Lowell D Smith Obituary in the New York Times

Hallowe'en 4 x 4

Even though movie lists are so common, I thought a list of scary movies for Adults along with a list for Kids would be good for Hallowe'en.

The Kids list has 4 movies that will satisfy the scare factor but won't give lifelong nightmares. Actually, each one gets campier the older you get. So, if your kids are fascinated (and scared) by horror movies, give them these to watch. You'll be starting a lifelong love of the fiendish and creepy. 3 of them involve outsized creatures. I think for kids, seeing something they recognize but in a grotesque fashion, can be horrifying.

The Crawling Eye (1958)
aka The Trollenberg Terror

This one scared me as a kid. The image of a young girl in a room by herself and the alien eye on the other side trying to get her with its tentacles was so scary. But it is all tolerable in the end.


Food of the Gods (1976)

Just the TV commercials scared me. Nothing like giant rats gnawing on your arm or crawling all over a farm house to terrify young minds. Bert I. Gordon was known for directing these things. Love his initials, don't you?


Them! (1954)

The last on my list of overgrown things. Nuclear waste in the U.S.A. didn't create new species like Gamera or Rodin. It just made our creepy crawlers bigger and deadlier. Them! is a classic. Don't let your kids miss it.


The Watcher in the Woods (1980)

Even Disney can make an effective thriller for kids. Bette Davis shines in this spooky tale.



And now for the Adults.....

Creepy is definitely what gets me most as an adult. While Leatherface stars in the best of the true terror for me, these 4 films have a more lasting creep factor.

Carnival of Souls (1962)

Without a doubt, the movie that can give me nightmares. Candace Hilgloss plays someone so miserable at life that she is equally miserable in death. Herk Harvey the director is the ghoulish man she envisions throughout the film. Get the Criterion edition since it has some interesting extras.


Suspiria (1977)

If you can let go of a dependence for strong narrative and give yourself wholeheartedly to a film, get this one. No film has a more beautiful use of color with a more repulsive subject matter. That juxtaposition is at the heart (film allusion) of what I believe is Argento's best film.


Peeping Tom (1960)

Come on...a photographer taking shots of the women he tortures and kills as he's doing it by the Director of The Red Shoes! Oh, but it's true. And what a creepy film this is. I seem to remember that it had been banned in several locales. The subject matter alone is enough to turn your stomach. But the shots are so well designed you just have to keep watching.


Les Diaboliques (1955)

Only get this original French version. You will be so immersed (film allusion) in this film that you won't know what's going on. See it now.

Survey for Women Experiencing Hot Flashes

The cooling strap for hot flash relief and other episodic body heating problems is getting closer to becoming a reality. I'm writing with two requests:

(1) Would you mind spending about 5 minutes between now and Monday completing a brief user-preferences survey (see link below), and
(2) will you ask 3 of your most reliable, flashing friends to do the same? All answers will be strictly confidential and no one will be contacted later.

Your help will give me the critical number of respondents that I need for the marketing survey portion of my business plan.


You'll find the survey at:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=X2n1ZNOpQWZx1_2buD5aV_2fSA_3d_3d>


Some recent developments with the company:

--Thanks to a grant from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern PA, Villanova U. thermal management engineers will deliver a finished prototype by January.

--The Keystone Innovation Zone/BioLaunch611 is providing funding for marketing and PR consultation for Life Quality Technologies (LQT) to get it going faster--website coming soon.

--LQT will get a little press in the next supplement to The Scientist (what--you don't get The Scientist?), which features economic development/innovation in the SE Pennsylania technology cluster. LQT was chosen as an example of an interesting start-up technology company with high growth potential.

Please pass this link to anyone who might benefit from it.

Lowell Smith

Yesterday at UCLA Medical Center, our friend Lowell Smith died after a bout with lung cancer.
He was 56 years old, or at least that's what he was admitting to. Lowell and I had a unique friendship. I was one of the few people to know him after his dancing career. He still had a dance career as choreographer and ballet master. But, I met him after he retired from dancing himself.
I was fortunate to spend a couple of weeks with him in L.A. before he went into the hospital. Those weeks were some of the best I've had.
This still is from some footage I shot while we were together. Hopefully, I can edit something meaningful from it.

Irene Williams on LOGO's Real Momentum

Jason Kears in his hat

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

A beautiful butterfly visiting our garden.

The Treachery of Images

Ceci n'est pas un Serra
Photo taken in Tribeca

Jason Kears at 1 hour old

My new nephew was born yesterday. Isn't he beautiful?

My New Niece or Nephew

My new niece/nephew is seen here as a thumb-sucker. Although I'm concerned about malocclusion, we'll let it slide in utero. My sister-in-law is doing great!

Larry "Bud" Melman

For those fans of David Letterman, It is a sad day. Larry “Bud” Melman, one of my favorite cast members of Letterman’s show has died. He was 85 years old. His real name was Calvert DeForest, but I loved his nom de tube. I used to see him throughout the 90s at the theater. He loved going to see shows, frequently seeing a matinee and an evening show in the same day. He’ll be missed.

"Fat, Turning Grey" - A BCM (TBC, BoCo) Holiday Celebration

It was fantastic to see some of our old Conservatory friends last evening at O'Flaherty's on 46th Street. O'Flaherty's was always a hangout for many of us who made the move to NYC. It looks different. But as Kathy P. pointed out, it still has the same smell (old cabbage and beer.)
I hadn't seen Kathy P. in years. She's been touring with "Annie" for the past couple of years. Now they're at Madison Square Garden for the holidays, having picked up Kathie Lee Gifford to massacre Miss Hannigan during their stay.
Here's the only decent photo we got.

Amorphophallus titanum

We saw the infamous "Corpse Flower" at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens the other day. Since they have a webcam which updates every minute, we called my parents in PA to see if they might see us during one of the camera's cycles. Well, they caught Jack as he was talking to some other visitors.
This plant is amazing. It just so happens that we were at the NY Botanic Gardens a couple weeks ago for the Chihuly exhibit, we snapped pictures of Tom Otterness' sculptures of an Amorphophallus titanum. Who knew that we'd actually see one in bloom so soon afterward.

Uptown Magazine's top up-and-coming jazz singer!

A fantastic Bastille Day!

We had a great Bastille Day party this past Saturday (7/15/06).
The whole idea came about by me wanting to see some old Boston Conservatory friends.

Unfortunately, only 2 came on the actual day, Lynn and Neil. Our friend Carolyn had messed up the date and came a week early so we should count her as well. Lynn is the producer of the highly successful “Carols for a Cure” holiday CD’s. Her label is Rockit Science. It was so great to see her and her family. Neil is the Head of the Theater Department at Boston Conservatory. I felt awful that I couldn’t produce more alums for his long trip. But, it was great visiting with him again.

All in all about 50 or so people came, neighbors, previous work associates, present work associates, and other great friends. Even a new friend of mine from my men’s knitting group came with his partner. I was so thrilled they showed!

The real star of the party (besides Hazel who made a brief appearance in her can-can outfit) was Allyn’s food. No matter what the occasion, Allyn always blows guests away with her creations. We had decided on a sort of tasting menu of 7 courses, aperitif through dessert, all presented in 1 or 2 bite servings, passed by a couple servers. When I was overheard telling Allyn to go ahead and send the soup out, one guest wondered how we were going to do that. Allyn came up with a vichyssoise “shot” in an edible cup sprinkled with chives. Brilliant! It was one of the best ideas. I’m hoping that Ambianti Catering gets lots of gigs out of it. On a side note, Allyn hired a new server who as it turned out was quite a successful working actress. She has about 30 movies under her belt including “The Crush” where she appeared as Cary Elwes’ wife who meets her demise in a greenhouse filled with stinging bees. How could you not love that?!

I missed my brother but as a film producer he often has to run out of town for work. His bride to be Nina did come though looking as gorgeous as ever.

Oh, yeah, our friends Frank and James brought the most brilliant centerpiece. James made a guillotine with sunflowers in it. One of the flowers was on the block ready to be beheaded.

Nada mas…ou ce n'est pas plus que rien.

S

The garden is growing and Hazel loves it.

New Garden

We put in edging, low fencing (Hazel still manages to trample the plants, though!) an arbor for grapes and clematis, and a pebble area for the dog's biz.
I'll post more pictures on the page later.

http://bearcreeknyc.com/Garden.htm

Jack took me to see "Sweeney Todd" for my b'day the other evening. A great production! We also spied Michael Cerveris walking his dog before the curtain. I thought I got the dog mid-poop but I didn't have the zoom on.

A New Beginning

With so much sadness, I have announced my resignation from the Center Director of Community Arts position at the West Side YMCA.

My last day at the West Side YMCA will be Friday, April 21, 2006.

My experience at the YMCA has taught me much, and I am grateful for the experience. I am especially proud of producing 5 years of performing arts productions in an inadequate space and for raising the level of membership revenue through arts participation.

My future plans include accepting the Deputy Director position at the Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts to begin on May 1, 2006.

I appreciate having had the opportunity to work with so many talented and terrific people. I wish everyone in the YMCA the best.

A very nice item in today's New York Times

This is our final weekend of performances in the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater. We received a very nice little item about "Literally Alive's" production of The Ugly Duckling.