by Christina Waters | Jul 12, 2010 | Home, Movies |
They’re all here again, Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Jessie the cowgirl (Joan Cusack)), Hamm, Bullseye, Barbie, and of course Andy the boy who loves all of these spunky toys. In the third installment, Andy has grown up and is just about to leave for college. Woody and the gang are growing anxious — will Andy store them in the attic? or will he toss them into the garbage?
If you loved the first Toy Story, easily one of the most ambitious — and successful — animated films of all time, then you’ll feast on this sequel showing once again that the folks at Pixar have no peers in the visual storytelling department.(Certainly the dummies over at Universal won’t make a dent in Pixar with the utterly clueless, sappy clunker called Despicable Me. Actually they should have simply called it Despicable and been done with it.)
What’s most delightful about the new Toy Story is that it is a tale told in every possible narrative dimension. (more…)
by Christina Waters | Jul 5, 2010 | Home, Wine |
Italian for “rascal,” birichino is also the name of a highly drinkable malvasia bianca busy quenching discerning thirsts all over central California. Impish and bone dry, this ultra-crisp white wine has been orchestrated by oeno oracle John Locke from Monterey grapes.
A mere one year old, the crystalline creation practically floats in mid-air, offering up hints of jasmine and citrus as it opens. Graced with 12.5% alcohol, the 2009 vintage could go from breakfast to dinner without much struggle. Currently at Soif wine shop for a pocket-friendly $15.
by Christina Waters | Jul 5, 2010 | Art, Home |
A suite of vibrant paintings in various media by Kit Eastman, is on display through August at the intimate (i.e. tiny) Eduardo Carrillo Gallery. Eastman, a UCSC alumna, works in expressive layers of impasto loaded with gesture, color and the invisible presence of Bay Area figurative masters such as Nathan Oliviera and Elmer Bischoff.
Strolling (shown here) is one of a pair of tiny oils which join a dozen larger-scale figurative studies of nudes embedded with cyanotype x-rays. The series plays with the idea of “stripping bare” the figure in which the interior skeletal anatomy both reveals, and conceals, a voluptuous bodily surface.
The Carrillo Gallery is located within the Baskin Arts Complex, just above the new Digital Arts Research Center, on the UCSC Campus. The gallery is open Mon-Fri, 9-5 all summer long.
by Christina Waters | Jul 2, 2010 | Home, Wine |
An evening of Italian wines with Amanda Rehn was not only full of vibrant conversation and saucy wine lore, but provided a dozen of us the chance to actually learn a lot about what’s going on in contemporary Italian winemaking.
Three whites and four reds crossed our palates, helped out with ripe taleggio, bread, quince paste and astonishing honey. Of the lot, my favorite was a crisp, complex 2009 Colle Stefano Verdicchio di Matelica, from Le Marche region of central Italy. Gorgeous and easy to drink, it moved from peaches, to salt, into a seductive herbaceous middle, and finished with almonds and violets. The relatively low 13% alcohol kept it refreshing on the palate.
Another revelation was a rustic, earthy Aglianico 2006 Molettieri Irpinia from the very southern Basilicata region. Cigar leaf and roses, bay and white pepper (more…)
by Christina Waters | Jul 1, 2010 | Food, Home |
The reigning dessert of summer—a deconstructed bread pudding, ultra-rich, joined by succulent ripe peaches and blackberries, and encircled by lavender-scented crème Anglaise.
The light perfume of the lavender propelled all the elements into culinary orbit.
Kudos to Gabriella‘s pastrix April Zebron.
