by Bob Martin | Dec 15, 2007 | Actors, Art, Artist, Books, Directors, Movies
I got tagged by James Neil Hollingsworth a delightful and thoughtful painter. I am now required to list 5 little known facts about myself, then “tag” five other artists to do the same.
Here are my five:
- When I was 15 I had this mad infatuation (nothing more) with a niece of Edvard Munch. We worked together (she was technically my boss) I was never sure if it was because she was a relative of a famous artist and I wanted to be one or that I thought she looked like Maria Schell.
- I did and still do get confused when reading something in big type like on a movie theater billboard. As a kid I went by myself to see Samson and Delilah and the African Queen. Looking for the Lion and then the Queen. It would bother me that I didn’t seem to comprehend some things, but it worked out in the end with my feeling OK outside of my comfort zone.
- My wife and I once owned an advertising agency. I would experience pain when watching “Thirty Something” on TV
- I love Movies and wanted to be a director, believed that Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni were geniuses, named my daughter after a movie (Sundays with Cybele) , went to film school before they were hip, made one animated film (after seeing Jim Henson’s first film). Dropped out, cause I wanted to eat.
- I am married to a wonderful, powerful public speaker and coach, who is working on her second book. I am very lucky, but you already knew that.
The Artist that I’ve tagged are:
by Sandy | Dec 13, 2007 | Blogroll, Books, Writers
“Writing was … the most extraordinary way of thinking and feeling. It became the one thing I was doing that I had absolutely no intention of living without.” Toni Morrison
Decided to clean, clear, coordinate, control my bookcase contents. Found some great stuff that I had forgotten. I discovered that I own a lot of Toni Morrison books – “The Bluest Eye”, “Sula”, “Love”, “Paradise”, “Songs of Solomon” and of course the Pulitzer prize winner “Beloved”. Ms. Morrison has such a way with words. She can set a tone, paint a picture, capture identifiable feeling/emotion and describe events so clearly and with such poetry that it makes you laugh or, it makes you cry. There are some passages in “Beloved” that are so painful that your throat clutches and closes. The book must be set down until you can breathe again.“Beloved” won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 and Ms Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.
Toni Morrison is another writer doing what she has to do and as a result, has created a significant and unique body of work about the African-American experience (actually the “American” experience) – such a legacy!
Novels
• The Bluest Eye (1970)
• Sula (1973)
• Song of Solomon (1977 )
• Tar Baby (1981)
• Beloved (1987)
• Jazz (1992)
• Paradise (1999)
• Love (2003)
by Sandy | Nov 24, 2007 | Blogroll, Books, Writers
Blonde Faith, is the final book of the popular series, written by Walter Mosley.
We were introduced to Easy Rawlins in Devil in a Blue Dress, 1990. (This was also made into a great 1995 movie with Denzel as “Easy” and Don Cheadle as his explosively, lethal buddy “Mouse”.)
“Easy” becomes a reluctant private investigator in 50’s L.A. and the 10 books span a 20 year journey. What makes the perspective so interesting and different is that in addition to solving “who dunnit” (or, who didn’t) we get a chance to follow the black detective as he maneuvers gingerly thru life making a living, forming relationships, etc. in an often hostile environment. Very entertaining!
Easy Rawlins mysteries
by Sandy | Oct 8, 2007 | Blogroll, Books, Exhibits, Museums
This is a photographic exhibit about the diets of people around the world – from Oct.11, 2007 – Jan.20, 2008 at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco.
Featuring the work of Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio, this display includes photographs of families from around the world that reveal what people eat during the course of one week. The photographers traveled to 24 countries and visited 30 families from Bhutan and Bosnia to Mexico and Mongolia. Each family’s profile details their weekly food purchases and includes photographs of them in their community, at market, and at home surrounded by a week’s worth of groceries.
http://www.amazon.com/Hungry-Planet-What-World-Eats/dp/1580086810
MoAD – Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA
http://www.moadsf.org/
by Sandy | Aug 19, 2007 | Blogroll, Books, Learning
“The Harlem Book Fair” is returning to the Hartford, CT, Public Library on Saturday, Sept. 15th, 2007 from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Besides books, there will be poetry readings, panel discussions, music, dance, and cartoon workshop for kids.
500 Main St., Hartford, CT 06103
For information: 860-695-6324
http://ww2.hplct.org/harlembookfair/
by Sandy | Jul 26, 2007 | Blogroll, Books
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.) His favorite lines: “this is sooooo good” ‘this is reeeealllly good”.
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. (Ha! I really want his job.)
I 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” can be a fun show.
BTW – Anthony Bourdain is currently the executive chef of Brasserie Les Halles in New York City.
