Sonoma County & Broadway, NYC  

Join me—and our friends—at the award-winning Pezzi King Vineyards for a fun, interesting, delicious & specially discounted guided tasting of three zinfandels from three different vineyard designations. Our live, online tasting includes: 

For details & registration, click below.

For details & registration, click below.

These unique and creative dishes can be gifted to friends or loved ones or you can keep them to help organize some of your personal belongings.

Additionally, if you want to challenge yourself even further, here is a recipe for homemade air dry clay that requires no heating or baking!

Watch the documentary before joining Paula Love and the rest of our group to discuss: The Social Dilemma

Advance registration required. Zoom classes require a minimum of five registrants by 10:00am on the morning of the program.

Cost: FREE

One of the greatest films ever made is 1936’s Dodsworth. Director William Wyler will go on to helm Funny Girl, The Best Years of Our Lives, Jezebel, The Little Foxes, Mrs. Miniver, Roman Holiday and others, but this is the movie that takes my heart. I re-watch it at least twice a year. If you ever need to show a young person the beauty possible in black and white, this is one for them. We meet a wealthy businessman about to retire and finally going on a European trip with his wife. She is a woman ready for adventure, yet totally afraid of growing old rather than embracing her life. Ruth Chatterton portrays this fearful woman with courage, letting us see the insides of a person fighting nature. She almost steals the film from Walter Huston and the luminous Mary Astor. Adapted from the Sinclair Lewis novel, it is Wyler’s cinematic storytelling, from overseeing the perfect closeups to the evocative lighting. He was known as “40-Takes Wyler,” trying for the perfect shot. He got them all here. Give yourself a William Wyler Film Festival and visit the man Bette Davis called “the best director in motion picture history.”

Among my Five Favorite Films of All Time is one by auteur Sidney Lumet. The movie is Network, and each scene is framed to perfection for the story and characters. Of course, Network had the benefit of Paddy Chayefsky’s brilliant screenplay, but Lumet brought out each nuance and importance to the remarkable tale of something we see around us every day. The themes include network news being taken over by entertainment, reality television as our landscape, and corporate manipulation replacing humanity. Lumet’s stand-out style is his realistic approach to protagonists and plot, often shooting scenes as if we were eavesdropping into naturalism. His urban realism is in his other truly great films: Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, The Verdict, 12 Angry Men, and Running on Empty. When I saw The Pawnbroker as a child, I understood for the first time what a Holocaust survivor must live with if fortunate enough to survive. The way that Lumet flashed back to brief nightmarish memories when Rod Steiger would experience his current life is unforgettable. Lumet’s greatness stands the test of time, as do all the best directors.

Greta Gerwig’s two masterful movies (Little Women, Lady Bird) remind us that female directors have not been given the opportunities yet. I like to think this is changing. Mira Nair has a remarkable oeuvre, from Queen of Katwe and Monsoon Wedding, with a gorgeous romance: Mississippi Masala. Two of my first experiences with foreign films came from women auteurs: Lina Wertmuller and Agnes Varda. Penny Marshall, Ida Lupino, Niki Caro, Nora Ephron, Jane Campion, Kasi Lemmon, Patty Jenkins, and Sofia Coppola are incredible and have developed amazing style. I am not sidelining their talent, but continue to celebrate their work and art.

I just cannot continue this very limited look at auteurs without Billy Wilder. His films enrich and enliven my life. This is the director I was lucky enough to interview. He told me only one of his films made him totally proud. Was it going to be Some Like it Hot, Sunset Boulevard, Stalag 17, Sabrina, or Witness for the Prosecution? No, he told me, all of those were flawed in some way. Only Double Indemnity was his idea of perfect film. Talk about perfectionism! There's a joyousness and fun to his films, as well as some of the best casting you will ever see. A Billy Wilder Film Festival includes Austrian delicacies and a bit of the bubbly.