Batman - The Dark Knight Trailer HD

more about "Batman - The Dark Knight Trailer HD", posted with vodpod

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Trailer)

more about “Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Trailer)“, posted with vodpod

Created by artist Mike Mignola, “Hellboy” was first published in 1993 by Dark Horse Comics and quickly gained attention in Hollywood. “Hellboy,” (2004) starring Ron Perlman as the demon … cost around $60 million and made around $60 million.

Not wanting to give up on “Hellboy 2,” Gordon urged Revolution chief Joe Roth to pry the title out of Columbia’s hands.

That set in motion a series of moves: Revolution owned the title but had to formally check whether the studio wanted to exercise its right to make a sequel. Since Columbia was uninterested, Roth asked permission to let Gordon take the project elsewhere. Columbia, after more meetings, eventually let the title go, thinking that any sequel would only enhance the value of the original “Hellboy.”

None of the other studios were quick to bite, though. “It was not an immediate battle to get it,” Del Toro said.

The story would have ended right there and then if it weren’t for one thing: “Pan’s Labyrinth.”

Del Toro’s passion project began building buzz in mid-2006, and execs started jockeying for his next project. And what did he want to do? That sequel to “Hellboy.”

“He was so dedicated to making a second movie,” said a source close to the production. “If you wanted to be in business with Guillermo, you had to make that film.” The sequel set up shop in the Czech Republic last spring and summer, taking advantage of the country’s film rebate. Del Toro, in an unusual move, fought hard to shoot everything using only first unit photography.

“To have the scope we wanted, at 85 (million dollars), was a f—ing pain in the ass,” Del Toro said. “It meant really brutal hours, six-day weeks on a 130-day shoot.”

Del Toro and creator Mignola have an idea for a third movie, but that will depend on several factors, not least of which are box office performance and Del Toro’s timetable: The filmmaker is spending the next four to five years working with Peter Jackson on the two “Hobbit” movies. Summing up the experience of making the sequel, Del Toro was his usual charming and blunt self. “It was hard as f—,” he said. -reuters

Saw it tonight. Not bad! See it. Good monsters.  Those tooth fairies were sick! The elemental was cool too. Nice final fight scene.

UPDATE: ACLU Files Lawsuit Challenging New Spying Law

With President Bush’s signature still drying on a new law that expands the government’s warrantless surveillance program, the American Civil Liberties Union is headed to court with a legal challenge.

The ACLU filed a lawsuit Thursday in New York federal court seeking to block the law, which gives legal immunity to the telecommunications companies that allegedly assisted the National Security Agency with its warrantless wiretapping program after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The new law, an overhaul of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, allows the NSA to monitor Americans’ phone calls and emails to people abroad.

The ACLU filed the legal challenge on behalf of a group of attorneys and groups involved with human rights, labor, the law and the media. They said their work, which relies on confidential communications, will be compromised by the law.

“The challenged law reduces the likelihood that clients, journalistic sources, witnesses, experts, foreign government officials and victims of human rights abuses will share sensitive information with the plaintiffs,” the ACLU said in its complaint.

The plaintiffs said that while the government has a legitimate interest in monitoring the communications of people who may pose a threat to the U.S, the new law did not include the proper constitutional safeguards.

The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction that would bar the government from conducting surveillance operations under the law.

AT&T Inc. (T), Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and other companies have been hit with dozens of civil lawsuits stemming from their alleged cooperation with the government’s spying efforts.

Under the law’s immunity provision, the telephone companies can have the lawsuits thrown out if they are able to show that the government requested their participation in the wiretapping program. - cnn

US says Iran fired missile in second test

more about "US says Iran fired missile in second …", posted with vodpod

Rove ignores committee’s subpoena, refuses to testify

Karl Rove, President Bush’s longtime political guru, refused to obey an order to testify before a House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday.

Rove’s lawyer asserted that Rove was “immune” from the subpoena the committee had issued, arguing that the committee could not compel him to testify due to “executive privilege.”

The panel is investigating allegations that Rove and his White House allies dismissed U.S. attorneys and prosecuted officials who they saw as political opponents. The panel subpoenaed Rove in May after his lawyer, Robert Luskin, made clear the former White House deputy chief of staff would not appear voluntarily. Luskin responded immediately that Rove still would not appear, prompting a threat of prosecution from the Judiciary Committee chairman, Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, and Rep. Linda Sanchez, a California Democrat who chairs the subcommittee on commercial and administrative law. - cnn

There is no “executive privilege” which allows anyone to break laws. The USA does not have a king, it has a president. I agree with from Tom D’Antoni:

So why is Karl Rove walking around free today? Because the Democrats talk a good game but when it comes to taking action, they fail time and time again. It’s simple. Congress tells you that you have to testify? You testify. It’s the law. Period. It doesn’t take an epiphany to know that the Bush administration could care less about the law, the Constitution, morality, or life itself. Where’s the action by Congress to enforce its own subpoena? Where is justice? Where is the Democratic leadership? Send some cops, cuff Rove, march him to the hearing and if he refuses to talk, lock him up till he does. Matter of fact, send him to Guantanamo. He’ll confess to everything from car theft to murdering Jon Benet Ramsey.

British UFO sightings at ‘bizarre’ levels

Plotted on a map of Britain, the sightings can be seen to stretch from Liverpool to Dover and from Llanelli to Derby.

Whatever the explanation, experts agree that the number of suspected flying saucers has hit unusual highs this summer.

Malcolm Robinson, who studies the phenomenon, said: “Something very bizarre is happening in the skies over the UK.” …

“Some experts believe it could be linked to global warming and craft from outer space are appearing because they are concerned about what man is doing to this planet.”

Among mysterious flying objects spotted in recent months was a ‘glowing’ disc spotted above the M5 motorway.

Royal Navy aircraft engineer Michael Madden said he watched the UFO for three minutes before it ‘zoomed off’ near Weston-super-Mare in Somerset. - telegraph

Tornado hampers UFO

A Lancashire man claims a tornado prevented a UFO from landing near where he stood.

Pat Regan claims he was nearly blown off his feet in Rufford as he photographed the tornado during a fishing trip.

When he got home he enlarged the picture on his computer and spotted the UFO. Pat told The Sun: “I noticed this weird speck. I blew it up and there it was - a UFO hovering right beside the twister.

“It’s a perfect disc shape and greenish in colour. If it was a little green man he probably took one look at the weather and thought twice about landing!” A Met Office spokesman said: “Tornados occur about 30 times a year in the UK, but it’s the first time I’ve heard of a UFO spotted close to one.” - via weirdpost

Timing, that’s the key to most things.

Oops. Someone got busted. Know when to get in, when to get out. Be unpredictable. Read the Art of War.

Four unreleased Xenophilia songs discovered

Albert, Amy, and I were working on some a new CD before he went off to find work in another part of the world. Thanks to the magic of MySpace, I found that he has posted some of our work under the name Satellite Dish Gazebo. The ones I wrote are: Mister Nobody, Salvador Dali, Kiss you on the Moon, and Get Off My Head.

U.S. Troops in Iraq Face A Powerful New Weapon

Suspected Shiite militiamen have begun using powerful rocket-propelled bombs to attack U.S. military outposts in recent months, broadening the array of weapons used against American troops. U.S. military officials call the devices Improvised Rocket Assisted Munitions, or IRAMs. They are propane tanks packed with hundreds of pounds of explosives and powered by 107mm rockets. They are often fired by remote control from the backs of trucks, sometimes in close succession. Rocket-propelled bombs have killed at least 21 people, including at least three U.S. soldiers, this year. The latest reported rocket-propelled bomb attack occurred Tuesday at Joint Security Station Ur, a base in northeastern Baghdad shared by U.S. and Iraqi soldiers. One U.S. soldier and an interpreter were wounded in the attack. U.S. military officials say IRAM attacks, unlike roadside bombings and conventional mortar or rocket attacks, have the potential to kill scores of soldiers at once. IRAMs are fired at close range, unlike most rockets, and create much larger explosions. Most such attacks have occurred in the capital, Baghdad. The use of the rocket-propelled bombs reflects militiamen’s ability to use commonly available materials and relatively low-tech weaponry to circumvent security measures that have cost the U.S. military billions of dollars. - washpost

Bring them home.