Here’s another good reason to grow your own (if you can) or buy from organic markets when affordable. MSNBC:
While we’ve been dutifully eating our fruits and vegetables all these years, a strange thing has been happening to our produce. It’s losing its nutrients. That’s right: Today’s conventionally grown produce isn’t as healthful as it was 30 years ago — and it’s only getting worse. The decline in fruits and vegetables was first reported more than 10 years ago by English researcher Anne-Marie Mayer, PhD, who looked at the dwindling mineral concentrations of 20 UK-based crops from the 1930s to the 1980s.
It’s happening to crops in the United States, too. In 2004, Donald Davis, PhD, a former researcher with the Biochemical Institute at the University of Texas, Austin, led a team that analyzed 43 fruits and vegetables from 1950 to 1999 and reported reductions in vitamins, minerals, and protein. Using USDA data, he found that broccoli, for example, had 130 mg of calcium in 1950. Today, that number is only 48 mg. What’s going on? Davis believes it’s due to the farming industry’s desire to grow bigger vegetables faster. The very things that speed growth — selective breeding and synthetic fertilizers — decrease produce’s ability to synthesize nutrients or absorb them from the soil.
I’ve never understood how anyone can think Greensboro is boring. In addition to all the sports stuff- that I do not follow- we have an excellent and diverse performing arts scene. Our biggest problem, personally, is finding the time to attend all the things we would like to see.
There are so many different theatre companies in the Triad. They each seem to have their niche and we are blessed with that kind of diversity in theatrical options. Then we also have so many excellent College and University Theatre Departments.
I have had very enjoyable evenings at the Theatre over the past year at Triad Stage, The Broach Theatre, Paper Lantern Theatre Company, Bennett College Theatre, NC A&T Theatre, UNC-G Theatre, GTCC Theatre and several others.
My main concern is that some of them keep doing the same shows over and over or shows that other companies have done. I understand there is a segment of the local audience who will go see “Steel Magnolias” and “Driving Miss Daisy” over and over. But I think even they must have had enough by now! Some shows have just been done too much. There are other options.
There are so many wonderful plays out there, I just hate to see our local talent and audiences limited to the same old war horses…
With that in mind, I thought I would list some of the shows I have seen in New York and other places that I would love to see done locally. These are shows that I think would appeal to the local theatre-goers. I also hope they would not be too technically demanding for one or more of our Triad based companies to take on. These may not all be great plays, but they were plays and musicals I greatly enjoyed.
I guess I would call most of these “audience pleasers”. Others are just plain good plays that ought to be seen locally.
Who knows? Maybe someone will actually decide to do one of them. And if they do, I would go to see it. And bring friends…
Again, these are just the suggestions that come to the top of my head. I’m sure I’ll think of more to add later.
“The Exact Center of the Universe”- we saw this Off Broadway several years ago with Frances Sternhagen. I immediately turned to Steve and said: “I wish someone would do this in Greensboro with Betsy Brown. She would be wonderful!” It would also appeal to the “Driving Miss Daisy” and “Steel Magnolias” crowd. It’s about an older Southern woman and her son in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Here is a link to a review that tells you more: http://www.curtainup.com/exactcen.html
“The Lady With All the Answers”- We just saw this Off Broadway last December with Judith Ivey playing Ann Landers. It’s one character, set in her living room. It’s a marvelous, funny play.
“Dinah Was”- This is one I really don’t understand why it hasn’t been done here. It’s about Dinah Washington and her life and career. It opens with her sitting in the lobby of the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas in the 1960’s. She is sitting in the lobby in her slip and a fur coat with a bottle of champagne and mad as hell because they hired her to perform but won’t let her stay in the hotel because she is black. Lillias White played Dinah Washington and was amazing. Adriane Lenox almost stole the show as the hotel maid who brings down the house at the end. This could be done here on a small stage with a very small orchestra. I wish someone would do it–if they can find the right actresses.
“The Life”-This was Cy Coleman, the composer of “Sweet Charity”‘s, last show on Broadway. It is a great show. I think people are afraid to do it because it is a large cast and is about hookers, pimps and hustlers in New York in the early 1970’s. But it’s a great show. Entertaining and with a lot of heart. Here is a clip of this one:
“Orson’s Shadow”- I posted about this one recently. Again, I saw this Off Broadway. Basically, it’s the story of Orson Wells, Laurence Olivier, Vivian Leigh and Joan Plowright working on a theatrical project together. Ms Plowright was Olivier’s wife after Miss Leigh and their affair is in the early stages in this play. It’s a great backstage story about theatre and theatrical egos. You can find my previous post using the Search Feature on the Blog. I can’t seem to get links to work…
“The Dazzle”- This Off Broadway show was about Homer and Langley Collyer, the original hoarders. I loved it. Here is a link to a review that tells you more: http://www.curtainup.com/dazzle.html
“The Temperamentals”– Another Off Broadway Play I posted about recently. There is a large Gay and well-educated audience here that I think would embrace this play. Use the Search feature on this blog for “Temperamentals” and you can see my previous post and some scenes.
“Last Fall”- We just saw this in June on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theatre. Search the Blog with “Next Fall” to see my detailed thoughts in my earlier post. Here are a couple of clips with a little more information
“Dying City”- By Christopher Shinn. I saw this at Lincoln Center and thought it was one of the best new plays I had seen in a while. It’s about a woman who’s husband dies in Iraq who is visited by his identical twin brother about a year later. It was an amazingly well written and moving play.
“August: Osage County”- by Tracy Letts. I loved this family comedy/drama when we saw it on Broadway a couple of years ago. When the daughter screamed at the Mother at the formal dinner table and said: “Eat the f#@king fish, bitch” I turned to Steve and said “These are my people.” Again, this is a large cast, but I think it would be a crowd pleaser. It was a big hit on Broadway and they are working on the movie now. Here is an advertisement and a story about the show:
Just some thoughts…I’m sure others have some suggestions to add.
I love Bobby Darin. I didn’t really discover him until college when we would always play “Mack the Knife” and “Somewhere Beyond the Sea” at dances and parties. Remember, I went to Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia in the late 1970’s- early 1980’s. We were in our own special world and I won’t apologize for it.
Anyway, the more I learned the more fascinated I became. The man could sing.
And he was married to Sandra Dee- whose movies I loved–especially “A Summer Place.” Say what you will….It was a younger, more innocent time. And they could really dress well.
As I’ve listened to him more over the years, my respect for the man has only grown. I always recognize his voice when I hear it. Arguably, he was the greatest male vocalist after Sinatra. He was also a showman.
And there were many, many stages to his much too brief life and career. He died of heart failure at age 37.
They was an interesting bio-pic a few years ago with a much too old Kevin Spacey playing Bobby, but it’s worth seeing.
Here are some clips of the real Bobby Darin performing some of my favorites:
His biggest hit, “Mack the Knife”
His is my personal favorite version of this song, “A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square”:
Performing one of the songs he wrote, “A Simple Song of Freedom” that’s still timely today:
One of his later hits, “If I Were a Carpenter”. This was recorded just a few months before his death.
This was always his closing number in Vegas and on tour:
And, because I can’t help myself, this is a video tribute to Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee set to his recording of “Once Upon a Time”
We just finished watching this weeks episode of “True Blood”, a show I just love. It’s the only TV show I watch. It reminded me of a conversation we had earlier today about Vampire Movies. Which made me want to mention “Let the Right One In.”
This is a truly great vampire film. I think it’s Swedish. It’s about a little girl vampire and it is mesmerizing. This is no “Twilight”. It’s very much a moody art film that draws you in slowly, but completely. They are making a U.S. version for release later this year, but I can’t imagine it will be as good as the original.
“Let the Right One In” is out on DVD and I strongly recommend you Netflix it or even buy it…
This is an intriguing article by Jesse Kornbluth on the Huffington Post…Here is an excerpt with the link to the full article at the bottom:
I never thought I’d see the day when the lawyer who argued Brown v. Topeka Board of Education before the Supreme Court and went on to be the first African-American to sit on that Court would have his career reduced to that most dreaded of all contemporary labels: “activist.”
I never thought I’d see the day when you can legally carry concealed weapons into airports and bars and — my sweet Lord! — churches.
I never thought I’d see the day when allegedly smart adults would tell me that America’s poor were so powerful that, given the chance to own real estate, they bought so many houses they couldn’t afford that they tanked the economy of almost every country in the world.
But then I never thought I’d see the day when “To Kill A Mockingbird” — a novel that has inspired readers for half a century — would be derided as a book about “the limitations of liberalism” (by Malcolm Gladwell, no less, in The New Yorker, of all places) and “a sugar-coated myth of Alabama’s past” with a hero who’s “a repository of cracker-barrel epigrams” (by Allen Barra, in the Wall Street Journal)
But as we approach July 11th — the 50th anniversary of the publication of “To Kill a Mockingbird” (to buy the paperback from Amazon, click here; shamefully, there is no Kindle edition) — it’s probably not surprising that we’re seeing one of America’s best-loved books criticized for its “politics.”
We just returned from seeing “Letters to Juliet”. If you are looking for a light, romantic movie with great Italian scenery, I would highly recommend this film.
It’s predictable and sweet, but a lovely way to spend the afternoon. And Vanessa Redgrave is just luminous.
One of the reasons I hardly ever watch television anymore is the advertising is so annoying and tacky. It seems to want to glorify all that is vulgar and mundane-playing to the lowest common denominator.
For some reason, I came across these old “Charlie” ads on YouTube and it reminded me that we once actually enjoyed the commercials! These featured vocals by Bobby Short and Mel Torme with Shelly Hack looking beautiful, classy and fun.
I guess one of the reasons ads aren’t like this now, is mass American society doesn’t seem to aspire to beautiful, classy and fun. It seems to aspire more to be fast, fat, easy, cheap and tacky…Stupidity seems to be valued over style. Or so the ads seem to imply…
Here is a look back:
Compare these to some of the commercials we have to watch now…
A video tribute to one of my favorite trashy movies.
It’s so bad, it’s wonderful.
I can’t count the times I’ve seen it…
There was as much drama off-screen as on…Judy Garland was supposed to play the Susan Hayward part of Helen Lawson, but could not be coaxed out of her dressing room. She had already recorded the songs and done the costume screen tests.
Rumor had it, Neely O’Hara was based on Garland and Helen Lawson was based on Ethel Merman.
And, of course, it was Sharon Tate’s most famous film. Released just a year or so before she was tragically murdered by the Manson Family.
And it’s a perfect visual representation of late 1960’s fashion.
I remember having a fit because my parents would not take me to the theatre to see it when it first came out. I was then about 10 years old…
What more can I say?
Here are some clips:
And here’s a campy, politically incorrect re-mix that I love:
Lost in the 21st Century 
Why is “To Kill a Mockingbird” Being Attacked?
This is an intriguing article by Jesse Kornbluth on the Huffington Post…Here is an excerpt with the link to the full article at the bottom:
via Jesse Kornbluth: ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ Anniversary: On Its 50th Birthday, Why Is ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ Being Attacked? (VIDEO).
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Tagged as Books, movies, politics, the south