The Pioneer Vally is a movie watching area with great independent and hollywood flicks. Also with great art video stores in Northampton, Easthampton, and Amherst. Not to mention our great Western Ma Art Houses. Usually Hollywood does not go for an uplifting award movie line up. But it would be great it they did!

1a. The Blind Side One of the most touching, charming, wondrous, uplifting, and miraculous movies of the last several years. Sandra Bullock was born to play the lead role and has never been better. Hollywood has to stop equating dark, cynical, and dreary with “quality”. This film is a throwback to a time when movies illuminated the beauty of human nature, rather than its ugliness. The Blind Side literally makes you feel better about being human. What a gift. What a movie. 1b. Avatar Avatar is unlike any other film ever made and provides a glimpse into the potential of film to literally immerse the viewer in the story. Only peer jealousy could prevent James Cameron (Titanic) from winning another Oscar for Best Director. The spiritual metaphors of Avatar are also truly dazzling. Aren’t all of us as humans truly avatars? Spiritual beings temporarily inhabiting human bodies while our spirits evolve? Someday, the technology of Avatarwill be used (sans violence) by filmmakers to take us much further into the spiritual journey of our souls. Into the dreams we call illusion and the illusions we call reality. Into the awe and wonder of this majestic, mysterious, and mystical adventure that we call life. Into a new world of Spiritual Cinema. 3. It’s Complicated And adult life certainly is. Nancy Meyers’ newest film illuminates the choices we make and how time changes our perceptions of how and why we made them. Meryl Streep is her usual unparalleled self, and Alec Baldwin gives one of the most vulnerable male performances in years. This very grown-up film is resonant, witty, and wise. 4. Nine Brilliant, haunting, and completely surprising. Ads made us think it was going to be Chicago 2 but it’s much, much deeper than that. Daniel Day Lewis is mesmerizing as a very flawed and human film director in crisis. When you see it for what it is, not what a horrible ad campaign told us it was, you’ll be enchanted, engrossed, and entertained. 5. Julie and Julia Meryl Streep as Julia Child. Nothing else need be said. Just don’t see it on an empty stomach. You’ll get so hungry that you’ll never make it to the end credits. Thank you, Meryl and Julia. And Bon Appetit! 6. Star Trek What a great surprise. Director JJ Abrams introduces all the characters of the original series, giving them rich and textured back-stories. Oh, THAT’S why they are who they are to each other. An E-ticket ride through the galaxy with real people who care about and support each other. Such good fun. Beam me up! 7. Up It could have been #6 or #8 but I couldn’t resist putting 7 and Up together. (Groan intended). One of the most loving relationships between husband and wife, and man and child in 2009, Up also is an inspiring reminder that, regardless of age, our dreams have no expiration date. 8. Crazy Heart Jeff Bridges gives the performance of his career as burned-out country star Bad Blake. A penetrating examination of how our actions have consequences and a reminder that forgiveness is truly a personal journey. Includes a great country soundtrack, with Bridges doing all of his own music. 9. Cold Souls Paul Giamatti plays an actor who has his soul temporarily removed so he can play a difficult part. His soul gets peddled on the black market so he has to go to Russia to retrieve it. One of the most thought-provoking film premises since Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. 10. Invictus Somewhat predictable and curiously unemotional at times, the film is nonetheless a wonderful tribute to Nelson Mandela’s grace and vision. Clint Eastwood directs Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon with his usual confidence and taste, and the film reminds us of who we can be as human beings when we operate at our very best.

What are your top ten movies for 2009?

I would like to add-on a side note to see these independent flicks: Helvetica, Art & Copy, and Objectified

See Poster below:

Northampton’s First Night has a long history and poster creation by local artists. It is made up of local venues that host artist that have been contracted to play blocks of set starting from 12 noon to 12 midnight on January 31. In addition to contracted venues we also have 2-5 performer venues that host concerts of varies kinds. The weather is usually very cold but not always. We also have a tradition of the ball raising for the countdown to New Years. A feast for the eyes, ears, and tastes  in downtown Northampton (Paradise City)

Click Here is the official schedule

Brief History of Northampton MA: In 1851, opera singer Jenny Lind, the “Swedish Nightingale”, declared Northampton, MA to be the “Paradise of America”. Among the city’s famous residents are: author William Cullen Bryant, the fire and brimstone preacher Jonathan Edwards; the ascetic health guru Sylvester Graham, namesake of the Graham Cracker; children’s author and illustrator Eric Carle, Sojourner Truth, African American abolitionist and orator; Lydia Maria Child, authoress of the Thanksgiving poem “Over the River and Through the Woods”; musicians Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and Chris Collingwood of Fountains of Wayne; Calvin Coolidge, who served as mayor of Northampton before becoming governor of Massachusetts and U.S. president.

This is a great video

I was at a networking meeting a few nights back in Northampton MA, and a speaker used the term “Tofu Curtain”. Now I thought that it was a funny phrase and thought he was joking. The more I thought about it the more I wanted to know. So digging around this is what I found.

First Aron gave his take on the Tofu Curtain:

In the northern half of the Pioneer Valley, there is an abundance of relative affluence and worldly idealism. But in the southern part of the Valley, we find grinding social problems, right in our own backyard. The coexistence of these two realities, separated by the Holyoke Range (or “Tofu Curtain”), is an egregious disparity that amounts to a social justice issue for many. This group formed, as I understand it, to figure out how to mobilize the formidable resources in the northern part of the Valley (financial and otherwise) to deal with these local issues, and help reconcile these glaring differences. We hope to match up socially and environmentally responsible investment expertise with entrepreneurs and innovators with a similar objectives. We also recognize that the Tofu Curtain is a little simplistic. There are disturbing disparities in the northern, more rural parts of the Valley as well.

So what’s going on with your scene in Western Mass? It sounds like a real freak show. There are fat kids, bearded ladies, & cows with holes in ‘em. There’s this psychological “Tofu Curtain” that surrounds a central psuedo-liberal, pseudo-utopia of three college towns in one stupid valley. To the west there’s hills – dotted with tiny hippy holdouts, summer homes for the rich (BILL COSBY!!), a couple rustspots, & some genuine newengland hillbillies. To the east is a giant valley that was flooded for a waterworks project (Quabbin Reservior) by the fat cats in Beantown, punishing the ancestors of Shay’s Rebellion. (You could start inserting footnotes here, mr. editor.) [Naaah. -- ed.]

I loved living in the coops – what a stimulating environment. We had wonderful house parties, using my borrowed tiny Bose shelf speakers (and yes, they really worked – the sound filled up the room!). I worked in the kitchen – switched to the ‘carney’ kitchen after my first recipe in the veggie kitchen was a souffle calling for separating 65 eggs! The houses were divided into veggie/carney sides, and the corner where the switch from carney to veggie occurred was called the ‘Tofu Curtain’

Inevitably, the crime that occurs around a college depends on the town or city around it. With Springfield’s long, quiet blocks and sporadic street lighting, who would argue safety isn’t a concern sometimes? Locally, though, federal data offers an interesting look at crime as it relates to the “tofu curtain,” the term sometimes used to describe the class divide between the wealthier, academic Hampshire County and the low-income Hampden County.

The Holyoke Range, a relatively small mountain range in western Massachusetts, USA, which separates the Pioneer Valley from the Springfield metropolitan area.

This name reflects the juxtaposition of the areas to the north and south of the range. The relative wealth, educational level, smugness and quality of life of Northampton and Amherst, Massachusetts to the north – and the urban decay, teen pregnancy, street violence, drug use, and poverty of Holyoke, Chicopee, and Springfield Massachusetts, a mere ten miles to the south.

A Tofu Curtain may exist in other areas, such as Princeton, New Jersey and New Haven, Connecticut (home to Princeton and Yale Universities, respectively). However, this is the most dramatic example of a physical barrier which approximates the socioeconomic divide.

Northampton is a happy liberal utopia. If you want a teen hooker and an 8 ball, you should cross the Tofu Curtain and go to Holyoke.

This blog is not usually focused on local people, but the person was a special one for Northampton. Bonnie Ascher.

I knew her only as Bonnie. I was told that I would meet her when I moved to Market St. When you are forewarned about a person before you meet them your antenna sticks up. Well I forgot about it until after a few weeks on Market St when I went to the dumpster behind my house. Bonnie was on me like white on rice. She was wondering what I was doing in Stuart’s dumpster (she also shared it) Well I explained in a long winded manner that I was a new tenant in the building. And I was going for my first dump run. She asked me my name and what I did for a living. She said she doesn’t remeber names but only what they do in relation to other people or their location. So from then on I was called Genius. She loved to talk to me about my schooling. So I took the time to tell her. She always looked me directly in the eye.

Well I only knew her for a year but will never forget her. We on earth will miss you Bonnie. I have captured some parting thoughts people have said from another site HERE

October 29, 2009

As a downtown resident, Bonnie was someone I could count on seeing each and every day. Somedays it was just a hello, other days she asked after other folks. I for one will certainly miss running into her. My thoughts are with you.

~ Michael, Northampton, Massachusetts

October 29, 2009

I am sorry for your loss.

I knew Bonnie for years because she would come into my workplace frequently. When I was pregnant with my twins, Bonnie gave me a fantastic book, “Super Baby Food” about making your own baby & toddler food – I used that book constantly and then gave it to another friend with a baby.

She will be missed by many.

~ Rachel, Easthampton, Massachusetts

October 28, 2009

Beckie,I’m very sorry for the loss of your mother.My thoughts and prayers are with you.Your friend,Michelle

October 28, 2009

Jeanette and family:

I was very sorry to learn of Bonnie’s death. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Best wishes to you.

David Robinson

North Haven, CT (formerly of Longmeadow and Springfield)

~ David Robinson, North Haven, Connecticut

October 28, 2009

To the Ascher Family, Iam sorry about the loss of your daughter, Bonnie.

You will be greatly missed Bonnie! Our thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family.

From everyone at Spoleto