Archive For November 2009
Behind The Filming Of One Of My Favorite Fantastic Mr. Fox Performances
on November 21, 2009 by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
When you’re making an animated film, one of the big differences is that you can add scenes, change dialogue and re-write as you’re going along because you only shoot a little bit of the movie each day.
Mr. and Mrs. Fox “on set” shooting a scene in the supermarket.
So, with Fantastic Mr. Fox, about half-way through the shoot, I had this idea for a scene between the two characters played by Jason Schwartzman and my brother, Eric Anderson. I thought one place to start was with something I grew up with: bunk beds.
My initial sketches for how the scene in Ash’s (Jason Schwartzman’s character) bedroom would be shot and acted
In this case, Jason Schwartzman’s character does not allow the bunk beds to serve their usual purpose of sleeping two. So, his foreign cousin is forced to sleep underneath the train set. This train set is particularly miniature, because the puppets themselves are only probably about 7 inches high and the train set is very easily the smallest I have ever seen. Throughout the film we all traveled back and forth between France and England a lot. So, we thought it might be fitting that the electric train would actually be something in the vein of a Eurostar. It’s actually labeled ‘High Speed French Train’. One unusual fact is that the model train is actually the same train that we use for most of the full scale shots of the train.
I don’t know, but this is probably an unusual alternative in the movies. The bunk beds themselves are based on the Gypsy Caravan after which Dahl named his house, and it’s still there in Great Missenden.
Artist Turlo Griffin’s concept artwork for Ash’s bedroom, showing the use of the Gypsy Caravan motif
And also on the set, we have the white cape comics which are drawn by our story board artist Christian De Vita, and which are Ash’s (Jason Schwartzman’s character) sole reading material and the inspiration for his wardrobe. Jason and Eric give two of my favorite performances in the film, and this scene more or less encapsulates their entire relationship. I hope you’ll enjoy watching it as much as I did making it.
Google search gets a ’swirl’
on November 19, 2009 by Jude Emantsal in Breaking News, Comments (0)
San Francisco – Google Labs on Tuesday brought more focus to finding pictures online, adding a “Swirl” tool that automatically groups similar images into categories presented on results pages.
“What Image Swirl does is it really organises automatically image search results into groups and sub-groups,” Google product manager Aparna Chennapragada told AFP.
“It’s not just the face, the colour, the visual features of the images; we look inside the image and ask how they relate to each other on a pixel level.”
Swirl uses algorithms, metadata, and facial recognition software to distinguish between structures, places, people, and even time of day in digital images.
For example, an Image Swirl search using the keyword “Washington” triggers a results page with pictures packed into subsets including the White House, former president George Washington, and actor Denzel Washington.
Clicking on any of the subgroups opens a window into additional “sub-clusters” of pictures categorised by factors such as angle, time of day, and whether an image is a close-up or a panorama.
Computer algorithms
Online image search has traditionally delivered results pages lined with thumbnail pictures that people sift through individually.
“As humans we can easily tell which images should be grouped together by looking at them,” sad Google software engineer Yushi Jing, who worked on Image Swirl underlying technology.
“The real question is can we train computer algorithms to identify common features in images and then categorise them. It’s not perfect. We may have mistakes, but we hope to improve this system as we move forward.”
People can dabble with Image Swirl at Google Labs. Feedback will be used to improve the tool with the ultimate objective being to one day incorporate it in the California Internet giant’s public search engine.
“We are committed to how we look at and understand visual information and organise it for our users,” Chennapragada said. “This is the holy grail of computer vision.”
Google launched image search in 2001 and later added a “similar images” feature to hone-in picture hunts.
Read The Abortion Compromise In Harry Reid’s Senate Health Care Bill
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
The health care reform package unveiled by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) Wednesday night bars the use of federal funds for abortion services, but does not go as far as the House bill — which prevents women in many cases from buying insurance with their own money that covers abortion.
The Senate version would require at least one plan within the health insurance exchange that the bill sets up to offer a plan that covers abortion and one that doesn’t. It would also authorize the Health and Human Services Secretary to audit plans to make certain that abortion isn’t being paid for with federal dollars.
Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.), who authored compromise abortion language in the House that both sides had agreed to before the more restrictive measure won out, is pleased with the Senate version.
“I am pleased that the Senate has adopted a reasonable, common ground approach on this difficult question,” she said in a statement. “It appears that their approach closely mirrors my language which was originally included in the House bill. It ensures that federal funds do not pay for abortions but allows continued access to this legal medical procedure. This is a bill about health insurance reform not about expanding or contracting access to abortion services. I am glad that the Senate has rejected the more extreme Stupak language and look forward to continuing to work with my pro-life and pro-choice colleagues on a reasonable compromise on this issue.”
HuffPost scored a copy of Reid’s bill, which you can read here. The abortion compromise begins on page 116 with section 1303.
Write ryan@huffingtonpost.com if you notice any unexpected restrictions that could result from this language. Please refer to the page numbers and the line numbers to the left.
14 SEC. 1303. SPECIAL RULES.
(a) SPECIAL RULES RELATING TO COVERAGE OF ABORTION SERVICES.–
VOLUNTARY CHOICE OF COVERAGE OF ABORTION SERVICES.–
19 (A) IN GENERAL.–Notwithstanding any
20 other provision of this title (or any amendment
21 made by this title), and subject to subpara22
graphs (C) and (D)–
23 (i) nothing in this title (or any
24 amendment made by this title), shall be
25 construed to require a qualified health plan
Page 117
1 to provide coverage of services described in
2 subparagraph (B)(i) or (B)(ii) as part of
3 its essential health benefits for any plan
4 year; and
5 (ii) the issuer of a qualified health
6 plan shall determine whether or not the
7 plan provides coverage of services described
8 in subparagraph (B)(i) or (B)(ii) as part
9 of such benefits for the plan year.
10 (B) ABORTION SERVICES.–
11 (i) ABORTIONS FOR WHICH PUBLIC
12 FUNDING IS PROHIBITED.–The services
13 described in this clause are abortions for
14 which the expenditure of Federal funds ap15
propriated for the Department of Health
16 and Human Services is not permitted,
17 based on the law as in effect as of the date
18 that is 6 months before the beginning of
19 the plan year involved.
20 (ii) ABORTIONS FOR WHICH PUBLIC
21 FUNDING IS ALLOWED.–The services de22
scribed in this clause are abortions for
23 which the expenditure of Federal funds ap24
propriated for the Department of Health
25 and Human Services is permitted, based
Senate Dems Close In On Reform: Details Of Health Care Bill Revealed
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
Senate Democrats moved one step closer Wednesday night to comprehensive health care reform as Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) unveiled a health care reform package that is a product of a merger of twin plans that passed the health and finance committees.
With the House having already passed its own package, Congress has never been so close to completion of reform in the six decades that Democrats have pursued it.
“We’re now down to the week we’ve been waiting for for a long time,” said Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) after emerging from the meeting.
Democratic leadership expressed confidence that the votes would be there by Saturday for a motion to proceed to a floor debate on the bill. Three senators – Ben Nelson (D-Neb), Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) – have yet to commit to vote for the motion to proceed and Reid deferred questions about their position to them.
During the meeting, the fence-sitting members spoke to the caucus, but didn’t commit one way or another on the motion to proceed, said one Democratic senator who spoke not for attribution.
The bill presented by Reid is stronger than pundits ever thought possible in the summer months, when centrist and conservative Democrats worked to kill the public health insurance option. A loud round of applause could be heard toward the end of the meeting – unusual for Senate gatherings.
Reid’s bill includes a national public plan that would be available to consumers within health insurance exchanges that the reform effort establishes. Skeptical states would be allowed to opt out of the plan.
The bill will be posted online Wednesday night, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said. “I would hope [Republicans] would take this opportunity to post their health care bill online,” Durbin teased. The GOP has no health care bill.
The bill does not go as far as the House did in restricting access to abortion. The House bill blocked a woman’s ability to purchase health insurance that covers abortion even with her own money in many instances. The Senate package, several senators said, makes crystal clear that no federal funds could be used to pay for abortion. But at least one plan within the exchange must offer abortion coverage and one plan must not.
An aide who saw the specific language said the bill authorizes the secretary of Health and Human Services to audit plans to make certain no federal funds are being used to pay for abortion services.
House conservatives have threatened to block the reform bill if their more restrictive provision isn’t included. Kerry acknowledged that there could still be negotiations, “but that’s where the Senate is starting.
Instead of taxing the rich to pay for a significant piece of the bill, as the House does, the Senate plan taxes “Cadillac” health plans. But the value of plans that would be taxed is increased from previous versions to $8,500 for an individual and $23,000 for a family of four. Higher values are allowed in high-cost states and workers in high-risk jobs – such as coal miners – are given an exemption.
After the Flood
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
It’s been 40 years since Curt Flood started the machinery of free agency and inadvertently sabotaged his baseball career. On Christmas Eve in 1969, the 31-year-old centerfielder sent a fateful letter to the commissioner of the big leagues, Bowie Kuhn. A seven-time Gold Glove Award winner who had played for St. Louis in three World Series, Flood had just been traded to Philadelphia. “After 12 years in the major leagues,” he wrote, “I do not feel that I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes.”
After refusing to report to Philly, Flood sued baseball for $1 million. He ultimately lost his case — at trial and on appeal to the Supreme Court–but set in motion the legal battle that would topple the reserve clause, which bound a player for life to a particular team.
I was in 10th grade when “Rembrandt” defied baseball and challenged the unfairness of the system. As a Phillies fan — Southwest Philly-born, Penn Valley-bred — I was infuriated by Flood’s chutzpah. Only years later did I realize how courageous and selfless he had been. Flood opened the gates to free agency at great personal cost: A lifetime .293 hitter still in his relative prime, he forfeited a lucrative $100,000 contract to sit out the entire 1970 campaign. Traded to Washington at the end of that year, he appeared in only 13 games for the Senators before retiring. Flood went bankrupt, smoked and drank heavily, and was a largely forgotten figure when he died of throat cancer in 1997.
It’s now been 20 years since pitcher Mark Langston — my first marquee client — played out his contract with the Montreal Expos and filed for free agency, the most cherished right ballplayers enjoy. After years of indentured servitude in the minors, contract renewal and salary arbitration, free agency is the only opportunity players get to have a real say over their future and realize their true market value. (It also allows a ballclub to improve without having to break up its nucleus). Injury, age and team economics keep many players from ever reaching this hard-won status. Typically, they don’t qualify before their late 20s, and often later.
Langston was 28 when he became eligible. Having led the American League in strikeouts three times, the southpaw was, in November of 1989, the most sought-after free agent in the game. In those days, no one was quite sure how much the top free agents would fetch on the open market. Arbitrators had ruled that during the off-seasons of 1985, 1986 and 1987, management had colluded to keep players in their places and their salaries in check by declining to sign the free agents on other teams. The owners agreed to pay the players a $280 million settlement.
FDR Would Not Accept a ‘Jobless Recovery’
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
As part of the Roosevelt Institute’s 10-part series on the Jobs Crisis, running on the New Deal 2.0 blog from Nov. 12-25, I was asked to reflect on what can be done to get Americans working again. Here’s my take.
The recent news that the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter of 2009 while at the same time the national unemployment rate hit a 26-year high of 10.2 percent in October, has many economists talking about a “jobless recovery.” What this means, say the experts, is continued economic growth-and hence a technical end to the recession-but no improvement in the employment figures for the immediate future. In fact, most economists predict that under current conditions, the unemployment rate will rise even further – perhaps reaching as high as 11 percent by the summer of 2010.
It appears that the Obama administration is prepared to accept this scenario and will not push for bolder solutions so as to ensure that the so-called “recovery” includes not just an expansion of the GDP, but also a reduction in the alarmingly high unemployment rate. As a consequence, millions of American workers will continue to languish among the ranks of the unemployed, burdened by an anxious present and an uncertain future.
When Franklin Roosevelt took office in 1933, about 18 million Americans were in immediate need of food, clothing, medical care-and most of all, jobs. For his administration, the notion of a “jobless recovery” would have been an anathema. Indeed, for FDR, the health of the nation was tied directly to the dignity of work. People needed jobs not merely to put food on the table, but also to maintain their physical, psychological and economic well-being. Moreover, FDR firmly believed that it was government’s responsibility to provide for the “general welfare.” So in the midst of an economic crisis that had produced the highest unemployment figures in our nation’s history, he did not hesitate to use the power of the state to provide the jobs the private sector had failed to generate. The Civilian Conservation Corps, which put hundreds of thousands of young men to work regenerating our nation’s depleted forests, preventing soil erosion, and enhancing our national parks; the Civil Works Administration, which provided work for more than 4 million Americans building schools, roads, and bridges, or as teachers in rural districts; the Works Progress Administration, which between 1935 and 1938 employed 5 million people to help build the economic infrastructure we still enjoy today.
These programs were not government hand-outs. Far from it. They provided real jobs to real people doing real work. They improved our natural resources and quality of life and brought America’s economic infrastructure into the modern world. No one-least of all FDR-expected these programs to continue indefinitely.
Nelson: I’m Comfortable Being Lone Democrat To Derail Reform
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
One of the key moderate Senate Democrats, Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) said on Wednesday that he was pleased with the changes party leadership had made to its version of health care legislation, specifically on matters of deficit reduction. But the Nebraska Democrat, whose vote has been elusive to pin down so far, said he would be comfortable being the lone Democrat to prevent the bill from passing a Republican filibuster.
“I’m very comfortable having my vote, whatever it is, whichever way it goes,” Nelson said, in response to a question from the Huffington Post. “I’ve said that from the beginning. There are other ways. I just have to make a decision based on what I think is best for the people of Nebraska and the people of our country. And then we will let the chips fall wherever they fall.”
Speaking to reporters following a Democratic caucus meeting, Nelson said he was pleased with the direction that the bill was moving, though he wanted to see specific language, and he remained concerned about the structure of the government-run insurance option.
“I’ve said, for me, all along, that [a public plan with an opt-out provision for states] is not the way in which I would proceed. And that has problems as far as I’m concerned,” he said. As for an alternative proposal that would allow states to opt-in to a national government-run plan, Nelson added; “I certainly would look at that more positively than an opt-out.”
On Wednesday night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled the preliminary outlines of his health care reform legislation. The bill includes the opt-out public option, a tax on expensive insurance plans, and language on abortion that does not go as far as the House’s largely restrictive provision. Estimates of the proposal have it costing $847 billion over the next decade, covering 31 million uninsured, and reducing the deficit by $127 billion during the next ten years.
“Any time you add more to deficit reduction you have to say that it is a move in the right direction,” Nelson said. “So, there is no doubt that there has been some areas of improvement. That clearly would be one. But again, you have to have a lot of faith and trust in the scoring system.”
The Nebraska Democrat did essentially proclaim that he would vote with his party on the first parliamentary hurdle – a procedural vote that would allow the bill to be brought to the floor for amending and debate. He would not commit to voting on the second parliamentary hurdle – another cloture vote to end that debate.
“I said I won’t make a decision until I’ve seen and reviewed the language of the legislation,” he said. “That’s fairly clear. And it has been that from the very beginning. As to the question about sometimes wavering — I’ve never wavered on this. I’ve been clear from the beginning that you have to see the actual language before you can make a decision on whether you are going to vote for cloture on the motion to proceed… I’m still undecided. That’s different than being on the fence.”
Goldman Sachs’ Drop In The Bucket
on November 18, 2009 by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
On Tuesday, Goldman Sachs announced it would commit $500 million to help small businesses, garnering the financial giant headlines and buzz for its altruism.
But that’s just a small fraction of the money the company has reaped thanks to taxpayer-supported government programs since last September.
*It’s barely a fifth of the $2.3 billion the company has saved thanks to a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation guarantee to help banks raise money, according to a Wall Street Journal estimate. Goldman Sachs had $22.6 billion in outstanding debt issued through this program as of Sept. 30, according to its most recent regulatory filing.
*It’s about four percent of the $12.9 billion the firm received through the government’s bailout of insurance giant AIG. This backdoor bailout helped Goldman Sachs rid itself of toxic assets. A government watchdog report released this week argues that the government team — led by current Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner — overpaid and, generally speaking, failed nearly every step of the way in its negotiations.
And the new charity is only three percent of the $16.7 billion the company has set aside for employee salaries and bonuses.
Putting Natural Gas to Work for America
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
Every day it’s becoming clear to more and more Americans that our continued over reliance on foreign oil is not just an environmental disaster but an economic disaster for this country as well. People appreciate that while we will have great sources of renewable fuel down the road, we need something now. And what is available now and has been proven to be in great abundance in the United States is natural gas.
We are fortunate by virtue of geology, science, and technology to have the ability now to access natural gas from shale deposits that in the past were economically off limits. I think it’s a tremendous opportunity. But we have to be smart enough to take advantage of that opportunity, by allowing the shale to be developed in a way that enables us to access the natural gas. Then we have to put in place policies that encourage Americans to use natural gas not just in power plants but to replace foreign oil as a transportation fuel for fleets and big trucks.
More than 30 states have proven natural gas reserves. One of the largest and most exciting recent discoveries is in the Marcellus Shale, which is primarily in Pennsylvania, New York, and the Northeast. The Marcellus creates a tremendous opportunity for economic growth in this region, plus it provides a dependable domestic source of clean natural gas for all Americans.
I want to address one other topic of crucial importance: the transfer of wealth out of this country. When we have to import not just billions but hundreds of billions of dollars of foreign oil every year, it hurts us from an economic standpoint, it hurts us in looking to the job opportunities for our children and the next generation, and it also makes us geopolitically vulnerable when enemies of the United States threaten to use oil as a political weapon.
No one recognizes the national security threat foreign oil poses to this country better than Boone Pickens. That’s why the American Security Council Foundation honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Public Service last week. I chair Project Independence, the foundation’s program to free our nation from its dependence on dangerous sources of foreign oil, and you don’t have to look any further than Hugo Chavez to see why energy security is so important.
Chavez is a person who despises the United States and everything we stand for, and he wouldn’t hesitate if he thought he could use Venezuelan oil to hurt our country. So it is certainly not just economically and environmentally intelligent, but it is the patriotic and right thing to do from the national security standpoint to develop policies that will enable us to achieve greater energy independence.
We’re all concerned about our jobs in today’s economy, but we also have to be intelligent about our environment going forward. If we can replace dirty fuels with clean fuels like natural gas, we win on numerous fronts. Natural gas is a domestic source. It helps our economy. And it is a very clean burning fuel. When we replace dirtier fuels with it, we will have cleaner air and less health problems.
The Forgotten Defendant of Guantanamo
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
Prosecutors, defense counsel, a military judge, several journalists and a handful of non-governmental organization observers like myself convened at Guantanamo Bay this week for what was to be the first hearing for a Guantanamo defendant under the Obama administration’s “new and improved” military commissions.
The hearing came about a month after Congress passed legislation to improve the widely discredited military commissions, and just a few days after US Attorney General Eric Holder announced that five detainees, including the self-proclaimed mastermind of 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, would be sent to US federal court for trial.
But if the administration was hoping this hearing might make the case that the new and improved military commissions are a legitimate forum to try detainees, they could not have been pleased with today’s proceedings.
The detainee whose hearing took place today in the hilltop courthouse overlooking Guantanamo Bay was Mohammad Kamin, an Afghan who has been held at Guantanamo Bay since 2004. Although he was one of 10 detainees facing charges before the military commissions when President Obama was sworn into office, his name was not among those mentioned by Attorney General Holder last week.
It seems the Justice Department, in making its announcement, failed to decide the fate of the Kamin case. And the result was the usual chaos and confusion that has plagued the military commissions since their inception.
Given no guidance, the lawyers and commission officials had little choice but to continue with Kamin’s hearing, debating the merits of the case in a legal Neverland.
Kamin himself didn’t show up for the hearing. As he had done throughout the proceedings against him, he boycotted. The one time he appeared, for his arraignment in May 2008, he was forcefully extracted from his cell. When he was informed this morning of today’s hearing, he reportedly placed earplugs in his ears, pulled a blanket over his head, and waved away the officials.
And then there are the charges.
Kamin is charged with “material support for terrorism.” Yet Jeh Johnson, General Counsel for the Department of Defense, stated during a Senate hearing in July that “material support for terrorism” is not an offense under the laws of war, and therefore should not be prosecuted by military commission. The Military Commissions Act of 2009, which was signed into law as part of the National Defense Authorization Act on October 28, retained the offense despite Johnson’s conclusion.
Kamin’s appointed defense counsel, Lt. Cmdr. Richard Federico, also challenged the current jurisdiction of the military commissions to try Kamin. “If there is a conviction, it would likely be overturned on appeal,” he said. Under the previous 2006 military commissions statute, Kamin was deemed an “unlawful enemy combatant.” But the new language only authorizes the prosecution of “alien unprivileged belligerents.” Since the government has not alleged that Kamin fits the new category, it is not clear the government has the authority to bring the case to trial.