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The News Review:

- Previewing 2007: IMAX
- Mathematics Of Cloaking: New Analysis Improves Methods To Render…
- Going Green at UNC
- Orgy of Sequels to Climax in 2007
- APOCALYPSE WOW! ‘Children of Men’ charts a grim future
- ‘Hollywood has become fixated on movies about authors, however…
- What’s Wrong With Cinderella?

Previewing 2007: IMAX
Motley Fool – Dec 26, 2006
In 2002, management was essentially begging for studios to distribute previously released films on the IMAX platform. But the success of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban raised a few eyebrows, generating $10 million in revenues within 10 weeks. Soon after, The Polar Express steamed past that key mark in just 19 days, at one point capturing 14% of the total box office revenues ($13. 1 million) on just 2% of the available screens (61 of 3,650). And then last summer, Superman Returns earned a whopping $7 million in its opening week, which worked out to a per-screen average of nearly $90,000… Therefore, bottom-feeders waiting on a quick bounce might wind up disappointed if the shares continue trading for about the price of a box of Raisinets. However, those valuing the company by its long-term cash flow potential who don’t mind waiting for those cash flows to develop could walk away with IMAX-sized gains. Can’t-miss blockbuster hits like Spider-Man 3 and Harry Potter and the Order of the Golden Phoenix should boost revenues and help generate interest in the stock next year. Beyond that, IMAX has barely cracked its potential global market, and once additional customers are introduced to the medium, momentum should feed on itself. If nothing else, any tangible operating improvements should give the company a few extra bargaining chips if and when any buyout talks heat up. For now, I think IMAX is worth more than the price of admission, so sit back and enjoy the show.

Mathematics Of Cloaking: New Analysis Improves Methods To Render…
Science Daily – Science Daily (press release) – Dec 26, 2006
The mathematics predicts that the size of the electromagnetic fields go to infinity at the surface of the cloaked region, possibly wrecking the invisibility. Their analysis also revealed another surprise: a person trying to look out of the cloak would effectively be faced with a mirror in every direction. If you can imagine Harry Potter’s own invisibility cloak working this way, and Harry turning on his flashlight to see, its light would shine right back at him, no matter where he pointed it. Greenleaf’s team determined that a more complicated phenomenon arises when using Maxwell’s equations, leading to a "blow up" (an unexpected infinite behavior) of the electromagnetic fields. They determined that by inserting conductive linings, whose properties depend on the specific geometry of the cloak, this problem can be resolved. Alternatively, covering both the inside and outside surfaces of the cloaked region with carefully matched materials can also be used to bypass this problem. "We should also keep in mind that, given the current technology, when we talk about invisibility, we’re talking only about being invisible at just a narrow range of wavelengths," says Greenleaf.

Going Green at UNC
BusinessWeek – Dec 26, 2006
TeamworkThe experience at Kenan-Flagler is largely driven by the concept of group work and the constant feeling that you are part of something bigger than you. Here are the Kenan-Flagler group activities that I am a part of:Legacy Groups I like to think of the creation of our legacy sections as being a scene from Harry Potter without the sorting hat. We are broken into eight legacy groups of 35 people, named after past and present legends in the Kenan-Flagler community, and then spend the rest of the year competing against each other for legacy points. I am a Behrman legacy captain and can take personal credit for a botched attempt at making a float as well as our team not bringing enough people to a dodgeball tournament. We did, however, win the drinking event, putting us in fifth place overall. Study Team What do an Indian process engineer, Chinese finance wizard, Indiana pharma marketer, California corporate responsibility expert, and Boston dot-com washout (me) have in common? I’d say stunning good looks and sunny demeanors.

Orgy of Sequels to Climax in 2007
Village Voice – Dec 26, 2006
Trapped in a horror of its own making, Hollywood is scared witless by the looming prospect of negotiating with not one but two labor unions in 2007: the Writers Guild of America, whose gangsta refusal to begin talking early with the studios already foreshadows a retread of the disastrous 1988 walkout (which shut down production for 22 weeks and cost the industry about $500 million) and the Screen Actors Guild, whose bargaining may begin in January but could mean squat. Both writers and actors are still bummed over being stiffed by the studios during the DVD era and are determined not to be bullied again in this downloading age. As for next summer’s sequel orgy, Hannibal Rising (the fourth Hannibal Lecter pic, this one a prequel) and The Hills Have Eyes II will get the foreplay started, followed by Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, another Pirates of the Caribbean, Hostel: Part II, Fantastic Four 2, Evan Almighty (follow-up to Jim Carrey’s Bruce Almighty, this time starring Steve Carell), Live Free or Die Hard (Bruce Willis as John McClane for the fourth time), Transformers (a live-action sequel to the animated original), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (fifth in the series), The Bourne Ultimatum (no. 3, which is actually no. 4 if you count that cheesy Richard Chamberlain version from 1988), and Rush Hour 3. Sequel frenzy climaxes at the end of the year with (get that Marlboro Ultra Light ready) Resident Evil 3, Mr.

APOCALYPSE WOW! ‘Children of Men’ charts a grim future
New York Daily News – Dec 26, 2006
I also wish it was a better movie. The script drops a central relationship that is developed early in the novel and which carries the reader all the way through James’ dark and strange future. Instead, Cuarón ("Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban") relies on his ample visual style, and he has indeed created a film you cannot tear your eyes away from. Though it bears the marks of a typical postnuclear apocalypse movie, the world of "Children of Men" has apparently been decimated and sterilized by a flu pandemic. Only England has survived as a country, and it is a dystopian nightmare, run by fascists determined to keep immigrants out and to round up and destroy those who slip in. One such immigrant is Kee (Claire-Hope ­Ashitey), a member of a rebel group whose leader, Julian (Julianne Moore), was once married to activist-turned-bureaucrat Theo Faron (Clive Owen). Because of Theo’s connections in the government, Julian makes contact with him after 20 years and asks for his help in getting Kee out of the country.
Related: Bursting myths about acne

‘Hollywood has become fixated on movies about authors, however…
highbeam.com – Dec 26, 2006
find The Independent – London articles. I see that Potter-mania is about to burst upon us. I don’t meanthe seventh Harry Potter tome, but the life and works of.

What’s Wrong With Cinderella?
Mickey News – Mickey News (press release) – Dec 26, 2006
"Why are you so mad, Mama?" she asked. "What's wrong with princesses?"

Diana may be dead and Masako disgraced, but here in America, we are in the midst of a royal moment. To call princesses a "trend" among girls is like calling Harry Potter a book. Sales at Disney Consumer Products, which started the craze six years ago by packaging nine of its female characters under one royal rubric, have shot up to $3 billion, globally, this year, from $300 million in 2001. There are now more than 25,000 Disney Princess items. "Princess," as some Disney execs call it, is not only the fastest-growing brand the company has ever created; they say it is on its way to becoming the largest girls' franchise on the planet. Meanwhile in 2001, Mattel brought out its own "world of girl" line of princess Barbie dolls, DVDs, toys, clothing, home d?r and myriad other products.