South Africa: Drama Festival Supports Fight Against Crime - AllAfrica.com

Pretoria

Drama is being used as an mercantile establishment for immature people to avoid law-breaking and in turn, educate their equals about the nation's fighting against crime, Kagiso Metswamere.

Speaking during the mass media launch of the Stop Crime Play festival this week, a initiation member of Dramatists Against Crime and festival manager Jullian Mokoto said the event will be characterised by play plays, dance and performances, aimed at spreading anti-crime messages.

Thousands of immature people from across the North Occident are expected to get in Mafikeng for the festival which was established by a grouping of immature people in Gauteng and later introduced in other provinces.

Since then, it have got got been taking topographic point annually in the North West, in partnership with the provincial Department of Sport, Humanistic Discipline and Culture; the National Humanistic Discipline Council; ABSA and the Sowetan newspaper.

"We are excited to see the back up that we have because the challenge of law-breaking in our state is a immense one, therefore I believe we necessitate to work together to struggle the ailment.

"We have all agreed with those in partnership with us that we can convey the message of consciousness and be heard by immature people in a very interesting ways," he said.

Mr Mokoto said most immature people prosecute themselves in criminal activities because they are not given an accessible platform to show and put up their talent.

"We are of the position that immature people have always wanted to be engaged in what they bask to do," he said, adding that there were many talented immature person who had not had the chance to unleash their potential.

"We believe if the immature person can be given a platform to make what they love, so many lives and housebreaks can be saved," he said.

Deputy Director General of Sport, Humanistic Discipline and Culture, Multiple Sclerosis Irene Mpolweni, said the section was committed to supporting undertakings which deter immature people from participating in crime.

"We desire to back up undertakings such as as this festival which give immature people option to take portion in cultural activities rather than crime," she said.

The section have set aside more than than R600 000 to make the festival a success, however Multiple Sclerosis Mpolweni said the section was an active participant in the project.

"We make not only support the undertaking financially, we are active participants, hence we help them with our staff, include members of the police force as well as clasp meeting to better the undertaking further," she said.

Crime in South Africa is a serious challenge, therefore Multiple Sclerosis Mpolweni said, adding: "We believe that concerted attempts will really assist us to come up up with solutions."

North Occident General Director of ABSA, Leonardene Classen, said their portion of R500 000 formed part of South African business' duty to assist cut down law-breaking in the country.

"We are very concerned about the high charge per unit of law-breaking in the country; therefore we believe that extended partnership with other companies will play part in reducing crime."

The intent of ABSA's engagement in the undertaking is to spouse in growing South Africa's prosperity by contributing, through responsible citizenship, to sustainable community development, she said

Ms Classen said particularly partnerships between Non-Governmental Organisations, concerns and authorities could help unearth hidden endowments in the country.

Sowetan representative, Victor Mecoamere told BuaNews that supporting the undertaking is seen as an effectual manner of edifice the nation.

"Giving young people an chance to raise consciousness around law-breaking in their ain interesting manner will actually assist us because young people always desire to be engaged in things that they love the most," he said.

Mr Mecoamere said the Sowetan would make space in the newspaper to cover all the undertakings involving the development of the community.

Relevant Links

"At Sowetan, we are of the position that collaborative attempts will do a valuable difference to the lives of individuals, communities and to our nations," he said.

The festival will include a series of events such as as hearings of participants in cultural activities. In the process, talented young person will be identified and singled out for mentoring.

Also as portion of the programme, the police force will take a March against law-breaking on 27 March.

The Best Movies And Acting Performances Of 2007

As a major film fan I experience as if the Oscar awardings and aureate Earth awardings presentations are not accurate in recognizing the best histrions and actresses of the amusement industry, along with the best movies of each year. So I have got done a batch of research and compiled a large listing of the best movies and histrions of the twelvemonth which was two thousand and seven.

Best Movies:

1. American Gangster. A antic film, even though the inside information of the existent life events were not accurate. It was an border of the place thriller.

2. Juno. Very funny, a typical adolescent movie which travels beyond and goes a top social class movie for all audiences.

3. No Country For Old Men. Very violent which looks to be what the modern audiences want. It had a good narrative of retaliation which was antic to see. Some great playing public presentations in it as well.

Best Actors and Actresses:

1. Denzel Washington. For a great function as a major law-breaking boss, which acknowledges him as the top histrion in the human race and he have been for the past couple of years.

2. Angelina Jolie. For her function in Godhead heart. The fact that she was not even nominated shows how inaccurate the major awarding ceremonials can be.

3. Ellen Page. A antic immature up and coming actress. She is developing very quickly and played the different comedy and play parts of the movies very well. Showing a diverse function with all her natural talent.

As you can see some public presentations went unrecognised at the major awarding ceremonies. I am a spot annoyed at it, but this have been going on for years. And we are finally watching decreasing screening evaluations of the Oscar awardings ceremonials which is a long clip coming and can be blamed on these inaccuracies in the awards.

Download And Watch Free Episodes Of CSI

Crime scene probe is one of the most popular law-breaking shows of all time. It is full of turns and item when going through certain events to seek to calculate out what happened when the law-breaking was committed. The show gives a measure by measure item of how police force and law-breaking squads piece together the puzzlers to work out the homicides and happen the killers, using existent life processes similar to that of the outside world.

The public presentations by the 100s of histrions which take part in the different versions of the show give the audience the feel for what beingness a existent life investigator is when in confrontations with existent murderers. This adds emotion and pulls the audience in. Since the normal law-breaking scene probe original show was released respective old age ago other word forms of the show, such as as Miami and New House Of York have got arisen and been popular with fans across the world.

The show goes on to predominate premier clip telecasting evaluations and audience figures, which is a mark of its quality. It have fans all across the world. There have got been over nine seasons of the original versions of the show, with Miami and New House Of York also having multiple seasons of there own.

A batch of land sites offering downloads for the show, allowing you to watch episodes online. However a few land sites make not offer clear episodes and they are mediocre quality. So do certain you seek around to happen the best quality episode download, for your ain enjoyment. Respective new seasons are currently being filmed.

Movies to be shown outdoors, at the Fox this summer

With all the highly anticipated sequels hitting theaters, it's a pretty safe bet that you'll be spending time at the movies this summer. But don't forget that watching films can be about more than a comfy seat and eating popcorn. (www.gwinnettdailypost.com/index.php)

This year, don't just go to the movies - make it an experience. Whether you want to see an old favorite under the stars or revisit the glory days of Hollywood at a historic theater, you've got plenty of options.
In Duluth, the Flicks on the Bricks series brings movies outside to the town green. On June 30, "Charlotte's Web" will be shown. The series continues with "The Sword and the Stone" on Aug. 4. Flicks on the Bricks will feature "Night at the Museum" on Sept. 8. Just in time for Halloween, "Monster House" will be shown on Oct. 27.
The movie screenings are free. The town green is located in downtown Duluth. Visit www.duluth-ga.com.
In Suwanee, themed movie nights will be presented at Town Center Park this summer. Chick Flick Night will begin at 8 p.m. June 16. The Star 94 Movie Night will be held at 8 p.m. July 14. Macho Movie Night will start at 8 p.m. Aug. 11. A Halloween Movie Night will be presented at 7 p.m. Oct. 20.
Town Center Park is located at the intersection of Buford Highway and Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road in Suwanee. Movie screenings are free. Visit www.suwanee.com.

Movies in Atlanta
The annual Screen on the Green series will return to Piedmont Park in Atlanta this year. On May 31, "Casablanca" will be shown at the Piedmont Park Meadow, which is located at the corner of 10th Street and Monroe Drive in Atlanta. "Car Wash" will be featured on June 7.
Screen on the Green will continue with "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" on July 14. The series continues with "Funny Girl" on June 21. The last movie will be "E.T.," which will be presented on June 28.
Movies will begin at sunset. Admission to Screen on the Green is free. Patrons may bring picnics, coolers and blankets to the event, but should leave grills, lawn chairs and pets at home.

source:By Rachael Mason Staff Writer

Movie Review - The Apostate (1999)

This is a forgettable flick despite the formidable talents of Dennis Hopper and Richard Grieco. They know how to swim but how can they save the Titanic?

Nothing works in this movie. Story, effects, characters… it's all hackneyed, stereotypical, Devil-Meets-the-Church type of artificial conflict.

It is hard to place a finger on any one particular aspect of this film that does not work because there are so many things that do not work in tandem.

Even the music is weird -- an amalgamation of spooky Gregorian chants, some electronic scratchings and base riffs emulating heart-beats, mixed with some "Clarinet Blues" from the Balkans, etc. It's all over the place, like the plot line.

But worst of all, both Hopper and Grieco are seriously miscast. Especially watching Hopper is like watching an actor playing an actor playing a role. It is that self-conscious a performance; that on the surface and contrived. He is almost checking out his watch to see if it is time to go home.

Hopper is certainly no Hannibal Lecter in this particular film. His outbursts that were supposed to reveal some serious evil end up as the whining and protestations of a an artist bored out of his skull so he ends up butchering good looking young people right and left. All of course covered with a thin patina of "metaphysical angst" directed at Mother Mary, Jesus Himself and the Rest of The Universe.

Opposite him is the Grieco character, an artist priest… You can tell the kind of real talent Grieco has (fantastic diction, for example) but thanks to wrong directing, he ends up with an over-the-top performance that is painful to watch.

The bad guy Hopper has butchered up Grieco's male prostitute brother. So the Grieco character makes it his business to find the left-handed artist madman. It takes a frustrated artist to find another who loves to paint with blood.

I'll just stop there since I actually do not want you to commit the error of renting this DVD and watch it. Don't.

A total disappointment. 1 out of 10.

Go rent the "Exorcist" if you want to really see some scary merchandise that pits the Catholic Church against Evil. Or the "Silence of the Lambs" if you enjoy the shock of facing some truly demented and twisted characters. But not this. This is just boring.

Where Are All The Good Movies?

The sound of soda being sipped, the smell of fresh popcorn in the air, the scream or laugh the whole room has burst into, the actor saying the line he'll be remembered for his entire career and a while after it – simply put, the movies. Though we've always been fascinated by going to our local multiplex or movie theater, are we getting the same chills and thrills, twists and turns as our parents were, not 20 years ago?

I'm not sure if this is an all-out phenomenon, but I'm sure there are some people that can to me when I say the movie industry has reached a standstill concerning interesting new products. Over the years we've seen actors get shrunk, cars come to life, we've explored new corners of the galaxy and the world of women as seen through a man's eyes, so can anything still surprise us? The answer is yes, but producers are unwilling to search for our new desire, to experiment, to take a gamble and see what happens. Most things we see in movies today are inspired from other, much older movies and filtered through the director's eyes. Is this actually a Hollywood conspiracy? Do they wait long enough to suspect people have forgotten the original and then do a cheap remake? Honestly, I don't think this is the care, but it can't be far from it. They must believe the original was a flop because of the poor special effects, but the truth is, the story was its downfall.

In contrast to the previous category, another type of movies does boast an original story, but using concepts from older ones. In this category we have zombie movies, most monster movies and hey, let's admit it, even some action movies (Avp for example). Although this isn't always a bad idea (Avp again, which I found fairly satisfying), the basic concept behind the character they "borrowed" from other movies changes slightly with each new adaptation. Most directors in this category prefer to inspire themselves from the most recent production involving the myth they want to use, so their idea will stray even more from the original than the previous one has. It is sometimes nice to see a myth evolve, but enough is enough!

I will admit that making a movie isn't all too easy and coming up with an original idea is becoming increasingly difficult, but the fact remains: if it's already been done, you will never get full credit for your work. Sadly, this is what happens with most "new" productions, because they found their stories on older ones. This is why more and more people exit the movie theaters disappointed, having hoped for something better. Or maybe it isn't the movies that are changing….maybe we're just getting harder and harder to please…

Read more articles on Music and Movies.

The Real American Idol

It was obvious Jimmy McNeal was nervous as he took the stage. He announced to the three American Idol judges he was going to sing "Cupid," a 1961 classic written and recorded by Sam Cooke. As McNeal began to sing, the trio of judges displayed distinctly unique reactions. Randy Jackson stared intently in an attempt to gauge the 23-year-old Texan's talent. Paula Abdul swayed from side to side, her body language expressing approval of McNeal's performance. Only Simon Cowell seemed to notice the fact that McNeal was singing "Another Saturday Night," Sam Cooke's smash hit from1963! Cowell's face was perplexed, but he didn't interrupt. Instead, he allowed the young singer to make the smooth transition from "Another Saturday Night" into "Cupid," and by end of the two-song tribute to Cooke, the AI judges were unanimous in their decision--Jimmy McNeal was headed to Hollywood on the last Golden Ticket of Season 6.

McNeal represents one of the many aspiring singers who recognize the timeless value of Sam Cooke's music. Akron Watson's performance of Cooke's legendary "A Change Is Gonna Come" earlier in the competition helped him advance to the next round, but Watson was asked to leave the show for reasons still unclear. In Season 4, Randy Jackson called David Brown's rendition of "A Change Is Gonna Come" 'the best he's seen' in the four years of the show, and Gedeon McKinney gave a memorable performance of the song in Season 5.

But it was Taylor Hicks who took the crown in Season 5, impressing AI's judges by singing "A Change Is Gonna Come" in his audition and Cooke's "You Send Me" on a night when the theme was "Songs from the Great American Songbook." When Taylor finished You Send Me, Paula Abdul told him "Sam would be proud of you!" Rod Stewart admitted "No one sings this song like Sam Cooke--nobody--but he did a great version."

So why all the fuss about an entertainer who died over 40 years ago and whose Pop career only lasted only eight years? Perhaps Jerry Wexler, Atlantic Records' super-producer to Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles, sums it up best:

"Sam was the best singer who ever lived, no contest. When I listen to him, I still can't believe the things that he did…everything about him was perfection. A perfect case."

Ray Charles himself testified that Sam Cooke "never hit a wrong note."

The son of a Baptist preacher, Sam Cooke was raised in the church. By early 1951, less than three years after his high school graduation, Cooke found himself lead singer of the top gospel group at the time--The Soul Stirrers. His smooth tenor voice dripped honey, and his shows attracted young female fans by the dozens. Cooke was the country's biggest name in Gospel, but he ignored potential ostracism from his fan base and made the transition to popular music in 1956. He gained national prominence with the 1957 release of "You Send Me," an innovative song that combined his gospel roots with a smooth, R&B flavor. The world called the new sound "Soul."

For the next seven years Sam Cooke wrote, arranged, produced, and recorded hit songs not just for himself, but for the artists on the record labels he founded. At the peak of his popularity, his life was tragically cut short under still-mysterious circumstances on December 11, 1964.

What he left behind was a laundry list of soulful, chart-topping hits--most written by Cooke himself--and the world's desire to find another artist of his caliber. American Idol contestants are aware that "holding their own" against a Sam Cooke classic is almost a guarantee to advance to higher rounds. It seems Cooke has set the bar so high that Rod Stewart's comment "No one sings this song like Sam Cooke…but he did a great version" is not an insult, but is indeed the ultimate complement.