| Crews free humpback caught in shark net Marine rescue crews have freed a whale that was entangled in a shark net off the Gold Coast. abc.net.au |
TV review: The Special Relationship, Stephen Hawking's Universe and Merlin Tony Blair should be happy – except for the bit where he comes across as a suppositoryWriting in the current issue of the Radio Times, Alastair Campbell is dismissive of The Special Relationship (BBC2, Saturday), Peter Morgan's drama about Tony Blair and Bill Clinton. Too much of it didn't happen, he says. And the trouble with dramatised accounts of real events, especially when mixed in with real footage, is that people start to believe they are real.I think the viewer deserves more credit than Campbell is giving us. No one's really going to believe that Blair hung up while Jacques Chirac was babbling down the phone in order to take a call from Clinton. Did Blair value his relationship with the US president more than his relationship with the French one though? I'm sure Campbell would admit that. So the joke – because that's what it is, a little moment of comedy – is justified. And later, as Clinton left Chequers, did he really look back to see Blair chatting away to his new best friend in the White House? Probably not. But following Bush's "victory" did Blair immediately transform himself into a suppository and offer himself up to the new president on a silver plate? Well, Campbell would say not, but others may disagree.He says the film gets nowhere near the truth about the Blair-Clinton relationship, that in reality they quickly formed a close bond that went beyond political to personal, and that it got difficult over Kosovo. Which is pretty much how the film has it. Campbell's beef seems to be with the details, which I suppose is understandable, given that he is one of those details, and was there for a lot of it. But if he stepped back, he might see a truth of sorts. Not that Campbell's really one for stepping back.Anyway, to be honest I can't see why he's so down on it. Because actually his old boss and his old boss's regime comes out of The Special Relationship pretty damn well. At times his motivation is suspect, but Blair is portrayed – brilliantly, again, by Michael Sheen (Dennis Quaid is a convincing Clinton too) – as someone who genuinely does want to do the right thing. It is easy to forget about Kosovo after you know what came next. In these days when people aren't exactly falling over themselves to say nice things about Blair, I'd be holding this up in the air and shouting "yes, that's exactly how it was!" Well, until the suppository part.Astonishingly I found myself understanding most of Stephen Hawking's Universe (Channel 4, Saturday). There probably is life somewhere else, the eminent scientist and Simpsons character says, because somewhere else goes on for such an awful long way. And if it can start here, in such a random way, it's probably started somewhere else too. Maybe it started somewhere else first, and came here, on an asteroid – or in an asteroid more likely - from another Goldilocks zone.The Goldilocks zone refers to somewhere which is not too hot and not too cold for liquid water to exist. Shouldn't it really be the Baby Bear zone then? Possibly, but then it could get confused with Ursa Minor. All fairytale references gratefully received though.I like the possible aliens – snuffly things that cling to cliffs. And the way Stephen Hawking's voice morphs into Benedict Cumberbatch's (who played the young Hawking in a BBC2 drama back in 2004); the limited intonation of the simulator might have got wearing over the whole hour. See, all cosmology needs is a fairytale, a few CGI monsters and a touch of Sherlock, and suddenly it's easy.Camelot is being attacked by a vast CGI army in Merlin (BBC1, Saturday). And by CGI sword-wielding skeletons from within –that's just not fair, how can you kill something that's already dead? John Hurt, the CGI dragon, isn't around to help. And Morgana has morphed into the lady from the Scottish Widows adverts – creeping around the castle corridors, all hooded and mysterious. Yeah, she may look dead sexy but be careful – she'll put a mandrake root under your bed and before you know it you'll be tied into an evil pension scheme for ever and ever.How can Camelot survive an assault on so many fronts? Easy. Merlin does his flashy-eyes thing, and Arthur waves his sword around irritatingly, because he wants to do the right thing, fight the forces of evil and all that, and also because he's thinking about his legacy . . . oh my God, Arthur is Tony Blair! So does that make Merlin Alastair Campbell? No, too charming.TelevisionTony BlairBill ClintonAlastair CampbellStephen HawkingFantasySam Wollastonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Census shows connectedness of world's marine life By SETH BORENSTEIN 2010-10-04T12:31:13ZWASHINGTON (AP) -- The world's oceans may be vast and deep, but a decade-long count of marine animals finds sea life so interconnected that it seems to shrink the watery world.... hosted.ap.org |
US porn industry thrown into crisis after actor tests positive for HIV Last major HIV panic in California's adult film industry was in 2004 when an actor with the virus infected three colleaguesThe multibillion-dollar porn industry located in the San Fernando valley of southern California has been thrown into crisis after one of its performers tested positive for HIV.The discovery was made at the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, AIM, a clinic that carries out mandatory testing for about 1,200 porn actors in the valley every month. The clinic has refused to reveal the gender of the performer or which studio he or she worked for, but it has started to track down all other actors known to have been exposed and is now quarantining them until they can also be tested.Two major studios have temporarily suspended filming, Vivid Entertainment, which is probably the largest porn-production company in the world, and Wicked Pictures.The anonymous performer is the first to have tested positive for HIV in over a year. The last major panic to grip the valley was in 2004 when a male star, Darren James, was found to have contracted the virus, probably from a filming session in Brazil.He in turn infected three actresses. More than 30 studios shut down temporarily while tests on many other performers who had engaged in filming with the four infected individuals were tested.The new positive test result has thrown up the long-debated issue about condoms in the porn industry. In the wake of the 2004 scare condom use became prevalent in the valley, but gradually filming without protection returned to being the norm as studios argued that the use of condoms was driving down sales.James, the actor at the centre of the 2004 events, told the Los Angeles Times that he was dismayed by the lack of progress on the issue in the past six years. "The actors … they're not getting the protection that they need. There should have been mandatory condoms," James said. "I knew it was going to happen. And how many years has it been? Again. They went right back to the same habits. Good grief, it's like my deal, all over again. I hate that."The San Fernando valley has become the focal point of the porn industry since the 1970s. It has been dubbed the San Pornando valley and Silicone Valley, a play on the prevalence on artificially enhanced breasts.Wicked Pictures is one of the only major studios that requires actors to wear condoms. It said in a statement: "Even though Wicked Pictures is condoms-mandatory, we have postponed our upcoming productions to give AIM a chance to create a comprehensive quarantine list."Thanks to the continued efforts of AIM the entire industry was all made aware of this possible threat on the same day."AIM was set up by a leading actor in S&M films, Sharon Mitchell, who appeared in more than 2,000 films and directed several before retiring and turning her energies to the health side of the business. The clinic has been in an ongoing tussle with local health and safety bodies that argue that testing for HIV is not enough and that protection must be given a higher priority.The clinic has also faced legal suits attempting to force it to reveal the numbers and identities of infected actors. So far it has managed to resist the challenges.Under California law employers must safeguard their workers against the exchange of bodily fluids. However, most studios bypass the requirement on the grounds that the actors they use are self-employed.The question of condom use is now likely to move to centre stage later this month when a panel that advises the state's health authorities meets to discuss porn industry rules.HIV infectionPornographySexual healthAids and HIVInfectious diseasesHealthCaliforniaUnited StatesEd Pilkingtonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Vital Signs: Diet: Good-for-You Things Come in Orange Leftover pumpkin pie? Indulge. A study reports that people with high blood levels of alpha-carotene live longer and are healthier. feeds.nytimes.com |