Posted by Anne M on Monday, Feb 27, 2012
Last night, The Artist captured Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Do you know when the last silent film took home that Oscar? 1929 (the year of the first Academy Awards); Wings was the winner. I've been stumbling across this fact in the majority of Oscar coverage and, as luck would have it, a restored version of Wings was released this year on DVD.
Wings' plot is a twist on the familiar boy meets girl story. In Wings, a boy falls in love with a girl, but she is in love with someone else, but there is another girl who is in love with the first boy. It's not important. Wings has something better than plot: World War I fighter pilot action. And no CGI. They mounted the cameras on planes for all the flight scenes. The director, William Wellman, was also a WWI fighter pilot and used his experiences to recreate action. It also has star power. The film stars one of the most famous actresses from the silent era, Clara Bow. It also features a very young Gary Cooper, but not for very long (I've said too much).
About the Author
Anne Mangano has worked for the Iowa City Public Library since 2008, serving as the Collection Services Coordinator since 2013. In this position, she oversees ICPL's collection, including the selection, cataloging, processing, repair, and removal of materials, including the library's digital collections. Anne holds a Bachelor of...
Cece Cordell, newly promoted to principal dancer at the New York City Ballet, is facing history. She is the first Black ballerina for the company, knows she worked twice as hard as everyone else to get there, and is worried it isn’t enough. It is a lot of pressure—not to mention how incredibly difficult it is just to just be a professional ballet dancer. She also has to face her past, especially as a significant life decision might throw her off a course she has strived for her entire life. Dances is a novel that shows you the physical and psychological wear and tear of being an athlete. Nicole Cuffy shows you through the writing every muscle stretch and strain, every twitch, every sharp pain of Cece’s. All the reviews of this book comment on the physical nature of Cuffy’s writing in describing ballet steps and moves and they are right. It is stand out. However, Cuffy also successfully captures the minds relationship with the body. The control and inability to control. The thoughts of feeling not worthy, that you do not belong, and that you are being judged. It is a great read. -Anne M