Monthly Archives: August 2011

Cowboys & Aliens Fails to Shoot Straight on Smoking

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Cowboys & Aliens Fails to Shoot Straight on Smoking with Its Youngest Movie Goers

Universal Takes One Step Forward, Two Steps Back with Major Smoking Scenes in Youth-Rated Blockbuster, Opening Today

Cowboys & Aliens, released today, will be reaching young theater audiences around the country with images of smoking that could motivate many of them to light up for the first time. Previous research has already confirmed a link between smoking images in movies and youth smoking initiation.

Universal Studios, spotlighted just two weeks ago in a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report as one of three movie companies that pared smoking in movies rated for youth by 96 percent, released the PG-13 blockbuster today, which features a cowboy hero, portrayed by Daniel Craig, who is seen smoking in key scenes.

“Just weeks ago, we applauded Universal for responding to this problem so responsibly by nearly eliminating tobacco from their G, PG and PG-13 movies,” said David Dobbins, Chief Operating Officer of Legacy®, the national public health foundation devoted to youth smoking prevention and adult smoking cessation. “This reversal confirms that without a uniform policy, young people will continue to see images of smoking that can inevitably cause them to smoke. It underscores how critical it is for the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to take a much-needed leadership role and adopt a comprehensive policy on smoking by which all studios must abide.”

In a July 15, 2011 CDC report,[1] findings revealed that Universal, Disney and Warner Bros., had reduced tobacco incidents per youth-rated movie by 96 percent on average between 2005 and 2010. The data found that three other major studios — Fox, Sony and Paramount — had performed remarkably less well (42%).

In order to reduce youth exposure to tobacco imagery and level the playing field for all movie companies, public health groups like Legacy recommended that future movies with smoking be R-rated. The CDC’s report earlier this month underscored that point, saying, “Consistent with the effects of anti-tobacco use policies adopted by the three motion picture companies, expanding the R-rating to include movies with smoking could further reduce exposures of young persons to onscreen tobacco incidents, making smoking initiation less likely.”

So far in 2011, major Hollywood studios have released at least 15 youth-rated movies with tobacco imagery, all but two with PG-13 ratings: Fox: Monte Carlo , Water for Elephants; Sony: Country Strong, The Green Hornet, Jumping the Broom, Priest, Midnight in Paris; Paramount: Rango (PG); Justin Bieber (G); Universal: Cowboys & Aliens, Hanna, Larry Crowne ; Warner Bros.: Sucker Punch, Unknown, The Rite.[2]

Cowboys & Aliens, distributed by Universal (Comcast), was produced by DreamWorks with Reliance (India), Relativity and Imagine Entertainment.[3] It was shot in New Mexico on a reported $100 million budget,[4] with public subsidies.[5]

[1] Glantz S, Mitchell S, Titus K, Polansky JR, Kaufmann R, Bauer U (2011) Smoking in top-grossing movies – United States, 2010. MMWR 60(27);909-913

[2] UCSF CTCRE preliminary analysis of Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down! Data (Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails.

[3] IMDbPro.com

[4] http://www.movieinsider.com/m4251/3/cowboys-and-aliens/

[5] http://www.nmfilm.com/filming/downloads/filmographyFiscalYear.pdf

NHS 'Letting Patients Die to Save Cash' Says Official Report

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A report by the Co-operation and Competition Panel (CCP), an independent watchdog that advises the NHS, claims that NHS managers are deliberately delaying operations, hoping that patients will die or go private in a ‘callous’ attempt to cut their budgets.

The report says that health service trusts will be ‘likely to impose greater pain and inconvenience’ by making those in need of care wait longer than necessary for surgery, the official report found.

By making patients wait for as long as four months, it is hoped they will remove themselves form the list ‘either by dying or by paying for their own treatment’.

NHS bosses are having to make £20billion of savings by 2014. The panel’s report claims unfair practices are ‘endemic’ in areas of England.

CCP chairman Lord Carter of Coles said: ‘Commissioners have a difficult job in the current financial climate, but patients’ rights are often being restricted without a valid and visible reason.’ 

Katherine Murphy, of independent charity the Patients Association, said: ‘It is outrageous that some primary care trusts are imposing minimum waiting times.

‘The suggestion that it could save money because patients will remove themselves from the list by going private or dying is a callous and cynical manipulation of people’s lives and should not be tolerated.’ 

The Health Secretary, Andrew Lansely has spoken out and accused NHS managers of risking lives by making patients wait longer for treatment in a ‘cynical’ bid to save money. Lansley said the report showed why the NHS needed to be reformed.

‘This is exactly why we need to put patients’ interests first,’ he said. ‘Too many primary care trusts have been operating in a cynical environment where they can game the system – and in which political targets, particularly the maximum 18-week waiting time target, are used to actually delay treatment.

Care services minister Paul Burstow said: ‘This report illustrates exactly why we need to modernise the NHS and increase choice for patients.’

Richard Wright is On Tanget

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As the great Willie Nelson once told us “on the road again, just can’t wait to get on the road again”. That man spoke a lot of sense in that song but he also smoked a lot of cannabis apparently, so take anything he says with a slight pinch of salt. I know I do. Why am I quoting him? This makes no sense. Which would be fine if I was high but I don’t smoke weed. So anyway the confusion is back at Frost Magazine. For those of you who don’t know, cause let’s face it as Staind said; it has, in fact, been a while, I used to write a lot of nonsense on various things right here at Frost Magazine. And now due an underwhelming lack of public interest in those articles I am back to do some more. No need to thank me I know you didn’t ask me too. So let’s get down do it and do something America can’t do and raise the ceiling! That joke works better if it’s raise the roof but it’s not called the Debt Roof. If it was then the debt roof really is on fire. The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire. Anywho….

Let me introduce this little idea of mine. It’s called “on tangent” and basically I like to wander aimlessly wherever my mind takes me at that moment. There is never a moment when I can truly stay on topic. For example writing this now I have had to avoid slipping into a few lines on the topic chocolate bar. You see I will never be on topic and don’t go looking for a topic because there’s isn’t one. However I can promise that I can stay on tangent. There is to the best of my knowledge no chocolate bar called tangent. There is one in Sweden called Plop but none called Tangent. Plop is actually quite a tasty bit of confectionary. You see my issue. So here I present the first ever on tangent – I’ll keep these brief there is only so long you can read them before they become intolerable.

I thought we could start with something deep. The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return. Unless, of course, you’re a surgeon in which case that’s just not true at all. What I would like to talk with you about today is something that I believe is an important topic that deserves deep consideration. Why does Alexander Armstrong look quite so much like a Toby Jug? That’s not it but it just struck me, and I felt I should share.

Admittedly saying that was a tad pointless. Oh yes that’s right he shoots and he scores. Thank you thank you no need to applaud. I do quite like that quiz though it’s quite a good tea time watch. I wouldn’t mind going on pointless because I wouldn’t win and it would be pointless. I think we can all see the circularity in that. It would be the purest form of the quiz and I would have embraced the totality of the nature of naming the quiz pointless. Because my being on the show would be pointless and therefore that would surely make the lords of quiz naming happy. Although I have a feeling the name was initially rejected as the title for a Katie Price reality show. Or even just as the tagline to her life. I mean that would be a more honest title for one of those shows. Speaking of honest advertising here is a few potential company slogans if the companies involved decided to be a bit more honest about themselves:

1.We’re not ethical but you knew that – NewsCorp
2.We do terrible things but aren’t your trainers comfortable? – Nike
3.Evil vs tasty? Tasty wins – Nestle
4. Want to look like you care without trying too hard? Cadburys Dairy Milk
5. At this point we could probably sell you anything – Apple
6. Come on you don’t even watch Panorama – Primark
7.You don’t really understand it but everyone is else is doing it – Twitter

Speaking of advertising one of the adverts I saw for the new Alpha Romeo Mito made me angrily confused. Now car adverts is one of the places were rhetoric and the use of over the top language is common place and I can accept that for what it is. A ford focus won’t give you more focus. But this? Sorry Alpha this is lying! It runs on Adrenaline? It clearly won’t that’s so over the top stupid I can’t wrap my head around who said that was OK! It’s beyond my tiny mind and maybe that’s why I don’t understand it. But as the weeks role by here at Frost Magazine you’ll soon discover there are many things I don’t understand. And that’s ok. There is nothing wrong with saying I don’t understand. Nick Clegg says it every day when he looks in the mirror. And I can help Nick it’s called standing by your beliefs. Talk to Paddy Ashdown about it he might be able to help you out. You remember him right Nick?

So that’s all for this particular peculiar but always molecular edition of On tangent. I am aware that last sentence makes about as much sense as going to Lycos to do a search for Google but, you know, when you’re the type of person who does go to Lycos and type in Google you run with whatever you can think of. When I went to Lycos and typed in Google I just wanted it to link to a picture of a dog crying with the text “why do you mock me like this? It’s not right. You know where Google is. Why do you have to remind me things aren’t as good as we planned? I hate Google!” Thanks for reading until next time please occasionally use Lycos it will make its little tail wag.

PS – If Lycos had become the world powerhouse instead of Google would the popular phrase for doing an internet search have been “fetching”? It would have been better then “dogging it”

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt To Quit Acting: “We Had a Good Run”

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Angelina Jolie has revealed that she “doesn’t love” acting as much as she used to.

Jolie was in tears when she was honoured for her controversial war movie, The Land Of Blood And Honey, at the Sarajevo Film Festival. She was praised for her directing debut, which is about a Muslim woman and a Serbian man during the Bosnian war in the 1990s. However, Jolie also said that she and Brad plan to quit acting soon.

“As Brad and I get older, we’re going to do fewer films,” she said. “I’ve been working for a long time, he’s been working for a long time. We’ve had a nice run and don’t want to be doing this our whole lives.”

Jolie added: “I’ve never not been grateful to be an actor. But I think when I was younger, I needed [acting] more. I was trying to question things in life, so you find these characters that help you find things and grow. I’m older and I know who I am, and I’m less interested in the character helping me answer something than in being able to answer it for myself, as a woman, as an adult, with my family.”

Jolie was Forbes highest paid actress in 2009 and 2011, and she and boyfriend Brad Pitt are parents to six children, Maddox, 9, Pax, 7, Zahara, 6, Shiloh, 5 and twins Vivienne and Knox, 3.

She said: “Home is wherever we are. I’m very bad at staying in one place. I’m also bad at sitting still. There’s so much to explore in the world, so I love travel. If you can travel I think it’s the best way to raise kids.”