LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Jennifer Lawrence earned an Oscar nomination for playing a tough young woman in a gritty drug drama, but as she becomes a role model to young girls in her latest film "The Hunger Games," the actress wants to clean up her act.
Lawrence, 21, is no stranger to Hollywood after being thrust into the spotlight with a breakout performance in 2010 indie hit "Winter's Bone," which yielded the young star rave reviews and an Oscar nod for best actress.
She went on to play Mystique in 2011's "X-Men: First Class," expanding her fan base into a mainstream comic book film, and her latest role as Katniss Everdeen, the lead in "The Hunger Games," will likely send her fame skyrocketing even more. In fact, as the movie heads to theaters on Friday, it already has.
"I'm now a role model for young girls, so my language has to change a lot," Lawrence joked with reporters recently.
"I know that would change a lot of decisions work-wise personally ... as far as my next roles, because there would be young girls watching what I'm doing and emulating."
"The Hunger Games," based on the first book of a best-selling science-fiction series from author Suzanne Collins, sees 24 children sent to fight to the death in an annual televised event watched by the nation of Panem, a futuristic America.
When Katniss' younger sister is picked to participate, which would lead to certain death, Katniss volunteers in her place, thus beginning a series of events in which she rebels against Panem officials and becomes a beacon of hope for the oppressed.
Coming to the role of lead heroine Katniss Everdeen as a fan of the books herself, Lawrence knew her performance would be scrutinized, and her challenge was finding a fine balance in making the role her own while staying true to Collins' creation.
"I wish that I was much more like (Katniss) than I actually am. I think the hardest part about her was that in the books, she doesn't know how to get people to like her ... at the same time, you don't want to watch somebody for two hours that you don't like," explained Lawrence.
WINNING THE "GAMES"
The decision to cast Lawrence as Katniss came as an easy one for director Gary Ross, who drew parallels between the young actress and the 16-year-old book and movie heroine.
"She's brave, strong, self-confident, she knows who she is ... she's very clear, there isn't a great filter. Jen will kind of say anything, all of which can describe Katniss," said Ross, who called Lawrence's talent "unique in her generation."
The "Hunger Games" sees Lawrence put in several different situations as Katniss. She grows up in the desolate woodlands around her home, travels to the excessively opulent capital of Panem, and fights for survival in the Games arena.
To get into the physical shape of Katniss, who has spent her life hunting with a bow and arrow in the wilderness, Lawrence began free-running, combat training, climbing, doing yoga and most importantly, archery.
"It was exhausting, especially toward the end when we had six-day weeks for a month ... the adrenaline is real, the screaming I volunteer in fighting. Afterward, your heart's still pumping," said the actress.
Lawrence found herself developing different relationships for her character Katniss, including her friendship with Liam Hemsworth's Gale, romance with Josh Hutcherson's Peeta and finding a mentor figure in Woody Harrelson's Haymitch, which she found particularly interesting.
"(Katniss) was always very hard on Haymitch and making fun of him but I love Woody so much that it almost didn't come across that way, and there were some scenes where we ended up finishing each other's sentences and laughing together, so she kind of softens Haymitch a little sooner," said the actress.
Lawrence's co-stars shared anecdotes of the actress' quirky humor off-screen and her captivating on-screen talent.
"She's extremely funny, not what you'd exactly expect when you think about an Academy award-nominated actress. She just says whatever pops into her mind, and you've got to ... be ready to field whatever she throws at you next,"cheap nike shox for boys
said Hutcherson.
For Lawrence, fame has brought the responsibility of being a role model, and it has also come with perks. The young actress said she finally nike ladies tennis clothes
realized she had made it when a roller coaster in Mexico was turned on just for her at an amusement park.
"Walking down the red carpet at the Oscars was incredible andnike clearance store online
unbelievable, but it wasn't until I was sitting on a Batman roller coaster at Six Flags ... that I realized I really have a blessed life," she said.
(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy)
2012年3月22日星期四
Adam Levine eyeing 'American Horror Story' role
LOS ANGELES, March 20 (TheWrap.com) - Adam Levinenike mercurial talaria v fg soccer cleats
could be adding "actor on 'American Horror Story'" to his ever-expanding resume soon.
The Maroon 5 frontman and coach on NBC's hit singing competition "The Voice" is in talks to make his acting debut in the upcoming second season of FX's "American Horror Story," an individual with knowledge of the negotiations confirms to TheWrap.
According to EW.com, the singer will play one half of a couple called "The Lovers."
Though details on the second season of cheap womens nike air max 2009
Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk's FX drama are sparse, Levine will join a cast that includes returning actors Zachary Quinto, Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe and Evan Peters.
The actors will be playing different characters thannike discontinued running shoes
they portrayed on the first season, however; Murphy revealed last year that each season of the series "will feature a different haunting."
(Editing By Zorianna Kit)
could be adding "actor on 'American Horror Story'" to his ever-expanding resume soon.
The Maroon 5 frontman and coach on NBC's hit singing competition "The Voice" is in talks to make his acting debut in the upcoming second season of FX's "American Horror Story," an individual with knowledge of the negotiations confirms to TheWrap.
According to EW.com, the singer will play one half of a couple called "The Lovers."
Though details on the second season of cheap womens nike air max 2009
Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk's FX drama are sparse, Levine will join a cast that includes returning actors Zachary Quinto, Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe and Evan Peters.
The actors will be playing different characters thannike discontinued running shoes
they portrayed on the first season, however; Murphy revealed last year that each season of the series "will feature a different haunting."
(Editing By Zorianna Kit)
Can Katie Couric claim Oprah's old daytime crown?
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Ten months after Oprah Winfrey signed off her long-running syndicated daytime talk show, the TV industry is still trying to fill the vacuum.
There is no shortage of contenders - or showsnike outdoor soccer shoes
- trying to reclaim the daytime talk show crown from Winfrey, who has her hands full running her OWN network. But it's not easy to dominate daytime programming in this day of splintered media outlets, any more than it is to launch a new network.
Just ask Winfrey: On Monday, she laid off 30 staffers after cancelling Rosie O'Donnell's talk show on Friday.
All eyes are now on Katie Couric, who launches "Katie" in the fall, to see if she will have more luck than CNN star anchor Anderson Cooper in the daytime talk show arena. She is one of several contenders to launch next season, including "Survivor" host Jeff Probst, "Family Feud" host Steve Harvey and talk-show vet Ricki Lake.
"Katie Couric will probably do better -- I think she's a little more versatile, and she's well-known," Brad Adgate, Senior VP Research at Horizon Media, told TheWrap.
He also suggests that Couric might have an additional initial edge as the 2012 election season kicks into high gear, given her six-year run as "CBS Evening News" anchor and "The Today Show" before that.
Although, he noted, Couric's fellow former "Today Show" host Jane Pauley didn't last long with "The Jane Pauley Show," her bid for daytime talk glory.
As the ghosts of talk show hosts past can attest, it's not easy to succeed - regardless of the time of day. Programmers are increasingly gravitating towards daytime talk shows because they're cheaper to produce than soap operas or other scripted fare. The right host, or mix of hosts, can cut through the media noise.
"It's not an expensive proposition -- it's relatively inexpensive to produce, and I don't think that's going to go away," Adgate said.
Even so, with the pie being split so many ways, it's going to be tough for any one particular talk show to dominate the way "Oprah" did in her 25 year run -- or even come close to that.
Women 25-54, a key demo for daytime talk, continue to work outside the home. And those women who do stay home are likely to be of the "helicopter parents" variety, who "are more interested in monitoring what their children are watching" than developing their own viewing loyalties, Adgate said.
ABC replaced two soap operas with talk shows the past year: Culinary-oriented talker "The Chew" bowed in September as a replacement for the axed "All My Children." "The Revolution," featuring "Project Runway" guru Tim Gunn, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" dream-fulfiller Ty Pennington and celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak, replaced axed soap "One Life to Live" in January.
Already, there are signs of oversaturation.
Cooper's syndicated daytime show "Anderson" debuted in September and has never really gotten any traction. His show averaged a little under 2 million viewers for the week of February 20 - 26, the most recent ratings available. His co-executive producer Jim Murphy departed in late January, apparently to return to the news side.
A fall 2012 launch for a syndicated series starring "Real Housewives" Bethenny Frankel was kiboshed after it became apparent that Frankel would be entering a very competitive field. (The show will now receive a six-week trial run this summer on Fox TV stations.) And in December, Sony Pictures Television and Harpo Studios decided to put "The Nate Berkus Show" out of its misery after its second season of ho-hum numbers.
O'Donnell, a successful daytime host in the 1990s, couldn't make a go of it during her short stint on OWN. It may not have helped that she was on in the early evening rather than in daytime, but in this fractured media universe, all bets are off.
New daytime talk shows must also vie with standbys "The View," "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and the newly christened "Live! With Kelly" and CBS's relatively recent entry "The Talk."
The upcoming slew of new talk-show hosts are, relatively speaking, safe bets, consisting of faces and names who've already connected with television audiences.
"These people are all well-known; these are all personalities that viewers know," Adgate said.
Couric has promised "smart conversation" in "Katie," which debuts September 10. She said stories will run the gamut from serious to "fun, popular culture stories."
The show will be executive produced by former NBCUniversal president Jeff Zucker, a fellow "Today Show" alum.
20th Television, which is producing Lake's offering, is banking on her familiarity with audiences. Paul Franklin, executive vice president and general sales manager, broadcast of 20th Television told TheWrap that she's "already presold to the marketplace."
"Ricki is the women's girlfriend, if you will," he said. "They've got their girlfriend back."
Franklin contends that daytime is basically up for grabs. "Oprah is gone, Regis is retired," he said. "Daytime is going through a metamorphosis."
"I think it helps, too, that the soap operas are going away," Franklin added. "The soap operas have been on for 40, 50 years and people are saying, 'What are we going to watch now?'"
He's not harboring any illusions that Lake is poised to take over Winfrey's former massive audience.
"It's hard to say there will ever be another Oprah," Franklin said.
Adgate doesn't think anyone can capture Winfrey's former ratings at this point.
"I don't think that's a reasonable expectation. I think that these shows are going to face a lot of stiff competition," Adgate said. "If you can get three million viewers, that's a hit."
John Nogawski, president of CBS Television Distribution, argues that all the changes in daytime have cleared the way for Probst's new show, which his company is distributing.
"There were a number of changes in the marketplace from Oprah's departure to some lower-rated shows which we anticipated would be canceled, so we knew stations would have holes to fill in their schedules," Nogawski told TheWrap. "That makes it a good time to strike."
He points out that, "whether it's primetime, cable or daytime, there's always competition, so when the right idea and personality presentdesign your own nike air forces
themselves like they did with Jeff, then we seize the opportunity."
He argues that "The Survivor" host will bring a different perspective to the daytime audience than current hosts. Nor does he accept that the audience for daytime talk is in danger of dwindling.
"We certainly don't think so or else we wouldn't bebuy nike air bakin
launching a new show," he told TheWrap. "If it's the right show with the right host, the audience will come."
And if not? Perhaps a moment of silence will be in order.
There is no shortage of contenders - or showsnike outdoor soccer shoes
- trying to reclaim the daytime talk show crown from Winfrey, who has her hands full running her OWN network. But it's not easy to dominate daytime programming in this day of splintered media outlets, any more than it is to launch a new network.
Just ask Winfrey: On Monday, she laid off 30 staffers after cancelling Rosie O'Donnell's talk show on Friday.
All eyes are now on Katie Couric, who launches "Katie" in the fall, to see if she will have more luck than CNN star anchor Anderson Cooper in the daytime talk show arena. She is one of several contenders to launch next season, including "Survivor" host Jeff Probst, "Family Feud" host Steve Harvey and talk-show vet Ricki Lake.
"Katie Couric will probably do better -- I think she's a little more versatile, and she's well-known," Brad Adgate, Senior VP Research at Horizon Media, told TheWrap.
He also suggests that Couric might have an additional initial edge as the 2012 election season kicks into high gear, given her six-year run as "CBS Evening News" anchor and "The Today Show" before that.
Although, he noted, Couric's fellow former "Today Show" host Jane Pauley didn't last long with "The Jane Pauley Show," her bid for daytime talk glory.
As the ghosts of talk show hosts past can attest, it's not easy to succeed - regardless of the time of day. Programmers are increasingly gravitating towards daytime talk shows because they're cheaper to produce than soap operas or other scripted fare. The right host, or mix of hosts, can cut through the media noise.
"It's not an expensive proposition -- it's relatively inexpensive to produce, and I don't think that's going to go away," Adgate said.
Even so, with the pie being split so many ways, it's going to be tough for any one particular talk show to dominate the way "Oprah" did in her 25 year run -- or even come close to that.
Women 25-54, a key demo for daytime talk, continue to work outside the home. And those women who do stay home are likely to be of the "helicopter parents" variety, who "are more interested in monitoring what their children are watching" than developing their own viewing loyalties, Adgate said.
ABC replaced two soap operas with talk shows the past year: Culinary-oriented talker "The Chew" bowed in September as a replacement for the axed "All My Children." "The Revolution," featuring "Project Runway" guru Tim Gunn, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" dream-fulfiller Ty Pennington and celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak, replaced axed soap "One Life to Live" in January.
Already, there are signs of oversaturation.
Cooper's syndicated daytime show "Anderson" debuted in September and has never really gotten any traction. His show averaged a little under 2 million viewers for the week of February 20 - 26, the most recent ratings available. His co-executive producer Jim Murphy departed in late January, apparently to return to the news side.
A fall 2012 launch for a syndicated series starring "Real Housewives" Bethenny Frankel was kiboshed after it became apparent that Frankel would be entering a very competitive field. (The show will now receive a six-week trial run this summer on Fox TV stations.) And in December, Sony Pictures Television and Harpo Studios decided to put "The Nate Berkus Show" out of its misery after its second season of ho-hum numbers.
O'Donnell, a successful daytime host in the 1990s, couldn't make a go of it during her short stint on OWN. It may not have helped that she was on in the early evening rather than in daytime, but in this fractured media universe, all bets are off.
New daytime talk shows must also vie with standbys "The View," "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and the newly christened "Live! With Kelly" and CBS's relatively recent entry "The Talk."
The upcoming slew of new talk-show hosts are, relatively speaking, safe bets, consisting of faces and names who've already connected with television audiences.
"These people are all well-known; these are all personalities that viewers know," Adgate said.
Couric has promised "smart conversation" in "Katie," which debuts September 10. She said stories will run the gamut from serious to "fun, popular culture stories."
The show will be executive produced by former NBCUniversal president Jeff Zucker, a fellow "Today Show" alum.
20th Television, which is producing Lake's offering, is banking on her familiarity with audiences. Paul Franklin, executive vice president and general sales manager, broadcast of 20th Television told TheWrap that she's "already presold to the marketplace."
"Ricki is the women's girlfriend, if you will," he said. "They've got their girlfriend back."
Franklin contends that daytime is basically up for grabs. "Oprah is gone, Regis is retired," he said. "Daytime is going through a metamorphosis."
"I think it helps, too, that the soap operas are going away," Franklin added. "The soap operas have been on for 40, 50 years and people are saying, 'What are we going to watch now?'"
He's not harboring any illusions that Lake is poised to take over Winfrey's former massive audience.
"It's hard to say there will ever be another Oprah," Franklin said.
Adgate doesn't think anyone can capture Winfrey's former ratings at this point.
"I don't think that's a reasonable expectation. I think that these shows are going to face a lot of stiff competition," Adgate said. "If you can get three million viewers, that's a hit."
John Nogawski, president of CBS Television Distribution, argues that all the changes in daytime have cleared the way for Probst's new show, which his company is distributing.
"There were a number of changes in the marketplace from Oprah's departure to some lower-rated shows which we anticipated would be canceled, so we knew stations would have holes to fill in their schedules," Nogawski told TheWrap. "That makes it a good time to strike."
He points out that, "whether it's primetime, cable or daytime, there's always competition, so when the right idea and personality presentdesign your own nike air forces
themselves like they did with Jeff, then we seize the opportunity."
He argues that "The Survivor" host will bring a different perspective to the daytime audience than current hosts. Nor does he accept that the audience for daytime talk is in danger of dwindling.
"We certainly don't think so or else we wouldn't bebuy nike air bakin
launching a new show," he told TheWrap. "If it's the right show with the right host, the audience will come."
And if not? Perhaps a moment of silence will be in order.
2012年3月15日星期四
EX-AIG bigwig Joseph Cassano breaks silence to federal panel
The much-maligned former head of the American International Group unit which drove the insurer to the brink of collapse, broke a long silence on Wednesday to defend his aggressive buildup of risky mortgage-linked securities.
Joseph Cassano, the ex-chief of AIG's Financial Products division that precipitated a $182 billion bailout pledge from taxpayers, told a congressionally appointed panel he stood by a 2007 proclamation that the insurer would not lose even a dollar on a portfolio that included subprime mortgages.
"I meant exactly what I said in August 2007," Cassano said in prepared testimony for a hearing by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.
"I did not expect actual, economic losses on the portfolio. That said, I was truthful at all times about the unrealized accounting losses and did my very best to estimate them accurately."
The commission is holding two days of hearings into the role of derivatives in the financial crisis, with witnesses that include current and former executives from AIG and Goldman Sachs.
The hearing provides Cassano, against whom federal probes were recently dropped, with an opportunity to defend himself publicly. It also allows Goldman a forum to again reject criticism that it bet against clients and received a backdoor bailout as part of the government's rescue of AIG.
The 10-member commission, headed by former California State Treasurer Phil Angelides, is due to issue a report by December 15 detailing the causes of financial crisis, but is not expected produce detailed reform recommendations.
STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIP
Angelides said the commission will explore the Goldman-AIG connection -- "a multi-billion dollar strategic relationship."
"We'll examine how the two financial giants struggled over derivatives in the fateful weeks and months leading up to the financial crisis and whether their fight fueled this crisis," Angelides said during his opening remarks.
Goldman was among U.S. and European banks that had purchased credit default protection from AIG and were quickly made whole after the U.S. government bailed out AIG, beginning in September of 2008.
AIG said in March, 2009, that $93 billion had been paid to banks, including $12.9 billion to Goldman Sachs, which was the most received by any bank.
Cassano's scheduled testimony was a rare event, having evaded public appearances since leaving the bailed-out insurer in February of 2008, albeit on a $1 million-a-month consulting contract.
The son of a Brooklyn policeman, Cassano has been the subject of criminal and civil investigations in the United States and abroad, but recently had the specter of prosecution lifted when the U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission ended their investigations against him and other AIG executives.
Cassano and AIG Chief Risk Officer Robert Lewis said in their written testimony that they believed the collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) -- the loan portfolios linked to the credit default swaps -- were relatively conservative and could have recovered with time.
Lewis said the deteriorating financial environment triggered collateral calls that depleted AIG's liquidity and the federal government stepped in.
"What ended up happening was so extreme that it was beyond anything we had planned for," he said.
Goldman President Gary Cohn offered no apology for his firm making those collateral calls and said considerable shareholder money was spent to insure against the risk that AIG would not pay Goldman in the event of a default
"While every market participant benefited from the government's actions, we took our own steps, from the very beginning, to protect our shareholders," Cohn said in his written testimony.
GOLDMAN UNDER FIRE
Goldman has found itself under fire stemming from its own marketing and packaging of derivative products.
On April 16, the SEbuy nike running shoes online
C charged Goldman with civil fraud relating to investor disclosures for the Abacus collateralized debt obligation, an investment product linked to the performance of a group of mortgages.
Critics have also charged that Goldman bet against some of its clients' views of the mortgage market.
Cohn told the crisis panel that Goldman has combed through its underwriting of mortgage-backed securities and CDOs from December 2006 on, and found it had only sought protection against a tiny slice of those securities by the end of June, 2007.
Cassano said during his tenure there were disagreements with counterparties relating to collateral calls that customize your nike dunks
his unit fought using contractual defenses and market analysis. But eventually the firm's auditors disallowed a key part of the method his unit used to determine fair value of its portfolio.
Cassano also said he tried to convince AIG management to take a "handshake agreement" that would have only paid him if the financbuy nike air force ones online
ial product unit's accounting losses reversed, but that management rejected the proposal.
Cassano said he suggested the AIG bonus program that in 2009 paid out $165 million to employees in its financial products unit "keeping our employees together during this critical time," but sparking public outrage.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/money/ex-aig-bigwig-joseph-cassano-breaks-silence-federal-panel-article-1.185283#ixzz1pAvfJgvK
Joseph Cassano, the ex-chief of AIG's Financial Products division that precipitated a $182 billion bailout pledge from taxpayers, told a congressionally appointed panel he stood by a 2007 proclamation that the insurer would not lose even a dollar on a portfolio that included subprime mortgages.
"I meant exactly what I said in August 2007," Cassano said in prepared testimony for a hearing by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.
"I did not expect actual, economic losses on the portfolio. That said, I was truthful at all times about the unrealized accounting losses and did my very best to estimate them accurately."
The commission is holding two days of hearings into the role of derivatives in the financial crisis, with witnesses that include current and former executives from AIG and Goldman Sachs.
The hearing provides Cassano, against whom federal probes were recently dropped, with an opportunity to defend himself publicly. It also allows Goldman a forum to again reject criticism that it bet against clients and received a backdoor bailout as part of the government's rescue of AIG.
The 10-member commission, headed by former California State Treasurer Phil Angelides, is due to issue a report by December 15 detailing the causes of financial crisis, but is not expected produce detailed reform recommendations.
STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIP
Angelides said the commission will explore the Goldman-AIG connection -- "a multi-billion dollar strategic relationship."
"We'll examine how the two financial giants struggled over derivatives in the fateful weeks and months leading up to the financial crisis and whether their fight fueled this crisis," Angelides said during his opening remarks.
Goldman was among U.S. and European banks that had purchased credit default protection from AIG and were quickly made whole after the U.S. government bailed out AIG, beginning in September of 2008.
AIG said in March, 2009, that $93 billion had been paid to banks, including $12.9 billion to Goldman Sachs, which was the most received by any bank.
Cassano's scheduled testimony was a rare event, having evaded public appearances since leaving the bailed-out insurer in February of 2008, albeit on a $1 million-a-month consulting contract.
The son of a Brooklyn policeman, Cassano has been the subject of criminal and civil investigations in the United States and abroad, but recently had the specter of prosecution lifted when the U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission ended their investigations against him and other AIG executives.
Cassano and AIG Chief Risk Officer Robert Lewis said in their written testimony that they believed the collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) -- the loan portfolios linked to the credit default swaps -- were relatively conservative and could have recovered with time.
Lewis said the deteriorating financial environment triggered collateral calls that depleted AIG's liquidity and the federal government stepped in.
"What ended up happening was so extreme that it was beyond anything we had planned for," he said.
Goldman President Gary Cohn offered no apology for his firm making those collateral calls and said considerable shareholder money was spent to insure against the risk that AIG would not pay Goldman in the event of a default
"While every market participant benefited from the government's actions, we took our own steps, from the very beginning, to protect our shareholders," Cohn said in his written testimony.
GOLDMAN UNDER FIRE
Goldman has found itself under fire stemming from its own marketing and packaging of derivative products.
On April 16, the SEbuy nike running shoes online
C charged Goldman with civil fraud relating to investor disclosures for the Abacus collateralized debt obligation, an investment product linked to the performance of a group of mortgages.
Critics have also charged that Goldman bet against some of its clients' views of the mortgage market.
Cohn told the crisis panel that Goldman has combed through its underwriting of mortgage-backed securities and CDOs from December 2006 on, and found it had only sought protection against a tiny slice of those securities by the end of June, 2007.
Cassano said during his tenure there were disagreements with counterparties relating to collateral calls that customize your nike dunks
his unit fought using contractual defenses and market analysis. But eventually the firm's auditors disallowed a key part of the method his unit used to determine fair value of its portfolio.
Cassano also said he tried to convince AIG management to take a "handshake agreement" that would have only paid him if the financbuy nike air force ones online
ial product unit's accounting losses reversed, but that management rejected the proposal.
Cassano said he suggested the AIG bonus program that in 2009 paid out $165 million to employees in its financial products unit "keeping our employees together during this critical time," but sparking public outrage.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/money/ex-aig-bigwig-joseph-cassano-breaks-silence-federal-panel-article-1.185283#ixzz1pAvfJgvK
Goldman Sachs exec Greg Smith blasts company in Op-Ed: Bankers called clients ‘muppets,’ bank has lost its ‘moral fiber’
NEW YORK -- An executive resigning from Goldman Sachs, the powerful investment bank, said in a blistering essay that the company had lost its "moral fiber" and said managing directors there referred to clients as "muppets."
Greg Smith, an executive director at Goldman, said the company needs to "weed out the morally bankrupt people" and suggested the erosion of Goldman's culture threatened its survival after 143 years.
Smith wrote that he attended sales meetings in which helping clients make money was not part of the discussion.
"If you were an alien from Mars and sat in on one of these meetings, you would believe that a client's success or progress was not part of the thought process at all," he wrote.
The essay was published Wednesday on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times. It quickly became popular online and was among the topics "trending" on Twitter, the social network.
In a statement, Goldman Sachs said it disagreed with Smith's assessment.
"In our view, we will only discount nike running shorts
be successful if our clients are successful," the statement said. "This fundamental truth lies at the heart of how we conduct ourselves."
Goldman declined to say whether it knew about the essay before it was published.
Goldman is one of the most influential companies on Wall Street and has been called the New York Yankees of finance. Its alumni have advised presidents and run other major companies.
Among its former CEOs are Henry Paulson, who left the company to join the administration of George W. Bush and pushed for the $700 billion bank bailout during the 2008 financial crisis, and Jon Corzine, the former governor of New Jersey.
Smith wrote that there are easy paths to becoming a leader at Goldman, including persuading clients to invest in products the company wants to get rid or will bring the most profit to Goldman.
Another way, he said,buy nike trainers online
is to "find yourself sitting in a seat where your job is to trade any illiquid, opaque product with a three-letter acronym."
Smith was identified by the Times as head of the company's United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle Eall black womens nike shox
ast and Africa.
Greg Smith, an executive director at Goldman, said the company needs to "weed out the morally bankrupt people" and suggested the erosion of Goldman's culture threatened its survival after 143 years.
Smith wrote that he attended sales meetings in which helping clients make money was not part of the discussion.
"If you were an alien from Mars and sat in on one of these meetings, you would believe that a client's success or progress was not part of the thought process at all," he wrote.
The essay was published Wednesday on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times. It quickly became popular online and was among the topics "trending" on Twitter, the social network.
In a statement, Goldman Sachs said it disagreed with Smith's assessment.
"In our view, we will only discount nike running shorts
be successful if our clients are successful," the statement said. "This fundamental truth lies at the heart of how we conduct ourselves."
Goldman declined to say whether it knew about the essay before it was published.
Goldman is one of the most influential companies on Wall Street and has been called the New York Yankees of finance. Its alumni have advised presidents and run other major companies.
Among its former CEOs are Henry Paulson, who left the company to join the administration of George W. Bush and pushed for the $700 billion bank bailout during the 2008 financial crisis, and Jon Corzine, the former governor of New Jersey.
Smith wrote that there are easy paths to becoming a leader at Goldman, including persuading clients to invest in products the company wants to get rid or will bring the most profit to Goldman.
Another way, he said,buy nike trainers online
is to "find yourself sitting in a seat where your job is to trade any illiquid, opaque product with a three-letter acronym."
Smith was identified by the Times as head of the company's United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle Eall black womens nike shox
ast and Africa.
2012年1月31日星期二
Fast food chains eliminate pink slime - WAVY-TV
Fast food chains eliminate pink slime
WAVY-TV
(WAVY) - McDonald's and other fast food chains have stopped using what's been called "pink slime" in hamburgers and other products. Since a picture of the product leaked online, the ground beef additive has been called pink slime.
Caution: Your Food May Have Pink Slime in ItGather.com
McDonald's 'Pink Slime': Fast Food Chains Drop Additive from MeatInternational Business Times
Sara Prochaska talks about ammonium hydroxide food additiveKSDK
CultureMap Houston -abc7.com -Food and Drink Digital
WAVY-TV
(WAVY) - McDonald's and other fast food chains have stopped using what's been called "pink slime" in hamburgers and other products. Since a picture of the product leaked online, the ground beef additive has been called pink slime.
Caution: Your Food May Have Pink Slime in ItGather.com
McDonald's 'Pink Slime': Fast Food Chains Drop Additive from MeatInternational Business Times
Sara Prochaska talks about ammonium hydroxide food additiveKSDK
CultureMap Houston -abc7.com -Food and Drink Digital
2011年11月21日星期一
Iran ready to increase cooperation if IAEA readjusts attitude
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has said that Iran is ready to increase cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency if it readjusts its attitude toward Tehran.
Salehi, who was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting on Sunday, dismissed as “ineffective” the documents that IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano released on November 8, in which he said that Iran appears to have worked on designing an atomic bomb.
According to the regulations, the IAEA is not allowed “to release documents against a country,” and such a thing is unprecedented in the history of the agency, he stated, according to Aftab News.
The agency made a mistake when it published documents that lack authenticity, Salehi said, adding, “The agency’s chief did so under pressure from Western governments, and he will realize his mistake in the future.”
“However, our efforts are to maintain our good relations with Amano. We view the agency as the only legal authority in regard to the nuclear activities of the member states and do not want damage to be done to its reputation. The disrepute of the agency will create a vacuum in regard to non-proliferation and will put it in danger. Our efforts are (aimed at) safeguarding the credibility of the agency. We hope that Mr. Amano will appreciate this very goodwill of Iran and the fact that Iran, despite all the pressures and injustices, is making efforts so that the agency’s reputation is not sullied,” he added.
The Iranian foreign minister also said, “In future, we will see that the agency will modify its approach toward Iran, and it will have no other option. And we are ready to cooperate with the agency more than before on condition that the agency readjusts its attitude and acts according to the statute and safeguards agreement. In this case, we are ready to continue our cooperation as before or even increase our cooperation.”
Elsewhere in his remarks, Salehi commented on the anti-Iran resolution that the IAEA Board of Governors adopted on November 18.
“The adoption of the resolution was futile… The Non-Aligned Movement’s statement and the stances that certain major countries of the world adopted also put into question the agency’s report. This occurred. We regard this as a gesture of good faith until the agency corrects its behavior and adopts a fair and impartial attitude toward its members,” he said in conclusion.
NAM issued a statement on November 18 expressing support for Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities.
A number of international officials, including Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin, and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, have also called for the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program to be resolved through diplomatic channels.
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