N.Y. Giants are The Champs

They won the super bowl on Sunday and today, after a ticker-tape parade, NY is giving them the keys to the city.  I got downtown at 8:30AM; the ceremony is at 1PM and it was already crowded.  So I left.  Do not like crowds and the press is reporting an estimated 1 million people.
But it was very tempting to stay, because the Giants have played some incredible football.  Manning [MVP] has been connecting with his receivers in some spectacular plays.  Sunday's catch by Mario Manningham in the fourth quarter was one of the most spectacular catches ever.

Americans love their team sports: football, basketball, hockey and baseball.  Some folks pay thousands of dollars to attend the games.  Last Sunday, an hotel room at the Budget Inn, $898.99;  next weekend it's back to $55 a night.  Monday before the game 3,000 seats were available from $2,100 to $516,484, the $16,484 is probably shipping and handling fees.  Parking $499, next weekend, $60. Airfare from NY to Indianapolis between $1,379 to $1,837.  Next weekend $400.

The home of rugged individualism, paradoxically loves its team sports.  Track and field will never attract that kind of money.  Golf, tennis, auto racing have a lot of fans, but your average American is much more likely to know who won the Super Bowl then who won the U.S. Open.
Then there is the violence.  Students in Amherst, Massachusetts rioted after the game and 19 were arrested.  Violence in Egypt continues after riots at a soccer game that killed at least 73 people.  It is a universal response when your team wins or loses: riot.  There is that much emotion in spectator sports.

Meanwhile in NYC we have this going on in Union Square:

 Riding with George Washington

He's protesting the lack of freedom in China, and he looks like one of the college kids from NYU, or Cooper Union.   He's going to sit there all week, if necessary, until something is done.
As Jack Paar would say 'I kid you not', he's giving us one week!!
I guess he figures that now the football season is over we can devote more time to world freedom.

The Japanese Internment

Koho Yamamoto is a Japanese-American artist and above is one of her works on display at The Interchurch Center's gallery which is curated by my friend Frank.  The exhibit is called From Topaz to Soho: The Spirited Art of Koho Yamamoto.  The art begins in 1944 when she was 22 and living in a detention center in Topaz, Utah.  Many are done in the Sumi-e style which is what she taught for 37 years at her school  in Soho. 

Koho Yamamoto's work is part of the show: "The Japanese American Internment Project ... if they came for me today".  The show will be on tour for two years.

On February 19, 1942 President Franklin Roosevelt interned in camps 120,000 Japanese-Americans of whom 80,000 were native born.  The government also coerced Latin American countries to deport their Japanese citizens.  2,300 were sent to America and imprisoned here.  Homes and businesses were lost. 
In 1980 President Jimmy Carter's commission on the internment found that the relocation was not done out of military necessity but out of racism, war hysteria, and the failure of political leadership.
In August 1988 President Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act which paid the survivors $20,000 each.

Chinese New Year

Lots of Dragons

 The year of the dragon is 4709-4710 on our calendar.  Those born this year may have the characteristics of the dragon: innovative, brave, and passionate.  I say may because the Chinese zodiac includes the characteristics by year: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig, plus the five elements: metal, water, wood, fire and earth, plus yin [odd years] and yang [even years].  The system of 12 years was based by early Chinese astronomers on the orbit of Jupiter. 

1.26.44

Went out to a movie at one of my favorite movie houses: The Paris.  It is across the street from the Plaza Hotel and a block from the entrance to central Park.  The Paris was the first post-war movie house constructed in Manhattan.  It opened on 9/13/48 with Marlene Dietrich and the French Ambassador cutting the ribbon.  Ah! to be there then, with a camera.  The Paris usually hosts French films and has had many premieres.

 Elegantly designed in the Art Moderne style, a late type of Art Deco, my favorite style.

The Artist is up for a number of awards and deserves recognition for its boldness, black and white and silent.  I haven't seen a lot of the nominees, so The Artist may be the best of the group.  It has a number of things that I liked,  movie references, e.g. the breakfast scene from Citizen Kane and a dance from Rodgers and Astaire, the performances by the two stars and their dog.  I loved the dog.  However, I found the movie a bit long and it took awhile for me to settle into it.  There is nothing particularly noteworthy in the story or the technique.  As for best movies made in 2011 that I've seen I prefer A Separation.
And the best movie I've seen, recently, is "Millions", a Danny Boyle film from 2004.  Danny Boyle has also made Shallow Grave[terrific] Slumdog Millionaire[lots of awards] 127 Hours[next on my list] and Trainspotting[funny and tragic ... one drug addict says about another "we call him Mother Superior because of the length of his habit], and two of the Inspector Morse shows.  'Millions' stars Lewis McGibbon, James Nesbith, Daisy Donovan and the incredible Alex Etel.  The very young Alex Etel plays one of the most interesting and endearing characters I've ever seen.  It was written by Frank Cottrell Boyce.  Netflix, thank you.

Tosca at The Met

Patricia Racette is in Giacomo Puccini's 'Tosca' which I saw Tuesday night at the Metropolitan Opera House.  She will be performing it 6 times with a quartet of leading men on alternating nights.  The NY Times praises her " richly expressive voice and raw emotion".  She is a fine actress but as the Times says "her voice is not opulent or unique".  This is also the farewell performance of Paul Plishka who plays the sacristan.  Since 1967 he has performed at the Met 1600 times.
The opera is based on a play by Victorien Sardou who wrote 70 plays, all successful and now forgotten.  Tosca was a great hit for Sarah Bernhardt, with 3000 performances in France alone.  The story concerns 4 main characters: Angelotti, an escaped political prisoner who is pursued by Scarpia, the head of the secret police who lusts after Tosca, who is loved by and loves Cavaradossi a painter.  When Cavaradossi helps hide Angelotti, Scarpia arrests him and tortures him until Tosca agrees to sleep with him and tell him where Angelotti is hiding.  She tells; then stabs Scarpia.  Angelotti kills himself rather then be arrested.  Cavaradossi is executed and Tosca jumps off a tower, spectacularly staged, rather then be captured.  The end.

The score is beguiling and the opera is one of the most popular.
Favorite parts:  The Te Deum with a triple chorus, an orchestra with bells, an organ and 2 canons.  The tenor's aria "E lucevan le stelle", "And the stars were shining" in act 3, and the soprano's aria in act 2 "Vissi d'arte" living her life for love and art.
Another favorite of mine: the company, 100 orchestra members and 80 members of the chorus.   
Today's notable birthdays:
Wayne Gretsky, Samuel Adams, Anita Baker, Nicolae Ceausescu, Henry Jaglom, Angela Davis, Jules Feiffer, Ellen De Generes, Douglas McArthur, Akio Morita, co-founder of Sony, James McCord, Watergate burglar, Roger Vadim, Anne Jeffreys, Jimmy Van Heusen, and Me.

The News

It's all bad today.
I went to the opera last night and got home late and into bed at about 2:30.  Then the cats started in at five AM.  So it's food, water, clean litter box and back to sleep.  But noooo!  They won 't let up; not until I'm up and out of bed.  I swear I almost threw Paris out the window.  I had closed the bedroom door but he was banging on it with his head and meowing, constantly.  I was P O'ed but not just for waking me up but also fighting with his brother.  He was so bad; Troy was cowering under the chair and hissing at him.  The first time that's happened.
I need a cat whisperer or cat shrink.  They're both sleeping, now, and in my bed of course.
That's my bad news.  I'm exhausted and tomorrow's my birthday.  I want to be fresh and chipper for my birthday.   Well as much as I can be at 68.
And in the rest of the world it's not much better.  Those republican party debates.  I mean, really disgusting candidates.  Characters from a Walt Disney movie, happy=Rick Perry, dopey=Cain, grouchy=Gingrich, and there's no Snow White.  Gingrich, as they say, is 'surging in the polls' because he berates the media for asking about his marriages.  Simply stated he cheated on his first two wives.  While the first wife had cancer and the second wife had MS.  The third wife had a 6 year affair with him while he was married.  All the time she was playing the role of the good catholic.  So good that now Newt is a catholic and has found God.  Son of a gun, who knew all this time, god was in Calista's sheets!  Don't people remember what Newt did to Clinton for his peccadilloes?  Why would anyone listen to them?

The real craziness is not the hypocrisy.
Mitt Romney wants us to believe that during his life he has had fears of losing his livelihood.  Last year he earned  from investments, he doesn't actually have a job, almost $60,000 a day!
And there's even more craziness in the audience.  They cheered when Cain said the unemployed needed to take a bath and get a job.  They cheered when Newt said  school children should do janitorial jobs in school to learn job skills.  They cheered when Ron Paul said if a person can't afford to buy medications that's their own fault.  Who are these people?  White, affluent, mostly male, christian, presumably.  That also describes me and my friends but we are at the opposite end of those political views.  These people may look angry, but they're really scared.  They hate Obama because he is the face of the new America.  White America is 72% of the total population.  Ten years ago they were 75%.  These people feel threatened.
I can't believe any of these guys will win, because that audience is already the minority.  One last thing about the candidates.  Has anyone else noticed that they all have strange ways of walking.

First snow

Not a whole lot but wet and cold.  I love it when there are big soft flakes, but that's not it today.

It's the beginning of the Chinese New Year and I was planning a trip to Chinatown to watch the festivities, but not in this weather.  The festivities will be going on all week and I think next Saturday is the Dragon parade.  So I'll go then.
It is the year of the dragon which means those born this year will be powerful and lucky with lots of charisma.  I was born in the year of the monkey: a party animal, charming, craving fun and stimulation, sparkling wit, rapier-sharp mind, knowledgeable on a wide range of topics, accident prone, poor morals, unfaithful in relationships, self indulgence leading to problems with food, alcohol and other pleasures.  For balance they should learn to think more about others.  
I'm also an aquarian: sometimes shy and quiet and sometimes boisterous, eccentric and energetic, deep thinker, love helping others, very smart, independent, good at solving problems, imaginative and a strong need to be alone, runs from emotional expression, aloof, temperamental.
In Aztec astrology I'm the flint, Tecpatl: rigorous, brave, morally upright, disdaining whimsy,does not tolerate lying,  warm and generous, spontaneous, filled with adventure and diversity.

Went to the movies with Dottie and saw "A Separation" which I loved.  Dottie didn't care for it and thought it was too long.  An Iranian movie about a Husband and Wife at cross purposes.  During the movie I found myself analyzing what I thought to be the symbolism.
I am more conscious of artists use of symbols: objects and people used to represent something or someone else.  It was very common in paintings for an artist to tell a story or give a message in this way.  For example fruit was used to suggest many things, pomegranate= eternal life, fig=loss of innocence, pear=faithfulness, orange=free will, and the apple=sin & the Garden of Eden.  I've always resisted this type of analyses since the time a college professor  turned Faulkner's wonderful short story 'The Bear' into an anti-communist tract.  Modern use of symbols are not to my knowledge clearly and universally known as they were in Renaissance Europe.  So it might appear subjective.  But it can be increase the appreciation of a film.
In "a Separation" we are looking at life in Iran; a highly censored, closed and sectarian society.  Film makers have been imprisoned.  So the use of symbols in their films is quite likely. 
What fascinated me was trying to understand the symbolic presence of the grandfather; who is the reason for the husband's and wife's estrangement.  They are an affluent family and the wife wants to leave the country for her daughter's sake.  The husband feels obligated to take care of his father who has Alzheimer's.  At first I thought he was a symbol of the Iranian government; no memory of its history, not making sense but compelling adherence.  The grandfather doesn't know who any one is and has stopped talking.  Then I thought he is the symbol of Islam.  There is a lot to consider beyond the mise en scene.  Men fight, women negotiate in this patriarchy.   People go to jail if they don't pay their debts.  A woman telephones a hotline to ask if she can undress a man who has soiled himself.  The answer is 'no' it's a sin.  A young girl, maybe 12, is frightened of asking for her change because all the men are staring at her. 
It's worth seeing in a movie house.  There are a lot of subtitles which would be hard to follow on a TV screen.

Schjeldahl

I was reading Peter Schjeldahl in The New Yorker.  He was critiquing Damien Hirst's  'Complete Spot Paintings 1986-2011'.  They're being exhibited all over the world.  Hirst is part of "a cohort [of] Young British Artists.  When not milking death, Y.B.A. art savored sex and squalor, ideally in combination."  They were behind the show at The Brooklyn Museum in 1999 that Mayor Giuliani "made headlines by denouncing Chris Ofile's painting of the Virgin Mary festooned with lumps of elephant dung."  Yeah, Peter doesn't like them.  He says: "The result is art in the way some exotic financial dealings are legal: by a whisker."
So I went to Chelsea to see for myself.  Found one but couldn't shoot it.  It looked like this:

There a dozen of them around the world.

I prefer these by Will Kurtz, at the Mike Weiss Gallery.  It's called 'Extra Fucking Ordinary", unfortunate title, for fine work.  They are life size figural sculptures constructed of collaged torn sheets of newspaper, wood, wire, screws, tape and everyday objects.
He takes photos with his I-Phone then recreates them.

Ramblings

The internet today is "down" due to a protest about some government legislation to control copyright and 'intellectual ownership'.  The senate passed the bill but some of those who signed it now oppose it.  That alone indicates how crazy government has gotten.  Most of our elected officials are lawyers and they're signing bills, and making laws without first reading them.  I forget how big the Obamacare legislation actually was but it was enormous. 
Back to the internet or rather why I was looking for info.  There was a show on public TV about one of the Hollywood studios.  Some of it was how wonderful this head of studio was and how creative that other head of studio was, etc.  Which put me in mind of what my friend Frank said:  "Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather, was on Charlie Rose and said the bit about the horse's head in the producer's bed was a true story."  Puzo went on further to say:  "I've known a lot of Mafia guys and they could be ruthless but the worst SOB's were in Hollywood."  Not the only person to have said that.

One section of the doc. was called 'The Genius' and was about Stanley Kubrick.  He is probably most famous for "2001', 'How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb', 'Spartacus', 'Barry Lyndon'.  My personal favorite is 'Paths of Glory'.  Ever since I read 'The Guns of August' I have been fascinated by the First World War.  Also, when I was traveling around Mt. Athos in Greece I hooked up with some Brits, one of whom was senior at the British Museum.  When I voiced the impression that made on me, he pooh-poohed the thought..  He said someone like him would never be where he was if his country had not lost an entire generation in the First World War.

But I wasn't searching the internet for info about the War or Paths of Glory.  Two things struck me: Stanley Kubrick and Adolphe Menjou in 1957 making a movie together.  Kubrick is from New York City and politically very liberal.  I wondered if he had gone to England because of blacklisting by McCarthyism.  That's the info I was looking for.  Adolphe is most famous for testifying at the McCarthy hearings and naming names.  Menjou's famous line was: "I'd send all those commies to Texas.  They know how to deal with them."  It appears Kubrick did not leave America because of politics.  he left because he found film financing easier.        

The Renaissance Portrait

Went to the Metropolitan Museum to see their new exhibit.  You are not allowed to take photos of the works on display.  Probably some legal issues with loaned works of art.  It was the same at the Brooklyn Museum.  But I took a photo before they told me I couldn't and another that you're allowed to take.

I almost bought the book for $65, just for one portrait.  It is 'Portrait of a Young Man' by Antonello da Messina.  It had been known for a long time as 'Portrait of an Unknown Sailor' and now as the famous Cefalu' Portrait of a Young Man.  It is supposed to be in the National Gallery in London, but it's not listed at their site.
I may be turning into J. Alfred Prufrock.
"In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse."

But there's more
To do
To hear
To see
To put on
To take off.
More then I will ever own.

Subway/meet-up

That is the access shaft for the new 2nd Ave Subway.  The subway will run from 125th Street to the financial district.  Phase One, which will take 45 months, there are 4 phases, involves the "Q" line which will run from 93rd Street to 63rd Street and 2nd Ave.  It will then connect on Lexington Ave. with the "F" line where passengers can continue south through Manhattan and into Brooklyn.  The workmen told me that the shaft is 9 stories deep and there will be 16 ADA accessible stations.
On my way to a birthday party I happened to come upon what was in the 70's called a happening or a Be-in.  I found out later that it is now called a meet-up.  Some one twitters everyone to meet at a particular place at a particular time dressed in a particular way or for a particular reason.  If you happen to be walking around the city and see a bunch of people dressed as Santa or carrying pillows for a pillow fight, it's a meet-up.

 This meet-up was to come to Union Square in your underwear.

House of Worship

 Archbishop Dolan has been elevated to Cardinal Dolan.  So I thought I would visit St. Patrick's Cathedral.  The Cathedral opened in 1879, and was designed by American architect James Renwick Jr., who was considered the most successful architect of his time.  His first commission was Grace Church in NYC which he took on at the age of 25.

 'The Lady Chapel', at the rear of the Cathedral, is the most sacred part of the Church.  This is where the Eucharist is kept.  It was built between 1901 and 1908 and designed by Charles T. Mathews.

The Cathedral has a 'Pieta' sculpted by William Ordway Partridge.  Instead it says that St. Patrick's 'Pieta' is 3 times larger than Michelangelo's.  

Onassis Cultural center of NY

Did not know there was such a place until it advertised in the NY Times.  The exhibit is entitled Transition to Christianity: Art of Late Antiquity, 3rd-7th Century AD.  I love classic works of art: tile, painting, and statuary, especially the Paul Newman lookalikes.  I was looking forward to the show but The Met has more interesting objects and when you've been to Greece, Athens, Delos, Mycenae, Crete, Istanbul, Ephesus, and the British Museum it's pretty hard to be impressed.  The lobby entrance had copies of the Elgin Marbles: four images hanging about 15 feet on a wall.  They did not allow photos so all I have is the brochure cover to show.
I did learn something new.  I have read that a lot of statuary from the classic age was decapitated by the Muslims.  They were cleaning the land of Idolatry.  Today, I found out that the early christians disfigured a great deal of statues by carving crosses on them and defacing the eyes and mouth, in the belief that the image of pagan gods were sources of evil.  
The Center is at 51st Street and 5th Ave.
I walked.  It's cold.  They said it was 11degrees.  I don't know what the wind chill factor was but it was a brisk walk.  I have this down coat with hood that covers almost my entire body.  I got it out of storage and will be wearing it.  I don't even care if it makes me look like the green Pillsbury Dough Boy.

Library

The main branch of the New York Public Library is celebrating it's 100th birthday this year.  Actually it is 42nd street building that is 100 years old.  The library itself was established in 1895 when the Astor and Lenox Libraries with the Tilden Trust were consolidated.

 Often referred to as the Main branch, it is the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.  Mr. Schwarzman, 2/14/1947, is the Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of the Blackstone Investment Group.  Worth $5.9 billion, he has compared President Obama's plan to raise carried interest taxes, share of profits paid to an investment manager, as equal to Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939.  He gave the Library $100 million, hence the name change.
Designed and constructed  by Carrere and Hastings, the Beaux-Arts building is the largest marble structure ever attempted in the U.S.  It stands on what used to be the Croton Reservoir.  500 workers spent 2 years dismantling the reservoir and preparing the site.

 More than 15 million items are in the library and they include the Gutenberg Bible and Thomas Jefferson's copy of the Declaration of Independence.  While it is called the public library and is open to the public it is funded by private contributions.

Happy Birthday!

Maurizio Cattelan: All

 That's the artist, in bed with himself, talking to himself.  Witty man.

 The show is at the Guggenheim through January.
 He's retiring and has decided to hang it all up at the Museum.

 There are life size horses, mules, the pope, etc.  He does taxidermy, no not to the pope, the animals.  His first show at a gallery consisted of locking the front door and hanging the sign: "Be back soon".
 

My favorite piece is called La Nona Ora [The Ninth Hour] and it depicts Pope John Paul ll being felled by a meteor.
Cattelan was born in Padova, Italy on 9/21/60 and is now based in New York.  Jonathan P. Binstock curator of contemporary art at the Corcoran Gallery says Cattelan is "one of the great post-Duchampian artists and a smart ass, too."
Duchamp is fascinating.  Would like to see more of his work and read a good biography.  He renounced making art in the 1920's when he was about 40.  Cattelan says he is 'retiring' from making art at around 50.  Is this exhibit an homage to Duchamp?

Cymbeline

Went to the Barrow Street Theater to see the Fiasco Company's production of Shakespeare's "Cymbeline".
The critics are right.  This is a complicated and strange play but the Company does a great job making it fun and interesting.  I agree with everything the critics say about it.  The actors include their own music, sometimes a cappella, and sometimes accompanying themselves on their instruments.  Very talented actors and remarkable work by the two actors who also directed.
 Barrow Street Theater is a small, intimate space that has shown some great work.  A couple of years ago I saw "Orson's Shadow" and "Our Town", both excellent.

Afterwards we went to a local Greenwich Village bar.  Nancy had wine; Sandra had bourbon. Frank had a Martini.  I had a Manhattan.

 

The Village Vanguard

Went to the Village Vanguard with Sandra to hear Bill Frisell, one of Sandra's favorite guitarists.  Performing with him was Jenny Scheinman on electric violin, and Brian Blade on drums.  Mr. Frisell, unfortunately took a back seat to Ms. Scheinman who gave a mixed performance.  Two early pieces, one of which was written by Mr. Frisell called 'Rag', were very good.  She played it in what I would call a Celtic style.  Building to a very quick raised finish with all three players.  The last piece, 'Embraceable You' was so slow people were nodding off.  $25 admission, $16 for one drink [tip included] so so value.
The Village Vanguard was opened on 7th Ave. South 2/22/35 by Max Gordon.  At first it included folk music and beat poetry.  It became an all jazz venue in 1957.  Over 100 live jazz albums have been recorded there.  The first one in 1957 was Sonny Rollins.  Some other artists who have performed there: Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Wynton Marsalis, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Art Pepper, Chris Connor, Gerry Mulligan and Barbra Streisand.

Hide/Seek

Yesterday, Sunday, I went to the Brooklyn Museum.  The Museum has an exhibit from the portraiture galleries of the Smithsonian.  David C. Ward and Jonathan Katz are the original curators and Tricia Laughlin Bloom coordinated the project for the museum.  It is called 'Hide/Seek Difference and Desire in American Portraiture'.  The exhibit has had some controversy.  A piece depicting a crucifix with ants walking over it stirred up some "christians" [no spell check, I meant a small 'c'].  There are some wonderful sites, The Brooklyn Museum, The Smithsonian, and You Tube that will give you a very good view of the exhibit.  The theme is gay and lesbian artists as subjects of gay and lesbian artists.
Then  refurbished subway station at the Museum.

 and then the Museum

 Minor White's 'Tom Murphy' and the exhibit's image.
When you first walk into the room you hear Ma Rainey singing: "Prove it on Me Blues".  When she was arrested in 1925 for hosting a lesbian orgy she released that song.  She also made more than 100 other recordings between 1925 and 1928.   She is the premier blues singer in music history.
The exhibit is divided into 7 periods:
1.  Before Difference ...  Thomas Eakins' "Salutat"  "the male body as object of admiration by a male audience."
2.  Modernism ... "Portrait of Marcel Duchamp" by Florine Stettheimer,  and Berenice Abbott's photo of Janet Flanner in which she has two masks on her top hat.
3.  1930's ...Photo of Lincoln Kirstein by Walker Evans.  Kirstein was about 18 and in college.
4.  Consensus and conflict ... Rauschenberg's and Jasper Johns' pieces as a response to the breakup of their relationship, Alice Neal's portrait of Frank O'Hara.  O'Hara's poem 'In memory of my feelings' is the title of Jasper Johns painting.  Rauschenberg's is titled 'Canto xiv' from Dante's poem.  It's the canto of the placing of the 'Sodomites'.
5.  Stonewall and after ... Warhol's 'Camouflage Self-Portrait' 
6.  Aids ... A.A. Bronson's  'Felix June 5 1994'
7.  New Beginnings ... Annie Leibovitz's photo of Ellen Degeneres.
Many great artists were gay; celebrated being gay; formed relationships with other gay artists, sexual and otherwise.  It was through their work and open lives that has helped move society's attitudes and brought us to where we are today.

Man and Boy

Went to the Roundabout Theatre Company's proiduction of Terence Rattigan,s 'Man and Boy'.  It's at the American Airlines theater on 42nd Street.  Frank Langella gives a great performance.  I also enjoyed the actor who played his son, Adam Driver.  It is directed by Maria Aitken who did 'The 39 Steps' on broadway and a lot of other work in New York and London.
Terence Rattigan, [6/10/11-11/30/77] who was gay and out only to his close friends, has also written 'The Winslow Boy', 'Separate Tables', 'The Browning Version', 'The Deep Blue Sea', and the screenplays for 'The Prince and the Showgirl', 'The VIPs', 'The Yellow Rolls Royce' and 'Goodbye Mr. Chips'. 

At the movies I saw 'Tree of Life', not my cup of tea.  I watched one hour and it was like watching clips from the TV show NOVA without dialogue.  One scene has Sean Penn walking through the corridor of a large corporation in a big city like Chicago.  Then next time you see him he's walking through the desert.  No dialogue, no explanation.  Maybe it was supposed to be an homage to Michelangelo Antonioni. 
Also not for me is Clint Eastwood's 'J. Edgar'.  Too long, too slow and most importantly it's dishonest.  He makes him sympathetic.  No way that the man who kept secrets and who used those those secrets to destroy innocent people like Jean Seberg is a sympathetic character.
What I did like very much was 'The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill'.  It's a documentary about a homeless man who becomes interested in a group of wild parrots.  He befriends the parrots, feeding and caring for them, and they give his life purpose.

Saw and heard Christine Ebersole and the Aaron Weinstein trio at Birdland.  Wonderful!!  He plays the violin to accompany her as she sings.  First time I've heard them together.  He's 26 and remarkable.  Bought Ebersole's new CD of Noel Coward songs.  She has 2 tony awards for 'Grey Gardens' and '42nd Street'.  
I'm feeling much better the last couple of days.  Finally, after weeks, I got around to cleaning the house.  Really gave the bathroom a good scrubbing.  When I finished both boys went to their kitty litter and then laid down on the bathroom floor and stared at me.  I guess they were relieved in more ways then one.

Town Hall and OWS

 
Town Hall in NYC is a broadway theater.  Not the kind of town hall in some cities where they actually have town meetings.  Last night our town hall had a show: 'Broadway Unplugged'.  Great voices singing without the use of amplification.  It was excellent, especially the duet 'All the Things You Are'.  The program did not list the performers but I know Terri White from 'Follies' and Bill Daugherty and Nancy Anderson from other shows.  The artists who did the duet I do not know.  I am sure I will be seeing them again, soon.

Today's walk took me to Chinatown.  Then across the Brooklyn Bridge to my pension office.  I went to change banks for my direct deposit.  On the way back I decided to walk by Occupy Wall Street.  I heard the police had emptied it and arrested a couple of hundred people.  There were a lot of TV News people hanging around, waiting.  Maybe, because a number of OWS demonstrators were talking about taking back the park.  Does OWS mean to stay until every goal is met?  I support their goals of accountability for the fiscal collapse, but the odds are against it.  Getting the park emptied was a lot easier. 

Iphigenia in Tauris

A production under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs is playing at the Lion Theater on Theater Row.
The good news:  they have cut Euripides 4 hour play down to 1 hour.  My seat was on the aisle with lots of leg room. It costs $20.  Iphigenia and Orestes have a moment of reunion that is moving.
But, the acting is over the top which is OK for something that is the inspiration for Opera but the actors aren't consistent.  The actor playing Orestes does it as though he had Turret's Syndrome.  Being pursued and driven from every town by the Furies would cause some physical and psychic reaction but how he has chosen to play it is too distracting.  I'm glad that I went because it brought me back to my Freshman Lit. class with Mr. Christ.  He was an exceptional teacher and the best I've ever had.  It was a great course and reading classic literature with Mr. Christ is still one of my most cherished memories.

The Bridge

We called it the 59th Street bridge but it was actually the Queensboro Bridge, which has since been named the Ed Koch bridge.  But everyone calls it the 59th Street bridge.  When I and my friends in Queens were teenagers this was our bridge.  We, who rushed with adolescent excitement into the "city" called it the 59th Street bridge because that's where it left us off.  The 'City" was Manhattan and specifically downtown.  The village, Greenwich Village.  This was the early 1960's.  You could get served as a  17 y/o  in bars.  The beats were reading their poetry that spoke of sex, straight and gay.  The music was just as free form, be bopping  off cafe walls all for the price of a cup of coffee.  Streisand, Dylan, and Peter, Paul and Mary might be in a club performing .  Tomorrow's star might be in Washington Square Park strumming and singing for spare change.  Maybe Lanford Wilson's new one act would be at a club or we could go see Jason Robards, directed by Jose Quintero, in 'The Iceman Cometh'.  So what part of that great art did I get to.  We went to whatever bar would serve us.  Hey, I was 17, but I'm making up for it now.

Fashion

New York is ranked with Paris and Milan as one of the fashion capitals of the world.  I don't know anything about fashion, but it is indicative of the importance of fashion in our society that I can probably name as many designers as I can current movie directors, and I love movies.  We used to have a garment district and during the day on 7th Ave. there would be men pushing racks of clothes up and down the avenue.  I don't know what happens in regards to fashion on 7th Ave today but those racks are being pushed on other streets.  We do have a lot of schools of fashion, many of them prestigious: FIT, Parsons, Pratt Institute, NY School of Design, Art Institute of NY, Berkeley College, and LIM which is the only school in the country solely focused on fashion.

Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street which began 9/17/2011 has been criticized for not proposing an agenda.  It has been reported that the man who gave the movement its name and has been instrumental in its organization is an English professor and an anarchist.  So some believe there is a lack of organization and an agenda.  However,  Occupy Wall Street, Dallas has called for a general strike for 11/30/2011 from 12:01 AM to 11:59 PM.
1.  Refrain from buying any goods or services including but not limited to petroleum products, consumer goods or bank transactions.
2.  Refrain from working for a wage excluding those who provide emergency and necessary functions.
3.  Join or form local groups to peacefully protest.

House of Worship

 The Cathedral of St. Sava, on West 25th Street, is the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of NYC.  Designed in 1851 by Richard M. Upjohn it was initially Trinity Chapel, the uptown branch of Trinity Church on Wall Street.  At that time it was the church of Edith Wharton who wrote about the church and its congregants in The Age Of Innocence.  In 1944 it was consecrated as the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral.
St. Sava [1174-1236] is the patron saint of Serbia.  He was born a Serbian Prince and became a monk.  He was the country's first Archbishop and also wrote the first Serbian constitution.

More Photos from the Met

Out

                                                                          My Brain.
When you get to my age doctors want you to get a flu shot because getting the flu is dangerous.  People die each year from the flu.  So I got my flu shot and then I got the flu.  But before the flu my brain was already going in circles.  Saturday I had tickets to Lincoln Center's new play Blood and Gifts.  One for me and one for Sandra.  It snowed.  Really, a lot.  So Sandra wasn't coming into the city.  She gave her ticket to her daughter who gave it to her neighbor.  The subway had a power failure at 59th street.  I gave myself an hour of travel time when it usually takes 20 minutes.  It took one hour and twenty minutes.  I found out later that my guest made it in time by taking a cab.  She waited 15 minutes and left.  We missed each other.  I was too frazzled to stay. 
Then, Monday was Halloween.   I hate big crowds but since I'm writing about the city I felt I should include some of the big events.  This is what the Halloween Parade looked like:

I assume the parade was where everyone was facing.  Saw nothing but peoples backs. 
But then Tuesday was a great day.  I was invited by my neighbor, Carole, to the Players Club for lunch.  That opening photo is of their staircase.  It is a beautiful building, designed by Stanford White.

It costs $2000 to join and $1500 a year in dues but is open for lunch and dinner.  It was formed in 1888 by Edwin Booth and 15 others.  Modeled after London's Garrick Club, The Players Club was the first "Gentleman's" club in America.

Mike Daisey's Monologue

Saw this at the Public Theater last night.  It is funny, thoughtful, and disturbing.  Mike is a self-described geek.  He believes Steve Jobs to be a showman and a genius.  Steve Jobs partner, Steve Wozniak is the geek in the partnership and another genius.  There is a great deal of humor in the show.  I doubt that I could have sat for 2 hours, without a break, if it wasn't very funny and provocative.
To paraphrase Mike:
if you control the way people view and interact with the world, you control their world
having Google to find out something for you doesn't mean you're smart, you get smart by using your head and digging in with both hands
everyone complains that nothing is hand-made, whereas everything is handmade and some of those hands are bloody and deformed from making the stuff we use everyday.
Mike Daisey loves technology and what Steve Jobs and his partner Steve Wozniak created at Apple.  The two of them started out as rebellious, counterculture entrepreneurs.  Their first creation was a pirate box to make long distance phone calls, stealing from A T & T.  The first call on the box was when Jobs had Wozniak call the Vatican to tell them that Henry Kissinger, at the White House, wanted to speak to the Pope.  The Cardinal, or whoever it was that answered the phone, said the Pope was asleep but he would wake him up.  Wozniak freaked and hung up the phone  They sold hundreds of those boxes.  Then they got a job from Atari to make an easily programmable computer game in 2 months.  The job paid $700.  But if they made it especially easy to program and in one month they would get $1000.  Steve Wozniak, the geek in the partnership, did it.  They split a $1000.  Wozniak later learned that Jobs was paid $5000 and there were no requirements about the time frame or the programing.
About 10 years ago there were reports of numerous suicides at a technology assembly plant in China.  So Mike Daisey posed as an American businessman so he could get access to the workers and some of the bosses.  Workers were as young as 13.  They would spend at least 14 hours on line doing the same robotic movement.  Probably the reason for the suicides.  One worker died after being at his work station for 34 hours.  The company is Foxcomm in Shenzhen, China.  440,000 thousand people work there.  They have 25 cafeterias and  each one can sit 20,000 people.  The plant assembles technology parts for Apple and many other companies.  Because of the robotic working conditions, joints in the workers hands disintegrate.  To shift workers around to other lines would easily alleviate those joints, but they don't.  The liquid used to clean the face of the iPhone causes neurological injuries in the workers' hands.  They were using plain alcohol, but the new solution cleans faster.  Many workers are let go at 25 years of age because by that time they're not able to keep up the pace.   
Steve Wozniak saw the show and wept.  He told the NY Times that he would never be the same.
At the end of the show Mike Daisey says he hasn't really told us anything we don't already know.  What he hopes he has done is plant a virus in our consciousness.  Can we buy more stuff without thinking "who made that"?

P.S.  There is some controversy about the show.  His interpreter during the visit contradicts some of his statements.  But what I have written here has been checked and deemed accurate.

Movie house

 Went to the Sunshine Movie House on Houston to see, "The Skin I live In".  Pedro Almodovar's new movie.  Many of his movies have won awards and been critical successes.  I've seen Volver, Talk to Her, All About My Mother, Live Flesh, High heels, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Matador, and Dark Habits.  I love movies.  A lot of his films are about the battle between the sexes.  However, in an Almodovar movie the gender of the sexes can not be taken at face value and the battles are with knives and guns.  His plots are often about seeking revenge.  Some of them are very good, as is All About My Mother and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.  The Skin I Live In is a typical Almodovar movie but not one of his best.

The Sunshine was built in 1898 as a theater and Yiddish vaudeville house.  It was known as the Houston Hippodrome.  For 50 years it was a hardware storehouse.  On 12/21/2001 it opened as an art-house film showcase with 5 screens, stadium seating, and Dolby digital surround sound.  The renovation and interior design were done by Pleskow and Rael. 

House of Worship

 The Buddhist Association of New York is located on Elizabeth Street just above Canal Street.

. 

 Some facts about Buddhism:
It is a system taught by the Buddha, and it originated in the 6th century BCE in Northern India.  There are 376 million followers; so it is the fourth largest faith.  Main sects are Mahayana,  northern Buddhism, and Theravada, Southern Buddhism.  The sacred texts are Pali Canon,Tripitaka and Mahayana Sutras in the  original language Pali.
Basic beliefs:
There are 4 truths:
all life is marked by suffering-
suffering is caused by desire and attachment -
suffering can be eliminated -
suffering is eliminated by following the noble eightfold path.
The eightfold path is: right beliefs, right aspirations, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right meditational attainment.

Philharmonic and King Lear

Went to the Philharmonic at Lincoln Center this week to hear Lorin Maazel conduct.  The program in the first half consisted of two pieces by Mozart, Symphony No. 38 in D major, K.507 [1786] and Concerto In C major for Flute and Harp, K.299/297c [1778] with Robert Langevin on Flute and Nancy Allen on Harp.  The concerto was an audience favorite, while I enjoyed the symphony more.  The second half had two pieces by Debussy, Jeux: Poeme danse [1912-13] and Iberia, from Images for Orchestra [1905-08].  Images is a good description.  I had images of Hollywood westerns of the 1950's.

Friday was King Lear at the Public with Sam Waterston [Lear], Enid Graham [Goneril], Kelli O'Hara [Regan], Kristen Connolly [Cordelia], Michael McKean [Gloucester], Bill Irwin [Fool] and John Douglas Thompson who was excellent as Kent/Caius.  My favorite moment of the night was Lear's curse on Goneril. Waterston does rage very well.  Many in the audience gasped when he gave the curse.
Here it is.

Hear, nature, hear; dear goddess, hear!
Suspend thy purpose, if thou didst intend
To make this creature fruitful!
Into her womb convey sterility!
Dry up in her the organs of increase;
And from her derogate body never spring
A babe to honour her!  If she must teem,
Create her child of spleen; that it may live,
And be a thwart disnatured torment to her!
Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth;
With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks;
Turn all her mother's pains and benefits
To laughter and contempt; that she may feel
How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
To have a thankless child!  Away, Away.

Salmagundi Club

The Club is having its Fall Auction and my neighbor Carole Teller has the above painting "The High Line" in the auction.  A salmagundi is a salad of chopped meat, anchovies, eggs, and onions on lettuce with oil and vinegar.  Whereas the Salmagundi Club is an artists' club on Fifth Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets.  It was founded in 1871 and is located in one of the finest 'double-wide' brownstones in the city.  There are 850 members, comprising artists and patrons.  Some of their famous members have been Thomas Moran, William Merritt Chase, Louis Comfort Tiffany, N. C. Wyeth, and Childe Hassam. 
Other works:

The Dao of Tea

On 9th Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues is Cha-An, a Japanese restaurant that has a tearoom for the 'performance' of the Japanese Tea Ceremony.  Dottie and I went last night.  The first picture is of our hostess in the Mizuya area beginning the cleaning of the bowl that we will use to drink our tea.  She will use a small linen cloth called the Chakin to clean and wipe the bowl.  She will unfold it from her kimono; fold it in a particular pattern; wipe the bowl; unfold it and then fold it in another pattern and put it back in her kimono.  The guests drink from the same bowl, and this is done after each serving.  The ceremony can take up to 40 minutes.  At the end of the ceremony she discusses what she has been doing. She also showed us and let us handle the Chashaku.  A thin narrow bamboo like spoon used to scoop the tea.  It was her grandmother's, and that is a particular part of the ceremony: to share and use something with a personal connection.

In the 'Tokonoma' area is a scroll with calligraphy.  Our scroll translates as 'today safe'.  Our hostess explained that it is meant to say: "a quiet day is a safe day and a safe day is a good day." 

But before the tea you eat some sweets.  Red bean sweets and they are very sweet.
There are two basic tea ceremonies.  Chaji, which involves a full course meal and can take up to 4 hours and Chakai, simple sweets and then tea.  The tea is taken from the buds of the green tea leaf and ground up.  It is the richest part of the plant having the most caffeine and is also very expensive.  It is called Matcha.
Tea first came to Japan in the 9th century but it wasn't until the 15th when Murata Juko developed the tea ceremony as we now know it.  In the 16th century Sen no Rikyu wrote in his book 'Southern Record' the principles of the ceremony: harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility.  Both of them were Zen Buddhist monks and Zen Buddhism is the primary influence in the development of the ceremony.  Our evening certainly lived up to the principles.

Drinks for Deirdre

Went to one of my favorite Watering Holes to toast Deidre's Birthday.  Bemelmans Bar is in the Hotel Carlyle at Madison Ave. and 76th Street.  Functioning for more than 5 decades it has been recently restored to its Art Deco brilliance by Thierry Despont.  It has leather banquettes, nickel trimmed black glass tabletops, black granite bar, a 24 Karat gold leaf-covered ceiling, and a pianist.  Plus the only surviving Bemelmans' commission open to the public, 'Central Park'.  It covers the walls of the bar.

Ludwig Bemelmans, 4/27/1898 - 10/1/1962 was an Austrian-American author and illustrator.  He is best known for his six Madeline books.  Bemelmans Bar is most famous for its Sapphire Gin Martinis.  I enjoyed both.  Happy Birthday Deirdre!

Lemon Sky

Sunday matinee at Theatre Row to see the Keen Company production of Lemon Sky.  It stars Keith Nobbs, Kevin Kilner, Kellie Overby, Amie Tedesco, Alyssa May Gold, Logan Riley Bruner, and Zachary Mackiewicz.
A great deal of the play is narrative that is directed to the audience by the main character Alan, Keith Nobbs, who has moved to San Diego to live with his estranged father and his father's new family.  The father abandoned Alan and his mother when Alan was five.  Alan manages 6 months in the house before he is kicked out by his father for suspicions of homosexuality.  The writer Lanford Wilson has said it is his most autobiographical play.  I loved it.  Most especially impressed with Keith Nobbs and Kevin Kilner, the father and son.
Lanford Wilson, 4/13/37 - 3/24/11 is considered to be one of the founders of the off-off broadway theater movement.  He began at the Cafe Cino in Greenwich Village with one act plays; the most successful was "The Madness of Lady Bright" which played for 200 performances. The title character is a drag queen.  He then worked at La Mama and his most successful play there was 'Balm in Gilead".  He co-founded the Circle Rep in 1969; won the Pulitzer Prize in 1980 for "Tally's Folly", and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2004.  His most popular play was "The HOT L BALTIMORE" which ran for 1166 performances, and was made into a TV sitcom by Norman Lear.  Other popular plays are "The Fifth of July" and "Burn This".  In Lemon Sky you can see some of the techniques that made Lanford Wilson so remarkable.  Besides the narrative quality from the main character as in "The Glass Menagerie", other characters in the play step forward and talk directly to the audience.  My favorite 'bit', as Elaine Stritch might say, is the repetition of lines.  Early scenes are played briefly.  Lines used are repeated.  It gives the play a poetic, musical quality, that catches you and brings you into the play even more.

Wall Street Demonstration

As many people know there have been demonstrations centered at Zuccotti Park against Wall Street.  Today, the day after the big demo, I don't like crowds, I went down to take a look and to take some photos.

 

Lots of people

The police were a strong presence and moving people along.  One Sergeant said to keep moving or "GET in the park!".  I left.
It was not possible to find recent figures but in 2005 the average CEO pay at an S&P 500 corporation was $11,358,445.  Average!  The ratio as of 2004 of CEO to Worker pay was 431 to 1.  The average American worker at that time earned $27,460.  One sign at the demo showed the ratios around the world.  Japan is 20 to 1.   I just kept walking and I found more cops.  Mariska Hargitay from Law and Order Special Victims was filming on the courthouse steps at Foley Square and Tom Selleck was filming something called True Bloods, between Police Plaza and the Municipal Building.
Is there a relationship between the number of police dramas in our culture and the passivity of many people to the inequities in that culture?

Pastel Demonstration

Went to the National Arts Club on Gramercy park South to see a demonstration of drawing with pastels by this year's Hall of Fame Honoree Bill Creevy.  The demonstration involved copying a piece he had already completed and discussing the techniques he uses and some of the problems with pastels, all the different kinds of paper, the "dust", the difficulty in transporting the work because of the 'looseness' of the medium, more "dust".  He is also a very opinionated guy, which made the day even better.
What he said and did:

From Leonardo DeVinci: 'If you can make an oval you can draw anything'.
He begins with white paper, some use black or colored paper, and works with cooling colors because of the subject: browns, ochers, reds.  The subject is a building in a run down part of New Orleans.  He just keeps making circles of different colors corresponding to the scene until he covers the entire paper.

Degas is his idol; he talked a lot about him.  Degas' mother was American and Degas lived in New Orleans for awhile.  Bill Creevy is from New Orleans.

Then he used a brush and some liquid to bring form to the work.  He doesn't like calling it water coloring or painting.  He talked about the differences between the Brush and Pencil artists.  That some groups try to impose an hierarchy. 
One of the remarkable things about the pastel show was the variety in the works on display.  Many looked like oil paintings and some had a lighting effect that I wouldn't expect with pastels.  I have photos of some but the reflection of the flash and the reflection from the glass over the pastel affects the photo. 

Back to Bill.  He talked about his own work and how he tries for some mystical, spiritual effect.  Like the Hudson River School, whom he admires.  The views of  nature are more than 'a scene' for him and for me for that matter.  There is a timeless, other, deeper quality than what is shown.  Bill believes that what those painters had in the 19th Century and what was not uncommon among people of that time was a sense of pantheism.  He believes people today are cynics.
He has written a number of books on pastel drawing and oil painting.  His pastel book is 20 years old and still in print.  It costs $25 and for every sale he gets a $1.  He's learned about contracts since then.

What I'm Reading ... The Weekend Times

I subscribe to the Weekend NY Times and get the daily Times on line.  This 'program' that the Times has created has helped make them more solvent.  They've paid off their mortgage early, which is great news, when so many Papers and Magazines are going under.  The front page on Saturday had an article on the deforestation of the planet.
In addition to the loss of the rain forest in Brazil by farming and the growing desert in Africa, the Australian forest and the American forest is under attack from pine beetles.  As the planet has warmed up the life expectancy of the pine beetle has lengthened.  They dine on our forests longer, so less forest.
Some good news.  China plants a great many trees to control flooding and the growth of the Gobi Desert.  Parts of America and Northern Europe, what we in America call the rust belt because of the loss of manufacturing through the rise of the global economy, is becoming greener.  Is it enough?
My friend Mara, a climate change expert with the European Union says it's too late.  Personally, I think we lost the planet when the world population hit 7 Billion.  Just about the time scientists created in vitro fertilization and cloning.  Does anyone else remember John Lennon and Yoko Ono on the Dick Cavett show in the early 70's talking about Zero Population Growth.  They said then that over-population was the single greatest threat to our future.  We're as ravenous as pine beetles. 
In other parts of the paper there's These articles.
Wall Street Demonstrators are being pepper sprayed and arrested.
Drones, small, unmanned, attack spacecraft, have killed Anwar al-Awlaki.  He is described as an American born jihadist.  The attack was carried out by the newest member of our military, the CIA, in our newest field of war, Yemen.
The magazine section had readers' questions for Michael Pollan, author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and Mark Bittman, author of "How to cook Everything" and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian; wrote the second one after his heart attack.
Michael Pollan likes frozen when the fresh isn't available and sometimes prefers it to the 'fresh' at the local supermarket, because the produce is often picked at its peak of quality.  Beware of greens wrapped in plastic, breeding ground for salmonella.  Best breakfasts: oatmeal, or fresh fruit with yogurt or 2 free range eggs on whole grain toast.  Won't eat, feedlot meat and tomatoes that have been refrigerated.
Bittman thinks Ratatouille is the best film made about food, I vote for Babette's Feast, Best novel about food 'The Belly of Paris' by Emile Zola.  I'll put that on my list. The fish you can eat quilt-free is sockeye salmon of Bristol Bay, Alaska.  However, since the flotsam and jetsam from the Fukushima nuclear reactor started washing up on the west coast, I eat Atlantic salmon.  

Opera Season Begins

Went to the Met last week to see Verdi's Nabucco.

It is Verdi's third opera of the 28 that he wrote and his first commercial success and is based on the biblical story of the Hebrews' exile in Babylon.  Nabucco is the Italian name of the historical figure we call in English, Nebuchadnezzar.  The opera is most famous for the piece "Va, pensiero" sung by the Chorus.  It is a prayer in which the Israelites express their longing for their homeland.  It was considered for many years as the unofficial anthem of Italy.  Arturo Toscanini conducted the piece at Verdi's State funeral in Milan.
The Met's chorus of about 80 voices did not disappoint.  You can see it on you tube from a 2002 Met production, but hearing it live in that wonderful space was extraordinary, impossible to duplicate on tape.  
The major performer for me was Maria Guleghina who sang the role of Abigaille.  The role is very difficult and has been the cause of the downfall of a number of singers.  Callas sang it 3x.  Sutherland and Leontyne Price refused to sing it.  Maria Guleghina sang it at the Met in 2002.  The roof lifted with the cheers from the audience when she took her bow.  We are off to a good start.  Thank you, Met.