Coda: Blue Jasmine's Bird of Paradise

Yes, all the excitement and raves, to this viewer, are right on target. Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine is engrossing; Cate Blanchett's performance, while mannered, is riveting. During one scene, when Jasmine moves through the San Francisco apartment of her sister (charmingly and passionately played by the excellent Sally Hawkins), I experienced a sharp shpilkes in my connectigazoid..actually, My Better Half was elbowing me. A background prop, there I suppose to show her sister's declasse sensibility, is a piece of Do It Yourself art work of a Bird of Paradise or the like, and visible at 32 seconds into the above trailer, that MBH had assembled when she was 8 years old. Whether mindful of a particularly memorable, if difficult, period in her family history, she, and we have always kept this in our home. Relegated in recent years to our basement/laundry room area, after it's appearance in Blue Jasmine, natch, it took on a new resonance and, of course, a heightened sense of irony, so we brought it up to our parlor floor, where we are looking for a place to mount it. A photo of our heirloom appears below: 

Birds of Paradise by Judith Tantleff-Napoli, at the time age 8

 Tempus fugit, ars longa...

Coda: Are Billionaire "Citizen Kanes" Good for American Newspapers?

Amazon founder Jeffrey Bezos's $250 million purchase of the Washington Post struck the AMerican newspaper industry like a bolt of lightning. Giving the paper hope for continued solvency, but openong up a myriad of questions about the future of journalism at the Post -- and in the industry at large. Gloria Goodale in the Christian Science Monitor looks at the plusses and minuses resulting from this transaction and whether it will lead to more: " “Clearly we are seeing notable great dailies come into the hands of very wealthy individual owners,” says Mark Jurkowitz of the Pew Research Center. "These are a new class of owners,” points out Mr. Jurkowitz. “They are more unfettered.” In the case of Mr. Bezos, he notes for instance, the Amazon founder and new Globe owner will be able to operate without having to explain his actions to outside shareholders... Gloria Goodale's article here

"Citizen Bezos": Amazon's Bezos Buys Washington Post

Amazon's Jeff Bezos gets his "Rosebud," purchases Washington Post for $250 million, saving a venerable American newspaper institution as the era of the American oligarchs rolls on.

Article here in NY Times http://nyti.ms/16qiyLi and Andrew Ross Sorkin in NYT Deal Book here 

http://nyti.ms/186qSBa

Bill Thompson's 24 Hour Campaign Marathon

Photo by Ny Daily News Erin Durkin Bill Thompson and Brooklyn Democratic Leader Frank Seddio contemplate the new day during the mayoral candidate's 24 hour campaign marathon at Bklyn Terminal Mkt

Bill Thompson's 24 hour campaign marathon, as recapped by Erin Durkin in the NY Daily News was a refreshing example of a very human, and honest, form of political theater in a mayoral race that has been just a little bit TOO real.. 

Article here 

http://m.nydailynews.com/news/election/bill-thompson-attempts-24-hour-stump-stops-5-boroughs-article-1.1415435?localLinksEnabled=false

The Weiner's Tale

While Anthony's propensity

To display his immensity

May well be between husband and wife

But when he thinks to be Mayor

He's now more obliged to convey or

Disclose If things can be kept forever under wraps

--Anthony Napoli

Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn

<exeunt the stage, sire>

Ruminations on a Data-Filled Future

All things point to a data- filled future where the preponderance of data generated and collected will be hunted, gathered, crunched, analyzed and projected to create a new substrate and substructure for Modern Life in the near future.

A new blog will serve as a platform for reviewing, understanding, learning about and reflecting on "Big Data Today"--

http://www.bigdatatoday.blogspot.com

Summer Pleasures: "Blue Jasmine'

Here at DITHOB, the appearance on the horizon of a new film by Woody Allen, himself straight from Avenue K in Midwood, is always cause for interest and curiosity. Mr. Allen's latest will no doubt challenge and provoke audiences, as his forthcoming "Blue Jasmine" opening later this month in NYC, seems to contain and combine grace notes from earlier films - sisters experiencing changes of situations-- and the complications and challenges that ensue. The large and accomplished cast, starring Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Sally Hawkins, Peter Sarsgaard, Michael Stuhlbarg, Bobby Cannavale,Louis C.K., Andrew Dice Clay, and many others promises to be an interesting ensemble piece driven by drama, social commentary and, one hopes, a bit of humor. For now, we have the trailer. Enjoy.

'Dig If You Will the Picture': The Maistre of Paisley Park

The Purple Wonder, Prince, performing with his new backup band, 3rdEyeGirl, gave a recent interview to V Magazine, touching on music, art, religion and life...:

Back in the Day: “Think about a young person listening to Joni Mitchell for the frst time on vinyl. You know how fun that is?...”

A Cell What? : "I ask how tech-averse he really is; does he have an iPhone? “Are you serious?” he says. “Hell, no.” He mimics a high-voiced woman. “Where is my phone? Can you call my phone? Oh, I can’t find it.”

Princeheads?: "He talks about people who come to his concerts all the time, akin to the Deadheads. “People come to see us fifty times. Well, that’s not just going to see a concert—that’s some other mess going on. This music changes you. These people are not being satisfed elsewhere by musicians, you feel what I’m saying? It’s no disrespect to anyone else, because we’re not checking for them. But we don’t lip synch. We ain’t got time for it. Ain’t no tape up there.”

Our earlier post on his initial rockin' release with 3rdEyeGirl, Screwdriver, here

Full interview from V Magazine here

'How long, how long will I slide?": Exploring the 'Otherside'

For everyone stuck at work before, during or following the Independence Day holiday, a bit of pop, mystical reflection from Red Hot Chili Peppers' great video, at once German expressionist and surrealistic, for Otherside, released in 2000.

"You're Standing Here Beside Me/I Love the Passing of Time"

In 2011's "This Must Be The Place", filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino (Il Divo and the forthcoming-in-the-U.S. "Grande Belissima/The Great Beauty)" evinced his fondness for the great Talking Heads tune of the same title (aka Naive Melody). In the film, which is a very joyful and complex work of cinema, Sean Penn's retired rock and roller attends a David Byrne concert where the song is performed live in a lovely string arrangement. I've been smitten by the song again, and found this original video from the time of the release of the album "Speaking in Tongues." The trailer from last year's release here

You Aren't Imagining It: That's A 'Supermoon' This Weekend

The May 2012 supermoon, seen from Gainesville Fla.

(AP Photo/The Gainesville Sun, Matt Stamey)

The moon really will appear larger and brighter than usual this weekend. In fact, this weekend's moon will be the "super moon" of 2013.  This occurs because two key points in the lunar cycle will coincide early Sunday morning -- the moon will both be a full moon and at its closest point to Earth in the 29.5-day cycle.

The perigee -- the name for the point in a lunar cycle when the moon is nearest to Earth -- will occur at 7:11 a.m. Sunday, when the body will be 356,911 kilometers, or 221,774 miles, from Earth. This has been referred to as the "Supermoon"; a phenomenon that happens about every 413 days.

The next time a full moon and perigee coincide so closely isn't until August 2014.

According to NASA,  the best time for viewing is when the moon is on the horizon. Because full moon and perigee coincide Sunday morning (after the moon has set for the day), Saturday night, early Sunday and Sunday evening should all provide big, bright moons. The times to remember, according to the Naval Observatory: Moonrises occur at 7:45 p.m. Saturday and 8:43 p.m. Sunday; moonset is at 5:47 a.m. Sunday.

Full Moon dates and times for NYC for 2013 appear here

A June full moon is commonly called the Mead Moon, Rose Moon, Honey Moon or Strawberry Moon.
More on the names for Full Moons throughout the year here

James Gandolfini, R.I.P., 51

http://www.deadline.com/2013/06/r-i-p-james-gandolfini/

http://www.deadline.com/2013/06/r-i-p-james-gandolfini/

Keith Richards at 70: On Life On and Off the Road with the (formerly) 'Tiny Todger'

From the Men's Journal Profile of Keith Richards:
"You played some dates in London with ex-bassist Bill Wyman, and ex-­guitarist Mick Taylor will make a few appearances on the North American tour. Is that tough? You were bitter when they left.

"Yeah, I guess I mellowed! Until maybe 20-odd years ago it was, "Nobody left this band except in a coffin!" I'd just say, after 50 years in a band, anybody that is still alive, you're welcome to come back in and do your bit."

"You're in a détente period?

"Smooth. Even. Definitely workable. Otherwise, we wouldn't be doing it. A lot of these things are blown way out of whack. What is the closest I can get to . . . it's like two very volatile brothers – when they clash, they really clash, but when it's over, it's over because we both know we need each other; we both enjoy working with each other. Ninety percent of the time it's as cool as can be, then, of course, the people only get to hear about the 10. And the 10 are pretty fierce."

The Men's Journal Interview here

And the UK Mirror on the Feud and the Aftermath here

Father's Day Treat: "I Think We Are All Bozos on this Bus" (Firesign Theater 1971)

"Many busy executives ask me, "What about the job displacement market program in the city of the future?" Well, count on us to be there, JIM, because, if we're lucky tomorrow, we won't have to deal with questions like yours ever again."


"[to the tune of "Back In the Saddle Again"] Back from the shadows again. Out where an Injun's your friend. Where the vegetables are green, and you can pee into the stream, we're back from the shadows again."

Visionary comedy/satire from 1971. Hackers and holograms, clowns and politicians, Unemployment and mythology. Unemployment AS mythology. We're back fromthe shadows again...A "Must" experience -- an aural science fiction adventure and satire.

More on The Firesign Theater and this recording here

More from the excellent Firesign Theater troupe here

The Message and the Meta of Practicing Safer Communication:

ProPublica publishes an interesting. Overview of maintaining privacy, where possible, on your communications. http://www.propublica.org/article/worried-about-the-mass-surveillance-how-to-practice-safer-communication