IDF-Hamas Gaza Twitter War: the Spin in Real Time
November, 15, 2012 2:30 pm | Comments On #Gaza, Hamas, idf, Media, Middle East, twitter, warReal-life war always has its propaganda machine, and now Israel and Hamas have taken to Twitter to press their cases as violence mounts in their very dangerous part of the world.
Each has its own style. The Twitter feed for the Israel Defense Force, @IDFSpokesperson, is a cross between Rambo and your grandmother.
“Good morning to our friends in #America," went the @IDFSpokesperson. "While you were sleeping, 3 Israelis were killed when a rocket hit their house.”
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Read MoreElection Results 2012: A New Normal Hollywood Has Dreamed Of
November, 07, 2012 2:09 pm | Comments On #election, Election 2012, Media, Movies, TelevisionHollywood should be euphoric today. The entertainment industry woke up to election results that reflect a country a lot more like the fictional place they’ve been depicting on screens large and small for decades: more ethnically diverse, more gay-friendly, with powerful women and where it’s just fine to light up a spliff.
Yes, our black president won re-election decisively, but not only that. Todd Akin went down. Elizabeth Warren got in. Maine approved same-sex marriage. The first Wisconsin woman and the first openly-gay person -- Tammy Baldwin -- was elected to the U.S. Senate. A record number of women were voted into the Senate. Latinos voted for Obama by an overwhelming 75-to-23-percent margin, while Asian voters came out at 73-26. Marijuana legalization passed in two states – two!
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Read MoreThe 2012 Election: Will California Kill the Death Penalty?
November, 04, 2012 9:20 am | Comments On #capital punishment, death penalty, election, Election 2012, Media, Movies, the thin blue lineThis weekend I got to vote against the death penalty. Prop 34 was one of the big reasons I drove an hour to Norwalk to exercise a civic duty early, since California’s choice for president is not going to be swayed by me.
But on the death penalty, every vote can make a difference.
The proposal itself, offering to replace capital punishment with life without parole, is a moment to celebrate. It is a chance to consider what to do about a 35-year-old penalty that is both brutal and wasteful, senseless and, far too often, error-ridden. Oddly, I haven’t heard anyone talking about it.
Have we lost interest in this issue as a society? For decades we have debated the moral dilemma posed by the death penalty in newspapers, on talk shows, on television cop dramas and movies from “Dead Man Walking” to "Conviction" to “The Green Mile....
Read MoreAnti-Obama '2016' Doc Getting Last-Ditch Digital Release Before Election (Exclusive)
November, 02, 2012 12:15 pm | Comments On #2016: Obama's America, Dinesh D’Souza, documentary, election, Movies, Obama, Romney“2016: Obama’s America,” the hit documentary critical of President Obama’s record, is getting a last-minute digital push in Spanish in a bid to boost Mitt Romney’s chances ahead of the Nov. 6 election, the producers of the movie told TheWrap on Friday.
The producers, who already have digital distribution in English with Lionsgate, have struck a new deal with digital company Yekra to release it in Spanish on Friday.
"We’re just finalizing the link -- it’s ready to go," said another individual working on the film. The streamed version in Spanish will cost $2.99 and will be aimed at independent voters in Spanish-speaking communities.
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Read More'Star Wars' 7, 8 and 9 Are 'The Most Exciting,' Says George Lucas Biographer (Exclusive)
October, 31, 2012 12:35 pm | Comments On #Disney, George Lucas, luke skywalker, Movies, Star WarsThe stories for “Star Wars” episodes seven, eight and nine, which George Lucas has outlined 
and the Walt Disney Company will produce and release, are “the most exciting” in the series, the filmmaker’s biographer told TheWrap on Wednesday.
While researching his book, Dale Pollock, author of the unauthorized Lucas biography, “Skywalking: The Life And Films Of George Lucas,” was allowed to read the outlines to the 12 stories written by the filmmaker but was required to sign a confidentiality agreement.
Also read: Star Wars: Episode 7' Coming in 2015 as Lucas Hands Off to 'New...
Read MoreWill the Force Be With Disney’s $4B 'Star Wars' Gamble?
October, 30, 2012 7:58 pm | Comments On #Disney, lucasfilm, Media, Movies, purchase, Star WarsIn buying Lucasfilm for a stunning $4.05 billion on Tuesday, Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger has made yet another bold gamble for the future of his media company, betting on a beloved but dusty franchise in need of a radical reimagining for a new generation.
The Lucasfilm purchase seems significantly riskier than the $4 billion purchase of Marvel in 2009 -- and certainly of Pixar, a hit machine that brought a house full of talent with its $7.4 billion price tag.
In Marvel’s case, the purchase came with a wide array of characters and comic-book properties that had been recently in the cultural bloodstream, whether Iron Man or The Hulk.
Also read: A Lucasfilm History: 30+ Years of 'Star Wars,...
Read MoreWhen Women Journalists Risk Their Lives - a Shred of Reward
October, 30, 2012 12:28 pm | Comments On #asma al-ghoul, asmaa al-ghoul, courage in journalism, IWMF, khadija ismayilova, Media, reeyot alemuAsmaa al-Ghoul blew my mind Monday night. She’s a Palestinian journalist laboring in the Gaza Strip. Her uncle is a leader in Hamas. She wrote an article criticizing him. He arranged to have her beaten.
Al-Ghoul brought her husband and infant son to receive a 2012 Courage in Journalism award at the Beverly Hills Hotel, given by the International Women’s Media Foundation. It’s an important honor that not only recognizes heroic women journalists -- and inspires all of us laboring under the umbrella of constitutional rights -- but also offers them the protection of the international spotlight.
“Courage is an inner power that can trick...
Read MoreJeff Berg on Leaving ICM, Starting New Talent Agency: ‘I’m Not Interested in Retiring’ (Exclusive)
October, 26, 2012 6:21 pm | Comments On #icm, icm partners, Jeff Berg, Movies, talent agency, TelevisionJeff Berg, the veteran talent agent and former chairman of ICM, told TheWrap on Friday that he would be starting a new talent agency within weeks and had no interest in retiring despite a rich buyout after more than 35 years in the business.
ICM announced Berg’s departure on Friday, and the agency's former chairman and CEO told TheWrap: “I’ve raised money, I will be one of the investors. That’s the path I’m going on.“
Executives close to the agency told TheWrap on Friday that longtime leader Berg was fired after they found out he was planning to launch a new agency. Berg would not confirm the report, nor would he comment on whether veteran agent Carol Bodie, who also left ICM on Friday, would be joining him in his new venture.
Also read:...
Read MoreTransgendered Lana Wachowski: I Made ‘Cloud Atlas’ to Change Those Who Want to Lynch Me
October, 25, 2012 2:55 pm | Comments On #Andy Wachowski, Cloud Atlas, Gay, glbt, Lana Wachowski, Movies, transgender, transgenderedLana Wachowski, the co-creator of “Cloud Atlas,” said she made the gender-bending, multi-
character film to change the attitudes of bigoted people “who want to lynch me, want to crucify me.”
In a wide-ranging interview with TheWrap, Wachowski, sporting neon pink dreadlocks, showed a newfound willingness to talk publicly about being transgendered, a process she has undergone in the past decade to become a woman.
Wachowski said that at least one of the characters in “Cloud Atlas,” a waitress of the future who foments revolution, mirrored her own experience.
“Like Sonmi, there are people who will spit on me, want to lynch me...
Read MoreNewsweek Passes - Will Other Newsweeklies Follow?
October, 19, 2012 12:55 pm | Comments On #barry diller, digital, internet, Media, Newsweek, newsweeklies, newsweekly, Tina BrownThe passing of Newsweek is really sad. And inevitable.
But first, it’s just sad. I started my journalism career at Newsweek, while I was still a student. (Julius Genachowski, currently the head of the FCC, beat me out to be Columbia University’s first “campus correpondent, “ but I got the job the next year. Ah, the stuff you remember.)
Once a week, I’d head downtown for my internship, get off on 50th Street and walk to Madison Avenue, where the cool glass building felt like the very heart of Important Journalism.
Editors spoke softly and tiptoed into large meetings. On Friday nights, the place buzzed until late as the magazine closed, changing things until the last minute, debating the cover line and often the cover story itself.
Back then Newsweek was its own sovereign nation, journalistically speaking, with a caste system...
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Description
Sharon Waxman's take on life on the left coast, high culture, low culture and the business of entertainment and media.
Follow me on Twitter @sharonwaxman and follow TheWrap @thewrap!
Sharon is also the author of two books, Rebels on the Back Lot and Loot.
