URL: http://www.nytimes.com SUBJECT

1187 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
January 14, 2008 Monday

Late Edition - Final

The Pork King Keeps His Crown
SECTION: Section A; Column 0; Editorial Desk; EDITORIAL; Pg. 24
LENGTH: 391 words
The new earmark disclosure rules put into effect by Congress confirm the pre-eminence of Representative John Murtha at procuring eye-popping chunks of pork for contractors he helped put in business in Johnstown, Pa. The Pennsylvania Democrat, a power player on defense appropriations, exudes pride, not embarrassment, for delivering hundreds of millions of dollars in largesse to district beneficiaries. They, in turn, requite with hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations.

Mr. Murtha led all House members this year, securing $162 million in district favors, according to the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense. In all, eager members in both houses enacted 11,144 earmarks, worth $15 billion. Taxpayers may be inured to $113,000 for rodent control in Alaska or a million for Idaho's weed management. Mr. Murtha's universe is a far more complicated and costly creation of interlocking contractors who continue to feed at the public trough despite reviews questioning their performance.

In 1991, Mr. Murtha used a $5 million earmark to create the National Defense Center for Environmental Excellence in Johnstown to develop anti-pollution technology for the military. Since then, it has garnered more than $670 million in contracts and earmarks. Meanwhile it is managed by another contractor Mr. Murtha helped create, Concurrent Technologies, a research operation that somehow was allowed to be set up as a tax-exempt charity, according to The Washington Post. Thanks to Mr. Murtha, Concurrent has boomed; the annual salary for its top three executives averages $462,000.

There's been no report of Mr. Murtha's profiting personally. ''This is about jobs,'' the congressman insists. But the Murtha operation -- which has become a model for other entrepreneurial lawmakers -- is a gross example of quid pro quo Washington. Every one of the 26 beneficiaries of Mr. Murtha's earmarks in last year's defense budget made contributions to his campaign kitty, a total of $413,250, according to the newspaper Roll Call. The Pentagon, seeking its own goodies before Mr. Murtha's committee, is noticeably hesitant to challenge his projects. And we're not hearing a lot of objections from his colleagues -- not after members have ladled out a fresh $15 billion for their own special interests, just in time for the coming elections.

URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: EDITORIALS & OPINIONS (90%); LEGISLATORS (89%); DEFENSE SPENDING (89%); TAX LAW (78%); APPROPRIATIONS (78%); GOVERNMENT BUDGETS (78%); CAMPAIGN FINANCE (78%); LEGISLATIVE BODIES (78%); ELECTIONS (78%); TAXES & TAXATION (76%); US DEMOCRATIC PARTY (72%); ENTREPRENEURSHIP (72%); RODENTS (69%); ENVIRONMENT & NATURAL RESOURCES (67%); TAX EXEMPTIONS (65%); WAGES & SALARIES (64%)
COMPANY: WASHINGTON POST CO (54%)
TICKER: WPO (NYSE) (54%)
INDUSTRY: NAICS517510 CABLE & OTHER PROGRAM DISTRIBUTION (54%); NAICS515120 TELEVISION BROADCASTING (54%); NAICS511120 PERIODICAL PUBLISHERS (54%); NAICS511110 NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS (54%); NAICS517110 WIRED TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIERS (54%)
PERSON: JOHN P MURTHA (94%); MICHAEL MCMAHON (52%)
GEOGRAPHIC: PENNSYLVANIA, USA (94%) UNITED STATES (94%)
LOAD-DATE: January 14, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
DOCUMENT-TYPE: Editorial
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

1188 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
January 13, 2008 Sunday

Late Edition - Final

Remaking Paramount By the Seat Of His Pants
BYLINE: By MICHAEL CIEPLY
SECTION: Section 2; Column 0; Arts and Leisure Desk; FILM; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 2009 words
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
PROSPECTIVE blockbusters are not usually built this way.

Rob Moore, the executive who oversees Paramount Pictures' marketing and distribution operations, had an open date in his movie schedule. He had just watched a little step-dancing film called ''Stomp the Yard'' clean up over last year's Martin Luther King's Birthday weekend, and he figured his company could do the same if it had some cheap popcorn fare ready for the holiday in 2008.

J. J. Abrams, meanwhile, had a theory. Best known as one of the creators of the television series ''Lost,'' Mr. Abrams figured he could make the modern-day equivalent of ''Godzilla'' for $25 million or less, if he hired a bunch of no-name actors, shot much of the movie with a single $1,500 hand-held camera and threw the rest of his cash into special effects.

And Brad Grey, chairman of the Paramount Motion Picture Group, had an itch. Imagining himself following in the footsteps of the movie moguls Lew Wasserman and Sidney Sheinberg in the days when they took a budding Steven Spielberg and his fledgling company under their wing at Universal, Mr. Grey remembers telling Mr. Abrams: ''I'm going to be Sid and Lew, and you're going to be Steven.''

And so ''Cloverfield,'' a monster movie for the YouTube generation that is set for release on Friday, was born.

Three years into Mr. Grey's turbulent tenure, this seemingly seat-of-the-pants enterprise is emblematic of the creative imprimatur he is stamping on Paramount, the storied studio of ''The Ten Commandments'' and the ''Godfather'' saga, which had calcified in recent years into a conservative operation that focused more on splitting risk with partners than swinging for the fences.

Mr. Grey, a former talent manager whose producer credits include ''The Sopranos,'' brought with him an outsider's creative impulsiveness, a slightly goofy grandeur more reminiscent of the classic movie mogul than today's buttoned-down studio executive. And if ''Cloverfield'' turns into Paramount's first full-blown home-grown crowd-pleaser from the Grey regime, it may also mean things are finally beginning to work the way they're supposed to at the lot on Melrose Avenue.

This year's movie slate is packed with assertively commercial prospects and at least a couple of potentially interesting films, even factoring out contributions from DreamWorks, which was acquired under Mr. Grey and whose principals, Mr. Spielberg and David Geffen, are now making noises about leaving. The slate includes a summertime comedy from Mike Myers called ''The Love Guru,'' a long-awaited ''Indiana Jones'' sequel from Mr. Spielberg and a Marvel Enterprises contribution called ''Iron Man.'' Later in the year comes a ''Star Trek'' film from Mr. Abrams and big-star Oscar fodder in ''The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,'' which features an effects-doctored Brad Pitt in the director David Fincher's version of an F. Scott Fitzgerald story about a man who ages backward.

''With a little good fortune we'll probably have the biggest summer in the history of Paramount Pictures,'' Mr. Grey said in a recent interview over the glass-topped table in his private conference room.

Getting to this point was the hard part.

Since taking over from the movie veterans Sherry Lansing and Jonathan Dolgen in early 2005, Mr. Grey has sent the studio on a ride that turned queasy even by Hollywood standards. By Mr. Grey's own count 1,000 of about 3,000 employees have been shown the door, including his handpicked chief lieutenant. Big movies like ''Beowulf'' and ''Mission: Impossible III'' have fallen short. Mr. Geffen and Mr. Spielberg complained about the assignment of due credit for their contributions to Paramount's box-office success. And Mr. Grey's ultimate boss, Sumner M. Redstone, the aging chairman of Viacom, unceremoniously bounced the studio's biggest resident star, Tom Cruise, and administered a public spanking in a newspaper article that undercut Mr. Grey's authority around town.

In discussing the Cruise brouhaha Mr. Grey flexed his skills at talent management and corporate self-preservation. Though he effusively praised Mr. Cruise, he said that in retrospect he thought Mr. Redstone had been right to decline an expensive renewal of his production deal.

''It's not the form I would have announced it in. But the judgment, he and I were in sync on,'' Mr. Grey said of his boss and the Cruise decision.

If the studio's legions are to remain in sync with their own boss, they will spend the next several weeks coming to terms with yet another management shuffle, which took place over the holidays. In the new alignment John Lesher, previously president of the Paramount Vantage specialty unit, leapfrogs to a new position in charge of the company's worldwide motion picture group. He has responsibility for all film units except DreamWorks and will remain deeply involved with Paramount Vantage, where his old lieutenant Nick Meyer will be in charge.

Brad Weston, who had become production president of the studio with the earlier departure of Gail Berman -- a Grey appointee who lasted less than two years -- now reports to Mr. Lesher. Mr. Moore becomes vice chairman of the studio, while Frederick Huntsberry remains chief operating officer, overseeing the lot, finance and administration, completing the inner circle on which Mr. Grey expects to rely.

Asked if he felt management was finally where he wanted it, Mr. Grey said, ''Yeah, I do.''

Just turned 50, the Bronx-born Mr. Grey is compact and soft-spoken, with close-trimmed hair now flecked with gray. His top lieutenants say that he delegates power but never quite steps out of the process. At the meeting last spring at which ''Cloverfield'' got the go-ahead -- a typical encounter, Mr. Weston said -- Mr. Grey voiced initial alarm at the idea of having Matt Reeves -- a relatively untested filmmaker who had directed ''The Pallbearer'' for Miramax and had been an executive producer, with Mr. Abrams, of the television series ''Felicity'' -- as director.

''What do you mean, you're going to greenlight the movie with a kid named Matt directing?'' Mr. Grey said, according to Mr. Weston. Yet with just a 65-page ''scriptment'' (more than a treatment, less than a script) laying out a film about a bunch of friends who happen to capture on camera the utter destruction of New York by a monster, he went with Mr. Weston's judgment, hedged by Mr. Abrams's assurance that he would be closely involved with the film.

''I was stunned,'' Mr. Reeves said of the speed with which ''Cloverfield'' got rolling.

Strategically Mr. Grey's newly shuffled inner council is supposed to converge on film projects early, as with the unconventional ''Cloverfield,'' contributing thoughts about distribution, financing or marketing even as a script is taking shape.

In personal terms Mr. Lesher, a former talent agent, clearly has a special relationship with the chairman, based on common outlook and experience. ''John and I are very, very similar,'' Mr. Grey said. ''We seem to share very similar interests and tastes.'' Oddly enough, their tastes are probably best characterized not by a Paramount film but by Warner Brothers' big-star, high-octane project ''The Departed,'' in which both were involved before joining Paramount.

In the first years of the new regime those interests skewed the specialty division toward pictures that were often bold in vision -- including the Oscar-nominated ''Babel,'' from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, a former client of Mr. Lesher's -- but relatively costly in the world of art-house films and of limited commercial potential. This year Mr. Lesher's division is in the awards race with a pair of movies it shares with Miramax, ''There Will Be Blood'' and ''No Country for Old Men,'' along with ''Into the Wild,''''Margot at the Wedding'' and ''The Kite Runner,'' the last of which comes from DreamWorks. But so far only ''No Country,'' distributed in the United States by Miramax, has been a box-office success, and ''Margot'' and ''The Kite Runner'' have been major disappointments.

Asked whether Paramount Vantage was profitable, Mr. Lesher neatly deflected the question, replying, ''We're on our way to making money.''

If so, movement toward the black will probably be helped along by a quiet shift in the studio's mix over the last year. Mr. Lesher has been larding the Paramount Vantage schedule with lower-brow films that might seem more at home at Sony's highly successful Screen Gems division.

''It was always my idea to go a little fancy, uptown, then take it a bit more retail,'' Mr. Lesher said. The retail side next year includes comedies like ''The Foot Fist Way'' and ''Son of Rambow,'' horror films like ''The Eye'' and ''Carriers,'' and an urban dance picture, ''How She Move,'' from Viacom's MTV Films division.

The last points toward Mr. Grey's likely next step at Paramount. On his way to a senior management retreat in Barbados, Philippe P. Dauman, Viacom's chief executive, said he expected Paramount and Mr. Grey in the next year to ''focus on our brands'' by cultivating more from the film divisions associated with its cable networks. (That promise has been on the table since Mr. Grey joined the company.) In the near term Mr. Grey expects to get several movies a year from MTV and from Nickelodeon, which this year contributed ''The Spiderwick Chronicles,'' a fantasy set for release in February. The idea, he said, is to take advantage of the cable channels' enormous selling power around the world at a time when advertising costs can easily exceed the production budget on lower- and middle-level movies.

A great unspoken, of course, is that Viacom's in-house brands are becoming a hedge against the possible loss of the creative powers behind DreamWorks. Paramount's first-place finish in the 2007 domestic box-office race among the major studios -- it landed in the basement three years ago -- was due in large part to DreamWorks films like ''Transformers.'' And the departures of Mr. Geffen and Mr. Spielberg, who have made clear that they may seek a new home next year, would permit others to leave, notably Stacey Snider, who is currently chief executive of the DreamWorks unit.

When referring to Mr. Spielberg, Mr. Grey is careful to repeat that he is ''one of the great filmmakers of our time, and has come to be a friend, and I have nothing but admiration and respect for the entire DreamWorks team.''

Yet he also makes clear that Paramount has purchased not just DreamWorks' library but also the many development projects it accumulated over the years, many of them as possible directorial projects for Mr. Spielberg.

''We will be in business with Steven,'' Mr. Grey said. But, he added, ''there is no question as to who owns the assets of the company.''

Mr. Grey cited the acquisition of DreamWorks as his best move since taking charge of Paramount. Of missteps, he said: ''Oh, God, I've made many mistakes. But none I regret.''

This self-confidence is also reflected in Mr. Grey's rather grand sense of mission, perhaps the mark of a television outsider who is still in awe of having been admitted to the hallowed halls of moviedom. Not only does he revere Mr. Wasserman and Mr. Sheinberg, towering figures in Hollywood history who made Universal a dominant force by staking its destiny on blockbusters like ''Jaws,'' ''E.T: The Extraterrestrial'' and ''Jurassic Park,'' all from Mr. Spielberg; he also speaks of Paramount's glory days in the late 1960s and early 1970s under Robert Evans, when films like ''Rosemary's Baby,''''Love Story'' and ''Chinatown'' helped restore the studio's critical and financial fortunes. Leaving a similar legacy -- even at a time when studios are mere cogs in the engines of multinational entertainment conglomerates -- is clearly on his mind.

''The only thing you can hope for in one of these jobs,'' he said, ''is that when the next guy's sitting here, they look back and say: 'Wow, that was a great period. They made some extraordinary pictures.'''
URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: MOVIE & VIDEO INDUSTRIES (90%); FILM (90%); MOVIE INDUSTRY (90%); ENTREPRENEURSHIP (76%); HORROR FILMS (72%); TELEVISION PROGRAMMING (55%); ACTORS & ACTRESSES (77%)
PERSON: J J ABRAMS (71%); STEVEN SPIELBERG (68%); DAVID GEFFEN (50%); MICHAEL MCMAHON (68%)
LOAD-DATE: January 13, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: PHOTOS: The return of a franchise: Harrison Ford, below left, and Shia LaBeouf in the Paramount film ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,'' scheduled for release this year. (PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID JONES/PARAMOUNT PICTURES) (pg. AR12)

Coming soon from Paramount: ''Cloverfield,'' above right, with Michael Stahl-David and Odette Yustman

and ''The Love Guru,'' with Mike Myers and Jessica Alba. (PHOTOGRAPHS BY GEORGE KRAYCHYK/PARAMOUNT PICTURES

SAM EMERSON/PARAMOUNT PICTURES) (pg. AR12)

Brad Grey, the chairman of Paramount since 2005. (PHOTOGRAPH BY J. EMILIO FLORES FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES) (pg. AR1).
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

1189 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
January 13, 2008 Sunday

Late Edition - Final

A Law Office That's Young at Heart
BYLINE: By CLAIRE WILSON
SECTION: Section 3; Column 0; Money and Business/Financial Desk; SQUARE FEET BLUEPRINTS; Pg. 24
LENGTH: 1014 words
THE former offices of Kriss & Feuerstein, a real estate law firm, were a safe mix of traditional furniture in a modern shell.

But when the firm moved last fall to space that was double the size but in the same building, 360 Lexington Avenue, near East 39th Street in Manhattan, the three partners chose a design that was more modern and younger in feel.

''We are a young, modern firm just like our clients -- the young entrepreneurs in real estate who are constantly designing their own spaces,'' said David Kriss, the partner who oversaw the design of the 12,500-square-foot space on the building's 12th floor, one floor below the old space. ''We wanted something similar to their offices and homes and the restaurants they go to,'' he said.

The new space incorporates the elements of the most modern commercial real estate development -- white, stainless steel and gray colors and sleek design. They are all the specialties of the designer, Andres Escobar, the principal in Andres Escobar & Associates, which is based in Montreal and has offices in Manhattan. The layout of the offices was designed by another firm, DPM Architecture of Manhattan. Building was done by the Wonder Works Construction Corporation, also based in New York.

Mr. Escobar likes to take design details from one environment and use them in unexpected settings. At Kriss & Feuerstein, such features include lighting that changes color, slick lacquer finishes, quirky pendant lights and 1970s-era chrome. The effect is more like that of a media company than a law firm, if not a hip hotel bar.

''It's important that you come into a space and say that there is something there that makes you think, and that there is something different going on,'' he said.

Mr. Escobar's bright rectangular lobby space is enlivened with a white panel angled into the shape of a check mark that tilts forward and is finished in shiny white polyester resin. Almost the same height of the ceiling, the panel is punctuated by shadow-box cutouts lined in silver leaf and illuminated in blue by light-emitting diode, or L.E.D., lighting. The firm's name stands out in three-dimensional chrome lettering.

Ceilings throughout the offices are about 9 feet high, and in the elevator lobby are dotted with recessed light fixtures. In a central alcove that is about 10 1/2 feet high, 18 gourd-shaped pendant light fixtures, in white ceramic, hang in two rows from the ceiling. Mr. Escobar called this ''the illusion of a chandelier, even if they are all individual.''

The floor is covered with pristine white porcelain tiles, edged with bright chrome baseboards. Elevator doors are painted metallic gray. Most of the walls are covered in a slate gray paper by Vycon, printed over with a faint mother-of-pearl look. The foil-like effect never has a distinct cast but reflects what passes by or the changing shades of L.E.D. displays created by Color Kinetics. The paper is meant to suggest a luxurious Venetian stucco finish but is more cost effective, according to Mr. Escobar.

''It doesn't require a craftsman to put it up,'' he said.

A glass partition and doors separate the elevator lobby from the reception area, where the white porcelain floor tiles unify the common areas. To the rear, the reception desk is made from glass panels back-painted in white and topped with a white stone composite surface.

A hanging panel over the reception desk is set in an alcove in the ceiling that is reminiscent of late-20th-century loft style. Mr. Escobar carved out the alcove and left the waffle design on the slab exposed around the panel. It is a further example of mixing styles, as well as the designer's taste for conserving existing architectural elements where appropriate. ''If there is a texture or architectural feature that will add to the drama of the space, I try to use it rather than cover it up,'' said Mr. Escobar, whose other recent projects include two Manhattan condominium developments, the District and Harsen House. ''Why destroy something like this that is perfect?''

Natural light is incorporated into the design to enhance the work environment but also to save energy, according to Mr. Kriss. Each office along the periphery has frosted glass partitions separating it from the corridor to maximize natural light flowing into the core.

The wall separating the main conference room from reception is entirely of frosted glass, allowing light through but not sound. Inside, Mr. Escobar designed stationary vertical blinds from wide panels of sanded plexiglass. These maximize light while allowing the best views of the former Mobil building on an opposite corner.

Most of the light bulbs are energy-saving, including some four-watt fluorescents that Mr. Kriss found by searching online. There are motion sensors in most rooms, and the lights go out when the room is empty. In the conference room, a white birch conference table seats about 12. Additional lighting is provided by a string of eight fixtures hanging on a cable the length of the conference table. These look something like jellyfish, according to Mr. Escobar; they are in clear glass with white energy-saving fluorescent bulbs. Carpeting throughout the offices and the conference rooms is a mix of solid gray and a gray and white plaid design.

JUST outside in the reception area, there are glass doors on two telephone booths that were added to the layout to dissuade people from using cellphones in common areas or hallways. That also applies to cellphone use in the cafeteria, a bright modern room with a bold cityscape mural and white and aluminum furniture.

Kriss & Feuerstein has about 25 employees, 10 of whom are lawyers. Clients include the Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation, Sitt Asset Management and the Cayre Family.

According to Mr. Kriss, for whom the hardest part of the move from the 13th to the 12th floor was getting rid of the law library, the new offices reflect what the firm is and what it does , but without necessarily looking like a law firm. ''This is a space you like to be in,'' Mr. Kriss said.

Download 3.51 Mb.

Share with your friends: