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Saturday, May 25, 2013

Cannes: Dern a leading man again in 'Nebraska'

Actor Bruce Dern poses for a portrait at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 24, 2013. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Invision/AP)

Actor Bruce Dern poses for photographers during a photo call for the film Nebraska at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Thursday, May 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Actress Laura Dern, left, and her father actor Bruce Dern pose for photographers as they arrive for the screening of Nebraska at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Thursday, May 23, 2013. (AP Photo/David Azia)

CANNES, France (AP) ? For the aging, gruff patriarch of his father-son road trip "Nebraska," Alexander Payne tried to lure Gene Hackman out of retirement and considered the likes of Robert Duvall and Jack Nicholson. Bruce Dern calls them "the obvious guys."

"He said to me, 'I got an idea. Let's surprise them with you,'" Dern recalled of learning from Payne that he had the part. Payne, he says, continued: "'You haven't done this. You haven't done anything like this. Let's have fun. Let's knock their socks off.'"

Though the part, reticent and cantankerous, isn't the typical socks-knocking kind of stuff, Dern's unadorned portrait has been one of the most hailed performances at the Cannes Film Festival, where the black-and-white "Nebraska" premiered to warm reviews Thursday. For Dern, whose days as a leading man were largely in the 1970s, working with Payne on "Nebraska" was deeply meaningful.

"All during your career, you look for a certain kind of security from the people you're working with, people that believe you're talented, that you can do what you can do," says the 76-year-old Dern, who was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in 1978's "Coming Home." ''I've been overrated sometimes and I've been underrated, probably more than I've been overrated."

Dern is an eager storyteller, and during an interview Friday, his conversation took detour upon detour, ranging from the directions of Alfred Hitchcock to how best to cheat at boarding school. His co-star in "Nebraska," the former "Saturday Night Live" player Will Forte, calls him, with understatement, "a bit of a talker."

In the film, Dern stars as Woody Grant, a retired, alcoholic veteran showing signs of senility. When he receives a mass mailing promising him a $1 million award, he sets out down the road from his Montana home to collect it in person in Nebraska. His son (Forte) placates him by driving him, including a stop his father's old hometown: "The guy needs something to live for," says the son.

It's a sweet but unsentimental tale of a son giving his father a sense of decency late in life. It will be released in November by Paramount Pictures amid the fall award season.

Dern calls Woody "a monument to the people like that, that still exist in this country ? a guy that's not going to leave, that's not going to get out." Dern risked, he says, "trying not to act."

"I said: 'I'll give you whatever you want. I won't give you what other directors want, because it's sparse,'" says Dern. "It's not a career-making role. I never smile. I never laugh. He never really gets angry except once. But there's no self-pity with Woody."

This is the second time a Dern has starred in a film by Payne. His 1996 feature debut, the abortion debate satire "Citizen Ruth," starred Laura Dern, Bruce's daughter. The actress lobbied Payne to cast her father.

"Both Derns will do anything you ask them to do," Payne told reporters. The director said he was as much drawn to Dern by his talent as by "who the man is."

"I like actors who can be ornery but heartbreaking at the same time," Payne said.

Dern, an avid lifetime runner, compared Payne's interest to him as coming on the 24th mile to the marathon of his career.

"I'll love him forever for that, for seeing in me that I could pull this off," Dern says of Payne. "He's different folks."

When Forte, early in the production, told Dern that he was having trouble adjusting to dramatic acting and establishing their relationship, Dern gave him some advice.

"I put my hand on his arm and I said, 'Just look at me every time in the movie and realize you may be working with a guy who's never going to make another movie,'" Dern says. "He got big tears in his eyes and said, 'Are you serious?' I said, 'No, it's all bull----. But you don't know that and I don't know that because if this fails, I'm done. They'll never let me play another lead in a movie.'"

The two spent weeks together in the close confines of a Subaru, says Forte: "I could just listen to him forever. He has the best stories. We became very close."

"I've been in some pretty good movies," says Dern. "This is the best movie I've been in. I hope it's as good a work as I've done."

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jake_coyle

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-05-24-France-Cannes-Bruce%20Dern/id-d8de3ef7b26f4c7aa397acb09b135372

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Obama rhetorically ends the 'war on terror'

... while vowing it will go on by other means.

By Dan Murphy,?Staff writer / May 23, 2013

President Barack Obama makes a point about his administration's counter-terrorism policy at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington on Thursday.

Larry Downing/Reuters

Enlarge

President Barack Obama's sprawling national security speech this afternoon veered from the controversial drone program that has killed at least 3,000 alleged militants overseas since 2002 to the legality and ethics of his justice department snooping into reporter's emails.

Skip to next paragraph Dan Murphy

Staff writer

Dan Murphy is a staff writer for the Monitor's international desk, focused on the Middle East.?Murphy, who has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, and more than a dozen other countries, writes and edits Backchannels. The focus? War and international relations, leaning toward things Middle East.

Senator: Assaults let military culture continue (The Arizona Republic)

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Youth with type 2 diabetes at much higher risk for heart, kidney disease

May 24, 2013 ? The news about youth and diabetes keeps getting worse. The latest data from the national TODAY diabetes study shows that children who develop Type 2 diabetes are at high risk to develop heart, kidney and eye problems faster and at a higher rate than people who acquire Type 2 diabetes as adults.

"Once these kids have Type 2 diabetes, they seem to be at very high risk for early complications when compared to adults," said Jane Lynch, M.D., professor of pediatric endocrinology in the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

The study, led in San Antonio by UT Medicine pediatricians, includes 699 children and young people, with 44 San Antonio participants.

The rise in youth obesity rates has been accompanied by increasing Type 2 diabetes rates in young people. "It's really a public health issue," said Dr. Lynch, who is principal investigator in the San Antonio arm of the study.

There are many unanswered questions and few guidelines for treatment of youth with early onset Type 2 diabetes, she said. Type 2 diabetes should not be confused with Type 1 diabetes, formerly called juvenile diabetes.

Of the TODAY participants, more than a third required medication for hypertension or kidney disease 3.9 years after they had joined the study. In the study, published online Thursday afternoon in Diabetes Care, 699 adolescents were randomized into three groups that received metformin, metformin plus rosiglitazone, or metformin plus intensive lifestyle intervention.

While the children on the combined drugs did the best of the three groups, Dr. Lynch said, all did poorly. The researchers were particularly disappointed that the intensive lifestyle intervention group did not do better.

The rate of deterioration of beta cell function in youth was almost four times higher than in adults, researchers found, noting a 20-35 percent decline in beta cell function per year on average, compared to 7-11 percent for adults. Beta cells store and release insulin.

It does not make things easier that these adolescents with early onset T2 diabetes have a tough time managing complex health problems.

"In puberty, everyone becomes somewhat insulin-resistant ? and when you're insulin-resistant you're hungry, plus when you have diabetes you're thirsty. This becomes a huge issue when there's the tendency to make poor choices."

One sobering aspect of the study results is that the young patients all had to fit certain health parameters, such as not having high blood pressure or having a treatable level of high blood pressure, and they all received the best possible care, education and medical support.

They had to have a parent or guardian who would also participate in the clinic visits and lifestyle education. Their medicine was paid for and they were brought to the clinic by taxi if that's what it took to get them there.

"That's Cadillac treatment for any kids with diabetes -- and we still had these outcomes," Dr. Lynch said.

Despite the interventions in all three treatment arms, the kids kept getting sicker. Boys and girls both developed kidney disease at about the same rates, but obese teenage boys were 81 percent more likely to develop hypertension, Dr. Lynch said. "What's especially challenging for these children is that many also develop fatty liver, which limits our use of the drugs that control hypertension."

The study will continue as researchers monitor the participants' overall outcomes, including cardiac health. "Our goal is to follow them for 10 or 15 years as we figure out better ways to prevent this disease and how to predict complications," Dr. Lynch said.

All the educational handouts used in the study are available free online at https://today.bsc.gwu.edu/web/today/tsdematerials. The study was funded in part by NIDD/NIH, grant no. U01-DK-61230.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/rzdnlyuIlO4/130524122010.htm

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Friday, May 24, 2013

Funding Boost For Darwin Greyhound Racing Northern Territory ...

Written By Kevin Pitstock, Editor Australian Racing Greyhound 3 hours ago ?

Minister for Sport and Recreation Matt Conlan said an additional $230,000 for the Darwin Greyhounds Association in the 2013 Budget would provide a much-needed boost for the sport.

Mr Conlan said the industry had recently gone through difficult financial times and the extra funding would help it get back on its feet.

?The additional $230,000 in 2013 will allow the Darwin Greyhounds Association to maintain their prize money which will entice more interstate visitors and lead to more runners in races,? Mr Conlan said.

?The Greyhounds have been based at Winnellie in Darwin for many years and is a growing area of racing interest for Territorians.

?The Country Liberals Government is supporting this important industry and ensuring the Club can continue to provide an exciting and entertaining outing for Territory families.?

The Darwin Greyhounds has recently endured financial difficulties and in 2011-12 the Racing Commission was forced to appoint an administrator to review its operations.

To ensure the ongoing viability of the industry the Northern Territory Government has committed to a new three year funding arrangement with the Darwin Greyhounds Association which includes an additional $230 000 to bring total funding for 2013-14 to $800 000.

?This funding will assist the Darwin Greyhounds Association with industry development, help to conduct race meetings and maintain its facility at Winnellie,? Mr Conlan said.

?Tonight, I am delighted to officially open the club?s new race kennels, which finally replace an old shed which had existed since pre-cyclone Tracy. These new kennels, combined with our funding increase, should secure the future of this sport.?

Darwin Greyhound Association President, Robbie Brennan, welcomed today?s announcement.

?This new funding agreement will allow us to focus on getting Darwin Greyhound Racing out to a television audience, nationally and internationally on Sky Channel, which will increase our revenue,? Mr Brennan said.

?Sky Channel?s infrastructure is in place at Fannie Bay so getting a link between Winnellie Park and Fannie Bay is well within reach. The new Government Funding agreement allows the Darwin Greyhound Association to pursue this goal along with maintaining current prize money levels and developing the facility at Winnellie Park.?

Source: http://www.australianracinggreyhound.com/australian-greyhound-racing/northern-territory-greyhound-racing/funding-boost-for-darwin-greyhound-racing/41135

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Texas mayor encourages grads

Heralded by some as a future president of the United States, San Antonio Mayor Juli?n Castro of Texas delivered an inspiring commencement address to graduates of Santa Fe Community College on Wednesday.

The 38-year-old Castro, who gave the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention last September, told the nearly 400 graduates who attended the ceremony that brain power is the new currency of success in the 21st century.

Castro finished his 20-minute speech by saying that as they walk across the stage to pick up their diplomas and certificates, the students had achieved a great victory.

?It?s a great victory for your family, for this state and for the United States as we create with your brain power, your dreams, and your work, another American century,? he said.

Castro had been invited as keynote speaker by SFCC President Ana ?Cha? Guzm?n, who came to Santa Fe last summer from Palo Alto College in San Antonio. Her husband, Gilberto Oca?as, has done some consulting work for Castro and his twin brother, Joaquin, a Texas congressman.

eddie moore/journal San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, eyed as a rising star in Democratic Party circles, was the keynote speaker at the graduation ceremony Wednesday at Santa Fe Community College.

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, eyed as a rising star in Democratic Party circles, was the keynote speaker at the graduation ceremony Wednesday at Santa Fe Community College. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)

?He?s a friend of ours, both Juli?n and Joaquin are,? Guzm?n said during an interview earlier this week.

Guzm?n said she got to know the Castros as they were first getting into politics in San Antonio about eight years ago. Because they traveled in the same political circles, she served as a mentor to them.

?Because I?m a Democrat, I was part of that as kind of an older statesmen,? she said.

Part of the appeal of having Castro speak at commencement, she said, was that Castro grew up in the barrio, but both he and his brother emerged to graduate from Stanford University and Harvard Law School.

?He knows that excellence is a distributed variable that exists in poor kids as much as rich ones. It?s just that poor ones don?t have the same access,? she said.

Castro talked about gaining access and making the most of opportunities during his speech.

?We grew up seeing both the promise of what could be in my mother, and also what could have been with my grandmother. She had spent her life working as a maid and a cook and babysitter after dropping out in the fourth grade,? he said of his grandmother.

His mother had a better life and wanted to make sure her sons had an even better one. He recalled his mother pulling her sons out of a middle school and taking them to another one after hearing that a school administrator had told sixth-graders that statistically about half of them wouldn?t graduate from high school.

?Because she said that she would never entrust her children, her boys, to folks who didn?t believe that they could get past eighth grade,? he said.

Castro encouraged the graduates to make their families proud by taking advantage of opportunities.

?Seize the opportunities that you have to meet your goals and change the world ? to do things that will make the people that sacrificed for you in life so proud,? he said. ?You have the power to continue to reach for your dreams and to achieve them, and to do right by all those who sacrificed for you.?

Castro said that the commencement ceremony represented an end, but also a beginning.

He said he found in his own life that the next stage was always a little harder than the last. But, ?If you keep on doing exactly what you?ve been doing, exactly what led you to this moment ? setting a goal and then working hard for it, getting past the obstacles, working with others to accomplish those goals ? there?s every single reason that you should believe that you being here today is an affirmation that all of the places life will take you next ? to the working world, to a university, to grad school ? that you will meet those challenges, too.?

He also advised the graduates to surround themselves with people who believe in them.

?Find in your life the people who are like guardian angels, the people who create in you a sense of possibility about what you can do, what you can achieve, what you can be ? folks who have an appreciation for who you are as a person and your God-given potential,? he said.

As mayor, Castro said he often has opportunities to visit with children in the public schools, and he always comes away impressed by their passion and enthusiasm.

?The truth is there is a lot that all of us as we get older can learn from them,? he said. ?That this world of ours, especially in the 21st century, belongs to the dreamers and the doers ? the folks who see possibilities before obstacles, who see the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow before thinking about how high they have to climb to get up to that rainbow, the folks who don?t just dream but are willing to do the hard work that it takes to reach those dreams. Y?all are them. You are those dreamers and those doers, and that?s truly what we celebrate today.?

Castro spoke before an overflow crowd at the school?s William C. Witter Fitness Education Center. So many people attended that many were routed to a different location on campus where they could watch a broadcast of the ceremony.

School officials say it was a record turnout, with 374 students walking the stage, compared with 189 last year.

?I believe students should be encouraged to walk, because it?s an event in their lives,? Guzm?n said. ?It begs the question of what is next.?

In all, 721 students will receive a total of 803 degrees and certificates from SFCC this spring. Among them are 380 certificates, 219 associate degrees in applied science and 174 associate degrees in the arts.

Source: http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2013/05/23/north/texas-mayor-encourages-grads.html

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Storm took town's youngest as it swept through

MOORE, Okla. (AP) ? One loved the spotlight. Another was nicknamed "The Wall" because of the force he brought to the soccer field.

When a top-of-the-scale EF5 tornado ripped through Moore, Okla., it took with it 24 lives. Seven of them were children at Plaza Towers Elementary school; two were only babies.

These are the victims' stories.

___

JaNae Hornsby, 9

One of seven children killed inside the Plaza Towers Elementary School, JaNae loved to draw and sing. She loved being the center of attention, her father said.

JaNae's house, just three blocks from the school, also was destroyed by the tornado. Her father wanted to go back to the property to see if he could find a few of JaNae's things to keep.

"JaNae was the life of the party. If JaNae was there you were having a good time. She liked to sing, be a big sister, be a big cousin. She liked to draw," he said, smiling, as he remembered his little girl.

As family gathered to make funeral arrangements and comfort one another, Hornsby looked behind him into the house.

"If she was here she would just have everybody laughing and she would be in the midst of everything. She loved the spotlight," he said.

___

Karrina Vargyas, 4

Karrina was not quite old enough to be at school like her two older siblings. So she was at home huddled in a bathtub with her mother, younger sister and grandmother.

The tornado threw the women and children in different directions. Her parents could not find Karrina that night. It was only later that they learned that searchers had found Karrina's body in the rubble of what had been a neighbor's house.

Her father, Phillip Vargyas, said Karrina "had a smile that would light up the room." And whenever he fells the pain of her loss, her father said he likes to think of Karrina giving him a little hug.

"She was something else," Phillip Vargyas told The Oklahoman newspaper. "She wanted to figure skate. That was her dream in life."

___

Sydnee Vargyas, 7 months

Just 7 months old, Sydnee had crawled for the first time on Sunday. But she never really got to enjoy her newfound freedom.

Sydnee was huddled in the bathtub of her south Oklahoma City home with her older sister, mother and grandmother as a tornado bore down on them. The strong winds pulled Sydnee out of her mother's grasp.

When the debris stopped swirling, Laurinda Vargyas said she found Sydnee on a driveway.

"She was just laying there helpless. All I could do was sit there and hold her. She was already gone," Laurinda Vargyas told The Oklahoman newspaper. "They say she didn't suffer. So I've got to find peace with that."

___

Terri Long, 49

Long, a mother of three, was driving home from her job as a registrar at the Federal Aviation Administration when she stopped at a 7-Eleven store about 2 miles from her home. That's where she died when the tornado hit.

"I have no idea why she stopped there; I'm still trying to figure that out," said her husband of 10 years, Ken Long, his voice cracking with sorrow. But he has a guess: "She was probably trying to get away" from the tornado.

For several hours after the tornado, Long didn't know of his wife's fate ? not until her brother called her cellphone, and a police officer answered by saying her purse had been found at the convenience store.

Terri Long may have fared no better had she made it home. Her husband, who was at work at the time of the tornado, said their house was destroyed, too. A couple of days after the tornado, Long still didn't even have any pictures of his wife in his possession. He had only memories.

"She was just a happy person that loved her kids and family, loved Harleys and loved to be outside," Ken Long said.

A funeral was planned Friday for Terri Long. She would have turned 50 on Monday.

___

Kyle Davis, 8

He was known to his friends as "The Wall."

It was a tribute to the ferocity Kyle brought to his beloved sport, soccer, and the way other players seemed to bounce off him as they went for the ball, said his grandfather, Marvin Dixon.

Kyle was among six 9-year-olds who died in the Plaza Towers Elementary School. Kyle had taken shelter in the school's gymnasium with dozens of other students.

"He was in the position that the teacher told them to be in ?crouched down with their hands over their heads," Dixon said. "The medical examiner said either some big rock or beam or something fell right on the back of his neck. He said he died instantly."

It would take a sizeable force to bring down Kyle's large but playful personality.

"He was a pretty big kid," Dixon said. "Whenever he had the ball, other kids would just bounce off of him. That's why they called him that. ... He was just the kindest, most giving kid you would ever meet. He had a grin from ear to ear."

___

Christopher Legg, 9

Christopher's years were defined by courage in the face of daunting illness.

Diagnosed with skin cancer and Osgood-Schlatter disease ? an illness which can cause painful inflammation in the knees of young athletes ? Christopher nevertheless loved to play sports and "roughhouse and wrestle with his Daddy" and his brother and sister, according to a statement issued by the family.

He was among the children inside Plaza Towers when the tornado hit.

"He is not in pain, but in joy with our Lord," the statement said.

"He was greatly loved by all who knew him," the family said. "He never met a stranger. You were always a friend in his eyes. Just last Sunday, his grandfather remarked that Christopher was going to play center for the University of Oklahoma someday."

___

Megan Futrell, 29, and Case Futrell, 3 months.

Futrell had picked up young Case from a babysitter as the storm approached Moore. She eventually took shelter in a nearby convenience store at the suggestion of her husband, according to a relative.

Both died Monday when the EF5 tornado destroyed the building as the two tried to ride out the storm in the store's walk-in freezer.

Futrell was a doting mother, active in the Little League association where another son played, her cousin, Amy Pulliam, told The Oklahoman.

"She was my sister I never had," Pulliam said. "It's hard, it's hard, it's hard. But there's nothing you can do now."

Futrell's husband, Cody, who told his wife to seek shelter inside the store, was overcome with grief, Pulliam said.

"As soon as the tornado went over he just took off running," she said. "When he made it as far as Little River Park he saw there was nothing" left of the store.

___

Antonia Candelaria, 9

Antonia loved to sing. She knew the words to most of the songs on the country radio station her family frequently had on and she would sing along, bringing joy to the house.

In an obituary, the family remembered the "gentle and loving spirit" of a girl with a sweet nickname, "ladybug," that complimented those of her two sisters, who are affectionately called "butterfly" and "dragonfly."

The third-grader recently auditioned to sing in a talent show scheduled for the last day of school at Plaza Towers Elementary. The girl died at the school with seven other children, including her best friend and next door neighbor, Emily Conatzer.

"Tonie always danced, not walked, to the beat of her own drum," the family wrote in her obit. "And she banged her drum very well. She would bang that drum so loud that others could not help but to start dancing to her beat as well."

___

Emily Conatzer, 9

Emily loved unicorns, Lady Gaga and dreamed of one day traveling to Paris to become a fashion designer.

The third-grader died at Plaza Towers Elementary with seven other children, including her best friend Antonia Candelaria, in Monday's tornado that tore through a part of Moore.

Emily "rode up to heaven on a unicorn traveling on a path of love leaving Moore," her family wrote in her obituary.

She was a beautiful princess, her family wrote, with a love for "all things girly."

A mother to a cat named Sabbath that wandered into her family's home one day, Emily was also a gifted dancer who could sing "Time Warp" in its entirety.

___

Shannon Quick, 40

Quick spent a lot of time watching her sons' baseball games. She loved cooking and was known for putting together a tasty Crock-Pot dinner for her family.

On Monday, she had picked up her 8-year-old Jackson and 13-year-old son Tanner from school early because the family was getting ready to go on a vacation to Virginia.

But an approaching tornado forced her to huddle in the closet of their home near Briarwood Elementary School with her children, mother and their dog, Luke. Quick was killed, and the dog had to be put to sleep because of the injuries.

Jackson was hospitalized with severe leg and pelvic injuries. Tanner escaped the tornado with scrapes and bruises. Her mother, Joy Waldroop, was taken to a hospital with a broken heel and a hole in her right arm.

"I couldn't ask for a better daughter," Waldroop, 61, told The Oklahoman newspaper, from the hospital. "She cared for her family."

Shannon Quick had been married to Mike Quick since 1995.

___

Sydney Angle, 9

Sydney Angle had a passion for softball. She had two goals in her sport, win MVP and pitch.

She recently accomplished both ? collecting the most valuable title earlier this month and pitching in a tournament last weekend.

Sydney, whose smile could light up any room she walked into, was among seven children who died at Plaza Towers Elementary School when a tornado tore through a swath of Moore.

"She had a smile that would light up; always had a smile. She was a wonderful young lady," family friend Laura Schneider told television station Fox 6 in Milwaukee. Sydney's parents were originally from Wisconsin.

Sydney's softball coach, Landon McNeill, called the kid "a pickle."

"Sydney was real quirky," McNeill said. "She could be anywhere and have fun doing it."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/storm-took-towns-youngest-swept-155418549.html

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Saturday, May 25, 2013

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