We went this afternoon to see Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie, a movie I’ve been looking forward to seeing. Alas, I must say that I was disappointed. The film is in black and white to begin with, and I immediately longed for color. Second, though I liked the main character and his dog, Sparkie, I didn’t like…
Category: Writing as a Discipline
A Movie Well Worth Seeing: The Sessions
We have just come home from seeing the film The Sessions starring John Hawkes, Helen Hunt and William H. Macy. This is a movie about a man who is severely disabled from polio making the decision that it is time to explore his sexuality. Helen Hunt plays a sex surrogate, Hawkes plays the disabled man,…
100 Things that I Love (With no effort to include everything and in no particular order)
1) Trader Joe’s Market 2) Homemade frozen strawberry yogurt 3) Cinnamon rolls 4) Comfortable shoes 5) A firm bed 6) A warm bath 7) Swimming underwater 8) The sun on a cool day 9) The night sky 10) Camping 11) Hot chocolate 12) Project Runway 13) Choral music 14) Bach 15) Art Museums 16) My…
Hamburger Mary’s on a Thursday Night
I just walked through West Hollywood after being at Hamburger Mary’s where we went with friends for a Trivial Pursuit night, plus 1/2 of a drag show. I left before Ray and our friends because I need to get up early tomorrow morning to go with Liz all the way out to Rancho Cucamonga so…
A Baby On the Way
Yesterday, I got to see a picture of my first grandchild in utero. It was amazing the clarity of the picture. I could actually see the little tyke’s profile: his/her nose, mouth and chin. My daughter is four and a half months pregnant and we can already see our unborn baby’s facial features. This is…
Unexpected Life Lessons
Tragedy struck this past week in Beverly Hills. The beloved soccer coach at the high school – a thirty-year-old man in excellent health – died suddenly from a massive heart attack. This is sad all on its own, but it became more personal for me when one of my high school seniors, who has been…
Not My Cup of Tea
We made it to the Wiltern tonight to see Alfie Boe. Unfortunately, we left at intermission because despite Alfie’s beautiful voice, his type of music – a sort of Opera/Pop was just not something that was compelling to either one of us. I felt bad on one hand because he was quite an entertainer –…
A Foray into Humility: Ray’s SNAFU
My husband, Ray, is a logistics king. He can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple activities for multiple people on multiple dates with the ease of a seasoned tightrope walker. He’s the guy who takes that extra time to see if it makes sense to have our kids drive back home if they’re east of town…
Family Visit and Straining to Hear
My brother, Sam; his girlfriend, Jaime; and Sam’s grown kids Hutch and Charlsie are visiting us at the moment. This is my little brother – five years younger than I am – and he and I are the two remaining siblings out of a family of six children. We are funny together. We are more…
Great Food, Great Service and Celebrity Sightings
We just returned from dinner at a new restaurant in Los Feliz called Mess Hall, which is based on the concept of a mess hall in a summer camp. That are a few camp-like features inside – a display of Swiss Army knives on one wall and metal trays on another – but that’s where…
20 Minutes a Day 