News Stories

[solomon]

The only reason Disney would buy Marvel is to get money on movie tie ins and merch.

Do comic books even make money anymore (rhetorical question, it's more like I really don't see them buying the outfit for the comics)/

I am at sea otherwise.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by solomon

The only reason Disney would buy Marvel is to get money on movie tie ins and merch.

Do comic books even make money anymore (rhetorical question, it's more like I really don't see them buying the outfit for the comics)/

I am at sea otherwise.

They're purely looking at the movies that Marvel has queued up and think they can skim the profits with little work. Later, they'll go in and tinker until they break it like most corporations do.

Buy something successful and change it til it breaks.

[Mystique]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Disney to buy Marvel for US$4b

...
..............
T_T

- Am I wrong in thinking that Marvel didn't sell this against their will, nor were in any serious financial trouble and were more than happy to hand over their enterprise to... Disney *twitch*
It's not even a merger, but a freaking handover...
Yeesh money > pride?

[Kaioshin Sama]

Disney and Marvel don't even make sense together.....like even less sense than Disney and Final Fantasy.....

Naw...somehow I think Disney won't dumb it down too much. They can always use it to target an older teen-young adult demographic, which so far they have been unable to do thanks to their reputation as kid friendly. They'll just have to try and hide the fact that they own the company now or promise and follow through on a agreement that will allow Marvel's staff to maintain it's creative and independent freedom with already established works and characters. Something that would mean characters like Iron-Man continue the way they are going, but any new characters Disney will get a say in.

[Tiberium Wolf]

So now it's Disney Marvel branch?

[Slice of Life]

... Lower your shields and surrender your company. We will add your material and intellectual property to our own ...

[Arabesque]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Actually, Marvel has already turned Spider-Man into a Broadway musical, with music and lyrics by U2's Bono and The Edge.

Well, I suppose we could still get Snow White to star in it...

I don't think Disney would wants to have any sort of relation to that event (1.,2.)

Also, it s apparently an opera now

Originally Posted by Mystique

Yeesh money > pride?

Pretty much Marvel's mindset since 2001, they go with what brings in money, no matter how stupid that may be.

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

Disney and Marvel don't even make sense together.....like even less sense than Disney and Final Fantasy.....

Naw...somehow I think Disney won't dumb it down too much. They can always use it to target an older teen-young adult demographic, which so far they have been unable to do thanks to their reputation as kid friendly. They'll just have to try and hide the fact that they own the company now or promise and follow through on a agreement that will allow Marvel's staff to maintain it's creative and independent freedom with already established works and characters. Something that would mean characters like Iron-Man continue the way they are going, but any new characters Disney will get a say in.

Is that even possible? Disney does have an urge to stick their logo on whatever it owns.

[Sister Princess]

Originally Posted by chikorita157

Now, I'm guessing the X-Men and Spiderman movies will be dumbed down so children can watch it (meaning no violence what-so-ever).

You just reminded me this:

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm7352887

[Dilla]

'Reading Rainbow' reaches it final chapter.

Even if you can't remember a specific Reading Rainbow episode, chances are, the theme song is still lodged somewhere in your head:

Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high,
Take a look, it's in a book — Reading Rainbow ...

Remember now?

Reading Rainbow comes to the end of its 26-year run on Friday; it has won more than two-dozen Emmys, and is the third longest-running children's show in PBS history — outlasted only by Sesame Street and Mister Rogers.

The show, which started in 1983, was hosted by actor LeVar Burton. (If you don't know Burton from Reading Rainbow, he's also famous for his role as Kunta Kinte in Roots, or as the chrome-visored Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation.)

Each episode of Reading Rainbow had the same basic elements: There was a featured children's book that inspired an adventure with Burton. Then, at the end of every show, kids gave their own book reviews, always prefaced by Burton's trademark line: "But you don't have to take my word for it ..."

"The series resonates with so many people," says John Grant, who is in charge of content at WNED Buffalo, Reading Rainbow's home station.

"I think reading is part of the birthright of the human being," Burton said in a 2003 interview. "It's just such an integral part of the human experience — that connection with the written word."

The show's run is ending, Grant explains, because no one — not the station, not PBS, not the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — will put up the several hundred thousand dollars needed to renew the show's broadcast rights.

Grant says the funding crunch is partially to blame, but the decision to end Reading Rainbow can also be traced to a shift in the philosophy of educational television programming. The change started with the Department of Education under the Bush administration, he explains, which wanted to see a much heavier focus on the basic tools of reading — like phonics and spelling.

Grant says that PBS, CPB and the Department of Education put significant funding toward programming that would teach kids how to read — but that's not what Reading Rainbow was trying to do.


"Reading Rainbow taught kids why to read," Grant says. "You know, the love of reading — [the show] encouraged kids to pick up a book and to read."

Linda Simensky, vice president for children's programming at PBS, says that when Reading Rainbow was developed in the early 1980s, it was an era when the question was: "How do we get kids to read books?"


Since then, she explains, research has shown that teaching the mechanics of reading should be the network's priority.


"We've been able to identify the earliest steps that we need to take," Simensky says. "Now we know what we need to do first. Even just from five years ago, I think we all know so much more about how to use television to teach."

Research has directed programming toward phonics and reading fundamentals as the front line of the literacy fight. Reading Rainbow occupied a more luxurious space — the show operated on the assumption that kids already had basic reading skills and instead focused on fostering a love of books.

Simensky calls Reading Rainbow's 26-year run miraculous — and says that its end is bittersweet.

Reading Rainbow's impending absence leaves many open questions about today's literacy challenges, and what television's role should be in addressing them.

"But" — as Burton would have told his young readers — "you don't have to take my word for it."

Another one bites the dust after 26 years.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Arabesque

Is that even possible? Disney does have an urge to stick their logo on whatever it owns.

Alright yeah, point taken.

[Ascaloth]

Originally Posted by Slice of Life

... Lower your shields and surrender your company. We will add your material and intellectual property to our own ...

All your base are belong to us!

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Ascaloth

All your base are belong to us!

How will Mickey Mouse with an Adamantium Skeleton look like?

[Ascaloth]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

How will Mickey Mouse with an Adamantium Skeleton look like?

You'll have to give Mickey an electric shock to see the difference.

[Theowne]

Originally Posted by Dilla

'Reading Rainbow' reaches it final chapter.[/URL]

How unfortunate. I loved that show and LeVar Burton as well, I guess that's one tradition that won't be passed on....

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Ascaloth

You'll have to give Mickey an electric shock to see the difference.

*prepares the electric chair* I don't mind........but are you sure adamantium has electric conductivity?

Also, Martinex T'Naga is probably a flea. He is the last survivor from Pluto.

[Ascaloth]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

*prepares the electric chair* I don't mind........but are you sure adamantium has electric conductivity?

Doesn't really matter if it does or not, we'll see Mickey's skeleton just by shocking him alone, so we'll see it just fine.

[LynnieS]

eBay to sell Skype for US$2.75 billion

(Reuters) - eBay Inc has signed a definitive agreement to sell Skype in a deal valuing the communications business at $2.75 billion.

That's a fair amount of money, but what's the business model here?

The coldest, driest and calmest place on Earth found

The search for the best observatory site in the world has lead to the discovery of what is thought to be the coldest, driest, calmest place on Earth - a place where no human is thought to have ever set foot.
[...]
The researchers pinpointed a site, known simply as Ridge A, that is 13,297 feet (4,053 meters) high up on the Antarctic Plateau on the continent at the bottom of the world

Well, it was the calmest until once the construction crew arrives.

Chinese SOE's reserve the right to default on commodity derivatives contracts

A report that Chinese state-owned companies will be allowed to walk away from loss-making commodity derivative trades provoked anger and dismay among investment bankers on Monday as they feared it may set a damaging precedent.


The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the regulator and nominal shareholder for state-owned enterprises (SOEs), told six foreign banks that SOEs reserved the right to default on contracts, Caijing magazine quoted an unnamed industry source as saying in an article published on Saturday.

Governments can and had, in the past, default on debt. Why was this a surprise?

[TinyRedLeaf]

End in sight for 100W light bulbs

Brussels (Sept 1): A European Union ban on the manufacture and import of 100 watt and frosted incandescent light bulbs, in use since the 19th Century, has come into force.

The EU wants the bulbs to be replaced mainly by longer-lasting compact fluorescent lamps. The Energy Saving Trust says fluorescent lighting uses 80 per cent less electricity than traditional bulbs.

But campaigners say the new bulbs can trigger health problems in people with light-sensitive medical conditions. They are also more expensive than traditional bulbs, although save money in the long run.

The ban will be extended to all incandescent bulbs by 2012.

- BBC NEWS

China invests in Canada oil sands

Beijing (Sept 1): PetroChina has agreed to buy a 60 per cent stake in two planned Canadian oil sands projects for US$1.7 billion.

The firm, which is Asia's largest oil company, is buying the holdings in the MacKay River and Dover fields from Canadian firm Athabasca Oil Sands.

The two fields hold about five billion barrels of oil, and Canada's government is expected to back the deal.

- BBC NEWS

[Shadow Kira01]

Fidel Castro: Right Wing Trying to Stop Obama

Former Cuban President Fidel Castro is accusing detractors of U.S. President Barack Obama of racism.

In an essay on state-run Web site cubadebate.com Monday, Mr. Castro said the "extreme right hates" Mr. Obama for being African-American and will do "everything possible" to block his agenda.

He said Mr. Obama inherited the problems of former U.S. President George W. Bush, but is trying to, in his words, "improve the deteriorated image" of the United States.

Castro does have a good point as that this is exactly what it seems. Supposedly, the United States is doing a good job maintaining world peace to some degree but unfortunately, the ultra right-wings tend to tarnish the image of the United States while seeing it as a good thing. Generally, whenever Obama attempts to repair ties in the Middle East, he gets smashed on the way back as that the actions of repairing ties can be seen as an "apology tour" which makes the United States appear as weak in the eyes of the neo-cons.

Iraqis Mourn Death of Shi'ite Leader

Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets of Baghdad Friday amid tight security to mourn the death of Shi'ite leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim.

Hakim's body arrived in Iraq for burial, two days after he died in neighboring Iran from lung cancer.

May he rest in peace...

Poll: 4 Percent of Israelis See Obama as Pro-Israel

only 4 percent of Israeli Jews see U.S. President Barack Obama's policies as pro-Israel. That is a drop of 2 percent from the previous poll in June.
The survey found that 51 percent of Israelis see the Obama administration as pro-Palestinian, while 35 percent consider it neutral.

Mr. Obama has lost popularity in Israel because of American pressure to halt Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Considering that Obama is trying to be neutral to both the Middle East and Israel, there is no doubt that the majority of Israeli Jews don't like Obama as that the United States under the Bush Administration were helping Israel doing whatever they so desire meaning that the United States back then always prioritzes the interest of Israel above all else. Now that Obama is doing the right thing, people don't like him.

Two Former Israeli Cabinet Ministers Jailed for Corruption

Former Finance Minister Avraham Hirchson was convicted of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from a labor union and was sentenced to five years in prison. Ultra-Orthodox politician Shlomo Benizri was sentenced to four years after being convicted of taking bribes while serving as minister of labor and welfare.

The men went to jail two days after former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was indicted for fraud and breach of trust. He is accused of taking envelopes stuffed with cash from an American Jewish businessman to support a lavish lifestyle and of double-billing institutions for public trips abroad.

Perhaps, it is time for Israel to have a change of government for a better era in the Middle East where peace and stability is most important. The issue of daily rockets is definitely not the right thing. Israel should have a change of government in which they value dialogue over pressing some missile launching buttons. Otherwise, the Middle East will continue to remain chaotic..

Tens of Thousands Paint Spanish Town Red

Tens of thousands of people from around the world gathered Wednesday in an eastern Spanish town to hurl tons of ripe tomatoes at one another in a battle that painted the town red.

Participants in the annual "Tomatina" food fight marked the town of Bunol's 64th annual festival. Town officials estimated that more than 40,000 people took up arms with more than 100 tons of ripe tomatoes for the hour-long battle.

The event, thought to have its roots in a food fight between childhood friends, takes place each year on the last Wednesday in August.

"Tomatina" cost the town of about 10,000 residents $40,000 to stage.

Bunol is located in a fertile region about 40 kilometers north of Valencia.

I wonder how the cleanup crew feel...

----

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

China invests in Canada oil sands

The fact that China had clashed with Muslims and discriminated them on various occasions generally mean that China won't be getting discounts on oil in the Middle East; thus, they make early plans to get oil elsewhere. Nothing unexpected. Canada, on the other side seems to be recovering from the economy turmoil awhile back; more investments mean quicker economical recovery. Its all good!

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by LynnieS

Chinese SOE's reserve the right to default on commodity derivatives contracts
Governments can and had, in the past, default on debt. Why was this a surprise?

name the last government as big as China that had default on debt? whoever thought this up is a idiot who hasn't thought out the consequences in the long term.