The second day of Borneo Jazz, held on May 11, marked the end of the two-day jazz music festival. Following the same structure as the previous day, it featured Jump4Joy from Sweden, Hazmat Modine from the United States, Mo’Blow from Germany, and the Asian Jazz All-Stars Power Quartet from Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Thailand. Though equally entertaining as day one, day two had much more to offer: rain fall. Music, along with the strange weather, kept the audience glued to the ground, topping the expectations of many on a whole new level. The flow of the concert was maintained by no other than Malaysia’s Gerard Ratnam of Bernama Radio 24 with DJ UNO entertaining the masses between 15-minute performance breaks. The lively atmosphere comforted wearied souls and relaxed the troubled; witnessing people aged in their mid-twenties and thirties dancing in the rain while enjoying the music was beautiful.

Show time was 7:30 pm for the Asian Jazz All-Stars quartet. Jeremy Monteiro on keyboard, Eugene Pao on guitar, Tots Tolentino on saxophone, and Chanutr Techatana-nan on drums hyped the crowd like no other, being the first to perform. When you put four of Asia’s top musicians on one stage, it is fitting to expect a “one of a kind” performance. The Asian Jazz All-Stars quartet performed traditional jazz beautifully while playing an eclectic selection of old and new standards along with their own original compositions. Coming from four different countries, the jazzmen managed to execute an innovative yet intellectually stimulating performance; Pao’s strong guitar lines, Monteiro’s fusion of bluesy organ licks, Tolentino’s motley sound shapes, and Techatana-nan’s groovy swing warmed the hearts of many. They were definitely a good start to the concert.

Second in line was the renowned Hazmat Modine from New York. The eight piece band played a different kind of blues – New Orleans style, with edgy vocals and pungent brass. Over the years, their music has been inspired by traditional American roots coupled with a lot of worldly influences from Africa, Asia, and Europe, all of which sometimes can be seen within the confines of a single song. The leader of the band, Wade Schuman, communicated with the crowd skillfully, intensifying their excitement after every song. “Medicine man” hit the crowd like a storm. People did not just approve of the piece; they loved it, danced to it, felt the emotion, and demonstrated it. The eight piece band is not to be missed, witnessing them perform on stage was a whole new experience by itself. Hazmat Modine is made up of Schuman, Joseph Daley, Pamela Fleming, Erik Della Penna, Rachelle Garniez, Richard Huntley, Michael Gomez, and Steve Elson.

Third on set and the people’s favorite was Mo’Blow, coming all the way from Germany. Borneo Jazz was their second “GIMME THE BOOTS” release concert. Distinguished by their pink shoes, the band dazzled the crowd by their wicked performance made up of the unique sounds of funk, groove, and jazz. The masses could not get enough of them. Mo’Blow was able to demonstrate an appreciation to detail and love of authenticity through their performance. They put jazz into motion like never before. Felix F. Falk, the band leader, impressed the crowd by his newly learnt Malaysian phrases; he was fun and full of energy. Mo’Blow was a favorite not just to a particular age group, but to the entire audience. The quartet features Falk on saxophone, Matti Klein on electric piano, Tobias Fleischer on bass, and André Seidel on drums. For a detailed review, click here.

Last but not least was the Scandinavian band Jump4Joy. Their music was rare yet highly energetic with a strong New Orleans flavor. They performed feel-good, toe-tapping, and lively songs that literally left the audience jumping for joy in the rain. Drenched, the crowd danced all the way through the very end. To hype things up on a new scale, they collaborated with Papo Rodriguez and Jeremy Monteiro and received an encouraging response from the crowd. Previously, Jump4Joy has been described by the press as “An extraordinary band with international appeal” and “One of the best live acts to see.” The memorable performance by Jump4Joy was a fitting conclusion to the two-day festival. The band consists of Ulf Sandström (piano, lead vocals, composition), Bo Gustafsson (sax, tenor alto, percussion, backing vocals, composition), Surjo Benigh (bass, backing vocals), and Kenneth Björnlund (drums, backing vocals).

The Borneo Jazz festival was held in Miri, the ecotourism seaside town located north-east of Sarawak, about two hours and fifteen minutes flight time from Malaysia’s capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Borneo Jazz is a yearly music festival that occurs in May. This event is a reflection of the growing unique position of Sarawak among jazz music aficionados. Each year, it brings world class performers to provide a rich experience to all music lovers. For regular updates, please refer to the official website at jazzborneo.com.

Image credit: Yasmin Pascual Khalil

The article Borneo Jazz 2013 Day 2: Fitting Conclusion Leaves Audience Spellbound appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The wave of violence engulfed Pakistan on its election day on May 11, 2013. Pakistan saw upsurge in violence across the country from small towns alongside border of Afghanistan to its key city of Karachi.

City of Peshawar in Pakistan’s Northern Western Frontier province was the worst target for deadliest terrorist atrocities. A suicide bomber blew himself up outside the polling station and further seven people were hurt when a bomb attached to motorcycle went off. A bomb targeting female voters was detonated at a Peshawar school injuring eight people. Other areas of Pakistan were also hit by violence, the deadliest bomb explosion in Karachi left 11 dead and 40 wounded. According to The Guardian: “Bombs at ANP party offices and at Peshawar polling station also leaves scores wounded following Taliban attacks in run up to vote.” An explosion was also reported in city of Quetta in Balochistan. A gunmen killed two people outside a polling station in the town of Sorab in Baolchistan.

In Chaman, a border town near Afghanistan, a clash between two opposition groups left several injured and tree dead. The death toll in the run up to elections has reached 130 now. The 2008 Pakistan elections were much bloodier and killed 150 people and injured 400 people when militants targeted the campaigns of Pakisan People’s Party (PPP), Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP).

Due to instability in the region, Pakistan closed its borders with Iran and Afghanistan for the following three days to keep foreign militants at bay. The government stationed 600,000 security officials all across the country to safeguard the voters and to deflect violence and vote rigging at polling stations. However despite such security measures, violence continued, and according to leading opposition party PTI, vote rigging also took place in several cities across the country.

Despite the violence and carnage, 90 millions Pakistanis finally casted their votes across 70,000 polling stations in one of the most historical elections of Pakistan. This is the first time in Pakistan’s history, when a civilian government was replaced by another civilian government by democratic means, through the sheer power of ballot box. Though the number of voters that turned up was lower than 2008’s figure, the election commission of Pakistan reported 60-80% of turn out by the end of day. Voting was extended for an extra hour across Pakistan.

In its 66 years of history Pakistan has experienced three military coups and endless number of failed governance. The 2013 elections proved to be a landmark in Pakistan’s history, where a staggering 40 million young people for the first time went to polls to vote. Social media websites such as Twitter have also played an imperative part in 11th May’s elections with voters tweeting and posting about their voting experience. Prior to elections, young Pakistanis took to the Internet to promote upcoming elections with pictures of ex-cricketer Imran Khan and his cricket bat as a symbol for change. The Facebook page ’We Want Imran Khan To Be The Next Prime Minster Of Pakistan’ has so far 930.721 likes and 528,1644 people are engaged in debates and discussions on this page.

Post elections, unofficial results by country’s election commission based on 254 of the 269 races where the counting has been completed, reveal that Nawaz Sharif is all set to serve Pakistan as the next Prime Minister. This is the third time that the 63-year-old steel mill tycoon will be serving Pakistan as the leader. Mr Sharif first served as prime minister from November 1990 to July 1993 and from February 1997 until he was ousted in a bloodless military coup in 1999 and was forced to spend years in exile in Saudi Arabia. He returned from exile in 2008, supported by thousands to compete in national elections, but lost to Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). His family is among one of the wealthiest, well-known and prestigious families of the country.

The unofficial election results has already ensued war of words between Imran Khan’s PTI and Nawaz Sharif’s party. During a press conference in Lahore on Monday, May 13, 2013, Mr.Sharif told Imran Khan to stop making allegations of vote rigging. The defeat in elections has hit Imran Khan and millions of his supporters hard. But despite their loses, PTI emerged as winners in some of the dangerous and hard to reach areas of Pakistan, such as Northern Western Frontier of Pakistan (NWFP) with 34 seats in the 99-member provincial assembly.

Now what remains to be seen is whether Mr Sharif, Pakistan’s next Prime Minister will be able to pull Pakistan out of thores of extremism and poverty. The biggest challenge he will be facing is dealing with the country’s volatile security situation, to protect the right of the Pakistanis to live in peace and to deal with the internal threat of different militant groups operating within Pakistan that will largely determine the parameter of Pakistan’s security and foreign policies.

Image credit: We Want Imran Khan To Be The Next Prime Minster Of Pakistan via Facebook

The article Violence, Carnage and Voting in Pakistan appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

In Part 1, we discussed the world of “BioShock Infinite” and gameplay. In Part 2 we will go deeper into the atmosphere of Columbia.

A highlight of the gameplay is the use of Columbia’s Sky-Line. The Sky-Line is the rail in which the city uses to transport goods throughout the city. Booker can use a Sky-Hook to get around the city as well as be used as a melee weapon that can snap enemies’ necks, cut them open or decapitate them. Enemies can also be pounced upon from the Sky-Line, which is pretty intense. Riding the Sky-Line is just as intense an experience; it feels as though you are on a roller coaster.

The enemies you will encounter throughout “BioShock Infinite” are varied, but not as iconic as the enemies of the first “BioShock.” There are the basic enemies which consist of the men and women on both sides of Comstock’s army and the Vox Populi that use guns, cannons and flying ships. However, the Heavy Hitters are the boss-like enemies that Irrational Games and Ken Levine have spoken at length about in several videos while “BioShock Infinite” was still in development. They have changed immensely from their initial debuts, but their impact to the gameplay was severely over-stated.

In addition, the fabled 1999 mode that was spoken so highly of is simply just a mode more difficult than the hard difficulty. The enemies are exactly the same except that they do more damage and when you die, the game takes away even more money from you. If you do not have enough money to regenerate, then it is game over.

Visually “BioShock Infinite” is gorgeous. The detail that was placed into every part of Columbia is immense. When looking from the city, you can see off into the horizon and it feels crisp, clean and fresh. This almost serene picture is juxtaposed against the crumbling society of Columbia, which makes it all the more eerie. Try having Booker stand still for a minute and during that time, you will see the city drift up and down almost as if it is breathing.

Elizabeth, Booker, Comstock, Daisy Fitzroy and the scientist behind why Columbia floats, Lutece, have their own backstories for you to discover. The story line is one of the greatest stories of the video game scene today and is something that will require much thought after being completed. Numerous gaming sites have had discussions as to what the ending means for the characters and the debate that has come out of “BioShock Infinite” alone make it worth playing. Each player can walk away with a different interpretation and are willing to share that perception with other people.

Gary Schyman has returned to score “BioShock Infinite.” His talents were used in both “BioShock” one and two and are crucial to the atmosphere of Columbia. The soundtrack of “BioShock Infinite” was given within the premium edition as well as the Ultimate Songbird Edition, but unfortunately according to Irrational Games’ “BioShock Infinite” frequently asked questions, they “currently have no plans to sell the soundtrack.” The score evokes emotion in tense places where appropriate, while not being overbearing. Moreover, the score does inject a sense of  danger in combat situations that only add to the urgency of Booker’s situation to the gameplay.

Altogether, “BioShock Infinite” delivers an experience unlike any other game currently on the market. It does not take the player as a fool, it will not spoon feed you any answers. You will have to pay attention to every detail found within the game in order to truly grasp the meaning behind the incredible ending. This may mean that “BioShock Infinite” will be a miss for gamers that typically are not familiar with the franchise. This is not a game for players who just want to whizz by Voxophones and environmental queues.

Rating – 5/5: If you put in the hours, “BioShock” is an extremely rewarding game with an intriguing story that will stick with you for a long time even after you have finished it. It will make you want to discuss it and understand it. “BioShock Infinite” is not just a game, it is an experience. For this complete package and long lasting impact with a lot of depth, “BioShock Infinite” deserves the praise and accolades.

Image credit: Bioshockinfinite.com

The article A City in the Sky: “BioShock Infinite” Reviewed Part 2 appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

“Dishonored” is back with its latest storyline-expanding DLC pack: “The Knife of Dunwall.” The story has you in the role of Daud, the master assassin that murdered the Empress in the main story. However, it seems as though even after making a career of mindlessly assassinating people, Daud actually feels remorse after killing the Empress. The Outsider appears to Daud and tells him that his “story is coming to an end.” The Outsider tells Daud to seek out a person named Delilah.

As Daud, the player is given unique abilities such as the ability to summon assassins to aid him in combat and to imbue his comrades with his abilities. A familiar power, Blink, is still available but very much improved. You can now freeze time at the very top of a jump and plant your next move within that time. Rat Swarm and Possession are not part of Daud’s repertoire, but he makes up for this by having unique weapons such as the Chokedust, which, when thrown, explodes into a cloud of poison which chokes the enemy and allows you to either take the offensive or disappear into hiding. As the leader of the assassins, Daud also has the choice of buying information from informants such as safe codes, whale oil tanks, or even bone charms.

Even though it is only three levels long, The Knife of Dunwall does give the player valuable insight into a very intriguing character. We did not get to uncover much about him during the main story, so it is interesting to hear his thoughts about certain events and how he works as the leader of his band of assassins. In addition, the horrific practices of the whaling industry are shown, which is as interesting as it is repulsive. Enemies within the whaling factory are armed with immense flesh rending saws which can shoot metal at long range.

Each level has multiple ways of tackling it, in true “Dishonored” fashion. Multiple routes provide you with ways of completing a level with low chaos or high chaos. Being an assassin, it may not seem to make sense to leave everyone alive but in order to remain undetected low chaos is essential.

“The Knife of Dunwall” is part one of Daud’s story, and yet it feels like an unfinished game. The DLC is more of “Dishonored’s” great gameplay but the story is mediocre. The end of this episode delivers a watered down twist that is obvious from the beginning.

Rating- 3.8 out of 5 . If anything you should buy this DLC if you crave more “Dishonored” gameplay featuring Daud, wish to know more about the horrific whaling industry or just to see a little more of the enigmatic Outsider. If “The Knife of Dunwall” had been released as a whole, it might have felt more satisfying to play and spend money on. Part two of the DLC (“The Brigmore Witches”) has yet to receive a release date or price. “The Knife of Dunwall” is available on Steam ($9.99 USD), PlayStation 3 ($9.99 USD) and Xbox 360 (800 Microsoft Points).

Image credit: Dishonored via Facebook

The article “Dishonored” is Back with the Knife of Dunwall DLC appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The modern day NFL has truly developed into a passers’ league, and if you can’t defend against the pass, chances are you will find yourselves picking pretty early in the NFL Draft. Last season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers secondary was horrendous, and the statistics speak for themselves.  The Buccaneers gave up 297.4 passing yards a game (worst in the NFL), which resulted in them being just 38 yards short of the single season record for passing yardage given up. In fairness to the Tampa’s secondary, blame must also be laid at the feet of the Buccaneers’ pass rushers, who notched  just 27 sacks (T-30th) and quarterbacks often had plenty of time to allow their receivers to gain separation and make composed throws.

There are now whispers around the NFL however, that the league’s worst pass defense could actually become the league’s best in 2013. Valid? Maybe. Pre-emptive? Certainly.

Heading into this offseason, General Manager Mark Dominik probably only had confidence in one player in his secondary; safety Mark Barron. The Alabama product showed flashes of ability in his rookie season, and is certainly one of the most talented young safeties in the league. Dominik and Head Coach Greg Schiano will hope that he can show more consistency this season, and that the year playing with veteran Ronde Barber helped the younger player develop.

Outside of Barron, there was very little proven talent in the Buccaneers secondary. Corner Eric Wright underperformed last season, whilst also takin

g up a sizable chunk of the salary cap, and Barber, in addition to being 37, was heading into free agency. The Buccaneers had no higher priority than improving their secondary heading into free agency and the NFL Draft.

First up was the signing of safety Dashon Goldson, formerly of the San Francisco 49ers, potentially adding an effective ball hawk, and the perfect complement to the physical, enforcer-type play of Barron.  If you look at the more successful teams on the defensive side of the ball in recent years, they have almost all had a play-making tandem of this type. You need look no further than the San Fransisco 49ers, Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers or Seattle Seahawks for evidence.

The next move made, the trade for Darrelle Revis, will likely define Dominik’s tenure as Tampa’s GM. If Revis can return from his injury and replicate the kind of form which has had people labeling him as the best defensive player in the NFL, then the price Tampa paid for him will seem almost insignificant. It’s a question which, at the moment, remains unanswered, and could possibly stay unanswered until his second season with the Buccaneers. If Revis does regain both his fitness and form this season however, there is no better single addition the Buccaneers could have made to improve their woeful pass defense.

Then came the addition of Johnathan Banks in the second round of the NFL Draft, and despite not grabbing the same headlines that the arrivals of Goldson and Revis did, Banks could prove to be a very good move by Dominik. A tall, rangy corner, Banks is reminiscent of Richard Sherman, and could prove to be a valued press corner in the NFL. He will probably need to put on some more muscle to be as effective in the pro game as he was in college, but he certainly has the talent and mentality to be a success.

It is almost unthinkable to presume the Buccaneers pass defense will not improve. They have added key veterans and a solid rookie, whilst they will also be confident of an improved showing from their defensive line. However, the question posed was: can the Buccaneers secondary be the best in the league? And the short answer is no. There is little to no quality depth behind the starters, meaning that an injury to Barron, Goldson, Revis or Banks would be hugely impactful. It is also arguably a year or two too soon, with Barron and Banks still inexperienced.

That being said, if the Buccaneers can keep this group together, and perhaps add a dominant pass rusher, there is no reason why this same question won’t receive a different answer in a season or two.

Image credit: Tampa Bay Buccaneers via Facebook

The article Buccaneers’ Secondary – Best in the NFL? appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Borneo Jazz 2013 will see a fresh set of explosive acts that makes it the most anticipated Borneo Jazz festival to date. With notable names such as The Nylons, Jump 4 Joy, Lisa Young Quartet and Mo’ Blow, to name a few, festival goers can expect a weekend full of swing, groove and musicality.

As a preview, let’s look at one of the groups that will be gracing the stage this 11 May: Mo’ Blow.

Mo’ Blow hails from Germany; a young, energetic group that would make the first-time listener an instant follower. Listening to their groovy tunes will get you moving along to their rhythm. With piece titles such as “Ricky the Lobster,” “Coke & Baked Beans” and “How Jules got his Cool Back,” you sort of get that nonchalant, casual connotation, and when coupled with listening to the actual melodies played out, there you have Mo’ Blow; a quintessential group with dynamic music to play.

“That’s groovy Jazz-Funk of the very best kind, intelligent and moving, yet with a generous helping of fun and great good humor.” – Norddeutsche Neuste Nachrichten, Germany.

For a young group, Mo’ Blow have done themselves proud; getting lavish praise from places such as Germany, Russia, Netherlands and Croatia. Now, they are geared up for making their mark in South-East Asia, christening their maiden show in Borneo the ‘Gimme the Boots’ concert, in conjunction with the release of their latest album.

Along the way they have pocketed enviable awards as well. The Winner of Berliner Jazz & Blues Award, Winner of Future Sounds Award 2011 and Winner of ‘Jazz am see’ Award for best concert of 2011. Berliner Zeitung has endorsed them as “one of the hottest live bands.”

Founder Felix F. Falk plays saxophone and percussion, Matti Klein – electric piano, Tobias Fleischer on bass and André Seidel keeping the groove on the drums. These four certainly epitomize the meaning of detail and precision, without being bland or rigid.

Mo’ Blow is a big name you do not want to miss.

The full list of performers at Borneo Jazz 2013 is: West Jazz Band (Sarawak); Lisa Young Quartet (Australia); Scott Martin Latin Soul Band (USA); The Nylons (Canada); The Asian Jazz All Stars Power Quartet (Singapore, Philippines, Hong Kong, Japan); Hazmat Modine (USA); Mo’ Blow (Germany); Jump 4 Joy (Sweden).

Borneo Jazz 2013 will be held at Park City Everly Hotel, Miri Sarawak from 10-11 May. Tickets are priced at RM 60 (USD 20) per day or RM100 (USD 33) for a 2-day pass. Children aged 3-12 years enter at half price. For more information, visit the Sarawak Tourism Board website.

Image credit: Moblow.de

The article Catch Mo’Blow Live at Borneo Jazz 2013 appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Similar to their pre-draft counterparts, the ‘Mock Drafts’, the post-draft grading of NFL teams’ performances are anything but an exact science. It often takes anywhere up to five years before you can truly judge how successful a certain draft class has been, so assumptions made before training camp has even begun, should be treated with a reasonable amount of skepticism. That being said, certain factors, such as whether or not a team managed to fill their needs, whilst also trying to adhere to a ‘best player available’ policy, can be assessed.

Winners

Minnesota Vikings

When you wind up with three first round selections, chances are that you are going to have a successful draft. Minnesota took Shariff Floyd (23rd pick), Xavier Rhodes (25th pick) and Cordarrelle Patterson (29th pick) with their three first round selections, and cases could be made that they were arguably the best defensive tackle, cornerback and wide receiver in the draft respectively.

All of the three were expected to be off the board before they were actually taken, and General Manager Rick Spielman deserves credit for his draft day maneuvering, and the value he was able to pick up with each selection. He was also able to address a need at linebacker later in the draft, bring in Gerald Hodges (4th round) and Michael Mauti (7th round) who will both provide depth, and potentially eventually compete for a starting role.

San Diego Chargers

The Chargers may not have had three first round picks like the Vikings did, but they did draft three first round talents. San Diego took D.J. Fluker with the 11th pick overall, and then added Manti Te’o (2nd round) and Keenan Allen (3rd round) shortly after, with both Te’o and Allen seen by many as late first round talents. New GM Tom Telesco should be applauded for adding a potential leader to his defense, and helping out quarterback Philip Rivers with a new offensive lineman in Fluker, and target in wide receiver Allen.

Losers

Cleveland Browns

You can forgive Cleveland fans for having a feeling of anti-climax after their draft which saw them make very little improvement, at least in the short-term, to their current roster. First round pick Barkevious Mingo will likely transition to an outside linebacker role in the Browns’ new 3-4 defense, but will most likely end up providing depth behind Paul Kruger and Jabaal Sheard in his rookie year as he develops his ability to drop back into coverage.

The Browns offloaded some of their picks for better selections in the 2014 draft, so outside of Mingo and cornerback Leon McFadden (3rd round), they’re unlikely to have much impact from their rookie class this season. GM Michael Lombardi may have laid foundations for Cleveland’s future, but it’s doubtful this class will be able to help the Browns move up the AFC North pecking order.

Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys did the right thing trading down from the 18th spot, presumably a decision made after Kenny Vaccaro was taken by New Orleans with the 15th pick, but spending their resulting first round pick on Travis Frederick was wasteful. The center is a good player, and will probably start on Dallas’ offensive line, but was a reach in the first round, as the Cowboys could have easily traded down once more, picking up extra picks, and still have taken Frederick.

Dallas also added a potential starter in J.J. Wilcox (3rd round) and good depth in Gavin Escobar (2nd round) and Terrance Williams (3rd round), but completely overlooked their defensive line. They have already lost players such as Marcus Spears on that side of the ball, and considering their shortage of cap space, could struggle to find reinforcements.

Image credit: San Diego Chargers via Facebook

The article Winners and Losers: 2013 NFL Draft appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The highly anticipated new Iggy and The Stooges album ‘Ready to Die’, released on Fat Possum Records, arrived one week in advance, pleasingly surprising the tons of fans who were craving the new work of the Godfather of Punk and his band. The album will be officially released on April 30, but it is already available for streaming.

Many are doubtful when it comes to an old band reuniting or working on new material. The criticism of the old still doing what made it great is a characteristic of the current music scene. Iggy and The Stooges, with this new album, help to prove how wrong this attitude is. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Iggy Pop explained the simple, and yet admirable, reason why the band decided not to just ride the train of eternal self-celebration, benefiting from the timeless fame acquired by creating one of the most influential albums of all time, ‘Raw Power’. Iggy Pop stated “I didn’t do this expecting to make money out of it. It’s a lot of work, but I felt it was something that had to be done. This is my teenage dream, having a band that makes records and plays gigs. That’s still the glory of it, and I wanted to honor the institution and honor the group.”

So basically, being in a band should lead to music making. Well said Iggy, and well done. ‘Ready to Die’ does not disappoint those who were expecting some real rock ‘n’ roll to be on the plate. With songs written by Iggy Pop and James Williamson for the first time after ‘Raw Power’, the album is straightforward and raw; the listener does not face an overly-polished work, rather a lesson on how rock ‘n’ roll should be played. It has something that many, although luckily not all, rock albums are missing lately: it sounds real.

The album presents a powerful dynamic which, although classical, here works perfectly. It moves from louder and harder tracks, such as “Burn,” “Ready to Die” and “Dirty Deal,” to some delicate ballads and intimate songs, such as “The Departed,” dedicated to the late Ron Asheton. The lyrics are also very dynamic; Iggy Pop takes a close look at the world around, the “Unfriendly World,” as the title of one of the tracks suggests. There is the description and criticism of some of current society’s issues (“Gun”) and of people’s feelings. Some of the tracks present deeply involving and reflective lyrics, which help to create an intimacy with the band’s sonority. Iggy Pop mixes in this album his hard and punk attitude with his emotional side, towards which he definitively opened the gate for fans through his latest solo album ‘Après’. Some other lyrics are instead very simple and careless, stressing an easygoing attitude pertaining to part of the early punk movement, which presented not only a social condemnation approach, but also an irreverent and ironic one.

‘Ready to Die’ is a powerful and pleasant album which needs no comparison to ‘Raw Power‘ since it plays a very different role in the band’s career and in the current music scene. It is easy to listen to and captures the listener’s attention right away. Nevertheless, it is possible to grasp more and more at every listen. It is a record which gives a lot to those who listen with open ears and an open soul.

Well produced and appreciable by those loving rock ‘n’ roll, it is a strong statement of presence by a band which has made history. The renovation operated by Iggy and the Stooges in ’Ready to Die’ starts exactly from the band’s roots. Iggy and The Stooges do not present a completely new sound, but rather refresh the original one, transforming it in an adequate and relevant sonority for the present. With ‘Ready to Die’ Iggy and The Stooges take their past and make it meet with the present without cheating on themselves.

Rating: EXCELLENT 4.5/5

Image credit: Iggy And The Stooges via Facebook

The article Iggy and The Stooges: Back with Ready to Die – Album Review appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

With the NFL Draft just days away, beginning on April 25, here’s a look at the AFC East’s biggest needs heading into the opening rounds.

Buffalo Bills

By cutting Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Bills showed they are committed to finding a new franchise quarterback, and they could do a lot worse than taking Geno Smith with their first round pick. Smith has come in for a lot of criticism this offseason, largely in part to the fact he isn’t a player of the same caliber as Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III, but he does have all the tools required to become a franchise quarterback in the NFL.

Buffalo has some talented young offensive tackles in Chris Hairston and Cordy Glenn, but with Andy Levitre leaving in the offseason, they could look for a guard in the early rounds to potentially help protect their new quarterback. Barrett Jones (Alabama) could still be on the board when they come to pick in the third round, but if not, Earl Watford (James Madison) or Hugh Thornton (Illinois) should be available.

A need for a tight end could also be filled in the second round, with Zach Ertz (Stanford) likely still available, and has the ability to be a starter immediately in the NFL.

Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins helped fill some of their many needs by spending big in free agency, but there is still a glaring need at left tackle. Trading up to try and take Lane Johnson (Oklahoma) is a move mooted by many, but if they can’t work out a deal, it’s hard to see them taking anyone other than Xavier Rhodes (Florida St.) with the 12^th overall pick, as corner is another big need.

Depending on who Miami ultimately takes in the first round, offensive tackle Terron Armstead (Arkansas-Pine Bluff) or corner Robert Alford (Southeastern Louisiana) are potential second round targets.

Helping Ryan Tannehill has to be the Dolphins priority so do not be surprised to see Miami look for a tight end or guard in the third and fourth rounds, with both Vance McDonald (Rice) and Brian Winters (Kent St.) good fits.

New York Jets

New York could go in a number of directions with their first round pick, but finding a premiere pass rusher at the outside linebacker position has to be high on their list, and although patience will be required while he transitions to the new position, Barkevious Mingo (LSU) has so much upside that he’s hard to ignore. In addition, the recent first round they picked up as part of the Darrel Revis trade could help them aggressively go after a Dee Milliner (Alabama) or Xavier Rhodes.

Surprisingly, Mark Sanchez is still on the roster, but the Jets could be tempted to try and make a move for E. J. Manuel (Florida St.) or Tyler Bray (Tennessee) in the second or third round, to provide competition for Sanchez, and most likely, eventually replace him.

There are big question marks over Tyrann Mathieu (LSU) and whether he can keep himself out of trouble, but there are few players in the draft with more ability on the field. With Revis now a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Mathieu could be a valuable pickup, especially if head coach Rex Ryan is confident he can help Mathieu overcome his troubled background.

New England Patriots

The Patriots have been putting together a talented and young defense over the last couple of years and targeting a top corner in the first round could be vital in helping it progress to the next level. Desmond Trufant (Washington) could be off the board by the time they come to pick, but Jamar Taylor (Boise St.) is not far behind Trufant, and could be an immediate starter in the Patriots defense.

New England has replaced Wes Welker with Danny Amendola, but they could be looking for some more depth at receiver, and Marcus Wheaton (Oregon St.) could help make the transition easier. Wheaton is an accomplished route-runner and has good hands, making him perfectly suited to the Patriots offense.

An injection of youth at the guard position will also be high on New England’s wish list, but given their lack of picks, they would probably have to target one with their third round pick. Like the Bills, they might have to look at the likes of Watford and Thornton at this point in the draft, and hope they can develop one of them into the long-term successor  Logan Mankins.

Image credit: Buffalo Bills via Facebook

The article NFL Draft 2013: Team Needs – AFC East appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

How often is it that we encounter views such as “cultural differences” or “culture-related health beliefs” as the reasons why immigrants encounter disparities when approaching healthcare institutions? Is culture really to blame for the inequalities that migrants face when accessing healthcare systems? Why is this even an important question to ask?

There is no doubt that migrants face a hearth of vulnerabilities when settling in a new country, such as lack of language knowledge, unfamiliarity with institutions and access to labor market opportunities. But how do migrants access healthcare systems when they first arrive? How do they communicate their illnesses and what are their expectations in how doctors may diagnose them or communicate their methods of treatment?

If you do your homework in the suffocating amount of immigrant health literature that looks at how immigrants access healthcare facilities (as well as the quality of those services provided in terms of accommodating migrants’ specific needs), you begin to notice the creeping re-appearance of culture as an explanatory ground on the inequalities that migrants face.

How different could the culture of the host country and the country of departure be when comparing people’s health attitudes? This question of course relies on which ethnic group of people you observe as well as the countries of settlement: Turks in Germany, Africans in Italy, Chinese in Australia, Albanians in Macedonia. The migratory pathways and patterns are enormous, complex and almost impossible to summarize.

The point is not to undermine culture as an aspect to analyze when looking at the ways in which migrants integrate into their host country, in particular approach healthcare services. In fact, analyzing different understandings of culture regarding health has lead to an array of interesting ethnographic accounts of how different ethnic groups of people communicate health differently.

The point is, on the contrary, to look beyond the cultural explanations when looking at how migrants perceive or interact with healthcare institutions. The culture of a particular group of “ethnic” immigrants is not homogeneous, static or stationary. Migrants are a diverse group of people, and differ in mountainous ways in terms of their age, gender, socio-economic status, class, recency of arrival, education, city of settlement and departure.

For example, imagine two Italians, a man from Naples and a woman from Milan moving to America. Would the pathways through which these two people incorporate into America be the same? Would the “culture” of these two people be the same? Here, gender would play an imperative role, as would ‘city of departure’, as the cultural traditions, behaviors and customs between Naples and Milan are vastly different. Migrants are therefore diverse; they come from different places, have different life trajectories and come from various cities. It is important to acknowledge this because scholars attend to migrants as if they share strong cultural bonds, identity and unity. What about the people that don’t identify with their cultural groups and do not rely on their ethnic background to access institutional services?

So why do scholars, scientists and academics continue to use the “cultural” model when exploring not only how migrants access health systems, but incorporate into the society in general? Perhaps looking at this through a political dimension could help answer the question. It is simply in the interest of nations and policymaking strategies to homogenize ethnic groups of migrants. If you endorse the pluralism and diversity of people, then you must also adopt and embrace multicultural policies. However, multicultural policies are not always in the interest of all countries.

Politics aside, the point is to give more attention to diversity and difference, rather than lumping people into a particular cultural or ethnic category. This clearly impacts the way we view each other, the stereotypes that are created and perpetuated. Stereotypes are useful for one thing only: funny films. But looking at the ways in which they impact institutions and policies is important, and affects a lot of people.

Step outside the cultural model, look at culture through a meticulous lens and try not to base assumptions on cultural unity.

Image credit: Doctors of the World UK via Flickr.com

The article Immigrants and Healthcare: Is Culture to Blame for the Disparities? appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Who will win this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Fiction? One website has created an algorithm designed to predict who will win and successfully predicted Jennifer Egan’s win in 2011 for her book, A Visit From the Goon Squad. In the weeks leading up to the award’s announcement (April 15), Toonari Post will be reviewing several of the more discussed books from last year and try to see which book, above all others, deserves the award.

Two of the most discussed books this year were The Round House by Louise Erdrich and The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson, and it is not hard to see why. Both are phenomenal novels, and very likely one of these authors will come away with the award.

The Round House is the story of a rape and the subsequent trial of a Native American woman living on a reservation. Narrated through the eyes of her adolescent son, the novel deals primarily with racial injustice. It is comparable to Harper Lee’s masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird, and has become a favorite with the general public.

Ironically, the book’s big success could spell its doom for the Pulitzer: late last year it won the National Book Award, and although it is not unprecedented, books rarely win both awards. The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx, published in 1993, was the last book to accomplish this feat. Could the literary strength of The Round House help it break a 20-year curse? It is more than possible.

The Orphan Master’s Son is the about the life of the fictional Jun Do, an orphan in North Korea who slowly rises through the ranks to become one of the most powerful men in the country. It is a brilliant achievement and a break out book for author Adam Johnson, who has previously published a collection of short stories entitled Emporium and the novel Parasites Like Us. Through the horror of the North Korean regime, Johnson is able in his latest book to create a book that is part thriller, part love story, part internal crisis and much more. There is something here for everyone to enjoy.

However, the Pulitzer Prize primarily deals with books that deal with American ideals and citizens. Although part of the book is set in Texas and North Korea is constantly compared and contrasted with the US in the book, it could be simply not American enough to win. There have been exceptions before, though, and the massive scope of the book is comparable to the sprawling plot lines of previous Pulitzer winners, so only time will tell if the judges decide the book features enough American “values” to merit the award.

Stay tuned at Toonari Post for more Pulitzer news and the reveal of the winners on April 15.

Image credit: jenniferegan.com

The article Pulitzer Prize: The Speculations #3 appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Beijing, with a population of over 20 million, has suffered from hazardous air pollution since last January, which has threatened the people greatly since the pollutants can cause fatal health problems.

On January 12, the air quality monitor run by the U.S. embassy in Beijing reported an air pollution level of 886, which directly indicated PM2.5 – a fine particulate less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter – is off its maximum level of 500. This warns that everyone should refrain from all physical activities outdoors. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the average concentrations of PM2.5 per cubic meter should not be more than 25 micrograms, yet the readings on some days in January exceeded 40 times of the standard.

The effect of the PM 2.5 is even more disastrous: The U.S. embassy Beijing air quality monitor website stated “PM 2.5 particulates are of concern since they are small enough to directly enter the lungs and even the blood stream,” and warned that ‘hazardous’ level of air quality can result in “Serious aggravation of heart or lung disease and premature mortality in persons with cardiopulmonary disease and the elderly; serious risk of respiratory effects in general population.”

Nonetheless, you did not need to check the Air Quality Index (AQI) to see how dreadful the air quality was. The darkness from the extreme dustiness lasted the whole afternoon on that day, and the thick dusty layers hindered sight within approximately 300 meters, where even the huge skyscrapers were hardly visible. “The smog was so thick that more than 50 flights were cancelled at Beijing Capital International Airport, causing chaos ahead of Chinese New Year, when city-dwellers travel to see relatives” reported the Independent on January 29. The effect of the ‘hazardous’ level of the air quality was immediate. Dr. Huang of the Beijing Shijitan hospital said in an interview with CBS News that the number of patients hospitalized because of chronic bronchitis or other respiratory illnesses had increased by 20% after the hazardous air quality days.

Yet, this catastrophic phenomenon did not just happen for an occasional day. Beijing has been besieged by the hazy and dusty skies for the last several months at a consistent level, and there have been only a few days of blue skies; the AQI reads under the degree of ‘Unhealthy’. Even China’s national newspaper, China Digital Times, published an article titled “Beijing Air Quality: Worse than SARS.”

As a response to the people’s outcry, the city government took urgent action. According to Bloomberg on the last January 29, Beijing decided to temporarily shut down the 103 factories around the city, and the government agencies and state-owned companies were commended to reduce vehicle use by 30% until the end of January.

The scenery of Beijing in the past months has been changed visibly. People started wearing PM 2.5-blocking masks outside, and frequently check AQI via the application on their mobile phones. The term ‘PM 2.5’ is often being discussed everywhere – in newspapers, television and people’s daily dialogue. Some companies distribute free 3M dust masks for college students on campus instead of their traditional marketing strategies of giving a small gift such as stationary.

It is estimated to affect the job market in Beijing as well. On April 1, Financial Times reported that the ‘Airpocalypse’ has made it difficult for companies to find international work talent, and many expatriates are planning to leave Beijing due to the concern for health. There are nearly 200,000 foreign residents in Beijing and many of the expats are professionals with high-earning jobs, which contribute greatly to the socio-economic development of the city, the news report said.

“Air pollution is a major problem in China because of the country’s rapid pace of industrialization, reliance on coal power, explosive growth in car ownership and the sometimes disregard for environmental laws,” said CNN news on January 19. China has been the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter since 2007, and approximately 70 percent of its total energy still comes from coal.

The 2012 Cancer Registry Annual Report showed that cancer-related mortality in China has increased by 465 percent in the past three decades and the lung cancer was the top cause among all the cancers.

According to the World Bank (WB) report, 20 cities in China listed on the 30 most polluted cities in the world. In the recent study by Greenpeace and Peking University’s School of Public Health, it is estimated that the exposure to PM2.5 caused more than 8,500 premature deaths in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Xi’an in 2012.

Image credit: People in Beijing via Flickr.com

The article ‘Airpocalypse’ in Beijing: The Days with ‘Hazardous’ Air Quality appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Turns out Morrissey’s statement published on April 8, after Margaret Thatcher’s death, by the Daily Beast was not a post-mortem one, but dated back to when Ms. Thatcher was still alive. Nevertheless Morrissey has something to say about the ex-Prime Minister’s death, and did it on April 9 releasing a statement to the fan site True to You.

Apparently, Morrissey’s feelings did not change much. In this new comment about Margaret Thatcher’s death, the former frontman of The Smiths also addressed past and current British politics, as well as the media scene. About the dead politician he says “Thatcher was not a strong or formidable leader. She simply did not give a shit about people.” Read the full statement as follows:

“The difficulty with giving a comment on Margaret Thatcher’s death to the British tabloids is that, no matter how calmly and measured you speak, the comment must be reported as an “outburst” or an ”explosive attack” if your view is not pro-establishment.

If you reference “the Malvinas”, it will be switched to “the Falklands”, and your “Thatcher” will be softened to a “Maggie.” This is generally how things are structured in a non-democratic society. Thatcher’s name must be protected not because of all the wrong that she had done, but because the people around her allowed her to do it, and therefore any criticism of Thatcher throws a dangerously absurd light on the entire machinery of British politics.

Thatcher was not a strong or formidable leader. She simply did not give a shit about people, and this coarseness has been neatly transformed into bravery by the British press who are attempting to re-write history in order to protect patriotism. As a result, any opposing view is stifled or ridiculed, whereas we must all endure the obligatory praise for Thatcher from David Cameron without any suggestion from the BBC that his praise just might be an outburst of pro-Thatcher extremism  from someone whose praise might possibly protect his own current interests.

The fact that Thatcher ignited the British public into street-riots, violent demonstrations and a social disorder previously unseen in British history is completely ignored by David Cameron in 2013. In truth, of course, no British politician has ever been more despised by the British people than Margaret Thatcher.

Thatcher’s funeral on Wednesday will be heavily policed for fear that the British tax-payer will want to finally express their view of Thatcher. They are certain to be tear-gassed out of sight by the police.

United Kingdom? Syria? China? What’s the difference?”

Morrissey
9 April 2013

Image credit: LeStudio1.com via Flickr.com

The article Morrissey on Thatcher: She Did Not Give a Shit about People appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Of all American literary awards, none come close to matching the Pulitzer Prize for weight and prestige. Winners can expect to receive an astronomical boost in sales, and, aside from William Faulkner, no American has won the Nobel Prize for Literature without first earning a Pulitzer.

This leads many to speculate who the winner will be each year. Notably, one website has created an algorithm to predict who will win, and it successfully predicted Jennifer Egan’s 2011 win for her book, A Visit From the Goon Squad. In the weeks leading up to the award’s announcement Toonari Post will be reviewing several of the more discussed books from last year, and to try to see which book, above all others, deserves the award.

A Hologram for a King by Dave Eggers has been one of the more controversial books this year. It received glowing reviews from critics, but a quick visit to Amazon or Goodreads shows that the public is not too keen on the work. The plot features Alan Clay, an apathetic, divorced businessman, traveling to Saudi Arabia with his company’s hologram technology in order to impress the king and convince him to purchase the equipment. If Clay is successful he will receive more than enough money to pay off his many encroaching debts, but with the king never showing up to meetings, the pressure is building. The plot has been compared to Samuel Beckett and Franz Kafka, but without a single hint at anything fantastic, it is much more grounded in reality than the works of those authors.

The book has a high rank on pprize.com’s list due to several appearances in ‘best-of’ lists and a nomination for the National Book Award, but it seems doubtful it will win the author the Pulitzer. An examination of a failing businessman in Saudi Arabia juxtaposed with American businesses failing to compete with Chinese companies is interesting enough, but in the end, the whole narrative is forgettable. None of the characters are particularly memorable or well fleshed-out. The plot ends on an uncertain note, and, given Clay’s unfortunate predicament, this does not make a satisfying conclusion. In a year with so many strong books, it is unlikely this will be the one that wins the prize.

Kevin Powers’ debut novel, The Yellow Birds, has garnered similar praise from critics, although the pubic has been much kinder to it. Focused on the Iraq war, it tells the story of Pvt. Bartle and his friend, Murph, through chapters that alternate between the war and its aftermath. It is also very clichéd, but in this case that is not necessarily a bad thing. What sets Powers’ novel apart from the others is its language. Powers is a poet first and a novelist second, and it shows here, hinting at the language of William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway. Occasionally, the wording gets out of hand, but, other than a few instances, is still pleasant enough to read.

The characters, while likable, never really develop. For example, all we learn about Murph is that he has a caring mother and a girl back home. The big reveal at the end is also anticlimactic. The book is not without its faults, but it has a definite shot at the Pulitzer Prize.

Stay tuned at Toonari Post for more Pulitzer Prize news and predictions in the days leading up to April 15.

Photo credit: PurpleCar via Flickr.com

The article Pulitzer Prize: The Speculations appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

On the day the ex-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher, passed away, one of the music icons known for opposing the ideology of the British politician reacted with strong feelings. In an open letter written on the occasion of the politician’s death, English singer Morrissey defined Thatcher’s personality traits as completely negative, and the Lady herself as “a terror without an atom of humanity.” Morrissey also pointed out a relevant concern about females in politics “because of Thatcher, there will never again be another woman in power in British politics” he says. Here is the complete open letter published by The Daily Beast on April 8.

Thatcher is remembered as The Iron Lady only because she possessed completely negative traits such as persistent stubbornness and a determined refusal to listen to others.

Every move she made was charged by negativity; she destroyed the British manufacturing industry, she hated the miners, she hated the arts, she hated the Irish Freedom Fighters and allowed them to die, she hated the English poor and did nothing at all to help them, she hated Greenpeace and environmental protectionists, she was the only European political leader who opposed a ban on the Ivory Trade, she had no wit and no warmth and even her own Cabinet booted her out. She gave the order to blow up The Belgrano even though it was outside of the Malvinas Exclusion Zone – and was sailing AWAY from the islands! When the young Argentinean boys aboard The Belgrano had suffered a most appalling and unjust death, Thatcher gave the thumbs up sign for the British press.

Iron? No. Barbaric? Yes. She hated feminists even though it was largely due to the progression of the women’s movement that the British people allowed themselves to accept that a Prime Minister could actually be female. But because of Thatcher, there will never again be another woman in power in British politics, and rather than opening that particular door for other women, she closed it.

Thatcher will only be fondly remembered by sentimentalists who did not suffer under her leadership, but the majority of British working people have forgotten her already, and the people of Argentina will be celebrating her death. As a matter of recorded fact, Thatcher was a terror without an atom of humanity.

MORRISSEY.

Image credit: feltonf via Flickr.com

The article Morrissey on Thatcher’s Death: She Was a Terror appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

American journalist, screenwriter and influential film critic Roger Ebert passed away on Thursday. He was seventy years old. He was best known as a film critic for the Chicago Sun Times from 1967 until his death. In 1975, he became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. As of 2010 his columns were syndicated to more than 200 newspapers in the United States and abroad. During his lifetime, Ebert published more than twenty books and dozens of collections of reviews.

Born as an only child in Urbana, Illinois to parents Annabel and Walter H. Ebert, he was raised Roman Catholic and attending St. Mary’s Elementary school while serving as an altar boy in Urbana. Ebert’s interest in journalism began at the age of fifteen where he was a sports writer for The News-Gazette in Champaign, Illinois. His writing career however began with letters to the science fiction fanzines of the era. Ebert became involved in science fiction fandom as he wrote articles for fanzines which included Richard A. Lupoff’s Xero. During his senior year, he was class president and editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper The Echo and in 1958, he won the Illinois High School Association state speech championship in “radio speaking,” an event simulating radio newscasts.

Reminiscing about his early influences in film criticism, Ebert wrote in the 1998 parody collection Mad About the Movies:

“I learned to be a movie critic by reading Mad magazine… Mad’s parodies made me aware of the machine inside the skin – of the way a movie might look original on the outside, while inside it was just recycling the same old dumb formulas. I did not read the magazine, I plundered it for clues to the universe. Pauline Kaellost it at the movies; I lost it at Mad magazine.”

Ebert completed his high school courses while also taking his first university class at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an early entrance student. He graduated from high School in 1960 and continued to take classes at the university where he also worked as a reporter for the The Daily Illini and then served as its editor during his senior year while also continuing to work as a reporter for the News-Gazette. As an undergraduate, he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity and president of the U.S. Student Press Association at Illinois. One of the first movie reviews he ever wrote was a review of La Dolce Vita, published in The Daily Illini in October 1961.

After graduating from the university in 1964, Ebert spent a semester as a master’s student in the department of English there before attending the University of Cape Town on a Rotary fellowship for a year and then returned from Cape Town to his graduate studies at Illinois for two more semesters. After being accepted as a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago, he prepared to move. Needing a job to support himself while he worked on his doctorate, he applied to the Chicago Daily News, hoping that, as he had already sold freelance pieces to the newspaper-including an article on the death of writer Brendan Behan-he would be hired by editor Herman Kogan. Instead Kogan referred Ebert to the city editor at the Chicago Sun-Times, Jim Hoge, who hired Ebert as a reporter and feature writer in 1966. While working as a general reporter at the Sun-Times for a year, Ebert attended doctoral classes at the University of Chicago. After movie critic Eleanor Keane left the Sun-Times in April 1967, editor Robert Zonk gave the job to Ebert. Because the load of graduate school and being a film critic proved too much, he left the University of Chicago to focus his energies on reporting.

With Ebert becoming the movie critic for the Sun-Times in 1967, his film critic career began. That same year his first book Illini Century: One Hundred Years of Campus Life was published by the University of Illinois’ press. In 1969, his review of Night of the Living Dead was published in Reader’s Digest.

In 1975, Ebert began a co-hosting a weekly film review television show called Sneak Previews which was locally produced. Three years later Gene Siskel became a co-host when the show was picked up by PBS for national distribution and the rest was history. Going through variations of At the Movies programs, Siskel and Ebert debated and traded humourous barbs while discussing films. They created and trademarked the phrase “Two Thumbs Up” when both hosts gave the same film a positive review. After Siskel’s passing in 1999, Ebert continued the show with Richard Roeper as co-host. In 2005, Ebert became the first film critic to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and on January 31, 2009, he was made an honorary life member of the Directors Guild of America.

As far as his critical approach to films, Ebert described it as “relative, not absolute”; he reviewed a film for what he felt would be its prospective audience, but always with at least some consideration as to its value as a whole. He awarded four stars to films of the highest quality, and generally a half star to those of the lowest, unless he considered the film to be “artistically inept” or “morally repugnant”, in which case it received no stars. Ebert often made heavy use of mocking sarcasm, especially when reviewing movies he considered bad. Ebert’s reviews were also characterized by what has been called “dry wit” At other times he was direct. Ebert commented on films using his Roman Catholic upbringing as a point of reference, and was critical of films he believed were grossly ignorant of or insulting to Catholicism. He often included personal anecdotes in his reviews when he considered them relevant. He occasionally wrote reviews in the forms of stories, poems, songs,scripts, open letters, or imagined conversations. He also wrote many essays and articles exploring in depth the field of film criticism.

Ebert lived with thyroid cancer from 2002, and in 2006, surgical complications left him unable to speak, but he continued writing in print and online. On April 4th, 2013, Roger Ebert died. According to his wife Chaz, “We were getting ready to go home today for hospice care, when he [Ebert] looked at us, smiled, and passed away.” The closing sentence on his final blog post, two days before his death, said, “So on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I’ll see you at the movies.

Ebert’s death prompted wide reaction from celebrities both in and out of the entertainment industry. President Barack Obama wrote, “Roger was the movies … [he could capture] the unique power of the movies to take us somewhere magical … The movies won’t be the same without Roger.”

Robert Redford called Ebert “one of the great champions of freedom of artistic expression” and said “His personal passion for cinema was boundless, and that is sure to be his legacy for generations to come.”

Oprah Winfrey called Ebert’s death the “end of an era,” as did Steven Spielberg, who also said that Ebert’s “reviews went far deeper than simply thumbs up or thumbs down. He wrote with passion through a real knowledge of film and film history, and in doing so, helped many movies find their audiences… [he] put television criticism on the map.”

Neil Steinberg of the Chicago Sun-Times said Ebert “was without question the nation’s most prominent and influential film critic,” Tom Van Riper of Forbes described him as “the most powerful pundit in America,” and Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called him “the best known film critic in America.”

Image credit: Kanaka Menehune via Flickr.com

The article Film Critic Roger Ebert Passes Away at Age 70 appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix have done it. They have made a game that not only gives us a legitimate origin story of the Tomb Raider Lara Croft but have also given an intense action-packed thriller that makes us come back for more.

The game begins with twenty-one year old Lara Croft, just graduated from college and on a search for the island of Yamatai, which may or may not exist. Her college friend Sam, who is recording their journey for a reality show, the lead archaeologist, Whitman, who is funding the expedition, Roth, the Captain of the Endurance, an old friend of Lara’s father and a father figure to Lara, and the rest of the Endurance crew (Reyes, Alex, Jonah and Grim) all accompany her. Lara believes Yamatai is located in the Dragon’s Triangle near Japan, but the crew is uneasy because of the storms that surround that area. Roth believes in Lara’s instincts and the ship enters the Dragon’s Triangle. The Endurance becomes engulfed in the storm and sinks, leaving Lara and the crew of the Endurance stranded on an unknown island.

The game that follows is nothing short of intense, as Lara must not only survive on the island but also try to save her fellow shipmates and fight against enemies driven by an unknown force. All of this makes Lara realize that she must grow up fast if she is to save herself and protect the ones she loves.

From the start, “Tomb Raider” creates a very real survival atmosphere, sucking you into Lara’s emotions. Lara’s very first kill is traumatic for her and you feels her sorrow and fear. Voice actress Camilla Luddington brings a sensitive and raw side to Lara Croft that lends well to the new experience the character is going through.

Gameplay wise, “Tomb Raider” has third person combat mixed with quick time reaction (QTR) ques. During melee combat the QTR ques can be daunting to press perfectly each time, especially during a thrilling fight. Once mastered, however, they aren’t much of a bother. The QTR ques add extra adrenaline for you in life or death situations, such as Lara dangling from a cliff after thrashing through rapids. Lara’s deaths are ghastly to see but are intriguing nonetheless. The game designers wanted you to believe that this environment has no mercy and careless mistakes have consequences. If you jump at the wrong time, Lara will fall and be impaled through the neck by a sharpened tree branch. If you lose a fight with a wolf, it will rip your jugular out. If you do not guide Lara out of a rock slide fast enough, the rock will chop her in half and you will watch helplessly as her head explodes and blood spurts out.

At first, Lara only has the bow and arrow as a weapon. However, as the game progresses, she gains advanced weaponry and can upgrade her weapons through collecting salvage or raiding tombs. Lara’s skills can also be upgraded from defeating humans/animals and looting their bodies. However, the main focus of the game is not the actual raiding of tombs, as it was in Lara Croft’s past games. They are optional and not all that dangerous. The tombs serve as mini puzzles which, after solved, treasure is rewarded. The gameplay is focused squarely on survival through combat but also by traversing the island. Lara can rock climb, crawl through caves, zip line, and most obstacles are removed by burning them with any fire you can find.

When thinking back to the past games in the “Tomb Raider” franchise, it is astonishing to see how far the franchise has come. The improvements to the game mechanics such as running, jumping, and climbing are so vastly improved and are obviously much more natural. In previous games developed by Core Design, you would have to aim the camera angle in a specific way to accurately injure an enemy, which was a frustrating endeavor. As the games matured under the development of Crystal Dynamics, Lara’s movements became more weighted, more natural and nimbler.

Lara’s image, needless to say, is much less pornographic now than it was in her earlier games. By focusing on Lara’s mental state in her given situation, Crystal Dynamics has let the character carry the game rather than relying on body image. Overall, the “Tomb Raider” franchise recycled the old running, jumping, climbing, stealth and weapon animations so often that it is very refreshing to see new animations and ways to solve environmental puzzles. In Crystal Dynamics’ hands, Tomb Raider could reclaim the glory it once had when it premiered in 1996.

The score for “Tomb Raider” is brilliantly composed by Jason Graves. At times it is reminiscent of the game “Arkham City.” It gives Lara Croft the theme music that not only defines her as a video game icon but as a human character who feels fear and loss throughout her experience on the island.

The only negative aspects to “Tomb Raider” are the cut scenes, which are not lip synced well, and the multiplayer component. The multiplayer features the survivors verses the inhabitants of the island in several game modes such as team death match or free for all. Although entertaining, multiplayer was not needed for this game to boast replay value. The single player mode is more than enough to warrant more than one play through. But these are trivial complaints for what the gamer receives in this action packed, emotionally driven survival narrative.

Rating 5/5- Tomb Raider has not only earned but deserves a perfect score. From the visuals, musical score, explosions, enemies both animal and human, the loss and the nostalgia of raiding tombs, “Tomb Raider” has it all for either those new to the franchise or for long time fans. Not only have Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix redeemed an icon but they have crafted an origin story that gives the “Tomb Raider” franchise the credibility it had lost long ago.

The article The Sucessful Redemption of an Icon: “Tomb Raider” Reviewed appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

In the last two years, a new technology that produces energy from waste has become popular in European and Asian countries, such as Korea and Japan.

Korea’s Incheon city is currently running a facility that produces fuel from residential wastes. It gets rid of combustible wastes first, and makes Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) by compressing the rest of the waste.

This facility produces about 200 tons of RDF out of 150 tons of residential waste. RDF is known as efficient as anthracite in terms of energy efficiency. RDF is mostly used at a thermoelectric power plant or a paper-mill. Incheon city is planning to produce 1200 more tons of RDF this year.

Meanwhile, Denmark’s Thisted city gets its heating energy by burning abandoned straw and animal wastes. When straw and animal wastes are being burnt, they emit heat with little carbon dioxide, which makes them eco-friendly. In addition, Thisted city is getting about 20 percent of the electricity it needs from residential or industrial wastes.

There is a reason why many nations are becoming interested in energy made with waste. Since most waste is buried in the ground, many major cities worldwide are having trouble with securing places to bury those wastes. For nations with limited land space, like Korea, this problem is more serious. According to Korea’s Ministry of Environment, 83.6 percent of waste produced in Korea is recycled, but the rest of it is just buried in the ground every year. Therefore, several major cities in Korea, such as Incheon, Busan, Kwangju and Deagu either already built or seek to build a special facility to produce RDF.

European countries started producing energy by recycling waste earlier than Asian countries. Some of European countries not only produce RDF but also bio-gas, from food and sewage wastes.

Public transportation like subway or buses in Sweden’s Hammarby sjostad city are running by 100 percent recycled energy. Hammarby sjostad is known as “the city with zero carbon emission.” It is easy to spot people putting bio-gas in their vehicles at every gas stations in Hammarby sjostad city. According to Eurostat, only one percent of waste was buried in the ground in Sweden last year, thanks to Sweden’s effort to recycle waste.

Meanwhile, in Germany, there were 75 bio-gas plants that produce energy from food wastes and animal drops in the 1980s. However, now you can see about 2,000 bio-gas plants in Germany.

The article Cities Worldwide Seek to Produce Recycled Energy appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Ecotourism, or environmentally responsible travel, is no longer just a trip with backpacks, spending nights in the open air and with little comfort. The world’s best resorts are adding “eco” to their names, combining sustainability with a high level of service. Luxury-Eco is a new concept that combines two seemingly opposing directions. Since luxury is defined as a good or service that is not considered to be a necessity, it is associated with waste. In reality, however, rarity and durability lies in the concept of true luxury. It is not something mass produced but precious, therefore it is in luxury brands best interests to protect scarce resources.

“Luxury brands can not be that proud about their performance on social environmental issues yet,” says Dr. Jem Bendell, Associate Professor in Griffith Business School.  The business of luxury, however, cannot be isolated from the problems of  pollution, climate change and scarcity of resources. The question is not whether luxury industry could be green, but how it could do so.

“The biggest problem in sustainability in any industry is that there is no general definition of what it is,” comments Vanessa Friedman, fashion editor for the Financial Times. The possible answers could be an efficient use of resources, help to local communities, and decent working conditions for employees. Currently each industry faces the challenge to define its own sustainable practices to make sure the resources we have today will be available tomorrow.

The tourism industry is one of the first that has developed criteria for a clear understanding of what sustainable tourism is, and the rules the tourism business should follow. The framework, called the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria, published in March 2012, covers four main directions: effective sustainability planning, maximizing social and economic benefits for the local community, enhancing cultural heritage and reducing negative impacts to the environment. Market leaders make efforts to follow the criteria.

The Marriott, for example, is about to spend 75 percent of its budget this year to get sustainable furniture and equipment. Another giant, Hilton, managed to cut waste 19 percent during 2010 with its system LightStay. The company states an objective to cut energy consumption by 20 percent, CO2 emission and waste output; water consumption is to be cut by 10 percent in the period from 2009 to 2014. Hilton’s sustainability policy includes eleven points, one of which is engaging  team members through training, tools, and active involvement.

Not only employees, but also customers, should be educated. Hotels cannot limit clients’ consumption of food, water and energy, but what they can do is to create a community with recommendations that are easy to follow. Practices such as changing the towels only when necessary, not using straws for cocktails and reusing glasses are not restricting, therefore customers are likely to respect them. The key here is to give visitors the idea about their contribution. It’s not enough for a hotel to claim to be green. The figures about reduction of water use and energy and contribution to the local community must be presented. The Sol Melía chain, for example, reported 35,506kg of waste collected and recycled for hotel. Another important factor to look at while choosing a green place is whether a hotel has environmental certification.

The current challenge common for all luxury industries is how to make customers accept and follow green practices. Kavita Maharaj, the Director of Global Corporate Relationship in Havas Media, is optimistic about the future: “It’s quite clear from the research we have done that consumers want it. They say quite categorically: we want to be a part of the solution, we want to be engaged in this issue and do something about it.”

In the end, luxury has sustainability in its roots. “The essence of real luxury is to sell high quality, creative and rare objects with an image of good taste and elegance. Thus luxury is resource dependent and obsessed by the sustainability of its resources,” says Jean Noël Kapferer, expert in brand-management.

The article Luxury Hotels Go Green appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Racing games, unlike RPG’s or Action Adventure games, are pretty straight forward. What you see is what you get. Still, there will always be little secrets hidden inside racing games like “Real Racing 3″. As you progress through cars and upgrades, the number of upgrade options will expand to include body mods and exhaust kits that will help you further your racing ability but there are other ways to play “Real Racing 3″ to your advantage.

1. Risk vs Reward

Staying with the racing line is usually a good thing during the race but at certain times during the race it is advantageous to take the outside or cut the corner a little quicker than the guy in front of you. Just be aware that you’ll have to pay for any repairs that need to be made when you finish the game.

Hint: While it isn’t very sporting to use another car as a shield to bounce off during a corner, you can do it near the beginning of the race if there are a lot of cars. Not only does this slow all the cars that are behind you on the racing line, you take minimal damage and likely move up in position from back of the pack to middle or even 1st place. Just make sure after you bounce off this car that you don’t also bounce into a wall.

2. Checking Out the Sand

If you haven’t already figured this out, allow yourself to feel thunderstruck. There are sand or gravel markings on select tracks and it is not an accident that they happen to be there right where the racing line is located. Similarly, there are road bumpers on the side where the green is. Instead of this grass slowing you down, it is  a darker green that gives you a slight bit of turning grip for the benefit of cornering.

Hint: For better training, follow the sand markings via a connect-the-dot method so that you hit each one at maximum speed just after or before braking. Doing so can help you see where the racing line is, if the concept is new to you. If the racing line isn’t new to you, you can still use the location of the sand to indicate where the opponent will race and plan to drive around them accordingly. The aforementioned darker green area is also usable to gain a fraction of a second when doing endurance races where every mile counts.

3. Saving Your Coin

Gold coins aren’t used often in this game.  You’ll be spending R$ (racing money) so that you can guy upgrades like exhaust or body kits and new cars. Unless you’re impatient enough to use your gold coins, you should have a healthy amount saved as you gain levels. Save them all though and you’ll have some of the best cars featured in the entire game.

Hint: The gold coins that you make at the end of every level up should be saved so you can buy cars with it. The few that require only gold coins to buy are from Pagani, Koenigsegg, McLaren and Porsche. It makes sense to save them versus spending them on speeding up the time required for upgrades.

4.Watch the Showcase Events

There are showcase events that pop up in every tier of every series of racing events as well as independently on the main racing board. These showcase events allow you to buy cars that are also in the current tier but usually at a discounted price. When you start the race, you’ll have a choice between the Ford Focus RS and the Nissan Silvia S15 because the Dodge Challenge R/T and the BMW 1 Series M Coupe will be out of your budget for this beginners set of races.

Hint: When you get about halfway through the first of four series in the beginner level, the desire to buy the Challenger or BMW 1 Series will become stronger as races get harder. Assuming you’ve upgraded all the parts in your beginner Ford or Nissan, the showcase series race for the Challenger or the BMW 1 Series will come soon enough so just wait and save yourself some money as you progress. By then though, your starter Ford Focus or Silvia S15 may be so powerful you can speed through the rest of the races without buying the challenger or BMW 1 Series.

The article Top Tips and Tricks to Get You Ready for Real Racing 3 appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The Victorian stage performer, Julia Pastrana lived a life of hardship, being labeled many things, such as The Bearded Lady, The Ape Woman, and The Marvelous Hybrid throughout her life. Even after marriage, she was used as a source of income, rather than treated as a dignified wife. Born with rare genetic conditions known as hypertrichosis and gingival hyperplasia, Pastrana suffered from severe excess hair all over her body, Reuters reported. Her physical appearance brought her the title of “the ugliest woman in the world” during the mid-19th century.

In the 1850s, she met and married an American man, Theodore Lent, who featured her in freak shows across the United States and Europe, where she would sing songs and dance, dressed in embroidered lace dresses. The talented Highland fling dancer grabbed the attention of many doctors, journalists, and scientists, making her very popular. Lent, her manager and husband at the time, posted an advertisement in The New York Times describing her as the “link between mankind and the ourang-outang.”

Regardless, Pastrana loved her husband dearly and became pregnant with their first child. On March 20, 1860, she gave birth to a baby boy who inherited her genetic conditions and died within 35 hours. Her narrow hips and petite frame led to childbirth complications and Pastrana died five days later, aged 26. Afterwards, Lent sent the bodies of his wife and son for embalming and used them as a means of survival for the next 20 years, exhibiting their mummified remains in various places. Finally, after many decades, Julia’s body was found at the University of Oslo in Norway; the remains of her mummified son were at some point mutilated and eaten by mice in 1976, according to historians.

Recently, Julia Pastrana was given a proper burial near her birthplace in Sinaloa, Mexico, where she can rest in dignity. The process of locating her body was challenging but not impossible; Laura Anderson Barbata, a New York-based visual artist worked hard for many years to find Pastrana. According to The New York Times, Ms. Barbata said, “I felt she deserved the right to regain her dignity and her place in history, and in the world’s memory; I hoped to help change her position as a victim to one where she can be seen in her entirety and complexity.”

The Catholic burial ceremony was exquisite, attended by many in the small town of Sinaloa de Leyya. Pastrana was buried in a white coffin adorned with white roses. Ms. Barbata described the ceremony as beautiful, quoting from Reuters, she said, “I was very moved. In all these years I’ve never felt so full of different emotions.”

The article Remembering Julia Pastrana, ‘The Ape Woman’ appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Shopping in Lisbon doesn’t always mean going to large luxury malls of well branded trademarks and high quality products. In some areas in Lisbon there are street markets open on specific days of the week or the month. Some of these markets are specified for a certain group of products and some of them sell every possible thing.

Feira Do Relogio (literally means The Clock Fair) is the largest street market in Lisbon, which occurs every Sunday from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. The market contains different stalls to sell products ranging from toys and clothes to meat and fishes. The prices are not fixed, so it is the best place to experience traditional bargaining and to shop in a Portuguese way. The market can be reached using the Metro’s red line to the Bela Vista metro station and also by public buses.

Feira da Ladra (literally means Flea Market) is another street market located in Alfama, the oldest district in the city. The main products of the market are electronics, computer hardware and software. Also, many other products can be found. Some of the items are new, while others are second hand. It is good distention for coin and stamp collectors. The market occurs every Saturday and Tuesday from 6:00 am to 5:00 pm. It can be reached by the Tram 28 and is a walkable distance from the Santa Apolónia metro station blue line.

Príncipe Real Jardim (Príncipe Real garden) is a street market of a different type. Every Saturday from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm, an organic food market occurs in the garden. The prices of the organic food in the market are much cheaper than expected when buyers hear the word organic. Fruits and vegetables can found in the market as well as wines, vinegars and olive oils. The garden can be reached by metro using the blue line to Avenida metro station. as well as public buses.

Novo & Antigo market (literally means New and Old Market) is a street market that occurs every first and third Sunday of the month in the cultural center of Belém. The products of this market var from coins and stamps to books and electronics; also, this market is well organized so the visitor, will not miss any part.

The current failing economic situation of Portugal and the high unemployment rate in the country let the street markets be very popular among not only the tourists but also the local residents of the country who are looking for cheaper prices, regardless of the quality of the products.

The article Lisbon: Shopping in the Street appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The prestigious National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction was awarded to Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain, it was announced last month. Far from the Tree by Andrew Solomon won for nonfiction; The Passage of Power, the fourth volume in Robert A. Caro’s study on Lyndon B. Johnson, won for biography; Swimming Studies by Leanne Shapton took home the award for autobiography; Stranger Magic by Marina Warner for criticism; and D.A. Powell’s collection Useless Landscape, or A Guide for Boys won the poetry prize.

The only winners in attendance were Andrew Solomon and Ben Fountain. “I really wanted to write a book about love,” said Solomon upon accepting the award, thanking his editors at the publishing company Scribner. Far from the Tree, a gigantic tome of a work, examines how parents raise children very different from themselves—such as those who are deaf or autistic. Solomon has previously won the National Book Award for his work The Noonday Demon.

Strange Magic by Marina Warner examines the Arabian Nights and how studies of it have evolved over centuries.

Useless Landscape is D.A. Powell’s fifth book of poetry. It deals with topics ranging from Disneyland to the 1970s dance scene.

Caro’s long and intense study of Lyndon B. Johnson has already garnered numerous awards, with past volumes winning Pulitzers, a National Book Critics Circle Award and earlier National Book Awards. The Passage of Power focuses on Johnson’s vice-presidency and presidency up to 1964.

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk was previously a finalist for the National Book Award and is a likely candidate for the upcoming Pulitzer Prize. Taking place one Thanksgiving Day, the novel centers around eight soldiers and their tour through the Iraq war.

Past winners of the fiction award include John Updike and Jennifer Egan, and helped propel Toni Morrison and Jonathan Lethem to the forefront of literature. The award is unique among American book prizes in that finalists and winners do not have to be American citizens. Foreign writers such as W.G. Sebald and Roberto Bolano have the award to thank for much of their popularity in America.

Not too long after that announcement, the winner of the 33^rd PEN/Faulkner Award was also announced. Benjamin Alire Saenz won for his collections of short stories, Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club. The other finalists were Threats by Amelia Gray, Kind One by Laird Hunt, Hold it ‘Til it Hurts by T. Geronimo Johnson, and Watergate by Thomas Mallon.

Interestingly, all of the nominees were notably obscure, with none of them receiving nominations for other awards or appearing much in the media’s “Best Of” lists.

Past winners include Mao II by Don DeLillo, The Hours by Michael Cunningham and The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka. Notably, Philip Roth has won three PEN/Faulkner Awards for his novels Operation Shylock, The Human Stain and Everyman.

Finalists receive $5,000 and Mr. Saenz will take home $15,000. The award is to be presented officially on May 4 in Washington DC.

Image Courtesy: On Being

The article National Book Critics Circle Award, PEN/Faulkner Winners Announced appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Action icon Arnold Schwarzenegger returned to cinema, full-throttle, for an all-out showdown in ‘The Last Stand’, Kim Jee-woon’s high-speed, high-mayhem action-thriller.

The good guys have never had it this bad, but they’re ready to give it everything they’ve got in this hard-charging, car-chasing, fist-fighting wild ride that takes an amped-up spin on the classic good vs. bad battle.

Schwarzenegger stars as relentless Sheriff Ray Owens, who left behind the LAPD following a bungled narcotics operation that still wracks him with remorse. Now he’s leading the quiet life in the border town of Sommerton – but that quiet is about to be shattered, big-time. When Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega), the most lethal, not to mention wanted drug kingpin in America, makes a spectacular escape from an FBI prisoner convoy, he’s hell bent for the Sommerton border – in a specially-equipped Corvette ZR1 capable of blowing past 250 MPH.

U.S. Federal Agent John Bannister (Forest Whitaker) might be hot on his trail but Cortez has no fear of the Feds. Cortez only has to fear what he doesn’t see coming: Sheriff Ray Owens. Owens might be out-manned and out-gunned, but he won’t be out-smarted or out-lasted when Cortez threatens the only thing that matters to him now – his new home. Owens and his small but fiercely loyal force are all that stands between Cortez and his freedom.

He’s long been among the toughest, most iconic action heroes of cinema legend, but lately Arnold Schwarzenegger has been serving in another high-adrenaline role – as the Governor of California. Now, at last, he makes his much-anticipated comeback with his first leading action role in a decade in ‘The Last Stand’. Taking on the role of a small-town Sheriff with a hard-edged past, Schwarzenegger resumes his screen hero status with a character who is familiar in his fierceness, yet brings a new twist.  This bold, badass veteran lawman has seen plenty of action — but he thinks he’s moved on to more peaceful pastures until bad guys show up in the very town where he’s come to escape them

“In this film, we see the Arnold we have missed, and the Arnold we have never seen before,” sums up the film’s director Jee-woon, whose Hollywood debut makes a surprise collision with Schwarzenegger’s return to the screen. One of the most lauded and watched of the Korean cinematic phenoms, Jee-Woon won acclaim with his stylish noir thriller ‘A Bittersweet Life’, his award-winning outlaw comedy ‘The Good, the Bad, the Weird’, his hardboiled horror movie ‘I Saw The Devil’ and his haunting ghost story ‘A Tale Of Two Sisters’.  But he had never made an action film in America before – and would get his first chance to do so with the biggest Hollywood action star of them all.

Jee-woon was instantly drawn to ‘The Last Stand’s mix of breakneck speed, rollicking humor and colorful characters on both sides of the law, but he was compelled most of all by the chance to have Arnold lead an awe-inspiring defense of justice, even when he and his town have been counted out as nobodies.

Says Jee-woon of their unusual pairing: “Arnold has done everything in Hollywood and I am just starting out in Hollywood. We are so different, but when I met him, our thoughts on ‘The Last Stand’ and his character coincided. Sheriff Owens has left behind his violent past for a quiet, peaceful small town, but ironically, he must now put everything he has on the line in order to protect this new home. I think we both saw it as story about how a villain armed with high-tech machinery that even governments cannot stop is thwarted by small town people who are inspired by justice.”

The article The Last Stand: Schwarzenegger’s Return to Cinema appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The Italian indie-pop singer-songwriter Max Gazzè has been touring Italy and Europe in promotion of his latest album ‘Sotto Casa,’ which takes the name after its lead single, the song presented at the Sanremo Festival (the most known Italian pop music competition), which scored Gazzè relevant success.

Gazzè’s music plays with catchy melodies, often enriched by the use of a synthesizer, and refined lyrics. The latter address, express and analyze different human feelings and situations, usually using as a tool of expression ordinary stories of people’s lives. With this approach Gazzè travels through love, self-discovery, frustration and many other states of soul and mind.

In a global music scene which is too often charmed by superficiality, as long as it is presented in a provocative form, Gazzè stands out for the intensity of his work. His lyrics are never banal; not only explore they a variety of emotional shades of people’s lives, they also do so in a form which is extremely close to poetry, from which Max Gazzè has taken profound inspiration. The construction and execution of his songs always surprise the untrained listener, for their originality and pertinence with the feelings presented.

The Toonari Post had the chance to attend one of his concerts, held at the venue Mamamia in Senigallia (AN), Italy. The venue is pretty small, creating that cozy atmosphere which is appropriate for such a concert. A special mention surely needs to go to the sound-system of the venue, it being very good and adequate.

The stage, which is not extremely big, was not enriched by any choreography, leaving the center of the attention to the musician and his touring band. Gazzè, who plays the bass, was indeed supported by drums, a guitar and a synthesizer.

During the concert he performed many of his most famous hits, such as “La Favola di Adamo ed Eva,” “Vento d’Estate,” “Una Musica Può Fare,” “Il Timido Ubriaco” and so on. Nevertheless he also focused on new songs from his latest album. The concert started with a one hour delay, obviously creating a little disappointment in the audience. Gazzè then performed for about two hours; the choice of the set-list was arguable, not concerning the songs chosen but rather their order. Although all songs were very appreciable, the concert did not seem to take off for its first half.

The songs with which the musician decided to open the concert created a rather calm mood, which was probably not appropriate for an audience who had already lost some of the excitement due to the long delay. Furthermore, the use of lights on stage was annoyingly inadequately attended to: the lights were too strong for such a small venue, and did nothing to emphasize the music. During the concert Gazzè had a good interaction with the audience, as well as with his band mates. All of the members showed good harmony creating a smooth and interesting performance, and Gazzè also let the audience enjoy a couple of good solos.

Max Gazzè is a great musician and composer, who truly deserves to be known and followed. His talent and peculiar approach to music is worth a lot, and even more if considering the state of some corners of the current music scene.

Image: Maxgazze.it/by Barbara Oizmud

The article The Enchanting Music of Italian Singer-Songwriter Max Gazzè appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

On the heels of seven years as Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger had planned to make a slow transition back into the action movie roles that made him an international hero – but that transition happened at a breakneck speed when he ran across the screenplay for ‘The Last Stand’.

“It was a fantastic script,” comments Schwarzenegger. “It had intensity, it had drama, it had the action I love and which my fans expect me to deliver, and at the same time it had a lot of comic relief. It was one of those movies where you laugh in the middle of the intense suspense.”

Schwarzenegger was equally intrigued by the chance to work with an up and coming director who he felt had the chops to take classic action for a fresh and fun spin. He had already seen many of Jee-woon’s Korean films and found them exhilarating. “He’s very, very talented and I like to work with talented directors,” Schwarzenegger says. “The first movie I saw of his, ‘The Good, the Bad, the Weird’, I loved – the size of it all and the action was just incredible. Then I watched ‘I Saw The Devil’, ‘A Bittersweet Life’ and ‘A Tale of Two Sisters’; and with each of his movies, I liked him more and more. What a wide range of talent this man has. He is especially good at working with the universal theme of good versus bad. That comes through in each of his movies and in ‘The Last Stand’.”

As the project came together, Schwarzenegger was also excited by the ensemble cast he would be leading. “This cast is unbelievable – Johnny Knoxville, Forest Whitaker, Luis Guzmán, Jaimie Alexander, Rodrigo Santoro, Eduardo Noriega, Genesis Rodriguez and the list goes on and on,” he says. “Each one of them has great acting talent, both from a comedy point of view but also from an intensity point of view.”

Schwarzenegger loved that Noriega plays Cortez as a man as suave as he is bad. “He’s such a good-looking guy, he’s like a sex symbol,” Schwarzenegger comments. “But he also plays a drug kingpin unbelievably well. I saw right away the intensity in his eyes and his face that made him totally believable and a really strong opponent for my character.”

Schwarzenegger also had a great time working with Knoxville. “Johnny’s hilarious,” he says. “If you’ve seen his Jackass movies, you know he’s willing to put everything on the line in order to get a big laugh – and this character was perfect for him. He ends up being the most supportive of Sheriff Owens’ team and courageous in their battles.”

Schwarzenegger also felt an affinity with Sheriff Owens, who may have once been an action hero in his own right but has taken up a very different kind of life, keeping the peace in a small town that he had assumed would never see much trouble. “He’s had all these experiences as part of a Los Angeles S.W.A.T team, but that time is over,” Schwarzenegger observes. “He’s kind of looking forward to retirement and he’s set in his mind that he’s going to live quietly until his town gets hit by criminals. So it becomes an underdog story of how the town finds a way out of this mess.”

Like Sheriff Owens, Schwarzenegger had to jump into full-scale, physically demanding action after a considerable break from it – and like Sheriff Owens, he was more ready for the challenge to body and mind than he had originally expected. “After the governorship, I felt I would have to ease myself back into action, one step at a time,” he explains, “but that is not what happened.”

He goes on: “I remember visiting a movie set as governor and seeing one of the actors hanging upside down in a harness. A friend of mine asked me ‘Don’t you miss that?’ and I said ‘No, I’d rather be in Sacramento, surrounded by legislators who are not always on your side and can make things very difficult, but I’d rather do that than hang upside down on a harness. I just can’t see myself ever doing that again.’ Well, sure enough, in this movie I hang upside down on a harness. I was back in a harness and back in a movie where from beginning to end I was battling, climbing, running and driving fast cars. And I thought I was going to ease my way back into action! But it was a lot of fun.”

The article Arnold Schwarzenegger on Experience with ‘The Last Stand’ appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

On March 20, 2003, the United States and its coalition of allies invaded Iraq. Although the war was initially presented as a straightforward battle between freedom and tyranny, the moral milieu became a good deal murkier after Abu Ghraib and Haditha. In “9 Circles,” playwright Bill Cain invites the audience to look at the war through the lens of a single soldier’s experiences. It is a profoundly disquieting experience.

The title of the play references the nine circles of Hell in Dante’s “Inferno.” But while the play’s nine scenes are each called circles, they do not share the same themes as their counterparts in the “Inferno.”

The protagonist, Daniel Reeves (Stuart Mott), is a textbook example of an antihero. When we first meet him in Circle 1, he is about to receive an honorable discharge from the army due to a ‘personality disorder.’ It is difficult to know what to make of Reeves at first. With his Texan drawl and his “America Fuck Yeah” attitude, it is tempting to write him off as a buffoon. But at the same time, there are hints of underlying intelligence as well as underlying trauma.

From that point on, Reeves is on a downward spiral. He ends up in jail, accused of raping a 14-year old Iraqi girl and killing her along with her entire family. As he waits for a judge to decide his fate, he encounters various people who allegedly want to help him, from an enigmatic army lawyer (William Bolz) to a pastor with a penchant for internet porn (Whitney Derendinger). In a way, they play the role of Virgil to Reeves’ Dante, and each one of them helps guide Reeves along the path to self-discovery.

The best thing about “9 Circles” is that it explores the subject of war in a sophisticated manner. Instead of simply condemning Reeves as a monster and leaving it at that, it actually invites us to consider the extent to which he is also a victim of circumstances far beyond his control. Cain’s script is a treasure–a superb blend of erudition leavened with dark humor.

This production of “9 Circles” was part of Mott’s senior honors thesis at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. Choosing such a complex piece was something of a gamble, but it paid off handsomely. Mott has proven that he has some serious acting chops. Reeves spends most of the play in varying degrees of rage, yet Mott’s emotional intensity never faltered. And although Reeves is a character with few redeeming qualities, Mott did an excellent job of humanizing him.

Mott’s co-stars also delivered top-notch performances. The script required them to play multiple roles, and they did it with aplomb. Whitney Derendinger did a particularly nice job playing the profane pastor. There was a subtle undercurrent of menace throughout his performance, and Reeves spoke for the entire audience when he said “you are the god-damnest minister.”

Finally, Jakob Aebly deserves praise for his superb score. It was utterly haunting, and it really enhanced the action on stage.

Image courtesy of Dan Meyers.

The article 9 Circles by Bill Cain Review appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Real Racing 3 for Android and iOS is the latest in a long list of racing games appearing in their respective market places. A sim racer at heart with a bit of arcade thrown in for good measure, the game’s graphics are top notch and the audio equally so. This is a game that racers will spend time on, moving through the progression, redoing races and earning cash along the way.

Developer Firemonkeys, the result of a merger between Firemint and Iron Monkey in 2012, are an in-house studio for EA interactive. Firemint, since its 1999 acquisition by EA, have produced a steady stream of mobile games for iOS, Android and other mobile platforms. Many of Firemint’s games are racing related so expectations are high for the sequel to Real Racing 2.

As a tilt control racer on the mobile market, there are still a myriad of additional control options ranging from tilt steering with an onscreen brake all the way to detailed left or right hand drive with brake and clutch. This many choices are a welcome boon to any player when combined with the racing assists to help keep the game as responsive as possible. In practical terms it means that players can control their car well even in motion, such as on a moving train or car, where switching out the tilt steering for a responsive on-screen steering wheel is advantageous. It also means you’re not shoulder checking the person next to you on the bus when you drift a turn.

The cars control well and it should be noted that across multiple brands, the cars all feel different. Steering is sharp and fast in cars that you expect to turn on a dime and achieve blistering speeds. North of 150 miles an hour is easily achievable with your first street spec car. That does not mean, however, that you can take every corner with impunity. Hitting a sandpit, a wall or another car deals damage to momentum and your car. This damage will not only cost you money, but acceleration, top speed and ultimately the race. Players who ignore the racing line will simply drive willy-nilly into the wall again and again in last place. Repair times do not run simultaneously; they stack, meaning a totally wrecked car could take upwards of an hour to repair.

The multiple points of view available also helps things move forward, as the sensation of speed and control is greatest inside the cockpit of the car. The engine noise, road noise and crash damage all transition well to the player’s audio and visual senses. There is nothing quite like rear ending a car and seeing your windshield spider web or your front bumper disintegrate. At least, nothing until you remember that going into corners too hard means your tires and brakes wear out fast. There is nothing like simulation racing to calculate how much money and real time maintenance your car requires at the end of each race.

The selection of vehicle brands and car models is limited to 46 cars, but includes a bevy of exotic supercars from automakers like Porsche, Pagani, Ford and Bugatti. Players will start with four run-of-the-mill street race spec vehicles while earning cash and gold coins for upgrades.

Collecting funds in this game is slow and unrewarding until later in the game. Players looking to buy all 46 vehicles are in for a rude awakening. Unless you are willing to pony up real cash, racing to save up digital funds the regular way is a lengthy process. There are alternatives for getting gold coins through Real Racing 3’s Twitter or Facebook page, but this is not a quick arcade racer. Racing fans will have to buckle down and stick with this game to get the real rewards.

Sadly, there are few customization options as far as colors and mechanical upgrades go. A few tiers worth of parts for the engine, drive train, brakes and tires is about all you’ll get. The paint colors are likewise standard, and cost gold coins rather than money. This, in concert with the freemium use option of using real money to buy in-game money, makes quick progression a problem and at times, tedious.

For example, you can repeat races, looking to improve scores and lap times, but some events, such as beating a certain speed limit on an oval, become too easy on the 20th play. To keep things fresh, players are encouraged to buy new cars, get new upgrades, and do the more than 900+ events in different cars and racing styles. This facet of the game is very enjoyable but also necessary to keep the gamers’ attention. Without the race and event variety, players would have been bored with an otherwise limited game.

The most important thing about Real Racing 3 though, is the Time Shift multiplayer. This function logs lap times and other statistics of actual human players, providing gamers with real player statistics to race against, albeit with a time delay. It is an interesting way of setting up players against real players, but this facet is largely ignored if your friends aren’t playing. With it on however, the game play takes on a competitive edge that is thrilling to experience.

Thankfully, EA and Firemonkeys have done a great job with Real Racing 3. The game features good racing physics and graphics despite the expected battery drain when playing. Lastly, the game is a racing sim in the truest sense of the word, requiring time and effort to progress. Impatient racers will spend real cash for in-game cash. But the only dime worth turning in this game is the one under your wheel as you blast by at 200 mph through the corners with a perfect oversteering drift turn.

Rated 4.5/5: Beating all other racers on the mobile market, Real Racing 3 is leagues ahead as far as controls and track variety goes. Fun factor and replay value is extremely high despite the limited number of cars and slow progression in an otherwise beautiful simulation racer. Real Racing 3 is the mobile race gamers have been waiting for.

Image courtesy: EA.com

The article Ready, Steady, Go! Real Racing 3 for Android and iOS Reviewed appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The 2011 black comedy ‘Horrible Bosses’ had moviegoers commiserating knowingly and by turns laughing until their sides split with its portrayal of three employers, each epitomizing the “boss from hell,” and three protagonist employees who decide their only respite is to off one another’s bosses.

New Line Cinema confirmed to E! Online earlier this month that a sequel to the box office hit will be in the works as of summer this year; with the original main character cast, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day and Jason Bateman returning to play the three beleaguered white collars. Dale Arbus (Charlie Day) is a newly-engaged dental assistant taxed with deflecting the overt sexual advances of his boss, Dr. Julia Harris, played by Jennifer Aniston –  revealing a sultry side to the actress known for her comic timing that surprisingly suits.

Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman) works at a financial firm for the autocratic-to-the-extreme David Harken (Kevin Spacey), who chews him out for being two minutes late (using surveillance camera footage as grounds for incrimination) and deceives Nick into believing a promotion is around the corner, only to snatch the role of VP of Sales for himself. Who hasn’t met one of those? Kurt Buckman (Jason Sudeikis) loved his job until his boss died of a heart attack and the company is taken over by the next of kin: a party animal and cocaine addict (played by Colin Farrell) who brings prostitutes to the office and fires a member of staff for being “fat”. The trio hatch a plot to kill one another’s bosses under the tutelage of self-proclaimed murder consultant Motherf**ker Jones (Jamie Foxx).

On paper, the plot sounds rickety; but the film milks most of its laughs from strategically-placed expletives, toilet humor and endless spates of misfortunes descending on the characters until you can hardly believe three people can get themselves into such a colossal mess. The redeeming factor is that the plausibility is airtight, so that viewers can’t help but think “Oh my God, that could happen to me.” Dale is prevented from resigning because of Julia’s threats that she will lie to his fiancee that she and Dale had sexual relations (unless he actually consents to the act), and Nick’s boss has threatened to pencil in a fictitious “drinking problem” and “disruptive behavior” into his reference letter.

The film grossed $209 million during its theatre run – not a bad return on investment for a project that cost $35 million to make – and racked up one of the top box office openings ($28.1 million) of all time for a film of its genre.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the sequel will feature “a brand new set of bosses”, although Aniston’s and Spacey’s characters may make cameo appearances. Two of the three screenwriters from the original, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein – minus Michael Markowitz – will be staying on to pen ‘Horrible Bosses 2’. New Line Cinema is currently in talks with ‘Horrible Bosses’ director Seth Gordon about spearheading the sequel.

The article ‘Horrible Bosses’ Sequel Slated for Summer 2013 Production appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

All over social media sites like Twitter and Facebook there has been a growing outcry at CNN’s coverage of the Steubenville Rape Trial. During the recent six minute news item, most of the time was spent commenting on how distressful and emotional the trial was for the two criminals.

CNN first addressed the two rapists, Trent Mays (17) and Ma’lik Richmond (16), as star football players and as the report progressed the praise grew. Poppy Harlow, who sat in the court room during the trial, mentioned how these “two young men with promising futures, star football players and good students watched as their lives fell apart.” To add to this, she mentioned how emotional it was to sit in the court room as the two rapists were found guilty of raping an intoxicated 16 year old girl.

Only a few comments were made about the young victim, and not one of them was about how vicious the offence inflicted on her was. The two men raped, videoed and took pictures of the young girl but instead, Poppy Harlow chose to focus on Malik crying when he heard his sentence.

And then viewers watched as the two men stood and apologised to the family of the young girl, their family and to the community – again Poppy Harlow mentioned how hard it was to watch the scene.

The report ended with Paul Callan, CNN’s legal contributor, talking about how hard life will be for the two men and how the consequences of their horrendous actions will follow them for the rest of their lives, without a single mention of how this is justified.

Rightly so, many people became angry from the report and voiced their outcry on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking site. But some went a step further. Gabriel Garcia started an online petition to have CNN apologise on air for their report. On the site he wrote:

That CNN decided to paint the tears of the convicted Steubenville rapists in a sympathetic light and say how their lives were ruined — while completely ignoring the fact that the rape victim’s life is the one whose life was ruined by these rapists’ actions — is disgusting and helps perpetuate a shameful culture in which young people never understand the concept of consent and in which rape victims are blamed and ostracized. Changing that culture must be done brick by brick, and it can start by heaping public shame on this major cable news network and forcing them to admit that they are wrong. Publicly.

Around 230,000 people have signed it some of them including their own reasons for doing so including Danielle Hauck, Huntingdon, PA who wrote:

These boys were rapists. They knew what they were doing. To say that their poor little lives were ruined for RAPING SOMEONE? They deserve far more than serving a year in Juvie and being registered as a sex offender for life. Disgusting, CNN. That poor young woman who was assaulted… and then made into the perpetrator rather than the victim? Absolutely foul and inhuman.

TheWrap have allegedly been told by two insiders at CNN, that Poppy Harlow is aware of the outrage and has been badly affected by it. They state that “Poppy is taking this extremely personally as a woman,” said one executive. “She’s outraged that someone would think she’d do such a thing” as slant her coverage toward rapists. “It’s gotten so out of control.”

Poppy Harlow has said nothing publically and CNN has yet to respond to the demand. But if they are hoping that this issue will simply go away they should think twice. People interested in justice will continue champion for the victim in this trial and all cases of sexual assault, even when News programs such as CNN let us down.

Image Courtesy : Marsmet523

The article Outrage at CNN Reporter Sympathising with Steubenville Rapists appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.