Le Concert

 

If you like good music you are a step into liking—strike that—loving this movie.

But it’s not just the music, The Concert has all the constituent parts of a good film: it’s a story with a beginning. middle, and end; it has romance of a kind; likable characters; and yes, one compelling attribute: absolutely beautiful music.

The glue that binds the parts together is the kind of innocent bond between the two main characters, the beatific Anne-Marie Jacquet, the first violin, played by Melanie Laurent, and Il Maestro, Andrey Filipov, played by Aleksey Guskov. The Concert is a French film, a comedy, with the typical French/Italian wackiness that comes across as slightly annoying to me if it goes on for too long. It doesn’t here.

This is a good movie and the last 10+ minutes is uninterrupted musical enjoyment.

4 out of 5 stars.
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More Donut Talk: the Cronut

For those of us who can never get enough donut news:

The latest New York City food passion is the CRONUT, croissant dough formed to donut shape and deep fried. Dominique Ansel and his SoHo bakery make only 300 per day and sell out every morning as fast as the line will move. Limit: two cronuts per person.

Here's the New York Times link with other croissant variations, as well: New York Times

For a better story, and where I first read about the cronut, go here: Daily Beast. Worth watching: the embedded Vimeo has an interview with the pastry chef and snippets of customer comments.

Craft Beers: Doing the Numbers

My three sons are craft beer enthusiasts. Their father is not because my beer-drinking days have past, and because, I don't get it. I'll never be able to use the phrase "mouth feel" when referring to a beverage. They do.

But I like the "movement," the kind of 60's back to the garden, do-good-things-for-the-love-of-it kind of approach with a little of anti-establishment, anti-monopoly religious zeal thrown in. Tell a craft beer guy you'd prefer a Budweiser and you'll soon feel like the proverbial sinner at the church picnic.

From the June 7 The New Yorker Magazine post:

"As of March, the United States was home to two thousand three hundred and sixty craft breweries, the relatively small, artisanship-oriented producers best known for India pale ales, porters, and other decidedly non-Budweiser-esque beers. These beverages have become so popular that craft beer now represents thirty per cent of Costco’s beer sales..."

I believe it. When I was in Philadelphia a couple weeks ago I bought beer for my boys at the local corner market. Years ago the display shelves would have been lined with six-packs of Miller, Coors, and Bud, now they are lined with single bottles of craft beer with names like Dogfish, Victory, and Sierra Nevada. Hundreds of labels all neatly stacked in rows. Never mind that each bottle costs about three bucks each, and never mind that I used to buy a 12-pack of Natural Light for $5.97, this is what the 20 - 40 year old beer drinker is drinking.

Of course, Budweiser is paying attention and like any corporate bully will be looking to buy up the profitable bits of the business and some craft brewers will be looking to cash out and cash in. This is America after all. When I was 18, I never imagined the Beatles could be anything but revolutionaries, but I have heard the instrumental Musak version of "You Say You Want a Revolution" in a JC Penney's shoe section. It ain't right but it happens.

What I am saying is one never knows how something like this will mature, but however it grows up we can all enjoy a return to quality, to small business, big dreams, and the big adventure, and if I had half a chance I'd jump in with them. If you like numbers and charts the New Yorker has some catchy interactive charts with numbers for all kinds of artisan beer categories.

Click here: BEER

The Glazed Donut Sandwich.

"Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess."

 So said Oscar Wilde and Dunkin' Donuts is hoping he's right.

On June 7, DD is taking their new donut sandwich nationwide. A glazed-donut-egg sandwich. What could be better for breakfast? Forget the IRS scandal and Benghazi. This is important stuff.

I love Dunkin Donuts. I like their coffee, donuts, breakfast sandwiches and overall vibe. I miss their diner-style stores with bar counters and stools and old guys drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, reading the paper, and enjoying a donut. But that's the old Dunkin Donuts. The new Dunkin' Donuts has a healthier more hip kind of cuisine, like the glazed donut and egg sandwich.

Yes, I will be trying one as soon as I can.

The only Dunkin Donuts I know of in the Fort Worth area is here: Precinct Line Rd, Hurst, TX

La Colombe, Di Bruno's, Village Whiskey, Dogfish beer, and Rittenhouse Square

Sorry for a food post on Philadelphia but I have just returned from attending my son's graduation so you get what I get I guess.

Anyway, if you do find yourself in the City of Brotherly Love's Center City area let me make these suggestions.

Coffee: the best cup of coffee, espresso, or cappucchino in town, or on the eastern seaboard is La Colombe. I say this for many reasons, the first being, of course, an honest cup of hot coffee. But equally, it's a real place, real baristas, real wood chairs on a hardwood floor.

La Colombe keep things simple because they try to do one thing well: coffee, and they haven't turned the store into a retail gift shop that also sells coffee (Yes, that's you Starbucks), and they sell croissants from a local baker who cares about doing croissants well. As a friend of mine said, "at La Colombe, the coffee comes first, the customer second."

There's no menu, no chalkboard, just get in line and order your standard coffee drink of choice and all God's chillen' are happy. Cash only.

http://www.lacolombe.com/

La Colombe

Di Bruno's
I love this place. They have some of the best sandwiches in town. And cheese, and fish, and desserts.
http://www.dibruno.com/

Di Bruno's

Reading Terminal Market
Want the best pulled pork sandwich in Philadelphia? DiNic's.
http://readingterminalmarket.org/

Village Whiskey
Maybe the best 8 oz. hamburger money can buy. Made from grass fed beef. The bun is perfect and the Duck fat french fries aren't bad either.
http://villagewhiskey.com/

And while I'm at it a little love for the Rittenhouse Plaza-Warwick hotel. Old-fashioned hotel service. Great newly-renovated rooms, friendly staff, and reasonable rates for the location. Rittenhouse Square is the only place to stay if you the love the hum of the city.
http://www.radisson.com/philadelphia-hotel-pa-19103-6179/paphily

The Wall Street Journal agrees, by the way: Rittenhouse

View of Curtis Institute of Music from my favorite bench in Rittenhouse Square

Last thing. If you get to the beach: Don't forget Dolle's Salt Water Taffy and and DogFish Beer from the original pub in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Late Spring at the Beach

Selling the sizzle...again.

One of the artforms of the times in which we live is advertising. Philosopher and social commentator Marshall McLuhan called advertising "the greatest art form of the twentieth century," and "the cave art of the twentieth century." These axioms reveal a subtle criticism and warning to our audio-video age even while recognizing advertising's influence.

But if you're going to do advertising and do it well one would be wise to learn from the masters, and one of them is Apple, or Apple's ad agency.

It's not easy to create a memorable ad but to create one that gets people to act, to actually go out and buy the product, as Apple does, again and again, is something to appreciate.

Here's their latest:
 


No mention is made of gigabytes, mps, or pixels.

Fort Worth Bike Share. 300 Bikes, 28 Stations. Up and Rolling.

 

I participated in the Fort Worth Bike Share launch this last Earth Day, Monday, April 22. Yes, I said Earth Day, and yes, I was there with the green and environmentally conscious. And no I wasn't sporting a red bandana and rolling my own (not that there's anything wrong with that). I kept a more or less low profile.

I hear my libertarian/conservative friends snickering in the background. That's alright, I can take it. I'm still a card-carrying Republican, wary of government intervention, taxes, and handouts, but this, this is different, and what's a measly million dollar grant from the Fed's anyway? Besides, one of the great things about old age is not worrying about every activity in life being logically consistent with all the others.

This was an enjoyable kick-off. I like that the city is supporting and encouraging bike use, walking, and trolleys, and anything else to make Fort Worth a city that people actually live in and not just drive in and out of.

There were about 500 people at the launch including 300 volunteers like myself riding the bikes to their docking stations. I really enjoyed it. I hope it works and grows. And congratulations to the folks at the T for everything they did to make this happen. It's what makes Fort Worth a good place to live.

For information go to: http://fortworthbikesharing.org/

Ten things I would do if I were visiting Fort Worth for the Main Streets Arts Festival and I didn't live here already.

Bar at Capital Grille, Fort Worth

Okay, that's a long title, but you get the idea.

You may have other suggestions, as a matter of fact, I'm sure if you live in Fort Worth you'll have a different list, but if I was in town for just a couple days (and I didn't live here already) here's what I'd try to fit in.

1. Attend something at Bass Hall.
2. Go to the Kimbell to see Michelangelo and Bernini. Or the Modern. Both are considered, as is Bass Hall, some of the nation's finest.
3. Eat lunch and browse at Central Market. Great place to stock up for the weekend. Good selection of beer, wine, breads, cheese, etc.
4. Visit 7th Street for a walk, a drink, or dinner. I think everyone who has lived here for a while is surprised to see how 7th Street from Summit to University has exploded with restaurants, shops, apartments, bars, and shopping.  It's worth visiting.
5. Rent a bike at Trinity Bicycles and ride along the river from University Park to around the old Cats baseball park and back. Once you get on the north side of Fort Worth it's a quiet, country ride.
6. A healthy walk at the Botanical Gardens. The roses are blooming this time of year and the gardens are spring-green from the rain and warm weather.
7. Walk Magnolia Street and pick a place for a meal or a drink. Magnolia Street has a more organic, less planned feel to it than 7th, and it is still developing with small family or privately owned businesses. It's still my favorite street in Fort Worth.  Ryan's Grocers, Lili's Bistro, Ellerbe Fine Foods, Nonna Tata, Benito's. All good.
8. Grab a beer at the White Elephant on Saturday night and walk around the Stockyards. The White Elephant is a bar that doesn't pretend to be anything else. They serve beer and drinks and have live music and a small dance floor. Or it did. I haven't been in a few years. Esquire magazine places it in the top 100 bars in America which may mean it's now popular and not as good. 
9. And last but not least downtown Fort Worth where Main Streets Arts Festival is held. Want a great steak? I like Capital Grille. 
10. Enjoy the Main Street Arts Festival. One of this city's best annual events. 

Opening Day

For those of us who grew up when baseball was America's game there is no day like Opening Day, and indeed, I  suggest that no other activity in American life introduces itself with as much joyous fanfare. What other sport has our President introduce its season with something akin to a first pitch? There is no presidential first pass in football, no first jump shot in basketball, or shot on goal in hockey or soccer. Only baseball has that honor.

And why shouldn't it?  Opening Day kind of personifies the American love of re-birth, of forgetting what is behind and moving forward, of hoping once again that this year is our year. Baseball opens with spring's first days; the sun is shining, the grass is growing, the birds are singing. Life is good.

Think I've gone too far? Well let me add this: I think it no coincidence that Easter and opening day are near the same day of the year. I mean no disrespect when I say that baseball's opening day has some metaphorical relation to the Resurrection of our Lord. The winter that is football is over. The sun shines anew.

I have been fortunate enough to attend dozens of opening days at the ballparks in Arlington and always love that first sense of the place: the green grass, the smiling, hopeful faces, the smell of hotdogs, beer, and nachos, the pretty girls parading about, and the sound of the first crack of ball meeting bat. God is good.

It's morning in America.

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The Texas Rangers played their first game at home of the season this afternoon. Opening Day score: 3 - 2. Rangers win.
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The un-erectable Erector Set.

A few days ago, Marian brought home an erector set for my grandson who is seven years old. The nicely packaged and handsome set of plastic screws, nuts, wheels and one electric motor makes, or should make, five different kinds of trucks. Just follow instructions, pictures provided.

As you might expect. No way.

Let me say before I make myself look foolish that I have re-engineered and assembled at home for my self, my wife, and my children everything from gas cooking grills, to swing sets, doll houses, bicycles and even Ikea furniture (the only item in the list that is easy). You name it I've assembled it, albeit never without calling the manufacturer every possible curse word related to God, the after-life, mothers and dogs. But I usually prevailed through disregarding the non-instructive instructions.

So when my grandson asked me if I wanted to help I said sure, thinking that a toy sold for ages 5 - 8 as self assembly would be nothing but me holding something while the grandson built.

An hour into what was supposed to be a self-propelled dump truck I gave up. I didn't tell him that I had given up because what we had self propelled, and that's really all he cared about --if you held on to the loose pieces rattling off the dump truck part.

One question for the erector set manufacturer. Could I meet the five year old you tested this on?
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