Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 84
1 Cherries - much better than you thought. 2 But you must read the warnings! (see below cherries) I ate a cup of cherries for dessert. I'd forgotten how wonderful they taste. I felt very full, satisfied. I woke up feeling over-full, you know, like you had a great party and now it was payback. I remembered what I'd eaten; nothing would do that. Was it the cherries? So I looked them up to see what was in them, and got a surprise. What if you could give yourself an injection of something that's ant...
"Everything on our planet is connected and the fear is we're taking out a huge piece." "Do do we need forests? Do we need trees? Do we need reefs?" Do you care? Coral reefs are dying. Everywhere. Half a billion people - 500 million people - get food and medicine from coral reefs. I just saw "Chasing Coral." I promise you'll think about this long after you see it; it's an adventure story. Why you should care: 1. "Coral reefs are part of a huge ecosystem. If they disappear we're losing the life...
1 See a movie 2 Call a (specific) doctor 3 Read a book Would you believe something works if enough people swore it? What if it contradicted established medical thinking? What if someone said you could cure your own back pain, without surgery or drugs? "He saved my life." "He completely changed my life." So many people say this about Dr. John Sarno that there's a website just to thank him, (thankyoudrsarno.org). Every book he wrote was checked out of the LA County Public Library when I wrote this...
That's what Frank Fetta promised. I agree. Last Saturday's concert by the Culver City Symphony glittered. The orchestra had three rehearsals during the week; I watched them turn a plain room with folding door dividers into something lyrical. The concert wasn't exactly a cliff hanger; just a relaxing way to spend an early summer evening, with reception afterward. Fetta's had vast experience in music; he once made a recording with Igor Stravinsky. "What was he like?" I asked. "He was very stern. I...
I'm standing in the sun eating "Cabo Chips" ("Made with REAL ingredients" "Ground and uniquely crafted" "Cut & cooked in small batches.") when a man I don't know well walks up to me. "I lost my girl," he says. I rack my brain. I know him; we've talked. I know his wife and son. His wife May, and I had several conversations; we went to a market together once. Did they have a daughter? He said it again. "I lost my girl." I tried to think. "Are you talking about May?" I asked. "Yes, my girl's...
Let's understand what's really going on. Presidential elections in the U.S., for years now, haven't been about candidates' personalities. As I said in a 2008 debate before London's prestigious Harkness Fellows, U.S. elections are about the role of the government in people's lives. It's not Republican glee we're seeing about cuts for needy children, medical research, health care; I suspect many Republicans actually feel awful about gutting arts and environment funding. People who can't have it al...
Trick question! He wasn't; he uses it to cover up the pussycat he really is. Surprise: Asner's beloved, not just for seven Emmy's and television roles. Turns out, Asner's quite the hero. Honored by the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival for his charity work and activism, it was non-stop praise all night. Sharon Gless, next to husband Barney Rosenzweig: "I'm here because I love Ed Asner"Gavin MacLeod: "Ed, you've gotten every award known to man, and you deserved most of them."Matthew Modine: "He's...
It was a true cliffhanger at Culver Studios: rain and cold threatened to doom a spectacular effort of verve by CCEF, Culver City's non-profit dedicated to helping students in Culver City. Could the lawn party, held where the grounds survived making "Gone With The Wind," still happen? Would anyone show? Would a year's worth of planning be a washout? "I changed the whole event within 24 hours," Leslie Adler confessed. "Friday morning, we saw the weather and reformatted completely. It's not just a...
Top news first, candy store second: My favorite film from the COLCOA French film festival won the audience award for best film. I'm sure it will get a distributor; when it finds its way into theaters, you must see "Mr. and Mrs. Adelman." You'll love it! * * * COLCOA. LAJFF. LAAPFF. SEEfest. CATE. What do these mean? There were five film festivals here last week; it's an enchanted candy store. COLCOA, charming acronym for LA: City of Light, City of Angels, superlative French films carefully...
Feeling hostage to current events? Let life meddle in your mind's troubled concern. If you let it, life can intrude, momentarily displacing disquieting current events, and perhaps enduring longer, if one's lucky. COLCOA lingers for me; ideas and visual beauty fill my head. City of Light, City of Angels: COLCOA'S alluring acronym. Impressive with 82 films, COLCOA'S the world's largest French film event. What's juicy? New storytelling formats: virtual reality and web series. What's left after film...
t's gorgeous. Yet midst this exquisite beauty, current Indian movies dip into a dark side. The LA Indian Film Festival is intimate, in its 15th year. What a chance to learn. Perfumed with delicious insight, IFFLA feels relaxed. An assault on women's rights, does that still happen? You bet. And not just women. Muslims are still targeted, despite India's having the third-largest Muslim population in the world. "Lipstick Under My Burkha," the opening night film, is marvelous. I couldn't stop...
The new Meryl Streep? At 10 years old? That's right. Her name's Mckenna Grace She's delicious: beautiful, intelligent, funny, and already with a conscience. She's been an actress, or an actor, as she puts it, since 2012. She was seven when she starred in the movie "Gifted," opening this weekend. Mckenna dazzles as Mary. Raised by her Uncle Frank, Mary's a happy child; delightful, funny, irreverent. She's bored in school; any genius would be. Her mother was also a math prodigy; she handed Mary...
Feeling the fear? Scratch the surface of most Americans today. We're afraid. You're spooked whether you know it, or whether you'll admit it (which is something entirely different), whether you've pushed it so far down it's there, trying to hide, or whether you're consciously aware to the tips of your nerve endings. Right around the Presidential election most people said they were scared and overwhelmed; many saying they truly feared the future. More than half of Americans aged 40 and younger...
Does it matter that it was for kids and families? Not at all. You could have come; there was no family magnetometer. T'was like a hot summer day in a British beach resort, You see a group of kids sitting right on the sand, quietly, waiting expectantly, noiselessly. What's going to happen? Parents standing in the back, kids down in front, sitting in rows. How cute is that? That's a traditional Punch and Judy show, with old-fashioned puppets and red-and-white striped stage, beach and waves in the background. Full British summer. That's how it was...
"Your breasts look incredible in that outfit." Inadvisable pickup line, for sure, Dude. That no man should ever say that to a woman he wants to impress is a given. Yet for Paul Linke, somehow that dealbreaker line didn't implode his chances. The result of his 25-year love affair with the woman he had just met is "It's Time," now showing at the Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice. "It's Time" is as much a paean to love, in its way, as is Shah Jahan's Taj Mahal, built in 1643 as his profound love...
Smart And Spicy I Could Host The OscarsBy Carole Bell It wouldn't be dumb, for one thing. Can you imagine? Picture an intelligent evening. Have you seen the BAFTAs? Impossible to duplicate Stephen Fry's charm, yet that could offer a compass of aspiration. With gracious wit polished cumulatively for over a decade, Fry sets the true black tie standard as he does the British Film And Television Academy proud. Funny enough, Jimmy Kimmel's chance in the barrel was just that – funny enough. R...
Quick, when is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday? When is George Washington's birthday? Every schoolchild in America used to know these dates. Now we celebrate "President's Day". I wonder if anyone knows which Presidents the day is celebrating. (I suspect our current President thinks it's about him). (And it may be...keep reading). Is it President's *Day* or President's *Weekend*? Or does that depend on what stores say in ads? The spelling itself is an issue. But we'll get to that. When I started t...
Quick, when is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday? When is George Washington's birthday? Every schoolchild in America used to know these dates. Now we celebrate "President's Day". I wonder if anyone knows which Presidents the day is celebrating. (I suspect our current President thinks it's about him). (And it may be...keep reading). Is it President's *Day* or President's *Weekend*? Or does that depend on what stores say in ads? The spelling itself is an issue. But we'll get to that. When I started t...
I stepped onto the bus, mesmerized. A forest of fine ribbons hung in front of me, each tipped by a tiny origami crane, uniquely patterned, of singular colors. I wished I could have one. It was Valentine's Day. I had gone to the post office the day before, mailing Valentine's cards to people I cared about. "Did you get any Valentine's?" the bus driver asked. "No, but that didn't stop me from sending out lots of them," I answered. "Then one of these is for you," he said, giving me a big smile. "Re...
Smart And Spicy "I try to have fun," he told me, when I asked about the cowboy hat and the train whistles. I'd watched Guido Lamell, Music Director/ Conductor of the Santa Monica Symphony, wearing a Stetson while conducting Rodeo. I'd laughed as he blew a train whistle for comic effect during a concert. I'd been amused while he advised his audience, referring to a specific musical piece on the program, "If you have to leave to relieve yourself, do it during this piece; you won't miss much." If y...
Enough about politics – I'm thinking about war. My Christmas wish for you is at the end of this column. In this season of goodwill on earth, peace to men and women, do you feel peace? Can you be at peace, when so many people live in war? Can you be at peace, when so many have no Christmas or New Year's holiday, whether or not it's their religion/culture? While we're having a good time, people in Aleppo are literally dying; 40 people got killed by a suicide bomb in Aden. Think: Syria. Yemen. The...
Should cheating be a menu option? "Burgers, fries - and our special today is cheating". Can you imagine? No? Then what's happening in this country? It's shocking that what is shocking is no longer shocking. Oh, their cheating hearts! Russia and the Olympic athletes, passing their urine thorugh a small hole low down on the wall, then even after switching it for a competitor's un-doped urine, adding the secret ingredients of salt or water to make it conform to earlier samples? With the South...
Words are just words. You think? While we may think we know what words mean, the stamina is in their associative power. (Think you know what stamina means? Please see below). Fuzzy, friendly words are popping up in politics. We see them and our eyes glaze; we think we understand, yet the landscape changes nano-momentarily. Here's a handy shortlist to test yourself. Post-truth It used to be "Truth justice and the American Way." Where is Superman when we need him? We're not in Kansas anymore. If...
When you see those people at the top of their form, how do you think they got there? Do you wish you could sing like Streisand or play like LeBron James? Do you think Frank Sinatra had it easy because all he had to do was open his mouth? Perhaps you think Usain Bolt just woke up one day able to sprint faster than anyone in the world. Right on top of LeBron's website it says: Nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have. Ask Yo Yo Ma, arguably the world's greatest cellist....
Anything’s possible with families today. Yet viewed with antediluvian wisdom, it's the way it was; la plus ça change. What's up with families was a recurring theme throughout the American Film Institute Film Festival. Midst the usual filmfest mix of causy, gender, and the visually poetic, it was all about the family you had, have, and the varieties you might have. In the candy store of treasures at AFI this year, The Comedian was delicious. Robert de Niro is superb as a nasty, filth-spewing comi...
