BuzzSugar

FABTV: Fiona Apple "Across the Universe"

FabSugar — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 13:00:22 PDT

I still haven't gotten around to seeing Across the Universe, but here's another take on the Beatles song. Fiona, intense as always, did a cover of the song for the movie Pleasantville - which I loved. Her rendition is sleepy and beautiful, and slow. Even though this video is shot in black and white, a main theme of the movie's plot, and slowly pans around creating a soothing effect, there is complete mayhem in the background. It seems Pleasantville extras are wrecking havoc on the local diner. The camera style is an assuage to the violent behavior. Juxtaposition at its best.

Oscar Nominee: Across the Universe for Best Costume Design

BuzzSugar — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 14:00:51 PST

In the days leading up until the Oscars, I'll be featuring the nominees in the various visual categories. This week, I'll be looking at the nominees for Best Costume Design. This category plays a huge role in film making, as costumes can make or break the authenticity of a film, convey things that words cannot, or just add to the overall magic on the big screen. Today's featured movie is Across the Universe.

Though some criticized the overall job Julie Taymor did converting the beloved Beatles songbook into a musical, it is hard to deny the quality of the film's feast for the eyes. Taymor became one of the most innovative forces on Broadway when she brought the Disney animated film The Lion King to the stage in a way no one had ever seen before (think: giant puppets). So it's no suprise that the costumes in this film reach beyond the traditional period piece decadence and into effects that include background dancers dressed in larger-than-life, puppet-like pieces. The overall effect is extremely, well, trippy - which is exactly what a movie musical nostalgic for the psychedelic mood of the '60s should invoke. No wonder Oscar took notice.

To check out a bunch of pictures from the film, read more

View 12 Photos ›

Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures

What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 07:30:00 PST

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to the titles below you can view Cate Blanchett's award-nominated performance in Elizabeth: The Golden Age and The Jane Austen Book Club, which I featured as one of my February Must Haves. Additionally, the Jodi Foster thriller The Brave One, which I liked well enough, is now on DVD.

The Assassination of Jess James by the Coward Robert Ford
This movie adaptation of Ron Hansen's acclaimed novel brings to life two infamous personalities of the American wild West. Notorious outlaw Jesse James (Brad Pitt) befriends what amounts to a latter-day celeb stalker, Robert Ford. Played by Casey Affleck who has been nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal, Ford is a man looking for fame and will do just about anything to attain it.

I enjoyed this movie, despite some awkward pacing and artifice. The visualizations of the West and solid performances make this a great choice for home-theater viewing.

It's a fun week for DVDs so

read more. Across the Universe I once described the look and feel of Across the Universe as a shroom-induced dream set to Beatles songs, and I stand by that description. Using the Fab Four's music, a romantic plot line, and trippy visual effects, director Julie Taymor takes audiences through the ups and downs of the 1960s. The result is an ambitious, psychedelic attempt to capture a moment in time, and I give it an "A" for effort. The burning question you'll probably have when viewing these crazy visuals is, "How'd they do that?" Thus, the two-disc DVD set is highly satisfying with all its making-of featurettes. Also, the commentary by Taymor gives great background on why she chose the '60s as her backdrop and how the Beatles inspired her.
2 Days in Paris Julie Delpy wrote, stars in, directed, and composed the music for this comedy that co-stars Adam Goldberg. I had a chance to talk with Delpy about this film, and it was clear she has a serious interest in exploring what makes modern relationships tick. The film follows a neurotic yet lovable couple that spends two awkward days in Paris where Marion's (Delpy's) family forces them to confront their relationship issues, not to mention their cultural differences. Overall, the movie is a charming take on all the work that goes into love nowadays. Special features include five deleted scenes and an interview with Julie Delpy.

Movie Preview: Across the Universe

BuzzSugar — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 07:30:00 PDT

Directed by Julie Taymor, Across the Universe seriously seems to defy categorization. It's dramatic, romantic, musical and historical, though there are some pretty out-there elements to it as well. As you can probably guess from this image featuring Eddie Izzard, the style is rather whimsical to the point of being, well, trippy.

According to an IMDB description, "An original musical film, Across The Universe is a fictional love story set in the 1960s amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, the struggle for free speech and civil rights, mind exploration and rock and roll... A combination of live action and painted and three-dimensional animation, the film is paired with many Beatles songs that defined the time."

After viewing the trailer, I've decided that if I had a shroom-induced dream set to Beatles songs, it would probably look a lot like this. The movie is now playing in select theaters, so to check out the weird, but not altogether terrible trailer,

read more Across the Universe photo courtesy of Sony Pictures

Is Pregnancy a Disability?

BabyCenter — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:16:40 PST

We're excited to share this post from our partners at BabyCenter! Every week, we will be bringing you the best parenting and lifestyle stories from the experts at BabyCenter, including this post from Stacie Lewis about considering pregnancy a disability.

Shortness of breath. Inability to lift heavy objects. Need for specific seating. Exhaustion. Months of nausea followed by months, possibly a year, off work. Are these the markers of a disability?

Sorry, ladies. You aren’t disabled. You are pregnant.

A month ago I pulled my car into a disabled space in front of a baby store. My daughter is disabled, and we have a badge. Next to me a man waited in his car, also in a disabled spot. No badge.

I knocked on his window. I tried - and probably did not succeed on any level - to not sound annoyed. “Sorry, but you are parking in a disabled spot.”

“But, my wife . . . ,” he sputtered, “she’s pregnant.” He gestured toward the baby store. “She’s inside, and I’m waiting for her.”

First of all: disabled spaces are not for “waiting” in. They are for ease of loading and unloading people in wheelchairs. They are for people, like my daughter, who suffer from seizures and might need be rushed back to the car and then the hospital, so need to be as close as possible to the car.

Let’s be clear, if his wife can stroll through a megababy store - it is literally the size of Kansas - she can walk the extra 10 feet across the lane to the nonhandicapped parking. She is not disabled.

However, as The Huffington Post reported this week, Jeannette Cox, a law professor at the University of Dayton in Ohio, thinks pregnancy is a disability. According to her research, the Americans With Disabilities Act should be expanded to include pregnant workers.

"The recent expansion of the ADA’s protected class now includes persons with minor temporary physical limitations comparable to pregnancy’s physical effects," said Cox. "This invites reexamination of the assumption pregnant workers may not use the ADA to obtain workplace accommodations."

To some extent, I agree with Cox. There is a culture of discrimination in America about pregnancy. I live in Britain and I am astounded by how little time and leeway American pregnant women are accorded. Policies and legislation that encourage women to work up until the moment of birth (and Cox encourages employers to consider that, with proper accommodation, women would be more able to do this, not less) and to return to work as swiftly as possible or else lose their job, are irresponsible in the extreme. Establishing breast-feeding, recovering from a C-section - these things all take time, and I doubt any health professional thinks only a few months, or as is the case for some women, a few weeks is long enough for mother or baby.

But a disability? Sorry. No.

Disability is a serious, life-altering complication. As such, the classification should be assigned only to those that need that level of protection and assistance. Return to my initial list of conditions: pregnant women do not require oxygen masks, care workers, wheelchairs, tube feeding - the symptoms of pregnancy are not such that a woman’s life is irrevocably and devastatingly changed long-term.

As soon as we start calling pregnancy a disability, disability itself is reduced to the challenge level of pregnancy. Never forget that - though exhausting and nauseating - pregnancy will pass. Feel grateful for that and the glimpse it gives you of a more challenging life.

Do you consider pregnancy a disability?

More great stories from BabyCenter.com:
Mom jeans no more!
Did you get the name you wish?
Getting highlights gives me guilt
How to overcome the baby blues
Katherine Heigl on "failing" as a mom

Source: Flickr User elicash

Study: Majority of Girls Face Sexually Charged Bullying

Lizzie Fuhr — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:40:55 PST

Kids dubbing a girl a "slut" is overheard far too often across the nation. And it's not just high school or college girls we're talking about here. Middle school tween bullies commonly label girls they don't like or are mad at as "sluts." The American Association of University Women released a study this month that found 56 percent of the middle and high school girls surveyed were sexually harassed in the past school year. And most of the time, these girls are not even sexually active.

One psychologist, Maureen McHugh of Indiana University, explains that as girls experiment with more grown-up fashion and makeup choices, their peer cans brutally police them: "There's monitoring of people wearing too much makeup or dressing too provocatively, so it's a weird fine line." And the sexual harassment doesn't end with the "slut-bashing." According to a 2010 study, students who are gay are bullied three times as much as heterosexual kids.

With all of the "slut walks" and grassroots movements taking place across the country to educate people on alternative lifestyles, and an attempt to reclaim the word "slut" itself, this research seems to suggest kids aren't getting the sex-positive message. I'm curious; did you ever experience these types of taunts?

Should You Move Your Money to a Credit Union?

LearnVest — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:15:03 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

You wouldn’t normally think of credit unions as sexy or hip.

They don’t have glossy ad campaigns and beautiful branches on every street corner. Even their basic definition-non-profit financial co-ops - sounds boring.

But these days, more and more Americans are clamoring to join the club of credit unions because of their low fees, higher interest rates on savings accounts and lower interest rates on loans.

Because they are non-profit, credit unions are the only financial institutions that go out of their way to serve low-income clientele. But you’d be wrong if you think that’s the only group they serve. Anyone can benefit from the low-fee, low-rate products that credit unions specialize in. And in fact, many more people are.

After a furor erupted over new debit card fees announced by several commercial banks in September, 650,000 customers have switched to credit unions, depositing $4.5 billion in new accounts. (That’s the same amount as existing credit union customers across the country had been depositing in an entire month.) Those bank fees have since been rescinded, but the bad taste in many Americans’ mouths remains.

Read on for more.

Wanderlust Trailer: Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston Head to a Nudist Colony

Rose Curiel — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:27:03 PDT

It's usually not a good sign when a film has to rely on nudity for humor, so the fact that Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston's new film Wanderlust is set in a nudist colony makes me doubtful as to whether or not this film will deliver laughs. Rudd and Aniston play New York-based couple George and Linda, who are forced to relocate to Atlanta when George loses his job. When the pair stumbles across a nudist colony occupied by free-loving hippies who offer the slow-paced lifestyle they never experienced in the big city, they decide to move in.

A lot of the jokes revealed in the trailer feel predictable given the film's setting; a bold colony member nonchalantly proposes sex, we see George looking uncomfortable as he sits atop a toilet, and hallucinogenic drugs fuel Linda to climb a tree and proclaim she can fly. I was excited to see Party Down's Ken Marino as George's obnoxious brother, but I feel like I've seen Aniston in this role one too many times before. See what you make of the film when you watch the Wanderlust trailer after the jump.

13 Signs You’re Too Busy

LearnVest — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:15:38 PDT

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

There’s busy.

Then there’s too busy.

Busy is running from one appointment to the next. Too busy is running over someone on your way to the next appointment (physically, vehicularly, whatever). Busy is leaving your cell phone behind at the grocery store. Too busy is leaving your kid behind at the grocery store.

And then there’s the biggest of all ironies-we want to cut back, but frankly, we just don’t have the time to figure out how to do it.

Sound familiar? Well, we’re here to do an intervention-a time intervention. Today, we’ll help you figure out if your life is starting to burst at the seams when it comes to your time. If it is, you need a wake-up call to reset priorities, because there is no shakier foundation for healthy, balanced living (and healthy, balanced money management) than not having the space and breathing room that time provides in our lives.

If you’ve crossed over the line into too busy, you’ll need to reset your foundation: Maybe it means taking a day off from work to reassess your life priorities. Maybe it means evaluating what your time is worth and outsourcing chores like housekeeping or laundry. Maybe it means taking a break from social engagements for a little while to focus on building the right foundation.

Here are 13 signs that you might need a time overhaul in your life-and easy tips on how to get started, today.

You Spend a Good Amount of Time Worrying About Your Time

If your time is preoccupied with, well, your time, you might be: endlessly cycling through your to-do list in your head, spending a lot of time arranging and rearranging your schedule, or wishing throughout the day that you had more time.

If you've worried about your schedule or wished you had more time more than three times a day, you need a break from time itself as a stressor in your life.

Try this: Take a mental break. Remove one thing from your schedule for today that is the least important-it might be putting off doing the laundry or postponing a work call. Spend that time instead totally luxuriating in something in the present moment (like eating a macaron or listening to your favorite song) and not thinking about your schedule, or future plans, at all.

Read on for more.

Would You Try to Avoid a Halloween Birth? Many Women Do!

LilSugar — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 03:15:40 PDT

There's something scary about giving birth on October 31 - at least according to a new study conducted by Yale University's School of Public Health. Analyzing data collected across the US over an eleven-year period, researches found that fewer children are born on Halloween than any other average day. At the same time, Valentine's Day sees a higher than average rate of women giving birth. The study reports:

On Valentine's Day, which conveys positive symbolism, there was a 3.6 percent increase in spontaneous births and a 12.1 percent increase in Cesarean births. Whereas, on Halloween, which conveys negative symbolism, there was a 5.3 percent decrease in spontaneous births and a 16.9 percent decrease in Cesarean births.

The results of the study challenge the generally accepted notion that spontaneous birth is a natural, biological, and largely uncontrollable event, suggesting that the cultural beliefs of the expectant mama impact when she actually goes into labor.

What do you think? Would you try to mentally will yourself to avoid labor when the roads are clogged with trick-or-treaters, and the ER is filled with Halloween revelers?