The award‐winning 16 to Life is a romantic comedy that puts a wry, witty and unpredictable ensemble cast in a small‐town locale reminiscent of a Capra comedy. Critics have often compared 16 to Life to the films Juno and Sixteen Candles. “16 to Life” follows Kate (Halle Hirsh), a teenager whose angst about her sexual inexperience fuels a comic quest for love and understanding on a birthday to end all birthdays. Kate is turning Sweet 16 – and has never been kissed. ... Read More »]]> Waterdog Films announced  plans to premiere the feature film “16 to Life”, written and directed by Emmy‐nominated director Becky Smith.

The award‐winning 16 to Life is a romantic comedy that puts a wry, witty and unpredictable ensemble cast in a small‐town locale reminiscent of a Capra comedy. Critics have often compared 16 to Life to the films Juno and Sixteen Candles. “16 to Life” follows Kate (Halle Hirsh), a teenager whose angst about her sexual inexperience fuels a comic quest for love and understanding on a birthday to end all birthdays.
Kate is turning Sweet 16 – and has never been kissed. Before the clock strikes midnight, Kate will learn more about love, lust and life, than she could ever imagine!

The ensemble cast includes Halle Hirsh (ER, You’ve Got Mail), Mandy Musgrave (South of Nowhere) and film veteran Theresa Russell (Black Widow, Spiderman III). Rounding out the cast are Shiloh Fernandez (The Girl with the Red Riding Hood, United States of Tara), Nicholas Downs, an Iowa native, (Pearl Harbor), Jamie Gomez (Nash Bridges, Crimson Tide) and Will Rothhaar (Battle Los Angeles). Style guru and television personality Carson Kressley makes a cameo and is one of the movie’s producers.

CG: Becky, your new feature film “16 to Life” focuses on a young girl in the throws of growing up and all the social pressures that go with this passage.  My own daughter is going through this! Did you model this character after yourself or someone you know?

BS: The character of Kate in “16 to Life” might have a tiny bit of me in her – but she’s a combination of many people I’ve known, including my niece.  I wanted to portray a young girl who was not a Hollywood stereotype of a teenager, but rather a complex person with confidence and insecurities, affection for her home, but a strong urge to go out and explore the world. She’s much less whiney than I am, and more witty!

CG: Many film projects are taking advantage of the tax incentives being offered now by several states.  Were you in your comfort zone returning to your home state of Iowa to make this film?

BS: I was excited about the possibility of filming the exteriors in Iowa, but assumed I couldn’t afford to shoot the entire film there. When I found out about the tax incentives, I realized that there was a chance to shoot in Iowa.  That was the scenario that evolved, and I’m very glad that I filmed there – the landscape was an important part of the film.  I enjoyed the opportunity to shoot in a place where the people were excited about having a film crew around – and made us feel very welcome.  At the same time, I haven’t lived in Iowa in a long time, and I didn’t know how the local people would feel about us.  So it was a pleasure to discover that they were warm and welcoming.

CG: Becky we love that you have a blog!  The videos are great and love the photos!  Have you found this to be a good way to promote the film?

BS: We have gotten good responses to the web site.  We have worked hard to make it a place where people can connect with the film, get answers to their questions, and learn about our festival successes.  We have also created a “First Kiss” campaign – to find out about people’s first kisses!  We hope people find it fun – and contribute their stories.  I think the web site has helped create interest in the film.  Now we will find out if it helps bring people to the theatres we’re opening in!

Filmed entirely in Iowa (McGregor, Marquette and Stone City) the writer‐director’s native state, 16 to Life has won six “Best Feature” awards at film festivals internationally. Hirsh has received two “Best Actress” awards and Russell received one “Best Supporting Actress” award. The first feature length film from television director Smith, 16 to Life was a labor of love that had Smith wearing multiple hats— writer, producer, director. Smith says, “I’ve been working in film and television for more than 15 years, and this was the best experience I’ve had, working in a beautiful place on a story I believe in, with a very talented group of people.”

The film is slated to open in the following cities: Elkader, Iowa (Elkader Cinema, September 3); Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin (Star Theater, September 3); Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Collins Road, September 9); Iowa City, Iowa (Bijou Theater, September 9); Dubuque, Iowa (Mindframe Theaters, September 10); Des Moines, Iowa (Fleur Cinema, September 10); Davenport Quad Cities, Iowa (Rave Theater, September 10); Omaha, Nebraska (Rave Theater, September 10); Kansas City, Kansas (Glenwood Arts Theater, September 17) and Los Angeles, California (TBA). Additional dates are expected and can be found at www.16ToLifeTheMovie.org.

Becky Smith is an Emmy‐nominated director (Queer Eye for the Straight Guy). She received her Masters Degree in film from Stanford University and is an alumna of the American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women. The Okoboji, Iowa native is a faculty member at the UCLA Film School and resides in Los Angeles.

Blog http://www.16tolifethemovie.org/blog/

From Academy Award® nominee Bruce Beresford (DRIVING MISS DAISY, TENDER MERCIES) comes MAO’S LAST DANCER, the inspiring true story of Li Cunxin and his extraordinary journey from a poor upbringing in rural China to international stardom as a world-class ballet dancer.

Based on the best selling autobiography, MAO’S LAST DANCER weaves a moving tale about the quest for freedom and the courage it takes to live your own life. The film ... Read More »]]> ATO Pictures (co-founded by Dave Matthews) and Samuel Goldwyn Films are pleased to announce the release of MAO’s LAST DANCER, opening in 10 theatres across the US on Friday, August 20th.

From Academy Award® nominee Bruce Beresford (DRIVING MISS DAISY, TENDER MERCIES) comes MAO’S LAST DANCER, the inspiring true story of Li Cunxin and his extraordinary journey from a poor upbringing in rural China to international stardom as a world-class ballet dancer.

Based on the best selling autobiography, MAO’S LAST DANCER weaves a moving tale about the quest for freedom and the courage it takes to live your own life. The film compellingly captures the struggles, sacrifices and triumphs, as well as the intoxicating effects of first love and celebrity amid the pain of exile.

MAO’S LAST DANCER stars Chi Cao, a gifted dancer and principal at the Birmingham Royal Ballet making his impressive screen debut as Li Cunxin. The cast is rounded out by Bruce Greenwood (STAR TREK; THE SWEET HEREAFTER), Kyle Maclachlan (“Sex and the City”; “Desperate Housewives”), Joan Chen (LUST, CAUTION; THE LAST EMPEROR) and Amanda Schull (CENTER STAGE; “One Tree Hill”).

To view the trailer, clips from the film, a list of theatres and screening dates, visit www.maoslastdancer-movie.com. Check out the film’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/maoslastdancer.

One look at Tory’s amazing bio.. and you know she’s the real deal.  While you may know her best as the Workplace Contributor for Good Morning America, she does so much more to empower women and help them turn their passion into ... Read More »]]> Who says you can’t make a life changing connection on social media? A year or so ago, I met the fabulous Tory Johnson through Twitter. No, a tweet didn’t make the relationship. You can only develop a real connection through social media if you close the computer and actually talk with the person. (What a novel concept!!)

Welcome to a Sexy World of Sexy Sex

Sex is the most powerful and important thing in the universe, and if you aren’t instantly good at it you probably never will be and everyone will laugh at you. This is something you should know before even attempting sex.

Fortunately, you hold in your hands the ultimate guide to getting your rocks off, rigorously field tested by the authors. Every sexual technique they have tried. Every erogenous zone they have erogenated. Every STD they have suffered ... Read More »]]> The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex
By Kristen Schaal and Rich Blomquist

Welcome to a Sexy World of Sexy Sex

Sex is the most powerful and important thing in the universe, and if you aren’t instantly good at it you probably never will be and everyone will laugh at you. This is something you should know before even attempting sex.

Fortunately, you hold in your hands the ultimate guide to getting your rocks off, rigorously field tested by the authors. Every sexual technique they have tried. Every erogenous zone they have erogenated. Every STD they have suffered from — sometimes for way too long — just to see what would happen.

But beware — this sexy knowledge comes with a terrible price:

First, a suggested retail of $24.95 ($29.95 in Canada). Admittedly on the high end for this type of book, but the authors have to eat.

Second — and far more important — after you have read this book, there is no going back.

Once absorbed, the wisdom contained in The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex cannot be unlearnt. You may easily spend the rest of your life orgasming you brains out and neglecting your friendships, you career, and every other aspect of your life that doesn’t involve constant genital stimulation. To call you a “mindless sex zombie” would be putting it gently. But you will be completely satisfied . . . as will your legions of sexual partners.

WELL, ARE YOU IN?

Kristen Schaal is an actress and comedian known to people with HBO as “Mel” from Flight of the Conchords and to people without HBO as someone who looks like Miranda July.

Rich Blomquist is a writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and is not known to anyone. The authors live together in Manhattan, in sin. In the time it took you to read this, they had four orgasms (each).

Follow Kristen on Facebook and Twitter.

Chic Galleria is giving away a copy of The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex to one (1) lucky Chic Galleria reader.  Would you or someone you know love this book?  To enter, just leave a comment on this article.  The winner will be chosen at random from the comments and announced on August 22, 2010.

Click to enter more giveaways!

Dora Calott Wang is a Yale-trained psychiatrist who began her career as a doctor with great enthusiasm. But after less than a decade of her practicing medicine, that enthusiasm was shattered by the seismic shifts that shook the entire medical profession.

Once a cherished, even sacred, vocation, medicine has become a business driven by profit. What made medicine turn its back on its central tenets? In The Kitchen Shrink, Wang explores what happened, through the prism of her own research and experience. In these pages we watch as she struggles ... Read More »]]> The Kitchen Shrink: A Psychiatrist’s Reflections on Healing in a Changing World

Dora Calott Wang is a Yale-trained psychiatrist who began her career as a doctor with great enthusiasm. But after less than a decade of her practicing medicine, that enthusiasm was shattered by the seismic shifts that shook the entire medical profession.

Once a cherished, even sacred, vocation, medicine has become a business driven by profit. What made medicine turn its back on its central tenets? In The Kitchen Shrink, Wang explores what happened, through the prism of her own research and experience. In these pages we watch as she struggles to maintain her professional standards as health care’s priorities shift away from the compassionate care of patients and, instead, toward improving the bottom line, and along the way we meet some of her patients, whose stories reveal an oft-ignored human side of our besieged system. As the medical landscape shifts beneath Wang, she confronts depression and exhaustion, and fights to find a balance between work and home, as it become ever clearer that she cannot untangle the uncertain futures of her patients from her own.

Part memoir and part rallying cry, The Kitchen Shrink is an unflinchingly honest, passionate, and humane inside look at the realities of free-market medicine in today’s America.  Visit http://www.doracalottwang.com

Follow Dora Calott Wang, M.D. on Twitter and Facebook.

Congratulations Deborah Wellenstein!

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