Opinion

Staff Writer Lydia Manx gets the movie-going bug and tells us what she thought of "Hellboy 2" and "Mamma Mia!"

Yet another movie weekend! Bernie and Sand go see "The X-Files: I Want To Believe."

Bernie and Sand Pilarski eagerly run to the movies to see "The Dark Knight." Now if we could only get Sand out from under her desk again ...

Is it a book review? A humor column? An artsy "how to"? No. It's just one of my pre-migraine days when everything is really agitating. And -- fabulous me! -- I'm bringing YOU along for the ride.

Piker Press Poetry Editor Cheryl Haimann reviews "The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread" by Don Robertson.

"Ah, what the heck," says Alex,"it's Brendan Fraser." Bernie and Sand lurch off with her to see "Journey to the Center of the Earth." It's a Jules Verne title, after all, and it certainly can't be any worse than Tom Cruise in "War of the Worlds.

Katrina Stonoff reviews the book, "We Are All Welcome Here" by Elizabeth Berg.

Fans of Will Smith, Sand and Bernie join hands and merrily scamper off to see the movie "Hancock."

California's Ceiling of Smoke in the Summer of 2008 leave Sand and Bernie two choices -- they must entertain themselves by going to the movies, or stay home and clean out filing cabinets. The animated film, "WALL-E," wins.

Katrina Stonoff reviews the book, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon.

Managing Editor Sand Pilarski weighs in with an explanation about Mondays.

Almost every history student in high school could say that what they were taught was dry and seemed to have no point. Over this summer break, maybe history teachers ought to worry lest about the text book and think about teaching what really happened.

A remake of "The Hulk"? Sand catches wind of a Tony Stark appearance, so it's off to the theater again to see "The Incredible Hulk."

Katrina Stonoff reviews the book, "The Crimson Petal and the White," by Michel Faber.

Katrina Stonoff reviews the book, "Trans-Sister Radio" by Chris Bohjalian.

Unseasonably cold and wet weather on Memorial Day weekend drives Sand and Bernie to the movies as easily as record heat waves do -- this time to see "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

Sand and Bernie escape the Central Valley's record heat wave and view the movie, "Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian."

Katrina Stonoff reviews "Running With Scissors" by Augusten Burroughs.

Katrina Stonoff reviews "Falling Boy" by Alison McGhee.

Not the infernal heat of high summer, but the unseasonable horrid winds of spring convince Bernie and Sand that it's in the best of public interest to go see "Iron Man," and report on the experience.

Katrina Stonoff reviews "City of Glass" by Paul Auster.

Shouting "Woo hoo!" all the way, Sand drags Bernie off to the movies to see Jackie Chan in "The Forbidden Kingdom."

Wendy Robards reviews "Jackfish, The Vanishing Village," by Sarah Felix Burns.

Tennyson wrote, "In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love." The Academy of American Poets suggests that in spring, and specifically in April, you turn your fancy to poetry.

Katrina Stonoff reviews "By Bread Alone" by Sarah-Kate Lynch.

Founded in April of 2002, the <i>Piker Press</i> got its start with a tiny band of writers who, having giddily written their first full-length novels during National Novel Writing Month in November of 2001, found themselves eager to write more, but with no venue willing to take a chance on unknown, unpublished authors. What this has meant is that the Piker Press has had one goal from the very start: encouraging writers to keep on writing.

Katrina Stonoff reviews the novel, "The Mermaid Chair," by Sue Monk Kidd.

The Piker Press Staff considers, remembers, and instructs about salads.

Katrina Stonoff reviews "Sarah" by Marek Halter and has some reservations about the book.

Professional and creative? Not once you become a parent. Because Mattel's Barbie is there to eat your brain.