Old Embers
Old Embers
Old Embers for New Torches: Roosevelt's Road to Russia
The recovery of lost or forbidden knowledge is a theme which enables science fiction writers to produce useful insights into contemporary society. In the movie The Time Machine, the hero digs through the ruins of the New York Public Library to find the reason why society is running backwards. In Fahrenheit 451, a government agent, equipped with a book-burning apparatus, is enlightened by the same works of politics and philosophy the government sends him to burn.
Nov 3, 2008 - 3:10:38 PM
Old Embers
Old Embers for New Torches: Shadows
Rows of sturdy sunflowers, adding green and gold to our gardens in Maine, are a common enough sight. These spectacular products of nature merit closer inspection, however, since they are truly one of the overlooked miracles of life. Their seeds are laid out in an intricate and mathematically precise pattern, and the design of their stalks and leaves are marvels of engineering. But this is not the most astonishing aspect of the sunflower. The sunflower, along with the flowering trees, holds the same position in the plant kingdom that man holds in the animal kingdom. That is, of all the plants, they are the most-highly developed. In children's tales, these cheerful beings with trunks, limbs, and a round leafy top take on the shape of men and speak. How very strange that their form resembles a man!
Oct 21, 2008 - 11:38:37 AM
Old Embers
Old Embers for New Torches: Penny Serenade
Anyone who sees through Hollywood's mystifying pretense of "popular entertainment" and discovers what really lies at its rotten core - a sinister preoccupation with, and promotion of the darker side of human existence - may easily conclude that modern day moviemakers are not concerned with values at all. They would be mistaken. Although Hollywood continues to heap trash on the heads of the movie-going public, those who control what we see and hear are careful not to offend certain core values indispensable for their own survival.
Oct 3, 2008 - 11:51:21 PM
Old Embers
Old Embers for New Torches: A Deeper Look at Gone with Wind
An ardent teetotaler, I once sat discussing the movies with a group of very bright young lawyers at Bull Feeney's Tavern in Portland. The subject of the movies naturally occurred to us since Bull Feeney was none other than John Martin Feeney, a Mainer born in Cape Elizabeth who, as John Ford, went on to become America's greatest director.
Sep 25, 2008 - 11:19:49 AM
Old Embers
Old Embers for New Torches: The Cypresses Believe in God
Outside the city of Madrid, in a place called The Valley of the Fallen, stands the largest cross in the world. Visitors on the esplanade below gaze up to a granite cross that weighs two hundred thousand tons and towers one thousand feet over their heads. The colossal scale of the monument is fitting, since it stands for the sacrifice of half a million Spaniards who perished in the Spanish Civil War.
Sep 11, 2008 - 10:19:03 AM
Old Embers
Old Embers for New Torches: Rose-Marie
Just as New York and Los Angeles are centers of popular culture today, Maine was once home to the most popular singers and songwriters in America. Rudy Vallee of Westbrook, and his popular The Maine Stein Song, is one example. Less well known is Lillian Nordica, a native of Farmington who went on to gain worldwide fame as an opera singer.
Aug 30, 2008 - 9:46:37 PM
Old Embers
Old Embers for New Torches: Satan Never Sleeps
Every Easter, Christmas, or St. Patrick's Day we are sure to see one of Leo McCarey's films on TV. He is best known for his heart-warming movies on religious themes, movies such as The Bells of St. Mary's and Going My Way. McCarey's film An Affair to Remember is the most sensitive and profound treatment of romantic love that ever came out of Hollywood, and will be the subject of a separate "Old Embers" column at a later date.
Aug 14, 2008 - 10:31:39 AM
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