Heaven

On August 4, 2007, CHARLES JOSEPH MASCOTT, beloved husband of Grace Marie (nee Burke), loving father of Maryanne Harvey, Barbara Phillips, Sue Treida, Jeanne Befano, Joe and Tom Mascot, cherished grandfather of 13 and great grandfather of 15. Friends may call Wednesday 5 to 7 P.M. at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church (Wilde Lake Interfaith Center), 10431 Twin Rivers Rd., Columbia, MD 21044. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Thursday at 10:30 A.M. at the above church. Interment, Friday, Gate of Heaven Cemetery, East Hanover, NJ. Those who desire may direct memorials in Mr. Mascott's name to Hospice Services of Howard County, 5537 Twin Knolls Rd., Suite 433, Columbia, MD 21045.

On August 18, 2007, LONNIE T. PAYNE, JR. Friends may call at the FAMILY OWNED MARCH FUNERAL HOME EAST, 1101 E. North Avenue on Tuesday after 2 P.M. The family will receive friends at Highway To Heaven Apostolic, 1650 N. Patterson Park. Ave on Wednesday at 11 A.M. Funeral Services will follow at 11:30 A.M.

WHILE it apparently needs no help from me, I wanted to get in my own words of praise for the surprise hit "Dogma," and to salute the film's writer and director, Kevin Smith, as one of the most interesting moralists of our time.His theological tract, which has been fraudulently (albeit successfully) marketed as a comedy, has been accused of being talky, profanity-filled and juvenile -- all of which is true and probably a good thing.If you're going to make a movie in which the climactic moment has an abortion clinic nurse asking God why we are all here, there is going to be a lot to talk about.

Vachel Lindsay (1879-1931)American poetVachel Lindsay believed it wasn't enough just to write poetry -- a poet needed to read it as well.Committed to reviving poetry as an oral art form of the common people, Lindsay wrote and read compositions with powerful rhythms that had immediate appeal. Among the 20 or so poems that audiences demanded to hear were "General Booth Enters into Heaven," "The Congo" and "The Santa Fe Trail."Lindsay's popularity declined during the 1920s. He committed suicide by drinking poison.

"The Rooms of Heaven: A Story of Love, Death, Grief and the Afterlife," by Mary Allen. Knopf. 320 pages. $24.The Rooms of Heaven" is about love, death, the afterlife and several forms of madness, elements of which teeter on the edge of Oprah-land but never quite fall in, since Allen manages to steer around the puffy stereotypes that are common to such landscapes.Allen's "creative non-fiction" is fluid and fat-free. A graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop, she doesn't soft-pedal her own stupidity -- "what grabbed my imagination was drugs and sex and death, the sad, awful romance of self-destruction" -- nor does she bonk the reader over the head with Every Lesson Learned.

It was a match made in heaven -- or at least someplace other than Earth.Stan Triplett had had a near-death experience at age 15 and believed he communed with spirits. Shelly Shafer believed she was developing the ability to talk to people after they had died.She was a regular at the Near Death Experience Support Group in Columbia. He was coming for the first time, two Augusts ago, wanting to meet others like himself -- and secretly hoping to meet the love of his life.The group, one of some 50 around the country, felt like a spiritual home to him, where people could discuss intimately, without fear of ridicule, the mostly uncharted territory between life and death.

In Baltimore CityMeals on Wheels issues alert to public on fraudulent appealsMeals on Wheels of Central Maryland Inc. is alerting the public to possible fraudulent fund raising by people posing as representatives of the nonprofit organization.The group conducts two annual fund-raising appeals through the mail and does not solicit contributions from anyone at home or on the street.For information about Meals on Wheels, 515 S. Haven St., and its fund-raising procedures, call the organization's development office at 410-558-0932, Ext. 3024.

Do you hear the tom-toms beating? Across the land -- at least among its most cinema- obsessed precincts -- a tattoo has begun, quietly at first and gaining force in the last two weeks: He's back, he's back, he's back.The "he" is Terrence Malick, whose new movie "The Thin Red Line" opens in Baltimore Friday. The World War II epic, based on the novel by James Jones, is Malick's first film in 20 years, the third in a career that began in 1974 with the release of "Badlands." That film, starring Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen as a young couple on a murderous rampage through the Midwest, was a debut on a par with Orson Welles and "Citizen Kane," and Malick was immediately compared to that more rotund but similarly philosophical auteur.

HOT SPRINGS, Va. -- The first thing you spot is the trademark soaring brick tower, which juts out of the breathtaking autumn foliage of the Allegheny Mountains, to which you can pay only scant attention as you navigate winding, two-lane U.S. 220 with a dump truck on your tail and a 500-foot drop and no guardrail outside the left window.This is the Homestead, the magnificent hotel where travelers have been coming since the 18th century, drawn by the area's natural hot springs and their rumored restorative powers.

Bret Harte(1836-1902)Harte began his career writing sketches but gained wide public notice with his short stories. He helped launch the Californian and he edited the Overland Monthly.A collection of his writings titled "The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Stories" was published in 1870.Harte's characters used a dialect that Mark Twain described as "no one on heaven or earth had ever used till Harte invented it."Harte helped make San Francisco the literary capital of the West.-- Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia of LiteraturePub Date: 06/06/99

The forested, hilly land off Henryton Road where Shirley Collier and her neighbors live is wild and wonderful, but it's in Howard County, not West Virginia, and residents want government help to improve the half-mile unpaved private road that their developer installed three decades ago. But county officials fear that relaxing the laws on private road conversions for Collier's community would bring dozens more expensive requests. "It's our little piece of heaven out here," said Collier, a 23-year resident.

CHARLES "CHUCK" KRONICK, age 83, of Fairfield Glade, TN., went to Heaven December 27, 2008. Mr. Kronick was born on December 26, 1925 the son of Helen and Eddis Kronick. He is survived by six children and a sister Sylvia Hudkins. There will be a family Graveside Service in Indianapolis. In lieu of flowers donations may be made in his memory to the Alzheimers Association.

Dining in Nashville means having your cardiologist on speed dial. A look at the local food and drink of the Music City and Charm City: NASHVILLE Country ham and red-eye gravy Get this: The gravy starts with the drippings in a pan in which slices of ham were fried. So it's ham gravy on ham. Served with a nice ham salad? Pork barbecue In case you didn't get enough ham. MoonPie Graham-cracker cookies, marshmallow filling, chocolate dip. Who needs a bathroom scale, anyway? Stack cake Sugar, eggs, molasses, buttermilk, flour ... you can feel your arteries hardening.

[Sony Pictures] Starring David Niven, Kim Hunter; James Mason, Helen Mirren. Both directed by Michael Powell. $24.96. *** 1/2 dvds Best known for directing one of the most beautiful (1948's The Red Shoes) and one of the most controversially voyeuristic (1960's Peeping Tom) films ever released, British director Michael Powell packed a lot more than those two milestones into his four-decade career. This two-disc set, with movies made available for the first time on DVD, offers evidence of both his talent and his singular vision.

How did this country get in the financial pickle it's in, Childs? By confusing quantity with quality. Two flat-screen TVs must be better than one flat-screen. And four of those babies? Hog heaven - who cares if we have nothing in the rainy day fund? Same goes for bowl games. Thirty-four bowl games? That's 68 teams, or better than half of all Football Bowl Subdivision programs. You can't tell me with a straight face that there are 68 quality football teams in this country, not after watching a single quarter of the Independence Bowl's clash of the titans, Northern Illinois vs. Louisiana Tech.

Give HBO four stars for its classy, spicy and very satisfying documentary about the once legendary New York eatery, Le Cirque: A Table in Heaven. The filmmakers have structured it as an operatic drama with a capital D. Viewers follow the four-star French restaurant as it flourishes in the 1970s and '80s under owner Sirio Maccioni - up through its closing in 2004, and reopening two years later. Watch as the owner, his wife and three sons engage in family combat worthy of Wagner as they struggle to find a new style for a new century.

Rosemary Stafford-Baldwin, a Colts cheerleader from 1956 to 1969, remembers how cold it became in the second half of the game. My recollections are still vivid. First and foremost, it was a privilege not only to be chosen a cheerleader, but also to be at that game. However, we were not aware how historically significant the game would become. We were grateful to be, for the first time, in New York's Yankee Stadium, walking on the same ground where our Babe Ruth did his magic. We traveled by train that Sunday morning, with the band, majorettes, sportswriters and fans.

On September 25, 2008, HEDY L. EDWARDS, Friends may call at the William C. Brown Community Funeral Home P.A., 1206 W. North Avenue, Thursday 3 to 7 P.M. Family will receive friends Friday at the Highway to Heaven Apostolic Faith Church, 1650 N. Patterson Park Avenue, 11 A.M. Funeral 11:30 A.M.

The jigsaw-puzzle, time-hopping storytelling of movies from Pulp Fiction to 21 Grams becomes a movie version of a lyric, musical round in The Edge of Heaven, Fatih Akin's superb film about the eternal pull of family. Since it's released by a small company and will be playing at the Charles, movie lovers should see it right away - partly to get the word of mouth going so it will last more than a week, and partly so they can have a chance to see it again. Akin, born of Turkish parents in Germany, sets a tale of mothers and daughters, a father and a son against contemporary turmoil in Turkey and Germany.

Stoli Oranj martini, straight up with a twist Sascha's 527 Cafe Sascha Wolhandler describes herself as "an aging prom queen." However, most of Baltimore knows her as the dynamic caterer/restaurateur behind the 25-year-old Sascha's Catering and 8-year old Sascha's 527 Cafe, both of which she runs with her husband, Steve Suser. Wolhandler also works as a food stylist on movies filmed around Baltimore. Currently, she is doing just that for the Renee Zellweger/Chris Noth film, My One And Only, now in production here.