Downton Abbey's Dramatic Plot Turn: What Caused It?

TV Watch

By Lesley Messer and Stephen M. Silverman

01/28/2013 at 01:20 PM EST

Downton Abbey season 3 cast

Carnival Film & Television/PBS

How seriously do TV viewers take what happens to the Crawleys and those in their sphere on Downton Abbey?

So seriously that, as the series' creator and writer Julian Fellowes recently admitted to PEOPLE, he even gets yelled at "a bit" by members of the public when something they dislike takes place on the show.

"And they know it all," the Oscar- and Emmy-winner, 63, said about the public's reaction. "They have opinions that are better than mine."

SPOILER ALERT: Details of Sunday's broadcast are about to be revealed.

Sunday, just as the cast was named TV's best ensemble at the 19th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, viewers got a tremendous jolt certain to elicit a potent response: Lady Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay) died as a result of childbirth.

The series' executive producer, Gareth Neame, 45, is trying to see this upheaval as some kind of an advantage.

"These exits can be good opportunities for the drama," he told PEOPLE, "because they allow you to take the story in a different direction and change things in a way you hadn't quite thought of.

And while admitting, "it can be seen as a blow when you lose characters," Neame also said, "it can very often be as much an opportunity as it is a loss."

Fellowes, meanwhile, believes that the public is sophisticated enough to know "that when Sybil dies or when [another character, whose identity is being concealed] dies, it is because the actor wanted to leave [the series]" – rather than anyone's dying just for the sake of the plot.

"So, however sad it is, and we're all sad, it isn't a question of anybody being killed off in that way," the writer insists. "They would both be in the series till the end of it, if it was up to us. "

As for argumentative viewers, he says, "They'll say, it's such a shame, it's such a shame ... but you don't so much get shouted out for being horrible."

With Sybil now departed, the dynamic of the sisters – Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) and Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) – is bound to change, both on screen and off.

"The three girls became very, very friendly," said Fellowes, who also said that season 4 will, like the current one, take place amid the social upheavals of the 1920s. "They were sort of like sisters, really, because they were always going about in each other's trailers and gossiping and all that stuff. I think they wanted to be like a group of sisters and they made it happen.

As it is, he said, the formidable cast makes the set is a "jolly" one, "and Maggie [Smith]'s sort of den mother, and I suppose Hugh [Bonneville, who plays Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham] is sort of the father of the show, but they all get on. Of course, it's lovely for the young ones to be in such a successful show, but the older ones have had a pretty good share of success, anyway."

• Additional Reporting By SIMON PERRY

Read More..

Soldier who lost 4 limbs has double-arm transplant

The first soldier to survive after losing all four limbs in the Iraq war has received a double-arm transplant.

Brendan Marrocco had the operation on Dec. 18 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, his father said Monday. The 26-year-old Marrocco, who is from New York City, was injured by a roadside bomb in 2009.

He also received bone marrow from the same dead donor who supplied his new arms. That novel approach is aimed at helping his body accept the new limbs with minimal medication to prevent rejection.

The military is sponsoring operations like these to help wounded troops. About 300 have lost arms or hands in the wars.

"He was the first quad amputee to survive" from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and there have been four others since then, said Brendan Marrocco's father, Alex Marrocco. "He was really excited to get new arms."

The Marroccos want to thank the donor's family for "making a selfless decision ... making a difference in Brendan's life," the father said.

Surgeons plan to discuss the transplant at a news conference with the patient on Tuesday.

The 13-hour operation was led by Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, plastic surgery chief at Johns Hopkins, and is the seventh double-hand or double-arm transplant done in the United States. Lee led three of those earlier operations when he previously worked at the University of Pittsburgh, including the only above-elbow transplant that had been done at the time, in 2010.

Marrocco's "was the most complicated one" so far, Lee said in an interview Monday. It will take more than a year to know how fully Marrocco will be able to use the new arms, Lee said.

"The maximum speed is an inch a month for nerve regeneration," he explained. "We're easily looking at a couple years" until the full extent of recovery is known.

While at Pittsburgh, Lee pioneered the novel immune suppression approach used for Marrocco. The surgeon led hand transplant operations on five patients, giving them marrow from their donors in addition to the new limbs. All five recipients have done well and four have been able to take just one anti-rejection drug instead of combination treatments most transplant patients receive.

Minimizing anti-rejection drugs is important because they have side effects and raise the risk of cancer over the long term. Those risks have limited the willingness of surgeons and patients to do more hand, arm and even face transplants. Unlike a life-saving heart or liver transplant, limb transplants are aimed at improving quality of life, not extending it.

Quality of life is a key concern for people missing arms and hands — prosthetics for those limbs are not as advanced as those for feet and legs.

Lee has received funding for his work from AFIRM, the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, a cooperative research network of top hospitals and universities around the country that the government formed about five years ago. With government money, he and several other plastic surgeons around the country are preparing to do more face transplants, possibly using the new minimal immune suppression approach.

Marrocco expects to spend three to four months at Hopkins, then return to a military hospital to continue physical therapy, his father said. Before the operation, he had been living with his older brother in a handicapped-accessible home on New York's Staten Island built with the help of several charities.

The home was heavily damaged by Superstorm Sandy last fall.

Despite being in a lot of pain for some time after the operation, Marrocco showed a sense of humor, his father said. He had a hoarse voice from a tube in his throat during the long surgery, decided that he sounded like Al Pacino, and started doing movie lines.

"He was making the nurses laugh," Alex Marrocco said.

___

AP writer Alex Dominguez contributed to this report.

Read More..

Unarmed man killed by deputies was shot in the back, autopsy says

A Culver City man who was fatally shot by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies after a pursuit in November was struck by bullets five times in the back and once each in the right hip and right forearm, also from behind, according to an autopsy report obtained by The Times.

Jose de la Trinidad, a 36-year-old father of two, was killed Nov. 10 by deputies who believed he was reaching for a weapon after a pursuit. But a witness to the shooting said De la Trinidad, who was unarmed, was complying with deputies and had his hands above his head when he was shot.

Multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating the shooting.

De la Trinidad was shot five times in the upper and lower back, according to the Los Angeles County coroner's report dated Nov. 13. The report describes four of those wounds as fatal. He was also shot in the right forearm and right hip, with both shots entering from behind, the report found.

DOCUMENT: Jose de la Trinidad autopsy report

"Here's a man who complied, did what he was supposed to, and was gunned down by trigger-happy deputies," said Arnoldo Casillas, the family's attorney, who provided a copy of the autopsy report to The Times. He said he planned to sue the Sheriff's Department.

A sheriff's official declined to discuss specifics of the autopsy report because of the ongoing investigation. But he emphasized that the report's findings would be included in the department's determination of what happened that night.

"The sheriff and our department extend its condolences to the De la Trinidad" family, said Steve Whitmore, a sheriff's spokesman.

"Deadly force is always a last resort," he said. "The deputies involved were convinced that the public was in danger when they drew their weapons."

On Saturday, relatives of De la Trinidad and about 100 other people marched through the streets of Compton, shouting, "No justice, no peace! No killer police!"

His widow, Rosie de la Trinidad, joined the march with the couple's two young daughters.

"He was doing everything he was supposed to," she said of her husband, fighting back tears. "All we're asking for is justice."

Jose de la Trinidad was shot minutes after leaving his niece's quinceañera with his brother Francisco. He was riding in the passenger seat of his brother's car when deputies tried to pull them over for speeding about 10:20 p.m., authorities said. After a brief car chase, De la Trinidad got out of the car in the 1900 block of East 122nd Street in Compton and was shot by deputies.

The Sheriff's Department maintains that the deputies opened fire only after De la Trinidad appeared to reach for his waist, where he could have been concealing a weapon.

But a woman who witnessed the officer-involved shooting told investigators that De la Trinidad had complied with deputies' orders to stop running and put his hands on his head to surrender when two deputies shot him. The witness said she watched the shooting from her bedroom window across the street.

"I know what I saw," the witness, Estefani — who asked that her last name not be used — said at the time. "His hands were on his head when they started shooting."

According to the deputies' account: De la Trinidad jumped out of the passenger seat. His brother took off again in the car. One of the four deputies on the scene gave chase in his cruiser, leaving De la Trinidad on the sidewalk and three deputies standing in the street with their weapons drawn.

The deputies said De la Trinidad then appeared to reach for his waistband, prompting two of them to fire shots at him. The unarmed man died at the scene.

Unbeknown to the deputies at the time, Estefani watched the scene unfold from her bedroom window. A short while later, she told The Times, two sheriff's deputies canvassing the neighborhood for witnesses came to her door.

The deputies, she said, repeatedly asked her which direction De la Trinidad was facing, which she perceived as an attempt to get her to change her story.

"I told them, 'You're just trying to confuse me,' and then they stopped," she said. Authorities later interviewed Estefani a second time.

Whitmore said the two deputies involved in the shooting were assigned desk duties immediately after the incident but returned to patrol five days later. He said this was standard practice for deputies involved in shootings.

Although such investigations typically take months, Whitmore said the department has given special urgency to this case and hopes to complete its probe in a timely manner.

"We want to have answers about what happened that night soon rather than later," he said. "Even then, we know it doesn't change the grief the family is experiencing."

As with all deputy-involved shootings, De la Trinidad's killing is subject to investigation by the district attorney, the sheriff's homicide and internal affairs bureaus and the Sheriff's Executive Force Review Committee.

wesley.lowery@latimes.com

Read More..

The Lede Blog: Fire at a Nightclub in Southern Brazil

Victims of the fire are attended by medics.

An intense fire ripped through a nightclub crowded with university students in southern Brazil early on Sunday morning, leaving behind a scene of horror with bodies piled in the club’s bathrooms and outside on the street.

At least 232 people were killed, many of them students in the agronomy and veterinary medicine programs in a local university, the police officials said.

As my colleague, Simon Romero reports, a flare from a live band’s pyrotechnic show ignited the fire in the nightclub, called Kiss, in the southern city of Santa Maria. Throughout the morning on Sunday, rescue workers hauled bodies from the still smoldering building.

Amateur videos posted to YouTube showed scenes of chaos as medics scurried over the bodies of apparently unconscious victims checking for signs of life.

Medics rush to care for victims of the fire.

Officials and witnesses now say that security guards at the club had locked some exits, sewing panic as people attempted to flee the flames and smoke.

“Only after a multitude pushed down the security guards did they see the crap they had done,” said Murilo de Toledo Tiecher, 26, a medical student who survived the fire, in comments posted on Facebook.

Shortly before the fire, a club D.J. posted a photo on Facebook from inside the crowded club with the caption: “Kiss is pumping.”

A short time later, another photo purportedly taken inside the club and widely disseminated through social media showed smoke billowing on the crowded dance floor.

BOATE KISS PEGANDO FOGO! http://t.co/tdV2DO4q

— Boatos SM ® #LUTO (@BoatoSM) 27 Jan 13

The fire quickly engulfed the building.

Firefighters, apparently joined by volunteers who shielded their faces with T-shirts, struggled to pull people from the burning building.

Firefighters and volunteers tried to pull people from the burning building

Photos from the scene showed frantic friends and family members gathered outside the club and the hospital.

As Mr. Romero reports, witnesses said the fire started around 2 a.m. after a rock band, Gurizada Fangangueira, took the stage. At least one member of the five-person band, which is based in Santa Maria and advertised its use of pyrotechnics in its own publicity materials, was reportedly killed in the fire.

Overcrowding and a disregard for fire safety codes have led to deadly blazes at nightclubs in the past, though Sunday’s tragedy in Brazil is among the worst in recent history.

In 2003 in Rhode Island, a fire set off by a pyrotechnic display at a club killed about 100 people. A fire that erupted under similar circumstances in Russia left almost as many dead dead in 2009.

And in Luoyang, China in 2000, 309 people were killed in a fire that broke out at a dance hall, forcing some to leap from high-rise windows.

---

Read More..

Ailing Jennifer Lawrence Plans to Attend the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Say Sources

By Alison Schwartz

01/27/2013 at 01:40 PM EST

Will Jennifer Lawrence walk the red carpet at Sunday night's Screen Actors Guild Awards?

The Silver Linings Playbook star, who's nominated for her leading role playing troubled girl-next-door Tiffany, is currently sick with pneumonia, according to her costar. But sources tell PEOPLE that Lawrence is planning to attend the SAG Awards unless she takes a turn for the worse before showtime.

"She's been very sick," says one source. "She was laying low all week. She plans to be there tonight."

The actress, 22, was unable to attend Saturday's Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts International Awards in Los Angeles, where she was honored for her work in the film.

"I'm going to receive this on her behalf," Jacki Weaver told the audience as she accepted Lawrence's best lead actress trophy, according to E! News. "Poor Jen is really sick. She really is sick. She has pneumonia."

After nabbing a Golden Globe earlier this month, the actress is a favorite to pick up the SAG Award.

The 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awardswill air live on TNT and TBS on Sunday, Jan. 27, at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT) from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

Read More..

CDC: Flu seems to level off except in the West

New government figures show that flu cases seem to be leveling off nationwide. Flu activity is declining in most regions although still rising in the West.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says hospitalizations and deaths spiked again last week, especially among the elderly. The CDC says quick treatment with antiviral medicines is important, in particular for the very young or old. The season's first flu case resistant to treatment with Tamiflu was reported Friday.

Eight more children have died from the flu, bringing this season's total pediatric deaths to 37. About 100 children die in an average flu season.

There is still vaccine available although it may be hard to find. The CDC has a website that can help.

___

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/

Read More..

Teacher accused of molesting 20 student may have more victims, police say

This story has been corrected. See note below.

An Orange County investigation into a former Los Angeles elementary school teacher is being reopened after the man was charged with molesting a dozen students at a Wilmington grade school.

The earlier investigation into the relations between Robert Pimentel and four youths – one from Newport Beach, three from Long Beach – was dropped because of “insufficient evidence, lack of corroboration, problems with the availability of witnesses and other evidentiary issues," the Orange County district attorney’s office said.

But in light of Pimentel’s arrest, the case will now be forwarded to the Los Angeles County district attorney.

Susan Kang Schroeder, chief of staff for the Orange County district attorney’s office, said prosecutors in L.A. had requested that they handle “all of our charges as well as their charges.” No details of the earlier Orange County investigation were made public.

Pimentel’s attorney, Richard Knickerbocker, said the former teacher is “absolutely innocent” and cautioned that the accusations are just that.

The Newport Beach resident and former youth soccer coach is being held on $12-million bail. He is charged with molesting a dozen elementary school students in 2011 and 2012, though Los Angeles police allege there are a total of 20 child victims and one adult.

Schroeder said Newport Beach detectives first submitted a case involving the four children in 2005 and that her office twice returned the case to police for further investigation. Ultimately, it was decided not to file charges, she said.

Pimentel volunteered for AYSO for six years as a referee and about one year as a coach in the Newport Beach area. He was suspended last March after he told the soccer organization that he was under investigation by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Pimentel coached boys and had a child who played youth soccer, said George Passantino, an AYSO spokesman.

Although neither the district nor law enforcement contacted AYSO at the time, Pimentel's volunteer privileges were suspended immediately after the league learned of the investigation, as is standard any time allegations arise, he said.

"AYSO takes this very, very seriously, and when any type of a concern of this sort comes up, it is addressed," Passantino said. "It's not casting judgment, but we're making sure those kids are safe. You've got 500,000 kids. That's a big responsibility, and we're proud of the reputation we have in that arena."

No players or parents have reported abuse by Pimentel to AYSO, but the league is encouraging players' parents to contact authorities if they have any relevant information.
In the statement, the league also said it is "prepared to work closely" with law enforcement, should that become necessary.

[Updated, Saturday, 1 p.m.: This story initially said that  Pimentel coached youth soccer for seven years. He volunteered for AYSO as a referee for six years and as a coach for about a year.]

ALSO:

Man is arrested on suspicion of twice evading CHP in pursuit

Secret jail tapes of Seal Beach murder suspect must be handed over

After several hours, burglary suspect climbs down from East L.A. roof

--Jill Cowan and Richard Winton

Photo: Robert Pimentel in court Thursday. Credit: Associated Press.

Read More..

Defense Official Hints That Israel Is Stepping Back From Plans to Unilaterally Attack Iran

JERUSALEM — Israel’s departing defense minister, Ehud Barak, said that the Pentagon had prepared sophisticated blueprints for a surgical operation to set back Iran’s nuclear program should the United States decide to attack, a statement that was a possible indication that Israel has shelved plans of any unilateral strike.

Johannes Eisele/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Ehud Barak, Israel’s defense minister, at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

In an interview conducted at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and published by The Daily Beast on Friday, Mr. Barak was asked if there was any way Israel could go to war with Iran over what the West believes is a nuclear weapons program without dragging in the war-weary United States.

Mr. Barak replied that there were more than just the two options — of full-scale war or allowing Iran to obtain nuclear weapons capability — in the event that sanctions and diplomacy failed.

“What we basically say is that if worse comes to worst, there should be a readiness and an ability to launch a surgical operation that will delay them by a significant time frame and probably convince them that it won’t work because the world is determined to block them,” he said.

Under orders from the White House, Mr. Barak added, “the Pentagon prepared quite sophisticated, fine, extremely fine, scalpels,” referring to the ability to carry out pinpoint strikes.

Mr. Barak did not specify what those “scalpels” were. But there has been a broad effort at the White House, the Pentagon and the intelligence agencies to develop an overlapping series of options that could set back, though probably not halt, Iran’s nuclear progress.

Iran insists that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the report, but a senior defense official said: “The U.S. military constantly plans for a range of contingencies we might face around the world, and our planning is often quite detailed.” The official added, “That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.”

Mr. Barak and the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, led a hawkish line against Iran’s nuclear drive over the past few years, emphasizing Israel’s doctrine of self-reliance for such existential issues and warning that the time to stop Iran from going nuclear was running out.

But in recent months, faced with tough opposition from Washington, particularly ahead of the November presidential elections, and public criticism from a string of Israeli former security chiefs, the prospect of an imminent unilateral Israeli strike receded. Israel suggested that its own deadline had been put off until this spring or summer.

In the past few weeks Mr. Netanyahu campaigned for re-election in Israel as a strong leader who, among other things, had managed to persuade the world to deal with the Iranian threat.

Late Tuesday, Mr. Netanyahu said “the first challenge was and still is to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.”

But Mr. Netanyahu and his conservative Likud Party emerged weakened from the elections, with much of the Israeli electorate more focused on domestic issues.

Mr. Barak chose not to run for re-election after polls showed that his tiny Independence faction was unlikely to pass the electoral threshold.

Elisabeth Bumiller and David E. Sanger contributed reporting from Washington.

Read More..

New purported Galaxy Note 8.0 images confirm S-Pen support

Earlier this week, images that were purportedly of Samsung’s (005930) upcoming Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet leaked onto the Web. The slate looked like an oversized Galaxy S III smartphone and included the company’s physical home button, which had perviously been omitted from earlier Galaxy tablets. French blog Frandroid posted additional images of the tablet on Friday that confirmed it will include an S-Pen stylus, similar to the Galaxy Note II and Galaxy Note 10.1.

[More from BGR: Sony’s PS Vita: Dead again]

[More from BGR: The Boy Genius Report: Apple’s iMac takes desktop crown]

The Galaxy Note 8.0 is rumored to be equipped with a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution display, 1.6GHz quad-core processor and a 5-megapixel rear camera. The slate is also believed to include 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, a microSD slot and Android 4.2.

Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet next month at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: New purported Galaxy Note 8.0 images confirm S-Pen support
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/new-purported-galaxy-note-8-0-images-confirm-s-pen-support/
Link To Post : New purported Galaxy Note 8.0 images confirm S-Pen support
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Ashton Kutcher Parties in Sundance After jOBS Premiere

Caught in the Act

01/26/2013 at 01:50 PM EST

Ashton Kutcher's much-hyped movie jOBS premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday, and the star was on hand – minus girlfriend Mila Kunis – for all the festivities.

Kutcher was one of the first to arrive at the official after party, hosted by Nur Khan Presents NK on Main Street for the cast and filmmakers and sponsored by Red Touch Media.

Kutcher was captivated by a floor-to-ceiling portrait of late Apple visionary Steve Jobs, whom Kutcher portrays in the film. Guests were quick to snap a photo of the actor admiring the subject of his role.

Without Kunis by his side, Kutcher very much remained a one-man guy, focusing his attention all night on his table of male friends and colleagues and posing for pictures with fans, according to an observer. The pride he takes in jOBS was palpable, as Kutcher was incredibly excited to chat about his film and role with all the guests who came up to greet him.

Co-star Ahna O'Reilly spent the evening in a very social mood, dancing to the beats of DJ Cash and catching up with co-star Josh Gad. Not to live down his "funny man" persona, Gad went into the evening entertaining all the guests and causing an uproar of laughter with Kutcher and O'Reilly while catching up about filming and their time at Sundance.


– Jennifer Garcia

Read More..