Brenda Brkusic on TV

Brenda Brkusic directing actors on location at Lepoglava Prison in Croatia for the filming of

"Freedom from Despair."

Just reminding CROWN readers that Croatian American filmmaker Brenda Brkusic is going to be featured on PBS TV in California next Sunday the 21st. If you have a chance to see it please do. This is a GREAT accomplishment by any Croatian filmmaker. Period.

Nenad
 

"Freedom from Despair"

Published on CROWN athttp://www.croatianworld.net/CROWNframes.htm?/Letters/3403.htm

Croatian American filmmaker Brenda Brkusic
will be featured on PBS, Dec 21 2003
Op-ed
Support our new generation of socially conscious filmmakers, artists and writers who bring more good for all of us. This project is worth of your support. I do. It is about our history that has been stolen from us for 50 years.
Nenad
_ _ _ _ _
22 year old Croatian American filmmaker Brenda Brkusic will be featured on PBS for the Next Generation Filmmakers television program on Sunday December 21, 2003 at 3:30 pm (PST). Brenda will talk about the making of her documentary film, "Freedom from Despair," which was shot in California, Chicago and Croatia last summer. You will also see a preview of the film which includes music composed by Nenad Bach and comments from Michael McAdams, Dr. Jerry Blaskovich, and Congressman Dennis Kucinich.

Southern California residents can see the show on KOCE. Please check the station listing for your neighborhood at the following links:http://www.koce.org/cable_list.htm  for cable listings, and http://www.koce.org/satellite.htm  for satellite TV. If you do not have cable or satellite, KOCE's regular over the air channel is 50.

The segment with Brenda will air during the last 10 minutes of the half hour show, and it is estimated that over 3 million people will be watching. Let's raise the numbers and let KOCE know that we support programs like "Freedom from Despair."

"Freedom from Despair"

A young man's journey from despair, a nation's struggle for freedom.
Contact: crofilm2003@yahoo.com 

Insight into good eating

June will see a new Insight Guide to Croatia
By GEOFFREY WILLIAMS
13dec03
SHOPPING and eating are two of the favourite activities for travellers and Insight Guides is tapping in to that market as it revamps and relaunches its travel guides in Australia.

This year, Insight put out guides for shopping around the world and next year will publish a range of eating guides, each written by local gourmet experts. The opening editions will be on Paris, London and New York.

Universal Publishers, which publishes and distributes Insight Guides in Australia, says the dining guides will be aimed at seasoned travellers who want the best.

But to ensure the IG range also appeals to younger travellers, IG will revamp and relaunch its City Guides series next year with a new smaller format, improved editorial and new photography.

The new look will begin with the popular destinations including Paris, Rome, New York, London, Amsterdam, Sydney, Singapore, Tokyo and Beijing.

June will see a new Insight Guide to New Zealand, featuring adventure activities and sports but a strong emphasis on food, wine, performing arts, film and culture. There will be updated editions on Laos & Cambodia, Shanghai, Croatia, Iceland, Korea, Northern Spain, Tanzania & Zanzibar and Dubai.

Of the 120 Insight Guides available here, the top sellers are: Australia, New Zealand, China, Italy and France.

http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,8140329%255E24389,00.html

Croatian Nanny Available

Hello, my name is Silvia Vracar and i am 25 years old.I'm currently in California visiting friends and I'm looking a nanny position until April. Can You help?

syllabin@hotmail.com

Possibilities for strengthening collaboration between WIPO and Croatia

18 December 2003
WIPO Director General Meets with President Of Croatia

The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Dr. Kamil Idris, and H.E. Mr. Stjepan Mesic, President of Croatia, have discussed possibilities for strengthening collaboration between WIPO and Croatia to further exploit the strategic potential of intellectual property as a tool for economic, social and cultural development. Dr. Idris pledged the Organization’s continued support to Croatia in terms of providing legal and technical assistance to further strengthen Croatia’s intellectual property system.

Dr. Idris said WIPO will support Croatia in its efforts to modernize its legislative and administrative intellectual property framework and to establish an intellectual property culture in that country. WIPO is prepared to provide assistance to Croatia in upgrading enforcement mechanisms, and strengthening the role of intellectual property in the country’s scientific, technological and economic activities. The Director General underlined the importance for transition countries like Croatia to fully integrate intellectual property into their wider economic policies.

Dr. Idris and President Mesic also discussed the economic significance of small and medium enterprises and the potential of intellectual property to further the development and enhance the competitiveness of this sector. SMEs today are the backbone of many national economies. Broadly speaking, they account, for over 90% of all enterprises worldwide, over 70% of production of goods and services and over 35% of exports. SMEs are a rich source of innovation and entrepreneurship which can efficiently harness individual creative effort and convert it into the production and commercialization of new and original products. Often, however, SMEs are not fully aware of the intellectual property system and its potential for business development. Dr. Idris pledged WIPO’s support in helping to promote awareness and use of the intellectual property system by SMEs in Croatia.

http://www.managinginformation.com/news/content_show_full.php?id=2255

Jazzcubes Poetry

Zagreb Redefined57. Put the coat-of-arms into a freedom, protected, enjoyed, planting seeds of success.                  --Steve Renko

Lovro Pogorelic

in Washington DC December 17th 2003

On Wednesday, December 17, Croatian pianist Lovro Pogorelic will delight us
with a concert featuring Musorgsky, Slavenski and Prokofiev.

PROGRAM
Modest Petrovich Musorgsky: Pictures from the Exhibition
Josip Slavenski: Sonata (1924)
Sergej Prokofiev: Sonata No. 7

December 17, 2003 at 7:30 PM at the Embassy of Austria

Admission is free.
Please RSVP: 202-895-6776

 Lovro POGORELICH was born in 1970. He received his first piano lessons from his father and later studied with the Russian pianist and teacher Konstantin Bogino. At the age of thirteen, he gave his first recital and two years later appeared as the soloist in the Schuman Piano Concerto. In 1992, he graduated from the Music Academy of Zagreb. He spent the following year in Paris under the patronage of the French foundation Crédit National, where he recorded a CD for Lyrinx (Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition and Prokofiev, Sonata No. 7). His next recording was a DVD of Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto with the Odense Symphony Orchestra and Edward Serov for Denon.
Apart from numerous concerts in Croatia, Lovro Pogorelich has performed in France, Switzerland, Great Britain, Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Denmark, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Japan and the USA, both as a recitalist and orchestral soloist with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, the Slovakian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. John's Smith, Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy, Orchestre Cannes Provence Côte d'Azur and the Odense Symphony Orchestra.
The works of the Russian masters (Rachmaninov, Scriabin and Prokofiev) as well as Chopin have a significant place in his repertoire. Croatian TV made a portrait of Lovro Pogorelich (1996).

On December 1, 2002, Lovro Pogorelich appeared at London's Royal Festival Hall in a recital entitled The Pianist, which promoted the music of Wladyslaw Szpilman, the composer and pianist portrayed in Roman Polanski's award-winning film of the same title.

Since 1998, Lovro Pogorelich has taught piano at the Academy of Music in Zagreb.
In 1999, he founded The Summer Festival in the Town of Pag and continues to serve as its artistic director. In 2001, he started teaching at the Lovro Pogorelich Summer Piano School in Koper, Slovenia. He lives inZagreb, Croatia.

( www.croatianhouse.org ).

December 17, 2003, 7:30 p.m., at the Austrian Embassy Concert Hall, Washington D.C. Sponsors: Croatian and Austrian Embassies in Washington, D.C

General Management (except former Yugoslavia and Scandinavia)
LANA BEZANOV (LB) PROMOTIONS
70 Gowan Avenue
London SW6 6RF
United Kingdom
tel +44 (0) 20 7736 4717
fax +44 (0) 20 7731 8009
e-mail info@lbproms.co.uk
web www.lbproms.co.uk

Zagreb Concert Management
Performing Arts Agency
Kneza Mislava 18
10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Nina Pogorelic, producer
tel 385 1 45 01 206
fax 385 1 46 11 807
GSM 385 91 110 1996
e-mail info@lovropogorelich.com
web page www.kdz.hr

Tivoli Artists Management
Tom Kristensen, director
3 Vesterbrogade
DK-1630 Copenhagen, Denmark
e-mail tk@tivoli.dk
tel 45 33 750 400
fax 45 33 750 375
webpage www.tam.dk

The Croatian community in Southern California is over 250,000 strong

New website So.CalCroats

http://www.geocities.com/socalcroats
This is So.Cal Croats !!

Croatian events, Croatian partys, Croatian stores, Croatian churches and masses, Everything Croatian in the Southern California area:

AT Southern California Croats Web Site !!!
http://www.geocities.com/socalcroats SoCal Croats  - Southern California Croats

The Croatian community in Southern California is over 250,000 strong with 30,000 just in the San Pedro community (Los Angeles Harbor)....................

The website is still under construction, so keep checking for updated parts of the site

Biscan is a rock

Igor Biscan
 

Biscan is a rock - Tommo Dec 11 2003

By Chris Bascombe Liverpool Echo

LIVERPOOL assistant manager Phil Thompson today insisted it's time Igor Biscan was given the credit he deserves for his form this season.

The Anfield number two believes the Croatian still gets unfair criticism but should be judged on his
excellent displays at centre half. And Thompson is also backing the defender to force his way into his country's Euro 2004 squad.

Biscan arrived at Anfield from Croatia Zagreb in 2001 for Ł5m as a defensive mid-field player. But he has since been re- invented by Gerard Houllier as a defender.

Thompson said today: "He still has to win people over but to be fair to him I think he has already won a lot of people over this season.

"It surprises me when people decide they dislike a certain player and are never prepared to change their opinion.

"To me you should judge a player on their performance in each game on its merits. This season it's
impossible to look at Igor and claim he has not played well.

"He and Sami Hyypia have formed a great understanding. Look at how they played against Alan Shearer, who
knows all the tricks of the trade as a striker.

"The performance of Igor and Sami demanded the kind of concentration which is a big part of being a
centre-half. The two of them were outstanding and withstood a lot of pressure.

"There is still more to come from Igor. First and foremost he is becoming an out and out defender. We know
he has the ability to get forward too but the main thing is to help us keep a clean sheet. The rest is a
bonus."

Added Thompson: "I think he's got a good chance of going to the European Championships.

"We had a chat with the Croatian manager a few months ago and he says things are looking very positive for Igor.

"His performances have been at such a high level there is no reason why he shouldn't be in the Croatian
side."

* Michael Owen and Harry Kewell are back in light training but are more likely to face Wolves on December
20 at Molineux than Southampton at Anfield this weekend.

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0500liverpoolfc/0100news/content_objectid=13715259_method=full_siteid=50061_headline=-Biscan-is-a-rock---Thommo-name_page.html

Skier Kostelic Plans Return to Race Course
 

Sun Dec 14, 7:46 PM ET Add Sports - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Patrick Lang

MADONNA DI CAMPIGLIO, Italy (Reuters) - Croatia's triple Olympic champion Janica Kostelic will return to a race course on Tuesday but only as a forerunner in a slalom.

"Janica has been skiing and training for the past week along her brother Ivica and she seems in good health," said Vedran Pavlek, Croatia's Alpine skiing team manager.

The 21-year-old Kostelic, who has not competed this season after a health scare in November, will ski before the first of two women's slaloms scheduled at the Madonna di Campiglio resort on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"She is happy to be back on snow and we thought it would be a good idea to let her return on the tour to boost her momentum.

"But, for the moment, we don't have any precise date for her real comeback in a race. It could take place anytime, eventually in Lienz after Christmas as we said two months ago.

"Nothing has been decided," he added.

Kostelic, who has had four operations on her right knee in 2003, suffered from thyroid problems last year and had a rapid heart beat after she began training in Zermatt, Switzerland.

In November, the Croatian Ski Federation's former doctor Zelko Sucur told local media she had a serious illness and had to rest for several months to overcome her problems.

Sucur, who also said she should not endure any physical strain that could endanger her health, has not commented on her decision to resume skiing.

Kostelic has been resting at home while her colleagues have competed in North America. She has undergone clinical tests and her condition improved enough in November to allow her to get back on her skis earlier this month.

Last week, three pairs of racing skis were brought to Hinterdux where the Kostelic family was training for Sunday's men's World Cup giant slalom in Alta Badia, Italy.

"She looks fine and very happy, she was really pleased to move again on snow," said Ivica after his second run on Sunday. "Skiing is her passion and it's tough for her to stay away from snow."

While Ivica was preparing for his first run, Kostelic trained for several hours above the 'Gran Risa' course next to other teams including Sweden's women.

After the men's event, she moved with Ivica and her father Ante to Madonna di Campiglio.
Asked about her condition, she said: "I feel fine and it's good to be back on snow."
A double World Cup champion in 2001 and 2003, Kostelic has had a stellar career since her debuts on the World Cup circuit in January 1998, winning 19 World Cup events.
Last winter she won two golds at the world championships in St Moritz and six World Cup races.

But Kostelic, who also won three golds and a silver at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, has been plagued by injuries since a downhill training crash in St Moritz.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031215/sp_nm/alpineskiing_kostelic_dc_1

Mario Preskar's boxing match cancelled

Mario Preskar's boxing match set for Atlantic City's
Boardwalk Hall on Saturday December 13, 2003 was cancelled.
The New Jersey State Boxing Commission refused to approve
last minute replacement heavyweight Michael Rothberger.
Rothberger weighed 220 lbs at the Friday's weigh in with
slightly high blood pressure, which did not decrease
before the match and the bout was cancelled. Earlier in the
week heavyweight William Terry was also disapproved.
Heavyweight Knowledge Bay aka Thomas Latson failed to send
in proper paperwork week before. So, at least 3 attempts to
find Preskar opponent failed.
New Jersey State Boxing Commission is run by Larry Hazzard,
Sr. a former 3 times Golden Gloves champion who was
appointed commissioner in 1985 by Governor Tom Kean.
Hazzard was elected "Referee of the Year" in 1983. By 1985,
he had refereed numerous world championship fights in every
weight class around the world, involving some of the
greatest boxers of the modern boxing era.
Under Hazzard's leadership, New Jersey has emerged as a
major world boxing venue. It is recognized as having the
most comprehensive rules, regulations and policies for
enforcing safe, professional boxing.
Preskar returned to Zagreb with his trainer/manager Leonard
Pijetraj and will resume his professional boxing career in early 2004.

John Ruiz and Mario Preskar              Nenad Bach, Don King, Vedran Nazor

1.Preskar - second from left press conference held on December 10, 2003
2.Preskar - with 1st round KO winner Zab Judah
3.Preskar - with heavyweight winner John Ruiz
4. Nenad Bach, Don King, Vedran Nazor, Atlantic City December 13, 2003.