Renaissance 2.0
Jean Arthur (1900-1991) is one of my favorite actresses of all-time. She was beautiful and talented and starred in several of my favorite films. Three of them were directed by my favorite director ever, Frank Capra. They were: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) You Can’t Take it with You (1938) Mr. Smith Goes to…
“Midnight Express” impacted me a major way as a young man. It was a powerful film written by Oliver Stone before he became an Oscar winning director that told the true story of Billy Hayes who was arrested for trying to smuggle drugs out of Turkey. His nightmare experience in Turkish prison was a gripping…
Ernest Borgnine passed away today at the age of 95. He won the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of MARTY in 1955 which won Best Picture. It is one of my favorite movies of all-time with a beautiful script by the legendary Paddy Cheyesky who also won an Oscar. I loved the realistic…
I love “Make a Noise” by Katie Herzig which I just heard in the background of a new promotional video from Google for its G+ social network. It was also used at the end of an episode of the TV series called Private Practice. Everything about this song is beautiful, the vocals, harmonies and especially…
I was very sad when I heard about Nora Ephron passing away at the age of 71 due to Leukemia. She has always been one of my favorite writers. I’ve covered some of her movies on here with entries for Heartburn and Julie and Julia. I still plan to share my thoughts on her other…
It’s no shock to anyone that knows me that I’m a big Katy Perry fan. Everything she and her team does these days turns into instant gold. It’s not just the music, lyrics or vocals but all of the other details too like the music videos, live performances, interviews, social media interaction with fans and…
During my evening walk this evening I smelled the smoldering embers of a neighbor’s fire in their backyard perhaps burning leaves. It immediately reminded me of the gorgeous Tuscan hillsides of my youth. Funny how some memories are connected to specific scents. It brought me back to that place and time as if it were…
I really enjoyed Robert Wuhl’s ASSUME THE POSITION 101 and his follow up 201 where he sheds light on many history lessons we were taught that weren’t all true. He truly makes history class fun. He compares the popular figures of yesteryear to today’s pop culture celebrities. For example, he said author Washington Irving was…
I am so thrilled that the beautiful and talented Laura Nyro was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. She wrote so many classic songs such as “Wedding Bell Blues”, “And When I Die” and “Stoney End” and she was such a powerfully soulful performer too. This was long overdue to…
In this information age replete with data overload and this TMI generation, the fine art of mystery and all its glory and power has all but been extinguished. In the past, we were intrigued and fascinated with mythic figures such as movie stars, professional athletes and such because we knew so little about them. Now…