Speak Out Loud with Ellen Kimball

Me 'n' Larry King -- An Affectionate Hug for a Nice Jewish Boy From Brooklyn

2010-06-30T12:36:00.000-07:00

(Original post date May 2009 - Permalink: http://tinyurl.com/2dzjfga )

In 1962, I graduated with a B.A. in Television, Radio and Film with honors from the University of Miami. I went to work at McCann-Marschalk Advertising, and then briefly for Miami's Channel 10. In November 1962, I moved to New York City to find fame and fortune. I had a successful career as a commercial production assistant at NBC's "Tonight" unit. I worked for Dick Carson, Johnny Carson's brother, who directed the show at that time. Later, I worked with NBC's documentary news division. I was On-Air Promotion Supervisor at WPIX, Channel 11, and did copywriting for several advertising agencies. One temporary production job was with Barry Gray at radio station WMCA, who is generally credited as the first talk host to put telephone calls on the radio in the early 1960s. I had no idea at the time that I would ever work as a radio or television performer again!

In December 1963, I married former classmate Peter Rabow. He and his parents had come to New York from Europe when Peter was a young boy. The family lived in Washington Heights, on the upper west side of New York City. Peter was an aspiring TV producer and film director with a degree from UCLA. Peter held production jobs at ABC, working with the program development group, then with the Wide World of Sports unit. Our beautiful daughter was born in October 1968. Sadly, Peter's dreams of success in his chosen field were not to be. He became disillusioned, but he had one final job offer with Reela Films in Miami, working on documentary fillms. We moved back to Florida in March 1969 with our tiny daughter. I got pregnant again almost immediately. Our second child, David, was born at Miami's Mercy Hospital in December 1969. The Reela job evaporated. After Peter's career crisis, two children, and eight years of marriage, he divorced me. My parents were unable to help me at all. I had to support myself, two children born 14 months apart, as well as my first "child," a Cocker Spaniel named Buffy. Peter remarried another woman in April 1971, three weeks after our divorce.

Larry, I reconnected with you in the summer of 1971. I was divorced and working some menial jobs for very little pay. I had the two tiny children to care for, and a monthly home mortgage to cover. One early morning, I was driving from Miami Beach over the North Bay Causeway bridge to Miami Springs. You were on WIOD radio on the overnight shift. You called out for someone to PLEEZE bring you doughnuts and coffee. I stopped at a local shop and bought the refreshments you requested. Although you didn't remember me from our brief encounter in the 1950s, you invited me to stay and screen your calls before they went on the air. I kept dropping in a couple of nights a week. You said you'd talk to the program manager about compensation for my work. One day, I began to supply hour-long "woman in the mall" cassette tapes when you started to fall asleep at the microphone in the wee hours of the morning. Somewhere along the way, a listener re-named me "Ellen Rainbow," which is just a few letters added to my ex-husband's name.

You kept me busy, interested, and even laughing for those difficult months in the fall and early winter. But a few days before Christmas 1971, you were gone -- caught in a monetary legal tangle that I barely understood.

I have not seen nor spoken you from that day to this. Of course, I know your career eventually reignited on Westwood Radio and then on CNN for years. I was so happy that you were back!

These are some newspaper clippings which I recently recovered from 1971-72:

After you were gone, WIOD Program Manager Elliott "Biggie" Nevins hired me do the night show shift three times a week, while they looked for a male host to replace you. He paid me $50 each night I hosted. I might have ended up who-knows-where if I had not had that income.

In the first few months of 1972, I did a show with Larry Johnson in Chicago via WATS lines. Then, we patched in with Bruce Lee on Boston's WEEI-AM. (No, not THAT Bruce Lee!) Bruce saved the tape and called me. He said CBS was looking for a woman to do 10 AM to 2 PM. I had to make the first contact with Program Manager Dan Griffin, because if they called me, it would be "talent raiding." At the time, WEEI was owned and operated by CBS and a union shop. WIOD was affiliated with NBC. WEEI management flew me to Massachusetts for a marathon interview on April 28, 1972. It was a glorious spring day that will live in my memory forever. Barbara Trombley, one of my former WIOD guests, took me around to see Boston sights. I was immediately enchanted by this historical city and the beautiful temperate weather.

Dan Griffin offered me the job a few days later. I gave my children to my ex-husband and his wife temporarily, and told them I would let them know when I was settled in an appropriate living space. I packed up my Volvo and my Cocker Spaniel dog, drove to northern Florida, boarded the Autotrain, got off in Virginia, and headed up to Boston.

On May 15, 1972, I started a brand new gig as the first woman with a daily, four-hour radio talk show in Boston. At the beginning, I worked six days each week, four hours a day Mon. thru Sat. on "Boston Forum with Ellen Kimball." Imagine! I was talking for 24 solid hours each week. It was a crushing schedule, but I kept it going for months. Finally, management relented and newsman Ben Farnsworth took over the Saturday show. My show was eventually renamed "The Ellen Kimball Show."

A few years later, another Boston station, WMEX AM, hired me after WEEI changed their format:

I met a widower with three older children in June 1972. He is from a Jewish background, and five years older than I am. His first wife had died at age 34 from cancer. He was trained as an electrical engineer, and later became a software analyst. We married on February 4, 1973 and we will celebrate 37 years of marriage in 2010.

Our wedding day. Daughter Linda is one year younger than Larry's daughter Chaia. Son David is 14 months younger than his sister.

My husband and I moved from Boston to Portland, Oregon eleven years ago. I will be 70 years old on May 31st, and my husband will be 75 on June 23rd. It has been a full life. Yes, there have been stepfamily setbacks, but we are now enjoying worldwide travel, photography, swimming, Broadway musicals, and having fun with our young grandchildren. I review entertainment for www.KGW.com, the website of Channel 8, the NBC-TV affiliate in Portland. It's a volunteer job for which I receive no compensation.

Thanks for being who you are, and for helping me along my remarkable journey.

Sincerely,

Ellen Kimball (Radio_Lady)

http://ellenkimball.blogspot.com/

Tweet me! @Radio_Lady
Larry is on Twitter @kingsthings

PS. In 2006, I called Steve Z., the radio engineer with whom Larry and I worked at WIOD. Steve is a charming and wonderful guy, now retired from Cox Broadcasting and living in Venice, Florida. He entertains me daily with a hefty array of fascinating emails and we speak by telephone quite frequently.

Larry with his wife, Shawn Southwick. and their two young boys, Chance and Cannon:

Edited: Friday, November 19, 2010

The owner of this blog is taking an break in 2010.

2010-06-18T22:26:00.000-07:00

Comments to this blog have been suspended.

Please be aware that my blogging at this site has officially ended. On June 1, 2010, I closed off my long career as an entertainment reviewer. That began in 1971, when I took over for Larry King at Miami's WIOD AM radio. I've actually been involved with media since January 1957, when I was 17, and a freshman at the University of Miami. "It was a very good year..." as Frank Sinatra crooned years ago.

Now that I am 71, I felt it was time to head off in new directions. The need to step back from internet connectivity and into my real life -- with local volunteer organizations and my family. So, wish me well -- Luckily, I don't have to have heart surgery like Barbara Walters, and am not wondering what I will do when I retire, like Larry King. (UPDATE: Larry retired in December 2010, but I'm pleased he is still active.)

My husband and I have many interests and we are enjoying the ride of our lives for the rest of the time that the fates have planned for us.

Peace, love and happiness,

Ellen Kimball | BonusGrandma

Friday, June 18, 2010

Movie Review: "Alice in Wonderland" || Effects, YES || Story, NO

2010-03-04T21:43:00.000-08:00

The movie “Alice in Wonderland” is a crude cinematic concoction. Prior to seeing this film, I refreshed my decades-old knowledge of “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass,” those two ubiquitous tomes I recall reading around the dawn of time. I found a great deal of reconstituted information about the English author whose pen name is Lewis Carroll, some of which is quite hard to believe without supporting documentation. I am not sure even now what to think of the chap. I do know that director Tim Burton has had an uneven film career, but I have no particular feelings about him one way or the other. I liked at least four of his movies, and I always hope for the best -- both for the director’s sake and mine.

Some of the characters in the film I recall from my childhood. There is the lovely Alice Liddell (Mia Wasikowska), no longer a child, but a beautiful young woman of marriageable age; the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), who appears and disappears while sporting an evil, extra-toothsome grin and fluorescent body stripes; the Red Queen (Helen Bonham Carter), who has an exceedingly large head with red-yarn hair perched on it, as well as a tiny outline of a heart in lipstick on her mouth; and the White Queen (Anne Hathaway), with deathly grayish skin, dark eyes, thick dark eyebrows, and a black mouth. One actor (Matt Lucas) voices the rotund twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee. The White Rabbit (Michael Sheen), Blue Caterpillar (Alan Rickman) and Dormouse (Barbara Windsor) are well conceived.

Then, there is the matter of the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp). This dashingly handsome actor is transformed into a flame-haired, pale-skinned carnival oddity with bulging green eyes that reveal two different pupil sizes. I understand that might be a sign of brain damage should a doctor ever be called to diagnose it. Looking at and listening to Johnny Depp are particularly irritating in the movie. It isn’t the accent, because I’m fine with both British English and a Scottish brogue. What comes out of Depp’s mouth is somehow a contrived and coarse conversation with a generous lack of coherence and cohesiveness. At one point, I wanted a copy of the script so I could follow it with my pen/light – or maybe a DVD with “closed captioning” might do it.

Most of the main characters are computer-generated or at least computer-aided. Costume design and make-up are very original, but rather odd and grotesque at the same time. The film is crammed with cloying hues undiscovered by Crayola. I found myself queasy due to the 3-D glasses, and when the story heads down the rabbit hole into “Underland” – nausea erupted more than once. I watched most of the beginning, dashed out for a Diet Coke so I could resume watching until the end. I found myself struggling to find anything but a big fat race with about as much involvement as a child’s computer game. Whose fault is that?

Is there a central theme? Not really. The original works were parodies on the English class system and people in the British government. Nothing like that rings true here. There’s about 20 minutes of flagrant feminism at the beginning – as a young woman doesn’t want to marry the man who has been chosen for her. So she chooses another path… But wait! That seems to include going down that same rabbit hole for perhaps the third time to revisit things she remembers from her dreams. At the end, after a tantalizing tangle with a monster, the Jabberwocky (Christopher Lee), Alice decides she wants to go to China!

I give “Alice in Wonderland” a “C+” on Ellen’s Entertainment Report Card. It’s as murky as a mud pie, and that's a crying shame. Better luck to all next time.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Superb Romantic Movie “Dear John” connects due to life experiences

2010-02-04T18:52:00.000-08:00

I’m 70 years old – a movie-loving girl, woman, former wife of an aspiring film director (now deceased), TV and radio broadcaster, mother, stepmother and grandmother. I’ve been going to the movies since I was a small child and reviewing motion pictures since 1971. I learned long ago that I bring my personal experience to each film. That fact is especially true in this case.

Color me a total romantic who has had to heal a broken heart many times during my life. For me, “Dear John” is a sensitive, beautiful film and an intense theatrical experience. I was swept away by the handsome actors, location photography, sun, sea and sand – as well as the story. The fictional circumstances are blended with real events in this drama. They were remarkably close to actual happenings in my extraordinary life. Others moments reflected many of the difficult choices made by lovers.

I didn’t read Nicholas Sparks’ novel. You shouldn’t have to read a book before you see a movie. I have heard that the movie ends differently from the book, but that doesn’t affect my feelings. Scriptwriter Jamie Linden and Director Lasse Hallström have done their work well. This film’s theme is romantic love – found, delayed, broken, and repaired. The beauty and intensity of the film is brought it to a climactic ending that is really a second beginning.

Channing Tatum (John Tyree) is a new talent. Born in 1980, he fulfills all my prerequisites: Adorable young man, great physique, and believable acting. I predict he will go far.

Amanda Seyfried (Savannah Curtis) is one of my favorite young actresses. Born in 1985, she is the same age as our oldest granddaughter! Amanda is wonderful on HBO’s “Big Love." She was saucy in the movie “Mamma Mia.” Her gorgeous ethereal eyes and cornsilk hair do it for me. I just adore blondes! (I’m a brunette.)

Richard Jenkins is very believable as the tightly-wound father of the lead character, Mr. Tyree. Perhaps there could have been more of an explanation of his obsessed personality – as he did the same things over and over again. I could just feel his panic when he was invited to a social event.

My 41-year-old daughter also liked “Dear John.” I didn’t discuss her reasons with her, but I did see her dabbing her eyes with a tissue. It wasn’t allergies. I spoke to some of the women in the audience after the movie. The script pleased most of them, but it might be too skimpy or syrupy for others. This is one film where I will probably be one of a few reviewers who liked “Dear John.” As we used to say in film school, “It’s always ‘Rashomon’ at the movies.” That classic 1950 Japanese movie shows how several different people react to the same situation.

I’m giving "Dear John" a “B+” on Ellen’s Entertainment Report Card. The film is rated PG-13 for some sensuality and violence.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Backstory: I telephoned my first boyfriend this week for his birthday. He was born on Feb. 4, 1936. We dated in the mid-1950s when we were teenagers. He and his older brother still live in the Miami area. His nickname is “Al” – the same as my “current” husband. (I’ve had three husbands.) I’ve been in touch with “Al G.” since 2005, when another movie stirred me to call him in order to apologize for my behavior. I sent him a “Dear John” letter when he was in Basic Training in South Carolina in 1957. It wasn’t wartime, but I still hurt someone whom I had loved for years. I had no choice. I was only 18 years old and had fallen in love with another man born on February 4th…

Eventually, I married a UCLA classmate who had returned from the U.S. Army. He comforted me with beautiful letters when a year-long first marriage ended in hospitalization and the birth of a stillborn girl. Our marriage in December 1963 produced two beautiful children, but Peter R. told me he didn't love me and left in 1970 to start a relationship with a divorced woman. I had to raise my toddlers alone and support them. The children were ages 2 and 1, born 14 months apart. A radio talk show job opened up in Boston in May 1972 due to affirmative action and I landed it. That summer, I met a widower whose wife had died of cancer in 1971. He had three delightful children, ages 13, 11 and 8. He placed an advertisement in the Boston Globe newspaper for a housekeeper. I answered his advertisement, spoke with him for two hours, and then invited him on a blind date. He tells me that I sounded a little desperate!

We married on Sunday, February 4, 1973, with five children from two previous relationships. I thought it would be good luck to marry on the birthday of two former lovers and my maternal grandfather, Martin Kovacs. I was right! Today marks our 37th Wedding Anniversary. Cordially, Ellen_K.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Classic Movies: Harold and Maude (1971) Movie Review

2010-01-26T00:33:00.000-08:00

1971 Film
Reviewed in Boston May-June 1974
"Movie will run indefinitely based on solid SRO crowds."

     There's a simple tale, well-told these days at the Allston Cinema on Harvard Avenue. Judging from the standing-room-only crowds, it's a big hit with Boston moviegoers. Now, you might have missed "Harold and Maude" the first time around a couple of years ago, because it's the kind of film that didn't cause a sensation.
     But in Minneapolis, "Harold and Maude" just broke all attendance records with a 46 MONTH run. That's in an industry that usually values a movie when it draws crowds for a week or two.
     Harold and Maude are an oddball couple if there ever was one. Bud Cort plays Harold. He's just out of his 'teens -- an ashen-faced young man whose sole macabre interest is death. He stages fakey dramatic suicides for shock value. His idea of kicks is going to funerals.
     At one funeral, he happens to meet Maude. She's going on eighty years old, but never you mind... she's a snip of a girl at heart. She loves flowers and trees and the earth. She's old enough to be Harold's grandmother, but youth is a state of mind, and Maude is eternal.
     Actress Ruth Gordon plays Maude to the hilt. In real life, Ruth is married to Garson Kanin, a man many years her junior. Kanin vows that Ruth savors every minute of her real life... When she bites into an apple, she'll exclaim, "This is the MOST WONDERFUL apple I've ever eaten!" It's that joy of life that comes through in this movie, and Boston is eating it up.
     "Harold and Maude" is good, solid filmmaking, with skillful acting, just enough humor and bite, plus a swift but poignant ending. Michael Sirota, the manager of the Allston Cinema, plans to keep the film there as long as people come to fill up his two- hundred-seat theater.
     Please go -- and get there early for a good seat. "Harold and Maude" -- a couple of kooks who got a well-deserved second chance! I'm giving this an "A" on Ellen's Entertainment Report Card.
     This is Ellen Kimball for WEEI Newradio 59.

Monday, January 25, 2010

XANADU -- From Broadway to Portland's Keller Auditorium

2010-01-08T05:25:00.000-08:00

Xanadu has closed in Portland, Oregon -- but please check these links for performances in other U. S. cities.

Visit http://www.xanaduonbroadway.com/ for more details.

http://www.ticketwood.com/theater/Xanadu-Tickets/index.php

Elizabeth Stanley and Max von Essen || Photo courtesy Carol Rosegg

XANADU -- A Roller Disco Fantasy -- comes to Portland's Keller Auditorium

Put a bunch of smash hit songs, Tony (c) Award winning Douglas Carter Beane and the cutest couple in town into a Broadway musical comedy blender, and what do you get? "Heaven on Wheels" says The New York Times. Taking audiences back to 1980 California, this hilarious new musical follows the beautiful Kira, who travels to earth to inspire a struggling young artist named Sonny, as she helps this aspiring painter find his voice, discover true love, and build the world's first roller disco (not necessarily in that order).

All performances are at Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St at 3rd Ave, downtown Portland. Performances with American Sign Language description are usually on Thursdays. Please call 503-241-1802, M-F, 9a-5p, for more information and tickets.

January 12-17, 2010

Tuesday-Friday at 7:30pm

Saturday at 2pm & 7:30pm

Sunday at 1pm & 6:30pm

In person: The Hampton Opera Center, 211 SE Caruthers St, Portland, OR 97214
By Phone: 503-241-1802, or toll-free at 1-866-739-6737 (M-F, 9a-5p)

Portland Opera, in association with Broadway Across America, is proud to provide our entire region with the very best nationally touring Broadway productions.

Visit http://www.xanaduonbroadway.com/ for more details.

January 8, 2010

Movie Review: The Towering Inferno (1974) -- Classic Movies

2010-01-04T08:59:00.000-08:00

The Towering Inferno

This film is another in the endless series of disaster movies we've been offered in 1974. The Towering Inferno comes on like hot stuff. But the people who get burned are in the audience, because this film is a big bore. Some pyromaniacs might enjoy it, and the production substitutes technical achievement for plot.
The acting is tepid. The dialogue lacks spark. Screenwriter Sterling Silliphant devises some of the most ludicrous lines I've ever heard. They play to the giggles and hisses of the audience. Paul Newman is the architect who designs the 138-story building. His engineering is subverted by Richard Chamberlain. He replaces the specified wire with an inferior gauge, and the bhilding's whole electrical system goes haywire on the first day. Enter the intrepid firefighters, with Chief Steve McQueen. He sports lighter hair, sky blue eyes and a furrowed brow. How can he save all those people trapped at a party on the top floor? And how can we tell him from Paul Newman, who also has sandy colored hair and baby blue eyes? Jennifer Jones and Fred Astaire leave their rocking chairs for this outing. Faye Dunaway wears a sheer brown dress to the fire, showing everything went thataway on her towering frame. Also in tow for their names' sake are Robert Vaughn, Susan Blakely, Robert Wagner and O.J. Simpson, who plays football much better than he acts. Music by Joel Hirschhorn and Al Kasha includes a song called "We May Never Love Like This Again." The flames lick higher, the firefighters bomb the water tanks on the building's top floor, and most of the important members of the cast survive. Hollywood took two books and two studios, four camera crews and fourteen million dollars to make "The Towering Inferno." They build 57 sets and burned down 49 of them making this movie. They dropped a million gallons of water on a huge set covering more than 11,000 square feet of sound stage.
"The Towering Inferno" should become an entry in the Guinness World Book of Records. The movie that spent so much to bring you just a big blast of hot air...This is Ellen Kimball on Entertainment for WEEI.

Rated: 'C' on Ellen's Entertainment Report Card.

(Review originally aired Dec. 25, 1974 to January 5, 1975)

For more information on this film, go to: http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0072308/

Monday, January 4, 2010

Can you IMAGINE? The Fab Four together again live! It's RAIN: A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES Opens in Portland, OR 12/29/09

2009-12-21T07:19:00.000-08:00

Left to Right: Joey Curatolo (Paul McCartney), Ralph Castelli (RingoStarr),
Joe Bithorn (George Harrison), Steve Landes (John Lennon). Photo courtesy of Joan Marcus

This theater event has finished its run in Portland, Oregon. However, you can check the Internet for other locations where the touring company is headed. Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

Time travel back to those fabulous musical days. The Liverpool group is discovered and grows so popular that England can't contain them. Off they go to New York, where girls were swooning. I remember the day in 1964. I was working at CBS when their limo pulled up. The secretaries dashed to the mezzanine and looked down to see them.

Follow the group from Ed Sullivan to Abbey Road! You won't believe your eyes! They look like them and they sound just like them! "The next best thing to seeing The Beatles," raves the Denver Post. All the music and vocals are performed totally live!

RAIN covers the Fab Four from the earliest beginnings through the psychedelic late '60s and their long-haired hippie, hard-rocking rooftop days.

RAIN Is a multi-media, multi-dimensional experience ... a fusion of historical footage and hilarious television commercials from the 1960s lights up video screens and live cameras zoom in for close-ups. Sing along with your family and friends to such Beatlemaniac favorites as "Let It Be," "Hey Jude," "Come Together" and "Can't Buy Me Love."

All performances at the Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St at 3rd Ave, downtown Portland.
Performances with American Sign Language description are usually on Thursdays. Please call 503-241-1802, M-F, 9a-5p, for more information and tickets.

December 29, 2009 - January 3, 2010

Tuesday-Friday at 7:30pm
Saturday at 2pm & 7:30pm
Sunday at 1pm & 6:30pm

In person: The Hampton Opera Center, 211 SE Caruthers St, Portland, OR 97214

By Phone: 503-241-1802, or toll-free at 1-866-739-6737 (M-F, 9a-5p)

Portland Opera, in association with Broadway Across America, is proud to provide our entire region with the very best nationally touring Broadway productions.

For more details on the production in other cities, please visit http://www.raintribute.com/

Monday, December 21, 2009

Movie Review: The Godfather Part 2 (1974) -- Classic Movies

2009-11-25T22:55:00.000-08:00

The Godfather Part II (1974)

Original broadcast dates of this review: January 6-13, 1975
Classic movies are now available on DVD at NetFlix and other distributors.

PLEASE NOTE: This review may contain spoilers.

Movie director Francis Ford Coppola would have been a great painter. Since he decided to make his mark in film, his canvases turned out to be the screens in our movie theaters. (Now, we can view his work via DVD in our homes.) Coppola has literally painted this film epic in umbers, ochres, and deep pinkish tones. It’s “The Godfather, Part Two,” one of the best films I’ve ever seen.

In my opinion, this is a unique sequel, because it’s better than the original film. “The Godfather, Part Two” interweaves two stories. One involves the young Vito Corleone, played at an older age by Marlon Brando. First, we see him as a boy in Italy and subsequently as a young man in New York. The second story concerns Michael Corleone, Vito’s youngest son, the Godfather in 1958. The performance of Robert DeNiro crystallizes author Mario Puzo’s descriptions from the novel. Marlon Brando was bigger in star stature than the original role demanded, but he brought in the people for the first film. Now, DeNiro and Al Pacino render the story more human and understandable.

Director Coppola tells the two stores in alternation. In the first epoch, we see nine-year-old Vito’s early days in Sicily. A town feud ends with the violent death of his father, mother and older brother. Friends send Vito away in the night. He makes his way alone by boat to a new life in America.

Coppola captures the feeling of the early 1900s in New York City’s Italian district. It’s a thoroughly moving experience. In the modern story, Al Pacino as Michael Corleone faces his life as the new head of the family. He’s involved in gambling deals in the State of Nevada. Michael is a tragic character caught in a mix of revulsion and necessity. Michael’s life is a series of deals. The criminal part of his existence takes place in shadowy sequences. These are set amid the bright exterior glitter of the world of gambling. Michael’s role as husband and father are pressed into the background.

Finally, his wife leaves him. She admits that she aborted his second son rather than continue the bloodbath that began in Sicily. At the fade, Michael is alone with his dread and his double-deals. Al Pacino’s low-key performance is just a whisper. “The Godfather Part Two” is a giant of a movie. It runs three hours and twenty minutes. It is fascinating and unusual filmmaking. This is Ellen Kimball on Entertainment for WEEI Radio in Boston.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Finally! Coming out of the fog of illness that was my summer...

2009-11-16T16:02:00.001-08:00

Never give up hope, even in the darkest of times... A new day is dawning. I'm pleased to report that I'm feeling much better after a difficult summer. Thanks to everyone for your patience and understanding. I hope to be contributing to this blog on a more regular basis in the next few weeks.

As for now, you can find me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/Radio_Lady. Due to my improving health, I am spending less time on the computer and more time keeping myself in better shape. I've lost more than 10 lbs. by eating better food and LESS food. Also, I am committed to walking, swimming and completing household tasks that I could not do this summer.

I'm happy to hear from you and glad you could stop by! My best to you for the coming holiday season.

Cordially,

Ellen (@Radio_Lady on Twitter)

Monday, November 16, 2009

2009-09-08T06:34:00.000-07:00

Hello to all! I'm posting this UPDATE on Monday, October 12, 2009.

This summer, I have been afflicted with a painful medical condition. No one can determine what has caused this. My daily routine changed radically in early June 2009. Even after all these months, there are no real answers to why I am feeling this kind of pain. Some research suggests I may have had rare adverse reactions to two routine vaccine injections administered in January and May of this year. Here are the details:

This unidentified illness (a lingering neuropathy) manifests itself with excruciating, radiating left chest, arm and back pain. The condition has had a profoundly negative impact on my day-to-day life. Apparently, my heart is NOT the cause of the pain.

Ironically, the doctor ordered a routine echocardiogram (ultrasound) of my heart in August. There is a defined problem with one of the valves in my heart. The official diagnosis is mitral valve regurgitation (translation: valve is leaking blood in the wrong direction) which has been rated moderate to severe. I am now scheduled for another heart test (transesophageal echocardiogram) on October 13, 2009 to further evaluate the initial results.

I cannot spend as much time sitting at the computer because that makes the pain worse. I have to stay active and have increased walking and swimming. The doctors have placed me on medications so I can tolerate this illness. I require more rest every day and am struggling to achieve that goal. One doctor feels I may have to endure 6 - 12 months of general healing and pain control while my system regulates itself.

Please check my past blog posts. Also, look at the right column of this blog for a list of linked blogs. I believe there are some very interesting people in my personal blogosphere!

Thanks for your patience and understanding. Hope I'll be back soon when I'm more comfortable. Feel free to leave me a comment. Cordially, Ellen & Al (Photo with my husband on Utah trip in 2007)

Original post date: September 8, 2009

It’s a tradition! Chaim Topol in Fiddler on the Roof – Last Chance tour!

2009-08-21T05:13:00.000-07:00

Topol and the Company
Photo credit: © 2009, JOAN MARCUS

I give this musical play an "A+" on Ellen's Entertainment Report Card.

Fiddler on the Roof has closed in Portland, Oregon -- but you can still see it in the following cities. Next performances in 2010 are scheduled for: Atlanta, GA (Mar 16, 2010 - Mar 21, 2010), Appleton, WI (May 11, 2010 - May 15, 2010), Seattle, WA (Nov 27 - May 30, 2010), Philadelphia, PA (opening on June 5, 2010).

For more information, visit this link:
http://www.ticketwood.com/theater/Fiddler-on-the-Roof-Tickets/index.php

Tuesday’s opening night performance of Fiddler on the Roof started with just that: a fiddler performing on top of a small house, center-stage. Out walked Chaim Topol as Tevye (he won a Golden Globe in 1971 for the same role in the film adaptation), earning a rousing round of applause from the Keller Auditorium crowd.

He looked up at the musician overhead and mused, breaking the fourth wall and addressing the audience (as he did throughout the play), “A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? But here, in our little village of Anatevka, you might say every one of us is a fiddler on the roof trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck. It isn't easy. You may ask, 'Why do we stay up there if it's so dangerous?' Well, we stay because Anatevka is our home. And how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word: tradition!”

Then, the large cast of townspeople launched into “Tradition,” one of many memorable musical numbers sprinkled throughout this classic story, based on the tales of Sholem Aleichem. When the song ended, Tevye said: “Traditions, traditions. Without our traditions our lives would be as shaky as, as ... as a fiddler on the roof!”

Yet, during the course of the story, Tevye discovers that some traditions should be reconsidered, and that change is inevitable. Indeed, the fiddler is ever-present throughout the story, playing a song of change and symbolizing the instability of life.

The story takes place in a Russian village during the revolution of 1905. Although life in Anatevka is simple, traditional and largely insulated, news of change abroad begins to filter into town and affect the youth—including Tevye the milkman’s five eligible daughters. As the three eldest girls embrace modern ideas about love and marriage, Tevye and wife Golde face difficult decisions.

While Fiddler is full of Tevye’s homespun philosophy and universal questions, it’s also rife with humor and boisterous song and dance. Topol leads the cast with his earnest, lovable portrayal of Topol, perhaps most endearing in his apostrophic conversations with God. Although the Israeli native isn’t quite as spry as he once was, his energetic dancing and animated performance belie his 73 years. And, considering this is his farewell tour, Topol really seemed to give it his all.

The rest of the cast was solid as well, with a standout performance by Susan Cella as the acerbic Golde. Throw in a live orchestra, dynamic set design and spot-on choreography, and Fiddler on the Roof is a first-class production that the whole family will appreciate.

Fiddler on the Roof is playing at the Keller Auditorium through August 30.

Due to the illness of Ellen Kimball, this review was adapted from Boca Raton magazine's Chelsea Greenwood online review posted in 4/2009. Thanks, Chelsea.

Fiddler on the Roof, the Tony® Award-winning musical that has captured the hearts of people all over the world with its universal appeal, plays here in Portland, Oregon, through Sunday, August 30. Local audiences have this singular opportunity to see 73-year-old Chaim Topol, star of the original motion picture, in his final U.S. performance of the award-winning role that made him a legend in Fiddler on the Roof.

Based on the stories of Sholom Aleichem, Fiddler on the Roof has been lauded by critics again and again, and won the hearts of people all around the world. Filled with a rousing, heartwarming score, which includes “Tradition,” “Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” “If I Were A Rich Man” and “Sunrise, Sunset,” Fiddler on the Roof is a timeless classic.

No other musical has so magically woven music and dance into such an electrifying and unforgettable experience. You’ll laugh and cry at the story of life in the small Russian village of Anatevka. Relive a glorious tradition of the musical theatre with TOPOL’s farewell performance in Fiddler on the Roof.

Ellen's remarks:

My paternal grandfather was an immigrant from Vilna, Russia. I was born Jewish and this could be well be the story of our family. Regrettably, Grandpa Harry Kimball died quite young. I never knew him nor was I able to talk with him about his Russian history. My former husband and I saw Zero Mostel, Theodore Bikel and Herschel Bernardi in the role of Tevye. We were somewhat disappointed years ago with the announcement that the movie would be starring the unknown (to us) Israeli actor Chaim Topol. However, over the years, the beloved Topol has proved himself to be a fine actor. He also has had the longevity necessary to still be standing on stage in 2009! That is an amazing accomplishment in and of itself!

Fiddler on the Roof
On stage through Sunday, August 30, 2009
Tuesday-Friday at 7:30pm
Saturday at 2pm & 7:30pm

Sunday at 2pm & 7:30pm* *Please note special performance times on Sunday.

All performances are at the Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St at 3rd Ave, downtown Portland, Oregon. For tickets: In person: The Hampton Opera Center, 211 SE Caruthers Street, Portland, OR 97214 By Phone: 503-241-1802 or toll-free 1-866-739-6737 (M-F 9a-5p)

Chaim Topol as Tevye
Photo credit: © 2009, JOAN MARCUS

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Movie Review: “(500) Days of Summer” (2009): Sweet yet solemn PG-13 romantic comedy with a realistic view of how love can be and often is.

2009-07-24T06:36:00.000-07:00

Fox Searchlight has enriched the summer season immensely with a quirky and ultimately uplifting romantic comedy. If I had enough time and a couple glasses of wine, I could cite 500 reasons for going to this film. Suffice it to say that on a predicted hot weekend in Portland, Oregon, I’m going with my gut feelings. Suggest you buy your tickets now for this touching roller-coaster ride love story.

Handsome actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt (whom I have adored since his days in the TV hit “3rd Rock from the Sun”) plays Tom Hansen. Zooey Deschanel (beautiful and talented with those gorgeous eyes) plays his illusive love named Summer Finn. Tom is a hapless greeting card copywriter and hopeless romantic who once considered a career in architecture, but let it slip away. Summer becomes his office romance just briefly, but then dumps him. The timeline in the film shifts back and forth during their 500 day romance as Tom tries to unravel the Gordian knot and figure out what went awry. How he extracts himself from his situation is quite heart-rending. Ultimately, he reflects about his life until the final resolution. The path of love is meandering and unpredictable. Each relationship has its place in a lifetime of affections.

This is definitely not a formulaic romantic comedy and therein lies its charm. You’ll find the story prickly yet expansive, funny and sad. I ached for both main characters, laughed at their friends trying to help them. The film hits just the right note: a realistic, meandering chronicle of love’s highs and lows. The movie definitely doesn’t quite go where an audience might think it will. Even a yuppie senior curmudgeon can love this film.

I wish I could ask director Marc Webb why there are brackets around the number 500. I’ll use them without an explanation here. This movie deserves an ‘A’ on Ellen’s Entertainment Report Card.

MPAA rating: PG-13 (for sexual material and language)
Cast: Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Geoffrey Arend, Clark Gregg, Chloe Moretz, Minka Kelly and Rachel Boston
Director: Marc Webb
Writers: Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber
Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes

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Ellen Kimball is a TV and radio pioneer. She was selected as a co-host of a local, live children's television show at WTVJ-TV. Ch. 4 in Miami, Florida, during her freshman year in college. She has been working in communications for more than five decades. Ellen is one of the first women in the U.S. to host her own daily radio call-in talk shows at major market stations in Miami and Boston. Ellen and her husband moved to Beaverton, Oregon eleven years ago. She currently contributes her reviews on films, theater and other entertainment to www.KGW.com, the website of Ch. 8, the NBC-TV affiliate in Portland, Oregon.

Friday, July 24, 2009

CLASSIC MOVIES: 'The Little Prince' (1974)

2009-07-18T11:04:00.000-07:00

'The Little Prince' is a fragile allegory in book form by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Millions of copies of the book have been sold in multiple languages. In college, our student group spent hours discussing it. It was my ex-husband's favorite book. The message it delivers is subtle, thoughtful and delicate. The illusive quality of the book is translated to film in this musical version by writer Alan Jay Lerner.

In the movie, the little prince is played by a handsome, pint-sized English child named Steven Warner with an ethereal voice. He's a beautiful blond boy and dressed up in his princely costume, he has a commanding presence. As far as I know, Steven Warner never pursued a career in theater or movies.

Actor Richard Kiley plays the wandering earthman. Kiley uses his robust voice on songs with precious lyrics that are sometimes caught up in unusual rhyme rather than reason. But Kiley's gorgeous baritone can be astounding and inspiring.

The story itself preaches the cause against wars and artificial borders between people. The peaceful allegory is not particularly easy to understand. Much of it deals with the problem of accepting responsibility. That's a tough thing to explain, especially to young children. Adults who have read the original book may form a cult following for this film, but if you take a child under twelve years of age, parents should be prepared to do some explaining of the film's message.

Best song in the movie is sung by Bob Fosse, who directed "Cabaret" and the movie "Lenny." Fosse sings and dances the part of "A Snake in the Grass." He's a slithering, sibilant, black-suited soul with snakeskin spats. Fosse's dancing is accurate and inspired. It comes like an oasis of fresh, realistic spirit in the parched, imaginary desert of Saint-Exupéry's mind.

Production values are excellent, with Christopher Callis' flawless photography, Norman Reyonolds' art direction, and Johny Barry's production design handled in fine fashion. Producer Stanley Donen might have taken a cue from the book's primary message. "It's only with the heart that one can see clearly. What's essential is invisible to the eye." That's a very difficult premise to work out in a visual film. The movie is now available on DVD for those who wish to experience it. It's probably an acquired taste, and I still treasure it for personal reasons.

I give this movie a B- on Ellen's Entertainment Report Card.

For more information on 'The Little Prince' (1974), please link to:

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0071762/

(After the movie was gone from theaters, I purchased a vinyl recording of the music, which my husband transferred to audiotape cassette. The score to 'The Little Prince' became a favorite of mine for years, perhaps because I had a cute little son. I played that tape so many times, it because unusable. A few years ago, I purchased a VHS copy of the film from a seller at Amazon.com. My two grandchildren watched it once and they were both very bored! Perhaps this is a children's story for adults, if there is such a category!)

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Classic Movies: Living Free (1972)

2009-07-08T04:01:00.000-07:00

'Living Free,' which I attended in a preview tonight at Wometco's Miracle Theater, is somehow muted in comparison to its predecessor, 'Born Free.'

The director must have realized the power of the original, since many minutes of the film's opening are taken up with footage from 'Born Free,' together with a blend of tonalities from the award-winning song. But that echo, that excitement just didn't seem to provide the required emotional involvement when it got down to the brass tacks of the 'Living Free' story.

Elsa, the mother lioness, has died from infection, leaving three orphaned cubs that must be taken from the area because they are stealing domestic animals from villagers. There was little personal involvement with the three cubs, perhaps because of the vow that Joy Adamson made not to interfere again with their wile and free lives. And so we are witness to a long round-up and corral of the three cubs to transport them to the Serengeti Ntional Forest, where they will presumably be living free again.

Nigel Davenport and Susan Hampshire, while both fine actors of good reputation, did not mesh together like the husband-and-wife acting team of Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna. Miss Hampshire was radiantly perfect in face and diction, and she seemed almost too courtly to be in Africa at all. The story line left wide questions about actual wildlife practice. Would two dedicated experts not even experiment with tranquilizers or other advanced methods to capture the lion cubs, rather than try to catch them with a rather crude triple cage method that involved three cubs going into three separate cages at precisely the same moment? It reminded me of the children's hand game where the little marbles have to fall simultaneously into the clown's eyes, nose and mouth in order to win. Nevertheless, to all people who loved 'Born Free,' you will find moments of tenderness and laughter, tears and playfulness. The scope and beauty of Africa is still there. It's just hard to have to compare a good film to a great one.

I give this film a 'B' on Ellen's Entertainment Report Card.

(Film opened on Friday, March 10, 1972 in Miami, Florida.)

Link here for Internet Movie Database page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068866/

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Latest 'Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs 3D' a summer blast for all ages

2009-07-01T05:42:00.000-07:00

By ELLEN KIMBALL, Special to kgw.com

I want to confess. Surely you know confession is good for the mind and the soul (if there really IS a soul). It’s refreshing, and it seems to be all the rage this summer.

I loved every cotton-pickin’, chicken-pluckin’ minute of “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs 3-D” now playing in theaters. Loved the idea, loved the two other films very much, and thoroughly enjoyed the 3-D effects. This movie is all I wanted it to be.

You won’t be able to dissuade me from my point of view because I like what I like. Now, don’t go all cerebral on me! I could pick the script apart if I wanted to, and there were pieces of the film that could have been improved. Offhand, I can’t think of one, so sue me.

It’s a summer film in a genre which I have always thoroughly enjoyed.

Another confession. Ray Romano can do no wrong in my book. Maybe he sounds like the two New Yorkers to whom I was married. Now I’m married to a Bostonian whose Brooklyn mother -- reminds me of Ray Romano. His self-deprecating family humor tickles my funny bone and it has for many years. So I was primed to see this film.

The “Ice Age” intro was great fun, as always, with the Scrat the squirrel, voiced by Chris Wedge, trying to save his acorn from destruction. In this film, there’s a new female squirrel called Scratte (I think there should be an accent mark on that final E so it sounds like “Scrat-TAY”). Their hysterical antics as they scrap over that single acorn defy verbal description.

I took my eight-year-old grandson to the preview screening. If he hadn’t loved “Ice Age 3-D” right away, I’d try to cajole him to see it again.

That wasn’t necessary; my grandson loves it, too, just like he loved the other two films. He says the best part is where the animals find themselves in the green toxic atmosphere. It doesn’t hurt them, but it alters their voices to a higher register, making them sound as if they are breathing helium, much to everyone’s great delight.

Memo to Grandma Ellen, a former children’s live TV co-host in the late 1950s: I have to get my grandson a helium balloon so he can actually try this!

Now, the big pats on their furry backs to the whole voice cast, including Ray Romano (Manny the Mammoth), Queen Latifah (Ellie the Mammoth, expecting a BABY), Denis Leary (Diego, the old saber-toothed tiger, feeling as if he is slowing down), John Leguizamo (Sid the Sloth as a reluctant but loving single father to three cutie-pie dinosaurs). How DOES Leguizamo do the voice of the lisping sloth for line after line? I tried it and it’s NOT easy!

There is a long list of other voice parts and a couple of special newcomers: Simon Pegg as Buck the Weasel (sounding like Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean") and Karen Disher as newcomer Scratte, the female squirrel.

The film is a treasure trove of exquisite computer renderings of characters and scenery, neat dialogue, saucy retorts, and some sweet romance.

There are double-meaning jokes and sly low-brow innuendoes. Scenes of ice and snow are beautifully rendered, and when the group goes “down under” to a jungle setting with dinosaurs and volcanos, it’s another kind of gorgeous. The new song, “Walk The Dinosaur" is delightful.

It’s a busy week just before the July 4th holiday. If you have time, take the family to see this film. It’s rated PG. I just want you to see the film. I’m giving it an “A” on Ellen’s Entertainment Report Card.

Directed by: Carlos Saldanha

Cast: Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Simon Pegg

Running Time: 1 hr 35 mins

Rating: PG

Release Date: July 1, 2009

Background: I’ve been mesmerized by animated movies since Mommy carried me out of the theater in 1940-something. I was watching “Bambi” when I became terrified and started to scream after Bambi’s mother was killed. Who knew that this early trauma would set the stage for a lifelong devotion to animated films? Watching cartoons on Saturday morning at the Rosetta Theater in Little River, near Miami, Florida, became an obsession. I loved every minute of these precious short films.

This was the time when animators actually drew on cells made of celluloid. I’ve observed the process in film school and tried my best to update my little stick figure drawings to something more.

But I didn’t have much talent, except for drawing a pretty good palm tree. I lived in Florida for 28 years. So, for most of my seventy years, I’ve followed animation and just enjoyed it. I'm not old enough to remember Steamboat Willie (precursor to Mickey Mouse), but did study that cartoon in film school.

####

Ellen Kimball is a TV and radio pioneer. She was selected as a co-host of a local, live children's television show at WTVJ-TV. Ch. 4 in Miami, Florida, during her freshman year in college. She has been working in broadcasting for more than five decades. Ellen is one of the first women in the U.S. to host her own daily radio call-in talk shows at major market stations in Miami and Boston. Ellen and her husband moved to Beaverton, Oregon eleven years ago. She currently contributes her reviews on films, theater and other entertainment to www.KGW.com, the website of Ch. 8, the NBC-TV affiliate in Portland, Oregon.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Year One – New Bible-Based Movie Won’t be Touted from Pulpits ‘cause It’s The Pits! (Opens Friday, June 19, 2009)

2009-06-18T22:10:00.000-07:00

Hello from Digipix_Man (Ellen's husband):

We've been talking about this film for two days, so I'm chiming in first. If you believe the literal Old Testament account of the Creation of the Earth in seven days, you’ll be really surprised at what happens in “Year One,” the new Jack Black movie. Even if you aren't, you could be shocked that they would have the – the – the male parts necessary to produce such a piece of cinematic tripe. (I could have said worse.)

It's a summer movie and we're not expecting genius. My wife wanted to know if it's worse than “Jackass” the movie. I hadn’t thought of “Year One” as a sequel but Jack Black certainly qualifies as a jackass. I wonder if 'Ass' is his middle name. From now on, I won't think of Jack by any other name than Jackass Black. Hee haw.

Hebrews and Sodomites alike appear in this slapped together PG-13 film. Some Roman gladiators are thrown in for the hell of it. A couple of funny foreskin jokes tickled me (I was born Jewish and circumcised). But there's no connected story line and timelines are wrong and jarring.

See this movie at your own peril. It's crude and stupid. If you laugh too much, I wouldn’t admit it to anyone over the age of two.

Submitted by DigiPix_Man (Ellen's No-Blog husband with a mind of his own)

Ellen: Thanks, sweetie. Go do your digital photo album. I'm up now.

It's summertime and we decided to take a crack at watching a preview screening. My husband absolutely hated this movie and vents his spleen above. He also slept through parts of the film. He was awake for the endless chain of foreskin jokes -- I love Hank Azaria in anything he does. These jokes are a regular routine in Jewish humor from way back.

I channeled my inner five-year-old and chuckled loudly at much of the craziness. I love comedy, highbrow and lowbrow. This was kind of "dark circles under eye" comedy. It includes all the body parts we just don't usually talk about.

Now, I am definitely NOT a prude. I've been a bawdy, sexy, outspoken and dramatic performer since babyhood. Mom used to tell me I pulled my pants down at age 3 in Zecher's Market in Pittsburgh and threw a tantrum. An only child, I remember lyrics to musical theater songs, can recall and recite a number of radio commercials from the 1940s forward. I also love wordplay, accents, Biblical references and really twisted language. I co-hosted a children's TV show in Miami, Florida during college, and took care of children in a live audience every weekday from 5PM to 6PM.

My drama teacher in high school, a closeted gay man, became my total passion for two years. He was my homeroom teacher. He told me he was seeing a bit player who was in the movie "Quo Vadis." I was an all "A" student. I copied my teacher's handwriting. He cast me as the lead in the Senior Class play, "A Man Called Peter." I played Catherine Marshall, Peter's wife. (RIP Ernest B. Montgomery, Johnson City, Tenn. who commited suicide on May 15, 1956, just prior to my high school graduation.)

Later, I worked with homosexual males (and females) in the theater, in a variety of NYC offices, and again as a Clairol haircoloring representative for their Professional Products Division. I love makeup, fashion, and costume. I've been called a drama queen and I consider that a compliment.

I questioned, then abandoned the precepts that organized religion tried to pump into me in the Jewish temples I dutifully attended.

"Year One" did tickle the funnybone that Mel Brooks, Zero Mostel, and Lenny Bruce had tickled way before Jack Black. I love Michael Cera and Jack Black, but this movie has AMATEUR NIGHT and SKITS WOVEN TOGETHER written all over it. Much of the acting seemed like improvization. Editing and continuity issues kept creeping up. The storyline was not at all in-line. In my mind, I kept thinking that one scene situation didn't really resolve itself. It just stopped, leaving me to figure the scene out for myself. Then, these cardboard cartoon characters came back fully whole in the next scene.

I give this movie a D on Ellen's Entertainment Report card. It's not that it's terrible, it's just that it could have been much better, given all the talent that was clearly available. This movie is rated PG-13.

Official website: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/yearone/

Friday, June 19, 2009

UP and away with Pixar/Disney's new 3D winner (Opens Friday, May 29)

2009-05-28T19:03:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I saw a preview of 'Up' the new Pixar movie. It brought back some vivid memories from my younger days, and much of what has transpired since that time. During my senior year in high school, I saw a short French film called 'The Red Balloon.' If you've never seen it, this surreal movie is about a handsome young boy followed around Paris, France by a single red balloon. It trails him here and there until the boy is finally carried away by the red balloon -- tied in with all its "cousins" -- straight up into the stratosphere. That's where the story stops.

'The Red Balloon' won an Oscar for Best Screenplay and several other awards for Albert Lamorisse in 1957. Touching and sweet, you are able to believe what you wish about the main character in that film. What's clear is that UP is always better than DOWN and it's that way for a reason. After all, there are Heaven and Hell -- the fresh sweet breezy blue sky with white clouds versus the dark and gloomy ground. We dare not even mention the underground.

The long awaited Pixar/Disney film 'Up' seems to have evolved from a similar ultra-simple tale. I believe Monsieur Lamorisse would have loved it! 'Up' is a very pleasing potpourri of charming and devilish characters, lavish images, transcendent music, and magnificent backgrounds. The story plays out very well in two unique realms. For me, it was a sentimental comedy. One minute I was sniffling as the elderly main characters find each other, live and love as they play out their structured life, dreaming of adventure somewhere along the road. But life itself interferes as it will, and the couple never gets to fulfill their joint dream.

Especially touching -- during this week of my 70th birthday on 5/31 -- is the square-faced, elderly character of Carl Fredrickson, a balloon salesman, voiced by the gruff-and-funny character actor Ed Asner. Clearly, Asner enjoys the whole thing. The other voices are also recognizable are Christopher Plummer (no longer the handsome Captain with seven children, but still going after all these years) and John Ratzenberger (the postal employee from 'Cheers').

After a life-altering situation occurs, and the movie switches gears. Then it becomes a comical "buddy roadtrip" with some intensity in the later action. Kudos to the decision to use a decidedly rotund animated Asian character for the cuddly young Wilderness Scout who accidentally accompanies Carl in his late-life adventures. Jordan Nagai is extremely talented with a voice that clearly captures all of the emotion of this key character.

'Up' has quite a few jokes. Between my eight-year-old grandson laughing on my left side, and a well-known and admired writer/film reviewer chortling on the other side, I probably missed a few. This movie will be a must-see for the second time.

It's only mid-year, and 'Up' takes its rightful place at the top of the picture-perfect pantheon of Pixar movies. It will be hard to imagine another movie outpacing this one for best animation awards in 2009.

So, my advice is to take the ride. See it in Disney 3-D if you can, which adds to the experience. Know that you can help guide the balloons of your life where you wish to go. If you are lucky, you might be able to fulfill most of your dreams right to the very end. There really is no other choice. Life will sweep you up anyway, and you must go with it, even if you have to deal with downdrafts along the way.

I'm pleased to give 'Up' an 'A' on Ellen's Entertainment Report Card.

Official website and trailer: http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/up/

Genre: Animation/Adventure
Rating: PG for some peril and action. (Parents: Be aware that the movie contains allusions to a woman's infertility and a brief death sequence. This is handled in a very acceptable way for most people.)
Runtime: 98 minutes
Director: Pete Docter
Co-Director: Bob Peterson
Composer: Michael Giacchino

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Me 'n' Larry King -- "My Remarkable Journey" (Book release May 19, 2009)

2009-05-16T07:51:00.000-07:00

Larry, I know your new book "My Remarkable Journey" will be out in bookstores in a few days. I hope to read it, and I'm sure there are no footnotes about me in it! But I did cross paths with you briefly in the late 50s, and then again in 1971. My life changed dramatically because I reached out to you.

For years, I've had a lot of fun with this quote: "I dated Larry King, but never married him. Of course, he never asked me!"

This message is heartfelt. I just want to thank you for being in my life in the early times and offering me encouragement. We had one rather forgettable date in the 1950s, when you were on radio at WAHR with your alter-ego Captain Wainwright, the crooked Miami cop on filter mike -- I loved that character!

I was on television at Miami's WTVJ Channel 4 with "Skipper" Chuck Zink on "Popeye Playhouse," the local live children's show that ran from 1957 to 1979. I was the first "First Mate" on the show while in my first year of college (1957-58). Larry, you and I were introduced by WTVJ salesman Frank Boscia, who thought we might have something in common. You are five years older than I am, and we are both from Jewish backgrounds. I think we ate at the drive-in restaurant Pickin' Chicken, but don't recall much else. I already had fallen in love, but not with you...

In 1962, I graduated with a B.A. in Communications with honors from the University of Miami and moved to New York City. I had a successful career as a production assistant at NBC's "Tonight" unit, working for Dick Carson, Johnny Carson's brother, who directed the show at that time. Later, I worked with NBC's documentary news division. I was On-Air Promotion Supervisor at WPIX Channel 11, and did copywriting for several advertising agencies. One production job was with Barry Gray at WMCA, who was credited as the first talk host to put telephone calls on the radio in the early 1960s. I had no idea at the time that I would ever perform on TV -- or radio -- again!

I married classmate Peter R. in 1963. He had emigrated to New York as a small boy with his parents. They lived in Washington Heights. Peter was an aspiring TV producer and film director with a degree from UCLA. Peter achieved a responsible job with ABC, working with the program development group and then with the Wide World of Sports unit. We had a beautiful daughter born in October 1968. Peter's dreams of success in his chosen field were not to be. He became disillusioned, but he had one final job offer with Reela Films in Miami, working on documentary fillms. We moved back to Florida in March 1969 with our tiny daughter. I got pregnant almost immediately. Our second child, David, was born at Miami's Mercy Hospital in December 1969. The Reela job evaporated. After Peter's career crisis, two children, and eight years of marriage, he chose to divorce me. My parents were unable to help, and I had to support myself, the two kids, and a dog. Peter remarried another woman in April 1971, three weeks after our divorce.

Larry, I reconnected with you in the summer of 1971. I was divorced and working some very menial jobs for little pay. I had the two tiny children to care for, and a monthly home mortgage to cover. One early morning, I was driving from Miami Beach to Opa Locka. You were on WIOD radio and you called out for someone to PLEEZE bring you doughnuts and coffee. I stopped at a local shop and bought the refreshments you requested. Although you didn't remember me from our brief encounter in the 1950s, you invited me to stay and screen your calls before they went on the air. I kept dropping in and you promised that you would talk to the program manager about some compensation for my work. One day, I began to supply you with hour-long "woman in the mall" cassette tapes when you started to fall asleep at the microphone. Somewhere along the way, a listener re-named me "Ellen Rainbow" which is just a few letters added to my ex-husband's name.

You kept me busy, interested, and even laughing for those difficult months in the fall and winter. But a few days before Christmas 1971, you were gone -- caught in a legal monetary tangle that I barely understood.

I have not seen nor spoken you from that day to this. Of course, I know your career reignited on Westwood Radio and then on CNN for years. I was so happy you were back!

These are some newspaper clippings which I recently recovered:

After you were gone, WIOD Program Manager Elliott "Biggie" Nevins hired me do the night show shift three times a week, while they looked for a male host to replace you. He paid me $50 each night I hosted. I might have ended up who-knows-where if I had not had that income.

In the first few months of 1972, I did a show with Larry Johnson in Chicago via WATS lines. Then, we patched in with Bruce Lee on Boston's WEEI-AM. (No, not THAT Bruce Lee!) Bruce saved the tape and called me. He said CBS was looking for a woman to do 10 AM to 2 PM. I had to make the first contact with Program Manager Dan Griffin, because if they called me, it would be "talent raiding." At the time, WEEI was owned and operated by CBS and a union shop. WIOD was affiliated with NBC. WEEI management flew me to Massachusetts for a marathon interview on April 28, 1972. It was a glorious spring day that will live in my memory forever. Barbara Trombley, one of my former WIOD guests, took me around to see Boston sights. I was immediately enchanted by this historical city and the beautiful temperate weather.

Dan Griffin offered me the job a few days later. I gave my children to my ex-husband and his wife temporarily, and told them I would let them know when I was settled in an appropriate living space. I packed up my Volvo and my Cocker Spaniel dog, drove to northern Florida, boarded the Autotrain, got off in Virginia, and headed up to Boston.

On May 15, 1972, I started a brand new gig as the first woman with a daily, four-hour radio talk show in Boston. At the beginning, I worked six days each week, four hours a day Mon. thru Sat. on "Boston Forum with Ellen Kimball." Imagine! I was talking for 24 solid hours each week. It was a crushing schedule, but I kept it going for months. Finally, management relented and newsman Ben Farnsworth took over the Saturday show. My show was eventually renamed "The Ellen Kimball Show."

A few years later, another Boston station, WMEX AM, hired me after WEEI changed their format:

I met a widower with three older children in June 1972. He is from a Jewish background, and five years older than I am. His first wife had died at age 34 from cancer. He was trained as an electrical engineer, and later became a software analyst. We married on February 4, 1973 and we will celebrate 37 years of marriage in 2010.

Our wedding day. Daughter Linda is one year younger than Larry's daughter Chaia. Son David is 14 months younger than his sister.

My husband and I moved from Boston to Portland, Oregon eleven years ago. I will be 70 years old on May 31st, and my husband will be 75 on June 23rd. It has been a full life. Yes, there have been stepfamily setbacks, but we are now enjoying worldwide travel, photography, swimming, Broadway musicals, and having fun with our young grandchildren. I review entertainment for www.KGW.com, the website of Channel 8, the NBC-TV affiliate in Portland. It's a volunteer job for which I receive no compensation.

Thanks for being who you are, and for helping me along my remarkable journey.

Sincerely,

Ellen Kimball (Radio_Lady)

http://ellenkimball.blogspot.com/

Tweet me! @Radio_Lady
Larry is on Twitter @kingsthings

PS. In 2006, I called Steve Z., the radio engineer with whom Larry and I worked at WIOD. Steve is a charming and wonderful guy, now retired from Cox Broadcasting and living in Venice, Florida. He entertains me daily with a hefty array of fascinating emails and we speak by telephone quite frequently.

Larry with his wife, Shawn Southwick. and their two young boys, Chance and Cannon:

Friday, May 15, 2009

"Star Trek" arrives in local theaters! Beam us up, Gary Wolcott!

2009-05-09T14:02:00.000-07:00

I was planning a two-week trip to Utah with my husband at the beginning of May, so I passed up my chances to preview the new Star Trek film. I ended up sending my spouse on a "MALE BONDING" trip with my son and our two grandsons. Will have to see the film when he gets back. I'm taking the opportunity of chiming in here with Mr. Movie, Gary Wolcott's excellent review. Thanks for all the good work you do, Gary.

Gary Wolcott's "Mr. Movie" column has appeared in the Tri-City Herald in Washington state since 1992. The Tri-City native now lives in Portland, Oregon, and watches about 250 movies each year. He believes movies are made to be seen on theater screens and should be seen there and not on television screens.

Stardate 1905.08. Red alert. In local movie theaters, a Romulan vessel looking more like a giant squid than a space ship, has invaded Federation space. An intense, dramatic, brilliantly shot and edited battle scene develops. It ends with the birth of James T. Kirk.

Star Trek is back at the beginning.

Since Star Trek: The Next Generation left television for big screen failure, the franchise has been sputtering through the cosmos on impulse power. Most fans were convinced that Voyager and the last nail in the coffin Enterprise, doomed the late Gene Roddenberry’s futuristic saga to its final resting place in a black hole.

Only the most rabid of fans left the neutral zone when the announcement came that there would be an 11th Star Trek movie. A few more converts beamed aboard when Lost and Alias creator/producer J.J. Abrams said he’d take the helm.

It turns out to be a great choice.

Abrams kicks his film into warp drive and boldly goes where the Star Trek actually has gone before. Only better.

Twisting time, shifting characters, making them the same but different, undoing then redoing Star Trek history, Abrams reinvention of the franchise stretches series creativity to a whole, new level. From the mind-boggling opening scenes to Leonard Nimoy’s fond, fitting, and quite familiar farewell, Star Trek is more fun than a night spent tickling tribbles.

Twenty-five years later, the same Romulan ship pops into Federation space again and attacks Spock’s home planet Vulcan. Kirk and what will become the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise are in training at Star Fleet Academy. With the fleet in another part of the galaxy, the trainees are drafted into battle.

Two things make this movie a blast. The first is a cast that will have you pointing at the screen, laughing and whispering to the person in the next seat. Abrams and the producers did their homework and found actors with facial features close enough to the original cast to be believable. It’s not pitch-perfect, but you can see enough of the characters in these young actors to buy the possibility.

Chris Pine is James T. Kirk. He has more fun than anyone as a nod-and-a-wink, larger-than-life caricature. The film’s funniest scenes are between Pine and Karl Urban, who does an equally entertaining Dr. Leonard McCoy.

The best look alike is Zachary Quinto’s Spock. Though not as gaunt as Nimoy, Quinto’s facial features, dark eyes and the combed-forward hairdo make him look so much like a young Nimoy that it’s spooky. Dialogue delivery, facial expressions and vocal tone complete the transformation.

The actors looking least like the original cast are Anton Yelchin’s Chekov and Simon Pegg’s Montgomery Scott. Both make up for facial feature failure with dead-on imitations of Walter Koenig and James Doohan’s voices.

Plus No. 2 is the story. Star Trek is as much satire as it is straight-ahead storytelling. Writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have a blast with the plot. The retrofit of the series’ legendary characters is cemented with the recycling of one hilarious cliché Star Trek line after another.

And like Star Wars George Lucas who was able to convince you that a galaxy long ago, and far, far away was a real place, Abrams and his writing team add dimensions to Star Trek that make it seem as though you are really there.

Abrams is a superb director whose mixture of light and shadow and effects that redefine state-of-the-art with a near-perfect script will put Star Trek at the top of many “best-of” lists for 2009.

A sequel is a no-brainer.

Until then, to Abrams, cast and crew: Live Long and Prosper.

Mr. Movie rating: 5 stars -- Gary's highest rating.

Rated PG-13 for mature themes, some violence. Now showing. Check your local theater listings for locations and times.

NEWSPAPER LINK: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/1190/story/570574.html

Saturday, May 8, 2009

This spring's premier event Shen Yun Divine Performing Arts

2009-04-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

Returning to Portland (Oregon)at the Keller Auditorium Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Warning! This is an archived promotion! Please visit www.divineperformingarts.org for current information. Thank you for linking here! Ellen Kimball, retired broadcaster & entertainment reviewer

See website (below) for information on other locations, including Spokane, Washington on May 21, Seattle, Washington May 22 - 23, and San Diego, California on May 26 - 28.

Photobucket image courtesy member karanka

More information at: http://www.divineperformingarts.org/

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Hop to the Keller Auditorium lightning fast for the musical GREASE

2009-04-17T22:07:00.000-07:00

GREASE

In Portland (Oregon) April 21 – 26

The one that you want is back! GREASE, Time magazine’s 2007 pick for “#1 Musical of the Year,” is rockin’ into Portland and across the country in this new production direct from Broadway.

Take a trip to a simpler time of poodle skirts, drive-ins, and T-birds. “Bad boy” Danny and “the girl next door” Sandy fall in love all over again to the tune of your favorite songs: “Summer Nights,” “Greased Lightning” and “We Go Together” as well as additional songs from the hit movie: “Grease Is the Word,” “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and “You’re the One That I Want.”

So throw your mittens around your kittens and hand jive the night away with the show that’ll make you want to stand up and shout, “A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop A-wop-bam-boom!” It’s GREASE! Warm-up DJ Vince Fontaine, from fictional Radio Station WAXX -- played by the deliciously double-jointed, fast-talking Dominic Fortuna -- is worth the price of admission alone! You will lose count of the number of local jokes he makes, especially the ones poking gentle fun at the town of Scappoose.

Everyone in the cast is totally SWELL, including Eric Schneider as "Danny Zuko" and Emily Padgett as "Sandy Dumbrowski." Fifth season "American Idol" TV winner Taylor Hicks ("Teen Angel") makes quite an entrance in a levitating ice cream cone. The floating device opens like a clamshell to reveal Mr. Hicks wearing more sequins on a man's suit than I can remember seeing since Liberace was alive! His voice is smooth on "Beauty School Dropout." Don't leave early because Hicks re-appears to croon his final song at the very end.

Of course, there was a first-night standing ovation for "Grease." It's all in the spirit of fun and -- for those of us audience members with a bit of mileage on our individual odometers -- a rare look at our memories, including one flashy, racy red Ford Thunderbird I KNOW I rode in decades ago. Ah, yes, those were the days we thought would never end!

Get your tickets now!

All performances are at the Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay Street at 3rd Ave, in downtown Portland:

April 21 - 26, 2009 Eight shows only!
Tuesday-Friday at 7:30pm
Saturday at 2pm & 7:30pm
Sunday at 1pm & 6:30pm

Tickets:

In person: The Hampton Opera Center, 211 SE Caruthers St, Portland, OR 97214

By Phone: 503.241.1802, or toll-free at 1.866.739.6737 (M-F, 9a-5p)

For more information: http://www.portlandopera.com/broadway/2008-2009

Ellen Kimball is a TV and radio pioneer. She was selected as a co-host of a local, live children's television show at WTVJ-TV, now the NBC affiliate Ch. 4 in Miami, Florida, during her freshman year in college. She has been working in broadcasting for more than five decades. Ellen is one of the first women in the U.S. to host her own daily radio call-in talk shows at major market stations in Miami and Boston. She and her husband moved to Beaverton, Oregon in 1998. Ellen currently contributes her reviews on films, theater and other entertainment to KGW.com, the website of Ch. 8, the NBC affiliate in Portland, Oregon.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Who doesn't love train stations? This one in Antwerp, BELGIUM, magically erupts in dance...

2009-04-16T10:25:00.000-07:00

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Introducing the TWO of US!

2009-04-09T18:41:00.000-07:00

Make your Stick Figure Family at FreeFlashToys.com

Daughters and Dads -- we've seen it all!

2009-04-05T15:19:00.001-07:00

My bio daughter Linda turned 40 last year (2008), and my bio son David is right behind her this year (2009). They are 14 months apart in age. My husband, their bonus* father since early childhood, put together an amazing photo book to celebrate her life.

*Bonus="It's a step in the right direction!" See www.bonusfamilies.com

Linda’s 40th B-Day Album

I truly wish it had been possible to do this with the older children that we raised, but maybe someday. There are so many photos that should be preserved and passed along to Grandpa Al's five bio grandchildren. Lee, Cynthia, Adam, William and Rosalee, we love you from a distance and sorry you can't be in our lives at this time. To Michael A.A., Gabrielle, Nicholas, Tyler and Solomon, you are all part of our heritage even if we don't happen to be linked by names or bloodlines. We're always pleased and proud to be in your company and enjoy being grandparents to the five of you.

I just called to say I love you, Linda. It's been hard being a mother and bonus* mother, especially now as we get older. Ask about any family, and everybody seems to have a story of separation and estrangement, as we do.

Linda, I am so proud of you for the kind way in which you treat your bonus mothers, especially Dad Peter's second wife, now a widow. Your mother-in-law is a mensch and I always enjoy being in her company. So glad that so many loving women taught you to cook! We look forward to spending our Passover with you and your friends. Love, Mom/Ellen

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Twittering Over the Twee-Tops

2009-04-04T07:18:00.000-07:00

A little bird told me about the three-year-old social networking application called Twitter.

Well, actually... I watched co-inventor Evan Williams interviewed on the Charlie Rose Show. I have never investigated Facebook or My Space, but I was so intrigued that I decided to join up.

Here's a quick tutorial on what it's for and how it works. I'm finding it great fun.

My Twitter screen name is: @Radio_Lady

My replies to other people and other general info is at:
http://www.twitter.com/Radio_Lady
However, I will warn you that the page looks like half a conversation.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

2009-04-02T20:22:00.000-07:00

This is a positively brilliant political video. You can decide for yourself if the content fits your ideas or not.

2009-04-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

Glorious reflected colors at the waterfront in Sydney, Australia
Hat tip to hippielovebaby16 at Photobucket.com

Think about this...

1. If you take an Oriental person and spin him around several times, does he become disoriented?
2. If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren't people from Holland called Holes?
3. Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?
4. If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?
5. If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?
6. Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
7. When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?
8. Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist but a person who drives a race car not called a racist?
9. Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?
10. Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?
11. Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety one?
12. "I am" is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that "I do" is the longest sentence?
13. If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners depressed?
14. What hair color do they put on the driver's licenses of bald men?
15. I thought about how mothers feed their babies with tiny little spoons and forks so I wondered what do Chinese mothers use? Toothpicks?
16. Why do they put pictures of criminals up in the Post Office? What are we supposed to do, write to them? Why don't they just put their pictures on the postage stamps so posties can look for them while they deliver the mail?
17. You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.
18. No one ever says, "It's only a game" when their team is winning.
19. Ever wonder about those people who spend $3 on those little bottles of Evian water? Try spelling Evian backwards: NAÏVE
20 Isn't making a smoking section in a restaurant like making a peeing section in a swimming pool?
21. If 4 out of 5 people SUFFER from diarrhea does that mean that one out of five enjoys it?

(Hat tip to Australian John Fossey, a gentleman actually wearing a shirt and tie, no less. Classy John spreads humor, good will, and hangover helpers all over the world at: http://fosseythoughts.blogspot.com)

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

It's Showtime! Grand Mayan Resort, Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico

2009-03-30T01:29:00.000-07:00

Radio_Lady invites you to see a slideshow of beautiful exterior shots. The photos were created by Ellen's husband, alternately known as DigiPix_Man:

Grand Mayan Resort, Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, March 2009

March 30, 2009

This Week At The Movies -- Courtesy Mr. Movie Gary Wolcott

2009-03-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers:

We just got back from Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico and missed the previews of these March movies. Here's Mr. Movie -- Gary Wolcott -- whose brief takes are usually "spot on". Feel free to chime in with any comments below. You can also contact Gary at his website. He writes for the Tri-City Herald in Washington state. Here's the link.

(Gary has the most beautiful curly hair, but that's another subject entirely.)

Monsters Vs. Aliens is monstrously funny
Published Friday, Mar. 27, 2009
Remember the first time you saw Shrek? This is that kind of treat. Dreamworks--who also put together our favorite Ogre films--did Monsters Vs. Aliens as a 3-D project. Most are two dimensions turned into three after the filming is completed. Both techniques boggle the mind--and are definitely the future of film--but the difference between the two is astonishing.

Nothing Haunting about The Haunting in Connecticut
Published Friday, Mar. 27, 2009
Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB) gives two running times for The Haunting in Connecticut: 98 minutes and 102 minutes. Neither is accurate. The film runs two hours. Two hours too many.

Cage, 'Knowing' quite boring
Published Monday, Mar. 23, 2009
Sometimes even movie critics can be prophets. We don’t do things in biblical proportion or anything close, but often prescience in the realm of mystical movies is a given.

'Duplicity' tough to follow, but caliber of acting shines
Published Friday, Mar. 20, 2009
Industrial espionage is Duplicity's theme. Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson head up rival mega-corporations. They hate each other. Their revulsion spills over into an original, and quite creative, slow motion fight at an airport early in the movie.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Barbara and Mika fight out the "Vibrator Wars" on TV!

2009-03-25T21:15:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought that Barbara Walters, that veteran television newswoman, interviewer, unmarried and almost 80 years old -- would get into a tangle with a younger anchorwoman over SEX TOYS? Barbara considers them quite indispensible.

Hey, Mika? You are a beautiful and talented newscaster and you seem really uptight. Maybe you'll change as you age. You don't have to have a ring on your finger or be a certain age to enjoy that special tingle. Your male Republican co-host Joe Scarborough and guest Mike Barnicle were right. You should accept the fun and joy of sex, even if it's supercharged with batteries and even if it is NOT your cup of tea right now.

See if you can accept this fact: Most women use vibrators and love them -- before, in-between, and after men (or women). Check out http://www.goodvibes.com or any of the many pleasure toys available at a home party right near you. Conair makes a vibrator you can buy at a local drug store. They don't mention its major use, which isn't for sore muscles.

I had this same conversation thirty years ago with some radio callers who got uptight about Betty Dodson's book "Sex for One." Maybe it's still in print! She suggests -- holy of holies, masturbation -- and gives you diagrams. She even gives you instructions to get a mirror to look at your "yoni". What, you've never even looked?

My mother was a Puritanical woman who was a virgin and married at age 18. I was determined NOT to be like her. I'm not. Enjoy "The View"!

Rest well, Natasha Richardson (1963 - 2008)

2009-03-18T18:07:00.000-07:00

THE NEW MEMORIAL SITE IS SO BEAUTIFUL. PLEASE LINK HERE:

http://www.natasha-richardson.org/

Family, friends, and lovers of theater are stunned and devastated tonight.

These are the times that try my soul. It is hard to resolve this kind of death with anything that religion would say in terms of comfort.

My heart goes out especially to her beautiful and talented mother, Vanessa Redgrave. I have heard that the worst kind of pain is losing a child. People really never get over it.

EK

The Wonderous Art of Mexico -- Present and Past

2009-03-12T20:29:00.000-07:00

Travel always puts us in touch with so many wonderful artists. Here are some with whom I have fallen in love!

Lee Chapman (also known as Lencho) paints with whimsy and adds a little poundage on his characters, especially the bathers and the dancers. Wonderful!

Domingo Playa (Sunday Beach)

Tango Gancho

Find all of these works on line at http://www.leechapmangallery.com/ and also at

Puerco Azul, Constitucion 325, El Centro Puerta Vallarta, Mexico

It's Our Annual Winter Sun-filled Health Break! Look for me in the Big Pool!

2009-03-02T11:21:00.000-08:00

I'll speak with you later this month. Until then...
Goodbye for a while and Keep A Smile!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Real Time with Bill Maher -- Opening Monologue

2009-02-27T20:22:00.000-08:00

The whole show will be available ON DEMAND on Comcast Cable after its first showing Friday night (2/27/09). Bank of America Commercial Parody is first.

(Hat tip to Hissyspit from the Democratic Underground.)

Saturday, February 28, 2009

This Story Will Make You Cheer... Ian, You ARE My Hero!

2009-02-20T18:47:00.000-08:00

Are you feeling sorry for yourself in the present economy?

Watch this story and you will know what it is to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Even when you are pretty old! (A tip of my lady's cap to you, Ian. You are a savvy gentleman, and you made the AP and CBS news today!)

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Paul Harvey Dies at 90 -- A Radio Friend Remembers...

2009-02-16T19:01:00.000-08:00

Steve Zeigler, retired radio engineer from WIOD, Miami, Florida, sent this to me a couple of days ago. Steve and I were together briefly in 1971-72 at this picturesque station located on North Bay Causeway between Miami and Miami Beach. This was when I took over Larry King's late night radio program after he was briefly arrested. All I can say is that Steve is a very kind man who helped me out a great deal when I was in tremendous need.

Steve: Here is my Paul Harvey story. It runs a bit long but you just might enjoy it on this winter day. Every microphone should have a black band around it, for a few days, in honor of Paul Harvey, "Mr. Radio".

Paul Harvey in the WIOD studio (1979?)

How I Met Paul Harvey

It was in 1970 when I secured a job as a radio engineer at WIOD-AM and FM in Miami. It was one of the big powerhouses in SE Florida at the time with the NBC Radio Network. A few years later, under different management, the station aligned with the ABC Radio Network, and there was an old friend, Paul Harvey. I had listened to him quite a bit while I was in the Army and looked forward to his newscasts.

I forget the year, but I’m going to say it was 1979 when Paul Harvey was invited to speak at a local function in Miami. ABC had arranged with our people for him to do his morning and noon broadcasts from our studios. This turn of events really blew me away and knocked my socks off! Here I was, about to meet the very person I have come to regard as "Mr. Radio". It was hard to believe that he would actually be in our building and I just might be able to meet him. My respect for him had grown over the years since MP school when I first learned of this radio giant. My head was swimming. Giant? Maybe not -- he was less than seven feet tall!

As things turned out, the guys in the news room highly enjoyed him, and maybe a bit of his professionalism rubbed off on them. WIOD had a Master Control Room configuration – meaning all audio was controlled and ran through my domain. I was the engineer on duty that morning. The Chief Engineer (CE) came in early to check on me and the uplink to ABC. He was impressed with PH too.

About 8:20 AM, I got a phone call from ABC, New York. They planned to talk me down to PH air time. The uplink was cool at their end, and here, my CE was pacing the floor. With the phone at my right ear, I looked up, through double glass window, into the talk studio. I see the big heavy, soundproof door slowly swing open and in walks Paul Harvey.

I was so at ease (make that at un-ease) I don’t remember how I acknowledged his presence when our eyes met, but I’m sure I made some gesture that was honorable. Paul sat in the chair at the main position where Larry King, Alan Courtney and so many other talk show hosts always did their shows. He arranged all his 3-by-5 cards in front of him – yellow ones seem to be the commercials – white for his news.

ABC, on the phone, said, "One minute". A jolt went through me. My CE was being a pest. Then ABC said, "Stand-by, ten seconds. Seven, six, five…." Silence followed. ABC stopped talking to me – I panicked, I popped the MIC switch and Paul said, "Good Morning America, this is Paul Harvey. Standby for news!"

ABC never told me why they didn’t count all the way down. I was very shaken by the incident at the time. All went well during the five minute broadcast. Then PH got up and walked out of the studio with his 3 x 5 cards tucked safely in his coat pocket for re-shuffling and editing in the noon broadcast.

Soon Mr. Harvey was in the hallway with the station big-wigs. They were all headed to the golf course. I grabbed the sheet of paper from ABC that outlined the broadcast details. Running down the hall with pen and paper in hand, I approached the group and asked Mr. Harvey for his autograph. He did so willingly and I got to shake his hand and thank him. He said, "No, no – I thank YOU! ". I think I still have that piece of paper – I sure hope so. I should frame it.

Later that morning the golfers returned to the station and PH got right to work on his noon broadcast – checking the wires and re-typing his 3 x 5 cards. I was off duty and another engineer was captain of the Master Control Room, but I hung around to get another look at "Mr. Radio" in action.

As air time approached, ABC New York called again to give the usual talk-up and to relate that the uplink was standing tall. Our engineer was over-the-top, nervous about doing a national feed. His forehead was wet, as were his palms. He turned from his chair at the console and asked me to do it for him. I was a bit surprised but I understood and I assumed the seat of power for the next twenty minutes.

Again, ABC counted me down, and this time the guy went all the way to one. I opened the MIC for Paul Harvey for the second time that day. About three minutes into the feed, ABC decided everything was OK. They said "thank you" and "goodbye". Flawlessly, we had completed the noon broadcast of Paul Harvey News and Commentary. I went home, a very "happy camper" with my ABC autographed paper in my pocket.

Steve Zeigler
Venice, Florida
===========

Other background:
Former US Army MP
WHOF [Canton OH] 1964
WOIO [Canton] 1967
WIOD [Miami FL] 1970-1997
Steve says (5/08), "Following 33 years in local radio, Dave Graveline and I started the nationally syndicated Into Tomorrow in 1996. As of October 2007, I am retired and living in Venice, Florida."

Saturday, February 28, 2009

One of the Best Renditions of this Folk Song -- HAVA NAGILA!

2009-02-13T17:33:00.001-08:00

Dear Readers,

February is interwoven into our extended family by three ceremonies. First, my husband and I celebrated our 36th Wedding Anniversary on February 4. Next comes Valentine's Day, February 14, the day for love. It's also the date when my daughter Linda and her husband married sixteen years ago in a beautiful ceremony in Boston.

This is for the happy couple and their two children -- who live a kind and gentle life just a few miles from us. Have a glorious Valentine's Day and a wonderful anniversary celebration.

From Grandma Ellen and Grandpa Al

Andre Rieu on the violin

February 14, 2009

Coraline: You Do The Review!

2009-02-10T22:07:00.000-08:00

Ellen says: I'm feeling much better this week, but my husband is still sick. I haven't seen "Coraline" yet, but given all the publicity, I'm going the first chance I get! Thanks for your remarks here and blessed be... E/

Metacritic Contributors rate the new movie Coraline

Coraline

MPAA RATING: PG for thematic elements, scary images, some language and suggestive humor

Starring Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, and Ian McShane

A young girl walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an alternate version of her life. On the surface, this parallel reality is eerily similar to her real life - only much better. But when this wondrously off-kilter, fantastical adventure turns dangerous, and her counterfeit parents (including Other Mother) try to keep her forever, Coraline must count on her resourcefulness, determination, and bravery to get back home - and save her family.m (Focus Features)

The average user rating for this Movie is 9.3 out of 10 (based on 46 Votes).

Darrel R gave it a 10:
Delight, creative and artfully executed. Unlike most stop action animation, this production left me completely unaware of the techniques used to make the visuals, and focused my attention on the magic of the story, Bravo!

Melanie L gave it a 10:
Fun story and very artfully done- awesome in 3-D!

Tom N gave it a 10:
A brilliant piece of animation. Sets a new standard.

j b gave it a 5:
A good amount of scenes show real beauty and imagination, but I found myself not ever caring for these characters. Not once. Someone else mentioned that the story was reminiscent of a video game, and it is. What a shame. Unless of course your really swept away by video games. Also, paying close to 3 bucks for glasses that belong to a technology that wasn't worthwhile even fifty years ago is quite a shame as well.

Brian S gave it a 7:
A very accomplished, beautiful film.--visually stunning, and the 3D was very effective without being obtrusive. That said, I thought the last third of the film lacked energy. A lot of reviewers have mentioned the "creepy" tone, but I felt that the film never really engaged at an emotional level toward the end, which would have elevated this from a good to a great film.

Thanh-Tam H gave it a 10:
Coraline was fabulous to see in 3D, and possessed a fanciful sort of creepiness that both scares and delights. It's a movie both parent and child can enjoy equally.

Dana M. gave it a 9:
Very enjoyable movie. The 3D effect was worth the extra couple dollars admission. Incredible animation and imagination by the animators. Note the this is not a kids movie, or even a young teenager movie. A lot of the plot would just go over their heads. Bring your imagination, put on your 3D glasses and enjoy!

Noelle B. gave it a 10:
A beautifully frightening story; gracefully rendered. Loved it!

Grady P. gave it a 10:
If this had been released last year, it could easily give WALL-E a run for its money for the Oscar. It's an amazing film that's sure to become a classic, and it easily rivals The Nightmare Before Christmas (which in and of itself is one of the best animated movies of all time). Well worth seeing, can't wait for the Blu-ray release!!

Kirsten J. gave it a 10:
I'm a college student, so for financial reasons and time constraints, I rarely go to the theatres for movies. This one was an exception. I had read the book, and it had blown my mind. I saw the very first tiny clip released online in which Coraline met the ghosts, and I was fairly unimpressed. One line, the last line in the clip, changed that. "We don't remember our names." It sent chills down my spine, and I was hooked. So, I had my father take me to see it on opening night. I was once again swept off my feet. I was a little unsure at first whether the movie would compromise the story in order to play to the 3D clichés as so many had before it, but my fears were put at ease. Only once in the entire film, during the opening credits, did anything come off the screen straight for the audience, and even that was an amazing artistic decision that foreshadowed with its foreshortening. The artistic direction and the cinematography were mindblowing. I had been impressed with Sweeney Todd's artistic direction, but Coraline puts it to shame. One scene explores a garden with plants so exotic and whimsical that one might expect to find them in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. The 3D made it so tangible that it was almost impossible not to feel the thick waxy petals and leaves. The flawless marriage between Neil Gaiman's incredible story and the meticulously created masterpiece was what made this work so well. The entire reason that the 3D was not a tacky disappointment was because Selick didn't shove it in the audience's faces. So yes, the movie was visually a treat. But Coraline was much more than eye candy. The story was incredibly true to Mr. Gaiman's book. One or two differences obviously existed, but overall, I don't think I've ever seen a more accurate book adaptation. And so it, like the book, was filled to the brim with the odd mixture of characteristics that Mr. Gaiman intended. It was eerie, bizarre, delightful, funny, cute, and downright frightening. Sure, plenty of movies have parts that are scary and parts that are funny and so on... But it's a rare movie indeed that can incur all of those feelings in the same instant. Mr. Gaiman himself put it best, in a sneak peek interview: "If audiences take away terror and joy in roughly equal doses, I will be very happy."

Bob T gave it a 7:
An enjoyable film. I'm thinking that even if I hadn't read the book, I'd know where this story was going. The pacing of the story was excellent as were the 3D renderings, i.e. the acting. Now I will have to re-read the book, I seem to remember it as a bit more creepy. I'd warn folks with young (<9) kids that some content may scare the bejezus out of them for the next little while.

Charlie B gave it a 10:
This is one of the best movies I've seen in a very long time. Coraline has stunning animation, and a very original plot. I saw the 3-D version, which was just awesome. This movie is not Bambi 2, so don't bring your three year old to this movie. In short, this movie is fantastic if you like animation, and dark toned movies. I read one review that complains because a character said 'oh my god.' Frankly, that's a very typical and common expression, and is an integral part of the English language. What's funny is that those three words popped into my head about half a second before the character said it!

Logan M gave it a 9:
It hardly comes as a surprise, but Neil Gaiman has done it again! With the help of screenwriter/director Henry Selick and Laika, Coraline has become a major success. For good reason. The star power of Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, and arguably They Might Be Giants add a lot to the film's success, as do their talents, but this is far and away a writer's movie. Don't mistake me, the movie's a visual feast. The modelers, "costumers" and animators at Laika are best in class. The cinematography is astounding. The 3D can sometimes be jarring, but no more so than in any other production using the technology. Many of those effects are just tremendous, however. The organic pixelizations, animated gardens and looms (of all kinds) add a great deal to a feel of enchantment viewers of all ages can really enjoy. As I said, this is a writer's movie, and that's one of the esteemed Mr. Gaiman's great talents; breaking the age barrier. It's a tradition in animation, of course, layering adult humor into child-friendly themes, but this is a writer who doesn't need animation, or even illustration, to accomplish the feat. I haven't read the book. Sorry, Neil. But rest assured I shall! In fact, I may just order it now. While I was tremendously disappointed with the screen treatment of Stardust (2007), I expect less was changed here. It would certainly make sense as Mr. Gaiman's Hollywood clout continues to grow. It's good to see genius and persistence rewarded in such a big way. The merit is clearly visible in Coraline. This movie is so charming I can hardly stand it. There are scenes that melt the heart, and few that make it skip a beat. The imagery is eternal, as are the well-stated themes of love, disaffection and fear. Layer into that timeless story the aforementioned visuals, an excellent musical score, great voice acting and Burton-beating production values and what do you get? A film like the perfect layer cake. A cake with creamy frosting, and the words "Welcome home" ringed in candles. Or a deep forgotten well surrounded by a faerie ring. Either is good. Better than good: superlative. You must not miss this film! I give it 9 of 10 points!

Anna P. gave it a 9:
This was gloriously filmed in 3D, with great depth and astonishing color. Yet it's subtle - not many of the "gotcha, 3D!" moments in this, which was nice. The story is solid, although I prefer the book version to the movie version. Nevertheless, it's a great movie for kids of all ages, and for their parents too. A breath of fresh air compared to the normal kids fare, for sure.

[Anonymous] gave it a 10:
Brilliant, dark, adventure movie. Strong plot, wonderful characters, and beautiful visual effects. Coraline is an instant classic.

Ted U. gave it a 10:
Best use of 3D ever. You really can't grasp the quality of the experience on a flat screen. And the creepiness is profound. Like E.T.A. Hoffman animated by Miyazaki.

kairi C gave it a 9:
It was really visually stunning, the 3d was a little distracting in a few places, it was really spot-on the spirit of the book, even with the changes. It was fun and creepy and me, my husband, and my 12 year old daughter all enjoyed it. Amazing stop-action like I've never seen.

Billy gave it a 10:
Excellent. Incredibly creative and one of the most entertaining and fun films I have been to in years. The stop motion is incredible. A must see at a theater, I wish my area had 3D, it would have been amazing. 2D was incredible enough.

Otto O. gave it a 10:
Visually stunning and ultimately the best what 3D has brought us so far. Some say it's dragging at times, but I beg to disagree. Everything is so well crafted is mind boggling. Wouldn't chance a thing. I newer knew stop motion animation could be done this beautifully. It's gonna be a classic. No question.

david k gave it a 9:
Excellent animation and story... I saw it in 3D and was blown away by the quality of the imagery...not for the little ones...but for teens and up it's a great film going experience.

Paul K. gave it a 10:
This is a beautifully brilliant film. So much thought, time and labor went into this, it's mindblowing. It's stop-motion animation at it's finest and the 3-D puts the whole thing over the top. If you find time, stay through the credits for the last 3-D sequence!

Jason H. gave it an 8:
I REALLY enjoyed watching this movie, and my only gripe is a strange one: About half way through the movie, it starts seeming like it's a video game.

Steve O gave it a 9:
One of the most visually entertaining experiences of my life. It's a strange, fun trip!

Jim S. gave it a 10:
The extra money for the rich 3D is absolutely a must. I was sad when the movie ended that's how much I enjoyed my experience.

Rhett R. gave it an 8:
This rating is for the non-3D version. Parent section: First off, I would not recommend taking children under 8 to this movie. The plot is a bit complex and too deep to keep the attention of younger children, and it is borderline too scary for children 6 and under. My children (8,6,3,3) love Nightmare Before Christmas. But I think this movie hits a bit too close to home since the main character is a young girl and story a twisted variation on her reality. NBC is fantastical. I regret bringing my younger children. Jury is out with the 6 YO boy. There are also a few scenes completely inappropriate for children. During the theater scene with the old ladies. one of the old ladies is in pasties and a thong. They sing about breasts, coraline points out how naked they are and even blurts out an OMG. The innuendo and nudity is completely unnecessary and adds nothing to the story. I was very taken aback that this HAD to be in the story. Once again, a perfectly good family movie (albeit for older children) is ruined by a disconnected and ignorant writer, director, producer. why does hollywood find this necessary? It only creates an awkward moment for parents and children. Of all the money spent on marketing and demographic, where is the market research on this subject? OK stepping off my soapbox. Movie section: As far as the movie goes. The stop motion is unbelievable. You will have a hard time comprehending how Selick and team accomplished what they did. And the textures and shadows created by the tangible medium cannot be matched with CG (I draw a similar comparison of the original star wars trilogy to the recent prequels. The magic and artistry of stop motion cannot be matched). There were a few choppy spots in the film (i.e. framerate) but perhaps it was a prob with our theater. The story is exquisite. it evokes thoughts of other stories of childrens' twists on reality (Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of OZ, Pan's Labyrinth) Here are my gripes: Character development is a bit rushed, but not so much you don't feel a connection with them. The story development is bit rushed also, but at the same time, the movie feels a bit stretched out at some points. All in all a great movie for adults and older children. Fans of Selick and the like will not be disappointed. Those not interested in the genre will be impressed with the technique, but the story will not change their opinions.

February 10, 2009

Pink Panther 2 Opens Friday, February 6!

2009-02-05T06:13:00.000-08:00

Dear Readers:

The dog didn't eat my homework. Heck, I don't even have a dog, or any homework, either. However, critical family matters and illness have caused me to pause my reviewing and blogging, hopefully until things are resolved soon.

Until I return, I'm posting the review of The Pink Panther 2 written by Mr. Movie, Gary Wolcott. Here's Gary!

Honestly? Gary is a great guy who has been reviewing movies for 15 years. I wish I had a younger brother like him. (Only child, here.) I always enjoy his reviews, and 'though we disagree sometimes, not often, I always respect his opinion.

Gary writes for the Tri-City Herald, in Kennewick, Washington. I totally agree with this review. In fact, the preview showing of this movie, which my husband and I attended with our eight-year-old grandson, was the best thing that happened to me all last week. Other stuff? Not so much. Enjoy!

'The Pink Panther 2' too funny
By Gary Wolcott, AtomicTown.com

Typically, second movies are usually light-years inferior to the first.

Not so with The Pink Panther 2.

Steve Martin reprises the roll of detective Jacques Clouseau and his all-star co-star cast list includes Andy Garcia, Alfred Molina, Jean Reno, John Cleese, Jeremy Irons, Yuki Matsuzaki, Bollywood’s Aishwarya Rai and Emily Mortimer.

They have a blast sparring, spoofing and doing word play with Martin and each other. Nothing here is gut-busting, but you will catch yourself laughing out loud on occasion and completely entertained by the comedy.

By the way, if you’re tempted to pop up and refill the popcorn or hit the powder room, don’t do it during the scene at the Vatican. After the pontiff’s ring is stolen, a clueless Clouseau and the gang of detectives investigate. It is the funniest scene in a film full of them.

Another highlight is Martin and old friend/comedienne Lily Tomlin doing some spot-on politically incorrect bits on political correctness. By my count there have been 11 Pink Panther movies. Originally a main character in a Blake Edwards heist spoof, the late Peter Sellers played Inspector Jacques Clouseau five times. Some viewed Sellers as a genius.

Others—me included—didn’t find Sellers or his movies that funny. Comedian Steve Martin—modeling his interpretation of the character after Sellers—nearly put an end to a brilliant comedy career doing his vision of The Pink Panther.

It wound up on lots of worst of the year lists in 2006.

Though it isn’t likely to end up on anyone’s best list, after a long week of financial worries, children worries, job worries, The Pink Panther 2 hits all the right notes and is an excellent 90-minute escape.

Mr. Movie rating: "4 stars -- Good -- see it if it's your kind of movie."

Rated PG for mature themes. It opens nationally on Friday, Feb. 6. Check your local movie listings.

For more information, check out ComingSoon.net.

CS Videos: The Pink Panther 2
Source: Heather Newgen February 4, 2009

This Friday, Steve Martin will be returning as Inspector Jacques Clouseau in Sony and MGM's The Pink Panther 2. The character, made famous by the late Peter Sellers, was revived three years ago when Martin and his Cheaper by the Dozen director Shawn Levy decided to reinvent the character. Now, Clouseau is back, once again trying to find thieves who've once against stolen the priceless Pink Panther Diamond, this time paired with a team of international detectives by his aggravated boss Chief Inpector Dreyfus (this time played by John Cleese). The cast is rounded out by Emily Mortimer, returning as Clouseau's love interest Nicole, Jean Reno as Clouseau's friend and partner Ponton, Andy Garcia, Alfred Molina and Lily Tomlin.

February 6, 2009

Our 36th Wedding Anniversary on February 4th -- A Vow of Silence

2009-02-04T00:06:00.000-08:00

This is the only digital copy of the only Polaroid photo of the occasion. The two cherubs by my side are now 40 and 39 years old.

The date was February 4, 1973. This is silent applause to the loving Digital Geezer who has willingly shared this path of life with me. My dear husband has been courageous enough to stay with me through many difficulties. He tells me I am not easy to live with. Actually, he screamed it at me on Sunday night, and I screamed back enough to totally lose my voice. I have been told to not talk, sing, or even whisper.

He's right. I am tough to live with. However, years ago, while I was working through some issues regarding the death of one older mentor in my life, he was kind enough to assure me he planned to stay until the end -- and until he has outlived all of my husbands and lovers. (You may chuckle, but there is still one left in the "formerly married to" category, a semi-retired doctor from New York who was alive and well, living in New Jersey in 2006. One former lover passed in 2006, and sadly, one husband also. So, at last count, it's two down and.... several more to go.) These days, when I want to see if someone I used to know is still around, I don't use CLASSMATES.com, I go to the Social Security Death Index.

I'm sharing a neat congratulatory thread put up last year on which kind people at the Democratic Underground saluted us. My affiliation with them lasted only until late July 2008 due to strong but inaccurate opinions about me. So the owner, David Allen, has banned me.

In the interest of brevity, the soul of wit, I offer you last year's link.

Enjoy the photos. My Photobucket account is also completely open if anyone wants to peek.

2/4 - Memories of Grandpa Martin Kovacs, Albert Grubair, and CDZ, who would have been 84 today

February 4, 2009

Baby Born In Bay Area With 12 Functioning Fingers, 12 Toes

2009-01-31T21:04:00.000-08:00

This condition is called Polydactyly, and occurs in about one in every 2,000 births. As a mother, I immediately thought it could be a drawback in buying gloves (mittens will be OK). However, this child would be possiblu gifted on a piano or as a Flamenco guitarist... and aren't there Chinese instruments that require a 12-note scale?

I don't know what it would do to his typing skills, but one thing's for sure.

He could get quite confused learning mathematics. How about the extra two piggies in "THIS LITTLE PIGGIE WENT TO MARKET"? Also, When he gets married, which is his ring finger?

Congratulations to the new baby boy and the happy couple. Please check out the link for an amazing story.

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Baby Born In Bay Area With 12 Functioning Fingers, 12 Toes
Friday, January 30, 2009 – updated: 6:24 pm PST January 30, 2009

Link is here for extraordinary video:

http://www.ktvu.com/news/18608582/detail.html

GOOGLE made a BOO-BOO... bad Google...

2009-01-31T20:31:00.000-08:00

It was a human error and I forgive you. Besides that, I had more important jobs to do like shampooing my beige rug. So, I was dusting and moving furniture at the time in question, Your Honor. I had absolutely nothing to do with it and suffered no harm from the misdeed in question. (Now, there is a question of how this will affect your upper management bonuses in the new fiscal year. Can we stimulate your package?)

From: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/

"This site may harm your computer" on every search result?!?!

WTF???

1/31/2009 09:02:00 AM

If you did a Google search between 6:30 a.m. PST and 7:25 a.m. PST this morning, you likely saw that the message "This site may harm your computer" accompanied each and every search result. This was clearly an error, and we are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to our users.

What happened? Very simply, human error. Google flags search results with the message "This site may harm your computer" if the site is known to install malicious software in the background or otherwise surreptitiously. We do this to protect our users against visiting sites that could harm their computers. We maintain a list of such sites through both manual and automated methods. We work with a non-profit called StopBadware.org to come up with criteria for maintaining this list, and to provide simple processes for webmasters to remove their site from the list.

We periodically update that list and released one such update to the site this morning. Unfortunately (and here's the human error), the URL of '/' was mistakenly checked in as a value to the file and '/' expands to all URLs. Fortunately, our on-call site reliability team found the problem quickly and reverted the file. Since we push these updates in a staggered and rolling fashion, the errors began appearing between 6:27 a.m. and 6:40 a.m. and began disappearing between 7:10 and 7:25 a.m., so the duration of the problem for any particular user was approximately 40 minutes.

Thanks to our team for their quick work in finding this. And again, our apologies to any of you who were inconvenienced this morning, and to site owners whose pages were incorrectly labelled. We will carefully investigate this incident and put more robust file checks in place to prevent it from happening again.

Thanks for your understanding.

Marissa M.

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You're welcome.

LUVYA GOOGLE -- especially the Martin Luther Day image! Excellent!

Have you seen Clint Eastwood's performance in "Gran Torino"?

2009-01-29T23:35:00.000-08:00

My husband and I were vacationing in Palm Springs, California from Dec. 13 to Jan. 3, so we missed many film previews. We did manage to see Milk, Doubt, Slumdog Millionaire, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. But this is an interesting piece I'm happy to pass along. EK

======================================================

The Curious Case of Gran Torino

By S. JAMES SNYDER / NEW YORK 1/26/2009

Settling a score with himself, Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino.

This year's Oscar storylines have already been etched in stone — Mickey Rourke as the comeback kid, Slumdog Millionaire as the art house wunderkind, Milk as the timely social commentary (released three weeks after Proposition 8 passed in California). Yet while the critics have been fussing over wrestlers and Mumbai quiz shows, audiences have been flocking to Gran Torino — an Oscar outcast that's been doing laps around the competition at the box office. At some point this week, the Clint Eastwood drama will pass the $100 million mark, easily surpassing the box office receipts brought in by not only some of the Oscar front-runners (Slumdog Millionaire now totals $56 million, Milk $21 million) but also by Eastwood's last Oscar winner, Million Dollar Baby.

"It's an amazing story that no one's really talking about," says Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst with Hollywood.com. "For a movie starring a 78-year-old to have a $29 million opening weekend in wide release, and in the process to beat out the likes of Anne Hathaway in Bride Wars, I don't know if I've seen that before ... it's a testament to how people still feel about Clint Eastwood."

Originally released Dec. 12 in only six theaters, and hyped by Warner Brothers as a major awards contender, the film won Eastwood early recognition by the National Board of Review as Best Actor, but that's been the exception to the rule. At the glitzy Golden Globes, Gran Torino was mentioned in only one category: original song. When the Oscar nominees were unveiled last week, Gran Torino was shut out of the competition completely.

It is certainly one of the least likely blockbusters in some time. Starring Eastwood as a crotchety widower living in Detroit's Highland Park neighborhood — a veteran of the Korean War who eyes his Hmong neighbors suspiciously and launches into racist tirades when provoked — Gran Torino was filmed on location in only five weeks, on a slim budget of $35 million. The majority of its Hmong characters were played by non-professionals. In addressing such tumultuous issues as racial strife, gang warfare and urban blight, it can hardly be categorized as escapist entertainment.

"The film confronts issues that are very timely, from racial violence to economic struggles. It's a working-class world that we may not see all that often in blockbusters, but it's something a good many people can relate to," says Karie Bible, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations. Surely Eastwood could not have predicted, when he first set out to make the film, that Detroit's economic woes would be making national headlines by the time Gran Torino arrived in theaters (his character is a retired Ford assembly plant worker), nor that the movie would be launching into wide release the same day the U.S. government released the darkest unemployment report in 16 years.

Audiences, though, have embraced the film's realism. Bible's firm projects the title will soar north of $150 million before it leaves theaters — making Gran Torino the biggest haul for an Eastwood film ever. By then, it may well pass the box office totals posted last year by such summer tent poles as Mamma Mia!, The Incredible Hulk and Sex and the City. "Slumdog and The Wrestler are these Cinderella stories that have overshadowed Gran Torino, and yet here is another Cinderella story all its own," Dergarabedian says. "You look at Eastwood, and here he is, directing Changeling which got Angelina Jolie her Oscar nomination, and starring in this blockbuster where he proves again that he's one of the biggest box office stars. To become a leading man again at 78, I think it's a story that's unparalleled in cinema."

Eastwood has been quoted as saying that this could mark his last outing as an actor. If that's true, he will be going out on top.

(Publicity and promotion by Ellen Kimball, Accessible Media Services, Portland, Oregon, through her blog and other review sites. )
January 30, 2009

Finally, here are four 1972 articles about Larry King and me

2009-01-27T22:07:00.001-08:00

Many of you know that I dated Larry King in the 1950s when we were both young broadcasters in Florida. Decades later, while divorced with two toddlers in 1971 and struggling to survive, I heard his plea for doughnuts and coffee, and dropped in on him at the studio. He didn't remember me, but he was funny and the guests were interesting. I found myself captivated by the music, comedy, and guests in a during a very difficult time of my life. Larry made me laugh, and I came to while away the hours as his unpaid "screener" -- the person who talks to the callers before they go on the air to get their names and suggested topics.

Then, it was a December night in 1971 when Larry was arrested for a failed financial deal. If you are curious, here's the link with his photo that day:

http://www.mugshots.com/Celebrity/Larry+King.htm

Larry's marital and financial dealings are well documented on the Internet at Wikipedia. I have added some of my own knowledge, as have others. It took Larry years to reestablish his career, and I never saw or heard from him again.

Meanwhile, I was chosen to substitute for Larry while the WIOD program manager, Elliot "Biggie" Nevins, searched for a male replacement.

From the archives of the Miami newspapers in 1972, I have assembled more information to back up my story for the sake of accuracy. I wish it had been otherwise, but Larry King's misfortunes were responsible for me becoming one of the first female radio talk show hosts with a full-time daily show, working first in Miami, and then in Boston, Massachusetts on WEEI and WMEX.

Questions anyone?

Brief explanation for the name differences. I was born Ellen Kimball. At UCLA in 1959, I met this handsome dark-haired stranger from New York City (via the Free State of Danzig, now Poland). His name was Peter R. We were both enrolled in the Theater Arts Department. I was attracted to him because he was cute, but then he tried to cheat off my Hamlet exam! (Absolutely true.) I had a bicycle and lived at an all-girl dormitory, Twin Pines, on Hilgard Avenue. Peter seduced me with his off-campus boys'- only apartment, an older car, a deep baritone voice and the cute way he rolled up his pack of cigarettes in his T-shirt sleeve.

I left UCLA under difficult circumstances after a year, and Peter was inducted into the Army. He kept writing to me during a most troubling time of my life. I still have all the letters. After his stint in Korea as a SP-4 in communications, we met up again in New York City's Time Square, right under the Bond sign. We dated and decided to marry in December 1963.

Now, his legal name was just two letters shy of the word RAINBOW. We had a loving relationship (not perfect... whose is?)and some good jobs in media. Along the way, we raised a cute Cocker Spaniel "Buffy" and two beautiful children.

In 1970, Peter decided to alter his life course and it no longer included me. (From August 1970, the quote still burns in my ears. "I don't love you any more.")

Our divorce was final on his birthday in March 1971. A few weeks later, he remarried an attractive divorced Jewish lady with mental and musical gifts, a fellow New Yorker, fabulous cook, all among her many other positive attributes. Peter helped her raise her two children and they both retrained as psychological counselors. I also met and married my current husband in 1973, and took on his three older children whose mother had died suddenly of cancer at age 34.

Later, when I became too ill physically and mentally to carry on as a full-time mother, my ex-husband and his wife took on the responsibility of the two children until each one graduated from high school. I was the non-custodial parent, and we paid child support during this time. I was one of the first women in the Framingham (Middlesex County), Massachusetts, to do so.

Regrettably, Peter R. passed away from cancer in December 2006. I loved him for the better part of eleven years and still mourn his death today from those deadly cigarettes.

So, one night, when I was screening calls for Larry, some Floridian said, "Ellen RAinBOW, what a lovely name!"

Later, when I was hired as the first female talk show host with a daily call in program in Boston, the general manager thought RAINBOW was too hippie and requested that I go back to my thoroughly English maiden name, Kimball, chosen by my Russian born grandfather a few years after he arrived at Ellis Island...

January 29, 2009

A blessing! A daughter who forgives her father for his actions...

2009-01-26T17:49:00.000-08:00

Alec Baldwin with his beautiful teenaged daughter, Ireland, at the Screen Actors Guild ceremony 1/25/09

I watched the SAG Awards last night while doing housework, the bane of all our existences. Ah, the exciting life of an ex-starlet wanna-be in her twilight years!

My husband and grandson were in another room, watching a crisp, bright DVD of "The Music Man," the 1962 Oscar winner starring Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, and Buddy Hackett. Great film, if you've never seen it. Little Winthrop is played by actor and director Ron Howard, who went on to even greater film fame!

This is always a great time of the year for me. I've been involved in TV, radio and film for 51 years. I've reviewed movies on the radio and in print since the early 1970s. My former husband wanted to be a film director, but a career crisis caused him to take another path -- with another wife -- into the world of psychological counseling. My "current" husband loves movies and is a retired software engineer.

Bravo for "Slumdog Millionaire" and the entire cast. It's a wonderful film with a lot of gumption -- and it COULD walk off with the Oscar for "Best Movie of 2008" -- without a "Doubt"! Or it could be "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" or "Frost/Nixon" or ?

One of the nicest moments came when Alec Baldwin appeared with his 13-year-old daughter, Ireland. Baldwin is divorced from actress Kim Basinger, and you may recall that there has been a bitter custody fight (are there any other kinds?) and Baldwin left angry words in a telephone message which the child managed to hear. A clear error, of course.

But estrangements are made of things like that between parent and child, particularly in divorced or stepfamily situations. Some family rifts get repaired, and others last a lifetime. That is so very sad.

I wrote about our family situation years ago, and got a lot of conversation going from others at the Democratic Underground. You can read about it here in an archived thread.

Here's the public apology to all of our five children: I am so sorry for any of my failings as a mother and stepmother. Life doesn't give you any "do-overs" and I have forgiven you for not being able to forgive me. Apart from being a wonderful grandmother to the five grandkids who know us, we do not wish to grieve about it any more.

One of the best books on this subject -- "Family Estrangements" -- is the work of a woman writer, a former lawyer and judge named Barbara LeBey. I had the pleasure of interviewing her a few years ago. She does a great job with this book, as well as her second book, "Remarried With Children." Barbara is a wonderful writer and perhaps someday we will meet.

PS: Oh, guess what! she's writing a NEW book about older single women falling in love with younger men. I had a brief four-month crush on one delightful man who was five years younger than me, and a different religion. But that's another story for another time.

January 26, 2009

Hello New Visitors! It's 2009!

2009-01-04T13:02:00.000-08:00

This is an OPEN FORUM UNTIL FRIDAY, JANUARY 9th. Do you have any questions about me or my favorite subjects? Or topics you'd like to discuss in the future?

If you are new here, you might want to know more about me... or leave a comment about yourself. I am reaching out to those of you who frequent the Internet using through Goggle's NEXT BLOG feature.

Several of you have come over from FEEDJIT and probably know nothing about my history and escapades! Kindly visit the archive below. It contains some of my on-line history at the Democratic Underground, where I had a journal posted for almost four years.

Radio_Lady: Archive from the Democratic Underground (Also, searches on Google for Radio_Lady will reveal a great deal about me (maybe even more than you want to know)!

Here is the archive link.

I welcome your posts, but warn that I do moderate comments here. Thanks for your understanding.

Ellen

Hello New Readers! You might want to know more about me...

2009-01-04T12:58:00.000-08:00

Several of you have come over from FEEDJIT and probably know nothing about my escapades. Kindly visit the archive below. It contains some of my on-line history at the Democratic Underground, where I had a journal posted for almost four years.

Radio_Lady: Archive from the Democratic Underground
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/?az=archives&j=418&page=1

Thanks.

Ellen

California, here we come... for hearty holiday happenings!

2008-12-09T11:27:00.000-08:00

Thanks for visiting my website! We're touring southern California's "Inland Empire" -- Palm Desert, Cathedral City, and Escondido. My husband and I send our best wishes to you, your family and friends for the holidays.

Back at you in 2009!

Ellen

UPDATE: We've run into record rains for December in the California desert -- 2.25 inches of rain in two days, the largest amount recorded here since 1940. Meanwhile, at our home in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon area, our neighbors tell us there are ten inches of snow. This is only one of two Christmases that will be "white" since they began keeping records!

Movie Review: “I Can’t Think Straight” – a sexy romance with a dash of political bite

2008-12-05T15:20:00.000-08:00

Two gorgeous women from different religious and ethnic backgrounds find each other in this sensitive and beautiful film. I think the cinematography, set design, and music are excellent, and the evolving relationship quite believable. Be aware there are discreet woman-to-woman love scenes which are all handled deftly and with great tact.

The double-meaning of this foreign film’s title came to me a little late. I’m acquainted with several same-sex women (and men) who are married to each other or living in long-term relationships. However, the focus of this movie is somewhat unusual for general audiences.

There are also added political themes about Middle Eastern ethnic and religious divisions. These positions are expressed usually through the musings of an older female character. As an active senior woman, who accepts her own two children who practice different religions from me, I do feel somewhat chagrined. This is stereotyping -- because older women do not necessarily fit into these circumscribed cubbyholes. Even the juxtapositioning of world problems within a very personal romantic film is a bit jarring, but ultimately, I accept it.

I’m giving this movie a “B” on Ellen’s Entertainment Report Card. The movie has received an MPAA rating of PG-13. The trailer and other information is here: http://www.icantthinkstraight-themovie.com/

The movie opens on Friday, December 12, 2008 at Portland’s Hollywood Theater (Oregon) and is scheduled to play through Tuesday, December 23, 2008. Check out the map for a street location, as well as the film schedule of this historic Oregon theater. There's more information at this website.

Distribution is limited nationwide. Kindly check your local independent theaters for other bookings of the film “I Can’t Think Straight.”

Movie Synopsis:

Tala, a London-based Jordanian of Palestinian origin, prepares for an elaborate wedding with her Jordanian fiancé, when she encounters a timid Leyla, a young British Indian woman who is dating her best friend Ali.

Tala comes from a spirited Christian family, but Leyla’s strong Muslim upbringing could not be more different from each other but the attraction is immediate between both girls. Tala’s feisty nature provokes Leyla out of her shell and soon both women reveal their feelings for each other.

However, Tala is not ready to accept the implications of the choice her heart has made and escapes back to Jordan where her chain-smoking, high-brow mother finishes preparations for her ostentatious wedding. As family members descend and the wedding day approaches, simmering family tensions come to boiling point and the pressure mounts for Tala to be true to herself and she breaks off the wedding.

Meanwhile a heartbroken Leyla relishes her newly found sense of identity and self-respect and moves on with her new life – much to the shock of her parents.

Single again, Tala flies back to London – but it will take more than just a date set up by Ali and Leyla’s sister Zina to win Leyla back.

The international cast headed by Canadian actress Lisa Ray (Deepa Mehta’s Water – which garnered a Best Foreign Picture Academy Award® nomination in 2007). Her performance in Water also earned her the Best Actress Award from the Vancouver Film Critics Circle.

Other cast includes: Sheetal Sheth (Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World), comedic actress Nina Wadia (Bend it Like Beckham, Eastenders, Goodness Gracious Me) and Antonia Frering and Rez Kempton (The Mystic Masseur).

What would YOU save if our world was ending? "The Day the Earth Stood Still" Opens December 12

2008-12-03T14:54:00.000-08:00

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951), directed by Robert Wise, with Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal, is still one of my favorite movies of the science fiction genre.

Like other great movies, TDTESS (2008) has been revamped. If you want to see the 2008 trailer or be part of the social networking conceived by the movie studio -- asking what's vital to you and what would you save? -- click on the title to the the address link.

Do you remember this film?

"KLAATU BARADA NIKTO..."

Update: We decided to skip the 2008 preview... Maybe we will see it later.

by Radio_Lady
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The original movie is screening on AMC. It will be repeated on Friday, Dec. 12, 2008 around 3 PM Pacific Time. Comcast carries AMC on Channel 71, but check your local listings. If you miss these screenings, please try to get a copy of the original film from 1951. It is an amazing movie!

Michael Rennie was so handsome. His son, Judge David Rennie, an English judge in Sussex, looks a little bit like him. Another son used his mother's name in Britain so he would not be accused of nepotism.

Regrettably, Michael Rennie died of a heart attack due to emphysema when he was only 62. He was a heavy smoker.

I never like to get in the middle of these discussions, but the original films always seem to outlast the re-makes.

Cinematical.com: Weekend Box Office: A December Lull

2008-12-01T11:45:00.000-08:00

Photo montage by davidskakk

Weekend Box Office: A December Lull as Openers Bust
by Eugene Novikov Dec 8th 2008 // 10:35AM

Holdovers ruled the box office as no one much cared about any of the movies that opened in wide release this weekend. Lexi Alexander's Punisher turned out to be a huge mistake, opening to a fraction of what the original Jonathan Hensleigh/Thomas Jane version did four and a half years ago. $4 million is painful, though not terribly surprising -- the film was marketed as a totally generic action movie, with no stars and no draw except the Punisher trademark. (The most recognizable name in the cast is probably Wayne Knight.)

Even worse off was the Alan Rickman-starring caper comedy Nobel Son. Tossed into 900 screens by indie Freestyle Releasing, the movie grossed all of $371,000, or $415 per screen -- a foregone conclusion. I'm not sure why Freestyle shelled out the money for such a relatively wide release, or what they were hoping for. Maybe a pre-Christmas miracle.

The "winner" among the weekend's new wide releases would have to be Cadillac Records, which managed a respectable $3.5 million on under 700 screens. That was enough for 9th place, just behind Punisher (on 2500 screens).

Leading the holdovers was Four Christmases, which took first place for a second straight weekend; it will have a tough time breaking $100 million, but should squeak to around $95. Twilight bummed around second place, and should be at $150 million by next week. Bolt finally took a hit after its excellent second weekend over Thanksgiving, and should top out around $95 million as well.

More at link: http://www.cinematical.com/

Movie Review: "Australia" (Opens Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008)

2008-11-26T16:59:00.000-08:00

Australia

Are you hankering to see a good old fashioned western? Do you like a well-written story that has a strong historical basis? Have you always wanted to visit Australia? Do you have about three hours to spare?

If your answers are ‘yes’, ‘yes’, ‘yes’ and ‘yes’, I have a movie suggestion for you…and it’s called “Australia”. You say you’re not sure about the long screening time? Well, it’s a lot less time than flying there. Of course there is a catch…isn’t there always? Australia by plane is set in 2008. “Australia” the movie is set in the late 1930s, but that’s where the historical slant comes in.

Here are some details about this movie. At the outset, I’ll admit that I liked it. It stars Nicole Kidman as Lady Sarah Ashley, Hugh Jackman as Drover and young Brandon Walters as Nullah. Kidman (Sarah) leaves civilized England to travel into the wilds of Australia. She finds herself with an inherited ranch and 1600 head of cattle that need to be delivered to the city of Darwin. Jackman (Drover) reluctantly agrees to take on the job of bossing the drive to Darwin under difficult circumstances. Of course, there are villains -- King Carney, played by Bryan Brown and Neil Fletcher, played by David Wenham. They both have reasons to interfere with the drive. So there you have it. You'll see an old western plot, played out on the broad canvas of the Australian outback.

Brandon Walters is wonderful as Nullah. He brings us to the history of the Australian lost generation. A boy of an aboriginal mother and a Caucasian father, he must deal with the government’s continuous attempts to take him from his mother and his grandfather, to live with other "lost children" under the auspices of the Catholic Church. Sarah and Drover become important in his life but even they are powerless to openly contradict this process. Nullah can only avoid this fate by hiding as long as possible from the officers charged with the responsibility of apprehending these mixed-race children. The thread of Nullah’s story is deftly interwoven with the cattle drive and ranching plot.

Everything comes to a climax as the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941and proceed south to attack Darwin and anything along the way.

Now that I’ve seen “Australia” the movie, it seems as if our planned vacation to Australia next October will be something to experience. We will be in transit a total of 22 hours and our destination is Sydney. What’s a day spent in flying to such a remote location? It’ll be worth it.

“Australia” the movie is worth it also. I’m rating it a B+ on Ellen’s Entertainment Report Card.

Directed by: Baz Luhrmann
Screenplay by: Stuart Beattie and Baz Luhrmann
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, David Wenham, Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson
Rating: PG-13 for some violence, a scene of sensuality, and brief strong language.
Running Time: 165 minutes

Think GLOBALLY, buy LOCALLY... Portland area bloggers you might want to know about...

2008-11-23T19:25:00.000-08:00

This is my first annual Portland OREGON HOLIDAY Bloggers-in-Business web post. If you're local, please visit these blog sites and consider them for your holiday gifts! This is a service of Accessible Media Services featuring FREE hosting by Ellen Kimball. If you'd like your business to be considered, kindly contact me at radio_lady(AT)comcast.net. There is NO CHARGE for any listing.

Amanda's Wedding Shoppe -- Flowers Designed with YOU in Mind

Congratulations! You're getting married! At Amanda's Wedding Shoppe, we're very passionate about flowers. We love weddings and creating the perfect Flower Design for YOUR day!! Let us make your day beautiful! We're located in Oregon City, Oregon. Kindly visit our site at the link above.

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Annie's Photography

Specializing in children, families, maternity, and special events. Please visit Annie's blog by linking above. For details about a photographic session or to book a session, please email: kevinandannie(AT)hotmail.com.

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Our Local Representative for Arbonne International for the very best Cosmetics and Nutriceuticals

Arbonne's Cutting Edge Technology

Detox Seasource Spa care and NutriMinC® RE9, Anti-Aging Skin Care

Enjoy Seasource Detox Spa products. Bring home an indulgent spa experience and immerse yourself in a secret sanctuary where nature becomes nurture. Inspired by the ocean and drawn from highly prized European spa therapies, SeaSource Detox Spa formulas stimulate, strengthen and support total body cleansing in a way that's profoundly relaxing and restorative. Set aside the hectic day, empty your mind and help renew your body by relaxing in waves of refreshing purity. Dip into an ocean of your own and discover the calm, clarity and rejuvenation that is SeaSource Detox Spa.

For contact information, please email Radio_Lady(AT)comcast.net. Thanks!

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Kellee Beaudry Pet Portraits and Wildlife Artist

Kellee says, "It's easy and affordable to have a one of a kind original of your one of a kind companion! I work with you to create a really personal and expressive portrait. We work together, looking over photos, talking about your preferences and discussing options and things you want included in your painting. I can even include you or your children!"

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Hello Bloggers-in-Business,

I will be adding other local listings. Please post a comment or email radio_lady(AT)comcast.net if you'd like your Oregon/southern Washington business added to this list. Thanks so much. Ellen Kimball

Old Fat Naked Women for Peace -- CAUTION! Contains NUDITY!

2008-11-20T08:46:00.000-08:00

Hat tip to Stephen Fleischman for sending this link:

The Righteous Mothers threaten us with corporal disrobing in this video. It's nice to know they'll have to alter the lyrics about Dick Cheney soon, and a bunch of the people in this video are no longer in government:

Listen to other music samples of the Righteous Mothers here.

Happy Birthday, Larry King -- You changed my life! (I dated Larry when he was a young radio broadcaster in Miami...

2008-11-19T08:47:00.000-08:00

...but I didn't marry him. Of course, he never asked me, either!)

Larry's family with his wife, Shawn, and two young sons, Chance and Cannon

Larry and I both started on-air in Miami in 1957. I got a job in January at WTVJ, Miami, Florida on a brand-new children's TV show, "Popeye Playhouse" (see photo above). Larry began his long career in May 1957 working at WAHR, a local AM radio station.

We were introduced by one of the WTVJ salesmen, perhaps Frank Boscia. We had at least one date in the late 1950s. I had finished high school and started at the University of Miami. Flash forward to 1971 -- I was divorced, with two tiny children. One night, I heard Larry on his 1:30 AM to 5:30 AM talk show, begging for doughnuts and coffee. I bought the snacks and brought them to WIOD on the North Bay Causeway. I asked Larry if he even remembered me. He didn't, but he encouraged me to stay and screen his calls and ask what people wanted to talk about.

I kept dropping by a couple of nights each week. I was lonely and Larry made me laugh. I provided him with "woman in the mall" cassette tapes of an hour in length. It was audio of me talking to people about local issues. One I recall in particular -- "Walt Disney is building a theme park called Disney World in Orlando. Do you think that will impact tourism in Miami?"

Steve Z., the radio engineer, would play the tapes so we could go home at 4:30 AM instead of 5:30 AM. Larry promised me he'd ask the program manager for some salary -- but he never did.

A few days before Christmas 1971, Larry was arrested (but never indicted or convicted). At that time, I contacted Elliot "Biggie" Nevins and told him I had a communications degree from the U. of Miami, had had experience on television, and had also worked in production for the "Tonight" show unit in New York City. "Biggie" told me, "I've heard you on the station. Come over and we'll talk." I think I had $80.00 left in my bank account. Obviously, I didn't want to work the graveyard shift forever, but just for a while. I took over Larry's radio show while they looked for a male host. The pay was $50.00 per night.

Meanwhile, it was a time for affirmative action. One Boston station, WEEI, had a 10AM to 2PM time slot to fill. The station manager, Dan Griffin, invited me up to Boston for the day -- April 28, 1972. Boston was beautiful in the spring! A day or two later, Dan called and offered me my own talk show. The start date of "Boston Forum with Ellen Kimball" was -- May 15, 1972. The ads in the paper said: "HAVE WE GOT A GIRL FOR YOU!"

Here's the rest of the story:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x6482985

Enjoy your 75th Birthday (11/19/08), with warm regards from Ellen Kimball a/k/a Ellen Rainbow!

Everything is beautiful at the Portland (Oregon) Ballet’s “La Boutique Fantasque”

2008-11-14T19:52:00.000-08:00

A wonderful family tradition to begin the Holiday Season

It is with great joy that I’m adding this information for those of you within the Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA area. Feel free to post this to other forums or blogs!

La Boutique Fantasque

Thanksgiving Weekend 2010
Friday, November 25 at 7:30pm
Saturday, November 26 at 2:30pm and 7:30pm
Sunday, November 27, 2010 at 1:00pm and 4:00pm

All performances at the Newmark Theatre
1111 SW Broadway
Portland, Oregon

Tickets -- Now on Sale!

Contact Ticketmaster outlets at:
http://www.ticketmaster.com/
503-224-4400
Also available at the box office of the Newmark

For additional information, please visit:

http://www.theportlandballet.org/

A few years ago, I found out that the Portland Ballet, an Academy and Youth Company, was going to dance my favorite ballet, “La Boutique Fantasque” (translated as “The Enchanted Toyshop”). I have loved this work since I was a young girl and believe it is even better than Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” or “Swan Lake.” What’s more, I had never seen it performed any place I have ever lived, including Miami, Florida, and New York City and Boston, Massachusetts. Now that we live in Portland, Oregon, I’m proud to say that our paths have intersected with this energetic, youthful, and talented dancing group. Kudos to Artistic Director Nancy Davis and TPB owner Jim Lane.

On a winter day, my husband and I made arrangements to take our two young grandchildren to see the production at a local college. The music was recorded, and the stage was small, but I absolutely loved the young dancers and it was quite a thrill to actually see it being performed. We're going to see it by ourselves this time – and since I’m already a big fan, I know I’ll love it!

If you have a chance to see this charming ballet either here in Oregon or elsewhere, please take my advice and GO!

If you have never heard of “La Boutique Fantasque,” or live somewhere out of our area, I would encourage you to purchase a CD of this music and enjoy it that way. I wore out the cassette tape I had years ago, but now have purchased the ballet music on CDs by two different orchestras. I love to listen to the mp3 recordings while flying to magic destinations.

When I was younger than springtime in Miami, Florida, I discovered ballet music. My parents loved classical music. Mother played the piano, and Dad tried very hard on the violin. I am their only child.

Mostly, I listened to WVCG-AM (“The Voice of Coral Gables”) the only all-classical AM station at that time. Hosted by Bert Graulich, the show was called “Burnt Toast and Coffee.” I always thought that "Buttered Toast" would have been a better choice, but I wasn’t in charge! While other kids were loving Elvis and rock 'n' roll, I chose the lilting melodies of the older musicians. The music wafted through my car from the classical music station in Miami as I drove to North Miami High School, and then throughout my college years at the University of Miami.

The first ballet movie I ever saw was “The Red Shoes” with Moira Shearer. Like so many other young girls, I was completely captivated by the film.

I remember Maria Tallchief and other prima ballerinas. I had tried tap dancing as a child and it didn’t work out, but I’m still a lover of ballroom dancing. My dreams of having a child or grandchild who wanted to dance have not been realized, but I happily join the extended family of these talented young people bring ballet to life for others.

Join us as we visit Las Vegas and environs...

2008-11-11T13:05:00.000-08:00

Las Vegas & Vicinity Nov. 2008

Dear Lovers of Film and Theater Musicals... I'll recommend one for you!

2008-11-09T13:48:00.002-08:00

Our family has a long history of supporting musicals. My husband and I continue to attend many revivals of older works while thoroughly enjoying what the younger crowd is producing these days.

Regrettably, I was very sick the week that "High School Musical 3" premiered here in Portland, and missed posting my timely review at a couple of websites. However, moviegoers have voted with their dollars on this one and HSM3 is now honored with the biggest opening for a musical ever.

This is a great movie for all -- grownups and youngsters alike. I'm giving it a B+ on Ellen's Entertainment Report Card.

I just learned that there is now a SINGALONG VERSION which has now been released in 125 digital movie theaters around the country. The film employs digital captioning technology which I haven't personally seen, but maybe some rainy day, I'll bop over to my local theater and check it out again.

“This is the first time Walt Disney Pictures has ever released a singalong version of a movie in theaters nationwide,” said Mark Zoradi, president, Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. “'High School Musical 3' has already received a tremendous response from audiences everywhere and we felt that the movie’s huge base of enthusiastic fans would really embrace a singalong version.”

You can find the nearest singalong showing by logging onto:

DisneyHSM3

Please enter your zip code or city/state into the available ticketing application. A listing of area theaters and show times, including singalong showings, will be provided.

About the Movie

Disney’s “High School Musical” phenomenon leaps onto the big screen in HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3: SENIOR YEAR, in which America’s favorite high school students (ZAC EFRON, VANESSA HUDGENS, ASHLEY TISDALE, LUCAS GRABEEL, CORBIN BLEU and MONIQUE COLEMAN) hit senior year. Amidst a basketball championship, prom and a big spring musical featuring all of the Wildcats, Troy and Gabriella vow to make every moment last as their lifelong college dreams put the future of their relationship in question. A crew of sophomore Wildcats (MATT PROKOP, JUSTIN MARTIN, JEMMA MCKENZIE-BROWN) joins in the fun as the film’s incredible new music and exciting dance numbers take maximum advantage of the big screen. Directed by Kenny Ortega from a screenplay written by Peter Barsocchini, the film is now showing in theaters nationwide.

MeetInTheLobby.com has lots of shiny new photos here.

Hello and welcome -- short break for vacation coming up.

2008-10-27T10:51:00.000-07:00

Just a note to let you know that I'll be posting to this blog only occasionally for the rest of the year. We're timeshare owners and we're off to travel in Nevada and California. When we're gone, we shut down our home computers. (Besides that, we can't think of a good reason to get a laptop since we are both retired.)

Please check the left column for the blogs I follow and perhaps one will interest you. If you care to check this link again in a couple of months, you'll probably find me ambling around.

My husband and I wish you a pleasant fall and winter season. Check back here occasionally and post moderated comments when appropriate. Thanks.

Keep Your Powder Dry Through the Election

2008-10-23T15:02:00.000-07:00

See more of Louise August's work at: http://www.estrellafineart.com/louise_august2.htm

We've decided that whatever happens in this 2008 election, we will be rid of "The Emperor and his New Clothes."

That's the good thought.

Beyond that, we'll be in Las Vegas on Election Day. Hopefully, we will take part in a big victory party. We don't gamble or drink (beyond a beer or two, or a couple of glasses of wine) but will check the "spread" on Bush vs. Obama while we are there. Our son and grandchildren will keep us too busy to worry at all.

It's not a bad place to be.

EK

PS -- Ellen's Afterthought:

Fie on you, Alan Greenspan. You will live in infamy!
"The Credit Tsunami = Irrational Exuberance"

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Digital Geezer: A View from My Spouse

2008-10-15T14:14:00.000-07:00

In April 1957, I moved to Rochester, New York to work for Stromberg Carlson. I had driven my 1949 Chevrolet convertible with a hole in the floor behind the driver’s seat – all the way from Boston to Rochester, NY. The hole was big enough to see the street underneath! I had a small apartment in an area bordering the city, and in the evenings, I parked my car near my apartment. Months passed, and spring turned to a brief summer, then to winter.

One night, I parked the car, and snow began to fall in earnest. The next morning, it was still snowing even harder. I looked and looked for my car, but it was GONE. I called the police, and explained that somebody stole my eight-year-old car with a rust hole big enough to put two feet through. The cop chuckled, and said it was hardly likely that someone had stolen the car! It was probably parked on the wrong side of the street – perhaps ODD or EVEN numbers – nobody recalls now! He checked his records and -- sure enough -- he found the car was towed during the snow emergency.

I bundled myself up in a heavy coat, hat and gloves, and stood out on the corner of Alexander and East Avenue waiting for a bus to take me to the police station in downtown Rochester. I waited and waited with a bunch of other people. Finally, some Good Samaritan picked up some of us lucky folks, and I was driven to the police station, where I paid the fine and towing charges and received a receipt.

But the fun was just beginning! The car was NOT ACTUALLY THERE -- it was parked in a field outside of town. So, I had to get on another bus, and then a second one, to get to the tow lot. I finally made it, and I showed my receipt to the guard at the lot. But, the lot was not plowed! There was a narrow area between the cars where it was OK to drive and walk, but there was snow up to the car's hubcaps. Without a shovel, good luck! However, I remembered that the guard had something stashed behind his chair. I trudged back to the guard shack, and asked to borrow the shovel. After much cajoling the guard reluctantly parted with the shovel, and I was able to finally dig the car out and drive home.

As Northerners know, you HAVE to go, even in the snow. The blizzards in upstate New York – Albany – Syracuse - Buffalo - are spectacular. Asked about the summers in upstate New York, one friend of mine said, “When summer falls on a Sunday, we play golf.”

The Digital Couple: The Geezer and Ellen Kimball

Never Yell 'Fire' In A Movie Theater... but how about something political?

2008-10-09T21:58:00.000-07:00

It was Saturday afternoon just before 1 PM.

The Regal Cinema at Bridgeport Village, in Tualatin, Oregon, was not full for the 1:10 PM screening of Bill Maher's "Religulous." We missed the screening, so we paid matinee prices to see the flick.

We had just settled in our seats, hoping for a bit of a laugh from Maher and his cunning views on world religions. Oops.

Up came a trailer for the new movie "W" -- it's a film about George W. Bush that opens later this month. Josh Brolin plays GWB, with an uncanny look and voice. I don't know if I will see it, but my blood began to boil -- our investments had taken a whack on Friday -- and I was not in the mood to see ANYONE who reminded me of the Worst. President. Ever.

I watched the trailer quietly. But when the screen went dark, I blurted out at the top of my booming female radio voice:

"YOU WILL BE GONE NEXT MONTH, AND NOT A MOMENT TOO SOON, YOU CREEP!"

First, there was dead silence. Then, the crowd of about fifty people erupted with spontaneous "YEAHS" and generous applause...

I was quite pleased. I wish all of you had been there!

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"Are you better off than you were four weeks ago?" Obama asked with a chuckle.

2008-10-08T20:32:00.000-07:00

Painting imagineered by Portland artist Lukas Ketner and published in Willamette Week, (our local alternative newspaper)

Barack Obama made us smile when he posed this well-worn question today on the campaign trail.

If you are old enough, you'll recognize that it's a riff on the original question posed in 1980. In the last Presidential debate, Ronald Reagan asked, "Are you better off than you were four years ago?"

Here's our answer...

Dear Senator Obama,

The last four weeks have been horrible. We just backed out of the stock market yesterday. We put the fleeing remainder of our nest egg into Fidelity Investments CASH RESERVES to stop from going completely broke in this financial collapse.

We don't expect you to repay us -- we didn't really ever own the money, anyway. You only get the money when you cash out. Thankfully, we won't have to pay taxes on it. Because we are elderly, we probably won't have to pay much in the way of taxes this year. That's a good thing. We have to do more belt tightening, but it will be worth it.

To help us keep clear mentally, here's how we figure it:

We donated this phantom money to YOUR ELECTION.

It seems as if it is taking this woeful financial crash, the worst since my father's generation, to lock in your candidacy.

We know it's a paltry sum to you -- that $125,000 we have hypothetically lost somewhere. We lost it to someone, but we don't know exactly who. However, you probably won't miss it when it doesn't show up in your coffers.

We're still talking up your candidacy as we have since you won the primaries. It's becoming more clear that many others are taking up your cause. As we said, as good citizens trying to stay up with our expenses, we had nothing to do with the increase. We thought we were just being prudent to try and keep up with inflation through our elder years.

We had nothing to do with the loss. But we will have something -- EVERYTHING -- to do with your election. We await our mail-in ballots in just a few days. Good luck in the upcoming election!

Respectfully,

Ellen and Al in Oregon

Two of the Yuppie Elderly and, theoretically, a couple of the top donators to Barack Obama's campaign.

**Go here for a true analysis of the differences whether YOU are better off than you were in 2000: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/print/36628

The Beauty of Madama Butterfly by Puccini

2008-10-08T17:01:00.000-07:00

Listen to this animated version -- superb!

Movie Review: "Flash of Genius" (Opens October 3, 2008)

2008-10-06T06:03:00.000-07:00

There’s an old expression that states, “It’s not the money, it’s the principle of the thing.” Robert Kearns fought for that ideal for more than three decades of his life.

“Flash of Genius” – presumably an expression inventors use to explain the moment of genesis of an idea – is the true story of Detroit engineer and inventor Bob Kearns. On his wedding night, he had an unfortunate accident. He was removing the cork from a bottle of celebratory champagne. The cork flew up and hit him in his left eye. The resultant scene was bloody but somehow prophetic – Bob Kearns came out of that incident legally blind in one eye.

His marriage survived and the man went on to father six children. Meanwhile, Kearns was keenly sensitive to the workings of the human eye. Kearns observed the pattern of the blink and he had a fascinating revelation. Kearns postulated that our brains introduce a discontinuous pattern whenever the eyes blink – quickening and slowing as necessary.

While driving in the Michigan rain, he observed that the windshield wipers on vehicles of that era only had two positions: ON and OFF. Quite often, the wipers ran too swiftly for light rainfalls, and too slowly for downpours.

Their marriage was affected deeply by his tinkering and the aftermath of the invention process. It was a single-minded effort that eventually took over Kearns’ entire life. At one point, it brought him to the edge of madness. Kearns swept aside his involvement with his loving wife, Phyllis, and his six young children as he became more and more obsessed with designing and marketing a windshield wiper that paused during its sweeping motion, as the eye pauses during blinking. By rearranging the already-existing mechanical and electrical circuitry, Kearns invented and patented the “Blinking Eye” windshield wiper. His goal was to manufacture these wipers and sell them to the automotive companies.

At the time, the behemoth Ford Motor Company engineers had already begun their own investigations into concocting an intermittent wiper system. Kearns was invited to show off his invention and given a Ford car on which to install it. Initially, the game plan appeared to be that a Kearns family business would indeed be born and Kearns would realize his dream.

That, however, was not to be. This movie documents what followed when the Ford Motor Company suddenly quashed its deal with Kearns, and surreptitiously began installing its own version of the intermittent wiper. What follows is the courageous but truly demented tale of how Kearns’ was left with a single life purpose -- to get the Ford Motor Company to acknowledge they stole his idea – his greatest work. It may only have been a windshield wiper system to others, but to him, it was a work of art on par with the “Mona Lisa.”

First-time director and former producer Marc Abraham read the original story by John Seabrook in the New Yorker magazine and decided to make it into a movie. A script by Phillip Railsback followed. Eventually, actor Greg Kinnear received a copy with the unlikely working title of “Window Washer Man.” Kinnear quipped on TV last week that the property sat on his desk for months while he avoided reading it, thinking it would involve some kind of a caped superhero with a squeegee!

I thought the movie was profound but some moviegoers might also find it quite grim. Anyone who has had dealings with large corporations knows the scope of their unyielding grasp – you just have to look at modern companies and trace their history. Some have met their demise because of poor decisions. However, I don’t believe it is “bad karma” that finds the large automakers in difficult straits these days.

My impression is that Greg Kinnear has never had a better part and I honestly hope he will be noticed for it. He has already won the Best Actor Award at Boston's Film Festival. Actress Lauren Graham plays Kearns’ long-suffering wife Phyllis, and Dermot Mulroney (with a mane of dark hair over his forehead) is fine as a duplicitous and self-serving partner named Gil Privick. Alan Alda has a small but significant role as Kearns’ lawyer Gregory Lawson. The various young actors who play Kearns’ children at different ages were quite natural and believable.

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada stands in for Detroit, Michigan in this film. Visiting family members from the Detroit area told me there is a lot of recent film activity in Michigan. Unfortunately, this movie was apparently not part of a trend that is said to be bringing films back to US locations. As a reviewer, I support that completely.

I give this movie a “B+” on Ellen’s Entertainment Report Card.

Universal Pictures Official Website: http://www.flashofgenius.net/
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.
Runtime: USA:119 min
Country: USA
Language: English

A quick aside: Somehow, I have a special soft spot for inventors. My father was a lawyer, but he was always tinkering with something or other. I don’t remember all of the things he invented, but he was quite a guy – variously a playwright, painter, sculptor and very amateur violinist! Dad actually holds a patent on a coin-operated microscope machine**, which provided a tiny income for him in his advanced years. The gadget was placed at a couple of locations in Miami, Florida, where they lived and where I grew up. Regrettably, my mother and father never shared details of their finances with me although I was their only child. Furthermore, finances were not something in which Dad showed much interest or ability. He ended up spending most of their cash in the waning days of his life. I don’t know the details but my mother was practically destitute and still trying to work as a legal secretary when she died at age 71 in March 1991.

**Google found the patent for me:

Patent number: 4405202
(Granted to Leonard L. Kimball)
Filing date: Mar 30, 1981
Issue date: Sep 20, 1983

Abstract: A protective microscope container for housing a microscope having a pair of focus control extension knobs extending therefrom and a pair of two dimensional slide holder control arms extending from the rear of the container. Two dimensional control members are used to drive a continuous slide...

Everyone had fun at the Portland Pirate Festival!

2008-09-23T19:52:00.000-07:00

All I can say is... "AARRRRRGGGGHHH"!

Portland OR Pirate Festival at St. Johns Bridge Sept. ’08

The movie GHOST TOWN rocks!! Also, it's vacation time -- right here at home!

2008-09-18T22:05:00.000-07:00

Woo-hoo! Yes, folks, I'm taking a little break from my cooperative life with my husband. He's going to a local Residence Inn by Marriott hotel and I'm staying home for two whole days. (It's a reward, believe me!) He's taking our seven-year-old grandson with him and they're going to the Portland Pirate Festival! What fun!

In the meantime, my husband and I saw a preview of the new movie "Ghost Town" a couple nights ago -- and we loved it! It opens wide on Friday, September 19, 2008. I've put the text of Portland film reviewer Kimberly Gadette's review because I respect her and enjoy her writing style. (I don't know what she will say, and that's the fun of it!) Seems we both agree on this one! I'm giving it a B+ on Ellen's Entertainment Report Card.

Here is Kimberly's review at http://www.livepdx.com/Portland-Movies/

Some films open with a bang. This one starts off with a colonoscopy. An end to the means — in more ways than one.

An idea expounded by Ghost Town's filmmakers is that when you sneeze, you've just passed through a ghost. Another idea: Import a middle-aged, first-class funny man from England to play loner dentist Dr. Pincus (Golden Globe winner Ricky Gervais of the original The Office and HBO's comedy series Extras). With Greg Kinnear channeling a persona similar to the natty Cary Grant in Topper, acting as an other-worldly Cyrano of sorts, he persuades the dentist to romance his widow, the lovely Egyptologist Gwen (Téa Leoni). Even harder than turning an awkward, hair-challenged pudgy man into a charmer is the fact that Pincus openly admits to hating people: "Not so much the crowds, as the individuals in the crowds."

1993's Heart and Souls had a similar premise, but rather than Robert Downey Jr.'s handsome yet cold businessman acting as the ghosts' go-to go-between, it's Ricky Gervais' goofy-looking yet even colder dentist who's forced to do the honors. But while Downey ultimately gave us heart, soul and charm, Gervais has us howling in the aisles.

If not for Dr. Pincus' botched colonoscopy, he wouldn't have died for seven minutes during the procedure. If not for that temporary death, he wouldn't have changed from dour man hating the intrusion of corporeal strangers to dour man hating the intrusion of all strangers, corporeal or not.

Post-op, he's chased all over town like a rock star, haunted by unhappy haunts begging him to do just one little thing for each of them. But Pincus won't be moved. Not until dead, smooth-talking Frank (Kinnear) comes along with a deal that the dentist can't refuse — if Pincus will intervene in the impending second marriage of Frank's widow Gwen, then Frank will get the other ghosties to permanently vanish.

Perhaps due to the fact that writer/director Koepp has worked primarily in drama, he allows each of the three leads to let their masks slip, giving us glimpses of their individual pain underneath the funny.

And speaking of funny, hats off to Gervais in his first leading role, a sly imp of a man who sidles up to his lines, a deft sidestep here, a quiet utterance there. He rises to the challenge of portraying a misanthrope who secretly longs for love. We see his struggle, cheering for him to unlock his imprisoned heart. Without a comic actor of Gervais' depth, Ghost Town would not have worked.

Kinnear turns in another smooth performance as the cad who finally connects with his soul long after it matters, and Leoni, a modern-day Carole Lombard, sparkles. When Pincus surprises her with his oddball brand of humor, she fills the screen with a merry, irresistible luminescence. What today's cinema needs is even more Leoni — she is a treasure, one of a select cluster of star actresses who handle screwball comedy as if she was to the manner born.

In support of the three leads, we're treated to delightful turns by the likes of Kristen Wiig as a barely competent doctor, The Daily Show's Aasif Mandvi as Pincus' colleague who gently schools him in a different kind of dental care, Dana Ivey's pushy poltergeist of a mother, and Billy Campbell (Once and Again), having great fun with his humorless human rights activist.

Also having great fun is cinematographer Fred Murphy, taking a vibrant autumn in New York and exploding it with fantastical hues. The fall foliage is bathed in color so sharp it almost hurts, a reminder of the mercurial beauty of life that cries out to every last one of us, begging us to take it all in while we can. Before it's too late.

Given Gervais' poor gag reflexes, member-of-the-mummy jokes and a 200-pound Great Dane puppy, this isn't your usual rom-com. Like Dr. Pincus, it stands alone.

From ghost to ghost: With wonderfully comic actors, a delightful plot and effervescent direction, this film is a boo-tifully spirited comedy.

Official movie site is at: www.ghosttownmovie.com

Here's the plot outline without spoilers:

In the romantic comedy "Ghost Town," Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais), is a man whose people skills leave much to be desired. When Pincus dies unexpectedly, but is miraculously revived after seven minutes, he wakes up to discover that he now has the annoying ability to see ghosts. Even worse, they all want something from him, particularly Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear) who pesters him into breaking up the impending marriage of his widow Gwen (Téa Leoni). That puts Pincus squarely in the middle of a triangle with spirited result.

Here's a great photo of Kimberly. She's scrumptious, svelte -- and married, you fiend.

More later...

Kimberly Gadette

Movie Review: "Burn After Reading" (Opens 9/12/08)

2008-09-13T17:54:00.000-07:00

Burn After Reading

“Burn After Reading” is the new comedy written and directed by the formidable brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. This is a very funny film rendered all the more amusing by zany comedic performances from several unexpected sources -- Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Francis McDormand in particular.

The plot has footprints in several genres and there are some darker aspects to it – such as divorce, adultery, blackmail, murder, and such, but never mind. It’s all wrapped up with shiny and spot-on fun stuff. From what I have seen of other Coen brothers films, they actually like it mixed up that way. Most of the time, their double-entendre, genre-bending scripts work quite successfully. However, if you follow my reviews, the Coens’ last effort -- “No Country for Old Men” -- was too dark for me although it amassed a huge following. I bow to those of you who predicted it would be a hit. After the on-screen bloodletting and questionable ending, that movie soaked up a clutch of Oscars, much to my chagrin.

So, I went to the screening of “Burn After Reading” with some trepidation, but this one really tickled my funny bone. I predict you will be ‘guffawing while watching’ and still ‘chuckling after viewing.’ In the case of every comedy, the actors are at their best when they have straight foils as their adversaries. Credit John Malkovich (absolutely fabulous at chewing the scenery), Tilda Swinton (bright red hair and just gorgeous in this outing), and rest of an excellent supporting cast – all of whom provide this element in abundance.

The goofy plot – featuring many exteriors in New York, New Jersey, and Washington, DC – is actually a collection of intricate and interacting subplots. They revolve around a mixed-up Central Intelligence Agency, messed-up marriages, a couple of dumbed-down employees of an exercise facility, self-centered men, and a woman eager to go under the cosmetic surgery knife. These very odd individuals help spice up the cinematic brew. The script is fast moving and left me wanting a second showing so I could fully appreciate everything that is going on.

“Burn After Reading” starts out somewhat seriously but with an undercurrent of humor as CIA Agent Osborne Cox, played by John Malkovich, is confronted with a demotion for a rather spurious reason -- he drinks. (Gee, why doesn't he go into rehab like all the other government flacks do?) Osborne goes off the deep-end in anger…and effectively quits his job. Throughout the rest of the flick, he supplies a necessary comedic ingredient with his extreme, manic posturing as he is confronted with comic innocents that confuse and irritate him. One of these is Chad Feldheimer, (Brad Pitt), a sports-gym coworker of Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand). Pitt’s portrayal is an over-the-top gem, equaled by McDormand’s. She is obsessed with obtaining what she feels are expensive cosmetic surgeries -- which she cannot afford.

George Clooney triumphs also in the creation of the womanizing Harry Pharrer. The plot is too nutty for me even to begin to describe, but it will make you forget all those stupid "Oceans 11 - 13" movies, and maybe even "Syriana." Suffice it to say that “Burn After Reading” manages to hold together amid all of the crazy mayhem that takes place. I’m pleased to report that the result is classic.

Go see “Burn After Reading” and, if you don’t find it to be one of the best laugh riots ever, don’t blame me, you grouch!

For all normal people, I rate “Burn After Reading” a solid “B+” on Ellen’s Entertainment Report Card.

Rated: R for pervasive language, some sexual content and violence

Link here for KGW.com:

http://www.kgw.com/entertainment/stories/kgw_091508_entertainment_review_burn_after_reading.7c11b300.html

Ground Zero Retrospective -- From our photos

2008-09-11T18:37:00.000-07:00

A Ground Zero Retrospective View for September 11, 2008

The Attacks on New York -- NEVER FORGET!

It was a day of madness and terror -- September 11, 2001.

My husband and I have always loved New York City. I lived there with my ex-husband from 1962 to 1969. He lived near W. 181 Street and Wadsworth Avenue, in Washington Heights. He won a scholarship to Stuyvesant High School - which required a long daily commute down to the area where the World Trade Towers were eventually built.

My current husband's mother was born in Brooklyn. Although the family was based in Boston, both his mother and father had family in New York City. Many of his memories are of visiting with his aunt, uncle and first cousin in New York.

Over the years, we drove from Boston to NYC and stayed there for many vacations. Our pleasant visits included theater performances, great restaurants, and other enjoyable activities.

When 9/11/01 took place, we had moved from Boston to Portland, Oregon. I remember stirring in the bed when our radio alarm went off very early -- and I thought I was dreaming -- something about buildings burnings. I fell back to sleep.

But I learned an hour later that it was no dream -- I turned on the television set and saw Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, Peter Jennings, and later, CNN's Aaron Brown, telling the horrific story hour after hour.

What we saw made our blood run cold. I remember cleaning the house all day in a daze (I do that when I am stressed out). I watched TV. I made a bunch of telephone calls. My stepson in Boston, whose birthday is 9/11/58, is said to have been reduced to tears of raw emotion, and threatened to drive to New York just to help out.

In November 2001, we had preexisting plans to go to NYC. We were welcomed in the city with open arms. Of course, my husband insisted on going to the site to see what we could see.

My husband posted a slideshow for all to see: http://travel.webshots.com/slideshow/553610782HyiLnR

This series of photographs above blends a previous visit from 1999 with some views of the Towers as we experienced them in previous visits. There are also our photos from 2001, and the second link was of another visit we made in 2006.

If you have time, you are invited to view the two slideshows (above and also here):
http://travel.webshots.com/slideshow/551422106bbMuga

The controls are at the bottom -- your cursor activates the sequence and allows you to stop, pause, and choose a speed for viewing.

In peace,

Ellen

"Hey, mister, wanna buy a wash?" Portland author rants on Teen Charity Carwashes

2008-09-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

(Ellen's edits: It's strange, but I cannot recall ever discussing this subject in all of my broadcasting career. Your comments would be appreciated. Thanks so much.)

Teen Charity Carwashes

by Kimberly Gadette

"Hey, mister, wanna buy a wash?"

For the past month at the intersection of Baseline and Cornelius in Hillsboro (OR), weekend days have been filled with the sights and sounds of scantily clad teenage girls calling out to motorists, holding hand-lettered signs reading "Car Wash Today!"

The young ladies are members of Century High School's dance team. Their assignment: to sing out, dance, jiggle, wave, dressed in a work uniform of sorts -- if you want to call string-tied halter tops and shorts cut-down-to-there-while-up-to-here the appropriate dress code of the day. The desired result: to raise funds for their club by enticing drivers, primarily male, to pull into a grocery store parking lot for a charity carwash. As the vehicles clean up, so does the dance team. Just like windshield wipers working both ways: Everyone wins.

This isn't just happening in Hillsboro -- fundraising carwashes are sanctioned by churches, schools and youth clubs from Portland, Ore., to Portland, Maine. If the carwash fundraiser is now as American as apple pie, and if Hillsboro represents a piece of that pie, perhaps we should rethink the dessert -- underage cheesecake, anyone?

These teen queens' acts of solicitation are more than merely tolerated. They're often fully sanctioned by the girls' teachers, ministers and parents. If this is the charity that begins at home, perhaps it's time to call in child services.

'Though I knew they wouldn't be able to hear me over their sing-song shouts, I wanted to say, "Careful, girls, watch all that jumping around -- the goal is to be 'arresting,' not 'arrested.' " Instead, I spoke to the mom in charge. It seems that though the Century dance team had placed third and fourth in previous state competitions, this year the girls are bent on capturing first place. To win, the mom explained, the team needs additional funds for better costumes, an outside choreographer and a rental bus.

Was the mom concerned about the girls dressed in sexy outfits, literally working this particular street for the almighty dollar? "It's a learning experience" -- she paused, struggling for the right word -- "in advertising. After all, they're always going to have to market themselves." She smiled broadly. "Besides, the girls are so pretty, people want to help the kids."

Pretty girls, yes, but it was the parents who washed the cars -- the teens were simply used as bait. "You should see how the guys' faces fall when they pull up and see it's us instead of the girls," the mom laughed.

I didn't know which was worse -- the girls expected to service strange men's cars, acting out sudsy fantasies that are the realm of porn/naughty YouTube videos, or the same girls emboldened with the knowledge that because they possessed the requisite desirable anatomy, they only had to parade themselves while others did the dirty work. Ignorant of the fact that it's the very act of parading, strutting, luring that is, in itself, the dirty work.

I wondered at the far-reaching effects of this particular school lesson. And what about the girls who were physically rejected, who didn't make the cut? Were they grateful, ashamed or a mix of both?

Not that there aren't objections raised about these do-it-yourself carwashes. But the concerns are primarily environmental, objecting to the problems of untreated water runoff discharging into the storm water system, eventually integrating into nearby rivers and lakes. If only there were a similar outcry as to a whole other pollution: that of the highly impressionable, adolescent brain.

With Madison Avenue/Hollywood continually bombarding the confused adolescent, often the only voices that cut through the media morass belong to her personal authority figures: her teacher, her minister, her parents. But when they, too, send a mixed message as clouded as the runoff from the carwash, then it's time for them to rethink their priorities . . . and clean up their act.

Kimberly Gadette is a local and national freelance writer based in Hillsboro. Her weekly film reviews can be found on livepdx.com.

Original post:
http://www.oregonlive.com/commentary/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/121943671291680.xml&coll=7

True romance! New York author Tara Bray Smith finds her mother... and a new husband!

2008-09-03T18:02:00.000-07:00

Baby Tara with her mother, Karen in beautiful Hawaii

I had the pleasure of interviewing author Tara Bray Smith by telephone on Oregon Public Broadcasting a couple of years ago. Although her book came in with the usual weekly array of fiction and non-fiction books, something about the photo on the cover and the Hawaiian theme -- plus the fact that my ex-husband had left me with two small children in the 1970s -- made me curious about her story. "West of Then: A Mother, a Daughter and a Journey Past Paradise” (Simon & Schuster, 2004), is both a memoir and a history of Hawaii. The book just touched my heart.

Tara's life quest has been very difficult. After Tara was born, her mother Karen became ill and unstable, and then followed a downward path into homelessness and drug addiction, all with the background of the beauty of tropical Honolulu and the other gorgeous Hawaiian islands. For Tara and her younger sister, life was a nightmare. They lived in deplorable and dangerous situations as her mother struggled with mental and physical difficulties. Eventually, Tara's father and stepmom took over, and she was able to obtain reliable and stable parenting in their home.

Later, Tara moved to New York City to attend college, and she graduated from Colunbia University. At the end of the book, Tara was still trying to find her mother, and spent much time flying between Honolulu and New York, but had been unsuccessful in her quest. Her mother might be dead, but Tara had to find her. Sensitively written by this very vulnerable young woman, "West of Then" stayed with me. I recommended it several times to other people. I had to know -- the rest of the story.

A perusal of her web site showed that she had written another book. But it also appeared she was living in Germany. I didn't know why -- and didn't pursue it. Yesterday, her New York telephone number popped up on one of my lists of guests. I dialed it apprehensively...Tara answered and we chatted as if no time had elapsed between our first conversation and this one.

Tara told me she found her mother still alive. Her mother was trying very hard to make a life for herself. She was finally diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was receiving treatment. She has also been able to find her own small home in Hawaii. Currently, she things are better for her.

Meanwhile, this beautiful young author has met and married a loving and accomplished older man -- whom she richly deserves. This is the link to their wedding story in the New York Times. I love romance and this article filled in the details. Her husband is an accomplished photographer. I'm pleased to see they were married in the Unitarian-Universalist faith -- I go to the fellowship here in Oregon and find it welcoming of all peoples, as I did when we lived in Massachusetts.

Here is the wedding announcement.
"Now, we know...the rest of the story..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/08/fashion/weddings/08smith.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Book information at: http://www.tarabraysmith.com/ or you can find it at amazon.com

To Tara and Thomas -- all the very best to you both for a long and happy marriage.

Blessed be,

Ellen Kimball and husband Al in Oregon

My first TV job: Popeye Playhouse, January 1957 -- Skipper Chuck, First Mate Ellen, and Glumbo Despair

2008-08-14T11:00:00.001-07:00

These pictures were taken during the winter of 1957, in Studio "B" and in front of Wometco's downtown Miami location at 316 North Miami Avenue, Miami, Florida.

"Skipper" Chuck Zink, our clown "Glumbo Despair" (Richard McMurry), and I were perched on a ladder, with our audience clustered around us on the sidewalk below.

After Chuck passed away at age 80 in January 2006, many people came forward with their photographs taken with him from 1957 to 1979, when WTVJ abandoned the local childrens' show format.

August 14, 2008

KGW.com Movie Review: "Man on Wire"

2008-08-13T11:53:00.000-07:00

'Man on Wire' story recounts daring 1974 WTC stunt

By ELLEN KIMBALL, Special to kgw.com
3:56 PM PDT on Monday, August 11, 2008

“Man on Wire” is a fascinating and in some ways disturbing documentary. It chronicles how a talented high-wire walker, Frenchman Philippe Petit, assembled a team of accomplices and how they helped him to carry out an astonishing feat.

On August 7, 1974, Phillipe stepped out on a wire (really a thick cable) suspended 1350 feet above the ground between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.
He performed with no safety net for almost an hour. He crossed between the towers eight times before he was arrested for what later became known as “the artistic crime of the century.”
Prior to that event, Petit had successfully managed other astonishing wire walks, but this one was the true bravura performance.

What Petit and his crew accomplished was not legal. They had to gain access to restricted areas of the World Trade Center where they were not supposed to be.

They also had to carefully plan the technical aspects of how it would all work. Critical to their success and Philippe’s safety was determining how to rig the wire. The movie shows in extreme detail how they prepared and it also explores the successes and failures they experienced.

The film includes extensive current day interviews of the team’s participants regarding their roles in this daring adventure. There is also original film footage shot in 1974 and even earlier.

There is some dramatized material interwoven with a seamless result. This reviewer acknowledges director James Marsh and editor Jinx Godfrey for their remarkable achievements.

I believe that the attack of September 11, 2001 is still so painful to most of us that we are not eager to watch a film about the World Trade Center. As a former New Yorker, I know that am still filled with grief over the losses experienced there.

However this is a story of a daring feat and, in this venue, I can tolerate it, albeit with a sense of great sadness. As I watched “Man on Wire” I felt the lingering undercurrent that these two magnificent twin towers are no longer there. That is what disturbs me. The events of 9/11 reside in a place of infamy still as haunting the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor.

The bottom line is that “Man on Wire” celebrates an outstanding achievement and does it well. Credit this film for immense success in accomplishing this in the face of our continuing grief over 9/11. Incidentally, the film never mentions the 2001 event.

The film won two awards at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival in February 2008. It is in limited release. Please check your local listings for theaters and showtimes.

I’m giving this a solid ‘A’ on Ellen’s Entertainment Report Card.

Magnolia Pictures
Directed by: James Marsh
Written By: James Marsh
Based on the book “To Reach The Clouds” by Philippe Petit
Cast: Philippe Petit
Rated: PG-13
Grade: A
Opens: August 8, 2008 (limited run)
--
Ellen Kimball is a TV and radio pioneer. She was first selected as a co-host of a local, live television show at WTVJ-TV in Miami, Florida, during her freshman year in college. She has been working in broadcasting and outside sales for more than four decades. Ellen is also one of the first women in the U.S. to host her own daily radio call-in talk shows at AM stations in both Miami and Boston, and she was affiliated with Oregon Public Broadcasting for more than seven years. She and her husband moved to Oregon in 1998. Ellen contributes her reviews on films and theater to KGW.com, the website for Ch. 8, the NBC affiliate.

August 13, 2008

Enjoy Blogging? Tell me why. I did talk radio and TV for years, but new to Blogger.com.

2008-08-12T22:59:00.000-07:00

Ellen Kimball with an image orthicon camera about as old as I am!

Hello People of the Blogosphere!

I'm a retired broadcaster in the Portland suburbs, still reviewing movies and entertainment at www.KGW.com. This photo was taken at Oregon Public Broadcasting where I used to volunteer.

Formerly, under the screen name Radio_Lady, I had a web journal at a Democratic political group (November 2004 - July 2008).

If you want to find about 6,000 posts, go to the Democratic Underground.com and search for Radio_Lady. (Don't forget the underscore, because there are many worldwide radio ladies!) You'll find out a lot about me -- too much information, maybe.

Today I decided to get on board with Blogger.com. I have much to learn technologically, but I'm sure my software-analyst-and-generally-great husband, that Digital Geezer, will help me if I ask! :-)

I hope this will serve me for many more delightful interactions with some kind of audience. Please comment, and even if you disagree pleasantly, have no fear. Comment moderation has been enabled -- thank you for your understanding

August 12, 2008