April 9 2023 — Existential Autotrip

Ezine Edition: April 9, 2023
# 1601

We oppose hatred directed towards any individual, community, or ethnic.
At this moment, given the number of expressions of hatred towards Jewish people, we’ll show respect for Jews.
Recent history is replete with instances of anti-Semitic discrimination and violence.
We add our voice to those in opposition to anti-Jewish words and acts and in favor of an inclusive and tolerant society.

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Commentary
German pastor Martin Niemöller talked about the rise of Nazism in Germany, written in the aftermath of World War II. He criticizes the failure of German intellectuals to speak out against the Nazi regime.
Here are the original words to Martin Niemöller's poem "First they came ...":

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—
And there was no one left to speak out for me.

In America, the far right has given birth a modern version of Nazism. These crazies deny that human dignity exists in every person born on earth. They deny that every person on earth must be treated respectfully or we diminish the rest of us.

Who cares what these people deny or posit, for that matter? Not I. I care about what they are capable of destroying.

From time to time the Nazi crazies single out a minority group to harass, physically harm, or even kill. A couple of years ago it was Americans of Asian descent. This past year the oppressed of the moment have been Jews.

Which is why, at this moment, we specifically stand in support of our Jewish brethren and solidly oppose those expressing hatred for Jews.

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Gen Z: Kat’s Corner

I consider my yoga practice to be a necessity, kind of like brushing your teeth or going to work in the morning. Yoga leaves my body and mind feeling light and fresh, and I largely credit it for much of the emotional and physical growth I've experienced over the past five years.

I recently found a new studio in my neighborhood called Pure Yoga, which is a fancy mecca for more serious yogis. It’s a large step up from my CorePower Yoga studio, where I teach on Saturdays and the average student is 27 years old. (Pure is run by the bougie fitness company Equinox, which I cannot afford — but with my yoga teacher training certificate, I save $110 a month on membership!)

The genius of Pure is the diversity of yoga styles and teaching they offer. Unlike CorePower, they don’t police their teachers into one uniform style, but rather celebrate they offer almost 10 different kinds of yoga practices and support teachers from a wide range of backgrounds.

You can find me at Pure around six days a week. I’m learning that all my stress immediately stores itself in my right hip, and that I can easily muscle through strength-challenging poses but find it difficult to release into deep stretches. I love chatting with the instructors after class about the practice, and even signed up for a Yoga Philosophy class in May.

The main purpose of yoga, besides the fitness aspect, is to extend the feeling of peace you get in savasana (the final resting pose of all yoga classes) off of the yoga mat. I hope to integrate the lessons from my yoga practice into my everyday life, such as patience, strength, endurance, grace. That's what keeps me coming back. The hope to be a better, more natural version of myself.

The colorful hallways of Pure Yoga, Kat’s yoga studio on the Upper West Side.

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Gen Z: Naia’s Corner

The heart is the keeper of the soul and the soul is the keeper of the self.
If the heart is happy so too will the soul be satisfied.

Welcome to Lex
She’s joined the gang at existentialautotrip.
Who is she?
Wow!
She has entered the room you’re in?
You will have trouble being seen or heard: Lex dominates the space she’s in.
I asked her to come up with a name for her corner.
”Chaos” is all she said.

Chaos is what she said.
As young as she is, she is creating amazing art.

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Tucker’s Cinema

I finally caught up with Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre an unassuming little spy thriller from a modern master Guy Ritchie. It’s available to rent on most home platforms so make some popcorn, grab a beverage, and have a total blast!

Director Guy Ritchie’s films are recognizable pretty quickly thanks to a few hallmarks. There’s always a team working on a mission but that team could be gangsters or spies or maybe both. The film’s are also always a feast for accents, usually variations from the UK and we get plenty of exposure to those accents while the characters spar verbally. There’s travel to exotic locations, beautifully choreographed stunts and wild car chases. With very few exceptions Ritchie has followed this formula since he first came on the scene with his debut Lock, Stock, And Two Smoking Barrels in 1998.

Another key to Guy Ritchie’s films is his travelling band of actors that he carries from one project to the next. In his latest, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre he parades his key players: Jason Statham, Hugh Grant, Josh Hartnett and Bugzy Malone. With Aubrey Plaza and Cary Elwes as new but completely welcome additions to this quick witted theatre company we’re already set for an extremely fun globe trotting spy story. Statham, Plaza, and Malone all work for a secret British agency who are tasked by Elwes to infiltrate the an arms dealer’s (Grant) organization. To do so they enlist a movie star (Hartnett) because he’s the arms dealer’s favorite actor. Madness ensues.

Within that madness is a recipe for total success, at least in my book. Operation Fortune really never takes itself seriously and it never asks us to either. Therein lies the fun. Listening to the battling British accents, screwball comedy level dialogue full of innuendo and playful mean spiritedness not to mention every character’s name elicits a laugh every time its uttered. Statham’s character is named Orson Fortune. Hartnett’s is Danny Francesco. The characters themselves are as fun as their names. Fortune loves fine wine so much his demands for it threatens to bankrupt the agency he works for. Grant gives a fantastic character performance going from clearly displaying how he’s made it as a successful arms dealer surrounded of criminals to offering genuine admiration when he’s talking to his screen idol. Everyone does a lovely job but Aubrey Plaza is clearly the film’s wild card delivering lines as if she’s drunk (in a good way) and clearly adding her own brand of humor to punch up her dialogue. It all works.

The fast dialogue is complimented by fast action. The fight sequences are brutal and immediate giving Statham a chance to prove he’s as good at ass whooping as our finest action stars. The film is full of parallel editing as well meaning that while plot has to be delivered via lots of dialogue, Ritchie structures his film to has a chase, a fight, or some other espionage going on while that plot is being delivered to keep the film moving. All in all it’s a blast at the movies and a lovely reminder of a time when movies set out not to create expansive multi-film universes but simply to entertain.
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Reading
Finished Dick Francis’ ‘Odds Against’. Really enjoyable light reading using life around a race track as the sub-culture to explore.

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Writing
I am happy to report that I am flying through my rewrite of my manuscript. ChatGPT is the copy editor at my elbow. What a godsend. BTW: Those using AI as a matter of routine quickly learn that AI’s answers are often laced with errors and they are not to be swallowed without examination. Think of eating a piece of fish. Of how we examine the mouthful with our tongue, searching out any remaining bones before swallowing.

I recently posted a tongue in cheek reference that ChatGPT was my in-house a copy editor, critic, and friend.
My friend Jim P sent this quip:
”Did Gee Pee [ed. our short form of ChatGPT] tell you to say that 😊?”
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Local Bits: Restaurant

Fratelli’s in the Encore Casino, the Rush Hour Menu

This is certainly the best food value in Boston. Served from 4 to 6pm, Monday through Thursday.

Let’s begin with quality. There is no better Italian kitchen in Boston than this one, a collaboration between two successful restaurateurs, Frank DiPasquale and Nick Varano. And the value? For $49.95, diners are offered a four-course meal. Did I say four? It’s hard to believe. An appetizer, a pasta, a main course, and a Tiramisu. And I’ll repeat for the last time, all of excellent quality.

Tucker and I dined there two weeks ago and here is our menu with pictures.

Bread service.
Bricco’s Bakery makes delicious, crusty Italian loaves.
This bread was delicious and crusty.
Are we to assume…?

Hands down the best eggplant in the city.
Perhaps the best dish on the menu.

Fried zucchini flowers.
If you love crispy batters, there is none better.

The Carbonara here is wonderful.
Perhaps the best dish on the menu.

Braised short ribs and the creamiest polenta…

And by way of moving on from this terrific table, the wines deserve a mention. We had two glasses of Barolo and the glass size was wonderfully generous and the wine was very well selected. We also had a glass of Gavi di Gavi and another of Pinot Grigio, also very generously poured. Hats off to Frank and Nick, the Fratelli (brothers) in spirit.

Tucker [sitting] and Dom, well-satisfied with the dinner.

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Chuckles and Thoughts
"The Turtle" by Ogden Nash:

The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks
Which practically conceal its sex.
I think it clever of the turtle
In such a fix to be so fertile.

This poem is a humorous take on the life of a turtle and its ability to reproduce while living in a cramped and hidden space.
Nash uses playful language and rhyme to create a light and humorous tone.
The poem also highlights the cleverness and adaptability of the turtle, which is able to thrive despite its challenging living conditions.
Overall, "The Turtle" is a lighthearted and witty poem that captures the spirit of Nash's playful and irreverent style.

Desert tortoises fighting
Chiswick Chap - Own work
One desert tortoise snaps at another.

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Social Life

My dear friend, Dr. Mike, passed. While he feels no pain, we, whom he left behind, are diminished.

Life moves on and brings new people into our experience. For me, it’s been Qimei Liu. We met on Christmas Day and have been hanging out ever since. May is a Chinese national DEIJ scholar at Tufts specializing in the field of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. Our schedules are compatible and we are very easy with each other. Until she makes a life move, my social calendar won’t go lacking.

Qimei Liu, (May), is a Chinese queer cisgender female who is exploring her way to be a DEIJ scholar and practitioner. She is currently completing her master's in the Diversity, Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Leadership program and is preparing for a drag king performance this April using stage name Wiz Light. She’ll be performing a piece she’s title “Souvenirs of a Shared Starlight.”

How amazingly lucky I am to have Tucker, May, and now Lex [pictured above] as friends with whom I spend a lot of time.
While I’ve known Tucker for four or five years, May and Lex are brand new, since this past Christmas season.
Tucker’s picture is published earlier in this issue.

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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts, including links.

Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192

This from writer and friend Sally C:
Dear Dom,

Having observed you and “listened” (via your blog posts) for some years, I think you’ll find this email of interest. It appears to be similar to your life model.

Last week in a meeting I joined, my fellow networkers were talking about “mindset,” a popular buzz-word these days, but someone pointed out that the very word “mindset” implies another form of rigidity in thinking. He proposed “mind-practice” instead, in which making life changes through attitudinal changes means dedicating oneself to consistent, incremental changes for improvement or different ways of thinking and perceiving, like that posed below. It’s not a goal, but a journey.

Cheers!

Sally

Blog meister responds: I like it. Thank you, my dear

This from dear friend Tommy D:
Dear Dom

Your ChatGPT essays on negativity bias was fascinating. Will we ever be able to expect to know ever if anything written in the future will be original material?

Also it’s advice was right on.

Once again Dom I understand your loss of a childhood friend. The sculpture project will be a wonderful way of sharing his vision of what a unique place the North End was in the annals of our Italian heritage.

Hope to bump into you: always a pleasure.

Tommy

Blog meister responds: Thank you, Tommy.

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Korean Drama
The King’s Affection
Let’s start with a synopsis of this 2021 South Korean television series.

The story is set during the Joseon dynasty, at a time when twins were considered an ominous sign. As a result, when the Crown Princess gives birth to twins, an order is sent to kill the daughter. To save her, she is secretly sent out of the palace.

A few years later, the twin daughter, Dam-yi, returns to the palace to work as a maid. When the male twin, Crown Prince Lee Hwi, discovers her, he convinces her to switch places with him time to time but suddenly loses his life through a case of mistaken identity.
Their mother realizes the court maid Dam-yi is her twin daughter and, from time to time, has been acting in her son’s place. She persuades her to permanently take Lee Hwi's place. Although she distances herself from everybody over the years, Lee Hwi (Dam-yi) starts developing feelings again for her original first love, Jung Ji-woon, who is from a noble family. Her court life becomes complicated when Jung Ji-Woon becomes her royal tutor and later a court scribe. Jung develops confused feelings about the Lee Hwi, not knowing the male emperor is actually his first love, Dam-yi.

The story is based on Lee So-young's manhwa Yeonmo.
It aired on KBS2 from October 11 to December 14, 2021, every Monday and Tuesday at 21:30 (KST) for 20 episodes.
It also premiered worldwide on Netflix on the same day.

It’s the first South Korean television series to win an International Emmy Award.
The drama is notable for its high production values, including stunning cinematography, elaborate sets and costumes, and a talented cast of actors. The series was filmed on location in various parts of South Korea, including Gyeonggi Province, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and Gangwon Province. The production team worked closely with historical experts to ensure accuracy in the portrayal of the period setting and culture. "The King's Affection" has been praised for its engaging storyline, complex characters, and strong performances, and has garnered a dedicated fan following both in South Korea and internationally.

See more following the picture.

Drama, romance, history, and social issues come together. Excellent.

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Short Essay*
Back to South Korean dramas. I was scanning Netflix a couple of weeks ago and saw the #1 trending movie was “The Night Agent’. Sounded exciting. Thought I’d try it, abandoning my ‘exclusively Asian’ viewing habits of the last several months. I watched the first episode in hopeful anticipation. How trite. How derivative. How poor the writing. No wonder American film has pushed me to Asia.

Korean television dramas, also known as K-dramas, have become increasingly popular in recent years, not just in Korea, but also around the world. K-dramas typically consist of 16 to 20 hour-long episodes that tell a single story arc, and are often characterized by their high production values, compelling storylines, and emotional intensity.

K-dramas cover a wide range of genres, including romance, action, comedy, historical, and fantasy. They often explore themes of family, love, friendship, and personal growth, and are known for their emotional depth and complex characters.

Music often plays an important role in setting the mood and conveying emotions. Many K-dramas also feature a "soundtrack culture" that produces hit songs and helps to drive the popularity of the show.

Their unique cultural context and perspective offer a window into Korean culture and society. This includes the use of traditional Korean clothing, food, and customs, as well as the portrayal of societal issues such as gender roles, class divisions, and political tensions.

Korean television dramas have become a global phenomenon, attracting viewers from all over the world who are drawn to their compelling stories, vivid characters, and unique cultural perspectives. The popularity of K-dramas is a testament to the power of television to connect people across cultures and to create shared experiences through storytelling.

Yongin Daejanggeum Park, a filming site where historical dramas for Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation are produced
wjlim of Flickr - https://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=351476511&size=o
One of the sites specially built for filming 'Jumong', one of the most popular Korean TV dramas.

*The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily on Wikipedia and ChatGPT 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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Apr 5 April 9 2023