U.S. gun support runs far deeper than politics


BRYAN, Texas (AP) — Adam Lanza's mother was among the tens of millions of U.S. gun owners. She legally had a .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle and a pair of handguns, which her 20-year-old son used to kill 20 children and six adults in 10 efficient minutes inside a Connecticut school.


In the raw aftermath of the second-worst school shooting in U.S. history, countless gun enthusiasts much like Lanza's mother complicate a gun-owning narrative that critics, sometimes simplistically, put at the feet of a powerful lobby and caricatured zealots. More civilians are armed in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world, with Yemen coming in a distant second, according to the Small Arms Survey in Geneva.


Take Blake Smith, a mechanical engineer who lives near Houston and uses an AR-15 style rifle in shooting competitions.


Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who famously claimed to have shot a coyote while jogging with a pistol holstered to his running shorts, has signed a half-dozen certificates applauding Smith as one of the state's top marksmen. "But I won't call myself a fanatic," said Smith, 54, whose father first let him handle a gun around age 6.


"I sit at a desk all day. And when I get out to the range, I don't hear any gunfire going on," said Smith, who likens his emotional detachment to his guns to the way he would feel about a car or any other machine. "I'm so intent on my sight alignment, my trigger pull, my position. I don't worry about anything. I don't think about anything. It's relieving. It's therapeutic. Everybody has to have their Zen."


Since the school shooting, President Barack Obama has asked for proposals on reducing gun violence that he can take to Congress in January, and he called on the National Rifle Association, the country's most powerful gun-rights organization, to join the effort.


Gun laws in the U.S. vary from state to state — for instance, as of last month it is now legal to carry a gun in public view in Oklahoma — and are defended by a well-funded firearms industry and the NRA. On Friday, the NRA broke a weeklong silence since the Connecticut massacre by calling for armed volunteers at public schools, prompting criticism from many quarters.


But in the U.S., gun-control advocates are up against a sizeable bloc of mainstream Americans for whom guns is plainly central to their lives, whether for patriotism or personal sense of safety, or simply to occupy their spare time.


Dave Burdett, who owns an outdoors and adventure shop across the street from the sprawling Texas A&M University campus in College Station, says his affinity for guns is rooted in history, not sport.


"It isn't about hunting. Everyone says, 'Well, I can understand having a sporting rifle, but not an AR-15," Burdett said. "But wait a second — the idea of the Second Amendment was to preserve and protect the rights of individuals to have those guns."


"Remember that the (American) revolution was fought by citizen soldiers," he added. "To this day, that's one of the cornerstones of our military defense. We have an all-volunteer military."


An NRA poster picturing a bald eagle is taped to the glass door of his office. He started as a lawyer, dabbling in everything from commercial land to trying to block the deportation of an illegal immigrant, before seguing into selling guns.


When his daughter graduated with a business degree from Texas A&M, Burdett figured she would move somewhere cosmopolitan like Dallas and work in a downtown high-rise. She instead went to work in the store, built her own AR-15 out of spare parts and used it to join what her father described as the "let's-go-pig-hunting-tonight circuit." Those feral hog hunts often include high-powered rifles as well as night-vision goggles.


"The other thing is, shooting is fun. It really is," Burdett said.


Many think so. Smith, the mechanical engineer, said that includes teenage girls. At national shooting competitions, Smith has run into a group of girls around 13 or 14 years old who call themselves "The Pink Ladies," firing high-powered rifles at targets. He also recalls meeting Australians, whose country bans guns, who told him, "I love to shoot, so I'm going to the U.S."


Others add safety to the list of reasons for allowing people easy access to guns.


"To me it's obvious — the more people that have guns, or at least in their homes, it's more of a criminal deterrent," said Bill Moos, a local taxidermist in the small town of Bryan, near College Station. Moos, who owns more than 30 guns, can be spotted any given morning, prowling his roughly 40-acre (16-hectare) ranch with his dogs and a shotgun slung over his shoulder.


He tells a story of standing in the post office one day and hearing about a suspect driving around in a black car, wanted by the police. He thought of the woman behind the counter near him.


"My first thought was, 'How are you going to protect yourself?' Does she have a gun, in case someone tries to rob her?" he said. "It's the first thing you think of: How are you going to defend yourself?"


On the television in the corner of his workshop, above a stuffed gray fox and a clutch of animal jawbones dangling on a ring like a set of keys, Obama is holding his first press conference since the Connecticut tragedy. He's promising to send Congress legislation tightening gun laws and urging them to reinstate a ban on military-style assault weapons, like the one used by Lanza.


Moos turns down the volume.


"I guess it's something you get used to," he said of guns. "That you grow up around, and you enjoy them, and you accept the fact that you can own. It's a privilege. It's a whole different way of life. I guess I don't need three pick-ups and a Corvette. But I have them."


___


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U.N. General Assembly voices concern for Myanmar’s Muslims






UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The U.N. General Assembly expressed serious concern on Monday over violence between Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists in Myanmar and called upon its government to address reports of human rights abuses by some authorities.


The 193-nation General Assembly approved by consensus a non-binding resolution, which Myanmar said last month contained a “litany of sweeping allegations, accuracies of which have yet to be verified.”






Outbreaks of violence between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and the Rohingyas have killed dozens and displaced thousands since June. Rights groups also have accused Myanmar security forces of killing, raping and arresting Rohingyas after the riots. Myanmar said it exercised “maximum restraint” to quell the violence.


The unanimously adopted U.N. resolution “expressing particular concern about the situation of the Rohingya minority in Rakhine state, urges the government to take action to bring about an improvement in their situation and to protect all their human rights, including their right to a nationality.”


At least 800,000 Muslim Rohingyas live in Rakhine State along the western coast of Myanmar, also known as Burma. But Buddhist Rakhines and other Burmese view them as illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh who deserve neither rights nor sympathy.


The resolution adopted on Monday is identical to one approved last month by the General Assembly’s Third Committee, which focuses on human rights. After that vote, Myanmar’s mission to the United Nations said that it accepted the resolution but objected to the Rohingyas being referred to as a minority.


“There has been no such ethnic group as Rohingya among the ethnic groups of Myanmar,” a representative of Myanmar said at the time. “Despite this fact, the right to citizenship for any member or community has been and will never be denied if they are in line with the law of the land.”


(Reporting By Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Paul Simao)


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Just got a new iPhone, iPad or Android device for Christmas? Gameloft cuts popular iOS and Android games to 99¢









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The Medical Guide to Holiday Movies







Anna Karenina lies febrile on her post-partum bed, her husband, Karenin, and lover, Vronsky, flanking her in sorrow. She repents to each, anticipating her end, and just when the romance soars to its peak, you wonder aloud — why does she have a fever? And, could this really happen?


Luckily, we’ve got Hollywood’s holiday ailments covered. Our unofficial disease guide takes a shot at unraveling the medical mysteries you’ll see woven throughout the biggest hits of the season.








Medical Guide to Holiday Movies


Denzel Washington plays a drug-addicted, alcoholic airline pilot who executes a miracle crash landing but is later blamed for the incident.


ALCOHOLISM


It turns out that drinking and flying is relatively rare. But that wasn’t true in the 1960s. A landmark article on aviation and alcohol found that in 35 percent of all fatal airline accidents in 1963, the pilots had measurable levels of alcohol in their blood. A disproportionate amount of these accidents occurred at night and most occurred within the first half-hour of flight.


So how does alcohol affect flight performance? One scientific article reports that blood alcohol concentrations in the range of 0.03 to 0.05-percent can impair performance of tasks like tracking radio-frequency signals, airport traffic control vectoring, traffic observation and avoidance, and aircraft descent. That’s about the amount present after just one drink for an average size adult.


POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS SYNDROME (PTSD)


According to the book, Aviation Mental Health, pilots may be at risk for PTSD if they’ve ever experienced an aircraft mishap or near mishap. Because of this, the airline industry has a program in place called the Critical Incident Response Program that guides pilots through any potential PTSD inciting events. In addition to this, Federal law requires that all airline employees and their families have access to such counseling programs when faced with significant incidents like aircraft accidents.


When it comes to needing medication however, pilots face a double-edged sword. While counseling services for psychiatric conditions like PTSD are not reportable to the FAA, the use of certain medications is. Pilots are required to report use of any psychotropic medications beyond common antidepressants and refrain from flying until they are medication-free.




Medical Guide to Holiday Movies


Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Field recreate the spirit of America’s first power couple and highlight the staggering height difference between Abe and Mary Todd.


MARFAN SYNDROME


At 6 feet, 4 inchesl, Abe Lincoln towered nearly 9 inches taller than the average 1860s man. Like a taupe, tailless Na’vi from the movie Avatar, his long legs and spidery fingers intimidated adversaries near and far. But his stately frame was more than just a normal variant. Historians have speculated that Lincoln was afflicted with a rare genetic disorder called Marfan syndrome. The disorder affects connective tissues in the body, causing skeletal abnormalities, and problems with the heart, eyes, and lungs. In addition to being extraordinarily tall, people with Marfan’s are often lanky, with long, slender limbs (dolichostenomelia) and fingers (arachnodactyly).


Some experts argue however that Lincoln instead had a condition called multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2, or MEN2. People with this disorder can also be unusually tall. Either way, his condition would have gone unnamed during his lifetime as Dr. Antoine Marfan, the French pediatrician who first described the condition, didn’t do so until 1896—well after President Lincoln’s untimely death.




Medical Guide to Holiday Movies


Keira Knightly stars in yet another period piece, this time portraying Leo Tolstoy’s beloved, Anna Karenina — a 19th century Russian aristocratic beauty caught in a nasty love triangle.


ENDOMETRITIS


Shortly after giving birth, Karenina experiences a high-grade fever that sends both her lovers to their knees, anticipating the worst. Puerperal fever, or endometritis as it’s now called, was known historically as “the doctor’s plague.” With no concept of germs, doctors often had no reason to wash their hands before attending to births. As such, they often precipitated such post-partum infections, giving thousands of women a simultaneous childbed and deathbed.


Other famous victims include Elizabeth of York, King Henry VIII’s mother, and his third wife, Jane Seymour. It is worth noting that, with the advent of antibiotics and modern-day hygiene, the chances of dying from a post-partum infection today are now incredibly rare.




Medical Guide to Holiday Movies


An all-star cast brings this classic tale of love and loss to the big screen this Christmas Day. And given its historical precedence, we’ll assume we’re not spoiling too much by first announcing Fantine’s death before diving into an explanation of the disease that kills her.


TUBERCULOSIS


Was there ever a more culturally documented medical affliction than consumption, or tuberculosis as it’s known medically? Perhaps not, and that’s why we see so many references to it in popular literature, music and film. Les Miserables is the latest creation to highlight the devastating effects of an infectious disease still commonly seen in third world countries.


TB is a contagious bacterial infection that attacks the lungs and less commonly, other organs. It causes fever, night sweats, weight loss, and sometimes hemetemesis—the coughing up of blood. It’s no wonder that folklore has often associated this disease with vampirism. An article in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology reports that prior to the Industrial Revolution, people interpreted the subsequent deaths of TB patients’ family members as proof that the initial victim was draining them of their lives. In other words, patient zero coughed up blood and therefore, was a vampire.


Today, some countries vaccinate against tuberculosis with a strain of the live, but weakened form of bacteria that infects cows. The vaccine works for only a limited amount of time and its efficacy is limited by geographic region. In the U.S., doctors screen only high risk populations like health care workers and recent immigrants.




Medical Guide to Holiday Movies


Bilbo Baggins returns in this prequel to Lord of the Rings, leading a group of dwarves on a riveting adventure through Middle Earth.


DWARFISM


Is it the hobbits that are really short or the elves that really tall? It’s all relative when it comes to height. If we assume however, that hobbits truly are little people, then it’s safe to say this is a generalized condition that’s associated with upwards of 200 different medical conditions. Either way, the National Institutes of Health defines a dwarf as someone of very short stature — usually under 4’10″ as an adult. Almost 70 percent of all dwarfism cases are due to a condition called achondroplasia, which is a genetic disorder affecting up to 1 in 15,000 people.


Dwarfism itself is not a disease and most little people go on to live healthy, long, and normal lives. Historical prejudice however, often led to their stigmatization as a different kind of being. During the Holocaust, the Nazis went so far as to conduct medical experiments on little people. A shocking example of this was German doctor Josef Mengele’s human zoo — a collection of different looking Jewish prisoners, including a family of dwarves called the Ovitzes.


OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER (OCD)


Greedy little Gollum exhibits the classic signs and symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder. His obsession with the One Ring is concerning for an all-consuming, socially isolating disorder that nearly 1.5 percent of Americans experience. OCD is an anxiety disorder that causes repetitive, unwanted thoughts or behaviors, often plaguing its victims on a daily basis.


Luckily for patients with OCD, there are many treatment options available. Whether or not Gollum can access these in Middle Earth is an entirely different issue.




Medical Guide to Holiday Movies


Vampires are not real… or are they?


PORPHYRIA


In 1963, an article from the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine entitled, “On Porphyria and the Aetiology of Werwolves” made the case for real life creatures of the night. The paper argued that these so-called beasts were, in fact, humans suffering from congenital prophyria. It references run-ins with these creatures by Pliny, Herodotus, and Virgil, and even offers photographic evidence of the scarring and mutilated human faces that could easily be mistaken for beast.


In 1985, biochemist David Dolphin furthered this association with his widely popularized scientific paper, “Porphyria, Vampires, and Werewolves: The Aetiology of European Metamorphosis Legends.” Not surprisingly, medical experts criticize this and other references for being both fake and promoting of an anti-porphyria stigma.


Porphyria itself is a disorder of the enzymes involved in red blood cell production. It causes neurologic complications and skin problems when affected people are exposed to light. Photosensitivity, blisters, itching, and swelling are just some of the symptoms that no doubt led to a corollary to vampirism. But if sun causes your skin to peel off, doesn’t it make sense that you’d avoid daylight?



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Pope decries slaughter of 'defenseless' Syrians


VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI wished Christmas peace to the world Tuesday, decrying the slaughter of the "defenseless" in Syria and urging Israelis and Palestinians to find the courage to negotiate.


Delivering the Vatican's traditional Christmas day message from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, Benedict also encouraged Arab spring nations, especially Egypt, to build just and respectful societies.


He prayed that China's new leaders respect religion, a reference to persecution Chinese Roman Catholics have at times endured under communism.


As the 85-year-old pontiff, bundled up in an ermine-trimmed red cape, gingerly stepped foot on the balcony, the pilgrims, tourists and Romans below backing St. Peter's Square erupted in cheers.


Less than 12 hours earlier, Benedict had led a two-hour long Christmas Eve ceremony in the basilica. He sounded hoarse and looked weary as he read his Christmas message and then holiday greetings in 65 languages.


In his "Urbi et Orbi" speech, which traditionally reviews world events and global challenges, Benedict prayed that "peace spring up for the people of Syria, deeply wounded and divided by a conflict that does not spare even the defenseless and reaps innocent victims."


He called for easier access to help refugees and for "dialogue in the pursuit of a political solution to the conflict."


Benedict prayed that God "grant Israelis and Palestinians courage to end long years of conflict and division, and to embark resolutely on the path to negotiation."


Israel, backed by the United States, opposed the Palestinian statehood bid, saying it was a ploy to bypass negotiations, something the Palestinians deny. Talks stalled four years ago.


Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said that in a meeting with the pope last week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas "emphasized our total readiness to resume negotiations." The Palestinians have not dropped their demand that Israel first stop settlement activities before returning to the negotiating table.


Hours earlier, in the ancient Bethlehem church built over the site where tradition holds Jesus was born, candles illuminated the sacred site and the joyous sound of prayer filled its overflowing halls.


Overcast skies and a cold wind in the Holy Land didn't dampen the spirits of worshippers in the biblical West Bank town. Bells pealed and long lines formed inside the fourth-century Church of the Nativity complex as Christian faithful waited to see the grotto that is Jesus' traditional birthplace.


Duncan Hardock, 24, a writer from MacLean, Va., traveled to Bethlehem from the republic of Georgia, where he had been teaching English. After passing through the separation barrier Israel built to ward off West Bank attackers, he walked to Bethlehem's Manger Square where the church stands.


"I feel we got to see both sides of Bethlehem in a really short period of time," Hardock said. "On our walk from the wall, we got to see the lonesome, closed side of Bethlehem ... But the moment we got into town, we're suddenly in the middle of the party."


Bethlehem lies 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Jerusalem. Entry to the city is controlled by Israel, which occupied the West Bank in 1967.


For those who couldn't fit into the cavernous Bethlehem church, a loudspeaker outside broadcast the Christmas day service to hundreds of faithful in the square.


Their Palestinian hosts, who welcome this holiday as the high point of their city's year, were especially joyous this season, proud of the United Nations' recognition of an independent state of Palestine just last month.


"From this holy place, I invite politicians and men of good will to work with determination for peace and reconciliation that encompasses Palestine and Israel in the midst of all the suffering in the Middle East," said the top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal in his annual address.


Back at the Vatican, Benedict offered encouragement to countries after the Arab spring of democracy protests. He had a special word for Egypt, "blessed by the childhood of Jesus."


Without citing the tumultuous politics and clashes in the region, he urged the North African region to build societies "founded on justice and respect for the dignity of every person."


Benedict prayed for the return of peace in Mali and harmony in Nigeria, where, he recalled "savage acts of terrorism continue to reap victims, particularly among Christians."


The Vatican for decades has been worried about the well-being of its flock in China, who are loyal to the pope in defiance of the communist's government support of an officially sponsored church, and relations between Beijing and the Holy See are often tense.


Speaking about China's newly installed regime leaders, Benedict expressed hope that "they will esteem the contribution of the religions, in respect for each other, in such a way that they can help to build a fraternal society for the benefit of that noble people and of the whole world."


Acknowledging Latin America's predominant Christian population, he urged government leaders to carry out commitments to development and to fighting organized crime.


In Britain, the royal family was attending Christmas Day church services at St. Mary Magdelene Church on Queen Elizabeth II's sprawling Sandringham estate, though there were a few notable absences. Prince William is spending the holiday with his pregnant wife Kate and his in-laws in the southern England village of Bucklebury, while Prince Harry is serving with British troops in Afghanistan.


Later Tuesday, the queen delivered her traditional, prerecorded Christmas message, which for the first time was broadcast in 3D.


At Canterbury cathedral, Anglican leader Rowan Williams delivered his final Christmas day sermon as archbishop of Canterbury. He acknowledged how the church's General Synod's vote against allowing women to become bishops had cost credibility and said the faithful felt a "real sense of loss" over the decision.


_____


Dalia Nammari in Bethlehem and Cassandra Vinograd in London contributed to this report.


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A huge collection of odd TV stuff needs a home






LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Comisar is the first to acknowledge that more than a few have questioned his sanity for spending the better part of 25 years collecting everything from the costume George Reeves wore in the 1950s TV show “Superman” to the entire set of “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.”


Then there’s the pointy Spock ears Leonard Nimoy wore on “Star Trek” and the guns Tony Soprano used to rub out a mob rival in an episode of “The Sopranos.”






“Along the way people thought I was nuts in general for wanting to conserve Keith Partridge’s flared pants from ‘The Partridge Family,’” the good-natured former TV writer says of the 1970s sitcom as he ambles through rows of costumes, props and what have you from the beginnings of television to the present day.


“But they really thought I needed a psychological workup,” Comisar, 48, adds with a smile, “when they learned I was having museum curators take care of these pieces.”


A museum is exactly where he wants to put all 10,000 of his TV memorabilia items, everything from the hairpiece Carl Reiner wore on the 1950s TV variety program “Your Show of Shows” to the gun and badge Kiefer Sutherland flashed on “24″ a couple TV seasons ago.


Finding one that could accommodate his collection, which fills two sprawling, temperature-controlled warehouses, however, has sometimes been as hard as acquiring the boots Larry Hagman used to stomp around in when he was J.R. on “Dallas.” (The show’s production company finally coughed up a pair after plenty of pleading and cajoling.)


Comisar is one of many people who, after a lifetime of collecting, begin to realize that if they can’t find a permanent home for their artifacts those objects could easily end up on the trash heap of history. Or, just as bad as far as he’s concerned, in the hands of private collectors.


“Some of the biggest bidders for Hollywood memorabilia right now reside in mainland China and Dubai, and our history could leave this country forever,” says Comisar, who these days works as a broker and purchasing expert for memorabilia collectors.


What began as a TV-obsessed kid’s lark morphed into a full-fledged hobby when as a young man writing jokes for Howie Mandel and Joan Rivers, and punching up scripts for such producers as Norman Lear and Fred Silverman, Comisar began scouring studio back lots, looking for discarded stuff from the favorite shows of his childhood. From there it developed into a full-on obsession, dedicated to preserving the entire physical spectrum of television history.


“After a couple years of collecting, it became clear to me,” he says, “that it didn’t much matter what TV shows James watched in the early 1970s but which shows were the most iconic. In that way, I had sort of a curator’s perspective almost from the beginning.”


In the early days, collecting such stuff was easy for anyone with access to a studio back lot. Many items were simply thrown out or given away when shows ceased production. When studios did keep things they often rented them out for small fees, and if you lost or broke them you paid a small replacement fee. So Comisar began renting stuff right and left and promptly losing it, acquiring one of Herman Munster’s jackets that way.


These days almost everything has a price, although Comisar’s reputation as a serious collector has led some people to give him their stuff.


If he simply sold it all, he could probably retire as a millionaire several times over. Just last month someone paid $ 480,000 for a faded dress Judy Garland wore in the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz.” What might Annette Funicello’s original Mickey Mouse Club jacket fetch?


He won’t even think about that.


“I’ve spent 25 years now reuniting these pieces, and I would be so sick if some day they were just broken up and sold to the highest bidder,” he says.


He, and every other serious collector of cool but somewhat oddball stuff, face two major obstacles, say museum curators: Finding a museum or university with the space to take their treasures and persuading deep-pocketed individuals who might bankroll the endeavor that there’s really any compelling reason to preserve something like Maxwell Smart’s shoephone.


“People hold television and popular culture so close to their hearts and embrace it so passionately,” says Dwight Bowers, curator of entertainment collections for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, who calls Comisar’s collection very impressive. “But they don’t put it on the same platform as military history or political history.”


When the Smithsonian acquired Archie Bunker’s chair from the seminal TV comedy “All in the Family,” Bowers said, museum officials took plenty of flak from those offended that some sitcom prop was being placed down the hallway from the nation’s presidential artifacts.


The University of California, Santa Cruz, took similar heat when it accepted the Grateful Dead archives, 30 years of recordings, videos, papers, posters and other memorabilia gifted by the band, said university archivist Nicholas Meriwether.


“What I always graciously say is that if you leave the art and the music aside for one moment, whatever you think of it, what you can say is they are still a huge part of understanding the story of the 1960s and of understanding the nation’s counterculture,” says Meriwether.


Comisar sees his television collection serving the same purpose, tracing societal changes TV shows documented from the post-World War II years to the present.


The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation looked into establishing such a museum some years back, and Comisar’s collection came up at the time, said Karen Herman, curator of the foundation’s Archive of American Television.


Instead, the foundation settled on an online archive containing more than 3,000 hours of filmed oral history interviews with more than 700 people.


While the archive doesn’t have any of Mr. Spock’s ears, anyone with a computer can view and listen to an oral history from Spock himself, the actor Leonard Nimoy.


Comisar, meanwhile, believes he’s finally found the right site for a museum, in Phoenix, where he’s been lining up supporters. He estimates it will cost $ 35 million and several years to open the doors, but hopes to have a preview center in place by next year.


Mo Stein, a prominent architect who heads the Phoenix Community Alliance and is working with him, says one of the next steps will be finding a proper space for the collection.


But, really, why all the fuss over a place to save one of the suits Regis Philbin wore on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”?


“In Shakespeare’s time, his work was considered pretty low art,” Comisar responds.


Oh, he’ll admit that “Mike and Molly,” the modern TV love story of a couple who fall for each other at Overeaters Anonymous, may never rank in the same category as “Romeo and Juliet.”


“But what about a show like ‘Star Trek’?” he asks.


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New Zealand level series thanks to Guptill century






EAST LONDON, South Africa (Reuters) – A brilliant, unbeaten century from opener Martin Guptill led New Zealand to an eight-wicket victory off the final ball against South Africa in the second T20 international on Sunday.


Chasing 169 for victory in 19 overs at Buffalo Park, Guptill helped erase the memory of Friday’s embarrassing capitulation to 86 all out in Durban with a stunning batting display as the tourists reached their target for the loss of just two wickets to level the series 1-1.






Requiring 39 from the final four overs and 11 off the last, Guptill was on 97 and needing four for victory when Rory Kleinveldt bowled the final delivery – a low full toss which was eased away through extra cover.


Guptill’s unbeaten 101 was just the third T20 international century by a New Zealander, the first two belonging to captain Brendon McCullum who was almost anonymous with 17 from 15 balls during a second-wicket partnership of 73 with Guptill.


The right-handed opener was similarly dominant during an opening stand of 76 with Rob Nicol (25) as he drove the Proteas attack impeccably straight and displayed the skills – and patience – so obviously missing from the New Zealand batsman in Durban.


Captain Faf du Plessis led from the front once again as South Africa posted a competitive 165-5 in 19 overs after losing the toss and being asked to bat first.


Du Plessis paced his innings to perfection on a tricky pitch to reach 63 from 43 balls with eight fours and a six in a match reduced to 19 overs per side following a 52-minute floodlight failure.


The deciding match takes place in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday.


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British retailers start online sales early






LONDON (Reuters) – British retailers have brought forward their Christmas clearance sales online in the hope that shoppers will log on to buy bargains and offset lackluster spending in stores.


Marks & Spencer launched its sale online at midday on Monday, it said on its website, while department store John Lewis said it would cut online prices when its stores close at 1700 GMT. Debenhams has already started its online sale.






Retailers in recent years have started sales online on Christmas Day, ahead of the clearances in stores from Boxing Day, but are increasingly launching their online offers before Christmas after delivery deadlines for the day have passed.


Hard-pressed shoppers have been leaving it later to buy presents in the hope that retailers would slash prices, the British Retail Consortium said.


It was forecasting that 5 billion pounds ($ 8.1 billion) would be spent in the shops on Saturday and Sunday combined, the last weekend before Christmas.


Richard Dodd, the BRC’s head of Media and Campaigns, said weekend trading had met expectations.


Christmas, ultimately once all the final sums are done, will turn out to be acceptable but not exceptional,” he said.


He said the sector expected a modest increase in cash spending against a year go, but not necessarily any significant increase in real terms once inflation was stripped out.


Many British families‘ budgets are stretched, according to a survey from Markit that showed the biggest deterioration in household finances for seven months.


Analyst Howard Archer at IHS Global Insight said the weakening in household finances could not come at a worse time for retailers, and it highlighted why many people appeared to have been careful in their Christmas shopping this year.


“The suspicion has to be that consumers will be especially keen to take advantage of genuine major bargains in the sales to acquire items that they cannot otherwise afford or are reluctant to make at the moment,” he said.


“However, we suspect that people will likely to be more careful in buying – or reluctant to buy – items that they don’t really want or need in the sales.”


($ 1 = 0.6180 British pounds)


(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Louise Heavens)


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Quentin Tarantino unchains America’s tormented past in “Django”






LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Twenty years after Quentin Tarantino unveiled his first film “Reservoir Dogs,” the director has turned his eye to America’s slavery history, spinning a blood-filled retribution tale in his trademark style for “Django Unchained.”


Tarantino, 49, has become synonymous with violence and dark humor, taking on the Nazis in “Inglourious Basterds” and mobsters in “Pulp Fiction.”






In “Django Unchained,” to be released in U.S. theaters on Christmas Day, he fuses a spaghetti Western cowboy action adventure with a racially charged revenge tale set in the 19th century, before the abolition of slavery in the United States.


Jamie Foxx stars as a slave whose freedom is bought by a former dentist, played by Christoph Waltz. The two set off as bounty hunters, rounding up robbers and cattle rustlers before turning their attention to brutal plantation owners in America’s Deep South.


Tarantino is well-versed in delivering violence. But the director said he faced “a lot of trepidation” about filming the slavery scenes. He has already come under fire from some critics for the frequent use in the film of the “N-word” – a racial slur directed at blacks.


The director said he was initially hesitant to ask black actors to play slaves who are shackled and whipped, and even considered filming outside of the United States.


But a dinner with veteran Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier, whom Tarantino called a “father figure,” changed his mind after Poitier urged him to not “be afraid” of his film.


“This movie is a deep, deep, deep American story, and it needed to be made by an American, and it needed to star Americans. … Lots of the movies dealing with this issue have usually had Brits playing Southerners and it creates this arm’s-distance quality,” Tarantino said.


Much of the film’s more graphic slavery scenes, such as gladiator-style fights to the death and being encased naked in a metal hot box in the heat of the Southern sun, are drawn from real accounts.


“We were shooting on hallowed ground. This was the ground of our ancestors. … Their blood was in the grass, there’s still bits of flesh embedded in the bark,” Tarantino said.


The film has received good reviews from critics and is expected to add Oscar nominations in January to its five Golden Globe nods.


With the exception of Waltz, who plays eccentric German bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz, the majority of the main players are not only American but from the South.


“It seemed sacred to us, and we couldn’t help but channel those emotions, everybody on the crew and on the set. … Those were very moving days,” Tarantino said.


‘DESPICABLE’ CHARACTERS


Tarantino reunited with Waltz, who won an Oscar in 2010 for his role as a menacing Nazi officer in “Inglourious Basterds,” and long-time collaborator Samuel L. Jackson, who plays slave housekeeper Stephen, a character who Tarantino described as “the most despicable black (character)” in movie history.


“Stephen might be frankly the most fascinating character in the whole piece, and it was important to deal with that whole upstairs-downstairs aspect of the Antebellum South,” he said.


The role that has people talking is Leonardo DiCaprio‘s first villainous turn as a racist plantation owner – a stark contrast from his Hollywood heartthrob “Titanic” days and roles as eccentric Americans in “The Aviator” and “J. Edgar.”


Asked how he felt to be the first director to make DiCaprio a villain, Tarantino laughed, saying he felt “pretty darn good about it.” He commended DiCaprio for turning into a “Southern-fried Caligula,” referring to the tyrannical ancient Roman emperor.


“I saw him as a petulant boy emperor. … He has nothing but hedonistic hobbies and vices to indulge him, and it’s almost as if he’s rotting from the inside,” Tarantino said.


The film’s female lead, Django’s wife Broomhilda played by Kerry Washington, moves away from Tarantino’s fierce screen women such as Uma Thurman in “Kill Bill” and Diane Kruger in “Inglourious Basterds.”


Tarantino said Broomhilda was meant to be the “princess in exile.” He said he was “annoyed” when he was asked by a friend why Broomhilda did not exact revenge on her abusers in the same way as Thurman’s “Kill Bill” character. The film, he said, is “Django’s story.”


“It invokes … that odyssey that Django goes on and gives the black slave narrative the romantic dimensions of great opera or great folklore tales,” Tarantino said.


(Editing by Jill Serjeant, Patricia Reaney and Will Dunham)


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South Africa’s Mandela to remain in hospital for Christmas






JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Former South African President Nelson Mandela continues to respond to treatment more than two weeks after being taken to hospital in Pretoria and will remain there for Christmas Day, the presidency said on Monday.


The 94-year-old anti-apartheid hero and Nobel Peace laureate has been treated for a lung infection and gallstones after being hospitalized on December 8.






President Jacob Zuma said in a statement that Mandela “will recover from this episode with all our support… We also humbly invite all freedom loving people around the world to pray for him.”


It will be the first Christmas that Mandela has spent away from home since 1989, when he was still in prison. He was jailed for almost three decades for his role in the struggle against white minority rule.


He was released in 1990 and went on to use his prestige to push for reconciliation between whites and blacks as the bedrock of the post-apartheid “Rainbow Nation”.


Mandela was elected South Africa‘s first black president in 1994. He stepped down five years later after one term in office and has been largely removed from public life for the last decade.


(Reporting and writing by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa and Tom Pfeiffer)


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