Death Race

Directed by	Paul W. S. Anderson
Produced by	Paul W. S. Anderson Jeremy Bolt Roger Corman Paula Wagner
Written by	Paul W. S. Anderson
Starring	Jason Statham Joan Allen Tyrese Gibson Ian McShane Natalie Martinez

The United States of America, 2012: The imprisoned population is so vast that private companies are hired. In Terminal Island Prison, "Death Race", a gladiator-like fight to the finish competition is held to raise funds.

The film begins six years later by showing a race near its end. Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson) and a famous masked driver known as Frankenstein (original Death Race 2000 star David Carradine) engage in a bloody battle in which Frankenstein wins, but at the cost of heavy injuries and eventually death. Six months later, Jensen Ames (Jason Statham), an ex-racecar driver, is framed for his wife's murder. Ames is sent to Terminal Island Prison where he immediately becomes enemies with an Aryan brotherhood gang, led by Pachenko (Max Ryan). He is taken to Hennessey (Joan Allen) who tells him that the gang will kill him without her help. Thus he is coerced by the warden to become the new driver of late Frankenstein's car. The warden tells Ames that she knows about his baby daughter left in foster care. She also states that prisoners are freed upon winning five Death Races, but since the legendary Frankenstein had 4 wins at the time of his death, he would only require a single win. He agrees to race.

"Death Race" consists of three different stages. The first stage is an elimination round with the sole goal being to come out alive and to eliminate as much of the competition as possible. In each race, there are three activation switches, Swords, Shields, and Death Heads. These power-ups are in the form of lights on the ground that are activated when passed over by a car. Swords activate offensive weapons, shields activate defensive weapons, and death heads activate a spiked wall that impales the car and the racers inside. The wall then goes back into the ground, killing anyone inside. In the first race, Grimm is killed by Joe by being struck as a"pedestrian", resulting in a gruesome "head-exploding" shot. Jensen survives the race, killing one racer but coming in last place. During the second race, the goal is again to survive. Hennessey plots against Frankenstein, hoping to use his popularity to keep ratings up. The race starts and much to the dismay of the racers and crews a gigantic semi-truck armed with a tank turret, called the Dreadnought is released. After killing multiple racers, the truck is destroyed when Joe and Ames team up to activate a Death Head that destroys the Dreadnought.

In the third stage, Joe and Ames must race one final time to the winner. Prior to the race Hennessey has a bomb planted under Frankenstein's car, and then manipulates the race to favor Joe. However, her plans are ruined when Joe and Ames escape. Hennessey sends all her police force in pursuit and succeeds in capturing Frankenstein's car. However, Ames had escaped from his car leaving his navigator, Elizabeth, dressed up in his costume. Joe and Ames hitch a ride and escape to Miami. Meanwhile, using the bomb from Frankenstein's car, Coach kills both Ulrich and the warden. Six months later, Ames has his daughter back and Joe is working on living a clean life free of crime. As the two work on a car in their new home, a car pulls up and Elizabeth steps out to join the two.

Download link:

http://rapidshare.com/files/213473321/Death.Race.2008.mkv.001

http://rapidshare.com/files/213492237/Death.Race.2008.mkv.002

http://rapidshare.com/files/213491897/Death.Race.2008.mkv.003

http://rapidshare.com/files/213492204/Death.Race.2008.mkv.004

http://rapidshare.com/files/213494593/Death.Race.2008.mkv.005

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Online games market still growing

Demand for subscription massive multiplayer online games (MMOG) will top $2bn (£1.3bn) by 2013, according to a new report.

The study, by analysts Screen Digest, said the market had been driven by attempts to emulate World of Warcraft.

The findings suggest that the MMOG's market in Europe and North America grew by 22% and was worth $1.4bn (£0.9bn).

There are at least 220 active MMOGs, although many of these are exclusive to South East Asia.

Speaking to the BBC, Piers Harding-Rolls - senior analyst with Screen Digest - said that despite the recession, subscription MMOG's were still showing significant growth.

"Some games are eroding World of Warcraft's (WoW) position - Warhammer Online and Age of Conan being the two most significant - but that's more down to their growth rather than any decline on WoW's part.

"WoW's market share was 60% in 2007 and 58% in 2008, but in terms of revenue, it went up year-on-year and is still going big guns.

Mr Harding-Rolls said that a combination of new title releases, different payment systems, and games that target specific demographics had helped the rise in popularity of MMOGs.

"If you look at the example of RuneScape, this is a game pitched at a teenage audience. You can play it for free or you can pay a premium and get a better service without advertising.

"It's an effective way to build a subscription base, rather than the traditional routes that involve PR, hype and having a service that has to be almost perfect from day one," he said.

The report examines revenue made from subscription based services, rather than total player numbers, in Europe and North America.

Size matters

Some games - such as the German title Panfu and Tribal Wars - are in the 10 most popular games when it comes to player numbers, but not in terms of spending.

In addition, some games - such as Warhammer Online - were released late in 2008 and so didn't make the list. However, Mr Harding-Rolls thought that Warhammer would be one of the top three when next years list comes out.

There has been much speculation on how the video games industry would fare during the recession, with many experts - such as the British veteran game designer, Peter Molyneux - expecting a lot of price pressure on games.

Mr Harding-Rolls said that, for now, it was a case of wait and see when it came to MMOGs.

"Under the current conditions, it will probably be harder for publishers to pick up new customers and gamers who have multiple accounts on different games may well scale back which game they play.

"That said, playing a video game - especially a MMOG - is a low value proposition to a user and once you're a subscriber you're likely to stay a subscriber for at least a few months."

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Virgin eyes 150Mb broadband speed

By Darren Waters
Technology editor, BBC News website

Fibre optic networks are offering faster broadband speeds

Virgin Media will offer 100 to 150Mbps broadband speeds up to two years before BT completes its rival fibre network.

"We have an opportunity with our network to provide significantly higher speeds," Virgin Media's chief executive Neil Berkett told BBC News.

BT has said its fibre network will hit the first crop of UK cities by early 2010 and will be complete by 2012.

Virgin currently offers a top speed of 50Mbps while BT is pledging 40 to 60Mb.

Mr Berkett said its fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) network was capable of supporting up to 200Mbps but roll out of higher speeds was a "function of timing".

He said: "When we look at the market I don't see us getting the returns right now for 100 or 150Mbps.

See what applications work at different speeds

"As we work with application providers, and content providers... there will be a natural point where we upgrade from 10, 20 and 50Mbps to something more.

"If BT were to meet the time frame they have suggested - of finishing by 2012 - I would see us as having much, much faster upstream speed, running at a minimum of 100Mbps downstream and possibly more. You can see a real opportunity there."

Faster speeds

Mr Berkett said he would be surprised if Virgin Media did not start the roll out of faster speeds next year.

BT has said it will deploy FTTC technology at 29 exchanges across the UK in the coming 9 to 12 months.

The network will offer speeds of up to 40Mbps - and potentially 60Mbps - to 500,000 homes and businesses.

Areas of Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Greater Manchester will be able to access the fibre network, which will be opened up on a wholesale basis to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who can then offer various broadband packages to customers.

Virgin Media says its network reaches half of all homes in the UK. The technology has a theoretical limit of 200Mbps downsteam speeds.

Mr Berkett said the firm had not ruled out the possibility of opening its own network to other ISPs.

He said: "We had this conversation with a bunch of investors recently. Our position is 'Let's prove the market'.

"Wholesaling is not off our agenda but right now it is not a priority for us."

He added: "Who knows, by the time BT have rolled out their next generation network we may be in position to explore wholesale."

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Graphic showing speeds for applications

news from bbc.co.uk

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Saw V synopsis

Directed by	David Hackl
Produced by	Mark Burg Oren Koules
Written by	Patrick Melton Marcus Dunstan
Starring	Tobin Bell Julie Benz Meagan Good Costas Mandylor Scott Patterson Betsy Russell

Seth Baxter (Joris Jarsky), a convicted murderer who was released early from prison on a technicality, is chained to a table beneath a pendulum blade. A videotaped message informs him that in order to survive, he must crush his hands by putting them into two presses and pushing the buttons inside. Even though he does so, the pendulum swings down and slices him in half. The fact that the trap was inescapable marks it as a creation of someone other than JigsawTobin Bell). (

In a scene from the end of Saw IV, Agent Peter Strahm (Scott Patterson) enters the room where Jigsaw died and shoots Jeff Reinhart (Angus Macfadyen) dead in self-defense. He then looks around and
discovers the bodies of Jigsaw and Amanda Young. It is at this time that he hears the door slam shut, and he is locked in by Lieutenant Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor). Strahm soon finds a hidden door that leads into a passage. Here a microcassette recording urges him not to proceed any further; ignoring it, he moves down the passage and is attacked by a figure in a pig mask.

When Strahm wakes up, he discovers that his head has been sealed in a box, which quickly begins to fill with water. A self-administered tracheotomy using a pen keeps him breathing until the police arrive at the Gideon meatpacking plant. Hoffman emerges, carrying Jeff's daughter Corbett (Niamh Wilson), and claims that he saved her and that no one else inside survived. He then sees Strahm being brought out alive as well. Shortly afterward, the chief of police announces an end to the Jigsaw murders and congratulates Hoffman for closing the cases.

Jill Tuck (Betsy Russell), John Kramer's ex-wife, receives a videotape and a box from his lawyer. On the tape, John tells her that the items in the box are of "grave importance" and that she will know what to do with them. After looking inside, she takes the box and hurries away without revealing its contents.

Strahm learns that Agent Lindsey Perez (Athena Karkanis) died of the wounds she suffered in Saw IV, and that the last thing she said was Hoffman's name. He confronts Hoffman with this fact, further unsettling him. Gathering up all the files on Jigsaw’s victims, Strahm revisits some of the crime scenes and pieces together Hoffman's involvement. Seth had murdered Hoffman's sister, so Hoffman set up the inescapable pendulum trap in revenge. Flashbacks reveal that Jigsaw used his knowledge of these events to blackmail Hoffman into becoming his accomplice. The two worked together to capture Paul Stallberg (Mike Butters) for the razor wire trap in Saw, set up the nerve gas house in Saw II, and discussed plans before Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) brought Lynn Denlon (Bahar Soomekh) to Jigsaw's bedside in Saw III.

Meanwhile, in a sewer, five people, Ashley, Charles, Brit, Mallick, and Luba, wake up in a trap in which collars are locked around their necks, strung on a cable connected to a set of guillotineGreg Bryk) rushes to get his key and Charles (Carlo Rota) attempts to stop him, a one-minute countdown starts as everyone else is dragged toward the blades. All but Ashley (Laura Gordon) are able to get their keys and free themselves in time; she is decapitated when the collars are automatically pulled back to the wall and into the blades.

In the next room, the four survivors must break jars hanging from the ceiling and find three keys to shelters that can protect them when the bombs in the room explode. Charles attacks Mallick and takes a key from him, but Luba (Meagan Good) knocks Charles down in turn and gives the key back to Mallick. Luba, Brit (Julie Benz), and Mallick unlock and enter the shelters, leaving Charles to die in the explosion.

The third room requires five electrical cables to be connected to a bathtub full of water in order to unlock the door (set to a countdown timer), but they are all too short to reach it. Luba knocks Mallick into the tub, intending to use him to complete the circuits, whereupon Brit fatally stabs her in the neck. By throwing her body in the tub and hooking all the cables to it, Brit and Mallick get the door open.

In the fourth and final room, the exit door can only be opened by filling a beaker with ten pints of blood, to be obtained by the captives putting their arms into a box fitted with circular saws. Here, noticing five holes in the box for their arms, Brit realizes that the five of them were meant to work together so that they could all survive to this point. With no other options, she and Mallick begin sawing their arms to fill the beaker themselves.

While these games are playing out, Hoffman steals Strahm’s cell phone and uses it to make Strahm’s boss, Dan Erickson (Mark Rolston), think that Strahm is Jigsaw's accomplice. He plants the phone and Erickson's own personnel file outside the exit from the fourth room, and Erickson arrives here just as Brit and Mallick get the door open. Both pass out from blood loss as Erickson calls for backup; he then puts out an all-points bulletin for Strahm's arrest.

Strahm’s investigation brings him to a small underground room that contains a transparent box full of broken glass. A recorder inside the box delivers a message from Hoffman: Strahm will have to trust him and get in the box if he wants to survive. Instead, Strahm stops the tape short, hides in a corner, and ambushes Hoffman when he enters the room, eventually throwing him into the box and closing it. Strahm then plays the remainder of the tape, learning that if he did not comply, he would die and "simply vanish," with Hoffman's legacy becoming his own in the process. The door to the room closes and locks as the box lowers Hoffman safely beneath the floor, while the walls start to slowly close in, crushing Strahm to death.

Download link:

http://rapidshare.com/files/210304697/saw-5.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/210303430/saw-5.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/210303598/saw-5.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/210315876/saw-5.part4.rar

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Dance of the Dandelion

Create amazing and colorful desktop wallpaper with Dandelion.

Let’s start working by creating a new file (File>New) of 1920x1200 px and 72 dpi. Here we’ll apply the Paint Bucket Tool (G) to give the file black color.



Next we’ll use a standard brush on a new layer (Create new layer) to represent by turn several colored spots that will represent the background of our main picture.



The brush’s color is #FC00FC:



Next color applied should be #ED1C24 (Opacity 30%):



Now it’s time for the color #FFFF00 (Opacity 30%):



The next applied color is #EE2DFF (Opacity 30%):



The color used now is #FFFF00 (Opacity 30%):



Insert a spot of the color #FFF798 (Opacity 30%)



…and the color #FF45D0 (Opacity 50%)



Next the background gets richer with the color #FF00FF (Opacity 50%):



Using the Pen Tool (P) and the Convert Point Tool, try to represent a wave of color:



Select the next indicated parameters for the made layer by making a mouse click on this layer on the layers’ palette. Fill 0%, Blending Options>Gradient Overlay:




Gradient’s parameters:





Using the same tool, try to insert several layers of different colors:



The layer’s parameters: Fill 0%, Blending Options>Gradient Overlay:



Gradient’s parameters:





Make a copy of the last made layer and select then Free Transform option to turn over the copy and change the layer’s parameters:



The layer’s parameters: Fill 0%, Blending Options>Gradient Overlay:




Gradient’s parameters:





Using the earlier applied tools (Pen Tool (P) and Convert Point Tool), it’s possible to represent another layer of the color you may see below:



The layer’s parameters: Fill 0%, Blending Options>Gradient Overlay:



Gradient’s parameters:






Next we’ll draw a dandelion by representing firstly a stem, colored with #50A034. The tools applied for this operation are Pen Tool (P) and Convert Point Tool





The layer’s parameters: Blending Options>Inner Shadow





Using the same instruments (Pen Tool (P) and Convert Point Tool), try to make now a leaf on the stem:



The layer’s parameters: Blending Options>Gradient Overlay



Gradient’s parameters:





Make a copy of the last made layer and select then Free Transform option to turn over the copy, minimizing the copy a little and only then we can put it on the basic picture:



Next we’ll represent a brush, but for the beginning we’ll Create a new file of 17x41 px and 300 dpi. Then we’ll apply the Rectangle Tool (U) to draw a vertical line on an empty background. The color in this case is black one.



Edit>Define Brush Preset
Create a new layer and then set the brush in the Brushes Presets (F5) panel, situated on the lateral panel on the right side. The brush’s color is white. It is reserved for drawing a dandelion:











Make a copy of the recently created layer:



Next we have to download a set of ready to use brushes for Adobe Photoshop, named 61Particlesandstars. On the new layer (Create new layer) we’ll choose this chosen brush of white color. Next we’ll represent a train coming out from the dandelion and directed to the left side:





On the next new layer (Create new layer) we’ll apply the earlier edited brush which was used when representing the flower of the dandelion. We’ll also represent on this layer the train coming from the dandelion and directed to the left side:



The final result!

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