Surveillance shows that some 1,600 British troops have advanced to the edge of a German trap, and the unaware English are poised to charge at dawn. Horribly urgent as this is, the warning seemingly can't be delivered by plane, and the telegraph lines have been cut by the Kaiser's soldiers. Delivering the message via a pair of runners is a mad plan, but their commanding officer (Colin Firth) recites Kipling to steady the two corporals' nerves: "Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne ..." George Orwell cited the unspoken other half of that couplet as proof of how important a cliche can be: "Sooner or later you will have occasion to feel that 'he travels the fastest who travels alone,' and there the thought is, readymade and, as it were, waiting » Read More

He's Howie, a terminal hustler with colossal gambling debts. He's also an NYC Diamond District salesman, who caters to the kind of thug-life clientele whose quarrel-prone, armed entourages would scare off most dealers. The more top-drawer names in hoops and hip-hop are led to Howie by his pilot fish (Lakeith Stanfield), where they're beguiled by watches that cost 20 grand, and diamond-studded trinkets such as a miniature Furby whose eyes swivel. Through shifty means, Howie acquires the opal we see in the title shot: a million-dollar score, obtained from exploited Ethiopean Jewish miners. In a moment of chatty foolhardiness Howie shows the opal to Boston Celtics star Kevin Garnett (playing himself). Garnett wants it and takes it, no matter » Read More

Novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen has already won the Pulitzer Prize for his book, The Sympathizer. East Bay cartoonist Thi Bui has already won the American Book Award for her graphic novel, The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir. Now their sons have collaborated on a new children's book, Chicken of the Sea. The party continues at Kepler's Books this weekend. In the book, a band of intrepid chickens bail from the boredom of farm life to join the crew of the pirate ship Pitiless. After seeking fortune on the high seas, they wind up battling the Dog Knights, learning lessons of mercy and camaraderie in the process. Ellison Nguyen, now age 6, conjured up the narrative arc of the story, while Hien Bui-Stafford, 13, illustrated the images. » Read More

When he read that phrase, Gonzales-Day came to the conclusion that he didn't have a clear understanding of California history. To make sense of his discovery, he began to work on the series of photographs that's now known as "Erased Lynching" (2006). The Santa Clara University Art Department's exhibit "Ken Gonzales-Day" features several of his photographs from the collection. In "Hanging Trees: The Untold Story of Lynching in California," an episode of the KCET program Lost L.A., the filmmakers interview Gonzales-Day and author Jared Farmer. Farmer's book Trees in Paradise: A California History is a field guide to trees from a historian's point of view. He provides the missing context for the photographer's discovery. » Read More

The paintbrush has a mind of its own in Clive McCarthy's series of "Electric Paintings." Sitting in the gallery's semi-darkness in front of Painting the Internet (is worse than dial-up), an invisible hand scribbles brush strokes across a digital canvas. The video screen fills up with colors and textures until a scene completes itself. Then the image is erased and a new painting starts to fill up the screen. The experience is as soothing as watching fish swim by in an aquarium. Of course, it's McCarthy's mind that programs the brush to move. It's a bewitching effect that suggests the presence of a ghost hidden in the room as well as in the machine. » Read More

His prints have taken on a revered status, and his colorful works hang in such iconic venues as Bookshop Santa Cruz and David Kinch's Manresa restaurant in Los Gatos. Killion will teach a sold-out class on Japanese woodblock printing at the Palo Alto Art League this week. But for a better look at his methods, Chikaran Motomura's new documentary, Journey to Hokusai, follows Killion as he travels to Japan to hone his skills. Toting four wood panels he made at his California studio, Killion studies with Kyoto's Kenji Takenaka, a fifth-generation artist and one of the few remaining hand printers working in a 1,200 year old craft. » Read More

On stage at the De Saisset Museum, a Jesuit priest drinks champagne with Ohlone tribal members. In the audience, I hit the caprese skewers. Dozens of others congregate to celebrate a new permanent history exhibition downstairs at the De Saisset, California Stories from Thamien to Santa Clara. Several years in the making, California Stories successfully updates and reimagines the dimly lit frumpy old Cali history exhibit that sat downstairs for a few generations. Now the exhibit dedicates much more space to Ohlone heritage, in addition to Mission period history, Californio lifestyles and events from the very beginning of Santa Clara College, as it was then called. » Read More

Yesterday, my roommate picked up some household supplies (toilet paper, sponges, etc.) and asked me to split the cost. I've bought plenty of household supplies in the two years we've lived together without ever asking for any money. It feels weird and cheap that he's suddenly doing this. Am I being unreasonable in feeling this way, or is he being seriously petty? » Read More

Comedian John Cleese has an insight I hope you'll consider. He says, "It's easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are not urgent. It's also easier to do little things we know we can do than to start on big things that we're not so sure about." I hope you'll make this advice a priority in the coming weeks. You'll be wise to prioritize important tasks, even those that aren't urgent, as you de-emphasize trivial matters that tempt you to think they're crucial. Focus on big things that are challenging, rather than on little things that are a snap. » Read More