Do you want to show how much you care about energy conservation and our planet?
Simply turn your lights switch off tomorrow night, March 28 from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m., local time.
Tomorrow is the third annual worldwide EARTH HOUR event. Earth Hour is both a symbolic act and the start of a practical habit. Started in Australia in 2007 and sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund, EARTH HOUR this year will be observed all around the world! The last count, 2,400 cities across 82 countries have officially signed up for it and 195 of these cities are in the United States, so get involved and turn your lights switch OFF!
GET INTO THE ACT AND PARTICIPATE ON THIS SYMBOLIC WORLDWIDE EVENT!
P. S.
There are no good films out anyway, so do something more meaningful:)!
Natasha Richardson’s death yesterday (Wednesday, March 18th) send shock waves throughout the world, as the gifted actress who comes from a lineage of respectable actors–the Redgrave Dynasty–was full of life, She was only 45!
Source: Image from the film White Countess, a James Ivory film from 2005 in which she plays Vanessa Redgrave’s daughter–her real life mother, alongside with her aunt Lynn Redgrave as well.
Let’s recount her perhaps LAST TV appearance that many of you my remember on Top Chef this past season, as Andy Cohen writes a nice tribute piece to her…
“Natasha
Andy Cohen reflects on the loss of his dear friend, Natasha Richardson.”
It has been a tragic week, and there have been many great, and all well-deserved things written about Natasha Richardson, and so today I am really struggling to write something meaningful and fresh. I want to tell you something you haven’t already heard or read, and I want badly to get it right. Yes, Natasha was a great beauty, an incredible and indelible actress, and a great mom, but above all — to me — she was a loyal friend.
Natasha was the kind of person that you’d be lucky to meet even for one moment in a lifetime.
Natasha knew how to live life. Every second of it. She knew how to have a great time, had more energy than you can imagine, and could make me or anyone else howl with her wicked sense of humor. She had a way with words that left me floored almost every time we spoke; I
gather she got that from her dad, the late director Tony Richardson. She left messages that should be considered mundane but were worthy of pressing 9 (to save).
Her voice could seduce a priest, and don’t get me started on her French. I used to make up stupid slogans for products and have her repeat them in voiceover mode to see how she could sex them up. I guarantee that if you heard Natasha say, “Evian: Feel the viscosity,” you would buy two cases and want to have sex with the bottle. A friend of mine begged her to record his outgoing message so everyone could be seduced by his machine. She did and they were. Her deep, throaty laugh could fill a room or a packed theater.
An invitation from Natasha was never taken lightly and always resulted in memorable fun. She had an unbelievable talent for bringing people together who might never have met, and who now consider themselves real friends. She was the greatest home cook (she wouldn’t accept the title “chef”) and hostess. She took care in every detail of a table setting, seating, music, menu, a pre-dinner cocktail and after-dinner digestif. I learned enough from her about cheese, wine, fish, pig, poir, limoncello, and the ins and outs of a mojito to fill a book.
I was so happy that she agreed to come on Top Chef last season, but I won’t take credit for twisting her arm — she did it for amfAR, a charity for which she worked tirelessly after her dad died of AIDS in 1991. What Natasha wanted was a cure for AIDS and she meant to keep helping until it was found. To her, that was the only answer and a goal that HAD to be met. A few weeks ago I escorted her to amfAR’s benefit at Cipriani, where she was to give a speech. I’d been with her before to this same event, and each year she lamented that hers was the speech that included the semi-laborious, detailed info about research and technology. Once she began speaking, though, it was obvious why they gave her what might be considered the boring bits to read; you could hear a pin drop in the room because everyone was captivated by Natasha’s voice and presentation. She sold it. Tash was very much a lady and cared deeply about manners and etiquette.
She was old-fashioned and hated the idea that texting and e-mailing were increasingly becoming acceptable means of communication. In fact, she did not “get” this blog or the idea of me blogging one bit, and we talked about this on many occasions. She worried I worked too hard and this blog played into that concern, which became the topic of many conversations. She had strong opinions and loved a debate. She loved being an American citizen, but was energized by her travels around the world. I could go on and on, and I won’t. I loved her, I’ll miss her, and I will never ever forget her.
May our beloved Natasha Richardson rest in piece and our deepest condolences to her family, especially her mother Vanessa Redgrave for whom I have a great respect and admiration as an artist!
Zack Snyder’s version of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ popular graphic novel, “Watchmen,” is so OFF that he won’t even see it because he is so caught up into himself as a filmmaker!
This past weekend I was dragged to go see Watchmen, which was a total mess! The film is so pretentious and ponderous (nearly three hours of tedium!) that it fails miserably in every category, as it’s bloated ideas are never fully realized. Zack Snider’s self indulgence can be seen throughout the film from the music–which had nothing to do with the film–to the sexual sequences that heavily focused on men’s butts, and a naked Dr. Manhattan who ran around bouncing his genitals without any restriction.
The film was very preachy with its historical references and very violent to the extreme at times. The only relief in the movie came from Jackie Earle Haley, who brilliantly played Rorschach as Walter Kovacs. Haley’s performance as the masked vigilante stole the show and the scene in jail was the only reason why I decided to stick around until the final conclusion of this tedious film!
Jackie Earle Haley
Haley’s astonishing performance was the only character with full development and pay off…perhaps this movie should have been called: Watch Rorschach!
Haley’s performance is the saving grace to this film and the only reason why I was inclined to write a brief review on it!
Don’t waste your time searching for a good film at the video store or online, if you want to watch one of the most moving films of 2008 with an unparalleled quality that many of its Hollywood peers lack, search no further!
This is a film that I greatly recommend and consider a Real Gem, particularly in one of the weakest years for movies in Hollywood!
THE EDGE OF HEAVEN ****
Check out this Great Review Below…
The Edge of Heaven, a film that switches back and forth between Germany and Turkey, is a drama about redemption that structurally echoes films like Babel and is a thematic cousin to some of Kieslowski’s more penetrating motion pictures. Evenly divided into three sections, The Edge of Heaven explores topics as varied as the tensions that accompany multiculturalism and globalization to the simpler human drama of how individuals cope with losses for which they bear a portion of the responsibility. Writer/director Fatih Akin takes these concepts and, by focusing on believable characters and not making the storyline too convoluted, weaves a compelling tale. Although the strands do not knit together at the end as many viewers will anticipate, this allows for a less artificial feel than if the final scenes had resulted in a tidy package.
The film opens in Germany, where an aging, Turkish-born widower, Ali (Runcel Kurtiz), visits a prostitute, Yeter (Nusel Köse). After a few sessions, he becomes smitten with her and makes an offer: if she will come live with him, he will pay her a salary equal to what she makes as a hooker. After she is harassed by Muslim hoodlums to “repent,” she agrees to Ali’s deal. He is thrilled to have a willing housekeeper and bedmate, but his son, Nejat (Baki Davrak), isn’t sure about Yeter. However, after Ali has passed out drunk and Yeter and Nejat have a heart-to-heart, Nejat warms to her. But tragedy looms ahead, as is foreshadowed by the title chapter that appears on screen before this segment.
Meanwhile, in Istanbul, Yeter’s daughter, Ayten (Nurgül Yesilçy), is being hunted by the police for her involvement in anti-government activities. For those like her, who oppose government crackdowns on personal freedoms and are against Turkey joining the E.U., she is a “freedom fighter.” For those opposing her point-of-view, she is a “terrorist.” She flees to Germany in search of her mother. There, she befriends a student, Lotte (Patrycia Ziolkowska), and the two become lovers against the wishes of Lotte’s mother, Susanne (Hanna Schygulla). When Ayten is caught by police during a routine traffic stop and deported to Turkey, Lotte follows.
Perhaps unnecessarily, the movie not only criss-crosses between the two countries, but it also slides back and forth in time, with occasional flash-forwards (either that, or most of the movie is told in flashback). It takes a while before the film’s chronology loses its ambiguity. In addition, director Akin has broken the story into three titled chapters, the first two of which have revealing names. This is an example of a movie providing its own spoilers; however, it lends a sense of inevitable doom to the proceedings. When you know a character is going to die, you watch for clues about how the death will happen.
One of the themes addressed by the film relates to the growing tension across Europe that accompanies the rise of multiculturalism. Never a homogenous country, Germany, like all the other members of the E.U., has seen a radical change in its population demographics as a result of immigration. Certainly, religion is at the core of some of the unease inherent in this situation; Muslims have not been regarded the same since 9/11 in the West, and there are those who do not differentiate between fundamentalists and the followers of a more peaceful Islam.
At the heart of The Edge of Heaven are the timeless concepts of redemption and repentance – ideas that have formed the backbone of numerous powerful motion pictures. Nearly every character in The Edge of Heaven has something to atone for. Some succeed in achieving redemption; others do not (at least during the running course of the movie). When the end credits have rolled with several strands of the plot left unfulfilled, one must ponder whether success at repentance is more important than the attempt or whether, as the saying goes, “it’s the thought that counts.”
The Edge of Heaven is marked by a number of remarkable performances. Nurgül Yesilçy exhibits a volcanic ferocity as Ayten. We may not agree with her politics, but it’s impossible to deny this character’s passion and belief in her cause. Events shake her to the very core, and Yesilçy provides us with a credible transformation. Baki Davrak, whose character of Nejat is in many ways the hinge around which the plot turns, provides an understated portrayal that suits this undemonstrative university professor. Hannah Schygulla, one of Europe’s sexiest stars in the ’70s, may no longer have her youth, but she still has her talent.
Akin’s movie is the kind of film that appeared frequently in U.S. art houses during the early 1990s, but which has become increasingly difficult to find in recent years as distributors have pulled back from foreign and true indie offerings. Whether intentional or not, there’s a shadow of Kieslowski (especially of his Three Colors trilogy) in the way The Edge of Heaven interweaves multiple points-of-view and coincidence. Perhaps most refreshing of all – even more welcome than a story that can boast substance over style – is the film’s sense of unpredictability. Finally, a movie in which the viewer can’t guess what’s coming next (even though some of the details are revealed by the chapter titles). That sense of revelation alone makes The Edge of Heaven‘s two hours pass with uncommon quickness.
Let’s recount her perhaps LAST TV appearance that many of you my remember on Top Chef this past season, as Andy Cohen writes a nice tribute piece to her…
icine 