Archive for the ‘Entertainment’ Category

Jimmy Cliff Live From Celebrate Brooklyn

Posted on May 18, 2012 05:04:55 AM

Hear the legendary reggae artist play nearly 50 years of hits during an outdoor concert in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Bandshell.

Photo exhibition reveals the spirit of old Mexico

Posted on May 14, 2012 08:03:34 PM

Dubai A rare collection of photographs taken in Mexico by Italian photographer Tina Modotti during the 1920s has been opened to the public at the Dar Ibn Al Haytham for Visual Arts Centre in Al Bastakiya.

The Mexican Ambassador to the UAE, Francisco Alonso, along with officials from the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority inaugurated the exhibition on Tuesday.

Called ‘Tina Modotti: Una Nueva Mirada (A New Look),’ the exhibition features 26 photographs depicting post-revolution Mexico in the 1920s. The exhibition, which will run until May 20, is part of a world tour and will next be featured in Turkey before heading for Europe. "The Mexican government promotes [our] culture all over the world. We try to make a lot of cultural activities in order for people to see the Mexican culture even in the emirates," Alonso told Gulf News.

These government-owned photographs of Modotti provide a pictorial critique of the wide gap between the rich and the poor in Mexico at that time. Her subjects ranged from women, the labour class, to symbols of the revolution.

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Brave Sir Robin Ran Away, But The Puzzle Is Still OK

Posted on May 13, 2012 05:04:02 PM

Story By: by Will Shortz

On-Air Challenge: You’ll be given a series of categories. For each one, name something in the category beginning with each of the letters of the word “robin.” For example, given the category “two-syllable boys’ names,” the answers could be “Roger,” “Omar,” “Barry,” “Isaac” and “Neville.”

Last Week’s Challenge: Name the capital of a country that, when said out loud, sounds like a three-word phrase. This phrase might describe the reason why the police did not catch a barefoot thief. What is the capital, and what is the reason?

Answer: The capital is Port-au-Prince, and the reason is “poor toe prints.”

Winner: Jeanne Grace of Fairport, N.Y.

Next Week’s Challenge from listener Gary Witkin of Newark, Del.: Using only the six letters of the name “Bronte,” repeating them as often as necessary, spell a familiar six-word phrase. What is it?

Submit Your Answer

If you know the answer to next week’s challenge, submit it here. Listeners who submit correct answers win a chance to play the on-air puzzle. Important: Include a phone number where we can reach you Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern.

Glee star confirms show departure

Posted on May 13, 2012 02:03:58 AM

Glee actress Amber Riley has revealed she is leaving the hit US show at the end of the current series.

The 26-year-old, who plays Mercedes Jones on the musical comedy, tweeted: "That's a wrap on Amber Riley! Just closed a chapter in my life."

Riley is one of a number of characters due to graduate from the fictional McKinley High later this month.

However the show's creators hinted it did not necessarily mean the characters would leave the show.

The actress is the first of the main cast, who have been on the show for three series, to confirm their departure.

"I'm going to miss the whole Glee family, seeing them everyday!" Riley wrote.

"I have so many brothers and sisters now. But I am looking forward to a much needed and deserved summer vacation! School's Out Glee Kids! Let's play!"

Co-star Dianna Agron, who plays Quinn Fabray, also suggested her own time on the show was ending too.

She tweeted: "I don't know all that is to come, but I know what a day like this means. Four years of love, light and support.

To the cast, crew and creators and to all of you that have shown your love along the way. We just can't thank you enough."

A fourth series of the show is due to be broadcast next year.

Girl in Justin Bieber video in damage control mode

Posted on May 12, 2012 11:03:58 PM

When it comes to Justin Bieber’s fans it’s not unusual for things to get ugly. Especially where ‘other women’ are concerned. Remember the death threats sent to Kim Kardashian?

Luckily, a very Belieber-savvy Rachel Barnes – the gorgeous chick who Bieber can’t keep his hands off of in the new video for latest single Boyfriend – damage control was the first thing on her mind.

Married woman Barnes wasted no time telling TMZ.com her role as his super-hot love interest in the video and the chemistry between the two was “only for work.”

The actress streesed she’s NOT a threat adding she’s “already got a man”.

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Blasts From The Past: The Art Of Video Games

Posted on May 7, 2012 05:01:36 PM

Story By: by NPR Staff

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Remember These Video Games?

The Art Of Video Games Trailer

Hopper, Hockney, Lichtenstein. Among these great artists featured in the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., you’ll now find Lara Croft and Earthworm Jim.

The Art of Video Games is a trip through time and pixelated space. It’s been 40 years that we’ve been blasting, jumping and scoring with just a twitch of our thumbs. Along the way, we’ve left a wake of lushly designed worlds teeming with colorful characters and obsessively detailed scenes.

Weekend Edition Sunday guest host David Greene tours the exhibit with curator Chris Melissinos, and asks just what makes video games art?

Dostana 2 is naughty and wicked by nature

Posted on Apr 29, 2012 11:01:32 AM

Director Tarun Mansukhani has reportedly decided on the plot and finally Dostana 2 is set to roll in the middle of the year. The film is said to be more naughty and wicked, and John Abraham says he can’t wait to get cosy with Abhishek Bachchan on screen again.

"Yes, Tarun Mansukhani has finally got the plot in place. And we’re all set. I maintain Abhishek is my best screen-jodi. And I can’t wait to get cosy with him on screen," said Abraham.

The sequel to the successful 2008 comedy will play on the original’s theme far more aggressively.

The sequel won’t go anywhere near beaches and bikini babes either. "The Californian seaside setting of Dostana took care of all the water-related activities. No beaches and, sorry, no John in dangerously low-waist swimming trunks. The cracks, if any, would show elsewhere," said a source.

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Indonesian film may help revive local martial art

Posted on Apr 26, 2012 05:03:52 PM

JAKARTA (Reuters) – An Indonesian martial arts film with fast fight sequences has smashed domestic box office records and become the first Indonesian flick to break into the U.S. box office, also winning acclaim at international film festivals.

Now the movie’s director hopes the film’s success will breathe new life into Pencak Silat, the Indonesian martial art it showcases – and one whose followers are dwindling at home.

“The Raid: Redemption” was released worldwide on March 28 and reached number 11 in the U.S. box office at the start of April, drawing an audience of more than 2 million. At home, it has drawn an audience of more than 1 million, a spectacular amount for the local movie industry.

“It’s a film that can help promote the idea of people knowing Silat all around the world,” said Gareth Evans, a filmmaker from Wales who wrote and directed the movie after falling in love with Pencak Silat several years ago.

“So if through this film there are audience members in the U.S., UK or France, or anywhere else in the world, that suddenly start to learn more about Silat, or people that want to learn to actually be able to perform Silat, then we’ve done our job.”

Pencak Silat has more than 150 variations in style across Indonesia, utilizing hand and foot movements. Evans said he was impressed by the beauty of how Silat athletes move into an attack, as well as the brutality behind it, but its popularity has diminished among younger Indonesians.

The movie, called simply “The Raid” in Indonesia, tells the story of an Indonesian SWAT team sent to capture a crime lord who lives and works in a multi-storey tower block.

It stars Pencak Silat master and former champion Iko Uwais as a police chief and Yayah Ruhiyan, who has served as an international Pencak Silat referee, as a criminal mastermind. The two co-choreographed fight scenes.

Shot in three months with a budget of a million dollars, the movie garnered rave reviews from international critics, including a Midnight Madness award at the Toronto Film Festival, and was showcased at the Sundance Film Festival as well as in Spain, Italy and Dublin.

Critics praised the film for its non-stop action and meticulous choreography, though Evans said he and producer Ario Sagantoro had done nothing innovative and used the same style as Hong Kong action movies from the 1980s. Some 90 percent of the movie was shot indoors.

“That was the only rule, that we wanted to make a film that we wanted to watch. So we weren’t thinking ‘Oh well, maybe we could do this at the box office, or maybe we can sell to this country and this country,’” Evans said.

“We knew we had to sell internationally, but we had no idea how we would perform, we had no idea how people would respond. Everything that has happened since Toronto has been a bonus.”

Evans started directing Asian movies before he left his home country, making “Samurai Monogatari” in 2003 as a film school project. He came to know Pencak Silat while shooting a documentary five years ago.

He and Sagantoro have also made “Merantau,” which was popular locally before going to international film festivals.

A graphic novel version of “The Raid” has been launched to capitalize on its popularity, and a second installment is currently in development. It will showcase Pencak Silat again, but in a bigger and more ambitious scale by taking the story to the streets to “blow up Jakarta,” said producer Sagantoro.

Fans in Indonesia approved of the movie, which was picked up by Sony Pictures after its original release for local theatres.

“I like the action and the story. This is good for the film industry in Indonesia,” said 15-year-old Caca Anisa. “I am proud of it.”

(Writing by Elaine Lies; editing by Paul Casciato)

Sameera Reddy: Actresses can’t be friends

Posted on Apr 24, 2012 02:01:44 PM

Asked if there were any cat fights on the set of Tezz, Reddy said: "Nothing like that happened.

"I keep to myself a lot and I don’t get over-friendly. I don’t believe two actresses can be best friends. It’s an absolute myth. I will never say anybody is my friend! But we are absolutely good to each other."

In Tezz, directed by Priyadarshan, Reddy tried her hand at action. She says the genre is scary.

"Action is not easy. It is scary and has been a real challenge. On the last day of the shooting, when I fell and got hurt, I didn’t tell my parents. I tried to keep quiet and not tell anyone, but everything came up in the media and my parents were like, ‘Please don’t do this,’" she said.

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Italian Critics Don’t ‘Love’ Allen’s Roman Holiday

Posted on Apr 24, 2012 11:01:44 AM

Story By: by Sylvia Poggioli

Woody Allen at the Italian-language premiere of To Rome With Love, in Rome, April 13.

After shooting in London, Barcelona and Paris, Woody Allen made his latest European backdrop Rome. To Rome With Love opens Friday in Italy — in Italian.

The movie is a magnificent postcard of the eternal city — a carefree romp along cobblestone streets nestled between ancient ruins and Renaissance palaces. A soft yellow glow pervades every scene. It projects an image of the sweet life with all the charms under the Italian sun, set to the tune of old standbys like “Volare” and “Arrivederci Roma.”

Allen has said he grew up watching Italian cinema and was influenced by its grand masters. While there’s nothing neorealist in his latest movie, it has an echo of Fellini’s The White Sheik, and Penelope Cruz’s performance in one segment calls to mind Sofia Loren’s high-end call girl in Vittorio de Sica’s Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

The movie is made up of four separate vignettes about love swaps, mistaken identities and the cult of celebrity. One features Woody Allen himself playing a retired, neurotic opera director who tries to make a star out of a man who can sing Pavarotti-quality opera, but only in his shower.

Woody Allen: Blending Real Life With Fiction

In another episode, Alec Baldwin plays a famous architect vacationing in Rome, reminiscing about his youth in the city. Along the way, he meets a young American student, played by Jesse Eisenberg, who is love-struck by Ellen Page, playing a narcissistic young actress.

Italy’s Oscar-winning comedian Roberto Benigni plays a Mister Nobody who suddenly and mysteriously becomes a celebrity. He’s hounded by paparazzi and TV crews, and courted by glamorous women. Just as suddenly, he returns to being Mister Nobody — but seems deranged by his loss of visibility. It’s a reference, perhaps, to the power of television in the country where a media tycoon like Silvio Berlusconi can become prime minister.

The Italian critics had no love for To Rome With Love. Woody Allen is a cult figure here, but reviews of his newest movie were lukewarm — nowhere near the charm, critics said, of last year’s Midnight in Paris. Critics called the movie superficial, banal and full of stereotypes, and said it lacks the irony and scathing satire present in most Italian postwar cinema.

Several complained that Allen’s Rome is the one foreigners have in their mind’s eye even before setting foot here. And it’s a vision filtered through the prism of the 1 percent — the characters lodge in grandiose baroque-style rooms in five-star hotels and enjoy grand vistas from terraces the average Roman can only dream about.

Paolo d’Agostini of La Repubblica quipped, “Can you imagine a Roman traffic cop living in an apartment overlooking the Spanish Steps?”

To Rome With Love opens in the U.S. — in English — in June.