Author: s1e2t3u4p5

Atlas Shrugged Movie: Lionsgate Moving Forward

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

New Individualist editor Robert Bidinotto reports that Lionsgate is moving forward with its plans to produce the Atlas Shrugged movie:

According to Variety, “Ray” producers Howard and Karen Baldwin believe they’ve cracked the challenge of turning the 1,100 page novel “Atlas Shrugged” into a manageable feature. Lionsgate has acquired worldwide distribution.

And reportedly both Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are very interested in the project:

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have been linked to the film adaptation of Ayn Rand’s bestselling novel ‘Atlas Shrugged’.
Variety reports that the couple are rumoured to be considering starring as lead characters Dagny Taggart and John Galt.
‘Atlas Shrugged’ tells the story of the economic collapse of the US in the future when American industrialists go on strike and retreat to a hideaway in the mountains.
The book espouses Rand’s philosophy of objectivism, which the author described as: “the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.”
Both Pitt and Jolie are fans of Rand’s work.

More here, here, and here:

Lionsgate Films, who like to keep their films under a $25M budget, are looking to spend north of $30M for Atlas Shrugged.

Bidinotto promises that “The New Individualist WILL have exclusive, behind-the-scenes news and interviews with the principals about this coming project in the very near future. (John Aglialoro, who owns the screen rights, is a co-executive producer on the project, and also serves on the Board of The Objectivist Center — the publisher of The New Individualist.)”

About the Atlasphere's Business Model

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

This morning one of our members sent us the following message:

Guys at the Atlasphere — as an investor in a couple dating sites, and the CEO of a pretty large internet subscription company — I thought I’d point out that it’s most common to show the pictures to basic members, so that they get really motivated to contact the other party and then pay to upgrade. Hiding the photos is hiding your best sales tool!

We receive some version of this question several times a year, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to answer in public, since no doubt many other people have wondered the same thing: Why doesn’t the Atlasphere adopt the same business model used at other social networking sites, of showing photos for free?
As it happens, the Atlasphere’s subscription rate — the rate at which our free members elect to purchase paid subscriptions — is about six times the industry average.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean we’re taking in millions of dollars each year. We’re a tiny fraction of the size of ordinary social networking sites, since our target market is limited to admirers of Ayn Rand’s novels — and so our base of potential customers is accordingly much smaller as well.
I’m not certain why our subscription rate is so much higher than the industry average, but my guess is that it has to do with the strong interest that Rand fans have in getting to know one another.
The Atlasphere seems to have struck into an untapped market in Objectivism: The desire for meaningful one-on-one contact, without the hassles and aggravation of participating in the (always controversial and time-consuming) online discussion forums.
This is why we’ve never had discussion forums at the Atlasphere, and why we’re unlikely to do so any time soon. (Another question we receive regularly.)
Returning to the original question: Would our subscription rates be even higher if we allowed members to see one another’s photos for free? We were curious to find out, so we tried adopting this membership structure during the 4th quarter of 2004 (Oct – Dec).
During this time, our subscription rates immediately dropped, by more than 80%, and did not recover until we reverted to our old membership structure.
So that’s our answer to the question raised above: Been there, done that, and found out it doesn’t work well at all for our target market.
If you have any other ideas for improving the Atlasphere, please (by all means) drop us a note! We welcome ideas for further improving our service.

Rand Fan: Tennis Star Billie Jean King

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

A squirrely review of HBO’s new Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer includes this bit:

For these early years, Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer sticks close to the story lines laid down in the autobiography she wrote in the early eighties with the help of Frank Deford, who is also interviewed here like a wise old tortoise. Though executive producers Ross Greenburg and Rick Bernstein choose not to mention her past enthusiasms for astrology and Ayn Rand, nor the fact that sheâ??s part Seminole, we do spend quality time in blue-collar Long Beach, with her firefighter father, homemaking mother, and baseball-playing brother (Randy Moffitt), among the grammar schools and concrete courts in the public parks where the lower classes could play tennis for free.

Here is a familiar story of upward social mobility via organized sports instead of organized religion or organized crime. But here as well is a less familiar story, of democratizing from below. The genteel world of tennis into which Billie Jean entered at age 12, a chubby five feet four with glasses, was as white as it was male and moneyed, a country club of people born at center court. She never forgot scrounging for lessons, being sent home for not knowing better than to wear shorts when a skirt was required, having to make do without a scholarship despite the fact that she was Cal Stateâ??s best player, nor the coach who told her, at age 17, â??youâ??ll be good because youâ??re ugly, Billie Jean.â? So she attacked every net. And grew up from her first Wimbledon win, in doubles in 1961, to her feminist coming-of-age in the tumultuous sixties, to her organizing of the Virginia Slims tour, her unionizing of women players, her developmental work for the Womenâ??s Sports Foundation and World Team Tennis, and, of course, her thrashing of Bobby Riggs in three straight sets, after which she would show up on The Odd Couple and Sonny & Cher and even talk at a press conference about bisexuality as if it werenâ??t a war crime.

Somehow ‘astrology and Ayn Rand’ doesn’t come off as a compliment, but King seems like someone in whom we shouldn’t be surprised to find an individualist streak.
Apparently Atlas Shrugged turned her around, when she was going through a bad period in tennis, and considered quitting.

Firefly Season 2 Project

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

More than a few fans of Ayn Rand’s novels are also fans of Joss Whedon’s ill-fated Firefly television series. For background, see Monica White’s review of Firefly and Jeff Perren’s review of Serenity, and our earlier blog posts on related topics.
Now it looks like an independent production company is seeking the rights to continue producing Firefly:

Captain Mal and the crew of Serenity need your help to stay flying.

We are looking to push the envelope of episodic television by offering Season Two of Firefly in a groundbreaking new format. Each episode (or the entire season) would be made available for purchase in Standard or Hi-Definition.

It’s possible that subscribers may choose one of three playback options; monthly DVD deliveries, TV On-Demand using your cable or satellite provider, or computer viewing via Streaming Download.

It’s also possible that a box set of DVD’s would be available at the end of the season.

In order for our plan to be successful, we need to take stock of the browncoat recruits that support our cause. It will only take a minute, is strictly confidential, and each profile will take us one step closer to victory!

For more information, visit the web site and fill out their support survey for the project.

Protest Against Al-Jazeera's Planned English Language Station in the United States

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

Al-Jazeera, the television network that serves as the propaganda wing of the radical Islamist movement, is scheduled to launch their network in English aimed at Americans with their new studios being in Washington DC.
The United American Committee is organizing a protest against Al-Jazeera Network’s planned American station. “It’s as if Joseph Goebbels, the Propaganda Minster for Hitler, were to have set up a station in America during WWII,” says UAC member Lee Kaplan.
What: Protest against Al-Jazeera’s planned English language U.S. station. Rally in front of Al-Jazeera’s DC Headquarters.
When: Sunday, April 30th at 12:00 Noon
Location: 11627 K St. NW, Washington, DC 20006
More information is available on the United American Committee’s web site.

Brochure and Registration for TOC Summer Seminar

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

The following announcement is from The Objectivist Center:

The Objectivist Center and The Atlas Society’s 17th Annual Summer Seminar will be held from July 1 through July 7 at Chapman University in beautiful, sunny Orange, California!

This will be an uplifting, challenging and exciting exchange of ideas about philosophy, politics and culture, aesthetics and applications to one’s own life of Objectivism, the philosophy developed by Ayn Rand.

Speakers will include David Kelley, Edward Hudgins, Robert Bidinotto, Will Thomas, Joe Rowlands, Nathaniel Branden, Barbara Branden, Tibor Machan, Marsha Enright, Robert Campbell and many others. You’ll find PDF files of the schedule-at-a-glance and the full, downloadable conference brochure on our website.

Take a five-part course on “Atlas Shrugged as a Philosophical Novel” or a mini-course on “Empiricism Without Skepticism: Locke, Hume and Rand.”

Hear a two-part “Introduction to Cognitive Science” with complementary talks on “The Content of Perception” and “Neuroscience and the Nature of Man.”

Learn about “Children and the Embodiment of Objectivism,” “Eliminating the Altruist Baggage,” “Heroes and Role Models,” “The Joys of Entrepreneurship” and “The Habits of Excellence.”

Delve into “Individualism and Community,” “The Anatomy of Cooperation,” “American Exceptionalism,” “Overcoming Ethical Relativism in the College Classroom” and “Eminent Domain Abuse.”

Enjoy poetry readings, classical music and jazz in our Evening Arts Series.

Outside of the formal program, which offers 50 presentations from over 30 expert faculty, you’ll have plenty of time to share your own ideas in “participant-sponsored sessions,” to join in impromptu sports with fellow participants, to take advantage of campus fitness facilities or, of course, to enjoy the California beaches!

The event site is conveniently located near Orange County/John Wayne Airport, Disneyland, Huntington Beach and is just down the road from all the other Los Angeles area attractions.

The Summer Seminar always offers intellectual stimulation and spiritual renewal in an open, tolerant and benevolent atmosphere with like-minded, friendly individuals.

You can register for the full event or for part of the conference as fits your schedule. Complete conference details, costs and online registration are found on our website at www.objectivistcenter.org. You can also email us at toc@objectivistcenter.org or call at 202-AYN-RAND (296-7263). Sign up by May 8th and receive an early registration discount!

Alida Valli, Star of Ayn Rand's 'We the Living' Movie, Dies at 84

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

Alida Valli, the exquisitesly beautiful actress who played Kira in the Italian screen adaptation of Ayn Rand’s We The Living, died Saturday in Rome.
You can learn more about this movie version of Rand’s novel in our two part interview with Duncan Scott, who guided the restoration of the movie for American audiences, with Ayn Rand’s help, beginning in the 1960s.
From an article about Valli’s life in today’s Washington Post:

Alida Valli, 84, one of the exquisite beauties of Italian cinema who starred in Carol Reed’s “The Third Man” (1949) and Luchino Visconti’s “Senso” (1954) and more than 100 other films, died April 22 in Rome of undisclosed causes.

Ms. Valli proved her versatility as a long-suffering heroine in costume dramas and in the escapist “white telephone” films — named for their opulence — championed by Benito Mussolini. As a convent-bound girl led astray in “Manon Lescaut” (1940), based on a novel by Abbe Prevost, she was “not only tremendously beautiful but emotionally sincere,” a New York Times film critic wrote.

In 1946, Hollywood producer David O. Selznick signed Ms. Valli to a contract. Groomed for a major English-language career, she was given a screen billing with just her surname — Valli — to recall the European glamour of “Garbo.”

See the full article for more about Valli’s life and career.
UPDATE: The New York Times too has weighed in with an article about Valli’s life. Ditto The Austrailian.

Atelier Yoyita's Portrait of Ayn Rand

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

Artist Gloria Norris (who paints by the name Atelier Yoyita) sent us a link to her new portrait of Ayn Rand, shown below.
From the artist’s web site: “Yoyita is a Portrait artist working in Classical Realism in the tradition of the Renaissance, with sculptures of the Civil Rights movement, landscapes, marine art and miniatures.”

portrait_Ayn_Rand.jpg

While my first impression of the painting was that it was not entirely flattering, my second impression was that there was something strikingly alive and vital about the subject’s gaze.
Draw your own conclusions!
UPDATE: More about Yoyita’s background as an artist:

Yoyita was born in Managua, Nicaragua, Central America. She has had the opportunity to study original works by the masters in museums around the world. She started Medical School at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua at the age of 15. Unable to complete her studies there because of a civil war and eventual communist takeover, she completed her studies and residency at U.P.A.E.P, a private Catholic university in Puebla, Mexico. She and her family subsequently found refuge in the United States. Yoyita decided to pursue her artistic creativity full time in 1997.

Video of USC Event on Free Speech Available Online

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

On April 11, the Ayn Rand Institute held a panel discussion on free speech and the Danish cartoons at the University of South California. The video of this event is now available online for free. This panel discussion was a part of the Ayn Rand Institute’s intensive free speech campaign. The panelists were Dr. Yaron Brooks and Dr. Daniel Pipes. The video includes the extended Q&A session, where numerous questions were asked by Moslems in the audience.

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