Memorial Day, originally Decoration Day, began in 1866 as an observance to honor Civil War dead, both Union and Confederate. It was called Decoration Day because of the practice of decorating the graves of the more than 600,000 men who died in the conflict. Over the years, the observance was expanded to honor war dead…

Ignatius Fischer, one of two Idyllwild CinemaFest 2012 honorees, had one of those off the charts serendipitous launches into the filmmaking business. Like Quentin Tarantino who worked as a clerk in a Manhattan Beach video rental prior to breaking into the business of movie making, Fischer also worked in a South Bay store when he…