'Selma' director calls Sony emails 'sickening and sad'

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On the same day that she became the first black woman to receive a Golden Globe nomination for best director, "Selma" filmmaker Ava DuVernay took a moment to remark on the controversial email exchange that, for some, has highlighted a dispiriting lack of progress in some of the higher echelons of Hollywood.

"I have two words: sickening and sad," DuVernay told Variety at Thursday night's Washington, D.C., premiere of "Selma." "That's really all I have to say."

The director was referring to one of many conversations between producer Scott Rudin and Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chair Amy Pascal that were made public as a result of the massive Sony hack attack by Guardians of Peace, a group protesting the upcoming release of the studio's North Korea-skewering satire "The Interview." In the exchange in question, Pascal and Rudin traded quips about President Obama's movie tastes -- which, the two speculated, might run toward the likes of "Django Unchained," "12 Years a Slave," "The Butler" and the comedies of Kevin Hart.

A later version of that conversation might well have included mention of "Selma," which re-creates the 1965 voting-rights marches led by Martin Luther King Jr. in heavily segregated Alabama. On Thursday morning, the much-lauded Paramount release picked up Golden Globe nominations not only for DuVernay's direction but also for picture and best actor for David Oyelowo for his portrayal of King.

During the post-screening Q&A held at the Newseum in D.C., the first question taken from the audience concerned the Sony hacking scandal. While DuVernay was circumspect about the matter onstage, "Selma" producer Dede Gardner spoke at greater length, acknowledging that Pascal and Rudin were being judged on the basis of a private communication.

"It's confusing because it's obviously a private conversation that was exposed and made public to the world, and it's hard, I think, for people who know those people," Gardner said. "You get let into spaces that you're not meant to be in."

"I'd like to think that it can be a very valuable lesson in how powerful the slightest words can be, and how lasting and impactful they are," she added. "It is no joke. There are not grades of racism. There's racism."

Pascal and Rudin both issued apologies for their remarks on Thursday, with Pascal personally reaching out to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who had criticized the emails in question. He wasn't alone. Earlier that day, Shonda Rhimes wrote on Twitter: "Calling Sony comments 'racially insensitive remarks' instead of 'racist'? U can put a cherry on a pile of sh*t but it don't make it a sundae."

The "Selma" Q&A, which was well attended by local elected officials and moderated by "NewsHour" co-anchor Gwen Ifill, also included actors Oyelowo and Lorraine Toussaint, producers Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner (who are both among the producers of "12 Years a Slave") and cinematographer Bradford Young. But the undisputed star of the panel was congressman and civil rights activist John Lewis, a 25-year-old version of whom is portrayed in the film by Stephan James.

"I was deeply moved and touched to see myself played by a young guy, with all of his hair," Lewis said to much laughter, before turning sober and reflective. "You know, when I was growing up in rural Alabama, a few miles from Selma ... when we went to the theater as young black children, we had to go upstairs to the balcony. And all of the white children headed downstairs to the first floor."

"You didn't see anybody who looked like you on that screen," Ifill said.

Lewis replied, "Seeing myself being played is almost too much."

© 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

23.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Consumers reminded about health insurance deadline

CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire residents shopping for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act during the second enrollment period have nearly four times more choices but only half the time to make their decision.

While the first enrollment period lasted six months, the health law's second sign-up season started Nov. 15 and ends Feb. 15. And Monday marks a key deadline — it's the last day to enroll in coverage that will start Jan. 1.

As that date nears, insurance company officials want consumers to carefully consider all their options given that the number of companies offering health plans has increased from one to five, and the number of plans available to individuals has jumped from 11 to 40. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield has been joined by Assurant, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Maine Community Health Options and Minuteman Health.

The nearly 42,000 New Hampshire residents who purchased plans through the healthcare.gov marketplace during the first sign-up period will automatically be re-enrolled, but health care advocates, and the insurance companies competing for those customers, say renewal may not be the best option because the tax credits that subsidize coverage could have changed.

"If they do nothing, they could potentially be stuck with the same plan but paying higher premiums," said Sean Caron of Minuteman, which is pitching that new customers also will have access to the company's provider network in Massachusetts as well as New Hampshire.

Michael Gendreau of Maine Community Health said most consumers likely will sort through plans based on affordability, but they should take a closer look at the details.

"Is your doctor or hospital in the network? Is your prescription medication covered?" he said. "You have to look beyond the premium, because while the premium may be affordable, can you afford to get sick?"

Anthem spokesman Colin Manning echoed that advice, and said those who enrolled last year should update their information before Monday to ensure any subsidy information is accurately recorded.

"It is important that as consumers evaluate their plan options, they go beyond comparing the premium rates and look closely the differences in copays, deductibles and co-insurance, as the cost-sharing associated with the benefit plans can vary greatly," he said.

Beth Roberts, a vice president at Harvard Pilgrim, wanted to remind residents insurance brokers can help them sort through the maze of plans at no cost. While most of the insurance companies said they could not provide details of how many consumers have enrolled since Nov. 15, Roberts said about 1,400 people have signed up with her company so far. Nearly two-thirds have opted for plans that use the company's smaller but more affordable provider network, she said.

"We're thrilled to be on the exchange and we think things have gone quite smoothly," she said.

At Assurant, its Preferred Provider Organization networks will allow consumers to pick the doctor they want without needing referrals from a primary care doctor, unlike HMO plans that typically require referrals, said Mary Hinderliter, vice president of communications for the company.

23.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sony emails reveal failed efforts to recruit 'Lego' directors to run animation unit

Stolen emails from Sony Pictures reveal the studio tried and failed last summer to recruit Phil Lord and Chris Miller to take over its animation division.

The emails from the hacked documents, obtained by Variety, show studio toppers Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton looking to animation "to turn the studio around." They hoped to install a Pixar-style "brain trust" of filmmakers at the top of Sony Pictures Animation. Lord and Miller were being courted to head that group; other names being floated included Brad Bird.

Lord and Miller, who directed "The Lego Movie" as well as SPA's "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" and the studio's "Jump Street" live-action comedy hits, met with Pascal last summer to discuss what such a brain trust might look like. Lord and Miller even suggested they would approach Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg to join that team. "Can you imagine that world -- the projects, the talent we'd attract, the money we'd make," Pascal wrote to Lynton.

Pascal acknowledged in the email that Lord and Miller were tied up making four "Lego" pictures at Warner Bros. through 2015. But when the pair were asked to detail any concerns they might have about coming to Sony, Lord wrote an email to Hannah Minghella, the former Sony Pictures Animation chief who now works for Pascal exclusively on the live-action side. He cited the bad reputation of Sony Pictures Animation and the studio's visual effects unit Sony Pictures Imageworks, a reputation that developed from the loss of key talent from both divisions and Imageworks' move to Vancouver.

"It's too hard to do great work there," wrote Lord to Minghella, in answer to Sony's query.

Their assessment was only slightly harsher than an internal assessment that Minghella had sent to Pascal a day earlier. On July 31, she emailed Pascal, with subject line "Confidential" (ellipses in original):

"Objective: We want the creative direction of the company, and the projects, to be run by creatives… either an individual or a brain trust: Lord & Miller, Brad Bird, Will Gluck… (Lindsay Doran)."

Minghella outlined how such a brain trust might work, then turned to:

"Current Problems:
- low morale negatively impacts talent retention.

- studio reputation negatively impacts talent recruitment
- only one (proven) director in-house: Genndy.
- SPA no longer has the competitive edge it had before Fox, Universal, and Paramount started their animation divisions.

- ImageWorks moving to Vancouver also impacts the competitive edge that came from being LA based
- limited financial success compared with other animated titles - what are the drivers of this: Quality? Originality? Marketing? Dating?
- limited number of active projects/franchises - Cloudy, Hotel T, Smurfs, Popeye
- does the relationship with ImageWorks help or hinder SPA?"

(Genndy is "Hotel Transylvania" director Genndy Tartakovsky.)

The ensuing emails suggest that until they attempted to recruit Lord and Miller, Sony's top brass was generally uninformed about the decline of Imageworks and the ill will that the studio's personnel practices had generated in the vfx and animation community.

After receiving Minghella's honest assessment, Pascal had an email exchange with Lynton about their efforts to make Lord & Miller "our john lassiter" (sic). Pascal wrote to Lynton that Lord & Miller were excited about taking such a leadership role, but:

"... they say we have lost every good person we had there and it's a travesty"

She also added that Lord & Miller had floated the idea of approaching Rogen and Goldberg, among others, to join that brain trust. "i'm having lunch with brad bird today to talk about it with him as well…this is our shot," wrote Pascal.

Lynton responded: "why have all the good people left our place????"

Later that morning Lord emailed Minghella a list of key talent that had left Imageworks; according to Lord and Miller's reps, they sent that message in response to a request from Sony for feedback on why they were reluctant to return. Lord wrote that he and Miller felt that at Sony "artists have been treated like paper, and it's too hard to do great work there," adding, "What's not measured by who left is who never came because the reputation was so bad." Minghella forwarded the message to Pascal.

Lynton wrote to Pascal and pointed a finger at Sony Pictures Digital president Bob Osher, who oversees Sony Animation and Imageworks. Lynton implied that Osher would have to be fired. Pascal responded that Osher's "cost savings stuff" at Imageworks was "amazing."

"I am only sorry that left bob to his own devices and let it get to this point. And we just renewed Bob which is also a problem given what we will probably have to do. That being said we should do it," Lynton said in his email to Pascal.

Pascal wrote back to Lynton about the brain drain at SPA and Imageworks. She repeated some of the names Lord had provided and added: "we gotta hold on to these folks."

"we know this is an impossible situation… a much tooo great an asset to waste not to mention a real way to turn the studio around…..we have lost the competitive advantages we had when we were th eonly option for people who wanted to leave disney dreamworks or pixar as well as the advantages we had to get local talent when imageworks was one of the few remaining la based options. more than ever we have to rely on our reputation as a place for creative innovation and excellence and we don't have that reputation or reality anymore."

In the early years of this century, Imageworks was known for driving up wages for vfx pros, to the dismay of management at its competitors. One of the "big four" vfx studios, along with Industrial Light & Magic, Digital Domain and Rhythm & Hues Studios, it was a regular Oscar contender and would work on several tentpoles each year, in addition to supplying the animation for SPA. Imageworks planned to support the low-margin vfx business with profits from animation, which has been successful for every other studio.

But SPA's pictures have underperformed relative to the competition. One of the studio's biggest hits was Lord and Miller's "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs."

Over the years Imageworks shifted away from permanent jobs to a crew model, where artists are hired only for the duration of a show, which slashed personnel costs. Imageworks shifted more and more work from Los Angeles to Vancouver, and employees have complained that they were pressured to move to Vancouver, only to find that there was no job waiting for them, just an opportunity to be hired onto the next Imageworks project. In May, the division moved its HQ and all production to Vancouver.

During the summer of 2013, Imageworks did not work on a single summer tentpole. This year it had Sony's own "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" and contributed to Marvel's releases.

All this has larger implications. First, Lord and Miller's complaints about the move to Vancouver bolster arguments that runaway production -- and the unchecked pursuit of short-term profit -- will ultimately do these companies more harm than good.

Second, it suggests that Sony's top leaders were somehow unaware of the issues afflicting not just Imageworks, but the entire vfx industry, despite numerous news reports, public protests, and even the grievances raised by the Imageworks unionization org SPI Union.

© 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

23.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

National Grid increasing solar energy sites

BOSTON — National Grid is planning to expand its solar energy capacity.

The Boston Globe reports  the utility is announcing Monday it will install solar panels at 19 sites that would produce enough electricity for about 3,200 homes a year.

Ed White, National Grid's vice president of environmental and customer strategy, says it is "thrilled" about the $75 million project expected to be completed by June.

The project will give National Grid 24 solar facilities with a total capacity of 21 megawatts. They will be in Abington, Attleboro, Ayer, Brockton, Charlton, Dighton, Fall River, Grafton, Leicester, Millbury, Shirley, and Sturbridge. National Grid has small solar facilities across the state generating a combined 5 megawatts.

Northeast Utilities, parent of NStar and Western Massachusetts Electric, has three facilities in western Massachusetts with a generation capacity of 8 megawatts.

___

Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.bostonglobe.com

23.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Spanish police investigates large meat plant fire

MADRID — Spain's national police says it has deployed sniffer dogs to help investigate a large fire that destroyed one of the country's largest meat plants last month in the northern city of Burgos.

The fire on Nov. 16 gutted the Campofrio plant where 1,000 employees had worked, causing evacuation of parts of the city.

Police say dogs trained to detect fire accelerants have been brought onto the site. They were not deployed earlier because of the dangerous condition of the ruined plant.

The company's owners have said they want to rebuild the plant, which produced ham and sausages, but the future of the workforce remains uncertain during the two-year period that the reconstruction work is expected to take.

Campofrio is Europe's largest producer of packaged meat, with operations in eight countires.

23.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

White House: public likely 'cringed' when reading Sony e-mails

White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Friday said he thinks "a lot of people cringed a bit" when reading Amy Pascal's hacked Sony emails in which she jokes with producer Scott Rudin about President Obama's tastes in movies.

Pascal apologized for the racially tinged emails, which she called "insensitive and inappropriate but are not an accurate reflection of who I am."

Speaking at the White House press briefing, Earnest noted that "at least one of the Sony executives whose emails were made public has apologized for the contents of those emails, and I think that was appropriate."

"I think a lot of people who read those emails, maybe not everybody, but I think a lot of people cringed a bit when they were reading them," Earnest said.

CBS News' Major Garrett pressed Earnest on what he meant, saying, "Because [the emails] were what?"

Earnest joked, "Garrett may think it is my first day here."

Earnest said that he had not spoken to Obama about the stolen emails.

Pascal and Rudin apologized for the emails on Thursday after Buzzfeed published the leaked exchange.

© 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

23.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

House intelligence chairman: evidence points to North Korea in Sony hack attack

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said that evidence seems to be pointing to North Korea's involvement in the hacking attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment.

According to the Hill, Rogers said on Friday that even though the North Korean government has denied responsibility, they praised the action.

"I would argue as a former FBI guy, that when a nation state says that this group who doesn't know who we are but did this on behalf of the North Korean people ... and we appreciate it...As we would say in the FBI, 'That is a clue.'"

He declined to say what what he has been told in intelligence briefings, but said that public information is pointing toward North Korean responsibility.

He also said that the hack attack on Sony was a"game changer" when it came to cybersecurity, although legislation he has been championing has stalled in the Senate.

North Korea has condemned Sony's release of the movie "The Interview," a comedy in which Seth Rogen and James Franco play entertainment journalists recruited to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jung-un.

© 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

23.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

UK airspace manager calls glitch unprecedented

LONDON — An unprecedented computer systems failure touched off the recent mayhem that caused delays and canceled flights for thousands of passengers, the U.K.-based air traffic management company said Saturday.

In its first detailed explanation of the computer glitch that led to flight disruptions Friday, NATS said the problems at its control center in Swanwick occurred as more workstations were being brought on line to deal with an increase in traffic.

"In normal operations the number of workstations in use versus in standby fluctuates with the demands of the traffic being controlled," NATS said in a statement. "In this instance a transition between the two states caused a failure in the system which has not been seen before."

The computer failure made it impossible for the controllers to access data regarding individual flight plans. Planes were prevented from taking off, but those in the air and close to airports were allowed to land during the shutdown that lasted about 35 minutes.

Britain's government reacted with fury over the meltdown ahead of the holiday season, when travel demand is particularly high. Ministers are demanding a thorough explanation.

Parliament's Transport Committee chair Louise Ellman said the transport secretary will appear before her panel on Monday and will be asked about the incident.

Computer software experts have said the problem appears to lie in the age of the systems — some of which date to the 1960s. The Swanwick center has been troubled since it opened 2002 — six years late and at twice its anticipated cost.

Problems over the past two days were particularly acute at London's Heathrow Airport, where flights were canceled both Friday and Saturday.

Though the shutdown was brief, Heathrow operates at nearly full capacity. So when the flights were canceled, there was no place in the schedule to slot them.

23.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Initiative aimed at preventing sudden infant deaths

WOBURN, Mass. — Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan has begun a campaign aimed at preventing sudden unexpected infant deaths.

The campaign will include outreach to OB/GYN and pediatric offices, free regional community workshops for expectant and new parents on infant sleep safety, and a smartphone app that promotes safe sleep tips.

Sudden unexpected infant death is the leading cause of death among babies in the first year of life. More than 2,000 babies die each year in sleep-related deaths across the United States. In Massachusetts, it is the third leading cause of death statewide for children under the age of one, ranging from between 30 and 50 deaths each year.

Over the last five years, the District Attorney's Office has responded to and investigated 19 sleep-related infant deaths throughout Middlesex County.

23.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Wealth gap widens between whites and minorities

PORTLAND, Ore. — The economic recovery has not been equal among the races, according to a Pew Research Center study released Friday.

The study found that the wealth gap between white households and minorities has widened in recent years.

The wealth of white households was 13 times greater than that of black households in 2013, versus eight times the wealth in 2010. And the wealth of white households was more than 10 times that of Hispanic households, up from nine times the wealth in 2010.

Pew researchers — analyzing data from the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances— found that the gap between whites and blacks has reached its highest point since 1989. The wealth ratio for whites-to-Hispanics is at a level not seen since 2001.

Net worth is a measure of the difference between the household's assets and their liabilities. The typical household had a net worth of $81,400 in 2013, according to the Fed's survey.

The recession was universally hard on American families as a stock market crash and plunging house prices ate into their net worth. From 2007 to 2010, the median net worth of American families fell 39 percent.

But this is the first time researchers have been able to look closely at the impact of the economic recovery on households.

"I think this strikes on what many people have felt, the slow and uneven nature of the recovery," said Rakesh Kochhar, one of the study's authors.

Researchers say a number of factors may be responsible for the widening gap: falling income, lower savings rate and different asset holdings.

The median income in minority households fell 9 percent from 2010 and 2013, versus a 1 percent drop in white households. And in turn, researchers say, minority households may have either been forced to draw down from savings to get by or were unable to replenish their savings as much as white households.

Additionally, certain financial assets, such as stocks, recovered more quickly than housing since the recession ended. And white households are more likely than minorities to own stocks, putting them in a better position for a recovery.

Still, the researchers say that income has been under pressure across the races.

"It's been almost a decade now since the typical American has seen an increase in income," Kochhar said. "It's really historical in the duration of time that incomes have not risen."

23.54 | 0 komentar | Read More