Nintendo Wii News Channel Set For Liftoff
January 26, 2007
We already know that Wii has impressed the masses with their innovative controller, but will they be equally as enthralled with the News channel that’s set to hit Nintendo Wii on Saturday?
Probably not. But still, it’s a free way to get your fix of AP news on Opera, and there’s no immediate plans to sell advertising space, which is a relief. So how does it work?
“The beauty of it is it zooms in and out of areas of the world,” said Nintendo’s Perrin Kaplan. “So if you really want to focus on regional news or national news versus international, you just blow up the map of the U.S.”
And that’s good for some of the early adopters of Wii who are — shall we say — less techy savvy than others.
“The Nintendo Wii demographic is definitely a wider demographic than your traditional hardcore gamer,” said Billy Pidgeon, a video game industry analyst at IDC in New York. “It kind of makes sense for other types of content to be made available on the Wii.”
Source: Yahoo
Full List Of Oscar Nominations
January 23, 2007
The Oscar nominees have been announced, and who would have guessed that the movie Dreamgirls would have been snubbed for Best Picture? No Volver for Foreign Language Film? And try as I may, I’m having a hard time wrapping my lips around the phrase “Oscar-nominated Mark Wahlberg”.
But that’s glass half empty kind of stuff. On the positive side, Ryan Gosling did get nominated, Jackie Earle Haley’s comeback is mighty impressive after being out of the game so long, and at least Children Of Men picked up three noms altogether.
The full list of Academy Award nominations are as follows:
Best Picture: “Babel,” “The Departed,” “Letters From Iwo Jima,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” “The Queen.”
Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, “Blood Diamond”; Ryan Gosling, “Half Nelson”; Peter O’Toole, “Venus”; Will Smith, “The Pursuit of Happyness”; Forest Whitaker, “The Last King of Scotland.”
Best Actress: Penelope Cruz, “Volver”; Judi Dench, “Notes on a Scandal”; Helen Mirren, “The Queen”; Meryl Streep, “The Devil Wears Prada”; Kate Winslet, “Little Children.”
Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin, “Little Miss Sunshine”; Jackie Earle Haley, “Little Children”; Djimon Hounsou, “Blood Diamond”; Eddie Murphy, “Dreamgirls”; Mark Wahlberg, “The Departed.”
Supporting Actress: Adriana Barraza, “Babel”; Cate Blanchett, “Notes on a Scandal”; Abigail Breslin, “Little Miss Sunshine”; Jennifer Hudson, “Dreamgirls”; Rinko Kikuchi, “Babel.”
Directing: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, “Babel”; Martin Scorsese, “The Departed”; Clint Eastwood, “Letters From Iwo Jima”; Stephen Frears, “The Queen”; Paul Greengrass, “United 93.”
Foreign Language Film: “After the Wedding,” Denmark; “Days of Glory (Indigenes),” Algeria; “The Lives of Others,” Germany; “Pan’s Labyrinth,” Mexico; “Water,” Canada.
Adapted Screenplay: Sacha Baron Cohen and Anthony Hines and Peter Baynham and Dan Mazer and Todd Phillips, “Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”; Alfonso Cuaron and Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, “Children of Men”; William Monahan, “The Departed”; Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, “Little Children”; Patrick Marber, “Notes on a Scandal.”
Original Screenplay: Guillermo Arriaga, “Babel”; Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis, “Letters From Iwo Jima”; Michael Arndt, “Little Miss Sunshine”; Guillermo del Toro, “Pan’s Labyrinth”; Peter Morgan, “The Queen.”
Animated Feature Film: “Cars,” “Happy Feet,” “Monster House.”
Art Direction: “Dreamgirls,” “The Good Shepherd,” “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” “The Prestige.”
Cinematography: “The Black Dahlia,” “Children of Men,” “The Illusionist,” “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “The Prestige.”
Sound Mixing: “Apocalypto,” “Blood Diamond,” “Dreamgirls,” “Flags of Our Fathers,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.”
Sound Editing: “Apocalypto,” “Blood Diamond,” “Flags of Our Fathers,” “Letters From Iwo Jima,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.”
Original Score: “Babel,” Gustavo Santaolalla; “The Good German,” Thomas Newman; “Notes on a Scandal,” Philip Glass; “Pan’s Labyrinth,” Javier Navarrete; “The Queen,” Alexandre Desplat.
Original Song: “I Need to Wake Up” from “An Inconvenient Truth,” Melissa Etheridge; “Listen” from “Dreamgirls,” Henry Krieger, Scott Cutler and Anne Preven; “Love You I Do” from “Dreamgirls,” Henry Krieger and Siedah Garrett; “Our Town” from “Cars,” Randy Newman; “Patience” from “Dreamgirls,” Henry Krieger and Willie Reale.
Costume: “Curse of the Golden Flower,” “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Dreamgirls,” “Marie Antoinette,” “The Queen.”
Documentary Feature: “Deliver Us From Evil,” “An Inconvenient Truth,” “Iraq in Fragments,” “Jesus Camp,” “My Country, My Country.”
Documentary (short subject): “The Blood of Yingzhou District,” “Recycled Life,” “Rehearsing a Dream,” “Two Hands.”
Film Editing: “Babel,” “Blood Diamond,” “Children of Men,” “The Departed,” “United 93.”
Makeup: “Apocalypto,” “Click,” “Pan’s Labyrinth.”
Animated Short Film: “The Danish Poet,” “Lifted,” “The Little Matchgirl,” “Maestro,” “No Time for Nuts.”
Live Action Short Film: “Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea),” “Eramos Pocos (One Too Many),” “Helmer & Son,” “The Saviour,” “West Bank Story.”
Visual Effects: “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” “Poseidon,” “Superman Returns.”
Strange Family Sues In Nintendo Wii Contest Death
January 22, 2007
Sacramento housewife and mother of three Jennifer Strange entered a radio contest on KDND to try to win a Wii for her family. Hours later, she was found dead in her home of water intoxication, after reportedly drinking an inordinate amount of water as a part of the radio stunt.
Even after drinking almost two gallons, she didn’t win the Nintendo Wii; she came in second and had received tickets to a Justin Timberlake contest.
Now the family is suing, and Sacramento attorney Roger Dreyer has no intentions of settling out of court. He wants to make sure that this kind of tragedy never happens again.
“There isn’t going to be a settlement,” he said. “There’s going to be a venting in a public forum. That’s what we want, and that’s what the family wants.”
Source: SFGate.com