Globalization has not spared the painters of runescape gold Montmartre, who are as much a part of Paris as the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. They are increasingly finding themselves in competition with reproductions from China being sold in nearby galleries and souvenir shops at dumping prices.
It is not just the cheap made-in-China imitations that are threatening their existence. They also face competition from artists working illegally at Place du Tertre, the legendary area of Paris on the hill around Sacre Coeur.
There is still a hint of the erstwhile artists' quarter present at the plaza that once attracted artists such as Renoir, van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso and Braquem, but the artists there today are concerned about the reputation of their art.
"The legend of the Montmartre artists soon won't exist any longer," one embittered artist runescape accounts says. The 58-year-old who identified himself only as Alain would know because he first set up his easel on the plaza 35 years ago.
There are about 300 artists holding one of the coveted licenses to work on the Place du Tertre. They are not, however, under threat of extinction. The waiting list to get a license is long. Nevertheless, they worry about the end of a tradition.
"On one hand the fight for survival gets harder all the time, on the other our image is getting worse," says Montmartre artist Marie-Noelle Romvos.
Many tourists who visit Sacre Coeur are intercepted by illegal artists before they go into the basilica. Portraits costing between $19 and $25 are not the only things ruining prices.
"Often the portraits are so wow gold bad that people are disappointed, which also hurts our image," Romvos says.
In defense of her craft the 55-year-old founded an association of portrait artists. Portraits and caricatures are among the most popular genres requested. The logic of pure profit-making has also penetrated Montmartre and the artists adapt to the tastes of the customers.
"Unfortunately, because of this a uniform style of painting is permeating the art," Romvos says.
The Montmartre portrait artists have been at Place du Tertre since 1976. At that time it was still possible to offer to draw there without a permit based on the principle that the first artist there could draw or paint first. That had its advantages.
"I often came here at 6 in the morning to get a place," Romvos says.
Then the rules were put in place that are still in effect today: Only artists who meet the strict buy wow gold criteria and are registered with the Maison des Artistes, the French state artists' association, are allowed to work and sell their art on the plaza.
Today two artists share a space that is about 1 square meter in size by working in shifts.
"That has worked well and is sufficient to earn a living, but today our prices have slipped into the cellar," Romvos says.
The organization she founded for the preservation of the Montmartre artists is one of five. At least they are able to take action against cheap wow gold rent increases.
2010年9月10日星期五
2010年9月9日星期四
'Meek's Cutoff' shows women's view of West
Lost wandering in the Oregon runescape gold desert for five weeks when the journey should have taken two, low on water, food and patience, a young emigrant played by Michelle Williams says of the group's ego-driven guide: "Is he ignorant, or just plain evil? That's my quandary."
Williams' character, Emily Tetherow, was talking about Stephen Meek, a real-life mountain man who led 200 wagons into the Oregon desert in 1845 claiming to know a shortcut through the Cascade Mountains, and ended up instead in an area without water. He is a central figure in the new movie "Meek's Cutoff," which premiered Sunday at the Venice Film Festival in competition for the Golden Lion.
Though the story is historical in nature, filmmaker Kelly Reichardt said she and the scriptwriter saw more modern references when they started the project right around the time that photos were emerging of soldiers posing with Guantanamo Bay prisoners.
"Just following a leader who doesn't know what he's doing, who's maybe runescape accounts either ignorant or stupid. You are not really sure what his motives are," Reichardt told reporters. "And needing information from someone who's completely culturally different, and whose culture you don't trust."
Though that central question expresses the tension in the movie — and may ring true to many viewers in spheres other than political — the movie itself is a spare tale of a journey gone awry and not a political treatise. Low on action, but rich in drama, it is by no means a typical Western.
In the film, three wow gold couples have broken away from the main wagon train to try their luck with Meek. Tension arises as the families try to decide whether to continue to take Meek's advice or if they should trust a Native American wanderer who crosses their path.
The movie is told from the women's point of view, drawn from diaries kept by Western-bound pioneers, and its beauty is in the details: A frontier littered with heirlooms, a broken mirror tossed from a wagon and abandoned, all suggesting hardship as emigrants unsentimentally lighten the load.
"I figure the historical truths may reveal themselves in the minutiae, in the every day labor. That is what the women's diaries reveal. It was really monotonous and it was really lonely," Reichardt said. "The journals start out very romantic about the journey, and in the end it's: 'built two fires, washed clothes, cooked beans.'"
"Meek's Cutoff" is the second of Reichardt's films in which Williams appears, following "Wendy and Lucy" in 2009. The actress was in Venice for the red carpet premiere later Sunday but didn't attend the press conference
"I love working with Michelle. She is very game for the kind of films we are making. They are really hard and there are no comforts at all," the director said.
The actors did a week of pioneer camp before shooting, in the area near Bend, Oregon where Meek's wagon train was lost and which Reichardt said had changed little from pioneer days. They learned how to make fires without matches, discussed what families would have buy wow gold taken with them out West based on their status and worked with the animals, including teams of oxen that drew the wagons.
"I am a big fan of Westerns, of Nicholas Ray and Monte Hellman and Anthony Mann, and I love the way those films are sort of styled and shot, and the use of landscape. But a lot of the themes are completely unrelatable to me," Reichardt said.
Shifting the story to the women's point of view changed the themes.
"It's really about labor and space and stillness. So my challenge was to find how the stillness could act in a dramatic way." Reichardt said.
The film tries to avoid cliches about Native Americans while examining the settlers' mistrust in the stranger. The part is played by Rod Rondeaux, an actor and stuntman who learned the Nez Perce language for the role, although none of his dialogue is translated, leaving the audience, along with the emigrants, to try to interpret what he is saying.
"The thing of avoiding cliches is really hard," Reichardt said. "I mean as soon as you are putting a Native American in front of a blue sky with a bare chest and beads on, you start to have a heart attack. 'Oh, my. What am I doing? At the same time, you don't want to avoid it. The story is told from the point of view of cheap wow gold white immigrants."
2010年9月8日星期三
Can home cooking be hazardous to your health?
New research suggests that at least runescape gold one in seven home kitchens would flunk the kind of health inspection commonly administered to restaurants.
The small study from California's Los Angeles County found that only 61 percent of home kitchens would get an A or B if put through the rigors of a restaurant inspection. At least 14 percent would fail — not even getting a C.
"I would say if they got below a C, I'm not sure I would like them to invite me to dinner," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
In comparison, nearly all Los Angeles County restaurants — 98 percent — get A or B scores each year.
The study, released Thursday, is believed to be one of the first to offer a sizable assessment of food safety in private homes. But the researchers admit the way it was done is hardly perfect.
The results are based not on actual inspections, but on an Internet quiz taken runescape accounts by about 13,000 adults.
So it's hard to use it to compare the conditions in home kitchens to those in restaurants, which involve trained inspectors giving objective assessments of dirt, pests, and food storage and handling practices.
What's more, experts don't believe the study is representative of all households, because people who are more interested and conscientious about food safety are more likely to take the quiz.
"You'll miss a big population who don't have home computers or just really don't care" about the cleanliness of their kitchens, said Martin Bucknavage, a food safety specialist with Penn State University's Department of Food Science.
A more comprehensive look would probably find that an even smaller percentage of home kitchens would do well in a restaurant inspection, he suggested.
In 2006, the county health wow gold department began a home kitchen self-inspection program, designed to help consumers learn how to store and prepare food safely. The department also began offering an online quiz with 45 yes or no questions that simulates a restaurant inspection checklist.
People are asked, for example, if their refrigerator temperature is 41 degrees Fahrenheit or lower, whether raw meat is stored below other foods on refrigerator shelves, and whether fruits and vegetables are always thoroughly rinsed before they are eaten.
The study is based on quizzes taken through 2008.
Overall, 34 percent got an A, meaning they correctly answered at least 90 percent of the questions. Another 27 percent got a B, 25 percent a C, and 14 percent failed to buy wow gold score at least a 70.
An estimated 87 million cases of food-borne illness occur in the United States each year, including 371,000 hospitalizations and 5,700 deaths, according to an Associated Press calculation that uses a CDC formula and recent population estimates.
Many outbreaks that receive publicity are centered on people who got sick after eating at a restaurant, catered celebration or large social gathering. In this summer's outbreak linked to salmonella in eggs, several illnesses were first identified in clusters among restaurant patrons.
But experts believe the bulk of food poisonings are unreported illnesses from food prepared at home.
The study is being published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication of cheap wow gold the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
2010年9月7日星期二
Store ushers in "up-cycling" for shoppers
In a city where brands rule, a new runescape gold name is battling to make its mark: waste. The aisles at ECOLS, in Hong Kong's trendy Central district, are stocked with designer goods - stylish necklaces from France, a teakwood bookshelf from Thailand, a glitzy home-made vase, fashionable bags.
What sets them apart are the discarded materials they are made from: Tire inner tubes, sweet wrappers, pull tabs from drink cans and 16 mm camera film, to name just a few.
Some of the prices are eye-catching too. A chair molded from plastic water bottles by British artist Richard Liddle costs a cool HK$16,500 ($2,100).
"We've imported six of these (chairs) in different colors," said Stella Ho, the store's senior marketing executive. "We only have the purple one left."
ECOLS is among a wave of businesses trying to take advantage of the global resurgence in "up-cycling", a term coined in the mid-1990s for the art of making new items directly from waste products, rather than the traditional recycling approach of breaking them down into raw materials.
However, despite the success being enjoyed by stores in other parts of the world, thanks largely to a growing interest in environmentally sound products, industry insiders say the concept is yet to make an impact in Hong Kong.
With more than 200 products from more than 20 countries, ECOLS, which was opened by Ronald Lo and his wife, Phoebe Yuen, early last year, is arguably already the city's most established up-cycling store (at least 10 businesses have been opened in recent years).
"Some of our bags are as expensive as brand designs but every piece of ours has a story to tell," explained Ho. "Each ring-pull bag made in Brazil carries the signature of the woman who made it and buyers runescape accounts can send e-mails to thank her. People feel a more human connection with our goods."
Consumer choice
Although some consumers are willing to foot the bill for pricey sustainable products (a woman recently spent HK$3,000 on an Italian handbag made out of old newspapers), the market remains limited and business is slow.
"Most Hong Kongers are not that keen on 'green' things, so the concept is hard for them to accept," said Ho. "There are still many inventive works we haven't brought here as we're afraid they might be too avant-garde."
The choice between a HK$500 brand product and one made by up-cycling for the same price "still depends on a shopper's sense of social responsibility and ability to pay", according to Siu King-chung, assistant professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University's school of design.
"In both of these cases, attitudes toward up-cycling is far from mature in Hong Kong," he said.
However, those supporting the movement say a paradox is evident:if people were less sensitive about the retail price of green products and sales improved, more traders would enter the market, which would naturally increase competition and lead to price reductions.
In the meantime, ECOLS is running market research with temporary stalls in the Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay districts (another is planned for Sha Tin). The Central outlet also hosts regular exhibitions to promote new works by up-cycling designers.
Lo and Yuen, who also run a LED lighting business, recently purchased equipment to up-cycle wine bottles, while their online ECOLS store is expected to go live this autumn.
The art of using discarded items to make new products is nothing new to Hong Kong. Poor craftsmen were known for collecting old wood and tires to recycle well before the 1970s.
"People make use of everything when times are hard," said Lo Wah-kei, who organized an up-cycling workshop in June this year to coincide with the city's wow gold recent Carpet, Banner and Leather trade fair. "As the city has thrived, shoppers have turned to luxury goods and confined the tradition to the waste can."
Although the concept is again growing in popularity, stores are struggling to find steady supply streams in Hong Kong and are instead forced to rely on imports.
"Hong Kong has eco-friendly designers but they're mostly still at the early stages (of development)," said ECOLS executive Ho. "Creations from abroad are pretty diverse. New York, Copenhagen and Tokyo offer some intriguing designs. Even less developed countries, like Kenya or the Philippines, produce good work."
The extremely populous city generates a large amount of waste that could potentially be up-cycled, yet designers often do not know where to find it.
Although some of them have worked out that getting the support of the companies creating the waste can help (organizers of the trade fair workshop toured industrial zones to convince companies to donate raw materials), Lo said the biggest headache is storage.
"Things are usually dumped in huge amounts but most up-cyclers don't have warehouses. We've been keeping our materials in a school and I don't know if we'll have to dump them when the new term begins," he said. "It would be better if there was a center to store all the materials collected and sort them fairly. That way everyone would be able to find what they want in one place."
Ultimately, to run a sustainable business, though, budding entrepreneurs need to have a sound business plan, he added.
"Not only do you need to build a material-collection network and make fine designs, you need the right producers and useful marketing strategies," he said. "After all, green products still need to make sense."
Due to the difficulties in finding raw materials, most up-cycling businesses in Hong Kong use just one type of material and have limited production volumes. High rental costs across the city also mean the vast majority of traders sell their goods online.
Covers prove popular
Wandering along the aisles of the Carpet, Banner and Leather show, one of the displays that stood out was the one by Billy Potts and Joseph Ng, two friends who make a range of products from taxi seat covers.
The duo launched Handsome Bag Company online after discovering Hong Kong taxi drivers change the covers in their cabs up to four times a year. They use the fabric to make bags, glass covers and iPhone cases.
"Billy came up with the idea to make bags with the material," said Ng, 25, who works buy wow gold full-time as an architect. "I thought it was crazy - it's such a humble fabric, just gray and black - but I like crazy ideas.
"Both of us were born and raised in Hong Kong and we're proud of it," he said. "So we wanted to challenge ourselves by keeping everything local: Designed here, sourced here and made here."
Although the company has been running just for a few months, preparations actually began in early 2009. It took almost a year to find all the suppliers and producers they needed.
"I approached lots of crafts people," said Potts, a 24-year-old lawyer, as he helped Ng set up a stall at the Mini Design Mart, a bustling weekend flea market at a creative arts center in Kowloon district. "They gave me a dozen reasons but basically the answer was the same: No. They thought it was crazy."
Their luck only changed when they found a working women's association, which agreed to sew the seat covers.
"We pay (the women) a fair price. They proposed the price and we accepted it. We are not trying to exploit people to maximize profit," said Potts, who explained he and Ng spend much of their spare time collecting, cleaning, cutting and sorting the fabric. The designers try to reuse as many old materials in their products as possible, such as making the straps on their bags out of taxi seat belts.
"Ironically, it's actually more expensive to use old (seat belts)," said Potts. "They can cost up to HK$20, whereas new ones can be bought for just HK$5 downtown. Also, old seat belts are hard to collect because no one keeps them. They're hard to unscrew so people just dump them with the car."
Despite the trials of setting up the company, the duo were rewarded after just three weeks of launching their online business with 20 orders.
During the last Mini Design Mart in Kowloon, about half of their stock was sold, with one shopper even buying the taxi roof light they were using as a display. So far, the most popular item is a black, "dull-looking" tote that retails at HK$1,000.
"Our products are not perfect yet by any means," said Potts. "We've had a lot of advice from friends and customers, such as adding a separate layer inside or using brighter cheap wow gold colors for the lining. We take them all seriously."
What sets them apart are the discarded materials they are made from: Tire inner tubes, sweet wrappers, pull tabs from drink cans and 16 mm camera film, to name just a few.
Some of the prices are eye-catching too. A chair molded from plastic water bottles by British artist Richard Liddle costs a cool HK$16,500 ($2,100).
"We've imported six of these (chairs) in different colors," said Stella Ho, the store's senior marketing executive. "We only have the purple one left."
ECOLS is among a wave of businesses trying to take advantage of the global resurgence in "up-cycling", a term coined in the mid-1990s for the art of making new items directly from waste products, rather than the traditional recycling approach of breaking them down into raw materials.
However, despite the success being enjoyed by stores in other parts of the world, thanks largely to a growing interest in environmentally sound products, industry insiders say the concept is yet to make an impact in Hong Kong.
With more than 200 products from more than 20 countries, ECOLS, which was opened by Ronald Lo and his wife, Phoebe Yuen, early last year, is arguably already the city's most established up-cycling store (at least 10 businesses have been opened in recent years).
"Some of our bags are as expensive as brand designs but every piece of ours has a story to tell," explained Ho. "Each ring-pull bag made in Brazil carries the signature of the woman who made it and buyers runescape accounts can send e-mails to thank her. People feel a more human connection with our goods."
Consumer choice
Although some consumers are willing to foot the bill for pricey sustainable products (a woman recently spent HK$3,000 on an Italian handbag made out of old newspapers), the market remains limited and business is slow.
"Most Hong Kongers are not that keen on 'green' things, so the concept is hard for them to accept," said Ho. "There are still many inventive works we haven't brought here as we're afraid they might be too avant-garde."
The choice between a HK$500 brand product and one made by up-cycling for the same price "still depends on a shopper's sense of social responsibility and ability to pay", according to Siu King-chung, assistant professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University's school of design.
"In both of these cases, attitudes toward up-cycling is far from mature in Hong Kong," he said.
However, those supporting the movement say a paradox is evident:if people were less sensitive about the retail price of green products and sales improved, more traders would enter the market, which would naturally increase competition and lead to price reductions.
In the meantime, ECOLS is running market research with temporary stalls in the Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay districts (another is planned for Sha Tin). The Central outlet also hosts regular exhibitions to promote new works by up-cycling designers.
Lo and Yuen, who also run a LED lighting business, recently purchased equipment to up-cycle wine bottles, while their online ECOLS store is expected to go live this autumn.
The art of using discarded items to make new products is nothing new to Hong Kong. Poor craftsmen were known for collecting old wood and tires to recycle well before the 1970s.
"People make use of everything when times are hard," said Lo Wah-kei, who organized an up-cycling workshop in June this year to coincide with the city's wow gold recent Carpet, Banner and Leather trade fair. "As the city has thrived, shoppers have turned to luxury goods and confined the tradition to the waste can."
Although the concept is again growing in popularity, stores are struggling to find steady supply streams in Hong Kong and are instead forced to rely on imports.
"Hong Kong has eco-friendly designers but they're mostly still at the early stages (of development)," said ECOLS executive Ho. "Creations from abroad are pretty diverse. New York, Copenhagen and Tokyo offer some intriguing designs. Even less developed countries, like Kenya or the Philippines, produce good work."
The extremely populous city generates a large amount of waste that could potentially be up-cycled, yet designers often do not know where to find it.
Although some of them have worked out that getting the support of the companies creating the waste can help (organizers of the trade fair workshop toured industrial zones to convince companies to donate raw materials), Lo said the biggest headache is storage.
"Things are usually dumped in huge amounts but most up-cyclers don't have warehouses. We've been keeping our materials in a school and I don't know if we'll have to dump them when the new term begins," he said. "It would be better if there was a center to store all the materials collected and sort them fairly. That way everyone would be able to find what they want in one place."
Ultimately, to run a sustainable business, though, budding entrepreneurs need to have a sound business plan, he added.
"Not only do you need to build a material-collection network and make fine designs, you need the right producers and useful marketing strategies," he said. "After all, green products still need to make sense."
Due to the difficulties in finding raw materials, most up-cycling businesses in Hong Kong use just one type of material and have limited production volumes. High rental costs across the city also mean the vast majority of traders sell their goods online.
Covers prove popular
Wandering along the aisles of the Carpet, Banner and Leather show, one of the displays that stood out was the one by Billy Potts and Joseph Ng, two friends who make a range of products from taxi seat covers.
The duo launched Handsome Bag Company online after discovering Hong Kong taxi drivers change the covers in their cabs up to four times a year. They use the fabric to make bags, glass covers and iPhone cases.
"Billy came up with the idea to make bags with the material," said Ng, 25, who works buy wow gold full-time as an architect. "I thought it was crazy - it's such a humble fabric, just gray and black - but I like crazy ideas.
"Both of us were born and raised in Hong Kong and we're proud of it," he said. "So we wanted to challenge ourselves by keeping everything local: Designed here, sourced here and made here."
Although the company has been running just for a few months, preparations actually began in early 2009. It took almost a year to find all the suppliers and producers they needed.
"I approached lots of crafts people," said Potts, a 24-year-old lawyer, as he helped Ng set up a stall at the Mini Design Mart, a bustling weekend flea market at a creative arts center in Kowloon district. "They gave me a dozen reasons but basically the answer was the same: No. They thought it was crazy."
Their luck only changed when they found a working women's association, which agreed to sew the seat covers.
"We pay (the women) a fair price. They proposed the price and we accepted it. We are not trying to exploit people to maximize profit," said Potts, who explained he and Ng spend much of their spare time collecting, cleaning, cutting and sorting the fabric. The designers try to reuse as many old materials in their products as possible, such as making the straps on their bags out of taxi seat belts.
"Ironically, it's actually more expensive to use old (seat belts)," said Potts. "They can cost up to HK$20, whereas new ones can be bought for just HK$5 downtown. Also, old seat belts are hard to collect because no one keeps them. They're hard to unscrew so people just dump them with the car."
Despite the trials of setting up the company, the duo were rewarded after just three weeks of launching their online business with 20 orders.
During the last Mini Design Mart in Kowloon, about half of their stock was sold, with one shopper even buying the taxi roof light they were using as a display. So far, the most popular item is a black, "dull-looking" tote that retails at HK$1,000.
"Our products are not perfect yet by any means," said Potts. "We've had a lot of advice from friends and customers, such as adding a separate layer inside or using brighter cheap wow gold colors for the lining. We take them all seriously."
2010年9月6日星期一
Natalie Portman takes a dark turn in Venice film
The Venice film festival opened runescape gold on Wednesday with "Black Swan," a dark psychological drama starring Natalie Portman as a ballerina who finally lands the lead role but loses her grip on reality as the pressure builds.
The arrival of a rival dancer, played by Mila Kunis, triggers both obsessive jealousy and sexual liberation in a plot echoing that of the ballet around which it revolves.
A steamy love scene between the actresses and elements of violence and horror make it a departure from clean-cut on-screen roles often associated with Portman.
"(Director) Darren (Aronofsky) talked to me about this (sex) scene in our first meeting eight years ago," Portman told reporters in Venice after a press screening.
"He described it as: 'You're going to have a sex scene with yourself,' and I thought that was very interesting because this movie is in so many ways an exploration of an artist's ego and that narcissistic sort of attraction to yourself and also repulsion with yourself."
Portman, her co-stars and the Venice jury led by director Quentin Tarantino walked the red carpet at the official world premiere, signing autographs and mingling with runescape accounts hundreds of fans.
"I just want to say 'amore cinema'," Tarantino told the opening ceremony.
Aronofsky won the top prize in Venice -- the Golden Lion for best picture -- two years ago with "The Wrestler," and he said he saw similarities between it and Black Swan.
"The more I looked into the world of ballet, I actually started to see all these similarities to the world of wrestling -- they both have these performers that use their bodies in extremely intense physical ways."
French actor Vincent Cassel, who plays the ballet director, wondered why anyone would want to go into the world of dance.
"I think if you want to be a dancer it has to be a vocation. It's like being a priest, really, because you work so hard, you work wow gold every day, it hurts like crazy and you make no money. So I guess it's just not something one should do."
YOUTH OVER CELEBRITY
Black Swan kicks off the annual Venice film festival on the Lido waterfront where stars, fans and reporters rub shoulders for the next 11 days.
Festival director Marco Mueller has opted for youth in his choice of directors of the 23 competition films, and he will also hope that the presence of Hollywood mavericks can make up for the expected shortage of A-list celebrities this year.
The average age of filmmakers in the main line-up this year is an unusually low 47, and includes Oscar winner Sofia Coppola, 39, with comic drama "Somewhere."
At the other end of the age range are 78-year-old Monte Hellman, competing buy wow gold with low-budget crime drama "Road to Nowhere," and Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski, 72, on the Lido with the Afghan-themed "Essential Killing."
Actor Casey Affleck presents documentary "I'm Still Here," about his brother-in-law actor Joaquin Phoenix's decision to retire in 2008 and reinvent himself as a hip-hop musician.
And Julian Schnabel directs "Miral," about an orphaned Palestinian girl growing up in the wake of the first Arab-Israeli war, who finds herself drawn into the conflict.
One filmmaker who will not be in Venice despite having a film at the festival is Jafar Panahi, the Iranian jailed and later released earlier this year. He said in a statement he had not been given permission to travel cheap wow gold abroad by Tehran.
2010年9月2日星期四
Blair memoir excites booksellers, riles critics
It's a political memoir with celebrity mesos trappings — secrecy, security, a multimillion-dollar deal and, crucially, controversy.
Tony Blair's "A Journey" was stirring political passions even before it hits bookstores Wednesday, with excerpts revealing that the former British prime minister has cried for soldiers and civilians killed in Iraq, but still thinks it was right to invade and topple Saddam Hussein.
The decision to go to war remains Blair's most divisive legacy. In excerpts from the book released by the publisher late Tuesday, Blair says "I ... regret with every fiber of my being the loss of those who died."
"Tears, though there have been many, do not encompass it," he says.
But, he says, "on the basis of what we do know now, I still believe that leaving Saddam in power was a bigger risk to our security than removing him and that, terrible though the aftermath was, the reality of Saddam and his sons in charge of Iraq would at least arguably be much worse."
"I can't regret the decision to go to war," he says.
Blair also reopens domestic political wounds, saying he found his rival and successor Gordon Brown difficult and maddening.
British booksellers are reporting heavy interest in the book, for which Blair was paid an wow gold estimated 4.6 million pounds ($7.5 million). He's donating the proceeds to a charity for injured troops.
Billed by publisher Random House as a "frank, open" account of life at the top, "A Journey" is being published in a dozen countries, alongside an e-book and an audio version read by Blair himself. It's in the top 10 on Amazon's British best-seller list — though it's only 4,000 on the retailer's U.S. site.
"Initial sales will be huge," said Jonathan Ruppin of Foyles book store chain. "But whether those sales are sustained will depend on how frank and open it is."
Blair — who is scheduled to be in Washington on publication day, attending Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in his role as an international Mideast envoy — has said he "set out to write a book which describes the human as much as the political dimensions of life as prime minister."
"A Journey" promises to give readers behind-the-curtain insights into major world events from the death of Princess Diana to the Sept. 11 attacks and the invasion of Iraq.
It is unlikely to resolve the conflicting views and emotions Blair evokes.
For many Americans, he remains a well-regarded ally who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S. in the fight against international terrorism. He's scheduled to receive the 2010 Liberty Medal from former President Bill Clinton in Philadelphia on Sept. 13.
At home, he is a more polarizing figure. Swept to power in 1997 on a wave of popular enthusiasm, Blair left office a decade later reviled by many for taking Britain into the U.S.-led Iraq war, and viewed as a liability by much of his own Labour Party.
"He began as a leader who was a friend of everyone, and he finished as a friend of almost no one in Britain," said Blair biographer Anthony Seldon.
Anti-war groups say they will picket Blair's book signings in Dublin on Saturday and in London on Sept. 8. Both are high-security affairs at which book buyers will have to surrender their bags, cameras and mobile phones — and are barred from asking for personal dedications.
Blair, 57, stepped buy wow gold down in June 2007 after a decade that included a historic peace accord in Northern Ireland, the deeply unpopular war in Iraq and the continuing conflict in Afghanistan.
He was Labour's most successful leader for decades, moved the left-leaning party toward the center and brought it back to power after 18 years in opposition.
But when he left, after years of increasingly open hostility with Brown, his party was divided.
In the book, Blair calls Brown "difficult, at times maddening," but says "he was also strong, capable and brilliant."
Brown, and Labour, lost power in an election in May, and Blair does not exactly heap praise on his time in office.
"It is easy to say now, in the light of his tenure as prime minister, that I should have stopped it; at the time that would have been well nigh impossible," Blair writes.
Blair has been at the center of numerous books, notably "The Blair Years," by former press secretary Alastair Campbell, and the recently published memoir "The Third Man," by Labour insider Peter Mandelson.
He was also the inspiration for the former prime minister dogged by allegations of war crimes in Robert Harris' thriller "The Ghost," which was turned into a film by Roman Polanski.
Seldon said most political memoirs are self-serving, "historically pretty useless" and don't live up to the hype.
Blair insists his will be different, and Seldon says the former politician is part of a small group whose words may have wide appeal.
"Britain doesn't have many prime ministers who are international cheap wow gold figures," said Seldon. "We have had Churchill, we have had Thatcher, we have had Blair."
Tony Blair's "A Journey" was stirring political passions even before it hits bookstores Wednesday, with excerpts revealing that the former British prime minister has cried for soldiers and civilians killed in Iraq, but still thinks it was right to invade and topple Saddam Hussein.
The decision to go to war remains Blair's most divisive legacy. In excerpts from the book released by the publisher late Tuesday, Blair says "I ... regret with every fiber of my being the loss of those who died."
"Tears, though there have been many, do not encompass it," he says.
But, he says, "on the basis of what we do know now, I still believe that leaving Saddam in power was a bigger risk to our security than removing him and that, terrible though the aftermath was, the reality of Saddam and his sons in charge of Iraq would at least arguably be much worse."
"I can't regret the decision to go to war," he says.
Blair also reopens domestic political wounds, saying he found his rival and successor Gordon Brown difficult and maddening.
British booksellers are reporting heavy interest in the book, for which Blair was paid an wow gold estimated 4.6 million pounds ($7.5 million). He's donating the proceeds to a charity for injured troops.
Billed by publisher Random House as a "frank, open" account of life at the top, "A Journey" is being published in a dozen countries, alongside an e-book and an audio version read by Blair himself. It's in the top 10 on Amazon's British best-seller list — though it's only 4,000 on the retailer's U.S. site.
"Initial sales will be huge," said Jonathan Ruppin of Foyles book store chain. "But whether those sales are sustained will depend on how frank and open it is."
Blair — who is scheduled to be in Washington on publication day, attending Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in his role as an international Mideast envoy — has said he "set out to write a book which describes the human as much as the political dimensions of life as prime minister."
"A Journey" promises to give readers behind-the-curtain insights into major world events from the death of Princess Diana to the Sept. 11 attacks and the invasion of Iraq.
It is unlikely to resolve the conflicting views and emotions Blair evokes.
For many Americans, he remains a well-regarded ally who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S. in the fight against international terrorism. He's scheduled to receive the 2010 Liberty Medal from former President Bill Clinton in Philadelphia on Sept. 13.
At home, he is a more polarizing figure. Swept to power in 1997 on a wave of popular enthusiasm, Blair left office a decade later reviled by many for taking Britain into the U.S.-led Iraq war, and viewed as a liability by much of his own Labour Party.
"He began as a leader who was a friend of everyone, and he finished as a friend of almost no one in Britain," said Blair biographer Anthony Seldon.
Anti-war groups say they will picket Blair's book signings in Dublin on Saturday and in London on Sept. 8. Both are high-security affairs at which book buyers will have to surrender their bags, cameras and mobile phones — and are barred from asking for personal dedications.
Blair, 57, stepped buy wow gold down in June 2007 after a decade that included a historic peace accord in Northern Ireland, the deeply unpopular war in Iraq and the continuing conflict in Afghanistan.
He was Labour's most successful leader for decades, moved the left-leaning party toward the center and brought it back to power after 18 years in opposition.
But when he left, after years of increasingly open hostility with Brown, his party was divided.
In the book, Blair calls Brown "difficult, at times maddening," but says "he was also strong, capable and brilliant."
Brown, and Labour, lost power in an election in May, and Blair does not exactly heap praise on his time in office.
"It is easy to say now, in the light of his tenure as prime minister, that I should have stopped it; at the time that would have been well nigh impossible," Blair writes.
Blair has been at the center of numerous books, notably "The Blair Years," by former press secretary Alastair Campbell, and the recently published memoir "The Third Man," by Labour insider Peter Mandelson.
He was also the inspiration for the former prime minister dogged by allegations of war crimes in Robert Harris' thriller "The Ghost," which was turned into a film by Roman Polanski.
Seldon said most political memoirs are self-serving, "historically pretty useless" and don't live up to the hype.
Blair insists his will be different, and Seldon says the former politician is part of a small group whose words may have wide appeal.
"Britain doesn't have many prime ministers who are international cheap wow gold figures," said Seldon. "We have had Churchill, we have had Thatcher, we have had Blair."
2010年9月1日星期三
Ratings critical to Emmys' future
There are reasons to be optimistic mesos that Sunday's Emmy ratings will continue the rebound begun last year after nearly a quarter-century of declining numbers -- and the stakes couldn't be higher.
With negotiations yet to begin on a new long-term licensing agreement to air the Primetime Emmys, another boost in audience size from the 13.5 million viewers in 2009 could push the major networks to ante up and sign on. It would provide the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with added leverage in what inevitably will be difficult discussions with ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.
The expiring eight-year contract signed in 2002 contains a clause that gives the Big Four an exclusive 60-day negotiating period leading to Sunday's telecast. After that, the academy is free to invite basic cable, pay TV or even Internet platforms to share the air or even take on the entire show.
So far, that leverage hasn't meant much. Although a committee of academy governors and their chief negotiator, attorney Kenneth Ziffren, reached out to start the process as early as June, there have been no negotiations, and none are scheduled.
Multiple sources said the networks, which rotate the show among them, have indicated a willingness to talk and re-up for another round but have made it clear they don't plan to pay much more than in the past and might even seek a reduction in the license fee. This is life or death for the TV Academy, which gets the bulk of its funding from the license fee and related Emmy promotions.
In 2002, with premium cable network HBO offering to carry the show, the Big Four agreed to raise the $3 million-a-show fee to $5.5 million for the first four years and $7.5 million for the next four. (Unlike the Oscars, that doesn't include production costs, which each network wow gold picks up.)
This time, HBO isn't likely to bid on its own, and there has been no discernible interest from basic cable, at least not yet.
If the Emmys are taken off the Big Four, broadcasters likely wouldn't enter the races or allow their talent to participate; they wouldn't buy tickets, tables and ads; and they would counterprogram the show even more aggressively.
The academy won't buy wow gold discuss it, Ziffren declined comment, and the networks say there is nothing to discuss. But one thing is clear: Better ratings would spur the process.
Helping matters this year: Broad-appeal series such as "Glee" and "Modern Family" are up for multiple awards, the Emmycast will air live nationwide for the first time, and the show has no NFL competition (this will be the second time under this contract that NBC will air the Emmys before Labor Day to avoid the network's powerhouse "Sunday Night Football" franchise).
So while the good news is there's no football, the bad news is that it's the weekend before Labor Day, when there are fewer viewers available or interested than cheap wow gold in mid-September.
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