Reuters - The secret comic-book origin of "Sherlock Holmes"

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The secret comic-book origin of "Sherlock Holmes"

Thursday, Dec 24, 2009 7:23AM UTC

By Borys Kit

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Before "Sherlock Holmes" was a movie opening on Christmas Day, it was a comic.

Sort of.

Lionel Wigram, one of the film's producers, wanted to do a modern retelling of the classic detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. "I wanted to present Sherlock Holmes not as fuddy duddy, 'Masterpiece Theatre' guy," said the British native.

Wigram came up with a story treatment but "realized that wasn't going to be enough." He decided to give his story some comic book pizazz to convey the atmosphere and the attitude. It's one thing to write that the new Holmes has a Bohemian or rock-and-roll attitude, as Wigram was going for, but it's another to show a piece of art that embodies it.

Wigram called DC Comics executive Gregory Noveck and asked him for assistance in finding an artist, and Noveck pointed him to John Watkiss, another Brit. Watkiss is a comic artist who's drawn for "Sandman," "Deadman" and "Savage Sword of Conan." He also worked on Disney's "Tarzan" and "Treasure Planet" movies.

Wigram used his own money, $5,000 of it, to have Watkiss draw up scenes. Wigram then bound them in a comic-book form and published a small number to pitch his take.

The final product is not exactly a comic book. There are no sequential panels or word balloons but rather beautiful, moody splash pages with occasional story notes along the borders.

Wigram showed the book to Warners exec Dan Lin (who later became a producer on the movie) and then to Warners' president Jeff Robinov, who ultimately gave the movie the go-ahead.

"What he drew was what I imagined, but better," said Wigram, who is surprised that more Hollywood types don't prepare these style of pamphlets when pitching ideas. "And if you compare Guy Ritchie's screen version to the images, there's a direct connection. Watkiss deserves a lot of credit and recognition for this."

There was talk of DC making a "Holmes" comic, maybe using the images, maybe not, but the movie project found itself fast-tracked and swept away once Ritchie and then Robert Downey Jr. came on board, and Wigram never had a chance to revisit the idea.

Reuters - "Avatar" could get nine Oscar nominations

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"Avatar" could get nine Oscar nominations

Tuesday, Dec 22, 2009 5:22AM UTC

By Gregg Kilday

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Since June, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences opened the best picture race to 10 nominees, Oscar has been waiting for a knight in shining box office armor -- preferably a "Dark Knight": a commercial powerhouse with strong critical credentials.

A large part of the rationale for opting for an Oscar Top 10 was the hope that Academy voters would embrace mainstream hits, thereby expanding the potential audience for the broadcast while avoiding the cries of protest from jilted fanboys who felt robbed when "The Dark Knight" failed to earn a best picture nomination last time around.

But then another "Dark Knight" failed to materialize immediately. Consider: Pixar's "Up," released in May and now the No. 3 domestic grosser of 2009, is regarded as a possible contender -- if it isn't relegated to the animated feature category. "The Hangover," the year's biggest comedy at No. 4, with $277 million, would have to overcome the hurdle that it is the year's biggest comedy. "Star Trek" might have attracted appreciative reviews and a No. 6 rank at the box office, but it doesn't seem to have inspired much Oscar buzz in the top categories.

In fact, you have to move all the way down the list of the year's top grossers to No. 22, "Inglourious Basterds," before finding another movie that appears to be in line for a best picture nomination.

But just when it appeared that a whole host of smaller, specialty films were lining up to fill the available slots -- in the process, undermining the Academy's attempt to reach out to a wider audience -- Fox's "Avatar," with a veritable flourish of trumpets, has ridden to the rescue.

There were plenty of skeptics awaiting the years-in-the-making film with a show-me attitude. But once it began screening two weeks ago, and in the wake of its opening Friday, James Cameron's space odyssey has redefined the awards-season contests.

Critically, the movie's collective reviews stand at 83 out of 100 on the Metacritic Web site. At RottenTomatoes.com, 83% of the movie's notices were positive, and among the site's sampling of top critics, the approval rate rose to 94%. Even the Los Angeles Times' Kenneth Turan, one of the loudest voices torpedoing Cameron's "Titanic" in 1997, hailed the filmmaker's new movie, praising it for restoring "a sense of wonder to the moviegoing experience" and testifying "the film's romantic protagonists paradoxically end up feeling like creatures whose fates we care more about than we did Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet's on the boat."

Commercially, "Avatar" appears on track as well. Its first-weekend domestic gross clocked in at $77 million, which was several million dollars higher than the studio's Sunday estimate. It remains to be seen whether it will attract the repeat business that floated "Titanic's" boat week to week. It's worth noting, though, that moviegoers showed a preference for seeing the movie in 3D -- 72% of the opening-weekend take came from 3D screens, 13% from Imax 3D screens. Since there's still a relatively limited number of 3D and Imax screens in play, that suggests the movie will play like an old-fashioned, leggy blockbuster, rather than the one- or two-weekend wonders of the standard superwide release, with moviegoers lining up for the available screens.

All of which brings us back to the Academy, where the movie officially screened at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Sunday evening. The audience was packed, and the response was huge, with waves of applause greeting individual names during the end credits.

Hollywood insiders, recognizing the technical leaps involved, already have begun applauding. None other than Steven Spielberg has called "Avatar" "the most evocative and amazing science-fiction movie since 'Star Wars.'"

But it's not just about technique. Thematically, the movie also might strike a nerve with the Academy. "Honestly, it's the most liberal, old-fashioned Hollywood movie in years," said one member of Sunday's audience. "It's eco-friendly, and it's a diatribe against George Bush's America, raping and pillaging sovereign nations for their resources."

So how big could "Avatar's" footprint be when the Academy noms are announced February 2?

Right now, the number that's being bandied about is nine -- drawn from a menu that includes best picture, director, visual effects, editing, art direction, sound, sound editing, score and song. (Cinematography, costumes and makeup are more of a stretch, given how much of that work was done digitally.)

Unlike "Titanic," which earned acting nods for Kate Winslet and Gloria Stuart, "Avatar" will have a tougher time winning over the actors branch unless it's feeling generous and rewards Sigourney Weaver with a supporting actress nomination for her feisty scientist.

By rights, Zoe Saldana also should be part of the conversation for her warrior princess Neytiri. But while the actress might have displayed her versatility with her equally high-profile appearance this summer as Uhura in "Star Trek," she's not seen in the flesh in "Avatar."

Even though the studio hopes to get out the message that the actors involved delivered full-blown performances that Cameron captured digitally, that's still a tough sell. Witness the fact that the Screen Actors Guild ignored "Avatar" when it handed out its noms last week. (One added factor: Most of the 2,300-member SAG nominating committee probably hadn't seen the movie by the time its nominating ballots were due December 14.)

But even though "Avatar" isn't expected to pick up the 14 noms that "Titanic" commanded, if it makes it into best picture contention, that will be an achievement in itself since the Academy -- at least under its old five-pic rule poise -- has been fairly resistant to fantasy and sci-fi movies in its top category.

Since 1977's "Star Wars," only 1982's "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" and the three "Lord of the Rings" movies at the beginning of this decade have made that select list of nominees. A movie like 1993's "Jurassic Park" -- groundbreaking in its day -- had to settle for visual effects and two sound noms, all of which it won.

"Avatar" is looking like it will join that club -- and potentially attract lots of self-proclaimed Avartards to the March 7 Oscar broadcast as well.

Adam Shankman, who's producing the show with Bill Mechanic, certainly was jazzed when he tweeted early Monday: "'Avatar' is not only brilliant but has the most powerful environmental message of the year. Amazing. Game-changer." Cue the dancing Na'vi.

CNN - Centenarian honored by Obama dies

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Centenarian honored by Obama dies

Ann Nixon Cooper, the Atlanta centenarian whose name Barack Obama invoked in his post-election speech as a symbol of America's struggles and progress, died Monday. She was 107.

In his victory speech in Chicago, Obama said of Cooper, who was African-American: "She was born just a generation past slavery ... when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

"At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot."

When Obama was sworn in as president, Cooper called it one of the greatest days of her life.

"There was a time when they thought they could just kick us around," she said on Inauguration Day. "Now, it has changed."

Cooper, who was just 19 days shy of her 108th birthday, died at her home surrounded by loved ones, friend Sally Warner told CNN.

Cooper was born in Shelbyville, Tennessee, in 1902 and grew up in Nashville with uncles and an aunt who worked as domestic help for wealthy whites.

She married Albert Cooper, a prominent dentist, in Nashville in 1922, and the couple moved to Atlanta, where they raised four children and were members of black society.

She co-founded a Girls Club for African-American youths and taught community residents how to read in a tutoring program at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached.

"Our days and nights were just social affairs," she recalled to CNN in 2008. Celebrities, including the late singer Nat King Cole, dropped in to visit.

Three of Cooper's four children have died; her surviving daughter, who was by her mother's side Monday, is 84.

When asked about the secret to her longevity, Cooper told CNN, "I don't know how it happened, but being cheerful had a lot to do with it. I've always been a happy person, a giggling person -- a wide-mouthed person!"

To young people, Cooper offered this advice: "Keep smiling. No matter what, you get out and vote. Vote your choice."

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Links to doctor could deepen Tiger Woods' travails

The headlines and stories about Tiger Woods are still rolling in on a daily basis, but they have taken a decidedly different turn over the past couple of days. These new dispatches have nothing to do with mistresses, tabloids and text messages. They are all about the FBI, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, a doctor and his performance-enhancing drugs.

There is no evidence at all, not a known shred, that Woods used an illegal substance or cheated on the golf course in any way.

We do know this from a New York Times story this week: A Canadian doctor who says he went to Woods' Windermere, Fla., home four or five times in February and March of this year to treat Woods' left knee with a legal, cutting-edge technique known as platelet-rich plasma therapy is under criminal investigation in the United States.

MORE ON CASE: Doctor charged in CanadaRON ARTEST: Coverage of Tiger's troubles unfair

And on Wednesday, we learned this: The doctor, Anthony Galea, was charged by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police after his Oct. 15 arrest in Toronto with selling an illegal drug known as Actovegin, and also with conspiracy to import an unapproved drug, conspiracy to export a drug and smuggling goods into Canada.

The arrest was precipitated by an investigation that began when Galea's assistant was stopped at the Canadian-U.S. border. Human growth hormone and Actovegin were found in Galea's medical bag, which was in the car, according to the Times. HGH is a banned substance in sports under World Anti-Doping Agency guidelines, although it is not widely tested for because it requires a blood test. Since July 2008, the PGA Tour has had a drug policy in place that bans HGH but does not use a blood test. Woods was an early and outspoken advocate for drug testing on the Tour.

The authorities also seized Galea's laptop, which the Times reported includes medical information relating to several professional athletes he treated.

Tiger isn't talking publicly about any of this, but in an e-mail to the Associated Press, his agent, Mark Steinberg, said: "The treatment Tiger received is a widely accepted therapy and to suggest some connection with illegality is recklessly irresponsible."

The day before, Steinberg wrote to the Times: "I would really ask that you guys don't write this? If Tiger is NOT implicated, and won't be, let's please give the kid a break."

It was foolhardy of Steinberg to believe any news organization would not report on an association between someone like Woods and someone like Galea. Since 1988, when the Ben Johnson scandal broke at the Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, the enormously important topic of performance-enhancing drug use has been the biggest worldwide issue in sports.

Associations between doctors and athletes, or sports medicine/nutrition gurus and athletes, have led to some of the most crucial performance-enhancing drug stories in sports, including those involving Johnson, Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Marion Jones. We are better as a society for having found out about them.

For all the conversation about Tiger's titillating tabloid lifestyle, that by itself will not sink his golf career. But were he to have cheated in sports by using performance-enhancing drugs, his golf career likely would be over. Golf isn't baseball, where A-Rod can acknowledge cheating in spring training and be feted with a ticker-tape parade by autumn. Golf is a game of honor, where the athletes call penalties on themselves. Performance-enhancing drug use by such a high-profile person probably would kill a career in that sport.

Understandably, the PGA Tour is monitoring the situation. "From what I read in the New York Times article, there is nothing that would suggest a violation of our anti-doping policy," Ty Votaw, the PGA Tour's executive vice president of communications and international affairs, said in a phone interview Wednesday morning. "We're taking what we read at face value. If there's more, we'll go from there."

Otherwise, he said, "We don't talk about ongoing legal investigations."

So this side of the Tiger Woods story moves along, fascinating in its own right, but so different from the other.

Reuters - FACTBOX: Sponsors stand by Tiger Woods after apology

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FACTBOX: Sponsors stand by Tiger Woods after apology

Wednesday, Dec 02, 2009 6:53PM UTC

(Reuters) - Golfer Tiger Woods, engulfed in media speculation over his private life after a car accident in the middle of the night, apologized on Wednesday for "transgressions" in a statement that apparently addressed allegations he had extra-marital relationships.

Several sponsors, who collectively pay Woods about $100 million a year to tout their products and services, said later on Wednesday their relationships would not change with one of the most recognized athletes in the world.

ELECTRONIC ARTS INC:

"Our strong relationship with Tiger for more than a decade remains unchanged. We respect Tiger's privacy, we wish him a fast recovery and we look forward to seeing him back on the golf course," the company said in a statement.

TLC VISION CORP:

"Tiger Woods is important to TLC Vision. Our relationship with him continues without change. This is a private matter and we have no further comment," the company said in a statement.

DAVID SOKOL, CEO, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY'S NETJETS INC UNIT:

"Tiger Woods is one of the premiere athletes in the world and we are proud to have him involved with NetJets."

PEPSICO INC'S GATORADE UNIT:

"Tiger and his family have our support as they work through this private matter. Our partnership continues," the company said in a statement.

PROCTER & GAMBLE'S GILLETTE UNIT:

"At this time, we are not making any changes to our existing marketing programs. As a matter of policy, we don't comment on future marketing plans," the company said in a statement.

NIKE INC:

"Nike supports Tiger and his family. Our relationship remains unchanged," the company said in a statement.

Officials with AT&T Inc, Accenture, Tag Heuer, and Upper Deck could not be reached for comment.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman in New York; Editing by Frances Kerry)

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Statement issued: Tiger Woods admits to 'transgressions'

Tiger Woods says he has let his family down and regrets those "transgressions."

His comments came after Us Weekly magazine published a cover story alleging that a Los Angeles cocktail waitress had a 31-month affair with the world's No. 1 golfer.

Jaimee Grubbs told the magazine she met Woods at a Las Vegas nightclub the week after the 2007 Masters two months before Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, gave birth to their first child. Grubbs claims to have proof in 300 text messages.

Wednesday morning, the magazine published what it said was a voicemail provided by Grubbs that she said was left by Woods on Nov. 24, three days before his early morning car crash outside his home near Orlando.

Woods issued the following statement on his website tigerwoods.com:

"I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family. Those feelings should be shared by us alone.

Although I am a well-known person and have made my career as a professional athlete, I have been dismayed to realize the full extent of what tabloid scrutiny really means. For the last week, my family and I have been hounded to expose intimate details of our personal lives. The stories in particular that physical violence played any role in the car accident were utterly false and malicious. Elin has always done more to support our family and shown more grace than anyone could possibly expect.

But no matter how intense curiosity about public figures can be, there is an important and deep principle at stake which is the right to some simple, human measure of privacy. I realize there are some who don't share my view on that. But for me, the virtue of privacy is one that must be protected in matters that are intimate and within one's own family. Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn't have to mean public confessions.

Whatever regrets I have about letting my family down have been shared with and felt by us alone. I have given this a lot of reflection and thought and I believe that there is a point at which I must stick to that principle even though it's difficult.

I will strive to be a better person and the husband and father that my family deserves. For all of those who have supported me over the years, I offer my profound apology."

***

Contributing: The Associated Press

Reuters - T-Mobile admits employee sold private data

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T-Mobile admits employee sold private data

Tuesday, Nov 17, 2009 6:47PM UTC

By Peter Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters) - A employee of mobile phone operator T-Mobile is facing prosecution after selling personal details of thousands of British customers to rival companies in an alleged major breach of data protection laws.

In a statement, T-Mobile UK, part of Deutsche Telekom AG, said it had contacted the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) after discovering an employee was passing on the information and it believed the investigation would result in a prosecution.

"While it is deeply regrettable that customer information has been misappropriated in this way, we have proactively supported the ICO to help stamp out what is a problem for the whole industry," T-Mobile said on Tuesday.

Information Commissioner Christopher Graham said the data was sold for "substantial amounts of money" to brokers working for other mobile phone companies.

The privacy watchdog said it planned to prosecute and would push for jail terms for anyone convicted.

The watchdog said staff sold details relating to customers' phone contracts, including their names and addresses and contract expiry dates.

Rival companies bought the information and used it to make cold calls to the customers offering them a new contract with a new network, the Information Commissioner's Office said.

"Many people will have wondered why and how they are being contacted by someone they do not know just before their existing phone contract is about to expire," Graham said in a statement.

"We are considering the evidence with a view to prosecuting those responsible and I am keen to go much further and close down the entire unlawful industry in personal data."

The watchdog has searched several premises after obtaining warrants and is preparing a prosecution file.

Many thousands of customers' account details were illegally obtained, the company told the watchdog. Graham said the practice was highly profitable, but illegal under Section 55 of the Data Protection Act.

"The existing paltry fines for Section 55 offences are simply not enough to deter people from engaging in this lucrative criminal activity," he said. "The threat of jail, not fines, will prove a stronger deterrent."

(Editing by John Stonestreet and David Holmes)

Reuters - Lou Dobbs leaving CNN, does not reveal plans

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Lou Dobbs leaving CNN, does not reveal plans

Thursday, Nov 12, 2009 2:21AM UTC

By Gina Keating and Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - CNN host Lou Dobbs, whose outspoken views on U.S. immigration have made him one of the most controversial figures on television, said on Wednesday he is leaving the 24-hour cable news network immediately because he wants a freer platform to state his opinion.

Dobbs, who announced his departure near the start of his nightly news and commentary show, did not say where he plans to go, after nearly 30 years at CNN.

Dobbs, whose ratings have been on the decline, said he had been released from his contract, effective immediately, and wanted "to contribute positively to the understanding of the great issues of our day ... in the most honest and direct language possible."

A CNN source told Reuters Dobbs will be concentrating on his syndicated radio show, "The Lou Dobbs Show." The source would not confirm a New York Times report that he had met with Roger Ailes, chairman and chief executive of the Fox News channel, the News Corp-owned rival to CNN, a unit of Time Warner Inc.

CNN had been under pressure from civil rights and Latino groups to drop Dobbs from its lineup, accusing the host of aligning himself with anti-immigrant groups that critics say espouse hate messages.

"It's about time. He was doing CNN no good," said Nativo Lopez, head of the California-based Mexican-American Political Association that promotes the interests of Mexican-Americans in the United States and is part of a campaign against Dobbs.

"His is not a debate based on science or reason, it's based on prejudice, it's based on racial overtones, it's based on profiling and an obsessive fixation on immigrants from Mexico," said Lopez.

As a radio host, Dobbs also drew criticism by appearing to stoke the so-called "birther" movement, whose adherents believe that President Barack Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate was faked to hide a Kenyan birthplace, making the first black U.S. president ineligible for office.

Dobbs said he was considering "a number of options and directions." His contract was due to end in 2011.

"For the past six months it has become increasingly clear that strong winds of change have begun buffeting this country and affecting all of us," Dobbs said.

"Some leaders in media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond the role here at CNN and engage in constructive problem-solving," said Dobbs, referring to himself as one of the last original CNN anchors.

'HAPPY DAY'

Eric Burns, president of liberal advocacy group Media Matters for America, called Dobbs' departure "a happy day for all those who care about this nation of immigrants and believe in the power of media to elevate the political discourse."

Dobbs, 64, started out at CNN as the network's chief business and financial correspondent and host of its business news program "Moneyline" in 1980. He left the network in 1999 after friction with CNN's then-president Rick Kaplan to start his own dotcom venture.

He returned two years later to become host and managing editor of a new general news broadcast, and for a time renewed his "Moneyline" show.

But Dobbs' role at the network changed dramatically.

"He morphed from being an economic and finance guy to being much more in the style of an opinion commentator," independent television news analyst Andrew Tyndall said. "He turned into specializing on the illegal immigrants story, which was very hot three years ago or four years ago."

But as the national economy slumped, Dobbs found himself preoccupied with a subject that waned as a hot-button issue, Tyndall said.

"His problem has been that he put all his eggs in that basket and he hasn't been able to diversify his brand in opinion journalism," Tyndall said.

As CNN sought in recent years to distinguish itself in the cable news field from the more conservative Fox News, the ratings leader, and the more left-leaning, third-place MSNBC, Dobbs became less of a fit, Tyndall said.

"There's clearly editorial differences between the way CNN wants to go and the direction he wants to go."

(Reporting by Gina Keating and Steve Gorman; Editing by Catherine Bremer, David Gregorio, Gary Hill)

Reuters - Nintendo to launch new DSi handheld in Japan: report

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Nintendo to launch new DSi handheld in Japan: report

Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009 2:7AM UTC

TOKYO (Reuters) - Nintendo Co plans to launch a new version of its DSi hand-held videogame player with a larger screen in Japan as early as this year to kick-start sluggish demand, the Nikkei business daily said on Tuesday.

Nintendo, which cut the price of its popular Wii videogame console last month, has been looking to bolster demand for the DSi, whose monthly sales have slowed to a third of their peak levels following its launch about a year ago.

Nintendo's hand-held, which now has a 3.25-inch screen, is struggling against competition from Apple Inc's iPhone, whose screen is about the same size.

The new version will have a screen larger than 4 inches, which would put it roughly on a par with the screen on Sony Corp's PlayStation portable game player, the Nikkei said.

"A bigger screen alone does not count for much," said KBC Securities analyst Hiroshi Kamide, adding that Nintendo needs better graphics quality and a more powerful chip to run multimedia-type games and become more competitive.

"Nintendo is under pressure from iPhone and iTouch."

The DSi now uses a chip by ARM Holdings.

The large-screen DSi will sell for 18,900 yen, about the same as the current version, the Nikkei said.

Nintendo spokeswoman Yuka Tanegashima declined to comment.

Nintendo also plans to launch a version of the DSi with more robust anti-piracy features for the Chinese and South Korean markets by the end of the current business year in March 2010, the Nikkei said.

Its shares ended the morning down 0.5 percent, outperforming Tokyo's electrical machinery index's 1.7 percent decline.

(Reporting by Mayumi Negishi and Nathan Layne; Editing by Michael Watson)