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"Machine Gun Preacher" star Gerard Butler won't name specific movies, but he recognizes that he's made some stinkers.
"There without a doubt have been movies that I've watched and went, 'What a waste of time that was,'" says the Scottish actor, 41, who may or may not have been referring to "The Ugly Truth," "The Bounty Hunter," "Law Abiding Citizen," "P.S. I Love You" and others. "I can say that now and maybe kind of smile about it, but I gotta tell you, when that happens it's really depressing because it's months out of your life."
Clearly Butler (who doesn't mind being called Gerry) had no qualms about diving into "Machine Gun Preacher," opening Sept. 30. In the film Butler plays Sam Childers, a real-life Pennsylvania activist who transformed from a violent, dangerous drug dealer into a religious, self-described freedom fighter. He built an orphanage in Sudan and took down murderous Sudanese rebels by any means necessary. Yes, that means through violence.
Butler worked with a dialect coach, bikers, contractors and plumbers to nail all facets of Sam's life. He frequently referred to a book featuring photos of mutilated African children in order to bring himself to the necessary emotional place for the role. Of course, Butler already owns a Harley, so it's not as if becoming a leather-clad bad boy was that much of a stretch.
At the Four Seasons Hotel, the primarily L.A.-based actor—who swore off alcohol a long time ago, by the way, but indulged me in a chocolate milk chugging contest you can watch above—talked about fake mustaches, public urination and a fan who wanted a swift kick to the chest.
Can you sense a movie you're making is going to be bad at the time or only after you see it?
Both. Normally you can tell. There was a movie that I did that I didn't like and I knew from the first take. And I was relatively inexperienced at that point and I was just so excited that I got the role and I only assumed that the movie was going to be great. I was very naïve. And literally from the first "Action!," a few people in the scene we all started talking and I went, "Oh God, this is going to be crap."
Can you give me one title that made you feel that way?
First letter?
Rhymes with?
[Laughs.] Rhymes with "no."
For "Machine Gun Preacher," was there any point at which you tried to grow a mustache like Sam's?
[Laughs.] No, we talked about it. We talked about it quite a lot, and actually I did grow out a beard and mustache but you know what, it's a little too much of a gamble. For instance, in "300" it worked great. We all said, "We're going to stick with this ridiculously long beard," and that worked because it was more stylized. It seemed after the conversation it's a little too much to ask people to take. A lot of people would find it fine; we're already going on a heavy enough-journey without this big mustache. It also looks great on Sam, but it didn't look so good on me.
You don't think so?
No, I know so.
It would take me six years to grow it like him.
There's the other thing. It would have had to have been a false mustache; I could never get to that length. "Really, I'm going to spend a whole movie with this big false mustache?" When it's not in truth important enough to the story, and it's just taking a kind of gamble that wasn't really necessary.
What was the hardest part of this role, and what went through your head the first time you touched down in Africa?
The hardest part of the role without a doubt was dealing with the tragedy of Sam's life. Other people in most movies, perhaps in your more dramatic moments life got a little depressing, you struggled with love or something. His journey is so intense that his downs were downs that most people will never experience—the intensities of drug addiction and acting out on that addiction almost to the point of death and extreme violence. Then basically a mental breakdown, witnessing the horrors that he witnessed. That extreme, extreme emotion and physical destruction, having to go to those places was intense. But touching down in Africa was surely exciting for me 'cause I knew this whole movie was a great adventure. Much as it took a lot out of me, it also gave me so much.
Did you ever doubt that you could do it?
I always doubt myself. I swing between thinking, "I'm going to knock this out of the ballpark" to, "This is gonna suck so bad." Even "300," there'd be times that I was going, "OK, this is amazing" to other times when I was thinking, "This is so ridiculous, I can't believe we're standing here looking at nothing, talking nonsense." And I definitely had that with this. "Am I pulling it off? Am I pulling off the accent? Am I pulling off the character? Is it too melodramatic? Am I representing this man well?" So definitely you get that a lot.
How do you think Sam's badassness compares to your badassness?
I think he is truly a badass. I think I'm a little puppy Labrador compared to him.
You've played a lot of masculine characters. What do you think people expect out of you when they meet you?
It's interesting you say that because I've tried to get past thinking about that because it never really leads you anywhere good when you think people have expectations of you. I try to be decent with people. My feeling is generally most people appreciate that, that you can stay grounded and warm and friendly towards 'em. But I have no doubt that sometimes people go, almost, "He's real, he's normal. What a disappointment."
Do you recall something someone said on the street, when they were trying to bring a character out of you?
Oh, all the time. I constantly have people asking me to quote lines from movies, especially "300" of course. Or give 'em one of those kicks. Literally somebody asked me recently to kick him in the chest as hard as I could. They were like, "Go!" I'm like, "Are you kidding me?" "Kick me! Kick me!"
"I won't be angry, it's OK."
I'm thinking this is funny and I went, "[Laughs] No," and [he said], "Go! Kick me!" And I'm like, "This is so stupid. No, I'm not going to do it." So I hit him in the head with a baseball bat, and then we were fine.
What's something you think reflects a softer side of you that might surprise people? Sam talked about how much he loves cologne.
Maybe I'm a bit of a crybaby. I'm the kind of person that I can I have a little tear in my eye when I watch movies. Sometimes even just somebody tells me a story and if it's powerful I'll tear up.
What's a movie that made you cry? Disney stuff?
What would be a movie that made me cry? Oh my God, a lot of my movies made me cry. "Life is Beautiful." That made me cry. It also made me laugh. You can't beat a movie that makes you laugh and cry at the same time.
How upset were you when you heard about Gerard Depardieu's public urination incident and the careless way he's dishonoring the name Gerard?
[Laughs.] It didn't cross my mind. I'm all for public urination. You should be able to relieve yourself whenever you feel like it.
This is from personal experience?
Absolutely. I just did it earlier on today. Out on the street. Just close to the hotel.
On Chicago: "I think this city's great. It has all this great architecture and it's a big city but it doesn't feel like a big city. It feels very small town. Really good people. I love walking about this city. It's got a good energy about it … I made a bit of a movie here. I had a girlfriend from here; I came visiting with her. I've been in and out a few times."
On picking roles: "I have always had this feeling to keep it open and see where it leads me and never get stuck into one genre. I remember when I took on 'Phantom' Andrew Lloyd Webber said to me, 'This is going to change your life, and it's going to change the path of your career.' And inside I was thinking, 'No, it's not. I'm still going to keep doing what I'm doing which is everything I can.' Perhaps ['Machine Gun Preacher'] will lead to slightly more dramatic roles, but that was where I was going anyway. But I don't ever want to stop doing comedies or whatever. I want to keep changing it up."
A role he wouldn't want: "I wouldn't want to jump in on a number 5 or a number 6 of any movie. I think it's more fun to create roles than jumping in on the sequel of something."
On his iPod: "Oh my God. Sigur Ros is one of my favorites. Mogwai. Windy and Carl. I love kind of weird music. I love a bit of Radiohead. Massive Attack. LCD Soundsystem."
Watch Matt on "You & Me This Morning," Fridays at 7 a.m. on WCIU, the U


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RobertoA needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 273 designs submitted by 72 freelance designers.
Camras Optical
We're an ophthalmic medical device company with an innovative way of treating the second leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world. Our device, under the inventors name, has been featured at numerous conferences and textbooks. We wish to bring this device out into the market because we feel, based on results so far, that we can actually stop the blindness that results from glaucoma.
The original intent of this device was not to make money (though I'd be lying if that's not a nice benefit) but rather to make an impact and potentially revolutionize the way people are treated for glaucoma and other eye-related diseases. The original inventor of the device was a leading figure in this industry and developed the common treatment for glaucoma today which has saved millions of people's vision.
Our target audience is doctors, specifically ophthalmologists. Doctors will come to this site to gather information about the device, support, and contact info. In addition, patients might also come to this site to understand their options.
We have an idea of what we would like, but it's not limited to just this. If you have something in mind let's work with that as I would like to be involved in the creation of this logo with you.
When you look at our name it's clear that people may be aware of our mission which is to save people's sight. I wish for people to be aware of that. One consideration is that we have a logo that is an eye. The problem is that most eye companies have this. What we were thinking is an eye, but with an abstract design, something similar to java's design (java.com) in that they use wisps of lines to form a coffee cup. We were thinking of that for ours so that it would form an eye. The design should be like the device, clean, crisp, and simple.
The colors should be blue or green or a mixture of the two.
We would like to incorporate the name of the company somehow. We are thinking the logo would go to the left of the name with the name Camras above Optical. If that is the way you wish to proceed then we would need suggestions on the font for the name. If you wish to just incorporate just the name Camras in the logo then that would work as well and it can be a stand alone logo.
Again, if you have a vision, no pun intended, for the logo already, let's see what you have and we can work with it. I'm really excited to hear and see what all of you have to offer and I look forward to working with you.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Baby & Me is a special story time for our very youngest "readers." Infants and toddlers and their caregivers are invited to join for stories, music, rhymes, finger plays - and other fun and age-appropriate activities that help foster bonding and a love of reading.
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Earlier Event: October 8Teen Book Club
Later Event: October 14Lego Club


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Listen to this article
The past year has been a watershed year for learning online. At one end of the market, highly-ranked business schools have realised the value of teaching online, launching high-cost programmes for high-calibre students.
But the past year has also seen an exponential growth in the number of free courses, or Moocs. Can these different types of programme co-exist?
On Wednesday, March 13, 2013, between 14.00 and 15.00 GMT, a panel of experts will answer these questions and others here on FT.com.
Post your questions now to email@example.com and they will be answered on the day.
Post your questions to email@example.com
On the panel are:
Idalene (Idie) Kesner, interim dean of Indiana University Kelley School of Business. Prof Kesner joined the faculty of Kelley School of Business in 1995 and was chair of the full-time MBA programme from 2003-2006 and chair of the department of management and entrepreneurship for a further three years. She has taught numerous executive programmes and served as a consultant for companies working on board related issues.
Michael Luger, director of Manchester Business School. Prof Luger became director of MBS in 2007, before which he was professor of public policy, business and planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was a professional officer at the Greater London Council in the 1970s and the director of a planning agency in his native Pennsylvania. He has served on the boards of several public sector and not-for-profit organisations and taught at Duke University and the University of Maryland.
Chip Paucek, co-founder and chief executive of 2U (formerly 2tor) a company that delivers for-credit university programmes online. Before setting up 2U, Mr Paucek worked in the education sector as well as co-managing the re-election campaign of US Senator for Maryland, Barbara Mikulski. He is currently studying for an MBA at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School. 2U works with the school to support its online MBA programme MBA@UNC
Linda Groarke, MBA student at the Open University Business School. Linda set up her own consultancy and subsequently moved to New York where she now works for an investment bank. She chose the OUBS as it allows her to study anywhere in the world while continuing to work full time.
Della Bradshaw, FT Business Education Editor.
How do you see the role of online learning evolving over the next two years?
Chip: Obviously, online learning in higher education is exploding. After decades of talk, the disruption is actually occurring. While Mooc's are all the rage, it's clear from where I sit that all online learning is not equal.
Our brand of online education, in MBA@UNC, is both live and in person: rigorous instruction in weekly live classes with the same faculty you would see on campus.
As more institutions discover the power of unleashing the university from its geographic boundaries, quality will become more important. The medium isn't the key, it's what you do with it that counts. Most online programmes are simply not very good. 2U believes that there will a distinct reshuffling of the deck in the next 10 years and those that don't dip their toe in the water, but rather go all in, will benefit greatly.
Linda: With the online world having changed the way we read content, access music and shop - be it for groceries or second-hand clothing it's fair to say that we are also turning to the internet for higher education.
I chose to study for my MBA online due to the flexibility it offered, not to mention the affordability in comparison to other universities. I can study for my degree anywhere in the world – its classes, tutorials, etc are not an anchor to a specific location.
I'm often in between London and New York for work and yet will never miss a lecture or fall behind. The hours I 'choose' to study are based around what else I have going on for that particular day.
For the past year I've been watching as the fantastic online company, Coursera, has expanded both in terms of the number of institutions offering free online courses and the number of people taking them up. Online learning opens up doors and opportunities to people and places that otherwise would not have time, money or ease of access.
Idie: One key difference which will occur over the next two years is that online learning will be much more "hands on." What I mean by this is that experiential and simulation courses are likely to play a bigger role in the way faculty teach online.
While it will always be important to educate students using theoretical concepts and models, students and their future employers are clamouring for more applied educational methods and many schools, including the Kelley School at Indiana University, are adopting this approach.
While most schools view live cases as a tool that can only be used in residential programmes, we have project-based courses for our online MBA students in which "live cases" are used to teach key business concepts. Students work on actual business projects for clients and present their recommendations to both academic instructors and actual business leaders for evaluation and feedback.
A second difference will be the increased globalisation of the content. International business is making its way into every functional area. Indeed, in the Kelley Direct Online MBA, we combine this international focus with the notion of experiential learning already. Our students have the option of enrolling in one or more courses that focus on the application of basic business concepts to various international contexts (including everything from emerging economies to transitioning mature economies) along with an embedded trip to one or more representative countries. These trips are often project-based, where students work on a project for actual clients solving real world problems. Many of these projects have been social entrepreneurship projects.
A third difference we will see in online programmes is a greater use of hybrid approaches. In addition to offering courses that are taught completely online in a synchronous format (but can be asynchronous for students if needed), our Kelley Direct Online MBA has the option of a couple of residential weeks for earning course credit. These are extremely popular. Each week is an intensive week of face-to-face teaching. This is a very exciting way for students to learn because it combines the best of different pedagogies. In the future I think we will see more and more programmes move in this direction of using hybrid approaches to teaching.
A final key difference I would like to highlight is that online programmes over the next two years will do a better job of focusing on skill building in addition to traditional business content. Regardless of whether a student is interested in progressing up his/her organisation or changing companies, skill-building - especially the type linked to career development - is important.
The Kelley Direct Online MBA is an example of an online MBA programme that has already moved in this direction. We offer students the option of taking courses that focus on leadership training and skill building.
Mike: Online learning has been advancing at a pace in higher education for many years and will continue to expand in the future. One segment of the market (Open U, U of Phoenix, et al) specialise in delivering online courses for large audiences.
Recently, some well-regarded research universities have contracted with third parties to run online degree courses (UNC-Kenan Flagler, Liverpool, others). And of course Moocs are now proliferating, so far not leading to degree certification.
Other universities, like MBS, have extensive blended learning programmes that combine face-to-face with online. We continue to invest in our e-learning team who work with all of our programmes - from undergraduate through to MBA and our executive education team.
For example, our Managing Projects programme for BP uses e-learning technology to facilitate learning when delegates return to work and apply what they have learned in between workshops.
Do you believe an online MBA can be just as good as a top MBA programme?
Chip: I believe most are not. MBA@UNC is by design equal to the on-campus programme. Jim Dean and Doug Shackelford of UNC had a vision and delivered. Same degree, same outcomes, same quality student body. Our retention in the online programme is currently at 98 per cent. Unheard of for anything online. In the case of MBA@UNC, the outcomes speak volumes.
In addition to live classes, what does the asynchronous content look like? Ask yourself, if you were going to make a movie out of a play would you ever consider putting a camera at the back of the theater? No, because you would have a crappy movie.
Mike: Online learning can be successful if done well. We focus on blended learning and find this approach, combining face-to-face and online, achieves learning objectives and prepares students very well for international business careers.
The nature of learning is different and what will work best for one student may not work as well for another. Specifically, some students will particularly thrive with the intense face-to-face, full-time experience that a standard MBA provides.
Others who want to combine a demanding career with learning may find the part-time or blended programme better. We find that our full-time programme and global part-time blended programmes serve different markets — students with different circumstances and needs.
Idie: I think the answer is that online MBA programmes can be as good, but this is a case where it pays for students to be careful shoppers/buyers because not every programme will be equivalent.
Della: Well those business schools that teach these programmes obviously believe they can, and in many cases - UNC in the US or IE in Spain, for example - these are schools that run online programmes alongside the more traditional classroom-based degrees.
But a lot of the top schools are sceptical about online porgrammes. In this week's article for the Financial Times, for example, Stanford dean Garth Saloner writes: "The issue is an incremental experience versus a transformational one". To support his point, none of the top 10 schools in the FT's full-time MBA rankings teach fully online programmes.
Do you think an online MBA creates a different kind of alumni network or is it the same as a normal MBA?
Linda: When I was making my decision between attending NYU-stern (part-time) or signing up for the Open University's online offering, my one concern and question I had was "how will I network?" I am often told how studying for an MBA is largely about the people you meet along the way.
I was pleasantly surprised when I started to network at the Open University by how diverse the group was – there are students from all pockets of the world and one quite literally on my doorstep in New York. I have met, albeit virtually, peers and like-minded individuals from all over the world.
However, in addition to networking online with my peers, I also ensure that I am involving myself in as many networking groups after work as possible. I attend conferences and seminars, get involved in charity, etc all to ensure that I am making connections and opening up new opportunities above and beyond my MBA alumni. This is just something I feel is important and personal to me. It's obviously hard to find the time to do it all!
Mike: MBS has one alumni network of almost 50,000 graduates, spanning over 160 countries - all of whom benefit from the rich experience of recent graduates and those who are further on in their careers. We don't distinguish between the programmes from which our alumni graduate and, like all networks, individuals gravitate to like-minded people. They benefit from the same services such as life membership to our market databases, research and careers service.
One reason we do blended learning rather than strictly online is that our part-time students still meet others in their cohort and then stay in touch online. And for us, our full-time students get to take modules through our global centres (which host the part-time blended learning programmes) and vice-versa.
What criteria would you recommend following when choosing an online MBA?
Chip: Do you meet in live classes? Do you see your fellow classmates, both live on the web and live in person? Is it the same faculty? Who is doing the teaching? Is it the same degree? How is it different than the on-campus programme? What does the student body look like? How much video is there and what does it look like? What career services are available to students? Are you a member of the university community and how?
Idie: First, I would look for top-ranked online programmes. Unranked or poorly ranked programmes may raise red flags for students to investigate.
Second, students should investigate whether the same faculty are used for both a school's residential programme and its online programme. At the Kelley School, we use the same high quality faculty members (ranked #1 in Bloomberg BusinessWeek's most recent ranking of MBA programmes) for both the online and residential MBA programmes. Therefore, we know students are getting the same high quality courses.
Third, students should look for a high level of student engagement and responsiveness. Yet, at the same time, the programme should be flexible enough to meet students' constraints. Programmes that require students to be synchronous at all times may not be convenient for students who work full-time or online students who are located in different parts of the world.
The Kelley Direct Online MBA offers students the option of synchronous engagement (which is ideal) and asynchronous connections (for when conflicts arise). This type of flexibility ensures that the online programme can provide value regardless of a students' constraints.
Fourth, students should look for a programme that offers cutting edge curriculum.
Mike: It's vital to think about your objectives and learning style. Again, it's why MBS uses a blended approach - giving MBAs the opportunity to combine individual learning with a more practical application through group work.
Group work is essential for a good MBA and that is more difficult online. Other areas to consider are what kind of contact will you have with the real professors? Will everything be canned and taught by technicians or do you get a chance to debate, argue and learn from the real experts? Third, what kind of student support do you get— for example, in career services?
Linda: Do your homework! Research, research, research. It took me years to finally decide. Part of that was procrastination I admit but the other part was spent gathering as much information as possible on all potential universities. I weighed up the pros and cons – was it part-time, full-time, what speciality subjects were offered, where was it located, how much would it cost and so on. With a full-rounded view as to what was on offer out there I was able to make a more informed decision.
Look at the institutions' accreditations, review what past students have said, and attend open days if possible, allowing you to meet with students and teachers face-to-face. The choice of university (online or not) will be personal to you and your situation. Consider some 'what if' scenarios – what if you changed jobs, what if you started a family, what if you lost your job, etc. Don't rush into making a decision. Do what you're doing now – taking advice from those around you.
How many years of work experience should you have before studying for an online MBA?
Idie: I would recommend at least the same level of work experience as would be needed for any top-ranked MBA residential MBA programme. At the Kelley School, we feel an MBA programme typically adds the most value when a student has had about four years of work experience (although there will be a range depending on the nature of one's job). Our Kelley Direct Online MBA students average an even greater number of years (~seven years), which means that online students are interacting with colleagues (and team members) who have a great deal of strong work experience.
Mike: It is important for online students to have the experience and maturity to maximise the experience of an online or blended programme. Because the intensity of face-to-face interaction is less than in a full-time programme, which is an important source of input, part-time MBAs should ask for a little more work experience.
I don't have a full time job, would it still make sense to do an online MBA instead of attending b-school considering I have the spare time?
Chip: The point is not that online is better for one category of people, but rather how that online degree is structured. Dig in and examine the content, the process and the faculty.
MBA@UNC's version of online learning rivals any on-campus programme in the world. "What Apple's Mac did for the personal computer, the MBA@UNC is about to do for higher education." Pretty solid praise from Forbes. I don't typically quote press, but we are excited about that one.
Idie: While it is true that most students join online MBA programmes because they want to continue working while studying for their MBA or because they need to continue working for financial reasons, we are finding that students today are considering online programmes even if they could otherwise attend a residential MBA programme.
One key factor that may influence your decision about whether to enroll in an online programme or residential programme will be the style of learning you prefer. If you enjoy learning through a virtual environment, then an online programme can be a great experience.
As noted earlier, because many of the highly ranked online programmes today, like the Kelley Direct Online MBA, use a variety of pedagogies including the option of intensive face-to-face residential courses, travel embedded courses and experiential, project-based courses, you don't have to give up the best of a residential programme. Some programmes like ours allow you to build a community of fellow online learners, therefore you don't feel disconnected.
Also, by learning online you'll be well-equipped to interact in organisations that operate worldwide often in a virtual environment. Finally, our KD online students have access to all services provided by our graduate career services office so an online student looking for a job has the same access to this office as a residential student.
Mike: It is not just about whether you have a full-time job or not. It's about individual objectives and where you are in your life - family situation, the cost of travel and lodging and fees factor in differently for different people. It has to be an individual decision considering many factors.
What measures would you recommend schools use to test their online programmes to ensure they are up to standard? What methods does your school use?
Chip: Retention is critical. Job outcomes are critical. All of 2U's programmes also deploy a net promoter score - the best overall measure of satisfaction. I'm proud to say that MBA@UNC's net promoter score is as high as some of the best companies and products in the world. Our student body knows we are delivering.
Linda: It's obvious that online learning is very different to learning in a classroom. It is imperative that the materials and content provided by the institution are structured and designed specifically for use in the online environment and not simply replicate books converted to PDFs– the content must support teaching and learning methodology for an online journey.
At the Open University, the materials can be read and digested in a number of ways – be it using the physical book or downloaded to a mobile device. The flexibility with the way the content can be re-purposed is important.
The online programme should offer a good balance between interactivity and collaboration with your peers. A sense of community is key within online learning but particularly so with business and management education as peer learning is so important, so the online environment must create, support, encourage and nurture these interactions, ensuring a rich mix of media, audio visual, online events, discussion forums, text, etc to stimulate different learning styles and preferences.
Mike: We have a very good system of continual student feedback to start with. Online and blended programmes can do this more easily because the online platform and virtual learning environment can accommodate instant feedback. We also have our blended courses externally assessed and our marks validated, as for the full-time programme.
What feedback have you had from recruiters regarding graduates of online MBA programmes? Do they tend to prefer graduates from other programmes?
Chip: Our degree is identical and there is no e or i on it. It's the MBA from UNC. That's all that matters to a recruiter. Read stories like Julia Elliot's and you can get pretty excited about this form of online learning.
Linda: I currently reside in New York so when I'm asked where it is that I'm studying for my MBA, I usually have to back it up with a brief background and overview of the Open University - only because the institution is unfortunately less well known in the US.
However, what follows as a comment/statement regardless of whether or not the university is known is the recognition for the balancing act that goes into undertaking a part-time masters while working full-time, not to mention while trying to make time for family and friends.
The fact that my MBA is online and not through another programme has never come into it. I would like to hope recruiters and employers look past the place of institution and recognise the effort, hard work, time-keeping skills, etc that go into studying online part-time, while working full-time, and in my experience they have.
Mike: We don't see recruiters making a distinction. A large majority of our blended students study through our centres around the world, in Miami, Dubai, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Sao Paulo, where we have dedicated career resources to place students in their home region. We also have talent management partnerships with key global companies/employers, such as Astra Zeneca, who work with us to match our graduate to meet their recruitment needs.
What do you think is the best way to accredit online degrees and Moocs?
Della: I think it will be very interesting to see whether the accreditation bodies - the AACSB or the EFMD - actually move into accrediting these programmes. After all, the AACSB is expected to agree in April to included executive education under its accreditation umbrella and EFMD has been accrediting both corporate learning programmes and online programmes for years under its Clip and Cel programmes.
However, as Moocs are free to view, and the content and delivery is completely transparent, I see no reason why the market cannot decide the winners and losers.
The US has the JDMBA degree. Should the UK not launch a fully online one year LLMBA for working professionals?
Ravindra Wickremasinghe
Mike: I agree with the general thrust of your question. Today's world is very complex and the solutions to these vexing problems require us to cross disciplinary and professional boundaries.
A comprehensive university like the University of Manchester has the ability to bring together law and management, medicine and management, engineering and management and more. In fact, the dean of our law school and I have been discussing ways to work more closely together. So watch this space.
Comparing online-(only)-courses and blended-learning courses: What kind of trend would you see in these two forms of teaching?
Volker Stoessel, MBA
Mike: Manchester Business School has gone down the route of a blended learning MBA, rather than fully online. Our belief is that there is value in face-to-face interaction that helps create lasting networks and makes online interaction easier.
Moreover, our model provides for our own faculty to deliver the material to a classroom of students in a concentrated period of time — and then those students go back home and continue to interact with each other and the instructor. Our model is admittedly more labour intensive but it also delivers higher value. I would expect both types of part-time programmes to increase. They are different models that have different objectives.
Idie: I am seeing more highly ranked schools move to the blended learning format. This allows students to experience a combination of learning environments – online and residential. However, for many students the "best fit" is a programme that is flexible. In other words, if students wish they can take advantage of residential components, but this is not a requirement in case the residential components cannot fit into their work situation.
The Kelley Direct Online MBA recognises that students may face a challenge of not being available for residential, intensive sessions or synchronous sessions, therefore we make other options available. The key with online education is that it needs to be flexible for students given their often busy work and travel schedules. So a blended form of teaching is great as long as it still provides options to students.
Chip: Rigour in either. You can have the same outcome if you clearly identify the learning objective and drive towards that objective. 2U's programmes all have some blended component.
In our Masters of Advanced Practice Nursing in Midwifery with Georgetown, there are no virtual babies. You need to go to your clinic and work with a preceptor trained by Georgetown, but you can clearly do that in your local area. Online only has limitations if you allow those to exist. Our partners are driven by creating the highest quality outcome and taking creative approaches to getting there.
We observe an increased interest of institutions of higher education in introducing blended learning programmes and courses. In their approach they often are technology driven. Do you find this approach reasonable? Or, would you rather build a blended learning strategy of a university around the faculty and the corresponding didactic aspects?
Lukasz Swiatczak, HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management
Della: What I have seen recently is many traditional business schools partnering with technology and distribution companies, which strikes me as a really pragmatic approach to online learning, with each partner playing to their strengths. I think this approach is very different from a decade ago when the rationale behind online learning was related to scale and profit.
Chip: We build everything around faculty. This isn't about technology. It's about UNC's Mark Lang and Tanja Snively teaching students how to discount cash flows. Its about the rigour associated with direct faculty instruction.
Idie: Like you, I am seeing more highly ranked schools move to the blended learning format. This allows students to experience a combination of learning environments – online and residential. However, for many students the "best fit" is a programme that is flexible.
The Kelley School faculty has received its #1 teaching quality ranking because the professors have developed their abilities to use a variety of pedagogies depending on the environments in which they teach. Even so, we find that traditional teaching techniques (e.g. case teaching) can be effective in both environments with some tweaking. The key is having highly motivated faculty members willing to put energy and effort into connecting to their students. This is why it is so important to select programmes with top-ranked faculty.
What course materials do you believe schools should be using to make their programmes more dynamic? I've heard complaints of static PDF and PowerPoint presentations…
Mike: In our teaching academy, we give professors and programme leaders examples of how different types of technology can be used effectively in the classroom and online. There still is a place for traditional presentations but also for streaming video, live online discussions and interactive voting, for example. The key is to start with clear learning objectives and act creatively to meet them.
Chip: If you are going to teach someone to build a car, don't show me talking about building the car, just show them building a car. If you are teaching someone how to model behavior in a social work programme, don't give them a written vignette, show them how to do it. If you are going to teach someone to teach, find a local school for them to perform student teaching, have them film themselves and make the assignment cover the fellow students critiquing themselves. Online can be powerful if done correctly.
Idie: If an online programme is only using static PDF and PowerPoint presentations, your concern is well-founded. While most courses will have some PDF and PowerPoint content, the best online courses will use a combination of synchronous and asynchronous engagement. The static content will be valuable for learning some concepts, but you will also want to engage in real-time with your fellow students and the instructor in some fashion (e.g. with Breeze-type sessions).
The types of optional course programming used by the Kelley Direct Online MBA, which include experiential "live case" studies, travel embedded courses, simulations, and one-week intensive residential course, goes well beyond the typical static online programme that some schools offer. So, I advise students concerned about static types of programming to look for blended options that have optional dynamic components for students.
Della: Yes, I think the fascinating thing about online courses, particularly those that are free to view, is that the quality of the content and delivery is much more visible than in the traditional classroom model. Given the growing competition, I think it unlikely that these programmes will survive.
Would you recommend doing a Mooc now, while they are still free?
Chip: Yes, I've taken a Mooc and enjoyed it. I would encourage people to sign up. Daphne and Andrew from Coursera are friends. I wish them well and expect them to continue to grow.
Della: I like the assumption in your question that soon there will be a charging mechanism for Moocs. At the moment the burden of cost in developing Moocs is with the university. (A decade ago when Quisic and UNext first entered this market, it was the hosting company that bore the cost.) Therefore it will be up to the schools to decide whether to charge and when. Even short online courses can cost tens of thousands of dollars to produce, given the demand on expensive faculty time. Will business schools introduce charging mechanisms? I believe they will have to. So, to answer your question: yes.
Idie: Moocs can be an interesting option for learning some content, but my experience is that the vast majority of people who begin Moocs don't finish them. Our experience with students enrolling in a top ranked online programme is that the completion rate is significantly higher.
The Kelley Direct MBA's completion rate is just 29 months. This is an excellent completion rate considering our online students are also working full-time.
Can such education paths possibly emerge as any real threat to the traditional institutions, especially universities? Or will they remain complementary to the mainstream?
Will it be possible to maintain any real quality, on either the teaching or learning side? How will that be assured?
Brian Bollen
Chip: I think we are proving that this is a story about quality. It's a story about making students equal in every way to the campus students and delivering an experience to ensure that. Technology might enable it, but this is about the will of a great institution like UNC, USC, Wash U, Georgetown, GWU or American. These schools have partnered with us to build something transformative and I think they're doing a great job of it. As more people approach it this way, I firmly believe market share will shift. Why? Quality and outcomes matter.
Idie: While I believe online education is complementary to traditional residential education, I see more movement toward "blended" approaches where students move back and forth between residential courses and online courses. I think this is a unique way for students to take advantage of the best of both types of educational approaches.
Della: I think the great appeal of online programmes is that they give access to those who would otherwise be unable to study, either through cost, location or lifestyle. As such they will remain complementary to traditional universities. I think as with all business schools - campus-based or online - the quality will determine the longevity of the programmes. If programmes are rubbish, people will stop buying them.
I am eager to do an online MBA but have been told that the most vital part of an MBA is the networking. Obviously in an online degree there is not the same contact. What can I do to improve the networking aspect of my degree?
Chip: I challenge this notion. You can have the same level of networking when it's done well. Our Social Work programme with USC, fully delivered online, has just had it's first marriage.
The networking is real and powerful. Just don't enroll in one that won't offer that level of interactivity. MBA@UNC's global immersions are a fantastic part of the programme. This years events are in Sinagpore, Chicago, Istanbul and Chapel Hill, NC.
Idie: The key is to look for an online programme that offers you networking opportunities. At the Kelley School we are working hard to create a network and "spirit of community" with our online students. We do this through our intensive residential courses, our courses that include international trips and by including students in our alumni activities (such as alumni social events we hold in different cities).
We also build a network by including team-based experiential exercises for the students – courses in which students work on projects together but in a virtual environment. We find that when students come to campus for events with their cohort or travel with their fellow online students, they have an immediate sense of belonging and collegiality because they have worked together already.
Do you believe professors should be integrating social media into their online teaching?
Linda: I believe the teaching of how and when best to use social media as a marketing tool should most definitely be taught. It would be difficult to avoid such a powerful tool when it comes to marketing a product in today's online world.
Chip: Social media is powerful. We use it in everything we do. Our 2U platform looks more like Facebook than Blackboard for a reason: it is a social network.
Do you concur with A.N. Whitehead in his 1916 address to the Mathematical Association:
Culture is activity of thought, and receptiveness to beauty and humane feeling. Scraps of information have nothing to do with it. A merely well-informed man is the most useless bore on God's earth. What we should aim at producing is men who possess both culture and expert knowledge in some special direction. Their expert knowledge will give them the ground to start from, and their culture will lead them as deep as philosophy and as high as art.
Iain Morrison
Mike: I agree but it applies to women too!
Della: Possibly, though I think an ill-informed man is an even more useless bore…..
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2006: Ten Favorite New Films
Still Life and Dong (Jia Zhang-ke, China).
Syndromes And A Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand).
Colossal Youth (Pedro Costa, Portugal).
Coeurs a.k.a. Private Fears In Public Places (Alain Resnais, France).
Woman On The Beach (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea).
Climates (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey).
The Host (Bong Joon-ho, South Korea).
A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater, USA).
A Prairie Home Companion (Robert Altman, USA).
Finally, an empty place for all the films I wanted to see but either missed or didn't get the chance to see: Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy; David Lynch's Inland Empire; Pat O'Neill's The Decay Of Fiction; Nathaniel Dorsky's Song And Solitude; Ryan Fleck's Half Nelson; Andrew Bujalski's Mutual Appeciation; Michel Gondry's The Science Of Sleep, etc.
If you'd like, please feel free to share, link to or comment on any of your favorite new films this year....
Let me also collect some year-end lists here: Acquarello; Mubarak Ali; Jim Emerson; Steve Erickson; Chris Fujiwara; Ed Gonzalez; Andrew Grant; Aaron Hillis; J. Hoberman; Dave Kehr; Dennis Lim; Mark Peranson; Andrea Picard; James Quandt; Berenice Reynaud; Jonathan Rosenbaum; Matt Zoller Seitz; Michael Sicinski; Amy Taubin; and Chuck Tryon.
And now, I'd like to ask you for some advice. Cinematheque Ontario is doing a typically thorough Jacques Rivette retrospective in a few weeks. I know I'll be able to make no more than two (or max, three) trips up to Canada, since both school and snowy winter will be in full swing. Perhaps you might suggest a couple of unmissable Rivettes I should catch....? Excepting his first film, Paris Nous Appartient, I've seen only late Rivette (post-La Belle Noiseuse). I have Celine And Julie Go Boating on DVD, soon to be watched. And alas, I can't make it up for the Out One marathon, because I have a conflict that weekend.
Also, they're simultaneously doing Shohei Imamura, whose films I love (at least the ones I've seen). Like with Rivette, I've seen almost all of late Imamura (post-Vengeance Is Mine) and one fantastic earlier film, Intentions Of Murder (1964). So, if you have any strong Imamura recommendations, I'd love to hear them too.
Thank you, and wish you all a great 2007.


text: Wine Tasters Diary Spokane Pullman By drinknectar | November 21st, 2011 | | No Comments Share us! Choose you social Network drinknectar Owner of Nectar Tasting Room in Spokane, WA. (@nectarwine) Publisher of Spokane Wine Magazine (@spowinemag), author, speaker, consultant and internet marketer with Nectar Media (@nectarmedia) Leave a Reply Cancel reply


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In a world where Hollywood spends hundreds of millions to make popcorn movies about alien invasions and haunted houses, there is one group of filmmakers dedicated to, well, ripping off those same blockbusters and making vaguely similar films for relative chump change. Meet The Asylum, an L.A. studio whose movies bring in zero-star ratings, lawsuits, C-list acting talent, and—oh yeah—millions of dollars in profit
A small army of extras fires at an aquatic monster. Not shown: CGI monster.
Nothing is going as planned on the set of Atlantic Rim. Not even the set. Shooting today on the ultra-low-budget film—the eleventh day of a jam-packed fifteen-day shoot—was supposed to be at Naval Air Station Pensacola, a working base in Florida loaded with expensive-looking toys like air-traffic-control towers and T-45 Goshawk jets. As of last week, the film's cast and crew thought they had permission to use the facility for free, a huge coup. Then someone in the navy read the script and reached out to the producers: The higher-ups don't like the undisciplined way the soldiers are portrayed, they were told. Permission ungranted, a week before shooting was scheduled to start.
"It was FUBAR," says line producer Chris Ray, a tatted-up former navy photographer. So he spent his off day driving around Pensacola, finding the new set: a private helicopter airport that will stand in for at least seven locations in the film. "We try to take a little bit of money and make it look like a lot," says Ray. "If we start with something we know is gonna look bad, we don't even have a chance."
Ray is not joking about the "little bit of money." Atlantic Rim is a "mockbuster," a film that piggybacks on the name-brand recognition of a major-studio release. In this case, that bigger film is Pacific Rim, the $180 million sci-fi thriller directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, and Charlie Day as humans using giant robo suits to battle skyscraper-sized sea monsters. Atlantic Rim has the same basic plot, except its $500,000 budget is less than the average blockbuster's catering bill. Much of that half million is spent on the lead actors—in this case, chiseled ex-Baywatcher David Chokachi, Graham Greene (best known as Kicking Bird in Dances with Wolves), and Naughty by Nature rapper Treach. The C-list roster is typical casting for a film from The Asylum, the studio that also brought us Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies, Snakes on a Train, and Transmorphers. The Asylum didn't invent the mockbuster, but the L.A.-based B-movie factory mockbusts better than anyone else, making millions off the genre every year.
The scene being shot at the private airport this morning comes near the end of Atlantic Rim, just after the robot pilots—including Treach and Chokachi—win a decisive battle against the sea monsters. The director sets up in a clearing toward the back of the airport where four old army vehicles are rusting away. No one knows why they're here, but the trucks are a welcome bit of free set dressing. The director calls action.
"Let's get the hell out of here!" yells Graham Greene. "That knucklehead has just ordered a second nuclear strike! And where the hell is Red?!"
From top, three leads (Graham Greene, Jackie Moore, Treach) take direction; actor David Chokachi "inside" a robot; military adviser Paul Sinor gives extras a lesson.
Treach points skyward.
Red is Baywatch bro Chokachi, who has theoretically lost control of his robot and is now plummeting toward Earth from outer space. When he jumps into the scene a beat later, he'll complain only of minor kidney soreness. The miracle is explained by Treach's reaction: "Your head's too hard to get a concussion! Hard-Head Red!"
Today's location swap meant the script had to be revised—the ninth rewrite since shooting started ten days ago. That's bad news, because the Atlantic Rim production is officially behind schedule. A big-budget Hollywood production can easily spend two days perfecting a single half-page scene; an Asylum production shoots, on average, ten script pages per day. Lose half a day to torrential rain, as Atlantic Rim did last week, and your average goes up. Lose another full day because the navy rejected your location permit and there's zero chance you're doing another take because an actor can't find his character's motivation or the lighting is slightly off.
Prodded by Ray, the crew quickly sets up for a scene set in the back of one of the old army vehicles. In it, Treach comforts a wounded female civilian—played by a Hooters waitress that he enlisted over lunch earlier in the week—who's sitting next to a lifeless soldier. After the first take, the director tells Treach that he can ad-lib "something cool to the dead guy." Treach waits for the call to action, looks down at the mock-dead extra lying beside the Hooters waitress, and delivers his heartfelt eulogy: "March in peace, soldier."
And: Scene.
The Asylum is headquartered in a converted warehouse in Burbank, California, a space large enough that co-founder David Latt, 47, zips around the concrete floors on roller skates. He's got the rumpled, laid-back vibe of a fringe filmmaker, but he's known for giving his directors notes so brutal they've cried. He shares an office with The Asylum's other founding partner, David Rimawi, 49, who handles sales and marketing, mostly because he likes to chat and doesn't hate putting on a blazer now and again.
Atlantic Rim is the studio's forty-third mockbuster, but knockoffs are just a fraction of the company's total output. Of the twenty-six films The Asylum will release in 2013, only five will mimic Hollywood tentpoles. The remainder is a grab bag of B-movie genres: schlock horror, raunchy teen sex comedies, raunchy stoner sex comedies, Lifetime movies of the week, and puppy-themed Christmas films. And then there are the shark movies: 2-Headed Shark Attack, Sharknado, the entire Mega Shark franchise. In 2007 the team opened Faith Films, which produces apocalypse movies that closely resemble their other apocalypse movies, but with more God. "The only thing we haven't done is straight drama," says Rimawi. "In other words, good films," adds Paul Bales, 48, the third Asylum partner, who joined seven years ago to manage operations and keep the books in check.
Throughout the building, plastic-wrapped chairs destined for newly partitioned offices clutter the hallways. The Asylum just took over the warehouse across the street, and it's obvious why: Business is booming. Last year the company earned $5 million in profit. The Asylum has never once lost money on a film. While Battleship was a $200 million failure for Universal Pictures, The Asylum's version, American Warships, made a 50 percent profit of $250,000. "We don't make a film for a dollar more than we know we can sell it for," says Latt.
The Asylum isn't afraid to cast actors who aren't classically trained. Treach (right) taught us all what O.P.P. means as the frontman for Naughty by Nature.
The standard budget for one of the studio's mockbusters is $500,000, though that can balloon to a million if it has a partner—usually the Syfy network—splitting the cost. Each film earns The Asylum between $125,000 and $250,000 in profit, which doesn't sound like a lot by movie standards, but keep repeating the formula and the cash piles up. The trick, as with any good assembly line, is cost control. Unlike most Hollywood studios, The Asylum is self-contained, with its own editing bays, casting rooms, and sales offices; it even handles its own visual effects. The salaried staff numbers thirty, and the studio hires roughly thirty freelance crew members for each film it shoots. (In comparison, the makeup department alone on Warner Bros.–funded Pacific Rim was thirty-four people.)
"We try to make the best film we can for half a million bucks," says Latt. "I find the best director I can. We encourage style. We never set out to make a bad movie." Of course, there is much that fiscal efficiency doesn't buy you: Expensive sets. James Cameron–worthy special effects. Plot coherence. The Asylum's fans don't seem to care. Every genre has its connoisseurs—people who'll wade through the pulpiest plot to get their horror or sci-fi fix—but The Asylum's fans are particularly rabid. They hold Asylum parties and play Asylum drinking games. There is a rumor of an L.A. man with the studio's logo tattooed on his back. The more stilted the dialogue or campy the plot, the more Asylum-ites adore the flick. "The Asylum's creatures are always amazing," says superfan Melissa Foster, a theme-park actress from Orlando who landed a small role in Atlantic Rim. "If they're real, I'm excited. Unless it's really bad CGI, and then I'm thrilled."
When I broach this subject with Rimawi, he beats me to the obvious question: "How many people are watching our movies because they like them, and how many because they are laughing at them?" He doesn't know, but he doesn't think the latter would keep them in business. I've met both myself—cineaste Asylum lovers who seek out weird brilliance in the margins, and Asylum devotees who just want cinematic Ambien at 2 a.m. Most fall somewhere in between. It's like wondering whether you enjoy eating cold pizza for breakfast because it tastes delicious or because it feels wonderfully wrong. Either way, the dude making the pies gets paid.
Mockbusting wasn't a part of The Asylum's original plan, though. David Latt and David Rimawi co-founded the studio in 1997 after making a $30,000 movie together called Sorority House Party, with Latt directing and Rimawi producing. The duo soon segued into creating straight-to-video horror flicks destined for Hollywood Video and Blockbuster, but by 2004 the market for cheeseball gore started drying up. Around the same time, Latt read H. G. Wells's sci-fi classic The War of the Worlds and decided he wanted to direct an adaptation. Given the dire straits of their horror business, the timing seemed right—until Rimawi read that Steven Spielberg was prepping his own adaptation starring Tom Cruise. He couldn't imagine why anyone would want to see The Asylum's no-money version, but Latt couldn't let it go. They sunk $500,000 into their War of the Worlds, more than twice what they had ever spent on a film. Instead of Tom Cruise, they cast C. Thomas Howell (the kid who wore blackface in 1986's Soul Man). When it was finished, Blockbuster bought 100,000 copies of the film, the studio's biggest sale yet. The store had noticed that when a major-studio picture came out, people rented similar films, even if they were off-brand B movies. Mockbuster-making Asylum 2.0 was born.
Latt thinks the term mockbuster is misleading; that it implies his films are intended as comedies or parodies, like the Scary Movie franchise. He's got a point. Yeah, these are knockoffs of someone else's ideas, but The Asylum's scripts are always original—its writers don't get to read the real movie's script beforehand. At best they might get a broad plotline—often a single sentence—that's been lifted from pre-release calendars the major studios publish themselves. Mockbusters aren't really mocking anything. But the term is a hell of a lot more congenial than what came before. "It's better than flimflam or rip-off, and we thought it was sexier than drafting or copycatting, which is what the major studios call it," says Rimawi. "We used to use tie-in, but when mockbuster came along, we took it. And it's been great. I mean, we own a genre."
Like an old Hollywood studio, or maybe more like B-movie maestro Roger Corman, The Asylum repeatedly draws its crew from a small, tight-knit group. If you can deal with the craziness and you don't screw up, you're usually invited back...and, often, up. Alexander Yellen, Atlantic Rim's 32-year-old director of photography, has shot twenty-five films for the studio—more feature experience than a lot of Hollywood DPs get in a lifetime. And now he's directing, too.
Twenty-three-year-old Ken Cosentino flew himself from his home in Niagara Falls, New York, down to Pensacola to work as an assistant director on Atlantic Rim, his second gig with The Asylum. One night early on in filming, he got stoned with Treach and the two decided the movie needed a huge Predator-style gun. So Cosentino spent $300 of his own money to have one fabricated, then another $300 to have it shipped to the shoot. When asked why he'd go out-of-pocket for a prop on someone else's film, he just grins and says, "I thought it would look fucking cool."
Hard to believe, but there's a human inside that robot. This suit was cut from Atlantic Rim—the Asylum crew knew it looked too cheesy—and CGI bots were used instead.
The Asylum also takes risks on new talent in front of the camera. "It's like a farm system," says Demetrius Stear, who plays Graham Greene's right-hand man in Atlantic Rim, his third Asylum film. "You have your Major League Baseball, but this is where you go to work on your craft until you get that call. "
Of course, the more seasoned cast members have their own reasons for signing on. Treach says he's here because he loves to act. He's been doing it since 1992's Juice, when he was 22 and still just a roadie for Queen Latifah. Since then he's had small roles in a few movies and on TV, including guest appearances on Oz and Law & Order. Treach makes a lot more money touring—he still plays 150 shows a year—but prefers being on a movie set. Especially one like the Atlantic Rim's, where everyone bonds over the chaos and he's not sitting in a trailer all day. (Well, there are no trailers.)
That said, Treach isn't here for free. The Asylum won't divulge exactly how much each actor makes, but it says that about $150,000 of the $500,000 budget goes to the talent. On occasion the company will up the money for a bigger name—like when it cast Ving Rhames in the Syfy original Zombie Apocalypse—but in general it focuses on, as Rimawi says, "people we can reasonably get." Billy Dee Williams and Bo Derek are not those people, since both turned down roles in Atlantic Rim. Ideally each of the names they cast in an Asylum film will appeal to a different audience. "Baywatch stars are great for European TV," says Rimawi. "And hopefully Graham Greene appeals to the kind of people who don't normally like our movies."
Except Graham Greene may himself be one of those haters, since he keeps ducking me and GQ's photographer. First he says he'll meet with us once the first day's shoot is over. Then he says he'll sit down after his four days on set have wrapped. When I try to approach Greene after his final scene, he turns to a crew member and says loudly, "Tell those GQ guys to fuck off and leave me alone." Maybe he thinks the mockbuster business is beneath an almost Best Supporting Actor (he was nominated in 1991 for Dances with Wolves). Or maybe he's just annoyed that, as he grumbled earlier, the most recent script revise seems like it was "written by a can of spaghetti."
"I'm guessing that many of our main actors do this because they have bills to pay, and they want to be in and out as inconspicuously as possible," says Rimawi. "But the repeat guys have made their peace with what they're doing." Take Chokachi, who's on his fifth Asylum movie. "These are the kind of jobs where I'm like, I need to do some work on my house, so I call up the guys and say, 'Any chance you got something going on?'" he explains. "They pay well and they take care of you." He adds that, unless the paycheck were amazing, he'd never play the lead in a mockbuster—like, say, Thor in The Asylum's 2011 mockbuster Almighty Thor. "To me that's swallowing a hand grenade. When you do something like this, you're in an ensemble. We're in robots, so you can't see our faces as much." He didn't play a lead in The Asylum's 3 Musketeers but did take a role as a "douchebag general." He got some beautiful oak shelves out of it.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of The Asylum's success is just how global demand is for its movies. Roughly half the money for every Asylum film budget comes from international sales—Europe, China, the Middle East—and those happen at the American Film Market. It's where independent producers like The Asylum gather to unload product on distributors from every country on earth. The AFM is a bazaar of B movies, with sellers loudly hawking their wares—Chupacabra vs. the Alamo! Rastafearian! Silent but Deadly!—from suites in the Loews hotel in Santa Monica. Right now it's October 2012, five months before Atlantic Rim even starts filming, and it's here that The Asylum will sell the international rights to the mockbuster to guys like Gerald Scheffer, a candid, middle-aged buyer from Holland.
Sitting across from Rimawi and Bales in their suite, he says, "We have a problem," his thick Flemish accent making the statement sound even more ominous. "It's the reviews—people are reading them."
Scheffer, one of The Asylum's key European distributors, has bought scores of titles from the studio over the years, and now he's playing hardball. He says that the shift from DVDs to streaming lets viewers rate titles on the Euro versions of Netflix and Amazon Instant Video. "Lots of one-stars," he says. "Sometimes when they see an Asylum movie, people give it a half star without even watching." Rimawi leans back in his chair. He's heard it before. Scheffer is his sixtieth meeting this week, including ten with Chinese buyers.
"If you think this guy is tough," Rimawi whispers to me, "you should hear the guys from India."
This is one of the first acting roles for female lead Jackie Moore, an ex–lingerie model: "I keep asking for more makeup and less clothing, and they give me less makeup and more clothing."
Scheffer flips through the Asylum catalog, pausing on Atlantic Rim. Right below the movie's tagline—"Aliens Invade! Mankind Fights Back!"—is another phrase: "Selling Point: Drafts off Warner Bros. Pacific Rim." Which, right now, is really all they are pitching. Even though Atlantic Rim needs to be shot in four months and released in eight, at this moment there is no script, no writer, no director. For this, distributors like Scheffer are asked to cough up $5,000 to $25,000—or $50,000 if your territory is Japan and it's a movie with giant robots and sea creatures.
"I hope it's better than American Warships," says Scheffer, referring to The Asylum's Battleship mockbuster, now awkwardly looping on the suite's flat-screen. In it, Mario Van Peebles (star and director of New Jack City) and Carl "Apollo Creed" Weathers battle extraterrestrials that look like the baby from the original Alien mated with Slimer from Ghostbusters. It's these CGI creations that get mentioned most in those one-star reviews. While the real-deal Battleship had more than 400 digital modelers, animators, and renderers working on its (still lame) alien invaders, The Asylum's entire visual effects team consists of fifteen people in two cramped rooms, and they're usually working on six movies at once. So perhaps the fairest way to put it is this: The aliens in American Warships might have blown away theatrical audiences ten years ago. From certain angles, anyway.
After all of his nitpicking, it's clear Scheffer was just looking for some negotiating leverage. He ends up buying nineteen Asylum films, including Nazi movies, zombie movies, and a movie in which the Nazis turn into zombies. He mentions plans to package SexPot 3-DDD in DVD cases lined with weed. (God bless Amsterdam.) He also buys all of The Asylum's 2013 mockbusters, including Atlantic Rim.
Five months later, the cast and crew in Pensacola wrap their final weekend of shooting. This morning is an unseasonably cold fifty-six degrees. The upside is that the public beach where the second unit is shooting a battle scene is deserted. The downside is that of the twenty extras who RSVP'd—most learned about the gig on Craigslist—only ten have shown up. And the guys who did aren't Seal Team 6. One soldier looks to be about 65 years old. A retired combat officer keeps reminding the guys how to be somewhat realistic fake grunts. "Stay in line! Don't point your gun at anyone in front of you! You're killing your own men!"
What this scrappy fighting force could use is Ken Cosentino's Big-Ass Gun, and the plan was to bring it out this morning. But a producer says that's not going to happen after all. "It looks too much like a real Gatling," the producer explains. "We would have had to give the police notice. If we brought it out now, we'd be swarmed." This is the second gun problem the Atlantic Rim crew has faced: Earlier in filming, two extras brought their very real handguns onto the set before being asked to kindly put them away. When mockbusting, the last thing The Asylum needs is more legal trouble.
The major studios (and their trademark-protection lawyers) tolerated mockbusters until last year, when Universal sued The Asylum over its Battleship knockoff. The two parties settled out of court after The Asylum agreed to change the movie's title from American Battleship to American Warships. Partner Paul Bales regrets the settlement. "It made the other studios go, 'Oh, Universal got them. Let's hire the same attorneys and go after them for everything,'" he says.
This past December, Warner Bros. piled on, taking The Asylum to court for its 2012 mockbuster Age of the Hobbits. That's what happens when you have the cojones to release a movie with the word "hobbits" in the title. Warner Bros. isn't even contending that the films are similar—The Asylum's version involves evil dragon-riding cannibals who enslave a race of pygmies, played by actual Cambodian little people.
The Asylum insists the term hobbit is fair use, because it's also the scientific nickname of a three-foot-tall human skeleton discovered by archaeologists in 2003. Warner Bros. disagrees, and it's not hard to see why: If The Asylum can get away with its hobbit movie, what's to stop a rival big-budget studio from making its own $200 million hobbit film down the road, rendering WB's trademark worthless? "That's a big part of what's going on," says Rimawi, "and we completely understand that. I don't have anything against the studio protecting the term hobbit, or else you're going to have hobbit candy bars and hobbit movies."
So far, the courts have sided with Warner Bros. Last winter a federal judge issued an injunction against Age of the Hobbits, forcing The Asylum to change the title to Clash of the Empires (not to be confused with Clash of the Titans). The Asylum plans to appeal the ruling, setting up a legal battle that could cost more than the pygmy-centric film itself. But the mockbuster makers aren't backing down. "If Warner Bros. keeps at it, the case is going to the Supreme Court," says Latt. "That will be pretty cool...even if we lose."
Warner Bros., which is also the studio behind Pacific Rim, declined to comment on Atlantic Rim, other than to pass along a statement assailing The Asylum's business model as "cynical" and "designed to profit from the work of others."
So how would Jared Cohn, the film's director, defend himself to Pacific Rim writer-director Guillermo del Toro? "I'd say, 'As an up-and-coming filmmaker, if I get the opportunity to make any film, I'll take it. It certainly wasn't my original intent to do this, but I love making movies. Hopefully you can understand that passion and don't want to punch me in the face. But if you do want to punch me in the face, I'll give you a free shot.'"
About two months after filming on Atlantic Rim wraps, I screen a nearly completed version of the film. Sure, it has plenty in common with the other Asylum movies I've watched, from a generic thumping soundtrack to some groan-inducing dialogue. Yes, the tone, plot, and pacing make a Michael Bay movie look like a quiet character study. But from sitting on the sidelines of the film's shoot, I could see that there's an art to Atlantic Rim.
It's in the ingenuity and craftiness born out of tight-budgeted necessity: the way Cohn and company cut together footage from a Pensacola parade to make it look like they had thousands of extras on hand, or the unexpectedly convincing robot cockpits that had been shot in a rented hotel room with only flat-screen TVs as a backdrop. Neither the CGI sea monsters (which look like salamanders with tusks) nor the giant robots (seemingly modeled on '80s anime) will put Industrial Light & Magic on its heels, but both are a leap forward from the malformed aliens in American Warships. Community-theater-level acting is inevitable when half the supporting staff comes from Pensacola community theater, but Treach manages to sell some hokey lines. Does the film look expensive? No. Will you confuse it with the real deal? Never. But Atlantic Rim really does look like more than 500,000 bucks.
As Cohn is putting the final touches on the film, he calls me, excited, with a story: Walking to lunch one day after editing Atlantic Rim, he was handed a flyer for a test screening of Pacific Rim. He went, and was amazed to discover that Guillermo del Toro was there. Cohn introduced himself and told the director about Atlantic Rim. Del Toro said that he already knew all about the movie, that he's actually a fan of mockbusters, and that he couldn't wait to see it. He said he didn't take offense—as long as Atlantic Rim wasn't so good that they're both competing for the studio sequel. Del Toro was just being nice, Cohn knows. But he didn't get punched in the face.
David Katz is a former magazine editor and now a television writer living in Los Angeles.


text:
DOD Identifies Marine Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Lance Cpl. Edward J. Dycus, 22, of Greenville, Miss., died Feb. 1 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
This incident is under investigation.
For additional background information on this Marine, news media representatives may contact the 2nd Marine Division public affairs office at 910-450-6575.


text:
Gerry Naughton Fatima Khonat Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow Mary Stokes Communications team Chris Martin Emma Turner Janet Haugh Becky Evans Dalitso Mcheka Florian Suwedi Shona Shea Gillian McMahon John Harrison Martin Swinchatt Zrinka Skelin Brad McKay and Alex Keay Andy Goss Elfreda Whitty
In Ethiopia, Mary's Meals helps feed the hopes and dreams of 8,024 children every school day.
When you're hungry, it's hard to think about anything else. Daily school meals give the world's poorest children th… twitter.com/i/web/status/…


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As the markets and country (and world) await President Obama's State of the Union address tonight, we are seeing equity markets remain subdued this morning. With that, the S&P 500 is up again today, with the MAR13 futures trading up another 4.5 pts, or +.28%. We continue to believe that 1530 is the next major upside target, and we believe the market will hit this level soon. Even though many strategists have been calling for a 5%-7% correction, we are not in that camp. We believe that a significant correction might occur if and when the S&P 500 hits 1550, and even then, we are not focusing on a significant correction occurring because that is pure speculation as to the size and timing of it.
The U.S. bond market is down today, especially as the stock market is rallying again. The benchmark 10-year Note futures market is down 7.5 ticks, and we believe this market is headed much lower. We believe the 10-year Note will head towards a yield of 2.4% this year, and now it is still a touch above 2%.
Sugar futures are one of the biggest losers on the commodities board today, trading down 1.84% at $0.1810. Cotton is also retracing some of its recent gains, trading down 1.65%.
We focus more on the corn futures market. Ever since the huge drought rally last summer, all of the grains markets have been in a downward channel. Wheat is actually leading the way down in the grains markets today, trading down $0.124 to $7.29. Wheat has now broken through the major support level of 2013 and we wouldn't be surprised to see wheat continue to head lower to $7. Corn futures (MAR13) are also down today, trading below $7 to $6.92. Corn's major support level is $6.80, and we believe corn will indeed breach that support and head to the next key support level at $6.60. Corn and soybean growing areas in Argentina may receive moderate to heavy rainfall from storms beginning Feb. 16, easing dry conditions, DTN said today in a forecast.
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text:
This darling cloche hat is made in antique pale pink parisisal straw. A narrow taupe tone vintage velvet ribbon is paired with muted shades of vintage velvet flowers and finished with handmade taffeta leaves.
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All contents copyright (c) 2006 Couture Creations.Website design and hosting by IQnection


text:
News and media
|Remove Type: News
|Remove Year: 2014
|Latin America & the Caribbean
|Remove Region: Latin America & the Caribbean
2014 Executive Assembly put spotlight on regional integration
The World Energy Council's Executive Assembly concluded last month (20–24 October) in Colombia with broad support from WEC members and the more than 700 attending representatives from governments and the private sector.
Posted on 11 November 2014
Speech by President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia at the World Energy Leaders' Summit
President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia said at the World Energy Leaders' Summit says the energy trilemma offers a valuable roadmap to strengthening the energy sector, adding that guaranteeing energy sustainability is a "shared task" among nations
Posted on 11 November 2014
El sector energético enfrenta grandes presiones por los impactos del cambio climático
Conclusiones del informe que serán resaltadas en la cumbre del Consejo Mundial de la Energía en Colombia
Posted on 21 October 2014
73% de los consumidores de América Latina están dispuestos a pagar más por combustibles de transporte alternativos
Nuevo informe elaborado por la comunidad de Futuros Líderes Energéticos analiza los perspectivos las actitudes de los consumidores en la región de América Latina y el Caribe
Posted on 21 October 2014
73% of Latin America consumers are willing to pay more for alternative transport fuels
New report by World Energy Council's Future Energy Leaders shed light on consumer perspectives on demand-side energy solutions
Posted on 21 October 2014
World Energy Council to host ministerial summit in Cartagena with the President of Colombia
More than 20 ministers will gather in Colombia in October to discuss the energy trilemma and Latin American energy issues
Posted on 23 September 2014
WEC Scenarios workshop to gather Latin American and Caribbean expertise
The WEC's World Energy Scenarios team will be hosting a workshop in the Latin America and Caribbean region this month. Energy strategists and other decision-makers from the region are encouraged to attend.
Posted on 17 July 2014


text:
Island Hopping is a 3d retro-arcade style platformer originally developed by one of our team members for the Ludum Dare 48-hour competition. The objective is simple: don't hit the water. The player will attempt to navigate through an ever faster path of island that vary in size, shape, and point value. When they inevitably hit the water, your distance and score (among other statistics) are sent to a high score leaderboard.
A great game to play for 5mins while your waiting for something to do! Very addictive!


text:
Bands and tribute artists will gather Sunday in Las Vegas for a concert to raise money for those affected by the Newtown, Conn., shooting spree that killed 20 students and six staffers at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
"Our Town for Newtown — a Concert for Sandy Hook Elementary School" will run from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Railhead inside Boulder Station on Boulder Highway near East Desert Inn Road.
The list of acts is long and still growing. Concert organizer Brody Dolyniuk said among those already signed up are tribute bands the Fab, Yellow Brick Road, Zeppelin USA and Zowie Bowie.
The Las Vegas Tenors will also perform, as will the Lon Bronson All-Star Band, which has backed up such big names as Celine Dion, Diana Ross, and Frank Sinatra.
The concert is the upshot of an entry that Dolyniuk posted on his Facebook page.
"I put a vague comment on my Facebook page … to count me in if there's a fundraiser," he said. "About a hundred people came together and said, 'Yeah, let's do it.' "


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text:
Realm | Define Realm at Dictionary.com
the realm of England. the region, sphere, or domain within which anything occurs, prevails, or dominates: the realm of dreams. the special province or field of something or someone: the realm of physics; facts within the realm of political scientists.
I am of the domestic female realm. I am the matriarch of my family and as such I can be very arrogant at times, because of assuming I rule. Laugh, and as I write this, I realize the forums and professions are not my realms, and that when I cross into someone else's realm I need to respect the rules of other realms.
I am aware of having wars when others do not respect the rules of my realm, or when I do not feel respected as the queen I believe myself to be. I am not sure the wars fought in my realm are so different from international wars?
Just for fun, I would like to know about other people's realms and points of view for determining what reality is. As a domestic woman, human feelings are all important, and surely this not true of all realms.


text:
2013-02-09 • Deciphering a Will
Start: 21:02:35
Seventies: Hi Daviss!
Daviss: Hi Seventies
Seventies: Are you working with your KindleFire alright?
Daviss: headed in the right direction
Seventies: Good.
Daviss: I had someone working with me today on it :} You know how it is when a younger person gives you input, you tend to follow their instructions on tech stuff that is lol
Seventies: lol Its not really that difficult to work with BUT you need to at least turn it on... lol
Daviss: lol lol lol lol lol lol
Seventies: I'm just a regular comedian.. lol
Daviss: you sure are
Seventies: Anyways, I need to e-mail Bernice the information about Mississippi research that I have been able to acquire on my family.
Daviss: I wish you were here to help me look for my new magnifying glass
Seventies: that's old school I can't help you with that... lol
Daviss: hahahaha I am sure Bernice is waiting
Seventies: Yes I plan on having something to her by the end of next week.
Daviss: Adams and Natchez also?
Seventies: Yes...
Daviss: ok good
Seventies: So I want to talk about what I looked at in the county, in the state and federal records... I know I'm not going to touch on them all, but just to give people an idea of what they can look at in regards to Mississippi. I hope its acceptable. I'm no expert by any means.
Daviss: quit being hard on yourself, you will be fine you are an expert on what you have collected and thats what its all about Hi there Selma!
Selma: Good evening daviss and seventies
Daviss: your blog is choc full of info Seventies
Seventies: Hello Selma On nephew duty... Thanks Daviss
Daviss: I see
Seventies: I'm glad you stayed up tonight to chat with us Selma.
Daviss: I need my mag glass. sheesh i just bought it the other day. I have a will that I needed to decipher
Selma: You know I am 1/2 sleep here... LOL
Seventies: lol yep just thought I'd encourage you... lol
Selma: LOL
Seventies: Have you been up to the National Archives or to the FHC lately, Selma?
Selma: Nope..
Seventies: Is anyone doing records searches these days?
Daviss: what do you mean anyone
Seventies: anyone in here... lol
Daviss: lol I think that is something I do daily on the puter
Seventies: I got my jumpdrive in the mail and I'm ready to download the complete M1914.... its a 64gb drive.
Daviss: no archives for me here
Selma: Wow
Daviss: You should be able to download all of nara lol
Selma: Are you going to DC?
Seventies: I am planning a short trip in March Maybe on a Friday or something....
Selma: When you download..do you have to download "each image"..how many reels of microfilm
Seventies: Its 5 reels Selma.
Selma: Is that the pre FB records?
Daviss: thats just for Ms isnt it
Seventies: Yes they are the pre-FB records. They cover everything in MS and west of the MS...
Selma: OK
Daviss: ok where did you get your drive
Seventies: From a place here in NYC called B&H camera... but they sell everything. I paid about $37 for it. others are going for $50 and above... It was a steal...
Daviss: I imagine Seventies
Seventies: I bought it just for the genealogy stuff. I'm also going to put my trees, photos, presentations and documents on it. 64GB should last for a good little while
Daviss: Amen to that Seventies
Seventies: I also finally got my copy of MS Office 2013... brb ladies
Daviss: thats what I want to get hello klassicglass
Selma: Evening klassicglass
Daviss: How is it going
klassicglass: hello everyone
Selma: Evening klassicglass
Daviss: hows it going klassicglass??
klassicglass: good now I'm off work.
Daviss: lol and eeek for work
klassicglass: this is my weekend to work.
vkn: howdy and howdy
Selma: Evening vkn
Daviss: Hi vkn!!
vkn: almost forgot
klassicglass: hello
Seventies: hello klassicglass!
Selma: Anything new in your search klassic
Seventies: nephew still isn't asleep.. dang this kid a night hawk... lol
Daviss: vkn I kind of gave my opinion on the Dalton Question about Myrtis and the 12 yr old
klassicglass: no I haven't done anything in a couple days, still stuck
Seventies: You're researching Tx, right klassicglass?
Selma: Don't talk bad about the "little darlin" seventies
klassicglass: a couple places, Illinois, MS, AR, regarding Alfred Prior
Selma: klassic I took a look at Pryors Service Record
Daviss: I also looked around in 1870 for Dock but was not successful
klassicglass: Selma did you find anything?
Selma: He landed up in the hospital in Little Rock Arkansas..isn;t that where he mustered out
klassicglass: yes
Selma: Haven't thought about this since I saw you last..but I remember having a question re: Marriage.. Didn't you say they married twice? What were the years?
klassicglass: he married in the yr 1854 at Lake Washington, Ms by Reb Ruben Davis and then married again after the civil war july 4th 1865 by Rev. Brown in Columbus, KY
Daviss: Evening HistoryBuff!
HistoryBuff: Hey Daviss, Klassicglass, Selma, Seventies and Vkn.
Seventies: Hi HistoryBuff
klassicglass: hey how are you?
Selma: He enlists in 1864? He is said to be 22..if my memory is right
HistoryBuff: I'm good thanks. How are you all?
klassicglass: your memory is right
Selma: Hi history buff Where did you find the info re: 1854 marriage
klassicglass: on a paper that was in his pension package
Seventies: wait a minute, he was 12 when he married in MS? or was he married in 1864? Confused hre
klassicglass: it must be an error cause the paper say 1854
Selma: When you follow him through the census...does he age consistently?
klassicglass: no
Selma: I suspect he married in 1864..at that point he is technically still enslaved... I saw the word slave written on the next to last image
klassicglass: I have about 50 papers I can't even read
Selma: Is this his pension record?
Seventies: This is from his service record or pension file?
klassicglass: yes,
Seventies: Okay, is the pension all that you have on him?
klassicglass: pension file yes
Seventies: What about his service record?
Selma: Is there a contraband camp in Lake Washington?
klassicglass: I have a couple enlistment papers. I don't know about the contraband camp
Selma: Does the Union Army come thru Lake Washington?
Seventies: Just keep in mind, that there are military papers all over the place for the USCTs, including the Freedman's Bureau records.
klassicglass: I did research the freedman's bureau and didn't find anything what is the non-population schedule?
Selma: So he and wife born in Mississippi
HistoryBuff: klassicglass see if this link would be of help to you. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Washington
Daviss: there are several klassicglass...the Agricultural census being one
Seventies: Hey y'all I have got to get going... its almost curfew time... so my son will be walking through the door shortly. Have a good evening all!
klassicglass: thanks...I have a different places, Arkansas, MS, a few says his dad is from KY
HistoryBuff: Cya 70s Take care.
klassicglass: have a good evening I found him on 1850-1880 non ppopulation schedule
Selma: I don't understand?
klassicglass: trying to find out if that meant anything that census record
Daviss: Wb Historybuff
klassicglass: just wondering is that something different than the 1870 and 1880 census
Selma: Send me a link..so I can see...
HistoryBuff: Thnx
Selma: Ok folks..past my bedtime..
Daviss: ok take care
Selma: See you tomorrow..for Sun Brunch..Good night
HistoryBuff: Good nite Selma
Daviss: I guess I will head out also
klassicglass: everyone have a good nite. I have to be to work at 7 a.m.
HistoryBuff: Take care Daviss.
Daviss: I am looking for my magnifying glass so I can study a will ok klassic have a good nite
HistoryBuff: Wow good nite klassicglass
Daviss: thats what happens when I have too much on my mind HistoryBuff lol
HistoryBuff: I think I can relate Daviss
Daviss: hahaha I blew up a will and Inv then bought a Mag glass now I guess i need another pair of glasses to find what i lost
HistoryBuff: I was looking over a family tree for my maternal grandfather and discovered a lot of surnames.
Daviss: great History
HistoryBuff: I've had to do that too, Daviss.
Daviss: hope you have much success
HistoryBuff: My maternal grandfather was one of thirteen. I'm composing an introductory letter to a cousin in the DC metro area. Thanks for the encouragement
Daviss: Good! be sure and let me know if you get an answer
HistoryBuff: I will.
Daviss: ok thx.. nite nite my friend
HistoryBuff: Good nite my friends.


text: Schiller Park, IL — Hammer Strength extended its series of Hammer Strength Clinics for spring 2009. The national strength and conditioning clinics address training methods and techniques. Clinic speakers include Bob Medina of the Portland Trail Blazers, Mike Clark of the Seattle Seahawks, Shannon Turley of Stanford University, Mark Uyeyama of the San Francisco 49ers, John Sisk of Vanderbilt University and Jason Gallucci of Princeton University. The Hammer Strength Web site, www.hammerstrengthclinics.com, has dates and locations for the clinics.