Type: Wireless Title: Samsung Galaxy S II 4G Android Phone (AT&T) See all customer reviews Amazon.com Product Description: Offering a powerful, premium Android smartphone experience in a pocket-friendly design, the ultra-thin Samsung Galaxy S II 4G for AT&T gives you extreme multitasking abilities and the smoothest game play possible thanks to its powerful dual-core 1.2 GHz processor. Measuring a mere 8.89mm (0.35 inches) at its thinnest from front to back, the Galaxy S II easily it slips in and out of your pocket even with its huge 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus multi-touch display. It’s perfect for immersing yourself in cinema-quality video and intense on-the-go gaming. Boasting a vibrant 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display (view larger). 8-megapixel camera with Full HD 1080p video recording. Comfortable in your hand at just over 4 ounces. Samsung Galaxy S II 4G At a Glance: 3G/4G connectivity Android 2.3 OS 1.2 GHz dual-core processor 4.3-inch touchscreen 16 GB memory 8-MP camera + Full HD 1080p video capture GPS navigation Wireless-N Wi-Fi Bluetooth 3.0 Personal/corporate e-mail With AT&T’s 4G network, you’ll enjoy mobile broadband speeds up to 4x faster than AT&T’s already fast mobile broadband network (learn more below). You also get the AT&T Mobile Hotspot service built right into the smartphone–enabling you to connect additional Wi-Fi-enabled devices to the phone’s mobile broadband signal (requires appropriate data plan). This GPS-enabled phone can also access the AT&T Navigator service for turn-by-turn directions. Other features include an 8-megapixel camera with Full HD 1080p video capture, 16 GB internal memory, microSD memory expansion to 32 GB, Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity for hands-free devices and stereo music streaming, DLNA wireless streaming capabilities, GPS for navigation and location-based services, access to over 200,000 apps in the Android Market, and up to 3 hours of talk time (see full specifications below). The Brightest, Most Colorful Screen With an incredibly colorful 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, the Galaxy S II delivers 50 percent more sub-pixels than the previous generation display for better contrast. The display also offers unmatched outdoor viewing quality, even in the brightest sunlight. Super Sharp Photos and Videos Plus Video Chat This Galaxy S II also captures sharp photos with its 8-megapixel camera with flash, and it records videos in stunning Full HD 1080p resolution. An additional 2-megapixel front-facing camera gives you the power to connect with your friends and family face-to-face via video chat with preloaded Qik Lite over Wi-Fi. And with Google Talk, you can video chat with all of your Google Talk contacts, whether they are on a mobile phone or a computer. Mobile Entertainment Samsung’s Media Hub enables you to rent or purchase movies and TV shows within seconds watch from the convenience of anywhere. With Media Hub’s progressive downloading feature, you can start watching your content almost immediately as the rest of the file downloads to the Galaxy S II. Plus, all Media Hub content can be shared among five Media Hub-enabled devices on the same account. Intuitive TouchWiz Interface The Galaxy S II features Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface, providing superior multi-tasking and customization for an enhanced visual and intuitive smartphone experience. Live Panel features provide immediate access to weather, social updates, e-mail, news and photos, which can all be customized on any one of the seven home screens. All of the widgets can be positioned and re-sized to create unique home screens and one-touch access to the services and apps you use the most. The Notifications Panel allows one touch access to a separate menu for managing Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and Flight Mode settings. Vital Statistics The Samsung Galaxy S II 4G weighs 4.13 ounces and measures 4.96 x 2.6 x 0.35 inches. Its 1650 mAh lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 3 hours of talk time, and up to 250 hours (10.4 days) of standby time. It runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS/EDGE frequencies as well as AT&T’s dual-band 4G network (850/1900 MHz; HSPA+/HSDPA/UMTS) plus international 2100 MHz 3G networks. What’s in the Box Samsung Galaxy S II 4G handset, rechargeable battery, charger, USB cable, wired stereo headset, quick start guide AT&T 4G Network This phone runs on AT&T’s dual-band 850/1900 MHz 4G network (UMTS/HSDPA/HSPA+), and with HSPA+ you’ll experience mobile data speeds up to 4x faster than ordinary mobile broadband–up to approximately 6 Mbps (download). AT&T has deployed HSPA+ to virtually 100 percent of its mobile broadband network, which enables 4G speeds when combined with enhanced backhaul (via Ethernet or fiber). Backhaul is one of the major pieces of a telecommunications network. Think of it as the limbs connecting AT&T’s cell towers with AT&T’s backbone network that provides access to the Internet. Coming later in 2011, AT&T will deliver a second layer of 4G network called LTE (Long Term Evolution) that is even faster than HSPA+ speeds. In areas where either AT&T’s 3G or 4G network is not available, you’ll continue to receive service on the AT&T EDGE network, which offers availability in more than 13,000 US cities and along some 40,000 miles of major highways. Note: AT&T’s 4G mobile broadband coverage is not available in all areas. 4G speeds delivered by HSPA+ with enhanced backhaul; availability increasing with ongoing backhaul deployment. Optional AT&T Services AT&T Navigator: This premium GPS navigation application includes audible turn-by-turn directions, real-time traffic updates and re-routing options, and 3D moving maps (additional charges applicable). AT&T Navigator offers several other features to make your commute more enjoyable and reliable, including mobile access to Yellowpages.com. You’ll be able to find the closes ATM, restaurant, gas station, Wi-Fi hotspot and more with over 10 million business listings. DataPro 4 GB for Smartphone Tethering: Tethering lets you use your smartphone as a wireless modem or mobile hotspot, enabling you to share your mobile broadband connection to laptops, netbooks, and more. The DataPro 4 GB plan also includes unlimited access to more than 26,000 AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots. And if you go over, you’ll get an additional 1 GB automatically for only $10. AT&T FamilyMap: Locate any phone indoors or outdoors on the AT&T Network. FamilyMap provides peace of mind by being able to conveniently locate a family member from your wireless phone or PC and know that your family’s information is secure and private. Want to verify that your child arrives home from school each day? Set up a Schedule Check to automatically get location information sent to you via text message or e-mail. Android Gingerbread Operating System The Galaxy S II runs the Android 2.3 operating system (dubbed Gingerbread)–the fastest version of Android available for smartphones yet. It features a cleaner, more refined interface with new icons, improved top notification bar, and more intuitive navigation. Multitasking in Gingerbread allows you the ability to run more than one app at a time. If you’re playing a game, you can easily switch to an incoming e-mail and then switch back to the game without losing your place. And like the previous version of Android (“Froyo”), Gingerbread provides support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1 for access to the full Web. A new onscreen keyboard makes it easier to type thanks to additional spacing between the keys and larger font sizes. And the more you use the keyboard, the easier typing will be as the enhanced suggest feature records previous input history to make better suggestions. The Galaxy S II also brings one-touch access to the popular Google mobile services you use every day. It also provides easy access to both personal and corporate e-mail, calendars, and contacts supported by Exchange Server and Gmail. And through Android Market, you’ll get access to thousands of useful applications, widgets, and fun games to download and install on your phone, with many more apps being added every day. Google Integration Android Market for browsing and downloading thousands of free and paid apps Pre-loaded Android apps: Browser, Calculator, Calendar (Google or Corporate), Camera, Clock, Contacts, Email, Gallery, Messaging, Music, News & Weather, Phone, Settings, Video Player, Voice Dialer, Voice Search, YouTube Google applications: Gmail, Google Search, Google Voice Search, Google Latitude, Google Maps, Google Places, Google Talk Google Maps Navigation with spoken turn-by-turn directions showing real-time traffic and 360° views of the destination Connectivity Ultra-fast 4G connectivity via AT&T’s HSPA+ network (with enhanced backhaul). Where 4G isn’t available, your phone will connect with AT&T’s 3G network. Wireless-N Wi-Fi networking (802.11b/g/n) for accessing home and corporate networks as well as hotspots while on the go. AT&T Mobile Hotspot capable enabling you to connect multiple devices–from tablets to gaming devices–to the phone’s 3G/4G cellular connection via Wi-Fi. Next-generation Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity backward compatible with older Bluetooth-enabled peripherals and includes stereo audio streaming. Onboard GPS for navigation (using pre-loaded BlackBerry Maps or optional AT&T Navigator) and location services Pre-installed Apps Samsung Media Hub puts thousands of hit movies and next-day TV shows at your fingertips Samsung Social Hub allows you to transfer e-mail, instant messaging, contacts, calendar, and social network connections–including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts–into Feeds and Messages folders that can be either put into separate tabs or combined into comprehensive lists. Vlingo Voice Talk allows you to give your Epic 4G Touch voice commands, including voice dial, text message, navigation, music, Web browsing and search. Kies Air for wireless syncing Qik Video Chat Voice Talk by Vlingo Communications & Internet Full messaging capabilities including SMS text, MMS picture/video and IM instant messaging Full HTML browser (Webkit 5) with Flash 10.1 Support Personal and corporate e-mail access with support for Exchange ActiveSync as well as personal e-mail accounts (Google push, Yahoo!, POP3, IMAP). Hardware 1.2 GHz dual-core processor (Samsung Exynos) speeds up everything–from playing games to watching shows to opening files from work. 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus multi-touch display (480 x 800 pixels, 16 million color depth) HDMI port for video output to your HDTV or monitor (adapter and cable not included). MicroUSB port Sensors: accelerometer, 6-axis gyroscope. Camera 8-megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash, smile detection, geo-tagging, zero shutter lag, and multiple scene modes. HD 720p video capture 2-megapixel forward-facing camera for video chats and self portraits. Multimedia Music player compatible with MP3, WMA, AAC, FLAC, OGG, and WAV Video player compatible with MP4, M4V, AVI, WMV, and 3GP. Samsung AllShare DLNA capabilities allow you to stream movies, music, and photos from your smartphone to a compatible HDTV. Memory 16 GB internal memory Memory expansion via microSD card slot with support for optional cards up to 32 GB. 1024 MB of RAM More Features 3.5mm headphone jack Hands-free speakerphone Also Available for This Android Device Amazon Appstore for Android Get a great paid app for free every day. Kindle Buy a book once and read it everywhere with our free Kindle Reading App for Android. Amazon MP3 Shop 15 million songs and stream your Cloud Drive music directly from your Android device. IMDB Find local movie showtimes and TV listings, watch trailers, and search the world’s largest source of entertainment information. Audible Download audiobooks directly to your Android device, then listen wherever you go, get audiobook news, earn badges, and more. Amazon Mobile Shop for millions of products, get product details, and read reviews–right from your mobile device. Features: 4G-enabled ultra-thin Android-powered smartphone with 1.2 GHz dual-core processor and 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus multi-touch display 8-MP camera with Full HD 1080p video capture; 2-MP front camera for video chats; Wirelss-N Wi-Fi networking (with optional Mobile Hotspot capabilities) 16 GB internal memory; microSD memroy expansion; Bluetooth 3.0; GPS navigation; personal and corporate e-mail; DLNA wireless streaming Up to 3 hours of talk time, up to 250 hours (10.4 days) of standby time; released in October, 2011 What’s in the Box: handset, rechargeable battery, charger, USB cable, wired stereo headset, quick start guide See the details
Continue reading …Popcorn Hour A-300 ready to sit quietly and enjoy the movies, starting October 18th (video)
October 7, 2011 No Comment
Syabas has released a torrent of details about its next media streamer. The forthcoming Popcorn Hour A-300 houses the latest Sigma 800MHz CPU and Real Media decoder support, plus USB 3.0 and Gigabit Ethernet connections to ensure dizzying transfer speeds. Like its predecessor , the aluminum-encased streamer is entirely fanless, broadcasting your favorite content in stoic silence. The A300 will be available starting October 18th, direct from Syabas. You can prepare yourself by checking out the source link below for a plethora of detailed videos and screengrabs of the A-300′s interface in action. Continue reading Popcorn Hour A-300 ready to sit quietly and enjoy the movies, starting October 18th (video) Popcorn Hour A-300 ready to sit quietly and enjoy the movies, starting October 18th (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Oct 2011 02:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Former US commander of allied occupation force says operation is only ‘a little better than’ 50% of the way to its goals The US began the war in Afghanistan with a “frighteningly simplistic” view of the country and even 10 years later lacks the knowledge that could help bring the conflict to a successful end, a former top commander has said. Retired US army general Stanley McChrystal said in remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations that the US and its Nato allies were only “a little better than” 50% of the way to reaching their war goals. Of the remaining tasks to be accomplished, he said, the most difficult may be to create a legitimate government that ordinary Afghans could believe in and that could serve as a counterweight to the Taliban. McChrystal, who commanded coalition forces in 2009-10 and was forced to resign in a flap over a magazine article, said the US entered Afghanistan in October 2001 with too little knowledge of Afghan culture. “We didn’t know enough and we still don’t know enough,” he said. “Most of us, me included, had a very superficial understanding of the situation and history, and we had a frighteningly simplistic view of recent history, the last 50 years.” US forces did not know the country’s languages and did not make “an effective effort” to learn them, he said. McChrystal said the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq less than two years after entering Afghanistan made the Afghan effort more difficult. “I think they were made more difficult, clearly,” he said, because the Iraq invasion “changed the Muslim world’s view of America’s effort. When we went after the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001 there was a certain understanding that we had the ability and the right to defend ourselves and the fact that al-Qaida had been harboured by the Taliban was legitimate. “I think when we made the decision to go into Iraq that was less legitimate” in the eyes of much of the Muslim world, he said. Iraq also diverted military resources that could have been put to good use in Afghanistan, he said. Afghanistan Stanley McChrystal United States Taliban US foreign policy US military guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Former US commander of allied occupation force says operation is only ‘a little better than’ 50% of the way to its goals The US began the war in Afghanistan with a “frighteningly simplistic” view of the country and even 10 years later lacks the knowledge that could help bring the conflict to a successful end, a former top commander has said. Retired US army general Stanley McChrystal said in remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations that the US and its Nato allies were only “a little better than” 50% of the way to reaching their war goals. Of the remaining tasks to be accomplished, he said, the most difficult may be to create a legitimate government that ordinary Afghans could believe in and that could serve as a counterweight to the Taliban. McChrystal, who commanded coalition forces in 2009-10 and was forced to resign in a flap over a magazine article, said the US entered Afghanistan in October 2001 with too little knowledge of Afghan culture. “We didn’t know enough and we still don’t know enough,” he said. “Most of us, me included, had a very superficial understanding of the situation and history, and we had a frighteningly simplistic view of recent history, the last 50 years.” US forces did not know the country’s languages and did not make “an effective effort” to learn them, he said. McChrystal said the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq less than two years after entering Afghanistan made the Afghan effort more difficult. “I think they were made more difficult, clearly,” he said, because the Iraq invasion “changed the Muslim world’s view of America’s effort. When we went after the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001 there was a certain understanding that we had the ability and the right to defend ourselves and the fact that al-Qaida had been harboured by the Taliban was legitimate. “I think when we made the decision to go into Iraq that was less legitimate” in the eyes of much of the Muslim world, he said. Iraq also diverted military resources that could have been put to good use in Afghanistan, he said. Afghanistan Stanley McChrystal United States Taliban US foreign policy US military guardian.co.uk
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Type: Book Title: I, Steve: Steve Jobs in His Own Words See all customer reviews Product Description: Drawn from more than three decades of media coverageprint, electronic, and onlinethis book serves up the best, most thought-provoking insights ever spoken by Steve Jobs: more than 200 quotations that are essential reading for everyone who seeks innovative solutions and inspirations applicable to their business, regardless of size. Jobs, the longtime CEO of Apple, Inc., which he co-founded in 1976, stepped down from that role in August 2011, bringing an end to one of the greatest, most transformative business careers in history. Over the years, Jobs has given countless interviews to the media, explaining what he calls the vision thing”his unmatched ability to envision, and successfully bring to the marketplace, consumer products that people find simply irresistible. Jobs has made an indelible mark in multiple industries, and played an enormous role in creating others. Consider how Jobs and Apple shaped the following fields: personal computers (laptop and desktop), apps (for multiple electronic devices), computer animation (Pixar), music (iTunes), telecommunications (iPhone), personal digital devices (iPod), books (iBook), and, most recently, tablets (iPad). Jobs is the great business visionary of our era. I, Steve is the perfect gift or reference item for everyone interested in this great American original. See the details
Continue reading …Motorola Xoom Family Edition pops up at retail sporting kid-friendly software
October 6, 2011 No Comment
Now that Motorola’s Xoom is ready to rock out on 4G LTE connections , the only thing missing from the original 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet is a nice suite of edutainment software… wait, what? Whether or not that’s what you asked for, it appears to be what Motorola’s giving you judging by this “Family Edition” branded Xoom that just showed up at a big box electronics store. While there’s still no hint of the subwoofer-equipped Xoom 2 Media Edition that’s been rumored, this model is differentiated by the addition of a Kid Mode with $40 of software for kids from Zoodles (trailer after the break) packed-in. We don’t have a release date or official pricing yet, but we’d expect to see the MZ505 on shelves sooner rather than later, but for now just check out a few more pics in the gallery below. [Thanks, Anonymous] Gallery: Motorola Xoom Family Edition Continue reading Motorola Xoom Family Edition pops up at retail sporting kid-friendly software Motorola Xoom Family Edition pops up at retail sporting kid-friendly software originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Oct 2011 19:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka joined a host of labor leaders and organizations that are supporting Occupy Wall Street. He released the following statement on Tuesday: Occupy Wall Street has captured the imagination and passion of millions of Americans who have lost hope that our nation’s policymakers are speaking for them. We support the protesters in their determination to hold Wall Street accountable and create good jobs. We are proud that today on Wall Street, bus drivers, painters, nurses and utility workers are joining students and homeowners, the unemployed and the underemployed to call for fundamental change. Across America, working people are turning out with their friends and neighbors in parks, congregations and union halls to express their frustration – and anger — about our country’s staggering wealth gap, the lack of work for people who want to work and the corrupting of our politics by business and financial elites. The people who do the work to keep our great country running are being robbed not only of income, but of a voice. It is time for all of us—the 99 percent—to be heard. As we did when we marched on Wall Street last year, working people call on corporations, big banks, and the financial industry to do their part to create good jobs, stop foreclosures and pay their fair share of taxes. · Wall Street and corporate America must invest in America: Big corporations should invest some of the $2 trillion in cash they have on hand, and use it to create good jobs. And the banks themselves should be making credit more accessible to small businesses, instead of parking almost $1 trillion at the Federal Reserve. · Stop foreclosures: Banks should write down the 14 million mortgages that are underwater and stop the more than 10 million pending foreclosures to stop the downward spiral of our housing markets and inject more than $70 billion into our economy. · Fund education and jobs by taxing financial speculation: A tiny tax on financial transactions could raise hundreds of billions in revenue that could fund education and create jobs rebuilding our country. And it would discourage speculation and encourage long term investment. We will open our union halls and community centers as well as our arms and our hearts to those with the courage to stand up and demand a better America. As more and more organizations join the Occupy Wall Street movement, the harder it will be for the media to ignore what is going on or for opponents to use dirty tricks to undermine the protests and their concerns.
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The way Hugh Jackman tells it, he had to be stopped from giving Wolverine jazz hands. He tells Ryan Gilbey about his boyhood fight with his brother to be allowed to dance The day before I am due to interview Hugh Jackman , the Australian actor drops a tantalising hint on Twitter. “Hey tweeters, I have something exciting to announce soon,” he writes. “What could it be?” What indeed? I can’t help but think back to the last time I met him, shortly before the release in 2006 of The Prestige . Christopher Nolan’s thriller about two rival magicians (the other was Christian Bale) contains Jackman’s richest screen performance to date: he reveals hidden torment behind the conjuror’s curtain-calls-and-bouquets persona, one that he will know from his parallel career as a lead actor in musical theatre (an existence of which the majority of X-Men fans are probably oblivious). The Prestige was a mystery wrapped in an enigma, then padlocked in a chest and dropped in the ocean. Some people think the same applies to Jackman. A friend took me aside and asked whether I really swallowed those “ordinary, boring family man” quotes fed to me by Jackman. Couldn’t I see this was a classic cover story? Jackman has encountered such talk over the years, and always has a smiling riposte at the ready: “You really know you’ve made it when the gay rumours start.” I tell Jackman that his Twitter tease convinced me he was about to come out, and he humours this with a raucous laugh. Then again, some people would consider his eventual announcement – that he is bringing his one-man song-and-dance show to Broadway in mid-October – to be tantamount to bounding from the closet, anyway. He laughs at that, too, which is very game of him. He even throws in a slap of the thigh: his thigh, that is, not mine. It all makes for a cheerful alternative to the usual “No comment.” He’s been through this before, a long time ago. When he was 10, a teacher approached him after the end-of-year school concert to compliment him on his dancing skills and to advise him to sign up for dance class. His father was all for the idea, but one of Jackman’s older brothers told him dancing was for sissies: “What are ya – a poof?” he jeered. “I wasn’t 100% sure what that was,” the actor says now. “But I knew it didn’t sound like something I should be. And that was it as far as dance. I shut it down. I was just too embarrassed. I’m the 10-minute Billy Elliot. ‘I wanna dance!’ ‘You poof.’ ‘OK, I’ll be a miner.’” His brother apologised when Jackman was 18. “That released something for me. I literally signed up for a tap class the day after he’d said sorry.” Slightly sadly, he adds: “Of course, I was fully aware I’d left it too late to turn professional.” That said, he has to be positively restrained from hoofing in public. After stints on some minor Australian TV shows (including Corelli , on which set he met his wife: she played a prison psychiatrist, he was a tattooed inmate), his acting career took off in musicals, beginning with Trevor Nunn’s National theatre production of Oklahoma! in 1998. We are talking during the London stopover in the international publicity tour for Real Steel , the world’s first (and possibly last) touchy-feely boxing-robots movie. Somewhat improbably, Real Steel is The Champ meets Short Circuit, with a Crazy Heart country-and-western vibe. Jackman plays Charlie, a washed-up ex-fighter who enters hulking robots into showdowns at country fairs. Who else but Jackman could put vim into the ringside gibberish he is called on to holler (“Bring it! One, two, overlord! Shatter punch!”)? Who else could pull off Charlie’s grudging affection for his long-lost son, a blond-haired tyke with Shirley Temple pluck, without making the audience gag on its popcorn? But then Jackman has always excelled at bringing charm and sincerity to pictures that would sink a lesser showman. More interesting than Real Steel’s combat sequences, which resemble an uprising in a car assembly plant, is Jackman’s relish at shedding his slick, soft image, at least for the film’s first half. “It was so much fun to see how far we could take Charlie,” he says. “This is a DreamWorks picture being distributed by Disney, and our lead character sells his son in the first 20 minutes. I really liked that. When we showed it to the studio I thought they were gonna tell us to reshoot. I’d already asked Shawn [Levy, the director]: ‘Are we making him too much of an asshole?’ The studio thought we’d pushed it but that it worked.” Free of the physical heft required of him in Real Steel or the X-Men series, the 42-year-old is tall (6’2″) and lean. Dressed in black shirt and trousers, he resembles a giant chess piece. His manner is as courteous as a bellhop who’s banking on a big tip. Perhaps that’s another reason why he savoured the sleazier aspects of Charlie’s personality – it gave him a chance to go against the grain of his personality. “Absolutely. I loved it. I don’t allow myself to be like that in life, you see.” Or on screen, come to that. Beneath the snarling and the tantrums, Wolverine is just a pussycat. The rough-hewn Drover in Baz Luhrmann’s sweeping, silly Australia is essentially a Playgirl pinup minus the staples. Even when Jackman tries for sinister, in Deception or Woody Allen’s Scoop , it’s the suave front that is more convincing than the menace beneath. He has gained a reputation as the stand-in man – he only got to play Wolverine when the original choice, Dougray Scott, was unavailable, and he has stepped into parts vacated by Brad Pitt ( The Fountain ) and Russell Crowe (Australia). More telling are the roles Jackman almost played. He got as far as his costume fitting for the professor seduced by Nazism in Good, but then funding fell through (it was later filmed with Viggo Mortensen). And he was once the lead in Drive, back when Neil Marshall was attached as director. Either of these parts would have demanded a moral ambiguity rarely seen among the roles on Jackman’s CV. He’s self-deprecating about the luvvie side of himself; the way he tells it, he had to be discouraged from giving Wolverine jazz hands. “It takes every ounce of power in my body when I’m playing him just to keep still and find that interior, brooding aspect. [Director] Bryan Singer used to yell at me: ‘Stop moving! Just stand there and say your lines!’” But when I suggest that The Prestige worked so well because it played his glossiness against Bale ‘s method intensity, he seems offended. There’s an awkward pause, and I ask whether this isn’t how he sees himself. “Not really,” he shrugs. “I know I’m not known as method. By nature I’m not a brooder. What I continue to use is a mixture of the English school, which is traditionally outside-in, and the more American way of working from the inside
Continue reading …The way Hugh Jackman tells it, he had to be stopped from giving Wolverine jazz hands. He tells Ryan Gilbey about his boyhood fight with his brother to be allowed to dance The day before I am due to interview Hugh Jackman , the Australian actor drops a tantalising hint on Twitter. “Hey tweeters, I have something exciting to announce soon,” he writes. “What could it be?” What indeed? I can’t help but think back to the last time I met him, shortly before the release in 2006 of The Prestige . Christopher Nolan’s thriller about two rival magicians (the other was Christian Bale) contains Jackman’s richest screen performance to date: he reveals hidden torment behind the conjuror’s curtain-calls-and-bouquets persona, one that he will know from his parallel career as a lead actor in musical theatre (an existence of which the majority of X-Men fans are probably oblivious). The Prestige was a mystery wrapped in an enigma, then padlocked in a chest and dropped in the ocean. Some people think the same applies to Jackman. A friend took me aside and asked whether I really swallowed those “ordinary, boring family man” quotes fed to me by Jackman. Couldn’t I see this was a classic cover story? Jackman has encountered such talk over the years, and always has a smiling riposte at the ready: “You really know you’ve made it when the gay rumours start.” I tell Jackman that his Twitter tease convinced me he was about to come out, and he humours this with a raucous laugh. Then again, some people would consider his eventual announcement – that he is bringing his one-man song-and-dance show to Broadway in mid-October – to be tantamount to bounding from the closet, anyway. He laughs at that, too, which is very game of him. He even throws in a slap of the thigh: his thigh, that is, not mine. It all makes for a cheerful alternative to the usual “No comment.” He’s been through this before, a long time ago. When he was 10, a teacher approached him after the end-of-year school concert to compliment him on his dancing skills and to advise him to sign up for dance class. His father was all for the idea, but one of Jackman’s older brothers told him dancing was for sissies: “What are ya – a poof?” he jeered. “I wasn’t 100% sure what that was,” the actor says now. “But I knew it didn’t sound like something I should be. And that was it as far as dance. I shut it down. I was just too embarrassed. I’m the 10-minute Billy Elliot. ‘I wanna dance!’ ‘You poof.’ ‘OK, I’ll be a miner.’” His brother apologised when Jackman was 18. “That released something for me. I literally signed up for a tap class the day after he’d said sorry.” Slightly sadly, he adds: “Of course, I was fully aware I’d left it too late to turn professional.” That said, he has to be positively restrained from hoofing in public. After stints on some minor Australian TV shows (including Corelli , on which set he met his wife: she played a prison psychiatrist, he was a tattooed inmate), his acting career took off in musicals, beginning with Trevor Nunn’s National theatre production of Oklahoma! in 1998. We are talking during the London stopover in the international publicity tour for Real Steel , the world’s first (and possibly last) touchy-feely boxing-robots movie. Somewhat improbably, Real Steel is The Champ meets Short Circuit, with a Crazy Heart country-and-western vibe. Jackman plays Charlie, a washed-up ex-fighter who enters hulking robots into showdowns at country fairs. Who else but Jackman could put vim into the ringside gibberish he is called on to holler (“Bring it! One, two, overlord! Shatter punch!”)? Who else could pull off Charlie’s grudging affection for his long-lost son, a blond-haired tyke with Shirley Temple pluck, without making the audience gag on its popcorn? But then Jackman has always excelled at bringing charm and sincerity to pictures that would sink a lesser showman. More interesting than Real Steel’s combat sequences, which resemble an uprising in a car assembly plant, is Jackman’s relish at shedding his slick, soft image, at least for the film’s first half. “It was so much fun to see how far we could take Charlie,” he says. “This is a DreamWorks picture being distributed by Disney, and our lead character sells his son in the first 20 minutes. I really liked that. When we showed it to the studio I thought they were gonna tell us to reshoot. I’d already asked Shawn [Levy, the director]: ‘Are we making him too much of an asshole?’ The studio thought we’d pushed it but that it worked.” Free of the physical heft required of him in Real Steel or the X-Men series, the 42-year-old is tall (6’2″) and lean. Dressed in black shirt and trousers, he resembles a giant chess piece. His manner is as courteous as a bellhop who’s banking on a big tip. Perhaps that’s another reason why he savoured the sleazier aspects of Charlie’s personality – it gave him a chance to go against the grain of his personality. “Absolutely. I loved it. I don’t allow myself to be like that in life, you see.” Or on screen, come to that. Beneath the snarling and the tantrums, Wolverine is just a pussycat. The rough-hewn Drover in Baz Luhrmann’s sweeping, silly Australia is essentially a Playgirl pinup minus the staples. Even when Jackman tries for sinister, in Deception or Woody Allen’s Scoop , it’s the suave front that is more convincing than the menace beneath. He has gained a reputation as the stand-in man – he only got to play Wolverine when the original choice, Dougray Scott, was unavailable, and he has stepped into parts vacated by Brad Pitt ( The Fountain ) and Russell Crowe (Australia). More telling are the roles Jackman almost played. He got as far as his costume fitting for the professor seduced by Nazism in Good, but then funding fell through (it was later filmed with Viggo Mortensen). And he was once the lead in Drive, back when Neil Marshall was attached as director. Either of these parts would have demanded a moral ambiguity rarely seen among the roles on Jackman’s CV. He’s self-deprecating about the luvvie side of himself; the way he tells it, he had to be discouraged from giving Wolverine jazz hands. “It takes every ounce of power in my body when I’m playing him just to keep still and find that interior, brooding aspect. [Director] Bryan Singer used to yell at me: ‘Stop moving! Just stand there and say your lines!’” But when I suggest that The Prestige worked so well because it played his glossiness against Bale ‘s method intensity, he seems offended. There’s an awkward pause, and I ask whether this isn’t how he sees himself. “Not really,” he shrugs. “I know I’m not known as method. By nature I’m not a brooder. What I continue to use is a mixture of the English school, which is traditionally outside-in, and the more American way of working from the inside
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Two thousand jobs to go, a reduction in sport and entertainment – and more TV repeats A shrunken BBC will lose 2,000 jobs, show more repeats on BBC2 and cut spending on sport and entertainment programmes as the broadcaster sets out plans to show that it could contend with a licence fee freeze that is due to last until at least 2017. BBC News will bear the brunt of the job losses, with 800 positions lost, largely from merging the broadcaster’s publicly funded news operation with the World Service, and not transmitting programmes such as Newsnight and Radio 4′s PM live from party conferences. Meanwhile, BBC3 will be moved to the corporation’s northern base in Salford, which will become home to at least another 1,000 staff, taking its total workforce to 3,300, while the BBC prepares to leave its west London headquarters. There will also be wide-ranging cuts to the BBC’s radio output, with the exception of Radio 4. Mark Thompson, the BBC’s director general, said the review – called “delivering quality first” – would lead to a smaller and radically reshaped BBC. The changes were designed to save £670m a year by 2017. But the corporation had come to the end of the road, he said, if more cuts were forced on it in the future. “We can’t do this again. Another real-terms cut in the licence fee will inevitably lead to a loss of services or diminution in quality or both,” he said. “If [we are forced] to go for more real-terms cuts the amount of road left for productivity savings is rapidly running out.” A year ago, intense behind-the-scenes negotiations between Thompson and the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, left the BBC with its licence fee frozen at £145.50. The corporation also agreed to take on extra responsibilities from the government, including the taxpayer-funded World Service. Despite the freeze, the corporation has been able to avoid axing any of its digital channels or services, and its chairman, Lord Patten, argued that its scope was not significantly diminished: “The BBC is far from perfect but it is a great institution and, at its best, a great broadcaster. We have a tough and challenging new licence fee settlement, but it should still be possible to run an outstanding broadcaster on £3.5bn a year.” Unions voiced concern at the impact of the changes. Gerry Morrissey, general secretary of technicians’ trade union BECTU, said: “When Mark Thompson did the licence fee deal he said the BBC could not continue to do everything. But this is salami slicing. I believe the BBC should have been brave and should have said we are not going to damage quality. This strategy is destroying quality, jobs and the
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