Friday, November 6, 2009

“Roland Hates Superheroes! - Counting Down” plus 4 more

“Roland Hates Superheroes! - Counting Down” plus 4 more

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Roland Hates Superheroes! - Counting Down

Posted: 06 Nov 2009 09:06 PM PST

ROLAND EMMERICH, whose disaster movie 2012 erupts on to the big screen on November 13, has revealed he finds superhero movies boring and has rejected every offer to direct a comic book adaptation.

Emmerich, whose other credits include Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day and Stargate, admitted he was "a little worried" about the culture of remakes and adaptations.

He said: "I don't know how many more superheroes they can pull out of their hat. I hate superheroes.

"I always say no to every one that I get offered because I feel that it's boring. But they seem to be successful for some of the people.

"Some of them do [make money], some don't. But they make more money than they lose so they keep making them, and when one works then they have a franchise."

Speaking in Sci Fi Now magazine, he continued: "It's very unimaginative. I'm a total fan of people like James Cameron who just does what he wants. I just like people who have their own voice."

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Dance company to perform - Register-Herald

Posted: 06 Nov 2009 08:44 PM PST

Published: November 06, 2009 11:39 pm    print this story  

Dance company to perform

By Courtney D. Clark
Register-Herald Reporter

The only professional touring dance company in the history of West Virginia will take to the stage in its own state Sunday.

In its 32nd season, the West Virginia Dance Company will perform its annual fall concert at the Woodrow Wilson High School auditorium.

At 3 p.m., the modern company will execute entertaining pieces to communicate ideas.

"With modern dance, it's a thought-provoking work," WVDC touring director and dancer Donald Laney said.

"We ask for active members of the audience and we want to entertain," Laney continued, "but we also strive to provoke thought."

The director compares watching the performance to looking at a visual art piece.

"There is a pretty picture, but also a deeper meaning. It's not just 'look at how high I can kick my leg,'" he said, laughing.

Toneta Akers-Toler, founder and co-director of the company, says the group has practiced six days a week for six weeks in preparation for the concert and the hour-long educational show it performed each day this week in Raleigh County schools.

"We're hoping to bring different elements together to create a good atmosphere of the arts in our area," she said.

The company has also invited Shady Spring High School's jazz ensemble to play in the lobby before the show and during intermission, in addition to exhibiting art work from local high school students.

Laney said Sunday's concert will be performed by six full-time and two former WVDC dancers.

"There will be a premier performance tomorrow of a piece by Gerri Houlihan," Moore said.

"The famous modern piece is titled '4x4,'" he explained. "We have the chance to perform it through an American Masterpiece grant through the West Virginia Division of Culture and History."

According to Moore, the show is an exhibition of Houlihan's work, along with a new piece created by Akers-Toler.

The performance serves as a fundraiser for the West Virginia Dance Company.

"We are a nonprofit organization, so everything is tax-deductible," Moore said. "But we think of it more as a chance for our community and hometown to see what we've been working on and celebrate the new season by performing here in Beckley."

Tickets can be purchased at Sitting Pretty on Johnstown Road.

The cost is $10 for adults, $8 for students and $5 for children 12 and under.

For additional information, call Akers-Toler at 304-252-0030 or visit the company's Web site at www.wvdanceco. com.

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Zombie Prom a thriller - Mankato Free Press

Posted: 06 Nov 2009 08:23 PM PST

Published November 06, 2009 09:22 pm - There were zombies at the third annual Zombie Prom at the Minnesota State University dining hall.

Zombie Prom a thriller
Third annual MSU event captures a trend

By Robb Murray
The Free Press

MANKATO —

Although it probably wasn't on the menu, many of the attendees at a Carkoski Commons party Friday night may have had a hankering for brains.

There were zombies — lots of them — for the third annual Zombie Prom at the Minnesota State University dining hall (and for the record, they probably didn't dine on brains, that fabled zombie snack of choice).

The event came at a time when zombies — zombie movies, zombie music, flash-mob-like "zombie walks" down thoroughfares of medium-size Minnesota towns — have become an amusing trend.

But in this case, the students at MSU appear to have adopted their monster love prior to the onset of the trend.

Luke Mattheisen, a graduate student and chief organizer of the event, brought the concept with him from his previous institution, the University of Minnesota-Morris.

Back in the day, he and a buddy were talking about ideas for a Halloween party and possible themes. They settled on a zombie theme, and the response was crazy. About 400 people showed up, which is roughly a third of the entire student body at Morris.

So he brought the idea here, and it's become a hit.

Why have zombies become so popular?

"I don't honestly know," he says with a laugh. "I think part of it is the obsession with Halloween and being able to dress up as something you're not."

Steve Berg, area director for the McElroy Residence Hall, said the predominance of zombies in current popular culture — the film "Zombieland," the annual "Thriller" dance event last month, etc. — makes the idea of zombies accessible to everyone.

Many students had been planning their makeup and costumes for weeks for the Zombie Prom, while others reportedly pulled something together (or apart) at the last minute.

The event also fell within the university's efforts to provide fun programming on weekend nights to provide an alternative to alcohol use.

But Berg cautioned people against thinking it was an event designed solely to keep students from doing something else, something "risky."

"When you boil it down, it's a dance, and we themed it zombies," he said.

The dance, which was for students only, included a "zombie shamble," or who can look and act most like an actual zombie. "Prom pictures" were also available, as well as "some sort of zombie ring toss."

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From Ft. Hood to Florida: Lots of Questions, Few Answers on the Psyche ... - Newsweek

Posted: 06 Nov 2009 08:58 PM PST

by Rabeika Messina

We don't know much about suspected Ft. Hood killer Nidal Malik Hasan: there are reports he gave away his possessions. There are reports he was terrified of being deployed. And there's the fact that prior to his killing spree, Hasan worked as a psychiatrist, treating war-affected patients at both Walter Reed and Ft.  Hood. Shouldn't a psychiatrist have seen his own unraveling coming? Or are psychiatrists more likely to unravel than anyone else? What turns a man professionally endowed to treat the mental ailments of others into one who goes mental himself?  And in his addled state, what did he think he'd achieve by opening fire into a crowd?

We may never fully know what Hasan was thinking the morning before his alleged killing spree, but we do know that some of his professional colleagues frustrated that this attack may be perceived as yet another black mark against their industry. Psychiatrists have long been plagued by jokes about instability, and while most are quite sane, there's some truth to the rumors: studies show that these doctors have the highest suicide rate among physicians. They are most likely to suffer from depression compared to surgeons and GPs, and they're more likely to be critical of themselves and others. It makes sense: unlike an orthopedic surgeon, treats a broken bone, fixes it, and moves on, a psychiatrist, working to help people make peace with themselves and their troubled psyche, doesn't get that same closure, the same sense of accomplishment, may feel helpless and frustrated as a result.

Being a psychiatrist doesn't mean one holds all the keys to mental stability. While the majority of psychiatrists are well-balanced individuals, and according to an article in Psychology Today, an American Psychiatric Association study stated that those with emotional disorders are more drawn to the field than other types of medicine.

"Just because someone is a psychiatrist [does not mean] they're not prone to the same evolvement of a mental illness," said Dr. Kathryn Moss, a psychiatrist from the New York Presbyterian Hospital and the Weill Cornell Medical Center. Especially if Hasan was suffering from a something like a Pre-Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. By routinely treating troops with disturbing experiences, he could have experienced enough strain and trauma to cause PTSD, even without deploying.  "Exposure is not just to visceral traumas, but also to constant, ongoing stress," explains Dr. Nancy Sherman, a Georgetown University professor with expertise on PTSD and the emotional and mental health of soldiers.  "The mental health workers who are dealing with the current wars are under enormous stress, and it simply isn't often recognized.  Their needs must be addressed as much as those of the troops up for deployment," she states.

But while PTSD can lead to violent outbursts in many returning troops, it has yet to result in such a gruesome, public crime. And there are plenty of depressed and dejected docs who don't go on shooting rampages.

That's because mass killers aren't likely to be driven by conditions like anxiety, depression or bipolar disorder, which aren't normally characterized by violent fits.  Instead, says Moss, someone who inflicts this type of harm on other humans is under a much greater, more troubling psychosis. "They are delusional about what is going on in their environment," says Moss. "They don't share a view the reality that other people share, so they act in ways that other people wouldn't act," she says.

Nothing made that point more tragically clear than the shooting that occurred almost 24 hours later in Orlando, Florida. There, Jason Rodriguez turned himself in after cops surrounded his home, accusing him of shooting six people, killing one, in a Florida high rise. Rodriguez had no military background. He worked in at an engineering firm, not as a mental health profession. But he, like Hasan, was purportedly compelled to pull the trigger and shoot into a crowd.  The only thing they likely had in common was a deep, troubling mental illness. "Mass shooters are impelled by a mental disorder, revenge, some type of ideological motivation or even perversion," says Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman, chairman and professor at the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University.

But to what end? What satisfaction do these killers get from attacking people in a public setting?   "Sometimes, if they have some kind of delusion, these people feel that the group is a person," explains Dr. Moss.  "They see everyone as part of a conspiracy, out to get them.  In the shooter's mind, it is specific, because he chose that group."

If these two men really are guilty of such crimes, could Hasan's actions have impacted Rodriguez? Perhaps, says Lieberman. For those unstable enough to be considering such a thing, recent attacks can be triggering. "There is a contagion effect; there's enough people out there who are mentally unstable and emotionally fragile that they can be influenced by the cultural environment," he says.

A scary thought in a country that's seen more than ten mass killings in the past ten years. Something is triggering these killers, whether it's internal conflict, external stimulus, or a combination of both. Either way, the challenge is to discover what's  motivating the shooters ahead of time, instead of wondering why after tragedy strikes.

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Highway 25E earns byway designation - Knoxville News Sentinel

Posted: 06 Nov 2009 09:06 PM PST

Many local residents have long considered the sights along U.S. Highway 25E in East Tennessee to be special, and now the federal government does, too.

The Federal Highway Administration recently designated the stretch of the road from Claiborne to Cocke counties as a National Scenic Byway.

The designation, which is part of a program in place since 1991, is intended to preserve the road and enhance the scenic, cultural and historic qualities found alongside it.

Besides the classification and new signage that will be placed along the route, additional marketing and grant money will also be available.

"Obviously it raises the profile of the highway," said Maria Fisher, director of tourism for the Morristown Area Chamber of Commerce, who admitted she had trouble keeping quiet after hearing the news about the designation before it was officially announced.

Zeka Brooks, the director of business development for the Claiborne County Chamber of Commerce, also sees plenty of positives.

"It will bring more focus into our area," she said. "It will bring more tourism. It will be better advertised."

The protected route - which is being called the East Tennessee Crossing - begins at Cumberland Gap in Claiborne County near the national park and travels through Tazewell and New Tazewell.

It then goes through historic Bean Station in Grainger County, through Morristown in Hamblen County and touches part of Jefferson County outside Dandridge. It then winds through Newport and across the mountains of Cocke County to the North Carolina line.

Officials say the route follows the same path as such historic trails as the Cherokee Warriors Path, the Wilderness Road across Clinch Mountain, the Dixie Highway of the Civil War era, and Thunder Road of moonshine whiskey fame.

Fisher said the idea for the designation began in 2003 with her predecessor, Chuck Davis, who helped put together a committee of representatives from five counties before his death in 2006.

"It's great to see a project come to fruition," she said. "We've dedicated the program in his memory."

Brooks believes the designation will help bring more widespread attention to a somewhat out-of-the-way road.

"We can promote the little hidden treasures or hidden gems in these rural areas and let people know there are places they can come that are full of scenic beauty," she said.

Officials hope eventually to build a welcome station connected to the highway and its designation on top of Clinch Mountain in Grainger County.

Multiple ribbon-cutting ceremonies attended by Tennessee Department of Tourist Development Commissioner Susan Whitaker will be announced soon.

The East Tennessee Crossing was one of 39 roads recently given National Scenic Byway status. Another one was the Great River Road near the Mississippi River in West Tennessee.

John Shearer is a freelance contributor to the News Sentinel.

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