You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'Entertainment' category.
It was so moving listening to Tessa Souter’s sultry and distinctive voice past Friday. I sat on the grand stairway of the Philadelphia Art Museum with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon in hand, her music deeply penetrating into the very soul of my being. Her jazzy rendition of Sting’s ‘Fragile’ touched my core. I felt mellow and salty tears ran down my cheek. Perhaps it was a hint of the Middle Eastern influence making me feel the deep rhythm in my belly, very pronounced in songs such as ‘Caravan.’ Maybe it was the lyrics, some sad, some touching and all beautiful.
If you are not already a fan, I hope that you discover her latest album ‘Listen Love’, and let her unique voice and her music, reflecting a wide range of influences reach you.
Willow
(Lyrics: Tessa Souter)
What if I became a willow tree
On the banks of you – a wild river
What would you do if I fell into the dark of you
Would that be too deep
And if I touched the very heart of you
Would you let me keep the tender moment
When a part of you loved me too
I’m yearning for a deeper blue
Please let me run away with you to the sea
And if I should let a tender leaf
Go floating over you – a pale green dancer
Would I just sink or would you hold me
While you danced with me
Lead me to the brink of falling deeper
In romance with me
Would you let me drink of you until you were
entranced with me, dance with me
I’m yearning for a deeper blue
Please let me run away with you to the sea
I had the most perfect evening last night. It was my very first wine tasting event at Tria Fermentation School in Philadelphia. The last night was all about the wines so close to my heart – the wines from South Africa. I have many beautiful memories of the times spent eating local cheeses, snoek pate and tasting wines under the shade of old oak trees in many of its finest vineyards. Western Cape province, where the wine is grown, is like no other place on Earth. Picture the Tuscan hills planted with grapes in little rows, but then add the drama of the Swiss mountain peaks, and the red African soil. This soil, left in a red cloud behind your Land Rover, enters your every pore, never to leave. Those who have inhaled it, are forever going to crave coming back. Returning to Africa always feels like arriving home.
With those thoughts, I arrived fashionably late, thanks to the horrendous traffic on 95. I was handed a glass of the Forrester’s Sauvignon Blanc ‘05, a wine at its very peak, crisp, dry and refreshing. I loved it and would highly recommend it. At $20 a bottle, it is a good value for such a nice wine. It turned out to be my second favorite of the evening.
All the wines tonight were from Ken Forrester vineyards in Stellenbosch area. There are three main distinctive wine regions on the Cape wine route – Paarl, Franschoek and Stellenbosch. The grapes and the knowledge of viticulture were brought by the Hugenots, fleeing the Catholic persecution in Europe. I had a pleasure of tasting three Chenin Blancs, a Pinotage, two Shiraz/Grenache blends, and a Chenin Blanc Noble Late Harvest. The last one was similar to the French Sauternes, sweet and delicate, a perfect complement to a Foie Gras.
The absolute winner in my opinion was Chenin Blanc, the FMC 2004. It retails in the U.S. for $69 a bottle and it is an ‘F’-ing Magnificent Chenin (Is that what FMC stands for?) This, without any exaggeration, is a truly beautiful wine with strong ginger overtones that has lost all the bitterness of its younger cousins. If you are a fan of great Chardonneys, you would love this wine.
I am also delighted to say that I am now a proud owner of a black Forrester cap, which I am hoping to use as a protection from the strong South African sun, preferably on the tennis court. I have no idea how I memorized this particular fact during the presentation, but I was able to answer the prize question, “When was the Pinotage introduced to South Africa?” In case you are dying to know, it was in 1925.
At the end of the presentation, I enjoyed meeting the Tria Manager who organized the event and the Manager of the Boutique Wine Collection, an importer of lesser known wines. These guys were a treasure of information on wine and an absolute pleasure to talk to. Anthony, the witty South African presenter and the wine maker, soon joined us. This man leads what others would describe as a ‘dream’ life. Living in one of the most stunning parts of the world, creating wines, travelling around the globe presenting the wine, or purchasing French oak barrels or Portuguese cork. It is hard to believe that some people get paid to enjoy themselves this much.
Full of lasting impressions, I left Tria Fermentation School. Of course, I realised that I was in no condition to sit behind the steering wheel. I decided to stop for a cappuccino at the Brasserie Perrier. Having been surrounded all evening with wine connoisseurs and sommeliers, the Universe had an interesting plan for the end of my evening. There was only one seat in the whole place where I could possibly sit down and sip my coffee. It just happened that the guy finishing his dinner at the table next to mine was a Food and Beverage Director of a 5 Star hotel in Philadelphia. To give things a bit of a spin, he also happened to be from San Francisco and had a great knowledge of the Napa Valley. This obviously was meant to be my wine night. After some more talk about wine, food and travel, he added his business card to the ones I had collected earlier.
The Namesake is a film directed by Mira Nair that juxtaposes well two cultures, the modern American and the traditional Indian. It follows the lives of a beautiful, artistic Ashima and Ashoke, her professor husband from an arranged marriage. Ashima’s expectations differed from those of her Western counterparts, as she was conditioned by the society she grew up in to marry the ‘best of the lot’ who came knocking on her parents’ door, and not for love.
With the marriage she replaces the colorful, warm, though overpopulated Calcutta with the bleakness and isolation of New York City in search of Ashoke’s dream. Through all the ups and downs that life presents them with, they stay true to their values and to each other.
The film moves on to the next generation of the Ganguli family, born and raised in the U.S., with their different perspectives on life and different values. The story centres around Gogol, or Nick, as he prefers to be called when he becomes a teenager. One of the central themes of the film is Gogol’s dilemma which name to embrace. Is it going to be the name given to him by his father, inspired by the writer Nikolai Gogol as well as an important past event that changed Ashoke’s life, or Nikhil which in Nick form could easily blend with the American culture.
The film also examines the possibilities of immigrant’s children mingling with the elite of their birth country. It raises the issue whether the modern relationships based on the same ‘roots’ have more potential to succeed than those of the chance encounters.
Where, in my opinion, the movie fails to deliver is by trying to pack in too much without going deeper into the characters. At one point a director concentrates on showing that the Bengali culture and traditions are alive and well in New York’s suburbia, with immigrant families closely knit together. At the other, the protagonist is left isolated and alone in times of a major life crisis. I somehow felt that one would preclude the other.
The director likes to use flashbacks, which I felt did not always serve the purpose. Rather than seeing the crucial past event again in this form, it may have been more original to view it from some other perspective entering deeper into the psychology of the character.
My rating would be four out of five.
I had the most amazing time with the boys at the Ben Franklin Institute on Friday. We explored together the giant heart walking through all four of its chambers. Mr. Responsible, a med student hopeful, was mesmerized by the open heart surgery video shown on a screen embedded in the mannequin’s chest. His youngest brother, on the other hand, shivered at the mere thought of blood.
The electricity section was packed with many hands-on miniature experiments in physics, involving lots of cranking, to the boys’ amusement. They designed the most aerodynamic airplane wings and fast trains on computer screens. A group of kids, including my own, teamed together to build, what appeared to me, a domino chain long enough to be mentioned in a Guinness Book of Records. To the delight of the younger siblings, the whole structure was put in motion, and collapsed in an amazing chain reaction within seconds.
Exhausted from virtual soccer, surfing, and car racing, we headed to the Imax Theater. Reclining in our chairs, we watched a spectacular show about mummies on a giant all surround screen. It was fascinating to see the interconnectedness of the world that existed thousands of years ago with our own. Scientists used a modern mummy, a body donated to science and mummified twenty years ago, to find out from which tissue to take the elusive DNA sample from the ancient mummies. This information would then point to the illnesses that plagued the ancient Egyptians, some of which, like malaria, are still killing millions of people today. Comparing the malarial strains from the ancient times to those of today, could potentially lead to the cure.
By the end of the day, we were tired, thirsty and had a crank in the neck, but we also had a great time.
Spring is very much in the air, and many restaurants are opening their outdoor bars. I headed for a place which has such a little gem in its backyard. As I was waiting for my friend, sipping a glass of just passable Pinot Noir, geographically challenged Wall Street Trader started talking to me. (I do meet a fair deal of people who insist placing Croatia at some interesting locations around the World). I sincerely hope that he finds his way to L.A., where he is moving to seek his fortune, now that New York City has burnt him out.
Walking towards the movie theater, I noticed that the police were out in full force, the blue lights glaring from the car tops. Groups of teenagers were congregating in front of the usual hang out spots – Starbucks, record store, cyber cafe. As the policeman on a bike rode through the crowd, cigarettes were hastily being extinguished, but the unmistakable smell of tobacco uncomfortably lingered.
I saw The Lives Of Others , a film that has won three European Film Awards – Best Picture, Best Screenwriter and Best Actor – as well as L.A. Critics Association award for the Best Foreign Film.
A powerful film about the bleak, monochromatic existence in East Germany. The country is run by the feared Stasi who see and hear everything. Reminiscent of Kafka, this bureaucratic machine persecutes all who disagree with its dogma. Capt. Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe) is an apparatchik, an intelligent man brainwashed by the system, living a loveless life of an automaton. When he finishes his work indoctrinating new agents, interrogating in Stasi cells or eavesdropping on the lives of others, he returns home to a grey socialist totem of apartment blocks. In this cold space he exchanges money for the most basic human contact, devoid of any emotion.
The film documents the metamorphosis of Wiesler into a human being. The catalyst of change is art. Through spying on the lives of a writer (Sebastian Koch) and his actress girlfriend (Martina Gedeck), Wiesler ‘borrows’ Brecht and his transformation begins. The turning point is the moment when he hears A Sonata for a Good Man. The tears are running down his cheek as he changes into a man who forms his own opinions, feels and cares.
The plot is intricately woven around fears, passions, lusts, loves, jealousy, inner motives and social powers of its characters. They are constantly faced with dilemmas and choices that could change their lives for ever. Everything builds up to an inevitable crescendo.
I rate this film 5 out of 5 Stars and will be extremely disappointed if I do not see it as a Nominee for the Oscars in the Foreign Film category.
Couple of weeks ago I donned my jeans, spiky boots and a leather jacket and with my preppy 14 year old son in tow went to see Nickelback on their ‘All the Right Reasons’ tour. Two bands warmed up the crowd before Nickelback came on stage. One of them happened to be ‘Breaking Benjamin’, a Philly band glad to play in front of the enthusiastic home fans. The security guards took a slightly different approach, and opted to preserve their hearing by using the ear plugs. I could see their point.
The arrival of the main band was accompanied by the screams of perfectly normal teenage girls strategically positioned above the tunnel entrance, so that they were the first to see them. I am sure that this made a story more interesting at school the next day. From the very first song, the whole arena was up on their feet, energized and rocking.
Nickelback is an interesting band. Hard rock with a lot of influence from heavy metal. Yet, their lyrics have the edge, and provide a great social commentary of the times we live in. Because of this, I expected them to have a very mixed fan base. It amused me to find out exactly how varied this group really was. An overweight couple behind me had every inch of their skin covered in tattoos. One could just imagine them running their tattoo parlor out of a trailer somewhere in Jersey. Couple of housewives next to me sang happily to the ‘Photograph’ knowing every word of the song, as the photos of the band flashed on large screens hanging from the ceiling. Some guys exchanged their business suits for jeans and t-shirts. They seemed to have liked a lot the idea of ice cold beer being thrown to them from the stage.
With the tickets for the 4th row, I was in the groupies territory. A bra and a matching thong flew on the stage. Chad, the front man, made a remark that he was beginning to feel like Tom Jones. A girl next to me kept telling me how mesmerized she was with Daniel, the ‘hot’ drummer. I thought that she would pass out when he performed a solo.
Some gorgeous looking girls, escorted by a couple of biker dudes who must have forked out for the tickets, decided to put up their own show. What started as two girls very provocatively dressed grinding and making up, soon became a full blown lap dance. The security guards, with their backs turned to the stage, for the first time, had enthusiastic expression on their faces. To their great disappointment, their female colleague decided that things were getting out of hand and physically separated the girls. Judging by the professionalism of the performance, I don’ t think that entertaining the idea of the girls working at one of the nearby strip joints off 95, would be a far fetched one.
A guy managed to charge through the security guards and get on stage where he was knocked down by a man mountain of a body guard. Not a particularly smart decision considering that the band was in the middle of a song ‘Side Of A Bullet’. The song is a tribute to the heavy metal guitarist who got shot down while performing.
The concert ended with incredible pyrotechnic display. I left happy humming one of my favorites,
If everyone cared and nobody cried,
If everyone loved and nobody lied,
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride,
We’d see the day when nobody died.
I anticipated a crowd with an edgy attitude as I walked into the Sedgwick Cultural Center. This was at the end of the day a party thrown by the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia. The small business owners and their friends are all community oriented and committed to the growth of a sustainable local economy.
What surpassed my expectation was how much fun I had. I entered as the dance lesson on jive was just starting and joined in. The dance partners were switched every time we finished a sequence, so I got to know lots of people. Dance is my passion and comes naturally to me. This instructor was easy to understand and follow. Above all, he knew how to keep things ‘light’ and enjoyable for everyone. An English guy who could crack funny comments at his own expense and that of his shaved head.
All the dancing made me hungry, so I headed for the buffet, glass of red wine already in hand. I checked the silent auction items, from spa treatments to life coaching. Then I did what I thrive on – talking to and meeting new, interesting people.
I find that the lives of real people are so complex and by far surpass in unexpected twists and turns anything that could ever be born as someone’s figment of imagination.
Yesterday night I met a ship captain who dreamed of seafaring ever since he was a boy growing up in New York City. He seemed to have a perfect life. He was travelling the world doing what he always wanted to do. He met a woman he fell in love with, married her and soon got a daughter. What he didn’t know was that his life was about to change. The joyous moment of his daughter’s birth also brought a dark cloud of postpartum mental illness over his wife. She slipped deeper and deeper into it, entering and exiting various mental institutions. He was left to care for the child. To do this, he had to sacrifice his dream job of being a sea captain. It is my belief that the times of darkness are also the times of growth. While raising his daughter, he discovered his talent for writing. At first it made him feel better. Later it became his career. He passed this love of literature and poetry to his daughter who is now a thriving young woman in one of the Liberal Arts Colleges.
Back to the dance floor, led by a young twenty something years old entrepreneur with incredible vision, an owner of BioNeighbors, I danced the night away, enjoying every single moment.
What a party, and all for a good cause!
