Parasite is an instant classic merging horror, social commentary
It’s being touted as a serious contender for Best Picture honors at Oscar time – not Best Foreign Film, mind you, but Best Picture overall.
All posts by Frances Marion Platt
Willow Pond Sheep Farm in Gardiner offers grass-fed lamb now, dairy products next year
In recent decades, Gardiner has become a hotbed for herds of grass-fed beef cattle — including Brookside, Brykill, Four Winds, Full Moon and Kiernan Farms — supplying the region’s restaurants with prime chemical-free meats. A few farms also raise pigs or goats organically. But sheep raised that way for milk and meat, rather than for wool, are a rarer find.
Rosendaler Dylan Thuras releases new edition of Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders
Sometimes described as a “National Geographic for Millennials,” Atlas Obscura was founded in 2009 by journalist Joshua Foer and documentary filmmaker Dylan Thuras. In 2016, the company began organizing guided tours to some of the remarkable sites that it describes so enticingly. That same year, it also published its first book for the armchair traveler: Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders (Workman). Now a brand-new Second Edition has just been released, adding more than 100 new places and featuring a dozen city guides and a fold-out map for a round-the-world dream itinerary. A version for younger readers, The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid, was released in the fall of 2018.
Andrew Yang: presidential candidate, New Paltz weekender
He’s smart and articulate, with a sheen of Silicon Valley nerdiness. Yang thinks that America’s biggest problem – and a major motivating factor for blue-collar workers is the loss of jobs to automation: the subject of his book The War on Normal People. And his prescription to solve that problem is a concept that economists call Universal Basic Income. He has lifelong ties to the Hudson Valley. He spent his early childhood, when his father was working for General Electric, in Niskayuna, and his middle and high school years in Somers after his father went to work for IBM.
Deconstructing borders: Live Arts Bard hosts Where No Wall Remains biennial
Thursday-Sunday, November 21-24: The title of this year’s festival comes from a Rumi poem, and it’s not an accident that this biennial is timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Taika Waititi lacerates Nazism with goofball humor in Jojo Rabbit
True, it’s not 100 percent original in its slapstick depiction of Hitler and his minions; Charlie Chaplin got there first, followed by The Producers and Hogan’s Heroes and quite a few more. And it does skim lightly over the enormity of human suffering at the hands of the Third Reich and its enablers. But grappling with such tragedy head-on is the work of a different genre of filmmaking. Jojo Rabbit revels in heaping scorn on the perpetrators, and I haven’t laughed this loudly at a movie in a long time.
Village Market and Eatery in Gardiner closes
Sad news for Gardinerites: The era of “Lobster All Day, Every Day” in the hamlet is done.
Hal on the horizon: Shakespeare’s Henry V opens at SUNY-New Paltz
Opens November 14: “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers” has quickened the pulse of folks with military experience (or fantasies) for more than four centuries now, and for good reason.
Cynthia Erivo brings her A-game to disappointing Harriet
This was a movie long overdue to be made. That’s what makes it such an unhappy task to report that, despite several fine performances and one outstanding characterization on the part of star Cynthia Erivo, Harriet is a pretty tepid moviegoing experience.
Gardiner voters approve 20% library budget increase; Bartels leads in District 16 County Legislature race
The referendum question, “Shall the annual contribution of the Town of Gardiner for the operating budget of the Gardiner Library be increased by $46,846 to the sum of $276,076.00 annually?” was overwhelmingly approved by the voters by 1,233 to 523 votes, a 70.22 percent to 29.78 percent split.