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Arts & Life
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- Written by: Ted Kooser
Here’s a poem in which 8-year-old Ava Schicke, who lives in Omaha, Nebraska, tells us just who she is and what she thinks.
I am
I am a daughter and a sister.
I wonder when I will die.
I hear the warm weather coming.
I see stars in the day.
I want to learn my whole ballet dance.
I am a daughter and a sister.
I pretend to be a teacher at home.
I feel like I am a teacher.
I touch hands that are growing.
I worry that I will never change.
I cry when something or someone dies.
I am a daughter and a sister.
I understand that teachers work hard for students.
I say that I don’t like bullies.
I dream about me not moving while trying really hard to run.
I try to become a good friend.
I hope that there is no more dying or killing.
I am a daughter and a sister.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2011 by Ava Schicke. 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
FAST FIVE (Rated PG-13)
After some mediocre sequels, “The Fast and the Furious” franchise has been resuscitated and infused with new energy in director Justin Lin’s “Fast Five.”
Just in time, the director has found his rhythm so that even the most implausible, preposterous action in a multitude of car stunts is grand fun even if it lacks the barest shred of credibility.
In fact, the more over-the-top are the car chases and stunts that defy the laws of gravity the more entertaining “Fast Five” inevitably becomes. This is sheer mindless fun at its best.
The action is kick-started only minutes after master auto racer and car thief Dom (Vin Diesel) is sentenced to prison. Dom’s sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) and old pal Brian (Paul Walker), a former federal agent, engineer a stunning breakout from a prison bus.
Hardly skipping a beat, the action quickly shifts to Brazil where the trio hides out in the squalid favelas of Rio de Janeiro. It looks like being on the lam won’t be glamorous fun, especially when funds run low.
Being outlaws, soon to be sought by bad-ass federal agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), Dom, Mia and Brian get drawn into a wild scheme to steal very expensive sports cars from a moving train.
Putting a bold plan into action, the trio turns “Fast Five” into a heist movie, one that grows in reach and scope beyond the initial outlandish and death-defying maneuvers.
The highlight involves one of the cars driving off a cliff and plunging into water deep into a canyon. If you fail to lean forward in your seat and gasp in awe at the pure absurdity of this daredevil stunt, then “Fast Five” is not for you.
Things get dicey when it turns out that the gang has robbed truly villainous drug kingpin lord Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida). He doesn’t take kindly to criminal upstarts horning in on his turf.
As if to put the trio on the side of virtue, the inevitable clash with Reyes, a man so powerful he has most of Rio’s cops in his back pocket, causes street racing to take a back seat, if only momentarily.
While being pursued by Hobbs and gun-toting federal agents, Dom and his crew figure out that they will have to take down Reyes in such a big way that he’ll fold like a cheap suit in summer heat.
Thus is concocted a wild scheme to hit every drop house where Reyes keeps a cumulative total of more than $100 million. To make this happen, Dom calls in old friends from around the globe.
Dom’s dream team includes Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Hang and Gal Gadot, an authentic multicultural ensemble company of specialists and misfits. Planning of the big heist is not so meticulous as to sap the film of constant action stunts.
If you watched the film’s trailer, you’ve seen many of the highlights and, as a result, pretty much know the entire story. There’s no topping the amazing sight of a huge steel vault being towed by hot rods through the downtown streets, wiping out everything in its path.
Did I fail to mention that beyond all the car crashes there are the obligatory hot chicks attracted to street racing? The franchise never forgets the eye candy for the intended male audience.
The action climax of countless cars being wiped out will be hard to exceed in any film, unless it’s a sequel. By the way, be sure to stay for the end credits, for the one scene that almost surely is a tip-off for the next installment.
DVD RELEASE UPDATE
We don’t often have the opportunity to screen French films, much less hype them. “Farewell” (otherwise known as “L’Affaire Farewell”), which garnered critical acclaim when it debuted in limited release last July, now gets the DVD treatment.
“Farewell” is the riveting true story of a KGB colonel who, disenchanted with what the Communist ideal had become under Leonid Brezhev, gives top-secret documents to a French businessman working in Russia, helping to hasten the end of the Cold War.
Not motivated by any monetary concerns, the Soviet military man was inspired to seek a new dawn for his fellow Russians.
“Farewell” boasts an international ensemble cast, including familiar names like Willem Dafoe, David Soul and Diane Kruger. Fred Ward plays the role of President Ronald Reagan, the central figure in the ultimate downfall of the Soviet empire.
“Farewell,” based on the book “Bonjour Farewell,” is a terrific spy movie.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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- Written by: Editor
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Now that the Lake County Symphony has found a new home at Lakeport's Soper-Reese Theatre, conductor John Parkinson is exploring approaches for the orchestra that have never been possible before, some of which will be introduced at the annual Mother's Day concert.
The Mother's Day program is presented by Clear Lake Performing Arts in conjunction with Mendocino College Lake Center.
It will take place at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 8.
Conductor Parkinson said the theater venue will provide many new entertainment options for Lake County music lovers and the symphony.
“We now have the ability to present programs we could only dream about up 'til now,” he said.
Among these are the ability to add additional vocal music and dance to the repertoire, now feasible because of the theater's state of the arts lighting and sound system. As a result, the program, entitled “Spanish Masterpieces” will feature such novelties as arias from the opera “Carmen” as well as a a fiery Flamenco dance to the music of Manuel de Falla's “La Vida Breve.”
Along with the centerpiece opera will be selections from such well-known Latin composers as Ernesto Lecuona – whose “Malaguena” has become a world favorite – Enrique Granados, whose “Goyescas” blends the music of Spain with the art of Francisco Goya, and Jaime Teixidor, one of Spain's most prolific composers.
Although Latin in theme, "Carmen" was written by a Frenchman Georges Bizet, and therefore both vocal performers will sing their lyrics in that language.
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- Written by: Ted Kooser
I love poems that take pains to observe people at their tasks, and here’s a fine one by Christopher Todd Matthews, who lives in Virginia.
Window Washer
One hand slops suds on, one
hustles them down like a blind.
Brusque noon glare, filtered thus,
loosens and glows. For five or
six minutes he owns the place,
dismal coffee bar, and us, its
huddled underemployed. A blade,
black line against the topmost glass,
begins, slices off the outer lather,
flings it away, works inward,
corrals the frothy middle, and carves,
with quick cuts, the stuff down,
not looking for anything, beneath
or inside. Homes to the last,
cleans its edges, grooms it for
the end, then shaves it off
and flings it away. Which is
splendid, and merciless. And all
in the wrist. Then, he looks at us.
We makers of filth, we splashers
and spitters. We sitters and watchers.
Who like to see him work.
Who love it when he leaves
and gives it back: our grim hideout,
half spoiled by clarity.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2010 by Christopher Todd Matthews, and reprinted from Field, No. 82, 2010, by permission of Christopher Todd Matthews 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.