Year: 2012

Fall from Grace: “The Good Wife” television series

Written by diana on May 23, 2012. Posted in Television reviews, Unhealed Wound. 1 Comment on Fall from Grace: “The Good Wife” television series

First premiering in 2009, “The Good Wife” is a spellbinder and the past two seasons are available on Netflix (unfortunately not on Instant Queue yet). We can’t get enough of this intricate, superbly written series! Starring Juliana Margulies in the pivotal role of Alicia Florrick, wife of the disgraced Cook County state’s attorney (played by Chris Noth, Mister Big of “Sex and the City” fame), Margulies’ character is the collateral damage from her husband’s prostitution scandal that has turned her affluent suburban wife’s life upside down. ...

Keith Haring–A Shape-Changer

Written by diana on May 16, 2012. Posted in Art, Unhealed Wound. 4 Comments on Keith Haring–A Shape-Changer

Last week while we were in New York City, we stopped by the Brooklyn Museum to see a retrospective — Keith Haring: 1978–1982. The Haring exhibit presents rarely seen archival works, including seven videos, and artist notebooks of Haring’s evolution as an artist dating back to his time as a student at the School of Visual Arts in New York. As an openly gay artist who died of AIDS before his 32nd birthday, Haring was just gaining momentum when his life ended. Some of the pages from his remarkable diary/notebooks can be viewed online (https://keithharing.tumblr.com/) and expose...

“Death of a Salesman”–Trapped by the American Dream

Written by diana on May 10, 2012. Posted in Theater: plays and musicals, Unhealed Wound. 1 Comment on “Death of a Salesman”–Trapped by the American Dream

Last week we had the unforgettable experience of attending “Death of a Salesman” at the historic Ethel Barrymore Theater in New York City. One of my absolutely favorite plays has been revived five times on Broadway, broadcast in several television productions and produced twice for the silver screen. Starring some of the most highly regarded actors in the US, “Death of a Salesman” still electrifies 63 years after its debut in 1949. This Arthur Miller tragedy is as timely as the Occupy Wall Street movement. Sixty-three-year old Willy Loman (the magnetic Philip Seymour...

“Jiro Dreams of Sushi”–Not Just Another California Roll

Written by diana on April 29, 2012. Posted in movie reviews. 3 Comments on “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”–Not Just Another California Roll

This is a nuanced documentary about the 85 year-old Jiro Ono, considered to be the world’s greatest sushi chef. Ono is the proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant inconspicuously located in a Tokyo subway station, where a sushi dinner starts at approximately $400 per person. Despite its humble appearance, Restaurant Jiro is the only sushi restaurant on the globe to receive the highly coveted 3-star Michelin rating. Sushi lovers, some with great trepidation, make pilgrimage, calling months in advance for a seat at the ten-customer sushi bar. Think French Laundry. For...

“The Net”–Captured in Each Other’s Minds

Written by diana on April 21, 2012. Posted in Buddhism, Literary and Art Journals, Unhealed Wound. 4 Comments on “The Net”–Captured in Each Other’s Minds

I always let my blog followers know about my recent art and fiction publications. Just two days ago my short story, “The Net”, was published in an online literary journal (www.orionheadless.com). The Buddhist metaphor of the net underpins not only this short story but also my writing, art and philosophy of life. Read the short story in tandem with this post for a fuller back-story to the Buddhist values implied in “The Net”. The Buddhist concept of perception was front and center in an art class on Color Fundamentals. I learned that human vision is limited in terms of...

Netflix–Give Me What I Want to Watch!!

Written by diana on April 16, 2012. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. 5 Comments on Netflix–Give Me What I Want to Watch!!

We are all familiar with recommendations that are “pushed” towards us on e-commerce sites–think Amazon.com, Netflix, Pandora, and even Facebook (who suggests “friends”). We never seem to receive Netflix recommendations that we like without suffering through a lot of misfires. For every movie we really love, there are at least 20 duds. And I have rated over 2580 movies on Netflix. So they should know what I like by now. In a recent article in USA Today (April 9th) I learned that Netflix is trying desperately to improve its recommendation system, especially for...