Mountain Views News          Saturday, April 9, 2016

13

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Mountain Views-News Saturday, April 9, 2016 


Jeff’s Book Pics By Jeff Brown

The Boiling River: 
Adventure and Discovery 
in the Amazon (TED 
Books) by Andrés Ruzo 
In this exciting adventure 
mixed with amazing scientific 
study, an exuberant explorer 
and geoscientist journeys deep 
into the Amazon where rivers 
boil and legends come to life.
When Ruzo was just a small boy 
in Peru, his grandfather told 
him the story of a mysterious 
legend: There is a river, deep in 
the Amazon, which boils as if a 
fire burns below it. Twelve years 
later, Ruzo, now a geoscientist, 
hears his aunt mention that she 
herself had visited this strange 
river.Determined to discover 
if the boiling river is real, Ruzo 
sets out on a journey deep into 
the Amazon. What he finds 
astounds him: In this long, wide, 
and winding river, the waters 
run so hot that locals brew tea 
in them; small animals that fall 
in are instantly cooked. As he 
studies the river, Ruzo faces 
challenges more complex than 
he had ever imagined. The book 
follows this young explorer as he 
navigates a tangle of competing 
interests, local shamans, illegal 
cattle farmers and loggers, 
and oil companies. This true 
account reads like a modern-
day adventure, complete with 
extraordinary characters, 
captivating plot twists, and jaw-
dropping details—including 
stunning photographs. 
Ultimately, though, The 
Boiling River is about a man 
trying to understand the moral 
obligation that comes with 
scientific discovery to protect 
a sacred site from misuse, 
neglect, and even from his own 
discovery.


The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going 
Nowhere (TED Books) by Pico Iyer 
The book considers the unexpected adventure of 
staying put and reveals a counterintuitive truth: The 
more ways we have to connect, the more we seem 
desperate to unplug. Why might a lifelong traveler 
like Pico Iyer, who has journeyed from Easter Island 
to Ethiopia, Cuba to Kathmandu, think that sitting 
quietly in a room might be the ultimate adventure? 
Because in our accelerating world, our lives are 
crowded, chaotic and noisy. There’s never been a 
greater need to slow down, and 
give ourselves permission to be 
still.Lyer investigates the lives 
of people who have made a life 
seeking stillness: from Matthieu 
Ricard, a Frenchman with a 
PhD in molecular biology who 
left a scientific career to become 
a Tibetan monk, to singer-
songwriter Leonard Cohen, 
who traded the pleasures of the 
senses for years of living a near-
silent life as a Zen monk. . He 
reflects on why many people—
even those with no religious 
commitment—seem to be 
turning to yoga, or meditation, 
or seeking silent retreats. These 
aren’t New Age fads so much as 
ways to rediscover the wisdom 
of an earlier age. Growing trends 
like observing an “Internet 
Sabbath”—turning off online 
connections from Friday night 
to Monday morning—highlight 
how increasingly desperate 
many of us are to unplug and 
bring stillness into our lives.
The Art of Stillness paints a 
picture of why so many—from 
Marcel Proust to Mahatma 
Gandhi to Emily Dickinson—
have found richness in stillness. 
Ultimately, Iyer shows that, in 
this age of constant movement 
and connectedness, perhaps 
staying in one place is a more 
exciting prospect, and a greater 
necessity than ever before.


Get Some Headspace: 
How Mindfulness Can 
Change Your Life in 
Ten Minutes a Day by 
Andy Puddicombe 
As a former Buddhist monk 
with over 10 years of teaching 
experience, Andy has been 
acknowledged as the UK’s 
foremost mindfulness meditation expert. He began his 
own meditation practice as a normal, busy person with 
everyday concerns, and has since designed a program 
of mindfulness and guided meditation that fits neatly 
into a jam-packed daily routine-proving that just 10 
minutes a day can make a world of difference. Simple 
exercises, stories and techniques will help anyone 
calm the chatter in their minds. The result? More 
headspace, less stress.The book also brings us the 
extraordinary science behind this seemingly simple 
cure-all. This author says that mindfulness will help 
readers positively impact every area of their physical 
and mental health.


Jeff’s History Corner By Jeff Brown

A FEW THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT JOHN ADAMS


1. Adams defended British soldiers after the Boston 
Massacre. Although Adams joined with the Sons of Liberty 
in objecting to what he believed was unfair taxation by 
the British government, the principled attorney believed 
in the primacy of the rule of law. After the killing of five 
colonists in the March 1770 Boston Massacre, Adams 
volunteered to represent the nine British soldiers charged 
with manslaughter to ensure they received a fair trial. 
Adams argued that the soldiers fired in self-defense against 
“a motley rabble” and won a surprising acquittal for seven 
of the defendants, including the British officer in charge, 
Captain Thomas Preston. The two soldiers convicted of 
manslaughter were branded on their thumbs but avoided 
prison sentences.

2. He was a great pen pal. The erudite Adams was a prolific 
writer of letters to friends and family. A devoted husband, 
Adams exchanged more than 1,100 correspondences 
with his wife, Abigail, since his patriotic duties often 
called him away from home for extended periods of time. 
3. He was the principal author of the oldest 
written constitution still in use in the world.
Adams drafted the Massachusetts Constitution, which 
was approved by voters in 1780 and is still in effect today. 
The document’s structure of chapters, sections and articles 
served as a model for the United States Constitution, 
and its Declaration of Rights itemized individual liberties 
such as freedom of the press and freedom of worship 
that were later enshrined in the federal Bill of Rights.
4. Adams participated in what may have been the 
nastiest presidential campaign in American history.
Modern-day mudslinging had nothing on the dirt thrown 
in the 1800 presidential election between Adams and the 
sitting vice president, Thomas Jefferson. While the Federalist 
Adams believed in a strong centralized government and the 
Republican Jefferson favored states’ rights, the debate went 
beyond policy differences to personal attacks. Campaign 
propaganda paid for by Jefferson charged that Adams was 
a “hideous hermaphroditical character” who smuggled 
prostitutes into the country from England and planned 
to marry one of his sons to a daughter of King George III 
to establish a royal bloodline in his family. The president’s 
supporters called Jefferson a coward, French radical and 
infidel who would seize the country’s bibles and allow “the 
refuse of Europe” to flood American shores. Abigail Adams 
lamented that the campaign had produced enough venom 
to “ruin and corrupt the minds and morals of the best people 
in the world.”

5. He blamed a day of fasting for his reelection defeat.
In both 1798 and 1799, Adams issued presidential 
proclamations calling for national days of “solemn 
humiliation, fasting and prayer.” In an 1812 letter to 
Dr. Benjamin Rush, Adams wrote, “The National Fast, 
recommended by me turned me out of office.” Adams 
argued in the letter that “nothing is more dreaded than 
the national government meddling with religion,” and he 
believed that his call for a fast day had become incorrectly 
viewed as the promotion of the Presbyterian Church (of 
which Adams was not a member) as a national religion, 
which caused an electoral backlash.

6. Adams died on the same day as Thomas Jefferson.
Once fellow patriots and then bitter rivals, Adams and 
Jefferson revived their friendship after their White House 
days. Perhaps fittingly, the two Declaration of Independence 
signatories both died 50 years to the day after the document’s 
adoption on July 4, 1826. On his deathbed, the 90-year-old 
Adams whispered, “Thomas Jefferson survives.” It wasn’t 
the case. Five hours earlier, the 83-year-old Jefferson had 
died at Monticello. With the deaths of Adams and Jefferson, 
only one signatory of the Declaration of Independence—
Charles Carroll—remained alive.


On the Marquee: Notes from the Sierra Madre Playhouse


THINKING ABOUT … ACTING

By Artistic Director, Christian 
Lebano

 I am having a wonderful time in 
rehearsals with Glass Menagerie. 
The work is moving startlingly 
fast – at first I was worried about 
how quickly things were taking 
shape, but then I thought about 
the wonderful actors I’ve cast. 
I’ve written before about how 
many actors submitted for this 
show. Those many submissions 
gave me the gift of being able to 
choose exactly who I wanted to 
work with. And I have chosen 
well. Each of the actors is so 
well-suited for their roles. I am 
enjoying exploring this beautiful 
play with such intelligent and 
sensitive people. 

 This play has me re-examining 
how I approach directing a play. 
I am much more hands-off on 
this one. As you’ll see when you 
come (and you will come won’t 
you?) I have a definite concept for the show – one I think 
firmly rooted in the text and what Tennessee Williams had 
to say about his play – but what I mean is that with actors 
like the five I am working with I find myself pointing out 
moments and rather than jumping in with my ideas, I’m 
letting the actors think about it and come up with their own 
way into it. Sometimes my notes consist of simply pointing 
out a moment that I would like the actors to think more 
about. We have the luxury of time now – to investigate and 
explore and improvise.

 I have some favorite quotes about acting that I thought I 
might share – they really inform my work.

 Katherine Hepburn: “If you give audiences half a 
chance, they’ll do half your acting 
for you.”

 Christian Bale: “It’s 
the actors who are prepared 
to make fools of themselves 
who are usually the ones that 
come to mean something to the 
audience.”

 Ian McKellan: “Acting is 
a very personal process. It has 
to do with expressing your own 
personality, and discovering the 
character you are playing through 
your own experience – so we’re 
all different.”

 Jude Law: “My only 
obligation is to keep myself and 
other people guessing.”

 Morgan Freeman: “It’s 
what I learned from the great 
actors I work with. Stillness. 
That’s all and that’s the hardest 
thing.”

 Elia Kazan: “Stylized 
acting and direction is to realistic 
acting and direction as poetry is to prose.”

I really love this play. I hope you’ll come and see why it 
is considered one of the ten great American plays. I look 
forward to sharing our work with you. Tickets are on sale 
now.

* * *

Charlotte’s Web continues to delight kids and adults alike. 
Tickets for our weekend shows have sold beyond our 
expectations and audiences are loving it. I hope to see you 
there with (or without!) your kids and grandkids. Please 
visit our website at or call Mary at 626.355.4318 to purchase 
tickets. 

Andrew Carter and Tara Bopp in 

Charlotte’s Web. Photo by Gina Long

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com