Year: 2011

“Lincoln Lawyer”–More Than an Ambulance Chase

Written by diana on April 5, 2011. Posted in movie reviews. 2 Comments on “Lincoln Lawyer”–More Than an Ambulance Chase

We saw the movie “Lincoln Lawyer” a couple of days ago, and it was a highly engaging–not brilliant–courtroom thriller of a movie in the “Grisham” style. Think the best of the courtroom dramas of the recent past: “Fracture” meets “Presumed Innocent”, for example. This film noir, based on a book written by Michael Connelly, is pure entertainment–with a few twists to keep it original and not the same old courtroom drama we’ve seen done well and also done poorly. Michael “Mick” Haller (Matthew McConaughey in...

“Swimming with Sharks”–Taking a Dive from the Corporate Ladder

Written by diana on March 24, 2011. Posted in movie reviews. 1 Comment on “Swimming with Sharks”–Taking a Dive from the Corporate Ladder

Our son graduated from college about a year ago and has had several internships in the entertainment industry, mainly reality TV and independent movies, while he searches for his next career step. One of his former supervisors recommended “Swimming with Sharks”, for an insider’s view of what working as a low-level assistant for a studio exec is really like. This colleague also stated that the movie did not exaggerate! While billed as a comedy, this film is anything but funny. Guy (played by Frank Whaley, a vastly underrated TV supporting actor) is a recent college graduate...

Seattle: A Blast from the Past

Written by diana on March 14, 2011. Posted in Art, Unhealed Wound. 1 Comment on Seattle: A Blast from the Past

On a recent trip to Seattle, in lightly falling snow, I took a guided walking tour of the city’s mid-19th century “underground” origins: its musty subterranean passageways of abandoned toilets, pipes, cast-off furniture and windows that once were the main first-floor storefronts of old downtown Seattle. Like layers of fossils built one sedimentary deposit over another, the city’s hidden foundations are revealed. Approximately 25 square blocks of wooden buildings were either burned to the ground or flooded during the Great Seattle Fire of 1896. What were once the first floors of thriving...

A Harvest of Images: A Feast for the Eyes!

Written by diana on March 4, 2011. Posted in Art, Monterey Peninsula College, MPC Print Club. No Comments on A Harvest of Images: A Feast for the Eyes!

The Pajaro Valley Arts Council gallery (PVAC) in Watsonville is featuring over 100 images that showcase a wide range of both traditional and experimental printmaking processes, including digital media. The show, “A Harvest of Images”, was juried by the highly regarded artist Howard Ikemoto, art instructor at Cabrillo College for over 30 years, now retired, who resides near Watsonville. The show opened on February 24 and will close on April 17. Everyone is invited to a reception at the gallery on Sunday, March 13, 2:00-4:00 pm. The exhibit is an outstanding survey of contemporary...

“Departures”–“Between Life and Death”

Written by diana on February 15, 2011. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. 2 Comments on “Departures”–“Between Life and Death”

For a guest lecture I am preparing for a course, “Philosophy through the Movies”, I decided to select the Academy Award® Winner for Best Foreign Language Film of 2009, “Departures”, (Japanese title: “Okuribito”, lit. “a person sent out or dispatched”), a look into the in-between of life and death. What the Tibetan Buddhists would call “bardo”. Loosely based on Aoki Shinmon’s autobiographical book Coffinman: The Journal of a Buddhist Mortician (納棺夫日記 Nōkanfu Nikki), the movie opens with the main character, Daigo Kobayashi,...

BLOOD LOTUS: Discovering New Voices in Literature and Art

Written by diana on January 31, 2011. Posted in Art, Literary and Art Journals, Unhealed Wound. 1 Comment on BLOOD LOTUS: Discovering New Voices in Literature and Art

I discovered the online journal, Blood Lotus, while doing a Google search for submitting my short stories to small boutique journals. While spending hours looking for an appropriate fit for my edgy short stories about growing up with wounds, both healed and unhealed, I discovered this literary and quarterly gem. Blood Lotus, established in 2006, with the belief everything has not already been written, has a mission to promote not only distinctive writing but also unusual art. Two poets, Stacia Fleegal and Teneice Durrang Delgado, are its co-founders. Stacia M. Fleegal (co-founder, managing...