We are never without our insect companions, even in winter, and here’s one who has the run of the house.

Roger Pfingston lives in Indiana.

December

Lodged tight for days
in a corner of the wall,
ladybug can’t resist the tree,

crawling now over cold
light, ceramic fruits,
tinsel lamb and sleigh.

Flies out of the tree
to try rum cake on a
plate of caroling cherubs.

Ends up on her back,
wings flared, silly girl
spinning over the kitchen floor.

Later, between the blinds,
tiny bump of silhouette:
a stillness against the falling snow.

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 Roger Pfingston and reprinted from Poetry East, Nos. 80 & 81, Fall 2013. Roger Pfingston’s most recent book of poems is A Day Marked for Telling, Finishing Line Pr., 2011. Poem reprinted by permission of Roger Pfingston 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.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The ever-popular LC Diamonds play at the Soper Reese Theatre New Year’s Eve party on Wednesday, Dec. 31.

Dance the night away to vintage rock n' roll, rockabilly with a British Twang, soulful blues and surf tunes by these talented Lake County stars.

Ticket price includes savory appetizers, refreshing beverages and a glass of champagne to ring in the new year.

Doors open at 8 p.m.

All seats are reserved. Tickets are $40 loge; $50 for a single ticket at a table and $250 for a table for four.

Table seating is limited. Early reservations are recommended.

Tickets are available online at www.SoperReeseTheatre.com ; at the Theatre Box Office, 275 S. Main St., Lakeport on Fridays 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; or at The Travel Center, 1265 S. Main, Lakeport, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Sunday, Dec. 21, the 70 members of the Lake County Symphony will be joined by a delegation of local singers – including two of the area’s best-known vocalists – in presenting a full program of holiday favorites, both secular and songs of faith.

The concert will take place beginning at 3 p.m. at Lakeport’s Soper Reese Theatre, 275 S. Main St.

There will also be an open rehearsal starting at 11 a.m., to which people 17 and younger are invited free of charge, while others pay only $5.

The orchestra’s conductor and music director John Parkinson, will lead his musicians through a program consisting of holiday hits from composers ranging from Victor Herbert to Vince Guaraldi to Leroy Anderson.

Some of the numbers will feature one of Lake County’s favorite vocalists Shelly Trumbo-Mascari.

A resident of Hidden Valley Lake, her performing and recording credentials include a nationally released solo album.

She has toured the U.S. and internationally on behalf of the U.S. government, and also has won acclaim among Lake County concert goers.

Also, appearing for the first time with the symphony will be local resident Roger Smith.

Both vocalists will sing numbers arranged in a jazz style by Parkinson.

The concert will open with the Symphony Youth Orchestra led by Sue Condit, playing two selections.

The first, “Angels Bach Has Heard on High” is arranger Owen Goldsmith’s idea of what this traditional French melody would sound like if performed by Johan Sebastian Bach.

Condit’s young charges get the chance to travel through a number of Christmas themes in her second selection entitled “Traditions of Christmas – Carols from Europe” arranged by Stephen Bulla.

This piece contains familiar strains from such numbers as “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “Oh How Hoyfully” and others including that same “Angels We Have Heard on High” only this time in the original mode.

The perennial sing-along with the audience joining in on “Joy to the World,” “Oh Come All Ye Faithful,” “Silent Night” and others will again be a mainstay of the program as it has for many years, as well as the grand finale with everyone, performers and audience alike, singing Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus.”

Since the holiday concert is one of the year’s most popular it is recommended that those planning to attend get seat reservations as soon as possible.

General admission is $25 while premium seating is $30, with a discount of $5 for both for symphony association members.

Reservations may be obtained online at www.soperreesetheatre.com or by phone at 707-263-0577.

Tickets also are available on Fridays from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Soper Reese box office.

The holiday season brings more films than usual, and not one of them, as far as I can tell, has anything to do with Christmas.

For the seasonal spirit, one needs to reconnect with “It’s a Wonderful Life,” or even “The Christmas Story.”

Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” which is rated PG-13, is the last leg of the trilogy of film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece.  It appears that filmmaker Jackson wants to go out with a big bang, and he succeeds.
   
More than the previous chapters, this concluding segment is certainly explosive in terms of violent battles. 

“The Battle of the Five Armies,” which follows upon the conclusion of “The Desolation of Smaug,” adheres faithfully to the premise of its title.

During the fiery opening sequence, the defenseless men, women and children of Lake-town are attacked mercilessly by the terrifying Dragon, Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch), as he breathes fire upon the village, laying waste to everything in his wake, even though Bard (Luke Evans) proves heroic.

Seeking refuge at the Lonely Mountain, the Lake-town refugees find that the King Under the Mountain, Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), has succumbed to what Tolkien called the “dragon-sickness,” a condition of greed that causes Thorin to hoard his vast resources of gold and other treasures.

Thorin and the Dwarves of Erebor must now face the consequences of desperate people fleeing their homeland. 

Worse still is that Sauron, the Dark Lord (he’s the really ugly one), has sent forth legions of Orcs in a stealth attack upon the Lonely Mountain.

Our Hobbit hero Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) is flustered that he can’t get Thorin to see reason.  Bilbo finds himself fighting for his life and the lives of his friends as five great armies go to war.  Even the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) is helpless.

For the nonbelievers, “The Battle of the Five Armies” might be the best of the trilogy for the relentless action scenes. 

The Tolkien faithful at least get the end of the continuous story set in Middle-earth 60 years before “The Lord of the Rings.”

 

Family entertainment is comfortably obtained with “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb,” rated PG and the third and final installment of the comedy series about a night watchman at New York’s Museum of Natural History who deals with exhibits that come alive after sundown.

Ben Stiller’s Larry is still working the night shift at the museum, but trouble looms when a big gala dinner event turns to disaster and the museum director (Ricky Gervais) loses his job. 

But even bigger trouble is afoot when Larry discovers that the deterioration of an ancient Egyptian tablet puts all the exhibits into jeopardy.

This is also the last film for Robin Williams, reprising his role of the wax figure of Teddy Roosevelt, who as a result of short-circuiting from the malfunctioning tablet starts quoting other former presidents, even those succeeding him.

The fate of the New York museum wax figures appears to rest with another exhibit at the British Museum in London. 

So Larry packs up his crew, including the roughrider chief executive; Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan as the miniature cowboy and Roman soldier, respectively; Attila the Hun; and the Capuchin monkey, and they head for England.

Once inside the British Museum, after Larry convinces the bored night guard (Rebel Wilson) to open the gates, the hunt is on for Ben Kingsley’s Egyptian pharaoh, who may possess the key to reversing the tablet’s disintegration.

Naturally, new mayhem is unleashed, especially from less than cuddly animals.

The most amusing new wax figure is Sir Lancelot (Dan Stevens), who once animated becomes obsessed with finding Guinevere. 

His opportunity comes when he storms the stage of a West End theatre showing a production of “Camelot,” starring Hugh Jackman and Alice Eve.

Let’s just say that he’s very insistent in his claim to the stage version of Guinevere and wants to slay Hugh Jackman’s King Arthur.

“Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb” is familiar turf, though Stiller adds a new dimension to the comedy by also playing a Neanderthal who proves irresistible to Rebel Wilson’s security guard.

The third installment lacks any pretense; it’s just simple fun and amusing entertainment.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

INHERENT VICE (Rated R)

A film often looks interesting if the trailer proves to be tantalizing with the promise of better things to come.

At first glance, that appeared to be the case with “Inherent Vice,” where the clips revealed the tease of something wacky with off-kilter humor.

Instead, the trailer may have pieced together the best parts of the film, allowing the viewer’s imagination to roam with possibilities of how Thomas Pynchon’s novel would be adapted by director Paul Thomas Anderson, whose eclectic resume includes “Boogie Nights” and “Punch-Drunk Love.”

The production notes explain the meaning of “inherent vice” to be that of a “hidden defect in a good or property which causes or contributes to its deterioration, damage or wastage. These defects of an inherent nature make the item an unacceptable risk to a carrier or insurer.”

OK, whatever this means in terms of explaining Anderson’s movie is unclear to me, except that the setting of Los Angeles circa 1970, with a cast of characters that includes surfers, dopers, hustlers, rockers, a sax player working undercover, LAPD detectives, and dentists, reveals a world full of humans with serious defects.

“Inherent Vice,” which might have been film noir if the setting had been about four decades earlier, is a story that dives headlong into the smoky haze and neon afterglow of the American counterculture expiring in a puff of psychedelic last hurrah at a grim time after the horrors of the Manson murders and Altamont rock concert.

Joaquin Phoenix, sporting shaggy hippie-style long hair and mutton-chop sideburns, is stoner private eye Doc Sportello, who resides in a ramshackle beachside house in fictional Gordita Beach and works out of what appears to be a medical office where consultations are facilitated by the easy availability of various hallucinogens.

A strange mystery story begins to unfold when Doc is hired by his ex-girlfriend Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterston), a formerly free-spirited beach girl, to find her married billionaire boyfriend Mickey Wolfmann (Eric Roberts), a land developer of mediocre tract housing.

Meanwhile, Mickey’s wife is carrying on a dalliance with a fitness trainer, and apparently has little concern about her missing husband, who turns out to be discovered as the guest of a for-profit mental institution.

Shasta had feared that Mickey’s wife and lover conspired to have the real estate magnate committed.

To think that Doc has the simple task of locating Mickey Wolfmann would seem to be the essence of this mystery. But no, other factors intrude, such as the black doper visiting Doc with a request to locate Mickey’s bodyguard, a white supremacist who was a former cellmate.

Complicating matters is the request of Hope (Jena Malone) to find out what happened to her husband, surf-rock saxophonist Coy Harlingen (Owen Wilson), who shows up in a newsreel as a protestor at a Richard Nixon rally but may in fact be working as an undercover agent.

Then, there the case of Doc’s former client Crocker Fenway (Martin Donovan), whose runaway daughter Japonica (Sasha Pieterse) was once located by the gumshoe, who seems to be connected to the Golden Fang, which is either a Chinese drug cartel or a dental group that fixes the rotted teeth of druggies.

Speaking of dentists, Martin Short appears as the powder-loving Dr. Rudy Blatnoyd, a lunatic who is obsessed with young women and cocaine, hooked on free love, and yet somehow made it through dentistry school, and is now connected to the mysterious Golden Fang empire.

Shadowing the gumshoe’s moves through the hazy underworld is the frozen banana-chomping LAPD detective and self-described “renaissance cop” Detective “Bigfoot” Bjornsen (Josh Brolin), stuck in the gray flannel ‘50s world and a tough guy with a strange love-hate relationship with Doc.

As Doc pursues his investigations, he moves from his natural habit of beachside surf shacks across the greater Los Angeles landscape to LAPD’s Parker Center, hillside mansions, seedy massage parlors, dust-swept construction sites, coastal diners, rehab centers and the sleek offices of Golden Fang.

Doc’s brush with the law includes Deputy District Attorney Penny Kimball (Reese Witherspoon), with whom he has occasional carnal relations.

Doc’s attorney Sauncho Smilax (Benicio Del Toro) practices maritime law, which only comes in handy when the Golden Fang is also found to be a large sailboat.

If this review appears to be rambling, it only because “Inherent Vice” resembles a travelogue of the weird and strange, where very little makes sense, resulting in the feeling of confusion and hazy memory.

The film should be called “Incoherent Vice,” a moniker that has probably already been noted in other places.    

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

BY THE GUN (Rated R)

At the cinemas, we’re in the quiet period before the major holiday releases that are just around the corner, where “Annie,” the adorable little orphan, goes up against “The Hobbit,” which is rumored to also involve a lovable smaller person in the central role.

Until then, we have to satisfy our cinematic cravings by revisiting the latest “Hunger Games” or taking in a horror film that a major studio hardly bothered to promote, knowing there’s a built-in audience that flocks to this genre regardless of any consequential artistic qualities.

The other alternative is to catch, if you can, “By the Gun,” a somewhat limited release of a formulaic yet gritty gangster story that could easily find its way to the DVD shelves of your local Walmart before it ever reaches a nearby theater.

“By the Gun” is a crime thriller that so desperately wants to recapture the essence of the graphic, coarse brutality of “Goodfellas” that one of the criminal characters actually mentions the film as a poke to another’s fascination with gangland tropes.

Set in the Boston’s North End community, “By the Gun” takes a jaundiced look at the dwindling empire of the veteran Italian mobsters.

Suitably, Harvey Keitel is Sal, the big capo, who is losing his grip to other wiseguys, while also engaged in turf battles with sleazy criminal kingpin Tony (Ritchie Coster). 

Against the wishes of his disapproving father (Paul Ben-Victor), Ben Barnes’ Nick is a petty thief and street hustler consorting with his thuggish buddy George (Slaine), a trigger-happy goon far too eager to settle minor disputes with violence. Nick is devoted to his younger brother, and wants to help him to afford college.

While George may be fine with strong-arm tactics, Nick is anxious and determined to become a “made man,” willing to pledge faithful allegiance to Sal’s mob at a ceremony that naturally involves a blood oath. This will become Nick’s path to greater financial rewards, which he’ll use to help his family.

To please his new mob boss, Nick volunteers for an apology tour to address perceived slights that have greatly offended the outraged Tony, a psychopath who is greatly motivated to take down Sal and his vicious henchman (nicely played by British actor Toby Jones).

While Harvey Keitel predictably chews the scenery as a wretched, ferocious mafia don, Ben Barnes flails around in his efforts to be the credible tough guy.

Barnes’ Nick comes across as someone unsure and lacking confidence, even tongue-tied at the most unfortunate times, such as when trying to court a rival’s daughter.

Indeed, the romantic angle intrudes in a big way. Leighton Meester’s Ali, a barmaid with ambition, is the daughter of the despicable mobster Tony. She wants nothing to do with the criminal life, and so Nick is at first glance not someone she wants to start dating.

Notwithstanding Ali’s reservations, Nick is fairly persistent and soon the courtship gains traction. Before you know it, Nick becomes anxious to leave behind his criminal ties so that he and Ali can begin a life together.

Of course, as it comes as no surprise to anyone with even a modicum of knowledge of mobster stories, a desire to leave the mob is not an option. No one just walks away unless they end up in a witness protection program.

“By the Gun” may provide some excitement for its rather mechanical approach to the mobster genre.

Certainly, there are thuggish violence and double-cross betrayals that keep the action moving along, if not to the more exalted standards of better gangster films.

The various actors in the mob roles are, at least, sincere in their attempts to appear as if they were auditioning for a “Goodfellas” remake.

They all try hard to deliver the appropriate menace and threatening bravado. Fans of the gangster genre may find that just enough until something better comes along.

One thing for certain is that “By the Gun” won’t be mistaken for a holiday film designed to bring us glad tidings and good cheer.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.