Category Archives: ~ pop culture

Haiyan …


www.RedCross.org

Eric Pfeiffer, Yahoo News

It is estimated that millions of individuals will need some form of assistance after super typhoon Haiyan (Reu …

With reports of more than 1,000 estimated casualties, “super typhoon” Haiyan is said to be one of the most devastating storms ever to hit landfall .

The Red Cross and other agencies say they expect the number of casualties and total damage to soar as Haiyan is thought likely to return to category 5 status again.

Amidst the damage, several organizations are stepping up to provide relief to the victims and families of Haiyan .

“It is too early to tell what exactly we will need, but definitely after the relief operations there is going to be a lot of work in terms of reconstruction and rehabilitation, particularly for people who have lost their homes,” Philippines Ambassador to the U.S. Jose Cuisia Jr. told Voice of America.

And while the U.S State Department and military are stepping in to assist in the emergency response, there are a number of organizations that are accepting private donations to help in the relief effort.

Here are a few places where you can donate to help:
**  The United Nations World Food Programme estimates that 2.5 million people will need food assistance in the regions affected by Haiyan. They have set up a page where you can donate to efforts aimed at providing relief to families and children affected by the typhoon.

**  UNICEF is accepting donations to directly assist the children affected by Haiyan. “Children urgently need access to safe water, hygiene supplies, food, shelter and a safe environment to recover,” the groups said.
**  Catholic Relief Services is another major organization helping to collect relief funds for the recovery efforts.
**  Save the Children is directing donations to help children in the Philippines, Vietnam and Laos. They’ve also said they will set aside 10 percent of all donations to create a new fund for similar future emergencies.
**  Heifer is accepting donations to help residents recover from and prepare for future disasters.
**  The Canadian organization GlobalMedic is working to provide clean water to Haiyan victims. “Those people are vulnerable,” GlobalMedic’s Rahul Singh told the Toronto Sun. “And clean water is essential in order to prevent a secondary catastrophe.”

Official Google blog …


Conquer the Lonely Mountain in Chrome

In “The Hobbit,” a company of Dwarves tries to reclaim the lost kingdom of Erebor from Smaug the Terrible, a fire-breathing Dragon. While the Dwarves’ quest is fraught with danger, your journey to Erebor is just a click away in “A Journey Through Middle-earth,” the Chrome Experiment released a few weeks ago from Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM).
You can now follow the Dwarves’ journey to Erebor and try to outsmart Smaug on your desktop, mobile phone or tablet. But it might be wise to first pay a little visit to the folks who live in nearby Thranduil’s Hall and Lake-town—locations that recently became accessible in this Chrome Experiment—just in case you need their help against the mighty Dragon.

To best equip you on your journey, you may want to stop by Google Play. There you’ll find all sorts of Hobbit-related apps, games, books, music and films*. Together with the recent recording of a Google+ Hangout with director Peter Jackson and actors Evangeline Lilly and Richard Armitage, these can also help you get up to speed for the upcoming release in theaters of “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.”
And for those of you more interested in web development than Dragon-slaying, check out the second technical case study on “A Journey Through Middle-earth” (the first one is already available on HTML5 Rocks). You can also watch a Hangout with North Kingdom, the team of designers and hackers who built it, on December 18. We’ll be posting more updates for the developer community on +Google Chrome Developers.
Posted by Adrian Soghoian, Product Marketing Manager & a Fool of a Took
*Available content and promotions vary by country.

John Ridley ~~ Toronto: John Ridley Talks Plans for L.A. Riots Pic


Toronto: '12 Years a Slave's' John

September 6, 2013 | 06:22PM PT

Film Reporter@Variety_DMcNary

Scribe behind ‘12 Years,’ ‘All Is by My Side’ works with Imagine on film about 1992 L.A. crisis

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Screenwriter John Ridley immersed himself in the 1800s for “12 Years a Slave” and dove into the 1960s rock scene for Jimi Hendrix biopic “All Is by My Side” (pictured above), both playing in Toronto.Meanwhile, he’s ready to focus on 1992 Los Angeles as he tries to get his “L.A. Riots” script off the ground with Imagine Entertainment.Both Toronto films were in production during the late spring last year, with Ridley directing “All Is by My Side” in Dublin and consulting on the script while shooting on Steve McQueen’s brutal epic “12 Years” took place in New Orleans. “That was a little tricky,” Ridley recalls.

A fan of Hendrix since high school, Ridley years later discovered the Hendrix song “Sending My Love to Linda,” about fashion model Linda Keith, who heard Hendrix perform in London in 1966 and played a key role in encouraging his career.

Ridley, whose writing credits include “Red Tails” and “Three Kings,” did a 2010 show about “Sending My Love to Linda” for National Public Radio and then decided to do the feature independently.

“I knew it would not be a studio script,” he notes. “If Paul Greengrass and the Hughes Brothers are having problems, then it’s not going to happen for me.”

Outkast’s Andre Benjamin, who stars as Hendrix, learned to play like the maestro — left handed with a right-hand guitar strung upside down — to boost the authenticity of the film. Ridley looked to model the Hendrix pic on singular biopics like “Sid and Nancy,” Lenny” and “Coal Miner’s Daughter” — films that tell stories that transcend the artifice of the performance.

Ridley’s also been working on rewrites of his “L.A. Riots” script with Justin Lin attached to direct. He’s hopeful that “12 Years” and “All Is by My Side” can generate enough success to push “Riots” toward production.

“It was a Black List script that I wrote on spec and sold in 2007 before the world changed financially,” Ridley notes. “I feel like we’ve got to make this happen now. People often think that it was limited to Rodney King and Reginald Denny, but there are so many other interconnected stories.”

Two decades after the fact, Ridley remains amazed that Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and LAPD chief Darryl Gates had not talked for a year prior to the April 1992 riots, which left 45 people dead.

“It was a systemic meltdown,” Ridley notes. “The city and how it functions is the primary character of the film.”

In the Library … Tom Clancy


Undated picture shows author Clancy in Huntingtown
Author Tom Clancy has died at the age of 66, according to the New York Times.
The cause of his death wasn’t immediately known.Clancy was best known for his thrillers dealing with political intrigue and military technology.

He published 28 books, including those in the popular Jack Ryan series, such as “The Hunt for Red October,” “Patriot Games”  and “Clear and Present Danger.”
The Hunt for Red October  Cardinal of the Kremlin  Patriot Games  Clear and Present Danger  The Sum of All Fears  Debt of Honor  Executive Orders  Without Remorse  Rainbow Six  Bear and the Dragon  Red Rabbit  Teeth of the Tiger
Dead or Alive  Against All Enemies  Locked On  Threat Vector  Command Authority