Invictus – A Movie Review

The true story of how Nelson Mandela joined forces with the captain of South Africa’s rugby team, Francois Pienaar, to help unite their country. Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa’s underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match.

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An Italian Market and a Little Verdi-Doesn’t Get Much Better

Visitors to the Reading Terminal Market Italian Festival got an authentic Italian treat back in April. Over 30 members of the cast of the Philadelphia Opera’s production of La Traviata slipped into the market in street clothes. They swung into action when the music for the famous “Brindisi” started playing through the markets public address system. Hundreds of shoppers got a wonderful surprise performance of one of the rousing pieces from Verdi to along with their Italian Market shopping.

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An Italian Market and a Little Verdi-Doesn't Get Much Better

Visitors to the Reading Terminal Market Italian Festival got an authentic Italian treat back in April. Over 30 members of the cast of the Philadelphia Opera’s production of La Traviata slipped into the market in street clothes. They swung into action when the music for the famous “Brindisi” started playing through the markets public address system. Hundreds of shoppers got a wonderful surprise performance of one of the rousing pieces from Verdi to along with their Italian Market shopping.

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Busy Weekend

This past weekend was rather busy around this household. The biggest event was Sunday when we had our niece’s 4th birthday party here at the house. Saturday night we attended the Una Voce Florida Men’s Chorale concert. The concert title was “Harmonia Mundi” or music of the world. After the concert, we went over and picked up the nephews to spend the night. Whew! As soon as everyone left Sunday and all the trash was stashed, I sat down in my favorite chair, and was out light like a light for about two hours.

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The Blind Side-A Movie Review

Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home, is taken in by the Touhys, a well-to-do white family who help him fulfill his potential. At the same time, Oher’s presence in the Touhys’ lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own. Living in his new environment, the teen faces a completely different set of challenges to overcome. As a football player and student, Oher works hard and, with the help of his coaches and adopted family, becomes an All-American offensive left tackle.

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The Road-A Movie Review

An epic post-apocalyptic tale of the survival of a father and his young son as they journey across a barren America that was destroyed by a mysterious cataclysm. It imagines a future in which men are pushed to the worst and the best that they are capable of — a future in which a father and his son are sustained by love.

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What Do You Think I Fought For at Omaha Beach?

Last Fall, during the unfortunately successful campaign to repeal Marriage Equality in Maine, 86 year old WWII Veteran Phillip Spooner stood before a packed hall and delivered a stirring call for equality to a Senate Committee. When asked by a woman at his polling place if he supported equal rights for gay and lesbian people. He tells how surprised he was to even be asked, and said his response was, “What do you think I fought for at Omaha Beach?” His statement was subsequently set to music by Melissa Dunphy, and was selected as the winning work for the 2010 Simon Carrington Chamber Singers Composition Competition.

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Don't Drunk Dial Freedom Works

D. C. Douglas lost his gig as the voice-over announcer for Geico commercials after leaving a rather nasty message on the voice mail for the Teabagger group known as FreedomWorks. This is a hilarious satirical video about their reaction to his message, and calls out the Teabagger for what it actually is…an astro-turf, Koch Industry’s funded front group which has managed to get people to vote against their own best interests in support of big corporations.

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Robin Hood – A Movie Review

“Robin Hood” chronicles the life of an expert archer, previously interested only in self-preservation, from his service in King Richard’s army against the French. Upon Richard’s death, Robin travels to Nottingham, a town suffering from the corruption of a despotic sheriff and crippling taxation, where he falls for the spirited widow Lady Marion, a woman skeptical of the identity and motivations of this crusader from the forest. Robin Hood delivers what it promises. Solid action, good narrative, and the inclusion of a bit of history with action between England and France gives the movie an added meat and almost realistic feel to it. The dialog is a bit ropey at times, and Robin’s “merry men” could have had a bit more screen time, but otherwise i see no major fault with this movie.

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Pirate Radio – A Movie Review

n the 1960s a group of 8 rogue DJs on a boat in the middle of the Northern Atlantic, played rock records and broke the law all for the love of music. The songs they played united and defined an entire generation and drove the British government crazy. By playing rock ‘n roll they were standing up against the British government who did everything in their power to shut them down.

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