Even Better – “Live Action”

07 Thursday Feb 2013

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The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2013 Live Action *****

If you don’t have two and a half hours to spend in a movie theater to see the five short documentaries nominated for an Oscar (yesterday’s post-Wrong Again), how about an hour and fifty-four minutes?

That will get you the five nominees for the Best Short Films, Live Action, and they are every bit as good as the documentaries.

Maybe even better (said by someone who thinks he likes nonfiction better than fiction).

As I ‘promised’, I spent yesterday afternoon seeing the Short Films, Live Action. Here’s my ‘take’.

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Wrong Again

06 Wednesday Feb 2013

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I spent three and a half hours the other day in a movie theater, watching the five Oscar nominees for The Best Documentary Short Subjects *****.

And learning I was wrong again.

Generally, my movie tastes favor full-length documentaries (and foreign films), just as my preferences in reading favor nonfiction over fiction.

I tend to stay away from short stories and short films, in part because my memory loses those faster than it does the longer ones.

But Ellen was away, I’d finished my second book of the week, the grandkids were otherwise occupied, and I thought maybe I could stretch myself (as in trying something new). Also, I’ve always wondered why the Oscars waste my time on the awards for these short films. Maybe I was being ‘shortsighted’?

Now I know what I’ve been missing.

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Young Boys Beware

05 Tuesday Feb 2013

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mail.google.com

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My daughter Annie sent me these pictures the other day of her two-year old’s first haircut.

I was reminded of something I thought, and probably said, years ago as I was observing one of my own daughters at a comparable age:

“Somewhere out there a little boy is out running around, maybe playing soccer or reading a book, and has no idea what is in store for him in about 20 years.”

2013 MillersTime Baseball Contests

05 Tuesday Feb 2013

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(Workers on Tuesday are loading a truck with the Red Sox’ gear for spring training. Marie Torto photo)

2013 MillersTime Baseball Contests

A few changes for this year’s contests in response to some readers’ suggestions.

Primarily, I have de-emphasized the Sox and Yankees (only one contest involves these two teams), and I have tried to allow for your specific interest in a favorite team, a favorite player, and/or your baseball knowledge (or lack of it also) in general.

Contest #1:

Make a prediction about the 2013 MLB baseball season.

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Inside Two Hidden Worlds

29 Tuesday Jan 2013

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Recently I have enjoyed two nonfiction books that have taken me inside worlds I have not known. One is written by a reporter about a subject you might pass over. That could be a mistake. The second is a memoir by a woman who joined Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity. That one too deserves your consideration.

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Two (Free) Invitations…

24 Thursday Jan 2013

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Two opportunities to take advantage of offerings in the Washington area next week:

Stolen Seas

Have you ever wondered how a few guys in a motorboat can capture a huge ship, hold the crew and ship hostage, and then escape with millions of dollars?

Well I have.

And I hope to find out how that can happen and what the Somali piracy is all about.

Join me Wed., Jan. 30th at 7 PM at the West End Cinema for the screening of a new documentary that was three or four years in the making and apparently involves all the ‘players’ and what this piracy is about, how it works, who benefits, etc. (See this plot summary for further details of the film.)

I have one ticket available for someone to join Ellen and myself. There will be a panel discussion following the film.

 

Al Gore

I mentioned this evening previously but so far have had no takers.

Former VP and Nobel Peace Prize winner has a new book being published next week, entitled The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change. As I understand it, The Future is broader than VP Gore’s writing on environmental issues. It is about what he sees as the forces that are changing our world.

Join me Thursday, Jan. 31, 7 PM at Sixth & I St for this sold out event.

 

Let me know by email (Samesty84@gmail.com) if you are interested in either of these evenings.

 

 

“If This Could Only Happen More Often”

22 Tuesday Jan 2013

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In response to the Stan ‘The Man’ vs Lance ‘The Liar’ post on MillersTime a few days ago, friend and reader Diane K. bemoaned that there were not more good stories of athletes such as Stan Musial.

As if on cue, my son-in-law told me about a story he had just seen where Ivan Fernandez Anaya, a Spanish runner, did precisely what Diane, and many others, long to hear.

In December, in a long distance race, Abel Mutai of Kenya, who had won a bronze medal in the Olympics, thought he had won this race and slowed, actually short of the finish line. Anaya, coming up behind Mutai, knowing that he could have passed Mutai and won the race, did something different.

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Report from Richmond

20 Sunday Jan 2013

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Well, I have gone to and returned from Richmond, where I was seeking to regain food tastes from years of enjoying a local family run establishment in DC, A.V.’s Ristorante.

You will probably not be surprised that I found, once more, it’s hard to ‘go home again.’

No. A.V.’s has not been replicated by his son Ed who now has three places to eat Italian food and a fourth one on the way.

But if I lived in Richmond, I would certainly frequent all three quite often.

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Lance Armstrong – “An American Myth”?

18 Friday Jan 2013

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Now that Lance Armstrong has mostly admitted (to Oprah) what he has done, is forgiveness to follow? (Click on the red ‘link’ above to see for yourself three minutes of highlights of Armstrong’s Oprah interview).

Check out this article — What Lance Armstrong Did — in The New Yorker, written by Michael Specter, Jan. 15th.

I agree completely.

Enough of Lance Armstrong.

I Need Help

14 Monday Jan 2013

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O.K., I need a bit of help.

Possibly by Thursday, January 17th.

First, a bit of background.

For those of you who have been in DC for five years or more, I suspect the name A.V. Ristorante is familiar to you.

It was a sketchy looking place from the outside (and not much better looking inside) at the corner of NY Ave. and 6th St.NW, where you could get the best white pizza ever made and also the best pizza I’ve ever had.

It didn’t matter what else they served, but if pizza wasn’t your idea of a good meal, and it was the right season, their sauteed soft shell crabs with garlic pasta (you needed to ask for the garlic pasta which was better than the very good red sauced one that usually came with the soft shells) was always good.

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