Perhaps Love

A Mainland director Nie Wen (Jacky Cheung) decides to make a film musical starring his Mainland girlfriend Sun Na (Zhou Xun) and Hong Kong actor Lin Jian-dong (Takeshi Kaneshiro). Unknown to him, Sun has met Lin before ten years ago when she was a cabaret singer in Beijing. The two had a relationship together then, when Lin was a film student. Ten years later, now a huge movie star, Sun refuses to acknowledge they have met before.

Nie plans his musical, which includes a plot where a girl loses her memory and comes to live with a circus troupe. Sun plays the amnesiac girl and Lin her former boyfriend who tries to revive her memories. As the shooting of the movie starts, reel life and real life overlap. Lin tries desperately to win back Sun's lost love, while Nie discovers their past romance. Nie himself plays the role of the obsessive circus owner in the musical, who is involved in a love triangle. Just like in real life, he has Lin as his rival.

Ji Jin-Hee plays Monty, a fantasy character who has a number of different roles in the movie (such as a noodle shop owner and a reporter).

The film is often compared to Moulin Rouge!, as it prominently features the device of a story within a story, which depicts a real-life love triangle between the actors themselves. Unlike Moulin Rouge! however, the musical numbers are limited to the inner show.

In an interview with the Malaysian newspaper The Star, director Peter Chan stressed that "Perhaps Love is a love story, not a musical. It's not even being promoted as a musical. It's not a musical in the conventional sense. My characters don’t break out into song. Initially, it was a challenge to balance the over-the-top element in musicals and the subtleties of a movie. In the end, the method I used to overcome that was to make a movie-within-a-movie." The interview appeared in the November 25, 2005 edition of The Star, as Peter Chan was in Kuala Lumpur to promote his film.

The film has also drawn comparisons to Bollywood, the Indian film industry famous for its musical films. The Hollywood Reporter described Perhaps Love as "Bollywood meets Bob Fosse." Bollywood director and choreographer Farah Khan choreographed the film, which featured nine Indian dancers who appeared in several musical numbers. The double-disc Region 3 editions of the film also contained a feature on the film's Bollywood dancers on the second disc.

Music director:Conn. killer's 'life has value'

　　
　　(AP Photo/Connecticut Department of Correction, File) This March 14, 2011 file photo released by the Connecticut Department of Correction shows Joshua Komisarjevsky, convicted Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011 on several counts related to the beating of Dr. William Petit Jr., and killing his...
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
NEW HAVEN, Conn. --
The director of a Christian music tour on Tuesday gave an impassioned plea to a jury to spare the life of a Connecticut man convicted of killing a woman and her two daughters, saying the man is remorseful and will someday need to explain his actions to his own daughter.
Mark Middlebrooks testified Tuesday in the sentencing phase of Joshua Komisarjevsky that Komisarjevsky was an "outstanding" member of the group, which traveled the United States and Western Europe in 1997 when he was about 17. Komisarjevsky worked as a lighting technician for the group.
"Josh's life has value because I know who he is beneath all the circumstances," Middlebrooks said, adding Komisarjevsky has a responsibility to seek redemption.
Middlebrooks also said Komisarjevsky will need to answer to his 9-year-old daughter someday when she asks, "What the hell were you thinking?"
He addressed Komisarjevsky directly at that point, saying he'll need to take responsibility, as Komisarjevsky's attorney put his hand on his client's shoulder.
Komisarjevsky, 31, was convicted of killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters in their Cheshire home in 2007. He faces life in prison or the death penalty.
Prosecutor Gary Nicholson reminded Middlebrooks of the gruesome details of the crimes, in which the victims were tied up for eight hours and the girls doused in gasoline before their house was set on fire. Nicholson asked if Komisarjevsky's conviction on all counts had no effect on him.
"It does have an effect on me," he said, nearly shouting and his face red. "It has an effect on me. I resent that."
Middlebrooks noted Komisarjevsky has a young daughter and parents who love him. Nicholson asked him if Adolf Hitler had parents and whether other killers have children, prompting an objection from the defense.
Middlebrooks traveled from Colorado to visit Komisarjevsky in prison after the crime.
"I'm here to advocate for Josh's life," he told the jury.
But he also said Komisarjevsky has "great culpability for what has happened."
"I'm aware of his remorse," he said.
Nicholson cited earlier testimony by Komisarjevsky's sister that he feels sorrow for the killings, but blames the sole survivor, Dr. William Petit, for not doing more to help his family. Petit was beaten with a bat and tied up but managed to escape to a neighbor's to get help.
Middlebrooks said Komisarjevsky, as a teenager, had been very good with his 3-year-old daughter during the two three-month tours.
Middlebrooks also recalled that Komisarjevsky was deeply affected when they visited a burn center in Trinidad and held the hand of a girl who was burned all over her body as she cried. That prompted Nicholson to remind the jury the two girls were killed in the house fire and that Komisarjevsky had been arrested before the tour for burning down a vacant garage.
He said Komisarjevsky was in legal trouble at the time he joined the group, called the Continentals. But Middlebrooks said he felt "compelled and burdened" to accept him for the tour, a decision he never regretted.
"He responded so well to me and my leadership," Middlebrooks said. "We developed a trust. I didn't have to worry about Josh."
Middlebrooks said Komisarjevsky told him about negative experiences he had earlier with Christian camps. He said he felt rejected by Christians because he was different or acted differently.
"He just felt somewhat discriminated against," he said.
Komisarjevsky's sister testified Tuesday that her parents didn't get counseling outside of church after he sexually abused her because they feared the state could break up the family.
The sister said her parents worried she or her brother could be removed from the home.
The sister told a jury Monday that Komisarjevsky sexually abused her as a child for years. Her name is being withheld by The Associated Press.
The defense says Komisarjevsky's religious family did not get him proper psychological treatment. His attorneys say he was sexually abused by a foster teen the family took into their home and later as a teen by someone else. Prosecutors say those claims came from Komisarjevsky and emerged years later when he faced prison time for 19 nighttime residential burglaries.
His sister said under cross-examination that she turned out successful even though she was raised in the same house and suffered sexual abuse as well.

Rising star Miranda Lambert reveals more facets to personality in new album, 'Four the Record'

　　
　　This Oct. 24, 2011 photo shows country singer Miranda Lambert in Nashville, Tenn. Lambert's latest release, "Four the Record," will be released on Tuesday, Nov. 1. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Producer Frank Liddell compares most country music stars to drivers in Manhattan. They circle and circle until they find a parking spot, and once they find one, they never want to leave.
Miranda Lambert found a roomy space in the shade when she released the career-changing "Revolution" in 2009.
"A lot of times, that parking place will dictate an artist's entire career," Liddell said. "Miranda, with this last record, she had a pretty good parking place. And she just drove right out of it without thinking twice about it."
You can hear where she's headed on her new album, "Four the Record," out Tuesday. It's Lambert's follow-up to the album that won her universal critical praise, enough fans to ratchet her career to the headliner level and a bushel of trophies, including a Grammy.
All conditions were right for Lambert to deliver a new version of "Revolution," repeating the blend of sass and smarts and a little bit of tenderness that turned out to be such a combustible mix. But the 28-year-old delivered something very different. There's still a little bit of that blonde firebrand who set country music ablaze in "Four," Lambert's fourth album. But the overall picture the album leaves you with is a little more sombre and mature.
"I'm one of those fortunate few, few, few artists that get to do what I want to do, make the album I want to make, with nobody telling me what it should sound like or what songs I should cut, and the best part about it is, people actually buy it," Lambert said.
Most emerging country stars would have spent time building their brand after such a career leap. She and new husband Blake Shelton appeared on the cover of Us Weekly after their wedding, the peak of the carnival atmosphere that surrounded the two over the last 18 months. With Shelton's turn on "The Voice," their visibility had never been higher, and the opportunities never more lucrative.
Lambert did the unexpected, though. Instead of chasing tour sponsors and endorsement deals, she's turned down most offers. Instead of trying to recreate those hit songs from her last album, she sought new writing partners and even considered a higher than usual percentage of songs from outside writers.
She also formed a band on the side, Pistol Annies, something of a maverick move in a town where such things are considered wastes of energy at best and brand killers at worst. With no radio airplay and little marketing, Pistol Annies' debut album "Hell on Heels" hit No. 1 on the Billboard country albums chart.
All of these things are unusual moves — and part of the plan that Lambert has put together with her manager, Marion Kraft.
"The interesting part about it is we think of expanding, not in a financial way, but we're thinking of expanding in a creative way where I feel like we are inspired by what we're doing and she gets better because she keeps re-inspiring herself," Kraft said. "That's how Pistol Annies came about, because we didn't fight it. ... The expansion that we are hoping will happen is that we broaden our fan base because we allow art to drive it rather than commerce."
It sure worked with the platinum-selling "Revolution." No. 1 songs like "White Liar" and "The House That Built Me" brought more fans into Lambert's camp and they fell for what they found. Those songs, Lambert said, were reflections of where she was when she recorded "Revolution," which won album of the year from both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.
"Four" finds Lambert somewhere a little different. She's grown up some, moving from young womanhood into maturity, and started a new life with her husband in Oklahoma. There's more humour here, probably thanks to the influence of the ever-funny Shelton, and more and deeper emotion.
There's still a little fuel for the fire on songs like "Fastest Girl in Town" and "Mama's Broken Heart." But from the first notes of opener "All Kinds of Kinds," a song about Horatio the Human Cannonball, the dog-faced boy and the three-ring circus that is life, "Four" little resembles her previous work. There's also "Over You," a song she wrote with Shelton about the death of his brother. And there's "Safe," which she wrote backstage while Shelton performed.
"I kind of felt that feeling come over me," Lambert said. "That's my fiance. That's going to be my husband. I'm going to keep him safe. I feel safe with him. So that's definitely some insight into my softer side."
Liddell, who has produced all of Lambert's albums, said she came to the studio this time with none of the nervousness she displayed in the recording of her previous albums. She would play the basic song for Liddell and her musicians, then turn the discussion over to the group.
"She just allows everything — courage and creativity and interesting musicianship — and doesn't get bogged down in little things, minutiae or what's expected of her, or the last hit on her last record," Liddell said. "None of that really comes in. If she feels it in her heart, she really starts pushing the buttons, and I think that's the most exceptional thing about her."

Doing it for the Kids: Music for Life Alliance

　　
　　During NAMM’s party-packed Saturday night, one of the top draws was Muriel Anderson’s All Star Guitar Night, featuring a cavalcade of talented guitarists including David Grissom, Lawrence Juber, Monte Montgomery and Muriel herself (check out our exclusive interviews with David Grissom, Rusty Cooley, Pete Anderson and Ladd Smith on page 66). However the real story lies in the organization benefiting from the show. The program, called the Music for Life Alliance, is largely funded by performances like the All Star Guitar Night, and its efforts put instruments in the hands of children across the country.
Muriel Anderson came up with the concept for the MFLA in 1998. After a series of thefts and break-ins in her neighborhood were attributed to drug-seeking youths, Muriel dug deeper and found only wealthy school districts in the area still had music education. “The root of the problem was that kids with emotional, spiritual and social needs found drugs much easier to come by than a guitar or a saxophone,” Muriel explains. “The self-actualization that playing an instrument provides can lift them up at a crucial time.”
She soon discovered there were already several organizations working individually on a local level, and her goal was to provide support and networking for these existing programs. “My vision was two-fold; first, I wanted to collect instruments for music programs in need, and second, I wanted to create a national database, giving grants and recognition to organizations making a difference in the lives of children through music.”
Ten years after Muriel’s original concept, the vision has come to fruition, with the help of dedicated volunteers (“I really couldn’t have done any of this by myself,” Muriel says). The MFLA hosts a database of 125 different national organizations that help further music education, and they work closely with groups across the country that collect and distribute instruments.
MFLA Secretary Treasurer John Wise says that each organization in the database is carefully evaluated. “We could just pull all of the 501s [charitable organizations] from the federal directory, but we research and have relationships with each one in the database.” He added that this is important because people who use the directory will know that each organization is completely legitimate and trustworthy.
The organizations range from Music for Lifetime Achievement, a St. Louis-based chapter of the MFLA that finds instruments and distributes them to children, to Guitars in the Classroom, a California program that helps teachers learn play guitar and how to incorporate the music into their own teaching. John estimates that Muriel comes up with about 50 percent of the organizations they help, finding many while on the road. In addition to helping organizations’ visibility, the MFLA also awards scholarships and grants to smaller organizations to help fund lessons, instrument repair and refurbishing.
MFLA’s most recent awardees are the Rachel Barton Foundation, which promotes awareness and appreciation of classical music; the W.O. Smith Nashville Community Music School, which offers music lessons to children of low-income families; and the Riekes Center, a mentoring organization that has classes in athletic fitness and nature awareness in addition to the creative arts.
“Even though it may be just a small drop of water towards a great thirst in this country, I know it makes a difference to one kid somewhere whose life was turned around by music. That’s what is truly rewarding,” says Muriel.

Country music star’s personal struggle inspires fight for life

　　

Country music star Collin Raye took up the mantle of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network in September and is using his personal story of loss to promote the sanctity of life. 　　The singer has 15 number one hits, 25 top ten songs and five country music nominations for Best Male Vocalist of the Year. He explained to The Daily Caller the mission of the Life & Hope Network.
“The ultimate goal is to work toward saving people until a day comes when something like [Terri’s case] never happens again,” Ray said. “But in the meantime it is happening on a day basis, every single day with people who are being denied food and water — and not on extraordinary means of life support.”
Terri Schiavo’s family started the organization after her death. The Florida woman died of starvation and dehydration in 2005 after her husband won a court battle to remove her feeding tube.
Raye’s cause is also a personal one. He watched his young granddaughter Haley die of an undiagnosed disease and, early on, he made the decision to keep his wife Connie on life support when she fell into a nine-week coma due to complications from the early birth of their son Jacob.
“Moral of the story is, nobody is going to tell me that in Terri’s case, or people like her, it’s a slam-dunk what their quality of life is going to be,” Raye said of his wife’s recovery. “You cannot determine that. It it not up to any other human being whether it be a medical panel or hospital panel or a doctor or a family member who just wants to move on.”
While The Life & Hope Network has been fighting for people who are in Terri’s condition, its work has attracted controversy.
In May, WTSP news in St. Petersburg, Fla. reported that Michael Schiavo threatened to sue the foundation for misusing Schaivo’s name.
The foundation’s funding picture has also become controversial. According to WTSP, the Life & Hope Network’s 2008 tax return showed that while it took in $91,568, the Schindler family retained 64 percent of the funds ($59,275).
The Schindler family’s attorney explained to WTSP that the high amount of money going to employee salaries is due to the relatively low funding level in general.
Raye, however, says standing up for life is central to what it means to be American.
“The preamble of the Declaration of Independence is ‘Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.’ Everybody forgets about the ‘Life’ part,” he said. “There is a lot of concern with ‘the Pursuit of Happiness’ and plenty concern about ‘Liberty.’ There is not as much with life, and our Founding Fathers put that first, because without the the other two don’t mean much. ”
Raye says more than 1,000 families have sought out the organization’s help.