The Impressionists are of course universal favorites. Their sense of light and color are quite rightly celebrated. The Museum in San Diego has on a special exhibit a variety of works from these French masters, and their imitators. For example, here is a work by an American who studied in France during the Impressionist period…. As for the real deal, here are familiar paintings, for example this one from Renoir of a Girl Combing her Hair…. Here is my favorite... Read more

It was billed as a tour of Biblical Art in the San Diego Art Museum. Not so much! They had almost no Biblical art (one half statue of a Pharaoh hardly counts). They did have some Renaissance and Baroque Christian themed art, and some Hindu and Buddhist art objects, but alas no Biblical art. False advertizing, but oh well. I should have realized something was likely amiss when the program book said a ‘decent led tour of Biblical art’ when... Read more

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One wonders why in the world it took so long for Michael Bond’s wonderful Paddington Bear to come to the silver screen, especially in an age when kids movies often bring in the most money (see e.g. the Lego movie etc.). Whatever the reason is, it was worth the wait. This one hour 35 minute rendering of the basic initial story about Paddington is simply ‘top drawer’ as the Brits would say. It leaves one clamoring for more, actually. The... Read more

When you live by the ocean, and you have perfect weather, it goes to your head. I have the proof….. here are some San Diego Charger fans at the game against the Rams….. All that Beach Boys music and perfect sunshine has intriguing effects, though it turns our the Beach Boys were not entirely truthful. While the beaches of Socal are alright, the water is consistently cold up and down the Pacific Coast. There is no Gulf Stream to warm... Read more

The du Pont family was (and still is) one of the richest families in the U.S., perhaps even in the world. Their money was made in the first place from making munitions, weapons, the tools of war, and then in addition there was the huge Dupont chemical industry as well. This movie is not really about all of that, though it is a subtext or presupposition to the film. This movie is about John Eleuthere (though he preferred that the... Read more

Whatever else you say about San Diego, it must be rather boring to be a weather man there—- ‘Yes it will be sunny and 70 degrees yet again today, with a slight breeze. The forecast is the same from now until Jesus comes back or the San Andreas fault goes off— whichever comes first.’ Yes the weather is monotonously perfect. Not surprisingly, one of the flowers you see a lot of there is the bird of paradise flower—– And in... Read more

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Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, especially when you are dealing with things that go on in Alaska, ‘the final frontier of America’. So a Mr. Satre went fishin… minding his own business (a story told originally to the Sitka Gazette, an Alaskan newspaper). He did not get very far out into the water, which by the way was very deep, when he saw this—- Yep, that’s four deer dog paddling their way straight towards the boat. They needed a... Read more

I went to see Selma today and was once again moved to some tears, though not to the degree I was when I saw Lincoln. This is a powerful, well acted film, and full marks to David Oyelowo for a brilliant job of playing MLK Jr. Tom Wilkinson’s portrayal of Lyndon Johnson is excellent as well, though they get the history rather wrong in making him a reluctant supporter of King’s work. While I am pointing out faults, it is... Read more