Don’t miss the chance to see UCSC’s own cosmological mathematician Ralph Abraham demystify fractals on a fascinating documentary, Tuesday Oct 28, 2008 at 8 pm on PBS-Nova.
The name of the program is Hunting the Hidden Dimension, and if you miss it you can still see the entire episode on-line at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/.
Witness the awesome spectacle of Bonny Doon Vineyard President for Life Randall Grahm trading oeno-wits with vine geek Gary Vaynerchuk on Wine Library TV. This gonzo behind-the-scenes foray into deep tannin-speak is so big, so bold, so over-the-top that it requires TWO episodes.
Not to miss!
Once edified, prepare to toast RG at the winery’s new tasting room – opening in two weeks – on Ingalls Street.
That link again: http://tv.winelibrary.com/.
Here are a few of my picks for this weekend’s Open Studios art crawl.
In Bonny Doon, the studio of Ray Gwyn Smith is filled with prints, new landscape paintings and spectacular views of the redwood forest. Stop by Oct. 18-19, from 11am-6pm and savor. Smith’s studio is located at 997 Smith Grade – five miles up Empire Grade, turn left onto Smith Grade and follow the Open Studio signs. Call 831/227-5971 if you get lost.
Sara Friedlander‘s kinetically-inflected images of the New York subway system and glittering architecture plunge the viewer into a wrap-around perspective. Check them out this weekend at Friedlander’s Fairmont Avenue studio. 
Entrees at la Campana followed an amazing salad of that curious wild celeryesque vegetable, puntarelle, bathed in an addictive anchovy sauce.
The magnificent Ristorante la Campana — so old that Caravaggio surely dined here — continues to provide clear, bold dishes amidst the narrow warrens of medieval Rome. We were overcome with the perfection of this buttery filet in balsamico reduction.
A book of sensory adventure: The rituals, passions and discoveries of an engaged life.