LOSS IS MORE


Your post (“A daughter struggles with her mother’s imminent passing,” June 14-20) was both poignant and personal, bringing back many memories of my own mother’s struggle with brain cancer and her final passing. In my head I hear the same sudden ring of the phone and wonder if this moment is it. A little part of me is lying next to you by her side as you await her passing. (OK… now I am f’n choked up.) Take care. - klesney | via web


MOUTHING OFF


Seen the Lips several times in concert (“The Flaming Lips to Play Big Sur’s Henry Miller Library, posted June 12). Always a fun show, though repeated shows on the same tour can get boring since they don’t change the setlist. But $133 tickets? Maybe if Ronald Jones was in the group and they did songs off of Clouds Taste Metallic, but not for the current setlist. - NeonFlashlight | via web


ZERO STARS


I have limited trust in movie critics, but especially take issue with some of MaryAnn Johanson’s recent film reviews that have appeared in your paper, which I generally read cover to cover and mostly enjoy. 


I start with the review of Snow White and the Huntsman (May 31-June 6 issue), which Johanson rated a lackluster two stars. The New York Times, which can take a snobbish view of big pop movies, rated it as a “dark, sometimes mesmerizing retelling of the Grimm fairy tale… with some interesting feminist undertones.” The film has strong female characters (Charlize Theron and Kristen Stewart) and predictably, Internet Movie Database has females rating it higher than men. I find it a shame that Johanson’s review might have put off people from seeing what is in effect a hero’s journey and a riveting tale beautifully shot in England and Ireland with outstanding special effects.


The final straw for me then came with the her most recent review of Rock of Ages (June 14-20), the musical starring Tom Cruise. Johanson rated an outstanding three and a half stars for this clunker of a big budget, ego-driven mess that has to date a deservedly low 6.2 rating (on a 1-10 scale) on IMDB, which is based on actual votes from a large body of avid filmgoers. She felt that this film, which pretty much demeans women, was somehow great because it depicts the rock music world as all about the money. The sad thing for me is that I went to see this clunker just to see its qualities for myself, even though I tended to believe the low opinion The New York Times rendered. 


After an hour I walked out and went to see Snow White and the Huntsman a second time. - Leigh Stevens | Carmel Highlands


FORT ORD MUSING


Scrub ceonothus stand sentry on slopes/ Their intricate lattices snow-flocked with bloom/ Strafing the hillsides with blanket perfume/ On the alert for the footsteps of spring./ Keep Fort Ord Wild.


Feathered battalions of quail on parade/ Surprised by an onslaught of whirring-wheel bikes/ Disperse in a flurry, to shrubs redeploy/ Camouflage hideouts until the road’s clear./ Keep Fort Ord Wild.


Soft-padding paw-steps; coyote on patrol/ To scout out the warren’s new garrison force/ Rabbit reconnaissance a specialist’s role./ He stops to watch horseman along the far bluff./ Keep Fort Ord Wild.


The poison-leaf oak bush surrounds a lone tree,/ Perimeter defense protecting toyon,/ Where squadrons of warblers can hone a flight plane,/ Learning formations that confound the hawks./ Keep Fort Ord Wild.


A forward controller on wing far above,/ Reports to the ground with a withering dive,/ Talons outstretched to engage a snake’s coils,/ A swift air assault that leaves empty dust./ Keep Fort Ord Wild.


By day the rare badger has hardened his site,/ A complex of burrows, a base under siege,/ Emerges at nightfall to canvass the grass/ For strategic materials like gophers and voles. Keep Fort Ord Wild.


The night’s special forces embark into dark,/ Small acro-bats airborne in sorties with moths./ While infantry foxes roust out the denned mouse,/ Amphibious choruses skim the far pond./ Keep Fort Ord Wild. - Deanne E. Gwinn / Soledad


EDIBLE CINEMA


(“What food deserves its own movie and why? The most intriguing/creative/hilarious post will win two tickets to Moonrise Kingdom at Osio Cinemas,” www.facebook.com/MontereyCountyWeekly, June 13.)


Alfredo Soss and Tom Aito fighting it out in The Battle of the Bulge. A spaghetti western set in the Ardennes, 1944. - Christopher Basil Jon Sandoval | via Facebook


Veal. I know it’s a controversial food item, but consider the huge popularity of The Shawshank Redemption. Never underestimate the appeal of adorable baby animals staging a jailbreak. - Johnny Pomatto | via Facebook


The artichoke! We’d get to re-use Buckwheat’s line, “It may have killed Arti, but it ain’t gonna kill Buckwheat!” and it does represent this county! - Linda Tulett | via Facebook


Tots! But I guess it’s already been done courtesy of the one and only Napoleon Dynamite!! So… how about poutine. - Denise Mello | via Facebook


Just re-make Traffic, but instead of cocaine it will be about foie gras post-California ban. - Robin G Dodd | via Facebook