http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/ What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/22024 (The Lunar New Year)

Tet has become so familiar, so sacred to the Vietnamese that when Spring arrives, the Vietnamese, wherever they may be, are all thrilled and excited with the advent of Tet, and they feel an immense nostalgia, wishing to come back to their homeland for a family reunion and a taste of the particular flavours of the Vietnamese festivities.

Tet starts on the first day of the first lunar month and is the first season of the new year (according to the lunar calendar), and therefore it is also known as the Tet Nguyen Dan, literally meaning Fete of the First Day, or the Tet Tam Nguyen, literally meaning Fete of the Three Firsts.

The Vietnamese, wherever they may be, are all thrilled and excited with the advent of Tet, and they feel an immense nostalgia, wishing to come back to their homeland for a family reunion and a taste of the particular flavours of the Vietnamese festivities. Those who have settled down abroad all turn their thoughts to their home country and try to celebrate the festivities in the same traditional way as their family members and relatives to relieve their nostalgia, never forgetting the fine custom handed down from generation to generation.

The Tet of the New Year is, above all, a fete of the family. This is an opportunity for the household genies to meet, those who have helped during the year, namely the Craft Creator, the Land Genie and the Kitchen God. As the legend goes, each year on December 23 of the lunar calendar, the Kitchen God takes a ride on a carp to the Heavenly Palace to make a report on the affairs of the household on earth and then returns on December 30 to welcome the New Spring.

Tet is also an opportunity to welcome deceased ancestors back for a family reunion with their descendants. Finally, Tet is a good opportunity for family members to meet. This custom has become sacred and secular and, therefore, no matter where they are or whatever the circumstances, family members find ways to come back to meet their loved ones

Vietnamese Tet has quite a few original practices with customs and entertainment that have distinct Vietnamese cultural characteristics. In the framework of this article, a few customs and practices are presented so that readers can better understand the traditional Tet of Vietnam.
(Source: vietnamtourism)

]]> Thu, 27 Jan 2005 20:49:00 EST http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/22024 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/20241 * If you want happiness for a day - Go for a picnic
* If you want happiness for a week - Go on a vacation
* If you want happiness for a month - Get married
* If you want happiness for a year - Inherit wealth
* IF YOU WANT HAPPINESS FOR A LIFE TIME - LEARN TO LOVE WHAT YOU DO.]]> Wed, 27 Oct 2004 21:56:00 EDT http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/20241 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/19538
The festival is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, the day of the first full moon closest to the autumn equinox when the moon is at its fullest. The autumn equinox always falls on September 23. This year, the Children's Festival will occur on October 8. At the spring and autumn equinoxes the duration of day and night is equal and the sun appears directly overhead at noon at the equator. After September 23 the days become shorter and the nights grow longer.

During the Children's Mid-Autumn Festival, although the moon is then at its greatest distance from the earth, it appears larger than at any time of the year and takes on a reddish glow. In the West, this large, full autumn moon is called a harvest moon. In its partial phases, the moon represents the incompleteness of life and potential for completeness, fullness and prosperity. The Mid-Autumn celebration is then a celebration and a prayer for the fullness and completeness of life.

In many ancient agricultural cultures, when the nights got longer and the light and heat from the sun decreased, there were prayers and ceremonies urging the sun not to forget to rise again the next year. The theme of light after darkness is a key to understanding fall festivals. In ancient times in northern Europe farmers held a great festival with bonfires and they rolled firewheels down hills to recall the descent of the sun and then to invoke its ascent and return. The lanterns which Vietnamese children play with on this festival day recall the wish for the return of the sun's warmth and light. There are several different shapes of lanterns including the five-star lantern representing the sun and the frog-shape representing the moon. There are lanterns which spin around when a candle is placed inside, symbolizing the seasonal spinning of the earth around the sun.

During the festival, children wear paper-mache masks of Ra Hu who looks somewhat like a tiger. According to the myth, during the creation of the world the gods stirred up the sea to activate the ambrosia of immortality. The demon Ra Hu, lord of the nine planets and ruler of the gods of the nine planets, stole it and the sun god punished him by cutting off his head. The myth also says that Ra Hu ate pieces of the full moon and that is why it has phases and eclipses. Children wear the masks and growl like tigers to frighten Ra Hu so he will not gobble up the entire moon. Nowadays there are also many kinds of plastic masks, including Mickey Mouse and Superman, to frighten off the monster.

The masks, lanterns, toys, decorations and drums are sold on Hang Ma Street in the commercial quarter of Hanoi. Days before the fifteenth of the month the street is crowded with children and their parents. In the evening, pagodas and temples, especially those temples dedicated to goddesses, are open for worshippers to light incense and make offerings of flowers and fruit and to pray.

Several types of special cakes called banh trung thu are eaten at the festival time and are sold all over town. Some cakes take on the shape of a carp. In Vietnamese tradition the carp represents the soul of the moon. Other cakes are round and white and still others are square and golden brown. The brown ones represent the yang elements, or the sun, and the white ones are the moon. Most of the children don't know the symbolism but just enjoy the taste. We see a yin and yang aspect to many of Vietnam's seasonal festivals. In the balance of the female and male elements of the universe, the fall festival represents the ascendancy of the female powers over the male, the prominence of the moon over the sun's influence.

Banh trung thu are not raised like Western cakes. They are filled with lotus seeds, orange peel, ground beans, and sometimes egg and pork fat for flavor. It is traditional that one offers a box of these special cakes to someone that you want to please or owe a favor, like your landlord or the local police. In addition to cakes, fruits are plentiful during this time, especially watermelon and grapefruit. Grapefruit sections can be transformed into animal shapes like the rabbit of the moon, who according to legend pounds the ambrosia of immortality at the foot of a cassia tree. In addition to the rabbit, there are other mythical inhabitants of the moon. One is the three-legged toad, an incarnation of the moon maiden who stole the elixir of immortality from her husband. And the old man who, as a punishment for displeasing a revengeful god, is forever cutting down cinnamon trees which regrow as soon as his ax chops them.

The dragon dance is an important aspect of many festivals including the Mid-Autumn Children's Festival. The dragon dance expresses the duality of Vietnamese festivals. The dragon dance is a re-enactment of the earth and sky duality, the yin and yang of the world. The Lord Earth, called Ong Dia in Vietnamese, is the dancer who dances around the dragon, urging it on. Ong Dia has a very round, happy smiling moon-face. He represents the wealth or fullness of the earth.

The meaning of the Mid-Autumn Festival has been transformed over time. Originally it was not specifically for children. The Vietnamese people believe that only when one is innocent and pure can they get close to the natural and sacred world. So by becoming like children, they can acquire attributes of the gods. Because of its interesting legends and customs, and because the weather is mild, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a special time to see Vietnam.

By Barbara Cohen ]]> Mon, 20 Sep 2004 20:21:00 EDT http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/19538 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/19537 Photo by N.V.N (Copyright 2004 UocMoXanh Group)]]> Mon, 20 Sep 2004 20:20:00 EDT http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/19537 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/19238 ]]> Tue, 07 Sep 2004 00:00:00 EDT http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/19238 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/19237
Tonight, my heart is aching,
As I sit and watch TV.
The images being telecast,
Are really getting to me!

Tears are running down my face,
As I watch the story unfold.
The killing of little children,
Leaves me feeling bitter and cold.

I flinch at the sound of gunfire,
Its ugliness pierces my ears.
The blood on the face of a child,
Confirms my deepest fears.

The lives of the innocent children,
Nothing more than a terrorist tool,
As the shooting and explosions,
Echo throughout the school.

I care not about the terrorist,
Who now lie in blood where they fell.
And, if it’s any consolation,
I hope their souls burn in hell!

The unfolding of this tragedy,
Leaves me tormented and bewildered,
And praying to God, I seek the answer
Why the children, Lord? Why the children?

(Copyright 2004 C.J. McCagg - www.poetices.com)]]> Mon, 06 Sep 2004 00:00:00 EDT http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/19237 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/19190 Participants included 300 youths from Japan and 10 ASEAN countries and delegates from families of the home-stay program.

Present at the ceremony, Deputy Chief of the Japanese Cabinet Mr. Mahito Nakajima stated that the SSEAYP 2004 embodied the solidarity and friendship between Japan and the ASEAN countries and concurrently promoted the Japan – ASEAN collaboration.

Foreign youths shared cultural experiences with Vietnamese delegates, who also made a good impression with an art show of ao dai and non la (traditional clothes and headwear of Vietnamese people respectively).

Soon after the ceremony, the SSEAYP 2004 officially began with the warming up of the home-stay program and trips to Japanese cultural areas.

Delegates also had discussions on many social issues concerning social welfare, education, journalism and laws policies.


]]> Sat, 04 Sep 2004 20:12:00 EDT http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/19190 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/19189 This academic year there are nearly 3 million pre-schoolers, 18 million junior high and high school students, 400 vocational training schools students, and 1.1 million tertiary education students.

One focus of the country’s education policy this year is to offer optional subjects to junior high and high schools and to establish technical high schools on a trial basis.

The Government is encouraging companies in the economic sectors to invest in building training centers and schools.

]]> Sat, 04 Sep 2004 20:04:00 EDT http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/19189 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/19179
26/8/2002 - 26/8/2004

Members of UMX's group in Ho Chi Minh City are singing a song "Uoc Mo Xanh" by their warm hearts and candles. ]]> Fri, 03 Sep 2004 23:09:00 EDT http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/19179 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/19133 http://khoesac.com/hvh/cry.htm
Helping Sharing Healing! ]]> Thu, 02 Sep 2004 02:46:00 EDT http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/19133 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/16568 I never saw before;
Sunlight through a jar of marmalade;
A blue gate;
A rainbow
In soapsuds on dishwater;
Candelight on butter;
The crinkled smile of a little girl
Who had new shoes with tassels;
A chickadee on a thorn-apple;
Empurpled mud under a willow,
Where white geese slept;
White ruffled curtains sifting moonlight
On the scrubbed kitchen floor;
The under side of a white-oak leaf;
Ruts in the road at sunset:
An egg yolk in a blue bowl.
My love kissed my eyes last night.

by May Thielgaard Watts

]]> Sat, 15 May 2004 20:31:00 EDT http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/16568 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/9316 Wed, 04 Jun 2003 20:22:00 EDT http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/9316 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/9315 in the way
they stick together
come what may.

A simple smile
or telephone call,
they'll pick you up
if you should fall.

Yes, friends are priceless,
worth every dime-
and I'm so glad
that you are mine!













]]> Wed, 04 Jun 2003 20:08:00 EDT http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/9315 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/9314 in the way
they stick together
come what may.

A simple smile
or telephone call,
they'll pick you up
if you should fall.

Yes, friends are priceless,
worth every dime-
and I'm so glad
that you are mine!













]]> Wed, 04 Jun 2003 20:08:00 EDT http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/9314 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/7504 And I'm not there to see,
If the sun should rise and find your eyes
All filled with tears for me;
I wish so much you wouldn't cry
The way you did today,
While thinking of the many things,
We didn't get to say.
I know how much you love me,
As much as I love you,
And each time that you think of me,
I know you'll miss me too;
But when tomorrow starts without me,
Please try to understand,
That an angel came and called my name,
And took me by the hand,
And said my place was ready,
In heaven far above,
And that I'd have to leave behind
All those I dearly love.
But as I turned to walk away,
A tear fell from my eye
For all my life, I'd always thought,
I didn't want to die.
I had so much to live for,
So much left yet to do,
It seemed almost impossible,

]]> Thu, 30 Jan 2003 19:41:00 EST http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/7504 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/7503




Happy Lunar New Year




The Lunar New Year……
this Year will be celebrated on the 1st of February 2003
and with a bright economic outlook, it’s timely to
rejoice, beat the drums and have some clean Fun

The Lunar New Year……
in the year 2003 is designated as the year of the Ram
and people born during this period are charming and elegant
so it wouldn’t be surprising to see them strolling hand in hand at the Jurong Lake

The Lunar New Year……..
is recognized as the spring festival and celebrations last 15 Days
and on the 7th Day, it is Everybody’s Birthday

The Lunar New Year…….
will see the Chinese community worldwide buying presents, food,
clothing, material and Decorations
as children tuck in on the fortune cookies that are so Good
whilst the reunion dinner held on Chinese New Year Eve is a yearly Tradition

The Lunar New Year……….
is a great opportunity to renew family ties, presenting to kids, “Ang Pows”
and seeing them jump for joy when they open the red packets and exclaim, “WOW”

The Lunar New Year…….
gives me great pleasure to wish and your family, good health, prosperity
and Success
as we take on the growing challenges together in the year of the snake,
we should stay committed to our families, loyal friends and our country, settling for nothing Less










]]> Thu, 30 Jan 2003 19:34:00 EST http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/7503 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/7067 God's love, it's free, Share the plan of
salvation, as you decorate your tree.
Remember that God truly loves you,
just the way you are, His love will brighten
up your heart, just like the Bethlehem star.

Merry Christmas to you all, may peace come
your way, Remember Baby Jesus as in the
manger He did lay. He was born to save the world,
and to forgive us of our sins, His love for you is
priceless, a love that never ends!
]]> Sun, 22 Dec 2002 05:40:00 EST http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/7067 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/6835 Before I start my day
Couldn't help but drop a line
To my friend so far away

As I sip my fresh brewed coffee
Thoughts of you have crossed my mind
I'm sending morning greetings
And hope your day is fine

Today is filled with sunshine
Like the friendship we two share
My day will be just dandy
I'll pretend that I am there

I have to go for now my friend
Have lots to do today
Just wanted to say good morning
In this e-mail sent your way

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!
]]> Fri, 29 Nov 2002 19:04:00 EST http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/6835 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/6742 Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
With Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, and Laurence Fishburne

Francis Ford Coppola's expansive revision of his visually stunning, Academy Award-winning Apocalypse Now, includes more than an hour of extra footage. In this film inspired by Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness, a special agent is sent to Vietnam to locate and terminate a rogue U.S. officer who is leading guerilla forces in the jungle. The New York Times calls the new version "transporting...Vittorio Storaro's Oscar-winning cinematography is devastating."

* * *

Ashes and Embers (1982), 120 min
Directed by Haile Gerima
With John Anderson, Evelyn A. Blackwell, and Norman Blalock

Haile Gerima's compelling film tells the story of an African-American veteran's attempt to reconcile his war experiences with his postwar life in the U.S. The narrative makes connections among his personal search for meaning and issues of racism, Black Nationalism, and the consequences of the Vietnam War. According to The Nation, its "jarring episodes...show incurable anger and alarm, futile escape and final despair at the order offered Black veterans by our society."

* * *

Basic Training (1971), 89 min
Directed by Frederick Wiseman

Since his early work in the 1960s, Frederick Wiseman has become one of America's most influential (and controversial) documentary filmmakers. Basic Training, called a "humanistic masterpiece" by The New York Times, examines the methods employed by the U.S. Armed Forces to train soldiers during the Vietnam War era, thereby providing insight into the military experiences of young American men and women in the 1960s and 1970s.

* * *

Bat 21 (1988), 105 min
Directed by Peter Markle
With Gene Hackman, Danny Glover, and Jerry Reed

"Director Markle hits the mark in depicting the nightmarish aspects of [a] jungle war" in Bat 21, observes The San Francisco Chronicle. Based on actual events, the film tells the story of a U.S. military strategist (portrayed by Gene Hackman) who is caught in the middle of the conflict when his plane is shot down in enemy territory. His colleagues desperately try to locate and rescue him before he is captured.

* * *

Born on the 4th of July (1989), 114 min
Directed by Oliver Stone
With Tom Cruise, Willem Dafoe, and Tom Berringer

Oliver Stone's Academy Award-winning film is based on the real-life experiences of Ron Kovic, a soldier in Vietnam who was seriously wounded and who later became an outspoken critic of the war. Co-scripted by Stone and Kovic, the film is relentless in its honest depictions of the darker aspects of the war's effect on U.S. citizens and American culture. As The Houston Chronicle says, "Stone makes Kovic's descent brutal, grim and utterly unblinking."

* * *

Breathe In/Breathe Out (2000), 70 min
Directed by Beth B

Beth B's documentary follows three American combat veterans as they return to Vietnam with their children. Revelations about the impact of the war on their own lives and the effect of their experiences on their relationships with their children make the film a moving account of the personal and social consequences of the war.

* * *

Casualties of War (1989), 113 min
Directed by Brian DePalma
With Michael J. Fox, Sean Penn, and Ving Rhames

When a U.S. patrol in Vietnam abducts and abuses a young Vietnamese girl, one of the soldiers (Michael J. Fox) is torn between loyalty to his comrades and his sense of morality. With a script by playwright/Vietnam veteran David Rabe that is based on actual events, Brian DePalma's film portrays the sharp moral divisions that occurred among U.S. ground forces during the conflict. According to The Los Angeles Times, the film "conveys a sense of moral quagmire, of sinking into squishily dangerous terrain, honeycombed with tunnels and traps, all hell exploding around it. That's the imagery of the movie's first battle scene, a taut prologue for a superb film."

* * *

China Gate (1957), 97 min
Directed by Samuel Fuller
With Gene Barry, Angie Dickenson, and Nat "King" Cole

The first film about the Vietnam War made in Hollywood, Samuel Fuller's China Gate - a work "ahead of its time...show[ing] Vietnam as an issue of importance" (The Los Angeles Times) and one that served as a template for subsequent related films. When an international unit is sent to destroy a Communist ammunition dump in North Vietnam, a Eurasian smuggler (Angie Dickenson) agrees to use her connections to help them if they promise to bring her son to America.

* * *

Coming Home (1978), 126 min
Directed by Hal Ashby
With Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, and Bruce Dern

Hal Ashby's "warm, beautifully acted" (San Francisco Chronicle) Coming Home won the Academy Award for best picture, and leading actors Jane Fonda and Jon Voight also won acting awards. The film explores the impact of the Vietnam War on three Americans: a U.S. military officer, his wife, and the disabled Vietnam veteran with whom she has an affair. The film dramatically represents the domestic conflicts among individuals during the war's aftermath.

* * *

Cutter's Way (1981), 105 min
Directed by Ivan Passer
With Jeff Bridges, John Heard, and Lisa Eichhorn

Called a "powerful paranoid thriller" by The Chicago Reader, Cutter's Way follows a disabled Vietnam veteran and his closest friend as they investigate the murder of a high school cheerleader in their hometown. Passer's film articulates the growing sense of alienation, social fragmentation, and moral ambiguity that existed in America in the years after the war.

* * *

Daughter from Danang (2002), 75 min
Directed by Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco

Daughter from Danang, which won the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, follows a young Vietnamese-American woman (taken to the U.S. as part of 1975's Operation Babylift) who returns to Vietnam to be reunited with the family she never knew-with unexpected results. "With fly-on-the-wall unobtrusiveness, Dolgin and Franco capture every painful moment of the meltdown, and the cumulative effect is deeply moving," notes Variety. The film raises challenging questions about cultural differences, socialization, and historical interpretation.

* * *

Dumbarton Bridge (1999), 98 min
Directed by Charles Koppelman
With Tom Wright, Esperanza Catubig, and Daphne Ashbrook

A story about an African-American veteran who is forced to confront his suppressed wartime memories when his Vietnamese-American daughter arrives in the United States.

* * *

Full Metal Jacket (1987), 118 min
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
With Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, and Vincent D'Onofrio

With his trademark irony, Kubrick follows a group of U.S. Marine recruits from basic training to combat during the Vietnam Tet Offensive in Full Metal Jacket, a film based in part on Gustav Hasford's novel The Short-Timers. Upon its release, The Washington Post hailed the film as "the most eloquent and exacting vision of the war to date," and it was nominated for best picture at both the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards.

* * *

Gardens of Stone (1987), 112 min
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
With James Caan, James Earl Jones, and D.B. Sweeney

Gardens of Stone, Coppola's second film focusing on the Vietnam War, centers on a decorated veteran who is reassigned to the Old Guard Regiment at Arlington National Cemetery, where he counsels younger soldiers in his unit as they prepare for combat assignments in Vietnam. "The movie creates its characters with realism, love and detail," observes Roger Ebert in The Chicago Sun-Times.

* * *

Go Tell the Spartans (1978), 114 min
Directed by Ted Post
With Burt Lancaster, Craig Wasson, and Marc Singer

Considered "one of the best Vietnam films" (Boston Globe), Post's provocative yet largely overlooked film tells the story of a group of American soldiers who are assigned to defend a former French outpost in Vietnam shortly before the escalation of the war.

* * *

Hair (1979), 121 min
Directed by Milos Forman
With Treat Williams, Beverly D'Angelo, and John Savage

Milos Forman adapts Hair-the wildly popular 1960s musical about the Age of Aquarius and the youth counter-culture-for the screen. Though the film is rarely included in the canon of Vietnam-related films, Forman strays from the original play to make some pointed statements about the Vietnam era. Featuring choreography by the renowned Twyla Tharp, it is "a boisterous, colorful film, and probably the best film musical of the '70s next to Cabaret," according to The San Francisco Chronicle.

* * *

Hearts Minds (1974), 112 min
Restored print
Directed by Peter Davis

Peter Davis' provocative, Academy Award-winning documentary examines the cultural values and beliefs that inspired U.S. military involvement in Vietnam and contrasts these beliefs with the images and experiences that occurred after the war. Effective on multiple levels, the film invites critical discussion about the assumptions made by U.S. policymakers and citizens about foreign involvement in distant lands. According to The Los Angeles Times, the film "shows the futility of the war and the heartbreaking series of events that brought the United States into Vietnam. It is a powerful piece of documentary filmmaking."

* * *

Hidden Warriors: Women of The Ho Chi Minh Trail (2002), 60 min
Directed by Karen Turner

Karen Turner's documentary examines the experiences of Vietnamese women who served during the war as well as the conflict's continuing impact on their lives. Through interviews and film material previously unavailable in the U.S., the film conveys rarely glimpsed aspects of Vietnam's wartime history.

* * *

How to Behave ((1987) 45 min, Tolerance for the Dead (50 min), The Sound of My Violin in Lai (30 min)
Directed by Tran Van Thuy

Tran Van Thuy is one of Vietnam's most esteemed filmmakers. American Historical Review called How to Behave "a fascinating glimpse into (North) Vietnamese society at the start of economic and social change".

* * *

In the Year of the Pig (1969), 103 min
Directed by Emil de Antonio
Using U.S. archival film and material from international sources, this Oscar-nominated documentary examines the roots of America's involvement in Vietnam. The film made a significant impact both in America and other countries, and became a touchstone for anti-war activists. As The Los Angeles Times describes, "De Antonio's 1968 film documents the war up to 1968 using rare interviews and news clips to passionately delve into the roots of the war, to answer the question: Why are Americans fighting in Vietnam? The question is still relevant and the answers as searing as ever. This is an important document of the era."

* * *

Investigation of a Flame (2001), 45 min
Directed by Lynne Sachs

Lynne Sachs' documentary, which made its New York premiere at BAMcinématek in 2002, investigates the Catonsville Nine, a group of anti-Vietnam War activists who burned selective service records at a Catonsville, Maryland draft board office in 1968. Through interviews, archival footage, and dramatic recreations, the film examines the appropriateness of civil disobedience during times of war.

* * *

Karma (1986), 100 min
Directed by Ho Quang Minh Ho

Quang Minh's Karma was one of the first war-related films by a Vietnamese artist to be shown in the U.S. following the war's end. The film explores the effects of the conflict on Vietnamese families by focusing on a South Vietnamese officer, once presumed dead, and his wife, who is forced to become a prostitute in Saigon.

* * *

No Game (1968), Boston Draft Resistance Group (1968), The People's War (1969), 75 min total
Three films released by The Newsreel Collective, the media distribution network for American anti-Vietnam War activists during the late 1960s and early 70s. The films document the activities of the movement, ranging from a 1967 protest at the Pentagon to local actions encouraging grassroots opposition to the war.

* * *

Platoon (1986), 120 min
Directed by Oliver Stone
With Tom Berringer, Willem Dafoe, and Charlie Sheen

Oliver Stone's harrowing film about a young American soldier's one-year tour of duty in Vietnam won the Academy Award for best picture, and is widely considered one of the best films about the experience of American troops in Vietnam. Conflicts flare among the men as they grapple with the demands of the battlefield. According to USA Today, "Stone's combat sequences are among the most crisply edited since All Quiet on the Western Front; the characterizations, powerful."

* * *

Regret to Inform (2000), 55 min
Directed by Barbara Sonneborn

Nominated for an Academy Award and winner of prizes at several film festivals, Sonneborn's work is a "self portrait" on film, chronicling her travels to Vietnam to learn more about the war and her husband's death in 1968. It explores uncomfortable questions about the war and its continuing legacy for both U.S. citizens and the Vietnamese. According to The San Francisco Chronicle, "This fine film is a harrowing reminder for viewers with direct memories of Vietnam, and a useful cautionary exercise for a generation born since the fall of Saigon."

* * *

The Deer Hunter (1978), 183 min
Directed by Michael Cimino
With Robert DeNiro, Christopher Walken, and Meryl Streep

The iconic Deer Hunter, Michael Cimino's "opus containing some of the most majestic and savage 70-millimeter imagery ever seen" (The Los Angeles Times), won five Academy Awards after its release, including best picture. Emphasizing the shattering effects of war on soldiers, the film depicts the experiences of three working-class men.

* * *

The Green Berets (1968), 141 min
Directed by John Wayne
With John Wayne, David Jansen, and Jim Hutton

John Wayne's transparently patriotic film The Green Berets, the only major Vietnam War film made in Hollywood during the tumultuous 1965-1975 period, was "a lightning rod for the growing debate, and in many ways symbolized the wedge that split America in two," according to The San Francisco Chronicle. Focusing on the operations of U.S. Special Forces in Vietnam, the film relies heavily on the Wayne persona-even replaying specific sequences and dialogue from the actor's World War II films-and elements of Samuel Fuller's China Gate).

* * *

The Liberal War (1972), 33 min
Directed by Nick Macdonald
Using a series of found objects rather than documentary footage, director Nick Macdonald constructs an imaginative and effective anti-war message by explicating its causes, its methods, and its consequences.

* * *

The Sad Song of Yellow Skin (1970), 58 min
Directed by Michael Rubbo

Made in Canada and largely overlooked in the United States, this unique film documents the impact of the war on ordinary citizens in Saigon through the eyes of three American peace activists. Honored with the best documentary award at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards (BAFTA)

* * *

The War at Home (1979), 100 min
Directed by Glenn Silber and Barry Alexander Brown

Nominated for an Oscar for best documentary, The War at Home examines the growing anti-Vietnam War movement in the U.S. in the 1960s by following a cluster of activists at the University of Wisconsin.

* * *

Unfinished Symphony: Democracy Dissent (2001), 60 min
Directed by Bestor Cram and Michael Majoros

Covering an antiwar march organized by Vietnam veterans from Lexington Green to Concord, Massachusetts in the late 1960s, this documentary contains recently restored footage from this significant yet overlooked event. The march was designed to follow the route of Paul Revere's ride; it ended with the arrest of over 400 participants.

* * *

When the Tenth Month Comes (1984), 90 min
Archival print
Directed by Dang Nhat Minh

In this fictitious film, "Vietnam's finest filmmaker" (The Los Angeles Times), Dang Nhat Minh, explores the dramatic impact of the war on the daily lives of the Vietnamese people through the story of a woman who attempts to keep from her family the news of her husband's death. The film was nominated for the Moscow International Film Festival's Golden Prize.

* * * * *

Source: Brooklyn Academy of Music

]]> Fri, 22 Nov 2002 04:39:00 EST http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/6742 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/6715 I hate war! No war in the world......]]> Tue, 19 Nov 2002 19:47:00 EST http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/6715 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/6713 Tue, 19 Nov 2002 19:27:00 EST http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/6713 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/6688
It enriches those who receive it,
without making poorer those who give.
It takes but a moment, but the memory
of it sometimes lasts forever.

None is so rich or mighty that he
can get along without it,
and none is so poor but that
he can be made rich by it.

A smile creates happiness in the home,
fosters goodwill in business,
and is the countersign of friendship.

It brings rest to the weary,
cheer to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad,
and it is nature's best antidote for trouble.

Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed,
or stolen, for it is something that is of no
value to anyone until it is given away.


Some people are too tired to give you a smile.

Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile
so much as he who has no more to give.

- author unknown


]]> Mon, 18 Nov 2002 19:05:00 EST http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/6688 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/6671 I live for your love and all it's worth,
It means more than anything on God's green Earth,
the more we go through the more I see,
forever it will be you and me,
relationships are made from dedication and trust,
and I know those lie in both of us,
The more we're together I realize I need you here with me,
because my life without you would be empty,
moments with you will last forever,
seeing you happy is my pleasure,
I live for our future and what it will bring,
I'll place you on a pedestal and treat you as my queen,
I live for knowing you'll always be there,
and the unconditional love both of us share.
by BRYANT MAURICE MITCHELL


And about you? What do you live for?:)Tell me...]]> Sun, 17 Nov 2002 21:26:00 EST http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/6671 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/6670 Recently I was going thro’ an article written by Mr. Larry Robinson. I feel it will be useful to all of us. Please go thro’ it.

"Get up and Get Over it!

Ok. So life has thrown you a curve ball. You have fallen and your feel like you can’t get up. You lost your job, your money and your honey. What do you do? My advice is: "Get up and Get Over it!" Yes, you read right. Let me say it again, "Get up and Get Over it!" When will you realize stuff happens to the best of us? It is just a part of the seasons of life. Some things have to die to be reborn into a better, more beautiful and useful creation.

It is necessary that you do not wallow in the tragedies and disappointments of life. You must “Get up and Get Over it!” You must talk to yourself and tell yourself that this situation is just a pause in one paragraph of the pages of my life. Notice I described it as a situation. That is all it is, a situation that needs a strategy to solve it. You must step back and see it for that it really is.

My friends and I have this little comment we make when things don’t go our way and one of us starts to complain. We tell each other, “You will get over it, and this too shall pass.” Then we all have a big laugh. We laugh because we remind ourselves how we each faced difficult situations in the pass. But someway, somehow, either through pain or desperation, a strategy was formed and we moved onward and upward. That is what I encourage you to do. Develop a strategy so that you too can move onward and upward. You must plan, pursue, and persist.

The following was strategy for getting through setbacks:
1.Renew your mind!
(Obviously something you are currently doing is not working or needs to reviewed and revamped. Quickly make the necessary adjustment and move on.).

2.Recapture your Passion!
(Everyone one of us puts it, “come knowing what we love”, but somehow doing the course of our life we forget or are deprogrammed by the influences of life. Remember what you use to love and then take that memory with you into the future. Many times we remember what we once loved and think it can’t be pursued. This is simply not true. You can and you must do it or you will take to your grave an awesome gift that could have been developed and employed.).

3. Get your life in order!
(In order to "Get up and Get Over it!" you must get your life in order. There is a certain order to a well-developed and successful life. Start with the small things like straighten out the things in your immediate reach. Clean your room, office or car. When things are out of order your mind is out of order. A mind out of order creates a life out of order. Get in order).

4.Learn Money!
(Contrary to popular belief, money is NOT evil! People with money are NOT evil. But the LOVE of money is evil. Learn to see money as a tool. Learn to live beneath your means. Learn to save 10%, invest 10% and give 10% of your money away to worthy causes. Then and only then will money be continuously attracted back to you.).

5.Continue to Grow.
(In order for anything to stay alive it must continue to grow. Once it becomes stagnant it will die. You must continue to grow, expand and increase your knowledge. Read the books, listen to the tapes and sermons, and attend the seminars. Never stop learning. My grandmother use to tell me, “Wear out, don’t Rust out!”).


I once read, “Life is God’s gift to you, what you do with your life is your gift to God.” So what will you do with your life? No matter what stage of life you are in now, you can press onward and upward. “You will get over it, and yes this too shall pass!” You owe it to yourself and the generations that will follow to: "Get up and Get Over it!"

“To "Get up and Get Over it!" is the best favor you can give to yourself!”
Now will you "Get up and Get Over it?"

Safe and Secure,

Larry Robinson


]]> Sun, 17 Nov 2002 21:17:00 EST http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/6670 http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/6669
This is a song which my teacher taught us:

GRADUATION’S DAY

And now it’s time to say goodbye to the bush and the people who have guided me along.they showed me the way to joy and happiness. My friedns, how can I forget the fun we had before.
Re: I don’t know how I would go on without you in this wicked world. I’ll be alone I’ve been blessed with school life, don’t care about a thing, gotta thanks our teachers and my friends. Graduations tears, graduation cheers. It’s say of my emotion, can’t you see who know the friendship, the love I leave behind, as a step out of this school-yard I known.

DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR GRADUATION'S DAY? :)]]> Sun, 17 Nov 2002 21:07:00 EST http://uocmoxanhorg.tigblog.org/post/6669