We live in South Brooklyn, of course, so we get Cablevision, which means that NY1, Time Warner's flagship 24 hour local news station, is on Channel 8 (there is no Channel 1 on Cablevision.) Anyway, one of the more delightful aspects of NY1 is the evening Inside City Hall program (aka Road to City Hall during election season) with Errol Louis, who has added a lot of style, panache and critical analysis to New Yorkers' evening news habits. If you are a New Yorker, despite its occasional foible and stumbles, NY1 remains a major part of your TV viewing diet in keeping up with the 24 hour news cycle.
And, of course, Inside City Hall, every Wednesday night, features the Political Rundown where "two very opinionated people" give their take on the news of the day in one minute segments. Gerson Borrero of El Diario, also a news analyst for NY1, and Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, who also co-hosts with Borrero, a daily radio program, mix it up, with a lot of camp and theater, roughly, but not always, adhering to a liberal versus conservative stance. Last night, in one sequence commenting on the Rupert Murdoch testimony in the UK on the phone hacking story, Sliwa hit himself with a cream pie. In reviewing the clip on the NY1 website, in viewing it to the end, there is an outtake which took me by surprise (thank you,Johnny Thunders, for the headsup).. You can see the clip here, the outtake is at the end.
Haven't re-watched the whole clip, but when Sliwa threw the pie during the earlier broadcast, host Louis, in surprise, exclaimed "Jesus Christ!" A decision may have been made to replace a portion of the tape with the outtake to clean up the language for the otherwise unflappable host. Hard to tell -- it sounds like the exclamation, at the very least, was toned down in the edit. That's not the most interesting point, though -- What was most notable for this viewer was to realize, in the outtake, how produced the show actually is, although it presents the versimilitude of being a live, unreheased program. New York and our media - ya gotta love it.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
P-Funk's Mothership to Be Enshrined at Smithsonian
Now, the Smithsonian has announced that has been acquired by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture where it will help anchor a permanent music exhibition when the museum opens its doors in 2015. Fullstory here
The P-Funk All Stars get down to it, on Earth as it is in Heaven here
The End of the Consumer Economy: I, Transformer
David Leonhardt's analysis in the Sunday Review (formerly the Week in Review) in the the NY Times provides a sobering and painful overview of current data which suggests that the collapse of the debt-based Consumer Economy which grew beginning in the latter part of the 20th century means there will be no Quick Recovery, just a lot of Hard Reality.
Article here
A bit of a tonic on a Summer Monday morning as the grim economic news and political stalemates continue to unfold. "Like Marx's account of communist society, it's surely too sketchy to found a political platform. "I am utterly pessimistic about the future, about the possibility of an emancipated communist society. But that doesn't mean I don't want to imagine it."
Slavoj Zizek interviewed in the UK Guardian here
Article here
A bit of a tonic on a Summer Monday morning as the grim economic news and political stalemates continue to unfold. "Like Marx's account of communist society, it's surely too sketchy to found a political platform. "I am utterly pessimistic about the future, about the possibility of an emancipated communist society. But that doesn't mean I don't want to imagine it."
Slavoj Zizek interviewed in the UK Guardian here
Friday, July 15, 2011
The Cuban-Jewish Nexus: Sexteto Rodriguez Cuban Jewish All Stars
The Cuban-Jewish All Stars Heat It Up at The Jewish Museum Summer Nights Festival Last Night
Photo by Tony Napoli- Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn
Roberto Rodiguez was born in Cuba, raised in Miami and now lives in Forest Hills and the Catskills. When asked if he is Jewish he responds "Almost." He lovingly describes hanging at the beach in Miami with his dad and trips to Wolfie's Deli.
From his website: He has performed "with Ruben Blades, Lester Bowie, T-Bone Burnett, Randy Brecker, Paquito D’Rivera, Julio Iglesias, the Miami Sound Machine, Joe Jackson, Dave Liebman, Paul Simon, Lloyd Cole and Phoebe Snow. His deep interest in Jewish music was sparked by an ongoing klezmer renaissance that started in the mid-’80 and by composer-alto saxophonist John Zorn’s series of Radical Jewish Culture recordings on the Tzadik label, and, thirdly, by playing drums in Jewish guitarist Marc Ribot’s Los Cubanos Postizos band."
"When Zorn asked if he would like to record an album of Jewish music for Tzadik, Rodriguez jumped at the opportunity. Drawing on his experiences in Miami and NYC bands, he began composing for the first time in his life. Soon enough, he enlisted the help of musicians like clarinetist David Krakauer and entered the recording studio. El Danzon de Moises (The Dance of Moses)—overflowing with fresh, remarkable Judeo-Cuban music — appeared in 2002 to critical raves from DownBeat, the Village Voice and many other publications. The formation of Septeto Rodriguez and a new album followed."
The passionate driving, Cuban rhythms of the Sexteto's bass and percussion meld with deeply spirtual, sometimes mournful, always exuberant Yiddish ballads. The Afro-Cuban + Jewish sounds form a perfect "soul music."
Wolfie's maybe gone from Miami Beach, but Roberto Rodriguez and the Sexteto have captured the spirit and prove if food be the music of love, and if music be the food of love, then play --and eat -- on and on and on...
A sample of the Sexteto's sound on "El Sabor Del Shabbat" performed in Krakow last year here
Mr. Rodriguez's website here
Thursday, July 14, 2011
The $25 Computer? Raspberry Pi Thinks So
The Christian Science Monitor via Big Think profiles a new computer device that contains a powerful processor similar to those in high-end smart phones, a memory card reader for 32 gigabytes of storage, a screen connector ready for HD graphics, and up to three USB ports for a keyboard and other accessories. "Raspberry Pi's open-source software can handle everything that kids now come to expect—Web browser, e-mail, Facebook access—while providing tools to program and share their own creations. If a student deletes essential files by mistake or creates inappropriate material, a simple command will wipe the drive and return the machine to its original state." More here
Guv'nor Cuomo: On an "Usually Successful" Legislative Session (Just Don't Mention the Lasagna)
An interesting interview by Michael Barbaro and Thomas Kaplan of the NY TIMES gives Governor Andrew Cuomo's take on the hits (many) and misses (relatively few) following the recent legislative session. Mr. Cuomo proved that "Albany" and "dysfunction" are not necessarily synonomous. Next up for the Governor, who has proven remarkably adept at enacting a political approach that is progressive but pragmatic, is the thorny issue of pension reform.
A principal regret -- stepping into the kitchen and getting in the middle of a dialogue about lasagna recipes reflecting his mother Matilda's traditional recipe and First Girlfriend Sandra Lee's -- let's call it alternative -- recipe.
He will not be labeled: Neither his fiscal conservatism, as dictated by the Current Economic Reality, nor his social progressivism, as reflected in his brilliant shepharding of the NYS Marriage Equality Act, can define him. Through all of this, Mr. Cuomo clearly remains His Own Man.
Interview here
A principal regret -- stepping into the kitchen and getting in the middle of a dialogue about lasagna recipes reflecting his mother Matilda's traditional recipe and First Girlfriend Sandra Lee's -- let's call it alternative -- recipe.
He will not be labeled: Neither his fiscal conservatism, as dictated by the Current Economic Reality, nor his social progressivism, as reflected in his brilliant shepharding of the NYS Marriage Equality Act, can define him. Through all of this, Mr. Cuomo clearly remains His Own Man.
Interview here
Monday, July 11, 2011
Blues for a Summer Monday: "I May Be Getting Old, But I've Got Young Fashioned Ways"
Muddy Waters: Young Fashioned Ways.
44 and the Debt-Ceiling Gambit: Death Struggle or Dance of the Wallflowers ?
Who's right and who's wrong, where do we go from here? The Financial Times reviews the circumstances of the current Dance of the Wallflowers in Washington, as the President proffers and the GOP, at the final moment, continues to slink away, playing hard and harder to get. No deal intended, just squeeze the administration and watch them squirm. Leadership, anyone?
"It was too little leadership, too late. To make this strategy succeed, Mr Obama needed the pressure of public opinion to force Republicans to compromise. That pressure is still too weak, and the time to fix this is running out fast. Mr Obama has infuriated much of his party – again. And he has failed to budge a pathologically intransigent Republican party – again. He has come to a moment that could settle the fate of his presidency.
"Does he press on for the big deal, fighting for public support at this absurdly late hour, risking even more? Or does he climb down from his threat to veto a smaller measure, settle on terms dictated by the GOP, and look still further diminished? Neither choice looks promising. Meanwhile, the debt-ceiling clock runs down."
More here
As one analyst opined, is Barack Obama our greaterest Republican President ever?
Washington Post's Ezra Klein: "Perhaps this is just the logical endpoint of two years spent arguing over what Barack Obama is — or isn’t. Muslim. Socialist. Marxist. Anti-colonialist. Racial healer. We’ve obsessed over every answer except the right one: President Obama, if you look closely at his positions, is a moderate Republican from the early 1990s. And the Republican Party he’s facing has abandoned many of its best ideas in its effort to oppose him.
If you put aside the emergency measures required by the financial crisis, three major policy ideas have dominated American politics in recent years: a health-care plan that uses an individual mandate and tax subsidies to achieve near-universal coverage; a cap-and-trade plan that attempts to raise the prices of environmental pollutants to better account for their costs; and bringing tax rates up from their Bush-era lows as part of a bid to reduce the deficit. In each case, the position that Obama and the Democrats have staked out is the very position that moderate Republicans staked out in the early ’90s — and often, well into the 2000s." More here
"It was too little leadership, too late. To make this strategy succeed, Mr Obama needed the pressure of public opinion to force Republicans to compromise. That pressure is still too weak, and the time to fix this is running out fast. Mr Obama has infuriated much of his party – again. And he has failed to budge a pathologically intransigent Republican party – again. He has come to a moment that could settle the fate of his presidency.
"Does he press on for the big deal, fighting for public support at this absurdly late hour, risking even more? Or does he climb down from his threat to veto a smaller measure, settle on terms dictated by the GOP, and look still further diminished? Neither choice looks promising. Meanwhile, the debt-ceiling clock runs down."
More here
As one analyst opined, is Barack Obama our greaterest Republican President ever?
Washington Post's Ezra Klein: "Perhaps this is just the logical endpoint of two years spent arguing over what Barack Obama is — or isn’t. Muslim. Socialist. Marxist. Anti-colonialist. Racial healer. We’ve obsessed over every answer except the right one: President Obama, if you look closely at his positions, is a moderate Republican from the early 1990s. And the Republican Party he’s facing has abandoned many of its best ideas in its effort to oppose him.
If you put aside the emergency measures required by the financial crisis, three major policy ideas have dominated American politics in recent years: a health-care plan that uses an individual mandate and tax subsidies to achieve near-universal coverage; a cap-and-trade plan that attempts to raise the prices of environmental pollutants to better account for their costs; and bringing tax rates up from their Bush-era lows as part of a bid to reduce the deficit. In each case, the position that Obama and the Democrats have staked out is the very position that moderate Republicans staked out in the early ’90s — and often, well into the 2000s." More here
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Thursday Afternoon - It's Raining in Here - Brooklyn Heights
Issued by The National Weather Service
New York City, NY
Thu, Jul 7, 2011, 4:15 PM EDT
Local Radar Map
Updated Jul 7, 2011, 4:10pm EDT Weather in Motion®
Enlarge Map Get WeatherReadyWeatherReady Safety Tips
More Severe Weather Readiness Tips
National and Local Weather News
Watches & Warnings Explained
Storm Watch (video)
... STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL IMPACT HUDSON... KINGS (BROOKLYN)... NEW YORK (MANHATTAN)... QUEENS AND SOUTHWESTERN NASSAU COUNTIES...
AT 410 PM EDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR BROOKLYN HEIGHTS... OR NEAR CROWN HEIGHTS... AND MOVING EAST AT 15 MPH.
SMALL HAIL... AND WINDS UP TO 40 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM. IN ADDITION... VERY HEAVY RAIN... WITH RAINFALL RATES OF UP TO AN INCH AN HOUR... IS OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM. THIS COULD CAUSE PONDING OF WATER ON ROADWAYS... AND MINOR FLOODING OF POOR DRAINAGE AREAS.
Report here
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Summer 2011 Thus Far -- What's Going On
HBO’s Game of Thrones
The Addams Family with Roger Rhees, Brooke Shields and Brad Oscar
Beach Bar in Atlantic City on a Wednesday Afternoon
STARMAN – the Yuri Gagarin Story
LIFE by Keith Richards
Beginners – a film by Mike Mills
Midnight in Paris - a film by Woody Allen
Bridesmaids - a film by Paul Feig
Whitney Museum - Cory Arcangel
Jewish Museum - Maria Kalman
New York Sports Club – every other day, forever
EXAMINED LIVES by James Miller
PHYSICS OF THE FUTURE - Dr. Michio Kaku
The Addams Family with Roger Rhees, Brooke Shields and Brad Oscar
Beach Bar in Atlantic City on a Wednesday Afternoon
STARMAN – the Yuri Gagarin Story
LIFE by Keith Richards
Beginners – a film by Mike Mills
Midnight in Paris - a film by Woody Allen
Bridesmaids - a film by Paul Feig
Whitney Museum - Cory Arcangel
Jewish Museum - Maria Kalman
New York Sports Club – every other day, forever
EXAMINED LIVES by James Miller
PHYSICS OF THE FUTURE - Dr. Michio Kaku
Sunday, June 26, 2011
CODA: MUST READ: NY TIMES on the Political (and Personal) Strategies That Led to Marriage Equality in the Empire State
Today, a must read front page article by Michael Barbaro that goes behind the scenes to track the efforts, under the leadership of Governor Andrew Cuomo, that resulted in passage of the Marriage Equality legislation in the largest state in the US.
Explaining Mr. Cuomo's key role: "Something else weighed on him, too: the long shadow of his father, Mario, who rose to national prominence as the conscience of the Democratic Party, passionately defending the poor and assailing the death penalty. During his first few months in office, the younger Mr. Cuomo had achieved what seemed like modern-day miracles by the standards of Albany — an austere on-time budget and a deal to cap property taxes. But, as Mr. Cuomo explained by phone to his father a few weeks ago, he did not want those accomplishments to define his first year in office.
“They are operational,” he told his father. Passing same-sex marriage, by contrast, “is at the heart of leadership and progressive government.”
“I have to do this.”
The players, the advocates, the opponents, the Roman Catholic Church, were all brilliantly orchestrated in what may in fact be considered the turning point in this latest step in the long history of the progressive and civil rights movements in New York State.More here
Also in today's NY TIMES, the new Sunday Review section, which seems largely a design twist on the Week in Review, although, even after a quick scan.\, I miss the wit of Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno, et al, and the selection of editorial cartoons from across the nation, which was apparently replaced by the Times first color comic.strip. More here
Explaining Mr. Cuomo's key role: "Something else weighed on him, too: the long shadow of his father, Mario, who rose to national prominence as the conscience of the Democratic Party, passionately defending the poor and assailing the death penalty. During his first few months in office, the younger Mr. Cuomo had achieved what seemed like modern-day miracles by the standards of Albany — an austere on-time budget and a deal to cap property taxes. But, as Mr. Cuomo explained by phone to his father a few weeks ago, he did not want those accomplishments to define his first year in office.
“They are operational,” he told his father. Passing same-sex marriage, by contrast, “is at the heart of leadership and progressive government.”
“I have to do this.”
The players, the advocates, the opponents, the Roman Catholic Church, were all brilliantly orchestrated in what may in fact be considered the turning point in this latest step in the long history of the progressive and civil rights movements in New York State.More here
Also in today's NY TIMES, the new Sunday Review section, which seems largely a design twist on the Week in Review, although, even after a quick scan.\, I miss the wit of Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno, et al, and the selection of editorial cartoons from across the nation, which was apparently replaced by the Times first color comic.strip. More here
Thursday, June 23, 2011
CODA: Tarantino's DJANGO UNCHAINED to Star Foxx, DiCaprio, Jackson, and Walz to Star
Variety, via the UK Guardian, reports on casting for Quentin Tarantino's slavery-era epic, Django Unchained.
Jamie Foxx will take the lead in Quentin Tarantino's latest film, the western-influenced Django Unchained, according to Variety. The Oscar-winning actor was selected over stars such as Idris Elba, Terrence Howard and Chris Tucker for the role of a freed slave who learns to become a contract killer and eventually returns to his old plantation to retrieve his wife. Kerry Washington, who starred opposite Foxx in Ray, is in line to take the latter role. Leonardo DiCaprio has already been cast as the plantation's sadistic owner, Calvin Candie, with Tarantino regular Samuel L Jackson as a sinister slave named Stephen who does his bidding.
Will Smith evidently was the first actor to be named in connection with the role of Django, but he appears to have turned it down. Reviews of Tarantino's leaked screenplay suggest it is peppered liberally with the n-word, which some critics speculate may have made Smith uncomfortable with the role.
More details here
DITHOB previously reproted on the leaked script for Django Unchained here
Jamie Foxx will take the lead in Quentin Tarantino's latest film, the western-influenced Django Unchained, according to Variety. The Oscar-winning actor was selected over stars such as Idris Elba, Terrence Howard and Chris Tucker for the role of a freed slave who learns to become a contract killer and eventually returns to his old plantation to retrieve his wife. Kerry Washington, who starred opposite Foxx in Ray, is in line to take the latter role. Leonardo DiCaprio has already been cast as the plantation's sadistic owner, Calvin Candie, with Tarantino regular Samuel L Jackson as a sinister slave named Stephen who does his bidding.
Will Smith evidently was the first actor to be named in connection with the role of Django, but he appears to have turned it down. Reviews of Tarantino's leaked screenplay suggest it is peppered liberally with the n-word, which some critics speculate may have made Smith uncomfortable with the role.
More details here
DITHOB previously reproted on the leaked script for Django Unchained here
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Flatbush Solstice
After sunrise, June 21, 2011
Anticipating the Summer Solstice
Guinevere, contemplating the summer solstice
photos by Tony Napoli
The summer solstice is the longest day of the year, respectively, in the sense that the length of time elapsed between sunrise and sunset on this day is a maximum for the year.
The summer solstice occurs exactly when the Earth's and the moon's axial tilt is most inclined towards the sun, at its maximum of 23° 26'. Though the summer solstice is an instant in time, the term is also colloquially used like Midsummer to refer to the day on which it occurs. Except in the polar regions (where daylight is continuous for many months), the day on which the summer solstice occurs is the day of the year with the longest period of daylight. The summer solstice occurs in June in the Northern Hemisphere north of the Tropic of Cancer (23°26'N) and in December in the Southern Hemisphere south of the Tropic of Capricorn (23°26'S. The Sun reaches its highest position in the sky on the day of the summer solstice. More here
Summer solstice on June 21, 2011 is 17:16 UTC (coordinated universal time) which is four hours ahead of daylight savings. So the summer solstice will occur in New York City (including Flatbush) at 3:16 PM (13:16).
| 2011 | June 21, 17:16 |
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