Movies & TV

  • Get Lost (Part 6)

                                                    (Sixth in a series) I’ve been to Hollywood…                           I’ve been to redwood…                       I crossed the ocean for a heart  of  gold…   I’ve been in my mind,                   its such a fine line…   That keeps me searching                           for a heart of gold… Third stop Vallecito and Redding: 2 days, 2 nights The… Continue reading

  • Get Lost (Part 5)

                             (Fifth in a series) Now I don’t know what I’ll find…           Just want to get in the car and drive… Been living too long this way…                                                It’s getting me down…                I know what I need…                                    What I need…             California sun…      It’s calling me… Next stop Calistoga and Napa: 1 day, 1 night… Continue reading

  • Get Lost (Part 3)

    (Third in a series) You look to the sky…                                 Set your course on into the night… You say good-bye…                                                             You hold your head high…     Wherever you’re goin it’s alright… Second stop was Cannon Beach and Salem: 1 day, 1 night We headed out early morning on a sunny Sunday from Portland to… Continue reading

  • Hmongs New Year Festival

    There is something about other ethnic groups and cultures in American that never fails to fascinate me!  As a child of immigrant parents, I’ve always had a keen interest in other people’s culture, and especially their “immigrant experience”.  A few months ago, I re-read The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman. This book… Continue reading

  • Films Found at my Branch

    I often browse the shelves of my branch library for impulse DVD’s to watch instead of commercial TV. This can lead to some winners and some losers. Staring at the shelves one asks oneself, “If this film is really any good, how come I haven’t heard of it?” Every now and then I get lucky… Continue reading

  • Always a bridesmaid …

    Nancy Pearl, bless her, tells us never to apologize for our reading tastes. I hope her advice extends to TV: I am an addict of the reality series The Bachelorette  (and The Bachelor). I get a lot of teasing for this, and you are welcome to chime in! I don’t know why I find them… Continue reading

  • Dynamic Duo

    “I just want to make sure                       that a million years from now                                         I can still see you up close and                                                          we’ll still have amazing things to say.” Two of my favorite unconventional stars Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are coming together for a second time in the movie titled (500) Days of… Continue reading

  • “The Black Mozart”: Chevalier de Saint-George

    How does the son of a slave in eighteenth-century France grow up to become a skilled swordsman, violin virtuoso, inspirational composer and famed military commander?  Joseph Boulogne was born on Christmas Day in 1745 on the island of Guadeloupe.  His mother was a slave; his father a wealthy planter and soon-to-be minor nobleman in France. … Continue reading

  • Not Your Average Detective Story

    Tragedy blows through your life like a tornado, uprooting everything, creating chaos. You wait for the dust to settle, and then you choose. You can live in the wreckage and pretend it’s still the mansion you remember. Or you can crawl from the rubble and slowly rebuild. Because after disaster strikes, the important thing is… Continue reading

  • In Praise of Felicity

    I am a sucker for television series about high school or college.  In other words, I love coming-of-age stories. So it was a surprise to me when I stumbled across the WB series Felicity. It started in 1998, when I was without television, so I missed its four seasons in the life of the plucky… Continue reading

  • Frost/Nixon at the Library.

    For many of us who grew up in the early 1970s, Richard Nixon was almost a storybook figure, his iconic visage glowering from hundreds of political cartoons, his resignation speech one of our “where were you when” moments. (At Summer camp, eating supper in silence while listening to the radio, since you asked). As years go by, his administration… Continue reading

  • Yokes and Chains

    “I am so sorry. “ These very powerful words have the ability to transform a  relationship.  When an apology is offered sincerely, the opportunity for healing and forgiveness may begin. Most of our lives have been touched by offering or receiving a heartfelt, courageous  apology.  But what good can it do to apologize for something you did not do? Michael Lienau… Continue reading

  • The Tudors

    I have become obsessed with the Tudors. It all started when I checked out the DVD set of the first season of the Showtime series The Tudors, which stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers as King Henry VIII, from the Central Library right before the big snowstorm this past December. My husband and I spent several evenings… Continue reading

  • The Visitor and Little Bee

    Two of the most powerful stories that I recently encountered were stories about immigrants and refugees. One was in a film and the other was a novel, but both left a strong impression on me. In the film, The Visitor, a widowed, burnt-out professor in Connecticut, Walter Vale, (played to perfection by Richard Jenkins, who… Continue reading

  • Reminds Me Of Garden State

    “Maybe that’s all family really is a group of people who miss the same imaginary place.” Ever since Garden State came out I’ve been trying to recreate the sensation I got when I saw that movie for the very first time. You know the laughing, crying, not wanting the story to end. Here are just… Continue reading

  • My Night with Greg Kinnear

    “There is a story about the Greek Gods; they were bored so they invented human beings, but they were still bored so they invented love, then they weren’t bored any longer. So they decided to try love for themselves. And finally, they invented laughter, so they could stand it.” I put two promising titles on… Continue reading

  • Celebrating Honest Abe

    Abraham Lincoln, nicknamed “Honest Abe” was born 200 years ago today, and his impact on our nation is enduring.  We’ve heard much about him recently, as President Obama was sworn in using his Bible, and did a pre-inaugural train trip along the same route as his predecessor.  An earlier post mentioned the commonality between the… Continue reading

  • Long Way Round and Down

    Do you like learning about the world? Do you like motorcycles? Do you think that Ewan McGregor is easy on the eyes? If you have answered yes to any or all of those questions, then keep reading. In 2004, actor Ewan McGregor, who some may know from Trainspotting, the Star Wars prequels, or Moulin Rouge!,… Continue reading