Spending time reading my books and listening to my pod-casts on Ayurveda. Ayurveda is the oldest and still practiced medical science. It's thousands of years old with roots in Hinduism and Buddhism. There are a number of things I like about it. Primarily, that we are each of us our own physician.
The basics:
There are 5 great elements: earth, water, fire, air, and space.
Those 5 condense to 3 doshas: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha.
We are either one of the three doshas or a combination of them.
There are 6 tastes: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent.
I am primarily Kapha, a combination of earth and water.
Some indications that you are Kapha: body frame in balance is medium to broad. Off balance it is obese. Personality in balance is calm, quiet, and steady. Off balance it is passive, possessive, and greedy.
Kapha people need motivation and stimulation.
Disease is imbalance of your doshas. There are 4 components to being healthy: yoga, meditation, exercise, and diet.
Diet is an important but a complicated factor in Ayurvedic medicine. You need one of their cookbooks to do it justice.
Some day my Kapha self will get around to it.
Today's NY Times had an photo of Liz Taylor's shrine at the Abbey. It was right beneath the plaque that read "the Abbey is my Pub". You probably thought it was that other kind of Abbey, not for Ms. Liz. The Abbey is a Gay bar in West Hollywood. "She was a once-a-week regular in recent years" [after the brain tumor?] "sipping tequila shots, downing watermelon and apple martinis or simply waving merrily from her wheelchair". Hey guys if you're looking for a replacement, I'm available, and if I'm going to be drinking like Liz and Dick drank don't throw away that wheelchair!
"Ugly Betty" by Ruth Brandon is reviewed this week by Malcolm Gladwell in The New Yorker. The book is about Helena Rubinstein and Eugene Schueller who founded L'Oreal. The interesting story is what happened during the Second World War.
After the Nazi invasion of France, Schueller was one of the biggest financial supporters of the fascist anti-Semitic M.S.R. In October, 1941 they blew up 7 synagogues in Paris. The argument of the book is that Schueller wasn't a Nazi or anti-Semite. He was a pragmatist. Collaboration insured delivery of raw materials. An obsessive entrepreneur like Schueller "is too much of an opportunist to risk engaging himself absolutely in favor of anyone."
Oscar Schindler was a very different entrepreneur. He made a lot of money "taking over" a Jewish owned factory. When the Nazi's decided to close the factory and ship his workers to gas chambers he used that money as bribes to save as many as he could. He spent his entire personal fortune saving lives.
When Rubinstein died, the chairman of L'Oreal in the U.S., Jacques Correze acquired it. Who is Jacques Correze? He was the former chief lieutenant in M. S. R.
"The uncomfortable lesson of the triumph of Eugene Schueller over Helena Rubinstein is that sometimes it's just business."
Meditation, yoga and tequila shots.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
apartment living
I don't own a snow shovel. I don't own a lawn mower. I have lovely flowers in the garden that I never tend.
A leak, I call the office; they send someone. It's all good, most of the time.
I'm on the 18th floor. On another floor are 2 pit bulls. I've shared the elevator with them and their 'handler', a seven year old girl. Sometimes the elevator doesn't work. Sometimes, after coming home from the gym, late, and needing to get ready for the theater, I may not have water.
My neighbors had a leak. They called the office, and it was fixed. Leak over. So was "Macbeth" and my night at the theater. Now I'm sitting at this computer smelling my neighbors marijuana, which is not my thing. I like a martini. This is apartment living.
But the view is nice:
A leak, I call the office; they send someone. It's all good, most of the time.
I'm on the 18th floor. On another floor are 2 pit bulls. I've shared the elevator with them and their 'handler', a seven year old girl. Sometimes the elevator doesn't work. Sometimes, after coming home from the gym, late, and needing to get ready for the theater, I may not have water.
My neighbors had a leak. They called the office, and it was fixed. Leak over. So was "Macbeth" and my night at the theater. Now I'm sitting at this computer smelling my neighbors marijuana, which is not my thing. I like a martini. This is apartment living.
But the view is nice:
Arcadia has opened
Arcadia has opened and been reviewed. In the NY Times, Ben Brantley wrote "entirely terrific", "propelled by genuine, panting passion," and in the New Yorker, Hilton Als: "there is no emotional truth at stake because there are no true characters", "there is no passion; people screw, but less to connect than to generate even more witty material". Maybe they saw it on different nights?
Interesting American Masters piece on Zora Neale Hirston. She wrote a number of novels that are well respected but more interestingly she recorded folk tales, music and the culture of southern African American life. One film clip was of young children playing games. That got me to thinking of all the games we played as children that you don't see anymore. At least I don't see today's kids playing: stoop ball, stick ball, ringaleevio, hide and seek, red light-green light, jump rope, pick up sticks, hop-scotch and all the others that I have probably forgotten. These were all group games. In many you needed six or more players and there was a hierarchy that came from these games. Janis Ian has a great song about being an outsider in the culture and being picked last for a game. But you got picked. You had a role to play. They needed you and maybe this time you could shine, perhaps be the Alli-Alli in free guy and free all your captured team mates.
From Zora Neale Hirston, "Yes I've experienced segregation, but I was never angry about it, only perplexed. Why would someone deny themselves the pleasure of my company?"
She grew up in an all black community in Florida, where her father was Mayor 3 times.
Interesting American Masters piece on Zora Neale Hirston. She wrote a number of novels that are well respected but more interestingly she recorded folk tales, music and the culture of southern African American life. One film clip was of young children playing games. That got me to thinking of all the games we played as children that you don't see anymore. At least I don't see today's kids playing: stoop ball, stick ball, ringaleevio, hide and seek, red light-green light, jump rope, pick up sticks, hop-scotch and all the others that I have probably forgotten. These were all group games. In many you needed six or more players and there was a hierarchy that came from these games. Janis Ian has a great song about being an outsider in the culture and being picked last for a game. But you got picked. You had a role to play. They needed you and maybe this time you could shine, perhaps be the Alli-Alli in free guy and free all your captured team mates.
From Zora Neale Hirston, "Yes I've experienced segregation, but I was never angry about it, only perplexed. Why would someone deny themselves the pleasure of my company?"
She grew up in an all black community in Florida, where her father was Mayor 3 times.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Podcasts
I listened to Carl Sandberg at the Schubert theater in Chicago. He read two poems; sang a couple of songs, and accompanied himself on the guitar. His conversation was about modern life, circa 1956. He said we are a nation of media addicts. TV, radio and movies are irreparably changing the country, and the loss of solitude is a crisis. He quoted Paganini when he was asked what "The Secret" to his great work was. He said just three things: "toil, solitude, and prayer."
Sandberg had recently watched the world series on TV and got the impression: "there were millions of men running around, wondering what to shave with."
Another memorable quote; "What you can explain is not poetry"
He warned of the military of the military/industrial complex. He said that the Military is not just in politics but also in Business. "MacArthur has left the army and now works for the Rand Corporation. He's not a business man he's a military man."
Also heard a Robert Pinsky pod-cast. He talks about memory, poetry & music. He loves Keats' line: "You were not born for death, no hungry generation tread thee down.", from "Ode to a Nightingale". Not born for death means to him that man has a need and a purpose to create memories for the next generation. He also loves a sentence said by a Zulu "Zu go-mo", a Zulu fortune teller, who communicates with the ancestors. The Zu go-mo quote that impressed him: "We do not worship our Zulu ancestors, we consult them."
From Ezra Pound:
"Music atrophies when it grows too far away from dance, and poetry atrophies when it grows too far away from music."
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Some Theater
Yesterday was an early St. Pat's celebration. Great corned beef and cabbage at "86". Thank you Dottie and Kathy. Good wine too, my favorite, Coppola's Claret.
Saw the matinee of "Molly Sweeney" at the Irish Rep. A wonderful play by one of my favorites, the great Irish playwright, Brian Friel. I've seen "Aristocrats", "Philadelphia here I come", "Dancing at Lunasa", "Faith Healer" and now "Molly Sweeney". The critic of the Wall Street Journal, Teachout, saw the play exactly as I did. Teachout calls Friel, the Chekhov of our time. I would add that he is also the Eugene O'Neill of our time. He surely has the touch of the Poet. That great Irish gift with words.
What I remember:
1. The doctor says: "I did the surgery, no I'm not to say that, the surgery is not 'done', it is performed. What I do is as much an art. I do a performance"
2. Molly says: " I heard a women at the end of the corridor sobbing, no lamenting"
3. Molly says as explanation of her sadness at gaining her sight: "There is power in the tactile sense and it's a great loss when you are bombarded by the visual."
I've also been thinking more about Tom Stoppard's works and Arcadia in particular. Of his work, I've seen the trilogy "The Coast of Utopia", plus "Travesties", "The Invention of Love", "Rock and Roll", and now, "Arcadia". These plays dramatically integrate history, science, and relationships. In "Arcadia" he explores many areas of mathematics, history, art, and related theories. He presents them as paradoxes. Central in "Arcadia" is chaos versus order and the paradox that order can come out of chaos. Historically, Arcadia was a pastoral region of ancient Greece. Pastoral meaning it was left free and wild, to be formed by nature. In reality the wild/chaotic garden is finely tuned, ecologically sound and perfectly self sustaining environment.
"Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos".
Stephen Sondheim
Saw the matinee of "Molly Sweeney" at the Irish Rep. A wonderful play by one of my favorites, the great Irish playwright, Brian Friel. I've seen "Aristocrats", "Philadelphia here I come", "Dancing at Lunasa", "Faith Healer" and now "Molly Sweeney". The critic of the Wall Street Journal, Teachout, saw the play exactly as I did. Teachout calls Friel, the Chekhov of our time. I would add that he is also the Eugene O'Neill of our time. He surely has the touch of the Poet. That great Irish gift with words.
What I remember:
1. The doctor says: "I did the surgery, no I'm not to say that, the surgery is not 'done', it is performed. What I do is as much an art. I do a performance"
2. Molly says: " I heard a women at the end of the corridor sobbing, no lamenting"
3. Molly says as explanation of her sadness at gaining her sight: "There is power in the tactile sense and it's a great loss when you are bombarded by the visual."
I've also been thinking more about Tom Stoppard's works and Arcadia in particular. Of his work, I've seen the trilogy "The Coast of Utopia", plus "Travesties", "The Invention of Love", "Rock and Roll", and now, "Arcadia". These plays dramatically integrate history, science, and relationships. In "Arcadia" he explores many areas of mathematics, history, art, and related theories. He presents them as paradoxes. Central in "Arcadia" is chaos versus order and the paradox that order can come out of chaos. Historically, Arcadia was a pastoral region of ancient Greece. Pastoral meaning it was left free and wild, to be formed by nature. In reality the wild/chaotic garden is finely tuned, ecologically sound and perfectly self sustaining environment.
"Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos".
Stephen Sondheim
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
[Le] Poisson Rouge
I've joined this music club which is located in the village. It's actually in the space once occupied by the Village Gate. Last night I heard a concert of Gyorgy Ligeti's music, previously unknown to me. Kubrick used his music in 2001 A Space Odyssey, the Shining and Eyes Wide Shut. This is one area of the Arts that I could use a good education. I know very little about "classical" music. They did 5 pieces. Not a lot of harmony, very modern, lots of dissonance. I did enjoy: 'Trio for Violin, Horn, and Piano, Hommage a Brahms' [1982], and the cello playing in some other pieces.
Saw Merchant of Venice over the weekend. It is done in modern dress and the merchants are Wall Street brokers. So there are cell phones, video ticker tapes, high fives, belly bumps, and apple computers as part of the "scenery". It worked very well for me because it brought humor and wit to a very "heavy" play. Judith Dench in her new memoir says it is her least liked play of Shakespeare's because no one behaves well.
F. Murray Abraham plays it natural not in the classic, declamatory style. His final exit was wonderful.
I still want to write about Arcadia and I will soon.
I'm reading Thomas Merton's 'The Sign Of Jonas'. A diary of his life in a Trappist monastery.
At one point he asks the reverend Father what made a particular brother so saintly. Is it meditation, prayer, fasting, obedience? Reverend Father said he didn't know, but the Brother was always working. If you sent him to feed the cattle he did and then he would pick berries on his way back. He didn't know how to be idle. "Busy hands are happy hands" and saintly, too.
Saw Merchant of Venice over the weekend. It is done in modern dress and the merchants are Wall Street brokers. So there are cell phones, video ticker tapes, high fives, belly bumps, and apple computers as part of the "scenery". It worked very well for me because it brought humor and wit to a very "heavy" play. Judith Dench in her new memoir says it is her least liked play of Shakespeare's because no one behaves well.
F. Murray Abraham plays it natural not in the classic, declamatory style. His final exit was wonderful.
I still want to write about Arcadia and I will soon.
I'm reading Thomas Merton's 'The Sign Of Jonas'. A diary of his life in a Trappist monastery.
At one point he asks the reverend Father what made a particular brother so saintly. Is it meditation, prayer, fasting, obedience? Reverend Father said he didn't know, but the Brother was always working. If you sent him to feed the cattle he did and then he would pick berries on his way back. He didn't know how to be idle. "Busy hands are happy hands" and saintly, too.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Best Documentary
Yesterday was movie night: "Inside Job". It won the academy award for best documentary. It tells the story of the financial crisis clearly.
It is not just disturbing that none of these people went to jail.
Three of them are now:
#1 is the President of Harvard University & on the board of I think Chase or Citicorp or both.
#2 is the Head of Columbia University's Business School.
#3 is a professor at Stanford.
Their rationalizations: "I was just giving my opinion"; "It's part of my ideological belief". They rated Iceland AA, 2 days before the country collapsed and were paid over $100,000 for that opinion. Iceland's banks lent 10x the national GNP to people who went out and bought 25 million dollar yachts. So now these 'advisers' are all in academia teaching the next generation.
"Baby you're a rich man
Baby you're a rich man, now
You keep all your money in a big brown bag inside the door
What is it for"?
The B side of "All You Need is Love" by Lennon/McCartney.
It is not just disturbing that none of these people went to jail.
Three of them are now:
#1 is the President of Harvard University & on the board of I think Chase or Citicorp or both.
#2 is the Head of Columbia University's Business School.
#3 is a professor at Stanford.
Their rationalizations: "I was just giving my opinion"; "It's part of my ideological belief". They rated Iceland AA, 2 days before the country collapsed and were paid over $100,000 for that opinion. Iceland's banks lent 10x the national GNP to people who went out and bought 25 million dollar yachts. So now these 'advisers' are all in academia teaching the next generation.
"Baby you're a rich man
Baby you're a rich man, now
You keep all your money in a big brown bag inside the door
What is it for"?
The B side of "All You Need is Love" by Lennon/McCartney.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Sunday Morning
Went to Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and "The Merchant of Venice" starring F. Murray Abraham. Both excellent, but can't write about anything, except what is happening in Japan: earthquakes, tsunami,
and burning nuclear power plants.
That nation has given the world so much, Noh drama, Haiku, Kurosawa, Mishima, and Zen Buddhism.
It has also survived two atomic bombs to become a world economic power. They are an extraordinary people.
From today's Times:
"The few shops open have people queuing nicely," Mr. Tonge, a teacher from Britain said, "with no pushing or fighting or anything." He lives in Sendai [the hardest hit of the coastal cities,1.4 million homes without electricity, and 500,000 without water]. "People are not panicking - typical of a nation accustomed to order and schooled to stay calm and constructive." His hope is that this does not become the Sendai earthquake because: "This is a beautiful city with nice people. A great place to live."
Dominus vobiscum.
and burning nuclear power plants.
That nation has given the world so much, Noh drama, Haiku, Kurosawa, Mishima, and Zen Buddhism.
It has also survived two atomic bombs to become a world economic power. They are an extraordinary people.
From today's Times:
"The few shops open have people queuing nicely," Mr. Tonge, a teacher from Britain said, "with no pushing or fighting or anything." He lives in Sendai [the hardest hit of the coastal cities,1.4 million homes without electricity, and 500,000 without water]. "People are not panicking - typical of a nation accustomed to order and schooled to stay calm and constructive." His hope is that this does not become the Sendai earthquake because: "This is a beautiful city with nice people. A great place to live."
Dominus vobiscum.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Mardi Gras
Last night at the Met I saw Lucia di Lammermoor, my favorite so far this season. I enjoyed the staging, singing, and performances. There were two stand outs: Natalie Dessay as Lucia and Joseph Calleja as Edgardo. Dottie and Kathy remarked on how much they enjoyed the acting. How expressively Ms. Dessay rendered her veil and then cradled it as though it was her child. There were three remarkable pieces of music: the sextet in Act II "Chi mi frena in tal momento", Lucia's mad scene "Ardon gl'incensi", and Edgardo"s "Tu che a Dio".
On the negative: why start at 8:30 and then run on until after midnight. Some people left after the mad scene and missed Edgardo's "Tu che a Dio".
From what I'm reading:
"The good life is the life of inner serenity" Epictetus
Monday, March 7, 2011
Why the blog: acewalking-thecity?
Why Blog?
It started when Kathy asked me to write 'reviews' about the shows I was going to. I have season tickets to the opera, membership with The Irish Rep, The Classic Stage Company, The Public Theater, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I also see a couple of shows on Broadway, live music at various clubs, movies and try to keep informed with the Daily New York Times, The New Yorker and The Economist. So the blog became a record from a native New Yorker, newly retired, of what he's doing and seeing and thinking. New York is my retirement hobby.
Why Ace?
When I was a teenager sitting on my stoop listening to doo wop on the radio with some friends, Billy started to snap his fingers and Ralph began to whistle. I whistled and snapped. I wouldn't say my skills were electrifying but that's how I got the nickname "Ace".
Why the city?
Because it's beautiful, always moving and engaging.
Why walking?
Henry David Thoreau said he couldn't preserve his health and spirits unless he spent 4 hours a day "sauntering". Rousseau passed most of his last 15 years in walking. When asked by a visitor to be shown into Wordsworth's study his servant replied: " Here is his library, but his study is out of doors."
It started when Kathy asked me to write 'reviews' about the shows I was going to. I have season tickets to the opera, membership with The Irish Rep, The Classic Stage Company, The Public Theater, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I also see a couple of shows on Broadway, live music at various clubs, movies and try to keep informed with the Daily New York Times, The New Yorker and The Economist. So the blog became a record from a native New Yorker, newly retired, of what he's doing and seeing and thinking. New York is my retirement hobby.
Why Ace?
When I was a teenager sitting on my stoop listening to doo wop on the radio with some friends, Billy started to snap his fingers and Ralph began to whistle. I whistled and snapped. I wouldn't say my skills were electrifying but that's how I got the nickname "Ace".
Why the city?
Because it's beautiful, always moving and engaging.
Why walking?
Henry David Thoreau said he couldn't preserve his health and spirits unless he spent 4 hours a day "sauntering". Rousseau passed most of his last 15 years in walking. When asked by a visitor to be shown into Wordsworth's study his servant replied: " Here is his library, but his study is out of doors."
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