Thursday, May 17, 2012
Conductor and music director Ulysses James has invigorated three orchestras over the last three decades.
Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic Association Music Director Ulysses S. James has led three orchestras through nearly three decades of performances and rehearsals. James, 76, served in the Navy for two decades following his graduation from Brown University in 1958. He moved to Mount Vernon in 1977 with his wife and three children when he was stationed at Navy Yard. After serving as a surface warfare naval officer, James left the Navy in 1979. He had a second career as an organizational management development coordinator and was drawn back to music. James had been a trombonist while earning his music degree at Brown; years later, he picked up the cello. In 1984, he took over the Mount Vernon Youth Orchestra and the Mount Vernon Orchestra…
Friday, May 11, 2012
PG-13 Johnny Depp film opens in theaters this weekend.
Tim Burton, as the stylized director of such glorious oddities as "Edward Scissorhands," "Beetlejuice," and "Ed Wood," is the pied piper to the inner goth in all of us. So it is with a heavy heart Cinema Siren has to report "Dark Shadows," while it might have moments of loopy greatness and top-notch production and costume design, it is on the whole the most tragic of cinematic sins: A bore. The greatness is in some particularly exciting and fast-paced scenes, that are strangely intermittent in its 116 minutes, and so at odds with the soap opera ploddings of the rest of the film. The first minutes of "Dark Shadows" show great promise. Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp, in his eighth partnership with director Burton) is the rakish son of a …
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
The lively cast of phantoms and psychics in the Mount Vernon High School Players’ Blithe Spirit can transform skeptics into believers.
by Rebecca Murtha, Albert Einstein High School Skeptical about the supernatural? The lively cast of phantoms and psychics in the Mount Vernon High School Players’ Blithe Spirit might just be enough to transform you into a believer. Noel Coward’s dry British comedy begins on an evening like any other, with Mr. and Mrs. Charles Condomine hosting dinner for a few friends. The evening might have ended normally had they not invited spiritual medium Madame Arcati (Courtney Kramer). The clairvoyant manages to conjure up Charles’ first wife, the alluring Elvira (Darian Abenes). Mayhem and hilarity ensue as she and second wife Ruth (Emily-Anne Murphy) duke it out over Charles (Jerry Halstead). Despite some trouble enunciating through British …
The Mount Vernon District will resound with the sounds of music Friday nights all summer long.
The summer concert series Mount Vernon Nights 2012 will take place from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Fridays at Grist Mill Park, 4710 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway. Concerts will run from June 1 through Aug. 31. Mount Vernon District Supervisor Gerry Hyland said in a statement he was excited to share with the public another season of Mount Vernon Nights. “This series of free public concerts features a wide variety of musical acts reflecting Fairfax County’s diversity and community spirit,” Hyland said. “I encourage you to bring a picnic dinner and a blanket and to sit back, relax and enjoy the show.” The lineup is as follows: June 1: Daryl Davis (Boogie-woogie) 8: westmain (Pop/rock) 15: Memphis 59 (Roots-rock, alt-country) 22: Nothin’ Fancy (…
38.7088
-77.0816
4710 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, alexandria, va
/articles/concerts-spice-up-summer-nights
/locations/6953067
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Judging the exhibition is a rigorous three-day process.
On a muggy, drizzly Wednesday morning in May, twelve women gathered at Woodlawn Plantation to evaluate more than 600 pieces submitted by needlepoint artists across the country. Now in its 49th year, Woodlawn’s annual needlework exhibition will feature hundreds of pieces. Each piece is stitched with a handheld threaded needle. Maggie Bunch of Stafford has been a member of Woodlawn’s needlework auxillary club, Nellie’s Needlers, for 17 years. She has been coordinating the show for the last three years. A petite woman who is passionate about the delicate needle arts, she has a firm hand in making sure the judging process and show run smoothly. That morning, the three judges swarmed around a traditional Swedish costume, submitted by an artist …
Friday, May 4, 2012
New PG-13 film opens this weekend in theaters.
The first big entry in the blockbuster sweepstakes season is setting a very high bar indeed. For lovers of comic book heroes, watching this Marvel team of a lifetime suit up, bicker, beat each other up and save the world is akin to geek nirvana. It is the very definition of bigger, better, more! It is an explosion of egos, to be sure. They're like the dysfunctional family of superheroes, with one black sheep causing most of the trouble. Thor and Iron Man. Cap and Iron Man. Thor, Cap and Iron Man. How do they have the time and energy to fight anyone else when they keep beating each other to a pulp? It's as fun to see if they'll get along long enough to formulate a plan or find a way to work together as it is to watch the many and …
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Find your creative spark.
Blue and yellow and red. That’s where it all begins. There’s something about the trees, flowers and grass greening up for the season that calls to me to pick up a crayon, pencil or marker and attempt to create their likeness. Technology has moved forward from the box of eight Crayola crayons that delighted us in pre–school to offering apps for our SmartPhones and Tablets. Three that span the basics to a social network are: Crayons 4 Kids, Drawing Pad and Draw Something. Crayons 4 Kids (copyright by stuartjmoore 2012) This app for Apple devices is simplicity itself. It’s just right for the basics. Seven colors are available. You can draw, erase, and clear the screen. If your masterpiece is too appealing to erase, you can save it to your …
Monday, April 30, 2012
Ten military communities across the United States may get a free advance screening.
The movie "Battleship" has a "Battle of the Bases" going on right now and 10 military communities in the United States could win a free advance screening of the movie. "Battleship" is an epic land, sea and air military action thriller directed by Peter Berg starring Rihanna, Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgard, Liam Neeson and others. Vote for Fort Belvoir here. You must give your ZIP code and email address to vote. You can watch the trailer for the movie in the media box at right.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Ready for some blockbusters?
Every year about this time, it's the calm before the theatrical storm. Things are winding up in Hollywood, as the studios prepare for their marketing onslaught. Should we, the movie-viewing public, be getting excited? What can we expect this summer? What spectacles are headed our way? You can take stock of all the blockbusters they have pinned their hopes and bank accounts on below. So many movies and A-list actors…you might spend half your summertime in the dark! What are you looking forward to? Written and directed by cult sensation Joss Whedon, "The Avengers" is already being hailed as an awesome slice of superhero sandwich bread. It has a little of what most movie-lovers want: action, suspense, good actors, a hot starlet, all directed…
Friday, April 20, 2012
Stunning visuals might make these monkeys your business.
Opening on Earth Day weekend, "Chimpanzee," Disneynature's latest True Life Adventure, is a documentary following the challenges of a two year-old chimp they name Oscar as he struggles to survive and find his place within his extended primate family. His sweet mug alone is reason to root for him, but there's more to his story than the usual monkey business, and the viewers get to experience his unique journey up close and quite personally on the big screen. The visuals of this movie are spectacular, with footage only the most expert nature filmmakers could create, and showing an intimate proximity only expert researchers could access and safely facilitate. Among those responsible for capturing this gorgeous eye candy are co-director/…
Mary Capps
1:15 pm on Tuesday, May 15, 2012
I was a big DS fan in the day!!! I think this movie was great!! If people did not watch the show back then it may not be as enjoyable but I loved it!!!!! more ›