Security Council Approves ‘No-Fly Zone’ over Libya, Authorizing ‘All Necessary Measures’ to Protect Civilians, by Vote of 10 in Favour with 5 Abstentions

Security Council Approves ‘No-Fly Zone’ over Libya, Authorizing ‘All Necessary Measures’ to Protect Civilians, by Vote of 10 in Favour with 5 Abstentions

Video shows Libya army 'executions'

007 Diamonds Are Forever(1971) - Theme Song

Indie Film Distribution

Palm tree Entertainment kicks off the year this week with a showcase screening at the Empire Cinema Leicester Square with Robbie Moffat's film called 'Got to Run' staring newcomer Suzanne Kendall. It is hoped that the film will go into 5 Empire cinemas in the London area in March 2011. This is part of a distribution campaign to work with the Empire to screen as many of the companies films there throughout the year. Palm Tree Entertainment spent last year with its well known Pinewood Studios based film Editor Simon Harris developing the technology to make the Digital Cinema hard drive Packages ( known as DCP's) which is a digital format that replaces the old analog,expensive 35mm screening prints. It took all of last year to refine the process and this week sees the drive or digital print being tested in a real Cinema. Now having tackled the technolgy Palm Tree Entertainnment can make their own digital prints and offer them directly to cinema chains. Im excited that we may be the only independent film Producers doing this in the UK and its not the first time we have been first to do something. Way back in the late 1990's we were testing out the first digital cameras then by Panasonic.

However despite this postive breakthrough the recent news about closing down of the HMV shops (unrelated to Palm Tree small operations) is worrying for the film industry. HMV announced they be loosing 60 shops in their Waterstones related sites after failing to meet their Christmas targets when they lost 60 million in the December month. Such events show that the DVD market is easily hit by factors like bad weather but more realistically it is to do with the proliferation of unsystematic download sites that vary between being pirates to the badly advertised or little known legal sites that are not used well, by the public, who are not yet in the habit of downloading a movie for purchase.

You can find a legal streaming of several of Palm Tree Entertainments films and others on the LA based site called http://www.inmoo.com which was set up by the actor and film director David Arquette. It started well in August and is gathering momentum to stream independent films from many countries. The revenue is small only being advert based and not via download purchases. Unfortunately many of these sites are few and far between and many of the bigger sites fail to monetise the subscriptions back to the film makers. The picture is bleak unless producers and the bigger distributors can get to grips with the download machinery and train the consumers to pay for the product. This year may see the end of the DVD disk market as a supply chain into high street retails shops unless governments reinvigorate this market. In the UK the demise of Woolworth chain was never fully understood as causing a sumani in DVD distribution.

So the film industry, the pundits and the politicians need to find ways of regenerating the film industry and putting back distribution to the makers somehow. The old Eadie Levie helped when it took around 10p from each cinema ticket and gave it back to film production. The most famous of these films were the Carry On Films which though derided at the time have now become classic British comedies.

France has for years provide the cinema ticket levie which has arguably made it the most successful non English language film industry in the world. Here in the UK we need to really think our way out of the box to get indigenous film back on track and generating incomes.

In the meantime Happy New Year for 2011. Please see that the DVD Red Rose our film from Palm Tree Entertainment about Robert Burns is available on Amazon at the link here. For the Burns night season. I see they have not uploaded our images correctly but maybe they will get round to it. Here's hoping and maybe you can download the movie too. Worth trying to see what happens???!!???

Red Rose

Tea, Toilets, Transport and Emergency Cover - an MP's Responsibility

This weekend I left home by car on Saturday morning to attempt to travel from Rickmansworth in Herts to Slough in South Buckinghamshire. I travelled through three constituencies of the MP's Mr Gough (Herts), Mr Bercow, North Buckinghamshire, Mr Greaves, South Buckinghamshire. It took 5 hours to reach my destination, because there was no grit and salt laid on the roads at anytime before or during the journey. Cars slid along and often careered off the roads because of a failure by Local and National Government to act immediately to bring in snow ploughs from other areas. The M25 in Mr Bercow's constituency was a disgrace.

On the return journey the road from Slough to Uxbridge the main artery road beside the famous Pinewood studio was treacherous because no grit had been laid and it has a steep incline which means cars cant traverse it when ice forms under the snow. An non council contracter took it upon himself to tow cars up the hill despite asking for money to do so, but he was successful in getting motorist home where no police van or highway petrol was available to help the three hundred cars that were stuck. It reminded me of the third world country Kenya where in the rainy season because of a lack of government money and infra-structure cars are regularly winched along the mud-sliding roads. There cars become strewn along the routes falling off the roads in the similar scenes to the M25.

It is the responsibility of MP's to care for their constituents and make sure their welfare is put first. How the three Conservative MP's failed this weekend in particular Mr Bercow who should really consider his postion. Its not enough to say it was the worse weather in 20 years. I seem to remember at that time in 1990 the roads were indeed gritted and passable with no accident so whos kidding who? the transport secretary was out of step with the reality of the situation too.

As for Heathrow, I found today at home I could easily remvce the two inches of impacted ice and snow by lifting it off the ground with a garden hoe. Perhpas thats what should be suggested to Mr Walsh who seems intent on causing hardship to people over Christmas. He seems to be like BP in the Deepwater incident just letting it all happen without taking any responsibity.

So maybe the British people stuck in Heathrow should get garden hoes, and spades, then get off their backs and actually clear the run way themselves. They did it on the roads themselves yesterday...not because of big society but because government had failed locally and nationally. But that reminds me of a phrase that when you straighten your back, you are going somewhere because you can@t rid someones back when it is bent.

As I said in my last blog all parties must take responsiblity for the riots last week which were dressed up as student riots when they were also serious race riots moving tandem with them. We have reached the juncture of the broken promises speech of Martin Luther King in 1963....
Will the British people allow their backs to be bent again this week? I hope not....as for Mr Walsh of British Airways ... shall he compensate the passengers for their losses.... for truly he should pay their hotel bills. But may like BP he wants these insurance claims to await him?

Martin Luther King Jr. - I Have a Dream

Imagine

'The Ghost Writer' Trailer HD