Life Style & Travel

UNITED STATES—There are some things about plants that we might be better off not knowing about. For instance, their idea of sex is even weirder than that of humans! Generally, flowers of 'monoecious' plants have male parts and female parts that do what they must to produce seed, which is often contained in some sort of fruit structure. Some...

UNITED STATES—One of the most important differences between plants and animals is that animals are 'animated', and plants are not. Aquatic plants might float about, and might even drift into more favorable situations. Vines and plants with creeping rhizomes can likewise relocate. Otherwise, most plants are confined to the same locations where they grew naturally, or where they were...

UNITED STATES—Film historian Peet Boggs concludes his conversation (part three) with the director of perhaps the most famous movie never made. Jules Kaminsky: Benjamin and his party, led by their Nita, had made it to Spain from Nazi occupied France. Nita had to turn back now. She didn’t want to get caught in Spain without papers. The mother, son and...

UNITED STATES—Much of the color in the garden through autumn and winter is provided by foliage. Some foliage turns color as the weather gets cooler. Some had been blue, gray, gold, red, bronze or variegated all year, and just happens to get noticed more now that there is not much other color provided by flowers. There are a few...

UNITED STATES—Peet Boggs: So Nita stays behind to accompany Benjamin, the refugee with a heart condition? Jules Kaminsky: The film is about a hopelessly naïve artist/intellectual/philosopher caught in the jaws of cataclysmic events totally unequipped to deal with them. He still has one tool: his crystal-clear reason. That first night he planted himself in the clearing and wouldn’t budge, he...

UNITED STATES—Everyone is from somewhere. Not everyone is fortunate enough to be from California. Most of the various plants in our gardens, even if grown locally, are descendants of plants that were collected from all over the world. Most houseplants are from tropical regions. They perform well as houseplants primarily because they tolerate the sort of partial shade that...

UNITED STATES—Peet Boggs, the film historian and schnorrer manqué, interviewed filmmaker Jules Kaminsky many times starting in the mid-70s. The two first met when Boggs had a part as a scrub pine in Kaminsky’s long-awaited masterpiece, “Masterpiece.”  In the lore of unfinished film, this work is a holy grail, occupying a place equaled perhaps only by Orson Welles’, “The...

UNITED STATES—On November 8th, we will most likely know who our next president will be. For most of us, Election Day can’t come soon enough. To be sure this campaign season has been one for the ages. We’ve seen some of the most shocking political stunts and revelations about both candidates that most of us just want it to...

BERKELEY—Berkeley Video Filmfest kicks off its 25th year this Friday, October 28. The event will take place in the East Bay Media Performance Space with showings starting at 7:00p.m. The Berkeley Video Filmfest was first founded through the efforts of UC Berkeley filmmakers during the “independent underground cinema revolution” in 1960s. The Berkeley Video+ Film Festival was then created in...

UNITED STATES—There are many reasons why fireplaces and their chimneys are not such a safety concern like they were decades ago. Only a few modern homes are even equipped with them. Installation of a new fireplace is outlawed in many municipalities, even if a fireplace gets damaged by an earthquake, and should be replaced. Urban sprawl has replaced almost...