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Wahlberg, Russell Enter Ring With ‘The Fighter’

Posted by TerranceV | Uncategorized | Posted on March 31st, 2011

Story By: Fresh Air from WHYY

Mark Wahlberg (left) plays boxer Micky Ward in David O. Russell’s The Fighter.

Listen to Mark Wahlberg describe why he wanted to make ‘The Fighter’ and director David O. Russell talk about his filming techniques.

This interview was originally broadcast on January 6, 2011. ‘The Fighter’ is now available on DVD.

After working together on Three Kings and I Heart Huckabees, actor Mark Wahlberg and director David O. Russell collaborated for the third time on their new film The Fighter, based on the true story of the Massachusetts boxer “Irish” Micky Ward.

Ward, best known for his three fights against Arturo Gatti, won the Light Welterweight Championship in 2000, when his older half-brother, Dicky, convinced him to re-enter the ring after several years on hiatus. Dicky, portrayed by Christian Bale in the film, was a former pro boxer whose career ended after he became addicted to crack cocaine.

Wahlberg and Russell join Terry Gross for a conversation about how they put Ward’s story on-screen during a tight film shoot that lasted only 33 days.

“We hired real boxers,” Wahlberg says. “We had HBO come and shoot the fights for us, using the same cameras that they shot the great Micky Ward-Arturo Gatti fights with. I always thought HBO does such a great job of capturing all of the action and suspense and drama in a fight — as long as it’s there in the ring, they never miss anything. And they don’t know what’s going to happen. They get one take at it. We had the luxury of showing them what we were going to do in the morning and doing it multiple times, but that meant going in there and really hitting.”

To play Ward, Wahlberg built a boxing ring inside his home and practiced sparring for more than four years. He studied boxing matches to see how boxers moved, the way they punched and the way they moved their feet in the ring.

“I didn’t want to look like an actor who could skip a little rope and if you shoot him the right way and you edit it the right way, that he could look pretty decent in the ring,” he says. “I wanted to look like a real boxer who could go out and win the title.”

Wahlberg, who grew up about 30 minutes away from the real-life Ward, says he was excited to play the boxer on-screen — and to meet him in real life.

“Micky was such a huge sports icon,” he says. “Boston obviously is a big sports town — but Larry Bird is from Indiana, and all of these other athletes weren’t from our neighborhoods and weren’t really considered one of our own. Micky Ward was the local guy who did the impossible.”

It wasn’t only the fighting scenes that Wahlberg and Russell wanted to portray accurately. They also wanted to capture the Ward family dynamic — most notably the relationship Ward had with his half-brother, his girlfriend (played by Amy Adams) his mother (Melissa Leo) and his seven sisters, a family the New York Times described as “vulgar, vicious, loyal, hilarious and … embarrassingly human.”

The realness of the characters spoke to Russell, who says it was the relationships they had with each other — not the fighting bouts — that spoke to him as a director.

“Off the bat, I recognized the flavor of my own family members in the Bronx and Brooklyn,” he says. The women, in particular, “made the story very special to me, in combination with these brothers and their brothers’ dynamic. The seven sisters, the mother — the women helped make the men what they were and were so pivotal to the family.”

Melissa Leo: Discovering The ‘Fighter’ In Alice Ward

On Dicky Eklund’s Thoughts About the Movie

Wahlberg: “The first time he saw the movie he was very uncomfortable with it, as I expected. But then when we showed him the movie with an audience and he realized how inspiring he was to so many people — and how his overcoming [drugs] would continue to inspire and help other people, he became very, very proud of it.”

On similarities between Alice Ward and Mark Wahlberg’s mother

Wahlberg: “There’s so many similarities between my life and Micky’s life, and Alice and my mom — not just the fact that they both had nine children. Micky and I both had the older brother who was very much the apple of Mom’s eye and could do no wrong. I was talking to my mother on the way over here on the phone, and she was like, ‘Next time, when you do an interview about me, can you just say how I was the best — not that I was a machine or that I was tough or I kicked your ass or that I threw your friends out of the house?’ I guess she had watched me on Ellen DeGeneres, and I told the stories of my mom slapping me down or bringing me back down to reality. I am now going to say, ‘She’s the best,’ so now I can talk about how tough she was again.”

On vivid storytelling

Russell: “I think what makes compelling fiction or cinema is when you’re basically taking the most intense moments of experience and you’re creating a song or a narrative out of it. … And it’s true, you don’t want to be false — but the cinema of it is that it grabs you and it carries you, and it flips you around and it throws you from scene to scene and just keeps riding you like a roller coaster. That, to me, is what makes a movie that doesn’t get boring or doesn’t flag.”

Originally Published On: www.npr.org – Original Article Here

Right on queue

Posted by TerranceV | Uncategorized | Posted on March 31st, 2011

There is something special about the sight of a queue.

Apple won't be laying it on quite as thick as Nintendo, in terms of the number of stores opening and freebie gifts on offer.

Arguably they do not need to, given the promotional prowess of the company's chief executive Steve Jobs.

"In the technology game, Steve is the only guy who can create lust," said Brenden Tansey, chief executive of marketing firm Wunderman.

"Apple don't mind the consumer being in love with them. They wouldn't want [queues] every day, but to have it as an event, where the public are saying we value this product so highly – I think that's perfect for their brand."

Indeed, it has been just 10 months since a line of eager fans snaked down London's Regent Street, waiting to get hold of Apple's original iPad, but Mr Jobs' ability to repeatedly rouse his loyal user base means the lower-priced upgrade will likely be even more popular.

"I think they're at the point now where they don't have to engineer this sort of thing any more, said Mr Tansey.

"He orchestrates that developer community so they're like a 'groupie' audience. I mean, they love him," he joked.

The sight of a twisting line has become one of Apple's most powerful marketing tools, according to Victor Agreda, editor-in-chief of The Unofficial Apple Weblog.

"Continuing to see a queue every time there's one of these product launches has begun to sink in to people: this is what you do if you want the latest and greatest from Apple. You go and you get in line."

For the hardcore fan, it is simply not an option to not be the first with the latest technology.

But it is not just ordinary members of the public queuing up. In many cases, the most enthusiastic participants are bloggers – professional writers or enthusiastic amateurs.

They report live from the front line of a frenzy that they are themselves helping to create.

"It's a competitive disadvantage to not have someone on the team sitting and poking at the new product," said Mr Algreda.

Andrew McCormick, deputy editor of Marketing magazine, agrees.

"I guess part of the motivation for queuing up is they know the media is going to be there – and they'll be labelled as an Apple geek or a Nintendo geek – and they covet that title."

"There are loads of them out there, it's unbelievable.

"Any article that criticises Apple in any way whatsoever will be smashed down in the comments underneath it."

Of course, it's not only the hardware manufacturers that benefit from big-time launches and buzz from the blogging and tweeting community.

For Nintendo's launch, UK stores opened their doors at midnight on Thursday. Their aim was not just to maximise sales, but capture some of the reflected glory from the 3DS.

"For us, it gets our brand out there," said Neil Ashurst, head of PR for UK video game retailers Game and Gamestation, which opened 482 stores.

"Whether we did the PR element or not, the customers would be there.

"The gaming industry's marketing machine is actually an incredibly efficient one," he said.

Cynics suggest that the public will soon wise up to the yearly cycle of 'must-have' products, but for the time being, the lines will keep getting longer.

"I don't think it will backfire," said Brendan Tansey.

"The expectation is, 'I will stand in that queue for five hours and get a product.'

"They've chosen to do the experience and no-one is surprised."

Originally Published On: www.bbc.co.uk – Original Article Here

Consumer Confidence

Posted by TerranceV | Uncategorized | Posted on March 31st, 2011

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Consumer confidence surpassed expectations and hit a three-year high in February, in the latest ray of hope for an economic recovery, a business research group said Tuesday.

The Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index jumped to 70.4 in February from 64.8 in January. That was far ahead of expectations of a Briefing.com economists’ consensus of a 67 reading.

Lynn Franco, director of the board’s Consumer Research Center, said the CPI spiked "due to growing optimism about the short-term future."

"Consumers’ assessments of current business and labor market conditions has improved moderately, but still remains rather weak," Franco said. "Looking ahead, consumers are more positive about the economy and their income prospects, but feel somewhat mixed about employment conditions."

The CPI’s forward-looking Expectations Index also rose, to 95.1 from 87.3 in January. 

Originally Published On: money.cnn.com – Original Article Here

Serbia singing star Ceca indicted

Posted by TerranceV | Uncategorized | Posted on March 31st, 2011

Renowned Serbian turbo-folk singer Svetlana Raznatovic, widely known as Ceca, has been indicted on embezzlement charges, prosecutors in Belgrade say.

The widow of Serb warlord Arkan has been under investigation for eight years over the sale of footballers from her late husband's club, FC Obilic.

Local media say Ms Raznatovic's sister and two club officials have also been indicted over the players' transfer.

The singer faces added charges of illegal possession of 11 handguns.

Ceca took over FC Obilic when her husband Zeljko Raznatovic, known as Arkan, was shot dead in Belgrade in 2000.

The couple had married in 1995. He was Serbia's most notorious paramilitary, wanted for war crimes, she was the country's best known proponent of turbo-folk, a mix of electro-pop and traditional music that critics associated with Serb nationalism.

According to prosecutors, she illegally benefited from the sale of players to foreign clubs between 2000 and 2003.

Blic newspaper said that the embezzlement charges concerned sums of 4.1m German marks and $3.48m.

The guns were reportedly found during a search of her home in the capital in 2003, after the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.

There were demonstrations in Belgrade after she was arrested in 2003 although no charges were ever filed against her in connection with the murder.

She has previously said that most of the football transfers were arranged by her late husband and that guns found in her house belonged to him.

Originally Published On: www.bbc.co.uk – Original Article Here

Broadbent plays Postlethwaite part

Posted by TerranceV | Uncategorized | Posted on March 31st, 2011

Jim Broadbent has revealed that his role in new BBC One thriller Exile, co-starring John Simm, was to have been played by the late Pete Postlethwaite.

Speaking after a preview screening at Bafta, in London, writer Danny Brocklehurst, revealed he had written the part of Tom for Simm.

Simm, who had just finished playing Hamlet at the Sheffield Crucible before filming began, said the relationship between his and Broadbent's character was a potent one.

The three-parter, directed by John Alexander and also starring Claire Goose and Olivia Colman, will start to be aired in late April.

Originally Published On: www.bbc.co.uk – Original Article Here

Japan footballer Nakata in quake appeal

Posted by TerranceV | Uncategorized | Posted on March 31st, 2011

Hidetoshi Nakata is arguably the most popular football player in Japan.

During his 10-year career, he played for the national team in three Fifa World Cup tournaments and in the Olympics twice. He retired in 2006.

For the last two weeks, he has been travelling around Asia to seek support for earthquake and tsunami victims in his home country.

"I never say I understand their feelings and situation. I don't think I can understand," he told the BBC.

"But I just want to tell them that we support you even though you can't see me."

The massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck the north-eastern coast of Japan on 11 March, triggering a tsunami.

More than 10,000 people lost their lives. Many more are injured and missing.

Millions of survivors are still affected by a lack of electricity, water and transportation.

Even in the country which experiences many earthquakes, the scale of this disaster is the biggest in living memory.

"When the disaster happened, I was in Hong Kong, just watching it on TV," Mr Nakata said. "I couldn't believe it. I picked up my phone to talk to my family and friends."

He was very quick to act.

"I immediately cancelled all my schedule. Because I had to do something right now. I had to move right now."

He flew to Taiwan where he took part in a charity event on 18 March. A pair of boots and two jerseys that he donated fetched more than $300,000 (£18,800) at auction.

"Sports is really big – especially football is worldwide. Football can bring and connect all the people which is very important right now and also for the future as well," he said.

Mr Nakata is now in Singapore. His Take Action Foundation will stage a charity match against a Singapore League select side on 2 April.

"Here in Singapore, they responded really quickly, they organised these events – the charity gala and the football match in a very short time, which is really great and very meaningful."

"I am really touched by all the other countries which are organising fund-raising events and donating money. I think this is something we can never forget, forever."

"You are not alone," Mr Nakata said with messages from all over the world for the survivors of the disaster.

"I think people are really afraid to be forgotten," he added. "We have to support them for the longer term, not only right now."

Originally Published On: www.bbc.co.uk – Original Article Here

Japan deputy finmin says extra budgets may top 10 trln yen

Posted by TerranceV | Uncategorized | Posted on March 31st, 2011

(For more stories on the Japanese economy, click [ID:nECONJP])

TOKYO, March 31 (Reuters) – Japan’s deputy finance minister
Mitsuru Sakurai signalled on Thursday that the government may
need to spend over 10 trillion yen ($120 billion)in emergency
budgets for disaster relief and reconstruction.

Asked how the government will finance extra budgets to pay
for quake-related costs, Sakurai told a news conference: “When
considering the magnitude (of the damage), I don’t think it will
be something like 10 trillion yen,” signalling that the amount
will be higher.

($1 = 82.875 Japanese Yen)

(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko)

Originally Published On: www.reuters.com – Original Article Here

Startup website linked to malware

Posted by TerranceV | Uncategorized | Posted on March 31st, 2011

A government-backed website, designed to champion the UK's start-up businesses has inadvertently linked users to malware, it has emerged.

StartUp Britain, which launched on Monday, linked to a page hosting fake anti-virus programs, according to security firm Sophos.

It will be an embarrassment for the government, which has been widely promoting the initiative.

The link was removed shortly after launch, according to StartUp Britain.

It told the BBC in a statement: "There were some issues with a link on the website at the launch. This issue has been addressed and any links that were not operating as intended have been amended or removed."

According to Paul Baccas, a senior threat researcher at Sophos, the link featured in an article about US investor Warren Buffet and took users to a fake banking site.

"It went to a third-party site, bankling.com, where users were redirected to a fake anti-virus page given a prompt saying their computer was infected and encouraging them to download a fix," he said.

In reality, the fix contained malware.

The exploit only affected users of Internet Explorer, including the most recent versions. Other browsers, including Firefox, were not affected.

The slip will be embarrassing for the government, especially as Prime Minister David Cameron had helped launch the site and the Number 10 website linked prominently to it.

Last month, the London Stock Exchange hosted booby-trapped adverts that asked visitors to download similar fake security software.

And this week, music streaming service Spotify apologised after 'malverts' were served to some of its users.

So-called malvertising is becoming a growing problem for businesses.

Originally Published On: www.bbc.co.uk – Original Article Here

Critics Condemn Violent Video Game Set In Juarez

Posted by TerranceV | Uncategorized | Posted on March 31st, 2011

Story By: by John Burnett

A still from the video game Call of Juarez: The Cartel.

A still from the video game Call of Juarez: The Cartel shows two men aiming guns at each other. Critics say the video game dehumanizes the people who have been killed in the Juarez drug wars.

“Their problems are so severe, and then for people to mock them and make light of them is very, very insulting,” Campbell says. “I mean, more than 8,000 people have been killed in the last four years; and it’s not something to joke about.”

In protest, the Chihuahua state legislature has asked the federal government to forbid sales of the video in Mexico.

A spokesperson for Ubisoft says the game is purely fictional and for entertainment purposes only, created more as an action-movie fantasy than a portrayal of life in Juarez.

Last year, a New York-based cosmetics company abandoned Mexican sales of a makeup collection that caused similar objections because its ashen hues were said to be inspired by the murders of women in that city.

Originally Published On: www.npr.org – Original Article Here

This Puzzle Brought To You By The Letters A And D

Posted by TerranceV | Uncategorized | Posted on March 31st, 2011

Story By: by Will Shortz

On-Air Challenge

Each answer is a familiar word that starts with A-D and is an anagram of the given letters. For example, given the “pat,” the answer would be “adapt.”

Last Week’s Challenge

Spell a part of the human body. Change one of the letters to an E, and rearrange the result to name another part of the human body. What body parts are these? Clue: Both parts of the body are things you can see.

Answers: Neck to knee, arm to ear, hand to head, calf to face.

Winner: Madhu Madhavan of Alexandria, Va.

Next Week’s Challenge

From Merl Reagle: Take a common girl’s name that’s six letters long. Change the fourth letter to the next letter in the alphabet to get another common girl’s name. What names are these?

Submit Your Answer

If you know the answer to next week’s challenge, submit it here. Listeners who submit correct answers win a chance to play the on-air puzzle. Important: Include a phone number where we can reach you Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern.

Originally Published On: www.npr.org – Original Article Here