The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science (AMPAS) is celebrating the great career of Ray Harryhausen.
Ray's a legendary special effects pioneer known for creating and advancing the technique of "stop-motion" live-action animation called "Dynamation" and used in It Came from beneath the Sea (1955), Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956), The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1960), One Million Years B.C. (1966) and the original Clash of the Titans (1981).
AMPAS summer exhibition "The Fantastical Worlds of Ray Harryhausen," is opening to the public on Friday, May 14, 10 a.m. in the Academy’s Fourth Floor Gallery at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Admission is free.
Additionally, the Gallery will have "Chuck Jones: An Animator’s Life From A to Z-Z-Z-Z."
The exhibition will feature iconic characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Pepe Le Pew, Wile E. Coyote and many others that were created or developed by Oscar-winning animator and humorist Chuck Jones (1912 - 2002).
The battle between Waste Management and Recology for garbage supremacy in San Francisco has an interesting twist. To recap, Houston-based Waste Management has owned the contractual right to collect San Francisco's waste and dump it in a place called the Altamont Landfill, which is located in Livermore, California. NorCal Waste, now called "Recology,' has been the company that collects garbage in San Francisco, then hands it over to Waste Management for storage in Livermore.
But Recology wanted to have the piece of the business Waste Management held for years. To that end, the upstart San Francisco-based firm submitted a bid for the contract this year, and to the San Francisco Commission on the Environment, and to the surprise of many, beat Waste Management. So it's all over, and Recology gets to work, right. No.
Both Recology and the San Francisco Commission on the Environment unknowningly swatted a giant bat at a hornet's nest of interlocking interests connecting Waste Management, The Sierra Club, and The City of Livermore. It works like this, basically: Waste Management is paid to dump at the Livermore Altamont Landfill; the City of Livermore and The Sierra Club, which helped set up a land-protection and garbage cap agreement 11 years ago, get millions of dollars from the dumping activity.
Because Recology wants to take the garbage to another location and not Altamont Pass, Livermore, The Sierra Club, and Waste Management have all cried foul and asserted that the more expensive Waste Management proposal used more state of the art trucks, among the other claims. But the real issue is all three entities would stand to lose millions.
But if that's the case, and it is, why in 1999 did Livermore fight against the very same Altamont Pass waste dump that it now is trying to defend? That's right, defend. This letter below (sent to this blogger by an activist who did not wish to be named) is from Livermore's Mayor Marsnall Kamena.
The letter brags about Livermore's roll as "host community to more than one landfill." And it outlines a number of reasons why Recology should not have the dumping contract. But it does not mention that for Livermore, it's a revenue issue, and it does not explain that Livermore itself doesn't even use the same dump it's advocating that San Francisco use.
What's strange is that in 1999, the City of Livermore fought vigorously to control the size and level of dumping at Altamont Pass. The Sierra Club was a party in a lawsuit to block expansion of use of the site, but the Sierra Club carved a nice revenue source for itself in the process. The Altamont Landfill Open Space Fund has earned over $10 million since 1999. That money is based on a charge of 75 cents per ton. If San Francisco's waste goes way, the fund revenue is reduced.
But the point is, San Francisco's waste going elsewhere would seem to be what the City of Livermore wants. After all, even Livermore dumps its own trash somewhere else.
That's right. According to the City of Livermore's website, it uses the Republic Services Landfill, and not the Altamont Pass.
so what's this Waste Management v. Recology in SF tussle all about: money. All of the Waste Management and Sierra Clubs parties are concerned about losing money, and not saving the environment, especially The City of Livermore.
This blogger has flown on United Airlines since the age of four. For four decades of my life United Airlines has carefully crafted a brand identity that can be called "American-hip." United Airlines planes always had some variation of the colors red, white, and blue. But with the merger with Continental Airlines, United Airlines killed that brand and replaced it with the Continental brand - one that reads boringly efficient.
United's brand was marked by the creation of the famous "From here to there U" logo that came to dominate aviation and gave the "Friendly Skies" an unmistakably futuristic yet warm look and feel. In one literal fell-swoop Bass transformed United from also-ran to trend-setter. Suddenly, United was cool and my Mother, who was an excellent reservation sales agent, and her friends were at the center of a really American, hip corporation.
Meanwhile, Continental Airlines was, well, Continental Airlines. It had and has a design that says nothing about the company as providing an experience you want to be a part of. It's brand says "We will get you from points A to B." It also said "We're not the biggest, the best, or the hippest. We're just here."
That's it.
...Killed for this?
Regardless of the reasons, that United Airlines elected to kill its brand and slap its name on the Continental Airlines brand is upsetting. It sends a signal that while United Airlines may have merged with Continental, Continental, not United, got the better of the deal.
United Airlines as I knew it is dead. An American Icon killed by corporate efficiency in the credit crunch age.
Saul Bass must be boiling in Heaven to see his glorious creation that's lasted since 1974 replaced by a stick-figure sideways globe that reads "We will get you from points A to B and bore you to death in the process."
While Conan's joking about the 60 Minutes interview on Twitter...
Hey kids, check me out on '60 Minutes' tonight. Watch for the part of the interview where I start crying and admit to mail fraud.
8:02 AM May 2nd via web
And CBS enjoyed a ratings bounce from Conan's interview, drawing enough viewers to come close to competitor Celebrity Apprenticeaccording to Deadline.com..
NBC is not laughing at all.
According to TMZ, which broke the story at 1 AM Tuesday, this is what went down:
Network sources tell TMZ Conan was flat out wrong when he said NBC gave him the axe rather than Leno because Jay's buyout would have been bigger. Sources say the buyouts for Conan and Jay were roughly the same. TMZ broke the story Conan took home $32.5 million from his severance package with NBC.
And our network sources say Coco was just plain lying in response to Steve Kroft's question:
Kroft: "They said that the -- for the first time in history, 'The Tonight Show' was losing money."
Conan: "I don't see how that's, I honestly don't see how that's possible. It's really not possible. It isn't possible."
Then one TMZ source claimed Conan O'Brien knew that was the case, so NBC's calling Conan a liar!
If you missed the Conan O'Brien CBS 60 Minutes interview, here it is in full (the statement in question appears in Part II):
In hindsight, while Conan O'Brien may think his interview was cathartic, an angry NBC may take another look at his contract clause about defamation and cry foul. Still, it would be a scare tactic. The Insider showed how such agreements can be thwarted without sound legal recourse.
In the "Well, that was fast" department we have the arrest of alleged Times Square car bomb suspect Shahzad Faisal, who's causing a lot of problems for all of the guys nameed "Shahzad Faisal" on Facebook and his 115 friends.
When one Googles "Shahzad Faisal," there's one Facebook profile page that pops up, but if you search for the name a lot of Shahzad Faisal's come up. You've got to feel story for all of the other Shahzad's out there who have the burden of saying "It's not me."
We know. It's one guy. A man who reportedly lives in Connecticut and who NY Police claim purchased the Nissan Pathfinder with cash and filled out no paperwork.
That SUV was armed with a kind of make shift bomb that failed to work. Interestingly it led an Islamic Terrorist group to claim responsibility for ..it's failure.
Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, if you're Shahzad Faisal and on Facebook, put a disclaimer somewhere on your profile. One that reads "It's not me!"
Yeardley Love is an unusual name, even on Facebook where she had over 1,000 friends. But now the name Yeardley Love is known for the UVA Lacrosse player death allegedly by George Huguely. The shocking news has the Virginia college student community facing yet more national attention for another student crime. The last time America focused on Virginia in this way was during the The Virginia Tech massacre of 2007.
But this crime is between two people: Yeardley Love and George Huguely, both 22 years old.
George Huguely on paper would seem to be the perfect young man to be a woman's boyfriend or a star of a college athletic program: All-American and starting quaterback at Landon School and an honor roll student before he came to The University of Virginia. But according to Charlottesville Police Yeardley Love and George Huguely at one point has a romantic relationship and something led them to believe George killed Yeardley Love.
Mainstream media articles all tell the same story as above and Virginia blogs are largely unhelpful in providing more clues as of this writing. Morever, the accounts - like the one in the Washington Post - are largely obits on the accomplishments of Huguely and Love, who was a star student at Notre Dame Prep in Baltimore.
But the bottom line is someone killed Yeardley Love is her home; maybe it was George and maybe not. Someone knows.
Vanessa Redgrave, mourns the passing of her sister Lynn Redgrave, who died reportedly of a battle with Breast Cancer, although the official cause of death has not been finalized as of this writing.
"Our beloved mother Lynn Rachel passed away peacefully after a seven-year journey with breast cancer," Lynn Redgrave's children explained in a statement released by her publicist, according to The Telegraph UK.
Vanessa Redgrave has lost two siblings: Corin Redgrave who died April 6 after a fight with Prostate Cancer, and now Lynn Redgrave and again to cancer.
In March 2009, Vanessa Redgrave's daughter Natasha Richardson, the wife of actor Liam Neeson, passed away after complications caused by a head injury from a skiing accident.
Sadly, actress Lynn Redgrave, the star of Georgy Girl, died after a seven-year-long battle with Breast Cancer. Redgrave was 67 years old. Reportedly Lynn Redgrave passed away at her Connecticut home and with her kids Ben, Pema and Annabel present.
Redgrave was found to have Breast Cancer at the age of 60. According to ABC News, Redgrave was secretive about the diagnosis and her treatments at Manhattan's Sloan-Kettering cancer clinic, then issued a statement that she was cancer-free.
What's not explained is when the cancer returned.
Suzannah Troy is a New York video-blogger and contributor at Zennie62. Here's her video take on Redgrave:
That's a sad report. As one who's mother's battled Breast Cancer and was declared cancer-free April 17th 2005, a part of me is with everyone who has to deal with this awful problem for which there must be a cure. Something.
But what's bothersome to this blogger is the void, the question, of when the cancer returned. If Lynn was declared cancer-free, it had to come back at some point in time.
I was on the train when I got the text message from 1010 WINS that Lynn Redgrave passed away here in NYC , now reported t her home in Connecticut Sunday night.She was surrounded by her family and past at home which is a peaceful and loving way to go after a 7 year battle with breast cancer. One of my all time favorite films is Georgy Girl which if you have not seen, you must! James Mason is superb as well as the supporting cast. Lynn Redgrave just shines and this somewhat chubby platinum hearted free spirit that the much olderand very rich Mason lusts for. I don't like watching The Oscars for many reasons and one is the winners often are not the most talented but the mostpopular. I often find myself saying he was robbed, she was robbed and Lynn Redgrave was robbed of the Oscar forGeorgy Girl. Elizabeth Taylor beat her out for a powerful performance that year but I can't watch Elizabeth's performance over and over and I can watch Lynn's performance over and over appreciated the subtleness and complexness of her acting. It does upset me that over the years so many have picked up Oscars and they did not deserve them. Lynn deserved to have an Oscar and didn't get one. Lynn Regrave was a great actress of theatre and film. She had just deeply moved audiences here in NYC.I called Ken Geist , a writer and film expert to break the news and he was heartbroken.. He said a greatloss for the Redgrave family and praised her speech to the audience remembering her years at the National Theatre with Noel Coward as spoke -- she impersonated Noel Coward, Maggie Smith and Edith Evans. Ken told mshe did this at Carnegie Hall honoring the Noel Coward Centennial and also last year in her powerful performance at The ManhattanTheatre Club.She was also an advocate for the right for women to breast feed in public and took on CBS. Gloria Allred jumped on board to be her lawyer and than backed out which is hard to believe. It is hard to believe the powers that be would not let her breast feed on the tv set of "House Calls". It was a long drawn out case and she had to part ways with other law firms but the bottom line is breast feeding Mom's in Hollywood are treated with respect now and honored but the battle took years, cost Lynn Redgrave a lot of money and being a courageous outspoken woman ratherthan a "barbie doll" makes getting worker harder. People aren't always eager to higher woman that rock the boatLynn Redgrave had lost her niece, Natasha Richardson last year in a shocking accident that took her young life and cut short the career of another much loved actor in the family dynasty including Natasha's Mom, Vanessaand their father Michael. Lynn and Vanessa's brother died only a short time ago as well so the family has had their share of loses. Rest in peace dear Lynn, a great actor, advocate and I imagine a true friend to anyone lucky enough to call her friend.
Pointing to a need for a change of scenery, Michael Arrington, the founder and editor of the tech blog TechCrunch, and one who's always made himself available to this blogger, is (sadly) leaving the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley for Seattle.
In his blog post written Monday (today), Arrington reports:
This last weekend I moved my primary residence from Silicon Valley to Seattle. My plan is to roughly split my time between Seattle and Silicon Valley, and spend a lot more time on the road meeting entrepreneurs around the world.
Michael says there are "scores and scores of startups here that are doing innovative and disruptive things" and he wants to be a part of that. But really Michael says he needs the change of view. Too bad.
It will not be the same around the Bay Area. Michael would turn up at places like Amsterdam Bar in San Francisco for a party, or at any of the TechCrunch events held around here. One assumes he will still fly down here, but the bet here is he's going up there for the skiing. It can't be for the social life. I wonder of Michael knows about The Seattle Freeze?
Former Notre Dame and now Seattle Seahawks Wide Receiver Golden Tate seems to be settling into his new hometown Seattle and has discovered The Crab Pot.
According to Golden Tate's Twitter account called @ShowtimeTate, he's working to learn the playbook and earn playing time:
Another day at the office! Trying to learn this play book! And missing keenan hall!
7:41 AM May 1st via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Golden Tate, who's college humber was 23, is now #81, a clear sign that he's ready to be an NFL wide receiver. Reportedly he's playing well in Seattle's minicamp. But Tate's also taking to Seattle, as this tweet shows:
I for sure just devoured snow and king crab from Crab Pot!
about 6 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
The Crab Pot is a Seattle institution at The Bay Pavilion at Pier 57 on the Waterfront. It's known for "The Seafest," or as the website describes:
We take a variety of crab, clams, mussels, shrimp in the shell, salmon, halibut, oysters, potatoes, corn on the cob and andouille sausage steamed with mouth watering spices and pour it right on your table! No need for silverware, we give you a bib and a mallet and let you go at it!
Since Golden Tate didn't do "The Seafest", here's a video preview of what he's in store for:
Hopefully Golden Tate sends a tweet while he's devouring The Seafest" the nest time he goes to The Crab Pot.
Now that the 2010 NFL Draft is history and the San Francisco 49ers traded for former Ohio State and Miami Dolphins Receiver Ted Ginn Jr., yet failed to add more speed in the form of Clemson Running Back C.J. Spiller, it's obvious Ginn's going to be the speed guy. According to various reports, Ginn's going to be more than the return man - he's going to be a receiver.
The reason is Ginn's coming in and surprising people with his determination to be a good receiver. He's got a lot of work to do, if Niner Nation's blog is considered. "Smiley" wrote a full account of all of Ted Ginn's games in 2009 including his best (11 for 108 against the Colts) and his worst (the 2 for 8 performance against the New Orleans Saints).
Considering Ted's amazing speed as shown in this record setting performance where he returned two kicks for over 100 yards in one game and in one quarter...
The 49ers should use Ginn in flanker screen plays and reverses, as the Dolphins did. The Niners may want to place Ginn at Split End and just have him, but Flanker's actually a more efficient place for Ted Ginn to be.
