I am still singing.

Why?

I am Gilad, son of Aviva and Noam Shalit, brother of Hadas and Yoel, who lives in Mitzpe Hila. My identification number is 300097029. Today is Monday, September 14, 2009. As you can see, I am holding in my hand today’s edition of the newspaper Palestine, September 14, 2009, published in Gaza.

(Close-up of newspaper so the date becomes clearly discernable)

I read newspapers in search of information about me. I hope to find some kind of information indicating that my release and return home is imminent. I have been waiting and hoping for a long time for the day that I am released.

I hope that the current administration, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu won’t waste this opportunity to achieve a deal, and as a result I will finally be able to realize my dream and be released.

I want to send my regards to my family and to tell them that I love them and miss them very much, and pray for the day that I will see them again.

Dad, Yoel and Hadas, do you remember the day you came to visit me at my base in the Golan Heights, on December 31, 2005, which, if I’m not mistaken, is known as Revaiyah Bet?

We took a tour around the base and you took my picture atop the Merkava tank, and on one of the old tanks at the entrance to the base. We then went to a restaurant in one of the Druze villages, and on the way, we took each other’s pictures on the side of the road with the snow capped Hermon Mountain as our backdrop.

I want to tell you that I feel well, in terms of health, and the Mujahideen, of the Iz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, are treating me wonderfully. Thank you very much, and goodbye.

(Shalit stands up briefly and video ends)

SHALOM!

BILLBOARD: What was behind the Bowie song?

TARANTINO: I’ve always loved that song and I was always disappointed at how (director) Paul Schrader used it in “Cat People,” because he didn’t use it — he just threw it in the closing credits. And I remember back then, when “Cat People” came out, going, “Man, if I had that song, I’d build a 20-minute scene around it. I wouldn’t throw it away in the closing credits.” So I did. (laughs)

It would be easy enough for me to hire somebody to write “The Ballad of Shoshanna” (the heroine of “Inglourious Basterds”) if I wanted to, but I don’t want my choices to hit the nail on the head. I want them to be glancing blows. The second-generation quality about it makes it more resonant. You’re watching that scene and you’re hearing the lyrics and you’re actually surprised at how appropriate they are to her story. In its own way, I think that makes it play even more like interior monologue. I (played) it on set when we (filmed) it. That’s always really cool to do — you can’t do it all the time, because you’re probably recording sound at least half the time — but what’s really fun when you do it is, not only do the actors respond to it, the whole crew responds to it. It’s like they’re watching the movie as we’re making it. When you actually play the soundtrack and you can sync something up, the crew gets a glimpse of what the movie is going to be like, and it just thrills them.

Billboard, Reuters