According to Ecorazzi. Judging from the description on imdb, it sounds as if he’s trying to rehab his image. But I won’t judge the movie until I see it — Gibson, for all his flaws, is a star, more than capable of transcending ideology, and the British original won a raft of awards and featuredContinue reading “Mel Gibson to Star in Eco-Thriller”
Category Archives: culture
Kurt Vonnegut: No One’s Thinking about the Future
From the late great Kurt Vonnegut, a brief comment on climate change, via Dan Bloom. (The drawing below is signed by Vonnegut, though it doesn’t show up well.) DAVID BRANCACCIO: The planet is sort of trying to shed us as if we are some sort of toxin. KURT VONNEGUT: Look, I’ll tell you. It’sContinue reading “Kurt Vonnegut: No One’s Thinking about the Future”
The Storm (we can’t see)
A new poem from Charles Simic, current poet laureate of the US, on an oncoming storm we cannot seem to see…is this about AGW? You can decide for yourself… THE STORM I’m going over to see what those weeds By the stone wall are worried about. Perhaps, they don’t care for the way The shadowsContinue reading “The Storm (we can’t see)”
Jaw-Dropping Web-Only Commentary
Much as I feel for newspapers and their reporters as they are being cut to shreds, it must be said that commentators and the communities they attract on the web are remaking print discourse for the reading public in some jaw-dropping ways. We may all be getting "free jobs" soon, but at least we’ll haveContinue reading “Jaw-Dropping Web-Only Commentary”
The Wit Detector (Theater 150 edition)
Theater 150 in Ojai, California, is a hotbed of humor, both amateur and professional. Comedian (or, as they say in the biz, comic) Cary Odes teaches a class three or four times a year for those who want to try their hand at making others laugh, for one, and the Theater 150 stage also attractsContinue reading “The Wit Detector (Theater 150 edition)”
There Will Be Blood: A Dramatization of Peak Oil?
In the realm of art, no interpretation of a work can be final, but intriguing hints from no less than the writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson suggest that the stunning movie There Will Be Blood is actually a story not about the rise and fall of a man so much as it is about the riseContinue reading “There Will Be Blood: A Dramatization of Peak Oil?”
City Limit: A Poet Takes the Measure of Portland on Foot
Starting early this century, poet and professor David Oates set out to walk the boundary line that Oregon drew around the city of Portland decades ago to concentrate its development and discourage sprawl. What is today called "the New Urbanism" is not new in Portland: it’s been part of the political process since l973. AsContinue reading “City Limit: A Poet Takes the Measure of Portland on Foot”
GROWING UP NAKED: Rain Perry Relives Her Hippie Childhood, in Song and on Stage
Here’s a story I wrote about two good friends, on the cover of this week’s Ventura County Reporter:
Growing up in the l960’s, Rain Perry had the kind of childhood your grandparents warn you against. As a young child, she had to depend on a hippie dad with not enough money and too many girlfriends. She shared houses with roommates with names such as “Superman” and “Bear,” wore hand-me-down clothes from other poor kids, ate rennet-less jack cheese sandwiches for lunch, and was told never to smoke pot – except with her dad.
Was it a tragic experience?
Not really: Perry survived, as children usually do survive the excesses of their parents, and along the way grew up to be an award-winning singer/songwriter, becoming the sort of semi-famous artist her late father always wanted to be.
Now with characteristic good humor she is opening a theater show about her upbringing, having some fun with her hippie past, but also giving audiences a chance to hear in song (and see in photographs) exactly what it felt like — the joy and heartache of growing up a “wild child.”
A new song by that name tells the story of her youth in foggy West Marin County, to the north of San Francisco. Now the area is known for B&Bs and well-off tourists, but at the time Inverness was an obscure little town with big farmhouses that could be rented cheaply – ideal for hippies living communally. Perry sings:
Played tag on the ridge by moonlight
Just because it was a lovely night…
Everyone in a circle
We had so much time!
I don’t think Rain will mind if I give you a taste of her upcoming album, a good one:
Download 02_cinderblock_bookshelves.mp3
And an extra added attraction: picture by noted rock photographer Guy Webster:
The Earth and the World: Art According to Heidegger
One of the most interesting writers on poetry today surely is Adam Kirsch, who blends common sense with a deep thoughtfulness. Sometimes that can make critics mushy, but Kirsch is no pushover. This month’s Poetry shows him thinking through the consequences of Heidegger, an influential critic ruined in our esteem by his attraction to Nazism.Continue reading “The Earth and the World: Art According to Heidegger”
Robinson Jeffers: Poet of Peace — or Inhumanity?
One of the least predictable publications in our country today has to be The American Conservative, which on the cover this month has a drawing of Rudy Giuliani, leading in the polls as a Republican candidate, in a staunchly Mussolini-esque pose. The issue includes a characteristically long and tightly argued piece from bloggy lefty GlennContinue reading “Robinson Jeffers: Poet of Peace — or Inhumanity?”
Kit Stolz 