“Omaggio a Roma” Featuring Andrea Bocelli

“Omaggio a Roma” is Maestro Franco Zeffirelli’s film tribute to Rome, the Eternal City. This video clip features stunning cinematography, and an inspired performance by Andrea Bocelli.

Zeffirelli and Bocelli Pay Tribute to Rome

Franco Zeffirelli’s Omaggio a Roma (Tribute to Rome) premieres this week at the 4th Rome International Film Festival.

In the 20-minute film, Monica Bellucci performs the role of Tosca and Andrea Bocelli is featured in the role of Mario Cavaradossi.

October 16, 2009: Franco Zeffirelli and Andrea Bocelli at press conference for Omaggio a Roma

American movies in the film festival lineup include the Coen brothers’ A Serious Man, Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep as Julia Child, and James Ivory’s The City of Your Final Destination.

Mark Vincent Has It

Mark Vincent, born in Caringbah, New South Wales, Australia, was just 15 when he won first place in Australia’s Got Talent on April 22, 2009. Inspired by his late grandfather to study opera, Mark also admires the great opera tenors Andrea Bocelli and Luciano Pavarotti.

For his first performance on the talent show, Mark performed Giacomo Puccini’s incomparable classic Nessun Dorma:

Something Terrible is Happening

This Public Service Announcment is brought to you by CatholicVoteAction.org:
Big Government Health Care PSA

Note to Will Farrell: We’re just not that into you.

See Also:
Another Spoof on the MoveOn/Will Ferrell Health Care Vid [Big Hollywood; October 2, 2009]

Dancing with DeLay

In case you missed the Monday night season premiere of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, former Texas Congressman Tom Delay is back on the scene, and he still has better moves than most of his former colleagues in Washington DC! Watch this video and judge for yourself what that says about the current crop of lawmakers:

Big Hollywood » EXPLOSIVE NEW AUDIO Reveals White House Using NEA to Push Partisan Agenda

Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » EXPLOSIVE NEW AUDIO Reveals White House Using NEA to Push Partisan Agenda

The White House as Creative Director? A Call for Artists to serve and promote the Obama agenda? It’s not enough for the National Endowment of the Arts to fund bad art. It’s new role, coordinated by the White House, is to head up the Department of State Controlled Art. Let the lawyers hash out what laws have been broken and who is directing the cover-up. In the meantime, let’s defund the NEA and demand a refund.

Tina Fey & Homer Simpson Win Emmys

If you are not a fan of NBC comedies 30 Rock or Saturday Night Live, you may not have even heard of Tina Fey until she made a mocking impression of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Governor Sarah Palin in an SNL skit during the 2008 presidential campaign. On September 12, Ms. Fey was awarded the Creative Arts Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series for her portrayal of Governor Palin in Saturday Night Live • Presidential Bash 2008.

The Creative Arts Primetime Emmy award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance went to Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson in The Simpsons • Father Knows Worst on Fox.

In case it is necessary to state the obvious, Ms. Fey and Mr. Castellaneta were both honored for performances in works of fiction. Do you know how many Obama voters don’t know it was Tina Fey and not Sarah Palin who said “I can see Russia from my house!”? According to a Zogby poll of 512 Obama voters taken from November 13-15, 2008, 86.9 % mistakenly believed it was Sarah Palin who made that comment.

Of those included in the polling sample, 97.1% were high school graduates or higher and 55% were college graduates.

“D’oh!”

Thousand Hand Bodhisattva (Guan Yin) (千手观音)

A friend from France sent me this fascinating and inspiring video. She has never given me a bum steer, so I took a look before attempting to translate the forwarded message from French into English. It said [and I don't vouch for the spelling or grammar], in part :

Il y a en Chine une danse extraordinaire qui s’appelle “Guan Yin aux Mille Mains.” Etant donne le degré de coordination requis, l’exécuter parfaitement serait extraordinaire, même si ces danseuses n’étaient pas sourdes.

Oui, vous lisez correctement, les 21 danseuses sont complètement sourdes et muettes.”

The choreographer, Zhang Jigang, holds the rank of Lieutenant General in the Peoples Liberation Army of China.

This dance was performed in 2004 at the closing ceremonies for the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. That’s right. The Paralympics.

As the email said, all 21 members of the dance troupe are sourd … deaf.

When the Orchestra Goes Green

The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra has been around for more than 10 years, performing on instruments made solely from fresh vegetables. And no, the musicians are not all vegetarians.


More information:
Vienna Vegetable Orchestra

A Joyous Sound: Hava Nagila, Texas Style

A Canadian friend, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, married to a New Zealander, who now lives in the United States, sent me this video. She describes it as “a hoot, hootenanny style.” The email she forwarded to me with the link included this anonymous comment:

WE CAN CELEBRATE EACH OTHER’S CULTURE, EACH OTHER’S ACHIEVEMENT, NO MATTER IF WE AGREE WITH THE PERSON’S POLITICS OR NOT. WHERE ELSE YOU CAN HAVE AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN PRESIDENT, A LATINA SUPREME COURT JUSTICE, AN AUSTRIAN IMMIGRANT BODY BUILDER FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA, OR A TEXAS CHRISTIAN CHURCH SINGING “HAVA NAGILA” WHILE DISPLAYING BOTH THE AMERICAN AND ISRAELI FLAGS? GOD BLESS THE USA.”

Here is the rendition of Hava Nagila by the CUFI Cornerstone Singers, performed at the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas.

Cornerstone Church was founded in 1975 by Pastor John Hagee. Under his leadership, the congregation has grown from 1,000 members to over 19,000. Pastor Hagee is also the founder of Christians United for Israel (CUFI).

The statement on the CUFI web site reads, in part:

During the Holocaust, too many Christians were silent, and we were left to mourn the slaughter of 6 million Jews. Today, Bible-believing Christians must speak up and stand up for Israel. We must act to do whatever we can to protect Israel’s 6 million Jews from the second Holocaust. We must get it right this time. Our faith demands it. The times require it. Silence is not an option.”