Trending on Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Trending on Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Mila Kunis Signs to be in Oz, the Great and Powerful

Mila Kunis is set to pack her bags and head to the land of Oz. The actress has wrapped up negotiations and sealed a deal with Disney to play Theodora, the youngest sister of three witches, in Oz, the Great and Powerful, the prequel to 1939’s The Wizard of Oz.

Kunis will co-star opposite James Franco, who portrays a fast-talking snake oil salesman and illusionist who flees a traveling circus and winds up whisked away in a hot air balloon by a tornado to Oz where he must face off against real magic and the sisters battling for control of the land.

Theodora starts out as a good witch, alongside her beautiful sister Glinda, but after her sexual advances are jilted by Franco’s salesman, she’s convinced by Evanora to switch sides and help her older sister rule Oz.

I’m a bit hesitant toward the idea of making this film. Filmmakers are always dancing a fine line when the take on the task of remaking, or making sequels/prequels to established classics. 
And you don’t get much more established than The Wizard of Oz.

I have no problem with Kunis or Franco, and to be honest, the story does sound pretty interesting. It just worries me that Robert Downey, Jr. dropped the role Franco picked up, and Johnny Depp passed on it altogether.

I have faith in Sam Raimi (Spider-Man 3 aside). Here’s hoping he pulls off a good movie that, while no one expects him to exceed the original, at least does the original justice.

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Bahrain Doctors Face Trial Over Role In Protests 

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Dozens of doctors and nurses who treated injured anti-government protesters during the months of unrest in Bahrain went on trial in a security court on Monday on allegations they participated in efforts to overthrow the Gulf country's monarchy.

The prosecution of 47 health professionals is a sign that Bahrain's Sunni rulers will not end their relentless pursuit of the Shiite-led opposition despite officially lifting emergency rule last week.

The doctors and nurses were arraigned on Monday during a closed hearing in a security court authorized under emergency rule that was imposed in mid-March to crush weeks of demonstrations by Bahrain's Shiite majority, which has campaigned for greater freedoms, equal rights and an elected government. 
The court has military prosecutors and military and civilian judges.

The medical workers were charged with participating in efforts to topple Bahrain's Sunni monarchy and taking part in illegal rallies. Other charges against the doctors and nurses, most of whom treated injured protesters in the state-run Salmaniya Medical Complex in the capital, Manama, include harming the public by spreading false news and denying medical attention to several Sunni patients.

Only select journalists are allowed to cover the trials in the security court after authorities put a gag order on legal proceedings against suspected opposition supporters. Select family members were allowed to attend Monday's arraignment. Amid tight security in and outside the court, relatives were also given 30 minutes to talk to the defendants after proceedings were adjourned to give lawyers more time to prepare for their clients' defense.

Another hearing in the case is set for June 13.

During the unrest, medical staff in Bahrain repeatedly said they were under professional duty to treat all and strongly rejected claims by authorities that helping anti-government protesters was akin to supporting their cause.

Bahrain's military took over the Salmaniya hospital after martial law was imposed March 15. The government said the complex was used to stage protests and conduct illegal political activities, charging the 47 doctors and nurses in custody with additional offenses, such as assault, embezzlement and possession of weapons.

The doctors and patients in Salmaniya said soldiers and police had conducted interrogations and detentions inside the complex and many injured protesters did not seek treatment there for fear of being arrested.

International rights groups have criticized Bahrain's campaign against medical professionals, saying that authorities have deliberately targeted doctors and nurses who treated hundreds of injured demonstrators at the Salmaniya hospital during a weeks of demonstrations against the 200-year rule of the Al Khalifa family.

At least 31 people have died since the protests – inspired by revolts around the Middle East – began in mid-February. Among them were four opposition supporters who died in custody. The U.S., which bases its Navy's 5th Fleet in the country, has called on Bahrain's leaders to try to meet at least some of the protest movement's demands.

Hundreds of protesters, opposition leaders, human rights activists, athletes and Shiite professionals have been detained during two and a half months of a harsh crackdown. Two protesters were sentenced to death.

Emergency rule was lifted on Wednesday and protesters again marched on the capital's Pearl Square on Friday. They were met with tear gas and rubber bullets from Bahraini police as they tried to regain control of the former center of the anti-government protests in Bahrain.

 

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Disney legends Betty Taylor, Wally Boag die within a day of each other.

ANAHEIM, California — They shared a stage at Disneyland five days a week for nearly three decades and died within a day of each other.

Betty Taylor, who played Slue Foot Sue in Disney's long-running Golden Horseshoe Revue, passed away Saturday — one day after the death of Wally Boag, who played her character's sweetheart, Pecos Bill.
The 91-year-old Taylor died at her home in Washington state, Disneyland announced on its website. Boag, who was 90, died Friday. He was a resident of Santa Monica, California.
The causes of death were not announced and attempts to contact relatives for comment were not immediately successful.
"Betty's role as leading lady in Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe Revue helped turn it into the longest-running stage show in entertainment history," George Kalogridis, the president of Disneyland Resort, said in a statement. "It is a tragic coincidence that her passing comes just one day after the death of longtime co-star Wally Boag."
Boag, a former vaudeville performer, signed a two-week contract with Walt Disney in 1955. He originated the role of Pecos Bill in the revue, taking the stage three times a day and logging nearly 40,000 performances before retiring in 1982.
Most of those shows were alongside Taylor, who joined the revue a year after Hoag. Her run on the show — which closed in 1986 — lasted nearly 45,000 performances.
The Golden Horseshoe Revue is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running stage production in show business history.
"Wally was instrumental in the development of live entertainment during the early years of both Disneyland Park and Walt Disney World Resort," 
Kalogridis said. "His characters will continue to live in the hearts of our guests, while his larger-than-life personality will forever make him the true Clown Prince of Disneyland."
Boag's comedic timing influenced generations of performers, including actor Steve Martin, who called Boag his "hero." Martin tweeted Saturday that Boag was "the first comedian I ever saw live, my influence, a man to whom I aspired."
Boag and Taylor both appeared on television in "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color."
And before joining Disney, Boag appeared in a number of films during the 1940s, including "Without Love," starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, and "The Thrill of Romance," with Esther Williams.
He later appeared in Disney films such as "The Absent-Minded Professor," ''Son of Flubber" and "The Love Bug."
Born in Seattle, Taylor began taking dance lessons at age 3. At 14, she sang and danced in nightclubs across the country, and by 18, led her own band called Betty and Her Beaus, which included 16 male musicians and appeared regularly at the Trianon Ballroom in Seattle.
In 1956, while living in Los Angeles and performing as a drum player with a musical group, Taylor heard about auditions for a song-and-dance job at Disneyland. She got the gig, which she held for 30 years, leading to appearances on a USO tour of Greenland and Newfoundland and a show for President Richard Nixon and his family at the White House.
She performed at the park until 1987, but continued to appear in special events, such as Walt Disney's Wild West, a 1995 retrospective at the

Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles.

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Larry Hagman memorabilia sale fetches more than $500,000 at auction

 

Auctioneers said the sale of Hollywood memorabilia belonging to the actor fetched more than $500,000, about twice what they had expected. Julien's Auctions said Hagman himself showed up at Saturday's sale in Beverly Hills to urge buyers to "bid high and bid often," WFAA-TV, Dallas/Fort Worth said Sunday.

Julien's said the highest price for an individual item was $80,000 for a fancy saddle the 79-year-old Hagman used earlier in the week in a ride along Beverly Hills' famed Wilshire Blvd. with "Dallas" co-star Linda Gray.

Hagman, who also starred "I Dream of Jeannie," said he decided to part with more than 400 items because it was time to downsize.

The New York Times said that although "Dallas" wrapped in 1991, the melodrama's popularity has held on among loyal viewers around the world.

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Nikki Reed and ex-'American Idol finalist Paul McDonald are engaged

 

Reed, 23, is best known for her work in "The Twilight Saga" movies. McDonald, 26, competed on Season 10 of "American Idol."

People.com said the couple posed for photos together at Sunday's MTV Movie Awards.

Reed was wearing a bauble on her left ring finger as she told E! about McDonald. "He's the one," she said.

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Molly Sims Says ‘Yes’ to Scott Stuber  

Love is in the air for swimsuit model turned actress Molly Sims and her longtime beau Scott Stuber.

Stuber, a producer (Love and Other Drugs), popped the question to Sims on May 20th in Los Angeles and upon receiving a ‘yes’, flew in her parents for the special day.

This marriage will be the first for Sims and second for Stuber, who separated in 2009 from actress Rachel Nichols after only 7 months of marriage.

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition standout Sims is well known for her roles in the TV series “Las Vegas” and in the movie “Yes Man.” Outside of acting and modeling she also dabbles in fashion and started her own jewelery line back in 2010- 

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2,500 Pennies Used To Pay For Medical Bill 

After paying his medical bill with 2,500 pennies, last May 27, 2011, a man was charged of disorderly conduct in Vernal, Utah, according to reports by several international news sites.

Reports say that after Jason West asked the Basin Clinic staff whether they accept cash, he dumped the 2,500 pennies on the counter that resulted  the pennies to scatter over the counter and floor. He even demanded the clinic staff to count the pennies.

West was reportedly disputing an outstanding $25 bill with the Vernal clinic.

Because of the incident, the 38-year-old West was issued a citation for disorderly conduct. 
He will therefore faces a fine of up to $140.

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Two melanoma drugs prolong survival for some cancer patients 

Late-stage melanoma patients who received an experimental drug targeting a cancer-driving gene mutation were less likely to die or see their cancer progress than patients given a standard chemotherapy drug, new research shows.

The drug, vemurafenib, is designed to treat patients who have what’s known as a BRAF gene mutation, which is found in about half of metastatic melanoma cases and is thought to promote cancer cell growth.

In a trial of 675 late-stage melanoma patients with the mutation, vemurafenib reduced the risk of death by 63 percent after three months compared to the standard chemotherapy drug, dacarbazine, researchers reported Sunday in Chicago at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

The drug also shrank tumors in 48 percent of patients, compared to 5 percent in those taking dacarbazine.

The most common side effects in the study were skin rashes, joint pain and light sensitivity. 
In addition, 18 percent of patients developed an easily treatable non-melanoma skin cancer.

The findings, which were published in the New England Journal of Medicine, are significant because advanced melanoma is one of the deadliest cancers, and there are few effective treatments for it. The study also demonstrates that targeting treatment to a tumor’s specific gene mutations can work much better than the use of non-specific chemotherapy drugs — an approach known as personalized medicine that is considered the next frontier in cancer treatment.

“This is the first successful melanoma treatment tailored to patients who carry a specific gene mutation in their tumor, and could eventually become one of only two drugs available that improves overall survival in advanced cancers,” said lead study author Dr. Paul Chapman, M.D., of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Vemurafenib is not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but its availability is “a major defining moment that will have an important effect on survival and quality of life” for people with the BRAF mutation, an accompanying editorial in the New England Journal said.

In a second study presented at the cancer meeting, an immune-stimulating drug already shown to prolong survival in late-stage melanoma patients who failed to respond to other treatments did the same when used as a first treatment.

The drug ipilimumab, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Yervoy, was approved by the FDA in March.

In the trial, more than 500 patients were randomly assigned to receive either a combination of ipilimumab and dacarbazine or decarbazine and a placebo. 

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Steve Jobs to unveil new music service

 

(CBS) - Steve Jobs is expected to unveil Apple's iCloud music service today.
Jobs will briefly return from his medical leave to give the keynote address at Apple's annual conference.
The main focus of the event will be the iCloud which lets customers store and access music and other content on the Internet instead of downloading.


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3-D printers will be your next home accessory

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Imagine being able to print your own shoes or keys. Some top engineers are betting that home fabrication machines could soon be as common in the household as toaster ovens.
They sound cutting-edge, but 3-D printers have been around for more than 20 years. Until recently, they've been multimillion-dollar machines used mainly by manufacturers like automobile and aerospace companies. Now, the technology has evolved far enough that cheap devices are making 3-D printing accessible to the masses, spurring all types of creativity. Hobbyists are printing their own action figures, doctors have used the systems to print artificial organs, and chefs are testing out ways to
print gourmet meals.

Rajeev Kulkarni, vice president of global engineering at 3D Systems, estimates that the cheapest printers five years ago ranged from $25,000 to $50,000. Now, they're available for as little as $1,000.

Wohlers Associates, an independent consulting firm that has tracked the evolution of 3D printers, agrees. It expects the industry to grow from $1.3 billion in 2010 to $5.2 billion in 2020.

Georgia Tech research scientist Grant Schindler is already building tools for the wave of home 3-D hobbyists he sees emerging. He recently released an iPhone app that allows users to scan and print models of their faces on home fabrication machines.

He thinks 3-D printers will really take off when average people find the right use for them.

"It's more like 10 years before it comes really common," he said. "And there has to be a killer app -- maybe jewelry is it. There needs to be something that everyone wants, that everyone says 'I need this 3-D printer.

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Apple WWDC: What to expect from today's keynote.

Apple WWDC kicks off today with a keynote from CEO Steve Jobs. Here's all the latest rumors, so that you're prepared for the Apple WWDC news. 

Apple WWDC is gearing up Monday morning, so it’s no surprise that the Apple rumor mill has been in full effect this weekend. We already know that Apple will discuss iOS 5, Max OS X Lion, and iCloud at WWDC, but the specifics have so far eluded the tech community.

So far, we have what may be an early glimpse at the new notifications system in iOS 5, as well as word that Apple’s Time Capsule may get a major upgrade to work with iCloud.

The purported iOS 5 notification screenshot (right) comes from TechCrunch’s MG Siegler, who’s definitely hedging his bets on the image’s accuracy. It features a Twitter notification showing up on the top of the iPhone’s screen, instead of in a garish message in the middle of the screen. Siegler notes that this particular design would already fit in well with the current iOS workflow that puts tethering and mid-call notifications at the top of the screen. His sources say that the image has the “right idea.”

Last week, we reported that Apple hired a jailbreak app developer who developed a replacement notification system for iOS, and last year Apple poached WebOS developer Rich Dellinger, who spearheaded that platform’s gorgeous notification system. At this point, it’s a given that Apple has been working on revamping its iOS notifications for some time, so you can rest certain that something new will be shown off tomorrow.

Apple may also announce extensive integration between its Time Machine backups and iCloud, CultofMac’s Leander Kahney reports. An Apple source tells him that the company has developed a way to access files from its Time Capsule router and backup device (which is set up on a home network) through iCloud — potentially allowing users to access their files anywhere on iOS and Mac OS X devices (and presumably any computer with a web browser).

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