News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Friday March 14th 2025
Elizabeth Taylor, February 27, 1932 ”“ March 23, 2011
Elizabeth Taylor
On July 22, 2010, Elizabeth Taylor tweeted “Hold your horses world. I”'ve been hearing all kinds of rumors about someone being cast to play me in a film about Richard and myself…No one is going to play Elizabeth Taylor, but Elizabeth Taylor herself…Not at least until I”'m dead, and at the moment I”'m having too much fun being alive…and I plan on staying that way. Happiness to all.”
Arguably was my favorite living actress, ironically she starred in the movie “Giant”(1956) with Rock Hudson and Dennis Hopper, with George Steven”'s direction. Likewise this outstanding actress and beauty became a giant in her own right. Lustrous, glamorous for sure, her life was “spirited”' or “controversial”, if for no other reason than she had eight marriages. But, largely because of her beauty, for the life of me, critics had to wonder if someone so beautiful could be talented. There always had been actresses with touching beauty–Rita Hayworth, Jane Russell, Lena Horne, Hedy Lamar, etc.,–yet Ms. Taylor captured the beauty as well as the controversy that surrounded her.
Taylor was a childhood actress. Her debut film was “There”'s One Every Minute” (1942) but it was her role in “National Velvet”(1944) where she had eyes turned. … Read the rest “Elizabeth Taylor, February 27, 1932 ”“ March 23, 2011”
Of Gods and Men
Of Gods and Men
Of Gods and Men
****1/2
Cast: Lambert Wilson (Christian),Michael Lonsdale (Luc), Olivier Rabordin (Christophe), Phillippe Laudenbach (Celeslin), Jacquees Herlin Frin (Paul), abdelhafid Metalsi (Nouredine), Sabrince Ouazani (Rabbia), Olivier Perrier (Bruno), Fariid (Ali Fayattia), Adel Bencherif (Le Terroriste). Country: France. Language: French in English subtitles. Director: Xavier Beauvois. (PG-13) Running time: 120 minutes.
Riveting throughout, “Of Gods and Men,” is one of those films whereas the principal characters sit on a powder keg knowing at any time it can go off. The courage to stay put, the eight Trappist monks”' faith and their agape love for the poor Algerian villagers continue in the midst of political turmoil in Algeria largely engineered by the Islamic Salvation Front defeating The National Liberation Front in1991, which overthrew the French in 1962. In 1993, the Armed Islamic Group orders all foreigners out of Algeria in 30 days.
The film begins in 1996, the monks from France live in a small monastery in the hills close to the village. Christian (Lambert Wilson), is the prior and has studied the Qur”'an; Luc (Micheal Lonsdale), is the doctor who treats the villagers with no cost. We learn about each of the six brothers and two priests. … Read the rest “Of Gods and Men”
Keep citizen journalism alive!
Commentary NRP Funds”¦Are Mpls. City Hall Democrats still Democrats? Party of Compassion?? Do the Math!! The Rich Get Richer, The Poor Get Poorer and Neighborhoods, too
In the midst of watching the destruction of the democratic right of collective bargaining going on next door in Wisconsin, an action bought and paid for by the billionaire Koch brothers, I attended a meeting called by a group of Democratic legislators. A graph was handed out, shown here, of the seriously regressive taxation rates current in Minnesota. Fellow Democrats in the room expressed outrage at years of too much political control by wealthy Republicans and at how regressive taxation has distorted the economy of the American populace into a tiny group of haves and a major group of have nots”¦.so much so that a current magazine with clear legitimacy ran an article entitled ”˜Plutocracy Now!”' (rule by the rich), a play on the name of the TV show ”˜Democracy Now”'.
The graph put out by the State Department of Revenue showed those making from $9,000 to $86,000 paying an average of 12% of their income for taxes, while those earning $447,000 and above paying only 8.9%. These wealthy folks use far more of the public resources from airports to roads to electricity, etc. yet they pay a far smaller percentage of their income in taxes than the middle and lower middle classes, who carry the greatest, by percentage income, of the tax load.… Read the rest “Commentary NRP Funds”¦Are Mpls. City Hall Democrats still Democrats? Party of Compassion?? Do the Math!! The Rich Get Richer, The Poor Get Poorer and Neighborhoods, too”