LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – “The Hysterical History of the Trojan War” by D.M. Larson is The Lake County Theatre Co.’s summer offering and it promises to be a production full of surprises and promise.
The promise will be provided by a large cast of young people who are putting in long hours and a very professional work ethic to assure quality performances.
The surprise comes from the talent of the young people whose past theater experience is extensive considering their age.
The “Trojan War” is scheduled for Aug. 16 and 17 at 7 p.m. and Aug. 18 at 2 p.m. at Lakeport Senior Activity Center. There will be a dinner show at 6 p.m. Aug. 17.
The “oldest” of the young women featured here is Natalya Fortino, age 16. She has performed numerous times since sixth grade when she made her theater performance in “Little Women,” another LCTC production.
Playing the part of Cassandra, she “enjoys the challenge of being someone who is not always sweet. Cassandra is much more interesting than that,” she said. She also hopes for a future in the performing arts.
Grace Ott is another veteran at age 14. “I have been in on play after another since second grade. I just love it! Of course being an evil character is the most fun, but being a strong female like Helen of Troy is also cool.”
In answer to questions about her professional future, Grace confesses a desire to be a forensic anthropologist. Knowing how to be a strong woman is probably going to help her with that role in the future.
The third young actress, Riley Ramirez, is only 8 years old but this is her third LCTC role. That makes her “a pro” in this production.
“The thing I like the best about acting is hanging out with all the fun people that are in the cast with me. I have met a lot of really nice people that way,” she explains with a very mature look. “I don’t have any trouble learning my lines because there is a part of my brain that is very good at that.”
And this play is special for another reason, according to Riley. “Being a girl, this is the first time I get to play a boy. That makes it a challenge. I just watch my brothers and do what they do,” said Riley, a true veteran at her young age.
Tickets will be available at the Senior Center, 707-263-4218, and at the door.
For additional information, feel free to call 707-279-2595.
“Poor Richard’s Almanac” said, “He that lieth down with dogs shall rise up with fleas,” but that hasn’t kept some of us from sleeping with our dogs.
Here’s a poem about the pleasure of that, by Joyce Sidman, who lives and sleeps in Montana.
Her book, “Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night,” won a 2011 Newbery Honor Award.
Dog in Bed
Nose tucked under tail, you are a warm, furred planet centered in my bed. All night I orbit, tangle-limbed, in the slim space allotted to me.
If I accidentally bump you from sleep, you shift, groan, drape your chin on my hip.
O, that languid, movie-star drape! I can never resist it. Digging my fingers into your fur, kneading, I wonder: How do you dream? What do you adore? Why should your black silk ears feel like happiness?
This is how it is with love. Once invited, it steps in gently, circles twice, and takes up as much space as you will give it.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2003 by Joyce Sidman, whose most recent book of poems is Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature, Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2011. Poem reprinted from The World According to Dog, Houghton Mifflin, 2003, by permission of Joyce Sidman and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2013 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
Those of us who have been fortunate enough to have been new parents will recognize the way in which everything seems to relate to a baby, who has by her arrival suddenly made the world surround her. D. Nurkse lives in Brooklyn.
First Night
We brought that newborn home from Maimonides and showed her nine blue glittering streets. Would she like the semis with hoods of snow? The precinct? Bohack’s? A lit diner? Her eyes were huge and her gaze tilted like milk in a pan, toward shadow. Would she like the tenement, three dim flights, her crib that smelled of Lemon Pledge? We slept beside her in our long coats, rigid with fatigue in the unmade bed. Her breath woke us with its slight catch. Would she approve of gray winter dawn? We showed her daylight in our cupped hands. Then the high clocks began booming in this city and the next, we counted for her, but just the strokes, not the laggards or the tinny echoes, and we taught her how to wait, how to watch, how to be held, in that icy room, until our own alarm chimed.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2012 by D. Nurkse from his most recent book of poems, A Night in Brooklyn, Alfred A. Knopf, 2012. Poem reprinted by permission of D. Nurkse and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2013 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Kelseyville resident Linda Guebert has released her memoir, “The Hardest Thing I’ll Ever Do: A Journey of Sorrow, Healing & Hope.”
Through this book Guebert shares her personal grief journey following the sudden death of her husband Ken Kysely in 2000, only nine months after they were married.
At times heartrending, occasionally funny, “The Hardest Thing I’ll Ever Do” is a powerful story of healing and personal growth, moving through sorrow, anger and despair to renewed hope and commitment to life.
“I believe this book can be a valuable resource for anyone who has suffered the loss of someone they love,” says Guebert. “And I hope it will also help those who want to understand the grief process and offer support to others.”
Guebert, who has lived in Lake County for more than 20 years, teaches ESL classes at Mendocino College, is active in community theater and hosts a weekly program of American roots music on KPFZ radio.
Her latest book, a mystery titled “The First Lie,” is scheduled for publication this fall.
You learn something new when you least expect it. But then I am only familiar with standard comic book fare such as “Spider-Man” and “The Green Hornet,” just to name two that readily come to mind for no apparent reason.
I never would have guessed that “R.I.P.D.” is based on a popular Dark Horse comic book. Offhand, I can’t think of a Dark Horse comic right at this moment, which may be a problem if this film is some sort of prophecy.
You see, for those unaware like me, “R.I.P.D.” stands for the Rest in Peace Department, a supernatural police force tasked with arresting lost souls who are hiding out on Earth, escaping Judgment Day.
Jeff Bridges, sporting a bushy goatee and mangling words with his Old West drawl, is just what you would expect for playing the part of an ill-tempered veteran lawman who still resents being eaten by coyotes after his untimely death in the 19th century.
Bridges’ curmudgeonly veteran sheriff Roy Pulsifer, as to be expected of a lawman accustomed to the ways of the Wild West, doesn’t have much use for proper police procedures or even having a partner.
Ryan Reynolds’ Nick Walker is a rising star in the Boston Police Department, who’s conflicted about the insistence of his partner Bobby Hayes (Kevin Bacon) to stash some gold taken in a drug raid.
Operating outside the boundaries of police procedure, Bobby’s reckless and lawless behavior results in the death of his partner Nick in the line of duty during a raid on a criminal hideout.
Meanwhile, Nick leaves behind pretty young wife Julia (Stephanie Szostak), who understandably has questions about her husband’s death while Bobby shows a bit too much attention.
After being gunned down during the violent raid, Nick ends up in a state of purgatory, which turns out to be the Rest in Peace Department, where Mary-Louise Parker’s Proctor is the insufferable police chief.
Unwilling partners, Nick and Roy are teamed up to return to Earth in search of the dead living amongst the general population, with the aim of bringing them back to the other side to face judgment.
These walking dead, not to be confused with zombies, are called “Dead-Os,” and yet, they often morph into huge, fat slobs when confronted by the R.I.P.D.
You could be excused for thinking that “R.I.P.D.” could be confused with “Men in Black,” though the supernatural lawmen are not natty dressers with cool shades. Besides, they aren’t fighting creepy aliens.
Not surprisingly, Nick and Roy don’t much care for each other. Chalk up their differences to a clash of culture and personalities. Roy’s a lone gunslinger with a weary “been there, done that” attitude.
For his part, Nick is too obsessed with trying to communicate with his widow, so that she will know that he wasn’t a corrupt cop looking for an easy big score.
Though he returns to Boston to fight crime, Nick is unable to be recognized. Members of the R.I.P.D. take on a new identity, and in his case, James Hong becomes Nick’s unexpected elderly avatar.
Contrary to expectations and type, Roy’s avatar is a very sexy buxom blonde bombshell, supermodel Marisa Miller, a lingerie model for Victoria’s Secret and cover girl for the swimsuit issue of “Sports Illustrated.”
The concept for “R.I.P.D.” seemed very promising, exploring the rapport between two wholly disparate guys – a newly dead modern-day police officer and his gunslinger counterpart from the Old West.
It also seemed promising that their earthbound avatars were a hot blonde and a middle-aged Asian dude, a combination that appeared hopeful to generate plenty of laughs.
As to the first part, Nick and Roy generate plenty of friction but not enough heat to spark much interest beyond the usual bravado of two macho guys trying to prove their tough guy credentials.
The comedy aspect of their avatars is almost completely wasted. Their appearances are limited to a few scenes, and one can’t help thinking of the comic potential offered by the odd pairing of James Hong and Marisa Miller as crime fighters.
Unfortunately, Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds are also wasted, though the latter has about as much charisma as a plastic bottle while Bridges’ oddball quirks come across as forced and ultimately somewhat irritating.
“R.I.P.D.” ends up being a rather listless, bland exercise despite the formulaic shoot-‘em up theatrics of full scale war waged on the walking dead.
DVD RELEASE UPDATE
You may be able to shake off the doldrums engendered by the lethargic effort of “R.I.P.D.” by an indulgence in some Asian gangster film fun in a new DVD release.
Appropriately titled, “The Gangster” is based on a notorious time in Bangkok history where gangsters and the mafia ruled the streets.
From the producers of “Ong Bak 2” and “Dynamite Warrior,” among other releases, “The Gangster” is inspired by the infamous Thai gangster era, when gangsters were heralded as celebrities and heroes.
The film centers on two young men who return to a life of crime after being released from prison. Dealing with younger hoodlums who are drawn to easy money, the film tells the story of two generations of crooks struggling to adapt in a changing environment.
The DVD release of “The Gangster” offers special features including a making of the film and behind the scenes documentary.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
Directing a sci-fi action adventure where giant robots clash with monstrous creatures from the center of the earth is a natural wish fulfillment for Guillermo del Toro.
A self-described “fanboy,” del Toro is within his element for directing “Pacific Rim,” which seems pitched to the sensibilities of Japanese cinema that celebrated such monsters as Godzilla and Mothra.
With the annual Comic-Con geek fest taking place in San Diego, the Mexican-born filmmaker could arrive at the event as a conquering hero. Maybe he did in the past, and I am just not aware of it.
Set in the near future, “Pacific Rim” finds that the human race is at a critical crossroads, following apocalyptic attacks on coastal cities around the world, including San Francisco, Manila and Hong Kong.
Creatures emerging from the depths of the sea look like a mixture of dinosaurs, sea serpents, and horribly deformed alien creatures. These legions of monstrous creatures are known as Kaiju, the Japanese word for giant beast.
The monsters destroy bridges and tall buildings as if they were rambunctious kids knocking over building blocks or Legos. Goodbye, Golden Gate Bridge. Too bad they didn’t attack London because I would love to see a monster tangle with the London Eye.
To combat the Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers (German for “hunters”), controlled by two pilots whose minds are synched via a neural bridge, called “The Drift.”
Unfortunately for mankind, the sea monsters keep mutating into every more powerful creatures, bent on nothing short of complete annihilation of the planet.
On the verge of defeat, the forces defending humanity have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes – a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi).
Hunnam’s Raleigh Beckett was a Jaeger pilot in the initial Kaiju wars when co-piloted a giant robot with his older brother on a mission that went badly.
After the death of his sibling, Raleigh had dropped out of the monster bounty hunting, doing odd jobs along the Alaska coast while others tried to figure out ways to fortify the coastal areas from the monster invasion.
As the world hangs in the balance, Raleigh is dredged out of retirement by his former commander, Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba, a suitably no-nonsense tough guy), for a desperate play showdown with the Kaiju.
The problem, of course, is that it takes two to pilot the 25-story tall robots, and a pilot’s partner has to be someone with whom sharing your brain requires the utmost bond of trust and confidence.
Full of bravado and swagger, Raleigh may be willing to put his life on the line despite any risks, but he’ll only do so on his own terms.
Meanwhile, Kikuchi’s Mako Mori is a beautiful Japanese martial-arts expert who’s a candidate for a robot pilot position, though she must first prove herself capable of enduring the intense training.
Known only to commander Pentecost, Mako’s past includes a dark secret about a childhood encounter with the Kaiju that still brings nightmares that must be purged from her memory. Interestingly, a red slipper is a symbol of the mental torment.
Not surprisingly, there is a severe competitive streak in the international cast of robot pilots, and after Raleigh and Mako tangle in a martial arts contest, they become partners in the robot called Gipsy Danger.
Del Toro has an affinity for Ron Perlman, having used him in his “Hellboy” films. Fittingly, Perlman’s Hannibal Chau is a sleazy black market operator in Hong Kong, selling the salvageable body parts of dead Kaiju.
More comic relief comes from a pair of wacky scientists, Charlie Day’s high-pitched voiced Dr. Newton Geiszler thinks he create a neural bridge with a Kaiju, while his partner (Burn Gorman) is just plain eccentric.
The success of the Jaeger program requires Raleigh and Mako to become a well-connected team. For his part, Raleigh is a loner who grapples with trust issues, and so it is no easy task.
Fans of this genre are anxious to move on from the obvious plot contrivances and get to the essence of what is expected from an action film with roots in the anarchic Godzilla genre.
“Pacific Rim” does not disappoint those who want to enjoy the spectacular clash of the titans, as robots and monsters bang away at each other with ferocious intensity.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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