Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, May 15, 2022
through
Saturday, May 21, 2022
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It’s Saturday, May 21, 2022
Welcome to the 1,448th consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Al Horford
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Commentary
Tucker Johnson, a frequent and extraordinary movie reviewer for our blog, has completed a wonderful retrospective of the movies of Ridley and Tony Scott. The presentation is in the form of ten approximately fifteen minute episodes. It’s an extraordinary work. Here’s the link to the first episode, Men on Fire:
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Screen time
The Celtics are providing the main focus of my TV viewing.
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Wellness
I have an appointment with my PCP on Friday afternoon to evaluate the state of my feet.
They are getting old.
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Understanding aging
Should I visit a dying person? No one I know is dying. But it is a good question to consider.
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Social Life
This is another active week for me, both electronically, texts, emails, and phone calls, and physically, spending time with niece Lisa and David on Saturday, and with Tucker, on Friday.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
Getting older is no problem.
You just have to live long enough.
~Groucho Marx
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
I knew that Tucker was working on a film project. When I heard it was ready to go I jumped into it and asked Tucker if he would share it with us. His response:
Hi Dom,
Here is a blurb on the first episode:
Below is a link to the first episode in a ten part video essay series on the work of Ridley and Tony Scott. Two brothers responsible for some of the biggest and most popular films of all time. The series is an attempt to dissect not only their careers and their development as filmmakers but also their wider impact on Hollywood movies. We believe that some of the biggest styles and trends in big budget American movies came about thanks to these two artists but no one has ever given them the credit we think they deserve. If that is of an interest to you please watch the first episode at the link below where we catch you up on the brother’s careers to date.
Thank you so much
Episode 1: Men on Fire
Tucker
Blog meister responds: So pleased. This is a wonderful series. The episodes are pretty short.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
On Thursday, I ate chicken wings sauteed with peppers and onions. Delicious.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Mr. Bartley’s Interior Decor.
They are not going broke overspending on their interior.
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Short Essay*
Alfred Joel Horford Reynoso (born June 3, 1986) is a Dominican professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Big Al", Horford is a five-time NBA All-Star and is the highest paid Latin American basketball player.
He played college basketball for the Florida Gators and was the starting center on their back-to-back National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national championships teams in 2006 and 2007. He was drafted with the third overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks, a team he played nine seasons with before signing with the Celtics as a free agent in the 2016 off-season. After playing three seasons with the Celtics, he signed with the 76ers in the 2019 off-season and played a season with the team before being traded in the 2020 off-season to the Thunder. Prior to the 2021 season, Horford was traded to the Celtics in return for Kemba Walker and a first round pick.
On June 18, 2021, Horford was traded to Boston, along with Moses Brown, and a 2023 second round draft pick from the Thunder in exchange for guard Kemba Walker, the 16th overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft, and a 2025 second round draft pick.[61] On March 3, 2022, Horford helped the Celtics to a win over the Memphis Grizzlies, with a season-high 21 points and 15 rebounds.[62]
On May 7, in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Horford scored 22 points along with 16 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks and zero turnovers in a 103–101 loss against the reigning champions Milwaukee Bucks.[63] Two days later, Horford scored a playoff career-high 30 points along with 8 rebounds on 11-of-14 shooting from the field and also had a playoff career-high 5-of-7 shooting from three in a 116–108 Game 4 win to tie the series at 2–2.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Friday, May 20, 2022
Welcome to the 1,447th consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Mother Goose Chapbook
The opening verse of "Old Mother Goose and the Golden Egg", from an 1860s chapbook
Anonymous, 19th century - https://digital.library.mcgill.ca/chapbooks/pdfs/PN970_F6_M68_1860.pdf
The opening verse of "Old Mother Goose and the Golden Egg", a poem based on the plot of the popular pantomime first performed in 1806, "Harlequin and Mother Goose, or The Golden Egg". This appeared in a chapbook published in the 1860s or later, now held in McGill University.
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Commentary
I had a terrific, I mean terrific, dinner at Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage.
It was the whole experience.
I was heading to Harvard Square for a meeting and decided to take the opportunity to visit Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage. It’s been so long. Ten years?
They don’t have a liquor license so I made a strong Bloody Mary at home.
The weather was lovely.
I started drinking it on my way to the train, drank it on the train, and drank it on my way to the restaurant. It was fun.
It was 3.45pm and the restaurant was very quiet.
I ordered a basic burger with extra cheese, lettuce, tomato, and red onion.
I had a great book and a drink.
I read.
It was lovely.
And under $20.00 even with a 25% tip.
I’ll be back soon.
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Screen time
A disappointing Game One in the Celtics-Heat contest for Eastern Conference Championship.
The Celtics were exhausted from the tough series against the Milwaukee Bucs.
Let’s hope the day and a half before they play again can get them rested.
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Wellness
The lumps on my toes will be evaluated by a doctor.
A date is being arranged.
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Understanding aging
Three days after my fall my legs are fine but my lower back has some pain. I’m sure it will pass.
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Social Life
I had a great visit with friends on Tuesday night, friends I hadn’t seen for two years.
We were a regular dinner group where all of us participated.
Plans are afoot to resume.
Fun.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
I remember the first time I had sex -
I kept the receipt.
~Groucho Marx
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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 friend Jim P:
Hi Dom,
Two comments:
To your appeal to the “medical crew” regarding the bumps on your toes, I found this advice via a web search: “Toes have a big job to do. They help us walk and balance on our feet. So if you or someone you care about is having a toe problem, it’s worth having a doctor take a look” (my emphasis). So here we go again! 😊
In reply to Howard’s excellent comments on the tuition issue, I think “extortion” is indeed a good word for it all, especially if we keep in mind the social pressure put on youth today to attend college. He is also right that you could buy a new car back then for the cost of tuition.
I would add that back then you could buy a used car for a lot, lot less. In 1987, the year I went up to grad school at Cornell, I bought a used 1967 Ford Falcon for $50.00 from a mechanic who was friends with my girlfriend at the time. I nursed that car for five years, driving locally every day and regularly back and forth between Ithaca and Boston. $50.00 for a used car!
Plus les choses changent, plus elles deviennent chères !
Love,
Jim
Blog meister responds: I remember being able to work part-time and make tuition payments as they came due. As for my health, I will pursue the evaluation. For sure.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
At Mr. Bartley’s I ordered a basic burger with extra cheese, lettuce, tomato, and red onion.
It was a picture.
Served with hot French fried, crisp on the outside, creamy on the inside.
The food was delicious.
Fourteen dollars for Mr. B’s against $20.00 to $30.00 for most of the restaurants.
Mr. B’s the clear winner.
A great experience.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Mr. Bartley’s Burger
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Short Essay*
The figure of Mother Goose is the imaginary author of a collection of French fairy tales and later of English nursery rhymes. As a character, she appeared in a song, the first stanza of which often functions now as a nursery rhyme. This, however, was dependent on a Christmas pantomime, a successor to which is still performed in the United Kingdom.
The term's appearance in English dates back to the early 18th century, when Charles Perrault’s fairy tale collection, Contes de ma Mère l'Oye, was first translated into English as Tales of My Mother Goose. Later a compilation of English nursery rhymes, titled Mother Goose's Melody, or, Sonnets for the Cradle, helped perpetuate the name both in Britain and the United States.
Charles Perrault, one of the initiators of the literary fairy tale genre, published a collection of such tales in 1695 called Histoires ou contes du temps passés, avec des moralités under the name of his son, which became better known under its subtitle of Contes de ma mère l'Oye or Tales of My Mother Goose. Perrault's publication marks the first authenticated starting-point for Mother Goose stories. An English translation of Perrault's collection, Robert Samber's Histories or Tales of Past Times, Told by Mother Goose, appeared in 1729 and was reprinted in America in 1786.
Associated rhymes were once believed to have been published in John Newbery's compilation Mother Goose's Melody, or, Sonnets for the cradle some time in the 1760s, but the first edition was probably published in 1780 or 1781 by Thomas Carnan, Newbery's stepson and successor. Although this edition was registered with the Stationers' Company in 1780, no copy has ever been confirmed, and the earliest surviving edition is dated 1784. The name "Mother Goose" has been associated in the English speaking world with children's poetry ever since.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Thursday, May 19, 2022
Welcome to the 1,446th consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Stephen Sondheim
Autographed publicity photo of Stephen Sondheim. The fact that this is a signed photo given to an apparent fan indicates it was previously used for that purpose. The original photo was 8" x 10". See also: film still article for general description of non-copyright status of publicity photos. No copyright information shown on photo.
Unknown photographer - RR Auctions
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Commentary
Brad Hoylman, NY State Senator, announces that he is considering a run for Congress.
You remember that Kat is his Press Secretary.
A cloud: a new redistricting map will make his task that much more difficult.
I want to assure you that although I complain in my blog about aches and pains and getting old, when you hang with me you have fun. I can be funny. I’m a good listener. And I’m a good cook.
So don’t let the health issues give you a wrong idea of who I am in person.
Thank you.
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Screen time
The time in front of the screen these days is dominated by the Celtics march to the Championship Series.
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Wellness
I have lumps on my toes that are hurting me. They have in the past but the pain soon went away.
The pain is not going away. It’s been a week. My sneaker is abrading them. I put a piece of paper towel inside my sock and it protects my toes.
I’ll send this note to me medical crew and see what their reaction is.
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Understanding aging
So I figured why my legs failed me a day or two ago: the fall I took.
Two days later they are fine with just a lingering ache.
That lingering ache is not there in a younger body.
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Social Life
Tuesday, for the first time since the start of covid protocols, I attended a meeting of four dozen friends. It was outdoors and a lot of fun. But, covid. Let’s see what happens in the next three days.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
I tried to explain why I didn’t call my doctor. So I said,
“But even if I had it, so what?”
This reaction from our friend Jim P:
You were the one who brought up the possibility of having Covid 😊
It is like the psychologist who was giving a man a Rorcharch test. Ink blot after ink blot, the guy kept seeing people having sex.
“You know,” the psychologist said to him. “You have a dirty mind.”
“Me?” the guy replied. “You’re the one showing me the dirty pictures!”
Love,
Jim
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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 friend Howard D:
I enjoyed James Pasto’s comments in response to yours about the cost of education, and the attendant burdens (and even more, enjoyed his approbation for my comments).
Inspired by his tasty metaphor (“debt peonage”), I decided to do a little Google research.
Here are the mere facts.
I was enrolled in the PhD program full time at Bryn Mawr College. Back then (I was enrolled from 1969-71, completing my “residency” requirement), the full-time annual tuition was $1500.
I checked on a few online calculators of the variable monetary value due to inflation (compounded). In today’s dollars, that figure would be $11,000 (give or take). Back then you could almost buy a BMW for a year’s tuition. Certainly a Volkswagen. You can still today probably buy a car somehow, maybe a new one, for the 11K… I don’t know.
But that’s not all, of course. I checked in on the Bryn Mawr website. A full year’s tuition, full time, in the Graduate School (which only offers the PhD; there are no terminal degrees, like a Master’s, unless you don’t make the grade) today is $50,000. Nearly five times higher than the overall rise in the consumer price index, in 52 years. (For me, personally, there’s also the irony and the anguish of knowing that, even if I wanted to, and could afford it (which I can, but… irrelevant), I couldn’t enroll in the same program heading for a PhD in English, because they eliminated the degree in that department (back in the late 80s; they couldn’t attract enough grant and academic award money to defray the cost for their grad students—the largest number in a single discipline in the grad school… Bryn Mawr was considered in the top 20 or 25 departments back in 1969 when I enrolled). They were smart enough back then to realize that degrees in the humanities, even advanced degrees, were increasingly worthless.
This rise in tuition (which doesn’t include living expenses; back then, I lived in a rented room and bath, for ten bucks a week) doesn’t make me think of peonage, which speaks to the condition of the victim. The word I think of is extortion, which is to address the nature of the underlying crime. The only other thing I can think of that has risen at the same rate of criminal manipulation is the cost of medical treatment.
Just some more facts to chew on.
xo
h
Blog meister responds: Well put.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Tuesday I had a meeting of parents of former students at BB&N.
The meeting being just outside of H Sq and the day being so lovely, I decided to take my dinner at Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Millet’s the Sower
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Millet placard
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Short Essay*
Stephen Joshua Sondheim (March 22, 1930 – November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. One of the most important figures in twentieth-century musical theater, Sondheim was credited for having "reinvented the American musical" with shows that tackled "unexpected themes that range far beyond the [genre's] traditional subjects" with "music and lyrics of unprecedented complexity and sophistication". His shows addressed "darker, more harrowing elements of the human experience", with songs often tinged with "ambivalence" about various aspects of life.
Sondheim began his career by writing the lyrics for West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959), before eventually devoting himself solely to writing both music and lyrics. His best-known works include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Into the Woods (1987), and Passion (1994).
Sondheim's numerous accolades include eight Tony Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Tony in 2008), an Academy Award, eight Grammy Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award, a Pulitzer Prize, a Kennedy Center Honor, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has a theater named for him both on Broadway and in the West End of London. Film adaptations of Sondheim's work include West Side Story (1961), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Into the Woods (2014), and West Side Story (2021).
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Wednesday, May 18, 2022
Welcome to the 1,445th consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Altolamprologus compressiceps
(Boulenger, 1898), Compressed cichlid; Karlsruhe Zoo, Karlsruhe, Germany.
H. Zell - Own work
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Commentary
The Celtics were the better team and showed it clearly in Sunday’s Game 7 against the Bucs where they won emphatically.
I watched a good part of the lunar eclipse on Sunday night. When it comes to the space around the earth, ‘awesome’ is the truly appropriate descriptor.
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Reading and Writing
Stack of unread books piling up.
Time to number, enter info into database, and shelve.
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Screen time
Watched the first episode of Time Traveler’s Wife. Such a creative concept; such a flat fall.
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Wellness
After complaining about my legs for the last three days, on Monday morning I woke feeling okay. I’m going to the club today and will let you know how my lifting goes.
Alright. My legs are feeling great. Fully functional.
So what happened?
I figured it out.
I fell in my apartment.
A hard fall and smashed against the cupboard.
I knew there would be repercussions.
But when I woke the morning after, I forgot about the fall: my legs were killing me.
I didn’t relate my legs to my fall until I was walking home.
Thank goodness.
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Understanding aging
No need to know much about ageing except it’s slow but inevitable.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
Getting older is no problem.
You just have to live long enough.
~Groucho Marx
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
From Jim P responding to my reluctance to spend time talking to my doctor:
Who needs a doctor!
My sister got it too and the test showed it. CVS version, $9.99. I took it too after my son tested positive. I was negative. Only $9.99 😊
Blog meister responds: Good point. But even if I had it, so what? I’m pretty careful in public, face masking a lot, including, of course, on the T. I wouldn’t do anything different. And I have no other symptoms.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
I ate pork ribs and asparagus and penne with cacio e pepe. The pasta was only decent. I put too much water in the sauce.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
lunar eclipse 05 15 2022
One hour after the moon passed into the earth’s shadow.
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Short Essay*
Altolamprologus compressiceps is a species of fish in the family Cichlidae. It is endemic to the shallow rocky areas of Lake Tanganyika. It is not considered threatened by the IUCN.
It is physically similar to its close relative A. calvus, though it is deeper-bodied and has a shorter snout.
Several local variants exist, and some may prove to be distinct species or subspecies.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Tuesday, May 17, 2022
Welcome to the 1,443rd consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Élie Metchnikoff
Photograph of Nobel Prize winner, Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, who discovered phagocytes.
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Commentary
It’s a bitch.
I’m eating well.
My weight is good.
I’m sleeping well.
I’m lifting weights.
I’m walking several miles each day.
And I’m deteriorating.
Is that fair?
I reported that my arms lost a bit of strength recently.
A smidgeon.
But this bit with my legs is not a bit.
It is a dramatic drop.
I’m hoping to wake up tomorrow and say, “Hey! I feel great. That was just a passing ache.”
That’s my plan.
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Screen time
Time Traveler’s Wife tonight on HBO?
I’m certainly going to give a peek, but maybe not Sunday night.
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Wellness
Not energetic.
Walking is a joy of my life.
It's been painful for the last several days.
Hopefully, my strength will return when I wake tomorrow.
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Understanding aging
Very easy.
Bad. Sucks. Really sucks.
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Social Life
Have enough going on this week with two out-of-apartment get toegthers.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
I intend to live forever,
or die trying.
~Groucho Marx
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
As to my complaining about ho I’m feeling?
Here's Jim P:
Hi Dom,
I saw your entry on how you have been feeling. Get a Covid test. My son Mario has it now for a few days. We have to keep him isolated for five days. He started feeling tired and then sore throat. He is much better now. Get the test so you will know. Check with your doctor too. Don’t wait.
Jim
And here’s Tommie T:
Go to the damn doctor!
Your health is the most important thing in this life - especially at our stage in life. We cannot afford to play Russian Roulette with it. You may need a tweak here and there - and nothing major. Also you have been playing games with diet and exercise without professional guidance. That takes a toll on the body. A good, reliable and valid nutritionist may be worth consulting as well as a good, damn internist, for god's sake (as my southern mother used to say). I love you and I wish you would see a good internist! "This is not a dress rehearsal!" (A sign given to me by our daughter, Leigh, when I was working on my doctorate).
Again, my love and appreciation, Tommie
Blog meister responds: I feel the love. I have no other symptoms. No headache. No loss to taste. No fever; So if I go to the doctor’s office, I waste hours and hours and conversations to be told: you’re getting old.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Sunday I had a tasty food potpourri that included a taste of lasagna, stewed beef and pork rib, chicken wings, and steamed asparagus and mixed vegetables.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Jan Davidsz de Heem Interior of Painter’s Studio
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Jan Davidsz de Heem placard Interior of Painter’s Studio
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Short Essay*
Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov (15 May [O.S. 3 May] 1845 – 15 July 1916), also spelled Élie Metchnikoff, was a Russian and French zoologist of Romanian noble ancestry and Ukrainian Jewish origin best known for his pioneering research in immunology. He and Paul Ehrlich were jointly awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "in recognition of their work on immunity". He was born, lived and worked for many years on the territory of the Russian Empire. Given this complex heritage, four different nations and peoples justifiably lay claim to Metchnikoff.
Honored as the "father of innate immunity", Metchnikoff was the first to discover a process of immunity called phagocytosis and the cell responsible for it, called phagocyte, specifically macrophage, in 1882. This discovery turned out to be the major defense mechanism in innate immunity, as well as the foundation of the concept of cell-mediated immunity, while Ehrlich established the concept of humoral immunity to complete the principles of immune system. Their works are regarded as the foundation of the science of immunology.
Metchnikoff developed one of the earliest concepts in ageing, and advocated the use of lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus) for healthy and long life. This became the concept of probiotics in medicine. Mechnikov is also credited with coining the term gerontology in 1903, for the emerging study of aging and longevity. In this regard, Ilya Mechnikov is called the "father of gerontology" (although, as often happens in science, the situation is ambiguous, and the same title is sometimes applied to some other people who contributed to aging research later).
Supporters of life extension celebrate 15 May as Metchnikoff Day, and used it as a memorable date for organizing activities.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Monday, May 16, 2022
Welcome to the 1,442nd consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
This Much I Know to be True
Theatrical release poster for the 2022 documentary film This Much I Know to Be True
Bad Seed Ltd, Uncommon Creative Studio - https://dx35vtwkllhj9.cloudfront.net/trafalgarreleasing/this-much-i-know-to-be-true/images/regions/intl/onesheet.jpg
This Much I Know to Be True is a 2022 British documentary film directed by Andrew Dominik. It is a companion to Dominik's documentary One More Time with Feeling (2016). The film had its world premiere on 12 February 2022 at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival.
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Commentary
To prepare tomorrow’s parents to educate their children, either our high schools must become far more rigorous or students must complete at least two years of college.
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Wellness
I hope I’m not well.
I hope I have covid.
Because I feel poorly.
My legs are refusing to do what God clearly intended for them to do.
And I am sleepy too much of the time.
If I have covid, then when it runs its course I can say, “Hey, I’m well. Just that darn covid.”
Because what ails me has been going on for a week now and if I am not sick, then I’m getting old faster than I want.
Than I am ready for.
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Understanding aging
I’m beginning to feel weaker than I have felt in the past. Can’t walk as far. Lift as well.
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Social Life
Social life alive and well.
Hung with David and Lisa on Saturday and imminent are a phone call with Gary, Monday, a former BB&N parents meeting wherein I will meet up with some dear friends, and, next weekend I’ll have a Peruvian dinner with friend Cal and his wife whom I have never met.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
When someone does a small task beautifully,
their whole environment is affected by it.
~Attribution missing
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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 continuing the conversation about academia.
Dear Dom,
My impression of your intent for your blog – as steady as the tides, all these many years, so far – is to generate conversations. How wonderful that so many of us are inspired to do so upon receipt of this or that issue. Your friend Howard’s response to your use of the word “academia” I hope is exactly what you enjoy most, relating to the blog’s production. Civil discourse – it’s all too rare these days. Kudos to you, Howard, and the rest of your blog followers for engaging in same.
Cheers!
Sally
Blog meister responds: Back at you, Sally.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
jan davidsz still life
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
jan davidsz still life thoughts
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Had a great visit with Lisa (niece) and David.
We walked a great deal through Davis Sq and Somerville, enjoying a day long celebration of porch singing. It was a hoot.
We had a light meal but satisfying meal at Semolina’s Kitchen and Bar.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
jan davidsz still life
jan davidsz placard still life
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Short Essay*
This Much I Know To Be True
“We all live our lives dangerously, in a state of jeopardy, at the edge of calamity. You have discovered that the veil that separates your ordered life from disarray is wafer thin. This is the ordinary truth of existence, from which none of us are exempt. In time we all find out we are not in control. We never were. We never will be.” – Nick Cave
The last time filmmaker Andrew Dominik (The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford) collaborated with Nick Cave, on 2016’s One More Time With Feeling, the recording of Cave’s sixteenth LP Skeleton Tree provided the framework for a raw, monochromatic exploration of grief as Cave reeled from the tragic death of his son Arthur. Five years and a pandemic later, the pair have reunited for a lovingly crafted, rapturous music documentary-cum-concert film that transcends grief, isolation and Covid to capture the light at the end of the tunnel. Releasing just days after the unexpected passing of Cave’s 30-year-old son Jethro Lazenby, the film’s warmth and light only feels all the more timely as it seeks to bring comfort to viewers. Hopefully in time, it will do the same for Cave too.
The music is the main event here, and it doesn’t disappoint. Trading the recording studio for a sparsely set, high-walled warehouse bathed in heavenly light, Dominik gives us front-row seats to simply staged yet immersive performances from 2019 Bad Seeds masterpiece Ghosteen and 2021’s lockdown-reflective Warren Ellis team-up Carnage. Two cameras set in a circular dolly-track hypnotically loop around Cave, Ellis and a small set of backing musicians as bright, dancing lights visualize the spirits their ethereal rock conjures. Director of photography Robbie Ryan, working with a soothing palette of silvers and greens, evokes awe and creates intimacy with deft aspect-ratio shifts and inventive framing. Cameras swirl euphorically around the anthemic ‘Ghosteen Speaks’ and pull in close for Cave’s fragile falsetto on ‘Hollywood’, allowing the shamanic rocker to hold us in the palm of his hand.
Away from the grand piano and synthesizers, candid interviews with Cave and Ellis see Dominik checking in with the duo, illuminating their unique dynamic in the process. Early on, Cave talks through a series of haunting ceramic sculptures he’s made during lockdown that depict Satan’s life, death and — symbolically, you feel — forgiveness. Later, he digs into questions fans have sent into his Red Hand Files website, a self-described “spiritual practice” that keeps him “on the better end of [his] nature”, with a consideration and profound wisdom that creates the sense of a man at peace with his loss and life’s unavoidable chaos. Ellis, on the other hand — whose man-of-the-woods look betrays an angelic voice and virtuosic musicianship that Cave believes inspires his best work — is chaos personified. While it would’ve been nice to see more of him here, a glimpse inside Ellis’ messy apartment, Dominik’s shock, upon noticing his computer desktop covered in so many files you can’t see the background, and the pride of his Emily Dickinson Herbarium facsimile offer flashes of insight into a singular creative mind.
The film climaxes with a triumphant rendition of quarantine ballad ‘Balcony Man’. “This morning is amazing and so are you,” Cave jubilantly croons, golden light shining on him and his collaborators. Having previously witnessed his dark night of the soul, and with the world experiencing its own right now, Cave’s parting message is one of profound hope to carry forwards through these uncertain times.
Tucker Johnson
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Sunday, May 15, 2022
Welcome to the 1,441th consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Starry Night Over the Rhône by Vincent van Gogh, 1888
Vincent van Gogh - http://art-vangogh.com/image/Arles%20(1888-1889)/106%20Starry%20Night%20Over%20the%20Rhone.jpg
depicts the Rhône River at night
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Commentary
The rumors floating around the MFA center around two positive changes.
It is rumored that the museum will soon be open on Wednesdays. They will remain closed on Tuesday.
And the second, the great rumor, is that their upscale restaurant, 465 Bar and Restaurant will reopen in September or October, with the same chef they had before the pandemic. It is my favorite restaurant in Boston.
The food is very good and the convenience factor puts it over the top.
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Reading and Writing
I am cruising with my manuscript submissions: one a day w/o fail.
And I like what I’m doing to choose the agents and to tailor the submission to their likes.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
Pay attention, don't let life go by you.
Fall in love with the back of your cereal box.
~Jerry Seinfeld
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Wellness
I come back to my variation of the 16/8 diet, 16 hours of fasting (in my case, a bit of cheating) and 8 hours within which you may eat according to your other dietary rules.
The 16 hours (remember that you’re sleeping for near half of these) is a great limitation on egregious snacking. That diet has kept my weight within the parameters that I choose.
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Understanding Ageing
My legs are killing me. First time ever I went to the club and my legs would not respond. I cut my weights in half and made it through. Hopefully, this malaise will pass. Meanwhile, my arms are definitely losing strength. Sure, with my exercises and walking regimen I am slowing my deterioration. But there is no stopping aging.
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Social Life
My social calendar for the next week includes an in-person visit with Cal and his wife Rosa.
She’s Peruvian.
We are going to eat at Micchu Picchu, a Peruvian restaurant in Somerville.
And I’ll be seeing coffee mates every day when I visit my cafes.
I’ll receive a lot of emails.
I have Francesca’s class and a phone meeting with Echobatix with which I serve as consultant.
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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 friend James P, continuing the conversation re: academia.
Hi Dom,
I agree that the costs of college/university are way too high. It is almost becoming a kind of debt peonage. When I went to UMass Boston in the 1980s, I could pay my full yearly tuition with the money I had saved from working. I then took out some small Federal loans and did work-study to pay living expenses so I could take courses full time. It was manageable. I went to graduate school at Cornell. I was lucky to get a Fellowship that fully covered tuition. don't know how much the graduate tuition was at the time; without the Fellowship I would not have been able to go unless I took out much bigger loans. Still, the costs were much less then and I think Fellowships were much more common. The Fellowship gave me a stipend of $7,500 for living expenses for the year, which I supplemented with working in the summer, but that may be added another $2,000 so essentially I could live a year - apartment, utilities, food, on about 10K. I also took out another small Fed loan to give me somewhat of a cushion, but even with all of this, I was able to get my Ph.D. owing about $7,000 total in loans. Totally manageable and reasonable.
So, college costs have gone up but it is not just college costs that have gone up. It is complicated and you can't single out academia as the lone culprit (And so I also agree with Howard 😉). Things are just more expensive now in general, and college - academia - is tied in with the general economy. Moreover, as the costs of the professions increase, i.e., lawyers, business managers, doctors, etc. earn more money, the cost to educate the new professionals also increases. Yes, there has been a bloating of bureaucracies and not-always-necessary property purchase and expansion, but there have also been necessary investments in new technologies (including green technologies), essential IT infrastructure improvements, and in many cases rising wages through unionization of staff and faculty. There is also the issue of international competition for jobs, which also adds to costs. I don't think making college 'free' is the answer, because part of the increase in costs has been due to the increase in federal funds in the form of easy loans to students, where many colleges then took this 'easy money' as a means not to lower tuition but invest in infrastructure, increase administration, etc. It is a bad cycle that would only get worse if college were 'free' and if no other measures were taken to rein in costs.
I think what you wrote really raises the question of if even getting a college degree is necessary for everyone today. Colleges push enrollments to raise income and also raise ratings, and then they have to expand to meet the expectations they set, and institutions across our society promote college as a necessity. But is it? For everyone? I think there is a particular pedagogical-political dimension here as colleges also see themselves as sites to promote certain social values (liberal values) that students often only get at college or at a level where they can start to take hold and shape the person into the political person they want them to be. This has always been the job of education, but as our population has increased and as 'globalization' has increased, the need to reshape individuals to match 'liberal' values more and more gets put on colleges. Students then 'pay the price' for their own enlightenment. They also pay the price in that what they are taught is increasingly politicized, editorialized, controlled, and I would say distorted for political agendas, even if these agendas have 'noble' ends (or claim to).
A related issue here is how social media has more and more become a source of knowledge for students or what they think is knowledge. I find my students to be eager to learn, respectful of the teachers, and truthfully really good people. But they are also overwhelmed with information and overloaded with images of who and what they should be, and most of all, they get sucked into a competitive economic system that, as you pointed out, is costing them a fortune. So, again, it is not just academia but a wider societal problem.
Education in and of itself is not an answer to anything. The question is always what kind of education is being offered. Is it education for war or for peace? For cooperation or competition? For swords or for plowshares?
Therein lies the answer to everything. I think.
Jim
Blog meister responds: Thoughtful as always, Jim. I would like to remember that large percentage of educated Americans who do not go on to a professional life; who join a trade union; who open small businesses. They may take ten years after graduation before they are making enough money to make monthly payments on large student loans. By that time they are married with children and have other financial needs and a modest salary.
Did they need a college education? Yes. Yes.
They need to understand how America works so they can educate their children.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Baked Stuffed Quahogs
12 large quahogs
Scrub them
Steam them open using a cup of water
Remove clams
Use a scissors or knife to cut pieces into large dice
Reserve shells and broth.
Small dice 2oz each of celery, red bells, and onions
Puree 1oz garlic
Heat 1TB each butter, duck fat and olive oil in a medium fry pan.
To the hot fats add the clams (without broth) and diced vegetables
Season with a bit of salt and a copious amount of freshly ground pepper
And ½ t ground bay leaves and ½ t oregano
Simmer the stuffing for ten minutes to imbue clams with flavor
Add ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
Add ½ cup Romano cheese
Add 1 cup broth
Heat the whole until the cheese and breadcrumbs absorb all of the broth.
Stuff the clam shells
Bake at 400* until the top of the stuffing is broned
Serve with lemons
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Community Photos**
Jan Van Huysum Placard
Jan Van Huysum Flowers in a Terracotta Vase
Meister’s apology for the tilt. Please stand on one leg when you view this.
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Community Photos**
Jan Van Huysum Placard
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Short Essay*
Vincent Willem van Gogh (Dutch: [ˈvɪnsənt ˈʋɪləɱ vɑŋ ˈɣɔx] (listen);[note 1] 30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of which date from the last two years of his life. They include landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and self-portraits, and are characterised by bold colours and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. He was not commercially successful, struggled with severe depression and poverty, and committed suicide at the age of 37.
Van Gogh was born into an upper-middle-class family, While a child he drew and was serious, quiet and thoughtful. As a young man he worked as an art dealer, often traveling, but became depressed after he was transferred to London. He turned to religion and spent time as a Protestant missionary in southern Belgium. He drifted in ill health and solitude before taking up painting in 1881, having moved back home with his parents. His younger brother Theo supported him financially; the two kept a long correspondence by letter. His early works, mostly still lifes and depictions of peasant labourers, contain few signs of the vivid colour that distinguished his later work. In 1886, he moved to Paris, where he met members of the avant-garde, including Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin, who were reacting against the Impressionist sensibility. As his work developed he created a new approach to still lifes and local landscapes. His paintings grew brighter as he developed a style that became fully realised during his stay in Arles in the South of France in 1888. During this period he broadened his subject matter to include series of olive trees, wheat fields and sunflowers.
Van Gogh suffered from psychotic episodes and delusions, and though he worried about his mental stability, he often neglected his physical health, did not eat properly and drank heavily. His friendship with Gauguin ended after a confrontation between the two when, in a rage, Van Gogh severed a part of his own left ear with a razor. He spent time in psychiatric hospitals, including a period at Saint-Rémy. After he discharged himself and moved to the Auberge Ravoux in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris, he came under the care of the homeopathic doctor Paul Gachet. His depression persisted, and on 27 July 1890, Van Gogh is believed to have shot himself in the chest with a revolver, dying from his injuries two days later.
Van Gogh was commercially unsuccessful during his lifetime, and he was considered a madman and a failure. As he became famous only after his suicide, he came to be seen as a misunderstood genius in the public imagination.[6] His reputation grew in the early 20th century as elements of his style came to be incorporated by the Fauves and German Expressionists. He attained widespread critical and commercial success over the ensuing decades, and is remembered as an important but tragic painter whose troubled personality typifies the romantic ideal of the tortured artist. Today, Van Gogh's works are among the world's most expensive paintings to have ever sold, and his legacy is honoured by a museum in his name, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which holds the world's largest collection of his paintings and drawings.
*The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Community Pictures with Captions are sent in by our followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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