by Sandy | Sep 9, 2008 | Blogroll, Books, Writers
How does he stay so thin? On his Travel Channel TV series, “No Reservations”, author and Chef Anthony Bourdain wanders the world in search of “good” food. He doesn’t use the word “gourmet” – but, he does intone the word “simple” a lot. Plain simple French bistro eats, simple, fiery Indian street food, plain simple family style Italian food, and so on. He feels that the worst thing to be is a “tourist”. We should risk and explore, meet real people and find the good, simple food the natives eat. (It is sometimes unusual/bizarre – rattlesnake in Texas, assorted crunchy critters in a tasty sauce while in Asia, etc.)
In between cigarettes, he explores the sights, appears to eat tons of food as he samples several courses, just about always has a dessert and washes it all down with the local brew, show
after show – but, he doesn’t seem to gain a pound. Is it his metabolism or just the plain “simple” food? If it’s the food, I want what he’s having!
I also enjoy visiting the interesting places Chef Bourdain takes us – a food market in Thailand, the sewers of Paris, a Dacha in Russia, the bars of Iceland and even the wilds of New Jersey. Whether you are an intrepid world trekker or an arm chair/couch potato traveler, “No Reservations” is good fun!
by Sandy | Jul 4, 2008 | Blogroll, Books, Exhibits
Pete Sampras * “A Champion’s Mind: Lessons From A Life In Tennis”
Tennis is one of my favorite couch potato sports. It is physical, it is mental, it is attitude – who has more of the “right stuff” on a particular day, who has it during a particular set, or even a single game can win. Besides talent, it helps if you have strong nerves. Winning the big matches, tournament after tournament, year after year takes lots of work and fortitude, some genius, a little magic.
Over the years there have been many tennis legends. The current two are Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and in the 90’s it was Pete Sampras – quiet, unassuming and lethal on the court. He wasn’t called “Pistol Pete” for nothin’. He was fun and amazing to watch. (His matches with Andre Agassi during several U.S. Opens are classic.)
He is now willing to tell something about himself and what he has learned about life during his tenure as the tennis player supreme in his new book, “A Champion’s Mind: Lessons From A Life In Tennis ” by Pete Sampras and Peter Bodo.
Grand Slam Victories (from WikiPedia):
Australian Open -1994, 1997
Wimbledon – 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
US Open – 1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2002
by Sandy | May 29, 2008 | Blogroll, Books, Education, Events, Learning, Movies
Summer seems to be a time for books – it’s a good thing! 
*Los Angeles Black Book Expo – Sat., June 14, 2008
The Los Angeles Black Book Expo (LABBX) 2008 will feature authors, storytellers, spoken word and poetry performances, musicians, exhibitors, children’s book authors, emerging writers, publishers, booksellers, panel discussions, editors, book reviewers, and more!
Ahmanson Senior Center
3980 Menlo Ave
Los Angeles, CA
323-385-7103
E-mail: labbex@gmail.com
http://www.labbx.com
*Harlem Book Fair – Fri., July 18 – Sun., July 20, 2008
10th Annual Harlem Book Fair & Arts festival, 11AM – 6PM
Schomburg Center, West 135 Street, NYC
(From 5th Ave. to Adam Clayton Powell Blvd)
“BUILDING READERS, EMPOWERING COMMUNITY”
Complete list of events:
www.qbr.com
(212) 348 – 1681
by Sandy | May 18, 2008 | Actors, Blogroll, Books, Directors, Film, Movies
“Those that stop their questioning at 75, 60, even 30, cut short their explorations and end up with permanently unfinished lives.” (From “Life Beyond Measure: Letter to My Great-Granddaughter”)
Wise octogenarian Sydney Poitier has been a national treasure for quite awhile. He’s won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Grammy. He has had success as an actor, director, author and perhaps more importantly, as a man. He has condensed life lessons learned into books not just about his journey, but also about how he has learned to conduct himself in a sometimes difficult world.Born in 1927 in the Bahamas, Mr. Poitier went to New York as a teen, taught himself to read, catapulted himself into an acting career and created a wonderful life for himself and his family. Not an easy road, but he did it with humor, grace, determination and a never wavering belief in him self. Great stuff!
“The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography ”, 2000
“Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great-Granddaughter ”, 2005
by Sandy | Apr 28, 2008 | Blogroll, Books, Writers
I enjoyed “Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun”, a PBS “American Masters” documentary that I watched last week.
Ms Hurston, 1891 – 1960, started to publish right after the height of the Harlem Renaissance. The ability to support oneself with art that explored the African-American experience waned with the onset of the depression and she fell into obscurity until re discovered by Alice Walker (“The Color Purple”).
Her work gained attention with the introduction of college Black literature classes during the 70”s. She was found and embraced by a whole new generation (including me). Her novels, short stories and poetry are now also taught in women’s studies and general literature courses.
She studied cultural anthropology at Barnard College and Columbia University. As a “folklorist”, she wrote and sang in the rural style and dialect of the people she remembered from the all black town of Eaton, FL where she was born and of the folks she met while traveling across the south.
Perhaps her most famous book, “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, 1937, is about “Janie”, who managed to make her way thru life and find love during a time and in a place very difficult for a woman’s survival. (This was made into a TV movie a few years ago with Halle Berry)
Zora Neale Hurston – Great story teller!
Bibliography (from Wikipedia)
- Color Struck (1925) in Opportunity Magazine
- Sweat (1926)
- How It Feels to Be Colored Me (1928)
- The Gilded Six-Bits (1933)
- Jonah’s Gourd Vine (1934)
- Mules and Men (1935)
- Tell My Horse (1937)
- Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)
- Moses, Man of the Mountain (1939)
- Dust Tracks on a Road (1942)
- Seraph on the Suwanee (1948)
- I Love Myself When I Am Laughing…and Then Again When I Am Looking Mean and Impressive: A Zora Neale Hurston Reader (edited by Alice Walker; introduction by Mary Helen Washington) (1979)
- Sanctified Church (1981)
- Spunk: Selected Stories (1985)
- Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life (play, with Langston Hughes; edited with introductions by George Houston Bass and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and the complete story of the Mule bone controversy.) (1991)
- The Complete Stories (introduction by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Sieglinde Lemke) (1995)
- Barracoon (1999)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zora_Neale_Hurston
http://www.zoranealehurstonfestival.com/
by Sandy | Apr 15, 2008 | Art, Books
We all know that he writes, he sings, he’s a poet, he’s a musician – he just received an honorary Pulitzer Prize for his “profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.” Nice, but, did you know that Bob Dylan also paints?!
His book of his art work, “Bob Dylan: The Drawn Blank Series”, (March 2008) has 170 of his drawings rendered in water color and gouache. Drawings done in restaurants, hotel rooms are presented here along with little notes or poems.
How does he stay so thin? On his Travel Channel TV series, “No Reservations”, author and Chef Anthony Bourdain wanders the world in search of “good” food. He doesn’t use the word “gourmet” – but, he does intone the word “simple” a lot. Plain simple French bistro eats, simple, fiery Indian street food, plain simple family style Italian food, and so on. He feels that the worst thing to be is a “tourist”. We should risk and explore, meet real people and find the good, simple food the natives eat. (It is sometimes unusual/bizarre – rattlesnake in Texas, assorted crunchy critters in a tasty sauce while in Asia, etc.) 