MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Art Center's new exhibit, “Animism,” opens on Saturday, Feb. 6.

The exhibit opens with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at the center, located at 21456 State Highway 175. It runs through March 20.

Animism is the belief that everything has a spirit: earth, animals, plants, humans, rivers, mountains, sun, moon, stars, galaxy, universe and multiverse.

Lake County residents and visitors will be able to enjoy this juried show highlighting artistic exploration of animism through all types of mediums.

Opening receptions at MAC are fun, well-attended and highlight an evening of art, music and community.

David Neft will be providing music during the reception. Participating artists and members of MAC will also be on hand to engage the audience and share in the experience.

MAC is a nonprofit arts organization and vibrant cultural hub that integrates art education, exhibitions and events.

MAC immediately resumed classes following the Valley fire to encourage the public’s engagement in self-expression and healing through the arts.

The center has provided free and subsidized classes to those in greatest need. Donations are needed to continue to support MAC's nonprofit work. When you support MAC through membership or donation, you support our community.

Located at the junction of Highways 29 and 175 in Middletown, the old Middletown Gymnasium has been transformed into a beautiful space for contemporary art and performance events.

The back portion of the building serves as a studio where classes in drawing, painting, ceramics, drama and more are offered for children, teens and adults.

Check out class offerings at www.middletownartcenter.org . MAC is open Friday to Saturday, noon to 6 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. or by appointment.

Middletown Art Center offers an array of memberships and art opportunities and can accept donations online at www.Middletownartcenter.org or at P.O. Box 1616, Middletown CA 95461.

It’s been more than a decade since “The X-Files” went off the air after a long run on the FOX Television network, but now FBI agents Mulder and Scully are resurrected for what is billed as a “six-episode event.”

FOX is also bringing the devil to reside on Earth, even if only temporarily, finding refuge in the City of Angels, where Hollywood itself is located in an area one would hardly describe as heavenly.

Based on DC Comics characters created by Neil Gaiman and Sam Kieth, FOX is taking a flyer on the otherworldly “Lucifer,” where smooth-talking Tom Ellis, all the more debonair for his British accent, is the titular figure in a new twist on the police procedural.

Tom Ellis, for those who may not recall, had a recent stint on the USA Network in the eponymous role in “Rush,” playing a hard-partying Los Angeles doctor with an unorthodox medical practice administered to wealthy clients and celebrities seeking anonymous treatment.

In many ways, Ellis’s role of Dr. William Rush is not too far removed on what he is called upon to do in “Lucifer,” considering that he has landed once again in California’s largest city, this time as the original fallen angel seeking a new adventure that puts him right in the middle of wealth and celebrity status.

Bored and unhappy as the lord of hell, Lucifer Morningstar has abandoned his duties down-under to set up shop on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, running the upscale nightclub Lux that is a magnet for rich hipsters and women who look like models.

Apparently one of the perks of being the devil is the ability to transform into a rakish character that is charming and charismatic. In the first episode, he’s hanging with a pop star brutally murdered outside his Lux nightclub.

The murder attracts the attention of LAPD homicide detective Chloe Decker (Lauren German), who initially is dismissive of Lucifer. But she becomes intrigued by his talent for drawing out people’s secrets.

In what is a surprising twist, Lucifer, for all of his bad boy sensibilities, desires to dispense justice and teams up Decker to solve the pop star’s murder. Moreover, Decker is immune to the devil’s so-called charms, and this in turn creates a challenge for Lucifer.

Meanwhile, God’s emissary, the angel Amenadiel (D.B. Woodside) has been sent to Los Angeles to convince Lucifer to either set up shop in Las Vegas, the original sin city, or return to the underworld. I am just kidding about the first part, but it would make sense, don’t you think?

In essence, what “Lucifer” delivers is a new turn on the police procedural of buddy cops, given that while Lucifer and Decker may team up to solve crimes, Lucifer’s interest is about why people choose to do evil.

The return of “The X-Files” after so many years comes at a time when tapping into rampant paranoia is made easier by the increasing number of conspiracy theories that abound on the Internet. “X-Files” creator Chris Carter mentioned researching more than 500 such Web sites for ideas.

Flashbacks to an alien crash site in New Mexico in 1947 sets the stage for contemporary mythology of government conspiracies to cover up everything from alien encounters to federal concentration camps set up by FEMA.

The first episode of “The X-Files” is heavy on exposition that serves to revive the folklore of Chris Carter’s fervid imagination channeled through Fox Mulder’s (David Duchovny) obsession with investigating the baffling mysteries of the universe.

In the intervening years, Gillian Anderson’s agent Dana Scully has moved on since the FBI closed the X-Files division.

Her work as a surgeon at a Washington, D.C. hospital is focused on helping children with physical deformities, and she exhibits little interest, at first, in being drawn back into exploring the unexplained.

For his part, Mulder has remained a true believer, living the life of a hermit obsessed with real and imagined conspiracies. Early on, to set the proper mood, Mulder mulls the question: “Are we truly alone, or are we being lied to?”

In his heart, Mulder agrees with second part to his question. One must ponder the thought of him sitting in his remote cabin wearing the proverbial tin-foil hat as a precautionary measure against the reach of the military-industrial complex spying on his every move.

Though Scully may be reluctant to pick up where the X-Files left off, Mulder manages to lure his former partner back into the fold when they meet alarmist talk-show host Tad O’Malley (Joel McHale).

The opinionated TV talker rambles about conspiracies from the false flag of 9/11 to NSA data mining and phone conversation surveillance, but his discovery of a mystery woman with an alien abduction tale is all that is necessary to revive Mulder’s instinctual fixations.

The show’s maxim of “the truth is out there” is the guiding principle to the revival of “The X-Files,” and that’s all that might be necessary for the legions of fans of the original series.

As for me, I am waiting for someone to explain the mystery of pop culture fascination with the Kardashians.  
  
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

When grief is so heavy that we need to set it down, poetry is a good place to set it.

Here's a fine poem by Minnesota poet Sharon Chmielarz from her book with photographer Ken Smith, “Visibility: Ten Miles,” published by North Star Press of St. Cloud.

Playing His Heart Out

That day we were trapped
between chartreuse living
room walls and the godly
cleanliness of afghans
saving sofas and chairs.

We were talking about
anything except Uncle Carl—
gone, how we'd miss him—
when Uncle Gus came down
the hall and stood in

the archway, his wiry
body strapped under a black
accordion. "Haven't played,"
he said, "for a long time."
So he played a waltz and I

squirmed in my chair under
the slow flow of grief. He
played a polka and I heard
my sister clapping lightly
for the mourner bending over

the keys. His cheek-bones,
red as Helgoland's
cliffs on the North Sea. Gulls
whirled and screamed around
the black load on his heart.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. They do not accept unsolicited submissions. Poem copyright ©2015 by Sharon Chmielarz , “Playing His Heart Out,” from Visibility: Ten Miles, (North Star Press of St. Cloud, Inc., 2015). Poem reprinted by permission of Sharon Chmielarz and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2016 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Join LakeWorks, Watershed Books and the Main Street Gallery as they celebrate the first “First Friday” event of 2016 from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 5.

Authors and artists will be on hand to share their insights and inspirations.

Dennis Purcell will delight with Americana music, and perhaps invite everyone to “sing along” at LakeWorks.

Hilarie will entertain at Main Street Gallery, and wine and delicious refreshments will be available.

Watershed books is located at 305 N. Main St., with the Main Street Gallery at 325 N. Main St. in Lakeport.

For more information please call Cheri Holden at 707-263-5787.

UKIAH, Calif. – From Feb. 11 through March 20, Mendocino College will host an exciting series of events that will explore the Native peoples of the Arctic: the Eskimo and Inuit.

These events will include an exhibit of Eskimo and Inuit art in the Mendocino College Art Gallery, and several free events that will undoubtedly stimulate thoughts and questions related to these cultural groups and the extreme environments in which they have lived and continue to live.

“I have been studying and traveling to many arctic regions for quite some time, and as a professor of Native American Art have become fascinated with these extraordinary cultural groups who have lived in North America’s harshest environments for thousands of years,” said Leslie Saxon West, exhibit curator and coordinator of this event. “I was eager to expose our college students and the community to the art that has been produced, past and present, by Native inhabitants of these regions, but in order to really understand their art, one needs to understand the people, their history, beliefs, traditions, and environment.”

She added, “When I was thinking about what to call this project, I imagined the many arctic communities I have visited and the landscape, which at first glance is stark. But within the starkness is extraordinary abundance, abundance of beauty and abundance of life. 'Stark Abundance: Through the Eyes of Arctic First Peoples' examines this abundance as it relates to plants, animals, geology, ecology, as well as spiritual beliefs, and human ingenuity and creativity.”

The first event to unfold is an exhibit, which opens on Feb. 11, 4 to 6 p.m. in the Mendocino College Art Gallery, that focuses on art produced by Eskimo and Inuit peoples of the United States and Canada, art that speaks to and mirrors what they see as crucially important – family, land and sea, animals, the spiritual world, and how they are all interconnected.

Those coming to the exhibit will see a variety of pieces including objects made of stone, bone, antler, and baleen as well as Inuit prints, drawings, and tapestries, Eskimo dance masks and regalia, and utilitarian objects made of fish skin, animal organs, and animal hides.

Since Arctic communities are very cold and mostly made up of rock and ice, Arctic people have always survived on sea and land animals alone.

Native peoples of the Arctic have an intimate and spiritual relationship with animals. Animals are not taken for granted and the native peoples feel that they are honoring the animal that has given itself by utilizing every part of its body.

Bones, muscles, ligaments, teeth, internal organs, hides and even whiskers, were traditionally utilized for food, clothing, tools, heat and to construct dwellings. People of the Arctic have always lived sustainably, taking only what they need to survive.

On Tuesday, Feb. 16, from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Mendocino College Art Gallery, Yup’ik artist Drew Michael, from Anchorage, Alaska, will give a presentation on Yup’ik mask and dance traditions and will talk about his own journey as a Native Alaskan in today’s world, and how his art is helping him connect with his heritage.

On Saturday, Feb. 20, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Mendocino College Little Theatre, art, science and history come together as Mendocino College educators Steve Cardimona, professor of Earth sciences; Alan West, professor of biology and marine sciences; Rebecca Montes, professor of history; and Leslie Saxon West, professor of Native American art and dance, team up to discuss arctic ecology and how it has changed over the last century, the historical events affecting Arctic first peoples, and how these events are mirrored in the art that is produced in these areas.

Government politics and history, as it relates to Arctic first peoples will be explored on Friday, March 4, from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Center for Visual and Performing Arts room 5310, when a series of documentary films will be presented.

These films will address the displacement of Inuit and Eskimo families by the US and Canadian governments, the loss of the nomadic lifestyles perpetuated by the slaughter of sled dogs and other poignant topics.

Finally, on Saturday, March 12, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in room 5310, Leslie Saxon West presents “Sustainability, Survival, and the Sacred: Through the Eyes of Arctic First Peoples,” a multimedia exploration of the integration of art and a subsistence-based life in the Arctic.

This exhibit and project were made possible with the generous support of the Mendocino College Foundation, Khoury Dentistry, Phyllis Curtis, Daniel Saxon and Channing Chase.

All events are free and open to the public.

The Mendocino College Art Gallery is open on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. or by appointment, and school and group tours may be arranged by calling Leslie Saxon West at 707-468-3079.

For additional information go to www.mendocino.edu/the-arts/art/art-gallery .

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Just in time for Valentine’s Day is Woody Allen’s 1977 opus, “Annie Hall,” which screens at the Soper Reese Theatre in Lakeport on Tuesday, Feb. 9, with show times at 1 and 6 p.m.

Billed as “a nervous romance” and starring Allen and Diane Keaton, the film is ranked No. 1 on the Writers Guild of America’s list of 101 Funniest Screenplays.

The sophisticated, yet sentimental film also won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Oscars were awarded to Keaton for Best Actress and Allen for Best Director and Screenwriter.

The movie is sponsored by H&R Block, Lakeport, and Hospice Services of Lake County. It is rated PG, with run time of 1 hour 33 minutes. Entry to the film is by donation.

The Soper Reese Theatre is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport, 707-263-0577, www.soperreesetheatre.com .