“Dream” Made Possible by AEG Digital Media

June 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

LOS ANGELES–(Business Wire)–
When 19 Entertainment needed a partner to provide it with the expertise and
guidance to manage live streams from 60 cameras, capture and organize the
encoded media to support the post-production of a weekly half-hour-long show,
and get all that information to millions of viewers over the web for its
groundbreaking show If I Can Dream, it turned to AEG Digital Media.

AEG Digital Media has enabled live and on-demand streaming events for millions
of users, and has provided digital broadcast and related technology services for
events including Live Earth, The Michael Jackson Tribute, the Olympic Games,
Farm Aid, the Democratic National Convention, YouTube Live, The GRAMMY Awards
and MTV`s Video Music Awards. That track record of success made it the obvious
choice for 19 Entertainment.

“AEG Digital Media`s Ben Rolling was instrumental to the design of the network
at the heart of If I Can Dream`s one-of-a-kind streaming video system,” said
David Ellner, President, Digital of 19 Entertainment. “His deep experience in
this space puts the answers and resources at his fingertips to take an
experimental streaming concept and produce a dependable product. AEG Digital
Media really delivered for us.”

If I Can Dream is a new reality show that`s the first of its kind. Following the
lives of six aspiring artists, video feeds of every camera in their house will
be streamed for viewing online 24 hours a day, seven days a week as they work to
become stars. Viewers will also be able to audition for the show by uploading
videos to the If I Can Dream page on MySpace. Having an experienced technology
partner was paramount for 19 Entertainment.

AEG Digital Media services include:

* Complete digital media technical consulting and strategy
* Management of Content Delivery Networks
* Front to back live event digital capture
* Complete enablement of a 360 stream workflow with high quality media archives
and asset management
* Coordination and management of all technology vendors and suppliers

About AEG Digital Media

AEG Digital Media is the leading provider of complete webcast management,
production and media services in the digital media industry. We take a broadcast
approach to streaming/digital media and enable the world`s largest, innovative
webcasts and live events. AEG Digital Media is regarded as the definitive
turnkey service provider in the market today with a nine year track record of
empowering the defining moments in internet broadcasting and live streaming
media. For more information, visit www.aegdigitalmedia.com.

For AEG Digital Media
Mary Kay Crocker, 801-592-5575
marykay@radi8creative.com

Copyright Business Wire 2010

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Republican caught plagiarising Barack Obama speech

May 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 26 (ANI): A Republican candidate in rural Idaho has been accused of plagiarizing one of President Barack Obama’s famous speeches.

Vaughn Ward, a former US Marine Corps officer and CIA operative who served in Iraq, is seeking the GOP Congressional nomination.

According to The Telegraph, his campaign biography states that he “spent most of his years on the family farm in Shoshone, Idaho” and had “developed his strong work ethic and learned the value of dependability” from that time.

But Lucas Baumbach, a local party activist, produced a YouTube video that suggested Ward derived greater influence from Obama, the Harvard-educated Democrat currently occupying the White House.

The video shows Obama addressing the 2004 Democratic National Convention with the words: “We stand on the crossroads of history. We can make the right choices and meet the challenges that face us.”

It then cuts to Ward speaking in January and saying: “As we stand on the crossroads of history, I know we can make the right choices and meet the challenges that lay before us.”

There were several other close similarities between the two speeches.

A spokesman for Ward said the furore over the video was much ado about nothing. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

US politician caught plagiarising Obama speech

May 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 26 (IANS) A Republican congressional candidate has been accused of plagiarising US President Barack Obama’s speech on ‘the crossroads of history’.

Vaughn Ward, a former US Marine Corps officer and CIA operative, was running for the Republican congressional nomination in an election held Tuesday in Idaho.

The Telegraph reported Wednesday that Lucas Baumbach, a local party activist, tracked down a YouTube video that showed a strong similarity between Ward’s speech in January and Obama’s address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

Obama said: ‘We stand on the crossroads of history. We can make the right choices and meet the challenges that face us.’

Ward said: ‘As we stand on the crossroads of history, I know we can make the right choices and meet the challenges that lay before us.’

There were a few more striking similarities between the two speeches.

Ward’s spokesperson, however, said: ‘Folks are getting desperate-they’re saying anything to get Vaughn to go after him. If anyone thinks he’s anything like Obama, they’re dead wrong.’

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Obama’s half-sister inks book deal

April 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 3 (ANI): US President Barack Obama’s half-sister has inked a book deal.

The first book of Maya Soetoro-Ng, a teacher in Hawaii, is inspired by Maya and Barack’s mother as well as by Maya’s four-year-old daughter.

In ‘Ladder to the Moon’, Maya pays homage to her mother’s tradition of storytelling – and celebrates her mother’s enduring legacy of service, reports The Politico.
he tome will be published by Candlewick Press.

Soetoro-Ng, a teacher at an all-girls school in Honolulu, campaigned for her brother and spoke at last year’s Democratic National Convention. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Meet US First Hairstylist

March 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 26 (ANI): Obamas surely believe in staying true to their roots. Although life has dramatically changed for Michelle Obama since she became first lady, her hairstylist remains the same till date.

Hairstylist Johnny Wright, popular in Chicago’s Wicker Park area, met Michelle Obama two years ago for an Essence magazine photo shoot, not long after Barack Obama announced his quest for the White House.

Two months into the Obama administration, Wright has become the first lady’s exclusive First Hairstylist, the White House confirmed this week.

“It’s exciting, absolutely, doing the first lady’s hair,” the Washington Post quoted him, as saying.

“She’s a great lady and I feel privileged to do her hair,” he added.

The 31-year-old says during the campaign, he was called in periodically to style Obama for such important events as the Democratic National Convention in Denver, including the day she gave her speech.

And more recently, he says, he was called in for her photo session for the much-noted March cover of Vogue magazine.

Since that Essence shoot two years ago, Wright had moved on to the Frederick Fekkai Salon on Melrose Place in West Hollywood.

In January, Wright says, he was notified that Obama wanted him as her exclusive stylist.

He says he had become her official stylist by the time he coiffed her for the official White House portrait, in which she smiles exquisitely from beneath a perfect modified bob wearing a designer ‘little black dress’ and double strands of pearls. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Obama’s Wikipedia Page distances him from both Wright and Ayers

March 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar.10 (ANI): President Barack Obama’s Wikipedia page has been edited to remove any mention of his links to former Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers and Reverend Jeremiah Wright, though pages for Ayers and Wright are heavily peppered with references to the president, including subsections on both pages that detail their past affiliations with him.

The lone mention of Wright on Obama’s page appears in a section on his family and personal life; it says the president left Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ in May 2008 after “controversial statements made by Wright became public.”

The free online encyclopedia has also reportedly deleted attempts to add Ayers’ name to Obama’s main entry.

One such addition, according to WorldNetDaily, included details of Obama’s tenure alongside Ayers on the board of directors at several organizations in Chicago during the 1990s.

“Within two minutes that Wikipedia entry was deleted and the user banned from posting on the website for three days, purportedly for adding ‘Point of View junk edits,’ even though the addition was well-established fact,” WorldNetDaily reports.

Though Obama was baptized at the church in 1988 and remained an “active member” at Trinity United for two decades, Wright is not cited in a paragraph on Obama’s religion.

“Obama is a Christian whose religious views have evolved in his adult life,” the entry reads. “In The Audacity of Hope, Obama writes that he ‘was not raised in a religious household.’”

But according to an archived Wikipedia page for Obama from February 2008, a theme of Obama’s 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote address and the title of his 2006 book, “The Audacity of Hope,” was “inspired” by Wright.

The sixth chapter of Obama’s book – titled “Faith” – details how “Obama, in his twenties, while working with local churches as a community organizer, came to understand ‘the power of the African American religious tradition to spur social change,’” according to the archived entry.

Neither that archived page nor Obama’s current Wikipedia page contains any mention of Ayers – whose own page, like Wright’s, contains a separate section detailing his link to Obama. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Michelle Obama causes stir with new hair-do

February 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New York, Feb 21 (ANI): US First Lady Michelle Obama caused a stir on February 20, when she appeared at an event with a new hair-do – a pulled back look.

Barack Obama’s wife, who usually keeps her hair styled straight or slightly flipped at the ends, appeared at the Department of Transportation wearing an up-do, a hairstyle she has donned at only a few occasions in the past.

The First Lady was there as part of a series of “pep talk” speeches at government agencies, wearing a signature brooch, a houndstooth blazer (by Chicago designer Peter Soronen) that she’s worn before along with her pulled back hair do.

She styled her hair in the same fashion once during last year’s Democratic National Convention, another time on the campaign trail on a boiling-hot July day in 2007, onstage with Oprah last February and at her wedding, in 1992.

The up-do of the most captivating First Lady of this generation has created waves among her loyal style followers.

“This up-do feels very soft, casual and easy,” the New York Daily News quoted Mary Tomer, founder of Mrs-O.org, a blog dedicated to the First Lady’s outfits, as saying.

She added: “It’s elegant without trying too hard. She’s got this short jacket on and this really bold broach – and so I think pulling her hair up keeps the whole look feeling very cohesive and polished.”

However, the White House declined to comment on the matter when it was flooded with calls on the change of look.

Many Washington insiders expressed shock at the flurry of attention.

“Jeez. She only pulled it back for one second,” said a source. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Obama White House to have late nights

January 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Jan.16 (ANI): Barack Obama’s team is preparing for a return to long nights and heavy weekend shifts after he gets himself inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States.

According to Politico, Obama’s aides expect the workload to be so intense, at least for the early months, that they’re trying to formalize ways to help staffers stay in touch with spouses and kids – with ideas under consideration that include inviting family members into the White House for casual after-hours meals.

Another possibility: urging aides to go home for dinner, as long as they come back to finish the night.

Obama aides say there are no specifics so far, but hinted that staffers’ children may be seeing the inside of the White House like never before – as way to stay in touch with Mom or Dad.

“Family is very important to the Obamas and while the challenges ahead will require long hours, hard work and sacrifice for everyone in the incoming administration, they hope to make the White House a place that is open and welcoming to the families of White House employees,” said Jen Psaki, an Obama spokeswoman.

Bush famously arrives at the Oval Office by dawn, leaves by 6 p.m. and goes to bed by 10 p.m. Dinners out are as rare as a lunar eclipse.

Obama, by contrast, stays up late. He holds conference calls with senior staff as late as 11 p.m., and often reads and writes past midnight. Ahead of the Democratic National Convention, he spent consecutive nights holed up in a Chicago hotel room, working on his speech until 2 a.m.

And in the 10 days alone, Obama stopped by a Senate cocktail party, dined out with foreign policy types, and made a visit Saturday to Ben’s Chili Bowl, a Washington institution and pillar in the African-American community. He stayed out until 9:30 p.m. Tuesday at a dinner with conservative columnists.

“The expectation is that it will be a lot of hours, and hours we were used to working before the transition,” one Obama aide said.

“Everybody is comfortable with that. There is an expectation that the first few months will set the tone.”

In his attempt to maintain balance, Obama would routinely divert his lumbering campaign apparatus back to Chicago simply to be present for important events: picking out a Christmas tree, taking the girls to go trick-or-treating on Halloween, attending a dance recital.

His staff would take their own timeouts, too. Gibbs flew home less than five days before the election so he could spend Halloween with his son.

“There is a great deal of respect and importance for being there for your children,” the aide said. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Al Gore hits the campaign trail for Obama in Florida

November 3, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Al Gore hits the campaign trail for Obama in FloridaAs he took the stage to the applause from about 200 supporters, former Vice President Al Gore said in Florida that the choice between the two presidential candidates – Barack Obama and John McCain – is a clear one. He added that it was practically the choice between change and more of the same.

Gore’s visit to Florida marked the first time he has hit the campaign trail for Obama after endorsing him in June, and speaking at the Democratic National Convention in August.

Gore ticked off economic disasters, foreign policy blunders and environmental tragedies that he said took place under President Bush. He cast Tuesday as the chance to recover the indomitable spirit and reputation of the United States.

Praising the Floridians for a spirited campaign, Gore said that polls suggest Florida has turned the battleground state from the Republican camp to the Democratic, but he stopped short of predicting victory.

Accompanied by his wife, Tipper, Gore reminded the crowd of what happened eight years back, when Palm Beach County’s confusing ballot was blamed for people mistakenly voting for third-party candidate Pat Buchanan instead of Gore. His White House dreams were dashed when George W. Bush won the presidency by just 537 votes.

Gore urged Florida supporters of Barack Obama on Friday to take advantage of early voting, and to take nothing for granted. He said: “Take it from me — elections matter. Every vote matters.”

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Barack Obama And Hollywood Support Jennifer Hudson

October 27, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Barack Obama And Hollywood Support Jennifer HudsonThe double slaying of singer/actress Jennifer Hudson’s mother and brother has seen support pouring in from all quarters, from Democratic presidential hopeful – Barack Obama to most everyone in Hollywood. Hudson shares her hometown of Chicago hometown with Barack, on a personal request from Obama’s camp, sang the national anthem during the Democratic National Convention in August, when the party formally declared him to be the party’s nominee for the post of President of the USA.

Devastated at the senseless tragedy, Obama and wife Michelle reaching out to Hudson said they ‘were absolutely heartbroken to learn about this unimaginable tragedy’, going on to say Jennifer was very much in their thoughts and their prayers, even as they prayed for the swift and safe return of her 7-year old nephew – Julian King.

Among other celebrities quick to offer their support to the Academy Award-winning actress / singer were Hudson’s ‘The Secret Life of Bees’ co-star Queen Latifah (rapper / actress) and singers Fergie and Stacy Ferguson, her Dreamgirls co-star Anika Noni Rose, American Idol judge Randy Jackson.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , ,