Meryl Streep, Tom Brokaw, Terrence Howard, Dianne Reeves, Chip Kidd, and others will gather on stage at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City, on April 5 for the 10th anniversary celebration of Poetry & the Creative Mind. This annual poetry gala is hosted by the Academy of American Poets and features acclaimed actors, musicians, writers, visual artists, and other creative individuals sharing the poems that inspire them. Tickets to the performance ($45-$75) are now available and can be purchased through the Lincoln Center website, the Alice Tully Hall box office, or by phone. Many thanks to Sabine for the heads-up!

Another fine example of using your celebrity power to raise word on an important subject matter. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Hollywood support is growing to overturn the R rating for language that was assigned to Lee Hirsch’s documentary “Bully”. Meryl Streep and her daughter Mamie Gummer will co-host a screening of the film in New York City on March 20, and Johnny Depp has offered his help. The Weinstein Co. releases “Bully”, about the bullying epidemic in the U.S. schools, in theaters March 30. “Bully” has galvanized a national movement, since the very audience it was made for will be restricted in seeing it. Michigan high school student Katy Butler, a victim of bullying, started a petition that has been signed by 300,000 people. On Capitol Hill, more than 20 lawmakers have signed a bipartisan letter to the MPAA urging that the rating be overturned. And on Tuesday, Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand, D-N.Y., tweeted that she too supports lowering the rating to PG-13. It’s unusual to have lawmakers asking that a rating be lowered. I recommend you to watch the trailer on Youtube. Thanks to Glenn for the heads-up!

The movie of the week has been put on hold these last weeks because of awards season. This week’s spotlight is “Ironweed”, the 1987 adaptation of the Pulitzer prize winning novel by William Kennedy, starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl as two prowlers during the Great Depression in Albany, New York. The image library has been updated with screencaptures from the film, three clips have been added to the video archive. Production notes and review after the cut. As always, please share your thoughts on the film in the comments.

As reported earlier, Meryl Streep was in New York City today for Newsweek and The Daily Beast’s third annual Women in the World Summit. Housed at Lincoln Center, the three-day event spotlights the urgent challenges facing women today, from forced marriage to the economic crisis to the Arab spring. The full speech has been added to the video archive and a bunch of pictures can be found in the image library. Pictures are © Marc Bryan-Brown.

In summit’s final act before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton closed out the third annual weekend’s events, Meryl Streep took to the stage to praise the women in the room and the panelists’ many achievements. She went on to compare herself – “as every woman my age has done” – to Clinton, who shares so many attributes with the film star: they both were raised in middle-class families by big-hearted mothers who encouraged them to lead interesting lives. They both went to public schools and on to prestigious all-women colleges, then Yale. “But while I became a cheerleader, Hillary became the president of her class,” Streep joked. “And there, the two paths in the woods diverged.” Streep held up her Oscar to illustrate what actresses receive for playing parts well, but, she said, “Hillary is the real deal.” When Clinton emerged onto the stage, the women shared a long embrace – sisters at the top of their fields, inspiring other women of all ages to aspire to the same.

“Joe Papp in Five Acts,” a new documentary film by Tracie Holder and Karen Thorsen about the late founder of the Public Theater, will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April. Meryl Streep, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Kevin Kline and James Earl Jones are among the artists featured in the Papp film that is co-produced with PBS/American Masters. According to the creators, “In Joe Papp’s eyes, art is for everyone, not just a privileged few. This is the story of this indomitable, street-wise champion of the arts who brought more theater to more people than any other producer in history… This documentary lets Papp’s great accomplishments and tumultuous personal history be revealed by the artists he helped create – and sometimes tried to destroy.”

Joseph Papp has launched Meryl’s theatrical career in the seventies, giving her leading roles in the Public Theater productions of “Henry V”, “The Taming of the Shrew” and “Measure for Measure”, among many others. And just in time for the news on the documentry, I’ve added a couple of fantastic high quality pictures of Meryl’s early stage work to the image library. Enjoy!

A wrap-up on Meryl’s Tokyo visit to promote the Japanese premiere of “The Iron Lady”. Additional pictures have been added as well as a video compilation of television reports and interviews from the premiere and the full press conference on the film in two parts. Many thanks to Yasuko for additional information and video contribution. Enjoy!

A day after the Japan premiere, Meryl and Phyllida Lloyd have attended a press conference for “The Iron Lady” in Tokyo. And they apparently had fun. According to visitor Asako, Meryl and Phyllida tasted Sake after braking the top of Sake’s cask – wishing the “The Iron Lady” to become a hit in Japan. Over hundred additional pictures from yesterday’s premiere and today’s press conference have been added to the image library. Thanks for those who have contributed material, especially Asako and Glenn.

Today, Meryl and Phyllida Lloyd have attended the premiere of “The Iron Lady” in Tokyo, Japan. Pictures have been added to the image library. I would be very happy if any of the Japanese visitors of Simply Streep were able to provide more information on her visit. Just drop me a line. Thanks!

The theatrical trailer “To the Arctic 3D”, which Meryl Streep narrates, has been released and added to the video archive – it looks outstanding, even in 2D ;-) You can learn more about this new documentary, which will hit Imax theaters in the USA on April 20, at its detail page in the career section. Then, the Jimmy Kimmel special “Movie: The Movie” has been added. Part of Kimmel’s “After the Academy Awards” special, this is a spoof trailer for the greatest film, yet to be filmed, featuring pretty much every actor who’s currently allowed to be working in Hollywood, including George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron and Matt Damon, just to to name a few. Meryl is featured very briefly – it’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, but at least she’s wearing a mustache ;-) And finally, two additonal interview segments from the Academy Awards, one from ABC News and one from “Live with Kelly: Academy Awards Special” – very funny! Enjoy the new clips :-)

Over 400 additional pictures have been added to the Academy Awards’ albums. Simply click the previews below to launch all latest uploads.

Then, I’ve received lots of emails regarding Meryl’s eco-friendly dress, so here’s some more information: Meryl channelled the Oscars in more ways than one, sporting a gold Lanvin dress that resembled the statuette she ended up taking home. Streep took inspiration from Colin Firth’s wife Livia by wearing Lanvin’s first-ever eco-friendly gown for the 84th Academy Awards. It was created from Eco Certified Fabric, which was sourced with the help of the Green Carpet Challenge (GCC) – an initiative set up by Livia. More information on the eco-friendly dresses can be found at Miss Firth’s blog and at Eco Age. And finally, no Oscar update would be complete without a transcript of Meryl’s speech:

Oh my God. Oh come on. All right. Thank you so much, thank you thank you! When they called my name I had this feeling I could hear half of America going, “oh, no! Oh, come on why – her! Again!” But, whatever (laughter). First, I’m gonna thank Don, because when you thank your husband at the end of the speech they play him out with the music and I want him to know that everything I value most in our lives you’ve given me (applause). And, now, secondly, my other partner. Thirty-seven years ago, my first play in New York City, I met the great hairstylist and makeup artist Roy Helland. And we worked together pretty continuously since the day we clapped eyes on each other. His first film with me was “Sophie’s Choice” and all the way up to tonight when he won for his beautiful work in “The Iron Lady” thirty years later (applause). Every single movie in between. I just wanna thank Roy but also I wanna thank – because I really understand I’ll never be up here again (laughter) – I really wanna thank all my colleagues. All my friends. And I look out here, and I see my life before my eyes. My old friends, my new friends. And really, this is such a great honor, but the thing that counts the most with me is the friendships and the love and the sheer joy we have shared making movies together. My friends, thank you, all of you – departed and here – for this inexplicably wonderful career. Thank you so much. Thank you.