Re: Armenians Going to New York For Shoah Gala Honoring George Clooney

by it's me Mon 30 Sep 2013, 17:32

BFI ?

by ... Mon 30 Sep 2013, 22:27

British Film Institute (acronym)
London Film festival. Gravity is on 10th.

by party animal - not! Mon 30 Sep 2013, 22:36

You're right, sorry about that - got confused with New York film festival - Believe Cuaron is in a discussion forum there, I think.....

by party animal - not! Wed 02 Oct 2013, 00:24

Didn't realise til now that Sandra Bullock is attending too.......

by LizzyNY Wed 02 Oct 2013, 00:40

Does anyone know where in NY this event will take place? I live in the city and would love to try and see George, if only I knew where to look!

by party animal - not! Wed 02 Oct 2013, 01:00

Yep , really hard to find the location. I looked up Ambassador for Humanity Award, and found a Times of Israel article which suggests that loads of other Clooney friends and/or celebrities will be there (wherever that is!) and it's an evening to honour Our Hero.

And apparently it's also being televised.....!!!??

by What Would He Say Wed 02 Oct 2013, 18:42

Hope he really enjoy's tonight or is it tomorrow ?... and doesn't even know or care about other crap on here today ......x

by What Would He Say Thu 03 Oct 2013, 21:21

I'm mixed up...tired....BUT this is today NYC yes?

by Mazy Thu 03 Oct 2013, 21:23

what would he say wrote:

I'm mixed up...tired....BUT this is today NYC yes?

Yes I believe it is today WWHS.

by What Would He Say Thu 03 Oct 2013, 21:32

Thanks Mazy....x

by party animal - not! Thu 03 Oct 2013, 23:58

Venue: American Museum of Natural History. Next to Central Park. No idea about time

by silly girl Fri 04 Oct 2013, 00:45

They tweeted a photo....not very clear:

Sorry for technical problems. Here's that picture again [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
— USC Shoah Foundation (@USCShoahFdn) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

by party animal - not! Fri 04 Oct 2013, 00:50

Well found, SG. Nothing on Getty yet

by jluna2011 Fri 04 Oct 2013, 01:32

nothing on wireimage, either.

by theminis Fri 04 Oct 2013, 01:38

SG the great detective x

by party animal - not! Fri 04 Oct 2013, 01:43

Exactly!

USC Shoah Foundation's Twitter page seems to be having its own problems....

Odd that there are no pix anywhere given it's been going on for a while. Maybe Turner TV have exclusive rights

by LizzyNY Fri 04 Oct 2013, 02:44

party animal - not!,
Thanks for the heads-up on the location. I wish I had seen it sooner. Even if I leave right now they'll be gone by the time I get there. Oh well, such is life.

by silly girl Fri 04 Oct 2013, 02:45

Thanks but just got lucky....was on twitter at the time. Hopefully better photos will be posted.

by theminis Fri 04 Oct 2013, 02:49

By the way welcome to the Forum LizzyNY - x

by silly girl Fri 04 Oct 2013, 02:51

Wire Image

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by party animal - not! Fri 04 Oct 2013, 03:08

Hi LizzyNY. Really sorry I only found it at the last minute. Bit obscure. But did wonder if I was too late...........Looks like quite an occasion doesn't it?

by Mazy Fri 04 Oct 2013, 03:19

theminis wrote:By the way welcome to the Forum LizzyNY - x

Yes welcome LizzyNY. I'm a native New Yorker, Staten Island. Once a NYorker always one. Glad I don't write with an accent because I sure do have one even living down here in SC. Everyone here is tops enjoy.

by LizzyNY Fri 04 Oct 2013, 03:56

Many thanks for the welcome! This is the first forum I've ever posted to, but I've been visiting for a while and really get a kick out of all of you.
party animal-not! - Don't feel bad. If I were smarter I'd have found out where the Gala was on my own. Next time I'll try harder!

by Nicky80 Fri 04 Oct 2013, 06:15

Thanks SG for the pictures. He looks very relaxed. Must have been a great evening.

Welcome LizzyNY Very Happy

by Nicky80 Fri 04 Oct 2013, 06:19

I like that pic. Funny George - I love him for that.

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Hope we get more about his speech later on

by it's me Fri 04 Oct 2013, 06:22

photo bombing !!!!

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by theminis Fri 04 Oct 2013, 13:14

Ha that's a good one, muscling in on Speilberg and the Seinfelds

by silly girl Fri 04 Oct 2013, 13:27

I love the photobombing too!

Someone who was there posted this on Facebook:

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From Huffington Post:

Steven Spielberg Honors George Clooney For Humanitarian Work, Remembers 'Schindler's List'

NEW YORK -- NEW YORK (AP) — Steven Spielberg and George Clooney go way back in show business. In fact, it was Spielberg who gave Clooney his big break on the TV show "ER," the actor recalls.

But the two Hollywood heavyweights came together Thursday evening for a different reason: Spielberg was honoring Clooney for his humanitarian work around the globe, especially in the Darfur region of Sudan.

At a glittery fundraising gala in the vast "Whale Room" at New York's Museum of Natural History, the director and his USC Shoah Foundation presented Clooney with its Ambassador for Humanity Award. Also on hand to praise Clooney were his co-star in the new movie "Gravity," Sandra Bullock, and Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show."

"George is the best kind of humanitarian," Spielberg said. "The humble humanitarian." The director called Clooney "an unparalleled example of action over apathy."

Clooney told the crowd of donors that "Our job is to make it hard for the bad guys to do what they're doing, and for the good guys to ignore it."

The actor also praised Spielberg for his foundation's work in creating and preserving video testimonies of Holocaust victims for future generations to learn from.

"We have to be able to keep a record of what the powerful can do to the powerless," Clooney said.

The gala marked the 20th anniversary of Spielberg's Holocaust movie "Schindler's List," a film that won the director an Oscar and, Spielberg says, gave him the idea to start a foundation that would record interviews with Holocaust survivors. To date, the foundation, founded in 1994 and based since 2006 at the University of Southern California, has collected nearly 52,000 eyewitness testimonies on video, in what it calls the largest digital collection of its kind in the world.

In an interview before the gala, Spielberg explained that a new, broader phase of the foundation's work, begun recently, involves collecting video testimonies from survivors of genocide in places like Rwanda, Cambodia, and Armenia. "The origins of hatred haven't gone away," the director said. The foundation has already begun its work with testimony from Rwanda. The other countries will follow.

Spielberg said the only obstacle to further broadening the foundation's work is funding, and the group announced during the evening that the gala had raised close to $3.7 million.

A further goal, Spielberg said in the interview, was to get the country's public school systems to teach tolerance education. The director said his foundation is working on getting materials to schools to be used in social science classes.

He noted that Holocaust survivors are fast dying out, an even more important reason to preserve their life stories on video — video that can be catalogued and indexed for easy access, which now makes up for much of the foundation's work.

"The survivor community is vanishing," he said. "Soon, it will only exist in cyberspace. But it's a powerful community. We hope that through these testimonies, the survivors can live forever."

Spielberg himself did not have relatives who died in the Holocaust. But his grandmother helped Hungarian Jews who had fled the Holocaust learn English in the United States. As a three-year old, he says, he learned his numbers from the "Auschwitz tattoo" of one of the survivors who gathered regularly in his home.

While making "Schindler's List," he said, he met survivors who would come to him and want to tell him their stories, starting from when they were children. "They just wanted me to listen," he said. "They didn't want to talk to their children about it. The fact that they wanted to tell a complete stranger what they couldn't tell a daughter or son really moved me."

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by theminis Fri 04 Oct 2013, 13:32

Is that who I think it is, pls tell me it's not Sillygirl

by silly girl Fri 04 Oct 2013, 13:35

Which one? Not sure who you mean?

by theminis Fri 04 Oct 2013, 13:38

Who is the lady standing next to a seated Sandra Bullock

by silly girl Fri 04 Oct 2013, 13:42

I am assuming it is the woman who posted the photo---A Bonnie Marcus. Here is her website:

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Stationary etc lots of Bridal type of things...

by theminis Fri 04 Oct 2013, 13:46

Thanks I must be tired I thought it was MJ and almost spat out my coffee

by theminis Fri 04 Oct 2013, 13:48

I need glasses or sleep

by silly girl Fri 04 Oct 2013, 14:13

I think you are tired but at fist glance I could see why the question.

Oh and feel better..

by silly girl Fri 04 Oct 2013, 17:42

Funny

Joker George Clooney photobombs Steven Spielberg snap with Jessica & Jerry Seinfeld [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
— HuffPostUK Pic Desk (@HuffPostUKPics) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

by What Would He Say Fri 04 Oct 2013, 19:24

I love love love these pictures.....best he has looked since he dumped Tash Sad

Looks amazing and full of fun....great night....X

by it's me Fri 04 Oct 2013, 21:02

no Venice better baby???

by Joanna Fri 04 Oct 2013, 23:27

"George is the best kind of humanitarian," Spielberg said. "The humble humanitarian." The director called Clooney "an unparalleled example of action over apathy."

Clooney told the crowd of donors that "Our job is to make it hard for the bad guys to do what they're doing, and for the good guys to ignore it."

"Congratulations to George".

by it's me Fri 04 Oct 2013, 23:38

great words
bravo Spielberg

kidding

BRAVO GEORGE !!!!!! Yahooooo

by Mazy Fri 13 Dec 2013, 07:52

THIS IS FROM NOV BUt THOUGHT INTERESTING
Armenian genocide rug's freedom a worthy cause for American Jews

By Rafael Medoff, JNS.org
11:36 a.m. EST, November 20, 2013

Ninety-nine years after the Turkish genocide of the Armenians, one of the most poignant symbols of Armenian suffering is being held hostage—by the White House.

The prisoner is an 18-foot long rug. It was woven by four hundred Armenian orphan girls living in exile in Lebanon, as a gesture of appreciation for America's assistance to survivors of the genocide. In 1925, they sent the rug to President Calvin Coolidge, who pledged that it would have "a place of honor in the White House, where it will be a daily symbol of goodwill on earth."

Unfortunately, the rug is instead becoming a symbol of the unseemly politics of genocide. An Armenian-American dentist, Hagop Martin Deranian, recently authored a book called "President Calvin Coolidge and the Armenian Orphan Rug," and the Smithsonian Institution scheduled an event about Dr. Dernanian's book for Dec. 16. But when the Smithsonian asked the White House to loan it the rug for the event, the request was denied.

Reporters who asked the State Department about it this week were referred to the White House. When they asked the White House spokesman, they were curtly told that he had nothing to say except, "It is not possible to loan it out at this time."

Armenian-American leaders believe the Obama administration is responding to pressure from the Turkish government, which denies that genocide took place. And Armenians have good reason to be suspicious. As a presidential candidate in 2008, then-Senator Obama declared, "America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian genocide." By contrast, the statements that President Obama has issued each April on Armenian Remembrance Day have never included the g-word. Instead, he has used an Armenian expression—"Meds Yeghern," meaning "the great calamity." Fear of displeasing the Turks appears to be the only plausible motive for that rhetorical sleight-of-hand.

Armenian-Americans are not the only ones who should be upset. American Jews should be up in arms, too. Not only because of the sympathy that victims of genocide instinctively feel for one another—but also because if the White House can permit political considerations to trump recognition of the Armenian genocide, there is a danger that memorialization of the Holocaust could one day suffer a similar fate.

In any event, at least one president did keep his word: Calvin Coolidge proudly displayed the Armenian Orphan Rug in the White House for the rest of his term.

After he left office, Coolidge took the rug to his Massachusetts residence. It was still there in 1939, when former First Lady Grace Coolidge became a leading figure in the struggle to rescue a different group of children from a genocidal dictator.

Mrs. Coolidge lobbied in support of the Wagner-Rogers bill, which would have admitted 20,000 German Jewish children to the United States. But President Franklin Delano Roosevelt refused to support the legislation, and it was buried in committee.

Ironically, FDR's relative and predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, advocated declaring war on Turkey over the Armenian genocide. "The failure to deal radically with the Turkish horror means that all talk of guaranteeing the future peace of the world is mischievous nonsense," the then-ex-president asserted in 1918. Teddy Roosevelt was correct to fear that tolerating genocide would pave the way for it to happen again.

Indeed, Adolf Hitler reportedly once assured his subordinates that their atrocities would not be remembered, saying, "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"

The genocide rug eventually made it back to the White House and was in use during at least part of the Clinton administration. But it has not been seen in public since then. If the Obama administration and the Turkish government have their way, it seems, the imprisoned rug may never again see the light of day.

In December, Americans will flock to a new movie called "Monuments Men." Directed by (and co-starring)George Clooney, it will tell the true story of a handful of U.S. military personnel who risked their lives to rescue famous paintings, monuments, and other precious European cultural artifacts from the Nazis in the waning days of World War II. It seems that it might take a new generation of Monuments Men to rescue the Armenian genocide rug and restore the treasured heirloom to its rightful place—in a public display.

Dr. Rafael Medoff is director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, in Washington, D.C. His latest book is "FDR and the Holocaust: A Breach of Faith."

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by it's me Fri 13 Dec 2013, 09:30

amazing......

by Katiedot Fri 13 Dec 2013, 10:53

Adolf Hitler reportedly once assured his subordinates that their atrocities would not be remembered, saying, "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"

That's terrifying. Absolutely horrifying.

And the absolutely awful thing is that, had he won, he'd have been absolutely right. This sends a shiver up my spine.

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