As is often the case, I'm seeing parts of my city with different eyes due to a visitor from Germany. One place I've found is a charming spot on the corner of Dauphin and Royal streets, called Cafe Royal. It's in the historic Van Antwerp building and is cozy despite it's mammoth dimensions. It might not be the "in" place (I'd never know if it was!) but it's going to be a place for me for a while simply because I can see all sorts of painting possibilities there, so look for that in the future.

I have also been to the cinema for the first time in ages, to see Charlie Wilson's War. Excellent portrayal of a very important part of our history that is misunderstood or unknown by many I suspect. I found myself laughing at the antics of the congressman despite the seriousness of the subject matter.  See more links and info here: http://www.charliewilsonswar.net/,  and http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2007/12/21/charlie/ and on the character of Joanne Herring, the Houston socialite played by Julia Roberts: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/02/nrherring102.xml. (The above photo of Herring is from the telegraph article.)

And the shock of the mention of Benazir Bhutto's father's assasination in the movie is palpable. The whole situation is of course very complex, and warrants much more attention and consideration  as one part of why we are in the situation we're in, but I also found it more than a little instructive in shedding light for my German friend on how America "works" if that can ever be explained or understood.

Here's a link to a performance of Christmas in Falluja, a song written by Billy Joel, and performed by Cass Dillon, on  a website called Art for a Change. Let me know what you think?

9:34:53 AM