Although my interests are many and diverse, much of my daily life revolves around the cinema as I work as a film publicist and for many years taught film courses.  Among the more mundane are cooking (and eating), travel (I'm both a franco- and italophile) and graphic design.  But I'm also fascinated by some esoteric topics, such as the etymology of names, and I consider myself a wordsmith. 

    The web sites and personal pages below reflect some of my various interests.  Surely, if you're the least bit interesting as a person, there's something here to strike your fancy.

PLEASE NOTE: My e-mail address is  elana.starr@villanova.edu - Please send any messages, whether personal or academic in nature,  to the above address, unless notified otherwise.   

P.S.  To fully appreciate my web page, make sure you have the font Broadway.  You can get it for free, along with other decorative fonts, here.  (You need an unzipping program.  Unzip fonts, then go to your control panel to insert them onto your hard drive, where your other fonts are located, usually in Windows.)

       VU HONORS COURSE  -   Film and the Holocaust: Spring, 2007

         FILM LINKS

	Top 10 Films of All Time
	Various Best of... Film Picks
	V.U.'s  Cultural Film & Lecture Series
	Read My Article (also on Merginet's web site): BRINGING OUT THE DEAD
	Handouts from Various Film Classes

	IMDB - the best film database on the web
	Moviemaker Magazine - A former student is an editor of this publication, available on line and at newsstands (e.g., Borders in Rosemont).  Not just for filmmakers (would-be, neophyte or long-time pros), it includes behind-the-scenes info on various films and profiles of filmmakers. I wrote an article on film preservation for the Summer '01 issue, and another on a new Fellini documentary for an upcoming issue.
	10 Worst Films of All Time - coming soon! GRAPHICS
	Ann-S-Thesia - The site www.ann-s-thesia.com provides a panoply of choices to spruce up your web page.  It's the brainchild of Ann Stretton, one of the finest web page designer around.  However, I'm hardly objective since I won her last trivia contest (involving an anagram having to do with David Bowie) and now feature the winning prize (my choice of Ann's 100+  web designs).  Ann has plenty of freebies on her site.
	All I Font... - Achtung!  A German site for font collectors and connoisseurs
	My Own Graphic Designs - here.

      FAVORITE LINKS

	Food M-M-M Good! - For chocoholics only
	Canine Central Golden Doodles - Never heard of them?  Until February '04, neither had we.  Now we're the proud owners of a half-poodle, half-golden retriever named Farkas (Hungarian for "wolf"). According to breeders, doodles are supposed to have the best traits of both breeds -- affectionate, cuddly (although Farkas is about 65 pounds), smart and will shed little if at all.  How can anyone resist?
	Travel La Dolce Vita - Molto bene! V.U. Italy Trip - Almost every year since 1995, we've gone to Europe -- usually la bella Italia -- with a group headed by VU profs Rick Delano (English) and George Radan (Art ).  This web page is in a fledgling state but sure to expand.
	Eggheads R Us MENSA - If I.Q. tests accurately measure intellect, then I'm a brainiac of sorts.  For about two decades I've been a member of Mensa, a global organization for people with I.Q.'s in the top 2%.  Find out more about this group, whose members are among the nicest and funniest people I've ever met.
	Homonyms - my own extensive list of homonyms
	Symbolic Use of Color -  color is often use symbolically in the cinema.  However, colors mean different things in different cultures.  Check out the web sites below (including one of my own, on the color green) for more insights.

           http://www.egyptianmyths.net/colors.htm
           http://psychology.about.com/library/weekly/aa031501a.htm
           http://www.crystalinks.com/colors.html
           http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0857454.html
           http://www.dutchflowerlink.nl/engels/Lessons/symbolic_christian/symbolic_colors.htm
           www.homepage.villanova.edu/elana.starr/pages/greens.htm

	Call Me Al - the incredibly accurate lowdown on the meaning of names
	Merginet - Why is an emergency medical web site is among my picks.?  (The fact that I've written three articles for them admittedly has something to do with it.)
	FOTFPG - Yes, it's an unpronounceable acronym.  But telling you what it means -- Friend of the French Press Guy -- will merely confound you more.  Visit the link to get the skinny.
	Penn's Program in Organizational Dynamics - My husband, Larry, who used to teach at VU, now runs the show here.  The largest grad department in Penn's School of Arts and Sciences, the program entails a social science approach to the business world, with students earning an MS upon graduation.  However, applicants need to have several years of  work experience before they can apply.
	How We Spent Our Winter Vacation
	How We Spent Our Winter Vacation - 2007