The plight of 100 Australians living with Paroxysmal Nocturnal Haemoglobinuria (PNH) – an ultra-rare and life-threatening blood disease – was finally acknowledged by PM Julia Gillard and Health Minister, The Hon. Nicola Roxon MP after representatives of the PNH community attended Question Time in Parliament yesterday(Wednesday, November 17, 2010).

The President and Secretary of the PNH Support Association of Australia (PNHSAA), Ms Linda Charlton and Mrs Jenny Sturrock, were in Canberra this week seeking support for Government-subsidised PNH treatment from Australia’s MPs. Funding for Soliris® – the only effective treatment for PNH – was first recommended by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) in March 2009. However, the Federal Government is yet to approve the subsidy despite a second positive recommendation from the PBAC and 18 months of Government lobbying by the PNHSAA.

Ms Charlton and Ms Sturrock were at last given the opportunity to personally meet separately with Gillard and Roxon yesterday to highlight the importance of affordable access to effective PNH treatment through the Government’s Life Saving Drugs Program(LSDP).

According to Ms Charlton, the subsidy is close, but still out of reach.

“Access to effective PNH treatment has been a long and arduous battle, and in the meantime, Australian lives have hung in the balance.

“The Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the Federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, have personally reassured me that the Government is acting with every urgency to grant the PNH community access to Soliris®,” said Ms Charlton.

“I sincerely hope that the only remaining step of Cabinet Approval is expedited so that the PNH community can receive treatment well before Christmas and look forward to a stable future.

“We plan to continue to work every day until this treatment is funded on the LSDP,” Ms Charlton said.

“The PNHSAA is grateful to all Senators and MPs from various parties who have taken the time to meet with us, and support our campaign.”

Soliris is the only effective treatment for the blood disease which is characterised by abnormal and uncontrolled haemolysis(destruction of red blood cells). The treatment acts to suppress the crippling symptoms and complications associated with PNH, and significantly reduces the risk of premature death.

About PNH
PNH is an ultra-rare and life-threatening disease, affecting just 100 Australians. PNH is characterised by haemolysis, or the destruction of red blood cells, which can cause a variety of major health problems such as the formation of blood clots, high blood pressure and damage or failure of organs such as the brain, liver, gastro-intestinal system and kidneys. Symptoms, including abdominal pain, difficulty swallowing, poor physical function, shortness of breath, erectile dysfunction and crippling fatigue, can interfere with the quality of life of people living with PNH.

PNH develops without warning and can strike men and women of all races, backgrounds and ages. On average, the disease affects people in their mid-30s, however 10 per cent of all people living with PNH start developing symptoms before they’re 21.

PNH often goes unrecognised, with diagnosis sometimes taking more than 10 years. It is estimated that approximately one-third of patients with untreated PNH will die within five years of diagnosis.

About Soliris

Soliris is the only treatment for PNH that reduces the auto-immune destruction of red blood cells.
Soliris stops the immune system by selectively blocking the proteins responsible for the attack, thereby reducing the symptoms associated with the disease and allowing the patient to return to their normal life.

Studies show that Soliris immediately and sustainably reduces the destruction of red blood cells in almost 100 per cent of patients living with PNH. This reduction has been clinically proven to reduce the rate of blood clot formation and the need for blood transfusions, as well as improve energy levels and overall quality of life.

The cost of Soliris to the Government is equivalent to all other medications currently funded under the Commonwealth Government’s Life Saving Drugs Program. PNH sufferers in the US have had access to Soliris since March 2007 and treatment is funded in more than 30 countries worldwide, including Europe, Eastern Europe, Canada and Brazil, and now Australia.

In 2008, Soliris was awarded the most prestigious global award for biological medicines, the Prix Gallien USA Award, by a panel of seven Nobel Prize Laureates.

‘Eat, Pray, Love’ is a movie you should watch only if you want to see Julia Roberts (who plays Liz Gilbert) eating, praying and loving her way through Italy, India and Bali.
Based on a 2006 memoir by the American author, it’s all about her quest for a life balance following the break-up of her marriage.
Liz wants to acquire a renewed zest for life by travelling the world and discovering the power of nourishment, prayer and love.
First she indulges in her love of Italian food and wine and celebrates life with gay abandon.
However, life is a little harder in India as she strives to find spiritual rewards at an ashram. Here she develops a camaraderie with an American (Richard Jenkins) who is filled with remorse.
Finishing her year, Liz arrives in Bali and attains a certain calmness before meeting Felipe (Javier Bardem) who becomes her ‘love’ of the film title.
Director Ryan Murphy (‘Glee’), who co-wrote the film with Jennifer Salt, spends too much time submerging us in the delights of food and landscape.
Poor character development is a flaw that is further drowned in romanticism. Could it be that it was aimed at viewers who would contemplate these destinations for their next holiday?
Even the appeal of Roberts doesn’t save this film.

It is not often that expectations are handsomely rewarded. Such was the case with with the film ‘Red’.

Acronym for Retired and Extremely Dangerous, ‘Red’ gives us a perfect blend of comedy and action.

Jam-packed with older actors led by Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren, this is one film that makes for an entertaining diversion.

Frank Moses (Willis) is a retired CIA operative who is so bored that he strikes up a relationship with Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker), who answers the phone at the pension office.

An assassination target, Frank undertakes what amounts to a cross-country road trip when he picks up Sarah and reassembles his old team that includes Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich) and Victoria (Mirren).

As they try to discover who wants them dead and why, the tangled web of lies and misinformation slowly unravels, all the while doing battle with Agent Cooper (Karl Urban).

Director Robert Schwentke rightly doesn’t interfere much, leaving the ensemble to do their best – and that is the key to its success.

There was no shortage of fist fights, explosions and gun fire (never seen Mirren using such big guns before), but simultaneously the film manages to maintain the comedic timing.

Do also keep a look-out for performances by Richard Dreyfuss, Julian McMahon and 93-year-old Ernest Borgnine.

A must-see film that will surprise from start to finish.

These three films have very different themes. Enjoy!

The Social Network
Outlining the formation and growth of the Facebook site, director David Fincher gives us a spellbinding legal drama that focuses on the youngest billionaire in the world, Mark Zuckerberg, played brilliantly by Jesse Eisenberg.
In 2003, this computer genius and Harvard undergrad used blogging and programming to create a communication revolution.
However, success also brought legal problems.
The film also stars Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Rooney Mara and Bryan Barter.
Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin provides a dramatic take on the increased popularity of the social media site – complete with society’s associated themes that may be unpleasant to some viewers.

Life As We Know It
A light romantic comedy where the chemistry between Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel pays some worthy dividends.
While they are not exactly enamoured of each other, they are forced to find a common ground so they can deal with the joint custody of their friends’ orphaned baby.

The Town
After his astonishing debut with directing ‘Gone Baby Gone’ in 2007, Ben Affleck now directs and stars in this coarse crime thriller that is set in Boston’s bank-robbing fraternity.
The FBI agent on his case is Jon Hamm.
Some engaging action shots, particularly the car chase through the city’s narrow streets, is a great saviour.

One of the world’s most influential jewellery brands – Bulgari – has joined forces with the filmmakers of Asia-Pacific to promote education for children.

Bulgari will present the 2010 Best Children’s Feature Film at the 4th Annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) to be held on December 2 on Australia’s Gold Coast.

Bulgari’s association with the international film industry dates back to the 1950s when stars were frequently seen wearing Bulgari jewels both on and off the sets of Cinecittà. Elizabeth Taylor is known to have quipped that Bulgari was one of the great perks of filming Cleopatra in Rom.

However, it is not La Dolce Vita glamour which brings this iconic jeweller to present the Best Children’s Feature Film, but the plight of the world’s neediest children.

In support of a 2010-2011 pledged commitment of $8 million, Bulgari introduced a silver and ceramic ring to support key education programs for children through global humanitarian organisation Save the Children such as teacher training and the Healing and Education through Art (HEART) program.

Since its inception, the project has attracted many well-known supporters including photographer Fabrizio Ferri and actors Ben Stiller, Jessica Biel, Olivia Wilde, Jason Lewis, Valeria Golino, Isabella Rossellini, Julianne Moore, Toni Collette and Sam Worthington.

Francesco Trapani, Chief Executive Officer of the Bulgari Group, said: “It is with great pleasure that we present the award for Best Children’s Feature Film at the Annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Children are our future and we feel that, not unlike the cinema, education has the power to transform lives. Yet access to a quality education is very limited for the 72 million children of primary school age who are not in school”.

“Supporting teacher training and a program like HEART shows our customers the long-lasting legacy their support creates. A single teacher can educate hundreds of children over many years. A child who grows up in areas of conflict or natural disaster will not be fully equipped to learn and develop until he can address his difficult experiences and can heal emotionally. Both teacher training and the HEART program are two examples of how we can transform the futures of so many children in need.”

Isabella Rossellini, the face of Bulgari’s Save the Children campaign, warmly welcomed the collaboration with the Asia Pacific Screen Awards: “I am a great admirer of Bulgari and have remained connected to the company through the years. I support the fundraising campaign that Bulgari created in support of Save the Children, lending my face, along with many other celebrities, to Fabrizio Ferri who shot us all wearing a silver ring created by the company to raise funds for Save the Children. Our mutual commitment towards the education of the children and our long relationship has brought us together to collaborate on this project, which has been a delightful experience. I am so pleased to see more people across the world join us in our pledge through this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards.”

APSA’s Best Children’s Feature Film category is open to films suitable for a young audience up to the age of 16 or films that reveal the world through the perspective of a child character.

APSA chairman Des Power said: “Each year, the films in this category open our eyes to the experiences of children across Asia-Pacific, many of whom are affected by conflict and natural disaster. We are deeply honoured to embark on this partnership with Bulgari to assist in creating awareness about educating children in need”.

“Creativity is a powerful force which often lies at the heart of instigating positive social outcomes for the future. The ideas at the foundation of the HEART program are ideas shared by APSA and our partners UNESCO and FIAPF. My hope is that through APSA and Bulgari, this year’s Nominees and Jury will take the Save the Children message back to their own countries and that together, we can affect some change for the future.”

The Asia Pacific Screen Awards are the highest accolade in film for the Asia-Pacific region.
Nominees from across Asia-Pacific representing the 31 nominated films will arrive on the Gold Coast ahead of the APSA ceremony on December 2.

Winners are determined by an international jury headed this year by Jury President, Lord David Puttnam (Chariots of Fire, The Mission).

Nominees and members of the jury will be encouraged to wear their Save The Children rings as a sign of support during the awards ceremony and three days of activities taking place in the lead-up to the event.

2010 nominees for Best Children’s Feature Film, presented by Bulgari, are:

Boy – New Zealand
Produced by Ainsley Gardiner, Cliff Curtis and Emanuel Micheal. Co-produced by Merata Mita.

Bran Nue Dae – Australia
Produced by Robyn Kershaw and Graeme Isaac.

Shui Yuet Sun Tau (Echoes of the Rainbow) – Hong Kong (People’s Republic of China)
Produced by Mabel Cheung. Co-produced by Candy Leung.

Digari (The Other) – Islamic Republic of Iran
Produced by Mohammad Ali Najafi.

Udaan – India
Produced by Sanjay Singh, Anurag Kashyap and Ronnie Screwvala. Co-produced by Aarti Bajaj, Zarina Mehta, Deven Khote and Siddarth Roy Kapur.

The fourth annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards will be held on Australia’s Gold Coast next month when nominees and international screen industry guests will gather to honour the outstanding works of the Asia-Pacific.

Thirty-one documentary, animated, children’s and feature films from 15 countries and areas have been nominated for Asia-Pacific’s highest accolade in film with Best Feature nominees from Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Turkey and the People’s Republic of China.

Tangshan dadizheng (Aftershock), from the People’s Republic of China, has received a record six nominations in the 2010 Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA), unanimously praised by the APSA Nominations Council for its ability to deftly balance a large scale epic story with the intimate drama of one family dealing with the aftermath of the devastating 1976 Tangshan earthquake that took the lives of 240,000 people.

Tangshan dadizheng (Aftershock), the highest grossing domestic film of all time in China, has been nominated for Best Feature Film, Achievement in Directing, Achievement in Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Best Performance by an Actor and Best Performance by an Actress. Tangshan dadizheng (Aftershock) was directed by Feng Xiaogang.

Winners in the fourth annual APSAs will be determined by an International Jury headed by Academy Award-winning producer Lord David Puttnam and announced at a Ceremony on Australia’s Gold Coast on December 2. These awards, an initiative of the Queensland Government, Australia in unique collaboration with UNESCO and FIAPF-International Federation of Film Producers Associations – acclaim films from 70 countries and areas; one third of the earth; and half the world’s film output. Films are judged on cinematic excellence and the way in which they attest to their cultural origins. A total of 239 films were entered in the competition by Official Submitting Organisations from the region and by invitation from the APSA Nominations Council and APSA Chairman.

The second most nominated film in the 2010 APSAs is Shi (Poetry, Republic of Korea), written and directed by Lee Chang-dong, which has received four nominations: Best Feature Film, Achievement in Directing, Best Screenplay and Best Performance by an Actress for Yun Jung-hee. Lee Chang-dong accepted the Award for Best Feature Film in the inaugural 2007 Asia Pacific Screen Awards for Miryang (Secret Sunshine), which also received the Best Performance by an Actress Award for Jeon Do-yeon. Chang-dong’s brother Lee Joon-dong is the producer of Shi (Poetry) and he also produced, along with Chang-dong, 2009 APSA Winner Ya Haeng Ja (A Brand New Life). Shi (Poetry) was in Official Competition at the 2010 Cannes International Film Festival where Lee Chang-dong won the Best Screenplay award for the film.

Mengjia (Monga), the stylish gangster film and box office success from Taiwan, directed by Doze Niu Chen-zer and produced by Lee Lieh and Doze Niu Chen-zer, has received three nominations: Best Feature Film, Achievement in Directing and Achievement in Cinematography. Bal (Honey), from Turkey, directed and produced by Semih Kaplanoðlu, has also received three nominations: Best Feature Film, Achievement in Directing and Achievement in Cinematography. Winner of the Golden Bear Award at the 2010 Berlinale, Bal (Honey) is the third film in Kaplanoðlu’s Yusuf Trilogy. The final nominee in the Best Feature Film category is Paju from the Republic of Korea, also nominated for Best Performance by an Actress for Seo Woo. Paju is directed by one of Korea’s most notable female filmmakers, Park Chan-Ok, and produced by Kim Ju-kyung and Lee Eun.

Several of the nominees were also recently selected as official country submissions for the Best Foreign Language category in the 83rd Academy Awards including: Shui Yuet Sun Tau (Echoes of the Rainbow) representing Hong Kong; The Human Resources Manager representing Israel; Mengjia (Monga) representing Taiwan; Bal (Honey) representing Turkey; and Tangshan dadizheng (Aftershock) representing China.

The 2010 Nominees are automatically inducted into the Academy of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards making them eligible to apply for the MPA APSA Academy Film Fund, a new US$100,000 script development fund supported by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and available exclusively to Academy members. The film fund submission period closed on October 29 and the fund’s inaugural recipients will be announced at the APSA ceremony on December 2.

Led by Patron Jack Thompson, the Academy is a growing body of the region’s most influential names in film including past APSA nominees, International Jury and Nominations Council members.

Angel’s frontman, Neeson will be playing all of his favourite blues numbers as well as liberal helping of Angel’s classics and with Eastick joining Doc’s band for one night only; this will be one show not to be missed.

Held annually on the second weekend of February in the Southern New South Wales city, the festival features over 50 free entry and ticketed events across the weekend with the Australian Blues Music Awards announced on Thursday night and markets in the park on Saturday. The 2011 dates are Thursday 10th – Sunday 13th February.

Confirmed for 2011 are ARIA winners Collard Greens & Gravy, Boogie-Woogie Piano Queen, Jan Preston, guitar-maestro and 2010 Australian Blues Awards Male-vocalist of the year and Album of the Year winner Ray Beadle. As well, Female Vocalist of the Year Cath Butler will make the trip south along with fellow-Brisbane acts Blind Lemon, Morningside Fats, Asa Broomhall and The Dillon James Band.

Pugsley Buzzard, Diana Wolfe & The Black Sheep, The Lemon Squeezin’ Daddies, Dreamboogie, Shaun Kirk, 19Twenty, Luke Watt, Richard Perso & Matt Southon, Eli Wolfe and Halfway to Forth will also make the trip to Goulburn with several more still to be announced.

Buskers have not been forgotten, with a Buskers Competition running on Friday and Saturday. The winner will be offered a paid spot on the following year’s festival.

For more information, accommodation contacts and ticket sales go to the festival website www.australianbluesfestival.com.au

All books have been published through Blurb, which allows everyday Australians to turn their content into professional quality books.
It’s a little known fact that the National Library requires a copy of all publically-published Australian books, as part of the Copyright Act, whether they have an ISBN or not.

Blurb asked its Australian bookmakers to nominate their books to be sent to the National Library of Australia; the first 100 people to respond had their book reprinted. All 100 books were delivered on the 3rd of November.

The call out from Blurb, revealed the true creativity of Australian self-publishers, with a range of books from a personal 365-day photo project, an amateur Graffiti of Melbourne collection, a travel guide of New York, through to a recipe book written by a 13 year old inspired by the traditional meals of her family.

Je toto lokální, nebo národní zvyk? was produced during a five month artist-in-residence program at the Meet Factory in Prague, Czech Republic from November 2007 to April 2008. The Inexperienced Guide by Peter Fitzpatrick documents this series. Peter is a photomedia artist and lecturer at ANU.

Self-published titles are becoming increasingly popular as the technology opens up book-publishing to everyone – Blurb is seeing the creation of thousands of books yearly by Australians alone.

The Library welcomed the delivery and encourages all self-published authors to forward a copy of their book, with a return address for receipt confirmation to:
Legal Deposit Unit
National Library of Australia
Canberra ACT 2600

About Blurb
Blurb, is a creative publishing platform that enables anyone to design, publish, share and sell book store quality books. It’s easy. Just check out au.blurb.com and you’ll find all the tools you need, whether you’re a beginner or experienced creative professional. Make a softcover or hardcover book and choose from a wide range of book sizes and cover options. Order one book or many – volume discounts apply. Share your book or sell it in the Blurb bookstore. You set the price and keep 100% of the profits. Blurb also makes it simple to get the word out with free online promotion tools from badges to BookShow, our online book preview widget that lets friends and fans flip through a digital copy of your book on your website, blog, or Facebook page. Blurb is a company and a community that believes passionately in the power of books: making, reading, sharing, and selling them. We’re thrilled to help celebrate the diverse creativity and inspiration that our bookmakers represent.

In Cambodia a child dies every 20 seconds due to water borne diseases; only $5 can provide clean and safe drinking water for one person for life!

In the words of the wise Master Oogway “yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery, today is a gift that is why it is called the present.” If today is a gift for us, how awesome would it be if we could make it a gift for someone else? It only costs $700 to buy a well for a village in Cambodia and we wanna put together enough money for one or two wells.

SO – since we have such a multi-cultural city, we wanna get together and share food and company. If you like bring a dish to share that comes from your cultural background (size and amount is unimportant – we just wanna have fun) or your own lunch and a gold coin donation for those that need fresh/clean water.

We do not represent any organization – all we are is a group of girls who want to help out however we can! We would like to able to give the gifts collected at Yummy Cultures to the ACC International Relief that can send it to those in Cambodia responsible for purchasing the well.

We do not want to take any more than $10 from one person. This is about putting a gold coin filled with your patience, kindness and love and send them to support a good cause! Simultaneously, you could write down a message to encourage those people for they have to face a really tough life. We will send this messages and donations together to Cambodia.

Hi it is me Nicholas Baker how are you doing

Book Title: ‘Leonard Maltin’s 2011 Movie Guide’
Publisher: Penguin Books
Pages: 1643
RRP: $24.95
Reviewer: Rama Gaind

With hundreds of new films being released every year, making an informed decision is not easy. That’s when you turn to the expert: Leonard Maltin.

For more than four decades he has helped moviegoers to make knowledgeable choices.

Even browsing the seemingly endless selection of films on DVD can turn out to be an overwhelming task.

Not any more. ‘Leonard Maltin’s 2011 Movie Guide’ is a authoritative source of information. Once again, this comprehensive compilation is indispensable.

As “discovering a good movie is a joy” for Leonard Maltin, sharing all the features is equally pleasant. He loves watching old and new films and sharing his thoughts and discoveries.

He says: “Researching movies, both good and bad, is a challenge . and it never seems to get easier in spite of all the resources of the internet”.

It matters to Leonard Maltin that the quality of films is chronicled and reviewed. And it shows in this edition.

He is happy that studios are now responding to the “wants and needs of individuals” and this means that good movies will find their way into homes of devotees.

This thick publication is packed with information. In addition to more than 17,000 capsule reviews and information including date of release, running time and rating, the 2011 edition also includes more than 300 new entries, an updated index of actors and directors and Leonard’s personal recommendations.

There’s also old and new theatrical releases, reviews of little known sleepers, foreign films, rarities and classics, a widescreen glossary, mail order and online source for home video and his movie list that favours offbeat films.

Check out these worthwhile films: ‘Five Minutes of Heaven’, ‘Summer Hours’, ‘That Evening Sun’, ‘In the Loop’ and ‘City Island’. There’s more too.

While readers send in useful corrections and suggestions, it’s the input by his hard-working wife, Alice, and daughter, Jessica, along with many friends and colleagues that has made this book a success.

This book is a must for all film buffs – and also for those who are not.

Catalogue releases from Madman Entertainment have fared well in nominations for the 2010 Samsung Mobile AFI Awards.

There was a clean sweep of nods for ‘Animal Kingdom’, along with a number of other Madman and SBS DVD releases.

‘Animal Kingdom’ has taken out a total of 18 nominations across all major feature film categories – a record achievement.

The award nominations list is:
– AFI Member’s Choice Award – ‘Animal Kingdom’
– Best Film – ‘Animal Kingdom’
– Best Direction – David Michôd
– Best Lead Actor – James Frecheville
– Best Lead Actor – Ben Mendelsohn
– Best Lead Actress – Jacki Weaver
– Best Supporting Actor -Joel Edgerton
– Best Supporting Actor – Guy Pearce
– Best Supporting Actor – Sullivan Stapleton
– Best Supporting Actress – Laura Wheelwright
– Best Original Screenplay – David Michôd
– Best Cinematography – Adam Arkapaw
– Best Editing – Luke Doolan
– Best Sound – Sam Petty, Rob Mackenzie, Phillipe Decrausaz
– Best Original Music Score – Antony Partos, Sam Petty
– Best Production Design – Jo Ford
– Best Costume Design – Cappi Ireland
– AFI Young Actor Award – James Frecheville

Madman and SBS DVD catalogue titles have also received several nominations across the television, non-feature film and additional nominee categories.

The list of award nominations for these titles is:
– Best Children’s Television Animation – ‘Dirtgirlworld’, ABC1
– Best Short Animation – ‘The Lost Thing’, Sophie Byrne, Andrew Ruhemann, Shaun Tan
– Best Television Comedy Series – ‘Wilfred II’, SBS
– Best Screenplay in Television – ‘Wilfred II’, Episode 7 ‘Dog Star’ by Jason Gann and Adam Zwar, SBS
– Best Performance in a Comedy Series – Jason Gann
– Best Television Drama Series – ‘The Circuit’ – Series 2
– Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama – Aaron Pederson, ‘The Circuit’ – Series 2
– Best Guest or Supporting Actor in a Television Drama – John Waters, ‘Offspring’, Network Ten
– Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama – Deborah Mailman, ‘Offspring’, Network Ten
– Best Documentary Series – ‘Liberal Rule’, SBS

The 2010 AFI Awards winners will be announced at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne on December 10 and 11.

The ceremony will be hosted by Shane Jacobson (‘Kenny’).