watching online Blackpool vs Man Utd | 4 December 2010

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Current League leaders will be taking on Blackpool in the English Premier League match in Saturday evening on 4th December 2010. United have been playing really well in the league off late and last week they hammered Blackburn by 7-1 in a devastating performence which put them top of the table. But like Chelsea and Arsenal they have not been really consistant and we saw that in the midweek match of the Carling Cup when the lost against West Ham by 4-0, although they fielded their 2nd string team but still they were expected to win that game.

United are coming into this match on the back two very contrasting results with a 7-1 win over Blackbuen on the weekend while lost two West ham in the Carling Cup Quarter Final with a big defeat of 4-0. But they still be very confident when they visit blackpool on Saturday and will be going there to stretch the league at the top as Chelsea have another difficeult match against everton at home to cope with.

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watching Chelsea v Everton - Premier League

Chelsea
The Champions have suffered a drastic dip in form and morale over the past month, going from a seemingly invincible position to extremely fragile in a span of four weeks. They were insipid for large periods against Newcastle last weekend and in the process lost top spot in the Premier League to arch-rivals Manchester United. Carlo Ancelotti must be bewildered by the nature of their performances during this difficult period. Liverpool and Sunderland completely outplayed them while they lost to Birmingham in spite of creating numerous goal scoring opportunities, thanks to an inspired performance by Ben Foster in goal. But the common thread in all these games has been their frailty in defence and lack of creativity in midfield. The loss of Michael Essien, Frank Lampard and John Terry has hampered them greatly and Ancelotti will be eager for his "Big Three" to return to action.
These past few weeks have exposed the soft core at Chelsea, with their bench strength in particular coming under scrutiny. The club has failed to replace the likes of Deco, Michael Ballack, Joe Cole and Juliano Belletti, who departed over the summer and have paid the price for banking on the raw talents of Josh McEachran, Gael Kakuta and Patrick Van Vanholt. Roman Abrahmovic's transfer policy in recent years has led to an age disparity in the squad and with Carlo Ancelotti wielding very little power at Stamford Bridge, a drastic change in the recruitment of players seems unlikely.
They have a taxing few games coming up where they play Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Arsenal in consecutive weeks and are in real danger of losing vital ground to Manchester United and Arsenal in the title race. United always come good around Christmas and Chelsea will find it hard to dislodge Sir Alex Ferguson's men, especially if they extend their two point lead come this weekend.

Everton
Everton are in the midst of a poor run that has seen them win only one out of the last seven games. It's been all downhill for the Toffees since their impressive 2-0 victory over Liverpool in mid-October, a period in which they have lost two, drawn four and won just a solitary game. They have been really awful on the road too, winning just one out of seven games away from Goodison Park all season. But in spite of their inconsistency, they lie just four points off the last European spot, which is currently occupied by Sunderland.

David Moyes' side have failed to convert draws into victories this season, with the defence and attack sharing the blame. The front three of Jermaine Beckford, Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Louis Saha have scored a combined total of just two goals in the Premier League. As usual, they have had to depend on goals from Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta to get them out of a tight spot, with the pair scoring 11 goals between them in the League. Unlike last season, Moyes has a fully fit defence at his disposal, but their usually parsimonious defence has managed to keep just one clean sheet all season, a 0-0 draw against Fulham.

Everton tend to pick up speed after Christmas, but with the close nature of the League this season they can ill afford to drop further points. They have vital games against Wigan, Manchester City and Birmingham City coming up and in the larger scheme of things David Moyes will consider anything gained from the game against Chelsea a bonus.

  

Chelsea vs. Everton Live Stream: The Blues are currently second in the Premier League (two points behind Manchester United) having failed to secure victory in their last three games. However, Carlo Ancelotti’s side could move back to No.1 this weekend as the match between Blackpool and the Red Devils has been postponed due to a frozen pitch at Bloomfield Road.
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-CommercialChelsea will be boosted by the return of captain John Terry after recovering from a nerve problem in his thigh which has kept him on the sidelines for the past four weeks. Ghana midfielder Michael Essien also returns after a three-game ban but England playmaker Frank Lampard remains out. Terry’s comeback should empower the West Londoners’ defence although the 29-year-old centre back has dismal memories of his last encounter with Everton when he was at fault for both home goals when the Blues were defeated at Goodison Park.

The Toffees arrive at Stamford Bridge on the back of five games without a win, and Everton boss David Moyes brings his side to London minus Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta, who is currently suspended following his dismissal in the 4-1 home defeat by West Brom.

The match kicks-off at 15:00 GMT. Updates and free live stream links where you can watch Chelsea vs. Everton will be posted shortly.
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial

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NASA scientists find bacteria that can live on arsenic

Arsenic and deep space? NASA scientists Thursday served up a poison-munching microbe as a model for life on alien worlds.

Researchers report in the journal Science the discovery of a bacteria in a mud sample from California's salty Mono Lake that is the first-known organism to use arsenic in its basic metabolism and genes.

The finding would add deadly arsenic to the six basic elements believed needed for life — carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur and phosphorus. The six elements are such a fundamental tenet of biochemistry that finding a critter living on arsenic was a big surprise.

"It's doing something extraordinary," says team leader Felisa Wolfe-Simon of the NASA Astrobiology Institute in Menlo Park, Calif.

"This is an exceptional claim," said biochemist Steven Benner of the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, in Gainesville, Fla. Though skeptical, Benner says if confirmed, the finding would suggest that life could function on other worlds, such as Saturn's frigid moon, Titan, where arsenic-based biochemistry could thrive.

"This is a transformational result for the field," says astronomer Dimitar Sasselov of the Harvard Origins of Life Initiative. "It goes back to the basic question of what is life, really?"

FINDING: Arsenic-munching microbe excites astrobiologists

Astronomers have detected more than 500 planets orbiting nearby stars in the past two decades, raising expectations that future telescopes may peer at them for chemical signatures of life. If life can thrive on unexpected elements such as arsenic, Sasselov argues, the possibilities for alien life could widely expand.

Life on Earth depends on phosphorus as a key element in nutrients. The new bacteria, however, appears to partly swap out arsenic for phosphorus.

In the study, the team grew generations of the bacteria in an arsenic-laced experiment, usually deadly to such microbes, and were surprised to see the bacteria thrive instead. "Life is extremely adaptable," says biochemist Jim Cleaves of the Carnegie Institute of Washington (D.C.). Yet, he's more skeptical that the arsenic finding could mean much about alien life. "We already knew bacteria in lakes live pretty close to the edge."

NASA's announcement of a news conference that would "impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life," sparked a great deal of speculation. Mary Voytek, head of NASA's Astrobiology Program, said "I'm sorry if they are disappointed" for anyone expecting NASA to produce evidence of alien life.

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Britney Spears to Release Seventh Album in March

On Thursday, it was confirmed on Twitter that Britney Spears' next album would be released in March of next year.
The singer wrote: "My fans mean the world to me & waking up to all of your wishes really made me smile, so here's something that I hope will make you smile... I'm almost done with my new album and it will be coming out this March. I AM IN L-O-V-E WITH IT!"
The Hollywood Reporter originally reported that the 29-year-old singer's seventh LP would be out in early 2011 during an exclusive interview with producer Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald. In late October, he spoke fondly of Spears: "She's such an icon, I don't want to let anyone down. But most importantly, I want to make good music."
When THR asked about Spears' latest effort, Dr. Luke said, "She's such an amazing vehicle to getting that music out to a lot of people in every country."
Spears' manager Adam Leber had tweeted earlier in the day: "The announcement you've all been waiting for is coming today. Tell a friend..."Dr. Luke worked on several tracks on Spears' last album, 2008's Circus, which sold 1.7 million copies in the U.S.

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Amazon says government pressure didn't lead to WikiLeaks ban

Amazon Web Services (AWS) kicked WikiLeaks off its servers for breaking rules designed to ensure websites use their own content and that it won't injure others, and not due to pressure from the U.S. government, Amazon said Thursday.
"AWS does not pre-screen its customers, but it does have terms of service that must be followed. WikiLeaks was not following them," Amazon said in a blog posting. "For example, our terms of service state that "you represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content… that use of the content you supply does not violate this policy and will not cause injury to any person or entity," it added.
Wikileaks drew controversy for the continued publication of classified U.S. documents, including videos and documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This time the classified documents in question were sensitive cables sent from and between U.S. embassies and the U.S. State Department. The cables contain embarrassing details about the U.S.'s relationship with governments around the world. U.S. officials had complained that information in the cables could compromise government personnel, while human rights groups had written to WikiLeaks asking them to exercise caution in the release and not name human rights defenders that might then face persecution by their governments.
Amazon noted that WikiLeaks was publishing documents it does not own and that, "it is not credible that the extraordinary volume of 250,000 classified documents that WikiLeaks is publishing could have been carefully redacted in such a way as to ensure that they weren’t putting innocent people in jeopardy," Amazon said in the blog posting.
WikiLeaks said it asked the State Department to name the documents that might compromise individuals, which the U.S. refused, according to notes the group published.WikiLeaks also lambasted Amazon for its decision to kick it off AWS servers, saying it would now host its servers in Europe and questioning whether Amazon is fit to sell books.
"If Amazon are so uncomfortable with the First Amendment, they should get out of the business of selling books," WikiLeaks said via Twitter.
Amazon also made reference to the massive DDOS (Denial of Service) attacks against its servers, which WikiLeaks said reached 10 Gigabits per second on Nov. 30.
"There were indeed large-scale DDOS attacks, but they were successfully defended against," Amazon said.
WikiLeaks has released a slew of classified U.S. documents this year, hundreds of thousands of documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the U.S. State Department cables. More recently it said it would publish information from major U.S. banks to out corruption in the financial sector.
The head of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange [CQ], is currently being sought by prosecutors in Sweden over rape accusations, which his lawyers have denied. Interpol has issued a wanted notice for Assange, saying he is wanted for questioning in Sweden. WikiLeaks has characterized the charges as a way to shut him up over the release of so many classified government documents.

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Ivory Coast army closes borders

The military in Ivory Coast has announced the closure of the country's land, sea and air borders, amid confusion over the result of Sunday's presidential election run-off.
It comes after the Constitutional Court rejected a declaration by the electoral commission that opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara had won.
John James reports from the Ivorian commercial capital, Abidjan.Supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo had tried to block the long-delayed result, alleging fraud in the north.
The UN Security Council asked both sides to show restraint.
"The air, land and sea border of the country are closed to all movement of people and goods," Ivorian military spokesman Babri Gohourou said.
The border would remain closed until further notice, Mr Gohourou added.Shortly after, the military announced "the immediate suspension of all foreign news channels" in the country, including CNN, France24 and Radio France International FM.
heightened tension in the country.
Supporters of President Ggagbo had tried to block the result, saying there had been fraud in the north, the region where Mr Ouattara is most popular.
The north is also controlled by former rebels.
The head of the independent electoral commission (IEC) , Youssouf Bakayoko, said Mr Ouattara had won 54% of the vote, compared to 46% for Mr Gbagbo.He was speaking under armed guard at a hotel, rather than from the commission's headquarters.

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Napolitano Drums for Dream Act

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano called on Congress on Thursday to pass a bill granting legal status to thousands of illegal immigrant students, saying it would help immigration authorities focus their resources on deporting dangerous criminals. In a telephone call organized by the White House, Ms. Napolitano told reporters that the students who would benefit “have no fault for being here in the United States” because they were brought here as children. “No one who poses a threat to public safety will be able to adjust their immigration status,” she said, under a revised version of the bill, known as the Dream Act, which was introduced Tuesday. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a Republican who is a leading opponent, said he would resist it “with every strength and every ability that I have

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Amid Routine Business, History and Humiliation

All week the issue hung around, nagging for attention like a churlish relative, while the House of Representatives considered measures that would rename post offices, lower the volume level of TV commercials and salute the golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez. By the time the delicate moment finally arrived late Thursday afternoon, the outcome seemed foreordained. And yet the 80-year-old Harlem Democrat under inspection continued to hope things might somehow go a different way. For a fleeting instant, it almost seemed possible.As Representative Charles B. Rangel’s awkward day unspooled, the jammed House floor was buzzing for this once-in-decades happening. The press rows were busy. Traffic, though, was light in the high-up visitors’ gallery, grade school classes here earlier having left too soon to watch history.
He sat among some of his keenest allies, Representative Robert C. Scott from Virginia and three members of the New York delegation, Representatives Joseph Crowley, Jerrold Nadler and Anthony D. Weiner.
Other votes had to be taken — the expiring Bush-era tax cuts were on the agenda — but then 4 o’clock rolled around and it was his time.
In the chamber where laws got made, the 111th Congress conducted its bit of nasty business relatively briskly, finding no benefit in stretching out this mini-morality play any longer than necessary.In the hour allocated for debate, a silent House listened as the ethics committee chairwoman, Representative Zoe Lofgren of California, and other committee members made the case for censure, revisiting Mr. Rangel’s bundle of ethical misdeeds: unpaid taxes; improper solicitation of charitable donations; flawed reporting of income — what some of his sturdiest defenders had seen fit to condense further to little more than grabbing the wrong stationery. The normally brassy Mr. Rangel was penitent as he apologized “for putting you in this awkward position today,” before recalling a day in Korea 60 years ago “in sub-zero weather,” when “I was wounded and had no thought that I would be able to survive.”

A string of defenders, from New York, California and Iowa, argued for a reprimand, a written rebuke of his wrongdoings, not the censure that would mean a verbal flogging in front of everyone. There was no mistaking that it all had the feel of the territory of small boys allowed into the world of grown-ups.

In a momentary twist, Representative G. K. Butterfield of North Carolina introduced an amendment to lower the punishment to reprimand. A voice vote was called for. It was ruled in favor of the amendment. A recorded vote was demanded.

No one any longer seemed certain where this was going.

Members of Congress watched the lighted green yeas and red nays blink on the wall scoreboard. There were 15 minutes to vote. With five minutes left, it was 100 yeas and 131 nays. Was it possible censure would not happen this day?
The final minutes went badly for Mr. Rangel. The amendment fell by 267 to 146.
The vote on the censure resolution was an easy call. There was no need to watch the lights. Mr. Rangel studied them for a while, then lingered by his seat, his head bent, no more outs available.
The rest happened fast.
From the dais, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in her waning days as presiding officer, summoned “the gentleman from New York” to the well of the House to hear a chastisement unheard in 27 years, not since the July day in 1983 when the House delivered bipartisan shame to a Republican and a Democrat who had had dalliances with 17-year-old pages.
Mr. Rangel stood, feet apart, his arms clasped before him, the vigor washed out of him.Ms. Pelosi solemnly read the one-paragraph admonition properly known as House Resolution 1737. No florid rhetoric was flaunted for this pressing bit of protocol, but the stiff, cut-and-dried language of censure: “Resolved, that, one, Representative Charles B. Rangel of New York be censured,” and so forth.
In their seats in the arched rows, his hushed colleagues stared through tight eyes at the peculiar spectacle. In less than half a minute and with 90 spoken words, it was over.Now one additional line would be edited into the biographical brief of a 20-term warhorse congressman and decorated Korean War veteran: the 23rd member of the House to be so punished.A chastened Mr. Rangel asked for one more minute to speak. He called what had happened to him a “new criteria” and said there was more politics than justice on display. Then he finished by saying, “At the end of the day, compared to where I’ve been, I haven’t had a bad day since.”
There was some scattered applause. As Mr. Rangel headed back up the aisle, a few members of Congress hugged him or touched him on his arm. He walked out the door alone.
Members of Congress got going with their obligatory post-mortems: Make the punishment fit the crime, sad but necessary.Its day not yet done, the machinery of government moved on to other matters.

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Turkey denies defining Israel as threat

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Tuesday denied reports which stated that Turkey tagged Israel as a threat in a significant document that outlines Turkey's policies. Davutoglu denied reports that he himself doubted Israel's ability to survive in the long term, the Washington Times reported during Davutoglu's visit to the US.
"The news does not have any verification and does not have any validity - it is just speculation," Mr. Davutoglu told reporters, referring to a Turkish media report from late October claiming that Turkey's National Security Council had listed Israel as a "major threat" in its 'red book' while removing the designation from Iran and Syria.Davutoglu refuted the reports that claimed that he said that "Israel will not be able to remain an independent country" and that he called for a joint Palestinian-Israeli state to be established. "I don't know why the Israeli press is doing this always," he said. "I am a young person ... my memory is quite good. I didn't make such a speech anywhere."
Davutoglu is visiting the US two days after the release of the publication of the leaked Wikileaks documents, in which American diplomats defined the foreign minister as "extremely dangerous" and stated that there is evidence that Turkish Prime Minister "Recep Tayyip Erdogan simply hates Israel".

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30 Most Dynamic Cities in the World

What is the most dynamic city in the post-recession world? The surprising answer is Istanbul, according to a new report that shows the developing world is leading the way out of the Great Recession. atlanticGallery(218, {template:"twocol"});Grading each metropolis by the growth of its income* and employment, the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program found that the world's fastest recovering cities If America is the world capital of reinvention, then Las Vegas is its heart. Every year it attracts tens of thousands of new residents, looking for a new life, a big break, a second chance. And increasingly, they are searching beyond the famous casinos.
Grading each metropolis by the growth of its income* and employment, the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program found that the world's fastest recovering cities are overwhelmingly in three key areas: China and India, Southeast Asian islands, and Latin America. Only three cities from what economists consider the developed world appeared on the list: Montreal, Austin and Melbourne. There are no European cities in the top 30. There are no African cities outside Egypt in the top 50.
"We were especially interested in the emergence of Latin American capitals, so we took a close look at Lima, Peru [number 5]," said Alan Berube, research director at the Metropolitan Policy Program, who wrote the report with LSE Cities. "It has a big commodities sector that not only sustained it through the recession but also propelled its growth thanks to huge demand out of China and India. Like a lot of other Latin American capital cities, it was also a safe haven for capital during the global economic crisis. That fueled investment and income during the crisis and continues to do so now."
When you look closer at the report, more trends emerge. Port cities with large trade sectors dominate, due to their ability to put products in the hands of the world's healthier economies. China, India and Brazil -- three members of the so-called BRIC group (R is for Russia, which had no cities in the top 30) -- account for 13 out of the 30 cities, and fully half of the list if you count Taipei and Hong Kong.
"What the Chinese cities have in common is substantial direct support from central government, which made Shenzhen [number 2] and Guangzhou [number 7] global manufacturing centers," Berube said. "That propelled massive growth in the 15 years predating the recession."As for the surprising winner of the Brookings' rankings, Berube was brave enough to admit he didn't have a clear answer for Istanbul's meteoric rise. "Istanbul was affected really badly by the recession, but it had incredibly strong growth in the past year, especially in employment, where the city outstripped everybody else," he said. "After the huge fall-off last year, I'm not sure how stable its number one status is."
As Istanbul's roller coaster proves, dynamism is a sword that cuts both ways. Cities that open themselves to the global marketplace can experience both the highs and lows of an uncertain world economy. Indeed, two of the top ten city performers in the pre-recession era, Dubai and Dublin, are now ranked 149th and 150th out of 150 in the latest survey after suffering twin real estate bubbles half a world apart.
Nobody knows the next bubble until it has burst. But there are candidates. Some economists point to Asian asset inflows. Other point to the Latin American capitals, which might be overly dependent on rising commodity prices in the short and medium run. Lima is plowing much of its capital into massive construction projects, which has to concern students of the worldwide real estate crash.The key challenge for top emerging cities entering a period of global expansion is to expand to other industries. This helps them stay both dynamic and diversified -- fast-growing and safe-growing. "These cities need to build their higher value sector," Berube said. "Shenzhen is doing this with telecommunications as its lower value manufacturers are already moving to Indonesia and Vietnam as Chinese land gets more expensive. But Chinese cities, and Indian cities too, need to diversify in recognition that these low-value activities are going to flow elsewhere."

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'Winter's Bone' tops Spirit Awards nominations with seven

LOS ANGELES — The rural crime thriller "Winter's Bone" earned a leading seven nominations today for the Spirit Awards honoring independent film, including best picture and acting honors for Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes and Dale Dickey.Also nominated for best picture were James Franco's survival tale "127 Hours," Natalie Portman's ballet drama "Black Swan," Ben Stiller's dark romance "Greenberg" and Annette Bening's lesbian family drama "The Kids Are All Right."The awards will be presented Feb. 26, the day before the Academy Awards.
"Winter's Bone," which won the top prize at last winter's Sundance Film Festival, also earned a best-actress nomination for Lawrence, who stars as an Ozark Mountains teen on a desperate search through the region's criminal underbelly to find her missing father and save her family home.
The film also picked up supporting-acting slots for Hawkes and Dickey, a directing nomination for Debra Granik, a screenplay honor for Granik and co-writer Anne Rosellini, and a cinematography nomination.
In the span of less than a day, independent film cognoscenti on both coasts have declared the teeny drama "Winter's Bone" a top film of the year. The bleak tale set in the Ozark Mountains grabbed seven nominations Tuesday for the Spirit Awards including best feature, just hours after taking home the best-film crown Monday night at the Gotham Awards in New York.
But can the underdog turn those indie kudos into Oscar gold?
Last year at this time, the Gotham Awards named "The Hurt Locker" its top winner, the first time in the show's history that it tapped an eventual Oscar best picture. In contrast, last year's Spirit nominations favored "Precious" and "The Last Station," both of which were recognized at the Academy Awards but were not the big victors of the night. ("Precious" took home two Oscars — for supporting actress and adapted screenplay.)
This year, many of the possible big Oscar competitors weren't eligible for Spirit Awards consideration because their budgets ran over the $20-million limit or, as in the case of the Colin Firth-starrer "The King's Speech," they aren't American productions.
And once the studio big boys, such as "The Social Network," the Coen brothers' "True Grit" and "The Fighter," compete on the same playing field, it will be interesting to see whether "Winter's Bone" can hold its own.
The biggest challenge for Roadside Attractions, the distributor of "Winter's Bone" — which first piqued critics' interest at this year's Sundance Film Festival — is to get the movie to the top of the stack of DVDs in motion picture academy members' homes. With the film having taken in only $6 million during its theatrical run that began in June, it's unlikely many Oscar voters have seen the R-rated drama. Screeners were sent out a month ago.
Roadside Attractions got a taste of Academy Awards glory when 2004's fast-food expose "Super Size Me" was nominated for best documentary. Last awards season, its Japanese dolphin-hunting doc "The Cove" won at the Oscars. This year, in addition to "Winter's Bone," Roadside is angling for awards recognition for "Biutiful," another tough drama starring Javier Bardem as a father who makes a living off of Barcelona's crime-riddled underbelly.
Compared with the big studios, the company has a much more limited budget for awards campaigns.Roadside executives declined to comment for this story. But awards campaign experts said that while the indie awards are helpful for a little-seen critical darling like "Winter's Bone," they are hardly a surefire predictor of who's going to walk away with the top Oscar prizes come Feb. 27.
"All awards of merit help," said Oscar consultant Tony Angellotti, who is working on Disney's awards campaign for "Toy Story 3." "But it is the compiling of these awards, from many groups, that suggest continuity and unity, that matters most. If [voting among the different groups] is fractured, then it doesn't have the same play."Another Oscar consultant, who asked not to be named so as not to jeopardize working relationships, said, "The Spirit Awards are not the Golden Globes or [Screen Actors Guild Awards] in terms of the precursor of what's going to happen. But it is a good indicator of the film that could sneak in, the critics' darling that's too fabulous to ignore."

"Winter's Bone" may face an uphill climb, given its bleak plot line centering on a teenage girl (Jennifer Lawrence) who must find her drug-dealing father in an effort to keep her family intact. That kind of story could be a tough sell, especially if it's competing with lighter fare such as "The Social Network," about the founding of Facebook, or even the lesbian family dramedy "The Kids Are All Right," which received five Spirit nominations."The only thing the Spirit Award nominations do is compel voters to watch the DVD, which is no small feat," said another Oscar consultant, who also asked not to be identified. In addition to best picture, "Winter's Bone" was also nominated for best actress, best screenplay, best director, best supporting actor, best supporting actress and best cinematography.
Other movies receiving a bump from Film Independent, the organization behind the Spirit Awards, include the Fox Searchlight films "127 Hours," about a hiker trapped in the Utah wilderness, and the ballet thriller "Black Swan." Both received best picture, actor/actress and director nominations.
"Rabbit Hole" also received nominations for its performances from Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart playing grieving parents, as well as a director's nod for John Cameron Mitchell, best known for the 2001 cult hit "Hedwig and the Angry Inch."
Aaron Schneider's directorial debut "Get Low," about a town's hermit staging his own funeral, was rewarded with a first feature nomination, in addition to a nod for supporting actor Bill Murray. But star Robert Duvall was left off the list.Perhaps the most surprising film to gain recognition from the Spirit nominations was Noah Baumbach's "Greenberg," which was named in the best picture category, as well as best actor for Ben Stiller and best actress for Greta Gerwig.
"Greenberg," which grossed only $4 million at the box office when it opened this summer, has been mostly ignored by prognosticators closely watching the Oscar race.The 26th annual Spirit Awards will be held Feb. 26, the night before the Oscars, in Santa Monica with comedian Joel McHale hosting.

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AT&T Gains FCC's Ear as Regulators Near Decision on Net Neutrality Rules

A U.S. regulator set a vote on rules to bar Internet service providers led by AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp. from interfering with subscribers’ Web traffic.Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement today that he sent colleagues “draft rules of the road to preserve the freedom and openness of the Internet” for adoption at the agency’s Dec. 21 meeting.
Genachowski, a Democrat appointed by President Obama, proposed net-neutrality rules in September 2009, and debate has expanded to involve Congress, courts and companies. Proponents including technology companies said regulations are needed to keep the Internet free of restrictions, while opponents such as telephone and cable companies said rules aren’t needed and may stifle investment.Google Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. struck a compromise in August that didn’t call for rules on wireless Internet service. The proposal wasn’t adopted by officials. Genachowski said his rules build upon a proposal advanced in September by Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, who proposed less-stringent rules for the mobile Web than for service delivered over wires.
Providers would have flexibility to deal with congestion or harmful traffic, Genachowski said. Wireless networks would be subject to different regulations that include a no-blocking rule, and the FCC would “be prepared to step in” to address anti-competitive behavior, he said.Net neutrality encompasses the idea that Internet-service providers can’t interfere with content they deliver to subscribers, or favor their own offerings. Technology companies backing regulations include search company Google, Internet- retailer Amazon.com and Dish Network Corp., which provides on- demand movies to subscribers using Internet lines.
Cable and phone companies that provide Web service say rules may make it difficult to manage the growing traffic on their networks and would limit investment in new Internet capacity. AT&T and Verizon, the majority owner of the largest U.S. mobile provider, Verizon Wireless, have told the FCC that rules aren’t needed for wireless networks.
Obama ‘Big Believer’
President Barack Obama, as a candidate, made net neutrality a campaign issue and has called himself a “big believer” in the approach.
Last month, Republican lawmakers toldGenachowski not to set policy they said was best left to Congress.
AT&T Inc. has spoken more frequently than any other company with U.S. officials as they near a decision on rules that may restrict how carriers offer mobile Internet service, according to regulatory filings.
Democratic lawmakers released a letter yesterday urging the chairman to act this year to ensure “that the Internet remains an open network.” The letter was signed by Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Ron Wyden of Oregon.

The regulations need three votes to pass at the FCC, where two Democrats join Genachowski to form the agency’s majority.Genachowski said he had abandoned his proposal to put Internet service under the regulatory regime used for telephone service -- a prospect opposed by companies that said such a move could lead to rate regulation.
Not applying rules for telephone companies would be a positive for AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, Time Warner Cable Inc. and Cablevision Systems Corp., Paul Gallant, a Washington-based analyst with MF Global, said in a Nov. 19 note to clients.
Telephone regulation offered a way to reclaim authority undermined by a U.S. court, Genachowski said in May. Judges ruled in April the the FCC lacked authority to punish Comcast for interfering with subscribers’ Web traffic.
“I am satisfied that we have a sound legal basis” for proceeding without using telephone rules, Genachowski said in his statement today. On Nov. 19 and Nov. 21, Cicconi, a former deputy chief ofstaff to President George H.W. Bush and a former specialassistant to President Ronald Reagan, discussed with Lazarusâ??the meritsâ?? of draft legislation never made public thatâ??should be a modelâ?? for the commission, according to an ATTfiling.
The legislation was proposed by U.S. Representative Henry Waxman , a California Democrat, and withdrawn when it failed towin Republican support. It would have let mobile Web providersblock some data-hungry applications while denying that abilityto service delivered over wires, Harold Feld, legal director forthe Washington-based advocacy group Public Knowledge, said in aninterview.
Itâ??s â??a problemâ?? that the House draft is a basis fordiscussion at the FCC, said Sloan of the ComputerCommunications Industry Association.

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Barcelona-Real Madrid: Monday November 29

Finally it has been made the official announcement that the date when it will be played the first of the great classics of Spanish football FC Barcelona-Real Madrid will be Monday November 29 at 21:00 hours at Camp Nou.
This morning, Jaume Roures, Mediapro owner of the company which has the television rights for this match, announced the date of November 29 to dispute the match.
In reaching this decision Mediapro has consulted the Professional Football League and the authorities responsible for security. The coincidence of the match with the Catalan Parliament elections was really a problem because law enforcement needed to ensure security in both events.
Harmed and benefited from this decision: the first of them, and perhaps the only, are those fans who for reasons of work or agenda, preferred that match was played on a holiday day. The beneficiaries are many more: people who wanted to attend the match and on Sunday they could not having been requested by the Electoral Board to meet the polls or services involved and people wishing to follow the election results were also to decide whether or not to attend the match.
As to the time when the match is played, this is not too much influence on the movement of fans outside of Barcelona, since in both cases, Sunday or Monday, the next day is a working day.
So, all fans wishing to attend this important match can already book or purchase their tickets as soon as offered on sale.

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Barcelona vs. Real Madrid - online tv streaming :watching the great exciting match

BARCELONA, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Monday sees the biggest match of the Spanish football season when FC Barcelona entertain Real Madrid in the Camp Nou Stadium.

For the first time in history the clash between the two biggest clubs in Spain is being played on a Monday night, as a result of the elections for the Catalan Parliament, which were held this Sunday.

As usual, the game between Spain's two biggest teams and Spain's two biggest rivals has captured all of the headlines in the sporting press, with much of the attention focused on Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho.

Mourinho worked as an assistant at Barcelona before embarking on a career that has seen him coach Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan with huge success.   


  

His relationship with the Barcelona supporters soured following a pair of incidents when Chelsea played Barcelona in the Champions League, while last season his Inter Milan team knocked Barca out of the semifinals on their way to eventual triumph in the same competition.

Mourinho's move to Barca's historic enemy was the final act that has made him public enemy number one in the Camp Nou and he can expect a hostile reception of the sort not seen since former Barcelona player Luis Figo returned to the ground after having signed for Real Madrid in 2000.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has warned his players not to fall into provocations, while captain Carles Puyol asked the supporters to limit themselves to getting behind their team in order to avoid any ugly incidents.               

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Barcelona vs. Real Madrid exciting football match

              History & Highlights...   Barcelona vs. Real Madrid 

   

             
 In 1941, Barcelona were told to lose on purpose to Madrid. They couldn’t think of anything worse to do and so lost 11-1. As a

result of this, Barcelona players were fined and suspended.

When Real Madrid won the first five European Cups they were taken to a new level. They were now the most well known sporting team

on the planet. So who were the first team to knock Real Madrid out of the European Cup? Barcelona in 1961 and the Barcelona fans

have let Real Madrid know this ever since. This victory took the Barcelona – Real Madrid rivalry onto a completely different

level. As did the 2002 Champions League semi final which was played out between the two teams. The first leg was played at the

Camp Nou and Real won 2-0. Following this the tie was as good as over. The second leg was 1-1 but it wasn’t enough for Barca.

Another thing which has added to the rivalry has been the player movements between the teams. When Ronaldo did it people weren’t

happy but the most controversial in recent times was Luis Figo. In 2000, he left Barcelona for Real Madrid in what was a world

record fee. The Barcelona fans were furious with Figo and let him know it. One fan threw a pig’s head at him. The same thing

happened earlier with Michael Laudrup on his transfer to Real. Laudup would end up winning La Liga five years in a row with two

different teams.

When Barcelona signed Dutch legend Johan Cruyff, in the 1970s, Real Madrid didn’t like it. When Barcelona defeated them 5-0, they

liked it even less.

Similarly Barcelona didn’t like it when they felt Real Madrid pinched Alfredo di Stefano from under their noses. They wanted to

sign him but somehow he ended up at Real Madrid. History would later repeat itself with David Beckham. Whether Real wanted him or

not wasn’t important, what was important was that Barcelona wanted him and they wanted to prevent that from happening.

The Barcelona – Real Madrid rivalry has a number of other factors which make it so big. Barcelona think of themselves as more

than a sporting club. They refuse commercial sponsorship on their football jersey and fan the money grabbing and crass commercial

style of Real as an anathema to the game.

Cruyff would become a key figure in Barcelona’s history. His return to the club as manager saw them claim their first every

European Cup. Under his watch, Barcelona won everything there was to win. Notwithstanding all of his success, a few lean years
                                                           

were enough for him to be shown the door.

With Barcelona in disarray, Real Madrid felt the time was right for a counter-attack. They bought Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and

David Beckham. It was a star studded team and they played some good football but something didn’t click. They won La Liga, but

for a team that prides itself on how it performs in Europe, its lack of success in the Champions League was galling. They haven’t

been to the Champions League final since 2002.

Meanwhile, Barcelona with Samuel Eto’o and Ronaldinho had a good team. They won the Champions League in 2006 and then did it

again in 2009. This drove Real Madrid mad and they replaced managers at a rapid rate.

A pivotal point in the Real Madrid – Barcelona rivalry happened in November 2005 in a match that won’t be forgotten. Playing at....

just click here to watch

 

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