FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2013 file photo, Daniel Craig, left, and Rachel Weisz arrive at the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. Craig and Weisz are to play an adulterous stage couple in a Broadway production of Harold Pinter's "Betrayal." Broadway veteran Mike Nichols will direct the production, which previews from Oct. 1 and opens Nov. 3 at New York's Barrymore Theatre. The announcement was made Friday, April 5, 2013. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2013 file photo, Daniel Craig, left, and Rachel Weisz arrive at the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. Craig and Weisz are to play an adulterous stage couple in a Broadway production of Harold Pinter's "Betrayal." Broadway veteran Mike Nichols will direct the production, which previews from Oct. 1 and opens Nov. 3 at New York's Barrymore Theatre. The announcement was made Friday, April 5, 2013. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Real-life husband and wife Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz are to play an adulterous stage couple in a Broadway production this fall of Harold Pinter's "Betrayal," the latest blast of high-beam celebrities to be lured to Times Square.
Weisz will make her Broadway debut in Pinter's 1978 study in deception, which charts an extramarital affair in reverse.
Her character, Emma, is married to Craig's Robert, but is having an affair with Jerry, played by rising star Rafe Spall.
James Bond star Craig last appeared on Broadway in 2009 in "A Steady Rain," where he received positive notices opposite Hugh Jackman even though the play itself did not.
The married movie stars will join a long list of recent film celebrities to hit Broadway, including Al Pacino, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Matthew Broderick, Jessica Chastain, Robin Williams, Scarlett Johansson, Katie Holmes and Samuel L. Jackson. Others celebrities soon to make their debuts include Zooey Deschanel and Amber Tamblyn.
Casting movie stars hasn't always turned into box office gold. Hoffman's revival of Arthur Miller's "Death of Salesman," Jackson's turn as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on "The Mountaintop" and the Pacino-led "Glengarry Glen Ross" revival all recouped their investments. But Chastain's revival of "The Heiress," Holmes' "Dead Accounts" and Johansson's version of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" did not.
Craig has reportedly signed on for at least two more Bond films following "Skyfall," which was the first Bond film to rake in more than $1 billion in revenue. It also won two Oscars including one for Adele's theme song.
Broadway veteran Mike Nichols will direct "Betrayal," which previews from Oct. 1 and opens Nov. 3 at New York's Barrymore Theatre. The announcement was made Friday.
Craig and Weisz, who is currently starring on screen in "Oz: The Great and Powerful," worked together before in the horror film "Dream House," which came out in 2011.
Couples have been sharing Broadway stages recently, including Michael Shannon and Kate Arrington, who starred in "Grace," and Boyd Gaines and Kathleen McNenny, who starred in "An Enemy of the People."
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Follow Mark Kennedy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
Have you been feeling a bit like a UK-based Goldilocks? The Galaxy Note II's too small, the Note 10.1 a trifle too big, but the Note 8 looks just right? Well, today's your lucky day, as the mid-sized tablet has officially launched in the Queen's dominion. The WiFi-only, 16GB model will set you back £339 (approximately $516), and at the moment, you'll only find it at the Samsung Experience Store in Westfield Stratford City. It'll be available elsewhere shortly, and it's probably worth waiting -- from April 15th for a limited time, buyers will get a few extras: a £20 voucher for the Samsung Learning Hub, a two-month subscription to The Times, free access to the Samsung Music Hub for a month, and a couple of games and AVG Anti-Virus Pro gratis. If tethering ain't your bag but you need data on the go, a gent from the Westfield store told us the 3G version is on its way, but couldn't give us a firm arrival date. It's our duty to warn you Westfield is a crowded nightmare at the best of times, and the arrival of a new Samsung tablet ain't gonna help that.
When a good employee with no disciplinary record suddenly turns into a bad employee following FMLA leave, watch out. You may have on your hands a bitter supervisor who wants to punish the employee for disrupting workflow, creating scheduling hassles and otherwise making life more difficult.
Before approving discipline or a poor evaluation, look deeper. Check to make sure others with similar performance problems who didn?t take leave weren?t treated more favorably.
Recent case: Marie worked in a retirement community as a certified nursing assistant and got good reviews. She had never been written up for any disciplinary problems or received a poor evaluation.
Then Marie hurt her shoulder while lifting a resident. She filed a workers? compensation claim and was temporarily placed on light duty, since she could not lift more than 10 pounds until fully healed. She took intermittent FMLA leave from that light-duty position to attend physical therapy and other medical appointments.
After getting the all-clear to return to work, Marie soon found herself under investigation for allegedly treating a resident poorly. That resident apparently got angry when Marie allegedly told her not to ?get smart with me.? The retirement home then fired Marie.
She sued, alleging that she had been terminated in retaliation for taking FMLA leave and filing a workers? compensation claim.
She noted her spotless pre-injury employment record, that another employee caught yelling and using ?disrespectful language? with residents wasn?t punished and that the employer had a progressive discipline program but didn?t use it in Marie?s case.
That was enough for the judge to order a trial. (Villard v. White??marsh Continuing Care Retire??ment Community, No. 10-7230, ED PA, 2012)
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It's a long time since I've felt a sense of delighted surprise at watching a movie. It's not something that happens that often, but within a few minutes of sitting down to watch Sightseers I had a feeling I was in for a rare treat. Unfortunately, whenever a movie gives such a sense of promise so early on, it's usually coupled with a sense of foreboding that you might have gotten it wrong, you might be allowing your expectations to spiral too high. Not so. Sightseers is the most original and happily surprising British movie I've seen in years.
If you've ever wondered whether or not you knew exactly what a Black Comedy was, sightseers will remove all doubt. Simply put, don't expect a laugh a minute, but with an adaptable and open sense of humour there's plenty on show here to un-knit your furrowed brow and paint a cheeky smirk across your face.
Tina is Thirty Four years old,...
[Read the complete movie review]
Picture
These days it's getting harder and harder to pick fault with the visual fidelity on modern Blu-ray release. This 2.35:1 AVC encode is no different. It's everything you would expect from a movie shot less than a couple of years ago. Sharp, crisp, and clean.
Being set mostly in the British countryside, there has been a concerted effort to capture the natural tones, but this is carefully balanced with the dull greyness you tend to get in the country. A lot of shots feel slightly desaturated, and to it's merit, it genuinely adds to the sense of being outdoors, and above all, the sense of coldness. Skin tones don't suffer though - they appear natural and at times blotchy from the cold. It's arguable that they appear occassionally drained of colour, but this never feels unintentional.
Blacks do suffer slightly from the somewhat drab colour pallette chosen by Ben Wheatley, often appearing slightly washed out and charcoal grey, but it's a minor point when considering the overall look that the director was trying to achieve. Shadow detail is actually very good, but coupled with the slightly below par blacks, this can often be overlooked. It's not a huge problem though, and it's certainly not something you're going to be overly concerned with as it doesn't distract attention at all.
Contrast is another area where perhaps more could have been done. In some of the sunrise shots when Chris is walking across the moors with the sun to his back, the depth of the image is compromised slightly. This is not helped much by the fact that the shot is heavy with mist, which further underlines the problem. Again though, it's no real crying shame, as the photography on the whole is beautiful and really makes up for any minor failings.
On the whole, the visual presentation is totally in keeping with the films narrative presentation. It's naturalistic, at times bleak, and effectively manages to help you feel that darker undercurrent of the main plot.
Picture score : 8
Sound
The DTS-HD Ma 5.1 surround audio track is pretty bog standard really. Nothing pops out at you, but then, it's really not a film that I would have expected my speakers to get a workout. Mostly focussed on dialogue, the balance is well mixed between the ambience and spot effects. Very little appears in the surrounds, but what's there is subtle and effective, usually serving only to open out the atmosphere of a particular scene, or to give the music somewhere to spill over to.
Use of dynamic range is decent, and there never seems to be a lot of sounds all jostling for focus. I did feel that there may have been more scope to incorporate more surround sound ambiences for the outdoor scenes in the rears, perhaps some wind noise might have added to the visceral soundscape. That's nit-picking though.
Overall, it's well balanced, and though there's very little to remark on the sound, there's nothing wrong with it at all.
Sound score : 7
Extras
Pretty light on the extras side of things here, but there's a decent documentary and a couple of audio tracks to get your teeth into, if you hunger for such things.
Making of - A 36 minute behind the scenes featurette that explores the film's production in detail. With comments from actors and cast alike, it's informative, but it's unlikely to have you begging for more.
Audio Commentary with Driector and cast - As you might have guessed from the title of this audio track, it's an amusing and often tangent heavy commentary between writers Steve Oram and Alice Lowe and director Ben Wheatley. I won't lie, I didn't make it through the entire thing. I did find it amusing, but thought it was quite a full on assault on the comedy senses at times.
There's also an additional track that sees Wheatley and Director of Photography Laurie Rose discuss the more technical aspects of the production.
Out-takes - 12 minutes of guffaw-worthy out-takes from cast and crew. It's actually more of a "Deleted Scenes" featurette really, since most of the dialogue featured was improvised, and so to call it an out-take would be doing it a great injustice. Very funny. If you watch no other extras on the disc, watch this one.
Trailers
Extras score : 5
Verdict
Death has a Ginger Beard and Evil just knitted a nice wooly jumper. Sightseers puts me in mind of Natural Born Killers - only, set in a caravan park, with a dog.
Ben Wheatley returns off the back of the astonishingly gritty and critically acclaimed Kill List with another stand out piece of British film-making prowess. Sightseers is a gruesome love story-cum-tragedy that bears all the hallmarks of a cult-classic in the making. Standing up to such greats as A Room for Romeo Brass and Withnail and I, it's every bit as noteworthy in the Black Comedy arena. Easily one of the most original and happily surprising films of the year so far, it's one that any fan of British Comedy will undoubtedly enjoy, and so effortless is the film's delivery that it's likely to become a gateway-film for new fans of the genre to uncover the plethora of British made gems of old.
As a Blu-ray package, it's light, but the films packs a punch that makes up for this in no uncertain terms. With a perfectly acceptible picture and a reasonable sound presentation it's a decent enough package to own. More care might have been afforded to getting the picture's levels a bit more balanced, and the audio presentation could have benefitted from some subtle ambient atmospheric sound design to open it out and utilize the surround array a little more, but what the picture and sound lack, the movie more than makes up for. It's never going to be a go-to disc to show off your system, but it's one that'll fit well into any film lovers collection.
Overall score : 8
1,059 word review written by Alan Mcdermott.
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Contact: Caroline Arbanas arbanasc@wustl.edu 314-286-0109 Washington University School of Medicine
Scientists have decoded the genome of the western painted turtle, one of the most abundant turtles on Earth, finding clues to their longevity and ability to survive without oxygen during long winters spent hibernating in ice-covered ponds.
Understanding the natural mechanisms turtles use to protect the heart and brain from oxygen deprivation may one day improve treatments for heart attacks or strokes, the researchers say. Both can lead to severe disability or death within minutes in patients deprived of oxygen.
The research team includes scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the University of California at Los Angeles, St. Louis University and other institutions. Their analysis is now available online in Genome Biology.
The new data confirm that the turtles' pace of evolution parallels their speed on the ground. In other words, it's exceedingly slow, about one-third of the rate of human evolution and one-fifth the rate of the fastest evolving python.
In fact, turtles have evolved a distinctive body design that has changed little over the past 210 million years, the authors note. Unlike other reptiles, turtles sport a sharp beak instead of teeth and live encased in a hard shell, a convenient home in which to hide when danger lurks.
"Turtles are nothing short of an enigma," says senior author Richard K. Wilson, PhD, director of Washington University's Genome Institute. "They may be slowly evolving, but turtles have developed an array of enviable features. They resist growing old, can reproduce even at advanced ages, and their bodies can freeze solid, thaw and survive without damaging delicate organs and tissues. We could learn a lot from them."
The western painted turtle lives in freshwater ponds and streams and is the most widespread turtle in North America. It holds the distinction of being the first turtle and only the second reptile to have its genome sequenced. Comparing the turtle's DNA to that of other animals, the scientists show that turtles are more closely related to birds than to lizards and snakes.
A close look at the turtle genome reveals that these creatures do not rely on novel genes for their unique physiological adaptions, such as the ability to withstand oxygen deprivation. Rather, they activate gene networks common to most vertebrates, including humans, but use those genes in different ways.
"This is a backdoor route for turtles to evolve," says co-author Patrick Minx, of The Genome Institute. "Rather than evolve new genes, they adapted existing genes for new uses."
For example, the scientists identified 19 genes in the brain and 23 in the heart that are activated in low-oxygen conditions, including one gene, APOLD1, whose expression is increased nearly 130 fold. These genes also are present in humans and may be important candidates to explore for treatments to reduce tissue damage due to oxygen deprivation.
Like other turtles, painted turtles are slow to age and are known for their long life spans. They become sexually mature at about 5 years of age and can live for 40 or more years in the wild. While impressive, some other turtle species don't reach sexual maturity until their 40s and can live for well over a century.
Indeed, it is the long lapse of time from one generation to the next that is at the root of turtles' slow evolution. Living longer gives them fewer opportunities to evolve, Minx says.
The researchers also identified common patterns of gene loss in the turtle associated with longevity, sex determination and a lack of teeth, findings that warrant further investigation.
One aspect of turtle evolution that is progressing rapidly is their threat of extinction. As many as half the 330 turtle species worldwide are considered threatened, making them the most endangered major group of vertebrates on a global scale. Their demise is due, in part, to human consumption, encouraged by unsubstantiated but persistent claims that eating turtles can increase life expectancy and cure cancer.
Habitat loss and modification are also important, but it is turtles' popularity on restaurant menus and dinner tables, particularly in Asia, that is the biggest reason for their global decline, the researchers say.
"The challenge is to preserve the rich diversity of turtles that still exist on Earth as we continue to unravel their secrets for success," says first author H. Bradley Shaffer, PhD, of the University of California at Los Angeles. "Turtles have a tremendous amount to tell us about evolution and human health, but time is running out."
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The research was funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Shaffer HB, Minx P, Warren DE, Warren WC, Mardis ER, Wilson RK et al. The western painted turtle genome, a model of the extreme physiological adaptions in a slowly evolving lineage. Genome Biology. March 28, 2013.
Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked sixth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Caroline Arbanas arbanasc@wustl.edu 314-286-0109 Washington University School of Medicine
Scientists have decoded the genome of the western painted turtle, one of the most abundant turtles on Earth, finding clues to their longevity and ability to survive without oxygen during long winters spent hibernating in ice-covered ponds.
Understanding the natural mechanisms turtles use to protect the heart and brain from oxygen deprivation may one day improve treatments for heart attacks or strokes, the researchers say. Both can lead to severe disability or death within minutes in patients deprived of oxygen.
The research team includes scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the University of California at Los Angeles, St. Louis University and other institutions. Their analysis is now available online in Genome Biology.
The new data confirm that the turtles' pace of evolution parallels their speed on the ground. In other words, it's exceedingly slow, about one-third of the rate of human evolution and one-fifth the rate of the fastest evolving python.
In fact, turtles have evolved a distinctive body design that has changed little over the past 210 million years, the authors note. Unlike other reptiles, turtles sport a sharp beak instead of teeth and live encased in a hard shell, a convenient home in which to hide when danger lurks.
"Turtles are nothing short of an enigma," says senior author Richard K. Wilson, PhD, director of Washington University's Genome Institute. "They may be slowly evolving, but turtles have developed an array of enviable features. They resist growing old, can reproduce even at advanced ages, and their bodies can freeze solid, thaw and survive without damaging delicate organs and tissues. We could learn a lot from them."
The western painted turtle lives in freshwater ponds and streams and is the most widespread turtle in North America. It holds the distinction of being the first turtle and only the second reptile to have its genome sequenced. Comparing the turtle's DNA to that of other animals, the scientists show that turtles are more closely related to birds than to lizards and snakes.
A close look at the turtle genome reveals that these creatures do not rely on novel genes for their unique physiological adaptions, such as the ability to withstand oxygen deprivation. Rather, they activate gene networks common to most vertebrates, including humans, but use those genes in different ways.
"This is a backdoor route for turtles to evolve," says co-author Patrick Minx, of The Genome Institute. "Rather than evolve new genes, they adapted existing genes for new uses."
For example, the scientists identified 19 genes in the brain and 23 in the heart that are activated in low-oxygen conditions, including one gene, APOLD1, whose expression is increased nearly 130 fold. These genes also are present in humans and may be important candidates to explore for treatments to reduce tissue damage due to oxygen deprivation.
Like other turtles, painted turtles are slow to age and are known for their long life spans. They become sexually mature at about 5 years of age and can live for 40 or more years in the wild. While impressive, some other turtle species don't reach sexual maturity until their 40s and can live for well over a century.
Indeed, it is the long lapse of time from one generation to the next that is at the root of turtles' slow evolution. Living longer gives them fewer opportunities to evolve, Minx says.
The researchers also identified common patterns of gene loss in the turtle associated with longevity, sex determination and a lack of teeth, findings that warrant further investigation.
One aspect of turtle evolution that is progressing rapidly is their threat of extinction. As many as half the 330 turtle species worldwide are considered threatened, making them the most endangered major group of vertebrates on a global scale. Their demise is due, in part, to human consumption, encouraged by unsubstantiated but persistent claims that eating turtles can increase life expectancy and cure cancer.
Habitat loss and modification are also important, but it is turtles' popularity on restaurant menus and dinner tables, particularly in Asia, that is the biggest reason for their global decline, the researchers say.
"The challenge is to preserve the rich diversity of turtles that still exist on Earth as we continue to unravel their secrets for success," says first author H. Bradley Shaffer, PhD, of the University of California at Los Angeles. "Turtles have a tremendous amount to tell us about evolution and human health, but time is running out."
###
The research was funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Shaffer HB, Minx P, Warren DE, Warren WC, Mardis ER, Wilson RK et al. The western painted turtle genome, a model of the extreme physiological adaptions in a slowly evolving lineage. Genome Biology. March 28, 2013.
Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked sixth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Suicide bombers disguised as Afghan soldiers stormed a courthouse Wednesday in a failed bid to free more than a dozen Taliban prisoners in western Afghanistan, officials said. At least 21 civilians and nine attackers were reported killed in the fighting.
The assault in Farah province was the latest example of the Taliban's ability to strike official institutions despite tight security measures. The persistent violence has undermined confidence in President Hamid Karzai's government as it tries to take over its own security ahead of the withdrawal of international combat forces by the end of 2014.
Nine men wearing suicide vests drove into the center of the provincial capital, which has the same name, in Afghan national army vehicles that allowed them to bypass checkpoints, provincial police chief Agha Noor Kemtoz said.
Two of the attackers blew themselves up inside one of the vehicles while the others jumped out of the second and ran toward the courthouse and prosecutor's office, he said. Guards opened fire, killing one of the attackers, while the others engaged in a fierce gunbattle that left civil servants and government officials holed up in their offices.
Kemtoz, who gave the death toll, said the attack aimed to free 15 Taliban prisoners who were being transferred to the courthouse for trial, which had not yet started.
"Definitely the plan was to free the prisoners with this attack, but thank God, they did not succeed," he said. "All the prisoners are accounted for."
Dr. Abdul Hakim Rasouli, chief of the Farah hospital, said 80 people also were wounded.
Deputy provincial governor Yonus Rasouli said the explosion damaged many government buildings in the area.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack in a text message sent to reporters.
Farah province, which is bordered by Iran to the west and Afghanistan's volatile Helmand province to the east, has seen an uptick in attacks against the local government in recent months as militants seek to disrupt efforts to stabilize the area.
In Kabul, meanwhile, Afghanistan's intelligence chief Asadullah Khalid returned to Kabul nearly four months after he was seriously wounded by a Taliban suicide bomber posing as a messenger of peace.
Billboards in the capital welcomed home the director of the National Directorate of Security on Wednesday, saying he has fully recovered and "is ready to continue his duty to provide peace, security and prosperity to his homeland."
In other violence, Taliban gunmen attacked a local police patrol late Tuesday in southeastern Paktika province and six insurgents were killed in the fighting, according to a statement from the governor's office. A roadside bomb then struck a police vehicle as it was leaving the area, killing four patrollers, it said.
Four police officers also were killed and one wounded Tuesday when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in northeastern Kunar province during an operation to clear the area of explosives, government spokesman Wasifullah Wasifi said.
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Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez contributed to this report.
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Public release date: 3-Apr-2013
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