Meryl Streep in “Florence Foster Jenkins”
Meryl Streep portrays a real-life socialite and infamously bad singer in her latest movie “Florence Foster Jenkins.“Jenkins is a 1940s, New York-heiress pursuing her dream of becoming a great singer. The beautiful voice she hears in her head is a far cry from her own atonal vocals. Her husband and manager (Hugh Grant), is determined to keep the wool over her eyes or in her ears.
In Stephen Frears’s new film, Meryl Street is solidly invested in the folly of Florence Foster Jenkins’s dreams. https://t.co/TeHYGyFeRp— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) August 15, 2016
The art of awful singing
Streep is an accomplished singer but singing badly isn’t easy as director Stephen Strears explained:
“You can only sing badly if you are good singer, and Meryl is a very good singer,” he said.
Streep gave some insight into the role, revealing:
“I’ve never played anybody with so much joie de vivre. But… she had real challenges in her life physically, and in terms of her husband’s philandering, but she just soldiered on in spite of it all and that was very touching to me. She wasn’t in anguish in her life. She was protected from the truth by her husband, and she lived a happy life I think.”
“Screwing up” for a living
The film follows Jenkins as she prepares for her first large-scale performance at a sold-out Carnegie Hall. Streep gave some context to the real-life woman behind the character:
“She picked the most difficult arias in the coloratura canon, absolutely. And she screwed it up every time, but she knew them. She knew how they should be done and she really did try her very best. I discovered when listening to her recordings that it wasn’t how bad it was, it was how close it came to being almost good and that’s what made you want, as an audience, to root for her and then be disappointed.”
Florence Foster Jenkins Review – Rating: 7 out of 10 Cast: Meryl Streep as Florence Foster Jenkins Hugh Grant a… https://t.co/cvJ6xdTsEs— Fire Dancer }—— (FireAngel_z777z) August 13, 2016
Living your passion at all costs
Determined to deliver her best at the concert, after a 5-year-battle with syphilis, Jenkins is blissfully unaware that what sets her apart is her lack of talent. The film has been described as an ode to following your passion, no matter what people think.
Florence Foster Jenkins (A https://t.co/00u7iDwDQ4 Movie Review) https://t.co/ZeGIwwt5CF pic.twitter.com/SPXnQ4Wavp— PopEntertainment.com (@PopEntCom) August 13, 2016
“Florence Foster Jenkins” was released in the US on August 12 2016 and in the UK on May 6 2016.
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Postcards from Uzbekistan: Samarkand’s tradition of papermaking
This week in Postcards, the lost art of papermaking in Samarkand.
It is in a small factory known as Meros that a centuries-old tradition is being revived.
The paper made here was considered to be among the finest in the world, and today the Mukhtarov brothers are producing the same products by hand.
Key facts about Uzbekistan:
– It’s in Central Asia, with neighbours including Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan & Tajikistan
– With a population of more than 30 million, the ex-Soviet republic became independent in 1991
– The total land area is 425,400 km2, with plains covering about four fifths of the territory
– The average winter temperature is -6 degrees celsius and in summer it rises above 32
– Almost 80 percent of the population is Uzbek and the main religion is Muslim (88 percent)
Kneeling beside a small canal full of branches, Euronews’ Seamus Kearney reported: “And this is where it all begins, branches from mulberry trees soaked for 10 days.
“And then it’s the next step: the bark stripped off by hand, ready for the two-week process of being turned into paper.”
Visitors get the chance to see every delicate stage, including the pressing and polishing of the paper.
Samarkand guide Romiz Ahrorov told Postcards: “Today we still use an ancient grinding mechanism, which has been used for more than 2,000 years, to grind the inner bark into a mushy substance.”
And at the end of the fascinating process are top quality products, able to withstand the passage of time over hundreds of years.
Samarkand paper-makers revive Silk Road culture http://t.co/QIf86UtIF6— SACC (@SACC_L) December 22, 2014
Traditional silk paper making from mulberry trees, #Samarkand #Uzbekistan #SilkRoad pic.twitter.com/9mylknS4Rm— Carolyn Perry (@CarolynPPerry) July 29, 2016
‘..the paper trail flows majestically/over a 500yr period/from China to Samarkand/then to N.Africa/ before moving to pic.twitter.com/OSBODObuRG— Razia Khan (@raziakkhan) February 14, 2016
Samarkand’s revived silk paper making: mulberry bark is stripped, boiled, pounded to paste using water driven power pic.twitter.com/zHRFKnH5yH— Lyn Beazley (@LynBeazley) September 23, 2015
360° views of the wonders of Samarkand
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[360 ° video] Producing organic coffee and cocoa in Peru
You are inside the Urubamba Cooperative coffee and cocoa processing plant in the Southern Peru town of Quillabamba.
Coffee and cocoa produced by small land owners is brought here to be processed or stocked.
Here you can see how the cocoa beans are selected depending on their size. The bigger beans are more expensive.
The cooperative buys and sells two cocoa varieties, “Chuncho”, the local variety, and hybrid. Hybrid is good for quantity, but if you’re looking for quality you want Chuncho. These plants grow higher and they’re more difficult to harvest but they produce a wider variety of aromas, and more fat, perfect for chocolate production.
Peru ranks 8th among the main world cocoa producing countries. Around 15–25% of its coffee producers belong to cooperative organizations linked with international Fair Trade networks.
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Trump on Obama and ISIL: “I was being sarcastic but…”
So, he was being sarcastic…sort of.
Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump has backed down from comments calling Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama the founders of ISIL.
But he was still linking Obama to the militant group at a campaign event on Friday in Pennsylvania.
“I mean he let this happen,” Trump told supporters.
“They had eight states. They had eight countries. They are now 28 countries. They are expanding. So I said, the founder of ISIS – obviously I’m being sarcastic…but not that sarcastic to be honest with you – and they all said ‘He should not say that’.”
Clinton meanwhile has released her tax returns, piling more pressure on her billionaire rival to do the same. The New York businessman has cited an audit by the Internal Revenue Service as a reason for his refusal to do so.
Clintons release 2015 tax returns, which show they earned $10.6 million and paid federal tax rate of 34.2 percent. https://t.co/4S2jla8Box— The Associated Press (@AP) 12 août 2016
The IRS has said Trump can release his tax returns even while under audit.
Clinton’s tax returns have been made public, in some form, every year since 1977 and for presidential candidates
it has become a common custom.
Whether more transparency is the answer or not, Trump, it seems, needs to do something to boost his campaign with polls showing him losing ground to Clinton in key states.
A Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist poll released on Friday found Clinton widening her lead in Colorado, Virginia and North Carolina, while holding her advantage in Florida.
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US election: Trump overhauls campaign team again
Donald Trump has overhauled his election campaign team again, bringing in a new manager and CEO.
It is the Republican presidential nominees’ second shakeup in only two months and comes on top of sliding poll ratings against his democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Former investment banker Stephen Bannon will head the real-estate mogul’s new team while pollster Kellyanne Conway comes in as the campaign’s new manager. Trump has described them as ‘Big people’.
Despite maintaining his current title as campaign chairman, the latest overhaul is being widely seen as a demotion for Paul Manafort, who recently courted controversy due to his alleged links to the former ousted President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych.
The latest move follows a series of recent controversies involving the US presidential hopeful, which appear to have hit his support among voters.
Clinton confused, Trump takes it in his stride as protesters interrupt US rallies
Hillary Clinton was left looking somewhat confused when animal rights activists interrupted a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Democratic party’s presidential candidate was quickly surrounded by US secret service agents, who urged her to keep talking. She did just that and managed to turn a protest against her into a statement about her rival contender, Donald Trump.
“Okay, here we are,” she said, to cheers from her supporters. “Okay, we’ll keep talking and apparently these people are here to protest Trump, because Trump and his kids have killed a lot of animals, so thank you for making that point.”
You saw the Democratic Convention.Now, watch the never-before-seen footage from backstage:https://t.co/mMjJFr02Wk— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 4, 2016
No stranger to protesters, Trump appeared to take it all in his stride when a group stormed his event in Portland, Maine.
Some brandished copies of the constitution, while others chanted accusations of racism at the Republican nominee. They were swiftly removed amid boos from Trump’s supporters.
“Sort of rude, you know, when you think of it. We have people interrupting constantly. But actually, it hasn’t been happening much. It’s happening a little bit today, but it hasn’t been happening much. I sort of miss my protesters,” Trump told the crowd.
Thank you Portland, Maine! #MakeAmericaGreatAgain https://t.co/oVfF28rWL5 pic.twitter.com/RhblAXkNPw— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 4, 2016
A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll suggests the real estate mogul is now nine points behind Clinton following the conventions.
Although actor and director Clint Eastwood said he would support Trump as a vote against Clinton, backing within his party has waned in recent weeks.
Clint Eastwood gets candid about Trump, Hillary, and America’s ‘Kiss-ass generation’: https://t.co/Kapvy43y4S pic.twitter.com/cl7GuMPM5j— Esquire (@esquire) August 4, 2016
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A defiant apology from Trump over lewd comments about women
Donald Trump is in full damage control mode after the Washington Post released a video where he makes lewd comments about women.
He released a recorded apology pledging to be a better man before launching an attack on his opponent.
“Let’s be honest we’re living in the real world. This is nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we’re facing today. We are losing our jobs. We’re less safe than we were eight years ago. And Washington is totally broken. Hillary Clinton and her kind have run our country into the ground. I’ve said some foolish things but there is a big difference between the words and actions of other people,” he said in the video message.
In a video from 2005, the Republican presidential contender talks of how his star power meant he could grope females and make aggressive sexual advances on a married woman.
The disclosure of the tape comes at a critical time, with the second presidential debate scheduled for Sunday night, and many Republicans are scrambling to distance themselves from him.
Some analysts say it could be ‘game over’ for Trump. However, it is not the first time the end of his political ambitions has been predicted, and previous controversial remarks have failed to shake supporters from his side.
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Trump’s latest insult: “She is the devil”
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump threw another insult at his Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday, calling her a “devil” at a speech to supporters in Pennsylvania.
“He made a deal with the devil. She’s the devil. He made a deal with the devil,” he said, referring to Clinton’s former rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Bernie Sanders, who now urges his supporters to vote for Clinton.
In 2005 the two were close enough that Clinton was a front row guest at Trump’s wedding to Melania Knauss. And in an interview in 2012 Trump had described Bill Clinton as “a really good guy.” The Clintons’ daughter Chelsea is also a good friend of Trump’s daughter Ivanka.
Earlier on Tuesday Trump warned that the election in November could be “rigged.”
On Monday Trump had criticised the Muslim parents of an American soldier killed in Iraq, saying they had “viciously” attacked him.
Khizr Khan, the father of Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq, had challenged Trump, asking him what sacrifices he had ever made for his country.
Addressing supporters in Omaha, Nebraska on Tuesday Clinton laid into Trump’s reputation as a successful businessman.
With billionaire investor Warren Buffet at her side Clinton accused Trump of having something to hide in his financial dealings.
“We would like to see those tax returns wouldn’t we? My husband and I put out I think about 33 or 34 years worth, if you’re interested. He doesn’t even respect the American people enough to do what every other presidential candidate has done for decades and release them. It’s time for Trump to stop hiding,” she said.
But Trump insists an audit of his tax affairs simply hasn’t been completed yet. And he’s said there are no rules that force him to do so.
Clinton has been enlisting the support of billionaires in the hope that they can destroy Trump’s argument that only he has the business know how to become president.
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Obama gives ringing endorsement of Clinton
President Barack Obama, the star turn on the third day of the Democratic Party’s national convention, slammed Republican candidate Donald Trump’s vision of the United States as being under siege from illegal immigrants and terrorism.
He then panted an optimistic picture under Hillary Clinton.
“Black, white , Latino, Asians ,native Americans, young, old, gay, straight… men, women, both with disability pledging allegiance under the same proud flag to this big bold country that we love. That’s what I see, that’s the America that I know. And there is only one candidate in this race who believes in that future, has devoted her life to that future, a mother and a grandmother who would do anything to make our children thrive. A leader with real plans to break down barriers and blast through glass ceilings and widen the circle of opportunity to every single American: the next president of the United States: Hillary Clinton.”
Democratic President Obama also predictably described Clinton as being uniquely qualified for the White House.
Real talk, this moment was beautiful. Hillary looks happy and Barack mouths “You’ll do great. I’m so proud of you” https://t.co/tFD6tqYPVZ— Anika Punani Rose (@ItsNasB) July 28, 2016
Earlier US Senator Tim Kaine who said Trump was “a one-man wrecking crew”, accepted the nomination to become Clinton’s running mate.
The convention now awaits Clinton’s formal acceptance of the Democratic party’s nomination to run for president which takes place on the fourth and final day in Philadelphia.
Democrats have buttressed Clinton with a star gathering of current and past party notables at this week’s convention.
By contrast, many prominent Republicans were absent from the party convention that nominated Trump for the White House last week.
But Trump got a boost in opinion polls from his convention. He had a 2-point lead over Clinton in a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday, the first time he has been ahead since early May.
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Hillary vs Trump: get ready, things will get nasty
Euronews correspondent Stefan Grobe was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to attend the Democratic National Convention.
ROOMMATES AND DUCKS
Max, Ross and Tim. The trio of roommates are back but this time as ducks. Ducks with guns. We are ducks with guns. It's an awesome game. Anyway here's Duck Game.
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Fallout 4 NUKA WORLD
The Captain returns for adventures in Fallout 4's Nuka World on the PS4! Ready your raptor claws and get on that tram to Fizztop Mountain!
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Cute Kid Video | How to Wear A Shirt
My Family has 5 members. I, my wife, my son (Tom), my daughter (Jerry) and a dog named Bear.
Now my family has more 6 members because Bear born 6 Little Puppy.
Thanks for watching!
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