"Sideways" - a wonderful movie for wine lovers

Wow! I'm drunk - cinematographically spoken! We just watched the movie "Sideways"" by Alexander Payne ("Election", "About Schmidt"), a wonderful, funny and endearing comedydrama. The movie focuses on two old friends who embark on a wine-tasting trip to Santa Barbara's famous wine country. Miles (Paul Giamatti) feuds with Jack (Thomas Haden Church) over their divergent expectations for the vacation. Miles, a depressed divorcee and wine connoisseur, wants nothing but to sip fine pinot noir, while Jack's self-proclaimed "plight" is to sow the last of his oats before his impending marriage. Locations include Andrew Murray Vineyards, Fiddlehead Cellars and, of course, the famous Hitching Post. The tourism office of Santa Barbara already offers a downloadable "Sideways" film tour map. I wish the movie all the awards it deserves!

Great exhibition at LACMA

"Luncheon of the Boating Party" (1880/1881) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir <

As members of the "Muse", the "dynamic group for art enthusiasts in the cutting edge" of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), we went to the 'pre-screening' of the new exhibition "Renoir to Matisse: The Eye of Duncan Phillips". What a great art event it was! We saw an impressive collection with masterpieces of our favorite artists Renoir, Matisse, Picasso, Cézanne, Degas, Gauguin, van Gogh, Kandinsky, Claude Monet - and (my beloved) Paul Klee.

Bizarre

This has to be the most bizarre story of the day.

A woman came home from vacation to find a stranger living there, wearing her clothes, changing utilities into her name and even ripping out carpet and repainting a room she didn't like, authorities said. Douglas County authorities say they can't explain why Beverly Valentine, 54, broke into an empty home and started acting like it was her own.