Month: July 2016

Am I the last person to know that the Internet Archive has movies?? I have an urge to see the movie Our Town. I caught a few minutes of it a few weeks back, and now I must watch the whole thing. While looking for listings or downloads I discovered that I can watch it online right now, at the Internet Archive.

I will never forget the first time I saw the play. It was in grade school and I thought it was boring-est boring thing in the whole universe of boring things. I couldn’t believe I was made to sit through it. It was a world gone mad, as far as I was concerned at the time, that anyone would think this thing was worth watching. Were they just tryng this to torture us?

Then I read the play, fairly recently, maybe ten years ago. It’s now one of my favorite things to read. The ending of the movie version is absolutely insane. It makes all that came before it make no sense! It robs it of all poignancy and meaning. But the movies is so well done otherwise I forgive it, and just blur out the ending.

A window I liked on St. Mark’s Place. I love the great big pile of baby dolls

I signed up to sing with the choir at the Mostly Mozart festival premiere of David Lang’s The Public Domain. From the website:

“In the spirit of the Mostly Mozart Festival’s conception, the world premiere of the public domain by Pulitzer Prize winner David Lang will be a performance that not only welcomes the public as a free and open event, but will also be performed by the public. A piece inspired by the theme of the collective knowledge shared amongst us all, the composition will be performed on Saturday, August 13, by 1,000 volunteer vocalists from throughout New York City, conducted by Simon Halsey, Choral Director of the London Symphony Orchestra.”

You have to attend five rehearsals, and because of these five rehearsals my possible swimming trophy this year is in jeopardy. Except, as far as I can tell only three of us are trying this year, which means third place should be a lock. The same three women try every year, but we usually have some competition. So far I don’t see any.

A puppy up for adoption.

Whenever someone is rude to me on the street I’ve started coming up with positive reasons why. Like, “He is on his way to rescue a litter of puppies.” Or, “She just came up with a cure for cancer and she is telling her friend before she forgets what it was.”

I passed these women by on my way to the archives at the New York Academy of Medicine. The heat wave was in full force at the time. But the party must go on!

Director Martin Zeid has started an Indiegogo campaign to fund a documentary called Voice Message, “A film that speaks out about the wonder and beauty of our most powerful instrument: the human voice.”

He asked me to be a judge in a Choir Contest he is sponsoring. The winning choir will receive $300 and appear in the film, singing a song which will close the documentary. It’s not a lot of work to enter. You simply provide a link to an existing video of your choir singing, and share the campaign link for the Voice Messages documentary. There are so few ways to promote your choir, so, why not? Go for it!

At 60 years old I think I may count as the elderly neighbor you’re supposed to checking in on during the heat wave. Please bring ice cream and baby animals.

The current baby of the house, and his favorite plaything.