Winter Wanes

Jean Reno : Cool, French and a Role Model For Young Girls

The other day I came across a fantastic French film, "Wasabi" starring Jean Reno, an actor I find very sexy and cool, so of course I had to watch it. In it Jean plays a cop who 19 years previously had been stationed in Japan doing some kind of under cover work and  had a relationship with a Japanese woman who was the love of his life and who ditched him after 8 months.
He has been unable to forget her and move on and after being ordered to take some time off for beating up some criminals and the chief's son, surprise, surprise...he gets a call from a Japanese lawyer saying his former flame has died and left everything to him and he has to go to Japan to claim his inheritance... which includes an absolutely adorable 19 year old daughter, Yumi, played by Ryoko Hirosue. It's a fun movie and got me to thinking of that other great Jean Reno film "Leon, The Professional" which costarred Natalie Portman in maybe her best role ever, as a little girl whose family are murdered and who turns to her neighbor, Leon, for help. Below are trailers for both these films. What girl wouldn't feel safe with a father figure like Mr. Reno?
Here's "Wasabi"


And "Leon, The Professional"

The Worst Hard Time: A Book Recommendation

The Goodwin Library Book Club has been going well this last year with a focus on some brilliant Young Adult titles which allowed us some pretty intense discussions. We just read an amazingly well written and researched non-fiction book that almost reads like fiction, the "Worst Hard Time" by Timothy Egan.

Many of you have already read this book when it came out. If you haven't... it's the story of the dust bowl problems affecting the Oklahoma and Texas panhandle and the people that stuck it out during this epic disaster plus it was in the midst of the depression. Huge dust clouds that swept over and devastated people and animals and filled them with dust and dirt causing a disease called dust pneumonia that killed many elderly and infants and people who were caught out in storms sometimes suffocated. The book goes into the causes for this disaster and what was done to try and rectify things. It's chilling and fascinating and filled with memorable characters. It really makes you appreciate having enough water and not having to eat tumbleweeds!

 NYTimes Book review

NPR story on the book and interview

Timothy Egan reads a selection

The Plow That Broke the Plains movie

 And Woody Guthrie. I would have put "If You Ain't Got the Do Re Mi" here, but I wanted to end on a more upbeat note!

Post Valentine's Day Cartoon

For those of you who have had it with all the pressure of candy, hearts and flowers...or not getting any!

Happy Valentine's Day Countdown Cartoon Plus a Special Surprise!

And now a special Valentine's Day surprise mini story all about LOVE just for YOU:

Valentine's Day Countdown Cartoons # 12 & 13

Valentine's Day Countdown Cartoon # 11