"The Artist" leads Golden Globe nominees (Reuters)

BEVERLY HILLS (Reuters) ? Silent movie "The Artist" painted a pretty picture at the Golden Globe nominations on Thursday, leading all movies with six nods overall including best film comedy or musical in the race to Hollywood's Oscars.

Following "The Artist" among top nominees for the key film awards were "The Descendants," starring George Clooney as a man struggling to keep his family together, and civil rights movie "The Help" with five nods each, including both in the key category of best film drama.

Joining "Descendants" and "The Help" among the films vying for top drama director Martin Scorsese's 3D "Hugo" and Steven Spielberg's "War Horse," baseball movie "Moneyball" and Clooney's political film "The Ides of March."

"I see great versatility, there is a variety of subjects being brought up in a variety of formats," said Aida Takla-O'Reilly, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which gives out the Golden Globe Awards.

The Golden Globes, which are voted upon by roughly 90 members of the HFPA, are among the most widely watched honors programs leading up to the Oscars in February.

But unlike the Oscars, Golden Globe movie nominations are grouped into two categories -- dramas and musicals or comedies -- where "The Artist" faces competition from director Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris," cancer comedy "50/50," box office hit "Bridesmaids" and "My Week with Marilyn,' starring Michelle Williams in the role of screen siren Marilyn Monroe.

SILENCE IS GOLDEN

"The Artist," an almost entirely silent movie shot in black-and-white and made in the same way as movies were before the "talkies," has captured the hearts of Hollywood award voters and critics this year with its tale of a silent-era star and his romance with a budding actress.

Along with best film musical or comedy, it earned nods for its star, French actor Jean Dujardin, supporting actress Berenice Bejo, director and writer Michel Hazanavicus and musical score, and the media exposure it will earn from being the top Golden Globes nominee should lure fans to box offices.

"The Descendants" and "The Help," similarly have wowed critics, and both films boosted their chances at Oscars by a strong showing at Thursday's Golden Globe nominees.

Along with best film drama, "Descendants" scored nominations for Clooney as best actor and Alexander Payne for directing and writing, among its honors. "The Help" earned several of its other nominations in acting categories including Viola Davis for best actress in a drama and Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain for supporting actress.

Joining Davis in the race for best dramatic actress are perennial favorite Meryl Streep portraying Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady," Glenn Close playing a woman masquerading as a male butler in "Albert Nobbs," newcomer Rooney Mara for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Tilda Swinton in dark film, "We Need to Talk About Kevin."

In the race for best dramatic actor, Clooney will square off against Leonardo DiCaprio as FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover in "J. Edgar," Michael Fassbender portraying a sex addict in "Shame," Brad Pitt in "Moneyball" and Ryan Gosling for "The Ides of March."

In another key category, best director, Payne and Hazanavicius take on masters Scorsese ("Hugo") and Allen ("Midnight in Paris,") along with Clooney for political film "The Ides of March."

Foreign language film nominees were Angelina Jolie's Bosnian war movie "In the Land of Blood and Honey," Chinese movie "The Flowers of War," Belgian film "The Kid with a Bike," Iran's "A Separation," and Spanish movie "The Skin I Live In."

The Golden Globe Awards will be given out in a gala ceremony on January 15, hosted by British comedian Ricky Gervais and telecast live on the NBC network.

Last year, Gervais ruffled many of the actors in the audience and members of the HFPA with some sarcastic jokes about the reputation of the awards show, but was invited back to emcee the event again this year.

HFPA president Takla-O'Reilly made light of last year's performance at the nominations on Thursday, calling Gervais a "naughty, naughty schoolboy."

(Additional reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enindustry/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111215/media_nm/us_goldenglobes

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Those Drunk RIM Execs Were Insanely Drunk Beyond Our Wildest Dreams [Video]

Remember those two guys from RIM who were such drunk assholes, they grounded a plane on the way to China? New details show exactly why they were such a hassle—they were like two shitfaced gorillas. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/iTUyZd7cMHI/those-drunk-rim-execs-were-insanely-drunk-beyond-our-wildest-dreams

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Nic Cage is Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance Trailer Released


Nicolas Cage is back as the titular Ghost Rider in the new trailer for its sequel Spirit of Vengeance. Yes, a sequel has actually been made for Ghost Rider.

Johnny Blaze has fans, alright? Respect the Blaze!

Cage stars as the man who gave up his soul to be the no-holds-barred vigilante. The follow-up to the 2007 flick also features Ciaran Hinds, Idris Elba and Brian Taylor.

Check out the Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance trailer below and see what you think ...

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/nic-cage-is-ghost-rider-spirit-of-vengeance-trailer-released/

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New planet discovered to be first in habitable zone

New planet discovery excites scientists: the discovery of a new planet 600 light years away with roughly the right temperature for plant and animal habitation is causing a buzz in the science community. ?Though much larger than Earth, scientists haven't ruled out the possibility of life being discovered.

A newly discovered?planet?is eerily similar to Earth and is sitting outside Earth's solar system in what seems to be the ideal place for life, except for one hitch. It is a bit too big.

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The?planet?is smack in the middle of what astronomers call the Goldilocks zone, that hard to find place that is not too hot, not too cold, where water, which is essential for life, does not freeze or boil. And it has a shopping mall-like surface temperature of near 72 degrees, scientists say.

The?planet's?confirmation was announced Monday by NASA along with other discoveries by its Kepler telescope, which was launched on a planet-hunting mission in 2009.

That is the first?planet?confirmed in the habitable zone for Kepler, which already had found Earth-like rockyplanets?elsewhere. Twice before astronomers have announced a?planet?found in that zone, but neither has been as promising.

"This is a phenomenal discovery in the course of human history," Geoff Marcy of University of California, Berkeley, one of the pioneers of planet-hunting outside Earth's solar system, said in an email. "This discovery shows that we Homo sapiens are straining our reach into the universe to find?planets?that remind us of home. We are almost there."

The new?planet, named Kepler-22b, has key aspects it shares with Earth. It circles a star that could be the twin of Earth's sun and at just about the same distance. The?planet's?year of 290 days is even close to Earth's. It probably has water and rock.

The only trouble is the?planet's?a bit big for life to exist on the surface. The?planet?is about 2.4 times the size of Earth. It could be more like the gas-and-liquid Neptune with only a rocky core and mostly ocean.

"It's so exciting to imagine the possibilities," said Natalie Batalha, the Kepler deputy science chief.

Floating on that "world completely covered in water" could be like being on an Earth ocean and "it's not beyond the realm of possibility that life could exist in such an ocean," Batalha said in a phone interview.

Kepler cannot find life itself, just where the conditions might be right for it to thrive. And when astronomers look for life elsewhere, they are talking about everything ranging from microbes to advanced intelligence that can be looking back at us.

So far the Kepler telescope has spotted 2,326 candidate?planets?outside Earth's solar system with 139 of them potentially habitable ones. Even though the confirmed Kepler-22b is a bit big, it is smaller than most of the other candidates. It is closest to Earth in size, temperature and star than either of the two previously announced?planets?in the zone.

The confirmation of one of two, though, has been disputed. The latest discovery has been confirmed several ways, including by two other telescopes.

This year, a European team of astronomers said they had confirmed another?planet?in the habitable zone, but that one was hot and barely on the inside edge of the habitable zone.

For Marcy, who is on the Kepler team, the newest?planet?is a smidgen too large. But, "that smidgen makes all the difference," he said.

Because its size implies that it is closer to Neptune in composition than Earth, "I would bet my telescope that there is no hard, rocky surface to walk on," Marcy said.

Chief Kepler scientist William Borucki said he thinks the?planet?is somewhere between Earth and gas-and-liquid Neptune, but that it has a lot of rocky material. It is in a size range that scientists do not really know anything about. Measurements next summer may help astronomers have a better idea of its makeup, he said.

The?planet?is 600 light years away. Each light year is 5.9 trillion miles. It would take a space shuttle about 22 million years to get there.

Kepler spots a?planet?when it passes in front of its star. NASA requires three of those sightings before it begins to confirm it as a?planet. Borucki said the third sighting for 22b happened a year ago, just before the telescope shut down for a while. It took several months to finish the confirmation.

"It's a great gift," Borucki said. "We consider this sort of our Christmas?planet."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/YpN6y_IVOMk/New-planet-discovered-to-be-first-in-habitable-zone

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THE BEST INVESTING ADVICE? | PRAGMATIC CAPITALISM

Home ? Headline, Most Recent Stories

3 December 2011 by Cullen Roche 9 Comments

Interesting piece in Bloomberg over the weekend interviewing various billionaires about their current investment perspective. ?I thought the most interesting question was the best piece of investing advice they ever received. ?It?s a diverse group with some thought provoking insights. ?The whole piece is a fun read just for a change of pace. ?The advice follows:

Mikhail Prokhorov, Russian billionaire entrepreneur:??Keep your back straight and don?t fidget? ? a piece of Russian folk wisdom.

Donald Trump, real estate mogul: ?My father, Fred C. Trump, told me to know everything you can about what you?re doing. He believed in being thorough and was wary of blind spots.?

Eli Broad, ?American?businessman:??Don?t bet the farm.?

Patrick Soon-Shiong, South African-American surgeon who was founder, chairman, and CEO of Abraxis BioScience: ?Invest in yourself and the people you believe in.?

John Paul DeJoria, billionaire businessman: ?How to buy a put, told to me by a woman named Rebecca.?

Joe Jamail, Lebanese American attorney and billionaire: ?My dad told me, ?Don?t buy any g?? stocks, OK?? He had a chain of grocery stores. He liked that cash coming in.?

Randal J. Kirk, founder, chairman and chief executive of New River Pharmaceutical:??Good deals are like bus stops; there is one on every corner.? Told to me by Red Robertson of Grundy, Virginia, who invested in my first deal. The advice illustrated he was not so interested in the deal as in my dedication to it. One invests in the guy behind the deal, above all else.

Rubens Menin Teixeira de Souza, Chairman & CEO of?MRV Engenharia: ?Buying Brazilian C bonds when they were trading at 40 cents on the dollar. The securities, issued in the 1990s, traded at par in 2005 when the government bought back the last of them.?

Source: Bloomberg

?

Source: http://pragcap.com/the-best-investing-advice

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Even unconsciously, sound helps us see

Friday, December 2, 2011

"Imagine you are playing ping-pong with a friend. Your friend makes a serve. Information about where and when the ball hit the table is provided by both vision and hearing. Scientists have believed that each of the senses produces an estimate relevant for the task (in this example, about the location or time of the ball's impact) and then these votes get combined subconsciously according to rules that take into account which sense is more reliable. And this is how the senses interact in how we perceive the world. However, our findings show that the senses of hearing and vision can also interact at a more basic level, before they each even produce an estimate," says Ladan Shams, a UCLA professor of psychology, and the senior author of a new study appearing in the December issue of Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science. "If we think of the perceptual system as a democracy where each sense is like a person casting a vote and all votes are counted (albeit with different weights) to reach a decision, what our study shows is that the voters talk to one another and influence one another even before each casts a vote."

"The senses affect each other in many ways," says cognitive neuroscientist Robyn Kim. There are connections between the auditory and visual portions of the brain and at the cognitive level. When the information from one sense is ambiguous, another sense can step in and clarify or ratify the perception. Now, for the first time, Kim, Megan Peters, and Ladan Shams, working at the University of California Los Angeles, have shown behavioral evidence that this interplay happens in the earliest workings of perception?not just before that logical decision-making stage, but before the pre-conscious combination of sensory information.

To demonstrate that one sense can affect another even before perception, the researchers showed 63 participants a bunch of dots on a screen, in two phases with a pause between them. In one phase, the dots moved around at random; in the other, some proportion moved together from right to left. The participants had to indicate in which phase the dots moved together horizontally. In experiment 1, the subjects were divided into three groups. While they looked at the dots, one group heard sound moving in the same direction as the right-to-left dots, and stationary sound in the random phase. A second group heard the same right-to-left sound in both phases. The third group heard the identical sound in both phases, but it moved in the opposite direction of the dots. In the second and third conditions, because the sound was exactly the same in both phases, it added no cognitively useful information about which phase had the leftward-moving dots. In experiment 2, each participant experienced trials in all three conditions.

The results: All did best under the first condition?when the sound moved only in the leftward-motion phase. The opposite-moving sound neither enhanced nor worsened the visual perception. But surprisingly, the uninformative sound?the one that traveled leftward both with the leftward-moving dots and also when the dots moved randomly?helped people correctly perceive when the dots were moving from one side to the other. Hearing enhanced seeing, even though the added sense couldn't help them make the choice.

The study, says Kim, should add to our appreciation of the complexity of our senses. "Most of us understand that smell affects taste. But people tend to think that what they see is what they see and what they hear is what they hear." The findings of this study offer "further evidence that, even at a non-conscious level, visual and auditory processes are not so straightforward," she says. "Perception is actually a very complex thing affected by many factors."

"This study shows that at least in regards to perception of moving objects, hearing and sight are deeply intertwined, to the degree that even when sound is completely irrelevant to the task, it still influences the way we see the world," Shams says.

###

Association for Psychological Science: http://www.psychologicalscience.org

Thanks to Association for Psychological Science for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115686/Even_unconsciously__sound_helps_us_see

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Small business latest focus of House Republicans (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The House on Thursday passed legislation that would give more weight to the impact of federal regulations on small businesses, whose owners can be a powerful political force and are being courted by both parties.

The bill, which went to the Senate on a 263-159 vote, was the first of three Republican measures that attempt to curb what GOP lawmakers say are aggressive and sometimes costly regulations by the Obama administration.

Earlier this week, the White House budget office announced that if the bill passed Congress, senior administration advisers would recommend a veto.

Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said, "Job creation is the key to economic recovery, and small businesses are America's job creators. In the current economic climate ... we simply cannot overburden small business with costly and wasteful regulations."

The committee's top Democrat, Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, said the latest Republican attempt to stop the administration from issuing new rules was part of "an anti-regulation tidal wave."

He said Americans would suffer if the administration was prevented from protecting Americans' health and safety. "This is a very dangerous process," he said.

While the Republican-run House has passed numerous bills this year to overturn or delay proposed rules, most were aimed at specific proposals. The latest bills would not be limited to any particular rule or agency.

A 1980 law requires federal agencies to assess the economic impact of regulations on small businesses. If the impact is significant, less burdensome alternatives must be considered.

Republicans believe, however, that federal agencies are ignoring their obligation to do a thorough analysis. The House-passed bill would empower a small business advocacy office, part of the Small Business Administration, to make sure that requirement is being fulfilled.

The assessment would have to include indirect impacts of proposed rules that are not specifically designed to regulate small business.

Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., chairman of the House Small Business Committee, said the bill would force agencies to consider how their actions affect small businesses.

"Some may argue that agencies already do this when they draft regulations. However, nearly 30 years of experience ... shows that agencies are not considering the consequences of their actions. And it is about time that they do so," he said.

OMB Watch, a nonprofit advocacy organization that monitors federal regulations, objected to the legislation and said it was too broad.

"Virtually any action an agency proposes ? even a guidance document designed to help a business comply with a rule ? could be subject to a lengthy review process," the group said.

"By requiring additional and wasteful analyses, this bill would make it impossible for federal agencies to protect the public and respond to emerging hazards."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111201/ap_on_go_co/us_republicans_regulations

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Courts Take Deeply Problematic Actions Against Fake Chanel Websites [Sopa]

Chanel has seized the domain names of more than 600 websites that sell counterfeit products thanks to a series of unprecedented court orders. Search engines and social networks have also been ordered to "de-index" the infringing sites. Someone needs to tell the judge that the SOPA hasn't passed yet. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/X5Wa-iMpgIE/courts-order-sweeping-actions-against-fake-chanel-websites

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UK media inquiry a lesson in tabloid skullduggery (AP)

LONDON ? Hacking into celebrity phones was just the sleazy tip of the iceberg.

Britain's media ethics inquiry, set up in response to illegal eavesdropping by a Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid, has turned out to be a masterclass in skullduggery that has exposed the murky practices of the U.K.'s muckraking press.

This week, witnesses described how Murdoch's company had destroyed their lives and that of their families, with reporters targeting critics for spying and negative coverage, and sullying the name of an innocent man.

"We have a press that has just become frankly putrid in many of its elements," Alastair Campbell, former tabloid journalist and longtime communications aide to former Prime Minister Tony Blair, told the tribunal this week.

Few would disagree after listening to the nationally televised testimony describing the excesses of a callous, sometimes criminal, press.

The judge-led inquiry was set up after it emerged that Murdoch's News of the World had for years illegally eavesdropped on the voicemail messages of celebrities, public figures and crime victims. The scandal forced Murdoch to shut down the 168-year-old tabloid. A dozen Murdoch employees have been arrested in the case, which also cost the jobs of several of his top executives, two senior police officers and Prime Minister David Cameron's communications chief.

The inquiry has put Murdoch's empire on trial, as witnesses described their treatment at the hands of an organization they viewed as unassailably powerful, ruthless and feared.

Former child singing sensation Charlotte Church described how she was invited to perform at Murdoch's wedding on a yacht in New York when she was 13. She said she was offered a 100,000 pound (roughly $160,000) payment, but was told if she waived the fee that Murdoch's papers would look favorably on her.

Church, now 25, told the inquiry that she really wanted to take the money, but was told by her managers it would be worthwhile to give up the fee ? which would have been her highest payment ever then ? to cultivate Murdoch's support.

She said she was told "that he was a very, very powerful man" who could do her career a world of good ? if he wanted to.

But any tabloid goodwill she earned was short-lived. Church said media scrutiny increased to unbearable levels as she entered her teens. As she approached her 16th birthday, she said Murdoch's The Sun tabloid featured on its website a "countdown clock" timed to the day when she would be able to legally have sex ? an allegation the newspaper denies.

Later, a tabloid reported that Church was pregnant before she had even told her parents, news she felt had to come from reporters hacking into her phone. On another occasion the News of the World reported on her father's extramarital affair under the headline "Church's three in a bed cocaine shock." Church said her mother had attempted suicide partly as a result of this invasion of privacy.

Murdoch's News International has denied Church's version of events surrounding her performance at Murdoch's wedding, and her agent at the time, Jonathan Shalit, said she was not offered a choice between a fee and good press.

He said Church was not offered a fee and performed for free, as she had done for Prince Charles and President Bill Clinton. But he said publicity from these appearances helped launch her career in the United States, which was his plan.

"When you sing for these people you get added benefits for your career," he said.

Church was one of a slew of celebrities, including actor Hugh Grant, "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling and actress Sienna Miller, who have sat in the witness box at London's Royal Courts of Justice and described stakeouts and snatched photos, leaked medical details and midnight pursuits ? all justified, in the tabloids' eyes, because the people they were pursuing were famous.

Ian Hargreaves, professor of digital economy and former director of the journalism school at the University of Cardiff, said the hearings have had a profound impact on the public psyche ? and on Britain's political class ? by revealing so much about how part of British press works.

"It's been a process of revelation, based on firsthand testimony," he said. "A lot of journalists feel it has been one-sided, but processes that have been known about and talked about in private are suddenly being talked about on a big public stage."

Hearings continue into the new year, and justice Brian Leveson and his panel hope to issue a report by late 2012 that could recommend major changes to Britain's system of media self-regulation.

So far, the most strident defense of tabloids ? and the week's most jaw-dropping testimony ? came from unrepentant former News of the World journalist Paul McMullan. He described chasing celebrities' cars as "good fun," called phone hacking "a perfectly acceptable tool" of the trade and dismissed privacy as "the space bad people need to do bad things in."

He also said celebrities should stop complaining and be grateful for the attention of paparazzi.

The inquiry has also shown that it's not just celebrities who find themselves in the tabloids' sights. The parents of 13-year-old Milly Dowler, who was abducted and murdered in 2002, described how the News of the World's hacking of Milly's phone, and the deletion of voicemail messages, had given them false hope that their daughter was still alive.

This week Christopher Jefferies, a retired teacher arrested on suspicion of murder in a high-profile case a year ago, described how his life had been wrecked by "smears, innuendo and complete fiction" in articles that painted him as a voyeuristic eccentric, or worse.

Jefferies was released without charge, and another man has been convicted of the killing. Jefferies successfully sued eight newspapers ? including Murdoch's The Sun tabloid ? for libel, but said he would "never fully recover from the events of the last year."

"There will always be people who don't know me who will retain the impression that I'm some sort of weird character who is probably best avoided," he said.

The inquiry has also heard claims the Murdoch empire used negative articles and even espionage against its critics. Former TV host Anne Diamond recounted how she had asked Murdoch during a 1980s interview "how could he sleep at night" knowing his newspapers ruined people's lives.

She said after that "there were consistent negative stories about me in Mr. Murdoch's newspapers."

One glaring example was a story in The Sun headlined "Anne Diamond killed my father," about a fatal road accident she had been involved in years before. The same newspaper took pictures of Diamond carrying the coffin of her infant son at his funeral, despite her plea for the press to stay away out of respect for the family's grief.

Mark Lewis, a lawyer who has represented high-profile hacking victims, testified that he was put under surveillance by a private investigator working for Murdoch's News International. The surveillance, apparently in search of material to discredit him, included following and filming his 14-year-old daughter.

"That was truly horrific, that my daughter was videoed, was followed by a detective with a camera," Lewis said. "That shouldn't happen to anybody's child."

___

Associated Press writer Robert Barr contributed to this report.

Online: http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk

Jill Lawless can be reached at: http://twitter.com/JillLawless

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111202/ap_on_en_mu/eu_britain_phone_hacking

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