Friday, January 28, 2011
It's art that you wear!
The 25th Annual Wearable Art show is coming up next week, and we have a new book that showcases decades of textile-based art. Artwear: fashion and anti-fashion, by Melissa Leventon, features pieces from a 2005 exhibit at the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco. Leventon - who curated the exhibit - begins with an historical look at the merging of fashion and craft. From the Arts & Crafts movement of the late 1800's to the renewed emphasis on nature during the 1970's and on into the recent experimentation with digital techniques and industrial fibers, textile artists have pushed the boundaries of fashion and perception. Truly elegant painted silks, delicately beaded dresses, intricate smocking and elaborate construction techniques come together in amazingly creative ways. Pages and pages of color photos will inspire budding textile artists, and get you fired up for the show next weekend. (You might even think about getting a jump-start on Wearble XXVI)
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
New music
We have some wonderful new CDs if you're looking for something creative and unusual:
AfroCubism is a collaboration between musicians from Mali and Cuba. In fact, this album was supposed to be created back in 1996, but when the musicians from Mali couldn't make it, the Cubans got together anyway and produced Buena Vista Social Club. Expect great things from this blend of African and Cuban rhythms.
African sounds prevail on Bela Fleck's new album Throw Down Your Heart: tales from the acoustic planet. Vol. 3, the Africa sessions. Fleck brings his banjo back to it's homeland, jamming with musicians from Uganda, Mali, Tanzania and Gambia.
Harlem River Blues is the latest album from Justin Townes Earle (son of musician Steve Earle). Part country, part indie rock, part folk, this CD features some haunting songwriting by Earle. Despite the hillbilly feel of the music, the songs themselves deal with life in New York City. It's an interesting juxtaposition.
Clarinetwork: Live at the Village Vanguard has a sound you might associate more readily with NYC. Anat Cohen, who has a nice light touch on the clarinet, pays tribute to the centennial of Benny Goodman's birth with a selection of his standards. She gives them a little harder, jazzier sound, but she maintains that same swinging, lilting sound.
Buddy Guy: Living Proof is the latest from a blues legend. At 74, Buddy Guy is still going strong. He has a couple of tracks with guest artists B.B. King and Carlos Santana, but the rest of the album is all Buddy's gravelly voice and smoking guitar.
AfroCubism is a collaboration between musicians from Mali and Cuba. In fact, this album was supposed to be created back in 1996, but when the musicians from Mali couldn't make it, the Cubans got together anyway and produced Buena Vista Social Club. Expect great things from this blend of African and Cuban rhythms.
African sounds prevail on Bela Fleck's new album Throw Down Your Heart: tales from the acoustic planet. Vol. 3, the Africa sessions. Fleck brings his banjo back to it's homeland, jamming with musicians from Uganda, Mali, Tanzania and Gambia.
Harlem River Blues is the latest album from Justin Townes Earle (son of musician Steve Earle). Part country, part indie rock, part folk, this CD features some haunting songwriting by Earle. Despite the hillbilly feel of the music, the songs themselves deal with life in New York City. It's an interesting juxtaposition.
Clarinetwork: Live at the Village Vanguard has a sound you might associate more readily with NYC. Anat Cohen, who has a nice light touch on the clarinet, pays tribute to the centennial of Benny Goodman's birth with a selection of his standards. She gives them a little harder, jazzier sound, but she maintains that same swinging, lilting sound.
Buddy Guy: Living Proof is the latest from a blues legend. At 74, Buddy Guy is still going strong. He has a couple of tracks with guest artists B.B. King and Carlos Santana, but the rest of the album is all Buddy's gravelly voice and smoking guitar.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Go on, take a bite
If you're one of a handful of people in this country that aren't concerned about shedding a few post-holiday pounds, then we've got the cookbooks for you!
Classic Home Desserts by Richard Sax is a reprint of an award-winning bible for bakers. Two decades after it first came out, it is still a treasure trove of traditional (Raspberry Flummery), unique (Grape-Nuts Pudding) and contemporary (Cappucino Semifreddo) desserts. Although there aren't as many photos as I would like, the recipes are simple enough for the average home cook. My personal favorite: Grape-nuts pudding.
Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum is full of beautiful pictures, presents measurements in volume and weight (both metric and imperial), and instructs the cook on what special equipment might be needed for each recipe and what ingredients might need to be prepared ahead. Recipes range from the homey (English Gingerbread) to the elegant (Grand Marnier Wedding Cake).
Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy melt-in-your-mouth cookies by Alice Medrich is an amazing collection of unusual and decadent cookies. Sorted by texture, the recipes include such interesting suggestions as Masala Macaroons, Spiced Fig Meneinas, Honey Hemp Bars and Pecan Polvorones with Muscovado Filling. There's also Snickerdoodles, Fudgy Brownies, Meringues and Lemon Bars, if you like your sweet nibbles a bit more familiar.
Meat: a kitchen education by James Peterson is a wonderful book for anyone who is daunted by the ever-changing names in the meat display at the local grocery store. The photographs show you what the cut actually looks like, how to prepare it for cooking (trimming, boning, butterflying, etc.) and what cooking techniques to use with that particular cut (braising, roasting, sauteing, grilling, etc.). Peterson even includes sections on game and sausages.
Heart of the Artichoke and other kitchen journeys by David Tanis is my personal favorite of the new crop of cookbooks. Chef at the renowned Chez Panisse restaurant, Tanis presents recipes grouped by season: both in the weight and tenor of their flavor, and in the accessibility of the ingredients. No strawberries in December for Tanis. His recipes are truly global, incorporating flavors from the Mediterranean, Latin America, the Far East and Europe. He presents 5 menus per season, with a varying degree of complexity. The Panfried Steak with Steak Sauce is easily done, the Terrine of Pork and Duck Liver....less so. Generally speaking, however, the recipes are simple and easy to make, with just a few ingredients and a pure flavor.
Classic Home Desserts by Richard Sax is a reprint of an award-winning bible for bakers. Two decades after it first came out, it is still a treasure trove of traditional (Raspberry Flummery), unique (Grape-Nuts Pudding) and contemporary (Cappucino Semifreddo) desserts. Although there aren't as many photos as I would like, the recipes are simple enough for the average home cook. My personal favorite: Grape-nuts pudding.
Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum is full of beautiful pictures, presents measurements in volume and weight (both metric and imperial), and instructs the cook on what special equipment might be needed for each recipe and what ingredients might need to be prepared ahead. Recipes range from the homey (English Gingerbread) to the elegant (Grand Marnier Wedding Cake).
Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy melt-in-your-mouth cookies by Alice Medrich is an amazing collection of unusual and decadent cookies. Sorted by texture, the recipes include such interesting suggestions as Masala Macaroons, Spiced Fig Meneinas, Honey Hemp Bars and Pecan Polvorones with Muscovado Filling. There's also Snickerdoodles, Fudgy Brownies, Meringues and Lemon Bars, if you like your sweet nibbles a bit more familiar.
Meat: a kitchen education by James Peterson is a wonderful book for anyone who is daunted by the ever-changing names in the meat display at the local grocery store. The photographs show you what the cut actually looks like, how to prepare it for cooking (trimming, boning, butterflying, etc.) and what cooking techniques to use with that particular cut (braising, roasting, sauteing, grilling, etc.). Peterson even includes sections on game and sausages.
Heart of the Artichoke and other kitchen journeys by David Tanis is my personal favorite of the new crop of cookbooks. Chef at the renowned Chez Panisse restaurant, Tanis presents recipes grouped by season: both in the weight and tenor of their flavor, and in the accessibility of the ingredients. No strawberries in December for Tanis. His recipes are truly global, incorporating flavors from the Mediterranean, Latin America, the Far East and Europe. He presents 5 menus per season, with a varying degree of complexity. The Panfried Steak with Steak Sauce is easily done, the Terrine of Pork and Duck Liver....less so. Generally speaking, however, the recipes are simple and easy to make, with just a few ingredients and a pure flavor.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Another Guest Review
THE TIGER: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival
By John Valliant
By John Valliant
Review by George Pasley
This book is a true account of a tiger killing near the village of Sobolonye in the Russian Far East in December, 1997. As such it is a gripping narrative, describing how the Tiger seems to have stalked and killed a man who had earlier tried to kill the tiger, how the Tiger went on to kill one more man and to terrorize a village, and how authorities tracked down and killed the tiger at risk to their own lives.
But it is more than a true story, and that is the genius of the book. Each of the characters in the story came from somewhere else far away, for reasons other than choice, and stayed because for the most part they had no choice. Instead, they were compelled both to come and to stay for reasons of history, politics and economy. Valliant weaves those reasons into the narrative.
Even more, Valliant gives vivid description to the exceptionally unique ecology of the region known as Primorye, to the evolution of tigers, to the history of interaction between men and predatory beasts (including a vivid and chilling description of baboons hiding in caves by nighttime), the environmental predicaments posed by perestroika, the economic depravity in which the current residents of Primorye live, and finally, efforts to save the Siberian Tiger from extinction.
I found the book holding tight grip on my interest, and loved the way the author helped us to see both the larger environmental, economic and political pictures as well as the intimate picture of a life and death struggle in the winter forest, and yet held the larger picture and the intimate picture in balance.
The Tiger is educational reading and compelling narrative. I would read it again, and read anything else Valliant has written.
This book is a true account of a tiger killing near the village of Sobolonye in the Russian Far East in December, 1997. As such it is a gripping narrative, describing how the Tiger seems to have stalked and killed a man who had earlier tried to kill the tiger, how the Tiger went on to kill one more man and to terrorize a village, and how authorities tracked down and killed the tiger at risk to their own lives.
But it is more than a true story, and that is the genius of the book. Each of the characters in the story came from somewhere else far away, for reasons other than choice, and stayed because for the most part they had no choice. Instead, they were compelled both to come and to stay for reasons of history, politics and economy. Valliant weaves those reasons into the narrative.
Even more, Valliant gives vivid description to the exceptionally unique ecology of the region known as Primorye, to the evolution of tigers, to the history of interaction between men and predatory beasts (including a vivid and chilling description of baboons hiding in caves by nighttime), the environmental predicaments posed by perestroika, the economic depravity in which the current residents of Primorye live, and finally, efforts to save the Siberian Tiger from extinction.
I found the book holding tight grip on my interest, and loved the way the author helped us to see both the larger environmental, economic and political pictures as well as the intimate picture of a life and death struggle in the winter forest, and yet held the larger picture and the intimate picture in balance.
The Tiger is educational reading and compelling narrative. I would read it again, and read anything else Valliant has written.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
MARATHON: How One Battle Changed Western Civilization
Marathon: How One Battle Changed Western Civilization, by Richard A Billows
Review by George Pasley
Marathon is a newly written history book that doesn’t get bogged down in details (as so many history books do). Billows, a professor of Greek and Roman History at Columbia, takes the reader through an accounting of the famous battle of Marathon between armies of the city-state of Athens and the Persian Empire in August, 490 B.C.E.. His account includes a summary of how it has been viewed through the centuries since, a summary of the progress of Greek culture up to that time, a brief history of the Persian Empire, a history of conflict between Persia and the cities of Greece, a history of Greek democracy, a closer look at Sparta, the history of the battle, and a chapter devoted to explaining an assortment of things likely to have been ‘lost’ to western culture if Athens had lost the battle.
Having said that the book does not bog the reader down in details, I do need to say that the unavoidable use of large numbers of Greek and Persian names is a difficulty. They don’t need to be pronounced, but their strangeness to American readers makes it difficult to remember and distinguish them form one another.
The aside on Sparta was very insightful. The Spartans had a very deserved reputation as soldiers, a reputation that survives to this day, and use of the word “Spartan” to describe meager rations and lifestyle has its roots in fact- the Spartans ate their evening meal at ‘mess” and it was not much more than beans. But enlightened modern readers will be dismayed to know that the entire Spartan military complex was devised as away of keeping slaves in check, so that Spartan citizens would never have to work. In terms of military matters, that meant Sparta was very reluctant to send their soldiers out of their immediate region, for fear of not being able to put down a slave revolt back home.
It is especially helpful to know the exact nature of Athenian Democracy, its origin in issues of property ownership, its principle authors (Solon and Kleisthenes), and its layered features. In light of current American politics, I found it fascinating to know that the Athenians did not trust elections. Instead, they chose office holders by lottery- and had a process for sending citizens into exile if they seemed to be gaining too much influence. Billows makes the argument that the way that Athens knit military service to citizenry made their citizen soldiers more willing to fight to the death, as they were fighting for THEIR freedom.
Billows explains the Athenian strategy that won the battle for Athens, and then makes his case as to why the battle affected the flow of history. Unlike many other events, he argues that we do know what would have happened had Persia won: the surviving citizens of Athens would have been led into exile on the Persian Gulf, meaning that they would not have remained free in Greece, later to create drama, perfectionist art, and philosophy. Most importantly, the victory of Athens meant the survival of democracy (less than two decades old at the time of the battle). But Athens won, democracy survived, and millions enjoy its privileges today.
Review by George Pasley
Marathon is a newly written history book that doesn’t get bogged down in details (as so many history books do). Billows, a professor of Greek and Roman History at Columbia, takes the reader through an accounting of the famous battle of Marathon between armies of the city-state of Athens and the Persian Empire in August, 490 B.C.E.. His account includes a summary of how it has been viewed through the centuries since, a summary of the progress of Greek culture up to that time, a brief history of the Persian Empire, a history of conflict between Persia and the cities of Greece, a history of Greek democracy, a closer look at Sparta, the history of the battle, and a chapter devoted to explaining an assortment of things likely to have been ‘lost’ to western culture if Athens had lost the battle.
Having said that the book does not bog the reader down in details, I do need to say that the unavoidable use of large numbers of Greek and Persian names is a difficulty. They don’t need to be pronounced, but their strangeness to American readers makes it difficult to remember and distinguish them form one another.
The aside on Sparta was very insightful. The Spartans had a very deserved reputation as soldiers, a reputation that survives to this day, and use of the word “Spartan” to describe meager rations and lifestyle has its roots in fact- the Spartans ate their evening meal at ‘mess” and it was not much more than beans. But enlightened modern readers will be dismayed to know that the entire Spartan military complex was devised as away of keeping slaves in check, so that Spartan citizens would never have to work. In terms of military matters, that meant Sparta was very reluctant to send their soldiers out of their immediate region, for fear of not being able to put down a slave revolt back home.
It is especially helpful to know the exact nature of Athenian Democracy, its origin in issues of property ownership, its principle authors (Solon and Kleisthenes), and its layered features. In light of current American politics, I found it fascinating to know that the Athenians did not trust elections. Instead, they chose office holders by lottery- and had a process for sending citizens into exile if they seemed to be gaining too much influence. Billows makes the argument that the way that Athens knit military service to citizenry made their citizen soldiers more willing to fight to the death, as they were fighting for THEIR freedom.
Billows explains the Athenian strategy that won the battle for Athens, and then makes his case as to why the battle affected the flow of history. Unlike many other events, he argues that we do know what would have happened had Persia won: the surviving citizens of Athens would have been led into exile on the Persian Gulf, meaning that they would not have remained free in Greece, later to create drama, perfectionist art, and philosophy. Most importantly, the victory of Athens meant the survival of democracy (less than two decades old at the time of the battle). But Athens won, democracy survived, and millions enjoy its privileges today.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Library Building Committee meeting tonight
There will be a meeting of the Library Building Committee tonight at the Ted Ferry Civic Center at 4 pm. The public are welcome to attend the meeting. Hope to see you there!
Friday, December 3, 2010
New Christmas Books
'Tis the season....for new holiday novels and craft books!
CRAFT BOOKS
How to Build a Gingerbread House: a step-by-step guide to sweet results by Christina Banner. One of the nicest things about this book is that in addition to patterns for different holiday houses (St. Patrick's day, Easter, Halloween, Christmas), she offers ideas for each aspect of a gingerbread house. You can pick and choose different elements and create an entirely new look.
Big Book of Thread Ornaments: over 100 crochet designs by Leisure Arts. Angels, snowflakes, bells and balls, all with a delicate lace-like texture. If you know how to crochet, you must make a snowflake ornament at least once in your life.
Fa La La La Felt: 45 handmade holiday decorations by Amanda Carestio. I'm a sucker for felt, and these pretty little projects all use felt fabric (quick and easy to sew), instead of felted wool (adorable, but very time-consuming). Stockings, garlands and ornaments in bright, happy colors.
A Very Beaded Christmas: 46 projects that glitter, twinkle and shine by Terry Taylor. Projects range from adding a little festive dash to gift wrapping to elaborate beaded ornaments. If you can sew, bend wire, crochet or even glue, you can find a project here.
NOVELS
Christmas Eve in Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas. A modern romance set in Washington, with an orphaned little girl, a lonely uncle and a grieving widow.
Christmas Mourning by Margaret Maron. The latest mystery featuring Judge Deborah Knott and her husband, Sheriff's Deputy Dwight Bryant.
A Christmas Odyssey by Anne Perry. It wouldn't be Christmas without a new holiday novel from acclaimed mystery author Perry. This is her eighth novel that mixes the Victorian Christmas season with crime and suspense.
A Christmas Journey by Donna VanLiere. This is a retelling of the Nativity story, complete with charming little watercolor illustrations by Michael Storrings.
CRAFT BOOKS
How to Build a Gingerbread House: a step-by-step guide to sweet results by Christina Banner. One of the nicest things about this book is that in addition to patterns for different holiday houses (St. Patrick's day, Easter, Halloween, Christmas), she offers ideas for each aspect of a gingerbread house. You can pick and choose different elements and create an entirely new look.
Big Book of Thread Ornaments: over 100 crochet designs by Leisure Arts. Angels, snowflakes, bells and balls, all with a delicate lace-like texture. If you know how to crochet, you must make a snowflake ornament at least once in your life.
Fa La La La Felt: 45 handmade holiday decorations by Amanda Carestio. I'm a sucker for felt, and these pretty little projects all use felt fabric (quick and easy to sew), instead of felted wool (adorable, but very time-consuming). Stockings, garlands and ornaments in bright, happy colors.
A Very Beaded Christmas: 46 projects that glitter, twinkle and shine by Terry Taylor. Projects range from adding a little festive dash to gift wrapping to elaborate beaded ornaments. If you can sew, bend wire, crochet or even glue, you can find a project here.
NOVELS
Christmas Eve in Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas. A modern romance set in Washington, with an orphaned little girl, a lonely uncle and a grieving widow.
Christmas Mourning by Margaret Maron. The latest mystery featuring Judge Deborah Knott and her husband, Sheriff's Deputy Dwight Bryant.
A Christmas Odyssey by Anne Perry. It wouldn't be Christmas without a new holiday novel from acclaimed mystery author Perry. This is her eighth novel that mixes the Victorian Christmas season with crime and suspense.
A Christmas Journey by Donna VanLiere. This is a retelling of the Nativity story, complete with charming little watercolor illustrations by Michael Storrings.
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