RIP Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore has died at 80. She had kept a very low profile in recent years. Diabetes (Moore was diagnosed at 33) can be a difficult taskmaster and exact a toll as time goes on. Anyone of a certain … Continue reading →
Category Archives: Arts
So how big was that inauguration crowd?
Boy, am I sick of this bigness-of-the-inaugural-crowd business. But commenter “Hangtown Bob” has called my attention to a photo I just can’t resist spotlighting. It’s interesting on many levels—not just because of how it impacts on the burning question of … Continue reading →
And on the lighter side…
The press/Trump sniping made me think of the “Pick-a-Little” song from “The Music Man,” and so I thought you would enjoy seeing it. Hey, I was raised on those musicals, so that’s the way my mind sometimes works. There’s a … Continue reading →
Fred Astaire and…and…and…
Who was Astaire’s best partner? Fred Astaire himself was unique, and as a solo performer in his genre he was unsurpassed. Period. It wasn’t just that he could choreograph routine after routine and bring freshness to each one. It wasn’t … Continue reading →
The fountain of boogie woogie jitterbugging youth
Here’s a video featuring dancer Jean Veloz. I believe it was filmed back in the 1940s (with incredibly corny narration): Here’s Jean at 90: Jean Veloz is apparently still going strong now, at around 92. It’s hard to see any … Continue reading →
Donald O’Connor, dancing up a storm
I’ve never been a big Donald O’Connor fan, but it’s about time I remedied that failing. This video (from the 1953 movie “Call Me Madam”) goes a long way towards converting me. It features Donald, supposedly drunk, making impossible moves … Continue reading →
The war against the Trump inauguration goes on
Now Jennifer Holliday pulls out of her inauguration gig, apologizing to the LGBT Community for her “lapse of judgment” in agreeing in the first place. This sort of thing is becoming more and more common. It’s “you’re either with us … Continue reading →
Monica Crowley and plagiarism
It seems that Monica Crowley may have plagiarized a substantial portion—amounting to “thousands of words”—of her doctoral dissertation. According to Politico: An examination of the dissertation and the sources it cites identified more than a dozen sections of text that … Continue reading →
Robert Frost on “new” poetry
I’ve been reading this collection of essays about the poet Robert Frost. It’s an older book that I took out of the library, and although it was edited in 1962 the essays in it are mainly from the 1930s, 1940s, … Continue reading →
Antarctica mystery
There’s a big mystery under the Antarctic ice: Scientists believe a massive object that could change our understanding of history is hidden beneath the Antarctic ice. The huge and mysterious “anomaly” is thought to be lurking beneath the frozen wastes … Continue reading →
I can’t believe I found it: “Intermezzo”
The other day I was taking a walk, listening on my iPod to some ballet music, and I suddenly wondered—for no particular reason—whether the Eliot Feld ballet “Intermezzo” might have made its way to YouTube. During the 70s I had … Continue reading →
Fancy Free: then and later
“Fancy Free” was one of Jerome Robbins’ earliest most successful and appealing ballets—and since he’s choreographed many successful and appealing ballets, that says a lot. I’ve been looking for some footage of the original cast from 1944, and I’m happy … Continue reading →