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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

Burton's next film is currently filming in London. Rather than being a remake of the 1971 Gene Wilder film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Burton's movie will reportedly be a more faithful adaptation of Dahl's novel.
You can visit the official Warner Bros. site here. There's not much there at the moment, but hopefully the eagerly-awaited trailer will appear there sometime soon. You can also discuss the movie with other Burton fans (and share exclusive scoops on the production) on our Charlie and the Chocolate Factory forum.

News & links From the Tim Burton Collective

November 7, 2004: We have an EXCLUSIVE picture of a Wonka Bar. Picture by jdsmylover.

October 30, 2004: Aint it cool news has posted some pictures from the set.

October 26, 2004: Some pictures of Johnny Depp in his Willy Wonka costume have sneaked their way onto the net. Picture 1 Picture 2

October 19, 2004: Here's a BBC interview with Johnny Depp where he talks a little about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

September 2, 2004: We've learned that there will be a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory game to tie in with the film.

July 17, 2004: An accident on the set of Charlie has occurred involving a camera dropping into a vat of chocolate! Let's hope it doesn't delay the production too much.
In other news today, Nestle are making chocolate bars especially for the film. Mmmmmm . . . chocolate.

June 30, 2004: More names have been announced for the cast, including Christopher Lee! And filming has officially started. See the full cast list here.

May 3, 2004: Freddie Highmore has apparently been cast as Charlie now, althogh there hasnt been any official confirmation yet. Highmore will appear in the movie Neverland with Johnny Depp later this year.

March 2, 2004: The filming on CATF has been delayed a bit, the new start date is now June 6th. Filming was previously scheduled for a May 4 start. The official release date seems to be set on July 15th, 2005 now.

Box Office Prophets has an articles about the prospects for the new film.

If you want to read more about the screenwriter of Charlie (as well as The Big Fish), John August, I suggest you take a look at his excellent homepage.

Michael Moore Unveils New Look On 'The Tonight Show'

Rick Ellis, Staff Writer

POSTED: 11:36 am EST November 30, 2004
UPDATED: 11:40 am EST November 30, 2004

On Monday night, filmmaker Michael Moore made his first appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" since the 2004 presidential election. As is often the case with Moore, he surprised the audience. But in this case, the surprise was the result of his new look. Moore appeared on stage wearing a suit and tie, no beard or hat and a trim haircut.

When asked by Jay Leno about his appearance, Moore quipped, "I thought I should look a little sharper for my IRS audit" and "If you can't beat them, you might as well look like them."

Moore told Leno that there was a reason President Bush was re-elected November 2, "He got more votes."

"The Republicans - I'll give them this - they had a story to tell," Moore continued. "The Democrats, often times, aren't very good at telling a story. And the [Bush] story was: Out of the ashes of Sept. 11 rose one man. And he stood on the rubble of lower Manhattan with a bullhorn and he said, 'I will protect you.' "

Moore had some advice for Democrats who were unhappy with the results of the 2004 presidential election. "[Bush's victory] was just a couple of percentage points," Moore told the "Tonight Show" audience. "People who voted for Kerry shouldn't be depressed at this point. They should pick themselves up . . . There's another game in four years. And we'll come back and do the best we can."

Moore previously appeared on "The Tonight Show" Oct. 15, when he led the studio audience in singing "America The Beautiful."

from the desk of...

Headlines for November 30, 2004

Report: Pentagon to Send 11,000 More Troops to Iraq
NBC News is reporting that the Pentagon now plans to increase the number of US troops in Iraq by up to 11,000 in the lead-up to the January elections. This will bring the total number of US troops in Iraq to 150,000.

November Near Deadliest Month For U.S. Troops
Meanwhile at least 134 US troops have died so far this month in Iraq making it nearly the deadliest month so far for the military. In April 135 troops died.

UK Charity: Iraqi Medical System Worse Now Than Under Hussein
The British medical charity Medact has concluded that the Iraqi health system is in far worse condition now than before the US invaded the country over 18 months ago. The charity said hospitals are plagued by poor sanitation, shortages of drugs and a shrinking number of qualified staff members. To make matters worse, 12 percent of Iraq's hospitals have been damaged so far in the war. And the country's two main public health laboratories have been destroyed. The charity group Medact also challenged the British government to set up a commission to establish the level of civilian casualties in Iraq.

Fearing Hecklers, Bush Skips Address at Canadian Parliament
President Bush is making his first official state visit to Canada today in an attempt to patch up relations with Ottawa which opposed the US invasion. Bush will be making stops in Ottawa and Halifax but the BBC reports he won't be addressing the Canadian Parliament because of the risk of being heckled by Canadian lawmakers.

Lawyers Urge Canadian PM to Block Bush's Entry Across Border
In Halifax, a mock war crimes trial will take place later today to try Bush for crimes committed in Iraq. The legal group Lawyers Against War has said that Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin should issue a warrant for President Bush's arrest for breaking the country's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act. The legal group called on Ottawa to deny Bush's entry into Canada because Canadian immigration law bars entry to "those who have engaged in gross violations of human rights."

from the desk of...

'They hate our policies, not our freedom'

Quietly released Pentagon report contains major criticisms of administration.
by Tom Regan | csmonitor.com

Late on the Wednesday afternoon before the Thanksgiving holiday, the US Defense Department released a report by the Defense Science Board that is highly critical of the administration's efforts in the war on terror and in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

'Muslims do not hate our freedom, but rather they hate our policies [the report says]. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the long-standing, even increasing, support for what Muslims collectively see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan and the Gulf states. Thus, when American public diplomacy talks about bringing democracy to Islamic societies, this is seen as no more than self-serving hypocrisy.'

The Pentagon released the study after The New York Times ran a story about the report in its Wednesday editions.

from the desk of...

Guantanamo Tactics 'Tantamount to Torture' -NY Times
Tue Nov 30, 2004 06:13 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross has accused the U.S. military of using tactics "tantamount to torture" on prisoners at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

An ICRC inspection team that spent most of June at Guantanamo Bay reported the use of psychological and sometimes physical coercion on the prisoners, the newspaper said.

It said it had recently obtained a memorandum that quoted the report in detail and listed its major findings.

More than 500 people are being held at the U.S. base in Cuba, detained during the 2001 U.S. war to oust al Qaeda and the ruling Taliban from Afghanistan and in other operations in the U.S. war against terror.

The Times said the U.S. government and military officials received the ICRC report in July and rejected its findings.

Asked by the Times about the report, a Pentagon spokesman said in a statement: "The United States operates a safe, humane and professional detention operation at Guantanamo that is providing valuable information in the war on terrorism."

The Times said the Red Cross investigators had found a system devised to break the will of prisoners through "humiliating acts, solitary confinement, temperature extremes, use of forced positions."

"The construction of such a system, whose stated purpose is the production of intelligence, cannot be considered other than an intentional system of cruel, unusual and degrading treatment and a form of torture," the Times quoted the report as saying.

Beatrice Megevand-Roggo, the committee's delegate-general for Europe and the Americas, told the newspaper the ICRC could not comment on the report submitted to the U.S. government.

The ICRC has agreed to keep its findings confidential.

Human rights groups and lawyers have criticized the United States for holding prisoners at the base indefinitely and most without charges or legal representation.

The U.S. government has taken the position that the detainees are "enemy combatants" and not entitled to the protections normally given to prisoners of war.

It has begun a process of holding individual trials, called tribunals, for each prisoner to determine their status.

From the desk of...

Wal-Mart bows to unionization in China, sort of

By David Barboza The New York Times Friday, November 26, 2004

SHANGHAI It may be a big step for Wal-Mart, but a tiny step for China.

After years of opposing unions in the United States and around the world, Wal-Mart Stores said this week that it would allow a union at its operations in China.

The decision may have been an about-face for Wal-Mart, which just months ago suggested that it would oppose a union here. But the move may have been a bow to Chinese law.

Perhaps just as important, unions have a different role in China: They work in close concert with management - that is, when they are not the management itself - and traditionally with the Communist Party.

Analysts were perplexed by the announcement, which read: "Should associates request formation of a union, Wal-Mart China would respect their wishes." But they said it could signal a significant change in the way Wal-Mart deals with worker issues. The company has long been criticized for its labor practices.

The company, the world's largest retailer with about 5,000 stores worldwide, has not acknowledged a single union within its operations in the United States, and has vigorously opposed the formation of unions within Wal-Mart.

"This is a watershed event," said Eugene Fram, a professor of marketing at the Rochester Institute of Technology and a longtime observer of Wal-Mart's operations. "This is the first time they've given acceptance without saying, 'Let's go to a union vote."'

Many analysts and union officials said it was unclear whether Wal-Mart, which has 40 stores and about 20,000 employees in China, intended to allow a real union to take shape or whether a strong union could even be created, given the status of unions in China.

Unions in China operate differently from independent unions in the United States or elsewhere. Rarely, for instance, do unions in China oppose management or press for higher wages or better working conditions, specialists say.

"Setting up a union won't make much difference on workers' wages because in most cases the union in China acts as a subsidiary to the employer and rarely represents the workers and fights for higher wages," said Fei Li, a retailing specialist at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

But there have been small signs of independent union activity in China, which could be a challenge to the government-run unions. Workers in Guangzhou recently went to court to fight their company's decision to appoint a high-level manager as the head of the union. Other labor groups have been pressing multinational companies to improve their working conditions.

The Wal-Mart announcement came after months of pressure from the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, a government-run umbrella organization. The federation had recently threatened to sue Wal-Mart and other multinational companies, like Dell and Samsung, if they did not allow the formation of unions here.

Wal-Mart acknowledged the federation in its news release and said it planned to comply with Chinese law, which allows the formation of unions in companies with 25 employees or more.

Wal-Mart executives often say its managers like to deal directly with employees rather than through third parties or unions.

 

Reuben's album Thanksgiving 2004 1 of 21 photos You're invited to view these photos online at Ofoto! Just click on View Photos below to get started. If you'd like to save this album, just sign in, or if you're new to Ofoto, create a free account. Once you've signed in, you'll be able to view this album whenever you want and order Kodak prints of your favorite photos. Enjoy!

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Reuben's album Ariana B. Loredo 1 of 47 photos You're invited to view these photos online at Ofoto! Just click on View Photos below to get started. If you'd like to save this album, just sign in, or if you're new to Ofoto, create a free account. Once you've signed in, you'll be able to view this album whenever you want and order Kodak prints of your favorite photos. Enjoy!

Instructions: Click view photos to begin looking at the newest addition to the Loredo Family, Ariana B. Loredo.  These 47 pictures document her first day at home with Gilbert, Monique and Lupita.  We are all very happy and thankful to have her.