My 'Unofficial' Top 10 Films of the Year

This will be my last entry before heading to Mexico...........just for a few days.....:)

My unofficial top 10 (because by no means have I seen enough wrothy films yet) are:

1. Borat
2. Little Miss Sunshine
3. The Prestige
4. Crossing the Bridge: Istanbul (documentary about Turkish musicians by Turkish-German director Fatih Akin)
5. Three Times (Taiwan)
6. United 93
7. Half Nelson
8. Science of Sleep
9. The Devil and Daniel Johnson (doc)
10. The Queen

Turkish dancer in Md. is making waves

I came across an interview from the fall of 2005 with Turkish dancer Nejla Y. Yatkin. It was with the Fairfax, Va. cable access program "Turkish American Hour" (see link below). Yatkin, who speacializes in modern dance, is based in Maryland. Yatkin will be performing in Germantown, Md. on March 24. Her web site contains many pictures of her performing. Yatkin told the interviewer that by growing up in Berlin she was exposed to many cultures, and she said that her many influences can be seen in her dances.

Links:
Yatkin's site
http://www.ny2dance.com

Turkish American Hour
http://www.turkishamericanhour.org

Were you dreaming of a WHITE Christmas?*

I think all us have at one time or another been seduced by Bing Crosby's rendering of a "White Christmas," even if we are Zen Buddhists. The reality is alas much different than the fantasy. Perhaps, there is no better evidence of this than digital photos taken by my sister Lale and her husband Matt. With their permission, I am posting a link to these photos.
Be careful what you wish for!

http://www.matt-n-lale.smugmug.com/gallery/2262891

The Fonz is Captian Hook?!

I was looking at the BBC News web site, and I cam across this interesting tid bit. Apparently, both Henry Winkler, of "Happy Days" fame, and Patrick Duffy from "Dallas" are performing pantomime at two different theatres in London. Winkler will be starring as Captian Hook in a panto version of "Peter Pan" at the New Wimbledon Theatre. And, Duffy will be performing in "Cinderella" (He'll be playing Baron Hardup, as opposed to Cinderella) at the New Victoria Theatre. Pantomime is unique because well it is acting without using words! Winkler replaced David Hasslehoff! TV's Fonz told the BBC that: "They're still explaining it (pantomime) to me," Winkler said. "I've had a week of rehearsal, my brain is numb."

I imagine that it is!

The BBC's web site is:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice
Click on "Americas" and the story should be easy to locate, depending on how many days it remains posted.

Offbeat Christmas entry- Klezner, anyone?

On the evening of Saturday, Dec. 9, I stopped by the Green Bean coffehouse in downtown Greensboro. As I was there, I saw this band set up and noticed they had a mandolin and a clarinet. The band was Sinai Mountain Ramblers, the only Klezner..traidtional Jewish music... band in the area. I stopped by later that night and watched them perform. I must admit it was my frist glimpse of Klezner music since I saw the late John Candy and Eugene Levy make fun of the music in a "SCTV' comedy skit when I was about 12 or 13 years old. But, this music is really enjoyable. Much like polka, it is the kind of music which seems very unhip during one's Depeche Mode/Billy Idol teen angst years but one appreciates it as they realize just how awful Def Leopard proves to be once the angst has subsided. The band's web site said that the Sinai Mountain Ramblers started in 1997. Three friends who happened to share a love for playing string instruments and a common interest in traditional Jewish folk music got together on Sundays. They added a clarinet player in 1999. Sinai Mountain Ramblers play Klezner tunes from Eastern Europe and contemporary Jewish folk. The group studied Klezner music further in Montreal in 2001.
The band consists of:
Gary Silverstein- mandolin
Kurt Lavenstein- cello
Rich Lerner-guitar and percussion
Paul Fribush-clarinet and tsimbol
Other Klezner artists include: Michael Alpert (New York), Sam Glacer (LA) and Jack Gabriel (Denver).

In other Greensboro music news, my friend Bruce Piephoff, a folk singer/poet, is scheduled to release a new recording in February. The premiere party is scheduled at the Two Chicks Art Gallery in downtown Greensboro. Here are some useful links:

Sinai Mountain Ramblers
http://freethemusic.net/smr.html

Bruce Piephoff
http://www.brucepiephoff.com

Prophetic writing from Walt Whitman

Ever since I strated working with semi-literate students at Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, I have started taking classic writers much more seriously. Currently, I am reading the Library of America collection devouted to poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892). Many well-read people are probably familiar with the fact that Whitman visited veteran hospitals right after the Civil War. I found the following journal entry by Whitman, which was written in March of 1865. The short piece is entitled "Wounds and Disease" and it appears in his prose collection titled "Specimen Days." It seems exceptionally moving considering what many who are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are going through now.

                               "Wounds and Disease"
   
    "The war is over, but the hospitals are fuller than ever, from former and current cases. A large majority of the wounds are in the arms and legs. But there is every kind of wound, in every part of the body. I should say of the sick, from my observation, that the prevailing maladies are typhoid fever and the camp fevers generally, diarrhea, catarhal affections and bronchitis, rheumatism and pneumonia. These forms of sickness lead; all the rest follow. There are twice as many sick as there are wounded. The deaths range from seven to ten percent of those under treatment."

I highly recomment the Library of America series. They've been a real learning experince for me.

   

Cong. Virgil Goode (R-VA) doesn't speak for me...

I almost decided to let this go. But, as this story is making national news and since I work in Cong. Goode's 5th District, I have decided not to let this go. I am not spiritually a Muslim myself, but as the son of a Turkish immigrant, I am outraged that Goode said he would do his best (paraphrase, but essentially what he said)  "to keep Muslims from entering this country, and holding public office." The disclosure of this controversial letter came because Goode inadvertently sent it to a local Sierra Club chapter president in Charlottesville, Va. Goode comes from Rocky Mount, Va.- one of the most conservative towns in his right-leaning district, but he also represents Charlottesville which is the most liberal city in Virginia. There are two pro-life billboards in Goode's home jurisdiction of Franklin County which proclaim that 'abortion is the worst form of child abuse.' My ears perked when Goode made a similar striking anti-Muslim comment on WVTF (public radio station in Roanoke, Va) during his debate with Democrat opponent Al Weed in October. I don't recall the exact comment, but it was not far off from this one which has recieved just deserved national attention. Kudos to the alternative newspaper "C'ville Weekly" for breaking this story. Goode was formally a Democrat, but he has always been arch-conservative. His racist comments come in the same year that former Sen. George Allen (R-VA) made his infamous macaca comments near the Kentucky border during a campaign rally. I must also commend newly elected Cong. Keith Ellison (D-MN), who was the initial target of Goode's letter, for handling this matter gracefully. Ellison was born in Michigan, and is not an immigrant to this country. Goode's comments are insulting to all of us who are the offspring of hard-working Muslim immigrants who have contributed in medicine, education, and all walks of American life. As a proud Virginian, I am also insulted that he makes all of us look bad on national level. Hopefully, and if there is indeed a just God, he will meet the same political fate as Allen when his term expires. Goode won his election over Weed with 60 % of the vote. One expects that Weed, a vineyard owner, will take on Goode for a third time in 2008.

For more info:

http://www.roanoke.com

http://www.cvilleweekly.com