Our knowledge has made us cynical.
Our cleverness hard and unkind.
We think too much and feel too little.
More than machinery we need humanity.
More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness.
Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. (1940)
LBN- A DIFFERENT VIEW:
LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By WALT DISNEY:
Life is composed of lights and shadows, and we would be untruthful, insincere, and saccharine if we tried to pretend there were no shadows.
Most things are good, and they are the strongest things;
but there are evil things too, and you are not doing a child a favor by trying to shield him from reality. (1963)
LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER:
*** Coming out of the 61st annual Primetime Creative Arts Emmys at the Nokia Theater LA Live in Los Angeles, PBS miniseries "Little Dorrit" leads the pack with four trophies.
"Pushing Daisies" and "Grey Gardens" were also among the nights big winners with three wins a piece.
Tina Fey was honored as guest actress in a comedy series for her spoof of Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live."
The thesp thanked her mom and dad, who are lifelong Republicans, she said.
"They thought the first four sketches were very funny," Fey added.
"The last two were in their words, Enough already."
Feys "30 Rock" also picked up kudos for casting and picture editing.
*** Hard-hitting Israeli war movie "Lebanon" won the Golden Lion for best picture at the Venice film festival on Saturday.
Director Samuel Maoz shot almost the entire film from inside a tank to communicate the claustrophobia and fear he experienced as a young Israeli conscript during the 1982 war.
He was so traumatized by his memories that it took him 25 years to gather the strength to make the movie, which the New York Times called "an astonishing piece of cinema."
LBN-SEE IT:.....
In "Juno" screenwriter Diablo Cody's case, winning an Oscar really does change everything ... about yourself
*** Avast!
Disney says a new "Pirates of the Caribbean" film is on yonder horizon.
Johnny Depp sailed onstage Thursday on a pirate ship in Anaheim, Calif., to help announce the forthcoming installment of Disney's blockbuster franchise.
LBN-BRUTAL FACTS:
Before 1977, lawyers in the U.S. were not allowed to advertise.
LBN-LYRICS OF LIFE By Bob Dylan:
They say ev'rything can be replaced,Yet ev'ry distance is not near.
So I remember ev'ry faceOf ev'ry man who put me here.I
see my light come shining From the west unto the east.
Any day now, any day now,I shall be released.
LBN-COMMENTARY BY RICHARD RUSSELL:
China clearly aims to be the next worlds super-power, leading the world in wealth, gold, technology, manufacturing, exports and possibly in military strength.
Meanwhile, America, run by a bunch of shortsighted teenagers, sleeps.
LBN-NOTICED:
***Ashley Dupre is back on the scene.
Eliot Spitzer's high-priced escort was at club Norwood in NYC Wednesday Russell Simmons.
"Ashley became friends with Russell after they met at Jivamukti Yoga," said a source.
"Russell has taken her under his wing because he believes she isn't the bad girl everyone thinks she is."
***Hugh Grant solo in Southampton grabbing a morning coffee and muffin at the Golden Pear.
***Kayne West and Amber Rose chatting with Tory Burch and Lyor Cohen at interior designer Richard Mishaan's dinner dance at his home in Sagaponack.
***David Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues buying Spiru lina dietary supplement at the Vitamin Shoppe on West 57th Street in NYC right next to lifestyle author Bruce Littlefield.
***John Travolta, Kelly Preston and daughter Ella Bleu made a joint public appearance, their first since the death of the Travolta's older son Jett in January.
The three were at Disney's D23 Expo on Friday to promote an upcoming film.
*** Jennifer Connelly was present at the Gala Presentation of her new movie Creation during the Toronto Film Festival held at the Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Canada.
*** Jared Leto attended the premiere of his latest film Mr. Nobody during the 66th Venice Film Festival on Friday in Venice, Italy.
*** Kate Beckinsale walked the white carpet at the premiere of her film, Whiteout, on at the Mann Village Theater in Westwood.
Entertainment stocks rally, analysts upgrade
Stronger-than-anticipated rebound in ads expected
By Georg Szalai
Sept 11, 2009, 09:41 AM ET
NEW YORK --
The week is ending on a high note for entertainment stocks, with at least two prominent industry analysts publishing bullish reports.
Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Wienkes on Thursday raised his view on the entertainment sector from "neutral" to "attractive."
And Friday morning Barclays Capital analyst Anthony DiClemente published a ranking of his favorite industry stocks that also predicted more upside ahead.
Both argued that despite a rally since March, entertainment stocks remain affordable, and they cited an expected advertising recovery now that the recession seems to be at or near its end.
"A stronger-than-anticipated rebound in national advertising -- a primary driver of fundamentals and sentiment across the group -- is the single most important factor in our updated outlook," said Wienkes.
"We acknowledge what we think will be continued weak consumer spending and local advertising trends, but think these will be more than offset by rebounding national advertising, stable affiliate fee growth and solid content trends as secular disintermediation risk remains distant."
Similarly, DiClemente predicted that "a cyclical recovery for U.S. advertising will more than offset media's well-known structural concerns in 2010/2011.
"Valuations in the sector are still "attractive relative to historical levels and other market sectors," Wienkes added ahead of next week's annual Goldman Sachs Communacopia media investor conference.
And he predicted that entertainment stocks will increasingly reflect fundamentals in a phase of normalization after three "relatively distinct trading stages of 'capitulation,' 'beta rally,' and stabilization."
DiClemente overnight echoed that.
"Despite a buoyant summer break and a nice welcome-back rally, the longer view maintains that media stocks are not only "highly torqued" for an economic recovery, but are still generally inexpensive versus the market and other consumer stocks," he wrote in his report.
For example, media/entertainment must still play catch-up to such sectors as retail and gaming, and sector stocks still trade about 10%-15% below their recent historical valuations pre-financial crisis.
Which stocks do the two analysts prefer right now?
Wienkes upgraded Time Warner shares to "buy," saying he likes it and Viacom's stock best.
And DiClemente said as a back-to-school initiative of sorts, his team has created a forced-ranking system as stock-picking within the entertainment and media sector is key after the rally of recent months.
His top five stock picks are ''
Walt Disney,
Discovery Communications,
Viacom,
CBS Corp. and
News Corp.
While entertainment executives have remained cautious on the outlook for an ad recovery, the Barclays and Goldman analysts see a slow improvement.
Overall sentiment is still improving, DiClemente argued, pointing to reports this week that General Motors would launch a major auto marketing campaign later this month.
"That's not just stabilization language, that's recovery talk," he said.
Meanwhile, Cowen analyst Doug Creutz on Friday sounded much more somber notes in downgrading some big entertainment names, arguing that "advertising growth (will) be sluggish at best over the next two years."
He predicted that U.S. ad spending will decline 1.3% in 2010 before finally turning slightly positive in 2011 with a 1.2% improvement.
Creutz downgraded shares of Viacom from "overweight" to "neutral."
He also cut CBS Corp. and News Corp. from "neutral" to "underperform."
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