A Hong Kong legislative committee today approved the financial terms for a major expansion of Hong Kong Disneyland, representing another milestone in plans to add three new areas to the park by 2014.
Disney will invest about $448 million in the construction and swap its outstanding loans totaling about $353 million into additional equity in a joint venture company, Hong Kong International Theme Parks. The Hong Kong government will retain the majority ownership in the venture, however.
The deal would expand the park by increasing the number of theme areas to seven from four over the next five years, tackling criticism that the world's smallest Disneyland did not offer enough attractions. Two themed areas â€" Grizzly Trail and Mystic Point â€" will be exclusive to Hong Kong, and a third, Toy Story Land, will be the only attraction of its kind in Asia for the first five years after its opening.
"This substantial investment represents our continued commitment to and confidence in Hong Kong Disneyland and solidifies our partnership with the Hong Kong government, helping assure the resort's long-term success," said Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.
The announcement comes at a time when Hong Kong Disneyland could soon face a major competitor in Shanghai, which is still in negotiations with Burbank-based Disney to open a much larger $3.59-billion theme park as early as 2014.
â€" Dawn C. Chmielewski
Photo: Mickey Mouse wears a Chinese New Year costume and hits the drum during a parade at Hong Kong Disneyland. Credit: Ym Yik / EPA
An unmissable episode of 'Nurse Jackie'
It's not easy to steal Edie Falco's own show out from under her.
But in Monday's wonderful episode of "Nurse Jackie" (9:30 p.m. Central, Showtime) Judith Ivey almost does.
Monday's episode, which was penned by former Chicago playwright Rick Cleveland, has two other high-profile guest stars, Swoosie Kurtz and Blythe Danner, who play the two mothers of All Saints Hospital's Dr. Fitch Cooper (the quietly versatile Peter Facinelli). But it's Ivey's performance as a cancer-riddled former nurse that will stick with you for days.
Not every episode of this excellent new Showtime drama rises to the level of Monday's outing, but that's not a complaint, given that Ivey's showcase may be one of the best episodes of television you'll see this year.
It doesn't, thank goodness, announce itself as a Very Special Episode about grief and mortality. "Nurse Jackie" assumes that we don't need every emotion and dilemma spelled out for us; the most significant moments in this episode involve looks, sighs, shrugs.
Typical is a moment in which Jackie's young daughter, who's at home, briefly calls her mom, who's midway through a long shift at the hospital. After her daughter hangs up, Jackie clutches the phone a couple of extras seconds, wanting to extend that brief break from her otherwise difficult day.
One of the impressive things about "Nurse Jackie" is that it manages to avoid the traps of shows with medical settings: There's no cloying sentiment, simple heroism or overly sober grimness. Yet there is an abundance of black humor, as when Ivey's character, Paula, is asked by her old nemesis, hospital administrator Gloria Akalitus (Anna Deavere Smith), how she's feeling.
"Like I'm dying, and every time I see you, I am reminded what a slow and agonizing process it is," she snaps.
It's only midway through its first season, but "Nurse Jackie," which will return for a second season in 2010, is already looking like one of the best new shows of the year. Come for Falco's tremendously empathic performance, stay for the skilled supporting cast, the great guest stars and the subtly compassionate and slyly funny look at the human condition.
Photo: Edie Falco and Judith Ivey in Monday's "Nurse Jackie."
Local films fail to star at Zanzibar festival
Just days after the colourful Kalasha Film and TV awards, local film directors were off to Zanzibar International Film Festival (Ziff) held between June 27 and July 4. Even as the Kalasha awards showed local films were ready to compete internationally, the Zanzibar festival proved otherwise.
Miss Manners: I've been mistaken for a rude person
DEAR MISS MANNERS: I'm a 22-year-old college student (although I guess not for long). I've always made an effort to respect my elders, but what am I supposed to do when confronted by an elder who doesn't respect me?
Dolce & Guevara: 'Bruno's Guerrilla-Comic Assault
Sacha Baron Cohen's latest jaunt — as a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashionista — is funnier and riskier than Borat. Sure, he's a cheap-shot artist, but he's one who's often got a righteous point.
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