Oh, would that every minute in real life passed as slowly as those spent viewing a “Pokemon” movie. It’s spring, which means that Japan’s most annoying import has returned to the cinemas, to suck more dollars out of the wallets of unfortunate parents everywhere. googletag.cmd.push(function… Read More
In theaters ONE NIGHT AT MCCOOL’S. 93 minutes, R, directed by Harald Zwart, written by Stan Seidel. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) {… Read More
I admit it. I was late. By the time I ran up Park Street and got inside the Unitarian Universalist Church in Bangor Monday night, The Azure Ensemble had already begun to play. And so, not being able to enter in the middle of a piece, I had… Read More
ORONO – The University of Maine’s annual outdoor music festival came off feeling like the Bangor State Fair as the two-day event played out Friday and Saturday in a parking lot amid the smell of doughboys and curly fries. Bumstock’s usual grass location in the… Read More
ORONO – Alisa Weilerstein plays the cello the way Itzhak Perlman plays the violin. Alisa Weilerstein plays the cello the way Joan Sutherland sings. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i… Read More
In Theaters THE WIDOW OF ST. PIERRE. Directed by Patrice Leconte. Written by Claude Faraldo. In French with English subtitles. 112 minutes. Rated R. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i… Read More
DESIGNS TO INSPIRE: FROM THE RUDDER 1897-1942, by Anne and Maynard Bray, WoodenBoat Books, Brooklin, 2001, $24.95. This is a book for dreamers. A peg to hang your dreams on when you plan your escape from the hum-drum and see yourself sailing into the small… Read More
In theaters CROCODILE DUNDEE IN LOS ANGELES. 95 minutes, PG, directed by Simon Wincer, written by Matthew Berry and Eric Abrams. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i… Read More
WATERVILLE – Great choreography takes into account the talents of the performers, and goes one step further. It ensures that the smaller parts are just as essential to the whole as the star roles. One expects great choreography from Andrei Bossov, who spent 20 years… Read More
BIBLIOTHERAPY: THE GIRL’S GUIDE TO BOOKS FOR EVERY PHASE OF OUR LIVES by Nancy Peske and Beverly West, Dell Publishing, New York, 257 pages, 2001, $13.95. As we grope our way from adolescence to midlife and beyond, books can be a girl’s best friend. So… Read More
ORONO- Despite the day being probably the finest that the Bangor area has seen this spring, and despite the lack of guest soloists or guest conductors on the program, seats were well filled for Sunday afternoon’s concert by the Bangor Symphony Orchestra at the Maine Center for the… Read More
In theaters FREDDY GOT FINGERED, directed by Tom Green, written by Green and Derek Harvie. 93 minutes. Rated R. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length;… Read More
ORONO – Elizabeth is taking steps to change her life. So is her husband Roland, her brother Mark, his former fiancee Kitty and Leslie, the motorcycle guy. The trouble is they spend more time running up and down the hundreds of steps in a ramshackle… Read More
In Theaters JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS. 95 minutes, PG-13, written and directed by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++)… Read More
A YEAR DOWN YONDER by Richard Peck, Dial Books for Young Readers, New York, 130 pages, 2000, $16.99. My son James and I were driving home from basketball practice a while back when this year’s John Newbery Medal winner for young adult fiction was announced… Read More
In Theaters BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY. Directed by Sharon Maguire. Written by Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies, Richard Curtis, based on Fielding’s book. 94 minutes. R. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i… Read More
END OVER END by Kate Kennedy, Soho Press, New York, 2001, 320 pages, $24. It’s not the typical mystery that Cape Elizabeth author Kate Kennedy will see published this month. “End Over End” is not a blow-by-blow account of a murder, nor is it a… Read More
DARK HARBOR HOUSE by Tom DeMarco, Down East Books, 2001, 280 pages, paperback, $14.95 I have to admit it. I wanted to hate this book. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var… Read More
SEA SOUP: PHYTOPLANKTON and SEA SOUP: ZOOPLANKTON by Mary M. Cerullo, photographs by Bill Curtsinger, Tilbury House Publishers, Gardiner, Maine, 1999 and 2001, both 40 pages, $16.95. “Imagine that you are setting out on an undersea voyage to meet the most important creatures on earth. Read More
OF TIME AND MEMORY – MY PARENTS’ LOVE STORY by Don J. Snyder, Ballantine, 1999, 304 pages, $14. This is a remarkable memoir by a Maine writer – it’s the story of the mother he never knew, a mother who died 16 days after he… Read More
THE GHOST OF LIZARD LIGHT by Elvira Woodruff, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1999, 176 pages, $14.95. Not surprisingly, lighthouses epitomize romance and adventure for many Maine people. These storm-embattled structures, warning ships of treacherous and deadly rock formations, are an integral part of our… Read More
In a world with far too many offspring from insipid Saturday-morning TV shows, it’s refreshing to see an occasional new idea in children’s films. One such offering is the adventurous romp “Spy Kids.” googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes… Read More
In Theaters ALONG CAME A SPIDER. 103 minutes, R, directed by Lee Tamahori, written by Marc Moss, based on the novel by James Patterson. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i… Read More
ORONO – All the Peter Schickeles made an appearance at the Maine Center for the Arts Friday evening. There was, of course, the rumpled, addled P.D.Q. Bach, “the 21st of the 20 children” of the 18th century German composer, Johann Sebastian Bach. googletag.cmd.push(function () {… Read More
PORTLAND – Stars on Ice wrapped up its 15th season Saturday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center before a sell-out crowd. But the event itself, stellar as it was, ended up being secondary to the love-fest to its founder, Scott Hamilton, who was ending his touring career. Read More
In Theaters BLOW. Directed by Ted Demme. Written by David McKenna and Nick Cassavetes, based on the book by Bruce Porter. 119 minutes. R. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i… Read More
In Theaters TOMCATS. 92 minutes, R, written and directed by Gregory Poirier. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0]… Read More
ORONO – There was more reckoning than reveling going on when Ani DiFranco took the stage Saturday night. DiFranco, who stopped at the Maine Center for the Arts as part of her Wreckage Unravelling tour, played a low-key set that felt melancholy at times. It… Read More
“They’re Playing Our Song” proved a predictable but pleasant production Thursday night at the Maine Center for the Arts. The Gateway/Candlewood International touring company production of the musical kept the audience of 875 laughing throughout the performance. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes… Read More
The main character in “Skylight” is: a) Kira, a young woman who teaches underprivileged youngsters; googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice())… Read More
SOMEONE LIKE YOU, directed by Tony Goldwyn, written by Elizabeth Chandler, based on the novel “Animal Husbandry” by Laura Zigman. 100 minutes. PG-13. With all this talk of tainted meat, mad cows and diseased bulls, it seems only fitting that Tony Goldwyn’s “Someone Like You”… Read More
ORONO – This wasn’t a show for the purists. Will Shakespeare probably didn’t have vinyl tank tops, pleather pants, a butt-grabbing Beatrice and a newspaper arbor in mind when he wrote “Much Ado About Nothing.” But the Aquila Theatre Company made it seem, well, normal. Read More
Readers of “The Color of Water” want to know what happened next. Were more pieces of the puzzle available after James McBride told the world about growing up as one of 12 children, each the offspring of a black father and a white mother cut off from her… Read More
In Theaters SAY IT ISN’T SO. 93 minutes, R, directed by James B. Rogers, written by Peter Gaulke and Gerry Swallow. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i… Read More
SIMPLICITY FROM A MONASTERY KITCHEN, by Brother Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Latourrette, Broadway Books, New York, 2001, 224 pages, $25.00. Reading the first few pages of Brother Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Latourrette’s book, one might expect to begin delving into the mysteries of religion, philosophy, spiritualism and ascetism. “Authentic simplicity,” he… Read More
It’s been a season full of screen actresses moving to TV, with most falling by the wayside, including Geena Davis and Bette Midler. Now it’s Joan Cusack’s turn. The always dependable, film supporting player tries her luck on the small screen in “What About Joan?”… Read More
ORONO – The name “Don Quixote” is said to mean “the one who hides himself.” During the Moscow Festival Ballet’s production of “Don Quixote” Saturday at the Maine Center for the Arts, the pointy-bearded windmill chaser staggered through a few scenes, pointing and waving his… Read More
In Theaters “Heartbreakers” 120 minutes. PG-13Directed by David Mirkin, written by Robert Dunn, Paul Guay and Stephen Mazur. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++)… Read More
ORONO – Take the choreography of those blue dudes in the Intel commercial, throw in a little Monty Python, add a half-cup of vaudeville and a soupcon of “Je ne sais quoi,” mix in some mime, top off with the mask work of commedia dell’arte, and there you… Read More
In Theaters EXIT WOUNDS. 100 minutes, R, directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, written by Ed Horowitz and Richard D’Ovidio, based on the novel by John Westermann. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var… Read More
ORONO – If you’re going to play Edvard Grieg for nearly 4,000 people in one day, you’ve just got to have tympani – and great strings, awesome brass and wondrous woodwinds. On Monday, Abigail Greene had them all. The tympani thundered its cue, and pianist… Read More
BELFAST – “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is the perfect play to show off the Maskers’ renovated theater. The intimacy of the 3/4-round stage puts theatergoers inside the mental hospital where the story takes place. In an odd way, the new configuration makes them inmates, too. Read More
If you want information, and you want it quickly, don’t visit a Stephen King novel. King is the unparalleled master of carrot-and-stick fiction – the kind of writing that gives you just a little bit of what you crave (the answer, the secret, the McGuffin)… Read More
ORONO – In the 1960s it became fashionable to don campy 1940s vintage clothing. In the 1970s leather jackets and other paraphernalia from the 1950s came into style. It seems apparent that there is a pattern in the cycles of fashion. Perhaps there is a… Read More
In theaters “ENEMY AT THE GATES.” Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. Written by Annaud and Alain Godard. 131 minutes. Rated R. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i… Read More
Filmmakers just don’t know what to do with Denis Leary. The actor-comedian broke onto the scene as a caustic cabbie in a memorable series of ads for MTV. Then the powers that be tried to sand off his rough edges in such forgettable films as… Read More
The gecko is a soft-skinned lizard with a short, stout body, large head and long tail. The suction cups on its feet tend to keep the colorful creature earthbound. In the creative hands of dancer Ingrid Schatz and actress Amy Robbins, however, the tropical reptile… Read More
WINTERPORT – The largest room in most houses built before 1960 is the dining room. Before the days of television consoles and rec rooms, before entertainment centers, recliner chairs and TV trays allowed families to huddle together in “the den,” the dining room was the heart of home. Read More
In theaters “15 Minutes.” Written and directed by John Herzfeld. 120 minutes. Rated R. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) {… Read More
THE BEST OF BESTON: THE NATURAL WORLD OF HENRY BESTON FROM CAPE COD TO THE ST. LAWRENCE, edited and introduced by Elizabeth Coatsworth, David R. Godine Publisher, softcover, $16.95. In the summer of 1944, an American Red Cross Bookmobile stopped by the airfield near Attleboro,… Read More
SHE TOOK TO THE WOODS by Alice Arlen, DownEast Books, 2000, 310 pages, $16.95. Louise Dickinson Rich fans are in for a treat. In a first-ever biography, Alice Arlen brings a belated encore of Rich’s works to readers hungry for more of the likes of… Read More
THE FARNUM BROTHERS OF BUCKSPORT by Ralph Pettie, Peninsula Press, Blue Hill, 2000, 64 pages, $10.95. Lillian Hoffman named both of her sons after her favorite movie stars, Ronald Coleman and Dustin Farnum. The success of Academy Award-winning actor Dustin Hoffman has eclipsed that of… Read More
In Theaters SEE SPOT RUN. 94 minutes, PG, directed by John Whitesell, written by George Gallo, Dan Baron and Chris Faber, based on a story by Stuart Gibbs, Craig Titley and Gallo. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = [];… Read More
Do you have a son or daughter who relishes a good sports story? Three lively biographies of African-American athletes are sure to hold his/her attention. As a boon to parents they carry important messages about triumphing over adversity, maintaining one’s dignity and self control when confronted with hatred… Read More
If you take three accomplished Broadway performers, combine with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, add an attentive Maine Center for the Arts audience and about two hours of some of the finest music from American musical theater and mix thoroughly, what you get is a sort of dessert for… Read More
In Theaters “The Mexican.” Gore Verbinski. Written by J.H. Wyman. 123 minutes. R googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if… Read More
Who would have guessed there was so much public radio programming to choose from? In the old days, when I was a kid, it was classical music and news, or news and classical music. But by “auditioning” different programs in different time slots in recent… Read More
In Theaters 3000 MILES TO GRACELAND. 125 minutes, R, directed by Demian Lichtenstein, written by Richard Recco and Lichtenstein. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length;… Read More
Don’t blame Neil Simon. He only created the seminal buddy comedy, “The Odd Couple.” Don’t fault Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, or Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. Those two acting pairings just did it right, first in the movie version, then the TV version of… Read More
ORONO – Every musical has a show-stopping moment. For some, it is a big, flashy production number like the title song in “Hello Dolly!” In others, it is one character, standing alone, center stage – Eliza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady” hitting that impossibly high note at the… Read More
ORONO – Recent scientific studies have pointed to a relationship, often suspected, between the study of music and the ability to excel in mathematics. The converse, that mathematical ability will lead to musicianship, is not as simple a proposition since the ability to excel in musical performance relies… Read More
In Theaters “Monkeybone.” Directed by Henry Selick. Written by Sam Hamm, based on the comic book “Dark Town” by Kaja Blackley. 87 minutes. PG-13. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i… Read More
Mary Stuart Masterson joins the stream of actresses who are trading occasional film work for a steady TV gig when her series, “Kate Brasher,” premieres at 9 tonight on CBS. “Kate Brasher,” which does the viewing public a favor by replacing “Walker, Texas Ranger” for… Read More
PRESQUE ISLE – People always think bigger is better. That’s why we have SUVs and supersize and supercenters. But often, bigger just means more leg room, more french fries and more falling prices to watch out for. It doesn’t mean higher quality. It just means higher quantity. Read More
In theaters CHOCOLAT. 121 minutes, PG-13, directed by Lasse Hallstrom, written by Robert Nelson Jacobs, based on the novel by Joanne Harris. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0;… Read More
THE BEST AMERICAN RECIPES 2000, by Fran McCullough and Suzanne Hamlin, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston and New York, 2000, 343 pages, $26. If at first you succeed, try again. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner… Read More
THE HERMIT THRUSH SINGS by Susan Butler, DK Publishing Inc, New York, 282 pages, 1999, $16.95. Most fantasy novels understandably fall far short of their jacket promises. Sustaining a created world for a few hundred pages and making it credible for readers must be a… Read More
In theaters CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. 119 minutes. PG-13. (Mandarin with English subtitles). Directed by Ang Lee. Written by James Schamus, Wang Hui Ling and Tsai Kuo Jung. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false;… Read More
In theaters THE GIFT. 112 minutes, R, directed by Sam Raimi, written by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length;… Read More
ORONO — Buddy Guy was worried that the crowd at the Maine Center for the Arts would think he was responsible for the arctic blasts outside the University of Maine facility. “I hope you don’t think that I brought these winds with me,” said the… Read More
ORONO — Theater is the grown-up version of the children’s game of make-believe. All the different forms of theater, from Japanese Kabuki and Noh, to the Medieval Passion Play, to Modern Minimalist Theater, depend on one thing to succeed: the willing suspension of disbelief on the part of… Read More
In theaters “HANNIBAL” Directed by Ridley Scott. Written by David Mamet and Steven Zaillian. 131 minutes. Rated R. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++)… Read More
SOMETHING IN THE WATER, by Peter Scott, Down East Books, Camden, 2000, 301 pages, $14.95. For history enthusiasts, Maine culture buffs, and those who just love an intriguing story, author Peter Scott has netted success. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]];… Read More
CHARLES OF THE WILD, by John and Ann Hassett, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 32 pages, $5.95. John and Ann Hassett, Waldoboro creators of the charming and clever “Cat Up a Tree,” have written another gem for young readers. “Charles of the Wild” should appeal to… Read More
FACE DOWN UNDER THE WYCH ELM, by Kathy Lynn Emerson, St. Martin’s, 250 pages, $22.95. Wilton, Maine, author Kathy Lynn Emerson has produced another intriguing Elizabethan England mystery, her fifth featuring Lady Susannah Appleton, herbalist and amateur sleuth. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
REFLECTIONS IN BULLOUGH’S POND by Diana Muir, University Press of New England, Hanover, N.H., 2000, 312 pages, $26. BANGOR – Mainers, like many New Englanders, have long made a living off the land and sea. It hasn’t been easy. For starters, there isn’t much here… Read More
In theaters VALENTINE. 95 minutes, R, directed by Jamie Blanks, written by Donna Powers, Wayne Powers, Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts. Based on the novel by Tom Savage. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner =… Read More
HOPPIN’ JOHN’S LOWCOUNTRY COOKING, by John Martin Taylor, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York, 2000, 345 pages, $18. Every New Year’s Day, southerners eat Hoppin’ John – a dish of black-eyed peas and rice – for good luck. Sometimes the dish is served with… Read More
In Theaters O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? 103 minutes, PG-13, directed by Joel Coen, written by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen. Based on Homer’s “The Odyssey.” googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for… Read More
ORONO – Eileen Ivers didn’t just have the luck of the Irish going for her Saturday night at the Maine Center for the Arts. She also had the luck of the African, South African, Caribbean, Scottish, Cuban and Latin American forces that influence her music. Read More
BANGOR – This past Saturday evening, The Bangor Symphony Orchestra dropped its formal attire and added a few promising young musicians, entertaining a packed house at the Peakes Auditorium at Bangor High School. This concert, the first of two Casual Concerts to celebrate the opening of the Maine… Read More
GIRL POWER SERIES, by Helen Cordes, Karen Lound and Andy Steiner; Learner Publications Co., Minneapolis, 2000, 4 volumes, 112 pages. Do you have a preteen or a teen-age daughter? If so, raising her to become a competent, confident, assertive, happy young woman, able to cultivate… Read More
THE WEDDING PLANNER. Directed by Andy Shankman. Written by Pamela Falk and Michael Ellis. 100 minutes. PG-13. If you’ve seen the trailer or the television ads for “The Wedding Planner,” the latest film to toss its bouquet straight into the fires of the wedding-chaos genre,… Read More
In Theaters “THIRTEEN DAYS” 145 minutes, PG-13, directed by Roger Donaldson, written by David Self. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice())… Read More
ORONO — Friday at the Maine Center for the Arts was some enchanted evening, as Bangor Community Theatre showed why “South Pacific” is both a Pulitzer Prize-winning and much-beloved musical. Fifty actor-singers, backed by John Haskell’s able group of musicians, put on a splendid performance of the story… Read More
In theaters ANTITRUST. Directed by Peter Howitt. Written by Howard Franklin. 115 minutes. PG-13. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if… Read More
In theaters ALL THE PRETTY HORSES. 112 minutes, PG-13, directed by Billy Bob Thornton, written by Ted Tally, based on Cormac McCarthy’s novel. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0;… Read More
THE MINIMALIST COOKS AT HOME, by Mark Bittman, Broadway Books, New York, 1999, 240 pages, $25. Readers of the Wednesday New York Times dining section will be familiar with Mark Bittman’s weekly column, “The Minimalist.” Those who haven’t been clipping his recipes since 1997, though,… Read More
PORTLAND – It was not just the big names of Champions on Ice, but also those farther down the bill that entertained the crowd Saturday afternoon at the Cumberland County Civic Center. As water ran down the sidewalk outside, the stars took to the ice… Read More
Lesson in Babar tale gentle, wise Books featuring beloved elephant earn designation ‘saga’ in spades
BABAR AND THE SUCCOTASH BIRD, by Laurent de Brunhoff, Harry N. Abrams Inc., New York, 2000, 32 pages, $16.95. There are 243 entries for Babar books on Amazon.com. Granted, some of them are foreign language editions (20 or so countries have translations) and a few… Read More
In Theaters “Finding Forrester.” Directed by Gus Van Sant. Written by Mike Rich. 133 minutes. PG-13. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice())… Read More
The golden age of Maine’s coastal steamers was already past by the time Sally Richardson Rice was born, but the Stonington native recently helped to bring readers a reminder of the those times and to preserve a chapter of the state’s history. Rice has reissued… Read More
CANOE RIG: THE ESSENCE AND THE ART – SAILPOWER FOR ANTIQUE AND TRADITIONAL CANOES, by Todd E. Bradshaw, WoodenBoat Books, Brooklin, 2000, 262 pages, $34.95. This is the book I wish I had 30 years ago when I rigged a prewar Old Town canoe for… Read More
200,000 MILES ABOARD THE DESTROYER COTTON by C. Snelling Robinson, Kent State University Press, 328 pages, hardcover, $35. When he set out from Penobscot Bay 57 years ago, C. Snelling Robinson had no idea that as a 20-year-old junior officer aboard the destroyer Cotton he… Read More
BASKET MOON, written by Mary Lyn Ray, illustrated by Barbara Cooney, Little, Brown and Co., Boston, 1999, 30 pages, $15.95. In the very young child’s world the sun rises and sets because Mom and Dad tell it to. Parental ideals and values have the authority… Read More
IN THE COUNTRY OF THE YOUNG by Lisa Carey, Morrow, 290 pages, $24. Lisa Carey has written a delightful fantasy in “In the Country of the Young” – and it’s also a romance with plenty of suspense. What distinguishes it though isn’t the romance, suspense… Read More
PENTANGLE, by Susan Vaughan, Starlight Writer Publications, 2000, 81 pages, $3.75 (downloaded from the Internet) FORT KENT – No one ever said being a teen-ager is easy. Historically, the angst and insecurities experienced by adolescents and fueled by hormones have been fertile ground for legions… Read More
HATCHET HARBOR by Jane E. Hartman, Aquarian Systems, Publishers, 1999, paperback, 187 pages, $16. Lobster fisherman Ab Parks lives part of the year in Hatchet Harbor, Maine, his hometown somewhere near Merrymeeting Bay. A Colgate alumnus, he prefers the rugged life on the water to… Read More
HENRY AND THE WHITE WOLF, written by Tim Karu, illustrated by Tyler Karu, Workman Publishing, New York, 2000, 32 pages, $12.95. Very few things can be more frightening to a child than being sick or hurt. Medical procedures often are painful and scary, especially since… Read More
With mostly sequels in cinemas for children this winter, it’s nice to see something original for a change. Although Disney is as big a fan of sequels or remakes as any studio, its animated “The Emperor’s New Groove” is a breath of fresh air, with… Read More