Archive for September, 2006

All Tom Cruise needs is Love in order to wish a happy birthday to his mom for her 70th birthday. Tom, his fiance Katie Holmes and his kids Conor and Isabella all took Tom Cruise’s mother Mary Lee to the Love show by Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas.

Tom must really like the show, which is a tribute to the Beatles, and after the show the whole family went back stage where the cast and crew sang happy birthday to Tom’s mother and presented her with a gift.

The world’s most beautiful activist-duet announced on Wednesday that the Jolie/Pitt Foundation will donate $2 million to the humanitarian organizations Global Action for Children and Medicins sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders.

“In the most troubled parts of the world–places that much of the world has abandoned, MSF is always there,” said Jolie in a statement issued by her and Pitt’s philanthropic and political adviser, Trevor Neilson. “I have seen these brave men and women working in war zones and horrific conditions and I deeply admire them.”

The philanthropy is the most recent in a string of giving by the couple. Jolie and Pitt recently donated $300,000 to Namibia’s state hospitals to buy maternity ward supplies and other equipment. The entire $4.1 million Pitt and Jolie reportedly received for the first pictures of Shiloh went to charity.

The next stop for Pitt and Jolie will be to spend time in New Orleans, where Pitt will be filming David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Pitt will most likely be checking in on the winner of the eco-friendly architecture contest he recently sponsored. Pitt ponyed up $200,000 and headed up the jury accountable for selecting the design that will start the rebuilding process in some of the most hurricane-devastated areas of the city.

At a time when Afghanistan has been thrust into the forefront of America’s collective consciousness, Hosseini offers an honest, sometimes tragic, sometimes funny, but always heartfelt view of a fascinating land.

The Kite Runner follows the story of Amir, the privileged son of a wealthy businessman in Kabul, and Hassan, the son of Amir’s father’s servant. As children in the relatively stable Afghanistan of the early 1970s, the boys are inseparable. They spend idyllic days running kites and telling stories of mystical places and powerful warriors until an unspeakable event changes the nature of their relationship forever, and eventually cements their bond in ways neither boy could have ever predicted.

Even after Amir and his father flee to America, Amir remains haunted by his cowardly actions and disloyalty. In part, it is these demons and the sometimes impossible quest for forgiveness that bring him back to his war-torn native land
after it comes under Taliban rule.

In 2005, the Kite Runner was chosen by Villanova University as the first selection in its One Book Villanova Program. A free copy of the book was given to each student, faculty, and staff member, who was encouraged to read it and attend the various discussion groups and related events throughout the 2005-2006 academic year.

The Kite Runner [Amazon]