Never Let Me Go

Image Courtesy Gossip Hut

My must see movie, Never Let Me Go screened at the Toronto film festival yesterday. Praying to the movie gods to make it a HUUUUUGE international box office success so that it'll be released in my beautiful but oh so small country.

Puhleeeeze make it happen!

Even Hollywood is Suffering

Image Courtesy Biz Box

You know the arts are suffering when even the big fancy Hollywood movie producers are griping about the economy. In the first part of this NYT article, Darren Aronofsky discusses the money woes he experienced when financing his movies after the finacial collapse in 2008.

Wow, I can only imagine how the small indie movie producers are faring.

Google Creeper

On days like today I feel like I've been living under rock. This story about the terminated Google employee totally flew under my radar. Apparently David Barkinsdale was fired after it was discovered that abused his access to private user information. Most disturbing is that he used his access to stalk and harrass young teenagers. Also shocking is that Google doesn't know the extent to which he abused his priveleges.

Gawker has intersting take on the scandal.

$100M Donation to Human Rights Watch!

Image Courtesy Human Rights Watch

Have you heard about the great news for Human Rights Watch? Philanthropist George Soros has donated $100 million to the advocacy group Human Rights Watch. This article form the NYT gives a good breakdown of Soros' donation and what the money will be used to do. It also mentions that donations like Soros' are becoming increasinly rare. No doubt the economy is to blame. Still I'm happy about he donation and even happier that it went to Human Rights Watch. I rely on the services to keep up on my Human Rights news and I trust the accuracy of their reports. Now Soros has made it a little easier for them to keep doing what they do.


Sidenote: There's an interesting little lesson on human interaction hidden between the lines of the article. Director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, states that many people at Human Rights Watch didn't even know who George Soros. Yet Soros states that his presence at Human Rights watch has a hada profound impact on his life. It just goes to show that you can interact with someone and have a huge impact on their life without knowing it. If the impact is positive, you can reap the benefits of this in an unexpected ways. I'll keep that in mind as I go about my day today.

Ciao!

Closure of Upper West Side Barnes & Noble

Photo Courtesy LA Times

You know I never thought the day would come when I'd be sad to see a Barnes & Noble go. But I really did like this Upper West Side location. I strated going there as a freshman at NYU, I'd stop by on my way to volunteer at a nearby homeless shelter. After I graduated from NYU, I'd take long walks up to the Upper West Side and mill around the bookstore to clear my head from my job search woes. Plus everyone knows that Barnes & Noble is the best place to read magazines for free. According to this article, I'm not the only one that feels dissapointed by the closure.

But I'm not too devastated, as the article points out, there are still a gazillion other locations that can entertain me on my next visit to New York. In any case my attachment to this Barnes & Noble is connected to a time of my life that I hold dear, it really has very little to do with the actual store. Many of the people interviewed for the article admitted that they'd never bought books at the store and used it as a browsing spot instead. While I've purchased stationary there, I too never bought a book from this location. I guess when it comes to actually purchasing books, I'd pick a mom & pop store over a big chain anyday.

zzzzzzzz

Ugh. I'm really tired. I've been working on blog for hours. Putting up posts that I'd written on notepads and trying to come up with new ideas. So now I can't think of anything for today's post. To make it worse I have to be up really early tomorrow to pick up a package containing the remnants of my New York life... blah I want to go to bed.

I think I'm going to curl up with my new book, Darjeeling, written by Bharti Kirchner. it's one of those books that I just pulled of the shelf at the library without knowing a thing about the story or whether the critics hated it or not. But I do know that darjeeling is my favorite type of tea, I figure that's good enough. It seems like an easy enough read, I need it after Kundera and Sartre. I'll post about what I think when I'm done.

Ciao!

Robin Hood

(Photo: Pop Tower)

My sister and I watched Robin Hood today. Great movie. Have I mentioned how much I love Cate Blanchett? Not only is she beautiful, but she consistently chooses rich material that fosters high quality movies. Babel, Notes on a Scandal, Elizabeth, The Lord of the Rings. All Good. All featuring Cate.

Robin Hood was one of my favorite books as a child. I bawled when he died in the end. After watching the movie I'm suddenly filled with the need to watch it again. Maybe after Dubliners? I've been meaning to get to that.