Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
Chicago, Illinois
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.
It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.
It's the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.
It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.
I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and he's fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.
I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on that train home to Delaware, the Vice President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.
I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nation's next First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House. And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother is watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.
To my campaign manager David Plouffe, my chief strategist David Axelrod, and the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics - you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.
But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you.
I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington - it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.
It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory.
I know you didn't do this just to win an election and I know you didn't do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor's bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there.
There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it's been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.
What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.
Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House - a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, "We are not enemies, but friends...though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection." And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.
And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down - we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security - we support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.
For that is the true genius of America - that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing - Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.
When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.
She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.
A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:
Yes We Can.
Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.
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Obama's Victory Speech
A Change is Gonna Come
As I watched the commentary of the presidential election on CNN, I couldn't feel the swell of emotion that this moment in American history deserves. This song by Sam Cooke along with the historical images comes closer to capturing the significance of Barack Obama becoming president-elect of the United States of America.
nd just like the river I've been running ever since
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
It's been too hard living but I'm afraid to die
Cause I don't know what's up there beyond the sky
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
I go to the movie and I go downtown
Somebody keep telling me don't hang around
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
Then I go to my brother
And I say brother help me please
But he winds up knocking me
Back down on my knees
Ohhhhhhhhh.....
There been times that I thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
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Obama's Village in Kenya
Barack Obama's mother is from Kansas, but his father was from Kenya. Here is a video from one of the times when he has gone to visit them.
Our time has come. Our movement is real and change is coming to America.
Senator Barack Obama's campaign for the American presidency has generated excitement the world over.
What began as a whisper in Springfield has swelled to a chorus of millions calling for change. It's a chorus that cannot be ignored. A chorus that cannot be deterred. This time can be different because this campaign for the presidency of the United States of America is different.
So different in fact that candidates close family members are not watching in New England or in Texas, but from here in the west of Kenya.
He's a beacon of hope. He's got all that it takes to become the president of the United States. "Yes we can!"
Sahid Obama is the presidential hopeful's uncle. He's been watching his famous nephew's progress from the town of Kazumu and he has nothing but pride for Barack's achievements.
I feel so great. It was a wonderful speech.
To show me Obama's roots, Sahid takes me to the Obama family home just across the equator. It's in this sleepy rural village of Kagelo that some of the presidential candidate's closest family still live.
You are heading into Mama Sara's house. A family picture taken in 1992. That's when he visit for the second time. And there as well you can see me standing next to the senator. The senator? The presidential candidate. There we are.
Senator Obama didn't grow up here but it was the home of his father: Barack Obama Sr., a graduate of Harvard University and a respected economist. They became estranged early in his son's life.
Now we are approaching the grave of senator Barack Obama's father. This is where the remains of Senator Barack Obama's father were buried.
Can you tell me just a little bit about him?
Yeah, Barack was a very loving person, very intelligent. Though he died when I was still very young, but my memory of him is that he was a very intelligent person.
Barack Obama first came to visit his father's grave back in 1987.
It was his first time in Kenya. I can say it was kind of happiness mixed with some sadness because he was person who was coming to see this side of his family and at the same time he was coming to see where his father was buried.
Another Obama still living in the village is Barack's grandmother, known as Mama Sara. She too has poignant memories from Barack's first visit. In her house, one photo has pride of place: a young Barack Obama carrying a large sack of vegetables that Mama Sara was bringing home.
(Subtitles on video)
Since then, Senator Barack Obama, has been back only a few times. Mama Sara doesn't speak English and her grandson's knowledge of the local language is limited to masawa, or "how are you?" Even so, there is a strong attachment between the two of them.
(Subtitles on video)
The presidential candidate's grandmother leads a simple life, tending this small plot of land, feeding her cows and chickens, and raising a handful of adopted children. But even though she is a world away from the pressure cooker of Washington politics, Mama Sara has had the inside running on Senator Obama's lofty ambitions.
(Subtitles on video)
While we're talking a group of international journalists arrive and Mama Sara becomes the star of an inpromptu photo shoot. She's hoping that if Barack wins the presidency, the focus will move away from her and what her grandson might be able to do for Kenya.
(Subtitles on video)
A president Obama may or may not be able to deliver on his grandmother's wish list, but even so he is already being commemorated. Behind the Obama's plot is the local school, renamed in the Senator's honor after his last visit. Education facilities here are primitive, but it provides these children with their best shot at a better life. Isaac Kenya wants to become a doctor overseas. He knows that won't come easily, but he's been inspired by Barack Obama.
I think that if Senator Obama will win the presidency, then when I am going to sit for my examination this year, I know that I'm going to excel in my exams and if possible I will study abroad.
The tiny town of Kagelo offers few opportunities. Many people here are idle from lack of employment. It's so quiet that the sound of a sewing machine drives me over to Leonard Ladier, the town tailor. Leonard met Obama at the local church and he has a high opinion of the Senator as well as high hopes.
(Subtitles on video)
God's will and Barack Obama are two things that come up a lot in conversation's around Kagelo.
(Subtitles on video)
The family's devout Christianity is no small irony given that one of the dirtiest tricks of the election campaign so far has been the attempt to depict Barack Obama as a closet Muslim. Despite the innuendo, Obama's campaign is still growing strong.
We will put a college education within the reach of anyone who wants to go.
Sitting down with Sahid to watch his nephew on television, I can't help but be a bit
amazed at how far Barack Obama has come. For Barack's relatives, his success is clearly the result of a humble ancestry.
I think about one to some extent has made him what he is today. He is somebody who has had to fight to become what he is. He coming from a multicultural background, multireligious, multiracial, and I think that one has done quite a lot to put him where he is today.
Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!
Thank you Chicago. Let's go get to work. I love you.
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Amazing African Animals
This week Shirley talks with David about the wildlife in Kenya, Africa and the some of the environmental problems. Here's an amazing video from Kruger National Park in South Africa.
This is one of the most popular videos ever posted on YouTube. Over 38,000,000 people have watched this video.
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Presidential Debate: Lesson of Iraq
This week ELLLO features two debates that you can watch here and here. Here are some expert debaters in action. We vote next week for the next president of the US.
Sen. McCain: I think the lessons of Iraq are very clear that you cannot have a failed strategy that will then cause you to nearly lose a conflict. Our initial military success, we went in to Baghdad and everybody celebrated. And then the war was very badly mishandled. I went to Iraq in 2003 and came back and said, we've got to change this strategy. This strategy requires additional troops, it requires a fundamental change in strategy and I fought for it. And finally, we came up with a great general and a strategy that has succeeded.
This strategy has succeeded. And we are winning in Iraq. And we will come home with victory and with honor. And that withdrawal is the result of every counterinsurgency that succeeds.
Sen. McCain: And I want to tell you that now that we will succeed and our troops will come home, and not in defeat, that we will see a stable ally in the region and a fledgling democracy.
The consequences of defeat would have been increased Iranian influence. It would have been increase in sectarian violence. It would have been a wider war, which the United States of America might have had to come back.
So there was a lot at stake there. And thanks to this great general, David Petraeus, and the troops who serve under him, they have succeeded. And we are winning in Iraq, and we will come home. And we will come home as we have when we have won other wars and not in defeat.
Lehrer: Two minutes, how you see the lessons of Iraq, Senator Obama.
Sen. Obama: Well, this is an area where Senator McCain and I have a fundamental difference because I think the first question is whether we should have gone into the war in the first place.
Now six years ago, I stood up and opposed this war at a time when it was politically risky to do so because I said that not only did we not know how much it was going to cost, what our exit strategy might be, how it would affect our relationships around the world, and whether our intelligence was sound, but also because we hadn't finished the job in Afghanistan.
We hadn't caught bin Laden. We hadn't put al Qaeda to rest, and as a consequence, I thought that it was going to be a distraction. Now Senator McCain and President Bush had a very different judgment.
And I wish I had been wrong for the sake of the country and they had been right, but that's not the case. We've spent over $600 billion so far, soon to be $1 trillion. We have lost over 4,000 lives. We have seen 30,000 wounded, and most importantly, from a strategic national security perspective, al Qaeda is resurgent, stronger now than at any time since 2001.
We took our eye off the ball. And not to mention that we are still spending $10 billion a month, when they have a $79 billion surplus, at a time when we are in great distress here at home, and we just talked about the fact that our budget is way overstretched and we are borrowing money from overseas to try to finance just some of the basic functions of our government.
So I think the lesson to be drawn is that we should never hesitate to use military force, and I will not, as president, in order to keep the American people safe. But we have to use our military wisely. And we did not use our military wisely in Iraq.
Lehrer: Do you agree with that, the lesson of Iraq?
Sen. McCain: The next president of the United States is not going to have to address the issue as to whether we went into Iraq or not. The next president of the United States is going to have to decide how we leave, when we leave, and what we leave behind. That's the decision of the next president of the United States.
Senator Obama said the surge could not work, said it would increase sectarian violence, said it was doomed to failure. Recently on a television program, he said it exceed our wildest expectations.
But yet, after conceding that, he still says that he would oppose the surge if he had to decide that again today. Incredibly, incredibly Senator Obama didn't go to Iraq for 900 days and never asked for a meeting with General Petraeus.
Lehrer: Well, let's go at some of these things...
Sen. McCain: Senator Obama is the chairperson of a committee that oversights NATO that's in Afghanistan. To this day, he has never had a hearing.
Lehrer: What about that point?
Sen. McCain: I mean, it's remarkable.
Lehrer: All right. What about that point?
Sen. Obama: Which point? He raised a whole bunch of them.
Lehrer: I know, OK, let's go to the latter point and we'll back up. The point about your not having been...
Sen. Obama: Look, I'm very proud of my vice presidential selection, Joe Biden, who is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and as he explains, and as John well knows, the issues of Afghanistan, the issues of Iraq, critical issues like that, don't go through my subcommittee because they're done as a committee as a whole.
But that's Senate inside baseball. But let's get back to the core issue here. Senator McCain is absolutely right that the violence has been reduced as a consequence of the extraordinary sacrifice of our troops and our military families.
They have done a brilliant job, and General Petraeus has done a brilliant job. But understand, that was a tactic designed to contain the damage of the previous four years of mismanagement of this war.
And so John likes -- John, you like to pretend like the war started in 2007. You talk about the surge. The war started in 2003, and at the time when the war started, you said it was going to be quick and easy. You said we knew where the weapons of mass destruction were. You were wrong.
You said that we were going to be greeted as liberators. You were wrong. You said that there was no history of violence between Shia and Sunni. And you were wrong. And so my question is...
(Crosstalk)
Lehrer: Senator Obama...
Sen. Obama: ... of judgment, of whether or not -- of whether or not -- if the question is who is best-equipped as the next president to make good decisions about how we use our military, how we make sure that we are prepared and ready for the next conflict, then I think we can take a look at our judgment.
Lehrer: I have got a lot on the plate here...
Sen. McCain: I'm afraid Senator Obama doesn't understand the difference between a tactic and a strategy. But the important -- I'd like to tell you, two Fourths of July ago I was in Baghdad. General Petraeus invited Senator Lindsey Graham and me to attend a ceremony where 688 brave young Americans, whose enlistment had expired, were reenlisting to stay and fight for Iraqi freedom and American freedom.
I was honored to be there. I was honored to speak to those troops. And you know, afterwards, we spent a lot of time with them. And you know what they said to us? They said, let us win. They said, let us win. We don't want our kids coming back here.
And this strategy, and this general, they are winning. Senator Obama refuses to acknowledge that we are winning in Iraq.
Sen. Obama: That's not true.
Sen. McCain: They just passed an electoral...
Sen. Obama: That's not true.
Sen. McCain: An election law just in the last few days. There is social, economic progress, and a strategy, a strategy of going into an area, clearing and holding, and the people of the country then become allied with you. They inform on the bad guys. And peace comes to the country, and prosperity.
That's what's happening in Iraq, and it wasn't a tactic.
Lehrer: Let me see...
Sen. Obama: Jim, Jim, this is a big...
Sen. McCain: It was a stratagem. And that same strategy will be employed in Afghanistan by this great general. And Senator Obama, who after promising not to vote to cut off funds for the troops, did the incredible thing of voting to cut off the funds for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sen. Obama: Jim, there are a whole bunch of things we have got to answer. First of all, let's talk about this troop funding issue because John always brings this up. Senator McCain cut -- Senator McCain opposed funding for troops in legislation that had a timetable, because he didn't believe in a timetable.
I opposed funding a mission that had no timetable, and was open- ended, giving a blank check to George Bush. We had a difference on the timetable. We didn't have a difference on whether or not we were going to be funding troops.
We had a legitimate difference, and I absolutely understand the difference between tactics and strategy. And the strategic question that the president has to ask is not whether or not we are employing a particular approach in the country once we have made the decision to be there.
The question is, was this wise? We have seen Afghanistan worsen, deteriorate. We need more troops there. We need more resources there. Senator McCain, in the rush to go into Iraq, said, you know what? We've been successful in Afghanistan. There is nobody who can pose a threat to us there.
This is a time when bin Laden was still out, and now they've reconstituted themselves. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates himself acknowledges the war on terrorism started in Afghanistan and it needs to end there.
But we can't do it if we are not willing to give Iraq back its country. Now, what I've said is we should end this war responsibly. We should do it in phases. But in 16 months we should be able to reduce our combat troops, put -- provide some relief to military families and our troops and bolster our efforts in Afghanistan so that we can capture and kill bin Laden and crush al Qaeda.
And right now, the commanders in Afghanistan, as well as Admiral Mullen, have acknowledged that we don't have enough troops to deal with Afghanistan because we still have more troops in Iraq than we did before the surge.
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Brando's Biography (Part 5: Final Years)
Brando's notoriety, his troubled family life, and his obesity attracted more attention than his late acting career. He gained a great deal of weight in the 1980s and by the mid 1990s he weighed over 300 lbs. and suffered from diabetes. He also earned a reputation for being difficult on the set, often unwilling or unable to memorize his lines and less interested in taking direction than in confronting the film director with odd and childish demands. On the other hand, most other actors found him generous, funny and supportive.
He also dabbled with some innovation in his last years. Brando had several patents issued in his name from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, all of which are directed to a drum-head tensing device and method, between June 2002 and November 2004. For example see U.S. Patent 6,812,392 and its equivalents.
The actor was a long-time close friend of the entertainer Michael Jackson and paid regular visits to his Neverland Ranch, resting there for weeks. Brando also participated in the singer's solo career thirtieth anniversary celebration concerts in 2001, as well as starring in his 15-minute-long music video "You Rock My World" the same year. The actor's son, Miko, was Jackson's bodyguard and assistant for several years, and is also a friend of the singer. He stated "The last time my father left his house to go anywhere, to spend any kind of time... was with Michael Jackson. He loved it... He had a 24-hour chef, 24-hour security, 24-hour help, 24-hour kitchen, 24-hour maid service."
On July 1, 2004, Brando died at the age of 80. The cause of his death was intentionally withheld, with his lawyer citing privacy concerns. It was later revealed that he died at UCLA Medical Center of respiratory failure brought on by pulmonary fibrosis. He also suffered from congestive heart failure,[18] failing eyesight due to diabetes, and had recently been diagnosed with liver cancer.[19]
Karl Malden, Brando's fellow actor in A Streetcar Named Desire, On The Waterfront, and One Eyed Jacks – the only film directed by Brando – talks on a documentary accompanying the DVD A Streetcar Named Desire about a phone call he received from Brando shortly before Brando's death. A distressed Brando told Malden he kept falling over. Malden wanted to come over, but Brando put him off telling him there was no point. Three weeks later Brando was dead. Shortly before his death, Brando had apparently refused permission for tubes carrying oxygen to be inserted into his lungs, which he was told was the only way to prolong his life.
Brando was cremated, his ashes scattered partly in Tahiti and partly in Death Valley.
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Brando's Biography (Part 4: Personal Life)
PERSONAL LIFE
Brando became known as much for his crusades for civil rights, Native American rights and other political causes as he was for his acting. He also earned a "bad boy" reputation for his public outbursts and antics. In June 1973, Brando broke paparazzo Ron Galella's jaw. His hand became infected as a result. In the following year, Galella wore a football helmet when snapping photos of Brando.
In Songs My Mother Taught Me, Brando claimed he met Marilyn Monroe at a party as she played piano, unnoticed by anybody else there, and they started an affair that lasted many years until her death, receiving a telephone call from her several days before she died. He also claimed numerous other romances, although he did not discuss his marriages, his wives, or his children in his autobiography.
He married actress Anna Kashfi in 1957. Kashfi was born in Calcutta and moved to Wales at the end of British rule in India in 1947. She is said to have been the daughter of a Welsh steel worker of Irish descent, William O'Callaghan, who had been superintendent on the Indian State railways. However, in her book, Brando for Breakfast, she claimed that she really is half Indian and that the press incorrectly thought that her stepfather, O'Callaghan, was her real father. She said her real father was Indian and that she was the result of an "unregistered alliance" between her parents. Others present during the Brando-Kashfi relationship, however, claimed that Kashfi merely convinced Brando she was part Indian, having learned of his attraction to exotic women. In 1959, Brando and Kashfi divorced following the birth of their son, Christian Brando, on May 11, 1958.
In 1960, Brando married Movita Castaneda, a Mexican actress seven years his senior; they were divorced in 1962. Castaneda had appeared in the first Mutiny on the Bounty film in 1935, some twenty-seven years before the 1962 remake with Brando as Fletcher Christian. Brando's behavior during the filming of Bounty seemed to bolster his reputation as a difficult star. He was blamed for a change in director and a runaway budget, though he disclaimed responsibility for either.
The Bounty experience affected Brando's life in a profound way. He fell in love with Tahiti and its people. He bought a twelve island atoll, Tetiaroa, which he intended to make part environmental laboratory and part resort. Tahitian beauty Tarita Teriipia, who played Fletcher Christian's love interest, became Brando's third wife on August 10, 1962. At just 20 years old, Tarita was 18 years younger than Brando. A 1961 article on Teriipia in the fan magazine Motion Picture described Brando's delight at how naïve and unsophisticated she was. Teriipia became the mother of two of his children. They divorced in July 1972. Brando eventually had a hotel built on Tetiaroa. It went through many redesigns due to changes demanded by Brando over the years, but is now closed. A new hotel consisting of thirty deluxe villas is due to open in 2008.
Due to his third wife Tarita Teriipia being a French speaker, Brando became fluent in French and gave numerous interviews in French.
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Brando's Biography (Part 3: Career)
RISING TO THE TOP
He made a strong impression in 1951 when he brought his performance as Stanley Kowalski to the screen in Kazan's adaptation of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for that role, and again in each of the next three years for his roles in Viva Zapata! in 1952, Julius Caesar in 1953 as Mark Antony, and On the Waterfront in 1954. These first five films of his career established Brando as perhaps the premier acting talent in the world, as evidenced in his winning the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role three consecutive years, 1951 to 1953.
In 1953, he also starred in Lee Falk's play Arms and the Man. Falk was proud to tell people that Marlon Brando turned down an offer of $10,000 per week on Broadway, in favor of working on Falk's play in Boston. His Boston contract was less than $500 per week. It would be the last time he ever acted in a stage play.
Brando's explosive screen presence exuded a raw sexuality that
drew repeat ticket purchases among female theatre-goers of all ages. Theater managers related accounts of sold out week-day matinees where small children ran up and down the aisle making motorcycle noises while their mothers sat transfixed.
Director Nicholas Ray took the gang image from the movie The Wild One and brought it to his movie, Rebel Without A Cause, and thus emphasized Brando's effect on youth.
Aspects of the rebel culture that included motorcycles, leather jackets, jeans and the rebel image, which inspired generations of rebels, came thanks to that film and Brando's own unique image and character. The sales of motorcycle related paraphernalia, leather jackets, jeans, boots and t-shirts sky-rocketed throughout the country. The film had a similar effect on overseas audiences. Local authorities and religious figures lamented the effect it was having on the youth of their respective countries.
Under Kazan's direction, and with a talented ensemble around him, Brando won the Oscar for his role of Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront. For the famous I coulda' been a contender scene, Brando convinced Kazan that the scripted scene was unrealistic, and with Rod Steiger, improvised the final product.
Brando followed that triumph by a variety of roles in the 1950s that defied expectations: as Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls, where he managed to carry off a singing role; as Sakini, a Japanese interpreter for the U.S. Army in postwar Japan in The Teahouse of the August Moon; as an Air Force officer in Sayonara, and a Nazi officer in The Young Lions. Although he won an Oscar nomination for his acting in Sayonara, his acting had lost much of its energy and direction by the end of the 1950s.
In the 1960s Brando starred in films such as Mutiny on the Bounty (1962); One-Eyed Jacks (1961), a western that would be the only film Brando would ever direct; a star-studded but unsuccessful potboiler The Chase (1966), in which he played an uncorrupted Texas sheriff; Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), portraying a repressed gay army officer, and Burn! (1969), which Brando would later claim as his personal favorite, although it was a commercial failure. Nonetheless, his career had gone into almost complete eclipse by the end of the decade, some say, thanks to his reputation as a difficult star and his record in overbudget or marginal movies.
However, in truth, his reputation as a "difficult star", no matter how justifiably earned, was not the real reason for the downslide in his career. The fact is, as noted progressive writer Dave Zirin points out, Hollywood created what became known as the "Brando Blacklist" that shut him out of many big time roles. The reason for that blacklist was his growing activism, and his financial and moral support of the Black Panthers, Native American Rights groups and other progressive causes.
THE GODFATHER
His performance as Vito Corleone in 1972's The Godfather was a mid-career turning point. Director Francis Ford Coppola convinced Brando to submit to a "make-up" test, in which Brando did his own makeup (he used cotton balls to simulate the puffed-cheek look). Coppola was electrified by Brando's characterization as the head of a crime family, but had to fight the studio in order to cast the temperamental Brando, whose reputation for difficult behavior and demands was the stuff of backlot legend. Mario Puzo always imagined Brando as Corleone. However, Paramount studio heads wanted to give the role to Danny Thomas in the hope that Thomas would have his own production company throw in its lot with Paramount. Thomas declined the role and actually urged the studio to cast Brando at the behest of Coppola and others who had witnessed the screen test.
Eventually, Charles Bluhdorn, the president of Paramount parent Gulf + Western, was won over to letting Brando have the role; when he saw the screen test, he asked in amazement, "What are we watching? Who is this old guinea?" Brando won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, but turned down the Oscar, becoming the second actor to refuse a Best Actor award (the first being George C. Scott for Patton). Brando boycotted the award ceremony, sending instead American Indian Rights activist Sacheen Littlefeather, who appeared in full apache dress, to state his reasons, which were based on his objection to the depiction of American Indians by Hollywood and television.
The actor followed with one of his greatest performances in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1973 film, Last Tango in Paris, but the performance was over-shadowed by an up-roar over the erotic nature of the film. Despite the controversy which attended both the film and the man, the Academy once again nominated Brando for the Best Actor.
His career afterward was uneven. He was paid one million dollars a week to play the iconic Colonel Kurtz in 1979's Apocalypse Now. He was supposed to show up slim, fit, and to have read the book Heart of Darkness. He showed up weighing around 220 pounds and hadn't read Heart of Darkness. This is why his character was shot mostly in the shadows and most of his dialogue was improvised. After his week was over, director Francis Ford Coppola asked him to stay an extra hour so that he could shoot a close up of Brando saying, "The horror, the horror." Brando agreed for an extra $75,000. After this film his weight began to limit the roles he could play.
LATER CAREER
Brando then portrayed Superman's father Jor-El in the 1978 Superman: The Movie, donning an English accent for the part. He agreed to the role only on assurance that he was paid a large sum for what amounted to a small part, that he did not have to read the script beforehand and his lines would be displayed somewhere off-camera. It was revealed in a documentary contained in the 2001 DVD release of Superman, that he was paid $3.7 million for just two weeks of work.
Brando also filmed scenes for the movie's sequel, Superman II, but after producers refused to pay him the same percentage he received for the first movie, he denied them permission to use the footage. However, after Brando's death the footage was re-incorporated into the 2006 re-cut of the film, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut.
Two years after his death, he "reprised" the role of Jor-El in the 2006 "loose sequel" Superman Returns, in which both used and unused archive footage of Brando as Jor-El from the first two Superman films was remastered for a scene in the Fortress of Solitude, as well as Brando's voice-overs being used throughout the film.
Some later performances, such as The Island of Dr Moreau, earned him some of the most uncomplimentary reviews of his career. Despite announcing his retirement from acting in 1980, he subsequently gave interesting supporting performances in movies such as A Dry White Season (for which he was again nominated for an Oscar in 1989), The Freshman in 1990 and Don Juan DeMarco in 1995. In his last film, The Score (2001), he starred with fellow method actor Robert De Niro.
Brando conceived the idea of a novel called Fan-Tan with director Donald Cammell in 1979, which was not released until 2005. Cammell dated and eventually married actor China Kong, the daughter of Anita Loo, with whom Brando had an affair.
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Apocalypse Now
WILLARD:
... and then he broke from himself. I'd never seen a man so broken up and ripped apart..."
KURTZ:
"I've seen horrors...horrors that you've seen. But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that...But you have no right to judge me. It's impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means.
Horror. Horror has a face...And you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies. I remember when I was with Special Forces...Seems a thousand centuries ago...We went into a camp to innoculate the children. We left the camp after we had innoculated the children for Polio, and this old man came running after us and he was crying.
He couldn't see. We went back there and they had come and hacked off every innoculated arm. There
they were in a pile...A pile of little arms. And I remember...I...I...I cried...I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out. I didn't know what I wanted to do. And I want to remember it. I never want to forget it. I never want
to forget. And then I realized...like I was shot...Like I was shot with a diamond...a diamond bullet right through my forehead...And I thought: My God...the genius of that. The genius. The will to do that. Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. And then I realized they were stronger than we. Because they could stand that these were not monsters...These were men...trained cadres...these men who fought with their hearts, who had families, who had children, who were filled with
love...but they had the strength...the strength...to do that. If I had ten divisions of those men our troubles here would be over very quickly. You have to have men who are moral...and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordal instincts to kill without feeling...without passion...without judgement...without judgement. Because it's judgement that
defeats us. "
KURTZ (to Willard)
"I worry that my son might not understand what I've tried to be. And if I were to be killed, Willard, I would want someone to go
to my home and tell my son everything. Everything I did, everything you saw... Because there is nothing I detest more than the stench of lies. And if you understand me, Willard, you'll do this for me."
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Business English from The Godfather
Widely considered one of the greatest movies of all time. Marlon Brando looks a bit different here than when he was young, don't you think?
I need, Don Corleone, those politicians that you carry in your pocket like so many nickels and dimes.
What is the interest for my family?
30%. In the first year, your end should be 3 or 4 million dollars, and then it would go up.
And what is the interest for the Tattaglia family?
My compliments. I'll take care of the Tattaglias--part of my share.
So I'll receive 30% for finance,
political influence, and legal protection? That's what you're telling me?
That's right.
Why do you come to me? Why do I deserve this generosity?
If you consider a million dollars in cash just finance, te saludo, Don Corleone.
I said that I would see you because I heard that you were a serious man to be treated with respect, but I must say no to you and I'll give you my reason. It's true, I have a lot of friends in politics, but they wouldn't be friendly very long if they knew my business was drugs instead of gambling which they regard as a harmless vice but drugs are dirty business. It doesn't make any difference to me what a man does for a living, but your business is a little dangerous.
If you're worried about security, the Tattaglias will guarantee it.
Oh are you telling me that the Tattaglia guarantee our investment?
Wait a minute.
I have a sentimental weakness for my children and I spoil them as you can see. They talk when they should listen. But anyway Senor Sollozzo, my no is final and I wish to congratulate you on your new business. I know you do very well and good luck to you especially as your interests don't conflict with mine. Thank you.
Santino. Come here. What's the matter with you? I think your brain is going soft from all that comedy you're playing with that young girl. Never tell anybody outside the family what you are thinking again. Go on.
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On The Waterfront
An Oscar Award winning performance:
Stay away from me!!!
Come on please. Open the door please!
Stop it!
I want you to stay away from me!
I know what you want me to do, but I ain't gonna do it so forget it!
I don't want you to do anything. You let your conscience tell you what to do.
You shut up about that conscience. That's all I've been hearing.
I never mentioned the word before--you just stay away from me!
Edie, you love me. I want you to say---
I didn't say I didn't love you, I said stay away from me!
I want you to say it to me.
Stay away from me.
Terry.
Hey Terry! Hey Terry your brother is down here, he want to see you!
Charlie.
Hey Terry.
Hey Terry. Your brother is down here.
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Brando's Biography (Part 2: Early Life)
Early life
Brando was born in Omaha, Nebraska on April 3, 1924 , the son of Dorothy Julia Pennebaker Brando (1897–1954), an actress, and Marlon Brando, Sr. (1895–1965), a pesticide and chemical feed manufacturer. The family moved to Evanston, Illinois and in 1935, when he was eleven years old, his parents separated. His mother briefly took her three children Marlon, Jocelyn (1919–2005) and Frances Brando (1922–1994) to live with her mother in Santa Ana, California until 1937, when the parents reconciled and moved to Libertyville, Illinois, a village north of Chicago. The family was of mixed Dutch, Irish, German, Huguenot, and English descent. Contrary to what is stated in some biographies, Brando's grandfather Eugene E. Brando was not French but was born in New York state. Brando's grandmother Marie Holloway abandoned Eugene and their son Marlon Brando Sr. when he was five years old and used the money to suport her gambling and constant boozing.
Brando's mother, Dodie, was an unconventional but intelligent and talented woman. She smoked, wore trousers and drove automobiles at a time when it was unusual for women to do so. However, she suffered from alcoholism and often had to be retrieved from Chicago bars by Brando's father. She later became a leader of Alcoholics Anonymous. Dodie was an actress and administrator in local theater and was written about for her theatrical work by the Omaha newspapers. She helped a young Henry Fonda to begin his own acting career, and fueled Brando's interest in stage acting. His father, Marlon Sr., was a gifted amateur photographer. Brando's maternal grandmother, Bessie Gahan Pennebaker Meyers, to whom Brando was perhaps closer than his own mother, was also unconventional. Widowed at a young age, she worked to support herself as a secretary and later as a Christian Science healer, and was well known in Omaha. Her father, Myles Gahan, was a doctor from Ireland and her mother, Julia Watts, was from England. Brando was a gifted mimic from early childhood and developed a rare ability to absorb the tics and mannerisms of people he played and to display those traits dramatically while staying in character. His sister, Jocelyn Brando, however, was the first to pursue a career in acting, going to New York to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Art. She later appeared on Broadway, in movies and on television. Next, Marlon's sister Frannie left college in California to study art in New York. Marlon followed.
Brando had a tumultuous youth. He was held back a year in school and was later expelled from Libertyville High School for riding his motorcycle through the school. At the age of sixteen years, he was sent to Shattuck Military Academy in Faribault, Minnesota, where his father had gone before him. At Shattuck, he excelled at theatre and got along well within the structure of the school. In his final year (1943), he was put on probation for talking back to an officer during maneuvers. A part of his probation was that he be confined to the school campus, but he eventually tried sneaking off campus into town and was caught. The faculty voted to expel him. He received support from his fellow students who thought the punishment too harsh. He was later invited back for the next year, but decided not to finish school.
He worked as a ditch-digger in his hometown as a summer job arranged by his father, but had decided to follow his sisters to New York. One sister was trying to be a painter and the other had already appeared on Broadway. He visited his sister Frances in New York at Christmas 1942 and liked the experience. Brando was given six months of support from his father, after which his father offered to help him get a job as a salesman. Brando left Illinois for New York City, where he studied at the American Theatre Wing Professional School, New School Dramatic Workshop, and the Actors' Studio. It was at the New School's Dramatic Workshop that he studied with Stella Adler and learned the techniques of the Stanislavski System. There is a possibly apocryphal story in which Adler spoke about teaching Brando, saying that she had instructed the class to act like chickens, then adding that a bomb was about to fall on them. Most of the class clucked and ran around wildly, but Brando sat calmly and pretended to lay an egg. When Adler asked Brando to explain his action, he replied, "I'm a chicken - What do I know from a bomb?"
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Brando's Biography (Part 2: Early Life)
Early life
Brando was born in Omaha, Nebraska on April 3, 1924 , the son of Dorothy Julia Pennebaker Brando (1897–1954), an actress, and Marlon Brando, Sr. (1895–1965), a pesticide and chemical feed manufacturer. The family moved to Evanston, Illinois and in 1935, when he was eleven years old, his parents separated. His mother briefly took her three children Marlon, Jocelyn (1919–2005) and Frances Brando (1922–1994) to live with her mother in Santa Ana, California until 1937, when the parents reconciled and moved to Libertyville, Illinois, a village north of Chicago. The family was of mixed Dutch, Irish, German, Huguenot, and English descent. Contrary to what is stated in some biographies, Brando's grandfather Eugene E. Brando was not French but was born in New York state. Brando's grandmother Marie Holloway abandoned Eugene and their son Marlon Brando Sr. when he was five years old and used the money to suport her gambling and constant boozing.
Brando's mother, Dodie, was an unconventional but intelligent and talented woman. She smoked, wore trousers and drove automobiles at a time when it was unusual for women to do so. However, she suffered from alcoholism and often had to be retrieved from Chicago bars by Brando's father. She later became a leader of Alcoholics Anonymous. Dodie was an actress and administrator in local theater and was written about for her theatrical work by the Omaha newspapers. She helped a young Henry Fonda to begin his own acting career, and fueled Brando's interest in stage acting. His father, Marlon Sr., was a gifted amateur photographer. Brando's maternal grandmother, Bessie Gahan Pennebaker Meyers, to whom Brando was perhaps closer than his own mother, was also unconventional. Widowed at a young age, she worked to support herself as a secretary and later as a Christian Science healer, and was well known in Omaha. Her father, Myles Gahan, was a doctor from Ireland and her mother, Julia Watts, was from England. Brando was a gifted mimic from early childhood and developed a rare ability to absorb the tics and mannerisms of people he played and to display those traits dramatically while staying in character. His sister, Jocelyn Brando, however, was the first to pursue a career in acting, going to New York to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Art. She later appeared on Broadway, in movies and on television. Next, Marlon's sister Frannie left college in California to study art in New York. Marlon followed.
Brando had a tumultuous youth. He was held back a year in school and was later expelled from Libertyville High School for riding his motorcycle through the school. At the age of sixteen years, he was sent to Shattuck Military Academy in Faribault, Minnesota, where his father had gone before him. At Shattuck, he excelled at theatre and got along well within the structure of the school. In his final year (1943), he was put on probation for talking back to an officer during maneuvers. A part of his probation was that he be confined to the school campus, but he eventually tried sneaking off campus into town and was caught. The faculty voted to expel him. He received support from his fellow students who thought the punishment too harsh. He was later invited back for the next year, but decided not to finish school.
He worked as a ditch-digger in his hometown as a summer job arranged by his father, but had decided to follow his sisters to New York. One sister was trying to be a painter and the other had already appeared on Broadway. He visited his sister Frances in New York at Christmas 1942 and liked the experience. Brando was given six months of support from his father, after which his father offered to help him get a job as a salesman. Brando left Illinois for New York City, where he studied at the American Theatre Wing Professional School, New School Dramatic Workshop, and the Actors' Studio. It was at the New School's Dramatic Workshop that he studied with Stella Adler and learned the techniques of the Stanislavski System. There is a possibly apocryphal story in which Adler spoke about teaching Brando, saying that she had instructed the class to act like chickens, then adding that a bomb was about to fall on them. Most of the class clucked and ran around wildly, but Brando sat calmly and pretended to lay an egg. When Adler asked Brando to explain his action, he replied, "I'm a chicken - What do I know from a bomb?"
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Mental Health Break
Sorry you haven't seen any new posts this week. I took a week off and went to Puerto Peñasco, Mexico for a few days to play frisbee on the beach, listen to music on the balcony, and speak Spanish with the locals. It was exactly what I needed.
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Brando's Biography (Part 1)
Bit by bit, I'll post sections of Marlon Brando's entry in wikipedia. The reason you should read it here is because of the AnswerTips that you see below. Every time you see this icon, you can click on any word you don't know and it will give a definition, examples, pronunciation, and even translations into your own language. Try it!
Marlon Brando, Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an Academy Award-winning American actor, whose body of work spanned over half a century. He is widely considered one of the greatest American film actors of all time, indeed, ranking seventh in AFI's (American Film Industry) Top 10 Greatest Actors. As a young sex symbol,he is best known for his roles as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire and Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront, both directed by Elia Kazan in the early 1950s. In middle age, his well-known roles include his Academy Award-winning performance as Vito Corleone in The Godfather, Colonel Walter Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, both directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and an Academy Award-nominated performance as Paul in Last Tango in Paris.
Brando was also an activist, lending his presence to many issues, including the American Civil Rights and American Indian Movements. He was named the fourth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute.
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Stella!!!
In this week's interview, Mari says that she likes romantic comedies. Personally I think romantic dramas are much more interesting because they mirror real life. Here's Brando delivering one of the most famous movie lines ever, "Stella!!"
Kowalski: Hey, Stella!
Eunice: You quit that howling down there and go to bed.
Kowalski: Eunice, I want my girl down here.
Eunice: You shut-up. You're going to get the law on you.
Kowalski: Hey, Stella!!
Eunice: You can’t beat on a woman an then call her back 'cause she ain't gonna come. And her going to have a baby!
Kowalski: Listen, Eunice.
Eunice: I hope they haul you in and turn a fire hose on you --
Kowalski: Eunice, I want my girl down here.
Eunice: -- like they done the last time. You stinker!
Kowalski: Hey, Stellllaaaa!!! Hey, Stellaaaa!!
Eunice: I wouldn't mix in this.
Stanley: Don't ever leave me baby.
This is the end of the post.
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Skill from Brazil!
Ok. This video is not going to help your English, but this week we are talking about abilities with Ron and Mari and I was incredibly impressed with the soccer abilities that these guys from Brazil have.
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How to Talk About Yourself
In this week's interview, Ron and Mari talk about what they are good at. It's not always easy to talk about what you are good at because you might feel like you are bragging (acting too proud of yourself).
One way to soften your style so that you sound more humble is to use these phrases:
People tell me I’m good at...
I’d like to think I’m good at...
I’m pretty good at...
On the other hand, when you are talking about what you are bad at, it's fine to be direct and even better if you exaggerate:
I'm terrible at...
I'm the worst at...
I am probably the worst...in the world.
This is the end of the post.
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This week's on ELLLO and sign up for the PODCAST
This weeks interviews and activities can be found here and here.
If you haven't signed up for the free podcast yet, then click here and do it now so you can automatically download the audio to your mp3 player every week. When you open the podcast page look for the little icon that looks like this (except it will be much smaller). 
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Thai Festival: Loy Khratong
Loy Krathong is held on the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. In the western calendar this usually falls in November.
"Loi" means "to float". "Krathong" is a small raft traditionally made from a section of banana tree trunk, decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, flowers, candles, incense sticks etc. During the night of the full moon, many people will release a small raft like this on a river. Governmental offices, corporations and other organizations also build much bigger and more elaborate rafts, and these are often judged in contests. In addition, fireworks and beauty contests take place during the festival.
The festival probably originated in India as a Hindu festival similar to Deepavali as thanksgiving to the deity of the Ganges with floating lanterns for giving life throughout the year.
According to the writings of H.M. King Rama IV in 1863, the originally Brahmanical festival was adapted by Buddhists in Thailand as a ceremony to honour the original Buddha, Siddhartha Guatama. Apart from venerating the Buddha with light (the candle on the raft), the act of floating away the candle raft is symbolic of letting go of all one's grudges, anger and defilements, so that one can start life afresh on a better foot. People will also cut their fingernails and hair and add them to the raft as a symbol of letting go of the bad parts of oneself. Many Thai believe that floating a krathong will create good luck, and they do it to honor and thank the Goddess of Water, Phra Mae Khongkha.
The beauty contests that accompany the festival are known as "Noppamas Queen Contests". According to legend, Noppamas was a consort of the Sukothai king Loethai (14th century) and she was the first to float decorated krathongs.
The Thai tradition of Loy Kratong started off in Sukhothai, but is now celebrated throughout Thailand, with the festivities in Chiang Mai and Ayutthaya being particularly well known.
In Chiang Mai Loi Kratong is also known as "Yi Peng". Every year thousands of people assemble to float the banana-leaf krathong onto the waterways of the city, honouring the Goddess of Water. A multitude of Lanna-style hot-air lanterns (khom fai) are also launched into the air where they resemble large flocks of giant fluorescent jellyfish gracefully floating by through the skies. These are believed to help rid the locals of troubles and are also taken to decorate houses and streets.
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Protests in Thailand
Soldiers deployed onto the streets of Bangkok, the armed forces called on to help keep the peace after a day of rioting in which police failed to disperse anti-government protesters. Skirmishes continued into the night. The demonstrators refusing to back down, continuing to confront riot police.
We're late in the night and police are continuing to release tear gas into the crowd. They're trying to push the protesters back to the government house where they have been since late August. All day there have been these ongoing skirmishes between police and the protesters and it doesn't seem to be over yet.
Earlier in the evening police trapped protesters and our cameraman in the ?????? of streets surrounding parliament. A car bomb exploded nearby killing one person and injuring bystanders. It is unclear who detonated the device. The crackdown began just after 6 am, an early morning raid that caught the protesters by surprise. They'd stormed Thailand's parliament compound overnight--their second target in as many months, hours before the new prime minister was to set out his governments policies, the protesters tried to blockage the entrances to the parliament building. At around 6:20 local time, riot police moved in. Witnesses say dozens of tear gas canisters were fired into the crowd. For some, the results were devastating. This man lost part of his leg in the attack. Another man with his back torn apart was seen limping from the scene. Others injured in the chaos were carried away. Many of the protesters were seen trying to wash the stinging residue from their eyes.
"We will fight until we win, for sure. Not only me, everybody. You can ask everybody."
Senators who boycotted the parliamentary session came out to greet the protesters. They say the government has blood on its hands.
"All these people, they are here for one thing: because they love this country. They love his majesty the king. So they have their own reason, you know."
Police took about 20 minutes to break open the blockade. And Hees began arriving for the parliamentary session about an hour after the attack. The policy speech went ahead as planned. Tuesday's clash surprised many. The Thai authorities had taken a "softly, softly" approach in dealing with the protesters who stormed the government house in late August. They accused the government of being a puppet of the former prime minister Thaksin Shinawat who was ousted in a military coup. The new prime minister is Thaksin's brother in law who appears to be taking a harder line. Any hopes of a reconciliation between these two sides now seems unlikely. The protest leaders are condemning the attacks. Riot police and the army remain on standby. It seems nothing is resolved here in Thailand.
Salin Downs, Al Jazeera, Bangkok
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This week's interview: Tsunami 2004
Todd talks with Tarta about the devastation she witnessed in Phuket, Thailand after the tsunami in 2004 here and here.
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Bilingual Kids
This week features an interview with Tom and I about the languages we use at home. You can listen to it here.
The following video is a very interesting study on bilingual kids and is full of vocabulary that is useful for talking about learning language.
Bon jour. Hola. Bon jour.
What could be more charming than having child who speaks a foreign language?
Whether it's French, Spanish, German, or whatever it is. Being bilingual is a skill that will reap many benefits as you child becomes an adult. From traveling abroad, to learning new cultures, the possibilities are endless. Hi I'm Sharon Elcock from parent's TV and I'm going to show you what some of the benefits are to having a child who speaks a second language.
The children can learn in a natural way without accent because I am speaking with strong accent because I learned English as an adult. But the children, they learn without any accent, without any barrier and without any problems of expression. They just talk, they don't think about, "I have to learn a new language. They just learn."
(Speaking in Italian)
When you know a second language, you know a second culture. It means that you can also see your own culture in different eyes.
(Italian)
So they don't think, "It's an Italian class, I have to learn this class. No, they just play with us in a natural way. The teacher, what they do that is important is to repeat very slowly in Italian each word showing a flashcard so the child can connect the image with the word.
My name is Neil Baker. I'm the father of Robert Baker, a 3 year old who comes here on occasion. It's not only important to me, but it's important to both my wife and I that Robbie be bilingual. First of all, because that that seems to be the way the world is evolving. It's going to be a bilingual multi-faceted world.
My wife is native Italian. She came here from Parma. Her family, all of her family is still here in the Northern Italy area. My parents, my family is from New York. And so we're trying to mesh the both worlds.
I always speak with him in Italian and I did since he was born. He started to take Italian classes last fall because I started to realize that he had to know that not only mommy speaks Italian and not only people in Italy speak Italian.
There are some families who have caretakers who speak a second language. Perhaps grandma or a foreign speaking nanny can get your child started early.
I have two daughters, Sofie who's five and Cici who's almost three. (Speaking French)
Hiring a nanny who speaks a foreign language became a priority after we started taking the classes here. And the kids like them so much and they really had a lot of fun and I thought, you know, we should really enforce it more at home. Because I don't speak another foreign language fluently and because my husband doesn't, we both really wanted our kids to have that skill. We thought it was really important and one of the few practical things that kids can learn and it's so important for them to start early.
(French)
We present everything as a playgroup with games and songs and toys and visual aids. So children think that they are just coming to play and actually that is the best way for them to learn because they are emotionally engaged. The idea is very simple, you have to compare the brain of the child to some kind of soft wax which can be imprinted with the sounds of any language. But little by little the wax becomes kind of cold and hard and it becomes more difficult to learn other languages.
If classes aren't an option in your area, there are also language learning tools that you can purchase for your home.
Professor Toto is a multimedia language educational series with DVDs and CDs and books to teach languages at home. With professor Toto they are going to learn the basics, not just words but full sentences. Like, "hello my name is..." "I'm four years old" "I go to school" and we learn the colors, the parts of the body, counting, the alphabet, all the basics. You have to engage children emotionally. That's very important. Speak to their heart. Make them laugh. I always say that children remember the words that make them happy.
As you can see, if you want your children to be bilingual, there are many options available. From language classes, to foreign relatives and caretakers, to language DVDs. Remember it's never too early to start teaching your child a second language.
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Which is the best of these 10 guys?
Ok girls. Here is a pretend speed date for you. Which of these guys, cartoon guys, is your type?
Ignore the points -- there are no correct answers, but feel free to make comments below about which guys are the best...or which guys are the worst!
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Speed Dating with Style at Fast Life International
Jeff and Jonathan talk about speed dating here. Watch the video below to see speed dating in action.
I'm Angie. I'm 26 years old, single, I have a ton of friends, a closet full of clothes, "ta da!", and shoes that's a whole different story, but the one thing I don't have? A man! So I've decided to try speed dating. Wish me luck.
So I'm here at Luck's to try Fast Life's Speed Dating with Style.
Can I have everybody's attention? Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, this is Fast Life's Speed Dating with Style at Luck's Bar in Toronto.
Speed dating is essentially like a cocktail party. There are 20 people that show up -- equal numbers of men and women.
Every five minutes I'm going to ring that gong and that's your cue, gentlemen, to get up and move to the next table. This is your personal match folder. The blue area is for you to write down the names of the people you meet this evening and put a "yes" "no" beside them.
The following day we'll send an e-mail to all the people who received a match and they can take it from there.
There are some definite cuties back there. It's nice to see some tall ones, some dark haired guys. Some tips that I've been given from the people who have been here before are to come up with some creative opening lines, something friendly, talk about traveling, so there are all kind of things that are going on in my brain.
So what do you do for fun? Do you go out and exercise? Bike ride? I work out at the gym a lot with my friends, roller blade, beach volleyball, anything. How about you?
I lied to the police once. You what? Lied to the police...at home. I think it might even be insurance fraud.
Where have you travelled? I've been to England, Norway quite a few times because my parents are from there. You have to ask a question, I've got nothing.
I know, I know, you're killing me now.
Time's up. Nice to meet you.
You're sitting here and you'll have a good question and you just want to ask it and I'm trying to find the Fast Life people so I can see out of the corner of my eye whether or not they're going to gong it.
Ask me a question. Do you have any weird collections?
My icebreaker question is whether or not a guy has a collection. If he can flat out come up with something quirky and great, I figure he's got something to him.
Weird collections? No.
I used to have one. What? I used to collect matches. Matches. Like matches from all around the world.
You know what I do have a collection of? It's not so much strange, but rocks from around the world.
Why? Do you have any weird collections? I collect Trident gum wrappers.
Trident? I used to work for Trident, but I don't have any wrappers.
Oh my god, you worked there. It's a sign!
Do you collect rocks from around Toronto, you know, like ????????
Is that like a childish...childhood thing?
Childish? Was that a Freudian slip?
It was.
Ok, "bong", did you just hear that? It's over, it's over. Oh, next...
It was nice to meet you.
Now I work for a nuclear power plant.
Aren't you worried about what it's doing to you.
Maybe.
Like, what are you doing to me right now just sitting there.
She was nice, very energetic. She seemed intelligent, outgoing. I kind of didn't feel like she maybe asked enough about me.
So you're like, I don't know, kind of sarcastic, does that like get in the way of like...scares guys away.
You're one of those people who just has to be right all the time. You're like my brother. And you could have a book of things that Michael says, and it's never right. It's like it's called bulls**t. It's a bestseller.
Michael and I were kind of like fighting and there was some tension over, you know, viewpoints, but that's passion.
I thought she was completely wrong in everything she said. She made absolutely zero sense and it was completely illogical and it didn't flow. But other than that, it was enjoyable.
You know you've got really nice eyes. So do you. Thank you. I was just thinking that. We're like brother, sister. You're killing me here. And the worst part is, is that it really hurts. It hurts me inside...muffin, pookie.
It's one of the things that I look for in a person. It's the ability to find a pet name, you know, quickly, right up front, right away.
We're at pet names and it's only been three and a half minutes.
I think that this is anything but exhausting, it's almost exhilarating because you meet so many fabulous people. You have a short period of time to do it in and you just fly through it all and that bonging thing is stressful but man is it ever fun.
Ah, ok, there we go. As if you just said there we go like...
I didn't say that. Take that hand away...
Oh!
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Tips on making yourself interesting to the opposite sex
In interview #909 Jeff talks about how he wants to meet a girl. Here is the world's top pick up artist explaining how to make yourself interesting to girls.
You know in order to get a woman interested in you, you have to be interesting. So a comedian, you know, the way he'll be funny is he'll tell one joke and you'll say, "Wow. That's funny."
But if he strings ten in a row, you'll say he's funny. It's no longer the material that gets the acclaim, but it's the man himself who gets the acclaim. So similarly--again if you want to get a woman interested in you have to be interesting--so if you say one interesting fact: it has nothing to do with sexuality, nothing to do with attraction, nothing to do with seduction, nothing to do with "the pick up". It's just a non sequitur interesting fact. If you say one interesting fact, for instance you could say, you know, "How many 9s exist between 1 and 100? How many? What do you think? How many 9s exist between 1 and 100? I'll give you a hint: more than 1, more than 3.
10? Is that your answer? Nope.
Do you know it? 9?
This isn't multiple choice, you know. Oh my god! I know it's mathematics, you know, it's quite difficult, it's called counting.
13? 14? Multiple choice again.
It's actually 20. Where is it? 9, 19. 29, 39, 49, 59, 69, 79, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, and 99 is two of them. That's like 20% right there. 1 in 5 is the number 9. Ok, it's a little bullshit babbles brains at the end. It screws with people and if you fell for that, well, you'll fall for a lot. It's nice little test for me.
Nonetheless, when I say this, how many 9s between 1 and 100 in a set, it makes me interesting...non threatening, I'm not after her, I'm not trying to hit on the girl, I'm not making any reference to her beauty. I'm not trying to, you know, brag. It's just interesting. You say one interesting thing and they'll say, "Wow, that's interesting." But you say 10 in a row and she'll say, "You're interesting." It's no longer the material that gets the acclaim, but the man himself. It's a nice way of getting a girl interested in you enough to want to get to know you so that she'll start asking you questions like, "What's your name?" Now we're on our way.
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Good carbs and Bad carbs
Once of the classes I teach right now is based on food. Here is a quiz from our most recent lecture on carbs.
This is the end of the post. Don't click.
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Better Food Pyramid, Brought to you by Harvard University
A great summary of the most current research in nutrition.
TRUE or FALSE
1. Fatty oils should be avoided in a healthy diet.
2. It is better to eat vegetable oils than white pasta and bread.
3. Four servings of vegetable is the maximum you should eat.
4. One or two glasses of alcohol everyday is just as healthy as 8-10 drinks on Friday night.
5. Nuts are lower in calories than animal meat.
6. Children and adults often don't get enough calcium and vitamin D.
7. Red meat is easy to digest but it is high calorie.
TRUE or FALSE
1. Fatty oils should be avoided in a healthy diet. FALSE
2. It is better to eat vegetable oils than white pasta and bread. TRUE
3. Four servings of vegetable is the maximum you should eat. FALSE
4. One or two glasses of alcohol everyday is just as healthy as 8-10 drinks on Friday night. FALSE
5. Nuts are lower in calories than animal meat. TRUE
6. Children and adults often don't get enough calcium and vitamin D. TRUE
7. Red meat is easy to digest but it is high calorie. FALSE
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How to Cook for Someone You Love
Here's my 3-year old son Jaden showing off his cooking skills.
Here is a link the original video.
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Does this Dress Make Me Look Fat?
This week Michael talks about Basic Training for the army. Here's Basic Gender Training for saying the right thing on a date.
Do I look fat in this dress?
Huh? Uh, I guess you could lose a couple of pounds.
What?
I mean, it's supposed to fit tight, isn't it?
You men are here to learn!
Isn't this a beautiful flower?
It's very nice?
Wrong answer maggot! Now hit the deck and give me ten!
You are lovely, you are sweet
Those are cute shoes on your feet.
How do you like my perfume?
It's you darling. It's you!
Isnt' this a beautiful flower?
Not as beautiful as you, darling!
Much better.
You haven't mentioned how you like my new hairstyle.
It's beauty stole my breath away, sweetheart.
What a sweet thing to say.
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Lending Money to Women
Rated R (Restricted for select audiences):
For strong language and sexual themes
This audio by Chris Rock fits perfectly with the theme this week: "Giving Money". It uses the "F" word which may offend some people but I believe that it is a good example of an a popular American cultural phenomenon (Stand-up Comedy), a sample of African-American slang and dialect, and an interesting visual Mash-up with a Japanese Anime. As a student of English, you need to be able to understand jokes like this, plus all of the "bad words" or else you might be the only one not laughing. If you look at it with those things in mind, it's a very educational video. Most of all, it's just funny.
Never lend money to women! And women never lend money to men! You can not lend money to people you are f#*@ing! 'Cause they think the sex is the payback. I dare any man in here to try and get back some money from some women he slept with. Just attempt it. Just step to it like, "Hey baby, what's up with that $200, you owe me." She'll look at you like, "Excuse me?!! I think I paid you last night. As a matter of fact, you owe me $150. "
This is the end of the post.
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It's a woman's woman's man's world
I'll resist commenting on this version and invite you to comment:
What do you think of Christina's Aguilera's version compared to James Brown's version?
This is the end of the post. For more on a woman's world click here.
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