Gingersnap

With April being National Poetry Month, Parish picked a convenient time to come to The Neon Movies. An astounding, vibrant piece of finely weaved storytelling and thoughtfully spoken artistry, this independent film centers on Brooklyn high school teen, Alike (pronounced ah-lik-e) an exceptionally good student and aspiring poet from a hard working middle class family. In her underground world, the shy girl hangs out with bold, outspoken, Laura, who has already proudly come out and lives with her sister. Alike, however, is much too afraid of such honesty and chooses to entrap herself with dual identities- switching from hood gear to chic fashion, she is trying to do right by parents, Arthur and Audrey, but it's her little sister, Sharonda that begins suspecting the truth first. Filled with hilarity, wit, and compassion, viewers follow Alike’s course of adolescence as she tries unsuccessfully talking to women, tests out her first strap on with Laurie’s aide, writes poetr...

Pretty glad that I spent a breezy afternoon to see the last showing of Mona Achache's "The Hedgehog" at the Neon Movies. A most delightful viewing treasure! Two seemingly different female protagonists center this French indie feature- Paloma, an intelligent, very gifted eleven-year-old planning suicide before her next birthday and there's Renée Michel, the fifty-year-old apartment super who when not cleaning up the mess of her aristocratic tenants devours chocolates and reads an illustrious world of classical books alongside a lazy fat cat. Feeling like the richly shallow life is as boring as a water filled goldfish bowl, Paloma's chaos includes an annoyed father who sweeps a secret cigarette habit under the rug, a neurotic mother who cries so often its pathetic, and a wickedly snobbish sister, Columbe while Ms. Michel enjoys solitary pleasure. Both women are seeking refuge- Paloma makes it her business to hide anywhere in the apartment, filming every bit ...

Best architecture in the city of Dayton goes too.... Atop of Grafton Hill, sits a beautiful, classically red bricked tower of cascading stairs that seems to have escaped from a M.C. Esher work. A remarkable piece of Dayton history, the Dayton Art Institute is a museum that once featured an amazing art school that taught great artist friends like Virginia Burroughs and Willis "Bing" Davis. With incredible exhibits continuing to come to one of Dayton's most impressive treasures such as 100 Years of African American Art: The Arthur Primas Collection, Creating the New Century: Contemporary Art from the Dicke Collection, and From Romance to Rifles: Winslow Homer's Illustrations of 19th Century America, Norman Rockwell is no exception. Having recently opened November 12th, I went five days later, on a Thursday, when they closed at eight PM. This was what happened that day. True story- when I reached the top, those grand epic stairs were closed. No way was I walking back dow...

Emmy winning, Golden Globe nominated, Sarah Michelle Gellar is one hell of an actress. At least I think so. Since the days of short-lived teen soap opera, Swan’s Crossing , I’ve been an avid fan of hers. Followed her other television appearances- another soap All My Children and the very addictive, kick butt addiction of Buffy the Vampire Slayer . Watched her somewhat mediocre films, Simply Irresistible, Cruel Intentions, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream 2, The Grudge, The Return (ugh! Not her best!) and a slew of unreleased material. Now after a long hiatus, she’s returned to the small screen. Most welcomed her with opened arms and excitement.... Cruel Intentions meets Buffy eh? Six episodes into Ringer , I cannot stop wincing and will likely age about ten years before the season is over. That is, if I'm still watching! While I do congratulate Gellar’s new show on its recently announced full season expansion, I won’t be so quick on cutting the celebratory cake and lick...