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Month: May 2013

“The Great Gatsby”–Revisiting an American Classic

The new version of the F. Scott Fitgerald’s celebrated classic (1925) by Baz Luhrmann (of Moulin Rouge fame) has divided critics. Half of professional movie critics praised the movie, the other half panned it. There will be endless reinterpretations of a novel that has become burdened as a literary icon, the Great American Classic. Mr. Luhrmann’s reverence for the source material is evident. Occasionally he quotes dialogue directly. But he has also made the narrative his own: a wayward, lavish theatrical celebration of the emotional and material extravagance that Gatsby embodied.  For...

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“Shadow Dad”– Flash Fiction in “The Story Shack”

“Shadow Dad” was just published in the online literary journal, The Story Shack.  The inspiration for the work came to me during a creative writers’ group exercise involving writing within a 15-minute time period.  It was fun and revealed how sometimes “over thinking” can detract from the power  of the original thought. Go to The Story Shack online to read “Shadow Dad”. Let me know your comments!  

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Wakuriya–A Little Bit of Kyoto Heaven

Sake flight Last week we experienced kaiseki (Japanese haute cuisine) at a tiny tucked-away restaurant in a strip mall in San Mateo–Wakuriya.  What a surprise find! Kaiseki cuisine is as much an art form as a type of gourmet dinner. Not unexpectedly, kaiseki has its origin in Zen monastic cuisine and aesthetic taste. Leaves and fresh flowers, often edible, suggest animals and seasonal variations in the moon and night sky. Passing through a long draped noren curtain, we opened the artisan wooden door, and stepped into a long narrow restaurant dimly lit and minimalist in decor.  The ambience...

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“Orphan Black”–Adopting a New Model

This new BBC America television series premiered on March 30, 2013. In the opening scene the camera zooms in on Sarah (played by Tatiana Maslany, a Canadian newcomer to television), a grifter desperate to escape her drug dealer boyfriend.  Seizing an opportunity to escape her past, Sarah watches as her doppelganger jumps in front of a subway to her death.  Stealing the identity of the suicide victim (“Beth”) who looks exactly like her, Sarah assumes that the dead woman’s identity will be an improvement over her own, but she is proved wrong. Proud of her independence, even with...

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