was for many years a Labor Party member, wanted to be sure the matters were fully investigated.

“He is a very straightforward kind of guy and this was not a matter of him having sour grapes … He was concerned about the practices [in RailCorp] … He gave me details about his concerns and I passed them on.

“To me he was certainly sincere and had bona fides as a [former] member of the branch.”

Mr Watkins flies home today after several weeks in Europe to a portfolio in trouble.

Several hundred State Transit buses had to be recalled following the discovery of a defect that could have crippled the steering in the gas-powered fleet, and RailCorp continues to reel from an inquiry by the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Mr Vincent said he had stumbled across highly irregular practices in the way white-collar contractors were appointed, and how their contracts were renewed. Internal documents seen by the Herald show how widespread those irregularities are.

In July, closed its investigation into Mr Vincent’s claims without seeking an interview with him. Also, its inquiries …

Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ()

The Harlem Globetrotters, known as the goodwill ambassadors of the basketball world and beyond, will return to Pittsburgh on Wednesday for their annual day-after-Christmas game at Mellon Arena in Uptown. The Globetrotters are famous for their acrobatic skills and basketball tricks and skill, as well as their comic ability. The show begins at 7 p.m., and doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets cost $16.75-$136.50. Details: 412-323-1919.

– Kellie B. Gormly

Art
Welcome to the Blogosphere
story continues below

In November, Digging Pitt Gallery in Lawrenceville began a joint effort with Agni Gallery, New York, and Panza Gallery, Millvale, to present “The Blogger Show.”

The brainchild of John Morris, owner of Diggin Pitt Gallery, “The Blogger Show” showcases the work by artists who share a common theme: all participating artists have a blog site that journals their opinionated ideas on art, politics or anything under the sun that concerns them.

Presented at all three galleries, the exhibits showcase the work of more than 30 artists whose common interest is in clarifying artistic discourse through their blogs. All of the exhibits run through Jan. 12.

Locally, “The Blogger Show” can be seen at:

• Panza Frame & Gallery, 115 Sedgwick St., Millvale. Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. Details: 412-821-0959

• Digging Pitt Gallery, 4417 Butler St., Lawrenceville. Gallery hours are noon to 9 p.m. Thursdays; noon to 7 p.m. Fridays; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Details: 412-605-0450

– Kurt Shaw

Comedy
Ifft only

If you’re a hometown ne’er do well, you’ve got two choices: comedy or politics. Fox Chapel Area High School graduate Eddie Ifft chose comedy, probably because he was banned from Pennsylvania politics when he tested positive for ethics.

might have glimpsed him as the ABC College Football Guy, or in the Jerry Seinfeld film …

Source: Tarankai Daily News ()

TREVOR READ
Chris Chrisafis has been signed up for Taranaki-based film projects Mark of the Lion about war hero Charles Upham and Indiana Jones-style flick Lost Gold.

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British film producer Chris Chrisafis has been signed up for two multi-million dollar Taranaki movie projects.
London-based Chrisafis will produce the Charles Upham film, Mark of the Lion, and the Indiana Jones-style epic Lost Gold. Both are projects of New Plymouth-based film company Fat and Thin Productions.
Getting Chrisafis on board is a coup for the company, with the producer working on a number of big films with a list of high-profile actors - including Matthew McConaughey, Vinnie Jones, Sean Connery, Guy Pearce, Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, Vanessa Redgrave and Anna Paquin, as well as late greats Richard Burton, David Niven, Gregory Peck and Lawrence Olivier.
Yesterday Chrisafis was in New Plymouth and will spend time in Taranaki checking out potential locations for the film about New Zealand's most famous World War II soldier. Captain Upham was awarded the Victoria Cross twice for his action during battles.
Most of the $18-million film is being shot in Taranaki.
Chrisafis has already spent some time in North Canterbury - where Captain Upham grew up - and will visit Wellington's Weta Workshop this week. Weta will be making props for the movie, including replica weapons.
He has also been in Auckland, where he met Captain Upham's daughter Virginia McKenzie.
Chrisafis' arrival in the country coincided with breaking news about the theft of war medals from Waiouru's War Museum. Captain Upham's cross and bar were taken in the robbery of about 100 medals.
"I arrived in New Zealand on Sunday, so I was shocked to hear the news," Chrisafis said yesterday.
"This is my first trip and it really is to sort out the locations. We need to be able to create …

Source: Kansas.com ()

Derek Jackson wondered what was up when he saw an old pickup slowly rolling down the road that passed by where he and two buddies lay on the snow amid goose decoys.

“It was driving real slow,” said Jackson, 19. “I shouted over to Beau, ‘What’s this guy doing?’ “

Then someone fired a shot from the truck.

His best friend, Beau Arndt, screamed.

Jackson rushed to Arndt’s side and started CPR. He yelled at the third hunter, Tom Glass, to call 911. He yelled at Arndt, asking what had happened.

His friend didn’t reply.

Arndt, who would have turned 19 today, died despite his buddies’ efforts to save him.

Jackson remembers praying after the emergency rescue team arrived, but he doesn’t remember what he prayed about. His next memory is talking with Arndt’s father later.

Now, the Emporia State freshman’s family and friends — and the small, tight-knit community of Americus — are mourning the young man Glass described as the kind “any parent would be glad to have for a son.”

Authorities are searching for a pickup described as a late-1970s red-and-orange Ford believed to have Shawnee County license plates. They believe the occupants may have mistaken the decoys for real geese.

“We haven’t made any great progress yet but we keep following leads,” Lyon County Sheriff Gary Eichorn said. “We’re getting new information.”

He said a woman about three miles from the shooting saw a similar truck with men changing a tire near her house. She reported it had three occupants — two adult men of unknown ages and one around 20.

At home

Around Americus, a town of about 900 near Emporia, Arndt is remembered as a young man who exemplified what a small-town boy can be.

Friend Jacquelyne Leffler, 17, said chivalry was never dead for Arndt. She recalls playing amid hay bales when they were children.

“He’d always first so if I fell, I wouldn’t get hurt,” Leffler said. The last time she saw …

Source: 411mania.com ()

Welcome to a very sardoodledom Select and Start News Report. So “w00t” is the word of the year. Between this and “Ginormous” officially being a word, I just might have lost all hope for the modern day dictionary.

Big News

We start off the news with the seemingly eternal struggle that is…

[credit: GameSpot, GameDaily, Gamasutra, 1UP, Joystiq]

So with Guitar Hero and Rock Band trying to compete for top position in the whole “Guitar Game Wars” (which according to some should have already been won by Guitar Freaks), gamers have been questioning if they’d have to buy multiple guitars to play these games. The latest controversy right now is that Harmonix and MTV said they created a patch to let the Rock Band guitar be playable on Activision’s Guitar Hero III for the PS3. The patch however has not been released, and the reason they claim is that Activision won’t allow them to. The patch had been sent to Sony and was going to be released December 4th, but is currently on hold due to Activision’s objection. Activision, however, that the claims made by Harmonix and MTV “paints a very misleading picture.” Activision says they’ve been trying to reach an agreement with Harmonix and MTV that would allow Guitar Hero controllers to work with Rock Band, but they refuse to. The only thing Sony has stated right now is that they want both sides to quickly resolve this issue.

What exactly does Activision mean when it wants Harmonix to reach an agreement with them? From what I understand the Guitar Hero controllers will work with Rock Band (except for the PS3), but not the other way around, and Harmonix created a patch for the PS3, but they say Activision keeps objecting it. So either Harmonix is lying and never really created a patch or Activision are being assholes about this. As much as I want to be neutral about this, leaning towards Harmonix on this one. But really, Sony should probably do something about this instead …

Source: Telegraph.co.uk ()

Ruud Gullit: Beware of Alan Shearer
Interview by Duncan White
Last Updated: 1:02am GMT 16/12/2007

Fabio Capello starts work for England on Jan 7, and then it’s decision time. His two earliest calls concern two of English football’s biggest names in recent history: Alan Shearer and David Beckham.

Ruud Gullit, who played for Capello at Milan and is now Beckham’s coach at LA Galaxy, has some words of advice for the new England manager: pick Beckham, but leave Shearer well alone.

Gullit had a fractious relationship with Shearer when he managed the former England striker at Newcastle and is surprised that Capello has apparently earmarked him for the assistant’s role.

“You must have experience and for me he would be a surprising choice,” Gullit said. “Shearer was a good player but I felt he could have done more for me at Newcastle and I actually had an argument with him about it. I told him we could play the old way or the new. Alan is a very powerful guy up north and I was seen as the city boy coming up from London telling them what to do.

“It was very difficult because to do my work properly I felt I had to change things. Then I saw that I couldn’t win this fight, but 10 years later they are struggling in the same position. So I was right. I still think Alan was a good striker but things didn’t work out. It didn’t help that I arrived after his best friend, Kenny Dalglish, was sacked. I think a more experienced coach should be appointed by England.”

The Football Association favour the elevation of Stuart Pearce from England Under-21 coach to the role of Capello’s assistant while David Platt, who speaks Italian, has also emerged as a credible candidate, along with Portsmouth’s Tony Adams. However, Shearer is apparently the kind of personality Capello would want as his dressing-room mediator. With his Italian backroom staff all on board, it is unlikely Capello will rush any decision though.

The arrival …

Source: Glasgow Daily Record ()

Dec 15 2007

FILMFLEX

GRAY MATTERS

Romantic comedy with Heather Graham, Thomas Cavanagh, Bridget Moynahan and Sissy Spacek.

IRRESISTIBLE

Housewife Sophie (Susan Sarandon) becomes suspicious of her husband’s colleague Mara, who she’s convinced wants to steal her husband. Psychological thriller, co-starring Sam Neill and Emily Blunt.

THE PAINTED VEIL

Wealthy London girl Kitty (Naomi Watts) and a doctor (Edward Norton) rush into a marriage for the wrong reasons. Co-starring Liev Schreiber, Diana Rigg and Toby Jones.

INLAND EMPIRE

Eerie horror from David Lynch, starring Laura Dern, Jeremy Irons, Justin Theroux and Harry Dean Stanton.

SKY DIGITAL

FANTASTIC FOUR: THE RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER

Sequel to the successful comic book-turned-film, starring Ioan Gruffudd, Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans, Jessica Alba and Laurence Fishburne.

FLYBOYS

Action drama, starring James Franco, Jean Reno and Martin Henderson.

FACTORY GIRL

Sienna Miller stars as Edie Sedgwick, Sixties It girl and muse of US pop art legend Andy Warhol. Also starring Guy Pearce, Hayden Christensen, Jimmy Fallon and Mena Suvari.

SHOOTER

Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) is a former Marine sniper who’s asked to prevent the assassination of the President. But when realises he’s been set up, he has to find a way to prove his innocence. Also starring Danny Glover.