Furthermore: Where the Headlines Take You

And the Winner Is. . .

The Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences recently made a surprise announcement – next year, the field of nominees for the best picture will be increased from five to ten. This may be great news for movie lovers, since it will hopefully make more superlative movies accessible to more people on more movie theater screens in more towns across America.

For many people, the highlight of the Academy Awards broadcast is checking out the stars’ outfits and discussing which ones are fabulous and which are appalling. Fashion writer Bronwyn Cosgrave has written just the book for folks with this interest – Made For Each Other is a carefully researched history of the intersection between high fashion and the annual trip down the Oscar red carpet. Cosgrave chronicles the history of Academy Award fashion from the first ceremony in 1928, discusses the partnerships between stars and designers (Audrey Hepburn and Hubert de Givenchy; Cher and Bob Mackie; Grace Kelly and Edith Head), and considers how press coverage of Oscars fashion can be an easy route to positive publicity for an actress. Of course, the book is lavishly illustrated, with designers’ drawings as well as historic photographs of some totally fabulous dresses.

And speaking of the glamorous side of the Oscars, don’t miss Oscar Night, Graydon Carter and David Friend’s lavish celebration of tinseltown parties. You’ll learn some fascinating facts, for example: from the 1920s to the late 1950s, the Oscar ceremony was the party, and there were no after-the-ceremony parties. Lots of photos, lots of stars (current, former, and nearly forgotten), and lots of vintage gossip!

If facts, data and history are not your bent (no matter how glamorous they may be!), you might want to check out the film For Your Consideration. Writer/stars Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy present a comic examination of the effect Hollywood buzz has on movie people. The story is this: The independent film "Home for Purim" is still in production when the cast and crew learn that one of their number may be in the running for an Oscar nomination. Then the pressure is on: tensions between cast members rise, the producers worry that the film might be "too Jewish" and press to change the title to "Home for Thanksgiving," one of the actors demands a raise, and another breaks up with her actor boyfriend, saying he’s not supportive of her career. The question that remains is, will any of the actors actually get nominated?

Great Depression Film Festival

People are really talking about our current economic downturn. We're talking about it amongst our friends and family and coworkers, people discuss it on the bus, and it's an agenda item in meetings of community organizations and businesses alike. And it's in the news – so much so, in fact, that many news websites have special sections devoted to the economic crisis, including the Christian Science Monitor and the New York Times.  Like a lot of people, I've been drawing some parallels between what's happening now and the Great Depression my grandparents lived through 75 years ago. What was life like then, for regular average Americans? What happened when the bottom fell out of a town's main industry, when young people couldn't find any work at all, or when economic pressures caused families to disintegrate? Maybe the best place to find out is at the movies!

There are some films about the Great Depression, like Bonnie and Clyde, The Color Purple, The Grapes of Wrath, and Cradle Will Rock, which are perennially popular, and if you want to get them from the library, you'll have to wait in line. But there are others, great films that can give you a little perspective on what the great depression of the 1930s was like without having to get on a long waiting list. Here are a few that I like – all of them have loftier themes than mere economic woes, but each film has a setting that's richly evocative of the social challenges of the Great Depression: the prevalence of crime; the extreme shortage of honest, steady work; the temptations of drink and drugs; and many other details of daily life are important elements of all three stories.

The first little gem I'd like to share is the rather scandalous 1931 film Night Nurse. The film begins as Lora Hart (Barbara Stanwyck) manipulates the rules to get a position as a student in a nursing program at a local hospital. The story follows her through her training and to her first job, caring for two sick children whose mother is a drunken, partying socialite. Lora herself is no beacon of moral upstandingness, but her commitment to her profession is sincere and she finds it tested when she begins to realize that she is the only person in her employers wild, boozy household who has any genuine concern for the two children's welfare. (The library's copy of Night Nurse is part of the Forbidden Hollywood Collection, and comes packaged with several other racy early 1930s films.)

For those of you who like a film that exposes the seamy underbelly of life, without being too desperate or tragic, Paper Moon is just the ticket. Con man Moses Pray (Ryan O'Neal) has agreed to deliver recently-orphaned Addie Loggins (Tatum O'Neal) to her aunt's care, but their interest in their destination wanes after Addie becomes a partner in Moses's confidence schemes. Eventually they tangle with a bootlegger who turns out to have powerful connections, and Moses has to figure out how to run from the law without compromising Addie's safety.

But if you crave adventure, daring deeds, and excitement, I'd recommend O Brother, Where Art Thou? Three escaped convicts set out after $1.2 million dollars that one of them, Everett (George Clooney), claims to have stolen and set by before he went to prison – but they're in a hurry because the treasure will be buried under a lake that's about to be created when a new hydroelectric project is brought on line. At the same time, Everett is trying to get back to his wife and family. Along the way they record a hit country song, help rob a bank, and stumble on a meeting of the local Ku Klux Klan, and, well I can't even begin to enumerate all the trouble they get in!

Wisdom From Unlikely Sources

In trying times, good advice can be hard to come by, let alone the wisdom that will help prop us up through crisis after crisis. The NPR project This I Believe is a simple one: to engage listeners in a discussion of and to record the core beliefs of people from all walks of life. It's no surprise that this project harks back to what we think of as a simpler time; it's based on an earlier project of the same name from journalistic heavyweight Edward R. Murrow. Last week, the voice of a seven year old boy reading a list of thirty of his beliefs roused me from a gentle slumber. These were heavyweight beliefs, too. Not one of them was, "I believe that candy is the greatest invention created by mankind." Tarak read, "I believe we live best in a community," and "I believe people should not give up." With the wisdom of a small child still ringing in my ears, I went searching for more guidance:

With selections from Tupak Shakur, Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan and many, many more, The Message: 100 Life Lessons from Hip-Hop's Greatest Songs stands on the shoulders of giants to deliver its message of optimism. It's a motivational self-help book from a woman who admits to her own baggage. Felicia Pride weaves a personal story of how the greatest lyrics and stories in hip-hop worked to help her in her own life.

Who says you can't reach Nirvana in a darkened movie theater? In Cinema Nirvana: Enlightenment Lessons from the Movies, Buddhist and meditation educator Dean Sluyter enlightens us on some of the spiritual principles we can glean from the movies. The Graduate, The Godfather, and even Jaws have messages for us. This book should be a fun way to learn more about Buddhist sprirituality or to explore a different persective on a selection of classic films.

You know Sesame Street's Elmo has lessons to teach children, but what about to the man who acts and voices him? In his first book, Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash tells us about My Life as a Furry Red Monster : What Being Elmo Has Taught Me about Life, Love and Laughing Out Loud. Each chapter is a life lesson: "Love", "Tolerance", "Cooperation", "Optimism". From his early days constructing puppets as a child, to his current dedication to entertaining and educating children, Clash tells his own story and the part playing Elmo has had in it.