Year: 2015

“Wayward Pines”—Stray at Your Own Risk

Written by diana on June 19, 2015. Posted in Television reviews. No Comments on “Wayward Pines”—Stray at Your Own Risk

Wayward Pines Based on the Wayward Pines trilogy by Blake Crouch and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, (creator of The Sixth Sense,–“I see dead people”), “Wayward Pines” is an intense thriller and dystopia, which premiered on Fox-TV in mid-May. This series is “The Prisoner” meets “The Walking Dead” with a bit of “Twin Peaks” and “Hunger Games” thrown in. Definitely not for the faint-of-heart. The first episode opens with a hook: FBI agent, Ethan Burke (played magnificently by Matt Dillon) has had a car accident in Wayward Pines, Idaho, on assignment in search of two fellow FBI agents,...

“Empire” –It’s All About Cookie

Written by diana on June 9, 2015. Posted in Television reviews. 2 Comments on “Empire” –It’s All About Cookie

Cookie and Lucious “Empire”, part family saga, part “Glee”, and part soap opera, is an entertaining new television series on Fox with something for everyone! Created by Lee Daniels (of “Precious” and “The Butler” fame), “Empire” gives both Terrence Howard as Lucious Lyons and Taraji P. Henson as Cookie, his ex-wife, the platform to demonstrate their considerable acting and singing skills. The drama focues on hip-hop music mogul, Lucious Lyons, an underworld lowlife criminal whose wife took the seventeen-year prison sentence he should have had as partners in crime. Empire Entertainment,...

Split-Screens—Contemporary Dualism

Written by diana on June 1, 2015. Posted in Lifestyle, Writing and Blogging Tips. No Comments on Split-Screens—Contemporary Dualism

Social networks, the structure of some of today’s blockbuster novels, and experiments in original content for television and movies have given us a world that is a split-screen reality. Plot has merged with multiple points-of-view (POV) more than ever. Pushing further, there is no one reality but a gradient of realities, in flux, and based upon the beholder. A split-screen reality. No black and white, but seemingly infinite shades of gray. Our individual reality, in truth, is a fiction emotionally true and relevant but not absolute. TV series like the award-winning “The Affair” or Netflix’s...

Windhover—Where the Mind Can Hover

Written by diana on May 26, 2015. Posted in Art, Buddhism, Local travel. 2 Comments on Windhover—Where the Mind Can Hover

Zen Fountain Over Memorial Day Weekend I visited Windhover, the new spiritual and contemplation center on Stanford University’s campus, a minimalist architectural style suggesting Zen and personal renewal. Windhover takes its name from the series of five giant paintings by the internationally renowned Bay Area figurative artist Nathan Oliveira (1928-2010) who, in turn, named this series after Gerald Manley Hopkins’ poem (1877). Windhover provides an extraordinarily beautiful and serene venue for quiet reflection exclusively for use by Stanford students, faculty, and staff. If you know...

Aldea—“An Epicurean Hamlet”

Written by diana on May 19, 2015. Posted in Restaurants, Travel (Domestic). 1 Comment on Aldea—“An Epicurean Hamlet”

Aldea drama We ate at the fabulous Aldea, a Michelin star restaurant in Manhattan’s Flatiron neighborhood, and for those of you who are going to be in New York City, this is our new gourmet discovery. Aldea means “village” or “hamlet” in Spanish and is a blend of Portuguese and Spanish small plates. Chef Mendes’s menu is eclectic, highly original, and mixes a smattering of popular Asian ingredients with his Iberian-influenced dishes. Sardines Citrus Radish Salad The Aldea restaurant menu includes a variety of shellfish, various preparations of salt-cod, or bacalao, rice dishes and Iberian-cured...

“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”—The Mystery Life of a Savant

Written by diana on May 11, 2015. Posted in Theater: plays and musicals. 4 Comments on “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”—The Mystery Life of a Savant

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Two weeks ago we saw “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”, the theatrical adaptation of Mark Haddon’s 2003 young adult novel on Broadway, after it had become a record-breaking sensation in London, and now has been nominated for six Tony awards, including Best Play, Best Leading Actor in a Play (the phenomenal Alexander Sharp in his first Broadway play after graduating from Juilliard) and Best Direction (Marianne Elliot). The main character is fifteen-year-old Christopher Boone, who has an extraordinary mathematical brain but...