Entry tags:
What Else I've Been Up To
Here is what I’ve been up to over the past month. Aside from something of a fit of organizational mania, which I am still somewhat in the throes of, so I am not ready to write about it yet.
Celebrity Death Watch: John Moriarty was a conductor, primarily of operas. Calvin Simon sang with Parliament-Funkadelic. R. Dean Taylor wrote the song “Indiana Wants Me.” Bobby Harrison was a drummer and singer for Procul Harum. Michael Lang co-created Woodstock. Bob Saget was a comedian and actor. Jean Maheu was the president of the Centre Pompidou for most of the 1980’s. Dwayne Hickman was an actor, best known for The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Don Maynard was a hall of fame football player. Aura Herzog was the first lady of Israel from 1983 to 1993. Clyde Bellecouret co-founded the American Indian Movement. Ronnie Spector was the lead singer of The Ronettes. everett Lee was a violinist and the first African-American to conduct a Broadway musical. Sonny Turner was the lead singer of The Platters. Terry Teachout was the drama critic for the Wall Street Journal for many years. Fred Paris wrote the song “In the Still of the Night.” Israel Dressner was a rabbi and civil rights activist who marched with Martin Luther King. Rick Cook was a science fiction writer. Carol Speed was an actress who appeared in several blaxploitation movies. Yvette Mimieux was a film and television actress, best known for The Time Machine. Peter Robbins was the first actor to voice Charlie Brown. Dick Halligan was a founding member of Blood, Sweat & Tears. Louie Anderson was a comedian, actor, and host of Family Feud. Don Wilson played guitar for The Ventures. Thich Nhat Hanh was a Buddhist monk who wrote books about mindfulness. Sheldon Silver was a corrupt New York politician, which may be redundant. Morgan Stevens was a television actor. Bud Brown was the acting Secretary of Commerce under Ronald Reagan.
Charles Njonjo was a Kenyan politician. He had been on my ghoul pool list a few years ago and I somehow or other had forgotten about him, despite his being a centenarian.
Marilyn Bergman was (along with her husband, Alan) a prolific lyricist, whose songs included “The Way We Were,”“The Windmills of Your Mind,” and the theme song for the television show Maude. The Bergmans won four Emmys, three Oscars, and two Grammys - but no Tonys.
Meat Loaf was a pop singer and actor. He was particularly popular in the late 1970’s. One of my suitemates in college played :Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” frequently. Let’s just sa that my tastes in music were edgier.
Ghoul Pool List: Since I mentioned a ghoul pool failure above, here is my list for this year.
20. Queen Elizabeth II
19. Bob Barker
18. Carmen Herrera
17. Anne Hutchinson Guest
16. Naomi Replanski
15. Ned Rorem
14. Marsha Hunt
13. Lily Renee
12. Caren Marsh Doll
11. James Lovelock
10. Lee Adams
9. Roger Angell
8. Jimmy Carter
7. Sam Nujoma
6. Shannon Doherty
5. Rachel Robinson
4. George Leitmann
3. W. Nicholas Hitchon
2. Al Jaffee
1. James L. Buckley
Non-Celebrity Death Watch: George Moy was a regular at local MIT Club activities. He was always friendly and full of advice, especially about financial matters.
I worked with Rod Barfield for a number of years. He was partially responsible for my transferring from the Engineering Group to a program office
Clark Weissman co-founded the California Traditional Music Society and was responsible for many folk music, dance, and storytelling events in the Los Angeles area and beyond.
Rent: I saw Rent at Signature Theatre a few weeks ago. It’s not one of my favorite musicals, though I don’t dislike it. But Signature always does a good job and this was no exception. In particular, Josh Dawson was excellent as Collins, as was Katie Mariko Murray as Maureen. I particularly liked how they staged Maureen’s performance art number, “Over the Moon,” which provided some needed comic relief. I still think the show is something of a period piece nowadays, given that HIV is no longer the death sentence it was. And, of course, the battle against gentrification has been pretty much lost.
The Paradox of Choice: I went to a discussion group sponsored by a local library about the paradox of choice. There’s a book with that title by Barry Schwartz that I consider one of the biggest influences on my thinking. The basic point is that having too many choices makes decisions harder. The examples the facilitator of this discussion used ranged from deciding on an ice cream flavor to what to wear to making investments. My personal experience goes back to my travels across eastern and southern Africa in 1998. Most of the time, the only cereal we could buy was corn flakes. Once in a while, there were also Rice Krispies. Once I was in South Africa, there were more choices, but still nothing comparable to American (and UK) supermarkets. So, when I got home, I often found myself nearly paralyzed in the cereal aisle. (Nowadays, I have a rotation of maybe four cereals and just ignore the existence of anything else.) At any rate, I find that it reduces my stress to limit the options when I am making decisions.
Loser Holiday Party: Last Saturday night was the annual holiday party for the Loser community, i.e. devotees of the Washington Post Sty;e Invitational. It was a smaller group than usual (under 30 people, I think). Still, many of my friends were there and there was good food, good conversation, and the traditional sing-along to parody songs.
Sam & Dede or My Dinner With Andre the Giant: Last Sunday, a friend and I went to see this play by Gino Dilorio, largely because the title was intriguing. Apparently, the playwright Samuel Beckett used to drive children to school in France, including Andre (nicknamed Dede). There’s no reason to believe they met again in later life, but the idea provides for some amusing dialogues as Andre can’t understand why Sam’s uncertainty about everything he does. It wasn’t a brilliant play, but it was diverting enough. And, of course, it is good to support live theatre, especially smaller companies like the Washington Stage Guild.
DNA Discussion: Today I went to a webinar about DNA for genealogy. The first speaker was very focused on the basics (which are familiar to me), while the others got deeply technical. Overall, I’m not sure how valuable it was, but it is something I keep intending to spend more time on.
Hot Toddies, Redux: I’ve continued my Friday night cocktail experiments. You might recall that for Week 1, I did a basic hot toddy with rum, lemon juice, honey, cinnamon, and hot water, which was okay, but a bit bland. For week 2, I used maple syrup instead of the honey, added allspice, and used slightly less water, which was more satisfactory. For week 3, I went back to honey, but replaced the hot water with ginger tea (and left out the other spices, thinking the ginger flavor would be enough on its own, That was particularly delicious. For week 4, I tried yet another variant, using maple syrup again, with black tea (specifically, Darjeeling) and cinnamon. I think the week 3 version is the winner. For February, I intend to go on to other winter cocktails.
Celebrity Death Watch: John Moriarty was a conductor, primarily of operas. Calvin Simon sang with Parliament-Funkadelic. R. Dean Taylor wrote the song “Indiana Wants Me.” Bobby Harrison was a drummer and singer for Procul Harum. Michael Lang co-created Woodstock. Bob Saget was a comedian and actor. Jean Maheu was the president of the Centre Pompidou for most of the 1980’s. Dwayne Hickman was an actor, best known for The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Don Maynard was a hall of fame football player. Aura Herzog was the first lady of Israel from 1983 to 1993. Clyde Bellecouret co-founded the American Indian Movement. Ronnie Spector was the lead singer of The Ronettes. everett Lee was a violinist and the first African-American to conduct a Broadway musical. Sonny Turner was the lead singer of The Platters. Terry Teachout was the drama critic for the Wall Street Journal for many years. Fred Paris wrote the song “In the Still of the Night.” Israel Dressner was a rabbi and civil rights activist who marched with Martin Luther King. Rick Cook was a science fiction writer. Carol Speed was an actress who appeared in several blaxploitation movies. Yvette Mimieux was a film and television actress, best known for The Time Machine. Peter Robbins was the first actor to voice Charlie Brown. Dick Halligan was a founding member of Blood, Sweat & Tears. Louie Anderson was a comedian, actor, and host of Family Feud. Don Wilson played guitar for The Ventures. Thich Nhat Hanh was a Buddhist monk who wrote books about mindfulness. Sheldon Silver was a corrupt New York politician, which may be redundant. Morgan Stevens was a television actor. Bud Brown was the acting Secretary of Commerce under Ronald Reagan.
Charles Njonjo was a Kenyan politician. He had been on my ghoul pool list a few years ago and I somehow or other had forgotten about him, despite his being a centenarian.
Marilyn Bergman was (along with her husband, Alan) a prolific lyricist, whose songs included “The Way We Were,”“The Windmills of Your Mind,” and the theme song for the television show Maude. The Bergmans won four Emmys, three Oscars, and two Grammys - but no Tonys.
Meat Loaf was a pop singer and actor. He was particularly popular in the late 1970’s. One of my suitemates in college played :Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” frequently. Let’s just sa that my tastes in music were edgier.
Ghoul Pool List: Since I mentioned a ghoul pool failure above, here is my list for this year.
20. Queen Elizabeth II
19. Bob Barker
18. Carmen Herrera
17. Anne Hutchinson Guest
16. Naomi Replanski
15. Ned Rorem
14. Marsha Hunt
13. Lily Renee
12. Caren Marsh Doll
11. James Lovelock
10. Lee Adams
9. Roger Angell
8. Jimmy Carter
7. Sam Nujoma
6. Shannon Doherty
5. Rachel Robinson
4. George Leitmann
3. W. Nicholas Hitchon
2. Al Jaffee
1. James L. Buckley
Non-Celebrity Death Watch: George Moy was a regular at local MIT Club activities. He was always friendly and full of advice, especially about financial matters.
I worked with Rod Barfield for a number of years. He was partially responsible for my transferring from the Engineering Group to a program office
Clark Weissman co-founded the California Traditional Music Society and was responsible for many folk music, dance, and storytelling events in the Los Angeles area and beyond.
Rent: I saw Rent at Signature Theatre a few weeks ago. It’s not one of my favorite musicals, though I don’t dislike it. But Signature always does a good job and this was no exception. In particular, Josh Dawson was excellent as Collins, as was Katie Mariko Murray as Maureen. I particularly liked how they staged Maureen’s performance art number, “Over the Moon,” which provided some needed comic relief. I still think the show is something of a period piece nowadays, given that HIV is no longer the death sentence it was. And, of course, the battle against gentrification has been pretty much lost.
The Paradox of Choice: I went to a discussion group sponsored by a local library about the paradox of choice. There’s a book with that title by Barry Schwartz that I consider one of the biggest influences on my thinking. The basic point is that having too many choices makes decisions harder. The examples the facilitator of this discussion used ranged from deciding on an ice cream flavor to what to wear to making investments. My personal experience goes back to my travels across eastern and southern Africa in 1998. Most of the time, the only cereal we could buy was corn flakes. Once in a while, there were also Rice Krispies. Once I was in South Africa, there were more choices, but still nothing comparable to American (and UK) supermarkets. So, when I got home, I often found myself nearly paralyzed in the cereal aisle. (Nowadays, I have a rotation of maybe four cereals and just ignore the existence of anything else.) At any rate, I find that it reduces my stress to limit the options when I am making decisions.
Loser Holiday Party: Last Saturday night was the annual holiday party for the Loser community, i.e. devotees of the Washington Post Sty;e Invitational. It was a smaller group than usual (under 30 people, I think). Still, many of my friends were there and there was good food, good conversation, and the traditional sing-along to parody songs.
Sam & Dede or My Dinner With Andre the Giant: Last Sunday, a friend and I went to see this play by Gino Dilorio, largely because the title was intriguing. Apparently, the playwright Samuel Beckett used to drive children to school in France, including Andre (nicknamed Dede). There’s no reason to believe they met again in later life, but the idea provides for some amusing dialogues as Andre can’t understand why Sam’s uncertainty about everything he does. It wasn’t a brilliant play, but it was diverting enough. And, of course, it is good to support live theatre, especially smaller companies like the Washington Stage Guild.
DNA Discussion: Today I went to a webinar about DNA for genealogy. The first speaker was very focused on the basics (which are familiar to me), while the others got deeply technical. Overall, I’m not sure how valuable it was, but it is something I keep intending to spend more time on.
Hot Toddies, Redux: I’ve continued my Friday night cocktail experiments. You might recall that for Week 1, I did a basic hot toddy with rum, lemon juice, honey, cinnamon, and hot water, which was okay, but a bit bland. For week 2, I used maple syrup instead of the honey, added allspice, and used slightly less water, which was more satisfactory. For week 3, I went back to honey, but replaced the hot water with ginger tea (and left out the other spices, thinking the ginger flavor would be enough on its own, That was particularly delicious. For week 4, I tried yet another variant, using maple syrup again, with black tea (specifically, Darjeeling) and cinnamon. I think the week 3 version is the winner. For February, I intend to go on to other winter cocktails.