Tuesday, January 20, 2015

CNN To Use Drones for Getting News



FAA Grants CNN Permission to Fly Drones as Test for News-gathering


After receiving preliminary approval from the FAA, Cable news channel CNN plans to study the use of drones as a tool for broadcast journalism. CNN announced an agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration that will allow the news organization to fly the unmanned aircraft despite the commercial ban on drones. CNN will report its findings to the FAA over the next two years, which will help shape the agency’s upcoming rules for these aircraft. Drones are already used for reporting in other countries and many times illegally by freelancers reporting in the U.S.


This is a different type of drone regulation than the FAA’s current exceptions for select movie production aerial services. Currently, those companies have to notify the FAA three days in advance of their filming. However, with the immediacy required to cover breaking news, CNN wants the FAA to consider regulating news drones in the same way that they regulate news helicopters.  The FAA will decide on the final rules based on CNN’s testing.

NBC is also in negotiations with the FAA to do similar drone testing while some media groups believe that the FAA’s strict policies on drones violate the First Amendment and have sought legal remedy via the courts.

Source: Digital Cinema Society

 

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Monday, January 19, 2015

Chinese Telecoms Giant Cancels Contract Over PDP Posters


Chinese Telecoms giant cancels contract over PDP Posters

Chinese Telecoms services giant Huawei has cancelled its street lamp pole outdoor contract, with Lagos based outdoor advertising agency Touchpoint Limited over illegal deployment of Goodluck Jonathan campaign materials on poles paid for by the company.

Huawei had secured the old tollgate location by Motorways, Ojota, Lagos, for a period of one year and had paid the mandatory Lagos State Signage & Advertisement Agency (LASAA) fee for their campaign. Sources at Huawei said the deployment of Goodluck Jonathan campaign materials alongside theirs was unacceptable and therefore had no alternative but to cancel the contract.

Touch Point in a statement said ‘Our client, Huawei cancelled the contract saying it was due to the breach by the PDP to run a parallel campaign on poles solely reserved for Huawei’’.

The statement went on further: ‘Elections should not be used as an avenue to disrupt the honest business of hardworking Nigerians. There are procedures for deployment of items on street lamp poles and, going through this crude means is not only damaging, it is unfair, inconsiderate and above all illegal by a political party that seemingly prides itself on the rule of law. I have spoken with my lawyers and we are considering legal action over this inconsiderate action by the PDP and its agents’’.

One of the illegal PDP adverts on poles paid for by Huawei


))))))))))))))))
Contact for Touch Point: Mrs Maureen Taiwo

0802 300 2448 tm.idowu@touchpointsltd.com tamidowu@yahoo.co.uk

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Use the Foot Bridge To Cross the Express Road and Save Your Life


Even walking 1000 meters to take the nearest foot bridge is safer to save your precious life than risk suicide by crossing the express road with speeding vehicles.
 
#iVoteNigeria.

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Sunday, January 18, 2015

2015 Oscar Nominations Without the Politics of Bellyaching.Spike Lee and Others

87th Academy Awards Nominations.

Best Picture
  • "American Sniper"
  • "Birdman"
  • "Boyhood"
  • "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
  • "The Imitation Game"
  • "Selma"
  • "The Theory of Everything"
  • "Whiplash"
Best Actor
  • Steve Carell, "Foxcatcher"
  • Bradley Cooper, "American Sniper"
  • Benedict Cumberbatch, "The Imitation Game"
  • Michael Keaton, "Birdman"
  • Eddie Redmayne, "The Theory of Everything"
Best Actress
  • Marion Cotillard, "Two Days, One Night"
  • Felicity Jones, "The Theory of Everything"
  • Julianne Moore, "Still Alice"
  • Rosamund Pike, "Gone Girl"
  • Reese Witherspoon, "Wild"
Best Supporting Actor
  • Robert Duvall, "The Judge"
  • Ethan Hawke, "Boyhood"
  • Edward Norton, "Birdman"
  • Mark Ruffalo, "Foxcatcher"
  • J.K. Simmons, "Whiplash"
Best Supporting Actress
  • Patricia Arquette, "Boyhood"
  • Laura Dern, "Wild"
  • Keira Knightley, "The Imitation Game"
  • Emma Stone, "Birdman"
  • Meryl Streep, "Into the Woods"
Best Director
  • Alejandro González Iñárritu, "Birdman"
  • Richard Linklater, "Boyhood"
  • Bennett Miller, "Foxcatcher"
  • Wes Anderson, "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
  • Morten Tydlum, "The Imitation Game"
Best Adapted Screenplay
  • "American Sniper," Jason Hall
  • "The Imitation Game," Graham Moore
  • "Inherent Vice," Paul Thomas Anderson
  • "The Theory of Everything," Anthony McCarten
  • "Whiplash," Damien Chazelle
Best Original Screenplay
  • "Birdman," Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo
  • "Boyhood," Richard Linklater
  • "Foxcatcher," E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
  • "The Grand Budapest Hotel," Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness
  • "Nightcrawler," Dan Gilroy
Best Foreign Film
  • "Ida"
  • "Leviathan"
  • "Tangerines"
  • "Timbuktu"
  • "Wild Tales"
Best Documentary Feature
  • "Citizenfour"
  • "Finding Vivian Maier"
  • "Last Days in Vietnam"
  • "Virunga"
  • "The Salt of the Earth"
Best Animated Feature
  • "Big Hero 6"
  • "The Boxtrolls"
  • "How to Train Your Dragon 2"
  • "Song of the Sea"
  • "The Tale of the Princess Kaguya"
Film Editing
  • "American Sniper"
  • "Boyhood"
  • "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
  • "The Imitation Game"
  • "Whiplash"
Best Song
  • "Everything Is Awesome" from "The Lego Movie"; Music and Lyric by Shawn Patterson
  • "Glory" from "Selma"; Music and Lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn
  • "Grateful" from "Beyond the Lights"; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
  • "I’m Not Gonna Miss You" from "Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me"; Music and Lyric by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond
  • "Lost Stars" from "Begin Again"; Music and Lyric by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois
Best Original Score
  • "The Grand Budapest Hotel," Alexandre Desplat
  • "The Imitation Game," Alexandre Desplat
  • "Interstellar," Hans Zimmer
  • "Mr. Turner," Gary Yershon
  • "The Theory of Everything," Jóhann Jóhannsson
Best Cinematography
  • "Birdman," Emmanuel Lubezki
  • "The Grand Budapest Hotel," Robert Yeoman
  • "Ida," Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski
  • "Mr. Turner," Dick Pope
  • "Unbroken," Roger Deakins
Costume Design
  • "The Grand Budapest Hotel," Milena Canonero
  • "Inherent Vice," Mark Bridges
  • "Into the Woods," Colleen Atwood
  • "Maleficent," Anna B. Sheppard and Jane Clive
  • "Mr. Turner," Jacqueline Durran
Makeup and Hairstyling
  • "Foxcatcher"
  • "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
  • "Guardians of the Galaxy"
Production Design
  • "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
  • "The Imitation Game"
  • "Interstellar"
  • "Into the Woods"
  • "Mr. Turner"
Sound Editing
  • "American Sniper"
  • "Bidman"
  • "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies"
  • "Interstellar"
  • "Unbroken"
Sound Mixing
  • "American Sniper"
  • "Birdman"
  • "Interstellar"
  • "Unbroken"
  • "Whiplash"
Visual Effects
  • "Captain America: The Winter Soldier"
  • "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes"
  • "Guardians of the Galaxy"
  • "Interstellar"
"X-Men: Days of Future Past"

Short Film, Live Action

  • "Aya"
  • "Boogaloo and Graham"
  • "Butter Lamp"
  • "Parvaneh"
  • "The Phone Call"
Short Film, Animated
  • "The Bigger Picture"
  • "The Dam Keeper"
  • "Feast"
  • "Me and my Moulton"
  • "A Single Life"
Documentary Short Subject
  • "Crisis Hotline"
  • "Johanna"
  • "Our Curse"
  • "The Reaper"
  • "White Earth"
The 87th Academy Awards ceremony presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) will take place on February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, USA.

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Saturday, January 17, 2015

President Goodluck Jonathan Would Have Been Better As Governor of Bayelsa State


President Goodluck Jonathan, PhD, never had any political experience in democracy and governance before he joined politics in 1998 and became the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State alongside his boss retired Squadron Leader Diepreye Alamieyeseigha who was sworn in as the governor of the state on the platform of People's Democratic Party (PDP) on May 29, 1999.

Mr. Jonathan was Deputy Governor until December 2005 when be was sworn in as Governor on December 9, 2005 after the impeachment of Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha by the Bayelsa State Assembly. Alamieyeseigha was found guilty of money laundering in the United Kingdom. The following year 2006, Dame Patience Jonathan was implicated in crimes related to money laundering and investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Mr. Jonathan was Governor of Bayelsa State from 2005 to 2007 and suddenly became Vice-President of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010 when on February 9, 2010, the Nigerian Senate authorized him to act as President of Nigeria, because President Yar'Adua went for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia. Without waiting for the return of his boss, on his very first day as acting President, Mr. Jonathan announced a minor cabinet reshuffle. And following the death of President Umaru Yar'Adua on May 5, 2010, Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 6, 2010, becoming Nigeria's 14th Head of State.

From the time that he joined the PDP in 1998 and suddenly becoming Deputy Governor of Bayelsa state on May 29, 1999 to becoming Governor,, Vice President and finally President of Nigeria, you can see that he was only a victim of unforeseen circumstances of both natural and unnatural political intrigues of the PDP and he was not prepared for the political leadership of Nigeria and has clearly shown that he has been overwhelmed by the challenges and trials of being the President and Commander-in-Chief of the most populous country in Africa at the most critical period of the history of Nigeria since the Nigerian civil war. Therefore, instead of facing and tackling the critical challenges of a Commander-in-Chief in a time of war against the Islamic terrorist group of the Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'Awati Wal-Jihad ("People Committed to the Prophet's Teachings for Propagation and Jihad"), popularly known as "Boko Haram", he has been more occupied by the opportunities and spinoffs of his office by spending more money on awarding questionable government contracts to many beneficiaries who are mostly his sycophants, gangsters and terrorists from his native Niger Delta and the capitalist mafia of the ruling class of oil barons and their cartel controlling both the legal and illegal export and import of crude oil, import of cement, rice, sugar, vehicles and other goods running into billions of dollars.

Many of the so called achievements his ministers and public relations agents have been bragging about and publishing in the news media are simply things that a state governor can do without much fanfare as demonstrated by Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State and Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio of Akwa Ibom. The achievements that President Goodluck Jonathan could not even achieve a fraction as Governor of Bayelsa State.

Imagine President Barack Obama or even Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, President of South Africa boasting about refurbishing the trains and renovating airports or commissioning Nigerian vehicle assembly plants with imported tyres and engines and some thousands of bags of locally produced rice that cannot even be enough to feed a local government.
It is embarrassing for a Commander-in-Chief of the biggest democracy in Africa to be bragging of such normal duties of any state government in Africa that you will not even hear or see a mayor bragging about them in the US.

What made Nigeria the largest economy in Africa are the socioeconomic achievements of Lagos state and not from the largely underdeveloped states in the country. Most of the foreign investors end up in Lagos, because they cannot invest in the restive Niger Delta and the insecure northern states terrorized by the rampaging Boko Haram.

The President has even failed to rescue the remaining missing Chibok school girls since April 14, 2014, when those who escaped have given the Nigerian Armed Forces enough information on their locations in the areas controlled by the Boko Haram. It is really an embarrassment for a President to see the Boko Haram guerrillas openly attacking and slaughtering defenceless and helpless citizens in their villages and towns and having enough time for celebrations and making speeches without any strike from the Nigerian Air Force and he is boasting of buying more frigates for the Nigerian Navy when the Nigerian Army is lamenting that the soldiers don't have enough modern arsenal to confront and defeat the ruthless insurgents.

The President has shown that he would have been better left as a state governor to learn more about political leadership and governance and gain more experience before even attempting to contest for presidential election to become the President of Nigeria.

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Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Dear President Goodluck Jonathan, Honour Your Word

 
You have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth
 ~ Proverbs 6:2, Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV) 
At two separate fora yesterday in Abuja, President Goodluck Jonathan said he had no intention to stay in the Presidential Villa beyond May 29, 2015.
- See more at: http://www.nigeriadailynews.com/latest-additions/24805-i-won%E2%80%99t-stay-in-office-beyond-2015,-jonathan-insists.html.
Dear President Goodluck Jonathan, it would only be a matter of proving that you are indeed a true leader by demonstrating the dignity, integrity and nobility of a true statesman if you honour your word as quoted in the widely circulated news reports and on the front page of The Guardian newspaper on July 28, 2011.

As you profess to be a God fearing Christian, then honour God by honouring your word, so that you would not end up as a liar or a "419" President of Nigeria who has lied to deceive and mislead Nigeria.

Six years in office is more than enough time to prove that you are indeed a competent and efficient President, Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and not an apologist making excuses for your failures.
Any leader that cannot prove himself in four years is not worthy of being a leader.
Even Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State who is a leading member of your ruling party, People's Democratic Party (PDP) has openly said Gen. Muhammad Buhari (retd), the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is incorruptible and honest leader.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that Mr. Lamido stated this while addressing supporters of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at a rally in Maigatari on Monday January 12, 2015. And majority of Nigerian voters know that this is the truth.
Nigerians deserve to be led by an incorruptible and honest leader and not a liar.

Making the loudest noise does not mean you are making sense or wise.
Saying that you will not send corrupt people who are criminals to jail is political nonsense.
Have you ever visited Nigerian prisons?
Where you will see poor and powerless Nigerians jailed for stealing fowls and goats. But you have pardoned your corrupt political associates and bosses who have been indicted and convicted of stealing millions of dollars in criminal misappropriations of public funds and depriving fellow Nigerians of the dividends of democracy and good governance since the PDP came to power on May 29, 1999.
The fact is your ruling party has failed and that is why The New York Times rated your administration as grossly corrupt!
The United States- based New York Times has said that President Goodluck Jonathan is leading a corrupt government.
It added that the government had little credibility.
The newspaper, in its editorial published on its website on May 6, condemned Jonathan’s “inept and slow” attitude towards locating and rescuing the schoolgirls abducted from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, on April 14.
  http://www.punchng.com/news/jonathan-leads-a-corrupt-government-says-new-york-times/.
Reject the greed for power and foolish pride and do the honourable thing, keep your word and conduct the freest and fairest presidential election in the history of Nigeria and leave the Presidential Villa as one of the greatest presidents of Nigeria and not a lying president of political conceit and deceit who has made the lives of majority of Nigerians the worst experiences of life since the end of the Nigerian civil war.
 You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth
~ Deuteronomy 23:23, Holy Bible, ESV.


~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, aka "Orikinla Osinachi",  Publisher/Editor of Nigerians Report Online, author of Children of Heaven, Scarlet Tears of London,The Language of True Love, Bye, Bye Zimbabwe, In the House of DogsThe Prophet LiedDiary of the Memory KeeperNOLLYWOOD MIRROR® and other books in print and electronic versions distributed by Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Lulu, Tower Books and other booksellers worldwide. He has been a former aide in the publicity department of the Alhaji Bamanga Tukur's Presidential Campaign in 1990 and now coordinating the Transform Nigeria Network in the social media.


Bestselling Books by Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, aka "Orikinla Osinachi"



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Saturday, January 10, 2015

The Highest Paid Bloggers in Nigeria Make from N2m - N50m Annually.

  Photo Credit: SHOUTERS HUB.

The highest paid bloggers in Nigeria make from N2m - N50m annually.

The highest paid bloggers in the world make from US$200, 000 - US$3 million annually, mostly from adverts and affiliate marketing of brands and products online.
The highest paid blogger in the world is Michael Arrington whose popular Silicon Valley tech blog TechCrunch makes $500,000 – $800,000 per month.

Source: #iBlog


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How We Crushed Islamic Terrorists in Northern Nigeria before President Goodluck Jonathan - Dr. Alex Ekwueme

HOW WE CRUSHED ISLAMIC TERRORISTS IN NORTHERN NIGERIA BEFORE PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN - DR. ALEX EKWUEME, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA.

"In our time we had Maitatsine, I think in the same Borno State, the same Maiduguri but President Shehu Shagari didn’t waste time in crushing them. They resurfaced in Kano, we faced them again squarely, surfaced in Sokoto State, his own state, in area that was our showpiece for rural development, irrigation, there they were finally crushed, they didn’t rear their heads again until we finished. Then when Buhari came in 1984, they resurfaced again this time in Yola and he dealt with them as well. Some people said that you can’t kill insurgency with the force of arms, but even insurgents are not immortal, except for few who are suicidal elements; many of them don’t want to die in the final analysis. So, if you face them squarely, they are bound to retreat." 
~ Dr Alex Ekwueme, former Vice President of Nigeria, serving 1979 – 1983., Daily Sun of Nigeria.

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Friday, January 9, 2015

South African Government Condemns Boko Haram Attacks in Nigeria

 
Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram leader

PRETORIA, South Africa, 9 January 2015 / PRN Africa / -- The South African Government has today, 9 January 2015, joined the international community in condemning in the strongest possible terms the inhumane and barbaric attacks by Boko Haram against at least 16 towns and villages in the north and north east of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, reportedly killing hundreds of people and thousands sent fleeing into neighbouring countries.

Deliberate attacks against innocent civilians are contraventions of well-established international human rights and humanitarian law and constitute a crime against humanity.

In this regard, the South African Government reiterates its stance that terrorism in any form and from whichever quarter cannot be condoned and South Africa stands firmly with the international community in condemning all forms of terrorism, and these acts in particular. South Africa will continue to support regional and international efforts to address the scourge of terrorism in all its forms.
The South African Government extends its deepest condolences to the Federal Government and people of Nigeria, especially to the families of the deceased and those displaced by these wanton acts of violence.
Enquiries: Mr Clayson Monyela, 082 884 5974

ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION
OR Tambo Building
460 Soutpansberg Road
Rietondale
Pretoria
SOURCE Department of International Relations and Cooperation, Republic of South Africa

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Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Nollywood Goes To El Dorado for What We Have in Sokoto?


Why did the administrators of Project Nollywood approve and sponsor some Nigerian filmmakers to film schools overseas when we have proven film schools in Nigeria such as the National Film Institute in Jos, Del-York Creative Academy in Lagos and the African Film and TV Academy (AFTA) in Lagos and Port Harcourt, that is affiliated to Whistling Woods International, one of the best 10 film schools in the world?
The costs of going overseas would have been saved if Project Nollywood sent them to AFTA, National Film Institute and other world class film schools in Nigeria. In fact, for a couple of them, the 30 days they spent at the film schools in the United States of America and United Kingdom did nothing more than give them the pleasure of traveling to the US and UK and not for the benefit of learning anything new in film making that they could not learn at the reputable film schools in Nigeria.


This anomaly shows that the management of Project Nollywood does not know how to manage the administration of the N3 billion naira grants as we have also seen in the poorly marketed films produced with funds from the entertainment intervention fund managed by the Bank of Industry and NEXIM Bank. Millions of dollars have been lost in the in productions of “Half of A Yellow Sun” and “Doctor Bello”, due to lack of experience and expertise in film distribution by the filmmakers who were given loans to make their movies, but without media plan for the publicity of the movies which is critical and pivotal to successful film distribution. Another beneficiary has been given loan for film distribution, because he could provide the required collateral, but his poor knowledge of modern film distribution is glaring, because he does not even have any media plan for his marketing of Nigerian films and he is still grappling with the shortage of content.


There is no film distribution without publicity which must be in the total budget of every film project. James Cameron spent more on the publicity than the amount he spent on the production of his 2009 blockbuster “Avatar” and that boosted the film distribution to make the epic film the highest-grossing film of all time so far in history; making over US$2, 787, 965, 087. “The budget was "$237 million, with $150 million for promotion, end of story,” said a spokesperson for 20th Century Fox Studios.


What we need most for Nollywood is not handing out grants for unnecessary film production courses overseas, but film seminars and workshops on local and global film distribution that will boost Nollywood to become a major player in the global film market like China that has overtaken Japan to become the second biggest global film market after United States of America, even without dubbing their film industry “Chinawood”. Presently Nigeria does not have a film market and how can you have a film industry without a film market? Having a film market will boost film distribution like the American Film Market The American Film Market is described as follows.
The business of independent motion picture production and distribution - a truly collaborative process - reaches its peak every year at the American Film Market. Over 8,000 industry leaders converge in Santa Monica for eight days of deal-making, screenings, seminars, networking and parties. Participants come from over 70 countries and include acquisition and development executives, agents, attorneys, directors, distributors, festival directors, financiers, film commissioners, producers, writers, the world’s press all those who provide services to the motion picture industry. As we can see how important a film market is to having a film industry.

If we have world class film schools in Nigeria, then why should Nollywood filmmakers go as far away as El Dorado for what we already have in Sokoto?

 
 ~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima Publisher/Editor NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series

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