Miami, U.S.A. — NFL Hall of Famer Nick Buoniconti and his son Marc of the The Buoniconti Fund, the fundraising arm of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, hosted an inspirational evening with more than 2,000 guests to celebrate Destination Fashion 2012. Held at Miami’s famed Bal Harbour Shops, Saks Fifth Avenue Bal Harbour presented Emilio Pucci’s Spring 2013 Fashion Show Designed by Peter Dundas, which was followed by an interactive destination party experience and private concert by Enrique Iglesias.

Tom Brokaw hosted the evening, which was chaired by Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones and International Polo Sensation Ignacio “Nacho” Figueras and raised $31 million for The Miami Project.

The staggering amount raised at the event was the result of some especially magnanimous donors who made announcements that astounded the sold-out crowd. The surprises began when Christine E. Lynn, who was being honored with the Humanitarian Award and is a Buoniconti Fund Board Member and longtime supporter, announced a gift of $25 million that would go to build state-of-the-art spinal cord injury surgical suites, surgical intensive care units and rehabilitation center. The new tower, to be called the Christine E. Lynn Tower for The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, will house surgical suites, an in-patient rehabilitation hospital and rehabilitation research entities that will enhance the Miami Project’s research efforts toward finding a cure for paralysis.

Buoniconti Fund Board Member Paul DiMare and his wife Swanee, who were also honored during the evening with The Buoniconti Fund Award, and Tim Gannon, Buoniconti Fund Board Member and one of the founders of Outback Steakhouse, each gave an additional$1 million to the cause.

“This collective effort from globally known celebrities and philanthropists is a remarkable testament to their commitment to The Buoniconti Fund’s efforts and the research conducted at The Miami Project,” saidNick Buoniconti, founder of The Buoniconti Fund. “Destination Fashion is an event without compare that helps promote awareness and raises funds for a cause that affects millions of people worldwide and has an economic impact in the billions of dollars. That is why it is imperative that we succeed in our mission of finding a cure for paralysis, and tonight goes a long way to helping us get there.”

The November 10 affair included the presentation of the Inspiration Award to Micky and Madeleine Arison, the Champion for a Cure Award went to Edie Laquer and the Laquer Foundation, the Humanitarian Award to Christine E. Lynn, The Buoniconti Fund Award to Paul and Swanee DiMare , and the Philanthropist Award to Beatrice and Dr. Sanford Ziff.

Following the Emilio Pucci Fashion show and dinner, tribute was paid to The Buoniconti Fund’s notable 2012 Women of Substance and Style, who walked down the runway accompanied by Celebrity Presenters. The evening culminated with guests dancing to the musical stylings of DJ Irie and traveled their way through the shops, which were transformed into “The Destinations” of locations from around the world such as Asia, Africa and the Americas. Bal Harbour Shops donated one-of-a-kind silent auction items including a Harry Winston diamond timepiece valued at more than $34,000, Tiffany & Co. platinum and diamond earrings valued at $11,000 and Warren Henry Auto donated a year lease for the new Range Rover Evoque, to name a few.

Notable celebrities and presenters included: Steve Alaimo, Moises Alou, Stanley Bahnsen, Rick Barry,Bob Beamon, Woody Bennett, Bruce Bowen, Miguel Cabrera, Helio Castronoves, Jeff Conine, Channing Crowder, Christopher Cuomo, Gil de Ferran, Colin Egglesfield, Todd English, Scott Erickson, Mike Eruzione, Emilio Estefan, Gloria Estefan, Rod Gilbert, Tim Hardaway, Randall Hill, Marvin Jones, James Lafferty, Brad Leland, Danell Levya, Rex Linn, Joe Manganiello, Mercury Morris, Alonzo Mourning, Tony Nathan, Wayne Newton, John Offerdahl, Louis Oliver, Tony Perez, Mike Piazza, Errict Rhett, Brett Romberg, Mark Rypien, Matthew Settle, Dwight Stephenson, Tico Torres, Aiden Turner, EJ Viso and Jed Weaver.

Destination Fashion 2012 was presented by Micky and Madeleine Arison. Destination Fashion Champion for a Cure: Edie Laquer and The Laquer Foundation join Event, Continent and Ocean Sponsors including Bal Harbour Shops, Bal Harbour Village, Barton G., Carnival Corporation & plc., Coastal Construction Group, Susan and Mark Dalton, Wayne Gaunce, Kim and James Pallota. Scene Sponsors Anthony R. Abraham Foundation, Bunny Bastian, Trish and Dan Bell, Chanin and Adam Carlin, Roberta and Harvey Chaplin, City National Bank, Swanee and Paul DiMare, The Fairholme Foundation, Mary and Howard Frank, Richard Gray, Gretchen and Jay Jordan, Kandy and Jeffrey Kramer, Krupnick Campbell Malone Buser Slama Hancock et al, Lauren’s Kids, Christine E. Lynn, Robert and Judi Prokop Newman, Victoria Ranger Nunez and Mike Nunez, Simkins Rubell Family, Stamps Family Charitable Foundation, Laura and Irwin Tauber and Beatrice and Dr. Sanford Ziff.

Sponsors including American Airlines, Atlantico Rum, Aventura Worldwide Transportation Service, Chateau Group – Chateau Beach Residences, Comcast, Departures, FranklinDodd Communications, Ocean Drive Magazine, One Bal Harbour Resort and Spa, and Quarzo Bal Harbour Boutique Hotel, Saks Fifth Avenue Bal Harbour, Selecta Magazine, Southern Wine and Spirits, The St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort and Tiffany & Co., Warren Henry Auto Group.

For more information about The Buoniconti Fund, please visit: www.thebuonicontifund.com, Facebook, orTwitter.

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Washington, U.S.A. — In an exclusive interview with AARP The Magazine, Hollywood legends Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones discuss the often taboo subject of mid-life sexuality. It’s the theme or their new movie, the highly anticipated ‘ Hope Springs,’ which focuses on a couple embarking on an entertaining yet poignant adventure to regain their sexual passion. The indomitable icons speak about their upcoming project, finally learning to live for the moment and why “nobody can tell [them] anything.”

The following are excerpts from the upcoming AARP The Magazine cover story featuring Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones, available in homes today and online at www.aarp.org/magazine.

On being “bored” in a relationship:

Streep: “If you’re bored with somebody, it’s because you’re bored with yourself. If you have a problem with somebody, often it’s something in yourself.”

Jones: “I always told my children when they whined….Only the boring are bored.”

On finding passion at any age:

Streep: “I find the older I get, the more intense my appetite for living and for appreciating life gets…You realize you’ve got just seconds.”

Jones: “I don’t do anything that is not fun. I just don’t do it. I’m a hedonist.”

On making marriage work:

Streep: “You live through all sorts of stuff when you’re in a long marriage: real highs and lows, and things that strain—and solidify—your relationship.”

On their fellow sexegenarians:

Streep: “I don’t think it’s unusual for my friends and people my age [to feel the way I do]. I only see bored 20-year-olds. I don’t see any bored 60-year-olds.”

On what drew them to ‘Hope Springs’:

Streep: “I like things that seem like they have a problem…Built into it was something really funny but lodged in something very real.”

Jones: “At long last, I had a chance to work with Meryl, so there was no question in my mind that I wanted to do it.”

On their prolific careers:

Streep: “I think there’s not a sell-by date on actors…But you also understand what a crapshoot it is and how serendipity plays a huge part. It’s not a piece of cake by any means.”

Jones: “I’ve been lucky and happy. I’ve made some bad movies. And I really enjoyed it!”

On passing the acting torch to their children:

Streep: “I’m delighted that we can share some things and that I have some experience that can be of comfort to her.”

Jones: “It makes you feel good when your kids choose to do the thing that you do even as much as you come home and complain about it.”

On endlessly pursuing their passions:

Streep: “I like everything. There’s just not anything I don’t like to do. That’s the problem. It means I’m very distractible.”

Jones: “I like being a director, and I’m never going to stop being an actor.”

The complete interview can be found online now at www.aarp.org/magazine.

Image Courtesy of   cinemafestival / Shutterstock.com

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Culver City, U.S.A – In ‘Men in Black 3′, Agents J (Will Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones) are back … in time. J has seen some inexplicable things in his 15 years with the Men in Black, but nothing, not even aliens, perplexes him as much as his wry, reticent partner.

But when K’s life and the fate of the planet are put at stake, Agent J will have to travel back in time to put things right. J discovers that there are secrets to the universe that K never told him — secrets that will reveal themselves as he teams up with the young Agent K (Josh Brolin) to save his partner, the agency, and the future of humankind.

Ken Ralston explains that though several sequences in the film represented exciting VFX challenges – from building a prison on the moon to re-creating the Apollo 11 launch – the biggest challenge of all was to achieve a look that meshed with the film Barry Sonnenfeld was directing. “Barry has a very distinct style,” says Ralston. “It’s very graphic, very distinctive to his movies. Our designs had to be stylized, they had to live within his world, but at the same time, it had to feel believable – even when something unbelievable was happening.”

“Even though technology has changed a lot since the last Men in Black came out, we wanted to make sure we were firmly in the MIB world, and Barry allowed and encouraged us to play and bend the rules inside what is expected to be real. It’s not every day you get to design and create such a wide, wacky, and challenging variety of effects and creatures, and have fun doing it. This, in no small part, is thanks to Barry’s direction and whimsical take on the material and the artists who made it all come alive,” says Jay Redd.

With a mix of humor and style, the visual effects in ‘Men in Black 3′ take us back to the year 1969 with a digital creation of the Apollo 11 Rocket Launch and New York’s Shea Stadium, a chronology shifting time jump, and an action-packed monocycle chase through the streets of Brooklyn.

Men in Black films are known for their unusual and extraordinary alien characters and this film is no exception. Among the digital characters created for ‘Men In Black 3′ are the giant alien fish, the weasel alien, the villain alien Boris, the bowling ball headed alien known as Tony, and a return of the popular Worm Guys.

Imageworks also created digital doubles for Agent J (Will Smith), Young Agent K (Josh Brolin) and Griffin (Michael Stuhlbarg). Imageworks worked closely with Oscar-winning special effects make-up artist Rick Baker, digitally extending and recreating physical characteristics in the digital world.

Image Courtesy of   Men in Black 3

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