Lindner Family Café at Taft Museum of Art

Artful dining with a theme and views

The Inside Café

     We've walked through the café several times on our way to the museum, pausing at the diner's fare and views into the gardens beyond. We actually tried to dine in the garden area for a free concert series once a couple of years ago. It turned into an awkward situation that we tossed aside to the time of

Paris Night & Day: Masterworks of Photography from Atget to Man Rey…

to Neil.  Or so Eric says

     We wanted to see the Kehinde Wiley show at the Taft Museum of Art before it left.  It just so happened that there was a major exhibit of early 20th century photography in its premiere week there also.  Paris, during that time, has always been a fascination for me.  So much so that it was an influence

The Skeleton Twins

Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader deliver 
great performances in a grim family comedy

     Thinking that The Skeleton Twins would be a comedy was a mistake.  From classic comedic structure, a new order progresses from one that is not a whole lot different. In this

Chrissie Hynde

A really good album  by an icon    

    Chrissie Hynde has been one of the coolest performers in popular music for over three decades.  She possesses an intriguing alto voice that wrings a subtle, supple sound from a limited range.  It can also forcibly attack such as on The

Gone Girl

Yes, it works

     As other reviewers have already attested, fans of the blockbuster book Gone Girl (2012) by Gillian Flynn can rest assured that the movie version does not reinterpret, expurgate, or otherwise screw up the source material.  Though Flynn has said that she deviated somewhat from the

The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat

Disabling prejudice

Edwidge Danticat 

     Edwidge Danticat, born in Haiti and raised in New York from the age of twelve, was an author to whom I’d paid little attention.  This was mainly because she was discovered young and promoted as part of Oprah’s Book Club.  Plus, she won or was nominated for a number of major literary awards.  At Meg’s yard sale a couple of years ago, I picked up an advance reader’s edition of The Dew Breaker (2004).  I let it sit around for

The House of Redgrave

A gossipy, sometimes poisonous 
account of a complex acting family

     I saw The House of Redgrave:  The Lives of a Theatrical Dynasty by Tim Adler in an independent Canadian bookshop and I bought it because I doubted it would ever be released in the U.S.  The Redgraves are a big deal in England and Canada, but most Americans are probably aware more of Vanessa Redgrave and Liam Neeson than the rest of the family.  They’ve been actors for five generations and though it seemed like Adler would provide

Boyhood

An American Take 
on European Methods and Asian Philosophy

     Richard Linklater’s Boyhood follows a boy in Texas from first grade until he enters college.  Filmed over a twelve-year period, usually for a week each year, Boyhood not only shows the development of Mason Evans, Jr., but also of his family, extended family, and friends.  What seems at first to be a

Woody Allen’s and Lasse Hallström’s Latest

One’s mild, the other’s middlebrow

     After singing along with the ‘20s songs, ‘resting her eyes’ for quite a while, and actually watching the end, my Mother declared Woody Allen’s Magic in the Moonlight as “mild.”  I have to agree.  Allen generally casts actors that have proven themselves for other directors.   He lately has focused on younger actresses such as Scarlett Johansson or Emma Stone here, though more experienced performers such as Cate Blanchett and

Old Winery Restaurant

An Italian restaurant that’s a favorite of NOTL locals

The Main Dining Room

     While visiting Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL) a couple of months ago, we dined at a favorite of ours – the Old Winery Restaurant.  Originally recommended to us by Linda, the mother of Jolene our favorite bed and breakfast innkeeper, we liked it from the start.  This was during a period, right after the