Archive - 2008

Young Jet Li - reigning champion for 5 consecutive years - at a wushu (martial arts) competition.

*Update*
Martial artist and retired Wushu champion Jet Li's debut movie "The Shaolin Temple" (1982 film), a must-see.
Jet Li's popular quote
"Everywhere I go, I still have time to meditate. People think meditating is sitting there, nobody bothering you, but you can even talk and still meditate."

Jet Li and Jackie Chan, two legendary superstars, in one movie - "The Forbidden Kingdom". A must-see.

Image courtesy: Wikipedia

*Update*
He left us so young: 1979 – 2008
Heath Ledger's popular quote
"I'm still a kid. I'm like six years old. But it's just a matter of wanting to get up, it's just a big journey. I felt like when I left home that I was on a journey, and I still am."

"Mortimer B. Zuckerman, the owner of The Daily News, believes he can snatch Newsday from Rupert Murdoch without offering a dime more than the $580 million already on the table.

News Corporation executives believe the only regulatory scrutiny their deal would receive would be from the Justice Department, regarding to whether combining Newsday and The Post would be anticompetitive.

On this point, Newsday’s circulation overlaps more with The Daily News than with The Post.

However, Mr. Murdoch owns two television stations in the New York area (WNYW and WWOR) and is already in the process of seeking waivers from the F.C.C. to continue to control television stations and newspapers in the same market. "

Photo courtesy of The New York Times

Original Source

"I want to be remembered for only one thing - my contribution to aviation." - Howard Hughes jr., so he is remembered. An amazing accomplishment by one person!

Bob McCaffery pays tribute to Howard Hughes Jr. by calling him, "THE FATHER OF COMMERCIAL AVIATION".

When the lamp is shattered
The light in the dust lies dead;
When the cloud is scattered,
The rainbow's glory is shed.
When the lute is broken,
Sweet tones are remembered not;
When the lips have spoken,
Loved accents are soon forgot.

As music and splendour
Survive not the lamp and the lute,
The heart's echoes render
No song when the spirit is mute: -
No song but sad dirges,
Like the wind through a ruined cell,
Or the mournful surges
That ring the dead seaman's knell.

- Percy Bysshe Shelley

(quote)

Oliver Martin "Ollie" Johnston Jr., the last living member of Disney Animation’s "Nine Old Men," passed away Monday, April 14, 2008 at the age of 95 in Sequim, Washington. The generation of pioneers in developing and championing the distinctive Disney style of animation known as the "Illusion of Life" have left behind most memorable work which gives us so much hilarious laughter and many heartbreaking moments...

Johnston was an animator at Walt Disney Studios from 1935 to 1978, and became a directing animator beginning with Pinocchio, released in 1940. He contributed to most Disney animated features, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia and Bambi. He was recognized by The Walt Disney Company with its Disney Legend Award in 1989.

Disney's Nine Old Men
Les Clark (November 17, 1907 - September 12, 1979), who joined Disney in 1927. His specialty was animating Mickey Mouse as he was the only one of the Nine Old Men to work on that character from its origins with Ub Iwerks. Les did many scenes throughout the years, animating up until Lady and the Tramp. He moved into directing and made many animated featurettes and shorts.

Marc Davis (March 30, 1913 - January 12, 2000) started in 1935 on Snow White, and later he went on to develop/animate the characters of Bambi and Thumper (in Bambi), Aurora, Maleficent, and Diablo, the raven (in Sleeping Beauty), and Cruella De Vil (in One Hundred and One Dalmatians). Davis was responsible for character design for both the Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion attractions at Disneyland.  read more »