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Wednesday 21 May 2014

Football: World Cup lesson from 'worst team ever'

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A new documentary shows how American Samoa bounced back from a record 31-0 defeat.

 - As the best footballing nations on the planet prepare for the World Cup, a new documentary celebrates how the game s worst team, American Samoa, bounced back from a record 31-0 defeat.
The film, "Next Goal Wins", tells how an unlikely group including international football s first transgender player, a psychologically scarred goalkeeper and a chain-smoking Dutch coach restored the tiny Pacific nation s footballing pride after the 2001 humiliation against Australia.
When London-based filmmaker Mike Brett began work on the project in 2011, American Samoa had languished at the bottom of the FIFA rankings for the team s entire 17-year existence, losing all of the 30-plus matches they had contested.
The low point was the 31-0 loss to the Socceroos in 2001, when striker Archie Thompson contributed 13 goals to the most lop-sided scoreline ever recorded in an international.
Nevertheless, American Samoa kept turning up at tournaments even as their roll of shame lengthened -- including an 11-0 loss to Fiji in 2004, 15-0 to Vanuatu in 2007 and 12-1 to the Solomon Islands in the same year.
Brett and co-director Steve Jamison became intrigued by the Pacific Island amateurs who kept coming back, despite the heavy defeats and scorn poured on them by many in the footballing world.
"That 31-0 result is like the punchline to a joke or the answer to a pub trivia question," Brett told AFP. "We wanted to go behind the headlines and tell the human story."
-  We re not looking to take the mickey  -
Brett and Jamison were keen amateur footballers but ended up filming advertisements for sports brands such as Nike and Adidas.
After working with top clubs including Barcelona, Arsenal and Manchester United, Brett admitted they became jaded as the commercial side of football lost its lustre.
"We slightly fell out of love with the game that we remembered from when we were kids and when this came along it was an opportunity to really go back to our roots," he said.
But first they needed to persuade the American Samoans they were not planning a mockumentary that would take cheap shots at the team s already wounded pride.
"We had to explain to them that we weren t looking to take the mickey," Brett said. "We were genuinely in awe of these guys, who were clearly in love with the game so much that they d play for 17 years straight without winning a single match.
"It says something about the purity of their commitment to the game and their utter unwillingness to give up, even in the face of defeat after defeat."
- Just another player, even if I run like a girl -
Once they had gained the team s trust, the filmmakers encountered a fascinating group of individuals desperate for footballing redemption.
Among them was defender Jaiyah Saelua, born John Saelua and recognised by FIFA as the first transgender player in international football.
Saelua is a fa afafine, part of a Polynesian tradition which -- in her words -- recognises that someone who is born male can have the spirit of a woman.
While a transgender player may attract prejudice in some western teams, Saelua s Samoan teammates who grew up with fa afafine simply accepted her as another member of the squad.
"I m just a soccer player, even though I run like a girl," she says in the movie. "I m not a male or a female, I m a soccer player."
And then there was Nicky Salapu, the goalkeeper traumatised by the 31-0 defeat, who would wake up at night a decade later reliving the experience of picking the ball from the back of his net time after time.
Other squad members included a overweight midfielder named Rambo and a player who smoked during training.
- Footballers not all horrible millionaires -
The coach charged with bringing the disparate group together was Dutchman Thomas Rongen, a gravel-voiced maverick whose tough approach initially alienated the easy-going Samoans.
The film follows their fortunes as they struggle to find form, culminating in the country s first ever win against Tonga in late 2011.
Brett said the Samoans  never-say-die attitude had rekindled his love of football and professional players such as former England defender Graeme Le Saux had reacted in a similar manner after seeing the documentary.
With the World Cup around the corner, he said the film, which will screen at the Sydney Film Festival next month, was a reminder to everyone of the simple joys of football and sport in general.
"People want us to say  oh, look at all these horrible football millionaires, aren t they terrible people and aren t these poor Samoans great ," he said.
"That s pretty patronising both to the Samoans and the pros. Most of the professionals dearly love the game, but they re in a highly pressurised environment where it can be easy to lose sight of that."
America Samoa is currently ranked 197 in the world, 10 places from the bottom of the FIFA rankings.
HZY

Tuesday 20 May 2014

Sequel eyed as 'Godzilla' crushes box office rivals

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The movie scored a killer $93.2 million on its opening weekend in north America.

LOS ANGELES- The latest remake of classic monster flick "Godzilla" stormed straight to the top of the global box office at the weekend, raising prospects of lucrative sequels to the Japanese dinosaur-like behemoth.
The movie, in which "Breaking Bad" star Bryan Cranston plays the tortured Japanese-speaking scientist battling to save humanity, scored a killer $93.2 million on its opening weekend in north America, and more than twice that globally.
The latest incarnation of the 1954 classic, which also stars Oscar-winning French actress Juliette Binoche as well as Britons Sally Hawkins and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, continues the original's exploration of the threat of nuclear disasters.
The $160 million budget movie, in which Godzilla does battle with two giant and long-dormant creatures which feed off radioactivity, pushed raunchy comedy "Neighbors" to a distant second place.
"This has a potential to be Warner's newest tentpole franchise," said Jeff Bock of box office trackers Exhibitor Relations, using industry-speak for mega-budget blockbuster movies, crucial to studios' financial success.
Warner Bros, which could use a new dependable franchise after the end of the Harry Potter series, is already working on a sequel to "Godzilla" according to industry journal Variety, which said the film made nearly $200 million globally this weekend.
Jon Jashni, head and chief creative officer of Legendary Pictures, the production company which works with Warner Bros, said the smash box office debut was important.
"It's very validating," he told Variety. "You can't ask for a better situation when you have a group of people who were perhaps expecting to be let down, were impressed," Jashni added.
"Our initial goal was to re-brand and re-establish the property ... Now, we're trying to take in all of the results of the weekend," he said, as box office figures were confirmed Monday.
Screenwriter Max Borenstein defended the movie's decision to delay the moment when the star of the show appears on screen - likening it to the tension built up in 1975 shark attack classic "Jaws."
"There was something great about the suspense that was built up when you didn't see Jaws in the full until the end of the film," he told the Hollywood Reporter.
"By doing so, that movie becomes incredibly suspenseful, and perhaps it's the reason 'Jaws 2' becomes a lot less interesting, because you see him right from the very beginning," he said.
The movie left its box office rivals trailing way behind Monday.
Universal Pictures' "Neighbors," starring Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne living next door to a raucous fraternity house, earned $25.1 million from Friday to Sunday, according to Exhibitor Relations.
In third place, "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," the sequel featuring Andrew Garfield, took in $16.8 million for a total $172 million in the three weeks since its release.
Another newcomer, "Million Dollar Arm," finished in the fourth spot. The film starring Jon Hamm, a true story about a Major League Baseball agent who goes to India to find the next big thing among cricket players, had ticket sales worth $10.5 million.
Down to fifth, "The Other Woman," a romantic comedy starring Cameron Diaz, earned $6.3 million.
In sixth place was "Heaven Is for Real," starring Greg Kinnear as the father of a four-year-old boy who wakes up from emergency surgery with a story about going to heaven and back. It pulled in $4.4 million.
Seventh was animated flick "Rio 2," at just over $3.7 million. It just barely overtook "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," at nearly $3.7 million.
Rounding out the top ten were "Legends of Oz," pulling in just under $2 million, followed by PG-rated comedy "Moms' Night Out," with $1.8 million.

Tuesday 13 May 2014

Struggling BlackBerry fights back with budget smartphone

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The phone will be available in shops from Thursday and will cost $190.

- BlackBerry on Tuesday launched a new budget handset in Indonesia, one of its last bastions, in the hope it will take off in emerging markets and stem a decline in the smartphone maker s fortunes.
The touchscreen Z3, designed with Indonesia in mind but expected to be introduced in other fast-growing markets later, is the first new BlackBerry phone since chief executive John Chen took the helm of the crisis-hit company in November.
The handset is also the first to be produced from the Canadian firm s partnership with Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn, which also makes gadgets for Apple, and is a key test of whether the new strategy will work.
BlackBerry hopes the Indonesian model -- whose full name is the Z3 "Jakarta Edition" -- will be a hit in Southeast Asia s biggest economy, where the company maintains a loyal following, thanks in part to the popularity of its BBM messaging service.
The phone will be available in shops from Thursday and will cost 2,199,000 rupiah ($190), BlackBerry said in a statement.
But even in Indonesia, the company s biggest market in Asia according to IDC telecoms consultancy, market share has shrunk dramatically in the past year and analysts are sceptical the new phone will do much to help.
"The launch of this device is really BlackBerry s final stand in the Indonesian market," IDC s Sudev Bangah told AFP.
IDC said BlackBerry s market share had collapsed from about 40 percent in 2011 to around five percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, due in particular to fierce competition from Samsung.
It is the same story in other markets worldwide as BlackBerry fights a losing battle to keep up with fierce competition from Apple s iPhone and devices using the Google Android operating system.
The once-dominant smartphone maker has has suffered heavy losses and slashed thousands of jobs in recent years.
The company even put itself up for sale last year but abandoned hopes of finding a buyer several months later, and ousted chief executive Thorsten Heins.


- Small signs of improvement -

Since Chen took over, there have been small signs of improvement. The company reported a loss of $423 million in the three months to March 1, which was not as bad as had been feared.
As part of its turnaround strategy, the smartphone maker announced the tie-up with Foxconn in December.
It involves transferring manufacturing and inventory management to the Taiwanese company, while allowing BlackBerry to focus on software and services.
At the Jakarta launch, Chen said the company aimed to "re-pivot to make very sure that our customers are taken care of".
He revealed that the phone had been codenamed "Jakarta" during production, adding: "Jakarta is a very, very strong market for the BlackBerry".
The Z3 has a five inch (13 centimetre) touchscreen, without the physical keyboard of the older devices.
The Jakarta Edition s BBM messaging service comes loaded with pictures of local cartoon characters for users to send to one another.
There is also a limited edition with the inscription "Jakarta" on the back.
BlackBerry s most recent phones have not fared well in Indonesia but the company believes the Z3 will be popular, in particular due to its lower price.
Retailers say that online pre-orders, which began on April 28, have been healthy.
Prayudi Aji, who moderates a BlackBerry chat forum with thousands of users, said the long battery life on the new phone would prove popular due to Indonesians  love of chatting.
"Blackberry s market in Indonesia has shrunk but actually (the) phones still have features Indonesians love," he told AFP at the Jakarta launch.
BlackBerry has refused to say which emerging markets it might take the phone to next, but analysts speculated it would likely be others in Southeast Asia.
HZY

Tuesday 6 May 2014

Somalia worst place to be a mother

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Save the Children report says that Somalia is the worst country on Earth to be a mother.

LONDON (AFP) - Somalia is the worst country on Earth to be a mother, according to a report published by Save the Children on Monday which calls for more action to protect mothers and children in crisis-hit areas.
The London-based charity estimates that 800 mothers and 18,000 young children are dying around the world every day from largely preventable causes.
Finding ways to meet the health and nutritional needs of this vulnerable group is particularly vital in fragile states and humanitarian crises, it says in its annual "State of the World's Mothers" report.
Almost a third of child deaths are found in West and Central Africa, while another third occur in South Asia, where high mortality rates are increasingly concentrated in socially-excluded communities.
The charity compared 178 countries in terms of maternal health, child mortality, education and levels of women's income and political status.
Somalia came bottom of the global rankings, although only narrowly below the Democratic Republic of Congo -- the lowest ranking country last year -- followed by Niger, Mali and Guinea-Bissau.
"It's no surprise that the 10 toughest places to be a mother in this year's Mothers' Index all have a recent history of armed conflict and are considered to be fragile states," said Save the Children International's chief executive Jasmine Whitbread.
"The poorest mothers have it the hardest: the report once again points out the disheartening disparity between mothers in rich and poor countries."
Three years ago Afghanistan was the worst place to be a mother, but it is now ranked 146th due to progress in cutting child and maternal death.
By contrast Syria has slumped from 65th place in 2011 to 115th in 2014, after the conflict caused "the collapse of what had been a functioning health system, and threatens to set back progress by a generation", the report says.
More than 60 million women and children needed humanitarian assistance this year, the report says.
While more than half of maternal and child deaths occur in crisis-affected places, the majority of these deaths were still preventable, it argues.
Top of the list of the charity's recommendations is improving access to high quality healthcare, but it also emphasises the benefits of investing in women's education and economic empowerment.
"Every country must be better prepared to assist mothers and children in emergencies," the report said.
However, it conceded: "Ending preventable deaths of mothers and children will not be possible until fragile countries become more stable and health care more accessible."
Finland is the best place to be a mother, followed by Norway, Sweden, Iceland and the Netherlands.
The highest non-European countries were Australia (9th), Singapore (15th) and New Zealand (17th), while the United States came in 31st place and China in 61st place.
The lowest non-African countries were Haiti (168th), Papua New Guinea (164th) and Yemen (162nd).
Top 10 (rank , country):
1 -- Finland
2 -- Norway
3 -- Sweden
4 -- Iceland
5 -- Netherlands
6 -- Denmark
7 -- Spain
8 -- Germany
=9 -- Australia
=9 -- Belgium
Bottom 10 (rank , country):
178 -- Somalia
177 -- Democratic Republic of Congo
=175 -- Mali
=175 -- Niger
173 -- Central African Republic
172 -- Sierra Leone
174 -- Guinea-Bissau
171 -- Nigeria
170 -- Chad
169 -- Ivory Coast

Thursday 1 May 2014

'Amazing Spider-man 2' nimble with power, humour

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The Sony film has its North American premiere on Friday after a staggered release around the world.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Young Anglo-American actor Andrew Garfield is springing back into action in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," throwing himself anew into the web-spinning ordinary hero's role.
The Sony film has its North American premiere on Friday after a staggered release around the world that started in mid-April.
Marc Webb, who directed the first instalment of the trilogy, is behind the camera again and 30-year-old Garfield and Emma Stone -- a couple both on- and off-screen -- return as Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy.
The first part of a new Spider-Man trilogy opened in 2012, replacing a well-received series directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire.
The new Garfield-led Spidey fared quite well at the box office, bringing in $754 million worldwide.
Now, despite "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" heavily on big action scenes in the style of "Iron Man" and "The Avengers" -- Garfield says there is time to own the character introduced in the first instalment.
Similarly, his character Peter Parker finds himself coming into his own as his heroic alter ego, Spider-Man.
"It was very fun to own the character. And Peter Parker is really owning the character too and is really enjoying himself. He is really realizing that this is an amazing opportunity," Garfield told AFP.
The film revisits classic Spider-Man themes, such as how Peter can poss balance normal life with the life of a super hero protecting New Yorkers from villains: this time Jamie Foxx as "Electro."

- "I'm still learning" -
========================

For lanky 30-year-old Garfield, whose Hollywood ascent took its time before the Spider-Man franchise came calling -- Spider-Man is not just about the heroic. He also has things to teach us.
"I want to take the ethos and the lessons learned from the character, from Spider-Man and bring them into my life," he said.
"That's the most amazing thing about playing the part as I get to spend time in the energy of this hero, this very ordinary hero. And the big lesson is that even if you're ordinary, which we all are, we all are human, we all have the possibility and capability to do extraordinary things in our lives."
This new film has also been a chance for Garfield to give Peter's character more nuance, and humor, than he did in his first go.
"We tried to do it in the first but Peter was going through too much stuff personally to really get the humor going. But now he can really enjoy himself," Garfield says.
Though busy with "Spider-Man" filming and promotion, Garfield also finds time to take parts in smaller, independent films. This year he will be in "99 Homes", which he also produced.
"That's the main message that I take away from playing this character. I don't really judge things based on size. I judge things based on how my heart feels about them and what my gut tells me," Garfield says, adding: "I'm still learning.
"I'll be able to answer when I finish the journey because I think that when you're in the journey, it's hard to be objective. But I know I'm learning a lot, it's been a very accelerated process for me."