Real Science Guide: 2013-06-30

So what do bored Singaporeans do when they are stuck indoors? They tweet, of course — probably to the dismay of our friends at the Social Development Network.

Funny woman Michelle Chong shared photos of the view from her window and a view of her wall. Except, er, we can’t quite tell which is which.

If you squint hard enough, you’ll see other funny tweets floating around. Here are some of them.

***

CHUA ENLAI (@chuaenlai)

He says: I used to have neighbours. They have since disappeared from sight. #sghaze

We say: What did you say? We can’t read your tweet

ERVIN HAN (@ErvinHan)

He says: True love is easier to find than a N95 mask now. #sghaze

We say: One takes your breath away, one gives it back to you. So we’ll pick the masks anytime, thank you.

CHRIS (@CrispyEgg)

He says: I just burped into my N95 mask. Totally forgot about the potential backfire. #sghaze

We say: Argh.

SASHA TAN (@topsash)

She says: That awkward moment when your ex calls you from Sg to say the #sghaze is so bad, he’s dying, wants to die together and “you’re mine”.

We say: That escalated quickly.

SONGHUA (@songboh)

He says: I went to Watsons and asked the staff if they still have mask. She brought me to the shelf with all the facial masks -.-

We say: The haze is bad for skin too!

SO SINGAPORE (@SoSingaporean)

He/She says: #ReplaceMovieNamesWithHaze 500 Days of Haze #touchwood #sosingaporean

We say: #TOUCHWOOD #YOURHEAD.

ZOE SUGG (@zoellamyella)

She says: #ReplaceMovieNamesWithHaze Hazey Potter and the complaining singaporeans.

We say: Avada Kedavra, Hazey Potter!

(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, "script", "facebook-jssdk"));

View the original article here

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Music review: Super Collider — Megadeth | 3/5

Incredibly, metal band Megadeth is now 30 years old! With a worldwide sales record that tops 50 million copies, one would think that the band would have very little with their 14th studio album. However, from Megadeth’s perspective, perhaps one more stab at commercial acceptance is still on the agenda. Super Collider is reminiscent of 1994’s Youthanasia, where the band incorporated pop melodies into its songwriting to appeal to a wider audience, much to the chagrin of its diehard following. Tracks like Super Collider, Dance In The Rain and the opening Kingmaker are clear signs of this chosen direction. One might argue that this stylistic shift is a creative one and a calculated risk to expand horizons. Cue the country-folk-metal vibe on The Blackest Crow as a good example. Ironically, Super Collider might just be the perfect introduction to Megadeth for new metal fans.

View the original article here

Music review: Home - Rudimental | 3.5/5

Rudimental is a Brit urban outfit producing electronic dance or club music. The quartet consists of songwriters and producers Piers Agget, Kesi Dryden, Amir Amor (Amir Izadkhah) and DJ Locksmith (Leon Rolle). They came to prominence when their track Feel The Love topped the British charts, but if you’ll be sadly mistaken if you think the rest of the album is just a repeat of that track. With tracks such as the percussive Spoons, the deep Hide, the frenetic Waiting All Night and the delicous More Than Anything (featuring Emeli Sande), it is a great exploration into the various aspects of electronic dance music. However, what makes this album work is also its thorn in the side. Because of its diversity, the album doesn’t always gel as each track goes on. However, Rudimental get vocal help from the likes of Sande, Angel Haze, Sinead Harnett and John Newman, and it’s enough to make you go mental for this group.

View the original article here

Tough act to follow

LOS ANGELES — James Gandolfini was a virtual unknown when cast in The Sopranos. But he broke ground with his signature portrait of the show’s title character, Tony Soprano, the head of a fictional New Jersey mob family.

Gandolfini, who died on Wednesday from a possible heart attack in Italy at the age of 51, created a gangster different from any previously seen on American television or film. He was capable of killing enemies with his own hands but prone to panic attacks. He loved his wife, Carmela, played by Edie Falco, and was a doting father, but he carried on a string of extramarital affairs.

He regularly saw a therapist to work out his anxiety problems and issues with his mother.

By the start of the show’s final season in 2007, Gandolfini suggested he was ready to move on to more gentle roles once his TV mobster days were over.

“I’m too tired to be a tough guy or any of that stuff any more,” he said. “We pretty much used all that up in this show.”

The programme, which earned Gandolfini three Emmy Awards as best lead actor in a drama series, was considered by many critics at the time as the finest drama to have aired on American television.

The series was a major factor in establishing HBO, a pay-cable network once focused on presentations of feature films, as a powerhouse of original dramatic television and in shifting to TV the kind of sophisticated storytelling once reserved for the big screen.

The show won the Emmy as best drama series in 2004 and again in 2007 after its final season.

His role also paved the way for a parade of popular prime-time shows built around profoundly flawed characters and anti-heroes, from Dexter and Breaking Bad to Mad Men and Nurse Jackie.

David Chase, creator of The Sopranos, paid tribute to his former star in a statement remembering him as “a genius” and “one of the greatest actors of this or any time”.

“A great deal of that genius resided in those sad eyes. I remember telling him many times, ‘You don’t get it. You’re like Mozart.’ There would be silence at the other end of the phone,” Chase recounted. REUTERS

View the original article here

Girls’ Generation, 2NE1 at Asia Style Collection show

SINGAPORE — South Korea’s Girls’ Generation and 2NE1, Japan’s AI, Thelma Aoyama and Mai Kuraki, as well as Singapore’s The Sam Willows will be performing at the Asia Style Collection — a music-meets-fashion extravaganza organised by online fashion magazine styleXstyle — today at Singapore Expo Halls 3 and 4.

Fashion labels like AZUL by Moussy, OLIVE des OLIVE, Tom & Rabbit, Reckless Ericka and Ong Shunmugam will also make an appearance.

A free carnival kicks off at 3pm, with the concert and fashion show happening later in the night.

Tickets can be purchased at http://www.stylexstyle.com/.

View the original article here

Music review: Didn’t It Rain – Hugh Laurie | 4/5

The incomparable Hugh Laurie’s second album continues from where his previous album, Let Them Talk, left off. This time Laurie delves even further into his love for the Southern sounds of the American delta, with a heavy emphasis on jazz and delta blues. We’re talking Jelly Roll Morton, Count Basie, Kansas Joe McCoy and Rosetta Thorpe, to name but four. He also has the help of some talented people called the The Copper Bottom Band, who ably provide the musical backing for Laurie’s drawl. Speaking of singing voices, there’s an appearance by Taj Mahal, and singers Gaby Moreno and Jean McClain do a superb job sharing vocals with Laurie on Didn’t It Rain, with McClain shining particularly bright on I Hate A Man Like You, and Moreno handling the Spanish verses on Kiss Of Fire with aplomb. While Laurie’s vocals quite can’t hold a candle to them, there’s no lack of obvious enthusiasm in his performance - which is a good thing, by the way. And if more people start listening to the blues because they wanted to know what Greg House would be up to next, that’ll be a good thing too.

View the original article here

MediaCorp bags 18 medals at PromaxBDA awards

SINGAPORE — MediaCorp bagged 18 medals at the 2013 PromaxBDA Global Excellence Awards held in Los Angeles on June 20 (US time).

Channel 8 brought in four Gold medals for its campaigns for a Bruce Lee Movie Specials programme and the drama Joys Of Life.

Channel 5 bagged two Golds for its promotion campaigns for The Noose, including a smartphone/mobile app.

Channel U and MediaCorp’s Marketing Communications also bagged one Gold apiece.

Seven Silver medals and three Bronze ones were also awareded.

The PromaxBDA Awards competitions stand for marketing excellence in the media marketing space. It is regarded as the most prestigious awards for creative endeavor in the field.

PromaxBDA represents more than 10,000 companies and individuals at every major media organization, marketing agency, research company, strategic and creative vendor and technology provider.

View the original article here

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Music review: English Rain (deluxe edition) - Gabrielle Aplin | 3.5/5

The Beatles once made a comment about getting a tan from standing in the English rain in I Am The Walrus, which had lyrical imagery that bordered on the fantastical. But the key images that keeps popping up in English Rain, the new offering by English chanteuse Gabrielle Aplin, are - for this reviewer, at any rate - those of pastoral scenes, not unlike the ones featured in artworks by say, Giorgione or Nicolas Poussin, or scenes of the English countryside. The album itself features acoustic guitar-driven songs from the young singer-songwriter that lean towards the British folk tradition, particularly on songs such as the punchy opening track, Panic Cord; the delightly stark and dramatic Salvation; or the pleasant perolation of Please Don’t Say You Love Me. Aplin doubles the entertainment value in this deluxe edition, which features a bonus disc, but the upshot of this is that she delivers an album that, while being somewhat safe, still somehow makes you feel nice and fuzzy inside.

View the original article here

Music review: 13 — Black Sabbath | 3/5

Sadly, not the reunion of the original Black Sabbath lineup that fans were praying for, since drummer Bill Ward refused to participate on contractual grounds. Brad Wilk (Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave) is a competent replacement but the questions remain. There are high moments of heavy rock excellence on this collaboration among Ozzy Osbourne, Toni Iommi and Geezer Butler. The conservative-baiting God Is Dead? is one for the diehards. Explored further, the lyrics are deeply ironic, but it contains the requisite dark atmosphere. Elsewhere, on tracks like the acoustic Zeitgeist, the hard rockin’ Loner and the grooving Damaged Soul, there are echoes of Black Sabbath’s best early `70s material, but there is something lacking in Rick Rubin’s production, which robs the songs of their potential power. A pity because it all sounds like an opportunity lost.

View the original article here

YFest 2013: The show will go on - unless notified otherwise

SINGAPORE – The haze has definitely put a choker hold on things in Singapore, what with the National Environment Agency (NEA) issuing a statement advising the cancellation or postponement or all outdoor sports or physical activities should Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) reach 101 and above, and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and the Changi Airport Group announcing the closure of Seletar Airport until conditions improve.

But the outdoor activities that have been planned for Esplanade’s YFest, which runs from June 21 to 23, look set to continue - for now.

According to Ravi Sivalingam, the director of operations, The Esplanade Co Ltd, they will be taking the lead from the advisories and guidelines issued by National Environment Agency and Ministry of Manpower on outdoor activities.

“If the PSI hits 100, all crew and performers, who have a history of respiratory or heart problems, or are asthmatic, will be required to wear the N95 masks at all times when they are outdoors, except during their short performance segment on stage. If the PSI reaches 200 or more, outdoor activities will either be shifted indoors, wherever possible, or cancelled,” he said in a statement.

The outdoor events planned include a parkour demonstration, music and dance performances, as well as their Hangout @ Festival Village, which has a Swop Shop booth, karaoke booth and other activities.

Sivalingam also said that since this is an evolving situation, the Esplanade will update its website (www.esplanade.com) and microsite (www.yfest.com) accordingly with the latest information.

“There will also be signs displayed throughout the centre with the latest information,” he added. “All performers and crew have been issued with N95 masks. We have also advised our artistes that if any of them feel unwell, they should withdraw from performing.”

While Sivalingam said they might expect a drop in attendance numbers, such figures are “not as important as the health and well-being of both our artistes and audiences”.

“However, we will make the best of it,” he said. “The performers have worked hard to put up their shows, so we are looking forward to presenting the festival in the best way possible.”

YFest happens on June 21 to 23 at various locations across The Esplanade - Theatres On The Bay. Visit www.yfest.com for more updates and details.

View the original article here

Music review: Closer — I Hate This Place | 4/5

I Hate This Place is a Singapore-based electro-pop project that Sean Nerney set up back in 2004. Since 2007, I Hate This Place has had CDs released in Japan and has toured extensively across the Land of the Rising Sun. Despite this, it has remained relatively under the radar at home (notwithstanding a back catalogue of seven full albums). Hopefully, this situation will now change with the release of Closer. With reinforcements coming in the form of singer Gayle Nerva and guitarist Roman Tarrasov, I Hate This Place has delivered an appealing work of dancey, melodic electro-pop. At eleven tracks (including two updated versions of crowd favourites Rabbit Girl and Future Girl Retro Style), Closer is an accurate snapshot of where it stands circa 2013. Songs like Danger and Supernova are radio-friendly poles of extremes in the repertoire — the former being an edgy rocker while the latter is a pleasing ballad. The chemistry of the vocal interplay between Nerney and Nerva is nothing short of mesmerising and Tarrasov’s guitar licks will please the rock set. Fans of Postal Service, Owl City, Lights, Shiny Toy Guns, and Swimming With Dolphins will find much to appreciate here. I believe it’s time for Singapore music fans to get better acquainted with I Hate This Place.

View the original article here

Same hospital

LONDON — Kate Middleton will give birth to the future heir to the British throne in the same hospital where the late Princess Diana gave birth to Princes William and Harry.

The new royal baby will be born in the private Lindo wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, West London.

The sources said the royal couple have still not been told the sex of the baby who is due next month as they want it to be a surprise.

The birth will be announced in the traditional way, with an envelope containing notice of the baby’s details taken from the hospital to Buckingham Palace, where the news will be posted on the main palace gates. REUTERS

View the original article here

YFest 2013: The show will go on - unless notified otherwise

But the outdoor activities that have been planned for Esplanade’s YFest, which runs from June 21 to 23, look set to continue - for now.

The outdoor events planned include a parkour demonstration, music and dance performances, as well as their Hangout @ Festival Village, which has a Swop Shop booth, karaoke booth and other activities.

Sivalingam also said that since this is an evolving situation, the Esplanade will update its website (www.esplanade.com) and microsite (www.yfest.com) accordingly with the latest information.

While Sivalingam said they might expect a drop in attendance numbers, such figures are “not as important as the health and well-being of both our artistes and audiences”.

“However, we will make the best of it,” he said. “The performers have worked hard to put up their shows, so we are looking forward to presenting the festival in the best way possible.”

YFest happens on June 21 to 23 at various locations across The Esplanade - Theatres On The Bay. Visit www.yfest.com for more updates and details.

View the original article here

Monday, July 1, 2013

5 S’pore characters we’d like to see in a Pixar movie

SINGAPORE — Which stereotype did you fit in, back when you were a university student? Were you the nerd who was on a first-name basis with your professors, the jock who took all the easy-A classes, or the wannabe gamer kid who spent his or her college years button mashing?

No matter what you were during your undergraduate years, you’ll probably find a version of yourself in Monsters University, the prequel to Pixar’s popular 2001 animation Monsters, Inc. After all, the movie’s creators have said the characters in Monsters University, which opens in Singapore on June 20, are based on college types.

Now we’re not sure if Pixar will ever make a Monsters movie set in Singapore, but if they do, we have some ideas on the monster characters they can use.

Don’t worry, guys. It’s on us.

***

SHIRLEY, THE OFFICE LADY. Shirley looks like a clock on legs. In fact, she IS a clock on legs. She knows exactly when she will need to leave her home to arrive at work on time, exactly when to leave the office to beat the crowds at lunch, and when to knock off so she doesn’t look bad in front of the boss. Shirley can also be easily identified on public transport, amid all the other Singapore monsters: She’s in frilly blouses with knee-length skirts a la G2000, smiling absent-mindedly at the Korean or Taiwanese drama she’s streaming on her phone.

TAN AH SENG, THE COFFEE SHOP UNCLE. Mr Tan is a retiree or elderly man who knows how to make his money last. For just S$1.20, which buys him a cup of kopi-o, Mr Tan can sit for hours in the same spot, reading his newspapers, complaining about the government with other coffee shop uncles, or just observing the general populace (*cough* Tiger beer girls *cough*). We imagine our Mr Tan would be in an old white singlet and shorts, with one very huge and very hairy leg — his only leg, in fact — propped on his chair. He’s also got one huge eyeball, like Monsters University’s Mike Wakowski. And it automatically focuses on the sexiest lady nearby.

BRENDAN, THE RICH KID. Brendan’s entire face is comprised of lots of perpetually pursed lips, because he’s judging the peasants in his vicinity and he wants you to know that. Unlike you, Brendan knows how to appreciate the finer things in life. He knows how to pair cigars with the right whiskey, who to call to have his custom Maserati shipped from abroad, and has his broker on speed dial.

PAULINE, THE AUNTIE. Don’t be duped by her floral shirts and rotund figure — Pauline is the most formidable person on this list. Like a huge (and very agile) slug, she navigates wet markets like a ninja on a roof (we’re mixing metaphors here, we know). She will elbow every man, woman and child out of her way so she can be the first to board the train or bus. Pauline’s only weakness: Free gifts. She’ll buy or subscribe to anything if you promise something free in return.

AH BENG, THE BENG. Ah Beng is really more of, well, a thing. We can’t tell what’s underneath all that oily golden hair-fur, but we can tell he’s in the vicinity because he reeks of sweat and a thousand cigarettes. Our eighteen-year-old whatever-it-is- hangs out at pool parlours because he’s too cool for school. Just remember not to stare at Ah Beng — he’s probably got a parang hidden in his jeans. At least we think he’s wearing some.

Who else do you think should be on this list? Tell us below!

View the original article here

Sam Taylor-Johnson to direct Fifty Shades film

SINGAPORE — Fifty Shades of Grey author E L James has announced that British director Sam Taylor-Johnson will direct the movie version of her best-seller.

“I’m delighted & thrilled to let you guys know that Sam Taylor-Johnson has agreed to direct the film of Fifty Shades of Grey,” James said in a tweet.

The erotic romance novel traces the relationship between billionaire Christian Grey and student Anastasia Steele. It is the first of three books in the Fifty Shades trilogy, which has been translated into 50 languages and sold more than 70 million copies worldwide.

Taylor-Johnson, who is married to Kickass actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson, is best known for directing Nowhere Boy, a film chronicling John Lennon’s formative years.

In a statement, she said she is “excited to be charged with the evolution of Fifty Shades of Grey from page to screen”.

“For the legions of fans, I want to say that I will honour the power of Erika’s book and the characters of Christian and Anastasia. They are under my skin too.”

View the original article here

Mai style: Japanese singer Mai Kuraki does things her way

SINGAPORE — Pop music and fashion have always gone hand in hand, ever since Elvis Presley went onstage in that leather jacket-and-pants combo back in the 1950s. Through the years, we’ve seen how style and music have affected pop culture, whether it’s the Beatle mop top, the punk slap-dash look, Madonna’s lace underwear-as-outerwear, emo rock’s preppy look and of course, Lady Gaga’s just-go-extreme identity.

So it’s only natural that this weekend’s inaugural Asia Style Collection (ASC) show will also feature some of the brightest stars of pop music today, including Korean sensations Girls Generation and 2NE1, Japan’s Thelma Aoyoma, AKB48 and Mai Kuraki, as well as Singapore pop band The Sam Willows.

Organised by MediaCorp’s online fashion portal StyleXStyle, the ASC will see Asian fashion brands like Azul By Moussy, Murua, Jade and Qnigirls showcase their latest pieces.

Fashion has definitely played a part in Mai’s music career. “We pick the clothes to match the atmosphere of the song to sing that day at the time of recording,” she revealed in an email interview.

Mai, who made her debut in 1999 with the single, Love, Day After Tomorrow, is one of a few female singers in Japan to have her first four studio albums to debut at the top of the Oricon album chart (the Japanese pop charts). To date, she has had seven No 1 albums (including two compilations) and two No 1 singles.

What fans like about Mai-K, as she’s affectionate called, is her no-nonsense style. Unlike other J-Pop singers, who, like their Chinese pop contemporaries, tend to go all flashy with loads of stagecraft and occasionally over-the-top costumes to wow the crowd, Mai doesn’t wear flashy outfits, but keeps it simple and comfortable.

Indeed, the singer prefers to wear “casual basics” (“it will change depending on the situation at that time,” she added).

She added that style isn’t everything to a successful career. “I think many elements might also be important, but the most important thing of all is the musical element.”

Then again, things don’t always go according to plan, just because you’re one of the top female performers in Japan. While she hasn’t experienced any wardrobe malfunctions on stage, she has encountered the odd faux pas now and again, like when she was supposed to issue a birthday greeting live onstage.

“By mistake, I went on and instead said ‘A Happy New Year!’”

According to Mai, the key to success is to learn from those mistakes and “believe in yourself and do not give up the dream, even if you experience a hard time”.

And what would she like her legacy to be? “(That my) music will be able to inspire hope and courage,” she said.

Considering that she and her fan base are still going strong, after almost 15 years in the business, that could very well happen indeed.

Asia Style Collection happens on June 22 at the Singapore Expo Halls 3 and 4. The carnival starts at 3pm, while the concert and fashion show starts at 6pm. Tickets from EventClique (https://tickets.eventclique.com/stylexstyle/Online/default.asp).

View the original article here

The art behind Art

For the 2001 comedy Monsters, Inc, Pixar Animation Studios devised all manner of squishy, creepy, cuddly, fuzzy, wobbly creatures to populate that tale of monsters who harness the energy of human screams to power their city.

Now, the film’s prequel, Monsters University, takes its familiar lead characters — the short, green, one-eyed Mike and his tall, furry sidekick, Sully, back to school.

Several new colourful characters attend the college, but one of the most curious additions is Art, a purple long-haired hippie-esque monster majoring in new-age philosophy. He’s one of the misfits of Oozma Kappa (“We’re OK!”), a fraternity Mike and Sully join.

With his wide, rainbow-shaped stance, he’s the kind of student who keeps a dream journal and is excited to “laugh with you and cry with you”.

From his shape, to his no-worries personality, to the way he moves (and scares), Art proved to be a designchallenge for the film-makers and animators.

The film-makers and animators were trying to base characters on college types, like jocks, cool kids and nerds. “And then there’s Art,” said the film’s director, Dan Scanlon.“We didn’t know what Art was. He was this mystery. And in a weird, kind of wonderful way, that became who Art was. We realised that that itself is a college type.”

STRETCHING A CONCEPT

Scanlon initially proposed making Art a theatre major. So sketch artist Chris Sasaki began with drawings in which he looks more alligator-like and sports a scarf.

“We were playing around with this longer-shaped, chest-out character, where he’s more theatrical and over the top,” Sasaki said.

But the story went in a different direction, and Art became more mysterious.

When the Oozma Kappa members are under threat of arrest, Art screams out, “I can’t go back to jail!”, One-liners like that abound, further complicating this character and what the audience does or doesn’t know about him.

It was art director Dice Tsutsumi’s idea to make Art purple, while the stripes came from Sasaki.

“I remember wanting to do the striping to kind of feel like tube socks in a way,” Sasaki said.

One feature that remained throughout the evolution of the design was Art’s giant mouth, which takes up much of his face. The team didn’t want the teeth to be sharp.

“We wanted them to feel a little less threatening and kind of inviting,” Sasaki said.

In the movie, Art is heavy on fur, especially at the feet, with small mangled speckles of different colours in that fur. His stance, movement and arms had three inspirations.

One was the whimsical performance troupe Mummenschanz.

“I showed Dan some YouTube videos, and there was this particular performance with a person inside a gigantic coiled tube,” Nierva said. “The tube was a character playing with a big ball.”

Another was the Muppets. Like those characters, Pixar wanted to make Art and the other monsters appealing, approachable and nottoo scary.

The third was a Saturday Night Live sketch, featuring Chris Farley as the motivational speaker Matt Foley who lives “in a van down by the river”.

“It’s the way that Chris Farley stood,” Nierva said. “He would spread his legs wide and put his arms between his legs as he’s making his point. And we loved how that look felt.” THE NEW YORK TIMES

Monsters University opens in cinemas tomorrow.

View the original article here

Carman Lee to return to TV?

SINGAPORE — Is Hong Kong’s TV goddess of the ‘90s, Carman Lee, making a comeback to the small screen?

According to unconfirmed reports from Hong Kong media, the 40-year-old has agreed to star in the new TVB series Aerobic Girls, about a group of high school friends who meet again after 25 years. The cast is also said to include veteran actresses Flora Chan, Gloria Yip, Angie Cheung and Rachel Lee, and will be produced by host and comedian Eric Tsang.

Carman Lee shot to fame playing Xiao Long Nv (Little Dragon Girl) opposite Louis Koo’s Yang Guo in the 1995 TVB adaption of Jin Yong’s wuxia novel The Return of the Condor Heroes. Her last two projects were a film and TV series in 2004.

The actress herself has not responded to rumours about her comeback, though reports say TVB will hold a press conference tomorrow to make an official statement about the cast of Aerobic Girls.

View the original article here

Sopranos star Gandolfini dies

LOS ANGELES — HBO and James Gandolfini’s managers say the actor famous for his role in The Sopranos has died in Italy.

The cable channel, and managers Mark Armstrong and Nancy Sanders, say the 51-year-old Gandolfini died Wednesday while on holiday in Rome.

In a statement, HBO called the actor a great talent and a gentle and loving person.

Gandolfini played conflicted mob boss Tony Soprano in the groundbreaking HBO series that aired from 1999 to 2007.

His film credits included Zero Dark Thirty and Killing Them Softly, and he appeared in the Broadway production God of Carnage. AP

View the original article here

The decline of reality singing shows

NEW YORK — As The Voice ends its third season, tell us if this scenario sounds familiar.

A give-it-your-all reality competition becomes a national fascination. Other shows mimic its formula — and eventually another show becomes the nation’s reality spectacle of choice. It outpaces its predecessor and makes many of us forget just how original the original once seemed.

We aren’t just talking about American Idol, but also Mark Burnett’s Survivor, the show that may be most responsible for launching the reality genre in the US. Just as The Voice has surpassed Idol, Idol once overcame Survivor.

Survivor debuted in 2000, two years later came Idol, which went on to rule US television for eight years, dwarfing its predecessor and everything else in the ratings.

Idol owed its success partly to the brutal honesty of Simon Cowell, who was every bit as shrewd as Survivor’s first-season winner, Richard Hatch.

Viewers also tuned in for the watch-through-your fingers performances of aspiring stars like civil-engineering student William Hung.

In the 2011-12 TV season, Idol got competition from The Voice, which unlike Idol didn’t succeed by playing rough. The singing competition, which closed its third season in the US on Tuesday night, took a more encouraging approach (subbing in “coaches” for “judges”).

In the process, it replaced Idol on the list of Emmy contenders for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program last year, leaving the original singing show out of the category where it had been a staple for nine consecutive years. The Voice has finally bumped Idol as the top singing show — though neither sing-off now scores the outsized ratings Idol once did.

To hear Burnett tell it, The Voice owes its success to being “a kinder show.”

No matter how much of a role they truly play, the judges behind the table — or coaches in the spinning chairs — always get the credit or blame for a show’s success or slide. It’s true that Idol began to lose its bulletproof status when Cowell departed for X Factor. And though his new show earns respectable ratings, they lag those of Idol and The Voice. On the other hand, Cowell may have miscalculated when he decided to turn his X Factor, which debuted in 2011, into a higher-stakes, tougher Idol.

So, do musical competition shows need to get nicer? Or nastier? The much-hyped Idol rivalry this year between Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey didn’t produce as much ratings heat as Fox may have hoped for. And the lower X Factor ratings despite the much-hyped addition of Britney Spears in Season Two suggests that big names can’t guarantee better numbers.

Is it possible that the shows really are, as the judges and producers always insist, really about the contestants? If so, no one’s going to to blame those contestants for singing shows’ slide. More likely, some viewers think they’ve seen it all. Reuters

View the original article here

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Movie review: Monsters University (PG,107min) | 3.5/5

SINGAPORE — Making a prequel to a successful film is considered one of the hardest things to do. Double that (plus five) when you’re talking about Monsters Inc, which, in this reviewer’s book, stands as one of the most enjoyable and ingenious animated movies of all time.

It was a monstrous (pun fully intended) hit back in 2001 for Pixar, which raised the animation bar so high with the likes of Toy Story, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles.

So where does the new generation of Pixar film-makers start?

Right at the very beginning. Stepping up to the plate to direct is Cars and Toy Story 3 storyboard artist Dan Scanlon, a brave soul who’s up for tackling the legacy of Sully and Wazowski.

Scanlon knows exactly what the necessary core elements are for a Pixar hit: Hilarious running gags, memorable characters, heartfelt story. And he mostly delivers.

Monsters University works as both a frat house comedy and a coming-of-age tale, recalling all the recognisable Revenge Of The Nerds movie tropes. Our two lovable but obviously flawed heroes aren’t exactly mates when they first meet in university, but they must rally together a team of misfits to win a big competition and keep their dreams alive.

But for all of the plot’s familiarity (it is a prequel after all), extra props must be given to the screenwriters for throwing in some surprising detours on the two “scare-rs”’ journey to Monsters Inc.

Billy Crystal and John Goodman are, of course, more than excellent as they reprise their roles of Mike Wazowski and James P Sullivan, respectively. They continue to do no wrong with their comedic rapport. Helen Mirren as Dean Hardscrabble, the cold-as-ice headmistress of Monsters University is also spot-on, along with a host of A-list voices like Steve Buscemi and Alfred Molina.

It’s a fun outing at the movies, no doubt about it. Yet, there seems to be a little something missing. Perhaps the absence of any human characters for the monsters to play off against (like the awww-so-cute Boo in Monsters Inc) means it lacks the emotional payoff that the first movie had.

That said, Monsters University is still sweet, entertaining and satisfying as far as hard-to-get-right prequels go. It respectfully continues Pixar’s tradition of delivering films that focus on character, mirth and merriment. But like a younger brother, it will always have to stay under the mighty shadow of the superior, timeless classic that was the original.

View the original article here

Tucking in

SINGAPORE — It has been quite a while since we saw Chris Tucker in what was probably his most memorable gig: The three Rush Hour films, playing detective James Carter opposite Chinese superstar Jackie Chan.

But fans here will get a chance to see him once again when Tucker pops into Singapore as part of his stand-up comedy world tour, The Return Tour, on June 25 at the Kallang Theatre. Don’t expect him to reenact scenes from his movies though.

“I do a lot of improvisation and tell stories about my life. There is a lot of that. And I get to do a lot of characters. It’s different from a movie, when you have to play only one character throughout and there’s a script for you to follow,” he said over the phone, although he added that he would often ad lib his lines in the movies.

“Oh yeah, I do. I mean, I would try to make the character mine, and I think that doing stand-up, because I act a lot in stand-up, actually prepared me for doing movies.”

Tucker started being interested in comedy ever since he was in school. “I was always the class clown. Some of my friends said I was like Eddie Murphy and I didn’t understand the implications of that at the time, I just wanted to be funny and be the class clown,” he said.

While he may be Mr Funny Guy in the movies and on stage, don’t be surprised to find that he’s not quite like that if you bump into him on the street. “I mean, sometimes you’ll find that I’m not that funny in real life. Because you can’t be all the time. There has to be a balance, I think,” he said, adding that he tries to keep his private and public personas very separate.

Tucker certainly has his work cut out for him this year. Apart from completing his tour, he has a film being made about the tour coming out later this year, and he’s looking to do more cinematic features as well. “I’m going to be busy for the next six months or so,” he quipped.

For the full story, visit http://tdy.sg/christuckerdream.

Chris Tucker’s The Return Tour is on June 25, 8pm at Kallang Theatre.

Tickets from Sistic.

View the original article here

5 James Gandolfini moments

SINGAPORE — James Gandolfini, of The Sopranos acclaim, has died of an apparent heart attack while holidaying in Rome. He was 51.

The award-winning actor was best known for his role as the violent but emotional mob boss Tony Soprano in the successful HBO series, which critics have called one of the best television dramas of all time.

Gandolfini also appeared in films such as Zero Dark Thirty, Killing Them Softly and The Taking of Pelham 123, and was nominated for a Tony Award in 2009 for his role in Broadway production God Of Carnage.

We take a look at some of the actor’s most memorable moments in film and television.

***

EMMY WIN. James Gandolfini’s role as Tony Soprano won him many accolades during his career, including this Primetime Emmy award for best actor in 2000. He went on to win the Emmy two more times for the same role - in 2001 and 2003.

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plcPPTrb2Pc

THE MEXICAN. Gandolfini also won an LA Outfest Award for Best Supporting Actor as the gay assassin Leroy in The Mexican, which also stars Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts.

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GanDtOcF0M0

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. The actor lent his voice to the Wild Thing Carol in this fantasy drama.

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEFypVPbqJc

ALIVE DAY MEMORIES: HOME FROM IRAQ. Gandolfini also produced this Emmy-nominated HBO documentary on injured Iraq War veterans in 2008.

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mstpgpe070U

FINAL SCENE OF THE SOPRANOS. We salute you, Mr Gandolfini.

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqpDxCo2vic

View the original article here

World War Z director Marc Forster takes his zombie cue from animals

NEW YORK — As a boy growing up in Switzerland, director Marc Forster was obsessed with the way fish and birds, moving together, gracefully coalesced into a single organism, the multitudes swarming seamlessly as one.

From such pastoral visions comes the zombie tsunami threatening humanity in Brad Pitt-starrer World War Z.

Once bitten, the victims frenetically convulse and join an undead horde that sprint through city streets like rabid cheetahs, clicking their teeth malevolently and at times swarming terrifyingly en masse.

“They’re like this force of nature coming at you,” Forster said. “I felt like the more I could base it in nature, viscerally, the more scary it will be.”

The animal kingdom figured heavily into his conception of the zombies. In addition to birds and fish, the filmmakers also paid careful attention to the movements of ants. The mandibular mechanics of the zombie bite were informed by police dogs, specifically the way they lead with their mouths and “then bite forward”, Forster said.

As for the clacking teeth, which seem to evoke gorillas or an insect plague, Forster said that aspect was actually his one nod toward the gothic.

“It’s like an empty shell — you feel a hollowness because they’re not human anymore,” he said. “Their souls have left them.” THE NEW YORK TIMES

View the original article here

Movie review: World War Z (PG, 116min) | 2/5

LONDON — The first problem you encounter with World War Z, the new action blockbuster starring Brad Pitt, is how to pronounce the damn thing. Should the last letter be said “zee”, to sound like “three”, or “zed”, to sound like “dead”, or “zzz”, to sound like the audience?

Whichever phoneme you plump for, the Z stands for zombie, and the film contains, on a rough estimate, hundreds of thousands of them. It is based on a novel by Max Brooks, son of the filmmaker and humourist Mel, and it follows Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), a flaxen-haired former United Nations action man who is recalled to the line of duty when a mysterious pandemic turns citizens of various countries into walking, chomping corpses.

Brooks’s novel was a thinly-veiled parable about American foreign policy and post-millennial anxiety, told from several points of view: in fact, it had much in common with Steven Soderbergh’s terrific 2011 medical thriller Contagion. Marc Forster’s film junks the satire and multiple perspectives, and instead recasts the story as an uncomplicated globe-trotting thriller. On one side we have Lane and a roster of temporary sidekicks, and on the other, an inexhaustible supply of the living dead.

What we get is a collection of moderately violent action set-pieces untroubled by humour or broader coherence. Lane travels from Philadelphia (played on-screen by Glasgow) to Nova Scotia via New York, New Jersey, South Korea, Israel and Wales, and almost nothing that happens along the way has the slightest effect on the film’s final outcome. Perhaps this should come as no surprise: Shortly after filming on World War Z was thought to be complete, seven weeks of extra shooting took place in Budapest, which was followed by the writing and filming of an entirely new third act later in the year. Whatever direction the film was originally headed in, someone important obviously thought better of it.

Forster, who directed the Bond film Quantum Of Solace, has done his best to piece together a story from these incompatible parts, but the final product has an elaborate uselessness about it, like a broken teapot glued back together with the missing pieces replaced by parts of a vacuum cleaner.

The Welsh finale, in particular, looks spectacularly cheap, and the screen-stretching vistas and computer-generated hordes from earlier in the movie are nowhere to be seen. In their place is Peter Capaldi, who plays a World Health Organisation director hiding out in a bunker near Cardiff, and when you first glimpse him in an otherwise empty office you wonder if Malcolm Tucker has somehow saved the day by swearing the zombies into submission.

By that point you’re well-primed for such silliness, as many of the film’s key dramatic moments wouldn’t feel particularly out of place on a horror-themed edition of The Thick Of It. In one early sequence, when Lane tries to creep past a crowd of zombies on a military base, his cover is blown when his wife Karen (Mireille Enos) unexpectedly rings his mobile. Moments earlier, an important character trips up and accidentally shoots himself in the head, and you start to question whether the planet might in fact be safer in the hands of the zombies.

At least the film has one neat trick: in the Israel sequence we see Boschian wide-shots of zombie hordes coursing down streets and sluicing over barriers like a great, monstrous flood. This chimes with the footage of swarming insects in the opening titles, and suggests that the film may have once had a point to make before the rot set in. But there’s no heart to be found amid the guts. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

View the original article here

China through David Beckham’s eyes

SINGAPORE - David Beckham’s been busy post-retirement – he’s currently on a week-long tour in China as ambassador to the Chinese Super League.

And, oh, he’s also posting selfies on his brand new Sina Weibo account.

The 38-year-old’s posts range from photos of himself looking dapper in a private jet – “Landed in Nanjing, a city I have never been to before. I’ve been told it’s 95 degrees!” – to simple observations about his trip – “Love Beijing, although not his traffic jam. Had a good day so far”.

Beckham also held a question and answer session with followers on Weibo, responding to fan queries about his trip and his favourite sports-related hobbies.

But the former England captain denied reports that he’s been approached by NFL (America’s National Football League) scouts.

“That is not true. In terms of rugby, I think I may be too old now,” he posted in reply to a fan’s question.

Even though the football superstar’s only been microblogging for two days, he already has close to half a million followers.

Beckham’s also following six other Weibo users at the moment, including the Chinese Super League and his wife Victoria Beckham, who has more than 1.3 million followers.

Click on the photos for a glimpse of Beckham’s Weibo posts.

View the original article here