Last night we watched a DVD of the new movie People, Places, Things. The film did not have a theatrical release, which is the fate of most movies made in America these days unless they are massively expensive blockbusters. People, Places, Things is not a blockbuster and probably didn’t cost much to make, and Marcia and I both very much enjoyed the movie.
Posts published in “Essays”
Sometimes it’s good to get out of the Valley and see a thing or two. My Mom Muriel Ellis decided to go to a writer’s…
Remember the War in Vietnam? Indeed, how could anyone forget napalm, tiger cages and the Ho Chi Minh Trail, or the rag-tail army of pacifists,…
California Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law the nation's most stringent restrictions on the use of antibiotics in the production of meat. Is this a good thing? It certainly is - perhaps a crucial step in our survival, in fact - and I am not prone to exaggeration of such things. Now our state's new policy must become that of the entire nation.
Just back from Ashland, Oregon, where I saw two plays. The good news: fifty to sixty high school students in attendance at Much Ado About…
It was a beautiful sunny day on the beach in Cardiff-by-Sea, Ca. during the early 1970’s, when I ran into this tall, friendly guy in…
Entrusting the USA to its patroness, Mary Immaculate, then offering one final “God Bless America,” Pope Francis launched heavenward from Philadelphia on his Alitalia jet…
Forester Greg Giusti doesn’t fight fires with water, hoses and aerial assaults. He didn’t fight the Valley Fire or any of the other conflagrations —…
Most artists are unknown or little known outside their neighborhood or town or small circle of friends. This is not a bad or good thing, but merely the way of the world. My favorite poets are known to only a handful of people, and many of the finest musicians and painters and actors I’ve had the good fortune to hear and see will never be known outside the little kingdoms inhabited by their personal friends and acquaintances.