The average 21st-century American thinks very little about the life of a German immigrant settling into the Minnesota farming life amid a post-World War I period of raging xenophobia. But as Ali Selim’s insightful film Sweet Land reveals, such an experience is integral to understanding the American dream, and the nightmarish paths that some must endure before acceptance in a new society.
Haapanen, a strapping UCSB senior from Manteca, has been making things happen for the Gaucho track and field team. The Big West named her the Female Field Athlete of the Year after she put on a throwing clinic at the conference championships.
The 33rd Annual Summer Solstice Parade workshop is now open for volunteers to work on floats. Anyone can sign up, pay the registration fee ($35 for adults, $15 for kids), and start their art on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 3-8 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from noon-6 p.m. So wear close-toed shoes and head down to 631 Garden Street today.
The world of professional music can be a daunting place for an aspiring musician and a mere foot in the door can, at times, seem about as achievable as climbing Mount Everest when hungover. After a certain point, talent just isn’t enough, and hard as it may be to hear, playing the game becomes vital. That often means knowing who to call and how to get your song in the hands of someone who’ll listen.
As the old observation goes: Today’s sorrow, plus time passing, equals tomorrow’s comedy. Memory can be kind in that way. Today we cry, tomorrow we laugh.
It’s not like Harry Connick Jr. is a postmodernist. There is nothing smug about his long, hard labor in the orchards of what are essentially abandoned musical idioms like stride piano, big band, and crooner-mania. He may be calculated in his musical affectations, seriously working something that nobody else is doing to milk the nostalgia dollars. But in a live performance, it doesn’t come across as contrived.
It is unfortunately a common refrain for classrooms across California: Arts funding is being slashed leaving children with few creative outlets, barely any artistic inspiration, and a life centered solely on reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic. Luckily for Santa Barbara, there’s a nonprofit organization whose directive is to give scholarships to “artists of all ages” as a means of “preserving Santa Barbara’s cultural heritage.” This is the John E. Profant Foundation for the Arts, and it’s accepting applications for the next round of scholarships until May 31.
David Post, author of the psychological thriller Nothing to See Here, is coming to Montecito’s Tecolote Bookstore on Friday, May 24, 5-6:30 p.m., to sign copies and discuss his recent novel. The book, about a respected doctor who goes crazy after his wife leaves him, was inspired by the true story of a Massachusetts man who happened to be the author’s physician.
Friday night reading: After an opening sage burning, Sandra Alcosser speaks for at least 15 minutes before she gets to a poem. She continues to speak more than she reads, including a had-to-get-out-the-oven-mitts-when-a-hawk-crashed-through-our-window story. The poetry blends nature and culture.
Cartoons are supposed to be about defying the laws of imagination. From the beginning, they’ve constituted the fantasy end of the cinematic spectrum, the soul of “special effects.” This cartoon, from a rich franchise, is just okay, though, and in a way that speaks volumes about how lousy corporate filmmaking has become.
