Tag: Amanda Gorman

Seven Things I Love (4-19-2021)

  1. 1. This Cover of VOGUE Magazine – The world was given Amanda Gorman in 1998 but so many of us were unaware of this gifted woman until January 20, 2020. Thank goodness President Biden chose her as his Inaugural Poet! Good job Vogue – keep going – let’s see scientists and artists and teachers and healthcare workers and activists and environmentalists and small-business owners and single Moms and… on the cover.
May, 2021 Cover of VOGUE Magazine

2. This Graphic Showing what “Reasonable Police Officers” said as the Trial of Derek Chauvin Regarding Use of Unreasonable Force – I can’t say I love this but I appreciate that someone put it together. I have listened to a good portion of the trial and happened to turn it on today right at the point where the defense attorney was discussion this specific topic in their closing arguments. It was infuriating listening to him try to manipulate and twist his words to make it sound as though what Chauvin did was at all reasonable, even after so many officers had said it wasn’t. I only pray the jury sees through his legal speak.

3. This Comic Book Artist – I actually saw these a few years ago but ran across them again and needed to share. The artist’s name is Francois Schuiten. He illustrated a series of comic books called Obscure Cities, written by his longtime friend, writer Benoit Peeters.

As you can see, the artwork is magnificent. For years the only way to get them in the US was in black and white and in the original French but the good news is, just this year, Penguin began releasing them in English and in full-color! I’ve ordered one already from my local bookshop.

[found on MessyNessyChic]

4. These Selections of Brahms – Famous individuals from the music world choose their favorite five-minutes of Johannes Brahms. A fantastic way to become accustomed to Brahm’s music if you are unfamiliar or reacquaint yourself if it’s been a while. [From the New York Times]

5. This Television Series from a Series of Novels – The All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness (A Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night, and The Book of Life) were published between 2011 and 2014. This series is based on the three books with each season covering one of the books. Two seasons have been aired so far, the second season only recently becoming available. I was able to watch it via Prime with my AMC subscription but if you have a Sundance subscription that is another option.

People have often compared this series to Twilight and Harry Potter, the former because of the vampires and other creatures in the story and the latter because of the literary aspects, and I can see why they would, but as a friend of mine said, these are more mature, grown-up versions of the stories – more complicated, more clever.

And I don’t think I mentioned that there is time travelling. The second season is spent mostly in Tudor London while the first season is mostly in modern day Oxford (or Venice or the French countryside.) The entire show is a treat to watch.

6. This Email from Kitsch Regarding Mother’s Day Promotions – I’ve never received anything like this before and I really wish more businesses would follow suit! There are a multitude of reasons why Mother’s Day is difficult for me. Being bombarded by ads and promotions (not just in my inbox but on television and radio too) for nearly the a full month before the actual holiday, makes it all the more difficult.

Email from Kitsch

7. This Sneak Peak of a Bourbon Street Chemist (with Products Made Entirely in Felt) – I love Lucy Sparrow’s art. She works primarily with felt and wool and often creates life-sized recreations of everyday objects.

Her latest exhibit is at the Lyndsey Ingram Gallery and you can see a nice overview at the video below. You can purchase the items at the NFS (or National Felt Service, which is Lucy’s spin on the UK’s NHS or National Health Service.) As they are pieces of art, they are not inexpensive.

Here’s another exhibit she did in a deli in New York with seafood.

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Seven Things I Love (3-29-2021)

  1. 1. This Incredible Photo of Astronaut Bruce McCandless II – Honestly, when I first saw this I thought it must be photoshopped by the person who posted it sent me to this link on the NASA website.

The photo was taken on February 12, 1984. Are you surprised, I was! I actually thought it would have been more recent. According to the website, it was the first ever untethered space walk. “Astronaut Bruce McCandless, ventured further away from the confines and safety of his ship than any previous astronaut had ever been. This space first was made possible by a nitrogen jet propelled backpack, previously known at NASA as the Manned Manuevering Unit or MMU.”

The photo below, which I discovered on social media, is a little more photographic/dramatic than the one found on NASA. I’m not sure if that is because there was more than one camera taking photos and this took them at a higher resolution or if someone has tweaked the “original” version, either way, the photo is amazing.

Here’s a few more photos…

2. This Door that Converts into a Ping Pong Table – Genius, no? There’s only one eensy weensy problem. It costs nearly $15,000!!!

3. This AWESOME Tweet that Includes a Video of the Celebration that Ensued After the Ship Stuck in the Suez Canal Finally Started Moving – EPIC! It brings tears to my eyes.

4. THIS Seven-year-old Boy Who Dressed Up as Amanda Gorman for “Dress as Your Idol Day” – well done!

Poet AMANDA GORMAN at the Inauguration of President Joseph Biden on January 20, 2021

5. This SNL Video from this Past Weekend – People who actually think of themselves as the “greatest generation” are NOT the greatest generation. Just sayin’.

Man, Boomers suck! Please God, don’t let us turn into them! Too late, it’s already happening…

6. This Gorgeous Apartment in Covent Garden that you Can RENT – it’s about $900 per night but if you shared it with two other people it would be completely worth it!

7. This WONDERFUL Art Teacher – EDUCATORS ROCK!

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Seven Things I Love ( 2-1-2021)

1. This Tap Dance Performance – no words necessary.

2. This Geode that Looks Like Cookie Monster – for some reason I can’t get this Instagram link to post so I’ll just put the link here. It includes an awesome video of the geode!

3. This New Movie on Netflix, The Dig – based on true events, this is exactly the kind of movie I love. When I finish watching a film and become obsessed with reading everything I can find about the event, looking up to see what was real and what was put in for dramatic effect, I know it was good.

And that most definitely happened with The Dig. One site I like to start with for historical movies is History vs. Hollywood. Not only do they review a bunch of questions about a film – did this really happen, was this true, etc., but they show photos side-by-side of the actors compared to the real-life people.

For example, here is one of the main characters, Mr. Basil Brown played by Ralph Fiennes. Mr. Brown would have been around 51 at the time the Sutton Hoo artifacts were discovered in 1939. Ralph Fiennes is currently 58 so he was probably 56 or 57 when this movie was filmed. Seems like they did a pretty good job here with the casting and of course Ralph Fiennes is an exemplary actor.

Here is another main character, Edith Pretty played by Carey Mulligan. Edith Pretty would have been around 56 when the Sutton Hoo artifacts were discovered. Carey Mulligan is currently 35 years old. Carey was excellent in the role but perhaps they should have considered an older actress? I don’t know why they always do this.

Another person I really liked (perhaps because I love the actress who played her) was Peggy Piggott played by Lily James. Mrs. Piggott was actually only 27 when she worked on the Sutton Hoo excavation. She went on to become a renowned archaeologist and prehistorian under the name Margaret Guido (her second husband’s last name.) She had quite the life. I think I’ll be reading more about her. Unfortunately the only photo the website found (below) is clearly not from when she was in her 20s or even her 30s or 40s for that matter. Not ideal for comparison.

Here’s a painting I found of her that is more around the age she would have been in the film:

Griffith, Frank; Mrs Margaret ‘Peggy’ Guido (Mrs Cecily Margaret Piggott); Wiltshire Museum

And here is a photo I managed to dig up that was included in a slide presentation. I had to do a screenshot to get a copy of it. I’m guessing the person who runs the History vs. Hollywood site didn’t want to do that. Plus, she’s not looking at the camera, but I think it would have been a little better for comparison than a photo of a woman who is probably in her 60s or maybe even her 70s.

One last thing, here is some wonderful information from the British Museum on the artifacts, with photos:

https://blog.britishmuseum.org/eighty-years-and-more-of-sutton-hoo/

4. This Incredible Herman Miller and Michael Ford collaboration – the iconic Charles & Ray Eames lounge chair, always one of my favorites, taken to a whole new level. Part of a new series called “Conversations for Change,” Ford intends on inserting more activism into the design world, something this is much needed.

“In his first piece of furniture, Michael Ford has remixed the popular Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman (ELO) introduced in 1956 by husband and wife, Charles and Ray Eames as a “special refuge from the strains of modern living” with handwritten names of victims of racism in the US as a stark reminder that these Black men, women, and children were not afforded the privilege of refuge – those who died at the hands of racial actions.”

Individuals who wish to have the chair can make donations and those who make donations over $1000 have an opportunity to be awarded the ELO (or Eames Lounge & Ottoman.) There is only one.

Here’s the really cool part – “Donations from the campaign will fund The Boys and Girls Clubs of Dane County and The Hip Hop Architecture Camp both located in The State of Wisconsin. The two organizations will also create a national #TAKEASTAND grant to support organizations taking a stand against social injustices.”

5. This New Version of the Song “Popular” from the Musical “Wicked” – who doesn’t love Kristin Chenoweth? And damn, that woman isn’t aging! [Warning, this song is going to stick in your brain for days.]

6. This Article on the History of Women on Wall Street – the astonishing and frankly appalling efforts by men to keep women from trading on the stock market and the determined and resourceful women who succeeded nevertheless.

7. This Poem called “Earthrise” by Amanda Gorman – from 2018. Because we much protect the earth for future generations like hers.


[BONUS] This Guide to Determine Which GOP Conspiracy You Are….
Mine: Anderson Cooper can shapeshifter into a food stamp on a socialist dare!

Word of the Day


Quote of the Day

Happy birthday Langston Hughes – February 1, 1901


Have a FANTASTIC Week!

Seven Things I Love: Inauguration Day (1/21/2021 – Special Edition)

I am going to guess I’ll be adding to this in the future but I want to get this posted this afternoon so I’m going to stop here…

1. This Celebration in Kamala Harris’ Ancestral Village – I believe I lived in India in my last life so this makes my heart swell.

2. This Poem Read by the Youngest Inaugural Poet in History – Amanda Gorman finished writing this poem immediately following the Capitol riots.

3. These Coats – I’m not ashamed to say it, I will always notice pretty things. What the First Lady wears (and so will what the Vice President and first families wear too) has always had a significant impact on fashion. Here’s a Town & Country article on the best coats at the Inauguration. Here’s an article on Dr. Biden’s inauguration outfit. Here’s an article about Vice President Harris’ ensemble. And here’s an article about what Michelle Obama was wearing.

Second Spouse, Doug Emhoff, Vice President Kamala Harris, First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, and President Joseph R. Biden
Emma Emhoff, Kamala Harris’ step-daughter stole the show with her coat.

4. This Performance by Lady Gaga Singing the National Anthem – Gaga did NOT disappoint. I had already been teary-eyed by openly weeping by the end of this.

https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1351933239133405184?s=20

And JLo’s performance was beautiful!

5. This Unfamiliar Act of Humility – looking forward to all of us acting more kindly, respectfully, generously, humanely, and with humility. Everyone knows you must lead by example.

6. This Field of Flags – between the pandemic and the potential risk of domestic terrorism there couldn’t be many people in attendance at this Inauguration so an installation of flags represented those who could not be present. The flags represent every state (with Washington D.C.) and territory including American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Here’s a time-lapse video of the installation of the flags.

Flags are placed on the National Mall, looking towards the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial, ahead of the inauguration of
President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, Monday, Jan. 18, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Approximately 191,500 US flags cover part of the National Mall and represent the American people who are
unable to travel to Washington, DC for the inauguration. JOE RAEDLE/GETTY

7. This 93-year-old Inauguration Announcer – no explanation necessary.

8. I wasn’t going to include this but just had to.
Good night, good bye, and good riddance.

A POEM FOR THE END by Sheila Dershowitz

Good night loon,
Good night goon,
Good night nastiest man in the room.
Good night lies,
Good night spies,
Good night rants and alibis.
Good night twitter,
Good night tweets.
Good night all those crazy bleats.
Good night red hats,
Good night cruel chants,
Good night sniveling syncophants.
Good night wall,
Good night cages,
Good night endless midnight rages.
Good night fine people on both sides,
Good night losers, good night suckers,
Good night evil nasty fuckers.
Good night Ivanka
Good night Jared,
Good night Barron, we hardly knew ya.
Good night thief,
Good night grief,
Good night cruel and callous chief.
Good night fake news,
And Fox and friends,
This is how the nightmare ends.
Good night at last.
It’s time to go,
The American people told you so.

Goodnight Loon: A Poem For The End found on Crooks and Liars

9. And let’s end with the President’s Inaugural Speech – which Fox News’ Chris Wallace called the “best inaugural address” he’s ever heard.

10. One last one. The First Tweet from the @POTUS Account…. under new management. A significantly different demeanor from the previous @POTUS user, n’est ce pas?

[Updated – have to add this, from the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.