Isnin, 16 September 2013

The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

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The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

Posted:

RESORTS World Sentosa's Marine Life Park has employed 36 trainers for its 24 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins ahead of the imminent opening of its Dolphin Island attraction.

This level of animal care appears to exceed that at several other dolphin attractions around the world.

Hong Kong's Ocean Park at one point had 40 trainers caring for 40 marine mammals, including 18 dolphins. In 2009, the Dubai Dolphinarium had two trainers for its four dolphins.

Currently, each of the dolphins in Resorts World Sentosa has a primary trainer of its own, with the others assist.

Speaking to reporters last Friday, the park's chief veterinarian Alfonso Lopez said that trainers, with their intimate knowledge of the dolphins, provide a crucial "first line of defence" in detecting anything amiss in their moods or health.

"The bond between dolphins and trainers is very important.

It is the key to preventing and managing problems."

Each morning, the dolphins are given full-body visual checks by the trainers, who are taught to look out for signs of problems in their behaviour or body language.

For instance, a dolphin with gastric flu might curl its pectoral fins closer to its body.

Trainers who sense that something is wrong will inform the park's four full-time vets.

Experts say that the stress while in captivity can make dolphins more susceptible to disease.

Some of these diseases, such as bacterial infections, cannot be detected with the naked eye. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Military to upgrade air defence

Posted:

THE Singapore Armed Forces will buy a new Aster-30 surface-to-air missile system, to boost Singapore's air defence shield.

Announcing the acquisition yesterday, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said that the advanced military forces in France and Italy already use the new system.

It is "many times more potent" than the current I-Hawk ground-based air defence system.

"The Aster will allow us to engage multiple threats simultaneously and from a longer distance," Ng told the Parliament.

He added that the new sys-tem will complement a mobile and shorter-range ground-based air defence system known as Spyder.

He was responding to Nee Soon GRC MP Lim Wee Kiak on the Republic of Singapore Air Force's (RSAF) operational readiness with the planned relocation of Paya Lebar Airbase to Changi East at around 2030.

Dr Ng did not say how much the move, which was announced last month, would cost.

The RSAF is also looking to upgrade its fighter fleet, such as modernising the avionics system and extending the lifespan of the F-16s.

The advanced capabilities being built up gave Mindef and SAF the confidence to move Paya Lebar Airbase.

This was following a 2011 study of capabilities and security threats for the long term, Ng said.

"We satisfied ourselves that our security would not be compromised.

"The relocation of PLAB could take place after existing airbases at Changi East and Tengah have been expanded to accommodate relocated assets and facilities," he said.

He added that the move will be costly.

However, it will yield "billions of dollars' worth of positive returns to the people in Singapore" in terms of land released for de-velopment and the removal of height restrictions in the area. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: World Updates

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The Star Online: World Updates

Gunman opens fire at Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., 13 dead
Japan wants to consider lowering nuclear dependence - trade minister
Wrecked cruise ship Costa Concordia raised off rocks in Italy

Gunman opens fire at Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., 13 dead

Posted:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. military veteran opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday in a burst of violence that killed 13 people, including the gunman, and set off waves of panic at the military installation just miles from the White House and U.S. Capitol.

The FBI identified the suspect as Aaron Alexis, 34, of Fort Worth, Texas, a Navy contractor who had two gun-related brushes with the law. He was discharged from the Navy Reserve in 2011 after a series of misconduct issues, a Navy official said.

He was killed in one of several gun battles with police after he entered the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters about 8:20 a.m. (1220 GMT) and started picking off victims in a cafeteria from a fourth-floor atrium, witnesses said.

That set off pandemonium, with fire alarms sounding and security officers yelling at people to leave the building. Hundreds fled, some scrambling over walls to escape the gunfire. A loudspeaker announcement ordered those who remained to stay in their offices.

The motive remained unknown. He was armed with an AR-15 military-style assault rifle, a double-barrelled shotgun and a handgun, a federal law enforcement source said.

Eight people were injured including three who were shot, Washington Mayor Vincent Gray said. Those killed were aged 46 to 73, he said. Investigations continued into the circumstances of their deaths.

Investigators earlier were pursuing a possible second gunman but later said there were no suspects beyond Alexis. The incident has raised questions about security at the Washington Navy Yard, about a mile (1.6 km) south of the U.S. Capitol and 3 miles (5 km) from the White House.

Alexis, a contract employee, had legitimate access to the Navy Yard and used a valid pass, the FBI said. Authorities did not address how he could have sneaked weapons onto the base.

Police patrol officers and active shooter teams put an end to the rampage, shooting Alexis dead. Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier said the gun battles produced acts of heroism she could not yet reveal.

"Everybody was panicking and trying to decide which way to get out. A few of us just ran out the side exit," Patricia Ward, who works at the Navy Yard, told reporters.

Security guards told people to "run, run, run," Ward said.

It was the worst attack at a U.S. military installation since U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan opened fire on unarmed soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, killing 13 people and wounding 31 others. Hasan, who said he acted in retaliation for U.S. wars in Muslim countries, was convicted and sentenced to death by a military jury in August.

"We are confronting yet another mass shooting, and today it happened at another military installation, in our nation's capital," said U.S. President Barack Obama, who vowed to enact "sensible" gun control measures after a gunman shot dead 20 school children and six adults at an elementary school in Connecticut in December.

INTEREST IN BUDDHISM, THAILAND

Alexis, a one-time Texas resident who was known to worship at a Buddhist temple, served in the military and most recently was furthering his education while holding a job in the private sector, his father, Algernon Alexis, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"This comes as a complete shock," the elder Alexis said when told his son was the suspected shooter.

Alexis served full time in the U.S. Navy Reserve from May 2007 to January 2011, becoming an aviation electrician, and he received the National Defence Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, a Navy official told Reuters.

He was recently hired as a civilian information technology contractor to work on the Navy and Marine Corps intranet and was given a security clearance classified as "secret," his company's chief executive told Reuters.

"He did have a secret clearance. And he did have a CAC (common access card)," said Thomas Hoshko, CEO of the company, called The Experts.

Alexis was arrested on September 4, 2010, in Fort Worth, Texas, on a misdemeanour charge of discharging a firearm but the case was dropped when investigators determined he was cleaning his gun and it accidentally fired, Tarrant County prosecutors said.

He was also arrested in Seattle in 2004 for shooting out a construction worker's car tires in an anger-fuelled "blackout" triggered by perceived "disrespect," according to the Seattle Police Department.

In recent years, he developed a love for Thai culture, learning to speak the language and working at the Happy Bowl restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2008, said Tiki Confer, 64, owner of another Thai restaurant nearby. He worshipped at a Buddhist temple, she said.

"He was a very nice boy. When I saw his picture on the news, I was shocked," Confer told Reuters.

The shooting rattled the U.S. capital, forcing the Federal Aviation Administration to briefly suspend departures at Reagan National Airport. The District of Columbia Public Schools put six schools and an administration building on lockdown as a precaution.

The Washington Nationals baseball team postponed their game against the Atlanta Braves scheduled for Monday night at nearby Nationals Park.

Washington police chief Cathy Lanier said investigators lifted the "shelter in place" for neighbourhoods near the Navy Yard once they had exhausted all leads for a possible second shooter.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus called the Navy Yard shootings "an attack on the Navy family," and said the shooting revealed a potentially serious security breach.

Military personnel are generally banned from carrying weapons on military installations but most people with proper credentials are not routinely checked for firearms.

Navy Commander Tim Jirus, who was in charge of evacuating the building, said he wondered how the suspect gained access. "Right now a lot of people are wondering just how safe the building is or just how safe the office environment is."

(Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Susan Cornwell, Lacey Johnson, Margaret Chadbourn, Chris Francescani and Tabassum Zakaria; Writing by Daniel Trotta and Dina Kyriakidou; Editing by Grant McCool, Jim Loney and Jackie Frank)

Japan wants to consider lowering nuclear dependence - trade minister

Posted:

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's trade minister said on Tuesday the government would like to consider lowering the dependence on nuclear power two-and-a- half years after a massive earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima plant in northeast Japan.

All nuclear reactors in Japan went off line this week, for only the third time in more than three decades, after Kansai Electric Power Co shut down its Ohi No. 4 reactor for planned maintenance.

"We will keep the technology and personnel related to nuclear power and they must contribute to the world, but we would like to consider ways to lower our dependence on nuclear power," said Trade and Industry Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.

Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the crippled Fukushima plant, is battling to contain hundreds of tonnes of contaminated water accumulating at the site. The Japanese government pledged half a billion dollars this month to deal with the crisis.

(Reporting by Sumio Ito; Editing by Paul Tait)

Wrecked cruise ship Costa Concordia raised off rocks in Italy

Posted:

GIGLIO, Italy (Reuters) - Salvage crews completed raising the wreck of the Costa Concordia in the early hours of Tuesday morning after a 19-hour-long operation on the Italian island of Giglio where the huge cruise liner capsized in January last year.

One of the most complex and expensive maritime salvage operations ever attempted saw the 114,500-ton ship pulled upright by a series of huge jacks and cables and set on artificial platforms drilled into the rocky sea bed.

The operation was completed at around 03.00 a.m. British Time without any significant problems.

"The ship has been settled onto its platforms," Franco Gabrielli, the head of Italy's Civil Protection Authority, told reporters and a group of cheering residents who waited up into the early hours of the morning to hear the news.

"We have accomplished an important step towards removing the ship from the island," he said.

The Concordia, a 290-metre-long (950-foot-long) liner carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew, capsized and sank with the loss of 32 lives on January 13, 2012 after it struck rocks outside Giglio, where it has lain ever since, half-submerged on a rock shelf.

The vessel bore the marks of its long period on the rocks, with brown mud stains scarring the hull and clear signs of deformation to the structure.

After a salvage operation estimated to have cost more than 600 million euros (503.96 million pounds), the vast hulk will remain in place for some months more while it is stabilised and refloated before being towed away to be broken up for scrap.

The so-called "parbuckling" operation, in which the giant hulk was painstakingly rotated upright took longer than the 10-12 hours initially estimated but engineers said the project had gone exceptionally smoothly.

"The rotation happened the way we thought it would happen and the way we hoped it would happen," said Franco Porcellacchia, leader of Costa Cruise's technical team. "It was a perfect operation, I would say."

In contrast to the accident, a catalogue of mishap and misjudgement over which the Concordia's captain Francesco Schettino faces multiple charges, the salvage operation has so far been a tightly coordinated engineering feat.

It is expected to be the most expensive maritime wreck recovery ever, accounting for more than half of an overall insurance loss of more than $1.1 billion.

($1 = 0.7489 euros)

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews

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The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews

Willem Dafoe and Keanu Reeves to play hitmen
Gil Taylor and his colours of monochrome
Taylor Swift, Metallica and more at TIFF

Willem Dafoe and Keanu Reeves to play hitmen

Posted:

The thriller – John Wick – will stage a face-off between two friends who find themselves getting back into the murder business.

Keanu Reeves will play the title character in John Wick, a former hitman whose killing instincts are reawakened when a thug steals his 1969 Mustang and kills his dog, which was given to him by his late wife.

In the process of tracking down his aggressor, John discovers that he is up against a well-connected man, whose crime boss father places a price on John's head.

When the gangster chooses Marcus (Willem Dafoe) to take out John Wick, things get complicated: The two men were once colleagues and close friends, and Marcus supported John through the death of his wife.

The feature film will be the directorial debut of two experienced Hollywood stunt coordinators, David Leitch and Chad Stahelski.

Both men have each choreographed and performed stunts in several dozens of films, including The Hunger Games, The Expendables, The Wolverine and Parker. — AFP Relaxnews

Gil Taylor and his colours of monochrome

Posted:

The late Gilbert Taylor, who also shot Star Wars, was a master of black-and-white cinematography.

THE British cinematographer Gilbert Taylor, who died aged 99 on Aug 23, was best known for his camerawork on the first Star Wars movie (1977). Though its special effects and set designs somewhat stole his thunder, it was Taylor who set the visual tone of George Lucas's six-part space opera.

"I wanted to give it a unique visual style that would distinguish it from other films in the science fiction genre," Taylor declared. "I wanted Star Wars to have clarity because I don't think space is out of focus ... I thought the look of the film should be absolutely clean ... But George (Lucas) saw it differently ... For example, he asked to set up one shot on the robots with a 300mm camera lens and the sand and sky of the Tunisian desert just meshed together. I told him it wouldn't work, but he said that was the way he wanted to do the entire film, all diffused."

Fortunately for everyone, this creative difference was resolved by 20th Century Fox executives, who backed Taylor's approach.

For Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove, Taylor had to rely on lighting that was incorporated in the sets, with little or no other lighting used.

Back in Britain at Elstree studios, Taylor found John Barry's sets, particularly the Death Star, were all black and grey, with little opportunity for lighting at all.

"My work was a matter of chopping holes in the walls and working the lighting into the sets, and this resulted in a 'cut-out' system of panel lighting using quartz lamps that we could put in the walls, ceiling and floors. This lighting approach allowed George to shoot in almost any direction without extensive relighting, which gave him more freedom."

Despite his Star Wars fame, Taylor was a master of black-and-white cinematography. Witness the splendour of Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove, Richard Lester's A Hard Day's Night (both 1964) and Roman Polanski's Repulsion (1965). Of this, Polanski wrote: "As I saw it, the only person who could do justice to our black-and-white picture was Gil Taylor, whose photography on Dr Strangelove had deeply impressed me."

Gilbert (sometimes credited as Gil) Taylor was born in Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire. The son of a prosperous builder, he was expected to join the family business, but his mother was perceptive enough to persuade his father to let him take a camera-assistant job.

Gil Taylor with George Lucas (right) had a difference of opinion on how to shoot Star Wars, but 20th Century Fox ultimately resolved it in the cinematographer's favour.

At 15, he worked as assistant on the last two silent films made at Gainsborough studios in London. He soon went to Elstree studios, to the north of the city, where he was clapper loader on Alfred Hitchcock's Number Seventeen (1932).

Taylor's apprenticeship was interrupted by the outbreak of the second world war, when he joined the Royal Air Force volunteer reserve, his primary mission being to photograph the targets of nocturnal raids over Germany after the bombs were dropped. "This was requested by Winston Churchill, and my material was delivered to 10 Downing Street for him to view. On the opening of the second front, I took a small operational unit of cameramen to cover every kind of news story, including the liberation of the concentration camps and the signing of the armistice."

After the war, Taylor returned to studio work as camera operator on two Boulting Brothers pictures. The producer-director twins, John and Roy, were impressed and gave Taylor his first job as director of photography on The Guinea Pig (1948), followed by Seven Days To Noon (1950).

His use of bounced or reflected light gave the films a more naturalistic look, in contrast to the glossier direct light used by most of his contemporaries. It was particularly effective in the realistic monochrome pictures directed by J. Lee Thompson, including The Weak And The Wicked (1954), a women-in-prison drama, and Yield To The Night (1956) with Diana Dors, without makeup, awaiting execution.

Away from gritty realism, but still using black and white, Taylor linked up with Lester for two groundbreaking pop musicals, It's Trad, Dad! (1962) and the Beatlemaniacal A Hard Day's Night.

In the same year as Night, Dr Strangelove gave Taylor fresh challenges. "Strangelove was at the time a unique experience because the lighting was to be incorporated in the sets, with little or no other light used," Taylor explained. This strategy is exemplified by the elaborate scenes set in the war room, designed by Ken Adam, with a gleaming black Formica floor and a wide circular table lit by a ring of overhead fluorescent fixtures.

When Taylor was asked to shoot Repulsion, he turned down the chance to make the James Bond movie Thunderball. "Our first day's shooting left me amazed and a bit perturbed by Gil Taylor's way of doing things," Polanski wrote in his autobiography. "He mostly used reflected light bounced off the ceiling or walls and never consulted a light meter. As the rushes were shown, however, he possessed such an unerring eye that his exposures were invariably perfect. We differed on only one point: Gil disliked a wide-angle lens for close-ups of Catherine Deneuve, a device I needed in order to convey her mental disintegration. 'I hate doing this to a beautiful woman,' he used to mutter."

Nevertheless, Deneuve looks extremely beautiful in many sequences, despite Taylor shooting much of the film with a handheld Arriflex with a very wide lens.

Taylor gave Richard Donner's The Omen (1976) a diffused, dreamlike look, which won him the British Society of Cinematographers award. After Star Wars, Taylor, who never made a film in Hollywood, went on various locations for Meetings With Remarkable Men (Afghanistan, 1979), Dracula (Cornwall, 1979), Escape To Athena (Greece, 1979), Flash Gordon (Scotland, 1980) and Green Ice (Mexico and New York, 1981), though the movies were not worth travelling any distance to see.

Taylor retired from films in 1994, but continued to shoot commercials for a few years. Most of his retirement was spent painting and farming, but he still got a kick out of being contacted by Star Wars fans for his autograph.

In 2001, Taylor, who made his home on the Isle of Wight, was presented with a lifetime achievement award by the British Society of Cinematographers, and an international award by the American Society of Cinematographers in 2006. He is survived by his wife Dee, a one-time script supervisor. – Guardian News & Media

Taylor Swift, Metallica and more at TIFF

Posted:

Top artistes and bands keep the music tradition rocking at the international film festival.

Over the last few years, the Toronto Film Festival (TIFF) has had a tradition of attracting major musical talents: Bruce Springsteen hit the town for a documentary and conversation in 2010, and U2 opened the festival with their own documentary the following year, to name two notable examples.

This year you might count Taylor Swift, who showed up for the party to celebrate the August: Osage County premiere – but the heaviest rockers were Metallica, members of whom were in town on behalf of Metallica Through The Never, part-concert film and part-apocalyptic flick about a band roadie who leaves the gig to run an errand, only to find himself in the middle of city-wide anarchy.

The concert film about last December's Hurricane Sandy benefit, 12-12-12, was also screened at TIFF, making it the rare work that could show at a film festival the same week it wins an Emmy.

(It was simulcast on a number of stations in the United States and is up for variety-special directing at this weekend's Creative Arts Emmys.)

Ron Howard also had his own music-focused film, Made In America, about a Philadelphia music festival produced by Jay-Z. One of the most ambitious music-related films is All Is By My Side, writer-director John Ridley's dark, jagged look at the year in which Jimi Hendrix went from playing backing guitar in small clubs to becoming the toast of London with the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Just as Hendrix himself was notoriously evasive and inarticulate when asked about his life and music, Ridley's film is determinedly vague, telling its story in flashes and bursts that focus on Linda Keith, the girlfriend of Keith Richards, who was so impressed by Hendrix that she took him to manager Chas Chandler, and to Kathy Etchingham, who became his girlfriend when he went to London.

Ridley also wrote the festival's most acclaimed film, 12 Years A Slave, but this is a very different piece of history that glancingly touches on black experience but is more focused on the process of personal and artistic transformation.

Metallica's Lars Ulrich (left) and Robert Trujillo fool around at the European premiere of their 'Metallica: Through the Never' docufilm in Berlin, Germany, on Sept 12. The movie is also screening at the Toronto film festival. -- EPA/Britta Pedersen

Actor and rapper Andre Benjamin, of Outkast fame, makes a convincing Hendrix in look, speech and manner; the trickier part comes when he plays guitar, because Hendrix was so inimitable that every attempt to capture his sound and style is pretty much destined to fail.

A group of veteran rock session musicians, including guitarist Waddy Wachtel, try valiantly, but Jimi is Jimi. And because the Jimi Hendrix estate is fractured, difficult and notoriously resistant to any attempts to put the story on film, Ridley couldn't use any of the music Hendrix wrote.

That gave him the unenviable task of charting an artistic progression only through soundalike versions of the cover songs Hendrix performed, which is essentially impossible. Still, the personal stories are what connect in this bold and impressionistic work.

And I even give Ridley a pass after he violates one of my pet movie-music peeves, which is when characters put a record on a turntable and we see the needle drop on the first track but hear a different song from the album.

That happens here with Bob Dylan's Blonde On Blonde album – but it goes with a scene where Hendrix first drops acid, so I completely forgive Ridley for skipping the real first track, the thuddingly obvious Rainy Day Women #12 And 35 (aka Everybody Must Get Stoned) in favour of the far cooler and weirder Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat.

Hendrix also makes a couple of appearances in actor and comic Mike Myers' directorial debut, Supermensch: The Legend Of Shep Gordon, a playful chronicle of and affectionate tribute to the rock manager best known for his decades-long stewardship of Alice Cooper's career.

"It's as if Brian Epstein, Marshall McLuhan and Mr Magoo had a baby," explains Myers, not entirely helpfully, of the manager who came to be known through Cooper's carefully-calculated outrage and his own habit of wearing a T-shirt with the indelible rock catchphrase "No head, no backstage pass".

Gordon comes across not just as a schemer and a playboy (though he clearly is both of those) but also a good guy, a moral businessman and a would-be family man, though he's had no children of his own.

Andre Benjamin as Jimi Hendrix in All Is By My Side.

Myers is something of an ADD director accustomed to fast-paced comedy; he's constitutionally incapable of letting a sentence (or sometimes even a phrase) go by without illustrating it with old footage, recreations and the jokey use of pretty much any video he can find. The result is fast and funny and annoying, but the key to the film is that Gordon knows everybody and tells amazing stories, which range from hanging out at a Hollywood motel with Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison to taking joint custody of a cat with his next-door neighbour, Cary Grant.

One priceless moment comes when Gordon describes meeting a famous French chef at a party at the Cannes Film Festival; Gordon says the chef was sitting at a table with Pablo Picasso, whereupon an onscreen title explains that Picasso had actually died by then, and Gordon was probably too stoned to realise that he wasn't partying with the artist.

Of course, the laughs in that scene also raise the nagging thought that maybe a few more of these fabulous yarns are a little embroidered. But the film's title admits that this is the legend of Gordon – so it's close enough for rock 'n' roll, and for comedy. — Reuters

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz

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The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz

Willem Dafoe and Keanu Reeves to play hitmen
Gil Taylor and his colours of monochrome
Taylor Swift, Metallica and more at TIFF

Willem Dafoe and Keanu Reeves to play hitmen

Posted:

The thriller – John Wick – will stage a face-off between two friends who find themselves getting back into the murder business.

In the process of tracking down his aggressor, John discovers that he is up against a well-connected man, whose crime boss father places a price on John's head.

The feature film will be the directorial debut of two experienced Hollywood stunt coordinators, David Leitch and Chad Stahelski.

Both men have each choreographed and performed stunts in several dozens of films, including The Hunger Games, The Expendables, The Wolverine and Parker. — AFP Relaxnews

Gil Taylor and his colours of monochrome

Posted:

The late Gilbert Taylor, who also shot Star Wars, was a master of black-and-white cinematography.

Fortunately for everyone, this creative difference was resolved by 20th Century Fox executives, who backed Taylor's approach.

For Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove, Taylor had to rely on lighting that was incorporated in the sets, with little or no other lighting used.

Back in Britain at Elstree studios, Taylor found John Barry's sets, particularly the Death Star, were all black and grey, with little opportunity for lighting at all.

Gil Taylor with George Lucas (right) had a difference of opinion on how to shoot Star Wars, but 20th Century Fox ultimately resolved it in the cinematographer's favour.

Away from gritty realism, but still using black and white, Taylor linked up with Lester for two groundbreaking pop musicals, It's Trad, Dad! (1962) and the Beatlemaniacal A Hard Day's Night.

Nevertheless, Deneuve looks extremely beautiful in many sequences, despite Taylor shooting much of the film with a handheld Arriflex with a very wide lens.

Taylor Swift, Metallica and more at TIFF

Posted:

Top artistes and bands keep the music tradition rocking at the international film festival.

The concert film about last December's Hurricane Sandy benefit, 12-12-12, was also screened at TIFF, making it the rare work that could show at a film festival the same week it wins an Emmy.

(It was simulcast on a number of stations in the United States and is up for variety-special directing at this weekend's Creative Arts Emmys.)

Andre Benjamin as Jimi Hendrix in All Is By My Side.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

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The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

Lat of the draw
X Factor seeks a larger audience
Wong Cho Lam has a fighting chance

Lat of the draw

Posted:

The famous cartoonist celebrates 50 years of making Malaysia laugh.

Here's the irony. Datuk Mohammad Nor Khalid, or Lat, is probably more instantly recognisable as a cartoon in his own works than as himself in real life. Those who grew up with his regular cartoon column in newspapers and his popular books such as The Kampung Boy, Town Boy, Keluarga Si Mamat and others would attest to that. The spiky-haired chubby boy with the beady eyes and toothy grin is now a timeless Malaysian icon. Schoolchildren in the 1970s and 80s emulated Lat's style of drawing and few who grew up in those times would deny that they also tried their hand at drawing that chubby boy.

He started his career in the 60s as a cartoonist for Berita Minggu. He has a knack in capturing everyday scenes of Malaysian life, everything from the popular "bas mini" and durians, to politicians and other famous folks.

Lat was already working as a reporter when he was given the task to draw a regular cartoon column. He remembers his chief editor at the time "was a very strict fella, real conservative and he wore a suit every day and I was in my early 20s, with very long hair and very hip, and I didn't know how we could meet half way."

In a transcript provided by National Geographic Channel, Lat said: "But I had the audience, the people in mind, and how to reach out to those people who read the newspapers, people of various ethnic groups."

He started off drawing about weddings, because "you can't go wrong with weddings, everybody attends a weddings." In between, he slipped in drawings about football, eating habits and bus rides. Soon, he became popular and was like "wah, a rock star". His fans then started requesting that he draw about politics.

"But it was a subject which at that time I didn't really follow," says Lat, "and what I did was I started to draw caricatures of prominent Malaysians and politicians, and that's how I started to draw Tan Sri (Abdul) Kadir (Yusuf) who was our head of the Anti-Narcotics Bureau, and he was (Law Minister). He was easy to draw, very slim, and when the drawing came out, he told people 'I'm going to get that Lat one day', which meant he liked it."

Later he also drew then Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak, and he got an earful from his chief editor who told him, "Wah, this is our Prime Minister. Young Lat, you want to go to jail? You cannot draw the Prime Minister."

But Lat wanted to attract a larger readership, and when he eventually drew Tun Abdul Razak, his readers responded positively.

He remembers one incident when Muhammad Ali and Joe Bugner were being hosted by the Prime Minister.

He was on the late shift as a crime reporter, and he would draw his cartoons after he had done his rounds. At about 5am, his editor arrived at the office.

"I was ready with the drawing and told him, 'Here, you better use this drawing, it's going to be a hit in the papers. This is specially for you'," Lat recalls. "He used it because at that time (because the chief editor) was sleeping. So it came out at 11am. People went crazy. There were the Prime Minister, Muhammad Ali and his opponent, kicking each other under the table."

Then came the Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad era, and by that time, Lat was at the height of his popularity, and he could literally draw anything he liked. He drew about the Look East policy and the introduction of the punch-card system. But prophetically, he drew the national car when Proton had not yet been in existence. But his version had the roof of a traditional Malay house.

Then it came to drawing Tun Mahathir.

"With Dr M, the nose became bigger and bigger," says Lat. "Eventually when it became big, it looked funny to me, and it looked like him, although he's a good-looking man ... Eventually I ended up with a big nose, and a mouth that was right behind the nose, instead of underneath the nose. Some of the people close to him did tell me that he complained, 'Why does he draw my nose too big?'. I said that's my style."

Lat remembers his childhood when the country was still young, and there was the "Speak our national language" campaign everywhere.

He remembers singing the Gunakanlah Bahasa Kebangsaan song for fun or when he and his family were waiting at the railroad crossing in their car. He remembers his days growing up in Ipoh, Perak where he had friends from different ethnic backgrounds.

He advises young people today to mingle more with people of various races and to understand each other.

Asked what he thinks of Malaysia celebrating its 50th anniversary, Lat says: "My first cartoon was in 1963 ... Ya, we should celebrate. Fifty years is special, it's so special."

Catch Lat and other famous local personalities in Malaysia: Through The Decades premiering on Sept 16 at 9pm on National Geographic Channel (Astro Ch 553).

X Factor seeks a larger audience

Posted:

To be competitive, you have to make changes ... and that's exactly what Simon Cowell is doing on The X Factor.

Women rule when it comes to the panel of judges for this year's edition of The X Factor.

Longtime judge and curmudgeon Simon Cowell will have to deal with three female judges in Kelly Rowland, Paulina Rubio and Demi Lovato.

"It's been fun," Cowell says. "It's exactly what I thought it would be. We said at the time, it's a girls' world at the moment in the music business. So many girls doing so well in the charts, we thought the panel should reflect it."

Unable to avoid adding a jab, Cowell smiles and adds: "But be careful what you wish for."

What he's really wishing for is a group of contestants – male and female – who will attract viewers to the reality music competition show. And, it's very important the judges find a talent that will go on to fame and fortune.

As far as Cowell's concerned, none of the music competition shows can survive if they don't eventually launch a huge star.

"You're making a promise, essentially, to the contestants that you're going to try and turn them into real-life artistes or the show finishes. It's not a guarantee, but that is your commitment. Otherwise, it's just a game show," Cowell says.

The most important part for Cowell is what occurs after the final voting. He points to the success of One Direction, a band Cowell put together during the British version of The X Factor, as an example of the success he's looking for with winning acts.

Changes in the judging panel – L.A. Reid and Britney Spears are off the show – is one way Cowell is trying to make The X Factor the kind of competition he wants. He compares the panel last year to a dinner party where the invited guests don't turn out to be as interesting as expected.

Lovato's making her second appearance on the judging panel. She jokes that everyone told her you can't say "no" to Cowell, but she took it as a matter of national pride to go against the British judge.

"But also this. I guess, being 19 last year, I had a naive sense of confidence. I wasn't intimidated by him as people normally would be. And then this year, I'd done it all last year. So we have such a great friendship now. That's just how we are with each other," Lovato says. "And this year, I'm not the only one that does that. That's what makes this season stand out more. He's up against three women that will absolutely do the same thing.

"The way I like to put it is – last year the banter between me and Simon times three."

Joining Lovato in her verbal jousting with Cowell are Rowland, a singer and former member of Destiny's Child, and recording star Rubio, who is considered one of the most influential contemporary Latin artists working today.

Tweaks to the show come out of Cowell's competitive nature. The Voice, NBC's singing competition series, has become the top-rated programme in the genre. Cowell would love to see The X-Factor as the leader.

"I don't think any of us on this panel ever take part with the idea that you're going to lose. You have to be competitive. You have to make changes.

"You have to try and make the show better. You listen to the fans, the viewers, and I work hard. It makes it fun," Cowell says.

"I'd love to be No 1. If you've got a good panel and you've got good producers, which we have, the format is more fun.

"And then you get that one or two special contestants, and it can change everything because that's really what it's all about." – The Fresno Bee/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

The X Factor airs every Thursday and Friday at 6pm on RTL CBS Entertainment HD (Hypp TV Ch 616)

Wong Cho Lam has a fighting chance

Posted:

Playing a kung fu master is a tall order for Hong Kong comedian Wong Cho Lam.

Wong Cho Lam may be well-loved for his ability to tickle our funnybones in slapstick comedies, but the Hong Kong comedian says he enjoys writing more than acting.

"I have always wanted to develop my creative writing skill," the 33-year-old star said. "Inbound Troubles has given me the opportunity to do that and has been my most exciting writing project yet. We are already working on the sequel."

The 33-year-old star will be performing excerpts of this TVB project at his similarly-titled comedy gig at Genting's Arena Of Stars next Friday, with Ivana Wong, Chu Mimi, Tommy Wong, Xiao Po and Corinna Chamberlain.

Wong sounded very tired in a recent phone interview from Hong Kong as he had back-to-back shoots that went on all night with hardly any breaks in between. He is currently working on Patrick Kong's romantic comedy Delete Lover as well as Roy Chow's martial arts flick Rise Of The Legend (also known in Chinese as Wong Fei Hung).

Wong acts in Princess And Seven Kung Fu Masters where he plays one of the seven kung fu masters cum tailor who practises some super needle-and-thread kung fu with a pair of scissors.

"Every one of the seven kung fu masters has a special skill. For me to play a kung fu master with such unique skills is already quite a tall order, especially since I have not got a martial arts background," said the actor who found filming to be especially challenging due to the action sequences.

"But, more amusing is the fact that a bunch of comedians get to fight some real action stars and actually beat them up. And, many of them are actually international martial arts champions," he said referring to action stars like Sammo Hung, Dennis To, Philip Ng, Xing Yu, and Jiang Luxia who play the villains in the movie.

"My character eventually falls for a girl known as Snow White, who is played by newcomer Kimmy Tong. And he has to save her from a bunch of baddies, so that's where the fun begins," quipped Wong, who also plays the dorky yet outlandish IT specialist in The Midas Touch, which is currently showing in cinemas nationwide.

Princess And Seven Kung Fu Masters was written, directed and produced by prolific Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Jing who has directed some 200 movies in his career. The slapstick comedy, which was released earlier this year, also features other big names in Chinese comedy such as Sandra Ng, Eric Tsang, Yuen Wah, Ronald Cheng and Xie Na.

Set in the North-East region of China during the early years of the Republic era, the story begins when the people are suffering from the power struggle among the local warlords, bandits and Japanese invaders.

The only place with no issues plaguing the people is Lucky Town as it is protected by the seven quirky kung fu masters who reside within. When the seven masters learn of the secret plan hatched by the Japanese, they resolve to fight against the invaders.

Princess And Seven Kung Fu Masters airs on Sept 15 at 9pm on Celestial Movies (Astro Ch 322). You can also catch Wong Cho Lam at Inbound Troubles at Genting's Arena Of Stars on Sept 20 at 8.30pm. Tickets are priced at RM800, RM480, RM400, RM330, RM260, and RM160. For reservations, contact Galaxy (03-2282 2020/galaxy.com.my) or Resorts World Genting (03-2718 1118/www.rwgenting.com).

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Business

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The Star Online: Business

Eco World Development buys 65.5% of Focal Aims for RM230mil (Update)
Tropicana Corp dips as investors seek more details
Dollar near 4-week low after Summers drops out of Fed race

Eco World Development buys 65.5% of Focal Aims for RM230mil (Update)

Posted:

KUALA LUMPUR: Eco World Development Holdings Sdn Bhd is taking control of Focal Aims Holdings Bhd with the purchase of 65.5% or 164 million shares for RM230mil or RM1.40 a share which will see it launching a takeover for the remaining stake.

Trading in the property development company was halted at 9.28am on Tuesday and will resume from 10.28am.

Focal Aims said it had received a notice from Eco World (formerly Maple Quay Sdn Bhd) and Liew Tian Xiong that they had entered into a conditional share sale agreement with various shareholders of the company to acquire 164.77 million ordinary shares.

"The buyers will become the new controlling shareholders of the company, with a 65.05% equity interest in the company, and will therefore be obliged to extend a mandatory general offer to the shareholders of the company other than the buyers for a cash offer price of RM 1.40 per share," it said.

Tropicana Corp dips as investors seek more details

Posted:

KUALA LUMPUR: Tropicana Corporation Bhd's shares slipped in early Tuesday trade as investors awaited more details about the property developer's plans for a RM6.4bil projects in Pulai, Johor.

At 9.19am, it was down one sen to RM1.55. There were 210,600 shares done.

The FBM KLCI added 8.82 points to 1,779.62. Turnover was 156.79 million shares valued at RM110.34mil. There were 256 gainers, 67 losers and 141 counters unchanged.

Last Friday, Tropicana announced plans to undertake a mixed development property project in Pulai near Johor Bahru with a gross development value (GDV) of RM6.4bil.

Tropicana Corp said the property project would be undertaken on the 103.82ha of freehold land which it was buying from Lee Pineapple Company (Pte) Ltd for RM366.55mil.

Dollar near 4-week low after Summers drops out of Fed race

Posted:

TOKYO: The dollar stayed near a four-week low on Tuesday after Lawrence Summers' withdrawal from the race to lead the Federal Reserve reduced expectations of a faster pace of monetary policy tightening by the U.S. central bank.

The decision by the former U.S. Treasury secretary - who is regarded by investors as relatively hawkish - left Federal Reserve Vice Chair Janet Yellen as the front-runner. Traders said the Fed is likely to continue a slow, cautious approach to tightening policy if Yellen is named to replace current Chairman Ben Bernanke.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, stood at 81.27, after having fallen to 80.968, its lowest since Aug. 21, on Monday.

A break of the Aug. 20 low of 80.754 could open the way for a test of its June low around 80.50.

The dollar has been under pressure as recent disappointing economic data has prompted markets to expect the Fed to reduce its $85 billion monthly bond-buying stimulus by only a modest $10 billion.

Still, with the Fed looking set to take its first, albeit small, step to wind back its stimulus at its two-day policy meeting starting on Tuesday, investors are looking to the Fed's guidance on its future policy stance.

"On top of the size of tapering, what's more important this time is the Fed's forecast of interest rates in 2016, which will give markets an idea on the pace of future rate hikes," said Sho Aoyama, senior market analyst at Mizuho Securities.

Analysts say rate hike expectations hold the key because of their impact on short-term U.S. bond yields and thereby the dollar's yield attraction.

A faster pace of rate increases would make the dollar more attractive given that many other central banks, such as the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan, are perceived to be nowhere near tightening.

The euro traded at $1.3335, little changed on the day, after having risen to $1.3385 on Monday.

Against the yen, the dollar stood at 99.17 yen, having bounced back from 98.45 on Monday.

"It seems like there's fairly firm support around 98.40. I don't expect the dollar to fall sharply below that level," said a trader at a Japanese bank.

The British pound held firmer, staying near an eight-month high hit on Monday as it drew support from a string of solid UK economic data in recent weeks.

The pound traded at $1.5904 after having risen to $1.5963 on Monday, its highest since January. - Reuters

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

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Willem Dafoe and Keanu Reeves to play hitmen
Gil Taylor and his colours of monochrome
Taylor Swift, Metallica and more at TIFF

Willem Dafoe and Keanu Reeves to play hitmen

Posted:

The thriller – John Wick – will stage a face-off between two friends who find themselves getting back into the murder business.

In the process of tracking down his aggressor, John discovers that he is up against a well-connected man, whose crime boss father places a price on John's head.

The feature film will be the directorial debut of two experienced Hollywood stunt coordinators, David Leitch and Chad Stahelski.

Both men have each choreographed and performed stunts in several dozens of films, including The Hunger Games, The Expendables, The Wolverine and Parker. — AFP Relaxnews

Gil Taylor and his colours of monochrome

Posted:

The late Gilbert Taylor, who also shot Star Wars, was a master of black-and-white cinematography.

Fortunately for everyone, this creative difference was resolved by 20th Century Fox executives, who backed Taylor's approach.

For Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove, Taylor had to rely on lighting that was incorporated in the sets, with little or no other lighting used.

Back in Britain at Elstree studios, Taylor found John Barry's sets, particularly the Death Star, were all black and grey, with little opportunity for lighting at all.

Gil Taylor with George Lucas (right) had a difference of opinion on how to shoot Star Wars, but 20th Century Fox ultimately resolved it in the cinematographer's favour.

Away from gritty realism, but still using black and white, Taylor linked up with Lester for two groundbreaking pop musicals, It's Trad, Dad! (1962) and the Beatlemaniacal A Hard Day's Night.

Nevertheless, Deneuve looks extremely beautiful in many sequences, despite Taylor shooting much of the film with a handheld Arriflex with a very wide lens.

Taylor Swift, Metallica and more at TIFF

Posted:

Top artistes and bands keep the music tradition rocking at the international film festival.

The concert film about last December's Hurricane Sandy benefit, 12-12-12, was also screened at TIFF, making it the rare work that could show at a film festival the same week it wins an Emmy.

(It was simulcast on a number of stations in the United States and is up for variety-special directing at this weekend's Creative Arts Emmys.)

Andre Benjamin as Jimi Hendrix in All Is By My Side.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Isnin, 16 September 2013