As the era of Kodachrome film comes to an end, here’s a visual treat.
Archive for the ‘Entertainment’ Category
The last roll of Kodachrome
Monday, August 2nd, 2010Farewell to ‘Last of the Summer Wine’
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
The BBC has ended the long and successful run of the British comedy “Last of the Summer Wine.” The program can still be seen in N.E. Ohio on Western Reserve PBS 45/49.
Craig to be Blomkvist
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
From Shelf Awareness:
“Rumors that Daniel Craig–best known as the latest James Bond–was in talks to star in the English-language version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Shelf Awareness, July 22, 2010) [as Mikael Blomkvist] have proven to be true. Deadline.com reported that Craig has closed a deal to appear in the adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s first novel that also “factors in options for two sequels based on The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest.” Casting for the Lisbeth Sander role is still under way, with candidates including Ellen Page, Mia Wasikowska, Emily Browning, Sara Snook, Rooney Mara and Sophie Lowe. Sony has set a release date of December 21, 2011.”
Stan Lee puts himself in the story
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010From the New York Times — Comics mogul Stan Lee is writing himself into a new series:
… The basic story line: Mr. Lee, struggling with writer’s block, takes a trip to the desert to clear his mind. A spaceship crashes nearby with seven aliens aboard. Since they are now stuck on Earth, Mr. Lee decides to take advantage of their supernatural powers. He gives them superhero identities and tasks to perform. …
Naked girls reading?
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
From The Globe and Mail:
It has to be the most provocative literary series in the world with a title like “Naked Girls Reading,” but it’s exactly as advertised. Burlesque divas remove the pasties and G-strings – those time-honoured barriers to complete nudity – and grab a book. And it’s an all-star international lineup of naked readers who kick off the five-day, third-annual Toronto Burlesque Festival at the Gladstone Hotel Wednesday night. NGR, in fact, is the newest phenomenon of the phenomenal burlesque revival. …
If this doesn’t make you angry …
Monday, July 12th, 2010From the New York Times:
GENEVA — Switzerland will not extradite the film director Roman Polanski to the United States to face charges of unlawful sex with a minor because of a possible fault in the American application for his extradition, Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf told a news conference on Monday. “He’s a free man,” she said.
Mr. Polanski was arrested on an international warrant issued by the United States on charges dating from 1977. The director fled on the eve of sentencing in California because of fear that the presiding intended to renege what his defense lawyers said was a deal to avoid a prison sentence. … Swiss authorities jailed Mr. Polanski, the Polish-born filmmaker, in Zurich in September 2009 in response to the American warrant but in December allowed him to move to his chalet in the ski resort of Gstaad under house arrest on bail of $4.5 million pending a decision on his extradition. Mr. Polanski’s French lawyer, Georges Kiejman, hailed the Swiss government’s decision for concluding Mr. Polanski’s “long ordeal,” and said he would be able return to his home and family in France.
Get laughs here
Monday, June 28th, 2010If you’ve never read anything on McSweeney’s, you’re missing out on some great laughs.
Missy, the missing cat
Thursday, June 24th, 2010OMG, this is funny. All about Missy, the missing cat.
Bye-bye, Little Orphan Annie
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
Comics Alliance calls the Little Orphan Annie finale “insane.” This is really interesting!
Just for fun
Friday, June 4th, 2010
WSJ suggests …
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
The Wall Street Journal offers some suggestions for the best upcoming books…
and cookbooks…
and sports books…
and its entire summer reading list.
They were so poor that …
Monday, May 31st, 2010The Guardian gives us a quiz on poverty in literature.
Summer reading
Monday, May 24th, 2010The New York Post offers a summer beach books preview.
Or, you could read about the first ladies with suggestions from the New York Times.
‘LOST’ reading list
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010
From Shelf Awareness:
A TV show that has featured more literary allusions in one episode than most do in their entire runs, ABC’s Lost enters its final chapter this week having referenced more than 70 books over six seasons. The Los Angeles Times noted that “an abundance of carefully placed works of literature have been featured on the show (in gym bags, on book shelves, in episode titles), spawning Lost book clubs and blogs filled with eager readers combing for clues to the fate of the stranded Oceanic Flight 815 survivors.” Executive producers and writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are both readers who acknowledge literature’s influence on their vision for the series. “It’s a nod to that process,” said Lindelof. “We pick the books with a great deal of meticulous thought and specificity and talk about what the thematic implications of picking a certain book are, why we’re using it in the scene and what we want the audience to deduce from that choice.”
Literary remix
Thursday, May 6th, 2010GalleyCat has launched “the World’s Longest Literary Remix contest today, as nearly 150 pre-registered GalleyCat readers will rewrite a Horatio Alger novel for fun and prizes. The contest concludes on Monday, June 7th. These GalleyCat readers signed up to rewrite one page of Joe’s Luck: Always Wide Awake (cover pictured, via). When the contest concludes, we will publish the remixed text as a free digital book–complete with illustrations. …”
Nancy Drew’s ‘birthday’
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
Mystery Book News shares information about today’s 80th anniversary of the publication of the first Nancy Drew book, “The Secret of the Old Clock.”
Nice, but I can’t believe they didn’t even mention Mildred Wirt Benson, the best writer behind the “Carolyn Keene” pen name.
‘The Doctor Is in’
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
“The Doctor Is in” by Travis Stork, M.D., was just published. He’s the host of “The Doctors” on NBC, which hands out health advice on weekdays.
I always thought he looked familiar but couldn’t place him. Now I know: He was one of the “Bachelors” on ABC.
Stephen King gets TV director
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010From Shelf Awareness:
Adam Kane (The Mentalist; Heroes) will direct the pilot episode of Stephen King’s Haven, a supernatural series for the Syfy Channel. “Production has started with Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, standing in for the fictitious Maine town of Haven, where Emily Rose (ER) plays an FBI agent solving the murder of a local ex-con,” the Hollywood Reporter wrote. The cast also includes Lucas Bryant, Eric Balfour, Richard Donat and John Dunsworth.
Ready for the beach?
Monday, April 19th, 2010Volcanic lit?
Monday, April 19th, 2010The Guardian offers a quiz on volcanoes in literature.
Kindle vs. iPad: The book war is on
Monday, April 12th, 2010
The Los Angeles Times compares the Kindle and iPad for book readability.
re iPad: “The reading experience more closely resembles that of reading a physical book.” … “with illustrations in full color.”
“Of course, e-books are not physical books. On a Kindle, they aren’t even calibrated in terms of pages; rather, each screen of text is called a “location,” and a 300-page novel will have thousands of them, which makes it hard to keep track of where you left off. The iPad, on the other hand, sticks with the more traditional designation and also indicates how many pages remain in whatever chapter is on the screen. What this acknowledges is that there is a rhythm to reading: The first page of a heavy Harry Potter book promises 600 more; the thinning final pages of an Agatha Christie novel clue us in to the mystery getting sorted out. The iPad builds that into the e-reading experience.”
“There are other book-like touches: turning a page on the iPad, as with several e-reader apps for the iPhone, features a touch-controlled animation of the page flipping, as quickly or slowly as your finger moves across the screen.”
Oprah to do nighttime show
Monday, April 12th, 2010From the Wall Street Journal:
Oprah Winfrey plans to announce ,,, that she will host an evening show on her new cable network. The aptly named “Oprah’s Next Chapter,” an hourlong show, will probably debut late next year. Ms. Winfrey’s new show, which could air as many as two or three times a week, will take Ms. Winfrey out of the studio setting that has been her home for nearly 25 years and follow her around the globe for conversations in places such as Egypt and China. “I’m going to take viewers with me, going to take celebrities I want to interview with me” around the world, Ms. Winfrey said in an interview. … “Oprah’s Next Chapter” is a crucial ingredient for the new network. Ms. Winfrey, 56 years old, has until now said little publicly about her on-air role at OWN after “The Oprah Winfrey Show” ends in 2011. “Having Oprah on the network in a meaningful way is important,” said David Zaslav, Discovery’s chief executive. Ms. Winfrey said she also may appear in other OWN shows including a possible book-club show. “My name’s going to show up on that grid a lot,” she said. The new slate of shows is part of OWN executives’ efforts to translate Ms. Winfrey’s popular brand of personal uplift into the mold of a 24-hour television network. A reality series about country singer Shania Twain will follow her recovery from a broken marriage. A competition series from “Survivor” producer Mark Burnett will search for a new TV-show star among Ms. Winfrey’s legions of fans. …
Happenings in Hudson
Friday, April 2nd, 2010from press releases:
Saturday, April 10 Jane Miller, LISW, CDBC, brings her book, Healing Companions: Ordinary Dogs and Their Extraordinary Power to Transform Lives, to The Learned Owl Book Shop (204 N Main St, Hudson). Miller, a clinical psychotherapist and licensed independent social worker, will explain her work and experiences with psychiatric service dogs. A client of Miller’s will be on hand to answer questions, with her own on-duty psychiatric service dog. Miller will talk and sign books from 1 – 3 p.m.
Sandra Philipson will visit the Learned Owl Book Shop (204 N. Main St, Hudson) on Saturday, April 24th from 1 – 3 p.m. Philipson’s series of illustrated children’s picture books star her English Springer Spaniels, Annie (a cancer survivor), Max and Tak (Annie’s crazy brothers), and Trini (a three-legged stray adopted by Philipson), and the new pup, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Ollie. She will be bringing some of her canine companions to the book shop with her for fans to meet. In Philipson’s newest book, Ollie’s Monsters, Ollie’s wild imagination turns the most ordinary objects into terrifying creatures. After battling imaginary monsters (like the vacuum cleaner and the garden sprinkler), readers join the rest of the canine crew to help Trini overcome her worries, watch Tak get his sister out of a jam, and listen to Max provide “helpful” advice on planning adventures. Prompts at the end of each story encourage kids to exercise their own imaginations in writing.
For more information, please contact The Learned Owl Book Shop at (330) 653-2252.
April is National Poetry Month and the Learned Owl Book Shop is celebrating with their annual poetry contest. Enter your reading- or book-related quatrain in person at the shop: 204 N. Main Street in Hudson, or submit it via email to: poems@learnedowl.com by April 28th, 2010. If your four-line poem wins, you could receive a twenty-five dollar gift certificate to the book shop.
So what is a quatrain, anyway? A quatrain is a stanza consisting of four lines. Generally, they rhyme. That’s it really, but if you want to get all hard-core about it, abab, abba, bbcb, aabb, & aaba are the most common ways in which they rhyme. Don’t get too worried, though – in deference to the internal rhyme schemes of the Chinese & Japanese quatrains called shichigon-zekku, yours doesn’t have to rhyme at the ends of the lines (or at all, if you don’t want it to). Perhaps the most famous quatrain of all time was written by Persian poet, mathematician & astronomer, Omar Khayyam in the 11th (or maybe 12th) century. It goes like this: A book of Verses underneath the Bough/A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread — and Thou/Beside me, singing in the Wilderness -/O Wilderness were Paradise enow! A close runner-up, fame-wise, is the Duchess’ lullaby from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: Speak roughly to your little boy:/And beat him when he sneezes./He only does it to annoy/Because he knows it teases.
Your quatrain can be serious or funny, rhyming or not, but must relate to books or reading in some way. To enter the contest, send it to: poems@learnedowl.com, or drop it off at the shop, before April 28, 2010. Don’t forget to include your name and contact information.
Poetry Everywhere
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010From a press release:
This April, Poetry Everywhere with Garrison Keillor (pbs.org/poetry) returns to public television and the Web with new poems and unique voices. Produced by WGBH Boston and David Grubin Productions, in association with the Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, the project offers 32 short poetry films during unexpected moments in the public television broadcast schedule. Through television and the Internet, viewers will have an exclusive, front-row seat at the world’s greatest poetry festival.
New to the project this season is the Poetry Everywhere iPhone App launching in April. Selections from Poetry Everywhere are also offered on iTunes U and YouTube for free downloading as tools for individuals, colleges, educators, and other organizations such as book groups and poetry clubs to use and share the content.
Building on Poetry Everywhere’s existing collection of 24 short poetry films, the project’s third year adds eight new poets reading their own works including Marilyn Chin, The Floral Apron; Toi Derricotte, Blackbottom; Martín Espada, Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper; Seamus Heaney, Blackberry Picking; Maxine Kumin, After Love; W.S. Merwin, Yesterday; C.D. Wright, Lake Echo, Dear; and Daisy Zamora Mother’s Day. The project aims to reach a wide range of new audiences with the power of great poetry, and to increase poetry’s presence on television and the Web.
Garrison Keillor returns to the project as series narrator. Keillor’s introductions to each of the poems and poets provide audiences with wonderful insights into each poet’s world. Produced in association with the Poetry Foundation, the poetry films are freely available to all local public television stations and are designed to air at unexpected moments during the regular broadcast schedule. The Poetry Everywhere series employs a variety of dynamic production approaches, including poets reading their own work to camera, animated interpretations of much-loved poems, and celebrities reading favorite poems. The Poetry Everywhere collection of poems also is available for streaming at pbs.org/poetry.
Poetry Everywhere offers something for everyone. Robert Frost reads his classic, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening in an archival clip; former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins reads The Lanyard, a poem marked by his characteristic mix of poignancy and humor; Mary Louise-Parker, Tony Kushner, and Wynton Marsalis share their favorite poems; an Emily Dickinson poem is rendered in an animation. There are poems by Pulitzer Prize-winner Yusef Koumanyaka, National Book Award-winner Adrienne Rich, former U.S. Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz, the great 13th-century Persian poet Rumi, Nobel Prize-winner W.B. Yeats, and many more, including a number of contemporary poets filmed at The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, North America’s largest poetry festival.
The Poetry Everywhere website (pbs.org/poetry) features a collection of original animated interpretations of contemporary poems created by undergraduate students of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Visitors to Poetry Everywhere on the Web can link to the Poetry Foundation website (poetryfoundation.org) to read the full text of featured poems and biographies of the poets, and to further explore the entire poetry genre.
Monster Mash
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
New York Times cartoonist Ward Sutton had some fun mashing classic books with monster themes.
Looking back at Little Golden Books
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
from SFGate:
“I spent my first 5 years living in the Vanderveer section of Brooklyn, NY. My very earliest memory in life was of a large stack of Little Golden Books that sat on the floor, next to a big 1950’s style sofa. Not too far away was the metal pedal car I shared with my older brother and the five siblings that would follow. At age 18 my mother was told that she would not be able to have children. I guess she had to prove the doctor wrong. Books were ever present in our household. My mother was never without a long reading list herself. Her passion for books instilled a love of reading in me. … Little Golden Books began publication by Simon and Schuster in 1942, at a cost of 25 cents each. The low cost made them affordable to most families. In addition to bookstores, they were available in other locations such as department stores, which was a departure from how books had been sold. Despite paper shortages in WWII, the books were a huge success. Over one and a half million were sold within the first five months. Since their inception, more than two billion have been sold worldwide. …”
‘The Help’ to become a movie
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
From EW.com:
“DreamWorks Studios has acquired Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling novel The Help. Set in the 1960s, the project, which centers on Southern white women and their black housekeepers, had already been optioned by Stockett’s childhood friend rookie director Tate Taylor. He also adapted the script with a lot of consultation from Stockett.”
Oscar
Monday, March 8th, 2010
“The Hurt Locker” won the biggest prize at last night’s Academy Awards. But the rest of the prizes were scattered among several popular movies. The official site has a list of all the winners.
Books in Paris
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
The Guardian Book Blog visits the legendary Shakespeare and Company bookshop in Paris. Have a fun trip.
Image Awards
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010From Shelf Awareness (via the New York Times): The winners of the 41st annual NAACP Image Awards include:
Literary work, fiction: The Long Fall by Walter Mosley
Literary work, non-fiction: In Search of Our Roots: How 19 Extraordinary African Americans Reclaimed Their Past by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Literary work, debut author: A Question of Freedom by R. Dwayne Betts
Literary work, biography/autobiography: Michelle Obama by Deborah Willis
Literary work, instructional: Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey
Literary work, poetry: Bicycles by Nikki Giovanni
Literary work, children: Our Children Can Soar: A Celebration of Rosa, Barack, and the Pioneers of Change by Michelle Cook
Literary work, youth/teens: Michelle Obama: Meet the First Lady by David Bergen Brophy
Motion picture: Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Actress in a motion picture: Gabourey Sidibe for Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Supporting actress in a motion picture: MoNique for Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Independent motion picture: Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Writing in a motion picture: Geoffrey Fletcher for Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Directing in a motion picture: Lee Daniels for Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire