Largest unorganized birthday party

More than 1600 people showed up at German teenager birthday party when she neglected to mark her party invitation as private on the social networking site Facebook.

The crowd of 1,600 jammed into streets to celebrate Thessa’s 16th birthday party after she inadvertently invited the public to attend on Facebook. She alerted police after 1500 Facebook users accepted her invitation ahead of the birthday party. About 100 police were on hand to keep order for the duration from 7 p.m. and 2 a.m. 11 people were taken into custody for violations ranging from bodily harm and resisting arrest to property damage and violating explosives laws. There were some fires set alight, some acts of violence and with considerable

US Secret Service to spy on twitter

It plans to use the social media site to promote its visibility and investigative work.

The federal agency will use the account to highlight the investigative missions, press releases, and distribute information to communities hosting national special security events, to explore Secret Service history and to promote any recruiting opportunities. The agency’s Office of Government and Public Affairs will run the account.

The agency plans to use the account during the APEC conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, in November to spread the word about roads and buildings that will be closed off for the event.

The account already has nearly 500 followers.

Inspired by Big B, Prakash Jha also joins Twitter

By now, its common knowledge that Amitabh Bachchan is an avid blogger and also very active on popular social networking site ‘Twitter’. In fact during the shooting of his forthcoming film Aarakshan, so inspired was director Prakash Jha by Big B’s dedicated tweeting and blogging that he too decided to join the social networking community.

Prakash Jha, curious to see what the fuss is all about, has recently started tweeting from his handle @prakashjha1.

In one of his early tweets, Jha shares an exclusive still from his upcoming film Aarakshan. It is the picture of Amitabh Bachchan walking in the rain.

Along with the picture, he also re-tweeted Amitabh Bachchan’s tweet dated 8 March “T 300 -Somebody from the crowd, after seeing me getting wet in rain shot after shot, yelled to director -’Look after our son-in-law, please !’”

Whether he looked after Bhopal’s son-in-law is a matter of speculation, but for now, lets all welcome Prakash Jha onto the Twittersphere.

Facebook now wants a say in computer hardware

PALO ALTO: Facebook, the world’s largest social network, wants to get in on computer hardware as well.

The company that revolutionized social networking on the Internet has teamed up with some of tech hardware’s biggest names — Hewlett Packard Co, Dell Inc, Advanced Micro Devices, and Intel Corp — to launch the “open compute project.”

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the project aims to offer specifications and designs for more power-efficient computers that are specifically geared toward running Internet services, shared openly with other companies.

“What we found over time is that a lot of the stuff that the mass manufacturers put out wasn’t exactly in line with what we needed and what other social apps needed,” Zuckerberg said at a media event at Facebook’s Palo Alto, California headquarters on Thursday.

By sharing design specifications, he said he hoped to increase availability and demand for the specialized servers.

Dell will build servers based on those technical specifications, while Synnex Corp will act as overall vendor for the systems. The technology will power servers in the social network’s first custom-built data center, in Prineville, Oregon. Until now, Facebook has leased data centers for its infrastructure.

With more than 500 million users, Facebook is the world’s No. 1 Internet social network and is increasingly challenging established Web companies like Google Inc and Yahoo Inc as a top destination for Web surfers and a compelling advertising channel for marketers.

The technical infrastructure that powers websites such as Facebook, on which more than 30 billion photos, videos and other types of content are shared by users every month, play a key role in a service’s performance.

According to Facebook, the new servers will be 38 percent more energy efficient and cost 24 percent less than off-the-shelf products used to power its service. AGENCIES

2011 SAG Award Winners

Last night the 17th annual SAG awards were held in Hollywood. ‘The King’s Speech’ was named top film and Colin Firth was honored for his role in the film. The King’s Speech also took the award for outstanding cast in a motion picture, the cast includes Geoffry Rush and Helena Bonham Carter.

Natalie Portman was given the award for the most outstanding performance by a female actor for her role ‘Black Swan’.

The top awards in Television were given to Steve Buscemi for his role in ‘Boardwalk Empire’ and the show also came out on top by taking the award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series.

‘The Fighter’ also took home two awards.

Overall it was a fairly regular ceremony with not too many surprises. Now speculation is whether the 2011 Oscars awards will be as predictable and has ‘The Social Network’ been knocked out of the Oscars race?

Complete list of winners after the jump!

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A CAST IN A MOTION PICTURE
“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“The Kids Are Alright”
“The King’s Speech” – WINNER
“The Social Network”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Jesse Eisenberg, “The Social Network”
Colin Firth, “The King’s Speech” – WINNER
James Franco, “127 Hours”
Jeff Bridges, “True Grit”
Robert Duvall, “Get Low”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Annette Benning, “The Kids Are Alright”
Nicole Kidman, “The Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence, “Winter’s Bone”
Natalie Portman, “Black Swan” – WINNER
Hilary Swank, “Conviction”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Christian Bale, “The Fighter” – WINNER
Mark Ruffalo, “The Kids Are Alright”
John Hawkes, “Winter’s Bone”
Jeremy Renner, “The Town”
Geoffrey Rush, “The King’s Speech”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams, “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter, “The King’s Speech”
Mila Kunis, “Black Swan”
Melissa Leo, “The Fighter” – WINNER
Hailee Steinfeld, “True Grit”

TELEVISION

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ENSEMBLE IN A DRAMA SERIES
“Boardwalk Empire” – WINNER
“Dexter”
“The Good Wife”
“Mad Men”
“The Closer”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ENSEMBLE IN A COMEDY SERIES
“30 Rock”
“The Office”
“Glee”
“Modern Family” – WINNER
“Hot in Cleveland”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Steve Buscemi, “Boardwalk Empire” – WINNER
Bryan Cranston, “Breaking Bad”
Michael C. Hall, “Dexter”
Jon Hamm, “Mad Men”
Hugh Laurie, “House”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife” – WINNER
Elisabeth Moss, “Mad Men”
Glenn Close, “Damages”
Mariska Hargitay, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”
Kyra Sedgwick, “The Closer”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock” – WINNER
Steve Carell, “The Office”
Chris Colfer, “Glee”
Ty Burrell, “Modern Family”
Ed O’Neill, “Modern Family”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Betty White, “Hot in Cleveland” – WINNER
Sofia Vergara, “Modern Family”
Tina Fey, “30 Rock”
Edie Falco “Nurse Jackie”
Jane Lynch, “Glee”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION MOVIE OR MINISERIES
John Goodman, “You Don’t Know Jack”
Al Pacino, “You Don’t Know Jack” – WINNER
Dennis Quaid, “The Special Relationship”
Edgar Ramirez, “Carlos”
Patrick Stewart, “MacBeth”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION MOVIE OR MINISERIES
Claire Danes, “Temple Grandin” – WINNER
Catherine O’Hara, “Temple Grandin”
Julia Ormond, “Temple Grandin”
Winona Ryder, “When Love Is Not Enough”
Susan Sarandon, “You Don’t Know Jack”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A STUNT ENSEMBLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
“Green Zone”
“Inception” – WINNER
“Robin Hood”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A STUNT ENSEMBLE IN A TELEVISION SERIES
“Burn Notice”
“CSI: NY”
“Dexter”
“Southland”
“True Blood” – WINNER

A.R.Rahman receives Crystal Award at World Economic Forum

Academy Award winner A.R.Rahman received the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award for his contribution to the world of art and culture and for his outreach to improve the state of the world. “Countries that work to eradicate poverty and help the poor are the best”, said Rahman at the annual summit of the forum at the Swiss ski resort after Hilde Schwab, president and co-founder of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, presented him with the award.

Jose Carreras, an opera artist from Barcelona, was also given the Crystal Award for his social work for the patients of leukaemia.

The award function was attended by several heads of governments, including Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, top C.E.O’s, religious leaders and academicians.

“Social Network,” “Black Swan,” “True Grit” picked by cinematographers

TrendPK.com: The American Society of Cinematographers announced its nominees for its annual awards.

Often an accurate predictor for the five reserved Oscar slots, the ASC this year went with:

- Black Swan (Matthew Libatique)
- Inception (Wally Pfister)
- The King’s Speech (Danny Cohen)
- The Social Network (Jeff Cronenweth)
- True Grit (Roger Deakins)

Last year, four of the five ASC nominees ended up scoring Oscar nominations.

We’ll know if these five make the cut when the Academy Award nominations are revealed on Tuesday, Jan. 25.

Film directors pick nominees for best movie

LOS ANGELES: Hollywood’s Oscar race narrowed further on Monday when a key directors’ group picked their top five movies and filmmakers, including David Fincher with his Facebook film “The Social Network.”

The Directors Guild of America, which represents men and women who make movies, also put the makers of “Black Swan,” “The King’s Speech,” “The Fighter” and “Inception” on its list of nominees for best directing efforts of 2010.

“Their inspired films radiate the passion and unique vision of each of these filmmakers, who are about to become part of our Guild’s rich history. My sincerest congratulations to all five nominees,” DGA president Taylor Hackford said in a statement, noting 2011 marks the group’s 75th anniversary.

The DGA honor is important because it is one of the most prestigious honors in the U.S. film industry, and because there is a strong correlation between DGA nominees and directors who will vie for Oscars, the world’s top movie honors.

In all but six years since the DGA began giving out awards in 1948, its winner of best director has won the Academy Award, and traditionally the winner of best director has often seen his or her film go on to take best movie from Oscar organizers at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Last year’s DGA winner, Kathryn Bigelow with “The Hurt Locker,” for instance, also claimed the best director Oscar and her Iraq war film took home best motion picture.

“The Social Network,” a fast-paced movie that tells of the founding of website Facebook, already has been named best movie by numerous U.S. critics groups and on Saturday, the National Society of Film Critics also named it the No. 1 film.

Numerous other groups have made their choices, and still others like the Hollywood Foreign Press Association with its Golden Globe Awards and the Screen Actors Guild will name their winners later this month. Taken together, the critics and industry groups help narrow pundits’ picks for Oscars.

Fincher and his movie face strong competition from drama “Black Swan,” directed by Darren Aronofsky and telling of a woman on a journey of self-discovery through her dancing.

Director Tom Hooper’s “The King Speech,” a period drama detailing how Britain’s King George VI worked to overcome his stammering, has strong support among Oscar pundits.

Boxing film “The Fighter,” from David O. Russell, also figures prominently in the awards sweepstakes, and the DGA’s fifth nominee, Christopher Nolan and thriller “Inception,” has a loyal fan base owing to his mega-hit Batman movies.

The DGA gives out its awards on Jan. 29. Oscar nominees are named on Jan. 25, and their ceremony takes place on Feb. 27.

Film producers, writers solidify Oscar race

LOS ANGELES: Film producers and writers on Tuesday jumped into Hollywood”s Oscar race with their choices of 2010”s best movies, including “The Social Network,” “The Fighter” and “Black Swan,” among others.

The Producers Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America, which represent their respective groups in the film and television industries, annually issue lists of best movies, and their picks are closely watched in the race for Oscars.

Joining the three movies above on the Producers Guild list were seven other films that have received praise from critics and industry groups. Those titles include “The King”s Speech,” “127 Hours,” “Inception,” “The Kids Are All Right,” “The Town,” “Toy Story 3,” and “True Grit.”

The writers divide their top 10 into two groups, best original screenplay and best adapted screenplay.

Boxing film “The Fighter” made the list of five movies that will vie for original screenplay, along with ballerina story “Black Swan,” family comedy “The Kids Are All Right,” and dramas “Inception” and “Please Give.”

Facebook film “Social Network,” adventure “127 Hours,” crime drama “The Town,” western “True Grit” and independent movie “I Love You Phillip Morris” made the group of five competing for best adapted screenplay.

Absent from the writer”s list was “King”s Speech,” a drama about the stammering British King George VI that has made several best movie lists among critics.

Hollywood is counting the days until the February 27 Oscars, the industry”s biggest movie awards held in Los Angeles and given out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Producers Guild and other industry honors can offer a guidepost for Oscar chances because many members of the PGA and WGA also belong to the Academy, whose members cast votes for the Oscars. Moreover, industry group and critics” lists also give a lift to movie theater ticket sales.

The PGA also nominates films for best documentary, and those choices include “Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer,” about the former New York governor”s hiring of prostitutes, Rwandan genocide tale “Earth Made of Glass,” as well as “Inside Job” that aims to explain the banking crisis.

“Smash His Camera” about celebrity-chasing photographer Ron Galella, “The Tillman Story,” that examines the death of U.S. football star-turned soldier Pat Tillman in Afghanistan and “Waiting for Superman,” that details the failures of the U.S. educational system, rounded out the documentary nominees.

The honor for best-produced animated movie puts “Despicable Me,” up against “How To Train Your Dragon,” and “Toy Story 3.”

The Writers Guild picked six films for best documentary but only one, “Inside Job,” is shared with the producers. The writers other documentary nominees were: “Who is Harry Nilsson (And Why is Everybody Talkin” About Him)?” “Freedom Riders,” “Enemies of the People,” “Gasland,” “The Two Escobars.”

The producers also unveiled TV nominees, and in the category for best TV drama, “Breaking Bad,” will compete against “Dexter,” “Lost,” “Mad Men,” and “True Blood.” Nominees for TV comedy went to the producers of “30 Rock,” Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Glee,” “Modern Family,” and “The Office.”

Back in December, the writers unveiled their TV picks.

The PGA hands out its honor at a gala ceremony in Los Angeles on January 22, and the WGA has its awards dinner on February 5. Oscar nominees will be named on January 25, and the top awards will be given out on February 27.

A Playground for every child in Pakistan

Pakistan is undergoing the largest wave of urban growth in its history.

Historically, cities have been the driving force in economic and social development. During the last half a century the population of Pakistan has grown about three, but urban Pakistan has grown by nearly six times, double the rate of population growth. In particular with the robust economic growth averaging 7 percent and availability of millions of new jobs created between 2000 and 2008, there has been rapidly increased rural to urban migration in Pakistan to fill the jobs in growing manufacturing and service sectors. The level of urbanization in Pakistan is now the highest in South Asia which was 36% in 2008. With over 5 million rural migrants each year, the population of Pakistani cities in exploding, and Karachi has now become the world’s largest city.

The increasing urbanization is causing problems for the social services in Pakistan, and has lead to rising of urban poverty. The illusion of plentiful and better job opportunities and a better quality of life is often shattered when people from rural areas move to urban cities and towns. However, some outcomes are severe strains on housing and health, water supplies as well as on the necessary environment management. The worst incidence of urban poverty can be spotted in large towns and cities. Poverty is now growing faster in urban than in rural areas. Millions of people live in urban slums, which are typically overcrowded, polluted and dangerous, and lack basic services such as clean water and sanitation. Urban air quality has deteriorated largely on account of growth in industrial activity, transportation needs and energy production. The growing demand of water, along with poor water resource management and mounting pollution levels contributes to water supply problems in and around cities. As number of people in urban area increases, so does the demand for food and hence for irrigation in agricultural areas close to cities.

In principle, cities offer a more favorable setting for the resolution of social and environmental problems than rural areas. Urbanization is associated with higher incomes, improved health, higher literacy, improved quality of life and other benefits. Cities generate jobs and income. With good governance, they can deliver education, health care and other services more efficiently than less densely settled areas simply because of their advantages of scale and proximity. While mega-cities have captured much public attention, most of the new growth will occur in smaller towns and cities, which have fewer resources to respond to the magnitude of the change. Often people who leave the countryside to find better lives in the city have no choice but to settle in shantytowns and slums, where they lack access to decent housing and sanitation, health care and education—in effect, trading in rural for urban poverty. The result is in terms of poor quality housing, lack of water supply and sanitation facility and lack of proper waste disposal facility leading to spread of communicable diseases.

This trend has made farm lands in urban areas to be used for residential purposes resulting to constantly shrinking of agriculture lands in Pakistan has become a cause of concern to farmers of the country as well as for other physical infrastructure development. Farm lands have been reduced in the wake of rapid population growth resulting mainly from immigration. The farmers fear that the growing trend of private builders purchasing the agricultural land for building residential colonies, complexes would lead to devastating situation of food crisis in coming years. The increased in population is also accompanied by a corresponding increase in the amount of waste generated in the form of sewage and solid waste which, if properly managed or disposed can create serious health and environment problems. If government agencies will not pay attention to this problem, then it is possible that in years to come, sufficient land might not be available for our next generation.

The most effective way to slow rates of urban growth is to reduce unwanted fertility in both rural and urban areas. Lowering poverty, empowering women and providing quality reproductive health services all influence fertility preferences and ability to meet them. Improving access to basic social and health services, including reproductive health care, for poor people in urban slums is also critical to breaking the cycle of poverty.
There is a need for the policy makers and planners to revisit the urban situation across the upland settlements of the country. The medium and small towns are expanding with appreciable pace in an unorganized manner. They need appropriate planning and policy intervention to accommodate the rising urban population.

Vast majority of people in rural Pakistan still depend on agriculture, for their livelihood. it is also the area with the most unemployment, underemployment, and poverty. No doubt, villages are in a state of neglect and under-development, with impoverished people, as result of past legacies and defects in our planning process and investment pattern. But the potential in rural Pakistan is immense. What if every village in the country is provided with basic amenities, like drinking water, electricity, health care, educational transport, communication and other facilities, with only a smaller population of the village engaged in agriculture and the remaining in other gainful occupations? When this happens Pakistan will turn into mighty country. The purchasing power of the rural population throwing enormous demand for goods and services will boost the national economy tremendously. The day will see the reverse migration of people from the urban slums back to the villages.

Next Page »