A reminder that the 10th anniversary gathering of the Vagina Monologues will be held this weekend in New Orleans.  Marisa is scheduled to attend and I’m hoping that since it’s such a star studded event, there will be lots of photos of her to add.

VDay events for 2008 will culminate this year in New Orleans.  Eve Ensler calls New Orleans the Vagina of America and she has chosen the New Orleans Arena to host the V-day event of the decade. V to the Tenth will be in New Orleans on April 11 and 12th, 2008. In one of her Vagina Monologues Ensler says about the fertile New Orleans: We brag about her music, the way she moves, we beg to get inside her, but disown her later when she has needs… We (can) change her story and the story of women.

This New Orleans celebration of two performances of the award winning Vagina Monologues will feature Salma Hayek, Oprah Winfrey, Faith Hill, Jane Fonda, Jessica Alba, Jennifer Hudson, Glenn Close, Julia Stiles, Ali Larter, Sally Field, Marisa Tomei, Calpernia Addams, Rosario Dawson, Kerry Washington, and musicians Common, Eve, and Charmaine Neville. See details and get tickets at: http://v10.vday.org/ Ensler has a big picture for vaginas. V-Day is a vision to see a world where women live safely and freely. The monologues speak openly about vagina stories that were collected from women. Ending violence against women is the driving force behind the production. Women don’t talk about their own sexuality; they don’t talk about what pleases them, and when raped, they don’t talk about that either. Most of the time, they think it was their fault that they were attacked and they walk around with the hidden fear and shame of it.

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Last week, Marisa was on The Today Show with Mario Batali cooking one of her recipes from ‘The Celebrity Italian Table Cookbook.’  I have downloaded the cookbook and made screencaps of her section.  During the month of February, Barilla will donate $1 to America’s Second Harvest for each download the cookbook receives.  Even if you aren’t interested in the recipes, I recommend downloading the cookbook just to help contribute to such a worthy cause.  More info can be found here and here.

Thank you to Richard and Randall for emailing me about this!

I found this article on deadlinehollywooddaily.com.  I fully support the writer’s strike and think this is a wonderful idea.  I really hope Marisa takes part.

On Thanksgiving Day (November 22), a group of Writers Guild Of America members will begin posting Public Service Announcements featuring A-list Screen Actors Guild talent as part of the WGA membership’s “Speechless” campaign conceived by director/writer George Hickenlooper and writer Alan Sereboff. For the first time in the TV and movie industry, high-profile SAG actors will be taking their talents directly and exclusively to the Internet — the very medium which is at the center of the current WGA labor strike against the Alliance Of Motion Picture & Television Producers. 

The spots will begin appearing on Thursday morning which will begin posting Thanksgiving Day and run exclusively on DeadlineHollywood.com through Sunday night. Beginning Monday, they can be found on SpeechlessWithoutWriters.com with links on UnitedHollywood.com and every day thereafter during the duration of the strike.

Included are SAG talent such as Sean Penn, Holly Hunter, Laura Linney, Alan Cumming, Jay Leno, Harvey Keitel, Kate Beckinsale, Tina Fey, Tim Robbins, Gary Marshall, David Schwimmer, Patricia Clarkson, James Franco, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Martin Sheen, Josh Brolin, Susan Sarandon, Andre 3000, Chazz Palminteri, Jason Bateman, Christine Lahti, Patricia Arquette, Jenna Elfman, Olivia Wilde, Richard Benjamin, Paula Prentiss, Eva Longoria, Justine Bateman, Joshua Jackson, Rosanna Arquette, Diane Ladd, Rebecca Romjin, Minnie Driver, Nicollette Sheridan, Robert Patrick, Matthew Perry, Ed Asner, and America Ferrera. Arrangements have been made to also shoot Woody Allen, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jane Fonda, Marisa Tomei, Ethan Hawke, Jason Alexander, Charlize Therone, Minnie Driver, Philip Seymour Hoffman. Many, many more are also in the works.

The full article and more information about the PSA spots can be found here.  If you are unhappy about the strike and worried about the future of your favorite TV shows, I highly recommend writing to the studios and letting them know how you feel.

‘V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls, spawned by Eve Ensler’s incredibly successful play “The Vagina Monologues, ” will celebrate its 10th anniversary with thousands of V-Day activities in February and March, culminating in a two-day “event of the decade, ” April 11 and 12 at the New Orleans Arena and the Louisiana Superdome.

April 12 will feature international performances of “The Vagina Monologues, ” and V-Day activists and speakers from across the globe. Oprah Winfrey, Jane Fonda, Ellen DeGeneres, Glenn Close, Rosario Dawson, Selma Hayek, Jennifer Hudson, Ashley Judd, Calpernia Addams, Julia Stiles, Marisa Tomei, and musicians Peter Buffett, Toni Childs, Common, Eve and Joss Stone have already signed on.

Each year V-Day increases awareness by focusing on a specific group of women resisting violence with courage and vision. In 2008, the spotlight will be turned on “Katrina Warriors” in New Orleans and the Deep South, such as Carol Bebelle of the Ashe Cultural Arts Center and singer Charmaine Neville, who will be honored for their strength and resilience in the face of devastating loss.

“V-Day to the Tenth” will include a multitude of activities and performances that will reclaim the Superdome, the site of chaos and suffering during Hurricane Katrina, into a place of empowerment and action.

More info here.