Wish you hadn’t been so quick to give up violin practice as a kid? You may never get to turn back the clock, but retired engineer Seth Goldstein is showing that there’s still hope of reliving those musical ambitions through technology. He recently sh…
I’m a little emotional about same-sex couples accepting Alabama Probate Judges’ time-honored offer to newlyweds “You may kiss”. These marriages are all the sweeter because when we were married by an Alabama Probate Judge three decades ago, it was a very different world. Sorta.
Those were the days of “I now pronounced you man and wife.” Unmistakably, a man was a man whatever his marital status. Once married, a woman was reduced to her role. We’d already warned the Judge off the the “obey” thing, but he informed us that another trip to the courthouse and a formal petition — fifty bucks, please — was required for me to reclaim my own surname. It had legally vanished with “I do”. It is a privilege to see justice finally promised to another oppressed group. And what additional satisfaction it is to have a front row seat, watching seemingly immovable traditions — reserving marriage for some, refusing it to others, arbitrarily elevating some over others — dissolving before the irresistible force of a Federal Judge’s orders overturning Alabama’s law banning same-sex marriage — celebration time.
A victory of this proportion is for everyone, a lesson on a grand scale. People died for these rights. Credit especially the martyred San Francisco Board of Supervisors Harvey Milk and his profound insight: “‘Coming out’ is the most political thing you can do.” When individuals risked everything to be true to themselves, debilitating stereotypes dissolved into the faces of our family members, neighbors, friends and coworkers. Millions shared the honor when Mr. Milk was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 2009. Our world is improving because people were brave.
Would that the heroic reporter Dudley Clendinen had lived to see this turn of events. His Out for Good, which we explored with him in 1999, remains an important report on harsh realities still endured by too many homosexuals in the world and in America. The particulars of people’s private lives continue to elicit sensational and hate-filled reactions. Still.
Not surprising is the recalcitrance of the “Ten Commandments” Alabama Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court Roy Moore. Nor is this appalling defiance of the Federal Judge’s direct order out of character. In 2003, his own colleagues removed him from office for defying the law. What does it say for the voting majority in Alabama, that In 2012 they returned him to the same position?
I am amazed that half the judges in the State defied their Chief Justice. Perhaps they realized his argument is “so 1832”, dating back as it does to South Carolinian John C. Calhoun’s (and later the Confederacy’s) notion of “nullification“. Maybe those law-abiding Probate Judges didn’t want to be counted among the more recent neo-nullification gang: Orval Faubus, George Wallace, Lester Maddox and now, notably, the list includes the former Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee (who’s also voiced suspicions about dancing).
Whatever their motivation, it’s a breath of fresh air that so many Alabama Probate Judges obeyed the Federal court order and married whomever chose that august and demanding path. This is all the more noteworthy given their Chief Justice’s recalcitrance, which carries the distinctive stench of oppression still lingering across America from white supremacists imposing equally noxious restrictions based on race as well as gender.
The rule of law defines civilization and underpins America’s precious (and precarious) democratic experiment. A less privileged individual would go to jail for the kind of defiance we are witnessing. A senior judge flagrantly breaking the law with apparent impunity is a sad spectacle, even in long-benighted Alabama.
Ultimately, justice will win out in a just polity. Still, it should not be necessary to overcome the willful injustice of atavistic elements of our judicial system.
Can you imagine having an instructor who peers over your shoulder all the time while you practice, say, cooking or coding? Awkwaaard. But if that’s the only way you can force yourself to learn something, then this device called Grasp was made for you…
I had been keeping an open mind on Jeb Bush.
I mean, sure, as Florida governor, he helped his brother snatch the 2000 election.
The Turkish Army launched a military operation into Syria late Saturday to evacuate the Tomb of Suleyman Shah, which has been besieged by Islamic State militants since last year, Turkish news media reported.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — State television is reporting that Turkey has launched a military operation to evacuate troops guarding a tomb in Syria.
Turkey’s state-run TRT television broadcaster reported early Sunday that Turkey launched the operation overnight to evacuate troops guarding an Ottoman tomb in Syria, just over the border near the town of Kobani.
Kobani was the focus of U.S. airstrikes as Kurdish forces battled militants of the Islamic State group, who hold about a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in their self-declared caliphate. Turkey stayed out of the battle at the time, which saw Kurds push out the extremists.
Some 40 Turkish tombs guard the tomb of Suleyman Shah, the grandfather of the Ottoman Empire’s founder. The tomb sits in Syria’s embattled Aleppo province and is considered Turkish territory.
Oscar winners always thank God, right?
Wrong.
The stars who win big at the Oscars aren’t looking to heaven during their acceptance speeches — they’re looking at Steven Spielberg.
The renowned American film director is thanked more often during Oscars acceptance speeches than the Good Lord Almighty himself, Vocativ reports.
With the 87th Academy Awards slated to air on Sunday, Vocativ mined through 1,396 acceptance speeches currently archived on Academy’s website to measure who got the most “Thank Yous” from winners.
Spielberg came in at number one, with 42 mentions, followed by Harvey Weinstein, James Cameron, George Lucas, Peter Jackson. God came in at number six, with just 19 mentions.
It should be noted that a number of acceptance speeches from the earliest years of the awards haven’t yet been added to the Academy’s acceptance speech database. As a result, Vocativ’s survey isn’t conclusive.
Still, it seems the dream-come-true moment inspires many winners to give thanks to forces greater than themselves. Here are a few of the celebrities who gave God a thumbs up during their time in the spotlight.
Winner: Haing S. Ngor
Year: 1984 (57th) Academy Awards
Category: Actor in a Supporting Role
Film Title: The Killing Fields
Presenter: Linda Hunt
Date & Venue: March 25, 1985; Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
This unbelievable, but so is my entire life. . . And I thank God Buddah that tonight I’m even here. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Winner: Prince
Year: 1984 (57th) Academy Awards
Category: Music (Original Song Score)
Film Title: Purple Rain
Presenter: Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner
Date & Venue: March 25, 1985; Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
This is very unbelievable. I could’ve never imagined this in my wildest dreams. And I would like to thank the Academy . . . and most of all, God. Thank you very much.
Winner: To Richard Williams for the animation direction of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.”
Year: 1988 (61st) Academy Awards
Category: Special Achievement Award
Film Title: Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Presenter: Robin Williams, Charles Fleischer
Date & Venue: March 29, 1989; Shrine Civic Auditorium
Thank you very much, members of the Academy and Carl Bell. I have to thank, first, Steven Spielberg for having the enormous prestige to mid-wife the whole thing and get all those different, competing cartoons in the same movie. Then to Jeffrey Katzenberg, who kept his cool under tremendous duress, and thank God or I wouldn’t be here tonight.
Winner: Tom Hanks
Year: 1993 (66th) Academy Awards
Category: Actor in a Leading Role
Film Title: Philadelphia
Presenter: Emma Thompson
Date & Venue: March 21, 1994; Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
I know that my work in this case is magnified by the fact that the streets of heaven are too crowded with angels. We know their names. They number a thousand for each one of the red ribbons that we wear here tonight. They finally rest in the warm embrace of the gracious creator of us all. A healing embrace that cools their fevers, that clears their skin, and allows their eyes to see the simple, self-evident, common sense truth that is made manifest by the benevolent creator of us all and was written down on paper by wise men, tolerant men, in the city of Philadelphia two hundred years ago. God bless you all. God have mercy on us all. And God bless America.
Winner: Mel Gibson
Year: 1995 (68th) Academy Awards
Category: Directing
Film Title: Braveheart
Presenter: Robert Zemeckis
Date & Venue: March 25, 1996; Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
I’d like to thank the Academy first of all. . . And God, for indulging me in this tiny moment.
Winner: Cuba Gooding, Jr.
Year: 1996 (69th) Academy Awards
Category: Actor in a Supporting Role
Film Title: Jerry Maguire
Presenter: Mira Sorvino
Date & Venue: March 24, 1997; Shrine Auditorium & Expo Center
God, I love you. Hallelujah. Thank you, Father God, for putting me through what you put me through, but I’m here and I’m happy.
Winner: Denzel Washington
Year: 2001 (74th) Academy Awards
Category: Actor in a Leading Role
Film Title: Training Day
Presenter: Julia Roberts
Date & Venue: March 24, 2002; Kodak Theatre
Oh, God is good. God is great. God is great. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you all.
Winner: Adrien Brody
Year: 2002 (75th) Academy Awards
Category: Actor in a Leading Role
Film Title: The Pianist
Presenter: Halle Berry
Date & Venue: March 23, 2003; Kodak Theatre
This is, you know, it fills me with great joy, but I am also filled with a lot of sadness tonight because I’m accepting an award at such a strange time. And, you know, my experiences in making this film made me very aware of the sadness and the dehumanization of people at times of war, and the repercussions of war. And whomever you believe in, if it’s God or Allah, may He watch over you. And let’s pray for a peaceful and swift resolution.
Winner: Conrad L. Hall (accepted by his son, Conrad W. Hall)
Year: 2002 (75th) Academy Awards
Category: Cinematography
Film Title: Road to Perdition
Presenter: Julia Roberts
Date & Venue: March 23, 2003; Kodak Theatre
[Ed. note: Mr. Conrad L. Hall passed away in January of 2003.]
It’s been said that God gives each and every one of us the gift of life and what we do with that life is our gift back to Him. I can’t think of a better gift than my father. Dad, wherever you are, you will be gone but you’ll never be forgotten. Thank you.
Winner: Forest Whitaker
Year: 2006 (79th) Academy Awards
Category: Actor in a Leading Role
Film Title: The Last King of Scotland
Presenter: Reese Witherspoon
Date & Venue: February 25, 2007; Kodak Theatre
I want to thank my mom and my dad; I want to thank my wife Keisha, my children, my ancestors who continue to guide my steps, and God, God who believes in us all and who’s given me this moment in this lifetime that I will hopefully carry to the end of my lifetime into the next lifetime. Thank you.
Winner: Jennifer Hudson
Year: 2006 (79th) Academy Awards
Category: Actress in a Supporting Role
Film Title: Dreamgirls
Presenter: George Clooney
Date & Venue: February 25, 2007; Kodak Theatre
Oh my God. I have to just take this moment in. I cannot believe this. Look what God can do. . . Wow. Oh my God. Unbelievable cast. I’d like to thank the Academy. Definitely have to thank God, I guess, again. I can’t believe this. Wow, I don’t know what to say but I thank you all for helping me keep the faith even when I didn’t believe. Thank you and God bless you all.
Winner: A.R. Rahman
Year: 2008 (81st) Academy Awards
Category: Music (Original Score)
Film Title: Slumdog Millionaire
Presenter: Zac Efron, Alicia Keys
Date & Venue: February 22, 2009; Kodak Theatre
I want to tell something in Tamil, which says, which I normally say after every award, which is: Ella puhazhum iraivanukke. “God is great.” Thank you.
Winner: Written by Dustin Lance Black
Year: 2008 (81st) Academy Awards
Category: Writing (Original Screenplay)
Film Title: Milk
Presenter: Steve Martin, Tina Fey
Date & Venue: February 22, 2009; Kodak Theatre
When I was thirteen years old, my beautiful mother and my father moved me from a conservative Mormon home in San Antonio, Texas, to California, and I heard the story of Harvey Milk. And it gave me hope. It gave me the hope to live my life. It gave me the hope one day I could live my life openly as who I am and that maybe even I could even fall in love and one day get married. I wanna, I wanna thank my mom, who has always loved me for who I am even when there was pressure not to. But most of all, if Harvey had not been taken from us thirty years ago, I think he’d want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told that they are less than by their churches or by the government or by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value and that no matter what anyone tells you God does love you, and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights, federally, across this great nation of ours. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you,God, for giving us Harvey Milk.
Winner: Oprah Winfrey
Year: 2011 (84th) Academy Awards
Category: Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
Presenter: Lawrence Gordon, John Travolta, Maria Shriver, Ayanna Hall
Date & Venue: November 12, 2011; The Governors Awards (Grand Ballroom, Hollywood & Highland Center)
The first line of the book [The Color Purple] is, “Dear God, I’m fourteen years old…” And I had lived that life and couldn’t imagine that someone was able to put into words what I had already experienced. And so began this journey that I was able to really understand that God’s hand, or power greater than myself, “the forces,” as Sidney Poitier calls them, were engaged in leading my life to a plane and a level that I had not even imagined. But I released myself to those forces, and literally said inside myself, “Thy will be done.”
Winner: Matthew McConaughey
Year: 2013 (86th) Academy Awards
Category: Actor in a Leading Role
Film Title: Dallas Buyers Club
Presenter: Jennifer Lawrence
Date & Venue: March 2, 2014; Dolby Theatre
First off, I want to thank God, ’cause that’s who I look up to. He has graced my life with opportunities that I know are not of my hand or any other human hand. He has shown me that it’s a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates. In the words of the late Charlie Laughton, who said, “When you’ve got God, you’ve got a friend. And that friend is you.”
Winner: Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen and Caitrin Rogers (Janet Friesen accepted for her husband; accompanied on stage by film subject Darlene Love)
Year: 2013 (86th) Academy Awards
Category: Documentary (Feature)
Film Title: 20 Feet from Stardom
Presenter: Bradley Cooper
Date & Venue: March 2, 2014; Dolby Theatre
Darlene Love: Lord God, I praise you and I am so happy to be here representing the ladies of “20 Feet from Stardom.” [Sings:] “I sing because I’m happy. I sing because I’m free. ‘Cause His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me.” Alton, I love you.
Los Angeles’ one-time dream of giving every student an iPad (or any device, for that matter) just got dashed. The city’s school district superintendent, Ramon Cortines, tells the press that he doesn’t believe LA “can afford” gadgets for each student….
Religion is everywhere on the map these days, fiercely debated, cajoled, maligned, and blessed. But if you wanted to pick an institution that would forge new approaches in this sensitive field, the World Bank would scarcely come to mind. In friendly quarters it is seen as rather staid with a bent to statistics and economic jargon. Its critics portray it as inextricably allied with the one percent that represents world wealth and power. Spiritual scarcely comes to mind as an appropriate adjective and neither does openness to far-ranging partnerships.
But last Wednesday (February 18) the World Bank’s president, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, spent the day with a pretty diverse group of religious actors. “I need you”, he said, laying out his commitment to ending poverty by 2030 (thus setting a fixed date), and pursuing shared prosperity.
Dr. Kim navigates religious topics and communities comfortably. His great grandfather, he said, was one of the first Christians in Korea, and he comes from a history of five generations of Christians. He also brings a heritage of contest, as the family’s embrace of Christianity was seen by some as a betrayal of their Confucian heritage. Working in Peru on Tuberculosis and in Haiti to build health care systems in abominable circumstances, he knew the Catholic presence as a major force for good and for mobilization. Liberation theology and above all the core concept of a preferential option for the poor are, he said, vital, live ideas that continues to inspire him.
Dr. Kim finds in the World Bank a similar passion for fighting poverty. And what that points to is a movement that can, quite literally, move and change prospects for the world. Two antecedents were mentioned again and again during the discussion were the Jubilee 2000 movement that transformed discussions about poor country debt, reframing it as a moral issue, and the global mobilization, religious and non-religious, that transformed debates and action around the HIV and AIDS pandemic.
Wednesday’s discussion was a breath of life for me personally. Since then-World Bank president Jim Wolfensohn enlisted me in 1999 to work on building bridges between the vast worlds of development and religion, I have constantly faced two questions: from skeptical World Bank types (and plenty of others), why should we give any credence and priority to religious views? And, responding to faith-inspired actors, why had the World Bank engaged and then abruptly disengaged from its efforts to reach out to faith actors? Dr. Kim’s initiative represents an important and unambiguous recognition that the development faith partnership is not just relevant but central, and it affirms the longstanding, core idea that these are the two communities that truly and deeply share a commitment to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable.
But it’s complicated and the complications spilled out, politely and often obliquely, but nonetheless unmistakably during Wednesday’s discussion.
The World Bank has a deep devotion to getting at the data. With evidence it will change policies but without evidence it is unlikely to budge. The language it employs is not always prophetic: the poverty elasticity of growth? Economics is pretty firmly entrenched as a discipline and an approach and does not always jibe readily with theology or even a reality grounded experience on the ground. Technical questions are truly complicated: energy choices (coal versus hydropower? Subsidies or not?) do not lend themselves to simple solutions. And there are many players, with very different views.
What emerged was a suggestion that the two communities hold each other accountable. And Dr. Kim made the plea, to “work with us”. Dr. Kim told the tale of Saul Alinsky and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Laying out the challenges ahead for social justice, FDR turned to Alinsky and said: “make me do it.”
Two questions illustrate some of the undercurrents. Some of the faith leaders seem uneasy at even a mention of human rights, including the rights of women. LGBT rights got barely a passing mention. And some argued for more focus on groups, as opposed to individuals. Is that primarily about hearing and communicating voices of the most vulnerable through associations that give voice to the vulnerable? Or is something else at work.
The point is that these are not easy issues. What’s involved is not just a “coalition of the caring”. One person noted starkly that we confront an unbelievable tidal wave of violence and extremism that amounts to barbarism. Why, we need to ask, are societies so vulnerable? Religion is part of the solution but also part of the problem.
But there are two central visions that are grounded in an inspirational reality. We know now that, for the first time in history, an end to poverty IS an achievable dream. And ending poverty is thus a moral imperative.
Next steps? That remains to be seen. The coming months will see much discussion about confronting violent extremism and about sustainable development goals. The allies that came together at the World Bank are part of those discussions. Dr. Kim recommitted the World Bank to a continuing engagement with leaders from faith communities, in the form of a council of advisors and other mechanisms. Specific efforts to break down the real if often elusive barriers to partnership were promised.
What inspired me was a rather realistic balancing of hope and prophecy and a grounded appreciation that complex realities are involved, first at the political and intellectual levels, and second, where it matters most, with the myriad communities where poverty and sharing are not abstractions but a daily challenge.
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — A day before it may soar at the Oscars, “Birdman” spread its wings at the 30th Independent Film Spirit Awards, winning best picture, best actor for Michael Keaton and best cinematography.
The elegantly stitched together backstage comedy came away the big winner at the annual pre-Oscars afternoon celebration of independent film on Saturday. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s “Birdman” won over what many consider its stiffest competition, the 12-years-in-the-making “Boyhood,” though that film’s maker, Richard Linklater, still took the directing honor.
As Hollywood has increasingly devoted itself to global blockbusters, the Spirit Awards — once a casual indie appetizer to the Oscars — feels more and more like the center of the industry, or at least a more idealized version of it. Set in a beachside tent in Santa Monica the day before the Academy Awards are held across town, the Spirits — broadcast live this year for the first time — variously boasted of growing prominence and of preserving a way of moviemaking often regarded as obsolete at the studios.
“We are threatened to become a species in extinction,” said Inarritu, the Mexican filmmaker, accepting the best feature award.
But the blur between the Spirit Award and the Oscars, despite their vastly different dress codes, is nearly complete. Last year’s acting Spirit winners all mirrored the next day’s Oscar winners, and “12 Years a Slave” triumphed at both ceremonies.
The same could be true this year, where Oscar front-runners Julianne Moore (“Still Alice”), J.K. Simmons (“Whiplash”) and Patricia Arquette (“Boyhood”) all won Spirit Awards. (Notably absent, however, was possible best-actor winner Eddie Redmayne from “The Theory of Everything,” a movie that wasn’t eligible.)
Backstage, Redmayne’s chief rival, Keaton, basked in the final glow of a lengthy awards season.
“I’ll be in the fetal position, bawling, three months from now, missing it,” said an exuberant Keaton. Before “Birdman,” the 63-year-old veteran actor had never been nominated for an Oscar.
But even if the Spirit Awards can feel more and more like an Academy Awards dress rehearsal, they still seek to highlight films that often struggle to get made or to find distribution.
“We made this movie in 23 days for $4 million,” said Moore of the Alzheimer’s disease drama “Still Alice.”
“I brought my own bras, and my own food. I begged my friend Alec Baldwin to do it,” she said.
“Nightcrawler,” the dark Los Angeles noir, won two Spirit Awards: best first feature for Dan Gilroy, as well as best screenplay for his script.
Gilroy, who recalled years of writing screenplays to bigger-budget films that never got made, tersely applauded those in attendance as “holdouts of a tsunami of superhero movies that have swept over this industry. We have survived. We have thrived.”
The line the Spirit Awards straddle wasn’t always so clear. Hosts Fred Armisen and Kristen Bell opened the ceremony with a medley, with Armisen singing, “I’m a little bit indie,” and Bell echoing “I’m a little bit studio.” The biggest gasp in the audience came when Paul Thomas Anderson, who shared in the Spirits’ Robert Altman Award for the ensemble cast of his “Inherent Vice,” dared to criticize a sponsor, cursing American Airlines for losing his bags.
Later, director Bennett Miller, whose “Foxcatcher” won the Special Distinction Award for its uniqueness of vision, read a note from a remorseful Anderson: “I said some bad things. I feel bad. I was trying to exhibit my independent spirit. I thought if I wore a flannel shirt and said a bad word, you would love me more. My apologies to American Airlines. It was actually United.”
But the theme of commerce versus art held throughout the Spirit Awards, where winners lamented thinner checks but took pride in more soulful films. When “Boyhood” star Ethan Hawke accepted the best director award for an absent Linklater, he called the film “a flare gun” to inspire other radical visions.
“What Rick always said: it’s the Wild West out there. This art form is so young,” Hawke said. “There are so many stories to be told and it’s going to be told not by corporate America but by you.”
One of the awards’ most moving speeches came from Justin Simien, who won best first screenplay for his “Dear White People” script, a satirical comedy about black students at an Ivy League college.
“I started writing this 10 years ago because I didn’t see myself in the culture,” said Simien. “If you don’t see yourself in the culture, please put yourself there because we need you.”
The awards are put on by Film Independent, a group of filmmakers, industry professionals and movie buffs, who generally select films made with a budget of $20 million or less.
The Edward Snowden documentary “Citizenfour” took best documentary. The black-and-white Polish drama “Ida” took best foreign film. Naturally, both are also the front-runners in Sunday’s Oscars.
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Online:
http://www.spiritawards.com
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
