BlackKklansman (2018)

Oh my god, this is really an incredible story, all the more so because it is true.  The film has garnered a number of Academy award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor.
Ron Stallworth was a Black Colorado Springs police officer who successfully infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan, going so far as to speak with David Duke on several occasions. Stallworth’s undercover police work, aided by an immeasurable assist from his white partner, Flip Zimmerman (so well played by Adam Driver), helped expose and quash an attack on Black activists.  There you have it in a nutshell, but the telling and unfolding of the story is so well done.
Stallworth (played by Denzel Washington's son) broke the color barrier himself.  As he approached the Colorado Springs Police Department building, the camera hangs above him as he walks into frame.  His job interview serves as his first quiz and a view into his future. “We’ve never had a Black police officer,” Stallworth is told. “So you’ll be the Jackie Robinson of the Colorado Springs police department.” This analogy is a loaded and telling statement that resonates across the film.  The KKK is one thing, but the middle of the bell curve on race was nothing to brag about either.  Really outstanding.

Vice (2018)

Do not go to this movie if you want to be cheered up.  Maybe not the best choice in the new year season, where you are trying to get to a place where you see sweetness and light ahead.  It is about former Vice President Cheney’s rise to power and takes a strong position that Cheney—a shadowy puppeteer pulling the strings of the president and thus of the world—was bad.That is not really a stretch, because it was very clear that Cheney wanted a war, one that would enrich his crony's and he really had no hard feelings about bankrupting the country while he was at it, not to mention the impact of the war on countless lives of American veterans, and civilians as well as combatants in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
The thing that comes out of this is how this is really an arc of influence, one that was interrupted while Obama was in office, and while the economy got back on track, again, not harming too many of those in Cheney's stratosphere, but now they are back on track.  It is almost unbearable to watch in the era of Republicans unraveling the fabric of what has been built since the 1950's in terms of a safety net, and ignoring virtually everything else except enriching themselves and those who paid to put them in government. Disgusting.

Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

This is a theatrical, sumptuously filmed and costumed version of this well known story.
Mary Queen of Scots was a woman who wanted power and love and ended up with neither.

She is a headstrong leader played by Saoirse Ronan who was a devout Catholic, which put her at odds with the Anglicans.   Her rule was challenged by the men around her—like those on her council, her second and third husbands and even the men outside her castle.  Yet for all her tenacity, Mary never gains the full loyalty of her people for various reasons. Coupled with her disastrous marriage and several more betrayals of trust, the queen is forced to abdicate the throne, leading her to an untimely fate. 

The other aspect of the movie is Mary's claim on the English throne and the future fate of her son, a situation she discusses with Elizabeth I (played by Margot Robbie, portrayed as the least glamorous cinematic interpretation of Elizabeth I).  Robbie, however, plays the paranoid and tortured queen well, using a tense, nervous energy against Ronan’s cool and cutting performance. It is a film well worth seeing, and drinking in a bit of English history along the way.

Quincy (2018)

Wow, this is really a great story.  Quincy Jones is one of pop music’s most gifted producers, this documentary on his life’s work offers a personalized glimpse into a bygone world of entertainment and the legacy of racism that black artists still grapple with today.  He started back in the days of bebop, with Count Basie and Frank Sinatra.  He looks impossibly young in that footage, but really, the documentary covers the whole of his life, from those early days when he was barely 20 up to today, when he is still working, still producing and over 80 years old.
The documentary is a bit of a family affair, with quite a few of his children playing a role in both the story telling and in his life.  He has the rare combination of wide ranging talent and  a workaholic approach to music.  He did so much over such a long period of time, and it is lovingly on view in this film, which is streaming on Netflix.  It closes with the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.  Really fitting.

Kung Pao Noodles

 My youngest son made these and they were actually pretty good.  I had been thinking of them as Kung Pao Chicken, which I would rather have with rice.  These are more like a spicy noodle dish, which were very good.

• 1 pound spaghetti
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 boneless, skinless thin-sliced chicken breasts
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced

For the sauce

• 1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• 2 tablespoons red chili paste with garlic, or more, to taste
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil

1. In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, chicken broth, dry sherry, red chili paste, sugar, red wine vinegar, cornstarch and sesame oil; set aside.
2. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
3. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper, to taste. Add to skillet and cook, flipping once, until cooked through, about 3-4 minutes per side. Let cool before dicing into bite-size pieces; set aside.
4. Add garlic to the skillet and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in soy sauce mixture and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until thickened, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in pasta, chicken, peanuts and green onions.
5. Serve immediately.

Under Everything by Daisy Johnson

This book was short listed for the Booker prize, and quite interesting.
The narrator of the book, Gretel Whiting, writes early on that “there are more beginnings than there are endings to contain them”: a crucial lesson about life and memory that shows us how to read this complex, uncompromising novel. Until she was 13, Gretel lived on a canal boat with her mother, Sarah. But she hasn’t seen her for 16 years, and her search for her mother pulls everything else in with it: past, present, future. It even affects her work in Oxford updating dictionary entries. She gets stuck on the word “break”, comparing her memories of Sarah to the task of defining awkward words. She checks morgues compulsively and revisits a flat she once shared with her mother.
The artfully eccentric mother-daughter relationship lies at the heart of the novel, surrounded by a thicket of men animated by their own cruelty, menace or uncertainty. They fall away and return in much the same way as the Bonak or "canal thief". There is a bit of the surreal, a bit of darkness, but in the end, a well structured and unusual tale.

The Favourite (2018)

The very best thing about this movie is that there are three female characters who play separate but equal roles in a beautifully costumed in a sumptuous setting.
The story is sort true, in that at least two of the three characters existed and had a relationship.   Queen Anne (Olivia Cotton, who I know from Broadchurch but this is an iconic performance), one of the lesser-known monarchs of England who reigned in the early 1700s during the war with the French. An occasionally distracted and often irritable royal figure with what appears to be stasis related skin changes, overall poor health and a soft spot for luscious desserts, she lives with her trusted friend Lady Sarah Churchill (an authoritative and and terrific Rachel Weizl) and tends to her 17 rabbits that tragically fill an emotional void for each of her failed pregnancies. The duo’s royal order, however imbalanced, gets disturbed by the arrival of the calculating, mud-covered ex-aristocrat Abigail Masham (Emma Stone like you’ve never seen before and very far from Lala Land), who humbly accepts a position as a servant while courting an agenda of her own to restore her glory days. Initially, an unsuspecting Sarah lends Abigail a genuine helping hand, only to quickly realize the treacherous intentions of the double-player.And then we are off to the races, who will win out?

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

There is really nothing left to the imagination in this non-stop CGI chase scene involving seriously pissed off over sized animals that make you feel that really, it can't have been this bad. 
The movie opens with a few DNA pirates on a stealth mission at the now-abandoned-by-humans island park where the dinosaurs still roam.After the volcano erupts, people and a handful of dinosaurs escape, and then we get a glimpse of the kind of things that people will do to make money (spoiler: almost anything, nothing is stopping too low).  There is a small child involved, which is almost gratuitous when you stop and think about it, and her name is Maisie (what does she know?  Well, what she finds out is pretty harrowing, that is for sure, way worse than what Henry James had in mind).
The film stomps through its two-hour running time hitting a lot of action beats that the series has hit before; the variations therein are along the lines of equations you used to do for homework: dinosaurs, volcanic eruption, a number od characters the audience may or may not have any emotional investment in, especially given the precision of the special effects, leaving us with what the dinosaur movie is: soulless, bereft of personality, delivering meticulously engineered thrills.

The Wife (2018)

This is a tightly wound movie that will keep you thinking about coupls do for each other, how they lie about themselves and each other, and what the nature of intimate relationships is.  It all started when she was a student and he a professor.  He loved her writing and she thought he was brilliant, and thus they came together.
Long down the road from that era, now the wife (played to spectacular perfection by Glenn Close) thinks of everything: where her husband's glasses are, when it’s time to take his pills, what he should eat for lunch. After more than thirty years together, she anticipates the husband’s needs and meets them before he even realizes he has them—and certainly long before she’d ever consider tending to any needs of her own.
It’s an efficient if unhealthy dynamic that’s kept their marriage going through two kids and a grandkid on the way, through bouts of infidelity, through the husband’s spectacular and longstanding literary success and up to his crowning achievement: winning the Nobel Prize. There is a twist in all of this though, that comes to a peak in the midst of the celebrations, with a spectacular conclusion that leaves you mulling it over for days.

Shirkers (2018)

There is something surreal about this movie.  Like Crazy Rich Asians, it is filmed in Singapore.  There is also an element of #MeToo, mixed with the stealing of someone else's work.  There is a lot going on in this documentary that was short listed for Best Documentary, along with 14 other films.
It is a hybrid caper confessional. The director, Sandi Tan revisits one of the most jarring experiences of her life and invites her friends, those involved with her movie in the ‘90s, and film critics to excavate the original project that gives this documentary its name. She retraces her steps from her childhood in Singapore with friends Jasmine Ng and Sophie Siddique, both of whom carry some baggage from this experience of their youth. Tan compiles old photos and handmade zines to playfully illustrate how they all met and bonded before starting one of the most ambitious projects of their young lives: to make a movie.
In remembering her past, Tan admits she was under the influence of a mysterious American self-proclaimed impresario, Georges Cardona. He taught the teenage girls how to make a movie, and after a fateful road trip with Tan, convinced her to film her script. He pushed the girls and squeezed money out of their bank accounts to complete shooting as he served as the film’s director. Once the filming was done, Cardona took the film stock and parts of the production with him as the three girls waited to hear from him. Tan heard from him once more before he vanished, taking all of their works and dreams with him.  Years later, when he died, the film was returned to her, and this documentary is also about her search for answers.

Everyone Should Be Able To Vote!

 Happy MLK Day! I was recently in Birmingham, Alabama, which has a checkered past when it comes to race.  MLK wrote the famous Letter From The Birmingham Jail here.   The city was the site of much bloodshed and strife as civil rights leaders faced strong opposition and the attempted destruction of their churches and meeting places. Birmingham struggled to shed the stigma of violence and injustice, and today is home to several memorials and one of the country’s premier civil rights museums. A visit to Birmingham offers a sobering and reflective experience for anyone interested in this important era of American history.

At one point in the museum you look out onto the 16th St. Baptist Church, the bombing of which was a part of the turning of the tide for national attention in a bad way on Birmingham.
The right to vote is being suppressed nation wide, a phenomena that also includes the South.  I believe it is time for a tide of voter registration in anticipation of the 2020 elections, to be able to give everyone the opportunity to voice their choice for elected leaders. 

Dark Money (2018)

This is a movie that every body, literally everyone over age 14, should see.  It is a beautifully succinct description of the history of corruption in American politics and how it has come thundering back, now allowing foreign money to influence who governs our country.
The movie begins with an invocation of the Anaconda Mining Company, headquartered in Butte, Montana, that had a not nominally inappropriate grip on Montana politics during its heyday, which began at the turn of the 19th century. Then a Montana legislator was by definition an Anaconda legislator, a situation leading to such corruption that Montana eventually adopted a group of laws that went beyond federal regulations curbing corporate influence in politics. In Montana, in 2011, the question is whether those regulations will hold in the wake of the Citizen’s United ruling. Reed covers a lot of ground, interviewing members of the U.S. Senate and many state legislature figures, bringing up the tradition of the “citizen legislator” that represents Montana politics at its most grounded and useful. Montana pushed back, and it was a ground swell of citizen resistance, a pattern for the rest of us to follow.

Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

This movie is shirt listed for the musical score (a category that has 15 which will be whittled down to five in the end), which was a bit of a surprise, because even though I was paying attention it did not wow me.
The movie itself is a bit of a conundrum.  It was based on an Asian novel, with a novelist who was born in Singapore and then emigrated to the United States, just as one of the characters did.  So there is authenticity.  The Asian actor community seems to be exceptionally pleased with a truly Asian cast for the first time ever in an American film. 
The problem for me was that there were a lot of exaggerated Asian stereotypes that were both off putting and for me a bit offensive.  The story is an old one.  Golden boy leaves Singapore for America, much to his parents distress because they think it is their right to control him mercilessly.  He comes home for a wedding, bringing his long term girlfriend, not at all preparing her for his dragon mother, and all the women who thought they should marry the golden boy.  And so on.  The greatest part of the film is the night hawker market,which is perfectly portrayed, and brought me back to my one great night in one.

Christopher Robin (2018)

This movie is not aptly named.  It is not so much about Christopher Robin, who has left his childhood well behind, but about the magic of the Hundred Acre Woods.  After a brief recap of the most famous moments in Pooh’s history, the movie settles into the present day. Pooh and his friends are living their best lives in the Hundred Acre Wood. They have accepted that Christopher has grown up and moved on to London. We see Pooh dress, and armed with his usual hungry tummy rumble, Pooh sets off to find honey from his friends, only to find that everyone has mysteriously disappeared.  So he sets off to London to find his friend.
The movie lacks some of the charm of Paddington 2, but eventually the animals that captured Christopher Robin's imagination when he was young come around to seduce his wife and children.  In the end, they all move back to the countryside and get in touch with the things that really matter.  It is not spectacular, but it has charm.

Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse (2018)

I loved this.  I flat out loved it.  It is throughout  a pure blast of creative joy, and  because there’s so much going on you might have to see it more than once to catch it all.

The movie is rooted in a vividly specific, recognizable New York as it is, and as closely as it hews to comic-book imagery and structure within its animated format as it does, “Spider-Verse” has a wonderfully trippy, dreamlike quality about it.  It is multiple technique animation that will blow you away.
Maybe that is because it is after something different, both in its storytelling and in its stakes.  It has a different from the usual Marvel feel about it.   It features plenty of fourth-wall breaking and self-aware narration, both of which might seem like trite crutches in less clever hands. These are comic-book characters that know they’re comic-book characters, which in no way diminishes the excitement of their adventures. On the contrary, this device welcomes us even more powerfully into their world.
So do not miss this, it just has to be nominated in the Best Animation category next  week, and while I love Isle of Dogs, if this beat it out I would not be disappointed.

Three Identical Strangers (2018)

This widely available documentary has received alot of publicity, which is well deserved, and and it has been short-listed for Best Documentary.  Let me digress onto this for a bit.  The short list is 15, five of which will eventually be nominees, but it is a very good list of what documentaries would be worth watching from 2018, and last year I found that more than a few films that did not make the final cut were more interesting than some of those that do.
Edward, Robert, and David all have different last names because they were adopted by different families. None of the families were told of the existence of the other siblings, and it turns out it was an unsupervised social experiment.  Their households were upper-middle class, middle class, and working class. While Edward’s dad was a disciplinarian, David’s father ended up being equally beloved by the reunited brothers. Despite their differences in upbringing, the twins had remarkably similar mannerisms, smoked the same cigarette brand, had the same taste in women, and so on. The story follows the boys through their reunion, and demonstrates to that while money can buy a certain amount of happiness for those with cash, it does not make them an ideal parent.

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

Today is MLK's actual birthday, not the one that we are celebrating next week, and this film adaptation of James Baldwin's 1974 book, and this seems a fitting remembrance of the conversation that he brought about civil rights to the forefront about a 100 years after the Civil War.  These conversations are here again today, rightly so, but this story is set in the past.  Two things about that.  It seems a safe distance from whence to judge the time, and it also serves as a talking point and an opportunity for reflection on where we are today in terms of racial bias within our society.
History at large is written by the victors, but African American history is protected and passed on by our storytellers, by people whose life lessons filled in the blanks for what was so often missing from, or corrupted by, the general narrative. The stories of the trials trials and tribulations form a generational life line that can both teach and also connect the past with the present, so long as there is someone left to tell the tale.
This story is exceptionally powerful, and I think part of it is that when an act of blatant abuse of power and racism confines an innocent man to prison, his family and friends go about putting everything they have into getting him releasing him.  There is a quiet determination, using all their resources.  They don't accept their fate, but they don't argue with it.  Which was just gut wrenching to watch, all the while it is beautifully rendered.  Just incredible in every way.

Early Man (2018)

I really have a soft spot for claymation movies in the mold of Wallace and Grommet, and this one did not disappoint as an animated feature, but characters that only claymation can create.
It is not, however, an incredibly plot driven movie.  It starts off very stronge, but then becomes slapstick to a bit of a fault (but then, so did Shaun the Sheep, so it is true to that model.
The stop-animated film is about Stone Age people battling Bronze Age people as a pretext for roughly ninety minutes of alternately zany play action segments and the classic little guy against the better armed, better funded enemy (and in this case, the Bronze age clearly out gunned the Stone Age on every level). These are interspersed with conversations between a character who comes off as slow witted and a character who appears slightly more clever, but only because he's more technologically savvy than the person he's talking to. There are really only two kinds of characters in the movie:  innocent fools and smug bastards who will eventually get their comeuppance. 

Ant-Man and Wasp (2018)

This is my favorite Marvel movie of the season.  Maybe it is because Paul Rudd as Lang, AKA Antman, so both likable and relatable than others in the Marvel universe.
Lang may be a superhero, but his accomplishments are all so heavily qualified—mostly because he never manages to save the day without alienating his friends and loved ones—he starts the movie under house arrest secondary to his exploits in Germany at the end of the first movie, as an example.  His capacity to do good and his sense of self-worth is constantly reduced to human scale. He is reminded of his character-defining shortcomings throughout the messy, but satisfying super-sequel every time he tries to puff out his chest.
Lang helped Captain America that one time—but only after he stole a shrinking super-suit from his reluctant mentor Hank Pym (ably played by Michael Douglas).  However, he did save the world—without consulting his training and romantic Hope van Dyne (who is the charming an empowered Wasp.  She kind of out bad asses him without seeming domineering).  There is an intricately woven plot that is more or less successful at tying together the relentless special effects, and I enjoyed it.

Tully (2018)

While this has not yet appeared on an Oscar short list, I think it is likely to be nominated in at least the category of Best Actress given Charlize Theron's performance as an overwhelmed mother having her third child.  The other possibility is the screenplay category, which Diablo Cody wrote, and is just very well told.
This movie unearths uncomfortable truths in a wry, wise way. It features Cody’s hyper-verbal brand of snark, cynicism and subtle poignancy, but it’s tinged with the wistful perspective that comes from hard-earned maturity and experience.  The term bittersweet comes to mind.
The other truth it it mines is that when things are truly stressful, couples do not always communicate clearly with each other nor do they always support each other optimally.  This is a more or less healthy marriage where the ending comes just as much of a surprise to the husband as it does the audience.  Well done, but a bit painful (as a mother of four) to watch.

A Star is Born (2018)

This is such a great remake of a film that has literally three other versions, the first going back to 1937.  Is is a true retelling of the same story, all the while being totally modern.  I was pretty impressed with both stars performances, both acting and musically.  You can see then end from the very beginning, and the film does not fail to bring you there without veering off course at any point.
There’s a scene early into Bradley Cooper's film that distills what it’s really about and why it will hook viewers till the last frame. Cooper’s Jackson Maine, an alt-country singer with a bit more heavy guitar, is getting drunk in a drag club after a show when he meets Lady Gaga's Ally. Having worked at the club before, and now waitressing elsewhere, she’s come back to sing a song, a jaw-dropping version of "La Vie en Rose” (so memorably rendered not to many years ago by Marion Coutillard, bringing it forward in time to the 21st century).  She sashays her way down the bar and ends up locking eyes with Maine as her vocals continue to rise. He is blown away by her talent, but there’s something deeper in that eye contact. Something undeniable. Not long after, Maine plays a heartfelt song of his own for the club owner, and she comes out as he’s wrapping up, making eye contact as his vocals find emotional depth. These are two people who fall in love with each other’s talent as much as anything else, inspired by one another in a way that artists often are. This story has been told several times before—and influenced other similar romances—but Cooper and Gaga find a way to make this feel fresh and new. It’s in their eyes.

Another Year!

So much about the year that has passed since my spouse's last birthday has been exceptional.  Our youngest son graduated from college, leaving us with all four as college graduates.  I never really understood how worrisome that all could be but I get it now.  We have had an incredibly rewarding time getting to know our granddaughter, some thanks to us but most of it thanks to my son and DIL traveling far and wide to make that possible.  While I think there is a lot to be said for the parental learning curve to travel with children, it is completely exhausting, and we really appreciate their effort.  It is also a new role for us in our relationship with each other, and that has also been a very fun thing.  Change is always something to grapple with, but this has been joyous.
The things we do together that enrich our lives had a good year as well.  We traveled early and often, enjoying a record number of exceptional meals on three continents.  I did not have a great cooking year, but my has had one, and our circle of loved ones has truly benefited, yet again,  from his unquenchable yearning to make new and better food.  We took two cooking classes in Thailand this year, and I hope we see more of that in the next year, because in no time we make better Thai food than we can buy locally.  So here is to another great rotation around the sun.

The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante

This is the second book in the Neopolitan series, and I found it much easier going than the first. In this novel, At the beginning of this novel, Lenú throws a box into the river. Lenú, the narrator, is a writer, but the notebooks in the box belong to her friend, Lila, who left school aged 12, marrying a mere four years later. Lila gave the box to her because she feared, with reason, that if her husband found them he would have killed her, and given the way he has treated her in the previous book, that isn't an exaggeration.
The book is largely focused on the two women's twenties, where Lenú has some luck in love and in her career, while Lila goes into a self-destructive downward spiral.  Her impulsiveness leads to decisions that in the short run bring her pleasure but in the long run are her downfall, both financially and the effect on her mental health.  Lenú has a bit of luck but doesn't seem altogether over the moon, brought down and held to the earth by her destructive mother.  In the end, I couldn't wait to start the next installment.

Ralph Wrecks the Internet (2018)

Now that the short list has come out in several categories, I feel like my Oscar watching season can begin in earnest.  I actually liked this sequel better than the original.  Ralph as a character emerges more completely, and his friendship with Vanellope.
Ralph accidentally leads to the breaking of Vanellope's  arcade game, leaving her with noting to do.  They decide to go into the internet to try to figure out how to fix it.  The presentation of something that is not anything in particular into cartoon rendered and understandable visuals is really fun.
Then there is the subtext.  As a parent of four boys, trust me when I tell you that a lot of kids movies are about “getting people together”—to form a team, stop a bad guy, solve a problem, for a few examples—and no one is denying the importance of team-building as a lesson for kids, but “Ralph Breaks the Internet” dares to encourage kids to not only be themselves but to also allow their friends to be true to their wants and needs as well. Your friend doesn’t have to be exactly like you to be your friend. It’s a message that’s very well-threaded through an entertaining, clever ride.

Jenne Giles, Fiber Artist, Fresno Art Museum

 I used to live in Fresno, but it has been close to 30 years since I was last here.  It was in this location that I learned that people who make baskets do not make nearly enough, because when I tried to make my own, I was hopeless at it.
Here is the artist's statement about her work: There are many people who feel bewildered by America today.  Caught between clashing waves of feminism and gender openness on the one side and nostalgia and patriarchy on the other, we do not know which way the next wind will blow.  Americana expresses both being a female in America and the objects that describe culture in America.  I hope that the combination of these works shines a light on our present moment through the lens of an artist's singular perspective of being American.

I loved this exhibit.  There were several felted pieces like the one on the left that are both playful and beautiful.  I have no idea how the artist made these, but I would love to learn.  The fiber sculptures that are in the exhibit range from depicting the natural world to objects that are all too familiar to Americans as being part of our greater culture, especially the esperience of being female in our culture. 

Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

 I am trying to be a bit more proactive in my Oscar movie watching this year, and so when the short list for a number of categories came out, I scanned my local movie schedules and have been trying to see the things that are nominated and still in theaters. This one is likely to end up with a musical nomination at the very least, so I took my youngest son and was prepared to be disappointed.  Why?  Because I absolutely adore the original movie, which was one of the movies I saw in a theater when I was young, rather than at a drive in or on the very poor quality and relatively small television screens of the 1960's.  I was so pleased to be wrong.
A musical Mary Poppins returns when the Banks children of the original movie have grown up and John Banks has children of his own. Emily Blunt and Lin Manuel Miranda do an excellent job of recapitulating Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke's charming characters and deft singing skills, the story is pulled forward and it is a sumptuous feel good movie.

Turkey with Garlic and Anchovies

The concept comes from Provence, so in my book it has merit.  However, I did pause.  If you are thinking that this sounds like an odd combination, I hear you.  The persuading argument for me in trying the recipe is that anchovy adds umami and turkey desperately needs that.  True enough.  The results were spectacular, I must say and good enough to consider putting another turkey in the freezer to have over spring holidays when turkey can be harder to find in the market.

• 8 garlic cloves
• 8 to 12 anchovy fillets, to taste
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon drained capers
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• Kosher salt, as needed
• 1 (10- to 13-pound) turkey, giblets removed
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• ½ small fennel bulb, diced
• ½ lemon, seeded and thinly sliced
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 to 2 quarts turkey or chicken stock, as needed
• Extra-virgin olive oil, as needed

Gravy:

• ½ cup dry white wine
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (GF works too, just be patient)
• 1 cup turkey or chicken stock, more as needed
• 1 tablespoon tarragon leaves (optional)
• Kosher salt, to taste

1. In a blender, small food processor or large mortar and pestle, combine garlic, anchovies, rosemary, capers and pepper and 1/2 teaspoon salt per pound of turkey (i.e. 5 teaspoons salt for a 10-pound turkey). Process or pound to a paste.
2. Place a wire rack on top of a rimmed baking sheet. Cut tiny slits all over turkey legs. Rub two-thirds of the paste all over the turkey, under its skin and in the cavity, then stuff remaining paste into holes in the legs. Transfer to the rack on the baking sheet and refrigerate uncovered overnight or for up to 3 days.
3. Remove turkey from the refrigerator 1 hour before roasting.
4. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Scatter onion, shallots, fennel and lemon in a roasting pan fitted with a rack. Pour in wine and 1 cup water, then add enough turkey or chicken stock so there is 1/4 inch of liquid in the pan. Place turkey on the roasting rack and brush with oil. Roast for 30 minutes, then cover breast with foil.
5. Reduce oven to 350 degrees and continue to roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 165 degrees, 1 1/2 to 2 hours longer. If the bottom of the pan dries out entirely, add a little more stock to keep it from burning. Remove from oven and let rest 10 minutes on the roasting rack. Transfer to cutting board and rest another 10 to 15 minutes before carving and serving.
6. While the turkey rests, make the gravy: Remove the roasting rack and use a slotted spoon to remove lemon slices, onions, shallots and fennel from the pan. Pour in wine and bring to a simmer over medium heat, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Simmer until liquid is nearly evaporated, then whisk in butter and flour. Let it cook, whisking, until flour mixture turns pale gold, about 3 minutes. Whisk in stock and tarragon, if using. Bring to a simmer and heat until thickened, about 3 to 5 minutes, whisking occasionally. If you want a very smooth gravy you can blend in a blender or pass the mixture through a sieve. Or serve as is. Taste and add salt if necessary.

There There by Tommy Orange

This is on Obama's reading list for this year, and while there is always some overlap with other "Best of" lists, I do love to see what he was reading, and this year he included some things that were published in years gone by.
This is a book that while relatively short in length, covers a continuum of the American Indian experience in the modern world.  Orange, who is from the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, utilizes first, second and third-person narration to incredible effect, creating a multi-voiced novel that effectively reflects an entire community, old and young, urban and reservation, traditional and assimilated. One narrator is an adult with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, the result of a one night assault that occurred during the protest on Alcatraz, whose mother is the kind of help you would expect, and who gives voice to that experience.  It is both sad and somehow, in the midst of it all, also hopeful.  It is strong true voice.

Avengers: Infinity Wars (2018)

I am moving swiftly through the short list of nominees for Visual Effects, which will translate into nominees in a number of categories once they are announced, and amazingly a lot of them are already available.
So here goes.  If I hadn't been keeping up with the Marvel movies these last few years (they always seem to score a nomination or two, and so I watch them within that context), I would never have been able to follow the story line in this one.  There are the Avengers, there is the Justice League, there are the Guardians of the Galaxy.  This is probably one of the most star packed movies of the year, so much possible talent up on the screen.  And yet, it is just one long all out battle for the Infinity stones with Thanos, in every corner of the universe (including Wakonda--it didn't take long for that movie to move into the mainstream of Marvel).  There are a number of tight corners, and super hero faced with difficult dilemmas, but largely there is just visual effects, non-stop from start to finish.

Bons Voyages Dans La Nouvelle Année

Here is my wish for the coming year.  It is that I continue to be able to travel to spectacular places.  Having cancer brought home to me loud and clear that making the time and saving the money to travel and to spend time with the people that you enjoy is something that you can't put off.  I am also realizing as I get older that it is not as easy as it once was for me to adjust to differing time zones.  This makes for some interesting conundrums, as I still have a full time job to sandwich this all into.
So here is where to start.  I hope to do a number of long weekends, which take smaller amounts of vacation time and can be a good way to see a city.  As an example, I saw a posting on social media from a college friend related to how many great things there are at her local museum right now and it got me thinking "I should go to Boston to see some interesting exhibits at the Museum of Fine Arts and to take in a lobster roll or two."  I am hoping to be more intentional about visiting family as well.  I also hope that when I am home that I learn some new cooking skills, practice the Thai cooking that I learned there, and just get better in that arena.  Book, movies, doing some quilting, and now that I think of it, it sounds like a very full year.  I am also hopeful that my knee arthritis improves and that I avoid falling the whole winter.