Masquerade Hope Gala

 

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) was founded in 1970 by the parents of children with type 1 diabetes. On Saturday, May 17th, JDRF held its annual 2008 Masquerade Hope Gala at The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino. The gala was an over-the-top evening with a rush of sensory elements from epicurean delights to music. The evening also included an exceptional silent and live auction.

 

Dressed in my ao dai Vietnamese traditional gown and customized feathered mask, the only thing I wanted to bid on was the live auction on the seven-week-old Boston Terrier. I understand that each year a puppy is the most valued bid upon item at the live auction.

 

Since inception, JDRF has provided more than $1.16 billion to diabetes research worldwide. For more information visit www.jdrf.org.

 

Indiana Jones

 

I saw a press screening of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” at 11am Sunday screening at the Brenden Theaters at the Palms. The much anticipated film opened May 22.

 

John Hurt, who plays Indy's colleague in the film, disdains the flick and executive producer George Lucas. "It's cops-and-robbers stuff," Hurt told the Times of London. "And it's all to make Mr. Lucas an extra billion, as if he needs it."

 

I loved it! Yes, we waited almost 20 years for this, but it was well worth it. You get everything you want, clever dialogue, a love story, a perfect villainess in Cate Blanchett, and the “hat-over” to next Indy Jones. Unfortunately, it’s Shia Le Beouf.  He’s not sexy enough or tough enough to take Harrison Ford’s place.

 

Lucas says that he and director Steven Spielberg have left the door open for a sequel to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Lucas goes on to say, "I haven’t even told Steven or Harrison (Ford) this…But I have an idea to make Shia (LeBeouf) the lead character next time and have Harrison come back like Sean Connery did in the last movie. I can see it working out."

 

Mutt to Indy: “What are you, like 80 years old?”

 

John Hurt, who plays Indy's colleague in the film, disdains the flick and executive producer George Lucas. "It's cops-and-robbers stuff," Hurt told the Times of London. "And it's all to make Mr. Lucas an extra billion, as if he needs it."

 

Perhaps Hurt liked the paycheck but not the part. It’s as if the guy from “Midnight Express” wandered into Indy’s world mumbling and peeing in his pants.

 

Outside of that last image, I loved it! Yes, we waited 20 years for this, but it was well worth it. You get everything you want, extreme chaos, big fight scenes, clever dialogue, strange ruins, mythology, and a perfect villainess in Cate Blanchett.

 

I’m not at all happy about the “hat-over” to the next Indiana Jones. Unfortunately, its Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’s personal pick, Shia LaBeouf. (Howard Hughes created Jean Harlow, Spielberg-Lucas have LaBeouf.) He’s not sexy enough or tough enough to take over the Indiana Jones mantel. He’s got a dumb look about him and irregular, non-leading man features.

 

A Hollywood insider once told me: “All you need is a powerful agent.”

 

There are enough visual nods for the initiated, and even though the target audience has grandfathers’ Harrison Ford’s age - the dusty locations, dirt and grime, and the savage fights - allows a roughed-up looking Ford to play his age and you accept it! You don’t want to see a pretty boy get messed up.

 

Here’s my spin on the far-flung skull/alien story: Dr. Jones (Harrison Ford) and his sidekick Mac McHale (Ray Winstone) are kidnapped and brought to the U.S. top-secret military location that, as we all remember from “The Raiders of the Lost Ark”, is the Spielberg homage warehouse where the Ark of the Covenant is stored. It’s barely guarded. The evil Russians, headed by Stalin’s favorite sadist but fetching, psychic terrorist named Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), aren’t looking for that treasure. They know Indy was at the 1947 crash at Roswell and they want that crate – not the other one. Indy should know where it is.

 

We get to look inside the crate, and Indy escapes with the help of the rocket left over from Dr. Strangelove.

 

Fired or taking a sabbatical from his university professorship, and being “a person of FBI interest” for getting involved with Cold War Soviets, Indy attempts to leave town but is stopped by a Marlon Brando-wannabe, Mutt (Shia LaBeouf). His mother sent him to get a letter to Indy. Mary (Karen Allen) is being held hostage in South America and is being held as ransom for the directions to the Crystal Skull of Akator. Indy is the only one who can dope out the secret drawings on a torn-up treasure map.

 

Indy knows all about the mythical history surrounding the Crystal Skull (I know people who have seen the famous Mitchell-Hedges skull (pictured) and said it produced dangerous physical effects). Indy knows the history of the Nazca Lines (a series of huge geoglyphs that can only be seen from the sky in Peru, which I have flown over) as they go from Iquitos to Cusco (I’ll be speaking in Iquitos in July on the subject of Medieval Mysticism and its Empirical Kinship to Ayahuasca.)

 

Irina and her thugs are always one step behind Indy as he gets the skull, loses it, gets the skull back, loses it, gets the skull back and so forth and so on.

 

The ending, another homage to Spielberg, was a huge disappointment. Not in the story, but in the way it was conceived, choreographed and directed. Did we really need to be reminded of that iconic figure – unless Spielberg is telling us something like Leonardo Da Vinci is thought to have embedded in The Last Supper?

 

I don’t know what Harrison Ford was waiting for, or what financial deal held up Indy 4 for so long. He seems like a good sport and he does his alter-ego just fine.

 

In summation, if you love Indy, you will see this more than once.

 

 

 

Mount Everest

 

Ever since I went to Mount Everest Base Camp (Tibetan side, North face. See photo below) and read Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, I’ve been obsessed with all things Mount Everest. In the past few weeks, there have been two Mount Everest TV programs: The two-hour Frontline presentation Storm Over Everest, about experienced climber and filmmaker David Breashears, who was on the mountain in 1996 when a ferocious storm claimed five lives and the National Geographic Channel special detailing the events of a push to the summit that happened 10 years after the storm on Frontline. The NGO program, Left for Dead: Miracle on Everest, is the story of Lincoln Hall, a climber left for dead who somehow survived 30 hours on the mountain in 25-below-zero temperatures. http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/left-for-dead-miracle-on-everest-3336/Overview.

 

I’m reading the harrowing High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed by Michael Kodas. This is a shocking account of sherpas leaving their clients to die, other climbers passing dying climbers (granted, if you choose to climb without ropes, oxygen, or a guide, should others surrender their equipment, oxygen and $65,000 summit goal to help you?) and climbers stealing equipment.

 

According to Kodas, who writes: “Sherpas hired to accompany us to the summit, whose assistance was crucial to our success and survival, extorted thousands of dollars to complete their work, then abandoned those of us who had paid them.”

 

Mountaineers smuggled Class A drugs, there were prostitutes and pimps, and team members beaten and physically threatened. Kodas heard one of his team mates, George Dijmarescu, who had invited him to join his climb, listing the ways that he could ensure that Kodas didn’t come down by sabotaging his oxygen system and setting his tent on fire.  

 

This is one breathtaking book! http://www.amazon.com/High-Crimes-Fate-Everest-Greed/dp/1401302734

 

Movie This Week

 

The Strangers

 

 

 

So terrifying I watched the whole movie through a slit between two fingers.

 

 It starts off real slow with Kristen (Liv Tyler) and James (Scott Speedman) returning from a wedding reception to an isolated vacation house. They are an unhappy couple soon breaking up. Its 4 A.M. and there is a thunderous pounding at the front door. A young girl asks for someone. The mysterious stranger leaves but Kristen is out of cigarettes, so James goes out to get her some. Now Kristen is left alone in the house.

 

You know what happens. First Kristen is terrorized by spookiness and then when James comes back, they are violently attacked by three people wearing creepy masks. Being perfect movie victims, Kristen and James do everything wrong –even though they have cell phones, a portable land line phone, a huge chef’s carving knife and two high-powered rifles. Because, logically, movie victims kiss, scream “Why is this happening to us?”, and then throw away all weapons.

 

Movie victims are never wearing the right clothes. They are always in bikinis or gowns and high heels. Apparently, movie victims can’t run while brandishing a Henckels 8 inch carver.

 

I love these movies because you get to see all the things you shouldn’t do. Duct tape that knife to your wrist! Smash a mirror and cover your body and hair with broken pieces of glass – sharp edge jutting out (tip from my South L.A. girl gang days). Whatever you do, don’t drop that rifle. Break that champagne bottle and use it as a weapon. Get to the roof (I’ve been to Masada and taking the high ground is a military advantage) and lie in wait.

 

Sun-tzu said: Generally, on positioning the army and observing the enemy: To cross mountains, stay close to the valleys; observe on high ground and face the sunny side. If the enemy holds the high ground, do not ascend and do battle with him.

 

Finally, don’t cry.

 

Even walking to the car in the bright, hot, Las Vegas sunshine after the film, I was still scared. Spending the night home alone, as usual, I barracked myself in my bedroom. Luckily, our upright piano is on wheels.  And then there is always the two Tasers (the Advanced M18/M18L and The Cobra StunLighttm) and the Glock.

 

Following the Kristen and James model of victimization, I would forgo calling 911.        

 

Personal Chef Bev

 

Chef Bev runs the Senses! Recreational Cooking School. My friend Chef Bev offers Recreational Cooking Classes (RCC) highlighting Quick Meals, International Delights, Practical Foods, Healthy Eating and much more.  Chef Bev teaches first-timers and long time cooks new approaches to familiar favorites.

 

Chef Bev is also available for private events, including special occasion celebrations and wine tasting events. Chef Bev comes to your house, prepares your self-designed menu and sets up all the particulars for your event. 

 

Chef Bev offers home entertainers the opportunity to have specialty cooking classes right in your home kitchen. CALL (866) 713-3027 or visit www.sensesrecreationalcookingschool.com/index.html