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Return to Innocence: If you want to look for where art is being made in Paris today, don't look in the hills of Montmartre but the heights of Belleville. And if you want to peek inside the artists' studios and chat with the creators, check the Portes Ouvertes of the Artists of Belleville, coming up next month May 19 – 22 and featuring the work of, among others, Catherine Olivier (above). Art courtesy and copyright Catherine Olivier.
By Paul Ben-Itzak
Copyright 2010, 2017 Paul Ben-Itzak
(Want coverage of this May's Portes Ouvertes de Belleville and a myriad of dance, theater, and visual artists from around the world coming to Paris this Spring & Summer? The Dance Insider & Arts Voyager need your support to make it happen. To subscribe for just $29.95(or Euros) per year and access our Archive of 2000 reviews by 150 writers of performances and exhibitions on five continents over the past 20 years, or make a donation, just designate your PayPal payment to firstname.lastname@example.com , or write us at that address to learn about payment by check. Already a subscriber or sponsor? Thank you and… please spread the news. This reverie on the Open Studios of Belleville, a variety of dance performances real and pretended, and a tapestry of street art of all colors and characters was first published on May 31, 2010 and is updated today.)
PARIS — If the past couple of weeks have taught me anything, it's that, as has often been the case here and in any major metropolis, art is being advanced not by the established venues and gatekeepers, but in the ateliers, the squats, the docks, the banks of the Seine, even the eccentric personalities of individual Parisians who, often against great odds, infuse the city with its colors and invest it with their dynamism, trying to satiate its denizens' thirst for the relief and elevation art can provide with, if not a joie de vivre — it's too much of a struggle to find the means these days to expect that — at least a joie to engage, be it with the elusive muse or the resilient thread that connects a contemporary artistic scene in flux with the phantoms of the past, themselves often barred by the gatekeepers of their time. So if I was disappointed by a lackluster season-announcing press conference by the Theatre de la Ville in which its director, Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota, was averse to taking questions from the press (and no wonder: the 2010-11 dance season offers little surprises), I was inspired and invigorated by a photo on the wall of a Lilliputian atelier on the outskirts of Belleville capturing a darkened forest fleeting by outside a train window and the enchanting smile of its simply dressed proud author, Agata Rybarczyk — "It was taken in Poland! I'm Polish!" — who also invited visitors to create their own art out of small cubes.
My descent — or ascent — began last Wednesday with Christian Rizzo's "L'Oubli, toucher du bois" (The Forgotten, knock wood), theoretically a dance piece, and in which I didn't see enough either to forget or remark, having been chased out before the artist-spectator contract could be consummated by the bright flood lights the brilliant lighting designer, Caty Olive, assaulted the audience with, directing them straight at the public. I'm not paid to suffer (and when it comes to bright lights, migraines don't grant artistic license), so I fled, making my way along the Quay towards the Ile St. Louis, arrested en route by a bouquiniste pal, Fabrice, who right away thrust a plastic cup of Kentucky bourbon into my mitts. "It's not actually mine to give, it belongs to Daniel, who's descended to the river to retrieve one of my vintage newspapers which flew away," explained the chronically frenetic Fabrice, even more jittery than usual that night under the Chinese lantern hat shielding him from the Sun. "So that's why I'm not giving you that much." When Daniel returned, baked red from the Sun and, I surmised — from a visage as weathered as Balzac's "Peau de Chagrin" – living outdoors, and looked from Fabrice to the bottle to me, it dawned on me that he had probably already drunk directly from the container. When Fabrice asked me to remind him what I did for a living, I made the mistake of telling him I worked on the Internet. "That's a CIA – Defense department plot, you know. So you must work for the CIA. In fact that's why you have bad teeth: It's a cover." I have known Fabrice for a while and am accustomed to his delires, so I decided to go with the scenario. "Yes, in fact, if you don't mind, I need to just check the bug I put in your flower-pot to make sure it's working." Then his cell phone vibrated. "A Chinese guy gave it to me!" he said of the phone. "I know," I said. "We actually gave it to the Chinese guy to give to you so we'd know where you were at all times." At this point he laughed. "Pass by my stand again when you like!" he said before dashing across the street to the Metro, leaving Daniel to guard the newspapers and the bottle.
I still had some time before the after-performance buffet at the theater (hazard pay for the blaring lights, even if they'd ejaculated me prematurely), so I headed towards the Pont Neuf, where I discovered another government-subsidized lighting monstrosity. (To indigenous culturati readers who may be tempted to interject at this point, "If you loathe what we fund so much, why do you stay?" I respond: By objecting to your new-fangled projects, I'm postulating for admission to a longstanding pantheon of cultural curmudgeons. Never mind that they also despised one of my own chou-chous, the Eiffel Tower.) On an official commission from the ministry of culture and communication, a contemporary artist has framed the statue of Henry IV on a horse with purple neon tubing, even adding a neon sword to his sword-sheathe, thus diminishing the statue and blighting the bridge and the views of it from either side. Sometimes I think that the current cultural gate-keepers of Paris and France don't appreciate, or at least under-value, their own heritage. This impression was recently bolstered by the theft of five paintings — by Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, Leger, and Braque — from the Modern Art Museum of Paris earlier this month, the thief entering through a window the alarm on which had been out of commission for two months. Security officers had signaled the malfunction to the higher-ups but nothing had been done about it. So the thief was apparently able to take his time before neatly severing the tableaux from their frames.
All this as a prelude to explain why on Friday, on a quest for art created by a less official tribe, I took visitors from San Francisco around Belleville for the annual four-day Open Studios of Belleville, as much an opportunity to see art as encounter its creators and discover the milieus in which they live and work. We started with the plateau on top of the parc Belleville and its panoramic view, which includes my favorite perspective on the Eiffel. Then up to and down the winding rue Cascades, so dubbed because (way) back in the day water from cisterns (two examples of which have been preserved) controlled by the local abbey flowed down it to the faubourgs around the Place de la Republique. We all loved the atelier of Estelle Babut-Gay — me for the terrace with its view of trees and Paris rooftops, David for the sculptures crafted from Atlantic coast driftwood, Jennifer for the rings made from buttons. (She finally decided on two.) I was enchanted (literally) by the gauzy, ephemeral pyro-gravures of Catherine Olivier, crammed into her atelier above a corner café. But most of the allure came from the street itself: the patch of late-afternoon sunlight illuminating the catty-corner below Olivier's studio and the cafe tables around it, the spectacular view of a panoply of rooftops of varying heights and the skyline below, the serpentine street, conjuring a Belleville which has haunted me since repeated childhood viewings of "The Red Balloon." (As Jerry tells Peter in Edward Albee's "The Zoo Story," sometimes you have to take the long way around to come back home.)
The rue Cascades spit us out (to cop a phrase from Léo Malet) onto the rue Menilmontant, immortalized by Charles Trenet. I wanted to check the status of la Miroiterie, the artists' squat that takes up an entire alley at 88 Menilmontant across the street from Cascades, mostly to see if it was still there, as so many artists' squats have been shut down lately by officials of the Socialist city government. The atmosphere was subdued. A few artist-residents were cooking up spicy merguez sausages to sell for 3 Euros apiece and offering beer for 2, but none of the ateliers were open, except for a graffiti'd space where a DJ played very loud reggae. I picked up a flyer, "Le Pari (s) de la Creation," which explained: "Following so many other popular and prolific artists' squats, la Miroiterie has to quit the Paris scene, whereas the large institutions of contemporary art continue to turn emptily to grand indifference on the part of Parisians." (In the nearby 19th arrondissement, the highly touted city-funded Centre 104 has done just that for the past two years.) "What do we want? To revindicate a place for artists in a Paris that continues to sigh in the soft pillow of consensus and the principles of precaution…. We request (simply) a form of tolerance, to exist in the interstices of the city, to occupy temporarily its niches, to live at the most intimate proximity in the neighborhoods, without being attacked and taken to court." Other cities in France and elsewhere have conferred space to artists' collectives, but, the manifesto asked, "What has Paris done? The capital of art and culture, has it become so timorous that it doesn't want to loan orphaned spaces to artists in need of space?"
…. On Saturday, I actually had a review assignment, "The man without a past," a mime spectacle showing at a recreation center in the 19th arrondissement, on the other side of the Ourcq canal from outer-outer Belleville. As this same arr. takes part in the Open Studios, I thought I would make my way from the rue Menilmontant over to Belleville, past the man-made parc Butte Chaumont with its precipitous waterfalls, over the Basin la Villette to the Metro Crimee and the Mathis animation center, discovering some more studios along the way. That was the plan, anyway.
From the studio promenade, besides Rybarczyk's showing, which also included inviting visitors into a sort of curtained box, one at a time, to view a life-sized, disheveled naked woman getting out of an unmade bed, I was impressed most by tableaux which mixed 1930s magazine clips and grey-blue paint, in collages by Sylviane Balustre-d'Erneville, as well as several of her photos, including of a market and a backyard in Egypt. Hers was also the most elegant of showings, with cool jazz and Gainsbourg and champagne on offer.
At the basin, near a grounded destroyer converted into a children's play structure, I collided with a massive design expo, featuring space-age furniture from the '50s through '60s. From this retro outpost one could hear techno music pounding from across the basin. This eventually devolved to canned can-can music, accompanying a live performance by four women and one man who made up the Troupe of Mademoiselle Clairette. It only took me ten years, but I had finally stumbled upon can-can being performed live in Paris. The performance stage as well as the audience area was a floating platform moored in the basin, so that the performers were actually dancing — and performing splits and other calisthenics — on an unstable unprotected wooden floor while being battered by the wind blowing from all directions, with no Marley in sight. I came away with a real sense of the ribaldry with which can-can must have been performed back in the day, as well as the athletic strength required of the dancers. And ouch!, those splits on that hard-wood floor!
I had some time before the mime show started, so I plopped down on a concrete bank of the basin near the rear of an old-school schooner and opened a can of stuffed grape leaves, which I downed with hot spiced tea from a vintage red-checkered thermos I'd scored at a vide grenier (like a neighborhood-wide garage sale; vide = empty and grenier = attic) for 1.50 Euros. This turned out to be not one of my most brilliant inspirations of the week-end, as the food no doubt contributed to the most sorry part of my day, when I fell asleep as soon as the show which was the one thing I actually had to do that day started. I drifted in and out during the one-hour performance, by the Theatre de l'Epopee's Hadrien Trigance, which concerned a man who wakes up every morning with no memory of what he did the previous day or the last 30 years. At night, though, he dreams of a woman dressed in purple satin, evoked onstage by a purple satin sheet, before he wakes up wrapped in a white sheet. At one point his memory is jolted and he replays a dinner table scene from his childhood, his parents (heard off-stage in recorded voices) talking while he plays with his food. Trigance's innocent air and alternately grave and playful aspect as he sat on a high-chair reminded me of Chaplin. I drifted off again, only to wake up in time to see him form a noose with the satin sheet; perhaps the woman of the past now haunting his dreams had hung herself, which is why he had blotted out all memory. The spectacle ends with the hero bedding down with the purple sheet, choosing retaining a tragic past over waking up with a blank sheet ever morning.
Afterwards, when Trigance's manager asked me what I thought of the piece's evolution since a 20-minute version I'd caught two years ago at the Mimos international mime festival in Perigueux, I hedged: "It's…developed." Later, when Trigance came out, I came up with something (I thought) better, "You remind me of Chaplin." "Oh," said the mime, hanging his head. "It's a compliment, really!"
On Sunday, after a day of recovery resting my tired dogs, I arranged to meet David and Jennifer at Niki de Saint Phalle's Stravinsky fountain next to the Pompidou museum. I had them take a picture of me next to the big-breasted mermaid which (who?) is just one of the fanciful objects spouting water from the fountain, right out of her plexi-glass nipples. Then my friends stopped to photograph a large chalk pavement drawing featuring the Eiffel, then the artist who'd created it, then his dog; the real-life model was yelping from protective covering in an open suit-case, no doubt complaining about the late May drizzle and wind. The artist had scrawled at the base of the work that he needed money to live. My friends dropped some coins into the hat. Then we scrambled through Les Halles to the rue Montorgueil, in search of a high-class pizza joint. "What church is that?" Jennifer asked as we came to Saint Eustache. "That's the church where a children's choir director named Gounod told a ragamuffin named Renoir that it was 'dommage' that he had chosen painting over music, because he had such an angelic voice." Then up Montorgueil, regretting the Starbuck's sign which now, like a portal, marks its entrance on the uptown side of this street made famous by Monet ("Rue Montorgueil on the 14th of July"), and the rue Reaumur, where Jennifer gave a lesson in the art of grabbing a taxi to a poor young French man trying to protect his head from the rain with a newspaper. As the man waved tentatively at the faraway driver, Jennifer simply marched up the block ahead of him. David, who had studied at the Sorbonne in the '60s, started talking about being in the now. "This moment, for instance," he suggested, looking down what to me is one of the most non-descript, boring streets in Paris, degraded to downright depressing when the gray sky is dribbling drizzle. "I love this moment, this place, right here, right now." Later, when we finally found the pizza place — in the interim there was a taxi driver who joked that he thought he spotted Che Guevara in his mirror (me, in my beret with the Captain Haddock button) – by way of furnishing another example of temporal bliss David pulled out the photo, on his cell phone, of the salade Nicoise he'd had at our first RDV for this visit, when I took him and Jennifer to an unremarkable neighborhood café on the place Edith Piaf. ('Took' being relative; they treated.) I'd retained from this lunch that there were none of the advertised anchovies in the salad and that the charming server who typically greets me with, "How's he doing, the American?" had not mentioned he was out of them, didn't think the absence of anchovies in a salade Nicoise was worth an avertissement, and charged us the same, quand meme. On Friday, before a hefty steak dinner at the Relais of the Entrecote on the place Saint-Germain-des-Près (most American writers in Paris would have slipped this reference in 20 paragraphs earlier, and I'm not even going to attempt to capture the ambiance in the nearby lobby of that expatriate Valhalla the Hotel Montana or correctly spell Germanopretan), David and Jennifer had taken me to Bob Cool, where it was Western theme night, Johnny Cash was in the house, and I had to resist the temptation to explain that you don't leave the ice cubes in the Cosmos. Johnny, Edith, David — they find the serendipitous and the art in the tragic, the hard times, the mundane. Me, I wonder whether I can manage to pull it off, even in the City of Light which has compelled my artist's soul like a moth since I first opened the pages of Ludwig Bemelmans's "Madeline" and saw "Pascal" lifted over the streets of Belleville by a barque of balloons — to lift the clouds of blackness that obscure my view so much these days, to live up to a credo scrawled in my high-school year-book by an Italian friend, Sonia, who I lost in a dispute then found 20 years later: "Never stop looking for beauty, never." Until then, I'm off to the Piaf. Hold the anchovies in that noisette, Isham.
(Some updates, 4-20-2017: La Miroiterie was eventually closed down by city authorities, who claimed that a wall bordering the alley threatened to tumble. A law that would have galleries pay artists for the privilege of exhibiting them has been proposed. Benoit Hamon, the Socialist candidate for president in the election whose first round is April 23, has proposed a regime for visual artists which would resemble the unemployment convention for which freelance performance artists and technicians are currently eligible. Except for Hamon and that when it's preceded by 'multi-' it's become a Right-wing epithet, culture has been conspicuous by its absence in the presidential campaign, a lapse in attention I'd ascribe more to the Media than the candidates. All the more reason for the artists of Belleville to once again take it to the streets, May 19 – 22. )


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Greetings blogfriends. Forgive me for not posting two balance weekly posts on time. I have been a little stressed over studying and singing. Yesterday late in the afternoon, i have been audited by the greek IRS. It was so scary because i am really bad with numbers but it turns out i did really good. They freaked me out because they thought i should have a book that i did n't, but it turns out they were wrong and i was right. Thank Goddess for that. Have i mentioned that my worst fear is any bureaucratic activity? When it was my turn to be our building's manager i was an emotional wreck. I was constantly frightened of making horrible mistakes and losing things that mattered. So, yesterday when they told me(they sounded sure of it) that it was illegal not to have a book that i have n't ever heard of, i broke into tears.
This is another of my worst qualities as a person. No matter who is in front of me, no matter if they do n't know me at all and no matter if the moment is totally wrong i cry like a baby when i feel like it. I can not control it. It is the most humiliating and embarrassing of all experiences, and that comes from a person who takes two steps and falls down. When my husband had to leave for a year for his mandatory military training, i cried everywhere i was, for the first couple of months. Once in the music school i begun crying, rather loudly , out of the blue and the owner explained to a stranger-client:" She misses her boyfriend who is in the Army" And he responded: "I know, i was here yesterday and she was crying for the same reason!" It is like a tap of water opens and there is no stopping it. I try to have happy thoughts, i even make jokes in my head, but not once have i mastered the fine art of...adulthood!
Right now, i am trying to envision life as a river that is taking me to beautiful things and whatever obstacles i encounter i just flow around them. I find little treasures every other moment, and i do not care about my humiliating habits. I do n't, i do n't! Our spirituality really disappears when we focus on the bad stuff. So, i am focusing on the good things, like the fact that today i am having a roadtrip and i am going to spend my day with friends and family! The memory of yesterday keeps fading and fading!
Nope! Big fat lie! Big, fat, cry baby, lie!
Be blessed and forgive me for that post!
Embarassing facts about me
Greetings blogfriends. Forgive me for not posting two balance weekly posts on time. I have been a little stressed over studying and singing. Yesterday late in the afternoon, i have been audited by the greek IRS. It was so scary because i am really bad with numbers but it turns out i did really good. They freaked me out because they thought i should have a book that i did n't, but it turns out they were wrong and i was right. Thank Goddess for that. Have i mentioned that my worst fear is any bureaucratic activity? When it was my turn to be our building's manager i was an emotional wreck. I was constantly frightened of making horrible mistakes and losing things that mattered. So, yesterday when they told me(they sounded sure of it) that it was illegal not to have a book that i have n't ever heard of, i broke into tears.
Good things about christianism and smile- balance weekly
Greetings blogfriends. How have you been this past week? I have been lurking at your blogs, some of you saw me there, some i just spied on silently. I have to say once again, how grateful i am to have you in my life. You enrich it in so many ways. Either we have a strong connection, or we have never spoken to each other, i learn so much from you, your magical practices, your lives, your thoughts. You have helped me so much just by reading your words and i hope that mine will do the same for someone out there one way or another.
I begun this post wanting to write about something else entirely and then it struck me. What is important. What is it that we do. What is it that we try and hope to do. Shed light into the darkness. This week i had an e mail in my professional webpage(for those of you new here, i am a psychic). The mail was titled urgent! So i opened it and it was "explaining" to me how i am a Satan worshiper, will burn in hell and listed for me churches i should go to if i wanted to repent for my sins. I ignored it, felt a little bad for that person. I believe you are lost if your spiritual journey is about judging or even converting others. But this post's purpose is not about intolerance but the opposite. It is about being receptive and accepting the heterogeneity of humanity. So, to bring a little balance to the world i answer to fear with love. I am Wiccan, i worship the Goddess, i am a witch, but here are the things i like about Christian Orthodox religion.
I love the incense and the numerous candles(well, dahh!) and the smell of beeswax. I appreciate the fact that priests try and in a lot of cases help people by listening and offering advice. There is a monastery and a small church that always felt safe and warm to me. I also believe it is beautiful that before Easter everything is decorated with flowers. I really love the sound of bells and Virgin Mary as a deity(although not considered one) has a special place in my heart. And last but not least there are two traditional greek deserts that have a religious purpose and i really like. One is a cake you bake and then put under your pillow so in your dreams you can see the person you are supposed to marry and another one is some sort of granola with pomegranade that we eat at funerals. We call them coliva. I understand that the things i engoy the most have pagan origins or are things we do too(or are food!lol), but i am a pagan what did you expect?
I connect with many practices of many religions and i do not allow the way other people feel change the way my heart works. Christianity has many positive qualities. I named just a few that came to my mind that i really like. This week's balance weekly theme is not about christianity of course! It is about acceptance of ourselves and others. Letting go of feelings that hold us back in the way we interact with people. It is about being more positive.
This week i challenge you to do this simple task. Smile at least once everyday at the reflection of your mirror. And also smile at least to one stranger! Brighten their day and yours. Shed light to any dark thoughts you have about yourself or others. Do not allow other people's perceptions, feelings and issues to drag you down. Make a great change by making a small smile! Free yourself and let your spirit soar!
Be blessed, be loved and be very, very happy!
Music in witchcraft-Balance weekly
Greetings blogfriends! How are you? I healed really quickly and i am on my feet again. I realised that since i begun the balance weekly theme on my blog, i am more centered and grounded. Thank you for your support!
The subject of today's post is music in witchcraft. I am a singer, so i love the use of music in witchcraft. But you do not have to be a musician to use it. First of all, using relaxing music helps you focus, meditate and breathe properly. Also, sounds of nature in indoors rituals aid in keeping you connected with the Great Mother. I have permanently in my stereo a cd with nature sounds and i press the button in the morning and let it play throughout the day. Whenever, i feel tense i just concentrate and listen and the tension melts away.
One of the things i enjoy the most is writing a simple spell-song and chanting it. But chanting can be in the form of just a vowel, or a small phrase. I have noticed that chanting is especially effective when it comes to cleansing and meditating. But that is just what works for me. Try it out and see what works for you. You do not have to make a melody of your own if that seems difficult . You can use a melody you like and sing it with just a vowel. You can use any song you want from Aerosmith to Britney, as long as you think it is pretty and it feels magical.
Another extremely mystical use of music is drumming. Once again, you don't have to be a drummer to do it, or even have a drum. Just keep a steady bit, on whatever inspires you and lose yourself in the sound. Of course, you can just listen to someone else doing it, but give it a shot, because it is a wonderful way to free your spirit and connect with The Spirit.
Chanting and drumming are magical and powerful because of their shamanic roots. They are the first ways our primeval ancestors tried mimicking the sounds of Nature and connect with the Unseen. They are ancient and they come from our heart of hearts. You can also combine the two methods. I unfortunately, only enjoy it when i am alone at home because my husband who is a drummer makes fun of my drumming. Admittedly, i am not good!
Another wonderful musical, magical practice is bell..i wanna say... jiggling?Did i get that right? Anyhooo... The bell is a magical tool that represents the Goddess because of its womanly shape. It is great for invoking spirits, magical creatures, elementals, and of course the Goddess. In some cultures, jiggling the bell is believed that it cleanses and protects from evil spirits.
So, for this week i challenge you to make your life a little bit more musical. Fill your days and nights with beautiful sounds and surround yourself with happiness and joy.
Be blessed and be loved.
at 12:09:00 AM 5 comments Links to this post
Labels: bells


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Good Morning,
Futures are down yet again this morning with the DOW futures off just a little, but S&P futures are down about 6 points.
Bernanke is saying that they are going to have to bail out more banks again, only a few weeks after Paulson said that we saw the last bank failure. These guys are flat out liars and Paulson belongs in prison, and it would be fitting if Bernanke became his "domestic partner." In their zeal to rob America, I mean prevent a depression, they are absolutely causing one by making the math worse than anyone could have imagined. I hope you all read my latest article on the bond market, you can find it here http://economicedge.blogspot.com/.
The U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $40.4 billion in November, the lowest in more than 5 years. It had been running over $60 billion a month, a number that was not sustainable, and now is falling as we cannot afford to buy imports which are falling off a cliff.
I would also like to point out that it was Charles Dow who postulated that the transports are a leading indicator. The trucking confidence index just hit the lowest level in history and the Baltic Shipping index has lost more than 90%. What does that tell you about the future of equities?
ICSC store sales came in down 2.2% for the week and that was close to the amount expected. Meanwhile the Redbook store sales for January was down 1.9%, substantially more than expected. Tomorrow the "retail sales" figures come out.
From a technical perspective we are getting close to a 100% retrace of the entire last rally, that's at the 856 level and we are at about 864 now. If 856 falls, that's complicated as it will signal that we are either done with 'c' up, or the thinking that we were in 'c' up was wrong. EW is difficult here because the swings are so huge, you don't know which count is correct until you go all the way down to the old lows and break them. We are oversold, so if we break the 856 SPX area I will wait patiently for a retrace before entering, I will not short the hole.
My biggest play right now is short TLT as I talked about in my bond article. It hit the top of its current channel yesterday and this morning has pulled back in as I was expecting. That means that, for now, bonds are going down while equities are going down, that's one of the signs to look for. Here's a chart of TLT on the left and the long bond futures on the right. On the /ZN, 135 is the magic number, if we break that going up, I'll exit that trade for now.
Have a good day,
Schedule for Week of December 6, 2020
2 hours ago


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To mark the first International Day of the Girl Child on 11 October, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, will release a new report on child marriage around the world and what should be done to eradicate it. Marrying too Young: End Child Marriage sheds light on child marriage prevalence and trends in developing countries, and provides a glimpse into the future by describing what countries may face if current trends in child marriage continue.
The report will be presented at the United Nations during a press conference by UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Chair of The Elders, founders of Girls Not Brides .
The Day's observance will also include the opening of TOO YOUNG TO WED, an art exhibition hosted by UNFPA and VII Photo Agency. Featuring photography by Stephanie Sinclair and video by Jessica Dimmock, the show highlights the personal narratives of girls from Afghanistan, Ethiopia, India, Nepal and Yemen. The show aims to renew global attention to the critical issue and promote accountability from decision makers around the world.
Additional information & links:
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.
VII Photo Agency was created in 2001 by seven of the world's leading photojournalists. By 2005 it was listed in third position in American Photo's "100 Most Important People in Photography." VII Photo Agency now represents 23 of the world's preeminent photojournalists, whose careers span 35 years of world history.
Girls Not Brides is a global partnership of more than 190 non-governmental organizations committed to ending child marriage. Girls Not Brides members are based in 38 countries throughout Africa, South Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America and range from grassroots groups working to end child marriage and support child brides in their communities, to international NGOs seeking to bring global attention to this neglected problem.
Girls Not Brides was founded in 2011 by The Elders, a group of independent leaders using their collective experience and influence for peace, justice and human rights worldwide. Archbishop Desmond Tutu is Chair of The Elders.
The Brussels based United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe - UNRIC provides information on UN activities to the countries of the region. It also provides liaison with institutions of the European Union in the field of information. Its outreach activities extend to all segments of society and joint campaigns, projects and events are organized with partners including the EU, governments, the media, NGOs, schools and local authorities.
United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC Brussels)
Residence Palace, Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 155, Block C2,7th and 8th floor, Brussels 1040, Belgium
Tel.: +32 2 788 8484 / Fax: 32 2 788 8485


text: Justin Bieber Reveals Will Smith Counsels Him Weekly in Rare, Raw Interview 5:30 AM PST 11/20/2013 by Shirley Halperin FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME YOUTUBE In his first in-depth sit-down in nine months, the embattled boy wonder tells The Hollywood Reporter that he doesn't "give a f---" about the haters. Says longtime manager Scooter Braun, "He has to be allowed to make his own decisions -- and mistakes." This story first appeared in the Nov. 29 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. If you're a 19-year-old pop star who wants to be seen as an adult artist, it probably is not the best idea to show up to a photo shoot in a onesie. Yet here is Justin Bieber, draped head to toe in a cherry-red jumper whose only point of entry and exit is a blindingly bright white zipper that stretches from his chest to, well, you know … The bold getup has a hint of hip-hop when accessorized with attitude, of which the teen possesses plenty. "I'm very influenced by black culture, but I don't think of it as black or white," he says. "It's not me trying to act or pose in a certain way. It's a lifestyle -- like a suaveness or a swag, per se. But I don't really like to say the word ['swag'] anymore. It's kind of played out." PHOTOS: Exclusive Portraits of Justin Bieber With Longtime Manager Scooter Braun Despite such pronounced braggadocio -- accentuated physically by the presence of two burly bodyguards -- Bieber can't help but give off more of a Ken-doll-with-a-six-pack vibe than a Beastie Boy one. Even his posse on this day is surprisingly vanilla, as opposed to the bad-boy troublemakers with whom Bieber often is associated, at least in the headlines. Rapper Lil Twist, who totaled Bieber's $230,000 Ferrari in January and invited unwanted scrutiny when a girl claimed she was assaulted by him at Bieber's Calabasas, Calif., house? Not on this guest list. Bieber's 32-year-old manager, Scooter Braun, made sure of it when he excised the negative influences from his client's social circle back in August. (Twist recently fired back on Twitter, accusing Braun and crew of putting "false information out to help their side stay squeaky clean.") Neither is Odd Future's Tyler the Creator, another fender-bender-prone rapper, or Lil Za, a regular on Bieber's Instagram account, which boasts 11 million followers. No, the buds accompanying Bieber to this THR cover photo shoot in L.A. include Pastor Judah Smith of Seattle's nondenominational City Church, an adviser who texts Bieber daily with a scripture chosen specifically for the singer (Smith met the teen and his mother, Pattie Mallette, at a 2010 sermon); former minder-turned-stylist-turned-close friend Ryan Good; and mild-mannered DJ Tay James, who always is just an arm's length away from Bieber's Macbook, which contains a slew of music still in progress. It's James who cues a future track from the #MusicMonday series, an innovative rollout campaign conceived by Bieber and Braun in which a new song, with lyrics derived from Bieber's personal journal entries, is released every Monday leading up to the Christmas Day premiere of Believe, the pop star's second concert documentary, distributed by Open Road Films. PHOTOS: Justin Bieber Throughout The Years Titled "PYD," an acronym for "put you down" -- Bieber is referring to the literal motion (perhaps involving a mattress or couch), not the euphemism for insult or euthanasia -- it's a sexy, R&B slow jam featuring R. Kelly that's about as far from the G-rated chorus of 2010's "Baby" as he can get away with. With seven #MusicMonday tracks released so far (six have hit No. 1 on iTunes in the U.S.), "PYD" will follow the urban-flavored bummer "Bad Day" and the lovelorn "All That Matters," the latter of which, believed to be about ex Selena Gomez, includes the lyric, "What's a king bed without a queen?" Bieber is hoping -- OK, practically begging -- that you'll notice he's graduated from YouTube phenom and sugary-sweet teen sensation to heavily tattooed bad boy and R&B groovemaster. But taking the leap to musical adulthood can be a tough gap to bridge -- especially when facing a skeptical public. As producer Rodney Jerkins, who has worked with the singer for four years, says: "It's very hard. You have to find that perfect sound that captivates your younger audience and the fans that have grown up with you. He's finding himself musically. It's a natural progression, and his is working smoothly. Now that he's older, he's been in and out of love, been around the world, he's seen different things. He's not forcing it, but he knows what he wants. He has a voice now." And Bieber is using that voice, telling THR in his first interview in nine months that sometimes you just have to say, "I don't give a f---." Elaborates Bieber: "Not 'I don't give a f---' to just be reckless and do whatever, but 'I don't give a f--- what they say.' … I know who I am and what I'm doing in my life and what I've accomplished and continue to accomplish as a performer, as a writer, as an artist, as a person, as a human being. I'm happy with the man I'm becoming." PHOTOS: 18 Key Stats From His Music Empire and Beyond It's clear the singer is on the defensive. And who could blame him? In the days following the Oct. 18 shoot, Bieber-behaving-badly news alerts blast across the Internet. Among his headline-grabbing debauchery: sneaking out of a Brazilian brothel covered in a white sheet (Bieber's rep never officially commented, but a source says Bieber "had no idea" the members-only club offered sex for sale) and illegally tagging a hotel wall Nov. 7. (Of the latter, Antonio Ricardo Nunes, chief of the Rio de Janeiro 15th Police District of Gevea, tells THR, "Justin had authorization granted by the city to tag in two other places where it was allowed, however he freely decided to tag on the walls of the abandoned Hotel Nacional," a crime punishable by up to "one year in jail or a fine.") "He's the only person in humanity who's grown up the way he has -- with smartphones and cameras on him 24/7," says Braun. "Another kid can go out and have a good night on the town, and no one gives a crap, but Justin is the most Googled person on the planet -- for four years straight!" So what's precipitating these shenanigans? "I think his moments of anger come from his resentment towards the ridicule [and] of being judged for things, which a lot of times he hasn't even done," says Braun. Spitting on his fans (as he did from a Toronto hotel balcony in July)? "Justin was playing the loogie game with his friends over the freaking porch! They put two separate pictures together, implied something, and the whole world ran with it." Desecrating a photo of Bill Clinton as caught on tape during the mop-bucket fiasco? "The moment it came out, Justin called Bill Clinton to say, 'I made a dumb mistake.' " Disrespecting the Argentinian flag? "I'm so sorry, and I hope you can forgive this mistake," tweeted Bieber after video surfaced of him using his shoes and a microphone to sweep two flags offstage in Buenos Aires. PHOTOS: Justin Bieber's Euro Crisis And don't even get Braun started on the Anne Frank House visit-turned-international incident April 12, when Bieber was chastised for writing in the Amsterdam museum's guest book, "Hopefully [Anne] would have been a Belieber." "At the end [of the museum tour], he felt very connected to [Anne]," says Braun, whose grandmother survived Auschwitz. "They had just showed him the pictures of movie stars in her room, and they said: 'Maybe you would have been on that wall, Justin. She might have been a fan of yours.' And he was touched by that." The steady stream of gossip and scandal comes at a curious time for Bieber and Braun, who are looking to sell a movie that reveals a very different Justin Bieber from Never Say Never, the superstar's 2011 concert doc. Directed by Jon Chu (G.I. Joe, Step Up 3D), the first film told an uplifting tale of a talented kid -- the only son of a born-again Christian single mom -- from the tiny Canadian town of Stratford, Ontario, who's discovered on YouTube by an equally ambitious music industry up-and-comer (Braun), brought to the U.S. for pop-star boot camp and, after impressing Usher one night outside of an Atlanta recording studio, signed to a contract with the award-winning R&B singer and, in due haste, a major label deal. It grossed $73 million in domestic box office. Subsequent similar theatrical attempts by Katy Perry ($25.3 million for 2012's Part of Me) and One Direction ($28.8 million for 2013's This Is Us) paled in comparison. Self-financed with a budget of $4 million in a strategy modeled after Kevin Hart's independently released, $32 million-grossing Let Me Explain, Believe originally was slated for a summer premiere. But after filming full concerts in Miami, Bieber, Braun and Chu, back for another round, put the breaks on the plan when they realized that a similarly styled sequel only could come across as saccharine. Instead, they chose to embrace some (though not all) of the controversy in the superstar's evolution. The PG-rated doc, which clocks in at just over 90 minutes, shows a particularly vulnerable Bieber -- still reeling from a nasty run-in with the paparazzi in March (Bieber lunged at a group of photographers outside his London hotel), a crushing breakup with longtime girlfriend Gomez (asked if the heartthrob ever has had his heart broken, Bieber drops his guard to answer a surprisingly intimate "yes") and the death of Bieber superfan Avalanna Routh of cancer at age 6, which shook him to the core. In the movie, an emotionally spent Bieber is shown in tears as he realizes the new meaning attributed to his ladies' night anthem, "One Less Lonely Girl." PHOTOS: 18 of History's Forgotten Justin Bieber Fans Chu views his movie as an illumination of the unreality of Bieber's life: "What's compelling is to see Justin not as an object for us to judge, to harp on and destroy but somebody whom we have responsibility for because we ultimately put him there. We click on those links. We fuel that fire." Bieber's antics aren't just attracting the attention of gossip websites and tabloids. His well-worn trajectory of child star-turned-possible-train wreck has at least some in Hollywood concerned. Oprah Winfrey, Adam Levine and Mark Wahlberg each have reached out to Bieber via calls and emails to Braun. Rita Wilson offered to have husband Tom Hanks counsel the young star. Always first to react to a TMZ Bieber headline? Drake. "He'll text me, like, 'What the hell is going with this? I'm pissed. I'm calling him right now. I'm about to go in on him,' " reveals Braun. "Drake is like a big brother to Justin. And Justin really looks up to Drake. They have an extremely special relationship." But the most present mentor is Will Smith. Braun tells of a particularly tough time for Bieber around the time he returned from his world tour in May that prompted the movie star to drive to Bieber's house and pull him out of bed for a three-hour talk. Bieber's reaction, according to Braun: "He said, 'Man, that makes me feel so loved. I woke up, and there's Will Smith, one of, if not the, biggest movie stars on the planet. He took time out of his day for me.' " Now, Bieber and Smith have a weekly call to go over any potential issues, emotional or otherwise. (Scientology has never been discussed.) At the same time, Braun adds of Smith, "He's telling me: 'Justin's got to go through it. You can't stop him from going through it. That's youth in itself. He's a young man who's growing up, and that's what makes him interesting and relatable. Otherwise, he'd be some kind of weird robot." If the Bieber brand is taking a beating right now, it might not entirely be a bad thing. A cynic might wonder how much of this is orchestrated, or at least happy coincidence, in the necessary transition required to turn a teenybopper star (he has appeared on every cover of tween magazines Bop and Tiger Beat in 2013 so far -- 25 in total) into an adult superstar. In fact, there are those who say the scandals actually might have "elongated" his career, as one Bieber source tells THR, adding that sometimes "it's better to slow-burn than to burn out completely." It's the age-old story, a mythic, potentially dangerous path traversed by the likes of Chris Brown, who, before putting Rihanna into a hospital and rapping on the hard-edged 2011 hit "Look at Me Now," was considered a clean-cut mama's boy (and even now is seemingly absolved of his offenses); Justin Timberlake, who segued from 'N Sync fame for a solo career and Grammys with the help of "SexyBack" producer Timbaland; and even Miley Cyrus, who traded in her Disney card for a try at hip-hop cred with racy performances and her latest album, Bangerz. But for every successful transition, there are 10 more artists whose careers fizzled once out of their teens. The Jonas Brothers, who just called it quits, might still be fresh in your mind, but how about former heartthrob Jesse McCartney or sister duo Aly and AJ? All might have benefited from a scandal or two. To hear Braun tell it, Bieber is all too aware of the showbiz burnout tale, chronicled in any number of VH1 Behind the Music episodes -- ambitious kid makes it big, rebels, spirals out of control, breaks down (see: Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Bynes). It's one reason why Bieber and Braun have opted for silence. "The rumors were coming so fast and furious that we couldn't address all of them," says Braun of their decision to throw up their hands. "Say whatever the f--- you want. Justin's not going to go crazy. He's not going to end up in rehab. He's not going to end up a statistic. Nine months ago, they said he lost his mind -- he hasn't missed a show since. So we're just going to shut up." (Bieber called off his Nov. 10 stop at Buenos Aires' River Plate stadium an hour into the concert, telling the crowd he wasn't feeling well; food poisoning was to blame.) STORY: Justin Bieber Walks Off Stage Again, Blames Food Poisoning Pastor Smith, who has maintained a steady presence in Bieber's life, traveling as far as South Africa and Australia to help him "not get discouraged or despondent because of perceived failures," sees the pop star as misunderstood. "I don't envy the scrutiny that he carries," says Smith. "He lives a very blessed life, but with those blessings comes a lot of responsibility and expectations from people. Justin is digging deep and discovering. … But he's an extraordinarily compassionate, considerate, loving person who's very loyal and committed to the people in his world. I wish more people saw that side of him." Bieber's refuge from the gaggle of paparazzi who shadow him daily -- six are assigned to Bieber-watch in L.A. -- is a 10,000-square-foot house in the gated community of Calabasas' The Oaks (incidentally, Spears' former home). There, in The Estates subdivision, described by a neighbor as an enclave of "50 really big custom homes," he has built a recording studio so that he can avoid having to drive to Hollywood. "It's easier to have everyone come to me," he says with resignation. Bieber has had his share of incidents from behind the gates -- he's been cited for speeding multiple times (though, defends a neighbor, "All these rich kids, you give a 16-year-old a BMW or a Benz, and that's what they do"), openly smoking pot and hosting loud parties. And he'd likely be the first to admit that he's walled himself off to the world after being burned one too many times by hangers-on who sell him out for a quick buck. The video of him peeing into the mop bucket netted a "so-called friend $40,000 10 months later," snaps Braun. Then there are the photographers, whose sole aim is to get a rise out of Bieber, and the media, who, in Bieber's mind, is hell-bent on tearing him down. Says Bieber: "When people see a negative thing about me on a magazine, they're gonna buy it. Every time some site writes something bad, all my followers go on there, and it brings them more traffic. Now they have all the Beliebers on their site, which gives them money from advertisers. They're just worried about money. They don't care about ruining someone's name." In that sense, things haven't changed all that much since the boy band craze of the '90s. "Every aspect of you is a potential to make money," says singer Taylor Hanson, who, at age 13 in 1996, was already a multiplatinum artist. "When our first record came out, entire magazines were dedicated just to Hanson." Managing that "power of commodity," he adds, "is an intense and daunting dynamic; you have to choose your battles carefully." Of course, Hanson came to prominence at a time when hyper-celebrity didn't yet exist -- the omnipotence of YouTube a good decade away. And even at its height, the group likely would have struggled to reach Bieber's clout of 46.6 million Twitter followers and 57 million Facebook likes. Bieber, whose net worth is estimated by Forbes to be $130 million, also has surpassed his predecessors in using his influence outside of the music sphere -- no doubt steered by Braun -- by donating about $13 million to charity (included in that total: one dollar from every ticket sold for two world tours) and investing his earnings in high-tech companies like Spotify and the iPhone app Stamped. Braun, too, has jumped headfirst into forays like tech, creating a reported $120 million investment fund with Drake, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Shania Twain manager Jason Owen and former Lady Gaga manager Troy Carter. A multimillionaire who boasts an 8,000-square-foot glass-walled property in the Hollywood Hills and is in the market for a New York City pied-a-terre (Brooklyn: not an option), Braun has built his business into a 26-staff operation that's quickly outgrowing its Beverly Hills office. He counts more than 10 clients these days, including The Wanted, pop newcomer Ariana Grande (who scored a No. 1 album with her August debut, Yours Truly) and K-Pop sensation Psy, and has become among the music industry's most-talked-about players, amassing more than 3.3 million Twitter followers. PHOTOS: Justin Bieber's 'Believe' Tour in Pictures You'd be hard-pressed to find many music insiders who openly would disparage Braun as most find themselves charmed by the Greenwich, Conn., native -- who made his name as a party promoter while attending Atlanta's Emory University (he didn't graduate), then moved on to a marketing position at Jermaine Dupri's So So Def Records -- or in business with him. One such peer, who wished to remain anonymous on the chance of future work with Braun, vocalizes what many in the industry secretly think: that "there's something inherently wrong with a manager who wants to be as famous as his artist." Indeed, you'd have to go back to the days of David Geffen, label head and former manager of Joni Mitchell, The Eagles and Cher, for the last time a music executive had recognition not just beyond the biz but on such a global scale. Not coincidentally, Geffen happens to be Braun's idol, and the 2000 book The Operator: David Geffen Builds, Buys, and Sells the New Hollywood, an unauthorized account of the mogul's heady days, is Braun's bible, as it were. Speaking to THR.com in 2010, Braun described Geffen (along with Katzenberg, Richard Branson, Barry Diller and Steven Spielberg) as one of his "heroes" but warned of the less honorable executives working in the industry. "It doesn't matter if you're in the music business, the dental business or movies, you're going to have great people and bullshit people." You hope to work with the former, but in Bieber's case, he often is dealing with the latter. Through "just living," Bieber says he's learned "you shouldn't trust anybody." With few exceptions: "I trust my mom and dad. I trust Scooter with my career; he's always made sure I'm taken care of." Bieber pauses, then adds, "That's it." "I was going for a modern Boyz II Men sound," says Bieber, back at the photo studio cueing up "PYD" for the fourth time. In a moment, he'll hop from the makeup chair to sing a sweet falsetto and practice some moves along to his music while checking himself out in the mirror. "I'm really influenced by R&B, but I love everybody -- from Michael Jackson to The Beatles to, like, Led Zeppelin and Korn." For his age, Bieber surprisingly is well versed in the sounds that came before him. "Michael Jackson didn't do Off the Wall until he was about 23," he says of the King of Pop's breakout 1979 solo album. "Bad, not until he was, like, 25 [Jackson was 29]. I have all the time in the world," he declares of his future seminal third album. Braun completes the thought: "Justin's Thriller is yet to come." Nothing would make Bieber's label, Island Records, happier than to see him clear that hurdle. Although he has sold 10.5 million albums, including full-lengths My World (2010) and Believe (2012), along with 29.4 million songs, according to Nielsen SoundScan, a truly massive radio single has eluded Bieber, as have Grammys and the coveted crossover hit. Still, the label clearly has faith in its star, allowing him to take the unconventional approach that is his #MusicMonday series. "It's unorthodox, yes," says Steve Bartels, president/COO of Island Def Jam Music Group. "But Justin isn't afraid of taking chances. He's incredibly bright, and when he's on a creative jag or a bent, we try to support him as much as possible." Bartels was present the day in 2007 when Usher and Braun paraded Bieber into then-chairman L.A. Reid's New York office. "You knew he was a star," says the veteran exec. "I was intrigued by his musical acumen -- being able to play the guitar and the drums and to vocalize as well as he does at such a young age." But the moment that clinched it for Bartels came on the day of Bieber's signing. Asked to perform for the label staff, Bieber "literally jumped up on the conference room table and broke into 'One Time,' which would be his first single," recalls Bartels. "Everyone was blown away by this 12-year-old kid. It was this magical moment." When Braun brought Bieber to Atlanta to record his first album, he says he took the responsibility of watching over a then-13-year-old very seriously. "I changed my lifestyle because I had to be a role model," he says. "When Justin was younger, it was, 'Keep him out of trouble, stop him from falling down, protect him as much as you can from anything that can hurt him.' " Today, Braun admits it's a different dynamic. "When I try to do that now, he's resentful, he pushes away and rebels," says Braun. "What I've come to learn is: Be there, give the best advice you can, but he has to be allowed to make his own decisions -- and his own mistakes." It was a lesson learned the hard way for Bieber and Braun as the two found themselves increasingly at odds with each other over the past year. "I saw the rebellion, I saw our relationship being hurt," says Braun. "We were struggling in talking to each other because I wasn't having conversations about anything good anymore. It was constantly calling to say, 'No!' " Bieber doesn't disagree. "It's like how a parent sees their kid," he says. (Dad Jeremy Bieber remains in the picture, but less so than mom Mallette, who lives down the road from her son; Bieber has a roommate.) "Scooter was like the father figure in my life. But when I started to grow up, it was hard for him to have to listen to my input. I want to be me, to show everybody who I am as an individual. I don't want to just be a puppet." At the same time, Braun has gotten heat for what many see as being an enabler. Says the industry insider, "When you're constantly telling your teen artist what a genius they are and saying yes to everything they ask, it ultimately harms them." Fittingly enough: One of the most off-the-cuff and real scenes in Believe involves director Chu asking Bieber if, now that he's over 18, people have told him "no." The teen pauses for a minute to think, then answers with a smile: "No," as the room explodes in laughter. "I'm usually up pretty much all night until I know Justin is in," says Braun of a routine that might sound familiar to parents. "At night is when trouble can come." Typically, Braun will receive an all-clear text or call from Bieber's body guard or tour manager, and that's when he can get some shut-eye. … Until Bieber rings. "The person who usually wakes me up is Justin," he says. "He likes to talk to me in the middle of the night. Because that's when the world goes quiet for him and his mind's running." Braun insists he doesn't dread the morning news, but is "prepared for what may come." It's a skill he's honed all too well after seven years of managing Bieber, during which, Braun points out, outside of spending time with Gomez, Bieber was surrounded by adults. "He wants time to be a kid to hang out with people his own age, and be an idiot at times." Of course, when you have the world's eyes on you, that can complicate your nights out. When Bieber is photographed shirtless at a club, for example, it's construed as a macho, douchey move. "Bring it back to the Marky Mark days, was he ever wearing a f---in' shirt?," Bieber says with a laugh. "I just don't like shirts!" But mention borderline pornographic fare like Rihanna's "Rated R" video or the butt-nakedness of Miley Cyrus in "Wrecking Ball" and Bieber is more cautious with his words (perhaps because he considers Cyrus his "homie," her perceived dis in Rolling Stone -- where she commented that he was having a hard time "transitioning" to adulthood -- long forgiven). Does he see an inherent disadvantage in being a male artist striving to be the perfect boyfriend in song when the likes of Taylor Swift and Cyrus can serve up kiss-off numbers that stop just short of the middle finger? Bieber pauses to consider. "That's not what I represent," he says. "What I represent is positivity and brightness and lightness and amazingness. Nothing negative at all." Still, negativity surrounds Bieber in a dramatically different way than, say, Cyrus who seems so much more in control of her controversies -- and successfully uses her scandals to push product, be it albums or concert tickets. To that end, Bieber, who says he finds the music business "necessary," insists he has a clear vision and is letting the music "speak for itself," along with the unconventional marketing. "People can get taken advantage of in the music industry, but then we can also take advantage of the music industry," he says. "That's what me and Scooter are doing." "That line could be in a Jay Z song," adds Braun. "Like, when Jay Z said, 'I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man.' That's the equivalent of what you just said." A silence descends on the room as all present consider the weight of the statement. Finally, Bieber speaks. "But it's true. I'm just saying the truth." [Editor's note: References to Eminem and Paul Rosenberg were removed from this story.] Additional reporting by Paula Zulian in Brazil Twitter: @shirleyhalperin FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME YOUTUBE Shirley Halperin email@example.com @thr


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When it comes to the Short Cuts Canada program at the Toronto International Film Festival, it's hard to argue with the math. For the cost of one ticket, viewers get to see approximately seven short films from some of Canada's best up-and-coming directors.
"With a single feature you get one thing, but with us you get so many different things within 80 minutes," says Alex Rogalski, one of the programmers for SCC, which is divided into six different programs this year, each one featuring a mix of styles and genres.
"We don't do them thematically on purpose," he says. "Our hope is that if someone comes to see one shorts program, they're going to get a good idea of what the others are like."
Magali Simard, another SCC programmer, says it's ideal for moviegoers open to seeing something new.
"People that randomly choose tickets for the shorts programs are pretty adventurous, and that's what they expect — new and exciting things from up-and-coming talent. They really have no idea what they're going to see."
While Simard says this is by far the funniest year for short film submissions (with Program 6 being heavy on the comedy), audiences can expect to see several different approaches from directors. "Documentary, drama, animation, experimental work, there really isn't a formula," she says.
Trailer Park Boys creator Mike Clattenburg, who premiered his film Afghan Luke at TIFF last year and whose short Crackin' Down Hard plays as part of SCC this year, says that's part of the fun in making a short.
"You can go capture an idea right away, seize the day, and just go do it," he says. "You don't have to worry about financing as much because you don't need nearly as much money. Just get together a group of friends that inspire each other and just go do it, explore the depths of foolishness."
Often, a short film may also be a step on a director's path to making a feature-length film, such as Frost (Program 4), from Jeremy Ball, whose visual effects credits include Twilight: Eclipse and The Forbidden Kingdom.
"It's an extension of a feature I'm working on and I hope it helps with the development of that project down the line," he says. "In fact, it already has, just by giving me the opportunity to further work on the character."
It also gave him a chance to try some new things that might not work for a feature.
Crackin' Down Hard
A Pretty Funny Story
The Dancing Cop
What's On Tonight for


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Proposals released for Tahoe's largest restoration project
The California Tahoe Conservancy has released a draft plan for a proposed restoration of Lake Tahoe's largest remaining wetland, the Upper Truckee Marsh.
The restoration project would be the largest ever in the Lake Tahoe Basin, according to CTC Executive Director Patrick Wright. The nearly 600-acre marsh is located just west of the Tahoe Keys and should act as the last defense against the thousands of tons of clarity-reducing fine sediment entering the lake every year, according to the agency.
"Beginning in the late 1950s, portions of the Upper Truckee River through the marsh were straightened and channelized to facilitate construction of the adjacent Tahoe Keys development," according to a statement from the CTC. "A primary goal of the draft plan is to reconnect the river with the marsh, and to restore the natural processes that filter fine sediment and other pollutants before they enter Lake Tahoe."
Five alternatives are included in the plan. A preferred alternative has not been selected and the CTC is receiving public input on the proposed project.
Once an alternative is selected, the multi-year effort could head to construction as early as 2015 if it receives the necessary approvals and funding, according to the CTC.
Comments on the proposals must be received no later than April 8. Comments can be submitted by emailing email@example.com. More information on the project is available by calling Victoria Ortiz at 530-542-6063 or visiting http://tahoe.ca.gov.
A separate restoration project along the Upper Truckee River, known as Sunset Stables Reach 5, gained approval from the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board last week.
That restoration project may be in front of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's Governing Board for approval as soon as April. If the TRPA signs off on the restoration, that project could begin this summer.