Topic: Culture

The Snowman: Perennial enchantment

By Christine Anne Piesyk | December 1, 2007 |

This review ran in Clarksville Online on Nov. 29, 2006. But as my granddaughter and I unpacked my collection of snowmen for the coming holiday, my carefully wrapped musical plush Snowman emerged, to the delight of both of us. Everything else was dropped as we sat in the living room, puling the cord that triggered a music box version of the film’s hit song: Walking in the Air. As a Christmas gift idea for the child all of us, and a reminder of just how good animation can be, I reprint this review, with an updated video clip. Enjoy.

I can’t recall how many copies of The Snowman I’ve bought over the years, but it’s been quite a few. I usually end up giving them away to children who watch and are captivated by its’ magic. And then I buy another copy.

To the uninitiated, The Snowman is a delightful, animated short film about a young boy, James, who builds a snowman that springs to life as midnight chimes. It has only a few lines of introduction at the beginning; the remainder of the film is a symphonic soundtrack that follows their adventures, first as Snowman explores James’ world, putting on pants with suspenders, trying on hats, discovering a music box and the dangerous warmth of a fire. James and his fantasy creation dance across the floor of the house before heading outside, where the he and Snowman, in his mossy green hat and scarf embark on a journey north, racing through the forest and flying through the sky to a magical gathering of snowpeople in the far, far north.

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Frolic on Franklin draws crowds downtown for a day of arts

By Debbie Boen | September 22, 2007 |

White tents lined Franklin Street as artists gathered to exhibit their individual crafts in the annual “Frolic on Franklin,” held Saturday in downtown Clarksville, sponsored by Downtown Clarksville Association, F&M and Planter’s Banks.

It was an open air gallery, with work by jewelry designers, visual and graphic artists, wood carvings, pottery, and plenty of food and entertainment, a day of festivities and a celebration of local artists and craftspeople. Children’s activities included the perennial favorite, face painting.

Exhibitors included Mitzi Cross (art, above left), with a striking geometric study in black and white, and Brandi Taylor (photo, below), with this vibrant floral study.

Despite the steamy weather and high humidity, and a downtown temperature reading of 99 degrees, people turned out for this event, walking the length of Franklin Street and back, browsing the booths, buying and investing in these arts. «Read the rest of this article»

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Customs House stages world-class exhibit with Olen Bryant retrospective

By Christine Anne Piesyk | September 16, 2007 |

Hundreds of friends and fans came to the Customs House Museum Saturday evening for the opening celebration of Olen Bryant: A Retrospective, a world class exhibit of ceramic, wood and stone sculpture, a sampling of Bryant’s work from the early 1950’s to the present.

A Tennessee native and Professor Emeritus of Art at Austin Peay State University, Bryant was introduced to Saturday’s crowd as “an educator, mentor and humanitarian of the first order,” one who has guided and prodded his students to “find their voices” even as he continued his quest to develop and expand his own.

Meandering through the crowds, one could hear the comments of friends, of art lovers, watch them inhaling in awe at the beauty and substance of this work. In an era where art is displayed but art lovers are kept at safe distances, the Customs House exhibit was presented in a manner that invited touch, that invited close inspection of the most minute detail of each piece, be it a small “sleeping stone” or a majestic chair with outstretched arms. The art itself invited it. «Read the rest of this article»

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Artists showcased at Smith-Trahern

By Christine Anne Piesyk | September 8, 2007 |

Clarksville Online presents a small sampling of the art exhibited at the Smith-Trahern Mansion as part of the weekend RiverFest celebration.

Photographer and artist Debbie Boen toured the exhibit and took these photos, commenting “It took my breath away. Everyone is a winner in my book.” Our small photos do not justice to the works shown here; for that, a trip to Smith-Trahern is required.

Heidi Hopkins: Tentative Friendship (digital photography)

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Roxy to celebrate 25th year with blockbuster season of plays, musicals

By Christine Anne Piesyk | August 22, 2007 |

The Roxy Regional Theater in downtown Clarksville celebrates its 25th year as it launches the 2007-08 season with a new production of the rock and roll musical, Grease, the movie-turned Broadway musical, on September 21.

Many of us remember Grease as a movie with John Travolta as the bad boy Danny Zucko and Olivia Newton John as the sweet young Sandy, a classic case of opposites attracting in the hallowed halls of Rydell High, complete with a jazzed up car, the leather jacketed T-birds and the Pink Ladies living on the edge. This rollicking musical which opens Sept. 21 and runs through October 6, featuring such hits as We Go Together, Look at Me I’m Sandra Dee, Summer Nights, Greased Lightnin’, and more.

The season continues with a staging of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oct. 12-27), drawn from the classic novel. Dorian Gray is obsessed with a belief that beauty and youth are at the center of life, and makes a bargain that keep his outward appearance young while his portrait continues to age.

Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (Nov. 9-24) introduces us to Nora, pampered, cared for, sheltered from life, a doll-like plaything to the world and her husband. She puts her life and her honor on the line to save her husband, only to find that he is unwilling to sacrifice anything for her. At this crossroad in her life, Nora is faced with a choice that will affect her very survival. «Read the rest of this article»

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GoldenEye: When Brosnan took up the reins as Agent 007

By Turner McCullough Jr. | August 10, 2007 |

With Casino Royale, 2006 Daniel Craig took up the reins of Ian Flemming’s James Bond, Agent 007. While there are many new firsts in the latest Casino Royale, this writer thought this a fitting time to look back to start of Pierce Brosnan’s reign as everyone’s favorite original action hero, Agent 007, James Bond.

GoldenEye debuted in 1995. Has it really been that long ago that Brosnan picked up the mantle? Timothy Dalton, George Lazenby and Roger Moore had all worn the mantle, with Moore carrying it for the longest stretch, but it was time for a new Bond and Pierce Brosnan was his name. «Read the rest of this article»

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Haunted Drive-In Saturday Night

By Christine Anne Piesyk | July 27, 2007 |

Though known for spectacular epics such as Ryan’s Daughter, Robert Wise also lent a deft hand to the creation of tales of the supernatural, including the classic film, The Haunting, circa 1963, based on a novel by Shirley Jackson.

In the style of Alfred Hitchcock, Wise opted to let the mind, the imagination, be the biggest instrument of fear. The haunting has a prologue the outlines the shadowed history of the house, a haunted mansion  in old New England (the film was actually shot in a British manor), where four guests are about to gather with the intention of debunking, demystfying a haunted home. Julie Harris leads the cast a Eleanor Vance, a believer in the supernatural and unsettled by the recent death of her mother. Richard Johnson is Dr. Markway, the requisite anthropologist, the science behind the sensory. The beautiful and elegant Claire Bloom plays an eccentric, free-living lesbian (a role a  ahead of time in the conservative sixties) with extra-sensory abilities, and the equally requisite playboy, Luke Sanderson (played by Russ Tamblyn, dimples intact). Sanderson is the prospective owner of Hill House via inheritance.

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Slick or Slapstick at Drive-In Saturday Night

By Christine Anne Piesyk | July 20, 2007 |

The Cold War was raging in 1966. That’s when Alan Arkin’s comic restraint was the fuel the fired the hilarity in the whacky comedy, The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming. It’s a rollicking romp along the eastern shoreline when a Russian sub is stranded on cold war American soil.

The Russian captain is scared death, and he’s not sure if it’s of the Americans or of what will happen if his own superiors find out he grounded their sub. Carl Reiner is Walt Whittaker, all-American family man first convinced there’s an invasion about to begin, then becoming an ally with his new found Russian visitor. Toss into the mix a light romance between young Russian sailor Alexie (John Philip Law) and Alison Palmer (Andrea Dromm), and supporting performances by Eva Marie Saint, Theodore Bikel and Brian Keith — each manifesting precise comic timing in this old-fashioned slapstick oceanfaring adventure. It’s a got a message too, as exemplified in this tidbit of dialogue between the young couple:

Alexei Kolchin: “In Union of Soviet, when I am only young boy, many are saying, Americanski are bad people, they will attack Russia. So all mistrust American. But I think that I do not mistrust American… not really sinceriously. I wish not to hate… anybody!
[He throws a stone into the sea]
Alexei: This make good reason to you, Alison Palmer?
Alison Palmer: Well, of course it does. It doesn’t make sense to hate people. It’s such a waste of time. «Read the rest of this article»

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