On writing and success: Two new films As is often the case, we have two movies opening at the same time (in Sacramento) that have connected themes – both about individuals struggling to write their own material and jeopardizing their relationships in the process – one a novelist and one a comedian. And as is also often the case, the little indie movie is more satisfying than the big mainstream release, despite probably having a budget about the size of the larger movie’s food service costs. “The Words” had the potential to be a really good film and story – but somewhere along the way it failed to deliver on that potential. The cast is good, with three major characters played by Dennis Qu

Very Civilly Yours Lately I’ve been irked by the lack of civility that has hit our country like some sort of syllabic plague. A few years back National Public Radio ran a story about George Washington and the fact that when he was a mere lad, he took it upon himself to handwrite a little something he called, 110 Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation, which were built upon a number of 6th-century guidelines he’d gleaned from some Jesuit gentlemen. When I read the list, it made me wonder. What happened to us and by “us,” I mean our society? Sometimes we are just plain not nice to one another. I notice this when I flick on a news show and watch a panel interview.

"The crowd was not what one would typically expect to see at a comedy show. This was not the typical venue for a comedy show and Paula Poundstone is not a typical comedian. The Crest Theatre was full to the ceiling on Friday night. The older crowd crammed their way into the tiny seats of the main auditorium. They were likely public radio enthusiasts who had heard Poundstone’s frequent appearances on NPR’s “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me,” or the “Prairie Home Companion.” Poundstone ambled onto the stage slightly after seven-thirty after a short hold while patrons who had arrived merely on time were herded to their seats. Poundstone, who has been performing for over thirty years, entered in he

The Sacramento Press Club hosted its second luncheon of the month Tuesday with special guest Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, National Public Radio’s foreign correspondent – currently based in Cairo, Egypt – who shared her experiences with the challenges and the violence many journalists face overseas. The Sacramento Press Club is a nonprofit organization that lends itself to informing its members and the public through monthly luncheons that feature reporters and newsmakers from around the country and provides scholarships to journalism students in California. The renowned journalist, who currently covers the Arab world from North Africa to the Middle East, shared some of her experiences in repo

David Sedaris approached his appearance at the UC Davis Mondavi Center like a typical book-reading tour stop. Never mind he was in the 1,800-seat Jackson Hall versus a bookstore. Still, Sedaris created the same sense of rapport with the sold-out house that he would in a smaller setting. Sedaris is good at this. He is a very popular contributor to National Public Radio, and a lot of his success on NPR can be attributed to how well he connects with his audience. After a technical glitch — which was fixed by alerting an audience member with hearing loss that they could not both use their hearing aid and the theater listening device without blasting the rest of the audience and Sedaris with

The election of President Barack Obama freed up many in the older generation of African Americans to speak about things they had kept secret or kept silent about. Many of those were things their children, their relatives and even their spouses were not aware of. The California Lectures guest this week, Michele Norris, cited this as one of the reasons she was able to learn more about her family history while writing her new book “The Grace of Silence.” Norris is best known as a host of National Public Radio’s afternoon news show “All Things Considered.” She grew up in a South Minneapolis neighborhood. After starting a college education in electrical engineering she switched to journalism,

Lectures California Lectures.MICHELE NORRIS In conversation with Pamela Wu Wednesday, October 6, 2010 Crest Theatre | 7:30 p.m. Michele Norris hosts NPR’s All Things Considered, public radio’s longest-running national program. Before joining NPR in 2002, Norris worked as a reporter for ABC News, a position in which she garnered both an Emmy Award and a Peabody Award for her coverage of 9/11. Norris has reported extensively on issues of inner city poverty, race and education for The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. Her powerful Washington Post series on the drug trade's impact on young children was published along with essays by Nelson Mandela and Gabriel

Capital Public Radio’s Annual Used Record & CD Sale will be held Saturday and Sunday June 26 and 27 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. This year’s sale will once again take place at the Howe ‘Bout Arden shopping center, 2100 Arden Way, Suite 172 in Sacramento. The Annual Used Record & CD Sale offers music and movies for hugely discounted prices. Last year, approximately 1,000 people took advantage of the great deals on vinyl records, DVDs, audio books, videogames, and more. There are diverse formats of audio and other entertainment to choose from in a variety of genres. From LPs to CDs, video games, and VHS to Blue Ray DVDs, all types of media have been collected over the past months All musical gen

National Public Radio "Weekend Edition Saturday" host Scott Simon presented “Covering War and Peace, Sports and Celebs” at the Crest Theatre Monday evening. This was the premier of a new lecture by Simon.  The presentation was part of the California Lectures 2009-2010 season.  It was a nearly full house of Simon's adoring fans.  He began by acknowledging and praising Capitol Public Radio.  When Simon started in public radio in Chicago, there was only one national program from NPR, “All Things Considered.”  He joked that when someone called WBEZ to ask what time “All Things Considered” was on, the station would reply, “What time would you like to listen to it?”  He spoke to what a valuable