I Was Young Then...: February 2010

HURT LOCKER BLOWS AVATAR AWAY

I've not seen Hurt Locker, but I love Avatar. Anyway, my take is that Avatar is very New Age in its main concept... you become part of the Eywa when you die, as everyting else does... now that's New Age!

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BRITAIN'S love of the underdog triumphed on Sunday as intimate war drama The Hurt Locker beat 3D spectacular Avatar to take six prizes, including Best Film, at the British Academy Film Awards.

Kathryn Bigelow won the Best-Director battle with Avatar's James Cameron, her ex-husband - who cheered her on from the audience - for her intense depiction of a bomb-disposal squad in Iraq.

"It means so much that this film seems to be touching people's hearts and minds," Bigelow said.

Both films had eight nominations for the British awards, considered an indicator of possible success at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles next month. Avatar and The Hurt Locker each has nine Oscar nominations.

The Hurt Locker also took British prizes for original screenplay, cinematography, editing and sound.

Avatar won awards for production design and visual effects for its vivid vision of a distant moon populated by a blue-skinned species called the Na'vi.

Bigelow also paid tribute to soldiers serving in Iraq, and said the goal of the film was "putting a bit of a spotlight on a very, very difficult situation".

"I hope in some small way this film can begin a debate ... and bring closure to this conflict," she said.

The Avatar/Hurt Locker battle initially seemed like a David-and-Goliath story. Cameron's last feature, Titanic, won 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. Avatar is a global phenomenon that has taken more than US$2 billion ($2.8 billion) at the box office.

Hurt Locker has made about a hundredth that much.

British talent did not go home empty-handed, with Carey Mulligan and Colin Firth taking home the silverware. Mulligan won the Leading Actress award for her performance as an Oxford-bound schoolgirl seduced by an older man in An Education.

"I really didn't expect this at all. I was here a year ago and I just never imagined this in a million years," said the delighted 24-year-old, waving to her parents and brother in the Royal Opera House auditorium.

The newly-blonde Mulligan won fashion plaudits for her monochrome, flower-print dress by Vionnet. She turned the evening into a family affair, bringing her parents and brother to the ceremony. She likened the shock of her nominations to "being punched - nicely".

Firth won his first Bafta for A Single Man, in which he plays a grieving university professor. The actor said he almost declined the role, which has also earned him an Oscar nomination. Firth said he had been about to turn it down by email "when someone came to repair my fridge". He never sent the email.

"I would like to thank the fridge guy," Firth said. He added he has emerged from working with fashion designer-turned-director Tom Ford "better groomed, more fragrant and more nominated than one has ever been before".

Austrian actor Christoph Waltz, already a hot Oscar favourite, won Best Supporting Actor for his turn as a chilling, charming Nazi colonel in Inglourious Basterds. The Supporting Actress award went to Mo'nique for Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire.

Director Duncan Jones took the award for Outstanding British Debut for his lost-in-space drama Moon. The son of David Bowie credited his singer father with getting him "interested in the canon of sci-fi" at a young age.

"He is watching it live ... in New York," said Jones. "I turned my phone off, like I was told to, so I'm sure when I turn it back on, he will be trying to get through."

While the likes of Kate Winslet (in clinging Stella McCartney), Vera Farmiga (in Marchesa) and Audrey Tautou (who was nominated for her performance in a biopic of Coco Chanel but opted to wear Lanvin) posed on the red carpet, it was Prince William who raised the biggest screams from the crowds with his first official engagement as the new president of Bafta.

The prince was there to present a Bafta Fellowship to Vanessa Redgrave, who set aside her Republican leanings for the occasion.

She bestowed a kiss upon the prince and told him: "I would to say to Your Royal Highness how much I admire your father for his intelligence, humanity and kindness."

News that Redgrave was to accept an award from Prince William raised eyebrows. The actress was a leading light in the Marxist Workers' Revolutionary Party in the 1970s, and has a track record of making controversial speeches at awards ceremonies.

When she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1977 for Julia, she used her speech to denounce the "Zionist hoodlums" who had criticised her support for the Palestinian cause.

The 73-year-old actress, a member of the Redgrave dynasty, was accompanied to the ceremony by her daughter, Joely Richardson. AGENCIES

From TODAY, Tuesday, 23-Feb-2010

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CHINA POLICE SEARCH FOR ORIGIN OF QUAKE RUMOUR

Rumoring at its worst!...

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BEIJING - Police in northern China yesterday hunted for the origin of an earthquake rumour that prompted tens of thousands of terrified people to flee outdoors over the weekend.

Word that an earthquake was imminent began spreading by phone, Internet and text message through parts of Shanxi province on Saturday afternoon.

City residents spent the freezing night in the streets or in their cars, while panic-stricken rural villages used public address systems to broadcast warnings, according to The Beijing News newspaper.

Officials responded overnight, deploying radio, television and text messages to broadcast a provincial earthquake bureau bulletin telling residents not to believe or spread the earthquake rumour.

"Only the provincial government is authorised to issue earthquake forecasts. No other body or individual has that right," said the notice, posted on the bureau's website.

Spreading rumours in China is punishable with a fine and detention for not more than 10 days.

Shanxi government spokeswoman Wang Laying said the panic may have been prompted by a misunderstanding over earthquake survival drills being conducted by the local authorities. AP

From TODAY, Tuesday, 23-Feb-2010

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EMPHASIS ON OLDER, LOW-WAGE WORKERS

Image via Wikipedia

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SINGAPORE - As the Government invests in continuing education, it will place "additional emphasis" on older, low-wage workers, said Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam yesterday.

This will be done through a new Workfare Training Scheme (WTS), and enhancements to the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) scheme.

Under the three-year WTS, employers will be given 90 to 95 per cent funding for absentee payroll and course fee outlays. Workers who complete skills upgrading training will be given up to $400 a year in cash grants.

Those with very low skills, including the unemployed, can also sign up for a structured training programme.

The scheme seeks to help older workers, even though it is open to all eligible WIS recipients, who are 35 and above, said Mr Shanmugaratnam.

The WIS itself will see two enhancements. First, WIS will be extended to workers earning up to $1,700 per month, up from the current limit of $1,500.

Secondly, the maximum payouts for the WIS will be increased by between $150 to $400, with more going to older workers. Workers who have worked at least three months in any six-month period in the year, now get between $180 and $2,400.

With the higher WIS payout, a 60-year-old will get $400 more, bringing his total annual WIS payment to $2,800. Likewise, a 55-year-old earning $1,000 monthly will receive an additional 18-per-cent top-up to his pay through the WIS.

Mr Shanmugaratnam called this a "significant intervention".

The enhanced WIS will cost an additional $100 million annually, and will benefit about 400,000 low-wage earners.

Mr Tim Hird, managing director of Robert Half Singapore, said both schemes would help employers retain experienced and valuable employees, while Food Drinks and Allied Workers' Union general secretary Tan Hock Soon said the Government support will "put more workers at ease" about going for training.

But the owner of Crusade Cleaning Services, Mr Peter Ko, said while the schemes are encouraging, "older workers have no motivating factor to upgrade themselves".

However, he is more than willing to send keen younger workers for English-language courses, having previously paid for them out of his own pocket.

Mayor for South West District Amy Khor said the "mental barriers" that employees cannot spare the time for upgrading, or fear they are not educated enough can be overcome "with time". She noted that the WTS funding would "encourage employers", and while the $400 cash grant "is not a huge sum, it is significant for many lower-income families".

From TODAY, Tuesday, 23-Feb-2010

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REDUCED TAX 'FANTASTIC' FOR ENTERTAINMENT SCENE

Image via Wikipedia

Those who are already earning millions are gaining so much from this tax relief; how much more to a lowly father like me?

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SINGAPORE - The entertainment industry could soon see more performances and bigger acts coming to Singapore's shores.

To attract these internationally-rated acts, the Government will reduce the tax companies have to pay when they bring in a non-resident performer, said Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

The withholding tax rate of non-resident public entertainers will drop from 15 per cent to 10 per cent for five years.

"Singapore's entertainment scene is emerging as an important part of our appeal as a global city," said Mr Shanmugaratnam.

Mr Ross Knudson, owner of LAMC Productions, which has brought in international acts such as Muse and Lady Gaga, described the news as "fantastic".

Organising a show at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, he said, could cost more than a million dollars. "It would really increase the viability of bringing in more shows ... and bigger acts," he said. "We don't have many sponsors in this market ... so anything which helps us reduce risk is a tremendous help." And being able to bring in more shows has its benefits, from attracting more tourists to having more locals hired to work on the productions, said Mr Knudson. "It generates a lot of revenue in and around the shows." Alicia Wong

From TODAY, Tuesday, 23-Feb-2010

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I Was Young Then...

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Friday, February 26, 2010

HURT LOCKER BLOWS AVATAR AWAY

CHINA POLICE SEARCH FOR ORIGIN OF QUAKE RUMOUR

EMPHASIS ON OLDER, LOW-WAGE WORKERS

REDUCED TAX 'FANTASTIC' FOR ENTERTAINMENT SCENE

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