Bill and Melinda
Gates, Bono named Time's Persons of the Year
Time magazine's annual
Persons of the Year Issue featuring Bill Gates, left, U2 rocker Bono,
and Melinda Gates, right.
Time magazine has named Bill and Melinda Gates and
rock star Bono its "Persons of the Year," citing their charitable work
and activism aimed at reducing global poverty and improving world
health. The magazine said 2005 was a year of extraordinary charity in
which people donated record amounts in response to extreme natural
disasters, from the tsunami in South Asia to Hurricane Katrina.
"Natural disasters are terrible things, but there is a different kind
of ongoing calamity in poverty and nobody is doing a better job in
addressing it in different ways than Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono,"
said Jim Kelly, Time's managing editor. The 2005 "Person of the Year"
package hits newsstands Monday. "For being shrewd about doing good,
for rewiring politics and re-engineering justice, for making mercy
smarter and hope strategic and then daring the rest of us to follow,
Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono are Time's Persons of the Year," the
magazine said. Time praised the Gateses for building the world's
largest charity - The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has a
$29 billion US endowment - and for "giving more money away faster than
anyone ever has" in 2005. The foundation has saved at least 700,000
lives in poor countries by investing in vaccination programs, has
donated computers and Internet access to 11,000 libraries and has
sponsored the biggest scholarship fund in history, the magazine said.
Time said Bono's campaign to make rich countries address the debt of
poorer ones has had an equally impressive impact on the world. In
2005, "Bono charmed and bullied and morally blackmailed the leaders of
the world's richest countries into forgiving $40 billion in debt owed
by the poorest," the magazine said. Bono has earned a remarkable
number of political allies around the world and in Washington, where
he has courted politicians from both major parties, Time said. "Bono's
great gift is to take what has made him famous - charm, clarity of
voice, an ability to touch people in their secret heart - combine
those traits with a keen grasp of the political game and obsessive
attention to detail, and channel it all toward getting everyone, from
world leaders to music lovers, to engage with something overwhelming
in its complexity," it said. Even archconservative former senator
Jesse Helms had praise for the Irish singer. "I knew as soon as I met
Bono that he was genuine," Helms, who has allied with Bono on AIDS
awareness, told Time. Bono, who first met the Gateses in 2002 to
discuss their mutual interests, told Time that the Gates foundation is
the second enterprise for Microsoft founder Bill Gates that has
changed the world. "And the second act for Bill Gates may be the one
that history regards more," the rock star said. In a separate article
in the same edition, Time named former presidents Bill Clinton and
George H.W. Bush as "Partners of the Year" for their work on behalf of
the victims of the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. Last year, the
"Person of the Year" distinction went to President George W. Bush. In
2003, the magazine honoured "The American Soldier."-By D. Buntler
___________________________
VILLAGE TEMPLE PRESENTS ITS 1ST ANNUAL
“OFF-WASHINGTON SQUARE” INDOOR ARTS FESTIVAL
The
Village Temple of New York is hosting and presenting its
First Annual “Off-Washington Square” Indoor Arts Festival. The
Village Temple community is fortunate to include a wide range of
talented visual artists who work will on
exhibit for two weeks at the Village Temple, from February 8th
through February 22nd. This event is free of charge and
open to the public. Featured artists include:
-
Lee
Brozgol:
multi-dimensional artist whose works include the murals in the
Christopher St. Station
-
Maria DeKord:
painter and landscape artist inspired by the beauty of rural
Pennsylvania
-
Robert Jacobs:
watercolor artist and designer who is currently exploring the use
of mixed media.
-
Jeffrey Kay:
photographer working with large format cameras and old rare lens
to product unique images
-
Lisa
Kinghoffer:
symbolic artist suspending form and history, combining the
geometric with the organic
-
Susan Rosenberg
Jones: portraitist
revealing the charms of midlife glamour girls and others
This
event kicks off with an Opening Night Performance on February 8th
at 7 pm, featuring Corie Feiner,
Midrashic
Soul Poet. Poet/Performer/Educator/Nutritional Counselor
and Village Temple Religious School alumna Corie Feiner opens the
Village Temple Art Festival with a dynamic set of poems on the theme
of leaving, wandering, belonging and home. Corie’s voice is a
midrashic fusion of tradition and
renewal, weaving Hebrew rhythms and songs with her poems. The 1st
Annual “Off-Washington Square” Indoor Arts Festival is part of the
Village Temple’s ongoing Rose and Adolph Alexander Lecture, Concert
and Film Series of the Adult Education Institute. These public
events are held at The Village Temple, 33 East 12th
Street between University and Broadway as part of “The Well,” the
Adult Education Institute of The Village Temple. The series is
supported by Edward Krugman, in memory of the parents of his late
wife Paula. This is the seventh consecutive year of this series.
The
Village Temple, led by Rabbi Chava Koster and Cantor Kathy Barr, has
served the Reform Jewish community in Greenwich Village and Lower
Manhattan for almost 60 years. It blends the beauty of tradition
with the creative expression of modern Judaism, providing community
and worship experiences that are both participatory and joyful. The
Congregation is inclusive, progressive and diverse, reflecting the
community it serves. The Village Temple is committed to social
justice, supporting many community outreach activities. It has
operated a Soup Kitchen for almost 20 years that continues to serve
hot meals to over 150 people each week. The Temple sponsors a
vibrant religious school for students in grades Pre-K through high
school, exciting adult education programs, and many enjoyable social
events. For further information on this event or other Village
Temple programs, please contact Maria DeKord, 212-674-2340. Location:
The Village Temple, 33 E. 12 Street,
New York NY 10003 (Between University & Broadway). Cross Streets:
University Place and Broadway. Subway: Union Square
4, 5, 6, N, W, Q, R, L. Admission fees : Free to the general public.
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FROM NOBEL PRIZE
WINNERS, BEST RABBIS AND GREATEST MINDS TO THE WORST
POLITICIANS, SEXIEST STARS AND AMERICA’S BEST LOOKING MEN… ALL
ARE LISTED IN THE BOOK
“WORLD LIST OF BEST AND WORST”
 By
Shoshanna Rosenstein
1,740 PAGES OF
FUN AND LISTS
Photo: Cover of the Book "The World's List of Best and Worst"
which is driving people nuts!
The best and worst ideas, events, people, news and personalities
of our time. Thousands of names and hundreds of lists from the
around the world. The book is filled with captivating stories,
unbelievable hilarious facts, and personal secrets of top names
in politics, entertainment and world affairs. The author in a
bursting simplicity explains the characteristic features and
personality of Americans and people in 135 countries, and
provides a huge roster of the greatest people of our time. If
you are a list fanatic, this book is for you to grab. The author
is in a privileged position to write the book and compile all
those lists. Maximillien de Lafayette has traveled through
forty-six countries. He is fluent in seven languages, and the
author of numerous books. The lists are not totally compiled by
him. They are the results and collection of global opinions,
serious research, statistics, polls, and surveys, by socialites,
famous and infamous figures, world media and various
journalists, as well as the general public. The commentaries are
all by the author, and are fascinating, intelligent, and
humoristic. The book has just about every list you can look for.
It covers entertainment, rabbis, tele-evangelists, madams,
politics, war, art, food, restaurants, shows, literature,
unhappy wives, screwed up famous husbands, best and worst ideas,
mistakes, customs, and funny events, all mixed up with Nobel
Prize winners and the most hated and loved people in history.
The book contains zillion of lists such as: 1-List of the
world’s 100 biggest hoaxes and practical jokes. 2- List of the
300 most influential African-Americans, Hispanic Americans,
Italian Americans. 3- List of the dumbest celebrities, stars,
politicians and leaders quotes. 4- List of the dream-girls. 5-
List of the world’s best and worst places to be a mother. 6-
List of the best little pick-up joints in the world. 7-
List of 1,000 stuff, names, events, bizarre facts only very
intelligent people would know. 8-
List of the best and worst destinations for women worldwide. 9-
List of the most bizarre laws in the United States. 10- List of
the 100 people who are screwing up America. 11- List of the 50
biggest celeb scandals since 1982. 12-Politicians’ most sexually
scandalous emails. 13- List of the 100 people who matter.
 YOU
HAVE TO PAY THEM THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS TO COME TO YOUR PARTY!
Photo: Cover of Volume II of
"The Ultimate Book of World List."
This book has it all; all the lists you need. From the world’s
top 100 people, most influential persons in the United States,
the most beautiful women in America, to the best and worst
books, politicians, celebrities, music, novels, leaders, fashion
and those who are screwing up America today. What caught my eyes
are two sections; first, a survey on what Americans and people
from around the world love and hate most; second, the list of
celebrities, journalists and stars booking fees and how much you
have to pay each one of them to come to your party or to speak
in your event! Oh yes, they charge for that. In this book, you
will know how much!! The author, Maximillien de Lafayette who
wrote over 100 books, and visited so many countries gathered a
fleet of researchers to conduct a survey worldwide on the most
important, funniest and silliest things in our life. Almost one
million people were interviewed. It is so interesting to learn
about the similarities and differences that exist between people
around the globe. The survey is shocking! It covers so many
angles ranging from people who love or hate “talking during
intercourse” to “the greatest minds and inventions of our time.”
ONE
BOOK BECAME THREE BOOKS!
First, it was one volume of 740 pages: THE WORLD LIST OF
BEST AND WORST. The book is doing great. Then, the editors
began to compile more and more lists sent by fanatic readers and
unhappy lists’ buffs. People are going crazy about the book, and
readers are grabbing copies right and left. So, the publishers
decided to expand the book, and print 2 new volumes with revised
and added lists. So now we have the first print which is still
the “master file” and two new tomes: THE ULTIMATE BOOK OF
LISTS containing 1,780 pages, and the fun continues. It you
are a lists’ reader, you found your destination. These three
volumes or any of them will take your breath away and throw you
off your chair. It is so fun and so informative. So much stuff
to find and to learn from in this crazy and wonderful set. It is
like a huge encyclopedia but fun and hilarious. Don’t think for
a second it is plain gossip. On the contrary, it has lots of
depth, intelligent insight and wealth of information. The author
has a great sense of humor. Yep! That’s the book of the year,
period! Published and sold by Amazon and Times Square Press.
'West Wing' actor
John Spencer dies.
LOS ANGELES,
California- John Spencer is being remembered as a caring, giving
actor. "The West Wing'' co-star Allison Janney says Spencer was a
consummate professional and everyone adored him. The show's
creator, Aaron Sorkin, says Spencer was "an uncommonly good man,
an exceptional role model and a brilliant actor.''...full
story
Comedian Richard Pryor dead at 65...
.full
story
RALPH LAUREN
 
 Miller
to star in van Gogh film
Photo: Sienna Miller can soon by seen in the film Casanova.
Actors Sienna Miller and Steve Buscemi are
set to star in a US remake of a movie by the murdered Dutch
film-maker Theo van Gogh. Alfie star Miller, 23, will star
alongside the Fargo actor in a remake of Interview, the website of
Van Gogh's Dutch production firm said. Buscemi, 48, is directing
the film about a psychological tussle between a journalist and a
soap-opera actress. In July Mohammed Bouyeri was convicted of
shooting and stabbing van Gogh.
Film-maker Van Gogh, a strong critic of radical Islam
and a distant relative of the 19th-Century painter Vincent van
Gogh, was killed as he cycled through Amsterdam. His murder in
November 2004 stunned the Netherlands. His production company said
filming of the Interview remake was scheduled to start next month.
Two other remakes of Van Gogh films are also being planned for, it
added. The Dutch and US producers said part of the profits would
be put into a fund in his memory which supports freedom of speech
in film-making.
THE
STUNNING AND AMAZING PAULETTE ATTIE
 PAULETTE
ATTIE, (Left), the multi faceted performer and Award winning
actress, singer, and songwriter, continues to surprise us with her
new areas of endeavor. In the works is a review she wrote called
"Collaborators." It’s about composer Harold Arlen, and 4 of his
brilliant lyricists: Ira Gershwin, “Yip” Harburg, Ted Koehler and
Johnny Mercer. "Collaborators" will be directed by five time Emmy
Award winner Francesca James. A star studded cast will join
Paulette in singing the praises of these great songwriters.
Paulette personally interviewed Arlen, Harburg and Mercer on her
radio show, Paulette Attie’s Musical Playbill. She’ll be singing
at the Friars Club for a Frank Sinatra birthday tribute, produced
by TV talk show host, Bill Boggs, who did some seminal interviews
of Sinatra on TV. Paulette won the ASCAP Plus Songwriter Award,
for the 6th year in a row. She is set to record her new song,
“Star Quest,” for which she shares lyric credits with Bernard Lee.
Then there are Paulette’s numerous concert appearances and playing
the “better” half to Chris Gampell’s “worst” half in “Itch,” two
person comedy by Elyse Nass.
PAULETTE ATTIE
your fearless writer, has sung for members of the military at army
and air force bases in the U.S., and a navy base in Japan.
Paulette Attie's New Song
Stunning Diva, award-winning author, columnist, singer-songwriter,
actress, Paulette Attie recorded her song “Give It the Best Ya
Got” for the upcoming indie film,
The Drum Beats Twice.
Here’s what she had to say about the experience. “I like the theme
of the movie. It’s a crime thriller that exposes the world of good
and evil, retaliation and forgiveness. Redemption wins out at the
end of the day which, of course, appeals to me. It was a joy to
work with Paul Bailey, the film’s Music Director. He pays
attention to every aspect of what makes for good sound in a movie.
That in itself is a pleasure. I got to see why he’s tops in his
field when we recorded the tracks at his studio. He’s fast,
efficient, positive in dealing with talent, and gets the work
done. Bailey has strong feelings about what’s available today for
the buyers. Almost as if giving a prepared statement, he said,
"The music business has met its lowest common denominator and has
been that way for about a decade or more. Meanwhile, the pent up
demand by the most musically centered generation ever to hit the
planet, the Baby Boomer kids of the 60's and 70's, is at its peak.
That demand has been here all along, ignored by an industry, too
blinded by short sightedness, old paradigms, and instant
gratification. It’s time for 'New music, just like you remember
it'!" Bailey provides some of that “New music,” having contributed
the entire score for The Drum Beats Twice, other than my
song.
He has his own original take on early 70’s rock
music, the period in which the film takes place. My song is for
the flashback scene, where the leading man, a badly maimed police
officer, recalls how encouraging his father was to him when he was
a teenager. For that, I created a 40’s type song with a swinging
beat, a bit like the Andrew Sister’s “The Bugle Boy of Company B.”
To back up the strong bond between father and son, “Give It the
Best Ya Got,” includes lyrics like: “I’ll stand behind you, even
remind you, “Give It the Best Ya Got.” The Drum Beats Twice
is Producer Kenneth Del Vecchio's fourth film. For each of his
films, he has gathered an outstanding cast, and for this one,
there are several award winning players: Eileen Fulton (2004 Emmy
Lifetime Achievement Award), Justin Deas (Winner of 6 Emmys) and
Richard Barclay (Academy Award winner). Other stand outs in the
cast include Robert Clohessy (popular actor in Oz), Lisa
Peluso (of Another World and Loving) and Willie
DeMeo (Analyze That and Searching for Bobby D). The
DVD will be out soon, and hopefully the soundtrack, available on
CD, will soon follow.
 Sharon
aide promotes Munich film
Photo: Steven Spielberg's film has stirred fierce debate in
Israel.
Director Steven Spielberg has hired one of
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's key aides to market his film
Munich in the country. The film, about the killing of 11
Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games, opens in Israel next
month. Eyal Arad, who helped plan the recent Israeli withdrawal
from Gaza, has arranged a Tel Aviv screening for the widows of the
murdered sportsmen. "We are talking about a film that has
generated a lot of interest," he said.
"Naturally that sort of interest can entail some
negative reactions as well as positive reactions," he added,
calling Israel an "important market" for the film. The film has
caused controversy among former members of Israel's intelligence
community, with Avi Dichter, a retired head of the Shin Bet
intelligence service, likening the film to a children's adventure
story. "There is no comparison between what you see in the movie
and how it works in reality," he said.
 Historical accuracy: The film is based
on the 1984 book Vengeance, which is said to be based on the
confessions of an officer from the Israeli intelligence agency
Mossad who broke ranks in protest at its "aggressive tactics". It
portrays a team of hitmen torn by questions of conscience and on
the run from Palestinian gunmen. That version of events has been
rejected by historians in Israel and elsewhere. But one of the
widows who saw Spielberg's film said a lack of historical accuracy
may have worked in Spielberg's favour. Ilana Romano - whose
weightlifter husband was among those killed - said it overlooked
the 1973 incident when Mossad agents targeting a Palestinian
fugitive mistakenly killed a Moroccan waiter in Lillehammer,
Norway. "Had Spielberg wanted to harm Israel's image, he would
have included the Lillehammer affair," she said. "Don't let's
over-analyse Spielberg's film."
'Looking for Comedy in the Muslim
World' well received in Dubai, says actor
Photo:
Albert Brooks, May
19, 2003, in Los Angeles.
Albert Brooks says he wasn't
looking to bring world peace, he was doing just what his new
film's title said: Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World. At its
world premiere at the Dubai International Film Festival, Brooks
said he was concerned Abdullah bin Zaid al-Nahayan, the minister
of information of the United Arab Emirates, would lead the
audience out of the theatre. Instead, "they went crazy. I thought,
I passed the test, it's OK. The sheik is laughing; he's talking to
the guy next to him in Arabic and pointing at the screen. And no
one walked out," Brooks told The New York Times for Sunday
editions. In the film, Brooks is assigned a high-level government
mission: travel to India and Pakistan, where he's to write a
report on what makes Muslims laugh. Brooks said he chose India and
Pakistan because of the intense conflict between the countries.
"What's more important is that you're elevating this into the
green zone, where you can make fun," he said. "And now it takes
its place alongside everything else you can make fun of - politics
or Jews or bad food or anything. If that happens, then that's
really a healthy sign. That actually is something."
A few points on Woody Allen “Match
Point”
By Marion D S Dreyfus, Syndicated
Journalist
 The
theme of this film, as with "Crimes and Misdemeanors," Woody
Allen’s sumum bonum to date, is the expiation of guilt in a
forgiving, feckless or oblivious society. The protagonist Chris’
societal wife, Chloe, from a privileged class and moneyed home,
does not notice much of her lower-class-but-striving beyond her
perfunctorily satisfied needs. Chris evokes Jude Law in his icy
tracking toward the comforts of Mammon. Chloe’s brother dutifully
marries a woman he tolerates for appearances and his mother's
regard, dumping the sloe-eyed temptress-loser, Nola (French for
“not there”?—and she assuredly is not anywhere, insofar as her
modest acting talent and achievements in lasting love are
concerned). Social-climber Chris himself affectlessly abandons his
supposed sport, tennis, for the more refined sport of leveraging
his assets in other directions.
One suspects, as some indicate, that Woody is expiating his non-U
desires for these alluring younger females over the comfortable
and sanctioned matches put upon him, a way to slay the beast of
illicit connubia with those clearly wrong for many reasons. Soon
Yi seems to be a not-very-prepossessing manifestation of this
syndrome, as she seems to manifest none of the femme fatale
analogues of Scarlet or the dewy Mariel Hemingway ("Manhattan"),
but she does keep him in line.
In "Crimes and Misdemeanors," Angelica Huston starts out
self-possessed and diverting, but quickly descends into a madness
of whining and demands that Scarlet exactly parallels, though she
starts out much more erotically promising than Martin Landau's
inamorata. Johansson's talent seems to be minimal beyond a
perverse ability to daze any male nearby with her suggestive
erogenousness. The "luck" that forms so strong a role in "Match
Point," however, is that of Woody Allen, who has gotten away time
and again with glancing scripts that are as much about mockery as
they are about cynicism. In the end, invariably, the body-comfort
and money-homing device works flawlessly, and he has managed, yet
again, to abscond with the ethical right, overturning the old film
code that determined that evil not triumph in the end. He has no
trouble living an empty shell of intimacy with his unsuspecting
spouse. Even the constabulary and MI5 (substitutes for the
hounding media) seem unable to pin the dastardly tale on him.
In the event, it seems--by its mythic forgiveness and sumptuous
privilege--to be as much myth-creating as is the more honest "Narnia"
for tots and would-be children. A second moral, if you will: Man
cannot comfortably serve two mistresses without (personality)
disintegration of the male and ultimate tolerability in the
subsumed female. Interestingly, the desired illicit object, in
Woody’s cosmogeny, outwears her welcome if it is not clothed in
gold and societal privilege. Consequently, she has been killed off
physically, or virtually, in Woody's filmographic canon.
Refreshingly, this film, alone among many, does not slice off
tranches of hatred directed at his own people. So as nasty
and schadenfreude-cynical as this film appears, it does not
gratuitously stray into the usual Allenesque exurbia of casual
anti-Semitic thrusts.
That’s at least one point in his favor.
GET CONNECTED TO
THE JEWISH WORLD:
Links
to World Jewish Organizations, Communities, Services. Businesses,
Arts, Synagogues, People, Help lines & Israel Officials, Cabinet,
Government, embassies and consulates and much more...in the
NEW YORK JEWISH HERALD
http://www.newyorkjewishherald.com
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King Kong was less of a
box-office brute than Hollywood expected
Actress Naomi Watts
from the film "King Kong" at the MTV Times Square Studios, Dec. 5,
2005, New York.
King Kong was less of a box-office brute than
Hollywood expected, taking in $50.15 million in its first weekend, a
sturdy start but unremarkable by Hollywood blockbuster standards.
Universal Pictures' action spectacle about a giant ape took over the
top box-office spot from Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia: The
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which slipped to second place with
$31.2 million and lifted its 10-day total to $112.5 million.
THE FAMILY STONE
It's the season of good will, but
there's not much of it going round in yuletide comedy The Family
Stone. Diane Keaton plays the head of the clan and leads the assault
on Sarah Jessica Parker as the uptight New Yorker who threatens to
marry her son (Dermot Mulroney). Although it sounds like a
mean-spirited twist on Meet The Parents, writer/director Thomas
Bezucha swaps the slapstick for a surprisingly tender if sometimes
too cloying account of a family in upheaval.
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