TEACHER BLOG
" Leonardo DiCaprio, will i. am, Tobey Maguire, and Forest Whitaker
took the lead in creating the public service announcements to
encourage American youth to register to vote. The non-partisan PSAs,
produced by DiCaprio's Appian Way, were created to engage and inspire
young people to register and vote and participate in the upcoming
election.
Celebrities appearing in the PSAs include: Amy Adams, will.i.am,
Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Bacon, Halle Berry, Kate Bosworth, Kevin
Connolly, Courteney Cox, Ellen DeGeneres, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie
Foxx, Jonah Hill, Dustin Hoffman, Anthony Kiedis, Ashton Kutcher, Adam
Levine, Laura Linney, Eva Longoria, Tobey Maguire, Demi Moore, Natalie
Portman, Giovanni Ribisi, Ethan Suplee, Kyra Sedgwick, Sarah
Silverman, Michelle Trachtenberg, Usher, Forest Whitaker, will.i.am."
http://www.idesktop.tv/#don't%20vote
| Last Update: 10/03 7:32 am |
| DeGeneres agreed to be one of the talking heads urging America's youth to hit the polls in November and vote for a new president, and DiCaprio, the force behind the new campaign, turned up to hand deliver the PSA to her on her TV show. The Titanic star invited a host of celebrity pals to his Hollywood home, where the PSA was shot, to speak their mind about the importance of voting. He told DeGeneres, "Forest Whitaker, Tobey Maguire, will.i.am and myself were talking about how soon the voter registration deadline is and it's only days away and, with 35 states in our country, the deadline is October 6th - that's this Monday... so we really wanted to do a PSA to really encourage people to get out there. "This is one of the most important elections of our lifetime and we really need to tell everyone we know to get out and register. "We have this campaign that's, 'Tell five of your friends,' so if you go online, at least send it to five friends and it's gonna spread like wildfire." In the PSA, DiCaprio, Whitaker, DeGeneres, Maguire and stars like Dustin Hoffman, Demi Moore and Usher poke fun at those who have not registered to vote, saying, "Don't vote." Other celebrities join the ad, with Courteney Cox asking, "Who cares about your children's education." And Jamie Foxx and DiCaprio ask, "Who cares about global warming and the fact that our polar ice caps are melting," as Jennifer Aniston chimes in, "I hear polar bears can swim!" The ad has already achieved it's initial goal - DiCaprio explains, "In the first hour (of posting it online) we got 10,000 more people registered to vote." |
| Learning English - Words in the News 29 August, 2008 - Published 12:30 GMT Obama accepts nomination for US presidency | |||||
In the US, Barack Obama has accepted the Democratic nomination for the presidency, making him the first black candidate to run for office. He was speaking in a packed stadium in the centre of Denver, from where our correspondent Kevin Connolly reports: OBAMA: I accept your nomination for presidency of the United States. The night on which a major American party acclaimed a black presidential candidate for the first time called for something unique by way of theatre and Barack Obama obliged. In the rock star setting of a cavernous football stadium, on a stage decorated with columns that looked suspiciously like those of the White House itself, he delivered a speech that touched on everything - from motherhood to mortgage debt. It was strong on patriotism and the readiness to use force as a last resort, but longer on talk of rebuilding areas of American life, which he said, had been fractured in the era of George W Bush: OBAMA: Topped off with red, white and blue fireworks and confetti fired from stage side cannons, it produced rapturous applause inside the stadium. Its real political test though is how it will play in the uncommitted America that lies beyond. Kevin Connolly, BBC News, Denver acclaimed called for something unique by way of theatre obliged as a last resort fractured Tough luck Pull yourself up by your own boot straps Topped off with rapturous applause the uncommitted America that lies beyond | |||||
