Lovely to Look At (1952) will be screened this Friday in honor of Valentine's Day as part of the New York State Writers Institute's Classic Film Series.
The film features 10 songs by major American songwriter Jerome Kern including "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," "I Won't Dance," the title song "Lovely to Look At," "I'll Be Hard to Handle," "Opening Night," "Lafayette," "Yesterdays," "You're Devastating," "The Most Exciting Night," and "The Touch of Your Hand."
Complete film series: http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/programpages/cfs.html
From Jerome Kern tribute page at Stanford University:
More than fifty years after his passing, the music of Jerome Kern remains a cornerstone of the Great American Songbook, having survived the fads and fashions of four generations—it continues to be performed on the Broadway stage and recorded by major artists. Known for creating the musical Show Boat, Jerome Kern composed his enduring classics for both stage and movie musicals; works such as “The Way You Look Tonight,” “Old Man River,” “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” and more.
More: http://riverwalkjazz.stanford.edu/#program/magic-jerome-kern-tribute
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Film Showcases Jerome Kern's Songwriting
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Valentine's Day Cocktails from Women Authors
“A lime mint Rickey: I recently returned from Cartagena Colombia and fell hard for their local concoction of fresh lime juice, mint and simple syrup over crushed ice. Also very tasty with dark rum in it!”
Cowboys Are My Weakness author Pam Houston, who visited in 2005, offers this: “Pretty in Pink: San Pellegrino (2 parts), pomegranate-cherry juice (1 part), slice of Meyer lemon, and lots of ice in a tall tumbler. It’s pretty, pink, and comforting (in case Valentine’s Day sucks).”
For more cocktails, go to http://www.prweb.com/releases/DrinkingDiaries/02/prweb10426112.htm
More on Hood's upcoming visit: http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/mirabelli_hood13.html
More on Houston's 2005 visit: http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/houston_pam.html Read More......
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Love, Dark and Doomed
As her favorite Valentine's Day reading choice, New York Times Preview Editor Jen McDonald chose Anne Enright's The Gathering (2007).
Enright visits RPI under the cosponsorship of the Writers Institute on April 18th.
"I tend to like my literary love dark and doomed, so my pick is Anne Enright’s “The Gathering,” a novel whose tragedy unspools from a pulse-quickening romantic scene in the third chapter. It’s a flashback to the moment the narrator’s grandmother, Ada Merriman, first laid eyes on Lambert Nugent, who would not become her husband but would play an outsize role in the lives of her descendants...." More.
Enright also visited us in 2008.
Friday, February 10, 2012
North Korean Love Story for Valentine's Day, 2/14
"Jun Do's mother was a singer. That was all Jun Do's father, the Orphan Master, would say about her. The Orphan Master kept a photograph of a woman in his small room at Long Tomorrows. She was quite lovely-eyes large and sideways looking, lips pursed with an unspoken word. Since beautiful women in the provinces get shipped to Pyongyang, that's certainly what had happened to his mother. The real proof of this was the Orphan Master himself. At night, he'd drink, and from the barracks, the orphans would hear him weeping and lamenting, striking half-heard bargains with the woman in the photograph. Only Jun Do was allowed to comfort him, to finally take the bottle from his hands."
"As the oldest boy at Long Tomorrows, Jun Do had responsibilities - portioning the food, assigning bunks, renaming the new boys from the list of the 114 Grand Martyrs of the Revolution. Even so, the Orphan Master was serious about showing no favoritism to his son, the only boy at Long Tomorrows who wasn't an orphan. When the rabbit warren was dirty, it was Jun Do who spent the night locked in it. When boys wet their bunks, it was Jun Do who chipped the frozen piss off the floor. Jun Do didn't brag to the other boys that he was the son of the Orphan Master, rather than some kid dropped off by parents on their way to a 9-27 camp. If someone wanted to figure it out, it was pretty obvious- Jun Do had been there before all of them, and the reason he'd never been adopted was because his father would never let someone take his only son. And it made sense that after his mother was stolen to Pyongyang, his father had applied for the one position that would allow him to both earn a living and watch over his son."
To read more, visit your local bookstore and buy the book!
Adam Johnson talks about his North Korean love story this coming Valentine's Day, Tuesday, February 14th.