The film’s official plot synopsis follows:
Hanna (to be played by Ms. Ronan) is a teenage girl. Uniquely, she has the strength, the stamina, and the smarts of a solider; these come from being raised by her father (Mr. Bana), an ex-CIA man, in the wilds of Sweden. Living a life unlike any other teenager, her upbringing and training have been one and the same, all geared to making her the perfect assassin. The turning point in her adolescence is a sharp one; sent into the world by her father on a mission, Hanna journeys stealthily across Europe while eluding agents dispatched after her by a ruthless intelligence operative with secrets of her own (Ms. Blanchett). As she nears her ultimate target, Hanna faces startling revelations about her existence and unexpected questions about her humanity.
Seth Lochhead wrote the initial screenplay and has written subsequent drafts, as have David Farr, Joe Penhall, and Mr. Wright. Hanna will hit theaters on April 8th 2011.
It’s not all roses for the PS3 following further developments on the thriving PS3 hacking front today, as the group responsible for the Wii’s Homebrew Channel, going by the slightly counter-intuitive moniker of fail0verflow have turned their attention to Sony‘s pride and joy and have summarily proceeded to strip it of its secrets. If you go by their word, at least.
The hack apparently enables them to gain “full control of the PS3 system,” not as a means to illegally reduced video game expenditures you see, but solely in the interests of enabling every PS3 firmware and variant to run Linux. And here we were asking ourselves why it took four years for people to hack this thing. There’s probably a lesson here, somewhere, Sony. Something about giving people what they want or the ones who can will just take it. And never ever give them what they want, then take it away again, unless you want your “Private keys” in the press. Something along those lines.
robert shumake
Pink Floyd Re-Signs With EMI: Good <b>News</b> for the Band or the Label?
Progressive rock legends Pink Floyd have re-signed with their longtime record label EMI.
New Edition of Huckleberry Finn to Drop N-Word: Instant Reactions
Auburn University professor Alan Gribben, along with NewSouth Books, plans to release a newly edited edition of the Mark Twain classic, with every instance of the N-word replaced with the word.
Movie <b>News</b> Quick Hits: Bigfoot to get the 'Avatar' Treatment <b>...</b>
A leaked costume test from MGM's completed-but-shelved remake of 1984's 'Red Dawn' has found its way online. It's not much, but thanks to MGM's.
robert shumake detroit
Pink Floyd Re-Signs With EMI: Good <b>News</b> for the Band or the Label?
Progressive rock legends Pink Floyd have re-signed with their longtime record label EMI.
New Edition of Huckleberry Finn to Drop N-Word: Instant Reactions
Auburn University professor Alan Gribben, along with NewSouth Books, plans to release a newly edited edition of the Mark Twain classic, with every instance of the N-word replaced with the word.
Movie <b>News</b> Quick Hits: Bigfoot to get the 'Avatar' Treatment <b>...</b>
A leaked costume test from MGM's completed-but-shelved remake of 1984's 'Red Dawn' has found its way online. It's not much, but thanks to MGM's.
robert shumake
The film’s official plot synopsis follows:
Hanna (to be played by Ms. Ronan) is a teenage girl. Uniquely, she has the strength, the stamina, and the smarts of a solider; these come from being raised by her father (Mr. Bana), an ex-CIA man, in the wilds of Sweden. Living a life unlike any other teenager, her upbringing and training have been one and the same, all geared to making her the perfect assassin. The turning point in her adolescence is a sharp one; sent into the world by her father on a mission, Hanna journeys stealthily across Europe while eluding agents dispatched after her by a ruthless intelligence operative with secrets of her own (Ms. Blanchett). As she nears her ultimate target, Hanna faces startling revelations about her existence and unexpected questions about her humanity.
Seth Lochhead wrote the initial screenplay and has written subsequent drafts, as have David Farr, Joe Penhall, and Mr. Wright. Hanna will hit theaters on April 8th 2011.
It’s not all roses for the PS3 following further developments on the thriving PS3 hacking front today, as the group responsible for the Wii’s Homebrew Channel, going by the slightly counter-intuitive moniker of fail0verflow have turned their attention to Sony‘s pride and joy and have summarily proceeded to strip it of its secrets. If you go by their word, at least.
The hack apparently enables them to gain “full control of the PS3 system,” not as a means to illegally reduced video game expenditures you see, but solely in the interests of enabling every PS3 firmware and variant to run Linux. And here we were asking ourselves why it took four years for people to hack this thing. There’s probably a lesson here, somewhere, Sony. Something about giving people what they want or the ones who can will just take it. And never ever give them what they want, then take it away again, unless you want your “Private keys” in the press. Something along those lines.
robert shumake
robert shumake
Pink Floyd Re-Signs With EMI: Good <b>News</b> for the Band or the Label?
Progressive rock legends Pink Floyd have re-signed with their longtime record label EMI.
New Edition of Huckleberry Finn to Drop N-Word: Instant Reactions
Auburn University professor Alan Gribben, along with NewSouth Books, plans to release a newly edited edition of the Mark Twain classic, with every instance of the N-word replaced with the word.
Movie <b>News</b> Quick Hits: Bigfoot to get the 'Avatar' Treatment <b>...</b>
A leaked costume test from MGM's completed-but-shelved remake of 1984's 'Red Dawn' has found its way online. It's not much, but thanks to MGM's.
robert shumake
Pink Floyd Re-Signs With EMI: Good <b>News</b> for the Band or the Label?
Progressive rock legends Pink Floyd have re-signed with their longtime record label EMI.
New Edition of Huckleberry Finn to Drop N-Word: Instant Reactions
Auburn University professor Alan Gribben, along with NewSouth Books, plans to release a newly edited edition of the Mark Twain classic, with every instance of the N-word replaced with the word.
Movie <b>News</b> Quick Hits: Bigfoot to get the 'Avatar' Treatment <b>...</b>
A leaked costume test from MGM's completed-but-shelved remake of 1984's 'Red Dawn' has found its way online. It's not much, but thanks to MGM's.
robert shumake detroit
You've just seen a rare traditionalist stage magician do the old mainstay illusion of sawing the woman in half in an old theatre in your hometown. You may be one of the few people left on planet earth who doesn't know how that illusion is done and you ask the magician later (while getting his or her autograph backstage) how it's done. "Very well," the magician says wryly. You think it's a corny reply--but it's an old (nearly Vaudevillian) standby response when asked how a magic trick or full-scaled illusion is done. And then...you wake up and realize that you were just dreaming being at this show. It's probably a product of something you experienced in your past--because old-school, traditionalist magicians really don't exist much any more. Nevertheless, some new-school magicians still hold the traditional magic tricks and illusions in high regard. They just upgrade them by making them look modern--but still use the same longstanding principles. These are the ones who adhere to the old magician's code to never give away the secrets. And these are the same ones who are a part of an intense artistic battle that gets louder every year. It's the battle of old secrets being revealed by younger and hipper magicians who think that the art form of magic needs new ideas and the old ones don't matter any longer.
Maybe it was inevitable that a longstanding art form would have its rebels eventually. Name one art form that hasn't had a maverick come in and either make a mess of things or ultimately make things better (while also making a mess of things). The magician's code of honor, though, has really lasted for decades until we entered an age of cynicism and wanting to know the secrets to everything or just wanting to seek new horizons. Strangely, it was two magicians (Penn & Teller) who first started revealing the secrets to the old principles in the 1980's. Despite the objections from the traditionalist magicians--Penn & Teller continued to use a lot of the same principles themselves...but with new tricks wrapped around those techniques. Penn & Teller managed to dodge the bullet of too much derision and were ultimately also put into an old-school bracket once new, more daring magicians started their careers in the 90's and 2000's.
Then, in the 1990's, the "Masked Magician" (real name: Val Valentino, which obviously isn't his real name either) did a series of TV specials on Fox Network that didn't just expose small things or even subtly--but cut a wide swath of open detail on major illusions. This wasn't Valentino coming to a network to sell an idea. It was Fox itself and their "alternative programming" team who instigated the idea--and went to seek out magicians in Las Vegas willing to expose the principles behind major illusions both old and new. Valentino reportedly turned it down initially...until a big check apparently changed his mind. It turns out the entity of a corporation was really to blame in trying to bring down a respected art form rather than just one person out to make money and gain fame. But since most of the world can't fight back against corporations (other than boycotting something they own or produce)--many magicians who protested this exposé decided to look into the basic legal implications behind it.
Intellectual property really can't be intellectualized...
After many of the magicians who forwarded the idea that exposing the old secrets to illusions bordered on violating intellectual property rights--lawyers were quickly available (what else is new?) to tell them that many of the concepts used in magic aren't copyrightable. Only real scientific principles can get patents...because you can't patent sleight-of-hand technique or psychological principles that most tricks use. Truly innovative scientific principles in illusions are fairly rare today and mostly innovated in the 19th and early 20th century. The famous principle of "Pepper's Ghost", for instance, used concepts of a plate glass and special lighting effects to create a transparent ghost image in a room (later used at the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland and Disney World) rather than using someone's own hands or mind to create a result in a trick. It has to be said, though, that Val Valentino did reveal mirror effects in some of the illusions he exposed. It only applied as an off-branch concept, however, that obviously kept it within the law. Had the "Pepper's Ghost" concept been breached...then the heirs of the patent could sue. Nevertheless, one magician and renowned illusion inventor (Andre Kole) did try to sue Valentino for exposing Kole's own created illusion...but to no avail.
The legal process changes when a magician writes out a particular document of how to perform a trick or illusion. Because it's a written document that explains performance nuances--such a thing can be copyrighted. A physical magic trick itself, though, can't obtain a copyright. And an unfortunate legal loophole exists in patenting concepts in a new illusion. The document explaining the concepts of how the illusion is done has to be published publicly first before it can legally be patented...that just sets up a circular process of invention and someone potentially exposing how it's done.
So without the law on the side of the International Brotherhood of Magicians (the official international club for magicians who keep the code of secrecy)--the process of revealing snowballed with others outside the ring with the finances or mental capacity to create all-new innovative concepts that wow audiences. The best the IBM ring can do is exert influence to make sure a magician who exposes principles never works again in places that uphold the codes of secrecy. In that regard, the IBM resembles a worker's union that probably creates more ripples than people realize.
The debate between the big-shot magician who shuns the old-school and the small-town magician who still does traditional tricks...
All you have to do is look around your small town (or city)--and you'll see ads for local magicians everywhere. In fact, there may be a renaissance of magicians performing in your local area than in any decade prior. They seem to manage in a situation where nationally-known magicians such as David Copperfield, David Blaine and Criss Angel are always bringing new ideas and concepts to the fore. Saying that, though, might inspire a local magician to want to debate those bigger magicians or one who continues to expose the standby secrets:
Small-Town Magician: "I'll be willing to bet you all my magic tricks and pay from my magic shows that you still use the old concepts in most of your shows."
Big-Shot Magician #1: "Ok, you got me. But here's the secret: Just take the old standard tricks, go out to places where nobody's seen them before (i.e. being the street magician), give a compelling presentation...and you'll appear to be a major phenomenon seeming to fool everybody."
Small-Town Magician: "Yes, presentation is everything. But for those of us who don't have that ultimate magnetic pull--and people like Big-Shot #2 gives away secrets to the small stuff we do...how do you expect us to survive as the magician working stiff?"
Big-Shot Magician #2: "Ah, don't worry about it. Ever hear of the concept of people being quick to forget? Even those books that reveal everything sitting right on bookshelves in your local bookstore may be given a cursory read...but it'll go one ear out the other in a lot of people. Nine times out of ten, the next audience you'll have at your show will love seeing the woman being sawed in half illusion...and have no clue how it's done."
Small-Town Magician: "Yeah, you're right. I did have kids, their parents (and even grandparents) coming up to me after my last show asking how I made those coins disappear out of my hand. No, I didn't say 'very well' to them, incidentally..."
And so goes the new philosophy on how to cope in the age of old magic trick secrets being destroyed.
In the meantime, those who try to expose true charlatans out there who claim to have special powers (yes, Houdini once did that and the case of Uri Geller being the most famous) get far more attention and can create the most career damage. If only that could apply to politicians, government (and/or terrorists) who can or could dangerously use a lot of the psychological or sleight-of-hand techniques used in magic shows to create real damage to innocent people on subtle or catastrophic levels. Knowing the secrets to what could cause real damage and still preserving an art form is where the real divide lies...
robert shumake detroit
Pink Floyd Re-Signs With EMI: Good <b>News</b> for the Band or the Label?
Progressive rock legends Pink Floyd have re-signed with their longtime record label EMI.
New Edition of Huckleberry Finn to Drop N-Word: Instant Reactions
Auburn University professor Alan Gribben, along with NewSouth Books, plans to release a newly edited edition of the Mark Twain classic, with every instance of the N-word replaced with the word.
Movie <b>News</b> Quick Hits: Bigfoot to get the 'Avatar' Treatment <b>...</b>
A leaked costume test from MGM's completed-but-shelved remake of 1984's 'Red Dawn' has found its way online. It's not much, but thanks to MGM's.
robert shumake detroit
robert shumake detroit
The film’s official plot synopsis follows:
Hanna (to be played by Ms. Ronan) is a teenage girl. Uniquely, she has the strength, the stamina, and the smarts of a solider; these come from being raised by her father (Mr. Bana), an ex-CIA man, in the wilds of Sweden. Living a life unlike any other teenager, her upbringing and training have been one and the same, all geared to making her the perfect assassin. The turning point in her adolescence is a sharp one; sent into the world by her father on a mission, Hanna journeys stealthily across Europe while eluding agents dispatched after her by a ruthless intelligence operative with secrets of her own (Ms. Blanchett). As she nears her ultimate target, Hanna faces startling revelations about her existence and unexpected questions about her humanity.
Seth Lochhead wrote the initial screenplay and has written subsequent drafts, as have David Farr, Joe Penhall, and Mr. Wright. Hanna will hit theaters on April 8th 2011.
It’s not all roses for the PS3 following further developments on the thriving PS3 hacking front today, as the group responsible for the Wii’s Homebrew Channel, going by the slightly counter-intuitive moniker of fail0verflow have turned their attention to Sony‘s pride and joy and have summarily proceeded to strip it of its secrets. If you go by their word, at least.
The hack apparently enables them to gain “full control of the PS3 system,” not as a means to illegally reduced video game expenditures you see, but solely in the interests of enabling every PS3 firmware and variant to run Linux. And here we were asking ourselves why it took four years for people to hack this thing. There’s probably a lesson here, somewhere, Sony. Something about giving people what they want or the ones who can will just take it. And never ever give them what they want, then take it away again, unless you want your “Private keys” in the press. Something along those lines.
robert shumake detroit
Pink Floyd Re-Signs With EMI: Good <b>News</b> for the Band or the Label?
Progressive rock legends Pink Floyd have re-signed with their longtime record label EMI.
New Edition of Huckleberry Finn to Drop N-Word: Instant Reactions
Auburn University professor Alan Gribben, along with NewSouth Books, plans to release a newly edited edition of the Mark Twain classic, with every instance of the N-word replaced with the word.
Movie <b>News</b> Quick Hits: Bigfoot to get the 'Avatar' Treatment <b>...</b>
A leaked costume test from MGM's completed-but-shelved remake of 1984's 'Red Dawn' has found its way online. It's not much, but thanks to MGM's.
robert shumake detroit
robert shumake detroit
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