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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
MIDDLETOWN – The first feature film to be filmed in Lake County in decades was screened in Middletown this weekend to rave reviews. {sidebar id=97}
The independent film “Sherman's Way” was shown Friday and Saturday during the Coyote Film Festival at the Calpine Visitors Center.
Karen Turcotte-Williams, the festival's creator, arranged for the film's local debut. As an added treat, “Sherman's Way” made its trip to Lake County in completed form accompanied by its director and co-producer, Craig Saavedra of Los Angeles, and lead actor and co-producer, Michael Shulman of New York, two down-to-earth artists who took part in a question-and-answer session following the showings.
“We had so much fun making this film here in Lake County,” Saavedra told the audience.
“Sherman's Way” is a heartfelt story about an uptight Ivy Leaguer, Sherman Black (Shulman) whose carefully ordered and meticulously planned life one day begins to fall apart, leading to an accidental journey of self-discovery.
The film's backdrop includes numerous locations around Lake County, including Library Park, downtown Kelseyville and Butts Canyon Road, and dozens of local residents who were extras.
Saavedra's directorial skills capture the beauty of the county, from small and delicate details like mist on the lake to the county's eye-popping expanses.
Originally, the film was meant to be set in Napa County with Lake Berryessa as a location, said Saavedra. However, he explained, “Napa was so much more beautiful in my mind.”
So they looked around, and Shulman came across Lake County on the Internet. He called up the county's chief administrative officer, Kelly Cox, who – along with Debra Sommerfield of the county's marketing program – showed the men around Lake County and helped them scout locations.
“We just couldn't imagine shooting anywhere else,” said Saavedra. Shulman added that finding Lake County “was a blessing.”
The men said Lake County offered an incredibly welcoming atmosphere, which is a major departure from Los Angeles. There, Saavedra said, people will see filmmakers at work and will honk their car horns incessantly until they're paid to stop. Those kinds of bribes have to be worked into the movie budget, he said.
Lake County, Saavedra told the audience Saturday, made “Sherman's Way” what it is.
The film was shot in 19 days over a four-month period, with other locations outside of Lake County including Los Angeles, San Diego, New York and New Haven, Conn., at Yale University.
Saavedra and Shulman gave big credit to Sommerfield – who Shulman called “amazing” – for her help on the project. “She did the work of 10 location managers and a film office,” said Saavedra.
A unique, optimistic film
What sets the film apart most may be what it conspicuously lacks – no car chases, explosions or assassins, which seem to be the requisite elements in today's big movies.
Rather, the focus is on crafted dialog – with people actually talking to one another – realistic relationships and struggles that would be familiar to most people.
Another of the film's traits is its optimism – which is a characteristic Saavedra said once made American-made films stand apart, but which now is often missing.
Sherman is the sheltered son of an overbearing mother, Evelyn Black (Donna Murphy) who also is a successful lawyer running for the U.S. Senate. Evelyn tries to protect her son from everything while herding him toward a law career. But when he heads to California to visit his girlfriend, Marcy DeLang (Lacey Chabert), he finds she's got another guy.
In an uncharacteristically spontaneous move, Sherman decides to hitch a ride with Palmer Van Dyke (James LeGros), a washed up Olympic alpine skier driving an MGB Roadster.
The two men can't stand each other at first. Over time, however, they begin to learn from each other, with support from DJ (Enrico Colantoni) and Addy (Brooke Nevin), a free spirit who helps Sherman forget Marcy's betrayal and learn to loosen up a little bit.
The independent film is Saavedra's debut as a director of feature films and the first film made by Starry Night Entertainment LLC, the company he and Shulman formed in 2005, the year after Shulman graduated from Yale .
Saavedra, 44, has directed TV movies; he met a 14-year-old Shulman on the set of “Rhapsody in Bloom,” and the two became friends.
Before becoming a director, Saavedra produced TV and film projects. On “Sherman's Way,” Saavedra and Shulman also are co-producers.
At 26, Shulman already is an acting veteran. He began his acting career as a child in Broadway's “Les Miserables” and in the original cast of Stephen Sondheim's “The Assassins.” He acted in M. Night Shymalayan's 1998 movie “Wide Awake” and in “Little Man Tate” with Jodie Foster, but he may be best known for a recurring role on the TV show, “Party of Five.”
The art in “Sherman's Way” does imitate life in some ways, especially when it comes to the similarity in the relationship dynamic between Sherman and Palmer and Shulman and Saavedra. For one, Sherman and Palmer share an age difference with the creators.
As the story develops, the boundaries of age fall away and Sherman and Palmer begin learning crucial lessons from each other; for Sherman, it's about being a better son, for Palmer, a better father.
Realizing the lessons that life has to offer you is a key to the story, said Saavedra in an interview with Lake County News Saturday evening. “That's really the heart of 'Sherman's Way' – it's never too late to learn from books or life.”
While the film features aspects of the the Great American Road Trip – which has been the subject of many a film – Saavedra and Shulman point out that the characters spend 90 percent of the movie in one place, staying with DJ at his lakeside home, painstakingly restoring the classic red MGB Roadster.
Much of the journey is truly an internal one, they say, and is far more important than the destination.
The car, said Saavedra, is a metaphor for tearing down Sherman. “We needed to tear Sherman down to rebuild him.”
Saavedra and Shulman receive hundreds of scripts, but it has to be a special project to make the cut. “We won't do a project we both don't absolutely believe in,” Saavedra said.
The film – which received big applause from Lake County audiences this weekend – also is receiving great reviews at film festivals around the country.
Although “Sherman's Way” was filmed two years ago and officially opened earlier this year, Shulman and Saavedra are currently on the festival circuit with the film, where it's grabbing the awards.
So far, it has won audience awards at the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose and the Newport International Film Festival in Newport, Rhode Island; opening night selection honors at the Newport Beach Film Festival; and was made an official selection at the Jackson Hole Film Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyo.
The story behind the story
The movie also has a humorous and quirky back story that touches on everything from cars to cats.
Three MGB Roadsters were used in the film, including one Saavedra bought locally and took home, plus one in mint condition that was on loan from a Pasadena MGB club member. That car, he said, had to be shipped by Federal Express, which turned out to be the movie's biggest expense.
Palmer's black and white tuxedo cat, dubbed “Sparky” in the film – named after a tabby cat that liked to play fetch that Saavedra had as a child – originally was supposed to be played by two trained calico cats.
However, those cats got a last-minute commercial deal and left the film. So the black and white cat was brought in, but its training was so bad that some scenes had to be shot later, after it had grown substantially bigger. Saavedra and Shulman said they also used a mechanical cat in some scenes.
When it came to catching a broad, sweeping shot of the county's vineyards, Saavedra brought in a helicopter – at a cost of $5,000. Because they got started late on the shoot they could only do one take, whereas normally a director might do 20 or more takes to get the perfect shot. Even so, Saavedra managed to catch a vineyard vista in the golden hour of a summer evening.
For Shulman, a lifelong Manhattan resident, filming in Lake County gave him the summer he never had as a kid, where he was able to swim, get a tan, learn to climb a tree – not much need for that in Manhattan – and even learn to drive a stick shift, much as his film character does.
“Sherman's Way” had many important contributors, one of them being writer/producer Tom Nance, who drew from his own experiences with his biological father in crafting a believable scene between Palmer and the son he's abandoned. He also appeared in the movie as a car salesman who hires Palmer for an ill-fated publicity stunt.
Nance was supposed to make the trip to Lake County with Shulman and Saavedra, but here the story has a sad end.
With the money he made from the movie, Nance bought himself a motorcycle. Last week, he was killed when a truck hit him while he was riding the motorcycle through Los Angeles.
More projects ahead
Saavedra and Shulman say their partnership has been a great one, and they have much more planned ahead, including a movie and a play project off Broadway.
When it comes to Lake County, both enjoyed their time here, and have fond memories of the experience, which is why they came back this weekend.
“The reason why we're both here is we want to stay thank you to Lake County,” said Shulman.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
1. You can’t see the bride on the wedding day
2. You can’t go fishing the morning of your wedding (Trust me, I know this one personally!)*
3. The couple gets a slow cooker among the gifts.
The name “Crock-Pot” was trademarked in 1971 by Rival Industries and now belongs to Sunbeam, so using the term “slow cooker” keeps me from having to send them a royalty check at the end of every sentence. The main purpose of a slow cooker is to throw a bunch of items into it, turn it on, and come back several hours later to a fully cooked, delicious braised meal.
Technically people have been braising foods (cooking foods in a liquid for long periods of time) for millennia, while the slow cooker is a product of the past century.
The main thing that started me using the slow cooker was that I knew on occasion I wouldn’t make it home in time to make dinner yet wanted to have something waiting for my family that didn’t come out of a box. I also like the fact that it uses less energy than an oven or stovetop, and it doesn’t heat the house up and counteract the air conditioning during the summer.
As I became more involved in the cooking for the family I started learning more about using the slow cooker. The thing that makes it so great to work with is not only does it take almost no work to use, but it works best when using the cheapest cuts of meat so it’s great for the wallet too.
When you first start using your slow cooker you should expect to have an anti-honeymoon period while you learn the settings. You will burn this and undercook that, but don’t become disheartened because all slow cookers are different and it takes a little time to feel out your slow cooker’s personality.
My slow cooker has high, low and keep warm settings. I like to start the process on high, and when the liquid bubbles I switch it to low for the remaining cooking process. Most slow cookers maintain a temperature between 175 (on low) and 200 degrees Fahrenheit (on high).
While you can just throw a raw hunk of meat into a slow cooker and it will cook just fine, searing the meat on all sides in a frying pan before placing in the cooker will make for better-tasting results. Meats that work best in a slow cooker are usually high in fat and with lots of connective tissue. These dissolve during the slow cooking process and create a lower fat, tender, moist and unctuous finished dish.
Using lean meats in a slow cooker doesn’t produce good end results since they don’t have the fats or connective tissues to baste them during the process. They wind up with good flavor, but with a hockey-puck texture and no moisture content.
The meats your slow cooker will work best with are pork shoulder, beef chuck, and chicken or turkey thighs and drumsticks. Dairy products tend to curdle when kept too long in a slow cooker, and seafood gets tough and chewy, so they should be avoided, or added in the last hour of cooking at the most.
Since slow cookers don’t lose much moisture during the cooking process like, for instance, soup does, you can use less liquid in a recipe that wasn’t meant for a slow cooker and still have great results.
WARNING! Some raw beans (including fava and kidney beans) contain a toxin called PHA (phytohaemagglutinin, if you prefer) that is destroyed once the beans are cooked at high temperatures, like by boiling (212 degrees). Slow cookers may not heat high enough to destroy this toxin and can even raise the toxicity of the beans, so either cook your beans before adding them to a slow cooker or use canned beans to avoid harming your diners.
I came up with this recipe just the other day when I wanted to find a use for the leftover tortilla chips that are always found in the bottom of a bag after everyone has used the whole chips for dipping. While utilizing the leftovers of a bag of chips and a jar of salsa, it results in a very enchilada-like flavor.
Pork shoulder with tortilla sauce
1 pork shoulder (seared)
6 cups chicken stock
2 cups leftover crushed up tortilla chips
1 cup salsa
3 tablespoons green Tabasco sauce
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
Sour cream (optional)
Add all of the ingredients except the cheese and sour cream into your slow cooker and, depending on the settings, start it on high. After a couple of hours set to low (although leaving it on high won’t affect much). At serving time, remove the pork and whisk the sauce remaining in the pot until smooth. Serve the pork and pour over the sauce and sprinkle on the cheese and a dollop of sour cream.
*My wife married into a fishing family - so much of an enthusiastic fishing family that when she announced our wedding date as being the day fishing season opened, calls came in asking if this announcement was some sort of joke, and relatives hemmed and hawed for weeks deciding if they could even attend an event that coincided with such an important day (Fishing Opener, of course). And my wife had nightmares for weeks before the wedding of me showing up to the church, late, in tuxedo shirt and vest and waders, with a fish in each hand and asking “Do I have time to clean these?” So men, just for the record, No fishing on your wedding morning! If my family could handle it, yours can. (Mumbling under my breath: “Although I still don’t understand why I couldn’t ... what’s the big deal? ... shheeessss!”)
Ross A. Christensen is an award-winning gardener and gourmet cook. He is the author of "Sushi A to Z, The Ultimate Guide" and is currently working on a new book. He has been a public speaker for many years and enjoys being involved in the community.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
On Tuesday the legislature approved a controversial budget deal – that both sides admitted was far from perfect in addressing the core issues with the state budget – an action that was met by a veto threat from Schwarzenegger.
Late Friday afternoon, the Senate voted on budget compromise measures worked out between Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders.
A statement from Senate Pro Tem Don Perata said that the actions taken Friday will restart payments to schools, community colleges, day care centers, health care providers and others that have been hurt by the 81-day budget stalemate.
The two measures approved Friday include:
‒ SB 28: This legislation removes provisions in the budget increasing tax withholding 10 percent on all taxpayers and establishes a higher, 20-percent penalty for corporations that underreport their taxes by $1 million or more. The vote was 22-14.
Legislators expect SB 28 will increase revenues in the short term as companies catch up on taxes from previous years, while reducing the underreporting rate and increasing tax compliance in the future.
‒ SCA 30: The bill adds a provision to build a rainy day reserve fund into the budget reform constitutional amendment sent to the governor. It also will withdraw funds from the Budget Stabilization Fund when state revenues fall below projected spending. The vote was 30-0.
“I am tempted to say I am ‘relieved,’ except that might suggest I am happy about this budget, and I’m not,” Sen. Patricia Wiggins said in a written statement late Friday. “Budgeting requires compromise, and even though it was clear from the outset that no one, or no one group, was going to get everything they wanted, there was some pretty serious resistance to a number of options that might have allowed us to pass a budget that was more responsible.”
Wiggins said the real relief, if there's any, in completing the budget deal will be for schools, health care providers and child care providers, vendors doing business with the state and others who were not getting paid, reimbursed or otherwise supported by the state because of the protracted budget stalemate.
In the end, the Senate agreed to pass a budget without raising taxes. Wiggins suggested that increasing some taxes, at least temporarily, is the most responsible way to bring the state budget into balance.
However, even without raising taxes, the budget manages to restore full funding for the Cal Grant program for college students, restores most of the 10 percent Medi-Cal rate cuts and restores almost all cuts to Medi-Cal eligibility.
Wiggins noted that the budget also rejects Schwarzenegger deep cuts for the safety social net, including children’s services and foster care, CalWORKs kids’ eligibility and In-Home Supportive Services; and restores cuts in funding for COPS grants, juvenile justice and other law enforcement programs.
Schwarzenegger could still attempt to cut those programs through the line-item veto, Wiggins said.
The three-month budget stalemate held up billions of dollars from the state's communities, said Wiggins. That resulted in schools putting off hiring teachers, while hospitals and health care providers were forced to either take out loans or use personal funds to stay open. Some child care centers went into crisis mode because of no payments, and Medi-Cal payment cuts to health centers left providers no choice but to cease taking new patients or cut off care altogether.
Wiggins called the state's current budget process “a mess,” which she attributes to the two-thirds vote requirement to pass a budget. California, Arkansas and Rhode Island are the only states that pass budgets in that way, which Wiggins said should be abandoned for a majority vote rule.
“We also need to get to a point where the people of this state – and their elected representatives – make real, and likely difficult, decisions about what programs and services we provide and how much we are willing to spend to provide them,” she said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
Lt. Rusty Noe of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office reported that 21-year-old Daniel Isaiah was arrested on Wednesday in Covelo.
For the past several weeks Mendocino County Sheriff's deputies and California Department of Justice Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement agents have been investigating specific targets in the the Covelo area, Noe reported. They began serving search warrants and conducting open field raids on Tuesday.
From Tuesday through Thursday, deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, California Department of Justice, CAMP, Mendocino County Major Crimes Task Force, Drug Enforcement Administration, Mendocino County Probation, Ukiah Police Department and the California Highway Patrol conducted a series of marijuana raids in the Covelo Area, according to Noe.
Noe said the raids against commercial growers were a result of numerous complaints of uncontrolled marijuana cultivation in the rural Covelo area.
During the service of these search warrants no evidence or claim of medical marijuana was made. With the exception of one suspect, all the 12 suspects arrested were from outside of Mendocino County, said Noe, a large portion were from outside of California, including three Mexican nationals.
Isaiah, of Lakeport, and Daniel Goss, 27, of Santa Cruz were arrested Wednesday in the Bently Ridge area of Covelo, said Noe.
The men were allegedly found in possession of 62 marijuana plants and 100 pounds of processed marijuana, said Noe. They also were alleged to be in possession of four firearms – including one AK47 assault rifle.
Noe said both Isaiah and Goss were caught after attempting to escape. Isaiah was booked into the Mendocino County Jail on charges of cultivating marijuana for sale and possession of marijuana for sale, with bail set at $25,000.
The rest of the two-day operation officials netted 3,343 marijuana plants, taken from both public and private lands; 40 pounds of processed marijuana; methamphetamine and illegal mushrooms; a large, very flammable and potentially dangerous butane honey oil hashish lab used to convert marijuana into a high quality hashish oil; and shotgun and a .223 rifle.
Noe said that deputies reported that some of the marijuana plants seized were so large that it became difficult to lift 15 marijuana plants with a helicopter capable of lifting 600 to 700 pounds.
Arrested in the week's raids were Mexican nationals Joeyah Ruiz, 26, Jose Franco, 19, and Valdovinos Cruz, 22; Oregon residents Morgan Costley, 24, Natalie Darves, 25, and Jordan Feathers, 28; Mark Pacitti, 29, of Florida; Gevitye Goins, 24, of Michigan; Yesenia Deuluna, 30, of Los Angeles, and Blake Hastings, 27, of Covelo.
Noe said in the past Mendocino County was promoted as a place to come and conduct marijuana cultivation operations.
“It became common knowledge that illegal activity was accepted,” he said in a written statement. “This is no longer the case. The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office will investigate and prosecute illegal commercial marijuana cultivation on a case by case basis.”
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