Drew Barrymore whips it!

"When I ask if she sees her mother, Barrymore gives the only terse answer in the interview. “No contact”, she replies.
Whip It, their 10th film together, cost about $12 million and was filmed in just 10 weeks. Before agreeing to let the perpetually tardy Barrymore direct, however, Juvonen insisted that she learn to be on time. “For years I said, ‘You need to show me you can do this,’” Juvonen recalls. “She had no parents; no one said to her, ‘These things matter.’” As the director, says Juvonen, Barrymore had to learn how to “step in as the leader, and not as the famous person who everyone says yes to. And, boy, did she ever.”

Whip It is about a 17-year-old girl (played by Ellen Page) breaking free from her mother’s small-town values to find her place as part of a roller derby team. To Barrymore, who costars as derby girl Smashley Simpson, it’s about “finding your tribe,” and another mother-daughter love story with personal resonance".
Source: www.wmagazine.com

"Whip It is Drew Barrymore’s forthcoming directorial debut, due to start production in March. It’s a coming-of-age tale about a girl who finds her identity through the power of roller derby, based on Shauna Cross’ novel, Derby Girl!Drew Barrymore and Ellen Page on set of "Whip it!"A story of an ex-beauty pageant contestant (Ellen Page) that leaves her crowns behind after joining a roller derby team. In Bodeen, Texas, an indie-rock loving misfit finds a way of dealing with her small-town misery after she discovers a roller derby league in nearby Austin. Bliss Cavendar, an indie-rock loving misfit who finds a way of dealing with her small-town misery after she discovers a roller derby league in Austin, Texas. Shooting will begin in March and as long as the SAG strike doesn’t kill it, the film should be ready for early 2009 release.

Anyone thinking that the film’s title is self explanatory should know that “whip it” is a roller skating term, as in, “she’s whipping the jammer.” Man, that is fun to say. Cross, a former L.A. Derby Doll named Maggie Mayhem, says that the flick will be the first to capture the sport with “multiple cameras and great editing,” playfully adding, “It’s going to be sick, yo.” She’s like Diablo Cody…on skates!"
Source: rollergames.ning.com

My brand-new Roller Derby Name is Bertha BlackBeast.
Take MIA PSYCHO'S ROLLER DERBY NAME GENERATOR today!

Donnie Darko, Blu-ray Director’s Cut (2001)

"Jake Gyllenhaal just inhabits the role of the possibly schizophrenic young man, with his hunched shoulders, odd smiles, everything. Mary McDonnell as his concerned mother is also a standout, and casting of Patrick Swayze as the motivational leader was perfect.

The story begins with Donnie as a sometimes delusional high school student who talks to a person named Frank with a demonic-looking rabbit head. Frank predicts the end of the world in 30 days after drawing Donnie outdoors at night - just prior to a jet engine mysteriously falling out of the sky into Donnie’s room where it would have killed him. Then things begin to really get confusing. Frank urges Donnie to break a water main at the school, flooding it, and later to torch the home of pushy motivational speaker Swayze. Donnie has found a book on time travel by a strange old local lady and tries to explore its meanings, but writer-director Kelly said he just brought in time travel at a comic book level, and intended it more as a deus ex machina than anything that could be analyzed (as a couple web sites do). According to the time travel framework, most of Donnie’s 30 days take place in a tangent universe rather than the present one.There are complaints that the quality of this Blu-ray release is no better than the previous standard DVD. The problem seems to be that the director used a special high speed Kodak film stock for the entire film because he liked its look. However, it is not as sharp as slower films, is more toned-down in color - and what I found most disconcerting - doesn’t have low enough black level. However, the Blu-ray version is definitely higher resolution and the soundtrack is cleaner and more immersive".
Source: www.audaud.com

Another day for women

Susan Hayward.Anita Ekberg.Lauren Bacall.Donna Reed.Reese Witherspoon.
Laura Vandervoort.
Kirsten Dunst.
Amanda Seyfried.
Maggie Gyllenhaal.Kristen Stewart.Cory Kennedy.
Jena Malone.Kate Winslet.Nora Zehetner.Anna Paquin.Jessica Biel.Bar Rafaeli.Penélope Cruz.
Emma Watson.Liv Tyler.

II
"Now that lilacs are in bloom
She has a bowl of lilacs in her room
And twists one in his fingers while she talks.
"Ah, my friend, you do not know, you do not know
What life is, you who hold it in your hands";
(Slowly twisting the lilac stalks)
"You let it flow from you, you let it flow,
And youth is cruel, and has no remorse
And smiles at situations which it cannot see."
I smile, of course,
And go on drinking tea.
"Yet with these April sunsets, that somehow recall
My buried life, and Paris in the Spring,
I feel immeasurably at peace, and find the world
To be wonderful and youthful, after all."
-Portrait of a Lady poem, by T. S. Eliot

The Oscar will be delivered to Michelle Williams

"The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed it was preparing to send the Oscar Ledger won last month for his iconic performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight to Matilda's mother, actress Michelle Williams, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, with Matilda.

The announcement solved the mystery of who would look after the Oscar until Matilda turned 18.

Under Academy rules the deceased actor's next of kin takes ownership.

With Matilda aged just three, the Academy ruled the Oscar would have to be held until her 18th birthday.
On Oscar night Ledger's parents, Kim and Sally and sister Kate, accepted the award on stage and at a backstage media conference admitted they were not sure who would take care of the statuette until Matilda became an adult.

Kim Ledger raised the possibility it would go back to Australia.

"She can't sign for it until she's 18, so it stays in trust here or in Australia," Kim Ledger said at the press conference backstage at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre.

Academy spokesperson Leslie Unger, however, confirmed Williams, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, with Matilda would receive it.

"We expect a representative of the Ledger estate to bring the statuette in tomorrow so that the engraved plate can be affixed," Unger told the Los Angeles Times newspaper.

"Soon after that, we expect the statuette to be delivered to Michelle Williams."

Source: www.theaustralian.news.com.au

Jessica Biel is Jessica Rabbit

Here's Justin Timberlake as he is seduced by cartoon character Jessica Rabbit - played by his girlfriend, Jessica Biel.
The U.S. singer made a surprise appearance on U.S. television comedy sketch show, Saturday Night Live.Jessica Rabbit, the seductive wife of Roger Rabbit in animated fantasy film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, was last week named the sexiest cartoon character by Cadbury's.
Viewers cheered as Timberlake, who is reportedly set to wed Biel this summer, made his cameo on Saturday night's show."During Weekend Update, Timberlake and Andy Samberg spoofed the comic strip Cathy -- Samberg playing Cathy and Timberlake playing her adoring husband Irving. "I swear on Charles Schulz himself, if Jessica Rabbit walked in here right now I wouldn't even blink," Irving says.

Biel then walks in dressed as Jessica Rabbit wearing a tight, red dress and long purple gloves -- she asks Irving to take a walk and he immediately accepts. "Sounds good, later fatty," he says to Cathy.

"SNL" spoofed the comic strip characters after a recent survey from Cadbury Daily Milk ranked the sexiest cartoon characters leaving Cathy off the list". Source: www.etonline.com

SNL - Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel video:

Defensive masculinity

"Alpha Dog lives up to its title as one of modern American cinema’s most powerful evocations of the tortured, defensive masculinity of the lower-class young male. Every character (including the victim) is desperate to prove his manhood – or at least that they’re not the “bitch” or “faggot” of the bunch. However, the same tough dudes who beat each other senseless with Fight Club-level brutality reduce themselves to diva-worthy temper tantrums and crying jags whenever the consequences of their impulse-control-challenged behavior sinks in.
Timberlake is top-notch – it’s hard to imagine any but the absolute cream of Gen-Y actors (Bale, DiCaprio, Gyllenhaal) playing his part any better. His final major scene with young Zack in the rocky caves of Joshua Tree is emotionally devastating in every sense of the word. The film’s gangsta soundtrack and original score (with several contributions from the rock/rap group Lowd) is very effectively applied, with the mordantly in-joke choice of “Goodbye to Hollywood” as the closing song. Nick Cassavetes’ writing and direction is appropriately discomfiting, with his technique kicking up several notches as the storyline progresses, in what is obviously a labor of love. And for a movie about such grim subject matter, Alpha Dog actually manages to have a (dark) sense of humor without indulging in simpering, cutesy irony or making inappropriate light of what ultimately happened". Source: www.filmstew.com

In the movie Jarhead, Jake Gyllenhaal plays a young US marine who has followed the path of his father to the military duties.
In the article “Modernism and Masculinity” by Gerald Izenburg:
“It gave him (men) a means of resolving the persistent inner tension by turning the battle outward against an external enemy, and identifying wholly with soldiers--literal, rather than literary, warriors. Turning the battle outward, he (men) could also split off and project his internally threatening femininity outward onto the enemy…”

The word “alpha” describes an individual to be the dominant or top ranked and also shows the dominant aspect of a marine’s wife. The Marine Corps jargon “alpha unit” is used to describe the spouse of a Marine. Another term that is also used would be Delta Whiskey, which stands for "dependant" wife.

International Women's Day

"International Women's Day is celebrated in countries throughout the world with festivals, parades, and special events. Hostelling International is bringing the celebration to Boston with the International Women's Day Film Festival.

The mission of the Boston International Women's Day Film Festival is to promote a greater understanding of the extraordinary lives of women around the world through relevant and thought-provoking films and discussions.

This is the second year of the festival, sponsored by Hostelling International. The goal of this festival is to showcase films honoring the struggles, victories, and remarkable experiences of women around the world. Through this event, we aim to celebrate the lives and contributions of women from all corners and walks of life". Source: www.hinewengland.org

"On February 3, 2009, Break the Cycle, an organization aimed at empowering youth to break the cycle of domestic violence, addressed Congress. According to them, at least 17 states have introduced or passed legislation to try to take on the problem of teen dating violence.
Sadly, a necessity in a society where teens think Chris Brown was justified in beating Rhianna or that she must have done something to deserve it. A society in which teens believe that violence is not only normal, but sometimes even laughable and the butt of sad jokes.

According to Kathy Doherty, executive director of Between Friends, a Chicago based group which goes into schools to help educate teens about domestic violence, educating young people is the key.

“When we first get there, it’s not unusual for kids-both boys and girls-to say it’s OK to hit your girlfriend or boyfriend. By the time we’re done, they say, yes, it is abuse, and, no, we shouldn’t do that.” Souce: 20-forty.com

"At the same time, as part of this process, men are indoctrinated into violence as a means of protecting themselves and others, to solve problems and conflicts, and assert their perceived positions as men.

In many parts of the world, we are constantly fed images of men being violent. Through films, books, television, magazines, video games – we see men being violence and violent men revered as role models and even heroes. So an equation embedded in dominant masculinity becomes - to be a man, a strong successful leader, you also must be ready to fight, and if you don’t happen to be in the right social group to be a successful leader, you still have to be ready to use violence…perhaps even more so.Thus, dominant forms of masculinity encourage personal violence in men, and they help to legitimize other forms of violence as well. Part of gender-based violence as a “policing mechanism” is for men to establish, assert or protect their masculine identity. But men’s use of personal violence also permits and legitimizes the use of other types of organized violence – and visa versa. It is a vicious cycle of violence, a culture of violence into which men and women are socialized.

However, seeing masculinities as socially constructed does not mean that men are merely passive beings being shaped by “society” or “culture”. Men and women are active in producing gender discourses and acting them out. Men are responsible for their violence, and are part of the problem when they allow for violence – especially violence against women and girls - to exist in their communities.

We can further identify broader notions of responsibility when gender-based violence is placed within the social structures and histories of violence that both men and women have created and reproduce. Here, we can move beyond the interpersonal violence of men to examine the violence that lies at the heart of masculinity's stratifying of difference - the misogyny, homophobia and racism that are embedded in discourses of masculinity. It is here we begin to understand the relationship between ideals of masculinity, gender-based violence and other uses of violence as a means of establishing and maintaining power relationships and structural inequalities such as those based upon race, class or religion, etc. Violence, privilege and injustice are intimately linked". Source: toolkit.endabuse.org