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Brad Pitt's New Orleans Project Gets Mixed Local Reaction

2009-11-29T05:31:45Z

In 2007, frustrated by the slow pace of rebuilding in the Lower Ninth, Brad Pitt set up a foundation called Make It Right; the foundation then commissioned 13 architecture firms to design affordable, green houses. The organization plans to build 150 homes, all for returning Lower Ninth residents. So far, just 15 of them are occupied, but those 15 make a big impression.

Indeed, from the main route into the Lower Ninth, the Claiborne Avenue Bridge, it's impossible to miss the Brad Pitt Houses, as everyone here calls them. They are sprawling, angular buildings in bold hues not usually seen outside a gelateria. Monuments to the city's resilience, and to Hollywood's big heart, they are also New Orleans's newest tourist attraction.

Fred Goldring: The Main Point: Musicians, Arts Education And The E Street Shuffle

2009-11-29T00:52:15Z

David Brooks' fantastic essay "The Other Education" in The NY Times Op Ed Section on Friday resonated with me on so many levels that it's hard to know where to begin. Like David, I grew up as a teenager in Main Line Philadelphia and the Jersey Shore in the 70's. At the time, Philadelphia was a musical hotbed with local artists like Hall and Oates, Todd Rundgren, Teddy Pendergrass, Harold Melvin and the rest of the Philly International crew who were grabbing national attention. Most importantly, almost all of the major and developing touring singer-songwriters and bands of the day would regularly schedule a performance at the Main Point, a little coffeehouse in Bryn Mawr, the college town close to where I lived. Luckily for me, the place didn't have a liquor license, so I was able to get in starting when I was about 13. What an education that turned out to be.

I had become fascinated with music and musicians as an adolescent. My maternal grandfather had remarried a woman whose nephew was one of the founders of Cameo-Parkway Records, home to Bobby Rydell, Chubby Checker, the Dovells, Dee Dee Sharp and many other local musicians. So whenever my grandfather and his wife would come to visit, they would bring a box of 45 R.P.M. records. Eventually I stopped using them as Frisbees, and I figured out how to center them on my father's turntable so I could listen to what was on them. I was hooked. My older cousins made me watch The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, and in 1970, my older cousin Alan (who had been to Woodstock), turned me on to an album by a then-new artist named James Taylor called Sweet Baby James. I ditched the obligatory piano lessons my parents had insisted on, and became obsessed with learning to play the acoustic guitar and becoming a performer myself, woodshedding for hours in my bedroom trying learn the songs by picking them off of records by Taylor and other artists of the time like Crosby, Stills and Nash, Jackson Browne, The Eagles, Dan Fogelberg and, of course, the Beatles. I woke up at the crack of dawn on a Monday morning to be the first to mail in my self-addressed stamped envelope and money so I would get the best possible seats to see James Taylor at the Academy of Music (I ended up getting front row middle seats and James introduced a member of his band who was about to release her own album, Carole King, as the opening act). I played in a bunch of rock cover bands with friends at Bar Mitzvahs and other parties, including a band with my friend Howard Benson who went on to become a major Grammy-nominated record producer. But most of all, it was The Main Point that became my after hours school and laboratory.

At least once a week I would go to a show there, seeing many now iconic musicians early in their careers, up so close in a venue that held maybe 150 people that I could actually see their hands and how they were playing the songs. After each show, I would run home and pick up my guitar or sit down at the piano and try to imitate from memory as best I could what I had just seen. Billy Joel, Livingston Taylor, Fogelberg, Kenny Rankin, Jim Croce, Bonnie Raitt were just some of the artists I got to see. I even got up the courage to perform myself on a couple of Monday night "open mike" nights. But it was one particular show that I went to see at The Main Point on February 5, 1975 that was truly memorable and is the one which David Brooks wrote about in his column: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

A couple of months before, I had gone with some friends to see Daryl Hall and John Oates at the gym at Villanova University. There was literally a blizzard going on all afternoon and we weren't sure whether the show would be cancelled. We couldn't get through on the phone to find out so, undaunted, we ventured out into the storm and made our way to the concert. As the lights dimmed, Daryl Hall walked out and announced to the crowd that although he and John had made it to Villanova intact, their equipment hadn't so they would have to play the an acoustic show. He added, however, that the opening act (whom I had never heard of before) had made it into town earlier with all their equipment and would be playing a full set. The act then took the stage (actually, more like took over the stage) right from the first note. I had never before seen or heard anything like this band. I remember thinking at the time that musically Bruce reminded me slightly of Van Morrison, but he was more like a musical preacher and storyteller.

When I learned Bruce would be playing The Main Point a couple of months later, I pulled out all the stops to get tickets. Incredibly, they played for almost 3 hours straight in the tiny club. Luckily, the show was simulcast on the top local rock station, WMMR, so I was able to arrange to have a friend tape it for me. I still listen to the show from time to time and Bruce and the band's performance still stands up after all these years.

The "main point" of David Brooks' essay is that it is our musical and other artists such as Bruce Springsteen who give us a different, but critical, part of our education in life. They portray for us on an emotional level what things are really like for a lot of other people and what they are thinking and feeling. They give us insight into their triumphs and failures, their loves and losses, and their hopes and dreams. We discover kindred spirits in our artists for they are able to articulate for us what we cannot in a way that touches our souls and makes us feel that we are not alone and, like they, we are a part of the human condition and continuum. We relate to them and they to us, and their audience and fans relate to each other, which in turn helps to create and maintain a larger connected community.

It is for this reason that it is imperative that we continue to place the arts and our artists in the highest regard in the educational system in our country. Engagement in the arts is a unique place where developing young minds can safely nurture their imaginations and develop the right brain thinking that is ever so critical for problem solving in an increasingly complex world. Unfortunately, it also seems to be the first line item that gets the ax in school budgets. We cannot allow this to continue if we want to turn out "whole" individuals in our society who are able to think creatively on their feet.

As Albert Einstein once said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge" and "education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he has learned in school". I will be forever grateful to "Professors" Springsteen, Taylor, Fogelberg and the other artists, famous and not so famous, and mostly to The Main Point, the place where I got my real education growing up. Let's make sure we do all we can to nurture artists and arts education so that the next generation will have the opportunity to be similarly inspired.

Rev. Frank Desiderio: Oh My God: What Is God?

2009-11-28T22:09:51Z

For the past month, HuffPost has hosted an array of respondents -- including spiritual leaders, world leaders, personalities and celebrities -- who are asked to fill in the blank for the statement: God is...

The series led up to and accompanied the November 13 opening of the documentary Oh My God?

****

God is a word we use to describe the Ultimate Reality. All language about God is metaphorical, given that, I agree with Ringo Star who says at the end of the film Oh My God? that "God is Love". Now let me tell you what I mean by Divine Love.

I am convinced that built into our DNA is a moral law, and that law can best be described as love that goes out of itself to create. This moral law in us is remnant of our own creation. That creation occurred when what we call God went out of the God-self. This going out of Self to create something other than Self is what I call Divine Love.

God went out of God's Self to create and the universe is the result. That creation continued from space to light to planets, like Earth, to beings to human beings. In the Christian tradition we believe that God went out of himself to come to us in history in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, in his person, gave us the exemplar of self-giving love and taught us how to be self-gift. Through Christ we learn that this giving of self is the core of what it is to be a human being.

Love is not a romantic feeling, love is more than the urge to procreate, however, procreation shows us the nature of the Law of Love. Two people go out of themselves to create another self. They make sacrifices to nurture that other self and so, the Law of Love is perpetuated.

In the Christian tradition the symbol of this going out of self in love is the cross of Jesus Christ. The ultimate gift of self is to give your life in service to others. Jesus, out of integrity to the truth of his relationship with the Ultimate Reality, refused to renounce this truth and the law of love at the heart of his truth. His fidelity got him killed but allowed a deeper truth to emerge: Love does not die.

An important expression of this self-gift we call love is compassion. When we deeply examine our humanity and our needs we become aware that we share that humanity and our needs with others. Our common humanity can touch the common humanity of another. We remember when we were hungry or cold or sick or trapped in a bad situation and we identify with someone who is in a similar situation. We don't say of them, "Oh, that poor thing." We say, "Oh, that poor person." And we consider how we can help them and then we do something, we express our compassion with action. This is the Law of Love at work. To follow this law may require deep sacrifice but it also puts us in harmony with the deepest truth of our selves.

First we look deeply in ourselves and discover our common humanity. Then, for those of a mystical mindset, that is those who recognize a transcendent reality, they look deeply in themselves and discover the Ultimate Reality dwelling in them and can recognize that Ultimate Reality in another person.

A most significant expression of compassion is forgiveness. We give a gift to someone who doesn't deserve it. The gift is releasing the perpetrator from any emotional debt they owe us and renouncing revenge thoughts. We may still need to seek justice. The person who harmed us may need to pay a debt to us or to society but we do not seek retribution. We let go of negative feelings and wish them well.

The Law of Love is worked out in the practicalities of compassion and forgiveness. This Law of Love reflects the nature of what we call God and is built into our human nature. Obviously, people don't follow the Law of Love and when they don't suffering is the result. When we do follow the Law of Love we find ourselves in harmony with our deepest selves and the Ultimate Reality we call God.

Read the previous responses, from Oh My God?'s director Peter Rodger; Dr. Lawrence Blair; Demartini Institute founder Dr. John Demartini; and pastor/filmmaker Frank Desiderio.

When Celebrities Go Pantsless (PHOTOS)

2009-11-28T14:25:25Z

Rihanna rocked the Today show Tuesday in little more than fishnets and a slinky white blazer, but she's hardly the first celeb to forget her pants. Lately more and more women are going without, and some women try to turn shirts into dresses. Who's pulling it off and whose outfit is missing one key item? You decide.

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Courtney Love Kisses DJ Qualls, Goes To Strip Club

2009-11-28T13:59:55Z

Courtney Love enjoyed some Thanksgiving action with an early hours party at a hot club followed by a visit to a strip joint with skinny actor DJ Qualls. The Hole rocker hit it off with "Road Trip" star Qualls as she partied at 1Oak with her bandmates. As Nirvana tracks played on the sound system, Love started making out with Qualls in front of astonished onlookers.

Madonna's Boyfriend, Jesus Luz, Tries To Make His Own Way

2009-11-28T13:55:28Z

THROUGH the penthouse windows, New York City, foggy and soft-looking, was spread out in every direction. Jesus Luz, best known as the 22-year-old Brazilian model who is dating Madonna, was about to step up to the D.J. station in a club atop a Lower East Side hotel

'Pulp Fiction' Writer Roger Avary Taken Off Work Furlough, Jailed - For Tweeting?

2009-11-28T13:35:55Z

VENTURA, Calif. — "Pulp Fiction" co-screenwriter Roger Avary has been removed from a prison work furlough program and locked up, authorities say.

Avary was sentenced in September to a year in jail and five years probation for causing a drunken driving car crash that killed a passenger and injured Avary's wife. News reports say he has been serving his time in a work furlough program.

But on Friday Ventura County sheriff's spokesman Capt. Ross Bonfiglio said the 44-year-old Avary had been locked up in the county jail.

The Los Angeles Times and the Ventura County Star reported that he was removed from the furlough program and jailed after allegedly Twittering about his experiences since being sentenced.

But Bonfiglio told The Associated Press that he was jailed over security issues and Twittering wasn't a key factor. Avary attorney Mark Werskman denied Twittering caused his incarceration.

Avary and Quentin Tarantino share the 1995 Academy Award for writing "Pulp Fiction."

Alex Remington: The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T: A Crazy, Wonderful Kids' Movie

2009-11-28T08:54:33Z

Dr. Seuss wrote one screenplay in his long career as a writer: the cracked, magical, cult classic 1953 children's movie The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. It was a flop on release, and Dr. Seuss reportedly hated it, but it's actually a wonderfully weird, funny, charming musical, and everything I wish Where the Wild Things Are could have been.

The movie is about a boy, Bart Collins, whose single mother forces him to take piano lessons from the domineering Dr. Terwilliker. Most of the movie is set Bart's daydreams about a horrible Dr. Terwilliker-ruled prison camp for boy pianists, with his mother as Terwilliker's second-in-command and future wife. Dr. T's diabolical plan? Assembling 500 boys, with their 5,000 fingers, to play simultaneously at a gigantic two-story piano he built. Despite Seuss's dissatisfaction, the movie bears his stamp in every frame. The daydream sets bear the look of his illustrations, despite a low budget, and the book and lyrics both share his delight in mischievous wordplay. (The boy's name, Bart Collins, is of course reminiscent of Bartholomew Cubbins, titular protagonist of two prose works by Dr. Seuss, written in 1938 and 1949.)

I was inspired to check the movie out by a feature in The Onion A.V. Club about one of the film's loveliest setpieces, a shadowboxing dance between the evil Dr. T and the heroic plumber August Zabladowski, in which the two fight to a draw by making menacing expressions and pointing their fingers at one another. Dr. T is played by Hans Conried, who is perhaps best known as the voice of Snidely Whiplash, and he plays his role exactly like a cartoon villain, with contorted face, overarticulated diction and rrrrrrolled r's. Zabladowski is the straight man, and all he has to do is act normal, without being too surprised by all the absurdity around him. He later has a touching scene with Bart, who wants him for a father, as they pantomime going on a fishing trip. They watch another fantastic setpiece of a performance by all the musicians Dr. T has thrown into his dungeons, unfortunate souls who play instruments other than the piano.

As with most movies of its type, not all the songs are memorable, and the cute young boy who plays the protagonist is a bit blank as an actor. The low-budget sets are evocative, but not nearly as rich as Dr. Seuss's wonderful illustrations. And Conried pitches his performance to the rafters, so those who prefer subtle villains will find it a bit much. But these are trifles. It entirely succeeds on its own bizarre terms.

Rating: 80

Crossposted on Remingtonstein.

Lisa Derrick: Party Crashing Salahis Met Obama in May 2009

2009-11-28T02:34:21Z

A photo from May's Rockin' the Runway™ televised fashion event shows party crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi posing with the Black Eyed Peas, Randy Jackson, and PRESIDENT OBAMA

The show was part of the America's Polo Cup DC Fashion & Polo Weekend, in which the Salahis play a major part--Tareq is the chairman of the America's Cup Polo and captain of the American team; Michaele, a former cheerleader, organizes the fashion show.

(originally posted on La Figa)

Michael Giltz: Comic Strip "Peanuts" Comes Home For The Holidays

2009-11-27T23:02:29Z

Peanuts, arguably the most popular and influential comic strip of all time, continues to flourish -- especially during the holidays. From Halloween through Christmas, Peanuts TV specials pepper the airwaves and are watched endlessly on DVD. The music of Vince Guaraldi is a constant on the radio. Peanuts-related merchandise like calendars, t-shirts, mugs and toys fill the stores. And of course classic editions of the strip continue to appear in newspapers worldwide. So it's only fitting that the late Charles Schulz would have celebrated his 87th birthday on Thanksgiving Day.

The best way to celebrate Schulz and his work is the ongoing series being published by Fantagraphics. The latest volume -- The Complete Peanuts, 1973-1974 ($28.99; Fantagraphics) -- is a lovingly produced volume that includes every strip from those two years in a handsome hardcover book designed by Seth.

Like earlier editions, it's a thrill to read the strip chronologically and in one fell swoop. You get a far better sense of Schulz's creative zig-zagging as he suddenly and unexpectedly finds himself at the tip of a pop culture juggernaut. At this stage in the Seventies, Peanuts has become a phenomenon and will soon turn into an institution, with all the resting on laurels that implies. It's a bit of a shock to realize Schulz isn't even halfway through his run, which went from 1950 to early 2000, a remarkable 49 years in all. Yes, after 23 years, Schulz had made every artistic breakthrough that was in him and the rest was consolidation and the relaxation that comes with success. But the Seventies are the salad days, with the soft decline of the 80s and 90s (inevitable and not without their rewards) still ahead.

Schulz still has some bite, such as the brilliant story arc in which Charlie Brown wears a sack over his head to summer camp because he's got an embarrassing discoloration on his head. To his astonishment, Charlie Brown discovers that when no one knows his identity he is suddenly popular. Sports of course remain a constant, with football and baseball and ice skating all mined for laughs. But tennis -- which boomed in popularity in the Seventies thanks to Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Chris Evert and many more -- seems the defining sport of this period.

As always, Fantagraphics pairs each volume with a celebrity introduction and in this case it's perfect: Schulz's long-time friend and tennis legend Billie Jean King. (Her birthday, by the way, is on November 22, just four days before Schulz.)

King won a remarkable 39 Grand Slam titles, including 12 singles titles and has been an ardent supporter of women's rights both in sports and society at large. So it's touching to read that while she was traveling the globe King found comfort in discovering Peanuts in the local newspapers and a special thrill when Sparky -- as Schulz was known to his friends and loved ones -- mentioned her by name. She writes:

From time to time, Sparky included me in Peanuts. A particular favorite of mine had Peppermint Patty telling Marcie, "Has anyone ever told you that when you're mad, you look just like Billie Jean King?" Trust me: my friends had a heyday with that one.

Sparky referenced me several times in Peanuts and it was his way of letting me know that we needed to talk or just catch up with one another. He rarely phoned me, but when he wanted to check in, he dropped a reference in Peanuts because we both knew I would read it every day I could. So I would call him and we would talk and then -- you know what? -- life was better.

They originally bonded over their mutual support of Title IX, the groundbreaking law that has changed the face of our society. But that was just the start of the friendship between King and Sparky.

While it may have been our mutual support of Title IX and our shared enjoyment of tennis that initially brought us together, it was a common love for life that kept us close through the years. Sparky taught me to be truthful and through his comic strip he shared his real life experiences with each of us on a daily basis.

Sparky was Charlie Brown. He was not a real talkative man, but was definitely a very deep thinker. It was when he put a pen in his hand and went to work on a Peanuts comic strip he became insightful and poetic, and truly exposed himself to the world.

In their work together and the careers they forged, both Schulz and King made an impact on society that still reverberates today. Billie Jean King's work is ongoing. Schulz's legacy is Peanuts and it's being presented beautifully in the ongoing series by Fantagraphics. And their impact on each other is captured nicely in King's warm words. It's a fitting tribute to a fellow legend.

Celebrities Who Changed Their Names: Who Is Most Ridiculous? (PHOTOS, POLL)

2009-11-27T22:00:35Z

Some celebrities' names are as outrageous as their stage costumes (Lady Gaga and Pink come to mind) but you may not realize just how many actors were born with names they shed or modified upon arrival in Hollywood. Whether to minimize (real or imagined) ethnic bias or just for vanity's sake, these big names are not the ones their parents gave them. Who changed for the better and who's just being silly? You decide.

PHOTOS:

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Harry Shearer: "Reality Stars": Sign Us Up Before We Kill Again

2009-11-27T20:46:20Z

This should be the year that made clear the distinction between the publicity-hungry, irremediably ego-needy actual denizens of show business (like myself) and the way more grotesquely hungry and ego-needy residents of the show-business underworld known charitably as "reality TV." If the Heenes weren't warning enough, here came the Salahis -- both families obviously just this close to the line of offering to kill family members if only it would get them on a TV series.

It was obvious something was adrift, or ajar, when the phrase "reality-TV star" began to be written and uttered with no trace of irony, even as more and more of these folks became involved this year in various serious crimes. And it will probably be no later than Monday before some defender of the Salahis analogizes them to computer hackers, suggesting that they performed a public service by probing for, and finding, holes in the Secret Service's security perimeter. Indeed they did, and their reward should be a two-season stint on a new reality show, The Real Housewives (and Househusbands) of Federal Prison.

And for the remaining rubes not aware that the "reality" of reality TV is to actual real life as "potted meat food product" is to grass-pastured beef, here's one of the wizards drawing back the curtain for just a moment ...

(Michael Hirschorn, a former executive vice president for original programming at the reality-centric VH1 channel) said prospective reality stars were becoming smarter about “self-producing,” knowing they had to inject drama into the shows.

“At this point,” he said, “there must be what, a thousand reality personalities on TV at any one time? So they know they have to stand out.”

Could they stand out in a South Dakota prairie in late January? You know, just for our entertainment ...

Johann Hari: Why Are These Artists Defending Pedophiles?

2009-11-27T19:40:06Z

Over the past few years, there has been a drip-drip of artists defending old men who abuse their power over young boys and girls for sexual pleasure. It ranges from Alan Bennett's claim that a teacher who gropes his pupils can be the real child or true innocent, to the widespread assertion in Hollywood that when a 44-year-old man drugs and anally rapes a 13-year-old girl, it is not "rape-rape." Indeed, Gore Vidal says the victim is "a young hooker."

Yet there is, largely, silence in response – and I realize I too have held off from writing this column several times. Why? Talking about this requires me to criticize some artists whose work I love, and it forces me to remember a period of my life I've tried hard to forget. But when I saw Alan Bennett's new play The Habit of Art at the National Theatre here in London, I felt somebody had to say this.

I have no problem with artists sympathetically depicting the inner lives of pedophiles and pederasts; indeed, it can be a good thing. Every human being should be understood, and to understand is not to excuse. We should, for example, know that 70 per cent of child abusers have themselves been abused as children: it tempers the pedophile-bashing lynch mob, and forces us to look for humane solutions. It also helps avoid bad legislation like Megan's Law, which – by driving released offenders away from their families and friends and sending them into isolation – actually increases the number of children who are abused.

What I object to is not the compassionate depiction of these men, but the claim that the victims are unharmed, or even enjoy it. This suggestion has featured in the work of several writers I normally admire. In Bennett's previous play The History Boys, a 50-something teacher called Hector routinely gropes his 17-year-old pupils' genitals – and they react either with flattered amusement, or by longing to be the next to be groped. The headmaster who objects is depicted as a prejudiced buffoon. The most sympathetic boy in the class – Posner – also grows up to be a pederast himself, who finds it hard to resist groping his pupils.

In interviews, Bennett makes it clear he is on Hector's side, saying: "I've been criticized for not taking this seriously enough. I'm afraid I don't take that very seriously if they're 17 or 18. I think they are actually much wiser than Hector. Hector is the child, not them." He added that good teaching is inherently "erotic."

In his new play, Bennett takes this analysis further. Benjamin Britten, the composer, is one of the main characters. He was sexually attracted to young boys – 13 was his perfect age – and throughout his life he picked out choirboys, gave them a special role in performing his music, and lavished adoration on them. According to the book Britten's Children, he appeared naked before them, snuggled with them in bed, although he didn't actually have sex with them. As with Michael Jackson, the parents seemed to know what was going on, and acquiesce.

Yet Bennett, in his introduction to the play, expresses only one problem with this. "A boy whose voice suddenly broke could find himself no longer invited ... which would seem potentially far more damaging to a child's psychology than too much attention." He also spares a thought for the "fat boys and ugly boys" who were never admitted to this sanctum.

This analysis also underpins Stephen Fry's play Latin!, which was published in 1992. It is set in a prep school where the central character, Dominic Clarke, is a teacher who "carnally violates" a 13-year-old orphan in ways one character says are "too vile, too diverse, for the sane mind to grasp."

Fry distills the tragic psychology of pedophiles with his usual brilliance. Dominic says: "When I was a boy, I thought, slept and played like a boy. Then nature began to drop hints about a change in status: a cracking voice, hairs about the buttocks, acne ... I never asked to be a man. I never wanted to be man. I want to be a boy. If when nature starts thrusting pimples and hairs through the skin, a boy could be kept from school and the world of men and just carry on behaving as a boy, then perhaps nature would give up and the pimples and hairs would recede. The permanent boy could be found."

This is precisely how the pedophiles I have interviewed in prison viewed themselves. And isn't it a description of what Michael Jackson tried to do? When seclusion didn't work, he turned to the surgeons to create the permanent boy.

But the play has a nasty sting. Dominic runs away with the 13-year-old to live in Morocco. They write back to explain that there, young boys and men can live together as sexual partners. The school's pupils, en masse, demand to be allowed to live in Morocco. The plain implication is that these 13-year-olds were also longing to be abused by older men.

I know Bennett and Fry are wrong, because when I was a teenager, I was subjected to the persistent sexual advances of an older man in a position of authority over me. I managed to escape the situation without being abused, but I know other boys did not. There can indeed be an initial element of being flattered, or even excited – but it is also married to feelings of fear and revulsion that somebody who is supposed to have offered safety is offering danger. The adolescent is not in a position to make an informed choice. It is healthy for adolescents to explore their sexualities among themselves – but when an adult intrudes into this process, it can damage their sexual development with consequences for the rest of their lives.

I'm not interested in launching a hysterical attack on Bennett and Fry. I would like to appeal to their empathy – a quality they have demonstrated in so much of their work – and urge them to direct it not just towards Hector and Dominic, but also to their victims.

This can be a difficult topic to raise because the vilest slur against gay people has long been that we are closet pedophiles. The defense of Polanski showed there are plenty of straight people prepared to make excuses for abusing young girls, just as there are – alas – some gay people prepared to make excuses for abusing young boys.

But let's look back towards Britten. Or indeed to Oscar Wilde, who would (rightly) still be imprisoned today for having paying to have sex with very poor underage teenagers. Did the violent suppression of homosexuality perhaps have a deforming effect on their sexualities? When they were 12 or 13, they had a fleeting moment when they could explore their sexualities with other boys without shame – but it quickly slammed shut as they realized this behavior was deemed immoral. Is this why they seemed to keep returning to 13-year-olds in their fantasies as representing an idealized time of sexual freedom?

The taboos protecting young people from sexual abuse took a long time to build up. They have to be protected from erosion, because Alan Bennett is terribly wrong – the "real children" are never old men who want to cop a feel of adolescents.

Johann Hari is a writer for the Independent. To read more of his articles, click here or here. You can email him at johann -at- johannhari.com

You can follow Johann on Twitter at www.twitter.com/johannhari101

Gwyneth, Aniston, Salma & More Spend Thanksgiving in Morocco (PHOTOS)

2009-11-27T17:34:57Z

A few of Hollywood's biggest stars spent Thanksgiving at a black tie Moroccan bash instead of eating turkey dinners.

Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston, Salma Hayek and more turned out at a party celebrating the reopening of the La Mamounia hotel in Marrakesh, Morocco on Thursday night.

Some, like Juliette Binoche and Orlando Bloom, aren't American so it was just another Thursday to them. But, in addition to Paltrow and Aniston, American actor Adrien Brody also chose an appearance paycheck over a family dinner.

SCROLL THROUGH PHOTOS:
Jennifer Aniston:

Adrien Brody:

Gwyneth Paltrow:

Orlando Bloom w/girlfriend Miranda Kerr and Paltrow:

Juliette Binoche:

Salma Hayek:

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Phil Ramone and Danielle Evin: Dog Ears Music: The Family Hasn't Left Yet Thanksgiving Playlist, Part 2

2009-11-27T17:28:11Z

Previous Page (Part 1 of 2)

The Reflecting Skin

Buy: Lala.com
Genre: Electronic
Song: Traffickers
Album: Ghostly Swim (Bonus Track Version)

Cody Chesnutt

Buy: Lala.com
Genre: R&B/Soul
Song: 5 on a Joyride
Album: Me and You and Everyone We Know

Thee Oh Sees

Buy: Lala.com
Genre: Alternative
Song: Peanut Butter Oven
Album: Help

Wilco

Buy: Lala.com
Genre: Rock
Song: The Thanks I Get
Album: The Thanks I Get

Noah Georgeson

Buy: Lala.com
Genre: Alternative
Song: Angry Afternoon
Album: Find Shelter

Sly & The Family Stone

Buy: Lala.com
Genre: Soul
Song: Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
Album: Greatest Hits

Super Furry Animals

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Genre: Rock
Song: Show Your Hand
Album: Hey Venus! (Expanded Edition)

Sonny Rollins

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Genre: Jazz
Song: Where Are You
Album: The Bridge (Remastered)

Boz Scaggs

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Genre: Pop
Song: We're All Alone
Album: Silk Degrees

The Fireman

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Genre: Rock
Song: Two Magpies
Album: Electric Arguments

Les Claypool

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Genre: Alternative
Song: Robot Chicken
Album: Of Whales and Woe (Bonus Track Version)

James Gang

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Genre: Rock
Song: Thanks
Album: Funk #49

Ian Hunter

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Genre: Rock
Song: Words (Big Mouth)
Album: Shrunken Heads

Bruce Springsteen

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Genre: Rock
Song: The Fever
Album: Bruce Springsteen: 18 Tracks

Kurt Vile

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Genre: Alternative
Song: Inside Looking Out
Album: Childish Prodigy (Bonus Track Version)

Public Image Ltd.

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Genre: Rock
Song: Home
Album: Compact Disc

Donny Hathaway

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Genre: Rock
Song: Giving Up
Album: Donny Hathaway

Penguin Cafe Orchestra

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Genre: New Age
Song: Zopf: Surface Tension
Album: Music from the Penguin Cafe

Hafdis Huld

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Genre: Rock
Song: Ice Cream Is Nice
Album: Dirty Paper Cup

Gustavo Santaolalla

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Genre: Soundtrack
Song: Deportation/Iguazu
Album: Babel (Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture)

Bob Marley

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Genre: Reggae
Song: Treat You Right
Album: 20 Best of Bob Marley

Tony Joe White & Shelby Lynne

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Genre: Country
Song: Can't Go Back Home
Album: The Heroines

Cloud Cult

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Genre: Alternative
Song: Thanks
Album: The Meaning of 8

Jon Brion

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Genre: Soundtrack
Song: All Plays Out (Fire Sale Version)
Album: Synecdoche, New York (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Elmore James

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Genre: Blues
Song: I Need You
Album: The Sky Is Crying

Dr. Dog

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Genre: Rock
Song: The Old Days
Album: Fate

Yoshida Brothers

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Genre: World
Song: My Heart Holds
Album: Yoshida Brothers III

Baby Huey

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Genre: R&B/Soul
Song: Mama Get Yourself Together
Album: The Baby Huey Story - The Living Legend

Wyclef Jean

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Genre: Hip Hop
Song: Gone Till November
Album: Wyclef Jean Presents the Carnival (feat. Refugee Allstars)

Pop Levi

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Genre: Alternative
Song: Sugar Assault Me Now
Album: The Return to Form Black Magick Party

Sam & Dave

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Genre: R&B/Soul
Song: I Thank You
Album: The Best of Sam & Dave

Astrud Gilberto

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Genre: Jazz
Song: Meditation
Album: The Astrud Gilberto Album

The Cloud Room

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Genre: Pop
Song: The Hunger
Album: The Cloud Room

Mary J. Blige

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Genre: R&B/Soul
Song: No Happy Holidays
Album: Mary (Limited Edition)

Coldplay

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Genre: Alternative
Song: We Never Change
Album: Parachutes

Vladimir Horowitz

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Genre: Classical
Song: Noveletten, Op. 21: No. 1 in F (Markiert und Kräftig)
Album: Horowitz - Complete Recordings

A.R. & Machines

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Genre: Rock
Song: Cosmic Vibration
Album: Die Grüne Reise - The Green Journey

The Last Shadow Puppets

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Genre: Alternative
Song: Time Has Come Again
Album: The Age of the Understatement

Albert Hammond Jr.

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Genre: Alternative
Song: Holiday
Album: Yours to Keep

Steve Miller Band

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Genre: Rock
Song: Children of the Future
Album: Steve Miller Band

Tim McGraw

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Genre: Country Pop
Song: When the Stars Go Blue
Album: Tim McGraw Reflected: Greatest Hits, Vol. 2

Ambient Music Therapy

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Genre: New Age
Song: Sleep: Rainy Ocean Waves (Ambient Sleep Therapy)
Album: Ambient Music Therapy