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Hubble bubble toil and trouble, our dear little ex-planet, Pluto, has been turning redder in recent times, according to Marc Buie, of the South West Research Institute (Colorado, USA). Buie has been studying these amazing photos of Pluto for some years, they were taken by the Hubble Space Telescope between 2000 and 2002.
Pluto Images courtesy of Marc W. Buie, Southwest Research Institute
According to NASA and Buie et al, Pluto's surface is also changing, and the redness is due to hydrogen being stripped off its methane-nitrogen-carbon dioxide atmosphere by solar winds, which is a normal occurrence. However, everyone is at a loss, so far, to explain the reason why the current change has happened so rapidly? Pluto has had little change since its discovery in 1930, then a comparatively sudden change from 2000 to 2002, when it became slightly redder, they say from 20 to 30 per cent more red.
One of the main problems for Pluto's analysis is the fact that we have not been observing Pluto for very long, and its orbit around the Sun takes aorund 248 years! Pluto was discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh, in 1930. Tombaugh, a 23-year old at the time, made the discovery at the Lowell Observatory, when asked to establish if there was a "planet X". He proved Pluto's existence after painstaking comparisons (using a blink comparator) to show if an object was moving over two week comparison photographs.
Clyde W. Tombaugh, Pluto's discoverer. NASA photo archive.
The next problem was to name the newly discovered 'Planet X'. An international competition was held. The winner was an eleven year old English schoolgirl, Venetia Burney, who was living in Oxford. Venetia selected Pluto because she thought it would be a dark and cold world, and since Pluto was an alternate name for Hades, it seemed appropriate to the budding classical mythologist.
Her grandfather, Falconer Madan, was the former librarian of Oxford University's Bodleian Library. Madan passed on Venetia's idea to Professor Herbert Hall Turner, who sent it on to colleagues in America. All members of the Lowell Observatroy were allowed to vote, Pluto won hands down. Imagine that! An eleven year old naming a new planet! Why hasn't someone made a film about her life I wonder? Is she still alive? What does she think of Pluto's undeserved demotion, I wonder?
Pluto blushes: Images are courtesy of Marc W. Buie, Southwest Research Institute
Observations have also proved that the nitorgen surface of Pluto is changing in size and thickness, along with the colouring from dark to light, as shown in the Hubble photos.
So, maybe Pluto has taken offence at being demoted to a 'dwarf planet? Or, maybe Pluto is just getting ready for its photo shoot in 2015, by the New Horizons spacecraft, by applying some planetary make up? One nice touch by NASA, some of the ashes of Clyde W. Tombaugh are onboard the rocket. I wonder what the Plutonians will think? Well, with a name like that, they should be okay about it, being all plutonic...(tee hee...guffaw!)
New Horizons launched by NASA Jan 19 2006
Or is Pluto just red with rage at being called a dwarf? I like to believe so, and hereby declare my support for Pluto's return to the brotherhood of our Solar System's full sized planets!
VOTE HERE IF YOU WANT PLUTO RETURNED TO FULL PLANET STATUS
IMAGE CREDITS AND PERMISSIONS: These files are in the public domain because they were created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". Above work courtesy of Marc W. Buie, of the South West Research Institute, Colorado, U.S.A..
Promotional Banner (copyright see below)
Before watching, I was not at all sure I was going to like this film, but I was pleasantly surprised. It has a slightly bizarre beginning; as we watch, without explanation, a man we later find out is Eric, drive his car around barely evading oncoming cars, until he crashes. From the blackout, we then see him in hospital complaining that he mustnt be late for work, he is a postie, (postal worker).
Such dedication I have not been aware of, since the tales of the United States Postal Service, through sleet and snow
..
Personally, I am used to Australian postal services, so I didnt buy it. But later on, we find he isnt that dedicated. In fact Eric, played by Steve Everts, is a hapless kind of dullard, so it seems, who has two teenage boys from different wives, one white, one black, both of whom do as they please and give their sole supporter, their dad, no love, help, friendship or respect and allow their mates to use his home as a temporary storage for stolen goods.
Eric seems a beaten man.
He does have some mates, one being the larger than life Meatballs (John Henshaw), who is constantly reading self help books and instructing, in a very basic and artless way, how everyone can benefit from his latest book. Erics fellow posties decide to cheer him up, after wrote off his car, by telling him daft jokes, it is not too successful.
So, led by Meatballs, they gather at Erics house and try using his latest self help book, looking within yourself, eyes closed, and imagining being a winner. It doesnt work, and the whole attempt is disrupted when they accidentally discover a mound of undelivered mail in Erics cupboard. His mates all decide to help him deliver the mail. However, this self help event becomes a tipping point for Eric, who mentally materialises his footy hero, Eric Cantona, the amazing French football (soccer) exponent who famously played for Manchester United.
It is a shock for Eric the postie, and in real life it was also a big shock, as the director (Loach) did not tell anyone who would play the part of Eric Cantona, then, as they shot the scene, the real Eric Cantona came out; a nice touch, particularly if you are a mad English football fan, even more so if you are a MU devotee.
However, all this footy referencing does not alienate the non-loving football audience, for the film, directed by the accomplished Ken Loach, manages to skate between gritty realism, fantasy and comedic moments, yet still deliver a social commentary that strikes true, for life in Britain.
We see how naïve young lads get ensnared by older career crims, into their increasingly murky millieu, and just how difficult it is to get away from their clutches.
Eric also has some unfinished business, with his first wife, Lily (Stephanie Bishop), with whom he is still in love, but had abandoned just after they had their baby, due to as undiagnosed psychiatric condition, an anxiety disorder. The breakdown was triggered by his hostile and overbearing father, (Max Beesley), telling him he had well and truly made his bed and now must lie in it, for the rest of this life! Erics real problem was, he couldnt explain why he had panic attacks about the ones he loved, and so he abandoned them both, without apology or reason.
Their daughter, Sam (Lucy-Jo Hudson) with whom Eric had re-established a relationship with, now has a baby herself, and this is when we meet these important personalities, as Eric helps his daughter cope with her studies by babysitting, this in turn reintroduces Eric to his long abandoned ex-wife Lily, putting pressure on Erics complex and haunted personality.
Looking for Eric is quite entertaining and although I had no belly laughs, I did take a good natured shine to the characters as they battle through their personal life mazes, eventually to discover you cannot do it alone.
The scarey concept of mobs of English footy supporters clashing with each other in full scale riot momentarily rears its head in the film, but instead of the usual battles, this footy mob is made up of ordinary good citizens, we know as posties. The scenes covering the defeat of Eric and his sons enemies is priceless!
Everts as Eric, with the real Cantona
Eric Cantona, unknown to me before seeing this film, is the philosophical sounding board, the moral compass and intestinal fortitude long buried within our hapless hero Eric the posties psyche. Cantona makes an interesting balance to the postie character, even more so since Cantona is Eric the posties hero, who tries to dismantle the god-like status that footy fans erroneously bestow upon their favourite sportsmen. (This was the reason why Cantona wanted the film made.)
In real life, Cantona was known for his bizarre and often opaque adages, and one famous one appears in the credits, a clip of the original interview when Cantona stated, When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. This was apparently an explanation (as I found out researching it) Cantona gave for kung-fu kicking a Crystal Palace fan in 1995.
Another interesting aspect of this film, director Loach, not known for indulging in comedy, but more so social commenatry, speaking up for the more powerless in society, is that he withdrew the film from the Melbourne Film Festival, where it was chosen as the opening night feature. Loach publicly stated he would not allow his work to appear because of a protest against projects that were financially supported by Israel.
Here is the actual statement (edited down) given on the Melbourne Film Festival site;
Looking for Eric Cancelled
Posted 17th July, 2009
The Melbourne International Film Festival has been forced to cancel screenings of the film Looking For Eric from this year's festival following director Ken Loach's decision to withdraw the film from the program.
Mr Loach's decision is part of an orchestrated campaign to target events that are in receipt of financial support from the State of Israel. Loach requested that we join the boycott and as an independent arts organisation MIFF has refused.
The festival has a long tradition of programming films that examine various points of view on the Middle East including the Israel Palestinian question.
I found it a rather odd, in fact pointless action to take, as it harms your own product, rather more than it makes any constructive addition to a serious international socio-political debate. However, I saw online reviews to be all favourable.
Although the film maybe not be worth an Oscar, it is still very entertaining, with an interesting social commentary cleverly woven throughout. The real art of good story telling is to bring people in and disarm their preconceptions and prejudices, thereby you may leave a seed for more thought and enlightenment.
Screen writer Paul Laverty (My Name is Joe, Land and Freedom, The Navigators ) once again joins Loach in this film, creating a script that is engaging and keeps propelling the narrative and action along at a good pace. Unlike his rather more depressingly realistic works with Loach in the past, this film manages to place a foot in both entertainment arenas, light hearted and dramatic, the combination allowing the psychological and social exploration more palatable.
AWARDS
WON:
2009 British Independent Film Award: Best Supporting Actor: John Henshaw
NOMINATED:
2009 Cannes Film Festival: Golden Palm: director Ken Loach
2009 European Film Awards: Best Actor: Steve Everts
DISTRIBUTORS: ICON FILM DISTRIBUTION
RELEASED on Blu-ray & DVD on February 3, 2010
CREW
Director: Ken Loach
Writer: Paul Laverty
Music: George Fenton
Producer: Rebecca O'Brien
Production: Studio Sixteen Films
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English
Budget: £4m
CAST
Steve Evets as Eric Bishop
Eric Cantona as Himself
Stephanie Bishop as Lily
Gerard Kearns as Ryan
Stefan Gumbs as Jess
Lucy-Jo Hudson as Sam
Cole and Dylan Williams as Daisy
Matthew McNulty as Young Eric
Laura Ainsworth as Young Lily
Max Beesley as Eric's Father
Kelly Bowland as Ryan's Girlfriend
Julie Brown as Nurse
John Henshaw as Meatballs
Justin Moorhouse as Spleen
Des Sharples as Jack
Greg Cook as Monk
Mick Ferry as Judge
Smug Roberts as Smug
Johnny Travis as Travis
Steve Marsh as Zac
Cleveland Campbell as Buzz
Ryan Pope as Fenner
IMAGE CREDITS:The cover art and production photograph copyright is believed to belong to the distributor of the film, and/or the publisher of the film, all rights reserved.
FAIR USE RATIONALE: Use for review purposes only, low res. reproduction not meant for copying or re-distribution.
FAME official poster (copyright protected: see below)
This film, (USA cinematic release in 2009), is a remake of the original film of the same title, first released in 1980. I cannot compare the two, as I did not see the first film, as I was already ensconced in our own national theatre school (N.I.D.A.) which left me no time outside of studies and production work.
After reading some of the online information about the original film, I was made aware of an immediate difference between the two films; a characters exclusion from the 2009 version leaving me puzzled. I know all the characters names were changed, but I did not expect a particular character type to be excluded.
One of the characters in the 1980 film was openly gay and dealing with his life and others attitudes and prejudices, but this character is missing from the 2009 version. All we see is a brief (seconds) appearance of a gay caricature type. Why would they cut that character out? I would have thought it even more relevant and topical to todays world; given the societal nexus of a more openly gay attitude with the de-criminalization of homosexuality, clashing with the persistent homophobia that still permeates all levels of society to some degree.
The gay character was not the only one to suffer from a new re-write; all the main characters were re-written, with near equal time on screen for all of them, which created new problems for the production.
The film tries to cover too much ground in one small film; you cannot gain any depth in characterisation when you flit from one character to the other, unlike a television serial which has a whole year or more to develop its characters. This leaves the audience feeling less involved with the film and its protagonists, making you a slightly disengaged observer, unless, you went through a theatre school yourself.
I found the film actually quite realistic in many ways; starting with the rip off merchants waiting to take advantage of gullible young talent, both monetarily and sexually. The effect of working all day and night, in study, practise and production development does produce the effect of knowing other students on a more superficial level, however, you always get to know some fellow students very well and develop affections and friendships, as is natural for the social being.
Even though I felt the film did portray many aspects of theatre school life realistically, for a film, it would not quite work for the majority of audiences, who understandably want to become more involved in the life of the characters portrayed.
Fame is still entertaining, and worth a look on a slow day at home, with some good dance sequences. It also can serve as an informal guide, in a way, for those wanting to enter the entertainment world through formal studies.
The oddest aspect of the film is the huge success of its theme song, Fame, which only appears at the end, over the credits. If I had re-directed it, I would have incorporated the song into an end of school year performance, to me that would have made more sense.
On the cast; generally they are all American good looking teen types, including; Naturi Naughton, Asher Book and Paul Iacono, all of whom I expect we will see more of over the next few years. The young stars are supported by able character actors, such as Kelsey Grammer, who appears all too briefly, so little can be made of Grammers engaging talents. Charles C. Dutton has slightly more screen time and delivers a very realistic character, as the drama tutor, who tries to help a young balck actor battle with his personal demons.
Definitely better than a lot of rainy day fodder films, with the choreographed sequences for the dance numbers being quite entertaining.
ICON FILM DISTRIBUTION is releasing FAME on DVD & BLU RAY FEBRUARY 3RD 2010.
IMAGE CREDITS:
PRODUCTION POSTER IMAGE OWNERSHIP AND COPYRIGHT PRESUMED THAT OF THE DISTRIBUTOR AND/OR PRODUCTION HOUSE; ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PERMISSION: FAIR USE RATIONALE, FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY, LOW RES. IMAGE AND NOT FOR COPYING.
Directed by
Kevin Tancharoen
Produced by
Mark Canton
Gary Lucchesi
Tom Rosenberg
Richard Wright
Written by
Allison Burnett
Starring
Naturi Naughton
Collins Pennie
Kay Panabaker
Asher Book
Kherington Payne
Walter Perez
Anna Maria Perez de Taglé
Paul Iacono
Kristy Flores
Paul McGill
Debbie Allen
Kelsey Grammer
Charles S. Dutton
Megan Mullally
Music by
Mark Isham
Cinematography
Scott Kevan
Editing by
Myron Kerstein
Studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Lakeshore Entertainment
United Artists
Distributed by MGM (USA)
Entertainment Film Distributors (UK)
Release date(s) September 25, 2009 (US and UK)
September 24, 2009 (AUS)
Running time 107 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $18 million
Gross revenue $41,713,690[1]
So, both my screentrek.com site and infognito.net are registering zero again, for the last two days... Okay, maybe that is accurate, but, too many others have complained before, when they know they got lots of traffic, yet Orble reports ZERO!!!!!!!!!!
[ Click here to read more ]
So, both my screentrek.com site and infognito.net are registering zero again, for the last two days... Okay, maybe that is accurate, but, too many others have complained before, when they know they got lots of traffic, yet Orble reports ZERO!!!!!!!!!!
[ Click here to read more ]
So, everyone seems to be having a WHALE of a time down in our South Seas.... A Japanese whaler boat, a tender of some sort (allegedly being crewed by quasi military types) yesterday decided to take their ship and ram the small (hi-tech) stealth launch, run by the Sea Shepherd people, those brave citizens of the world who are trying to save the most noble of beasts, the whales, from annihilation.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce USA
[ Click here to read more ]
Jason Reitmans latest work, Up in the Air, is a dramody, (drama/comedy). Directed by Reitman (of Juno fame) and co-written by Reitman and Sheldon Turner, this engrossing film takes a dry and wry look at an even drier existence. Based on the novel Up In The Air by Walter Kirn, Reitman, has woven another great work of cinematic art. But it takes time to settle into your psyche.
Clooney with Anna Kendrick as Natalie Keener
[ Click here to read more ]
Official Poster copyrighted (see below)
Director and co-writer (District 9) Neill Blomkamp is one to watch out for! This film is a ripper! The effects never appear contrived, the action is realistic and the pace of the story builds up to a rush blooded with the anguish and fate of its main protagonist. However, at first, I felt it was going to be a little lame, with the 'in house' corny promotional doco approach, which introduces the main character to the audience, but do not let the droll beginning fool you, for the way the introduction sets up the rest of the film is very clever
[ Click here to read more ]
I posted the following on the Writers' Forum on the 20th of December 2009, but it hasn't yet been approved by Orble management for posting there. I do not know why, but, that fact alone makes answers to the questions I posed all the more pressing and important.
[ Click here to read more ]
Paramount has just confirmed ALL clips taken from BLIPTV are no longer usable.
The man with the "key" to the problem is uncontactable, so it will be some time after the Christmas holidays before Paramount can get the problem worked out with BlipTV
[ Click here to read more ]
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Comment by Mountain Fog
on PLUTO PUP BLUSHES
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
yes it is interesting... and if I sent Hollywood anything, it would be unacknowledged as being received, then the idea ripped off... still happens all the time!
cheers
fog