Rosa Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called “the first lady of civil rights”, and “the mother of the freedom movement.” Born February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama, Parks grew up when racism and discrimination was a norm in African American cultures. She made a name for herself in civil rights circles when she refused to obey a white bus driver and move to the back of the bus, so someone white could take her seat in the front of the bus. Parks’ act of defiance became a major player in the civil rights movement and caught the attention of leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. Click HERE to read Rosa Parks Bio Below we take a look at the life of Rosa Parks through a timeline of the major events in her life… 1913 – This Rosa Parks timeline starts on February 4, 1913 when Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her parents were James McCauley, a carpenter and Schoolteacher Leona McCauley 1928 – She attends Booker T. Washington High School for ninth grade, but drops out when her grand mother becomes seriously ill and subsequently dies 1932 – December 18: Marries Raymond Parks, a barber, at 19. 1945 – WW2 ends and Rosa Parks receives her certificate for voting after three attempts 1946 – June 3: The U.S. Supreme Court banned segregation in interstate bus travel Aug 10 : Race riots occur in Athens, Alabama 1949 – Rosa and her husband Raymond work with Montgomery branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP’s) programs. Rosa Parks acts as secretary and later a youth leader 1955 – August: Rosa Parks meets Martin Luther King November 25: The Interstate Commerce Commission bans segregation in buses and all waiting rooms involved in interstate travel December 1: Rosa Parks is arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to give her seat on the bus to a white passenger. She is arrested, fingerprinted, jailed by police and fined $14. December 5 : She stands trial and is found guilty of breaking the segregation laws. December 5 : Martin Luther King becomes the president of the Montgomery Improvement Association which was organized due to protest against the incident involving Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott begins which will last 381 days. 1956 – January: Rosa Parks loses her job as a seamstress at Montgomery Fair December 21: The Montgomery buses are desegregated and black passengers could legally take any seat on the city’s buses 1979 – Rosa Parks receives NAACP’s Spingarn Medal 1987 – Rosa founds the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development with long time friend Elaine Eason Steele which offers guidance to young blacks 1992 – Rosa publishes her first book, “Rosa Parks My Story” 1998 – April 21: The Rosa Parks Museum and Library is opened at her arrest site in Montgomery, Alabama September 2 : The Rosa L. Parks Learning Center is opened. Rosa is also inducted into the International Women’s Forum Hall of Fame 2003 – October 29: Rosa Parks is honored with the International Institute Heritage Hall of Fame Award. She is then diagnosed with progressive dementia. 2005 – October 24: Rosa Parks dies on in her Detroit home “I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free… so other people would be also free.” – Rosa Parks
Everyone wants to be the one to discover the next low-budget and/or indie supernatural shocker, the stylish, wicked little thing that scares the bejesus out of you and sends you running to your friends, saying, “You’ve gotta see this!” UK filmmaker Ben Wheatley’s Kill List isn’t that wicked little thing — not by a long shot. Yet it’s a frustrating case. Wheatley drops enough unnerving bread crumbs in the first two-thirds to leave you wondering where the hell he’s headed, and even the big finale should be satisfying enough: It just belongs to a different movie, and it’s unsettling in a way that doesn’t feel earned. That Kill List begins, seemingly, as a standard domestic drama is just one of Wheatley’s intentional red herrings. (He co-wrote the script with Amy Jump.) In the movie’s opening scene Jay (Neil Maskell) is bickering with his wife, Shel (MyAnna Buring), in the presence of their somewhat daft-looking young son, Sam (Harry Simpson). It turns out Jay, an altogether regular-looking and somewhat doughy husband type, hasn’t worked for months: He’s a hit man and the hits just haven’t been coming, since he botched his last job. Then buddy and former associate Gal (Michael Smiley) shows up at the couple’s home for a dinner party, a leggy stretch of girlfriend in tow: He wants to loop Jay into a gig he’s been offered, which requires offing a number of targets. Meanwhile, the sultry, doe-eyed girlfriend, Fiona (Emma Fryer), who looks pretty friendly and normal-like (she explains to her hosts that she works in “human resources”), slips into the couple’s bathroom, removes a mirror from the wall, and does something funny to the back of it. It’s the first of the movie’s numerous “What the — ?” moments, some of which involve episodes of grim brutality that are at first discreetly presented, and then less so. That’s part of Wheatley’s MO: When the violence first kicks off, he cuts away, lulling you into thinking he’s not going to be exploitive. Surprise! Get ready for – and there’s a minor spoiler ahead, though it has nothing to do with the movie’s allegedly supershocking finale – seeing a bunch of brains blown all over a table, like the contents of the world’s ewkiest piñata. Later, we’re treated to a partial view of a rabbit skinning – yum! Should we commend Wheatley – who previously made the 2009 crime comedy Down Terrace – for putting us off guard only to pull the rug out from us? Or is he really just being a sneaky cheat? The more I think about Kill List, the cheaper its shockeroo tactics seem, despite the fact that through its first two-thirds, the picture is compelling almost in spite of itself. Kill List features lots of unapologetic art-house cutting: Scenes are edited into jagged shards, the better to dislocate us with. And in places, it’s bitterly funny. When Jay and Gal approach the first mark on their list – I won’t tell you who it is, but it’s the type of person neither you nor I would be particularly happy about killing – Gal says dryly, “Well, at least it’s not a toddler.” But the plot of Kill List depends too much on Jay’s descent-into-madness routine, and it doesn’t quite wash. This is definitely a guy with a habit of flying off the handle: He threatens physical harm to a bunch of meek, happy Christians who break into a spirited rendition of “Onward Christian Soldiers” in a restaurant. (OK, maybe that’s not so bad.) The idea is that this seemingly devoted family man has, you know, a dark side. This is a guy who’s so used to killing without reason that he no longer needs a reason: Kill List has been carefully and disingenuously front-loaded with post-Iraq meaning. And that’s before it takes a sharp left turn into Wicker Man -style folderol. Kill List is meticulously designed to be a cult film, which means it can never truly be one: It grabs its audience by the collar instead of beckoning seductively and carelessly. The conclusion of Kill List would be more unsettling if the subtle gradation of clues leading up to it didn’t raise so many unanswered questions, just for the hell of it. A mysteriously infected hand, instances of people thanking other people for things they haven’t even done yet – those could have been superb little macabre touches, if only they’d been woven more tightly into the narrative and not just left dangling like shabby hangnails. By the time Kill List jumps off the deep end into occulty weirdness, it’s almost too late for shock value. The ending is designed to make us recoil in horror. But you might be left wondering why you’d bothered with any of it in the first place. Follow Stephanie Zacharek on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
The heroes and heroines of old-fashioned ghost-story flicks resemble the average horror fan more closely than any other of the genre’s archetypes. Amateur ghostbusters like The Innkeepers ’s Claire (Sara Paxton), for instance, troll spooky hallways and scour dank basements for thrills, which is to say without the real threat of physical harm. We go to movies like The Innkeepers , Ti West’s follow-up to his delightful old-school creep-out The House of the Devil , to explore and experience fear from a similarly safe remove. Like the average horror fan, Claire can be her own worst enemy; on both sides of the screen, much depends on the question of whether one can be scared to death. Along with her laconic co-clerk Luke (Pat Healy), winsome, asthmatic Claire is the only staff on site at the Yankee Pedlar Inn during its closing weekend. A grand old establishment with a rumor-laden pedigree, the inn has only a few last guests to deal with, including a harried mother and son (Alison Bartlett and Jake Ryan) and a fading television actress named Leanne Rease-Jones (Kelly McGillis). The fact that a couple of low-ranking attendants have been left to close up the joint adds to the cavernous building’s feeling of abandonment. Like all haunted houses, the emptiness of this one poses a mournful and ominous question: Where did all the people go? Luke and Claire have an idea of where at least one wound up. The legend of a bride who committed suicide on her wedding day and was left to rot in the inn’s basement fuels their idle, overtime chatter. Luke is working on a crude, paranormal activity-type web site and claims to have seen the undead bride once; Claire, bored and curious, marshals his electronic voice phenomena kit and pokes around for sound vibrations. The first two “chapters” pass congenially, as characters come and go and we’re played for a couple of cheap scares. Unlike Devil , which builds slowly to an almost excruciating peak of tension, The Innkeepers is dotted with dead-end sequences — a YouTube prank, a bat in the attic — that break up a sometimes sluggish pace but also promote a certain aimlessness in the narrative. More so than in West’s previous film, which worked on its own steam right up until the end, The Innkeepers feels like a devoted horror fan’s attempt to reinvent a classic genre by sheer force of quality. Without a strong story to dance with, all of those fabulous tracking shots, lovingly uncanny art direction details and flickering shafts of light can make The Innkeepers feel more like an exercise in craft than a scary movie. Still, there is pleasure in Paxton’s slightly daffy, tomboyish take on the final girl and in McGillis’s welcome, perfectly anomalous presence. Leanne turns out to be something of a ghost whisperer, and it’s fun watching McGillis sell some pretty fruity lines between pulls on her cigarette. Luke is an intermittent and oddly diffident player in what becomes Claire’s adventure, although they share a pivotal and terrifically frightening séance scene toward the end. He warns Claire that chasing spirits has serious side effects — you’ll start seeing things everywhere you go, he says, you’ll warp your radar for what’s real and what’s not. It sounds like a statement of ambition for the best kind of ghost story, which is ultimately what The Innkeepers turns out to be. Follow Michelle Orange on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
SXSW routinely boasts the most varied and neverending film line-up of the year, and the just-announced 2012 behemoth of a roster is no exception. So let’s make it a wee bit easier to take in, shall we? After the jump find the buzzworthiest titles among the 100+ features and documentaries debuting this March in Austin , from major upcoming studio peeks ( 21 Jump Street ) to docs (a new Jessica Yu!) and much smaller (but potentially completely awesome) fare. 21 Jump Street Last year’s big mainstream discovery at SXSW was Bridesmaids ; this year it’s Sony taking the gamble with a headlining sneak peek at their cop reboot, which stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as undercover officers. The Cabin in the Woods The Joss Whedon-produced, Drew Goddard-directed horror pic has been delayed for so long, and yet earned such praise out of Butt-Numb-A-Thon. The biggest curiosity of the fest, perhaps, if only to finally learn what the deal is with this thing. The Hunter Willem Dafoe as a mercenary + Julia Leigh novel + brooding character pic + strong reviews out of Toronto = a must see. frankie go boom Jordan Roberts’ entry, which stars Charlie Hunnam, Chris O’Dowd, Lizzy Caplan, Ron Perlman, and Chris Noth, had me at its synopsis: “a flick by bruce about his little brother frank who’s a crybaby fuck who shouldn’t do lame-ass embarrassing shit if he dozn’t want people 2 see it.” Small Apartments The latest from Jonas Akerlund — music video veteran, director of Spun , and the dude who made that Lady Gaga/Beyonce “Telephone” opus — gets its world premiere at SXSW. Sun Don’t Shine Indie darling Amy Seimetz makes her feature directorial debut in this tale of a Florida couple on the road doing “very bad things.” It’s been described as being “inspired by Two-Lane Blacktop , Deliverance , Woman Under the Influence and reoccurring nightmares” and co-stars indie community cohorts Kate Lyn Sheil and AJ Bowen. Casa de mi Padre A special screening of the Will Ferrell Spanish-language comedy on the eve of its nationwide release; the Austin, TX crowd should be an interesting barometer for how this’ll fly around the country. Below, find the full features line-up (Midnight selections have yet to be announced) and let us know which films catch your eye. — NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION This year’s 8 films were selected from 1,112 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere. Films screening in Narrative Feature Competition are: Booster Director/Screenwriter: Matt Ruskin When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted. Cast: Nico Stone, Adam DuPaul, Seymour Cassel, Kristin Dougherty, Brian McGrail (World Premiere) Eden Director: Megan Griffiths, Screenwriters: Richard B. Phillips, Megan Griffiths, Story by: Richard B. Phillips & Chong Kim A young Korean-American girl, abducted and forced into prostitution by domestic human traffickers, joins forces with her captors in a desperate plea to survive. Cast: Jamie Chung, Matt O’Leary, Beau Bridges, Jeanine Monterroza, Scott Mechlowicz (World Premiere) Gayby Director/Screenwriter: Jonathan Lisecki Jenn and Matt, best friends since college who are now in their thirties, decide to have a child together, the old-fashioned way – even though Matt is gay and Jenn is straight. Cast: Jenn Harris, Matthew Wilkas, Mike Doyle, Anna Margaret Hollyman, Jack Ferver (World Premiere) Gimme the Loot Director/Screenwriter: Adam Leon When Malcolm and Sofia’s latest graffiti masterpiece is buffed by a rival gang, these two determined Bronx teens must hustle, steal, and scheme to get spectacular revenge and become the biggest writers in the City. Cast: Tashiana Washington, Ty Hickson, Meeko, Zoe Lescaze, Sam Soghor (World Premiere) Los Chidos (Germany / Mexico / USA) Director/Screenwriter: Omar Rodriguez Lopez The Gonzales family tries hard to hold on to their beautiful Latino traditions of misogyny and homophobia when a tall, white, industrialist stranger appears, challenging their place in the exploitative food chain. Cast: Kim Stodel, María De Jesús Canales Ramírez, Manuel Ramos, Cecillia Gutiérrez, (World Premiere) Pilgrim Song Director: Martha Stephens, Screenwriters: Martha Stephens, Karrie Crouse A pink-slipped music teacher ponders his stalled relationship and place in the world during an arduous trek across Kentucky’s Sheltowee Trace Trail. Cast: Timothy Morton, Bryan Marshall, Karrie Crouse, Harrison Cole, Michael Abbott Jr. (World Premiere) Starlet Director: Sean Baker, Screenwriters: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch The film explores the unlikely friendship between 21-year-old Jane (Dree Hemingway), and 85 year-old Sadie (Besedka Johnson), two women whose worlds collide in California’s San Fernando Valley. Cast: Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Stella Maeve, James Ransone, Karren Karagulian (World Premiere) The Taiwan Oyster Director: Mark Jarrett, Screenwriters: Mark Jarrett, Jordan Heimer, Mitchell Jarrett Two Ex-Pat Kindergarten teachers in Taiwan embark on a quixotic odyssey to bury a fellow countryman. Cast: Billy Harvey, Jeff Palmiotti, Leonora Lim (World Premiere) DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION This year’s 8 films were selected from 845 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere. Films screening in Documentary Feature Competition are: Bay of All Saints Director: Annie Eastman As the last of the notorious water slums is demolished in Bahia, Brazil, will three single mothers face homelessness or rally for a better life? (World Premiere) Beware of Mr. Baker Director: Jay Bulger Ginger Baker is the original rock ‘n roll madman junkie drummer superstar who everyone thought was dead but somehow survived 50+ years of heroin abuse, disastrous experiments and 5 marriages on 4 continents. (World Premiere) The Central Park Effect Director: Jeffrey Kimball The film reveals the extraordinary array of wild birds who grace Manhattan’s celebrated patch of green, and the equally colorful, full-of-attitude New Yorkers who schedule their lives around the rhythms of migration. (World Premiere) Jeff Director: Chris James Thompson A documentary about the people around Jeffrey Dahmer during the 1991 summer of his arrest for the murder of 17 people in Milwaukee. (World Premiere) Seeking Asian Female Director: Debbie Lum When an American man with “yellow fever” meets a Chinese woman half his age online, documenting their attempt to build a marriage from scratch reveals hilarious and troubling complications for the couple and the filmmaker. (World Premiere) The Sheik and I Director: Caveh Zahedi Commissioned by a Middle Eastern Biennial to make a film on the theme of “art as a subversive act,” independent filmmaker Caveh Zahedi (I am a Sex Addict) is threatened with a fatwa. (World Premiere) The Source Directors: Jodi Wille, Maria Demopoulos The Source Family was a radical experiment in ’70s utopian living. Their popular restaurant, rock band, and beautiful women made them the darlings of Hollywood; but their outsider ideals led to their dramatic undoing. (World Premiere) Welcome To The Machine Director: Avi Zev Weider Upon fathering triplets, filmmaker Avi Zev Weider explores the nature of technology, seeking answers about what it means to be human. (World Premiere) HEADLINERS Big names, big talent: Headliners bring star power to SXSW, featuring red carpet premieres and gala film events with some major and rising names in cinema. Films screening in Headliners are: 21 Jump Street Directed by: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, Screenplay by: Michael Bacall, Story by: Michael Bacall & Jonah Hill Police officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) get sent back to high school as undercover cops in the action-comedy 21 Jump Street. Cast: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle, with Ice Cube (World Premiere) BIG EASY EXPRESS Director: Emmett Malloy Emmett Malloy’s latest film invites us aboard a train ride unlike any other with Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros and Old Crow Medicine Show. (World Premiere) The Cabin in the Woods Director: Drew Goddard, Screenwriters: Joss Whedon & Drew Goddard Five friends go to a remote cabin in the woods. Bad things happen. If you think you know this story, think again. From fan favorites Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard comes The Cabin in the Woods, a mind-blowing horror film that turns the genre inside out. Cast: Kristen Connolly, Fran Kranz, Anna Hutchison, Chris Hemsworth, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, and Bradley Whitford (World Premiere) Decoding Deepak Director: Gotham Chopra Filmmaker Gotham Chopra spends a year on the road decoding his father and spiritual icon Deepak Chopra. (World Premiere) Girls Director/Screenwriter: Lena Dunham Created by and starring Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture), the HBO show is a comic look at the assorted humiliations and rare triumphs of a group of girls in their early 20s. Cast: Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet, Adam Driver (World Premiere) The Hunter (Australia) Director: Daniel Nettheim, Screenplay by: Alice Addison, Novel by: Julia Leigh, Original Adaptation by: Wain Fimeri A mercenary is dispatched from Europe to the Tasmanian wilderness by a mysterious biotech company to search for the last surviving Tasmanian tiger. Cast: Willem Dafoe, Frances O’Connor, Sam Neill (U.S. Premiere) Killer Joe Director: William Friedkin, Screenwriter: Tracy Letts A garish, Southwestern tale – a violent black comedy about a desperate Texas debtor (Hirsch) who plots to kill his mother with help of his family (Haden Church, Gershon). They hire a crazy Dallas cop who moonlights as a contract killer (McConaughey) to do the job, but Killer Joe asks for their teenage daughter (Temple) as a retainer. The film is based on Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts’ (August: Osage County) award winning play. Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Gina Gershon, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church (U.S. Premiere) MARLEY (UK / USA) Director: Kevin Macdonald The definitive life story of Bob Marley – musician, revolutionary, legend – from his early days to his rise to international superstardom. Made with the support of the Marley family, the film features rare footage, incredible performances and revelatory interviews with the people that knew him best. Directed by Academy-Award-Winner Kevin Macdonald. (North American Premiere) NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT High profile narrative features receiving their World, North American or U.S. Premieres at SXSW. Films screening in Narrative Spotlight are: The Babymakers Director: Jay Chandrasekhar, Screenwriters: Peter Gaulke, Gerry Swallow Unable to impregnate his wife, Tommy and friends rob a sperm bank – to get Tommy’s long-ago donated sperm back. The crazy plan goes hilariously awry and shows how far a couple will go to create a new life. Cast: Paul Schneider, Olivia Munn, Kevin Heffernan, Wood Harris, Nat Faxon (World Premiere) Crazy Eyes Director: Adam Sherman, Screenwriters: Adam Sherman, Dave Reeves & Rachel Hardisty Just another story about love. Cast: Lukas Haas, Madeline Zima, Jake Busey, Tania Raymonde, Regine Nehy (World Premiere) Do-Deca-Pentathalon Director/Screenwriter: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass Two brothers compete in their own private 25-event Olympics. Cast: Mark Kelly, Steve Zissis, Elton LeBlanc (World Premiere) Fat Kid Rules The World Director: Matthew Lillard, Screenwriters: Michael M.B. Galvin, Peter Speakman Troy, a depressed overweight teenager, gets sucked into the punk rock world by Marcus, a charming street musician. But when Troy discovers Marcus’ drug addiction, he suddenly must figure out the true boundaries of friendship. Cast: Jacob Wysocki, Matt O’Leary, Billy Campbell, Lilli Simmons, Dylan Arnold (World Premiere) frankie go boom Director/Screenwriter: Jordan Roberts a flick by bruce about his little brother frank who’s a crybaby fuck who shouldn’t do lame-ass embarrassing shit if he dozn’t want people 2 see it Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Chris O’Dowd, Lizzy Caplan, Ron Perlman, Chris Noth (World Premiere) Hunky Dory (UK) Director: Marc Evans, Screenwriter: Laurence Coriat From the producer of Billy Elliot comes this funny, coming of age film featuring songs from artists such as David Bowie, Lou Reed, The Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, Dusty Springfield and Electric Light Orchestra. Cast: Minnie Driver, Aneurin Barnard, Danielle Branch, Robert Pugh, Haydn Gwynne (North American Premiere) In Our Nature Director/Screenwriter: Brian Savelson Taking place over a single weekend, an estranged father and son accidentally end up in the same country house with their two girlfriends. Cast: Zach Gilford, Jena Malone, John Slattery, Gabrielle Union (World Premiere) Keyhole (Canada) Director: Guy Maddin, Screenwriters: Guy Maddin, George Toles I’m only a ghost… but a ghost isn’t nothing. Cast: Isabella Rossellini, Jason Patric, Udo Kier, Kevin McDonald, Tattiawna Jones (U.S. Premiere) See Girl Run Director/Screenwriter: Nate Meyer What happens when a 30-something woman allows life’s “what ifs” to overwhelm her appreciation for what life actually is. Disregarding her current obligations, she digs into her romantic past in hopes of invigorating her present. Cast: Robin Tunney, Adam Scott, Jeremy Strong, William Sadler, Josh Hamilton (World Premiere) Small Apartments Director: Jonas Åkerlund, Screenwriter: Chris Millis When Franklin Franklin accidentally kills his landlord, he must hide the body; but, the wisdom of his beloved brother and the quirks of his neighbors, force him on a journey where a fortune awaits him. Cast: Matt Lucas, Billy Crystal, James Caan, Johnny Knoxville, Juno Temple (World Premiere) Somebody Up There Likes Me Director/Screenwriter: Bob Byington Time flies for everyone: Thirty-five years in the life of Max, his best friend Sal, and a woman they both adore. A deadpan fable about time sneaking up on and swerving right around us. Cast: Keith Poulson, Nick Offerman, Jess Weixler, Stephanie Hunt, Kevin Corrigan (World Premiere) DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT Shining a light on new documentary features receiving their World, North American or U.S. Premieres at SXSW. Films screening in Documentary Spotlight are: $ELLEBRITY Director: Kevin Mazur Renowned celebrity photographer, Kevin Mazur, gives us an all access pass to the life behind the velvet rope and in front of the camera. Candid, revealing and bold interviews with Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Lopez, Elton John and more, take us inside the blurred lines of privacy, pliable journalism, celebrity, fame and what it feels like to be consumed. (World Premiere) America’s Parking Lot Director: Jonny Mars Pull up a front row seat as two die-hard fans of ‘America’s Team’ spend their last season with the Dallas Cowboys at historic Texas Stadium, and scramble to preserve their place in America’s Parking Lot. (World Premiere) The Announcement Director: Nelson George On Thursday, November 7, 1991, Earvin “Magic” Johnson made the stunning announcement that he was HIV-positive and would be retiring from basketball immediately. The Announcement gets to the core of Magic’s incredible personal journey. (World Premiere) Beauty Is Embarrassing Director: Neil Berkeley A funny, irreverent and inspirational look into the life and times of one of America’s most important artists, Wayne White. (World Premiere) Brooklyn Castle Director: Katie Dellamaggiore Amidst financial crises and unprecedented public school budget cuts, Brooklyn Castle takes an intimate look at the challenges and triumphs facing members of a junior high school’s champion chess team. (World Premiere) Code of the West Director: Rebecca Richman Cohen Frames a high stakes showdown in the halls of the Montana State Legislature. The future of medical marijuana is at stake. (World Premiere) Degenerate Art: The Art and Culture of Glass Pipes. Director: M. Slinger A true document of the art and culture of glass pipe-making. It is the first film to ever bring to light this invisible sub-culture in a comprehensive and well-informed format. (World Premiere) Girl Model Directors: A. Sabin, David Redmon Young Russian girls join a modeling agency to seek work in Japan, but get caught up in an unregulated system that reveals an unseemly side of the fashion industry. (U.S. Premiere) Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters Director: Ben Shapiro Acclaimed photographer Gregory Crewdson’s 10-year quest to create a series of haunting, surreal, and stunningly elaborate portraits of small-town American life — filmed with unprecedented access as he makes perfect renderings of a disturbing, imperfect world. (World Premiere) Just Like Being There Director: Scout Shannon Through the eyes of Daniel Danger, Jay Ryan, and the gig poster community, Just Like Being There focuses on poster artists, the music they commemorate, MONDO film posters, fans, bloggers, galleries, collectors and everything in between. (World Premiere) Scarlet Road (Australia) Director: Catherine Scott The film follows the extraordinary work of Australian sex worker, Rachel Wotton. Impassioned about freedom of sexual expression and the rights of sex workers, she specializes in a long over-looked clientele – people with disability. (North American Premiere) Trash Dance Director: Andrew Garrison A choreographer finds beauty and grace in garbage trucks, and against the odds, rallies reluctant city trash collectors to perform an extraordinary dance spectacle. On an abandoned airport runway, two dozen sanitation workers — and their trucks — inspire an audience of thousands. (World Premiere) Waiting For Lightning Director: Jacob Rosenberg From the producers of Step into Liquid, comes the story of visionary skateboarder Danny Way, who jumped China’s Great Wall and created a new movement in sport. (World Premiere) Wikileaks: Secrets & Lies (UK) Director: Patrick Forbes The in-depth story of Wikileaks told by all the key players. Sulphurous, personal and moving, it documents history in the making at the lawless frontier of new technology and mainstream media. (North American Premiere) WONDER WOMEN! The Untold Story of American Superheroines Director: Kristy Guevara-Flanagan This documentary examines the fascinating evolution and legacy of Wonder Woman and introduces audiences to a dynamic group of real life superheroes who continue to fight the good fight both on and off the screen. (World Premiere) EMERGING VISIONS Audacious, risk-taking artists in the new cinema landscape that demonstrate raw innovation and creativity in documentary and narrative filmmaking. Films screening in Emerging Visions are: Black Pond (UK) Directors: Tom Kingsley, Will Sharpe, Screenwriter: Will Sharpe An ordinary family is accused of murder when a stranger dies at their dinner table. Stars BAFTA-winner Chris Langham and British Comedy Award Winner Simon Amstell. Cast: Chris Langham, Simon Amstell, Amanda Hadingue, Colin Hurley, Will Sharpe (North American Premiere) Dollhouse (Ireland) Director/Screenwriter: Kirsten Sheridan Five street teens break into a house in a rich Dublin suburb for a night of partying. But games are twisted into something more emotional and ultimately out of control through a series of surprising revelations. Cast: Seana Kerslake, Johnny Ward, Kate Stanley Brennan, Shane Curry, Ciaran McCabe (North American Premiere) Eating Alabama Director: Andrew Beck Grace A quest to eat locally becomes a meditation on community, the South and sustainability. Eating Alabama is a story about why food matters. (World Premiere) Electrick Children Director/Screenwriter: Rebecca Thomas Rachel, a 15-year-old fundamentalist Mormon, believes she’s had an immaculate conception by listening to rock and roll. She flees to Las Vegas to escape an arranged marriage, seeking answers to her mysterious pregnancy. Cast: Julia Garner, Rory Culkin, Liam Aiken, Billy Zane (North American Premiere) Extracted Director/Screenwriter: Nir Paniry A scientist is trapped in the memories of a criminal and must solve a crime in order to get back home to his family. Cast: Sasha Roiz, Dominic Bogart, Jenny Mollen, Nick Jameson, Brad Culver (World Premiere) Francine (Canada / USA) Director/Screenwriter: Brian M. Cassidy, Melanie Shatzky Academy-Award-winner, Melissa Leo, plays Francine, a woman struggling to find her place in a downtrodden lakeside town after leaving behind a life in prison. Cast: Melissa Leo, Keith Leonard, Victoria Charkut (North American Premiere) Funeral Kings Director/Screenwriter: Kevin Mcmanus, Matthew Mcmanus For three 14-year-old boys at St. Mark’s Middle School, it’s always a good day for a funeral. Cast: Dylan Hartigan, Alex Maizus, Jordan Puzzo, Charles Odei, Kevin Corrigan (World Premiere) Hard Labor (Brazil) Director/Screenwriter: Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra Helena prepares to open her own business: a neighborhood grocery store. She hires a maid. But when her husband Octavio is suddenly fired from his job, Helena is left to support the family alone. Cast: Helena Albergaria, Marat Descartes, Naloana Lima, Marina Flores (U.S. Premiere) La Camioneta – The Journey of One American School Bus Director: Mark Kendall On a 3,000-mile adventure across the borders between the Americas, La Camioneta follows the journey of one out-of-service American school bus as it is repaired, repainted and resurrected into a Guatemalan camioneta. (World Premiere) The Last Fall Director/Screenwriter: Matthew A. Cherry An NFL journeyman struggles to deal with life’s complexities after his professional career is over at age 25. Cast: Lance Gross, Nicole Beharie, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Harry Lennix, Keith David (World Premiere) Leave Me Like You Found Me Director/Screenwriter: Adele Romanski Big trees, broken hearts. The story of a lovesick couple’s breakup & makeup while camping in the wilds of California. Cast: Megan Boone, David Nordstrom (World Premiere) PAVILION Director/Screenwriter: Tim Sutton Max, a quietly troubled 15-year-old, leaves his lakeside town to live with his father on the sun-blasted fringe of suburban Arizona. What begins in a calm and lush environment ends in a drastic, frayed confusion. Cast: Max Schaffner, Zach Cali, Cody Hamric, Addie Barlett, Aaron Buyea (World Premiere) Sun Don’t Shine Director/Screenwriter: Amy Seimetz Two lovers, on the back roads of Florida, do very bad things. Cast: Kate Lyn Sheil, Kentucker Audley, AJ Bowen, Kit Gwinn, Mark Reeb (World Premiere) Sunset Stories Directors: Silas Howard, Ernesto Foronda, Screenwriter: Valerie Stadler When May returns to LA and runs smack into JP, the man she left behind, past and present collide sending them on a twenty-four hour journey in search of what they lost. Cast: Monique Curnen, Sung Kang, Joshua Leonard, Mousa Kraish, Michelle Krusiec (World Premiere) Tchoupitoulas Director: Bill Ross, Turner Ross Three young brothers’ immersive journey into the sensory wonders of the New Orleans night. (World Premiere) Thale (Norway) Director/Screenwriter: Aleksander L. Nordaas The film revolves around huldra, a mythical, tailed creature, found by two crime scene cleaners in a concealed cellar. Someone’s been keeping her down here for decades, for reasons soon to surface. Cast: Silje Reinåmo, Jon Sigve Skard, Erlend Nervold, Morten Andresen (North American Premiere) Wildness Director/Screenwriter: Wu Tsang A magical-realist portrait of the Silver Platter, a historic bar in Los Angeles that provides a safe space for Latin/LGBT immigrant and queer art communities to come together in love and conflict. WOLF Director/Screenwriter: Ya’ke Smith A family is shaken to the core when they discover their son has been molested. As they struggle to deal with the betrayal, their son heads towards a total mental collapse. Cast: Irma P. Hall, Mikala Gibson, Jordan Cooper, Shelton Jolivette, Eugene Lee (World Premiere) 24 BEATS PER SECOND Showcasing the sounds, culture and influence of music and musicians, with an emphasis on documentary. Films screening in 24 Beats Per Second are: Amor Cronico (Cuba / USA) Director: Jorge Perugorria Weaving footage of singer Cucu Diamantes’ Cuban tour into a fictional love story. The result is an energetic display of her glamorous and infectious performance style and a fascinating portrait of Cuba today. Cast: Cucu Diamantes, Adela Legra, Liosky Clavero, Andres Levin, Jorge Perugorria (World Premiere) Bad Brains: Band in DC Directors: Mandy Stein, Benjamen Logan How four young men from DC changed music forever. (World Premiere) Charles Bradley: Soul of America Director: Poull Brien The incredible late-in-life rise of 62-year-old aspiring soul singer Charles Bradley, whose debut album rocketed him from a hard life in the projects to Rolling Stone magazine’s top 50 albums of 2011. (World Premiere) Daylight Savings Director: Dave Boyle, Screenwriters: Dave Boyle, Michael Lerman, Joel Clark, Goh Nakamura After a devastating breakup, musician Goh Nakamura hits the road with his irresponsible cousin to pursue a promising rebound with fellow musician Yea-Ming Chen. Cast: Goh Nakamura, Michael Aki, Yea-Ming Chen, Lynn Chen, Ayako Fujitani (World Premiere) Grandma Lo-fi: The Basement Tapes of Sigrídur Níelsdóttir (Iceland / Denmark) Director: Kristín Björk Kristjánsdóttir At the tender age of 70 she started making music – and then she couldn’t stop! A tribute to the Danish/Icelandic artist and late bloomer Sigrídur Níelsdóttir. Paul Williams Still Alive Director: Stephen Kessler A documentary filmmaker tracks down actor/singer/songwriter Paul Williams in an attempt to find out what happened to his idol. (U.S. Premiere) Rock ‘N’ Roll Exposed: The Photography of Bob Gruen (UK) Director: Don Letts Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry, Yoko Ono, Alice Cooper, Billie Joe Armstrong and others discuss the incredible life and work of the world’s foremost rock ‘n’ roll photographer, Bob Gruen. (North American Premiere) Sunset Strip Director/Screenwriter: Hans Fjellestad The 100-year history of the loudest street on the planet, The Sunset Strip. (World Premiere) Under African Skies Director: Joe Berlinger Paul Simon returns to South Africa to explore the incredible journey of his historic Graceland album, including the political backlash he received for allegedly breaking the UN cultural boycott of South Africa designed to end the Apartheid regime. Uprising: Hip Hop & The LA Riots Director: Mark Ford 20 years after riots ripped through Los Angeles, Uprising documents how hip hop forecasted – and some say ignited – the worst civil unrest of the 20th century. (World Premiere) SX GLOBAL A diverse panorama of international filmmaking talent, including premieres, interactive documentaries and shorts. Films screening in SX Global are: BIJUKA (India) Director: Ashtar Sayed, Screenwriter: Dr. Mahendra Purohit Inspired by a true event. Scarecrow tells the true story of a young woman who is attempting to escape from an abusive arranged marriage. Cast: Arti Rautela, Amit Purohit (North American Premiere) Crulic – The Path to Beyond (Romania / Poland) Director: Anca Damian The animated documentary feature-length “Crulic – The Path to Beyond” tells the story of the life of Crulic, the 33-year-old Romanian who died in a Polish prison while on hunger strike. Cubaton – El Medico Story (Estonia / Sweden) Director: Daniel Fridell El Medico – a Cuban house doctor who wants to become a cubaton star – is facing a serious choice between serving the state and becoming a popstar. (North American Premiere) Her Master’s Voice (UK) Director: Nina Conti Watching someone talk to themselves has never been so interesting. (World Premiere) ITALY LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT (Italy / Germany) Directors: Gustav Hofer, Luca Ragazzi Gustav and Luca, two Italians, have to decide: Should they stay in Italy, or leave it? (North American Premiere) Mustafa’s Sweet Dreams (Greece / UK) Director: Angelos Abazoglou Mustafa, a 16-year-old pastry shop apprentice dreams of becoming a famous baklava chef in Istanbul. (North American Premiere) Pompeya (Argentina) Director: Tamae Garateguy, Screenwriters: Tamae Garateguy, Diego A. Fleischer When a film director hires two screenwriters to make a gangster movie, a fiction feast starts: femmes fatales, mobs fighting for the same neighborhood and a limitless hero who defies every movie concept. Cast: José Luciano González, Joel Drut, Chang Sung Kim, Vladimir Yuravel, Miguel Forza de Paul (U.S. Premiere) ¡Vivan las Antipodas! (Germany / The Netherlands / Argentina / Chile) Director: Victor Kossakovsky Haven’t we all wondered at some point what was happening just at this moment beneath our very feet at the other side of the planet? FESTIVAL FAVORITES Acclaimed standouts and selected previous premieres from festivals around the world. Films screening in Festival Favorites are: Beast (Denmark) Director/Screenwriter: Christoffer Boe How long will you go, to hold on to the person you love? Cast: Nicolas Bro, Marijana Jankovic, Nikolaj Lie Kaas The Comedy Director: Rick Alverson, Screenwriters: Robert Donne, Colm O’Leary Indifferent even to the prospects of inheriting his father’s estate, Swanson (Tim Heidecker), a desensitized, aging Brooklyn hipster, strays into a series of reckless situations that may offer the promise of redemption or the threat of retribution. Cast: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, James Murphy, Kate Lyn-Sheil, Alexia Rassmusen Dreams of a Life (UK / Ireland) Director: Carol Morley An imaginative quest to go beyond the newspaper reports and solve the mystery of who thirty-eight year old Joyce Vincent was and why she lay undiscovered for three years after her death in one of the busiest parts of London. (North American Premiere) God Bless America Director/Screenwriter: Bobcat Goldthwait Loveless, jobless, possibly terminally ill, Frank has had enough of the downward spiral of America. With nothing left to lose, Frank takes his gun and offs the stupidest, cruelest, and most repellent members of society. Cast: Joel Murray, Tara Lynne Barr (U.S. Premiere) The Imposter (UK) Director: Bart Layton In 1994 a 13-year-old disappears without trace in Texas. Three years later he resurfaces in Spain with accounts of a horrifying kidnap. His family is overjoyed – but all is not as it seems. Indie Game: The Movie (Canada) Directors: Lisanne Pajot, James Swirsky With the twenty-first century comes a new breed of artist: the indie game designer. These innovators design and program their distinctly personal games in the hope that they may find connection and success. KID-THING Director/Screenwriter: David Zellner A fever-dream fable about Annie, a rebellious girl devoid of parental guidance or a moral compass. She roams the countryside looking for adventure, and finds it one day in the form of an abandoned well. Cast: Sydney Aguirre, Susan Tyrrell, Nathan Zellner, David Zellner, David Wingo Last Call at the Oasis Director: Jessica Yu A powerful argument for why the global water crisis will be the central issue facing our world this century. Lovely Molly Director: Eduardo Sanchez, Screenwriters: Eduardo Sanchez, Jamie Nash Exploring the parallels between psychosis, addiction and demonic possession, Lovely Molly tells the story of what really happens before the exorcist arrives. Cast: Gretchen Lodge, Johnny Lewis, Alexandra Holden (U.S. Premiere) The Raid (Indonesia) Director/Screenwriter: Gareth Huw Evans Rama and his special forces team fight their way through a rundown apartment block with a mission to remove its owner, a notorious drug lord. Cast: Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Doni Alamsyah, Yayan Ruhian, Pierre Gruno WE ARE LEGION: The Story of the Hacktivists Director: Brian Knappenberger We Are Legion takes us inside the world of Anonymous, the radical “hacktivist” collective that has redefined civil disobedience for the digital age. SPECIAL EVENTS Live Soundtracks, cult re-issues and much more. Our Special Events section offers unusual, unexpected and unique film event one-offs. Films screening in Special Events are: An Evening With Sacred Bones Records Director: Jacqueline Castel Brooklyn-based record label Sacred Bones presents an evening of original and curated programming of music videos, short films, works in progress, and a rare screening of their first film production, Twelve Dark Noons. (World Premiere) Bernie Director: Richard Linklater, Screenwriters: Richard Linklater, Skip Hollandsworth Based on real-life events, this dark comedy follows Bernie Tiede, his recently deceased friend Marjorie Nugent and District Attorney Danny Buck Davidson who is determined to get to the bottom of the crime. Cast: Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey, Brady Coleman, Richard Robichaux Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me Director: Drew Denicola A feature-length documentary about the massive critical acclaim, dismal commercial failure, and enduring legacy of pop music’s greatest cult phenomenon, Big Star. (Work in Progress) Casa de mi Padre Director: Matt Piedmont, Screenwriter: Andrew Steele Will Ferrell plays a Mexican rancher who must defend his father’s home against the country’s most infamous drug lord. Cast: Will Ferrell, Gael García Vernal, Diego Luna, Genesis Rodriguez, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Nick Offerman Girl Walk // All Day Director/Screenwriter: Jacob Krupnick A feature-length dance music film that combines freestyle dance with the daily chaos of New York City, set to Girl Talk’s recent mashup album, All Day. Cast: Anne Marsen, John Doyle, Daisuke Omiya Re:Generation Director: Amir Bar Lev 5 DJ’s Turn the Table on The History of Music. Renga (UK) Directors: Adam Russell, John Sear A ground breaking feature-length show controlled entirely by the audience using laser pointers. It is the first viable example of a standalone interactive experience capable of running in commercial movie theatres. (North American Premiere) The Oyster Princess (1919) with original live score by Bee vs. Moth (Germany) Director: Ernst Lubitsch, Screenriters: Hanns Kraly & Ernst Lubitsch The Oyster Princess is Ernst Lubitsch’s tart 1919 silent comedy that parodies the rich and the spoiled. Austin jazz/rock band Bee vs. Moth performs their original score live with the film for the first time. (World Premiere)
MTV News spoke to a trio of ‘Factor’ experts about the departures of Nicole Scherzinger, Paula Abdul and Steve Jones. By James Montgomery Steve Jones and Nicole Scherzinger on “X Factor” Photo: FOX Reactions to the departures of “X Factor” host Steve Jones and judges Nicole Scherzinger and Paula Abdul seem to run the gamut from “all but expected” (that would be poor Jonesy, who never truly seemed to find his footing as emcee) to “jaw-dropping shock” (that’s the consensus over Abdul’s axing , especially since show producers made it seem that she and Simon Cowell were a tandem deal). And while folks can debate how the trio’s exits will impact the show, seemingly everyone can agree that, when “X Factor” returns for its second season later this year, it will most certainly be a very different show — one that faces an uphill battle to not only win over viewers, but deliver on the promises Cowell made when it first debuted. “This is a new beginning, this is hitting reset,” Detroit News pop music writer and MTV News contributor Adam Graham said Tuesday (January 31). “I never thought the changes were going to be this drastic. … I think it means that [the producers] are serious, and I think it means that they’ve acknowledged that they haven’t delivered the product they hoped to, and going through a change like this means they want to make it better and they want to deliver on the promise of this big show that many view as a failure, especially after Simon Cowell made all these proclamations about it when it first premiered.” “I think [Scherzinger and Jones] were both marked for death by early December, if not Thanksgiving, and I would have been shocked if either one of them came back,” added Michael Slezak, who covers reality TV for TVLine.com . “I don’t think Paula did a terrible job … [and] I think her getting the ax sends a much bigger message, like, ‘We’re not just going to make a couple of little changes. We’re pretty much reinventing the show from the ground up.’ ” So where does “X Factor” go from here? Well, for starters, it has to find some folks to replace the recently departed trio — a task that may be easier said than done, given the show’s rather rocky first season. “There’s rumors that [Cowell] wants to bring Mariah Carey on. … Simon’s always had this idea that ‘X Factor’ was going to be like ‘American Idol’ on steroids, so getting someone like Mariah would be huge,” said Lyndsey Parker, managing editor of Yahoo! Music. “But I don’t know if she would do it, because is the show now considered a sinking ship? I think the image of ‘X Factor’ is a little tarnished; the ratings weren’t what Simon said they were going to be. I have doubts about how successful any of the people who got signed from the show are going to be, so now, I think a little bit of the cachet of joining Simon’s new venture, when they’re already making massive cast switch ups one season in.” “I think where Simon is at in his career, it wouldn’t shock me if he just goes for a big name … but you can get the biggest star in the world, you can get someone who hosted the Oscars, like Ellen DeGeneres, and they still can’t handle giving live criticism,” Slezak said. “It’s one thing to be a big-name star; it’s another thing to be fast enough on TV to be able to watch a 90-second performance, be able to form an opinion immediately and then give a quick, succinct, honest assessment of that performance and to be willing to do that.” And frankly, it may not matter who Cowell and company bring in for the second season of the show. If you listen to those who covered it, the damage may have already been done, and the abrupt dumping of three members of the on-air team may not be enough to turn the tide. “In a lot of ways, I think all of this is sort of a real acknowledgement that ‘X Factor’ failed and needs a complete reinvention,” Graham said. “I don’t know if just getting rid of three people is enough to do that.” “There’s no doubt that there’s reality-competition fatigue right now. … It’s almost like there’s just too many types of these shows on the air, and it’s basically year-round,” Slezak added. “They’ve got to convince people that it’s worth investing their whole fall to watching it and convince people that they’ve changed enough to deserve a second chance. Now they’re up against it, and the fact that it wasn’t a huge phenomenon like ‘American Idol’ makes it easier to ignore.” Will “X Factor” ever live up to the hype? Well, for the time being at least, the high-profile departures have certainly returned the public’s focus to the show. The real key to its survival seems to be what Cowell does next. “In the short term, if you believe any publicity is good publicity, people are talking about ‘X Factor’ for perhaps the first time since the finale. And there’s going to be a lot of people speculating and debating about who they’d like to see replace Steve and Paula and Nicole,” Parker said. “Changes to shows always get people talking … but in the long term, if they run into more chemistry problems again, I think the show is going to be considered a bit of a joke. So I hope Simon casts the show wisely.” What do you think the “X Factor” exits mean? Let us know in the comments!
Romney’s deluge of negative campaign ads seemed to have their desired effect. By Gil Kaufman Mitt Romney Photo: Joe Raedle/ Getty Images TAMPA, Florida — Mitt Romney climbed back into the driver’s seat Tuesday (January 31) with a big win in the Florida primary . Shortly after polls closed, CNN projected that Romney would win the state with 47 percent of the vote to Gingrich’s 31 percent. Thanks to his two solid debate appearances and his huge money advantage over Newt Gingrich, Romney seemed relaxed and confident in the 24 hours before the results came in when MTV News spent time trailing the campaign all over the state. With more than 4 million GOP voters eligible to vote in the primary, early reports indicated that between 1.5 million and 2 million could cast votes. The win is an important one for Romney for several reasons. It erases the memory of his five-point loss to Senator John McCain in the 2008 Florida primary , and it also means that this time he scoops up all 50 delegates in the winner-takes-all state. He was helped along by the massive infusion of cash for (mostly) negative ads attacking Gingrich funded by his own campaign and the Restore Our Future SuperPac, which outspent Gingrich and his allied Pac, Winning Our Future, by a 4-to-1 margin. Together, the men spent more than $20 million on the bruising battle in the important swing state with the highest foreclosure rate and one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation. In a stark contrast to the three previous contests, according to CNN exit polls in Florida, Romney finally broke through to young voters (18-29), a group he had previously not clicked with. While Romney had reliably scored with older voters, in Florida, he won 39 percent of the youth votes to 26 percent for Congressman Ron Paul, 23 percent for Gingrich and 12 percent for Rick Santorum. In part, Paul lost his usual pull with young voters in the Sunshine State because Tuesday’s contest was a “closed” primary, which meant that only registered Republicans, and not independents, could cast ballots. The Libertarian-leaning Paul did not spend much time campaigning in Florida, preferring to focus on the upcoming Nevada primary on Saturday. He came in a distant fourth place with just 7 percent of the vote, bested by former Pennsylvania Senator Santorum (13 percent), who was forced to quit campaigning over the weekend to attend to a sick child. There were also not early results on if the state’s controversial new voter-registration laws had any impact on the turnout. Should they stay in place through the general election in November — there are currently several lawsuits attempting to overturn the laws — some voting-rights advocate worry they could have a suppressive effect on a number of traditionally Democrat-leaning voting blocs, including young and minority voters. The next contest takes place Saturday in Nevada. MTV is on the scene in Florida! Check back for up-to-the-minute coverage of the primaries and stick with PowerOf12.org throughout the 2012 presidential election season. Related Videos Florida Primary: The Race Is On!
Actress opens up about her own role-model status and her 2011 MTV Movie Awards speech during ‘MTV First: This Means War.’ By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Taylor Swift and Reese Witherspoon Photo: Christopher Polk/ACMA2011/Getty Images At the 2011 MTV Movie Awards when Reese Witherspoon took the stage to accept her Generation Award , she used the moment to stand up for every young woman out there. During her headline-making speech, she proudly told the girls watching the show that “I know it’s cool to be bad. I get it … but it’s also possible to make it in Hollywood without a reality show.” Now, many months later, Witherspoon sat down with MTV News on Tuesday (January 31) for ” MTV First: This Means War. ” And, during the lengthy chat, she opened up about her speech. “Well, I have a 12-year-old daughter, and I take it all very seriously. I think there’s not a lot of positive images out there for young women, honestly,” she explained. “I don’t know, I just feel like shining the light on the good was an incredible move on MTV’s part and that you don’t have to sell yourself short and objectify yourself in order to be popular or liked or loved. And there’s many different ways to the watering hole and you can maintain you self-respect and still accomplish things. “I don’t watch certain reality shows but there’s ones where people are doing cool, interesting things, like ‘Project Runway.’ But I’m not into women hating on other women or hitting each other or beating the crap out of each other to make money for a bunch of other people,” she continued. “I think that’s not what I want my kids to see.” That feminist stance has made her the go-to role model for a new generation of stars, including Taylor Swift , who cites her as one of her idols. “I think it’s an accumulation of life experiences and hopefully you handle yourself with grace and dignity and life and that’s all you can hope for and hope to pass on to people,” she said of her own role-model status. “And I think [Swift is] just an exemplary young lady,” she added. “It’s kind of interesting to see what a profound songwriter she is. I don’t even think anyone has realized, the long term is going to be the bigger revelation. It’s incredible how quickly she writes songs. We’ve hung out a couple of times; we live near each other in Nashville.” Related Videos MTV First: This Means War Related Artists Taylor Swift
3 years is all this nasty f**k gets??? A defrocked Roman Catholic priest who admitted molesting more than 20 children in California has been sentenced to three years in prison in Ireland for possessing child pornography, court officials said Tuesday. Oliver O’Grady, 66, was arrested in Dublin in December 2010 after leaving a computer containing pornographic images of children on a flight from Amsterdam. O’Grady worked in northern California from 1971 until 1993, when he was arrested for abusing two brothers. He served seven years in prison and was deported to his native Ireland in 2000. He later moved to the Netherlands for several years. O’Grady was the subject of the Academy Award-nominated 2006 documentary “Deliver Us From Evil.” In the film he spoke openly of abusing more than 20 children as he was shuffled from one parish to another in California through the 1970s and 80s. The Dutch Catholic Church came under fire in 2010 after it emerged that O’Grady had been working as a church volunteer in the city of Rotterdam. O’Grady had been living in the country under another name, but parishioners recognized him when “Deliver Us from Evil” was aired on Dutch television. By that time, the disgraced ex-cleric had already left the country. O’Grady had pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing child pornography. The Irish Courts Service said he was sentenced Monday at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. Source More On Bossip! EWWWW!!! What In The Everloving Hell Is Dripping Down Christina Aguilera’s Leg?!?!?!?! Little Guys With Big Swag: Men Of Miniature Proportions Who Stay High On Self-Esteem Lemme Check Your Phone: People That Were Always Jealous Of Their Boo Thangs So What If They Have Issues…The Hottest Pictures Of Women That Have Been Chopped Down By Athletes Pt. 2
More On Bossip! EWWWW!!! What In The Everloving Hell Is Dripping Down Christina Aguilera’s Leg?!?!?!?! Little Guys With Big Swag: Men Of Miniature Proportions Who Stay High On Self-Esteem Lemme Check Your Phone: People That Were Always Jealous Of Their Boo Thangs So What If They Have Issues…The Hottest Pictures Of Women That Have Been Chopped Down By Athletes Pt. 2
More On Bossip! EWWWW!!! What In The Everloving Hell Is Dripping Down Christina Aguilera’s Leg?!?!?!?! Little Guys With Big Swag: Men Of Miniature Proportions Who Stay High On Self-Esteem Lemme Check Your Phone: People That Were Always Jealous Of Their Boo Thangs So What If They Have Issues…The Hottest Pictures Of Women That Have Been Chopped Down By Athletes Pt. 2
