Tag Archives: President
Aron Warner Hired as Reel FX’s President of Animation
Dallas-based animation and live-action studio Reel FX has announced that Aron Warner, the Oscar-winning producer the Shrek features has joined the company as president of animation. In addition to the Shrek trilogy, Warner’s many production credits include Antz, True Lies, Independence Days, Alien Resurrection, Volcano and Titanic.
Warner will oversee and expand Reel FX’s animation slate which already includes the day of the dead-themed project Book of Life (Guillermo del Toro producing/Jorge Gutierrez directing), which will be released in theaters by Fox Animation on October 10th, 2014, Turkeys (Jimmy Hayward directing) which will be released in theaters on November 14th, 2014 by Relativity Media and Beasts of Burden (Warner and Andrew Adamson producing).
Reel FX’s film slate follows almost 20 years of experience as an award-winning one-stop studio for animated content including films, special attraction/live venue projects and interactive projects for companies like Fox, Warner Bros. and Universal Studios.
Warner said: “Reel FX has the talent, technology and track record to create the highest-quality theatrical animated films for reasonable budgets. Our model allows us to take creative risks and has already attracted world-class filmmakers looking to tell unique and daring stories that appeal to audiences across the world. I am honored to be part of the Reel FX team and look forward to continuing to build upon our slate.”
Warner’s team at Reel FX includes Jeff Fierson, head of development, Brad Booker, creative producer of Book of Life and Scott Mosier, creative producer of Turkeys.
Reel FX
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Former President Clinton Knocks Drug War in New Doc
It may have been a backhanded endorsement of drug legalization, but considering it came from a living ex-US President, it was noteworthy and newsworthy. In the new Internet documentary entitled Breaking the Taboo, former President Bill Clinton admits the drug war “hasn’t worked.” The statement gained national media attention but Clinton’s comments went much further than that.
Drawing the comparison between illegal drugs and the legal but equally controversial …More
HIGHTIMES.COM –
Researchers name pre-historic lizard Obamadon after smiling president
(Reuters) – Researchers at Yale University have named a newly discovered dinosaur ‘Obamadon gracilis’ in honor of the 44th president’s toothy grin.
The small, insect-eating lizard was first discovered in eastern Montana in 1974 but a recent re-examination showed the fossil had been wrongly classified as a Leptochamops denticulatus and was, in fact, a new species, researchers told Reuters on Tuesday.
Obamadon gracilis was one of nine newly discovered species reported on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In naming the new species, Yale scientists combined the Latin “Obamadon” for “Obama’s teeth” and “gracilis,” which means slender.
“The lizard has these very tall, straight teeth and Obama has these tall, straight incisors and a great smile,” said Nick Longrich, a paleontologist at the school in New Haven, Connecticut.
Like many other dinosaurs, the lizard died out about 65 million years ago when a giant asteroid struck earth, scientists say.
Longrich said he waited until after the recent U.S. election to name the dinosaur.
“It would look like we were kicking him when he’s down if he lost and we named this extinct lizard after him,” he said in an interview.
“Romneydon” was never under consideration and “Clintondon” didn’t sound good, said Longrich, who supported Hillary Clinton’s failed run against Obama in the 2008 Democratic primary.
Obama is not the first politician whose name has been used to help classify organisms. Megalonyxx jeffersonii, an extinct species of plant-eating ground sloth, was named in honor of President Thomas Jefferson, an amateur paleontologist who studied the mammal.
In 2005, entomologists named three species of North American slime-mold beetles agathidium bushi, agathidium cheneyi and agathidium rumsfeldi in honor of the then-president, vice president and secretary of defense.
Other celebrity names also have been used to name new species. A small Caribbean crustacean has been named after reggae icon Bob Marley, an Australian horsefly has been named in honor of hip-hop star Beyonce, and an endangered species of marsh rabbit has been named after Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner.
(Reporting by Jason McLure in Littleton, N.H.; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Philip Barbara)
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Epic Games president Mike Capps retires
Epic Games president Mike Capps is retiring after 10 years with the Gears of War and Unreal studio. While he plans to retain an advisory role and continue to serve on its board of directors, he said he looks forward to spending more time at home with his wife and new son on the way.
“After dedicating a decade of my life to Epic, and with so many close friends here, it’s impossible to just walk away,” Capps said in a farewell blog post. “I absolutely love this company. If you cut me, I think I probably bleed nanoblack and Imulsion. (Wow, just think about what mixing those would do…) Epic founder and CEO Tim Sweeney and other board members asked me to stay on the board, and I’m thrilled to do so as I’m truly excited about our future games and Unreal Engine 4.
“As I mentioned above, I’ll continue to be available as a resource to Epic, to provide context or advice where I can. Whatever I can do to help in Epic’s success, I’m in! I’ve got great confidence in our executive team – VP of Development Paul Meegan is new to our Raleigh HQ, but we’ve worked with him for years, and I can only contemplate this retirement knowing that he and VP of Operations John Farnsworth can manage development better than I ever did.”
Capps is the third in a line of major talent departures for the studio. Design director Cliff Bleszinski ended his 20-year career with the studio in October, and production director Rod Fergusson left in August to join Irrational Games’ work on BioShock Infinite.
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Former President George H.W. Bush to Stay in Hospital Through Weekend
SUNDAY Dec. 2, 2012 — Former President George Herbert Walker Bush, who has been struggling with bronchitis and a lingering cough, was expected to stay in a Houston hospital through the weekend.
Initially, it was reported that the 88-year-old Bush was improving and should be released from The Methodist Hospital by the weekend.
However, a lingering cough led doctors to decide to keep him there through the weekend, the Associated Press reported Saturday.
Bush spokesman Jim McGrath said “he still has the cough and we’re now not expecting him to be discharged this weekend.”
McGrath added that doctors are “going to play it safe there for obvious reasons.”
Bush, who was president from 1989 to 1993, and is the father of former President George W. Bush, has been in the hospital several times recently for treatment of bronchitis, the AP reported.
The doctor in charge of his care, Dr. Amy Myunderse, said the elder Bush’s condition was never life-threatening.
“Anytime someone the president’s age has bronchitis, there’s concern about possible pneumonia,” Myunderse said. “But Mr. Bush’s condition never progressed to that level.”
Dr. Sumita Khatri, a pulmonologist at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, said that as “someone gets older they are at more risk of getting chronic medical problems.”
Khatri, who is not involved in Bush’s care, added that, “these problems increase the likelihood of getting infections like bronchitis. This can lead to pneumonia if it’s bacterial.”
Pneumonia is a much more serious condition, which is fatal in many elderly people.
Khatri noted that Bush suffers from Parkinson’s disease, which is a neurological problem that can effect muscle tone, including in the muscles in respiratory system.
Bush’s condition appears not to be one that can be treated at home, which is why he is in the hospital where there is care and monitoring round the clock. Doctors want to see that the condition is “turning the corner and not progressing to the lower lungs and becoming pneumonia,” Khatri said.
Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, added that “one thing people need to know is that over the age of 65 people should get a pneumonia vaccination.”
More information
For more on bronchitis, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Posted: December 2012
