Category: TV

Tidy Tidbits: Page & Screen

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RECENT READING

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Crawdad (dailyherald.com)

From the online comments I’ve read over the past six months, people either loved or hated this novel.  I put off reading it until now, mostly because my local book group was going to discuss it and I wanted it to be fresh in my mind.  I’m in the positive camp.  I loved this novel!  That is not to say that I found it completely convincing, but I did find it compelling.

Kya is just seven when her older siblings leave home and then her father does not return after being gone for several weeks.  Her mother left them some time before so Kya goes to live in a shack in the nearby marsh.  Hiding out from the school authorities, she survives isolated and alone until she reaches adolescence.  In Tate, a teenager a few years older than she, she has her first friend and advocate who even teaches her to read.  Tate goes off to college, abandons her for awhile, and another local young man, Chase Andrews, is attracted to her beauty and her strange wildness.  When Andrews is found dead and foul play is suspected, the police’s first thought is of Kya, referred to by the townspeople as Marsh Girl.  The intertwined strands of Kya’s childhood and coming-of-age and the murder investigation play out against each other, in chapters shifting back and forth in time.  

A zoologist who spent many years studying wildlife in Africa, Owens would seem to be an unlikely novelist.  Yet, she writes in a lyrical manner and her descriptions of the marsh and the nature around it are almost poetic.  Despite the dire events, there is much joy in this novel, and even an ending that seems, if not contrived, perhaps too neat.  What might almost term this story a fairy tale.  But a very absorbing and captivating one!

Our book group had a very lively discussion with almost everyone having enjoyed the book. There were doubters as to whether Kya could really have survived alone and also if it was credible that she became such a successful author of nature guides. And several found the courtroom scenes hurried and almost as if one were reading a different novel entirely. For many of us, the twist at the end was a big surprise, but I think it’s fair to say that folks would recommend this novel to others. (~JWFarrington)

BIG SCREEN

Harriet

Harriet Tubman was one extraordinary woman. A slave who walked a hundred miles from Maryland to Pennsylvania to gain her freedom, leaving her husband, siblings and parents behind, she became one of the greatest conductors on the Underground Railroad. This film recounts her journey to freedom, her trip home to bring her husband north, and the countless trips she made to lead slaves from Maryland eventually to the Canadian border. It is a story of grit, determination, leadership, and the willingness to bear undue hardship.

The Chief Penguin and I visited her home in Auburn, N. Y. and its associated museum several years ago. Auburn is the town I grew up in and you didn’t live here without knowing about Tubman or about William Henry Seward, secretary of state and another Auburn resident, who sold her the land for her house. If you should get to the Finger Lakes region, in what is really upstate N.Y., the house and museum are worth a visit. In the meantime, see the film and learn more about this remarkable woman. She deserves to be honored on our twenty dollar bill!

SMALL SCREEN

The Crown (Netflix)

Olivia Colman & Tobias Menzies (time.com)

The Crown is back with Season 3, and it’s excellent! We have just watched the first three episodes and are totally engaged. Olivia Colman as Elizabeth is superb and Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip is excellent. The tone of this season so far seems more somber than Season 2, and the producers have made use of more archival footage of events. In episode 2, Helena Bonham Carter plays an exuberant, sometimes out-of-control Princess Margaret. I felt this episode conveyed very well her frustration at being number two, while also documenting the real, but often buried, affection between the two sisters.

Poldark (PBS)

Demelza and Ross (express.com)

The final season of Poldark and the final episode have aired and we will have to survive our Sunday nights without the brooding handsomeness of Aidan Turner (Poldark), the dogged patience and determination of Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson), and their nemesis, George Warleggan, crazed yet perhaps in the end more human than we expected. It was a memorable last season with plenty of action along with tying up loose ends for Dwight and Caroline and Drake and Morwenna. I will miss these characters! The reassuring thing is that I can always go back and re-watch the series on PBS Passport.

Note: Text ©JWFarrington. Header photo of Harriet Tubman courtesy of history.com

Maine Leisure: Screen & Page

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ON THE BIG SCREEN—WOMAN POWER

(the wrap.com)

It’s hard to accept how sexist the sailing world was in 1990.  The Maiden, a new documentary, is a graphic account of skipper Tracy Edwards and her all female crew’s performance in the Whitbread Round the World Race. In the past women just didn’t compete there or at that level; or, if they were on one of the race boats it was to be the cook, how Tracy spent her first race.  Tracy is one determined individual, and she was determined to obtain a boat, hire a crew and strive to win the race.  

All twelve crewmembers were women and, despite the fact that all the male journalists (and probably the other skippers) expected that the Maiden crew wouldn’t complete that first leg, they did in first place!  And then they did it again in the second leg.  Although the film starts out slowly, it’s gripping with harrowing scenes of high seas and high winds.  What makes it even more enjoyable is that the crewmembers were interviewed in the making of the film so you see them on board and you get to see and hear their reflections today about their feelings at the time and the whole experience.

Kudos to our local non-profit Harbor Theater for screening this! They have done an admirable job bringing first run films and classics to the Boothbay Harbor community.

ENJOYABLE NOVELS

The Oysterville Sewing Circle by Susan Wiggs

Susan Wiggs (ala.org)

It was just happenstance that the novel I picked up after reading No Visible Bruises about domestic violence was also about battered women.  Susan Wiggs writes very good popular fiction.  Her characters are believable and sympathetic and she treats their issues with warmth and understanding.  In this case, fashion designer Caroline both loses her job in New York and simultaneously finds herself in charge of two small children.  She has a rude awakening about the domestic abuse suffered by her friend Angelique.  Returning home to Washington State, Caroline must find a new career and deal with the children while she seeks to learn more about domestic violence.  This is a novel that educates the reader without ever being preachy.  (~JWFarrington)

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

Linda Holmes (www.npr.org)

Holmes is a pop culture critic for NPR and this is her first novel. It’s sweet with a happy ending.  But then, like most romances, you know that everything will work out eventually.  Evvie Drake is a young widow who didn’t much like her husband before he died unexpectedly, but no one knows that, and she feels guilty about it.  Dean is a major league baseball player, a pitcher who’s got a case of the yips and is unable to pitch.  Evvie agrees to rent him the apartment in her house and thus begins an unusual friendship. 

Holmes creates two likable characters, each with plenty of mental baggage, and also pulls off a wonderfully enriching friendship between Evvie and her divorced friend and weekly breakfast mate, Andy.  If you like baseball and are intrigued by offbeat individuals, this is a good end-of-summer read. (~JWFarrington)

ON THE SMALL SCREEN—Footnote on Borgen

Cast of Borgen (oldaintdead.com)

The Chief Penguin and I just finished binge watching the last episode of Season 3, the final Borgen.  And I’m in serious withdrawal.  This Danish political series about a female prime minister is topnotch drama, some of the best television I’ve seen in recent years!  The third season flags a bit in the beginning, but then re-gains its focus. And the last episode brings everything to closure, possibly too neatly, but with a twist.

The acting is superb, the story is meaty, and the main characters have messy and fascinating personal lives.  It’s as much about the people as the politics.  There are politicians and their spin-doctors (Denmark has eight parties vying for power) and TV reporters scrounging for stories and better ratings than their competition.  Intense and gripping. I lived with these folks!

As critic Andrew Romano points out, “every public decision on Borgen has private consequences, and vice versa, which is something Hollywood usually ignores and real politicians, operatives, and journalists have to hide. Finally getting to see these secret repercussions spool out and spill over isn’t just spellbinding. It’s comforting, too.” (dailybeast.com)

Watching, I also felt as if I acquired a bit of Danish.  Borgen is available on Apple TV. The first episode is free and then, if you’re hooked, it’s $24.99 for a season.  Highly recommended!

Note: Text and header photo ©JWFarrington. Header was taken at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.

Tidy Tidbits: Screen, Page & Plate

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SMALL SCREEN

Shetland (Amazon Prime & BritBox)

DI Perez and his colleagues (bbcstudios.com.au)

We recently watched Seasons 5 and 6 of this Scottish detective series and it’s excellent.  One of the best of its kind!  Each season consists of six episodes and there is only one case that’s ongoing across the entire season.  More than most, this is a character-driven series, and Douglas Henshall as DI Jimmy Perez is superb.  He’s a compassionate man who is determined to find out who is responsible for any murders.  He knows the island residents very well and thus proceeds with a mix of delicacy and diplomacy combined with the drive to see that justice is done.  As viewers, you become acquainted with his colleagues Tosh and Sandy as well as with his now college age stepdaughter, Cassie, and with Duncan, her biological father and Jimmy’s co-parent.  Duncan is a particularly interesting character.  He means well, but is often hapless and unfocused and there is frequently tension between him and Jimmy.  But they both love Cassie and want to protect her.  If you haven’t discovered this series yet, try it and see how quickly you are addicted!

The Resident (Amazon Prime)

Nic, Conrad & Devon (hollywoodreporter.com)

This medical series from Fox is the opposite of Shetland.   It’s brash and bold, gory, and in your face.  Subtlety is not in resident Conrad Hawkins’ vocabulary nor that of Randolph Bell, the egotistical chief of surgery.  Add in the arrogant, talented surgeon Mina Okafor, newbie intern Devon Pravesh, and capable nurse practitioner Nic Niven, and you’ve got a larger than life cast of characters at the fictional Chastain Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. The surgeries are full of blood and guts, the medical crises all too frequent, and the pace mind-bending.  I watch it on the treadmill and it keeps me treading past my allotted time.  

READING PLATFORMS

I read books in paper and on my Kindle Paperwhite .  I bought my first Kindle in 2009 before we went to Madagascar for three weeks.  Smart packing and minimum weight were key, and I knew I would need some reading material for that long a trip.  I still prefer reading on paper, but for titles I have no desire to keep forever, e-books are an advantage.  

I have a card for our local public library, but being acquisitive when it comes to books, I procrastinated a long time before getting it.  Not a good advertisement for a retired librarian!  Recently, I decided I should really investigate borrowing e-books instead of buying all of them.  Turns out it was easier to do than I anticipated.  

Our library’s selection of e-books is somewhat limited, but I made the maximum number of recommendations for purchase and put holds on a few titles.  In the library’s defense, some of my recommended titles they have in hardback.  I was both surprised and pleased when over the past few days, three of my holds were honored.  I have read one novel, returned the nonfiction book which I found preachy, and am in the middle of an excellent mystery.  Success!  What format do you prefer for your leisure reading?

ITALIAN MYSTERY

Shadows on the Lake by Giovanni Cocco and Amneris Magella

This is the first mystery by this Italian husband-wife team and it’s a perfect summer read.  Set in the Italian Lake District around Lake Como, it features Stefania Valenti, a divorced mother with an 11-year old daughter who’s also a detective.  When human remains are found near an old villa owned by a prominent family and adjacent to a construction site for a new tunnel, she must investigate.  Valenti is an intriguing character and the best developed one. She’s a chain smoker, and like many Italians, is always up for a coffee and a pastry.  Focused on her job, she occasionally runs late in picking up daughter Camilla, who is remarkably understanding.  Her two lieutenants, Lucchesi and Piras, are less well drawn and almost indistinguishable one from the other. How the investigation plays out and its links to WWII make for an engaging story, but not a suspenseful one. The authors spend almost as much time describing the beautiful scenery as they do on the mystery.  Given everything, I will likely read the next installment when it becomes available in English. (~JWFarrington)

DINING IN SARASOTA

Selva Grill

We walked past this Sarasota restaurant many times, but it took a date with a friend to get us inside. Although the season is over, the dining room was full on this Saturday night.  The cuisine is Peruvian and the menu includes a long list of ceviches as well as other small plates and some tasty-sounding entrees.  Entrée prices are higher than some other local restaurants, but there is so much choice, you don’t have to spend a lot.  Among the three of us, we ordered the Spanish Caesar salad (a stacked version with manchego instead of Parmesan), shrimp and corn soup, beef and spinach empanadas, salmon, and their fish and chips special.  Most everything was very good, and we look forward to a return visit for either a ceviche or the mouth-watering beef our table neighbors had.  

Note: Text and header photo ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).

Tidy Tidbits: Books & Music

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AUTISM ON THE PAGE, STAGE AND SCREEN

This week the island book club read and discussed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. The selection was prompted in part by the play being presented locally at Florida Studio Theatre in Sarasota.  It has been so popular that the run has been extended through March 17.  

The novel was published in 2003 and the group felt that there is much greater awareness of autism now and the range of autistic behaviors from Asperger’s syndrome to high functioning savants.  And, probably also greater acceptance.  Several had seen stage productions, either here or elsewhere. Generally, they felt the play successfully showed being overwhelmed by too much noise and multiple stimuli and then being further handicapped by not being easily able to communicate one’s thoughts and feelings.  

The lead character, 15-year old Christopher, is very smart, but also very literal. He is upset when his neighbor’s dog is killed with a pitchfork.  His mother is not present (he’s been told she died of a heart attack), and his father is angry with him for doing detective work to determine who did in the dog.  Christopher’s efforts and his findings lead him to make a train journey to London to visit his mother. This trip is a huge undertaking. Written in Christopher’s voice, the prose is straightforward and that plus Christopher’s drawings and diagrams are effective in portraying how he thinks.

I recently began watching an ABC television series, also available on Amazon Prime, entitled The Good Doctor.  Shaun Murphy is a young surgical resident who is autistic.  The hospital’s surgeons hesitate to hire him given his difficulties in communicating.  Under pressure from his mentor, the hospital president, they reluctantly take him on.  While socially awkward and at times inappropriate, Shaun is very smart and sees things on images and scans others miss.  It is an amazing depiction of the challenges even a gifted autistic individual faces in dealing with the rest of the world.

MUSICAL OFFERINGS

Music Monday always has someone of note to offer and this past week, it was Russian born pianist Olga Kern.  Ms. Kern is from a musical family with connections to Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. While clearly talented, having won the Van Cliburn Piano Competition, she is also a delightful personality.  She charmed us with her exquisite playing (Rachmaninoff, Chopin, et al) and with her conversation.

Sarasota and the orchestra have been fortunate to have Anu Tali as music director.  She is winding up her sixth and final year as conductor and this week the orchestra delivered a paean to the community in the form of To Sarasota with Love.  Four principals in the orchestra, violin, horn, cello, and bassoon (all male), were featured in solos or duets.  These musicians, combined with Tali’s fluid, balletic conducting (with hands only and no baton), made for a most enjoyable evening.  She will be very much missed!

RECENT READING

Kitchen Yarns:  Notes on Life, Love, and Food by Ann Hood

Novelist Hood’s book is an engaging memoir with recipes.  She frequently references her Rhode Island upbringing in an Italian American family and her grandmother’s cooking.  The era of Hood’s childhood partly overlapped mine.  She calls out Good Seasons salad dressing, Rice-A-Roni (I never ate it, but certainly knew the ad jingle), and wishing to trade her homemade lunch for a friend’s more appealing one.  I always thought Sarah Wood’s bag lunches with a leftover chicken thigh looked delicious—much more appetizing than my cheddar cheese and mustard sandwich on cracked wheat.    

Hood’s life has had more than its share of sorrow including the early death of her brother and the loss of a child, but her writing is brimming with life and good feeling.  The recipes are mostly comfort food, not sophisticated, and sound tasty on the page.  GoGo’s Meatballs are calling my name! (~JWFarrington)

Note: Header photo of Any Tali by Kaupo Kikhas.