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POPSMichael Jackson's This Is It A concert rehearsal film starring Michael Jackson. Directed by Kenny Ortega. 111 minutes. At major theatres Appropriate to Halloween week, ghoulish questions abounded going into last night's preview of Michael Jackson's This Is It, which opens worldwide Wednesday.
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POPSJust A Bad Bear Day - Sorry Bear How we do love to use animals for our entertainment!!! Unfortunately they are more intelligent than we give them credit for - I don't blame it for breaking loose. I mean if you were the bear, wouldn't you want to break free as well??? :-)
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POPSBeijing National Stadium (bird's nest) designer didn't get an invitation to the Opening Ceremony ?!!
Q: You’ve coined the phrase, “pretend smile,” as a label for China’s Olympic effort. Why? Ai: I did say it’s a “pretend smile.” I was questioning whether it’s possible for a society that doesn’t have democracy to excite the joys and celebrations of its people. Q: What disappoints you about China’s Olympic effort? Ai: The biggest disappointment is that China has fallen short of its promises, which is, “One World One Dream,” or to show the world a “New China, New Beijing, New Olympics.” I doubt there’s anything new here. What we’re seeing are the deep-rooted lack of courage and confidence, and the want for real happiness and civil participation. Instead, we see more of inept management and a blind sense of self-defense. Q: How can China benefit from the Olympics? Ai: Maybe China and its people will further realize that today’s world cannot be divided. China has common political, cultural and economic interests with the rest of the world. The only way for it to produce wonders is
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POPSHello,sweet Prince New York audiences tend to respond differently from London ones, but it is never clear in advance how this will play out. “When you’re faced with ‘To be or not to be,’ in the first rehearsal,” Mr. Law said, “there’s a sense of ‘Oh, God, I’m stepping into the world’s greatest cliché.’ But without sounding like a naff old actor, I’m Hamlet, and what a great way to question life and death.” He added: “The reason they’re so famous is because they’re beautifully written and incredibly powerful pieces of dialogue. Never underestimate the power of these lines. Our language is littered with words and phrases from this play, and we use them because we have not, in 400 years, found a better way of putting things.”
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POPSPina Bausch 1940 - 2009 More than that, they're part of a very personal rehearsal process. Bausch questions her dancers, who answer in speech or movement. The questions cover memories, relationships, responses to particular situations. She might ask them to imitate one another, to do something they are ashamed of, to act out a mood. Sometimes the prompt is just a word or a sentence. The answers give Bausch her raw material: gestures, dialogue, scenes, which she builds into stage works. Bausch creates images that stick in your mind: the carnation field, the couples whose games get stuck in a rut. Her performers are committed, daring and raw. Audiences argue about Bausch: exasperated by her fractured collages, or swept along by her creation of pictures, of relationships, of unspoken atmospheres.