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Wine for men and the French paradox Posted: 22 Jul 2013 05:38 PM PDT July 23, 2013 A wide sweeping study has found a link between moderate wine consumption and a lower risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease and cancer among middle-aged men, lending more credence to the French paradox. After following up with 35,292 men over about 28 years, researchers from the Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense and Bordeaux Segalen University in France found that when more than 50 percent of their alcohol consumption came from wine, subjects showed a lower risk of death from heart disease as well as lung, lip, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, bladder and rectal cancers. In numbers, moderate wine consumption was associated with a 40 percent reduced risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease, and a 20 percent reduced risk of death from cancer. At the beginning of the study, subjects ranged in age from 40 to 65 years and hailed from Eastern France. In the end, a total of 4,035 deaths from cancer were recorded. Numbers for heart disease-related deaths were unavailable. The results of the study were presented at WineHealth in Sydney, Australia, which wrapped up over the weekend. When it comes to the famous French paradox, however -- that long-standing belief that the health benefits of red wine negate the effects of the famously rich, high-fat diet and the risk of coronary heart disease -- the scientific community is divided. A study printed the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health also suggested that drinking up to half a glass of wine a day can boost life expectancy in males by five years after studying the driking habits of randomly selected men over a 40-year period. But another study out of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, for instance, found that resveratrol, the magic ingredient in red wine thought to improve insulin sensitivity and reduce the risk of heart disease, had little effect in already healthy women. Though small, the study of 29 postmenopausal women found little health improvement in those who were given 75 mg of resveratrol daily -- a large amount equal to drinking 8 litres of red wine. – AFP/Relaxnews, July 23, 2013.

Confucius as gourmet chef may see revival Posted: 20 Jul 2013 06:30 PM PDT July 21, 2013 Confucius not only philosophised about traditions and morality but also had thoughts about food. His descendants are now trying to preserve and popularise the family's cuisine. "Confucius was undoubtedly a gourmet," said Kong Deban, a 77th-generation descendant of Confucius and resident of the city of Qufu -- Confucius's birthplace -- in east China's Shandong Province, reported Xinhua. The family's cuisine was included as part of China's national intangible cultural heritage in June 2011. Kong said the family's cuisine developed as a result of frequent visits by emperors, high-ranking officials and other distinguished guests to Confucius's home. Many banquets, ceremonies and royal commemorations were held there, giving the family the opportunity to develop its own style of formal cuisine, he said. Some of Confucius's views on food can be found in "The Analects," a collection of theories and sayings originating from Confucius and his students. "Food can never be too good and cooking can never be done too carefully. Food cannot be eaten if the cutting is not even and properly done," according to "The Analects." The names of the dishes are distinctive and tied to Confucius's philosophy and way of life. A dish known as "gingko poetry rites," originally called "honey gingko," was renamed by Yan Sheng, a 53rd-generation descendant of Confucius. He renamed the dish after learning that the gingko nuts used to make it were picked from trees in front of the poetry hall in the Confucius Temple, choosing the name to commemorate the way Confucius taught his son Kong Li about poetry and virtue, Kong said. "Each course in Confucius family cuisine has a special name with a profound meaning. The anecdotes and historical background behind the dish can turn any meal into a cultural experience," Kong added. Peng Wenyu, a descendant of a Confucius Mansion chef and a 30-year veteran of Confucius-style cuisine, has written several works on the food's history and recipes. "Cooking Confucius-style cuisine is complex, labour-intensive and demands great attention to detail," Peng said.However, he said that the cuisine must adapt to modern times in order to remain relevant. Ingredients like shark fin and bear paw that are common in Confucius-style cuisine are banned for use in cooking food due to animal protection concerns. "In ancient times, chefs at the Confucius Mansion handed down cooking skills and recipes only to their descendants or apprentices. But now I think we need to make it public so that it can be better preserved," Peng said. – July 21, 2013.

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Book about Singapore hawkers for heritage fest Posted: 21 Jul 2013 06:07 PM PDT July 22, 2013 Hawkers in Singapore got a boost in a book called Not For Sale: Singapore's Remaining Heritage Street Food Vendors launched recently. Taking almost 3 years to complete, the book focuses on 10 women hawkers among 300 in the island republic and is spiced with black-and-white photographs. "A lot of these hawkers are retiring during this period, a lot of them are already at a very old age," said the book's project leader Sinma DaShow, reported todayonline.com "Their trade is either going to be vanishing or will really be gone forever, if no one comes to document it, archive it for the future generation ... We're just concerned that future generations, our own kids, may not even know some of these food or places we've grown up with." The book, co-authored by Singapore-based photographer Jim Orca, is part of Singapore HeritageFest 2013. The authors are conducting a guided tour for the public to four famous hawker centres, as part of the festival. The tours will go on for four weekends until Aug 10, and will include East Coast Park Lagoon Hawker Centre and Circuit Road Hawker Centre. Registration is on a first-come-first-served basis, and each tour is limited to 20 participants. More information can be found at heritagefest.org.sg.  The book is priced at S$88 (RM211) and can be found at www.notforsale.sg. – July 22, 2013.

Ex-governor Spitzer’s capitalist manifesto Posted: 21 Jul 2013 05:29 PM PDT July 22, 2013 Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer tells all about capitalism. – Reuters pic, July 22, 2013.You can't make it in mainstream politics in the United States without trumpeting your capitalist credentials. But behind the apparent consensus are two almost irreconcilable visions that are paralysing politics in Washington. Does your capitalism espouse strong government, tough regulations and a tax system that seeks to improve the lot of society's poorest? Or do you believe in small government, self-regulation and taxation that doesn't "penalise" hard work? This is the debate that Eliot Spitzer, New York's former governor, attorney general, and Democratic hopeful for New York City comptroller, jumps into in his book, "Protecting Capitalism - Case by Case." It's no surprise which side Spitzer is backing. As attorney general from 1999 to 2006, he earned the moniker the "Sheriff of Wall Street" for going after dubious practices at mortgage lenders and big banks. "Protecting Capitalism" traces Spitzer's career in a series of anecdotes - from his time as a newly minted prosecutor taking down the Gambino family, who controlled New York's garment and trucking industries - to battles with Wall Street banks. The book portrays Spitzer as theorist, politician and lawyer, a man who can develop a big vision of what society should be, link it to nitty-gritty policy minutiae, and deliver it. It is the manifesto of a politician trying to resurrect his career after his abrupt resignation in the wake of a sex scandal. Readers looking for a tell-all, revealing details about his liaisons with prostitutes that forced his resignation as New York governor in 2008, will be disappointed. His infidelity is cryptically referenced in a discussion about fiduciary responsibility. "I am not blind to the fair claim that I, in a very public way, failed to respect a fiduciary obligation that is perhaps even more central," Spitzer wrote. Central to Spitzer's thesis is that American history took a wrong turn in 1981. Ronald Reagan's presidency heralded the ascendance of a radical deregulation agenda, a "market-based ideology that swept our nation." The result was the market cataclysm that occurred in 2008, Spitzer wrote. He does not assign any blame to Democratic President Bill Clinton, who repealed the Glass-Steagall Act and exempted credit default swaps from regulation. As comptroller, Spitzer wants to channel the power of small shareholders that he believes has been usurped by a small group of intermediaries in the mutual fund business. "We own Wall Street," is Spitzer's rallying cry, citing data that shows growing stock ownership over the last century, from 1 percent of the population in 1900 to 52 percent by 1998. He talks about leveraging that power to drive a progressive agenda, from getting big business out of political lobbying to reining in "imperial CEOs". But do "we" own enough of Wall Street to make a difference? Spitzer's book includes a chart that shows 20 percent of the population owns 93 percent of the nation's wealth. Despite its witty, insightful anecdotes and intelligent arguments, "Protecting  Capitalism" is a bit of a ragtag collection, resembling, at times, an Economics or Finance 101 lecture, a political treatise, and a self-help manual. – Reuters, July 22, 2013.

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Nailbiter set in space, with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney Posted: 20 Jul 2013 07:39 PM PDT July 21, 2013 Among the monster movies and fantasy films showcased at pop culture convention Comic-Con, the space thriller "Gravity" stood out from the field yesterday with its different setting and two-person cast, as Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron took a leap into space with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Cuaron, 51, teamed up with son Jonas Cuaron, 30, for this movie about two astronauts played by Bullock and Clooney who become trapped in a space station after debris rips through their vessel. "The whole film becomes a metaphor for something very grounded on earth, so you don't need to be an astronaut to identify with that. The big villain in the film is space debris, and that space debris becomes a metaphor for adversities," Cuaron told Reuters. In a "Gravity" clip shown exclusively to the Comic-Con audience in San Diego, Clooney and Bullock are seen on a space walk with Earth in the background. Suddenly, they lose contact with ground control and are forced to try to take cover from high-velocity space debris. The Warner Bros. film opens in U.S. theatres on Oct. 4. Movie studios use Comic-Con, an annual comics convention, to tease tidbits of upcoming fantasy, monster and science-fiction films and create buzz among a base of hard-core fans. More than 125,000 visitors are expected this year. Cuaron said he and his son were inspired by the Kessler syndrome, which predicts that a chain reaction of space junk hitting each other would produce so much orbiting debris that space flight would become too risky. Jonas co-wrote the script with his father, who built a career outside Mexico with films like "Children of Men" and "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." "I think if anybody sees my other films and then sees 'Gravity,' it's a big leap," said Alfonso Cuaron, who said Jonas convinced him to rely less on dialogue and more on emotion and action. – Reuters, July 21, 2013.

Simpsons to meet Family Guy Posted: 20 Jul 2013 07:29 PM PDT July 21, 2013 For the Fall 2014 season, Fox is planning a crossover episode between its two hit animated series, reports Tvline.com. The two American families will meet one another in the Simpsons' hometown of Springfield, although the episode will air on "Family Guy." Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie will get to know Peter, Lois, Megan, Chris and Stewie, and while the two ladies will strike up a friendship, their husbands will launch into a heated argument over which is the superior beer: Duff or Pawtucket. The Griffins came to Fox in 1999, a decade after the Simpsons. There are a lot of similarities between Seth MacFarlane's show and that of Matt Groening. Caricatures of the average American family, both shows portray quirky and simple-minded dads, with reasonable housewives providing the "straight man" element. Both families also have three kids and a pet. On Sept 29, "The Simpsons" will enter its 25th season, setting a new US record for a prime-time series. The same date will mark the premiere of the 12th season of "Family Guy." – AFP/Relaxnews, July 21, 2013.

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Getting strident over Nazi-themed cafe in Bandung Posted: 20 Jul 2013 06:03 PM PDT July 21, 2013 From a painting hung high on a blood-red wall, Adolf Hitler peers down on young students eating schnitzel and slurping German beer in Indonesia's Nazi-themed cafe. The SoldatenKaffee ("The Soldiers' Cafe") opened its doors in the western Javanese city of Bandung in 2011, named after the popular hangout for soldiers in Germany and occupied Paris during World War II. Eerier than the gas mask canisters and battle flags bearing swastikas is the more than two years' silence that has followed the cafe's grand launch. When the cafe opened no one voiced offence at the waiters and guests dressed as Nazi soldiers -- the Holocaust is weak on the radar in Indonesia, home to the world's biggest Muslim population, where the Jewish community numbers a mere 20 people. But a recent report about SoldatenKaffee in the English-language Jakarta Globe newspaper triggered angry responses online and prompted Bandung deputy mayor Ayi Vivananda to summon the owner for a meeting. "We need to ask him first in detail what his real intentions are. But what is clear is that Bandung city will not allow anyone here inciting racial hatred," he said on Thursday. The cafe's creator and owner, Henry Mulyana, said he did not intend to bring back memories of the Holocaust but was not surprised to be branded a "bad guy". "I don't idolise Hitler, I simply adore the soldiers' paraphernalia," Mulyana, a Christian who likes playing with air rifles, told AFP at the cafe. His collection is on display for diners and includes a water canteen, bayonet, goggles and a lantern, most of them bought online. "The ones with swastikas on them are worth more," he said. The restaurant had only ever received positive press before the recent exposure in English-language media and receives a regular stream of customers. "We're living in Indonesia and Indonesians weren't tortured in the Holocaust, so we don't really care," said mining company employee Arya Setya, eating a plate of spaghetti at the cafe with his girlfriend. But now that news of the cafe's existence has reached a wider audience, it has sparked outrage among Jewish communities in other parts of the world. "The Simon Wiesenthal Center is reaching out to senior Indonesian diplomats to express on behalf of our 400,000 members and victims of the Nazi Holocaust our outrage and disgust," Rabbi Abraham Cooper, from the Los Angeles-based Jewish human rights group, told AFP by email. "We expect that all appropriate measures will be taken to close down this business celebrating a genocidal ideology that at its core denigrates people of colour and all non-Aryans," he wrote. Under Indonesian law, anyone who deliberately shows hatred towards others based on race or ethnicity can be jailed for up to five years. But such vilification usually goes unchecked, with hardline Muslim groups carrying out violent attacks on religious minorities with near impunity in recent years. Mulyana said that his cafe has also attracted Western guests, including Germans, with one photographed on its Facebook page wearing a red swastika T-shirt along with several Indonesians in the same clothes. He revealed he plans to set up an even bigger cafe on the resort island of Bali, which attracts throngs of foreign tourists each year. "I'll certainly display Hitler's image, as well as Winston Churchill's, and paraphernalia from American and Japanese soldiers from World War II," he said. His cafe could not contrast more deeply with attitudes in Europe, where several countries have criminalised the promotion of Nazi ideology and the denial of the Holocaust. While Mulyana does not deny the Holocaust happened, he said making the tragedy taboo was hypocritical. "If we want to speak up about humanity, why don't they stop wars in this world now, like in Afghanistan? War always claims so many lives," he said. However, when contacted by AFP on Saturday Mulyana said he had decided to close down the cafe temporarily, refusing to give further details. Indonesia, where 90 percent of the population of 240 million identify themselves as Muslim, does not recognise Judaism among its six official religions. The country has no diplomatic relations with Israel and vocally advocates for the state of Palestine, although it has quietly engaged in economic and military ties. Today just one synagogue exists in the country, in the city of Manado. A century-old synagogue in the city of Surabaya was shut down by extremists protesting against the 2008-9 war in Gaza. Other Indonesians in Manado are believed to have Jewish roots, some hiding their heritage for safety fears. A lack of sensitivity towards the Holocaust has also been shown in other parts of Asia. Thailand's prestigious Chulalongkorn University was forced to apologise on Monday after its students created a mural depicting Hitler among comic book superheroes during graduation celebrations. And in 2006, an Indian restaurateur outraged the country's small Jewish community by opening "Hitler's Cross". He was forced to change the name days later. Historian Asvi Warman Adam from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences blames Indonesia's education system and schools for a lack of awareness about the Holocaust and world wars. "We don't hear a lot of criticism against the Nazis and fascism in Indonesia," Adam said. "Hitler's book 'Mein Kampf' is banned in many countries, but it's freely distributed here. It's translated into Indonesian and is quite often sold out," he said. He said the school curriculum was focused on national history and trying to legitimise Indonesia's 32-year Suharto dictatorship, which saw the slaughter of at least 500,000 communists, Chinese and alleged sympathisers. Islamic hardliners, who are the most vocal when it comes to blasphemy against Islam, are unlikely to make any noise about the cafe, Adam said. "But if a Jewish-themed cafe opened, they would most likely stage a protest," he said. – AFP, July 21, 2013. - AFP

Persian polo thrives in Iran Posted: 19 Jul 2013 08:41 PM PDT July 20, 2013 It is probably the last thing you would expect to come across in the capital of the Islamic republic of Iran: a polo club, more commonly associated with the aristocracy. Nestling in the foothills of the Alborz mountains on the southeastern edge of heavily polluted Tehran, the Qasr-e Firouze Chowgan Club is surrounded by greenery and shielded from view by a military camp. Qasr-e Firouze is Farsi for the Turquoise Palace and chowgan means polo - a game the Iranians say originated in Persia more than two millennia ago. To back the claim, they point to drawings dating from the time of Darius I (522-486 BC) in which a horseman is depicted holding a long mallet in one hand. Today, more than three decades after the Islamic revolution toppled the shah, polo is still played in Iran. On one sunny and clear day, ambassadors, wealthy amateurs and officials rubbed shoulders in a crowd of around 500 people who watched four teams play in a charity tournament to raise funds for a diabetes association. "We organise matches and tournaments almost every week," the deputy head of the national Iranian Polo Federation, Mohammad Ali Bigham, told AFP. The polo enthusiast and player boasted that his federation has 150 accredited members, both men and women -- despite the strict Islamic dress code imposed on the women. Tradition says that the game was exported from ancient Persia first to Constantinople or modern-day Istanbul, before later drifting east to the plains of Afghanistan and then to Tibet where chowgan became known as "pulu". And the rest is history. Chowgan-pulu spread to India where it was adopted by the Raj and the British drew up a new set of rules for the game they simply called polo. Abbas the Great For Iranians, the historic central city of Isfahan is the cradle of modern-day polo. During the 16th century, the Safavid shah Abbas the Great, famed for the architectural marvels built in Isfahan, ordered the construction of a huge polo field in Naqsh-e Jahan Square in the city centre so he could watch players from a terrace in his palace. Over the centuries polo in Iran was a game reserved for the military elite, royal court officials and the aristocracy. After the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the shah, the game was banned. But it was rehabilitated in the 1990s, and a national polo federation soon saw the light of day. The rebirth of polo in Iran was largely due to a countrywide growth in a sense of "Iranian identity" along with the support it received from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who encourages all sports deemed to have Iranian roots. "In the Islamic republic, it is better not to say that polo is the sport of the nobility. The authorities encourage the game because it was born in Iran," said one polo enthusiast, who asked not to be identified. A large poster of Khamenei towers over the field at the polo club, bearing a clear message that urges Iranians to engage in "sports that are homegrown such as polo which is Iranian". But third-generation polo player Amir Ali Zolfaghari, 39, says "the game is not yet accessible to everyone". "Like for horseback riding, you need money to buy and maintain a horse, and to purchase the equipment," said Zolfaghari, whose father and grandfather also played polo. But he notes that the federation has been very active. "The federation is doing everything it can to attract young people. It provides horses and equipment for beginners," Zolfaghari said. "We have managed to set up four or five clubs in order to improve the standing of the national team, and I hope that in four or five years we will reach a good level," and attract more players, he said. – AFP, July 20, 2013.

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Karpal masuk hospital, rayuan kes liwat Anwar dijangka ditangguh Posted: 21 Jul 2013 02:17 AM PDT OLEH RITA JONG July 21, 2013 Latest Update: July 21, 2013 05:31 pm Rayuan kerajaan terhadap keputusan kes pertuduhan liwat membabitkan Ketua Pembangkang, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim yang dijadual berlangsung esok, mungkin ditangguh berikutan ketua peguam bela, Karpal Singh (gambar) dimasukkan ke hospital. "Kita akan buat permohonan penangguhan kerana Karpal tidak sihat. Beliau kini ada di hospital dan dijangka berada di mahkamah, dua tiga hari lagi. "Bagaimanapun, kita belum tahu bila tarikhnya," kata Ramkarpal kepada The Malaysian Insider, hari ini. Kerajaan membuat rayuan terhadap keputusan mahkamah yang membebaslkan Anwar dari pertuduhan liwat dan dijadual didengar di Mahkamah Rayuan Putrajaya esok. Pada 9 Januari lalu, Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur membebaskan Anwar dari pertuduhan liwat terhadap Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan di Kodomunium Desa Damansara antara jam 3.10 dan 4.30 petang pada 26 Jun 2008. - 21 Julai, 2013.

Razali belum putuskan untuk bertanding Posted: 21 Jul 2013 02:09 AM PDT July 21, 2013 Naib Ketua Pergerakan Pemuda Umno, Datuk Razali Ibrahim belum membuat keputusan sama ada bertanding mana-mana jawatan pada pemilihan Umno pada perhimpunan agung parti itu, Oktober ini. Walaupun pindaan perlembagaan Umno membenarkan semua ahli bertanding secara demokrasi dalam parti, beliau berkata, mereka yang bertanding harus memiliki kemampuan dan idea kepada pengukuhan parti. Katanya, atas faktor umur beliau tidak boleh bertanding jawatan dalam pergerakan Pemuda Umno tetapi menyatakan sokongan kepada Khairy Jamaluddin untuk bertanding mengekalkan jawatan itu. Ahli Parlimen Muar berkata demikian kepada pemberita selepas melancarkan program Rakan Muda Bubur Lambuk anjuran Jabatan Belia dan Sukan Daerah Muar di Masjid Jamek Sultan Ibrahim di Muar, hari ini. Mengenai keputusan Pergerakan Pemuda Umno Johor dalam mesyuarat khasnya Jumaat lalalu supaya semua jawatan dalam pergerakan itu dipertanding pada pemilihan Umno, Razali menyokong pendirian itu. "Yang penting, pemilihan kali ini bukan sahaja dapat mengukuhkan parti malah mampu mengembalikan keyakinan orang Melayu khasnya dan rakyat amnya terhadap Umno," katanya. - Bernama, 21 Julai, 2013.

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Tween YouTube star Talia Joy dies, fans pay tribute Posted: 19 Jul 2013 08:27 PM PDT July 20, 2013 Young YouTube star Talia Joy Castellano, a cancer patient who became an honorary CoverGirl for her makeup video tutorials, died at the age 13 last week. The tween ended her six-year battle with a form of nerve cancer called neuroblastoma and leukaemia on July 16 in the Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando, Florida, news agencies reported. Talia inspired millions of netizens with her make-up tutorials and touching videos. She continued to make videos for her fans throughout her battle, finding respite in eyeshadows and nail polish from her hospital bed. According to hollywoodlife.com, Talia's fans were so inspired by her that they started ticking off things on Talia's bucket list in her honour, sharing photos of themselves parasailing, getting tattoos and pulling all-nighters. During Talia's final days, her family gathered the photos into a Facebook album called Talia's Bucket List, sharing them with the world via social media. Ellen Degeneres and Kendall Jenner are some of the stars sending their condolences to the family. Degeneres tweeted that she was so sad to have "lost a very special girl". - July 20, 2013.

Tripping on Ryan Gosling’s “Only God Forgives” Posted: 19 Jul 2013 07:41 PM PDT July 20, 2013 Ryan Gosling's latest film, "Only God Forgives," has deeply divided critics and the Canadian actor concedes that the blood-spattered crime thriller set in Bangkok's underworld of boxing clubs and brothels may not appeal to everyone. "The film is kind of like a drug," the former child star who appeared on "The Mickey Mouse Club" TV show, told reporters ahead of the film's opening in US theatres yesterday. "You either have a good trip or a bad trip." For critics at the Cannes Film Festival, where the film -written and directed by Denmark's Nicolas Winding Refn - was shown in May, it was a bit of both. It prompted boos and sent some critics scurrying from the press screening, while others praised the film's artistic merits. With its minimal dialogue and gruesome scenes of torture and bloodletting, the highly stylised film is not for the squeamish. The Hollywood Reporter described it as a "menacingly atmospheric mood piece that will not disappoint devotees of the Nicolas Winding Refnchurch of fetishistic hyper-violence." The film offered an opportunity for Gosling, who was nominated for a best actor Oscar in 2007 for the drama "Half Nelson" and starred in "Lars and the Real Girl" and "Blue Valentine," to reunite with Refn. The pair collaborated on the 2011 art-house drama "Drive," which earned a best director award for Refn at Cannes. "I wanted to work with Nicolas," Gosling said, adding that for Refn the violent tone of the film is "part of the language which he uses to communicate." Gosling, 32, plays Julian, a brooding American fugitive in Bangkok who runs a boxing club as a front for his drug business. After his brother is killed for murdering a young Thai prostitute, his gangster mother, played by British actress Kristin Scott Thomas, arrives in Bangkok and demands bloody revenge. But a mysterious, sword-wielding former policeman with a penchant for chopping off body parts has other plans. Gosling, who has achieved cult status online and even inspired a coloring book, said Refn shot the film chronologically so the cast was not really sure of the movie they were making. "You just sort of go along for the ride," said the actor, who is editing his directorial feature film debut, "How to Catch a Monster," based on his original screenplay and starring Eva Mendes and "Mad Men's" Christina Hendricks. Unlike the story-driven "Drive," Gosling said "Only God Forgives" is more of an experience and less of a story. "You give in to the mystery," he said. – Reuters, July 20, 2013. * "Only God Forgives" is set for release in Singapore cinemas on Aug 22, 2013.

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Murakami, Couto chosen for Neustadt Prize, ups chances for Nobel Posted: 19 Jul 2013 04:08 PM PDT July 20, 2013 The nine-nominee shortlist for the 2014 Neustadt International Prize for Literature has been announced, with Nobel Prize favourite Hakuri Murakami and Camöes Prize winner Mia Couto in the mix. The Neustadt Prize is the only one of its kind based in the US; poets, playwrights and novelists are considered equally eligible for the biennial award. Like the Nobel Prize in Literature, the US$50,000 (RM150,000) Neustadt is awarded to a living author in recognition of their literary achievement; the Neustadt is open to authors writing in any language, as long as a representative work is available in English. Though the $50,000 prize, certainly a significant sum, is dwarfed by the US$1.1m Nobel Prize, the Neustadt makes much of its other associations with the otherwise inscrutable Nobel. Four previous Neustadt Laureates have gone on to become Nobel Laureates, as have a total of 18 shortlist nominees, most recently exemplified by 1998 Neustadt candidate and 2012 Nobel Prize winner Mo Yan. Last year's Neustadt was awarded to Indian-Canadian writer Rohinton Mistry, author of "Such a Long Journey," "Family Matters," and several short story collections. Established in 1970, the prize is awarded every even-numbered year, with its jury selected by the executive director of literary journal "World Literature Today." The 2014 prize will be announced in fall 2014. Murakami shortlisted for Neustadt Prize. - AFP pic, July 20, 2013.Candidates for the 2014 Neustadt International Prize for Literature César Aira - "How I Became a Nun"  Argentinian writer and translator. Also known for "The Hare" (La liebre), re-published in English this June, and "Emma, the Captive" (Ema la cautiva). Mia Couto - "Sleepwalking Land" Mozambican author. Won the Camöes Prize in May. Duong Thu Huong - "No Man's Land" Vietnamese author and activist, now in Paris. Won the Prix Femina three times. Edward P. Jones - "All Aunt Haga's Children" American author. Won the Pulitzer for "The Known World"; is the first American male Neustadt candidate. Ilya Kaminsky - "Dancing in Odessa" Ukranian-born, now American poet. Won multiple awards for "Dancing" including the Whiting Writer's Award. Chang-rae Lee - "The Surrendered" South Korean-born, now American novelist and Princeton professor. "The Surrendered" was a Pulitzer finalist in 2011. Edouard Maunick - "Mandela, Dead and Alive" Mauritian poet. Won the Grand Prix de la Francophonie in 2003. Haruki Murakami - "The Elephant Vanishes" Japanese author of "Kafka on the Shore," "1Q84." Eternal speculation surrounds his Nobel Prize chances. Ghassan Zaqtan - "Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me" Palestinian poet and novelist. "Like a Straw Bird" won the Griffin Poetry Prize in June. – July 20, 2013.

Anne Rice named ThrillerMaster Posted: 17 Jul 2013 08:14 PM PDT July 18, 2013 The 2013 Thriller Awards, held over the weekend, saw Anne Rice (pic) named ThrillerMaster, while debut effort "The 500" from Matthew Quirk won Best First Novel and CJ Lyons's "Blind Faith" was deemed "Best e-Book Original Novel." Anne Rice is best-known for her "Vampire Chronicles" series but has also addressed spiritual topics, and returned to fiction with "The Wolf Gift Chronicles," starting with "The Wolf Gift" in 2012, and whose second entry, "The Wolves of Midwinter," is due in October. The Thriller Writers' Silver Bullet awards are not in fact part of an annual hitlist for werewolf hunters, but a recognition of contribution to the advancement of literacy, this year going to Steve Berry, author of the "Cotton Malone" series of historical conspiracy novels, and the United Service Organization, with which the International Thriller Writers has previously partnered for various international tours. Voracious readers will want to check out the Thriller Writers' website for a full rundown of finalists in each category. 2013 Thriller Award Winners Best Hardcover Novel: "Spilled Blood" by Brian Freeman Best Paperback Original Novel: "Lake Country" by Sean Doolittle Best First Novel: "The 500" by Matthew Quirk Best E-Book Original Novel: "Blind Faith" by CJ Lyons Best Young Adult Novel: "False Memory" by Dan Krokos Best Short Story: "Lost Things" by John Rector ThrillerMaster: Anne Rice, in recognition of her legendary career and outstanding contributions to the thriller genre Literary Silver Bullet Award: Steve Berry Corporate Silver Bullet Award: United Service Organizations. – AFP/Relaxnews, July 18, 2013.

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