New York, U.S.A. – Underdog Entertainment, a New York-based production company, have announced that “Save Lolita” is a finalist and will screen at the 2012 Blue Ocean Film Festival. The award-winning public service announcement (PSA) raises awareness of the plight of Lolita the orca, who has been held captive for 42 years in a small concrete pool.

Forty-two years ago, herders violently took Lolita from her family in Puget Sound and transferred her to a 20-foot-deep tank at the Miami Seaquarium. Only four times her size at its widest point, the tank appears to be illegally small under Department of Agriculture regulations.  Many are calling for retiring Lolita to a coastal sanctuary.

“Research clearly shows that orcas are sentient, highly intelligent and social beings who are aware of their surroundings.  To confine such a beautiful 22-foot creature to a tiny 35-foot-wide tank seems inhumane.  I felt compelled to do something,” explains PSA director Azarian.

The Blue Ocean Film Festival & Conservation Event (BLUE) screens over 100 finalist films from 25 countries.  In addition, BLUE will be recognizing two great heroes of ocean exploration, Don Walsh and James Cameron, with their Legacy Award for their lifetime achievements in exploration and ocean filmmaking.  The 7-day festival will take place September 24th-30th, 2012 in Monterey, California. All events are open to the general public and industry delegates.

Azarian, an established director of television commercials and branded entertainment, recently won two Telly Awards for “Save Lolita.” In all, he has won five Tellys – including the Silver Award, Telly’s highest honor. This past fall, he directed the “Bullying is Violence” PSA campaign for the Anti-Violence Project and the music video “Teenage Popstar Girl” which was featured on AOL Music and was a winner at the 2012 Robot Film Festival.

He has directed and produced national spots for 3M’s Scotch-Brite brand and Horizon Organic. Blue-chip telecommunications firms and entertainment networks have licensed Azarian’s commercial spots for their US and international mobile networks.

Image Courtesy of  tifotter

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On April 23 at Seattle’s Museum of Flight, Planetary Resources, Inc. announced and revealed their plans to search for and mine asteroids for their precious metals and water. With this mission, its members hope to provide more resources for the Earth and humans and reduce the cost of space travel. Billions to trillions of dollars can be contributed to the global gross domestic profit.

As for a more intrinsic motivation, Planetary Resources also hopes to advance human exploration in space.

The money and means largely come from the founders and backers of the group, which include Google co-founder and CEO Larry Page, Eric Anderson (who founded Space Adventures, which arranged space flights for millionaires) Ross Perot Jr. (the chairman of the Board of Perot Systems), Charles Simonyi (who was a part of the team that devised Microsoft Office Suite), filmmaker James Cameron, and Peter Diamandis (founder and chairman of the X Prize Foundation).

Asteroids are space junk – leftovers from when the planets in our solar system fully formed. Their sizes range from several meters to over one thousand kilometers across. Composition varies, though they are mostly made of metals, some of which are present on Earth (“common” ones such as iron and nickel) and some of which are rare on our planet (platinum, for example.) Some asteroids consist of a significant amount of frozen water along with metals.

“Everything we hold of value on Earth — metals, minerals, energy, water, real estate — are literally in near-infinite quantities in space,” Diamandis tells ABC News.

To conserve time, money, and fuel, Planetary Resources plans to mine asteroids near Earth. Thousands possibly float nearby – many of them too small to be detected. Most that will be mined would be more reachable than the Moon since Earth’s gravitational tends to capture smaller space objects, including asteroids.

The mission is divided into sections. Before getting straight to the mining, the group will first build a low-orbiting telescope that will be able to sieve out the asteroids that show the most promise for harvesting (ten percent of over a thousand). The approximate launch date has not yet determined.

Then comes the actual mining. Subsequent to finding the asteroids via telescope, the group will launch space probes containing unmanned robots, which will be sent out by rocket boosters built by private American companies, by the Russians, or by any other source willing to build them for affordable prices.

As Phillip Plait in writes in his blog “Bad Astronomy,” volatiles (oxygen, nitrogen, and water) will be garnered primarily for the sake of having additional resources. The water will either be converted into hydrogen for rocket fuel and oxygen, or it can be broken down to its basic elements for easier and cheaper transport.

After the volatiles, the robots will mine for the precious metals: platinum, palladium, iridium, and ruthenium, and others, all of which are difficult to access on Earth and only exist on the planet because of impacts from asteroids.

“When the availability of these metals increase[s], the cost will reduce on everything including defibrillators, hand-held devices, TV and computer monitors, catalysts,” Diamandis continues. “And with the abundance of these metals, we’ll be able to use them in mass production, like in automotive fuel cells.”

To further save costs, the robots will have the option of storing the metals and water in supply depots in space instead of bringing to resources back to Earth straight away.

Is Planetary Resources’ plan is completely ludicrous? Not really. Mining asteroids is not is not a novel concept. Plait continues writes that he thinks “getting to the asteroids will do just fine,” and to American astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson, who recently appeared on the Daily Show, the idea is “not bulls#*t.”

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The hotly-anticipated miniseries from the mind of Julian Fellowes (‘Downton Abbey’) was expected to be one of the highlights of the centennial anniversary of the RMS Titanic’s sinking, however, a bloated cast, flawed set-up and overload of social commentary amounted to one massive disappointment.

‘Titanic’ is a 4-part miniseries which will document the experiences of various passengers aboard the infamous ship which sank on its maiden voyage on April 12 1912. The ship’s sinking has been depicted onscreen many times before, most successfully with the eponymous 1997 theatrical release grossing almost $2 billion, and soon to be re-released into cinemas in 3D. But this miniseries, penned by the same man who turned ‘Downton Abbey’ into a worldwide hit, does not seem likely to follow in the footsteps of Fellowes’ award-winning series.

For starters, there are too many characters. Plain and simple. Featuring 89 main characters in total, each episode will focus on a select group before ending with their efforts to escape from the sinking ship. Episode 4 will presumably tie all of the storylines together and then show which of the characters managed to survive.

Unfortunately, Fellowes has tried to do too much with too many characters, barely giving the audience a chance to learn their names or backstories before one is suddenly thrust onto the deck where hundreds of inter-changeable characters are running around, spewing out stock dialogue of  a dozen other disaster dramas.

Clearly trying to emulate the appeal of ‘Downton Abbey’, Fellowes depicts the servants and the first-class passengers, and every other group in between. However, unlike ‘Downton Abbey’, Fellowes does not have 7 episodes to tease out the nuances of their relationships, nor is there the opportunity to create compelling or surprising encounters between characters of different social status. Certainly, a variety of characters do interact in this first episode, but it is to no dramatic pay-off.

The most glaring and irritating aspect of the first episode is undoubtedly the inclusion of a social issue in every other line of dialogue. The very first scene, which lasted no more than 60 seconds, referenced: the judicial system, political protests, women’s right to vote, class bias, and even an allusion to homosexuality.

Moving beyond that, not an act break could go by without one nationality criticising another, with one American character awkwardly commenting, “I can’t see the English wanting to drop the class system anytime soon. It’s woven into their heritage.” Excuse me, but what was this character’s name? Who was he addressing?

Why should the audience care? The most laughable, and again awkward, piece of dialogue had to be when an upper-class American character told a man from an opposing political party that he could sit next to him – all while outside on the deck hundreds of passengers were clamouring onto lifeboats. It was ridiculous, and simply ineffective on any thematic level.

All in all, Fellowes is clearly eager to explore class, sex, politics, nationality, and countless other hot-topic issues. And who could blame him? The RMS Titanic was a melting pot of different cultures and classes, with the accounts of survivors offering up various threads for a story-teller to pursue in this type of series.

It must have been incredibly tempting to produce a big-budget series, guaranteed to be given a massive promotional push, scheduled in the exact same time-slot as ‘Downton Abbey’, and sure to attract interest from the U.S. and beyond. But all those lavish production values amount to nothing when you have bland characters, forced dialogue, predictable interactions, and an badly-executed premise made all the more frustrating by the possibilities for provocative storylines which it had to offer in the first place.

With three episodes still to go, one can only hope that things improve. If not, Fellowes won’t be worried. After all, ‘Downton Abbey’ isn’t going anywhere.

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Moviegoers across the U.S. and Canada will be among the first audiences anywhere to experience TITANIC in 3D at the exclusive “sneak preview” fan screening events, set for Monday, April 2nd in Canada and Tuesday, April 3rd in the U.S. Presented exclusively in RealD, these one-night only special advance screenings will take place at 6:30pm at select 3D movie theaters across N. America.

Each TITANIC in 3D Sneak Preview Pack includes:

• One ticket to the movie sneak preview
• A collectors edition pair of TITANIC RealD 3D glasses
• A limited-edition TITANIC movie art lithograph

(While supplies last)

Tickets for these April “sneak preview” events are on sale now both on-line, and at participating theatres. For event locations around the country, to purchase tickets, or to learn more about this exclusive event, please go to: WWW.TITANI

CMOVIE.COM/FANSNEAKPREVIEW

James Cameron, who also directed the breakthrough 3D epic AVATAR, will bring TITANIC to life as audiences have never seen it before, digitally re-mastered and harnessing the innovative technology of StereoD. The re-release of TITANIC also coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Titanic setting sail on April 10, 1912.

Written, directed and produced by James Cameron, TITANIC is the second highest grossing movie of all time. It is one of only three films to have received a record 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director; and launched the careers of stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

Called “A spectacular demonstration of what modern technology can contribute to dramatic storytelling” by Variety upon it’s release in 1997, the long in the works 3D conversion was overseen by Cameron and his Lightstorm producing partner Jon Landau who produced the hit movie.

Released by Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox, TITANIC returns to theaters for a limited engagement beginningApril 4th in 2D, RealD 3D and IMAX 3D. Learn more about TITANIC in 3D at HTTP://WWW.TITANICMOVIE.COM/

Image Courtesy of   https://www.facebook.com/TitanicMovie

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Suzy Amis Cameron, founder of the Red Carpet Green Dress design contest, announced the winning dress and surprise actress who will wear the sustainable gown to the 84th Academy Awards.

Actress Missi Pyle, recently seen in the Academy Award nominated film “The Artist,” will wear a design by Valentina Delfino when she attends the 84th Academy Awards. Delfino – born in Venezuela and based in Miami – was among hundreds from around the world who submitted a sustainable dress design for the competition, which began last November.

“The Red Carpet Green Dress contest gives aspiring or established designers a chance to make a beautiful and sustainable gown that will be seen on the single most anticipated red carpet,” said Suzy Amis Cameron. “When the talented actress Missi Pyle steps onto the red carpet at the Academy Awards this Sunday, everyone will see why sustainable design can also be stunning design. Valentina Delfino has created an Oscar worthy dress, and I am thrilled Missi has joined us in creating an important fashion moment.”

Environmental advocate and wife of Director James Cameron, Suzy Amis Cameron started the Red Carpet Green Dress contest in 2009, during a non-stop red carpet bonanza she experienced while attending “Avatar” premieres, in which she wore countless dresses and began to understand the environmental footprint fashion can have on our planet. The experience helped her shape the global challenge, now in its third year, in which designers submit red carpet worthy designs made entirely of sustainable materials.

“All the world is watching this red carpet,” said actress Missi Pyle. ”And as artists, I believe it is our job to show the world that we not only care about creating incredible art, but that we are mindful of the fact that, in doing so, we can make something beautiful that is also sustainable. It is an incredible honor for me to walk the most glamorous red carpet in the world in such a stunning and meaningful dress.”

“This is a winning year for all involved in the Red Carpet Green Dress contest,” said Samata Angel, Red Carpet Green Dress Global Campaign Director.  ”We not only have a stunning garment from Valentina Delfino, but we have an actress who is part of an Oscar nominated ensemble. Missi Pyle is a talented artist whose commitment to sustainability extends to the red carpet. Her gown will shine both for its strong design, and for the important statement it makes about sustainable fashion.”

Red Carpet Green Dress benefits MUSE School CA and Global MUSE – a non-profit founded by Suzy Amis Cameron and her sister Rebecca Amis to provide resources to their partner schools around the world.  Their initiatives include assistance for basic school operations, curriculum development, and nutritious lunches for every student.

Partner Support

Red Carpet Green Dress has received support from notable partners around the world.

Missi will be wearing shoes designed by Christian Louboutin and accessories from Stella McCartney.

The dress itself was made under the guidance of award-winning designer Birgit Muller.

The Ambrose Hotel, Santa Monica’s only award-winning sustainable boutique hotel, will host winning designer Valentina Delfino. The Ambrose’s green values are the perfect compliment for the Red Carpet Green Dress contest.

Zem Joaquin, Founder & CEO of Ecofabulous.com, has supported Red Carpet Green Dress and assisted in the selection of the winning garment.

Cradle to Cradle and the Natural Resources Defense Council have worked in partnership with Red Carpet Green Dress to ensure the final design is sustainably created.

Eco fashion is a growing trend and movement among red carpet regulars, including Livia Firth and Viola Davis.

About the Winning Design

The gown will contain silk peace chiffon, lined with recycled polyester and a sustainable zipper located on the left side seam. The silk chiffon will be dyed with a natural mineral dye, which is both environmentally friendly and OSHA approved.

Peace Silk (or Cruelty–Free Silk) is the non-violent silk created through the process that permits the full life cycle of the silkworm pupae. The silkworm is able to emerge naturally and only then the cocoons are unwound.  On the contrary, the traditional sericulture approach kills the worm inside. This is done through the process of heat or steam, in order to keep the pupa from breaking through the cocoon – causing numerous threads rather than having a single fiber.

For more information, visit redcarpetgreendress.com

Image Courtesy of   Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com

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Baz Luhrmann, the Australian director known for films such as “Romeo and Juliet” and “Moulin Rouge,” has decided to make his next project a film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel, “The Great Gatsby.” This classic novel has already been brought to the big screen three times: first in 1926 as a silent film, then in 1949, and in 1974, which starred Robert Redford and was directed by Jack Clayton.

Luhrmann’s version adds something previous versions failed to deliver: the entire film will be shot in 3-D. Today, it seems that no matter what kind of movie we are seeing, everything seems to be shot in 3-D, whether it is necessary or not. Has Hollywood just become obsessed with 3-D, or does every movie we are seeing actually need to be shot in 3-D?

Over the past twenty to thirty years, if a film was in 3-D, there was a reason for it. A certain scene would leap out, and blow you away. Now, ever since James Cameron’s “Avatar,” it seems everything we see should be in 3-D. I have discovered certain moviegoers don’t mind the fact the many films are being produced in 3-D. What bothers most people is the amount of money it costs to watch these films.

They are more expensive than a traditional 2-D film. Is this is all just a fad? In movie history, beginning with sound, moviegoers said it was just a fad, and it wouldn’t last. Then the same thing happened with color. Maybe this is just the next step in the evolution of motion pictures.

According to 3DTV Blog, one person said that they are just trying to get people to get used to the idea of 3-D. When color first came out, they still made black and white films for years. He also believes that less than ten percent of movies will actually be in 3-D. Hollywood has tried 3-D numerous times, mainly in the 1950s and 1980s, but it never took off.

It just seemed to be a novelty. So why do they think it’s going to work this time? One of the reasons some moviegoers mentioned for the push into 3-D is that these movies can make more money at the box office because of the increase in prices people need to pay to watch these films.

A lot of fans are outraged at the decision to make “The Great Gatsby” in 3-D, and feel it’s a marketing tool to boost ticket sales. David Calhoun, the film editor, said his heart sank when he heard this movie was in 3-D. It is a dramatic period piece set in a time alcohol was banned in the United States.

Where is the logic behind filming it in 3-D – having Gatsby’s hat poking out of the screen, or Daisy’s necklace floating before your eyes? There should be more time spent on developing the story than on special effects, which are minimal.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/25102305@N03/

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