More on the Film Front
05 Wednesday Sep 2012
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
Category Archives: Escapes and Pleasures
Better Than Zagats…and Free Too
03 Monday Sep 2012
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
from the Washingtonian: “Scaling the Great Wall,” by Tyler Cowen
If you’ve lived in the DC metro area for any length of time, you’ve probably come across the name Tyler Cowen.
If not, I’ve got some good news for you.
Cowen’s an economics professor a George Mason U but is probably better known for his guide(s) to ethnic restaurants in the metro area, especially in Northern Virginia. He’s been ‘covering’ ethnic restaurants for more than two decades, and his articles and/or articles about him have appeared locally and nationally (Washingtonian, Washington Post, Atlantic Monthly, etc.).
As I understand it, Cowen is a one man eating machine who simply loves finding and reporting on local restaurants and grocery stores. I don’t think he earns any money from this love (his day job is at GMU where he’s the Director of the Mercatus Center for economic policy), but if you’re looking for the best, the most comprehensive guide to ethnic restaurants in this area, check him out:
Tyler Cowen’s Ethnic Dining Guide – August 2012, 29th edition
I’ve checked his views and ‘reviews’ against the ethnic restaurants I know, and I think he’s on target most of the time. He updates his Guide twice a year, tho I’ve found an occasional error in his information. So you might want to give a call to a restaurant before you go, especially if you’re living in MD or DC and following his recommendation for one of his Northern Virgina favorites.
Finally, I believe Cowen is open to feedback, suggestions, ideas, etc. You can get to him three ways:
Email: tcowen@gmu.edu
Personal web page: http://www.gmu.edu/centers/publicchoice/faculty%20pages/Tyler/
Twitter: @tylercowen
(Full Disclosure: I’ve never met Cowen, get no financial benefit from this post, but I do love ethnic food, and would gladly join him at a restaurant or two, if invited, as he continues his important work.)
What to Read Next?
31 Friday Aug 2012
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
If you are looking for some good reading that will probably keep you up later than you’d planned, here are three recent reads, all of which I’d give four stars (out of five).
I’m not sure if any of them will make it to my Best Reads of 2012 (you’re keeping your list to send me in Dec., right?), but all three are involving, well written, and have value beyond being ‘page turners.’
- Trapeze, by Simon Mawer, author of The Glass Room, among others
- Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn, author of Dark Places, Sharp Objects
- Broken Harbor, by Tana French, author of In the Woods, The Likeness, and Faithful Place
If you’re looking for non-fiction, let me repeat myself from earlier postings about two books that I would give five stars:
1. The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Robert Caro’s latest tome on LBJ. If presidential politics, leadership, power and how Washington really works is an interest of yours, invest the time in this one.
2. A Real Emotional Girl: Memoirs of Love and Loss, Tanya Chernov. The more I reflect on this first book by a 30 year old, the more amazing I think it is and the more I am convinced that it is deserving of your time.
Coming out, tho not soon enough, are two books I am looking forward to reading
- Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks. I’m a great fan. There is an excerpt of this book in the Aug. 27th New Yorker. The book will be released Nov. 6, 2012.
- Sutton, by J.R. Moehringer, author of the wonderful memoir The Tender Bar (MillersTime review). Moehringer also collaborated with Andre Agassi to write Open. Sutton is due to be released Sept. 25, 2012.
Finally, although I kiddingly referred to this above, I am planning again to ask for your Best Reads of the year. I will do so in early December and so hope you will respond with the names of the books you have most enjoyed this year.
…”just be, just be, just be, just be.”
29 Wednesday Aug 2012
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures, Family and Friends
Monday night I started Tanya Chernov’s A Real Emotional Girl, A Memoir of Love and Loss.
Tuesday I spent most of the day reading it through to the end.
It is the very personal and very honest recounting of Tanya’s ten-year attempt to come to terms with the loss of her wonderful father Richard Chernov and her painful attempts to find a place in the world without him.
Whether others will find this memoir as emotional wrenching, as insightful, and as wonderful as I did, I honestly don’t know.
I hope so. I think it’s outstanding.
Know that I know the characters in Tanya’s just published book.
Richard Chernov, her father, is one of the most wonderful persons I have ever known. He is a former lawyer who became a summer camp director and created Birch Trail Camp for Girls, where my daughters and many, many young girls have spent some of the most memorable and important summers of their lives. Tanya will tell you why he was so wonderful. She sees him clearly, and the man she describes is the man I knew.
Barbara Chernov, her mother, is Richard’s long time partner in everything he did. While she plays a smaller role in this memoir, the person Tanya describes is the person I also know.
Dylan and Gabe are her two older brothers. I don’t know either of them very well, but from what I do know of them and from what Tanya writes, Richard and Barbara did a terrific job parenting them.
Tanya herself is the youngest of the three Chernov children and the only girl. She is about 16 when Richard is first diagnosed with cancer and the book covers approximately the next 10+ years of her life (and that of her family too).
Many of the current and not so current memoirs written by women about loss have been about the loss of their fathers, mothers, or husbands. I have not read much where a child, an adolescent, a young woman has written about this kind of loss.
And for me, that is the wonderful thing about A Real Emotional Girl. Tanya has taken us (and I hope others who do not know the Chernovs or Birch Trail) on her painful and loving odyssey following the loss of her father and on the search for herself.
If you read it, do let me, others know what you think.
“Black Watch” Is Coming Back. Don’t Miss It (Again).
23 Thursday Aug 2012
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
Tags
It’s coming back.
Sept. 19 – Oct. 7.
At Washington, DC’s Shakespeare Theatre, Sidney Harman Hall.
It will no doubt sell out quickly, as it did last time it was here.
Check out my mini-review Jan. 30, 2011, or even better the NY Times & WaPo reviews, linked to below.
Then go get tickets.
As part of its international tour, The National Theatre of Scotland’s 2006 production of Black Watch is currently, but only briefly, playing at the Shakespeare Theatre’s Sidney Harman Hall.
See it if you can…
It is a drama about the famous Scottish regiment, its history, its deployment in the war in Iraq, and the effect of the war on the soldiers both in Iraq and once they returned home.
The staging is a major part of the production, mixing music, dance, video, and much loud ‘bombardment’ of sounds of war. The language is initially a bit hard to understand, but as the play develops, the words seem less important than the visual representation of what is happening and has happened to the individuals and to the regiment as a result of its time in Iraq.
To read NY Time’s Ben Brantley’s review of the production in NY in 2007, Click Here.
To read the Post’s preview of the Shakespeare Theatre’s presentation, Click Here.
Today the Post reviewed the current performance and ‘waxed eloquently.’ Click Here.
In addition to its Washington performances, Black Watch will be performed in other cities in the US, including Chicago, Seattle, and San Francisco.
Nova Scotia, Where the Land Meets the Sea
16 Thursday Aug 2012
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
I am not interested in birds, fish, or salt marshes.
Well actually, eating fish and other sea animals is of interest. And one of my daughters got me interested in dolphins a number of years ago. Plus I have enjoyed some occasional spying on colorful fish the few times I’ve gone snorkeling. But as species of general interest, I can go for long periods of time without thinking about what goes on in the underwater world of sea creatures.
As for birds, the expression “that’s for the birds” amply fits my view about those winged creatures. I’ve never understood the fascination with ‘birding’ even tho some folks I like very much (and otherwise seem normal) are enthralled.
And I’ve never thought about salt marshes at all.
Which brings me to a book I’ve just finished that I want to recommend: A Place Between the Tides by Harry Thurston.
It’s about all those things I mentioned above that didn’t interest me.
Yet I was fascinated by Thurston memoirs and memories of what he has learned, experienced, and continues to observe where the land meets the sea in Nova Scotia.
A naturalist, Thurston has written extensively and prize winningly about the Atlantic Coast, the Bay of Funday, the Nature of Shorebirds, etc. In addition to being a biologist and a wonderful observer of life around him, he’s a bit of a philosopher and a poet. He writes beautifully, and in spite of my prejudices about fish, birds, and salt marshes, his A Place Between the Tides was one of the most enjoyable (certainly one of the most informative) books I’ve read this summer.
The memoir was written in 2004 and details a year of life, his and his environment, on the banks of the Tidnish River in Nova Scotia. It is organized by months as he weaves what he sees, what he remembers seeing from when he was young (he’s always lived near the sea), and what he knows about the birds, the fish, the salt marshes, animal behavior, and the interrelationships of all those things. It is also both a personal reflection on his life as well as an introduction to one part of Nova Scotia.
I couldn’t put the book down.
Join Me to Hear Jonathon Kozol
15 Wednesday Aug 2012
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
If you know the name Jonathon Kozol, then it is likely you were teaching at one point in your life, probably in an inner city.
And it’s also likely that you read some of his writing (Death at an Early Age, Savage Inequalities, Amazing Grace, Rachel and Her Children, The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America, The Shame of the Nation, etc.) and were influenced to some degree by him.
I know I was.
Well, Kozol has a new book, Fire in the Ashes, Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in the Nation, due to be published next week, August 20, 2012.
The advanced information from the publisher states, “In this powerful and culminating work about a group of inner-city children he has known for many years, Jonathon Kozol returns to the scene of his prize-winning books Rachel and Her Children and Amazing Grace, and to the children he has vividly portrayed, to share with us their fascinating journeys and unexpected victories as they grow into adulthood.”
If you want to join me to hear Kozol speak (and probably sign books), I’ve got several extra tickets for this Politics & Prose sponsored even. The evening is Tuesday, Sept. 4 at 7 PM at Sidwell Friends Meeting House in Washington, DC on Wisconsin Ave., NW.
Email me (Samesty84@gmail.com) or call me (202-320-9501).
Update – Wed., Aug. 15, 2:45 PM – My available tickets for Kozol’s appearance have been claimed. You can get tickets through Politics & Prose Bookstore for $12 or if you buy the book ($27), you get two free tickets.
Update – Mon., Aug. 20 – For those of you smart enough not to live in the DC area, you can see/hear Kozol elsewhere as he’s on a book tour around the country.
The Less You Know…The More You’ll Like This Film
14 Tuesday Aug 2012
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
Searching for Sugar Man *****
The less you know about this film, the more you’ll like it.
Ever so briefly, it’s a documentary about a singer (Sixto Rodriquez) in Detroit who seemed on the verge of stardom and then seemed to disappear. Except not totally. His two records became huge hits in South Africa (as big or better than the Beatles and Elvis) and played a role in the opposition to Apartheid.
If you like music (think Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, James Taylor, Donovan), if you like fine film making, if you like a bit of mystery, and if you are curious about the ‘human condition,’ go immediately* to see Searching for Sugar Man.
Don’t seek out further info on this film.
Trust me on this one.
If I’m wrong, I’ll split the cost of your movie ticket with you.
Note: If you’ve seen this film, or when you see it, please email me: Samesty84@gmail.com or call me at 202-320-9501.
(*In DC, the only place where Search for Sugar Man is currently showing is at Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema. It’s definitely here until Thursday but may be, hopefully, extended another few weeks.)
Update: Tues., 9:30 PM: Just back from seeing it again, this time with my wife Ellen, who is upstairs now trying to download the music. Her reaction to the film? “Go. See. This. Film.” I checked the listings for Thurs., Aug. 16 and beyond. Bad news: it’s not going to be at Bethesda Row Cinema after tomorrow, Wed., Aug. 15. Good news: it’s going to be at the West End Cinema starting Fri., Aug.17 at least until Tues., Aug. 21.Watch Live as Bears Catch Salmon in Alaska
08 Wednesday Aug 2012
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
Here’s something you can do in a bit of spare time:
Wanna watch brown bears in Katmai National Park, Alaska search for and catch salmon, live?
Well you don’t have to go all the way to Alaska to do so. You can see it happening from your desktop or laptop computer, and I think also from a mobile phone.
In fact, just yesterday, from a spot in one of my comfortable chairs, I spent an hour and a half just watching one bear ‘fish’ in Brooks River, Katmai National Park. Poor teddy, he didn’t even catch one fish in that entire time.
All you have to do is go to this website where a camera has been set up by explore.com. Remember, it’s four hours earlier in this part of Alaska.
Enjoy.
Ellen’s ‘Take’ on Nova Scotia
06 Monday Aug 2012
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
Tags
Here are 20 photos my wife Ellen took on our recent trip to see some long time friends now ‘summering’ in Nova Scotia.
Any resemblance to the real Nova Scotia is intended, tho I suspect some of these photos are even better than the real thing.
“5 Broken Cameras” & “The Attack”
05 Sunday Aug 2012
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
I’ve come to believe that often the best way both to explain and to understand something is through the telling of a story, preferably a true story (tho ‘truth’ is not always clear and often there are many ‘truths’ about a particular subject).
All of that is by way of introduction to a film and a book, both about Israel, the West Bank, and primarily Arab inhabitants of the area.
Of the two, the film is by far the most powerful and the most authentic as it is the ‘truth’ as seen through the camera of one of its co-directors/authors. The book, while engaging, has more problems than the film, but it’s also worth the time to read.
You Can Go ‘Home’ Again
23 Monday Jul 2012
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
California Coast, Ellen Miller, 2012
I don’t remember the exact year, but it was in the late ‘60s, shortly after my wife Ellen and I were married. We drove from San Francisco to LA down Route 1, the coastal highway, stopping for pictures, for picnics, and at one point for two days to read all seven CS Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia in an inn overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
We loved the trip, and we often talked about it over the past few decades.
So when Ellen had to be in SF this summer for her work, we decided that when she was finished, we would celebrate our 44th wedding anniversary by renting a car and driving down the coast again. We convinced some long time friends to meet us half way, in the Big Sur area.
Contrary to what Thomas Wolfe has told us, we found, “You Can Go ‘Home’ Again.”
We found only minimal changes in the area, exceptional views, wonderful food, and good companionship.
And so here are some (18) of Ellen’s best pictures from this year’s California coastal trip. Seems as if there’s a bit more emphasis on flowers. Perhaps the ‘Flower Child’ of the ‘60s has taken on new meaning.
Film: “Five Broken Cameras”
20 Friday Jul 2012
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
Bill Plitt, a long time friend, told me about this film, but I was leaving DC before I had a chance to see it. I hope it is still showing when I return next week.
Bill is a returned Peace Corps volunteer and has spent much of his life working with children and families in education. Most recently, among other activities, he has been director of community outreach for Friends of Tent of Nations North America, which supports cross-cultural understanding and the peaceful resolution of conflicts.
Movie: Five Broken Cameras, Review by Bill Plitt
Last Friday, my wife and I, along with some friends went to see the documentary, Five Broken Cameras at “E” Street Theatre in Washington D.C where it was showing in a limited engagement of two weeks- pity. We read the review in The Post, nudged by our friends of Jewish Voices for Peace, and went to see it for ourselves. We knew it had won the Sundance Film Festival Award in January for World Cinema Documentary Director Award. It was worth the venture we thought. So we went.
Three ‘Left Coast’ Restaurants
19 Thursday Jul 2012
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
While I await Ellen’s OK to post some of her wonderful pictures from our recent trip down the California coast from San Francisco towards LA, I thought I’d write mini-reviews of three restaurants that might be of interest to any of you looking for a good place to eat on the ‘left coast.’
1. The Whole Enchilda, Moss Landing, CA (831-633-3038)
If you’re driving on Rte. 1 and find yourself near Moss Landing, consider this restaurant. It is easy to overlook it as it’s across the street from a major power plant, and it looks kind of sketchy. But if you’re hungry, it’d be a mistake to pass up this ‘Coastal Cuisine ‘ restaurant.
Especially if you like artichokes as the location is not too far from Castorville, the artichoke capital of the world (?). Try the fresh steamed artichoke. They also have deep fried artichokes, tho we didn’t partake. If you like garlic (the restaurant is not too far from Gilroy, and some of you know what that means), try the Dona Laura Mussels. 
You won’t be sorry. If you’ve have either of those two as appetizers, then all you’ll need to complete your meal is one fish taco. Or, tho we didn’t try it, folks say the seafood enchilda (especially the King Crab) is the best dish in the place.
If I’m ever back in the area, I’m going to order the Seven Seas Mexican Cioppino, shrimp, clams, octopus, prawns, mussels, and snapper in a spicy broth – 30 min. prep time. I almost asked the guy at the table next to me for a taste of his.
Actually, I think most any of the items on the menu would be just fine. No. Excellent.
2. Big Sur Bakery & Restaurant, Hwy 1, Big Sur, CA (831-667-0520)
Another restaurant you might not choose as it’s behind a gas station and doesn’t seem to be too enticing, from the outside. That would be another mistake. Of the five meals we had in the Big Sur area, this one was by far the best.
From the appetizers through the main courses to dessert and including the wines, there was not a misstep in the entire meal. Plus, the folks running the place were delightful, helpful, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable.
Oysters steamed in a pizza oven and ‘dressed’ in a delightful ‘sauce were wonderfully smoky and delicious as were the steamed black mussels. Three of us had the butter braised pacific white sea bass (some with roasted cauliflower and some with roasted beats) and quickly cleaned our plates. I can’t remember a better preparation. The ‘outlier’ amongst us had a marinated lamb steak (balsamic & rosemary) and was delighted with his choice.
The desserts change frequently, but we had three different ones, and you might even consider starting with them, or perhaps just going there for a wood fired pizza (we didn’t have room) and a dessert.
There’s a good wine menu and waiters (and the owner?) who pride themselves on knowing local and long distant wines.
3. Stout Burgers & Beer, 1544 Cahuenga Blvd., Los Angeles, CA (323-469-3801).
(Note: From the MillersTime ‘Dept. of of Shameless Promotion’: My namesake and 26 year old God Son, another Richard, is a manager here and said we “had to try it.”)
I never knew there was such a movement as “Gourmet Hamburgers,” but apparently California, at least Los Angeles, is leading the way in such things.
Stout specializes mostly in burgers and beer, offering a half dozen burgers (with names such as the ‘Gombah,’ the ‘Shu,’ the ‘Six Weeker,’ etc.) dressed with all sorts of good ingredients, emi gruyere, rosemary bacon, crispy proscuitto, smoked mozzarella, fig jam, parmasiano flakes, truffles, etc.). The bun is great, and the few sides of sweet potato rounds, seasoned fries, and a warm pretzel with good dipping sauces are good too.
There are about 30 beers at any given time, many from small, local and longer distant brewers, and the waiters can help you find the right pairing with your gourmet burger.
I must admit that I am of the old school where a burger is simply that, lots of good, ground meat and a soft roll. But if you want to try something a bit different, give Stout a chance. And they even have an ‘old fashion’ one (the ‘Imperialist’) for the traditionalists among you.
Apparently, according to my ‘anonymous source,’ they have been so successful that they are in the process of opening a second location and there are two more after that in the planning stages.
* We had two other pretty good meals in the Big Sur area, a dinner at Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn and a lunch at the Sierra Mar Restaurant at the Post Ranch Inn, where, if there’s no fog, all the tables have great views of the ocean. Both meals were good, tho not as special as the one at the Big Sur Bakery & Restaurant.
Three More Films: One Excellent, One Good, One Fair
09 Monday Jul 2012
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
Moonrise Kingdom ***1/2
This film (comedy/drama?) has a kind of underground, sleeper feel to it that has gotten strong positive reviews from both critics and audiences.
Not sure what’s wrong with me, but this movie is another one I didn’t find so wonderful.
The ‘action’ takes place in 1965 on an island (New Penzance) in New England. It’s the fantasy story of two 12-year olds who move from being pen pals to runaways and who explore their autonomy, new personae, and each other. Both Sam and Suzy are kind of misfits, and I think we’re supposed to immediately like them both.
The adults in the film, Bruce Willis, Ed Norton, Francis McDormand, and Bill Murray are all pretty unhappy adults whose lives, marriages, and careers are less than fulfilling. Whether Sam (Jared Gilman) and Suzy (Kara Hayward) are escaping these folks and/or are simply on an adolescent/preadolescent discovery trip, I’ll leave it for you to determine.
As I indicated above, most folks who have seen Moonrise Kingdom, including folks I know, have liked it.
Me? Not so much.
Elena, ****
I had looked forward to seeing this prize winning Russian film as I thought the reviews were intriguing. Plus, I’m partial to foreign films, which I think often are significantly better than the splashy, noisy, extravaganzas that Hollywood produces.
Initially, I was disturbed by the film, a story about a wealthy, retired businessman (Vladimir) and his second wife (Elena), his former nurse. He is estranged from his daughter, and she (Elena) is supporting her freeloading son and his family. When Vladimir falls ill, all pretenses of normality disappear, and the story takes a dark turn.
That’s all I’ll say about the outline of the story, as I don’t want to give away much about the film.
For some reason, the more I’ve thought about the film and it’s message, the more I find it has stayed with me.
If you see it (I suspect it will not be around too long), I’d be curious about your reaction(s).
Beasts of the Southern Wild *****
Of the three films mini-reviewed here, I found this one the most intriguing and give it a higher rating than the others.
It’s the story that takes place in the Louisiana Delta (the “Bathtub”), just southwest of New Orleans. There, a ‘community’ of defiant bayou misfits/outliers/outsiders exist and live in defiance of the larger world just outside their Island.
The story centers on a six-year old girl and her harsh but loving father and what happens to both of them when a Katrina-like storm descends on their world.
The acting of Quvenzhane Wallis in the role of six-year old Hushpuppy is truly extraordinary, and I don’t remember any young actor/actress who has been as powerful as Wallis. Dwight Henry as her father (Wink) is also excellent? For the acting alone, the film gets my five stars.
The film has had mostly positive reviews, tho not has strong as either Moonrise Kingdom or Elena.
For me, I’d choose Beasts of the Southern Wild if you only have time for one of these three films.