"The Sopranos"

"The Sopranos," considered by many to be one of the best television shows ever made is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The (surviving) cast and crew met in an Italian restaurant in Little Italy recently for drinks and dinner. The restaurant served "Carmela's Baked Ziti."

When the show was first broadcast, I watched every episode. I later bought a boxed set of DVDs and we're working our way through it again. The show holds up.

This is a hill I will die on -- Tony Soprano was the most fascinating character in TV history. Superbly portrayed by James Gandolfini, Tony contained the full range of human emotions and had real gravitas. Or, as the kids say today, rizz. Incredible writing filled Tony with unexpected dimension and Gandolfini's consummate skill conveys it through his face and body. Never has an actor been so perfect for a role.

I've mentioned this before but it's so significant I'll repeat it: one of the highlights of my life was seeing James Gandolfini, after the show ended, perform live on Broadway. I got second row seats and we were only ten feet away from this acting giant. He loved the role (and had a big hand in producing the play, an import from England). Seeing him happy was deeply joyful, especially in light of his later premature end.

Cyd Charisse, Dancer

We all know celebrities famous during our lifetime but most of us don't know artists, musicians and actors of earlier generations. Sometimes it's worth looking at their work for sparkling brilliance. 

I've been savoring the talents of dancer/actress Cyd Charisse lately. I first heard of her in my twenties watching classic musicals. Cyd danced in dozens of them during that genre's heyday (1945-1959). She was one of only a few women who danced with both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. She later compared the two titans in her memoir. 

Born in Texas in 1922, Cyd contracted polio when she was six. She took dance lessons to strengthen her body and recovered from the disease. Cyd's dancing progressed quickly and she turned pro in her teens. She was discovered by the same choreographer who found Gene Kelly. Cyd appeared in many films, some classics, and later acted on television. She lived to age 86, dying in 2008. (Most dancers live long lives from their good physical shape.)

You know instantly watching Cyd dance that she was exceptional. Her fluidity, range and poise are super-human. Fred Astaire believed she was the best female dance-partner he ever had and said "when you dance with Cyd, you stayed danced with." :)

Cyd had only a small role in "Singing In The Rain" (1952) but for the dance-finale Gene Kelly chose her instead of co-star Debbie Reynolds. Kelly explained it was because Cyd was a trained dancer and Debbie was not. 

Interesting Cyd trivia: (1) Hollywood famously insured Cyd's legs for $5 Million in the 1950s, a huge amount back then. (2) Cyd's real name was Tula Ellice Finklea. Ouch!

As obvious as her dancing talent was Cyd's beauty. Being a movie star was easy for her. She carried screen romances convincingly. In "Silk Stockings" (1957) she plays a rigid Communist Party member from Russia who visits Paris on political assignment. She becomes entranced by the city and falls in love with Fred Astaire's American character. I laugh at this dialogue from their early encounter:

[Fred] Ninotchka, don't you like me at all?

[Cyd] The arrangement of your features is not entirely repulsive to me.

[Fred] Oh, thank you. Don't you think in time you might go a little further than that?

[Cyd] I have not seen the rest of you.

After The Storm

 New glasses. New hair. New attitude.

Ways To Make Money

It's definitely weird how you can work hard for money (as I was taught and did for four decades) or make the same amount doing nothing. 

My biggest stock holding is Netflix. I've mentioned the company many times here since buying a chunk a decade ago. I identified it then as potentially a leader in streaming which I also foresaw as disrupting broadcast and cable. Netflix became that leader and streaming now eclipses other means of distributing entertainment.

When Netflix releases its quarterly reports, the stock jumps. Usually up, sometimes down, always a lot. Tuesday's positive 4th quarter report caused my stock to surge over 10% which is a lot for non-crypto stock. And it did that in a day. 

So... I earned as much yesterday as I used to earn in a year toiling at my job. That's fortunate but it just feels weird. My parents would never understand this.

Campaign News

I regret to announce I have suspended my campaign for President. Simply put, I can't see a path to the nomination.

Wait, is that it over there? Um... no, that's my neighbor's driveway. Never mind...

Harvey Littleton, Glass Artist

I started collecting art a few years ago when I realized art marries two of my central interests. Of course art has aesthetic qualities (e.g., beauty, innovation) but it also possesses something else: history. Works of art are like modern archaeological artifacts: objects that tell stories. Stories about the artists who created the pieces, stories about the culture in which they were conceived, and stories about the passage of time and perspective. 

Focusing on art of the last century, as I do, means these works address recent life and consider people either alive or shortly-departed. This is much different, much more accessible and more interesting (to me) than art from ancient or medieval times. Artists like Lino Tagliapietra (1934-) who are still alive -- and willing to dine with me -- and artists like Stanislav Libenský (1921-2002) and Jaroslava Brychtová (1924-2020), whose many students and followers were influenced and are carrying forward themes and techniques of their work, are fascinating. Stories to learn and tell.

I just acquired a new work that similarly sates my hunger for history: glass art made in 1983 by famous artist Harvey Littleton (1922-2013). Harvey is an important, intriguing character. He was born in Corning (where the world-famous Corning Museum of Glass [CMOG] is located) and was the son of the scientist who headed R&D at Corning Glass Works (a huge company that did groundbreaking research on industrial and commercial applications for glass. The company also founded and continues to support CMOG.) Harvey was encouraged by his father to go into science but like many children wanted to explore a different path; Harvey chose art. 

At first Harvey was an educator, teaching about glass in several universities. He promoted glass art and taught many later-famous artists like Dale Chiluly. Harvey retired from teaching in 1976 to devote his full attention to making work in glass. He worked steadily from then until his death in 2013 at age 91. Four of Harvey's adult children work in the field of glass art.

Harvey is often referred to as the "Father of the Studio Glass Movement," a title worth respecting. During his lifetime Harvey saw glass art change from one type of practice to another and he had a big hand in influencing that shift. Chronicling Harvey's whole role is far beyond this short summary; you can find details of it elsewhere (e.g., Wikipedia).

It was during Harvey's immersion in art-making that he produced the work I purchased. He was then in his sixties. A private collector acquired the work from an art gallery and enjoyed it for four decades. Now, that sole collector is parting with the object to a new caretaker: me. I'm inheriting a piece of history to enjoy for as long as I walk the planet. Then it will pass to the next caretaker. 

We care for art in our hands; we don't "own" it. Not having participated in the work's creation we have no right to claim ownership, just a privilege to hold it for a while. I don't subscribe to the popular but fallacious notion that artwork is merely chattel, property we can buy and sell like widgets. Artwork is special -- a gift to humanity, as Harvard scholar Lewis Hyde wrote -- and occupies a different place in our mental and social worlds. Coincidentally Hyde wrote his book ("The Gift") the same year that my new artwork was created (1983).

When this and my other works are ready for display I'll invite you over. The price of admission will be having to listen to me tell the stories the artworks possess.

Snow Reveals Character

We got our first snow-storm in two years. About 3 inches where I live (Long Island, NY). Here's what happened...

[Putting on sweats]

"You're not going outside to shovel snow, are you?!

"Why yes. Yes, I am."

Twenty years of living with me and Robin still doesn't know the person she married.

Update: Successfully shoveled our walkways and driveway. Also accidentally shoveled part of our neighbor's property. Lost my bearings at one point.