20 FEET FROM STARDOM

I was mesmerized by the singing and the stories about singing. This movie is all about the backup singers behind bands and it focuses mainly on women (African American with a common thread of a preacher father) who began their career in the 50's and sang background for all the popular songs of the 60's and 70's and onward.

The women all have marvelous, brilliant, transporting, heart shattering voices but Lisa Fischer (who has been singing with the Rolling Stones since 1989 and who is the lady who does the flaming hot duet with Mick on "give me shelter") has a voice that literally brought tears to my eyes and a lump in my throat. And she describes how it feels to sing as a feather being let loose on a puff of air as it floats and sways, changing direction and shape lightly and with a fragile touch.

Some of the singers wanted to have a solo career; some partially succeeded; others just gave up and some like Lisa are quite content to be a backup singer. There are fascinating interviews in this film with Bruce Springsteen and Mick Jagger and Sting and Stevie
Wonder. and there is music, music, music.

I gave this movie a 9.5 only because the documentary didn't finish with  'what's happening with the ladies now'. I really like that at the end of documentaries because i've gotten so involved with the portrayed lives and don't want to end the connection.

BLUE JASMINE

This movie is a tour de force both as a story and as a showcase for Cate Blanchett's excellent acting. It was written and directed by Woody Allen but its not his typical neurotic angst driven picture and endless spins of dialogue don't dominate the film.

Its the story of the psychic deterioration of Jasmine, a woman who used to be married to a man who was involved in many "highly lucrative" money making and investment schemes. She had unlimited wealth and lived in the circles of similar wealth. Jasmine is arrogant and feels privileged and is critical and intolerant and awfully self-centered. She is also very very superficial and her entire being and reason for living is the externals; jewelry, homes, yachts, parties, etc.

Well, it all comes to an end when her husband, acted very smoothly by Alec Baldwin, is found out by the Feds and is taken to jail. Jasmine loses all the money and homes and has to live with her sister, Ginger, in a small apartment in San Francisco. This sister and her then husband, acted surprisingly effectively by Andrew Dice Clay, lost all their savings and lottery winnings due to an investment they made with Jasmine's husband.

Cate Blanchett is mesmerizing, totally enchanting and heartbreakingly pathetic and maddening as she attempts to make a life for herself in the "real world".

Amazing wonderful film. Bill and I both rated it a 9. I had to take a point off from a perfect 10 because the music in certain places was too loud and it was intrusive. Plus it was songs sung in French; like something you'd hear at 3:30 am in a cabaret in Paris.

GUILIN - TUCSON, AZ

This restaurant is a perfect example of why I don't like Chinese food; bland (to the point of tasteless), unexciting, monochrome in color, sloppy presentation, and not much meat in the noodle and rice dishes.

We have been here once before during Tucson #1 and I swear they saved the  gristly dried out bbq'd pork for our return. Bill had a miniscule amount in his noodle dish and i had a similar sized portion in my fried rice. I also ordered egg rolls. I love egg rolls and always have and in my book, any egg roll is a GOOD egg roll. Not so at Guilin. I had to douse it heavily with ruby red glistening sweet and sweet sauce (the sour was missing; it was like scarlet liquid sugar) just to get some of it down.

and i spent the remainder of the meal trying to pry out from between my teeth the insides of that roll. Bill was equally unhappy; so much so that he suggested and i rapidly agreed to a trip to the nearby yoghurt place where we drowned our 'white man's problem' in tubs of blueberry tart and nutella and chocolate.

ELYSIUM

I gave this movie an 8 or even an 8.5 during the first third or so of its length but after that it became predictable and non-exciting and was too heavy-handed with its message and the rating went down to a 7. (Bill gave the entire movie an 8.)

The director of Elysium also did District 9 which was a 10+. And just like in that one, this movie has a 'surface' story and then an underlying commentary on a social ill. In Elysium  the story  is about the people living on a burnt out and polluted planet trying to get to the beautiful clean and sparkly and colorful OTHER planet. The real story is the have not's, the struggling folk, the almost poor, the people with no health care and the 1%.

Matt Damon is a have not and he's trying to get to Elysium which is the home of the beautiful people. Elysium's director is Jodie Foster whose acting skills are wasted in this film. Her role was miniscule and she had terrible dialogue. Her accent was unknowable; a strange mixture of french, british, stilted and abrupt and Johnny Depp-ish.

The acting was good and the special effects were alright but after the tense and original and exciting beginning and middle, it descended into the usual fights between good and evil and bad and good. The only difference in movies when there are  prolonged battles is the type of weapon used. And the ending was pathetic and tried too hard and failed miserably at its message of "never forget where you've come from."

CAFE FRANCAIS PATISSERIE - TUCSON, AZ

I didn't like the lunch i had here a while back with my foodie friend, Cosmo, but wanted to give it another try because the restaurant is so close to where i live and the flowered and fountain'd courtyard setting is very attractive. So i returned for breakfast.

something about the french establishments - an air of arrogance; a scent of "we don't really care if you like us or not because we LOVE ourselves"; a glimmer of scorn behind the service.

I had a Croque Madame which is thinly sliced ham, swiss cheese and bechamel sauce between 2 pieces of bread and topped with 2 eggs. "traditionally", i was informed by Wade our waiter, the eggs are always fried but i asked for scrambled (really i felt i had to grovel) and i got them. All the tastes balanced and it wasn't overpowered by the cheese but i think $9.50 is a little too much for this dish.

Will i be back? c'est la vie.

NEW DELHI PALACE - TUCSON, AZ

I'm not quite sure how i feel about this Indian restaurant. I liked the feel inside the place which had loads of seating. However, the tables in the center were really close together. close enough that you could reach out and  take their naan.  The food was good but not anything special. I enjoyed the food at Gandhi much better though you are served on metal plates like prison.

Everything is a la carte and a bowl of rice is $3. The rice was excellent; very tender and light. We ordered a snack appetizer and 2 veggie samasos and chicken korma. The snacks consisted of some lentil balls (sort of dry), a sausage like object (which was mysteriously chewy), and some crispy pockets stuffed with veggies, i think. The samasos were not crispy enough and the filling (potatoes and peas) was too bland and mushy. But the 3 accompanying condiments were excellent and really improved all the appetizers. They all had their own type of spiciness. There was a red-orange clear sauce with onions and a dark green one and a burgundy slightly sweet sauce.

The chicken korma was tender but we ordered it mild and it was TOO mild; needed some more heat.

The service was excellent and we got our check fast and the change fast as we were all eager to get home and have some chocolate mousse cake.