You might not consider High Noon a Cold War movie, but you will after you read J. Hoberman’s fascinating book, An Army of Phantoms: American Movies and The Making of the Cold War. Village Voice film critic Hoberman analyzes the movies he considers a part of the Cold War media machine: cavalry Westerns, apocalyptic sci-fi flicks, and biblical spectaculars. Hoberman covers witch hunts, House Committee on Un-American Activities tactics and humiliations, the resulting blacklist, message movies, propaganda, and more. An Army of Phantoms also includes the best treatment of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers that I’ve ever read. This is part of a three-book film history of the Cold War. In 2003, Hoberman published The Dream Life: Movies, Media, and the Mythology of the Sixties. A third volume about Ronald Reagan and the Eighties is forthcoming. I can’t wait for the next volume! GRADE: A

It’s been seven years since Alison Krauss and Union Station released a CD so my anticipation was high. I’m a huge fan of Alison Krauss’ crystal-clear voice. Some of the early reviews of Paper Airplane criticized it as not being “country” enough. Nonsense! Alison Krauss and Union Station have mastered their own blend of bluegrass, country, and pop music over the years. If you’re looking for some well played music sung by a major talent, listen to Paper Airplane. GRADE: B+
TRACK LIST:
1. Paper Airplane 3:36
2. Dust Bowl Children 3:06
3. Lie Awake 3:55
4. Lay My Burden Down 3:52
5. My Love Follows You Where You Go 4:03
6. Dimming Of The Day 5:20
7. On The Outside Looking In 3:35
8. Miles To Go 2:54
9. Sinking Stone 4:42
10. Bonita And Bill Butler 4:03
11. My Opening Farewell 4:09

Jane Eyre in Director Cary Fukunaga’s interpretation is a story of a woman who discovers the secret of her employer. Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) and Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds) make this romantic drama based on Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel come to life. Jane Eyre, an orphan, finds work at Thornfield House, where she works as a governess for wealthy Edward Rochester. But, Jane senses that dark secrets are being kept. For my money, this is the most engaging version of Jane Eyre I’ve seen. Of the roughly 17 movies made of Jane Eyre, this production captures the essence of Jane’s complicated character the best. GRADE: A

Hanna features Cate Blanchett as a CIA manager who has a secret. She was in charge of a super-secret program that became too dangerous. Blanchett shuts down the program and “cleans up” the mess. But, there is one loose thread: Blanchett’s best agent escaped with a baby from the experiment. For 15 years, the agent (Eric Bana) raises his daughter and trains her to survive. Now, at age 15, she’s ready. Saoirse Ronan ably plays the puzzled girl who everyone wants to capture. Plenty of chase scenes and fights all to the beat of a driving Chemical Brothers soundtrack. If you’re looking for an off-beat thriller, I highly recommend Hanna. GRADE: A-

Thanks to Scott Cupp, I finally got around to reading C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne’s The Lost Continent, one of the best stories of Atlantis you’ll ever read. The Lost Continent was published in 1899. Lin Carter reprinted the book in his famous
Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in 1972. I, of course, bought an original copy. But that now resides at SUNY at Buffalo. The tale of death and destruction is narrated by Deucalion, a warrior-priest of ancient Atlantis. He’s about the only honorable character in the book. Atlantis is engaged in a civil war. The ruler of Atlantis, the beautiful Phorenice, launches her kingdom on a doomed course. If you enjoy High Adventure in the classic style, you’ll love The Lost Continent.

Imagine: all 60 works of Henry James now reside on our iPad. Patrick is upgrading to the iPad2 so he gave us his “old” iPad. The first thing I wanted to do with the iPad was download a book from AMAZON. As Patti Abbott has pointed out on her blog, some of the ebooks are pricey. It took me a few minutes, but I finally found a bargain: The Complete Henry James for a mere $2.99. That’s about 4 million words. Patrick’s iPad has an app that converts Kindle files so the iPad can read them. My next step will be to actually read one of Henry James’ works on the iPad to see how that experience feels. But, I’m in the ebook world officially now.

In our patriotic quest to save the U. S. economy, Diane and I went to our local Nissan dealership and took a Rogue for a test-drive. The Rogue is built on the same platform as the Altima so it handles like a car. Diane wanted heated seats so we had to buy the SL package which includes:
18″ 5-split-spoke aluminum-alloy wheels
High Intensity Discharge (HID) xenon headlights with manual headlight levelizer
Automatic on/off headlights
Fog lights
Leather-appointed seats
Leather-wrapped steering wheel
Heated front seats
Heated outside mirrors with timer
Digital Bose® audio system with AM/FM/CD
Eight speakers, including Nd® Richbass® woofer
Nissan Navigation System with 5″ color touch-screen monitor
XM® NavTraffic® [*]
Power sliding glass moonroof with sliding shade and one-touch open/close and tilt feature
Auto-dimming rearview mirror
Automatic Temperature Control (ATC)
All that just to get heated seats! Any way, we traded in our 2004 Nissan Quest (they gave us $6100) and because the Rogue comes with all the electronic goodies we bought the Extended Warranty (good for seven years). Diane allowed me to pick the color: silver!

William Goldman’s novel The Princess Bride delighted me when I read it decades ago. It was a sly framed story of swashbuckling adventures that made fun of storytelling conventions. Then, years later the movie version of The Princess Bride arrived and it was as good as the incredible book. Director Rob Reiner translated Goldman’s screenplay into something magical. Grandpa (Peter Falk) reads The Princess Bride to his jaded grandson (Fred Savage). Slowly, the young boy is drawn into the story of a stable boy, Westley (Cary Elwes), who pledges his love to the beautiful Buttercup (Robin Wright). But then Wesley is abducted and allegedly killed by pirates while Buttercup is betrothed to the evil Prince Humperdinck. And then Buttercup is kidnapped by a giant, a criminal genius, and a master Spanish swordsman. A masked pirate follows in pursuit. The plot sparkles with surprises and reversals. In my quest to upgrade my movie collection to Blu-rays, this movie went near the top of the list. If you haven’t seen The Princess Bride, I envy you what you will see when you finally view it. For those of you who have seen The Princess Bride on ordinary DVD, you’ll want to view it again in Blu-ray format. It’s dazzling! GRADE: A

As a diabetic, I’m always on the lookout for low-carb food that tastes good. I stumbled onto Midnight Reverie by Ghirardelli Chocolates by chance. Much of Ghiradelli’s line has too much sugar in it for a diabetic to eat it regularly. But Ghirardelli has a line of chocolates with less sugar, but more cocoa. Midnight Reverie has 86% cocoa, Twilight Delight has 72% cocoa, and Evening Dream has 60% cocoa. It all depends on your taste. Obviously, the more cocoa, the more intense the chocolate sensation. Midnight Reverie has 14 grams of carbohydrates but 5 grams of fiber so the net carb load is only 9 grams. That’s a third of the carbs of most chocolate candy. If you’re a chocoholic like I am, give the Ghirardelli dark chocolate line a try. You won’t be sorry.

Tonight on PBS Masterpiece Theater the story of Upstairs, Downstairs continues. The original classic series was broadcast in the U.S. from 1971 to 1975 in 68 episodes. Set in England from 1903 to the mid-1930s, Upstairs, Downstairs depicts the class differences between the servants who live “downstairs” and their masters who live “upstairs.” This new series is set in 1936, the Year of Three Kings (George V died, Edward VIII abdicated, and George VI–of The King’s Speech fame–comes to power). Change is in the air. PBS plans to broadcast three 1-hour episodes: the first one tonight, then April 17, and the last one April 24. BBC1 has ordered 12 more episodes for 2012. If you’ve seen this series, you know the quality of performances and the drama of the historical setting. Check your local listings for times and stations.