Arts & Culture

  • Movie Mondays: Cinema with Style

    There are some movies that stay with me because of the way they look. While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the performers, directors or screenwriters in the following films, it’s the details — cinematography, color, costume design — that contribute to the unforgettable style of each of the these three films. The opening credits for Drive (2011) are written in… Continue reading

  • Warm Bodies screening with author Isaac Marion

     Can love make a dead heart beat again? Shamble in to the Central Library to watch the newly released zombie romance film “Warm Bodies” and meet the book’s author, Isaac Marion, for a question and answer period afterward. Isaac Marion has recently completed a prequel novella and is currently working on the sequel to Warm Bodies.… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Coming-of-age films with an edge

    I recently saw Mud (2013) – easily one of the best movies of the year, so far – and was struck by its multiple layers. It’s a thriller that stars Matthew McConaughey in the title role as a fugitive living on a remote island, hiding from bounty hunters and pining for the love of his life,… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Where to go after SIFF!?

    Alas, the 2013 Seattle International Film Festival has come to an end, so where will you track down more great movies this summer? The Seattle Public Library, that’s where! Few of this year’s films are yet available, but SPL does have some from last year’s Golden Space Needle Award Winners. Three that I recently enjoyed… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: One for the Guys, One for the Gals

    There are precious few movies about LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) people in which a character doesn’t die, kill somebody, commit a crime or remain closeted and self-loathing. Why is it so difficult for Hollywood to make a grand gay romance—or even a simple one? Be that as it may, in recent years the number… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Films about the Fourth Estate

    This month, two highly anticipated TV series – Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom and  House of Cards, the critically acclaimed Netflix original series – are available on DVD. Both shows deal with journalists and the power of the news media, a topic that was the subject of three smart, classic award-winning films. His Girl Friday (1940), based on… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: (Good) movies I never want to see again

    Every once in a while a movie comes along that I appreciate and admire, but don’t “like.” They are provocative and disturbing. I’m glad I saw these, but for me, once was enough. Kids (1995), written by then 19-year-old Harmony Korine (director of Spring Breakers), follows Telly (Leo Fitzpatrick), a reckless teenager whose mission is to… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Where are the women directors?

    The film at SIFF’s closing night gala this year is The Bling Ring, directed by Sofia Coppola. I’ve known that women have been underrepresented as filmmakers, but when I stumbled upon this infographic recently, it was eye-opening: women directors have been nominated for an Oscar only 4 times in 85 years (Lina Wertmuller’s Seven Beauties, Jane Campion’s The Piano,… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Brat Pack Book Club

    I admit it—I love brat pack movies, especially Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club. So when I heard that Molly Ringwald, the iconic red-headed star of those two movies, had recently published a novel, I was intrigued but skeptical. Can she write, I wondered? The answer, happily, is YES! And she isn’t the only… Continue reading

  • Labor in Film: We Are Wisconsin

    In late winter of 2011, while the Middle East was deep in the midst of the “Arab Spring,” United States workers in the state of Wisconsin found themselves embroiled in a take-down struggle with Governor Scott Walker and the Wisconsin Legislature to preserve their collective bargaining rights. Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Punk’s Not Dead!

    Well, not at SIFF anyways. I always look forward to the festival’s music documentaries (which are conveniently grouped together by mood—“Face the Music” in this year’s event guide), and this year I noticed a common theme in the films that caught my eye: they’re all about PUNK in some shape or form. If you love… Continue reading

  • Time travel simplified

    Back back back back back back back back in time                                                 I can dream, it’s a simple thing                                                                                          I’m building a time machine… The ad reads: Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. P.O. Box 91 Ocean View, WA 99393. You’ll get paid after we get back. Must bring your… Continue reading

  • At the River I Stand screening at the Douglass-Truth Branch

    At the River I Stand, a film detailing the strike of Memphis sanitation workers in 1968 will be screened at Douglass-Truth Branch in the Gayton Family Meeting Room on May 16, 2013 at 6:30 PM. King went to Memphis to support and advise the strike, and there he lost his life. Continue reading

  • Documentaries from SIFFs gone by

    As I pore over the hundreds of screenings at the Seattle International Film Festival every year, I find myself focusing on two categories – documentaries and Scandinavian films. Here are some of my favorite documentaries from SIFFs gone by. Every Little Step is about the making of “A Chorus Line” on Broadway. Yes, it’s about actors… Continue reading

  • Movies about siblings

    Some of the most important – and enduring – relationships in our lives are those with our siblings. With emotions from petty to profound, our siblings connect us with our past as well as treading the pathways into the future. These emotions are on full display in Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton’s Your Sister’s Sister, which… Continue reading

  • Fountain of Wisdom

    As a student in the University of Washington’s Library and Information Science Program, I have been helping digitize photos from the Library’s Seattle Historical Photograph Collection. I’ve discovered a lot of interesting photos, but one of my favorites is a photo of the library’s Fountain of Wisdom with the artist just peeking out from behind… Continue reading

  • A new year of hope and forgiveness by Cambodians

    The New Year that begins for Cambodians in April is called Chaul Chnam Thmey in Khmer language, which literally means “Enter the New Year.” April 13-15, 2013 marks the end of the year 2556 BE (Buddhist Era) and the start of 2557—a sacred festival of an ancient culture. White Center in southwest Seattle, just a hop and… Continue reading

  • “March” Madness

    In honor of the annual “March Madness” NCAA College Basketball Tournament, here are some “march” titles available within The Seattle Public Library’s collection of which you can march (ugh…) down to your local branch and check out. The top overall seed in this tournament bracket is none other than the “King of the March”, John… Continue reading