"Total Recall" remake struggles to recall original's success

Los Angeles (Reuters) - The years haven't been kind to Douglas Hauser, the secret agent character played by both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Colin Farrell in versions of the futuristic action film "Total Recall" released 22 years apart.

The release of the modern-day version of the film on August 3 by Sony Pictures Entertainment, scarcely outsold the 1990 version that featured Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone, despite playing in 1,500 more theaters and at a time when ticket prices are higher.

The rebooted version, which stars Farrell as a dispirited worker who has lost his memory of being a secret agent, generated $26 million this weekend at the U.S. and Canadian box offices, according to Hollywod.com's box office division.

The 1990 version grossed $25.5 million in ticket sales and played on 2,060 screens. The new version is playing on 3,601 screens.

"Sometimes the perceived demand for re-boots of well known titles is overestimated," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com's box office division.

The tragedy surrounding Warner Brothers' "The Dark Knight Rises" may also have affected the box office take for "Total Recall," figures Dergaraberian, as some may have stayed away during its first two weeks in theaters for fear of a repeat of the shootings during a midnight showing of the new Batman film in Aurora, Colorado.

The Batman film nevertheless grossed $36.4 million in its third weekend to lead the weekend's box office race, with "Total Recall" second.

"Total Recall" was also released during a weekend of heavy viewing of the Olympic games on NBC.

Whatever the reasons, Sony Pictures Entertainment spent an estimated $138 million for the rebooted version of the movie, which also stars Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale, according to the movie web site IMDB.

That's about half what it cost to make "The Dark Knight Rises" but also about half the $65 million it cost the now defunct Carolco Pictures to make the original "Total Recall," which was distributed by Sony. That film went on to gross $119.4 million.

Studios usually spend more than $100 million to market large budget films.

Sony would not comment about comparisons with the earlier version but stressed in a statement to reporters that the take for the new "Total Recall" was "in line with tracking and industry expectations."

"The film opened #1 in a select number of countries where Total Recall debuted this weekend, including India, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand," Sony spokesman Steve Elzer said in the statement, adding that the movie would begin rolling out in larger countries in coming weeks.

"It's always been a world play, and it's tracking very well," in markets like western Europe, Latin America and Asia, said Rory Bruer, Sony's president of worldwide distribution.

"I think we're going to be very pleased with the results," Bruer said.

(Additional reporting by Chris Michaud; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/total-recall-remake-struggles-recall-originals-success-210431132--finance.html

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U.N. nations condemn Syria; Russia, China seen isolated

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. member states on Friday overwhelmingly voted to condemn the Syrian government at a special session of the General Assembly that Western diplomats said highlighted the isolation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's supporters Russia and China.

The 193-nation assembly approved the Saudi-drafted resolution, which expressed "grave concern" at the escalation of violence in Syria and condemned the Security Council for its action, with 133 votes in favor, 12 against and 31 abstentions.

Dozens of other countries, including many Western states, co-sponsored the resolution.

As expected, Assad's staunch ally Russia was among the 12 countries that opposed the resolution in the assembly, where no country has a veto but all decisions are non-binding. Others that voted against it included China, Iran, North Korea, Belarus, Cuba and others nations that often criticize the West.

Some countries did not participate in the vote.

The resolution has the assembly "deploring the failure of the Security Council to agree on measures to ensure the compliance of Syrian authorities with its decisions."

It also calls for "an inclusive Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, pluralistic political system" and expressed "concern at the threat by the Syrian authorities to use chemical or biological weapons."

The United States and European powers blame Russia for the deadlock on the 15-nation council. Last month Russia and China joined forces in their third double veto on the Syrian crisis to strike down a resolution that would have called for an end to the violence and threatened Damascus with sanctions.

Many of the elements from the latest vetoed resolution were included in the text the assembly approved on Friday.

Russia blames the West for the Security Council deadlock, accusing it of encouraging and supporting Syrian rebels. Russian U.N. envoy Vitaly Churkin blasted the resolution as "harmful."

"Behind the facade of humanitarian rhetoric, the resolution hides blatant support to the armed opposition, which they're actively supporting, financing ... and they're arming," he said.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice welcomed the resolution's adoption.

"Despite the continued opposition of an increasingly isolated minority, the overwhelming majority of U.N. members clearly stands resolutely with the Syrian people as they seek to fulfill their legitimate aspirations," Rice said.

SPOTLIGHT ON RUSSIA AND CHINA

Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari, after the vote, complained that the meeting was "another piece of theater" organized by the Qatari president of the General Assembly, Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser, to pursue his country's agenda.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar support the rebels determined to oust Assad. Ja'fari repeated his country's accusations that both are supplying weapons to the opposition, adding that Friday's "resolution will have no impact whatsoever."

Several Western diplomats said an important reason for adopting a non-binding resolution at the General Assembly was to send a political message and shame Russia and China for opposing tough action against Assad's government in the Security Council.

"This vote shines the spotlight on Russia and China and humiliates them in a way that they don't like," a U.N. diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

Russia, which has its only warm water naval base outside the former Soviet Union in Syria, is Assad's key supporter and principal arms supplier.

China, diplomats say, has been supporting Moscow in exchange for Russian pledges to back Beijing on issues like North Korea and Taiwan at the United Nations.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told reporters after the vote that a "colossal majority" supported the resolution, which had been revised to remove language explicitly backing Arab League calls for Assad to step down and urging states to implement sanctions against Damascus.

But the resolution still welcomes an Arab League decision calling for Assad to step aside, without giving details of that decision.

Those revisions secured the support of dozens of countries that might have opposed it otherwise, U.N. diplomats said.

Saudi Arabia's Ambassador Abdallah al-Mouallimi said "the number of votes in favor has exceeded all of our expectations."

French Ambassador Gerard Araud, president of the Security Council this month, also welcomed the adoption of the resolution, but said it was unfortunate the council has been unable to act the way that the assembly did.

"The Security Council is blocked," he said. "I don't see how we could move forward on this issue."

Earlier U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the assembly that the brutality in Syria's biggest city, Aleppo, where forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebels continue to face off in bloody clashes, may be crimes against humanity.

"As we meet here, Aleppo ... is the epicenter of a vicious battle between the Syrian government and those who wish to replace it," Ban said.

"The acts of brutality that are being reported may constitute crimes against humanity or war crimes," Ban said. "Such acts must be investigated and the perpetrators held to account."

Both sides accuse the other of summary executions and mass killings in Aleppo.

Ban repeated that he intended to replace U.N.-Arab League mediator Kofi Annan, who announced on Thursday his intention to step down at the end of August. Annan said the Security Council deadlock was among the factors undermining his peace efforts.

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Vicki Allen and Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/aleppo-brutality-may-crimes-against-humanity-u-n-154112797.html

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Critically endangered whales sing like birds; New recordings hint at rebound

ScienceDaily (July 31, 2012) ? When a University of Washington researcher listened to the audio picked up by a recording device that spent a year in the icy waters off the east coast of Greenland, she was stunned at what she heard: whales singing a remarkable variety of songs nearly constantly for five wintertime months.

Kate Stafford, an oceanographer with UW's Applied Physics Lab, set out to find if any endangered bowhead whales passed through the Fram Strait, an inhospitable, ice-covered stretch of sea between Greenland and the northern islands of Norway. Only around 40 sightings of bowhead whales, which were hunted almost to extinction, have been reported there since the 1970s.

Stafford and colleagues put two hydrophones, or underwater microphones, on moorings attached to the seafloor in Fram Strait, leaving them there for as long as the batteries would last: nearly a year. Since the population of bowhead whales likely to pass through was thought to number in the tens, they didn't anticipate much interesting data.

"We hoped to record a few little grunts and moans," Stafford said. "We were not expecting to get five months of straight singing."

Not only did they record singing nearly every hour of the day and night, they picked up more than 60 unique songs. A paper detailing their discoveries appears July 31 as the feature article in Endangered Species Research and is openly accessible online.

The variety of tunes was so surprising that the researchers compared the whales' song catalog to that of birds.

"Whether individual singers display one, multiple or even all call types, the size of the song repertoire for? bowheads in 2008-2009 is remarkable and more closely approaches that of songbirds than other? whales," they wrote in the report.

They have yet to learn why the whales sang so consistently last year.

Scientists believe that bowhead whale song comes from males during mating season. In most other kinds of whales, individuals either sing the same song their whole lives or all members of a population sing the season's same popular tune. If bowheads are like the former, that would mean more than 60 males were in the Fram Strait. If the population is evenly split between males and females, there could have been more than 100 whales -- far more than anyone thought comprised this population.

With further study, the scientists instead could discover that individual bowhead whales have a repertoire of songs that they sing during a season. That would be equally interesting because it would make the bowheads the only known whales to sing a variety of songs in the same season.

The findings also hint at the possibility of a rebound in bowhead whales.

"If this is a breeding ground, it would be spectacular," said Stafford. "For such a critically endangered species, it's really important to know that there's a reproductively active portion of the population."

In addition, since the whales are difficult to study given their year-round residence in the Arctic, virtually nothing was known about where they spend their winters. The research offers a clue about the whales' migration path.

Only a handful of bowhead whale populations remain. The largest historic population, which includes the individuals studied for this report, once possibly numbered more than 30,000 members but was hunted to near-extinction from the 1600s through the 1800s. Commercial whaling reduced bowhead whale populations in other regions as well; combined, the four remaining populations are thought to number fewer than 10,000 members.

Bowhead whales are massive creatures. They grow to over 60 feet long, may live to 200 years old and can weigh 200,000 pounds. They use their huge skulls to break through ice as thick as 1.5 feet.

Bowhead whale song is unique in that the whales appear to sing with "two voices," simultaneously producing high- and low-frequency sounds. The whales sometimes repeat the same tune for hours at a time.

Stafford and her colleagues deployed the two hydrophones 60 miles apart. They made 2,144 hours of simultaneous recordings from September 2008 through July 2009. In order to conserve battery power and take recordings for a longer period of time, the hydrophones worked for nine minutes out of every half hour.

The hydrophone in the west, covered in dense ice and in colder water, picked up far more singing than the one in the east, where there was spotty ice coverage and warmer water. The greatest frequency of song occurred in the darkest, coldest period.

"It's clear there's a habitat preference," Stafford said. The thick canopy of ice may provide better acoustics than the loose pack ice and therefore might be favored by singing whales, she said.

"As Arctic sea ice declines, there may be some places like this that are important to protect in order to preserve a breeding ground for the bowhead whales," Stafford said.

To answer new questions that the data opens up -- including how many whales make up this North Atlantic population -- Stafford hopes to do additional study.

Co-authors of the paper include Sue Moore and Catherine Berchok from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; ?ystein Wiig of the University of Oslo; Christian Lydersen, Edmond Hansen and Kit M. Kovacs from the Norwegian Polar Institute; and Dirk Kalmbach with the Alfred Wegener Institute of Polar and Marine Research in Germany. The research was funded by NOAA and supported by the Norwegian Polar Institute and the Alfred Wegener Institute.

Bowhead whale song 1: http://www.washington.edu/news/files/2012/07/feb09songs_47USE.mp3

Bowhead whale song 2: http://www.washington.edu/news/files/2012/07/feb09songs_47USE.mp3

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Washington. The original article was written by Nancy Gohring.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. KM Stafford, SE Moore, CL Berchok, ? Wiig, C Lydersen, E Hansen, D Kalmbach, KM Kovacs. Spitsbergen?s endangered bowhead whales sing through the polar night. Endangered Species Research, 2012; 18 (2): 95 DOI: 10.3354/esr00444

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/fXjSYIZJ-Js/120731123248.htm

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Goal Setting, Self Improvement & Decision Making ? Words of ...

We know right from wrong, we know good from bad, so instinctively, all our decisions are made right away. It is when we begin to rationalize our decisions that we make the mistakes that we regret. Millionaires know the secrets to Goal Setting, Self Improvement & Decision Making, learn their Words of Wisdom:

? You will know you made the right decision because your body tells you it is the right decision, from the passion and the focus you get from making that decision.

? Choosing the right decision, opens the door to new options, once you have made that decision, the key to making that decision is sticking to it to make it right.

? Making a decision is a commitment to follow through because it truly brings out your own integrity.

? When you make a decision, you have to use your heart; you have to listen to your heart.

? Understanding you have to opportunity to make your own decisions is truly the key to success.

? Our inner strength and trust in our abilities to draw from all around and within to make decisions, actually provides the ability to make the decision.

? The ability to make a decision is leadership!

? We learn to make goals in our lives to attain success, the S.M.A.R.T. way to make goals in our lives is simple and goals must be: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely.

? Decisions often fall back on the attainment of goals by others ahead of us; most of our decisions are based on positive examples of people who have succeeded from similar decisions.

? Successful people make up their minds quickly and change their minds slowly. Unsuccessful people make up their minds slowly and change their minds quickly.

? Indecision leads to procrastination and can reinforce negativity.

? As you grow in personal/self development, you no longer need proof of success; self doubt fades and confidence in your decisions takes over, this is liberation.

? ?You don?t have to get it right, you just have to get it going.? ? Mike Litman

? The decision process includes quiet and allowing, but taking too much time to make a decision limits your time to make more decisions.

? Making decisions allow ourselves to make more decisions, with liberation from not being afraid of what we are going to decide and that is what will truly lead us Beyond Freedom!

So what decisions have you made in your life?

Have you made more good decisions than bad decisions?

If you have historically made more good decisions than bad decisions then learn from the wisdom that suggests we make decisions quickly and change our minds slowly because by making more decisions there will be more good decisions made.

Goal setting, a focus on self improvement & quick decision making are keys to success, use these words of wisdom to unlock your possibilities today!

Because YOU Deserve Money!

Source: Greg,http://www.1888articles.com/goal-setting-self-improvement-decision-making-words-of-wisdom-0v20e78ru3.html

Source: http://share.leaderinus.com/goal-setting-self-improvement-decision-making-words-of-wisdom/

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Factbox: Enbridge oil pipeline incidents

(Reuters) - The U.S. pipeline safety agency has launched an investigation into an oil spill in Wisconsin on Enbridge Inc's network that forced the shutdown of a section of a main artery carrying light sweet Canadian crude to Chicago-area refineries.

Enbridge's 318,000 barrel per day Line 14 pipeline, part of the Lakehead system, was shut on Friday after an estimated 1,200 barrels of oil were leaked.

The spill happened almost two years to the day after another major spill in a different section of the system, in Michigan, and marks the latest in a string of disruptions from the Canadian company in recent years.

Canada is the largest oil exporter to the United States and Enbridge's pipelines carry the lion's share of that crude.

The following lists Enbridge's pipeline spills and incidents over the last decade:

* June 2012 - Enbridge shuts 345,000 bpd Athabasca pipeline after 1,400 barrels of oil were spilled near Elk Point in northeast Alberta. The line was quickly restarted after the company was able to bypass the Elk Point pump station.

* March 2012 - Enbridge shuts the 318,000 bpd line 14/64 between Superior, Wisconsin, and Griffith, Indiana, after an SUV crashed into a pumping station near New Lenox, Illinois.

* September 2011 - Enbridge shuts Line 26, a 25,000 bpd oil pipeline running from Berthold, North Dakota, to Steelman, Saskatchewan, for one day after about 20 barrels of oil were spilled from a pumping station at Berthold.

* May 2011 - Enbridge estimates between 700 and 1,500 barrels of oil spilled from the 39,400 bpd Norman Wells pipeline south of Wrigley, Northwest Territories.

* November 2010 - Throughput on the 670,000 bpd Line 6A, which feeds Midwest refineries and the key Cushing, Oklahoma, crude oil hub, reduced after a problem with a power disruption from a local utility in Lockport, Illinois.

* September 2010 - Enbridge closed its 70,000 bpd Line 10, which runs from Westover, Ontario, to New York state, while the company investigated a small leak. It was quickly restarted when it was determined to be leak-free.

* September 2010 - Enbridge closed Line 6A for eight days after it leaked 6,100 barrels of crude near Romeoville, Illinois.

* July 2010 - Enbridge shut its 290,000-bpd Line 6B, which runs from Griffiths, Indiana, to Sarnia, Ontario, on July 26 after a rupture near Marshall, Michigan, spilled about 20,000 barrels into the Kalamazoo River system.

* January 2010: An Enbridge pipeline leaked around 3,000 barrels of crude near Neche, North Dakota. Authorities ordered Enbridge to reduce pressures on the line, and in a letter to Enbridge, raised concerns over the strength of some of its pipeline seams.

* November 2007: Two workers were killed after an Enbridge-operated pipeline caught fire in northern Minnesota. The same line had recently been repaired. Following the incident, which resulted in a pipeline closure, up to 20 percent of U.S. crude imports were temporarily halted. Enbridge was fined for having allowed pressure on the pipeline to exceed recommended limits.

* January 2007: A spill on an Enbridge line transporting Canadian crude to Chicago leaked around 1,190 barrels in rural Wisconsin. About a month later, and further north, the pipeline spilled 2,976 barrels after a construction crew broke the line.

* 2005: Enbridge spilled more than 9,825 barrels of oil in several incidents over the year, according to National Wildlife Federation data compiling spill volumes. Most oil was quickly contained by Enbridge.

* June 2003: Enbridge spilled around 452 barrels in Wisconsin's Nemadji River, and additional crude spilled from an Enbridge terminal was contained.

* July 2002: 6,000 barrels spilled from an Enbridge pipeline into marshlands near Cohasset, Minnesota.

Sources: Department of Transportation, Enbridge, spill data compiled by the National Wildlife Federation, SEC filings.

(Reporting by Jeffrey Jones, Timothy Gardner, Matthew Robinson, Joshua Schneyer and Selam Gebrekidan; Editing by Vicki Allen)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/factbox-enbridge-oil-pipeline-incidents-171417447.html

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Justin Bieber Music Video Sneak Peek: "As Long As You Love Me"

Justin Bieber gets dramatic in the just-released sneak peek at his upcoming video for "As Long As You Love Me."

Featuring an extended scene of acting, sans music, the video opens with the 18-year old sensation speaking with the father of his girlfriend, played by actor Michael Madsen. He's being told not to contact the love of his life, but come on. Do you really think that will stop The Biebs?

“Here it is," Bieber Tweeted upon the release. "The rest of the video hits this coming WEDNESDAY…it is INSANE!”

Justin Bieber Video Sneak Peek

Fortunately, Justin stopped himself from using any four-letter words while sending that Tweet.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/07/justin-bieber-music-video-sneak-peek-as-long-as-you-love-me/

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Facebook Earnings: Just Under a Billion Users, Just Over a Billion Revenue [Facebook]

There are 955 million people in this world with Facebook accounts, and they collectively poured $1.18 billion into Zuck & Co.'s coffers these last three months. Which, hey, not a bad welcome to Wall Street! More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/BHtdVuQJ1QM/facebook-earnings-just-under-a-billion-users-just-over-a-billion-revenue

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