Author: diana

“Muscle Shoals”–Music Muscle from the Deep South

Written by diana on July 19, 2015. Posted in Unhealed Wound. 1 Comment on “Muscle Shoals”–Music Muscle from the Deep South

[This movie review can be also seen at Josephsreviews.com where I was a guest blogger on July 17,2015) A 2013 documentary about an Alabama musical legacy, “Muscle Shoals“, brings to light a group of musicians who never had their day in the sun. Two iconic recording studios in the tiny town of Muscle Shoals Alabama—FAME (est. 1959) and its spinoff Muscle Shoals Sound (1960) —became the “must have” sound for, among others, Percy Sledge, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, The Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Aretha Franklin, Paul Simon, Etta James, and many other Rock-and-Roll legendary...

“Love and Mercy”– Mostly “Good Vibrations”

Written by diana on July 12, 2015. Posted in movie reviews. 2 Comments on “Love and Mercy”– Mostly “Good Vibrations”

If you remember the 1960’s classic album “Pet Sounds” by Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, there is a good chance you will enjoy the movie “Love and Mercy”. In an unusual music biopic of Brian Wilson, “Love and Mercy” structures his life through two highly acclaimed actors, Paul Dano and John Cusack, playing Brian the younger and middle-aged Brian respectively. In a highly innovative flashback structure in which Paul Dano plays twenty-something Brian Wilson and John Cusack plays his fifty-something 1980’s version, we see the backstory of a creative musical genius whose abusive childhood...

Orange is the New Black (OITNB) –Keeps on Going Strong

Written by diana on July 7, 2015. Posted in Television reviews. 2 Comments on Orange is the New Black (OITNB) –Keeps on Going Strong

Feminism, sexual perversion, peccadilloes, assault, and experimentation run strong in Season Three (2015). [See my reviews, “Orange is the New Black—Life Behind Bars”, August 7, 2013 and “The Backstory Behind Orange is the New Black”, August 15, 2013.] Nothing like this has been portrayed on television, without a suggestive body shot, excruciating violence, or even the victim’s voice. OITNB scenes of how women can become more compassionate through sex with each other are so powerful, indeed so extraordinary and original, that the sexual scene is secondary to the emotional intimacy....

Son of a Gun—On Target

Written by diana on June 28, 2015. Posted in Local travel, Restaurants. 1 Comment on Son of a Gun—On Target

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of going to Son of a Gun, a newish West Hollywood restaurant. Small, intimate—when we first drove by, we had to circle the block twice to find it—the food is original and delicious. We started off with the hamachi with vinaigrette apple and radish sprouts. Hamachi with Apples, Sprouts and Vinaigrette Sashimi-grade yellow-fin tuna with tart apples and a light splash of rice-vinegar dressing and a sprinkling of green spouts. This precious appetizer deserves a shout-out. Next, we had the steelhead roe which was good, but not memorable, the uni with burrata...

“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,...