Tuesday 27 March 2012

Friday 23 March 2012

Nokia drops another 1,000 employees.

by Terrence O'Brien.

Nokia
To say it's been a rough year for Nokia would be a huge understatement. And things are only going to get worse before they get better. Case in point: the company just finalized an agreement to cut up to another 1,000 jobs (which we knew was coming), all at its plant in Salo, Finland. The cuts will not happen all at once, instead positions will be phased out over the course of the year, with most layoffs coming before the end of June. For those in Western Europe it's another batch of manufacturing jobs heading to Asia, for Nokia it's simply part of a restructuring plan designed to help it stop the bleeding. The staff that remains will focus on installing software that caters to European customers. After several quarters of bad news and then a complete shift in smartphone platforms it only makes sense that Nokia would find itself in dire straights. Still, in a country where unemployment hovers at around eight percent, we're sure no amount of national pride will make people feel better about losing more jobs.

Update: In case it wasn't clear, we just wanted to clarify that these are cuts that Nokia had already announced. The company has simply struck a deal with its employees making the move official.
Nokia drops another 1,000 employees, Finnish plant focusing on software originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Mar 2012 10:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

beaut


 

Champ!!

like a boss

the ice cube hero



Wednesday 21 March 2012

How to Pour the Perfect Guinness from a Can


Learn how to pour the perfect Guinness from a can to obtain a nice creamy head with this simple tip.

Arnold and Ali



Arnold Schwarzenegger and Muhammad Ali

no one does it better than Premo

classic Premo beat.

Pitch Black - It's All Real by Pitch-Black

three one lines

I think it will be awesome if Johnnie Walker decide to use the Denzel Washington bounce on one of their ads. Like the bad-ass bounce he had in the movie Training Day.
I'm really looking forward to what AMC TV has in store for me this year. Kicking off with Mad Men then the final season of Breaking Bad, The Killing  then finish off with The Walking Dead.
I think it will be interesting to see how a person suffering from full body tourettes drives a car on a highway.

Breaking Bad Cast Talks About Show's Final Season

Breaking Bad Cast Talks About Show's Final Season

Bryan Cranston Predicts Fate of Breaking Bad's Walter White

New York Names Breaking Bad One of the Best TV Dramas of the Past 25 Years

New York Names Breaking Bad One of the Best TV Dramas of the Past 25 Years

looking forward to the new season.

good one

like a boss

 

Porsche at Techno Classica 2012

Porsche at Techno Classica 2012:
911a.jpg

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 911 Carrera RS 2.7, Porsche will be showing off two stunning models at Techno Classica in Essen Germany: a 1973 911 Carrera RSR and the birthday boy himself, the 911 Carrera RS 2.7, a car that has been carefully restored by Porsche Classic workshop specialists. Link

911b.jpg

Tuesday 20 March 2012

those lips...

 

another movie to look for

BEING FLYNN – The Review:

BEING FLYNN is the new comedy/drama that explores the unique bond ( or lack ) between father and son. Based on the memoir by Nick Flynn, ” Another Bulls**t Day in Suck City “, Paul ( ABOUT A BOY ) Weitz’s new film deals with a young man estranged from a father absent from most of his childhood. He’s angry about the missing years, but somewhat eager to get to know him, along with the fear that he may become his father. The movie deals well in presenting these conflicting emotions while also shining a light on one of the biggest problems of society. It also gives Robert DeNiro one of his most interesting film roles in years.
The opening scenes of BEING FLYNN introduce us to son and father. Nick Flynn is an unemployed, directionless twenty-something who flirts with the idea of being a writer. After being tossed out of the home he shared with his flight attendant girlfriend, he hooks up with two young men turning a former strip club into an apartment. We see flashbacks of young Nick as a pre-teen being raised alone by his mother Jody ( Julianne Moore ) after his father is sent to jail for helping pass bad checks. But Dad never returns after his prison stint. Turns out that the cantankerous elder Jonathan Flynn ( DeNiro ) drives a cab not far from his son. After driving the streets, he returns to his crummy flat for vodka ( screwdrivers actually ) and to pound away on his old typewriter, adding to a massive literary work that may never be finished ( or published ). That is until a battle with a noisy downstairs neighbor causes him to be evicted. Out of the blue, Jonathan calls Nick to help him move his meager possessions into a storage unit. After everything is loaded up, the two men part abruptly. Dad believes he can crash temporarily with some old drinking buddies. Nick soon takes the suggestion of on-again, off-again girlfriend Denise ( Olivia Thirlby )  and joins her,working at a homeless shelter. He begins to actually enjoy his job until Dad shows up for a place to stay. What will happen to Nick’s newly ordered, organized life now that his father is now firmly back in his life?
For about the first half of the film the time is divided between the two Flynns, with Jonathan’s story being the more compelling. Dano does well as this drifting young man who finally finds a direction before his dad’s return sends him into a downward spiral leading to very serious drug dependency. The road to addiction has been traveled many times before at the cinema and we don’t really learn anything new. The journey of DeNiro’s Jonathan is one not often explored in film ( and certainly not by as gifted an actor ). We get to see how someone literally slips through the cracks of society and ends up sleeping in the streets ( very cold ones, you can almost feel the frostbite forming on his toes and fingers ). We feel enormous empathy for him even though the elder Flynn is not a pleasant guy to be around. He’s delusional ( a publisher’s rejection letter is high praise ), stubborn, egotistical, racist, and homophobic. It’s a testament to DeNiro’s skills that he makes this misanthrope someone worthy of our sympathies. Occasionally he’ll launch into screaming diatribes that come close to being a ” best of Bobby D ” montage, but after seeing him mired in the ” Focker ” comedies and under-written supporting roles ( LIMITLESS ), here’s a part worthy of his time ( and ours ). Moore hasn’t much to do as flashback mom besides suppressing her frustrations in front of her boy, sharing a crude, coarse catch phrase, and modeling some unflattering 1970′s ( I think! ) fashions as she goes back and forth from her jobs as waitress and bank teller. We even get a quick look at her line-up of somewhat “skeezy ” boyfriends. It’s always a treat to see JUNO’s Thirlby in a new film, but here her character functions mostly as a plot device to get Nick to the shelter and later as his moral compass ( a very lovely Jiminy Cricket ). The rest of the shelter group are played by several terrific character actors particularly Wes Studi as the boss AKA ” The Captain ” and a motherly ex-meth user player by indie-film stalwart Lili Taylor ( wanted to see more of her ). Weitz does a great job of presenting the city as an urban jungle, full of unexpected dangers ( usually at night ). Though BEING FLYNN may stumble a bit in its father/son reunion dramatics , it’s a harrowing study of an old, obstinate crackpot that society almost throws away.
Overall rating: 3.5 Out of 5 Stars

another film by Oren Peli that I'm looking forward to watch.

CHERNOBYL DIARIES Trailer From PARANORMAL ACTIVITY Producer Oren Peli:

In theaters on May 25 (Memorial Day Weekend), check out the first trailer for CHERNOBYL DIARIES, an original story from Oren Peli, who first terrified audiences with his groundbreaking thriller, “Paranormal Activity.”
Director Brad Parker’s horror thriller follows a group of six young tourists who, looking to go off the beaten path, hire an “extreme tour” guide. Ignoring warnings, he takes them into the city of Pripyat, the former home to the workers of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, but a deserted town since the disaster more than 25 years ago. After a brief exploration of the abandoned city, however, the group soon finds themselves stranded, only to discover that they are not alone…
Visit the official site: http://chernobyldiaries.warnerbros.com/
“Like” on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chernobyldiaries

Monday 19 March 2012

copying 101

 

One billion slum dwellers

One billion slum dwellers:
One billion people worldwide live in slums, a number that will likely double by 2030. The characteristics of slum life vary greatly between geographic regions, but they are generally inhabited by the very poor or socially disadvantaged. Slum buildings can be simple shacks or permanent and well-maintained structures but lack clean water, electricity, sanitation and other basic services. In this post, I've included images from several slums including Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, the second largest slum in Africa (and the third largest in the world); New Building slum in central Malabo, Equatorial Guinea; Pinheirinho slum - where residents recently resisted police efforts to forcibly evict them; and slum dwellers from Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi, India. India has about 93 million slum dwellers and as much as 50% of New Delhi's population is thought to live in slums, 60% of Mumbai. -- Paula Nelson (55 photos total)

Cambodian lawmaker Mu Sochuo, from the opposition Sam Rainsy party, pleads with riot policemen to stop a forced eviction of villagers at a slum village in the centre of Phnom Penh, Jan. 4, 2012. Cambodian lawmakers from the opposition Sam Rainsy party visited the village after authorities forcefully evicted villagers from the Borei Keila community in the capital. (Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty Images)




Add to Facebook
Add to Twitter
Add to digg
Add to StumbleUpon
Add to Reddit
Add to del.icio.us
Email this Article



Gerd Ludwig's 'Long Shadow of Chernobyl' project

Gerd Ludwig's 'Long Shadow of Chernobyl' project:
Internationally-renowned photojournalist Gerd Ludwig has spent years documenting the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. In 1986, errors at the plant in Ukraine led to an explosion that ultimately caused over a quarter of a million people to permanently evacuate their homes to escape the radiation and radioactive fallout. Over the course of several trips to the site and the region for National Geographic Magazine in 1993, 2005, and 2011, Ludwig has amassed a documentary record of a people and a place irreparably altered by a tragic accident. His 2011 trip was partially funded by a Kickstarter campaign. Now Ludwig has released an iPad app with over 150 photographs, video, and interactive panoramas. Gathered here is a small selection of the work Ludwig has produced over the years of the still-unfolding tragedy. -- Lane Turner (23 photos total)

On April 26, 1986, operators in this control room of reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant committed a fatal series of errors during a safety test, triggering a reactor meltdown that resulted in the world's largest nuclear accident to date. Today, the control room sits abandoned and deadly radioactive. Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine, 2005 (Gerd Ludwig/INSTITUTE)




Add to Facebook
Add to Twitter
Add to digg
Add to StumbleUpon
Add to Reddit
Add to del.icio.us
Email this Article