Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, January 24, 2021
through
Saturday, January 30, 2021
______________________________________
It’s Saturday, January 30, 2021
Welcome to the 1014th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
______________________________________
1.0 Lead Picture
Daniel Pearl
He was kidnapped and later beheaded by terrorists in Pakistan.
_____________________________________
2.0 Commentary
January is rushing to a close and
we approach the start of February.
Recall past posts here that have labelled February 14 as the watershed date.
We stay by that.
Watershed: For the winter.
Days are longer; winter’s end is within our scope without the aid of a pair of binoculars.
For the economy.
We are learning to function exercising great care.
So restaurants will safely be able to seat more people.
Other businesses will also safely expand.
More money will flow from the government.
For schools.
We’re learning how to get students safely back in school.
Slowly, but announcements will be forthcoming re: students returning to school.
For our fight against the pandemic.
Despite the unwanted arrival of mutating viruses,
America is ramping up to a degree that vaccinations will continue to expand,
very rapidly,
as will the definitions of health care providers and a
concomitant increase in workers
who will be able to maintain testing and health care
while exponentially increasing daily vaccination –
we’re predicting 3,000,000 a day by early summer.
______________________________________
3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti
Here are links to the documents, she says.
They are digitized.
I opened the links and found a treasure trove.
Thousands of documents, sifted through and organized every which way.
Digitized is a sanitized word the detracts from the immense effort needed to make accessible these wonderful files.
The work and the results are jaw-dropping, really.
The Rare Books Department of the BPL is a singularly brilliant example of the unsung work that goes on to protect some of the city’s most valuable assets, collections that make the BPL so well-regarded; so famous.
To Kristin Parker, Lead Curator and Manager of the Arts @ the BPL, and Kim Reynolds, archivist, author, authority, “Thank you,” from the citizens.
______________________________________
4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
The environment itself will teach the child,
if every error he makes is manifest to him,
without the intervention of a parent of teacher,
who should remain a quiet observer of all that happens.
~Maria Montessori
_____________________________________
5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
From long-time friend, Victor P:
Dom,
I'd like to share my experience with the Pfizer vaccine with you. My wife and I received our second inoculation of the vaccine today in Opa-Locka, FL. Although getting an appointment was troublesome, the both visits were well organized and efficiently administered. After the injection we were escorted to a waiting room manned by a nurse. There we were instructed to sit for 20 minutes before we were allowed to leave. Both times I experienced no after effects. My wife had a mild headache for a few hours. Our total time during the visit was under an hour. Hopefully, this is helpful to you and perhaps your readers.
Stay warm,
Victor
Blog meister responds: A timely illustration of experiences we hope to see replicated throughout our country.
Separately, a mutual friend had prepared me to make an appointment at CVS ASAP. I did. On Thursday, the 28th, both he and I, at 4.00pm, got our first Pfizer vaccinations, he in W Roxbury and I in Revere.
At 5.00pm I developed a bit of a headache and took aspirin. They worked. At 11.00pm the headache returned and, again, aspirin worked. Otherwise, I had no other symptoms. And the experience? Very well organized, professional, and friendly. My second shot is Feb 18.
This experience, like Victor’s, bodes well for our war against the covid.
____________________________________
6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Wednesday night we slow-roasted a duck (Recipe in Recipe Pages in this Blog.).
After the cooking I brushed the bird with harissa sauce.
I also made a heap of broccoli rabe in garlic oil, salt, and crushed red pepper.
Dinner was delicious.
____________________________________
7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
__________________________________
11.0 Thumbnail
Daniel Pearl (October 10, 1963 – February 1, 2002) was an American journalist for The Wall Street Journal.
On January 23, 2002, on his way to what he thought was an interview with Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani at the Village Restaurant in downtown Karachi, Pearl was kidnapped near the Metropole Hotel at 7:00 p.m. by a militant group calling itself the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty.
The group claimed Pearl was a spy and—using a Hotmail e-mail address—sent the United States a range of demands, including the freeing of all Pakistani terror detainees, and the release of a halted U.S. shipment of F-16 fighter jets to the Pakistani government.
Tortured
The message read:
We give you one more day if America will not meet our demands we will kill Daniel. Then this cycle will continue and no American journalist could enter Pakistan.
Photos of Pearl handcuffed with a gun at his head and holding up a newspaper were attached. The group did not respond to public pleas for release of the journalist by his editor and his wife Mariane. United States intelligence forces tried to track down the kidnappers.
Nine days later, the terrorists beheaded Pearl.
On May 16, his severed head and decomposed body were found cut into ten pieces, and buried, along with an identifying jacket, in a shallow grave at Gadap, about 30 miles north of Karachi.
When the police found Pearl's remains three months after his murder, Abdul Sattar Edhi, a Pakistani philanthropist, collected all of the body parts and took them to the morgue.
He helped ensure that Pearl's remains were returned to the United States, where he was later interred in the Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
On February 21, 2002, a video was released titled The Slaughter of the Spy-Journalist, the Jew Daniel Pearl.
The video shows Pearl's mutilated body, and lasts 3 minutes and 36 seconds.
Daniel Pearl stating his identity in the video produced by his captors. The text reads Arabic: اسمي دانیال بیرل، انا یھودی امریکی English: My name is Daniel Pearl, I am an American Jew
During the video, Pearl said:
My name is Daniel Pearl. I'm a Jewish American from Encino, California, USA. I come from, uh, on my father's side the family is Zionist. My father's Jewish, my mother's Jewish, I'm Jewish. My family follows Judaism. We've made numerous family visits to Israel.
Pearl condemned American foreign policy in the video. (His family stated that he did so under duress, describing him as "a proud American, and he abhorred extremist ideologies." They also said that he gave signals that indicated that he did not agree with what he was saying.)
Following these statements, Pearl's throat was slit, and his head was severed.
The video concluded with the captors demanding the release of all Muslim prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. They warned that, if their demands were not met, they would repeat such a beheading "again and again."
Three suspects were caught by February 6, 2002, after the IP address of those who sent the ransom e-mail was traced by police in Karachi.
The arrests were carried out after investigation by Pakistani detective Mir Zubair Mahmood, assisted by an FBI computer expert.
The man responsible for the planning and execution of the kidnapping, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, surrendered to a former ISI officer, Brig. Ijaz Shah, who concealed Sheikh's whereabouts from the Karachi police for a week. Sheikh had been in an Indian prison in connection with 1994 Kidnappings of Western tourists in India.
In December 1999, Sheikh was released by the Indian government in exchange for the safe release of passengers aboard hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814.
On March 21, 2002, in Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three other suspects were charged with murder for their part in the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl.
They were convicted on July 15, 2002, and Sheikh was sentenced to death.
Sheikh has appealed the sentence. On April 2, 2020, Sheikh's murder conviction was overturned by a Pakistani court, and his death sentence was reduced to seven years' time for his kidnapping conviction, previously served.
In his book, In the Line of Fire, President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf stated that Sheikh may have been an agent of MI6, and at some point may have become a double agent.
On March 10, 2007, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed claimed responsibility, before his Combatant Status Review Tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, for the murder of Daniel Pearl.
He is an alleged Al Qaeda operative reported to be third in command under Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 2001 attacks. He claimed to have beheaded Pearl.
In a confession read during his Tribunal hearing, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said, "I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew Daniel Pearl, in the city of Karachi, Pakistan."
This confession repeated word for word the phrasing leaked in 2002 from his interrogation at a CIA black site interrogation center.
January 27, 2021
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan —Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered the release of the man convicted of beheading U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl on Thursday.
The decision left the Pearl family “in complete shock,” according to a statement from Faisal Siddiqi, a lawyer for the Pearl family. He called the decision “a complete travesty of justice.”
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was the main suspect in the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter covering militants in Pakistan in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Saeed, a British-born Pakistani who was implicated in other kidnappings, had been sentenced to death for Pearl’s murder and kidnapping.
The Supreme Court decision Thursday follows a move by a provincial court last year to overturn Saeed’s sentence. That was quickly appealed by the Pearl family, but ultimately dismissed Thursday by the Supreme Court ruling.
“Today’s order by the Supreme Court shows that the courts are independent and they don’t come under any pressure. I am satisfied with the court’s order,” said Saeed’s lawyer, Mahmood Sheikh. He said expects his client to be released immediately.
On January 28, 2021: Pakistan's Supreme Court dismissed an appeal against the acquittal of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh in connection with the kidnapping and beheading of journalist Daniel Pearl. The court also ordered that three other Pakistanis who were sentenced to life in prison for their part in Pearl's kidnapping and death, should also be freed.
“Today’s decision is a complete travesty of justice and the release of these killers puts in danger journalists everywhere and the people of Pakistan.
We urge the US government to take all necessary actions under the law to correct this injustice.
We also hope that the Pakistani authorities will take all necessary steps to rectify this travesty of justice. No amount of injustice will defeat our resolve to fight for justice for Daniel Pearl.” the Pearl family said in a statement released by their lawyer.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
______________________________________
It’s Friday, January 29, 2021
Welcome to the 1013th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
______________________________________
1.0 Lead Picture
Goodman at the Inauguration
Biden Inaugural
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-qYgs_yOXA
______________________________________
2.0 Commentary
Amazing.
To me.
How amazingly active the new Administration is.
The way they are getting their hands around the pandemic is inspiring.
Talking about all the vaccine we need for the entire nation now in production.
Megasites for vaccinations.
Raising first 100 day goal by 50%, from 100 million to 150 million vaccinations.
Fauci singing birdlike.
He’s one happy man.
Which should reassure all.
Look at how private enterprise has bumped the government out of the way.
Elon Musk becoming dominant in the race for space.
He a uniquely unitary operation.
Competing with nations, China, Russia, America.
And winning.
And now Walgreen’s and CVS flexing their muscles.
When they get going state governments charged with distribution and vaccination will be pushed aside by these omnipresent private entities doing it faster and cheaper.
While I applaud the Biden Administration for touting the umber and quality of jobs the greening of America will produce, I don’t believe they are doing enough to directly aid those thousands of workers in the drilling and fossil fuels industries, including coal, who will lose their jobs to the restrictions that Biden is imposing.
If Biden has a plan in place, this is a good time to wheel it out.
______________________________________
3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti
We are sorting out dates and times and structure of our first meeting.
And absorbing an endless stream of digitized documents concerning Sacco and Vanzetti from the BPL.
Endless.
______________________________________
4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
Work is necessary;
it can be nothing less than a passion;
a person is happy in accomplishment.
~Maria Montessori
_____________________________________
5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
Several texts re; Dom’s.
Blog meister responds: When I get a moment I will respond to scot arnold’s trip down memory lane. I will enjoy the walk.
_____________________________________
6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Tuesday night Kat and I ate at Ma Maison.
It’s always lovely.
We had an appetizer each, oysters for her; foie gras for me.
Then we shared a plate of mussels following that with a Lentil Cake which we also shared.
I had two glasses of wine; Kat had a Bees Knees, gin, lemon and honey.
A lovely night.
_____________________________________
7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
__________________________________
11.0 Thumbnail
Eugene Goodman (born c. 1980) is an American law enforcement officer and U.S. Army veteran serving as the acting Deputy Sergeant at Arms of the United States Senate as of January 20, 2021.
He is known for his actions as an officer for the United States Capitol Police during the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, in which he diverted the insurrectionists from the United States Senate chamber.
There is legislation pending to award Goodman the Congressional Gold Medal.
Goodman was born circa 1980 to an African American family and raised in the southeast section of Washington, D.C.
He served from 2002 to 2006 in the United States Army, including in combat with the 101st Airborne Division in the Iraq War.
In the days after the attack on the Capitol, Goodman's former unit, the XVIII Airborne Corps, issued a statement commending his valor and saying that he "was a hero long before last Wednesday."
Goodman left the military in December 2006 with the rank of sergeant. He joined the Capitol police in 2009.
On January 6, 2021, as rioters breached the United States Capitol building, Goodman, unaccompanied by other officers, confronted the insurrectionists.
He has been cited for heroism in baiting and diverting the insurrectionists away from the Senate chamber in the minutes before the chamber could be safely evacuated.
As the insurrectionists reached a landing from which there was an unimpeded path to the Senate chamber, Goodman shoved the insurrectionists' lead person and then retreated away from the chamber.
One report described his actions as follows:
In short, he tricked them, willingly becoming the rabbit to their wolf pack, pulling them away from the chambers where armed officers were waiting, avoiding tragedy and saving lives. Lives which include their own.
His actions have been credited with saving the lives of the Senators who, at the time, remained inside the chamber.
Those present at the time of the event, including Democratic and Republican politicians and members of the press, praised Goodman for his quick thinking and brave actions.
Republican Senator Ben Sasse credited Goodman with having "single-handedly prevented untold bloodshed."
Jason Johnson, in an editorial published in Yahoo! News, wrote: "It is not hyperbole, exaggeration or an opening pitch of a TV movie . . . to say that Eugene Goodman saved American Democracy on Jan. 6, 2021."
Goodman's actions were captured in video footage taken by HuffPost reporter Igor Bobic.
Bobic's footage of Goodman went viral, receiving more than 10 million views.
A second video of Goodman's encounter with the crowd, taken by one of the insurrectionists, was published by ProPublica on January 15, 2021.
Following the storming of the Capitol, Jaime Harrison and others called for Goodman to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
A bipartisan resolution (H.Res.305) was introduced on January 13, 2021, in the United States Congress by Representatives Charlie Crist (D-FL), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), and Nancy Mace (R-SC) to award Goodman with the medal.
Rep. Cleaver, the original cosponsor of the bill,] wrote that "If not for the quick, decisive, and heroic actions from Officer Goodman, the tragedy of last week's insurrection could have multiplied in magnitude to levels never before seen in American history. With this prestigious award, we can show our gratitude to Officer Goodman for saving countless lives and defending our democracy".
In addition, online petitions at Change.org and Care2 to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Goodman had received over 83,500 signatures as of January 21, 2021.[25] In comments following the insurrection, Goodman said he was not looking for any accolades and expressed concern about potentially being targeted by extremists, but insisted that he would "do the same thing again."[1]
On January 20, 2021, Goodman escorted Kamala Harris to her inauguration as the Vice President of the United States.
He was announced as the acting deputy Sergeant at Arms of the United States Senate; when stepping out onto the inauguration platform ahead of Harris, he received a standing ovation and cheers.
__________________________________
25.0 Acknowledgements
While yesterday’s 11.0 Thumbnail was the product of Tucker Johnson, our movie and games critic, most of our 11.0 Thumbnails come from Wikipedia, almost always with some editing.
So, thank you, Wiki.
And yes, I do support them regularly. They are indispensable.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
______________________________________
It’s Thursday, January 28, 2021
Welcome to the 1012th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
______________________________________
1.0 Lead Picture
Cover art for Kentucky Route Zero.
The cover art copyright is believed to belong to the distributor of the game or the publisher, Cardboard Computer / Annapurna Interactive or the developers, Cardboard Computer.
Artist: Tamas Kemenczy
Be sure to read Tucker Johnson’s brilliant review of the game reprinted in 12.0 Game Review below.
Here’s the link he sent; it includes some art not reproduced in the Games Review.
https://1drv.ms/w/s!ApDBIylsQXUtk4AeJwt29rtKIahOsg?e=LwVALe
______________________________________
2.0 Commentary
Oh! What a lucky guy he was!
On Thursday, January 28, @ 4.14pm, I will be wondering if it is going to hurt.
Not worried, exactly.
Wondering.
At 4.15pm I will know.
The answer not at all important because
at that time, on that day, I get my first shot.
Scheduled three weeks later for second shot.
CVS website.
75+ now eligible.
CVS.com/coronavirus or try CVS.com/covid
My cousin did it for me.
Why I’m not sure.
But fiddle and you’ll find it.
Who’d-a thought our US pharmacies would bail us out?
Oh! What a lucky guy he was!
The preliminary work for setting up Memorial to Sacco and Vanzetti, Inc. is completed.
We’re incorporated.
Our Application for Exemption from Taxation is filed with the IRS.
They promise action on it in thirty days.
And the agenda for the first meeting got mailed out to our Board.
______________________________________
3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti
On Tuesday we started on phase two of our project: structuring the organization.
Setting up committees: to select the art work we will install; to select the site in which to install it; a membership committee; a lobbying group.
And also finding a day and time to maximize the attendance.
The enthusiasm and the reach of the effort grows.
______________________________________
4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
The teacher's task is not to talk, but
to prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity
in a special environment made for the child.
~Maria Montessori
_____________________________________
5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from Sally C:
Marbles! We played marbles in the school yard year-round. When there wasn’t snow and ice on the ground, we made a shallow depression in the dirt – spinning on one dug-in heel – and played. When there was snow on the ground, we did the same thing, creating a depression in the crust. I remember being envious of some of the prettier marbles other kids had. I don’t remember winning or losing, mostly just making that little depression.
In much later life, my husband included a small sac of marbles in my Christmas stocking, with a little note that said, “To replace the ones you’ve lost.” Now wasn’t that a considerate gift? This is why I love that man! I remember that stocking stuffer, and barely remember any others.
Sally
Blog meister responds: Lovely, my dear.
And this from Colleen G:
Hi Dom,
Love the marble story!:)
Thanks for sharing!
Makes me think of spinning pennies,
something we did as kids.
It's amazing how cheap a thrill can be
--haha.
Cheers,
Colleen
Blog meister responds: We pitched pennies. Never spun them. Missed out on that. Darn it.
_____________________________________
6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Monday night we had some of two dinner: Roast Boneless Leg of Lamb (described yesterday) and Harissa Casserole.
For this I used ¾ pounds 85% fat ground beef and ½ pound sausage meat set into an oiled or buttered casserole, adding 3TB olive oil, 4TB tomato paste, 3TB harissa paste, 1TB Worcestershire Sauce, ½ TB cumin and ½ TB coriander, setting all of these in the casserole @ 400* for 30 minutes. Then I took the casserole out and broke up the meat, mixing everything well.
I added ½ cup Pecorino Romano, 1 t salt and plenty of freshly-ground pepper, mixing it all in.
For liquid I used 1 cup of red wine and 2 cups of my own chicken stock.
Then, after breaking them up into large pieces, I added 8 oz of large shells, submerged them into the meat and liquid, and cooked the whole in a 400* oven for 30 minutes, making sure the pasta was cooked through.
We loved it.
_____________________________________
7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
__________________________________
12.0 Game Review
One can’t be told what Kentucky Route Zero is. You must experience it for yourself. An attempt to summarize the game would result in an almost ridiculous statement. The game is about helping a delivery man get a truckload of antiques to their destination. The game’s art style is as simple as the game’s storyline. The visual aesthetic is large blocky polygons and muted colors. The gameplay is as simple as these two elements. You mostly choose between text-based dialogue options. Sometimes you drive a truck or a boat. All these elements add up to a whole much greater than what you think would be the sum of their parts. It’s rich, deep and provocative. It’s crammed with places, characters, ideas, references, and themes, all of which feel like they’re trying to say something about everything. It’s a game that reminds you that you can only do so much, but there will always be things—maybe too many, maybe not enough—left to do.
It can be argued that the simple premise is kept as limited as it is because of how quickly the game entices you to abandon it. Within the game’s first hour I forgot all about my initial mandate and was quickly swept up in the game’s true purposes and there are many. Big business and its impact on the little guy, ghosts, regret, and above all, longing. Longing for the good old days or perhaps the good old days you never got a chance to live because of the path your life took. The game also accomplishes a truly amazing magic trick. It shows life for what it is: a way to spend time and how a life can provide so many ways to spend that time. Kentucky Route Zero is a sad story but also a hopeful one. This game does not try to tell you that are going to get better though. Instead, it takes on a staggering perspective. Things happen. They happen as long as we live. So as long as we are alive there will always be someone to meet, places to see, and things to remember after we have decided or were forced to let them go.
Let me back up a bit.
Kentucky Route Zero is additionally unique because it was released in acts. The first of which debuted in 2013 and were released nearly annually save for the fifth and final act which took four years to develop arriving in 2020. Each act was also released with a playable interlude that introduced completely new characters or brought into focus people that were mentioned in that main story. The interludes also played heavily with mechanics and often played entirely differently than the game itself.
Act I begins with the premise I mentioned earlier. Conway, an aging driver for a company called Lysette’s Antiques, can’t find his way to 5 Dogwood Drive, the address for his delivery. Conway travels with a dog in a sunhat. The pair first arrive at a gas station and ask a blind man for directions. Joseph, the blind man, knows Conway's’ destination and recommends taking a road called the Zero to get there but of course like any game he has a favor to ask. Can Conway deliver a broken TV to a woman named Weaver? Accepting yields directions to Weaver from Joseph and they’re...weird. “Turn left as soon as you see that ugly tree that’s always on fire”. Things get weirder from there. You find Weaver who tells you her cousin Shannon can repair the broken tv and so you set off to an abandoned mine with a tragic history to find Shannon. By the end of Act I Conway and Shannon tune the static on the now repaired TV to open a portal of sorts to the Zero.
Once on the titular highway the delivery becomes largely secondary. Mostly you drive around while strange characters talk about their strange lives. The player steers a vehicle along the map, or explores scenes and picks between dialogue options. A lot of the people who get mentioned by someone show up eventually, taking your wandering in new directions. Everyone talks like they’re thinking aloud, and some of the places where you find them might not even be real. Kentucky Route Zero is magical realism in the sense that there’s weird stuff like ghosts and giant eagles and a floor of a bureaucratic office populated by bears. But the game never asks you to figure out what’s “really” going on. The plot, like the Zero, is hard to navigate, but it’s much more fun to just go where it takes you. You’ll miss things, depending on where you drive or which dialogue options you pick, but I never felt like I’d picked the wrong choice.
Kentucky Route Zero creates a unique brand of fearing what you’re missing out on. There’s so much optional travel that you’ll never really know if you’ve seen it all, which can be maddening. It does fit the tone of the game though, where you did some things and didn't do other things because that’s how life is. I took advantage of the nature of playing a game though and replayed Act IV from beginning to end twice, purposefully picking the options that hadn’t called to me the first time: send Ezra, one of your travelling companions with tugboat pilot Cate to collect mushrooms (oh, right: in Act IV you’re not in your truck on the Zero anymore, you’re on a tugboat on the Echo River, because apparently you have to get to Dogwood Drive via boat now), going to make phone calls with the crew, or teaching your friends a card game. I was surprised by what a different experience Act IV was when I picked the choices that didn’t come naturally to me, but one playthrough didn’t feel more “correct” or less satisfying than the other.
Much of Kentucky Route Zero has to do with how we remember events in our lives after we’ve experienced them. In an Act IV scene, two characters recount a big moment in their lives completely differently. Ida, a cook recalls that on the night their business was saved from bankruptcy, she was inspired to make better use of their average ingredients to create new dishes. Sam, Ida’s husband, remembers finding new places on the Echo River to catch new species of fish to widen their menu. Any other game would lead these differing viewpoints towards an argument or ask you, the player, to track down which version is the true version but in Kentucky Point Zero both versions are true. The game creates an atmosphere where everything you witness happens but so does everything you don’t see. All the choices you don’t make also happen even if you don’t witness them. This idea fills the entire playthrough with a sense of regret but it’s a whimsical regret. Any consideration of a path not taken in the game is akin to lying awake at night thinking fondly of an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend or maybe a job offer you turned down. The situations in this game are certainly strange but the emotions the game evokes are anything but.
I did not discover this game until it was fully realized late last year. But playing the game and feeling what it makes me feel also causes me to think about how long this story has been being told. When Kentucky Route Zero first entered the world for people to play I was a completely different person than I am now. I knew a lot of people that I don’t know anymore. Many have moved away. Some of them have died. Some I left and some left me. Whether this game’s developers meant to invoke those thoughts and feelings by releasing it in acts is beyond my understanding, but I do think it’s a profoundly appropriate biproduct.
I’m writing this at a desk I spend forty hours a week at due to COVID-19. I got this desk from my mother when I was maybe eight years old but being forced to spend so much time at it for professional reasons has me thinking about replacing it for something a little taller and with more actual surface area. I’ll return the desk to my mother when I acquire its replacement since she always mentions “It’s a nice piece of furniture”.
The next person who lives in my house may never have to make that decision. The pandemic will hopefully be over, and they won’t have to spend so much of their life at twelve-year-old desk that’s too small for them. They won’t get anxious from sitting in the corner of the dining room and pace around the house just for a change of scenery. They might but I’ll never know. The only thing I can safely say about them is that they will have lived in the same space and paid the same rent to the same landlord. I will haunt the next person who lives here just as the former tenants haunt me. All the holes they made in the walls to hang pictures I’ll never see. Weird objects I find in the big spaces between the slats of my old wooden floor. Those objects had to be dropped at some point. Those picture frames were hung, and they were done so with love or excitement. None of those actions are happening anymore. None of those feelings are being felt but at one time they were. It’s amazing that some people managed to fit that notion into something we could all experience.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
________________________________
It’s Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Welcome to the 1011th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
______________________________________
1.0 Lead Picture
Miss Scarlet (and the Duke)
Low key but
Persistent; devious
______________________________________
2.0 Commentary
Am watching back-to-back programs on Sunday nights on Channel 2.
Miss Scarlett and the Duke is a brief, five-week Victorian-era detective series illustrating a woman’s efforts to break through the social interdiction against women detectives.
All Creatures Great and Small is a brief six-episode series, plus a special Christmas episode revolving
around a trio of veterinary surgeons working in the Yorkshire Dales.
Neither series is brilliant.
Both are good.
And ‘good’ today is pretty acceptable.
Especially when the episodes don’t induce horror or terror.
Don’t interweave their storylines with gratuitous graphic sexual sideshows.
Don’t punish you with intermittent intrusions of overnumerous ads.
I am enjoying TV on Sunday nights.
______________________________________
3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti
Spent time on Monday organizing first meeting since incorporation.
______________________________________
4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
An education capable of saving humanity is no small undertaking; it involves the spiritual development of man, the enhancement of his value as an individual, and the preparation of young people to understand the times in which they live.
~Maria Montessori
_____________________________________
5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from a former employee of Dom’s, Scot A:
Dom,
You probably don't remember me but I was a busboy at Dom's during the summer and fall of 1976, when I was 15. You told me once I needed to work faster and I did, so I didn't get fired. I used to work with another busboy, Phillipe I think. I also remember Mike, Peter, Ivan, and Frankie. I remember the other waiters, some of whom I would go out with after work. I remember the woman who made the salads and desserts, but not her name.
I remember Chateau Lafite (1966?), Phillipe told me once that the bigwig DJ's party members threw it on each other. And Chambertin, though I never drank either at the restaurant, in 1983 I had a 1978 Gevrey-Chambertin that was transformative. In High School I found a Chateau Lafite, different year than the ones at Doms, but it was rancid. Then there was the cheese board, what a treat for your patrons. I recall a cheese that I loved, but can't recall the name. Something like Bertolli. The bread! Even the butter was better there.
Apparently there was a rumor going around that the pasta distributor stopped delivering because you didn't pay him. So you had the prep cooks (whom I frequently heard sighing "Oh carajo!", but in Portuguese--I said it in spanish class and my teacher blushed) make the pasta. Brilliant! This was before the 1980s when homemade or fresh pasta was the yuppie thing. And as I recall you raised the prices of the pasta dishes almost 100%!
If I recall correctly Phillipe went to Cape Cod where you had a restaurant. When I was at Vassar in the early 1980s, I met a girl who I recall dated him. She was wearing a Dom's T-shirt in the chemistry lab.
There was a cook whose name I cannot remember who was so good. I watched him work and still love making chicken romano. My kids love the recipe for fettuccine carbonara that I used to cook at the table. Peter Wolf was a big fan too, though I never got to cook it for him. I think I made it for a famous tennis player. The food was SO good. I have yet to find any place that is as good. Is there any place in Boston that you think is as good...or close to it?
What an experience! I had to quit because the hours were too much during the school year. Since the restaurant stayed open until the last patron left...I had to get up and take the T to Brookline High. I ended up working in other restaurants, nothing compared to Doms though. Another reason I had to stop working in restaurants was delirious dreams. I would dream most of the night after work that I was still at the restaurant trying to sleep. One time I dreamt that Peter was shaking me awake screaming "Two fettuccines on table 9." It was so vivid that in my delirium I ran around the house looking for the sterno unit. I woke up my aunt asking her where it was. Then I woke up. "Oh, nevermind."
I wish you had more recipes on your blog from then: Osso bucco, veal/chicken piccata, steak/lobster diavolo, zabaione, the amazing vinaigrette dressing matched perfectly for the boston lettuce.
Thanks for writing your blog, it is a great connection to Boston.
Scot ArnoldThanks for writing your blog it is a great connection to Boston.
Scot Arno
Blog meister responds: Wow! What a voice from the past. So accurate. So detailed. Thank you very much Scot. I will respond to the specifics in your email soon.
_____________________________________
6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Sunday night Kat and I enjoyed parts of two dinners.
One dinner, a boneless leg of lamb.
I rolled open the meat using a knife to slice and a mallet to pound the leg a little thinner, to create more surface to season.
Then I generously sprinkled the meat with chopped up lemon zest, minced garlic, oregano, fresh mint and parsley, salt and freshly-ground pepper, and olive oil.
I rolled the meat and tied it off.
Slow-roasted it.
(Slow-roasting recipes can be found in this blog under Pages, Recipes, Roast)
It was delicious.
Kat doesn’t care for the strong taste of lamb so I also prepared a casserole of meat and pasta with the idea that we would eat whichever we liked, for two nights running.
A good plan: Kat didn’t like the lamb and ate the casserole.
Of course, she’ll have it tomorrow as well.
The casserole was also delicious.
_____________________________________
7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
__________________________________
11.0 Thumbnail
New PBS adaptation of 'All Creatures Great and Small' offers country comforts
Neal Justin | Star Tribune
Jan 12, 2021 Updated Jan 14, 2021
As part of its 50th year on the air, the PBS staple is offering a new adaptation of "All Creatures Great and Small," the misadventures of an adorkable veterinarian making house calls in Yorkshire, England, during the 1930s.
Compared with past "Masterpiece" series, this is a mundane affair. No one's trying to unravel a murder or steal the throne. Its idea of a nefarious character is a spoiled doggy who steals from a picnic basket.
That gentle tone is exactly why "Small" feels like scrumptious comfort food when we crave it most. It's bound to be popular viewing for the next few months, starting with Sunday's premiere on PBS.
"What's particularly poignant about the show is what these animals meant to these owners," Callender added during a news conference last summer. "In most of the cases they were their livelihood. I think that relationship between the animals and their owners and the vet and that dynamic is right to the core of all the stories."
The series is also a departure from "Masterpiece's" habit of focusing on the wealthy and powerful.
"Something that touched me the other day is we are talking about people who aren't very rich. We have made a lot of excellent British television stories about people who are rich," said Samuel West, who plays the hot-tempered senior doctor, Siegfried Farnon. "But here, you lose one cow and that's a bad year. It is ground-level stuff. I really like that."
PBS has taken this route before. An earlier adaptation of veterinarian James Herriot's memoirs, which have sold over 80 million copies worldwide, charmed audiences throughout 90 episodes that aired between 1978 and 1990. That series is now available on the streaming service BritBox.
_________________________________________________
IndieWire
‘Miss Scarlet and the Duke’ Review: Mystery by Gaslight Makes for an Entertaining Combination
Kristen Lopez 1/17/2021
The Victorian era has been shaped by its men, from Sherlock Holmes to the dastardly deeds of Jack the Ripper. That’s not to say that inserting a woman into this world immediately revolutionizes the premise. In fact, there have been numerous female detectives created for the period, with the plotlines generally revolving around how strange and unusual she is for entering a man’s arena. Maybe that’s why Rachael New’s PBS mystery series, “Miss Scarlet and the Duke” feels so charming, because Being Feminist (capitalization intended) isn’t what it sets its focus on.
Eliza Scarlet’s (Kate Phillips) father was a retired detective who taught his daughter everything about detection. When he dies, Eliza is left needing to find a way to keep a roof over her head, so she decides to carry on in her father’s footsteps and become a private detective. However, the men of Scotland Yard, especially her childhood friend William “The Duke” Wellington (Stuart Martin), see Eliza as little more than a hindrance.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
________________________________
It’s Tuesday, January 26, 2021
Welcome to the 1010th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
_____________________________________
1.0 Lead Picture
Marbles
Different sizes and types
Joe Mabel
Marbles
Permission details
GFDL granted by photographer
______________________________________
2.0 Commentary
It was just a week ago when we were complaining about the lack of administering the vaccine.
We certainly cured that issue.
Today vaccination sites are closing because of lack of supplies.
Despite the pissing and moaning, we’ll get it better.
We will.
Period.
Throughout my self-quarantines my temperature remained on 97.6 and I exhibited no symptoms.
Except one.
For the last ten days, not today, I detected a subtle bitterness prevalent in almost everything I ate.
I tasted all the flavors in what I ate and drank.
I didn’t lose any wonderful flavors in the food and wine I drank.
The bitterness was an overlay.
Notable but not a signal for anything I’m aware of.
Sadly, my beautiful daughter Kat will be returning to school on Feb. 2.
I will miss her.
These last five weeks have been the best of our lives.
______________________________________
3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti
So I read the IRS regs carefully and think that all I need to do now is wait.
Within thirty days I should hear from the IRS or I will call them.
With their permission.
______________________________________
4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
We must, therefore, quit our roles as jailers and instead
take care to prepare an environment in which
we do as little as possible to exhaust the child with our surveillance and instruction.
~Maria Montessori
_____________________________________
5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
Several recent conversations dealt with the number of people we know who have contracted the virus.
Those who have stayed healthy must work even harder to stay healthy.
Blog meister responds: I know several such. I am not planning on visiting with anyoune until I gat my vaccination.
I will be eligible within a week and so as soon as the vaccine is ready I can stand in line.
I will stay aloof.
_____________________________________
6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Saturday night Kat and I ate Fried Fillet of Cod.
It’s been too long since we had fish.
It was a delicious change of pace and we must eat it more frequently.
We finish the remainder of the Gavi La Scolca Black Label and the German Kabinett Riesling.
Kabinett is a German language wine term for a wine which is made from fully ripened grapes of the main harvest, typically picked in September, and are usually made in a light style.
_____________________________________
7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
Roman boys playing with nuts
Marble trees were in short supply
__________________________________
11.0 Thumbnail
Questions my daughter asked:
“What were your favorite toys as a child?”
From Wikipedia:
A marble is a small spherical object often made from glass, clay, steel, plastic, or agate.
These balls vary in size.
Most commonly, they are about 13 mm (1⁄2 in) in diameter, but they may range from less than 1 mm (1⁄30 in) to over 8 cm (3 in),
while some art glass marbles for display purposes are over 30 cm (12 in) wide.
Marbles can be used for a variety of games called marbles.
I used marbles in two ways.
The social.
Inner cities usually lack sufficient playgrounds.
We had to improvise, often using structures in ways not originally intended.
In the North End of Boston, an overcrowded, Italian ghetto, we were no different.
Our apartments being very small, families adopted their sidewalks as part of their living space.
Children ages four and five were allowed to ‘go out,’ meaning to go downstairs to play, on ‘our’ sidewalk, immediately below our windows or, by extension, from corner to corner, always visible to our mothers when they poked their heads out the window and yelled directions, “Get back over here where I can see you.”
When we got a little older and went around the corner, we were still in our living space, defined by either hearing our mother’s voices yelling out our name or, hearing a neighbor’s voice who heard your mother’s voice yelling out our name and became de facto parent, with the right to yell at us. And we didn’t dismiss the neighbor and we didn’t backtalk.
When we were very young we often played marbles on sewer or manhole covers embedded in the sidewalks. Before going out, we looked out the windows to see what was going on. If there was a game, we carried our marbles in cigar boxes, joined the onlookers and called out, “I play the winner.” The winner kept the opponent’s marbles.
We set the marble in the sewer’s designated start position and, using our bent pointer finger, we get one chance to advance the marble towards or into the innermost circle of the manhole cover.
First one to the center hole wins.
I was an average player, win some, lose some.
To play, of course, one needed a stake. At five years old I didn’t have a job, so how to get the marbles? My answer came when I was six and wasn’t afraid of lying to my mother. “I’m going over Salvi’s house.” She always believed me. She’s my mother; her job.
She had often taken me to a five-and-dime store called Niesner’s in downtown Boston, downtown being contiguous to the North End but a wholly different world where no one loved you and you hated them back.
For five cents she could afford to buy things. Once in a while she had a nickel to afford me a small bag of marbles. I could choose from thousands of them, it seemed, as many as the room full of silver dollars Scrooge McDuck dove into and played with.
“What’s this?” I asked her one day. And she explained what a receipt was. Not to lose it. In case.
“I’m going over Salvi’s house.” Of course, I wouldn’t be going over the house. I would be going in it. Except I wasn’t.
I headed out to Niesner’s, an audacious move at six years, even for a North End kid. Times required audacity.
At the Niesner’s cashier’s station, I waited my turn and paid the nickel for the small bag of marbles. I left the store, walked around the corner, and, taking the bag of marbles out of the store bag, I hid it and returned to the store. Back to the marbles counter with the empty store bag and the receipt. I carefully examined each of the bags and chose the best to place in my store bag with the receipt. And then I left. Hid the bag. And returned to do it again. I was never stopped by security. I never had a chance to display my foolproof scheme.
I don’t remember how many bags I took that day. And on subsequent days. To be followed by a rash of comic books. And toy soldiers. “I won them,” I said to my mother. She believed me.
Also from Wikipedia:
Ironically, in 1914 it was a crime to play on the streets of many of the nation's cities. Reformers and city officials alike believed that "crimes of play" were just the first step on a path to morally degenerate behavior and even violent crimes. Theodore Roosevelt summed up the sentiments of most Americans when he declared that "city streets are unsatisfactory playgrounds for children, because of the danger, because most good games are against the law...and because in crowded sections of the city they are apt to be schools of crime."
Unsupervised street play might even lend itself to a national security threat. In 1920, The New York Times commended the Children's Aid Society for its work, declaring that "left to their own devices, they [children playing in the streets] were just the stuff of anarchists, the destined victims of Red propaganda."
They knew so much.
Pathetic, perhaps.
The second way I played with marbles.
Soon I possessed a cache of marbles enviable as to quality, variety, and size. I had no more interest in winning the more plebian marbles used in sewer cover competition and stopped playing, choosing to stay home instead.
An unmade bed was my battlefield.
I grouped the marbles by size and color and placed each an army in possession of a particular section of the battlefield: hillsides, fortresses, mountaintops.
One would attack the other; alliances would form; victories won; captives taken.
Sounds boring.
I spent years playing that game.
Alone.
Pathetic, perhaps.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
__________________________________________________________
It’s Monday, January 25, 2021
Welcome to the 1009th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
______________________________________
1.0 Lead Picture
Larry King
during a recording of his Larry King Live program at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, in 2006
Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley. - http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=15661
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld answers a question from CNN's Larry King during a videotaping of his Larry King Live program at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va.
______________________________________
2.0 Commentary
January has turned cold but in the extended forecast, no snow in Boston until February.
Wow!
Also good news, is the smoothing administering of the vaccine.
True, supplies are limited but the distribution and execution issues are being addressed.
Hospitalizations are plummeting; a good thing.
And a third vaccine is perhaps only two weeks away from being approved for emergency use.
Growing production, improved distribution, increasingly widespread accessibility, descending hospitalizations.
Not bad.
______________________________________
3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti
Eureka!
Form 1023-EZ Eligibility Worksheet completed.
We qualify.
And more: a Pay.gov account has been set up, for $275.00, thank you.
And more still.
Form 1023-EZ has been filed.
Approval as a tax-exempt corporation is thirty (30) days away.
Wow!
______________________________________
4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
The needs of mankind are universal.
Our means of meeting them create the richness and diversity of the planet. The Montessori child should come to relish the texture of that diversity.
~Maria Montessori
_____________________________________
5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from my friend, Rita P:
glad test was negative but keep an eye on yourself none the less
Rita
Blog meister responds: Yes. And, with the approach of the availability of the vaccine, and the safety it provides, we get ever more cautious.
_____________________________________
6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Friday night Kat and I enjoyed chicken wings brushed over with a paste of gochujang, garlic-olive oil, kimchi vinegar, and maple syrup.
Fun and tasty.
_____________________________________
7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
__________________________________
11.0 Thumbnail
On January 30, 1978, King went national on a nightly Mutual Broadcasting System coast-to-coast broadcast, inheriting the talk show slot that had begun with Herb Jepko in 1975, then followed by "Long John" Nebel in 1977, until his illness and death the following year. King's Mutual show rapidly developed a devoted audience.
The program was broadcast live Monday through Friday from midnight to 5:30 a.m. Eastern Time. King would interview a guest for the first 90 minutes, with callers asking questions that continued the interview for another 90 minutes. At 3 a.m., the Open Phone America segment began, where he allowed callers to discuss any topic they pleased with him, until the end of the program, when he expressed his own political opinions. Many stations in the western time zones carried the Open Phone America portion of the show live, followed by the guest interview on tape delay.
Some of King's regular callers used pseudonyms or were given nicknames by King, such as "The Numbers Guy", "The Chair", "The Portland Laugher," "The Miami Derelict," and "The Scandal Scooper". The show was successful, starting with relatively few affiliates and eventually growing to more than 500. King hosted the show until stepping down in 1994.King occasionally entertained the audience by telling amusing stories from his youth or early broadcasting career.
For its final year, the show was moved to afternoons. After King stepped down, Mutual gave the afternoon slot to David Brenner and Mutual's affiliates were given the option of carrying the audio of King's new CNN evening television program. After Westwood One dissolved Mutual in 1999, the radio simulcast of the CNN show continued until December 31, 2009.
The Larry King Live CNN show began in June 1985 in which King hosted a broad range of guests from controversial figures of UFO conspiracy theories and alleged psychics, to prominent politicians and leading figures in the entertainment industry, often doing their first or only interview on breaking news stories on his show. After doing his CNN show from 9 to 10 p.m., King then traveled to the studios of the Mutual Broadcasting System to do his radio show, when both shows still aired.
Unlike many interviewers, King had a direct, non-confrontational approach. His reputation for asking easy, open-ended questions made him attractive to important figures who wanted to state their position while avoiding being challenged on contentious topics. King said that when interviewing authors, he did not read their books in advance, so that he would not know more than his audience. Throughout his career, King interviewed many of the leading figures of his time. According to CNN, King conducted more than 30,000 interviews in his career.
King also wrote a regular newspaper column in USA Today for almost 20 years, from shortly after that first national newspaper's debut in Baltimore-Washington in 1982 until September 2001. The column consisted of short "plugs, superlatives and dropped names" but was dropped when the newspaper redesigned its "Life" section. The column was resurrected in blog form in November 2008 and on Twitter in April 2009.
On June 29, 2010, King announced that after 25 years, he would be stepping down from his nightly job hosting Larry King Live. However, he stated that he would remain with CNN to host occasional specials. The announcement came in the wake of speculation that CNN had approached Piers Morgan, the British television personality and journalist, as King's primetime replacement, which was confirmed that September.
The final edition of Larry King Live aired on December 16, 2010, after a quarter-century. The show concluded with his last thoughts and a thank you to his audience for watching and supporting him over the years. The concluding words of Larry King on the show were, "I... I, I don't know what to say except to you, my audience, thank you. And instead of goodbye, how about so long."
On February 17, 2012, CNN announced that he would no longer host specials.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
__________________________________________________________
It’s Sunday, January 24, 2021
Welcome to the 1008th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
____________________
1.0 Lead Picture
Modernism & Existentialism: Crises in Literature
For details, see 11.0 Thumbnail below.
This zoom course for adults examines movements and classic books that illustrate these.
I am taking this course because I’ve loved the classes I’ve taken with Fran, proof that you don’t have to be intelligent or original to love these classes.
You do have to be interested in enriching your life, learning to read more closely, and talking about your reactions to the books.
It’s a lot of fun.
___________________
2.0 Commentary
February not a far distant objective.
When I become eligible for vaccination.
Under mantle of ‘75 and over’, me, being147 years, easily qualifying.
Or feeling like it.
Right.
The governor announced on Thursday that come February, older people will become eligible for vaccination.
Late February to early March for second dose.
I can start planning dinner parties again: after early March.
After my ‘round it up’ birthday.
?
‘Round it up’ birthday.
Round it up to eighty.
A lot more prestige being eighty than ‘in my seventies’.
Of course, all diners will need a passport attesting to vaccination.
3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti
Worked on online telephoning.
Got an appointment with a person important in the research.
Got a good idea from Colleen G
And polished a bank error in the account.
_____________________
4.0 Chuckles/Thoughts
Discipline must come through liberty. . . . We do not consider an individual disciplined only when he has been rendered as artificially silent as a mute and as immovable as a paralytic.
He is an individual annihilated, not disciplined.
~Maria Montessori
_____________________
5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
This from Colleen G, responding to the post on setting up the Memorial to Sacco and Vanzetti, Inc. as a non-profit.
Hey Dom,
Congrats on plowing toward your incorporation and nonprofit status. Having done the same about four years ago now--wow the time flies--I will warn you, as you may have already been warned, it is not for the faint of heart. Ugh!
Anyway, I did put together a (hopefully) entertaining blog entry about my experience applying for nonprofit status and some of the pitfalls that I may save you from if you are doing it yourself.
If you have a lawyer, well--good for you! A much easier route.
For those truly without profit, and without lawyers, the blog entry is my gift to them. The book I mention within it by Nolo was very helpful--necessary--to the process for me.
Here's my trip down the Yellow Brick Road of Nonprofit application:
http://www.theroomtowrite.org/blog/writingidprefernottodothenonprofitpaperworkblues
Perhaps you'll find it an entertaining read even if an unnecessary one--to laugh at my rambling attempts.
Also, I have finished my read-aloud final revision of my YA Lucy Bound in Lyrics. I wonder if any of the young adults in your life would have time and motivation to serve as a BETA Reader for me? Let me know as I organize my manuscripts to get to Beta readers and feedback forms, etc.
Happy to see you are keeping yourself busy and off the streets:)
Stay well!
Cheers,
Colleen
Blog Meister responds: In fact, I did read it and found it both informative and entertaining. I signed off with this:
dom capossela
member of Mass Bar since 11/17/66
BBO #072960
(Also mentioning that I operated a restaurant for thirty years and mostly used my admittance to the bar for ‘at will’ visits to family and friends in jail.)
Colleen replied:
Oh--haha. Dang, you're a lawyer.
But, are you a nonprofit lawyer? Haha--apparently nonprofit is a language all its own.
Luckily I did have a guy I knew who helped point a few things out.
Well, you're way ahead of me, so you'll probably get an even bigger laugh out of my journey than I thought:)
Cheerio,
Colleen
Blog Meister responds: You are more familiar with the non-profit material than most lawyers.
____________________________
6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Thursday night Kat and I shared a small Guinea Hen.
I slow-roasted it, brushed it with a marinade of gochujang sauce, rosemary olive oil, kimchi vinegar, and maple syrup.
For the ‘hot’ moment that gives slow-roasted foods their color, I spatchcocked it (removed the backbone with a kitchen shears) and, setting it on the lowest oven rack, broiled each side to glorious color.
Served it with an assortment of vegetables.
We drank half a bottle of a glorious Gavi La Scolca Black Label: elegant, rich, subtle.
____________________________________
7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
_____________________
11.0 Thumbnails
Modernism and Existentialism (adult course)
from $50.00
February 8th–April 16th. We will meet twice a week on Zoom for an hour.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many art forms underwent periods of crisis and re-imagining. Literature was no different, with the Modernist movement sweeping across Europe and re-evaluating what a novel’s role was. The idea of an absolute truth in literature was rejected, and artists became concerned with the subjective, anarchic nature of the human mind. The push to write novels that actually mirrored the chaotic experience of life resulted in some of the greatest, and thorniest, works of Western literature.
In this zoom class, We will begin with Notes From Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky, an existentialist novel that illustrates the feelings of chaos, meaninglessness, and absurdity that resulted in Modernism. Next we will read Virginia Woolf’s Modernist masterpiece, To The Lighthouse, and finally, we will turn to Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, written after the Modernist movement had ended but harkening back to themes of Modernism and Existentialism, this time in a Black American context.
This course will provide the opportunity and luxury to (re)embrace careful, thoughtful reading. We will explore these novels alongside occasional supplementary reading material, and explore themes of identity, perspective, angst, subjectivity, consciousness, art, and individuality. The class will be challenging but accessible, and our main goal will be to pursue a love of reading, even as we ask difficult questions and study complex passages. The class will cap at 7 students to allow full participation, sign up now!
Course prices are calculated so instructors can make a modest hourly wage, while keeping the courses sliding scale. The suggested price for this course is $450. If you are unable to pay full price, please select the amount you are able to pay from the dropdown menu.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!