"Dirty Oil" Movie Review...

Where do you think the United States gets their oil from? This was the opening question of the movie “Dirty Oil” that I got a chance to see at the Hamptons International Film Festival. Many people think we get it from the Middle East or Saudi Arabia or somewhere very far from here. Wouldn’t you be surprised to know we get it from Canada? Yes right from our neighboring country. About 75 percent of our oil comes from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada. Every day they move huge amounts of sand and use heated water to separate the oil from the sand. There is a lot of manpower required and more and more people are headed there to join this oil rush. You can see the traffic lined up on the two lane highway, known as Hell’s Highway, which starts about 100 miles north of Edmonton and ends at Fort McMurray. The locals came up with the name Hell's Highway because every day at least one person dies along this road due to recklessness of the drivers who can drive up to speeds of 140 miles per hour.
The boreal forest which is the size of Florida, is having its lakes and wildlife sacrificed by becoming full of toxic waste and having clouds of greenhouse gases emitted into the air all for black gold. Trees that are being knocked down give danger to the songbirds and woodland caribou. Contaminated water that the wildlife are drinking cause problems like tumors that have been seen on fish. The Mikisew Cree have always lived off of the land and now they are being directly affected by the tar sands. Water has always been a natural resource for them and now they have to buy bottled water. They have hunted fish and duck to feed their families and now when they have eaten fish or duck that has ingested the water that’s toxic, they in turn have experienced illnesses like leukemia, lymphomas, auto-immune disorders and very rare cancers. These illnesses have been documented and even more permanent, the bodies that they have had to bury leave a hole in the families and the community. I sat there in my chair watching so many of the people in this community talk about the affect that the tar sands have had on their families. I watched their faces and I listened to what they had to say. I saw the animals with problems, like the fish that had a tumor on it, and thought who would eat that? I saw the burial markers of the graves of people who had died from the cause and effect of the tar sands. As I watched and listened to these people, it sunk into my head that they are human beings just like you and me. Yet the government and the big companies that are being funded to get this oil say there is nothing wrong with the water, nothing wrong with the animals, nothing wrong with anything. They can care less how their operations are affecting this community. In fact they had even sent some representatives there to listen to the concerns of the people and as one woman spoke her truth of what was happening and the fact that they are burying so many people, the camera panned to the representatives that had facial expressions that seemed to show their time was being wasted listening to this.

It’s mind boggling to me how they could stand there in a room with people who are upset, who are crying and who are pleading their case and not be affected. I live in the United States not Canada, my family is not being affected by the tar sands so why should I care what happens to these people who are in another country? I should care and do care because we are talking about human lives at stake with serious conditions that no one is doing anything about. What if that was their child or their sibling or their spouse that died from those conditions? I suppose that since it’s not, it doesn’t have an impact on them. I was so disgusted by their behavior and reactions that I honestly didn’t even feel like driving home in my car that uses oil that comes from the same place that is not taking care of people and just letting them die. I don’t understand how someone who is standing in the same room as these people could feel nothing. I sat in the movie theater watching this and became so overwhelmed with emotion, that tears started to roll down my face.
This world has become so selfish and so self serving and the almighty dollar rules over everything. When we are putting gas in cars, we don’t think of where it comes from. That has changed for me since seeing this movie. I am still in disbelief at how these people are being treated and no less by another HUMAN BEING. You could sit there reading this feeling that you don’t care because it’s not in your country. Well, I have news for you, it is.
There was a part in the movie that talked about the company BP Amoco getting permission to dump over 1,500 pounds of ammonia and roughly 5,000 pounds of suspended solids into the Great Lakes from their Whiting Refinery in Indiana. All I could think was that I loved the irony of a supposed “green” company that advertises "Beyond Petroleum" saying they are a global leader in producing the cleanest burning fossil fuel, does the exact opposite of what it promotes. I think in the future when BP Amoco advertises how green they are, they should show how green the lakes are from them dumping all their toxins in it and hey, while they’re at it, change the green in their logo so that it glows! This had so many people outraged and one of the people who was loudly against this was Eddie Vedder of the group Pearl Jam. During their concert at Lollapalooza, Eddie informed the fans that he had just been told by “a couple of reliable sources” around town that the oil companies were “sitting on 40 million acres” of land that they planned on drilling for oil and that these lands are federal lands so they can keep the supplies low and the prices and profits high. The crowd’s reaction was clear that they stood against this with Eddie and the rest of the band. I was floored when I saw this because I couldn’t think of a better venue than a concert where you already have everyone’s attention and they’re already hanging on your every word. Way to go Eddie! Now as if that wasn’t enough, the band started playing an impromptu song “Don’t Go To BP Amoco”.

Here's what Eddie said and a video clip you can watch of this amazing moment.
“And with all of you here, I think you should hear it. They’ve been passing out information that uh, and it seems to be factual that they’re leading us to believe that there’s this company, and they’re called BP Amoco. ….But it’s apparently financially beneficial to them to dump their waste into your beautiful Lake Michigan”. The crowd boos at this injustice.
“So I would just suggest…that we all have choices as a consumer, that if you drove right by an Amoco and went somewhere else to get your gas...so don’t show BP Amoco any kind of love until they clean up their act”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bUAD7OPwjg


The tar sands project uses significantly more energy in their process than the energy that is used to produce regular crude oil and in fact, the tar sands project has been called “the most destructive project on Earth” by the Natural Resources Defense Council. I stated previously that it seems as though the Canadian government isn’t really doing anything about this and I posed the question of why should we care here in the United States. Well we should care because the problems in Alberta actually extends to southern Illinois, from Lake Michigan as I told you regarding the BP Amoco company and then into the sky. So now it’s here and do you think we’re going to sit back and just accept this? No we’re not because we have a President who gets involved. In fact, President Obama took a trip to Canada in February of this year to meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada. Obama is in favor of using clean energy which affects not only our economy and people but the planet as a whole.
Both countries agree on technological development and research, however, expanding the tar sands oil production has no place in this clean energy plan and it also poses an unacceptable risk to the climate as pointed out by President Obama. This is one of the things that I love about Obama is that he makes people accountable. If you remember early on when the car companies were pleading their cases that they needed to be bailed out, President Obama didn’t have a problem with this, but the car companies needed to show him what they were going to do with the money. He was making them accountable. When the staff said they couldn’t figure out ways to save money, he said yes you can. He told them to sit there and figure out. He is not letting anyone be lazy anymore and he is not putting up with anymore excuses. The same goes here with this situation. I’ve heard and read so many things that people have said against the President of how come things haven’t changed yet in some areas or they don’t like the changes that he is proposing. Here’s the thing people, things do not change overnight. It takes time to get all your ducks in a row and many meetings to get through it all. I caught Obama on Letterman awhile ago and he talked about how things do get presented but then get turned down so they go back to the drawing board and find another way. He is definitely not one to give up the first time he gets a “no”. He just goes back and finds another way to get the “yes”. Here is a quote from our President on this situation:
“We are very grateful for the relationship that we have with Canada, and Canada being our largest energy supplier, but I think that increasingly we have to take into account that the issue of climate change and greenhouse gases is something that’s going to have an impact on all of us and as two relatively wealthy countries, it’s important for us to show leadership.”
Before Obama got into the leadership role he has today, he was pushing for a safe environment and I wonder how many people really know this? He was the co-sponsor of the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act while he was still in the Senate. This act would reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States by 80% by 2050 and even though he was ahead of his game, Congress still has to vote on this bill. Then there’s the Clean Air Act in Illinois that required 10% of electricity in the state would come from renewable sources such as wind and solar power by 2012. Obama was preventing Bush from rolling back this act while he was a Senator by introducing a bill that required more pollution controls at coal plants. Obama is committed to protecting the Great Lakes because they make up 1/5 of the world’s surface water and he doesn’t want to disrupt the balance of the lake’s ecosystem. So he ensured that Illinois would get adequate federal funding to operate a barrier that will prevent Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan.
These are things that Obama was already working on so for him to make the trip to Canada was no surprise. We are a country that I feel looks after one another and we have our finger on the pulse of humanity in this country. If the tar sands were located in this country, I believe the voices of the people that it was affecting would be heard.
This movie is a must see whether or not you're into documentaries. I wasn't sure what to expect from the movie. I thought it was going to be something on oil that wasn't too exciting or that I would be bored with. The way the movie opens has you wanting to know where it's going so you pay attention. As the movie continues it's almost like layers are being peeled off until you get to the core. Each time another layer got peeled off, I kept thinking this problem is getting bigger and bigger and the domino affect kept spreading out further and further. Academy Award Nominee Director Leslie Iwerks really did quite a job on keeping your interest and at the same time bringing you into this other world that you never knew of.
I don't want to spoil too much but you'll also see a portion of the movie where a doctor comes in to help these people that are getting sick and dying and when he realizes what it's really from, he is harassed to keep quiet. He does everything to get the attention from the right people but the media slams him and makes him seem not credible in what he's saying. I was very proud of this man for not giving into being quiet and really trying to go to bat for these people and the environment.
You really must see this movie because now that I have seen it, I really want everyone here in the United States to go see it to understand my passion of how wrong this is and how it is affecting us here in our country and we don't even know it. We need to take a stand for our environment and for our own lives. I don't want us ordering fish with a side of tumor and I certainly don't want to attend a funeral daily.
One last thing I might add is that ironically Director Leslie Iwerks was born on the original Earth Day when it was founded and I find it interesting that this is her second project regarding environmental issues. Do you think someone bigger than us is trying to tell us something? I don't know but what I do know is that this is something Leslie is very passionate about and after seeing this movie I feel the same way. I guarantee you will too. You can log onto www.leslieiwerks.com or www.babelgum.com/dirtyoil for more info and the trailer on this movie. This is Babelgum's first feature film and they had approached Ms. Iwerks on directing this film. I give two thumbs up to both Babelgum and Leslie Iwerks for this incredible movie.

Oceana Interview With Sam Waterston...

Oceana is an organization that was founded in 2001 and is the largest international organization that is focused only on the conservation of our beautiful oceans. They have offices in North America, South America, Europe and Central America. I had an opportunity to interview one of the Board of Directors, Sam Waterston. You may know Mr.Waterston best from his role on “Law and Order” as Jack McCoy. He has a real passion for our oceans and it was quite apparent throughout our interview.

Sam Waterston, Actor and Activist

I asked Sam how he originally got involved in this wonderful organization and he said that Chairman Keith Addis and Actor Ted Danson had approached him. Both men serve on the Board of Directors as well and it was not a difficult task to convince Sam to join. He grew up on the East Coast in New England playing and enjoying the ocean around him. Now we see bad things happening and people don’t know what to do about them. Once such thing is the current oil spill that has been all over the news. I asked Sam what his take was on this. “It’s a horrible thing within itself”, he explained,” and the effects will be seen for years and years and years.” He is indeed correct as this oil spill has caused so much tragedy in so many directions. I’m personally saddened at the fact that I think this entire spill could have been avoided in the first place. I shared with Sam that last year I saw a movie at the Hamptons International Film Festival called “Dirty Oil”. It was a documentary and really opened my eyes as to what is going on out there. We all know oil and water don’t mix but this movie made that statement even more real. It even mentioned in part about how BP had a part in our own country to cause a similar situation on the Great Lakes by getting permission to dump over 1,500 pounds of ammonia and roughly 5,000 pounds of suspended solids from their Whiting Refinery in Indiana. What is going on with this country that our world is made up of about 71% water yet we can care less? Oceana will bring in a remote vehicle to the oil spill to study what’s going on and what happens regarding the damage being done.



Sam believes this is an opportunity for us to wake up and change course and change the way we do energy. “These spills happen around the world but we should be moving as fast as we can to try to get energy elsewhere and in effect, it would create new jobs, help with the economy and avoid these spills”, states Sam and I have to agree with him. He acknowledged the opportunities that are all around us right here on Long Island. A good example he pointed out were the windmills out here. The winds are steady blowing and the energy created by the windmills would be a lot cleaner.



It’s not just the energy issue but the fact that the ocean bottoms are being wiped out and no one really has a clue as to what is going on with the sea beds. In the past few years, about 2 percent of all money for environmental causes goes to our oceans yet we are made up of about 71% water. Sam pointed out how people may not pay so much attention to the oceans since they seem far out whereas they pay more attention to things like our forests because those are closer to us. The forests are more on a national level but the oceans belong to all of us.

He has noticed that there are more and more people becoming aware of the ocean but most people tend to think they can’t do anything about it. The oceans can actually respond quite well and if you think about it, it’s a crazy concept if we just sit back and do nothing about what’s going on.



This is where you come in. You can definitely make a difference even if you think you can’t. If you tell me one person can’t make a difference, I will throw names at you like Rosa Parks. If each person thinks they can make a difference, all of a sudden we have hundreds and thousands that are all helping to make a difference. One thing you can do that is immediate is to attend the fundraiser this July 10 at the Watermill home of Lois Robbins and Andrew Zaro. Many celebrities will be in attendance and some of the more prominent figures that will be there are Susan Cohn Rockefeller, Vera Wang, Arthur Becker, Ellen and Dan Crown, Andrew and Sandi Farkas, Tom and Lori Florio, Senator Frank Lautenberg and Bonnie Lautenberg, Lizzie and John Tisch just to name a few. You can get your ticket by logging on to www.oceanasplashparty.org and if you cannot attend this event, please log on to www.na.oceana.org and donate what you can or become a wave maker and see how you can help save our oceans.

Church Lounge Restaurant Review...

TriBeCa,short for "Triangle Below Canal", is home to first class art galleries, restaurants and boutiques. The Tribeca Grand Hotel was the first New York luxury hotel to arrive in TriBeCa. The Church Lounge, located in the atrium of the Tribeca Grand, is sure to seduce you upon your entrance into the hotel. The soft glow of candles and the relaxed yet upscale lounge feel pulls you in where you can enjoy a delectable meal or flavorful cocktail.
I have been to the Tribeca Grand many times before but this time I took a friend for dinner as I've been meaning to do many times. Last Thursday, February 18, I decided it was a good opportunity to have dinner at the Church Lounge prior to going to a closing night party for Fashion Week. We were greeted by Sal Monaco, the Food and Beverage Manager. I met Sal a few years ago when he managed another restaurant and from the first day I met him, he has been a very hospitable host. The Grand family is very fortunate to have him at the helm.

Sal Monaco, Food & Beverage Manager and Annemarie Davin, FameHampton

We were seated at a cozy table with plush banquets that were very comfortable. There were a good amount of people at the tables and sitting at the bar. I've always noticed that people are always smiling and having fun when I've been there and this night was no exception.
We received our menus and each ordered a glass of Pinot Grigio which is my favorite wine! I had no idea what to pick to eat because everything on the menu looked so appetizing. I decided to try the Shrimp and Avocado Sandwich which came with arugula and lime mayonnaise. My friend tried the Seared Salmon that came with pink grapefruit, avocado and beet salad with a pomegranate vinaigrette. For sides we had Truffle Creamed Spinach and Baby Carrots with Butter and Thyme.

The service was pretty quick. Before we knew it our plates were set before us and it all looked so delicious. As I took my first bite, the combination of the shrimp, avocado and lime mayonnaise blended so perfectly together it made my taste buds dance! This was a dish I was definitely glad I ordered. I kept eating and didn't stop to have a conversation like I normally do. This was too good! My friend commented how perfect her salmon was and she continued on eating just like me. Two plates that were made to perfection by Chef Max Bartoli. Sal came back around to ask us how we liked our meal and the first words out of my mouth were "Oh my God! This is so good!" He smiled and was delighted that we were enjoying it. I went on to try the baby carrots and of course as I suspected, they were quite mouth watering and again just the right blend of butter and thyme. The truffle creamed spinach melted in my mouth as I tried a sample of that as well.
If you've ever gone to the Church Lounge just for drinks, you really must try dinner there. I promise you won't be disappointed. In the summer the Soho Grand opens up their restaurant, The Yard, and I can't wait to try a meal there as well. Sal manages The Yard in the summer as well and both hotels boast the terminology "The Grand Life". The word grand certainly is a word I would use to describe the service, the atmosphere and the food. If you think of how many choices you have in Manhattan alone, it's no wonder why many people choose the Church Lounge.

   Annemarie Davin and friend, Lanka Dupont

Dinner is not the only thing served. They also serve breakfast and lunch and on Sundays you can have the Grand Brunch which is served from 10am to 3pm and comes with a wide array of choices. Breakfast is served daily from 6am to 11 am, lunch is served from 11am to 4pm and dinner is from 4pm to 11pm.
If you are planning a weekend in the city, you should take advantage of the special offer they have right now which is a two night weekend stay from $450 and includes a complimentary $100 food and beverage credit. Also keep the Tribeca Grand in mind if you are attending the Tribeca Film Festival.
If you're looking to book an event or want to book reservations in the Church Lounge, be sure to ask for Sal Monaco and tell him I sent you!

Hillary Flowers at Amnesia...

The Official Hillary Flowers Fashion Week Runway Show took place on Monday, February 15th at Club Amnesia in New York City. This President's Day Celebration had a special performance by Axixs. Axixs is a group that was formed by Pras Michel, formerly of The Fugees, and Selina Carrera, one of the groups vocalists. The other vocalist is Stefi Nova and she also plays bass guitar.


Hillary Flowers, in the middle in the silver shining dress, with some of her models.




Selina Carrera and Stefi Nova take time out to strike a pose



Selina Carrera, Pras Michel and Stefi Nova of Axixs


The fashion show was sponsored by Hampton Daze Magazine and many people came out for this fun evening. There were even goodie bags on the tables which included scarves courtesy of Hillary Flowers and a special gift courtesy of Hiipuss V.


Hillary Flowers and Annemarie Davin, Publisher, FameHampton.com




Melanie Anne, Joe Cipro and Jessica Mackin, Hampton Daze Magazine







Lanka Dupont, Hiipuss V and Annemarie Davin, FameHampton.com


There were many dresses and many designs that were showcased that evening. Here are the models and the dresses they presented.



At the end of the show, Hillary Flowers came out to take a bow with her shining smile on a successful evening. I've also included a video clip of all of the models as they paraded their beautiful dresses.

Thanks to everyone who came out and showed their support.