February 24th, 2009
NEW YORK - More than a quarter of major U.S. TV stations intend to shut down their analog broadcasts on Feb. 17, sticking to the original date despite the wish of the Obama administration that they delay until June.
Congress last week gave TV stations until June 12 to shut down analog broadcasts, hoping to give viewers more time to prepare. Money has run out for the federal fund that subsidizes converter boxes, and there’s a wait list for the coupons.
The delay sent TV stations scrambling to figure out when to shut down analog Most had planned for years to do it on Feb. 17, and many had scheduled engineering work.
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February 21st, 2009
Veaceslav Verevochkin spent more than 30 years serving in the armored forces, now creating full-existing models of armored vehicles. His workshop is located in the courtyard of a village house. As a material for his models he used the metal and parts from decommissioned tractors and harvesters. Some parts the master got at the local landfill. All equipment is manufactured in strict accordance with industrial drawings, to move, and even shooting wooden bullets. Vyacheslav Verevochkinym recreated T-60, T-26, MC-1, Japanese Tank «Those Cayes», a light German tank T-2C (Pz.Kpfw IIC), two cannons, mortar and two armored cars.
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February 21st, 2009
“Always keep mystery. Not many interviews.” There you have it, fledgling bands of the world. If you start right now and keep in mind those rules, as well as some key others, in about a decade’s time you can have the number one album in the world.
Coldplay tops the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s report listing the 50 best-selling albums of 2008. Coldplay moved 6.8 million copies of Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, more than High School Musical 2, which had the number one spot in 2007.
Filling out the rest of the top 5 were AC/DC, the soundtrack to Mamma Mia!, Duffy, and Metallica, and who knows what this list is going to look like next year, now that the Earth has fallen through a wormhole into the year 1998. See the rest of the list below.
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February 21st, 2009
It’s Madonna and grandchild.
The Material Girl is the same age as her new Brazilian lover’s grandmother, an ex-girlfriend says. Jesus Pinto da Luz, the 22-year-old blue- eyed model Madonna met on a photo shoot, has a granny who is about 50. Madonna turns 51 in August.
The hunk’s mortified mom, Cristiane Regina da Silva - who is 14 years younger than Madonna - believes the pop diva has kidnapped her son, snatching him away to a New York love nest and controlling his every move.
Madonna and Jesus spent the Christmas holiday in the Maldives, where her public-relations people confiscated his cellphone, accord ing to the Brazilian media.
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February 21st, 2009
1. Halle Berry
Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in 2002 for Monster’s Ball.
Terrible Post-Oscar Career Choices: Gothika (2003), Catwoman (2004)
What Went Wrong: Only three years after collecting an Oscar, Halle Berry did win another award: A Razzie for Worst Actress of the Year for Catwoman.
2. Roberto Benigni
Oscar: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in 1999 for Life is Beautiful (1997).
Terrible Post-Oscar Career Choice: Pinocchio (2002)
What Went Wrong: According to Benigni, Pinocchio was made at the suggestion of Italian auteur Federico Fellini, but the star’s hopes of crossing over to American shores went down with the whale.
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February 21st, 2009
The sequel to Iron Man was announced before the studio could even finish counting the over $300 million in domestic box office earnings. Now the challenge is making the new franchise a sustainable one that doesn’t burn out by the third film (think Spider-man or X-Men). Iron Man 2’s producers had to act fast since their leading man is over 40, so the release date was set for May 7, 2010. So, while director Jon Favreau and star Robert Downey Jr. are hard at work on one of the most anticipated sequels in years, we’re hard at work bringing you five things you didn’t know about Iron Man 2.
1- Don Cheadle is the new Terrence Howard
Due to salary disputes, the character of Jim Rhodes (Tony Stark’s best friend and ally) will no longer be played by Terrence Howard. He’s been replaced by fellow Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle. Apparently when the first film was being made, Howard was the first actor to sign on to the project, and he was rewarded with the cast’s highest up-front salary. He balked when the producers asked him to take a pay cut for the sequel, so Cheadle replaced him. The character of Jim Rhodes will prove to be a crucial one in the coming films, as he eventually dons his own “supersuit” to become War Machine.
2- Over 600 issues of the Iron Man comic went into Iron Man 2
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February 21st, 2009
So many of the predicted Oscar winners feel like sure things, that a kind of malaise has settled into the season. Kate Winslet fans would have been thrilled a year ago to hear that she’s the likely Best Actress winner, but now we’re all dying to hear any other name mentioned. And everyone feels that Heath Ledger deserves his Supporting Actor statue, but wouldn’t you be secretly thrilled to see Robert Downey Jr. stroll up there?
Luckily for us, and our likelihood of staying awake through the ceremony, there’s still some potential for surprise in some key categories. Below are the five most likely, and who the spoilers may wind up being. But oh, Heath’s trophy is still locked down. These predictions may be a little bold, but they’re not crazy.
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