Monthly Archives: October 2011

Find The Perfect Web Hosting.

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In our internet age it seems that everyone has their own website. Well, the smart people at least. This means that you need good hosting. It can take a long time to find the perfect webhosting and it can be a nightmare if you get it wrong. When people are coming to your website you don’t want your site to be down.

You want your hosting provider to have a connection that is fast and reliable. You need to be able to trust your web hosting, it may help to go through some
webhosting news and find out about the latest hosting details and happenings. The site also has hosting reviews. Word of mouth and recommendations are very important to finding the perfect hosting provider. If anything goes wrong you could lose customers or readers. So it definitely pays to shop around.

Frost found some good hosting, we hope you do too.

Bubbles: Short Film Perfection

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I went to see Bubbles at the Soho Screening Rooms, and it was perfection.

Short films are hard to do. Trying to tell an entire story in under 20 minutes is something not everyone can achieve, although they do try. Bubbles succeeds on many levels. When it ended, everyone at the screening was disappointed.

Bubbles is an amazing accomplishment: a short film that you don’t want to end. Beautifully shot and framed, Bubbles is a high quality film which is well-written and well-acted. A triumph for all involved.

Vanessa Bailey is wonderful in her part, sexy, beautiful and smart. Playing a role most actresses would kill for. She is definitely one to watch.

The film tells the story of three generations in a country mansion after a funeral. A photograph resurfaces that changes everything. The past becomes present, and former loves refuse to be forgotten. Leyla Pope is an outstanding talent, I cannot wait for her next film, or, indeed, a feature length version of Bubbles.

http://www.shortfilmbubbles.com/index.html

REVIEW: THE DEEP BLUE SEA

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Tom Hiddleston and Rachal Weisz

 

Director: Terence Davies
Starring: Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston and Simon Russell Beale
Running Time: 93mins

DEEP BLUE SINKS ON THE BIG SCREEN

There’s an exchange at the start of Terence Davies’ adaptation of Terence Rattigan’s stage play where unfaithful Rachel Weisz says to her cuckolded husband, ‘It’s a tragedy’. To which stage super-star Simon Russell Beale replies, ‘No, that’s such a big word. It’s just sad.”

And this is the film’s main problem – it’s not a tragedy, it’s just a bit sad.

The story of a young pretty wife who cheats on her Judge husband with a young pretty pilot, only to have him be a bit of a bastard might have been relevant and boundary pushing in the 1950’s but now it feels prudish, small and out of touch.

While it does have moments or genuine intimacy and insights into relationships that would not be out of place in a modern drama, it’s when the film’s stage roots show that it suffers.

Stage actors are allowed to be bold and brassy, vocalising their emotions to the back rows, but apply that to cinema and it feels melodramatic. Where things should be told with glances, looks and clenched jaws, they are often told with screaming speeches.

There are, however, a handful of stand-out beautiful moments in Deep Blue Sea. An uptight Tom Hiddleston trying to hold his anger at bay in a lively pub, a joke in an art gallery that’s taken in wrong way or a muted exchange in the back of a car – however, these scenes all are ruined by the inevitable burst of anger and melodrama.

You feel that maybe Davies was a bit in awe of the material. After all, not only was this one of Britain’s best-loved playwrights’ best-loved plays, but it’s also being released in the year of Rattigan’s 100th birthday. Maybe Davies felt a major reimagining, or reboot as its called these days, of the play would have been sacrilege.

Which is a shame, as with three such excellent lead actors, this would have made a great stage play.

LONDON PROMOTES: New Rights For Models

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Victoria Keon-Cohen has spent the last ten years working as a fashion model and knows both the highs and lows of the job. “I hated modelling for a long time because of the isolation. I was constantly gritting my teeth to get through the day. The industry is a far cry from what it was in the 1980s; there is now an oversupply of labour, and models are seen as disposable.”

Victoria describes the difficulties of the profession: “I was working in Milan and felt like I was a dog in the gutter half the time. I spent four hours every night in the gym just from loneliness. I had never been so unhappy in my life. The final pushing point came when I had a serious conflict with my agency, so I left.” After quitting the profession she moved back to London to study. Whilst there she met with Dunja Knezevic, a fellow model and friend, and they talked about their dissatisfaction at the industry.

“We exchanged stories of frustration. We’d both had great experiences as well but the inconsistencies were intolerable. One day a girl was dancing in the park for money to get a motel because her agency refuses to advance [money for] their own flat, the next day she’s in a luxurious villa in Spain” said Victoria.

Their conversation led them to consult Equity, the union for performers in the entertainment industry, and ask them to allow models to join. Towards the end of 2007 they succeeded in their request and the Equity Models Committee was formed.

One of the Committee’s biggest successes occurred last year when Equity, working alongside the British Fashion Council (BFC) as part of the Model Programme, introduced the first ever catwalk contract for London Fashion Week, setting out minimum rates of pay, private changing areas, breaks and refreshments. It also included a clause stating that nudity or semi-nudity must be agreed in advance, helping younger and more vulnerable models avoid being pressured into agreeing work that makes them uncomfortable.

This year Victoria, Dunja and the rest of the committee are focusing on a campaign called London Promotes in association with the BFC and the Model Programme. The campaign will include a viral video due to be shown on fashion blogs, social networking sites and both the BFC and Equity websites. The name highlights the important aspects of the campaign:

Privacy: care and backstage code of conduct.

Rates: ensures payment at least equal to the Model Programme recommended minimums.

Opportunities: for models to obtain prestigious British and international campaigns.

Model Programme: an alliance of the AMA, BFC and the Greater London Authority (GLA) working together for models’ welfare.

Of Age: Only models over 16 walking on the London Fashion Week catwalks.

Terms: conditions of employment covered by the Model Programme’s minimum terms.

Equity: joining the Union for models offers the right to Union protection.

Sanctuary: The Models Sanctuary provides a safe haven for models working during London Fashion Week.

One of the key benefits of union representation for models is legal support in case of any dispute with an agency or client, as well as facial insurance in case of accident. Dunja gives this advice to models starting out in the industry: “Join the union before you have an issue at work because Equity cannot help with any problems you may have had before becoming a member.”

She goes to give a realistic view of the job: “It’s nothing like what you would expect so treat it as the serious business that it is. Forget the glamour and exorbitant cheques. But expect an incredible experience of travel and making connections that you never would have made otherwise.”

This latest campaign looks set to change the fashion industry for the better once again at London Fashion Week. As Victoria explains, “London Promotes is looking to the future for an industry built on respect and support, with opportunities and a strong network of collaboration between Equity, the Models Programme and the Mayor’s office [GLA]. It’s a massive turning point for an industry where no one is just out for themselves anymore; it acknowledges that we have to work together for a stronger workplace for us all.”

Alexa Brown is an actress and model and a member of the Equity Model’s Committee. www.alexabrown.co.uk

This article was previously published in the September issue of Style Capital magazine.

French Investor Could Save Full Tilt

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Full Tilt has said it has received an offer to buy it from French investment company Bernard Tapie. The deal could mean more than $300 million currently owed to players could be paid back.

However the deal will only happen if the company can resolve its legal problems with the US government.

The investor Bernard Tapie is best well-known for owning German sportswear company Adidas for a few years in the 1990s
In June the poker world was stunned when Full Tilt was shutdown worldwide after it had its channel island gambling licence suspended. Federal prosecutors accused Full Tilt of being a giant Ponzi scheme.

This was especially shocking as the site is predominantly owned by some of the most famous poker players in the world including Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer.

The site is alleged to have paid $444 million in players money to board members leaving it owing far more money than it has.

Full Tilt was first sued by the US government in April. Although initially Full Tilt argued that players accounts were segregated from operating activities. It has subsequently been discovered that they were drained regularly.