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Carrie Prejean Claims She Was Pressured To Get Boob Job, Is Pals With Sarah Palin

2009-11-10T15:44:39Z

In her new book, "Still Standing," former Miss California Carrie Prejean claims that she was forced to get breast implants after being felt up by a pageant director, reveals Donald Trump's crude method of selecting the top Miss USA contestants and says she's become phone pals with both Sarah Palin and her daughter Bristol.

Prejean, who was fired by the pageant in the wake of a controversy over her gay marriage remarks, recalls how Miss California pageant director Keith Lewis ran his hands all over her body shortly after she won:

He stopped and stared at my butt. For a long time. He touched me on the butt, then ran his hands around my hips, looked at my butt again, touched it again, ran his hands around my hips again, and examined each of my breasts...

And then he said, "Have you ever thought of getting a boob job?"

When Prejean expressed her reservations, she claims that Lewis pressured her by saying that he had paid for past Miss Californias' surgery.

"'I really think you need it'... He told me the pageant would pay for it and made it clear it had to happen soon," writes Prejean.

Prejean also reveals that Trump personally inspected each of the contestants, lining them up on stage and asking them which other contestants were "hot." After he made his way through all the girls, he motioned the ones he liked to one side, leaving the "discards" on the other side: "It became clear that the point of the whole exercise was for him to divide the room between girls he personally found attractive and those he did not."

Many of the girls found this exercise humiliating. Some of the girls were sobbing backstage after he left, devastated to have failed even before the competition really began to impress "The Donald"... even those of us who were among the chosen couldn't feel very good about it -- it was as though we had been stripped bare.

Prejean also describes how the criticism she received for her comments on gay marriage led her to become allied with political conservatives like Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter.

Expressing praise for Palin, Michele Bachmann and other conservative women in the political sphere, Prejean says that they are bound to be 'Palinized' -- treated to liberal scorn.

On one particularly bad day, I got a surprising phone call that cheered me up to no end: it was from Sarah Palin.

We talked for a good fifteen minutes. She told me that she was extremely proud of me and told me to stay strong.

"You tell it like you see it, Carrie. People are sick of politically correct answers. You're doing awesome."...

She told me her daughter Bristol was a big fan of mine, and would love for me to call her. We have been keeping in touch ever since."/blockquote>

And Prejean reveals that the experience has only seemed to harden her beliefs. She expresses her opposition to a California law that prohibits anti-gay bias in public schools: "There is only one word for this: insanity.... These liberals for some reason see it as their mission to completely undo traditional morality in California through political action and legal coercion."

And she even dismisses charges of homophobia by challenging the definition of that word, claiming that it really means to be fearful of men:

"Homophobic" is merely a made-up word to try to force everyone to be politically correct on gay marriage or risk being accused of being hateful.

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Rihanna's Tight Mermaid Dress: Love It Or Leave It? (PHOTOS, POLL)

2009-11-10T13:51:47Z

Rihanna showed up in a body-hugging white mermaid dress at Glamour Magazine's Women of the Year Awards at NYC's Carnegie Hall Monday night, where she accepted "The Back-On-Top Superstar" award from Iman.

"As usual I decided to wear the tightest dress I could find," Rihanna joked after she made her way slowly to the stage.

Scroll down to watch the video of Rihanna's acceptance speech.

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Travolta Family Makes First Red Carpet Appearance Since Jett's Death (PHOTOS)

2009-11-10T13:29:30Z

Monday night John Travolta made his first red carpet appearance since the death of his son Jett in January. Travolta showed up with wife Kelly Preston and their daughter, Ella Bleu, at the LA premiere of 'Old Dogs,' Ella's first movie in which she stars alongside her dad. The nine-year-old actress got plenty of attention on the red carpet--from her parents that is, who kept planting kisses on both her cheeks.

Travolta has said he is using Scientology to help him cope with his grief.

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J.Lo Sex Tape: Honeymoon Tape Shows Jennifer Lopez Getting Spanked By Ex Ojani Noa

2009-11-10T13:20:59Z

The video, called How I Married Jennifer Lopez: The J.Lo and Ojani Noa Story, reputedly includes Lopez, now 40, wearing skimpy clothing and supposedly being spanked by Noa. It reportedly also contains a fight between her and her mother.

Marshall Fine: Movie review: The Messenger delivers

2009-11-10T12:27:58Z

Films about the folly of the Iraq War have been such box-office poison that it's tempting to automatically upgrade any film that shows the toll this pointless, seemingly endless conflict for what it is - as a waste of life and a burden on survivors - just for daring to tell the truth.

Not that it would make a difference. With the exception of this year's The Hurt Locker, which had to go out of its way not to seem like a movie about Iraq, virtually every film about Iraq - good, bad, fiction and documentary - has died a miserable death in theaters. I tend to think it has less to do the movies' flaws or merits and more to do with a national sense of shame and denial - at allowing ourselves to be suckered by George W. Bush and his ruthless shills into supporting the quagmire/fiasco.

It will be too bad if that same fate awaits Oren Moverman's The Messenger, as powerful and restrained a drama as you could wish for. Iraq is a presence but it's never shown. Indeed, this is a drama that could have used any war as its context and made the same point: that all war ends tragically for too many, no matter what the objective or outcome.

Ben Foster plays Staff Sgt. Will Montgomery, decorated and shipped home after being wounded in Iraq. Assigned to the motor pool, he also has drawn a special duty: as a casualty notification officer, tasked with informing the next-of-kin of soldiers who have been killed in action.

His new partner is the feisty Capt. Tony Stony (Woody Harrelson), a veteran of the detail who quickly briefs Will on the job. They have to get to the family as quickly as possible, so the family won't hear about it from the media or someone else. They cannot engage emotionally with those they are notifying. They don't hug or otherwise touch them. And they don't react if they are touched. Get in, do the job with honor, get out. Follow the script.

The job, however, is as emotionally draining in its way as combat. Given the opportunity, the people to whom they deliver this grim news would gladly kill these messengers, if it meant bringing their loved one back. Or if it could muffle the sudden searing pain they are feeling, by projecting it on to someone else. Continued...

For the rest of this review, click HERE to reach my website: www.hollywoodandfine.com.

Fans Flee Tracy Morgan's Raunchy Carnegie Hall Performance

2009-11-10T11:02:57Z

"Barack probably had Michelle in the window doggy-style. 'Yes, Mr. President, yes Mr. President,'" said Tracy Morgan Friday at Carnegie Hall, speculating on the first couple's sex life. The comedian and "30 Rock" star was performing as part of the New York Comedy Festival, but fans were not laughing as they walked out on Morgan's bawdy routine.

The Daily News, the first to report the story quotes a source saying: "There was a continuous flow of people getting up and leaving throughout the show." The paper said that middle-aged women were the most appalled, especially when Morgan started acting out sexual escapades on stage.

Those expecting the prime-time version of Morgan were shocked at his highly sexual humor: "You gotta stick your tongue in her f**king butthole...It's give and take. If she gagging, you got to toss the salad."

But not everyone was offended, not even close. "The audience members around me were mostly in their 20's and 30's and were enjoying the raunchiness," blogger Matt Wilstein told the Huffington Post. "It may have been because we expected it from Tracy Morgan after watching his semi-obscene, drunken morning show appearances on YouTube."

Were you at the show? Or know someone who was? Email us!

Carrie Prejean Discusses Sex Tape With Sean Hannity: "Worst Mistake Of My Life" (VIDEO)

2009-11-10T03:03:40Z

Carrie Prejean, the former Miss California USA who became a darling among conservatives when she refused to support same-sex marriage during the Miss USA Pageant, went on Sean Hannity's show tonight to promote her book and confirm TMZ's report that she made some kind of sex tape when she was a teenager.

Making the tape was the "worst mistake of my life," Prejean repeatedly said. "I was all by myself. I was sending my boyfriend at the time, who I loved and cared about, you know, video of me. I was a teenager at the time and never did I ever think it would come out."

Prejean told Hannity that she is "taking total responsibility for it."

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William Bradley: Mad Men's Sensational Season Finale -- HuffPost Review

2009-11-10T00:25:57Z

What a terrific finale to the outstanding third season of Mad Men! "Shut The Door, Have A Seat" is aptly titled, as that is what happens throughout the episode. It's action-packed, and not just for Mad Men, a show whose pace can sometimes be exceedingly deliberate. And it's fun, especially in contrast to the two great, shattering episodes which precede it, in which we see the reveal of Don Draper's darkest secrets, the collapse of the Draper marriage, and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Now, with the seismic shocks of the Kennedy assassination reverberating throughout society, what's commonly called "The Sixties" is really about to begin. It's the middle of December, and four lads from Liverpool will start exploding across American radio in a matter of days.

The Beatles start exploding for the first time across American radio days after the events in this season finale.

As always with these extensive reviews, there be spoilers ahead, so you've been warned.

Put simply, the band is back together. With a few big changes.

Paradoxically, series creator Matthew Weiner, who directed and co-wrote the season finale, has flipped the series by returning it to its core.

But this time it's a core that has a new focus.

Sterling Cooper has always been something of an anachronism. A old-style partnership steeped in old ways of advertising.

Now it is shaping up as something else.

And just in time. It's mid-December. President Kennedy was assassinated less than four weeks ago. The Beatles are finally jumping the pond and are going to start breaking big time on American radio in less than two weeks. They arrive in New York for the Ed Sullivan Show, and the even more virulent American version of Beatlemania, in less than two months. What we think of as "the '60s" is kicking swiftly into gear.

The shocking assassination of President Kennedy was covered in Episode 12.

Don has taken the big existential step of kicking out on his own, prodded into it by Connie Hilton, who actually set the entire sequence in motion. And I suspect quite intentionally.

Don is talking with an entrepreneurial fervor we've never heard from him before. He's been happy to stay where he is, growing where he is in stature. Even as the agency is being overtaken by events.

He could either remain in place, and become a cog in a much bigger machine, answering to high-level bureaucrats. Or he could make a break.

It's been frustrating at times this season to see favorite characters, especially Joan Holloway, doing relatively little within the action of the show. But that's the way life can be, if not conventional television.

This show is far more novelistic than a conventional TV series. In a sprawling, epic novel, key characters can disappear for long stretches.

Weiner moved the pieces on his game board in such a way that very popular characters like Joan Holloway (my favorite next to Don) and Roger Sterling were absent from the action for long stretches of time. Leaving them free to reemerge as their world, and the bigger world, shifts in dramatic ways.

Betty discovers Don's little box of big secrets in Episode 11.

And now to the sequence of things ...

Don is sleeping in Grandpa Gene's old room, banished by Betty. Awakening, looking rather the worse for wear, he fiddles with the alarm clock.

He is, as fate has it, late for a meeting with Connie Hilton. Hilton doesn't waste any time to inform Don that his world has just changed.

"I'm afraid I have some serious business to discuss," Hilton says with little ceremony. "McCann Erickson is buying Putnam, Powell, and Lowe. That means I'm going to have to move my New York properties elsewhere." McCann already has a lot of Hilton business and Hilton is trying to diversify his advertising portfolio, though he does not explain this outright to Don, or the viewer.

Don is stunned. "That means we're all gone." he says.

Hilton's assessment is rather different: "Sterling I don't know. Cooper will be put on an ice flow. You're a prize pig."

He tells Don this is business and happens all the time.

Since Don turned down a heavy and manipulative pitch from McCann Erickson -- which included dangling a renewed modeling career before Betty -- earlier in the series, he doesn't like this news a bit.

The knowledge that Hilton has just dropped him settles in, though, and he starts squirming about the loss of yet another constant in his life.

Hilton is studying Don throughout this. I think he's waiting to hear something. Don, however, is becoming bitter. He's also clearly tired of Hilton's incessant midnight calls and gamesmanship.

"You come and go as you please," Don tells Connie, accusatorily. An amusing thing to say coming from Don Draper. Don starts venting: "My future is tied up in this mess because of you (referring to the agency contract Hilton made him sign). ... All this talk, calling me your son. ... You want to play with me. I get it now, Connie, it's business."

Don isn't reading Hilton. And hasn't read him well throughout their relationship. Connie was impressed by Don when they met by chance at that silly Derby Day early in the season. He sensed a kindred spirit. Don, however, has been thinking like a conventional ad man. (Recall how disappointed Connie seemed when he summoned Don to the Waldorf Astoria the first time, revealing that they really had met. Don's response was that he wanted Hilton as a client. And Connie told him he was thinking small.)

Don Draper was on top of the world in Episode 10.

So Hilton gives it to him straight, as a wake-up call: "I got everything on my own. It's made me immune to those who complain and cry because they can't. I didn't take you for one of them, Don. Are you?"

Don doesn't blow up at this. And Hilton tells him they will try working together again.

Don walks into Sterling Cooper, seeing it in a new light, as something passing, no one else there knowing their lives are about to change, again.

He has a brief vision recalling his father Archie pulling out of a wheat cooperative becase the price was too low.

Whereupon Don all but bursts into Bert Cooper's office and delivers the news. Conrad Hilton says that McCann Erickson has acquired PPL, and Sterling Coo with it. Robert Morse is so good as Bert in this episode. What seemed at first as a possible piece of stunt casting -- he was the classic J. Pierepont Finch in the '60s hit, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying -- has proved to be far more than that.

Don says he wants to act, he wants to know what Bert is going to do, as he is about to lose the business he started 40 years ago.

Bert says there's nothing to do. "I lost my business last year," he says. Besides, we all have contracts.

Don is having none of it. Prodded by Connie Hilton into action, he wants to buy the agency from PPL.

Bert doesn't want to do that. Why put his fortune on the line? He doesn't have another 40 years to make it again.

Don is doing his own prodding now. "I understand, I'll let you go back to sleep. I want to work. I want to build something."

Don Draper's amigo and uber-client, Connie Hilton, was disappointed in Episode 9 when surrogate son Don didn't give him the Moon. But he's still a big fan, hosting the 40th anniversary party for Sterling Cooper at the Waldorf Astoria.

Bert has a good parry: ''Young men love risks because they can't imagine consequences." Again, Don is having none of his complacency. ''And you old men love building golden tombs and sealing the rest of us in with you."

Intrigued by a Don Draper who is suddenly more interested in building a business than playing hookie at French films, Cooper tells him, appraisingly: "I'm not sure you have the stomach for the realities." He also doesn't look sure that he doesn't.

"Try me," Don shoots back.

Bert tells him they will need accounts to make this work. That means Roger Sterling. Don doesn't look pleased at the prospect of dealing with his ex-pal.

If we're going to do this, declares Cooper, "We have to talk to Roger now." Don is a little sulky. "You talk to him." Now Cooper is having none of it. "Do you want to do this or not?"

The two burst into Roger's office. He's on the phone, talking to Jane, who is obsessed with the Kennedy assassination. Sensing their urgency, he says something about how someone unnamed would naturally be upset about the assassination, as "it happened on his watch," tells her to stop reading all the newspapers, and hangs up the phone.

"It's the most interest that girl's ever had in a book depository," he quips.

Bert tells him that Don and he have been discussing the idea of buying the company back.

"Really, why,?" Roger asks, deadpan. He has other fish to fry. Or so he thinks.

Informed that he'll be out under the latest new regime, Roger seems unconcerned. "Somewhere there's a deck chair with my name on it," he says.

Some great fast-paced dialogue ensues, with each of the three revealing important opinions they've held back.

Roger to Don: "I want to see what you look like with your tail between your legs." ... "So you've decided you want to be in the advertising business." ... "You don't value relationships."

Don to Roger: "I value my relationship with you." To which Roger replies: "You do, now."

Bert to Roger : "You sold your birthright to marry that trollop." ... "You're right not to do it. If you've lost your appetite ... "I've seen this." And proceeds to talk about guys who retire to their clubs and die in three years.

Roger to Bert: "Join or die. That's your pitch? He was doing better," as he points at Don.

"We have to try," Don insists, and they agree to give it a shot.

Here's a quick recap of Episode 8.

Don's now back at Chez Draper. As soon as he comes in, Betty sends the kids upstairs. "You want me to go, too," Don quips. Betty is not bantering. She tells Don to have a seat. Then she hits him with it: "I made an appointment with a divorce attorney and I suggest you do the same."

Don is having a hard day's night. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

He tells Betty that she hasn't been herself since the Kennedy assassination. That she needs to see a doctor. "A good one, this time." As distinguished, say, from the shrink Don sent to her to who provided Don with detailed reports on their confidential sessions.

Betty isn't having it. So Don becomes adamant, telling her to forget it. "I won't let you break up this family." Betty counters that she isn't the one who broke the family.

This is not the sort of conversation that goes well. It's interesting to note that Don's legendary persuasive powers are nowhere in evidence.

Back at Sterling Coo the next day, Bert, Roger and Don bring Lane Pryce in and confront him with the story, not identifying Hilton as the source. Lane denies it. So Roger tells him, hey, "Don't act like a stranger. We've got tea."

At which point Lane tells them he's under orders to say nothing and that the story is only partly true. Sterling Coo is being sold, but not PPL. It's not his idea, he says. In fact, "I've quite enjoyed it here."

Bert says that the three of them want to buy the agency back at the price they received plus 12 percent. But it's not enough. Lane can't say what they're going for this time, but it's more.

Now we see Betty with a lawyer. And another person, one Henry Francis, senior advisor to Governor Nelson Rockefeller. It seems he knows this lawyer, who talks about the woeful state of divorce law in New York. Quizzing Betty, he establishes that Don only meets one of the grounds for a divorce -- adultery, of course -- and that that would have to be proved. While Betty thinks that is do-able, there is a bigger problem, says the lawyer. When both parties have committed adultery.

At which point Henry makes it clear whose lawyer this is, saying: "Ken, do you think the governor needs another scandal on the ticket?" He and Betty have not had sex. They merely plan to get married. I feel very confident about this marriage.

A quick recap of Episode 7.

So Ken tells her that she should establish residence in Reno, Nevada for six weeks for an uncontested divorce. And then says it's time to talk about how much money she wants from Don.

Now Henry tells Betty not to take Don's money, even though she has three kids. "I'll take care of them. And I'll take care of you. I don't want you owing him anything."

Right, Henry, you simply want Betty to owe you everything. This is starting to come into focus.

"We want to get this done as soon as possible," he tells the lawyer.

Over in the city, Lane calls that smoothie St. John Powell in London to report that the top guns at Sterling Coo are on to the sale. But they had it off a little, thinking that PPL as a whole was being sold.

After some attempted misdirection, Powell finally tells Lane that PPL is being sold. Lane, the loyal company man, is hurt and outraged.

"Why wasn't I told?" "It didn't seem pertinent," Powell airily explains. And after all, it had to be kept secret inside PPL, too.

Lane wants to know what his role will be going forward.

What is Lane's role? Lane's a tootsie roll.

"Lane, they know you're essential to the transition," Powell replies. And then what? "You'll prove irreplaceable. You always do." Powell allows as how he will "put in a good word for you."

"Well thank you," Lane replies. Powell, thinking of his coming mega-payday, says: "Thank you," and hangs up. Lane then slams down his phone.

Don is back at Chez Draper, trudging upstairs alone. He looks in at an angelic Sally, sleeping peacefully. And thinks back again to his childhood. Archie is drinking moonshine in the kitchen, arguing with his wife about his decision. "Fine," he finally says, "fine, I'll sell the crop for nothing. I'll drive it to Chicago tonight." He goes out to the stable, barely able to stand, his wife sending little Dick Whitman after him. In the stable, with thunder and lightning crashing outside, Archie and Dick take some pulls on the moonshine as Archie laughs. Archie starts fiddling with some tack and drops it. He bends over to retrieve it, there's another thunderclap, and the already skittish horse in front of him, now thoroughly spooked, kicks Archie in the face and kills him. Little Dick is horrified.

Back in the moment, Don lies down on Sally's bed next to her.

The next day, Don is taking charge of things at Sterling Coo. Bert and Roger enter his office and we see that Lane is already there. He tells them that their intelligence was correct, and his was not. They start talking about torpedoing the deal and taking over the agency. Though Lane is angry with Powell, he is still a loyal company man. "I should sack the lot of you," he tells them.

Don shoots back: "Go ahead, fire us. It's the only thing you did well here." Taken aback, Lane replies: "I did a great many things here."

And Don has his brainstorm. "Yes, that's right. You have absolute authority to fire anyone. Fire us. Sever our contracts." Then they'll go out on their own. And take the best of the old agency with them.

Lane is resistant, but not very as he sees where things are going, and where they can go.

"Once this sale goes through," Don reminds him, "you'll be a corpse knocking against their hull."

Lane delivers a stock, and rather rote, Britishism: "Nothing good ever came of seeking revenge." "Nonsense," Bert replies. "We'll make you a partner."

Really? Would Lane's name be on the door? Now, you're negotiating, Don notes wryly.

Roger is less than thrilled with another name partner. But Don asks him: "Do you know how to do what he does? I don't." Neither does Roger, or Bert.

So Lane immediately becomes a key conspirator, figuring which accounts they can get right away.

Roger brings Lucky Strike, the client whose absence, incidentally, "can close Sterling Cooper's doors," as Don told Sal Romano when he was fired at the behest of the closeted son of the owner.

Hilton? Don says no. He's not in the mood to deal with Hilton now, and in any event, he wants this new agency put together without Connie's help. Without Connie's help, that is, aside from setting the whole thing in motion.

They'll need some more accounts "for cash flow," Lane says.

Which seems a bit fishy as a plot point, since their overhead is about to vanish.

Lane, checking his watch, says he'll send a telex to London at the end of the day revealing that he has fired Bert Cooper, Roger Sterling, and Don Draper. Which, in these now quaint days of leisurely communication and five-day work weeks, won't be seen till Monday morning. That gives them all of Friday and the weekend to get organized.

"Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency" is a consequential episode.

Anyone who is approached now, Lane notes, must be a certainty. "If news spreads, they'll lock us out."

Don asks, sheepishly: "Do we vote or something." Roger and then the others raise their hands. Lane: "Well, gentlemen, I suppose you've all been fired."

Now they are in scramble mode. They decide to get ahold of Pete Campbell. Why Pete? He's talented. And he's already disgruntled, having been passed over by Lane for head of accounts. Beware yon Cassius, he has a lean and hungry look ...

Don calls Peggy in and essentially tells her that she's leaving with him to work for a new agency.

Peggy balks. "You just assume I'll do what ever you say, just follow you like some nervous poodle."

Don, highly officious, says he won't beg her. Beg? "You haven't even asked. I've had other offers. With sales pitches. Everybody thinks you do my work, even you. I don't want to make a career out of being there for you to kick when you fail."

Don says he guesses he'll have to talk to Curt and Schmitty, notably not mentioning Paul Kinsey. Peggy guesses he's right about that, and leaves his office.

The essential milieu of Mad Men is not all that admirable.

Now we're at Pete and Trudy Campbell's apartment. She laying out stuff, as if for guests, and Pete is wondering where the hell his pajamas are. After all, he has to look sick, since he called in sick in order to interview with Ogilvy.

It's Roger and Don at the door. They've been calling all day, and have decided to come by. Trudy excuses herself and goes in to the bedroom, the better to eavesdrop on the conversation.

Pete asks if everything is okay and they give it to him straight. McCann bought PPL. They're not firing Pete, in fact, they want him as part of a new agency.

"Am I getting a few more adjectives added to my title?" Pete is a tad bitter. After all, he skipped the fantastic wedding the day after the Kennedy assassination.

Hilariously, a voice calls out from the bedroom: "Peter, may I speak to you for a moment?" Pete calms back down.

Roger and Don tell him they're starting a new agency. "We need what's in your saddle bag."

Pete wants to know why they need him, aside from accounts he can bring. Roger replies: "You'll do what it takes."

But that's not what Pete wants to hear, and he doesn't want to hear it from Roger.

So we have the remarkable turnaround of Don Draper singing the praises of the man who tried to blackmail him in season one for the position he's now being offered outright.

Don's fine with it. He's not only politic, but truthful. "It's not hard for me to say. You saw this coming and we didn't. In fact, you've been ahead on a lot of things: Aeronautics, teenagers, the Negro market. We need you to keep us looking forward. I do, anyway."

Pete Campbell, harbinger of the future.

Here's a quick recap of Episode 5.

Pete wants to be a partner. Okay. He wants his name in the lobby. There's not going to be a lobby. Not at first. Later on, they'll see. As Don points out, he's best when he has a goal to work toward.

Pete shows that he has accounts worth $8 million a year in billings. He tries to negotiate some more. Don tells him he doesn't get conditions. They strike the deal, so long as Pete comes through. And shake hands, as Pete explains that he's not really sick after all. Yes, Pete.

Trudy's thrilled, and they whirl about before setting to work. They've turned out to be a very good couple.

Now we see Don and Roger in a darkened bar. It's like season one. They grouse a bit about the temerity of Pete preparing to leave Sterling Coo before they asked him to. Roger notes that the bar still has a picture of Kennedy up. (Get used to that, Roger!) "What are they gonna do, put up Lyndon Johnson?"

Don confides that he needs a lawyer. And Roger reveals that he knows about Henry Francis.

Who?! Don has no idea. He demands that Roger tell him who he is and what he knows about him. Which is not all that, but it's enough. Roger is sorry he said it. "I was gonna tell you. No, I wasn't. I thought you knew. I'm sorry I told you, believe me." He seems sincere. And pleased that they're pals again.

Don is still shocked, shaking his head.

Now Don is back at Chez Draper. It's late, he's drunk, and he's being a rather scary asshole. Jon Hamm, to his credit, doesn't stint on this side of Don when it's called for.

Don roughly wakes Betty, sleeping in the baby's room. "Who the hell is Henry Francis,?" he demands. "No one," she says. Wrong answer.

It gets worse from there.

''Now I'm not good enough for some spoiled Main Line brat!'' ''You're right!'' she fires back.

He manhandles her, roughly pulling her by her nightgown, playing the hulk. It's an ugly scene.

"You're so good and everyone else is bad. You're so hurt. So brave with your little white nose in the air. All along you've been building a life raft. You never forgave me. Forgave that I'm not good enough. You won't get a nickle and I'll take the kids."

"I'm going to Reno," Betty tells him. "You'll consent. Don't threaten me. I know all about you." Don grabs her and calls her a whore. The baby wakes, crying. Betty orders Don out of the hose.

Now Pete is in the elevator at Sterling Cooper, holding a box, looking pensive and not a little worried. The elevator door opens. It's Harry Crane. Pete says he's a little scared. Harry wonders why. Pete asks why he's here. "I don't know. Cooper called me. First they're cleaning carpets, now they're not."

As they walk into the office, Pete calls out ahead of them, "Look, Harry Crane is here." Yes, it's Harry Crane, the luckiest character on the show.

Lane tells Pete to relax, as he is expected. Pete bristles a bit and wonders why Lane, who passed him over for accounts chief, is here.

Bert explains what they are doing to Harry, and that they want him to be head of the media department. As he not infrequently is, Harry is dumbfounded: "You're kidding." "Yes we are," says Roger, "Happy birthday."

A quick recap of Episode 4.

Harry wants to call his wife. Since it's all a big secret, that, however, is not an option. Bert tells Harry that if he turns them down and elects to be "a mid-level cog" in a big corporation, they'll have to lock him inside the storeroom.

He's in!

ThIngs are humming along. The caper is working. But there's one big snag. They don't actually know how the agency's internal management system works, not even Pete or Lane. Roger says he'll make a discreet call and take care of it. Guess who he's calling.

Back at Chez Draper, Don and Betty have a painful talk with their kids in the living room. Bobby asks: "What'd we do?" Nothing. "Then why are we in the living room."

Betty reveals that Don is moving out, but he'll be back to visit. Bobby wants to know if it's because he lost Don's cuff links.

"Is it like when you lived in the hotel?" Yes, says Don. No, says Betty.

"I'm not going," says Don. "I'm just living elsewhere." I see.

Sally sees through this: "That's going, you say things and don't mean it." She's catching on.

Then she asks Betty if she's making Don leave. She says no, they both decided it. Well, not really, Betty. Sally doesn't buy it. As Don tries to reassure her, she storms off. Bobby is holding on to Don, begging him not to leave.

Here's a quick recap of Episode 3.

Betty tears up, face in hands. It's done. And it's over, at last.

Of course, the truth is that Don does leave his kids. Even when he's around.

Now he drops by to see Peggy, who tells him he looks awful.

He sits, but Peggy remains standing and asks if he wants anything. Why, yes, he does.

"You were right," he tells her. He tells her he's taken her for granted and been hard on her because he's seen her as an extension of himself. Which she is not.

It's good, but not good enough, and Peggy thanks him for stopping by.

Still seated, he asks her to sit down.

Why can't he work at McCann Erickson? "Because you can't work for anyone else?" No, he says.

"Because there are people out there who buy things and something happened, something terrible, and the way they saw themselves is gone. Nobody understands that. But you do. And that's very valuable."

Don is referring both to the Kennedy assassination and Peggy's own secret, as well as his own. They are a lot alike.

A quick recap of Episode 2.

Now Don is delivering the sort of pitch that might have worked with Betty. Had he only thought, or cared enough, to spin it up.

"With you or not I'm moving on. I don't know if I can do it alone. Will you help me?"

Peggy chokes up: "What if I say no? You'll never speak to me again."

"No," he says, "I will spend the rest of my life trying to hire you."

Now a great moment for the fans arrives, along with one Joan Holloway as she makes a grand entrance, her last at the old Sterling Cooper. By the time they're done, there won't be much left besides the facade. Which is saying a lot for an advertising agency.

Roger, naturally, called her and she is already all over the case. She's made a list, called the movers, and figured out how to get everything they need to run their new agency.

Don arrives with Peggy. "Joan, what a good idea," he notes with a big smile.

Pete, incidentally, has come through with flying colors. In addition to the promised accounts, he's retrieved -- evidently with Trudy's help -- his father-in-law's Clearasil account. Don is impressed.

They have to get into the art department. They don't have keys. Sadly, Sal Romano has not been hired back, as the client that is the key to their new agency is the reason he was fired. Don kicks the door in. Problem solved.

Roger, Joan and Peggy are working, Roger mock complaining that he can't read Joan's handwriting as she corrects him. "Peggy, can you get me some coffee?" Two beats. "No."

Now they are ready to leave. Don tells Joan that he needs her to get him an apartment. She's not surprised.

Mad Men's third season opener set a strong stage for things to come.

Everyone else has left now. The movers take the stuff out and we're left with Don and Roger -- Butch and Sundance once again -- looking at that great Sterling Cooper set, the latest in mid-century moderne.

Roger wonders: "How long will it take us to be in a place like this again?" Don says he never saw himself in a place like this.

They close the door. Don is about to lock it when Roger tells him not to bother and walks off, leaving Don looking for a last time at the old Sterling Cooper.

It's Monday morning. Don's secretary walks into his office and does a double-take. "We've been robbed!," she cries.

Lane is there, as it happens. He does not want to miss this. After all, he has to be properly informed.

His smarmy assistant, "Moneypenny," gives the phone to Lane. It's St. John Powell in London, his third call already of the morning for Lane.

"What in God's name is going on over there?," he asks. Lane notes that, at this point, it should be very clear.

Now Powell is screaming. "You're fired. You're fired for costing this company millions of pounds. You're fired for insubordination. You're fired for lack of character!"

"Very good," says Lane. "Happy Christmas!" He slams the phone down on his treacherous ex-boss.

All but Lane and Harry are now on site in their new office, a room at the Pierre Hotel. The phone rings, and Joan answers. Look, business already.

"Good morning, Sterling Cooper Draper Price ... Yes, Harry, it's room 435."

Back at the erstwhile Sterling Coo, Ken Cosgrove says that Pete tried to poach the John Deere account over the weekend. Paul Kinsey looks around, sees that Peggy is gone. And he is not. "Damn it."

Trudy brings lunch for the Sterling Cooper Draper Price gang. She's totally into it.

Don shoos Harry out of the bedroom with the promise of food and calls Betty.

He tells her he's not sure where he's going to be staying but he's working out of the Pierre. She receives this news with neutrality.

"Listen, Betts," he tells her, "I want you to know I'm not going to fight you."

Her face does a little moue.

"I hope you get what you always wanted," he tells her.

"You will always be their father," she tells him. They say their goodbyes.

Don comes out of the bedroom. And walks into a rather festive atmosphere. Roger is telling Bert that if you leave your shoes outside the door here -- Cooper's famous requirement for entry into his office -- somebody takes them away and polishes them.

Don may have lost his family, or at least his trophy wife. But he seems to have formed another family, of a sort.

Lane has arrived. Don asks how his morning was. "Very productive," he replies, with a cheshire grin.

And now closing images ...

Betty is on a plane, baby Gene on her lap and Henry by her side, flying to Reno, Nevada. It's "The Biggest Little City in the World," you know.

Sally and Bobby are with Carla at Chez Draper, watching TV on the sofa together. Television, the true hearth in their home, is already dominating the Draper children's lives, as it will kids throughout America from now on.

Don gets out of a cab, grabs his bags, and walks toward what looks like an apartment building.

And Roy Orbison sings while Don heads into his new apartment, "The future is much better than the past."

It's been a tremendous season of this amazing show. I'll actually have more to say about the season, the show, and what may lie ahead, next week.

You can check things during the day on my site, New West Notes ... www.newwestnotes.com.

Christian Serratos Naked: 'Twilight' Star Nude In PETA Ad (PHOTO)

2009-11-09T22:31:31Z

'Twilight' starlet Christian Serratos, 19, is the latest celeb to take her clothes off for PETA. Her TV credits include squeaky-clean shows like 'Hannah Montana,' 'Zoey 101' and '7th Heaven.'

Christian's naked ad debuts in the walk-up to her new movie. 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' opens November 20.

PHOTO:

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Eva Mendes Is Unbuttoned, Braless (PHOTOS, POLL)

2009-11-09T22:30:54Z

Eva Mendes had a buttoned-down look at a screening of her new movie, 'Bad Lieutenant,' Sunday night in NYC.

In the movie, which opens November 20, Mendes plays the love interest of bad cop Nicholas Cage.

PHOTO:

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Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler: William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe

2009-11-09T22:25:06Z

When Sarah and I decided to make a film about our father, we did a Freedom of Information Act request for his FBI file. Six months passed. One morning, without fanfare, a large plain file box arrived filled with thousands of partially blacked-out pages. The first entry was a letter from a concerned citizen in Westchester, New York, written in 1961:

"Gentlemen," the letter begins, "I have some information that may be of interest to you ... We have been having some trouble in our town with housing for Negros ... These Negros all have the same lawyer ... It looks like the same old Commie pattern ... The lawyer's name is William Kunstler."

The letter led us to Paul and Orial Redd, and a chapter of our dad's story that we knew nothing about.

In the 1950s, William Kunstler had a general law practice in New York City and lived on a suburban cul-de-sac in Portchester, New York with his first wife Lotte and their daughters, Karin and Jane. Dad and Lotte became involved with the local chapter of the NAACP and friends with the Redds, who founded the chapter in 1954.

In 1961, Paul and Orial were looking for an apartment in nearby Rye, New York. Their daughter Paula was five years old, and Orial was pregnant. The family was living in a small one-bedroom apartment in a house owned by Orial's uncle.

After being denied an apartment in an all white housing development, the Redds fought back. They enlisted the help of my dad and Lotte, who obtained evidence of the landlord's discriminatory practices by shilling -- Lotte went to an open house posing as a potential tenant and made sure that the apartment was available; the Redds went in immediately afterwards and were told that it was not. Dad and another lawyer named Paul Zuber fought the landlord's discrimination in the courts and through the Westchester Human Rights Commission. Eventually the Redds won their home.

Dad hated racism and dedicated his life to fighting against it. But he also identified as a racist. He taught Sarah and I that as long as we benefited from the privileges that came with our white skin, we were a part of the problem. At school, Sarah and I were taught about the civil rights movement as if it was as a bygone chapter of our history. At home, Dad spoke of the racism he saw every day in the courtroom. Civil rights leaders, he told us, where only honored when they were safely dead. While there were streets named after Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X in cities across this country, scores of black men were rotting in a state or federal prisons.

When Sarah was in the 5th Grade, she interviewed our father for a school report on the transatlantic slave trade. A few years ago, we found an old audio recording of the interview. Sarah asks him about the history of slavery in America, but the conversation quickly moves into the legacy of slavery in the criminal justice system. At one point, Sarah asks Dad if he thinks the courts are racist. He tells her that the courts are a part of the white power structure, and that their function is to put away people of color.

This is what it was like to be William Kunstler's daughters. Dad raised us with a profound sense of injustice in the world, as well as with the understanding that it was our responsibility to stand up against it.

Sarah and I were at the Sundance Film Festival premiering our film, William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe, during the inauguration of President Obama. On Main Street in Park City, Utah, we were dismayed to hear people talking about how the election of a black president meant that we had "moved beyond race." Dad would have been horrified. In a nation that still bears the scars of slavery, civil war, Jim Crow, lynchings, riots, and the assassinations of countless black leaders and activists, racism is alive and well. It doesn't go away when one person of color is elected to higher office, even when that office is the highest in the land. And if we stop talking about it, we ensure that it will never die.

Sarah and I interviewed Paul Redd for our film in September of 2007. He was still living in the same apartment that he had won over forty years before. And much to our surprise, his was still the only black family in the complex. "I remember some lady was telling me that it takes time," He told us. "And I said you want me to wait for something that you've been enjoying all of your life? And it looks like I'm going to die before blacks ever achieve total freedom and equality."

Paul Redd died on January 8, 2009. He was 80 years old. Mr. Redd lived long enough to cast a vote for President Obama, but not long enough to be a part of the dialogue and fight that rages on. That is left to all of us.

Sarah and Emily Kunstler are the directors of William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe, a documentary film about the life of their father, the late radical civil rights lawyer.

William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe opens on Friday, November 13 at Manhattan's Cinema Village (22 East 12th Street between Fifth Avenue and University Place) and at Boston's Landmark Kendall Square (1 Kendall Square), with a national expansion to follow.

For further information, please visit www.disturbingtheuniverse.com.

Dakota Fanning Talks High School, Boys, 'Twilight' (PHOTOS)

2009-11-09T21:32:41Z

Dakota Fanning covers the new Teen Vogue and inside poses for a leggy photo shoot. She also talks about high school, cheer leading, boys and playing Jane the Volturi vampire in 'Twilight: New Moon.' Here are some highlights:

On going to high school (she's a junior at a private school in LA):
"I started there in the ninth grade, and they were pretty receptive to me right away. I really wanted a home base, because I feel like no matter how old people are, they remember homecoming. They remember their senior prom. And I really wanted that."

On her dating experience:
"One boy from my school. I have a small class, so the pool is very limited. Everyone kind of knows everyone."

On costar Kristen Stewart:
"We became really close, like we'd known each other for our whole lives. We talk all the time."

Here's one photo. You can see the rest and read the Teen Vogue interview here.

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Timothy Cooper: Poet Pride: A Charm City Classic on Film

2009-11-09T20:59:35Z

When you think of cities that have produced some of the greatest basketball players to lace up a pair of sneakers, New York and Chicago seem to be at the forefront of the memory banks. But most overlooked is Baltimore, MD, a metropolis that has been a breeding ground of blue chip talent for nearly 50 years. A new basketball documentary, Poet Pride, looks to change this oversight once and for all by taking a look at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. Located in the heart of East Baltimore, this famed institution has produced some of the greatest basketball players in the country; including local legends Allen "Skip" Wise, Kurk Lee and Donta Bright, and national superstars such as Sam Cassell, Tyrone "Muggsy" Bogues and the late Reggie Lewis.

Poet Pride, directed and produced by Dunbar graduates David Manigault, Robert Foster and former NFL player Tommy Polley, is a visual collage of Dunbar alumni sharing their fondest memories of a school and basketball program they love. Some on camera even compare their poet love to the feelings you would have for the Los Angeles Lakers or the Boston Celtics, bearing their school colors of maroon and gold with pride. Founded in 1907 and named after one of the most influential poets of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Dunbar's basketball prowess came to fruition in the 1960's under renowned coach William "Sugar" Cain. Graduates from this era still remember Coach Cain's demand for discipline and respect, instilling in students a school pride that wouldn't waver, even in the turbulent times of the Civil Rights Movement.

The 1970's would be the catalyst for Dunbar's greatness, but the beginning of the decade would also put a temporary smear on the school's image. In 1971, in a game against Baltimore catholic school rival Mount Saint Joseph, a riot broke out that ended up with several people being arrested, including hall of famer and Baltimore Bullet Earl "The Pearl" Monroe. The riot led to the configuration of the Baltimore Catholic League, as most schools refused to let their programs set foot on Dunbar's soil. After receiving their punishment from the Maryland Scholastic Association for the riot, the school would have to play all of its games on the road. But under the direction of Coach Cain and led by the talents of Skip Wise, the Poets would go undefeated.

All of the interviews in the film seem to have one common thread: Skip Wise put Baltimore basketball on the map with his brilliant performance in 1973 against Maryland's nationally-ranked DeMatha High School. Wise would score 39 points, including 22 points in the fourth quarter, on a squad led by legendary Coach Morgan Wootten and NBA great Adrian Dantley. Wise would go on to Clemson University and become the first freshman to win first team all-conference honors in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Drug-related problems would ultimately derail Wise's professional career, but it never diminished the hardwood luminosity he brought to the Dunbar basketball program.

After the retirement of Coach Cain, who died in 1999 at the age of 80, the 1980's brought Coach Robert Wade and his formation of maybe the greatest basketball team in the history of high school basketball. Wade, a former NFL cornerback , went undefeated from 1981-1983 with a team that featured David Wingate, Reggie Williams, Muggsy Bogues and a sixth man in Reggie Lewis. Bogues, who at 5'3 was the shortest player to ever play in the NBA, recalls in the film when he was shot at the age of five in his neighborhood for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This presents the classic paradigm of basketball being a way out for most inner-city youths, especially in a city whose murder rate and drug trade has been the center of television shows such as HBO's The Wire. But Poet Pride presents two sides of this story; for every success story such as Bogues, Sam Cassell and University of Maryland stand out Keith Booth, there are players who never explored their potential by making dire decisions, such as Dunbar stars Charlie Hurt and Terrance "Scooter" Alexander, two men who served time in federal prison for drug-related offenses.

Then there's Reggie Lewis, a Boston Celtics captain who collapsed during a 1993 playoff game that featured his former teammates Bogues and David Wingate playing for the Charlotte Hornets. Later that summer, Lewis died at the age of 27 during a practice game in Waltham, Massachusetts. Many feared that Lewis had met the same drug-infused fate as another Maryland-bred, Boston Celtic draft pick, Len Bias. But Lewis died of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a structural heart defect that is considered one of the most common causes of death in young athletes. Lewis' legacy not only resides on the hallowed ground of Celtic basketball lore, but his contribution to one of high school basketball's greatest dynasties lives on forever.

The 1990's brought a change of direction for Dunbar basketball. Coach Wade would go to become the first African-American coach in the ACC by accepting a position at the University of Maryland. Wade's replacement, Coach Pete Pompey-a 1991-92 USA Today Coach of the Year-would bring the school its last national championship that same year. With the implementation of Proposition 48, which requires a student-athlete to have at least a 2.0 GPA in high school, and after entering the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA), Dunbar went from being a national powerhouse to a state powerhouse. Even though the Poets have won 11 State Championships during their 16 years in the MPSSAA, the media recognition and nationwide grandeur has not compared to the days of old.

Several Dunbar players have seen their success carry over to the college level; such as University of Maryland assistant coach Keith Booth, and the NBA level, with Sam Cassell becoming a three-time title winner with the Houston Rockets and Boston Celtics. Skip Wise now mentors young players in Baltimore, warning them not to make the same mistakes he made during his playing days. Carmelo Anthony and Rudy Gay, Baltimore products who didn't go to Dunbar but have become NBA superstars, reflect in the documentary on the affect Dunbar Basketball has had on every generation to pick up a round ball in Charm City.

After all of the success and banners that the past and present players from Dunbar have accumulated, the most important victory these Poets have netted is the opportunity to share their sagas of tragedy and triumph with us all, through the medium of film.

Poet Pride Trailer:

Lawrence Blair Ph.D.: Oh My God?: "God", a Word for Children?

2009-11-09T20:37:35Z

For the next few weeks, HuffPost will be hosting an array of respondents -- including spiritual leaders, world leaders, personalities and celebrities -- who are asked to fill in the blank to the statement: God is...

The series will lead up to and accompany the November 13 opening of the upcoming documentary Oh My God?

****

God is a word for children.

For the few who grow up, it is deep, private and wordless, and has nothing to do with the schoolyard chatter of conflicting religions. Yet, paradoxically, it is the very young and the very old who know this best.

It is quite possible to practice the 'awareness of the presence of God'. Those who do come to realize that religions too belong largely to words and concepts, where God is not to be found.

Anyone who tells you they know WHO god IS are to be mistrusted.

Remember it's early in history, it's only 2009, and we're all still primitive little savages, oblivious to the effulgence of our own existence.

It is revealing that 'God' is also the most extensively used expletive in the multiple languages of our world. It springs unbidden from our deepest hearts, when we're not 'thinking'.

Thought is the enemy of 'the awareness of the presence of god.'

Knowing is different from thinking, or hoping or having 'faith' in. It's been remarked that 'Belief, surely, in the absence of certainty, is close to lunacy'. The world is full of lunatics.

Not enough of us have practiced, or even considered, the 'a.o.t.p.o.g' to have an opinion on the matter. Those who have know the futility, the pointlessness -- indeed the catastrophic dangers -- of declaring an opinion on the matter. There are religious sects in Asia that maintain it is a blasphemy to even mention the word, because to do so is to confine its meaning such that one obviously hasn't a clue as to what it means. In the Knowledge of the Presence of God there is power beyond words... so why not just shut up and get on with it for God's sake.

Read the previous response, from the film's director Peter Rodger.

Lawrence Blair, Ph.D. is an author, explorer and filmmaker. Brought up in the UK and Mexico, he has been a resident of and expert on Indonesia for the past 35 years. He is currently featured in the documentary Oh My God?.

Wayne Trujillo: The End of Poverty?

2009-11-09T20:02:31Z

Philippe Diaz didn't set out to direct a Hollywood blockbuster with The End of Poverty? He intended to initiate a sober, serious dialogue and suggest a solution rather than merely present an immediate palliative. The film isn't a visual refrain of "We Are the World," projecting a simple but stirring message that excites audiences' heartstrings with an emotive, escalating chorus and a promise of donated proceeds. The End of Poverty? prompts more disturbing emotions and requests greater sacrifices than purchasing a recording or ticket.

The film is a blistering probe into historical and enduring capitalistic manipulation and the type of systemic exploitation and subjugation that most Americans consider ancient past, predating abolition and the Emancipation Proclamation. Central to the film's thesis is an ingrained North/South economic model that Diaz and his experts present as an enduring and odious spillover from colonialism. As described in the film, wealthy American and European interests exploit natural resources, cheap labor and encourage high taxes on labor in the impoverished nations of South America and Africa even as fat cat capitalists are rewarded with subsidies and opportunistic contracts. In colonial times, European explorers came bearing weapons and religion. The film presents contemporary victors often brandishing loans, grants, gunboat diplomacy and a righteous attitude - still disguised as gifts to convert, civilize and exploit.

Assisted by facts, figures, expert opinions and Martin Sheen's narration, the film's abundant scholarship might seem didactic to some. Political prejudice might deter others. But the theme and images running throughout the film cut past any intellectual or political discord. The film has already drawn attacks from conservatives and praise from progressives. But the middle majority is the audience Diaz hopes to convince and spur into action.

In anticipation of the film's theatrical premiere on November 13 at the Village East Cinema in New York, Diaz spoke with me, eager to discuss the film's considerable success and aspirations (it has already appeared at numerous festivals, including Cannes). He is most excited about possibly creating a widespread awareness beyond the intelligentsia. Perhaps even spurring a grassroots effort to banish poverty on par with those committed to curbing global warming. After all, he explained, global poverty is a crisis that rivals global warming, and is equally devastating to the entire planet.

"It's a mathematical issue," Diaz stated. "Not political."

He proves the point by ticking off numbers not of people living in poverty as I expected, but figures more connected to average Americans. The world's population is currently consuming 30 per cent more of the planet's resources than it can replenish. The obvious dangers of poverty, such as fostering terrorism, are noted, but Diaz also offered an even more consuming fact. The earth cannot sustain that rate of consumption. Even more relevant to Americans are the following statistics. Our nation represents barely five per cent of the world's population but consumes greater than 25 per cent of global resources. Compounding our culpability, we are responsible for over 30 per cent of the earth's pollution.

While some Americans might feel stunned or shamed by the numbers revealing our national gluttony, others, as Diaz noted, might excuse the disparities by returning fire - blaming, for instance, high birth rates of third world nations. But, much like the global warming debate, philosophical, political and moral exchanges can't deny that the current economic circumstances is will not only tax but bankrupt the earth's finite resources. According to Diaz' projections, unless we can discover similar planets that are rich in resources and hospitable to life on earth, we are doomed.

Diaz offers no easy solutions. Personal change and commitment are good intentions. An individual can eat less meat, drive less frequently and change light bulbs more frequently. But the overarching problems burdening not only the world's poor, but the earth itself will remain undaunted and unchecked. Poverty's pervasiveness can be overwhelming and Diaz admits feeling powerless, asking, 'What can we do?" Individually, he said, we are without hope. The only possibility of a solution resides in collective shift or, as he said, "a real change in the system."

It's precisely that collective rearrangement of attitudes and awareness that The End of Poverty? attempts to accomplish. The film's title is punctuated by a question mark. Success certainly isn't a foregone conclusion; considering the ingrained mentality and established practices by those dominant political and economic powerhouses benefiting from a lopsided economic and social structure, any meaningful victory over endemic poverty would be more surprising than assured. The effort faces serious obstacles, not the least of which is gaining exposure to enough people to comprise a collective force. With the exception of intermittent sleepers like An Inconvenient Truth, serious documentaries don't ignite people's passions comparable to typical theatrical fare (however ephemeral).

However, the global economic crisis might ease - even amplify - the film's reception. Main Street's current suspicion and resentment of Wall Street machinations has introduced the mainstream, historically naïve and unbothered about macroeconomics principles and practices, into feeling that presence in their immediate lives. The recent economic meltdown awakened average Americans to the intricacies of high finance. Or, at least, some of the negative consequences of unchecked capitalism pursuing the immediate profit. Roused from apathy, the general population might be more receptive to the film's message. Diaz said that the film's experts weren't surprised by the economic fallout last year. Actually, he stated, they predicted it in advance even as the financial markets and ordinary citizens celebrated the boom with extravagant purchases and unrestrained consumption.

The film's greatest asset and liability is its shock value. The stark images of poverty and its accoutrements (hunger, illness and hopelessness) will distance some but Diaz hopes others will confront the problem with a sense of awareness and responsibility. His goal is to "provoke a reaction." And he's succeeding. Dropped mouths and audible gasps are often the audience response followed by exclamations like, "Oh, my God!" and "I had no idea." More encouraging to Diaz are those amazed responses that acknowledge complicity, even if as an unaware accessory. "To feel that I am responsible for that..." is a common comment.

Diaz has reason to be satisfied with the film. The production is impeccable and he managed to backdrop several centuries worth of misdeeds and assorted acts of oppression against today's global economic structure, showing that colonialism died in name only; the ambitions of conquistadors and colonialists endure among global powerhouses in more subtle but equally insidious expressions and practices. Weaving the seemingly disparate eras into a cohesive and cogent explanation of within a 103-minute film is an amazing feat by itself. Facts and figures highlight the theme rather than belabor it. And even the somewhat jarring juxtaposition of erudite Nobel laureates and undernourished, uneducated ghetto and barrio tenants serve to reinforce the film's message. Stated in different vernaculars and languages, the message is the same - deep-seated global economics is perpetuating poverty. Nothing short of widespread awareness and effort on the part of people, both poor and comfortable, will alleviate, let alone end, it. The major motivator today is that, unlike colonial times, the entire world is at risk.

With America embroiled in a national health care debate and at odds over government intervention to alleviate the aftermath of unrestrained capitalism, The End of Poverty? presents the flipside. Third world nations saw resources and services privatized and the wait for medical assistance is often lethal and prices for food and even water prohibitive. Diaz hopes for a Congressional screening of The End of Poverty?, stressing that he will rush to Capital Hill and assume all related expenses for the chance to command lawmakers' attention, even if only for a few hours. Perhaps the time is apropos, as Congress attempts to resolve the health care debate with a bill, for that body to take Diaz' offer seriously. But if that doesn't happen, Diaz will still get the opportunity to screen the film at the United Nations on November 10. And, of course, there is the New York theatrical debut this Friday, followed by Los Angeles and subsequent national release later this month, which will likely abet Diaz' goal of amplify awareness and activism to a problem he equates to global warming - and equally as urgent.

For more information on "The End of Poverty?" visit www.theendofpoverty.com.