Zimbabwe Fine Art

People often turn to entertainment in tough economic times and, as a result, Hollywood has been seen as recession-proof.  But, major studios are struggling to make a profit and some are closing production units.  One independent producer says the market has opened up for low budget films.

"Behind Your Eyes" is a psychological thriller - soon to be released.  It's a low-budget production that, with clever marketing, could earn a good profit.

Vesuvio Entertainment, a small independent company, produced the film.  Executive Producer Greg Sims says good low-budget films are finding a growing  market.

"Now, people are saying it's a little bit of a sexier business as you're seeing the whole business model change and these bigger movies do not really work so well anymore, with a few exceptions," he said.

The exceptions are studio blockbusters like Avatar, the science fiction fantasy. It has earned over $2.5 billion worldwide.

But it cost hundreds of millions of dollars to make, and few producers can finance that kind of film these days.

Sims uses up-and-coming actors, thrills and action, like in his 1990 film, "Red Surf."   

The film starred a young George Clooney and rock star Gene Simmons.  The producer says it became a cult classic and a money-maker.

"Clooney with 'Red Surf' was really an action film with these guys that go out on wet bikes," Sims said.  "They're illegally running drugs.  They get into big boat fights, lots of explosions.  We did that film for, I think, at the time $1.2 million."

Horror is another genre that can be done on an even lower budget.  In 1997, Sims branched out into romance with the film, "Touch Me." 

He says new digital technology helps cut the cost.

"So what you're seeing is people who are making a $1.5 million [or] $2 million movies are having trouble recouping those budgets now, and you're seeing a whole slew of movies being made for $100,000, $200,000, a quarter of a million,"  he said.

He says the key is good production and marketing, and keeping track of trends in distribution.

"My job is to be nimble and to respond to changes in the marketplace, which are happening every hour, as opposed to every year," Sims said.

With films like "Behind Your Eyes," he says he can make a profit through DVD sales, digital downloads and international distribution.

Wyclef's interview with VOA Creole Service:

Haiti's electoral council recently ruled August 19 that Hip-Hop singer Wyclef Jean cannot run for president of the Caribbean nation.  Jean was among 15 of 35 candidates for the office who were ruled ineligible by the council, which offered no explanation for the decision. An unnamed council official told Reuters that Haiti's electoral council ruled that Jean's candidacy did not meet several legal requirements.  One could be Haiti's law that requires candidates to live in the country for five consecutive years. Jean lived in Haiti until he was nine years old, when he moved to New Jersey.  Although Jean frequently visits Haiti, the country's constitution requires a candidate to be a resident for five years. In 2005, he formed his Yele Haiti Foundation, which provides scholarships to Haitian children and humanitarian aid to his native country.

Brown Gets Positive Progress Report from Judge

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Patricia Schnegg, the Los Angeles judge overseeing Chris Brown's probation told the R&B singer that "You're doing very well" at a August 26 hearing on Brown's progress.  Brown was sentenced to five years probation and six months of community labor last year after being found guilty of assaulting then-girlfriend, singer Rihanna.

Jay-Z Tops Forbes' Hip-Hop Cash Kings List

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Forbes magazine recently issued its annual "Hip-Hop Cash Kings" list.  Jay-Z tops the list by earning $63 million during the past year.  Rounding out the Top 5 money makers are Sean "Diddy" Combs ($30 million), Akon ($21 million), Lil Wayne ($20 million) and Dr. Dre ($17 million).

Steven Tyler Will Be New Judge on 'American Idol'

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Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton told a New Jersey newspaper that the group's lead singer, Steven Tyler, will be a judge on the upcoming 10th season of American Idol.  The Star-Ledger quoted Hamilton as saying, "The ink is dry on that.  Steven is someone who lives to be in front of an audience, and the people closest to him know how witty and entertaining he can be.  I don't know if American Idol will be rock 'n' roll enough for him, but it is an opportunity for millions of people to see another side of Steven Tyler."  American Idol producers haven't confirmed who will replace former judges Simon Cowell, Ellen DeGeneres and Kara DioGuardi.


Brooks & Dunn Wrap Up Concert Tour

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On September 2, Brooks & Dunn will wrap up their "Last Rodeo Tour" with a charity concert in Nashville.  "Brooks & Dunn and Friends" will benefit the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.  The Museum's director Kyle Young says, "The enormity of this gesture, including the endorsement it implies and the example it sets, is something the Museum's board and staff will contemplate with gratitude for a very long time.  We are grateful to Kix (Brooks) and Ronnie (Dunn) for supporting our educational mission and for putting the museum on the radar screen of their nation of fans. The only word for them is magnificent!"


Ricky Martin to Publish Memoir November 2

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Latin pop star Ricky Martin will have his memoir published on November 2.  In Me, Martin addresses such topics as his early childhood, his musical career, coming to terms with his sexuality, becoming a father to twins and his work with children's charities throughout the world.  The memoir will be released in English and Spanish-language editions.

New Album Releases August 31:

"Now That's What I Call Music! 35" - various artists
"Something For The Rest Of Us" - the Goo Goo Dolls
"Asylum" - Disturbed
"Red Velvet Car" - Heart
"Screaming Bloody Murder" - Sum 41
"Dream Attic" - Richard Thompson
"Junky Star" - Ryan Bingham
"Better Than I Used To Be" - Sammy Kershaw

Musical Events/Festivals/Benefits:

The 40th annual Bumbershoot: Seattle's Music & Arts Festival will take place September 4-6 in Seattle, Washington.  Artists performing on the main stage include Bob Dylan, Mary J. Blige, Drake, Weezer, Rise Against and Neko Case, among others.

Look Who's Going On Tour!

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On September 2, Eminem and Jay-Z will kick off their "Home And Home" tour in Detroit, Michigan.  A second show will take place in Detroit on September 3.  The tour also includes shows at New York's Yankee Stadium on September 13 and 14.  Eminem new album, Recovery, has sold more than two million copies, making it the second best-seller of 2010.  Jay-Z's upcoming anthology, The Hits Collection, Vol. 1, will be released on December 20.

Boz Scaggs, Steely Dan's Donald Fagen and the Doobie Brothers' Michael McDonald are performing a U.S. tour together.  Billed as the Dukes of September, the supergroup is backed by a nine-piece band that features members from Steely Dan's touring group.  They'll be on the road through October 2.

U.S. television honored its best programs Sunday at the annual Emmy awards in Los Angeles.  Mad Men was named best dramatic series.  Modern Family was named best comedy.   Key Emmys also went to television movies and a mini-series based on real-life stories.



Mad Men, which is set at a 1960s New York advertising firm, won its third consecutive Emmy as best drama series.  And a satirical look at the modern American family, Modern Family was named best comedy and earned Emmys for its writing and for supporting actor Eric Stonestreet.

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The musical-comedy series Glee had 19 nominations heading into the awards, but the series won just two Emmys, for supporting actress Jane Lynch and series creator and director Ryan Murphy.  

Bryan Cranston was honored for his portrayal of a drug dealer in the series Breaking Bad and Kyra Sedgewick for her role as a deputy police chief in The Closer. 

Top comic acting honors went to Edie Falco of Nurse Jackie and Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory, a series about nerdy scientists.

Temple Grandin, a TV film about a noted animal scientist who has struggled with autism, was named best television movie, and earned an acting award for Claire Danes, who portrays Grandin. Supporting performers Julia Ormond and David Strathairn and director Mick Jackson also earned Emmys.

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Autism is a developmental disorder that causes problems in communicating with others, but Grandin has overcome her disability to become a respected author and advocate for the humane treatment of livestock.  Producer Emily Gerson Saines, who is herself the mother of an autistic child, thanked Grandin for her work in spreading knowledge about the condition.

"Autism has reached epidemic proportions, so on behalf of all the parents like myself who have a child with autism, Temple Grandin, you are our hero," Saines said.

The Pacific, a 10-part miniseries from producers Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman, was named best miniseries.  The project cost more than $200 million, and it tells the intertwined stories of American Marines fighting in the Pacific during World War II.  Hanks thanked his Australia-based crew, who worked under harsh conditions.

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"And our magnificent cast of actors who themselves went through an old brand of hell across the Pacific in order to portray the stories of an entire generation of men and women who did the same," Hanks said.

Al Pacino was honored for his role in You Don't Know Jack, a television film about the controversial doctor and assisted-suicide supporter Jack Kevorkian.   The former physician, now 82, was in the audience.

George Clooney received a humanitarian award for his efforts on behalf of victims of disasters.  Clooney brought attention to the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan and helped organize telethons to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Haitian earthquake this year. He complained that the spotlight on those disasters, and the recent flooding in Pakistan, holds the world's attention only briefly.

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"So here's hoping that some very bright person right here in the room or at home watching can help find a way to keep the spotlight burning on these heart-breaking situations that continue to be heart-breaking long after the cameras go away," Clooney said.

The Emmys are presented by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and are considered the highest honor in American television.  Late-night talk show host and comic Jimmy Fallon hosted this year's show.

The International Bluegrass Music Association [IBMA] has announced the nominees for its 21st annual awards.

Reigning two time Entertainers of the Year Dailey And Vincent had two projects eligible for awards this year, so it's not surprising that the group tops the list of nominees with 10 chances to win.  Their CD "Dailey And Vincent Sing The Statler Brothers" is a bluegrass tribute to the famed country quartet, and earned them an Album of the Year nomination.  "Elizabeth" is up for Song of the Year, and this new version of the classic country hit, "Susan When She Tried", is a good example why the group is also up for Vocal Group of the Year.

In addition to Dailey And Vincent, the IBMA Vocal Group of the Year nominees are Blue Highway, The Gibson Brothers, Doyle Lawson And Quicksilver, and Russell Moore And IIIrd Tyme Out (Third Time Out).  Russell Moore and his group have received the honor seven times between 1994 and 2000, and the nominations cap a big comeback for the group.  2009 saw the band release their first album of new material in five years, and that self-titled release earned the group six IBMA nominations, including Album of the Year.  Among them is a Male Vocalist of the Year selection for Russell Moore, and a Song of the Year nomination for "Hard Rock Mountain Prison ('Till I Die)."

Other multi-award nominees this year include Michael Cleveland And Flamekeeper, Sam Bush, and The Grascals, each up for five IBMA Awards.  Michael Cleveland is a seven-time Fiddle Player of the Year winner, and if he wins this year, he'll match Stuart Duncan's eight-year record.  Sam Bush and The Grascals find themselves competing against each other in several categories, including Album of the Year and Instrumental Recorded Performance. The Grascals are also nominated for Recorded Event of the Year for their duet with Hank Williams, Junior, on "I'm Blue, I'm Lonesome." Recorded Event of the Year is a fancy way of saying "a song by artists who don't usually perform together."

Sam Bush's latest CD is "Circles Around Me," and it's one of the five up for the IBMA's Album of the Year honor.  "The Ballad of Stringbean and Estelle," based on the 1973 murder of Grand Ole Opry Star "Stringbean" Akeman and his wife is nominated for Song of the Year.

The IBMA will also be inducting two new members into their Hall of Fame.  They are the late Louise Scruggs, the pioneering female business manager of Flatt And Scruggs and wife of banjo legend Earl Scruggs, and also the multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter John Hartford, who passed away in 2001.  In addition to being a fine fiddle and banjo player, John Hartford recorded more than 30 albums, won Grammy Awards in three different decades, and wrote one of the most popular songs of all time "Gentle On My Mind."

The 2010 International Bluegrass Music Awards will be handed out at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on September 30th, and the award show will be broadcast the following week on the Roots and Branches program, heard on the VOA Music Mix Network.

Australian film director Bruce Beresford assembled an international cast of actors and dancers to tell the inspiring true story of Chinese-born ballet virtuoso Li Cunxin.

"When they took me from my family, I did not recognize this as an honor. I did not see dancing as an opportunity; nor could I imagine how far I might go."

Li Cunxin was 11 years old in 1972 when an official delegation from Beijing came to his rural classroom. "They've come here to select students," explains the headmaster as the officials scrutinize the youngsters. "If chosen, you'll go to Qingdao for a very special test."

Watch the trailer for "Mao's Last Dancer":

Li Cunxin is chosen, taken from his family and sent to undergo grueling training at the Beijing Dance Academy formed by "Madame Mao," the wife of Chinese leader Mao Tse Tung, during the Cultural Revolution.

Almost a decade later, he is chosen again: this time, it is to study with the Houston Ballet company in one of the first artistic exchanges of the newly opened relationship with America. In Texas, under the guidance of Houston Ballet artistic director Ben Stevenson, the 19-year-old discovers a new world:

Canadian actor Bruce Greenwood co-stars as Ben Stevenson. "I had a little bit of film of him teaching in China, I had seen a couple of interviews with him and I had some audio tape; so that was a jumping off place. At the same time I had to put my own body into a world that I had no business being in, which is to say ballet. So I started taking ballet lessons every day. It was fantastic. I learned so much and learned very quickly how much I'll never know. It was exhausting and energizing at the same time. I had to at least know what I was talking about, even if I couldn't actually do it," he said.

Someone who could actually do it plays Li Cunxin: Chinese-born Chi Cao, a principal dancer in the British Birmingham Royal Ballet. "To hear myself speak, to start with, was a big challenge. I don't get nervous dancing in front of 5,000 people; but I do get nervous when a camera follows me. Because it is just so different, it takes a long time to actually get used to it. So everything is a challenge for me," he said.

Joan Chen plays Niang, Li Cunxin's mother, in this scene confronting local officials who arrive to criticize her when the son she has n-o-t seen since he was taken away as a child defects and sparks an international incident. The Shanghai-born American actress and director says portraying events of the "Cultural Revolution" is still controversial.

"Actually, the Cultural Revolution is still taboo in a way, but I imagine that in the next five years there will be a lot more films coming out about the Cultural Revolution because my generation of filmmakers revisit with a new perspective. It is a huge part of our lives - that piece of history. It is important (and) it will not go away," she said.

"Really, it is just a matter of telling the story in a very straightforward sort of way and, I hope, as honestly as possible," said director Bruce Beresford. He says he was determined to keep "Mao's Last Dancer" from becoming political. In fact, he quotes Li Cunxin urging him not to cast his native China as the villain of the piece.

Beresford says the only Chinese government objections he encountered were about the depictions of Madame Mao, whose place in history has officially been erased: objections the director says he ignored. I thought it was a film full of good will and I thought it would be wonderful to make a film that shows the personal achievements of someone and the dedication to his art. Ultimately, I thought it had a kind of message. I didn't want it to be banal, but it had a message showing that there really isn't such a huge difference between the East and West …and that there can be tremendous love, not just between individuals, but also nations; but I didn't want to make it heavy-handed," he said.

"Mao's Last Dancer" also features American ballerina and actress Amanda Schull as Elizabeth Mackey, who falls in love with and marries the Chinese student. Kyle MacLachlan plays the attorney who helps him defect to America. Director Beresford tapped many principal dancers with the Australian ballet for the production that was filmed at locations in Australia, the United States and China.

In New Orleans, five years after Hurricane Katrina, there are still many reminders of the storm's destructive power in the form of empty lots where homes once stood and in the form of empty places in the hearts of families who lost loved ones.  But at least one local artisan has found a way to make something positive and even beautiful from the debris left by the storm.

In the covered French Market in the southeast corner of the New Orleans French Quarter, business has picked up since Hurricane Katrina.  But five years later there are about 100 fewer merchants than there were before.

One of the remaining stalwarts is Stefano Velaska, a survivor of both Katrina and of the 1968 invasion of his native Czechoslovakia - by the former Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies.

At the age of 18, he fled the communist country and ended up here in southern Louisiana, with its mix of Creole, African-American and French-descended Cajun people.

"I defected from the Czech Republic in 1968, right after the initial invasion," he said.  "In Italy I got asylum and then right after that I came here, so I have been here a long time.  I am almost Cajun!"

Velaska found work in a restaurant, but soon developed a skill in metal working and started making jewelry.

But Hurricane Katrina hit him hard. It took the lives and property of close friends and destroyed much of the market area where he worked.

"It was rough," recalled Velaska.  "It does not matter if it has a small effect on your house or if you lost everything. It does have an effect on everyone."

Among the first to return, Stefano Velaska looked for a way to make something meaningful from the tragedy.

"After the hurricane I was already metal-smithing so I was trying to find out some way to somehow promote New Orleans, because we lost a lot of people. We didn't at that time know even if this place was ever going to come back to life," added Velaska.

He found his inspiration in the scraps of metal left scattered all over the city by the hurricane.  From ugly scraps of metal left by a killer storm, Stefano Velaska makes things of enduring beauty.

Tourists, like Sara from Los Angeles, find something special in these small works of art.

SARA: "I think it is one of the most beautiful things you can do and I come from a family of jewelers so I appreciate something like this, so beautiful and unique."

VELASKA: "I want to be able to give to someone who comes to New Orleans something they can take home that is a piece of New Orleans instead of trinkets made in China or some other countries, because this way you actually take home something from here. It is a small piece of New Orleans, a small piece of history."

It is, perhaps, one man's way of turning tragedy into triumph.

With the surging popularity of 3D movies, a number of consumer electronic companies are investing heavily to bring the new technology to more people.  Although consumer electronic experts say widespread adoption is still five to 10 years away, companies from the U.S. to Japan are betting that consumer demand will soon bring 3D into your living room.    

In the latest 3D movie to hit the big screen, prehistoric killer fish practically sink their teeth into cinema audiences.  

And with movie goers willing to pay $15 to $20 to watch movies like Piranha 3D - a number of companies are betting people will want to experience the same thrill at home.

In California's Silicon Valley, graphics technology company Nvidia is developing a device that brings the 3D experience to your home computer.  3D Division chief Phil Eisler, says its special glasses can deliver high resolution 3D by blinking rapidly to bring a different image to each eye.

"Nvidia has pursued the active shutter glasses, what's called the sequential frame 120 Hz method so that the glasses here will open left and right at 60 Hz per eye. Then a laptop such as this Toshiba 3D laptop - the screen will work at 120 Hz and display left and right so you get a true stereoscopic 3D image, with full resolution and full color per eye," he said.

Nvidia adds it's a big improvement from the old red and green cardboard glasses.

Although companies are experimenting with different methods to simulate 3D, marketing expert John Peddie says the advantage of Nvidia's system is that it works with games that were not designed with 3D in mind. "So the game developer doesn't have to do anything.  The game developer can say, here's my game, enjoy it.  You can enjoy it in 2D in an old monitor which is 60 Hz, or with the aid of the Nvidia stereo system you can enjoy it in 3D with their glasses and their sensor and their magic secret formula software," Peddie said.

But some companies are looking beyond. Sony and Toshiba are developing competing technologies to do away with glasses altogether.

Sony Home Entertainment Division chief Yoshihisa Ishida says the company hopes to be first, but he says a launch date has not been set. "Once all the technical elements are ready, I think the ultimate shape of 3D TVs should be the one watchable without the glass, as it is easier," he said. "But before we reach that stage, we will have to solve the technical matters as well as the price issue."

But home 3D will not come cheap.  Upgrading a computer using Nvidia's system will cost about $600, with glasses priced about $200 apiece.

3D-capable TVs that require glasses already sell between $3,000 to $5,000.  Without the glasses - a fantasy world that looks so real you can almost touch it - will almost certainly cost more.

Nearly five years after New Orleans was flooded by Hurricane Katrina, one part of the city's legacy has returned with renewed support - jazz, the music that was invented in New Orleans.

For many years, long before Hurricane Katrina came to town, jazz was leaving New Orleans. Visitors to the city's famed Bourbon Street clubs favored rock, country and other sounds.

But post-Katrina visitors have shown an interest in the city's musical heritage.  So a couple of years ago one of the city's principle promoters of jazz, trumpet player Irvin Mayfield, brought the music back to Bourbon Street at the Jazz Playhouse in the Royal Sonesta Hotel.

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Mayfield says the return of players exiled by the storm has helped in the revival.

"Every citizen of the city of New Orleans was obviously displaced by Hurricane Katrina and we have seen the majority of musicians basically come back," he said. "I think New Orleans still remains the number one place to be a in-the-neighborhood musician, meaning that you can live at home and have a significant amount of work and have a comfortable lifestyle."

"I am appalled on a daily basis by how many first-time jazz listeners we encounter," he continued. "We encounter a lot of first-time jazz listeners and we approach the work here at this jazz club as meeting the mandate of the amateur, novice music lover and we feed them from that standpoint and we treat every listener as if this is their first time, they have never heard jazz before."

"We want people to become connoisseurs of what great music is and what great jazz is," Mayfield said. "Everybody who comes here has a story and it has been wonderful to talk to people before the show, after the show, and, sometimes during the show, we will just ask people where they are from and they will start yelling out, 'South Dakota, New Hampshire...' And it is always great to hear 'Ninth Ward' or 'I am from the French Quarter, I work here every day. So we get those who are here, who are so glad they can walk down [the street to come], all the way to people from Japan."

Irvin Mayfield, who also serves as the city's Cultural Ambassador, is optimistic about New Orleans in spite of lingering effects from Katrina. He says his hometown's musicians, artists, chefs and just plain folks will make it succeed.

"History has shown that when a good quality of people get together, they have success," he said. "I am just judging the city of New Orleans by that, by the people."

Professional training in dance is often out of reach for children in low-income urban communities.  

Fabian Barnes, a former dancer with the acclaimed Dance Theatre of Harlem, started his own school to change that.  

He offers summer classes - often free of charge - to students with talent and passion.  

Providing inspiration

Barnes inspires young dancers to dream big  

Every summer, the Dance Institute of Washington welcomes young people from across the city to train with professional dancers.

Barnes developed the program. His own experiences in dance changed his life - vaulting him out of the northwest city of Seattle and onto the most famous stages in the world.

Most students in the program receive scholarships, based on financial need. Barnes says he started the program with inner-city students in mind.  

"Traditionally those kids don't have the opportunity to have a formal experience in a dance institution, in a dance academy," he says.

Discovering a passion for dance

Barnes grew up in an urban neighborhood where dance academies were mostly out of sight and out of reach.

He was 11 when he discovered his passion for dance. He says he sees a lot of himself in his students.

"My only experience was that dance was the thing that actually helped to shape my life and helped shape my destiny," he says. "So I saw the same thing in these young people that, 15 years earlier, would have probably been me."

From nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, the school pulsates with music and vibrates with movement.  

Getting a move on

While some of the older students have their eyes on a career, the younger ones just like to move.  Many of these young dancers come back year after year.

"I've been doing dancing for a long time, since I was 5 years old," says one student, who adds that dance makes her feel happy and tired.  
Barnes knows many children are drawn to dance because it feels good.  But he says the benefits run deeper. Discipline and determination are integral to dance.   

"It's like practicing and practicing and practicing until you get it right. It is a skill and it's something that you can do with any avenue.  You can do it in the studio. You can do it with a paper that's due. You can do it with a home improvement project. You just chip away at it until you're finished."  

Meeting other needs

Many of the students have needs beyond the studio. So the program offers conflict resolution and nutrition classes.

And Rene Williams White, a senior vice president of Sun Trust Bank, teaches the dancers about money.

"It's really important to talk about financial literacy for every community, particularly for communities where the kids are underserved," says Williams White. "That they understand that money isn't the end all be all but it's a way to help them achieve some of the things that want to achieve."

Barnes has been offering a summer of movement since he launched the Washington program more than 20 years ago. Looking back, he's proud of his achievements.

"The best feeling for me personally about dancing at this point, at this side of the fence, now that I'm not a professional dancer, is to see the power that it has to change young people's lives the same way it changed my life."

Haitian-born singer Wyclef Jean is criticizing Haiti's election officials for blocking his application to run for president in November elections. Jean says the ruling discriminates against Haitians who have lived outside the country.

VOA Creole Interview with Wyclef Jean:

U.S.-based singer Wyclef Jean is not giving up his hopes to run for Haiti's president in elections set for November.

At first, the 37-year-old singer said would accept the decision of election officials who announced Friday that he and 14 candidates would not be allowed on the ballot. Later, he vowed to appeal the ruling, which found he did not satisfy rules requiring all candidates to have lived in Haiti for the past five years.

As a child, Jean and his family moved from Haiti to the United States, where he later launched his music career. In recent years, he has served as roving ambassador to Haiti, and Jean's lawyers say they filed paperwork with election officials to document his status.

In an interview with VOA's Creole service, Jean said he has documents showing that Haiti's government accepted his residency status, but the electoral council rejected his bid for president anyway. "So if I don't have residency and I didn't prove by law that we have five years residency, then why is that piece of paper signed? That means we have proved the residency issue," he said.

Officials with the provisional election council say the decision is final and there is no method to appeal the ruling.

Jean told VOA he is appealing to Haiti's government to address a number of concerns about the approval process used by election officials, who authorized 19 candidates for the presidential vote. He said candidates who have lived outside Haiti were mostly excluded by the provisional electoral council, or CEP. "It looked like every other candidate that was out was a diaspora candidate and that is a form of prejudice on the CEP's part," he said.

As part of his election campaign, Jean had hoped to reform the relationship between Haiti and the hundreds of thousands of Haitians who have fled the country. He said, if elected, he hoped to change the constitution to remove a ban on dual citizenship, and offer many Haitians abroad a chance to vote in elections.

Many Haitians rely on money from family members abroad, who send back more than $1.5 billion a year. But Haitians outside the country say residency requirements and other laws can limit their legal rights in their home country.

Whether or not he is allowed to compete in the election, Jean says he hopes to open a dialogue about the diaspora's role inside Haiti.  "Things have to change. We have to look at these electoral laws, we have to look at the constitution again. We have to look at the way we are being represented as the diaspora," he said.

Outside of politics, Wyclef told VOA that he is continuing to work in Haiti to expand community service programs and create new business opportunities inside the country.

The divorce between world number-one golfer Tiger Woods of the United States and his Swedish-born wife Elin Nordegren became official on Monday, and two days later comments from both became public.

The divorce came nine months after Tiger Woods' early morning car crash late last November led to revelations that he had been cheating on his wife of six years with multiple partners.

Before Wednesday, Elin Nordegren had remained silent about the massive sex scandal that embroiled their lives and led to Woods dropping off the golf circuit for several months.

But at Elin's request, she agreed to an interview with People magazine for no payment.  In excerpts from a cover article to be published Friday, the 30-year-old Nordegren told the magazine she has "been through hell."

She said she felt "absolute shock and disbelief" when she learned about her husband's multiple extramarital affairs.  She said she felt stupid as more details came out, asking herself, "How could I not have known anything?"

Nordegren went on to say that the word "betrayal' was not strong enough to describe what she felt, and that the stress of the scandal caused her to have insomnia, lose weight, and even start to lose her hair before the divorce was finalized.

The magazine said its interview took place over four days, and took 19 hours.  Nordegren added that she had loved Tiger and that they had "so much fun" together.  She also labeled reports that she hit her ex-husband with a golf club, "truly ridiculous."

Later Wednesday, Woods held a news conference, the day before he was to play in The Barclays tournament in Paramus, New Jersey, near New York.

He took full responsibility for the breakup of his marriage.

"My actions certainly led us to this decision," he said.  "And you know I've certainly made a lot of errors in my life and that's something I'm going to have to live with."

Tiger added it's a sad situation.

"You don't ever go into a marriage looking to get divorced," he said.  "You know, that's the thing.  That's why it is sad."

Woods said he hoped Elin can recover from the heartbreak.

"I wish her the best in everything.  You know it's a sad time in our lives," he said.  "And you know we're looking forward to [things] in our lives and how we can help our kids the best we possibly can, and that's the most important thing."

Tiger Woods married Elin Nordegren in October 2004 in Barbados and the couple have a three-year-old daughter, Sam, and a 19-month-old son, Charlie.  Details of their divorce settlement were not released, but they will share the parenting of the children.

Egyptian authorities have blocked at least nine culture ministry officials from leaving the country in an effort to find out who stole a $55 million Van Gogh masterpiece from a Cairo museum.

News agencies also reported Monday that the head of the culture ministry's fine arts section, Mohsen Shaalan, three museum security guards and another official had been arrested on charges of negligence in the theft.

Law enforcement authorities informed Interpol officials about the missing Poppy Flowers painting and placed Egyptian police on alert at the country's borders.

The painting by the Dutch master was cut from its frame on Saturday in broad daylight. The painting, depicting gold and red flowers in a vase, had been on display at the Mahmud Khalil Museum.

Authorities said there were 43 security cameras at the museum, but only seven of them were working.

Culture Minister Faruq Hosni said no one would be able to easily sell or conceal the painting because of its size, 63 by 57 centimeters.

It is the second time that the 1887 painting has been stolen. The painting, sometimes also called Vase and Flowers, was stolen the first time in 1978. But it was found two years later in Kuwait.

State-run newspaper Al-Ahram said security at the museum has not been working properly since December 2006. Hosni said the museum would have been closed if it had been known that the warning system was not working properly.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

Fantasia to Release 3rd Album

On August 24, J Records will release the third album by R&B singer Fantasia Barrino.  "Back To Me," Barrino's first album since 2006, features her current Top 10 R&B hit "Bittersweet."  On August 9, the season 3 American Idol winner made headlines after overdosing on aspirin and sleeping aids.  She was hospitalized for a few days, but has now recovered.  The overdose followed reports of Barrino's affair with a married man.  His wife is threatening to sue Fantasia for violating North Carolina's home-wrecker law.  

Blondie Working On New CD

Blondie is finishing its first new album in seven years.  The band's drummer, Clem Burke, told Billboard.com that he expects "Panic of Girls" to be released in Australia in time for their tour dates there in November.  He added that the album will be released in the U.S. and other countries in 2011.

Eminem Tops  Billboard 200 Chart Again

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Eminem returns to Number One on the Billboard 200 chart this week with "Recovery."  The album sold 133,000 copies during the past week.  According to sales tracker Nielsen SoundScan, total sales of "Recovery" stand at 2.1 million copies.  The only album that has sold more in 2010 is Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" (2.5 million copies).

Dolenz Pays Musical Homage to Carole King

Former Monkee Micky Dolenz has recorded a Carole King tribute album.  "King For A Day" features his version of 15 songs that were written or co-written by King, including "Up On The Roof," "Don't Bring Me Down" and "I Feel the Earth Move," which is a duet with "Hannah Montana" star Emily Osment.  Bill Medley duets with Dolenz on the Righteous Brothers' "Just Once In My Life."  "King For A Day" drops on August 24.

New Country Complilation Album Hits Stores

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The new Country music compilation "My Country: Smash Hits" will be released on August 24.  The set contains previously released tracks by Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Blake Shelton, Lady Antebellum and many other popular Country stars.  A portion of the proceeds from its sales will go to the Fisher House Foundation, which provides a "home away from home" for military families to be close to a loved one during hospitalization for an illness, disease or injury.

New Album Releases August 24:

"Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry
"Versus" by Usher
"The Reason Why" by Little Big Town
"Burning The Day" by the Randy Rogers Band
"Homecoming: The Bluegrass Album" by Joe Diffie
"7th Symphony" by Apocalyptica
"I'll Fly Away" by Randy Travis
"Mosaic" by Ricky Skaggs
"For Lack of Honest Work" (3-CD set) by Todd Rundgren
"Top Ten" by Sixpence None The Richer
"For Always: The Very Best of CeCe Winans" by CeCe Winans

Awards Presentations/Winners:

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Dailey & Vincent leads the nominees for the 21st annual International Bluegrass Music Awards.  The group, which is the reigning two-time Entertainer of the Year, earned 10 nominations.  They include Vocal Group of the Year, Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year for "Dailey & Vincent Sing the Statler Brothers" and Song of the Year for "Elizabeth."  Among the other multiple IBMA nominees are Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, The Gibson Brothers, Sam Bush, The Grascals, the Josh Williams Band, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder and the Del McCoury Band. (Complete list of nominees and categories at www.ibma.org.)

Egyptian authorities are still searching for a painting by the Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh stolen from a Cairo museum, a day after mistakenly saying it had been recovered.

Officials say they have stepped up security at Egypt's borders to try to keep the artwork from leaving the country.

Egypt's culture minister Farouq Hosni initially said two Italians had been arrested at Cairo airport with the painting. He later said he had been given incorrect information.

Authorities say the post-impressionist work, known both as "Poppy Flowers" and "Vase with Flowers" was cut from its frame and smuggled out of the Mahmoud Khalil museum Saturday.

It is valued at some $50 million.

Officials at the state-run museum were not available for comment.  But an employee said the Van Gogh painting had been displayed in a room without a guard, and that the one security camera there was broken.

The museum was shut Sunday, while frustrated and saddened tourists were turned away.

Tess Larkin, from Dublin, Ireland, was among those who had been looking forward to seeing the painting, which she had been surprised to find during a past visit at the small palace-turned-museum on the banks of the Nile.

"Absolutely shocked to think that someone would rob a Van Gogh here in Cairo," she said.  "Shameful really."

It was not the first time. The painting was stolen in 1978 from the same museum, but later recovered in Kuwait.

A work of art by such a prominent artist is virtually impossible to sell on the open market, suggesting that it may be being held for ransom, or that the theft was commissioned by a wealthy, unscrupulous patron to display privately.

Egypt's culture minister says police have recovered the Vincent van Gogh painting that was stolen from a Cairo museum earlier Saturday.

Farouk Hosni said security officials at the Cairo airport have arrested two Italian nationals who were trying to leave the country with the painting.

The painting by the Dutch artist is valued at about $50 million. It goes by two titles, Poppy Flowers and Vase with Flowers.

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.

In a new "urban comedy" film, young rap star Bow Wow plays an inner city teenager who wins a huge lotto jackpot and then has to deal with both the up and down sides of becoming an instant millionaire. Here's a look at Lottery Ticket.

"I want you to play my numbers for me on the way home …and don't let anybody copy them either, all right, because those are my numbers. I dreamt them up last night and they're right out of the Holy Scripture here."
"Okay."<!--IMAGE-->

Teenager Kevin is probably the only person in the Atlanta public housing project not excited about the lottery jackpot that has climbed to $370 million. Kevin has other things on his mind: keeping his job at a shopping mall shoe store, pipe dreaming about starting his own business and trying to get a date with the neighborhood's prettiest girl. But his grandmother wants a ticket, so he waits in the long line to buy it:

"How many tickets do you need, man? What do you have?"

"I just need one, all right? Here, play those numbers for me."

As an afterthought, he buys one more ticket for himself (using numbers from the slip of paper in the fortune cookie from his Chinese restaurant lunch); and, don't you know it, against all odds his ticket is the sole winner:

"You got all six numbers!"

"Yes! We won!"

"I've got to call somebody."

"No! Nobody can know about this, all right?"

Kevin worries that if word gets out, everyone will want a share of the good fortune. The trouble is it's a holiday weekend and when he and his best friend go to the state lottery office they find it closed:

"Closed!?"

"Closed …for the Fourth of July. We open again Tuesday at 9AM."

"Tuesday? That's three whole days. Do you know how much can happen in three whole days?"

Sure enough, word about his winning ticket spreads like wildfire and Kevin spends the weekend fending off opportunists and criminals alike, while also learning who his true friends are:

It is definitely a crazy story coming from nothing and then all of a sudden you have all of this money and all of this power and everybody wants a piece.<!--IMAGE-->

Shad Gregory Moss, better known by his stage name "Bow Wow," became famous as "Lil Bow Wow" with his first rap album at age 13 (10 years ago) and says he could identify with his character Kevin's dilemma:

"People turn on you. You have trust issues. You don't know who to trust or what to believe any more. It's definitely real. We see it every day," Lil Bow Wow says. "We see kids come from the inner cities who go to school for one year and then they sign these $80-$90 million (pro sports) contracts. These are things that are actually going on: a young kid coming from the 'hood making it and now he's in this whole other position. It is real."

"You know what, you don't even have to go to design school. You could start your own shoe company."

"Yeah, I guess I could."

"That is all you've been talking about since you were nine years old. This is it, Kevin." <!--IMAGE-->

Naturi Naughton co-stars as Stacey, Kevin's lifelong friend, who reminds him that money can't buy love and trust, but it can let him do positive things:

"Her character really wants to emphasize him doing something with that money. It's not just about giving it to friends, it's about giving it to the entire community so we can come up out of the projects and do something with our lives and feel inspired by someone taking the time to give back to the community," Naughton says. "I think Stacey cares more about that then about just getting a piece of the money."

The cast also features Ice Cube as a neighborhood hermit who becomes Kevin's protector. The rapper and actor is also producer of Lottery Ticket, a change of pace from the broad comedies he usually stars in:

"In my music everything is pretty hard-core, talking about all the things that trouble me or trouble us; but in the movies, people pay their hard-earned money and they want to go be entertained and want to get a lift. We have moments in there and say the things that need to be said sometimes, but ultimately people have fun and to me that's what movies are all about." <!--IMAGE-->

Veteran music video director Erik White makes his feature film debut with Lottery Ticket and says he wanted comic episodes to surround, but not drown out the film's 'learning moments'.

"It's not a full-on comedy," White explains. "It's more of a great story with funny stuff in it, which makes it a little bit different from the typical 'urban' film. I really wanted to get across a story with some moral fiber to it, to give people something to think about when they leave the theater. That was one thing that always bothered me about some urban films: when you walk away you're not left with anything to ponder. I think this concept was something that works with that."

"If you won the lottery, what would you do?"

"Me? You know, take care of my family, travel, and finish school …all that good stuff; but if I had your kind of money, I'd give back. Give people something to live for instead just living, you know?"

Lottery Ticket was filmed on location in an Atlanta, Georgia public housing neighborhood with a cast of comedy and rap music stars including T-Pain, Brandon T. Jackson, Terry Crews, Bill Bellamy, Mike Epps and Loretta Devine.

A pop star on trial in Germany is facing charges of grievous bodily harm. The crime she is accused of is infecting a man with HIV when she knew she was carrying the virus. The criminalization of HIV transmission has been widespread across Europe and North America for decades and new laws are emerging across Africa.  But many people say the laws are not helping to limit the spread of HIV.

Nadja Benaissa was 16 and pregnant when she found out she was HIV-positive. She went on to become a member of one of Germany's most famous girl bands, No Angels.

Benaissa, now 28 years old, is on trial in Germany facing criminal charges for sleeping with men without protection when she knew she was carrying the virus.

Her story has hit the headlines across Europe and has brought to the public eye an issue that raises a number of questions about the value of criminalizing HIV transmission.  

Neil Cobb is a criminal law specialist at Britain's Durham University. He says public opinion on the whole favors criminal laws.

He says Western populations see it as a moral imperative to punish people who expose or transmit HIV to other.  But in Africa, he says, the laws are seen as key to stopping the spread of HIV.

"In most cases, criminalization has been seen as a way in which to prevent onward transmission," said Cobb.  "I think that is particularly because of the lack of easy access to treatment for HIV that actually it's been seen as a way to deal with the problem."

But many people who work to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS - including the prestigious United Nations group UNAIDS - say the laws are counterproductive.

Christine Stegling, senior advisor on HIV/AIDS at the International HIV Alliance, says the laws do not prevent onward transmission.

"Using criminal law leads to a situation where people feel even more stigmatized and where it is very likely that they are not going to be very open about their status," explained Stegling.  "And ultimately it may lead to the fact that people feel that it is better not to know their status because they may be criminally liable if they do and therefore they won't go and test for HIV at all."

And, she says, criminal laws target certain communities disproportionately, especially women who will be tested during a pregnancy.  She highlights the case of pop star Benaissa.

"I think it's a very typical situation because she was a young woman at the time that she learned about her HIV status," Stegling noted.  "She learned about it because she was pregnant. She went to an anti-natal care facility and she decided not to disclose her status because she was scared of the stigma that is attached to it and she was particularly scared about the stigma that would be related to her child."

She says many people fear exposing their HIV-status because of the stigma that surrounds the virus.  She says this is especially so in Africa, where people fear being excluded from their family or community or losing their access to property.

The Global Criminalization Scan collects information on laws criminalizing the transmission of or exposure to HIV transmission. According to its data, at least 600 people globally have been convicted on HIV exposure or transmission charges.

Half of those were in the United States.  It is in the U.S., Canada, and Europe where the most convictions have taken place.

But the scan also shows that criminalization laws are spreading, especially in Africa.  Moono Nyambe is part of the Global Network of People Living with HIV and has worked on the scan. She says some of the laws emerging in Africa are rigorous.

"Probably the thing that has been noted about some of the laws applied in Africa is the broadness of the provisions within those laws. Some of the laws make it possible for a woman to be prosecuted for transmitting HIV to her child," noted Nyambe.

But she says the laws in Africa are rarely used, the scan has documented only 10 convictions across the continent.

The word "cabaret" evokes so many images — singers dressed in sequins and satin, presiding over elegant nightclubs or dark, intimate rooms, cover charges and two-drink minimums.

What is doesn't bring to mind is college dormitories, dining halls and 9 a.m. classes.

But for the past eight summers, aspiring singers have come to New Haven, Connecticut, to attend a sort of cabaret boot camp: the International Cabaret Conference at Yale University.

Intimate connection

New York City club owner Erv Raible has been the conference's executive and artistic director for the past 30 years.

He says cabaret is a deeply emotional medium for a singer. "The intimacy of it, I think, is the most important part. The fact that, unlike any other genre in the entertainment world, you actually go into a room where you go out of there feeling like you know the person. You know something about them. They have touched your heart."

Learning how to effectively touch the heart may be the central goal of the conference but the 38 students also take classes in repertoire, hair, make-up, clothing, sound, lighting and marketing.

Their ages range from 16 to 66, and they come from all over the United States and around the globe. <!--IMAGE-->

A second — or third — career

Oklahoma-born Harold Sanditen began his professional life as an investment banker.

"Then I became a theater producer for 20 years in London and I gave that up three years ago to start singing, which is what I wanted to do in the very first place, but I never had the confidence."

At Yale, Sanditen and his fellow classmates have the opportunity to spend nine days working with some of the best music directors and cabaret artists in the business. That includes Laurel Massé, an original member of Manhattan Transfer, and Tony Award-winning actress Faith Prince.

At the first performance session, Sanditen performs his unique take on a Beatles song.

Prince likes it, but sees room for improvement. "I need you to not close your eyes," she tells him. "I feel like you're closing your eyes on the most important contact." He nods, and tries again.

His classmate, Lindsay Sutherland Boal, trained in opera but the Vancouver-based singer recalls she changed her mind, right in the middle of an audition. <!--IMAGE-->

Over the course of a week of 14-hour days, the teachers work hard to rid Boal of some of her operatic habits — including a tendency to be overly theatrical.

Singing as story-telling

Boal learned some surprising lessons at the conference.

"It's not important, frankly, to be a singer, to be a cabaret artist. It's all about storytelling and while I, of course, I knew that before, I understand that at a much deeper level now." <!--IMAGE-->

Sanditen has learned there are different ways of storytelling, too.

"Songs you think are really serious, you can find comedy in them — you can turn them. You can make something that nobody has ever sung as anything but a serious ballad, you can make it into a comic tour de force."

He demonstrates by turning the soul classic, "Me and Mrs. Jones" — about an extramarital affair between a man and his lover, Mrs. Jones — into a modern, gender-bending ballad involving Mr. Jones, as well.

On the last night of the conference, all the students have three minutes to show what they've learned in front of a paying audience. The concert is called "Cabaret Stars of Tomorrow." Boal performs in a striking red bustier, but with a newfound stillness.

Afterwards, teacher Prince is speechless.

"I think they did incredibly, deliciously wonderful."

And who knows? Maybe some of them will be the cabaret stars of tomorrow.

Among the many specialty summer camps in the U.S. are drama camps, where youngsters learn about theater and put on a play.

There is a summer camp in Loch Sheldrake, New York, that has nurtured some well-known Hollywood actors.

Intense experience

The campers who attend Stagedoor Manor have an intensive introduction to professional theater. They perform 13 plays. The talented teenagers love to sing, dance and act, and are willing and able to endure the long hours of training and rehearsal. <!--IMAGE-->

A re-designed hotel in a Catskill Mountain resort town two hours north of New York City seems an unlikely place to find tomorrow's Broadway and Hollywood stars.

Journalist Mickey Rapkin was curious to discover what this camp is all about.

"I heard about this summer theater where kids would come from all over the world and put on 13 full-scale productions in three weeks and Hollywood casting directors would come to see the productions." he says. "I just didn't believe that place existed."

He discovered that it does. Stagedoor Manor'a alumni include well-known actors like Robert Downey Jr., Jennifer Jason Leigh and Mandy Moore. The camp, which opened in 1975, holds three 3-week sessions each summer. About 280 teens sign up for each. <!--IMAGE-->

Last summer, Rapkin joined them. He spent long hours attending classes and workshops, following the campers during their free time and watching them rehearse.

"What separates this camp is they challenge those kids by casting them in really mature roles and sort of seeing what they can pull off," he says. "The idea of teenagers doing Sondheim festival might sound scary. Stephen Sondheim musicals are very difficult and harmonies are complicated. You can't believe they can do this in three weeks, but they do."

'Theater Geek'

Rapkin tells the story of Stagedoor Manor, and three of the campers he met there, in his new book, "Theater Geek."

"The first of those kids, Harry Katzman, grew up mostly in London and went to theater all the time by himself as a kid, and just fell in love with the theater," Rapkin says. "He ended up moving to the U.S., to South Carolina. He makes his way to Stagedoor Manor and has this completely transformative experience there where he is really pushed and challenged to perform and to work on his skill level and his talent." <!--IMAGE-->

Harry Katzman was only 14 when he attended Stagedoor Manor for the first time. Hungry to learn more, he says, he returned every summer for the next 3 years.

"Really, I felt like it was the right place for me," he says. "The best learning you can do is by doing and by performing a show, memorizing the lines, getting it done and watching your peers around you doing the same thing and realizing their talent. It just makes you want to be better. So you're constantly trying to improve yourself. I think that it's just impressive to see the amount of people who do really have talent, that do care about this profession as much as I do."

Katzman says the skills he developed at camp laid a solid foundation for his future. He is now studying musical theater at the University of Michigan.

Nineteen-year old Natalie Walker, a theater major at New York University, still remembers how she learned about Stagedoor Manor. It was featured in a movie called "Camp." She was in 8th grade.

"I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I wish there is a real place like this.' Then, you know, in the credits of the movie, it's like this camp is based on Stagedoor Manor," she recalls. "I went to my computer, entered Stagedoor Manor into Google search and it came up. I saw the pictures of all those shows that they are doing and I'm like, 'Sign me up for the entire time.'" <!--IMAGE-->

Head first

Walker says she was amazed at the camp's pace and approach to learning.

"You audition the first day of camp, you get measured for costumes," she says. "You get thrown in head first into the deep end and you really have to work hard. There is so much pressure, but you know that teaches you a lot. The big part of the training was to put everything together in such a short amount of time."

To be able to perform in 13 full-scale Broadway shows in just three weeks, kids need to be well prepared. And they are, says New York theater director Raymond Zilberberg.

"We rehearse twice a day for 4 hours," he says. "And then between those rehearsals, we have classes: dance classes, vocal technique classes and various acting classes as well."

Zilberberg teaches an audition technique class.

"They all come in with their music prepared and we go through every single student and work with them on the song they are choosing to audition with," he says. "What's the meaning of the song, how to better deliver it, how to enter a room, how to compose themselves. So it's about giving them the best possible opportunity when they walk into an audition space."

Each Stagedoor Manor session ends with an awards ceremony, and a lot of hugs and tears, because camp is over.

But for many, the end of camp is also the start toward realizing their dream of becoming a star.

Oscar-winner Julia Roberts stars in the film version of a best-selling memoir about one woman's worldwide search for fulfillment and meaning in her life. Here's a look at Hollywood's version of Eat, Pray, Love.



"Since I was 15 I've either been with a guy or breaking up with a guy. I haven't had so much as two weeks just to deal with myself."

It's not that Elizabeth Gilbert has such terrible life. A travel writer, she gets to visit all sorts of exotic locations and then return to her comfortable New York City home. But she feels like something is missing:

"I used this appetite for food, for life… and it's just gone. I want to go someplace where I can marvel at something."

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Rebounding from a contentious divorce, she decides to take a year off and find her appetites again. Echoing the "new age" philosophy in the book, star Julia Roberts, who plays Liz in the film, says following in the character's footsteps helped her understand the journey.

"I think you have to find a way to relate to all of it," Roberts says. "This particular journey that she goes on is a lot for me to try to think about and intellectualize and then let all that go and just connect to all the people that she encounters as a very open vessel, which is what I think she did."



"The meditation room is within."

"Do you always talk in 'bumper sticker?'"

"I do… and here's another one. You have to learn to select your thoughts the same way that you select your clothes every day. That's a power that you can cultivate. You want to come here and control your life so badly… work on the mind and that's the only thing you should be trying to control, because if you can't master your thoughts you are in trouble forever."

"I relate to her search and her pursuit," explains Roberts. "It was definitely great to have a fulfilled sense of my own life: [after] playing some of these scenes I'd go home and say 'okay, everybody is here. We're good."

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The author's journey takes her first to Italy where she discovers an earthy connection with food.

"I'm in love. I'm having a relationship with my pizza."

From there she travels to India in search of enlightenment at an "ashram" spiritual retreat.

Then, it's on to the resort island of Bali in Indonesia where she studies with a native healer and learns to heal her own wounds of the heart, discovering new love with a dashing Brazilian.

"The next attraction of the tour: food from Bali."
"Oh, good, I'm starving. Where should we go?"
"We should go to the best restaurant in town… my place."
"Subtle."

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Typically (and for economic reasons) Hollywood movies are shot "out of sequence," so an actor might wind up doing the emotional climax on the first day of filming. However, Roberts says she is grateful that most of Eat, Pray, Love was made "in sequence" and at the locations where the story is taking place.

"For me, it was a great luxury to shoot it in chronological order," Roberts admits. "I think it was almost a necessity of emotional evolution; but I think it was important for us to create the steps that she took and understand very clearly how she got from one point to the next and one place to the next and how the relationships evolved and what she gleaned from each one to the next."

Director and co-writer Ryan Murphy says the worldwide success of the Elizabeth Gilbert memoir, first published in 2006, put pressure on the film to "get it right."

"It's meant so much to so many people - particularly women - and I worked really closely with Liz Gilbert," Murphy says. "That was very important to me. She read every draft, she had notes and I really wanted to pay it justice. It's changed me. Making the movie changed my life as I had hoped that it would. I came out the other end of it a different person. I had never traveled like that and never experienced many of those things, so I consider it to be one of the great gifts of my life."

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True, women readers made the book a best-seller; but star Julia Roberts believes it transcends gender.

"I think are universal themes of heartache, guilt, confusion, feeling lost or just wanting to renew your life in some way and just change things in some way. I think we've all gone through that," Roberts says.

"You will live a long time, have many friends and many experiences. You will have two marriages: one long, one short."
"Am I in the long one or the short one?"
"Can't tell. Also, you will lose all your money. Don't worry. You will get it all back again."

While Julia Roberts is in every scene of Eat, Pray, Love, she is supported by an ensemble that includes Javier Bardem as the sensitive Brazilian lover; Billy Crudup is the first husband; James Franco plays the stage actor with whom she has a love affair; Richard Jenkins is the insightful Texan who gives her guidance at the Indian Ashram; and Viola Davis is her supportive best friend back home in New York.