OOPS-A THROWBACK BILLBOARD and La FAMIGLIA

OOPS

   You've probably seen those photos purported to be from India or Pakistan where power and phone lines lace through a rickety neighborhood. Well, this "brilliant" engineering is from San Luis Obispo where a gasoline station has decided to suspend the fan from a power cord!  And it's not far from Cal Poly, where smart folk abound.

LaFAMIGLIA

Picture Perfect

    The Stolo Family Vineyard and Winery hosted a wine club gathering at the family home.

    A bocce tourney played out under the Cambria sunshine.

    The pizza oven was prolific as was the expert from Mama's Meatballs.

   While Don and Charlene tended to the homemade Italian sausage, made by Don, Fiscalini style.

BLOOMS AT OUR GATE

A THROWBACK BILLBOARD  

     Sport anchor Don Hein, news anchor Betsy Ross, news anchor TC and weather man extraordinare' Bob Gregory.

     Despite the self serving nature of the comment, we were an excellent team and under the news directorship of Bob Campbell-a newsman's newsman. 

     See you down the trail.

GOOD IS GOOD-GREAT IS BETTER and A THROWBACK

ENTERTAINED

AMUSED

MOVED

     "I just love films. I have since I was a kid," my friend Troy says sitting on a shaded park bench, near the theatre he and Syrie had departed while Lana and I are on the way to the box office, our third time in three days.  Yea, we love films too.

        A MOST WANTED MAN

     A masterful John le Carre' intrigue populated by a great cast including another brilliant Phillip Seymour Hoffman portrayal. I mourned this great actor's tragic death seeing him embody the wizened soul of Gunther Bachman, a German counter terrorism spy running the snares of life including bone headed politicians and their sycophants. Hoffman seamlessly weaves a character into life. He gets first class cooperation from Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright and Grigori Dobrygin. The excellent Daniel Bruhl (RUSH, THE FIFTH ESTATE) shines in a supporting role. Wright's performance as a CIA executive is so good you may end up wishing her a bad outcome. 
      Director Anton Corbijn and screenwriter Andrew Bovell do le Carre' and this great cast a great service. A MOST WANTED MAN is entertaining, with more than a hint of truth.  As an old spy quoted to me-"There's a lot of fiction in truth and a lot of truth in fiction."

I WISH I WAS HERE

     Lana and I consider this a great film.  Zach Braff, who gave us Garden State, ups his skill as director, writer and star in this smart, funny, challenging and moving cinema art.

       Braff is a clever actor and his co-stars were incredible. Kate Hudson and Mandy Patinkin create roles that will stay with you.  Patinkin as the aging patriarch, and Hudson as Braff's long suffering and supportive wife. Pierce Gagnon is a cute son and Josh Gad as the genius ner-do-well brother displays his great comedic chops as awarded in his Broadway work the Book of Mormon. Young Joey King as daughter Grace can break your heart with just a look. She stole several scenes, and you'll see why.

       Some scenes are indelible; Patinkin in a couple of moments not to be disclosed so as to not spoil the plot,  Hudson and Braff's interaction by a washing machine as a couple "rediscovering" each other. Hudson is brilliant here.  And there are precious moments with Braff with his running interior dialogue.

       Beside the obvious story line and full screen entertainment there is the lasting truth of coming to understand limits to dreams. It can be tough to come to a realization about goals for a life.  As Braff says "We can't all be the super heroes, some of us are the ones who need to be rescued."

       This is another important work from a superbly talented story teller.

AND SO IT GOES

     Rob Reiner is another great director and I consider this film as his tribute to a 1940's era romantic comedy, coupled by in this case two Academy Award winners who you just enjoy watching.
       Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton could read letters to the editor and light up the screen.  Douglas as a cranky realtor, living next to a fragile and frequently tearful lounge singer Keaton set up plenty of light, though still probing moments that are well crafted by Reiner's talent as a director and humorist.  Reiner himself dons a terrible toupee and makes a supporting appearance as Artie the always smiling but somewhat hapless piano player.
       Cute is an appropriate description. There is nothing ponderous, but there are nice reflections on family, forgiveness, finding romance later in life and getting past grief. This is a feel good, date night type film.  And during this summer season Reiner's stunning visual treatment of Connecticut lake country feels like a vacation.

LAUNCHING IMAGINATIONS

      Memories of this visit to the shore will last while.

FILLING THE BAY

    Smooth sailing on this side of Morro Rock, inside the bay.

THROWING IT IN THROWBACK

   It may have been a few years ago, but once I had a vertical leap! The arms, hand and wrist tell you I have just let go with an outside jump shot.  I'm thinking, "nothing but net!"  Where did that slender hot shot go?  Well, it was 1964.

   See you down the trail.

        

        

NATURAL RHYTHMS AND HUMAN RIDDLES

HOW DO YOU RESPOND?

   While there is no shortage of terror, horrible events and violence in the world, the kidnapping of those 250 Nigerian school girls by the Islamic extremists Boko Haram has been especially troubling.

     You have empathy for families, but what can we do?

It's a challenge to all nations and to our own sense of justice.  
      People of faith are called to love, even enemies, but that flies in the face of what seems a natural response to such wanton aggression and violence. Defining and then doing the right thing is another rocky step on the sometime treacherous journey of being a human.

     As my old radio colleague Lou Palmer might say,

"While of predators, consider this…."

COUGAR ALERT

   Local authorities report 3 cougar sightings on the north coast of San Luis Obispo County, including on our ridge. The locations above are close; wide open spaces that surround Cambria and its thickets, canyons, forests and wooded hills.    This is prime territory for cougars, made inviting by the abundance of deer, wild turkey, fox, coyote, coons, ground critters and pets. People report family cats being taken by the mountain lions.

    We face western grazing slopes where new calves are attractive to the predators, as are the many fawns. It is  chilling that two of the sightings have been in neighborhoods considerably more populated than ours. 

Authorities tell parents to make sure young children are not left alone outside, especially at twilight.

    We've been advised on ways to respond, should we encounter a cougar. The advice is similar to what we've been told when hiking in Alaska where the issue is grizzly bear.  

THE THURSDAY THROWBACK

   Speaking of Alaska, this archive shot is near the summit of Mt Redoubt a 10,197 foot active stratovolcano in the Aleutian range in 2001.

    Working on a documentary for Discovery we chartered a chopper to fly around the mountain with a USGS scientist who was measuring the relationship between earthquakes, magma flow and eruptions. As director I assigned myself to be second camera.

     No eruptions this day though Redoubt frequently spits or blows. It shuts Anchorage airport and coats the region in ash and spew.
     It was "a good day in the office." You can never do enough location shooting.

Photo Courtesy of Geology.com

      See you down the trail.

   

LIKE A GIRL, CATS, BLOOMS AND CONTROVERSY

LIKE A GIRL

   Procter and Gambles' Always brand has generated nearly 18 million views and much more conversation with their "Like a Girl" campaign in social media.

   As the father of two women, strong individualists with extraordinary skill sets and accomplishments and of whom I am proud, I love the message and punch of this video.

    To those who take exception, get over it.  Hard to believe, but there are still people who don't think women should be ordained ministers, or be a CEO, or take command in battle, and etc.  Hate to break it to you, but the earth is not flat either!

ANGRY CATS

    What an attitude that a foggy and cool morning can prompt.  They found a way to our second floor bedroom deck and stirred me from sleep with "Hey bud, our paws are wet out here!"

 DEDICATED TO

ALL GIRLS AND BOYS

ON THE WAY TO ADULTHOOD

A THROWBACK

     Long time friend and mentor, Bruce AKA Catalyst started me rummaging through old files when he started his Throwback Thursday photos. You can link to his blog in the column to the right.  Here's a real oldie--from the 70's.  I'm addressing a few thousand people from the terrace of the Arts Building at Ball State. I was a young journalist covering the environmental beat and was asked to keynote the Earth Day observances.

See you down the trail.