Author: Ohart

Jordan Peele’s “Us,” his anticipated follow-up to “Get Out,” will make its world premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival
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The Golden Globe Awards looked like it had gone entirely back to frothy, bubbly business as usual, until Regina King did the impossible: She got the orchestra to stop playing her off. Not even Lady Gaga had that much power. 

King used her platform on stage accepting the supporting actress award for “If Beale Street Could Talk,” to shed a light on Time’s Up x 2, the second year iteration of the legal defense fund founded in the wake of the sexual misconduct revelations that shook Hollywood. 

“We understand that our microphones are big and we’re speaking for everyone,” she said before pledging that every project she produces for the next two years will have at least 50 percent of women working on it. “And I challenge anyone out there who is in in a position of power, not just in our industry, in all industries, I challenge you to … stand with us in solidarity and do the same.” 

It would be one of the rare show-stopping moments of the night. After last year’s Golden Globes were host to such a powerful display of female solidarity, in which top actresses walked the carpet in all-black alongside prominent activists in support of Time’s Up and #MeToo, this year, statements were no longer collective. They were individual.

A few actresses, Gina Rodriguez and Rachel Brosnahan among them, wore Time’s Up x 2 ribbons on the carpet; Patricia Clarkson said that her “Sharp Objects” director Jean-Marc Vallee “demanded everything of me except sex which is exactly how it should be in our industry”; Glenn Close implored women to “find personal fulfillment” and follow their dreams; Co-host Sandra Oh got emotional saying she said yes to hosting so that she could, “Look out on this audience and witness this moment of change”; And Emma Stone even shouted out an apology from the audience for playing a part-Asian character in “Aloha.”

​Sunday’s Globes could be a sign that awards shows in general are going to return to business as usual: The occasional snide political remark (Christian Bale thanking Satan for inspiration playing Dick Cheney, or positing that Mitch McConnell might be a good “uncharismatic” role to play next, adding an expletive), or showbiz joke (Oh and Andy Samberg saying in unison that “one lucky audience member will host the Oscars!”). 

Harrison Ford presented the directing award and did not, as Natalie Portman did last year, note that all the nominees were men (again). Patricia Arquette, who three years ago called for equal pay while accepting her supporting actress Oscar, kept her speech to standard HFPA, fellow nominee and producer thanks (albeit with two F-bombs). And following two years of show-stealing Cecil B. DeMille award speeches from Meryl Streep and Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bridges brought the honor back to earth with a heartfelt, nostalgic and, interestingly wide-ranging vamp about everything from Peter Bogdanovich and the Coen brothers to geodesic domes. Even Carol Burnett, as the first-ever recipient of an award named after her, stayed in the past as well, speaking about how her show would never get made today. 

As for the winners, while the choices of the 88-member Hollywood Foreign Press Association has no direct relation to the nearly 8,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a win on a stage of the Golden Globes doesn’t go unnoticed, and Oscar nomination voting began Monday. Some probably didn’t need a bounce, like Olivia Colman’s win for “The Favourite,” or “Shallow” winning best original song. Some did, like Glenn Close who upset Lady Gaga with her best actress drama win for “The Wife” and gave one of the best speeches of the night. And two divisive-for-different-reasons films got high-profile boosts winning the top film awards and key acting awards: The Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” (which won over “A Star Is Born”) and the inspired-by-a-true-story Jim Crow-era South road trip movie “Green Book.” 

“Bohemian Rhapsody” was not well-received by critics, who pointed out its factual inaccuracies and music biopic trappings, but resonated with audiences (it’s made over $743 million worldwide to date), and its awards profile is growing. “Green Book,” meanwhile, went from winning the audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival to being scrutinized for its racial politics. 

“Green Book” director Peter Farrelly also got the orchestra to back off, but, in his case it was so that he could talk about his film.

“This story gave me hope and I wanted to share that hope with you,” Farrelly said on stage. “If Don Shirley and Tony Vallelonga can find a common ground so can we.” 

Both pleased enough crowds and HFPA voters, despite the backlash, to win out over “A Star Is Born,” a film that everyone, wrongly, presumed would dominate Sunday night. 

But everyone loves an underdog, and now, it’s “A Star Is Born’s” turn to find its way back to the top.
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Veteran actor Sam Elliott imprinted his hands and feet in cement on Hollywood Boulevard on Monday, as “A Star is Born” co-stars Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper shook off Golden Globes disappointment to join in honoring the 74-year-old’s long career.

Known for his lanky physique, thick mustache and languid drawl, Elliott reflected on his life’s work and the joy of acting, telling reporters: “The people you work with, the community… and feeling like you’re doing something that makes a difference to somebody” made it all worthwhile.

“A Star is Born” may have struck out at the Golden Globes the night before, picking up just one trophy for best song, but Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper were all smiles as they came to show their support for Elliott, who plays Cooper’s elder brother in the film.

Dressed in a striking sky-blue trench coat, Gaga, 32, shared an Instagram story as she received a kiss on her forehead from Elliott.

“So excited to be here for Sam Elliott’s hand & footprint ceremony,” she wrote, adding a series of heart emojis.

The trio later shared a heart-warming embrace, as Cooper hailed the “iconic mark” Elliott had on films.

Elliott got his start with minor roles in late 60s Westerns such as “The Way West” (1967) and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” but it wasn’t until the 1980s that his career took off in a big way  in the “Mask” and “Road House.”

He received the first of his two Golden Globe nomination for TV film “Conagher,” where he played the titular role and starred alongside his wife Katharine Ross.

Elliott also has two primetime Emmy nominations, with other notable works, including “Gettysburg” and “The Big Lebowski,” and is a regular on current Netflix series “The Ranch.”

While he wasn’t nominated at the Golden Globes, industry magazine Variety reported the actor seems poised to land his first Oscar nomination for what it called his “tender performance” in “A Star is Born.”
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Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May return for a third season of their thrill-seeking motor show “The Grand Tour,” with plenty of fast cars and stunning scenery they hope will take viewers’ minds off the real world.

The Amazon program follows the presenters as they test out all sorts of cars around the world, and this season sees them travel to Colombia and Mongolia.

“There’s a refugee crisis and politics going on left, right and center,” Clarkson said in an interview. “It’s quite nice to sit down to just go ‘thank God we can just park that for five minutes and watch these three fat old imbeciles falling over and catching fire’ because that’s what entertainment supposed to do, take your mind off the horrors of everyday life.”

The series launched in 2016, re-uniting the three former presenters of the BBC’s “Top Gear,” a program Clarkson was dropped from after he attacked a production staff member.

“Driving (Formula One racing driver) Jim Clark’s Lotus 25 was an amazing experience,” Hammond said when asked about the show’s highlights.

“That, plus in Colombia getting over the biggest, tallest, most rickety bridge you’ve ever seen in your life in a massive pickup truck. It was not a highlight doing it but getting off the bridge at the other side was.”

The third season of “The Grand Tour” debuts on Jan. 18 on Amazon Prime Video, the online retailer’s subscription service.

A fourth series has already been announced.
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Former “House of Cards” star Kevin Spacey appeared in a Massachusetts court on Monday to face a criminal charge that he sexually assaulted an 18-year-old man after plying him with alcohol at a bar in Nantucket more than two years ago.

The Oscar-winning actor did not enter a plea in Nantucket District Court after being charged last month with one count of felony indecent assault and battery. Spacey has said in court papers that he plans to plead not guilty.

Dressed in a gray suit and tie, Spacey did not speak during the brief pre-trial hearing. A judge ordered him not to contact his alleged victim, whom Reuters is not identifying as a victim of sex assault.

Nantucket, a beach resort island off the Massachusetts coast that is normally quiet in early January, was packed with broadcast trucks on Monday.

The 59-year-old actor is one of dozens of men in entertainment, business and politics who have been accused of sexual misconduct since accusations against movie producer Harvey Weinstein in 2017 sparked the #MeToo movement.

Spacey became embroiled in controversy in October 2017 when actor Anthony Rapp accused him of trying to seduce him in 1986 when Rapp was 14.

Spacey apologized for inappropriate conduct with Rapp. The controversy led to Spacey, who won an Academy Award in 2000 for his role in “American Beauty,” being dropped from the Netflix television series “House of Cards” and erased from the film “All the Money in the World.”

The Nantucket allegations were first raised in November 2017 by former Boston television journalist Heather Unruh, who told reporters Spacey groped her teenage son on July 7, 2016, at the Club Car restaurant and bar, where he worked as a bus boy.

Unruh’s son told police Spacey had bought him several rounds of beer and whiskey and said at one point, “Let’s get drunk,” according to charging documents.

As they stood next to a piano, Spacey groped Unruh’s son, the bus boy told investigators. The teen told police that he sent his girlfriend a video of the incident.

If convicted, Spacey faces up to five years in prison. An attorney for the victim said he hoped to encourage other victims of sex assault to come forward.

“My client is a determined and encouraging voice for those victims not yet ready to report being sexually assaulted,” attorney Mitchell Garabedian said in an email. “My client is leading by example.”
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Golden Globes co-host Sandra Oh said she was afraid to take the job of co-hosting this year’s show with Andy Samberg, but she took it anyway. 

“I said yes to the fear of being on this stage tonight because I wanted to be here to look out at his audience and witness this moment of change,” Oh said near the top of the show as she looked at the minority nominees in attendance at the 76th annual Golden Globe Awards broadcast live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in California. 

Three films featuring African American cast members were nominated for best dramatic picture this year — “Black Klansman,” “If Beale Street Could Talk” and “Black Panther,” along with “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “A Star Is Born.” ­

“Bohemian Rhapsody” won and Rami Malek won the best dramatic award for his turn as the music group Queen’s front man Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody.” 

Oh, who was featured in this year’s blockbuster film “Crazy Rich Asians” picked up the best performance by an actress in a TV drama prize for her work on BBC America’s “Killing Eve.” 

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association hosts the Golden Globes awards, which honors the best in film and television.

A push for gender equality was also evident Sunday, especially when Regina King said upon accepting the prize for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film “If Beale Street Could Talk” said, “…in the next two years, everything that I produce, I’m making a vow … that everything that I produce is 50 percent women.” The crowd cheered and King challenged “anyone out there who is in a position of power, not just in our industry, in all industries . . do the same.” 

Christian Bale, who won the best actor in a musical or a comedy film, thanked Satan for helping him with his role as Dick Cheney in the film “Vice.”

Mahersala Ali won for his supporting role in the film “Green Book” and the film also won the best screenplay prize. 

Lady Gaga was in tears when it was announced she won for co-writing “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born.” Gaga accepted the award with co-writers Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt.

She said, “As a woman in music it is really hard to be taken serious as musician and as a songwriter.” She added that her co-writers “lifted me up, they supported me.”

The FX series “The Americans” about a pair of Russian spies hiding out as husband-and-wife travel agents in the U.S. in the 1980s won the best TV drama Golden Globe Award for its sixth and final year.

Jeff Bridges received the Globes’ honorary Cecil B. DeMille Award. In remarks about everything from Michael Cimino to Buckminster Fuller and, of course, to his ‘Big Lebowski’ character the “Dude,” Bridges compared his life to a great game of tag. “We’ve all been tagged,” said Bridges. “We’re alive.” He ended by “tagging” everyone watching. “We can turn this ship in the way we want to go, man,” said Bridges. 

A similar television achievement award was also launched this year, dubbed the Carol Burnett Award. Its first honoree was Burnett, herself. “I’m kind of really gob-smacked by this,” said Burnett. “Does this mean that I get to accept it every year?”
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For some, castlelike mansions in Los Angeles are just pretty to look at and an unattainable dream. But for designer Chris Toledo, they are an inspiration. He makes exact, yet miniature copies of these magnificent houses. They have it all — in bathrooms, electricity, fireplaces and chandeliers. One day, Toledo hopes to sell his miniature creations and earn enough to buy a real-life house of his dreams. Angelina Bagdasaryan reports from Los Angeles on this story narrated by Anna Rice.
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For the past 50 years, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington has been telling America’s story with images of people who helped shape the history and culture of the United States. It recently added 28 pictures in an effort to tell a more diverse and more complete story of U.S. society. The display features well-known people like baseball player Alex Rodriguez and former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy — and sheds light on some “hidden figures.” VOA’s Julie Taboh has more.
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There are a number of reasons why Americans like to have a live tree for their Christmas centerpiece It just smells like Christmas, they grew up with a real tree, they feel it’s better for the environment than an artificial one. And although trees can be chipped into mulch after the holiday, there are other ways to environmentally dispose of a Christmas tree that’s passed its prime. Faith Lapidus reports.
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After an official inauguration last month, Senegal finally opened the Museum of Black Civilizations to the general public this week. Ricci Shryock has more from the capital, Dakar.
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The man South Africans know as J-Z is dropping an album. But instead of fans, he’s hearing haters who are questioning why public dollars are being used to fund the project.

That’s because the talent in question is not the Jay-Z – the multi-millionaire platinum-selling producer and rapper (and, no less famously, husband of Beyonce) who is known for his inventive beats and cutting social commentary delivered in his signature, versatile flow – but South Africa’s disgraced former president, Jacob Zuma.

Officials in the municipality of eThekwini, which is near Zuma’s rural home, announced this week the 76-year-old would provide his vocal talents on a new album of apartheid-era “struggle songs,” due to drop in April. Municipal officials told VOA this would come out of the city’s $1.7 million (25,000,000 South African rand) culture budget, but stressed that Zuma, who is deeply in debt after a number of bruising court defeats, is singing for free.

 

“It’s going to be a very beautiful one, I mean, the man is very talented,” the municipality’s parks, recreation and culture chief Thembinkosi Ngcobo, who is helping produce the album, told VOA. “He can command a group of people as backers. He himself can navigate any song, and it can give a very beautiful tune. So we are looking forward, then, for him to participate in our project, which is about research on our liberation history, and also preservation of that information, and eventually disseminate it (CQ) to current and future generations.”

During his nine-year presidency, which was tainted by multiple corruption charges and long-simmering corruption scandals, Zuma was known for often bursting into song. His performance of classics like Inde Lendlela Esiyihambayo – This Road We’ve Embarked on is Long – often moved crowds to join in.

Zuma, who says he did nothing wrong, resigned in February under pressure from his party. A court ruled in December that he must pay the government back for the legal fees he incurred fighting the corruption charges.

Why Zuma?

Members of the Democratic Alliance opposition party say they’ll do everything they can to stop the album from being made. Local DA representative Zwakele Mncwango says the party doesn’t have a problem with the game, but with the player.

 

“We do support preservation of our culture and our heritage, and it must be promoted,” he said. “However, we don’t believe that public funds should be abused in supporting J-Z doing this album. We have a lot of young, up-and-coming artists in eThekwini and in South Africa, who always try to knock on different doors within government institutions and are not able to get help. Now the big question is: why Jacob Zuma is a priority?”

Ngcobo provided a snappy reply: he says the department invited talented young singers to perform the songs three years ago. They struggled to capture the songs’ gritty essence, he said. Only Zuma, who was among the original gang of anti-apartheid stalwarts along with former President Nelson Mandela, had lived the hard knock life, in exile and in prison, that gives these songs the grit they need.

“Jacob Zuma is a former exile where he risked so many things, including his life,” he said. “He also was in Robben Island for 10 years and he came back to become one of the leaders, including being the state president in government. So all of these things he was doing out of sacrifice.

He knew that he could die because of conditions they were facing. Now at this point, when we ask him to participate in this project. He agreed, he’s not going to be getting a cent out of it, because he understood it to be, again, his contribution to the heritage of the people of South Africa.”

The album, if it happens, is likely to include one of Zuma’s favorite songs, Awuleth’ Umshini Wami, or, Bring Me My Machine Gun.

 

 

 
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Michael B. Jordan, Ben Stiller and Idris Elba are among the first presenters announced for next month’s Golden Globe Awards.

Other presenters announced Thursday by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association include Catherine Zeta-Jones, Dick Van Dyke, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chrissy Metz, Felicity Huffman and Mike Myers.

Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg will host the 76th annual Golden Globe Awards that will air Sunday on NBC.

The Globes show is also adding the Carol Burnett Award, an accolade that focuses on life achievement in television. The inaugural award will go to the 85-year-old Burnett, a five-time Globes winner.

Jeff Bridges will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award, an accolade for film. The 69-year-old actor won a Globe in 2010 for his role in “Crazy Heart.”
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Iranian theatre director Hossein Parsaee calls Victor Hugo’s classic a “masterpiece without borders” but his groundbreaking production of “Les Miserables” that has hit the stage in Tehran has a few unique twists.

For a start, none of the actresses are allowed to reveal their own hair, and in case their wigs look too natural, the poster advertising the show carries a bright red notice underscoring that their locks are fake.

Nor do the actors and actresses touch hands, or have any other physical contact throughout the musical.

This is, after all, the capital of the Islamic republic, even if the blockbuster show in the luxurious Espinas Hotel feels a world away from the usual stereotypes about Iran.

The concessions to the government’s view of Islamic rules are often subtle.

There is, for instance, always at least one other voice accompanying an actress when she sings — since female solos are taboo — although spotting the second voice can be tricky.

All the other staples of a big-budget musical are here: a live orchestra, billowing dry ice and dazzling light displays.

With a cast, crew and orchestra of over 450, the production has played to sold-out 2,500-strong crowds for six nights a week since it debuted in November.

‘It was all perfect’

It was a mainly young, well-heeled crowd when AFP visited recently, and they could barely control their excitement at a rare chance to attend a musical in their home city.

“It was so much more than I expected,” gushed Maryam Taheri, a 45-year-old housewife, after the show. “The acting, the music, the lighting — it was all perfect.”

Foreign-made TV, film and cartoon versions of “Les Miserables” — a French 19th-century epic on sociopolitical tumult, crime and punishment — have been frequently shown in Iran, where the book has also been translated.

The classic work even has the stamp of approval from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has described Victor Hugo’s book as “a miracle among novels… a book of kindness, affection and love.”

The new production is being hailed as the most spectacular play yet staged in Iran, and arrives at a topical moment with the ongoing “yellow vest” protests in France.

“After 200 years you see it happening again in France,” contends businessman Mehdi Hooshyar.

“This is good, it shows whenever their society stagnates, something like this happens to move it forward,” he said. “The revolution is still alive.”

‘No Miserables allowed in’

The lavishness of the production has brought its share of criticism, however.

The play has come at a volatile moment in Iran, when anger at economic inequality and corruption dominates political debate.

Tickets, priced between 500,000 and 1.85 million rials (roughly $5 to $20, 4.4 euros to 17.5 euros), are beyond the means of most Iranians.

“No Miserables allowed in,” said a conservative daily, Javan.

Director Parsaee said connecting with Tehran’s elite was part of the point.

“This story is relevant to all times, and all places, and that includes today’s Tehran. It’s about the class divide, the social breakdown and the poverty that exists today,” he told AFP.

“It’s a reminder to the audience that other classes exist and we need to see them and know about them. It’s a serious warning.”

‘No taboos broken’

Much of the show seems to run against Iranian taboos, not least the mixed dancing and drinking in brothels and inns.

But Parsaee, who used to head the performing arts department at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, knows the red lines well.

“The review board saw the play in its entirety before we were allowed to begin our run,” he said.  

“They found it completely compatible with the rules and regulations. No taboos were broken.”

The director’s love for musicals started around a decade ago when he saw “Oliver Twist,” based on the Charles Dickens classic, in London.

“I was depressed for days, thinking why can’t we do this? I vowed to myself that I would one day make a musical in Iran.”

He did precisely that, bringing “Oliver Twist” to the stage in Tehran last year.

And now he has established a production company to train a new generation of musical directors.

“I’ve opened the door on musicals in Iran, and now, like a relay race, others must advance it to a point that there won’t be any difference between Iran and Broadway.”
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Blue was a rare, expensive color in ancient times, whether it was derived from lapis lazuli mined in Afghanistan some 6,000 years ago, made by blending copper with other elements throughout the Middle East and in ancient China, or mixing an extract of the indigo plant with clay and resin by Mayans in Mesoamerica. Now, a centuries-old tradition of dyeing blue cloth with delicate patterns in parts of eastern Europe has been recognized for its cultural importance by UNESCO. Faith Lapidus reports.
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Mexican experts have found the first temple of the Flayed Lord, a pre-Hispanic fertility god depicted as a skinned human corpse, authorities said Wednesday.

Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History said the find was made during recent excavations of Popoloca Indian ruins in the central state of Puebla.

The institute said experts found two skull-like stone carvings and a stone trunk depicting the god, Xipe Totec. It had an extra hand dangling off one arm, suggesting the god was wearing the skin of a sacrificial victim.

Priests worshipped Xipe Totec by skinning human victims and then donning their skins. The ritual was seen as a way to ensure fertility and regeneration.

The Popolocas built the temple at a complex known as Ndachjian-Tehuacan between A.D. 1000 and 1260 and were later conquered by the Aztecs.

Ancient accounts of the rituals suggested victims were killed in gladiator-style combat or by arrows on one platform, then skinned on another platform. The layout of the temple at Tehuacan seems to match that description.

Depictions of the god had been found before in other cultures, including the Aztecs, but not a whole temple.

University of Florida archaeologist Susan Gillespie, who was not involved in the project, wrote that “finding the torso fragment of a human wearing the flayed skin of a sacrificial victim in situ is perhaps the most compelling evidence of the association of this practice and related deity to a particular temple, more so to me than the two sculpted skeletal crania.”

“If the Aztec sources could be relied upon, a singular temple to this deity (whatever his name in Popoloca) does not necessarily indicate that this was the place of sacrifice,” Gillespie wrote. “The Aztec practice was to perform the sacrificial death in one or more places, but to ritually store the skins in another, after they had been worn by living humans for some days. So it could be that this is the temple where they were kept, making it all the more sacred.”
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Imagine a magical place where lights are designed in the shape of the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower and dragons. It’s a place where children can enjoy a maze made of Chinese lanterns or see death-defying acts by gymnasts. VOA’s Carolyn Presutti takes us to Light-Up…a Christmas festival near Washington designed, built, and managed by Chinese workers visiting the U.S.
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The works of 32 composers from countries affected by war and other conflicts will be featured in a concert Jan. 24 at the Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, Maryland — a suburb of Washington, D.C.

Award-winning Israeli-American pianist Yael Weiss curated the concert, “32 Bright Clouds,” which she said was inspired by 32 sonatas by famed composer Ludwig van Beethoven.

She asked the 32 composers to write new piano pieces, inspired by one of the sonatas, that reflect on a key event or figure from their respective countries.

The countries showcased include Ghana, Syria, Bhutan, the Philippines, Iran, Venezuela, Turkey, Jordan and Indonesia.

Indonesian pianist Ananda Sukarlan wrote a composition about religious intolerance based on the guilty verdict against former Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known as Ahok, who was accused of blasphemy last year.

“I connect my composition with Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’ since the governor’s name is Purnama, or moonlight in English,” Ananda told VOA. “I was so devastated when Ahok was sentenced to two years in prison after being found guilty of blasphemy. This case was a test to our religious tolerance, and I think it was the darkest moment in Indonesia history.

“The title of my composition is ‘No More Moonlight Over Jakarta,'” he said.

Ahok was put on trial in December 2016 over accusations that he insulted Islam while campaigning in the Seribu Islands near the capital of Jakarta.

During the campaign event, Ahok quoted a verse in the Quran to prove to his supporters that there were no restrictions on Muslims voting for non-Muslim politicians. His statement was edited and widely spread on social media, triggering charges of blasphemy, as well as protests and threats against him.

The previously popular Chinese-Christian governor lost the election and was later jailed. He will be released from prison on Jan. 24 — the day of the concert.

Among the other composers are Malek Jandali of Syria, whose piece, “The Hunt for Peace,” is dedicated to Syrian children, and Ghanaian composer George Mensah Essilfie, who wrote “Hope for the Shackled,” dedicated to the people who are physically chained and held at alleged faith-based camps in Ghana and are not being treated for their psychotic disorders.

The concert is also a precursor to global events that will be staged around the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth in 2020.
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Floral floats and marching bands took to the streets under a sunny California sky as the 130th Rose Parade drew hundreds of thousands of spectators on New Year’s Day and millions more watched on TV.

Among the fanciful floats was an award-winning entry from the UPS Store that featured a book-reading, ballet-practicing ostrich named Olive decked out with more than 30,000 pale pink carnations.

The annual extravaganza in Pasadena kicked off with a performance by singer Chaka Khan, the grand marshal of the parade, and featured 40 floats decorated with countless flowers and waving celebrities. The theme was “The Melody of Life.”

There was plenty of sunshine and calm breezes, with temperatures reaching about 60 degrees (16 degrees Celsius) after a chilly and windy night. Dozens of people staked out prime viewing spots on Monday and slept bundled up along the route, where overnight temperatures dipped into the 30s (about 3 degrees Celsius).

The parade was briefly interrupted when a float celebrating U.S. railroad heritage broke down and erupted in smoke. Marching bands were able to move around the Chinese American Heritage Foundation’s “Harmony Through Union” entry, but other floats couldn’t, causing a brief backup.

“We’ve had a bit of a malfunction,” Leeza Gibbons told KTLA-TV viewers. “They’re scrambling right now.”

The disabled float was eventually towed from the route, and the parade resumed. The interruption caused long gaps, and some people began leaving until a monitor came along yelling, “The parade’s not over!”

Spectators shouted, “Thank you,” to U.S. Forest Service firefighters marching behind a float with Smoky Bear and traded “alohas” with horseback riders from Hawaii.

California Polytechnic State Universities’ entry, “Far Out Frequencies,” was awarded for its use of statice, marigolds and strawflowers grown on the San Luis Obispo campus. It featured a pair of astronauts playing music to communicate with aliens they encountered on a distant planet.

Along with the many floats, the parade featured 18 equestrian groups and 21 marching bands. Among them are bands from Ohio State University and the University of Washington, whose teams will compete in Tuesday’s Rose Bowl.

Local high school senior Louise Deser Siskel was crowned the 101st Rose Queen. She wrote in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times about how she would use the platform to advocate for science education, the importance of science informing public policy and the value of inclusion.

“Personally, I am happy to be the first Rose Queen to wear glasses on the float (even though they clash with the crown), and the first Rose Queen to talk about being Jewish. I feel an additional responsibility to myself and to this tradition, to share that I am bisexual,” she wrote.

 
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The year 2018 was one of box office successes and awards of artistic recognition for black films, from Marvel Comic’s action flick Black Panther to the fact-based drama Blackkklansman.

Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther, about a fictional African king with superhero powers and his technologically advanced country, Wakanda, has received dozens of awards, including three Golden Globe nominations. The American Film Institute recognized it as one of the year’s ten best movies for its social and artistic significance celebrating African and African-American cultures.

Musing about the film’s power, producer Nate Moore told VOA, “I think that for African-American audiences there is a lot to pull from. And hopefully there is some inspiration again learning about the roots where African-Americans came from.”

Black Panther, with the first black Superhero lead actor, grossed over a billion dollars domestically and internationally, making it the third highest grossing film ever in the U.S. It has been projected as an Oscar winner. But does its critical and financial success mean that Black films are becoming a Hollywood staple?

A turning point for black films?

It may be too soon to tell, says media expert Richard Craig, an associate professor of communication at George Mason University. “I think Hollywood is processing that as the way that Hollywood processes most things, and that’s looking at the bottom line, the profit margin. If a film does well in the box office and beyond the box office — because we have the opportunity of the merchandise, spinoffs in terms of shows, field games etc. Hollywood is going to say, ‘you know what? Maybe we can do another one, maybe we can do another two.’”

As long as audiences pay to see films with minorities as leads, Hollywood will keep on making them, Craig says, but adds that the industry still has a long way to go before it is willing to invest in high-budget film franchises such as James Bond or Spiderman with black actors as leads.

He points to the newly-released animated Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse, which includes a black Spiderman. He said while he and his 12-year-old daughter enjoyed this new rendition of Spiderman, he felt a bit ambivalent about its animated form. “You are given this cartoon version of Spiderman to accept this black face as Spiderman as opposed to having a real time, real place actor.”

However, Craig says, smaller, independent black movies with a political or cultural message that feature real-live actors have a greater chance of making it to production.

Two such films this year are Spike Lee’s Blackkklansman, a dark satire based on a true story about an African-American cop infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan and If Beale Street Could Talk, a romantic drama about social injustice against blacks and incarceration of African-American men in 1970s America, by Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins.  Both films have been mentioned as Oscar contenders and share the spotlight in AFI’s list of best films of the year.

 

Room for smaller films

But small black films by lesser-known filmmakers get little promotion and financial backing. Just a few years after the beginning of the #BlackLivesMatter, musician and activist Boots Riley released his first film, Sorry to Bother You. It advocates activism against the economic exploitation of “Corporate America.”

“When art and organizing are married, then the art becomes a way for people to ruminate on what they can do and then they have a place to plug in,” Riley told VOA. “And then I think what happens is more artists are created from those movements.” He says he doubts his film would have made it to production if he relied on Hollywood to get it funded.  “Making your art is one thing and trying to get a job in what “they” [the Hollywood Industry] want to happen is another. The reason I was able to make a film like I made was because I wasn’t trying to get a job.”

He advises young filmmakers without financial backing to use digital platforms to get their films out.

It took Boots Riley four years to get his film made. But Sorry to Bother You is a success story. The film cost a little bit over three million dollars to make and has grossed over twenty million dollars.

The Hate U Give, by filmmaker George Tillman, about a police shooting of an African-American teen in a black community, also went viral, despite the fact that it had gotten little promotion. Tillman said that was because the film offered an authentic depiction of African-Americans killed by police and its message of standing up for justice resonated with audiences all over the country.

Boots Riley agrees that the overwhelmingly positive audience response towards thought-provoking African-American movies signals that black filmmakers can take charge of their narrative and film production.

“We have things to bring to the world that are not just changing the actors or changing the director,” he says, “and I think that black film can really start having its own stories.”

 
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2018 was a year of box office successes and awards of artistic recognition for black films. Marvel’s action flick “Black Panther” introduced the first black superhero lead actor and grossed over a billion dollars domestically and internationally. Other films with black leading characters also did well with audiences and critics. Do these distinctions signal that black films are finally part of the Hollywood mainstream? VOA’s Penelope Poulou has more.
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The Rose Parade has been a New Year’s Day tradition since 1890.  Every inch of every float is covered with flowers or other natural materials, such as leaves, seeds or bark. The most delicate flowers, including roses, are placed in individual vials of water, which are set into the float one by one. The parade of dozens of floats, marching bands and equestrian units is watched by thousands along the 9 kilometer route through Pasadena, California, and by millions more on TV around the world. The colorful spectacle kicks off the “Rose Bowl” – an American college football final that is also a New Year tradition. Mike O’Sullivan reports, volunteers have been working day and night on displays to prepare for the parade early Tuesday.
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An estimated 1 million people will pack New York City’s Times Square to watch the huge, brilliantly lighted, crystal ball drop to signal the start of the new year. It is an American New Year’s tradition that goes back more than a century. As VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports, lot of work goes into making sure that ball lights up the sky in spectacular fashion, exactly on time.
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Young women looking to play the world’s most-popular sport have a place all their own in Libya. An all-girls soccer academy in the capital looks to break societal norms in the Muslim majority country that frown upon women wearing shorts or competing on the same fields as men. But it is not without criticism that coaches turn constructive. Arash Arabasadi reports.
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A group of journalists will usher in the New Year Monday in New York City’s Times Square as the time-honored tradition of the annual ball drop recognizes journalism and free speech.

Leading American reporters and editors will be on stage just before midnight to push the button that begins the countdown to the New Year.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 53 journalists were killed on the job in 2018 and another 251 were imprisoned around the world.

In another first, New York police will use a drone to monitor the crowds. The camera-carrying drone will be added to the arsenal of more than 1,200 fixed video cameras that will be deployed by the police.

The security plan also includes road closures, thousands of uniformed and plainclothes officers, sharpshooters on rooftops of surrounding buildings and the sealing of manhole covers.

On Sunday, officials did a test run of the 544-kilogram ball sliding down a pole. This year’s ball will feature 2,688 crystal triangles and is backlit with LED lights capable of producing a number of colors and patterns.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday that the city expecting “up to 2 million people in Times Square itself” for the celebration.

 
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Activists urging more states to ban gay conversion therapy for minors are expecting major gains in 2019, thanks to midterm election results and the buzz generated by two well-reviewed films. 

 

Fourteen states and the District of Columbia have already enacted laws prohibiting licensed therapists from trying to change a minor’s sexual orientation. Leaders of a national campaign to ban the practice are hopeful that at least four more states — Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts and New York — will join the ranks in the upcoming legislative sessions. 

 

“We’d be disappointed if we don’t get those this year — they’re overdue,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, one of the groups campaigning to impose bans in all 50 states. 

 

The campaign has gained momentum in recent months thanks to the national release of two films dramatizing the experiences of youths who went through conversion therapy — The Miseducation of Cameron Post and the higher-profile Boy Erased starring Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe. 

Joining ‘in droves’

Sam Brinton of the Trevor Project, another of groups leading the ban campaign, said thousands of people have signed up to assist the effort since Boy Erased was released on Nov. 2. 

 

“They’re recognizing this is still a problem and joining our campaigns in droves,” said Brinton, a child of Baptist missionary parents who has written about agonizing conversion therapy sessions experienced as an adolescent in Florida. 

 

Brinton recalls being bound to a table by the therapist for applications of ice, heat and electricity. 

 

Just four days after the Boy Erased release came the midterm elections, which altered the partisan political dynamic at several statehouses and boosted prospects for conversion therapy bans.  

In three of the states now being targeted, previous efforts to enact a ban gained some bipartisan support but were thwarted by powerful Republicans. In Maine, a bill was vetoed last year by GOP Gov. Paul LePage. In New York and Colorado, bills approved in the Democratic-led lower chambers of the legislature died in the Republican-controlled state senates. 

 

In January, however, a Democrat will succeed LePage as Maine’s governor, and Democrats will have control of both legislative chambers in New York and in Colorado, where gay Gov.-elect Jared Polis is believed eager to sign a ban. 

A lead sponsor of the New York ban bill, Democratic Sen. Brad Hoylman, predicted passage would be “straightforward” now that his party controls the Senate. 

 

“For a lot of my colleagues, they consider conversion therapy to be child abuse,” he said. 

Outlook in Massachusetts

 

In Massachusetts, both legislative chambers voted last year in support of a ban but were unable to reconcile different versions of the measure before adjournment. Chances of passage in 2019 are considered strong, and Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, who was re-elected, is viewed as likely to sign such a measure given his strong support for LGBT rights. 

 

More Republican governors like Baker are getting behind the bans, reflecting activists’ belief that opposition to conversion therapy is increasingly bipartisan. 

 

Bills proposing bans are pending or anticipated in several GOP-controlled legislatures, including Florida, Ohio and Utah. LGBT activists are particularly intrigued by Utah because of the possibility that the powerful Mormon church, which in the past supported conversion therapy, might endorse a bill to ban the practice for minors. 

 

In Florida, the proposed ban faces long odds in the legislature in 2019, but activists note that about 20 Florida cities and counties have passed local bans — more than in any other state. 

 

In Ohio, supporters of a bill that would ban conversion therapy for minors realize they have an uphill fight in a legislature with GOP supermajorities.  

 

Still, Sen. Charleta Tavares, a Columbus Democrat, believes her proposal got “new legs” in November. That’s when the state board overseeing counselors, social workers, and marriage and family therapists warned the 40,000 professionals it regulates that anyone found practicing conversion therapy on LGBT patients could lose his or her license.  

 

“I am glad to see that our state boards are carrying this movement, regardless of the inaction by our General Assembly,” Tavares said.  

 

For now, LGBT activists are not seeking to ban conversion therapy for adults. A gay California legislator, Evan Low, withdrew a bill he introduced earlier this year that would have declared conversion therapy a fraudulent practice and banned commercial use of it for adults and minors. Some opponents had threatened to sue to block the bill, saying it would jeopardize free speech and free exercise of religion. 

​Model for movie

 

Low says he may try again after revising his bill. If so, his arguments could be bolstered by input from John Smid, the real-life model for the Boy Erased character who ran a coercive conversion therapy program. 

 

For years, Smid was director of Tennessee-based Love in Action, a ministry that operated such a program. Smid left the organization in 2008. He subsequently renounced the concept that sexual orientation could be changed and apologized for any harm he had caused. In 2014, he married his same-sex partner, with whom he lives in Texas. 

 

Smid recently cooperated with a law firm as it compiled a report about Love in Action for the Washington-based Mattachine Society, which studies past instances of anti-LGBT persecution. 

 

One of the report’s co-authors, Lisa Linsky, said Smid depicted Love in Action as “a complete and utter failure,” with none of its participants actually changing sexual orientation. 
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Norman Gimbel, an Oscar- and Grammy-winning lyricist, has died at the age of 91.

The prolific songwriter is perhaps best known for writing the lyrics of “Killing Me Softly With His Song” and the English lyrics for “The Girl From Ipanema.”

Gimbel, along with his collaborator Charles Fox, won the Song of the Year Grammy in 1973 for Roberta Flack’s version of “Killing Me Softly.” Years later, The Fugees scored a hit with a hip-hop version of the song.

He also penned the English lyrics for one the world’s most recorded tunes, “The Girl From Ipanema,” which won the Grammy for record of the year in 1965.

Gimbel also wrote the English lyrics for Michel Legrande’s music for the film “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” starring Catherine Deneuve.

He shared an Oscar for original song with David Shire for “It Goes Like It Goes,” from the film “Norma Rae, starring Sally Field.

Gimbel and Fox also worked together on Jim Croce’s “I Got A Name,” released the day after Croce died in a plane crash, Sept. 20, 1973.

Gimbel and Fox also shared their talents with television productions, including writing the theme songs for “Happy Days” and “LaVerne and Shirley.”

Gimbel’s son Tony told The Hollywood Reporter that his father died Dec. 19 at his home in Montecito, California.
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