HAPPY BASTILLE DAY!

“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a movable feast.” - Ernest Hemingway

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway

Happy Bastille Day to French readers of this blog!

Vive la France!

Here is a marvellous French song sung wonderfully by Yves Montand celebrating the timeless romance of Paris.

FOOD FRIDAY - STUFFED BAKED APPLES

“If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.” - George Bernard Shaw
 

Our wet, wintry weather is continuing with the short days and long cold nights crying out for comfort food. Here is a favourite recipe using the plentiful apples that are around at the moment.

Stuffed Baked Apples
Ingredients

6 Golden Delicious apples
1 cup crushed walnuts
2/3 cup sultanas
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, (optional)
2 tablespoons golden syrup (or honey)
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch ground cloves
1/2 cup apricot jam
1 and 1/2 cups apple cider
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

• Preheat oven to 200°C. Lightly coat a shallow 30 cm baking dish with cooking spray.
• Core apples all the way through with an apple corer, making a 2 cm-wide hole. Peel the upper third of each apple.
• Using a sharp paring knife, score the flesh about 1/2 cm deep around the circumference, more or less where the peeled and unpeeled areas meet.
• With the paring knife angled down, cut a shallow crater around the top of the hole to help hold the apricot jam that will go there. Set aside while you make the filling.
• Place walnuts, sultanas and coconut (if using) in a food processor. Chop the mixture fairly well, but not too fine; you want it to remain somewhat textured. Add syrup, lemon zest, spices; pulse several times to combine.
• Place the apples in the prepared baking dish and gently press 1/4 cup filling into each cavity. Spoon a generous tablespoon of apricot jam onto the crater of each apple.
• Combine cider and butter in a small saucepan; heat over low heat until the butter has melted. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla. Pour the liquid over and around the apples.
• Cover the apples loosely with tented foil and bake on the centre rack for 30 minutes. Remove foil and baste the apples well.
• Sprinkle some crushed walnuts pieces on top of each apple and continue baking, uncovered, for 20 to 35 minutes more (depending on the size of the apples), basting every 10 minutes, until the apples are tender throughout.
• The best way to test them is with a thin bamboo skewer; the slightest bit of resistance near the centre is OK because they’ll finish cooking as they cool.
• Let the apples cool right in the pan, basting periodically. Serve warm, at room temperature or cold, with some of the pan juices spooned over each.
• You may also serve them with ice cream, custard or cream.

This post is part of the Food Friday meme,

and also part of the Food Trip Friday meme.

THOUGHTS OF SUMMER

“There is no gilding of setting sun or glamour of poetry to light up the ferocious and endless toil of the farmers wives.” - Hamlin Garland

Magpie Tales this week has selected a lovely painting called “Chilmark Hay”, painted in 1951 by Thomas Hart Benton.
 

Thomas Hart Benton (April 15, 1889 – January 19, 1975) was an American painter and muralist. Along with Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, he was at the forefront of the Regionalist art movement. His fluid, almost sculpted paintings showed everyday scenes of life in the United States. Though his work is strongly associated with the Midwest, he painted scores of works of New York City, where he lived for more than 20 years; Martha’s Vineyard, where he summered for much of his adult life; the American South; and the American West.

The painting evokes a wealth of emotions and thoughts of another time and of a pastoral place. Summer in the countryside, which although idyllic meant for so many long days of back-breaking work.

Summer Georgics

The purple heat of noon

Dries fields and makes gold the grain;

A cuckoo calling.

On land, a day’s work

By man and beast, who strive long –

Honest sweat drenches.

And evening falls late,

As balmy breezes blow soft,

A starry night sky.

WORLD POPULATION DAY 2012

“The hungry world cannot be fed until and unless the growth of its resources and the growth of its population come into balance. Each man and woman - and each nation - must make decisions of conscience and policy in the face of this great problem.” - Lyndon B. Johnson

World Population Day is an annual event, observed on July 11th, and its purpose is to raise awareness of global population issues. The event was established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989. It was inspired by the public interest in Five Billion Day on July 11, 1987, approximately the date on which the world’s estimated population reached five billion people. The world population on July 9, 2012 (As of 6.31 UTC), was estimated to have been 7,025,071,966.

The World Population Day 2012 Theme is “Universal Access to Reproductive Health Services”. Reproductive health is one of the important factors and is crucial in a world where every pregnancy is a wanted one, every childbirth is safe, and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. Universal access to reproductive health by 2015 is also one of the targets of the Millennium Development Goals. Unfortunately, we are still far from this goal.

Reproductive health problems remain the leading cause of ill health and death for women of childbearing age worldwide. Some 222 million women who would like to avoid or delay pregnancy lack access to effective family planning services and products. Nearly 800 women die every day in the process of giving birth. About 1.8 billion young people are entering their reproductive years, often without the knowledge, skills and services they need to protect themselves.  On World Population Day many activities and campaigns call attention to the essential part that reproductive health plays in creating a just and equitable world.

ORFF GATHERING HENBANE IN THE BAHAMAS

“Everything great in the world is done by neurotics; they alone founded our religions and created our masterpieces.” - Marcel Proust
 

Henbane or stinking nightshade, Hyoscyamus niger, is the birthday plant for this day.  The generic name of the plant was given it by Dioscorides and is derived from two Greek words, hyos, “of a hog” and kyamos, “bean”, supposedly because hogs ate the fruit.  The whole plant has an offensive smell and is poisonous. The plant has been used medicinally and was historically used in combination with other plants, such as mandrake, deadly nightshade, and datura as an anaesthetic potion, as well as for its psychoactive properties in “magic brews”. These psychoactive properties include visual hallucinations and a sensation of flight. Its usage was originally in continental Europe, Asia and the Arab world, though it did spread to England in the Middle Ages. The use of henbane by the ancient Greeks was documented by Pliny. The plant, recorded as Herba Apollinaris, was used to yield oracles by the priestesses of Apollo.

The name henbane dates at least to A.D. 1265. The origins of the word are unclear but “hen” probably originally meant death rather than referring to chickens. Hyoscyamine, scopolamine, and other tropane alkaloids have been found in the foliage and seeds of the plant. Common effects of henbane ingestion in humans include hallucinations, dilated pupils, restlessness, and flushed skin. Less common symptoms such as tachycardia, convulsions, vomiting, hypertension, hyperpyrexia and ataxia have all been noted. Henbane can be toxic, even fatal, to animals in low doses. Not all animals are susceptible, for example, the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Cabbage Moth eat henbane. It was sometimes one of the ingredients in gruit, traditionally used in beers as a flavouring, until replaced by hops in the 11th to 16th centuries (for example, the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516 outlawed ingredients other than barley, hops, and water).

The poison hyoscyamine, derived from the young shoots and leaves of the plant was used by Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen, an American homoeopath living in London, in 1910 to murder his wife. Henbane is thought to have been the “hebenon” poured into the ear of Hamlet’s father, as described by Shakespeare. The plant symbolises imperfection and is under the astrological rule of Saturn.

Famous birthdays on this day are:

• John Calvin, theologian (1509);
• James McNeill Whistler, artist (1834);
• Henryk Wieniawski, composer (1835);
• Marcel Proust, novelist (1871);
• Giorgio da Chirico, Italian artist (1888);
• Carl Orff, composer (1895);
• Saul Bellow, novelist (1915);
• David Brinkley, TV personality (1920);
• Owen Chamberlain, physicist (1920);
• Fred Gwynne, actor/writer (1926);
• Alice Munro, writer (1931);
• Jerry Herman, composer (1933);
• Arlo Guthrie, singer (1947)

Carl Orff (1895–1982) was a German composer and music educator. His best-known work is Carmina Burana (1937), a secular oratorio derived from medieval German and Latin poems. His system for teaching music to children, based on rhythmic and verbal patterns and the pentatonic scale, is widely used. He also wrote several operas, amongst which are Der Mond (1937-8) and Die Kluge (1941-2).

It is also the national day of the Bahamas. The Bahamas are a group of about 700 islands and 2,000 coral reefs to the North of Cuba and the Southeast of Florida. The country became independent of the UK in 1973, the capital being Nassau. The Bahamas are just under 14,000 square km in area and have a population of about 300,000. The major employer is tourism while other economic supports are ship registration and off-shore financing and banking. Fishing and domestic agriculture are under development in order to reduce imports.

MOVIE MONDAY - ALL GOOD THINGS

“Every unpunished murder takes away something from the security of every man’s life” - Daniel Webster

The Film Noir genre describes stylish Hollywood crime dramas, which highlight cynical attitudes and sexual motivations in a whodunit setting. The classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. The term “film noir” is French for “black film” and was first applied to Hollywood films by French critic Nino Frank in 1946. It was a term unknown to most American film industry professionals of the classic era.

Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography. Many of the stories and much of the attitude of classic noir are derived from the school of popular crime fiction that emerged in the USA during the Depression. Cinema critics defined the film noir retrospectively. Before the term was widely adopted in the 1970s, many of the classic film noirs were referred to as melodramas.

Though the film noir genre was originally identified with American movies, films now customarily described as noir have been made around the world. Many pictures released from the 1960s onward share attributes with film noirs of the classic period, often treating noir conventions in a self-referential manner. Such latter-day works in a noir mode are often referred to as neo-noirs. It is an easy genre to parody and many successful comedies are based on a film noir premise.

We watched a neo-noir film at the weekend, the Andrew Jarecki 2010 movie “All Good Things”, starring Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst and Frank Langella. This is based on the true story of real estate heir Robert Durst who was suspected but never tried for killing his wife Katie who disappeared in 1982. The screenplay by Marcus Hinchey and Marc Smerling attempts to fill in gaps. Although the movie doesn’t use real names and the press notes say it’s “inspired” by the Durst case, it seems to follow many of the facts rather closely, while mixing in some provocative speculation.

Robert Durst, the scion of a very prominent Manhattan real estate family was charged with murder in Texas.  Durst, arrested while disposing of a neighbour’s dismembered body and dressed in drag, hadn’t been seen since 1981. That’s when authorities identified him as a suspect in the disappearance of his wife, Kathie, who was declared legally dead in 2001.  Durst was acquitted in the Texas killing on grounds of self-defence. He has never been charged in his wife’s disappearance, or in the murder of his best friend, in California, at about the same time as his neighbour’s death. It was a messy, complicated case and there was much that was hidden, while speculation abounds that Durst got away with multiple counts of murder.

The film strongly suggests that Robert Durst killed his wife, that his now deceased father may have helped dispose of the body and bought off the Westchester district attorney and that Durst murdered the Texas neighbour (Philip Baker Hall), who killed the California friend (Lily Rabe) at his behest because of blackmail demands. It is not surprising that the Durst family has threatened to sue over this movie, which was sold back to Jarecki after the original distributor, the Weinstein Company, got cold feet over its release.

Mr Durst said he actually liked the movie, parts of which made him cry. He is living on $65 million gained in a settlement with his family, splitting his time among homes in Houston, Los Angeles and Harlem. Douglas Durst, Robert’s younger brother, who contends that the film maligns the family real estate company, the Durst Organization, which he now runs, and his dead father, Seymour Durst, the patriarch who is played by Frank Langella. The Durst company that orginally vowed to sue when the film is released, pulled back on that threat. Douglas Durst said that: “Fortunately this movie will be seen by so few people that litigation would be superfluous.” It is interesting the company has raised no objection to the portrayal of Robert, who has been estranged from the family for many years…

The film refer to Robert’s childhood in a motherless home; his psychological problems; his whirlwind romance with Kathy, 19, a dental hygienist who seemed to offer an escape from the pressures of his life. The couple married and moved to Vermont, where they opened a health-food store, “All Good Things” – hence the punning title of the film. However, under pressure from Robert’s father, Seymour, they returned to Manhattan to join the family business and, once there, the marriage began to falter.  Robert did not want children. Kathie ended up having an abortion and began to assert her independence. She started medical school and was soon complaining to friends that Robert was rough with her. In 1981 she spoke to a divorce lawyer, though she never filed. The following year she disappeared one night after a fight at the couple’s weekend home in South Salem, N.Y.  Robert did not report her missing for four days and told police that she had taken the train home to their West Side apartment. Someone matching her description was seen there by several people. The film then speculates n what really transpired and hence the controversy that it gave rise to.

Frank Langella gives a great performance as the tough father who drives his family in the quest of power and wealth. Ryan Gosling offers a strong performance of the psychologically unstable “David” (i.e. Robert) who changes many faces and behaviours through the film. Kirsten Dunst gives a wonderful performance as “Katie” (= Kathie), the simple bright girl whose life is quashed by a powerful family’s demands and dysfunctional relationships. The rest of the cast is very good, including the performances by Philip Baker Hall and Lilly Rabe.

This is a challenging and confronting film, especially as one knows that it is based on real people and that there has never been an “official” explanation of the mysterious murders at its core.

ART SUNDAY - CHAGALL

“If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.” - Marc Chagall

Marc Chagall, (born July 7^th, 1887, Vitebsk, Belorussia, Russian Empire [now in Belarus] -died March 28^th, 1985, Saint-Paul, Alpes-Maritimes, France), Belorussian-born French painter, printmaker, and designer. He composed his images based on emotional and poetic associations, rather than on rules of pictorial logic. Predating Surrealism, his early works, such as “I and the Village” (1911), were among the first expressions of psychic reality in modern art. His works in various media include sets for plays and ballets, etchings illustrating the Bible, and stained-glass windows.

Chagall was the oldest of nine children in a working-class Jewish family. At age 20 he began to study painting, first in Vitebsk, then in St. Petersburg. His distinctive style was already beginning to appear in his early works.  In 1910 he began four years of living in Paris, a city that attracted him for the rest of his life. In Paris, he became acquainted with art movements of the time, including Fauvism and Cubism. He also became acquainted with leading artists of the time, including Braque, Picasso, Delaunay, Leger, and others.

He held a very successful, one-man show in Berlin in 1914, as part of an eventual journey home. At the outbreak of WWI, Chagall returned home to Vitebsk, where he married Bella Rosenfeld. He worked in Vitebsk for several years and became director of the Vitebsk Academy of Arts. He moved to Moscow in 1920 and worked on stage decors and painted panels for the avant-garde Jewish Theatre. After it was made clear he would not have the freedom to develop, given the political realities of Marxist socialism, he left Moscow for Europe in 1923.

After arriving in France, he met French art dealer Ambroise Vollard and started creating etchings for future publications. These were not published until years later due to Vollard’s death and WWII. Chagall’s paintings were shown at galleries in New York as well as Paris, Berlin, and other European cities. He was commissioned by Vollard to produce a series of etchings illustrating the Old Testament version of the Bible. These were also not published until after WWII. During his travels, Chagall fell in love with the Cote d’Azur. Chagall eventually moved away from Paris to a villa near Porte d’Auteuil.

Chagall continued to work in France despite the growing influence of the Nazi movement and the invasion of France by Germany in 1939. He was eventually convinced by his daughter Ida to leave France. Marc and Bella first travelled to Marseilles, and eventually left for the United States in May of 1941. Their daughter Ida joined them a short time later.  Marc Chagall arrived in New York City in June 1941. In addition to paintings, he worked on theatre sets and costumes.

His paintings were exhibited in New York, Chicago, and Paris. His wife Bella died suddenly in 1944 due to a viral infection. Marc ceased all work for almost a year. In 1946, after the end of WWII the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City held an exhibition showing 40 years of Chagall’s work. He had become very well known. He began making plans to return to France.  Chagall returned to Paris in 1948 and signed Teriade to publish his graphic works. He settled in Vence, in Provence in 1950. In addition to painting, he continued to create graphic works. Many of his earlier etchings and lithographs were finally published in the early 1950’s. His daughter Ida introduced him to Valentine Brodsky, whom he later married.

In this period, he expanded the mediums in which he worked to include ceramics, stone sculptures, mosaics, and tapestries.  In 1958, he designed scenery and costumes for the ballet “Daphnis and Chloe” for the Paris Opera. This led to other public commissions in the 1960s, including stained glass windows for the Hadassah Synagogue near Jerusalem, the United Nations, and several cathedrals in Europe. He designed a new ceiling for the Paris Opera House and panels for the Lincoln Center in New York. He also produced what many consider his best graphic works, the “Daphnis and Chloe” suite of lithographs in 1961.

In 1966, Chagall moved from Vence to St. Paul de Vence (still in Provence). Chagall’s reputation continued to grow. He continued painting, producing graphic works, and working on public commissions. His works were exhibited at the galleries and museums throughout the world, including the Louvre and Petit Palais in Paris. He produced the America Windows for America’s Bicentennial celebration in 1977 in gratitude for America taking his family in during WWII. These windows can be viewed today at the Art Institute of Chicago.  He died March 28, 1985 in St. Paul de Vence, where he was buried. His long, prolific career and distinctive themes and use of colour make him one of the acknowledge masters of 20th Century modern art.

“The Falling Angel” of 1922 above is typical of the artist’s highly individual work, with bold colour and striking, audacious forms that draw the viewer’s eye in and make it swirl around the canvas in a wonderful tour of delights. The spots of bright colour shine from the gloom of the background and make the viewer emote together with the artist, and the response becomes a deeply affecting one. The clash of religious images, Jewish and Christian is prevented by the shared common form of the falling angel, which highlights that the religious differences between the two belief systems is perhaps not as great as one would think and that the shared symbols, faith and philosophy unite rather than divide. The image of the falling angel is nevertheless one that causes disquiet and is a premonition of the changing political landscape in Europe and the world, a presage of the raw horrors of WWII ahead.

MEDITATION

“Meditation is the tongue of the soul and the language of our spirit” - Jeremy Taylor

It was a freezing night last night and another is forecast for tonight. The garden this morning was covered with frost and the plants sparkled with their decorations of ice crystals. I think some of the plants may have been damaged by the frost, but we shall see in a couple of days. At least it turned out to be a fine and sunny day, although it was still quite cold. We had a visitor with us for most of the day and that kept us busy until the afternoon. At least it was a nice evening…

For Song Saturday today a most beautiful piece interpreted wonderfully. It is Massenet’s  “Meditation” from the opera “ Thais” played by Yo-Yo Ma, cello and Kathryn Stott piano.

HIGGS BOSON SOUP

“Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!” - Lewis Carroll
 

Well I hope you celebrated the discovery of the Higgs Boson, the so-called “God Particle”. The name boson is derived from the surname of the Indian physicist, Satyendra Nath Bose, a contemporary of the German physicist Albert Einstein. This class of elementary particles includes the photons and gluons, as well as the Higgs boson. The concept can be extended to other subatomic particles obeying Bose-Einstein statistics, such as mesons (e.g., pions and kaons), and nuclei of even mass number (e.g., helium-4). The existence of the Higgs boson and the associated Higgs field explain why the other elementary particles have mass in the standard model of nuclear physics.

Although proof of its existence has caused particle physicists the world over to pee in their pants with joy, on this cold wintry evening in Melbourne, I am more overjoyed by a delicious bowl of steaming hot, savoury and appetising hot soup!

Cauliflower and Blue Cheese Soup
Ingredients
1 medium, cauliflower (≈500 g)
1 large parsnip, peeled, chopped
50 g blue cheese, crumbled into small pieces
2 bay leaves
50 g butter
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
4 tender sticks celery (the white parts from the heart), chopped
1 large leek, trimmed, washed and chopped
100 g potato, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons double cream or sour cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Fresh chopped chives and extra cream to garnish

Method

• The stock for this soup made with all the cauliflower trimmings and the parsnip. Trim the cauliflower into small florets and then take the stalk, including the green stems and leaves, and place these trimmings in a medium-sized saucepan.
• Add the chopped parsnip, the dry mustard, the bay leaves, some salt and 2 litres of water.
• Bring it to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes with a lid.
• Meanwhile, take another large saucepan with a well-fitting lid, melt the butter in it over a gentle heat, then add the onion, celery, leek, cauliflower florets and potato, cover and let the vegetables gently sweat for 15 minutes.
• Keep the heat very low, then, when the stock is ready, strain it into the pan to join the sweated vegetables, but throwing out the stock vegetables.
• Bring it all back up to simmering point and simmer very gently for 30 minutes, this time without a lid until the vegetables are completely tender.
• Place the contents of the saucepan in a food processor or liquidiser and process until the soup is smooth and creamy.
• Return it to the saucepan, stir in the cream and cheese and keep stirring until the cheese has melted and the soup is hot but not boiling.
• Check the seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste if required, then serve in hot bowls, garnished with a little more cream or a dob of butter and the chives.

This post is part of the Food Friday meme,

and also part of the Food Trip Friday meme.

A WAR STORY

“If we don’t end war, war will end us.” - H. G. Wells 

I have been following the news of the terrible situation in Syria, which has been dragging on for months and months now, worsening all the while. Each day in the news one hears of more atrocities, more attacks, more bombings, more and more people dying, victims to the internecine destruction on both sides of the conflict. I cannot pretend to understand what is actually happening there, who is wrong and who is right, who is telling the truth and who is lying. All I know is that there are many innocent victims who are dying needlessly as they are caught in the crossfire.

Unfortunately, there is no sign of the conflict resolving and the international community is hesitant to intervene decisively. In the meantime, the conflict threatens to turn into a massive, full-scale civil war – surely the worse kind of war there is… I wrote the short story below a few years ago when the tinder-box of the Middle East was once again a bloody battle zone and thousands of innocents lost their lives needlessly. Unfortunately, history repeats itself again and again and the story below is once again topical…

A Lullaby

“Mama, I'm scared…”
“I'm here my treasure, I'm holding you.” Her voice gentle and her hands firm around the fragile little body that trembled against her racing heart.
“Mama, the walls might crash down on us and kill us…”
“The walls are strong, your own grandfather built this house with his own hands. The walls have stood firm for many years now and they will be here for your children to grow up in.” Her eyes wide open, the whites shining in the darkness. The face haggard and dirty, every now and then illuminated by the flash of an exploding bomb. The small window in the basement that would not close fully was enough to let the fear in. The smell of death encircled them and the noise of battle surrounded them.

“Where is my father, Mama?” The little voice was shaky, the trembling of the little body in her embrace not only caused by the cold.
“Your father is helping injured people, my love. He is at the hospital, you know that.”
“Why do they want to kill us, Mama?”
“They do not want to kill us, my darling, they are bombing the bad people.”
“Was my friend next door bad?”
The woman closed her eyes and stifled a wave of emotion. She should not cry now. She should be strong. Strong for her daughter's sake.
“No, our good neighbours were not bad, just unlucky…” She hugged the child tightly. “They were hit by mistake as they were coming back from the market.”

There was a respite in the awful sound of warfare outside and the flashes of light gave way to an unearthly greenish light. The sudden quiet in the cellar was more foreboding to her ears than all of the unholy uproar previously. She shuddered to think of the future, yet that future was only moments ahead. The concept of 'next week' was something that had become foreign to her. To survive this day, to keep herself alive for her daughter, that was her only purpose now. If tomorrow dawned for them she could thank God and try her best to survive that tomorrow also.

“Mama, when is my father coming back?”
“Hush darling, you know he is needed where he is more than here.” Her voice was hardly a whisper and it took great restraint not to cry out the pain that was bottled up inside her for days now. She felt her heart beating and it seemed to her to be a hand grenade, ready at any moment to explode and devastate her whole being. Her husband would not come back, she knew that. Her daughter must not know, now.
“Is he helping the sick people?”
“Yes, my heart of hearts, he is at the hospital and he is operating on the injured, helping them to get better.” She embraced the girl and started to sing her a lullaby. A soft, peaceful sound that reverberated in the darkness and calmed herself more than the child. A lullaby that was sung to her by her grandmother and her mother. A lullaby that she wanted her daughter to sing to her own children when she had them. But that was light years away, the priorities of the here and now dictated otherwise.

The whistling sound of a bomb falling, a flash of brilliant light and an explosion were followed by more. The child started in her arms and screamed. These bombs were falling too close! Her blood turned to ice and her eyes closed as she hugged her daughter to her breast.
“Mama! I wish papa was here now! He would protect us…”
“I'm here for you, my darling, I will not let them harm you, hush!” Her voice rang out above the sounds of explosions. The ground was shaking around them and the old timbers above them creaked. Showers of dust fell around them and the flash of the explosions illuminated them making them seem like a golden rain.

The house collapsed as if it were made of cards. Debris was hurled around the neighbourhood and the charred timbers pointed up accusingly as the bomber planes disappeared over the horizon. The village had been razed to the ground. Smoke billowed in dark clouds over slowly burning piles rubble and whimpers of the survivors under fallen walls were the only sound that could be heard now. Deep in a cellar a woman is quietly singing a lullaby clutching the child in her arms. She rocks her precious daughter in her arms amidst the ruins, and her tears stream down her face. The blackened skin of her cheeks is bleached as each hot droplet trickles down. Her voice breaks as she looks at the face of the lifeless child on her lap.

HAPPY 4th JULY!

“The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.” - Benjamin Franklin

Happy Independence Day to all my readers in the USA!

The Declaration of Independence is a document that was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4th, 1776, and it announced the separation of 13 North American British colonies from Great Britain. The Congress on July 2nd had “unanimously” resolved (by the votes of 12 colonies with New York abstaining), that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be Free and Independent States.” Accordingly, the day on which final separation was officially voted was July 2nd, although July 4th, the day on which the Declaration of Independence was adopted, has always been celebrated in the United States as the great national holiday, the Fourth of July, or Independence Day.

July 4th is a day of patriotic celebration and family events throughout the USA. In the words of Founding Father John Adams, the holiday is “the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance… It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

As it is a Summer holiday, the celebration of Independence Day mainly take place outdoors. Families often celebrate Independence Day by hosting or attending a picnic or barbeque and take advantage of the day off (and, in some years, long weekend) to gather with relatives. Red, white and blue decorations reflecting the colours of the American flag are put up in public spaces and outside homes. Parades are often in the morning, while fireworks displays occur in the evening at such places as parks, fairgrounds, or town squares.

The night before the Fourth of July was once the focal point of celebrations, marked by raucous gatherings often incorporating bonfires as their centerpiece. In New England, towns competed to build towering pyramids, assembled from hogsheads and barrels and casks. They were lit at nightfall, to usher in the celebration. The highest were in Salem, Massachusetts, composed of as many as forty tiers of barrels; these are the tallest bonfires ever recorded. The custom flourished in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and is still practiced in some New England towns.

Independence Day fireworks are often accompanied by patriotic songs such as the national anthem – “The Star-Spangled Banner”, “God Bless America”, “America the Beautiful”, “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”, “This Land Is Your Land”, “Stars and Stripes Forever”, and, regionally, “Yankee Doodle” in northeastern states and “Dixie” in southern states. Some of the lyrics recall images of the Revolutionary War or the War of 1812. A salute of one gun for each state in the United States, called a “salute to the union,” is fired on Independence Day at noon by any capable military base.

OPHELIA'S SONG

“Lay her i' the earth: And from her fair and unpolluted flesh May violets spring!” – William Shakespeare, “Hamlet” Act 5, Scene 1

Magpie Tales has chosen a beautiful Odilon Redon painting for this week’s prompt. Bertrand-Jean Redon, better known as Odilon Redon (April 20, 1840 – July 6, 1916) was a French symbolist painter, printmaker, draughtsman and pastellist. His beautiful pastel toned, flower-filled and richly contemplative art works well suit the subject of the painting above – “Ophelia”.

I could not resist the Shakespearean allusions, so here is my offering with apologies to the bard…

Ophelia’s Song

There’s rosemary that’s for remembrance,
And parsley (such a melancholy herb),
Sweet marjoram and pungent thyme
All for a posy of herbs watered with tears.

He says he loves, but is it me,
Or are his sighs and sunken cheeks
A sign of sweet affection
For another?

The cornflower’s blue – just like his eyes
And red his mouth, just like a fragrant rose –
There’s rue for me, and tears aplenty,
No balm nor basil will my painful heart assuage.

He looks at me and sees me not,
His heart too distant and his hand ice cold;
The fires within him burn, but
For another!

Oh laurel green, fit for a wreath,
And cypress dark and melancholy
Fit for my sorrow garden
Where opium poppies grow.

I wither as his thoughts are far removed from me,
His soul will seek me not,
While he would lay down his life
For another…

*****

And as the silvern moon sinks down the western sky,
Ophelia gently, sweetly, drowns…

MOVIE MONDAY - DEEP BLUE SEA

“For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)  it’s always ourselves we find in the sea.” - E. E. Cummings
 
We watched a Hollywood pulp film at the weekend, which I got when it was on special at the DVD store. I didn’t know any of the actors in it but the jacket had a good synopsis on it and it looked attractive, besides which it reminded me somewhat of the very successful “Jaws” of 1975, remember that classic? In any case it looked like typical Saturday afternoon matinée material, perfect for a rainy, winter’s afternoon with lots of popcorn on hand and the heater going at full blast – which was exactly what the conditions were when we watched it.
 

The film was Renny Harlin’s 1999 “Deep Blue Sea”, starring Thomas Jane, Saffron Burrows and Samuel L. Jackson. The plot was implausible, but what the heck, it was all set up for thrills and spills and the classic “evil shark vs helpless humans” idea. A comparison with “Jaws” is inevitable and the more recent film comes up lacking in terms plot, characterisation, acting and general look and feel of the film. However, we watched “Deep Blue Sea” with enough interest despite its obvious deficiencies. The main thing to remember if you are watching the film is “don’t take it seriously!”. This movie is not high art, it’s not about character development, it’s not even about a convoluted plot with lots of surprises. It’s just about CGI-generated sharks (very good!) and lots of action and blood and gore and guts. Oh, yes, it’s a typical “dick-flick”.
 
The plot centres on a group of scientists trying to genetically engineer the brains of sharks to help find a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease. Saffron Burrows is the lead scientist, who is very passionate about her research – so passionate in fact, that she becomes unethical in the way she conducts it and she breaks important rules about genetic engineering. The result is the creation of a trio of very big, very hungry and very smart sharks who hunt in packs and wipe out most of the humans in the ocean floating/underwater laboratory. The film has plenty of stomach-churning gore, but it is also tongue-in-cheek to a certain extent, helping its watchability.
 
Although this film is not cerebral and one doesn’t watch it for stellar performances by actors’ actors, most of the cast does quite well, within the script’s shortcomings. Rapper LL Cool J plays a preacher/cook and manages to defuse a lot of situations with humour and becomes a very human, likeable character. His encounter with a shark in a kitchen, I thought, was one of the highlights of the film. Thomas Jane has the “hero” part, and he dispenses with the role well, but it is a cliché role and a cliché performance. The sharks are the real stars, and they do well what they are meant to do – eat everyone and everything in their path.
 
Ultimately, I guess one can say the film is enjoyable as pulp entertainment, provided one doesn’t have high expectations of it. It has lots of blood and gore, so be prepared for that if you watch it. The CGI sharks are good and the action sequences and explosions are fine. It rolls along in a good pace and maintains viewer interest. Shakespeare, it’s not.

ART SUNDAY - ARCIMBOLDO

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast” – Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)
 
For Art Sunday today, a whimsical painter whose bizarre works have puzzled as well as delighted countless generation. Giuseppe Arcimboldo was born in Milan in 1527, the son of Biagio, a painter who did work for the office of the Fabbrica in the Duomo. Arcimboldo was commissioned to do stained glass window designs beginning in 1549. In 1556 he worked with Giuseppe Meda on frescoes for the Cathedral of Monza. In 1558, he drew the cartoon for a large tapestry of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, which still hangs in the Como Cathedral today. In 1562 he became court portraitist to Ferdinand I at the Habsburg court in Vienna, and later, to Maximilian II and his son Rudolf II at the court in Prague. He was also the court decorator and costume designer.

King Augustus of Saxony, who visited Vienna in 1570 and 1573, saw Arcimboldo’s work and commissioned a copy of his “The Four Seasons” which incorporated his own monarchic symbols. Vortumnus (Vertumno) Arcimboldo’s conventional work, on traditional religious subjects, has fallen into oblivion, but his portraits of human heads made up of vegetables, fruit and tree roots, were greatly admired by his contemporaries and remain a source of fascination today.

Art critics debate whether these paintings were purposefully painted strange or whether they were the product of a deranged mind. A majority of scholars hold to the view, however, that given the Renaissance fascination with riddles, puzzles, and the bizarre, Arcimboldo, far from being mentally imbalanced, catered to the taste of his times.  Arcimboldo died in Milan, to which he retired after leaving the Habsburg service. It was during this last phase of his career that he produced the composite portrait of Rudolph II, as well as his self-portrait as the Four Seasons.

His Italian contemporaries honoured him with poetry and manuscripts celebrating his illustrious career. His hidden-face still-lives are a possible influence on his younger Lombard contemporary Caravaggio, whose painting of fruit in the Brera museum in Milan ranks as one of the earliest independent still-lives.  When the Swedish army invaded Prague in 1648, during the Thirty Years' War, many of Arcimboldo’s paintings were taken from Rudolf II’s collection. 

His works can be found in Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Habsburg Schloss Ambras in Innsbruck, the Louvre in Paris, as well as numerous museums in Sweden. In Italy, his work is in Cremona, Brescia, and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. The Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford, Connecticut, the Denver Art Museum in Denver, Colorado, the Menil Foundation in Houston, Texas, and the Candie Museum in Guernsey also own paintings by Archimboldo.

The bizarre works of Arcimboldo, especially his multiple images, were rediscovered in the early 20th century by Surrealist artists like Salvador Dali. The “The Arcimboldo Effect” exhibition at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice (1987) included numerous 'double meaning' paintings.  Arcimboldo’s influence can also be seen in the work of Shigeo Fukuda, Istvan Orosz, Octavio Ocampo, and Sandro del Prete, as well as the films of Jan Svankmajer.

The painting above “A Bowl of Vegetables” is a typical example of a double image. When turned around 180˚, the bowl is transformed into a typical Arcimboldo face made up of vegetables, and one sees "The Gardener" who produced the vegetables!

THE STORM

“Absence doth sharpen love, presence strengthens it; the one brings fuel, the other blows it till it burns clear.” - William Shakespeare

For Song Saturday, “L’ Orage” (The Storm), a French song of 1966 sung by one of the great and distinctive voices of the time, Marie Lafôret. Seems very apt tonight…



L’ Orage

J'entends ce soir l'orage
Gronder sur la forêt
Je revois le visage
De ce dernier été
Près de toi, j'ai eu peur
Lorsque le ciel en fureur
A chassé les étoiles
Qui nous portaient bonheur

La pluie à mon oreille
Chante comme autrefois,
Nos souvenirs s'éveillent
Cette nuit malgré moi
Loin de toi, mon coeur bat
Je crois entendre ta voix
Mais ce n'est que l'orage
Qui me parle de toi

J'entends ce soir l'orage
Me parler de ce temps
Qui, tout comme un nuage,
S'est enfui dans le vent
Près de moi, tu disais
Sous la pluie qui m'inondait
"N'oublie pas que je t'aime
Quoi qu'il puisse arriver"

J'entends ce soir l'orage
Gronder sur la forêt
Je revois le visage
De ce dernier été, loin de toi
Chaque fois qu'un orage éclatera
Je m'en reviendrai seule
Vivre nos joies enfuies
Et j'aimerais qu'il pleuve
Tout au long de ma vie
________________________

“…The rain in my ear
Sings as it did then,
Memories of that night awakened,
In spite of myself.
Far from you, my heart beats,
And I think I hear your voice:
But it is only the storm
That speaks to me of you…”

A CONFERENCE DINNER

“Get to know the Chef and you will start to enjoy dining out even more.” - John Walters
 

I have been attending a conference for work at Crown Conference Centre here in Melbourne. It all went very well and was faultlessly organised with some interesting speakers and robust discussion after each of the sessions. Last night was the conference dinner, held in the Riverview Room with a stunning outlook onto the Yarra River and the city lights across the other bank. The dinner itself was excellent and served meticulously and relatively quickly given the large number of guests.

I had the following courses, which ran as follows:
•    Entrée – Pan-seared scallops wrapped with smoked salmon and served with a julienne of fresh celeriac with mayonnaise dressing
•    Main course – Beef steak on the bone with seasonal vegetables
•    Dessert – A trio of vanilla bean ice cream, mini date pudding and chocolate mousse slice dusted with cocoa
•    Coffee and hand-made chocolates.

Champagne, white and red wine were served and to cap it all off, a very good jazz trio played live. It was a delightful night, except for the after dinner speaker who unfortunately spoke interminably, told bad jokes and peppered everything he said with references to rugby, which his audience hardly appreciated. The evening was nevertheless an enjoyable one, given the high quality of the food and wine, as well as the excellent and prompt service.

Here is the recipe for the entrée:

Smoked Salmon Wrapped Scallops
Ingredients
6 large scallops (white part only)
6 strips of smoked salmon slices
1 celeriac rhizome
Mayonnaise
Olive oil
Toothpicks
Salt and pepper
Balsamic vinegar
Mustard sprouts for garnishing

Method
Peel the celeriac and grate it. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper and mix in a good quantity of home made mayonnaise. Reserve.
Wash the scallops and pat dry.
Wrap a smoked salmon slice strip around each scallop and secure with a toothpick.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and sear the scallops, about two minutes on each side, being careful not to overcook.
Serve three scallops on a dish that has been brushed with a stripe of balsamic vinegar
Place a spoonful or two of celeriac on the side and garnish with some mustard seed sprouts.

This post is part of the Food Friday meme,

and also part of the Food Trip Friday meme.

TEAMWORK

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” - Michael Jordan

It is now several weeks that I am at my new job and even though it has been a rather hectic time, while I learn the ropes, I am thoroughly enjoying it. My new colleagues have been very welcoming and helpful and I find the whole organisation quite different to what I have experienced in my past jobs. There is a great feeling of camaraderie and team spirit, and I have yet to experience any negativity or bitchiness, which unfortunately was very much the case in some of previous places of employ.

My new role involves leading a team of people, some of whom were already appointed when I joined the company while two more are being appointed at the present time. I report to an Executive Director who reports to the CEO. My job is very much one of communication, relationship-building and relationship-nurturing with a number of major tertiary education providers, as well as working with these universities to ensure high quality of their tertiary education programs and the offering of new programs through our institution. The team that I lead has a strong role to play institution-wide in terms of communication and relationship-building. My role is a newly created one as the company is rapidly expanding and there is huge growth in terms of personnel and specialisations in activity.

Getting a team together and facilitating its smooth and effective operation is a task that can be fraught with difficulties. In order to be an effective team member, whether one leads or works with others to bring about the overall success of the organisation, means that one has to understand firstly the mission and objectives of the organisation. One has to work closely with others in order to bring together different talents, diverse knowledge and experience, separate job tasks, a variety of personalities, work ethics and work styles in order to make the team coherent and unified in fulfilling the goals of not only the projects that it is working on, but also ensuring that the goals of the whole organisation are considered. Even though each member of a team has a specific role and task list and each may belong to different work groups, each member works with other members to accomplish the overall objectives. However, the leader must clearly define what the team needs to accomplish and how its goal fits into the bigger picture.

Successful team building is essential to create a focussed team that works well together and achieves results. Knowing something about each of the team members helps a leader work better with the team and this will help with task allocation so that each member can contribute the maximum to the team effort. This is why there are so many “team-building” activities that often have fun, or social context. Seeing your team members as individuals with personalities, knowing something about their likes and dislikes, their interests, hobbies and observing the way they interact with other people will allow you to make better decisions when the team is functioning in a professional context.

There must be clear communication to all team members what the expected outcomes of its work are, and how they are meant to perform to achieve these. Each team member must know why the team was created, and why they each are part of it. Adequate resources, time and money must be available to support the team’s work. The leader must ensure that the actions and tasks of team members are prioritised and that project milestones are reached.

The team must realise the importance of its activities, and how the outcomes of their work will help the organisation achieve its broader, communicated business goals. The organisation’s principles, vision and values must guide the team’s work and the leader must be able to clarify misunderstandings, resolve issues and communicate effectively on progress and achievements of the team, but also give timely advice regarding possible barriers and obstacles to the team achieving its goals. A good leader will elicit out of the team members a whole range of solutions to issues, and the team itself will then be able to get itself back on track.

It is important for team members to have commitment and to want to participate in the team. This is also part of a leader’s tasks, and clear explanations about the team’s mission and expected outcomes are vital. Team members must perceive that their activities are valuable to the organisation, but they must be aware also that their own careers and professional development are advanced. It is important to not only promise team members recognition for their contributions, but to also carry through with delivering rewards and recognition when the team achieves their goal. A good team will provide members with multiple opportunities to enhance their skill set and they should be able to demonstrate they have to grown and developed professionally while in the team. Team members should be excited and challenged by the opportunity to work together.

FIGS

“The man who is ostentatious of his modesty is twin to the statue that wears a fig-leaf” - Mark Twain
 

The fig tree, Ficus carica, is today’s birthday plant.  The fig was supposedly the first fruit tasted by Adam in the Garden of Eden and the fig leaf his first attire!  The Romans thought the tree sacred as it was a fig tree’s roots that caught the cradle containing Romulus and Remus as it was floating down the Tiber.  Therefore, a fig tree together with a grapevine and an olive tree were planted in the Roman Forum.

The tree symbolises argument and this is in respect of a Greek legend in which two famous soothsayers, Calchas and Mopsus were arguing as to which of the two was the greatest.  A fig tree laden with fruit was chosen as the arbiter and both attempted to guess the number of fruit on it. Calchas failed the test, pined away and died as the result.

Italians consider the tree unlucky as it is reputedly the tree upon which Judas hanged himself.  The Jews on the other hand see the tree as an emblem of peace and plenty.  A dream of figs indicates realisation of wishes, prosperity and happiness. Some oneirologists (dream interpreters) consider the fig as a symbol of the female genitalia.  Astrologically, the fig is assigned to Jupiter’s rule.

The fig is native to the temperate climate of Asia Minor (present day Turkey) and today is grown as important fruit of commerce in the eastern Mediterranean region, USA and Spain. However, it is also cultivated as a fruit tree in home gardens in temperate zones around the world. During each season it bears several hundred pear shaped fruits, twice a year, which vary in size and color depending on the cultivated variety.

Figs are low in calories, with 100 g fresh fruits providing only 74 calories. They contain health-benefitting soluble dietary fibre, minerals, vitamins and pigment anti-oxidants that contribute immensely to health and wellness. Dried figs are excellent source of minerals, vitamins and anti-oxidants. In fact dried fruits are a concentrated source of energy, with 100 g dried figs provide 249 calories.

Fresh figs, especially “black mission”, are high in polyphenolic flavonoid antioxidants such as carotenes, lutein, tannins and chlorogenic acid. Their antioxidant value is comparable to that of apples at 3200 µmol/100 g. In addition, fresh fruits contain adequate levels of some of antioxidant vitamins such as vitamin A, E, and K. Altogether these phytochemical compounds in fig fruit help scavenge harmful oxygen free radicals from the body and thereby protect us from cancers, diabetes, degenerative diseases and infections. Research suggests that chlorogenic acid in figs help lower blood sugar levels and control blood glucose levels in type-II diabetes mellitus (adult onset).

Fresh as well as dried figs contain good levels of the B-complex group of vitamins such as niacin, pyridoxine, folate and pantothenic acid. These vitamins function as co-factors for metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins and fats.  Dried figs are excellent sources minerals like calcium, copper, potassium, manganese, iron, selenium and zinc. 100 g of dried figs contain 640 mg of potassium, 162 mg of calcium, and 2.03 mg of iron. Potassium in an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure. Copper is required in the production of red blood cells. Iron is required for red blood cell formation as well for cellular oxidation.

MURDERER

“Murder is born of love, and love attains the greatest intensity in murder” - Octave Mirbeau
 

“Touch of Evil” is a classic, Orson Welles film noir made in 1958. It is a stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping, and police corruption in a Mexican border town. Orson Welles, Charlton Heston, Vivien Leigh and Akim Tamiroff give stellar performances and the movie is gripping and has a plot line that is engaging and keeps you on the edge of your seat. Magpie Tales this week has selected a still from the movie as a point of departure for the creative endeavours that are highlighted by her blog every week. Here is my contribution:

Murderer

He kills with ease, his hands are quick;
A knife, a gun, some rope
A “blunt object”…
His actions are deliberate,
He thinks long and hard
Before he executes.

He watches still, unmoving
And dispassionate, as his victims die;
His face a mask,
A waxen simulacrum of humanity,
As he snuffs out life
And gets a surge of power.

He touches slowly,
His fingers cool and probing,
Taking the coldness of steel
To give it to flesh expiring:
The touch of evil
Carries deadly caresses.

And as I watch him
Carry out his execution
With surgical precision,
I let myself be washed into
The tide of death’s oblivion
As my heart falters, trips, stops.

Unable to stop him,
Incapable of any reaction,
No cry, no struggle, no protection,
No instinct of self-preservation,
To end his assassination
Of a heart that loved too much.

MOVIE MONDAY - HOLLYWOODLAND

“The final mystery is oneself.” - Oscar Wilde
 

When I was young I remember reading the Superman comics avidly and enjoying this particular character the most out of the all the superheroes that populated the newsagent stand in the comics section. I also remember watching with my friends the reruns of the 1952-1958 TV series “Superman” starring George Reeves. Sure enough the episodes were corny and clunky and badly made, but they still somehow managed to fire up the imagination and bring the comics to life. I soon outgrew both the comics and TV series, but like all things in our childhood, there is a strong sense of nostalgia that accompanies our memories of them.

When I saw at the video store the 2006 Allen Coulter film “Hollywoodland” and read the notes on the cover, I was a little intrigued, because the film was based on the mystery surrounding the death of George Reeves, officially by suicide, although there were all sorts of stories that suggested foul play may have been involved. I didn’t know anything about the life or death of the actor and as the summary of the plot looked interesting I got the DVD to watch. It starred Ben Affleck as George Reeves, Adrien Brody as Louis Simo, the private eye investigating his death, Dianne Lane as Toni Mannix, Reeves’ lover, and Bob Hoskins as Eddie Mannix, Toni’s husband.

The plot of the film has as follows: Louis Simo, a struggling third-rate LA private investigator, is hired by Helen Bessolo to investigate the death of her son, actor George Reeves. Simo has come across this job through his connections and the job is given to him as a returned favour by a former colleague. Reeves was best known for his title role in Superman, a role which he always despised, in part since it typecast him as a “cartoon” and because it prevented him being considered a “serious” actor. He died on June 16th, 1959 as a result of a single gunshot wound to the head, while in his bedroom in his Los Angeles home. Police ruled a suicide, although the death occurred while guests were in the house and even though the death wasn’t reported until 45 minutes following the shot being heard. The story of Reeves life and death is told in flashback as Simo, who is trying to make a name for himself with this case, talks to or tries to talk to some of the players involved, most specifically the wife of MGM General Manager, Eddie Mannix.

The film is quite hazy about what may have really happened and the viewer is left hanging, especially as the last scene fades and one wants to scream: “Don’t end like that, now!” However, on reflection, I think that the suspension and inconclusiveness in that last scene is quite powerful and contributes to the mystery. It tends to suggest that real life is like this. Full of unsolved mysteries, murders that never get figured out, people who disappear without a trace and criminals who get away with it. And of course add to that the millions who commit suicide and nobody ever gets to know the real reason why they do it.

The film was made with the “film-noir” genre in mind, the 1950s Hollywood setting recreated well, the sets, costumes and ambience looking authentic. The film makes several intriguing suggestions about the death of Reeves and three different “solutions” to the actor’s death are shown, one of them including the official suicide version. We enjoyed the film, although it was a trifle too long and some of the subplots were a distraction rather than adding to the story. The actors all played well and the flashback sequences illustrating the life of Reeves were one of the most interesting parts of the movie.

Diane Lane is great to watch first as a gorgeous vamp and then as the frustrated older woman. Ben Affleck rises to the occasion and gives a great performance. The two lovers play well and there is chemistry between them. Bob Hoskins is another actor who makes the most of his role and play with enough restraint and great conviction to develop a very real, frightening persona on screen. Adrien Brody was miscast as the detective and he struggles to convince. Besides which, the subplot centering on his family life is quite marginal to the plot and distracts.

We recommend the film and it is certainly one to hunt out and watch. It explores the dirty world of Hollywood and shows some of the rust on the tinsel of the place.