Paramount, the studio behind the new 'Transformers,' clarifies the strange events in Hong Kong.
By Kevin P. Sullivan
Radiation is serious—especially in Japan. With the country still dealing with a nuclear disaster, people need to protect themselves.
Source: http://kotaku.com/japan-gets-anti-radiation-swimwear-and-underwear-1446952616/@jcondliffeComposer Hans Zimmer and his colleagues on Rush -- Peter Asher and Lorne Balfe -- will discuss the music in the Ron Howard-directed hit film at the Billboard & Hollywood Reporter Film and TV Music Conference.
"Case Study: The Music of Rush" will explore Zimmer’s composing methods and recording techniques on the film about Formula 1 race car drivers Niki Lauda and James Hunt. ASCAP is sponsoring the Oct. 29 panel at the W Hotel in Hollywood
Rush is the latest film score from Zimmer, whose music has graced more than 100 movies that have grossed more than $22 billion at the worldwide box office. Honored with the ASCAP Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement, he has also received an Academy Award, two Golden Globes and four Grammy Awards.
Among his films are The Lion King, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Gore Verbinski’s Pirates of the Caribbean series; Christopher Nolan’s three Batman films, Howard’s The Da Vinci Code and Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave.
PHOTOS: 'Rush': Exclusive Photos of Ron Howard, Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl
Joining Zimmer will be Asher, the film’s music consultant and producer, and Balfe, a composer. Besides Rush, Asher produced the music for Zimmer’s scores to Pirates of the Caribbean 4, Sherlock Holmes 2, Madagascar 3 and Man of Steel.
Asher, one half of the pop duo Peter & Gordon, became head of A&R for Apple Records in 1968 and in 1971, founded Peter Asher Management, representing James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Randy Newman and others.
A producer as well, in 1977 and 1989 Asher received the Grammy for Producer of the Year and most recently produced Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s album Love Has Come For You. He also just completed a project for Elton John with current artists singing songs from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the album.
VIDEO: Hans Zimmer Conducts 12 Drummers for the 'Man of Steel' Soundtrack
Balfe, a composer from Inverness, Scotland, most recently scored Shane Salerno’s feature documentary Salinger. Known for his work on video games, his credits include Assassin’s Creed III and Beyond: Two Souls.
This year's Film and TV Music Conference's programming highlights include: Singer-songwriter and composer Randy Newman, who will deliver a keynote Q&A conducted by his son, Amos Newman, the head of music for visual media at William Morris Endeavor; T Bone Burnett, who will be honored with the Maestro Award for his seminal work in film and television music, most recently as executive music producer of the Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis; a keynote Q&A by music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas, whose credits include Scandal, Carrie Diaries and the upcoming film The Hunger Games: Catching Fire; director David O. Russell and music supervisor Sue Jacobs, who will discuss their work on the highly anticipated film American Hustle and last year’s award-winning Silver Linings Playbook; and the expansion of one-on-one meetings and single-topic roundtables with industry experts.
Please visit www.FilmandTVMusicConference.com for more information.
LONDON – The BBC is planning to name a controller of its VOD service, the BBC iPlayer, to effectively establish it as a fifth network of the U.K. public broadcaster, director of television Danny Cohen said here Tuesday evening.
His comments came during a Royal Television Society event following a big vision speech last week, in which new BBC director general Tony Hall outlined his strategy and priorities.
Cohen, who previously ran flagship network BBC One and now oversees all TV output of the broadcaster except for news, on Tuesday discussed the implications of Hall's plans.
In his first major speech since taking charge of the BBC in April, Hall had pledged to enhance the iPlayer on-demand and catch-up service, which is available online and on TV platforms, and simplify management structures, among other things. Hall was appointed last fall, less than two weeks after George Entwistle abruptly resigned as director general after only 54 days amid the fallout from the growing Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal.
Cohen said he would create a controller post for the iPlayer for an executive who will "sit alongside" the heads of the BBC's four TV channels. He added that he expects to know more about the role by January, with the BBC planning to "begin to see the iPlayer as our fifth channel."
Asked about Hall's plans to offer original content and channels on the iPlayer, Cohen said "we'll do a combination of permanent online channels and pop-up online channels." Pop-up channels would be tied to big events, such as the Wimbledon tennis tournament and the Glastonbury music festival, he explained. BBC's Radio 1 channel and arts could get a permanent channel on the iPlayer.
Original content on the iPlayer will come in the form of short-form content, mostly for younger audiences, among other things, Cohen said.
Hall said the need for original content on the iPlayer became apparent during a recent trip he made to Silicon Valley. Executives from such tech giants as Facebook and Google told him that the BBC had the best video player in the world. But to retain that position in the coming years was key, Cohen explained. "Part of the answer is partly how we curate it," he said.
The BBC's head of television was also questioned where the broadcaster would cut costs to reach a target of $160 million (£100 million) in annual savings mentioned by Hall. Cohen said the broadcast department and BBC News would be key targets for cuts, but added that he had no details to share yet.
Will broadband delivery of content supersede broadcast delivery in Britain any time soon? Cohen said he expects a hybrid model in the coming years, but "I think it will eventually." But he argued that would only happen in 10 years, maybe even more.
Asked about the state of U.K. TV dramas amid the popularity of Danish shows, such as The Bridge and Borgen, and U.S. hits, such as Breaking Bad, he said Britain has Sherlock, Call the Midwife, Downton Abbey and other hits.
Americans also often tell him that they find British drama great. Cohen argued that the debate about the health of drama in various countries seemed to be a case of the grass always seeming greener on the other side.
Asked about the ratings struggle of The Voice UK on BBC One on Saturdays, Cohen said the first two seasons both saw audience drops during the live stage of the singing competition. Still, the ratings have made it the BBC's biggest entertainment show launch since Strictly Come Dancing. Plus, the show attracts young audiences.
"It's bloody, bloody good for us," Cohen concluded. I have no particular concerns about The Voice."
Asked about commercial rival ITV, which has such hits as Downton Abbey, Broadchurch and The X Factor, Cohen said: "I think it's in fantastic shape." But he said that BBC One is also doing really well.
With both networks getting up to 10 million viewers for big shows despite a much smaller population in the U.K. than the U.S., the two broadcasters compare well to U.S. networks, he said. And he said the strength of both makes both more competitive. "It is definitely good for the BBC to have a strong ITV," Cohen argued.
The BBC TV boss was also quizzed about Tuesday morning's news that hit baking competition The Great British Bake Off would next season move from BBC Two to the flagship BBC One network. When shows get a certain audience size, they can get even more viewers on BBC One, Cohen explained. The same phenomenon happens when an Andy Murray tennis match moves from BBC Two to BBC One, he said.
"They tend in general to be bigger" in terms of audience reach when moving to BBC One, Cohen said. "Channels do still matter. I don't know why that is still the case. It is just a click of a button."
So, will Bake Off top its current 7 million or so viewers once it airs on BBC One? "I think it has a very good chance of doing that," Cohen said, citing the success of past moves to the flagship channel of such shows as The Apprentice and MasterChef.
Was BBC Two controller Janice Hadlow sad or mad about the show's move? "No channel controller likes it when that happens," Cohen said. "That's part of being a team player."
But he vowed not to dilute the show's voice and feel by moving it to the broader-based channel. "Our plan is not to change Bake Off at all," Cohen said.
E-mail: Georg.Szalai@THR.com
Twitter: @georgszalai
This, unfortunately, really happened. A Southern California woman, unsatisfied with the preparation of her fast food hamburger, decided that the best and most reasonable solution would be to call the police. Thanks Obama.
Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-weirdest-thing-on-the-internet-tonight-hamburger-9-1443952701After six weeks of dating, the actress and the dancer have called it quits! See more celeb pairs who are back to going solo.
Source: http://www.ivillage.com/gone-splitsville-celebrity-breakups/1-b-16462?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Agone-splitsville-celebrity-breakups-16462South Park was unable to meet its deadline for the first time in its 240+ episode history because of a power outage. That's 17 straight seasons of somehow making things work on a short deadline until now. What a bummer!
Comedy Central said:
“On Tuesday night, South Park Studios lost power. From animation to rendering to editing and sound, all of their computers were down for hours, and they were unable to finish episode 1704 Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Posers in time for air tonight.”
If you've seen the most excellent documentary The Making of South Park: 6 Days to Air, you'd know that Trey Parker and Matt Stone rush and crawl and sprint and spazz and lull and miraculously/frantically/insanely inch to the finish line just in time to air each episode. It's a ridiculous amount of work to make you laugh on time. And when a power outage creeps on to South Park, it'd obviously screw everything up. Not unlike losing Internet at work or your computer crashing before a term paper is due. This is what it looks like when it happens to South Park:
Yeah, that's about right. If you haven't seen the documentary, you should watch it instead of watching tonight's rerun. Or maybe watch one of the ten best South Park episodes. [Deadline]
