The Life and Death of Kevin Carter by Scott MacLeod As Time’s Johannesburg bureau chief for the past five years, Scott MacLeod has seen more than his share of tragedy.

But nothing prepared him for the devastating news in July that a colleague, 33-year-old South African photojournalist Kevin Carter, had killed himself. Carter was famous in South Africa for his fearless coverage of deadly township violence, and he had become internationally known for his Pulitzer prizewinning photo of a vulture coolly eyeing an emaciated Sudanese child struggling toward a feeding station.

“Few journalists saw as much violence and trauma as he did,” says MacLeod. Shocked by Carter’s suicide, MacLeod determined “to understand as best I could the complexities behind his tragic end.” The result is this week’s unusual tale of a troubled man’s life and death. In any given issue of Time, we include, of course, many stories that are driven by news headlines.

Occasionally we go back to a seemingly small event of months ago, briefly noted at the time, that strikes us as ripe with human drama and moral implications, worthy of detailed digging and sober reflection. The suicide of Kevin Carter was such an event. In researching the article, MacLeod interviewed Carter’s family, close friends and colleagues, as well as experts on suicide; in the process he encountered several other journalists in pursuit of the mystery of Carter’s self-destruction. But the subject eluded easy conclusions and assumptions.

MacLeod sees Carter’s story as representative of a darker side of middle-class white South Africa and as a warning about the lingering effects of apartheid on all of that country’s people.

“The lives of some whites too were disrupted and even destroyed by the social experiment,” he notes. “I wanted to show that side of the apartheid story as well.”

Elizabeth Valk Long President, Time Domestic

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The Ultimate in Unfair !

War doesn’t determine who is right, war determines who is left.

– Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), English philosopher, author, 1950 Nobel Prize-winner in Literature

This photograph showing a starving Sudanese child being stalked by a vulture won Kevin Carter the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography.

Photographer Haunted by Horror of His Work

Obituary: Kevin Carter 1960 - 1994

Johannesburg - Kevin Carter, the South African photographer whose image of a starving Sudanese toddler stalked by a vulture won him a Pulitzer Prize this year, was found dead on Wednesday night, apparently a suicide, police said yesterday.  He was 33.  The police said Mr Carter’s body and several letters to friends and family were discovered in his pick-up truck, parked in a Johannesburg suburb.  An inquest showed that he had died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Mr Carter started as a sports photographer in 1983 but soon moved to the front lines of South African political strife, recording images of repression, anti-apartheid protest and fratricidal violence.  A few davs after winning his Pulitzer Prize in April, Mr Carter was nearby when one of his closest friends and professional companions, Ken Oosterbroek, was shot dead photographing a gun battle in Tokoza township.

Friends said Mr Carter was a man of tumultuous emotions which brought passion to his work but also drove him to extremes of elation and depression.  Last year, saying he needed a break from South Africa’s turmoil, he paid his own way to the southern Sudan to photograph a civil war and famine that he felt the world was overlooking.

His picture of an emaciated girl collapsing on the way to a feeding centre, as a plump vulture lurked in the background, was published first in The New York Times and The Mail & Guardian, a Johannesburg weekly.  The reaction to the picture was so strong that The New York Times published an unusual editor’s note on the fate of the girl.  Mr Carter said she resumed her trek to the feeding centre.  He chased away the vulture.

Afterwards, he told an interviewer, he sat under a tree for a long time, “smoking cigarettes and crying”.  His father, Mr Jimmy Carter laid last night: “Kevin always carried around the horror of the work he did.” - The New York Times

Source: Sydney Morning Herald Saturday 30 July 1994

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Tsunami Appeal

THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE THAT HELPED US!
The appeal has now ended. All money raised will be sent to various Charities Watch this space for more details.

The team at LostAmigos need to raise some money to help a village so cruelly destroyed by the Tsunami. We know that most of you have already given generously and your food and medicine is getting through to the victims. But this is different, its more direct. All they need from each of you is just £7 ($15 usa). Its nothing compared to what they had before but its a simple start that can have a dramatic, positive effect on the future of their community. God damn they deserve it.

Please, Please click the button below. Every penny you send to us will go directly to the people. They will never forget your kindness.

Amount raised so far $2700 approx

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Lost Amigos   http://www.lostamigos.com/ !

Find people, lost travel kibbutz friends, backpackers travellers reunited & holiday reunions!

So, you want to reunite with lost travel / foreign friends, have a holiday reunion, trackdown that lost holiday love hey? Well you’re in the right place. We’ve reunited well over 25,000 friends and it’s only a matter of time before you’re next.
 
Those old lost travellers, backpackers, holiday friends & kibbutz volunteers are out there somewhere and we a - free people search - are hell bent on finding them and getting you reunited. All you have to do is register here, add the places where it all happened (a beach, a hostel, a resort, a club, a kibbutz, a bus, a jail etc etc) put the champers on ice, sit back and get the photo albums out. Of course revisit the site every now and then.
 
If we haven’t found your lost holiday friends and love s by the time your suntan wears off we’ll eat our flip flops.

My own experience : I have already touch base with a long lost friend from Eilat, they have reunited 3600 members so far. With connecting to this one friend I can get hold of many more. Great website, as I am not fond of facebook at all.

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This is just my 5 minutes and my opinion on some of the reviews I have read on the movie. I think most of us are missing the point. 

Ever since I watched the movie on SABC 3 I have read up on the subject and I have read so many reviews. And I get that people are reviewing the movie. I see that they take every single detail and they rip the directors off. But let me tell you what I think.

The movie I assume and hope was written and directed to create awareness. And that is exactly what it did to me. I was made aware of this subject through the movie and it struck a cord in me that I never thought possible.

I took from the movie exactly what it set out to achieve. Awareness of the issue. And I was moved, up to a point where I would actually dedicate a lot of my time to blog about it, copy reviews for people to see that traffic through my blog space and write my own poems about it.

So who cares if Angelina didnt suite the role, let her be IT IS HER AWARENESS. Just like BONO does AIDS AWARENESS ect. Who cares about the love story, most people dont watch documentries, or at least dont enjoy them and maybe this was a way to keep people watching.

Come on people get the message and forget the detail. It was pretty easy for me, an ordinary South African, who was ignorant to the news and politics. I was totally engulfed in the issues that the kids and their parents and the aid workers faced in the movie. The message was so load and clear and heartbreaking.

So thanks Angie and her team I appreciate the movie and it totally changed my life.

And I hope the critical others will soon see the light.

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Review: Jolie terrific in brilliant ‘Borders’

Film a great love story, and more

By Paul Clinton
CNN
“Beyond Borders” is a powerful, deeply moving film that takes you on a stirring journey straight to your heart.

The film works on two levels — as an emotional love story, and as a thoughtful work that shines light on the dramatic, and often appalling, situations that have faced relief workers and millions of displaced people around the world. Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen heat up the screen with major sexual chemistry and give terrific performances.

The story begins in 1984. Jolie plays Sarah Jordan, a pampered, naive American woman married to a wealthy Englishman. She lives a life of ease and privilege, but her sheltered calm is shattered when a renegade doctor, Nick Callahan (Owen), crashes a fancy charity dinner in London, dragging along a starving young boy from his refugee camp in North Africa.

In an extremely powerful scene, the doctor lectures the startled crowd on what really needs to be done in terms of housing and feeding millions of refugees. His passionate plea makes the point that their feeble efforts hardly scratch the surface.

Sarah experiences what can only be called an epiphany. Soon she’s heading off — at her own expense — to Ethiopia with medicine and food.

At first, Nick dismisses Sarah as a misguided Girl Scout, but her true desire to help — and sincere efforts to make a difference — finally force him to accept her. Slowly, the two form a deep bond. At the front Beyond Borders Clive Owen plays an idealistic doctor in “Beyond Borders.”

All too soon, Sarah has to return to the real world, but she is changed forever by her experiences in the refugee camp. She now has a deep commitment to humanitarian relief efforts, and begins a career in London working for the United Nations. As her marriage freezes into a state of indifference, she maintains contact with Nick through intimate letters.

When Nick seeks help from the U.N. for wartorn Cambodia, she not only sends relief, she once again joins him on the front lines — risking her life for the man she now knows she loves.

Alongside him, Sarah battles with the Khmer Rouge, who are destroying Cambodia and blocking relief efforts. The two finally declare their love for each other, but amid the danger and disease, admit that being together is impossible.

She returns to her son and husband in England. Soon she has a daughter, and reluctantly buries her feelings for Nick.

Years later — it is now 1995 — she learns that Nick is in danger in Chechnya, where he is now heading relief efforts. She rushes to the area, only to learn that Nick has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom. She bribes her way to his side. Yes, love conquers all, but the conclusion is thrilling nonetheless.
Raising real issues

This film is an epic love story, but it is also much, much more. “Beyond Borders” offers a stunning portrait of the desperation experienced by people on both sides of the relief equation — those in need, and those trying to help them. It’s a movie about real issues, and it doesn’t shirk from presenting them honestly.

In some ways, “Beyond Borders” is three different films, set in three different locations, but with the same underlying themes — love is universal, humans are vulnerable creatures, and people need other people to survive.

The famines and wars in Ethiopia, Cambodia and Chechnya made headlines for years, but this film takes you into the hearts and souls of the real people — the real hunger, the real pain, the real danger behind the news stories. “Beyond Borders” humanizes the refugees and the relief workers in a way that hasn’t been done before.

Jolie is brilliant. She gives another Oscar-worthy performance as Sarah, a character who slowly changes from an innocent young woman into a strong, centered adult with a great sense of purpose. Owen is also extremely good in the role of Nick. His barely restrained anger and frustration at the system — and his growing love for Sarah — is beautifully portrayed.

Directed by Martin Campbell (1998’s “The Mask of Zorro”) and written by Caspian Tredwell-Owen, “Beyond Borders” left me breathless and deeply moved. Sure, in one way it’s just a very good love story — but it’s also an amazing journey into some of the most complex issues of our times.

“Beyond Borders” opens nationwide on Friday, October 24, and is rated R.

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Fun Filled and interesting. I didn’t like old Mat being beaten so many times, especially over his head. But it was all good. Kate was stunning as always and Matthew McConaughey was really funny and once again enchanting.

The History that this movie is based on is very interesting and although the story line was predictable it was a lovely movie. Relaxing and perfect for a lazy Saturday afternoon when the wind blows you away here in CT.

Could the story be about the similarity of the olden day, Queens dowry (brides price), and Finny’s journey to get his ex-wife to remarry him ? Who knows but a good old treasure hunt always finds me in good faith. It is always nice to escape with characters to a world of adventure and treasure.  Whether for love or for money.

Fools Gold stars Matthew McConaughey as Ben Finn Finnegan, a good-natured, surf bum-turned-treasure hunter who is obsessed with finding the legendary 18th century Queens Dowry — 40 chests of exotic treasure that was lost at sea in 1715. In his quest, Finn has sunk everything he has, including his marriage to Tess Finnegan (Kate Hudson) and his more-rusty-than-trusty salvage boat, Booty Calls. Just as Tess has begun to rebuild her life, working aboard a mega-yacht owned by billionaire Nigel Honeycutt (Donald Sutherland), Finn discovers a vital clue to the treasures whereabouts. Certain that his luck will change with the newfound information, Finn maneuvers himself aboard Nigels yacht and, using his good-natured charm, convinces the tycoon and his Blackberry-wielding, celebutante daughter, Gemma (Alexis Dziena), to join him in the pursuit of the Spanish treasure. Against Tess better judgment, the search rekindles her love of discovery. But they are not the only ones after the treasure. Finns mentor-turned-nemesis Moe Fitch (Ray Winstone) has also set out to claim the prize.

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Heartwarming movie on TV 3 last night, and why it was financially unsuccessful I can only imagine. People throw a blind eye to this ongoing suffering in these poor countries. It is better to not know, better to not see what is happening in the “dark side” of life. We are all chasing after our financial independence  and we dont like to feel guilty about it.

But open up your eyes world and see what is truly happening out there, what true courage is and what true suffering is. To have hunger pains, to watch your little child almost being devoured alive by a vulture or other deathly hungry adult. To have your little boy / girl being thrown a hand grenade to play with. To see a woman being operated on without anesthetics. The pure hunger and poverty, to have no hope but only hope.

This movie struck more than just a cord in my heart. It made me grateful for everything I own, it made feel very guilty for eating myself so full sometimes that I feel uncomfortable. It made me feel like a fool for always wanting more and better. I am ashamed.

I think we should all give something towards feeding another person, or even their little children. Especially those living with so much money they don’t know what to do with it. I think we suck world !!

Beyond Borders is an epic tale of the turbulent romance between two star-crossed lovers set against the backdrop of the world’s most dangerous hot spots. Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie stars as Sarah Jordan, an American living in London in 1984. She is married to Henry Bauford (Linus Roache) son of a wealthy British industrialist, when she encounters Nick Callahan (Clive Owen) a renegade doctor, whose impassioned plea for help to support his relief efforts in war-torn Africa moves her deeply. As a result, Sarah embarks upon a journey of discovery that leads to danger, heartbreak and romance in the far corners of the world.

From Wikipedia -
Beyond Borders was a 2003 movie about aid workers, starring Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen. Although well-intentioned, and reflecting Jolie’s real-life interest in promoting humanitarian relief, the film was critically and financially unsuccessful. Concurrently with the release of the film, Jolie published Notes from My Travels, a collection of journal entries from her real-life experiences as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees — similar to what the character she plays in the movie does.

Notes from her travels:
Notes from My Travels is a collection of journal excerpts kept by actress Angelina Jolie in 2001-2002 detailing her experiences travelling to troubled Third World regions in her role as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The book was published in 2003, concurrent with the release of Beyond Borders, a film in which she plays a character who also becomes a goodwill ambassador for the UNHCR. It was also during the timeframe of writing these journals that Jolie adopted her Cambodian-born son, Maddox.

Notes from My Travels details Jolie’s visits to Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Pakistan, Cambodia, and Ecuador.

Jolie donated her proceeds from the book to the UNHCR.
please visit http://www.elros.altervista.org/aj/notes… !!!!!!!!

The ratio of staff members to people of concern to UNHCR: 1 staff member per 3,582 refugees. This book is dedicated to them: to their hard work and most of all their dedication and deep respect for their fellow man. I also dedicate this book to the men, women, and children who are now or have once been refugees: to those who have survived against remarkable odds and to those who did not, those who died fighting for their freedom.
These people have taught me my greatest life lessons and for that I am forever grateful.

Popularity: 6% [?]

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The revamped Nu Metro is truly amazing, the screens are wonderful the seats are like flying first class and the sound new! I love to watch movies here after work with a friend. I must admit though that there setup with the ticket sales is a bit jaded. It seems to have been a good idea at the beginning, and i can see how and why they would want the ticket sales to be done at the refreshment counter. But to choose a movie and to see what is showing poses a nightmare.

There are no listings except for what you find in a scrappy book. There are now marketing posters for the movies showing except for when you enter the movie.

Other than that Nu Metro in Canal Walk is great, if it where closer I would have made it my choice of movie house.

Popularity: 74% [?]

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The Ster Kinekor at Bayside Centre is always packed on a Friday. It seems to be the local hang out for kids and I dont blame them. I do however get frustrated when they run around in the movie house screaming and disrupting the peace. The tickets are however very cheap and the seats are not allocated. Which is frustrating at times especially when there is a new release. The queue is absolutely daunting. The service at the refreshment counter is somewhat slow but I can imagine how those ladies must feel serving 20 kids at a time.

The seats inside are okay and the sound terrible most of the time. We do go back as it is very convenient and just around the corner from where we stay.

For a laid back where your jeans and tekkies movie day Bayside Mall is the way to go.

Popularity: 87% [?]

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