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Kin Dza Dza
Arguably, it's the best sci fi comedy ever made and yet it's also the most famous film that nobody has ever heard of! Kin Dza Dza is a giant of science fiction and near the top of all good sci fi movie lists. If you like good, unusual cult sci fi -you need to see this film! Checkout the SadCAST review of Kin Dza Dza or click the links below to see the film on the Mosfilm Youtube channel.
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Coventry Telegraph - Geek Files
Daniel Craig's Bond blockbuster Skyfall is a double winner at Evening Standard British Film Awards
Record-breaking James Bond hit Skyfall has scored a double win at a major British movie awards event.
The picture - which stars Daniel Craig in his third 007 outing and has become the UK's biggest box office hit - was named best film at the Evening Standard British Film Awards, while viewers voted it their blockbuster of the year.
Comedy actor Sacha Baron Cohen - whose outrageous characters have included Borat, Bruno and Ali G - took an honorary title, the editor's award, to celebrate his "extraordinary achievement."
Oscar nominee Daniel Day-Lewis missed out on the best actor award, despite huge acclaim for his lead role in Lincoln.
Instead the prize went to Toby Jones for the independent art house film Berberian Sound Studio, which sees him play a British sound designer in the homage to 1970s Italian horror.
"I'm thrilled. Daniel Day-Lewis is a hero to me so to be even mentioned in the same breath as him is a huge honour," he said following his win.
"I grew up watching his movies so the idea that I am in some way compared with him is both, on one level extraordinary to me, but also I've got to be proud of that."
Andrea Riseborough collected the best actress prize for her role as an IRA terrorist in Shadow Dancer.
But journalist Tom Bradby missed out on winning best screenplay for his work in bringing his novel to the screen. That award went to Malcolm Campbell for What Richard Did.
The Peter Sellers award for comedy went to deranged road movie Sightseers, directed by Ben Wheatley. The black comedy had jointly led the nominations with gang drama My Brother The Devil, with each having been put forward in three categories.
Nicholas Hoult lands in big trouble in new poster for Jack the Giant Slayer
Excitement is building among fans for Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past, which will unite past and future characters in a time-travel tale that's likely to include huge mutant-hunting robots called Sentinels.
That movie begins production in April but Singer has another piece of fantasy adventure to deliver on the big screen before then - and it also sees people clashing with large-scale enemies. Not robots this time, but giants.
A new one-sheet poster (above) has been unveiled for Singer's Jack the Giant Slayer ahead of its arrival in cinemas on March 22, 2013. Other recently-issued posters are included below, along with the trailer, to give you a full flavour of this fairy tale reimagining. Click on each image to open a larger version.
Nicholas Hoult - who's also the younger version of Beast in the X-Men series - stars as Jack in a cast that also includes Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Bill Nighy, Ian McShane, Warwick Davis, Eleanor Tomlinson and Ewen Bremner.
The story sees an ancient war is reignited when a young farmhand unwittingly opens a gateway between our world and a fearsome race of giants.
Unleashed on the Earth for the first time in centuries, the giants strive to reclaim the land they once lost, forcing the young man, Jack (Nicholas Hoult), into the battle of his life to stop them.
Fighting for a kingdom and its people, and the love of a brave princess, he comes face to face with the unstoppable warriors he thought only existed in legend... and gets the chance to become a legend himself.
Iron Man falls to Earth in 2013 Super Bowl teaser poster
Those of you who saw The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble in the UK) will remember how Robert Downey Jr's Iron Man plummeted from the skies during the climactic battle in New York.
Well, it looks like he's going to make a habit of it.
Marvel's armoured hero is once more dramatically falling to Earth, with his hi-tech suit damaged and on fire, in a new teaser poster for Iron Man 3.
It's been unveiled ahead of the brand new TV spot that will air during this weekend's 2013 Super Bowl, which is being held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Sunday, February 3.
The official synopsis tells us that Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds.
When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle.
With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: Does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?
Iron Man 3 opens in 3D and 2D on April 26, 2013, in the UK, and May 3, 2013, in the USA.
Directed by Shane Black, it stars Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale, Jon Favreau and Ben Kingsley.
Trailer, poster and images for Guillermo del Toro supernatural thriller Mama
A trailer, poster and images have been unveiled for Guillermo del Toro's new horror film Mama.
It stars Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) and arrives in UK cinemas on February 22.
Del Toro executive produces the film, which is directed by Andy (Andrés) Muschietti - his first time in the hotseat on a full-length feature - and also stars Megan Charpentier and Isabelle Nelisse.
The supernatural thriller tells the haunting tale of two little girls who disappeared into the woods the day that their parents were killed. When they are rescued years later and begin a new life, they find that someone or something still wants to come and tuck them in at night.
Five years ago, sisters Victoria and Lilly vanished from their suburban neighbourhood without a trace. Since then, their Uncle Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his girlfriend, Annabel (Jessica Chastain), have been madly searching for them. But when, incredibly, the kids are found alive in a decrepit cabin, the couple wonders if the girls are the only guests they have welcomed into their home.
As Annabel tries to introduce the children to a normal life, she grows convinced of an evil presence in their house.
Are the sisters experiencing traumatic stress, or is a ghost coming to visit them? How did the broken girls survive those years all alone? As she answers these disturbing questions, the new mother will find that the whispers she hears at bedtime are coming from the lips of a deadly presence.
The trailer is included here, along with the poster and a selection of stills from the production.
X-Men star James McAvoy and Ridley Scott team up for Welcome to the Punch
After playing the young version of Professor Xavier in X-Men: First Class, James McAvoy is next appearing on screen in Welcome to the Punch.
Also in the cast are Mark Strong, Andrea Riseborough, Peter Mullan, David Morrissey, Johnny Harris and Daniel Mays.
Director Eran Creevy (who previously helmed 2008's Shifty and was a production assistant on Layer Cake) collaborates with iconic filmmaker Ridley Scott, who is executive producer on this project, for the upcoming action thriller.
The story sees ex-criminal Jacob Sternwood (Mark Strong) forced to return to London when his son is involved in a heist gone wrong. This gives his nemesis, detective Max Lewinsky (James McAvoy), one last chance to catch the man he's always been after.
Welcome to the Punch is released on March 15, 2013. A trailer is included below.
McAvoy then appears in Danny Boyle's crime thriller Trance, due out on March 27.
It sees a fine art auctioneer, who is mixed up with a criminal gang, join forces with a hypnotherapist to recover a lost painting.
As boundaries between desire, reality and hypnotic suggestion begin to blur, the stakes rise faster than anyone could have anticipated.
James then goes on to reprise his Charles Xavier role in Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past, which is currently in pre-production and assembling its cast.
First-look image and release date for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
Never mind the heavy snow that blanketed the UK over the past couple of weeks, the forecast now is for cloud and another dose of falling food - but with a bizarre new twist.
Sony Pictures Animation has unveiled a first-look image (see above) and UK release date for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.
The animated adventure will arrive in cinemas on October 25, 2013, the studio said. Click on the image above to open up a larger version.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 picks up where the first hit comedy left off.
Inventor Flint Lockwood's genius is finally being recognised as he's invited by his idol Chester V to join The Live Corp Company, where the best and brightest inventors in the world create technologies for the betterment of mankind.
Chester's right-hand-gal - and one of his greatest inventions - is Barb, a highly evolved orangutan with a human brain, who is also devious, manipulative and likes to wear lipstick.
It's always been Flint's dream to be recognized as a great inventor, but everything changes when he discovers that his most infamous machine (which turns water into food) is still operating and is now creating food-animal hybrids - "foodimals!"
With the fate of humanity in his hands, Chester sends Flint and his friends on a dangerously delicious mission, battling hungry tacodiles, shrimpanzees, apple pie-thons, double bacon cheespiders and other food creatures to save the world again!
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is directed by Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn, from a screenplay by John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein and Erica Rivinoja, and is based on characters from the book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett.
Bill Hader (Flint Lockwood)
Anna Faris (Sam Sparks)
James Caan (Tim Lockwood)
Will Forte (Chester V)
Kristen Schaal (Barb)
Terry Crews (Earl)
Andy Samberg (Brent)
Neil Patrick Harris (Steve)
Benjamin Bratt (Manny)
The image featured here shows Earl (Terry Crews), Manny (Benjamin Bratt), Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) holding Barry the strawberry and Steve (Neil Patrick Harris) on top of Flint Lockwood's head (Bill Hader), as they discover Flint's most infamous machine is still operating and is now creating food-animal hybdrids including fruit cockatiels, bananostriches, watermelophants and cucumbirds.
Primeval's Andrew Lee Potts and Hannah Spearritt join Star Wars Boba Fett at Midlands Comic Con
Primeval stars Andrew Lee Potts and Hannah Spearritt will be joining Star Wars actor Jeremy Bulloch, who played bounty hunter Boba Fett, at the Midlands Comic Con in Telford on Saturday, February 16.
Andrew and Hannah will meet fans, host an on-stage panel - and handle any prehistoric peril that arises while they are there.
Playing palaeontology student Connor Temple, Andrew Lee Potts starred in five seasons of hit British sci-fi show Primeval and made a guest appearance in its North American spin-off, Primeval: New World (currently airing on the UK's Watch channel).
In addition to Primeval, Andrew played the Hatter in popular SyFy mini-series Alice; other credits include Band of Brothers, Absolute Power and Doc Martin.
Following musical fame as one of the original members of S Club 7 - a career that saw her garner four UK No1 singles, one UK No1 album and a string of hits worldwide - Hannah Spearritt joined the cast of Primeval in 2006.
Acting alongside real-life fiancé Andrew Lee Potts, Hannah has appeared in all five seasons of the show in the role of lizard-loving zookeeper Abby Maitland. Last year also saw her enjoy West End theatrical success as Pauline in critically-acclaimed comedy One Man, Two Guvnors.
Famous for playing the iconic bounty hunter in the original Star Wars trilogy, British actor Jeremy Bulloch will be meeting fans, signing autographs and taking part in an on-stage panel.
While Jeremy Bulloch's credits range from James Bond movies to TV series such as Doctor Who, Spooks and Robin of Sherwood, it was his role as Boba Fett that most captured the public imagination.
In addition to his scene-stealing appearances in The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi, Jeremy has revisited the Star Wars universe with a cameo in Revenge of the Sith, an appearance in much sought-after mockumentary Return of the Ewok and a number of charity fan films.
One of the most popular of all Star Wars characters, the galaxy's coolest bounty hunter struck a chord with audiences for his mysterious nature and baddass attitude... and the man inside the Mandalorian's armoured suit has been a firm convention favourite ever since.
Midlands Comic Con is at the International Centre, Telford, on Saturday, February 16. Tickets are available from the official website.
Marvel's Phase Three of movies to include Doctor Strange as well as Ant-Man
The little-known comic title Guardians of the Galaxy may seem an out-of-the-box choice for a blockbuster, but it's just the beginning for Marvel's cinematic roster expansion.
We now know for sure that the Sorcerer Supreme himself, Doctor Strange, is joining Ant-Man as part of the studio's Phase Three of filmmaking.
Previously the only post-Avengers 2 film on the schedule - penned and directed by British talent Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) - Ant-Man's diminutive exploits were filling one of the two announced slots kicking off the third wave of Marvel adaptations.
Already dismissing concerns that the miniature hero will vanish into box office oblivion, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige explained to MTV the reasoning behind Phase Three's second selection.
"Doctor Strange, which I've been talking about for years, is definitely one of them (the films in Phase Three). He's a great, original character, and he checks the box off this criteria that I have: he's totally different from anything else we have, just like Guardians of the Galaxy," said Feige.
"He's totally different from anything we've done before, as is Ant-Man, which keeps us excited."
Although no specifics were given regarding the good Doctor's release date, casting or creative team, we know Ant-Man is set for release on November 6, 2015, with scientist Hank Pym the version of the hero doing the shrinking to insect proportions.
As for Strange, rumors of an appearance in both Thor 2 and Guardians could indicate a pre-Ant-Man release. Or they could mean nothing at all.
Any thoughts on who should play the Doctor or Ant-Man? With no casting short-lists circulating for either, there's room for plenty of suggestions. State your choice in the comments section below.
Bryan Singer says X-Men: Days of Future Past will be epic and has 'a lot of aspects of comic'
As the cast of X-Men: Days of Future Past begins to take shape, director Bryan Singer has teased a few more pieces of information about this hotly-anticipated project.
He told Empire: "It's epic. I don't think people realise how big this movie's going to be. We get to bring both casts together."
If that sounds worryingly ambitious, Singer assures fans: "We've cracked it in a way that it makes sense. I had a two-hour conversation with James Cameron about time travel, string theory, multiverses and all that.
"You have to create your rules and stick wtih them. That's why Terminator and Back To The Future work so well. And there are certain mechanisms in X-Men, certain powers, perceptions and characters, that make this possible."
Those who hope the original comic book story is respected needn't be concerned either. Singer says: "It has a lot of aspects of the comic. The actual comic of Days Of Future Past had a whole ton of stuff going on, so it's like any of these things; you have to distil it. But I think the fans will be pleased that some of the most exciting parts of Days Of Future Past are going to be connected to this movie."
And he ends the speculation that he might be tempted to ignore the X-Men films in which he was not involved: "I'm taking into account every movie - I'm not just grabbing my first two movies and First Class and smashing them together.
"I'm taking into account the entire universe as it's been laid out so far on the screen, and really respecting it and trying to work with that. People took things in various directions, so there's some clean-up. But ultimately I'm not just ignoring them either."
Singer says he will continue announcing the cast with tweets via his personal account, saying: "I'll be using Twitter as an avenue. I think Twitter is an amazing thing. Very often something gets out there in the rumour-sphere, and people start building up an impression of something that might not be right. So what I want to do is just little by little drop out whatever information is official."
X-Men: Days Of Future Past is due in cinemas on July 18, 2014, with filming set to start in April.
Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore join X-Men: Days of Future Past
The cast of Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past tonight expanded by three names.
Singer tweeted that Anna Paquin, Ellen Page and Shawn Ashmore had joined the production, which starts filming in April.
Paquin played Rogue in the original trilogy alongside Ashmore's Iceman, while Page was cast as Kitty Pryde aka Shadowcat in Brett Ratner's X-Men: The Last Stand.
Singer said he was "very excited" to welcome the trio and, referring to the fact their characters were among the survivors in The Last Stand, added: "Thank you Brett Ratner for letting them live."
Already cast in the film are Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen and Hugh Jackman, alongside X-Men: First Class actors Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult and Jennifer Lawrence.
Actors have been playing it cool over their involvement in the new film, with Ashmore quoted a week ago as saying he had "no idea" if he was returning. The same message came from January Jones who has not yet been confirmed and very recently said she didn't think she was in the film.
There's also no word yet on the inclusion of Halle Berry's Storm. Berry re-teams with X-Men co-star Hugh Jackman in the huge ensemble cast of Movie 43, out in UK cinemas this weekend.
Also in the cast of Movie 43 is Liev Schreiber, who appeared alongside Hugh in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. For more about Movie 43, see my earlier report here.
Martin Freeman praises fantastic scripts on BBC's Sherlock
Martin Freeman says Sherlock is one of the best shows he has worked on.
The Hobbit actor stars in the BBC drama as Dr John Watson, alongside Benedict Cumberbatch as detective Sherlock Holmes.
"Sherlock is one of the best written things I'll ever do. If I live to 100, I won't do many things that are better written than Sherlock," he said.
"Same with The Office, which was a perfect half-hour of comedy for my taste. As a fan, I'd like it."
Martin admits he looks for both physical and intellectual challenges in roles.
"Dr John's quite physical because he's a soldier, so he's a man of action, he's handy with a gun and has been shot on the battlefield.
"When something is well written and you get to run around and fire guns and chase people but also have fantastic dialogue, that's when it's most pleasurable."
Sherlock will be back on BBC1 for a third three-part series in 2013.
Freeman - pictured above at the UK premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey with co-star Cate Blanchett and director Peter Jackson - returns to his Bilbo Baggins role in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, released on December 13, and then the final instalment, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, out on July 18, 2014.
Ray Winstone reveals worries about Darren Aronofsky's Noah
Ray Winstone has revealed how he had initial concerns about the big screen version of Noah.
The British actor stars as nemesis Tubal-cain in Darren Aronofsky's Biblical epic opposite Russell Crowe as Noah.
"It's Noah's Ark - I laughed when it first came through. 'What am I going to do in Noah's Ark? It's a Biblical piece'.
"I laughed again when they said Russell Crowe's playing Noah - 'How can Russell play Noah?'" he admitted.
"But then I thought I've never seen Russell in a bad film. Then I read the script and I went, 'You know what? Lovely'. I turned up and had four wonderful months on a film with really clever people. I had a ball."
Noah is released on March 28, 2014.
First look at G.I. Joe: Retaliation to screen with Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
The second G.I. Joe movie hits screens in a couple of months and to give you a taster of what it's like, Paramount Pictures, MGM and Skydance Productions have attached a four-minute 3D preview to the new fantasy action film Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.
The first look at G.I. Joe: Retaliation in IMAX 3D, RealD 3D and digital 3D cinemas will run throughout Hansel & Gretel's theatrical engagement.
Based on the best-selling Hasbro characters, this follow-up to the 2009 release G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra, sees the G.I. Joes not only fighting their mortal enemy Cobra, but forced to contend with threats from within the government that jeopardise their existence.
The film stars D.J. Cotrona, Byung-hun Lee, Adrianne Palicki, Ray Park, Jonathan Pryce, Ray Stevenson, Elodie Yung, Channing Tatum with Bruce Willis and Dwayne Johnson.
Directed by Jon M. Chu, and produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Brian Goldner of Hasbro, from a screenplay by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick, the movie will hit cinemas in the UK and Ireland on March 27, 2013.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as Hansel and Gretel, who, after getting a taste for blood as children, become the ultimate vigilantes, hellbent on retribution.
Unknown to them, they have become the hunted, and must face an evil far greater than witches: their past. In addition to Renner and Arterton, the film features X-Men star Famke Janssen along with Peter Stormare.
It's written and directed by Tommy Wirkola and produced by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Kevin Messick and Beau Flynn.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters opens in the UK and Ireland on February 27.
Geek Gossip: Terrence Malick's To The Wonder, Movie 43, The Two Faces of January
Following his impressionistic look at the meaning of human existence in 2011's The Tree of Life, filmmaker Terrence Malick has broken his habit of vanishing from the movie scene for many years by bringing us To The Wonder.
Written and directed by Malick and arriving in UK cinemas on February 22, it stars Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel McAdams and Javier Bardem.
A new poster (above) has been issued for the film, which is officially described as follows:
To The Wonder is the beautiful and acclaimed latest offering from Terrence Malick, the legendary director of The Tree of Life, Badlands and Days of Heaven.
The film is centred on Neil (Ben Affleck, Argo), a man who is torn between two loves: Marina (Olga Kurylenko, Quantum of Solace), the European woman who comes to United States to be with him, and Jane (Rachel McAdams, Midnight in Paris), the old flame he reconnects with from his hometown.
Neil's doubts about his life and loves are reflected in the crisis of faith experienced by Father Quintana (Javier Bardem, Skyfall), who only sees pain and the loss of hope in the world.
In To The Wonder, Malick explores how love and its many phases and seasons - passion, sympathy, obligation, sorrow, indecision - can transform, destroy, and reinvent lives.
Here's the trailer:
Meanwhile, this Friday, January 25, sees the release of the comedy Movie 43, a series of interconnected short films following three kids as they search the internet to find the most banned movie in the world.
The directors of the project are Elizabeth Banks, Steven Brill, Steve Carr, Rusty Cundieff, James Duffy, Griffin Dunne, Peter Farrelly, Patrik Forsberg, James Gunn, Bob Odenkirk, Brett Ratner and Jonathan Van Tulleken.
And the cast includes Chloe Moretz, Emma Stone, Elizabeth Banks, Kate Winslet, Gerard Butler, Sean William Scott, Hugh Jackman, Kristen Bell, Anna Faris, Liev Schreiber, Richard Gere, Naomi Watts, Halle Berry, Justin Long, Uma Thurman, Josh Duhamel, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Johnny Knoxville and Kieran Culkin.
Here's the official description:
Big stars. Huge comedy. Enormous balls. From the twisted minds of producers Peter Farrelly (Hall Pass, Shallow Hal) and Charles Wessler (There's Something About Mary, Dumb & Dumber), comes Movie 43 - the outrageous new ensemble comedy starring some of the biggest names in Hollywood.
Movie 43 is not for the easily-offended and contains jaw-dropping, sometimes shockingly disturbing, but always entertaining intertwined storylines you'll have to see to believe.
A set of images and the UK poster are included here, along with the trailer.
Arriving in cinemas at the end of this year - on December 18, 2013, to be exact - is thriller The Two Faces of January.
A recently-released image from the production (see below) shows Daisy Bevan, daughter of Joely Richardson and granddaughter of Vanessa Redgrave, and Oscar Isaac.
Cast before the producers even knew she was a member of the famous acting dynasty, Daisy takes on the role of Lauren, a young ingénue who falls into the clutches of a small-time conman.
Billed as a stylish international thriller, The Two Faces of January stars Oscar nominee Viggo Mortensen (The Road, Eastern Promises, A History of Violence), Golden Globe nominee and Cannes Best Actress prize-winner Kirsten Dunst (Melancholia, Marie Antoinette, Spider-Man) and Oscar Isaac (Drive, The Bourne Legacy and the Coens' forthcoming Inside Llewyn Davis).
The Two Faces of January is based on the novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith adapted for the screen by Academy Award nominee Hossein Amini (Drive, Snow White and the Huntsman, The Wings of the Dove).
The film is the directorial debut for Amini and is produced by Tom Sternberg (The Talented Mr. Ripley) Working Title's Tim Bevan & Eric Fellner and Robyn Slovo (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy).
Here's the official synopsis:
1962. A glamorous American couple, the charismatic Chester MacFarland (Mortensen) and his alluring younger wife Colette (Dunst), arrive in Athens by boat via the Corinthian Canal. While sightseeing at the Acropolis they encounter Rydal (Isaac), a young, Greek-speaking American who is working as a tour guide, scamming tourists on the side. Drawn to Colette's beauty and impressed by Chester's wealth and sophistication, Rydal gladly accepts their invitation to dinner.
However, all is not as it seems with the MacFarlands and Chester's affable exterior hides darker secrets. When Rydal visits the couple at their exclusive hotel, Chester presses him to help move the body of a seemingly unconscious man who he claims attacked him.
In the moment, Rydal agrees but as events take a more sinister turn he finds himself compromised and unable to pull himself free. His increasing infatuation with the vulnerable and responsive Colette gives rise to Chester's jealousy and paranoia, leading to a tense and dangerous battle of wits between the two men. Their journey takes them from Greece to Turkey, and to a dramatic finale played out in the back alleys of Istanbul's Grand Bazaar.
Bruce Boxleitner on Tron: Uprising, whether he will be in Tron 3 and rumours of Guardians of Luna
Earlier this month, sci-fi fans were stunned when storyboard artist Eric Canete indicated on Twitter (where else, these days?!) that Disney XD's Tron: Uprising - an animated sequel/prequel set between the two movies Tron and Tron: Legacy - would not be getting a second season.
As an online kerfuffle began to bubble about the show's cancellation, producer Edward Kitsis stepped in and clarified: "I don't know what the future [of Tron: Uprising] is now. I know at the present, I can say we need more viewers. The problem is, not enough people are watching it.
"At this point, I don't believe its fate has been decided. So if people keep watching, then there's still a chance. Please watch. Tell your friends."
Among the voice actors in Tron: Uprising is genre legend Bruce Boxleitner, reprising his role as Tron. So what does he have to say about the TV series, and will he be back for a third Tron movie?
It does not insult you, and I think for very small children it will go right over their heads, but visually, I think it's very exciting. I love the stylisation of it. I couldn't have had a better chin made for me. I have the greatest chin! I could go through a wall with that chin! What I love about it is Tron has aged as Bruce Boxleitner has aged. He's not the young Tron of the first movie; he's a more battle weary, older, experienced version, which I am of my former self!
It depends on the audience. Certainly if I'm at San Diego Comic-Con, or at London Expo, then for genre fans, but to a certain age group of women I'll always be Lee Stetson, the Scarecrow (in Scarecrow And Mrs King), and to Western fans I'm Luke Macahan from How The West Was Won. I've been very fortunate to do a lot of great genres, and play good characters in them. With the 30th anniversary of Tron, and with Tron: Uprising now reaching a whole new audience, I guess you could say Tron is the pre-eminent one now.
I don't know. They say yes, they say no. It's way above my pay grade to be able to tell you that. It's still a money-maker for them (Disney), and it's still a great franchise. They announced it at San Diego Comic-Con, so I'm not speaking out of school here, but it's in development, and development can take a while. We've got to get that creative team back again. I do know they're working on the story concepts and stuff like that.
I think so. I try not to count!
Yes, that was CBS's answer to Indiana Jones. Raiders Of The Lost Ark had been a big success, and it was that tried and true thing that television did. They tried to bring something similar to television, and we found this rugged old character out of the 1920s and 1930s. It was based on a real guy, Frank Buck. We kind of lifted him, brought him more towards World War Two era.
I always thought the opposite. I thought it could have gone on quite a long time. I would get into big disagreements with our creator (J Michael Straczynski) about it. I thought he was kind of shooting himself in the foot, but that was the way he wanted to do it, and ultimately it probably turned out to be the best thing. He wanted to do the five seasons; a five-year arc, and every season we never knew if we were coming back. Even by the end of the fourth season, we were convinced we weren't coming back, and then at the last minute, we got a reprieve.
Yes! How many people get to say that? Not even my neighbourhood, my house. My galaxy!
I've heard of Coronation Street, but I'll be damned! I've come over to the UK so many times in the last 20 years, mainly due to Babylon 5 because I did a lot of the big fan conventions. We had a huge following there (the UK). We were treated so well, it was amazing.
It's a non-existent project. If it happened, I certainly didn't do it. I think it's a wish list that somebody puts out there on the web. I would love to have done it, by the way. If it's still being done, I'm still available!
Fringe fans can continue exploring show's mythology with September's Notebook
Sci-fi show Fringe has just aired its final episode but you can relive the drama and mystery with a new book coming out later this month.
Warner Bros Consumer Products, Warner Bros Television Group and Fox Broadcasting Company have brought September's Notebook into our world. It will be released in hardcover by Titan Books on January 29.
In the penultimate Fringe episode The Boy Must Live, the Observer called September (guest star Michael Cerveris) revealed to Walter Bishop (John Noble) that he had been keeping a notebook of all his observations - and it's now being published as a keepsake for fans.
Fringe executive producer/showrunner J.H. Wyman said: "We couldn't have picked a better framework for this book than the Observers. Where we went this season is ultimately so Observer-heavy and it reveals some things that are really mind-blowing.
"We wanted to include the notebook in this upcoming episode, as it encompasses September's journey from beginning to end. The fact that we are able to share it with the fans, after the episode airs, is truly exciting. September's writing exhibits what he admires most about the human spirit's most beautiful quality - hope."
September chronicled not only the main characters' personal stories but also elements of the show's mythology, including the FBI's Fringe Division, Massive Dynamic, the Machine, the alternate universe and the Amber timeline.
Fringe: September's Notebook is the first comprehensive guide to the show's mythology over all five seasons. It includes exclusive photos and concept art, and reveals quirks and little-known facts about each character, insight into fringe science and much more.
Every word, sketch, photo, and official document was compiled under the guidance of series executive producer/showrunner J.H. Wyman and former executive producer Jeff Pinkner, with contributions from the Fringe production department.
Authors Tara Bennett and Paul Terry (who also co-wrote the official Lost Encyclopedia) worked with the show's production team for more than a year to develop the book.
Fringe has also spawned two six-part comic book series and an alternate reality game.
Hugh Jackman promises 'action-packed' X-Men: Days of Future Past,
Hollywood's upcoming superpowered ensembles don't just include Avengers 2, Guardians of the Galaxy and Dark Universe. There's also the hotly-anticipated new X-Men film, which begins production in April.
And as we move towards the start of filming on X-Men: Days of Future Past, speculation continues as to which other casting announcements will be made.
So far, we know that X-Men: First Class actors James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult will be joined by original trilogy stars Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen and Hugh Jackman. Obviously, there are more names yet to be revealed.
Jackman told the Daily Mail: "You wouldn't have enough room on the page after you've listed them all. Every other actor who's ever put on a superhero uniform will be in it.
"There's an element of time travel and, naturally, it will be action-packed," he added.
One actor who says he hasn't yet joined the project is Shawn Ashmore, who played Bobby Drake aka Iceman. He told the Huffington Post: "Honestly, at this point I have no idea. What's exciting is Bryan Singer's back, which is amazing. He was amazing to work with.
"I would love to come back and play Bobby again. I played the part three times, I got to grow up playing that part, which is incredible. It's so rare. If it happens, i would love to play that part. The moving is happening, so I have to wait and see how it all comes together."
Mark Millar, who's Twentieth Century Fox's creative consultant for its Marvel Comics adaptations, told SciFi Now he's confident this massive undertaking will all come together perfectly.
He said: "I know how it's done, so I'm not worried. I've been in all these meetings and talked about it at length with everyone, and everything I hear sounds incredibly mainstream. It's no more difficult than The Terminator, or whatever, there's one element of time jump in it, but other than that it's absolutely fine.
"It's hard for me to say without actually spoiling the movie but [producer Matthew] Vaughn - the guy who made the $28million Kick-Ass look like a $78 million movie, you know? - I completely trust him when it comes to stuff like that. He knows exactly what he's doing, and Simon Kinberg has done a phenomenal job on the screenplay with him so it's worked out really well."
On the return of Bryan Singer to the director's chair, Millar said: "It's incredibly exciting. Even just as a fan. The first X-Men really launched the wave of superhero movies we've been loving for the past decade after some horrific stuff in the 90s so having him back in the world he started just feels right.
"X2, I think, is one of the greatest superhero movies ever made. The idea of this guy being back in the fold and planning something as ambitious as this picture can only be good news."
And he adds that, despite Jackman's earlier teasing about a huge cast, some of the previous films suffered from having too many undeveloped characters.
"I remember when I was writing Ultimate X-Men and people were saying 'I want to see Gambit, I want to see Rogue," recalls Millar. "Everybody has a list, and at first you think 'I'm going to please everyone' and then you realise you're pleasing no-one by just throwing in 10-second cameos, you know.
"I think that was the major problem with that first Wolverine movie and X-Men 3. Bryan Singer did such an incredible job with that original movie - it's quite like Star Wars in that there's Episodes IV, V and VI, and we've got the Matthew Vaughn prequels, and I love that - I love the fact that it simplifies so well. X-Men in the 90s was so convoluted in comic-book terms, and Bryan drove a knife through it and make it work and simplified the whole thing.
"I'd like to have that same approach and if we are bringing in a character then it shouldn't just be for a trailer or to get a picture up online, get people excited, it should actually have a point in the story.
"The trick with that is to try and keep the cast relatively small so that you actually care about them."
X-Men: Days of Future Past is set for release in July 2014.
Avengers 2 will dig deeper, Guardians of the Galaxy to film in UK, Del Toro confirms Dark Universe
Studios are busy assembling several superhero team movies including the sequel to Marvel's 2012 blockbuster The Avengers, which was released as Avengers Assemble in the UK.
Although no details of the plot are known, a release date of May 1, 2015, has been booked. In addition, director Joss Whedon has told MTV he is expecting to finish the script in a couple of months.
On how he plans to follow up the first film, he said: "Don't go bigger; go deeper. All of these people have met, so you have that out of the way. Now you can spend your time just digging in - and by digging in, I mean with a scalpel, to cause pain."
Marvel is also working on an adaptation of its cosmic comic Guardians of the Galaxy and, according to ScreenDaily, director James Gunn (pictured above) will be filming it at Shepperton Studios in the UK over the summer.
No casting has yet been announced, despite a flurry of names mentioned as contenders for the lead role of Star-Lord.
Warner Bros is also planning some supergroup action, with rumours of a Justice League movie on the way. In addition, a more supernatural counterpart is being developed, based on the DC comic Justice League Dark.
Guillermo del Toro has confirmed he is developing the project, called Dark Universe and previously rumoured to be called Heaven Sent.
"I'm working on it," del Toro told IGN. "I'm writing the outline and we're already in talks with a writer. A very, very good writer.
"People are probably going to be happy with who we have chosen. He accepted. I've been courting this writer, who I think is the perfect guy for this job. We're doing it. Hopefully it will happen."
The line-up will include Swamp Thing, The Demon, John Constantine, Deadman, The Spectre, Zatara and Zatanna.
The filmmaker insisted it wasn't triggered by Marvel's blockbuster success: "The movement for this happened before [The Avengers]. They were already galvanised to launch Justice League and make their universe cohesive. They are very, very confident with what they have.
"They are now feeling they have two pillars. Batman and Superman - there's a foundation they can build on."
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hedgehunk - Sonic Unleashed Questions for Xbox 360
More: Xbox 360 Sonic Unleashed Questions
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When in the game are you able to get hedgehunk achevment
Date of Question: Apr 29th 2009 | Question ID: 141618pokemonmasterxx | Member | Joined: Sep 22nd 2008
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Call of Juarez fans will be pleased to know that Call of Juarez Gunslinger will be available from Wednesday, May 22nd, £11.99 on the PlayStation Network and Windows PC and 1200 Microsoft Points via..
Batgirl has now been released as a downloadable content (DLC) character for the DC Comics fighting game Injustice: Gods Among Us. Batgirl will be available from the 21st of May 2013 on Xbox LIVE Mar..
A new December screenshot gallery has been released for Assetto Corsa and features Ayrton Senna's driven Lotus 98T from Classic Team Lotus. These unedited ingame screenshots are taken from action at..
Laughing Jackal have announced that a major update for Hungry Giraffe on iPhone has been released. Version 1.2 of Hungry Giraffe has more festive features than you could shake a mince pie at, inclu..
Also on: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Wii, check out those pages for more help with this game.
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Guest Blog: 18th Century Medical Diagnosis
Dr. Sam Forman (www.DrJosephWarren.com) emailed me recently with an offer to diagnosis Alan's mysterious illness through the eyes of Dr. John Warren for all of you. It was such a delightful proposition that I had to accept! Without further ado, … Continue reading


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August 2012 · Vol. 61, No. 08: 508a-508b
Evidence-based answers from the Family Physicians Inquiries Network
Valley Family Medicine, Renton, Wash
University of Washington, Health Sciences, Library, Seattle
THE BENEFITS APPEAR TO BE LIMITED. It's doubtful that multivitamin with mineral (MVM) supplementation improves IQ in healthy, low-risk children (strength of recommendation [SOR]: B, conflicting randomized clinical trials [RCTs]).
However, MVM supplementation decreased the incidence and severity of common infectious diseases among children in peri-urban India (SOR: B, RCT).
Multivitamin (MV) use doesn't have consistently reported harms (SOR: C, conflicting cohort studies). An association between MV use and higher rates of asthma and food allergy has been reported, but studies conflict and any such effect is small.
An RCT found that MVM supplementation for one academic year didn't improve academic achievement more than placebo in 640 children, 8 to 12 years of age, from low-income urban families.1 Scores on the Terra Nova academic achievement test of reading, math, language, science, and social sciences didn't differ between students taking MVM supplements or placebo.
Another RCT that compared MVM supplementation with placebo among 245 children between 6 and 12 years of age found no clinically significant improvements in IQ scores overall. However, within a small subset, more children who took MVM showed a clinical increase in IQ than children who took placebo.2
Investigators randomized children to daily MVM supplementation (50% of the US recommended daily allowance) or placebo for 3 months, then measured their Wechsler IQ scores. Overall, the MVM group scored 2.5 points higher (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.85-3.15) than the placebo group (a 15-point change is clinically significant).
More children taking MVM supplements (44) than placebo (25) showed increases in nonverbal IQ scores of 15 or more points (35% compared with 21%; P<.01). The authors speculate that this result may be attributable to the fact that one in 7 schoolchildren was undernourished. A major weakness of the study was its 16% attrition rate.
Fortfied milk reduced common illnesses over the course of a year more than unfortified milk
A community-based, double-blind RCT found that milk fortified with vitamins A, C, and E plus minerals reduced common illnesses over the course of a year more than unfortified milk among 633 children 1 to 3 years of age living in a peri-urban area of India.3
Children who drank fortified milk had fewer days of fever (9.1 compared with 9.7 days for placebo; P=.005), a lower incidence of diarrhea (odds ratio [OR]=0.82; 95% CI, 0.73-0.93), and a decreased rate of lower respiratory illness (OR=0.74; 95% CI, 0.57-0.97). Children 2 years and younger showed the greatest effect.
An inception cohort study found an association between early MV use and a higher risk of asthma and food allergies.4 Investigators evaluated more than 8000 American women and their newborns over the first 3 years of life. The study population included more families with low socioeconomic status (50%), blacks (51%), and infants born before 37 weeks' gestation (23%) than the general US population.
Exclusively formula-fed infants who took MV in the first 6 months were more likely to develop asthma (OR=1.27; 95% CI, 1.04-1.56) and food allergies (OR=1.6; 95% CI, 1.2-2.2) than formula-fed infants who didn't take MV.
However, a birth cohort study of 2470 Swedish children that analyzed health data from parental questionnaires and compared serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) concentrations at 8 years of age found no association between MV use within the past 12 months and clinical allergic disease or specific IgE concentrations.5 Children who took MV at age 4 years or earlier had lower rates of IgE sensitization to food allergens at 8 years (OR=0.61; 95% CI, 0.39-0.97).
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition,6 healthy children who are growing normally and consume a varied diet don't need routine supplementation with vitamins and minerals. The Committee states that if parents wish to give their children supplements, a standard pediatric multivitamin generally poses no risk.
References Perlman AI, Worobey J, O'Sullivan Maillet J, et al. Multivitamin/mineral supplementation does not affect standardized assessment of academic performance in elementary school children. J Am Diet Assoc. 2010;110:1089–1093. Schoenthaler SJ, Bier ID, Young K, et al. The effect of vitamin-mineral supplementation on the intelligence of American schoolchildren: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. J Altern Complement Med. 2000;6:19–29. Sazawal S, Dhingra U, Dhingra P, et al. Effects of fortified milk on morbidity in young children in north India: community based, randomised, double masked, placebo controlled trial. BMJ. 2007;334:140. Milner JD, Stein DM, McCarter R, et al. Early infant multivitamin supplementation is associated with increased risk for food allergy and asthma. Pediatrics. 2004;114:27–32. Marmsjö K, Rosenlund H, Kull I, et al. Use of multivitamin supplements in relation to allergic disease in 8-year-old children. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;90:1693–1698. Committee on Nutrition, American Academy of Pediatrics. Feeding the child. In: Kleinman RE, ed. Pediatric Nutrition Handbook. 6th ed. Elk Grove Village, Ill: American Academy of Pediatrics; 2009:145–174.
The Journal of Family Practice ©2012 Quadrant HealthCom Inc.


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Football fans in the UK (see, I didn't call it soccer) have a new Ask Jeeves Smart Search resource to use and quickly find and access info about their favorite clubs(s) and players. According to Netimperative, the new Smart Search works for, "Premiership, Championship, Scottish Premier League or national football team, as well as Guinness Premiership, Celtic League, and national rugby union teams with more sports and teams to be added in the future."
What will you find?
A Smart Search box at the top of the page with, "news, fixture lists, and stats for their chosen team, as well as a quick facts box with information such as manager name and team nickname in one package at the top of the search results page."
Smart Search result boxes are also available for top players.
To access, just enter the team name, league name, or player name into the search box.
Here are three examples:
+ Player
+ Team
+ League
Recently, AskJeeves.com released a Smart Searches with recipes and another with video game info. I've also blogged about a favorite Smart Search that contain info about tv programs, new and old.
Know your Ambiguous Customer: Effective Multi-Channel Tracking
Wednesday, June 5 at 1pm ET - Learn why a move from the "batch and blast" email approach enables better conversations with your customers.
Register today - don't miss this free webinar!


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SmartKnives has information about new and retired models of Swiss Army Knives, and Leatherman tools. |
Shopping Cart on Sabbatical! Sorry, we have temporarily closed our online shopping cart, while we reorganize our inventory and look for a better shopping cart system. We still have all the same info about new and retired Swiss Army knives and Leatherman tools. Current Models | Retired Models | We Buy Knives | Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) |
Home | Victorinox Swiss Army Knives | Wenger Swiss Army Knives | Leatherman Tools | Site Map All contents of this website copyright © 2005-2009
SmartKnives.com All sales limited to available stock on hand. Website inventory counts are usually correct, but not always. We use Goldenseal Accounting Software and Small Business Software to run SmartKnives.com!


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Academics : Admissions
Financial Aid
To be considered for financial aid (grants, scholarships, student loans, and work-study), Purdue University College of Technology students must complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). FAFSAs are available at the College of Technology Columbus/Southeast Indiana location in Student Services. You can also apply online at www.fafsa.ed.gov .
Purdue University also offers complete financial aid information at their Division of Financial Aid Services web site http://www.purdue.edu/DFA .
Eligibility Criteria:
- High school diploma or GED
- Home schooled students must pass a test approved by the Dept. of Education (i.e., ACT)
- U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen
- Admitted to the University and enrolled in a degree-seeking program
- Valid social security number
- Reasonable academic progress
- Not convicted of drug offense
- Not in default on a student loan or owe a grant repayment
- Registered for Selective Service (if required)
- Pell Grants can be awarded to students who are less than half time
- State aid from Indiana generally requires full-time enrollment (12 hours)
- Temporary (non-degree) students are not eligible for aid
How to Apply:
- Complete the FAFSA or Renewal (filing on line at www.fafsa.ed.gov is highly recommended), MARCH 1, is the priority date for filing.
- List Purdue University, DFA, SCHL, 475 Stadium Mall Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2050 as the school you will attend. The Title IV code number for Purdue University is 001825 .
- Complete any additional documentation if requested by Purdue's Division of Financial Aid.
College of Technology Indianapolis students are admitted to Purdue University's College of Technology. Financial aid, including student loans, will be administered by Purdue University, rather than through IUPUI.
Students who drop classes or withdraw from the university prior to the end of the 4th week of classes may be required to repay all or a portion of the funds they were awarded.
Contact Information:
Within the Financial tab in MyPurdue, mypurdue.purdue.edu, you will find many answers regarding aid status.
Visit www.fastweb.com on the Web to view a national database of private scholarship resources.
Linda Lucas, Advisor, Division of Financial Aid (765) 494-5085 or firstname.lastname@example.com .
Children of Disabled Verteran(CDV) & Veteran Affairs (VA)
CDV Benefits
Child of Disabled Veteran (CDV) benefits are for 124 credit hours.
Non-degree students may receive CDV benefits for a maximum of 12 credit hours.
You MUST :
- Notify the Purdue University Division of Financial Aid Office at firstname.lastname@example.com each semester that you want to use CDV benefits.
- Complete and submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). FAFSAs are available at the College of Technology Columbus/Southeast Indiana location in Student Services. You can also apply online at www.fafsa.ed.gov .
- Complete an Application for Remission of Fees For a Child of a Disabled Indiana Veteran
GI Bill
If you need to speak with someone about your eligibility please contact:
Amy Kingma at Purdue University firstname.lastname@example.com
Veteran Affairs St. Louis Office www.gibill.va.gov
Transferring Aid To/From Purdue
It is a common misunderstanding that when you transfer from one university to another you can "take" your financial assistance "with" you. This is not so!
Follow this link to Purdue University Division of Financial Aid to get instructions on how to transfer aid:


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Welcome to my blog
Welcome to my blog and thank you for visiting today, I hope you will stay a while. Slide shows are at the bottom of this page.
I am one of the many people suffering from a problem with comments in blogger. If you arrive via a direct link you will not see the comment link. If you press Home and find the post you will see the comment link and be able to comment (and I would love it if you can comment, I realise it is a little more work). There is nothing I can do about this, thank you for your understanding.
Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Well it is Wenesday and some folk at Stamping Ground like to see what is on your workdesk on WOYWW! I don't do this every week, this week you can actually see the stamping mat and some clear space....
.......or you could until my 75% off sale goodies arrived from The Glitter Pot!
6 lovely comments:
- Brenda Brown said...
Loved taking a look at your creative space with all your crafting goodies around. Looks like you had a ball shopping in the sale.
Happy WOYWW.
hugs {brenda} x0x #9 - 13 March 2013 22:30
- Kim said...
That's a lovely lot of new stash you have there :) Happy crafting! Kim #140
- 13 March 2013 23:11
- Katie said...
Looks like you are having fun :)
Happy WOYWW!
Katie 125 - 14 March 2013 01:34
- Francesca said...
Nice and busy desk and new stash as well. I was surprized with new stash today only ordered yesterday. Fracnesca #41
- 14 March 2013 09:07
- Julia Dunnit said...
Wow, you're doing that 'working in a few square inches of space' technique, I'm so familiar with that. Those Hero hearts are amongst my favourites, I must say. Hope your part of Wiltshire is snow free, my part is sunny but very cold today!
- 14 March 2013 09:42
- Kelly said...
Nice sale goodies! New toys new toys! Creative Blessings! Kelly #124
- 15 March 2013 19:14
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Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness
(AP Photo/J Pat Carter)
Most everyone agrees that having a great teacher matters. A recent study by economists at Harvard and Columbia Universities answers the question of just how much. It found having a good teacher may be worth thousands of dollars in extra income over a student's lifetime. Determining how to measure teacher performance has become a national debate. Some say evaluating teachers primarily based on test scores is unfair and not in the best interest of students. Others say it's a great incentive and rewards the best teachers. Diane and her guests discuss how best to determine teacher effectiveness.
Senior Fellow, Director of Washington Office, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
Professor of Business, Columbia Business School. Co-author of study titled, "The Long-Term Impacts of Teachers: Teacher Value-Added and Student Outcomes in Adulthood."
Chief of Human Capital, Washington, D.C. Public Schools
Former public school teacher
Program Highlights
Results of a recent study found that having just one high-quality teacher in elementary or middle school can improve a student's quality of life for years to come. But how can we measure teacher effectiveness? Are standardized tests the only answer? A panel of education experts discusses different approaches to educational assessments and improving the U.S. public education system.
Evaluating Teachers
"It's not clear though that all of the attributes that we seek in teachers are captured in a basic skills test score, for example, the ability to teach kids to think critically, to reason analytically," Toch said. "The other thing these test scores don't capture is the ability of teachers to teach the intangibles like tenacity and resilience, what researchers today are calling 'learned optimism' which is particularly important for disadvantaged students who don't come to school from backgrounds where education is assumed to be important, where it is in fact a struggle to be successful in school."
Improving The Tests
Some suggest that if we're not currently testing the things we really care about, we should be getting using - or making - better tests. Rockoff said that "value-added" evaluations attempt to measure how well teachers are performing in the classroom in a new way. Using vale-added parameters, students could conceivably still fail a standardized test, but if the class as a whole show tremendous improvement from the previous to current year, the teacher could be identified as a high value-added teacher. "It's an important development because in our efforts to evaluate teachers, which has traditionally been done very superficially in America public education, this allows us to look at what matters most, student achievement," Toch said.
Teacher-Led Cheating
USA Today recently did an investigation which found high erasure rates in some schools on standardized tests, indicating possible instances where teachers manipulated students' scores. "It's unfortunate, because it's cheating kids to a large degree," Toch said. In D.C. public schools, Kamras said they take the very rare indications of teacher-led cheating very seriously, but that he believes in the inherent morality of the staff. "The overwhelming majority are working hard every single day playing by the rules to do great things for kids. And I think that's what we need to remember when we talk about these kinds of things," he said.
Challenges From A Teacher's Perspective
A caller, Stephanie Black, spoke to Diane about her experiences teaching in public schools from 2007 to 2011. Ms. Black left teaching (and is now a math tutor) because she didn't feel that the extreme focus on test scores was preventing her from becoming a better teacher. Ms. Black said she feels attention to teacher training is very important. "I think we need to move away from this idea that the only way to decide if a teacher is great is to use a standardized test," Ms. Black said.
You can read the [full transcript here]
Please familiarize yourself with our Code of Conduct and Terms of Use before posting your comments.
I am sure that pay for performance will come up in this conversation. Here are a few issues.
Overall politicians love to say. How bad teaching to the test is. So, what are they going to use to measure performance? How are they going to make sure people do not cheat? It is a whole different ball game when you put money in the mix.
How would all of those special education teachers get evaluated?
There many more factors that weigh into how a child is doing in school it will never just be the teachers.
In a resent study they found that adolescents spent 20% of their time doing things classified as entertainment and only 3% of there time on home work.
Best idea give parents a Tax cut if their child shows progress year over year. The more progress they make the bigger the tax cut. Maybe we could double that 3% number.
Here is a crazy idea why not just pay Teachers a livable wages and support your local schools and Teachers and let politicians go mess something else up.
Why not let public schools kick kids out that are not performing. Maybe they would take school more serious. Just like private schools. That makes it fair, right? I really do not think this way. It was just to get people thinking. Public schools are a gift to this country and have made it great.
Thank you for covering this topic.
Thanks for what I'm sure will be a refreshing perspective on a truly pressing topic.
I'm a Teach for America alumnus (2 years teaching 1st grade in the Bronx) and am still teaching in an elementary classroom, but not my placement school. I have accumulated LOTS of questions around the idea of effectiveness, and more importantly, teacher retention. Here's a sampling.
1. I was not a great teacher my first year, at all, and I'm still flabbergasted at the messages TFA pumped into us, that I was making a difference. I wasn't really. But my data looked good. Kids learned math and they could read better. The only way that year is "worth it" in the grand scheme of children's lives is the fact that I'm still teaching, and now am good at it. How can "effective" be measured by easy tests or self-selected data? And do individuals in the education reform world have a habit of naming instruction effective when it is really just less bad than instruction down the hall?
2. Teach for America has a clearly marketed organizational goal to get alumni into the political realm. This agenda is heavily pushed during corps members' 2nd year, and after. Individuals who stay in the classroom get countless recruitment emails for positions within TFA, opportunities outside of TFA, to go into administration, law school, etc. If my contribution as a (now) effective teacher is so vital to education reform why am I being recruited out of it?
3. In my current position teachers are on the receiving end of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of professional development from people my school flies in from New York. My practice has grown tremendously as I've been exposed to what true best practice should look like. But the school is not consistent with instructors or with behavior expectations. The bar for accountability changes based on context. How far does effective teaching go in an inconsistent school?
Hope I'm forgiven for going over the character limit and posting again.
Just throwing two more questions out into the ether of ed reform discussion...
4. How are enough effective teachers going to have the energy to stay in the classroom in an incredibly demanding position? I love teaching the kids I teach. It's vastly rewarding, but HARD. I work 60 hour weeks for inadequate pay and some of the worse health insurance in the country (for the education field). There are many kids in my class who have shockingly high needs, both emotionally and educationally. At my current school it's impossible to be good at your job and a really good parent to your kids, while teaching rich kids is easier and pays better. What's going to keep me, and others like me, in the classrooms we're in?
5. I don't mean the above to sound snarky, just a real question I ask myself daily. My answer for now is how incredibly rewarding it is to see these kids grow. Who gets to cry at work when a child shares her stirring writing to her absent father and can take a bit of credit for bringing that writing into the world? And does that count as effective?
Looking forward to this. I hope that the guests will talk about the use of in-class observations of teachers at work. We need to move beyond "drive by" observations that don't provide much value in helping teachers to improve. Instead, policymakers should be using observation tools with research behind them -- tools that provide detailed information on how teachers are interacting with their students.
At the New America Foundation, we've been examining the use of these tools for the non-tested grades of pre-K, K, 1st and 2nd grade, as well as 3rd. For more information, see this op-ed in the LA Times:
and here's more information from an event we hosted recently, titled Watching Teachers Work:
There's lots more work to do -- and many tough issues to untangle. But I hope that observation-based assessments will get some attention. Thanks.
My step mother is a teacher and we have had numerous conversations about this very issue. Her contention is that the teacher has little control over the child once it leaves the classroom and therefore cannot be held accountable for the ultimate success of the child. This is the same argument that industry had concerning metrics when they were introduced, and after properly figuring in the known rate of expected failure the metrics are adjusted. No one is suggesting that every child will be at or above average, unless they have no idea what an average is, in which case their math teachers need to be looked at. Proper rating based on reasonable expectations born out of reasearch and experimentation will give usable statistical data that can be used to create reasonable and effective metrics. It has worked in every other field on the planet, it will work here. Oh and just so you teachers out there know, everyone thinks their industry is different and that what works for others wont work in their case, so don't bother with that excuse.
In reaction to the posts on Teach For America:
As a teacher educator for a public university, there have always been two things that disturb me about Teach for America:
1) There seems to be an underlying discourse of TFA that it is somehow "OK" to put non-licesenced teachers in high poverty / low performing schools. Why is it OK to place less qualified teachers in 'poor schools' but not placed in middle class or wealthy schools? My sense is that middle class parents would mutiny over having an "unqualified" placed teacher in their children's classrooms. Why should low-income parents be asked to settle for "unqualified" teachers?
2) Second, I frequently have undergraduates who are close to completing their licensure program who WANT to Teach for America. They want to take the knowledge and skills they have acquired; they want to work with low income populations, and they believe in the mission of TFA - but are turned away. ! Shouldn't organizations like TFA work with state licensure programs to place motivated, qualified new teachers in high need districts?
Heather Davis, Associate Professor
NC State University
One thing I've found that frequently gets overlooked when the "good" or "bad" teacher debate happens is the lack of recognition that the chemistry between student and teacher is constantly changing. A bad teacher for one student will frequently be the great, pivotal teacher for another student. Students and teachers are not widgets that can be externally examined by an inspector to see if they meet some set of physical attributes. A teacher that inspires one student will not reach every student.
Whether or not to use tests is not about fairness - it is about whether it is a reliable and valid measure of teacher effectiveness. Is there causation? Please check out this research:
I wholeheartedly agree about the value of having great teachers, and I've been fortunate enough to have had several. But bringing into it the question of evaluation by standardized testing is comparing apples to oil-rigs. The tests simply don't even try to evaluate the qualities that make the kind of teacher who positively impacts his or her students.
Please talk about the role of administration and the atmosphere in the school in the success of students. A discordant atmosphere or a less than supportive supervisor can make a difference in teachers' attitudes and abilities. Near great teachers can be great with an administration that loves students and people makes a tremendous difference. An administration more interested in climbing the ladder can destroy a school.
I taught for 42 years and just recently retired. My students still keep in touch so I know I wasn't too bad.
As for fairness, here is an example of a problem we haven't talked about.
What if the kids don't take the tests seriously?
We were just talking about this at home; the only teachers I remember are the strict ones (well, I do remember some of the weak, but with a bitter taste). My stepson just graduated from high school last year (in NJ). He is fairly smart, intelligent, absolutely unchallenged. He was given the answers to the tests by some of the teachers. The main objectives are scores, not KNOWLEDGE. He has to take 3(!) courses before he can start with college level Math. What he should have gotten for "free" (it is still our taxes, right? not exactly free) he has to pay out of his pocket. But the main thing is; he has not learned anything; he has no idea about history, geography, politics...what a waste of perfectly good young mind and time.
He is now at a community college in Boston, and I already see the same patterns - the teacher is going very slowly, waiting for everyone to get their books, lowering the expectations...
David, thank you for the link! Sad.
The focus on growth in this study is very important but the focus on the kinds of tests we use both for kids and for teachers are all too unsophisticated to get us where the study may encourage us to go. We know from Neuro and Cognitive research that learning and teaching is social, emotional, dynamic and sophisticated. Trying to realize a real definition of institutionally effective teaching and learning according to metrics rooted in the industrial revolution is a doomed model.
As someone whose main job is to train teachers within the public school system, I am always curious about TFA. May I ask, what data did TFA have that showed you were making a difference your first year teaching when you yourself feel that you weren't? I am swayed by their performance data and wonder what's wrong with it.
Thanks for sharing your story.
I am very concerned with the impact on my children with the high stakes component of testing. This study looked at the test given in the mid 1990's to see if the teacher quality had a longterm effect on student achievement. Would this even apply now given the current testing climate and the current tests?
Our students are getting a very different education now- with NCLB. The teachers teach to the test as they are evaluated based on test scores. We are not resolving the problems that are more impactful to acheivement- namely low SES.
Also, how can this study apply today when our students are having less and less individually developed curriculum by their teachers? Teachers have a lot less autonomy than in the 1990's due to the high stakes testing.
Having a great teacher would be great if that teacher taught about our cultural evolution that began with the American Revolution, and the problems facing the task of forming a more improve union.
Teachers are not the problem with public education. It's what they teach. If they used such books like "The Lies My Teacher Told Me" by James W. Loewen, or "A People's History" by Zinn, they would quench the thirst of students who need to know the facts about our culture, and hopefully inspire them to read and study the Constitution within the context the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation provide.
When people study Shakespeare more than the Constitution we end up with a cultural impact that inspires us to seek out comic relief form the economically oppressive nature of Britannica, or the repressive nature of a democracy without majority rule. Those kids who can't afford tickets to Shakespeare plays end up dramatising them in real life.
From what years are your data set drawn? I ask this, because testing has changed considerably in this era of accountability. The tests themselves are of questionable quality in some states. The trend toward test prep (drill and practice on test-taking skills) is far more prevalent than it was a decade or two ago. In addition, there is far less teacher control over what is taught, when it is taught and the manner in which it is taught today (especially in states and districts who rank near the bottom nationally). I think it is chancy to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of today's accountability measures by examining the results from a decade or two ago. Colleen Megowan PhD Arizona State University (teacher educator, former high school physics teacher for 20+ years)
A national or state sponsored program to evaluate teaching effectiveness should employ those teachers who have retired as well known respected educators in thier field. Any negative evaluation should trip a reevaluation by one or two other competent former teachers in the Evaluation group.
Thank you for your comments. I taught in a district in Texas for 27 years that is relying on Teach for America for many positions. The administration acknowledged that it helped their bottom line and helped fill difficult positions in a large urban minority majority district. Too often those of us who stayed had to pick up the pieces when the TFA teachers left.
Standardized Testing does not promote for child's growth. It simply puts 25-35 kids in a room that they can't leave and forces them to take tests to evaluate their progress on how to take tests.
Instead of using these Standardized Testing like the AZVAP, why not simply have a board of advisers create the final exams and the midterms. That way teachers have a focused goal of what they need to teach the students.
Having a 2 hour timed test that goes over everything from Math, Reading, Writing, Social Studies, and Science that's all jumbled up doesn't allow for a student to focus on what they are working on. Especially since they have to now study for both the State Standardized Test and their Midterms, Finals, SAT, PSAT and dozens of other tests like this.
I myself failed most of these tests only to go on to pass my GED test fairly well in a short amount of time and then I went on to College where I had the highest grade in my class. Now I am employed as the Graphic Design Coordinator at the Grand Canyon and have fantastic job security and am getting ready for my first child. When she goes to school I plan on having her come to my office after school so she can do her homework and have her dad there to teach her things that her teacher didn't.
Good Morning, In regards to evaluating Teachers, test scores only tell us if they are academically proficient, but does not tell how the teacher's ethic values are. It takes just one unethical teacher to harm a student's interest in academics. It is to my understanding teachers are not prepared to handle all posible scenarios that could present itself with the variety of students they handle in one classroom. Also, there are teachers who have been known to lose their temper, and verbally diminish a child under her/his care during school hours. School Board should see that teachers have not only good test scores, and clean background, but also strong ethical values. Children are sponges and the way they see their Teachers handling a situation for them it will look as okay, since it is the Teacher doing it.
The "no child left behind" Act helps to achieve academical levels towards a test, but does not prepare a student for higher levels of education. In my area a high percentage High School students moving onto College have proven to not be fully prepared to fulfill assignments nor the proper atitude that at a College level is requierd to have.
Sad but true, we have accepted for far too long how things are being handled and at the end of the day it is our young memebers of our community the ones paying the consequences.
Thank you for reading my blount opinion.
I am sad to hear the basis of these discussions is to promote evaluation of learning merely through standardized testing. As being a part of the education system it is clear to me that these individuals have no idea what really goes on within the classroom setting. The unfortunate outcome of all this is that little learning takes place in the classroom as teachers are forced to "teach to the test." Yes students may be able to "answer" the questions on these tests, but they have not achieved the highest level of Bloom's Taxonomy of critical thinking skills, and thus they are not independent thinkers. It may make schools and teachers look good on paper, but did we really achieve success? Sadly no!
Why has no one asked teachers what resources and supports they need in order to teach effectively? Teachers are the ones in the classroom who have experience working with kids. I use the word kids because children are not adults. Another reason why standardized testing is so often invalid is that children guess, get tired and just fill in random circles, put their answers on the wrong part of the answer sheet, and misunderstand terms they are unfamiliar with. Rather than asking how we evaluate teachers, the question should be why do we mistrust teachers to the point that we don't even allow them to be involved in setting standards and making policy decisions about their own profession? Why does everyone else think they know more about teaching than teachers do?
I do not condone in any way teachers who facilitate cheating on the student evaluations. That said, have the panel considered that this activity at least partly stems from the fact that so many teachers disagree with the premise that how students do on a test directly corresponds to the teachers' effectiveness? Doubtless you have many teachers and administrators who feel - possibly correctly - that in many situations the tests simply do not tell much about the quality of teaching. If educators felt ownership of the testing and the consequences, then there would be far less incentive to cheat, and far more likelihood that other educators would turn in the cheaters.
Brian Wells
It is imperative that we have a universal agreed upon professional standards developed by teachers, managers, families and students. We need them now. Student focus groups in urban districts tell us a "good teacher" is one that uses high standards, "... is strict, never gives up on you, listens to you and expects you to listen and learn."
School psychologist
In Columbia Missouri there are two high schools. Both have diverse student populations.
The last statistics I saw regarding graduation rates were a graduation rate of 45% for blacks 75 % for whites, 85% for Asians. Same schools, same text books, same classrooms, same teachers.
How can a teacher change a culture?
OR - there is a 30 year history of research on test anxiety (particularly with regard to high stakes testing). What happens when the student take the tests too seriously and it affects their performance. When we view aggregate scores, we know little about the internal (motivation, anxiety) factors that affected the score - nor the external factors (such as teacher preparation / effectiveness) that affect their performance.
Does this study start making the case (long overdue in our society) in public conversation that teachers are important or is it something else? I'm curious about the fact that researchers from Business Schools are having such a big voice in the conversation about education. The Top- Down mandates system in a bottom-up delivery system within a profession that is so reliant on face-to-face social interaction seems at least as important for reform as anything else in education. No?
Re Elroy: "... Same schools, same text books, same classrooms, same teachers. How can a teacher change a culture?"
I think the emphasis on 'sameness' is part of the 'culture' dilemma. Too often we think that giving the same pedagogy, same resources is fair. Yet, any special educator will tell you that students have different needs and that equity is based on meeting students needs (sometimes that means that to get students to the same level of high performance we have to provide more time, more resources and employ different pedagogies).


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Join Us!
Please join us for the Second Annual Night of Cabaret! After the success of last years sold out fundraiser, the Chapter is pleased to present another fun and exciting evening at Dont Tell Mama in NYC. The show is an opportunity to enjoy a night of memorable music while raising money to fight Alzheimers disease.
Thank you to Janie Press for her support in planning this event!
Please note, drinks are cash only.


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I think a trade has been arranged -- so the person who contacted me earlier need no longer worry. Thanks!
Vienna Waltzes-Peter Martins
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In California, Sausage Is All About The Pork
San Leandro, Calif.-based Saag's Specialty Meats, a Hormel Foods brand, expanded its line of Naturals sausage with the addition of three pork sausages -- Smoked Pork, Calabrese and Andouille -- and one breakfast link -- Pork Links. They debut in Bay Area independent grocers, Andronico's, Mollie Stone's, Lunardi's, and the new Sprouts Farmers Market in Sunnyvale.Saag's Naturals use whole, natural ingredients and do not contain preservatives, fillers or MSG. Made from premium cuts of pork, custom spice blends and fresh ingredients, Saag's Naturals pork sausages are coarsely ground and packed in all-natural casings. Calabrese is a moderately spicy Italian style sausage with fennel and crushed red chilies. The zesty flavor of Andouille is built around Cajun seasoning and naturally hickory smoked. Smoked Pork is just that, naturally hickory smoked. Pork Link breakfast sausages combine sage and crushed red pepper to start the day with some kick. Saag's applies classic sausage-making techniques, based on its German and Swiss heritage.
"Our natural chicken sausages have been very popular among consumers looking for minimally processed, fully cooked sausage," explains Saag's president, Tim Dam. "We saw a niche for pork sausage, beyond the breakfast link, because so many people are rediscovering pork and many chefs have renewed interest in the flavors only pork can add to a dish."
Suggested retail price is $5.99 to $6.99 for each 12 oz package.
Company Information
Website: www.saags.com
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Why Intuit Buying Demandforce is Good For Your Business
Friday, April 27th, 2012Small businesses using Intuit products should be really excited about the recent acquisition of Demandforce by Intuit for nearly a half a billion dollars. Demandforce specializes in automating marketing and customer communications for small businesses with their SaaS product D3, and since the acquisition was led by Intuit's small business group, you can bet that this technology will be applied as another tool in the arsenal of small businesses.
Intuit is positioning itself to become a one-stop shop for small busisness. Marketing is a HUGE challenge for small businesses, I would argue more so than accepting credit cards, so an acquisition of a company that will allow small businesses to efficiently manage their marketing and customer communications will be a valuable tool in the belt of QuickBooks customers.
The customers have to walk in your door before they give you money. They have to visit your site before they become a subscriber. If your company is compromising on the quality of its communications and not utilizing all of the available avenues your potential customers use find your product, you are leaving some serious money on the table.
If you're a business owner, I'm sure you realize this is a big problem, and you're not alone. According to a semi-recent survey by Deluxe:
"49% of small business owners claim that effectively reaching customers with limited resources is their biggest challenge. This is more than twice other key challenges cited: managing the costs of doing business (19%) and securing credit (12%). Their biggest frustration about marketing: They don't know if what they are doing is effective."
That definitely seems like an area worth addressing if you're Intuit.
Now, if your eyes didn't pop when you saw the deal is for $424 million dollars, go back to math class because that's a lot of money. To put that figure in perspective, Cisco bought Linksys for about the same price in 2005. Granted, a half a billion doesn't go as far as it used to, but with this acquisition, Intuit is claiming Demandforce is worth about the same amount of money than the company that manufactures a product which nearly every internet-wired household contains; a Linksys router.
So what does this mean? It means Intuit expects to provide some serious value to small businesses with this purchase. D3 could be a very valuable tool for small businesses using QuickBooks that are finding themselves compromising on their marketing and support communications. The deal is expected to close in May so we can probably expect the next Demandforce iteration to be integrated into Intuit's Small Business Lineup by late 2012, early 2013, but that's just a complete WAG.


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Wilkinson is also the author of a new book, Cosmic Constitutional Theory:Why Americans Are Losing Their Inalienable Right to Self-Governance, which leaves little doubt that he would vote to uphold the Affordable Care Act if he had been appointed Chief Justice of the United States. Although Wilkinson's position as a sitting federal judge precludes him from outright saying how he believes the health care case should be decided, his book expresses tremendous skepticism about the idea that the law can be struck down:
Conservatives . . . may understandably regard the 2010 health care reform bill as a leviathan crammed with unknown mischiefs, but to invalidate it on originalist grounds will require analysis that had best be better than good. The idea that Congress is constitutionally disabled under the commerce power from regulating activity affecting one-sixth of the national economy strikes me as a heavy judicial lift. Any decision that is less than bulletproof will be seen as a purely political undertaking, a revival of Lochner's freedom of contract theory in originalist guise.
Better to let the democratic process formulate a superior alternative to this most complex of national problems, something the Supreme Court is particularly ill equipped to do.
Wilkinson is hardly alone with his admirable ability to separate his conservative politics from his ability to faithfully apply the Constitution. Judge Jeffrey Sutton, a former law clerk to conservative Justice Antonin Scalia who spent much of his pre-judicial career looking for ways to undermine federal power, nonetheless wrote an opinion rejecting a challenge to the Affordable Care Act. Judge Laurence Silberman, a leading conservative who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from George W. Bush, also upheld the ACA because the case against it "cannot find real support . . . in either the text of the Constitution or Supreme Court precedent."
So Wilkinson is far from alone among conservatives, and his views are likely to be predictive of a least one of the conservative justices the ACA needs to pick off in order to survive the Supreme Court.
Ultimately, though, there is reason to fear that restrained conservatives like Wilkinson are a dying breed. Almost as soon as the Roberts Court majority proved its willingness to cast aside longstanding understandings of the Constitution in cases like Citizens United, conservative lawmakers began testing the waters to see just how much of the Constitution the new majority is willing to ignore. Leading conservative lawmakers have now claimed that everything from Social Security to Medicare to national child labor laws to national education and anti-poverty programs to food safety laws to federal disaster relief all violate the Constitution. If the Supreme Court does the wrong thing in the health care case, and refuses to follow Wilkinson's advice, these conservatives will only become more emboldened to challenge the foundations of our democracy.
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