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-August 01, 2008- The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Brendan Fraser starstarstarstar It's not as good as the 1999's enjoyable THE MUMMY or even the lesser 2001 sequel, THE MUMMY RETURNS: The formula is wearing thin, the humor has grown a little too corny and those yeti make SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED look state of the art. But this third entry in the popular MUMMY series -- not counting the 2002 spin-off THE SCORPION KING -- is still passable popcorn fare, even if you'll barely taste it before swallowing. Full Review The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor Details>>
Year: 2008 Rated PG Parental Rating: Cautionary; some scenes objectionable Country Of Origin: U.S. Running Time: 113 Format: Color Genre(s): Adventure; Horror Production Co(s).: Alphaville Productions; Relativity Media; Sommers Company Released By: Universal Cast Brendan Fraser: Rick O'Connell Jet Li: Emperor Han Maria Bello: Evelyn Carnahan O'Connell John Hannah: Jonathan Carnahan Michelle Yeoh: Zi Yuan Luke Ford: Alex O'Connell Russell Wong: Ming Guo Liam Cunningham: Maguire Isabella Leong: Lin Chau Sang Anthony Wong: General Yang David Calder: Roger Wilson Jessey Meng: Choi Liang Tian: Li Zhou Albert Kwan: Chu Wah Wu Jing: Assassin Wei Binghua: Assassin Guo Jing: Assassin Alison Louder: Woman in Bookstore Marcia Nasatir: Russian Princess Emerald Starr: Man in Bar Helen Feng: Nightclub Singer Stella Maryna Troshyna: Brunette at Imhotep's James Bradford: Butler Jameson Daniel Giverin: Benjamin Fry Ken C. Tran: Yang's Soldier Allan Chou: Yang's Soldier Fernando Fu-Nan Chien: Yang's Soldier Jeffrey Ong: Yang's Soldier Chris Mark: Yang's Soldier James Mark: Yang's Soldier Mike Ching: Yang's Soldier Darryl Quon: Yang's Soldier Alex Chiang: Yang's Soldier Paul Wu: Yang's Soldier Larry Lam: Yang's Soldier Brian Ho: Yang's Soldier Luu Vi-Hung: Yang's Soldier Huy-Phong Doan: Yang's Soldier Kyle Burnett Cashulin: Mad Dog's Pal Charles Esposito: Mad Dog's Pal Mike Scherer: Yeti Scott Taylor: Yeti Kham Tri Vixa Ysy: Chinese Digger Don Lew: Chinese Digger Regis Attiow: Mystic Tony Wai: Mystic Wu Yungstun: Mystic Guangxu Xiang: Mystic Lam Cong-Quyen: Mystic
Credits Rob Cohen: Director Alfred Gough: Writer Miles Millar: Writer Sean Daniel: Producer Bob Ducsay: Producer James Jacks: Producer Stephen Sommers: Producer Chris Brigham: Exec. Producer Lei Qin: Co-Producer Doris Tse: Co-Producer Josette Perrotta: Co-Producer Marck Pitre: Assoc. Producer Matthew Stuecken: Assoc. Producer Xu Pengle: Assoc. Producer Simon Duggan: Cinematographer Kelly Matsumoto: Editor Joel Negron: Editor Randy Edelman: Musical Composer Nigel Phelps: Production Designer Isabelle Guay: Art Director Daniel Carpentier: Set Decorator Martine Kazemirchuk: Set Decorator Philippe Lord: Set Decorator Sanja Milkovic Hays: Costumes Ronna Kress: Casting Bruce Steinheimer: Special Effects Matthew Butler: Special Effects Mario Dumont: Special Effects Joel Hynek: Special Effects Derek Spears: Special Effects Louis Marion: Sound - mixer Tim Walston: Sound - design Adrien Morot: Make Up - effects Colleen Quinton: Make Up Vic Armstrong: Stunts Mark Southworth: Stunts
Full Review>> It's not as good as the 1999's enjoyable THE MUMMY or even the lesser 2001 sequel, THE MUMMY RETURNS: The formula is wearing thin, the humor has grown a little too corny and those yeti make SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED look state of the art. But this third entry in the popular MUMMY series -- not counting the 2002 spin-off THE SCORPION KING -- is still passable popcorn fare, even if you'll barely taste it before swallowing.
England, 1946. Thirteen years have passed since Rick "Ricochet" O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) and his wife, Evelyn (Maria Bello, filling in for an AWOL Rachel Weisz), last sent Egyptian mummy Imhotep back to the afterlife, and they're now enjoying a life of quiet retirement in their sprawling Oxfordshire estate. Perhaps things are a little too quiet: While a bored Rick tries his hand a fly-fishing as a way of passing the time, Evelyn, who has found a new career for herself writing pulpy, supernatural adventure novels ("The Mummy" is one, "The Mummy Returns" another), stares at a blank page of typewriter paper, feeling bereft of adventure and inspiration. This spell of conjugal boredom is broken when the O'Connell's receives a visit from a Foreign Office minster who begs them to perform one final duty for the Crown: As a gesture of good will toward China, which is currently undergoing tremendous internal upheaval, the British government would like to return the fabled Eye of Shangri-la, a gold encrusted jewel that is said to point they way toward the spring eternal life. Rick and Evelyn agree to courier the stone to Shanghai, unaware that their now-grown son Alex (Luke Ford), whom they think is away at university, is already in China: Unbeknownst to his parents, Alex has been searching for the tomb of the Emperor Han (played in the lengthy prologue by Jet Li), the merciless tyrant who united the warring kingdoms of China under his iron-fisted rule. After conquering his rivals, enslaving their people and literally working them to death building the Great Wall, Han sought the one thing no man on earth had ever been able to achieve -- immortality -- and he charged his trusty aide, General Ming (Russell Wong), to seek out the witch Zi Juan (Michelle Yeoh) whom Han believed held the secret to eternal life. When the jealous emperor had Ming executed for consorting with the sorceress he planned to make empress, Zi Juan threw a curse on Han and his army, turning them all into terracotta figures. Not long after uncovering Han's sarcophagus, Alex realizes has been used as a pawn by the ambitious General Yang (Anthony Wong), who has evil plans for China: Like Emperor Han before him, he dreams of unifying the various factions that are currently vying for power, and plans on releasing Han and his army from Zi Juan's spell so they can do the dirty work for him. Foolish mortal!
There's nothing inherently wrong with formula: The whole pulp tradition on which movies like THE MUMMY and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK are based depends on age-old, easily identifiable archetypes whose fates are a given from the get-go. But if the story's well told, all the foregone conclusions really shouldn't matter, and therein lies the difference between genre expectations and dull predictability. THE DRAGON EMPEROR walks a fine line between the two. The screenplay by Smallville creators Miles Millar and Alfred Gough, who together also wrote SHANGHAI NOON and SHANGHAI KNIGHTS, front-loads a few good ideas, but falters on the execution: There are so few surprises that one not only begins anticipating the next scene, but looking forward to the ending. --Ken Fox
There is a new innovation of instant messaging software is called Google Lively. Google Lively is a web-based virtual environment produced by Google Inc. similar to the instant messaging software IMVU. On the opening download page, users are invited to "Create an avatar and chat with your friends in rooms you design."
Up to 20 people can occupy a room and chat with one another. (Text appears as cartoon-style bubbles atop the avatars.) Users can design their own virtual environments, hanging on the walls videos from YouTube and photos from Picasa, Google’s photo service, as if they were pieces of art. Inside Google, the product was headed by Niniane Wang, an engineering manager. Students at Arizona State University have been testing Lively for several months. Ms. Wang wrote in the blog post that she developed Lively as a “20 percent project,” referring to Google’s philosophy that employees should spend one day a week working on projects outside of their day-to-day responsibilities. Her spare time could cause some problems for companies with similar ideas. Second Life, the virtual world run by Linden Labs of San Francisco, is known for its much larger virtual world that hundreds of thousands of users can enter at the same time. But it is accessible through a separate program, not a Web browser.
Unlike Second Life, the Lively users cannot buy and sell products. Since there is no user-generated content on Lively, items such as hairstyles, clothing and furniture are limited to a catalog of pre-designed selections.
Wang introduced her product July 8, 2008 with this comment:
If you enter a Lively room embedded on your favorite blog or website, you can immediately get a sense of the room creator's interests, just by looking at the furniture and environment they chose. You can also express your own personality by customizing your avatar's look, showing people who you are without having to say a word. Of course, you can chat with each other, and you can also interact through animated actions. In our user research, we’ve been amazed at how much more poignant it is to receive an animated hug than seeing the text “hug”. Prior to this release, we worked closely with Arizona State University. Based on feedback from ASU students and with help from the Google Desktop team, we added support for playing YouTube videos in virtual TVs and showing photos in virtual picture frames inside our rooms.
Gadgets in Lively rooms can also run on a user's desktop through Google Desktop.
Looks like telepresence really will be all the rage in the future. The TMSUK-4 created by Japanese robotics developer Tmsuk will let shoppers enjoy the full tactile experience of browsing shelves without having to step into the store. We were all ready to compare the idea to the immortally reclining meatbags from Pixar's WALL•E, but Tmsuk handily disarmed us with their demo. The robot allowed — get ready to awww — an infirm grandmother to shop with her granddaughter.
One of the best things, the altered TMSUK-4 doesn't take an expert to control. It can be guided with simply a cell phone. Granny used the keypad to control the robot and, using Japan's superior cell phone technology, watched through the robot's eyes as she got her granddaughter to model several hats for her. For Tmsuk, seeing the robot in action makes a future where shoppers all over the world can peruse the streets of New York and London easily imaginable.
The demonstration took place on July 10th at the Izutsuya department store in Kitakyushu, Japan.
With a big movie like Hellboy II: The Golden Army hitting theaters today, you're bound to get hit by toys and games and other related merchandise promoting the film — most of it a bunch of crap. Sideshow Collectibles knows how to herald a premiere in style — just take a look at this faithfully recreated "Big Baby" shotgun used by Big Red in the film, complete with removable toy shells. It also plays music when you wind it up, bleating out a soothing Lullaby and Goodnight before you have to go face those scary demons.
If the "Big Baby" is already intimidating you, get ready for another scare: it's $700. The monster shotgun/pistol is over two feet long and its shipping weight — including its display base — is 42 pounds.
Miss Venezuela was crowned Miss Universe 2008 on Monday in a contest marked by the spectacle of Miss USA falling down during the evening gown competition for the second year in a row.
An elated Dayana Mendoza received the crown from her predecessor, Riyo Mori of Japan, and then prepared to meet a gaggle of reporters. Miss Venezuela, 22, was once kidnapped in her homeland and says the experience taught her to remain poised under pressure.
Tension got under the skin of Crystle Stewart of Texas, the second Miss USA in a row to fall down during the Miss Universe pageant. She tripped on the train of her bejeweled evening gown as she made her entrance.
During the 2007 Miss Universe contest in Mexico City, Miss USA Rachel Smith also tumbled during the evening gown competition and became an unintended star on You Tube, where the video was shown over and over again.
Like Smith, Stewart quickly stood up after her fall and continued on as if nothing had happened.
Stewart, 26, is a motivational speaker and former track and filed star who is working on a book called "Waiting to Win." The Houston native plans to open a character-development school for young children and has worked with autism victims in the Texas schools.
The final five contestants included four from Latin America: Miss Mexico, Miss Dominican Republic, Miss Colombia and Miss Venezuela. Rounding out the final five was Miss Russia.
Miss Colombia finished second behind Mendoza.
Miss Thailand won the prize for best national costume and Miss El Salvador was chosen by her peers as Miss Congeniality.
During her interview with the judges, Mendoza was asked who she thought has it easier in life, women or men.
"God made us to share and have differences," she replied, then highlighted what she regards as the different thought processes of men and women.
"Men think that the faster way to go to a point is to go straight," she said. "Women know that the faster way to go to a point is to go to the curves."
The NBC show was hosted by talk show star Jerry Springer and Spice Girl Melanie Brown and broadcast live to hundreds of millions of viewers in 170 countries.
Eighty contestants gathered in the seaside city of Nha Trang, Vietnam, vying to succeed reigning Miss Universe Riyo Mori of Japan.
Sporting yellow, green and orange bikinis, the 15 semifinalists strutted across the stage during the swimsuit competition to the sounds of Lady Gaga, who belted out the pulsating "Just Dance" in a platinum blond wig. Miss Vietnam, Lam Thuy Nguyen, was greeted with a roar from the Vietnamese audience.
The final 10 then competed in the evening gown event.
They performed in front of a panel of judges that included international fashion experts and Donald Trump Jr., whose father, the real estate magnate and TV star, co-owns the pageant with NBC.
This year's contestants spanned a wide range of experiences and aspirations.
Miss Albania was a professional basketball player. Miss Argentina says she has paranormal experiences. Miss Antigua & Barbuda is fascinated by snakes. Miss Angola was in a plane crash while trying to escape a conflict during her country's civil war.
The show has been a publicity bonanza for Vietnam, where beauty contests are very popular. The contest featured segments on many of the nation's most popular tourist destinations, such as Hue, Hoi An, Sapa and Ha Long Bay.
The program set has been dominated by iconic Vietnamese images, such as bamboo trees, conical hats and lotus flowers.
The tuxedoed Springer made a grand entrance on a motorbike -- the vehicle of choice in Vietnam where the streets are teeming with millions of the speeding two-wheelers.
-July 25, 2008- X-Files movie, David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully (David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, respectively) reprise the roles they made famous on Fox's reason-vs.-faith spookfest in this sequel to 1998's film follow-up. Plot details are naturally being kept under wraps, but we know this much: Amanda Peet and Xzibit costar, and the movie, which takes places six years after the first film, will answer some questions about Scully's son, William, whom she gave up for adoption. Watch trailers
The X-Files: I Want To Believe Details>>
Year: 2008 Rated Parental Rating: Country Of Origin: U.S. Running Time: 0 Format: Color Genre(s): Thriller Production Co(s).: 20th Century Fox; Blue Light Productions Released By: 20th Century Fox Also Known As: X-Files 2
The second feature spun off from the hugely popular television series, which ran from 1993 to 2002, plays like a stand-alone episode rather than drawing on the show's complex and sometimes muddled, which makes it more accessible to newcomers and occasional viewers than 1998's THE X-FILES. But like the first film, it isn't a patch on the series' best episodes, and on its own merits it's an okay thriller whose influences will be all-too clear to b-movie buffs.
Six years after FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who were thrown together to investigate cases that defied (or seemed to defy) ordinary explanations, abandoned the so-called "x-files" division, their lives have gone in very different directions. Scully, the skeptical doctor whose Catholic faith was sorely tested by some of the cases she and Scully investigated, is now a staff physician at Our Lady of Sorrows Hospital and is deeply involved in the case of a young patient with a fatal genetic disorder. Mulder – blackballed by his former employers and officially a fugitive – has gone to ground and spends his days studying offbeat newspaper stories in the shadow of his iconic "I Want to Believe" poster. The abduction of an FBI agent in West Virginia brings them back into the fold via ambitious agent Dakota Whitney (Amanda Peet). Painfully aware that the clock is ticking for the missing woman, Agent Whitney's best lead is Father Joseph Fitzpatrick Crissman (Billy Connelly), a deeply compromised priest who claims to have visions and has inexplicably led them to their best clue yet: A neatly severed arm buried in the snow – granted, it's a man's arm and Whitney's task force can't begin to imagine what it has to do with the case, but it's all they have. Is Crissman genuinely psychic and, if so, could a true believer like Mulder tease enough concrete information from his vague and ambiguous paranormal insights to rescue the missing woman? Or does Crissman have some mundane connection to the case the FBI hasn't yet uncovered, one he's consciously or unconsciously mining for some perverse reason?
Series creator Chris Carter and longtime collaborator Frank Spotnitz (Carter directed and they co-wrote the screenplay) focus heavily on Mulder and Scully's thorny relationship, forged in the fire of horrific shared experience and doomed by their fundamental incompatibility: She skeptical to the bone and he's looking for proof that there are more things in heaven and earth than science can explain. Their simmering romance, rooted in friendship and intellectual curiosity, drove the series: Monsters of the week get old fast, which is one reason Kolchak: The Night Stalker, the 1970s series Carter claimed as his inspiration for The X-Files, burned out after 20 episodes. But without that background, their poignant reunion takes a backseat to long and none-too-subtle conversations about faith and belief. The Carter and Spotnitz's credit, such weighty concerns aren't the stuff of most mainstream genre movies. But they're also not sufficiently gripping to transform a middling thriller into something truly provocative or haunting. --Maitland McDonagh
- July 18, 2008 - Though Heath Ledger's untimely death cast a pall over the already-dark film, word is that his interpretation of the Joker as a scarred, methodical sociopath is scarier than any prior take on the prankster. Christian Bale steps into Batman's tights again, while Maggie Gyllenhaal takes over for Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, Bruce Wayne's childhood pal. Watch trailers
Batman: The Dark Knight Details>>
Year: 2008 Rated PG-13 Parental Rating: Cautionary; some scenes objectionable Country Of Origin: U.S. Running Time: 0 Format: Color Genre(s): Fantasy; Thriller Production Co(s).: DC Comics; Legendary Pictures; Syncopy; Warner Bros. Released By: Warner Bros.
Even without Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker, Christopher Nolan's pitch-black sequel to BATMAN BEGINS (2005) would be a tour de force. But Ledger's mesmerizingly damaged agent provocateur is the film's dark heart, a presence so malevolently unpredictable that it remains palpable even when he's not on screen.
Millionaire Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) continues to live his double life as the crusading Batman, but at an ever-escalating personal cost: He's displaced and all but alone. Wayne Manor has been burned to the ground, forcing him into an anonymous high-rise apartment, and childhood sweetheart Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal, taking over from the vapid Katie Holmes) has taken up with crusading district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) who's conducting his war on crime, by the book and in the bright light of day. Faithful butler Albert (Michael Caine) and Wayne Industries' factotum Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) continue to support Bruce's lonely battle against criminals, but Gotham City is still overrun with warring gangs. Public opinion regarding the dark angel is polarized -- grassroots champion of the average citizen or dangerous vigilante? – and the headline-grabbing exploits of a pack of untrained, hot-headed imitators who've sprung up in the Batman's shadow only muddy the waters further. Succumbing to the unrelenting pressure, Batman and longtime ally Lieutenant Gordon (Gary Oldman) agree to work with Dent, an arrangement that brings impressive short-term results but sets the stage for an anarchic reign of terror orchestrated by the wild card in the underworld deck: The Joker (Ledger). Having made himself persona non grata among thieves by robbing the banks that launder and safeguard their ill-gotten gains, the Joker then proposes that they all work together to take back the night.
Written by Nolan and his brother, Jonathan (David S. Goyer gets co-story credit), the film juggles multiple intertwined narratives – Batman's dark night of the soul, the Joker's machinations, the rise and fall of Dent, the criminal super-alliance – without feeling bloated or unfocused; its 142 minutes fly by. Nolan stages some stunning action sequences – the opening heist is worthy of Michael Mann – and maintains a convincing atmosphere of apocalyptic paranoia; Gotham City is under siege, people are genuinely frightened and life-or-death situations can go either way. But most importantly, he gives his top-notch cast plenty of room to breathe and inhabit their characters. That Ledger stands out in such a powerhouse ensemble is a tribute to his radically unhinged interpretation of a familiar character: The lank hair tinged seaweed green, the darting tongue and faint lisp that call constant attention to the ghastly rictus of his mouth, the nightmarishly smudged make up… taken together, they make previous Jokers feel like, well, jokes. --Maitland McDonagh
Sebagai pendatang baru di dunia Linux Ubuntu dirilis untuk pertama kalinya pada bulan September 2004. Proyek ini langsung tinggal landas seperti belum pernah terjadi sebelumnya pada distro-distro lain. Ia disambut publik dengan penuh entusias dimana tidak lama kemudian mailing list Ubuntu diramaikan dan menjadi sarang para pengembang dan pencintanya.
Tidak ada yang meragukan lagi bila ia berkembang dengan pesatnya dan dalam waktu singkat telah menjadi primadona diantara semua distro melampaui popularitas distro-distro mampan lainnya. Ia piawai dalam menyediakan Sistem Operasi desktop bebas yang mudah digunakan dan tak gentar ditandingkan dengan desktop proprietari apapun yang ditemukan dipasaran.
Keberhasilan Ubuntu tidak terlepas dari dukungan kuat penciptanya, pengusaha muda multimilioner Mark Shuttleworth asal Afrika Selatan, mantan pengembang Debian dan turis luar angkasa kedua. Sebagai pemilik perusahan Canonical Ltd berbasis di pulau Isle of Man, ia juga membiayai proyek Ubuntu sepenuhnya sampai saat ini.
Nama Ubuntu diambil dari bahasa lokal yang mengandung makna dan ditranformasikan menjadi konsep dasar gerakan Ubuntu: "humanity toward others", "we are people because of other people", atau "I am who I am because of who we all are", dst. Dengan demikian distribusi ini diharapkan akan membawa spirit Ubuntu ke dunia pengembangan software. Ubuntu adalah software bebas, dan penggunanya bahu membahu bergotong royong mengembangkannya.
Belajar dari kekeliruan yang pernah dilakukan proyek-proyek serupa, ia langsung memperbaikinya dari mula, dengan menyediakan infrastruktur berbasis web yang sangat baik berikut dokumentasi ala Wiki, fasilitas pelaporan kekeliruan (bug-reporting facility) yang inovatif, disamping cara pendekatan professional terhadap penggunanya.
Disisi teknis, Ubuntu menggunakan Debian Sid (unstable branch) sebagai basis dan sejumlah paket aplikasi utama yang disediakan dengan versi terkini. Tidak lazim terjadi dikalangan pengembangan proyek komununitas adalah jadwal penerbitan versi Ubuntu yang dapat diprediksi sebelumnya dalam ritmus duakali setahun dan ketersediaan rilis Long Term Support (LTS) dengan jaminan dukungan perbaikan selama 3 - 5 tahun, sementara edisi non-LTS mendapat dukungan selama 18 bulan.
Fitur khusus bermanfaat dari Ubuntu lainnya termasuk LiveDistro atau liveCD yang dapat diinstalasi dengan mudah, karya seni (artwork) dan thema desktop yang kreatif, pemandu migrasi bagi pengguna Windows, mendukung teknologi terkini seperti efek desktop 3D, kemudahan instalasi device drivers proprietari untuk kartu grafis ATI dan NVIDIA termasuk jaringan nirkabel WLAN, dan dukungan on-demand untuk media codec non-free maupun yang dilindungi hak patent. Singkatnya, Ubuntu adalah sebuah hasil karya dengan dukungan kelas perusahan dengan kebebasan skala komunitas.
Pramugari dan Kakek Tua
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"Kisah Nyata Pramugari Dan Kakek Tua" Saya adalah seorang pramugari biasa
dari china Airline. Karena bergabung dengan perusahaan penerbangan hanya
bebe...
-August 01, 2008-
