The Death Star, undoubtedly a worthwhile undertaking but not on the Obama administration’s radar, is now on Kickstarter if you want to help build one. A recent White House Death Star petition was denied, citing Obama’s “we don’t blow up planets” political stance and the potential fiscal nightmare. Now, a new Kickstarter project wants to pick up those plans, using an open source design effort and trying to raise funding to help make it happen. A LOT of funding. The project has a $30,000,000 funding goal, which would be used to create “more detailed plans” than the initial design the team currently has . Yes … 30 million just to design the thing. No one said it would be easy, or that the potential defense system is without flaws. As we know, a single X-Wing fighter can basically defeat the thing. If the Kickstarter project reaches its long-term goal – $850,000,000,000,000,000 – plans will actually be put to use building a full-scale, working Death Star. They hope to have the project up and running by December 2015. No word on whether it would be used to protect the whole world or just the U.S. Something for sexy beast Kim Jong Un to ponder before his next failed missile test or scary / cheaply produced anti-American North Korea video .
Nolanites, prepare to get really nerdy: Per THR , Christopher Nolan is in talks to direct and produce Interstellar , scripted by brother Jonathan Nolan , AKA the 2001 -esque project that Steven Spielberg was once attached to which “involves time travel and alternate dimensions in a story that sees a group of explorers travel through a wormhole.” What’s just as exciting as the prospect of another Chris/Jonah Nolan team-up (following Memento , The Prestige , The Dark Knight , and The Dark Knight Rises ) is the fact that Interstellar is grounded in the scientific developments of CalTech gravitational physicist and astrophysicist Kip Thorne, who theorized that cosmic wormholes can be used to time travel by connecting two points in time . Like, in real life . As Thorne told Discover Magazine in 2007, his musings on time travel via space-warping wormhole began when Carl Sagan asked advice while writing Contact : In Carl Sagan’s original version of his novel Contact , he had his heroine traveling through a black hole to a distant part of the universe, and he asked me for advice. I immediately told him, “You can’t do that. Black holes can’t be used in that way,” and I suggested he use a wormhole instead. That got me interested in the issue of whether or not there really could be wormholes that you could travel through, and quite quickly I came to realize that if they did exist, it would not be hard for a very advanced civilization to use a traversable wormhole to make a time machine . Of course, toying with time travel — especially the kind of fate-changing backward time travel characters frequently attempt in the movies — could have catastrophic consequences: It’s quite unlikely that one can go backward in time — although it is certainly not ruled out — and it may be that nature has mechanisms to prevent backward time travel. When I was studying this, I came away convinced that the laws of physics can be readily adapted to backward time travel without any serious loss of ability to predict and without self-inconsistencies. I think more interesting was the discovery I made with a postdoc, Sung-Won Kim from Korea, that there is a universal mechanism that always occurs: If any highly advanced civilization attempts to make a time machine for backward time travel, quantum effects will cause the time machine to begin to self-destruct explosively at the moment you activate it . Prior to Jonathan Nolan’s scripting involvement, Interstellar began as a treatment written by Thorne and producer Lynda Obst back when Spielberg was attached. According to Thorne, Interstellar concerns what he calls “the warped side of the universe” — something he discusses in this video, describing it as a fist-in-a-trampoline before jovially telling his young interviewer that a black hole ” would rip the atoms your body is made from apart “: [ THR , Discover ] Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
You can be sure the folks at MGM are really happy they spent $70 million and counting remaking the totally ’80s teen insurgency actioner Red Dawn for the CW set. (Not to mention sitting on , then digitally reworking their baddies from Chinese to more marketable Korean villains because they look similar enough anyway, right ?) The clumsy, politically misguided, arguably irresponsible, totally ” America: F*** yeah! ” tale of Washingtonian teens taking up arms against North Korean invaders is so fantastically paranoid and plodding, it’s yielded some of the most rancorous reviews in recent memory. Crack open a Budweiser and raise the flag and let’s get to poring over the 9 most scathing critical responses to Red Dawn ! 9. “There aren’t many occasions when I think a movie literally shouldn’t have ever been made, but the release — or more specifically, the end result — of Red Dawn marks an important one.” — Todd Gilchrist , Celebuzz 8. ” Red Dawn is a ghoulish parody of reality, served up earnestly and obliviously, to an audience whose enjoyment will, perforce, be directly proportional to its ignorance.” — Hugh Ryan , Salon 7. “Reasonably dopey fun on its own, the remade Red Dawn simply can’t stand up to the real-world issues it steps on like a land mine.” — Mark Olsen , L.A. Times 6. “This paint-by-numbers picture with false drama and middling action has next to nothing to justify its very existence. Red Dawn , on a fundamental level, is garbage.” — Jordan Hoffman , Film.com 5. “Early on, I was rolling my eyes at the strained familiarity of Red Dawn ; by the time it started wedging Subway references into the mouths of its teenage freedom fighters between firefights, I may have been rooting for the invaders a little.” — James Rocchi , MSN 4. “Less easy to overlook though is [Josh] Peck’s overactive emoting or the dumbstruck look that [Isabel] Lucas can’t seem to shake. Some of these actors are just dead, and that’s before they’re supposed to be.” — Tom Long , Detroit News 3. “[As] the forces of Kim Jong-un overrun Spokane, Wash., by sea in Red Dawn , a soon-to-go-guerilla high schooler exclaims, ‘North Korea? That doesn’t make sense!’ Get used to it, kid.” — Jim Slotek , Jam! 2. “By the end, we appreciate the wisdom of the character who says, ‘Dude, we’re living Call of Duty . And it sucks.’ That’s a big 10-4, soldier.” — Jay Stone , Canada.com 1. “[The] Heaven’s Gate for the Hunger Games generation… Not since The Truman Show have we seen characters so blatantly stunted by studio interference.” — David Erlich , Box Office Magazine Way to go, Wolverines! Did you see Red Dawn ? Tell us if you agree with the critics below. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Formula One statistics for Sunday#39;s Korean Grand Prix at the Yeongam circuit in South Korea: – Lap distance: 5.615km (total distance 308.63km, 55 laps) Race lap record: Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull One minute 39.605 seconds (2011) Start time: 1500 local (0600 GMT) 2011 pole: Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1:35.820 2011 winner: Vettel – WINS Ferrari#39;s Fernando Alonso, Vettel and Hamilton have all won three races this season. Red Bull#39;s Mark Webber and McLaren#39;s Jenso
Another one bites the dust… Swiss Olympic Soccer Player Sent Home After Racist Tweets About South Koreans Less than one week after after a female Greek Olympian was dismissed from the games, Swiss Soccer Player Michel Morganella was sent packing for racial slurs he used in a tweet after a loss to the South Korean team. Translated from French, Morganella’s tweet said he wanted to beat up South Koreans, that they should “burn” and that they were a “bunch of mongoloids.” Last week, Greek triple jumper Voula Papachristou, a right-wing political supporter, was expelled by Greek athletic officials after she mocked African immigrants. Offensive remarks are in breach of the International Olympic Committee’s code of ethics. In Morganella’s case, he “discriminated against, insulted and violated the dignity” of the South Korean team, as well as the nation’s citizens, Swiss committee chief Gian Gilli said Monday in a statement at a news conference. Morganella later apologized through a statement released by Gilli: The 23-year-old player later released a contrite statement through Swiss Olympic. “I am sincerely sorry for the people of South Korea, for the players, but equally for the Swiss delegation and Swiss football in general. It’s clear that I’m accepting the consequences”. “After the disappointing result and the reaction from Korea that followed, I made a huge error,” Morganella added. Gilli said the player had been “provoked” by comments sent to his Twitter account after the match. Still, the Swiss team leader acknowledged that Morganella had to be sent home under the terms of the International Olympic Committee’s code of conduct, which requires athletes to show mutual respect. “In this case, we felt we have no alternative,” Gilli said. This jerk really has no excuse, especially since everyone already saw that Greek chick kick rocks last week. SMH. Ho Sit Down. Source Source2 WENN
Hollywood.TV is your source for celebrity gossip, news, and videos of your favorite stars! bit.ly – Click to Subscribe! Facebook.com – Become a Fan! Twitter.com – Follow Us! Korea is taking over Hollywood with the first annual Look East Korean Film Festival, a celebratory weekend honoring Korean film. During the festival, two of Korea’s finest actors, Lee Byung-hun and Ahn Sung-ki, were honored at the world famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. The duo of dashing actors got their hand and foot prints immortalized in cement, then took time to address the huge crowd on Hollywood Blvd! Later at the Look East opening ceremony, Lee Byung-hun was still beaming from the ceremony earlier in the day! We imagine it’s an experience the pair won’t soon forget! Congratulations to you both!! Hollywood.TV is the global leader in capturing celebrity breaking news as it happens. Launched in 2008, we capture all the latest news, exclusive celebrity interviews, star videos and hot celebrity gossip from around the world every minute of everyday. HTV is on the streets 24/7, at all the industry events and invited by the stars to cover their every move in Hollywood, New York and Miami. Hollywood.TV is currently the third most viewed reporter channel on www.youtube.com YouTube with almost 400 million views, and our footage is seen worldwide! Tune in daily for all the latest Hollywood news on www.hollywood.tv and http like us on Facebook!
(vimeo link) Patrik Wallner visited North Korea earlier this month, and was there for the commemoration of the 100th birthday of North Korea’s first leader, Kim Il-Sung, the grandfather of the current ruler. The footage for this video was recorded in Pyongyang on April 15th. North Korea sure knows how to throw a (Communist) party! Broadcasting platform : Vimeo Source : Neatorama Discovery Date : 27/04/2012 23:41 Number of articles : 2
Obama Urges North Korea And Iran To Drop Nuclear Programs — L.A. Times President Obama says in Seoul that North Korea’s nuclear program could lead to ‘more broken dreams,’ and that ‘time is short’ for Iran in its nuclear standoff. Reporting from Seoul — President Obama on Monday made a direct appeal to the leaders of North Korea and Iran, urging them to “have the courage” to step away from their nuclear… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : War News Updates Discovery Date : 26/03/2012 13:47 Number of articles : 2
‘You would think that the mothers would see things a little clearer now,’ outspoken instructor tells MTV News about Tuesday’s season-two premiere. By Jim Cantiello Abby Lee Miller of “Dance Moms” Photo: MTV News Abby Lee Miller is just as eager to see the second-season premiere of “Dance Moms” as the rest of us. Although she’s the star of Lifetime’s runaway reality hit about a tough-love dance instructor and the meddling moms that get in her way, she doesn’t see the show ahead of time. “I see [the episodes] when you see them,” Miller told MTV News. “People are asking me questions about future episodes, and I’m just like, ‘I don’t remember what happened. Sorry!’ ” But once the titular dance moms are brought up in conversation, Miller has no problem recalling her ongoing drama with the cast. (Buckle up, readers. She’s got a lot to say about everyone!) “They’re just not very grateful,” Miller whispered. “You would think that the mothers would see things a little clearer now, now that they’re on a television show and now that they do have fans, that they [wouldn’t] be a little more respectful of me. I just think that they don’t want to recognize the fact [that] if it wasn’t for Abby Lee Miller and the Abby Lee Dance Company and having their children enrolled in my studio that they would be on a show,” Miller said. A lot of the drama in season two — premiering Tuesday night (January 10) at 9 p.m. — stems from the inflated egos of the newly famous cast. “[Dance mom Kristi] went behind everyone’s back and hired a publicist,” Miller sighed. “Kristi has this bizarre twisted imagination that they would have just picked [daughter] Chloe up in any dance studio in the Pittsburgh area. How would that have happened? That’s not the way that it came to be.” Still, even with the spotlight brighter than ever, the lady in charge insists that nobody “turns it on” for the camera. “I think why the show always works is there’s that underlying original story or characters, if you will, that had these original problems before Lifetime, before [production company] Collins Avenue, before [producer/creator] John Corella and I ever put this together and he ran with it and made this all happen,” Miller said. “Those things like grown adult mothers being jealous of [child dancer] Maddie — that’s still there.” One of Abby Lee Miller’s biggest pet peeves is the “favoritism” accusation thrown her way in regards to Maddie, the award-winning dancer often perched on top of Miller’s achievement pyramid over classmates Chloe and Paige. “Bull!” Miller screamed. “[Maddie]’s paying for one-on-one lessons. At registration in August, guess who wasn’t there [to sign up for one-on-one lessons]? I don’t know if I’m allowed to say,” Miller trailed off, hinting at future season-two plot-points. “These moms, this is their first child that they’ve had involved in this. This is my 3,000th child I’ve had involved in this. So I’ve done this all before. I can take you back 30 years and give you two names just like Maddie and Chloe. Another five years? Another two kids. Another five years? Another two kids. There’s always two kids in that studio that are vying for the top spot. There’s all those other kids who are in the group [too]. Some of those [other] kids are on Broadway right now. It’s not always the one who was really good and winning everything when they were little that ends up with a career. Bodies change, interests change, passion changes. You never know. I mean, look at Paige; she’s stunning. She’s a beautiful child. When she’s 18, it’s all going to come together. She’s gonna fill out, she’s still gonna be beautiful. The dancing’s gonna click. You don’t need to do the steps that Maddie’s doing to be in a Broadway show or to be a Rockette.” Another hot topic is Holly’s inability to see her daughter Nia perform at a dance competition due to a work commitment. It’s a fight that kicks off season two and it still remains a contentious issue, long after the second season wrapped taping. “[Holly]’s a principal of a school. She’s a hotshot. Leave early! Come on! She just got in trouble two days ago for me. Didn’t show up again at a competition, and it was a Saturday. Now what? And her husband’s a really good-looking, nice guy with a big job. Hire an assistant! Do whatever you have to do!” But nobody gets Abby Lee Miller’s blood boiling quite like Cathy Nesbitt-Stein, rival dance coach at Candy Apple’s Dance Center in Ohio. Miller accused Cathy of stealing a bumblebee costume Miller leant to her daughter. “I think they’re stealing a lot of things,” Miller joked, referencing a tricked-out video-screen pyramid PowerPoint that fans will see Cathy use at Candy Apple’s in the season-two premiere. “I went to the [Apple store] in Pittsburgh and I said, ‘I want this and I wanna throw [the girls’ pictures onscreen] like “CSI.” ‘ And then I told my producers at Collins Avenue, ‘I need this! This is the way it has to be.’ And then they stole that idea and gave it to [Cathy]. You can’t trust anybody in this business,” Miller said. Watch Abby Lee Miller be “always right” and never get the respect she deserves when the drama-filled second season of “Dance Moms” premieres Tuesday night at 9 on Lifetime.
‘It’s hard for graduates, not being able to pay their loans and find a job,’ one young voter tells MTV News. By Gil Kaufman, with reporting by Sway Calloway A young voter casts his ballot in the New Hampshire primary Photo: T.J. Kirkpatrick/ Getty Images MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — There were no excuses to skip Tuesday’s (January 10) primary in the Granite State. The weather was balmy for this time of year, there was no snow on the ground and the body-slamming back-and-forth between the Republican contenders was worthy of a backyard wrestling ring. But what brought out an expected record 250,000 voters for Tuesday’s contest? MTV’s Power of 12 hit the polls early and late in the day to ask young voters what was on their minds when they stepped up to be counted. Lifeguard and Special Olympics basketball coach (go, Manchester Mustangs!) Keating Tufts, 21, emerged from casting his vote just before dinnertime with college tuition on his mind. “We’re paying more for school every single year, the tuition keeps on going up … I feel like [I should] do my part and vote,” said the Southern New Hampshire University student who was not willing to fall in line and cast his lot with GOP front-runner Mitt Romney, instead opting for unconventional congressman Ron Paul. “He’s got a different view than normal candidates, so I feel like it would be interesting to see what he can do.” As high school English teacher Kelly Ilacqua, 25, emerged from the Carol M. Rines Health Center in Manchester’s Ward 3, she said she went with former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum because of her pro-life beliefs. “He is the author of the legislation that outlawed partial-birth abortion … and he’s also been a big proponent of two legislations that have stopped doctors in abortion clinics from ending the lives of abortion-surviving infants.” Earlier in the day, first-time voter Amelia Dickinson, 18, had several different motivations for voting. “Right now I’d have to say the economy and foreign policy … with [North Korea’s] Kim Jong-Il passing and everyone on edge about what’s going to happen next,” she said. “Obviously with the economy with how there’s so much unemployment, people are worried about inflation with the dollar. I think the next president really needs to have an understanding and know what to do with those two problems and really be willing to compromise with the two parties.” For another first-time voter, 18-year-old high school student Emily Flanders, it was not the economy but social issues including gay rights and abortion, while Andrew Judd, 19, said he was thinking a lot about foreign policy as well as who the eventual candidates are beholden to in getting to the big game. “Intellect in general, how smart the candidates are,” he said. “You want a smart president. Also, how people were financially backed. I don’t want somebody going to Washington with a lot of promises they have to fill.” Danielle Courtemanche, 23, was focused squarely on the same things so many millions of Americans are: unemployment. After meeting former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman several times at her job at the local Hilton Garden Inn hotel, Courtemanche said she felt that he understood her struggles and those of her peers and had the best plan to help them out. “As a graduate of 2011, I feel that it is very important for people my age to go out and vote. I feel like it’s a big problem,” she said of the difficulty new graduates are having finding jobs. “It’s hard for graduates with loans … not being able to pay their loans and to find a job.” Like many of the other voters MTV News has talked to in Iowa and New Hampshire, high school senior David Chester, 19, said the #1 issue is the economy. “[Definitely] the economy, which affects everyone,” he said. “I think one of the huge things that we need to acknowledge is that the financial crisis was due in large part to the financial sector, not the public sector, and a little regulation in Wall Street would not hurt to have a little responsibility there.” What issues are important to you as you get ready to hit the polls for your primary? Let us know in comments below. MTV is on the scene in New Hampshire! Check back here around the clock for up-to-the-minute coverage on the primary caucuses, and stick with PowerOf12.org throughout the presidential election season. Related Videos New Hampshire Primary Sparks Youth Conversation
