LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – After bringing J.R.R. Tolkien‘s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy to life, filmmaker Peter Jackson is back in the world of Middle Earth with the author’s prequel, “The Hobbit.”The three-film series is due to open in U.S. theaters on Friday with “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.”The Oscar-winning director, 51, told Reuters about the 3D film, including the 48 frames per second...
Researchers Find More Than 200 Genes Linked to Crohn’s Disease
Label: HealthBritish scientists have identified more than 200 gene locations associated with Crohn’s disease, an incurable digestive disorder. Their research utilized the entire human genome, the complete set of human genetic information stored in DNA.The total is larger than the number of genes located for any other disease, according to ScienceDaily. For example, there are 66 known locations for type 2 diabetes.The...
Dec
12
Fed ties rate pledge to a threshold as new stimulus set
Label: BusinessWASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve, announcing a new round of monetary stimulus, took the unprecedented step on Wednesday of indicating interest rates would remain near zero until unemployment falls to at least 6.5 percent.It was the latest in a series of unorthodox measures taken by central banks around the world as major economies face erratic, sub-par recoveries from the global financial...
The Hobbit: Richard Armitage Talks Preparations For Playing Thorin Oakenshield
Label: WorldBritish actor Richard Armitage admitted it wasn’t a walk in the park to play a J.R.R. Tolkien character in Peter Jackson’s reimagining of “The Hobbit,” the first installment of which is on its way into theaters.Upon touching down in New Zealand, where the trilogy was shot, the cast had a lot of character preparation to do.PLAY IT NOW: Martin Freeman Discusses The Hobbit’s ‘Good Chemistry’ & Playing...
‘The Hobbit’: Like One Bad Video Game
Label: TechnologyPerhaps the most exciting thing about Peter Jackson‘s landmark, blockbuster Lord of the Rings films was that they made fans, through a combination of stunning landscapes and intricate special effects and soaring music and dramatic spectacle, feel as though we were seeing an almost impossible elevation of the potential size and scope of movies. Here was a rich, dense, sprawling series of films that...
How “Life of Pi” animators visualized Ang Lee’s blank slate
Label: LifestyleLOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – “Life of Pi” is a movie that has the proverbial cast of thousands… of animals, that is. In one shot set on the ocean, there are 40,000 flying fish. In another one set on a floating island, there are 60,000 meerkats. And not one of them was living and breathing, of course.“No real meerkats were used,” senior animation supervisor Erik-Jan De Boer told the audience at an effects-themed...
Aetna plans to join 15 exchanges under U.S. healthcare reform
Label: HealthNEW YORK (Reuters) – Aetna Inc, the third largest U.S. health insurer, said on Wednesday that by 2014 it expects to be part of about 15 healthcare exchanges being established under government reforms.Aetna, one of the companies on the front lines of healthcare changes in the United States, told analysts and investors that it believes an increase in the number of customers from the new market places...
Dec
11
HSBC guilty of ‘stunning failure’
Label: Business11 December 2012 Last updated at 13:05 ETPlease turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Loretta Lynch, US Attorney: “Their US compliance department was woefully inadequate”The US said “dangerous practices” at HSBC allowed the bank to pass money to “drug kingpins and rogue nations”, as it fined it $ 1.9bn (£1.2bn).HSBC agreed the fine, the largest of its kind, earlier on Tuesday.A US...
Corruption probe shrouds Quebec in new darkness
Label: WorldMONTREAL (Reuters) – Half a century ago, a new crop of Quebec leaders sparked the so-called Quiet Revolution to eradicate the “Great Darkness” – decades of corruption that kept Canada‘s French-speaking province under the dominance of one party and the Catholic church.The revolution’s reforms, including cleaning up the way lawmakers were elected and secularizing the education system, seemed to work,...
Microsoft ups Surface production, to sell in more stores
Label: TechnologySEATTLE (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp has stepped up manufacturing of the Surface tablet, its new device designed to counter Apple Inc‘s iPad, and will introduce it to third-party retailers this week.The moves suggest Microsoft is seeing some demand for its first own-brand computer in the crucial holiday shopping season, although it has yet to divulge any sales figures.“The public reaction to Surface...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Copyright © AP News. All rights reserved.
Design 
