WOODY ALLEN'S TEACHERS

I watched a documentary about Woody Allen where he discusses the movies he's made in his lifetime. He comments that he's had two great teachers: Ralph Rosenblum for editing and Gordon Willis for cinematography.

COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER

Sissy Spacek plays Loretta Lynn in this 1980 film that also stars a youthful Tommy Lee Jones. I'd always heard of it but never thought about watching it since it's about country music. Little did I know that Spacek won an Oscar for this role in which she does her own singing. Amazingly, the songs were also sung live to capture the moment.

Though Walk the Line is a great movie, I now know that Reese Witherspoon wasn't the first woman to win an Oscar for her own singing. Spacek set the benchmark and I look at her work with much more respect now.

One of my favorite lines in the movie comes when Tommy Lee Jones (playing Spacek's future husband) visits his moonshine making friend up in the hills. His friend is trying to convince him to steal from another moonshine operation since he doesn't have enough to meet the demand from the coal miners. His friend tells him:

Doo. If you're born in the mountains you got three choices - coal mine, moonshine or movin' on down the line.

OAK GLEN

Sometimes I'll watch Huell Howser and I get bored, but sometimes I watch it and think, boy that looks like fun. He did a show on Oak Glen that was all about apples because that's what they do in this little place north of Beaumont. You can pick 'em, eat 'em and buy all types of apples. There are hundreds and hundreds of varieties and the business owners have packed and created all kinds of different apple creations (donuts, pies, cider, etc.) that just make me want to visit this little slice of the country.