Word: helena
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...presence of the supernatural: Hermes, the Greek messenger of the gods, watches and narrates as the awfully-named Godleys eat, drink and live their mortal lives. Other gods also enjoy the human spectacle and occasionally intervene. As Adam lies immobile on his bed, Zeus seduces his daughter-in-law, Helena, disguised as her husband, also named Adam; the trickster god Pan meddles with the household as well...
...structural level, this setup recalls the myth of Amphytryon, in which Zeus cuckolds an unsuspecting general by taking on his form. References to the myth run through the book—Helena is to play Amphytryon’s wife in an upcoming play and carries a ring with the character’s initial. This parallel story line adds texture to the book’s simple premise. As the Godley family flits and bickers, the gods too flirt with drama. “Oh, Dad,” Hermes frequently exclaims at Zeus’s escapades...
...upper stretches of Conn Valley Road are more locked in time than most other corners of California. Only a few miles away from the contemporary epicurean bustle of Napa Valley's Highway 29, the road meanders through the oak-studded foothills east of St. Helena, where, rather than busloads of weekend winos headed for trendy tasting rooms and amazingly expensive eateries, you're more likely to encounter bald eagles, bobcats, and - if you drive deep enough - the relics of the winemaking region's nearly forgotten past...
...1880s, the Franco-Swiss was pumping out more than 100,000 gallons of wine every year - and we're not talking run-of-the-mill plonk. "The quality of grapes produced by it is evidenced by the wines now in the cellar," wrote the St. Helena Star in 1882, "one of which - the Zinfandel Claret - we have rarely seen equaled." Most wine aficionados believe that the 1976 "Judgment of Paris" - the historic blind tasting by French critics who, to their own shock, preferred American entries to French - was the first time the New World beat out Old World wines...
...walls of the hole that Alice (Mia Wasikowska) falls into are stocked with all manner of the White Rabbit's mementos; this could be WALL•E's cluttered annex. Alice meets flowers with faces and cruel tongues, frogs that serve as insecure butlers to Iracebeth the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) and a more voluptuous picturization of Wonderland - here it's called Underland - than even Carroll could have dreamed. Though the 3-D goggles function almost like sunglasses, filtering out about 20% of the light, Dariusz Wolski's images are luminous and cunning enough to evoke the vivid colors...