Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, September 18, 2022
through
Saturday, September 24, 2022
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It’s Saturday, September 24, 2022
Welcome to the 1,556th consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
The Fonze
Fonzie becomes a singing superstar. Pictured are Cindy Williams as Shirley Feeney, Ron Howard as Richie Cunningham, Henry Winkler as Fonzie, and Penny Marshall as Laverne DiFazio.
ABC Television-the logo is only partly visible but their New York Avenue of the Americas address is seen. - eBay front back
Photo from Happy Days. In this episode, The Fonz becomes a singing superstar. Pictured are Cindy Williams as Shirley Feeney, Ron Howard as Richie Cunningham, Henry Winkler as Fonzie and Penny Marshall as Laverne DiFazio.
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Commentary
Reflection while watching the Holocaust.
Sad to say that much of American politics these days is reminiscent of Germany in the 30s and 40s. Crazy men at the helm.
I wonder how anyone who can support the men who support the Proud Boys, Qanon, and any groups within which hatred and bigotry thrive.
Such anger, and violence.
I wonder how it feels to the victims of this unbridled open hatred when they see a Confederate flag raised and supported.
Or a swastika?
Do these hate groups boast any blacks or Jews in their membership?
They might.
I wonder.
Op Commentary: Anonymous old school Leftie
Dom, you wrote,
“Is it possible that among all the charges being levelled against Donald Trump by competent professionals with money at their disposal to prepare their arguments not a single one will result in either a criminal or civil judgment against him? Perhaps when the first happens, several will follow. When it rains it pours.”
I wonder: Is it possible that the reason NONE of the charges leveled against Donald Trump by competent professionals with money at their disposal have resulted in either criminal or civil judgment against him is THAT the charges have been BOGUS from the very beginning, e.g. Russian collusion, Stormy Daniels, Tax returns, etc. etc.
Occam’s razor?
One does not have to like Trump to suspect that all of the charges stem from the fact that he challenged the power elite of our country, Republican and Democrat -- challenged them, insulted them, and then beat them. Might this not be the reason for the charges rather than him being more corrupt than them.
At some point, one has to at least suspect that this is what is really going on.
Do you remember when Trump was elected and people cried: “He will take us to a nuclear war.” Well, Trump was elected and we were never close to nuclear war during his four years. Never. Now he is out of office and we are closer to nuclear war than any time in my 60+ years of life.
At some point, one have to see that something ain’t right in these equations.
Some people do: Glenn Greenwald and Caitlin Johnson and Cynthia Chung for example, all of them from the old political left.
But what do old lefties like them know.
Anonymous old school lefty.
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Dr. Mike Presents a Medical Thought to Share:
TED CALIANOS: Mass. Medical Society president
It’s really the ongoing issues in medicine [that I’m focused on]. Some have come out of issues with COVID – things like restoring trust in medicine and science, making sure practice is sustainable, making sure there’s equitable spending within health care. The pandemic ripped the Band-Aid off a lot of inequities in the health care system, and a lot of things the Massachusetts Medical Society has worked feverishly for over the years became more acute, when you look at things like behavioral health access and emergency room boarding.
I’m looking at things we didn’t have three years ago like telehealth in terms of the impact and sustainability of that. Things like access to appropriate reproductive health care with [the US Supreme Court ruling in] Dobbs and the reversal of Roe.
I’m looking at diversity, equity, and inclusion in having a workforce that’s more representative of the patients that we reach. Other things that are top of mind issues are substance use and opioid misuse. How do we continue to combat that in a way that makes sense?
A silver lining in COVID is it has given us many opportunities to look at what we’re doing as a health care system and look at ways of improving, utilizing the lessons we learned from COVID, things that were uncovered as we lived through COVID, to improve the next generation of medicine for physicians and patients.
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Screen time
The Holocaust was gripping. See Commentary just above.
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Social Life
I just finished a great Japan-oriented Zoom call w son Mino. And I’m meeting Kat’s boyfriend Will for lunch at Abe and Louie’s at 3.00pm.
Next social event at this moment is a lunch and movie with long-time friend Lou Lou. We are planning on watching the Beast.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
“Gravity is a contributing factor in nearly 73 percent of all accidents
involving falling objects. ”
~Dave Barry
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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
Dear Dom,
How wonderful to hear that your FONE reunion went so well. I attended my 50th high school reunion in July, and found it most fulfilling. It all reminds me of a little ditty we used to sing, way back when I was a Girl Scout: “Make new friends, but keep the old: One is silver and the other gold.” So true!
With regards to your blog, I find the same thing – if I’m behind schedule with my newsletter (all to frequently lately! My bad!), my subscribers will send me an email asking after it. And I often have a dozen or more comments upon its receipt, as well as questions to expand on ideas I have posed. Extended conversations can be loads of fun, and often provide more insight and material for further study.
Yours is quite a commitment – daily! Although you aren’t creating a lot of original content, you are working to research material and organize it, and that takes time. Your daily commitment is truly inspiring.
I hope you’ll give us all an update about Yan soon. How often do you see her? I just plain fell in love with her when you posted that photograph of her – what? Two years ago, now?
Much love to you, my friend,
Sally
Blog meister responds: I haven’t seen Yan in two months. I miss her smiles and bow.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
On Wednesday I had my main meal at Douzo. So dependable. I had a plate of mixed sushi they call their chef’s special. It’s very good.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Fonzo
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Short Essay
Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, better known as "Fonzie" or "The Fonz", is a fictional character played by Henry Winkler in the American sitcom Happy Days (1974–1984). He was originally a secondary character, but was soon positioned as a lead character when he began surpassing the other characters in popularity. To many, Fonzie is seen as the epitome of cool and a sex symbol.
Happy Days producer and writer Bob Brunner created both Arthur Fonzarelli's "Fonzie" nickname, and the invented put-down, "Sit on it". The character was a stereotypical greaser who was frequently seen on his motorcycle, wore a leather jacket, and typified the essence of cool, in contrast to his circle of friends.
On November 8, 1980, Hanna-Barbera Productions and Paramount Television produced the ABC Saturday morning The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang animated series during the Saturday morning schedule on ABC.
Fonzie is one of only two characters (along with Howard Cunningham) to appear in all 255 episodes.
*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, September 23, 2022
Welcome to the 1,556th consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Don Draper
Jon Hamm as Don Draper in Mad Men
Promotional Photo, viewed January 13, 2009. Found at http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/cast/ddraper
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Commentary
Is it possible that among all the charges being levelled against Donald Trump by competent professionals with money at their disposal to prepare their arguments not a single one will result in either a criminal or civil judgment against him?
Perhaps when the first happens, several will follow.
When it rains it pours.
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Writing
I’ve been making lists and drawing up daily itineraries relative to Japan.
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Screen time
I continue to immerse myself in the You Tube pieces on visiting Japan. They are marvellous.
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Social Life
Thursday I have two wonderful social events followed by a quiet period.
That will give me plenty of opportunity to prepare for my two-week trip to Japan on Oct 16.
On Sunday, the trip will be mere 21 days away.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
“As you get older; you've probably noticed that you tend to forget things.
You'll be talking with somebody at a party, and you'll know that you know this person, but no matter how hard you try, you can't remember his or her name.
This can be very embarassing,
especially if he or she turns out to be your spouse.”
~ Dave Barry
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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 dear friend, Tommy D:
Dom,
This is for your Blog on FONE. I loved what you wrote. Beautiful depiction of this truly unique reunion. You must share this quote from Sammy. Victor shared with everyone that Sam recorded 200 days of truancy his senior year from Charlestown high school while attending the pool room.
Sammy was quoted " I made sure that I didn't allow school to get in the way of my education." Sam later went on to have a long career as an accountant at Bank of Boston.
Tom
Blog meister responds: Sammy is one of the most talented writers and natural comedians of our generation.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
On Tuesday I shared a roast duck with Tucker J over a working ‘Getting Ready for Japan” lunches. The duck was delicious.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Dom and Jim and Tommy at 50th Anniversary of Our Gang
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Short Essay
Donald Francis Draper, born Richard “Dick” Whitman, is a fictional character and the protagonist of the AMC television series Mad Men (2007–2015), portrayed by Jon Hamm. Up to the Season 3 finale, Draper was creative director of fictional Manhattan advertising firm Sterling Cooper. He then became a founding partner at a new firm, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, after he and his superiors left their previous agency in advance of an unwanted acquisition. The agency later merged with a rival firm, Cutler Gleason & Chaough, to become Sterling Cooper & Partners while pursuing a contract from Chevrolet.
The character of Don Draper is partially inspired by Draper Daniels, a creative director at Leo Burnett advertising agency in Chicago in the 1950s, who worked on the Marlboro Man campaign; and by Bill Backer, an advertising executive at McCann Erickson who created the "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" ad in 1971.
* 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, September 21, 2022
Welcome to the 1,556th consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Mary Richards
Photo scene from the television program The Mary Tyler Moore Show of Mary Tyler Moore (Mary Richards) at her desk in the WJM-TV newsroom. *Note - this came from a press release dated 1977. The scene is from a 1970 episode.*
CBS Television - eBay item photo front photo back
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Commentary
With its recent victories, it’s time for Zelenskyy to ask Russia to withdraw its troops and negotiate an end to its invasion.
Peace. We need peace.
Russia must withdraw and Zelenskyy must not crow or make any demands other than territorial integrity.
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Screen time
Three principal events are: Ken Burns’ Holocaust, Rings of Power, and Patriots football.
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Social Life
My busy period has been extended to next Monday, the 26th of September. Social events or appointments will be few until I return from Japan.
But my son Mino will Zoom me on Thursday, fleshing out a busy time period. I wouldn’t pass on that moment for anything.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
“I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent.
People know this, and steer clear of me at parties.
Often, as a sign of their great respect,
they don't even invite me.”
~ Dave Barry
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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
The article on the Friends of the North End 50th Reunion drew a lot of response.
Here are some typical individual comments:
Karen Lauretano: This is beautiful.
Sonny Lauretano: Thank you Dom for your kind words to the FONE Committee.
Tommy Damigella: Great Blog Dom!
Victor Passacantilli:
Dom,
What a lovely tribute you wrote about our youthful heritage and our generation's emergence into mainstream middle-class America. It was great to see everyone enjoy mingling and catching up with boyhood friends. I will ask Sonny to share your tribute to our reunion with the membership.
Stay well,
Victor
And finally, a friend if not an intimate, Peter C who was always mystical and still is:
I think/write about the Parallelisms of Hinduism Christianity and Metaphysics
Putting that aside ...
I love playing the role I was born into, a
North End guy, who happens to be a narcissistic irreverent bigot
The North End was a Fellini movie that took your full attention for fear of missing the Best part
Putting music to the screaming became opera
Theater of the grand !
You can Speak of other ethnic communities
But I like to watch one movie at time since it's the movie and role I was born into
When eating Italian I'm not thinking Chinese
A bird in flight plays the role of itself
Having no interest in the mechanics of flight
I'll save that for another movie
And finally, from Sally C:
Dear Dom,
How wonderful to hear that your FONE reunion went so well. I attended my 50th high school reunion in July, and found it most fulfilling. It all reminds me of a little ditty we used to sing, way back when I was a Girl Scout: “Make new friends, but keep the old: One is silver and the other gold.” So true!
Much love to you, my friend,
Sally C
Meisterin of brasscastlearts@gmail.com
Blog meister responds: It was a lovely, emotional event. So much thanks and love to go around. It was an event to put the truth to all similar events, although, truth be told, few such reunions could be found to match the experience that the 170 attendees shared last Saturday.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
On Monday, I shared a North End Gravy with Gary, the founder of Echobatix, and Mia, the CMO of the company, and her seeing eye dog. It was delicious and the company was grand.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Family in Philly near Christmas
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Short Essay
Mary Richards, born in Roseburg, Minnesota, is the only child of Walter and Dottie Richards. Prior to relocating to Minneapolis, she was engaged to a medical student named Bill whom she left after realizing he would probably never want to get married.
Mary and Rhoda.
After arriving in Minneapolis, Mary leases an apartment in her friend, Phyllis Lindstrom's house. Also renting an attic loft from Phyllis is Rhoda Morgenstern, with whom Mary becomes fast friends. Mary also bonds with Phyllis's precocious daughter, Bess.
Mary applies for a secretarial job at television station WJM-TV, the area's lowest rated channel. After meeting with news producer Lou Grant, she learns the position has been filled but she is hired as an associate producer. Later, Mary is promoted to producer when Lou becomes the news director. While at WJM, she quickly becomes friends with newswriter Murray Slaughter and vain, incompetent anchorman Ted Baxter. In the office, Mary is often the voice of reason. Lou—always called "Mr. Grant" by Mary—later develops an adoration and almost-fatherly relationship with her.
Other friends of Mary's include WJM's Happy Homemaker, Sue Ann Nivens, and Georgette Franklin, who later marries Ted.
In the final episode of the series, the entire newsroom staff is fired—with the exception of Ted—in an effort to boost sagging ratings. It's the ultimate irony since Ted is assumed by many to be the reason for the underwhelming viewership.
The Mary Richards character makes several guest appearances on spinoffs Rhoda and Phyllis via visits to New York and San Francisco, respectively, and in scenes via telephone. During one San Francisco trip, she befriends Phyllis's main nemesis, "Mother Dexter". In the opening scene of the Rhoda pilot, Mary accompanies Rhoda to the Minneapolis airport to see her off, but the scene is not shown in U.S. syndication, nor in the DVD release of Rhoda.
Moore earned three Emmy Awards for her portrayal of Mary Richards.[3] Time magazine, in naming The Mary Tyler Moore Show one of seventeen series that changed television, wrote that "Moore made Mary into a fully realized person, iconic but fallible, competent but flappable... Mary was human and strong enough to be laughed with and laughed at".[4] In 1992, Entertainment Weekly called her "the first great grown-up single working woman on TV",[5] and in 1999, Entertainment Weekly ranked Mary's opening credits hat toss as television's second greatest moment.[6] On Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters, she was ranked eighth, the highest position of the four Mary Tyler Moore Show characters on this list.[7]
In 1999, TV Guide ranked her number 21 on its 50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time list.[8]
In 2002, TV Land honored Mary Richards with a statue on Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis; it depicts Mary throwing her tam into the air, the same pose seen in the freeze frame at the end of the opening credits.[9]
* 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, September 20, 2022
Welcome to the 1,555th consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Galadriel and Mithriel
Two regals developing a relationship
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Commentary
I watched a great movie.
Godzilla, the 1954 Japanese original is one terrific movie, and for myself, most timely since I am going to visit the Peace Memorial and the Atomic Dome in Hiroshima.
The movie was made in Japan in when the memory of the two atom bombs was still fresh in the population’s mind and was then fortified by the Daigo Fukuryū Maru incident, where a tuna fishing boat with a crew of 23 men was contaminated by nuclear fallout from the United States Castle Bravo thermonuclear weapon test at Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954. The crew suffered acute radiation syndrome (ARS) for a number of weeks after the Bravo test in March. All recovered except for Kuboyama Aikichi, the boat's chief radioman, who died on September 23, 1954 from complications of radiation sickness. Kuboyama is considered the first victim of the hydrogen bomb and of test shot Castle Bravo.
The movie artfully addresses the question of the use of destructive, God-like power against a second horrific demonic power. Does the belligerent evil of the demon authorize its destruction despite widespread collateral damage that its use will bring about?
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Screen time
Watched Ken Burns’ Holocaust last night. It was terrific. Tonight and then tomorrow night ends the series.
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Social Life
Was supposed to be over on Wednesday so I can focus on Japan. To Wednesday add my dear Will, Kat’s boyfriend, who’s having dinner with me on Thursday, and my dentist, who will be doing minor work on a sensitive tooth on Monday.
I am 27 days from departure.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
“Perhaps you are thinking: 'But a tank costs several million dollars, not including floor mats. I don't have that kind of money.'
Don't be silly. You're a consumer, right? You have credit cards, right?
Perhaps you are thinking: 'Yes, but how am I going to pay the credit-card company?'
Don't be silly. You have a tank, right?”
~Dave Barry
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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/movie reviewer, Tucker J:
The series keeps being good – for me at least haha! I like writing about these episodes
His latest review is the Short Essay segment just below.
Blog meister responds: I like the series much more now that I’m following Tucker.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Sunday I had an okay dinner of leftover Shrimp Curry. On its second go-round it had thickened and I just ate it as is.
Oh, well.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Howard and, Is that a musical instrument to his left? Like an oboe?
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Short Essay
A continuing review of Rings of Power by Tucker J.
“Macbeth shall never vanquished be until / Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill / Shall come against him”
When JRR Tolkien read Shakespeare’s Macbeth as a child he was horribly disappointed in this line versus what ultimately occurred in the play’s plotline. In his version the trees would quite literally rise up and march to war. We see examples of that sensibility across all of Tolkien’s writing. Trees are living, breathing, and at times, moving things.
It's fitting then, that Rings of Power would feature trees so primarily in the series’ central conflicts. In the previous episode, Arondir had to reckon with the idea of sacrificing a tree for the lives of his friends. In this episode the tree visual only grows more classically Tolkien when we’re presented with white leaves falling from an ancient tree. In the visual and written versions of Tolkien’s work trees often act as the thermometer under Middle Earth’s tongue. It’s up to the rest of the creatures that live there to read the mercury and understand what it means. If leaves are falling and trees are being felled, the world needs strong medicine, and it needs it fast.
This episode, “The Great Wave” doesn’t wait long to reveal the reason for its title. Queen Míriel witnesses a shower of white leaves from the pale tree in the king’s courtyard then moments later a tsunami crashes on the island. Then she wakes up. The omens abound, none of them good. An elf and a mysterious man have landed on Númenor’s shores. The Stranger’s star fell from the heavens in similarly disruptive fashion.
Chancellor Pharazón has his statecraft on full display in this episode, shaking hands and buying drinks to calm the human population of Númenor as rumors spread of the threat these immigrants have brought to their home.
Míriel and Pharazón work in perfect tandem, even if their personal life is opaque, offering a revealing juxtaposition to Elrond and Galadriel. Galadriel, who tries and fails to convince the Queen Regent to join the Elves and fight Sauron, finds herself jailed for sedition. The Elf might be a skilled warrior and rider, but she’s an awful diplomat, as Halbrand, her cellmate, points out. “There is a tempest in me,” Galadriel says as negotiations collapse. “It swept me to this island for a reason, and it will not be quelled by you, Regent.” Galadriel could really use a skilled diplomat like Elrond right about now. After all, politics requires strength and finesse.
However, she doesn’t have Elrond and her drive won’t be denied. After scaling Palantir’s tower she finds Míriel waiting for her. Unfortunately, things are not what they seem. The people ousted Palantir and installed his daughter Míriel because of the king’s hardline belief that Númenor had defied the gods. As he grew older and more righteous in his beliefs, he repented by pledging fealty to the Elves, an unpopular opinion, leading to revolution and the installation of his daughter as queen. However, his decline was also a mental one. He now remains out of sight, bedridden, and unable to rule.
Palantir, meaning “far sighted” in an ancient form of Elvish, shares his name with the seeing stones. That’s no coincidence. Tar-Palantir is known as a clairvoyant, having prophesied the downfall of Númenor, beginning with the death of the great tree and ending with a greater flood. Appropriately enough, Tar-Palantir has one of the seven seeing stones, and Míriel invites Galadriel to take a gander. From there, she sees the queen’s nightmare: The white leaves, the flood, and the city’s destruction.
Ancient, secret treasures like the palantir play a prominent role in “The Great Wave.” Back in Elrond’s storyline we learn that Durin has discovered his own secret, mithril, a powerful, lightweight metal that could be used for weapons, defense, and other non-combat-based uses. This revelation also comes with some lovely filmmaking. Disa and Durin’s conversation on the bridge of Khazad-dûm is beautifully shot, particularly the final profile close-up of Durin, with the beams of light framing his head, nose, and beard with a white, glowing border.
Elrond witnesses this exchange and confronts Durin, who makes him swear on the mountain not to tell another soul about the mithril. Holding it in his hands, Elrond reacts to the stone like he is gazing upon the Ring. He’s entranced by the stone, with its light coming from inside. But he offers it back, showing Durin that their friendship means more to him than a bit of rock. Robert Aramayo and Owain Arthur sell this connection with skill. We truly believe these two care for one another like brothers. After a stirring piece of writing from Stephany Folsom, J.D. Payne, and Patrick McKay, Durin realizes these personal connections are more important than wealth, silver, or even mithril. “My father single handily sailed to Valinor,” Elrond tells him. “Would he be proud of what I accomplished with his legacy or disappointed by the countless ways I failed to live up to it? Then one night, it struck me that I would only be too happy to hear any judgment, so long as it the opportunity to have one more conversation with my father. Do not waste what time you have left with yours.” Elrond comforts like none other.
The Dwarves aren’t the only ones hunting for treasure. Orcs are prowling around for the morgul hilt that Theo carries. When he’s discovered, Theo stabs the jagged pummel of the hilt into the back of his forearm. The blade flames on and begins to reforge. Thankfully, help is on the way. After being freed by Adar, who appears to be a fallen Elf with a real simmering vulnerability and terrifying calm, Arondir makes a sudden rescue. The slo-mo cinematography in Arondir’s rescue is beautiful. Director of photography Alex Morton gets so much detail out of this foggy, early morning forest that captures the grace with which Arondir moves. With his heroics concluded, Arondir has a message for the town: Bow to Adar, or he’s bringing the fight to them.
The end comes with a truce between Míriel and Galadriel. After the tree starts shedding for real, the Queen announces that she will escort the Elf to Middle-earth, and the connection between Elves and Men will reforge. But there is the feeling that all of this is too late. The wheels are in motion, and the stars are strange. Something is coming, and these factions can let their differences doom them or unite against the shadow.
Tucker
* 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, September 19, 2022
Welcome to the 1,554th consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
FONE
Friends of the North End
See the Short Essay below on this post.
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Commentary
On a personal note, a half-dozen members came to me with words of encouragement regarding my blog. I didn’t realize I had such a following among these old-timers. I admit to be gratified. The enthusiasm, “It’s the best thing out there,” will provide me the energy to continue the blog for a long time to come.
Thank you, my friends.
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Screen time
I’ve greatly enjoyed Fritz Lang’s “M”, a genius of a movie. My, but there is some good stuff out there. I also enjoyed “The Big Heat.”
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Social Life
My social life this week as slated to end on Wednesday but my friend Will, who is also known as Kat’s boyfriend, is in Boston on Thursday and booked me for an early dinner. Fun.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
“You should not confuse your career with your life.”
~Dave Barry
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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
Many comments from the North End reunion group. Here are several.
Thank you very much for your kind words, I am grateful that you enjoyed the reunion,
Thank you for your many years of friendship.
God Bless
Sonny
Dom, thank you for your praise. Your description and feelings of the event are heartfelt. God Bless you.
Stay well, stay safe.
Sammy
Dom. Your trip is going to be epic!
Tommy
Blog meister responds: It was great seeing everyone.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
On Saturday I ate a catered meal that was pretty decent. The highlight was a plate of Tripe.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Porterhouse for two
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Short Essay
What an event! The 50th Anniversary of my friends! 50th! So many of us have passed. More than half of us.
Wow!
We owe much to the core of friends who have nursed and guided the club through many years, through many permutations, but always, each of them staying cohesive and loving. Because it was love that so striking.
Lots of groups who share memories look back with fondness. But our gang is messianic that we were special. And, thinking about it, indeed we were.
We were a neighborhood of second generation immigrants shielded from the outside world by geography, a gentle segregation, (Gentle because we didn’t prohibit outsiders from living here. There simply was no availability. The demand among Italo-Americans for an apartment in the 1950s North End was such that when someone decided they were leaving their apartment, the landlord had ten fervent requests from among our ethnics for occupancy. The landlords couldn’t refuse and the neighborhood remained 100% second generation Italian.
On a micro level, we shared traits common to second generation children who lived elbow to elbow, from school to playground. Much has been written about such as we. In capsule form, we moved away from our parents way of living to a more middle-American way of life. Some of us even went to college, graduate school and professional lives.
But we also shared an Americanization with the rest of America’s youth, part of a social explosion that was perhaps unequalled in the history of America.
Came the 1950s and the racial integration of schools. Much to our honor, despite our Italo solidarity, the Italian North End did not participate in the violent resistance to integration found in the rest of Boston, as symbolized by the rise of Louise Day hicks to political power.
Came the 1950s and came television with its news, advertising, mores, and Annette Funicello. LaVern and Shirley. Lucille Ball. Dragnet.
Came a change in Hollywood. Goodbye the thrall of Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne and the dozen other iconic symbols of truth, justice, and the American way and hello to Marlon Brando and “The Wild Ones,” James Dean and “Rebel without a Cause,” and Sidney Poitier and “Blackboard Jungle.”
And came the violent overthrow of pop music. The distancing from Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett and the embrace of Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley.
What an era. More revolutionary than Bob Dylan and San Francisco in the 1960s and the technological revolution we are experiencing now.
Life in America had changed. Our generation changed with it. And the double-bonding, first of emerging from our rigid Italian heritage into mid-America, and additionally participating in the macro changes in American society, gave validity to our perception that our Italian-American gang was indeed unique.
* 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, September 18, 2022
Welcome to the 1,553rd consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
The bow of Daigo Fukuryū Maru
The bow of Daigo_Fukuryū_Maru（第五福竜丸の船首及び船名）
carpkazu - 投稿者が撮影
Permission details
下記条件で提供
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Commentary
Fed Ex has a cold. Call the doctor. The Fed Ex announcement of an impending world-wise recession has found traction and the lay-offs are commencing. And again, America is shifting the burden of recovery from an inflation disease to its working men and women while the powers circle the wagons and protect themselves.
Shame!
And the Federal Reserve is getting ready to add more lashes to the backs of the working class.
More shame.
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Reading
I am reading Internet pieces I find on Osaka. A bit of knowledge can’t hurt.
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Can you define this Word: Read
For definition, see below, immediately after the Short Essay
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Social Life
Looking forward to a spate of social events that will last a week. Following, I will stay quiescent until my departure for Japan on the 16th of October.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
“Reading... a vacation for the mind....”
~Dave Barry
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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
Dr. Mike sends along this piece:
CHARLES KRUPA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
An antibody developed by Boston Children’s Hospital researchers has been shown to neutralize all major variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, including all Omicron strains, which could lead to a new treatment, the hospital said.
“We hope this antibody will prove to be as effective in patients as it has been in pre-clinical evaluations thus far,” Dr. Frederick Alt of the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Boston Children’s, a senior investigator on the study, said in a statement. “If it does, it might provide a new therapeutic.”
He said the antibody could “also contribute to new vaccine strategies.”
Using genetically modified mice, hospital researchers, collaborating with colleagues from Duke University, found the antibody SP1-77, which neutralizes the original SARS-CoV-2 strain and its variants including Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Omicron, the hospital said.
SP1-77 “potently neutralized all major SARS-CoV-2 variants through the recently emergent BA.5 variant,” researchers said in the study, which was published in August in the journal Science Immunology.
If further research pans out, SP1-77 “would have potential to be a therapeutic against current and newly-arising” variants of concern, said the study, whose first author was Boston Children’s researcher Sai Luo.
The study also suggested that SP1-77 might be “useful in a cocktail” with other currently authorized antibody treatments such as bebtelovimab.
Blog meister responds: Thank you, my friend.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
By poor planning and outside forces, I am eating three Italian dinners in these four days.
My weight will pay the price.
Friday’s dinner was due to my own hedonism: I wouldn’t wait the one day. My own meal I prepared for Monday had enough for me to eat on Friday as well. So I did.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
My daughter Kat when she was younger.
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Short Essay
The Daigo Fukuryū Maru (Lucky Dragon No. 5) encountered the fallout from the U.S. Castle Bravo nuclear test at Bikini Atoll, near the Marshall Islands, on March 1, 1954. When the test was held, the Daigo Fukuryū Maru was catching fish outside the danger zone that the U.S. government had declared in advance. However, the test was more than twice as powerful as predicted, and changes in weather patterns blew nuclear fallout, in the form of a fine ash, outside the danger zone. On that day, the sky in the west lit up like a sunset. The Daigo Fukuryū Maru was not damaged by the shock wave from the blast. However, several hours later white, radioactive dust made up of radioactive particles of coral and sand fell upon the ship.[8] The fishermen attempted to escape from the area, but they took almost 6 hours to retrieve fishing gear from the sea and process fish (mainly shark and tuna) caught on the lines, exposing themselves to the radioactive fallout. The fishermen scooped the highly radioactive dust into bags with their bare hands. One fisherman, Oishi Matashichi, reported that he "took a lick" of the dust that fell on his ship, likening the falling material to 粉雪 ("powdered snow") and describing it as gritty but with no taste. The dust stuck to their bodies and the ship, entering their nasal passages and ears, irritating their eyes and collecting inside their underwear. Radiation sickness symptoms appeared later that day. Due to this, the fishermen called the white ash shi no hai (死の灰, death ash). The ash that fell upon the ship carried strontium-90, cesium-137, selenium-141, and uranium-237.
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Definition of Today’s Word: Read
look at and comprehend the meaning of (written or printed matter) by mentally interpreting the characters or symbols of which it is composed:
* 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 Sunday, September 18, 2022
Welcome to the 1,553rd consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Indiana Jones
Action on the set of the "Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!"The original uploader was Cybjorg at English Wikipedia. - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.Action on the set of Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular at en:Disney-MGM Studios, Orlando, Florida. Author: David Bjorgen
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Commentary
Godzilla, the 1954 Japanese original is one terrific anti-war movie, and for myself, most timely since I am going to visit the Peace Memorial and the Atomic Dome in Hiroshima.
The movie was made in Japan in when the memory of the two atom bombs was still fresh in the population’s mind and was then fortified by the Daigo Fukuryū Maru incident, where a tuna fishing boat with a crew of 23 men was contaminated by nuclear fallout from the United States Castle Bravo thermonuclear weapon test at Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954. The crew suffered acute radiation syndrome (ARS) for a number of weeks after the Bravo test in March. All recovered except for Kuboyama Aikichi, the boat's chief radioman, who died on September 23, 1954 from complications of radiation sickness. Kuboyama is considered the first victim of the hydrogen bomb and of test shot Castle Bravo.
The movie artfully addresses the question of the use of destructive, God-like power against a second horrific demonic power. Does the belligerent evil of the demon authorize its destruction despite widespread collateral damage that its use will bring about?
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Reading and Writing and Word of the Day
I am spending time finalizing the last three open dinner spots on my Japan trip.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
“No matter what happens,
somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.”
~ Dave Barry
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Social Life
My dance card is filled for the next week.
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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
Dr. Mike sends this thought:
BOSTON -- A study conducted by Brigham and Women's Hospital shows that eating during the day may be better for your mental health than eating at night.
Researchers disrupted the circadian rhythms of 12 men and seven women to simulate a night shift.
They found that those who ate both during the day and night experienced what they called higher depression-related and anxiety-related moods. Those who only ate during the day didn't experience the same mood changes.
Now scientists want to see whether changing the timing of meals can help people who have been diagnosed with depression and anxiety.
Blog meister responds: More often than not, I swap the traditional breakfast menu with my traditional dinner menu. So I am drinking a form alcohol at 11.00am and eating steak or fish or other ‘dinners’ at that time as well. In the evening I eat a small plate of plant-based food: either oatmeal, or pea soup, or two pieces of fruit, and the like
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
I made a Gravy for my guests arriving in two days.
But it looked and smelled so fine I just had to have a prequel meal that included my meatballs, spare ribs and chuck roast.
On a fat pasta.
So delicious. Can you blame me?
Time: 10.00am.
Nap to follow. Then a walk out to lift weights.
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Community Photos**
View from the bridge
I’ll be visiting some beautiful gardens in Japan but they will only be different. Not better.
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Short Essay*
Indiana Jones is an American media franchise based on the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology, that began in 1981 with the film Raiders of the Lost Ark. In 1984, a prequel, The Temple of Doom, was released, and in 1989, a sequel, The Last Crusade. A fourth film followed in 2008, titled The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. A fifth film is in production and is scheduled to be released in 2023. The series was created by George Lucas and stars Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. The first four films were directed by Steven Spielberg, who worked closely with Lucas during their production.
In 1992, the franchise expanded to a television series with The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, portraying the character in his childhood and youth, and including adventures with his father. Marvel Comics began publishing The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones in 1983, and Dark Horse Comics gained the comic book rights to the character in 1991. Novelizations of the films have been published, as well as many novels with original adventures, including a series of German novels by Wolfgang Hohlbein, twelve novels set before the films published by Bantam Books, and a series set during the character's childhood inspired by the television show. Numerous Indiana Jones video games have been released since 1982.
*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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