Taking advantage of a sudden surge of internet, here’s today’s newsletter…
Lively “Deadwood:” Look for veteran actor (and self-proclaimed erudite) Peter Coyote to guest on HBO’s most excellent and gritty “Deadwood” starting with the June 13th episode called “Sold Under Sin.” Coyote plays Gen. Crook (Peter Coyote) who heads up "Custer's Avengers."
Testing Time: Following the trend of the seemingly endless home “makeover” shows, HGTV will introduce “Designer Finals” centering on student interior designers. With a $2,000 budget, a handful of helpers, and advice from a mentor and the homeowners themselves, each student is challenged to create and execute a bold design in two days. Debuts Saturday, August 14 at 9 p.m.
Quincy Jones' "We Are the Future" concert is scheduled for May 16, 2004 in Rome, Italy. "We Are the Future," created by music icon Quincy Jones 19 years after producing the legendary "We Are the World" recording session, will take over Rome's Circus Maximus for a global web- and tele-cast to draw attention to the alarmingly high mortality rates among children in countries hit hardest by war. The event is free, but a portion of the proceeds from the concert's broadcast and related merchandise sales will benefit "We Are the Future" programs, including the creation of child centers in six cities worldwide. The first center opened April 8, 2004 in Kigali, Rwanda. Other centers will open later this year in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, and on the West Bank. To date, the "We Are the Future" performance line-up includes Eve, Norah Jones, Alicia Keys, Patti Austin, Josh Groban, Juanes, Andrea Bocelli, Herbie Hancock, Zucchero, Youssou N'Dour, the casts of Stomp and Cirque du Soleil, Take 6, Angelique Kidjo, Carmen Consoli, Karina, Kazem Al Sahir, Khaled, Noa, Rifat Salamat Ali Khan, Simon Shaheen, Tarkan, and Soundz of South Africa, among others. Celebrity presenters include Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie, Naomi Campbell, Chris Tucker, Francesco Totti and Serena Williams, among others.
Connie Cuts Up: Connie Nielsen wore a Pamella Roland blouse to the Tribeca Film Festival Closing Awards Ceremony Sunday evening. Nielsen, one of the festival's jurors, chose an ivory crepe blouse with cutout shoulders and scarf tie detail, paired with her own jeans. She’ll star with Benjamin Bratt and Joseph Fiennes in Ghost Soldiers. She also carried a sparkling silver Daniel Swarovski Paris kiosque bag.
Little Monk: When he was six years old, a Tibetan boy nicknamed "Little Potato" was sent by his family to live in a monastery. Teenage filmmaker Chaille Stovall, who was granted unprecedented access to the Tibetan community in exile, documents the youngster's journey, chronicling his Transformation from boy to monk, when “Little Monk” debuts SUNDAY, JUNE 13 at 6:30 p.m. on HBO Family.
Family Man: Look for our friend Ed Begley, Jr. in “Life on Liberty Street” on the Hallmark Channel, May 19th at 9 p.m. He plays Ricks overprotective father, a high-powered attorney whose guise of control masks deep-rooted grief and guilt. Annabeth Gish stars as Denise DeFiore, a burned-out nurse and single mom who reluctantly takes a job at a rehabilitation facility and becomes caretaker of a young man with a traumatic brain injury. Ethan Embry portrays Rick Spencer, the former academic and athletic star who was injured in an auto accident as a teen but now, in his mid-twenties, is determined to make his own way in the world. Through their physical, mental and emotional challenges, these three damaged spirits discover the healing power of love and forgiveness.
Va-Va Voom Van Helsing: A few days ago we admired Kate Beckinsale’s colorful choice of dress for the Carson Daly show. The dress was by fellow Brit, designer Matthew Williamson. The dress was lavender/pink silk chiffon with empire waist and silk flower at the bust for soft detailing, from the Fall 2004 collection. She wore it with Jimmy Choo shoes.
Speaking of “Van Helsing,” while it’s not as bad as “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” it does suffer from infusing too many familiar mythologies. The special effects are amazing, but Richard Roxburgh, proves, as he did in “Sherlock Holmes,” that he just chews up the scenery if his director (here also the writer) doesn’t tether him. It’s distractingly – and mistakenly – played too seriously – and garners unintentional laughs.
Swinging Sinatra: Love Frank Sinatra, but hate infomercials? Then go directly to www.sinatracollection.com, which is promoting 14 albums from his time at Capitol Records.
Frank Sinatra - The Concept Albums
Songs for Young Lovers/Swing Easy (2 albums)
In The Wee Small Hours
Songs For Swingin' Lovers
Close To You
A Swingin' Affair
Where Are You?
Come Fly With Me
Only the Lonely
Come Dance With Me
No One Cares
Nice 'N' Easy
Sinatra's Swingin' Session
Come Swing With Me
Point Of No Return
Furer Still Fascinates: With “Hitler’s Secretary” and the documentary that examined the possibility that Hitler, responsible for the deaths of so many homosexuals, was covering up his own proclivities, it seems like the old killer Fascist is still fascinating. HBO has announced the new documentary, “Hitler’s Pawn” which explores the hopes and
heartaches experienced by Margaret Lambert, a Jewish athlete training to compete for the German Olympic team in the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin. It premieres Wednesday, July 14th at 10 p.m. Born Gretel Bergmann in Germany in 1914, Margaret Lambert developed into a superior athlete during the late '20s and '30s, excelling in the highjump. Her dream of competing for Germany in the Olympics was clouded by the rise of the Nazi Party early in the 1930s, when Jewish athletes were being expelled from German sports clubs.
During that turbulent decade, Bergmann's life became intertwined
with the political movement that was dominating Germany. When it was important for the Germans to show foreign countries and dignitaries that their athletics were open and free of discrimination, she was allowed to compete. But the story of how Bergmann was set up and abandoned on the eve of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin is a chilling reminder of the discrimination endured by Jews in Nazi Germany.
Held up as a bold example of how Germany was not discriminating in
athletics - which would help ensure that Berlin would not be forced to
relinquish the '36 Games -- Bergmann was unconscionably bounced from
the Olympic Team a few weeks before the opening ceremonies. Though teams were permitted to field as many as three high jumpers for the Games, Germany chose at virtually the last minute to reduce its team to two high jumpers and keep Bergmann out of the competition.
Crushed, Bergmann left her homeland in May 1937 and moved to the
United States. Settling in New York, she began to compete again, but
Never forgot the disappointment of 1936.
In HITLER'S PAWN, Bergmann, who married fellow athlete Bruno Lambert and became Margaret Lambert, returns to Germany 68 years later, revisiting her hometown athletic fields. She reunites with German teammate Elfride Kaun, who was allowed to compete in the Berlin Games. Their competition as world-class athletes had been respectful and friendly before the Games; Kaun was wrongly led to believe that Bergmann was sidelined by injuries for the '36 Olympics. This emotional reunion in Berlin caps Lambert's long odyssey.
