Minedle

A vast majority of the Golden Globe awards for TV shows has gone to new series that were just launched in 2011. Modern Family which won the award for best TV comedy series, is the only long-running show (it is in its third season) that has picked up a major gong. Homeland which has been on TV only for three months won for best drama series and best drama actress. Episodes (best comedy actor), Enlightened (best comedy actress), Boss (best drama actor), American Horror Story (best supporting actress) and Game of Thrones (best supporting actor) were all launched in 2011. Apart from Modern Family, there were no shows from the four major free-to-air US networks in the winning list – with little-seen shows on cable channels picking up almost every award. Some of these shows had a viewership of less than 1 million, showing a wide gap between popularity and critical choice.

George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has finally admitted that his economic plan for recession-riddled UK has back-fired. His focus over the last two years has been on a £6bn austerity drive that cut welfare benefits drastically, drawing the ire of the general public. The country is still suffering from falling exports, high unemployment (expected to hit 3 million by 2013) and poor GDP growth (0.2% in the last quarter). The economic conditions in the Eurozone and the US have not helped either. His statement is a complete reversal from that of last year, where he claimed UK was out of the “danger zone”. In his mini-budget, Osborne has provided for free nursery care, capped rail fares and increase in state pension age, which are all seen as measures to attempt to favour less-wealthy families who have been alienated by the austerity drive.

Apple launched the latest version of its popular mobile phone, iPhone, in stores around the world this week. The launch of the iPhone 4S was watched closely by media and techno-enthusiasts as it was the first launch after the death of Apple’s revolutionary leader, Steve Jobs. The iPhone 4S is not different from its predecessor iPhone 4 in physical appearance, but is noted for the introduction of a voice assistant, Siri. The voice assistant is capable of voice recognition and talking back. Siri is expected to revolutionize the way mobile phones are used, with more accessibility given to people who are driving (or otherwise occupying their hands) and to those with visual difficulties. The drawback is that it needs an internet connection to function. The iPhone 4S also has an improved camera system (8MP) and uses iCloud, a cloud-sourced data platform.

The 2011 Nobel Literature prize winner, Tomas Tranströmer of Sweden, is unknown to even literature connoisseurs. Tomas is an 80 year old Swedish poet who has written widely translated poems such as Windows and Stones, Baltics, and Sorrow Gondola. Although Tomas had been in consideration for the prize for over two decades, the award has been a surprise to many who has termed him “famous only in Sweden”. The award has been criticized for Eurocentricity, politicisation and a preference for obscure writers. However, several journals including the New Yorker, has hailed the win, praising the simplicity of his haikus and description of Scandinavian winters. Most of the public, however, will find this a chance to pick up new editions of his poetry collections and read up on new poetry from a hitherto unknown author.

India won the inaugural Asia Hockey Championship in Ordos, China, beating Pakistan 4-2 in the finals by a penalty shoot-out. The championship included the top six teams from the Asian Games 2010 championship where Pakistan won the men’s championship with Malaysia finishing second and India finishing third. India, though it won 8 Olympic hockey gold medals between 1928 and 1980, has more or less neglected the “national sport” for the much more popular cricket. Few television channels televised the live final match; and most spectators were tuned into the rain-affected England-India match at Lord’s, part of the India’s tour of England series in which India has lost most matches so far. Considering the recent disappointment in cricket and the win of the underdog hockey team against archrival Pakistan, there is a chance that more viewers will tune into India’s next international hockey match.

Legendary Entertainment (of Hangover, Inception fame) has partnered with a Chinese studio, Huayi, to create a $220m venture that will help increase the number of foreign movies released in China. It will also remove the limit on foreign box office takings, by countering import restrictions. Hollywood has been keen to increase the market for its movies in China, which brings in about $1.5bn (compared to $10bn of the US) in revenues and where its movies get 17% of the market. “Chollywood” is seeing immense Hollywood activity, with Walt Disney, Sony Columbia, etc. remaking several of its movies and China-based DMG financing a Bruce Willis movie. With China adding 1400 screens a year, and upto 40 IMAX screens, China is definitely building the infrastructure to support Hollywood growth. The fact that the co-produced movies need to have at least one Chinese actor and a sequence shot in China – and deal with tough censorship – does not seem to be deterring the studios, especially its global distributor, Warner.

The Standard & Poor’s rating agency has downgraded the US credit rating from AAA (where it has stood since 1917) to AA+ in early August. S&P has indicated US’s poor fiscal consolidation plan which could cause “inadequate medium-term debt stabilisation” as the reason for the downgrade. It was also called the “tea party downgrade” as the Tea Party wanted a stronger “Cut, Cap, Balance” policy to achieve $4trillion in cuts. Obama has planned for a $2.1trillion improvement of budget deficit in 10 years, where S&P believes it should have been $4trillion. However, the other two rating agencies, Fitch and Moody’s, have retained the rating of AAA although Moody’s will likely downgrade the US sovereign credit rating in a year or two. There are currently 16 countries (mostly in Western Europe) with an AAA rating, interestingly, all of which have a socialized healthcare system. The immediate impact will be on stock indices and index funds, due to the fear of a double-dip recession – but the implementation of health care reforms and reduction of unemployment figures from 9+% to at least 6+% can help US regain its debt credibility in the long term.

The London riots started as an impromptu reaction when cab driver Mark Duggan was allegedly shot dead by the police. It quickly spread as a riot to the northern, southern and eastern suburbs of London, especially those with a clear class-divide. A combination of poor economy, rising tuition fees, cuts in benefits, especially to women and children, and the lack of a community spirit, led youngsters, especially teenagers, to turn the riots into a looting spree. London, with its separate neighbourhoods for ethnic minorities like South Asians and Blacks, helped create area-focused communal violence. Five lives and £200m in damages were lost in the riots, before the riots were curbed with force and extra police deployment on the fourth day. 1047 were arrested and 584 quickly charged, but the message from the riots, that of insufficient governmental support to needy communities, has not yet been accepted by Cameron’s ministry.

A major route in the Los Angeles highway system and the busiest in the USA, 405, was closed over the weekend for repairs causing alternate transport concerns for the millions who use the route. 405 stretches from the San Fernando Valley to Beverly Hills and on to Long Beach and Irvine, connecting some important parts of the city. A 2-year work also began on the Mulholland Dr overpass, where one side of the bridge is destroyed and reconstructed, while the other is left open to traffic. The highway closure, termed “Carmageddon”, created new transport arrangements including a flight from Burbank to Long Beach by JetBlue (a distance of 29 miles), cycling and walking. The closure highlighted the lack of an accessible mass transit system in the US, unlike major cities in Europe and Asia which can possibly endure a major highway closure without disrupting lives.

Google has launched a brand-new social network, Google+, to compete with the phenomena of Facebook and Twitter. The site has already attracted attention by being banned in China and being shut down temporarily due to “insane demand”. The network is said to have several advantages including a brilliant interface, the ability to customize groups and thus privacy settings, editable conversations, video chat, etc. Though the features are plenty, the clumsy sign-up process and access only to adults may mean the service will not garner the success that Facebook has, despite Google’s mammoth success in other internet services. The launch seems like a desperate move due to Google’s previous failures in all social network attempts with Orkut, Wave and Buzz.

Spider-man is to be killed off in one of Marvel Comics’ series. The characters of Peter Parker and his alter ego Spider-man were created in 1962 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and are stars in several of Marvel’s comics series, the longest running being the Amazing Spider-man. Spider-man is to be killed off in the Ultimate Spider-man series, but he will live on in The Avengers, Spider-man Family, Spider-man Loves Mary Jane, etc. Fans are hoping he would be brought back later as with Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. The writer, Brian Bendis, has also indicated that there could be a new character who will become “Spider-man” after Peter Parker dies.

Picture courtesy: Marvel/AP

The internet domain naming group, ICANN, is all set to open up domain extensions for purchase under the gTLD (Generic Top Level Domain) program. Private organizations can pay $185,000 starting 2013 to buy a domain name extension like .gucci, .china or .world rather than the more popular .com, .org or .edu. The last time new extensions were issued, in 2000, there were very little takers for .biz, .museum, .pro or .aero. While the idea may be useful for branding, the release will raise issues of fair use with legitimate companies (or countries) possibly having to battle it out with cybersquatters who try to register domain names in bad faith. Public confusion may not help either.

Stock markets around the world have dropped after the Eurozone governments postponed the decision on giving Greece an extra €12bn to help deal with its debt crisis. The 17 eurozone finance ministers are creating a second bailout plan after the original three year bailout plan with €110bn of funding has proven inadequate. Germany has been the biggest contributor to the funds so far, but it has been pushing for “substantial” private investment or an EU emergency bailout fund contributed by all countries in the EU. The austerity measures undertaken by Greece has proven ineffective and if the economy collapses, the future of the Euro will be at stake.

Rory McIlroy, a 22-year old golfer from N. Ireland, has become the youngest winner of the US Open, at the Congressional Country Club, Maryland. The winning score of 268, 16 under par, is a record for the event that has been staged 111 times. He achieved an eight shot victory over Australian Jason Day. McIlroy started his professional career at the age of 18 and entered the Top 200 World Golf Rankingsat the age of 19. Rory is widely seen as a successor to Tiger Woods, who still holds the record for the margin over the second-place finisher, as long as he can handle the pressure and the increased expectations from a major championship win.