The Media

APNewsBreak: Satellite gets pic of Chinese carrier - Yahoo! News

Daryl Lorette — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 12:47:00 -0500

DENVER (AP) — A commercial U.S. satellite company said it has captured a photo of China's first aircraft carrier in the Yellow Sea off the Chinese coast. DigitalGlobe Inc. said Wednesday one of its satellites photographed the carrier Dec. 8. A DigitalGlobe analyst found the image Tuesday while searching through photos. Stephen Wood, director of DigitalGlobe's analysis center, said he's confident the ship is the Chinese carrier because of the location and date of the photo. The carrier was on a sea trial at the time. via news.yahoo.com

Ben Whishaw to play Q in new Bond film "Skyfall" - Yahoo! News

Daryl Lorette — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 10:14:18 -0500

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - British actor Ben Whishaw will reprise the character of high-tech weapons specialist "Q" in the upcoming James Bond film "Skyfall," a role previously played by actors Desmond Llewelyn and John Cleese, media outlets reported on Friday. The BBC said Whishaw's agent confirmed the young actor in the role of Q opposite Daniel Craig's Bond in the upcoming 23rd installment of the franchise, directed by Sam Mendes. Whishaw was introduced as a cast member in a London press conference announcing production on "Skyfall" last month, but his specific role was not revealed at the time. via news.yahoo.com

NASA launches super-size Mars rover to red planet - Yahoo! News

Daryl Lorette — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 10:46:19 -0500

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The world's biggest extraterrestrial explorer, NASA's Curiosity rover, rocketed toward Mars on Saturday on a search for evidence that the red planet might once have been home to itsy-bitsy life. It will take 8½ months for Curiosity to reach Mars following a journey of 354 million miles. An unmanned Atlas V rocket hoisted the rover, officially known as Mars Science Laboratory, into a cloudy late morning sky. A Mars frenzy gripped the launch site, with more than 13,000 guests jamming the space center for NASA's first launch to Earth's next-door neighbor in four years, and...

Regis Philbin says farewell to "Live!" after 28 years - Yahoo! News

Daryl Lorette — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:24:19 -0500

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Veteran talk show host Regis Philbin on Friday ended his run on the popular television program "Live!" with well-wishers including Mayor Michael Bloomberg stopping by to pay tribute to his nearly three decades on the daily show. Philbin, 80, bid farewell to the syndicated morning show after 28 years on the air, saying viewers had always told him they watched the show "because it makes them feel better, and it can't get better than that." "I'll never be able to top that," he added in his sign-off remarks before a star-studded audience that included Tony Danza,...

Doctor accused in Jackson's death won't testify - Yahoo! News

Daryl Lorette — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:12:17 -0400

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Attorneys for Michael Jackson's former physician told a judge on Tuesday they have no plans for him to testify in his involuntary manslaughter trial in the singer's death. Dr. Conrad Murray's lead attorney, Ed Chernoff, did not mention Murray's name when he listed witnesses who would take the stand, prompting Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor to say he would inform Murray of his right to testify, even if that might conflict with the defense strategy. Chernoff asked if the judge was legally obligated to give that advisement to Murray and Pastor's reply was short....

Forget "Frasier." Meet Kelsey Grammer's brooding "Boss" - Yahoo! News

Daryl Lorette — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:32:39 -0400

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Kelsey Grammer doesn't want to turn off audiences for his dark new TV drama "Boss" by comparing it to Shakespeare. But he just can't help saying the S word. Grammer's ruthless, power-hungry Chicago Mayor Tom Kane is an abrupt change of direction from the jaunty "Frasier" persona that gave the actor 20 years of TV comedy success. So perhaps it's just as well that Grammer is getting audience expectations in order before "Boss" debuts on cable channel Starz on Friday. "We've borrowed a lot from Shakespeare. It's not a Shakespeare piece -- we don't want to...

New York film festival's Richard Pena steps down - Yahoo! News

Daryl Lorette — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 09:56:17 -0400

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced Sunday that its longtime program director and head of the New York Film Festival selection committee, Richard Pena, will step down from his post next year. Pena, who has been affiliated with the Film Society for 25 years, will remain involved with the group and has agreed to help design and organize a new educational initiative. via news.yahoo.com

Greece could use property as bond collateral: group - Yahoo! News

Daryl Lorette — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 11:12:03 -0400

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece could use state-owned real estate assets as collateral for new bonds to raise more than 100 billion euros ($138.7 billion), under a proposal put forward by a leading Greek think-tank and a former conservative minister. Yannis Stournaras, the head of the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE), said on Saturday the plan had been submitted to the government and would allow Athens to convert a substantial share of its public debt into a new form of asset-backed bond. The plan would enable Greece, which expects debt to amount to about 162 percent of gross domestic...

"Footloose" remake a pleasant, if cornball, surprise - Yahoo! News

Daryl Lorette — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:47:37 -0400

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Did we need a new version of "Footloose"? Probably not. But not needing a second piece of birthday cake doesn't make it any less delicious. Director Craig Brewer ("Hustle & Flow," "Black Snake Moan") gives away his strategy right away, as we hear the familiar mm-cha-mm-mm-cha beat of the Kenny Loggins title song -- the original version, not a cover -- as the Paramount logo fills the screen. Clearly, Brewer has come to praise "Footloose," not to bury it, and so he leaves Dean Pitchford's screenplay more or less intact. The result is one of the...

Disney close to reviving Johnny Depp's "The Lone Ranger" - Yahoo! News

Daryl Lorette — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 11:01:53 -0400

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - It looks like The Lone Ranger will ride after all: TheWrap has confirmed that Disney is close to a deal to revive the Johnny Depp movie. In August, the company halted production on the big-budget project, which stars Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as the masked man. Gore Verbinski is directing and Jerry Bruckheimer is producing. An individual close to the project told TheWrap on Tuesday that while a deal to get the project back in production is not yet finalized, it appears imminent. It took some doing. In order to cut costs -- there...