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Neil Young – Neil Young Teams Up With ‘silence Of The Lambs’ Director

Neil Young has received rave reviews for his new documentary 'Neil Young Journeys', by American filmmaker Jonathan Demme - the man best known for directing 'Silence of the Lambs'. The new movie is based around Young's final performances in a solo tour that wrapped up at Toronto's historic Massey Hall - the scene of the sing-songwriters most famous concert.

Documentaries have always been Demme's passion, despite gaining critical acclaim for 'Lambs', as well as the more recent 'Rachel Getting Married'. He directed the classic Talking Heads concert movie 'Stop Making Sense' in 1984, shooting the band's three nights at Hollywood's Pantages Theatre. The Los Angeles Times put 'Journeys' amongst the top concert films, saying, "The show and the film end with an electrifying version of "Walk With Me," Young pacing the stage, guitar screaming before it cuts to silence, broken seconds later by wild applause. This alone makes "Journeys" worth taking". Claudia Puig of Usa Today heaped praise on the film, saying, "Neil Young Journeys underscores the continuing relevance of Young's artistry over the last 45 years and why he is regarded as one of rock's most influential musicians and songwriters". Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine said fans of the veteran singer-songwriter would be more than pleased with the movie, saying, "Journeys, shot on the last two nights of Young's 2011 solo world tour, is essential Neil Young".

Young released his 35th studio album earlier this month. 'Americana' reached No.4 on the Billboard 200 Chart.

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Neil Young - Neil Young Teams Up With 'silence Of The Lambs' Director

Bolt, Blake and Powell on cruise control

There was nothing electrifying about any of their performances with no one dipping under 10 seconds on a hot, muggy night at the National Stadium.

Triple Olympic champion and 100m world record holder Bolt was nonchalant as he settled into his blocks, pointed to the sky then coasted home first unchallenged in an ordinary 10.06.

The only thing flashy about Bolt's performance was his lime green spikes as he barely worked up a decent sweat putting a bigger effort into later out-running the media.

Blake, the 100m world champion, was little more inspired clocking 10 flat to take his heat while Powell, the reigning Jamaican 100m champion and former-world record holder, eased up at the line to finish second behind Nesta Carter in the same time of 10.19.

Michael Frater topped the fourth heat with 10.09.

Blake and Bolt had little comment about their efforts. Bolt changing quickly, pulling a white towel over his head and escaping the stadium without acknowledging the crowd or media.

Blake was no more forthcoming, saying only "not now, later" as he followed Bolt to the exit.

Powell, who has forced himself into the Bolt-Blake showdown, was more willing to discuss his performance while looking ahead to Friday's semi-finals and final.

"It's a heat so I just wanted to take it quite easy, tomorrow is the semi-finals so I'm saving it," said Powell. "I wasn't really working on anything, I just wanted to start easy and finish easy.

"Tomorrow it is going to be very hot, I'm just going to come out hot."

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Bolt, Blake and Powell on cruise control

Fairfax Media, Rinehart board stoush gets personal

THE gloves have come off in the battle for control of Fairfax Media with major shareholder Gina Rinehart and the company exchanging increasingly personal salvos about their differences, and the future of the company.

In a flurry of heated exchanges yesterday afternoon, prompted by this week's Fairfax rejection of Mrs Rinehart's board tilt, the Perth-based mining magnate called on chairman Roger Corbett to agree to a ''performance milestone'' of returning the company's share price to 87 and reversing ''the five-year decline in paid circulation and revenue''. In a letter to Mr Corbett, she said he should resign if he failed to achieve the goals by November.

But Fairfax rejected the ultimatum. Instead, it called on her to launch a takeover for the company.

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''If Mrs Rinehart wants control of Fairfax Media she must make a bid. Mrs Rinehart's letter today has once and for all unmasked her motives for her continual attacks on the company and its board,'' adding that the company's readers would abandon the group's mastheads ''if Mrs Rinehart succeeds in this personal crusade''.

Later in the evening, one of Mrs Rinehart key executives, John Klepec, took issue with the Fairfax response, saying: ''Mrs Rinehart has repeatedly advised that she would not use the publications to promote her private interests only. It is hence incorrect for Fairfax to endeavour to allege that this has been a 'personal crusade'."

Mrs Rinehart had ''never sought control of Fairfax,'' he added.

Earlier, Mrs Rinehart dismissed the board's assertion that editorial independence was the main sticking point. ''Where we have differed most profoundly is not over the charter of editorial independence, contrary to much Fairfax reporting, but over how to save a business that is reportedly in danger of dying.''

But the company - owner of this newspaper - disagreed: ''Contrary to Mrs Rinehart's repeated assertions that this isn't about editorial control - it is. It is also about her obtaining control of the company and not paying a premium.''

Mrs Rinehart said the performance of Fairfax over the past five years had been ''distressing for shareholders''.

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Fairfax Media, Rinehart board stoush gets personal

Gina fires warning shot

Gina Rinehart ... November ultimatum. Photo: Claire Martin

THE gloves have come off in the battle for control of Fairfax Media with its major shareholder, Gina Rinehart, and the company exchanging increasingly personal salvos.

Mrs Rinehart and her company Hancock Prospecting sent two letters to the Fairfax chairman, Roger Corbett, yesterday. The first called on him to resign if he failed to meet a ''performance milestone'' of returning the share price to 87 and failed to reverse ''the five-year decline in paid circulation and revenue'' before November's annual meeting.

Fairfax Media, the publisher of the Herald, rejected the ultimatum, calling on her to bid for the company if she wanted control. ''Mrs Rinehart's letter today has once and for all unmasked her motives for her continual attacks on the company and its board,'' a company statement said. Readers would abandon the group's mastheads ''if Mrs Rinehart succeeds in this personal crusade''.

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Mrs Rinehart's chief lieutenant in her bid for Fairfax, John Klepec, then fired off another letter. Mr Klepec, who is the chief development officer for Hancock Prospecting, said two board seats out of 12 was not a majority, implying Mrs Rinehart would have limited influence.

''Mrs Rinehart has repeatedly advised that she would not use the publications to promote her private interests only,'' Mr Klepec said. ''It is incorrect for Fairfax to allege that this has been a 'personal crusade'."

In the initial letter Mrs Rinehart rejected the board's assertion that the charter of editorial independence was the key disagreement. ''Where we have differed most profoundly is not over the charter of editorial independence, contrary to much Fairfax reporting, but over how to save a business that is reportedly in danger of dying,'' she said.

The company responded: ''Contrary to Mrs Rinehart's repeated assertions that this isn't about editorial control - it is. It is also about her obtaining control of the company and not paying a premium.''

Mrs Rinehart said Fairfax's performance over the past five years had been ''distressing'' for shareholders. To Mr Corbett she wrote that the milestone share price would represent ''only a 50 per cent loss'' since he became chairman in October 2009.

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Gina fires warning shot

High court won't consider FCC media ownership rules

By Jasmin Melvin and James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Friday rejected challenges to the Federal Communication Commission's U.S. media-ownership rules, longtime limits on cross-ownership of a newspaper and a broadcast outlet in a single market

The justices refused to hear appeals by Media General Inc, by broadcast and newspaper groups and by a broadcasting trade group arguing that the Supreme Court should reconsider past precedents that broadcast "scarcity" justified the ownership restrictions under the Constitution's First Amendment.

At issue before the Supreme Court was the FCC's loosening of some of its rules in 2008. Media owners challenged the rules on the grounds the FCC failed to go far enough to lift ownership caps.

A U.S. appeals court based in Philadelphia a year ago left most of the 2008 order intact, along with the FCC's authority to preserve media competition. That was a setback for proponents of fewer ownership restrictions, such as the National Association of Broadcasters.

The association appealed to the Supreme Court. The FCC opposed the appeal, saying the appeals court correctly upheld the local television ownership rule implementing a long-standing policy of limiting the number of licenses in a local market that a single entity may own or control.

The FCC narrowly approved a loosening of its three-decade-old restrictions on ownership of a newspaper and a broadcast outlet in the 20 biggest U.S. cities.

A number of broadcast and newspaper groups separately appealed to the Supreme Court. They included the Tribune Co, News Corp's Fox television, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Clear Channel Communications Inc and the Newspaper Association of America.

They argued that the so-called "scarcity doctrine" involving the broadcast industry dating back to a 1969 Supreme Court decision should be overruled, invalidating the FCC's media ownership rules.

The appellants said continued restriction on cross-ownership in the same market is unconstitutional because it singled out newspapers among all forms of mass communication for unequal treatment.

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High court won't consider FCC media ownership rules