Tet films run the gamut
January 20, 2009
| Kicking off last week, this holiday season’s Tet films celebrate love, lament loss, and are filled with both tears and laughs. |
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With a range of genres represented – comedy, romance, action and drama – there are pros and cons to this year’s Tet holiday films Giai cuu than chet (Hot Kiss 2), Dep tung centimet (Beautiful by the Centimeter) and Huyen thoai bat tu (Legend Is Alive). Giai cuu than chet (Hot Kiss 2) Giai cuu than chet (Hot Kiss 2) is the highly anticipated sequel to Nu hon than chet (Kiss of Death), Vietnam’s highest grossing film ever, which also won the silver prize at the 2007 Canh Dieu Vang (Golden Kite) awards, Vietnam’s answer to the Oscars. The VND7 billion (US$410,000) film follows the story of a school girl who enlists the help of an angel of death to become popular at her new school. But the angel is young and inexperienced and most of his help backfires. Wacky antics ensue. Director Nguyen Quang Dung said he wanted to send the youth a message with the film: “Nobody’s perfect in the world, you’d better be yourself,” he says. Dung also wrote and directed “Kiss of Death.” Dung, who’s earned the nickname Dung khung (Crazy Dung) for his unconventional directorial techniques, had previously said his goal with the film was to become Vietnam’s highest paid director. So he looked to Hollywood for inspiration. “My film is like ‘High School Musical,’ ‘Mean Girls’ and many other films in its portrayal of youth. In addition, I pay homage to the ‘Harry Potter’ films in the depiction of student-teacher relationships. I was also influenced by the social relationships set up in ‘Shark Tale’.” “Hot Kiss 2” is a musical, like “High School Musical,” and follows a young girl who wants to be popular, like “Mean Girls.” Dung said he loved the conflict in “Shark Tale,” where the main character is born into a criminal family but has a kind heart. Such was the inspiration for his angel of death character, a young man who wants to live a peaceful life rather than taking lives. The group of characters are all popular, pretty and talented singers such as Minh Hang, Chi Thien and Dong Nhi. The film’s female lead Minh Hang is an actress and singer. She became famous for her role in the TV series Goi giac mo ve (Calling back the dream), for which she received a Ho Chi Minh City Television Award in 2008. But skeptics say that without the superstars’ involvement and frenetic chemistry of the last film’s two leads – supermodel Thanh Hang and Vietnamese American actor Johnny Tri Nguyen – the film might be a disappointment. One viewer commented, and others agreed: “Hot Kiss 2 is a fun and humorous movie for the Lunar New Year, but it’s just for teenagers.“ Dep tung centimet (Beautiful by the Centimeter) “Beautiful by the Centimeter” tells the story of a photographer and a model who try to take advantage of each other to get what they want. But of course, they fall in love. The film’s two leads, Tang Thanh Ha and Luong Manh Hai, have already worked together on the hit TV show Bong dung muon khoc (Suddenly I wanna cry) and are sure to win audiences hearts yet again. The film’s director, Vu Ngoc Dang, also directed the TV series. But the chemistry among the artists can’t conceal the vapidity of the film’s content. The artists seem content merely to have a bunch of kissing scenes inter cut with scenes of deception. Most of the dialogue is annoying, long and boring and the characters only fall in love after Hai’s character (the man) cheats on Ha’s character in order to learn how to kiss. But no specific details or situations lead viewers to believe their love is true. All we’ll remember from this empty film are the kisses. Many viewers said they didn’t even feel the emotion in the kisses, accusing the director of not understanding how to express real affection or feelings. “The characters seemed to kiss too easily,” said one viewer. “The film seemed forced. It was almost as if it was completed prematurely. Perhaps the artists used up all their grace in Suddenly I wanna cry. That creative energy is not reproduced and the film seemed rushed,” said journalist and writer Hai Mien. “The director didn’t have any real goals. He just wanted to make a blockbuster.” Huyen thoai bat tu (Legend Is Alive) “Legend Is Alive” has a style all its own. Produced by Phuoc Sang Studio, Saigon Media and Wonder Boy Entertainment for $800,000, the hefty budget has added hype and expectations to the film, which stars Dustin Nguyen. The film is about a young man who wants to bring his mother’s ashes back to America to bury her next to his late father’s tomb. Though the film deals with serious issues such as Agent Orange and human trafficking, its also a martial arts flick at heart. In all three films, the plot often ties itself into knots and problems aren’t resolved well enough, and we therefore fail to relate to the characters. Reported by Bao Tran |
Dover event an echo of craft’s darkest day; 138 perished in Babylift crash at Vietnam War’s end
December 2, 2008
 A crew member aboard an Air Force C-5 cradles one of the Vietnamese orphans who was being flown out of Saigon during Operation Babylift. The babylift plane’s 1975 crash, which killed 138 people, including 78 orphans, remains the worst crash in the aircraft’s history. Courtesy of John W. Leland, Air Mobility Command historian |
By Elizabeth Redden, Delaware State NewsDOVER – Open arms greeted the children who boarded the first flight of Operation Babylift in Saigon 31 years ago.
A rapidly advancing North Vietnamese army, closing in on an enemy near the end of a war that has forever lacked closure, prompted the United States to launch a last-minute effort to airlift thousands of orphaned children out of South Vietnam for adoption.
The children were handed up a ladder to a colossal Air Force C-5’s troop compartment from person to person, rung to rung.
Medical crews strapped them into chairs – six across each grouping of three seats – filling up the plane’s top level before securing the rest of the children along a ledge in the cargo hold below.
The ones upstairs in the troop compartment – most of whom would benefit from a gruesome stroke of luck – didn’t cry at the explosion, Col. Regina Aune, chief of the flight’s medical crew, remembers.
They were too young to see the shining South China Sea out of where the back of the plane should have been.
But for Col. Aune, it was a vista too perilous to want to see once, too unforgettable to not see again and again.
Monday’s C-5 crash near Dover Air Force Base stirred memories of the most famous – and fatal – C-5 accident in the history of the military’s largest plane.
Four C-5s have crashed since the cargo fleet went airborne in 1968.
Thirteen of 17 aboard died in a 1990 crash at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, while all 17 passengers and crew survived the Dover crash.
The passengers in a 1974 crash in Oklahoma were even luckier, with nary an injury, according to aircraft historian John W. Leland’s account of the disaster.
But the April 4, 1975, crash of the C-5, lined with its cargo of infants, stands out.
John Nance, an aviation analyst for ABC News, said Monday’s crash bears some resemblance to the one 31 years ago near Saigon.
Both planes crash-landed short of runways during emergency returns, and Mr. Nance suggested the possibility that both crashes resulted in part from disabled flight controls.
The South Vietnam crash occurred more than two years after the signing of the Paris Peace Accord in January 1973, as the United States struggled to deal with a war “over, but not finished,” as political scientist and historian Dr. Samuel B. Hoff said.
By April 1975, North Vietnamese troops had violated the conditions of the accord and were rapidly moving south.
In the face of an impending communist takeover, President Gerald R. Ford called for the immediate airlift of 2,000 orphans out of South Vietnam, said Dr. Hoff, a professor at Delaware State University.
Some would challenge the mission, saying it was a tool to garner support for the sitting South Vietnamese government or squeeze more military aid out of Congress, Dr. Hoff said.
Others charged that airlifting the children perpetuated notions of American cultural supremacy or constituted a last-ditch effort to gain sympathy for the war.
History would show that many of the youngsters likely were not orphans, Dr. Hoff said, and were in fact children of South Vietnamese officials who feared for their offspring’s lives after a communist takeover.
“Either way, it was a humanitarian mission,” Dr. Hoff said.
“It had good intentions.”
A survivor’s story
Col. Aune, then a 30-year-old first lieutenant and newlywed stationed at Travis Air Force Base in California, had only recently returned to duty from a honeymoon that skipped along the California coast, from Carmel to Monterey to San Francisco.
A member of the 10th Air Medical Evacuation Squadron, she was told early April 4 she’d be leading a medical crew on a flight that afternoon.
The crew flew from Clark Air Base, in the Philippines, to Tan Son Nhut Air Base near Saigon, where they filled the plane with children.
The Air Force reports that 145 orphans and seven attendants were strapped into the troop compartment and 102 orphans and 47 others lined a ledge in the cargo hold downstairs.
Some children were only days old.
Col. Aune said she was based downstairs in the cargo compartment, but had climbed the ladder to get some medication.
While there, just a few minutes into the flight, the Air Force reports that an explosion blew off the plane’s pressure door, center cargo door and loading ramp.
Decompression filled the fuselage with fog and dust.
Most of the babies, Col. Aune reported, continued to sleep.
Air Force records said that Capt. Dennis “Bud” Traynor immediately turned back toward Saigon, where a crash landing in a rice paddy crushed the cargo deck, killing nearly everyone in that section.
A total of 138 aboard the doomed flight died, including 78 orphans.
With much of the impact absorbed by the cargo hold, the top of the plane skidded on the paddy “like a speedboat,” Col. Aune remembered.
“We were getting stung by the mud as we zipped through the rice paddies,” she said in a Thursday interview.
When it came to a stop, Col. Aune sprang into action, oblivious to the injuries she’d suffered.
Looking around, she saw a dead baby and a dead adult attendant, but almost everyone else was alive.
She helped carry 149 children to safety, according to the Air Force, and became the first woman to receive the Cheney Award, which recognizes a valorous act “in a humanitarian interest performed in connection with aircraft.”
It was only after grabbing a toddler by the seat of his pants to stop him from stumbling into the muddy water that she realized she couldn’t stand.
She said she can’t remember asking to be relieved of duty.
Col. Aune later learned that she had suffered a compressed vertebra in her back, a hole in her left leg, deep lacerations in her right arm, a broken right foot and lots of minor cuts and bruises.
Cut off from her seat in the doomed cargo hold after the explosion severed the ladder, she had to brace herself on the floor before the crash.
The impact threw her from one side of the compartment to the other end.
The crash stirred a vat of tensions during an already tense time.
“A lot of people said that kind of symbolized the futility of the war and the horror of the war,” Dr. Hoff said.
“A lot of people were assuming that everything was done in January 1973 when we signed the Paris Peace Accord and here we were again, seeing death and tragedy involving children.”
The building evidence that many of the children were never orphans led to a firestorm.
In material accompanying a film on the topic, “Daughter from Danang,” the Public Broadcasting Corp. reported that a class action lawsuit, ultimately dismissed, claimed the United States had an obligation to return the children to their families, many of whom had sent their young away under the duress of wartime.
“You often wonder whether the loss of life of the crewmembers and the children – was it worth it, in a way, was it a big mistake?” Col. Aune asked.
“I didn’t look at it that way. I’ve always believed the crewmembers that died didn’t give their lives in vain,” said Col. Aune, who now serves as chair of the Department of International Expeditionary Education and Training at Brooks City-Base in San Antonio.
About six years ago, she attended a reunion in Baltimore sponsored by three of the adoption agencies that handled the orphans.
She met three people who had survived the crash as children.
“Despite whatever obstacles they had to overcome, whatever difficulties they had to deal with as adoptees, it was their sense of hopefulness, their sense of gratitude to just have a chance to live a happy life or just have a chance of living at all,” she said.
“It confirmed for me that, indeed, as tragic as that event was, there was a lot of good that came from it.”
South Vietnam fell to communism April 30, 1975, just 26 days after the C-5 crash.
North Vietnamese troops overran the presidential palace in Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City.
“The good news, if there is any, is there were apparently 29 more flights over the next week and a half,” Dr. Hoff said.
“They ended around April 14, and in fact, instead of President Ford’s target of 2,000, there were around 2,700 children that came to the U.S. Apparently 1,300 more were sent to Canada, various parts of Europe and Australia, for a total of 4,000 Vietnamese children.”
Post comments on this issue at newszapforums.com/forum4
Staff writer Elizabeth Redden can be reached at 741-8247 or eredden@newszap.com
Wall of fame displays film stars
December 2, 2008
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VietNamNet Bridge – An exhibition area focusing on the Vietnamese film industry has opened at the National Cinema Centre, Lang Ha Street, Ha Noi. The new space aims to showcase classic Vietnamese films and actors. Posters of landmark Vietnamese films such as Canh Dong Hoang (The Wild Field), Chi Tu Hau (Sister Tu Hau) and Mua Gio Chuong (Season of the Whirlwind) are displayed on the first and second floor of the centre. Visitors can view over 70 images of artists including People’s Artists, and award winners such as actress Tra Giang, actor Chanh Tin and director Dang Nhat Minh. Through the posters, audiences can further understand the development of the Vietnamese film industry from past to present. (Source: VNS) |
The loveable Tran Van Anh is now playing a devious and promiscuous bad girl on a hit TV show.
October 27, 2008
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Good girl gone bad
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The loveable Tran Van Anh is now playing a devious and promiscuous bad girl on a hit TV show. |
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Model Tran Van Anh’s radiant smile has become a popular magazine cover and commercial image due to her friendly “good girl” quality. But with her new role as a scheming seductress on the hit TV series Bong Dung Muon Khoc (Suddenly wanna cry), Anh has made sure she’ll never be typecast. Before taking the role as her debut acting job, Anh turned down several opportunities to play virtuous, well-behaved girls. She says she didn’t want to be pigeonholed as a boring actress that could only play innocent or meek girls. Bong Dung Muon Khoc, directed by Vu Ngoc Dang, is about a romance between Nam, a rich but good-for-nothing young man, and Truc, a pretty but illiterate and stubborn girl who sells books on the streets. By a twist of fate, Nam moves into Truc’s house. Their diametrically opposed personalities and lifestyles initially clash, but the longer they live together, the more they understand each other and they eventually fall in love. In the series, Anh plays Ngoc Diep, Nam’s ex-girlfriend, a pretty but mischievous and heartless girl who loves nothing but money, shopping and dressing scantily. Diep is a perfect opponent for Truc, a beautiful, kind-hearted girl who always wears a white ao dai (traditional Vietnamese tunic) when selling books. Diep harbors a grudge against Truc and often plays nasty tricks on her. At first, even Tang Thanh Ha, who plays Truc and is also Anh’s best friend, said director Dang should not have chosen Anh for the part. But the director stood by his choice and the rave reviews for Anh’s performance have so far proved him right. “I’m lucky to have gotten the role,” Anh said, adding she had wished to have a chance to work with Dang ever since she saw his smash hit Nhung Co gai Chan Dai (Leggy girls) in 2004. Dang, known for trademarks such as always having at least one rat in his films, has been true to form in Bong Dung Muon Khoc as he made Anh faint by making her re-shoot a scene 10 times in which a real dead rat gets stuffed down her shirt. Makings of an actress Twenty-three-year-old Anh was born in 1985 in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho. She began her modeling career at the city’s Tay Do fashion club before working for P.L-Hoa Hoc Duong modeling agency in 2002. She came to prominence when she nabbed the Mekong Delta region’s Hoa Hoc Duong (School Beauty) beauty queen contest and became Miss Fujifilm Vietnam one year later. Then it was on to become 2005’s Miss Hazeline Vietnam before she performed at the Duyen Dang Viet Nam (Charming Vietnam) fund-raising gala in both Vietnam and Singapore. Anh has become a popular MC on Binh Duong Television’s variety-talk-show Sac mau phu nu (The colors of women). The model-turned-actress is set to star in Dang’s upcoming film Dep Tung Xen-ti-met (Beautiful in every centimeter), slated for release during the 2009 Lunar New Year season. Reported by Hai Mien |
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Local model eyes Miss Int’l crown
October 27, 2008
| 11:56′ 15/10/2008 (GMT+7) | ||
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VietNamNet Bridge – Twenty-one-year-old model Cao Thuy Duong will represent Viet Nam at this year’s Miss International contest.
The beauty pageant, which gathers 67 beauties from different countries and territories, will take place in Japan, Hong Kong and Macao from October 19 to November 8. Duong won the Miss Talent due and was among the top 10 finalists of the Miss Sport 2007 in Viet Nam. She said she is preparing for this contest by improving her English skills and knowledge of culture and history. She is also practising other important skills, including performing, communicating, and doing her make-up. “I also have practised some martial arts to perform in the exchange programme during the pageant,” said the beauty, who graduated from the Yen Bai Sports College. During the beauty contest, Duong will present evening dresses by designer Hoang Hai, while her ao dai (traditional dress) will be made by designer David Minh Duc. Duong, who works as a model with the international modelling agency Elite, will leave Viet Nam on Saturday to join the other contestants in Japan. Duong competed in the same pageant last year and won the Miss International Image title, thanks to on-line votes from the audience. The Miss International contest was first held in 1961 in Long Beach, California and now is one of the five most prestigious beauty contests in the world. (Source: Viet Nam News) |
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October 9, 2008
Hot Off the Presses!
The day we’ve been working for all year is finally almost here—110° Magazine will be distributed in the Arizona Daily Star on Wednesday, May 28.
This morning, VOICES staff members went to the Arizona Daily Star’s headquarters to see thousands of copies of the magazine print in preparation to be inserted into tomorrow’s newspaper.
Swap ‘Till You Drop!
We work hard here at Voices, but we like to be stylish, too! So on Thursday, March 6, the staff members of 110 Degrees Magazine held their first ever clothes swap. Clothes were piled high in the basement lounge of our downtown office, and after rounds of trying on clothes and echoes of “That is SO you!” nearly everyone went home with their arms full.
Plus, the clothes swap benefited the community, as well—all clothing left after the swap was donated to second-hand clothing store Re-Threads, one of the locally-owned businesses that share our neighborhood on E. Pennington Street.
Meeting Deadlines, New Additions
With just over a month left before deadline, things are hectic here at Voices. Nearly every weekday afternoon, our office and shared space with City High School is filled with youth staff members hunched over laptops, typing furiously and discussing story angles. Meanwhile, other staff members are grabbing cameras and tape recorders, on their way to photo shoots and interviews across Tucson.
“I’m pretty dead-on with what my story is and how I’m going to get it written, but now I have to actually get everything compiled,” said youth staff member Cecelia Geller. “It’s a little overwhelming!”
In addition to the rush of finishing stories, some youth are also working on additional projects. Martha Cordova was published in the Young Voices section of the Arizona Daily Star on March 3, and an article by Fernando Siqueiros will be published in the Primavera Foundation’s next newsletter.
The youth are also continuing work on their radio modules, which are short opinion pieces that they record for community radio station KXCI, 91.3 FM. The radio modules are the result of Voices’ new partnership with KXCI, RadioActivism, and they will begin playing in late May. Look for more information about this project on our website soon.
110 Degrees would also like to welcome its newest youth staff members: Cecelia Geller, John Kramer, Rosemary Coronado, and Kristian Bulmer. We are also thrilled to have previous 110 Degrees contributors Edward Brown and Willow Wells now on staff as well. What a great staff!
Busy! Busy! Busy!
Busy! Busy! Busy! The deadline for the first draft is quickly approaching here at Voices, and everyone is working away! The first draft is really the time where people begin to see a good outline of their stories. 1,000 words sound like an awful lot, but with everyone’s’ ideas overflowing for their stories usually the writing needs to be cut down some.
Last Thursday we went on a field trip to see the photo gallery “Making a Photograph – Iconic Images and Their Origins” at the Center for Creative Photography. We got to see famous works by Ansel Adams, Richard Avedon, Wynn Bullock, Harry Callahan, Frederick Sommer, Garry Winogrand, and many others. It was a great experience to be able to see how certain photos gain such popularity through new techniques, tackling daring issues, and showing new ways to look at things (it sounds a lot like what Voices does). We were also able to see the history of the first commercial photo galleries: Limelight, the Witkin Gallery, and LIGHT.
It is truly amazing how much photography has grown in recent years. A short time ago photography was not even viewed as a true art form, and now look at where it is. I think the youth creating 110˚ really strive to show how far the art of photography has come through their work.
Right now we are trying to name our KXCI radio modules; if you have any awesome names please e-mail me at melinda@voicesinc.org!
Thanks for reading and please tune in next week for even more exciting Voices action!
-Melinda
VIDEO: What Is a Query Letter?
Alex Noelke interviews the 110 Staff of 2008 about the Query Letter.
Click on the image to view movie
From Melinda Phipps
A faint beat of music can be heard escaping from headphones as a continuous clatter of typing fills the room. Barely a word is spoken as the youth gaze intently into the depths of their Mac books. Oh, the wonder of query letter writing.
This week at Voices the youth have been writing query letters, which are propositions to the editors of a paper in order to sell your story idea. They consist of a hook, information on why they want to write their topic, where it would go in the paper, what type of story it is, and a description of their photographs. This is their first lunge into the world of journalism; at this step they are testing out topics and collecting supporting information. Accompanied by many gracious volunteers and information from brainstorming, the youth are finalizing their story ideas and proposing them to the Voices adult staff.
A few of them have also started to interview experts within their topics. For example Joe Cox, a youth apprentice, interviewed Matt Griffiths from the Audubon Society about his topic of bird watching. One reason for having interviews early is to help the youth develop their story ideas and it is also to helps them later on. After they transcribe the interviews– type up what their interviewee said–they can use the quotes in their articles.
Query letters and interviews are two HUGE necessities here at Voices and for any other journalist. And so far people are working away and getting them done.
Tune in next week for another exciting debrief on a week at Voices!
Thanks for reading,
Melinda Phipps (Assistant Writing Editor/ Youth Leader)
“Fat Drafts”
Izzy Soto- 2nd Blog entry
We have recently reached what is known as the “fat draft” deadline here at 110 Degrees. For us, fat drafts mean writing at least 2000 words if we’re are doing a personal essay and 1000 if we’re doing a photo essay. These fat drafts must also include 7-10 photos. Shortly afterward we turn our fat drafts in, we begin formal writing and photography critiques.
I feel that one of the high points of 110 is when the youth start critiquing each other’s work. For some of us, the critiques are especially interesting because we are working on personal essays—and the critiques allow us to reveal some of our most intimate experiences. Many of us are also shocked when we realize the extent of our fellow staff members’ talent and insight. But somehow, the critiques bring us together even more; we are in awe of each other and what we can do.
I recently had a conversation with one of the youth staff members, and she told me she loved the idea of the fat draft because she got to express herself as thoroughly as possible. Some writers find that as a result of the fat draft, they get a whole new story. But some youth also hate the fat drafts, and believe it’s unnecessary to write as much as possible when the writing is just going to be edited to fit the limited space that the magazine offers. Even with these differences of opinion, everyone seems to become so attached to the writing, because it becomes a piece of him or her. For the vets of 110, including myself, this attachment is no surprise.
Whether or not they hate the drafts, this is the time when the youth truly start to get a feel for their writing, and learning how to “paint a scene” by using as much detail as possible. I sense the sparks of enlightenment during this time, as the staff starts delving into territory they never thought they would go before. The youth are beginning to tease their limits and talent for writing.
I have asked a few of the youth if I could peek into their fat draft so I may get a perspective of what the fat drafts look like this year. Below are some examples of some of the youth’s work.
“So pure and cold; the snow outside and the paper clippings on the ground contrasted so nicely with the warmth of everyone’s smiles and the warm waxy candles being passed around from person to person.”- Arayah Larson
“It was an exhilarating experience to see people belonging to different colors, races, and nationalities. Kings, head of states and ordinary men from very poor countries all dressed in simple white sheets, praying to God without any sense of either pride or arrogance. It was a practical display of the concept of equality in Islam.” Roxy Alansary
“Crinkled, blue eyes gaze up and down the street searching for approaching vehicles. In confidence the man holds the stop sign high as he steps to the middle of the crosswalk often signaling it was safe to go. As you pass the man you can see his face clearly, though his strands of hair below his cap were withered his beard shows no sign of weariness.”-Reyes Suarez
“My eyelids began to droop and my stomach turned. I attempted to stand, but I couldn’t move. I was paralyzed, fixed onto my bed like a mouse in a snake’s jaw. The suffocating blanket of my own guilt covered me, tucked me in, and left me to the monsters of my mind.”- Melinda Phipps
These are examples of some of the beautiful descriptions that are included in fat drafts. They help me, as well as fellow coworkers understand how the youth view their experiences. And then, we are able to see through the eyes of the writer.
Common Interests, Common Goals
2-7-07- Isabella Soto
I’m sitting down with a cup of coffee in my hand, staring at a laptop propped up on my knees. The reluctance to continue working scratches at my attention span.. I stretch my limbs and I walk towards the main work area of the Voices building. I start to hear the chattering sounds of teenagers: a happy, complaining, good-natured cacophony.
I approach the heart of 110 Degrees, and kids are everywhere, squeezed on the couch with their laptops on their knees, others crowded around the tables we use for work area. One youth staff member is talking to a volunteer mentor in the far corner in a low voice. Another youth is situated at one of the desktops, transcribing equipment fully decked out, furiously typing out an interview they’ve done and completely shut off from the chatter behind them. I notice there are some youth missing today, and I know they’re on interviews that they arrange themselves, with minimal help from the editors. This is my job. This is my life and my salvation from the mundane system of high school.
This is my second year working at Voices, and despite certain technological upgrades and the distinctly younger apprentices this year, not much has changed. The new hires come from backgrounds that are the very definition of diversity: some are from Tucson, others from across the globe. It still amazes me that such a diverse group of teenagers can sit in one room, get crumbs on the floor, and work and laugh together like they’ve got years behind them. But Voices has just that effect on whoever walks through the door.
Overall, the process of becoming a youth journalist proves to be an endurance test for the mind and a search of the soul. I shouldn’t speak too soon about endurance in high stress times, as we are just barely into February and have only had our first out of many deadlines. The staff doesn’t know what being on edge is until they have survived March-May at 110 Degrees. This year our stories range from topics such as feminism to abstinence to Child Protective Services—and that’s not even covering half of the subjects the 110 Degrees staff is tackling this year. There are even youth researching topics I’ve never heard of before, like as Druidism.
And in all of these perspectives there’s a harmony in what we all have to say. And that harmony comes from common interests, common goals.
Paintings on war and peace exhibited
September 23, 2008
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VietNamNet Bridge – Painter Le Duc Biet has recently opened his individual painting exhibition entitled “Past and Present” at the Vietnam Military History Museum. Through 79 paintings in various genres inducing sketches, oil and gouache, the exhibition is a lively story about the war and peace from the anti-US war to the present day. Le Duc Biet’s paintings highlight the image of soldiers, the revolutionary war and the armed forces. He also introduced his 20 sketches featuring the historical moments of the the fire co-ordinate of Ninh Binh and Ham Rong, Thanh Hoa during 1966-1973 Le Duc Biet now works for the Nam Dinh Fine Arts Association. He has many paintings winning prizes at national and regional exhibitions. (Source: Nhan Dan) |
Vietnam War Remnants Museum
September 23, 2008
or
The human rights violations and war crimes atrocities American and French forces committed in Vietnam
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Photo of Vietnamese school children completing homework assignments about American weapons used against their country during the Vietnam war.
pic of American M16 rifle being held against a civilian woman’s head.
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Picture of American tank on display at the American (Vietnam) War Remnants Museum.
Image of American helicopter with rocket launcher used in battle in Vietnam.
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Picture of American soldier laughing historically at the charred remains of a VC soldier who was burned to death by a Napalm Bomb.
Picture of American GI’s using water torture to extract information from a Communist soldier
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Image of American Army grunt committing war crimes in Vietnam.
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Picture of American armored fighting vehicle dragging men to their death. Remember Somalia when America claimed higher ground when war lords drug US pilots around the capital.
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Image of America’s aircraft spraying Agent Orange Dioxin on civilian villages in Vietnam.
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Image of “The Giant Purple People Eater” – Agent Orange used by American combat troops.
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Photo of innocent Vietnamese children who were often the victims of Agent Orange Defoliant Dioxin..
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Vietnam film masterpiece makes Asia’s top 18
September 23, 2008
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 The Vietnamese film masterpiece Bao Gio Cho Den Thang Muoi (The Love Doesn’t Come Back) has just been selected as one of the 18 best Asian films of all times by the news network CNN.The film, made in 1984 by director Dang Nhat Minh, takes a gritty look at the emotional war. It feels like something right out of the ‘60s, evoking both nostalgia for what was and a profound relief over what has ended. It stars Le Van as the main female character.
Coming home after visiting her husband at the southwestern front, Duyen (Le Van) carries with her an endless pain. He husband had died. On her journey home by boat, she fell in the river and was saved by teacher Khang. Duyen hides the death of her husband from the family, especially from her father-in-law who is seriously ill. To console him, Duyen asks Khang to imitate her husband’s writing and write letters to the family to keep their hopes alive. The letters bring joy to the family, while she suffers alone. To further complicate her life, rumours spread that she and Khang are having an affair.
When Duyen’s father-in-law knows he is dying, he asks Duyen to call his son home to meet him for the last time. And at that moment, the news about the death of her husband cannot be hidden anymore.
The film, considered one of the masterpieces of Vietnam’s cinema, won prestigious national and international prizes including the Golden Lotus at the Vietnam Film Festival in 1985, special prize at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival in 1989, and was also honoured at the International Hawaii Film Festival in 1985.
Minh was born in Hue in 1938 and started his career in 1965 as a documentary maker. He has made dozens of films which have received domestic and international recognition. Minh was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Republic of Korea (RoK) in 2005.
In CNN’s list of top 18 films in Asia, China ranked first with five films that include In the Mood for Love, To Live, Shower, Infernal Affairs and Still Life, China’s films are followed by Japan’s Shall We Dance?, Ikiru and the Ballad of Narayama. Films made by RoK, New Zealand, India, Chinese Taipei and Iran also made the list. (VNA)
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A Toxic Legacy In Vietnam
September 23, 2008
| 17 September 2008 |
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The United States and Vietnam continue to expand their cooperation to address Agent Orange and its toxic contaminant dioxin, with a joint advisory committee meeting last week in Hanoi.
The working session, the third in as many years, brought American and Vietnamese scientists together to review ongoing U.S.-Vietnam Agent Orange efforts as well as to discuss additional environmental remediation and health projects to be recommended to policy makers. Plans were announced for use of three million dollars provided by the U.S. Congress for programs to deal with Agent Orange, a defoliant used in some parts of the country during the Vietnam war.
Agent Orange has long been a sensitive issue for both nations. In recent years, however, discussion has moved beyond the finger pointing of old adversaries toward the constructive cooperation of international partners. While more scientific research must be done to determine the lasting impact of Agent Orange on Vietnam, the U.S. acknowledges Vietnam’s concerns and is acting to help address them. The science-based, joint-government approach of the recent meetings illustrates how Vietnam and the United States are working closely together to move forward on this issue.
“Everyone today understands the importance of this issue to U.S.-Vietnam relations and to the Vietnamese people,” said U.S. Ambassador Michael Michalak.
Overall, the U.S. has spent more than forty million dollars to help Vietnamese with disabilities, regardless of cause. Some of the money allocated by Congress for Agent Orange activities will help people with disabilities in Danang, the site of a former U.S. airbase where the defoliant was stored and prepared for aerial use. The U.S. is also looking into cleanup activities of so-called dioxin “hot spots” and aims to join with other donors to best coordinate efforts.
Looking forward, the U.S. will continue to focus on supporting Vietnamese efforts to secure a safe environment and assisting Vietnamese living with disabilities, regardless of their cause.
