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Arts & Life

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Ted Kooser. Photo credit: UNL Publications and Photography.


I'm writing this column in the earliest days of another spring, and here's a fine spring poem from Rose King's book Time and Peonies, from Hummingbird Press. The poet lives in California.

In Spring

I'm out with the wheelbarrow mixing mulch.
A mockingbird trills in the pine.
Then, from higher, a buzz, and through patches of blue
as the fog burns off, a small plane pulls a banner,
red letters I can't read—
but I do see, over the fence,
a man in a sky-blue shirt walking his dog to the beach.
He says he missed it, will keep an eye out.
Four barrows of mulch around the blueberry bushes,
I'm pulling off gloves, and he's back, beaming.
"It says, I LOVE YOU, MARTHA.
Are you Martha?"

American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It 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 2017 by Rosie King from Time and Peonies,(Hummingbird Press,2017). Poem reprinted by permission of Rosie King and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2018 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.
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DEADPOOL 2 (Rated R)

Ryan Reynolds’s sarcastic humor is on display again for the sequel “Deadpool 2,” in which his foulmouthed superhero Deadpool, wearing a threadbare costume that looks like a discard from Spider-Man’s closet, is pretty much up to his same old tricks.

Though maybe not quite as original, this sequel to the popular “Deadpool,” where the titular character’s irreverence and disdain is for just about every cultural norm, is going to appeal to the same audience and for good reason.

Both the beginning and end credits are worth your attention. Right from the start, the laughs are plentiful when the director is noted as “The Guy Who Killed the Dog in John Wick” and the cinematographer is “Blind Al” (Leslies Uggams, Deadpool’s sight-impaired roommate).

Deadpool aka Wade Wilson, when imbibing at the tavern run by his pal Weasel (T.J. Miller), has an uncanny ability to be likeable even though he’s terribly flawed and given to snarky commentary and one-liners guaranteed to frequently offend the wrong people.

His behavior explains why he’s at odds with the X-Men, most humorously with the returning characters of Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), whose Asian girlfriend (Shioli Katsuna) love interest thinks Deadpool is cute.

The basic story is somewhat immaterial but Deadpool gets involved in rescuing mutant teenager Russell (Julian Dennison), whose powers are uncontrollable, from the vicious Headmaster (Eddie Marsan) of a cruel mutant rehabilitation center.

Meanwhile, time-traveling soldier Cable (Josh Brolin), having lost his wife and family, arrives from the future to terminate Russell aka Firefist in a mission that recalls what Arnold Schwarzenegger was up to in “The Terminator.”

Since he doesn’t fit in with X-Men, Deadpool puts together his own motley crew assembled from an open casting call. Responding to an ad, Peter (Rob Delaney), a regular Joe with no mutant powers, joins with mutants like Bedlam (Terry Crews) and Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgard).

The most interesting recruit for what Deadpool dubs the X-Force is Domino (Zazie Beetz), a badass combatant dressed like a dominatrix who sells herself for having the unique power of “luck.” She’s so good she could spinoff into her own comic book universe.

Unlike other superhero films, Deadpool likes to breach the fourth wall, sharing his profane musings with the viewers. Also dissimilar to the genre is that “Deadpool 2” aims to be ridiculous by choice rather than coincidence.

The bottom line is that anyone who enjoyed the seriously R-rated comedy of the original is bound to enjoy the continuing misadventures in “Deadpool 2.”

FOX TV ANNOUNCES 2018 FALL SCHEDULE

FOX television has announced its schedule for the 2018 fall season and among several casualties, “Lucifer” has been cancelled after three seasons, sending the Devil back to his subterranean Kingdom of Hades or the network equivalent.

Though we don’t know for sure, the high-flying comedy “LA to Vegas” does not appear on the schedule. Maybe it’s been grounded for maintenance. “Gotham” won’t return until midseason for its fifth and final season.

On occasion, a network series will get un-cancelled when picked up elsewhere. That happened to the Fox series “Arrested Development” when it landed on Netflix a few years back. Fox’s “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” was recently dumped for all of a few hours before NBC picked it up.

Now it is Fox’s turn to pick up another network’s abandoned series, as ABC unwisely discarded the long-running and popular Tim Allen comedy “Last Man Standing,” which ran for six successful years.

The fan-favorite “Last Man Standing” will continue to star Tim Allen as Mike Baxter, a married father of three girls who tries to maintain his manliness in a world increasingly dominated by the women in his life.

While Nancy Travis returns as Mike Baxter’s wife, it’s unknown at this time if Hector Elizondo will be back at Mike’s boss at the outdoor sporting goods store. A lot of comedy is centered at the store and it would be great to recreate the same workplace dynamic.

Standup comedian Lil Rel Howery (the TSA agent in “Get Out”) gets his own comedy show “Rel,” featuring himself as Rel, loving husband and father living on the West Side of Chicago who finds out his wife is having an affair.

The affair is with Rel’s own barber, an embarrassing situation because as hard it is to find a good spouse, it’s even harder to find a reliable barber. The wife and kids move away, and Rel has to rebuild his life as a long-distance dad. Sinbad is in the cast as Rel’s father.

“The Cool Kids” is not a comedy show about millennials. Quite the opposite as this is a ragtag group of friends living in a retirement community who are willing to break every rule to have fun, before the clock runs out.

David Alan Grier’s Hank is a gruff, opinionated Archie Bunker-type. Martin Mull’s Charlie is a storyteller going off on bizarre tangents. Leslie Jordan’s Sid is a gloomy hypochondriac. Vicki Lawrence’s Margaret, a brash, confident woman, forces her way into the group.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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“Who Framed Roger Rabbit” will be featured at the Soper Reese Theatre on Tuesday, June 6, 2018. Courtesy photo.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The GenX Cinema series presents the 1988 animated/live action film, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” starring Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd and Kathleen Turner, on Wednesday, June 6, at 7 p.m. at the Soper Reese Theatre in Lakeport.

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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The 1957 courtroom drama, “Witness for the Prosecution” starring Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich and Charles Laughton, screens at the Soper Reese Theatre on Tuesday, June 12, at 1 and 6 p.m.

Entry to the film is by donation.

An unusual murder case tempts an ailing barrister back into action in this Billy Wilder-directed suspense adapted from an Agatha Christie play.

Charles Laughton delivers a first-rate theatrical performance as the defense attorney in this powerful, immensely satisfying film with a killer ending.

The film received six Academy Award nominations.

The movie is sponsored by Classic Film Fans. Not rated. Run time is 1 hour and 56 minutes.

The Soper Reese Theatre is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport, 707-263-0577, www.soperreesetheatre.com.
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Painting by Darina Simeonova.


MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – On Saturday, May 26, from 6 to 8 p.m., the public is invited to Middletown Art Center to join local artists, and Resilience Project participants for the Resilience ~ Art in Dialogue With Nature exhibition opening reception.

The opening will include spoken word readings and the release of the Resilience chapbook – a collection of writings and artwork created during the Resilience project workshops, which concluded this past weekend after a year of weekly classes. Readers include poets Casey Carney, Georgina Marie, and Idlore-Heather Kipnis among others.

The Resilience exhibit is a hybrid of the intent of EcoArts Sculpture Walk of creating and presenting ‘art in dialogue with nature’, and new works that speak of resilience, recovery and vitality.

MAC has continued the seasonal tradition of EcoArts at the art center in downtown Middletown since devastation of the Trailside Park by the Valley Fire in 2015, and plans to reopen the sculpture walk in the summer of 2019.

“In addition to the healing and enriching aspects of art-making, a key goal of our project is to weave art into daily life in Lake County,” said artist and Project Director Lisa Kaplan. “To this end, we are opening Resilience project exhibits in multiple locations throughout the County, and publishing our chapbook “Resilience, a community reframes disaster through art. The book includes powerful writings and images that were created during the Resilience project and is a beautiful work born of community creativity honoring our collective recovery.”

On June 1, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., a Resilience project exhibit featuring work created in Resilience workshops opens as part of the First Friday Fling at Lakeport’s Main Street Gallery, and on June 9, another exhibit of Resilience works will open at Fore Family Vineyards Tasting Room in Kelseyville from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Additional exhibits of work created during the project will be on view at the Adventist Health Hospital Mountain View Café in Clearlake, at Clearlake City Hall and the County Courthouse in Lakeport.

The MAC last week opened its first Resilience exhibit at Lakeport’s City Hall. MAC will install new work there every three months to further its goal of embedding art in public spaces and connecting distant corners of Lake County through the arts.

Inspired by Nature’s resilience as a mirror for our county’s recovery after devastating wildfires, the MAC’s Resilience project has provided opportunities for adults and teens, to reframe the fire experience, which impacted us all directly or indirectly, into creative expression and aesthetics.

More than 250 individuals ranging in age from 12 to 85 have attended affordable classes in photography, creative writing, painting and printmaking once or many times since June 2017.

“I cannot imagine how I would be recovering without these classes,” said Cobb resident Patti Jahsman, a frequent participant in Resilience printmaking and painting classes.

MAC is grateful to the California Arts Council, Adventist Health and other local partners, agencies and businesses for their support of Resilience and their ongoing commitment to assisting MAC in providing local, affordable, quality access to the arts and art-making.

The Middletown Art Center is located at 21456 Highway 175, Middletown.

Join the folks at MAC this weekend for this festive opening of Resilience, Art in Dialogue with Nature and throughout the year for a variety of cultural events including classes, musical performances, film screenings, dances and more.

Registration for MAC’s Adventures in Art and Storytelling summer camp, an extravaganza of visual and performing arts for children Kindergarten through grade 9 has also begun.

Visit www.MiddletownArtCenter.org to learn more about MAC and be part of a burgeoning arts and culture scene in Lake County.
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Ted Kooser. Photo credit: UNL Publications and Photography.

Though most of the poems we publish in this column are about staying at home in America and noticing what's happening around us, our poets do sometimes go abroad.

Joyce Sutphen, Minnesota's poet laureate, has sent you the following picture postcard from Ireland. It's from her latest book, The Green House, published by Salmon Poetry.
 
Playing the Pipes
 
This morning in Dingle, the clouds
bellied down over the mountains
and broke into grey, white, and blue.
 
Winds flagged through the palm trees
that the man from the "Big House"
brought back to the bay long ago.
 
Up Greene Street, the school kids
in their dark uniforms gather
on the sidewalk by the Spar store.
 
Long ago, this was a Spanish town,
east of the Blasket Islands and west of
Connor Pass. The harbor is full of sails.
 
The piper sits in his little shop
on the rounding road, selling penny
whistles, telling anyone who will listen
 
how many ways there are
to vary the sound, how much
there is to think of all at once.

American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It 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 ©2017 by Joyce Sutphen from The Green House, (Salmon Poetry, 2017). Poem reprinted by permission of Joyce Sutphen and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2018 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.

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