Category: TV

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.

Tidy Tidbits: Mostly Books

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CHRISTMAS MEMORIES

This year, for perhaps the first time ever, we stayed home for Christmas and purchased and put up a live tree.  In more recent years, we’ve gone to Manhattan for about ten days to see family.  This time, our son and family and our daughter-in-law’s parents all came to Florida.  With lively granddaughters ages 6 ½ and 2 ½, it was a boisterous and fun occasion!

Growing up, my grandparents and my aunts, uncles and cousins all lived hundreds of miles away and, thus, my family virtually always stayed home.  There were four kids plus my mom and dad, and we had our own well-established rituals and treats.  Stockings upon awakening before the parents were downstairs and then presents opened in rotation from youngest to oldest.  Most people would think this an unusual approach, not the bedlam of everyone tearing open gifts at once, but it slowed down the process, spread out the enjoyment and enabled us to see and comment on each other’s gifts.  We did it this up to the last Christmas we spent with my mother! She was a very organized individual and probably is the one who started it.

I also have good memories of my father bursting in through the front door, either just home from work or having completed an essential errand with something special to show us.  He always had a ready smile and brought with him warmth and palpable affection.

This year we created some new memories, especially for the little girls:  festive Christmas Eve dinner here with all the grandparents, walks along our quiet road, and swimming in the pool.   Plus, we reprised favorite activities; saucing the pizzas with Grandpa and providing Grandma an assist with blueberry pancakes for breakfast.  

I hope you enjoyed some equally special times this season.

HOLIDAY BRASS

Seraph is an all-female brass ensemble, five women playing trumpets (2 of them), trombone, tuba, and French horn.  Two weeks ago, they performed in Sarasota and their Sunday afternoon concert was a treat! A work by Grieg, selections from The Nutcracker Suite, along with a medley of favorite carols were among the highlights.  Their performance was enhanced by the fact that each member got to introduce one of the pieces and told us where she was from.

READERS’ FAVORITES

A few of my readers sent their choices for the best book or their favorite for 2018.  Here they are:

Barb:   Educatedby Tara Westover.  Her second choice would be:  The Language of Baklava, by Diana Abu-Jaber.

Cathie:  Mudboundby Hillary Jordan.  “Most thought provoking. It is set in 1950s rural Tennessee and focuses on the interactions between two families–one White and the other Black.” 

Claudia:  Overstoryby Richard Powers.  “I thought it should have won the Mann Booker prize. To me it was an ecological epic.”

RECENT READING

LOCAL HISTORY

The Ringmaster’s Wife by Kristy Cambron

Mable Burton, born Armilda, grew up on a farm and was keen to escape to a different life.  Heading for the big city of Chicago at the time of the world’s fair, she became a waitress and met a man named John.  Little did she realize initially that he was the already successful circus owner, John Ringling.  They eventually married and made a life for themselves, wintering in Sarasota, Florida. Mable Ringling loved roses and planted a rose garden that still exists on the Ringling Museum grounds. She also oversaw the design of their luxurious Italianate home, Ca d’Zan, House of John, which visitors today can tour.

In this historical novel, the fictional Rosamunde Easling, although a titled lady and wealthy, also seeks a more exciting life.  She loves riding her prized horse, and when the horse is sold, she agrees to see it to America where it will become part of the circus.  She too joins the circus.

Cambron is a Christian novelist, but this book is a good story, wholesome in some ways, but not overtly religious.  I selected the book because of its Sarasota setting and the chance to learn more about Mable Ringling, albeit in a fictionalized context.  

THE SOLACE OF BOOKS

Morningstar:   Growing Up with Books by Ann Hood

Novelist and essayist Hood has written a charming and engaging memoir about the books of her childhood beginning when she was a new reader all the way through her adolescence. Each chapter is pretty much devoted to one work, and I found that I had read almost all of her picks, as I too was an avid and voracious reader.  It’s a brief book, but one that will set you thinking about the books that made an impact on you.  

HISTORICAL NOVEL:  MORE WAR

The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason

I’ve read Mason’s other two novels and consider him an excellent stylist.  This recent novel is a grim one about Lucius, a young, inexperienced and mostly untrained physician, who is posted to a field hospital in the Carpathian Mountains during the First World War.  Conditions are primitive, supplies limited, and the risk of attack by enemy soldiers is high.  The senior doctor has left, and it is just Lucius, two orderlies, and the nurse Sister Margarete.  She teaches him how to amputate limbs and what the routine is.  Lucius is initially fascinated by her and gradually becomes attracted to her, but is unaware if his feelings are returned.  How the ongoing slog of the war wears them down and how the arrival of one severely injured soldier changes everything is the stuff of war, mystery, and even romance.  Mason is himself a physician and it is clearly evident in the plethora of gruesome details about wounds and battle scars.  Despite this, it’s a rewarding read!

SMALL SCREEN

I just finished the last episode of Season 3 of Silk, and I’m in mourning.  It was simply excellent!  I got so immersed in these characters, Martha, Clive, Billy, and the others, that I could hear their voices.  And the way the season ended, there could have been a next season, but apparently not in the cards.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

This is my last blog post for 2018.  May 2019 be a healthy, happy year for everyone!

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Tidy Tidbits: Culture Notes

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MORE BESTS

As I indicated last week, the newspaper world is full of bests.  Even our local paper, Herald Tribune, offered up a selection of the best books of the year.  And the New York Times  seems to have gone overboard with each of its distinctive sections having its own, “The Best of 2018” edition.  On Sunday, “Arts & Leisure” had numerous articles including best classical music, best pop music, best television programs, best streamed television, best movies, best art exhibits and so on.  This week the Wednesday “Food” section had its own best of the year features:  best restaurants, “The Top Cheap Eats, Dish by Dish,” a listing of twelve remarkable wines, and the recipes that were the favorites of readers.  I liked the Salted Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Cookies and the Beef and Broccoli stir fry.  Something here for every taste and palate! 

FABULOUS THEATER!

Asolo Repertory Theater always delivers and they did it again this week with energy and style. Their production of The Music Man was a tap dance lovers’ bonanza with frenetic footwork, lively music, and some lovely singing, particularly by Britney Coleman as Marian the Librarian.  Noah Racey who plays Professor Harold Hill is a choreographer as well as actor and it showed; his professor was perhaps less brash than Robert Preston’s in the original movie, but still winning.  And Marion came across as a more rounded character, less innocent sweet maiden and more complex woman with dreams and determination.  

I would have said that The Music Man was lower down on my list of favorite musicals, but I enjoyed every minute of this production.  There are still more performances between now and Dec. 29.

SMALL SCREEN

Silk (Amazon Prime)

Thanks to my friend Patricia for this recommendation.  Martha Costello is one of a group of lawyers in a British firm plugging away defending clients in court cases and vying to become “Silk” or QC, that is Queen’s Counsel. Single and singleminded, she is hard driving, while her colleague Clive Reader, from a posh background, appears less dedicated and always with an eye for the female solicitors.  Lording it over all of the office is Billy Lamb, the senior clerk, who makes case assignments and minds the books, or perhaps cooks them. I’m now into Season 2 of this BBC production and enjoying it immensely as it keeps me going on the treadmill! 

Homecoming (Amazon Prime)

This original series from Amazon has gotten a lot of praise from the press and at least one award nomination for its star, Julia Roberts.  The setting is a facility that runs a residential program for returning vets who have been diagnosed with PTSD or other issues.   Roberts plays Heidi Bergman, a counselor there.  Each episode is only thirty minutes long, and I can see why.  Much of each episode focuses on her sessions with one or more of the residents, with occasional leaps forward to the present day when we see Heidi working as a waitress at a cheap joint.  

What happened to make her leave the Geist program and why did one of her clients leave at the same time?   We have now watched five episodes and while it’s well done, it’s also somewhat weird.  

MOVIE TIME

Puzzle

We missed Puzzle when it was in theaters and so decided to pay the nominal rental fee of $4.99 to watch it here at home.  Starring Kelly Macdonald, it’s a measured, deliberate film about Agnes, a married mother of two grown sons, who has little self esteem and no satisfying function in life other than serving at the beck and call of husband Louie and those sons.  They show little appreciation for her efforts on their behalf and can’t understand why she might want more in her life.  Until she receives a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle for her birthday and discovers she’s good at it!  

Thus begins Agnes’, aka Martha’s, tentative steps toward independence, as she gains a male puzzle partner (Irrfan Khan) and ventures regularly beyond the confines of her own home and town.  I liked this film a lot, although some might find the pacing slow.