Mothers and Daughters

So my dearest friend of 25 years returns to NYC and within a few days we receive this photo of our girls, Samantha and Liz, 23 and 25 y.o., respectively, from the Big Apple.   It's been a few years since they've seen each other but those happy smiles tell it all.  These young women spent hours together when they were little girls.  They produced plays, thwarted their big brothers' attempts to over power them, had a shared active fantasy life, slept over each others homes, comforted each other, giggled until you laughed right with them.  Pam and I schlepped them to plays, films, shopping, restaurants, museums, different cities and created a history that brings smiles to their Moms' hearts..  Such nice memories brought to the surface by this spontaneous image.  I'm sure they were fully aware how happy Pam and I would be to see them reunited.

What Would Never Happen in Brooklyn #3

So when we realized we had a water pressure problem I called our regular plumber from ABC.  He comes out and checks and tells us rather than replacing a pressure valve for big bucks why don't I call the city and ask them to come check the water meter and make sure it's not clogged.  While he's here he takes off two hose heads we were unable to remove with numerous people trying all week.  He charges us $0 and of course I send him off with home baked cookies. So first  I call the 311# and get a courteous and helpful response and connection to  the City Water Dispatcher and another pleasant woman tells me someone will be out TODAY and will leave a note on my door.
So here's how this plays out in Brooklyn:  I make five calls to get the correct number never speaking with a live human.  When I get a live person she/he will be short, rushed, annoyed, take all of my personal info, put me on hold and then I'll get cut off.  Start the same process over again and repeat all of my info to be told someone will be out after I fill out forms and return them to some NYC Bureau.  After the forms are sent and lost and sent again someone comes out (3 weeks later) and leaves no written outcome.  It takes another week to get their determination.  The city will charge me $600 (approximately) for their review and then I'll hire a plumber who will charge me about $1500 or more.  Meanwhile I'm showering at the gym everyday and Abe takes twenty minutes each shower to get wet!

Today Austin may be the 11th largest city but it's the #1 BEST in overall helpfulness!

HARVEY at ZACH Theater

Pam asked that we see this production and both she and Ira were thrilled with the new renovation of the ZACH.  Hats off and much admiration for Martin Burke who brought us a fine interpretation of the sweet alcoholic and his imaginary 6 foot friend (a rabbit). We all noted how different his character was from Jimmy Stewart who played this role back in the 50's on film. Marijane Vandivier was absolutely perfect as the visiting aunt who is aghast at her nephew's antics.  It's always a pleasure to see MJ on stage.  She is an acting teacher at ACC who tried unsuccessfully to get me to lose my NY accent.  While Lauren Lane and Michael Stuart offered fine performances as Elwood's sister and psychiatrist and received some good laughs I found the performance to not engage me as I would have hoped.  I couldn't tell if it was the story or the truthfulness of the performances.  Once you study with Laurel Vouvray you never again approach actors with the same mind set.  I don't mind that.  It keeps me acutely aware of the importance of being truthful in an imaginary moment. A fine experience shared with Brooklyn friends who really liked the performance.

FLOUR AND VINE

The new restaurant on S. Lamar that replaced Hugo's is wonderful.  We had tickets for Zach theater and noticed a deal for free appetizers with tickets so thought we'd give it a shot with our Brooklyn buddies, Pam and Ira.  Wow!   Fried green tomatoes, bibb lettuce leaves wrapped around an awesome sauteed chicken and mushroom concoction, battered shrimp and the best fried green tomatoes I've ever tasted were our appetizers.  We ate veggie lasagne, black drum wrapped in parchment, a lamb pasta dish and we were all thrilled.  This is a great restaurant that deserves a very loud shout out!  Brooklyn was in the house and we were delighted.  Prices are very very reasonable.  Dustin our waiter provided warm, humorous, elegant service.  I always love showing my Brooklyn friends just how good life in Austin is.

'Tokyo Story' at the Marchesa Hall/Austin Film Society

Last night's Essential Cinema selection was one of the best films I've seen in my lifetime.  This film made in Japan  in 1953 by Yasajiro Ozu is considered one of the 10 greatest films throughout the world.  (Of course Chale Nafus'  program notes brings us so much information you don't even have to "google.")  This director brings us a view of "family" that will immediately defy any assumptions you have made about Japanese filial loyalty.  An aging couple from the countryside decide to visit their children in Tokyo and from there we are invited to see what really happens in many families.  Children have little time, little interest, and are incredibly self- centered.  When asked by other's  "aren't you looking forward to grandparenthood?" I will refer them to this film.  The daughter-in-law whose husband died in WWII is the touch of grace in this film.  She is kind, devoted, loyal and I just wanted to sit next to her to be in her grace.  We learn from the notes Ozu was a prolific director making 54 films in 35 years and fortunate to use the same cast and crew.  It is his story telling I loved the best about this film.  It is not flooded with dialogue.  The words spoken are important so you listen intently.  The message comes through loud and clear and is uttered softly and silently.

AFS will be bringing a new art house cinema to Austin.  That is good.  Damn, I wish an F train went there!

South Austin Gallery

A shout out to this incredibly professional, creative, artistic, vintage framing shop on South 1st Street. Located  in the same shopping site with Soup Peddler on Mary Street.  Their prices cannot be beat.  So affordable! Abe and I collect posters, graphic art and bring the stuff right there.  Liz and other photographers we know have their work framed there as well.  Vintage frames are brought in weekly so there is always a good selection.  And they do a terrific job of matting. There is Austin memorabilia art, vintage clothing and the most helpful women there to assist.  I promised them a post and I am so happy to recommend this wonderful Austin gallery.

Oy Vey Old Sport:'GATSBY'

Baz Luhrmann has created an extravaganza of visual beauty and excess based on an empty story.  Who cares a hoot about these characters?  Daisy Buchanan has no life, is pathetically empty, and you would never know she was a mother.  She wished she had a girl so the girl could grow up to be  foolish.  And that is what she is!  To watch a two hour film based on men's desire for her is painful!!!!  Nick Carraway, the writer is talented and would have done much better to write about people who matter.  Sorry, the story is flawed and I have no idea why it's required reading in High School.  Sometimes alcoholic writers do not deserve the acclaim we give them.  Sometimes they write personal drivel and we should leave it at that!

UT RTF Graduation 2013

Abe and I traveled up to Frank Erwin Center to watch tomorrow's filmmakers, journalists, speech pathologists, advertising Mad Men and Women graduate.  Special hugs and warm congratulations to Malina Panovich and Haley Elizabeth Anderson and their wonderful families.  These hard working young women have shown me just how diverse and intelligent and unique young Texans can be.  I love them and hats off to them!

Mother's Day 2013

For the first time in 11 years I spent Mother's Day with my kids.  I was so happy...over the moon happy.  We went up to campus to see MFA non-thesis films and the best was Lauren Kinsler's 'King Bling.'  A scholarship paying entry to film festivals was awarded to Lauren and very well deserved.  We then came home to delicious food from Central Market and my pleading for photos.  And for Mother's Day Abe had framed a wonderful print of an East Side door taken by Liz, my favorite  photographer.  Josh and Liz presented heartfelt words, well thought out gifts and themselves!  I am a lucky woman who feels great gratitude today.

UT RTF Undergraduate Thesis Films

I sat and watched like a proud mama the students whose films I've been in the last three years.  And oh, how they've grown and developed.  Haley Anderson's 'Smoke Ring' is a film about a brother and sister feeling their mother's absence painfully.  Jamaal Happens celebrates the inclusion of gay men  and "coming out" in a unique, funny  and sensitive film.  Malina Panovich (my very first director ever) writes, directs and stars in a sensual film about choosing one's road in life.  Amanda Yam captivates us with a film about a mermaid yearning to return home.  Oh, I loved all of these films.  There were so many others presented today as well that made me so happy to hear these young filmmakers want to pursue their passions and continue making films.  In Austin!  Oh yes!  Tomorrow's filmmakers.

ZUMBA at Ballet Austin

Needed to spice up my daily work-out schedule at Gold's gym so I opted to take a zumba class at Ballet Austin.  This class was goooood!  Phil Amador was  energetic, experienced, up beat, gave clear directions, and provided a good variety of sets.  There were 10 women in the class (in Brooklyn the same amount of studio space has 30 people and a security guard to keep people not signed up out of the room!) I just loved that a young woman in the class has a sister living in Brooklyn Heights and attending Medical School at Downstate in Brooklyn.  Love being reminded of my Brooklyn/Austin connections.
 Free parking underneath City Hall and across the street from LEAF, a great salad cafe.  I've already signed up for next Wednesday's class!

'The Wages of Fear'/Austin Film Society

The trek up to the Marchesa Hall was well worth it tonight for this classic French film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot.  This 1953 thriller has it all.  Four European men in a desolate and impoverished Latin American town agree to transport nitroglycerine through an incredibly hazardous terrain for a nice sum of money.  Their task is to bring it to an American oil field which has a fire raging.  Yves Montand has a starring role and the three other leads are fabulous! Suspenseful, political, beautifully shot with intense dramatic scenes between the four men had the audience at the edges of their seats.  Copious program notes were given to us by Chale Nafus, Program Director which makes you feel like you've completed a course on Clouzot's films.  Only down side is that we really miss our Alamo South Lamar theater.  In the hood, fun, food, drinks and those great warnings telling you you'll be thrown out if you talk, text, or bother anyone. 

'THE COMPANY YOU KEEP' and Cinco De Mayo

I like being reminded of my activist days back in the sixties and miss the passion of the times. I was eager to see Robert Redford's film with a cast filled with 60+ year old actors and to revisit that time in my life.   So Redford's film about the Weather Underground and what has happened to it's members since is a good thriller about the consequences that come to follow us as we age.  There's a moral story here.  If you weren't at the bank where a security guard got killed then you're a good guy.  If you participated in a bank robbery where a security guard was killed then you're not good..guy or gal.  So here you have people on the run with new identities being brought back to their pasts and being forced to do the right thing when a young reporter (an adorable Shia La Beouf) comes nosing around.  Redford, Julie Christie, Nick Nolte, Susan Sarandon, Sam Elliott,et al have all aged...some better than others.  But it was good to see everyone working in great roles.  I can't leave without mentioning the awful hair on Redford and Christie...real or not...so unnatural and silly!
Cinco De Mayo on 2nd Street never disappoints.  Delicious margaritas, great music and tons of happy people dancing, singing and having fun.  So happy it was a totally safe day for all.

42

I am a sucker for films about what's right.  I get totally absorbed in the story, cry, laugh, and cheer when the bad folks get put down in any way possible (including murder.) Yesterday's film found me and two other women sitting alone in the huge Westgate 11 Regal cinema to watch this powerful film about the journey Jackie Robinson took as the first black baseball player in the Major Leagues.  I'm not a baseball person but I am a lover of desegregation history.  Nothing gets me more passionate than watching our history unfold and Jim Crow rednecks losing. Only 50 years ago students were hosed down and set upon with dogs when they walked out of classes in the south protesting segregated schools.  So watching this amazing story about a great couple, Jackie and Rachel Robinson, looking hatred straight in the face and stepping around it is a great reminder of our painful past.  Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey the Brooklyn Dodgers owner sees a market for including black players on his team because there are so many black fans in Brooklyn.  But his character develops and when asked again by Jackie "why are you doing this Mr. Rickey?" a more honest answer develops.  Chadwick Boseman and Nicole Beharie had me believing they were the real thing.  I LOVED this film and so did the three women in the theater who represented  black, white, the north and south.  When the credits came on we all applauded!!!