Snippets:
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Video: Alexander Nevsky (Aleksandr Nevskiy, 1938). B/W. Directed by Sergei M. Eisenstein (Battleship Potmekin). w/ Nikolai Cherkasov. Music by Sergei Prokofiev. 13th century Russian prince defeats an army of Teutonic knights on the frozen Lake Peipus. Extensive battle scenes. Russian propaganda movie, commissioned by Stalin. Eisenstein's first sound film. Overall rating: 5 out of 10.
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Art: 'Masterworks from the Morgan' at the Morgan Library & Museum (formerly Pierpont Morgan Library), 225 Madison Ave @ 36th St, NYC. Re-opened April 29, 2006 after 2-year renovation. Collection of more than 350,000 objects. Books, drawings, prints, manuscripts, ancient seals and tablets etc. Many famous artists and writers. Also library and study of Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), including a hidden passage to upper bookshelves. A gem.


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DVD: Lady Sings the Blues (1972). w/ Diana Ross (Billie Holiday), Billy Dee Williams (Louis McKay), Richard Pryor (Piano Man). Directed by Sidney J. Furie. Story of Billy Holiday, her rise to fame and drug addiction. Diana Ross puts her own style into the movie, does not try to imitate Holiday. Remarkable acting for her first movie role. Story too corny at times. Overall rating: 6 out of 10.
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DVD: The Crucible (1996). w/ Daniel Day-Lewis (John Proctor), Winona Ryder (Abigail Williams). Directed by Nicholas Hytner (The Madness of King George). After the play by Arthur Miller, who also wrote the screenplay. Story around the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Dramatic, melodramatic at times. Brilliant acting. Overall rating 7 out of 10.
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Real Estate: Prices: Zillow. Including price development over time.
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Photography: Pentti Sammallahti. Finnish photographer (b. 1950). Great nature shots, often with an animal or a figure in the foreground. Pictures have incredible depth.



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Photography: Ed Ruscha. American Photographer (b. 1937). Series on 'gas stations' and 'parking lots'. Raises questions on the nature of art.
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Photography: Sally Kuzma: Scans botanical objects directly on flatbed scanner, then the image is cropped, the color inverted, and the sample is layered and rotated to create a series of kaleidoscopic variations. Example: Corn Rotations (2003-06).
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Astronomy: When Halley's Coment approached the sun in May 1910, some believed it would be the end of the world when the earth passed through the comet's tails. Well, the world did not end, nor was this the last 'doomsday comet' to be seen.
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Music: Find music that is similar to the one you like: Pandora and the Music Genome Project.
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Music: Mario Pavone. Bass player.
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Science: Johann Joachim Becher (1635-1682), German physician, alchemist, precursor of Chemistry, scholar and adventurer. Father of the phlogiston theory.
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Art: Antoni Tàpies (b. Barcelona, 1923): Catalan painter. Considered one of the great master artists of the 20th century.
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Photography: James Balog. Fotos of large trees.
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Science: Mars Exploration: Rovers (Sprit, Opportunity), Orbiters (Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express [ESA], Mars Reconaissance Orbiter [March 10, 2006])
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Excerpt from Meditation by Venerable Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche, August 21, 1997, at Ratnashri Meditation Center, Sweden: "Another type of meditation is the calm-abiding, stabilizing meditation or the Shamata meditation. There are many ways of doing the calm-abiding meditation. One easy and effective way to calm the mind is to watch the breath. Sit on a cushion or chair, relax and breathe normally. It is easy because we have to breathe anyway so we just need to be aware of it. Our breath and mind become inseparable. When the mind is somewhere else, just simply bring it back to the breath and meditate. There is no need to push, chase or feel upset. It is important to relax and do it without expectations and worries. When we have high expectations wanting to achieve all the good qualities in one session, at the end of that session, we may feel depressed. There is nothing to achieve. There is no need to achieve anything. Just be yourself, relax and sit for half an hour or so. It is just a method to train to be with our mind. When thought arises, just look at it, let it go, and not attach to it. Thinking that you have no thought is itself a thought. Thought is something very subtle and can come at any time from any direction. So there is no need to cling to it or chase it. Just be aware of it. Place our mind, without consciously adopting or abandoning, in a fluid, natural state of being here and now. Be mindful in the ever-present moment and not to wander at all from this state. When we have a sinking mind during meditation, we need to uplift ourselves by, for example, moving the head more forward instead of downward, turn on some bright light or do some walking meditation. Shamata or the calm-abiding meditation is the cause as well as the result of analytical and insightful (vipasyana) meditation." Topics for analytical meditations: 1.) Precious human life, 2.) Impermanence, 3.) Interdependent nature of every phenomenon, 4.) Loving kindness and compassion.


Snippets:
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DVD: Shackleton (2002, TV, 3 Discs). 206 min (2 parts). w/ Kenneth Branagh. Directed by Charles Sturridge (Longitude). The story of Ernest Shackleton's 1914-expedition on the 'Endurance', attempting to cross Antarctica from one side to the other on foot. After getting trapped in the ice and losing the ship, the 28-men crew survived for many months under harsh arctic conditions. Film recreates some of the photographs taken by Frank Hurley Hurley. Some emphasis is put on the Shackleton's leadership qualities. Well done. Overall rating 8 out of 10. More info on the expedition here.
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History: Photos of the San Francisco Earth Quake on April 18, 1906. Search or Browse. Vast collection. Allows large magnification of pics. Other Collections at the Bancroft Library.
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Literature: British cult authors of historical novels about the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars around Admiral Horatio Nelson (1758 - 1805): C.S. Forester, Patrick O´Brian, and Alexander Kent. More recent author: Julian Stockwin.
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Art: Whitney Biennial 2006: Day for Night. Remarkable Artists: 1.) Rudolf Stingel (b. 1956): Photorealistic painting. 2.) Urs Fischer (b. 1973): Two candles at the end of rods, rotating from ceiling, intersecting paths. 3.) Kenneth Anger: ICONS 2006. Filmmaker 4.) Adam McEwen: Chewing gums on canvas, symmetrical like a Rorschach Inkblot Test. 5.) Anne Collier: Spill, 2005. "You only tell me you love me when you're drunk' 6.) Lucas de Giulio: Works with sticks found in woods and city streets. 7.) Troy Brauntuch (b. 1954): Coat of girlfriend on armchair, in B/W crayon. 8.) Marilyn Minter (b. 1948): Stepping Up, 2005. Enamel paint on metal, softened with fingers (can see finger prints). 9.) Robert Gober (b. 1954): Photographies with picture in picture. 10.) Richard Serra: Stop Bush. 11.) Zoe Strauss: Photographer, Philadelphia.
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Art: Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh. Metropolitan Museum, NYC. 3/28/06-7/9/06. 18th Dynasty (~1500 B.C.) Egyptian art around the female Pharaoh. Some pieces of great beauty. More info.



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Art: Kara Walker at the Met: After the Deluge, 3/21/06-7/30/06. Rather dissappointing.
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Art: Edvard Munch: The Modern Life of the Soul. Metropolitan Museum, NYC, 2/19/06-5/8/06. Paintings and prints of the Norwegian painter. Often displays the interior state rather than the exterior of the people in the picture. Often shows people in different phases of their life. 'Frieze of Life' is a cycle of pictures that includes many of his best-known motifs. Listened to audio tour. Memorable: The Dance of Life, Madonna, The Scream (as print), Despair. Well done exhibit.
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Theater: Cupid and Psyche, played by The Thematics Group. Altered Stages, 212 W 29th St, NYC, NY. 4/10/06-4/30/06. Contemporary comedy adapted from ancient mythological story. Some good actors. Entertaining.
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Music: Paul Meyers 'World on a String' at 55 Bar, NYC, on 4/18/06. Jazz Guitar w/ Donny McCaslin, Helio Alves, Leo Traversa, and Vanderlei Pereira. Good sound.
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DVD: Longitude (2000, TV, 2 Discs). w/ Michael Gambon (John Harrison), Jeremy Irons (Rupert Gould), Ian Hart (William Harrison, John's son). Directed by Charles Sturridge (Shackleton). Story of the clockmaker John Harrison (1693-1776) and the measurement of longitude at sea using an exact clock. After the book by Dava Sobel. The time difference between two points on the earth allows to calculate their distance and therfore the longitude of a ships position. Harrison (later with his son William) spent decades to built time pieces exact enough to detemine the position within a few miles. The film also tells of Rupert Gould (1890-1948), who restored the chronometers in the mid-20th century. Well done, although lengthy at times. Overall rating: 7 out of 10.
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Photography: Captured in Color: Color photographs from the First World War. Includes pictures and brief bio of Frank Hurley (see above, Endurance).
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History: The Great Exhibition and the Crystal Palace in London, 1851. Display of industrial progress in early Victorian England. Includes pictures.
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Art: Per Kirkeby. Danish Expressionist painter, sculptor and writer. Born in Copenhagen, 1938. Pictures at Artcyclopedia.
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DVD: Red Dwarf. Series I. British Sci-Fi Sitcom. Starring Chris Barrie, Craig Charles. Title track composed by Howard Goodall and sung by Jenna Russell.
"It's cold outside, there's no kind of atmosphere / I'm all alone, more or less / Let me fly far away from here / Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun / I want to lie shipwrecked and comatose / Drinking fresh mango juice / Goldfish shoals nibbling at my toes / Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun / Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun"
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Music: Sara Gazarek. Song: Yours. Jazz singer. Good voice.
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Literature: Isabella Bird (1831-1904). English traveller and writer. Wrote 'The Englishwoman in America', summarizing travels in America in 1854.
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Music: Yoik: Traditional form of song of the Sami people. The Sami are the indigenous people of Sapmi, which encompasses parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia.
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Literature: Louis Auchincloss. Prolific American writer. Wrote 'Manhattan Monologues', a collection of short stories about life in the high society of 20th century New York.
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Video: The Godfather (1972). 175 min. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. w/ Marlon Brando (Don Vito Corleone), Al Pacino (Michael Corleone). Adaptation of the novel of the same name, written by Mario Puzo. Story of a New York mafia family. Memorable quote: "I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse" (Don Vito). Lengthy at times. Good acting. Overall rating: 6 out of 10.
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Exploration: David Livingstone (1813-1873). Scottish medical missionary and explorer of Central Africa. Discovered the Victoria Falls.
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Art: Franz Radziwill (1895-1983). German painter. Friends with Otto Dix.
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Music: Sweet Georgia Brown and the Blues Crusaders at 55 Bar, NYC, on 4/29/06. Blues singer. Good entertainer.
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Mathematics: Arithmetic: Opertions on numbers. Algebra: Symbols and elements, polynomals. Calculus: Integral and differential calculations.
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DVD: Brokeback Mountain (2005). Directed by Ang Lee. Heath Ledger (Ennis Del Mar), Jake Gyllenhaal (Jack Twist). Great landscape pictures, but story slow and often boring. The aspect of a homosexual relationship in the wilderness makes the film unusual, but that novelty fades rather quickly. Even though the director wants it to be a love story, it remains a 'gay cowboy movie'. Dramatization seems exaggerated, and logic is not a strength of the movie. Overall rating: 4 out of 10.
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