Diary of day 1:"Mastizaade is the Baap of all sex comedies"

It was raining in the morning and Pattaya sky wore a dark, gloomy look. We reached the beach and the adjacent road was somewhat flooded. Shoes were off and I walked my way through water to the location where a peppy song from Mastizaade was being picturised. 

A sprightly Sunny Leone was sitting inside a tent on the beach with Tusshar Kapoor, Vir Das, Milap Zaveri and Rangita Nandy from Pritish Nandy Communications. Seeing familiar faces around with Indian delicacies to gorge on, I was at ease. 

Vir Das and Sunny Leone (in her Lilly Lele avatar) danced to a fun number composed by Amaal Malik and written by Manoj Muntashir (of 'Galliyan' fame). Mika has sung it. Bhushan Kumar of T Series has taken a keen interest in the music of Mastizaade and it was he who coaxed Amaal into churning out this cool song apart from the others composed by Meet Bros Annjan and Anand Raj Anand. 

Choreographer Mudassar Khan excitedly managed the show. He had been given instructions to shell out a catchy signature step (the man composed 'Dhinka Chika' after all besides many hits) and he seems to have nailed a good one. The rain was gone now and it was bright and hot, with the gorgeous Sunny along with beautiful back up dancers adding to the hotness-quotient. 

Sunny Leone is having a double role in Mastizaade (Milap calls it the Baap of all sex comedies). While Laila Lele is a hot tempest that oozes oomph, her sister Lilly Lele is a dorky, nerdy character who elicits laughs because of her goof-ball-antics. Sunny considers Lilly to be closer to how she is in real life. Tusshar Kapoor and Vir Das are paired opposite both the Lele sisters. Vir did the dancing today. He enjoys the song-and-dance Bollywood routine which is somewhat contrary to his stand-up-comic image. 

Milap Zaveri is always ready with a genuine smile and a smart-ass one liner. He's enjoying himself and there's a spring in his walk and energy in his talk (see, even I'm getting inspired by his on-the-spot-rhyming-dialogue-manufacturing-skills). Zaveri is unapologetic about writing-directing a sex comedy that will obviously be judged. He likes making people happy and according to him, everyone enjoys adult SMS jokes so people shouldn't be hypocritical. Tusshar Kapoor seconds his director's opinion and adds that one shouldn't judge people or movies. A few actors may have refused sequels of successful sex comedy franchises but Kapoor feels it's "their problem" and on a personal level he doesn't have qualms in attempting different genres of movies. 

Sunny Leone has become a very sought after heroine in Bollywood. She's having some really interesting projects lined up and there's a special interest in the songs of her movie especially after 'Laila' from Shootout At Wadala and 'Baby Doll' in Raginni MMS 2. Milap feels that in Mastizaade Sunny Leone is looking as hot as Katrina Kaif in a mainstream film. Leone on her part takes it as a compliment as she considers Katrina to be an extremely beautiful actress. 

The sun turned a delightful tinge of gold as the evening approached languidly. The peppy romantic song still filled the air joyously and the cool wind bade the day goodbye to merge in the tranquil night. The diary of Day one of Bollywood Hungama's exclusive coverage of the on location of the song shoot of Mastizaadehereby comes to an end. I shall pen down my thoughts for the remaining two days of this song shoot. Keep watching this space for more. The night has set in, Pattaya has just woken up.

Thursday, October 30, 2014 - By Unknown 0

U.S. nurse defies Maine's Ebola quarantine, takes bike ride

Reuters) - A nurse who treated Ebola patients in Sierra Leone but has tested negative for the virus ventured out of her home in Maine and took a bike ride on Thursday, defying a quarantine order and setting up a legal collision with state authorities.

Attorneys for Kaci Hickox, 33, said they had not yet been served with a court order to enforce a 21-day quarantine - matching the virus's maximum incubation period - but remained prepared to fight such an order if necessary.

Hickox left her home in the small Maine town of Fort Kent, along the Canadian border, and television news images showed her taking a morning bicycle ride with her boyfriend.

Hickox has said that she plans to take the issue to court if Maine, giving the state a deadline of Thursday to lift its order that she remain isolated at her home until Nov. 10.

Norman Siegel, one of the lawyers, defended Hickox’s decision to go for a bike ride as a public statement but noted that she avoided the center of town so as not to “freak people out.”

“Since there’s no court order, she can be out in public,” Siegel said. “Even if people disagree with her position, I would hope they respect the fact that she’s taking into account the fear, which is based on misinformation about the way the disease is transmitted.”

Medical professionals say Ebola is difficult to catch and is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids from an infected person and is not transmitted by asymptomatic people. Ebola is not airborne.

Siegel also criticized Maine Governor Paul LePage for stoking fear of Ebola rather than using his bully pulpit to educate the public about the disease.

"People tell me politics isn’t involved in this?” the attorney said. “Give me a break.”

LePage, a Republican who is in a tough re-election battle, said he is seeking legal authority to keep Hickox isolated at home.

The nurse's confrontation with state officials in Maine, as well as in New Jersey, highlights how U.S. states have been struggling to protect their citizens from Ebola without resorting to overzealous, useless precautions or violating civil rights.

Hickox says she is completely healthy and has been monitoring her condition and taking her temperature twice a day.

She tested negative for Ebola after returning from treating patients in West Africa. Hickox previously blasted New Jersey Governor Chris Christie after she was taken from Newark's airport and put in quarantine in a tent before being driven to Maine to spend the rest of her 21-day quarantine at home.

Her town is in Maine's sparsely populated far north, more than 300 miles (480 km) from the state's largest city, Portland, and further north than Quebec City in neighboring Canada.

Hickox worked with the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone, one of the three impoverished countries at the heart of an outbreak that has killed about 5,000 people, all but a handful in West Africa. The disease causes fever, bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea.

Some U.S. states have imposed automatic 21-day quarantines on doctors and nurses returning from treating Ebola patients in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Republicans have accused the Obama administration of doing too little to protect Americans from the disease.

President Barack Obama's "Ebola czar," Ron Klain, was due to visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta on Thursday.

Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware said Obama should issue a guarantee to medical volunteers to assure them of help when they return to the United States.

"The president should guarantee that all U.S. citizens who travel to West Africa to help fight Ebola will be allowed to return to the United States, that any medical care they need as a result of their trip will be provided free of charge and that wages lost to any government-imposed quarantine will be reimbursed," Coons wrote in an opinion piece in Thursday editions of the Washington Post.

U.S. Representative Steve Cohen, a Tennessee Democrat, said the fight over Hickox and the larger battle over isolation policies have deteriorated into political posturing just days ahead of next week's midterm elections.

"This is just fear. It's kind of understandable, but unfortunately it's just stirred up and caused by fear-mongering politicians who see poll-driven numbers in anticipation of Tuesday's election," Cohen told CNN after Hickox' outing. “This is strictly driven by politics and fear-mongering.”

Thursday, October 30, 2014 - By Unknown 0

N. Korea to quarantine foreigners over Ebola fears

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korean officials have announced they will quarantine foreigners for 21 days over fears of the spread of the Ebola virus.

An announcement distributed to foreign diplomatic missions in Pyongyang said that, regardless of country or region of origin, all foreigners will be quarantined under medical observation for 21 days.

It said foreigners from affected areas will be quarantined at one set of locations, while those from unaffected areas will be sent to other locations, including hotels. It said the staff of diplomatic missions and international organizations in North Korea will be allowed to stay in their residences.

A copy of the document, dated Wednesday, was obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.

There have been no reported cases of Ebola in North Korea.

More than 13,700 people have been sickened in the Ebola outbreak, and nearly 5,000 of them have died. Nearly all the cases are in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, though there were 20 in Nigeria, four in the U.S. and one each in Mali, Senegal and Spain. No cases have been reported in Asia.

North Korea's frantic response to Ebola, including a broad but so far poorly defined ban on foreign tourism, is also surprising because the notoriously reclusive country admits so few foreigners in the first place.

Other than diplomatic and government missions, it has virtually no contact with any of the countries that have been most affected in west Africa, though it has tried to cultivate good relations with some African nations.

Kim Yong Nam, the head of North Korea's parliament, is now touring other parts of Africa.

Last week, North Korea's state media announced that travelers and cargo would be subject to stricter monitoring at airports, seaports and railway border crossings. Warnings are also being aired on television to increase public awareness of the disease and its symptoms.

North Korea's reaction isn't unprecedented. It closed its borders for several months in 2003 during the scare over SARS.

But that was a much more obvious threat. SARS affected China, and Beijing is where most flights into Pyongyang originate. In the case of Ebola, North Korea's efforts to defend itself from what appears to be a tiny risk may end up alienating it from foreigners who have been willing to invest here.

Thursday, October 30, 2014 - By Unknown 0

Galway Kinnell, Pulitzer-winning poet, dies at 87

The Academy of American Poets gave Galway Kinnell the Wallace Stevens Award for lifetime achievement in 2010

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Pulitzer Prize-winning US poet Galway Kinnell, best known for his spiritual poems connecting the experiences of daily life to larger forces, has died aged 87.

His wife, Barbara, said he died on Tuesday at their home in Vermont, after suffering from leukaemia.

Kinnell was among the most celebrated poets of his time and wrote more than a dozen books spanning five decades.

He won the Pulitzer for his 1982 book Selected Poems.

The collection also won the National Book Award for Poetry, sharing the honour with contemporary Charles Wright.

His other best-known works include The Book of Nightmares, inspired by the horror of the Vietnam war, When One Has Lived a Long Time Alone and Mortal Acts, Mortal Words.

One his most famous poems is The Bear, telling of a hunter who, after consuming animal blood and excrement, comes to identify with his prey.

Other notable poems include After Making Love We Hear Footsteps and When the Towers Fell, about the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York.

'Warm hearted'

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, on 1 February 1927, Kinnell was the son of immigrants from Scotland and Ireland.

The Los Angeles Times reported the poet once told students he was "a very silent child, almost mute".

"I developed a big sense of isolation from others... Gradually I felt that if I was ever going to have a happy life, it was going to have to do with poetry," he said.

He attended Princeton University, where he was roommates with future US poet laureate WS Merwin, who introduced him to the works of WB Yeats.

Merwin told Associated Press he and Kinnell had been "like brothers" and remembered his friend as a "very generous soul".

He praised the poet's work as "warm hearted" and the creations of "someone who was independent but felt sympathy with other people".

Kinnell's breakthrough poem came in 1960, with The Avenue Bearing the Initial of Christ Into the New World - a 14-part work about Avenue C in Manhattan and the people that walked the street.

He served as poet laureate for Vermont from 1989 to 1993, and moved there in 2005.

The Academy of American Poets later gave him the Wallace Stevens Award for lifetime achievement in 2010.

He married his first wife, Spanish translator Ines Delgado de Torres, in 1965 and had two children, Fergus and Maud, but divorced 20 years later. He married second wife Barbara in 1997.

Thursday, October 30, 2014 - By Unknown 0

Apple chief Tim Cook: 'I'm proud to be gay'

Mr Cook said he made his announcement to try to help people struggling with their identity

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Apple chief executive Tim Cook has publicly acknowledged his sexuality, saying that he is "proud to be gay".

Mr Cook made his announcement to try to help people struggling with their identity, he wrote in a Bloomberg Businessweek article.

He has been open about his sexuality, but has also tried to maintain a basic level of privacy until now, he said.

This week Mr Cook challenged his home state of Alabama to ensure the rights of gay and transgender people.

"I don't consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I've benefited from the sacrifice of others," he wrote.

"So if hearing that the CEO [chief executive] of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it's worth the trade-off with my own privacy," he added.

Mr Cook said that he had been open about his sexuality with many people, including colleagues at Apple, but that it still "wasn't an easy choice" to publicly announce his sexual orientation.

He quoted civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King, saying: "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?' "

Analysis

Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC News technology correspondent

Tim Cook's announcement may come as no surprise in Silicon Valley or across corporate America.

But that does not mean that we should underestimate the significance of the leader of the world's most valuable company talking openly about his sexuality.

Back in May, a piece in the New York Times asked "where are the gay chief executives?" and struggled to name any openly gay CEOs at America's 1,000 biggest companies.

Apple under Steve Jobs was not a company that took a stand on any issues which were not seen as relevant to its business.

Tim Cook has been more forthcoming on all sorts of issues, including equal rights for gay workers, and while he says he does not see himself as an activist, that is how many will now see him.

That could embroil him in controversy in the United States, let alone in other parts of the world with less liberal views of sexuality.

Mr Cook admitted that going public as a gay man was not an easy choice - but it certainly looks a courageous one.

This week Mr Cook referred to Martin Luther King in a speech in Alabama in which he called for equal rights for people based on sexual orientation and identity.

He said that Alabama had been too slow to ensure the rights of ethnic minorities in the civil rights era, and was now being too slow to guarantee gay rights.

"Under the law, citizens of Alabama can still be fired based on their sexual orientation," Mr Cook said.

"We can't change the past, but we can learn from it and we can create a different future."

Mr Cook has championed equality at Apple, but in August said he was "not satisfied" with workforce diversity at the company.

Outstanding, a not-for-profit professional network for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) executives, said on Thursday that many LGBT people in the UK felt it was "safer to stay in the closet" when at work.

In May a US study by LGBT organisation Human Rights Campaign suggested that 53% of US LGBT employees had not come out at work.

Thursday, October 30, 2014 - By Unknown 0

Burkina Faso parliament set ablaze

Protesters angry at plans to allow Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore to extend his 27-year-rule have set fire to parliament.

Correspondents say the city hall and ruling party headquarters are also in flames.

A huge crowd is surging towards the presidential palace and the main airport has been shut.

MPs have suspended a vote on changing the constitution to allow Mr Compaore to stand for re-election next year.

Five people have been killed in the protests, among the most serious against Mr Compaore's rule, reports BBC Afrique's Yacouba Ouedraogo from the capital.

The military fired live bullets as protesters stormed parliament, our correspondent says.

Journalists are now gathered outside the defence ministry awaiting a statement from the military, he says.

Witnesses say dozens of soldiers have joined the protests, including a former defence minister, Gen Kouame Lougue.

The main opposition leader, Zephirin Diabre, has called on the military to side with "the people".

TV off air

Mr Compaore's whereabouts are unknown, but he has appealed for calm via Twitter.

He first took power in a coup in 1987, and has won four disputed elections since then.

At the scene: Joost Laane, speaking to BBC Focus on Africa

I am in an area where many MPs live and I have seen two of their homes set ablaze and smoke coming out of another two or three homes. Hotel Azalai, one of the main hotels in the city, is also on fire.

Two helicopters flew over my house - the president's and a normal helicopter. I cannot confirm whether the president was in one of them.

No-one knows what is going to happen next. It is chaotic and tense. We hear sporadic gunfire.

There is no TV anymore. So we are depending on internet access and phone calls. The 3G network and the texting system are blocked.

The opposition has called for a campaign of civil disobedience to demand that he steps down in elections next year.

"October 30 is Burkina Faso's black spring, like the Arab Spring," opposition activist Emile Pargui Pare told AFP news agency.

Cars were also set ablaze near parliament

The protesters do not want Mr Compaore to change the constitution to extend his rule

The defence forces have been trying to disperse the protesters

State television went off air after protesters stormed the building housing it and ransacked it, Reuters quotes a witness as saying.

About 1,500 people breached the security cordon at parliament, according to AFP.

Protesters were setting fire to documents and stealing computer equipment and cars outside the building were also set on fire, the agency says.

Blaise Compaore

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Out of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.President Blaise Compaore: "My concern today is not to build a future for myself - but to see how t

• Served under President Thomas Sankara as minister of state to the presidency
• Took power after Sankara was killed in mysterious circumstances by a group of soldiers in 1987
• First elected president in 1991 and again in 1998
• A new constitution in 2000 limited presidents to two terms in office, and limited terms to five years
• Won two further terms
• Protests at attempts to amend the term limits began a year ago, fuelled by the high cost of living

A massive crowd has also converged on the main square in Ouagadougou and is marching towards the presidential palace, which is about 5km (three miles) away, our reporter says.

A government helicopter flying overhead was firing tear gas at them, Reuters reports.

There are also reports of protests in the south-western city of Bobo Dioulasso.

The government has been forced to suspend Thursday's parliamentary vote on a constitutional amendment that would have lifted the limit on presidential terms so that Mr Compaore could run for office again in 2015.

It is not clear whether the government intends to hold the vote at a later stage, correspondents say.

Mr Compaore is a staunch ally of the US and France, which uses Burkina Faso as a base for military operations against militant Islamists in the Sahel region.

Both France and the European Union (EU) have called on him to scrap the proposed constitutional amendment.

The EU said it could jeopardise Burkina Faso's stability. The US has also raised concern about the proposed amendment.

Thursday, October 30, 2014 - By Unknown 0

Madras movie review----- Karthi's Madras

 Tamil movie review: Karthi's Madras is a puerile battle over a wall

An apt title for director P Ranjith's work could have been North Madras. For the film is set there, in its lower middleclass tenements, where women wear jasmine flowers and queue up at the break of dawn by the street corner water tap with colourful containers, and men brawl over brew. If Ranjit dared to make a movie, Madras, in the city's northern fringes, -- perhaps the first time ever for a film to have been shot there - he also deftly captures the area's smells and sounds, its dialect and crudity, which can, though, encompass a certain unique camaraderie, fast vanishing elsewhere.

However, the thin plot by itself does not throw up surprises. It is time worn, beaten to death and absolutely clichéd stretching for well over 150 minutes - much of it wasted in inanity. It is only past the first half that Madras gets down to pushing what it actually wants to show, which is a rivalry over the ownership of a huge wall that two different political clans fight for, shedding blood and brotherhood. Friendships are crushed and lives wasted. It is really not clear why anyone would want to swing sickles, bad mouth one another other and get into physical fights over a mere wall. Ego probably.

Karthik's Kali is a software employee living in a North Madras locality who is as passionate about football as he is about the wall, the right over which, he hopes, will someday come to the political party he identifies with. Hanging around with his best friend, Anbu, and other cronies, Kali ultimately falls in love with a neighbourhood girl, Kalaiarasi (Catherine Tresa making her debut in Tamil cinema after a stint in Kannada and Malayalam movies). And when Anbu is killed, Kali is driven by rage that threatens his romantic dreams.

Sadly, Karthi, who seemed so very promising in his first outing, Paruthi Veeran, is somehow not showing enough pluck to pick different kinds of roles. He remains a ruffian, the ruffian whom we saw in Paruthi Veeran. In fact, most of his roles have veered towards rough characters. In Madras too, he is short tempered and given to sorting issues through might - traits that push him towards loss and suffering.

Catherine is not quite up to the mark, often looking dull and emotionless. The others in the film are disappointing as well adding to the over-dramatisation of the narrative, which mercifully is not peppered with too many songs.

In the end, Madras is but another work about gang wars and political rivalry that can only be watched if you stop disbelieving.

ALSO WATCH TRAILER ...CLICK HERE 

Saturday, September 27, 2014 - By Unknown 0