German film 'The White Band' nominated for two Oscars

German film Das weiße Band, or “The White Band,” has been nominated for two Oscars in 2010, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed on Tuesday.

The black and white film by Austrian director Michael Haneke will compete for the Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography awards at the March 7 ceremony.

For the first award it will go up against Israeli film “Ajami,” Argentina’s “El Secreto de Sus Ojos,” Peru’s Berlinale winner “The Milk of Sorrow,” and France’s “Un Prophète”.

Christian Berger’s work as cinematographer will compete against blockbusters “Avatar,” “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” “The Hurt Locker,” and Quentin Tarantino’s Nazi revenge film “Inglourious Basterds”.

Set in a northern German protestant village in 1913-14, the dark drama explores mysterious accidents and brutal events that befall townspeople just before the start of World War I. It has already been awarded the renowned Palme d'Or award at the 2009 Cannes International Film Festival and a 2010 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. 

The €12-million film was co-produced by Berlin’s X-Filme, and producer Stefan Arndt said he had only allowed himself to “dream of being nominated into the illustrious circle of the Oscar nominees”.

DDP

The Local | Germany

CSA addresses worldwide challenges at Brookings Institution

By J.D. Leipold

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Feb. 1, 2010) -- Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr. said as the Army looks to the future, his two key concerns are weapons of mass destruction in the hands of terrorists and countries that won't deny safe havens to those terrorists.

Reiterating what he had stated in 2007 at the Brookings Institution, Casey returned to one of the country's oldest think tanks Jan. 29 to give an assessment of the present and future of the Army, adding that Iraq and Afghanistan were foreshadows to the future nature of conflict.

"We are in for a decade or so of what I call persistent conflict, a period of protracted confrontation among state, non-state and individual actors who are increasingly willing to use violence to accomplish their political and ideological objectives," he said. "That's what I said back in 2007, and that's what I still believe today".

He said the Army had been taking hard looks at what it thinks the character of war is going to be in the second decade of the 21st century. Casey cited a study of the conflict in southern Lebanon in 2006 where a non-state actor, Hezbollah, had the instruments of state power because they were supported by Iran and Syria which were able to provide them with surface-to-air, anti-tank and cruise missiles. 

"They had secure cell phones, used secure computers for command and control and got their message out on local television, and about 3,000 Hezbollah operatives basically held off 30,000 well-armed, well-equipped Israeli soldiers," Casey said. "That's a much more complex struggle even than what we're doing in Iraq and Afghanistan, so we're continuing to refine our thoughts on that".

"This is a long-term ideological struggle and it's not one that we can walk away from," he said. "As we look at the trends that we see in the international environment, it seems to us that those trends are more likely to exacerbate".

Casey also said he had four imperatives he felt the Army needed to do to hold the force together and to bring it into a position of balance by 2011.

First, is to sustain Soldiers and families with a particular focus on mid-level officers and noncommissioned officers which he said take 10 years to grow.

Secondly, is to continue preparing and equipping Soldiers for the current conflict - something he felt the Army had made great strides in since the early years in Iraq when it took an excessive amount of time to get up-armored Humvees into country. He said delivery of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles into Afghanistan took about nine months, so "we're getting better at that".

As his third priority, Casey is concentrating on expanding the reset period for Soldiers and equipment. He said 12 months of dwell time isn't enough for Soldiers or equipment to recover fully. He said the Army had recently completed a study to that effect.

"For the first time, we have scientific data that showed that after a 12-month combat deployment, it takes 24 to 36 months actually to recover stress levels to what they called 'normal garrison' stress levels," Casey said.

He said the one-year-out, one-year-back deployment/dwell scenario was not sustainable and that the Army would continue to work toward a one-year-out, two-year-back cycle for the active force and a one-year-out to four-year-back cycle for the National Guard and Reserve. The long-term objective would be one year out, three years back for the active Army; one year out and five years back for the Guard and Reserve.

"Lastly, we have to continue to transform. You don't stay at war for as long as we've been at war without figuring out better and smarter ways to do things," he said. "I can actually see the completion of the objectives we set for ourselves to get back in balance".

U.S. Army

Apple iPad May Ship with Webcam

By Charlie Sorrel

Close scrutiny of the iPad which Steve Jobs presented at Apple’s special event last week shows what may be webcam, tucked away in the black screen bezel just like it is on the MacBook Pro.

A screen-grab from the official video of the event shows nothing but a small dot above the screen, opposite the home button. Taken alone, this isn’t much, but compare this with the picture of the iPad leaked just hours before the event (below). If you remember, these showed an iPad locked down in a security frame, and you could clearly see the camera in the bezel. I even pointed out the cutout in the frame that let us see the webcam.

Still not convinced? What about this screenshot from the iPad emulator in the new SDK (software development kit)?

That sure looks like the iPad thinks it has a camera. Up until now, this is what any good TV lawyer would call circumstantial evidence. The last, and oddest, piece of the puzzle comes from Mac and iPod repair company Mission Repair. The company has, somewhat strangely, already received replacement parts for fixing iPads. On the company’s blog, employee Ryan Arter has posted pictures which show a spot for a camera in the main iPad frame:

This is accompanied by a shot of the frame alongside the camera from a MacBook. It’s a perfect fit. The only thing that seems weird on this last point is that Apple is already sending out parts. Why so soon?

So why didn’t Steve Jobs announce the camera already? Perhaps the hardware is there, but asI previously wrote, Apple is leaving it out to meet the rather severe price restrictions it has set for the product line. Jobs was most likely using a prototype on stage, just like he did when the iPhone was first revealed. A prototype would be likely to have the camera intact.

Even if these clues all add up, we’d guess that the first generation iPad will still ship without a camera. After all, did all the reporters who got hands-on time with the iPad after the launch really all miss an iSight camera? We doubt it. And remember the third-gen iPod Touch, which was expected to have a camera and then shipped without it, but with a camera-shaped hole inside.

Perhaps Apple will pull a “one more thing” closer to the launch date, or perhaps not. One thing we do know for sure, though: camera or not, there one thing that Apple will certainly not be adding to the iPad: Flash.

Did Steve Jobs’ iPad Have An iSight Camera? [Cult of Mac]

Top photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

iPad Camera rumor becoming a reality? We think so [Mission Repair]

Wired

Ford sales surge, focus on Toyota crisis

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co said on Tuesday its U.S. sales rose 24 percent in January, a month when the industry was rocked by Toyota Motor Corp's massive recall of some of its top-selling vehicles.

Ford, the first of the major automakers to report U.S. sales, said its sales of cars and light trucks to fleet customers including rental car companies had more than doubled from a year earlier.

Retail sales through Ford showrooms were down 5 percent from a year earlier, in line with what analysts and executives have said was a slow month for an industry still facing an unsteady recovery.

Along with General Motors Co and Hyundai Motor Co, Ford took aim at Toyota customers with new incentive offers at the end of January when the Japanese automaker's sales went into a steep decline.

Toyota is expected to post a sharp drop in its own sales for January after it shut down sales of its most popular vehicles, including North American-built Camrys and Corollas, amid a recall of 2.3 million vehicles tied to faulty accelerator pedals.

Analysts expect Toyota's woes to result in sales and market share increases by its largest competitors in the U.S. market as the focus shifts to how deeply the recall and related problems will cut into February sales.

Ford, now No. 3 in the U.S. market behind Toyota, said it estimated that its U.S. market share had ticked up to 16 percent in January.

Toyota had 17 percent share in 2009. Including all of its brands, GM remained No. 1 in the U.S. market with 20 percent share.

Toyota said on Monday it had begun shipping parts to fix potentially sticky accelerator pedals in recalled vehicles, but dealers cautioned it would take months to complete all of the repairs.

"Frankly, I think this is going to impact their entire quarter," said IHS Global Insight analyst Aaron Bragman. "It means opportunity for the rest of the industry. Toyota is wounded and rivals are going to go after it as much as they can."

Autoconomy analyst Erich Merkle believes Honda Motor Co Ltd may benefit the most from Toyota's crisis as American consumers most frequently cross-shop the two Japanese automakers. Ford and Hyundai also could be big beneficiaries, he said.

"This is particularly a bad time for Toyota because the industry will be picking up and now a lot of that benefit is going to go to the other competitors," said David Sargeant, vice president of automotive research at J.D.Power & Associates.

'FITS AND STARTS'

Analysts and industry executives expect sales of 10.5 million to 11 million units in January on an annualized basis across the industry, up from the 9.6 million rate a year earlier. Sales fell below the 10 million unit annualized rate in January 2009 for the first time since 1982 amid a deep economic downturn.

But the results are expected to be down from 11.2 million units in December, when automakers posted a 15 percent sales increase from the prior year, supported by year-end incentives that helped drive retail sales.

"This is probably not going to be the kind of recovery that is nice and linear," Ford sales analyst George Pipas said. "We're going to see fits and starts for the consumer."

January auto sales are traditionally a slow period for the industry. Analysts say retail sales across the industry fell back in the month from December when a number of year-end clearance sales were available and consumers were able to book a tax benefit by writing off sales tax.

The decline in retail sales in January was offset by a strong rebound in fleet sales, which were pummeled last year after financing dried up and businesses pulled back on spending in the wake of the U.S. banking bailout, automakers and analysts have said.

Reporting by David Bailey and Soyoung Kim, editing by Matthew Lewis

Reuters

Avatar bags nine Oscar nominations

Associated Press

The science-fiction sensation 'Avatar' and the Iraq war thriller 'The Hurt Locker' lead the Academy Awards with nine nominations each, including best picture and director for James Cameron and ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow.

For the first time since 1943 the Oscars feature 10 best-picture contenders instead of the usual five.

Also nominated for best-picture today were 'District 9'; the animated comedy 'Up'; the World War II saga 'Inglourious Basterds'; the football drama 'The Blind Side'; the recession tale 'Up in The Air,' the 1960s drama 'A Serious Man,' and the teen tales 'An Education' and 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' By Sapphire'.

Acting nominees include the four stars who have dominated early awards shows: lead players Sandra Bullock for the American football drama 'The Blind Side' and Jeff Bridges for the country-music tale 'Crazy Heart' and supporting performers Mo'Nique for 'Precious' and Austria's Christoph Waltz for 'Inglourious Basterds'.

The best-picture and director categories shape up as a showdown between ex-spouses who directed films that have dominated earlier Hollywood honours.

Cameron's 'Avatar' won best drama and director at the Golden Globes, while Bigelow's 'The Hurt Locker' beat out Cameron at the Directors Guild of America Awards, whose recipient usually goes on to earn the best-director Oscar.

'The Hurt Locker' also beat 'Avatar' for the Producers Guild of America top prize and was chosen as last year's best film by many key critics groups.

Bigelow, whose films include 'Point Break' and 'K19: The Widowmaker,' is only the fourth woman nominated for a directing Oscar, following Sofia Coppola for 2003's 'Lost in Translation,' New Zealand director Jane Campion for 1993's 'The Piano' and Italian director Lena Wertmuller for 1975's 'Seven Beauties'.

No woman has ever won the directing Oscar, and until Bigelow, no woman had ever won the Director's Guild honour.

Lee Daniels, who made 'Precious,' became only the second black filmmaker nominated for best director, after John Singleton for 1991's 'Boyz N the Hood'.

Also nominated for best director are Jason Reitman for 'Up in the Air' and Quentin Tarantino for 'Inglourious Basterds.' 'Up in the Air' co-writer Reitman also had a nomination for adapted screenplay, while Tarantino also earned a nomination for original screenplay.

Longtime audience darling Bullock has never been nominated for an Oscar before but is considered the best-actress front-runner, playing a wealthy woman who takes in homeless teen Michael Oher, now a star with the American football team Baltimore Ravens.

Bullock is up against past Oscar winners Meryl Streep as chef Julia Child in 'Julie & Julia' and Helen Mirren as Leo Tolstoy's bullheaded wife in 'The Last Station,' along with first-time nominees Carey Mulligan as a British teen involved with an older man in 'An Education' and Gabourey Sidibe as a Harlem teen overcoming horrible abuse and neglect in 'Precious'.

Sidibe made her screen debut in 'Precious,' earning an Oscar nomination for her first professional acting job.

Bridges, nominated four times previously without winning an Oscar, is viewed as the man to beat this time for his role as a boozy country singer trying to clean up his act in 'Crazy Heart'.

Also nominated for best actor are past Oscar winners George Clooney as a frequent-flyer junkie in 'Up in the Air' and Morgan Freeman as South African leader Nelson Mandela in 'Invictus,' Colin Firth as a grieving gay academic in 'A Single Man' and Jeremy Renner as a bomb disposal expert in Iran in 'The Hurt Locker'.

Mo'Nique and Waltz were nominated for wicked roles, she as a reprehensible welfare mother in 'Precious,' he as a gleefully garrulous Nazi in 'Inglourious Basterds.' They were breakout roles for both, Mo'Nique leaping into the awards elite after a career of mainly lowbrow comedy, Waltz making his first Hollywood splash after working mostly in theatre and television.

Also up for supporting actress are 'Up in the Air' co-stars Vera Farmiga as Clooney's frequent-flyer soul mate and Anna Kendrick as his reluctant business protege. The other nominations went to past Oscar winner Penelope Cruz as a filmmaker's needy mistress in the musical 'Nine' and Maggie Gyllenhaal as a single mother involved wit Bridges' character in 'Crazy Heart'.

Joining Waltz in the supporting-actor lineup are Matt Damon as a South African rugby player in 'Invictus,' Woody Harrelson as a military man giving bad news to next of kin in 'The Messenger,' Christopher Plummer as ageing author Tolstoy in 'The Last Station' and Stanley Tucci as a serial killer in 'The Lovely Bones'.

Complete list of 82nd Annual Academy Award nominations

1. Best Picture: 'Avatar,' 'The Blind Side,' 'District 9,' 'An Education,' 'The Hurt Locker,' 'Inglourious Basterds,' 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire,' 'A Serious Man,' 'Up,' 'Up in the Air'.

2. Actor: Jeff Bridges, 'Crazy Heart'; George Clooney, 'Up in the Air'; Colin Firth, 'A Single Man'; Morgan Freeman, 'Invictus'; Jeremy Renner, 'The Hurt Locker'.

3. Actress: Sandra Bullock, 'The Blind Side'; Helen Mirren, 'The Last Station'; Carey Mulligan, 'An Education'; Gabourey Sidibe, 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire'; Meryl Streep, 'Julie & Julia'.

4. Supporting Actor: Matt Damon, 'Invictus'; Woody Harrelson, 'The Messenger'; Christopher Plummer, 'The Last Station'; Stanley Tucci, 'The Lovely Bones'; Christoph Waltz, 'Inglourious Basterds'.

5. Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, 'Nine'; Vera Farmiga, 'Up in the Air'; Maggie Gyllenhaal, 'Crazy Heart'; Anna Kendrick, 'Up in the Air'; Mo'Nique, 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire'.

6. Directing: James Cameron, 'Avatar'; Kathryn Bigelow, 'The Hurt Locker'; Quentin Tarantino, 'Inglourious Basterds'; Lee Daniels, 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire'; Jason Reitman, 'Up in the Air'.

7. Foreign Language Film: 'Ajami,' Israel; 'El Secreto de Sus Ojos,' Argentina; 'The Milk of Sorrow,' Peru; 'Un Prophete,' France; 'The White Ribbon,' Germany.

8. Adapted Screenplay: Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, 'District 9'; Nick Hornby, 'An Education'; Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche, 'In the Loop'; Geoffrey Fletcher, 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire'; Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, 'Up in the Air'.

9. Original Screenplay: Mark Boal, 'The Hurt Locker'; Quentin Tarantino, 'Inglourious Basterds'; Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, 'The Messenger'; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, 'A Serious Man'; Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Tom McCarthy, 'Up'.

10. Animated Feature Film: 'Coraline'; 'Fantastic Mr. Fox'; 'The Princess and the Frog'; 'The Secret of Kells'; 'Up'.

11. Art Direction: 'Avatar,' 'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,' 'Nine,' 'Sherlock Holmes,' 'The Young Victoria.'

12. Cinematography: 'Avatar,' 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,' 'The Hurt Locker,' 'Inglourious Basterds,' 'The White Ribbon'.

13. Sound Mixing: 'Avatar,' 'The Hurt Locker,' 'Inglourious Basterds,' 'Star Trek,' 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'.

14. Sound Editing: 'Avatar,' 'The Hurt Locker,' 'Inglourious Basterds,' 'Star Trek,' 'Up'.

15. Original Score: 'Avatar,' James Horner; 'Fantastic Mr. Fox,' Alexandre Desplat; 'The Hurt Locker,' Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders; 'Sherlock Holmes,' Hans Zimmer; 'Up,' Michael Giacchino.

16. Original Song: 'Almost There' from 'The Princess and the Frog,' Randy Newman; 'Down in New Orleans' from 'The Princess and the Frog,' Randy Newman; 'Loin de Paname' from 'Paris 36,' Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas; 'Take It All' from 'Nine,' Maury Yeston; 'The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)' from 'Crazy Heart,' Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett.

17. Costume: 'Bright Star,' 'Coco Before Chanel,' 'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,' 'Nine,' 'The Young Victoria'.

18. Documentary Feature: 'Burma VJ,' 'The Cove,' 'Food, Inc.' 'The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers,' 'Which Way Home.'

19. Documentary (short subject): 'China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province,' 'The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner,' 'The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant,' 'Music by Prudence,' 'Rabbit a la Berlin'.

20. Film Editing: 'Avatar,' 'District 9,' 'The Hurt Locker,' 'Inglourious Basterds,' 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire'.

21. Makeup: 'Il Divo,' 'Star Trek,' 'The Young Victoria'.

22. Animated Short Film: 'French Roast,' 'Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty,' 'The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte),' 'Logorama,' 'A Matter of Loaf and Death'.

23. Live Action Short Film: 'The Door,' 'Instead of Abracadabra,' 'Kavi,' 'Miracle Fish,' 'The New Tenants'.

24. Visual Effects: 'Avatar,' 'District 9,' 'Star Trek'.

The Independent