Isnin, 8 Julai 2013

The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

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The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

Coroner rules US scientist killed himself
US says S’pore suicide ruling on scientist ‘fair’
Seven workers killed and 15 hurt in India collapse

Coroner rules US scientist killed himself

Posted:

A SINGAPORE state coroner ruled that a US scientist found hanged in the city-state in 2012 committed suicide during a bout of depression and was not murdered as his family claims.

The body of 31-year-old electronics engineer Shane Todd was discovered by his girlfriend in his flat in June 2012, sparking a controversy that reached the highest levels of the Singapore and US governments after his parents refused to accept suicide findings by the Singapore police.

Todd's family say that he was murdered as part of a conspiracy involving a Chinese technology firm.

"The evidence before me ... compels me to find, beyond reasonable doubt, that the deceased had committed suicide by hanging himself," state coroner Chay Yuen Fatt said in his verdict on Todd's death.

The coroner's ruling cannot be appealed. It was limited by law to the cause of death and did not address the family's claims that Todd was murdered.

(FILES) This undated file handout photo made available to AFP on May 18, 2013 and provided in Singapore by Mary Todd shows her son Shane Todd, a high-tech researcher who died in Singapore in June, 2012. A Singapore state coroner ruled on July 8, 2013 that Todd, found hanged in the city-state in 2012, committed suicide and was not murdered, as his family claims. AFP PHOTO / Courtesy of MARY TODD / FILES---- EDITORS NOTE ----- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE MANDATORY CREDIT

The late Shane Todd

"The evidence was incontrovertibly consistent with asphyxia due to hanging," Chay told a packed court, adding that evidence presented during the two-week public inquest in May was "inconsistent with the possibility that there was foul play".

Chay said the evidence also showed that before his death, Todd had suffered a relapse of depression. Witnesses testified that Todd had suffered from the condition as a university student.

"His psychiatric condition included suicidal ideations of an overall increasing severity over the last few months of his life, which he had masked from the people around him," Chay said.

Todd's parents say he was murdered as part of a conspiracy involving his former employer, Singapore's state-linked Institute of Microelectronics (IME), and Chinese technology firm Huawei Technologies.

IME and Huawei said they only held preliminary talks on a potential project with commercial applications, but did not proceed.

The death of the American scientist was first thrust into the spotlight after the Financial Times reported in February that Todd's family suspected he was murdered because of his work on a joint project with Huawei involving gallium nitride, a semiconductor material with military and commercial applications.

Singapore quickly moved to dispel allegations that it had improper ties with Huawei and vowed to conduct a transparent investigation into the case. Police investigators in the city-state subsequently shared information with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. — AFP

US says S’pore suicide ruling on scientist ‘fair’

Posted:

THE US government said a Singapore coroner's inquiry which ruled that an American scientist committed suicide in the city-state in 2012 was "comprehensive, fair, and transparent".

The US embassy in Singapore said Shane Todd's family, who insist he was murdered, "was given the opportunity to participate in the hearing and was represented by experienced Singapore legal counsel".

"The inquiry into Dr Todd's death was comprehensive, fair, and transparent," the embassy said in a statement on the findings.

Officers from the embassy attended the two-week inquiry in May and were with the Todd family during their time in Singapore, the statement said.

The family walked out before the hearings ended, saying they had lost faith in the process.

US Ambassador to Singapore David Adelman also met with the family in December 2012 and May 2013, the embassy said.

"The coroner heard testimony from a wide range of witnesses in open court and received evidence in the form of written statements and records," the statement said. — AFP

Seven workers killed and 15 hurt in India collapse

Posted:

SECUNDERABAD (India): The wall of a two-storey hotel collapsed in this southern Indian city, killing at least seven restaurant workers and injuring 15 others, local police officials said.

Rescue workers were searching through tonnes of rubble for those still trapped after the incident in Andhra Pradesh state, local police official Srinivasan said.

"Seven persons have been found dead so far after a nearby hotel collapsed early this morning, we are still trying to clear the rubble and find more people," Srinivasan said.

Nearly 25 people were working at the City Light Hotel, located on a busy road in Secunderabad, when the kitchen wall gave way, burying staff under debris, local police official B. Surender said.

Fifteen people were admitted to hospital, five of them with serious injuries, Surender said. It was unclear how many people were still trapped under the rubble.

"The building was very old and the walls showed cracks, according to people working nearby," he added.

Rescue workers used diggers, cranes and electric cutters to try to clear the debris, as family members of the hotel workers waited at the site for news.

Several buildings have collapsed in India in recent months, many of them apartment blocks in the financial capital Mumbai, including one in April that killed 74 people.

The collapses have highlighted pervasive poor construction standards in the country, where massive demand for housing and endemic corruption often result in illegal buildings and a lack of safety inspections. — AFP

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews

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The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews

Meet the Jaeger meisters
The bigger the better
Tell-tale signs that a movie could be a flop

Meet the Jaeger meisters

Posted:

While they are no A-listers, Pacific Rim features some of the brighter stars in Hollywood, dedicated to their craft and all focused on making this movie a success.

RINKO KIKUCHI as Mako Mori, the new pilot out for revenge

"The armour that I wore as pilot in the Conn-pod (cockpit) was heavy. And then we had to wear a mechanical arm for the fight sequence. Guillermo (del Toro) made it really heavy so that the performance would look real. By the end of the shoot, I became a true Jaeger pilot."

GUILLERMO DEL TORO, the visionary director of Pacific Rim

"A good movie must have three things – plot, information and character. Now, to balance all three is difficult. The final screenplay for Pacific Rim was 135-pages long, which is 40 more minutes (from the final cut of the movie). So, when writing a script, you have to write in a way that there are modular things that you can move around. In my opinion, you write the movie in the editing room, really."

CHARLIE HUNNAM as Raleigh Becket, a down-and-out pilot out to prove himself ... again

"The process of acting in an environment that is virtual was a scary process initially. But when I got to work, I realised the interaction with human beings is most important. If you have got good actors showing up prepared, and ready to do the scenes, that's all you need as an actor. The green screen is of secondary importance."

RON PERLMAN as Hannibal Chau, the flamboyant dealer selling Kaiju body parts in the Hong Kong black market

"Things you long for as an actor are to be challenged and to be presented with different forms of humanity to explore. And every single time I have worked with (del Toro), he has asked for something new. He told me he wanted Hannibal to have a lot of flair, to be theatrical."

IDRIS ELBA as Stacker Pentecost, the commander overseeing the Jaeger Programme

"(My character) is a lifelong soldier and a natural-born leader. No matter how big the problem is, his attitude is, 'I'm going to find a way to fix this'. As a strategist and a soldier, his only job is to figure out how to survive and win."

CHARLIE DAY as Dr Newton Geiszler, the biologist who both studies monsters and is a Kaiju groupie

"I knew the studio wanted me to bring some comedy to this movie and my greatest fear was that they were going to fill the script with fart jokes. Guillermo (del Toro) is always pushing me to play it almost as straight as I could. The challenge was to never make it too funny that I looked out of place in this movie. But also, hopefully, not to be too straight that the audience is disappointed that they don't get to see me being funny."

Related story:

The bigger the better

Posted:

Award-winning director Guillermo del Toro goes big, literally, with Pacific Rim.

SOME three years ago, things were looking bleak for Guillermo del Toro. The acclaimed Mexican director was enlisted to direct the prequels to The Lord Of The Rings; he spent two years designing the world of Middle-earth as he envisioned it for The Hobbit movies. Then, he pulled out, stating delays as the main reason for bowing out. (Rumour has it that Peter Jackson, who was producing the films, was meddling too much.)

Del Toro quickly moved on to another project he has been lobbying for years – At The Mountains Of Madness, adapted from the H.P. Lovecraft novella. Even with Tom Cruise and James Cameron onboard, as actor and producer respectively, the studio eventually dropped the project, with budget constraint cited as one of the reasons.

"Mountains is the hardest experience I had to deal with in the 20 years of my career," sighs del Toro. "When the movie collapsed, I was crushed."

But he didn't have much time to wallow in self-pity. The director moved on very quickly to the next project, Pacific Rim. Now, for a fanboy of Japanese anime and all things monsters and robots, this project was right up del Toro's alley.

"When I read the screenplay (for Pacific Rim), I said, let's do it!" the 48-year-old director tells Star2 in an interview in San Francisco.

So, when he got news that Mountains Of Madness had been dropped on a Friday (del Toro admitted to crying over the weekend), he started working on Pacific Rim the following Monday.

In Pacific Rim, the world is at the brink of destruction, no thanks to legions of Kaiju (Japanese for giant beast), which have risen from the sea and are hell-bent on destroying the world.

To battle these monstrous beasts, giant robots, called Jaegers, are built to go head-to-head with them. These Jaegers are controlled by two pilots who move in tandem with each other – physically and mentally. Their minds are in sync via a neural bridge called The Drift; so the more the pilots bond, the better the Jaeger works.

When the frequency of attacks by the Kaiju increase and Jaegers fall one by one at the hands of the nasty beasts, governments of the world lose faith in mankind's warrior robots.

One final push is needed to help save the world and it is down to a washed-up former pilot, Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam), and a newbie, Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), to pair up to stop the apocalypse.

The first order of the day for del Toro was designing the Jaegers and Kaiju. And boy, did he have fun with it!

"We designed the Jaegers and Kaiju in my house. I have something like eight drawing tables in my house, so I would lock the artist inside the room and let them work and meet at lunch time to bounce ideas back and forth. I'm obsessive compulsive and everything in the movie has to go through me," del Toro shares.

Hunnam, who has been to del Toro's house, can attest to the director's obsession with monsters. "First of all, let me tell you, his house is amazing; it's like something from The Addams Family, book cases would open up to rooms and he has monster figurines everywhere. So, when I was at his place to talk about this movie, the artists were there sketching and he showed me a sketch of a robot and said, 'You will be the pilot. You will be inside the head of this robot!' In 15 minutes, I said I was on board," remembers Hunnam.

Hunnam signed on to star in Pacific Rim without even reading the script. The prospect of working with del Toro was enough for the actor.

"There's a handful of directors, 10 maybe 15, who are truly on top of their game. In this generation of filmmakers, Guillermo is one of them and I think he is a true master of his craft. He just makes truly wonderful, brilliant, colourful movies that are rich and textured, and most importantly, he makes films with complete integrity," Hunnam, who stars in the TV series Sons Of Anarchy, says.

Screenwriter Travis Beacham echoes Hunnam's sentiment: "(Del Toro) loves monster movies, so we were playing in his sandbox. He came at the project with a genuine passion for the material, which I think was vital to the soul of the movie."

The love del Toro has for monsters was evident at both times Star2 met him during this junket. He doesn't only talk about Kaiju, he waxes lyrical about them.

"It was a project that encompassed every single thing on my wish list, visually, atmospherically and emotionally," del Toro says.

"In making this film, my craft, experience and rigour were those of a 48-year-old man, but my heart was that of an 11-year-old."

To achieve the stunning effects in Pacific Rim, del Toro turned to the wizards at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). He gave them (Spanish artist) Goya's The Colossus artwork as visual reference and his keywords to ILM were: Theatrical and operatic. (If he saw an effect that didn't agree with him, del Toro would send it back to ILM, saying, "This is like a Saturday night with my wife; not that exciting.").

And del Toro got what he ordered. Every raindrop and crashing wave were meticulously created to del Toro's specifications. "It was important to me that water becomes the third character in the movie (after the Kaiju and Jaeger)."

And just because it is special effects-heavy, del Toro wasn't interested in making every shot "unique and cool".

He reasons: "I wasn't making a car commercial!" So, del Toro told the director of photography, Guillermo Navarro (who also worked on Pan's Labyrinth, earning him an Oscar for Best Cinematography), that for the fight sequences between the Kaijus and Jaegers, he wanted angles from a helicopter or a boat; to make it look as though it was live footage.

A lifelong fan of Ishiro Honda, the Japanese filmmaker who directed the original Godzilla movies, del Toro wanted to pay homage to him as well as all the monster movies he grew up watching and loving.

"I wanted to make a movie by a fan, not a fan movie. So, there are certain scenes, like the Kaiju destroying the cities while the people are running, that are a nod to monster movies I love. But, I also want to show the audience things they haven't seen before, and you will see a lot of that here. So, yes, I'm honouring the tradition (of retro monster movies), but a lot of it is my own take on this tradition," del Toro explains.

A renowned auteur, whose claim to international fame is the fantasy drama Pan's Labyrinth, del Toro has not put out a movie as a director in the last five years (instead, he produced hit movies such as Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss In Boots as well as the recent horror flick Mama).

Pacific Rim is his first foray into the "blockbuster" arena. Budget allocated for this movie was roughly US$200mil (RM640mil).

The price tag didn't scare him one bit. Going into this movie, the director didn't feel too stressed out at the thought of the size of the movie. "I don't make a movie hoping it will be nominated for the Oscars, or that I hope it will do well at the box-office.

"What I think of is myself; I gotta do what I like doing because you are giving it three years of your life. Is Pacific Rim worth giving three years of my life to? My answer is absolutely yes."

Pacific Rim opens in cinemas nationwide on July 11.

Related story:

Meet the Jaeger meisters

Tell-tale signs that a movie could be a flop

Posted:

landed in theatres recently with a thud. Blowing up much of the Beltway, it costs US$150mil (RM450mil) but the film only eked out a US$25.7mil (RM77.1mil) opening despite boasting the triple threat of Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx and

This week saw the debut of The Lone Ranger, which rode into theatres on a flurry of bad reviews and damaging reports about a bursting budget and production snafus. Of course, like World War Z, another film that was plauged by trouble on the set stories, The Lone Ranger could overcome the bad buzz to be a solid box officer earner. It's just that not every film is so lucky.

Just ask Will and Jaden Smith's whose father-son adventure After Earth crash landed with audiences and critics; or poor Taylor Kitsch, who had the ignominious distinction of starring in not one, but two back-to-back bombs with Battleship and John Carter.

Nearly every preview for would-be blockbusters these days promises moviegoers a non-stop thrill ride guaranteed to leave them flattened, floored and gasping at the sheer wonder of all that CGI and star power. Look closer, however, and there are certain tell-tale signs that a studio knows it may have a turkey on its hands.

Every studio wants a movie to be a hit. Here are some signals that it won't be:

Critics can't review the film until after it opens

Sometimes a film is so unsalvageable that studios won't even let critics get their talons into it until after a film debuts. So if your local paper carries a notice that such and such a film can't be reviewed because there were no advance screenings, cancel the babysitter and call off plans to hit the multiplex.

That kind of treatment is reserved for movies that are so bad, studios know the reviews will only add fuel to the bad-word-of-mouth fire. Think of the much-panned Movie 43, or the Ashton Kutcher-Katherine Heigl dud Killers (pic below), or the Daniel Craig horror film Dream House, which was frightening for all the wrong reasons. None of those films got reviewed until after opening day. Get the drift?

The Killers

The ever-shifting release date

When a studio plans to release a movie during blockbuster or awards season, only to change course and reschedule for, say, early spring or mid-fall, that usually signals big problems.

It either means a movie isn't good enough to snag an Oscar or lacks what it takes to compete with the other popcorn movies. Either way, it's rarely an endorsement.

Exceptions: The Great Gatsby which had many Hollywood watchers smelling a bomb when it was punted out of Oscar season and into this summer. Yes, critics hated it, but audiences embraced it to the tune of more than US$300mil (RM900mil) at the worldwide box office.

A similar strategy reaped dividends for World War Z, which brought in the Lost team of Damon Lindelof and Drew Goddard after filming had wrapped to craft a new ending. The costly bet required a move from winter 2012 to the summer of 2013, but the filmmakers were rewarded with big box office takings worldwide and counting. Some things are worth the wait.

It's green

Green Hornet and Green Lantern both came out summer 2011, both cost a lot of money, and both bombed. Add to the list, 2010's Green Zone, a big-budget Iraq War action movie that discovered that – shock of shocks – audiences go to the movies to escape real world problems.

Still don't see a pattern? Try 2003's Hulk and 2008's The Incredible Hulk.

Green is great for the environment. At the box office, it's toxic. Exception: The Avengers, which did feature a big green monster but widely avoided the colour in its title.

Eddie Murphy is in it

Yeah, he was a comic genius – back in the time of Iran Contra and acid wash jeans. But too many dumb kiddie movies have made Eddie Murphy box office poison.

With a resume stocked with flops like Meet Dave, A Thousand Words and, drum roll please, The Adventures Of Pluto Nash, it's a wonder the former-funnyman continues to get work. Shrek and Dreamgirls sure feel like a long time ago.

Katherine Heigl is in it

Poor Izzie. If only you'd never left Seattle Grace Hospital. That's because losing the medical scrubs has been nothing short of a disaster for the once-promising Heigl.

Don't believe us? Why don't you rent Killers or One For The Money ... and don't worry, there won't be a wait on Netflix for either one.

It's a "Big Budget Passion Project"

Throwing a lot of money at a talented auteur or actor usually results in one of two outcomes: the studio doesn't trust its creative team enough and over-interferes, creating an unsalvageable mishmash of the filmmaker's unique vision and the studio's desperate desire to make it appeal to the widest possible audience (see: The Fountain), or a creative genius has too much clout and gets all the cash and freedom to do what they want (see: Cloud Atlas, Battlefield Earth and everything M. Night Shyamalan has done since 2006).

Exception: Anything James Cameron touches. Just write the cheque Hollywood and leave him in peace.

Poster or trailer proclaims "From the producer of..."

Ask yourself: do you even know what a producer does? They might as well say from the craft services team behind Twilight or the grip who helped light The Phantom Menace. — Reuters

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

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The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

One tough fairy
Kim looks ahead
King of his 'Castle'

One tough fairy

Posted:

A new character on True Blood is set to steal audiences' hearts.

MOVE over Bill Compton, there is a new man in Sookie Stackhouse's life and he is not going away anytime soon. Joining the often-naked cast of True Blood is British actor Rob Kazinsky, who plays Ben Flynn, a fairy who also happens to be Sookie's latest love interest.

Speaking to a group of reporters via tele-conference from Los Angeles recently, 29-year-old Kazinsky turned on his boyish charm as he spoke about his latest gig and more importantly, the nudity it involves.

"I've always felt that if the character is getting naked, you should get naked. As a viewer, I always feel that nothing takes you out of the reality of a show than somebody holding a vase in front of their private parts," said Kazinsky with a laugh.

True Blood, currently in its sixth season, is notorious for its explicit nude scenes, and Kazinsky – who had buffed up for his role in the movie Pacific Rim – was confident about his looks ... until he met Joe Manganiello who plays werewolf Alcide Herveaux on the show.

"I used to think that I was in good shape. I had to put on lots of muscles for Pacific Rim, and I was proud of how I looked. Then I came to set and sat next to Joe on my first day and I had scenes with Ryan Kwanten with his shirt off and I was like 'Well, there's only so much you could do before genetics do everything else'.

Of course, Kazinsky was downplaying his looks. He is one of the most good looking people on television right now and was already a heart throb when he played Sean Slater on EastEnders, a popular soap opera on British television.

His contract on the show was not renewed in 2009 after a sex scandal, which proved to be a blessing in disguise. Kazinsky packed up for Hollywood and has not looked back since.

Although he is a newbie on the True Blood set, Kazinsky said that he doesn't feel like the odd one out when working with the crew.

"I knew a few of the guys on the set anyway, I knew Ryan – we run into each other during auditions all the time and have mutual friends with Joe, I knew a lot of the people anyway so it was not like as if I was walking into unknown territory. They were all unbelievably kind and inviting.

Kazinsky had not watched any episode of True Blood before the audition and admitted that he had to undergo a two-and-a-half day "crash course" on the series once he got the part.

"It's not one of the shows you can have on in the background; you really have to dedicate your time and for that reason I wanted to save up time to watch it."

And the wait proved its worth. He loves the show and is now an avid fan.

Although his character only made a short appearance on True Blood (at the time of the interview) Kazinsky said that episodes four and five are pivotal for Ben.

"You're going to find out a lot more about who he is and why he is (the way he is) and where he comes from."

If that's not cryptic enough, Kazinsky also added that there's a reason as to why the producer specifically cast him for the role.

"There's a reason why they cast me (a big, masculine guy) and not a 100 pound guy. And Ben also like everybody has a dark side and what True Blood do so well is creating characters of grey of rather than black and white. So there are other sides to him.

"I really hope that the audience will get behind him and I really hope that they'll stick around long enough to see him show the other sides to his character as well."

Although Kazinsky wouldn't reveal Ben's ulterior motives on the show, he was willing to share his character's development where Sookie is concerned.

"I think Ben is the first character that she's met who is a good guy, means well and has a good heart. He's the first chance she has ever had for equality and happiness with somebody who doesn't want to use her.

"Obviously Ben's relationships with Sookie's exes are exploited and he does butt heads with Bill and Eric over the course of the season."

But who did Kazinsky feel was best suited for Sookie before Ben entered the picture?

"I liked Eric for Sookie. There was a balance. Sookie is best for Eric, but Ben is best for Sookie," he said.

Playing a fairy is definitely a departure from all the other characters he's portrayed so far, and it isn't exactly the most masculine genus in the supernatural world. However, Kazinsky said that he wouldn't want it any other way.

"There's obviously a great attraction in being a werewolf or a vampire but having the opportunity to add more depth to fairies, to make them more appealing, and perhaps make them equally attractive, that's the important part to me. I've always wanted to be a fairy but a fairy who was a raving bad a** at the same time.

"If I had told people at 16, that I wanted to be an actor, I would've probably been beaten up but they wouldn't be remotely surprised if I said that I wanted to be a fairy," he said with a chuckle.

Well, with a big-budget movie slated to premiere and a role in a hit television series, Kazinsky hopes that this would be his "year". Nevertheless, he is aware of the impact the fame would have on his personal life.

"I was a recognisable person in England and I struggled with that for a long time. I didn't not enjoy it. (Fame) is not why you get into the industry, but accept that it's a by-product of," he said.

However, he knows that there are ways to put his fame to good use. "Giving a minute of your day to sign autographs or pose for pictures can make somebody's whole day. And that is an unbelievably privileged position to be in and to be able to give a little bit of happiness without doing too much.

"And I think the main problem in this entire entertainment industry is that a lot of people treat it as something for themselves – the fame is for their ego. A lot of people forget that the reason we make films and TV shows is to make other people happy, and that is something I will never, ever lose sight of."

Season Six of True Blood premieres tonight at 10pm on HBO (Astro Ch 411/HD Ch 421).

Kim looks ahead

Posted:

Actor Kim Nam-gil has returned to the small screen in KBS' Don't Look Back: The Legend Of Orpheus after an almost three-year hiatus.

Don't Look Back is Kim's first television drama since completing mandatory military service last year in July.

"I felt that a lot would have changed during those three years, but while working on Don't Look Back I came to feel that not much had changed at all," said Kim, 32.

Of what he learned while away from the camera, Kim said, "You could say my work in The Great Queen Seondeok made me famous and I think there was a moment when I could have let all that go to my head. But during those years of military service, I focused on finding happiness in the little things and returning to that initial feeling of joy of just being able to act."

Kim confessed to being concerned about how he would differentiate his new character from that of his previous role.

In Don't Look Back, Kim plays an anti-hero out to avenge his father's murder, a role not unlike that of his work on SBS' Bad Boy, where he played a stuntman determined to exact revenge on the family that ruined his life.

"You could draw similarities between the characters from Bad Boy and Don't Look Back," Kim said.

"The biggest challenge I face is surpassing my role in Bad Boy," he said. "At the moment, I am tackling my role with the goal of being up to par with the quality of work I did in Bad Boy."

"In truth, I really do want to play lighthearted roles. I personally think I would be good in a romantic comedy and it is a genre that I like. However, I am drawn to characters that possess emotional scars and have traumatic pasts," said Kim of his tendency to latch onto heroes with bad boy personas.

In the drama, Kim's hero, Han Yi-soo, loses his father before narrowly avoiding death himself.

Scarred by his past, Han (Kim Nam-gil) carefully plots his revenge, amassing wealth and power as the adopted son of a wealthy and influential businessman in Japan before returning to Korea after 12 years of absence.

Co-star Son Ye-jin plays Han Yi-soo's first love, Cho Hae-woo. Believing Han to be long-deceased, Cho, determined to uncover the truth behind his case, eschews her duties as a hotel heiress to become a prosecutor.

Like Kim, Son is returning to the small screen after nearly three years to star in the upcoming "mystery and melodrama".

"This is our second time working together," Son, 31, revealed, explaining that the first time she met Kim was when they starred in an advertisement together.

Co-star Lee Honey puts in her two cents on Kim, saying that unlike his characters Kim was very playful and "really brings life to the set."

"Kim Nam-gil is a real joker off duty," said Don't Look Back director Park Chan-hong. "You know, life is long and if you want to have a good time you need someone like him around."

King of his 'Castle'

Posted:

Nathan Fillion shares about working with Joss Whedon and being Canadian.

Nathan Fillion is enjoying the best of two worlds. He's the engaging and sexy star of Castle, the hit TV series about a crime novelist who helps the NYPD solve its toughest cases. And he's a cult legend, thanks to his starring role in the 2002 TV series Firefly, which died a quick death but, thanks to fan pressure, was resurrected as the 2005 film Serenity.

The 42-year-old Alberta, Canada native, who has a gift for light comedy, has also been a reliable presence in such well-received indie movies as Slither and Waitress. And in Much Ado About Nothing, director Joss Whedon's engaging contemporary version of the Shakespeare play, Fillion is a hoot in the cameo role of Dogberry, a pompous night constable. (Fillion also voices a character in Monsters University, which is now playing in cinemas nationwide.)

How long has it been since you performed in a Shakespeare play?

I did Shakespeare in high school, and then I did it when we would go to Joss' house for a Shakespeare brunch. He would cast a play, and we would sit in his backyard with brunch and read Shakespeare, and he said "One day, we're gonna film one of these."

What was it like, performing in that archaic, flowery language?

I'm not a huge Shakespeare fan. I have found it to be a little hoity-toity, a little moody. The secret to Shakespeare is understanding it. Sometimes, when I watch Shakespeare, I see someone who's just speaking it really fast. But Much Ado About Nothing has a lot of meaning, all you have to do is pay attention, and you will understand. It's not a different acting technique. I was looking at my lines getting stressed, and then, I just took a step back and said I wanted to know exactly what I was saying, and that was the key.

You seem to have a really light comic touch in most of the things you do. How did you achieve that?

That's something I've learnt over the years. It's difficult to make someone laugh, and there's no way to do it without being viewed as if you're trying too hard. I've always found it easier to make someone laugh at you. Don't try to be funny, say things as if they're true, even if it makes you look stupid. You don't know you look stupid.

You're one of the many Canadian actors who has moved south to make a living in their trade. Why is that?

This is the entertainment capital. If you want to be in this field, this is where the work is. There is work in other countries, but not as much as here. Is it more difficult? Yeah. Y'all don't want us here. Visas, green cards, that's something that's real. And a lot of us have a regional dialect.

What about you is most Canadian?

It's when I'm in a crowd ... whether it's at a lineup in a bank, in a restaurant, any place where your actions are going to have an effect on the people around you. There is a Canadian consideration; we try to be more considerate. We are aware of the effect we have on other people.

You've just wrapped the fifth season of Castle, which has been renewed for a sixth season. To what do you attribute the show's success?

It's successful because it's a little lighthearted. We do dramatic episodes, but it's the lighter fare that keeps people coming back. We have got some great jokes going.

You're also the beneficiary of the Firefly cult, with a fan base that is as rabid now as it was when the show first came out. What's that like?

I've done a lot of different projects that have garnered a lot of different fan bases, but I have never experienced anything like the Firefly fan base. They will seek you out in whatever you are doing. They will see whatever you do, and I am very grateful for that. That's a gift Joss Whedon gave me. He knew all along what was happening, because of the successes he had with Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel. He knew what he was doing; he would say "get ready, buddy".

Since you've worked for Whedon in Buffy, Firefly and now Much Ado, you must know what makes him special. What is it?

He is a man who is incredibly talented, and it's obvious he loves to tell stories. If you want a successful project, just hand it to Joss and walk away. – Newsday/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

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The Star Online: World Updates

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The Star Online: World Updates

U.S. mulls leaving no American troops behind in Afghanistan
Japan says faces increasing threats from China, North Korea
Asiana plane was far below target speed before San Francisco crash

U.S. mulls leaving no American troops behind in Afghanistan

Posted:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is considering leaving no American troops behind in Afghanistan after the planned 2014 withdrawal date, U.S. officials said on Monday, amid ongoing tensions between the President Barack Obama's administration and Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government.

Obama is committed to wrapping up U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, but the United States has been talking with officials in Afghanistan about keeping a small residual force there of perhaps 8,000 troops after next year.

U.S. officials did not deny a report in the New York Times that Obama has become increasingly frustrated by his dealings with Karzai, with their fraying relationship falling to new depths after last month's U.S. move to open peace talks with the Taliban.

A June 27 video conference between Obama and Karzai aimed at lowering tensions ended poorly, the Times reported on its website, citing U.S. and Afghan officials with knowledge of the conversation.

The Times reported that Karzai accused the United States of trying to forge a separate peace with the Taliban and its Pakistani supporters in an arrangement that would expose Karzai's government to its enemies.

Since the video conference, a full military pullout from Afghanistan like the one from Iraq has been transformed from a "worst-case scenario" to an option "under serious consideration in Washington and Kabul," the Times reported.

U.S. officials, asked about the report, pointed reporters to a comment by Ben Rhodes, the deputy White House national security adviser, who said in January that the "zero option" of leaving no troops behind is "an option that we would consider." The comment still stands, officials said.

Asked about the Times report, one senior Obama administration official said: "All options remain on the table but a decision is far from made."

The officials quoted by the Times said no decisions have been made on the pace and scale of the withdrawal.

The United States also had considered keeping a small force in Iraq after the broad troop withdrawal from that country, but talks with Iraqi leaders failed to yield such a deal.

"There's always been a zero option, but it was not seen as the main option," the Times quoted a senior Western official in Kabul as saying. "It is now becoming one of them, and if you listen to some people in Washington, it is maybe now being seen as a realistic path."

More than a dozen American troops were killed in Afghanistan last month.

The number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan — now around 63,000 — already is set to decline to 34,000 by next February, the Times noted. The White House has said the great majority of American forces would be out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

U.S. troops have been in Afghanistan since 2001. The United States invaded Afghanistan to topple the country's Taliban rulers who had harbored the al Qaeda network responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States weeks earlier.

(Reporting by Will Dunham, Phil Stewart and Steve Holland; Editing by Eric Walsh and Will Dunham)

Japan says faces increasing threats from China, North Korea

Posted:

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan faces increasingly serious threats to its security from an assertive China and an unpredictable North Korea, a defence ministry report said on Tuesday, as ruling politicians call for the military to beef up its ability to respond to such threats.

The report, the first since hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office vowing to boost Japan's defences, was likely to prompt a sharp response from Beijing, whose ties with Tokyo are strained by a territorial row.

China is also upset by remarks from Abe suggesting he wants to cast Tokyo's wartime history in a less apologetic tone.

"There are various issues and destabilising factors in the security environment surrounding Japan, some of which are becoming increasingly tangible, acute and serious," the annual defence white paper said.

"China has attempted to change the status quo by force based on its own assertion, which is incompatible with the existing order of international law," the report said, echoing recent comments by Abe and his cabinet.

"China should accept and stick to the international norms."

A Sino-Japanese dispute over rival claims to tiny East China Sea islets flared up last September after Japan nationalised the isles, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.

Japan has been gradually ratcheting up its expressions of concern about Beijing's military expansion. Last year's defence white paper, issued before the islands flare-up, flagged the risks of the army's role in shaping Chinese foreign policy.

Patrol ships from both countries routinely shadow each other near the islands, raising concerns that an unintended collision or other incident could lead to a broader clash.

"Some of China's activities involve its intrusion into Japan's territorial waters, its violation of Japan's territorial airspace and even dangerous actions that could cause a contingency, and are extremely regrettable," the paper said.

Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said in February that a Chinese naval vessel had locked its fire control radar on a Japanese destroyer. Directing such radar at a target can be considered a step away from actual firing.

China denied the warship had locked its radar on the Japanese vessel. But the white paper said Beijing's assertion was "inconsistent with the facts".

Abe returned to power for a rare second term after his ruling bloc won a general election late last year, promising to revive the economy and strengthen Japan's defences. He also wants to revise the post-World War Two pacifist constitution to legitimise the military, although winning support for contentious revisions is likely to take time.

BALANCE OF POWER

Japan is already bolstering defence of the disputed islands and this year raised its defence budget for the first time in 11 years.

The military is conducting joint drills with the United States, its main security ally, and fortifying defences against missile attacks, while the government is reviewing its mid-term defence policy.

Japan plans to draw up a new defence plan by December, and Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) submitted recommendations to the government last month that included looking into acquiring the capability to attack enemy targets.

Japan has long maintained that it has the right to strike enemy targets when an intention to attack Japan is clear, the threat is imminent and there are no other options.

But any sign that Japan is moving to obtain such capabilities could upset China and South Korea, where resentment against Japan's wartime aggression and colonisation runs deep.

The LDP also recommended that, in order to boost the defence of remote islands, the military should set up an amphibious Marines division equipped with tilt-rotor aircraft like the V-22 Osprey.

"The balance of power will be lost if we don't start considering striking back when attacked," said Osaka University professor Kazuya Sakamoto, who sits on a panel advising Abe on security policies.

"If we don't have weapons that reach an enemy, Japan cannot defend itself. It cannot maintain deterrence."

Such moves, Sakamoto added, should not unnerve China, with its arsenal of nuclear weapons.

Abe, whose LDP is expected to cement its grip on power in this month's upper house election, also wants to revise an interpretation of the constitution that bans using the right of collective self-defence, or aiding an ally under attack.

A panel set up during Abe's first 2006-7 term recommended that the ban be lifted in certain cases, such as intercepting ballistic missiles bound for the United States. A new committee of advisers is expected to reach similar conclusions.

North Korea launched a missile in December, stepping up the threat that the isolated, impoverished state poses to rivals. In February, it conducted a third nuclear test, which moved Pyongyang closer to developing long-range nuclear missiles.

"The launch of a missile ... showed that North Korea has advanced its technologies to extend the range and improve the accuracy of ballistic missiles," the white paper said.

Asiana plane was far below target speed before San Francisco crash

Posted:

SAN FRANCISCO/SEOUL (Reuters) - The role of the pilots in Saturday's crash of an Asiana Airlines plane in San Francisco came under increasing scrutiny on Monday as U.S. investigators began to interview them and released new details about the jet's dangerously slow air speed before it slammed into the ground.

The Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 was flying 39 miles per hour below its target speed of 158 mph in the moments before it crashed at San Francisco's international airport, National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Deborah Hersman said at a news conference in San Francisco.

Planes can stall at slow speeds, and Hersman said on Sunday a stall warning had sounded four seconds before the crash.

All four pilots from the flight were being interviewed on Monday by investigators from the NTSB and other agencies, Hersman said. Saturday's crash killed two teenage Chinese passengers and injured more than 180 other people.

The pilot at the controls, Lee Kang-kuk, was still training on Boeing 777 jets, the South Korean airline said, and his supervisor was making his first flight as a trainer. Lee had 43 hours of experience flying the long-range jet, Asiana said.

Lee Kang-kuk was making his first attempt to land a 777 at San Francisco's airport, although he had flown there 29 times previously on other types of aircraft, said South Korean Transport Ministry official Choi Seung-youn.

It was not clear whether the senior pilot, Lee Jung-min, who had clocked 3,220 hours on a Boeing 777, had tried to take over to abort the landing.

"All responsibilities lie with the instructor captain," Yoon Young-doo, the president and CEO of the airline, said at a news conference on Monday at the company's headquarters.

Hersman said her team was investigating all aspects of the crash and the rescue efforts. She noted that the tail of the plane had hit the seawall in front of the runway, and part of the tail and other debris had landed in the water. Bits of the seawall were found far down the runway, Hersman added.

She said the NTSB wants to get the facts straight about who was the "flying pilot" in this leg of the flight and "who was the pilot in command in the cockpit."

"We have to understand what these pilots knew. We also need to look at how they were flying the airplane. Were they hand-flying the airplane? Were they relying on auto pilot or some combination of the two of those - and how those systems worked, if they worked as designed, if the crew understood what they were supposed to do," Hersman said in a CNN interview.

But Hersman, whose agency takes the lead in finding the cause of U.S. air crashes, added: "I think it really is too early to conclude pilot error because there's so much that we don't know."

The NTSB had said on Sunday the plane was "significantly below" its intended air speed and its crew tried to abort the landing less than two seconds before it hit the seawall in front of the runway.

On Monday, Hersman offered fresh details, saying the plane was flying at just 119 miles per hour immediately prior to the accident, a full 25 percent slower than normal for the descent.

Hersman referred to the local coroner's office any questions on whether one of the two girls killed in the accident had been run over by a fire vehicle.

San Francisco Fire Department Chief Joanne Hayes White said on Monday: "We have information and evidence to suggest that one of our fire apparatus came into contact with one of the victims at the scene. We're working closely with the NTSB as they conduct their investigation, particularly on this aspect."

The coroner's office did not respond to inquiries about when the autopsy results might be released.

DRAMATIC RESCUE SCENE

San Francisco police and fire officials, at an airport news conference, described a dramatic scene in the moments after the crash, with firefighters quickly putting out an initial blaze and clambering up escape slides to help evacuate passengers.

San Francisco police officer Jim Cunningham, who colleagues said raced onto the plane without any protective gear, described freeing passengers as fire began to engulf the aircraft.

"People had injuries and some were just scared to move," Cunningham said. "When we were getting the last couple of people out, I started coughing. The cabin started filling up with smoke. A black billow of smoke came rushing towards us before we were just about to get off the plane."

Many passengers, especially at the front of the plane, were able to walk off easily. But emergency workers and passengers described a grim situation in other parts of the plane, with some passengers trapped among dislodged seats and an escape chute that had deployed inside the aircraft.

Eugene Rah, a concert producer who lives in the San Francisco suburb of Milbrea, described heroic efforts by a flight attendant he identified as Ji Yeon Kim.

"She was in tears, but she was telling everybody what to do," Rah said in an interview. "She was piggybacking other passengers."

Rah described a frustrating and disorganized situation in the hours after the crash, with survivors receiving little information or help from the airline or local authorities.

The charred aircraft remained on the airport tarmac on Monday as investigators collected evidence even as flight operations gradually returned to normal.

The two girls who died, Ye Mengyuan and Wang Linjia, were friends from the Jiangshan Middle School in Quzhou, located in the prosperous eastern coastal province of Zhejiang.

Ye, 16, had an easy smile, was an active member of the student council and had a passion for biology, the Beijing News reported. "Responsible, attentive, pretty, intelligent," were the words written about her on a recent school report, it said.

Wang, a year older than Ye, also was known as a good student and was head of her class, the newspaper said.

They were among a group of about 35 students on their way to attend a summer camp at the West Valley Christian School in West Hills, near Los Angeles. Pastor Glenn Kirby said the surviving students would now be returning home to China.

(Additional reporting by Gerry Shih, Alistain Barr, Sarah McBride, Ronnie Cohen, Poornima Gupta, Laila Kearney, Dan Levine, Peter Henderson, Kristina Cooke in San Francisco, Jonathan Allen and Barbara Goldberg in New York, Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Laura MacInnis in Washington; Writing by Jonathan Weber; Editing by Will Dunham)

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The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz

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The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz

Meet the Jaeger meisters
The bigger the better
Tell-tale signs that a movie could be a flop