César Awards 2010

Jacques Audiard's Un prophète (predictably) swept the Césars today, taking home nine awards including Meilleur film (Best Film), Réalisateur (Director) and Scénario original (Original Screenplay). Its heartthrob star Tahar Rahim, already quite the celebrity in France despite appearing in just one film, won two awards for Meilleur acteur (Best Actor) and Meilleur espoir masculin (Best Male Newcomer). Emmanuelle Devos, who starred in Audiard's last two films (and is easily one of the finest actresses in the business), won the Supporting Actress prize for Xavier Giannoli's À l'origine. Radu Mihăileanu's Le concert was the only other film to win in more than one category (for Music and Sound Design). Clint Eastwood was (again predictably) the winner in the Film étranger (Foreign Film) category for Gran Torino. The big winners are below; the full list of winners is here (in French); the nominees can be found here.

Meilleur film [Best Film]: Un prophète [A Prophet], d. Jacques Audiard
Meilleur réalisateur [Best Director]: Jacques Audiard, Un prophète
Meilleur premier film [Best First Film]: Les beaux gosses [The French Kissers], d. Riad Sattouf
Meilleur film étranger [Best Foreign Film]: Gran Torino, d. Clint Eastwood, USA
Meilleur film documentaire [Best Documentary]: L'enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot [Henri-George Clouzot's Inferno], d. Serge Bromberg, Ruxandra Medrea
Meilleur acteur [Best Actor]: Tahar Rahim, Un prophète
Meilleure actrice [Best Actress]: Isabelle Adjani, La journée de la jupe [Skirt Day]
Meilleur acteur dans un second rôle [Supporting Actor]: Niels Arestrup, Un prophète
Meilleure actrice dans un second rôle [Supporting Actress]: Emmanuelle Devos, À l'origine [In the Beginning]
Meilleur espoir masculin [Best Male Newcomer]: Tahar Rahim, Un prophète
Meilleur espoir féminin [Best Female Newcomer]: Mélanie Thierry, Le dernier pour la route [One for the Road]
Meilleur scénario original [Original Screenplay]: Un prophète - Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Abdel Raouf Dafri, Nicolas Peufaillit
Meilleur scénario adaptation [Adapted Screenplay]: Mademoiselle Chambon - Stéphane Brizé, Florence Vignon
Meilleure photographie [Best Cinematography]: Stéphane Fontaine, Un prophète

Costco's Pesach Ad in the AJN

The most recent issue of AJN has a full-page ad from Costco Wholesale urging us to "stack up the savings for Pesach" by shopping with them. The impression of the accompanying picture is that it is tempting us with an assortment of Costco's Pesach items.
While this may not been the aim of the ad, it would have made sense to advise Costco that Vegemite and peanut butter are definitely off the menu during Pesach.

No doubt had there been someone at the AJN who had known this, they would have advised Costco accordingly. Sad.

Show Them The Money

LOSER SCAMMER FAILURE BULLY

Shocked? For sure. STUPID? Most def!

I'm not the only one dying of suspense here....waiting for the foreclosure and eviction outcome for the Karin Upton Baker family. (I Google her everyday waiting patiently with the rest of Sydney for news)
The shiteous Australian papers have not yet followed up with fresh blood words on Karin Upton Baker and the possibility that she and her family may be thrown out of her Elizabeth Bay mansion over a skyrocketing yet to be paid debt.
I have a feeling Karin will somehow miraculously survive this intact.....
Rich people like Karin and he uber loser husband "property developer" Gary Baker always seem to survive.
I like Karin and I hope she recovers from this. I really do.
But I also lost most of my respect for her after she played the "me just wifey, me so dumb"card.
Loser move Karin.
You worked so hard and now we all just think you're a Tupperware wife.
Led on a chain by your husband.
Not at all a high powered executive I once thought you were.

DVD Release Update, 25 February

Included in this DVD update are Catherine Breillat's Bluebeard from Strand, a bunch of Robin Hood films from Sony, Tony Manero from Kino Lorber, Alain Cavalier's Le combat dans l'île from Zeitgeist and Jean Becker's One Deadly Summer [L'été meurtrier] with Isabelle Adjani from a studio I've never heard of called Bayview Films.

- Legend of Witches, 1969, d. Malcolm Leigh, VCI, 27 April
- Malice in Wonderland, 2009, d. Simon Fellows, Magnolia, 27 April, w. Maggie Grace, Danny Dyer, Nathaniel Parker
- 9 to 5: Days in Porn, 2008, d. Jens Hoffman, Strand Releasing, 4 May, w. Sasha Grey
- The Bandit of Sherwood Forest, 1946, d. Henry Levin, George Sherman, Sony, 11 May
- Legend of the Tsunami Warrior [aka Queens of Langkasuka], 2008, d. Nonzee Nimibutr, Magnet/Magnolia, also on Blu-ray, 11 May
- One Deadly Summer [L'été meurtrier], 1983, d. Jean Becker, Bayview Films, 11 May
- The Prince of Thieves, 1948, d. Howard Bretherton, Sony, 11 May
- Rogues of Sherwood Forest, 1950, d. Gordon Douglas, Sony, 11 May
- Sword of Sherwood Forest, 1960, d. Terence Fisher, Sony, 11 May
- Tidal Wave, 2009, d. Yun Je-gyun, Magnet/Magnolia, also on Blu-ray, 11 May
- Iscariot, 2008, d. Miko Lazic, Brink DVD, 18 May, w. Gustaf Skarsgård, Michael Nyqvist
- North Face [Nordwand], 2008, d. Philipp Stölzl, Music Box Films, 18 May, w. Benno Fürmann
- Southern Gothic, 2007, d. Mark Young, IFC Films, 18 May
- Tony Manero, 2008, d. Pablo Larraín, Kino Lorber, 18 May
- Toe to Toe, 2009, d. Emily Abt, Strand Releasing, 8 June
- Antarctica, 2008, d. Yair Hochner, Here! Films, 15 June
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Volume 7, 2009, d. Matt Maiellaro, Dave Willis, Warner, 15 June
- Sex Positive, 2008, d. Daryl Wein, Here! Films, 15 June
- Bluebeard [Barbe bleue], 2009, d. Catherine Breillat, Strand Releasing, 22 June
- Le combat dans l'île, 1962, d. Alain Cavalier, Zeitgeist, 22 June, w. Romy Schneider, Jean-Louis Trintignant
- Raging Sun, Raging Sky [Rabioso sol, rabioso cielo], 2009, d. Julián Hernández, TLA Releasing, 22 June
- Say Hello to Yesterday, 1971, d. Alvin Rakoff, Scorpion Releasing, 28 June, w. Jean Simmons, Leonard Whiting

Also on the Blu-ray front are individual releases of some of the Mel Brooks titles included in the box set released last year: High Anxiety, History of the World: Part 1 and Robin Hood: Men in Tights on 11 May. Individual releases of Batman Returns, Batman Forever and (cough) Batman & Robin will also be available from Warner on 4 May.

- Apollo 13, 1995, d. Ron Howard, Universal, 13 April
- Elizabeth, 1998, d. Shekhar Kapur, Universal, 27 April
- Elizabeth: The Golden Age, 2007, d. Shekhar Kapur, Universal, 27 April
- Flashbacks of a Fool, 2008, d. Baillie Walsh, Anchor Bay, 25 May
- Spartacus, 1960, d. Stanley Kubrick, Universal, 25 May

Alice In Wonderland Palette Is FINALLY HERE!!!

OMG!!! I'm so thrilled and excited to receive the parcel from Debenhams as I knew what's inside. And boy was I trembling when I cut open the packages.

I can't even take proper photos on my own due to the extreme light headed feeling that I had to ask my boyfriend to hold the DSLR. (I'm still an amateur in photography using the DSLR as I find it quite tough learn with all the functions and buttons)

But anyway, I absolutely love what I'd got and the packaging (which is 5* out of 5) is superbly gorgeous. I haven't do any swatches yet as I would most probably swipe the pigmentation with my fingers and they aren't exactly what I'd call clean.

And £28 is definitely well worth money (even before trying it).

I think Alice In Wonderland Palette will be released in store (Debenhams UK) tomorrow . So maybe you might wanna check it out.

Glen Eira Jewish councillors (bar one) vote against Jewish school

AJN Watch's reporter at the Glen Eira council meeting this week was extremely disappointed seeing that despite council officials positive recommendations, the (Jewish) mayor and most (including Jewish) councillors opposing the application for Yesodei Hatorah College to build in Regent Street, Elsternwick.

The only councillors who voted in favour were the always-reliable communal stalwart Michael Lipschutz and newcomer Frank Penhalluriack. The Jewish community should remember this at the next  Council elections.

The Yesodei school serves an important segment of our community - nearly all who live in that area's vicinity. They need a new home and this location is for them a rare find. There simply aren't any other suitable building blocks in our areas.

Meanwhile Caulfield Grammar School with its approx 1000 students - most who do not live anywhere near this area - are granted every permit and assistance for expansion - by the very same council. Driving past there for the past decade or so, there has rarely been a time that they haven't been adding new buildings. They are currently putting up another huge edifice - right on their Glen Eira Road boundary. No doubt this will allow them to enroll another few hundred students from all over Victoria, the other states and even overseas. And good luck to them. But why is it that allowing a small Jewish school only a few hundred feet away cannot be tolerated.

Shame Glen Eira Council. Shame.
No doubt this case will end up at VCAT, where we wish Yesodei much Hatzlacha.

See Pages 4-23

Here's the report in the Herald-Sun -
followed by some of the comments on their website:

From Mary Walsh's blog Glen Eira Residents Opinions
(See previous post about her here.)
No prizes on guessing what her opinion is about another Jewish school in the area...
46 Regent Street, Elsternwick

In a rare burst of enlightenment last night, I appreciated the benefit of informed Councillors.
Item 9.1 at last nights Council Meeting was the proposal for a school (Yesodei Ha Torah College) to be built within a narrow suburban street, where once an aged care facility operated.

The Municipal Strategy Statement provided for Institutional and Non Residential Uses in Residential Areas, which was entirely suitable for a passive aged care facility but certainly absolutely a misplaced choice for a school. Not too much traffic visits the elderly but a school is incessant!
A school with a maximum enrolment of 325 boy students. In a community where families can have six children quite often, I believe this figure would (attempt) have been pushed upwards very quickly.

In a suburban street, the operators want to open for business from 7 am to 6 pm (core times) and I think I heard six days a week mentioned!! One only has to see the congestion a throng of 75 kids can make to understand the 88 objectors feelings as their 'castle' space is threatened by invasion of the constant noise and traffic such a busy school would entail! Only a matter of time before the parking up and down the local streets would be on restricted time zones to cater for the put down, pick up daily hassle.
Easy access for buses on school excursions, emergency vehicles, and evacuations must also be considered. And what of playing fields for burning up excessive energy and keeping physically fit?

Then there is the after hours activities throughout the school year compounding the loss of serenity for nearby residents to have space on the surrounding streets to do a bit of private entertainment themselves like the odd family BBQ.
I was appalled that the Council Officers would have made the recommendation to proceed with the proposed project. History has shown that undertakings given to appease residents' anger about noise in other facilities has not necessarily been forthcoming once Council gives them the nod. Over a number of years Council has dealt with complaints from similar establishments and with the residents invariably ending up the losers.
Mayor Tang's outrage at allegations of bias from pseudo secular parties is because that is their experience in dealing with Council business - and is not something he could actually blame me for!! (changing the wording of the Community Grants Funding Guidelines to suitably encompassing narrow interest groups was one such cynical observation I've made! Residents just can't win!)

For those who try to tell us that 60% (195) of the kids will walk to school because they live with a 1.6 km radius of the proposed school. That's today perhaps! but what about within the next ten years??.
From outside the overcrowded Council Chambers, I think the vote to reject the development of the school was 7 against, 2 for. Couldn't hear arguments for and against because of the noise of the gallery, but Cr Whiteside came across loud and clear!
The Councillors definitely got that one right!


Comments
Observer said...
"I was appalled that the Council Officers would have made the recommendation to proceed with the proposed project". Dead right!! But once again Mary, you've failed to see the wood for the trees! The recommendation for approval had to be made given the strictures of Glen Eira's current planning scheme. It is, has been, and remains a total shemozzle. Even worse, it's a disaster. Once parameters are set then officers are bound to work within those parameters. They are handcuffed to the inadequacies and shortcomings of the MSS. So if you're looking for who is responsible, the answer can only be the CEO and his handpicked men. Start asking some real questions for a change. Ask yourself why in Newton's reign is Glen Eira without structure plans? Why hasn't there been real involvement by the community in the reviewing, planning, and implementation of the MSS as other councils do? Who benefits from such shoddy piecemeal approaches if not developers? Is this the kind of long term vision that will meet the needs of your kids and their kids?

The three recommendations at last night's meeting should never have seen the light of day. Yes, congratulations to councillors for voting them down. But hey, it also shouldn't take an overflowing gallery of angry, angry, residents to make them see the shortcomings. They must go back to the drawing board and come up with an MSS that does the job it is intended to do. The first step is to lay the blame where it belongs - at Newton's feet. Thus, councillors will only be doing their job if they elect a CEO who suits the community. The past decade in planning alone is another instance of how this man has failed to meet those needs and aspirations.

Stella said...
The Mote in Lipshutz Eye

Last night council meeting sure showed the narrowness of the debate on wether on the proposed Regent St School should proceed. It was knocked back, but for the wrong reasons.

I would have though that a school for children should provide a fair amount of open space for the kids to run and play for starters This development resembled a a 1960’s block of flats not a school. Where were the places to run play and get sunlight? Of course none of this entered the debate. It was traffic traffic and traffic, no one seemed to care for the poor little boys that were going to be condemned to this confined area for a significant part of there life. This would have been a nightmare for me as a child, I needed room to move, and judging from the others kids around me, so did they. How desperate are people to think this development is the best they can do for their children.

“That aside” Cr. Lipschutz once again showed his intractable support for all thing Jewish with stupid statements.

The most ill thought garbage to spill from his mouth was “some residents said Regent street said it was a peaceful street with only moderate traffic, whilst other residents said the street already had too much traffic and was noisy”

Lipschutz said, “Regent Street could not be both things it had to be one or the other” What nonsense.

He used this trumped up divide in supposed logic to condemn the residents as bunch of hysterical ratbags, that did not deserve consideration and punished them by doing what he was always going to do away, he voted for the development to proceed.

Well Cr. Lipshutz “to big” “to small” “to busy” “to colourful” “to crowded” “to long” “to short” to noisy “ “to quiet” “to beautiful” “to ugly” ALL SUBJECTIVE, Cr. Lipschutz. All people perceptions are based on that’s person experiences. What is quiet to someone that’s hard of hearing maybe noisy to someone with good hearing etc. Someone that lived on a main road and just moved into Regent Street may find it tranquil, whilst someone moving into Regent Street from beyond Burketown may find it noisy. Regent Street can and is perceived differently by all its residents, young and old.

How xenophobic is he that everyone has to be singing off the same songbook, the same words, the same key, and all must be reverent too, and just one slip and you’re all condemned.

Cr. Lipshutz tunnel vision of the world is breathe takingly narrow and self justifyingly arrogant, He stood up on his hind-legs and belittle the gallery and other residents with his own ignorance. It didn’t work he looked sheepish and weak and he could hide his predetermined outcome he wanted school at all costs. He knows where his votes come from and here was the payback.

A Nice Friends Gathering

Its been a long time since I went out to have some food with Yoong's friends. Well, saving up money is my utmost priority and laziness is totally conquering my body thus the non-existence gathering for the pass few months

So we had a sort-of fine dining experience before the New Year (yes, this story is so yesteryear that I think I'd silver hair growing on my head).

I can't quite remember what's the name of the restaurant, but a very special thanks Jeng Haw, Jay, Caryn, Tyng Hwei, Chia Ling and Jia Li for inviting us along.

I had Grilled Sea Bass and Yoong had pasta. Actually, we didn't quite enjoy the food too much as I don't eat onion/olives (unfortunately there were tons in mine) and Yoong didn't like his sauce too diluted.

But anyway, we had a great time with all of them. So special thanks.

White Material, Making Plans for Lena and Rompecabezas at IFC

Though I didn't find any official announcements of such, it looks as if Claire Denis' White Material and Christophe Honoré's Making Plans for Lena [Non ma fille, tu n'iras pas danser] have landed at IFC Films. BAMcinématek is presenting a three-day spotlight on IFC Films beginning 19 March, and both films are on the line-up along with Ken Loach's Looking for Eric, Elia Suleiman's The Time That Remains, Kim Ji-woon's The Good, the Bad, the Weird, Bruno Dumont's Hadewijch, Johnnie To's Vengeance and Tales from the Golden Age. For those in NYC, both Honoré and star Chiara Mastroianni will be present for a Q&A following the 20 March screening of Making Plans for Lena; this will be the fourth Honoré film that IFC has released following Dans Paris, Les chansons d'amour and La belle personne. More information here. In addition to the films above, IFC did officially announce their acquisition of Puzzle [Rompecabezas], the directorial debut of Natalie Smirnoff who previously worked as an assistant director on Lucrecia Martel's La ciénaga and The Holy Girl and casting director on The Headless Woman. Starring the amazing María Onetto, Puzzle was the sole Latin American film in competition at this year's Berlin International Film Festival.

Is A Man Obliged To Provide Money For His Wife/Girlfriend?

This question has been in my head all day... And its really disturbing me till the very max.

What I feel, is that as a man, a man with enough of dignity, he should be the breadwinner of the family, providing shelter, food, protection, security and other neccessity for the family household.

He, as a man, should be the one earning most of the family income and make sure that his family live comfortably.

My papa, did this, for his entire 30++ years and I guess now its his time to relax and my turn to take on the role.

But anyway, the sentence above is kinda out of this topic.

So, I do feel that, a man shouldn't be too calculative when it comes to money. But what I'd encounter my entire 25 years of life, I have seen many men, being too Mr. Scrooge about their money, stingy with sharing, and shrewd when it comes to the matter of moolah.

We of the women races, could never be on par or rather on the same scale as men, (even though the slogan = "we are equal" constantly runs through my head), when it comes to salary and strength and the position in the society. Therefore, I am not too disgusted by the fact that women have to rely on men in order to live comfortably.

Sometimes, I just don't understand.

Why do we (women) have to put up with men who are doesn't want to pay for our meals which we deem as an act of courteous and manly (I mean, not like those bitches who tend to take advantage of their male friends and always make them pay)???

Why do we have to undergo the tension or shamefulness of asking money from our own boyfriend/husband when its just a natural act to do so (don't forget, men earn more money than we do)??

Why does men sees that women who ask for money are those who are stupid and unreasonable who won't get a job and who cons them of their moolah instead of seeing us as someone they should try and protect and provide us with a comfortable life??

Why are men nowadays so so sensitive with their $$$ that they are so unwilling to share, and if they do share, they wanna hear 2456214 reasons behind before parting with their money??

I'm just so intrigued.

I always thought that the boyfriend/husband should not ask question nor should they feel intimidated when their girlfriend or wife wanted some money or gifts from them.

Don't tell me that men are sissy in the current era and thus their womanly features are starting to show...  **gasp!!**

I just hope that this only happen to me and guys around me, and not all guys act the same way.

So I guess, staying at home, becoming a housewife, taking care of my kids, doing household chores (which is also my dream from young) won't be realized then. I've got to work hard in order to survive, even if I have kids, and shouldn't ask a penny from my husband.

Life surely is hard.

Men... They certainly are damn creatures. Making us women cry and at the same time stronger in order to face this tough world.

So my thought for today: We shouldn't rely too much on men especially when it comes to money, because if we do, we will end up losing our integrity and our trust will always be misplaced by them bastards.

Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Belle, WAKE UP YOU GUYS!! There's no happily ever after. You've gotta work your ass of in order to keep your prince charming beside you or he'll kick you out of the castle because you are not contributing $$$ to provide for the family.

Bishops Lying Again......

Thou shalt no lie! One of the commandments you idiot! I hope you go to hell for lying to the Filipino people. STRAIGHT to hell!

Roman Catholic bishops in the Philippines, in an apparent attempt to escalate a row over the government’s promotion of condoms, on Tuesday called for the sacking of the secretary of the Department of Health. The sensitive birth-control issue in the country flared last week after Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral led a campaign to hand out free condoms on Valentine’s Day as part of the battle against HIV and AIDS.

“It’s so immoral for someone in the government to be pushing the use of condoms, which we all know is not deterrent to AIDS prevention,” Bishop Ramon Arguelles, of the Lipa City diocese in Batangas province, south of Manila, said in a church statement.

The Catholic Church forbids artificial birth control, including condoms.

The statement, signed by two other bishops, was posted on the website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, an organization grouping the Philippines’ church leaders.

It urged President Gloria Arroyo to dismiss Cabral, saying she should not be allowed to influence the nation’s young.

“It’s worrying because it is the morality in society, especially among the youth, that is at stake,” Arguelles said.

President Arroyo’s deputy spokesman Gary Olivar brushed off the bishops’ call.

“We should remember that public officials should be judged by standards of public policy interest as set forth in our laws and legal precedents, not by the morality of this or that institution,” Olivar told reporters.

About 75 million Filipinos, out of a national population of 93 million, are Catholics, a legacy of the country’s Spanish colonial past.

A Reproductive Health bill pending in Congress is criticized by the bishops for supposedly advocating artificial contraception.

Their view is unopposed, partly because 2010 is an election year, and candidates for public office in the May 10 polls would rather keep silent than openly contradict the country’s religious leaders. The bishops are perceived as politically influential and would not look too kindly at candidates who throw support behind the Reproductive Health bill.
AFP

2 Announcement & Food Stuff

I have a big big announcement to make...

**Breathes in deeply and exhale through mouth...** x 10

.
.
.
.

I am leaving UK next month.

For good.

Its a tough decision, but I know its the best for me, my future, my boyfriend, our future family, my family and my boyfriend's family
.
.
.

Another big announcement.....

**Breathes in deeply and exhale..**cough cough**... exhale...***

.
.
.

I'm not staying back in Malaysia either.

I'm going to Japan.

To work.... for 3 years.

.
.
.

I don't even know whether I'm couragous or strong enough to survive in Japan alone, with no knowledge of Japanese language, or their culture, or their people. But I'll try my best.

Therefore, I really need you guys, help me through this tough phase. Tell me that I'm making the right decision. Tell me that I'm strong enough to brave the adversity alone. Tell me that I'm doing this for my own good. Tell me that I'm not alone and you all will be supporting me through the internet.

This sounded like a sad post!!?? does it?? No no.. I'm not that sad. Just a little dazed that this is all happening and its happening too fast.

Anyway, on a totally unrelated tone, here are some pictures of what I'd made..



Guan Qiang (Teochew vegetarian dish I'd learned from my mum) for the 1st day of Chinese New Year.





Ayam Paprik which taste awesome. Gonna make this again.

You can try to google up these recipe because I'm quite lazy to type the recipe here, sigh...Not in the mood... I wish I can just stay in bed all day without having to think so much and decide anything.

NY Times: "A thumb in the eye of the Nazis" - The passing of a matriarch of one of Klal Yisrael's largest families

A nice story forwarded by a reader in NY,

                          Click to enlarge photo

WHEN Yitta Schwartz died last month at 93, she left behind 15 children, more than 200 grandchildren and so many great- and great-great-grandchildren that, by her family’s count, she could claim perhaps 2,000 living descendants.

Mrs. Schwartz was a member of the Satmar Hasidic sect, whose couples have nine children on average and whose ranks of descendants can multiply exponentially. But even among Satmars, the size of Mrs. Schwartz’s family is astonishing. A round-faced woman with a high-voltage smile, she may have generated one of the largest clans of any survivor of the Holocaust — a thumb in the eye of the Nazis.

Her descendants range in age from a 75-year-old daughter named Shaindel to a great-great-granddaughter born Feb. 10 named Yitta in honor of Mrs. Schwartz and a great-great-grandson born Feb. 15 who will be named at a bris on Monday. Their numbers include rabbis, teachers, merchants, plumbers and truck drivers. But these many apples have not fallen far from the tree: With a few exceptions, like one grandson who lives in England, they mostly live in local Satmar communities, like Williamsburg in Brooklyn and Kiryas Joel, near Monroe, N.Y., where Mrs. Schwartz lived for the last 30 years of her life.

Mrs. Schwartz had a zest for life and a devotion to Hasidic rituals, faithfully attending the circumcisions, first haircuts, bar mitzvahs, engagements and weddings of her descendants. With 2,000 people in the family, such events occupied much of the year.

Whatever the occasion, she would pack a small suitcase and thumb a ride from her apartment in Kiryas Joel to Williamsburg or elsewhere. “She would appear like the Prophet Elijah,” said one of her daughters, Nechuma Mayer, who at 64 is her sixth-oldest living child, and who has 16 children and more than 100 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. “Everybody was fighting over her!”

There were so many occasions that, to avoid scheduling conflicts, one of her sons was assigned to keep a family calendar. But her family insists that Mrs. Schwartz had no trouble remembering everyone’s name and face.

Like many Hasidim, Mrs. Schwartz considered bearing children as her tribute to God. A son-in-law, Rabbi Menashe Mayer, a lushly bearded scholar, said she took literally the scriptural command that “You should not forget what you saw and heard at Mount Sinai and tell it to your grandchildren.”

“And she wanted to do that,” he said, without needing to add her belief that the more grandchildren, the more the commandment is fulfilled. Mrs. Schwartz gave birth 18 times, but lost two children in the Holocaust and one in a summer camp accident here.

She was born in 1916 into a family of seven children in the Hungarian village of Kalev, revered as the hometown of a founder of Hungarian Hasidism. During World War II, the Nazis sent Mrs. Schwartz, her husband, Joseph, and the six children they had at the time to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. At the shiva last month, another Bergen-Belsen survivor recalled her own mother dying at the camp; Mrs. Schwartz took it upon herself to prepare the body according to Jewish ritual, dig a grave and bury the woman.

“For her it was a matter of necessity,” Nechuma Mayer said of her mother’s actions.

When the war ended, the family made its way to Antwerp, Belgium. There, Mrs. Schwartz put up refugees in makeshift beds in her own bombed-out apartment.

In 1953, the Schwartzes migrated to the United States, settling into the Satmar community in Williamsburg. She arrived with 11 children — Shaindel, Chana, Dinah, Yitschok, Shamshon, Nechuma, Nachum, Nechemia, Hadassah, Mindel and Bella — and proceeded to have five more: Israel, Joel, Aron, Sarah and Chaim Shloime, who died in summer camp at age 8. Sarah came along after Mrs. Schwartz had already married off two other daughters.

While her husband sold furniture on Lee Avenue, Williamsburg’s commercial spine, Mrs. Schwartz, who never learned English well, tended the family. She sewed her daughters’ jumpers with mother-of-pearl buttons and splurged for pink-and-white blouses — 20 for 99 cents each — at that late lamented discount emporium on Union Square, S. Klein.

With so many children, Mrs. Schwartz had to make six loaves of challah for every Sabbath, using 12 pounds of dough — in later years, she was aided by Kitchenaid or Hobart appliances. (Mrs. Mayer said her mother had weaknesses for modern conveniences, and for elegant head scarves.) For her children’s weddings, Mrs. Schwartz starched the tablecloths and baked the chocolate babkas and napoleons.

After her husband died 34 years ago, relatives said, Mrs. Schwartz never burdened others with her new solitude.

“We didn’t feel even one minute that she was a widow,” Mrs. Mayer said. “She used to say, ‘When there are so many problems in life, I should put myself on the scale?’ ”

Mrs. Schwartz did not want her children to collect photographs of her and, given that modesty, her family was reluctant to provide more than one to accompany this article. “Just keep me in your heart,” she used to say. “If you leave a child or grandchild, you live forever.”

Well, Kathryn Bigelow Is Hotter Than James Cameron...

While The Hurt Locker isn't exactly my favorite film of last year, it's the perfect "I'm okay with _____ winning so long as ______ and _______ doesn't." I think that's pretty much how most people are with the Oscar nominees this year. Kathryn Bigelow's war drama took home six BAFTAs today (for those not acronym savvy, it's the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards), setting it as the likely frontrunner for the Best Picture race at the Oscars. Andrea Arnold's wonderful Fish Tank won the prize for Outstanding British Film. The major awards are below; the nominees are here; and the full list of awards are here.

Film: The Hurt Locker, d. Kathryn Bigelow
British Film: Fish Tank, d. Andrea Arnold
Film Not in the English Language: Un prophète [A Prophet], d. Jacques Audiard, France
Animated Film: Up, d. Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
Director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Leading Actor: Colin Firth, A Single Man
Leading Actress: Carey Mulligan, An Education
Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Original Screenplay: Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Adapted Screenplay: Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air
Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer: Duncan Jones, director, Moon

Malaga Trip, Final Day

So, a picture is worth a thousand words they say. So I'm going to post a series of pictures to represent the last day of our Malaga trip without elaborating further. Enjoy!!!

(OKAY, maybe its due to plain laziness so I'm not gonna write anything).

By the way, new video up ==> Click here