Lewis Black's Response to Rick Perry

"Remember the Alamo?  Neither do we?"   And the yoga studio.    This made me laugh until I cried.   And btw - Liberty Island is in NEW JERSEY, but wherever.  It's not Texas!

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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A City Within a City Within a Country Within A Country!

In honor of the start of the London Olympics, enjoy this short video on the history of the City of London.

Wow! A Friend's Choreography is Praised

I was not well enough to be able to attend either of my friend Stefanie's performances, but she promised me videos.   About a month ago I took my first dance class in years with her.   Her class was fun and fascinating and a wonderful experience.   And I managed not to completely embarrass myself.

So I was keen to see the performances this past weekend and very sorry to be unable to attend.   But I am so proud of her.

 Check out this review from today's Washington Post, which starts with

The Washington area is home to a veritable rainbow of ethnic dance troupes. You want Armenian folk dancers? You can probably find them, swirling around at a festival somewhere. A far rarer find is a choreographer who can successfully fuse ethnic traditions with modern technique and package everything into a performance that a wide audience will find compelling.
Stefanie Diahann Belnavis, a young Jamaican American dancer, may be one of those of those choreographers. 

I'm thrilled and happy for her.  The rest of the review is just awesome too and ends with this praise:

The second half of the show was pure performance art. “Sighted” explores Belnavis’s loss of vision in one eye. After exiting the theater for intermission, audience members were led back in small groups, following an onstage trail through a maze of lights. Dancers clicked the bulbs on and off. Televisions buzzed with static and black-and-white video of Belnavis describing her limited vision. For a choreographer with impaired vision, she offers viewers much to see.

She is leaving soon - moving to Cambridge to pursue her master's in Dance Movement Therapy and Mental Health Counseling at Lesley University.   Good luck beautiful lady!  

Perspective of Time

The part about Italy is really funny.   And about how video games affects how we should be teaching.  And about our understanding of consequences.

Oh La La! An Exciting Photographer in NYC

Christa Meola is another photographer; Natasha Lakos developed her visual identity as well.  

Christa is based in New York City, and I've already contacted her about doing my photos.  

She is writing a book on how to look great naked, which I just love love love.   She specializes in boudoir photography.  

I also loved and watched the interview she did with Nate, the creator of Sticky Albums which gave me a bunch of great ideas for my own new business.  I've corresponded with him about my ideas, and I can hardly wait to get started.

And to have some sexy pictures taken!    

Sisters Cut Hair, Get Into Trouble

Jeff Cohen, an NPR reporter, interviewed his two young daughters to get to the bottom of what happened when Sadie, age 5, cut Eva's hair, age 3.  

The results of the interview are amazing.

When Sadie examined her work she knew "uh oh this is bad, bad, bad, bad."  I also like how Eva said her hair was itching her hips!

Click here to listen to the brief interview.

I promise you will smile.

Swimming! Swimming! In My Swimming Pool!

I love swimming.  I have Lynn Sherr's book Swim: Why We Love the Water to a very dear friend, the actor Erik Todd Dellums.   I wrote about him on my blog last year after he was featured in the Washington Post.   Erik is a swimmer too.   We compare our swim routines and coaches.

Here is an article at The Daily Beast by Lynn Sherr Swimming to Health which discusses all the benefits of a swim routine.

I couldn't agree with this more -  the skin is our largest organ, so swimming is our most sensuous sport. Little wonder poet Paul Valéry described the sea as his lover: “In it, I am the man I want to be.”

Some other money quotes:

Movie star Esther Williams adds flatly, “Swimming is the only thing you can do from your first bath to your last without hurting yourself. When you’re in the water, you’re weightless and ageless.” No knees pounding the pavement. No joints slamming against a ball or a wall. Buoyancy protects the most vulnerable parts of our skeleton.

My swim coach is so young she had never even heard of Esther Williams!  I sent her this video last year.

And this I didn't know about Lord Byron:

For people with certain disabilities, swimming feels like a miracle. The poet George Gordon, better known as Lord Byron, was born with a club foot, a contracted Achilles tendon that gave him a pronounced and debilitating limp. In the water, he moved like an eel. 

She concludes her excerpt with this poem (I love this!)

Consider the poetry of Dr. Edward Baynard, from 1764:

Of exercises, swimming’s best,Strengthens the muscles and the chest,And all their fleshy parts confirms.Extends, and stretches legs and arms,And, with a nimble retro-spring,Contracts, and brings them back again.As ’tis the best, so ’tis the sumOf exercises all in one,And of all motions most compleat,Because ’tis vi’lent without heat.

I am a proud Pieces.   That's enough for me!

I Heart NY

Over the weekend I rewatched the Sex and the City episode, I Heart NY.

This video is another homage to my other favorite city

Great Podcasts to Enjoy

Here's a list of top 10 podcasts.   I'm already fan of the top two - Bloggingheads.tv and Slate's Political Gabfest as well as the Economist's on this list.   I'm interested in checking out some of the others.

I also like BBC 4 In Our Time - which covers history, philosophy, culture, religion and science.

BBC History Magazine
"BBC History Magazine’s podcast comes out each month, featuring interviews with notable historians talking about topics ranging from crusading knights, Tudor swimming, or the D-Day landings."  It's so British.  And really cool.  

and Sounds True Insight's at the Edge Interviews with leading spiritual teachers and writers about their latest challenges—the "leading edge" of their work.  I always learn a lot and her questions are good.  


A friend told me the Monocle podcasts are also good.  Any one try them?

Love this British LOVE Magazine

I don't know what exactly this British magazine is for but I do know it's very cool!

check it out here - LOVE.

Shadow Stories

Who didn't do this as a kid?  Create puppet stories with the shadows of hands on the wall.

But this is just amazing.  I've never seen anything like it.

Fantastic Flying Books!

Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.   Now available.  It's just AWESOME!

And it won the Academy Award for best animated short!

It's all about how books and stories can heal and be curative.   My life philosophy!

Enjoy this.  You are in for a treat.

Snow Circles

Wow!  so beautiful.  And really makes me miss cross country skiing in Vermont.

Snow Circles from Beauregard, Steamboat Aerials on Vimeo.

British Library Assembles Famous Love Letters

I just love the British Library (though I prefer the old one with the museum, with the old reading room).

Now they have collected famous love letters in this book Love Letters 2000 Years of Romance.

And The Daily Beast excerpts a good variety in this essay, 'Love Letters' Anthologizes 2,000 Years of Passion Put to Paper.   Love letters may be becoming extinct, but I still write them.  I love them.  

These excerpts are fascinating to read as a reminder that love, longing, pain, jealousy remains the same whether now or 2,000 years ago.  The human condition remains.

3 Year Old Recite Billy Collins Poetry

I learn about this on NPR - with this story, Love of Words Brings Child, Poet Together, which concludes with -

For the poet to affect a reader — well, that's the point. But for a reader to affect the poet, it took a small exceptional boy.

Indeed.

Here is the video of the astonishing child reciting our former US Poet Laureate.   It made me teary!  I love poetry and I love children!

You can follow along with the text of the poem from Poets.org here.

Boston Terrier in Obama Sweater!

We had three Boston Terriers while I was growing up - Ebenezer, Hester and Woody.    And this Boston Terrier is wearing the Obama dog sweater I sent to my dad for his dachshund Leopold to wear as he prances around on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Love this photo from the Obama campaign Flickr photo stream:

Books Come Alive at Night!

This reminds me of the Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, which is the best iPad app ever as well as a short film.  

Enjoy!  It's just a delight.

The Trees of Buenos Aires

a slide show from my trip:

Who Is Your Favorite - Mom or Dad?

This video is amusing and well done.  Those Aussies!

My Theme for 2012 - Blossoming!

Life of flowers (Жизнь цветов) from VOROBYOFF PRODUCTION on Vimeo.