Goodbye Carte Blanche

Goodbye Carte Blanche

Dame Margot Fonteyn and her ballet buddy Rudolph Nureyev danced
beyond the twilight of their careers. She finally created
dreadful embarrassment on stage at Covent Garden by managing
only three beats of what was meant to be a four-beat entrechat.
The once-loyal audience booed them off stage and into
retirement. The same should happen to South African media
network M-Net’s Carte Blanche TV program.

Everything and every one of us reach a sell-by date. Prescient
retailer Woolworths got the plot a long time ahead of their
competitors. I believe M-Net’s Carte Blanche TV program now
needs to do some serious belly-button contemplation on the same
score. It’s out of date, has become unashamedly biased and is
hosted by fading fogies. Reinvent it or euthanase it.

Market forces are a-movin’ and new subscription-TV airwaves in
South Africa are scheduled to break the M-Net Multichoice
stranglehold – and not before time. This will remove the unfair
competitive advantage enjoyed by the monopoly. It will also
hopefully give executive producer George Mazarakis and his team
the required kick in the backside to revisit their rationale for
and the positioning of their ailing progeny.

If you want to pitch a program as journalism, then do so. SABC’s
Special Assignment is a superb example of genuine investigative
TV journalism. But Carte Blanche has degenerated, unsubtly, into
electronic tabloid. It sets out sometimes with a misinformed
objective in mind and sure as hell doesn’t let the facts get in
the way of the subsequently biased program.

Two examples among many, spring to mind. Every now and again,
when they’re clearly scraping the bottom of the barrel for a
story, they dredge up the tired forty year old Ritalin debate.
Quoting self-serving, self-promotional ‘experts’ like Patrick
Holford. Or a wannabe-famous, jaded American psychiatrist who
takes on his peer group in a desperate quest for his Andy Warhol
fifteen minutes of fame. Carte Blanche ‘researchers’, producers,
directors and in my opinion pseudo-journalist anchors need to
remember the adage that one swallow doth not a Summer make. Just
because some over-the-hill shrink takes a contrapuntal stance,
doesn’t mean it’s fact. Hell, imagine if President Mbeki and his
loyal sidekick, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and their
vitamin-punting buddy Mathias Raath got this sort of billing.
We’d all become brain-washed AIDS denialists.

The founding tenet in journalism is that you present the facts
and leave the audience to draw its own conclusions. If it’s an
opinion piece – like this article – then don’t pretend it’s
objective journalism. Carte Blanche crossed the Rubicon of
credibility years ago. Their present programming is a pastiche
of current affairs and fluffy investigation, coupled with
headline-grabbing codswallop that’s clearly designed only to
boost ratings.

A very recent example is their pathetic foray into consumer
journalism with the program on mobile phone charges in South
Africa. Over the years, with a number of their ‘investigative’
programs I’ve had an inside track on what’s happened back-stage.
In this case, mobile phone per-minute call costs are in fact
lower than when the service was introduced in 1994. Pre-paid,
introduced in 1996, ditto. SMS rates, ditto. When compared with
similar markets (being realistic on economies, demographics,
population density and the like) South African mobile phone
charges fall into the ‘average’ category. Even when
inappropriately compared with developed economy markets, the
rates fall into the average zone. ICASA’s report on SA mobile
rates was flawed and presented erroneous data. But Carte Blanche
used it as ‘fact’. Pre-paid mobile phone users don’t subsidise
contract users. It’s in fact the exact opposite. Contract users,
whether they make calls or not, are committed to pay a fixed
amount per month for twenty four months. Pre-paid users have
access to a free telephone service following a tiny initial
investment. They don’t have to make a single call. They receive
calls free. They have no legal, financial or other obligation to
the network provider.

Why did this all not get discussed in the Carte Blanche program?
The answer? It did – but it got edited out. Because it would
have thrown the flawed ingoing Carte Blanche premise out with
the proverbial bathwater.

Perhaps Carte Blanche’s perception genuinely was that the South
African mobile phone user was being ripped off. But the
interview evidence demonstrated the contrary. So how much better
if Carte Blanche management had the balls to report so! It’s a
travesty when you masquerade under the guise of journalism only
to punt a pre-determined viewpoint and manipulate editing to
support your erroneous premise.

May upcoming competitive forces light a fire of integrity and
commitment to genuine journalism under the backside of Carte
Blanche – or for heaven’s sake, get it off stage!

Four Vampire Movies You?ve Probably Never Heard Of

Four Vampire Movies You?ve Probably Never Heard Of

“Martin”

This early film by “Night of the Living Dead” director George A. Romero takes the movie and novel vampire clichés and spins them on their head, following the murderous and psychological problems of a young man who thinks he is a vampire. The movie never really comes forward with whether or not Martin is or isn’t an 85 year old vampire or if he is just a confused and shy 20 year old boy, which adds to the power and emotion of this unique take on vampire lore. Martin isn’t a “sexy” vampire with powers or hot cars with spoilers, he’s just a regular guy.

“Ultraviolet”

This strange mix of science fiction and vampirism flopped in the box office but is worth a viewing just for the great visual effects, fight scenes and beautiful Milla Jovovich. In the year 2078 after a global pandemic that gives the infected vampire-like powers but also kills them in 12 years, Violet is hired to steal a weapon that will be used to kill all infected on the planet. The plot is a bit silly but the fun twist on old-world vampirism in a future-setting is amusing.

“The Last Man on Earth”

This classic 1964 science fiction film is still powerful today thanks to a wonderful performance by Vincent Price and the dark, desolate, against-all-odds mood of the film. Dr. Robert Morgan is the last man on earth, struggling to survive against a world decimated and flooded by infected humans turned vampires. It is a slow movie but the viewer is rewarded some great scenes and a powerful, often-quoted climax.

“The Hunger”

Any vampire horror film that has David Bowie playing a stylish vampire is worth seeing in my book. This 1983 film has gained a cult following in recent years thanks to its moody, dark and glamorous atmosphere, as well as its soundtrack. Of course, now that the vampire genre is at an all-time peak thanks to “Twilight”, Warner Bros plans to remake the film for 2010. See the original first.

Remember Me

Remember Me

Infused with humor and romance, “Remember Me” tells the unforgettable love story of two young people who learn how important it is to love passionately and live loudly everyday of one’s life. Anything can happen at any time. The quote “life is full of surprises” is a popular one because it’s true, and it’s not often in filmmaking a movie is able to capture the essence of that quote and give it true meaning. Remember Me manages to do just that, using well developed characters in a story that, admittedly, is rather generic. But the story is only a starting point as first-time screenwriter Will Fetters and director Allen Coulter (Hollywoodland) are much more interested in the idea of living your life to the fullest because you never know what’s around the corner, which ultimately outshines the relatively simple and predominately cliched plot.

Synopsis
Robert Pattinson is best known as Edward Cullen in the Twilight franchise, but here he shows there may be some talent locked inside, which has otherwise laid dormant while he cashed paychecks for playing a diamond-skinned vampire. Here he plays Tyler, a tortured New York twenty-something with no goals in life and no real direction. His brother Michael committed suicide six years ago at the age of 22 and Tyler is just a few months away from turning 22 himself and his connection to his lost brother is one that’s never been broken. Tyler also maintains a great relationship with his younger sister Caroline, played by Ruby Jerins who steals the show and does much of the heavy lifting in creating a believable brother-sister relationship while Pattinson is often left to brood in the window sill with his cigarettes. Jerins carries herself much like Haley Joel Osment early in his career; she brings a maturity to her performance that feels entirely authentic and proves to be to her character’s benefit as a potential artistic prodigy.

While the sudden death of Michael may have caused Tyler and Caroline to grow and remain close, the cold shoulder they receive from their at-arms-length father (Pierce Brosnan) makes for a strained family dynamic. Brosnan plays his character’s negative, macho lawyer vibe to the hilt and every-so-often takes things too far, but I got the sense Coulter was asking each of his actors to occasionally play things a bit big  in an effort to draw the audience into the lives of the characters a little more. Remember Me doesn’t delve squarely into melodrama, but it comes close. Tyler’s life changes once he finds company in Ally (Emilie de Ravin), a college student whose father (Chris Cooper) arrested Tyler only a couple of days earlier, a fact Tyler knows, but doesn’t reveal until later in the movie. It’s a stereotypical move for a film of this sort, but it’s handled easily enough and I only mention it now not to spoil the moment, but to prepare you for what you will already see coming from the film’s opening moments. It’s best to accept it early on so it doesn’t bother you as much while watching the film.

Remember Me relies solely on the ability of the cast to create characters and relationships you believe in, and for the most part it had me sold. I cared about the ordeals these people had been through and where their lives were going. Pattinson dons an American accent, and for the most part pulls it off. A shouting match between him and Brosnan was really the only moment I was sort of taken out of the feature, but the ramifications of that confrontation were necessary.

The only real issue, The film was Tyler’s roommate and best friend Aidan played by Tate Ellington. Aidan’s character is necessary and he supplies a certain amount of comic relief to the story, but Ellington’s performance was a bit grating. While funny at times. This film spins a web of family ties dealing with tragedy, schoolyard bullying, the benefits of friendship and importance of new found relationships illustrating a world in which anything can happen, and more often than not, will happen.

In Theaters : March 12, 2010
Directed by : Allen Coulter
Starring : Robert Pattinson, Pierce Brosnan, Emilie de Ravin, Chris Cooper, Lena Olin, Ruby Jerins
Distributed by : Summit Entertainment
Genres : Drama Romance Teen
Running Time : 112 minutes

Some quotes from Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse Hope You’ll like it=)
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Find More Twilight Quotes Articles

Finding the right title for your scrapbook page

Finding the right title for your scrapbook page

Finding the Right Title for Your Scrapbook Page

 

If you are anything like me, you have gotten stuck for a title for your scrapbook page a time or two. The worst for me were the holiday pages – Christmas, Easter, Fathers Day, etc. Because I’m doing at least one page for each of them every year, I’m constantly trying to think of something new and interesting. It didn’t always come easily to me.

 

Then I found a solution that I hadn’t thought of before. A quote from a book can make a great title for your page, especially if that book or particular quote has significance to you. You can find some great examples of this at my store,  http://scrapbookingtales.mybisi.com. All of the pages use quotes from the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer as titles for the pages.

 

Once you begin looking at books for quotes to use, you may be surprised at the wide range of subjects and situations that are available. You would think that something like romance would be easily found, but with very little effort you can also find quotes about jobs, family relationships, friends, places, hobbies, and even weather. With a little looking on the internet, you can find a quote for almost any page you can imagine. In fact, you should not only be able to find a quote for every possible need, but several. Whether you like short and sweet or longer and more detailed, funny or serious, poetry or prose, you will have a variety of choices.

 

Your title quote could relate to the subject directly, such as a quote about marriage or love for a wedding page, but it could also relate indirectly. If you are doing a page about your best friend, you might want to use a quote from their favorite book. If you are doing a page about an ancestor, perhaps you could use a quote from a popular book from that time period. When doing a page about a child, you could include a quote from one of the books they read that year. A New Year’s resolutions page could include a quote from a book that you want to read in the coming year.

 

Quotes make great titles for any scrapbooking page. They are simple to find on the internet, can relate to just about any subject, and can add a new dimension to your page. The possibilities are limited only by your creativity. Happy scrapping!

 

 

Domestic and international market variable lighting industry has made great "winter"

Domestic and international market variable lighting industry has made great "winter"

Abstract: Since the third quarter of 2008 macro-economic situation is grim, human costs, RMB appreciation, the real estate market downturn, these adverse factors seriously affect the lighting enterprises. Domestic and international market variables, so the lighting industry and deeply feel the coming of winter.

 

“Ningbo Yuyao regional SMEs have closed down, I have seen dozens of homes, has affected the local economy.” A private enterprise in the region? Zhejiang and Hui Lighting Technology Co., Ltd China Sales Manager Fu Chunming October 25, told reporters. An anonymous sales manager of domestic lighting leading enterprises are the same. He said: “in July before the company’s business in good condition, the growth rate of 10%, to business growth in August dropped by 10%.”

In an interview more than a dozen companies, such a situation not unusual. Common reflection of the third quarter of 2008 since the macro-economic situation is grim, human costs, RMB appreciation, the real estate market downturn, these adverse factors seriously affect the development of enterprises.

Large-scale enterprise “thin winter”

“Pace of development of enterprises as the first few months of this year’s profit is not the problem, but the situation is hard to say the next year.” Wong Kam Sui China Illuminating Engineering Society president, said about the current industry conditions. “See one leaves were gone, with knowledge of the twilight years of age; see a pot of ice cold makes me know my world.” Some businesses are already planning for “winter.”

Zhe Jiang Feidong Lighting Co., Ltd. has been the East China Science and Technology (000727) is a “cash cow.” In the last year in July, when the company’s contribution to the East China Science and Technology every year five million yuan of investment income has shrunk to 250 million, East China Science and Technology will have a flight of 29.9% stake in Tung lighting transferred to Philips. In response, executives with the explanations given to “thin the body strong.”

East China Science and Technology as, like many large enterprises are engaged in lighting their own weight-loss program. A large lighting company executives told reporters, “We will reduce the overseas market, business, after all, the future of the financial crisis to the international market is full of variables.”

“Big business should have a stronger business risk or strength, by adjusting the business strategy, the current production and management has no significant fluctuations.” Wong Kam Sui said.

It is understood that after the reorganization of Philips, Lighting Products Division revenues increased 3.2% year on year, reaching 196 million euros. The company’s regional sales manager Lupot Beijing introduced this year in Beijing with the previous years sales of flat no problem, up to 1 billion yuan, home lighting products guaranteed sales.

It is understood that domestic Foshan Lighting (000 541), Zhejiang Sunshine (600 261), Snow Wright (002 076) listed three relatively stable business development.

In the first half loss of 117 million yuan for stocks Foshan lighting, in the second half to focus on core business, in October the company three T8 pilot production line. The recent announcement revealed that the first three quarters this year, the main business income rose 2.1%, net profit fell 2.2%.

Snow in the third quarter of this year, Wright has transferred shares in Danyang snow Wright, 1 September sales up 17.72% of total revenue, net profit decreased 41.02% year on year. According to the company an insider, although the net income decreased, but the company by strengthening core business, in September remained 6% growth.

As of press time, the sun in the third quarter of Zhejiang notice yet to be announced. Luo Bibo the company’s Beijing office manager, said the company in Guangdong and Fujian, the government awarded the project to ensure the company’s energy-saving lamps of good earnings.

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