Video Beat EXTRA EXTRA - HUMAN TRAFFICKING - February 2008

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

Has The Freshie Contest Lost The Plot? - Collin & Adrian Win Amazing Race 2 - NBA & Ultimate Fighter 2 ON TV - Recommended TV Listings

Sunday February 17, 2008

Mira Sorvino Stars in the film Human Trafficking

While scanning television channels on one of those sleepless nights Mira Sorvino appeared on the screen on the Hollywood Channel at 2 AM. I've been a fan of Sorvino since she made an appearance at one of our Television Critics Tour presentations in 1996 promoting 'Norma Jean & Marilyn Marilyn Monroe' a film made for television that earned her Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations.

After watching the the Hollywood Channel for a few minutes I found the subject matter profound. It was about human trafficking a subject that we have covered in the past and dealing with for the past 20 years on numerous trips to Southeast Asia.

Though this film was made in Montreal, Canada the scenes set were for New York, Russia and the Philippines. Human Trafficking was a television mini-series about an agent going undercover to stop an organization from trafficking people, it also showed the struggles of three trafficked women. It premiered in the United States on Lifetime Television on October 24, 2005 and later aired on CityTV in several major Canadian markets.

I tuned in late but the first scene I saw was a 16-year-old girl auditioning to be a model without her father being aware. She wanted to escape having to live in poverty and help her father. She was being interviewed and supposedly helped by a 40ish year-old lady. The result... she was tricked and sold to a Russian Mafia gang running a prostitution business as well as a dating service.

Another scene depicted 12-year-old girl being snatched off the streets in Manila, Philippines and taken to a bar owned by a disgustingly fat old American man. He had sex with her and beat her as he did with the other children. One Philippine girl was sold to him by her father. She became ill. The kidnapped girl suggested that he take her to the hospital. Rather than do that and try to save the girls life he murdered her to avoid exposing his business.

Another girl was murdered when she was saved by Sorvino's character's ICE (Immigration Control Enforcement) and placed in a SAFE HOUSE. She was shot from a nearby rooftop when she stepped out on the balcony. Other girls including the aspiring model were transported in freight containers from one country to another.

It's SOS in this region where it is believed the Russian Mafia exists and uses young girls in the same manner. SOS means 'same old $#!t' to some and 'same old story' to others. Whatever your interpretation the results are the same young girls being tricked, sold by their parents or kidnapped into prostitution.

Along with Sorvino it starred Donald Sutherland and Robert Carlyle, with a supporting cast including Rémy Girard, Laurence Leboeuf, Isabelle Blais, Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse and Céline Bonnier. On May 2, 2006, Muse, with the permission of Lifetime, released a DVD of the entire mini-series, which also included deleted scenes not shown on the Lifetime airing.

The DVD also includes interviews with the cast, interactive resources, and scene selections. The DVD is worth viewing if you miss the reruns on the Hollywood channel.

HAS THE FRESHIE CONTEST LOST THE PLOT???

The Freshie Girls and Boys contest started off with a shocker. Freshie Girl hopeful Keat Sovanphana was voted off the show in the cut to the Top 10. This year the television viewing audience will not have a choice in the selection process where their votes counted for one third of the final tally. The Freshie organization failed to make an agreement with a cell phone company as in years past thus the judging was left up to the sponsors of the show.

The judging was based on three categories, (1) beauty, (2) body, (3) talent. In our opinion if Keat scored a zero in talent we wonder what kind of taste the judges have. Take a look at the Top 10 that made it and you be the judge.

AMAZING RACE ASIA

Amazing Race Asia 2 closed with a bang and a surprise winner. Collin and Adrian won the race in a come from behind victory. They trailed in the last leg of the race until they reached a road block where one team member must place national flags in the sand, in the order of the countries they have visited since the start of the race.

Race favorites Rovilson and Marc from the Philippines arrived first. They had won eight of the 11 previous legs of the race. Malaysian sisters Pam and Vanessa arrived second. Some time later Adrian who has a hearing problem and Collin arrived.

Adrian did the task and finished quickly much to the astonishment of the other teams who were still struggling to figure the order out. Adrian then revealed his advantage.

"When I was a child, I had a very big passion for knowledge all over the world. So I remember my mom bought me a book of the flags," he said.

And it was done and dusted as the two raced to the final pit stop to win the race and the US $100,000 that goes with it. All of the contestants were there to great them.

The sisters finished second and the Marc and Rovilson were third. It was the third time Adrian and Collin won a leg and it was at the right time. The sisters were the only other team to win a leg in the race when they won the first leg.

Elated about their results, Adrian says "We have overcome many obstacles along the way. We work together, work around it. There was a lot of frustration, and yet we came up the first and the champion of this race. So it's a very heavenly feeling." And his friend adds, "I think Adrian has proven that disability is just a state of the mind." Agreeing, Adrian says, "I never dwell on my disability. You don't think about it. You just do it."

They were followed by Pamela and Vanessa, who immediately shouted out, "We beat the boys!" Pamela added, "I've learned I can do a lot. I can be somebody better."

Back on the road, Marc and Rovilson were painfully aware that victory had already slipped from their grasp, but continued to parade as they walked towards the final pitstop. "I envisioned the race to go two ways, either glorious victory or crash and burn," Rovilson said. "I was hoping for an eating challenge. I was hoping to eat the flags."

Repeats of the program will be televised through Wednesday. Please see the schedule below for date and time.

Amazing Race Asia is currently looking for contestants for the next race. The applications are on the AXN website: www.axn-asia.com

NBA GAMES ON TV

NBA (National Basketball Association) games are televised in the Southeast Asia region on the Star Sports television Network on Friday and ESPN Saturday's. Start times vary depending on the start time in the region of the USA from where the games is televised. NFL (National Football League) from the USA is televised on a delayed basis Saturday at 12:30 PM and Sunday at 6 PM on the CNBC channel

BOXING

The ULTIMATE FIGHTER SEASON 2 is currently being televises Monday through Friday on AXN at 9 AM Thailand/Cambodia time and 10 AM in the Singapore/Hong Kong time zone.

TV SCHEDULE

Note: The shows listed are for the Cambodia - Thailand time zone. Check your local listings for time and date in your area.

MONDAY

9:00 AM - ULTIMATE FIGHTER season 2 - AXN

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

8:00 PM - AMAZING RACE ASIA - AXN

12 MIDNIGHT - AMAZING RACE ASIA - AXN

TUESDAY

7:00 AM - TOP MODEL - CYCLE 9 - Channel V

9:00 AM - ULTIMATE FIGHTER season 2 - AXN

11:00 AM - TOP MODEL - CYCLE 9 - Channel V

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

700 PM - AMAZING RACE ASIA - AXN

WEDNESDAY

9:00 AM - ULTIMATE FIGHTER season 2 - AXN

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

5:00 PM - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World

7:00 PM - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World - repeat of 5 PM telecast

8:00 PM - CONTENDER ASIA - AXN - NEW EPISODE

10:30 PM - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World - repeat of 5/7 PM telecast

11:00 PM - CONTENDER ASIA - AXN - repeat of 8 PM telecast

THURSDAY

9:00 AM - ULTIMATE FIGHTER season 2 - AXN

11:00 AM - CONTENDER ASIA - AXN

12 NOON - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World - repeat of previous day

5:00 PM - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

7:00 PM - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World - repeat of 5 PM telecast

10:30 PM - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World - repeat of 5/7 PM telecast

FRIDAY

??:?? AM - NBA GAME - Star Sports

9:00 AM - ULTIMATE FIGHTER season 2 - AXN

12 NOON - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World - repeat of previous day

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

9:00 PM - NBA GAME - Star Sports - Replay of earlier game)

SATURDAY

7:30 AM - CONTENDER ASIA - AXN

??:?? AM - NBA GAME - ESPN

12:30 PM NFL (National Football League) game from the USA (delayed) - CNBC

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

5:00 PM - CONTENDER ASIA - AXN

7:30 PM - HI NET WORTH - (financial magazine show) - CNBC

9:00 PM - JAY LENO - CNBC

12:00 AM - CONTENDER ASIA - AXN

SUNDAY

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

9:00 PM - JAY LENO - CNBC

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