Category Archives: Film

May 6, 2013 · 8:14 am

MiddlingMonday

MadMen6. Finally back to AdMen. More advertising biz. Good. Joan acting like a partner again, focusing on increasing share price. Excellent. Then Don goes rogue and fires Jaguar. Joan has a hissy fit. Bad. Ted & Don talk merger. Of course. Ted kisses Peggy. Really? So much for the last bastion of moral rectitude. She should have demanded to be a partner of the new agency. Instead she lets Ted tell her how lucky she is to be its top copywriter. Marie & Megan zoobeezoo. Funny together. Hope Sylvia is moving out of the building. Bye. Pete, daughters trump wives. Silly. Better episode since only Weiner wrote it. Lots of nuggets.

Middlesteins. A skimmable read. Food obsession. Dysfunction. Obesity. Disease. Theme of the week. Mika’s book. Not a subject that captivates my attention.

Guns. Gabby Giffords, Caroline Kennedy. AK-47′s. Counter-insurgency in Springfield, Mass. on 60 Minutes. Something’s gotta give.

Gatsby. Movie mirrors society. Fame without talent. Wealth without success. Glitz without glamor. Maureen Dowd’s column nailed it.

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April 4, 2013 · 8:11 am

ShelburneFalls MovieSet

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Another film to be set in SideTrekFalls, our favorite tableau. The Judge, starring Robert Downey, Jr., Robert Duvall, Vera Farmiga, is rumored to start production in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts this summer. A drama/comedy.

Still haven’t seen Labor Day come to the screen yet. Jason Reitman’s movie set, starring Josh Brolin and Kate Winslet. Based on J.D. Salinger’s paramour’s book.

Dr.Husband’s Shelburne Falls header photo above.

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March 21, 2013 · 9:07 am

SpringBoard

King Abdullah of Jordan gives a controversially candid interview to Jeffrey Goldberg in April’s the Atlantic. As he trashes his neighbors’ response to the Arab Spring, Abdullah pines for his days at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts. He has even built a school in Jordan modeled on his happy boarding phase.

Spring edition of MSKCC’s Bridges newsletter compares cancer survivors’ resiliency and the long journey of recovery to the plight of Sandy victims.

New York Magazine’s cover RetroWife captures the current phenomenon. Women choosing to be the modern version of a 50′s wife. I get it. They were brought up by absent moms, the feminists who tried to have it all. It’s a nostalgic nod to June Cleaver and Donna Reed. The ideal misses the reality of women who stay home all day. Mother’s “little helpers” are also back in vogue.

I’ll say it again. Richard Engel’s spellbinding account of his kidnapping in Syria is a must read. VanityFair, April 2013.

Il Papa Francesco will celebrate Holy Thursday at a juvenile prison in Rome. He may be the real deal. Zeffirelli’s Brother Sun, Sister Moon comes to mind.

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March 4, 2013 · 9:10 pm

PreViews

David Mamet’s daughter Zosia is busy. Lena Dunham pinky-swore that she wouldn’t kill off Shoshanna on Girls as has been widely and wildly predicted. Zosia’s Joyce may or may not return to MadMen6 in April. Weiner threatened to take her first born if she tells. She describes her characters, as “Mad Jap” and “Crazy Lesbian”. Plus, she’s Really Really got a hit Off-Broadway stint.

Argo was an unearthed gem of a screenplay. Fast-paced. Well done. Best picture? Dunno. SkyFall tongue-in-cheeky. Daniel Craig not handsome, no sexy Bond girl. Javier Bardem as campy villain worth half the price of admission.

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February 24, 2013 · 7:51 pm

A Maaay Zing

Amazing! If you took a swig every time this word was exclaimed on the red carpet, you are already drunk. If you keep slugging as it’s said at the Oscars show, you will be comatose. It means nothing. It means everything. Dresses. Performances. What it really means is that movie stars have no vocabulary. Amazing!

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February 22, 2013 · 8:06 am

WeekEnders

WeekEnder. Oscars maybe. Depends on travel conditions Sunday. Catch them on replay. Don’t care. Saw none. Better writing Showtime, HBO. Friends liked Argo.

Match play golf in Arizona. Wait for melting snow, freeze out. Tiger and Rory already gone. Where do Republican losers go? FauxNews. Brown. Romney? NBC last in ratings. Ditch Lauer, Gregory. Replace Today with Morning Joe.

Storm dodge. Weekend adventure. Manhattan, ho! Bon weekend.

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December 16, 2012 · 10:13 am

WinterBridges

Winter edition of MSKCC Bridges is here. Editor Eileen Gould discusses the need for ongoing care as the journey unfolds. That said, my Rx for painful weekend non-stop sadness, is to stay away from the tube! Or, watch Ed Burns’ Fitzgerald Family Christmas on-demand. As the snow has just started falling outside our window, now turning the focus to the end of the world this Friday. Just kidding.

Football is fine. Go Niners!!

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June 27, 2012 · 7:39 am

Nora Ephron

A modern writing genius. The girl who fixed the umlaut. Say hi to Stieg.

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May 31, 2012 · 7:36 am

SideTrekFalls

Travelled to our favorite SideTrek tableau, Shelburne, a new way. Took a bucolic route from Conway past Bill Cosby’s rolling colonial acres. Off off the beaten trek. A blue clapboard Garrison on an old post road. Book mills, inns dot the meandering byway, scenes of Indian skirmishes as part of the Mohawk trail.

The Bridge of Flowers was in earlier than normal bloom. Town is abuzz. Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin are coming. They will be filming  Labor Day based on a novel by Joyce Maynard. It’s about a 13 year-old boy, his Mom, secrets. Set in a fictional New England hamlet, Holton Mills. Juno director, Jason Reitman.

We made a stop at Wandering Moon jewelry boutique and hit pay dirt. For me. Silver bracelet by a Manitoba artisan. Owner Laura Roberson’s finely crafted earrings. As we headed out to Route 112, a metal sculpture guy bid us adieu.

Back home through Goshen past the original 1775 Williams House.

Photos by the talented Dr.Husband, including the Richard Russo-esque header – State Street, in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts.

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March 30, 2012 · 7:49 am

FoolishMess

Halloween, April Fool’s snow. Told you so. Nice in between, though. Bye winter.

Rachel Maddow speaking at my alma Mount Holyoke. Her new book depicts the drift of U.S. military’s missions over the past decades. Creeping worldwide warring culture. American Empire? I say yes. The guy who moved next door to Sarah Palin in Alaska, Joe McGinniss, is now stalking Northampton’s courts. He’ll be writing about cases in the Pioneer Valley. Bully movie coming out has local ties. Hampshire College and Amherst High School grads keys of the production.

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