'Taliban, please leave Pakistan alone', says net surfers

Islamabad: A movement has been launched by several groups on popular social networking website Facebook against the Taliban, who are forcing their"brand of Islam" on Pakistanis.

"Taliban, please leave Pakistan alone. We do not want you enforcing your brand of Islam on us. We do not want our women to be beaten up by your groups of vigilantes. We do not want our young boys to be corrupted by your violent and intolerant ideology," reads a note of one of many groups created on Facebook to protest against" Taliban Raj".

The note on the Facebook called for the punishment of the Taliban for their crimes."We do not want you to take over our beautiful valleys and scare everyone into peace. We want a judicial system. Not a system run by microphone and gun-toting illiterate maulvis. We want safety and prosperity for our young girls and boys," it said.

The note added:" Leave our country alone from the violent way of life. We do not want to live in your fear. Pakistanis want to respect Islam and most want to be good Muslims."

In the past few weeks, Taliban fighters from the restive northwestern Swat valley have extended their influence to Buner and other areas located just 100 km from Islamabad.

As in Swat, the Taliban barred women from venturing out of their homes and stopped men from shaving their beards. They have also launched a major push for enforcing Islamic law in these areas.

"The women of Pakistan hate Taliban" is another group on Facebook that is raising its voice against" Taliban-instituted system of gender apartheid".

" Under Taliban rule women have been stripped of their visibility, voice, and mobility," wrote Syed Ali Raza, the creator of the group."We hate the bombs going off. We hate how they think they own Pakistan and we hate the fact the whole world thinks we support them. For the sake of our freedom and peace we want them out of Pakistan. Join the group. Invite your friends to show the world we want assault rifle brandishing militants out!"read Raza's message.

"No place in Pakistan for the Taliban Let's get them out" is yet another group floated by Ahmed Wahla.

Rise up fellow Pakistanis. Don't forget the principles on which our country was founded upon. Write to newspapers, come on news channels, and do everything and anything to make your voices heard. Let's let these Taliban know that Pakistan is united against them.

"My message to you all is of hope, courage and confidence. Let us mobilise all our resources in a systematic and organised way and tackle the grave issues that confront us with grim determination and discipline worthy of a great nation," wrote Wahla.

Dalit marriage party attacked, eight injured

Muzaffarnagar: Eight persons of a Dalit marriage party were injured when they were attacked by some locals at Chapar village in the district, police said today.

The incident took place last night when a marriage procession from Saharanpur district was on its way to the bride's place in the village.

The trouble broke out when a motorcycle entered into the procession, to which members of the party objected.

The motorcycle riders then called their friends and beat the members of the procession injuring eight of them, police said.

"A case has been registered against eight people in this connection," they said adding no arrest has been made so far.

The injured have been admitted to a hospital, where condition of three-Suraj Bhan, Raj Kumar and Dhyan Singh-is said to be critical.

This is second case of a Dalit marriage party being attacked in Western UP in last 15 days.

On April 15, 18 people of a Dalit marriage party were injured when a bus in which they were travelling was attacked by members of another community over a trivial issue at Kheda Hatana village in Baghpat district.

Container carrying swine flu virus explodes on Swiss train

Lausanne (Switzerland), April 28 : A container for transporting swine flu virus samples exploded on a Swiss train, authorities said Tuesday, but stressed that there was no danger to the public.

The container, which was filled with dry ice and carried samples of the H1N1 swine flu virus and was destined for Switzerland's national influenza centre in Geneva, exploded Monday night on board a train.

A laboratory employee had picked up the samples in Zurich to transport them by train to Geneva, but the package exploded near Fribourg and Lausanne, after melting dry ice, which had been wrongly placed, caused a build-up of pressure.

Two people suffered slight injuries, police confirmed, but authorities stressed there was no danger for the public as the virus was not the mutated strain which is suspected to have caused up to 149 deaths in Mexico.

The train was halted for several hours and the 61 passengers on board the affected carriage monitored until an infection could be completely ruled out, police said.

Analysts: Be cautious on Oracle-Sun merger

Acquiring Sun Microsystems elevates Oracle to "powerhouse" status, but CIOs should wait for it to announce hardware and middleware roadmaps before deciding on their license agreements, say analysts.
Gartner sent out a statement saying the merger marks the first time a large software company has bought a large hardware company, positioning Oracle as a "powerhouse" vendor targeting IBM and Hewlett-Packard.
It said the two vendors' combined product sets will give it a vertical "integrated" stack to offer customers, but customers should wait for Oracle to lay out its hardware road map before any long-term plans.

Customers on Sun's Sparc hardware should protect their investments by locking in longer support agreements of five- to seven years, said Gartner.

The analyst firm also recommended CIOs stay cautious before committing to Sun middleware products. It added: "As a precautionary measure, current Sun middleware customers should begin to evaluate alternatives and, if appropriate, develop a migration strategy."

IDC said Oracle's lack of hardware experience may see it eventually spinning off Sun's hardware business, which consists of servers, storage and tape.

A Technology Business Research (TBR) analyst too said the software giant will have to invest "significant sums of money to continue the hardware business as-is".

TBR said it may have to streamline the Sun server product line as a result, and focus on x86 machines. It also listed likely purchasers of Sun's hardware business: Fujitsu, EMC, Dell and HP.

Vendor consolidation: what CIOs should expect

The Gartner report also noted Oracle faces a challenge with customers who may not want to source for their enterprise stack from a single vendor.

Ovum's senior vice president of IT research, David Mitchell, however thinks that companies may benefit from Oracle's vertical offering.

In an e-mailed statement, Mitchell said: "Historically, it may have been prudent for CIOs to spread their spending across multiple suppliers, using competition between suppliers to keep prices keen."
However, the wide portfolios of giant vendors such as IBM, HP, Microsoft and Oracle may present CIOs with better bundled enterprise licensing agreements, he said.
Mitchell said CIOs resistant to procuring from a single vendor may have to accept that the IT landscape is consolidating, and that dealing with single vendors may be a trend that continues to gather momentum.
He said: "We are now entering a market context where the 'big four' will equate to IBM, HP, Microsoft and Oracle.
"These suppliers will, between them, define a significant proportion of the IT market landscape for the next 10 years or more."
As a result, other vendors need to focus on specialization, rather than try to scale to match the four, he said.
TBR said Oracle is in a good position to provide unique combinations of Oracle and Sun's products.
One potential appliance could fuse Sun server and storage hardware with Solaris and Java software, together with Oracle's database and Fusion middleware, it said. This "unique" offering would enable Oracle to "rapidly penetrate the small and midsize (SMB) market", said the report.

TVS Apache RTR 180 Menace Launching Soon

TVS Apache RTR 180 Menace will be launched soon

If industry rumors can be taken seriously, automobile industry is abuzz with the new to launch 180 cc bike from TVS Company. The rumors are that it will be named TVS Apache Menace. Menace! Yes I loved the name for the stir it can create in bike circles.
TVS Apache RTR 180 Menace will be an upgraded version of the most popular TVS Apache RTR product. The new bike is all set to gear up the bike enthusiasts with 180 cc engine that will deliver power of 18 BHP with a 16 Nm torque.  The new TVS Apache Menace will be a sporty version motorcycle and is expected to retain its naked beauty look but will feature some cosmetic upgrades to capitalize on the current market share.
The versatile 180cc, mono cylinder, bi-valve engine is said to have increased compression ratio and will be powered by fuel-injection system to deliver average mileage of 30-35 km per liter. TVS Apache RTR 180 Menace will be equipped with double-cradle chassis, mono-shock suspension and disc brakes at both front and rear end. The console system will feature all new digital speedometers and the stunning look will be further enhanced by no front scoop that will expose a part of the engine.
TVS Apache Menace is expected to rule on the Indian roads sometime later this year 2009 in colors Yellow, Red and Matt Grey. The speculation on price of TVS Apache Menace is that it will have a price range is Rs 78,000-Rs.80, 000 in New Delhi and I already sniff stiff competition with its adversaries Bajaj Pulsar 200cc and Yamaha FZ16.

Current to tune the sparks in Bangkok

Shooting of Current directed by Suryapratap, presented by Annapurna Studios and produced by Chintalapudi Srinivasa Rao and A Naga Suseela under the banner of Sri Nag Corporation with Sushant, nephew of Nagarjuna and grandson of Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Sneha Ullal in the lead was almost complete but for the canning of three songs.

Producers say, “We are planning to can a song on the lead pair at Bangkok. The film would be released in May as a summer special.” Charanraj, Brahmanandam, Tanikella Bharani, Sunil, Shafi, Raghubabu, Vijay, Kishore, Kondavalasa Lakshmana Rao, Sudha, Jhansi, Rashmi and others are in the cast.

Music is by Devisri Prasad, camera is by Vijay C Kumar, action is by Kanal Kannan, art is by Narayana Reddy, while editing is by Marthand K Venkatesh.

Sarah Palin: Levi/Bristol Would Shack Up "Over My Dead Body"

It is clear at this point that there is absolutely no love lost between Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and Levi Johnston.

To recap: After he appeared on the "Tyra Banks" show to talk about his sex life with her daughter Bristol, Palin hit back hard by saying, "We're disappointed that Johnston and his family, in a quest for fame, attention, and fortune, are engaging in flat-out lies, gross exaggeration, and even distortion of their relationship."

Then Johnston appeared on CBS, claiming that he was treated like an outcast by the Palins after the election, going so far as to call the family "snobby," which surely did not go over too well in Wasilla.

And while Johnston claims that he was living with the Palins for a time, the family denies that he did. Johnston's family, for their part, have backed him up and accused the Palins of lying.

Lest one think the issue has been put to rest, Sarah Palin was asked at a press conference Friday about Johnston's claim that he resided with the family before Bristol Palin gave birth to their child. Palin's response:

I know the truth about my family. I know details about whether Levi Johnston was allowed to live with my teenage daughter or not. By the way, it would be over my dead body that a kid would live with my teenage daughter.

For more on Levi's life with the Palins, read this excerpt from Esquire's profile of Todd Palin.

No free tea or coffee for staff at IBM offices from May 1

Melbourne, Apr 14: IBM worldwide has begun cost cuts in order to battle the effects of the global financial crisis and will scrap office amenities such as tea and coffee, and even company-funded home internet access.

From May 1, IBM will cease to reimburse Internet access for staff working from home. Direct pay corporate managed and contracted home Internet services will also be scrapped.

"IBM will cease the reimbursement of home internet access for employees," The Australian quoted the company, as saying in an email to staff.

"Secondly, over the next several months the provision of some office amenities, including tea and coffee supplies, will be phased out. Where it makes sense, our intent is to replace this with user-paid vending machines at selected sites."

IBM said the expiring home Internet policy was developed in the 1990s, when home Internet was not the norm.

The cost-cutting measures would allow IBM to continue workforce programs including a salary bonus pool, a single-cycle salary review later in the year, funding education to support revenue generation and continuing to invest billions in research and development, it said.

IBM Australia declined to reveal how much money it expected to save from the cost-cutting initiatives.

IBM reported a 12 per cent gain to 4.4 billion dollars in net income for the fourth quarter of 2008, but slipped 6 per cent in revenue to 27 billion dollars when the recession hit technology spending.

In January, IBM sent layoff notices to more than 2800 people in its sales and software groups in the US. The latest round of job cuts at IBM was announced last month, when industry sources said another 5000 IBM workers in the US would lose their jobs.

The triumph of curves

There's no ignoring it — women everywhere are finally saying goodbye to the skinny-thinny and celebrating the fuller figure

(AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

Shane Watson

It’s taken roughly 15 years, but at long last, after a couple of false alarms, we are officially over skinny. And here is how you can tell: women have started to envy other women, not for their jutting hip bones and the amount of daylight visible between their thighs, but for their soft and shapely bodies. We’re not talking about recognising that hips, thighs and breasts are a normal part of the female package. (We’ve always known that, and it hasn’t stopped us from wanting to look like malnourished girls.) We’re talking about, once again, finding the shapely form desirable. We look at pictures of Daisy Lowe in her leotard and opaque tights and think — yes, that’s what youth should look like: blooming and rounded and bee-stung. We look at Joan in Mad Men, in those curve-packing dresses, and feel the strange sensation that, for the first time in more than a decade, we are seeing the womanly form as God intended it. Up to this point, there have been odd breakthrough moments when we’ve been reminded of the power of shape (Scarlett Johansson’s arrival on the scene, for example), but the novelty always wore off pretty quickly when we were faced with the prospect of fitting into this season’s fashion. For as long as anyone can remember, thin has been the aspirational body type — the one that went hand in hand with success and glamour and money and, above all, looking good in clothes.
Women don’t necessarily want to look as thin as Agyness Deyn (no offence, Agyness), and the fashion industry is waking up to the idea of a proper womanly shape. Look at the fabulous curve-enhancing clothes of Roland Mouret: the global success of the ubiquitous Galaxy dress was partly down to its ability to flatter a fuller figure. Even Anna Wintour, the editor of American Vogue and notorious scourge of fat, seems to be coming round to the idea of curves. Recently, she featured the shapely British singer Adele in the magazine. Okay, she was photographed lying down, but at least Wintour didn’t ask her to lose weight for the shoot, as she famously did with Oprah Winfrey. The emaciated look has simply run its course for a whole host of reasons, and now we are ready for something completely different.
In the first place, thin has got boring. Not just boring, but grindingly predictable. Along with long blonde hair, skinny-as- nothing has become the default position of anyone who wants to get noticed (or photographed), with the result that anyone good-looking who breaks the mould now appears twice as striking and original. Beth Ditto is naked on the cover of Love not because her size makes the image shockingly avant-garde (that was last year). She’s there because she represents the end of fashion’s blind allegiance to the Identikit clothes model, and the beginning of a new love affair with the parts that make women different from indie boys.
The timing of this shift towards a new aesthetic is no accident. Whippet-thin is the standard body type of the high-maintenance woman with a husband in corporate finance, and those sharp shoulders jutting through cashmere have started to look decidedly last year. A reality check is happening across the board (in fashion, Karl Lagerfeld has christened it “the new modesty”). Now a real figure looks a lot more appealing and sexier than a starved one in the same way that driving a Hummer seems hilariously out of touch with the mood of the times. In Hollywood, it’s already noticeable: the likes of Jennifer Aniston have got a bit more flesh on their bones, and the disciples of Rachel Zoe (the Zoebots) are no longer setting the agenda.

Related Links

• Shapely chic

Multimedia

• Curve clinic

Still, it would be naive to pretend we can just erase all these years of brainwashing overnight. Shape is making a comeback, but our perspective has adjusted and now the curvier figure has to obey certain rules. You need a small waist and a flat stomach to contrast with those fuller hips. A pair of nice arms, good ankles and a well-defined clavicle make all the difference. Above all, shape has to be dressed right for it to work, and that means finding the fashions that need filling out: the silhouette-hugging dresses, not the billowing harem pants. Every time Christina Hendricks (Joan in Mad Men) is interviewed and photographed in contemporary clothes, you are reminded that casual, undone and edgy do no favours for the hourglass figure. In that early 1960s look, with asset-packing sheath and immaculate up-do, any woman would die to look like her. But in a thigh-skimming asymmetric number with a frill down the front or, God forbid, jeans and T-shirt, she looks like the big girl who doesn’t quite have what it takes.
In the end, shape has been out of favour for too long because so many of the clothes in the forefront of fashion simply don’t work for women with curves. Now change is coming.

Kurt Cobain remembered 15 years after death

Groups of funs sent flowers Wednesday to the park facing Lake Washington in memory of the U.S. Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain.

"I miss your beautiful face and voice," one dedication reads. "Thank you for inspiring me," says another.

Fifteen years ago, at a house adjacent to the park, Kurt Cobain's dead body was discovered by an electrician.

The Nirvana frontman, 27, had committed suicide, police later ruled, killing himself with a shotgun while high on heroin and pills.

Cobain's death ended a battle with hard drugs and added Cobain to a long list of legendary musicians, such as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, whose careers were cut short by their addictions.

His ashes were reportedly scattered in a Washington state river and a New York Buddhist temple.

Nirvana band mates Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl eventually formed other bands. Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, stayed in the limelight with an acting career and legal problems surrounding her own drug problems. Frances Bean, the couple's daughter, has largely lived outside the public eye.

"At point I thought, 15 years on, no one would really know who Kurt Cobain was outside of a group of diehard fans," said Jeff Burlingame, a Cobain biographer who grew up with the musician in Aberdeen, Washington, and knew him when he was a teenager who, without a place to sleep, crashed on mutual friends' couches.

But Nirvana's music endured, and Cobain even found fans in his hometown of Aberdeen, which he had derided as a small-minded town.

"The old-timers who were there when Kurt was around really took offense to some of the things he said about the area, so they had no real reason to honor him," said Burlingame, who co-founded the Kurt Cobain Memorial Committee.

A famous son is a famous son, though. Now, visitors arriving in Aberdeen are greeted with a sign that reads "Come As You Are," after a famous Nirvana song.

A concert will be held Friday in Seattle to honor Cobain.

Daddy, buy me a laptop

The latest playground must-haves aren't skipping ropes and footballs – they're toy MP3 players and mobiles. Are we asking children to grow up too fast? By Paul McKenzie

Wednesday, 8 April 2009

David Sandison

Gadget girl: Esme McKenzie tries out the latest hi-tech toys

Life for my daughter Esme used to be simple. In between naps there were Dora the Explorer cartoons, Roald Dahl books and a smidgen of CBeebies, washed down with chocolate milk. Exercise consisted of walks in the local park and afternoon sessions at the playground. But that was when she was four. Now at the grand old age of six (she's seven soon, as she keeps reminding me) her world is a place filled with hi-tech toys that replicate real-life adult gadgets. These toys shrill, beep and even talk to her. Her world, in brand speak, is the "Youth Electronic Games" market.
It's a world that is bucking the global downturn. Sian Williams, the head buyer at the UK's leading children's retail store, the Early Learning Centre, says this market is now worth £90 million per year and has grown 10 per cent, year on year, over the last few years. It's a trend that she predicts will continue to grow because "children want to play with toys that emulate adult gadgets". Currently, one of the ELC's most popular item is its MP3 player.
The Youth Electronic Games (YEG) market is aimed at children aged ix to ten, and it is forcing traditional toymakers such as ELC to get with the technology age or be left behind. Although there is still a place for more traditional toys, Williams concedes that the ELC "would be mad not to sell gadgets like MP3s or Digi-Cams because the YEG is a healthy market".
Noting the upturn in the YEG market, major children's brands such as VTech and LeapFrog are now concentrating their efforts on coming up with the next hit, razzle-dazzle toy. But a word of warning, don't dare call it a "toy" within earshot of the manufacturers, who like to refer to their products as Electronic Learning Aids or – yet another acronym – ELA.
VTech's Kidizoom digital camera was the best-selling ELA in the run-up to Christmas 2008. Its head of marketing, Clive Richardson, is at pains to point out that this is more than just a toy version of a camera, offering "a balance between fun and learning". Learning through play is the mantra of all the main players in the YEG marketplace. David Lubliner at LeapFrog stresses that his company's products "teach phonics, encourage logical thinking and aid child development".
It was LeapFrog that introduced to the world the "Text & Learn BlackBerry", a product that came complete with a QWERTY keypad and a pretend web browser. "Society moves on," says David. "It's not the same as when we were young. Children are coming into contact with computers at an early age and they want to mimic their parents." And I suppose he's right. While I'm writing an email on the Apple iBook, Esme is on the VTech Knowledge Notebook (a dead ringer for a laptop), practising numbers in French. Technology-wise, Esme has a handle on most of the gadgets in our home. She is at one with the Sky+ remote, she knows how use an iPod, and she's been answering the phone for years. And she's not alone. In fact, being so tech-savvy doesn't mark her out from her friends – like them, she is a product of our times.
And the times keep moving. The next big gadget for the six-to-ten-year-old market is the mobile phone. Smelling new money, the major brands are making their move. Earlier this year Samsung released its Tobi handset, a phone that comes complete with a number of safety features, which is aimed at the pre-teen market. Mark Mitchinson, VP at Samsung Mobile, the driving force behind the handset, says the Tobi is not a cynical attempt to move in on the YEG market. He points out that 90 per cent of children now have mobile phones, mostly handed down to them by parents or siblings. "As more mobile phones fall into younger hands, mobile phone companies now need to produce responsible handsets with bespoke features," he argues.
The bespoke features include SOS presets and a block on unwanted text messages. It sounds just the ticket for responsible parents on the lookout for their child's first handset. But there's a nagging worry. I look at Esme switching between my iPhone and the Samsung Tobi with ease and I am troubled. Where is her childhood running to? I voice my anxieties to Nikki Kerr, a project manager at the children's charity, Kidscape, and she tells me about her two-year-old son who loves to play with the buttons of her mobile phone. "There is such a thing as too much technology too soon. Children are still growing emotionally at six and seven, they don't need the pressure at such a young age. If the parent wants to contact them when they are not with them, they should contact the adult who is looking after their child, not the child itself."
But not long into our conversation, she too gives way to these changing times. "Every household has a computer and teaching computer skills is on the national curriculum in primary schools – products will keep coming. And ultimately anything that is educational is a good thing." Nikki signs off by advising me that, "at the end of the day, it's down to the parents". And with that I press the off button on Esme's latest handset, grab our coats and take her to the park. The sun is shining and I want to hold her hand in the spring breeze. I want her to hold on to her childhood. Today, tomorrow's toys can wait.
Dinky devices: Put to the test
Samsung Tobi mobile phone: £69.99 on pre-pay and contract
Of all the gadgets that Esme tested, the Samsung Tobi was the one with the wow factor. "I want to take it to school to show my friends," she wails. An old hand on the home landline, she finds making a call on the Tobi child's play. She can't work out how to use the other features (this phone is aimed at 10-12 year olds), but she doesn't care, she just wants to phone her friends.www.samsungmobile.co.uk
VTech Knowledge notebook: £49.99
VTech toys rock. They push all of Esme's learning buttons and the Knowledge Notebook makes her feel like she has her very own computer. That said, she gets upset because she can't go online and play on the Cbeebies website like she would on my laptop. "It's not a real computer," I have to explain to her as the crocodile tears start to flow. www.vtechuk.com; 01235 546810
ELC MP3: £30
An easy-to-use gadget with all her favourite songs was always going to go down well in our musical household. We like the noise limiter switch, but we don't like the ear plug headphones (her ears are way too small for the large phones) and the fact that it's not Mac-compatible means hooking up songs in our household is always going to be a problem. www.elc.co.uk; 0871 231 3511
Leapster2: £49.99
Tapping into children's love of games consoles is key to the success of the Youth Electronic Games market. LeapFrog has designs on taking the Nintendo DS out of children's hands and replacing it with one of their own products. I like the fact that the games have a strong learning element and I have no problem with Esme playing with this toy – at the weekends only! www.leapfrog.co.uk

Big screen blasts from the past

The new 3D animation film Monsters vs Aliens takes its characters from Fifties sci-fi B-movies – and makes them cuddly. Expect more of these retro-cultural mash-ups in a cinema near you, says Kaleem Aftab

Wednesday, 8 April 2009

Paramount Pictures

These monsters are cuddly and cute heroes rather than the terrors they were made out to be in the 1950s

At the heart of the new 3D animated film Monsters vs Aliens is the idea of taking creatures from various 1950 B-movies and pitting them against each other in a battle to save Earth from Armageddon.
The 1953 film The House of Wax was the first film to trial 3D (three-dimensional) effects as a way of prising spectators away from their TV sets by creating an image and experience they couldn't get at home. So it seems fitting that, at a time when box-office analysis is showing that 3D movies are 30 per cent more successful than their D counterparts, a 3D film should pay homage to the 1950s. However, it's not the 3D effects that make Monsters vs Aliens stand out (the film is also on release for conventional screens), it's the decision to reprise the most delectable characters from the iconic 1950s sci-fi B-movies.
The cartoon starts with a faraway planet exploding and a robot pod being sent to Earth. When it crashes in America – which, the film amusingly explains, is "the only place that UFOs ever seem to land" – the fallout from the explosive landing in California sees Susan (voiced by Reese Witherspoon), the wife of a selfish TV weatherman, transformed into a giant woman known as Ginormica. Yep! This was the very same plot of 1958's Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.
Captured by the US army, Ginormica is taken to a military compound where monsters are kept hidden away from humans. Residing in the facility is a brainless one-eyed blue creature called B.O.B. (Seth Rogen) based on the jelly-shaped creature in the 1958 Steve McQueen starrer The Blob. Also there is a mad scientist, Dr Cockroach, PhD (Hugh Laurie), who has managed to morph into a half-human, half-pest creature during a failed experiment straight out of The Fly (1958).
Now, here is the cartoon's modern twist – it transpires that these monsters are cuddly and cute heroes rather than the terrors they were made out to be in the 1950s. They are misunderstood former humans who are struggling to deal with the changes in their physical state caused by external transformative factors.
In contrast, an evil cone-headed creature called Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson) is the leader of the aliens. While this creature looks like something out of 1957's Invasion of the Saucer Men, the storyline is lifted from the much-derided Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959).
What's clever about the premise of Monsters vs Aliens is that it's a pastiche of an increasingly prevalent phenomenon of movies being made using the simple concept of taking characters from various film franchises and putting them together. It's a calculated attempt to get audiences to part with their cash for franchises that have long since passed their sell-by date.
So, when the Friday the 13th series started to suffer from the law of diminishing returns after nine sequels, it was decided that, rather than put killer Jason Voorhees into a celluloid coffin, he should be reincarnated with another slasher villain, Freddy Krueger of the Nightmare on Elm Street films. The result was the smash hit Freddy vs Jason. It's a marketing concept straight out of the school playground. Remember those juvenile debates about who would win a fight between Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan? Well, now they're being realised on the big screen.
The box-office returns made a mockery of the poor reviews for Freddy vs Jason. Whereas Jason X (aka Friday the 13th Part 10) took a paltry $13m at the US box office and Wes Craven's New Nightmare (Nightmare on Elm Street 7) a slim $18m, Freddy vs Jason took a till-busting $83m – more than any of the movies in either franchise managed. Such was its success that both the Freddy and Jason franchises have recently been revived.
It was a similar story with AVP: Alien vs Predator. On paper, this seemed a rather unfair match-up. Predator was a low-grade franchise that originated as a vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1987 and had only one sequel, which didn't even feature him. Alien was an A-list franchise starring Sigourney Weaver that had lost some of its lustre. Even without Weaver, AVP was a huge hit. It even spawned its own sequel, AVPR: Alien vs Predator Requiem. Sequels can do better than the originals, but not this time; AVPR suggested that this match-up was a one-shot deal.
The next step in this evolution saw the arrival of a new breed of comic-book movie in which every film turns out to be a rather imaginative trailer for a big-budget ensemble bonanza. Comics have often seen characters teaming up to battle some super-foe, and Marvel Comics have been the leaders in this field. So when Marvel recently decided to take a more active interest in how their characters were being translated to the big screen, they came up with the plan to promote a forthcoming ensemble bonanza entitled The Avengers at every opportunity.
At the end of the recent Iron Man movie, an hitherto unseen Nick Fury, played by Samuel L Jackson, popped up to ask Iron Man to join The Avengers – and Jackson is scheduled to repeat the trick during Kenneth Branagh's forthcoming Thor. The number of cameos planned for Jackson explains how the actor was recently able to sign a nine-picture deal with Marvel Entertainment. At the end of last year's Incredible Hulk, Iron Man was seen enlisting the Hulk for The Avengers, a film that is scheduled to hit our screens in 2012, at the earliest.
However, it remains a shame that studio executives remain so short-sighted that they currently plan only to make these team-up and "versus" movies with characters that have superhuman powers. There is a whole plethora of delights that they could be making instead. I would be first in line were there ever to be a movie featuring a dance-off between the lead characters from Saturday Night Fever (John Travolta in the original), Dirty Dancing (Patrick Swayze), Footloose (Kevin Bacon) and High School Musical (Zac Efron).
The box-office success of mix-up and match-up movies means that we're going to see many more of them at our cinemas in the future. This would be a far more enticing prospect if only a bit more imagination was being put into the characters we see being teamed up.

Sex advice website for primary kids angers parents Down Under

Melbourne, April 7 : Outraged parents are demanding withdrawal of a sex education website endorsing abortion and giving pre-teens information about sexual pleasure.
The controversial site, thehormonefactory.com, has been approved as a student resource for Queensland Year 7 classes.
Educators say that it is a valuable, fun tool that helps children entering their teens learn about their bodies, but parents are angry over the site’s description of abortion as ‘a relief’ and claims certain hormones make teens ‘feel sexy’.
The website, set up by La Trobe University, uses cartoons to tell 10 to 12-year-olds why certain hormones give them ‘sexy thoughts’ and start making them ‘interested in sex’. Students are also told that it can be a relief if a woman has a termination.
Queensland Council of Parents and Citizens Associations president Margaret Black sought a meeting with Education Queensland’s head of curriculum.
‘We can understand that children will ask questions, however the answers on the website are far too detailed, not tasteful and are too advanced for primary students,’ the Courier Mail quoted Black, as saying.
Australian Family Association Queensland president Ken Francis warned that the website was potentially dangerous to the ‘physical and mental health of our children’ and was unsuitable for Year 7 students.
Cherish Life Queensland president Teresa Martin accused the site of not informing students properly about the psychological damage that abortions could cause, and said the topic should not be taught until at least Year 9.
However, Family Planning Queensland educational services director Cecelia Gore backed the website, insisting Year 7 was the ‘crucial time’ for sex education because research showed students dealt better with sexual encounters if they had been educated beforehand.
Website co-creator Associate Professor Anne Mitchell, of La Trobe University, said today’s kids were more sexualised by society and the site gave them straight facts.

Hugh Jackman jumped from cliffs to cool his temper!

Hugh Jackman had a unique way to curb his anger—cliff-jumping!
The ‘Australia’ star revealed that he found daredevil stunts as the only way to deal with his wild temper.
Jackman’s parents got separated when he was just eight years old, and the actor blames the subsequent divorce, his absent mother and the attention of schoolyard bullies for his violent rage.
And his uncontrollable anger had once left his brother in hospital after a chair attack.
‘I had some very dark periods as a child. I wanted Mum to come back. I desperately wanted to be normal. I got very mad and would take it out on the football field. High school was very tough - I was bullied and probably did some bullying myself,” Contactmusic quoted him as saying.
However, Jackman finally started using adrenaline-fuelled activities to cool down his temper.
He added: ‘I think there was a lot of pent-up anger and as a boy you have to let that out. I used to go to a place in Sydney and jump off an 80 foot cliff into the water.
“We’d also go roof-riding - a group of us would wind down the front windows, lie on top of the car and hold on. It was ridiculously dangerous, but I just thought it was normal fun.’

Leona Lewis’ ‘pony’ surprise birthday present!

Leona Lewis’ friends gave her a rather ‘galloping’ surprise present for her birthday— a sponsored horse.


The ‘Bleeding Love’ hit-maker’s parents, mates and boyfriend Lou Al-Chamaa travelled all the way to LA to give her a surprise on her big day.

They, then took the thrilled singer to a Thai restaurant, and gave her a sponsored horse as a gift.

‘Leona is besotted with horses. It’s a bit pricey to splash out one of her own so they did the next best thing and donated money to sponsor one for her in LA,” The Mirror quoted a pal as saying.

The friend added: “She was overwhelmed by everyone’s efforts.

Preity Zinta Biography

Born (born 31 January 1974) in Shimla, native of Rohru, she studied at the Jesus and Mary Simla Convent School after getting a degree in criminal psychology at the St. Bedes College, Zinta began her career as a model, and commercial (ad films) actress (she was seen in Lyril (soap ad film). Her father, Durganand Zinta died when she was thirteen in a car accident in which her mother, Nilprabha Zinta was also involved. Her mother was bedridden because of this incident. Zinta has two brothers, Deepanker Zinta and Manish Zinta, a year older and a year younger respectively.

Preity Zinta's first movie was supposed to be Kya Kehna but due to delay Dil Se was released first. The film was her breakthrough role and she won the Filmfair Best Debut Award for her performance. Since then her career was that of a typical Bollywood star: not many hits but not many flops either.

In 2003, Zinta had two smash hits, Koi... Mil Gaya and Kal Ho Naa Ho. She is currently among the most successful actresses in Bollywood. In the year of 2003, she won many awards for her role in the film, Kal Ho Naa Ho. Her performance got her the Filmfare Best Actress Award. Since then she has appeared in two other box office hits, Veer-Zaara (2004) and Salaam Namaste (2005).

Preity Zintajoined a group of top stars (Shahrukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Saif Ali Khan, Arjun Rampal, and Priyanka Chopra) in the Temptation 2004 concert, which was a huge international success. She also modeled for Manish Malhotra during Lakme Fashion Week, and has received a invitation to represent Bollywood at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2006 along with Karan Johar.

Preity Zinta narrowly escaped death twice in late 2004, once after an explosion at a Temptation concert in Colombo, and later in the Indian Ocean Tsunami.

Zinta has written three columns for BBC South Asia.

Her next releases will be Krrish, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna and Jaaneman.

Preity Zinta has been linked with a few of her co-stars such as Salman Khan, Abhishek Bachchan and Aamir Khan but has always dismissed them as rumors. She is currently dating the heir to the Bombay Dyeing company Ness Wadia.