Culturally La Florida! VIVA FLORIDA St. Augustine
Apr 17th
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (April 11) – Spain’s 500-year influence on the culture of Florida and the nation will be celebrated May 3-6 in St. Augustine. Culturally La Florida will feature presentations by leading experts, living history demonstrations and a variety of educational and entertaining performances that will take public appreciation of Spain’s influence in the New World to a new level.
Hosted and based at Flagler College, but with programs citywide as well as in Hastings and Palm Coast, Cullturally La Florida will offer a mix of lectures, presentations and performances that will appeal to everyone from academicians to school children. Among the topics to be covered are archeology, Native Americans, runaway slaves, Spanish missions, food, arts, ranching, maritime explorations, folklore and much more.
Culturally La Florida will begin ati 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 3 with Opening Ceremonies followed by a keynote address by Dr. Michael Gannon, Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of History and member of the St. Augustine 450th Commemorative Commission. Dr. Gannon brings a unique perspective to the history of St. Augustine and Florida. Half a century ago, he served on the St. Augustine 400th Commemorative Commission.
Friday and Saturday will be filled with fascinating presentations on historical Spanish influences that began as early as 1513 with the arrival of Ponce de Leon and continue today. Field trips will explore commercial farming operations in Hastings and a visit to the Florida Agricultural Museum in Palm Coast will explain what Florida farm life was like throughout history and provide an interesting look at Spanish heritage livestock.
All of the events included in Culturally La Florida are free and open the public. Seating, however, will be on a first come, first served basis. For a complete program and full details, go to www.culturallylaflorida.org.
Flagler College thanks the following partners and sponsors for their assistance with this program: Florida Humanities Council, St. Johns County Tourist Development Council, St. Augustine Foundation, St. Johns County Visitor and Convention Bureau, City of St. Augustine, Nation’s Oldest Port National Heritage Area, Florida Public Archaeology Network, and Florida Trust for Historic Preservation.
“Funding for this program was provided through a grant from the Florida Humanities Council with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the Florida Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.”
Located midway between Daytona Beach and Jacksonville, Florida’s Historic Coast features historic St. Augustine, the outstanding golf and seaside elegance of Ponte Vedra, 42 miles of pristine Atlantic beaches – the same beaches that greeted Ponce de Leon in 1513 when he discovered and named La Florida – an area whose boundaries included what would later become the eastern United States. For more information on events, activities, holiday getaways and vacation opportunities in St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & The Beaches, go to the Visitors and Convention Bureau website at www.FloridasHistoricCoast.com, become a fan on Facebook or call 1.800.653.2489.
“Mirror Mirror” Is Surprisingly Excellent
Apr 14th
“Surprisingly Excellent”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Mirror Mirror is the most recent Hollywood version of the fairy tale about Snow White, another version is even being released later this year, but you just might be surprised at how well you enjoy this one with Julia Roberts starring as the evil Queen.
In fact, at the beginning in a voice-over by the Queen as she narrates the background of the story about Snow White, the Queen says, “And this is my story, not hers.”
Snow White is played by Lily Collins, the daughter of seven-time Grammy winner Phil Collins, and we are told that she was left under the care of the Queen when the King disappeared mysteriously, and under the control of the Queen, the once prosperous kingdom has now become close to destitute.
The people in the kingdom don’t sing and dance like they used to, and shouldn’t it be called the queendom now, anyway?
At any rate, Snow White has been confined to the castle by the Queen all these years, and when she is 18, Snow White sneaks out of the castle to see for herself what has been happening in the queendom.
While she is in the forest, Snow White rescues the charming Prince Alcott, played by Armie Hammer, who, along with his companion, has been robbed by a gang of seven thieves.
Well, you can pretty much guess the rest, can’t you, but I’ll bet you can’t guess the names of the seven dwarfs, who here have been named Napoleon, Half Pint, Grub, Grimm, Wolf, Butcher, and Chuckles, and who live in the woods because the Queen had all the “ugly people” banished from the village.
Another change to this version of the classic story is the addition of Brighton, who is unofficially called the Queen’s Executive Bootlicker and who is played by Nathan Lane.
Also, the order of some of the events that we are familiar with from previous versions of the story have been turned around, but again, because Julia Roberts is the bigger star and because she said so at the beginning, this is a story more about the Queen than a story about Snow White.
However, when it reaches the part in the story where “they all lived happily ever after,” both the Queen and the audience might be surprised.
Mirror Mirror is surprisingly excellent.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
The Three Stooges – Movie Trailer
Apr 14th
Left on a nun’s doorstep, Larry, Curly and Moe grow up finger-poking, nyuk-nyuking and woo-woo-wooing their way to uncharted levels of knuckleheaded misadventure. Out to save their childhood home, only The Three Stooges could become embroiled in an oddball murder plot…while also stumbling into starring in a phenomenally successful TV reality show.
