NEW LINE CINEMA CONSOLIDATED INTO WARNER BROS.

After a four-decade run that saw its transformation from an upstart indie company exploiting rude John Waters movies and gory horror flicks to a mini-major winning Oscars and billion-dollar worldwide grosses with the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, New Line is being absorbed into parent company Time Warner's Warner Bros. Pictures.

As part of the cost-saving consolidation ordered by TW's new CEO Jeff Bewkes, New Line co-chairmen and co-CEOs Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne are leaving the company they founded in 1967, though Bewkes said they are in talks encompassing "a number of alternatives" and could end up producing films for New Line or Warner.

New Line will remain more than just a production label within Warner, though. It will retain its own separate development and production, marketing and distribution operations. The unit will report to Warner Bros. Entertainment chairman and CEO Barry Meyer and president and COO Alan Horn, with Jeff Robinov, president of Warner Bros. Pictures Group, also set to play a key role in overseeing the new New Line. (Shaye and Lynne had reported to the TW chairman during their tenure.)

An undetermined number of New Line's 600 staffers could face layoffs. The future of production head Toby Emmerich, who has tried to pull New Line away from horror movies, also is unknown. Bewkes said the future New Line executive lineup and details of layoffs are being worked out.
Two key factors played into Bewkes' decision, the new CEO's first major initiative to reflect the hard decisions he appears willing to make in reshaping Time Warner.The company is in the process of reducing the number of films it distributes from both Warner and New Line, with Warner reducing its product flow from 25-30 films a year to 18-20. Bewkes said New Line, in turn, must "focus on being an indie, rather than being halfway to a major."In recent years, as New Line's ambitions have grown, it has taken on more risk. The three "Rings" movies, released between 2001 and 2003, resulted in a box-office bonanza. But New Line hasn't maintained that momentum. Although it scored two $100 million-plus hits in 2007 with "Hairspray" and "Rush Hour 3," most of its lineup failed to ignite, and its pricey "The Golden Compass," though a hit abroad, fell flat in the U.S.

From www.hollywoodreporter.com

L.A. MURDERFEST ROSTER

L.A. Murderfest 4.0 to take place at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood, California. April 18, 19 and 20th.

$33 advance 1 day pass $60 advance only 2 day pass $35 @ door both days.

Line up for Saturday
Saturday 04-19-08 02:00pm
CHURCH OF THE 8TH DAY & Decibel Magazine Presents:
DAY 1
Featuring:
* ENTOMBED
* MASSACRE
* REPULSION
* VITAL REMAINS (with Glenn Benton of Deicide)
* MONSTROSITY
* LETUM ASCENSUS
* ANAL BLAST
* IMPALED
* MORGION
* WACO JESUS
* DENIAL FIEND
* ABYSMAL DAWN
* FOREVER IN TERROR
* RISE
* MICTLANTECUHTLI
* Plus other bands TBA

Line up for Sunday
Sunday04-20-08 01:00pm
CHURCH OF THE 8TH DAY & Decibel Magazine Presents:
DAY 2
Featuring:
* EXTREME NOISE TERROR
* TODAY IS THE DAY
* CATTLE DECAPITATION
* GHOUL (from Romania)
* STRONG INTENTION
* AT ALL COST
* TERMINALLY YOUR ABORTED GHOST
* CARDIAC ARREST
* IVEBEENSHOT
* POPULATION REDUCTION
* CALL THE PARAMEDICS
* SCARECROW
* Plus other bands TBA

LAFAWIJN RECORDS LOOKING FOR BANDS FOR TAPE RELEASE

We are looking for Black Metal bands for a limited to 50 tape release. If I think you are good I will release you, if I don't like you I won't! Please contact me if you are interested!

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NEW ENGLAND METAL AND HARDCORE FESTIVAL PROGRAM AD RATES

Metal Maniacs is sponsoring the New England Metal & Hardcore Festival in Worcester, MA this year from April 25th thru the 27th!

We are producing a program guide to be given away FREE at the show. Excellent opportunity to advertise your bands and artists!

Ads start at $150. Email dov@zenbumedia.com with any questions.

www.metalandhardcorefestival.com for festival details. www.metalmaniacs.com for every other human need. dov@zenbumedia.com to book your space.

LIMITED SPACE AVAILABLE!

Note: We are only doing the program guide. We have nothing to do with booking bands for the fest. See their website for that!

SABBAT AT THE WHISKEY

SOILENT GREEN TOUR DATES

That's right people...the new SOILENT GREEN record drops on April 15th through Metal Blade Records, and with its release comes the touring schedule. More dates to be added, but enjoy for now.SOILENT GREEN upcoming shows and tours:

March 7 - Raleigh, NC - Volume 11 (opening for Municipal Waste)
March 8 - Spartanburg, SC - Ground Zero

HATE ETERNAL with Soilent Green, Skeletonwitch & Toxic Holocaust:
April 10 - San Antonio, TX - White Rabbit
April 11 - Dallas, TX - The Door
April 12 - Houston, TX - Warehouse Live (combined with Mushroomhead)
April 13 - New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks
April 15 - TBAApril 16 - Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade
April 17 - Memphis, TN - Hi Tone Cafe
April 18 - Louisville, KY - Uncle Pleasants
April 19 - Detroit, MI - I-Rock
April 21 - Minneapolis, MN - Station 4
April 22 - Milwaukee, WI - The Rave Bar
April 23 - Chicago, IL - House of Blues
April 24 - Cleveland, OH - Peabody's
April 25 - Buffalo, NY - Showplace
April 26 - Worcester, MA - The Palladium (New England Metal & Hardcore Fest)
April 27 - Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero
April 28 - New York, NY - B.B. King Blues Club & Grill
April 29 - W. Springfield, VA - Jaxx
April 30 - Charlotte, NC - Tremont Music Hall

SATANIC SUPREMACY TAPE AVAILABLE

GOOGLE'S ATTEMPT TO REWRITE HISTORY

And this time, it's Google Earth perpetuating this utter slap in the face to Iranians worldwide, an obvious scheme to insult their integrity by lumping them in with the barbarous regime occupying their fatherland that, if not toppled from within or without, will inevitably die of old age one day and be replaced with another that is more agreeable to mankind, much as the Castro regime is on deck to do. The search for "Persian Gulf" defaults to "Arabian Gulf" after a while, a name no international body recognizes in any records and no organization of merit has ever deemed legit. Why Google think this affront to one of America's wealthiest, highest tax paying, and collectively most educated ethnic group is simply unfathomable. Please sign the petition below and relay the information to anyone who may feel concerned about this. We made National Geographic take note of this same error a few years back, and Google as well may NOT do so with impunity!

http://www.petitiononline.com/sos02082/petition.html

PROFANATICA DVD AND NEW DIABOLIC MATERIAL ON DEATHGASM

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NORTH CAROLINA DEATH FEST II

AN ANNUAL TRADITION CONTINUES

LESSONS FROM THE DEATH OF HD DVD FROM ROUGHLYDRAFTED.COM

Daniel Eran Dilger
Over the last few months, HD-DVD appeared to rapidly fall from its apparent position as promising new disc format–touted by supporters as being technically superior, significantly cheaper, and less restrictive–down to a harsh new reality of scheduled death. However, the fate of HD-DVD wasn’t nearly as unpredictable as some seemed to think. Here’s why HD-DVD’s end should not have been a surprise, what lessons can be learned from its death, and what its demise means for Microsoft.

A New Format War.
Six months ago, I presented the format war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray as a skirmish on the edge of the console video game business. Through the end of 2007, both HD formats had failed to sell more than a few hundred thousand standalone units, leaving HD discs a collective failure on the order of Microsoft’s Zune music player.

While standalone HD disc players languished in the market throughout 2007, Sony advertised Blu-Ray in its PlayStation 3 game console as Microsoft pushed HD-DVD on PCs with support built into Windows Vista and sold a low priced external HD-DVD drive option for the Xbox 360. This appeared to give Microsoft and HD-DVD a strong edge in the market, as it had the monopoly power of Windows behind it.

Both companies wanted to control media playback in the emerging market for HD video, just as they battled to control audio playback a half decade prior, when Microsoft had pushed its PlaysForSure Windows Media Audio players against Sony’s ATRAC Walkman hardware; both efforts lost out to Apple’s iPod. In the new HD video market, Microsoft again wanted to push its Windows Media codecs while Sony wanted to establish its blue-violet laser technology.

The Format War Origins.
Since Sony had no rival video codec software to push, and Microsoft had no real hardware interests to defend, why were they battling for the next generation of video discs rather than working together on a joint standard? Initially, Microsoft did work with Sony. However, the rest of the industry working with Sony on Blu-Ray rejected portions of Microsoft’s technology, sending the company into a furious rivalry against Blu-Ray.

A follow up article on the origins of the format war presented Microsoft’s efforts to push its Windows Media and WinCE as essential, proprietary aspects of both the new HD disc formats. While Microsoft successfully wrote Windows Media (aka VC-1) into the specification of both Toshiba’s AOD and Sony’s Blu-Ray, the Blu-Ray consortium members later selected Java-based technology from Sun as its interactive menu layer rather than Microsoft’s WinCE/HDi.

The Early Lead of HD-DVD.
Years earlier in 2003, the DVD Forum had selected Toshiba’s AOD format as the successor to DVD because the company promised it would be finished sooner than Sony’s Blu-Ray; the Forum subsequently renamed Toshiba’s format HD-DVD to associate it with DVD, while Sony continued work on Blu-Ray.

At the time, Sony’s efforts looked significantly behind. Blue-violet lasers were already expensive, but Blu-Ray also required retooled manufacturing lines. HD-DVD promised to reach the market faster and cheaper due to its similarities to DVD player assembly as well as support from Microsoft on the PC desktop and in its first-to-market Xbox 360 game console. Microsoft had also sold Disney CEO Michael Eisner on HDi and Windows Media DRM.

It appeared that Microsoft had time, technology, and studio deals all on its side, while Sony’s Blu-Ray was falling behind, more complicated, and lacked support from studios. Those same problems had spelled death for Sony’s UMD, a proprietary mini-DVD disc designed for use on the PlayStation Portable. Blu-Ray was also frequently compared to Betamax, which had fallen to JVC’s VHS format in the 80s after a prolonged format war that confused and irritated consumers.

A Reversal of Fortune.
A series of industry shifts resulted in a weakening of the initially strong presence of HD-DVD long before consumers could even select between them. In 2004, Sony bought MGM. The next year, Eisner left Disney and the company’s ties to Microsoft began to wane. That shifted major studio support towards Blu-Ray.

By the end of 2004, it was also obvious that Toshiba wasn’t going to deliver HD-DVD a year ahead of Blu-Ray as promised. The rest of the industry also began to view Blu-Ray as a more credible format despite the DVD Forum’s official blessing for HD-DVD. Sony had developed hardware partnerships with every major hardware manufacturer, while Toshiba was the only significant manufacturer of HD-DVD players.

Through 2005, Toshiba continued to struggle with HD-DVD. The components required to to render HD video and display Microsoft’s HDi were similar to a low-end PC, and cost roughly $675 just for the bill of materials. That left Toshiba with a major hardware loss when trying to sell the players at a $500 consumer price target. The company was ready to drop HD-DVD that year and join the Blu-Ray consortium, but Microsoft pushed it to continue.

The first HD-DVD players weren’t ready until early 2006. Blu-Ray players debuted just weeks later, priced closer to $1000. By the end of that year, Microsoft began selling an external $200 HD-DVD player for the Xbox 360, just as Sony introduced its PlayStation 3 with an integrated Blu-Ray player.

HD War Games.
By the end of 2006, Microsoft had shipped ten million Xbox 360s to stores, while Sony had only sold a few hundred thousand units of the new PS3. However, Microsoft only sold a limited number of its optional HD-DVD drives to Xbox users, while every PS3 shipped with Blu-Ray capabilities.

Compared to standalone HD disc players, Sony’s PS3 not only offered the cheapest Blu-Ray system, but also did a variety of other things, including media downloads and of course games. Throughout 2007, Sony shipped nearly as many PS3 units (6.5 million) as Microsoft sold Xbox 360s (7.3 million). Again, every PS3 played Blu-Ray, while only a small number of Microsoft’s console buyers opted for the HD-DVD option.

Many PS3 buyers were buying them, not as game machines, but on the recommendation of sales people because it was the most economical Blu-Ray player. That surge of Blu-Ray players began creating a market for HD discs that greatly outnumbered the few hundred thousand HD disc players sold outside of the PS3.

The War on Microsoft.
While the PS3 pushed the Blu-Ray format over the goal line, the entire industry outside of Microsoft, Intel, and Toshiba was lined up behind Blu-Ray. There simply wasn’t any realistic chance that HD-DVD would prevail. This wasn’t a simple physical format war like the old VHS and Betamax rivalry; also at stake were the future of video codecs and embedded interactivity development. This was a battle for software and open markets that went far beyond HD disc movie playback.

Companies like Apple and Sun, neither of which had expressed any interest in building or selling HD discs, were unitedly opposed to HD-DVD because it meant Microsoft would expand its proprietary control over video codecs and the embedded software runtime used for interactivity. The industry in general has actively been pushing to rid itself of dependance upon Microsoft controlled standards.

Ten years ago in 1998, Apple, Sun, IBM, Netscape, Oracle, and Silicon Graphics all collectively backed QuickTime against Microsoft’s ASF as the new container for MPEG-4. ISO members subsequently selected QuickTime over ASF and set in motion the development of open standards for mobile, disc, and high definition media distribution using a standard set of codecs collectively maintained by the entire industry rather than beholden to a specific company.

Since then, Microsoft tried hard to push ASF, derail MPEG-4, and even created its own bastard version of MPEG-4 codecs under the name Windows Media 9. It also worked hard to establish its proprietary audio codecs in the field of portable media players. When those efforts all failed, Microsoft ran WM9 though a sham standards process that rebranded it as VC-1, and set up a satellite group of “partners” to advocate it, all of which were owned or directly controlled by Microsoft.

None of these efforts hid the reality that Microsoft wanted to simply duplicate in media what it had done to the PC desktop: copy existing technology, add proprietary hooks, and then sit back and tax the industry with software fees without adding any value. After having been burned repeatedly, the rest of the industry is now ready to shoot down every effort Microsoft makes to enslave innovation and progress.

Misinformation Wars.
Added to the strong showing of studios and manufacturers already supporting Blu-Ray since 2005, the impact of Sony’s integration of Blu-Ray on the PS3 left little room for the HD-DVD camp to maneuver. Microsoft’s efforts to support HD-DVD in Windows Vista and on the Xbox 360 had a limited effect because Vista turned out a commercial failure, and 360 sales were in a precipitous free fall, dropping 33% year over year in 2007. Sony had attached Blu-Ray to its PS3 rocket at launch while Microsoft tied two sandbags to HD-DVD: Vista and the Xbox 360.

Apple, Nintendo, and Sony were all working to push OpenGL against Microsoft’s proprietary DirectX. The video industry was pushing behind the ISO’s MPEG-4 H.264 and AAC, aided by the popularity of Apple’s iTunes, rather than the proprietary WMA and WMV/VC-1 codecs Microsoft was working to advance. The embedded industry favored Java over Microsoft’s latest proprietary efforts to own interactivity. HD-DVD died because the industry collectively worked to kill it as a proprietary monster that would enslave users, studios, and developers to Microsoft’s software. It wasn’t a simple disc format struggle.

The public wasn’t aware of what was going on behind the scenes because Microsoft worked diligently to spin a misinformation campaign that suggested that HD-DVD would be cheaper, more open, and deliver more content. Backers were fed talking points that insisted that HD-DVD discs were cheaper to create, that the Chinese would pump out ultra cheap players to support Microsoft, and that HD-DVD’s DRM was somehow easier to get around than Blu-Ray. This was all false.

When charged with the reality that Microsoft is nothing more than a marketing organization pushing inferior technology tied to proprietary standards that will later be leveraged to extort higher prices, the company responds with a smoke screen that declares that its products will be first-to-market and supported by lowballing Chinese manufacturers. At the same time however, Microsoft has only ever delivered late, inferior products that have a higher total cost of ownership. Its supporters have worked hard to bury this reality even as Microsoft continues to raise prices on poor products that have limited competition, such as Windows Vista.

Reality Distortion.
Despite the industry’s widespread backing of Blu-Ray, Microsoft similarly worked hard to create the illusion that HD-DVD was a viable product. This was critical because HD-DVD was Microsoft’s last effort to force the adoption of VC-1 and HDi. It had already failed to successfully use WinCE in any other embedded market, from smartphones to music players to handheld computers, and had similarly failed to establish Windows Media as a download format against the ISO’s AAC and H.264, widely popularized by Apple’s iTunes.

In a final act of desperation, the HD-DVD camp signed up Paramount and DreamWorks as new exclusive movie studios for HD-DVD. This pitted roughly half of the studios behind each of the two rival formats, with Warner Bros. being unique in offering titles in both formats. Microsoft’s efforts to prolong the format war had nothing to do with players or media, and everything to do with forwarding its proprietary software.

However, consumers were confused by the format uncertainty, which helped to slow sales across the board. Irritated by Microsoft’s refusal to cooperate, Warner Bros. announced a pullout of HD-DVD support right before CES, yanking the plug on Microsoft’s HD-DVD marketing push planned for the show. That signaled an enthusiastic redrawing of the watershed of support behind Blu-Ray, from retailers like WalMart to movie rental groups including Blockbuster and Netflix, and ultimately to Toshiba as HD-DVD’s hardware producer.

What the Death of HD-DVD Means.
HD-DVD is dead, and with it dies Microsoft’s aspirations to inject its proprietary software in media development. This is also a big strike against VC-1; despite being written into the Blu-Ray standard along with the ISO’s H.264, most Blu-Ray developers are moving toward H.264, which not only allows them to master HD discs, but also deliver mobile and downloadable versions using the same codec for playback on devices such as the PSP and iPod.

The death of HD-DVD also presents further evidence that Microsoft is increasingly incapable of pushing its own proprietary standards using its Windows monopoly. Building support for HD-DVD into Windows Vista did almost nothing to shore up support for the format, and tying it to the Xbox 360 similarly did little to push things toward the outcome Microsoft wanted.

In the 90s, Microsoft maintained an invincible aura praised by loyal pundits; it defeated small companies, bought up rivals and destroyed them, slit its partners’ throats, and put startups out of business. It only ever gave the appearance of maintaining strong relationships with its partner companies. However, in the last ten years, that strong facade has been destroyed by a series of very public failures:

WinCE helped to destroy Palm, but did nothing to advance the state of the art and has since fallen into a distant and increasingly irrelevant third place in smartphones. It has become similarly irrelevant in the small handheld computer market for which it was created, and has failed as an embedded system. Microsoft moved its UMPC plans to use its desktop Windows, dropped any hope of using WinCE as the basis for game consoles, and most recently bought up Java-based Danger to replace WinCE as its mobile strategy. If Microsoft is fully abandoning WinCE, why should partners stick around?

Windows XP has floated along as the default choice for PC consumers, but when Microsoft tried to raise the price and tack on fluff features with the Vista rebranding, buyers demanded to upgrade to the previous version. Microsoft is still shipping Vista to manufacturers, but corporations and end users are frequently reverting to Windows XP, killing Microsoft’s ability to leverage its market position to push new proprietary standards and raise prices for features that were once included for free, such as standard networking.

The Xbox 360 had a strong showing in its first year, but was still unable to match the sales of Sony’s PS2. In its second year, it not only fell behind sales of the original Xbox [correction: 360 unit shipments were up 30% over the original Xbox after the first year], but 360 shipments also fell 33% year over year as buyers shifted their attention to the newer Nintendo Wii and PS3. The Wii outsold the 360 in 2007 and the PS3 came within a stones throw of matching its sales [update: the PS3 has also eclipsed 360 unit sales as it enters its second year]. Going forward, there is no reason for thinking 360 sales will dramatically turn around, as sales growth fell this year despite the arrival of major hit new games.

In contrast, after a slow initial start in its first year, Sony’s PS2 grew dramatically year over year back to back in 2001 and 2002, and maintained annual sales well above the Xbox 360’s 2006 peak for over six years, selling an average of 16.8 million per year over its seven year lifespan. Sony has similar long term plans for the PS3, while Microsoft has been unable to sell a game console with a lifespan over four years. The 360 is having a late life crisis just as the PS3 is beginning to sell in adolescent volume.

Microsoft’s monopoly power is dissolving, and its ability to create anti-competitive partnerships and exclusive alliances is also falling apart. Its hardware partners have been led on wild goose chases with WinCE, desktop Windows, PlaysForSure, and now HD-DVD, leaving alliances with Microsoft looking more like charity exercises than business decisions.

Misinformation Is and Misinformation Does.
With the mask pulled off the bluffing, blustering HD-DVD, it becomes clearer that the talking points generated by Microsoft’s supporters all have the same source. As new promises are made about the imminent arrival of cheap new hardware from Chinese dumping, new partnerships just around the corner, and the power of Microsoft’s monopoly to make the improbable happen, it will now be increasingly difficult for the public to swallow them.

Those assurances applied not only to the failure of HD-DVD but also the failure of the Zune, which was similarly supposed to take on the world with Toshiba and turn into a Chinese mass production established in place by the influence of Windows and the Xbox. Instead, MTV’s Urge defected from its Zune store partnership with Microsoft to join Real’s rival Rhapsody music store, and Microsoft never even built any significant integration between the Zune and Xbox.

The Xbox itself was also supposed to rapidly turn around in price, but it soon be came clear that the Xbox 360 was actually more expensive to buy compared to the PS3 for users who get a hard drive, HD disc player, wireless networking, and other features left off Xbox models. In order to hide the fact that Xbox sales are dramatically tapering off, pundits only ever counted the 360, PS3, and Wii in cumulative numbers. No other market uses installed base to compare sales. Microsoft certainly doesn’t talk about installed base when comparing the Zune to the iPod.

If the Zune had sold a respectable number of units, it would be praised for its achievement rather than compared to the total number of iPods sold in previous years. Instead, Microsoft gerrymandered a market for “30GB hard drive based music players” in order to briefly claim a slice approaching 10% of weekly sales numbers.

The End of A Great Illusion.
The reality is that Microsoft is forced to falsify reports and color numbers because reality doesn’t support the illusion of Microsoft’s unquestionable market power. The company is failing in consumer electronics, and every year that passes makes its losses greater and its accomplishments less impressive.

With shrinking sales, the 360 isn’t going to hold off expansion of the PS3. With the death of HD-DVD, Microsoft isn’t going to push into media sales and production. With fire sales of the Zune, Apple is not going to lose its iPod business to the same company that already failed to take it on with its PlaysForSure partners.

The death of HD-DVD says more about Microsoft and its future than the general media seems to recognize. It’s not a format war, its a culture war between industry players working to advance the state of the art collectively in partnerships, and one company working to own everything while contributing very little. It’s not hard to see why Microsoft’s bruised and abused former partners are working to align themselves with open solutions rather than buy into more pain with technology tied to Microsoft. That’s very bad news for a company that exists solely as a licensee of third rate product ideas.

The death of HD-DVD is another lethal wound for Microsoft’s dying empire.

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TOTAL HATE "DEPOPULATING PLANET EARTH" OUT NOW

Debut album of the German black metal stronghold. 7 raw old school tracks. Burning pentagrams, inverted crosses and devil worship to the bone! Features Adrastos on vocals and guitars, Winterheart drums, Aer bass and Erebos guitar.

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STICK A FORK IN HD DVD

Toshiba Announces Discontinuation of HD DVD Businesses

Company Remains Focused on Championing Consumer Access to High Definition Content

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. This decision has been made following recent major changes in the market. Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.

HD DVD was developed to offer consumers access at an affordable price to high-quality, high definition content and prepare them for the digital convergence of tomorrow where the fusion of consumer electronics and IT will continue to progress.

“We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop,” said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. "While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality.”

Toshiba will continue to lead innovation, in a wide range of technologies that will drive mass market access to high definition content. These include high capacity NAND flash memory, small form factor hard disk drives, next generation CPUs, visual processing, and wireless and encryption technologies. The company expects to make forthcoming announcements around strategic progress in these convergence technologies.

Toshiba will begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March 2008. Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same timeframe, yet will continue to make efforts to meet customer requirements. The company will continue to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives within the overall PC business relative to future market demand.

This decision will not impact on Toshiba’s commitment to standard DVD, and the company will continue to market conventional DVD players and recorders. Toshiba intends to continue to contribute to the development of the DVD industry, as a member of the DVD Forum, an international organization with some 200 member companies, committed to the discussion and defining of optimum optical disc formats for the consumer and the related industries.

Toshiba also intends to maintain collaborative relations with the companies who joined with Toshiba in working to build up the HD DVD market, including Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, and DreamWorks Animation and major Japanese and European content providers on the entertainment side, as well as leaders in the IT industry, including Microsoft, Intel, and HP. Toshiba will study possible collaboration with these companies for future business opportunities, utilizing the many assets generated through the development of HD DVD.

FULL FROST ALBUM DOWNLOAD NOW AVAILABLE

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INDEPENDENT KOSOVO? WHY NOT VERMONT?

Sean Connery thinks a Scottish nation is a bonnie notion. How about Spain's Basque country becoming a REAL country? And what's wrong with a People's Republic of Vermont?

Kosovo's looming independence raises all those questions and more. For starters: Why is statehood OK for some people but frowned on for others? After all, isn't the right to self-determination the essence of democracy itself?

There are at least two dozen secessionist movements active in Europe alone, and scores of others agitating for sovereignty around the globe. All of them, experts warn, will be emboldened by Sunday's expected proclamation of the Republic of Kosovo.

"We live in a world which is based around states," said Florian Bieber, a professor of politics and international relations at England's University of Kent.

"The United Nations is based on states. The European Union is based on states," he said. "It's going to continue to happen. New states will emerge, and states will disappear, like East Germany."

Quirky movements
Not all independence movements are created equal.

Some are quirky, such as Second Vermont Republic _ Thomas Naylor's small but spirited campaign to break off his corner of northern New England and make it a nation.

With his spectacles, bald spot and long white hair, the retired Duke University economics professor looks like Benjamin Franklin and quotes Thomas Jefferson. He believes that if Kosovo can become a country, so can Vermont, which was independent until it joined the Union in 1791 as the 14th state.

Yet Naylor concedes: "It's a tough sell. This is not kid stuff. Secession is a radical act of rebellion driven by anger and fear."

Thousands have died in long-running quests for statehood mounted by the Palestinians, and by rebels fighting to gain Kashmir's independence from India and Pakistan.

The Basques have achieved sweeping autonomy from Spain, but militants continue to fight for full independence. On the Mediterranean island of Corsica, birthplace of Napoleon, nationalists still set off bombs to press for independence from France.

There are also many strictly nonviolent movements willing to settle for autonomy rather than secession. And sometimes new states are born by mutual consent, such as Slovakia and the Czech Republic _ Czechoslovakia until they split in 1993.

Kosovo formally remains part of Serbia, but it's been run by the U.N. since 1999, when NATO intervened to stop Slobodan Milosevic's brutal crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.

Although the U.S. and key allies _ including Britain, France and Germany _ support its bid, Serbia and Russia fiercely oppose it.

Dangerous precedent?
Russian President Vladimir Putin insists that if Kosovo gains independence without U.N. approval, it will set a dangerous precedent for secessionists in Chechnya, Georgia, Azerbaijan and further afield.

Trouble is, there's no internationally accepted standard for independence, said Marc Plattner, coeditor of the Washington-based Journal of Democracy, which analyzes movements worldwide.

You can let the people decide, he says, but first you have to decide: Who are the people?

"This is the great hole in democratic theory," Plattner said. "There isn't a sound theoretical or moral answer. One simply looks at the individual case."

Skeptics say the increasing flow of cash, goods and information across national boundaries has taken the shine off statehood.

Others wonder if the already unwieldy EU and U.N. can handle much more. The 27-nation EU already has 23 official languages, and many doubt it could cope if it had to add Albanian and Welsh to the mix.

"At a time when borders are coming down in the EU, freeing up the markets and trade, it makes no sense to put them up here," said Angus MacGregor, an insurance broker in Scotland, whose nationalist minority government is pressing to break away from Britain.

The Scottish National Party has promised to hold a referendum on independence by 2010. Although a vote looks unlikely, it's not for lack of trying.

After 700 years of struggle dating back to William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, Scotland's latest "Braveheart" is Connery.

"All of my life experience tells me that an independent Scotland will be successful," the James Bond actor said in TV spots aired last year.

Split kingdoms
Belgium could be the next country to face a big breakup: A nasty rift between Dutch-speaking Flanders to the north and French-speaking southern Wallonia has raised speculation that the kingdom may split in two.

Other movements have been around for decades.

There's the drive to gain independence for Biafra in Nigeria's oil-rich east, and the fringe Puerto Rican Independence Party, still seeking to wrest back the island the U.S. seized in 1898 at the end of the Spanish-American War.

The United Kingdom looks pretty disunited, too, and not just because of Scotland.

Some in Northern Ireland still advocate unification with Ireland. The Party of Wales wants an independent Welsh state. And in southwestern England, a boisterous secessionist group is trying to carve a country out of Cornwall.

In the U.S., separatist movements advocate independence for Alaska, Texas and the southern states.

And more obscure groups abound.

Ex-Soviet Moldova, just half the size of West Virginia, already has one breakaway republic, Trans-Dniester. But there's also Gagauzia, an autonomous no man's land. Though it doesn't have a prayer of gaining independence, it still sports a flag featuring a snarling red wolf's head.

Other "stateless nations" range from the Veps _ people of Baltic Finn extraction in northwestern Russia _ to the Sorbs, a Slavonic people who occupy parts of the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland.

"One thing's for sure," said Vermont's Naylor. "We didn't start this. We're just continuing the process."

Associated Press Writer Ben McConville in Edinburgh, Scotland, contributed to this report.

NEW ADRENICIDE CD

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NEW VENUE GRAND OPENING CELEBRATION IN CHINO, CALIFORNIA

Saturday March 1st

Grand Opening of
The Mutant House
12019 East End Ave
Chino CA 91711

Featuring:

Bonded by Blood
(Earache records)
Exmortus
(Heavy Artillery Records)
Meltdown
(Nucleal Blast Records)
Prime Evil
Mutuants of War
Lethal Dossage

All Ages
6 pm - Only $3!

KOSOVO DECLARES INDEPENDENCE

MSNBC News Services

PRISTINA, Kosovo - Kosovo's parliament declared the disputed territory a nation on Sunday, mounting a historic bid to become an "independent and democratic state" backed by the U.S. and European allies but bitterly contested by Serbia and Russia.
Serbia immediately denounced the declaration as illegal, and Russia tried to block Kosovo's independence Sunday during an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council, saying it is deeply concerned about the fate of Serbs in the province.
The council began meeting in emergency session early Sunday afternoon at the request of Russia, which argues that the declaration by Kosovo's parliament in Pristina earlier Sunday that it is an independent nation violates the council's orders and other U.N. rules.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Moscow was "highly concerned" about Kosovo's efforts to seek international recognition as an independent nation. He said the Security Council would consider "the situation which has been created by an attempt by Pristina to declare unilateral independence of Kosovo.”
President Bush said the U.S. would work to prevent violence after the declaration and the European Union appealed for calm, mindful of the risk that the declaration could plunge the turbulent Balkans back into instability.
In the Kosovo Serb stronghold city of Mitrovica, hand grenades were thrown at buildings of the European Union and United Nations following the declaration.
One grenade exploded at the U.N. mission causing no significant damage, a Western source in the city said. EU officials evacuated their building, which houses the team preparing a mission to supervise Kosovo's independence.
"Officials abandoned the (EU) building. Security guards said two hand grenades had been thrown. One had exploded," the source told Reuters.
"Kosovo is a republic — an independent, democratic and sovereign state," Kosovo's parliament speaker Jakup Krasniqi said as the chamber burst into applause. Across the capital, Pristina, revelers danced in the streets, fired guns into the air and waved red and black Albanian flags in jubilation at the birth of the world's newest country.
Sunday's declaration was carefully orchestrated with the U.S. and key European powers, and Kosovo was counting on swift international recognition that could come as early as Monday, when EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels, Belgium.
But by sidestepping the U.N. and appealing directly to the U.S. and other nations for recognition, Kosovo set up a showdown with Serbia — outraged at the imminent loss of its territory — and Russia, which warned that it would set a dangerous precedent for separatist groups worldwide.
Ninety percent of Kosovo's 2 million people are ethnic Albanian — most of them secular Muslims — and they see no reason to stay joined to the rest of Christian Orthodox Serbia.
Krasniqi, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and President Fatmir Sejdiu signed the declaration, which was scripted on parchment, before the unveiling of a new national crest and a flag: a bright blue banner featuring a golden map of Kosovo and six stars, one for each of its main ethnic groups.
"From today onwards, Kosovo is proud, independent and free," said Thaci, a former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which battled Serbian troops in a 1998-99 separatist war that claimed 10,000 lives. "We never lost faith in the dream that one day we would stand among the free nations of the world, and today we do."
"Our hopes have never been higher," he told the assembly. "Dreams are infinite, our challenges loom large, but nothing can deter us from moving forward to the greatness that history has reserved for us."


Thaci pledged the new nation would be "a democratic, multiethnic state" — an attempt to reach out to Serbs who consider Kosovo the cradle of their medieval culture and religion.
But he also had stern words for the Serbian government, which last week declared secession illegal and invalid, saying in the Serbian language: "Kosovo will never be ruled by Belgrade again."
Thaci on Sunday signed 192 separate letters to nations around the world — including Serbia — asking them to recognize Kosovo as a state.
Serbian President Boris Tadic rejected the independence bid immediately, declaring Sunday's proclamation "unilateral and illegal." Kosovo's 10 minority Serb lawmakers boycotted the parliamentary session in protest.
And Serbia's government minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic, said Sunday that Serbia would increase its presence in the roughly 15 percent of Kosovo that is Serb-controlled — an apparent attempt to divide the province.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has argued that independence without U.N. approval would set a dangerous precedent for "frozen conflicts" across the former Soviet Union, where separatists in Chechnya and Georgia are agitating for independence. Serbia's government ruled out a military response as part of a secret "action plan" drafted earlier this week, but warned that it would downgrade relations with any foreign government that recognizes Kosovo's independence. Meanwhile, Serbia's government minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic, said Serbia would increase its presence in the roughly 15 percent of Kosovo that is Serb-controlled in an apparent attempt to partition the province. Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu sought to allay Serbs' concerns, telling them: "I understand today is a fearful day for you all, but your rights and your property will be protected today as it will be always." At a special session of parliament boycotted by 10 minority Serb lawmakers and televised live nationwide, sustained applause erupted after the rest of the chamber unanimously adopted the declaration of independence, which was scripted on parchment. They also unveiled a new national crest and a flag: a bright blue banner featuring a golden map of Kosovo and six stars, one for each of its main ethnic groups. Few of the new flags were seen Sunday on Kosovo's streets, where the old Albanian banner still dominated. "We, the democratically elected leaders of our people, hereby declare Kosovo to be an independent and sovereign state," the proclamation read.

From today onwards, Kosovo is proud, independent and free," said Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, a former KLA leader. "We never lost faith in the dream that one day we would stand among the free nations of the world, and today we do." "Our hopes have never been higher," he said. "Dreams are infinite, our challenges loom large, but nothing can deter us from moving forward to the greatness that history has reserved for us." Like Sejdiu, Thaci reached out to ordinary Serbs, but he had stern words for the Serbian government. "Kosovo will never be ruled by Belgrade again," he warned.

Thaci also signed 192 separate letters to nations around the world — including Serbia — asking them to recognize Kosovo as a state. Kosovo's leaders signed their names on a giant iron sculpture spelling out "NEWBORN" before heading to a sports hall for a performance of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" by the Kosovo Philharmonic Orchestra. International officials warned their staff to stay indoors and avoid "happy fire" as some revelers shot handguns into the air. "I feel stronger," said Ymer Govori, 36, carrying his daughter on his shoulders to celebrations downtown. "I have my own state and my own post code," he said, "and it won't say Serbia any longer."

NEW NUCLEAR WAR NOW! PRODUCTIONS RELEASES

Proclamation “Messiah of Darkness and Impurity” LP
ANTI-GOTH 088
One of the most extreme and morbid acts from the pits of the satanic underground now returns with 10 apocalyptic anthems of Bestial Black Death following the path of Advent Of The Black Omen, Wicca, Down There, and Fallen Angel of Doom…. Recorded entirely using analog equipment, “Messiah of Darkness and Impurity”, Proclamation exceeds even the bestiality they attained on their last album. Few bands working within this subgenre have so successfully delivered such aggressive and violent onslaughts and few have remained so faithful to the blueprints established by Blasphemy, Beherit, Impurity, Sarcofago, etc. This is not a “retro” album, however. This release easily stands alongside the classics produced by those masters. Among the seemingly endless tide of Bestial Black Death bands released each month, few can be as favorably compared to the pregenitors of the genre. Proclamation is one of the few that can. Perhaps this is because Proclamation have studied the masters so thoroughly and refuse to be influenced by anything other than the unholiest of bestial black metal. You will hear no heavy metal influence. ..no norsecore…no funthrash…instead you will be thoroughly assaulted by chaotic riffs, morbid intros, searingly violent guitar solos, and blasphemous vocals from beyond that will rape and devour your soul. Released in conspiracy with Ross Bay Cult. The 180 gram heavy vinyl comes housed in printed innersleeve and reverseboard printed LP jacket. Also included in every copy is a huge 24″ x 24″ poster of the cover artwork. Die Hard version to follow in two weeks.

Blasphemophagher “Atomic Infested Carnage” 10”
ANTI-GOTH 089
In preparation for the first full length album release, NWN! is honored to unleash the proper vinyl version of Blasphemophagher’s first demo, “Atomic Infested Carnage.” Ferocious and raw, this demo, originally released in 2003, is bestial black deathrash for the impending nuclear apocalypse. Blasphemophagher combine warfare deathgrind in the style of Naked Whipper and Blasphemy’s “Gods of War” with the pure annihilating deathrash terror of Brazilian masters Sarcofago, Sextrash, and Vulcano. This demo contains five original infernal battle hymns and a series of sacrificial cover tracks to pay homage to the masters, Blasphemy, Beherit, and Sarcofago. More thrashing than some of the recordings they have released since this demo, “Atomic Infested Carnage” is an exceptional beginning for these soon to be legendary bestial desecrators. Comes with reverse board printed jacket with different artwork from the original CD release and includes “cut-and-paste” style insert. Die hard version on colored vinyl with patch and sticker.

Anal Vomit “Depravation” LP
ANTI-GOTH 090
Rising from the infernal depths of Peruvian Hell, Anal Vomit have returned with a new full length LP “Depravation.” A favorite at NWN! headquarters after they released the masterful “Demoniac Flagellations”, it was apparent that Anal Vomit’s new demoniac regurgitation had to be unleashed on vinyl under the banner of Nuclear War Now! As its name suggests, “Depravation” is satanic depravity at its most violent. Undeniably South American in its sound, this album sees Anal Vomit evolving their style of purified and intense alcoholic deathrash. On “Depravation” Anal Vomit deliver a blistering assault of frenetic and fast thrash riffs delivered with bestial intensity at times reminiscent of “Devil’s Force”-era Nifelheim. This NWN! vinyl version of the CD already released on Displeased Records features a new layout with rare, classic colored pencil Moyen artwork from 1992. Comes with printed reverse board jacket, printed inner sleeve, and A2 size poster featuring vintage Moyen artwork. Die Hard version on colored vinyl with patch, and sticker.

www.nwnprod.com

CONJURING THE DARK FEST 1

SATURDAY MAY 17TH!

INQUISITION (WA)
NOKTURNE (CA)
TERATISM (MN)
EXEKUTION MASSAKRE KOMMANDO (IL)
MORE TBA!


7TH ST. ENTRY
1st Ave & 7th St.
Downtown
MINNEAPOLIS, MN

NEW IN FLAMES EP OUT MARCH 7TH

IN FLAMES was formed by Jesper Strömblad back in 1990. The band as it was at the time consisted of Jesper, Johan Larsson and Glenn Ljungström. A demo was recorded and soon after the band got a record deal and released “Lunar Strain” and it did not take long before the album was a classic in the fast growing Scandinavian death metal scene. With a new line up consisting of Jesper, Johan & Glenn along with two new additions: Anders Fridén on vocals and Björn Gelotte on drums, IN FLAMES signed a license deal with Nuclear Blast Records and soon started recording the follow up: “The Jester Race”.
“ The Jester Race” quickly became a big hit all across Europe and Japan. After the recording of “Whoracle” in 1997 Johan and Glenn decided to leave the band and Peter Iwers (bass) joined. Niklas Engelin (Gardenian, Engel) was temporarily in the band filling in on guitars. With a fresh line up the band set sails and headed out on tour. Short after a very successful European tour Niklas had to focus on his other projects, and Björn switched from drums to guitar and Daniel Svensson joined the band, and this is the IN FLAMES as we know it today. With the completion of the line up “Colony” was recorded and released in 1999.
“ Colony” took IN FLAMES to a new level and the band sold out venues across Europe, USA and Japan and quickly became one of the biggest and most popular Melodic Death Metal acts around. “Clayman” which was released in 2000 even topped its predecessor and the awards started pouring in and the band kept growing in popularity. In 2001 “The Tokyo Showdown”, In Flames first live album was released, and gave the public and insight to the band’s live competence.
Modern and more mature “Reroute To Remain” (2002) again confirmed the status of IN FLAMES and marked another milestone in their career. Two years later and it was time to take IN FLAMES to a new level. “Soundtrack To Your Escape” did just that and was the logical continuation after “Reroute To Remain”.
IN FLAMES continued to tour the world and documented these escapades, which resulted in the release of the phenomenal DVD/CD package “Used And Abused – In Live We Trust” in 2005. With an incredibly successful world tour behind them, In Flames recorded the masterpiece “Come Clarity” which was released in March 2006. “Come Clarity” got an amazing reception in the media and has today sold over 400.000 copies worldwide.The song “Take This Life” from the album is featured on the new “Guitar Hero III” game. A game which has been deemed the bestselling video game of all times and has today sold six million copies.
In September 2007 In Flames entered IF STUDIOS, in Gothenburg, Sweden, to record their new album. "A Sense Of Purpose" was recorded and produced by the band together with Daniel Bergstrand (vocals) and Roberto Laghi (Bass, guitar & drums) and mixed by Toby Wright in LA (Metallica, Slayer, Ozzy Osbourne, Kiss, Motley Crue etc) and masterd by Stephen Marcussen at Marcussen mastering studios in LA. With this new album there is no doubt that IN FLAMES will take a step up the ladder towards becoming one of the biggest metal bands of all times.

"The Mirror..s Truth" is the first single from the "A Sense Of Purpose" – not quite the typical song you would expect for the first single, but it gives a perfect overview of what..s happening on the new album. It..s really, really heavy but still catchy. "Eraser" and "Tilt" are exclusive new songs – leftovers from the album sessions, but as strong as every song on the album! "Abnegation" was originally recorded for the "Viva La Bam, Vol.2" sampler. Value for money!

" IN FLAMES does not follow trends, they create them!" ROCK HARD Spain

Tracklist:
1. The Mirrors Truth
2. Eraser
3. Tilt
4. Abnegation

Listen to "The Mirror's Truth" on the IN FLAMES MySpace!
www.myspace.com/inflames

"WE ARE GOING TO EAT YOU!"

NEW ANTAEUS SHIRTS

Antaeus - Words As Weapons T-SHIRT (205 gr)

Printed on "B&C 190" shirts.
size "girlie" S, M, L, XL

Design by Ims Phalanx
www.myspace.com/versvstheosis

available at :

eal@wanadoo.fr (16 Euros but ask for further information)

or Debemur Morti
www.debemur-morti.com


or at the Osmose Productions webstore
www.osmoseproductions.com

MAKES ME "ROFTFTOFL" OR WHATEVER ALL THE TIME!

Courtesy of our reader Colin. Add them to your social networking site of choice and say it with pride!

NEW INDIANA JONES TRAILER!

Pretty damn incredible, I must say! Many, many, MANY years in the waiting! Watched it like, five times!

www.indianajones.com

IMAPAELD NAZARENE IS BACK IN ACTION

HUGE MORAL LOSS FOR HEZBOLLAH

Top Hezbollah Commander Killed in Syria

U.S. Target Accused of Masterminding Suicide Bombings, Hijackings

By Anthony Shadid and Alia Ibrahim

Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, February 13, 2008; 11:01 AM

BEIRUT, Feb. 13 -- Imad Mughniyeh, a senior but shadowy Hezbollah commander accused by the United States and Israel of masterminding suicide bombings, hijackings and hostage-takings that spanned 25 years, was killed by a car bomb in the Syrian capital of Damascus, the Shiite Muslim group and other officials said Wednesday.

Hezbollah accused Israel of carrying out the attack on Mughniyeh, a charge that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office denied. In the past, Israeli officials have rarely confirmed or denied their involvement in assassinations abroad.

A State Department spokesman welcomed the news of Mughniyeh's death, but said he did not know who was responsible for it.

"The world is a better place without this man in it. He was a cold-blooded killer, a mass murderer and a terrorist responsible for countless innocent lives lost," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. "One way or another, he was brought to justice."

The elusiveness of Mughniyeh, long a target of U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies , rivaled only that of Osama bin Laden and stretched over many more years. Until Sept. 11, 2001, the attacks for which the United States blamed him represented some of the deadliest strikes against Americans, at home or abroad. Along with bin Laden, he was included on the list of 22 "most wanted terrorists" released by President Bush a month after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Although Hezbollah has always denied a role, the United States accused him of orchestrating two bombings of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut -- in 1983 and 1984 -- killing 72 people. Among the victims was Robert Ames, then the CIA's top Middle East expert. Even more devastating were the suicide truck bombings organized against U.S. Marines and French paratroopers in Beirut in October 1983. Together, those attacks killed 300 people.

Israel accused Mughniyeh, 45, of masterminding the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires that killed 87 people and of a role in a 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in the Argentine capital that killed 28. He was wanted by the authorities there.

"With pride and honor, we announce the martyrdom of a great resistance leader who joined the procession of martyrs in the Islamic resistance," said a statement read on al-Manar, Hezbollah's television station, and published on its Web site. "The martyr, may his soul rest in peace, has been a target of the Zionists for more than 20 years."

Hezbollah planned a show of strength on Thursday in its stronghold in the capital's southern suburbs to mark the death of Mughniyeh, whose nom de guerre was Hajj Radwan. Al-Manar interrupted programming to mark his death with Koranic recitation and called on supporters to begin paying condolences in the neighborhood Wednesday. By afternoon, al-Manar broadcast footage of a line of men in civilian clothes or the turbans and robes of the clergy paying their respects.

"Let us make our voice heard by all the enemies and murderers that we will make victory, no matter the sacrifices," the group said in a statement.

Syria had no comment. Its authoritarian government prides itself on the internal security it maintains, in Damascus, the tightly controlled seat of government.

In Iran, a key source of Hezbollah's support, a Foreign Ministry spokesman also accused Israel of involvement.

Bruce O. Riedel, a former CIA Middle East analyst and now at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center, said the fact that Mughniyeh was killed by a car bomb in downtown Damascus limits the possibilities.

The Israelis "have done it before in downtown Damascus," said Riedel. "He was also very much on their radar screen."

Riedel said Hezbollah will almost certainly seek to retaliate for Mughniyeh's death, giving whoever was behind it incentive to deny involvement.

"Some kind of retaliation is almost certain and for killing Mughniyeh, one of Hezbollah's founding architects, will be very serious," he said.

Al-Alam, the Iranian-owned Arabic-language television station, broadcast grainy footage of the car bombing scene from the upscale neighborhood of Kafar Sousah in Damascus, near an Iranian school, police station and an office for Syrian intelligence. It showed an ambulance and people milling around the site, although the targeted car was not visible. News agencies reported that the vehicle was a new model Mitsubishi Pajero.

Mughniyeh's elusiveness over the years had given him a ghost-like aura. His whereabouts were always the matter of speculation -- in the southern Lebanese village of Teir Dibba, where he was born to peasant parents, or somewhere in Iran, whose government had reputedly issued him a diplomatic passport. Few pictures of him existed, and he was said to have undergone plastic surgery more than once to conceal his identity.

After announcing his death, al-Manar broadcast what appeared to be a recent picture of Mughniyeh. It showed a burly man with glasses dressed in green military camouflage and a green baseball hat. He wore a full beard, streaked with gray.

Mughniyeh's name first emerged after the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, then mired in civil war. He was reputed to be the commander of Islamic Jihad, a pro-Iranian group widely believed to be linked to Hezbollah, which had yet to officially emerge.

He was blamed for kidnapping many of the more than 50 Americans, Frenchmen, Britons, Germans and other foreigners held during the civil war's grimmest days. One of the most prominent hostages was William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, who was seized in March 1984. He was tortured by his Lebanese and Iranian interrogators and died in captivity, apparently from lack of medical attention.

Mughniyeh was indicted for his role in the hijacking of a TWA flight from Athens to Rome in 1985. The hijackers killed a U.S. Navy diver after taking the plane to Beirut. The United States had offered a $25 million reward for his capture or conviction.

His name emerged again in 2006, when he was said to have played a role in organizing Hezbollah's defenses during the war with Israel that year.

"This is a loss of a major pillar in resistance work. He was an expert at making victories and building fighting capacities against Israel," said Ali Hassan Khalil, a member of parliament with Amal, another Shiite Muslim group allied with Hezbollah. "He played an essential role in all resistance activities, especially the last war."

Over the years, both Israeli and American agencies had relentlessly pursued Mughniyeh. In 1994, Mughniyeh's brother was killed by a car bomb in Beirut, and reports at the time suggested Imad Mughniyeh had been the target.

A year later, FBI officials traveled to Saudi Arabia to take custody of him during a stopover of a Middle East Airlines flight from Khartoum, Sudan, to Beirut. Before they could, Saudi officials decided not to cooperate and refused to allow the plane to land, angering U.S. officials.

Washington Post staff writer Robin Wright in Washington and correspondent Samuel Sockol in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Take that, you bastards! Using myths to justify the killing of people and marginalize anybody who doesn't think like you! Shame on you, shame on Iran for giving you financial and moral support, and may you all rot in shallow graves! "Martyrdom" my ass, hope the worms find you extra tasty!

MORE STAR WARS IN THEATERS! PHALLELUJAH!

A new era of Star Wars entertainment begins in 2008 when Star Wars: The Clone Wars, from creator George Lucas, premieres as an all-new feature film in August, followed by the television series debut in the fall, in a partnership announced today between Lucasfilm Ltd., Warner Bros. Pictures and Turner Broadcasting System Inc.

Produced by Lucasfilm Animation, Star Wars: The Clone Wars takes audiences on incredible new Star Wars adventures, combining the legendary storytelling of Lucasfilm with an eye-popping, signature animation style. Star Wars: The Clone Wars will open in North American theaters Friday, August 15. International release dates will be announced soon.

"I felt there were a lot more Star Wars stories left to tell," said George Lucas, executive producer of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. "I was eager to start telling some of them through animation and, at the same time, push the art of animation forward."

The theatrical debut of Star Wars: The Clone Wars is only the beginning of all-new Star Wars adventures that continue in the fall when the long-awaited television series premieres on Cartoon Network, followed by airings on TNT. Details regarding international broadcasts will be announced shortly. Star Wars: The Clone Wars showcases an entirely new look and feel to the galaxy far, far away -- combining the expansive scope of the Star Wars Saga with state-of-the-art computer-generated animation. Each week, viewers will see a thrilling, 30-minute "mini-movie" created by the talented artists at Lucasfilm Animation.

On the front lines of an intergalactic struggle between good and evil, fans young and old will join such favorite characters as Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padmé Amidala, along with brand-new heroes like Anakin's padawan learner, Ahsoka. Sinister villains -- led by Darth Sidious, Count Dooku and General Grievous -- are poised to rule the galaxy. Stakes are high, and the fate of the Star Wars universe rests in the hands of the daring Jedi Knights. Their exploits lead to the action-packed battles and astonishing new revelations that fill Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

"Warner Bros. and Turner are uniquely positioned to deliver on the enormous potential of The Clone Wars because together they offer a world-class opportunity: the theatrical and home-video distribution of Warner Bros. and the broad reach of the Turner Networks," said Micheline Chau, President and Chief Operating Officer of Lucasfilm Ltd. "This terrific combination hits the key demographic groups, ranging from kids to adults, that make up the Star Wars audience."

Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. Pictures President of Domestic Distribution, added, "This is a breakthrough project -- returning Star Wars to the big screen in a completely new way while beginning an exciting new chapter in George Lucas' legendary saga. We immediately felt that it would be a fantastic theatrical event and are thrilled to be bringing it to moviegoers."

"Nothing like this has ever been produced for television," said Stuart Snyder, President/COO Turner Animation,Young Adults & Kids Media. "For 30 years, Star Wars has shown that it appeals to a huge breadth of fans. The Clone Wars on Cartoon Network will be appointment television for everyone in the family. We're thrilled to be working with Lucasfilm again and very excited to be playing a role in bringing this remarkable adventure to viewers."With a new story each week, Star Wars: The Clone Wars continues the tradition of thrilling stories, astonishing visuals and extraordinary music that have always been the hallmarks of the Star Wars Saga.

Lucasfilm Animation, which is based in Marin County, Calif., with a studio in Singapore, has produced more than 30 all-new episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and production continues on even more exciting episodes.

THOSE DANG FREEMASONS! ::WINK WINK::

Historians Unlock U.S. Seal's Secrets
By MATTHEW LEE,
AP
Posted: 2008-02-12 11:56:32
Filed Under: Nation News

WASHINGTON (Feb. 11) - Conspiracy theorists take note: The myths surrounding one of America's oldest and most enduring national symbols are about to be debunked ... if you believe the government, that is.

The keepers of the Great Seal of the United States, the familiar emblem on the back of the $1 bill, want you to know what it is not. It is not a sign that Freemasons run the country, it has nothing to do with the occult, and it does not contain clues to a fabulous hidden treasure.

It is rather the nation's stamp of authority, sovereignty and power, gracing our cash and embossing the most important of documents from its home at the State Department, which has held it since the days of Thomas Jefferson, the first secretary of state.

Not that the Seal's symbols - the all-seeing eye, the unfinished pyramid, the Latin phrases, the bald eagle clutching an olive branch and arrows and the number 13 - aren't powerful.

They are, historians say. Yet their meanings have been misidentified, misunderstood and misrepresented almost since the Continental Congress first commissioned the Seal in 1776.

It would be another six years before the original design was approved and another 128 before it evolved into its current form. Along the way, a movement to decipher the Seal's meaning with ancient Egyptian, mystical and otherwise other worldly explanations has gained currency.

The Internet age has seen an explosion in such conspiracy theories, many which have now been ingrained in public consciousness through the popular "National Treasure" movie franchise that serves up a combination of Masonic lore and historical myths in blockbuster Hollywood fashion.

Among them:

· That the Seal proves the domination of the United States by a powerful, quasi-religious cult. The Ancient Scottish Rite of Freemasonry is a perennial favorite of conspiracy theorists as some Founding Fathers were Masons and the Seal uses several Masonic symbols.

· That the Seal draws on Satanism or polytheistic ritual to promote a universal new world order under which Earth would be ruled by a single omnipotent government.

· That repeated references to 13 - the number of steps in the unfinished pyramid, stars in the constellation over the eagle's head, arrows in the eagle's claw, stripes on the eagle's shield, letters in the phrase "Annuit Coeptis" - demonstrate the power of 13 American families.

· That there are two seals: one in which the eagle's head faces the arrows for times of war and another in which the eagle's head faces the olive branch for times of peace.

All rubbish, according to historians, who say the Seal's symbolism is far less ominous or revelatory than many believe.

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the Seal's current custodian, will inaugurate a new exhibition to commemorate its 225th birthday and trace the history and evolution of the symbolism.

The Seal will remain at the State Department but the interactive exhibit is designed to travel and curators hope it will dispel the rumors and educate Americans about the real meaning of the symbols.

Among the highlights:

· That known Masons like the first U.S. president, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin had no role in designing the final seal, which uses elements of traditional heraldry, such as the unfinished pyramid to symbolize a work in progress, arrows for war and an olive branch for peace. Masons share some of those symbols, but they have never been exclusively the domain of the order.

· That the phrase "Novus Ordo Seculorum" below the Roman numerals for 1776 at the base of the pyramid translates as "A New Order of the Ages" that began with independence and does not imply the United States will be the lynchpin of a sinister "New World Order."

· That the words "Annuit Coeptis" ("Providence favors") and the eye of providence that hovers over the pyramid refer to unexpected interventions of fate that assisted the colonists in creating a new country.

· That the references to 13 refer to the number of colonies that formed the original United States.

"People are just not aware of the complexity and intent of the symbolism and what our Founding Fathers were trying to do with it," said Priscilla Linn, senior curator at the U.S. Diplomacy Center. "The hidden treasure in the Seal is the courage and presence of mind of the people who created it and created these values for the whole country."