This column is more than 10 years old and I've finally gotten around to trying a little origami!
Here's a poem about that, and about a good deal more than that, by Vanessa Stauffer, who teaches writing at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan.
Lessons
To crease a sheet of paper is to change its memory, says the origami master: what was a field of snow folded into flake. A crane, erect, structured from surface. A tree emerges from a leaf—each form undone
reveals the seams, pressed with ruler's edge. Some figures take hundreds to be shaped, crossed & doubled over, the sheet bound to its making—a web of scars that maps a body out of space,
how I fashion memory: idling at an intersection next to Jack Yates High, an hour past the bell, I saw a girl fold herself in half to slip beneath the busted chain-link, books thrust ahead, splayed on asphalt broiling
in Houston sun. What memory will she retain? Her cindered palms, the scraped shin? Braids brushing the dirt? The white kite of her homework taking flight? Finding herself locked out, or being made
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The 1951 adventure romance, “The African Queen,” screens at the Soper Reese Theatre in Lakeport on Tuesday, Jan. 26, with show times at 1 and 6 p.m.
In this adaptation of C.S. Forester’s novel, it is all about the characters, who are wonderfully written and perfectly played by Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, each bringing a tangible sense of warmth and affection to the screen as their feelings grow for each other.
Bogart won his only Best Actor Oscar for this film. The film was directed by John Huston and filmed on location in what was then the Belgian Congo in Central Africa.
The movie is sponsored by Classic Film Fans and is not rated, with run time of 2 hours 31 minutes.
Entry to the film is by donation.
The Soper Reese Theatre is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport, 707-263-0577, www.soperreesetheatre.com .
NORTH COAST, Calif. – Trio Céleste, known as one of the most dynamic chamber music ensembles in the country, will perform on the FBCA Coast Chamber Concerts series on Sunday, Jan. 24, at 3 p.m. in Preston Hall, Mendocino.
This trio with a "magic spark” (Philip Setzer, Emerson Quartet), was recently invited to perform a recital in Carnegie Hall next season.
The players, – pianist Kevin Kwan Loucks, violinist Iryna Krechkovsky and cellist Ross Gasworth – are all strong prize-winning instrumentalists in their own right.
One happy critic with the Orange County Register reported: “Krechkovsky, who performs on a Stradivarius, is a precise yet spirited musician; cellist Gasworth is a warm and generous one. Loucks, who played with the piano lid fully open, never overpowered them, while uncovering many shades and dynamics in the music at hand, sculpting phrases intelligently with passion, energy and technical mastery.”
Trio Céleste, cited by the Long Beach Gazette as “exuberant and technically dazzling,” is based in Orange County as the ensemble in residence at the Claire Trevor School of Arts at UC Irvine.
The performance in Mendocino includes selections from “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires” by Piazzolla and Tchaikovsky’s elegiac piano trio subtitled, “In Memory of a Great Artist,” written upon the death of Tchaikovsky’s close friend and mentor, Nikolai Rubenstein.
Advance tickets for $20 are available until Jan. 22 at Harvest Market and Out of This World. Tickets at the door are $25.
Sidelined by lower back pain, this reviewer has been unable to attend recent theatrical screenings. As such, I missed out on the compelling action story of “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,” to say nothing about the good times of “Ride Along 2.”
I would venture to guess that most of us are by now more familiar with the name of the second largest Libyan city than we are able to name the capital cities of most European nations. France? That’s Paris, an easy one. Bulgaria? Have to look that one up.
For shut-ins and those housebound for medical issues, it’s a good thing that the television season is heating up again, what with new series on cable channels and the networks starting to roll out new product.
Courtesy of FX Network in early February, you’ll soon get the 10-part limited drama series “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.” I am not yet sold on the idea of reliving that bit of history.
Taking another tack that looks to be a lot more fun is the TBS Network’s launch of ten episodes of the oddly-named police procedural spoof “Angie Tribeca,” a show that is bound to delight fans of a cop spoof genre that includes comedy classics like “Sledge Hammer!” and the short-lived “Police Squad!”
Leslie Nielsen parlayed his role of Lt. Frank Drebin in “Police Squad!” to the successful run of “The Naked Gun” film franchise, which much like the TV series derived its absurdist humor with endless sight gags and non-sequiturs.
In “Angie Tribeca,” the titular character is played by Rashida Jones, who thrives in the role of straight man, which is appropriate because one of the running gags is that her fellow police officers appear to be oblivious to the fact that she’s actually a woman.
There could be a reason for that misconception. For one thing, LAPD detective Angie Tribeca is a strong, committed loner who’s already had more than two hundred workplace partners.
Her morning ritual consists of punching and kicking her refrigerator, destroying the living room furniture and doing pull-ups in the shower.
In the first episode, Tribeca, much to her chagrin, is teamed up with new partner Jay Geils (Hayes MacArthur), partner number 237 to be exact. There’s a melancholy flashback to losing her partner Sgt. Pepper (James Franco, one of many celebrity cameos).
Geils is more soulful and willing to let Tribeca take the lead, even in the precinct gym where his new partner’s aggressive boxing style turns his face into a puffy pulp as if he had gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson.
Deon Cole’s Danny Tanner, another detective in the same precinct, is partnered with a Belgian Malinois named Hoffman (Jagger the dog), a canine so talented that he even drives an unmarked squad car.
Overseeing the madcap adventures at the police station is Lt. Chet Atkins (Jere Burns), the prototypical tough, no-nonsense boss who spends most of his time yelling at Tribeca and Geils to get into his office.
In the episode “Tribeca’s Day Off,” the high-strung detective is ordered to use one of her many unused vacation days, and the Lieutenant says to her: “I want your badge and your gun,” to which, Tribeca replies: “Don’t you have your own badge and gun?”
On a visit to the grocery store, while off-duty, Tribeca runs into Bill Murray’s stock boy who persuades her to buy products made for loners, such as the “Flying Solo” TV dinner that is billed as “Airplane Style Food for One” and “Very Single” slices of American cheese.
The quirky medical examiner Dr. Scholls (Andree Vermeulen) performs an autopsy on a ventriloquist’s dummy after its master was horribly murdered, while being assisted by the eccentric Dr. Edelweiss (Alfred Molina), who appears each time with a new physical deformity.
Tribeca and Geils, backed up a SWAT team, bust into a house with a drug lab and counterfeiting operation and proceed to ignore these flagrant crimes as they are single-mindedly determined to arrest the owner for illegal possession of a ferret, a crime with a 50-year sentence.
Much of the humor derives from observations during the process of interrogations, such as when detective Geils questions a suspect by asking “Are you aware that someone was murdered on that flight and now he’s dead?”
The episode investigating murders in-flight, entitled “Murder in the First Class,” recalls the silliness of gags and one-liners from “Airplane!” There’s a pattern in these old shows having an exclamation point in the title, but “Angie Tribeca” stands on its own.
“Angie Tribeca,” created by Steve Carell and his wife Nancy, is often hysterically funny with goofy bad puns and deadpan one-liners that should brighten the day for anyone in the mood for laughs and very silly good fun.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
NAPA, Calif. – This week the Napa County Library will host New York Times bestselling author Craig Johnson, who will discuss his new book “Dry Bones.”
Johnson will speak beginning at 6 p.m., Friday, Jan. 22, at the library, located at 580 Coombs St.
Johnson’s character, Walt Longmire, was first introduced 10 years ago in his short story, “Old Indian Trick.”
This was one of the earliest appearances of the sheriff, who would go on to star in Johnson’s bestselling, award-winning novels and the hit A&E drama series “Longmire.”
Johnson will be signing copies of his book at this free event.
Seating is first-come, first-served.
For special accommodations, call Library Administration at 707-253-4235.
For more information, visit www.napalibrary.org or email John Thill at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – The Lake County Wine Studio and artist Diana Liebe are presenting monthly sip and paint parties at the wine studio.
The January wine and watercolor session will be held from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23.
The class fee of $40 covers all of the painting supplies needed along with Leibe’s step-by-step guidance and a glass of fine Lake County wine.
Liebe is a former art teacher at both the high school and college levels. She has been very involved in the Lake County Arts Community since moving here from Mendocino County 11 years ago, and actively teaches art workshops around the county.
Reservations are required for each month’s class as participation is limited to 12 people.
The Lake County Wine Studio is located at 9505 Main St. in Upper Lake and is open Monday, 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Tuesday through Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, from 1 to 7 p.m.; and Friday from 1 to 8 p.m.
How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
