At first glance, Cesare Bonizzi looks like the archetypal Capuchin monk - round-faced, stout, with twinkling eyes and a long flowing white beard. But beneath his robes beats a heart of metal. Brother Cesare is the lead singer in a heavy metal band which has just released its second album. A former missionary in the Ivory Coast, he lives in a small friary in the Milan hinterland. The 62-year-old monk's love affair with heavy metal began when he attended a Metallica concert some 15 years ago. "I was overwhelmed and amazed by the sheer energy of it" he says.
At first glance, Cesare Bonizzi looks like the archetypal Capuchin monk - round-faced, stout, with twinkling eyes and a long flowing white beard. But beneath his robes beats a heart of metal.
Brother Cesare is the lead singer in a heavy metal band which has just released its second album.
A former missionary in the Ivory Coast, he lives in a small friary in the Milan hinterland.
The 62-year-old monk's love affair with heavy metal began when he attended a Metallica concert some 15 years ago.
"I was overwhelmed and amazed by the sheer energy of it" he says.
Perhaps it has disappeared through a window into another universe, like its characters. It looked increasingly unlikely yesterday that cinema audiences in this world will get to see the planned film sequels in Philip Pullman's children's fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials. Sources in the film industry said that plans for a sequel to The Golden Compass appeared to have been put on ice following the fervent Christian protests surrounding the first film, which led to boycotts and box office disappointment in the United States. Pullman told The Independent that he had not yet been contacted by Shepperton Studios and was not aware of any imminent plans to film the sequel, The Subtle Knife. When the first film was in production last year, he was regularly contacted by Chris Weitz, its writer and director.
Perhaps it has disappeared through a window into another universe, like its characters.
It looked increasingly unlikely yesterday that cinema audiences in this world will get to see the planned film sequels in Philip Pullman's children's fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials.
Sources in the film industry said that plans for a sequel to The Golden Compass appeared to have been put on ice following the fervent Christian protests surrounding the first film, which led to boycotts and box office disappointment in the United States.
Pullman told The Independent that he had not yet been contacted by Shepperton Studios and was not aware of any imminent plans to film the sequel, The Subtle Knife. When the first film was in production last year, he was regularly contacted by Chris Weitz, its writer and director.
But Christian complaints against it? I must pay my entry fee! Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi
What the Xians are complaining about, I can't imagine. But I agree. I should buy the DVD just to spite the one-male-god whiners. Never underestimate their intelligence, always underestimate their knowledge.
Frank Delaney ~ Ireland
But these are probably the same Christians who think Harry Potter is about the occult because there are wizards. So they're probably just annoyed that it's not a film about men in beards looking furrowed-browed and smitey.
lol! priceless... ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
I liked the books, though - they were clearly written for a smarter audience than the movie was done. Given the difference between reading and watching crowd, it's not a big surprise.
Impatience and sharp elbows run in the genes, it seems. President Nicolas Sarkozy has been battling for space in the French headlines this week not just with his wife, not just with his ex-wife, but with his tall, blond, fast-moving son, Jean. At the age of 21, "speedy" Sarkozy Jnr has become a political and media phenomenon in his own right. He is, nominally, a second-year law student on his summer holidays. He is also - not entirely to his father's liking - the leader of the majority political group on the council of the wealthiest département in France.Jean Sarkozy's latest precocious exploit is to achieve something that even his father has not yet succeeded in doing. He has, involuntarily, created confusion and despair in one of the bastions of the French left-libertarian media establishment, the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.The President's son - who oozes charm and confidence - became engaged this month to one of the wealthiest young women in France. His fiancée is Jessica Sebaoun-Darty, heiress to the family which owns the Darty electrical goods stores - the French equivalent of Currys. Mme Sebaoun-Darty is Jewish. Persistent media rumours - finally denounced yesterday as false - claimed that Jean Sarkozy intended to convert to Judaism before his marriage. On the basis of these rumours, a radical cartoonist-columnist in Charlie Hebdo suggested earlier this month that Jean Sarkozy was an opportunist who would "go far in life". The Sarkozy family and his fiancée's family threatened to sue the magazine for alleged anti-Semitism. The magazine's editor asked the veteran cartoonist, Siné to retract. He replied: "I would rather cut off my balls."
Impatience and sharp elbows run in the genes, it seems. President Nicolas Sarkozy has been battling for space in the French headlines this week not just with his wife, not just with his ex-wife, but with his tall, blond, fast-moving son, Jean.
At the age of 21, "speedy" Sarkozy Jnr has become a political and media phenomenon in his own right. He is, nominally, a second-year law student on his summer holidays. He is also - not entirely to his father's liking - the leader of the majority political group on the council of the wealthiest département in France.
Jean Sarkozy's latest precocious exploit is to achieve something that even his father has not yet succeeded in doing. He has, involuntarily, created confusion and despair in one of the bastions of the French left-libertarian media establishment, the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
The President's son - who oozes charm and confidence - became engaged this month to one of the wealthiest young women in France. His fiancée is Jessica Sebaoun-Darty, heiress to the family which owns the Darty electrical goods stores - the French equivalent of Currys. Mme Sebaoun-Darty is Jewish. Persistent media rumours - finally denounced yesterday as false - claimed that Jean Sarkozy intended to convert to Judaism before his marriage. On the basis of these rumours, a radical cartoonist-columnist in Charlie Hebdo suggested earlier this month that Jean Sarkozy was an opportunist who would "go far in life". The Sarkozy family and his fiancée's family threatened to sue the magazine for alleged anti-Semitism. The magazine's editor asked the veteran cartoonist, Siné to retract. He replied: "I would rather cut off my balls."
I had to fall off my chair with laughter. This is a typo, right? Considering how many arms Sarko senior had to twist to make his son get the position (the other, more senior members of the group were NOT happy), that really is rich. Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi
