Divshare alternative: SoundCloud

Haven't signed up to try it out myself, but I did note the neat way comments appear as you play uploaded MP3s, which could be a useful feature; have a look at http://soundcloud.com/ as an alternative for uploading podcasts.
Here's an example: http://soundcloud.com/leonardcohen/leonard-cohen-darkness

Leonard Cohen - Darkness

BBFC + UK box office

From The Film Guardian's weekly analysis of box office returns comes this useful summary of the difficulties an 18-rating poses, at least for producers seeking a major hit, looking at the Xmas week when Mi4 topped the UK box office:

In truth, Ghost Protocol and A Game of Shadows were always more fairly matched competitors than Dragon Tattoo. Both are action-oriented sequels based on material with broad appeal, teaming an A-list male star in his 40s (Cruise, Robert Downey Jr) with a slightly younger man (Jeremy Renner, Jude Law). And crucially, both achieved family-friendly 12A certificates, perfectly suited to the multi-generational cinema visits that often occur between Christmas and New Year. Dragon Tattoo, on the other hand, was saddled with an 18. It's questionable that the festive release date was perfectly attuned to a film featuring grisly images of sexual violence. Top 18-certificate hits at the UK box-office are Hannibal (released February 2001, with £21.6m), American Beauty (February 2000, £21.2m) and Seven (January 1996, £19.5m). The other 18-rated films in the top 10 were released in May (The Silence of the Lambs, Basic Instinct), October (The Departed, Pulp Fiction), September (Snatch), February (Trainspotting) and July (Bruno).

INDUSTRY: Hwd relying on non-US box office

Paramount has beaten Warner Bros for the crown of the world's most successful studio following a year in which franchises such as Transformers, Mission: Impossible and Paranormal Activity ruled the box office.

Warner had been the top studio for the past three years, but Paramount managed a worldwide total of $5.17bn (£3.32bn) in 2011 to take the No 1 spot. Its major films included Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which took $1.123bn worldwide, Kung Fu Panda 2 with $665.7m and Paranormal Activity 3 with $203m on a budget of just $5m. Warner, which released Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 and The Hangover part 2 last year, was close behind with $4.67bn.

"This achievement reflects the combined efforts of our entire team across the globe and the careful process by which we select the projects and partners we believe in," said Paramount Pictures chairman and CEO Brad Grey. "We produce pictures that aspire to entertain audiences around the world, while at the same time we have sought to find innovative ways to reach moviegoers in this changing entertainment environment." 

[source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jan/03/paramount-beats-warner-bros-box-office. You can read more on this at http://www.deadline.com/2012/01/paramount-topples-warner-bros-for-1-in-2011-market-share-with-record-5-17b-worldwide/]

Increasingly, as the article below discusses, the big 6 are producing blockbuster movies not primarily for the US audience but designed to have internationl, global appeal. Rather ironic when we consider how Hollywood influence means that our biggest films are mainly designed to appeal to a US audience!

After Hollywood: surveying the box office stories beyond LA

Cinema is terraforming, but Hollywood is still the heavyweight champ

2011's highest-grossing films were global hits, but Hollywood's franchise machine still moves faster and harder than anyone

'Wait … Can you hear Hollywood crumbling?' … Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

2011's international box-office chart was predictably topped by the grand starburst when a boy wizard became a man. But a boy reporter, 14 places furth

INDUSTRY/MARKETING: Dark Knight promo

Warner have been screening a 6min preview of the upcoming Batman Dark Knight sequel exclusively at screenings of the new Mission Impossible movie - its widely reported that many Batman fans have paid for their ticket simply to see the promo!
This sort of tie-in is not generally available to Indies, who lack the financial clout to pull off such a deal
(read more)

Why so few Brit flicks about teen girls?

Jane Graham in a Film Guardian article poses the question:

'Are teenage girls too hot to handle?
There are lots of hilarious British films about teenage boys. But unlike the US, we don't do girl-centred comedy. Why?'

The box-office success of The Inbetweeners Movie may have taken the film industry by surprise, but for many of its audience it was a no-brainer. A funny, frank film about adolescence that got everything right – the phoney, peer-pleasing, "street" jargon; the perpetually nagging fear of inadequacy, perked up by flashes of hope and well-oiled fantasy; the humiliations ladled out by bodies commanded by the whiff of sex. Why wouldn't film-lovers flock to see such a formative part of their lives recreated so authentically, to spend a couple of happy hours revelling in "thank God it's not just me" camaraderie (for youngsters) or "thank God it's over" nostalgia (for older ones)?
Well, one reason might be that they are female. Many saw our male counterparts weep with laughter and recognition at The Inbetweeners, and thought: "I must dig out some DVDs that bring back memories of my hilariously embarrassing, hormone-addled schooldays." A browse of the video cabinet and LoveFilm.com brought it home; there aren't any British films meeting that need.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

50s/60s BritCinema badass not dull?! matthew sweet article

Sweet urges us to reconsider the dull view of postwar British cinema in a useful article to give you a sense of BritCinema after 1945: read here

The troubled heart of Ealing and British postwar cinema

Decades of rainy-Sunday screenings have blinded us to the true nature of postwar British cinema – freedom, naughtiness and a very black humour indeed

• Matthew Sweet 21 July 2011

A star is ignored ... Alec Guinness, Audrey Hepburn and William Fox in The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)