Category: Featured

The Pear-Green Apple: A Meditation on Yuri Norstein’s ‘Tale of Tales’

Why I Love Tale of Tales I recently featured Yuri Norstein’s animation Tale of Tales for Soviet Film Wednesday, and this week I would like to take some time to delve into my thoughts on this epic film, which has been voted the “Greatest Animation Film of All Time” by an international jury. It is …

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Tiki Tuesday: Remembering Les Baxter

Les Baxter is one of the two most prominent figures from the world of exotica lounge music of the ’50’s and 60’s, along with Martin Denny. Baxter was born Leslie Thompson Baxter in Mexia, Texas on March 14, 1922. As a young man, he studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory, and then attended Pepperdine College …

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Wonders, Soda Fountains, Hot Springs, and Kitsch on Route 66

Some of the best places to see on the long Rt. 66 stretch between Tulsa and Los Angeles This summer my daughter, her boyfriend, and I took our longest Route 66 road trip yet: from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Los Angeles, California, tracing the route that many Oklahomans took in the ’30’s, as fictionalized in The …

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Soviet Film Wednesday: The Sounds of Tarkovsky

The independent film streaming service Fandor has put together a mesmerizing compilation of audio moments from Andrei Tarkovsky films, showing how the director emphasizes particular sounds as one of his many creative film-making techniques. The films shown in this two minute collage are The Steamroller and the Violin (1961), Ivan’s Childhood (1962), Andrei Rublev (1966), …

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Tiki and the Love of Dance

Yes, even the discount aisle at Target now carries Tiki products. For $1 to $3 this month you can buy everything from Tiki head containers to little planters, signs, and other Tiki décor to complete your party plans or your Tiki collection. In the midst of this resurgence of the Tiki trend, let’s continue to …

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Discovering Route 66: From Tulsa to Arcadia

Last weekend my family and I took a day to explore Route 66 along Tulsa to Arcadia. Our first stop was for lunch and a little sightseeing in Stroud, Oklahoma. There were a few places that we found interesting, but finally decided on lunch at the Rock Café, a well known historic Route 66 landmark …

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Discovering Route 66: Tulsa’s Mother Road Market

I always say that there are two things that I like best about living in Tulsa: the friendly people and the architecture, and the former proved to be true once more when my family and I took a walk through the Mother Road Market this weekend and were greeted by the friendliest of vendors! When …

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Downtown Tulsa’s Modern Architecture Tour

This weekend my friends and I enjoyed a rainy yet amazing tour of downtown Tulsa’s Modern architecture guided by the Tulsa Foundation for Architecture.  I always tell people that two of my favorite things about Tulsa are the friendly people and the architecture, and many of my favorite T-town buildings were covered in the tour. …

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