by Eva van Loon
Avatar: My usually tough-minded daughter cried twice. The film made Townsite parking difficult for the first time since I’ve been here and put a smile on theater-proprietress Ann Nelson’s face quite possibly never seen before. Even an old fart like me plans to see it again…seeing this film in three-D would almost be worth a trip to the Big Smoke.

Seems like one helluva movie…until you hear people playing Film Critic: “It’s racist—the Noble Savage all over again.”
“It’s just a stupid fantasy about race told from the point of view of white people. It reinforces the whole white Messiah thing.”
“Dances with Wolves in space. Another white guy has to save the natives from the bad guys.”
Wo! It may be just a movie, but it sure brings out the sneer in some people. Protest too much?
The Wolf at Twilight: This thick but easy-flowing book I received for Christmas from someone who knew me for a wolf nut but hadn’t apparently spent so much as a micro-second between its covers. There’s not a paw print in this book. It’s about a white guy, author Nerburn, who’s been exceptionally close to the “Indians” (as Americans still say), getting wisdom from a First Nations elder (the wolf).
Been there; done that,I thought, unwrapping it,
but it’s the thought that counts.
Was I mistaken! Every morning over coffee I reached for that dratted book and two weeks later was reading as slow as possible so it wouldn’t end.
One helluva book.