Monday, November 29, 2010

Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Other Celebs Log-Off Twitter On World AIDS Day 2010 To Keep A Child Alive




ART can save a life. ART as in Anti-Retroviral Therapy, the protocol that has proven effective in suppressing HIV, prohibiting the virus from progressing to AIDS, and for patients already living with AIDS, to have a better quality of life.

Wednesday December 1 2010 marks the 23rd World AIDS Day. In observance, Alicia Keys will be logging-off Twitter until the fund raising goal of $1 million dollars has been achieved for Keep A Child Alive. Ms Keys is co-founder and global ambassador of Keep A Child Alive. KCA provides medical care, housing, education, and other forms of support for children in Africa and India who are battling HIV/AIDS. BuyLife.org is collaborating with KCA. Joining Ms Keys in the social media log-off are Swizz Beatz, Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian, Willow and Jaden Smith, and other notables. Contributions to "buy a life" may be donated by text messaging, barcoding, or credit/debit card. Resuscitate a celeb from "digital death" and help Keep A Child Alive.

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

TCM Moguls And Movie Stars A Seven Part Documentary Series On The History Of Hollywood Episode 1 Peepshow Pioneers

film reel and clapboard photo by sookietex


TCM's seven part series Moguls and Movie Stars imparts a history of movie making from the late 17th century to the 6th decade of the 20th century. Some may be surprised to learn that while movie making came of age in Hollywood, it was not born there. Cinema's impetus resulted from an device by Danish mathematician Thomas Rasmussen Walgensten. Walgensten's invention was upgraded by Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens. The device was a prototype slide projector known as Laterna Magica or "a magic lantern". Theoretically it was actually the ancient Greeks, and later Leonardo da Vinci who first had the idea for such a contraption, but there is no documentation that they were able to produce a functioning projector.

Jumping ahead a few centuries to New Jersey in the USA, the "wizard of menlo park" Thomas Alva Edison announces he "plans to create an instrument that would do for the eyes, what the phonograph does for the ears".

Fear not gentle viewer, TCM's doc does not limit itself to science and formulae. The series effortlessly flows toward the grit, gossip, glam, and glitz that evolved into modern day Hollywood.

TCM's Moguls And Movie Stars airs new episodes Mondays at 8:00pm with a replay at 11:00pm and on Wednesdays at 10:00pm If you've missed the previous week's installment those episodes replay Mondays at 7:00pm

As always suggested, please check your local listings.