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Arts & Life
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- Written by: Ted Kooser
After Disappointment
To lie in your child’s bed when she is gone
Is calming as anything I know. To fall
Asleep, her books arranged above your head,
Is to admit that you have never been
So tired, so enchanted by the spell
Of your grown body. To feel small instead
Of blocking out the light, to feel alone,
Not knowing what you should or shouldn’t feel,
Is to find out, no matter what you’ve said
About the cramped escapes and obstacles
You plan and face and have to call the world,
That there remain these places, occupied
By children, yours if lucky, like the girl
Who finds you here and lies down by your side.
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 ©1997 by Mark Jarman and reprinted from Bone Fires: New and Selected Poems, Sarabande Books, 2011, by permission of Mark Jarman and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2011 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.
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL (Rated PG-13)
As a purist, I held the view that the “Mission: Impossible” film series was an unworthy subversion of the excellent original TV series starring Peter Graves.
It just seemed that Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt was no match, either in style or intellect, to Graves’ Jim Phelps, the urbane leader of the Impossible Missions Force.
The first “Mission: Impossible” film was heresy insofar as Jim Phelps was rendered one of the bad guys. The abrupt departure from the TV series took the film in a foolhardy direction.
Now along comes the fourth installment in the film series, “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” the best of the entire lot. Moreover, it’s such a top notch action thriller that I no longer have misgivings.
For one thing, Tom Cruise has never looked better in the role of the IMF undercover agent. Not only has he matured into the part, he’s very convincing as an unflappable tough guy adept at handling the physical and mental strains of the job.
As for the action, the adrenaline rush begins with Ethan’s daring breakout from a Russian prison, assisted by IMF team member Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), the computer wizard who simultaneously manages to unlock prison doors while blasting a classic Dean Martin song on the loudspeakers.
Once on the outside, Ethan, with the help of his colleagues, is dispatched to infiltrate the Kremlin’s hidden vault so as to locate the identity of a villain with a plan to steal Russian nuclear codes.
Unfortunately, the mission goes haywire when the Kremlin is blown up and the IMF team is falsely blamed for masterminding the explosion. Even worse, the IMF secretary is killed during an assault by Russian forces, further compromising the mission.
As a result, Ethan’s team is forced to go underground, as the U.S. government invokes the “ghost protocol” that cuts the IMF loose with no official portfolio or financial resources.
To clear their names, the IMF team, including the beautiful but deadly Jane Carter (Paula Patton) and the mysterious “analyst” William Brandt (Jeremy Renner), initiates a globe-trotting adventure to chase a shadowy target named Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist).
Forced to become rogue agents, the IMF team heads off to Dubai on the trail of Hendricks as the terrorist seeks nuclear warheads he can launch merely for the purpose of a blowing up the planet for senseless pleasure.
Though loaded with great action scenes, the best one in “Ghost Protocol” requires Ethan to climb the glass window exterior of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper.
This act requires him, like Spider-Man, to scale the high-rise more than 100 floors above the ground with nothing more elaborate than a pair of adhesive gloves, one of which malfunctions at an inopportune time. Meanwhile, the audience suffers a severe case of vertigo.
Actually, “Ghost Protocol” is filled with breathtaking moments of great danger. Brandt, levitated by a magnetic device, hangs precariously over a giant turbine as he breaks into a building’s computer command center.
A climactic battle between Ethan and Hendricks takes place in a high-tech parking garage in Mumbai, where the two fighters leap from one moving platform to another in a dazzling acrobatic display of vicious hand-to-hand combat.
Complicating the mission is the fact that a Russian agent (Vladimir Mashkov), mistakenly believing the IMF team is responsible for the Kremlin bombing, is trying desperately to kill Ethan and his gang.
One of the fascinating tidbits about this film is that director Brad Bird (“The Incredibles”) is known for his work in animation. Here, he demonstrates tremendous skill and flair for staging very impressive action scenes.
Another revelation is that Tom Cruise is really at the top of his game. He’s never been more imposing than he is now as the consummate action figure possessed of athletic poise and mature elegance.
“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” is truly one of the best action pictures of the year, and even better still if you catch it in IMAX.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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- Written by: Douglas Reynolds
This New Year's Eve at Redwood City's Club Fox, you'll be able to catch a sneak preview of Satisfaction Five-O, A Celebration of 50 Years of The World's Greatest Rock 'N' Roll Band and dance the year out with the "Mick Jagger" of the tour and his San Francisco based band, The Unauthorized Rolling Stones.
Satisfaction Five-O features contributions from genuine members of the 60's Classic Rock scene and a band assembled from the premier tribute artists in the business.
Rudy Colombini of The Unauthorized Rolling Stones is portraying Mick Jagger, as Satisfaction Five-O tours showrooms in 2012.
Setting the stage for the climactic concert is a gallery of seminal images from famed Rolling Stone Magazine photographer Robert Altman, a multimedia show of previously unpublished photos of the Stones and other Classic Rock Icons by Bay Area photographer Chris Brorsen, and a set honoring the Delta Blues that inspired the Jagger-Richards team by guitarist Michael Ray Wilhelm of Charlatans and Flamin' Groovies fame, who lives in Lake County.
Both Altman and Wilhelm will be at the Fox for this event to promote the national tour.
A limited number of tickets are available to the public for the New Years Eve Sneak Preview, which offers a most unique alternative to the abundance of other year-end events.
“A Celebration of 50 Years of the Rolling Stones” takes place Saturday, Dec. 31, at 2209 Broadway St. in Redwood City, telephone 650-FOX-7770. Ages 21 and over only. Doors open at 8 a.m., with the show beginning at 9 p.m.
Tickets cost $39.50, which includes appetizers and champagne at midnight.
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- Written by: Ted Kooser
In many of those Japanese paintings with Mt. Fuji in the background, we find tiny figures moving along under the immensity of the landscape.
Here’s an American version of a scene like that, by Stanley Plumly of Maryland, one of our country’s most accomplished poets.
Off A Side Road Near Staunton
Some nothing afternoon, no one anywhere,
an early autumn stillness in the air,
the kind of empty day you fill by taking in
the full size of the valley and its layers leading
slowly to the Blue Ridge, the quality of country,
if you stand here long enough, you could stay
for, step into, the way a landscape, even on a wall,
pulls you in, one field at a time, pasture and fall
meadow, high above the harvest, perfect
to the tree line, then spirit clouds and intermittent
sunlit smoky rain riding the tops of the mountains,
though you could walk until it’s dark and not reach those rains—
you could walk the rest of the day into the picture
and not know why, at any given moment, you’re there.
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. Reprinted from Old Heart, by Stanley Plumly. Copyright ©2007 by Stanley Plumly. Used by permission of the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. Introduction copyright © 2009 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.