historylover Reviews

Barefoot Contessa (2002–2021)

For People Who Love to Cook

[10/10 · 6 August 2006]

Barefoot Contessa is an amazing show. She is a perfectionist and her recipes are not always easy, but here's the kicker "they are always good". Many of her recipes have a French flair to them - old school cooking. This cooking is not always healthful - but in moderation is heavenly.

I like Ina's low key attitude. She speaks clearly and intelligibly - not running off crazy bird. I would rather spend an hour on a good Ina recipe than 45 minutes on a bad Rachael Ray recipe. With that said - that is the difference.

Ina Garten is a highly successful career woman - with a an amazing ability to cook. Her recipe for Roast Chicken is easy and amazing a favorite at our house. I also very much enjoy her ideas on table settings, decor, and party planning. She is a less abrasive version of Martha.

I am from an old school European family. We love to make beautiful meals. I was taught from an early age to set a beautiful table - that you did not scarf down your food - you dined - enjoyed it. I know we all have busy lives but a return to beautifully prepared meals and great conversation is much more needed in today's society.

Shalom in the Home (2006– )

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach Rocks

[1 May 2006]

Rabbi Boteach is an amazing guy, he has written numerous books, he lectures, councils, and overall - makes an attempt to make life better for those around him.

I never thought I would like this show but it is different, his approach is helpful - he seems to truly care about the people on the show.

Whether Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or Jewish - people can take something from this show and from Rabbi Boteach. I found some interesting info on him online - he was even given an award as the preacher of the year - even though he is a Rabbi - while living and working at Oxford University – because of the positive changes he made on campus.

I recommend this show – it is not just for people who are Jewish, it is for everyone.

Shalom - Peace - is for everyone.

Coexist and be happy.

Kinsey (2004)

Wonderful, Honest, What More Films Should Be

[10/10 · 22 December 2005]

Kinsey is a story about learning, about Kinsey's study of the human animal. Superb performances abound, particularly from Liam Neeson and Laura Linney. The period feel of the film is very convincing, and it is well-crafted and beautifully photographed. Mechanically it is of high quality, but the thing that makes it a great film is its message. This is also precisely what makes people give it and other current films that contain a message an artificial "1" rating - because they don't agree with the message.

Knowledge that there were people trying to dissuade me from seeing this film made me want to see it that much more. This echoes the idea that Kinsey states in class - that an impulse restricted long enough becomes an obsession. I think this also applies to the quest for knowledge. Case in point - banning something tends to make it more popular.

This film is a ray of light in a nation of increasing homophobia, censorship, forced ignorance and fundamentalist de-evolutionary ideology. It's disturbing to see the same patterns being repeated today - seeing the lengths people were (and still are) willing to go to prevent us from learning more about ourselves.

That theme was central to the film, but not overtly so. The viewer gets the idea subtly from the events and alignments of Kinsey's detractors (Joe McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover being the two most well-known) and the arguments they provide against the research he did. Even today, detractors concentrate on the information he provided outside of the scientific analytical context in which it was generated. He was simply compiling information, and for the analysis and presentation of that information many would "shoot the messenger".

The Rose Tattoo (1955)

A very good film.

[10/10 · 15 January 2004]

I very much enjoy old movies. This movie is very good. Anna is amazing and passionate.

Burt Lancaster was lighthearted and funny.

They just don't make films like these any more, it is a classic.

You don't notice the surroundings of the movie, you notice the acting.

This film is very much worth the full two hours it will take to view it.