Year: 2013

“SaltWorks” –Return to the Sea

Written by diana on August 27, 2013. Posted in Art. 3 Comments on “SaltWorks” –Return to the Sea

Last Sunday, August 25, the Monterey Museum of Art was filled to capacity. See the YouTube video clips to get a feel for the community response , both here and in an older YouTube video of Charleston, North Carolina where Yamamoto teaches , if you didn’t get a chance to be there yourself! The line went out the door to see the the...

“We Need to Talk About Kevin”–The Bad Seed

Written by diana on August 20, 2013. Posted in movie reviews.

“We Need to Talk About Kevin” is an unforgettable portrait of the baby from hell, and as such this film may not be meant for a lot of viewers. Kevin comes into the world as a very difficult, “challenging” infant. The unconditional love between mother–Eva Khatchadourian (played to perfection by Tilda Swinton, a...

The Backstory behind “Orange is the New Black”

Written by diana on August 15, 2013. Posted in Television reviews.

With all the buzz about “Orange is the New Black”, I had fun chasing down facts about the memoir of that name by Piper Kerman after binge viewing the huge hit, “Orange is the New Black” on Netflix. (See my last post for the review of the hit series). In two separate interviews on NPR’s “All Things...

“Orange is the New Black”–Life Behind Bars

Written by diana on August 7, 2013. Posted in Television reviews. 2 Comments on “Orange is the New Black”–Life Behind Bars

This is a caged beast financed and produced by Netflix: thirteen episodes available on Instant Queue for binge viewing if you are so inclined. “Orange is the New Black” (filmed on location in a women’s prison in Chino, California) is loosely based on the 2010 memoir by Piper Kerman (now an advocate for women prison reform.) ...

“Side Effects”–Warning: Contraindications

Written by diana on July 31, 2013. Posted in movie reviews. 5 Comments on “Side Effects”–Warning: Contraindications

“Side Effects” opens with Martin Taylor (Channing Tatum) being released from prison after serving a four-year sentence for insider trading. His wife Emily (Rooney Mara) is frail, severely depressed, and disinterested in Martin’s re-entering her life. Soon her world unravels as she becomes dependent upon a new, experimental...

“Shattered”–aka “Butterfly on a Wheel”

Written by diana on July 23, 2013. Posted in movie reviews. 2 Comments on “Shattered”–aka “Butterfly on a Wheel”

This intriguing tale of vengeance is centered on a theme found in Alexander Pope’s Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot” (1735) in which placing undue effort on a minor issue is like breaking a “butterfly on a wheel”. And this first-rate thriller was so named in its British and Canadian release (2007), to be retitled...