DR. PATRICIA A. FARRELL

Film is something I learned to adore as a child rushing with my friends to the Saturday matinee for kids at one of the five local theaters in our town. I loved the Westerns, the cartoons and the always-incomplete serials. Film became a part of my DNA in a way only those Saturday treats could implant it. No need for exotic research techniques, just give me a quarter and I was off to heaven on Earth with my friends. Once, during one of my many career explorations earlier in my

Nora Ephron, a woman who had, as they say, a way with words of all manner, used to muse about life and its vicissitudes. When not remarking on the tiniest details of a hostess' fare at a dinner party, she'd sprinkle recipes into her writing. Test it out for yourself and see how many recipes you can add to your arsenal of victuals. One of the really interesting things I found was her ability to be able to stand off and remark about herself and her physicality. Have you ever r

Film has always been an area where creativity can run wild and, in the past, exploration was encouraged, especially in young, edgy directors who wanted to break out of the box. All of us benefitted from the sudden burst of the New Wave we saw during the 50s and 60s and foreign films began to outpace American cinema in its willingness to utilize new camera techniques, original themes and not pretty boy and girl leads. Who could honestly say that Jean-Paul Belmondo was the epit

History has provided sufficient information on the sad life and ultimate death of Anne Frank, a teenage Jewish girl hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam. Her diary has been published around the world and sold 30 million copies, so this is not an obscure book. Rarely do books sell that many copies, especially when it's an unknown, teen author. The story of Anne Frank's life and ultimate demise at the hands of the Nazis is well-known. Of that there is no doubt. Explain to me, t

The world now "knows" that Harvey Weinstein, the movie mogul who has had incredible success in re-inventing himself and his companies to maximize profits while sexually abusing women at will, it seems, has gone to sex rehab. What would Amy Winehouse have done with that one? . Of course, we must say "it seems" because we live in a litigious world and Harvey, although he's settled multiple sexual harassment suits, is still "innocent." Never thought I'd use the word innocent in