Normally refined show a blur of faces as program tries to mask finalists

NEW YORK - The Friday finale runway show of “Project Runway” had so many designers that even its surprise guest judge had trouble keeping track.

“I remember pieces,” country singer Faith Hill said after the show, admitting that she hadn’t yet learned the names of the contestants that she’ll be critiquing. “If I had my book in front of me, I would be able to remember. But I just remember the pieces so vividly.”

To prevent the audience from leaking the identities of the show’s final three contestants, “Runway’s” remaining 10 designers all offered collections, turning a normally refined runway into a whirlwind of faces, names and genres. Even with the larger number of lines, many themes repeated in the designers’ pieces: military, industrial colors, sportswear, the 1940s and conversely, back-to-the-future looks.

Jay Nicolas Sario and Jesse LeNoir referenced the military uniform, ranging from Sario’s futuristic urban warrior to LeNoir’s costumey pinups reminiscent of World War II nurses — and flight attendants. Seth Aaron Henderson claimed his inspiration was “1940s Russian-Germany military.”

Other designers found inspiration in nature, including Jonathan Peters and Janeane Marie Ceccanti. Peter said his aviary theme was “an experiment in volume and a celebration of all things insect.” Ceccanti’s mantra was “things that aren’t alive but grow anyway, like crystals.”

Fan favorites like Mila Hermanovski and Anthony Williams presented cohesive, wearable lines. Hermanovski, who has notched several wins on the show, offered striped knitwear in cocoon and batwing shapes. Williams showed cocktail dresses and evening wear embellished with floaty ruffles, sparkling ombres of paillettes and swishy fringe.

Ben Chmura cited “The Martian Chronicles” as his inspiration.

By far the most interesting, though least wearable, were Amy Sarabi’s pleats-and-prints separates. A white pantsuit looked like it had various water stains that formed an ethereal pattern, while an off-white knit dressed exploded with pleats that draped the body haphazardly.

Too many clunky moments in book-based tale of teen demigod

Uma Thurman with snakes for hair and a killer stare is almost enough on her own to make “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” worth seeing.

Throw in the absurdity of former James Bond smoothie Pierce Brosnan, now put out to stud as a mythical centaur with a horse’s rump, and this latest supplicant for the Harry Potter fantasy crowd has two decent elements in its favor.

The trouble with this return to youth fantasy by director Chris Columbus, who made the first two “Harry Potter” flicks, is that it’s more a list of ingredients than a movie-magic potion to enjoy from start to finish.

Thurman’s few menacing minutes are great, Brosnan’s horseplay is campily cute, Rosario Dawson’s turn as the Greek god of the underworld’s bored, hot, randy wife spices up the movie’s otherwise ho-hum action climax.

For every worthwhile moment in this adventure about modern teen heroes bred by the Olympian gods, there’s a clunker that merely fills up time, or worse, wastes it.

Based on the first installment in the five-book series by Rick Riordan, “Percy Jackson” stars Logan Lerman in the title role, who was 12 in the novel, 17 on screen as Hollywood seeks to expand the audience to older youths.

The gods must be crazy
Percy’s not as bereft of parents as Harry Potter, living with his doting mom (Catherine Keener) and his contemptible stepfather (Joe Pantoliano). But the teen matches the Harry formula for misfit-y, outsider-y youth who’s not sure what he’s doing in this world of mortals.

As creatures from ancient mythology start popping up in his life — a minotaur here, a fire-breathing hydra there — Percy discovers he’s a demigod, the son of Poseidon (Kevin McKidd), ruler of the sea.

Poseidon’s brother, big boss god Zeus (Sean Bean), is ticked off because Percy is the prime suspect in the theft of his prize lightning bolt. Zeus lays down the law — the lightning bolt must be returned in 14 days, or the gods of Olympus are going to war, with puny humans lined up to become collateral damage.

To prove his innocence, recover the bolt and save his abducted mom from the clutches of Hades (Steve Coogan) in the underworld, Percy sets off on a quest, accompanied by school chum Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) — who turns out to be a satyr, part-man, part-goat — and Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario), a demigod who’s the daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom.

“This is a lot to process,” Percy notes, and the fitful movies shows it.

From hell to Vegas to Olympus
Director Columbus meanders from episode to episode, from Percy in Rocky Balboa training mode under the guidance of centaur Brosnan, to a Vegas layover where our threesome of heroes are lulled into limbo among the lotus eaters, to the fiery furnace of hell (location, just below Hollywood) and the heights of Olympus (location, just above the Empire State Building).

The fight sequences are OK, the generous helping of computer-generated imagery is fine, the wisecracking camaraderie among Percy, Grover and Annabeth is passable, though they’re no match for Harry, Ron and Hermione in the Potter adventures.

Reports: Female suspect had been denied tenure; 3 faculty members killed

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - A biology professor was charged with murder late Friday in the shooting deaths of three colleagues at the campus.

Amy Bishop, a Harvard University-trained neuroscientist, was reportedly upset over being denied tenure.

Authorities say the researcher opened fire during an afternoon faculty meeting at the University of Alabama’s Huntsville campus, killing the three colleagues and injuring three other school employees. Bishop has been charged with one count of capital murder, which means she could face the death penalty if convicted. Bishop, 42, was taken Friday night in handcuffs from a police precinct to the county jail and could be heard saying, “It didn’t happen. There’s no way …. they are still alive.”

Police said they were also interviewing a man as “a person of interest.”

The mayhem occurred in a third-floor conference room of the Shelby Center, a 200,000-square-foot science building on campus.

University spokesman Ray Garner said Friday night the three killed were Gopi K. Podila, the chairman of the Department of Biological Sciences, and two other faculty members, Maria Ragland Davis and Adriel Johnson.

Two others were in critical condition, and a third who was wounded was upgraded to fair condition. The injured were identified as department members Luis Cruz-Vera and Joseph Leahy and staffer Stephanie Monticello. Their specific conditions were not released.

Sammie Lee Davis said his wife, Maria Ragland Davis, was a researcher who had tenure at the university. In a brief phone interview, he said he was told his wife was at a meeting to discuss the tenure status of another faculty member who got angry and started shooting.

He said his wife had mentioned the shooter before, describing the woman as “not being able to deal with reality” and “not as good as she thought she was.”

According to media reports, Bishop had been denied tenure Friday morning. She apparently returned to a campus faculty meeting in the afternoon and opened fire, university officials and witnesses told NBC station WAFF-TV.

A major operation to rout militants from a notorious southern Afghan Taliban stronghold claimed its first NATO casualties Saturday, but officials said offensive of the war was off to a good start.

Two coalition soldiers died shortly after Operation Moshtarak — an operation by NATO-led and Afghan troops — launched in the early morning hours of Saturday, a NATO spokeswoman said.

A U.S. military official confirmed one U.S. Marine was killed in small arms fire in Operation Moshtarak in Helmand province, and a British soldier was killed in an explosion.

Flight Commander Wendy Wheadon said NATO forces were already working with local leaders to begin the transition of authority as troops move into Marjah, a place thought to be the last Taliban stronghold in the southern Afghanistan province of Helmand.

Helmand is long a bastion of pro-Taliban sentiment awash with the opium used to fund the insurgency, and Marjah, a city of 80,000 to 100,000 residents, is where the Taliban has set up a shadow government.

Five Taliban fighters were killed and eight were arrested in the early hours of the operation, said a spokesman for the Helmand province governor, Dawoud Ahmadi.

One military company said as 200 U.S. Marines moved to increase its foothold in Marjah, insurgents fired guns and rocket-propelled grenades at them. And in another part of Marjah, soldiers were also in a fierce gunbattle with insurgents, military officials said.

There was a report of three U.S. troops killed in a southern Afghanistan roadside bombing, but NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said the incident was not part of the offensive.

Wheadon said forces have discovered large numbers of explosives, such as 155 mm artillery shells, 10 improvised explosive devices and bullets from a Soviet-made anti- aircraft weapon. They also discovered two kilograms of heroin.

Afghanistan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, and Estonia are the countries contributing the combined military force in Moshtarak, which means “together” in Dari.

The offensive turned a main bazaar near the city center into a ghost town after residents were warned to leave the area. NATO forces said they are following a directive not to shoot at civilians, some of whom are still on the streets.

Afghan President Harmid Karzai also warned troops to keep civilians safe. In a statement Saturday, he urged Afghan and international troops to exercise “absolute caution” and ensure there were no civilian casualties.

Karzai also urged Taliban fighters to take the new offensive “as an opportunity to renounce violence and re-integrate into civilian life alongside other Afghans for the welfare of their country.”

“Marjah is the last enemy sanctuary in the Marine area of operations,” said Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan commanding general.

“This operation is designed to reconnect the people of Marjah with the legitimate government of Afghanistan. We are fully partnered with the Afghan government for this operation, and we have the resources we need to be successful.”

The Afghan government described the offensive — carried out in central Helmand with the Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, ISAF Regional Command (South), and the Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team — as “clearing” operations.

The coalition said its troops expected to confront up to 1,000 entrenched Taliban fighters. It also expected foreign Taliban fighters to battle to the death, but were prepared for local Taliban members in Marjah to try to escape.

“We will follow the enemies and bring them to justice,” said Gen. Mohiyiden Ghori of the Afghan National Army.

In the past few days, forces from Afghanistan, Britain and other nations conducted air and ground operations to prepare for the assault. They also dropped leaflets in and around Marjah warning residents not to allow the Taliban to enter their homes.

The goal is to force the Taliban from Marjah to free the opium-rich province of Taliban influence and drug traffickers. It’s an example of a U.S. strategy to focus on population centers and separate the Taliban from Afghan civilians.

The town of Marjah is surrounded by roadside bombs, military officials said.

They said the Taliban has had months to plant the bombs, most of them homemade mixes of ammonium nitrate, shrapnel fuel, salt or flour.

Such bombs — which are detonated remotely or by pressure plates — have caused about 80 percent of the deaths in fighting in Helmand province, military officials said.

Massive armored vehicles, called assault breacher vehicles, were leading the charge into Marjah and helping destroy roadside bombs, officials said.

Explosions could be heard Saturday morning as the breacher vehicles destroyed roadside bombs.

More than 60,000 spectators attend the opening of the Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, tempered by the death of a luger from Georgia.

The opening ceremony for the 2010 Winter Olympics began on a somber note Friday night as members of the delegation from Georgia mourned the loss of one of their teammates just hours earlier.

The seven-athlete delegation, wearing black armbands in tribute to luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, entered BC Place to a standing ovation from the more than 60,000 spectators in attendance. A black ribbon was tied atop the Georgian flag.

Kumaritashvili was killed after crashing on a training run at the Whistler Sliding Center. He was set to compete in Saturday’s men’s singles luge event.

Officials with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and British Columbia coroner’s office are leading an investigation into his death. The luge course is closed until the inquiry is complete.

“The whole Olympic family is struck by this tragedy, which clearly casts a shadow over these Games,” International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said in a written statement earlier Friday.

Some athletes from other countries also donned black armbands during the otherwise upbeat ceremonies that featured lively performances from Canada’s indigenous people, who danced throughout the lengthy introductions of the delegations from the 82 competing nations.

A high-flying snowboarder opened the ceremonies by jumping through a giant set of Olympic rings, prompting roars from the crowd inside the domed stadium — a first for a Winter Games. Many of the fans were dressed in red, the prominent color on the Canadian flag.

The crowd erupted when Canadian speed skater Clara Hughes, carrying the Canadian flag, led her team into the arena. The Canadians hope to top the medal tally at these games, and count on winning gold in both men’s and women’s hockey, the country’s favorite sport.

After a tribute to the athletes, sung by Canadians Bryan Adams and Nelly Furtado, the ceremony turned into a technological spectacle celebrating the country’s diversity and natural beauty. More than 100 screens around the stadium projected video and images to turn the venue into a re-creation of Canada’s constellations, oceans, rivers and forests.

Singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan, a British Columbia resident, sang as members of the Alberta Ballet danced among holographic images of the huge trees of an old growth forest.

John Furlong, the chief executive of the Vancouver Organizing Committee, told the athletes that they were role models.

“You are our beacon of hope in a world so much in need of peace, healing, unity, generosity and inspiration,” he said. “Youth the world over aspire to be just like you.”

There was a mechanical glitch when four Canadian sports legends tried to light the Olympic cauldron. Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, speed skating hero Catriona LeMay Doan, NBA star Steve Nash and alpine ski star Nancy Greene each were supposed to light one beam of the structure and then watch the flames rise to meet in the cauldron. But one beam failed to emerge from the floor of BC Place, the first indoor arena to host the opening ceremony.

A second cauldron, near Coal Harbour, was lit by Gretzky.

Olympic officials said that because the caldron was too hot for an indoor arena, a second cauldron, near Coal Harbour, would be lit by Gretzky.

Speculation had focused on who would light the Olympic cauldron. Many campaigned for Betty Fox, the mother of the late Terry Fox, a national hero.

While battling osteosarcoma in 1980, Terry Fox set out to cross Canada, running about the equivalent of a marathon each day to raise money for cancer research. But Fox, who had a prosthetic right leg, had to quit after 143 days as his cancer spread. He died less than a year later.

The idea of a hologram of Fox carrying the torch the final steps also has been floated.