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Arts & Life
- Details
- Written by: Ted Kooser
One of Grant Wood’s earliest paintings is of a pair of old shoes, and it hangs in the art museum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where Wood grew up.
Here’s a different kind of still life, in words, from Jim Daniels, who lives in Pittsburgh.
The shoes we put on our feet gradually become like the person wearing them.
Work Boots: Still Life
Next to the screen door
work boots dry in the sun.
Salt lines map the leather
and laces droop
like the arms of a new-hire
waiting to punch out.
The shoe hangs open like the sigh
of someone too tired to speak
a mouth that can almost breathe.
A tear in the leather reveals
a shiny steel toe
a glimpse of the promise of safety
the promise of steel and the years to come.
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. Poem reprinted from Show and Tell, Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 2003, courtesy of the University of Wisconsin Press. Copyright 2003 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. Jim Daniels’ most recent book of poems is Birth Marks, BOA Editions, Ltd., 2013. Introduction copyright 2014 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. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
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- Written by: Tim Riley
THE NOVEMBER MAN (Rated R)
The fact that Pierce Brosnan portrayed James Bond in several installments of the famous spy thriller franchise in the 1990s makes him a good choice to play a secret agent in the present day who reluctantly comes out of retirement for one final mission.
“The November Man,” in which Brosnan’s Peter Devereaux is a retired CIA agent living peacefully in Lausanne, Switzerland, is based on Bill Granger’s novel “There Are No Spies,” and since the author has penned other novels in the series, maybe this is the start of another spy franchise.
The temptation is clearly evident to say that Brosnan’s CIA agent is a reformulation of James Bond or Jason Bourne.
Yet, it’s a younger man’s game for those well-recognized spies. Here, Brosnan is more like the tough guy Liam Neeson has become since his role in the thrilling “Taken” franchise.
If Pierce Brosnan returns in sequels to “The November Man,” the motto of “Old Guys Rule” may become something more than an expression of wishful thinking on ball caps and T-shirts. By all accounts, much like Liam Neeson, Brosnan has the chops to be ruthless and hard-hitting.
The spy thriller opens in Montenegro in 2008 with Devereaux and his young CIA protégé, agent David Mason (Luke Bracey), involved in protecting the American ambassador from an assassination attempt, which results in the unfortunate death of a young girl as collateral damage.
The action shifts to five years later at a lakefront café in Lausanne, where Devereaux’s carefree existence is interrupted by the arrival of old colleague, John Hanley (Bill Smitrovich), who insists that the retired agent must help extract a woman under deep cover in the Kremlin.
Devereaux’s reasons for rejoining the agency for a dangerous mission is, like many things, not immediately known. But valuable information about a former Russian general now a rising politician who could become the next president presents an imperative.
The Russian in question, Arkady Federov (Lazar Ristovski), is corrupt and dangerous. As an Army general in the Chechnyan conflict, Federov was engaged in serious war crimes and had abducted young girls for human trafficking in sex slavery. The missing Mira Filipova holds very incriminating evidence against Federov.
The mission in Moscow to extract American deep asset Natalia (Mediha Musliovic) goes horribly wrong, and Devereaux ends up in a shootout with a team of CIA agents chasing after him and the Russian secret police trying to stop Natalia.
Devereaux discovers that his former protégé David Mason has unfortunately been ordered to take him out. The man who was once the hunter has now becomes the hunted. Mason is deadly and determined, having learned well from his former mentor.
The resulting cat-and-mouse game between the old and new guard in the spy ranks sets up a good contest. As Devereaux closely trained Mason and shaped into what he is today, both men are evenly matched as they each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
The escalating battle is orchestrated by others in the shadowy ranks of the CIA, including efforts by master manipulator Hanley using highly questionable methods that are overseen by Perry Weinstein (Bill Patton), who has no qualms about using harsh powers of persuasion to spur Mason on in a quest to eliminate Devereaux.
The chase ends up in the Serbian capital of Belgrade, where Devereaux comes into contact with social worker Alice Fournier (Olga Kurylenko, a former Bond girl in “Quantum of Solace”), who not only helps young girls fleeing sexual slavery and human trafficking but may be the key to finding the missing Mira Filipova.
When it becomes apparent that Alice knows too much, her life is in danger, and only Devereaux can protect her.
A ruthless Russian female agent starts to kill anyone looking into Federov’s activities, including a journalist who senses that he’s on track for a big story.
The grizzled veteran spy has to dodge bullets and double-crosses, while the bodies start piling up in this hard-edged, violent thriller at an alarming pace that is only rivaled by serial killing favored by the cheesiest of horror flicks.
Though “The November Man” is somewhat predictable and sometimes lacks coherence, there are key elements of surprise that bring delight.
This is an end-of-summer popcorn action film that, even though it wishes to explore moral quandaries, makes no pretense in the end of its objective of being an entertaining thriller.
Nearing an age to qualify for Social Security, Pierce Brosnan, like many other colleagues of his generation, is still very credible for being the action hero.
Watching him engaged as the conflicted good guy capable of delivering the goods makes “The November Man” a decent pleasure for those who enjoy the spy genre.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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- Written by: Editor
COBB, Calif. – Hoberg’s Spa and Resort returned to life in August with a concert celebrating the 45th anniversary of Woodstock.
“It was a terrific start to something that’s going to continue for a very long time,” said producer Dan Nelson, “It was exciting to see the crowd having a great time – we got a glimpse of the future this weekend.”
The show, which featured the Heroes of Woodstock – Jefferson Starship, Canned Heat, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Imperial Messenger Service, Country Joe McDonald, and the Grateful Dead’s Tom Constanten – was followed on the next day by a Summer of Love show featuring Elvin Bishop, Lydia Pense and Cold Blood, and It’s a Beautiful Day.
The resort is now gearing up for Cobb Mountain Daze, on Sunday, Sept. 21, when the masters of rock and roll theater, The Tubes, will headline a show that will also include Lee Gallagher and the Hallelujah, Cheating Daylight and Mystic Man Reggae.
No band has ever combined music, parody, satire and excess better than the Tubes, from “White Punks on Dope” to “Don’t Touch Me There.” A Tubes show is entertainment of the highest order, featuring vocalist Fee Waybill, guitarist Roger Steen, and drummer Prairie Prince.
San Francisco-based Lee Gallagher is a powerful vocalist and strong songwriter fronting a storming organ and guitar-driven rock band in the Hallelujah.
Lake County’s own Cheating Daylight is full of handsome, young and talented players, strong enough to have been nominated for last year’s “Rock Artists of the Year” award at the Los Angeles Music Awards gathering.
Mystic Man Reggae fuses Calypso, Reggae, Latin, African Highlife and other strands of world music in a way that has made Mystic Man the best-known artist of Haitian descent on the West Coast.
Cobb Mountain Daze will kick off on Saturday with a Tribute Band Day, a tribute bands concert that will delight with a combination of excellent musicianship and nostalgia for the original sounds.
Escape (Journey Tribute), Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers (ZZ Top Tribute), Fleetwood Masked (Fleetwood Mac Tribute), and Jett Black (Joan Jett Tribute) will make for an extraordinarily entertaining day.
Joining the music on the day’s agenda will be a rock band contest, a wine tasting, a chili cook-off, a new menu of food choices, many vendors, and Hoberg’s historical tent, which will explore the rich history of Hoberg’s and Cobb Mountain.
Doors open at noon.
Tickets for Saturday $20 in advance, $25 at the door. For Sunday, advance tickets cost $29 per person or $35 at the door. Two day passes cost $39 each in advance or $45 at the door.
Tickets can be purchased at www.Ticketfly.com .
For more information visit www.hobergsresort.com or call the Cobb Mountain Concert Series hotline at 866-622-7709.
- Details
- Written by: Ted Kooser
We’re at the end of the gardening season here on the Great Plains, and the garden described in this poem by Karina Borowicz, who lives in Massachusetts, is familiar to tomato fanciers all across the country.
September Tomatoes
The whiskey stink of rot has settled
in the garden, and a burst of fruit flies rises
when I touch the dying tomato plants.
Still, the claws of tiny yellow blossoms
flail in the air as I pull the vines up by the roots
and toss them in the compost.
It feels cruel. Something in me isn’t ready
to let go of summer so easily. To destroy
what I’ve carefully cultivated all these months.
Those pale flowers might still have time to fruit.
My great-grandmother sang with the girls of her village
as they pulled the flax. Songs so old
and so tied to the season that the very sound
seemed to turn the weather.
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. Poem copyright 2013 by Karina Borowicz, whose most recent book of poems is Proof (Codhill Press, 2014). Poem first appeared in the journal ECOTONE and is reprinted by permission of Karina Borowicz and the publisher Introduction copyright 2014 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. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
