The War Tapes

There’s a movie playing at the Sunshine Theater on Houston Street right now that will never make its way to a mainstream audience. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this year, was purchased and assigned a small, limited release.

It’s called “The War Tapes” and it follows three New England National Guardsmen on their trip to Iraq. The chosen three, each distinctly different in cinematic ways, were given tiny cameras and asked to record their experiences. Many times, they turn the camera on themselves, providing commentary on certain situations.

For me, the movie became a very strong taste of what a tour of duty on the front lines of Iraq must be like. It was like a shot in the arm, a rude reminder that the war in Iraq is not over¾far from it.

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Cooking up a vision

By HEINRICH STRAUCH

I like to cook—people who know me can see that. As with cooking, I believe that visioning requires proper tools and technique, quality ingredients, time, and passion to create a meal that can be enjoyed by everyone, even if it may not be your personal favorite.

Some cooks are just gifted. They throw five things together, shuffle the pan, and out comes something magnificent. For the rest of us, using good tools and solid technique is the way to go. Visioning should be a process that ensures that creative potentials are unlocked, ideas find their ways to the surface and all is considered fairly. Using a facilitator, going through clearly defined steps and stages, regrouping as a team along the way—all those are good ideas to ensure that the result is high quality.

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