New Wonder Woman Costume Revealed

It’s been said that Wonder Woman is the most popular super-hero no one seems to like very much, although that hasn’t stopped David E. Kelly’s plans to remake the 70’s hit TV Show. The new Wonder Woman will be played by Adrianne Palicki and now her new costume has finally been revealed but there has been very mixed reviews to her new look.

The new makeover for Wonder Woman is more or less in line with the new look that DC Comics gave her last year, in fact it was the first real makeover for Wonder Woman in 69 years! In the words of her latest writer at DC comics, J. Michael Straczynski;

“She’s been locked into pretty much the exact same outfit since her debut in 1941″ – “What woman only wears only one outfit for 60-plus years?”

Gone are the star-spangled spandex knickers, her new image for TV has made much more use of latex compared to DC Comics makeover from last year. Love it or hate it, we really need to see how Adrianne Palicki can pull off the look in action.

Oscars telecast to undergo dramatic change

LOS ANGELES: The Oscars are entering the world of virtual reality.

This year’s Academy Awards telecast is taking a radical departure from past years. Producers of the February 27 show are abandoning the concept of a traditional set. Instead, they will rely on a series of “projections” to give the show a constantly changing look.

“Our design this year is actually going to reflect more content than you would usually expect of an awards show of this type,” producer Don Mischer told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview with fellow producer Bruce Cohen in the Kodak Theater. “We’re using our environment to take us to different places, different times, and it will change dramatically. The look will change from act to act.”

Producers plan to take viewers on a trip through Hollywood history.

“We’re doing six or seven scenic transitions during the show, but they are each sort of a different concept,” Cohen explained. “In other words, one might be a scene from a film, one might be a more specific time in history, one might be a specific event, one might be a specific genre. The hope is that we briefly leave the Kodak in 2011 — not literally, but metaphorically — and take the audience, both in the room and on television, to a specific time and place.”

Pressed for more detail, Cohen added, “This is the tenth anniversary of the best animated feature Oscar, so we go to an animated environment to present that Oscar — actually two, animated feature and animated short — but the reason we are there is to celebrate that this is the tenth anniversary of the best animated feature Oscar.”

The transitions, Mischer explained, will not be long segments, but 30-45 second set-ups. “We are not going back to teach history, but to put the awards in context.”

The design scheme grew out of the theme that the two producers devised once they began working on the show back in June. In an extensive review of past broadcasts, they were struck by the two-fold nature of the assignment. On the one hand, they have to come up with something new and different. On the other, they wanted to recognize the previous 82 years of Oscar history.

“Is there any way to approach the show where those two ideas are working together and not fighting each other with every single decision?” they asked themselves. The solution, they decided, was somehow to combine the old and the new.

To that end, they cast Anne Hathaway and James Franco — two of the youngest hosts to ever front the Oscars — as audience surrogates for the journey.

“Yes, they are famous, but they are on their way up,” Cohen said of the two stars. “They are not untouchable, they are not unreachable. We hope they will offer a way in. So everyone come along, and we’ll see through the eyes of these two up-and-coming stars.”

The hosts’ job, he said, will be “to take the audience on this journey of a show that will hopefully start in one place, and if it all goes according to plan, it will take you back to where we started at the end.”

To realize that on stage visually, the producers have been working with production designer Steve Bass, who’s previously worked with Mischer on such shows as the “62nd Primetime Emmy Awards” and “We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial.”

While the production has moved into the Kodak to set up the show, it’s been using the daytime hours to hang the physical scenery on which the projections will be displayed, and then during the night another team has been programing the projections. Working throughout this weekend, the goal is to have the whole system up-and-running by Monday. AGENCIES

Christina Aguilera’s Super Bowl Performance

Christina Aguilera has spoken out about her performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Sundays Super Bowl in Arlington, Texas. She repeated a line and also fumbled a few other words of the Anthem. Christina has made a statement to the Associated Press.

“I got so caught up in the moment of the song that I lost my place,” Christina also said in her statement “I can only hope that everyone could feel my love for this country and that the true spirit of it’s sic anthem still came through.”

Overall, it was a spectacular evening’s entertainment and the much anticipated break time commercials didn’t disappoint either. A commercial for Best Buy featured the unlikely pairing of Justin Bieber and Ozzy Osbourne. But let’s not forget what the night really was all about. This year the Super Bowl was won by the Green Bay Packers.

Celebrity resolutions revealed

Every year, people around the world resolve to improve their lives and reform bad habits as the New Year rolls in.

The ensuing 365 days yield varying degrees of success; some achieve their goals, some falter, while others can’t even recall what their resolutions were to being with. Famous people are no different. We asked celebrities about their resolutions for 2010 and whether they were able to accomplish their goals, and what they have resolved for 2011. Some said they don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions; here’s what the others had to say:

Annie Khalid – Singer : Family comes first

2010: My New Year’s resolution for 2010…I can’t even remember what it was! I’m a bit of a procrastinator so I always start something and never finish it off.

2011: I have some really simple New Year’s resolutions. One of them is to take my brother on a holiday; I planned it last year but couldn’t do it simply because I was so tied up with many different things. My 19-year-old brother is the love of my life, I love him to death and I just want to spend some time with him because I hardly get to see him. This year I want to take him somewhere really fantastic so that’s definitely something I want to do. Also want to stay fit and spend as much time with my mum and dad.

Hammad Khan – Director : Grow bigger and better

2010: I made a resolution to complete my first film and get it out into the world. I am grateful that I achieved that goal.

2011: To grow as a human being and a filmmaker by breaking free of the comfort zones of the mind and heart. In other words, to embark on the second journey.

Natasha Saleem – vj/actress : Learn and travel

2010: I don’t think I made one. I was too busy feeling happy and grateful.

2011: To learn a foreign language and then travel to that country, or vice versa; I’m not picky that way.

Sajid Ghafoor – musician : Going with the flow

2010: My New Year’s resolution for 2010 was not to have any resolution and just to go with the flow of things and see how it works.

2011: For this year I plan to change a few things I am not happy with and leave the rest as it is. Going with the flow certainly did help. Happy New Year to everyone reading this!

Juggan Kazim – model/actress : Get more sleep!

2010: My resolution for the year 2010 was to work harder and get myself to a place where I can make a decent amount of money without much work. I believe I have achieved my goal for 2010.

2011: I would like to get more sleep. Between my son and work, I have no time to breathe. I want to get ample sleep so I can feel like a human being again.

Ayesha Toor – model, actress : Wants to be a millionaire!

2010: I planned to be a multi-billionaire, but I didn’t do anything to achieve it.

2011: This time I want to be a millionaire at least, but haven’t set any goals yet for achieving it.

Abbas Ali Khan – musician : Fight against fears

2010: I did not have any resolutions for 2010.

2011: I will fight my fears, get in the music scene again, grow my animation studio and be optimistic.

Sanam Agha – Fashion designer : All work and no play

2010: I did accomplish my goals for 2010, which was to launch in Karachi, Islamabad, and Lahore and also in one international city, which was New York.

2011: Work wise, for 2011 I’m looking forward to the Islamabad Fashion Week and intend to supply to other stores abroad. I am also working on opening up a flagship store in Karachi, Inshallah.

Mustafa Zahid – musician : Make friends quit bad habits

2010: I made a resolution in 2010 that I will always be honest about my relationships because a lot of my friends felt that I wasn’t being honest, and I accomplished it.

2011: I will make my friends quit smoking cigarettes and sheesha, in contrast to what they made me do last year.

Sana Mir – cricketer : I’ll get more active

2010: My resolution for the year 2010 was to focus on what I can do rather than what others are doing.

2011: I would like to continue the last one with an addition; to be more active and organised and not procrastinate.

Vashu Bhagnani to get international dancers for Faltu

The name of Vashu Bhagnani is surely counted amongst the veterans in business today. That’s why it’s no surprise that he is going all out to promote his darling son’s film Faltu. In other words, he is leaving no stone unturned to ensure the film’s standing at the box-office.

The latest buzz is that Vashu will be calling an ‘A’ rated dance group, all the way from Washington D.C., to perform for the climax of the film. Reports have it that the said group consists of around 30 odd dancers, who will be in the country till 21st of this month. Confirming the news, Vashu told Bollywood Hungama “Yes, it’s true we are getting an international dance troupe for the film. Right now, we are starting the visa process, besides, considering that Remo is the director; he is planning a very exciting and fantastic climax for the film with these dancers.”

The film, that’s being directed by dance director Remo D’Souza, will be released just after the World Cup is over, which means, somewhere in April next year. Talk about being the advantages of being a star-son!

Rani’s gaalis might just create trouble for Jessica at the censor board

There’s trouble ahead for the much talked-about real-life drama No One Killed Jessica. Rani’s character of an intrepid investigative journalist chain smokes and mouths gaalis non-stop. In the trailer, Rani’s shocking use of the term ‘g..nd phat jaati’ has been managed with a beep. But if the film’s makers get down to deleting every expletive Rani’s character utters there would be huge gaps in her dialogue.
According to sources, Rani’s character’s flow of profanities is so non-stop that if the censor board decided to beep her gaalis, Rani’s dialogue soundtrack would have more beeps than words.
Laughs and protests director Rajkumar Gupta, “It’ not that bad, really. You are making it sound like a non-stop abuse binge. My film is not that. But yes, Rani’s character is very brutal and graphic in her speech. I don’t know if, as you say. Rani is the same way in real life. I didn’t know her before I shot with her. But she was thoroughly professional in mouthing squirmy words.”
While in real life Rani Mukerji is very comfortable using the ‘F’ word and ‘G’ word in English and Hindi, her co-star Vidya Balan in No One Killed Jessica is not quite the type who will mouth maa-bahen galis at the drop of an oath, no matter what the provocation. Not that Vidya is a prude. But she does mind her language. Rani is just the opposite and it shows on screen.
Now the question looming over No One Killed Jessica is, would the censor board allow Rani’s character to speak her mind so graphically? The censors are known to clamp down heavily on lurid language unless it is in a Vishal Bhardwaj film. Paradoxically, Vishal’s rustic characters are allowed to mouth maa-bahen gaalis. Jessica producers – UTV who co-produced Bharadwaj’s Kaminey are hoping that the same language in an urban context is permissible.
Says Rajkumar Gupta, “We voluntarily beeped out Rani’s expletive in the trailer because it was to be screened on the home-viewing medium. But now when we submit the film for censorship, we will go with the entire language content intact hoping the censor board would see the context and not just the hard-hitting nature of the language.”
While Rani Mukerji is said to be gung-ho about the language, Vidya Balan is apparently dreading how the dialogues would sound in a pindrop-silent theatre with dolby sound.
Says the director, “Let’s just say, both Rani and Vidya said what they had to. They were thorough professionals.”
Another area of discomfort for this controversial film would be the legal ramifications of showing real-life people, particularly the hostile witnesses in the real-life Jessica Lal murder case. Apparently, some of the key witnesses are already inquiring about the content and getting ready for legal action.
Says Rajkumar Gupta, “We’re ready for any eventuality. I made the film the way I wanted to as a mix of realism and cinematic entertainment. No One Killed Jessica is not a documentary on the Jessica Lal case. But it is about her sister’s fight for justice. And if the real-life characters recognize themselves they are welcome to react how they want.”
Or else Rani will let loose a volley of the choicest.
Laughs Gupta, “We are hoping for a U/A (parental guidance) certificate. But even if we get an Adults certificate we’re okay with it.”

TMK in censor trouble; gets U/A certificate

These days it seems as thought the censor board has decided to toughen up on films. Just recently films like Aakrosh and Crook ran into problems with the censor board. This time it’s the much talked about, Akshay-Katrina starrer Tees Maar Khan that has hit troubled waters.

Bollywood Hungama has learnt that the censor board recommended certain cuts in the film to grant it a U certificate. Further it is learnt that the word ‘Sheila’ was asked to be removed from the song ‘Sheila Ki Jawani’. Some of the other cuts involved scenes where Katrina Kaif’s naval was visible.

Apart from these, the board even asked for the phrase ‘Maa Ki Aankh’ to be removed, as well as some other words like tawaif, etc. were also asked to be removed. Director Farah Khan did not accept these cuts and took the film to the revising committee in Delhi.

Post the censor board ruling, Farah Khan and Shirish Kunder approached the revising committee to get the certificate for the film. Contrary to the cuts requested for by the censor board, the revising committee passed the film without much debate.

The committee of seven members who saw the film on Thursday differed from the board finding nothing so momentous in the film to warrant 18 cuts. The film was passed with only a couple of cuts and a passing certificate will be issued to the film early next week.

Plot through the WikiLeaks

New technology is being utilized by the new warriors to carry out all forms of financial, network and especially media attacks. Most of these attacks are of non-military-types, yet they can be completely viewed as equal to warfare actions. In other words, bloody warfare has been replaced by bloodless warfare as much as possible. In this regard, cyber warfare is the most important domain of the modern wars.

Judging in these terms, release of the new secret documents which have targeted Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Syria including some other Islamic countries in general and Pakistan in particular are the plot of their collective enemies through WikiLeaks.

In its surprising revelations, the Wikileaks have disclosed that the SaudiArabia’s King Abdullah had made scathing remarks about the leadership of Pakistan, calling President Asif Ali Zardari as the greatest obstacle to Pakistan’s progress, and have also called Pakistan’s politician of the opposition, Nawaz Sharif as a dangerous man.

Showing Saudi Arabia’s anxiety over Iran ’s nuclear programme, the US embassy cables have disclosed that on 29 Nov 2010, the King of the Saudi Arabia had urged the US to attack and destroy the Iranian nuclear sites. Several Arab leaders and their representatives are also quoted as urging the US to carry out an attack on Iran.

The cables indicate that in July 2008, Egyptian President Mubarak called Iranians “big fat liars” and remarked that they sponsor terrorism everywhere. According to the cables, in Oct 2008, Iran used the Iranian Red Crescent (IRC) to smuggle agents and weapons into other countries. The IRC facilitated the entry of Qods force officers to Lebanon during the Israel-Hezbollah war in summer 2006, while in March 2009, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed (MbZ) expressed his grave concerns about the Iranian threat to the region. And in June 2009, Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s administration was blamed for pursuing provocative anti-Sunni practices—harassment of Sunni clergy and congregations including raids on Sunni mosques and other “arrogant” crackdowns.

According to one of the leaked cables, in April 2006, the leadership of the United Arab Emirates considered Hamas a terrorist organization and would not fund Hamas unless they denounce violence and accepted Israel. Another document points outs that in March 2009, Syrian head, Assad hided the Palestinians when asked about human rights violations in Syria.

Regarding Turkey, the document of the web revealed that in January 2010, US Embassy claimed that Turkey was becoming more focused on the Islamic World and its Muslim tradition in its foreign policy.

As regards Pakistan, the WikiLeaks cables show US concern over the safety of nuclear weapons and radioactive material in nuclear power stations of the country, with fears that the same could be used in terror attacks. In this respect, in a May 2009 cable, US ambassador Anne W Patterson said that Pakistan had refused a visit from US experts.

No doubt, Pakistan is the special target of the documents of the WikiLeaks which accused that in a March 12, 2009 cable by the former US ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson stated that the head of the army, General Ashfaq Kayani, considered pushing Zardari from office and forcing him into exile to resolve a political dispute. She aslo alleged that Pakistan continues to support the militant group which carried out the 2008 terrorist attacks on Mumbai despite its claims to have launched a crackdown on the organisation.

Following the continued blame game of the US high officials and media, the leaked cables incdicated that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) is behind Lashkar-e-Taiba which had killed 166 people in a series of attacks in Mumbai. In this context, the contradiction of the WikiLeaks is also notable. As it also mentioned that the Chief of Pakistan’s ISI, Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha said that he had conveyed to Washington—threat information that an attack would be launched against India between September-November, 2009 and he had been in direct touch with the Israelis on possible threats against Israeli targets in India.

However, the secret US Embassy cables are now available on WikiLeaks , while the debate goes on about the legitimacy of the leaks.

Various questions arise regarding the aims and authenticity of the disclosures of the secret diplomatic documents of the WikiLeaks. Moreover, it is also notable that who are behind the revelations of this website.

In this connection, it is mentionable that by following the old western policy of “divide and rule”, the foremost purpose of the disclosures of the WikiLeaks is to create a rift among the Islamic countries and to further accelerate their sectarian differences not only against each other, but also inside their concerned countries which are most volatile to this plot.

In this respect, secret agencies such as American CIA, Indian RAW and Israeli Mossad are behind the revelations of the WikiLeaks as part of a plot, while both India and Israel have still a secret collusion and are acting upon a secret diplomacy. Although whole of the Islamic world is target of Indo-Israeli secret collusion, yet the same has intensified in case of Pakistan and Iran. In this regard, US-led some western countries have also been supporting the Indo-Israeli nexus overtly or covertly.

It is worth-mentioning that documents of the WikiLeaks have given only a little bit coverage to the Indian atrocities in the occupied Kashmir, while the same are silent over Israeli brutal treatment and use of chemical weapons in the controlled territories of the Palestine.

The leaked cables have directly or indirectly favoured India because of the fact America has its political and economic interests in that country which serves as the largest market. And the US has its strategic interests in the region, while New Delhi is its main ally to counterbalance China in Asia. In this respect, US, India and Israeli want to ‘denuclearise’ and ‘destablise’ Pakistan which is the only nuclear Islamic country. It is owing to these collective interests that like his predecessor, President Bush, Obama neglects Hindu terrorism which has now become a dangerous reality. Nevertheless, misdeeds of Hindu fundamentalist parties like the BJP, RSS, VHP, Shiv Sina and Bajrang Dal which have also intensified anti-Christian and anti-Muslim bloodshed with the dissemination of Hindutva (Hindu nationalism) have been ignored by the WikiLeaks.

It is of particular attention that the documents of the WikiLeaks have also neglected Indian secret activities in Afghanistan from where well-trained militants are being sent to Pakistan in order to attack the security personnel, and to commit suicide attacks, while supporting the separatists of Balochistan. In this regard, while preferring New Delhi over Islamabad, the secret cables pointed out that US special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke had told Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao that Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari’s government was weakening. During a meeting, Rao described the Indian effort in Afghanistan, saying it was focused on strengthening governance by building Afghan capacities and that the Indian engagement is transparent, while Holbrooke also pledged transparency with India on America’s activities in Afghanistan.

Besides other leaders, Pakistan’s former Army Chief Gen (Retd) Mirza Aslam Baig has termed the WikiLeaks report a conspiracy to sabotage relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, adding that US is included in this plot and the report is part of its psychological war. He further explained that US was now giving importance to India by ignoring Pakistan—he had stated 3 years earlier that CIA and Mossad were jointly launching campaign to weaken Pakistan.

In fact, Indian RAW and Israeli Mossad with the help of American CIA and strong Indo-Israeli lobbies are working in the US and other European countries against the interests of the Islamic countries—particularly Pakistan. They are well-penetrated especially in the US administration. They have played a key role in preparing and publishing the US embassy cables, especially to malign Pakistan including other Islamic countries and to intensify their blame game against ISI.

Four killed over mosque issue in Lahore

Staff Report

LAHORE: Four people of a family have been killed when two men clashed with their relative on collecting charity for a mosque Sunday.

Police have nabbed five men after the tragedy.

According to the details, Tanveer and Rasheed, in Harbans Pura went to the house of their relative collecting the fund for a mosque but the clash erupted after exchanging the words. Two people died on the spot and two others wounded when firing was started. Both injured succumbed to their injuries in the hospital.

Tanveer her wife and Liaquat and Shafqat have been killed. Trend Pk

Orakzai: Window on Pakistan’s war against militancy

ORAKZAIAGENCY: Seven months after launching an air and ground offensive against the Taliban in Orakzai, Pakistani generals say the mountain district outside direct government control is “90 percent” clear.

In other words, most of the job is done. Except that in June, the military announced that major combat operations were over even though clashes continued.

And the generals admit that despite their apparent success in ridding the area of insurgents, Taliban leaders have fled into neighbouring districts.

The challenge in Orakzaki, just one of seven lawless tribal districts on the Afghan border, shows the enormity of the task facing Pakistan as it bids to stamp out the menace of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militancy.

It is one of the reasons the United States last week offered Islamabad two billion dollars of fresh military aid, subject to

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