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Name::Ahmed Arshi
From::Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
A new filmmaker rising from the edge of the horizon.
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Sunday, July 31, 2005
Battle of BritainA major campaign of World War II, the Battle of Britain is the name for the attempt by Germany's Luftwaffe to gain air superiority of British airspace and destroy the Royal Air Force (RAF). Only after the RAF was knocked out could the Germans carry out a successful amphibious assault on the islands. Secondary objectives were to destroy aircraft production and intimidate the nation into neutrality or surrender. The campaign was launched as preparation for a planned invasion of Great Britain called Operation Sea Lion.
British historians state the battle ran from 10 July to 31 October 1940, which was the most intense period of daylight air raiding. However, German sources begin the battle in mid-August 1940 and end it in May 1941, on the withdrawal of the bomber units in preparation for the attack on Russia.
The RAF recognises 2440 British and 510 overseas pilots who flew at least one authorised operational sortie with an eligible unit of the Royal Air Force or Fleet Air Arm during the period 10 July to 31 October 1940. This group includes 139 Poles, 98 New Zealanders, 86 Canadians, 84 Czechoslovakians, 29 Belgians, 21 Australians, 20 South Africans, 13 French, 10 Irish, 7 Americans, a Jamaican, a Palestinian and a South Rhodesian. 498 RAF pilots were killed during the Battle.
The Battle of Britain was the first major battle to be fought entirely in the air. It was the largest and most sustained bombing campaign yet attempted and the first real test of the strategic bombing theories that had emerged since the previous World War.
1787 - The French parliament refuses to approve a more equitable land tax.
1940 - A bombing lull ends the first phase of the Battle of Britain.
1960 - Over 60,000 Buddhists march in protest against the Diem government in South Vietnam.
1965 - President Lyndon Johnson signs the Medicare Bill into law.
1967 - General William Westmoreland claims that he is winning the war in Vietnam, but needs more men.
1975 - Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa disappears, last seen coming out of a restaurant in Bloomingfield Hills, Michigan.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Dan Brown
Dan Brown is the author of numerous bestselling novels, including the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Da Vinci Code -- one of the best selling novels of all time. In early 2004, all four of Dan Brown's novels held spots on the New York Times bestseller list during the same week.
Recently named one of the World's 100 Most Influential People by TIME Magazine, Dan Brown has made appearances on CNN, The Today Show, National Public Radio, Voice of America, as well as in the pages of Newsweek, Forbes, People, GQ, The New Yorker, and others. His novels have been translated and published in more than 40 languages around the world.
Dan is a graduate of Amherst College and Phillips Exeter Academy, where he spent time as an English teacher before turning his efforts fully to writing. In 1996, his interest in code-breaking and covert government agencies led him to write his first novel, Digital Fortress, which quickly became a #1 national bestselling eBook. Set within the clandestine National Security Agency, the novel explores the fine line between civilian privacy and national security. Brown’s follow-up techno-thriller, Deception Point, centered on similar issues of morality in politics, national security, and classified technology.
The son of a Presidential Award winning math professor and of a professional sacred musician, Dan grew up surrounded by the paradoxical philosophies of science and religion. These complementary perspectives served as inspiration for his acclaimed novel Angels & Demons—a science vs. religion thriller set within a Swiss physics lab and Vatican City. Recently, he has begun work on a series of symbology thrillers featuring his popular protagonist Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor of iconography and religious art. The upcoming series will include books set in Paris, London, and Washington D.C.
Dan’s wife Blythe—an art historian and painter—collaborates on his research and accompanies him on his frequent research trips, their latest to Paris, where they spent time in the Louvre for his thriller, The Da Vinci Code.
In its first week on sale, The Da Vinci Code achieved unprecedented success when it debuted at #1 on The New York Times Bestseller list, simultaneously topping bestseller lists at The Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, and San Francisco Chronicle. Later, the book hit #1 on every major bestseller list in the country. The Da Vinci Code is now being adapted for film by Columbia Pictures.
Rachel Sexton, estranged daughter of the charismatic leading Presidential nominee Senator Sedgewick Sexton, and herself a highly competent "gister" working for the little known but highly effective intelligence agency NRO (National Reconnaissance Office), one day gets an unexpected audience with the President himself. On his request, she soon herself in the icy depths of the Arctic, sent to verify a stupendous discovery by NASA.
Coming at a time when NASA’s existence is threatened by Sedgewick’s rhetoric condemning its very expensive failures, Rachel finds the discovery too coincidental. But outside experts like Michael Tolland, a world-famous oceanographer, convince Rachel of its authenticity. Just hours before the President announces this information, Rachel and Michael discover a deadly deception. Before they can go public with the vital information, a highly skilled team of Special Forces are sent to destroy them. Battling nature’s deadly elements as well as unstoppable killers armed with incredibly high-tech arsenal, the duo struggle to survive and discern the truth.
With author Dan Brown at the helm, readers are virtually guaranteed a book which is not only thrilling, intense and riveting but also thought-provoking; this book is no exception. Brown’s painstaking research is readily apparent in the copious authentic facts on which the premise of this entire story rests, adding a chilling touch of realism to the tale. Visual descriptions and a mild romance round off this adventurous story. Integrating behind-the-scenes look at insidious Washington political power-brokering with cutting edge high-tech research as well as abstruse scientific facts, Deception Point is a perfectly paced, inventive and gripping whodunit.
Maximilien Marie Isidore de Robespierre was born, of Irish origin, at Arras, May 6, 1758. He was admitted avocat in 1781, and was elected to the Estates General in 1789 by Artois. He attached himself to the extreme left wing, and soon commanded attention. His influence grew daily, and the mob frantically admired his earnest cant and his boasted incorruptibility.
In 1791 he carried the motion that no member of the present Assembly should be eligible for the next, and was appointed public accuser. Next followed the flight to Varennes (June 21), Lafayette's last effort to control the right of insurrection on the Champ-de-Mars (July 17), the abject terror of Robespierre, his hysterical appeal to the Club, the theatrical oath taken by every member to defend his life, and his conduct home in triumph by the mob at the close of the Constituent Assembly (September 30). The Girondist leaders in the new Legislative Assembly were eager for war. Robespierre offered a strenuous opposition in the Jacobin Club.
In April 1792 he resigned his post of public accuser. In August he presented to the Legislative Assembly a petition for a Revolutionary Tribunal and a new Convention. It does not appear that he was in any way responsible for the September massacres. He was elected first deputy for Paris to the national Convention, where the bitter attacks upon him by the Girondists threw him into closer union with Danton.
Robespierre vigorously opposed the Girondist idea of a special appeal to the people on the king's death, and Louis's execution on January 21, 1793, opened up the final stages of the struggle, which ended in a complete triumph of the Jacobins on June 2.
The first Committee of Public Safety was decreed in April 1793, and Robespierre, elected in July, was now one of the actual rulers of France (along with the rest of the Twelve). Next came the dark intrigues and desperate struggles that sent Hébert and his friends to the guillotine in March 1794, and Danton and Camille Desmoulins in April. The next three months Robespierre reigned supreme. he nominated all the members of the Government Committees, placed his men in all places of influence in the commune of Paris, and assumed complete control of the Revolutionary Tribunal.
However, as his power increased, his popularity waned. On May 7 Robespierre, who had previously condemned the Cult of Reason, advocated a new state religion and recommended the Convention to acknowledge the existence of God; on June 8 the inaugural Festival of the Supreme being took place. Meanwhile, the pace of the guillotine grew faster; public finance and government generally drifted to ruin, and Saint-Just demanded the creation of a dictatorship in the person of Robespierre. On July 26, the dictator delivered a long harangue complaining that he was being accused of crimes unjustly. The Convention, after at first obediently passing his decrees, next rescinded them and referred his proposals to the committees. That night at the Jacobin Club his party again triumphed. At the Convention the following day, Saint-Just could not obtain a hearing, and Robespierre was vehemently attacked (the 9th of Thermidor). A deputy proposed his arrest; at the fatal word Robespierre's power came to an end.
He fled to the Common Hall, whereupon the Convention declared him an outlaw. The National Guard under Barras turned out to protect the Convention, and Robespierre had his lower jaw broken by a shot fired by a gendarme. The next day (July 28, the 10th of Thermidor), he was sent to the guillotine along with Saint-Just, Couthon, and nineteen others where he was executed.
1615 - French explorer Samuel de Champlain discovers Lake Huron on his seventh voyage to the New World.
1794 - Robespierre is beheaded in France.
1808 - Sultan Mustapha of the Ottoman Empire is deposed and his cousin Mahmud II gains the throne.
1835 - King Louis Napoleon of France survives an assassination attempt.
1868 - The 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees citizenship to all those born or naturalized in the United States, is adopted.
1898 - Spain, through the offices of the French embassy in Washington, D.C., requests peace terms in its war with the United States.
1914 - Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, beginning World War I.
1945 - A B-25 bomber crashes into the Empire State Building in New York City, killing 13 people.
1965 - President Lyndon Johnson sends an additional 50,000 troops to South Vietnam.
The Battle of Bouvines, July 27, 1214, was the first great international conflict of alliances among national forces in Europe. In the alliances, which were orchestrated by Pope Innocent III, Philip Augustus of France defeated Otto IV of Germany and count Ferrand of Flanders so decisively that Otto was deposed and replaced by Frederick II Hohenstaufen. Ferrand was captured and imprisoned. Philip was himself able to take undisputed control of the territories of Anjou, Brittany, Maine, Normandy, and the Touraine, which he had recently seized from Otto's kinsman and ally John of England.
The city of Bouvines is between Lille and Tournai, and in the 13th century was in the County of Flanders and is part of modern France.
The campaign plan seems to have been designed by John, who was the fulcrum of the alliances; his general idea was to draw the French king away from Paris southward against himself and keep him occupied, while the main army, under emperor Otto IV, with the counts of the low countries, should march on Paris from the north. John's part in the general strategy was carried out at first, but the allies in the north moved slowly. John, after two encounters with his mortal enemy of France, turned back to his Guienne possessions on July 3, however, perhaps in one of his fits of despondency. When, three weeks later, the emperor finally concentrated his forces at Valenciennes, John was out of the picture, and in the interval Philip Augustus had countermarched northward and regrouped. Philip now took the offensive himself, and in maneuvering to get a good cavalry ground upon which to fight he offered battle (July 27), on the plain east of Bouvines and the river Marque. The imperial army drew up facing south-westward towards Bouvines, the heavy cavalry in the new-fangled plate armour on the wings, the infantry in one great mass in the center, supported by the cavalry corps under the emperor himself. The total force is estimated at 6500 heavy cavalry and 40,000 foot solidiers. The French army (about 7000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry) took ground exactly opposite in a similar formation, cavalry on the wings, infantry, including the townsmen (milice des communes) in the center, Philip with the cavalry reserve and the royal standard, the Oriflamme, in rear of the men on foot.The battle opened with a confused cavalry fight on the French right, in which individual feats of knightly gallantry were more noticeable (and better recorded in the chronicles) than any attempt at combined action. The serious fighting was between the two centers; the infantry of the Low Countries, who were at this time almost the best in existence, drove back the French. Philip led the cavalry reserve of nobles and knights to retrieve the day, and after a long and doubtful fight, in which he himself was unhorsed and narrowly escaped death, began to drive back the Flemings. In the meanwhile the French feudatories on the left wing had thoroughly defeated the imperial forces opposed to them, and William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, the leader of this corps, was unhorsed and taken prisoner by the fighting bishop of Beauvais. On the other wing the French at last routed the Flemish cavalry and captured Ferdinand Count of Flanders, one of the leaders of the coalition. In the center the battle was now a melée between the two mounted reserves led by the king and the emperor in person. Here too the imperial forces suffered defeat, Otto himself being saved only by the devotion of a handful of Saxon knights. The day was already decided in favor of the French when their wings began to close inwards to cut off the retreat of the imperial center. The battle closed with the celebrated stand of Reginald of Boulogne, a former vassal of King Philip, who formed a ring of seven hundred Brabancon pikemen, and not only defied every attack of the French cavalry, but himself made repeated charges or sorties with his small force of knights. Eventually, and long after the imperial army had begun its retreat, the gallant schiltron was ridden down and annihilated by a charge of three thousand men-at-arms. Reginald was taken prisoner in the mele; and the prisoners also included two other counts, Ferdinand and William Longsword, twenty-five barons and over a hundred knights. The killed amounted to about 170 knights of the defeated party, and many thousands of foot on either side.
John returned to England to face the barons whose possessions in Normandy he had lost. After Bouvines there were no important wars in Western Europe until the 1290s.
1214 - At the battle of Bouvines, in France, Philip Augustus of France defeats John of England.
1663 - British Parliament passes a second Navigation Act, requiring all goods bound for the colonies be sent in British ships from British ports.
1909 - Orville Wright sets a world record for staying aloft in an airplane - one hour, 12 minutes and 40 seconds.
1914 - British troops invade the streets of Dublin, Ireland, and begin to disarm Irish rebels.
1944 - United States troops complete the liberation of Guam.
1953 - Representatives of the United Nations, Korea and China sign an armistice at Panmunjon, Korea.
1964 - President Lyndon Johnson sends an additional 5,000 troops to South Vietnam.
Today's category will be "Advertising"
- The very first law in advertising is to avoid the concrete promise and cultivate the delightfully vague.
Bill Cosby (1937 - )
- Advertising is the modern substitute for argument, it's fuction is to make the worse appear the better.
George Santayana (1863 - 1952)
- Many small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)
- Advertising is a valuable economic factor because it is the cheapest way of selling goods, particularly if the goods are worthless.
Sinclair Lewis (1885 - 1951)
- What's the difference between unethical and ethical advertising? Unethical advertising uses falsehoods to deceive the public, ethical advertising uses truth to deceive the public.
Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879 - 1962)
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Euro Trip!Ok I have decided to go for my last backpacking before I move to Kenya in October!! Well not really backpacking but I like to call it that makes me feel I'm still a teenager!!! hahahah
I'm booking my flight tomorrow to Frankfurt for $300 (What a deal!!!), Then going to see my buddy Matt in Stuttgart.
Monica in Munich.
Berlin (I don't know anyone there, but I have to go to this city!!)
Randy in Holland (I still don't know what city he is going to be in)
Sabina in Goteborg, Sweden
Johan in Stockholm, Sweden (He doesn't even know I'm planning to visit, can't wait to see the looks at his face when he sees me and he better remember me!!)
Randy wants to go to Rome to see the Vatican City, Sure why not!!
And then I'm off to Kenya for a full three years of working with the red cross!!! A dream job that came true!! :)
Gotta start saving money if I want to leave at the end of September!! More details coming soon!! So stay tuned!!
Way too excited!! Watch out Europe!!! An Arab coming through!!!
Muhuhuhuhahahahahahah
Monday, July 25, 2005
The Village
M. Night Shyamalan’s “Sixth Sense” is still revered as one of the greatest thriller classics of the modern era. It changed the way we view thriller films today.
In his follow-ups to his other-worldly “Sixth Sense”, Shyamalan proposed a new way of looking at superheroes in “Unbreakable” and deduced alien invasions to paranoia in “Signs”. For most movie-goers it is still a debate to which of these films they like better.
Now with the Village, Shyamalan has once more created a stir but like his last two entries it will be up to audiences to believe or condone the hype.
“The Village” focuses on the townsfolk of the secluded village of Covington, Pennsylvania who live in fear of creatures who inhabit the woods surrounding their town. The village patriarch and a member of the village counsel, Edward Walker (William Hurt) becomes concerned when both of his young daughters fall for the quiet challenging demeanor of Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix).
Lucius wants nothing more than to challenge the village law of never entering the woods. He believes that the village needs medicines and supplies that don’t grow rampant around the village. He wants to journey into the woods but the village counsel is dead against it.
Lucius’s childhood sweetheart, Ivy Walker (Bryce Dallas Howard), is the youngest daughter of Edward Walker and blind. Ivy admires Lucius and his curiosity of what goes on in the woods.
When a freak accident occurs, the village counsel and Edward Walker are forced to look past the creatures and the woods for help. It is that desperate act that is destined to change the face of Covington forever.
Shyamalan’s Village reminded me a lot of films like 1996’s “The Crucible” and the 1995’s “Scarlet Letter” but only in style, tone and presentation. Where people live in fear and that one solitary act can change the people. I always felt confused and frustrated when watching films like these because it is always hard to get into the mindset of a person imprisoned in that way of thinking.
I also was confused to why the townspeople wouldn’t rise up and defend their village instead of hiding in cellars and running away scared. How can mass paranoia and fear so cripple these people?
I guess if you buy into Shyamalan’s townspeople and their way of life than this film is sure to delight and spook you. But if you were like me and didn’t than it may not be too difficult to see what Shyamalan has up his sleeve.
The film’s shocks, twists and turns are interesting but I found to be very predictable. I almost felt that the script and story was more like a television movie or student film. If it wasn’t for Shyamalan’s crisp and pinpointed direction and the acting from some of the film’s leads, the whole project would have felt very amateur.
One of the bright spots of this film is the performance of newcomer Bryce Dallas Howard, daughter of filmmaker Ron Howard. Her performance alone was one of the reasons why I kept going along with the film as long as I did even though I had figured it out before the end of the first act.
Howard is beautiful, approachable, vulnerable but strong and resourceful in every scene she is in. I almost wish that in some of the more critical scenes with her that we were able to be more a part of the thrills and chills she experiences.
I also loved the performance from William Hurt who once more shows he is still one of the best actors working today. What is with this man? He disappears for years and then always comes back more brilliant than the last time we saw him. We can’t forget this man.
“The Village” is a concept that if you buy into it from the opening sequence than you are sure to enjoy it. But if you don’t it is a long bumpy ride out of the village.
(3 out of 5) So Says the Jaw Breaker.
Check out the movie's website
Sunday, July 24, 2005
World War 3?Usually a war takes place between two governments, or two leaders. The civilians always are the victims and most of the casualties. This could different this time. Could all the governments unite to fight the civilians that are mixed up with terror and innocence? Could this war that I believe is in effect continue for what it seems a very very long time? Could this be another world war?
Let's see who are we fighting. young educated men and women. When I say educated I mean that they are academic educated, some of them have masters degrees and even above that. But yet, they are preparing to sacrifice their lives to something that is eternal. They say that they are fighting for Islam, by killing people who are trying to make living? That's total Bullshit.
Fighting for Islam by killing Muslims in Egypt? Lebanon? Even London! We dealing with not Islamic extremists, but with really mentally sick people that are looking for attention. What can of attention are looking for you may ask, that's what I'm trying to figure out and I'm sure as hell I will never find out. All Muslims are not terrorists, everybody in the world knows that. But those groups that think they are doing the right thing and getting the Islamic Empire back will never ever in their lives succeed and I can guarantee you this. Why? Because it is written that we will never have an Islamic Empire again only by justice, and what is happening now is not justice. You can call it anything except justice.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
My second novel!!Well, I got a mail from my publishing agency congratulating me on my second novel. I was like what second novel, I haven't finished writing my "Duel" story yet. But then I remembered that I have given them a new manuscript with my "Life is a Reason" manuscript to look after it and see if it can be published because it talks about the war on terror that we live in right now. I don't want to get into any political problems, especially that the story is a fictional one with real events that took place, such as septmeber 11th, Afghanistan War, Iraq War, and the MAdrid Bombing. In the letter they have approved this manuscript which is under the name "Brothers in Terror" And even approved the cover I have made with it and they indicated that they will work now on publishing both books together once all those stupid logistics are settled!
So I guess I have now two books to brag about instead of one!!:D
Monday, July 18, 2005
Francisco Franco
General Franco was born in 1892 and he died in 1975. Franco is the man most linked to the army’s victory in the Spanish Civil War.
Franco had been born into a military family. From 1907 to 1910, he was educated at Toledo Infantry Academy and he served in Spanish Morocco from 1910 to 1927. He made a name for himself leading attacks against Moroccan nationalists and in 1927 was promoted to full general and made principal of Saragossa Military Academy.
He stayed out of politics until he was ordered to put down a strike by coal miners in the Asturias. Here, the miners had created a soviet – a word that struck fear into many western Europeans. Franco suppressed the coal strike with efficiency but very ruthlessly. This one incident sealed his reputation for brutality though Franco saw it as he and his army simply carrying out an order to the best of his efficiency.
By 1936, Franco was chief of staff for the military. In July 1936, Franco lead a revolt against the Popular Front. It started in the Canary Islands, where Franco was governor and spread to Morocco where he had made many contacts in the 17 years he was based there.
In October 1936, Franco was appointed generalissimo of Nationalist Spain and head of state. This had the support of all those various factions on the right. In November 1936, Nazi Germany and Fascist Spain recognised Franco as the legitimate ruler of Spain. His government was recognised as legitimate by the French and the British in February 1939. In April 1939, America recognised Franco as head of Spain.
Why did Britain, France and America recognise a man associated with brutality and right wing politics? First, the Nationalists had won the civil war by April 1939 when Madrid surrendered to Franco’s authority, so Franco as leader of Spain was a fait accompli. Second, the Popular Front was seen for right or wrong, as being associated with communism and the fear of this belief was still rampant in Europe. Franco was seen as the better bet of the two.
In 1940, Franco declined Hitler’s request to join the Axis in World War Two.
From 1939 on, Franco was a dictator. His rule was law. Franco’s Spain displayed all the usual characteristics of a right wing dictatorship. All opposition was ruthlessly dealt with; the nation had to endure the activities of a secret police force; all the aspects of politics that would have been taken for granted in Europe, such as fair elections and political opposition, were not tolerated in Franco’s Spain. In July 1947, a law was passed that made Franco head of state for life.
Opposition did occur. Students protested about a lack of personal freedom. The leaders of the Roman Catholic Church also complained about his dictatorship and Basque separatists were a constant problem.
Despite this, Franco was not a political pariah. In 1955, John Foster Dulles, America’s highly influential Secretary of State, visited him. During the Cold War, Franco was seen as a safe bet against any spread of communism in western Europe.
When he died in November 1975, the monarchy was restored when Prince Juan Carlos became head of state, as Franco had decreed.
1918 - United States and French forces launch Aisne-Marne offensive in World War I
1931 - First Air-Conditioned ship (Mariposa) launched
1932 - United States and Canada signed a treaty to develop St.Lawrence Seaway
1936 - Spanish civil war begins, General Francisco Franco led uprising
1947 - United States receives UN trusteeship over Pacific Islands
1951 - Jersey Joe Walcott at 37 years old becomes the oldest to win heavyweight championship by knocking out Ezzard Charles in the fifth round
1955 - First electric power generated from atomic energy sold commercially
1978 - Egyptian and Israeli officials begin 2 days of talks
In Wedding Crashers, Owen Wilson is John Beckwith and Vince Vaughn is Jeremy Klein and they are full-time divorce lawyers and part-time wedding crashers.
What is a wedding crasher you may ask? In short, a wedding crasher is a weasel. More specifically, they are womanizers who show up univited to weddings, assume a false identity and take advantage of vulenerable single women who wish it was them wearing the white dress and throwing the bouquet of flowers. The wedding crashers present themselves to these women as near-perfect men and in theory, will get a night of wild sex thanks to their lies and deception.
Now.Nevertheless, John and Jeremy decide to crash the wedding of all weddings - the daughter of an influential politician named William Cleary (Christopher Walken). Things do not go as planned as the usual quick strike wedding crash turns into a weekend at the Cleary lakeside mansion. John has found himself falling in love with the beautiful Claire Cleary (Rachel McAdams) and Jeremy is being stalked her psychotic sister Gloria (Isla Fisher) and others. What starts as a quick in and out wedding crash turns into a nightmarish weekend of football, hunting, psychos, S & M, horny mothers, sore balls and plenty more.Wedding Crashers is pretty much your average, formulaic, straight-forward male comedy about a couple of dudes trying to get laid except for one glaring difference - this movie is damn funny. This is the movie that all you fans of Old School could only wish it could be (yeah, I'm not a fan of Old School).
It is funny, raunchy, has great characters. It has everything.Let me start with the funniest thing in the movie. That would be pretty much everything that happes to the Vince Vaughn character once he enters the Cleary mansion. The bathroom scene, the dinner table scene, the bedroom scene - all absolutely classic moments. That bedroom scene just might be some of the funniest shit I have seen in a movie in ten years. It ranks right up there with the Steve Martin car-renting scene in Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
Then there is the chick who plays the psychotic Gloria Cleary. This gal was a real gem in the movie. Psycho but loveable with a wonderful laugh. Keir O'Donnell, who plays her brother Todd was equally oustanding (and psycho).I can't even sit here and say that Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn were even that great. Yeah, they were both good but to me, it is the hijinks in the movie and the outstanding supporting cast that makes Wedding Crashers such a riot. Don't get me wrong now, Wedding Crashers is not one of the funniest movies of all-time. It does have its flaws.
For example, Christopher Walken could have been used a bit more in the movie. And I wasn't particularly enthralled by a certain cameo appearance that I am sure many people will love.But nevertheless, Wedding Crashers is definitely a movie that is worth checking out.
You want laughs? You want tears? You want to see the absolutely stunning Rachel McAdams? Go see Wedding Crashers. You will not be disappointed.
(3 out of 5) So Says the Jaw Breaker.
Check out the movie's webite
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Quotes of the WeekToday's category is "Actions"
- All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: Chance, Nature, Compulsion, Habit, Reason, Passion, and Desire.
Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)
- The superior man if modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.
Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)
- You connot have a proud and Chivalrous spirit if your conduct is man and paltry, for whatever a man's actions are, such must be his spirit.
Demosthenes (384 BC - 322 BC)
- I have long since come to believe that people never mean half of what they say, and that it is best to disregard their talk and judge only their actions.
Dorothy Day (1897 - 1980)
-Words without actions are the assassin of idealism.
Herbert Hoover (1874 - 1964)
- Only actions give life strength, only moderation gives it a charm.
Jean Paul Richter (1763 - 1825)
- I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.
John Locke (1632 - 1704)
- Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)
- Strong reasons make strong actions.
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
1928 - General Alvaro Obregen, President Of Mexico, is assasinated
1946 - Mikhailovich, resistance leader, executed by Tito Regime
1948 - Proclamation of the constitution of the Republic of South Korea
1959 - Dr. Leakey discovers the oldest human skull (600,000 years old)
1968 - Revolt in Iraq
1972 - First two women begin training as FBI agens at Quantico
1975 - Modoc, the Elephant, dies at the age of 78 (Oldest known nonhuman mammal)
1976 - 21st modern Olympic games opens in Montreal, Canada
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
There have been a lot of sports comedies over the years. Some have been memorable like 1989’s Major League and some have been horrendous like 1998’s Baseketball. But there never has been a sports comedy based on a game we all used to play in high school gym.
“Dodgeball” begins when White Goodman (Ben Stiller), owner of gym-juggernaut Globo-Gym hires bank employee Kate Veatch (Christine Taylor) to takeover Average Joe’s, a neighborhood gym owned by Peter La Fleur (Vince Vaughn).
It turns out that Peter and his socially-challenged members have 30 days to come up with $50,000 or watch their past time be demolished to give way for a Globo-Gym parkade.
It is an insurmountable task but their saving grace may come in the form of a professional “dodgeball” tournament in Las Vegas. Ok, they don’t have a chance. Or do they? 
When you make a film like “Dodgeball” you really have to have a great villain and Ben Stiller’s White Goodman is the perfect comedy villain. He seems to be an amalgamation of several other Stiller characters mixed with an insane health freak. But the combination turns into pure comic genius.
Vince Vaughn plays the film’s hero and his portrayal has a lot in common with his leading character in 2003’s Old School. He tries to help all these social rejects find their place in the world. This time he is more laid back then he was in “Old School” as he plays his hero with flawed compassion.
The film’s group of misfits includes Rip Torn (Men in Black), Justin Long (Jeepers Creepers), Stephen Root (TV’s Newsradio) and Alan Tudyk (TV’s Firefly). Each one of these lovable losers has their key moment throughout the film.
There are a lot of great cameos from the likes of David Hasselhoff, William Shatner, Chuck Norris, Gary Cole and Jason Bateman.
There are a lot of laughs in the film but when the laughs subside and we are sometimes left with Stiller’s ranting the joke wears thin. The problem with making a film like this is that you have to focus primarily on the jokes and forget about a message or deeper feelings. Basically what you have is a sports comedy mixed with “Revenge of the Nerds”. In the heat of the summer season that really isn’t all bad.
Dodgeball is a great “leave-your-brain-at-the-door” comedy but that is about all.
(3 out of 5) So Says The Jaw Breaker.
Check out the movie's website
Born in Monmouth, Illinois on December 6, 1941, Richard Speck was the youngest child in a large family. His father died while he was very young, and Speck's mother remarried. Speck's stepfather was a heavy drinker who despised Speck and often made him the target of his drunken belligerance.
Raised primarily in Dallas, Texas, Speck dropped out of school and became a father at the age of 19. He had started committing small crimes while in his early teens, and by the age of 20 had amassed a forminable criminal record. Eventually wanted by the authorities in Texas on suspicion of several others, Speck eventually fled the area, coming to the Chicago, Illinois area with the hope of finding work.
While in Chicago, he stayed with his sister and brother-in-law. He attempted to find work on the city's southeast side, which in 1966 was a major seaport. His efforts proved fruitless, and Speck spent much of his time hanging out at dingy taverns, drinking and passing the time. The union hall where he had registed for a job as a merchant seaman was directly across the street from a townhouse where several student nurses lived. They all worked at South Chicago Community Hospital, a facility that was about one mile away. During his stint in the area, Speck had seen them coming and going from the house.
On the night of July 13, 1966, Speck spent the early portion of the evening at a bar called The Shipyard Inn. He was staying in a rooming area above the bar. About ten-thirty, having consumed several drinks, he donned dark clothes and departed for the townhouse, about a 30 minute walk. Once there, he managed to open the screen door, walk upstairs, and began talking to several nurses that were home. He told them that he would not hurt them and merely wanted money to go to New Orleans, where he ostensibly had plans to catch a boat.
After approximately one hour, however, Speck began binding the nurses with bedsheet strips that he had torn with his switchblade knife. Frightened into submission by the knife and gun Speck carried, the nurses put up little resistance. Though there were only a few nurses when Speck first arrived, there were now seven, others having arrived home from work or dates.
Finally, two more nurses, Mary Ann Jordan and Suzanne Farris, arrived in the townhouse shortly before midnight. Speck was caught off guard and encounted resistance from them. In another room, he killed them violently with his knife, stabbing them repeatedly. He also killed another nurse who he had brought into the room.
The savage butchery never stopped. Speck took each nurse from the upper bedroom where they had been bound and brought them, one by one, into various rooms of the townhouse. He killed each of them, most by strangulation, some by stabbing. After each killing, he washed his hands in the bathroom on the upper level.
During times when Speck was out of the bedroom, however, a nurse named Corazon Amurao had managed to slither under a bunkbed and hide. Speck apparently forgot that Cora had done so, and he left the townhouse at about 3:30 a.m. on July 14, having murdered 8 of the nine nurses he had encountered that night.
Through a bizarre chain of events, Speck was captured after a massive manhunt. He was tried and convicted in 1967 of the murders and originally sentenced to die. The prosecution, led by Assistant State's Attorney William J. Martin, presented such a solid case that the jury took only 49 minutes of deliberating to find Speck guilty. However, with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to abolish the death penalty in 1972, Speck would not be executed. He was instead resentenced to 8 life terms. Though he would come up for parole several times, he was never released from prison. He died in November of 1991, a few weeks short of his 50th birthday.
By 1968 the López Arellano regime seemed to be in serious trouble. The economic situation was producing growing labor conflicts, political unrest, and even criticism from conservative groups such as Fenagh. Municipal elections were held in March 1968 to the accompaniment of violence and charges of open fraud, producing PNH victories but also fueling public discontent and raising the concern of the United States Embassy. Efforts at opening up a dialogue were made in mid-1968 but had little success. Later in the year a general strike was kept brief by government action that helped break the strike and exiled the leader of the major Caribbean coast labor federation. Unrest continued, however; in the spring of 1969 new strikes broke out among teachers and other groups.
As the political situation deteriorated, the Honduran government and some private groups came increasingly to place blame for the nation's economic problems on the approximately 300,000 undocumented Salvadoran immigrants in Honduras. Fenagh began to associate Salvadoran immigrants with illegal land invasions, and in January 1969, the Honduran government refused to renew the 1967 Bilateral Treaty on Immigration with El Salvador that had been designed to regulate the flow of individuals across their common border. In April INA announced that it would begin to expel from their lands those who had acquired property under agrarian reform without fulfilling the legal requirement that they be Honduran by birth. Attacks were also launched in the media on the impact of Salvadoran immigrant labor on unemployment and wages on the Caribbean coast. By late May, Salvadorans began to stream out of Honduras back to an overpopulated El Salvador.
Tensions continued to mount during June 1969. The soccer teams of the two nations were engaged that month in a three-game elimination match as a preliminary to the World Cup. Disturbances broke out during the first game in Tegucigalpa, but the situation got considerably worse during the second match in San Salvador. Honduran fans were roughed up, the Honduran flag and national anthem were insulted, and the emotions of both nations became considerably agitated. Actions against Salvadoran residents in Honduras, including several vice consuls, became increasingly violent. An unknown number of Salvadorans were killed or brutalized, and tens of thousands began fleeing the country. The press of both nations contributed to a growing climate of near- hysteria, and on June 27, 1969, Honduras broke diplomatic relations with El Salvador.
Early on the morning of July 14, 1969, concerted military action began in what came to be known as the Soccer War. The Salvadoran air force attacked targets inside Honduras and the Salvadoran army launched major offensives along the main road connecting the two nations and against the Honduran islands in the Golfo de Fonseca. At first, the Salvadorans made fairly rapid progress. By the evening of July 15, the Salvadoran army, which was considerably larger and better equipped than its Honduran opponent, pushed the Honduran army back over eight kilometers and captured the departmental capital of Nueva Ocotepeque. Thereafter, the attack bogged down, and the Salvadorans began to experience fuel and ammunition shortages. A major reason for the fuel shortage was the action of the Honduran air force, which--in addition to largely destroying the smaller Salvadoran air force--had severely damaged El Salvador's oil storage facilities.
The day after the fighting had begun, the OAS met in an urgent session and called for an immediate cease-fire and a withdrawal of El Salvador's forces from Honduras. El Salvador resisted the pressures from the OAS for several days, demanding that Honduras first agree to pay reparations for the attacks on Salvadoran citizens and guarantee the safety of those Salvadorans remaining in Honduras. A cease-fire was arranged on the night of July 18; it took full effect only on July 20. El Salvador continued until July 29 to resist pressures to withdraw its troops. Then a combination of pressures led El Salvador to agree to a withdrawal in the first days of August. Those persuasive pressures included the possibility of OAS economic sanctions against El Salvador and the dispatch of OAS observers to Honduras to oversee the security of Salvadorans remaining in that country. The actual war had lasted just over four days, but it would take more than a decade to arrive at a final peace settlement.
The war produced only losses for both sides. Between 60,000 and 130,000 Salvadorans had been forcibly expelled or had fled from Honduras, producing serious economic disruption in some areas. Trade between the two nations had been totally disrupted and the border closed, damaging the economies of both nations and threatening the future of the Central American Common Market (CACM). Up to 2,000 people, the majority Honduran civilians, had been killed, and thousands of other Hondurans in the border area had been made homeless. Airline service between the two nations was also disrupted for over a decade.
After the war, public support for the military plummeted. Although the air force had performed well, the army had not. Criticism of the army was not limited to the public; junior officers were often vocal in their criticism of superiors, and a rift developed between junior and senior officers.
The war, however, led to a new sense of Honduran nationalism and national pride. Tens of thousands of Honduran workers and peasants had gone to the government to beg for arms to defend their nation. Local defense committees had sprung up, with thousands of ordinary citizens, often armed only with machetes, taking over local security duties. This response to the fighting made a strong impression on a sector of the officer corps and contributed to an increased concern over national development and social welfare among the armed forces.
1958 - Iraqi army overthrows manarchy, Republic replaces Hashemite dynasty
1959 - First atomic powered cruiser, the long beach, quincy mass
1966 - Richard Speck rapes and kills 8 nurses in a Chicago dormitory
1967 - Surveyor 4 launched to the Moon, explodes just before landing
1969 - "Futbol War" between El-Salvador and HOnduras begins
1986 - Richard W. Miller became the first FBI agent convicted of espionage
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
My first Novel!!Well as you guys have read previously on this blog that I was writing a second novel. What about the first one? When will it be out for you to read and all those questions I finally have some answers!
For starters I finally got the cover for my first novel (Life is a Reason) After a lot of work with the designer and me being anal and all that, I finally settled on this one. I think it could be catchy and mysterious for those who are looking around not knowing what kind of book to buy and read.
When will it be published? I actually in a few too many problems with finding editors because they require crazy fees. check this out, I went to this editor (her name will not be reveiled otherwise she will sue me for the rest of my $21.87 that I have left in my bank account) and I explained to her the entire book and she liked the idea and the concept and told that she would edit the book for $16 a page!! I didn't know if I should be shock or just laugh at her. I reminded her that I just graduated from school and that I'm self employed for the moment. $16 per page, and my book is 246 pages, that would up to $3936 !!! That's a tuition for a year!!
I left her and went to another editor who asked for $13 per page. That would be $3198, not much of a difference!! If the publishing agency is asking me for $1300 to publish the book and market it for me, why the hell are those fools asking for double the price? They are really nice people but I guess that was the attitude they had to use in order for to hire them. With this problem coming in hand I guess publishing this book would take me longer than I expected, I'm thinking another year!! So bare with me!
Despite all the over-blown gossip, surrounding the question did they or didn’t they. Despite the conflicts Ms. Jolie had with the director on the set. The filmmakers and stars come out smelling like a rose.
Director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) moves into the world of the acceptably happy suburban couple who seem to be willing to work out their marital problems.
John (Brad Pitt) is an engineer who travels a lot and his wife Jane (Angelina Jolie) runs a hi-tech networking company and has many late nights. The Smiths are seeing a counselor (voiced by William Fichtner) to solve some of their mutual marital dilemmas.
Unbeknownst to each of the Smiths after six years of marriage, John and Jane are both highly paid assassins who are at their top of their games in espionage.
Their whole lives start to unravel when the agencies assign John and Jane to snuff out each other after they both botch a job involving twentysomething Benjamin (Adam Brody).
I have to admit I was quite surprised by “Mr & Mrs Smith” as a film. The script, direction, music and star chemistry was out-of-this-world. I guess, I to was a victim of the tabloid garbage about the stars.
Doug Liman’s slick action design he used in “The Bourne Identity” is evident in a lot of action sequences especially in the Jolie-Pitt hand-to-hand fight sequence. The way it was closely shot, disorientation and perfect sound timing was so reminiscent of “The Bourne Identity”.
Probably the most surprising about the film is the film’s script. The sarcastic humor, innuendoes, one-liners were just so amazing. And to perfectly accent every word of dialogue, Liman had such interesting choices in music. Who ever thought Air Supply could be this interesting and entertaining?
There is just so much fun and goodness in this film that I hope people wont stay away because The National Enquirer decided to ruin somebody else’s life.
I do have to admit that I was transfixed to how much raw chemistry there was on screen between Pitt and Jolie. Each actor was at their very finest and it showed in the proverbial tossing of the hair, goofing off or in just a wink or walk. I couldn’t imagine better actors playing these parts especially when it was batted around that Nicole Kidman or Catherine Zeta-Jones might be Mrs. Smith. I am not sure it would have worked as well.
I have to hand it to the filmmakers; they executed this film with such charisma, action and humor. What a pleasant surprise!
(3.5 out of 5) So Says the Jaw Breaker
Check out the movie's website
1908 - Fourth Modern Olympic games opens in London, England
1969 - Russia launches unmanned Luna 15 to the Moon
Last weekend including yesterday was a total inspiration for me. I didn't really do much through out the weekend other than visiting my aunt as usual, hanging out with my cousin, watch some movies on rogers on demand and play x-box. Thats only during the day. At night I take off my notes and write the script for the documentary and finishing up what I left of my book.
Oleg calls me and asks me to join him in a meeting with those guys who own a lounge to discuss and finalize our agreement about organizing a fundraiser in their lounge. Alex came along as well so that the whole team is there. Everything went fine, easier than I thought and we were out of there in no time. As we were having coffee at Second Cup and talking about our next approach for this Documentary, we started saying Quotes we heard here and there and Oleg tells us an old Russian Saying "It's better to lose an intelligant person than to find a stupid one" I looked at him. "Oleg, this is the first time you say something that is totally make sense!!" I thought!!
I don't know why, but I kept thinking of that quote and it really inspired me in a way to continue what I was doing in my life, out of the engineering business that is!!
It was Saturday after midnight, Alex left home and Oleg and I decided to take a walk along Bloor street and just chat. As we were walking back to where Oleg parked his car, this little cracked out kid was yelling at a car. I looked at the car and I figured out that the kid was admiring the car for I heard him yelling "I love your rims man, Why can't I afford something like this? Cuz I'm a crack head!!" I looked at Oleg and saw him smiling. He just answered his own question!!
Again, that inspired me. When I thought that I have no purpose, I could do no change to this world, I could be nobody. I was wrong.
On Monday I met with Alex for our usual editing session. We reviewed the footage we took in Kenya again, to understand how could we mix those frames up and make it interesting and furthermore, emotional. Seeing those kids in Kibera Slums and in highschools there again as if I was seeing it for the first time. The eyes of John (The Founder of Mashimoni Highschool) when he is asking for our help to help those youth that have all the right to be somebody. The stories that Dan recalled when he was living upon one meal a week and still believed in hope.
What is Hope? It is something that you can never find. It is something that you can never touch. Only believing in it makes it real!
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Ladder 49
Ask any 5-year-old boy what he wants to be when he grows up and he'll likely say, "A firefighter!" Inevitably, there's something appealing about the sirens, flashing lights and brave actions of these everyday heroes.
Maybe it's those same factors that make Ladder 49 an undeniably compelling movie.
As chief of the crew, Mike Kennedy (John Travolta) does more than fight fires. He's a father figure who mentors rookies like Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix). He keeps flaring tempers in check when tensions run high and pumps up morale when things go wrong.
Still, Jack is a little apprehensive about the Chief's leadership abilities when he meets him for the first time. Sipping liquor and slurring his words, the half-clad captain doesn't initially inspire confidence.
And unfortunately, Mike isn't the only one who imbibes. When these men aren't on duty dousing flames, they're knocking back the booze at the local pub. Rather than developing individual characters with a variety of standards, the movie broadly portrays the men as a group who drink heavily as a way to relax after a hard day's work. Even more worrisome is the constant depiction of alcohol at other social events and Jack's admission to his anxious wife that he drove home after drinking.
Luckily, clear heads prevail when these guys are on task. United by an attitude of "one for all and all for one," they rush into blazing, smoke-filled buildings, trusting their lives to one another, in order to save those inside. Although most are concerned husbands and fathers, they have a bond, forged by the stresses of their job, that sometimes supersedes even their relationships at home.
That reliance is tested the day the crew is called to a fire at a 20-story building in the core of Baltimore. As the inferno spreads, the floor crumbles below Jack, leaving him trapped inside. While he waits for his fellow firefighters to free him, the now-seasoned professional remembers the events of his past including a premarital sexual encounter, his marriage to Linda (Jacinda Barrett) in their local church and the births of their children (Spencer Berglund, Brooke Hamlin).
When considering this film for family viewing, parents may question the necessity of the firemen's after-hours antics and their use of profanities (including a sexual expletive). However, after watching criminal-types repeatedly glorified on the big screen, the every day sacrifices of these men and their families may spark discussions about the meaning of real heroism. It may also give adults and older teens a new appreciation for the uncommon courage of men (and women) who are ready to step up on the truck when a call comes in.
(2.5 out of 5) So says the Jaw Breaker
Check out the movie's website
First mentioned in February 14, 1009, Lithuania grew to be a significant nation in the Middle Ages. The date of statehood is counted from the official crowning of Mindaugas as a King of Lithuania in July 6, 1253 in Voruta. Mindaugas managed to unite warring dukes into a single nation and state. Later, in course of Gediminas' conquers, Lithuania became a part of an independent multi-ethnic Grand Duchy of Lithuania, that also united lands of modern Belarus and Ukraine. Grand Duchy stretched across much of Eastern Europe from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea in 15th century. Since February 2, 1386, when Grand Duke Jogaila was crowned the King of Poland, Grand Duchy was joint with Poland in a personal union under one monarch. In 1569 Poland and Grand Duchy formally merged into the new state of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This union remained in force until the May Constitution of 1791, which abolished all the subdivisions of the states and merged into Kingdom of Poland. However, the new state was annexed soon afterwards by Imperial Russia, Prussia and Austria in the effect of the Partitions of Poland of 1795.
Lithuania re-established its independence in severely limited territory on July 12th, 1920. It subsequently lost most of its previous grounds to Soviet Union and was plagued by territorial disputes with Poland (over Vilnius region and Suvalkai region) and Germany (over Klaipėda region (German: Memelland)). It was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 during World War II in line with the secret clauses of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact signed in Moscow on August 23, 1939.
Communist rule ended after the advent of glasnost and Lithuania, lead with anti-communist and anti-soviet movement for independence Sajūdis, proclaimed its renewed independence on March 11, 1990. Lithuania was the first Soviet republic to do so, though Soviet forces unsuccessfully tried to suppress this until August 1991. The last Russian troops left on 31 August 1993 - even earlier than from East Germany.
On February 4, 1991 Iceland became the first country to recognise Lithuanian independence and Sweden first country to open its embassy in the country. The United States of America never recognized the U.S.S.R.'s claim on Lithuania.
Lithuania was admitted into the United Nations on September 17, 1991. On May 31, 2001, Lithuania became 141st member of the World Trade Organization. Lithuania has since 1988 sought closer ties with the West and so on January 4, 1994, it became the first of the Baltic States to apply for NATO membership. On November 21, 2002 Lithuania was invited to start membership negotiations with NATO and on March 29, 2004 it became a full and equal NATO member. On February 1, 1998 it became an Associate Member of the EU and on April 16, 2003 it signed the EU Accession Treaty. 91% of Lithuanians backed EU membership in a referendum held on May 11, 2003 and on May 1, 2004 Lithuania became a member of the European Union.
Today marks the 85th anniversary of Luthuania becoming a Republic!!
1920 - Lithuania & USSR sign peace treaty, Lithuania becomes an independent Republic
1928 - First televised tennis match
1960 - Congo, Chad & Central African Republic declare their independence
Monday, July 11, 2005
Quotes of the weekToday's Category is "Acting"
- I do not regret one professional enemy I have made. Any actor who doesn't dare to make an enemy should get out of the business.
Bette Davis (1908 - 1989)
- Acting in not being emotional, but being able to express emotion.
Kate Reid
- Acting in the most minor of gifts and not a very high-class way to earn a living. After all, Shirley Temple could do it at the age of four.
Katharine Hepburn (1907 - 2003)
- We're actors, we're the opposite of people.
Tom Stoppard (1937 -)
- I love acting. It is so much more real than life.
Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)
Friday, July 08, 2005
Alice Walker
Alice Walker, best known perhaps as the author of The Color Purple, was the eighth child of Georgia sharecroppers. After a childhood accident blinded her in one eye, she went on to become valedictorian of her local school, and attend Spelman College and Sarah Lawrence College on scholarships, graduating in 1965.
She volunteered in the voter registration drives of the 1960s in Georgia, and went to work after college in the Welfare Department in New York City.
She married in 1967 (and divorced in 1976); her first book of poems came out in 1968 and her first novel just after her daughter's birth in 1970.
Her early poems, novels and short stories dealt with themes familiar to readers of her later works: rape, violence, isolation, troubled relationships, multi-generational perspectives, sexism and racism.
When The Color Purple came out in 1982, Walker became known to an even wider audience. Her Pulitzer Prize and the movie by Steven Spielberg brought both fame and controversy. She was widely criticized for negative portrayals of men in The Color Purple, though many critics admitted that the movie presented more simplistic negative pictures than the book's more nuanced portrayals.
Walker also published a biography of the poet, Langston Hughes, and worked to recover and publicize the nearly-lost works of writer Zora Neale Hurston. She's credited with introducing the word "womanist" for African American feminism.
In 1989 and 1992, in two books, The Temple of My Familiar and Possessing the Secret of Joy, Walker took on the issue of female circumcision in Africa, which brought further controversy: was Walker a cultural imperialist to criticize a different culture?
Her works are known for their portrayals of the African American woman's life. She depicts vividly the sexism, racism and poverty that make that life often a struggle. But she also portrays as part of that life, the strengths of family, community, self-worth, and spirituality.
Many of her novels depict women in other periods of history than our own. Just as with non-fiction women's history writing, such portrayals give a sense of the differences and similarities of women's condition today and in that other time.
She continues not only to write, but to be active in environmental, feminist/womanist causes, and issues of economic justice.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker's writing has a way of creeping up on you, taking you unawares, and affecting you long after you've put the book on the shelf. This collection of short stories, a work of "mostly fiction," begins and ends with semi-autobiographical recollections of a failed yet compelling marriage. Walker pushes us headlong into the difficulties and pleasures of relationships confounded by the frustrations of race, children, and varying expectations of what relationships should be. The movement of the book carries us through several episodes, each inhabited by wounded people who carry the scars, some old and shiny and some unhealed, inflicted both by loved ones and by society.
There is Rosa, a writer misunderstood by and alienated from her family, who is admonished not to put family matters in her writing. But Rosa's curse is "never to be able to forget, truly, but only to appear to forget. And then to record what she could not forget." There are Orelia and John, a couple who, although they understand each other deeply, constantly underestimate each other's ability to forgive. There is Anne, a passionate woman whose "Grandma," the voice of conscience and ideas, brings her closer to herself and others. There is also Girl, who introduces her mother to lesbian pornography and wonders about the intolerance still found in the South. Although not always set in the South, the idea of the South, with its hot steamy summers and underlying violence, provides the sense of place for these characters and shapes their interactions.
These stories offer brief glimpses into lives both familiar and unfamiliar. The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart captures moments of clarity about others and ourselves. Many times this clarity is won with consequences both painful and joyful. We are reminded that life is fragile, but that with love, we can move forward and heal our wounded souls. Walker's dedication, "To the American race," signals hope that we will find the way forward, but a reminder that it will come only after grief and healing.
The fate of the world rests in the hands of a television journalist? Perish the thought.
Jim Carrey stars as Bruce Nolan, a human-interests television journalist who is at his wit's end when he loses his dream job and nearly his life. Bruce condemns God (Morgan Freeman) for making him have such a crappy life. Bruce challenges God that he could do God's job better. Bruce should have been careful what he wished for because that is exactly what happens. Jennifer Aniston stars as Bruce's overly supportive girlfriend, Grace.
"Bruce Almighty" is vintage Carrey when it wants to be. But there seems to be two films locked inside one. One of these films wants to be a fable while the other wants to unleash the rubber-man inside Carrey. Ironically this scenario is a lot like Carrey's real-life. The problem with these two identities slugging it out is that only one can win.
The times where the film is slapstick Carrey at his best are a riot. The scenes where he parts his tomato soup or making a newscaster have a case of involuntary babbling are hysterical and right out of the Carrey handbook. But when the film sinks back to Earth and it tries to make the film a fable/romantic-comedy, you just want to gag.
Freeman's performance of God is very subtle and reminded me some of the way George Burns played his "almighty" in the classic "Oh! God" series. Which brings me to another question, why is there so much religious protest for this film when there have been other films with actors playing holy figures. Come on, Warren Beatty played an angel or even Willem Dafoe as Jesus. Sometimes I think these things are screamed before they have had a chance to see the film. See it then be the judge, not before.
I loved "Bruce Almighty" for about 35 minutes then I just wanted more of Carrey being Carrey. It really is a shame that a man with so much raw rubbery-humor dwelling inside him has such a split personality both on and off screen.
(2.5 out of 5) So Says the Jaw Breaker
Check out the movie's website
1933 - Public Works Administration becomes effective
1961 - Portuguese Steamer "save" breaks up off Mozambique killin