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Arts & Life
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- Written by: Ted Kooser
This column is more than 10 years old and I've finally gotten around to trying a little origami!
Here's a poem about that, and about a good deal more than that, by Vanessa Stauffer, who teaches writing at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan.
Lessons
To crease a sheet of paper is to change
its memory, says the origami
master: what was a field of snow
folded into flake. A crane, erect,
structured from surface. A tree
emerges from a leaf—each form undone
reveals the seams, pressed
with ruler's edge. Some figures take
hundreds to be shaped, crossed
& doubled over, the sheet bound
to its making—a web of scars
that maps a body out of space,
how I fashion memory: idling
at an intersection next to Jack Yates High,
an hour past the bell, I saw a girl
fold herself in half to slip beneath
the busted chain-link, books thrust
ahead, splayed on asphalt broiling
in Houston sun. What memory
will she retain? Her cindered palms,
the scraped shin? Braids brushing
the dirt? The white kite of her homework
taking flight? Finding herself
locked out, or being made
to break herself in.
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 Vanessa Stauffer, “Lessons,” from third coast (Winter, 2015). Poem reprinted by permission of Vanessa Stauffer 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.
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- Written by: Tim Riley
Sidelined by lower back pain, this reviewer has been unable to attend recent theatrical screenings. As such, I missed out on the compelling action story of “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,” to say nothing about the good times of “Ride Along 2.”
I would venture to guess that most of us are by now more familiar with the name of the second largest Libyan city than we are able to name the capital cities of most European nations. France? That’s Paris, an easy one. Bulgaria? Have to look that one up.
For shut-ins and those housebound for medical issues, it’s a good thing that the television season is heating up again, what with new series on cable channels and the networks starting to roll out new product.
Courtesy of FX Network in early February, you’ll soon get the 10-part limited drama series “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.” I am not yet sold on the idea of reliving that bit of history.
Taking another tack that looks to be a lot more fun is the TBS Network’s launch of ten episodes of the oddly-named police procedural spoof “Angie Tribeca,” a show that is bound to delight fans of a cop spoof genre that includes comedy classics like “Sledge Hammer!” and the short-lived “Police Squad!”
Leslie Nielsen parlayed his role of Lt. Frank Drebin in “Police Squad!” to the successful run of “The Naked Gun” film franchise, which much like the TV series derived its absurdist humor with endless sight gags and non-sequiturs.
In “Angie Tribeca,” the titular character is played by Rashida Jones, who thrives in the role of straight man, which is appropriate because one of the running gags is that her fellow police officers appear to be oblivious to the fact that she’s actually a woman.
There could be a reason for that misconception. For one thing, LAPD detective Angie Tribeca is a strong, committed loner who’s already had more than two hundred workplace partners.
Her morning ritual consists of punching and kicking her refrigerator, destroying the living room furniture and doing pull-ups in the shower.
In the first episode, Tribeca, much to her chagrin, is teamed up with new partner Jay Geils (Hayes MacArthur), partner number 237 to be exact. There’s a melancholy flashback to losing her partner Sgt. Pepper (James Franco, one of many celebrity cameos).
Geils is more soulful and willing to let Tribeca take the lead, even in the precinct gym where his new partner’s aggressive boxing style turns his face into a puffy pulp as if he had gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson.
Deon Cole’s Danny Tanner, another detective in the same precinct, is partnered with a Belgian Malinois named Hoffman (Jagger the dog), a canine so talented that he even drives an unmarked squad car.
Overseeing the madcap adventures at the police station is Lt. Chet Atkins (Jere Burns), the prototypical tough, no-nonsense boss who spends most of his time yelling at Tribeca and Geils to get into his office.
In the episode “Tribeca’s Day Off,” the high-strung detective is ordered to use one of her many unused vacation days, and the Lieutenant says to her: “I want your badge and your gun,” to which, Tribeca replies: “Don’t you have your own badge and gun?”
On a visit to the grocery store, while off-duty, Tribeca runs into Bill Murray’s stock boy who persuades her to buy products made for loners, such as the “Flying Solo” TV dinner that is billed as “Airplane Style Food for One” and “Very Single” slices of American cheese.
The quirky medical examiner Dr. Scholls (Andree Vermeulen) performs an autopsy on a ventriloquist’s dummy after its master was horribly murdered, while being assisted by the eccentric Dr. Edelweiss (Alfred Molina), who appears each time with a new physical deformity.
Tribeca and Geils, backed up a SWAT team, bust into a house with a drug lab and counterfeiting operation and proceed to ignore these flagrant crimes as they are single-mindedly determined to arrest the owner for illegal possession of a ferret, a crime with a 50-year sentence.
Much of the humor derives from observations during the process of interrogations, such as when detective Geils questions a suspect by asking “Are you aware that someone was murdered on that flight and now he’s dead?”
The episode investigating murders in-flight, entitled “Murder in the First Class,” recalls the silliness of gags and one-liners from “Airplane!” There’s a pattern in these old shows having an exclamation point in the title, but “Angie Tribeca” stands on its own.
“Angie Tribeca,” created by Steve Carell and his wife Nancy, is often hysterically funny with goofy bad puns and deadpan one-liners that should brighten the day for anyone in the mood for laughs and very silly good fun.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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- Written by: Editor
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The 1951 adventure romance, “The African Queen,” screens at the Soper Reese Theatre in Lakeport on Tuesday, Jan. 26, with show times at 1 and 6 p.m.
In this adaptation of C.S. Forester’s novel, it is all about the characters, who are wonderfully written and perfectly played by Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, each bringing a tangible sense of warmth and affection to the screen as their feelings grow for each other.
Bogart won his only Best Actor Oscar for this film. The film was directed by John Huston and filmed on location in what was then the Belgian Congo in Central Africa.
The movie is sponsored by Classic Film Fans and is not rated, with run time of 2 hours 31 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 .
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- Written by: Editor
NAPA, Calif. – This week the Napa County Library will host New York Times bestselling author Craig Johnson, who will discuss his new book “Dry Bones.”
Johnson will speak beginning at 6 p.m., Friday, Jan. 22, at the library, located at 580 Coombs St.
Johnson’s character, Walt Longmire, was first introduced 10 years ago in his short story, “Old Indian Trick.”
This was one of the earliest appearances of the sheriff, who would go on to star in Johnson’s bestselling, award-winning novels and the hit A&E drama series “Longmire.”
Johnson will be signing copies of his book at this free event.
Seating is first-come, first-served.
For special accommodations, call Library Administration at 707-253-4235.
For more information, visit www.napalibrary.org or email John Thill at
