Author: Sara Embrey

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Brother’s Day: A Gift That Should Be Cherished

 

Everyone knows Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, but did you know that May 24th is Brother’s Day?  There is a special place held in our hearts for our brothers. Whether it is a big brother or a little brother, you can always count on them to be there for you. Sometimes they are there for you when you need help winning a battle or to pull you up when you are feeling down and out. Other times they are there when you just want to relax and have a beer. So take Brother’s Day to reach out to your brother and remind him how much he means to you. Arrange a time to take your brother out to catch up on your life and reminisce about your favorite memories.

Brothers do not necessarily have to be connected through a family tree; they can be symbolically connected through experiences and events that have united them. Brothers are the ones that are they for you during the moments of pure bliss, as well as when times are tough. It’s through these shared experiences where this bond is built.

A great example of ordinary men who became united as brothers through their extraordinary lives is the winner of six Emmy Awards, Band of Brothers Miniseries. It tells the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army and chronicles the experiences of these men who knew extraordinary bravery and extraordinary fear. Another film centered around the theme of brotherhood is Ways to Live Forever. This Brother’s Day worthy film that tells a story of 12-year old Sam who wants to know about UFOs, horror movies, ghosts, and girls. Sam,  played by actor Robbie Kay, also has leukemia, and although the adults in his life don’t want him to dwell on it, Sam wants to know everything about his disease and death, a possibility he might face. Through his sickness he meets another young boy with Leukemia. Sam and his newfound friend Felix, played by Alex Etel,  embark on a journey to explore the world around. Although these two meet through unfortunate circumstances, they were able to enjoy their lives as best as any blood brothers.

 

 

 

 

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Save Your Hearing Day

 

They say that you never know what you have until it's gone hearing is one aspect of yourself that most people take for granted. We no longer listen to the song birds, but traffic noise that we cover with loud music. Not only are we shutting out the world, but we are damaging ourselves. Today, May 31, is Save your hearing day it’s a special day when we recognize the importance of hearing and that it should be protected. This is an opportunity to learn about what we can do to avoid hearing loss and there are ways we can prevents deafness.

Sound is measured in decibels, a normal speaking voice is 60 decibels. A rock concerts generates 135-155 decibels, which can lead to permanent damage if you are exposed to it for a long period of time called NIHL, noise induced hearing loss. At 120 decibels, the sounds of a thunderclap or chainsaw will cause pain in the eardrums and at 150 decibels the human eardrum pops. According to John Hopkins, nearly a fifth of all Americans 12 years and older will have hearing loss in their lifetime to such a degree that they have a hard time communicating. This is most often due to overuse of new technologies, such as iPods, laptops, and cell phones while using headphones. Some of these have a higher volume limit than is safe for the human ear. The highest volume you can achieve on an ipod is 105 decibels, which is much louder than the 75 decibels that are recommended. The rule of thumb for using an iPod is 60% volume for 60 minutes to retain your hearing. Did you know that you can also detox from your overconsumption of loud music? It consists of 16 hours of rest for your eardrums, which is under 50 decibels. Everyone should be aware of the noise going on around them to prevent hearing loss.
If you need examples of the difficult life you would be leading just watch some of the following films with characters that have impaired hearing. In the film Amy, distributed by World Wide Motion Pictures, the main character loses her hearing due to emotional trauma and the journey of her mother and neighbors to bring her back. To be unable to communicate with those closest to you is hard to imagine for most of us who have perfect hearing. Being extra patient with the elderly and those who have a hard time hearing is important, because, even though their hearing is impaired, their minds are not. Other films include Copying Beethoven, which is about the famous composer with impaired hearing, There will be Blood, The Miracle Worker, Beyond Silence and many more.

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Joan Baez On Tour in Australia and New Zealand

 

The iconic American folk singer, songwriter, musician, and activist Joan Baez announced last month a 2015 Australian and New Zealand tour. Some of her popular and hit songs include “Diamond & Rust”, “Night They Drove Old Dixie Town”, “Blowin’ in the Wind”, and  “Farewell Angelina” and the tour begins September 17 at the Royal Theatre in Canberra and ends at the Festival Theatre in Adelaide on October 12.

Joan Baez has been known for her philanthropic and activist mentality and actions. Her beautiful songs represent major themes of social justice and have often been considered “protest songs” of her day. On May 21st, 2015, Baez received the Amnesty International’s Ambassador for Conscience Award, recognizing her lifelong commitment as an outspoken activist, subjects evident in her rich music catalogue.

“The Ambassador of Conscience Award is a celebration of those unique individuals who have used their talents to inspire many, many others to take injustice personally. That is why both Joan Baez and Ai Weiwei make such worthy recipients; they are an inspiration to thousands more human rights activists, from across Asia to America and beyond,” said Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

Joan Baez has led an extraordinary life. She used her songs to protest in Vietnam, fought for women’s rights, participated in a protest with Dr. King, and most recently was featured in the documentary film Welcome to Eden. The documentary took place in the year 2006 where farmers and activists, such as Daryl Hannah and Willie Nelson, came together to stop an awful eviction of the fourteen acres of farmland in South Central Los Angeles and prevent the largest farm in America. Baez was part of the farming demonstration. She sang and voiced her opinion that a land developer, Ralph Horwitz, wanted to get rid of.

You can read more about Joan Baez on tour here and on her website. Welcome to Eden is now available on VOD and DVD.

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Ben Mendelsohn, Starring in New Netflix Series titled, “Bloodlines”

 

Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn is starring in a new Netflix series titled Bloodlines, which has been streaming on Netflix since March 20th. In the series, Mendelsohn portrays the family's black sheep out of a group of affluent brothers. His bad attitude was sparked by a traumatic event which the other brothers were not old enough to remember.

In an interview with EW.com, Mendelsohn spoke about playing villains and how he is generally has a strength in playing them. For him, playing villains “In a traditional sense, that’s always an important role. It’s important execution-wise, so I take it as a great compliment.” Mendelsohn has had much experience in his career playing the lead antagonist. He also portrays the villain in such feature films as The Year My Voice Broke, as well as Animal Kingdom.

On Friday April 3rd, Ben celebrated his 46th birthday. Be sure to catch Ben Mendelsohn's performance in the film Amy, also starring Rachel Griffiths, which is currently being distributed by World Wide Motion Pictures Corporation.

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Donate a Day’s Wages to a Charity Day

 

Did you know that more than two million people who live in a country as wealthy as the United States live on two dollars a day. For many of us of us that’s less than we spend on a daily cup of coffee. Today is a great day to balance out the karmic scales because it’s Donate a Day's Wages to a Charity day, celebrated on the second Wednesday of every May, which is today. Giving back to the community helps provide much needed relief to those who need it most.

John’s Hopkins Hospital opened in 1889 and its mission statement is to improve the health of the community and the world by setting the standard of excellence in medical education, research and clinical care. Diverse and inclusive, Johns Hopkins Medicine educates medical students, scientists, health care professionals and the public; conducts biomedical research; and provides patient-centered medicine to prevent, diagnose and treat human illness. This organization has helped further science by discovering of the genes responsible for breast cancer, pancreatic cancer and brain tumors.  The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is one of the largest non-profit organizations that dedicates its time to researching leukemia and lymphoma cancers. It’s mission to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Their focus is blood cancers in all forms, from leukemia to Melanoma. Another great option is your local Children’s hospital are also a great place to donate, for example CHOC and CHLA.

 

Other charities include:

Endure to Cure,

Love Hope Strength,

Pablove Foundation,

Children’s Cancer and Blood Foundation,

Mylifeline,

Curing Kids Cancer,

University of Colorado Cancer Center.
While distributing the films Ways To Live Forever, World Wide Motion Pictures has worked with these charities to bring awareness to childhood cancer. Anyone of these charities would be glad of your donation and it would go toward a worthy goal, of helping children.

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Nurses Day 2015

 

Happy Nurses Day! Today is a day to appreciate those around us who work to keep us safe and healthy. They risk their lives to help us stay healthy and improve our health care. Nursing is one of the fastest growing occupations in the U.S. as well as being in high demand across the world. “According to a 2001 World Health Organization report, nurses and midwives can comprise between 50% to 90% of the number of health practitioners in many countries” (NursingLink). Thank your nurses for being in abundance to save lives!

Health care is especially important to those who battle serious illnesses. Movies such as Harry Potter, Meet the Fockers, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Ways to Live Forever all include memorable nurses. The movie Ways to Live Forever centers around a boy with leukemia and how he and the people around him cope with it. This film is directed by Gustavo Ron and stars Robbie Kay as the young boy, Sam, fighting for his life to survive leukemia. In the movie Sam’s nurse, Annie played by Natalia Tena, acts as a friend and guidance for him. She rides her moped to take care of Sam at his house and keeps him company while answering any questions he has for her.

Often our nurses act as modest heroes. They don’t stand out and be recognized as much as our doctors but they still do a lot of work to help us out. May 12th 2015 is International Nurses Day so let’s take a minute to appreciate and recognize those who help us stay healthy.