::more than somewhat::

Eight-year-old Bruno has a fine life in Berlin. A wonderful house, lots of friends, and much fun to be had.

But all that changes when his Papa gets a promotion, a new fancy uniform and they move to another house. Right next to a place called ‘Out-with”. The new house is not much to speak of and Bruno has nothing to do, no one to play with. And there’s a strange tension all around and his parents fight. From his house, he can see people in striped pajamas working. Is this a farm? But he’s told those are not even really people.

Bored witless, Bruno starts to explore further and further from the house. And he sees a big barbed wire fence.

On the other side, is a little boy in striped pajamas. They talk! They begin to meet everyday. They even play chess – without anyone touching the electrified fence which is meant to keep the ‘animals from getting out”.

But Bruno’s uneasy mama decides this is no place for children to grow up. And his father agrees. Bruno is to leave very soon. But before he goes, he wants to help the little boy on the other side find his father and make right for giving him away earlier on. So, he finds a shovel and easily manages to dig a little tunnel under the fence. Instead of little Schamuel coming out, little Bruno goes in… to Auschwitz.

Say what you like, critics, but it’s a shocker of a film. Based on John Boyne’s “fable” it’s been criticized for many glitches and implausibilies and for being too “Miramaxed”. I’m sure someone will come out with a long list, soon. I agree with some of them. Where the heck were the guards? Can you really  dig your way into Auscwitz that easily?

But even so. The story does spell out, like many others, the horror of how inhuman humans can be. And who better to see that than the eyes of an innocent child.

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Most people I know love this film. And why not, really. It’s got mystery, intrigue, romance, and most of all magic. And the attractive illusionist Eisenheim – Edward Norton.

The illusionist is in love with with the aristoctatic beauty, Sophie. And she right back with him. So it has been since they were kids. But a certain crown prince has other plans. He and the illusionist circle threateningly around each other over Sophie and many magic shows later, the Crown Prince Leopold murders Sophie.

Or does he? The film has a fairy taley feel. The magic shows, if indeed they are magic, are mesmerizing. You may just want to see it… befroe you…. (writer goes up in puff of purple smoke)

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Sweet Georgiana. She has everything. She’s a rich aristocrat, she’s beautiful, she has whatever brains she’s allowed to have, she’s vivancious and she is, above .l all, a good girl like her mother told her to be.

One day, dearest Mama informs her that she’s to marry the Duke of Devonshire. Georgiana is only too happy to comply and do her duty as she was groomed to. It’s all so perfect.

Except that it isn’t. His grace is quick enough to snip her layer after layer of clothing with a pair of scissors and do that husbandy thing – but he doesn’t ever talk to her as such  What is there to talk about? Why didn’t she just pop out an heir already!

Sadly for young Georgiana, that’s just what she didn’t do. Some little girls came along, but what good were they. Other people enter the picture, thickening the plot (or non-plot) a bit. Mostly you’re to revel in the periodness of the movie – sometime in the 1700s. Lovely English countryside and mansions and costumes and all. There’s one scene where poor Georgiana’s four-foot headdress smacks a chandelier and goes up in flames. Hot hot hot!

The movie is based on Amanda Foreman’s book and stars Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes and is ho hum…  pleasantly lazy….

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What an expressive face Kate Winslet has! I was just saying when I got curious and decided to see whether others agree with me. The LA Times has said exactly this: it’s Kate Winslet’s face and her haunting performance that makes this movie happen. It’s a powerful movie based on a powerful bool by German author Bernhard Schlink. And Kate has done complete justice to it. So has, in my opinion, the young  David Kross, whose performance I found more amazing than Ralph Fiennes’.

It’s a slow long movie. But I didn’t mind that very much. A 15-year old kid feels extremely sick on the way home from school one day. And he stops to throw up. A stranger, a woman, gives him a hug and extends a few moments of empathy. Three weeks later he comes back with flowers to thank her. Despite the huge age difference (she calls me Kid throughout the movie) there’s a sexual spark between them and they end up having an affair. Each day, Hannah Schmitz asks him to read to her. She’s not literate.

She gets promoted, changes her job, and says a brusque goodbye to the kid. But he sees her again. This time when he’s in court as a law student. Hannah has worked as a guard at Auschwitz. What did she do wrong? What happened to her? and to them?

Kate Winslet’s own performance in Revolutionary Road is going to compete with her work in this movie. Tough call for the Oscar guys!

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I’m not surprised Doubt has so many Oscar nominations. Each of them fully deserved. What a wonderful movie and what a wonderful play it’s based on – John Patrick-Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning Doubt. The only thing that I was sorry about was to see it end.

Only Meryl Streep could have done this. She was every bit Mother Supriour as she watched over the strict Catholic school in her charge with a hawk’s eye. The slightest mischief wouldn’t escape her notice and be sharply reprimanded. She was singularly humorless, tough, and seemingly uncompassionate.

But Father Flynn wasn’t. And neither was Sister James. Father Flynn was everything Sister Aloysius was not. Spontaneous, warm, and most of all, compassionate. Father Flynn, played fabulously by the fantastic Philip Seymour, directed some of that compassion at the only black boy in the school. With disastrous consequences. Sister Aloysius instantly suspected sexual abuse. Tipped off by the innocent, naive and terribly good little Sister James, she went after Father Flynn.

The moral and ethical questions involved give this story its power. Why did it have to finish so soon?

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Suzy Evans, head of IAMED or the International Academy of Middle Eastern Dance, needs no introduction to belly dancers. Her production company has brought out many performance and instructional videos and held a number of exciting dance events and awards. Here’s a brief hint at what IAMED will be doing as 2009 unfolds.

So how has 2008 been for IAMED/
It’s been a good year. I see a lot of splintering happening in the last couple of years. I don’t necessarily think that’s a good thing.  We may think it’s a big belly dance world, but its not big at all.

Do you see a new direction for IAMED (and I mean videos here0 in 2009? Are you planning on a change of focus at all, or will you be getting into new areas? Changing the profile in any way?
We will continue to produce high quality DVDs filled with excellent content. We will be branching out a bit, but I cannot reveal details of that as yet.

Are we going to see many videos in 2009?
Layers with Leyla
Ultimate Combinations Vol. 3 and 4 – Various instructors
Pops, Locks and Shimmies with Sadie and Kaya – Vol. 2
Arabic Rhythms with Tamra-henna Vol. 2
Fabulous Frills – Various Instructors

We will be holding an instructional shoot in late April.
Pops, Locks and Layers with Sadie and Kaya
A solo instructional with Sadie
A solo instructional with Kaya
And 2 volumes of instructional DVDs with various instructors; the details of which I can not reveal at this time.

Do you plan to work with new dancers not covered before by IAMED?
Yes, the 2 volumes of various instructors will be new to IAMED.

Are you planning to expand your target audience?
Our concentration will be on belly dancers, however we do have the “Art of Belly Dance” beginner line of DVDs.

Whom do you see as competition over 2009?
I don’t see anyone else as competition.

Any chances of a drop in prices for IAMED videos? Now that there are more choices in the market?
No. We still set the standard in belly dance videos. Our production costs have not gone down. It costs many thousands of dollars and a tremendous amount of work to shoot our videos. I would have to sacrifice quality. Lowering prices would affect my resellers in a negative way.  We are also experiencing a heavily inflated US dollar and a down economy so we are already making less money. This is a very small, small niche market. If I was selling hundreds of thousands of them I could afford to sell them for $10.  But no one sells that many.  You can’t judge these DVDs by mass market standards.

When are you coming out with your own video? I’ve heard about how well you dance .

Well, I used to dance well, but I’m rather rusty on my technique these days. We may be holding a 7th Awards show later this year, depending on interest and the economy.

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A few weeks ago, I spotted a new CD release on CDBaby. When I found it had two long chiftitellis on it, I couldn’t resist. Titled after the name of the group, Mayan Ruins, the CD turned out to be a very interesting fusion of styles. And very different from the usual belly dance music I’ve seen on CDBaby, where I’m a habitual downloader of the MP3 versions. I talked to Christian Hartman of Mayan Ruins on their particular style:

So who is Mayan Ruins?
Mayan Ruins are a collective of a dozen or more musicians who love both improvisational playing and playing for dancers (Tribal, Traditional and free-form trance). The lineup is constantly shifting from show to show and track to track on our albums.

Why did you choose a name like Mayan Ruins?
The name is meant as a poetic image attempting to describe our sound-moss covered pyramids amidst jungles teeming with life, as well as decay.

How did you guys happen to get together?
Derek, Denny and I played together previously in a band that grew out of a special project involving trance dancing to invoke one’s personal animal totem (the band was called ‘The Totems’). After that group dissolved I was determined to create a loose-knit group that would be entirely improvisational and not have a set line-up of players (so it wouldn’t raise the ego and scheduling issues common to a traditional ‘band’ set-up).

Is music a profession for you all or is this a hobby mostly?
SEMI-professional (we actually make some decent money from sales and performances) but we do it mainly for artistic enjoyment and the joy of interacting with dancers and audiences.

I notice a lot of different genres combining and fusing in your music…
We draw from lots of sources: Arabic, Persian and Indian classical and folk music, psychedelia from the late 60′s and early 70′s, traditional African and Gypsy music, shamanic chant and drumming as well as Mongolian style throat singing and Tibetan singing crystal bowls. We then mix it all into a purely improvisational piece that can transport us and the audience to another universe.

Yes, it’s very unusual – not your everyday stuff. What inspires your music?
When we work with Tribal dancers, we really interact closely-their movements sometimes dictate what we do and sometimes we lead them along. We all listen to what everyone is doing and there are never any musical egos trying to push to the front. Our ultimate inspiration comes from our diverse musical backgrounds and the chemistry between band members, dancers and audience.

Where did the belly dance connection come from?
We’ve all worked in various groups-tribal dance troupes, traditional world music as well as rock and pop and gothic bands. The bellydancers love us because we play for their enjoyment as well as ours.

Who is it that loves chiftitelli so much in your group? Like I do…We ALL love it! We have some great slow-move dancers and sword dancers who are always asking for a chifit!

Yeah, I would too! What plans do you have for albums in the future? And – anything specifically bellydancy?
Probably we’ll have another mostly live album out by this summer and yes, it’ll have some great bellydance beats as well as some relaxing ‘listening’ music. We’ve heard of a lot of massage therapists working with our latest studio album as well as a TaiChi school and several bellydance teachers use it in class.

We look forward to it! The core Mayan Ruins group is Christian Hartman (bass and drums), Derek Garteiz (guitars, drums and percussion-he also does the recordings and mixdowns) and Denny Schoeny (drums and various percussion). We are often joined (live and on recordings) by Annette Christianson (violin), Paul Ravenscraft (conga, percussion), Zachary J. Mechlem (drums, ‘hindi style’ slide guitar), Rob Dorsey (drums,  chant/vocals), Gregory Morris (violin, mandolin, guitars), Will Menton (electric guitar, drums) as well as several other like-minded and talented musicians.

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OK, this is my kind of movie. Heavyweight relationship stuff.

The nice Wheelers live in a perfect perky house on Revolutionary Road. But nothing is as perfect as it looks with their lives. They’ve gone badly out of sync as they find they want different things from life at different points. Brilliant acting by the Titanic couple, particularly by Kate Winslet. Again, I go with the story and don’t stop to analyze the movie-making. All I can say is that it held me.

I saw another movie with relationship stuff but this one was definitely not my cup of tea. And here, the acting stood out as horribly amateurish. Fireproof. Not sure if it’s even well-known or anything but it was just a new release so I ended up watching it. This movie is like a long sermon. Fireman Caleb Whatever is pissed off with Mrs Whatever – and vice versa. They’re at the point of divorce when Caleb’s wise old dad tells him to take a 40-day challenge and put his marriage back on track – and bring Jesus into his life. OK. Good. For someone else.

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True crime turned into a film. By Clint Eastwood. That would get my attention. Changeling is based on the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, a horrifying series of murders way back in 1930 in Los Angeles. I had planned to half-watch the movie while doing something else, but that didn’t work out. I had to watch it full time.

So Angelina Jolie, whose blood red lipstick distracted me all movie long, comes home from work one evening to find her 9-year-old son… gone. Not a trace of him nowhere. She goes to the LAPD, who are less than helpful. Her son is still pretty much gone. The LAPD look for him but bring back someone who she soon realizes ins’t her son at all. He’s even 3 whole inches shorter. But the LAPD is having none of it. As Christine Collins’ search for her sonbecoems more public and embarassing for the police, they clap her into a mental hospital.

Now’s the part that makes me cringe. Having worked as a bit of a psychologist at a psuchiatry department some time ago, I hate it when the healthcare profession is portayed in films as evil. But this mental hsoptial had Nurse Rachets on steriods! Of course, it is about 80 years ago, so it couldn’t have shown any different. Still, I can’t help thinking of how much it would just reinforce mistrust and lack of understanding in this country.

I won’t give away any more of this absorbing movie. It took me a while to get used to Jolie’s acting here, which they say was aimed squarely at the big prize. I expected panic and franticity, but I think that was not what was intended.

The New York Times review of Changeling and one from The Guardian. Also the wiki on the Wineville muders.

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