الجمعة، 25 سبتمبر 2015

Steve Wozniak: Shocked and amazed by Steve Jobs movie

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Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak has given his first in-depth interview about the forthcoming Steve Jobs movie.
Woz - as he's commonly known - acted as a consultant to Danny Boyle's film after refusing to be involved in an earlier biopic.
The movie is already being tipped for awards glory after a rough cut was shown to the public last weekend, ahead of its official premiere in October.
The movie's scriptwriter is Aaron Sorkin. His previous account of Facebook's rise won three Oscars. But the social network's founder Mark Zuckerberg was not a fan.
Some wondered what Woz would make of the new film after he expressed mixed feelings about the way its trailer showed him angrily challenging Steve Jobs to his face in its trailer.
But, as he told the BBC, he is more than satisfied with the outcome.

You've now had a chance to watch the rough cut of the film. What were your impressions of it?

I've actually seen two rough cuts. My impression was I was shocked and amazed at how good it was in the sense of professional filmmaking.
I usually go to a movie not looking for "do I like the story" as much as: "What is the quality that came of the heads of the people that made it?"
In this case the filmmakers have done an award-winning job. The acting was just so realistic.
In some prior movies, I saw [the actors] simulating Steve Jobs, but they didn't really make me feel like they were in his head understanding what was going on inside of him - his personality.
This movie absolutely accomplishes that, and it's due to great acting, which obviously comes from great directing.
Some people had been critical that Michael Fassbender doesn't look like Steve Jobs. What did he manage to do, then, to capture him?
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الخميس، 24 سبتمبر 2015

First Sistine Chapel recording permitted by Pope Francis

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The Pope has given special permission for a studio recording in the Sistine Chapel for the first time, capturing the singing of his own choir.
The album, Cantate Domino, includes music written for the Sistine Chapel Choir by Palestrina, Lassus and Victoria during the Renaissance.
It also features two Gregorian chants and a world-premiere recording of the original version of Allegri's Miserere.
The pieces are sung in Latin, as the composers intended.
The chapel is in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope, in Vatican City, Rome. The recording took place using a specially-built studio constructed by Deutsche Grammophon, with the mixing desk in an ante-chamber.

'Intensive study'

Musical dignitaries including Italian opera singer Cecilia Bartoli and Italian choirmaster Roberto Gabbiani attended the recordings.
The chapel is also home to the Papal conclaves, the meetings of the College of Cardinals held when they elect a new Pope.
Grammy-nominated producer Anna Barry described it as an "overwhelming privilege" to record there, among the frescoes of Michelangelo.
The choir has 20 adult singers and 30 boy choristers.
One of the male singers, Mark Spyropoulos, is the first British full-time member of the choir, which is directed by Massimo Palombella.
Palombella said: "After an intensive period of study and scholarship of the sacred music in the Renaissance and its aesthetic pertinence, we have arrived at the point of making the first commercial recording, in this remarkable building.
The Pope will receive the very first copy of the album, which is released on 25 September.
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الأربعاء، 23 سبتمبر 2015

Judy Carne, star of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, dies aged 76

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British television actress Judy Carne - best known as the 'Sock It To Me' girl on hit 1960s show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In - has died aged 76.
She found overnight fame on the sketch comedy series, and spent two years being doused with water every time she said the phrase "Sock it to me!".
Carne was also known for her tumultuous relationship with actor Burt Reynolds, to whom she was married from 1963-65.
The Northampton-born actress died on 3 September, reported The Telegraph.
Carne's other TV credits included appearances in The Man from Uncle, Juke Box Jury, sitcoms The Rag Trade and Fair Exchange, and the 1962 comedy film A Pair of Briefs.
The actress detailed her relationship with Reynolds in her 1985 autobiography Laughing on the Outside, Crying on the Inside: The Bittersweet Saga of the Sock-It-To-Me Girl.
In the book she confessed to several affairs and also described her long struggle with drug addiction.
When she and Reynolds met she said they "were immediately in love, so we immediately made love", but they divorced in 1966, with Carne claiming the actor had become abusive.
The actress - who was born Joyce Audrey Botterill on 27 April 1939 - was brought up in Kingsthorpe, Northamptonshire, where her parents ran a greengrocer's shop.
She was a popular figure during her time on Laugh-In, but quit the show in the middle of the third series - around the same time Goldie Hawn emerged as the show's female star - complaining that it had become "a bore".
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Sam Smith records Bond's Spectre theme tune

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Sam Smith has recorded the theme song for upcoming James Bond movie Spectre.
The track is called Writing's on the Wall and will be released on 25 September. Smith said: "This is one of the highlights of my career."
"I am so excited to be a part of this iconic British legacy and join an incredible line up of some of my biggest musical inspirations."
Just last week, Smith told BBC Radio 2's Jo Whiley he was "definitely not" working on the project.
But, revealing his involvement on Tuesday, he told Radio 1's Nick Grimshaw: "I'm so relieved to actually talk about this, this has been a top secret mission of my own."
He said he recorded the track in January.
"I got called into the office with Barbara Broccoli and Sam Mendes and they gave me the script, I read the script... they said 'have a go at the song'.
"It's the quickest I've ever written a song - it took 20 minutes... and they loved it!"
"I love the song so much," he added.
Smith has co-written the title song with fellow Grammy award winner Jimmy Napes, who worked with him on the number one hits Stay With Me and La La La.
Dance act Disclosure - who gave Smith his big break on the single Latch - tweeted that they had "added some additional production" to the song.
It is the first James Bond theme song recorded by a British male solo artist since 1965.
The film, starring Daniel Craig, is released on 26 October.
It also features Oscar winner Christoph Waltz, David Bautista and Sherlock star Andrew Scott.
Adele's Bond song, Skyfall, won her an Oscar in 2013.
Ellie Goulding, Radiohead and Lana Del Ray had also been rumoured to record the Spectre theme song.
Goulding had heavily hinted her involvement in the production with a picture posted on Instagram in July. The picture showed the singer leaving the world famous Abbey Road Studios with the caption: "It's a wrap".
She also tweeted the title of the 1973 Bond film Live and Let Die.
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الثلاثاء، 22 سبتمبر 2015

Football players cash in on global transfer market

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Player wages have eaten up most of the money involved in international transfer deals during the past two years, according to Fifa TMS figures.
Its Transfer Matching System (TMS) estimates that since 2013 some 57% of funds have gone into stars' pockets.
Actual transfer fees have accounted for just 41% of the cash, and agent commissions the remaining 2%.
Football clubs in Europe account for four-fifths of the total money spent on wages in those global deals.
The new figures refer to international transfers from one country to another, and do not cover "domestic" transfers between two clubs in the same nation.
In cash terms it means that over the past two years, from international deals, $16.5bn (£10.8bn) has gone on player salaries, $12bn in transfer fees, and $700m to player agents.
"Most of the transfers discussed in the media involve large transfer fees, but in reality, only 13% of all worldwide transfers involve the payment of a fee," said Fifa TMS General Manager Mark Goddard.
"Salaries, though, are part of every single contract."

English spending doubled

Increasingly lucrative TV deals have given top-flight English clubs the financial muscle to bring in a plethora of global stars from overseas.
Big signings this summer have included Manchester City's purchase of Kevin De Bruyne from Wolfsburg for £52m and Nicolas Otamendi from Valencia for £32m, while rivals Manchester United bought Anthony Martial from Monaco for £36m and Memphis Depay from PSV for £25m.
And Fifa's analysis of the spending on international transfers during the recently ended summer transfer window shows that English clubs spent a total of $996m (£653m) - more than double any other country.
Meanwhile French clubs spent $270m - a 65% increase on summer 2014, but Spanish clubs, another traditional home for glamour players, particularly from South America, saw summer spending decrease by 23% on 2014, to $495m.
Those three nations, plus Germany and Italy, make up what are known as the "Big Five" European leagues.

Italian boost

These big five countries recorded a total of 1,340 incoming international transfers during this summer's transfer window, an increase of 4% when compared with the same period in 2014.
And the total international transfer spending across these nations reached $2,396m, an increase of 2% on last year's summer window, driven by increased spending in Italy as well as France.
Former Italian football club legend Gianluca Vialli, who starred for Sampdoria, Juventus, and Chelsea, said there were a number of reasons for the increased spending on transfers in Italy, a country where the football economy has been seen as stagnant compared with England or Germany.
"The Italian league has got better TV deals than it previously had, so there is more money available," Mr Vialli told the BBC website at the Soccerex football conference in Manchester.
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الاثنين، 21 سبتمبر 2015

Eurozone growth revised upwards

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Economic growth in the 19 countries that make up the eurozone has been revised upwards.
The second estimate of gross domestic product (GDP) for April to June put growth at 0.4%, up from the first estimate of 0.3%.
The European statistics agency Eurostat also revised growth in the first quarter, from 0.4% to 0.5%.
Also on Tuesday it was announced that German imports and exports had both reached record levels.
Boosted by the continuing weakness of the euro, exports rose 2.4% to €103.4bn ($115.5bn; £75.1bn) in July, the federal statistics office Destatisestimated, after adjusting for seasonal and calendar effects.
Imports also rose, but not by as much, meaning the trade surplus grew to a record €25.0bn.
The upward revision to GDP for the first quarter is a result of the inclusion of Ireland, which had not been counted in earlier estimates.
The Irish economy grew 1.4% in the first three months of 2015, compared with the previous quarter, making it the fastest-growing eurozone country.
With the Irish figures not yet included, the fastest-growing eurozone member in the second quarter was Latvia at 1.2%.
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الأحد، 20 سبتمبر 2015

Uber to move into 100 more Chinese cities

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Controversial app-based taxi service Uber plans to expand into 100 Chinese cities over the next 12 months.
Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick announced the move at an event in Beijing held by one of Uber's Chinese investors, Baidu.
The service is already available in around 20 cities in the country.
The expansion puts it head-to-head with local rival Didi Kuadi which recently raised $3bn in funding.
China's internet-linked transport market is rapidly becoming the world's biggest and is proving lucrative for Uber.
Mr Kalanick said the firm had gone from a tiny 1% share of the lift-hailing market in China nine months ago to its current 30%-35% market share.
He did not specify what percentage of this was for private cars and what for taxis, where it faces tough competition from dominant player Didi Kuadi.
New regulations governing lift-hailing services in China are expected later this year.
Mr Kalanick said he welcomed the new rules but in other parts of the world, regulation is proving a thorn in its side.
Last week, a judge in California paved the way for Uber drivers to sue the company over their status. Some drivers claim they are employees rather than contractors and, as such, should be allowed to claim expenses and receive tips.
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