online entertainment: 2011

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Queen Elizabeth II meets Yoko Ono in Liverpool

AAA??Dec. 1, 2011?12:29 PM ET
Queen Elizabeth II meets Yoko Ono in Liverpool
AP

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, left, with Yoko Ono, right, during her visit to the Museum of Liverpool in Liverpool, England, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011. With 8,000 meters of public space, the recently opened museum looks at Britain and the world through the eyes of Liverpool, with 6,000 objects showcasing the city's unique contribution to the world. Woman at center is unidentified. (AP Photo/Tim Hales-Pool)

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, left, meets Yoko Ono, right, during their visit to the Museum of Liverpool in Liverpool, England, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011. With 8,000 meters of public space, the recently opened museum looks at Britain and the world through the eyes of Liverpool, with 6,000 objects showcasing the city's unique contribution to the world. (AP Photo/Tim Hales-Pool)

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, second left, meets Yoko Ono, right, during their visit to the Museum of Liverpool in Liverpool, England, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011. With 8,000 meters of public space, the recently opened museum looks at Britain and the world through the eyes of Liverpool, with 6,000 objects showcasing the city's unique contribution to the world. (AP Photo/Tim Hales-Pool)

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, left, meets Yoko Ono, right, during her visit to the Museum of Liverpool in Liverpool, England, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011. With 8,000 meters of public space, the recently opened museum looks at Britain and the world through the eyes of Liverpool, with 6,000 objects showcasing the city's unique contribution to the world. (AP Photo/Tim Hales-Pool)

Yoko Ono waits to meet Britain's Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to the Museum of Liverpool in Liverpool, England, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011. With 8,000 meters of public space, the recently opened museum looks at Britain and the world through the eyes of Liverpool, with 6,000 objects showcasing the city's unique contribution to the world. (AP Photo/Tim Hales-Pool)

LONDON (AP) ? Queen Elizabeth II has met Yoko Ono on a visit to the birthplace of The Beatles.

The British monarch chatted with Ono, widow of John Lennon, on a visit to the Museum of Liverpool in the northwest England port city where the Fab Four formed.

Ono said she was impressed by the queen's burgundy coat, dress and matching hat, saying it "made her look so young, so elegant. She is always elegant. It's always nice to meet her."

In honor of the queen's trip to Liverpool on Thursday, the band of the Coldstream Guards played a medley of Beatles songs during the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace in London.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-12-01-EU-Britain-Queen-Yoko-Ono/id-86de907a9e8d4498b67e7ade71c0b606

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Friday, December 2, 2011

Immune booster also works in reverse

Interleukin-2 calms runaway reactions

Web edition : 5:02 pm

A multitasking immune protein once pursued as a treatment to rev up the body's defenses might work better at toning them down. The compound, called interleukin-2, can halt and even reverse aberrant immune reactions where standard treatment has failed, French and U.S. research teams report in the Dec. 1 New England Journal of Medicine.

Interleukin-2, or IL-2, is a signaling protein that has been approved for use against cancer and was also tried as an immune booster for fighting HIV, the AIDS virus. But despite some success against melanoma and kidney cancer, IL-2 has been a disappointment. It turns out that IL-2 does more than send immune fighters into battle. It also ratchets down these defenses by triggering production of T regulatory cells, or T-regs, which keep other immune troops in line. That quality could benefit patients with disorders in which the immune system attacks healthy tissues, such as lupus, multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis.

Both new studies take advantage of IL-2?s alter ego. Low-dose injections of the protein boosted T-reg levels, dampening immunity and improving symptoms in half of the U.S. patients, who had complications arising from bone marrow transplants, and in nearly all of the French patients, who had problems related to hepatitis C.

Although the small studies are ?more like case reports,? the early findings could signal a major shift in IL-2 use, says Jeffrey Bluestone, an immunologist at the University of California, San Francisco who wasn?t involved in the studies. ?It might be a tricky balancing act, but perhaps IL-2 at the right doses at the right times can promote T-regs preferentially? and quell immune mutiny.

The researchers in France identified 10 hepatitis C patients who had a reaction called vasculitis in which their immune systems unleash rogue antibodies that damage blood vessels. Giving the patients daily IL-2 injections on and off over 10 weeks improved symptoms in eight of the 10 patients. Levels of T-regs in these patients more than tripled during IL-2 treatment, but levels of the hepatitis C virus in the patients also fell, suggesting that the treatment didn?t shut off normal defenses, says study coauthor David Klatzmann, an immunologist at Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris.

In the U.S. study, hematologist John Koreth of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and his colleagues monitored 23 people who had received a bone marrow transplant for leukemia or lymphoma. In these people, the donor cells were attacking their new host, a complication called graft-versus-host disease. Steroids or other medication had failed to control the condition.

IL-2 injections over eight weeks stabilized the graft-versus-host disease in 11 of the patients and relieved symptoms in the other 12, who showed fewer skin lesions, improved liver function and better mobility. Ten patients have continued on IL-2 for the long term, and some of them no longer need immune suppressant drugs, Koreth says.

Previous attempts to use T-regs directly as a treatment proved complicated since that required growing the cells in culture. Simply giving low doses of IL-2 lets the body do that work, says Thomas Malek, an immunologist at the University of Miami who wasn?t involved in the studies. The key, he says, will be careful dosing of IL-2 to ensure, with its multiple talents, that it doesn?t switch on the wrong immune cells.

Klatzmann?s team has now turned to using IL-2 against type 1 diabetes, while the Boston scientists are exploring the use of IL-2 earlier in the course of graft-versus-host disease. ?

Found in: Body & Brain

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/336525/title/Immune_booster_also_works_in_reverse

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Monday, November 28, 2011

96% Hugo

All Critics (119) | Top Critics (36) | Fresh (114) | Rotten (5)

Thematic potency and cinematic virtuosity -- the production was designed by Dante Ferretti and photographed by Robert Richardson -- can't conceal a deadly inertness at the film's core.

For all the wizardry on display, Hugo often feels like a film about magic instead of a magical film...

I have seen the future of 3-D moviemaking, and it belongs to Martin Scorsese, unlikely as that may sound.

It's a fairy tale for mature viewers, but the airy exterior hides emotional depth.

One of the most magical viewing experiences of the decade so far.

Aside from being one of Scorsese's most personal films, it's also one of the least cynical films of this or any other year.

This is a great director's greatest love story.

Scorsese uses 3D to submerge viewers into a glittering storybook world, but all of Hugo's beauty can't make up for the sidetracking of the tale of the orphaned boy living in the train station in favor of a film preservation PSA.

If however, you are not a film scholar or a fan of the period, Scorsese will skillfully turn you into one without you even knowing it.

Scorcese does not mess around. This is a magnificent film.

The movie itself runs a bit long at 127 minutes, but "Hugo" is worth every minute for the visual feast it provides.

Hugo is a love affair -- palpable and personal -- between director Marty Scorsese and cinema. It sputters, floats, and soars.

An infectious ode to the early days of cinema. Scorsese's use of 3D is inspired, although it might be more interesting for parents than their children.

A powerful reminder of the magic of cinema and Martin Scorsese's astounding versatility...

"Hugo" is a movie that children will enjoy, adults will admire and film buffs will cheer. It is a movie that will surprise and delight you with its wonder and awe.

Exquisite - Definitely Oscar Worthy

... a phantasmagorical fusion of 'Oliver Twist' and 'Edward Scissorhands' ... but in the end it feels pedantic and, like M?li?s' robot, proves a wondrous contraption motorized by a spring-driven heart.

Hugo is a work steeped in cinema lore, drunk on the fumes of a bygone era yet canny enough to channel its nostalgia through modern innovations.

Please, please, please don't think you need to be a child to see this incredible movie. Indeed, "Hugo," a smart, classy film that deserves to be watched on the big screen in 3-D, will find a special place with grownups who love movie art and history.

A deeply felt, hugely personal, glorious and heart-swelling ode to the magic of cinema and stories: the way they bring us together, allow us to understand each other, allow us to see our dreams come true.

Probably the first kids film in history to double as a propaganda film for the cause of classic film preservation. And I mean that in the nicest possible way.

It has its sluggish moments, but Hugo is mostly a delightful tribute to the magic of early cinema, and boasts excellent use of 3-D.

Martin Scorsese's affecting, gorgeously rendered 3-D debut is one of the best films of this year and any other year.

...the best children's movie of the century so far

More Critic Reviews

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hugo/

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Black Friday's Online Sales Leap 20 Percent Over Last Year

LOS ANGELES -- Online shoppers didn't wait around until Cyber Monday to start their holiday shopping.

According to IBM Corp. research unit Coremetrics, U.S. consumers spent 20 percent more online on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, this year than last, while online sales jumped 39 percent on Thanksgiving Day.

Coremetrics measures sales data from more than 500 online retailers, including half of the top 50. It doesn't reveal its partners or specific dollar figures.

Both Coremetrics and e-commerce payment site PayPal, a united of eBay Inc., said shopping by mobile phone is increasingly substantially this year. PayPal said it saw five times more mobile payments worldwide this Thanksgiving, compared with last year.

And Coremetrics said about 17 percent of Black Friday visitors to retail websites came via mobile devices, up from about 5 percent a year ago.

There were sporadic reports of shoppers having trouble with crowded websites. Some visitors to Walmart.com reported problems paying for their merchandise at checkout, according to posts on GottaDeal.com and other websites.

Toys R Us Inc. spokeswoman Kathleen Waugh said Friday that the toy retailer's site experienced "some slowness" when it unveiled some online deals at 9 p.m. Eastern time Thursday. She said the company's online sales are up "extensively" from a year ago.

Online sales typically account for about one-tenth of total sales in November, one of the biggest shopping periods of the year, said John Squire, an executive with IBM's e-commerce marketing unit.

That share looks to rise this year.

IBM's Coremetrics predicts online sales will grow about 15 percent this year, compared with growth of a few percentage points for brick-and-mortar stores.

Some retailers save their online deals for the first business day of the week following Thanksgiving, now known as Cyber Monday. And Squire predicted that Cyber Monday's online sales will exceed the total reached on Black Friday by early afternoon.

Squire said its partners' websites hadn't had major glitches Thursday or Friday.

"People keep spending money online, so that's a great indicator that the sites are running," he said.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/25/black-friday-online-sales_n_1113728.html

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Sunday, November 27, 2011

Asia stocks slump on Europe debt crisis impasse

BANGKOK (AP) ? Asian stock markets were mostly lower Friday as the results of a meeting among leaders of Europe's biggest economies disappointed investors and Portugal's credit rating was lowered to junk.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell marginally to 8,161.87 while South Korea's Kospi lost 0.9 percent at 1,779.93. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.8 percent to 17,790.54 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 1.4 percent at 3,989.

Investment sentiment continued to wane after a meeting Thursday in Strasbourg, France of the leaders of the three biggest euro economies: Italian Premier Mario Monti, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The three leaders pledged to push for changes to European Union treaties to bring the fiscal policies of countries using the euro common currency more in line with each other.

Many investors were hoping Merkel might drop her steadfast opposition to a greater role for the European Central Bank or the creation of a eurobond that would pool the debts of all countries in the currency union. Some experts believe the ECB is the only institution capable of getting Europe past its debt crisis.

Piled onto the disappointment from the Strasbourg summit was a debt demotion for Portugal.

Fitch Ratings, citing Portugal's large fiscal imbalances, its high indebtedness across all sectors and an adverse macroeconomic outlook, reduced the country's credit rating to BB+. That means Portugal is considered non-investment grade by Fitch, making it even more difficult for the struggling country to return to the bond markets.

In the U.S., markets were closed for the Thanksgiving on Thursday. A crucial test comes on so-called Black Friday ? the day that kicks off the holiday shopping season.

How well retailers do during the biggest shopping season of the year will have consequences for the still-fragile U.S. economic recovery.

The spending of consumers, which accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity, can impact stores' expansion plans and inventory decisions into the new year. That trickles through the rest of the economy, from suppliers to jobs.

The November-December period accounts for 25-40 percent of annual sales. About a quarter of jobs in the U.S. are directly or indirectly supported by the retail industry.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-11-24-World-Markets/id-f43c13a13d504347a065b7e8771e7995

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93% Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey

As a young child, my best friend was my stuffed Elmo toy. I took him everywhere and told him everything. My friends loved him, my family did, we all just loved Elmo. But until now, I never thought about why. Why did I love Elmo so much? Why is he so instantly lovable, and how was he created? What brilliant performer created the best friend of billions of children? Well my friends, be ready to be answered and moved by this lovely documentary.Being Elmo follows the career of Kevin Clash: a kid from Baltimore who loved puppets. When he got older, Kevin started to build his own muppets and was featured on local TV. As Kevin got better and better, he felt limited by his position. Then he met muppet builder Kermit Love (creator of Big bird, Snuffy, and Ms. Piggy), who taught Kevin everything he knew. After meeting Jim Henson, Kevin was well on his way to becoming the legend he is. And of course, the rest is history.Ok, I know that it looks like I gave the whole movie away, but I only outlined it. Kevin's journey through the world of puppeteering is so deep and interesting that there's no way I could cover it in a paragraph. Anyway, part of what makes the story so great is that Kevin is one of the best examples of someone who followed their dreams. He had real talent in a weird field and he made it through 100% pure hard work. He's never arrogant, never outspoken, and always thankful. Kevin is such a good person, you can see Elmo in him.Now, I don't consider myself a super macho dude, but I have my pride. And I am discarding that right now because I'm admitting that this movie made me cry. It wasn't sad, and I didn't cry a lot, but I cried. I remembered how much Sesame Street meant to me, and how amazing it is that Kevin Clash makes millions of kids believe they are loved by Elmo. Then there's the scene where all the muppets, including Elmo and friends, sing "Saying Goodbye" at Jim Henson's funeral. I dare you not to choke up.Being Elmo is special. It is a rare documentary that doesn't uncover political corruption or be pro environmentalism that isn't about a historical figure. Like Anvil last year, Being Elmo tells a story about someone who never, ever gave up. It's effective, informative, interesting, touching, and of course inspiring. Why does it work so well? To paraphrase one of the interviewed puppeteers: Elmo is love, and he loves you unconditionally. And you know what, I love him right back. Always.

November 17, 2011

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/being_elmo_a_puppeteers_journey/

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Saturday, November 26, 2011

Maggie Daley, wife of longtime Chicago mayor, dies (Reuters)

CHICAGO (Reuters) ? Maggie Daley, the wife of former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and a driving force for the arts and education in the city, died on Thursday, current Mayor Rahm Emanuel said. She was 68.

Daley was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 2002 but continued to make public appearances and downplayed her illness despite numerous trips to the hospital.

Some political observers attributed the emotional drain of her illness in part to her husband's retirement this year after a city record 22 years in office.

"Chicago has lost a warm and gracious First Lady who contributed immeasurably to our city. While Mayor Daley served as the head of this city, Maggie was its heart," Emanuel, President Barack Obama's former chief of staff who won election to succeed Daley, said in a statement.

Born Margaret Ann Corbett in Pittsburgh, the only girl among seven children of an auto parts dealer, she came to Chicago to participate in a management training program and met Daley at a 1970 Christmas party.

Daley was then an attorney being groomed for politics by his father, long-time mayor and Democratic political boss Richard J. Daley.

The couple married and moved into the Daley clan's Chicago neighborhood of Bridgeport and had four children. A son Kevin was born with the congenital disease spina bifida and died at age 3, which had a profound impact on his parents.

Daley was elected mayor in 1989, and his wife was a behind-the-scenes force who took up civic causes and focused on the arts.

She started an after-school arts education program, which now has some 20,000 participants. The city's inspector general revealed this year that companies with government business were frequently told to channel charitable contributions to her pet project, a revelation that irked her sometimes volatile and always protective husband.

In an impassioned speech she gave in 2000, the Chicago Tribune quoted her as saying: "Chicago is a city of literature and a city of music. Writers have loved the city's grit and moxie; its rawhide style of urban survival.

"The people who make this city great are tough customers, even when beat. Our kind of hustling, forward-looking energy have focused the arts -- have sharpened their blades. Chicago is a jazz town, a gospel town, and the home of the blues," she said.

Photographs of Maggie Daley at her daughter Elizabeth "Lally" Daley's recent marriage ceremony showed her smiling broadly, as always.

(Reporting by Andrew Stern. Editing by Peter Bohan)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111125/people_nm/us_maggiedaley

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Asia stocks muted after poor German debt auction

A group of visitors to Tokyo Stock Exchange have their pictures taken in front of a real time electronic stock update board in Tokyo Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011. Asian stock markets were mostly lower Thursday amid mixed economic data out of the U.S. and fears that the German economy, Europe's strongest, may be succumbing to the continent's debt crisis. Japan's Nikkei 225, reopening after a one-day public holiday, fell 1.5 percent at 8,186.58. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa)

A visitor to Tokyo Stock Exchange watches the trading operation from visitor's gallery in Tokyo Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011. Asian stock markets were mostly lower Thursday amid mixed economic data out of the U.S. and fears that the German economy, Europe's strongest, may be succumbing to the continent's debt crisis. Japan's Nikkei 225, reopening after a one-day public holiday, fell 1.5 percent at 8,186.58. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa)

A Tokyo Stock Exchange employee monitors stock update on computer terminals in Tokyo Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011. Asian stock markets were mostly lower Thursday amid mixed economic data out of the U.S. and fears that the German economy, Europe's strongest, may be succumbing to the continent's debt crisis. Japan's Nikkei 225, reopening after a one-day public holiday, fell 1.5 percent at 8,186.58. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa)

Visitors to Tokyo Stock Exchange watch a real time stock price update board in Tokyo, Thursday Nov. 24, 2011. Asian stock markets were mostly lower Thursday amid mixed economic data out of the U.S. and fears that the German economy, Europe's strongest, may be succumbing to the continent's debt crisis. Japan's Nikkei 225, reopening after a one-day public holiday, fell 1.5 percent at 8,186.58. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa)

BANGKOK (AP) ? Asian stock markets edged higher Thursday as speculation that China might ease its monetary policy soothed fears that the German economy ? Europe's strongest ? may be succumbing to the continent's debt crisis.

Benchmark oil hovered above $96 per barrel while the dollar fell against the euro and the yen.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng posted a 0.4 percent gain at 17,934.22. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.8 percent to 1,797.68. Benchmarks in Singapore, mainland China and Taiwan also rose.

Japan's Nikkei 225, reopening after a one-day public holiday, fell 1.3 percent to 8,208.47. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.2 percent to 4,044.20. Shares in India, Malaysia and Indonesia also fell.

Speculation that China's central bank was aiming to ease its tight monetary policy helped spur a wave of buying in Hong Kong, analysts said. But the official Xinhua News Agency said Thursday the move ? lowering reserve requirements for six rural banks in eastern Zhejiang ? was administrative rather than a policy shift. The banks' reserve requirements had been raised a year earlier after they failed to lend enough to farming businesses.

There have been signs that China's campaign of interest rate hikes and credit controls to tame stubbornly high inflation has been working, giving it leeway to ease monetary policy as the world economy stumbles.

"The positive catalyst today is the expectation that the China tightening cycle might loosen," said Jackson Wong, vice president at Tanrich Securities in Hong Kong. "I do think the rebound is pretty short term."

The chatter over Beijing's monetary policy helped push up Chinese banking shares. Hong Kong-listed Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. jumped 3.3 percent and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the country's biggest commercial lender, rose 1.9 percent.

But heavy industrial shares, which are closely tied to economic growth, fell as worries about a global economic slowdown grew. Japan's Komatsu Ltd., a world leader in construction machinery, lost 3.8 percent. India Tata's Steel fell 2.6 percent.

Global markets were spooked Wednesday by the poor results at an auction of German debt, which met with only 60 percent demand. Germany's Financial Agency blamed "the extraordinarily nervous market environment."

The weak buying suggests that Europe's crisis might be infecting strong nations that are crucial to keeping the euro currency afloat. Germany bears much of the burden of bailing out weaker neighbors such as Greece and Portugal.

Analysts at Credit Agricole CIB said the European debt crisis remains "the major concern for the markets" and that the German debt auction signals the spread of "the contagion to hard core economies" in the region.

Borrowing costs for Italy and Spain rose from levels that already were considered dangerously high. Europe lacks the resources to bail out those countries, its third- and fourth-biggest economies.

In the U.S., the government released a mixed batch of economic reports. Slightly more people applied for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that layoffs continue.

Consumer spending was sluggish but incomes rose a bit more than expected. Orders for long-lasting manufactured products fell for a second month and business investment dropped off.

The Dow fell 2.1 percent to close at 11,257.55. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 2.2 percent to 1,161.79. The Nasdaq fell 2.4 percent to 2,460.08.

U.S. markets will be closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday and will have shortened hours on Friday.

Benchmark crude for January delivery was up 37 cents at $96.54 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.84 to settle at $96.17 in New York on Wednesday.

In currency trading, the euro rose to $1.3373 from $1.3326 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar dropped to 77.09 yen from 77.35 yen.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-11-24-World-Markets/id-e2fb5404062246ba820ac4c656d315bf

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Friday, November 25, 2011

Weekly Ketchup: Martin Scorsese Will Do A Serial Killer Film

This week's Ketchup doesn't even really cover a full week, as it is being published on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving Thursday, and so only half a week has transpired since the last Ketchup. And Hollywood has basically taken the whole week off for the holiday as well, so instead of the usual 10 stories, this Ketchup can only give you seven... because that is literally everything that happened this week in movie news. Included in the mix are two different adaptations of Scandinavian novels, new movies for director Martin Scorsese and Kenneth Branagh, and new roles for Dame Judi Dench, Chris Evans, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

This Week's Top Story

MARTIN SCORSESE TO GO DARK AGAIN POST-HUGO WITH THE SNOWMAN

This week saw the release of director Martin Scorsese's first ever "kids' movie" Hugo. Possibly to address movie fans concerned that Hugo might be a sign that Scorsese has gone soft, it was announced this week that he was signed to direct an adaptation of the Norwegian serial killer novel The Snowman. This international bestseller was the seventh in the Harry Hole detective series by Norwegian author Jo Nesb?. The Snowman follows the investigation by Harry Hole, "an anti-authortarian, anti-sobriety cop," of a series of killings targetting married women with children, and in each case, a snowman is found at the scene of the crime. Jo Nesb? had to agree to the production's director selection, but also agreed to allow the English translation film not necessarily to be filmed in Oslo (where the novel is set). Screenwriter Matthew Michael Carnahan (The Kingdom, Lions for Lambs), who also cowrote the upcoming zombie disaster movie World War Z, is now working on adapting the screenplay from the novel. Despite being the center of news this week, The Snowman is not likely, however, to be Martin Scorsese's first post-Hugo movie. Other previously announced projects for Scorsese include the missionaries-in-Japan drama Silence, the mobster biopic The Irishman (starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro), a Frank Sinatra biopic, and a possible remake of Scorsese's Taxi Driver done in the style of Lars von Trier's The Five Obstructions.

Fresh Developments This Week

#1 ANTHONY HOPKINS AND JUDI DENCH TO DON ITALIAN SHOES FOR KENNETH BRANAGH

Sir Anthony Hopkins and Dame Judi Dench are in negotations to star in the next film from director Kenneth Branagh (Thor, Hamlet, Henry V) (no "Sir" title for him... yet). Italian Shoes is an English language adaptation of a novel by Swedish author Henning Mankell. The story concerns an elderly man (Hopkins) who has spent years in isolation in the wilderness (where he lowers himself into the icy waters nearby each morning to remind himself that he's still alive) whose life changes when an unexpected visitor (Dench) arrives. The Italian Shoes script was adapted by Richard Cottan, who also wrote several episodes of the Wallander TV series in which Kenneth Branagh also starred. Filming of Italian Shoes is expected to start in late 2012 or early 2013.

#2 THE LATEST HAROLD & KUMAR DIRECTOR SIGNS ON FOR SLASHER COMEDY FINAL GIRLS

Director Todd Strauss-Schulson recently made his studio debut with New Line Cinema's A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas after a career previously best known for independent comedy shorts and videos. That movie ended up earning a Fresh RT score of 72% and $28 million at the box office thus far. Despite that low box office, but perhaps because of the good critical reception, New Line Cinema has signed Schauss-Schulson for another comedy project. In what is being called a cross between Back to the Future and Friday the 13th, Final Girls is a horror/comedy hybrid about a teenage girl who gets sucked with her friends into the 1980s slasher movie that her mother starred in. Final Girls was written by newcomers Mark Fortin and Josh Miller, who have worked on other projects, but have not yet had anything produced.

#3 DWAYNE "THE ROCK" JOHNSON, MONSTER HUNTER

A common point of complaint among action movie fans concerns the way that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has spent much of his post-WWE movie career starring in family-friendly fare like Tooth Fairy and Race to Witch Mountain. The argument is often made that Johnson is an obvious natural for more adult-friendly action movies (and as with all things, there's a ticking clock about how much longer the 39-year-old will be able to stay in top shape). Recently, Dwayne Johnson has started to transition back into non-kids-movies with Fast Five, but his next two movies are Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which are both arguably hybrid movies in terms of this argument. This week, Dwayne Johnson signed on to star in an adaptation of the independent comic book miniseries Monster Hunter's Survival Guide for Simon Kinberg, producer of X-Men: First Class and the upcoming Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Neil Blomkamp's Elysium. As the title suggests, Monster Hunter's Survival Guide is "a comprehensive guide to hunt monsters [sic], the undead and unnatural beasts, and survive the confrontations." There is not a director or even a screenwriter announced for the adaptation yet, so Monster Hunter's Survival Guide can most likely be seen as a possible project for farther along in The Rock's career.

#4 THE HUMAN TORCH JOINS THE ICEMAN (BUT IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MARVEL COMICS)

The Iceman is the name of a long-in-development adaptation of the Phillip Carlo serial killer biography Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer, about Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski. Kuklinski (who was 6' 5" and 300 pounds) claimed to be responsible for as many as 200 murders over the course of a 30 year career, and died in prison in 2006 at the age of 70. The independent production has had a rocky road through casting. Mickey Rourke was originally supposed to star as Kuklinski, but he has since been replaced by Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road, Boardwalk Empire). Benicio Del Toro had been signed to play Kuklinski's mob boss Roy Demeo, but Del Toro has since been replaced by Ray Liotta. Finally, James Franco had been attached to play Kuklinski's hitman mentor, but Franco recently bailed on the project. And that brief history of the project brings us up to this week's news, which is that Chris Evans (AKA Captain America and Johnny Storm in the Fantastic Four movies) has signed on to replace James Franco as Robert "Mr. Softee" Pronge. Independent director Ariel Vromen (2005's RX, 2006's Danika) is preparing to start filming The Iceman in December in Detroit, working from a script he cowrote with his RX screenwriter Morgan Land. Shannon, Liotta and Evans will be joined by a supporting cast which includes Maggie Gyllenhaal, Elias Koteas and David Schwimmer.

#5 WHAT SCARLETT JOHANSSON REALLY WANTS IS TO DIRECT... SUMMER CROSSING

Scarlett Johansson has announced plans to follow the career arc of so many other actors and actresses before her: she's going to become a director. Johansson's choice for her first movie as director will be an adaptation of Summer Crossing, Truman Capote's first novella, which was long thought to be lost until eventually being published in 2005. Finally, it should be noted that this story actually broke late last week, but this is already a short Ketchup this week, so it's being included here to help fill out the piece a bit. Actress-turned-screenwriter Tristine Skyler (1999's Getting to Know You), who also has an adaptation of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar in development, adapted Capote's novella. Set during the hot New York summer of 1945, Summer Crossing is the story of an 18-year-old debutante who decides not to join her parents on vacation in France, so that she can instead have a summer exploring her sexuality. There's no word yet as to whether Johansson (currently 27) plans on also starring in Summer Crossing. Since there's no way of really knowing whether or not Johansson has directing talent or not, this should be considered a borderline Fresh Development for now.

Rotten Ideas of the Week

#1 CHOPPING MALL GETTING A REMAKE THAT LEAVES OUT THE WHOLE PREMISE OF THE MOVIE

First off, it should be noted that this pre-Thanksgiving shortened week was so light in news that not only was there only 7 stories (instead of 10, which are usually chosen from 15 to 40 total stories), but the Rotten Idea is for a movie that may not even be intended to get a theatrical release. However, there is something so inherently ridiculous about the premise of this remake that it has to be mentioned here. Kevin Bocarde, the producer of titles like Shark Swarm, Lightning Bug and The Curse of King Tut's Tomb, is reuniting with FX-makeup-artist-turned-director Robert Hall, the director of Laid to Rest and Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2 for a remake of the 1986 Roger Corman horror film Chopping Mall. Originally released as Killbots, Chopping Mall is about a group of teenagers who find themselves trapped in a shopping mall guarded by robotic security guards who start killing all of the teens. That premise is classic B movie cheese, but it's not really what makes this a Rotten Idea (because really, who cares if Chopping Mall gets a remake?). No, the Rotten part is in how Robert Hall plans on remaking it. The new Chopping Mall will "downplay the science fiction elements and instead focus on a supernatural terror." That's right... a remake of a movie about killer robots is going to leave out the killer robots. Oy vey. Anyway... have a great Thanksgiving!

For more Weekly Ketchup columns by Greg Dean Schmitz, check out the WK archive, and you can contact GDS via Facebook or a RT forum message.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1924015/news/1924015/

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Adwatch: Romney takes Obama out of context again

This video frame grab provided by the Mitt Romney presidential campaign shows a scene from an ad entitled: "Believe in America" that is running in New Hampshire. (AP Photo/Romney Presidential Campaign)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? TITLE: "Believe in America"

LENGTH: 60 seconds

AIRING: In New Hampshire through Sunday

KEY IMAGES: The ad opens with grainy footage from a Barack Obama rally in Londonderry, N.H., in the midst of his 2008 presidential campaign against Sen. John McCain. Obama proclaims "I am confident that we can steer ourselves out of this crisis." Text is then shown on the screen: "He promised to fix the economy. He failed."

The ad then cuts between footage from Obama's rally and stock video of shuttered businesses, foreclosed homes and shuffling workers. On screen, text declares: "Greatest Jobs Crisis Since Great Depression. Record Home Foreclosures. Record National Debt."

The imagery then shifts to blue skies and Mitt Romney's name on the side of a barn. As Romney promises to change government, the ad shows video of him speaking in Iowa, meeting with a voter ? with his book "No Apology" on the table between them ? and stock video of factory workers.

"I'm going to do something to government. I call it the 'Smaller, Simpler, Smarter' approach to government. Getting rid of programs, turning programs back to states and, finally, making government itself more efficient," Romney says, using video from a Nov. 7 appearance in Dubuque, Iowa. "I'm going to get rid of Obamacare. It's killing jobs and it's keeping our kids from having the bright prospects they deserve."

He then turns to the economy, voters' top concern.

"We have a moral responsibility not to spend more than we take in. I'll make sure that America is a job creating machine like it has been in the past. It's high time to bring those principles of fiscal responsibility to Washington, D.C."

The ad closes with a photograph of Romney's campaign announcement event in New Hampshire this spring. His campaign poster hangs on the barn behind him.

ANALYSIS: Romney's first ad of the presidential campaign takes Obama out of context and gives the impression that the president is talking about his time in office, not that of his predecessor.

"Who's been in charge of the economy?" Obama asked the crowd in 2008, criticizing Republicans including President George W. Bush.

The ad shows Obama saying: "If we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose," giving viewers with the impression that Obama does not want to talk about the dire economy.

In fact, Obama was quoting his opponent's campaign: "Sen. McCain's campaign actually said, and I quote, 'If we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose''', he said.

Romney aides acknowledge they were using video of Obama quoting an anonymous aide McCain. Romney's top communications aide Gail Gitcho disclosed that Obama is quoting someone else in a blog post and later defended the ad.

"Three years ago, candidate Obama mocked his opponent's campaign for saying, 'If we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose,'" Gitcho said in an email. "Now, the tables have turned. President Obama is doing exactly what candidate Obama criticized. The White House doesn't want to talk about the economy and continues to attempt to distract voters from President Obama's abysmal economic record."

There's no doubt the economy is in trouble. Nearly 14 million people are out of work in the U.S. Since Obama took office in January 2009, the economy has lost 2.2 million jobs. The economy also has 6.6 million fewer jobs than it did when the recession began in December 2007 ? under Bush.

But it is telling that Romney uses his first ad of his second White House bid to take Obama's quotes out of context and not pitch his own record as successful businessman, the leader of 2002's Olympics or his four years as Massachusetts governor.

The ad is the second time in as many weeks that Romney has taken an Obama quote out of context. In interviews last week, Romney contended that Obama said Americans were "lazy."

Obama was actually talking about U.S. efforts to lure foreign investment, not Americans themselves. But Romney didn't make that distinction and mischaracterized the president's comments at an economic summit. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is challenging Romney for the GOP presidential nomination, aired an ad using the same incorrect claim.

Romney sees himself as the front-runner and rarely engages his Republican rivals. The ad began airing as Obama visited New Hampshire and portrays Romney as running against the incumbent ? bypassing the nominating process and his GOP rivals.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-11-22-Romney-AdWatch/id-20684423a9c34b6bb65bd634a82622d5

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Thursday, November 24, 2011

Tags? We're it. NIST opens new 'biolabeling' research facility

Public release date: 23-Nov-2011
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Contact: Chad Boutin
chad.boutin@nist.gov
301-975-4261
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

With the recent opening of its new Biomolecular Labeling Laboratory, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has become one of a small handful of facilities in the world that specializes in tagging large molecules with different isotopes to make them easier to analyze. The new NIST lab is available to outside researchers, particularly those in biomedical fields who also want to take advantage of the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR)'s analysis tools.

The "BL-squared" lab, a collaboration between NIST and the University of Maryland, should interest drug manufacturers, who need details about the structure and behavior of protein molecules that could become new medicines. Scientists prefer to make a novel molecule stand out from its background so they can spot it more easily with certain lab techniques, such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), small angle neutron scattering (SANS) and mass spectrometry.

Isotope tagging is a particularly effective way to enhance a molecule's visibility. Some of its common atoms -- hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen, for example -- are exchanged for heavier versions of themselves. These rare stable isotopes -- deuterium, carbon-13 and nitrogen-15 -- are not radioactive, but their different atomic mass makes the "labeled" molecule more visible during SANS, NMR or other types of measurements.

While biolabeling can be done on an ad hoc basis in any lab, NIST's Zvi Kelman says that the new lab will bring greater efficiency to the process.

"Now NIST will have the ability to produce and label biomolecules with different patterns and levels of isotopes," says Kelman, who recently moved from the University of Maryland to NIST's Biochemical Science Division. "Our facility is an open collaboration, so once we learn something about marking one biomolecule, we can then turn around and apply that knowledge to other users' projects."

Up to five clients, or "users," will have room to work simultaneously in the lab, while its close proximity to the NCNR means that users can take advantage of the NCNR's many neutron-based scanning methods as well. The lab will be able to accommodate about 50 to 60 users per year, according to Kelman, and it will be unusual in that there will be no requirement that users analyze their newly labeled molecules at NIST.

###

Kelman's team is now accepting applications to use the facility, which is located at the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research near NIST's Gaithersburg, Md., campus, and will review them on a rolling basis. To apply, visit https://www-s.nist.gov/NCNR-IMS/.

[ | E-mail | Share ]
?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Tags? We're it. NIST opens new 'biolabeling' research facility Public release date: 23-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Chad Boutin
chad.boutin@nist.gov
301-975-4261
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

With the recent opening of its new Biomolecular Labeling Laboratory, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has become one of a small handful of facilities in the world that specializes in tagging large molecules with different isotopes to make them easier to analyze. The new NIST lab is available to outside researchers, particularly those in biomedical fields who also want to take advantage of the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR)'s analysis tools.

The "BL-squared" lab, a collaboration between NIST and the University of Maryland, should interest drug manufacturers, who need details about the structure and behavior of protein molecules that could become new medicines. Scientists prefer to make a novel molecule stand out from its background so they can spot it more easily with certain lab techniques, such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), small angle neutron scattering (SANS) and mass spectrometry.

Isotope tagging is a particularly effective way to enhance a molecule's visibility. Some of its common atoms -- hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen, for example -- are exchanged for heavier versions of themselves. These rare stable isotopes -- deuterium, carbon-13 and nitrogen-15 -- are not radioactive, but their different atomic mass makes the "labeled" molecule more visible during SANS, NMR or other types of measurements.

While biolabeling can be done on an ad hoc basis in any lab, NIST's Zvi Kelman says that the new lab will bring greater efficiency to the process.

"Now NIST will have the ability to produce and label biomolecules with different patterns and levels of isotopes," says Kelman, who recently moved from the University of Maryland to NIST's Biochemical Science Division. "Our facility is an open collaboration, so once we learn something about marking one biomolecule, we can then turn around and apply that knowledge to other users' projects."

Up to five clients, or "users," will have room to work simultaneously in the lab, while its close proximity to the NCNR means that users can take advantage of the NCNR's many neutron-based scanning methods as well. The lab will be able to accommodate about 50 to 60 users per year, according to Kelman, and it will be unusual in that there will be no requirement that users analyze their newly labeled molecules at NIST.

###

Kelman's team is now accepting applications to use the facility, which is located at the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research near NIST's Gaithersburg, Md., campus, and will review them on a rolling basis. To apply, visit https://www-s.nist.gov/NCNR-IMS/.

[ | E-mail | Share ]
?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/nios-twi112311.php
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Gangaji: Rediscovering Your Natural Curiosity

The primary concern for all life forms is survival. In the case of humans, the basis of everything we think is somehow about our survival. Everything we feel is related to our survival. Even everything we understand is about our survival. What we understand is what we can categorize. A category presents us with a version of reality we can live with. If we can live with it we can survive.

Thinking is our human blessing and our curse. We are blessed when our thinking is fresh and creative. We are cursed when thinking only feeds our habit of categorizing. It is not that thinking and categorizing are wrong. Thinking thoughts is not the problem. But the reliance on some thought that we can grasp, or keep, or keep away in the name of survival can keep our attention bound to categories.

At any point we are weaving multiple thoughts into stories. Our stories can be complicated. These stories often have multiple themes dealing with profound personal and even cosmic issues. We also have thoughts and stories that come from what we read in the newspaper, or from advertisements, or from our power to create fantasy. All our stories are part of the sometimes beautiful, sometimes horrific and always awesome mandala of life.

At some point in a person's life of storytelling, the curiosity to discover the source of thoughts or stories can be more compelling than following the particular thoughts and stories. Feeding innate, free curiosity with inquiry nurtures direct discovery. In the spirit of discovery, we can pull the thread that begins the unraveling of all stories of identity. Pulling the thread reveals the capacity as a conscious human being to recognize that the beingness in human being is conscious and free.

The revered 20th century sage, Ramana Maharshi, said the last obstacle to this discovery of oneself as free is self-doubt. Self-doubt is a form of knowing; and knowing is about survival. We believe that if we forget to doubt ourselves, we could die, or the world could crash. Self-doubt gives rise to "Yes, but," or "It couldn't be that simple," or "Not me" -- all thoughts that can habitually follow the most sublime moments of discovering oneself as free consciousness.

My teacher, H.W.L Poonja (Papaji) said, "The last obstacle to freedom is the belief that there is an obstacle." Whatever you may tell yourself about any obstacle to the immediate fulfillment of yourself, is a thought that you can recognize and penetrate. You can discover what is underneath any thought or story, but to discover what is underneath the thought, you must be willing to recognize the thought, or story, that engages your attention. The story of any obstacle to lasting fulfillment is finally just another story that can be unraveled in the willingness to pull the thread.

This willingness is permission to be curious and to not know the "answer." It is the willingness to experience what needs to be experienced without knowing beforehand what that may be. It is the willingness to not know what the outcome of inquiry will be. Then your natural curiosity is available to you, unencumbered by what you think you should learn, or what you think you should know, or what you think you should think or feel to survive.

Free unencumbered curiosity is possible for you now in your life. All that is required is willingness. That willingness is a servant to truth. That is what brought you here.

This blog is adapted from a talk given at Kripalu Center, Stockbridge, MA in September 2011. Gangaji's new book, "Hidden Treasure: Uncovering the Truth in Your Life Story," was published by Penguin Tarcher, 2011. In November and December, Gangaji is holding retreats and weekends in Australia and New Zealand. Read more about Gangaji's events and catalog of books and videos online. You can also join Gangaji for a monthly Webcast/Conference Series which is currently making an in depth study of "Hidden Treasure."

Follow Gangaji on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Gangaji

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gangaji/having-self-curiosity-_b_1102294.html

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Cross on Marine base might come down

The Marine Corps said Monday it is reviewing whether to remove a cross placed on a Camp Pendleton hilltop earlier this month by Marines honoring four comrades killed in Iraq.

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The review came after an atheist group argued that the cross on government land violates the separation of church and state.

Several Marines, as well as the widows and children of two of the fallen Marines, carried the 13-foot-tall cross up to the hilltop on Veterans Day. The did so on their own and without Corps permission.

The cross replaced one that had been there since 2003 until it was destroyed by a brushfire in 2007.

"Camp Pendleton legal authorities are researching and reviewing the issue in order to make a judicious decision," the Marine Corps said in a statement reported by the Los Angeles Times Monday.

"As Marines, we are proud to honor our fallen brothers and are also proud of our extended Marine Corps family," it added. "However, it is important to follow procedure and use appropriate processes for doing this in a correct manner to protect the sentiment from question as well as be good stewards of our taxpayer dollars."

The complaint was lodged by the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers.

"Posting a Christian cross on federal land is forcing your religion on others," the group said on its Facebook page.

The page has since become a lightning rod for the controversy.

"Marines roll deep and the most dangerous place to be is between a Marine and fallen Marines," posted one person.

? 2011 msnbc.com Reprints

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45391916/ns/us_news-life/

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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Beyonce worried baby secret would be revealed (AP)

NEW YORK ? It's tough to keep a pregnancy a secret when you're in the public eye, and for a while, Beyonce thought the jig was up.

"The whole time I definitely was thinking, `Everyone knows, everyone can see,'" said the singer before the screening of her new concert DVD Sunday in New York.

It became particularly difficult for her to hide the growing baby bump when the Grammy-winner performed for four nights to sold-out crowds at New York's Roseland Theater in August.

"When you're pregnant, it's a little bit harder to breathe, so it was hard doing all the choreography and singing at the same time," said the 30-year-old singer in an onstage interview.

Fans who didn't get a chance to catch "The Intimate Nights" shows ? what Beyonce said was her last concert performance of the year ? can get a behind-the-scenes look in her new "Live at Roseland" DVD, available exclusively at Walmart this week. The deluxe two-DVD set is available everywhere on 11/29.

Along with classics from her Destiny's Child days and major hits from her solo career, the DVD includes interviews with the singer, home footage of rehearsals and special family moments ? even shots of Beyonce in a wedding gown.

She's also hoping the film will serve as a time capsule for her unborn child, a chance for him or her to say, "I can't believe I was in that belly," she said.

____

Online:

http://www.beyonceonline.com

_____

Nicole Evatt covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/NicoleEvatt.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111121/ap_en_mu/us_people_beyonce

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University hit by new climate leak ahead of talks

FILE - This is a Dec. 10, 2009 file photo showing the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. East Anglia, where stolen emails caused a global climate science controversy in 2009 says those behind the breach have apparently released a second and potentially far larger batch of old messages. University of East Anglia spokesman Simon Dunford said that while academics didn't have the chance yet to examine the roughly 5,000 emails apparently dumped into the public domain Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 a small sample examined by the university "appears to be genuine." (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

FILE - In this photo taken in 2007 provided by Greg Rico, Penn State Professor Michael Mann is seen at Penn State University in State College, Pa. The British university whose stolen emails caused a global climate science controversy in 2009 says those behind the breach have apparently released a second and potentially far larger batch of old messages. University of East Anglia spokesman Simon Dunford said that while academics didn't have the chance yet to examine the roughly 5,000 emails apparently dumped into the public domain Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011, a small sample examined by the university "appears to be genuine." Mann _ a prominent player in the earlier controversy whose name also appears in the latest leak _ described Tuesday's development as "a truly pathetic episode," blaming agents of the fossil fuel industry for "smear, innuendo, criminal hacking of websites, and leaking out-of-context snippets of personal emails. (AP Photo/Greg Rico, FILE) MANDATORY CREDIT

LONDON (AP) ? The British university whose stolen emails caused a global climate science controversy in 2009 says those behind the breach have apparently released a second and potentially far larger batch of old messages.

University of East Anglia spokesman Simon Dunford said that while academics didn't have the chance yet to examine the roughly 5,000 emails apparently dumped into the public domain Tuesday, a small sample examined by the university "appears to be genuine."

The university said in a statement that the emails did not appear to be the result of a new breach. Instead, the statement said that the emails appeared to have been stolen two years ago and held back until now "to cause maximum disruption" to the imminent U.N. climate talks next week in Durban, South Africa.

If that is confirmed, the timing and nature of the leak would follow the pattern set by the so-called "Climategate" emails, which caught prominent scientists stonewalling critics and discussing ways to keep opponents' research out of peer-reviewed journals.

Those hostile to mainstream climate science claimed the exchanges proved that the threat of global warming was being hyped, and their publication helped destabilize the failed U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, which followed several weeks later.

Climategate also dealt a blow to the reputation of the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit, which is one of the world's leading centers for the study of how world temperatures have varied over time.

Although a host of reviews have since vindicated the unit's science, some of its practices ? in particular efforts to hide data from opponents ? have come under strong criticism. The university says it is now much more open about what it does.

The content of the new batch of emails couldn't be immediately verified ? The Associated Press has not yet been able to secure a copy ? but climate skeptic websites carried what they said were excerpts.

Although their context couldn't be determined, the excerpts appeared to show climate scientists talking in conspiratorial tones about ways to promote their agenda and freeze out those they disagree with. There are several mentions of "the cause" and discussions of ways to shield emails from freedom of information requests.

Penn State University Prof. Michael Mann ? a prominent player in the earlier controversy whose name also appears in the latest leak ? described Tuesday's development as "a truly pathetic episode," blaming agents of the fossil fuel industry for "smear, innuendo, criminal hacking of websites, and leaking out-of-context snippets of personal emails."

In an email to the AP, he said that the real story behind the leak was "an attempt to dig out 2-year-old turkey from Thanksgiving '09. That's how desperate climate change deniers have become."

Bob Ward, with the London School of Economics' Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change, said in an email that he wasn't surprised by the leak.

"The selective presentation of old email messages is clearly designed to mislead the public and politicians about the strength of the evidence for man-made climate change," he said. "But the fact remains that there is very strong evidence that most the indisputable warming of the Earth over the past half century is due to the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities."

The source of the latest leaked emails was unclear. The perpetrator of the original hack has yet to be unmasked, although British police have said their investigation is still active.

___

Associated Press Writers Jill Lawless in London, Malcolm Ritter in New York, and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Online:

University of East Anglia: http://www.uea.ac.uk

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-11-22-EU-Climate-Leaked-Emails/id-29b15096d13342128f8690129ec82f4f

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