2010 February 01

Avatar pockets USD 2 b at box office

February 1, 2010 By nganesh Leave a Comment

James Cameron’s 3-D science fiction movie ”Avatar” has grossed USD 2.039 billion surpassing the USD 2 billion mark held by Titanic by the same director.

The movie’s distributor, 20th Century Fox, released the figures on Sunday. Fox declined to forecast where the film would end up, since it expected Tuesday morning’s Oscar nominations to spur a new wave of interest, Reuters said.

Avatar last Monday smashed the USD 1.843 billion record set in 1998 by Titanic. Fox did predict that Avatar would break Titanic’s North American record of USD 601 million by Wednesday.

The foreign collection stands at USD 1.45 billion after a USD 95 million weekend from 120 countries. It remained No 1 in many of them, including France, China, Australia and Brazil.

The movie could pull in so much money because ticket prices were considerably higher for 3 D screenings.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

China angry at US arms sales to Taiwan

February 1, 2010 By nganesh Leave a Comment

Edinburgh, Feb 1

The US today defended its 4 billion pounds arms sales to Taiwan following protest from China. Washington said it was committed to helping the island nation defend itself, a US official said.

The arms sales has strained further the US-China relationship. An official Chinese daily said US weapons sales to Taiwan, which China claims as its own inevitably cast a long shadow on Sino-US relations, Reuters said.

China’s response, no matter how vehement, is justified, it said. No country worthy of respect can sit idle while its national security is endangered and core interests damaged, it said.

US Assistant Secretary of Defence for Asia-Pacific region said Washington aimed to maintain cooperative, cordial relations with China but would not abandon Taiwan.

“The US is also obligated to ensure Taiwan’s self-defence capability and the US fully intends to meet every one of our obligations there and we will continue to do so into the future,” he said in Tokyo.

Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province that must accept eventual unification, by force if necessary.

China’s president Hu Jintao has not commented yet on the issue suggesting that he wants to keep some leeway in dealing with Washington.

Filed Under: All Politics, Economy and Business

Buckfast a Symptom, Not a Cause.

February 1, 2010 By Tracy Norris Leave a Comment

The monks of Buckfast Abbey have defended their product in a statement today saying it was “hard to see” how the wine could be “held responsible for all the social ills” of Strathclyde.

The possible link between the wine and crime emerged after a Freedom of Information request by BBC Scotland. Buckfast Tonic Wine was mentioned in 5,638 crime reports from 2006 to 2009, Strathclyde Police said. One in 10 of those offences were violent and the bottle was used as a weapon 114 times in that period leading to Supt Bob Hamilton, of Strathclyde Police, stating that is was “clear from the figures that there is an association there”.

Buckfast have issued a statement defending the wine, which its distributors say has just 0.5% of Scotland’s alcohol market “Has anyone considered that the misuse of this wine by some could be seen as a symptom rather than a cause of such problems?”

There have been calls for the wine to be banned by the EU, but South West Conservative MEP Ashley Fox said banning Buckfast would “destroy years of Devon heritage”. He said: “Do people honestly think that if Buckfast wine is banned, hooligans will start drinking tea?”.

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Celebrated photographer Weston, goes East.

February 1, 2010 By Steve Gold 1 Comment

By Steve Gold

A major Arts exhibition devoted to the legendary US photographer, the late Edward Weston, is sure to draw huge crowds at Edinburgh’s newly reopened City Art Centre this summer.

Edward Weston: Life Work is organised by art2art Circulating Exhibitions and will run throughout Edinburgh’s main summer festivals period from July until late October 2010. The touring event is coming from the USA to Edinburgh for its only UK showing before returning to New York. The event will be the biggest exhibition of the photographer’s works ever to be seen in Britain. It will be held in the Council run, City Art Centre on Market Street, which is due to be refurbished at a cost of £700k.

Councillor Deidre Brock, Culture Leader, said: “Edward Weston is recognised as being one of the greats of 20th century photography so we are really delighted to be exhibiting his work at the City Art Centre next summer. The City Art Centre has played host to some truly sensational photography shows, including the stunningly successful Ansel Adams ‘Celebration of Genius’ show in 2008 and the fantastic Albert Watson photography exhibition ‘Frozen’ in 2006 – I’m sure the Edward Weston exhibition will draw equally impressive crowds.”

Photo courtesy of www.edward-weston.com

For those who are not aware of one of the masters of 20th century photography, Weston’s work and life;

Edward Henry Weston was born in Highland Park, Illinois, and raised in Chicago. He received his first camera from his father in 1902 and began working as a photographer in his spare time. He then travelled to California where he worked as a door-to-door portrait photographer. After studying at Illinois College of Photography from 1908 to 1911, he opened his own portrait studio in Tropico, California. Weston became dissatisfied with his work and by 1920 he was experimenting with semi-abstractions.

His photographs of the ARMCO Steelworks in Ohio marked a turning point in his career. They were unpretentious and true to reality. He then moved to Mexico City and then San Francisco. His photography continued to develop with the use of soft-focus techniques and started his precise studies of natural forms. He began to work on his most famous work: natural-form close-ups, nudes, and landscapes.

Weston started a family, with wife Tina Modotti, who had two sons Brett and Cole. Weston developed Parkinson’s disease and died in 1958, aged 72.

The ‘survey exhibition’ at the City Art Centre will showcase 115 vintage prints from all phases of Weston’s five-decade career. Previously unpublished masterpieces are interspersed with well-known signature images. The exhibition is arranged in seven thematic sections: early work, Mexico, portraits, nudes, still life, early landscape and late landscape. A 30-minute video, Remembering Edward Weston, featuring interviews with family members will also accompany the show.

This exhibition will be yet another jewel in the crown of Edinburgh International Festival and increase Edinburgh’s cultural pull.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Edinburgh Festival, edward weston, photography