Juan Aleman, mid-twenties, plays guard for the Ventura Special Olympics ten member, SLAM, basketball team. He and teammates took the gold at the recent Santa Barbara Special Olympics Regional Tournament.
He’s a force to be reckoned with on the court, using superior strength and agility. He has a good work ethic, being prompt for all practices for the last two plus years on his present team.
Juan was especially thrilled when viewing a full-length poster the team had at an event depicting him, arms crossed and smiling.
According to his coach, Tom Henry, Juan always goes the extra mile for his team. He brings food to share at his own expense to practice sessions. His coach and teammates appreciate these extra efforts.
Juan is self-sufficient, has a fulltime job at a local Vons Market, an apartment close by and a girlfriend.
The 5th Annual Ventura Farm Day, set for Saturday, November 4, is seeking sponsors. During Farm Day, more than 20 Ventura County farms open their doors and invite the public to learn how their food is grown.
“We are looking for sponsors who want to be part of this free, fun and informative event that connects the community with local farms,” says Mary Maranville, founder and executive director of Students for Eco-Education and Agriculture (SEEAG), the nonprofit that organizes Farm Day each year. “Farm Day is an excellent demonstration of the successful partnership between farms, community leaders and businesses to further agricultural awareness.”
The night before Farm Day, on Friday, November 3, the 2nd Annual Ventura County Farm Day Film Festival will be held. The time and venue will be announced soon.
New this year is a Farm Day kickoff breakfast at The Collection in Oxnard. The Collection and Whole Foods are sponsors. “It’s a great way to start Farm Day,” says Maranville. “The breakfast will include many of the produce grown right here in Ventura County.”
Finally, to cap off Farm Day, a barbeque will take place in the evening that features live entertainment, games for the kids and locally-sourced food and beverages.
Ventura County Farm Day is also looking for an animal to be its official mascot. “It could be a miniature pony, calf, piglet—an animal that loves being with children and who can attend Farm Day kid events,” explains Maranville.
For more information about Ventura County Farm Day sponsorship opportunities, visit www.VenturaCountyFarmDay.com or call 805-901-0213. For mascot inquiries, call or contact Mary Maranville, [email protected].
Your Name (Kimi no Na wa)
By Manuel Reynoso
4 palm trees out of 4
Your Name, or in Japan Kimi no Na wa, was written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. Based on the novel by the same name also written by Makoto Shinkai.
As streaks of blue and red cascade past a crimson horizon, gentle streams of light backdrop the roaring entry of a meteor as it approaches a tranquil little village nestled against a great lake. And just like that, one minute into the film, both the theme and tone has been set for the rest of the movie. At its core Your Name is a film about a budding romance between the bored country girl Mitsuha and the lively city boy Taki. While the two have never formally met, through forces beyond our understanding, the two will occasionally find themselves in each other’s bodies. Your Name is a film with powerful themes of love and fate, with gorgeous hand drawn visuals that deserve to be seen on the silver screen. Writer and director Makoto Shinkai’s tale rivals the quality of work by animations giants such as Disney or Studio Ghibli, both in writing and animation quality.
If I was to sum up Shinkai’s writing style in one world, I would describe it as efficient. As I alluded to in the beginning, Shinkai’s use of action to convey things such as plot, themes, and character development allows plot to move forward, rarely impeded by exposition. When dealing with the characters body swapping antics, the plot moves quickly enough that by the time the audience realizes what is happening, the characters have already grown accustomed to this life. While this does leave the possibility of getting lost in the details, the rare instances of exposition allows one to catch right back up. I always advocate for films to tell their story through action, and Your Name is a masterclass in this regard.
The last traditionally animated film I’ve seen in the theaters was The Wind Rises back in 2013-2014. It’s been too long since I’ve had to pleasure of seeing beautiful hand drawn visuals on the silver screen, and Your Name was easily the most visually stunning animated film I’ve seen to date. A bright palette and immaculately crafted backgrounds make each scene come to life. While the character animation is not on the level of classic American animation, the character designs are great and well detailed.
Unfortunately the film’s theatrical debut here in the US is somewhat limited, so by the time this review hits, the availability in cinemas will be scarce. But any effort expended to see this film in theaters is well worth it. I just hope this films commercial success can pave the way for more traditionally animated films finding their way back into American cinemas. Even if Japanese animated films aren’t your cup of tea, this film is very much worth seeing. There are few instances of Japanese tropes that don’t quite translate well in America, but if you look past that, we have a unique love film with a twist of fantasy. If subtitles are not your thing, the English dub is serviceable. PG 1h 52m
Virtuoso Violin Meets Celtic Guitar at the “Fire & Grace” Concert.
The Museum of Ventura County, in partnership with the Ventura Music Festival, will present Fire & Grace, the duo of William Coulter on guitar and Edwin Huizinga on violin, at 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 6. at the Museum of Ventura County Smith Pavilion, 100 East Main St.
These masters of classical, folk and contemporary music will perform selections from their famous Liquid Gold Suite, ranging from Bach to an Irish reel, from a tango by Piazzolla to a Spanish love song and to a Balkan dance tune. The evening begins at 7 p.m. with a dessert and champagne reception followed by the concert at 8 p.m. General Admission is $100 per person; museum members and festival sponsors and founders are $85 per person. All proceeds from this special concert go to support the Museum’s and Festival’s educational programs.
“It’s exciting to have two world-renowned musicians performing an amazing range of music to benefit the educational programs offered by the Museum to our community,” said Elena Brokaw, the Museum of Ventura County’s interim CEO. “Our programs are essential to achieving the museum’s mission to inspire and engage our local communities. It’s through events like Fire & Grace that we raise funds needed to support these outreach programs.”
Canadian-born violinist Huizinga has established himself as one of North America’s most versatile violinists. Grammy-award winning guitarist Coulter has been performing and recording traditional and classical music for more than 25 years.
In addition to the evening concert, the Museum is sponsoring a free family-friendly Fire & Grace Children’s Concert for ages 8 and up from 4 -5 p.m. An inspiring musical journey for young people, this engaging interactive concert features an introduction to the instruments, the music, a question and answer session, young musicians, dancing and more. Parents and grandparents are welcome.
To purchase tickets for the evening concert of Fire and Grace, visit http://bit.ly/2oj6jCe. For more information, contact the Museum of Ventura County at 653.0323.
The Museum of Ventura County, through its collections, exhibits, educational programs and publications, celebrates the history, art, and culture of Ventura County and the Channel Islands. The museum is open Tuesday – Sunday 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (Closed Monday). Admission is $5.00 Adults (18 years and older), $3.00 Seniors (62 and over) and Students with ID, $1.00 Children (17-6 years old); Children 5 years old and younger are free.
Dab Art is pleased to present Paperwork, a group exhibition at H Gallery + Studios. This exhibit features a selection of art in multiple genres and disciplines. Including works in pencil, ink and oils, abstracts, landscapes and sculptures. Nine contemporary artists exhibit a small collection of their distinctive pieces. Each artist demonstrates dissimilar perspectives on fragility, creation and structure incorporating a singular principal medium, paper.
H Gallery-1793 E. Main Street Hours: Weds -Sat 1-5pm
League of Women Voters of Ventura County (LWVVC), a nonpartisan political organization, is joining with Ventura College in sponsoring a public forum on climate change.
The Forum is on Saturday, May 6, from 10:00 am to 12:00 at Ventura College, Applied Science Center Building theater, 4667 Telegraph Rd.
Panelists will include:
David Lea: Professor of Earth Science in the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at U.C. Santa Barbara. Professor Lea, for whom global climate change is a major research interest, will provide a detailed overview of the nature of climate change and the dangers it poses.
Sangwon Suh: Professor of Corporate Environmental Management and, Industrial Ecology and Life Cycle Assessment in the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at U.C. Santa Barbara. Professor Suh will address the economic problems posed by climate change, and outline options for dealing with them including some interesting significant contributions from the investment community.
Jim Hines: Chair, Los Padres Chapter of the Sierra Club. Mr. Hines will focus his remarks on three topics; What are the impacts of climate change on our natural world, including Ventura County? How will current congressional legislation impact federal lands, waters, and protected wildlife in Ventura County? What can individual citizens do to combat legislation they view as damaging?
The LWVVC encourages all those who are interested in learning more about climate change, including its implications for Ventura County, to attend.
Camporee is a Girl Scout event where more than 6,000 girls Southern California get together to sing, dance, perform live stage performances, participate in outdoor programming, and do fun teambuilding exercises. Girls learn skills such as Stargazing, fire building, safety, how to use a compass, and knot tying. Some girls go for the day while others camp-out all weekend.
This year’s Camporee took place at Camp Arnaz in Ojai on March 25, and had a superhero theme. The girls spent time writing cards of gratitude to be shared with “super heroes” in our community. Several community super heroes were invited to share their knowledge with the girls. Local law enforcement from the Sheriff and Highway Patrol offices came to share safety tips with the young scouts.
The gallery is filled with original fine art and one-of-a-kind items made with heart and talent. The unique and dynamic collection includes watercolors, sculpture, jewelry, greeting cards, blown glass, hand-dyed t-shirts, quilts, and lots of other unique gifts. There is something special waiting to grace your mums’ life, so wander by and spend a little time.
And if you come in on Mother’s Day, May 14, there will be face painting for kids and a special treat for Mum!
Harbor Village Gallery and Gifts is a non-profit cooperative of 13 local artists, and operates under the umbrella of the Buena Ventura Art Association.
The gallery is located at 1559 Spinnaker Drive Suite 106 in the Ventura Harbor. Open 7 days 11-6 and sometimes on Friday and Saturday evenings.
On Saturday, April 29, from 9 a.m. – 12 noon, the Ventura Hillsides Conservancy will host “Monarch Madness” – a family-friendly milkweed planting event at the Big Rock Nature Preserve along the Ventura River. This 2nd annual free, open-to-the-public event is made possible by funding from SoCalGas.
VHC will provide attendees with gardening gloves, shovels, native milkweed and other pollinator plants and demonstrate the proper planting technique. Special guest and monarch butterfly expert, Juliana Danaus from Monarch Arch, will show how to make milkweed seed balls that attendees can either plant onsite or take home to plant in their own gardens.
“The Conservancy is committed to restoring and preserving the wildlife habitat that animals, birds and insects need to survive,” said Derek Poultney, VHC executive director. “Thanks to generous support from SoCalGas, we will create a beautiful oasis near the Ventura River that attracts monarch butterflies and human visitors alike.”
Milkweed habitat is essential to the survival of the monarch butterfly. Monarch caterpillars only eat milkweed and monarch mothers lay their eggs on the milkweed plant. The monarch is the only known butterfly to make a two-way migration like birds do. Monarchs travel between 50 – 100 miles per day and it can take them up to two months to complete their 3,000-mile journey. Milkweed habitat loss is the biggest short-term threat to the migration of monarch butterflies.
This event is appropriate for people of all ages but children must be accompanied by an adult. Attendees should wear sturdy closed-toe shoes, long pants, a hat, sunscreen and bring a water bottle.
The Big Rock Nature Preserve is located off Highway 33 along the Ojai-Ventura Bike Trail, just south of Foster Park. To RSVP, go to www.venturahillsides.org/events. For more information and directions, visit www.venturahillsides.org/big_rock or call VHC at 643-8044.
