A Liquid Media LLC mega blog

• Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe are collectively using the World Cup to develop the seven transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) in the region. This TFCA route will offer tourists the unforgettable experience of two oceans, vast landscapes, major rivers, deserts, canyons, mountains and diverse cultures across the nine countries in one trail. 2010 TFCA developments include joint marketing, development of services and packages, investment and infrastructure and ease of movement for tourists across borders.

• Some accommodation will be contracted from South Africa’s neighbours.

• The 2010 World Cup is stimulating development in neighbouring countries. For instance, Mozambique will spend $51 million on the rehabilitation of a railway line between Maputo and South Africa, and is also upgrading its road network. Mozambique is investing $600 million in new hotels, casinos and other leisure facilities.

• The New Partnership for Africa’s Development Information and Communications Technology Broadband Infrastructure Net (Uhurunet) is a $2-billion submarine cable to connect Africa directly to India, the Middle East, Europe and Brazil. The 50 000-km cable will reduce the telecommunications costs in Africa. The cable will be completed to provide telecommunications for the 2010 World Cup.

Source: http://www.sa2010.gov.za

Oooeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehh

You’re a good soldier
Choosing your battles
Pick yourself up
And dust yourself off
Get back in the saddle

You’re on the front line
Everyone’s watching
You know it’s serious
We are getting closer
This isn’t over

The pressure is on
You feel it
But you got it all
Believe it

When you fall get up, oh oh
If you fall get up, eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
Cuz this is Africa
Tsamina mina, eh eh
Waka waka, eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
This time for Africa

Listen to your God
This is our motto
Your time to shine
Don’t wait in line
Y vamos por todo

People are raising
Their expectations
Go on and feed them
This is your moment
No hesitations

Today’s your day
I feel it
You paved the way
Believe it

If you get down get up, oh oh
When you get down get up, eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
This time for Africa
Tsamina mina, eh eh
Waka waka, eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
Anawa a a
Tsamina mina, eh eh
Waka waka, eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
This time for Africa

Awela Majoni Biggie Biggie Mama One A To Zet
Athi sithi LaMajoni Biggie Biggie Mama From East To West
Bathi . . . Waka Waka Ma Eh Eh Waka Waka Ma Eh Eh
Zonke zizwe mazi buye
Cuz this is Africa

Voice: Tsamina mina, Anawa a a
Tsamina mina
Tsamina mina, Anawa a a

Tsamina mina, eh eh
Waka waka, eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
Anawa a a
Tsamina mina, eh eh
Waka waka, eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
This time for Africa

Django eh eh
Django eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
Anawa a a

Django eh eh
Django eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
Anawa a a

(2x) This time for Africa

(2x) We’re all Africa

Gone With The Wind (1939) is often considered the most beloved, enduring and popular film of all time. Sidney Howard’s script was derived from Margaret Mitchell’s first and only published, best-selling Civil War and Reconstruction Period novel of 1,037 pages that first appeared in 1936, but was mostly written in the late 1920s. Producer David O. Selznick had acquired the film rights to Mitchell’s novel in July, 1936 for $50,000 – a record amount at the time to an unknown author for her first novel, causing some to label the film “Selznick’s Folly.” At the time of the film’s release, the fictional book had surpassed 1.5 million copies sold. More records were set when the film was first aired on television in two parts in late 1976, and controversy arose when it was restored and released theatrically in 1998.

Gone With The Wind (1939)

The famous film, shot in three-strip Technicolor, is cinema’s greatest, star-studded, historical epic film of the Old South during wartime that boasts an immortal cast in a timeless, classic tale of a love-hate romance. The indomitable heroine, Scarlett O’Hara, struggles to find love during the chaotic Civil War years and afterwards, and ultimately must seek refuge for herself and her family back at the beloved plantation Tara. There, she takes charge, defends it against Union soldiers, carpetbaggers, and starvation itself. She finally marries her worldly admirer Rhett Butler, but her apathy toward him in their marriage dooms their battling relationship, and she again returns to Tara to find consolation – indomitable.

Authenticity is enhanced by the costuming, sets, and variations on Stephen Foster songs and other excerpts from Civil War martial airs. Its opening, only a few months after WWII began in Europe, helped American audiences to identify with the war story and its theme of survival.

The landmark film received tremendous accolades, more than any previous films to date: thirteen nominations and eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Victor Fleming – the only credited director), Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), a posthumous Best Screenplay (Sidney Howard, along with collaborative assistance from Edwin Justin Mayer, John Van Druten, Ben Hecht, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Jo Swerling) – the first post-humous winner of its kind, Best Color Cinematography, Best Interior Decoration, Best Film Editing, and Best Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel – the first time an African-American had been nominated and honored).

Extract: filmsite.org

West Side Story (1961) is an energetic, widely-acclaimed, melodramatic musical – a modern-day, loose re-telling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet tragedy of feuding families, although the setting is the Upper West Side of New York City in the late 1950s with conflict between rival street gangs rather than families. West Side Story is still one of the best film adaptations of a musical ever created, and the finest musical film of the 60s. It arrived at a time when the silver screen was realizing tremendous competition from TV and other genres of cinematic entertainment.

West Side Story (1961)

The ground-breaking, dynamic film of 1961 was based on the successful Broadway hit – a staged musical play (opening in 1957) by writer Arthur Laurents and directed/choreographed by Jerome Robbins. The play reworked the traditional love story material (of lovers that crossed racial/ethnic barriers) and translated it, in a radical, novel and revolutionary style for a musical, to include racial strife between rival New York street gangs (newly-arrived Puerto Ricans and second-generation Americans from white European immigrant families), juvenile delinquency and inner-city problems of the mid-twentieth century – in exhilarating musical and dance form. To capture the realism of the social tragedy and its urban environment, some of the film was shot on location in Manhattan (in abandoned West Side tenements around 110th St., and other settings), but most of it was actually filmed on sound stages with stylized, artificial studio sets.

The same tale has been told numerous times in past cinematic history, including:

• Romeo and Juliet (1916) with vampish Theda Bara as Juliet
• Romeo and Juliet (1916) with Francis X. Bushman as Romeo
• George Cukor’s Romeo and Juliet (1936) with elderly ‘teen’ lovers Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer, John Barrymore as Mercutio, Edna May Oliver as the Nurse, and Basil Rathbone as Tybalt
• Renato Castellani’s Romeo and Juliet (1954) with Laurence Harvey and Susan Shentall in the leads
• Paul Czinner’s Romeo and Juliet (1966), with ballet dancers Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn
• Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet (1968), with appropriately-aged star-crossed lovers Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey
• Baz Luhrmann’s hip and updated William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (1996) with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes

Ben-Hur (1959)

Ben-Hur (1959) is MGM’s three and a half hour, wide-screen epic Technicolor blockbuster – a Biblical tale, subtitled A Tale of the Christ.

Director William Wyler’s film was a remake of the spectacular silent film of the same name (director Fred Niblo’s and MGM’s Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)). Wyler had been an ‘extras’ director on the set of DeMille’s original film in the silent era. MGM’s Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925), featuring a cast of 125,000, cost about $4 million to make after shooting began on location in Italy, in 1923, and starred silent screen idols Ramon Novarro and Francis X. Bushman. This figure is equivalent to $33 million today – it was the most expensive silent film ever made. Both films were adapted from the novel (first published in 1880) by former Civil War General Lew Wallace.

The colorful 1959 version was the most expensive film ever made up to its time, and the most expensive film of the 50s decade. At $15 million and shot on a grand scale, it was a tremendous make-or-break risk for MGM Studios – and ultimately saved the studio from bankruptcy. [It was a big dual win for MGM, since they had won the Best Picture race the previous year for Gigi (1958).] It took six years to prepare for the film shoot, and over a half year of on-location work in Italy, with thousands of extras. It featured more crew and extras than any other film before it – 15,000 extras alone for the chariot race sequence.

Ben-Hur proved to be an intelligent, exciting, and dramatic piece of film-making unlike so many other vulgar Biblical pageants with Hollywood actors and actresses. Its depiction of the Jesus Christ figure was also extremely subtle and solely as a cameo – it never showed Christ’s face but only the reactions of other characters to him.

It was one of the most honored, award-winning films of all time. It was nominated for twelve Academy Awards, Best Picture, Best Actor (Charlton Heston), Best Supporting Actor (Hugh Griffith), Best Director (William Wyler), Best Color Cinematography, Best Color Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Sound, Best Score, Best Film Editing, Best Color Costume Design, Best Special Effects, and Best Screenplay. It was the first film to win eleven Oscars!

Source: filmsite.org

Sexy plus size woman posing in wedding dress

The word fit – as it seems with women – never gels with the ones that are full-figured. So there comes the extended shopping hours, prayers, gnashing of the teeth and lastly, whimpers. But daunting, as it might seem, is not the only word that describes the situation; it may also be represented as: Easy. We just made it increase five folds, regarding the plus size wedding dresses.

• Body shape: A wedding dress must suit the figure. For the curvy ones, a-line proves the best, since it skims over hips. Full ball-gown skirt shapes for plus size wedding gowns spell disaster, due to an overall roundness they impart. And as for v-necklines, a busty, plus-size woman shall find in them a beautiful contrasting line. But, tea-length gowns are infamous for bringing in that squatter look, so off with the idea.
• Where to shop? Large retail chains, designer boutiques and even, small tailor shops. You never know which stone is hiding the emerald.
• The feel: Comfort is must and also comes first; if you appear stressed or tugging on it, you shall miss out on all the moving around, talking and dancing.
• Tailoring: If nothing works out, then get your plus-size wedding gown tailored or altered. Subtle differences are always big differences.
• Break the rules: If a traditional one is not available, get as funky as you can (but not in black). You have a curvaceous body; so flaunt it as much as you can without breaking the boundary of decency.

Source :  totalweddingplanning.wordpress.com

From Here to Eternity (1953) is the powerful, realistic story (and fierce indictment) of the lives of American military men (and their women) stationed in peacetime Hawaii (near Honolulu) in the summer and fall before the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in late 1941 and the US entrance into WW II. The successful film, both critically and financially, soon became the second biggest hit of the year, behind The Robe (1953) (the first CinemaScope film) and ahead of Shane (1953).

From Here to Eternity (1953)

In gritty, documentary-style black and white, director Fred Zinnemann (who had directed the acclaimed western High Noon (1952) a year earlier) accurately captured the isolation and boredom of the military personnel in a close-knit Army barracks on the island of Oahu, combining social/military history with the drama of the personal lives of its main characters – an enlisted man and a neglected officer’s wife, and a prostitute and a military outcast. The major male characters wage their own ‘battle’ against corruption high up in the military ranks, each in their own ways.

Three of the film’s stars were cast against type and their wholesome images: Donna Reed as ‘hostess’ bar-girl (hooker) Lorene and dignified British actress Deborah Kerr (instead of Joan Crawford who was announced for the part, but allegedly detested the costuming) as an unfaithful and adulterous sexpot wife. Montgomery Clift was also cast as a bugler, former boxer and stubborn, insubordinate soldier, although he was inexperienced in those areas and needed coaching. Burt Lancaster fit his role perfectly as a rugged sergeant. [Note: If casting decisions had gone differently, Aldo Ray, Edmond O'Brien, Joan Crawford, Julie Harris, and Eli Wallach would have played the roles given to Clift, Lancaster, Kerr, Reed, and Sinatra, respectively.]

Source: www.filmsite.org

It Happened One Night

It Happened One Night (1934) is one of the greatest romantic comedies in film history, and a film that has endured in popularity. It is considered one of the pioneering “screwball” romantic comedies of its time, setting the pattern for many years afterwards along with another contemporary film, The Thin Man (1934).

The escapist theme of the film, appropriate during the Depression Era, is the story of the unlikely romantic pairing of a mis-matched couple – a gruff and indifferent, recently-fired newspaper man (Gable) and a snobbish, superior-acting heiress (Colbert) – a runaway on the lam. It is a reversal of the Cinderella story (the heroine rejects her wealthy lifestyle), a modern tale with light-hearted sex appeal in which courtship and love triumph over class conflicts, socio-economic differences, and verbal battles of wit.

The film, composed mostly of a road trip (by bus, car, foot, and by thumb in locales such as bus depots or interiors of buses, and the open road) by the social-class-unmatched couple, contains some of the most classic scenes ever made: the “Walls of Jericho” scene in an auto-camp bungalow so that they can sleep in the same room out of wedlock, the doughnuts-dunking lesson, the hitchhiking scene, the night-time scene on a haystack in a deserted barn, and the dramatic wedding scene. With his good-natured, street-smart, and breezy performance, Gable influenced the un-sale of undershirts by taking off his shirt and exposing his bare chest, and bus travel by women substantially increased as a result of the film.

The madcap film from Columbia Studios (one of the lesser studios) was an unexpected runaway box office sleeper hit (especially after it began to play in small-town theaters), and it garnered the top five Academy Awards (unrivaled until 1975, forty-one years later by One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) – and then again by The Silence of the Lambs (1991).) It won all five of its nominated categories: Best Picture, Best Actor (Clark Gable), Best Actress (Claudette Colbert), Best Director (Frank Capra), and Best Adaptation (Robert Riskin).

Source: filmsite.org

1st Academy Awards Ceremony

The original AMPAS (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) consisted of 230 members, who each paid a $100 fee to join.

The first awards ceremony/banquet was held in Hollywood (at the Roosevelt Hotel) on May 16, 1929 with tickets costing $10, to honor films made for the 1927-1928 time period. There was no suspense to the announcement of winners in the five-minute ceremony – they had been named three months earlier. This first awards ceremony was the only time in Academy history that the event wasn’t broadcast in some way.

There were only twelve categories for the Academy’s first merit awards:

• Picture (Production)
• Unique and Artistic Picture (Best Quality Film)
• Actor
• Actress
• Direction (Drama Picture)
• Direction (Comedy Picture)
• Writing: Based on Material From Another Medium (Adapted Writing)
• Writing: Directly for the Screen (Original Screenplay)
• Writing: Titles (interstitial captions in silents)
• Cinematography
• Art Direction
• Engineering Effects

One winner, and two runners-up were named in each category. In the first year of the awards, the term “Honorable Mention” was used in place of the term “Nominee.” (However, the term nominee will be used in this summary.) Fifteen statues are awarded, all to men except for Janet Gaynor who won for Best Actress. For this year only, the Academy gave awards for multiple, rather than single achievements.

Four of the five nominated films for Best Picture were from Paramount Pictures studios.

The silent classic war film filmed in widescreen Magnascope, director William Wellman’s and Paramount’s Wings, was the official first winner of the Best Picture award as the “most outstanding motion picture production.” The most expensive film of its time (at $2 million), it featured spectacular aerial footage (air battles, bombing raids and crashes) and state of the art visual effects in its story of two flying buddies who accidentally shot each other down. To provide continuity, the Academy now lists Wings as the “official” Best Picture of the first awards. That makes Wings the only silent picture to have won the Best Picture award.

Source: filmsite.org

My Fair Lady (1964)

My Fair Lady (1964) was experienced director George Cukor’s film musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s 1912 play Pygmalion that had played successfully on Broadway from March 15, 1956 to 1962. Shaw’s plot was derived from Latin poet Ovid’s story (in the Metamorphoses) about a character named Pygmalion who fell in love with a beautiful ivory statue of a woman. In later Greek tradition, his prayers to Venus that the beloved statue – Galatea – would come to life came true so that they could marry.

Warner Bros.’ musical romantic comedy was expensive-to-produce (at $17 million) – their most expensive film to date, partially due to the fact that the studio had to pay $5.5 million for film rights to the popular Broadway hit. It turned out to be one of the top five most successful films in 1964 – a combination of clever lyrics and singable tunes, with a great lead and supporting cast, and lavishly-designed theatrical sets and costumes. Alan Jay Lerner, who was responsible for the screenplay, co-wrote the music and lyrics with Frederick (Fritz) Loewe. Producer Jack Warner’s will prevailed and the Cockney flower vendor character played by little-known Julie Andrews on Broadway was replaced by well-known, non-singing ‘Cinderella’ actress Audrey Hepburn (whose voice was dubbed by Marnie Nixon although Hepburn sang her own tracks) – to guarantee greater box-office business.

Scene from the film……

And Higgins optimistically predicts that she will become an attractive lady to the men in town: “By george, Eliza, the streets will be strewn with the bodies of men shooting themselves for your sake before I’ve done with you.” When she resists his cold insults and stomps out, he tempts her back with chocolates: “Think of it, Eliza. Think of chocolates, and taxis, and gold, and diamonds!” And then to answer Pickering’s questions about the six month “experiment in teaching” while she is in his hands, Higgins describes what will happen – tongue in cheek:

Eliza, you are to stay here for the next six months learning how to speak beautifully, like a lady in a florist shop. If you’re good and do whatever you’re told, you shall sleep in a proper bedroom, have lots to eat, and money to buy chocolates and take rides in taxis. But if you are naughty and idle, you shall sleep in the back kitchen amongst the black beetles, and be walloped by Mrs. Pearce with a broomstick. At the end of six months, you shall be taken to Buckingham Palace in a carriage, beautifully dressed. If the King finds out that you’re not a lady, the police will take you to the Tower of London, where your head will be cut off as a warning to other presumptuous flower girls. But if you are not found out, you shall have a present of, uh, seven-and-six to start life with a lady in a shop. If you refuse this offer, you will be the most ungrateful, wicked girl, and the angels will weep for you. Now, are you satisfied, Pickering?

Source: http://www.filmsite.org