Angelina Jolie Has a Vital Voice

Thanks Jared for the new thread.

She Escaped Strife, but Embraced Those Scarred by It
Burmese-Born Charm Tong Is Among Activists Honored for Contributions to Women’s Causes
By Nora Boustany
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, April 8, 2008; Page C02

Charm Tong was born in Burma’s conflict-lacerated countryside 26 years ago. She was 6 when her parents stuffed her into a straw basket strapped onto a donkey and sent her to join a caravan of villagers snaking its way through lush jungles to an orphanage inside the Thai border. Their desperate choice seemed a better option as the country’s repressive military regime moved through some 1,400 farming villages, taking ethnic Burmese from their lands and forcing them into labor, often after torturing them.

In that orphanage, Tong learned to read and study English. By the time she was 16, she was working with refugees and migrant workers who crossed the 2,000-kilometer border between Burma and Thailand. She listened to their heartbreaking stories, soothing them, counseling them and organizing women’s networks among border villages.

For her leadership, she was one of six honored last night at the Kennedy Center by Vital Voices Global Partnership, a nonprofit group dedicated to the empowerment and advancement of women around the world. The hall was packed with about 500 guests, including ambassadors, donors and A-listers, among them first lady Laura Bush and actress-activist Angelina Jolie, both of whom presented awards.

Article continue…

Introducing Tong, Mrs. Bush, who has embraced the cause of Burma’s oppressed as the defining mission of her East Wing legacy, spoke of incarcerated democracy activist and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and about the repression of the Burmese, women especially. She described how unarmed monks protesting a spike in gas prices were beaten, arrested and killed. Mrs. Bush described Tong’s efforts to form the women’s action network as well as her work on the eye-opening 2002 report “License to Rape,” about 600 women who were violated. Tong also has been to a school for the children of refugees coming from Shan province; Mrs. Bush said the students call Tong “a candle in the dark.”

Mrs. Bush has become this administration’s point person on the Burmese crisis, picking up the phone to express her outrage to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, hosting Burmese democracy activists at the White House, giving dozens of interviews on the subject and writing her own op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal marking Suu Kyi’s birthday.

Jolie, greatly pregnant and radiant in a flowing taupe gown, stepped onto the stage to speak glowingly of award recipient Mariane Pearl, the widow of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl, who was killed in Pakistan. Her book, “A Mighty Heart,” was made into a film in which Jolie portrayed Mariane Pearl. Last night the actress talked of Pearl’s special gift as a mother and an example in “courage, hope and tolerance.”

Also honored were Kakenya Ntaiya, an education advocate from Kenya; political corruption activist Laura Alonso of Argentina; and human-rights advocate Khin Ohmar of Burma. United Arab Emirates minister of economy and foreign trade Sheikha Lubna al-Qasimi, the first female minister in her Persian Gulf state, was presented the Global Trailblazer Award and introduced by CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer.

Sen. Hillary Clinton appeared confident and relaxed in a blue pantsuit, taking time off from her presidential marathon to help host this event, as she does every year with her Republican counterpart from Texas, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. The senators had made it to the evening “against all odds,” said Vital Voices co-founder Melanne Verveer, who was Clinton’s chief of staff when she was first lady.

Article continue…

The event grew out of the Vital Voices Democracy Initiative, created in 1997 by Clinton and former secretary of state Madeleine Albright to make the promotion of women’s causes a U.S. foreign policy goal.

In an interview Friday, Tong described her life. After fleeing her home, she saw her parents briefly, every two or three years; to get to her, they had to trek for a week or longer along the same tortured and dangerous routes she took as a child. “I thought they did not love me,” she said. She described the brief encounters with her parents as “happy, tearful and heartbreaking.”

“You arrive from school one day and they are there. The next day you hurry back from school and they are gone. They would tell me what was happening and say, ‘We cannot give you anything except this opportunity.’ ”

All she can remember are blurred patches of her childhood, scurrying from village to village for safety. Her parents bundled her and her younger sister along with rags, pots and pans as the children fled from the soldiers, who ransacked huts, killing and sexually assaulting those who resisted.

“With time I began to understand. Fresh out of junior high I began hearing about and seeing the scars from all the atrocities,” she noted. By the time some women shuffled across the northern Thai border, they had been raped six to eight times. “They arrive with nothing,” Tong said. “You never forget their faces. So many women believe it was their fault and ask us if they had done anything wrong. We were traumatized just listening to them relive their horrors,” she added.

One case that tore up Tong’s soul was that of Nag Hla, who was only 17 and six months pregnant when she escaped from her village of Laikha in 2002. She had been gang-raped from 10 in the morning until 4 that afternoon, Tong said, “her husband blindfolded and tied to a tree, close enough so he could hear” his wife’s screams. Hla set off on foot and delivered her premature infant alone.

Thai government officials estimate that 3 million Burmese have taken up residence in Thailand over the years. Many who cross from Shan province, where Tong was born, find there are no refugee camps for them when they arrive, she said. Instead, they settle together or with Thai families as stateless, undocumented farmhands. Tong is active in organizing other women stationed along border passages to teach refugees about reproductive health.

Tong became a global advocate at 17, when she went to Geneva in a delegation of seven Burmese to address the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in 1999. Before an audience that included members of the military regime, Tong shook as she spoke and broke down tearfully as she testified about the women she had met along the border.

“I was lucky. I went to school,” she says now with measured gratitude. She began reading a newsletter on human rights violations from Shan province at an early age. “It game me more answers than I found in school and it inspired me to do something to help.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/07/AR2008040702744.html?sub=AR

Cook,

If you’re around, I left you a reply on the last thread. :)

God, keep blessing and watching over the Jolie-Pitt family.

Thanks Jared ! I love seeing beautiful Angelina.

Go Angie.

nice,
The answer to your question is good genes.

As always, BEAUTIFUL. Simply BEAUTIFUL !!

# 15 nice @ 04/08/2008 at 2:00 pm Brad’s wife looks gorgeous as usual.
How come she never gets the puffy pregnant face most of us get?

…That is because she is tall, lanky and naturally skinny like me…oh and us brunettes are beautiful.

high cheek bones, defined face……..we have so much in common…a good man and good kids, oh I could go on and on.

And I get to stomp on Brads ol’ stomping grounds, caves, lakes and all….life is good……….

lovely!!!!!!! thanks jared

Fefe,

…he has it now, and wait awhile so he can get it… maybe, just before you leave, he might have received it and read it…then, you can contact up top and request…maybe wait til tomorrow…I think he’s a student too…he might not get to it right away…NO shenanigans?…it’s just you…good enough?…who’s going home on dwts?…I watched the Yankees last night before and during the game…no, the coach could’ve called time-out during regulations but, he relied on the greatness his players had been giving him all season…of course free throws could’ve helped and good coaching works too which wasn’t the case here at the end…we agree to disagree…I love you waayy too much…what can I do…

is it just me it see that Mrs Jolie Pitt is pregnant with twins

this is from perezhilton:
SIGHting
Spotted: Angelina Jolie with her boys, Maddox and Pax, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in D.C. on Monday.

Mrs. Pitt goes to Washington!

Oh come on, play nice, just dont bother about the haters!
Nice and Sasha: Angie did in fact get puffy- but during the last month before she gave birth, I’m so jealous lol

Jared, you’re really making this a great morning. Thank you.

It must have been quite an incredible evening with all these incredible women at such an event. Way to go Angie! She has the sexiest bump ever.

i love angie,but is amazing how trolls are first in the thread,angie is so very beautiful,am sure she had a good time with BFF mariane

Gorgeous, courages, amazing, and I’m talking about Angelina and Mariane. So in awe of Mariane and I’m so happy that these two women found a bond and a true friendship.

I just bought AMH and will be seeing it for the first time and so this is very cool seeing them together here.

Thanks JJ

jpf.

Angie looks absolutely GORGEOUS!!
I love her dress.
THUMB UP FOR ANGIE!!!!

Hey dear jj friends, i haven’t written in a while, but i just saw this great article about how angie and marianne met- its a jem!!! there is also a great relaxed picture of the two of them- their first meeting, they took their kids to an existential play- mad and addam were three!!! i love it
- enjoy

http://www.jensjuice.com/2007/04/angelina-jolie-marianne-pearl-do.html

She looks like a damned trollip in that stupid dress. Very overdressed and very wrongly dressed for the occasion. Hey Angelina - Washington DC ain’t Vegas.

#46 Anonymous–
Wow, such ire. She is beautiful and she is a movie star so she is dressed for the occasion! Sorry you are so repressed and such a hater that you can’t see style and inner beauty when it is right before your eyes.

Anonymous @ 04/08/2008 at 2:31 pm

She looks like a damned trollip in that stupid dress. Very overdressed and very wrongly dressed for the occasion. Hey Angelina - Washington DC ain’t Vegas.

——————————————-

Obviously, you’re just jealous. We’re all stunned by her and then you’re here saying that she’s wrongly dressed. What do you want her to wear?

anonymous, she was overdressed and wrongly dressed? well what did you wear to the 2008 global leadership awards? i’m sure angelina would be waiting with baited breath to hear your input since you know the proper dress for this venue.

Fefe,

…in the subject box, write request cook’s e-mail…only you should get this…shenanigans?…you’re not a guy?…I mean: don’t pass the e-mail, no viruses, and don’t f ucking be a guy…comprende?…if you can’t do it, then, leave it alone…you asked and I don’t EVER do this…be smart and don’t do or be anything I mentioned is what I accept.

Love Angie!

http://www.theocseries.blogspot.com

Someone here is in alot of pain because of Angelina’s beauty …

This picture looks fake. Is it just me?

She is lovely. So is Marianne. Very pretty women. Nice dress on Angelina.

Anonymous @ 04/08/2008 at 2:31 pm

She looks like a damned trollip in that stupid dress. Very overdressed and very wrongly dressed for the occasion. Hey Angelina - Washington DC ain’t Vegas.

——

Tell that to your beloved cultish TC who dressed Suri with an oversized stupid dress to play in the park not to mention the nailpolisher on a 2 years old !

The poor kid had even the evil creepy look she tends to display these days…i bet she hated that dress !

TO: #46 Anonymous @ 04/08/2008 at 2:31 pm

“WHEN YOU JUDGE OR CRITICIZE ANOTHER PERSON, IT SAYS NOTHING ABOUT THAT PERSON; IT MERELY SAYS SOMETHING ABOUT OUR OWN NEED TO BE CRITICAL.”

Beautiful dress, beautiful hair, beautiful skin, beautiful bump, just an overall beautiful lady. :)

Angel ,I think Papa Pitt helped Angelina pick out that dress.Angelina just has a glow about her.But just think she is carrying Brads child.And to have Brads love,and all her little children who love her immensely.

Love this wonderful woman, she is a good example to be truthful to oneself and to follow the dreams of one’s heart.

Nicole m @ 04/08/2008 at 2:53 pm #60

This picture looks fake. Is it just me?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Poor dear, you still can’t believe she is pregnant for the second time with Brad Pitt’s child. right? I bet you’re thinking Jared photo-shopped the bump. Wait….. what about the other sites that have the same picture? LMAO. There is no end to your stupidity ,is there?

Angie and Marianne are good friends.So nice to see Angie present Marianne with award.I’m off shopping…Fans have a good day.

What a gorgeous lady. Even with child, Angie is oozzzing with sex appeal. Not all pregnant ladies can pull this off.

Thanx Jared for the new thread.

I think this #60 Nicole m >/b> poster is the same Nicole poster who is a fan of Brad and hated Angie. I think she wants Brad to be with that person who shall remain nameless. Pathetic :roll:

Hope this link works…it

Actress Angelina Jolie speaks at a meeting about education for Iraqi children held by the Council on Foreign Affairs in Washington April 8, 2008. Jolie is a co-chair of the Education Partnershship for Children of Conflict.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UNITED STATES)

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Angelina-Jolie/ss/events/en/080101jolie

thanx jared

aj and mp both looking gorgeous

Lady G @ 04/08/2008 at 3:32 pm
Hope this link works…it

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It works, Thanks Lay . Wow, her bump is even more prominent in this dress. That is one gorgeous woman.

Ok, this is the 1st time that I joined whatever this is call blog ? sorry am a novice.
Just to answer those negative people, if you dislike angelina jolie so much why in heavens name do you put so much energy and time on the comments.
Have you persons or people never heard of the Law Of Attraction,
When you want something you just manifest on the things you want happen. It also applys to the negative energy you focused on. Ever experience not wanting something but getting it? Well, stop giving your energy on something that you don’t like. Because you doing them (BP/AJ) and the fans a big favour!
May the divine healing energy engulf your every core of your being/s.

Here are more photos of Angie leaving the COFR meeting. Holly looks pregnant too.

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa279/images_023/80563687.jpg

Angie looks quite tall next to other women in thispic, does someoneknow how tall she is? Thanks…

Last one from Angie exiting COFR meeting. The others have the watermark across her face.

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa279/images_023/80563681.jpg

She looks so beautiful.She is huge.

Supernova - Angie is supposed to be 5′ 7”.

Rita - LOL! I keep thinking the same thing.

Take care BAMPZS fans. :)

A second pregnancy usually let you grow further than the first one…bodytissues are already elastic…

Thanks Faye,

Thanks JJ for the new thread. She is as gorgeous as ever. I like her pink maternity dress.
Anoble: I am done reading Atlas Shrugged. What an astounding story of intellectual men & woman. Breathtaking & lots of suspense. At the end Dagny Taggart & John Galt succeeded & their love story continues. An appropriate story for Brad & Angie, I hope they make this movie together.
God bless the Jolie-Pitt’s.

Fefe,

…so, you understand everything…just, get e-mail, and send it, comes to me…jared doesn’t see it…I’m so passionate about you…let’s slow down again when you get the address…just send it directly to me…I’m not tech savy either…however, I believe you understand and have what you need…it will be okay…if not, tell me…and we something else…I love you bad girl.

Soopx, you are right someone here is in a lot of pain, because Angie is carrying another Brad Pitt genes (baby or babies). That hurts.

Good afternoon to all of the beautiful BAMPZS fans. Ohmygawd, we have three Angie threads. This family is so beautiful and giving. and people wonder why they look tired sometimes. Or why they don’t have time to worry about lies in the tabs. Because they are too busy doing meaningful and good things for people who don’t read tabs or even care what is being said about them in them.

So Angie took Pax with her and Maddox. This should still any negativity about leaving him at home. I bet the boys had a great time. I’ve been there and I had a great time.

She truly looks beautiful in that dress. Marianne looks pretty also. This pregnant woman does more in one day than some women who are not pregnant do in a week. She is very strong not just physically, but in her committment to her family and her beliefs. Peace.

Sweet Jesus! This woman is huge! When is her due date?

T

Thanks for all the new thread Just Jared. AJ looks amazing. She is one beautiful pregnant woman. Congrats to M. Pearl and all the other award winners. AJ is an exceptional woman who is leading by example. I wish her a happy and safe pregnancy. She is glowing.

Thanks Lady G and the fans for all the pictures and articles. They were very inspiring to read. Best wishes to BAMPZS + more.

She looks SO stunning!!

http://celebritysource.blogspot.com/

#110 @4:41…dj, what would it take to make you stop this? Just name your price…

addictedtoBAMPZS(+2?) @ 04/08/2008 at 5:50 pm
#110 @4:41…dj, what would it take to make you stop this? Just name your price…
****************************************

She’ll stop when Brad goes back to Jennifer. In other words, never.

An-gie An-gie An-gie! Love that girl.

CLINIQUA @ 04/08/2008 at 6:27 pm

my god how proud brad must be of this woman…man, from escorting fugiston to the people’s choice awards and hanging with chris the hairdresser…to a life of beauty and purpose. Amazing.
************************************
LOL…So true, so true!

There is no secret about how much we love our Angie.

my girl angie is gorgeous as always! always a humanitarian she has the biggest heart! i love her more! LOVETHEJOLIEPITTSFOREVER!!

What the hell is a “trollip”? LOL

When you try to insult someone the goal is not to come off looking dumber than your target.

Try again and get a dictionary.

The lack of education and brain power among the trolls is very amusing and very telling.

Anonymous @ 04/08/2008 at 2:31 pm

…that stupid dress. Very overdressed and very wrongly dressed for the occasion. Hey Angelina - Washington DC ain’t Vegas.

===================

You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about and you certainly don’t know what is appropriate attire in Washington. Do you really think that women in Washington don’t get dressed up for evening galas. The only ones who don’t are women working until the last minute and racing to get to the event from work - and they usually manage to pull off an evening dinner suit like the woman on the left.

This was an evening gala awards and fundraising event at the Kennedy Center. All the other women were wearing evening wear as well. Jolie’s dress was perfectly appropriate.

Stop talking about things of which you have no experience or knowledge. Again, you come off like an ignorant hick.

ANGELINA! YOU GOT SOME BIG ASS LIPS BUT GOT THE BODY TO BACK IT UP AND I COMMEND YOU ALOT FOR TAKING ORPHANS INTO YOUR HOME DOING SOMETHING THAT THE BABIES REAL MOMIES AND DADIES WERE TO SORRY TO DO.

Thanks JJ;)

Anonymous @ 04/09/2008 at 2:31 am

Her children call her their Mom and you should too.

Anonymous @ 04/09/2008 at 2:31 am

=====
duhhh braindead , adopted or biological those kids are hers and brad pitt’s kids whether you like it or not. And what are you doing here you’re also giving her attention you can’t help it girl.. Angie own your A S S !!

Angie must finally feel so fulfilled. All those years of emptiness and now living such a purposeful life, working and sharing time and ideas with peoplewho are making a diffference.

Some people actually have Spiteful Feelings and Jealousy pained by The Excellence of good fortune and Happiness of the Jolie-Pitts and try every way to attack Angelina and Brad and even their small children ,It’s all provoked by envy and hate.

http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News/1-16329-Humanitarian-appeals-to-Iraq-children.html
(Entire article at link)
The Next President and the ‘Surge’
April 10, 2008
Author:
Greg Bruno

The Next President and the ‘Surge’

Staff Sgt. Ditson Abraham and his squad near Ali Shaheen before a March 2008 operation with Iraqi soldiers. (U.S. Army/Sgt. Timothy Kingston)

The “new way forward” in Iraq is now a waiting game. In testimony before the U.S. Congress on April 8 and 9, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the coalition commander in Iraq, called for an open-ended suspension (AP) of troop withdrawals scheduled to begin this summer. While security has improved, he said conditions in Iraq rule out the kind of withdrawal timetable put forth by the two leading Democratic presidential candidates. President Bush endorsed that view Thursday. “I’ve told him he’ll have all the time he needs,” Bush said. That means roughly 140,000 soldiers will remain on the ground at least through the summer. Bush also announced a reduction in the standard Iraq tour to twelve months from the current fifteen, something many senior commanders have been lobbying for.

For Iraqi civilians the situation is equally tenuous. The International Organization for Migration estimates a total of 2.7 million Iraqis have been displaced within Iraq since 2003, with an additional 2.4 million forced abroad. Angelina Jolie, who cochairs CFR’s Education Partnership for Children of Conflict, says Iraq’s child refugees need special attention (Video).

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/story.aspx?guid=%7B6CA8A304%2DFEFF%2D40F0%2DAAFB%2D7AF6F4E17F9C%7D&siteid=rss
(Entire article at link)
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) - It’s considered one of the Bush administration’s biggest debacles, but this year’s presidential hopefuls - even Democrats - have been mostly silent on rebuilding the Big Easy and the rest of the Gulf Coast.
The subject rarely gets a mention in debates. Candidates don’t usually discuss Gulf Coast rebuilding unless they’re in the region. And all three remaining hopefuls bury discussion of it on their Web sites.
‘I would have thought Democrats would be pouncing on this issue…I’m shocked they’re not.’
— Jeff Crouere, New Orleans political talk show host
Sen. Barack Obama gives the issue the most prominent play, but it still plays second fiddle on his site to such issues as “Family” and “Faith.” His Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, and presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain challenge even the most ardent Internet surfers to unearth the two candidates’ plans for the region.
“They’ve all ignored us, really,” said Jeff Crouere, a political talk-show host in New Orleans. “There’s a statement here and there. They fly by.”
What surprises Crouere more than anything is that neither Clinton nor Obama seem to be paying much attention to Katrina response, widely acknowledged to be one of the Bush administration’s worst blunders.
“I would have thought Democrats would be pouncing on this issue,” he said. “I’m shocked they’re not.”
It’s quickly becoming apparent to New Orleanians that 21/2 years after Katrina deluged three-fourths of their city, a slew of problems with slow-footed bureaucracies, patchwork hurricane protection, exorbitant insurance costs and skittish residents afraid to rebuild may not be resolved with the next presidency - regardless of who wins.
Officials in New Orleans and Louisiana are conceding much of the nation has forgotten the images of families being airlifted off the roofs of their waterlogged homes, ignored for days in crowded and dangerous public arenas and evacuated to far-flung parts of the nation.
They’re not expecting a lot of sympathy. And it seems clear that while some candidates may be more sympathetic to their plight, other issues such as Iraq and the economy may divert their attention for some time.
Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards opened and closed his now-defunct presidential bid in New Orleans, highlighting the region’s plight as well as perceived Bush administration failures, but little mention has been made since.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican who took the statehouse reins from Democrat Kathleen Babineaux Blanco in January, says some of the locals have been keeping tabs on how often the presidential candidates mention the recovery effort in their campaigns.
“Nobody’s doing really well, I’ll be honest with you,” Jindal said.
He says he isn’t giving up, though. Charitable efforts have not slowed down, and that should translate into demands for more federal action.
“More important to me is the commitment after the election,” Jindal said. “If I had to choose between somebody who talked about us a lot and did nothing versus someone who didn’t talk about us but came through on our priorities, I’d obviously choose the latter.”
Katrina hits
New Orleans’ troubles began the morning of Aug. 29, 2005, when Katrina smashed into the Louisiana coast with a storm surge that reached 20 feet in some places, sending water over the top of levees east of the city, and completely submerging structures in areas such as the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish.
The storm also created a surge in Lake Pontchartrain north of New Orleans, filling up canals that stab into the heart of city’s northern and western neighborhoods. Faulty construction caused walls at three of those canals to give way, pouring in water that rose up to the eaves of many homes.
Reconstruction has been slow, hampered in large part by bureaucratic snafus relating to the federally funded Road Home program. Designed as aid to homeowners who needed help rebuilding, the program struggled with difficulties in processing roughly 150,000 claims. Those problems drew the ire of residents, and played a role in Gov. Blanco withdrawing from a re-election bid last year.
Michael Olivier, former Louisiana Economic Development secretary under Blanco, says that has had an indirect impact on businesses not damaged in the storm. Now a regional president in nearby Gulfport, Miss., for Future Pipe, a maker of fiberglass conduits for the oil and gas industry, Olivier says workers continue to struggle with getting a permanent home.

http://www.kalb.com/index.php/news/article/video1st-global-green-home-opens/6088/
Great video of Global Green House. Already posted, but worth a repeat.

http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/hoekstra/889881,CST-FTR-Mayfield11Web.article

Music continues to help Mayfield deal with the loss of his father, Irvin Mayfield Sr., who drowned in the Elysain Fields neighborhood of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. “Music gave me a way to communicate and make people have a relationship with a loss,” Mayfield said in a recent conversation from New Orleans. “But I would never want my music to be elevated because of a tragedy or an experience. And the Elysian Trumpet gives people an opportunity to experience what we went through in New Orleans — although they didn’t lose their dads, they didn’t lose their house, their friends or high schools. The trumpet brings people along with that.”

bdj @ 04/11/2008 at 8:11 am

Thanks for my morning news, Happy TGIF :)

http://www.newsweek.com/id/131535
BOOKS
Going Mobile With Blue Balliett
The popular author features the work of whimsical Alexander Calder in her latest mystery for children.

Four years ago, Blue Balliett became a children’s-publishing sensation with the debut of her acclaimed first novel, “Chasing Vermeer,” about kids searching for a missing Vermeer painting. Two years later, she followed up with another best seller, “The Wright 3,” a mystery about Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House. Next month Scholastic is publishing her third children’s novel, “The Calder Game,” which involves a missing boy and a missing sculpture. Meanwhile, “Chasing Vermeer” remains in the news, since Al Roker is featuring it on his “Today” show kids’ book club next month, and Brad Pitt’s production company is turning it into a movie. NEWSWEEK’s Karen Springen talks with author Blue Balliett, a fellow Chicagoan, about her latest projects. Excerpts
Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B Entertainment, is producing a movie version of “Chasing Vermeer.” When is it coming out—and have you met Brad Pitt?
They’re still in production. Don’t have a date. I haven’t met him [Brad Pitt]. I know we have ideas in common. I know he’s interested in kids and art, and in architecture, and in how to give kids bigger ideas. My central message is that kids are powerful thinkers, and their ideas are valuable, and that adults don’t have all the answers. Kids clearly are inspired by these books. That makes me happier than any news about book sales or anything else. [After reading the books, kids think] maybe my real world isn’t so boring. Maybe there’s a building I can save, or I can go to the museum and figure out something no one else has figured out.

She is beauty and brains. A woman of substance and purpose. Brad must be very proud of her. Go Angie.

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=53540

(Great article with pictures of Papa Pitt involvement in Green house)
Making it right
Global Green opens its first 9th Ward ‘green’ house
The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS - Before the launch of his Make It Right Foundation last year, Brad Pitt lent his name - and some cash - to a rebuilding initiative in the Holy Cross section of New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward headed by the environmental group Global Green USA.

This week - almost a year after a May groundbreaking - the first home built after Hurricane Katrina with environmentally sustainable materials was completed. It will serve as a model home and visitor center while other houses are constructed.

Though Pitt hasn’t visited the home since its completion, Global Green president and CEO Matt Petersen said he’s sure Pitt will stop by eventually.
“He contributed significantly to this home being built,” Petersen said. “We’re deeply grateful for all that he has done.”

The sleek green-colored home is hard to miss among the blocks of flood-damaged homes that have largely gone untouched since Katrina struck in 2005. The poverty-stricken Lower 9th Ward was all but wiped out when a wall of water surged through a broken levee during the storm. Population has been slow to return but developments such as the Make It Right and Global Green housing programs offer hope that the neighborhood will re-emerge.

“We’re planning to be here for many years to come,” said Global Green’s Beth Galante, while touring the three-bedroom, two-bath model home. She said the organization plans to eventually relocate its office from the city’s downtown area to the Lower 9th Ward.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karen-daltonbeninato/forget-american-idol-a-cr_b_96153.html

Taking it one step further, imagine candidates signing a Rebuild New Orleans pledge. After the race, a candidate’s surplus campaign funds would go directly to the rebuilding of New Orleans through the charity or agency of his or her choice.

It’s a gesture that says, “I’m going to give this money away because after I win the first four years, I will be elected to four more since this country will be solvent again.”

Senator Hillary Clinton’s campaign could already have saved enough on Mark Penn’s salary to rebuild a school, a 9th Ward home, a new musicians’ home and a firehouse. Dennis Leary, Harry Connick, Jr., Branford Marsalis and Brad Pitt are already down there getting the rebuilding started. And there’s precedent. Clinton’s campaign donated Norman Hsu’s $23,000 to charity after his arrest warrant was announced.

http://blog.nola.com/davewalker/2008/04/idol_gives_back_takes_in_60_mi.html

‘Idol Gives Back’ takes in $60 million
Posted by Dave Walker April 11, 2008 1:16PM
Categories: Living: Columnists

Wednesday’s “Idol Gives Back” charity fundraiser had more and less New Orleans flavor than expected.

In addition to a taped piece by Brad Pitt highlighting his Make It Right housing project, the super-sized special also contained taped pieces shot in New Orleans detailing recovery work by two more of the special’s featured charities, Save the Children and The Children’s Defense Fund.

For the first, brothers Eli and Payton Manning explored lingering Katrina-related trauma suffered by young people. For the second, actress Reese Witherspoon examined the impact of the Defense Fund Freedom School project on a struggling family.

Ellen DeGeneres was announced as Ryan Seacrest’s cohost but dropped out citing a scheduling conflict. She contributed a taped spot to Wednesday’s show instead.

During Thursday’s “American Idol,” Seacrest announced that the special had raised more than $60 million in corporate and viewer donations. Last year’s event eventually raised $76 million.

Also appearing on Thursday’s “Idol” were Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama, whose taped spots had been bumped from Wednesday’s “Gives Back” special.

The special averaged more than 17 million viewers - down significantly from a typical “Idol” episode and from last year’s “Gives Back,” though Wednesday’s episode didn’t feature the big draw of an “Idol” contestant elimination.

http://www.heraldextra.com/component/option,com_contentwire/task,view/id,36239/Itemid,53/

(Recap of AJ trip to Washington DC on behalf of Iraqi children)
The actress’s appearance on a panel discussing the plight of more than 1 million Iraqi child refugees was less upbeat than that of the U.S. officials who testified before two Senate committees Tuesday.

“This population we’re talking about is the future of Iraq,” said Jolie, who has traveled twice to Iraq over the past year, as well as to Syria to visit Iraqi refugees. “So to reach them now, to help deal with their trauma and refocus their minds on a possible future should absolutely be one of our top priorities. We need these kids. … We need them to rebuild their country, to stabilize their country and eventually lead their country.”

Jolie also spoke directly to Petraeus’s views on the war.

“Petraeus would agree that a surge does not just mean it works if you get numbers of violence down,” she said. “It works if humanitarian aid is starting to increase and changes are able to be made. He knows that this is the time to start making some big changes and some big steps forward for the people.”

http://www.makeitrightnola.org

Good Morning all. Continue to support the Make it Right project. Have a great day. Peace to all. Thanks for all the updates Just Jared.

bdj @ 04/12/2008 at 9:25 am

Thanks for the news - you had me worried, didn’t know where you were posting. :lol:

anoble @ 04/12/2008 at 9:36 am

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff240/commentcherry/cherrytap/comment_graphics/hug_comments/images/1021hugs5.gif

It’s all good here.

How are you anyway??

Is someone in your family sick?? sorry for asking like this. I was just reading some of the post at the other thread and if am not wrong i saw something like that!

Good morning JP Fans!!!

hey anoble, yes, anustin, marianna, Lucy, bdj …have a wonderful day!

bdj–many thanks for the articles and links as usual…

Yes @ 04/12/2008 at 9:43 am

Hello dear heart, vickifromtexas and I were talking about her father who is ill. My step-dad died last year from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease)

People in the media are soooo fukcing STUPID! She confirmed she was pregnant at the ISA, i don’t know what other confirmation they need. MORONS!

aloha madame guli!!!!!

http://blog.nola.com/reneepeck/2008/04/a_successful_blend_of_modern_a.html
(Correct link)
Making it right
Global Green opens its first 9th Ward ‘green’ house
The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS - Before the launch of his Make It Right Foundation last year, Brad Pitt lent his name - and some cash - to a rebuilding initiative in the Holy Cross section of New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward headed by the environmental group Global Green USA.

This week - almost a year after a May groundbreaking - the first home built after Hurricane Katrina with environmentally sustainable materials was completed. It will serve as a model home and visitor center while other houses are constructed.

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Though Pitt hasn’t visited the home since its completion, Global Green president and CEO Matt Petersen said he’s sure Pitt will stop by eventually.
“He contributed significantly to this home being built,” Petersen said. “We’re deeply grateful for all that he has done.”

The sleek green-colored home is hard to miss among the blocks of flood-damaged homes that have largely gone untouched since Katrina struck in 2005. The poverty-stricken Lower 9th Ward was all but wiped out when a wall of water surged through a broken levee during the storm. Population has been slow to return but developments such as the Make It Right and Global Green housing programs offer hope that the neighborhood will re-emerge.

“We’re planning to be here for many years to come,” said Global Green’s Beth Galante, while touring the three-bedroom, two-bath model home. She said the organization plans to eventually relocate its office from the city’s downtown area to the Lower 9th Ward.

anustin @ 04/12/2008 at 11:08 am
anoble,i remember when we went to london for our company’s christmas party,3 nights and 4 days,never see the sun!!!!

————————————————
LOL - maybe that’s why they have so many pubs or is that why you didn’t see the sun - too many pubs. :lol:

noooooooo..anoble!its true though,they got a lot of pubs.lolz!

God always bless Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt and their love union.

Yes @ 04/12/2008 at 1:19 pm
anoble @ 04/12/2008 at 10:35 am

Sorry to hear about your step dad
——————————————–
Thank you, sweetie - how is your aunt? better?

http://www.nola.com/living/t-p/index.ssf?/base/living-0/1207977892227240.xml&coll=1&thispage=1
(In-depth analysis of Global Green House. Entire article at link)
GLOBAL GREEN HOUSE UNVEILS ECO-FRIENDLY DECOR
Saturday, April 12, 2008
By Renée Peck

Back in 2006, when we were rebuilding our house post-Katrina, the emphasis was on hurricane-resistant construction: SIPS panels and trusses, paperless drywall and borate barriers.

No one was talking VOCs or BLUwood, tankless water heaters or low-flush toilets.

My, how things have changed. If I had it do to all over again — and luckily I don’t, because who would ever go through all that again — I’d get not only a strong house, but also a green one. In the past couple of years, green building and eco-friendly decorating have come of age.

Global Green and Domino magazine show how comprehensively and affordably it can be done in a new house in the Green Village going up in Holy Cross. The project, you’ll recall, was designed by a New York architectural firm chosen competitively by a group that included actor/activist Brad Pitt. The Home Depot Foundation is the major underwriter. Ground-breaking was back in August; this week, crews were putting the finishing touches on things.

The two-story, 1,344-square-foot home is a combination of high style and easy living, a mix of cutting-edge innovations like a green roof and cisterns with such old-fashioned planet-savers as antiques and windows that open for cross ventilation. Modern and edgy, yet with a nod to the raised foundations and flow-through space planning that we’ve used to battle the heat and humidity here for centuries.

“A lot of people think that any green project has to be all crunchy and granola,” said Dara Caponigro, Domino style director. “Sort of like the decorating equivalent of Birkenstocks. But it doesn’t have to be like that.”

The Global Green house features the ultimate in green decor — from organic fabrics to salvaged-wood floors to furniture made of renewable materials from fair-trade countries that don’t use child labor. Yet it’s warm and homey, stylish without being cold.

Furnishings blend new and old: an eye-catching contemporary fixture from Design Within Reach hangs in the dining room; a distressed-wood desk from a local antiques store is tucked beneath the staircase.

http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/travel/2008/04/a_tale_of_three_cities.html
A Tale of Three Cities

(Great article with pictures)

“There are three New Orleans, really,” Davis explained. “There’s the one where nothing ever happened — where we’re thriving even more than before. There’s the one that’s still a skeleton of its former self. And there’s the one in between, where one is crawling toward the other — every day, on every block, with every family.”

It felt strange to be seated on the bus, skirting the edge of the same Lower Ninth neighborhood where I had stayed last Thanksgiving week, right below the levee break at the Common Ground Collective — and, not coincidentally, right where Brad Pitt’s Make it Right Foundation is rebuilding dozens of houses. I remembered the bitter words of one resident who recalled feeling like a zoo exhibit for all the tour buses. But I also knew that America needs to see this: miles and miles of what still, two and a half years later, looks like a war zone, interspersed with lonely outposts where people are slowly rebuilding their lives. America needs to see it, and needs to find a way to make it right.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/34849/Angie-is-Bourne-winner/

(Article about a role being developed for AJ. I think her mgt team bought the rights)

ANGIE IS BOURNE WINNER
DAILY STAR SUNDAY
ABOVE: Angelina will play a super-spy
13th April 2008
By Rick Lyons

ANGELINA Jolie has landed her biggest film role yet… playing a foxy female super-spy.

Jolie is tipped to break box office records playing a Jason Bourne-esque babe operating for the UN in the murky world of arms trafficking and terrorism.

Her character will be based on real-life intelligence operative Kathi Lynn Austin – a genuine super-spy who worked undercover in Africa, South-East Asia and Central America.

As can be seen in our amazing picture Jolie, 32, will be seen in an action role in June as an assassin in Wanted – a film based on a popular novel.

But Paramount Pictures are confident her next role in the film based on Austin’s life will be a blockbusting franchise.

The first film in the series centres on Austin’s bid to hunt down the world’s most prolific arms dealer – shadowy Russian Viktor Bout, known as “The Merchant Of Death”.
out, 41, has made millions shipping guns, ammunition, grenade launchers, missiles and attack helicopters from ex-Soviet states to warring African militias, the Taliban and al-Qaida.

He was tracked by the UN, the US Drug Enforcement Agency and British Intelligence before being arrested last month.

A Hollywood insider said: “This project has all the right ingredients. It will build on the super-spy concept of the Bourne franchise, which took secret agent movies to a new level.

“At the same time it will have one of the most beautiful women in the world as its lead.

“You have to conclude it will be a very good thing – both for the viewers and for Jolie’s career.”

http://www.boston.com/travel/getaways/us/articles/2008/04/13/in_high_spirits/?page=3
(Entire article at link)
We’re sitting across from the long wooden bar of French 75 in the heart of the French Quarter. It was January 2005 when Curtis, a native New Jerseyan then living in Maine, strolled into this bar, in town for the opening of the Museum of the American Cocktail, and realized that New Orleans was where he wanted to live. It wasn’t solely the legacy of the city as a great drink town, home to the Sazerac, Ramos Gin Fizz, and the annual Tales of the Cocktail festival. No, it was the merger of many of Curtis’s interests, from the various styles of distinctive New Orleans architecture like the shotgun and two-story double-gallery houses he bikes past, to the sounds of jazz heard everywhere in this city, from midday jams in the Quarter to the popular Frenchmen Street hangouts to neighborhood bars only a local could find.

Curtis is no idealist. He knows this city is in for a long, tough overhaul if it’s ever going to thrive. He had hoped that some neighborhoods like middle-class Lakeview, which was hit hard by the flooding, would have been leveled instead of letting a handful of homeowners back into a largely deserted community of overgrown yards and boarded-up windows. Yet the core of New Orleans, the French Quarter, Garden District, Uptown, Bywater, Bayou St. John, even the reemerging Ninth Ward (thanks to the generosity of Habitat for Humanity, celebrities like Brad Pitt and Harry Connick Jr., and hundreds of other anonymous volunteers), still feels vital.

#195 …miz bdj, can’t wait for this one.hope its true.thanks babe.

Thanks bdj

http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/355112.aspx

(Song a success on Idol gives Back. Video at link)

The eight finalists from season seven sang Darlene Zschech’s “Shout to the Lord” as they wrapped up the charity event.

Even more surprising, that performance became the number one downloaded from Wednesday night’s show. The finalists reprised the song on Thursday’s show.

http://entertainment.ie/DVD-reviews/The-Assassination-of-Jesse-James/5549.htm

(Great overlook movie. Buy/Rent on DVD)

The Assassination of Jesse James

Rent Now
The Assassination of Jesse James rated 4

View this trailer Watch Trailer

Obsessed with Jesse James (Pitt) from a young age, naive 19-year-old Robert Ford (Affleck) insinuates himself into his gang with the help of his older brother Charley (Rockwell), just to be in the great man’s presence. When a train robbery goes badly and some of his gang are captured, an increasingly paranoid James begins taking out his gang one-by-one and only Ford and Charley are treated with any kind of trust, which Ford uses to get closer to the celebrity villain. Adapted from Ron Hansen’s novel and directed by Andrew Dominik (Chopper), Assassination.. is an eerie, moody and tense-ridden western, despite the long running time. Dominik is obviously an admirer of the work of Terrence Malick (in particular, Days Of Heaven) and uses a poetic voiceover over sweeping prairie shots. The film is gorgeous to look at (cinematographer Roger Deakins can take another deserved bow), even if it spends more time in the bleak of winter than the summer plains of its opening shots, and it looks like we’ve got another auteur on our hands. Although director’s influence in never far away, this film is all about the performances and there’s not a duff one in sight. Pitt might be the big name in town but it’s really Affleck’s film, and who would have thought that Ben’s younger brother could produce a turn so commanding, heartfelt and confident? Despite the comment on contemporary fascination with the celebrity, Assassination.. is, at its heart, a love story; it’s no Brokeback Mountain, but there’s more than awe of James in the eyes of Robert Ford.

politico.com/news/stories/0408/9559.html

(Interesting article of power structure in Hollywood. Cute/paste link)

Think “Hollywood politics,” and you likely conjure up images of George Clooney speaking out about Darfur or Brad Pitt’s blueprint to provide housing for the New Orleans needy. Dozens of actors are known for their outspoken beliefs off screen as much as for their on-screen performances: Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin and Barbra Streisand to name just a few.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-0612260045dec26,1,5816599.story?page=3
(Interesting article. Entire article at link)
CRISIS OF CULTURE IN NEW ORLEANS
Struggle to reclaim threads of past

Because of that, no one knows exactly how many tribes were still functioning in New Orleans when Katrina hit. The black Indians have long operated underground, in impoverished neighborhoods, mostly outside the view of the city’s power structure.

But longtime observers estimate that about 25 tribes, some with just two or three members, were functioning at the time of the storm, bringing the Mardi Gras Indian population to a few hundred, at best. For all the plush beauty of their suits, the allure of their rituals and the poetry of their names–Flaming Arrows, Blackfoot Hunters, Wild Tchoupitoulas, Fi-Yi-Yi–they had become an endangered species.

Since the storm, most have not returned.

Creole Wild West is “scattered out everywhere,” said Irving “Honey” Banister, Gang Flag of Creole Wild West, sitting in the mold-ridden New Orleans home of his mother, Littdell, the tribal queen. “I think I’ve got a contact with about six of them, but basically I couldn’t even tell you” where everyone is.

Thanks for the morning news, bdj. Happy Monday. :)

http://makeitrightnola.org/
correction to Web Site. Peace to all.

don’t forget to visit http://educationpartnership.org/

Interesting article about some of the good the troops and congress are doing in Afghanistan, including supporting education for girls.

Since 2001, there has been much that has been good and successful. First, and most importantly, we have seen that whenever the Afghan people have an opportunity to choose a course for their nation, they have voted overwhelmingly, and often at great personal risk and sacrifice, for a future of democracy and modernity and liberty under law, not for the medieval despotism of the Taliban. And we continue to have a strong partner in the elected government of President Karzai.

To support our Afghan partners, NATO is leading an International Assistance Force of 40 nations. The Afghan National Army, which we are training and equipping, is now at the forefront of many combat operations alongside international forces. Twenty-six Provincial Reconstruction Teams, including 14 led by allies, are helping our Afghan partners to turn improving security into better governance and development. The legitimate Afghan economy is now growing faster than any other in Central and South Asia, and it is benefiting more and more of Afghanistan’s citizens.

America’s commitment to Afghanistan is also bipartisan. Congress has played a leadership role in funding U.S. policy there. And thanks to the generosity of the American people, the United States has provided nearly $23 billion in assistance to Afghanistan, with our allies providing another 18 billion. This assistance has helped over 15 – over 5 million Afghan refugees to return to their homes. It is supporting the construction of critical infrastructure, like the national ring road, which is nearly 75 percent complete. And it is enabling 5 million Afghan children to get an education, including, for the first time ever, 1.5 million girls.

Full artcile http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2008/04/103539.htm

Again let’s help these kids around the globe have an education http://educationpartnership.org/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080413/ap_on_re_af/lost_boy_s_return_2

(Support Savedarfur.org. Entire article at link)

Ex-’Lost Boy’ brings wells to Sudan

By BEN DOBBIN, Associated Press Writer Sun Apr 13, 1:09 PM ET

ABILNYANG, Sudan - Every day, Manut Ngor Koot leads his family’s cow for miles across the southern Sudan plains to a murky swamp that serves as his village’s chief source of water. The cow is balky and has a limp. Looking after her is time-consuming, often frustrating.

The little boy’s routine is about to change.

In a few weeks, he’ll be taking a shorter walk in the opposite direction to attend school for the first time. There, in a stand of trees, a 260-foot-deep bore-hole is being drilled, endowing isolated Abilnyang and its more than 1,600 inhabitants with a perpetual supply of safe drinking water.

For most everyone here, the hand-pump well is an unimagined bounty, a magnet of vitality in a semiarid nook of Africa. Already, a two-room primary school is being built a hundred yards away, and a market hawking maize and sorghum, fish, salt and honey is sure to follow within a year.

Resting under a fig tree in 123-degree heat, drilling crew chief Salva Dut spies a sparkle in Manut’s eyes. Considering his own passage from war-frayed youth to American immigrant as one of the rescued “Lost Boys of Sudan,” Dut understands a thing or two about wondrous possibilities.

“You never know what person will change the world someday, maybe in a corner of this bush,” he says. “It’s very important for us to do this hardship work … to show them the path where they could go.”

Veiled in dust and wearing a shredded black polyester shirt with roughly scissored sleeves, Manut answers brightly when asked why he’s eager to go to school.

“I want to learn to be a bicyclist!” he says in his tonal Dinka dialect.

“He sees that the people who own bicycles are educated,” Dut explains with a laugh, reaching out to pat Manut’s shoulder as a dozen youngsters gather around.

None can read nor even tell their age, but they sense a profound shift in their lives.

Arac Deng is 11 or 12, perhaps three years older than Manut, and suddenly able to cast aside the typical girl’s all-day grind of collecting water from distant ponds that teem with parasites and are quickly becoming shallow and stagnant midway through the dry season.

Arac is determined to speak English, which replaced Arabic as the preferred language of instruction in schools when southern separatists negotiated a treaty ending Africa’s longest-running civil war in 2005.

“When you speak well, people choose you to be a leader,” says Arac, who wants to be a doctor.

Contaminated water is a major contributor to illness and shortened lives in southern Sudan, where an estimated 2.2 million died during the 21-year war, many from hunger and disease. Another 4 million were displaced, including 17,000 or more children who trudged to refugee camps in neighboring countries.

In 1995, Dut was among the first of 3,800 mostly orphaned Lost Boys resettled in the United States. He learned English, went to college and worked part-time as a church clerk in Rochester, N.Y.

When Dut discovered in 2001 that his father, Mawien, had survived not only the war but stomach surgery to remove Guinea worms and schistosomes contracted from infected water, he knew right away how to help. Among just a handful of now-grown Lost Boys to return with a humanitarian project, he spends half his year in Africa, half raising funds in America for his Rochester-based Water for Sudan charity.

http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080413/HOMESCAPE/804130374
(Entire article at link)

More than 1,500 builders and other housing professionals are expected to convene in New Orleans to discuss the latest advancements and trends in eco-friendly home building at the 10th annual NAHB National Green Building Conference.
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Hosted by the National Association of Home Builders on May 10-13 at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, the event is the only national conference targeted to green building for the residential single- and multi-family building and remodeling industry.

“Green building is no longer a niche market; it is the present and the future of the building industry, and this conference really demonstrates how far we have come,” said Ray Tonjes, Green Building subcommittee chairman and a custom-home builder in Austin, Texas. “With the event’s excellent education sessions, speakers and green exhibits, home tours and networking opportunities, the insights and ideas builders will come away with are unmatched.”

Highlights of this year’s show include a tour of green-built and remodeled homes in the New Orleans area. The tour offers a look at some of the latest green products and building techniques in addition to an opportunity to learn about the ongoing rebuilding efforts in the area and the challenges faced by local builders.

http://www.horroryearbook.com/543269/wanted-comic-book-spotlight

(Interesting synposis of the Wanted comic Book. Don’t let the link
scare ya. Entire article at link)

Soon to be a summer blockbuster filled with other comic book movies like Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Hellboy 2, Wanted stands to be the underdog amongst those heavyweights. Not only does it have one of today’s hottest but relatively unheard of, stylish and frenetic visual masters of direction, Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch trilogy), but the film also features the always sexy Angelina Jolie being more badass than she was in Tomb Raider and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. So what’s the underdog to do? Get the people to read the source material! And that’s where I come into play, as I am very happy to oblige.

Wanted is probably one of the best graphic novels created in the past ten years, if not, the best supervillain story ever told. It stands tall next to the likes of The Watchmen, Sin City, and The Dark Knight Returns. (And some of you know, The Watchmen is also slated to be a movie by 300 director, Zach Snyder.) Written superbly by Mark Millar (The Authority, The Ultimates) and fantastically drawn by J.G. Jones (52), Wanted simply tells it like it is in this day and age of teenage girls ganging up on one girl to make silly putty of her face, just to show it on YouTube. The world is full of bad guys, and the only way to survive is to become one. It’s a book that makes a statement for sure, and I’m trying to resist the urge to swear like crazy in this review as Wanted has a very profound affect on its reader.

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1207718490292830.xml&coll=1
(Universities and Schools need help in New Orleans)

Bill aims to launch rebuilding of SUNO
State would initiate $30 million fund
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
By Bill Barrow

BATON ROUGE — Southern University System officials and a New Orleans lawmaker are asking for an infusion of state cash to launch the rebuilding of Southern University at New Orleans, where most of the school’s 11 buildings sit virtually unchanged since the city was pumped dry in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Rep. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, with the support of system President Ralph Slaughter and SUNO Chancellor Victor Ukpolo, has introduced House Bill 961 to create the SUNO Rebuilding Fund with a $30 million opening balance.

“We’re not talking about a private school” with endowments and other resources, Peterson said. “There is no other place for a state university to go than to us. . . . I’m begging for somebody to pay attention. Why would this take so long?”
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Jerry Jones, the state facilities director, said the real culprit on the delayed recovery is continued disagreement between Louisiana officials and the Federal Emergency Management Agency over how much aid is due the campus.

With an enrollment 2,847 students — about 80 percent of its prestorm population — Southern is operating out of 45 modular buildings on its Lake Campus, on Press Drive. Of the 11 flooded buildings on the former main campus in Pontchartrain Park, Ukpolo and Slaughter told lawmakers that only the first floor of one structure provides usable office space.

The rest of the buildings still need mold remediation and repairs.

Jones said it will take at least $45 million to rebuild the main campus, which would include millions of dollars in improvements that are not eligible for reimbursement under FEMA’s Public Assistance program for government entities.

FEMA pays only to restore a structure to its predisaster condition.

Jones said he could not immediately offer a breakdown of how much he thinks FEMA should pay for SUNO, where buildings took on between 1 and 7 feet of water. But he said FEMA is offering about a third of what the state thinks it is due.

Jones said Louisiana Recovery Authority Director Paul Rainwater and members of the state’s congressional delegation are pressuring FEMA to reconsider its damage estimates.

Slaughter and Ukpolo, meanwhile, told lawmakers that the FEMA dispute will not matter without Peterson’s bill because otherwise the school would not have its own money to finance projects before seeking federal reimbursement.

bdj @ 04/15/2008 at 8:14 am

Thanks for the news this beautiful day. I look forward to your posts when I get home from work. Hope you have a great day. :)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/04/11/bfgeeks111.xml
(Entire article at link)
Why geeks are the new action heroes
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 11/04/2008

As Hollywood’s most bankable tough-guy heroes are pensioned off, they are being replaced by a very different breed of young actor. John Hiscock reports

Instead of dashing, swashbuckling heroes who can beat up and outshoot any bad guys who come their way, the new breed of action star is more likely to be skinny, awkward and studious-looking.

advertisement”Now the geek is god in Hollywood,” declares the veteran publicist and Oscar campaigner Tony Angellotti. “Every generation redefines its heroes and the heroes of today are slight of stature and geeky looking.”

That is why this summer’s big-budget blockbuster movies are being driven by less-than-muscular actors such as Shia LaBeouf, Emile Hirsch, James McAvoy and the as-yet unknown Ben Barnes.

http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/austinmovies/entries/2008/04/16/the_giving_tree.html
The Giving Tree

(Sweet, touching story)

By Chris Garcia | Wednesday, April 16, 2008, 02:55 PM

As you can tell with all those kids and ambassadorial trips, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are dedicated philanthropists.

So it’s not so surprising that Pitt, in the Austin area shooting “Tree of Life,” granted a child a Make-A-Wish Foundation wish. With help from MAWF board member Barbara Ann Allen, the wish child got to meet Pitt and, according to Allen, “act in a scene with him.” Pitt and producer Sarah Green “provided the wish child with two days of filming and being part of the cast on location.”

Smiles all around.

http://blog.nola.com/susanlarson/2008/04/james_nolans_stories_capture_w.html

(The Pope visit to America- Entire article at link)

The pope also commended Americans for their generosity following the terrorist attacks of 2001, the 2004 tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. He ended his remarks to the church leaders by offering a chalice as a gift to Archbishop Alfred Hughes of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

http://www.nola.com/timespic/stories/index.ssf?/base/library-145/1208323380243710.xml&coll=1
(Entire article at link)
Our music, architecture are linked
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Lolis Eric Elie

It seems like little more than a quaint coincidence: some musicians are also carpenters.

You could easily imagine similar kinds of connections that are more whimsical than substantive. And, were you so inclined, you could have a panel discussion on each of them.

But the discussion and musical performance slated for Friday are more than coincidence.
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Our music and our architecture are both emblematic expressions of the soul of our city. That’s well known. What is less known is that the building trades have been important to the development of our music.

Some musicians might claim that their sense of structuring a song, or a solo or an ensemble is somehow influenced by architecture. It is far more common for musicians to say that work in the building trades allowed them to put food on their tables on a more regular basis than would have been possible if music gigs were their only source of income.

Neighborhood sound

There are lots of inaudible factors that have made our music possible. For instance, I once wrote a column detailing the ways in which the urban plan of old New Orleans was crucial to the maintenance of second-line culture.

There are no second-lines outside the older sections of the city. This is true despite the fact that many musicians have moved to these areas in recent decades.

The design of those newer neighborhoods, the distance between houses, the prevalence of automobile traffic, the lack of mixed use planning, all these factors work against formation of parades.

Joining forces

http://blog.nola.com/susanlarson/2008/04/james_nolans_stories_capture_w.html

James Nolan’s stories capture who we were — and are
Posted by Susan Larson, Book editor, Times-Picayune April 16, 2008 4:43AM
Categories: Book Reviews, Living: Books

Poet, translator, essayist and fiction writer James Nolan has said that when he writes about New Orleans, sometimes he has “to tone it down a bit,” that he might be called “a reverse magical realist.” That’s how rich the city is in stories and characters. Some of those characters — and you will recognize them immediately — work their magic in Nolan’s first collection of short fiction, “Perpetual Care.” They will make you laugh and they will break your heart, as only a true New Orleanian can. (And those San Franciscans, featured in two stories, can hold their own as well.)
Poet, translator, essayist and fiction writer James Nolan latest work, ‘Perpetual Care.’

In the title story, there’s Miss Estelle Arceneaux: “As the last of the Arceneaux women who could both walk and see, she took her family duties seriously.” What a surprise Miss Estelle finds in a cemetery an Easter Sunday — the sound of a voice coming from inside a tomb. Of course, it will be the voice of WWOZ FM. The circus that ensues is vintage New Orleans, complete with a cameo by a Transylvanian writer and faxes to the pope.

One of the most moving stories is “Why Isn’t Everything Where it Used to Be?,” which features Miss BouBou Glapion, “the first person in her family to purchase an automobile and learn to drive.” Her retirement to River Ridge is not what she imagined, and she has reached a future “both longed for and dreaded,” where things are “ultra-modren.” When she takes a trip into the city, she finds it irrevocably and tragically changed. “Take it back, I don’t want it, take it back,” she thinks, surveying a Canal Street — and a reflection in a window — that is unrecognizable.

In true New Orleans fashion, death is all around in these 16 stories, but so is teeming life. Three of the stories begin in cemeteries, and the devil — beating his wife or flexing his biceps — is lurking somewhere. Catastrophe and humor go arm in arm. Only in New Orleans might one find the “La Vie En Rose Construction Company” repairing “toe-mice” damage, or a retired funeral director in active protest against the vampire tours that interrupt the peace of his dream retirement in the French Quarter.

The city’s long conversation with itself has never been louder or more insistent than it is in these stories, with all their exuberance, despair and wit. In the only post-Katrina story, “What Floats,” a man returns to the city after the storm only to confront the most painful memory of his past: the death of his mother. Confronted by utter desolation, he wonders, “What in the world must it feel like to stay on in the pure abandon of this place?”

And thanks to James Nolan, we know. We know why we stay.

Book editor Susan Larson can be reached at slarson@timespicayune.com or at (504) 826-3457.

http://www.iberkshires.com/story/26782/That-s-Life-Love-Is-All-We-Have-to-Give.html
(Beautiful story. Entire article at link)
By Phyllis McGuire - April 16, 2008
iBerkshires Columnist

A misunderstood Brad needed understanding love.
I enjoyed the film “A River Runs Through It” when I saw it in a movie theater in l992 — and developed a crush on Brad Pitt.

Since then, through the magic of TV and videotapes, I have watched that film many times, not only because I “love” Pitt but because I like the moving story and the spectacular scenery as well. “A River Runs Through It” was nominated for three Academy Awards and won an Oscar for cinematography.

In the film, Pitt plays the role of Paul, a rebellious free spirit whose behavior is of great concern to his father, a Presbyterian minister. When Paul meets a violent death, his saddened-but-accepting father delivers a sermon that tugs on my heart. As I remember it, it goes:

“It is true we can seldom help those closest to us. Either we don’t know what part of ourselves to give or more often than not the part we have to give is not wanted, and so it is those we live with and should know who elude us, but we can still love them … love them completely without complete understanding.”

Those words came to mind one day when my daughter, Jennifer, and I were talking about raising children. Now that Jennifer is the mother of two teenagers and is well aware of the complexities and responsibilities innate in motherhood, we have much in common as parents.

Right Thing To Do

“Though I love you and your brother more than anyone else in the world, I did not believe in treating you in exactly the same way when you were children,” I said. It had seemed the right thing to do at the time, as they had different needs and desires.

One example of these differences revolved around clothes. My son, Christopher, three years Jennifer’s senior, was content wearing sneakers I bought in a variety store in our neighborhood. His general lack of interest in fashion, etc., worked in my favor - moneywise - as the generic brands he did not mind wearing were cheaper than famous name brands.

Whatever I saved on inexpensive apparel for Christopher, however, was spent on Jennifer, pleasing her fetish for brands popular with her peers.

But, as children are wont to do, Jennifer best remembers the time her father put his foot down and said “No” to her entreaties for a pair of jeans that cost more than three weeks’ groceries. “Guess who is not getting ‘Guess’ jeans?” he had said

Christopher and Jennifer were also unlike as far as their attitude about education. He was an eager learner and an avid reader. He always earned excellent marks, yet was never satisfied that he had studied enough for a test or had done enough research for an assignment.

http://www.makeitrightnola.org

Good Morning all. New Orleans is a special city and holds deep memories and joy. It is full of history, culture, food and music. That is why it does my rusty heart good to see Brad Pitt and others help in rebuilding this great city. Have a great day and make it a MIR day. Thanks for a great web site and your indulgence Just Jared. Peace to all.

bdj, Thanks for the articles and links this morning. Hope the day is good for you. :)

Why is her face still so thin????
Will she never be beautyful again?