Australian “Samson and Delilah” Won Cannes Prize

“A great love story, almost without words” about troubled young love in Alice Springs, directed by australian aboriginal filmmaker Warwick Thorntonwas awarded the prize for best first feature at the Cannes Festival 2009.

“Thank you for believing in our first-born baby,” Thornton said as he accepted the award. “I don’t don’t know what to say. Viva Cannes, viva le cinema.”

“It’s 4am in Alice Springs where the actors come from and neither Marissa nor Rowan have phones,” he said.

“Someone will have to drive to their community, knock on the door and say ‘we won’!”

Thornton said his life had been a Cinderella story, with cinema as his fairy godmother.
“I grew up on the streets of Alice Springs, getting into trouble with the police. I needed direction and somehow I found cinema, or cinema found that direction for me. It saved my life.”

“I’ve got so many more stories to tell, what I believe are beautiful stories, that are fires inside me that I desperately need to show the world.”

It was not initially easy, he said, to find the beauty in a story of dereliction.

“The original story came out of anger at the neglect of our children, not only by the government and wider society, but even by parents. So it came from a dark place. I had to think about it for a year in order to present something that wasn’t angry, where people could just go on a journey
with these children.”

Dating Ideas

Looking romantic dating ideas? Here is romantic dating tips can help you to make your date a roaring success:

1.Dont you know that the oldest tricks is to show the person you date how busy you are. Men or women, both sexes love to date someone who’s rare and outta ordinary. Showing yourself as a busy person makes it seem you are taking time from your busy schedule to meet your date and that’s what makes you special. It’s showing your partner how lucky he/she is to have you there as a date.

The perception will be – if your time is important, you’re important. Simple tricks to do this are – Talking over the phone only for a short time and hanging up first after a conversation; keeping the appointments to some other convenient time of yours( ex: “I’m occupied that day, I can’t make it. If you don’t mind…let’s see…what about Thursday? I’m free then.”) and not calling your date constantly. Never seem too available.

2.Keep yourself busy before your date. Thinking about your date over and over again can complicate the situation and make you goof it all up. Don’t wait all day to attend your date, rather see it as another event that may work out or maybe not.

3.Being punctual is the greatest tip for people of both sexes. Be on time for your date. It’s real bad manners on your part to turn up late and let your date wait anxiously. It makes you seem rude and an insincere person to have a relationship with.

4.You read it right. Be yourself while you date. Making an impression upon your date and be in your best self is okay but trying to be someone else is not. You can never really measure up to your partner’s ideal and even if you do, you can’t manage to do it forever. You’ll only get yourself stuck in a role-playing that will increasingly become difficult and irritating for you. Eventually your partner will see through your deception and be offended by your dishonesty.

5.Men often complain how women can’t take a compliment properly. This is the chance for all you women to prove ‘em wrong. If he tells you that you look lovely in that dress, return his compliment with a simple, “Thank you”. Do not contradict him or go into the details of the dress to justify your beauty for it will be embarrasing, for him as well as for you. Just accept his compliment with grace. It’ll show him that you know you you look great. He’ll appreciate your grace and be impressed with your self-confidence and ease with yourself.

6.Talking about last boyfriend, fiancé or husband is a strict no-no for women on the first few dates. This is because when a woman talks about her ex, men usually assume that she is still bitter and angry about being dumped. Guys don’t like such an emotional baggage and there goes kaput your chances of a second meeting with him.

7.While dating, your partner is bound to ask you some personal questions out of curiosity. Your answers should be brief and to the point. But talking too much about how much of a pest your boss is or why you just can’t patch up with your estranged father can be repulsive to your date. Pouring your heart out is okay, but not early on in a relationship. Your complaints and anguish can make your partner feel that you’re not happy with yourself. How can you make him/her happy then? So, stick to positive subjects while you date.

8.Sharing the same views as your date can be great to win him/her over but that doesn’t mean you have to be servile and say ‘yes’ when you want to say ‘no’. It can flatter your date to an extent but that will soon turn to boredom and irritation when he’she realizes you are impossible to have an intelligent conversation with. Stand firm on issues that are important to you, but don’t contradict just to show you are strong. Also, don’t argue just to prove you’re right. Converse cooly and honestly. You’re going on a date, not a debate.

And finally, never compare your dates in your mind. “Jane is lovely, but Joanna was sweeter or John is charming though Jack was more dashing” is the wrong approach to dating. Remember, going on a date means you’re checking out a person not a product that you can buy. Each person has his/her own specialities and hence, comparing them would be inappropriate. Just give some time to your date and see what type of a person he/she is. The more you know your partner, there are chances of your discovering better things about him/her that you’d probably never have ever dreamt of.

Rare Blue Diamond

A unique vivid blue diamond weighing 7.03 carats had been sold on Tuesday for a record 10.5 million Swiss francs ($9.49 million), this is the highest price paid per carat for any gemstone at auction, Sotheby’s said.

This is the rarest item entered the international market this year, whi is went to an anonymous buyer bidding by telephone after hectic bidding see-sawed between two callers for 15 minutes.

It was the centrepiece of its semi-annual sale in Geneva, conducted by David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby’s jewelry department in Europe and the Middle East, who said the results showed the market’s resilience despite the economic downturn.

“This is already a new world record price for a fancy vivid blue diamond and a new world record per carat for any gemstone (at auction),” Bennett told reporters.

“It is fantastic in this market and shows that these rare things are very much in demand,” he said.