CHINAWOOD – HENGDIAN WORLD STUDIOS IN CHINA LOOKS GROOVY TODAY
The good thing about being a blogger, is that other bloggers, whose world you know nada (Espanol for al zippo) about link to your blog–and teach you something.
For example some blogger with a teen persona named “Au-Yeung” just linked to Horiwood.Com. Already people are reading a Horiwood.Com post about Lucy Liu written and posted on February 21st 2009, shortly after I first started blogging and Rihanna‘s nasty black eye was THE topic of conversation in Young Hollywood that rocked the world of entertainment.
Au-Yeung’s post is this picture about Hengdian World Studios. Believe it or not, we rave on about Hollywood studios here in L.A but this pic features the film studio that China describes as being the largest in the world that was founded by a farmer turned millionaire Xu W sometimes called “Chinawood.” Now that was one farmer who upgraded his golden crops smartly.
The Standard Hong Kong sheds light on Chinawood’s founding once-poor farmer, noting: “Behind Hengdian’s rise is Xu Wenrong, a fiery 72-year-old multimillionaire who made a fortune manufacturing textiles, electronics, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Since building his first set there a decade ago for a director-friend making a film about the opium wars, Xu has plowed millions of dollars from his Hengdian Group empire to remake this farming enclave into “Chinawood.”
Xu said he picked Hengdian because it was his hometown.From a single lot, Hengdian World Studios has spread to a 25-square-kilometer area, almost twice the size of Beverly Hills. The local government has given him permission to expand tenfold. Now, Xu speaks with the arrogance of a Hollywood mogul. (<– Hey, cut it out! Hollywood moguls are becoming more gracious!)”Beijing can’t compete with me,” said Xu, who was himself a poor farmer.
He scoffed at Beijing’s chronic water shortage. “And who can afford Shanghai?” he asked.”
Alright, perhaps China does need to click on this PURE WATER post to be humanely royal too then to the good people of Beijing with water flow and power flows in the right and more humane directions. I do love this story about Chinawood. Very cool via Hong Kong.
Apparently, Xu envisions his studio as a one-stop filming center. ”Our slogan is, `You come here with a script and leave with a finished story,”‘ he said. Hengdian Group has already teamed up with Warner Brothers and another local company to create Warner China Films HG, which will produce Chinese- language movies for the big screen and television.” There’s no stopping Warner Bros. expansion worldwide. What a good tie in. That slogan does need rewriting though. It’s like doh! Of course scripts should become finished stories–you’re a film studio! Blimey!
What a nice Christmas gift. New news about other places, locations and people in the world who entertain with the medium of film and cinema all year round like bloggers do too sharing their news and images in Hollywood. Thanks Au-Yeung.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 12.25.10~
GOOD LORD!
I’m so hung over today! “Pobody’s Nerfect!” as the original cast of The Smurfs would say. :)
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California, USA. 12.22.10~
PENDING BANKING NEWS, JULIAN ASSANGE NEWS, WIKILEAKS UPDATES – 12.21.10
Speculation is currently swirling that WikiLeaks may be targeting Bank of America in its next leak, that Forbes interview will target at least on major bank. Some say Bank of America is that bank. The Huffington Post claims an executive at a major American bank will resign over the information. After millions have been spent by the US government investigating Wall Street biz practices it may be embarrassing being trumped by wikileaks information being released. These banking documents have nothing to do with Private Manning‘s leaked docs as a US military personnel.
New York Times scribe Andrew Ross Sorkin, points out that in his opinion it is not Wall Street executives who are worried about WikiLeaks’ next bombshell, it’s Wall Street regulators whose existence will be gauged via information sharing of a banking system’s methods. To be honest, if you know Bank of America, if these docs do affect this bank–it is actually no major loss to the American people. BoA is commonly known as not being a very good bank here in California. That’s the public perception of this bank.
The banking scandal looks scarier than what it is-from an average Joe customer’s viewpoint of this bank, that being “no bueno.”
WIKILEAKS AND JULIAN ASSANGE UPDATES FROM HOLLYWOOD – 12.20.10
Joke of the Century: The bank that is quite possibly, the worst bank in the world (Bank of America) has blocked Wikileaks payments. “This decision is based upon our reasonable belief that Wikileaks may be engaged in activities that are, among other things, inconsistent with our internal policies for processing payments,” the bank announced late on Friday.
Bank of America’s payments policies are normally like one dollar for you, and one half of your dollars for us–so this is fascinating news for most people who know this bank and how they roll. Perhaps it also has a lot to do with Wikileaks upcoming document leaks about this bank too.
Julian Assange uses ironic humor via his lawyers over ‘leaked’ rape allegation case, facts: “According to The Australian newspaper, Assange’s Swedish lawyer, Bjorn Hurtig, plans to lodge a formal complaint and demand that Swedish cops investigate how such sensitive material was leaked. ”I do not know who has given these documents to the media, but the purpose can only be one thing: trying to make Julian look bad,” the New York Daily News quoted Hurtig as saying. (more…)
QUALITY BUTTER: WASHINGTON’S FOREIGN AFFAIRS DIPLOMATS LIKE PHIL GOFF OF NEW ZEALAND, THEY CALL HIM “HARD-CHARGING”
[Phill Goff is pictured here with Auckland Central political candidate Jacinda Arden]
Guess what? The best cupcakes in the world are made with golden creamy, New Zealand butter.
Better Butter Movement News: Wikileaks documents reveal that America’s top foreign affairs diplomats like New Zealander Phil Goff and his brand and style of political leadership. The leaked cables handed to The Sunday Star Times reveal these views from America about Mr Goff, the leader of the Labor Party of New Zealand:
Mr Goff has military like precision when parachute jumping:
The cable talked of Phil Goff doing a parachute jump from a military plane. As the American report goes, Mr Goff logically debated for the jump over water option because it required less training. The US also liked the way he argued the amount of training down to two hours, proving he is a good time manager and negotiator–while not valuing his own sense of importance over tasks at hand.
Goff is “very focused on the job at hand,” American diplomats found via the wikileaks docs being shared with the world. “This sums up his working style in a nutshell.”
In other Kiwi-American trade deals news: Wikileaks reveals (via silobreaker) that a trading partnership between the US and New Zealand may not be as “El Dorado” lucrative or worth “billions and billions to New Zealand’s commercial sector” as some political leaders have claimed in the past in more recent New Zealand media, that may have given a perception of too high expectations– than these wikileaks US diplomatic communications reveal. 
JULIAN ASSANGE NEWS UPDATES AND WIKILEAKS NEWS UPDATES – 12.16.10
“It’s great to smell fresh air of London again,” Assange, 39, illuminated by a blizzard of photographers’ flashes, said after being released on $312,000 bail. “I continue on with our work. Clearing my name is not the highest task I have. The highest task I have is to continue with my work,” Assange added. Christine Assange, Julian’s mother (pictured below) had flown in from Australia to London to be with her son to “hold him close.” Aussie moms–How sweet.
Julian Assange has had quite a month. He proves that in a month, a dark horse outsider can: take the cover of Time Magazine; be listed as Time‘s no.2 most influential person of the year after a Facebook founder; can have Swedish girls fling themselves at him claiming rape, broken condom rumors–all after consensual sex with a man (go figure); have fame seekers like Michael Moore appear on camera to bail Julian out of jail.
TWITTERS TOP TEN BIG NEWS STORIES OF 2010
- Gulf Oil Spill
- Haiti Earthquake
- Pakistan Floods
- Koreas Conflict
- Chilean Miners Rescue
- Chavez Tas Ponchao
- Wikileaks Cablegate
- Hurricane Earl
- Prince Williams Engagement
- World Aids Day
The gulf oil spill, as tragic as it was to the environment and BP stakeholders alike, was an example of how a nuclear bomb would look if detonated. A lesson for us all to look after the earth.
Results shared via Stumble Upon.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 12.15.10~
JULIAN ASSANGE – THE GEEK FREEDOM FIGHTER WHOSE REORDERING WORLD TRENDS 2010 BY ACCELERATING GREATER TRANSPARENCY OF KNOWLEDGE-SHARING
First up: Julian Assange is granted bail and Michael Moore steps up to eye up his next documentary film subject in that process. Michael tweets: @MMFlint “London court has accepted bail money from me & others & has just released WikiLeaks’ Assange on bail! Cheering in courtroom.”
Second: After Mark Zuckerberg, Assange has been named Time Magazine’s most significant person of the year for 2010.
Why people cheer about J.A: Many talk show hosts or leading journalists in America feel smart if they mention or debate Julian Assange news or drop the name wikileaks right now. There is the slightest possibility this man may have given a window into many nations of the world from a selected/ edited American perspective via leaked cables documents.
As voyeurs of this information, journalists take on a tone of part spy and part Foreign affairs diplomat too, if they mention J.A’s name or leaked facts that they repackage as news content. For a journalist J.A’s leaks saga he began was like an end of year gift for a journo.
Being brought up as a neighbor of Australia I see this man as a geeky next-door-neighbor who with IT, believes he’s a freedom fighter of sorts simply because he reads more newspapers (cables), than the bloke next door gets delivered to his mail box each day.
TEN THINGS ON MARK ZUCKERBERG BEING NAMED TIME MAGAZINE’S PERSON OF THE YEAR
Mark Zuckerberg has just been named Time Magazine‘s person of the year, so my Twitter feed tells me, via Time’s twitter feed, via a link to Time’s Stumble Upon account. Boy is Time really working all social media distribution info-sharing services to do a Mark Zuckerberg butter-up job and get in on the Facebook audience bases good books. I kid. Rick Stengel is a good editor for Time, so how can I knock this man.
Here’s ten reason’s based on an essay from Time Magazine’s managing editor Mr. Stengel on why Zuckerberg is tops:
1. Zuckerberg is at the center of connection shifts with people: “The way we connect with one another and with the institutions in our lives is evolving.” Zuckerberg is on it.
2. Many people are wary of politicians due to too many mistakes, that fried the majority. Politicians are seen as greedy sharks, raping the golden goose more often than not these days: “There is an erosion of trust in authority, a decentralizing of power and at the same time, perhaps, a greater faith in one another.” Zuckerberg caught this wave as leaders didn’t catch the trend.
3. Identity and the way identity is shaped and shapes culture has shifted with an acceptance that there is less privacy: “Our sense of identity is more variable, while our sense of privacy is expanding. What was once considered intimate is now shared among millions with a keystroke,” Stengel writes. Zuckerberg made it possible for people to express aspects of personality easier and with an allusion of a certain degree of control. It is an allusion, although the average Facebook user feels ‘safe’ on Facebook’s website, often more safe than what a job situation or politicians are offering them, away from their computers and Facebook accounts. Weird. How much information Facebook sells to governments without people knowing, makes Facebook even more interesting. Zuckerberg at this juncture though is seen as safe by Facebook members.
4. People see him as “The Architect”: “He is both a product of his generation and an architect of it.”–He is leader who gave more to shape his generation than to be shaped by others in it. Or in other words, he went wide and appealed to the little person, to become a cultural hero and leader of the masses he facilitates.
5. Facebook is its ‘own nation’ of 1/10th of the World’s Population a part of it. Zuckerberg its President: “A billion new pieces of content are posted on Facebook daily. (more…)
FRAMING JULIAN ASSANGE – SWEDEN, SEXUAL ASSAULT RAPE ALLEGATIONS, THERMONUCLEAR INFORMATION SHARING AND A LEAKY CONDOM SCANDAL
The drama surrounding Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is all ago today. Many media are now asking is Julian Assange being framed? And how did Rihanna know all this at Halloween when she appeared on US television dressed as Jessica Rabbit on The Dave Letterman Show weeks ago?
According to the CSM these things are occurring with Julian:
Deportation from the UK: He’s in a London jail cell awaiting deportation to Sweden. Accusations that Assange sexually assaulted two women in Sweden are being bandied about. Although both women in question claim they’ve had consensual sex with Assange, the ladies are allegedly using the “rape” word. Assange could face Sweden’s ”broken condom law,” (unprotected sex is illegal in Sweden) if he still continued without wrapping up, after his condom broke, as one of these ladies claim. Bad joke, the ‘leaky condom’ one! Meanwhile, the two ladies making allegations are getting ‘abused online absurdly by Assange’s supporters,’ says their lawyer who wants to be the Swedish Gloria Allred discrimination lawyer of the 2010′s.
Assange’s Insurance for a fair trial: His lawyer is warning that Assange has distributed the digital equivalent of a “thermonuclear device” in case something happens to him. (more…)
THE HORIWOOD TOP TEN – TUE 12.7.10
Transparency is like refined gold, it has to be earned, tested with trust. So, I like people who endeavor to display a transparent spirit as leaders who serve the best interests of all, hence this quote running on this blog: ”In my time as Prime Minister I have tried to push for greater transparency, and we are happy to have an independent body overseeing expenses and entitlements for MPs [politicians], says New Zealand’s leader from Wellywood/ Wellington,”John Key 3 News. Information is like water flow. It often doesn’t flow to the right people who need to have it. Knowledge equals power. Africa needs water. What do we do this knowledge?
Transparency is good in any sincere culture but discretion is a part of wisdom too: ‘Do not let the left hand know what the right hand is doing… Be as wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove… A wise man conceals a matter.’
Often people who expect others to be transparent are not themselves–so good men and naturally transparent people–are forced to be wise and manage their own information about themselves, like a cultural taonga of New Zealand belonging to the collective people of Aotearoa New Zealand. Each nation is a knowledge farm of fruitful minds.
Here in America, today - Shiloh Jolie-Pitt has already worked out what her parents do and wants to follow in their footsteps already as a performer turning out a show. “Shi’Bouncy” couldn’t be happier with her baseball bat and military attire as mother Angelina Jolie, sister Zahara and Maddox go to Lee’s Art Store themselves in Manhattan, New York to shop before they imagine and create as artists. Too cute. This family is on the attack today from haters not in Jolie’s league, or, all of her children either. Love it. Maddox Jolie-Pitt has been a star longer than many people claiming to be celebs today. He was born this way. A star.
Jolie’s statement today could be–Our best art, is serving our children, to be informed by their worldview, creating their art. In any culture, isn’t that always the truth.
Hollywood entertainment and celebrity news on a sad day where the much admired Elizabeth Edwards died, looks like this as voted by you today worldwide. Thanks people.
1. Elizabeth Edwards‘ People Magazine cover
2. Melbourne’s Daniel Assange talks dad’s “audacious awesomeness”
3. Kim Kardashian for W Magazine
4. Gylne Tider‘s weird Let it Be art is tres poignant-o
5. Entitled Chelsea Handler goes gunning for herself and Jennifer Aniston
6. Sataying – Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi & Caroline Artiss
7. Steph Koutsimanis-Smith enjoys the New Zealand Beach Life
8. Art: Indio Downey buys a John Courage Amber beer poster
9. John Barrowman of Scotland can kinda sing
10. Julian Assange for Time Magazine‘s cover man
[Images courtesy of Gog.Org.NZ and Splash]
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 12.7.10~
SNOOP DOGGS! SIS UPS THE POWER OF GOVERNMENT OVER PRIVATE CITIZENS PHONE, PC INFO AND MOVEMENTS
While Prince Harry Windsor announced that he was interested in hiring Snoop Dogg for his brother Prince William‘s bachelor party celebrations, this is not the kind of fun Snoop Dogg experience New Zealanders are talking about today.
TV3 News reports via Deanna Harris: The Security Intelligence Service of New Zealand is to get greater powers to snoop into personal computers and electronically track people in their vehicles.
Prime Minister John Key has introduced the New Zealand SIS amendment bill designed to update the New Zealand Security and Intelligence Service Act 1969.
“The original legislation is over 40 years old and modernising it is long overdue,” says Mr Key.
“The bill updates the warrants framework, paying particular attention to electronic tracking devices, computer surveillance and technologies like mobile phones and cyber identities. In practice this does not change the threshold to obtain a warrant.
“In New Zealand the SIS currently issues approximately between 11 and 15 domestic warrants each year and I don’t expect number to alter because of the change in legislation.
“What the amendments do is bring the legal and technological framework around the New Zealand SIS up to date.”
The bill will have its first reading on Thursday.
Commentary: New Zealanders are very transparent people as a rule. When the New Zealand government collects this information, where exactly does it go? And why?
Whatever happens in New Zealand–always sets a precedent for other nations. New Zealand is always a guinea pig of new systems. Especially digital and “Snoop Dogg” systems. The bill needs updating for sure though. 1969, wow! The gov will at least need to know what is going on with Facebook. That’s the biggie.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 12.6.10~
JOHN GOMA’S MESSAGE FOR WIKIPEDIA
Information sharing is about contributing to people who care to share information. Here’s writer John Goma with a message:
AN ELEPHANT, “BABEL” APPEAR WHEN SEARCHING “SPIRIT” AT HATHI TRUST
A note to Hathi Trust: Babel is always associated to when we get too big for our boots, and our egos get in the way of unity for good causes that have a noble motivation. Perhaps change your search engine’s name?
Today, I was googling the word “spirit” on The Hathitrust Digital Library website–what came up was the results with:
a) an image of an elephant etched in orange
b) the word “babel” hosting the results
c) Hindu results come up first
d) Malaysian studies
e) William Eggleston: Spirit of Dunkerque book
f) Songs of the Spirit by Isaac Rieman Baxley of the 19th Century
g) Nothing Jewish on first two search engine pages findings.
Why is that?
And will a Communist nation like China, allegedly “hack” this website too?
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 12.4.10~
SCANNING VICTORIAN CULTURE – VICTORIAN KEY WORDS ARE SCANNED TO BE ANALYZED
To date Google has access to scanned digital information of books: Number of books scanned: fifteen million. Number of pages: five billion. Number of words: over two trillion discovered. [Read these Keynote speech docs ...Keynote Speech docs to discover more]. Word fascination means that Projects like Google Books, the Internet Archive’s OpenLibrary, and HathiTrust are growing.
Knowing how Victorian mindsets tick is an Obsession right now with some American academics. The UK is about to become more transparent in its information sharing of greatest literary minds past: This story fascinates in The New York Times. Photo by Erik Jacobs.
Selected paragraphs penned by Patricia Cohen:
“Victorians were enamored of the new science of statistics, so it seems fitting that these pioneering data hounds are now the subject of an unusual experiment in statistical analysis. The titles of every British book published in English in and around the 19th century — 1,681,161, to be exact — are being electronically scoured for key words and phrases that might offer fresh insight into the minds of the Victorians.”
“Dan Cohen and Fred Gibbs, the two historians of science at George Mason University who have created the project, have so far charted how frequently more than two dozen words — among them “God,” “love,” “work,” “science” and “industrial” — appear in British book titles from the French Revolution in 1789 to the beginning of World War I in 1914.”
As Cohen gave an early presentation of findings to date, “Meredith Martin, an assistant professor of English at Princeton who is studying the history of poetic form, was interested in the terms “prosody,” “meter” and “verse.”“I actually sent him an e-mail as he was talking,” Ms. Martin said. She figured he would be inundated with requests, and “I wanted to be first in line.””
WIKILEAKS SCANDAL AND THE GOOD LESSONS BEING LEARNED
Laughter as a unifying bond: “laughing at ourselves in shared openness,
disarms tensions and the bombs of strife and war”
A defining moment in global politics. The good, the bad, the ugly & the principle of all laughing together for things to get better: The Wikileaks leaked US docs scandal has got many nations worried what the tide of American opinion on world leader’s performances will be like in the oncoming weeks. It’s sort of like having your school report card read out to your entire high school (ie: The World). Who can’t empathize with anyone in politics right now–at this moment? That’s an uncomfortable feeling–for people who are used to being protected, rewarded for giving away very little information (eg: the art of Elena Kagan being interviewed provides a good study on that) to suddenly be forced to be more open by these leaked docs. Shocking, really for the rather closely guarded cushioned world of global politics.
With wikileaks leaking American docs–this news story is first scripted as an American-driven political narrative. Meaning, it’s a very US-shaped form of ‘perception shaping,’ ‘rating,’ ‘ranking,’ ‘sorting,’ ‘reordering a world order,’ ‘categorizing,’ ‘stereotyping?’ and ‘spicing up the game’ or world politics–all not on purpose, by the American government of course. Darn leaked documents being the cause of it all! Wikileaks just can’t be trusted!
THE TOP TEN FASTEST RISING NAMES OF ENTERTAINMENT, OUTSIDE OF ASIA 2010?
If you haven’t heard these names good on ya! I don’t know how you found this blog. Anyway, according to Google Zeitgeist’s result’s that have been okay-ed for distribution, these are the top ten fastest rising names of the Entertainment world, outside of Asian nations. A youthful burst of (mainly) American faces. They are:
1. Justin Bieber. 2. Katy Perry. 3. Selena Gomez. 4. Kim Kardashian. 5. Eminem 6. Lady Gaga. 7. Miley Cyrus. 8. Taylor Lautner. 9. Megan Fox. 10. Robert Pattinson.
Other trending names: Shakira, Netflix. Youtube Videos. Ke$ha. Nicki Minaj. Grooveshark. Transformers 3.
All I can say is: There is no Bollywood stars here (a weakness Google needs to improve on to grow market share, still this year) and thank goodness for Robert Pattinson and Shakira, otherwise there would be nobody who wasn’t American in this list other than Bieber.
Come on Google! Be more sharing and reflective.
Zero grade for cross-cultural spirit from an American-owned IT company! You’d think the world was American looking at these results. What a false and deluded bubble that is, to present such a vision to the world. Let’s hope next year Google USA isn’t so insecure. I have a blog, I too know who trends each day.
It’s a pity the Wikileaks scandal didn’t involve the real Google Zeitgiest results. Just saying. This list conveys a vision of ‘cultural imperialism’ that is skewed America’s way. Ideological brainwashing on display, a tad here to be remotely feasible.
I even ask whether Google was censored this year? Unreal. With the exception of Eminem, Nicki Minaj and Ke$ha’s inclusion and Selena Gomez being bumped onto the list at no.3 to reflect the latest US census results proving more Hispanic-American than envisaged–this reads like last year’s list of entertainers. This list feels stale.
[Image via WTF]
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 12.16.10~
December 17, 2010 | Categories: America, Censorship, Culture, Diversity, Entertainment Celebrity News, Entertainment News, Freedom, Freedom of Speech, Hollywood Entertainment News, Robert Pattinson, Shakira, Trends, UK | Tags: America, Censorship, Colombia, Culture, Diversity, Entertainment Distribution, Entertainment News, Entitlement, Freedom, Freedom of Speech, Google, Hollywood Entertainment News, Information Sharing, Lebanon, Pop Culture Commentary, Robert Pattinson, Shakira, Transparency in a Digital Age, Trends, UK | 6 Comments »