First, there was the Sullivan Middle School Spring Concert.  This began with three numbers by the Sullivan Band: a very interesting piece called ”A train heading west and other outdoor scenes,” “The Coast Guard March(all middle school band concerts must have a march)” and “ Song of the whaler.”
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The first of the scenes in the first offering was “Prairie Ritual,” indicating the appropriateness of this selection.  The actual Train Heading West sounded like, well, a train heading west.

The march was spirited, and I think the whole band offering impressive: worth listening to even if one knows anyone in the band.

The sixth grade band concert was, well, a sixth grade band concert.  At this point I’d like to mention the music director at Sullivan, Mr. Pacmara, who is obviously a hard working and dedicated educator th at in my view has worked miracles with these kids.

There followed two offerings by the sixth grade chorus: the hauntingly beautiful Israeli folk song “Zumm gali gali’ and the cute “Ode to Pluto(you’ll always be a planet to me).”  This, I think is the best one can do for a sixth grade choral concert.

Next up for me was the Holy Spirit Elementary School spring program, “He is there.”  Unlike the Sullivan concert, the offerings were all had a religious theme.  There were  several choral groups involved, the pre kindergarten grades K-5, grades K-2, grades 3-5 and 2-5.  Sometimes there was instrumental accompaniments by some of the older students and readings from by a large selection of students which gave the experience a formal feel.

Then there was the Butterfly Spring Recital by the Presidention Music Students, mentored and taught by Sister Bernadette.  The performers were all beginning through intermediate piano students There were two sessions, at 1:00 and 3:30.  Each reciter performed two pieces plus perhaps a “butterfly” composition of their own.  The level of the compositions was appropriate in all cases, allowing each student to showcase his/her particular talents.  At the risk of causing anyone to feel left out, I particularly enjoyed “Navajo Dreams” played by Grace Ward,, and “Fiesta de Seville,” and “Caprice a la carte” by Laura Sperling.

I think our community is fortunate to have an individual like Sister Bernadette willing to work with these kids to get them to this level.  Of course, the kids themselves deserve a lot of praise for wanting to spend this kind of time and effort to improve themselves in the performing    Moving away from scholl and towards summer, the Red River Soccer Club runs the Red River Soccer Academy for 6-9 year old aspiring soccer players.  Players of this age can opt to either play in a league or attend the academy, where there are taught soccer by coach twice a week in a hour to hour and a half session that includes a scrimmage.  Thls is serious about becoming good soccer players should chose the academy.

Summer fully arrive with the Fargo Park District-Hershey track meet.  This is a pre-teen event including field events and 50, 100 and 200 yard dashes and and 880 yard run.  Participants could choose two events in which to compete in their two year age group.

Wow.  Lots do do in this town if you’re a kid.

The restaurant is clean and well lit and during the summer months, al fresco dining is available.  There is a separate bar, and a full bar is available with your meal.  There is also a tantalizing selection of desserts, especially some cheesecakes.

The prices are reasonable.  Expect to pay about $25 for dinner for two without drinks.

The Speak Easy has had its ups and downs as a restaurant, and a few hears ago was in an upswing.  Some friends of mine and I ate there recently.  The menu is the same, but, I’m sorry to say, the food is not.  Time was  I liked to start my meal with a cup of their minestrone, which was to die for.  I tried it this time and found it quite tasteless.  My prime rib was fatty and cold.  That’s right, cold.

On the positive side, the waitresses were very helpful and friendly, even the next day when one of my friends was trying to find his lost car keys.  I got the impression from them that dishes such as fettuccini were Ok, but nothing to rave about.

There is a full bar. I found The Speakeasy quite expensive for what we got, the bill being around $70 including a modest amount of alcohol.  I hope this F-M icon gets back on its feet soon.

The Golden Corral offers a tremendous variety of well prepared dishes, and the served portions are not skimpy.  They have every part of the meal in fine diversity.  I’m not particularly impressed with their salad bar(I’m not sure that from what I’ ve read in various consumer magazines that eating from restaurant salad bars is a good idea anyway), but I do appreciate the inclusion of fruit in the salad bar.

The specialty dishes vary from day to day, and may include things like Italian Sausage with peppers and onions, liver and onions, chicken prepared several ways, pork steaks, various fish offerings with several choices of vegetables and balked potatoes with several other potato preparations.  Their is a grill that offers streak cooked the way you want it, and they’ll show the inside of the steak to make sure it’s done to the temperature you like.  Naturally, the steak is inferior to steak house quality, but it is good nonetheless.  There is also pizza and a whole steam table of various hot dishes.  I agree with their own description of “Awesome Yankee Pot Rost.”

Three is also a large selection of desserts, including ice cream and baked goods.  A dinner roll is delivered to your table(you can get more than one if you ask) along with honey butter.  This is, to me, the main shortcoming of the buffet.  There are no other breads or other choices for butter so, if you’re like me and sugar intolerant, you’re sort out of luck.

Everything seems to be clean, the staff hard working and eager to give quality food and service.  The price is around $10.  Admittedly the food is not the greatest, but it is good, probably as good as it can get for food prepared in mass quantities.  I think it a really good deal, and the only reason I might not there as often as I would like is there is real temptation to take way too much.  Oh, unless you go late or early, its very crowded.

The movie is another of many “literature on the screen” that so many indies seem to be these days.  It is  period piece, set in Sweden, beginning in 1907 and continuing through World War One and a little after.  An interesting period of history, one tht I’ve always wondered about.  Specifically, if World War I was really a world war, then how were the Scandinavian countries, for example affected?  Well if this movie is true to the time, they were, so the movie interested me from that perspective.

The movie is essentially about the Larsson family.  The father, Sigge(Mickhel Persbrant), is a laborer and a drunk.  The story is told as a narrative
by the oldest daughter, Maja, in a large brood of children.  The story centers around the trials of the Larsson family and in large part, Sigge’s wife Marta, played by Marta Heiskonen.  This is amusing, since Heiskonnen is apparently a Finnish name, and the Marta of the movie is also a Finn.

I loved the depiction of life in Sweden during this time period(the movie begins in Malmo, but moves around, as a drunk would), the early motor cars, the street scenes, complete with street cars.  Recall that in that period of history there was a significant socialist or communist movement.  Capitalism and Royal power were being called into question. All of these issues are dealt with in a gentle fashion.

The Larsson family is, of course, not wealthy.  In desperation, Marta digs out an old camera to sell, and takes it to a camera shp run by the Dane Mr. Pedersen(Jacob Christensen).  Instead, Pederson shows her how to use the camera and how to turn a profit doing so.  So this is all the meat for the story, which I won’t divulge, but really the film just tells the story of this family during the 15 year of so period.  The acting was excellent and the cinematography very satisfactory.  However, I must say that I didn’t buy the progression of the disease of alcoholism in Sigge nor Marta as an alcoholics wife.  Also, the movie is iin Swedish with English subtitles.  The subtitling could have been a lot better.

So, if you like period pieces and/or “literature on the screen” I think you’ll enjoy this one.  If cause scenes and violence, or mysteries are your bag, then I think you should look elsewhere.

Story:  B
Acting:  A
Believability:  B
Historical Interest:  A-

At the beginning of this review I mentioned the “Big Screen” at the Fargo Theatre.  There is also a small theatre attached to the main building called The Fargo Theatre Off Broadway.  This is a brand new, modern, theater that seats 99, a good number for movies showing at the Fargo.  The seats are comfortable, the sound system good, and there is a very attractive and spacious lobby with old movie posters on the walls.  It does not have a separate entrance than the main theater.  I look forward to seeing more movies in this venue.

Sugar is given a home with a straight laced protestant family(take note).  So that’s all the background I need to discuss the movie.

Now, there are a lot of Dominicans in the major leagues.  This movie ios about some that aren’t.  In fact, it’s not really about baseball at all.  It’s about culture shock, and Sugar’s ability to adjust, or lack thereof, to life in the United States.  Or so it would seem.  The plot is too complex, in my view, to make any sweeping generalizations, but, but I think it more interesting the total lack of understanding the kingly Higgins’ show toward Sugar, who does learn English rather quickly(the Higins’ don’t learn any Spanish, even though they have a history of taking Dominicans under their wing.

Well, that’s too much about the story.  I don’t want to sway another viewer’s opinions with my own.  The movie is slow paced, and the constant interacting of Sugar with other Dominicans, Americans and other hispanics complex and requiring attention.  The movie is pretty clean: not much foul language, a little drug use, but it’s not gratuitous: it’s important to the story.

This movie will not appeal to baseball fans looking for a baseball movie.  It is not a drug lord movie.  It’s just a movie about human relations, more like the movie “Class” than “The Rookie.”  If you need adventure or action, this movie is not for you.  If you like character studies and studies in human emotions and development, then I think you’d like this.

Acting:  B+
Script:   B+
Relevance: B+

In the main building, there have been several changes, and I’m sure there’ll be more.  The Taiwanese beauty snakes are gone, but the impressive skink exhibit has been enlarged to include two different exhibits,  The nightmarishly big toad is still there together with the tropical fish, including some clownfish(Nemo, to the kids) Turtles, chameleons, a Gila monster( the only poisonous animal at the zoo, but probably not toxic to humans), some impressive insects(tarantulas, cockroaches, Indian walking sticks) are among the other exhibits.

I would assume that not all of the farm animals(exotic or otherwise) are out yet.  The camels are present with their fairly young offspring.  Even though it was cold when I was there, there was a meerkat standing guard at the meerkat exhibit.  The red, or lesser, panda was frisky and looked very healthy.  I’m not sure how many pandas the zoo has, I only saw one.

Thre were three takin’s at the Takin Ridge exhibit along with a Caucasian Tur.  I’ve been to a number of zoos, and never seen three takins at the same zoo.  The Tur is probably extinct in the wild: unfortunately, their only native habitat is Chechnia, and hungry soldiers with automatic weapons don’t care if you’re about to go extinct or not.

The Russian red squirrels were not on display, but nest to their enclosure is one for a pallas cat, which hadn’t arrived at the zoo yet.  I understand this critically endangered cat has arrived now.

In the eagle’s exhibit, which contains a nest, there are very attractive bald and golden eagles, one each.  Then there’s the Wolf Den, a very spectacular exhibit.  A must see, even if you don’t like zoos.

The North Dakota Plains exhibit doesn’t seem to be functional yer.  One of my favorites, the exhibit that includes agouti and a red necked crane, a Chinese bird, has all the animals along with some exotic geese, but there isn’t any foliage in the exhibit.  Give it time.

The Asian Aviary isn’t populated, or enclosed, just now.  I don’t know what the plans are for that exhibit.

The Red River Zoo is not a large zoo, but it is very special.  We have many animals on display that are not frequently seen at other zoos.  However, unless you are a member and therefore can go as often as you want, I’d wait until they get their act together before paying the non-trivial entrance fee.