Assange says signed 1.1 Million Pounds in Book Deals

LONDON: WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange said in an interview published Sunday he had signed deals for his autobiography worth more than one million pounds (1.2 million euros, 1.5 million dollars).

Assange told Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper that the money would help him defend himself against allegations of sexual assault made by two women in Sweden.

“I don’t want to write this book, but I have to,” he said. “I have already spent 200,000 pounds for legal costs and I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat.”

The Australian said he would receive 800,000 dollars (600,000 euros) from Alfred A. Knopf, his American publisher, and a British deal with Canongate is worth 325,000 pounds (380,000 euros, 500,000 dollars).

Money from other markets and serialisation is expected to raise the total to 1.1 million pounds, he said.

The latest project of Assange’s whistleblower website is the gradual release of tens of thousands of US diplomatic cables.

Since this latest project began Assange, who is on bail in Britain fighting a bid by Sweden to extradite him over the sex assault claims, has faced problems financing WikiLeaks.

Credit card companies Visa and MasterCard and the Internet payment firm PayPal have blocked donations to WikiLeaks, prompting Assange to label them “instruments of US foreign policy.”

The Bank of America, the largest US bank, has also halted all transactions to WikiLeaks.

Washington has been infuriated by WikiLeaks as the site slowly releases the cache of around 250,000 secret US State Department cables. The US is believed to be considering how to indict Assange over the huge leak.

Assange has been staying at a friend’s country mansion in eastern England since his release from jail on December 16 on strict bail conditions that include reporting to police daily and wearing an electronic tag.

A court in London is due to hold a full hearing on the Swedish extradition request starting February 7.

Charlie Chaplin 33rd death anniversary

LOS ANGELES: Renowned comic actor of the silent movies Charlie Chaplin passed 33 years ago, as December 25, 1977 was the last day of his life.

Sir Charles Spencer “Charlie” Chaplin, KBE, who was born on 16 April 1889, was an English comic actor and film director of the silent film era. He became one of the best-known film stars in the world before the end of the First World War.

Chaplin used mime, slapstick and other visual comedy routines, and continued well into the era of the talkies, though his films decreased in frequency from the end of the 1920s. His most famous role was that of The Tramp, which he first played in the Keystone comedy Kid Auto Races at Venice in 1914.

From the April 1914 one-reeler Twenty Minutes of Love onwards he was writing and directing most of his films, by 1916 he was also producing, and from 1918 composing the music. With Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith, he co-founded United Artists in 1919.

Chaplin was one of the most creative and influential personalities of the silent-film era. He was influenced by his predecessor, the French silent movie comedian Max Linder, to whom he dedicated one of his films. His working life in entertainment spanned over 75 years, from the Victorian stage and the Music Hall in the United Kingdom as a child performer, until close to his death at the age of 88.

His high-profile public and private life encompassed both adulation and controversy. Chaplin”s identification with the left ultimately forced him to resettle in Europe during the McCarthy era in the early 1950s.

In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Chaplin the 10th greatest male screen legend of all time. In 2008, Martin Sieff, in a review of the book Chaplin: A Life, wrote: “Chaplin was not just ”big”, he was gigantic. In 1915, he burst onto a war-torn world bringing it the gift of comedy, laughter and relief while it was tearing itself apart through World War I.

Over the next 25 years, through the Great Depression and the rise of Adolf Hitler, he stayed on the job. … It is doubtful any individual has ever given more entertainment, pleasure and relief to so many human beings when they needed it the most”. George Bernard Shaw called Chaplin “the only genius to come out of the movie industry”.

Barbara Walters Interview with Oprah

Barbara Walters Interview with Oprah: Oprah Winfrey is the most powerful woman in entertainment, but watching her Barbara Walters interview, she almost seems accessible, like a person you might want to be your best friend. And for 25 years, for many women, she was just that. Next spring that all ends.

It is impossible (unless you are a male), to really dislike Oprah. You can dislike her influence over women or think her new age power is weird, but watching her, it is impossible to deny her sincerity and her heart.

As a person who has watched her show only a handful of times, I still find her fascinating. Here is a woman who was born in a home in Missisippi where she had no running water who is now worth $2.7 billion.

Her topics were often female-centric over the years, the books she chose for her book club almost all the kind of books women wanted to read more than men and sometimes that got her ridiculed. But to those snobs one might say: $2.7 billion, in your faces!

The Babs interview did not reveal any major secrets, but it did give insight into Oprah’s own thoughts on leaving and the future.

CSA Terminates Gibbs’ National Contract

South African cricket board has terminated the national contract of Opening batsman H Gibbs after he was found violating the contract. The contract is terminated by mutual consent. The due date of completion of the contract was April, 2011. He violated the contract as it was stipulated in the contract that no employee should talk about the employer.

The termination was made after he publishes his autobiography which resulted in sale of 15,000 copies in five days. Cricket board has asked legal team to look into the matter and find out the exact reality of the allegation he made in his book.

Gerald Majola, the CSA chief executive said that he has not read it and South African captain G Smith showed disappointment on this publication. There is an agreement between CSA and Gibbs so both parties are now bound not to comment on the issue.

According to information Gibbs will lose about R300,000 (US$ 42,857) from the cancellation of his contract. He was schedule to play n the Australian Big Bash and the New Zealand Twenty-Over competition.

CSA claimed the decision is by mutual consent but Gibbs’ lawyer, Peter Whelan said that it was not a result of mutual consent. He added that they are looking for contact from CSA lawyers to contact them.

Casting trouble keeps Ashutosh Gowariker’s Buddha on hold

The biggest ever project devised by Ashutosh Gowariker, Buddha, continues to be on hold. The filmmaker, who is known for films that are set on a huge

canvas while boasting of an opulent treatment, has decided that he won’t progress on the film till he finds the perfect actor to play the part of

Buddha.

“Frankly, it is a very difficult casting which I have in hand here”, says Ashutosh Gowariker who would be attempting a film with a religious base to it for

the first time ever, “I have seen so many actors worldwide but still haven’t found the right face to play the part. It is so difficult because this actor has

to be convincing as someone who goes through a complete turnaround in his life. I have to go ahead in a zero-compromise mode here.”

Another strong reason behind casting a correct face and physical appearance is the fact that Buddha is being pitched for an international market. This

means that the actor, whether new or established, is required to have a pan-universal appeal.

“While this is truly a major reason, I also feel that the team of Buddha has a responsibility to take care of for several other nations as well”,

continues Gowariker, “There are millions in this world who practice Buddhism; whether it is Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese and others. When they see our film,

they should be able to relate to the actor and say that this is their Buddha. I should be accurate enough in my presentation so that there is a sense of

reverence that comes in for a world-known personality like Buddha.”

All of this means that while the search continues for the right face and personality, Ashutosh Gowariker may well move to some other film in the interim. His

Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se is up for release and post that, it would be time for Gowariker to zero on another subject and begin work on it.

“Frankly, I haven’t closed on anything as of now”, he brings on a smile here, “All that is occupying my mind currently is Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se.

There are just a few more weeks to go and we are going full steam ahead in pumping up the promotion further and bringing the film to the audience.”

A period thriller, this Abhishek Bachchan-Deepika Padukone starrer is based on the book ‘DO and DIE: The Chittagong Uprising 1930-34′ by Manini Chatterjee.

Also starring Sikandar Kher and Vishakha Singh, Khelein Hum… has music by Sohail Sen and releases all over on 3rd December.

Bush faults Pakistan on extremism

Former US president George W. Bush has written in a new memoir that he became convinced Pakistan would not act against Islamic militants and all but admitted he ordered drone strikes on its soil.

In his book “Decision Points” published Tuesday, Bush said he had “complex” relations with Pakistan and its former military leader Pervez Musharraf, who pledged to support the United States after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Bush acknowledged that Pakistan “paid a high price for taking on extremists” and said its forces were successful for several years in targeting Al-Qaeda militants crossing the porous border with Afghanistan.

But Bush said: “Over time, it became clear that Musharraf either would not or could not fulfill all of his promises.”

“Some in the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, retained close ties to Taliban officials. Others

100 designers who shaped fashion

NEW YORK: From Adolfo to Yohji Yamamoto, Women”s Wear Daily has recorded the A to Z of fashion over the last 100 years. There are the suffragettes, flappers, career women in pantsuits and, later, miniskirts.

Fashion is an industry that”s always on the hunt for the next big thing. Yet, in researching a new book about a century of style, “WWD 100 Years, 100 Designers,” executive editor Bridget Foley found some constants.

“So many designers, when they talk about their work talk about women first,” Foley says. “There”s an ongoing idea and a belief among the very best designers that you have to push forward, but also that you also always have to consider what women will wear.”

For all the declarations of trends, including hemlines, silhouettes and embellishments, Foley finds that most garments – be they skinny jeans or pencil skirts – are consistently available year after year, even when they”re not winning headlines.

And, she adds, however modern and urban we like to think black is, women have been wearing it – regularly – since the 1920s.

The power of buzz has been around even longer.

Some of the designers included in the book were chosen because they literally changed the shape of fashion: Paul Poiret, Claire McCardell and Christian Dior, among them. But someone such as Gabrielle Chanel (known, of course, as Coco) really created an entire culture around a brand.

A 1965 WWD quote about Chanel: “Chanel is more than a look – it”s an institution – it”s a belief and a way of life – which this clever and very crafty artiste has done. She knows that her ever hungry Fashion Barbies are women and girls who eat and drink and dance – and love.”

Winnowing down this list of most influential designers to 100 was harder than it sounds, especially balancing new talent like Jason Wu against Dior and Oscar de la Renta, Foley says.

“Is this all good fashion?” she wonders. “I’m not sure it’s all good fashion, but it”s all representative fashion, and much of it is really good.”

Others who made the cut: Giorgio Armani, Cristobal Balenciaga, Andre Courreges, Francisco Costa, Calvin Klein, Charles James, Norma Kamali, Laura and Kate Mulleavy of Rodarte, Donna Karan, Madeline Vionnet, and both Gianni and Donatella Versace.

Still mortified about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq: Bush

Former US President George W Bush says that he still has a bad feeling about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
The revelation comes in his memoir, Decision Points, to be published next week. He also reveals that he temporarily considered replacing Vice President Dick Cheney, calling him the Darth Vader of the administration. But he has no comment on his successor in the White House, Barack Obama. In the autobiography, Mr Bush defends his decision to invade Iraq, according to advanced copies of the book. He argues that both America and the Iraqis are better off without former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, whom he calls a homicidal dictator. But Mr Bush admits that he was shocked when no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. The former president also describes how he considered an offer by Vice President Dick Cheney to step down in 2003 so that Mr Bush could pick a different running mate for the 2004 election campaign. But Mr Bush writes that he decided to stick with Mr Cheney because he had chosen him to do the job and that was exactly what he had done. According to media who obtained the autobiography, Mr Bush focuses on anecdotes and details of 14 major events of his life and presidency, including the decision to stop drinking and his decisions following the attacks of 11 September 2001. He admits he made mistakes when responding to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and describes how he felt like the captain of a sinking ship when the economic crisis escalated towards the end of his presidency in 2008. This book will be published by Crown next week.

New Superman for Contemporary World

PHILADELPHIA: The big “S” is still on his chest, but the new Superman coming to the shelves of book stores next week is not exactly the chipper and bright-eyed optimist of lore.

Instead, the kid from Krypton featured in “Superman: Earth One” that was released to comic book shops Wednesday and due in other book stores on Tuesday, sports a hoodie, a brooding brow and fashion sense that would not put him out of place in hipster lairs from Brooklyn to Seattle.

And that, said Dan DiDio, senior vice president and executive editor at DC Comics is just what the company was aiming for when it asked J. Michael Straczynski, himself a noted comic book writer who currently helms the company’s flagship monthly “Superman” title.

“We always knew that we wanted to do a real, contemporary interpretation of Superman,” he told The Associated Press. “And what we did is we reached out to Joe Straczynski — Joe is probably one of the biggest Superman fans out there.”

DiDio said DC augured the retelling as a way to reach out to buyers not just in comic book stores but in other book stores, too — fans of books and series like “Twilight” or Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy of crime novels.

“In this particular case what we did is we looked at the format,” he said, adding that DC has been “showing great strides in really strong improvement in sales in the book store market place, and what we wanted to do was to create an original graphic novel featuring our most prominent character that we felt captured a contemporary tone and really was built with the bookstore market in mind.”

The graphic novel was illustrated by Shane Davis. And while it features the jet-black hair — sans curly lock atop the forehead — and piercing stare that Clark Kent/Superman has had since his creation in the 1930s, Davis’ art reflects a more modern bent with narrow pants and ties and the ubiquitous hoodie.

The work draws upon the Superman mythology but recreates it for a contemporary audience with a 20-year-old Clark Kent who’s unsure how to use his super-strength, super-smarts and just plain super abilities as he makes his way through a grittier, more realistic Metropolis trying to find not just a job but meaning and purpose.

DiDio and DC are pleased with the transformation, noting that demand for the work has been so great that the book has already gone back to the press for a wider run.

“When we were building this book we had a lot of things in mind. We were looking at what fiction was popular at the time … and since we are in the periodical business, and we want to be in the bookstore business, what better continuing character should be in that market but Superman?” he asked.

“But we needed to make him hip, moody and sexy in order to really appeal to who are really wanting to read novels with our characters,” DiDio added.

Saif & Priyanka in Siddharth Anand’s adaptation of Chetan Bhagat’s ’2 States’

By now its common knowledge that after Anjaana Anjaani, the producer-director team of Sajid Nadiadwala and Siddharth Anand are collaborating together on another project. While not much was known about this project, it’s now revealed that the film will be an adaptation of Chetan Bhagat’s popular book ’2 States’. What’s more, the makers have managed a coup of sorts by getting Saif Ali Khan and Priyanka Chopra for the lead roles.

Confirming the news to Bollywood Hungama, Siddharth Anand said, “Yes…my next film is an adaptation of Chetan Bhagat’s book ’2 States’. It’s being produced by Sajid Nadiadwala and stars Saif and Priyanka. I was actually having another script in mind with Saif when Adi Chopra asked me to read ’2 States’. He felt I could do justice to the book. I am not much of a reader but since Adi insisted, I began reading the book and honestly it made for such a great read that I couldn’t put the book down. I immediately spoke to Chetan Bhagat and we decided to acquire the rights to the book. We plan to take the film on floors sometime in March 2011.”

Ask him how similar or different his film will be to the book and Siddharth replies, “As I said earlier, it’s an adaptation of ’2 States’. However, like in the case of any adaptation, there will be some changes to suit the cinematic experience. There may be certain portions which will be dramatized for cinema while some portions may not be included to keep the length at bay. So all in all there will be a few changes but the film will have the core essence of the book. In fact, we plan to shoot in the same cities in which the book is set namely- Ahmedabad, Delhi, Chennai and Goa.”

Siddharth also adds that his actors were a bit taken aback when he first told them that he was making an adaptation of a book. “Saif was a bit surprised as we were planning on working on something else but when he too read the book, he felt that we should go ahead with this project. As for Priyanka, she is also going to read the book very soon.”

Meanwhile author Chetan Bhagat too is excited about this collaboration. Says Chetan, “Among all my books, the maximum offers to make a film has come for this book ’2 States’. Considering I am known as a mass writer, I wanted to make sure that it gets made into a big mass entertainer with a reputed banner. The platform that Sajid Nadiadwala’s production house gives is a very big platform, they only do big films. Moreover, Siddharth too is a nice, upcoming director whose films have found an appeal. So, I guess it was the perfect combination this time around.”

Considering that last time Chetan had a bitter experience with the makers of 3 Idiots over due credit, is he making sure that he gets all the terms and conditions clear this time around. “Well…just because you have a fall playing football once, it doesn’t mean you completely stop playing football right? The question of credit doesn’t really arise in this case as from the very first day, they are announcing the film as an adaptation of ’2 States’. I am very happy and satisfied with what I’ve been offered by Sajid Nadiadwala and Siddharth Anand in terms of credit and the whole contract. I must add that they made an extra effort to make sure that the writer is happy and gets due respect for his work which is really great on their part. I am really excited about this project.”

Quiz him on whether he would be actively involved with the screenplay of the film and Chetan says, “It’s still too early and Siddharth is yet to decide on who would be writing the screenplay. But I am available to them if they require my assistance on that front too.”

Incidentally, Chetan’s 3rd book ’3 Mistakes Of My Life’ is also being made into a film by Abhishek Kapoor of Rock On fame. Speaking about its status, Chetan says, “Abhishek, Pubali and I have almost finished scripting the film. I think Excel Entertainment is yet to take on a call on when and how to slot the film considering they have a couple of projects on floors already. They have to even begin casting for the film. My guess is that the film based on ’2 States’ will go on floors first though one can’t really tell as of now.”

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