tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-150582382024-02-20T20:12:51.357-06:00gallimauphry musings"Acceptance on someone else's terms is worse than rejection." Mary Cassattdavidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.comBlogger217125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-20811973875496970682015-11-07T20:33:00.000-06:002015-11-07T20:34:36.351-06:00A New Miniatures Blog
Interested in learning more about miniatures?
Check out claudonmini.blogspot.com
davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-84281639366930204202012-07-26T22:24:00.002-05:002012-07-26T22:26:23.382-05:00Seen in the Dark
http://seeninthedark.blogspot.com.
I challenged myself to seeing and reviewing 100 films in 100 days. I'm calling it Seen in the Dark.
To check it out, click here.davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-49099145714850279822011-07-19T10:49:00.000-05:002011-07-19T10:49:23.286-05:00The Movie Goer: The Tree of Life and Beginners
"Death ends a life, but it does not end a relationship which struggles on in the Survivor's mind toward some resolution which it may never find." So says the main character in Robert Anderson's I Never Sang for My Father. The last two films I have seen in two days deal with that struggle of sons dealing with their father's (and their) failings. In fact, the main character in one of them says, “davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-70449376234567634762011-05-30T16:04:00.000-05:002011-05-30T16:04:26.246-05:00The Moviegoer: Midnight in ParisWoody Allen created a love song to Manhattan in his movie of the same title, filling it with beautiful images of the city. Over thirty years later, he has created another love song, this time to Paris. The opening images before the credits are glorious images of the city from morning to evening. If you have never been to Paris, this opening may just convince you to go.In his latest romantic davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-66343108757648049342011-05-22T20:39:00.002-05:002011-05-23T10:13:45.147-05:00The Lost Books of The Odyssey: A NovelThe Lost Books of The Odyssey: A Novel by Zachary Mason
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
In The Lost Books of The Odyssey: A Novel, Zachary Mason tells and sometimes retells new versions of the familiar and unfamiliar from The Odyssey and The Iliad. As someone who enjoys Homer immensely, I loved this book.
Here, unfettered by Homer's version, Penelope marries Menelaus, Telemachus has a sister, davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-32608305610188473132011-05-14T20:35:00.001-05:002011-05-14T21:26:17.124-05:00The Moviegoer: The Double HourIn The Double Hour, an Italian film from 2009 but just released here, Sonia is a bored chambermaid. Guido, a former cop, is a bored widowed security guard. They meet at a speed-dating club. He's drawn to her and they begin a romance. Gradually conventional story-telling is disrupted when we suddenly learn that Guido was killed in a robbery attempt where Sonia was also wounded. Dead Guido davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-4347739462340616722011-05-14T19:45:00.000-05:002011-05-14T19:45:43.170-05:00The SparrowThe Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A group of seven explorers, sponsored by the Jesuits, set off on a mission to the planet Rakhat. Think Avatar with priests, scientists, two Sigourney Weaver characters (one young, one old), and a complex main character priest who becomes the only survivor of the journey. We know from the beginning that things end badly, but the suspensedavidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-77098961768354178452011-05-10T18:10:00.001-05:002011-05-14T21:26:52.178-05:00The Moviegoer: Lars and the Real Girl
As my class discussed Frankenstein and A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, we discussed the question posed earlier on in Speilberg’s film—Could you get a person to love a robot? I pointed out to them how subversive that question becomes in Speilberg’s film because he casts Haley Joel Osment as this advanced child robot who constantlypulls at the heart-strings of the audience. Most agreed how davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-77763838526998913402011-05-06T18:37:00.002-05:002011-05-14T21:27:11.953-05:00The Moviegoer: Thor
Marvel comic book movies have basic elements one expects: awe-inspiring confrontations, simple plots that even children can follow, two-dimensional characters, adult humor, and good looking male protagonists who fall in love with beautiful women in romantic side-stories which the women in the audience can enjoy. In those areas, Thor doesn't fail to deliver. Production values are high. The mise davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-7274659937834205572011-04-10T17:01:00.002-05:002011-04-10T17:01:57.682-05:00Anonymous Trailer.What if Shakespeare never wrote a word of what he is credited with writing?
davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-14533004887625892112011-04-02T15:01:00.009-05:002011-05-14T21:27:38.940-05:00The Moviegoer: The Lathe of Heaven meets Source Code
davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-41184878004347211802011-03-25T22:30:00.003-05:002011-04-02T15:46:53.255-05:00The Moviegoer: Certified CopySpoiler Alert
During my Spring Break movie marathon, I was intrigued by the trailer for the 2010 French film, Certified Copy, which was playing in Chicago. I found the film beautifully acted by Juliet Binoche and British opera singer William Shimell in his film debut. Like Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, the film concentrates on the dialogue of two characters as they flirt and get to know each davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-5097568966204233672011-03-25T21:59:00.002-05:002011-04-02T15:48:49.944-05:00The Moviegoer: UnknownWhen Unknown came out, I wasn't really interested in seeing it. I had been intrigued by the trailer, but opening around the time that heavily panned Red Riding Hood and Battle: LA, it didn't draw me in. During my Spring Break marathon, however, I remembered the trailer, checked it out and decided to try out the movie.
The movie appears to be a straight-forward story of Dr. Martin Harris davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-38796869163469030942011-03-25T19:28:00.001-05:002011-04-02T15:50:46.541-05:00The Moviegoer: Getting Paul HomeI was primed to see Paul as I rewatched Hot Fuzz on television. I have enjoyed the work of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost since their movie Shaun of the Dead. Their wacky sense of humor meshes with mine and after seeing them deal with murder mysteries (Fuzz) and zombies (Shaun), I was anxious to see them take on aliens and Roswell. (Am I just imaging Pegg and Frost the modern-day descendents of Abbot davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-36089230061125243732011-03-25T19:09:00.002-05:002011-04-02T15:51:59.918-05:00The Moviegoer: LimitlessWithin the last week, I have spent time doing what I love to do--going to movies. I talked in the last entry about Jane Eyre. Since then I have seen four more films, all of which were good entertainment and which I can recommend highly.
Limitless
I have been a fan of Bradley Cooper's for what seems a long time, actually since his work in Sex and the City. One my favorite moments in The davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-4716611269190971992011-03-18T15:53:00.002-05:002011-04-02T15:53:15.862-05:00The Moviegoer: A New Jane
Talbot's The Fruit Sellers, ca 1845, from Wikipedia Commons.
William Henry Fox Talbot [a contemporary of Louis Daguerre, inventor of the daguerreotype] left a legacy of fascinating of English photographs called calotypes, a process he patented in 1841. The unique look of Talbot's work was obviously the inspiration for the 2011 BBC film version of Jane Eyre, starring Mia davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-86374837466384477742011-02-28T12:56:00.007-06:002011-04-05T23:28:59.650-05:00Swanson's ManhuntAttorney and Lincoln scholar James L. Swanson writes fascinating history in his book, Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer. Swanson tells with cinematic detail the story of Lincoln, Booth, Stanton and the others.
Here are 25 interesting details regarding the Lincoln assassination:
John Wilkes Booth
Booth had originally planned to kidnap President Lincoln and convey him davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-81277898707606925762011-02-19T11:21:00.003-06:002011-04-02T15:57:59.615-05:00The Moviegoer: Chris and Don: A Love StoryI waited to see my Netflix offering, Chris and Don: A Love Story, until I had finished reading Christopher Isherwood’s The Sixties: Diaries 1960-1969 (ed. Katherine Bucknell). The film documents the love story of Isherwood and his companion Don Bachardy, from their meeting on a beach in California to Isherwood’s death in 1986. Isherwood, best known as the author of The Berlin Stories (which davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-86385256358169940792011-02-03T17:46:00.007-06:002011-04-02T15:59:15.988-05:00The Moviegoer: Catfish
I had heard about "Catfish" when it came out, but it disappeared from the area before I got to see it. Well, I rented it on Netflix and want to make sure everyone on Facebook sees it.
The setup for the film (a documentary) is photographer Niv meets Megan and her family on Facebook. Gradually he becomes drawn deeper and deeper into a relationship while his friends decide to document their davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-2065801694825063162011-01-28T12:57:00.009-06:002011-02-13T00:10:16.326-06:00Lexington (IL) History: A Merrill Carte de Visite & the 1860 CensusThis is the first carte de visite in my collection that actually comes from Lexington (IL) during the Civil War period.
The young lady’s picture appears from ca1865. (It is possible that I am a couple years off, but the picture is not before 1864.) Her hair is parted in the middle and made into sausage curls. Over her bodice and long sleeves is a v-necked short-sleeved jacket of ruching or davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-53898469385997910932010-09-28T18:09:00.001-05:002010-09-28T18:09:45.931-05:00A Woman's Touch: The National Museum of Women
Watch more free documentariesWhen I taught History and Thought of Western Man, I always thought it important that part of the Art Recognition tests included major women artists throughout history. Here's a museum that supports that view. Anyone who took HTWM will recognize many of the names.
For more information on women artists in history, check out the following books.
davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-50043340745377642022010-09-21T23:39:00.000-05:002010-09-21T23:39:03.123-05:00Sing Me a StoryI'm continuing on a unit about storytelling and tomorrow we're going to look at what happens when stories are collected into songs.
We've already talked some about storytelling. An NPR report on storytellig suggests that part of what draws us to stories is that we analyze our own lives in the stories we hear. For me, the combination of music and a strong story can be a powerful work.
Here's davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-4409051761584548902010-09-12T23:35:00.002-05:002010-09-12T23:35:22.298-05:00Inception Catdavidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-64512671791578373042010-09-12T23:30:00.001-05:002010-09-12T23:33:11.979-05:00Sculpting Demo by Philippe Farautdavidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15058238.post-72137236360728451522010-09-12T17:46:00.007-05:002010-09-12T20:00:25.041-05:00Museum SightingsI love visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
davidop175http://www.blogger.com/profile/18332426096609930376noreply@blogger.com0