TRK's page of random cross posts - itt: stolen content  

AC/DC set to announce split: report

Legendary Australian rockers AC/DC are reportedly set to announce their split after a 40-year career.

Entertainment reporter Peter Ford last night tweeted he had a "world exclusive" before announcing on radio this morning the group may never "perform or record ever again".

Ford then replied to a tweet asking for more information by alluding to a "sad detail" about the split that he won't reveal.

The band, one of the high-selling musical acts of all time, was formed by brothers Angus and Malcolm Young in 1973.

Their 1980 album 'Back in Black' is recognised as the second-highest selling album of all time behind Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'.

Atari graveyard of shame found in New Mexico landfill


A decades-old myth of Atari's secret graveyard of shame was proven true on Saturday when masses of "E.T." game cartridges were recovered from concrete-covered landfill in the New Mexico desert.

Legend has it that 1980s game giant Atari buried up to a million discarded copies of what many call the worst video game ever to remain hidden forever.

The discovery confirms what gaming enthusiasts and other self-described geeks suspected for 30 years following the company's final demise.

About 200 people gathered at the site in Alamogordo to watch a group of workers, led by documentary filmmaker Zak Penn for an upcoming feature on the popular 1980s gaming company.

But only a few dozen fans remained by the time the games were found, with most of the crowd giving in to strong winds which picked up dust and landfill.

"I feel pretty relieved and psyched that they actually got to see something," Mr Penn said as members of the production team sifted through the mounds of trash, pulling out boxes, games and other Atari products.

April 28, 2014: A massive pile of video game cartridges of the game ‘E.T’, possibly numbering in the millions, has been discovered in a rubbish dump in the US state of New Mexico. The game has been labelled the worst video game ever made.

Those left of the crowd entertained themselves with a makeshift gaming den, complete with a TV and 1980s game console.

Others took selfies behind a life-sized E.T. doll inside a DeLorean car, made famous by the Back to the Future film franchise.

One person not surprised by the finding was James Heller, a former Atari manager who was invited by production to the dig site.

He said the company tasked him with finding an inexpensive way to dispose some 728,000 cartridges in 1983.

After a few local kids got word of the landfill's contents, he decided to pour a layer of concrete over the games.

"I never heard about again it until June 2013, when I read an article about E.T. being excavated," he said.

The "E.T. The Extraterrestrial" game has long blamed for Atari's downfall.

Even the game's designer Howard Scott Warshaw admitted it was a "horrible" game but he did not mind his creation being called that.

"It may be a horrible game, but 32 years after, you are here, talking to me about it. It’s a tremendous honor, that it still generates public discourse."

Source: Canada.com
Author: Chloe Ross, Approving editor: Matthew Henry

New science fiction museum to open in Washington, DC

Tuesday 29 April 2014


Washington DC will soon play host to the world's first dedicated science fiction museum. The museum is scheduled to launch in early 2017.

A new museum in Washington, DC will focus not on dinosaurs or art, but science fiction. Andrew Davies takes a look at the fans building the world’s first museum dedicated to sci-fi movies, TV shows, books, comics and video games.

Science fiction is one of our most popular and enduring genres, with a long history that spans books, art, films and television series. And those works have in turn inspired millions of fans to hold regular conventions around the world—dating as far back as the 1930s.

Now a group of science fiction fans are building on this proud tradition of fandom by developing what’s been billed as the world’s first comprehensive science fiction museum.

We are definitely trying to present a much more balanced approach, not just film and television, we will be going into music, art, literature, and also videogames.

Greg Viggiano, executive director of the Museum of Science Fiction, is part of a team working feverishly to get it up and running—at least in an initial form—by 2015.

‘We've reached out to a number of existing museums that have covered science fiction, and they are very supportive and ready to roll up their sleeves to help us put this museum in place,’ says Mr Viggiano.

‘Different fan communities and artist communities have come forward. The volunteer effort has been off the charts. We have a group of about 170 volunteers with very impressive professional backgrounds that want to help in just about every aspect of the museum planning.’

The team plans to open the full-scale Museum of Science Fiction in Washington, DC in 2017, with a smaller scale preview museum scheduled to launch in 2015.

‘We are constantly reaching out to the different science-fiction communities and sub-communities to make sure that we are getting their input early in our planning process,’ says Mr Viggiano. ‘That's one of the reasons why we wanted to start with a preview museum, which is only going to be about 3,000 square feet, as we plan the larger 50,000 square foot facility, so we can use that as a prototype and kind of a test bed and collect more feedback and more input from the different fan communities to make sure that we actually get it right.’

‘What we have structured right now in terms of our exhibit planning and visitor experience planning is an arrangement of seven galleries, the first gallery being the creatives and the people that created various science fiction stories, going from the beginning to more present day contemporary stories, and then what we think of as more traditional type science fiction, where we have a gallery set up for vehicles and other worlds, technology, aliens, computers and robots and time travel.’

Despite its location, Mr Viggiano says the museum will encompass more than just American science fiction.

‘We do not want this to be a US-centric institution. So much science fiction has come from offshore—the Australians, the British, the Japanese—and they have all been major contributors, even going back to the original science fiction stories such as Mary Shelley and Jules Verne who were both British and French respectively, and we need to make sure that this is definitely not an American-only institution,’ he says.

‘We are definitely trying to present a much more balanced approach, not just film and television, we will be going into music, art, literature, and also videogames. When we say literature, we are not just talking about the novels that have been written but also comics and graphic novels and other things that have been written in short stories to make sure that we bring a very comprehensive and balanced portrayal of science fiction.’

Mr Viggiano, who also has an educational background, believes that science fiction is ideally placed to help inspire interest and creativity in the classroom through its emphasis on imagination.

‘A museum like this could be a perfect learning tool because science fiction is so rich and can be used as a teaching mechanism to get kids motivated in some of these more conceptually difficult areas in school that always gave me a lot of trouble,’ he says.

‘If we were to take an approach where using science fiction and using some the things that we are planning to put in the museum as a teaching tool and an easier way to understand these more conceptually sophisticated areas, it might make a difference in how people, how students choose their career paths.’

‘We'll have some very definite educational programming, but we are also going to use tools such as mobile devices and wireless-enabled display objects in the museum, both to have a lot of fun with for visitors but also to use as teaching tools for students that are going to be coming through the museum.’

Swiss artist H.R. Giger, made famous for his work designing the iconic creatures in the Aliens series, has passed away at the age of 74.

TV station SRF and SWI report that he died as a result of "injuries sustained in a fall".P

Aside from his work on the Alien films, Giger also worked on the Dune movie that never was, as well as some pretty awesome video games.

Giger won an Oscar in 1980 for his design work on the first Alien movie.

In another attempt to keep the success ball rolling, Marvel has announced that they are going to make a spin-off of Captain America called Marvel’s Agent Carter. They've already released a teaser poster for the show that you can check out above. Here's the synopsis:


"Marvel’s Agent Carter,” starring Captain America’s Hayley Atwell follows the story of Peggy Carter. It’s 1946, and peace has dealt Peggy Carter a serious blow as she finds herself marginalized when the men return home from fighting abroad. Working for the covert SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve), Peggy must balance doing administrative work and going on secret missions for Howard Stark all while trying to navigate life as a single woman in America, in the wake of losing the love of her life–Steve Rogers. Inspired by the feature films “Captain America: The First Avenger” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” along with the short “Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter.” Starring Hayley Atwell as Agent Peggy Carter, “Marvel’s Agent Carter” is executive produced by Christopher Markus, Steve McFeely, Tara Butters, Michele Fazekas, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Jeph Loeb.

I did enjoy the character Peggy Carter, and I thought it was sad that she wasn’t going to be in the upcoming phases Marvel is coming out with. Let’s see how this new show plays out.

‘Beam me up, data’
29 May 2014 by Webredactie M&C


Teleporting people through space, as is done in Star Trek, is impossible by the laws of physics. Teleporting information is another matter, however, thanks to the extraordinary world of quantum mechanics. Researchers at TU Delft's Kavli Institute of Nanoscience have succeeded in deterministically transferring the information contained in a quantum bit – the quantum analogue of a classical bit - to a different quantum bit 3 metres away, without the information having travelled through the intervening space: teleportation. The results will be published online in Science, on Thursday 29 May.


Quantum internet

This development is an important step towards a quantum network for communication between future ultra-fast quantum computers – a quantum internet. Quantum computers will be able to solve certain important problems that even today's supercomputers are unable to tackle. Furthermore, a quantum internet will enable completely secure information transfer, as surreptitious eavesdropping will be fundamentally impossible in such a network.

Einstein

To achieve teleportation the scientists made use of an unusual phenomenon: entanglement. ‘Entanglement is arguably the strangest and most intriguing consequence of the laws of quantum mechanics,’ argues the head of the research project, Prof. Ronald Hanson. ‘When two particles become entangled, their identities merge: their collective state is precisely determined but the individual identity of each of the particles has disappeared. The entangled particles behave as one, even when separated by a large distance. The distance in our tests was three metres, but in theory the particles could be on either side of the universe. Einstein didn't believe in this prediction and called it ‘spooky action at a distance’. Numerous experiments, on the other hand, agree with the existence of entanglement.


Hanson's research group is the first to have succeeded in teleporting information between qubits in different computer chips. ‘The unique thing about our method is that the teleportation is guaranteed to work 100%. The information will always reach its destination, so to speak. And, moreover, the method also has the potential of being 100% accurate,’ says Hanson.

Diamonds: Hanson's research group produces qubits using electrons in diamonds. ‘We use diamonds because ‘mini prisons’ for electrons are formed in this material whenever a nitrogen atom is located in the position of one of the carbon atoms. The fact that we're able to view these miniature prisons individually makes it possible for us to study and verify an individual electron and even a single atomic nucleus. We're able to set the spin (rotational direction) of these particles in a predetermined state, verify this spin and subsequently read out the data. We do all this in a material that can be used to make chips out of. This is important as many believe that only chip-based systems can be scaled up to a practical technology,’ explains Hanson.

Holy Grail: Hanson is planning to repeat the experiment this summer over a distance of 1300 metres, with chips located in various buildings on TU Delft's campus. This experiment could be the first that meets the criteria of the 'loophole-free Bell test', and could provide the ultimate evidence to disprove Einstein’s rejection of entanglement. Various research groups, including Hanson's, are currently striving to be the first to realise a loophole-free Bell test, which is considered to be the Holy Grail within quantum mechanics.


For more information: Prof. Ronald Hanson, [email protected], +31 (0)15 278 7188


Publication:
Science, published online May 29 2014

‘Unconditional quantum teleportation between distant solid-state quantum bits’

Authors: W. Pfaff1, B. Hensen1, H. Bernien1, S.B. van Dam1, M.S. Blok1, T.H. Taminiau1, M.J. Tiggelman1, R.N. Schouten1, M. Markham2, D.J. Twitchen2, and R. Hanson1
1Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft, Delft University of Technology, P.O. Box 5046, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands
2Element Six, Ltd., Kings Ride Park, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 8BP, United Kingdom

Microsoft’s Futuristic New Tool Translates Skype Calls in Real Time


In the Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy books, characters from across the universe can communicate using something called the Babel Fish, a small creature that burrows itself into your ear and translates any given language by sending signals directly into your brain.

Here on earth, we don’t have a Babel Fish. But, thanks to a burgeoning form of artificial intelligence, honest-to-goodness translation technology is finally on its way. And it won’t involve implanting a fish in your ear.

Later this year, Microsoft will release a beta version of Skype Translate, a near real-time translation tool. The app was unveiled last night at the Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, where Microsoft vice president of Skype Gurdeep Pall used the tool to have a conversation with a German-speaking colleague named Diana. It’s not the first time the company has showed off the technology that underpins this app–Microsoft Chief Research Officer Rick Rashid did a similar demo at an event in Tianjin, China in October 2012–but now, the software giant has wrapped this translation engine in a package that’s ready for everyday internet users.

Honest-to-goodness translation technology is finally on its way–and it won’t involve implanting a fish in your ear.

According to an article published by Microsoft Research, the company has been working on this technology for over a decade. Real-time translation is a tough trick to pull off because it requires both accurate speech recognition and on-the-fly language translation, but the technology is finally becoming a reality thanks to advances in a field of computer science called “deep learning.” This involves new kinds of “neural networks”–computer simulations of the connections between neurons in the brain–that can mimic the way the brain behaves, at least in some ways. Deep learning models are no where near as complex as the brain, which contains tens of billion of neurons, but the approach allows machines to “learn.” They can improve their performance as they analyze more and more data.

The technique dates back to at least the early 1980s, but it stayed on the fringes of academia until the mid-2000s when powerful computers became cheap enough to start doing practical work. In 2009, Microsoft invited deep learning pioneer Geoff Hinton to visit its Redmond campus to work with its researchers on neural networks, and although Hinton has since joined Google, Microsoft has moved ahead with its own deep learning research, which became the foundation for both Skype Translate and its new digital assistant, Cortana.

Meanwhile, Facebook has hired another deep learning guru, Yann LeCun, and Netflix is experimenting with deep learning techniques in order to improve its recommendation algorithms.

Beau Cronin, a neuroscientist and machine learning expert at Salesforce.com, points out that just because something is “brain like,” doesn’t mean it’s useful. “There are many ways a system can be like the brain, but only a fraction of these will prove important,” he wrote in an article for O’Reilly Radar. Nor is deep learning the only way to power real-time translation. The startup Babelverse, for example, enables you to find a human translator available to do live translation via a mobile application. But what Microsoft has achieved is certainly impressive–at least on the surface.

Many think of Microsoft is a lumbering dinosaur, but projects like this–along with things like Kinect–show the benefits of being a large company that can spend several years, or even a couple of decades, developing new technology. Google may have taken the lead in turning blue-sky research into reality, but it’s far too early to count Microsoft out.

Roland Emmerich, Dean Devlin Board ‘Stargate’ Trilogy at MGM, Warner Bros.

May 29, 2014 | 04:29PM PT


MGM and Warner Bros. are partnering with Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin on a reimagining of their sci-fi hit “Stargate.”

Emmerich is set to direct, with Devlin to produce. The idea is to use the film to kick off a planned trilogy that reboots the 1994 pic.

“We couldn’t be more excited to once again partner with Roland and Dean, the world-class creators of the original ‘Stargate,’ to bring their reinvigorated vision of this wildly popular property to audiences of multiple generations,” MGM chairman-CEO Gary Barber said. “’Stargate’ is one of the biggest titles in MGM’s vast library, and we look forward to adding this great franchise to our slate.”

MGM will be running production on the film, with Jonathan Glickman, president of the motion picture group, overseeing on behalf of MGM, and Greg Silverman, president of creative development and worldwide production, overseeing for Warner Bros. Pictures. Worldwide distribution will be handled by Warner Bros. Pictures, with select international territories to be handled by MGM.

The original film starred Kurt Russell and James Spader and grossed more than $200 million worldwide.

Legendary TV actress Ann B Davis, who played housekeeper Alice in The Brady Bunch has died after an accident at home.


The couple Davis lived with in Texas said the 88-year-old had fallen in her bathroom early on Sunday morning and severely injured her head, TMZ reports.

She never regained consciousness.

Davis played the much-loved housekeeper Alice Nelson in the his show from 1969 to 1974 as well as five episodes of reboot show "The Bradys" in 1990.

She had also appeared in many television movies and reunion shows.

Rik Mayall's wife says comedian's death a mystery


The Young Ones star Rik Mayall has died suddenly, aged 56.

The British comic actor's portrayal of a puerile anarchist in the BBC sitcom endeared him to a generation of viewers in the 1980s.

He also appeared in Blackadder alongside Rowan Atkinson, as a cynical Conservative politician in The New Statesman and was reunited with his Young Ones co-star Ade Edmondson in Bottom.

Mayall's wife, Barbara Robbin, is thought to have found Mayall's body at their upmarket southwest London home yesterday.

She told a British tabloid she has no idea how he died.

"We don't know yet what happened," the make-up artist was quoted by the Mirror as saying.

"He had a strong heart, so I don't think it was a heart attack. But we just don't know until the coroner's report.

"Maybe he had a fit, maybe it was his heart."

Police said there were no suspicious circumstances to the death.

In 1998, Mayall survived a potentially fatal accident on a quad bike, but he had been working until recently.

Speaking about the accident last year, Mayall said he had been kept alive on a life-support machine for five days and doctors were considering turning it off when he began to show signs of life.

He said the brush with death changed his life. For years afterwards, he would mark the occasion by exchanging gifts with his wife and three children.

He said: "The main difference between now and before my accident is I'm just very glad to be alive.

"Other people get moody in their forties and fifties. Men get the male menopause. I missed the whole thing. I was just really happy."

In an ironic twist one of the actor's last projects was narrating a short animated film called 'Don't Fear Death.

The film was aired on English TV last August and discusses the benefits of dying, saying death "is your passport to complete and utter freedom. No pulse, no responsibilities. Carpe mortem – seize death."

Paying tribute, Blackadder producer John Lloyd said Mayall was "just extraordinary".

"It's really a dreadful piece of news," he told the BBC.

Edmondson paid his own unique tribute to Mayall, referring to his long-term friend and comedy partner as "a selfish bastard" for dying without him.

DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY REUNITES AT QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP FINAL
By the Daily Prophet's Gossip Correspondent, Rita Skeeter.

There are celebrities – and then there are celebrities. We've seen many a famous face from the wizarding world grace the stands here in the Patagonian Desert – Ministers and Presidents, Celestina Warbeck, controversial American wizarding band The Bent-Winged Snitches – all have caused flurries of excitement, with crowd members scrambling for autographs and even casting Bridging Charms to reach the VIP boxes over the heads of the crowd.

But when word swept the campsite and stadium that a certain gang of infamous wizards (no longer the fresh-faced teenagers they were in their heyday, but nevertheless recognisable) had arrived for the final, excitement was beyond anything yet seen. As the crowd stampeded, tents were flattened and small children mown down. Fans from all corners of the globe stormed towards the area where members of Dumbledore's Army were rumoured to have been sighted, desperate above all else for a glimpse of the man they still call the Chosen One.

The Potter family and the rest of Dumbledore's Army have been given accommodation in the VIP section of the campsite, which is protected by heavy charms and patrolled by Security Warlocks. Their presence has ensured large crowds along the cordoned area, all hoping for a glimpse of their heroes. At 3pm today they got their wish when, to the accompaniment of loud screams, Potter took his young sons James and Albus to visit the players' compound, where he introduced them to Bulgarian Seeker Viktor Krum.

About to turn 34, there are a couple of threads of silver in the famous Auror's black hair, but he continues to wear the distinctive round glasses that some might say are better suited to a style-deficient twelve-year-old. The famous lightning scar has company: Potter is sporting a nasty cut over his right cheekbone. Requests for information as to its provenance merely produced the usual response from the Ministry of Magic: ‘We do not comment on the top secret work of the Auror department, as we have told you no less than 514 times, Ms. Skeeter.' So what are they hiding? Is the Chosen One embroiled in fresh mysteries that will one day explode upon us all, plunging us into a new age of terror and mayhem?

Or does his injury have a more humble origin, one that Potter is desperate to hide? Has his wife perhaps cursed him? Are cracks beginning to show in a union that the Potters are determined to promote as happy? Should we read anything into the fact that his wife Ginevra has been perfectly happy to leave her husband and children behind in London whilst reporting on this tournament? The jury is out on whether she really had the talent or experience to be sent to the Quidditch World Cup (jury's back in – no!!!) but let's face it, when your last name is Potter, doors open, international sporting bodies bow and scrape, and Daily Prophet editors hand you plum assignments.

As their devoted fans and followers will remember, Potter and Krum competed against each other in the controversial Triwizard Tournament, but apparently there are no hard feelings, as they embraced upon meeting (what really happened in that maze? Speculation is unlikely to be quelled by the warmth of their greeting). After half an hour's chat, Potter and his sons returned to the campsite where they socialised with the rest of Dumbledore's Army until the small hours.
In the next tent are Potter's two closest associates, the ones who know everything about him and yet have always refused to talk to the press. Are they afraid of him, or is it their own secrets they are afraid will leak out, tarnishing the myth of He Who Could Not Be Named's defeat? Now married, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger were with Potter almost every step of the way. Like the rest of Dumbledore's Army, they fought in the Battle of Hogwarts and no doubt deserve the plaudits and awards for bravery heaped upon them by a grateful wizarding world.

In the immediate aftermath of the battle Weasley, whose famous ginger hair appears to be thinning slightly, entered into employment with the Ministry of Magic alongside Potter, but left only two years later to co-manage the highly successful wizarding joke emporium Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Was he, as he stated at the time, ‘delighted to assist my brother George with a business I've always loved'? Or had he had his fill of standing in Potter's shadow? Was the work of the Auror Department too much for a man who has admitted that the destruction of He Who Could Not Be Named's Horcruxes ‘took its toll' on him? He shows no obvious signs of mental illness from a distance, but the public is not allowed close enough to make a proper assessment. Is this suspicious?

Hermione Granger, of course, was always the femme fatale of the group. Press reports of the time revealed that as a teenager she toyed with the young Potter's affections before being seduced away by the muscular Viktor Krum, finally settling for Potter's faithful sidekick. After a meteoric rise to Deputy Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, she is now tipped to go even higher within the Ministry, and is also mother to son, Hugo, and daughter, Rose. Does Hermione Granger prove that a witch really can have it all? (No – look at her hair.)

Then there are those members of Dumbledore's Army who receive slightly less publicity than Potter, Weasley and Granger (are they resentful? Almost certainly). Neville Longbottom, now a popular Herbology teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is here in Patagonia with his wife Hannah. Until recently the pair lived above the Leaky Cauldron in London, but rumour has it that Hannah has not only retrained as a Healer, but is applying for the job of Matron at Hogwarts. Idle gossip suggests that she and her husband both enjoy a little more Ogden's Old Firewhisky than most of us would expect from custodians of our children, but no doubt we all wish her the best of luck with her application.

Last of the ringleaders of Dumbledore's Army is, of course, Luna Lovegood (now married to Rolf Scamander, swarthy grandson of celebrated Magizoologist Newt). Still delightfully eccentric, Luna has been sweeping around the VIP section in robes composed of the flags of all sixteen qualifying countries. Her twin sons are ‘at home with grandpa'. Is this a euphemism for ‘too disturbed to be seen in public'? Surely only the unkindest would suggest so.

Sundry other members of the Army are here, but it is on these six that most interest is focused. Wherever there is a red head one may make an educated guess that it belongs to a Weasley, but it is difficult to tell whether it is George (wealthy co-manager of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes), Charlie (dragon wrangler, still unmarried – why?) or Percy (Head of the Department of Magical Transportation – it's his fault if the Floo Network's too busy!). The only one who is easy to recognise is Bill who, poor man, is grievously scarred from an encounter with a werewolf and yet somehow (enchantment? Love potion? Blackmail? Kidnap?) married the undeniably beautiful (though doubtless empty-headed) Fleur Delacour.

Word is that we shall see these and other members of Dumbledore's Army in the VIP boxes at the final, adding to the glitz and razzmatazz of a gala occasion. Let us hope that the behaviour of two of their younger hangers-on does not embarrass them, heaping shame on those who have previously brought honour to the name of wizard.

One always hesitates to invade the privacy of young people, but the fact is that anyone closely connected with Harry Potter reaps the benefits and must pay the penalty of public interest. No doubt Potter will be distressed to know that his sixteen-year-old godson Teddy Lupin – a lanky half-werewolf with bright blue hair – has been behaving in a way unbefitting of wizarding royalty since arriving on the VIP campsite. It might be asking too much that the always-busy Potter keep a tighter rein on this wild boy, who was entrusted to his care by his dying parents, but one shudders to think what will become of Master Lupin without urgent intervention. Meanwhile, Mr and Mrs Bill Weasley might like to know that their beautiful, blonde daughter Victoire seems to be attracted to any dark corner where Master Lupin happens to be lurking. The good news is both of them seem to have invented a method of breathing through their ears. I can think of no other reason how they have survived such prolonged periods of what, in my young day, was called ‘snogging.'

But let us not be severe. Harry Potter and his cohorts never claimed to be perfect! And for those who want to know exactly how imperfect they are, my new biography: Dumbledore's Army: The Dark Side of the Demob will be available from Flourish and Blotts on July 31st.

Famed actor James Garner dies at 86


By Todd Leopold, CNN

July 20, 2014 -- Updated 2147 GMT (0547 HKT)


STORY HIGHLIGHTS
James Garner died of natural causes on Saturday, police say
The actor is best known for his roles in "Maverick" and "The Rockford Files"
He moved easily between film and TV before it became the norm
Garner took on acting roles well into his 80s


(CNN) -- James Garner, the understated, wisecracking everyman actor who enjoyed multigenerational success on both the small and big screens, has died. He was 86.

Police, who were called to his residence Saturday night in Los Angeles, say he died of natural causes.

Garner starred in hit TV series almost 20 years apart -- "Maverick" in the late 1950s and "The Rockford Files" in the 1970s.

He also had a notable film career, starring in such classics as "Sayonara" (1957), "The Great Escape" (1963), "The Americanization of Emily" (1964), "Grand Prix" (1966) and "Victor/Victoria" (1982), as well as the TV movies "My Name Is Bill W." (1989) and "Barbarians at the Gate" (1993). More recent films included "Space Cowboys" (2000) and "The Notebook" (2004).

He was fiercely independent, challenging the studios on both "Maverick" and "Rockford" when he felt he wasn't being treated fairly. He sued studios twice and won both times.

Garner first played the character of Bret Maverick in the '50s, and then again in the '80s when the series was revived.

"The industry is like it always has been. It's a bunch of greedy people," he told The Los Angeles Times in 1990.

Garner was given a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2004. The actors' union head issued a statement about his death Sunday.

"James Garner was the definition of the smooth, dashing leading man, but his talents were so much more than skin deep," SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard said. "He was a hard worker who dedicated himself wholly to whatever he set out to accomplish, whether it was serving his country or performing for the camera."

A versatile star

He was a valued and convincing pitchman -- in his 1970s and '80s commercials for Polaroid cameras, he had such good rapport with co-star Mariette Hartley that viewers were convinced they were married -- and was nominated for a slew of awards, including Emmys, Golden Globes, SAG Awards and an Oscar (for 1985's "Murphy's Romance"). His performance in "The Rockford Files" won him an Emmy.

He could do serious. His performance in the TV movie "My Name Is Bill W." -- about the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous -- was straightforward and uncompromising. He could also show real heartbreak, whether it was cradling fellow escapee Donald Pleasance in "The Great Escape" or talking with Gena Rowlands in "The Notebook."

But he was rarely one to blow his own horn.

"I got into the business to put a roof over my head," he once said. "I wasn't looking for star status. I just wanted to keep working."

Humble beginnings

James Scott Bumgarner was born April 7, 1928, in Norman, Oklahoma. His mother died when he was 5 and his father remarried a year later. Garner didn't get along with his stepmother and, after a particularly vicious argument, left home at 14. His father, who divorced his stepmother, eventually moved to Los Angeles. At 16, Garner followed, attending Hollywood High School and finding a job as a swimsuit model.

"I made 25 bucks an hour!" he told People magazine. "That's why I quit school. I was making more money than the teachers. I never finished the ninth grade."

After joining the Merchant Marine and the National Guard, he served in the Korean War, where he won a Purple Heart. After the war, he returned to Los Angeles and took up acting -- for the same reason he started modeling, he told the L.A. Times.

"What was I qualified to do to make a living? Nothing," he said. "You don't need qualifications as an actor or a politician. And I didn't want to be a politician."

A small part in Broadway's "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial" led to a contract with Warner Bros., which cast him in both TV and movie roles. After a performance as a Marine captain in "Sayonara," he took the lead role in a new TV series, "Maverick," which was to make his reputation in many ways.

Leaving his mark

In 1957, "Maverick" was, well, a maverick: a Western filled with comedy, which often parodied other TV Westerns. As a show on ABC, then the third-ranked of the three broadcast networks, it wasn't expected to do well against competitors "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "The Steve Allen Show." But it won its Sunday-night time slot and became one of the hottest programs on television. In turn, Garner -- who played Bret Maverick, a roving card player -- became one of the medium's biggest stars.

But Garner became dissatisfied with the show's grind and being treated like "ham in a smokehouse," as he put it. In 1960 he sued producer Warner Bros. for breach of contract. He won the case and left the show, which replaced him first with Roger Moore (as Beau Maverick) and then Robert Colbert (as Brent) but soon left the air entirely.

Garner, however, was on the verge of movie stardom. Director William Wyler cast him in the film version of Lillian Hellman's play "The Children's Hour" as a sympathetic doctor; two years later Garner starred as Lt. Bob "The Scrounger" Hendley in "The Great Escape," one of the great war movies.

He remembered star Steve McQueen as being rebellious. "Steven would drive that motorcycle with the swastikas on it all over Munich. People would yell. They didn't think that was too good, and I didn't either," Garner told People in 1998.

But the two were close, he added -- in fact, McQueen was his next-door neighbor in Los Angeles. "He looked at me as an older brother," he told the magazine.

Garner followed "Escape" with the film he ranked as his favorite, "The Americanization of Emily." The film, which had a script by Paddy Cheyefsky ("Marty," "Network"), was about a self-described "coward" Navy officer who romances an Englishwoman (Julie Andrews) and -- against his will -- takes part in the D-Day invasion. "Emily" was nominated for two Oscars and helped make Andrews, a famed stage actress whose film "Mary Poppins" was released earlier that year, a star.

His 1966 film, the John Frankenheimer-directed "Grand Prix," gave him another passion -- auto racing. He founded an auto-racing team and drove the pace car in the Indianapolis 500 three times. It was an avocation he shared with a friend, Paul Newman. Garner was also a good golfer and an avowed fan of his alma mater, the University of Oklahoma, where he endowed a chair at the college's drama school.

Garner's movie career languished in the late '60s, though he had a mild hit with "Support Your Local Sheriff!" (1969), and he returned to television in the 1970s. After the short-lived "Nichols" he took the role as Jim Rockford in "The Rockford Files," which was as much an anti-detective series as "Maverick" was an anti-Western. (Both shows were produced by Roy Huggins, who also created "77 Sunset Strip" and "The Fugitive.")

Garner's Jim Rockford may have carried a gun, but he did so rarely (he didn't have a permit anyway) and he would much rather talk than shoot. Once imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, the Pontiac Firebird-driving detective lived in a dilapidated trailer on the Malibu coast. His friends included a grumpy LAPD detective, a former cellmate, a disbarred lawyer and his father, a retired trucker.

Aging amid stardom

Garner did many of his own stunts on "Rockford," and they took a toll, he told People in 1994.

"The work on the show had worn me down to a nub," he said. Over the course of the series, he broke bones, strained muscles and was even treated for depression. "I was sick and tired of it all." Garner also had quintuple bypass surgery in 1988 and had a stroke in 2008.

He left "Rockford" in 1980, partly because of his ailments and partly because of contractual problems with the studio, which eventually led to his lawsuit. After it was settled, he returned to the role for a series of TV movies in the '90s.

But "Rockford" cemented Garner's status on Hollywood's A-list. He made a number of TV and theatrical movies in the '80s, some duds -- "Tank" (1984) and "Sunset" (1988) -- and some successful: He earned praise for his performance in "Victor/Victoria" and an Oscar nomination for "Murphy's Romance."

He worked steadily in the 2000s, with notable performances in TV's "Barbarians at the Gate," the film version of "Maverick," the miniseries "Streets of Laredo" and the theatrical film "The Notebook." He also returned to series television, joining the cast of "8 Simple Rules" after the death of John Ritter.

The work in front of a live audience intimidated him, he said, despite his experience.

"I started in theater, and that's what scared me to death," he told CNN's Larry King in 2004.

Actor, husband, activist

Garner famously had one of Hollywood's longest-lasting marriages. He married Lois Clarke in 1956 after a brief courtship; they were still married at Garner's death, 58 years later.

"I just let my wife get away with murder," he joked to The Los Angeles Times in 1994.

His co-stars were equally smitten with Garner.

"Jim is funny and dear, and he laughs at my jokes," Sally Field told People in 1985, before the release of "Murphy's Romance." "That's what makes Jim sexy; it doesn't change with years."

Garner was also a longtime political activist. He helped organize the 1963 March on Washington and frequently donated to Democratic candidates and liberal causes.

But he'll likely be best remembered for a James Garner persona that seemed inseparable from the real-life man: professional, unruffled, witty and never too impressed with himself.

"I'm a Spencer Tracy-type actor," he told People in 2005. "His idea was to be on time, know your words, hit your marks and tell the truth. Most every actor tries to make it something it isn't (or) looks for the easy way out. I don't think acting is that difficult if you can put yourself aside and do what the writer wrote."

He is survived by his wife and their two daughters, Kim and Gigi.

Australian suicide bomber in Iraq was an 18-year-old man from Melbourne

ABC
By political reporter Simon Cullen
July 21, 2014, 10:21 am

The Australian man who killed himself and several others in a suicide bomb attack in Iraq last week was an 18-year-old from Melbourne.

The Federal Government believes he was 17 at the time he left Australia.

The attack happened in the centre of the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Thursday, near the Shiite mosque of Abdullah bin Rawah in the main wholesale market of Shorja.

The Islamic State named the man as Abu Bakr al-Australi on an affiliated Twitter feed.

Attorney-General George Brandis says the man is the second Australian suicide bomber in the Iraq and Syria conflicts.

"This is a disturbing development and is a further example of the dangerous and volatile situation in Iraq at present," he said in a statement.

"The Government deplores the violent actions being undertaken by ISIL and other extremist groups in Iraq and Syria, and is deeply concerned about the involvement of Australians in these activities."

The Islamic State - previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) - has been outlawed in Australia and listed as a terrorist organisation.

"As I have said many times, it is illegal for Australians to engage in the conflicts in Iraq and Syria and the Government urges Australians not to travel to the region," Senator Brandis said.

"The participation by Australians in the conflict in Iraq and Syria poses a significant domestic security threat to Australia when those involved return home and seek to pursue violence here.

"The Government will continue to take all necessary measures to keep Australia and Australian interests safe."

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop last week said the Government was working hard to prevent Australians being radicalised.

"We're doing all we can to prevent people going overseas as foreign fighters," she said.

Earlier in July several senior Islamic leaders met with the Attorney-General in Canberra to discuss the problem of so-called home-grown terrorism.

They vowed to do what they can to stop young Australians heading overseas to fight alongside extremists.