[Perform-talk] O magazine E mail link & other ways to speak out on Saramago's "Blindness"

Tue Nov 11 21:12:12 UTC 2008

Hello Fellow Federationists,

This e mail contains several easy ways to comment on Saramago's 
book/movie "Blindness, several not-so-easy ways and the text of the O 
magazine review of the movie (not yet up on their site at this point).  
Please forward it to whomever you think might help. Thanks,
Donna Hill, Head of Media Relations
Performing Arts Division, National Federation of the Blind
dwhill at epix.net
***
Section 1: Three easy ways to comment
1.  Are you one of the people who gave up on O's crazy online form?  
Here's a way that won't leave you tearing your hair out.  Pat Towers is 
the Features Director for O magazine. E mail Pat at:
ptowers at hearst.com

2.  There's a review of the movie by Maria Realf on Eye for Film.  I've 
already used their Contact option which has a regular e mail link.  I 
received a very thoughtful response from their Content Director Jennie 
Kermote (herself visually impaired) , who has passed my comments on to 
the next person who will review the movie; she also expressed an 
interest in doing a news piece about our concerns.  The review is at:
http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/reviews.php?film_id=15476
To respond via e mail, enter on Contact, there's an e mail link below 
their address. Or, here it is:

eyeforfilm at yahoo.com.
If you're adventurous, they also have a forum for posting questions and 
comments

3.  I would like to write a piece about the reaction of the blind 
community to pitch to various publications.  At the very least, it will 
be posted on Craigslist and as a letter to the editor in our local 
papers.  If you want to go on record in such a piece, I need your name, 
contact info (not to be published), age, city (they always want age and  
location) some general details such as profession, education, reason for 
blindness (only if you're comfortable with this)  and interests.  You 
can e mail me at:
dwhill at epix.net
Don't worry about sprucing up you're comments.  Be candid and I will 
submit whatever I write to you for your approval prior to sending or 
posting it anywhere.

Section 2: Not so easy ways: these are sites with reviews and comment 
forms which have CAPTCHA's, so you should have Firefox 3 and Web Visum.  
I have posted comments in all cases.  If you don't know about Web Visum, 
you need to be refered by a subscriber which I can help with.  It's free 
and the CAPTCHA retrieving tool is the best thing since sliced bread.  
Learn more about Web Visum at:
http://www.webvisum.com

1.  Review  by Rollie on GoSeeAMovie.com.  He responded to my comments 
and I have responded to his response.
http://go-see-a-movie.com/2008/11/10/review-blindness.aspx?ref=rss11/11-08
Comment via online form with Captcha and descriptions below edit fields, 
option to get e mail alerts of replies to your comment.

2. Rollie's review is also posted on the site of the Daily Nebraskan
http://media.www.dailynebraskan.com/media/storage/paper857/news/2008/10/07/Features/blindness.A.Typical.Glimpse.Of.Bleak.Social.Commentary-3473288.shtml
Comment via online form, descriptions above edit fields, CAPTCHA after 
initial submit.  You must register to get e mail alerts.

3. Review of book by Teresa on Shelf Love
http://shelflove.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/blindness-review/
Comment via online form "Leave a Comment" descriptions above and below 
edit fields.

Section 3: Text of O magazine review

[Note: the following was transcribed by our local librarian]

 Block quote

p. 68, 10/08 O Magazine

Housewife Saves the World!

At last, a movie that portrays women's work as a heroic calling

It is a truth universally acknowledged that good actresses in Hollywood 
are in want of good parts, and even the juicy roles are too often 
defined by the

character's connection to a man. She's the wife, the secretary, the 
mistress. She's strictly support staff. So it is with Blindness, adapted 
from Jose

Saramago's novel about a mysterious illness that makes a nation go 
blind. The female characters are ID'd as if they were possessions: the 
Doctor's Wife,

the First Blind Man's Wife, etc. (There's also the Woman with Dark 
Glasses, but that's a euphemism--she's actually the Woman Who Sleeps 
with Men for Money.)

What's startling about Blindness is that for once, the housewife gets to 
be the visionary. Literally: The Doctor's Wife (Julianne Moore) is the 
only one

who's immune to the blinding virus, though she loyally follows her 
husband (Mark Ruffalo) into the quarantine wards, which soon descend 
into squalor and

madness. The Wife starts out as a tippling, flute-voiced homemaker; as 
the situation worsens, her pitch drops, her jaw sets, and a gunmetal 
gleam of resolution

lights up those functioning eyes as she labors doggedly to keep herself 
and her insta-family of fellow detainees from plunging into utter 
depravity. Blindness

conjures a world where an ordinary gal has a uniquely menial kind of 
greatness thrust upon her, where the drudgery of mopping and laundering 
is a noble

calling and procuring groceries is a do-or-die blood sport--a test of 
leadership, in fact. Who would have thought it: women's work as the 
stuff of movie

heroism. --J.W.

-- 

Hilary Caws-Elwitt, Systems & Public Services Librarian

Community Information Network Administrator/Programmer

Susquehanna County Library, 2 Monument Sq, Montrose PA 18801

Phone 570-278-1881 -- Fax 570-278-9336

info at susqcolibrary.org --

http://www.susqcolibrary.org

info at susquehannaCIN.net --

http://www.susquehannaCIN.net

Block quote end 

For my bio & to hear clips from The Last Straw:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/donnahill

Apple I-Tunes

phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=259244374

Performing Arts Division of the National Federation of the Blind
www.padnfb.org

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