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Arts & Entertainment
BYE BYE JUDITH
Arts & Theater: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater celebrates with Judith Jamison’s farewell performance closing the season on Jan. 2 at 7:30 p.m. Comment.
Independent & Foreign Films
Movies: Another Year (PG-13 for profanity) Six-time Oscar-nominee Mike Leigh wrote and directed this British sit-dram revolving around four seasons in the life of a happily-married, middle-aged couple (Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen) who find themselves surrounded by relatively-morose friends, relatives and colleagues in emotional crisis. With Lesley Manville, Oliver Maltman and Peter Wight. Comment.
Wahlberg stars as real-life Rocky
Movies: Veteran boxing fans are undoubtedly familiar with the exploits of “Irish” Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), the light-welterweight pugilist from Lowell, Massachusetts best remembered for a trio of memorable matches against the late Arturo Gatti. In fact, two of the gladiators’ epic battles (one in 2002, the other in 2003) were dubbed “The Fight of the Year” by Ring Magazine. Comment.
Australia blasts West over broken Haiti promises
Food: one of the few developed nations that managed to keep its commitment to help Haiti, as it both publicly pledged and delivered $24M in aid to Haiti and an additional $1M to help the health officials battle the deadly cholera outbreak. That outbreak has come on top of efforts to rebuild the capital and other districts in the aftermath of the quake that claimed more than 300,000 lives and left more than a million homeless. Comment.
Aretha is home for the holidays
Music & Fashion: Soul legend Aretha Franklin was released from hospital and sent home to recuperate. Comment.
New Year Slimming Secrets New Year Slimming Secrets New Year Slimming Secrets New Year Slimming Secrets New Year Slimming Secrets New Year Slimming Diet
Food: Two years ago, Japanese supermarkets couldn’t keep bananas on the shelves after a man revealed the secret of his weight-loss success on a leading social network. Now a healthier version of his diet is catching on in America, thanks to the fruit and nutrition experts at Dole. Comment.
GAYNOR TO GAYNOR TO SING FOR HAITI
Music & Fashion: Music legend Gloria Gaynor and a host of “friends for Haiti,” will join Brooklyn-based nonprofit Community2Community (C2C) for the “Hope and A Future” benefit concert for Haiti at the Apollo Theater, Jan. 12, 2011 – the anniversary of the tragic earthquake that claimed more than 300,000 lives. Comment.
Bob Marley’s 66th bash set for Ghana
Music & Fashion: Since 2005 when the entire Marley family rallied in Meskel Square, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to celebrate the 60th birthday anniversary of reggae king Bob Marley, an annual celebration in his honor has taken thousands from Africa to Jamaica in order to recapture the “Africa Unite” theme of the premiere event. Comment.
AILEY’S NEW WORKS
Arts & Theater: Ailey will pack this season’s extraordinary new works into three exhilarating all new nights. Comment.
Soca stars ring in the New Year
Music & Fashion: Tropical Paradise Ballroom continues its tradition of stylish entertainment packaging for New Year’s Eve with veteran soca stars Baron and Sugar Aloes as the headliners in a gala celebration. Lambert & the Matadors Orchestra will be in the entertainment lineup as well. Comment.
High notes at Riviera Maya Jazz Fest High notes at Riviera Maya Jazz Fest
Music & Fashion: The four-day event occupied the venue, Playa del Carmen and brought together some of the most important jazz musicians. An estimated crowd of 35,000 people attended the event. Comment.
First Ladies of Dance connect spiritually
Arts & Theater: It’s a rare treat when one finds oneself in the presence of five first ladies of dance whose collective energy wove a spiritual thread throughout the afternoon. Comments (1).
Hassle-free recipes for a healthy holiday
Food: The holidays are full of delicious temptations, but that doesn’t have to mean leaving your commitment to healthy eating behind. Making smart choices of what you eat and how you cook it can help you enjoy holiday dining and still beat the post-holiday blues. Comment.
Aspiring ballerina succumbs to pressures
Movies: Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a dancer with a leading New York City ballet troupe preparing to stage a production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. Although previously only a member of the chorus, she’s recently been informed by her director, Thomas (Vincent Cassel), that he might like to feature her as the face of the company during the upcoming season. Comment.
Independent & Foreign Films
Movies: Country Strong (PG-13 for sexuality and mature themes) Relationship drama about a fading country music star (Gwyneth Paltrow) whose marriage ends up in trouble when she goes on tour with an up-and-coming singer/songwriter (Garrett Hedlund) accompanied by her husband (McGraw) and a beauty queen (Leighton Meester) just breaking into the business. Comment.
Miss Panama U.S. Teen 2011
Music & Fashion: Charming Chelsey Herrera of Brooklyn, recently captured the Miss Panama U.S. Teen 2011 title from a bevy of teens at the annual Upscale Productions beauty pageant. Comment.
African-American entrepreneurs
Books: “In her poem, ‘And Still I Rise,’ Dr. Maya Angelou wrote, ‘You can write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies, you can trod me in the very dirt and still, like dust, I rise.’ More than a century before she penned her words, Richard R. Wright, Sr., a man born into slavery… asked [Union] General Oliver Otis Howard to ‘Tell them we are rising.’ Comment.
Spacey stars in seriocomic potboiler
Movies: Jack Abramoff (Kevin Spacey) was a veteran Washington, DC lobbyist whose outrageous exploits made even members of his own shady profession blush. In the nineties, the services of the shameless attorney, along with those of his equally-unscrupulous business partner, Michael Scanlon (Barry Pepper), were retained by seven different Native American tribes interested in opening gambling casinos on their reservations. Comment.
Parang Party at Tropical Paradise
Music & Fashion: Tropical Paradise Ballroom will be opening its doors on Christmas Eve, Friday evening Dec. 24, for a complimentary Parang Party and Yule celebration. Comment.
Sum very peachy music in Harlem
Music & Fashion: National Action Network’s Educational Committee promises to spread Christmas joy this season with a concert at the Williams Institutional CME Church in Harlem. Comment.
Independent & Foreign Films
Movies: And Soon the Darkness (R for violence and torture) Remake of the 1970 thriller about a couple of young Americans (Amber Heard and Odette Yustman) whose exotic vacation in a remote region of Argentina turns nightmarish when one of them becomes the latest victim in a string of kidnappings targeting female tourists. With Karl Urban, Adriana Barraza and Gia Mantegna. Comment.
It’s Peppermint Season!
Food: Headline your holiday with the quintessential flavor of the season — peppermint. These extra special sweets offer a bountiful buffet of peppermint possibilities. Choose one or more for cookie exchanges, après caroling nibbles, gifts for teachers and Santa. Comment.
‘The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’
Books: Ten years in the making, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” a beautiful but harrowing work of non-fiction, by Rebecca Skloot, has won the second Wellcome Trust Book Prize. Comment.
Reggae Grammy returns to basics
Music & Fashion: Last week, the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards went into effect with a television showcase on primetime television announcement of the finalists selected in various genres of the 108 categories of music. Comment.
GARIFUNA HERITAGE
Arts & Theater: Belizean-born musician and educator James Lovell, torchbearer of the Garifuna culture in New York, will be performing in Belize in January and in Los Angeles in February. Comment.
Rasta mama pens ‘I Love Locks’
Books: Proud men, women and children yearning for a colorful, testament aimed at toasting natural and twisted, kinky hair will cheer the publication of a new book entitled “I Love Locks.” Comments (1).
Game-changing strategies for Blacks
Books: “What do we mean by Black Faces in White Places? It is more than just a numbers game and being the only person of color in a predominantly white environment. It is more than being subjected to racism and discrimination based on the color of your skin. Comment.
Black theatre celebrates 40 yrs
Arts & Theater: Black Spectrum Theatre is celebrating 40 glorious years of creating, presenting and preserving the African American Legacy in theater and film. Comment.
Independent & Foreign Films
Movies: And Everything Is Going Fine (Unrated) Steven Soderbergh directs this documentary chronicling the career of the late Spalding Gray (1941-2004), an actor/playwright and performance artist known for his minimalist monologues. Comment.
Handel’s ‘Messiah’ at Lehman Center
Music & Fashion: An all-Bronx production of Handel’s “Messiah,” followed by A Taste Of The Bronx Food Show And Tastings, featuring free food sampling by leading Bronx restaurants will be held on Sunday, Dec. 12 at 3:00 p.m. at Lehman Center for the Performing Arts’ Concert Hall, 250 Bedford Park Blvd. West on the campus of Lehman College in the Bronx. Comment.
Creative Holiday Cooking
Food: Coming up with a holiday meal that will satisfy everyone can be a challenge. What will the picky eaters like? What can the vegetarians eat? How can you do something a little different and still please guests who look forward to traditional dishes year after year? Comment.
Prodigal Panther returns to the ‘hood
Movies: Anyone familiar with the history of the Black Panther Party knows that it self-destructed during the seventies after the FBI strategically created dissension in its ranks via a combination of infiltration, disinformation and assassinations. Comment.
‘AFRICA UNITED’
Movies: The 18th Annual New York African Diaspora International Film Festival ADIFF presents the U.S. premiere of upbeat family film “Africa United,” which will screen at the Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Ave. (2nd St. & 2nd Ave.) on Saturday, Dec. 4, 4:40 p.m. and on Tuesday, Dec. 7, 8:30 p.m Comment.
Independent & Foreign Films
Movies: All Good Things (R for drug use, violence, profanity and some sexuality) NYC crime saga, set in the eighties, about the real-life case of the son (Ryan Gosling) of a real estate tycoon (Frank Langella) who falls in love with and marries a tenant (Kirsten Dunst) over his father’s objections only to have his wife subsequently disappear under mysterious circumstances. Support cast includes Philip Baker Hall and SNL’s Kristen Wiig. Comment.
A new, human twist on a familiar genre
Books: ‘Good heavens but these crooks are using an awful lot of time and firepower to go after this one little person,’ the reviewer thought about half-way through Kirk .A. Inniss’ remarkable crime novel, “Black Butterflies.” Comment.
Harry Porter matches wits & wands
Movies: It stands to reason that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be the next-to-last offering in what is already the most lucrative film franchise in history, unless author J.K. Rowling succumbs to fan pressure to extend her best-selling series of children’s novels. Comment.
‘What Would Jesus Do?’ — clear winner
Arts & Theater: It was a spirit-filled night on Nov. 15 at the 38th Annual Vivian Robinson/AUDELCO Recognition Awards for Excellence in Black Theatre as Yvette Hyligers’ “What Would Jesus Do?” swept the awards with seven wins and Reverend Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood formerly of St. Paul’s Church was honored with a Special Achievement Award. His “Maafa Suite” was performed by a cast of more than 20 performers. Comment.
Reason for the Season concert: Merry Christmas New York
Arts & Theater: Color Blind Music Ministries’ fifth annual Merry Christmas, New York City concert, takes place on Saturday, Dec. 11 at 2:00 p.m. at the Alice Tully Hall Starr Theatre at Lincoln Center. Comment.
A Merry Maple Holiday Menu
Food: The holidays are a time to celebrate the warmth of friendship, the love of family and the joy of the season. And when it comes to the holiday meal, you want a menu to match the mood and make everyone feel at home. Comment.
