May 1, 2015

Show title from A Change is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke, 1964.

Andrew J. West stars in Anna Mastro's "Walter"; Credit: "Walter"

It's always dicey to characterize a major film festival based on the movies you personally see there, because no matter how diligent you try to be, your impression will always be statistically anecdotal.

I'll see perhaps 10 percent of the films at this year's Palm Springs International Film Festival by the time they roll up the red carpets for the final time, added to the 25 or so I'd watched before I got here, owing to the festival's unique programming policies.

Not bad considering there are 190 movies being screened. So I think I've got the feel of things here. I wouldn't want my doctor to diagnose me based on a test with a 35 to 40 percent chance of accuracy, but I'm not a doctor. Instead of "Do no harm," I quote Spencer Tracy to myself. He said the secret to the creative process is to "just look 'em in the eye and tell 'em the truth."

And the truth is, with the exception of a couple of documentaries and a horror movie, virtually every film I've seen at Palm Springs so far shared some obvious characteristics: the Palm Springs International Film Festival loves it some poignancy and affirmation.

I've already commented on "Match," the Patrick Stewart acting showcase, and "Cowboys," a very funny Croatian comedy with cross-currents of seriousness. I may comment later about "Today," Iran's Oscar submission. (It's terrific by the way, a deeply affecting story about a burnt out cab driver who gets yanked into the world of a battered, unwed mother who steps into his cab.)

(Still from "Today” (Emrooz) by Iranian filmmaker Reza Mirkarimi)

I also saw an Anne Hathaway passion project called "Song One" here. I'm not going to write about it because I'm not in the mood to stomp on somebody else's butterfly. Plus the dramedy "1001 Grams" by the splendiferous-ly named Norwegian Bent Hamer, whose deadpan satire is routinely compared to Jacques Tati.

WATCH the official trailer for "1001 Grams," which includes some foreign languages

At their best, these are all movies that want to move the audience to tears before bouncing a ray of hope off the screen at them. At their worst, these movies are about pain in the same way Novocain is. They acknowledge its reality, in order to neutralize it.

Filmmaker Anna Mastro's debut film "Walter" (one of the Palm Springs premieres) fits what seems to be the festival's programming model, too, and is, I think, a really quite appealing little indie film, with the by now familiar mildly magical realist bent.

It's is a story about grief, though one with a screwball premise so that it doesn't quite present that way at first. Walter (portrayed with charisma and nuance by Andrew J. West) is a 20-something slacker, but a very uptight one, with a soldier's commitment to dress and routine.

He still lives with mom (Virginia Madsen, now shifting toward the character actress portion of her career with ease and grace) and has a job one rung above fast food worker on the ladder of success: He's a ticket taker at the local multiplex.

But what the world surely sees as failure, Walter knows to be his cover for a far more important vocation. Walter's father died when he was just 10 years old; ever since the funeral, Walter has realized something we don't: His real job in life is to decide where people go after they die.

His snap judgments secretly send people to heaven or hell ... until a dead guy from Walter's past shows up and demands that Walter determine his fate, and then all hell breaks loose.

It's an odd premise, bordering on the labored, but Mastro and her extremely appealing cast pull it off, in part by wearing their influences on their sleeves. The fingerprints of Wes Anderson are all over this picture, especially in terms of the way shots are framed and music is used, and I was able to identify the pivotal contribution of "Beasts of the Southern Wild" co-composer Dan Romer by ear, long before I noticed his screen credit.

I suppose that's supposed to be a damning criticism of a first-timer, but I don't see it that way. Tarantino aped Scorsese for years and virtually remade a minor Hong Kong gangster picture when he debuted with "Reservoir Dogs."

Spielberg acknowledges his debt to David Lean. Hitchcock's apprenticeship at Germany's UFA film studio resulted in a lifelong visual and thematic debt to the great Expressionist master Fritz Lang.

The question is, what do you do with your influences, how do you make them your own? And Mastro — who has a real gift for casting, pacing a scene and maneuvering her actors easily between farce and seriousness — has her own talents. She understands how Anderson's visual syntax has become a cinematic shorthand for quirk, and she deploys it to that effect, then tells the story at hand.

There are some issues with that story, though. There's a girl in concessions (Leven Rambin) Walter likes, and there's a bully at work. For all its surface oddity, the mechanical underpinnings of "Walter" frequently feel like they belong in an "American Pie" sequel.

And yet this movie won me over. I liked its faith in the movie palace as a place that still vibrates with the marvelous. I found a dream sequence, where Rambin undresses to camera while sprawled on a rich yellow bed of movie house popcorn hilarious and deeply expressive.

But I think my affection for this picture is mostly centered on Mastro and her cast, which includes a standout performance by Justin Kirk as a very grounded ghost and a broad but successful cameo from William H. Macy as Walter's psychiatrist. They're all groping toward something rather grim and real about loss, while doing their best to serve up some laughs and wonder along the way.

It touched me, because it feels kind of wise.

Off-Ramp contributor R.H. Greene, former editor of Boxoffice Magazine, is in Palm Spring this week to cover the 26th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival. Look for his missives here, and listen Saturday at noon to Off-Ramp, when he'll interview Chaz Ebert about her late husband Roger Ebert's contributions to the film festival circuit.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

VIENNA, 22 July 2016 - Violence against women and girls is one of the most serious and pervasive human rights violations. More needs to be done to eliminate this problem so that women can participate without barriers in all spheres of life, said participants of a high-level OSCE conference today in Vienna.

The conference, organized by the OSCE Gender Section and Germany’s 2016 OSCE Chairmanship, brought together representatives of governments of OSCE participating States, international organizations and civil society to discuss the progress, and to exchange good practices and lessons learned in the efforts to end violence against women..

“One in three women worldwide has experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime, perpetrated by intimate partners, family members, acquaintances and strangers,” said OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier, opening the conference. “While we should take note of past and current achievements and activities, we need to now translate our commitments into concrete action”.

 Ambassador Zannier referred to the 2004 OSCE Action Plan on the Promotion of Gender Equality and OSCE Ministerial Council Decisions of 2005 and 2014, which called on participating States to address gender-based violence through legislation, supporting victims’ access to justice, education of relevant institutions and ensuring that women and girls receive special consideration in terms of protection and assistance.

Baroness Joyce Anelay, the UK’s Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development was one of the prominent speakers of the event.

"The OSCE Action Plan on the Promotion of Gender Equality is clear that this agenda is essential to achieving comprehensive security across the OSCE region. We all have a responsibility to promote women's empowerment and their full political, social and economic participation," she said.

Baroness Anelay is also UK Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict. Earlier this week she addressed representatives of OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation at meetings of the Forum for Security Co-operation and the Permanent Council on the need to promote the role of women in conflict prevention and resolution.

Ambassador Eberhard Pohl, Chair of the OSCE Permanent Council and representing Germany’s OSCE Chairmanship, said: “The protection of women and girls needs our special attention. Violence against women is not only a traumatizing experience for individuals; it has an adverse impact on the stability of societies as a whole. As the OSCE Chairmanship we call for the joint political will in the OSCE to speed up combating violence against women. It is a violation of human rights and all OSCE participating States have committed to ensuring human rights for all its inhabitants equally.”

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5. Govt. has started acquisition of private land for flood mitigation projects in the city: Udhayanidhi  The Hindu

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Kerr, D E; O'Neill, H B. Geological Survey of Canada, Canadian Geoscience Map 424, 2020, 1 sheet, https://doi.org/10.4095/321631
<a href="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_321631.jpg"><img src="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_321631.jpg" title="Geological Survey of Canada, Canadian Geoscience Map 424, 2020, 1 sheet, https://doi.org/10.4095/321631" height="150" border="1" /></a>

Dredge, L A. Geological Survey of Canada, Canadian Geoscience Map 411, 2020, 1 sheet, https://doi.org/10.4095/314862
<a href="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_314862.jpg"><img src="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_314862.jpg" title="Geological Survey of Canada, Canadian Geoscience Map 411, 2020, 1 sheet, https://doi.org/10.4095/314862" height="150" border="1" /></a>

Kerr, D E; O'Neill, H B. Geological Survey of Canada, Canadian Geoscience Map 425, 2021, 1 sheet, https://doi.org/10.4095/321745
<a href="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_321745.jpg"><img src="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_321745.jpg" title="Geological Survey of Canada, Canadian Geoscience Map 425, 2021, 1 sheet, https://doi.org/10.4095/321745" height="150" border="1" /></a>

Re-release; Dredge, L A. Geological Survey of Canada, Canadian Geoscience Map 442, 2022, 1 sheet, https://doi.org/10.4095/329417
<a href="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_329417.jpg"><img src="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_329417.jpg" title="Geological Survey of Canada, Canadian Geoscience Map 442, 2022, 1 sheet, https://doi.org/10.4095/329417" height="150" border="1" /></a>

Kerr, D E. Geological Survey of Canada, Canadian Geoscience Map 439, 2022, 1 sheet, https://doi.org/10.4095/328293
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Geological Survey of Canada. Geological Survey of Canada, Canadian Geoscience Map 387, Surficial Data Model v.2.3.14 conversion, 2022, 1 sheet, https://doi.org/10.4095/313548
<a href="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_313548.jpg"><img src="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_313548.jpg" title="Geological Survey of Canada, Canadian Geoscience Map 387, Surficial Data Model v.2.3.14 conversion, 2022, 1 sheet, https://doi.org/10.4095/313548" height="150" border="1" /></a>

Geological Survey of Canada. Geological Survey of Canada, Canadian Geoscience Map 386, surficial data model v.2.3.14 conversion, 2022, 6 pages (1 sheet), https://doi.org/10.4095/313108
<a href="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_313108.jpg"><img src="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_313108.jpg" title="Geological Survey of Canada, Canadian Geoscience Map 386, surficial data model v.2.3.14 conversion, 2022, 6 pages (1 sheet), https://doi.org/10.4095/313108" height="150" border="1" /></a>

Geological Survey of Canada. Geological Survey of Canada, Canadian Geoscience Map 374, surficial data model v.2.3.14 conversion, 2022, 1 sheet, https://doi.org/10.4095/311228
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3. As Stalin orders inquiry, opposition criticises govt  The Times of India
4. Government doctors to go on indefinite strike in Tamil Nadu after doctor stabbed  Deccan Herald
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Popularly known as the Automobile City, Chennai is the fourth largest metropolitan of the country. The city accounts for over 27 per cent of India’s automobile industry and 45 per cent of the auto components industry in India....

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ತನ್ನ ತಾಯಿಯ ಕ್ಯಾನ್ಸರ್ ಕಾಯಿಲೆಗೆ ಚಿಕಿತ್ಸೆ ಕೊಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ವೈದ್ಯರಿಗೆ ಮಗ ಚಾಕುವಿನಿಂದ ಇರಿದು ಹತ್ಯೆಗೆ ಯತ್ನಿಸಿರುವ ಘಟನೆ ನಡೆದಿದೆ. ಚೆನ್ನೈನ ಸರ್ಕಾರಿ ಆಸ್ಪತ್ರೆಯ ವೈದ್ಯ ಡಾ.ಬಾಲಾಜಿ ಎನ್ನುವವರ ಮೇಲೆ ಯುವಕನೊಬ್ಬ ಚಾಕುವಿನಂದ ದಾಳಿ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದಾನೆ. ತಮಿಳುನಾಡು ರಾಜ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಘಟನೆ ಕೋಲಾಹಲವನ್ನೇ ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಸಿದೆ. ಮುಖ್ಯಮಂತ್ರಿ ಸ್ಟಾಲಿನ್ ಘಟನೆಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತನಿಖೆಗೆ ಆದೇಶ ನೀಡಿದ್ದು, ಪ್ರತಿಪಕ್ಷಗಳು ಡಿಎಂಕೆ ಸರ್ಕಾರವನ್ನು

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In England, the introduction of family names is generally attributed to the Normans and the Domesday Book of 1086. Documents indicate that surnames were first adopted among the feudal nobility and gentry, and only slowly spread to the other parts of society. Some of the early Norman nobility arriving in England during the Norman Conquest differentiated themselves by affixing 'de' (of) in front of the name of their village in France. This is what is known as a territorial surname, a consequence of feudal landownership. In medieval times in France, such a name indicated lordship, or ownership, of the village. But some early Norman nobles in England chose to drop the French derivations and call themselves instead after their new English holdings. -- True surnames, in the sense of hereditary appellations, date in England from about the year 1000. Largely they were introduced from Normandy, although there are records of Saxon, surnames prior to the Norman Conquest. By the end of the twelfth century hereditary names had become common in England. But even as late as 1465 they were not universal. During the reign of Edward V (between April and June, 1483) a law was passed to compel certain Irish to adopt surnames as **a method to track and control them more: "They shall take unto them a Surname, either of some Town, or some Colour, as Black or Brown, or some Art or Science, as Smyth or Carpenter, or some Office, as Cooke or Butler." (ramsdale.org/surname.htm)