Monthly Archives: February 2012

Navigating a 340-Ton Boulder through Los Angeles

February 29, 2012
By
Michael Heizer
Michael Heizer’s ‘s 34-ton granite megalith

LOS ANGELES – A monumental undertaking is an understatement. To transport a 340-ton boulder 105 miles from Riverside to West Los Angeles, it is going to take 11 nights, an undisclosed number of California Department of Transportation permits and approval from 22 cities.

Weighing approximately the same as 17 city buses, the granite megalith is part of Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s forthcoming “Levitated Mass” outdoor installation. Although the project was originally conceived by the artist, Michael Heizer, in 1968, beginning Tuesday, the boulder will begin its journey to the museum, traveling on specific roads from 11 pm to 5 am each day.

For the last four years the museum’s project manager, John Bowsher, has been preparing for this day. “We’re reshaping the landscape of the museum,” said Bowsher. But the boulder is only one part of the installation.

Courtesy Michael Heizer
Michael Heizer, preliminary sketch for “Levitated Mass,” 2011

Bowsher has also been supervising the building of a 456-foot long slot which will run beneath the boulder, allowing patrons to view the installation from 15 feet below the rock. Visitors will also be able to walk up and touch the piece, something the museum is encouraging through their “Transformation: The LACMA Campaign,” which also includes artist Chris Burden’s “Urban Light,” a series of 202 restored cast iron antique street lamps.

In total, the project is going to encompass 2.5 acres of the museum’s land.

Bowsher says this is the most logistically challenging project since he was tasked in 1998 with receiving 22 trucks worth of an exhibition of Richard Serra sculptures for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

The boulder in “Levitated Mass” was purchased five years ago when Heizer was working at the Pyrite-Hubbs Quarry in Riverside County. Due to both its weight and size, Heizer was able to realize his vision in collaboration with the museum.

Heizer comes from a family of miners and engineers and his previous work includes installations of a similar size and can be seen in Seattle, Oakland and Houston.

Alexandra Cheney is reporting from Los Angeles. Follow her on Twitter @alexandracheney.

‘The Help’ Producer Brunson Green on His Oscar Week

February 29, 2012
By
AP
From left: Tate Taylor, Octavia Spencer and Brunson Green of ‘The Help’ at the Academy Awards.

Oscar week started off with a bang on Wednesday. Since I’m a little green in the fashion department, I enlisted my stylist friend of “Fashion Police” fame, George Kotsiopoulos, to help me with the daunting task of picking a tux. We ended up settling on a sharp Black Fleece by Brooks Brothers three-button number.

With that out of the way, I headed to The Wrap’s pre-Oscar party at Culina at the Four Seasons Hotel. It was a really fun group including “Margin Call” producer Neal Dodson, director J.C. Chandor and “The Descendants” screenwriter Nat Faxon. Then “Who Killed the Electric Car” director, Chris Paine, invited me to the Global Green event in Hollywood. There was a huge turnout of folks there, and I even got to sit in one of those great new Chevy Volts (gun rack not included).

Friday and Saturday were filled with more events, including a great luncheon in honor of Viola Davis. I got to meet her sister (who sounds JUST like her) and her amazing niece, who is so smart, she’ll probably become President one day. That Davis family is amazing.  One of the biggest highlights of the weekend was the Motion Picture Television Fund’s “Night Before” fundraiser. It was an incredible event, where most of Hollywood shows up to support a great cause. Over $6 million was raised in one night, which helps provide health services for retired people who worked in the entertainment industry.

Oscar night was completely surreal. Holly Bario, who was a huge supporter of the film at DreamWorks, was my date and an absolute blast. All of “The Help” folks were sitting in the same section along with the “War Horse” crowd. Having all our friends over the years all in the same room, nominated in the same year, was a thrill. Melissa McCarthy was actually in a previous film I produced and Tate Taylor directed, “Pretty Ugly People,” which was an absolute blast, also starring Octavia Spencer and Allison Janney from “The Help” crew and then Missi Pyle from “The Artist.”

So it was a great reunion and wonderful to share the night with all of them. Melissa actually ran up to Tate and me and asked if we would help her with her joke delivery while she presented an award. If you heard two guys screaming “Scorsese!” that was Melissa’s cue from us to take a shot of whiskey on camera. Having Jim Rash win the Oscar and imitate Angelina Jolie with a “leg bomb” pose was classic. He’s one of the funniest guys I know.

Of course, when Octavia won the Oscar, we were all jumping up and down and crying our eyes out. Octavia says she doesn’t even remember talking during her speech, but her words were touching and unforgettable. What seems like a LONG event on television actually flies by when you’re sitting in the audience, and all of the sudden, it was over.

We all went to the Vanity Fair party at the Sunset Tower Hotel, and got to say our final goodbyes to what has become almost like a summer camp atmosphere. Unfortunately, since award nominations are very rare, we’ll never all get to be together and share this experience in the same way. It’s been a fantastic first Oscar ride, and I hope it’s not our last.

Now it’s back to work on the next one. Late that Sunday night, as I was saying goodbye to “Moneyball” producer Rachael Horovitz, we decided that maybe we should team up and cast each of the talented, nominated actors from our films who didn’t walk away with gold this year and make an unbeatable movie. Keep an eye out for a comedy starring Brad, Viola, Jessica and Jonah in a theater near you.

Brunson Green is the producer of “The Help.”

Best in Blogs: Is Bible-Based Investing A Good Idea?

February 29, 2012
By
Mary Evans/Everett
Jesus of Nazareth

Is Bible-based investing a good idea? Is Facebook a Monopoly? And what happened at the Oscars when you weren’t looking? A look at the most interesting posts from the Wall Street Journal family of blogs.

Can Bible-based Investing Save You?: Ron Blue believes the Bible holds the answers to most clients’ financial problems. “There are about 2,350 verses in the Bible that deal with money,” he claims. [Financial Adviser]

Reducing the Risks of Hernia Surgery: While hernia repair is generally safe, it isn’t without risks — and new devices such as synthetic mesh used in surgery have been linked to pain, malfunction and infection risks. [Health]

When Should Seniors Lose Driving Privileges?: A new survey highlights the importance of talking with older family members and friends about their transportation needs and driving abilities, and when to limit their time behind the wheel. This resource can help you get started. [Encore]

Is Facebook a Monopoly?: Is it already too late for Facebook competitors? Google+, the Internet behemoth’s second foray into social networking, is even less popular than MySpace, according to new data. Analysts say that’s partly because Google made some key mistakes in building their social networking site, but it’s also a sign of how difficult it is to compete with Facebook these days. [Real Time Advice]

Oscar Trend Watch: Red, White and Black: Elizabeth Holmes highlights some of style trends stirred up by the Oscars. [Heard on the Runway]

Getty
Angelina Jolie’s split black velvet gown from Atelier Versace was one of several black dresses on the red carpet.

Company That Sold Statue of Liberty Scraps Seeks Chapter 11: A Tennessee company that sold off chunks of the country’s most well-known symbol of freedom—the Statue of Liberty—has filed for bankruptcy protection after years of trying to make money selling the scraps it salvaged from the monument’s renovation in the 1980s. [Bankruptcy Beat]

Photos of the Day: The best photos from Feb. 28. [Photo Journal]

New ‘Prometheus’ Teaser: A TED Talk From the Future: The coming movie “Prometheus” uses TED to launch a promo video. [Speakeasy]

Actress Li Bingbing on the Oscars You Didn’t Get to See: Chinese superstar Li Bingbing on her Oscar experience. [Speakeasy]

Live Blogging the Michigan and Arizona Primaries: The spotlight shines today on GOP primaries in Michigan and Arizona, with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney facing intense pressure to win his native state of Michigan. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has been running even with Mr. Romney in recent polls, with Texas Rep. Ron Paul and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich lagging behind. Mr. Romney has a comfortable lead in Arizona. [WashWire]

China’s Wang Shu Wins Pritzker Prize: Wang Shu, an architect based in Hangzhou, China, on Monday received this year’s Pritzker Architecture Prize. A look at his work. [Scene Asia]

Rice Burgers: A Japanese Spin on an American Classic: The good old hamburger is about as far away from the genteel surroundings of the sushi restaurant as is possible to imagine. But things are changing. [Scene Asia]

Christopher John Farley is the editorial director of the Wall Street Journal blogs. Follow him on Twitter at @cjfarley

Project Phenix Flies In to Support Online Movie, TV Sales

February 29, 2012
By
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
A compact flash card

A pair of Hollywood studios have teamed up with two digital storage companies to simplify the process of transferring and storing high-definition movies and TV shows, part of a broad effort to promote online content sales.

The initiative, dubbed “Project Phenix,” will allow consumers to save movies on branded hard drives and devices like USB flash cards and SD cards. The movies can then be transferred to compatible televisions, laptops, mobile phones and other electronic products.

The products will be compatible with UltraViolet, the digital library service supported by five of the six major Hollywood studios. The first products using the sharing capabilities are expected later this year.

Project Phenix was developed by the newly formed Secure Content Storage Association LLC, which was created to provide consumers with additional options of accessing and retrieving content — especially premium content access that may only be available. Members include News Corp.’s Twentieth Century Fox, Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. Entertainment, SanDisk Corp. and Western Digital Corp. News Corp. also owns The Wall Street Journal.

The initiative is aimed at both early adopters of new technologies, who tend to more technologically adept, as well as consumers that are still learning how navigate using cloud systems, said Darcy Antonellis, the president of Warner Bros. Technical Operations.

“We all use storage like flash or thumb drives,” she said. “So if consumers know there’s a trusted device, they may be more likely to store, move and play content on certain platforms.”

New ‘Prometheus’ Teaser: A TED Talk From the Future

February 29, 2012
By
TED.com

A new TED talk video is a little different from what we’ve come to expect of the website that features experts discussing “ideas worth spreading.” This one is from “Peter Weyland” at a TED talk from the year 2023, in which he says he (and presumably the Weyland corporation he represents) will change the world.

It’s also a very clever teaser for “Prometheus.”

Peter Weyland is reportedly a character played by Guy Pearce in Ridley Scott’s highly anticipated film, “Prometheus,” an entrepreneur and the head of the Weyland Corporation who owns the Prometheus spaceship (and part of the Weyland-Yutani conglomerate that sent the Nostromo spaceship in “Alien”). Seems like it was a strategic reveal by Sir Scott ahead of the new TED talk, in which Guy Pearce talks to us in character as Weyland.

He illustrates the Greek myth of titan Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods to give to man. “When Prometheus was caught, and brought to justice for his theft, the gods, well you might say they overreacted a little. The poor man was tied to a rock as an eagle ripped through his belly and ate his liver and over and over, day after day, ad infinitum. All because he gave us fire, our first true piece of technology,” Weyland says. Those last words eerily echo Scott’s own in an interview he gave to Speakeasy a few months ago, in which he said the mythological figure of Prometheus serves as a central metaphor for his film.

The talk is especially fascinating for its insight into Scott’s future world, the world of “Prometheus” and science fiction’s perennial question, “What if?”

“We are now three months into the year of our lord, 2023. At this moment in our civilization, we can create cybernetic individuals, who in just a few short years will be completely indistinguishable from us. Which leads to the obvious conclusion: we are the gods now,” Weyland says.

So, let’s extrapolate that metaphor, shall we? (Indulge us, much of this is our own game of “What If?”) Could Michael Fassbender’s rumored android character be the cybernetic individual who steals “fire” (technology) from the “gods” of the Weyland Corporation? And is he punished in perpetuity as a result?

The TED website says the film was conceived and directed by Scott and Damon Lindelof (of “Lost”) and directed by Luke Scott, son of Ridley. The bio of the speaker gives some potential clues to the plot of “Prometheus”:

Sir Peter Weyland was born in Mumbai, India at the turn of the Millennium. The progeny of two brilliant parents; His mother, an Oxford Educated Professor of Comparative Mythology, his father, a self-taught software Engineer, it was clear from an early age that Sir Peter’s capabilities would only be eclipsed by his ambition to realize them. By the age of fourteen, he had already registered a dozen patents in a wide range of fields from biotech to robotics, but it would be his dynamic break-throughs in generating synthetic atmosphere above the polar ice cap that gained him worldwide recognition and spawned an empire.

In less than a decade, Weyland Corporation became a worldwide leader in emerging technologies and launched the first privatized industrial mission to leave the planet Earth. “There are other worlds than this one,” Sir Peter boldly declared, “And if there is no air to breathe, we will simply have to make it.”

Follow Barbara Chai on Twitter: @barbarachai

Romeo Santos On His New Album and Madison Square Garden Shows

February 29, 2012
By

Raised in the Bronx, Latin music sensation Romeo Santos has now sold out Madison Square Garden. In a WSJ exclusive interview, Jim Fusilli talks to the young musician about reinventing Bachata music, his new album “Formula, Vol. 1,” and his duet with R&B singer Usher.

The Shorty Awards Long List: Who Got Nominated

February 29, 2012
By

The presenters of the fourth annual Shorty Awards – which honor those creating cool stuff on social media networks – will announce later today the nominees for categories like Foursquare Mayor of the Year (including chef Mario Batali and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg) and best microblog (including the Tumblr sites “The Obama Jog” and “NPR Fresh Air.”) The awards will be given at a ceremony to be held in New York City on March 26. “Daily Show with Jon Stewart” correspondents Samantha Bee and Jason Jones will host. They’re smart and funny. And they have short, easy-to-tweet last names. Everyone wins.

The Shortys will last no more than 90 minutes, and no thank-you speech will exceed 140-characters, promises Gregory Galant, CEO of Sawhorse Media which administers and presents the awards.  Sawhorse has put together a panel of “Real-Time Academy” members to help select the winners from the nominees. Members include Dennis Crowley, the co-founder of Foursquare and Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales.

As with most awards ceremonies, the Shortys give industry insiders an opportunity to get together and pat each others’ backs (“Your tweet killed!” “Your Instagram feed is totz brillz, dude!”). But the legitimacy of the awards – last year 650 people attended; this year 1.6 million Shorty-nominating tweets were posted – also show the elevated significance of that which is being posted to social networks on the web. What was once dismissed as so much blah-blah-blah is now more broadly being consumed by the mainstream as content.

“Twitter and Tumblr and Pinterest et al are ways to make sense of and gate-keep the digital glut,” says Kurt Andersen, the novelist, public radio host and award judge. “So I suppose these awards are a small way to make sense of and gate-keep some more.”

For Justin Freeman, a 28-year-old evangelical pastor in Mountain Grove, Missouri, it’s an honor to be nominated for best answer to a question on Quora.com. The question he answered was “What’s the best way to escape the police in a high-speed car chase?” A former police officer, Freeman explained the liability issues police consider when deciding whether or not to chase a car.

“This is exciting for a farm boy from Missouri,” Freeman said by phone just after learning of his nominations. He may come to New York, for the first time ever, for the awards.

Other nominees in this category include Daniel Rosenthal’s answer to the question, “Why is U2 So Popular?” Rosenthal’s answer begins: “Imagine you’re a middle-aged, upper-middle-class male. You live in a large metropolitan area. You have a good job. Your wife does Pilates. Your oldest just started kindergarten. Yes, you’re an adult, but you’re still cool!” Then Rosenthal delves into a market evaluation of pro-democracy songs.

Matan Shelomi is also nominated for his thoughtful answer to the age-old question: “If You Injure a Bug, Should You Kill It or Let It Live?” Shelomi is an entomologist and explains, in short, that bugs don’t have emotions.

In the best microblog category, the Tumblr blog, “Kim Jong-Il Looking At Things” – it includes photos of Kim Jong-Il looking at things – will square off against others including,  “STFU Parents” which describes itself as a “’public service’ blog that mocks parent overshare on social networking sites.”

Those of us who like to tweet about our shorties make no apologies.

Stephen Colbert Takes on Dr. Seuss and ‘The Lorax’ Product Tie-Ins

February 29, 2012
By
Comedy Central
Stephen Colbert talks about “The Lorax.”

Does the coming Dr. Seuss adaptation “The Lorax”–a movie whose storyline champions environmentalism and bashes corporate greed–feature too many product tie-ins? Stephen Colbert sounds off on the subject. “This cash-taculous sellout is not quite enough/ I’m demanding more branding of Loraxian stuff,” Colbert rhymes. Watch the clip here.

Katori Hall on Her New Play, ‘Hurt Village’ (Video)

February 29, 2012
By

Katori Hall, the playwright behind “The Mountaintop,” stopped by the WSJ studio to discuss the world premiere of her new play, “Hurt Village,” at the brand new Pershing Square Signature Center in New York City.

Hall, who now lives in Washington Heights, New York, is a native of Memphis, and said the inspiration for the play came from growing up as a young girl near the real-life Hurt Village housing project.

“I grew up playing with kids from Hurt Village, playing with kids from other housing projects, Lamar Terrace, because my grandmother lived in that particular area,” Hall said in the interview. “So, I always wondered how I would have turned out if I would have lived in that particular given circumstance.”

“Hurt Village,” which opened on Monday, tells the story of an African-American family during its last days in a Memphis housing project—too poor to afford better housing, but considered too well-off to qualify for public housing. At its heart is Cookie (Joaquina Kalukango), a gifted 13-year-old girl who wants to continue her education and improve her life.

Hall is one of three playwrights being celebrated in the inaugural season of the Pershing Square Signature Center — a 70,000-square-foot, Frank Gehry-designed space that opened earlier this month. Along with Hall’s “Hurt Village,” Signature is staging Edward Albee’s “The Lady From Dubuque” and Athol Fugard’s “Blood Knot.”

“It’s freaking mind-blowing to be rehearsing and you come out of the door and there’s Mr. Fugard eating cookies on his break,” Hall said. “I feel so honored to be in such amazing, amazing company. I feel like when they embrace me, it’s showing me that they feel like there’s room for all of us. All of these stories deserve to be told.”

Hall’s play, “The Mountaintop,” was a recent production on Broadway starring Samuel Jackson and Angela Bassett. When asked how that experience differed from playing at the off-Broadway Signature Center, Hall said, “It’s so different because obviously it’s Broadway, there’s more at stake. You gotta get your $3.1 million back. You’re working with stars—not just stars but STARS… You do have to deal with producers coming to you and like, how many minutes you gonna cut off? You have to deal with that I think more so on the Broadway level. But I think the major difference is, you’re under the radar at Signature and they say Broadway is playwright-centered and it’s not, no more [laughs]. It’s actor-centered at this point in time because of the economy. But off-Broadway, particularly at Signature, it’s playwright-centered, absolutely.”

Watch the full interview below.

Follow Barbara Chai on Twitter: @barbarachai

Actress Li Bingbing on the Oscars You Didn’t Get to See

February 29, 2012
By
Getty Images
Actress Li Bingbing arrives on the red carpet at the 84th Annual Academy Awards on February 26, 2012 in Hollywood, California.

After arriving in Beverly Hills on Wednesday, after a very VERY long flight – 12 hours! – I sat down with my team and thought: this week is going to be crazy! I have to admit, I was exhausted. But this is Oscars week, and I was going to present at the Independent Spirit Awards, how could I rest?! We had work to do! So I put on my comfy shoes, found a spot on the couch and called a meeting to plan the rest of the week.

The next day, 6 o’clock sharp, I woke up and started prepping — for everything from my endless number of meetings with friends, learning my lines for the Independent Spirit Awards, to going to Gucci for fittings and conversations about my dress at Cannes this year. The day went by in a blur, words like 3D, IMAX, summer dresses, Piaget, Gucci, were swirling in my head. But by sunset, I was getting into a car with my dear friend Wendi Deng Murdoch*, making our way over to a party at Ron Meyer’s house on the beach in Malibu in honor of Vanity Fair Editor-In-Chief Graydon Carter.

Meeting Mr. Meyer, who runs Universal Studios, and his lovely wife Kelly who is an important environmental activist, was great – it was wonderful to finally meet all these people I’ve heard so much about. It was particularly mind-blowing to see Tom Cruise, Colin Firth and Tom Hanks (whose wife, Rita Wilson, I met at the “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” red carpet in LA this time last year) all in one room. I was star-struck, but meeting these people made them real to me. They were just like me and everyone else: people who wanted to work hard and produce something they were proud of. On my quiet ride back home, I was finally able to and enjoy the quiet and beautiful drive home on the Pacific Coast Highway.

Friday was another day full of meetings, followed by the Women In Film party at Cecconi’s, which was full of industry movers and shakers. This was a new exciting experience for me; I looked forward to speaking to these women and being inspired by them while I learned about our cultural differences and similarities. I got to meet Oscar-winning producer Cathy Schulman, Oscar nominated documentary filmmaker Lucy Walker and the head of the Sundance Institute Michelle Satter. Afterwards, I attended the talent agency parties: CAA, UTA and WME… which was great, as I’m in LA with my management team from Beijing, and we’re looking for people to collaborate with to shorten the bridge from the U.S. to China.

Saturday was the Independent Spirit Awards. The kind, soft-spoken, talented American actor Giovanni Ribisi was my partner in presenting the award for Best Cinematography to Guillaume Schiffman from “The Artist.” I was so nervous! But being who he was, Giovanni made sure I was comfortable and confident before we got on stage. I feel so lucky to have been paired with someone so considerate. Backstage, I had a chance to chat with MPAA Chairman and CEO Christopher Dodd, who has done so much to support closer ties between the Chinese film industry and Hollywood. To me, it was a big responsibility to be presenting at the Spirit Awards. Not only were my fans in China watching, I was able to bring a piece of the U.S. back to them. I also feel a real responsibility to meet as many filmmakers and other professionals here as  I can and bring those relationships home. Mr. Dodd tells me he’ll be visiting Beijing next week and plans for us to meet!

Sunday, Oscar day, started with a Chinese news crew filming my fitting, hair and makeup. Everyone in China wanted to know what was happening here! This year, I was very fortunate to have a friend like Wendi Murdoch, who invited me as her guest to the Academy Awards. Wendi, who produced my recent film “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan,” looked absolutely gorgeous in a vintage Rodarte gown and Cindy Chao jewelry. I felt like a princess when I finally put on the first dress I laid eyes on when I knew I was coming to the Oscars: a beautiful white Georges Chakra gown that was both elegant and understatedly sexy. With my Lana Marks purse, Gucci and Cindy Chao jewelry and tight hugs from my everyone in my team, I finally felt ready to walk that red carpet!

That day, I enjoyed the full grandeur of the Academy Awards. It was the greatest experience; everything was perfect. I was honored to be in one room with all these beautiful and talented people celebrating their achievements. Of course, we did not forget about our parties! :) It was great to finally slow down and take in a bit of Hollywood. It was a whirlwind: the Elton John party with the beloved designer Lana Marks, Vanity Fair with everyone from the awards ceremony… it would take me several pages to list all the people I saw at these events, so I won’t try. But, my experience this time has confirmed one thing: this is the time to bring China and Hollywood a little closer together. I am positively hopeful that more global collaborations will happen between China and the U.S. Perhaps this week is just what was needed for us all to see to see more Chinese directors, writers and actors holding little gold statues!

Li Bingbing starred in “1911″ and “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.” She will star in the coming film, “Resident Evil: Retribution.”

*Wendi Deng Murdoch is the wife of Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive of News Corp., owners of the Wall Street Journal.

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