July 3, 2022

 Richard III at Central Park. Good show. Queen Margaret played by Sharon Washington was terrific, Thanks to the Hollow Crown I know the Queen's backstory.

Conscience is but a word that cowards use, devised at first to keep the strong in awe.

September 21, 2019

Another visit to Fire Island.



On the water.



Ocean Beach, great signs.



Declaiming from above.

September 17, 2019

Richard III at a park in Staten Island. Good production.



Battery Weed is a great settings.



Picked up some Pizza to go and had a Flagship Roggenfest while it cooked.

The specs:
Flagship Roggenfest (6.5% ABV ~ 23 IBU) is Flagship’s fall seasonal combines two classic German beer styles: roggenbier, a German ale brewed with rye, and märzenbier, also known as Oktoberfest for the Munich beer festival, a full-flavored beer that marks the season. We give you Flagship Roggenfest! This malty brew uses Vienna and Munich varieties of malted barley that are complemented with German malted rye and German chocolate rye. Bavarian noble hops balance the beer with a mild bitterness and soft floral aroma. The result is a full-bodied dark copper colored ale with a smooth texture and spicy-like characteristic from the rye malt. Grab some bratwurst or a pretzel and enjoy a Roggenfest before the all the leaves fall.

November 24, 2017

Benedict Cumberbatch makes a fine Richard III:

Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun
And descant on mine own deformity:
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.



Thanksgiving music included A$AP Rocky's "F**kin' Problems" and Fetty Wap's "679."

March 23, 2015

Jumble perfect score.



Richard III finally gets a proper burial. He should have taken care of Buckingham:

BUCKINGHAM

My lord, your promise for the earldom,--

KING RICHARD III

Richmond! When last I was at Exeter,
The mayor in courtesy show'd me the castle,
And call'd it Rougemont: at which name I started,
Because a bard of Ireland told me once
I should not live long after I saw Richmond.

BUCKINGHAM

My Lord!

KING RICHARD III

Ay, what's o'clock?

BUCKINGHAM

I am thus bold to put your grace in mind
Of what you promised me.

KING RICHARD III

Well, but what's o'clock?

BUCKINGHAM

Upon the stroke of ten.

KING RICHARD III

Well, let it strike.

BUCKINGHAM

Why let it strike?

KING RICHARD III

Because that, like a Jack, thou keep'st the stroke
Betwixt thy begging and my meditation.
I am not in the giving vein to-day.

BUCKINGHAM

Why, then resolve me whether you will or no.

KING RICHARD III

Tut, tut,
Thou troublest me; am not in the vein.

Exeunt all but BUCKINGHAM

BUCKINGHAM

Is it even so? rewards he my true service
With such deep contempt made I him king for this?
O, let me think on Hastings, and be gone
To Brecknock, while my fearful head is on!

Exit

February 9, 2013

A friend recommended: The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson.



Newsweek's Richard III mash-up.



Nemo wasn't that bad in NYC.



Sun is out and snow is melting. I guess about 10 inches in Queens.



Icicles in the Sun.

August 11, 2012

Carmelo and Kevin take over 3rd Quarter. USA goes for Gold against Spain tomorrow. Today, the Women take on France.



Budweiser was on sale, my official Olympics drink. Not owned by American Company any more: now run by Belgian-Brazilian beer conglomerate Anheuser–Busch InBev.

Had to cancel all trips because of Chemotherapy complications. This will be a true Staycation. Olympics, Beer , BBQ and Books.



Go Prix Fixe until Labor day. Not as good as Restaurant Week, but still worth it.



Great solioquy from King Henry VI, part III > Act III, scene II:

GLOUCESTER: Ay, Edward will use women honourably.
Would he were wasted, marrow, bones and all,
That from his loins no hopeful branch may spring,
To cross me from the golden time I look for!
And yet, between my soul's desire and me--
The lustful Edward's title buried--
Is Clarence, Henry, and his son young Edward,
And all the unlook'd for issue of their bodies,
To take their rooms, ere I can place myself:
A cold premeditation for my purpose!
Why, then, I do but dream on sovereignty;
Like one that stands upon a promontory,
And spies a far-off shore where he would tread,
Wishing his foot were equal with his eye,
And chides the sea that sunders him from thence,
Saying, he'll lade it dry to have his way:
So do I wish the crown, being so far off;
And so I chide the means that keeps me from it;
And so I say, I'll cut the causes off,
Flattering me with impossibilities.
My eye's too quick, my heart o'erweens too much,
Unless my hand and strength could equal them.
Well, say there is no kingdom then for Richard;
What other pleasure can the world afford?
I'll make my heaven in a lady's lap,
And deck my body in gay ornaments,
And witch sweet ladies with my words and looks.
O miserable thought! and more unlikely
Than to accomplish twenty golden crowns!
Why, love forswore me in my mother's womb:
And, for I should not deal in her soft laws,
She did corrupt frail nature with some bribe,
To shrink mine arm up like a wither'd shrub;
To make an envious mountain on my back,
Where sits deformity to mock my body;
To shape my legs of an unequal size;
To disproportion me in every part,
Like to a chaos, or an unlick'd bear-whelp
That carries no impression like the dam.
And am I then a man to be beloved?
O monstrous fault, to harbour such a thought!
Then, since this earth affords no joy to me,
But to command, to cheque, to o'erbear such
As are of better person than myself,
I'll make my heaven to dream upon the crown,
And, whiles I live, to account this world but hell,
Until my mis-shaped trunk that bears this head
Be round impaled with a glorious crown.
And yet I know not how to get the crown,
For many lives stand between me and home:
And I,--like one lost in a thorny wood,
That rends the thorns and is rent with the thorns,
Seeking a way and straying from the way;
Not knowing how to find the open air,
But toiling desperately to find it out,--
Torment myself to catch the English crown:
And from that torment I will free myself,
Or hew my way out with a bloody axe.
Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile,
And cry 'Content' to that which grieves my heart,
And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,
And frame my face to all occasions.
I'll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall;
I'll slay more gazers than the basilisk;
I'll play the orator as well as Nestor,
Deceive more slily than Ulysses could,
And, like a Sinon, take another Troy.
I can add colours to the chameleon,
Change shapes with Proteus for advantages,
And set the murderous Machiavel to school.
Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?
Tut, were it farther off, I'll pluck it down.

October 22, 2011

What a week of Crossword puzzles. Sent in my answer to the Meta-Puzzle this morning. Solved it without the second clue because I do the Daily Jumble. Read people's comments and it took a while but finally understood the second clue. Pretty, pretty good Mr. Berry.



OWS descended on Union Square. Police presence diverted them from the park.



The Old Town Bar on 18th Street. The sign on the door is not quite Statue of Liberty quality. Compare:

"Hearty welcome to Zuccotti Mob (provided bathed and powdered, at least bathed, and not looking for a handout.)"

To:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."



The Village Voice voted The Academy Used CD store on West 18th Street as the Best in NYC.




Picked up these four for under $25.



Across the street was this nice sight.



Just rolled out, have to try it. Image is from a small card, trying out my new Printer/Scanner.



The NY Post wild headline, a NY tradition. Almost as good as "Headless Body in Topless Bar."



You know you drink too much when a new liquor store opens and you feel like when you were a kid as a new candy store opened. This one had a statue of Jack Daniels.