20-Word Fiction (7 of 10): The Saturday Night Bath

Greetings to our blog readers in Germany, Ireland and Hungary....

Yes, we know this image of Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy from "Adam's Rib" (1949) doesn't go with our title, which we came up with thanks to Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin's surreal art film "The Forbidden Room," which came out theatrically last year.

But, once you take the time to read this short, short story, perhaps you will understand or perhaps you will not!:

"Molly want to go to the movies with her friends tonight. Netflix is always my backup plan. I need alternatives!"....

If you are actually interested in going to the movies, then you may want to see the critically acclaimed film "Sunset Song" at the Film Forum in New York.

Meanwhile, two college town cinemas The Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, Va., and The Varsity Theatre in Chapel Hill, NC, are both showing the animated children's film "Zootopia."

Check the links below for more information:

http://www.filmforum.org

http://www.thelyric.com

http://www.varsityonfranklin.com

Ten Things to Know: Culture Club is Coming to Washington DC

1) Syracuse Stage in Syracuse, NY, will be staging the play "Steve Martin's The Underpants," which depicts a young man who literally drops his drawers and is dealt with public humiliation. The play will be the troupe's season opener and it will run from Oct. 21-Nov. 8. Bill Fennelly directs.

2) The Both: A Rock duet consisting of veteran performers Ted Leo and Aimee Mann performs at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro (Chapel Hill), NC, on May 5th.

3) "While We're Young," a comedy directed by Noah Baumbach and starring Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts opens at the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, Va., on May 2nd (there is a concert there on May 1st).

4) Pauline McKee, 90, was refused a $41.8 million jackpot for Miss Kitty at a casino in Iowa, according to the BBC.

5) Bayern Munich won its 25th German title; the team faces Barcelona FC with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.

6) The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, NC, named the best bookstore in Raleigh/Durham by "Indy Weekly" will be one of many bookstores celebrating Independent Bookstore on May 2nd.

7) Culture Club will be performing at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Va., a Washington, DC-suburb on August 10th.

8) "The Toronto Star" is reporting that the Canadian province of Ontario will give $1 million to relief efforts for the devastating earthquake which struck Nepal this weekend.

9) According to What the F*** Facts, the top export in America is cars, the top import in America is also cars. You do tend to see lots of Kia, a South Korean car, on the roads these days.

10)  Today is the 39th birthday of British actress Sally Hawkins ("Blue Jasmine," pict. bottom)

http://syracusestage.org/

http://www.catscradle.com/

http://www.thelyric.com/

http://www.regulatorbookshop.com/

http://www.wolftrap.org

http://www.culture-club.co.uk/

Quote from Shakespeare: Keeping It Short

Alas, we tried to find a real stage scene from "Romeo and Juliet," but we had to settle for this image of a very young Claire Danes playing the ill-fated Juliet on film (whatever happened to her co-star; yes that is a joke!).

The Folger Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC, will be performing another William Shakespeare classic "The Taming of the Shrew" starting on May. 7, 2012.

Here is the quote:

"Brevity is the soul of wit."

Wow, we were able to keep this one short!

SIDEBAR: Our thoughts go out to the Virginia Tech campus and community in the wake of a fatal shooting of a campus police officer earlier today. For more updates on the school where I once hosted a Turkish music show from WUVT-FM, I suggest another student-run media, "The Collegiate Times," which is Virginia Tech's newspaper (www.collegiatetimes.com). This is obviously a chilling reminder of many fairly recent campus tragedies at Virginia, including the April 2007 mass shooting.

Also, we want to send our kudos to the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, Va., which decided to screen "Anonymous" tonight in spite of the tragedy. Of course, I should point out, that I may very well disagree with the point that someone besides Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare, which is the thesis of the film "Anonymous." Starting tomorrow, the Lyric will screen the acclaimed film "Narrow Margin."

Last Ten Films I've Seen- Che Guevara and a Donkey

Here are the last ten films I've seen (actually as of Monday at 6:00 p.m.). Most of these are new films, and I saw six of the films in theatres.

"Submarine" opens at the delightful a/perature Cinema in Winston-Salem, NC, on
Aug. 12 (wow! That would be tomorrow). "Buck" opens at the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, Va., on Aug. 26.

Even though the IMDB counts "Che," the four and a half hour epic film about the Argentinian revolutionary figure Che Guevara, as two films, I count it as one here. I have read the 800-page plus biographer by Jon Lee Anderson, who was an advisor to the film, about irregardless of how one feels about Che's politics or his brutal violence, the story is quite a telling one.

The first part of "Che" deals with his succesful venture into Cuba which lead to the leadership of Fidel Castro. The second part focuses on Che's failed mission that lead to his own execution in Bolivia.

It is interesting that one of the films on this list focuses on guerillas, and the one ("Rise of the Planet of the Apes") examines gorillas!

John Cazale was a great character actor who died way too young at age 49. He is the subject of Richard Shepard's documentary which gives fairly good insight into the life of an actor who appeared in "The Godfater" films, "The Conversation," "Dog Day Afternoon" (pictured here with Al Pacino) and "The Deer Hunter."

Here is the list of films:

1. "Buck" (doc. 2011. Dir- Cindy Meehl) ***1/2 stars (out of ****)

2. "Submarine" (UK. 2010 Dir-Richard Ayoade) ***1/2

3. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011. Dir-Rupert Wyatt) ***

4. "Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (doc. 2010. Dir-Alex Gibney) ***

5. "Che" (Parts One and Two) (USA/Spain/France. In Spanish. 2008. Dir- Steven Soderbergh) ***

6. "Jackasss the Movie" (2002. Dir-Jeff Tremaine) *

7. "Horrible Bosses" (2011. Dir- Seth Gordon) **

8. "Crazy, Stupid, Love" (2011. Dirs. Glen Ficarra and John Requa) **1/2

9. "The Hangerover 2" (2011. Dir- Todd Phillips) **1/2

10. "I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale" (doc. 2009. Dir-Richard Shepard)

PS- The donkey, which was a reference to the awful "Jackass The Movie" is from Turkey.

SIDEBAR: I jokingly said that tonight's Republican Party Debate from Ames, Iowa, which is going on as off this writing, would be broadcast on Comedy Central while I updating my Facebook status. Amazingly enough, or perhaps not, a Republican friend of mine agreed with me. Comedy Central is/was actually broadcasting three consecutive reruns of "Futurama" against the Republican debate.