Awakened

Nicole Kidman shows her silly side in 'Paddington'

14 JANUARY 2014   ASSOCIATED PRESS   LINSEY BAHR

BEVERLY HILLS -- ... She's won an Oscar. She's worked with Stanley Kubrick, Jane Campion, and Lars Von Trier. So how did she end up in a modest role as a delightfully villainous taxidermist in the children's film "Paddington" with a relatively unknown director at the helm?

... "The desire to run the gamut and be diverse is something you're taught at drama school," said Kidman on a recent afternoon at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. "We're trained in Shakespeare and then we're trained in Noël Coward and we're trained in mime classes. But a lot of times you're not given the opportunity to explore the things that you've cultivated." 

For director Paul King, it was a no-brainer. But it wasn't Kidman's 1996 romantic fantasy romp "Practical Magic" that he was thinking of. He'd seen Gus Van Sant's "To Die For" and knew Kidman had to be his Millicent. 

The hard part was convincing everyone to actually put the script in front of Kidman. As King describes it, it's a process of being politely insistent. 

Despite all the warnings that Kidman was "never" going to say yes, as soon as she heard the name "Paddington," she jumped. Kidman had grown up reading Michael Bond's books in Australia and it just struck a nerve. 

Ultimately, King said, she was the easiest person to cast. She signed on in just 12 hours 

"You don't often see the silly side of Nicole and she's such a funny, easygoing person," said King, who really put the actress to the test. On day one, she was hanging upside down on wires and it just got more challenging from there. 

... But Kidman insists that she's "not the actor who makes strategic choices. If you look at my career, it's pretty random." Even the Fallon bit was "so not planned." 

Still, she is taking the reins where she can. Kidman and Reese Witherspoon optioned the rights to the book "Big Little Lies," which is in development as a limited series. She's also staring in and producing the adaptation of the quirky novel "The Family Fang." 

"My life is a roller coaster. My career is a roller coaster. Some people get smooth sailing. I never get that," she said. Read More

Christopher Columbus economics
What was the economic motivation for King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to back Christopher Columbus?
12 OCTOBER 2009   EXAMINER   JAMES STOTTER

The dominant economic thinking of Columbus’s era was what we call mercantilism. Basically that means the collective wealth of all nations was thought to be fixed. Therefore, a nation could only gain at the expense of another nation (war, theft, or favorable trading) or by discovering new wealth for the world. The new wealth was mostly precious minerals such as gold. However, it could also be something like spices that everyone wanted. Though it wasn’t called that then, mercantilism in one form or another was in practice since before Columbus through the mid-1700s. Some still hold to mercantilistic views. Mercantilism was the primary motivation for most of those explorers we read about in history courses.

Columbus, a navigator and cartographer by trade, figured the world is round and therefore by sailing west he could get to the East Indies. Instead of the East Indies he discovered his path blocked by what turned out to be a "new world." Since he thought he was in the East Indies, he named the native inhabitants Indians. 

Ferdinand and Isabella signed a generous agreement with Columbus in part because they didn’t think he would return. When Columbus returned with evidence of the wealth he discovered, he received numerous rewards and a lot of money. 

The wealth that flowed to Spain as a consequence of Columbus’s trip was a major help in securing Spain’s position as a dominant world power for another century. Perhaps more importantly, it boosted Spain’s finances which were badly damaged by unprofitable wars. Read More

Birds of a Feather: Dressing Down the Traditional Embellishment
14 JANUARY 2015   STYLE   EMILY FARRA

We’re used to seeing feathers on the red carpet and at the ballet, but the fancy fluff looks just as good on the street. We’ve spotted feathered coats, skirts, and even sandals on the show circuit, and mixed with casual knits and outerwear, they look special without being over-the-top. See five of our favorite outfits in our Look of the Day slideshow... Read More

"Super-fluffy sandals demand attention."

Photo by Tommy Ton

Human Activity

"The human mind is a channel through which things-to-be are coming into the realm of things-that-are."

― Henry Ford

Automaker offers patents for free

6 JANUARY 2014   NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW   TAKASHI SUGIMOTO

LAS VEGAS -- Toyota Motor said Monday it will offer about 5,680 patents related to its fuel-cell vehicle technology for free.

The company is willing to share the patents to speed up fuel-cell vehicle development and foster competition. 

Bob Carter, senior vice president of Automotive Operations for Toyota's North American unit, told reporters of the decision ahead of the opening of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Read More

Japanese companies must fuse traditional, foreign ways of working

6 JANUARY 2014   NIKKEI ASAIN REVIEW

... In an era of globalization, Japanese companies need to combine the strengths of their traditional business methods with those of the countries they operate in.

Keiichi Ota, head of production management at machine tool maker DMG Mori Seiki, is a believer. He calls German partner Gildemeister's work system "amazing" at managing time and achieving results. But the meticulous attention to detail and teamwork found in the best Japanese companies is equally important. "The fusion of the merits of the two systems is indispensable to win the global competition," said Masahiko Mori, DMG Mori's president. 

DMG Mori and Gildemeister (now named DMG Mori Seiki AG) are adjusting their work systems ahead of their planned 2020 merger. DMG Mori has sent Akina Konishi to Germany to help with the preparations. 

Overcoming the friction that arises over differing business and production practices is not easy, but younger employees such as Ota and Konishi take the initiative in ironing out problems in order to help the venerable Japanese machine tool maker improve. 

The number of Japanese working overseas has been rising by around 10,000 annually in recent years. Inevitably, some of these people will come back questioning Japan's traditional ways of doing business, having been influenced by differing business cultures. Despite the short-term discomfort, this process can be a source of strength for a more cosmopolitan breed of Japanese company. Read More

"Why, Japanese people!?" American dude has us rolling on the floor laughing with his comedic sketch

6 JANUARY 2014   ROCKET NEWS 24   KRISTA ROGERS

... "The Year of the Horse (午年) is about to end. I didn’t feel at all 'horse (馬)-like' this past year and the time flew by. The Year of the Sheep (未年) is up next, huh. I guess I’ll look forward to feeling like a sheep (羊). Hey wait, why do the Chinese zodiac year names use different kanji from the usual words for animals?  #WHYJAPANESEPEOPLE Is noon the time to ride a horse? Is there a 'correct horse'? Is there also an 'incorrect horse'? Hey!"

(Here, he’s referencing how the Chinese astrological sign for horse is 午, which is the same character used to write "noon" [正午] in normal Japanese; the horse is also associated with the period from 11am-1pm in Chinese astrology. The first character in the compound for "noon" is 正, which has a separate meaning of "correct/true.") Read More

"Cluster of galaxies in Virgo, Abell 1689"
© NASA, JHU, Racah Institute of Physics The Hebrew University, STScI, UCO Lick Observatory, the ACS Science Team & ESA.