Books
Miranda Winters & Rocky Romano’s New Short Film, “Gangsta Gardener,” Featuring Ron Finley, Set for Los Angeles Premiere at the Prestigious Hammer Museum
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Breath(e): Toward Climate and Social Justice, is organized by guest co-curators Glenn Kaino and Mika Yoshitake. The exhibition considers environmental art practices that address the climate crisis and anthropogenic disasters and their inescapable intersection with issues of equity and social justice. Breath(e) features works by more than 20 artists, including works by Mel Chin, Ron Finley, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Garnett Puett, and Lan Tuazon, commissioned specially for this exhibition.
“Gangsta Gardener” offers a powerful narrative through a single interview with Ron Finley, paired with mesmerizing cinematography from his South Los Angeles garden. Ron Finley, a legend in the world of gardening (his gardening Masterclass is one of the most popular on the site), shares his profound journey and relentless pursuit to create a better world by empowering others to challenge societal norms. His garden, located in South Los Angeles, serves as a living testament to his mission of sustainable neighborhood gardening.
“We reached out to Ron Finley because we believe in his mission, and wanted to create a piece that addressed food deserts in our area,” said Miranda Winters, co-director of the film. “Ron Finley’s story is one of resilience, innovation, and the unwavering belief in the power of change. We hope this film inspires audiences to embrace their own ability to defy the status quo and create meaningful impact in their own lives and communities.”
“We hope that the film will spark discussions about the importance of revolutionary thinking and community in the face of an isolating culture that is built around commerce,” added Rocky Romano, co-director of the film. “Our goal is that these discussions inspire positive actions – whether they are on a personal, local, or global level.”
The film’s unique visuals, coupled with Finley’s compelling narrative, provides an unforgettable cinematic experience.
Directed by the award winning creative team of Miranda Winters & Rocky Romano, Gangsta Gardener is set to screen on October 27, 2024 at 2:00pm in the prestigious Billy Wilder Theater during the Breath(e) conversations series that will feature a talk with Ron Finley & co-curator of the exhibit Glenn Kaino. The exhibit, the talk, and the film screening are all free on a first come first served basis. The box office opens at 1PM.
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Books
Scottsdale Author Joe Reina’s New Novel Follows a Killer Who Gets Away With It
Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk
Joe Reina has published a new novel, "Shadows over Scottsdale: An Unsolved Murder Mystery," built around a scenario true-crime statistics make uncomfortably familiar: a man commits a devastating crime and simply disappears, leaving investigators and a grieving community with no resolution.
The book follows a character named Robert, who flees the country using forged documents and a cargo ship after an act of destruction that leaves behind, as the publisher describes it, charred remains and an unanswered investigation. The case goes cold. The novel, according to its publisher, is less concerned with the mechanics of the escape than with what happens afterward, to the people left waiting for answers that never come.
Reina, now retired in Scottsdale, spent decades in international business across apparel, footwear, and real estate, with extensive time in Europe and a particular connection to Italy that shaped two earlier books, "The Goat Sleeps in the Kitchen" and "A Love Affair in Tuscany." "Shadows over Scottsdale" marks a different direction, built instead around the real scale of unsolved homicide in the U.S. The publisher’s materials cite roughly 346,000 unsolved homicides since 1965, with more than a dozen occurring unresolved each day. Separate reporting on the book has cited a figure of about 7,778 murders in 2023 alone, which it similarly frames as more than a dozen a day going unresolved.
"Writing ‘Shadows over Scottsdale’ forced me to confront uncomfortable questions about justice itself," Reina said, according to the announcement. "Too many crimes go unsolved, too many families wait endlessly for answers. I wanted readers to understand that behind every cold case statistic is a real story, real suffering, and real questions that may never be answered."
The publisher positions the novel as an examination of institutional limits as much as a crime story: the toll of a case gone cold on the people who can’t move past it, and what it means for a community when accountability simply never arrives.
"Shadows over Scottsdale" is published by Covenant Books and is available in paperback and hardcover through the publisher’s website and major retailers including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple Books.
Cold-case statistics tend to get cited and then forgotten. Studio CarryOnHarry is curious whether fiction built directly around that number does more to stick with a reader than the number alone ever does.
Read more People’s Choice stories on Studio CarryOnHarry. Reporting via Live News Vault.
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Books
Joe Reina’s ‘Lost Masterpieces’ Imagines a Fictional Farewell Among Renaissance Painters
Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk
Joe Reina has published a new novel, "Lost Masterpieces: Three Paintings, 500 Years A Journey Through Time," built around an imagined scene from Renaissance history: the night before Leonardo da Vinci leaves for Milan, when three fellow painters each hand him a small work carrying a private message.
According to the announcement, those three gifts come from Sandro Botticelli, Titian, and Andrea Mantegna, each painting standing in for a different kind of counsel. Botticelli’s piece is described as layered with allegory and coded warnings about power and patronage. Titian’s is framed as warm and sensual, suggesting reinvention and a break from convention. Mantegna’s is austere and classically precise, encoding discipline and endurance. According to the announcement, these three paintings form a wordless exchange between masters, transmitting wisdom, mutual regard, and assurance across generations through visual means.
Reina comes to this material from outside the art world. His career was built in apparel, footwear, and real estate development in Chicago, and the publisher’s materials trace his interest in European history, and in Italy specifically, to years of international business travel. He has published several previous books, including "The Goat Sleeps in the Kitchen," "A Love Affair in Tuscany," and "Shadows over Scottsdale," before turning to this account of a fictionalized moment at the hinge of the Renaissance.
"I wanted to capture that extraordinary moment when masters speak to each other across time through their work," Reina said in the announcement. "These paintings represent not just gifts, but a conversation about what it means to pursue greatness while remaining grounded in purpose and principle."
The book is published through Covenant Books and is available in hardcover and paperback, as well as through Apple Books, Amazon, Google Play, and Barnes & Noble.
Studio CarryOnHarry is intrigued by novels that build fiction around real historical figures at a specific, dramatized turning point rather than attempting straight biography — the approach succeeds or fails based on how seamlessly the fictional moment integrates with documented historical fact.
Read more People’s Choice stories on Studio CarryOnHarry. Reporting via Live News Vault.
Are you an author with a new release? We’re always looking for books to cover and authors to interview — tell us about yours here.
Press Releases at Studio CarryOnHarry
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