documentaries

  • Check out a documentary

    Movie screens, in the winter months, are typically occupied with fantastical epics like 2012 or Avatar and dramatic fare intended to capitalize on the upcoming award season, like Invictus. But a genre of film that is often neglected and forgotten in this season is the documentary. Documentaries have certainly experienced a revitalization in the past few decades. Michael… Continue reading

  • 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

  • “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

  • 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

  • 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

  • Before Autumn Leaves

    Before autumn leaves, settle down into a bounty of words, sights and sounds that crackle with the color and energy of the season.  Then, take a few moments to take in an eclectic array of books and CDs that’ll bring an extra spark to warm the chill heading up that frosty hill. Let’s start with some… Continue reading

  • Rascally Rabbits

     If you live in Seattle you have probably seen or heard about the unusual design of the newly built Ballard library, its literally green architecture crowned with a softly sloping grass-covered roof.  On sunny days, this roof is a golden meadow replete with bees and even butterflies. When I’m feeling whimsical, I embellish the scene with rabbits–two or three of them. In my mind, they bound joyfully through… Continue reading

  • You Must Learn: A Hip-Hop Education with Black Star

    Among hip-hop fans, the group Black Star is known for its lyrical muscle and strong literary-bent. Members Mos Def and Talib Kweli pack their tightly crafted rhymes with intelligence and wit that seems lacking in much of contemporary hip-hop. Their 1998 album, Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star  was a welcome return to… Continue reading

  • Read & Listen: White Bicycles

    The first in an occasional series in which we pair reviews of music criticism/history books with a list of accompanying albums for your reading and listening pleasure. READ: Walking off the baseball field of his Connecticut prep school one evening in the late 1950s, Joe Boyd heard the strains of the most recent Fats Domino… Continue reading

  • Sound Before Our Eyes

    Researchers have found a song recorded before Edison’s phonograph. A Frenchman used a phonautograph [a machine designed to record sounds visually, not to play them back] on April 9, 1860. The song is 10 seconds of a crooner singing “Au Clair de la Lune.” Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville went to his grave convinced that Edison… Continue reading

  • Shakespeare Lives!

    It is easy to take Will Shakespeare for granted.  So established is he in the cultural and academic pantheons that even the frequent attempts to update or “jazz up” the plays feel time-honored and traditional.  Two recent movies provide a nice antidote to the standard bardolatry, reminding us just why he is truly immortal. Hank Rogerson’s Shakespeare Behind Bars observes a troupe of… Continue reading

  • King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

    I thought the days of video gaming on console machines were over, but it is not a lost art. King of Kong: a Fistful of Quarters is a truly entertaining documentary about an underdog challenger to the Donkey Kong high score title.  After being laid off from Boeing, Redmond resident Steve Wiebe hones his Kong skills with… Continue reading

  • Dear Farmer John

    For Valentine’s Day I made dinner and invited friends over to watch the documentary The Real Dirt on Farmer John.  It’s the deeply personal story of John Peterson, a creative northern Illinois farmer who suffered from the near loss of his family farm and exclusion by his neighbors. The film narrates the history of the Peterson family and explains how John ended up running… Continue reading