WATER BABIES AS CELEBRITIES OF US ALL
1 bilion people in the world don’t have access to clean drinking water. Yet we are made up of 63% H2O as people. I think true celebrity is about whose moving water flows in the world. It’s as simple as something like that.
Nicole Richie is one of the brightest stars that does all year round. She’s our girl. Click on pic to learn more about what we can do through initiatives like Global Water.
To make clean water flow in dry places where it needs to be the most, let’s do it. Thanks. Love you all.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 12.23.10~
12 OTHER BLOGGERS VOICES – 12.13.10
[Photograph of the Day - Adbusters recreate a United Colors of Beneton Ad via Saskschools Deconstructing Ads Blog]
Horiwood.Com is a WordPress blog, just one of many from bloggers all around the world. Here’s 12 voices (see numbers) who blog and what they are thinking, sensing, sharing or expressing. I like their voices, as they don’t make me feel like a freak because they blog daily too and their opinions are much more thought-through conceptually than most of our stuff I post daily. Respec! Information sharing is all the rage in this day and age. We are what we share, sorta. Hopefully the better stuff–more so than the sketchy stuff.
Some hot potato political topics and world news stories rating in America of interest can be spotted peppered throughout too. Enjoy:
1. My Sister-In-Law is ruining the Economy
Richard Holbrooke Remains In Critical Condition
2. Truancy will kill your dog by Tori Nelson
Armed man takes 15 children hostage at French nursery
3. I’m sick of experts by Laura’s Looking Glass
Report: Netanyahu Does Not Want To Share Jerusalem
4. Transitioning to an Economy of Reuse by T.Caine
“Black Swan” leads Critics’ Choice award nominees
5. Writer’s Reality Check by Kristen Lamb
Suicide Bomb Kills 6 NATO Troops In Afghanistan
6. Christmastime by The Mija Chronicales
A Secretive Banking Elite Rules Trading in Derivatives
7. Reading Resources for Photographers by Kathleen Frank
No Jobs? Young Graduates Make Their Own
8. The Success of the Scientific Method by Katie Bowell
Boehner Talk Skin Tone, Obama and Cries on Camera
9. 2 Bite Pumpkin Pies by LaurelG1
Murdered Alabama children were tortured: documents
10. Metrodome roof collapses; NFL game moved
China’s Army of Graduates Struggles for Jobs
11. Patio Planter Project by Britney Anne
Thomas L. Friedman: Reality Check
12. Controversial comments taken out of context: Foreign Minister Yeo
To give the gift of clean water, click on this face if you care as much for people who don’t have clean drinking water daily just as much as Liu Xiabo was not able to attend his own Nobel Peace Prize Awards concerts celebrations. Human rights is in our hands. Give. Believe. Love.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 12.13.10~
VIRGINIA BOOTLEGGERS MOVIE, NICK CAVE, TOM HARDY AND SHIA LABEOUF
Boys. Guns. Trade. ‘Money.’ Moonshine.–exciting or an expensive hang over to humanity, already?
This movie is going to be a hit. Original Gangster’s Offensive Guard rhetoric, from Franklin Virginia. Especially for the little people of America and pub swilling UK too. Relevant as the UK and America think military.
The Wettest County in The World is a screenplay written by Nick Cave based on the book penned by Matt Bondurant.
The film stars Tom Hardy of Inception and Shia LaBeouf of Transformers and Indiana Jones fame.
Wettest is based on the story of Bondurant’s own family in Franklin County Virginia during the prohibition years.
“Based on the true story of Matt’s grandad and two granduncles, The Wettest County in the World is a gripping tale of brotherhood, greed, and murder.
The Bondurant Boys were a notorious gang of roughnecks and moonshiners who ran liquor through Franklin County, Virginia, during Prohibition and in the years after. Forrest, the eldest brother, is fierce, mythically indestructible, and the consummate businessman; Howard, the middle brother, is an ox of a man besieged by the horrors he witnessed in the Great War; and Jack, the youngest, has a taste for luxury and a dream to get out of Franklin. Driven and haunted, these men forge a business, fall in love, and struggle to stay afloat as they watch their family die, their father’s business fail, and the world they know crumble beneath the Depression and drought.
“White mule, white lightning, firewater, popskull, wild cat, stump whiskey, or rotgut — whatever you called it, Franklin County was awash in moonshine in the 1920s. When Sherwood Anderson, the journalist and author of Winesburg, Ohio, was covering a story there, he christened it the “wettest county in the world.” In the twilight of his career, Anderson finds himself driving along dusty red roads trying to find the Bondurant brothers, piece together the clues linking them to “The Great Franklin County Moonshine Conspiracy,” and break open the silence that shrouds Franklin County.
“In vivid, muscular prose, Matt Bondurant brings these men — their dark deeds, their long silences, their deep desires — to life. His understanding of the passion, violence, and desperation at the center of this world is both heartbreaking and magnificent.”
If you read Matt’s comments here about his grandfather, he speaks of a man who had a gun rack and brass knucklebusters hanging on the wall beneath them. I always thought guns were useful for hunting food on the prairie. To use them on people, should be the last and final resort. However, Matt’s seductive prose has many sucked in to his violence masquerading as noteworthy American culture. The power of words, and a tough bitten sound in this day and age.”
Tough Bitten–good words.
[Music, Moonshine by Savage feat Akon/ Pics via Pop Suga]
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 12.8.10~
26 CONSONANTS AS SYMBOLS THAT DEFINE MEANING, AND GOOGLE’S POWER OBSESSION TO OWN THE WAY THEY ARE USED
A consonant’s single power to define, reorder meaning in a collective of consonants–and who owns their arrangement in “words” that form “meaning” to create “laws” that protect and privilege certain people over others, in “books” or corporate or government “notes” and leaked “documents”– is the top trend in the world today–this week. It’s all about information sharing of consonants and written symbols today as collected via computer technology–and who has a right to “distribute” these consonants arrangement on a data file or printed page (being digitalized) to fellow human beings, supposedly deeply affected by these “words” and “consonants” arrangement and ordering of expression.
Are letters (written consonants/ symbols of a few people) more important than the lives of the majority of people?
Do we worship the iconography of our own words and their protection more so than lives being lost every second?
Do consonants really determine Freedom? Or, is freedom shared in the spirit of brotherhood worldwide — bigger and more spiritual than written consonants alone devoid of human bodies, flesh, blood, melanin and bone and breath–transcending the limitations of just the letter of the law? I think the true essence and meaning of Liberty is. Living words are always so much more what we all serve. Or should. Not death words or death systems words for the majority of people on the planet.
Which is why I think a war of data distribution “ownership” and “protection of certain peoples words over another’s” or “exclusion of some peoples words from finding other peoples eyes and ears too” is a little silly.
It reeks of entitlement of a few–and that’s an archaic model that isn’t serving the majority of peoples interests in the world today in many political systems. The world is changing –keep UP!
I was thinking that with the Wikileaks scandal, with Google’s scanning of every Victorian book ever printed in the 19th Century, and also every book ever printed–that the world is getting a little bit obsessed about owning the 26 consonants of the English language, how they have been used in history, how they are being arranged today–and what meaning these 26 letters can create.
So for all of the power freaks in the world, who want to own all words ever written and printed (with 26 letters of the English alphabet), want to control their distribution, and definitive ‘scientific’ arrangement and meaning–my suggestion is, that perhaps: a) you dropped out of school too young, b) you always wanted to be a writer but never had the talent c) your sibling got more alphabet soup in their plate than you did–because this ‘control obsession’ with data ownership based on ownership of words and symbols of letters is getting a bit ridiculous.
You see, true creativity is a symbol of endless power that is not stuck, static or frozen. Meaning is created by such people that is relevant in any era we all live in.
True creative people create new words all the time, that can never be controlled. Once upon a time, Beyonce in the group Destiny’s Child coined the term “bootylicious” to express an African American form of sexiness in order to bring awareness to her difference and to create space for her peoples’ unique representation in the world. It was a ridiculous word, yet the people decided it wasn’t. The word became a no. 1 hit pop song and is now entered into and included into the English dictionary of globally understood meaning.
[Images from Google Books, home page today, top banner visuals as at 12.5.10]. FYI, I haven’t read one of these books and never once felt the need to. We have amazing authors in New Zealand like Janet Frame and Patricia Grace–all of whose books I haven’t read yet–before these lads writing books would get a look in, to my reading glasses. However, this is who google touts what we should all be reading today. Wow!]
GLOWING HUMOR – JOHN KEY ON WIKILEAKS LEADERS ‘REVIEWS’ SCANDAL
[Image: Book cover, La llave de la luz (Key of Light) by author Nora Roberts on sale at Target]
Reports the New Zealand Herald: “United States diplomats described Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as “feckless, vain and ineffective” and North Korea’s Kim Jong-Il as a “flabby old chap” but New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key is sure their description of him will be “glowing.”
Of course!
[Image: Glowing Key via Quick Step]
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 11.30.10~
RANDOM HOUSE ANNOUNCES THAT DECISION POINTS, GEORGE W. BUSH’S MEMOIRS BOOK HAS SOLD 1.1 MILLION COPIES
There are no perfect people, or perfect leaders. We all learn through living, through loss, through experience.
I’ve always maintained that after the George W. Bush presidency, that no one really understood (including George for much of that), in terms of its effect on the economy– everyone in America should really be given a copy of this book where George W. reflects on what he could have done better. That’s if they wanted it, as a debrief –to his politics.
However, here in America, one’s therapy, you have to pay for. It is a capitalist nation after all. Today there’s some good news for George W. Bush ‘author.’
NEW YORK (AP) — George W. Bush‘s memoirs book, Decision Points has sold more than 1.1 million copies. It was released Nov. 9 and 135,000 copies were sold as e-books.
Bill Clinton‘s My Life and two President Obama books, The Audacity of Hope and Dreams from My Father, have also sold at least a million copies.
Because many people are grieving right now the loss of so many things and I’m from a nation that’s in national mourning right now over 29 lost coal miners lives in New Zealand, here’s also Patrick Swayze and Lisa Niemi‘s compelling and inspiring book The Time of My Life–that deals with grief and the grief process to offer hope along with George W’s book.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 11.24.10~
THE HORIWOOD TOP TEN – MON 11.22.10 -PART II
She’s like Mel Gibson. People love her and hate her. Two views on the rather racist Sarah Palin. Her book cover and Barbara Bush‘s thoughts on her (again).
Hi Team. Here’s your top ten most voted celebrity and entertainment news posts on Horiwood.Com here in Hollywood for Monday 22nd November 2010. Special thanks to friends at this time, for making blogging in Hollywood enjoyable and possible. Love you all worldwide. In tough times, smile more, give more, be more real. Share more. Love more. Here’s our top ten.
1. Polynesian-Kiwi kool – Prestige Dance Group win at World Supremacy Battlegrounds
2. Only human: Robotic technology in New Zealand needs development funding
3. Eli Broad & Peter Adamson are California hot for Oprah Winfrey
4. Matthew McConaughey‘s cowboy hat in New Orleans
5. Artist: Miss Tessa - Nov pics – via Christchurch – are smoldering hot, naturally
6. Ian Somerhandler & Nina Dobrev love starring in a vampire show
8. Pics: Angelina Jolie & children
9. Johnny Depp as a Forbes pin up boy 2010
10. Levi Johnston ‘s Playgirl cover mock up
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 11.22.10~
TONY DANZA YELLS AT A PRIEST AT A FUNERAL
Call my sense of humor warped today but I found this really funny. The headline Tony Danza Yells At a Priest At a Funeral. Why that’s funny, I don’t know. But it just appealed to me today because it’s so ridiculous.
The Huffington Post reports that on Nov. 11, actor Tony Danza was apparently very tense at the ceremony memorializing writer Philip Carlo.
Right smack in the middle of Carlo’s eulogy, a disgruntled Danza allegedly flipped his wig on the residing priest at the Peter C. La Bella Funeral Home in Brooklyn New York, a witness told the New York Post.
“Tony, who was one of Carlo’s closest friends, walked right up to the priest and said angrily, ‘Excuse me, but this is not about you. It’s supposed to be about my friend, and if you can’t do that, maybe you should let someone else speak!’” the source claimed.
Apparently Tony took over. OOC.
Carlo died of Lou Gehrig’s disease on Nov. 8 at age 61. As an author, Carlo had a rather dark sense of humor when choosing his subjects of verbage and authorship. For example, his bestselling biographies of mobsters and killers, including Richard “The Night Stalker” Ramirez and Richard “The Iceman” Kuklinski.
Charming, needless to say Carlo was a best seller. Although a tad bit eccentric, Tony Danza does sound like a good friend.
[Image via Contact Music]
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 11.19.10~
BATMAN IS A BIG RENA OWEN FAN AND MAORI CINEMA IN 3D – HOLLYWOOD – 10.31.10
I got totally owned by Batman this year, for Halloween, who wanted to say “Hola to the Maori people of New Zealand.”
Adds “The Batman Named Jose” playing an American super hero: “I’m a big fan of Rena Owen in the film Once Were Warriors. Awesome film. Made us all cry. You guys are the hot sh*t.”
Alrighty then, go Rena!!! Inspiring Hispanic-Americans like few Kiwi’s can. Demonstrating staying power, that in Maori films with Maori actors a market still exists and is strong, years after good ‘Maori’ Kiwi films have been made. That’s the power of one Maori woman actor giving an outstanding performance.
Like Niki Caro proves when speaking Maori, working with iwi (Maori tribes) and adapting and directing a filmic story by a great storyteller, Ta Witi Ihimaera you don’t have to be Maori to serve Maori stories with a stellar Oscar-nominated Maori cast to an audience the world loves.
Likewise, Ainsley Gardiner, Taika Cohen and Cliff Curtis also demonstrate these traits as producers/ directors of the Berlin Silver Bear award winning film, Boy. Following in their footsteps is The Auckland University schooled and Scorsese and Spike Lee (at Tisch NYC) trained Reina Webster currently working on her first feature film I hear.
I don’t know why, but when I hear about Reina’s news in Hollywood and listen to Jose talk with enthusiasm about Maori film, I know that we have a Hobbit industry, a 3D Hollywood ancillary sister-city industry for Hollywood’s biggest earning films of all time and a Maori film industry beating like a strong pulse for the world. It’s humbling and yet invigorating to feel at the same time, while I stand on Hollywood concrete–in The City of Angels (The city of messengers with a message) that is known far and wide as being The Entertainment Capitol of The World. Go Maori and Polynesian filmmakers, I reckon!
Batman agrees.
In celebration of Neil Hamilton‘s legacy in Hollywood (the dude who played Commisioner Gordon in the Batman TV series of the 1960′s), this one’s also going out to H-Town - Hamilton, New Zealand with H-Town brothers Katchafire‘s new reggae song, showcasing the wonders of animated hori pop culture moments.
Wherever these lads play around the world, clouds of Marijuana rise above their audiences. Why is that? They have the Bob Marley star factor as reggae rocks stars down pat. I imagine that Katchafire will be mega busy in California this year. Shikes if Proposition 19 goes through at the ballot, they could live in California for half of every year, and just play major Hollywood events. Now how can we get a Katcahfire song onto a movie soundtrack. I can’t believe no one in New Zealand or Hollywood has done that yet, with Prop 19 having had millions thrown in to campaign for it. Heck, the Facebook movie guys (funding Prop 19′s campaign largely) would have had Katchafire in their film’s soundtrack lineup, had they heard of these lads.
Like, they’d be perfect for something like The Hangover 2 for example, if you watch one’s American politics on the Bill Maher Show.
Enjoy our reggae brothas Maori music featured here.
If you don’t like reggae, all good, here’s my choice of cinema today too of a piece of entertainment worth watching, depicting the beauty of Maori-Kiwi humor, with the Oscar-nominated short film, Two Cars, One Night–a Kiwi classic short. Beneath the skin color, it’s actually a small town, Country Music values story, really.
It’s very clear, Maori have gifts as filmmakers that heal human rights rifts in the world. That’s what our presence in the film making world is capable of. It’s what we do with Spirit. Every Maori knows we do. No point pretending anymore we don’t have the gifts our ancestors gave us, to get this job done in the world, to make it a more fair place. Hopefully in 3D too soon. We (and our New Zealand and Hollywood film texts) are box office stars too. Are you ready for US? Hope so.
[Thanks Jose & to a star that burns bright in the minds of Hispanic-America and Mexico (people living in two nations who share a gulf containing oil) --for a legacy that's still memorable on celluloid for everyone. Thanks Rena for giving a performance that lingers in hearts and minds and burns so bright, like a star does, still today in our consciousness.]
[This post for Aunty Robin Cheung of Kawerau country, Bay of Plenty --now of West Auckland, who says she prays for me every day. Thanks Aunty Robin for your love and thoughtfulness. "You fly!" May I do your prayers justice in this Maori-Kiwi life I was given to serve others, for our lives to be good and "to matter" to "people that matter who need us to matter." Thank you].
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 10.31.10~
FATIMA BHUTTO GIVES A FASCINATING ACCOUNT OF A PAKISTANI FATHER’S POLITICAL LEGACY
“I always wanted to be a writer,” she said. “I used to write short stories, and my father would act as if I’d split the atom.”
The price of politics for some families is staggering.
Fatima Bhutto: Photos (Left: Fatima Bhutto. Credit: Benjamin Loyseau. Right: Fatima writes: “Papa and I in Geneva. He had broken his arm and I insisted on being fitted with a cast too, which I wore until his came off.”)
Reports the LA Times: “The Bhuttos, a South Asian dynasty that has fueled Pakistani politics for decades. They are the subject of Fatima’s Songs of Blood and Sword: A Daughter’s Memoir published this month.
It is a political family that has borne the burden of power: Fatima’s grandfather, founder of the Pakistan People’s Party, was hanged. Her uncle was poisoned in France. Her father Murtaza— a political activist — was gunned down by police. And in December 2007 her aunt Benazir, the first woman to serve as prime minister in an Islamic country, was assassinated by extremists after a campaign rally in Rawalpindi.
The author documents her family’s history in her memoir, which is both violent and romantic and that excavates the small things about their lives. The book is a historical walk through her late father’s life and it’s also a family history, showing how her surname and the country are tied together … how the family has been part of the turbulence of a country conflicted.”
With so many family members slain, this author must have amazing forgiveness capacities. Sounds like a good read.
Quotes: “We are a nuclear armed state,” she laments in her memoir, “that cannot run refrigerators.”
“I still think of it as where I belong. Where I want to be,” she said. “It’s a frightening place though. It’s a place I associate with a lot of love and a lot of fear.” She paraphrases Rumi, saying: “Even though I wander, my compass always points toward home.”
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 10.24.10~
HOWARD JACOBSON’S ‘THE FINKLER QUESTION’ WINS MAN BOOKER PRIZE
The Finkler Question tells the story of Julian Treslove, an ordinary former BBC producer who meets an old philosopher friend, Sam Finkler, and their former teacher, Libor Sevcik, for dinner one night in London. Walking home, Mr. Treslove is robbed, an incident that sets him on a quest for self-discovery, wisdom and the knowledge of what it means to be Jewish.
It was intriguing enough for Howard Jacobson to win the Man Booker Prize, Britain’s most prestigious literary award, on Tuesday night. The book deals with anti-semitism.
Addressing the audience, Jacobson said: “There is a fear of comedy in the novel today — when did you last see the word ‘funny’ on the jacket of a serious novel? — that no one who loves the form should contemplate with pleasure,” he wrote. “We have created a false division between laughter and thought, between comedy and seriousness, between the exhilaration that the great novels offer when they are at their funniest, and whatever else it is we now think we want from literature.”
And one of the people drinking the free champagne at the event, namely Edward Docx said: “It is also beautifully written with that sophisticated and near invisible skill of the authentic writer.”
The other titles that did make the short list were: “In a Strange Room,” by Damon Galgut; “The Long Song,” by Andrea Levy; “Room,” by Emma Donoghue; and “Parrot and Olivier in America,” by Peter Carey.
[Words - mostly New York Times, Julie Bosman. Image - Channel 4]
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 10.12.10~
ASHTON AND DEMI TWEET MATCHING ROSE COLORED SPECTACLES OF LOVE IN TEL AVIV
Ashton Kutcher said to reporters in Tel Aviv:
“A lot of times my wife and I sit across from each other and tweet, it’s a little bizarre. It’s the same reason why you send roses to a woman at work. Sometimes people like to be adored in public.”
Romeo & Juliet of the twittersphere look great in their matching Jonathan Franzen spectacles in Tel Aviv Israel as they tweet this pic to the world.
To buy a modern love story set in Tel Aviv by author Robert Ellis, click here to buy. Cover artwork Rosa Meditativa by Salvador Dali.
Book Synopsis:
PERUVIAN-BORN MARIO VARGAS LLOSA WINS THE 2010 NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE
Peruvian-born Mario Vargas Llosa wins the 2010 Nobel Prize for literature, making him the first Latin American to do so since 1990.
He chronicled ‘power struggles’ of oppressed peoples. Says John Freeman editor of Granta to the Los Angeles Times, ‘”He had a very vigorous public life, which often obscures the fact that he is first and foremost a restless stylist. He’s worked as a satirist; he’s written parodies, political thrillers; he’s moved from a fairly earnest modern style to a very lucid, clear style. … I think it’s the hallmark of a writer who is endlessly searching for new ways to depict the refraction of history in life.”‘ A fascinating writer and man.
This post going up for Q’orianka Kilcher and peoples of Peru. Q’ori is Hollywood’s preiminent Young Hollywood actress and advocate for Peru and Hollywood’s voice of the Indigenous People of the Amazons.
Congrats Mr Llosa. Video footage, of the Nobel Peace Prize boards selection can be viewed at The Washington Post’s website. And Llosa’s back story, of personal romantic life, reads like a novel all on its own. Go here to read that too.
In The Storyteller: “This book takes us into the Peruvian jungles, where the Machiguengas tribe battles to retain its peaceful heritage against ruthless rubber barons. His books often employ stories within the story, and here this is beautifully achieved by telling the story of the tribe’s fight for survival interspersed with the tribes’ myths told by the Hablador — or storyteller. It celebrates the act of telling stories and is an ecological call to arms.”
[Image of Mario, courtesy of Susana Vera of Reuters. Q'orianka Kilcher's image, her own. To see what Q'ori's up to, go here to Q on Q-Initiative. Always interesting. A fine human rights advocate, just like Mario of Peru.]
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 10.7.10~
COURAGE TO LOVE PEACE IN A RHYTHM NATION
Today, tennis playing author, Robert Ellis had a book signing event at Borders in Westwood, according to Westside Today.
A report on the event, coming soon, as updates arrive. And if Peace is a song, it’s also a dance all can enter into in a rhythm nation.
Here’s some retro Janet Jackson as a reminder to the fact.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 10.2.10~
OPRAH AND J.K ROWLING’S CHIN WAG EPISODE
Reports PopWatch: “How does an average person like J.K Rowling who came from humble beginnings — single mother on the dole, writing in cafés — go on to create something so huge? The big news — or almost news — from her Oprah interview filmed in Scotland that aired today, is that Rowling is definitely open to writing “an eighth, ninth, tenth” Potter novel, though she quickly followed up by saying, “I feel I’m done, but you never know.” A slight quote to hang your hat on, but it’s a measure of the influence she commands that even the barest hope of future Potter novels could set the publishing and movie worlds a-tizzy.”
See what other celebrity sites, have to say about both of these inspiring ladies too. Here’s a few links:
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 10.1.10~
OPRAH’S INTERVIEW WITH J.K ROWLING, AIRS FRIDAY OCT 1
Scotland was home to Oprah Winfrey for a day, when she jetted in to interview J.K Rowling in Rowling’s Edinburgh home. The tea and cake setting in the background is very countryside quaint. How civilized of J.K.
The interview is said to be one of Oprah’s most fascinating interviews yet. And with Oprah including Jonathan Franzen‘s Freedom book into her book club list too, it’s clear that her book club is now worth more to Winfrey than the Oprah Show as she gets set to take the club with her to California and her new start next year on OWN network.
Will you be watching this interview?
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 9.25.10~
TO THE END OF THE LAND – DAVID GROSSMAN’S NEW BOOK
In David Grossman’s somber, haunting novel of love and loyalty in time of conflict, set in Israel between 1967 and 2000, two friends are deeply involved with the same woman. This is the theme of To The End of The Land, Mr Grossman’s new novel. The idea of writing a book, to save lives, is one that fuels many a writer’s hopes. With this book, same thing.
Writes New York Times, Colm Toibin, ‘In the introduction to his 2003 collection of journalism, “Death as a Way of Life,” the Israeli novelist David Grossman wrote: “The daily reality in which I live surpasses anything I could imagine, and it seeps into my deepest parts.” In a note at the conclusion of his somber, haunting new novel, “To the End of the Land,” he explains that he began writing it in May 2003 — around the same time he wrote that introduction, six months before the end of his older son’s military service and a year and a half before his younger son, Uri, enlisted. “At the time,” he writes, “I had the feeling — or rather, a wish — that the book I was writing would protect him.”
In the introduction to his 2003 collection of journalism, “Death as a Way of Life,” the Israeli novelist David Grossman wrote: “The daily reality in which I live surpasses anything I could imagine, and it seeps into my deepest parts.”
This a compelling tale of loss and fear.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 9.25.10~
ANGELINA, AGATHA CHRISTIE, TECH TALK AND TEXT ETIQUETTE – 9.15.10
Jon Voight loves seeing pictures of his family in tabloids. He doesn’t read the storylines about them though. Go here to read. Image of Angelina Jolie, Zahara Jolie-Pitt and Shiloh courtesy of Michael K.Thnx.
Have you ever had days, where you need to warm up to the job you don’t have. The job is subjective, it only exists in your head, even though you’ve been working at it for 20 months.
If the coffee isn’t kicking it like it should be (it’s a recession) everything’s being watered down to save a penny, then what I like to do is surf other bloggers thoughts, as a warm up, to … well… my other imaginary subjective job as a Hollywood blogger. Here’s what’s cooking in the blogging community today, outside of Hollywood.
1. Agatha Christie fans talk life under the suspense-filled literary guillotine, growing up reading agatha Christis Books. Like: Death on the Nile, The Hollow, Dead Man’s Folly, Gosh, The Mysterious Affair at Styles and Elephants Can Remember. This comment best sums up the Christie fans thoughts:
“I LOVE the Marple series with it’s view of gossipy village life and churning currents of intrigue, murder, incest and betrayal simmering beneath the surface. I adore them.” She was born 120 years ago. Woah. Things were slightly kinky back then.
2. Txt etiquette: K. vs. K.thx–Emoting read as more characters in a text.
3. She’s not your mother. She’s your wife–a blogger’s view on relationships
4. Larry David vs. Vacuum Packaging–cf. Katy Perry‘s C.G video
5. Blendtec CEO Tom Dickson creates a viral video. 134.2 million views
6. Joel Salatin and Steve Miller find out it can be illegal to grow your own meat and vegetables.
7. Fungai Neni talks the farcical fun you can have as a Facebook lover
8. Vitamin inebriation. The highs of overdosing on fish oil, calcium tablets & mocha-energy bars.
9. Tech Talk- Unlock the Full Power of Your PC With the Internet Explorer 9 Beta
10. Inconcievable: The Princess Bride funnies are remembered by a fan... whose bio ends on “If you are looking for someone to speak at your next event, keep me in mind.” Inconcievably good advertising for unthinkably inane motivaton.
[These posts are all auto-generated when I log into this blog. Google not required]
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 9.15.10~
DR RICHARD TATE ON AUTHOR ARTISTS JOURNEY OF PERSISTENCE IN MARKETING BOOKS, AUDIO BOOKS, MUSIC & EVENTS
“No one ever drowned in sweat.”–tenacity and hard work as a recipe for progress.
The Mistake Authors & Artists make by Dr. Richard Tate of Mustang Oklahoma.
My wife and I traveled for over 25 years speaking, singing, and conducting seminars and conferences across the U.S. and even overseas. We averaged about 40+ events per year for a quarter of a century.
Much of what Tate Publishing and Tate Music Group do for authors and artists is a direct result of our experiences, both good and bad. They say no teacher is more effective than experience, and we can certainly vouch for that. We had many horrible hotels, hours and hours in a car with kids asleep in the back seat, endless hours in airports, small record and book sales, low payment for services and work, work, work.
When I was in the Marine Corps back in the 60’s, one of our officers made a statement to us during an especially difficult time. “No one ever drowned in sweat!” he screamed. How true that is.
AN ATHEIST BILLBOARD IN OKLAHOMA UPSETS?
Billboard Erector: Nick Singer, “Coalition of Reason’s,” Oklahoma atheist club’s coordinator, erected a billboard along Interstate 44 near the Oklahoma State Fair, which reads, “Don’t believe in God? Join the club.” He had recieved $5,250 from the HQ of a national counterpart, for that purpose.
Advocater against the billboard: Pastor Dan Fisher, says “It’s not a question of ‘Can you?’ It’s a question of ‘Should you? It’s kind of like they’re poking a finger in your eye,” says Dan. Fisher sounding like the lyrics of a Lady Gaga song, in his role as the pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Yukon.
This news story is also shaping up to be perfect as a backdrop for the next Frank E Peretti novel, million-print-run, best seller, for all those people who love Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton music who also may read Peretti’s books too. Myself being but one of these millions worldwide who is a Rogers-Parton fan, when on the marae in New Zealand with my Maori Aunties and Uncles and cousins on guitars, while the family collectively sing at times all together, like a massive extended Von Trapp family musical, in real life. I kid you not–and all are good, well-meaning country folk.
But wait a minute, there’s something missing from the story. It’s not dark enough yet for a Frank E. Peretti novel … we need more black paint on this canvas to make light more interesting. For once, I don’t have to do this myself. Current events has.
Back in Oklahoma, “Satanists have scheduled a conference in a city-owned building, drawing criticism from ministers too,” reports the AP.
OK… Now, it’s sounding more like a Frank E. Peretti novel. When people of different opinions co-exist side by side, lives are going to be changed somehow. Salty.
The AP reporter, never did manage to get a quote from the head Satanist. Maybe the head Satanist was ironing his robes or something that make him look sinister but ‘in charge,’ if and when the AP reporter called him for a comment.
Oklahoma provides an alternative story in regards to non-spiritual belief/ or spiritual belief opinions all co-existing in America, this 9-11. But just don’t say the word Muslim too loudly in Oklahoma? Boulders might fall from the mountain peaks of surrounding high rock country, quite mysteriously down upon your head. God, I love this country!!!
To read a novel not written by Frank, that is pertinent at Ground Zero, New York today, Oklahoma, or relevant in the Middle East too, go here to discover a gripping read, ironicly published in same said Oklahoma.
Oh, and atheists aren’t offended by the Satanist convention taking place in Oklahoma either, because an atheist doesn’t believe in Lucifer too. Lol! Being a Hollywood entertainment blog, where anything goes, this leads me to my next question about this billboard story in Oklahoma.
How do atheists enjoy halloween? Or occult-themed blockbuster movies that fuel Hollywood entertainment-villains storylines? Perhaps the above billboard, may shed some light on their love of bbq-ready weather forecasts then, and special effects appreciation in Hollywood story lines of note. In Hollywood, billboards are for movies, fashion, rock stars, fragrances and sunglasses. But good on Nick Singer’s sponsor, for giving Oklahoma an alternative view.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 9.11.10~
AUTHOR JONATHAN FRANZEN ON WRITING GOOD WORDS ON CHEAP DELL LAPTOPS WHILE LOVING SHERYL CROW SONG LYRICS FOR NOVELIST INSPIRATION
An interview at the AV [Book] Club with author Jonathan Franzen caught my eye today. Particularly on two matters of interest: working on the cheapest computer you can buy (ie: like an old electric type writer, styled apparatus is all a writer needs) and loving song birds words, as fuel for a book framework on “freedom” as Franzen does with fellow American Sheryl Crow‘s lyrics that motivated him to write his new novel.
Here’s two quotes from the article. The less obscure good stuff can be found here.
“I have one of those nine-pound Dell laptops you can get for $389 because nobody ended up buying that model, for obvious reasons. I took the wireless card out immediately, and I plugged up the Ethernet hole with superglue. The biggest struggle was getting Hearts and Solitaire off of it. I did work on a DOS machine until about five years ago. It ran WordPerfect 5.0, which is still the best software ever written for a writer, I think. But now, obviously, I work on a Windows machine, and Windows just will not let you de-install a Solitaire program. It puts it back whenever you try to remove it.”
Wow! How much is microsoft paying this guy to drop all of that in there? Sheepers Creepers! Awesomery twitter bird genius product placement status! I mean, really! That was good advertising.
JAZZ by TONI MORRISON
One of the most beautiful poetic books I’ve ever read has got to be the prose of Nobel Peace Prize winner Toni Morrison in her book, Jazz.
Quintessential American literature. In any country who loves people. For a sneak peak, go here.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 9.5.10~
AUTHOR NICOLE RICHIE IS PRICELESS IN SAN FRANCISCO
At a book signing in San Francisco, Nicole Richie shows how to represent your next number 1 best selling book.
Look as natural as possible. She’s another Danielle Steel in the making –on the book sales frontier of the future.
“Young Hollywood” is always the backdrop of her books trademark themes. Priceless her new novel, has a New York City overlay to it.
Publisher’s Weekly gives the synopsis as this: “A spoiled brat finds her backbone when fate kicks her to the curb in tabloid staple Richie’s decent follow-up to The Truth About Diamonds.
“Charlotte Williams goes from pampered princess to outcast after her adored father pleads guilty to a massive Wall Street fraud. To escape the wrath of cheated investors, an Internet smear campaign, and a creepy stalker, Charlotte heads to the New Orleans home of Millie, her beloved former nanny and the only mom she’s known.
“What Charlotte finds, however, is far more than a safe harbor: a best friend in fashion maven Kat (their friendship may give readers Simple Life flashbacks); a handsome love interest in Millie’s musician son, Jackson; and a chance to unleash the sensational singing voice inherited from a mom she only knows from a heartbreaking home movie.
“Richie, no stranger to celebrity and tabloid gossip, proves she’s been there/done that in this celeb-savvy and disarmingly charming defense of the power of love and good genes.”
I like the way Nicole Richie, daughter of Lionel and Brenda, is really tackling that theme of American entitlement in this novel. Perhaps something she personally had to overcome. Of course, being the late MJ’s god daughter, she has a “Jackson” reference in her mix.
I like the way she’s maturing as an American leader. Creative. Whole.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 11.14.10~
November 15, 2010 | Categories: Authors, Entertainment Celebrity News, Entertainment News, Hollywood Entertainment News, Nicole Richie, Young Hollywood | Tags: Authors, Entertainment Distribution, Entertainment News, Entitlement, Hollywood Entertainment News, Nicole Richie, Pop Culture Commentary, San Francisco, Young Hollywood | Leave A Comment »