Sony's entry in the crowded animation field this holiday season is Planet 51, a perky though not terribly imaginative feature aimed primarily at youngsters. Created by a Spanish company, Ilion Animation Studios, this digital cartoon is a jokey reimagining of 1950s science-fiction flicks where Earth faced extinction by alien space invaders seemingly on a monthly basis. The twist in this movie is that it has an alien planet terrified of…a human astronaut.

Kids will enjoy the swift action and slapstick gags, and adult minders can chuckle at a few more suggestive jokes, so the film should enjoy a solid opening before Thanksgiving. After that, Disney's The Princess and the Frog hits theatres, so Planet 51's box office could suffer a steep drop-off.

The cartoon's planet is populated with little green people that have antennas, four-fingered hands and webbed feet. Their thinking and culture is pure ’50s, including the music, comic books and movies that exploit a fear of monsters and aliens. They even know to call these creatures from outer space "humanoids." Then one arrives.

Chuck (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) isn't particularly bright—his spacecraft is run by autopilot—but he certainly is friendly. Yet the green people see an "ugly" monster in a space suit, so they flee in terror. Only Lem (Justin Long), a model student and aspiring astronomer, can see his friendly side. Soon he, his pal Skiff (Seann William Scott) and his not-quite-girlfriend Neera (Jessica Biel) must hide Chuck from the likes of gruff General Grawl (Gary Oldman) and crackpot Professor Kipple (who else—John Cleese), a scientist who wants to perform a brain extraction on every strange creature he encounters.

There are chases and comical misunderstandings that extend this single-note idea for 90 minutes. When in doubt, the film cuts to Chuck's robot companion, "Rover," a doglike machine that collects every rock it finds.

Director Jorge Blanco and writer Joe Stillman not only don't mind if you associate their derivative images and ideas with other movies, they encourage it. The film references E.T. and Close Encounters, plays "Singin' in the Rain" on the soundtrack and makes certain that Rover and several music cues remind you of Star Wars.

So Planet 51 is Sci-Fi Lite, running through the clichés—no, let's make that the memories—of old sci-fi classics with gentle jokes and cornball battles. It doesn't measure up to what's best in current animation—say, Coraline, Up, Fantastic Mr. Fox or A Town Called Panic, to name a few other films the Academy recently announced as eligible for this year's animation nomination. Those films demonstrate you can make animation that entertains the entire family. Planet 51 is not that ambitious.

By Kirk Honeycutt

Hoping to catch lightning in a bottle (or the ghost in the machine), Paramount Pictures has been treading carefully with its release of "Paranormal Activity," a pickup from Slamdance 2008 whose ridiculously low budget of $15,000 and cinema-verite approach to the supernatural evoke that ultimate sleeper success, "The Blair Witch Project." The movie's utter lack of production value has mandated an unconventional word-of-mouth strategy that incorporates midnight debut screenings in 13 college towns and a website competition to determine which parts of the country will get it next.

It's a smart move, since much of "Paranormal" is as exciting as the outtakes from a particularly dull episode of "Big Brother." Careful handling is a must for the picture to capitalize on its strength -- an incremental sense of dread that leads to some genuine jolts in the final half-hour. Those shocks should generate an avid cult following, but writer-director Oren Peli's housebound horror tale is unlikely to cast a massive boxoffice spell like the "Blair Witch" phenomenon.

The setup is as elemental as can be. Young middle-class San Diego couple Micah (Micah Sloat) and Katie (Katie Featherston) are being spooked by strange noises in their new home. Eager for answers, Micah decides to set up night-vision camera equipment in their bedroom, in addition to his own roving camcorder. (As in "Blair Witch," all the action is purportedly found footage from this amateur shoot.)

We soon learn that Katie has a history of otherworldly encounters, dating to a tragic incident from her childhood. The couple calls in an ineffectual psychic, and Micah tempts the spirit world with an Ouija board, but their after-dark visitations just get louder and more terrifying, culminating in one particularly momentous night.

The most effective sequences stem from the time-coded bedroom surveillance footage (always speeded up to the moments when doors open by themselves and shadows climb the walls). The banality of the couple's day-to-day existence when they're not hearing unwelcome guests enhances the sense of realism, but it can be awfully trying for viewers who just want to get to the good stuff already.

Sloat and Featherston have a laid-back naturalism that serves the premise well. Sloat is just smug enough that we kind of welcome the hell that awaits him.

"Paranormal" ultimately does deliver in a way that "Blair Witch" never did, but its achingly slow buildup is a test not just of an audience's patience but the power of hype surrounding the latest alternative scary movie.

By Kevin Lally

A first edition of Charles Darwin's seminal "On the Origin of Species" will be sold this week after it was found in a family's toilet in southern Britain, an auction house said Sunday.

The book, which was first printed in 1859, was bought by a family for just a few shillings in a shop about 40 years ago, Christie's auction house said.

The family has since kept the work on a bookcase in the guest lavatory at their home in the Oxford area, it said.

The book will go under the hammer in London on Tuesday, to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the publication of the father of the theory of evolution's famous work.

The book, about 1,250 copies of which were first printed, is expected to fetch 60,000 pounds (66,000 euros, 99,000 dollars).

Margaret Ford, head of books and manuscripts at Christie's, said the book would have been a bargain when it was bought by the present owner.

"It's incredibly important," Ford said, adding of the current owner: "He knew it (the book) was textually important.

"He maybe did not know how much of a bargain he was getting."

Christie's said the son-in-law of the current owners was at an exhibition on Darwin and spotted a picture of the spine of the work.

He realised the book in the toilet was something special, matching the binding of the work in the picture.

Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" set out his theory of evolution, by which species develop from generation to generation by a process of natural selection.

original source

Harry Potter, Bilbo Baggins, Aslan, Alice and Lyra would all be thrilled: Oxford is set to have a world class Story Museum in the city where so many captivating children’s tales have been created.

And in true storybook fashion, it’s thanks to an anonymous fairy godmother that the Museum – which has existed as a ‘virtual’ entity for the past four years – will now have a permanent home. A liberal sprinkling of fairy dust will be needed to turn the vision into reality – mixed with hard work, imagination and a considerable amount of fundraising – but the team behind the project hopes that the groundbreaking project will ready in time for Oxford’s bid to become Unesco’s World Book Capital in 2014.

The Story Museum’s new home will be at Rochester House, in Pembroke Street, Oxford – a stone’s throw away from Christ Church and its famous links with Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter.

A donation of £2.5m from a major private benefactor has enabled the Story Museum to look for a property in Oxford and in early November the lease on Rochester House was formally signed. The next stage of the plot is a feasibility study to establish how best to
incorporate the innovative and imaginative ideas that are on the team’s wish list. A major public campaign will be launched later in 2010 to continue raising the £11m needed to transform the building, which aims to attract up to 100,000 visitors a year.

Story Museum director Kim Pickin said today: “Dreams do come true: we are absolutely delighted to have a real home at last. Rochester House has its roots in the Victorian era, when Oxford began producing children’s stories that are known and loved across the world. Lewis Carroll himself would have known the building.”

Oxford children’s author and patron Philip Pullman said: “The Story Museum will be a wonderful gift from Oxford, where so many stories have begun, to the whole world.”

To learn more about The Story Museum, visit the official website

Archaeologists excavating the former Radcliffe Infirmary site in Oxford have uncovered evidence of a prehistoric monumental landscape stretching across the gravel terrace between the Thames and Cherwell rivers.

The work was carried out over the summer in preparation for Oxford University's proposed Radcliffe Observatory Quarter -- plans for which were revealed earlier this month.

In addition to these findings, the work has also uncovered evidence of a 6th century Saxon settlement, including a sunken featured craft hut known as a Grübenhauser and a pit containing unfired clay loom weights.

A team from Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) has been excavating parts of the 3.7 hectare site. The excavation has revealed evidence of three large prehistoric 'ring ditches' along with some evidence of possible associated cremation burials and an enigmatic rectangular enclosure, finds from which are currently being subjected to radio carbon dating.

Mike Wigg, Head of Capital Projects at Oxford University, said: 'The University was delighted to provide the opportunity for an investigation of Oxford heritage to be carried out in advance of any development work.'

The River Thames was an important focus for monument building in the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods when monuments used for burial, ritual and social purposes were constructed along the gravel terraces of the river.

A spokesperson from MOLA explained: 'Ring ditches are, as the name suggests, circular ditches, which are often the remains of ploughed out barrows, that may be associated with burials of high status individuals in the later Neolithic or Bronze Age, about 4000 years ago.'

The archaeologists had suspected the presence of prehistoric remains because a 12th century documentary source records 'the croft of the three barrows' in this area. Parch marks of a possible sequence of ring ditches in University Parks had indicated that similar remains might be present on the Radcliffe site.

The Saxon activity around the much earlier barrow cemetery is not uncommon and is recorded at other similar sites along the Thames. However, this is the first evidence for such a relationship in Oxford. The archaeologists are now working on the post-excavation phase of the project.

ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2009)

Members of Oxford University Dramatic Society take on one of Shakespeare's best loved comedies in this fresh production of As You Like It. With a magical stage design and full Elizabethan costume, it promises to be a sumptuous performance.

Cast members command the stage and stare earnestly into the audience as they deliver some of Shakespeare's most memorable speeches. Jonnie McAloon, as the philosopher, libertine and would-be fool Jacques delivers his famous "all the world's a stage" lines with wonderful nonchalance, reclining lazily upon the stage. McAloon shines throughout the performance, delivering lines with a punch that gives the play its enigmatically philosophical and humorous tones. There is good chemistry between all cast members and their sheer multi-talentedness shines through; Adam Bouyamourn takes his turn at Charles the wrestler, Amiens and Sir Oliver Martext, performing each role with gusto.

The love story of Orlando and Rosalind is beautifully done and Roseanna Frascona creates both the sexual chemistry and the sense of farce inherent in her ‘Ganymede' costume, whilst retaining a sense of strong emotions lying beneath.

The director Maximus Marenbon has cleverly created a contrast between court life and the pastoral fantasy land of the Forest of Arden. The violence of Oliver's torture at the hand of Duke Frederick contrasts with the peace and civility of Duke Senior's meal in the Forest. The ‘mission statement' of the play is to not neglect the dark, political undertones of the play, as well as encompassing the pastoral paradise of Arden and showing the collisions between the two with a brutal realism.

The production retains all the classic features of Shakespearean comedy; extravagant wordplay and innuendo run alongside cross dressing and music. It is a thought-provoking and funny performance which with the addition of lavish costume and a new score for voice and lute-style classical guitar promises to be hugely enjoyable whilst bringing new meaning to the themes of the play.

by Heather Salter

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