from Bruce
Anecdotes
Education
• When Natalia Makarova was a young ballet dancer in the Soviet Union, she fell while rehearsing Cinderella, knocking the wind out of herself so badly that she couldn’t cry out although she had dislocated her shoulder. Later, as Antonina Ivanovna, the company masseuse, was putting her bones back in their proper place, young Natalia cried out. Her teacher, Natalia Mikhailovna Dudinskaya, a virtuoso dancer turned teacher, heard her, so she came in and talked to her, saying, “Don’t worry, everything will be all right. You’ll be on stage in three or four days. We, too, frequently danced in pain and hurt. It’s nothing. As you see, we made it.” This may seem callous, but later Ms. Makarova realized that her teacher was right. One of the things that she learned from Ms. Dudinskaya was how to “triumph over the body.”
• Zen master Busshin was once asked by a monk, “Do heaven and hell exist?” Busshin answered, “No.” Overhearing Busshin, some samurai, who were generous benefactors of the temple and who were amazed by his answer, asked him the same question: “Do heaven and hell exist?” This time Busshin answered, “Yes.” The samurai then asked Busshin why he was being contradictory. Busshin replied, “If I tell you there’s neither heaven nor hell, where would the alms come from?” By the way, Zuigan, the Chinese Zen master, used to wake up every morning and have this conversation with himself: “Master? … Yes, sir! … Be wide awake! … Yes, sir! … And from now on don’t let anyone deceive you! … Yes, sir! Yes, sir!”
• Maestro Serge Koussevitzky had enormous control over the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He had the final say over who would be the guest conductors during his rare breaks, and he had final say over the programs they would conduct. Whenever a guest conductor submitted a program that included a work by Tchaikovsky, Maestro Koussevitzky would delete that work from the program—the only conductor allowed to perform Tchaikovsky with the Boston Symphony Orchestra was himself. By the way, maestro Koussevitzky, who was born in Russia, occasionally gave conducting classes, at one of which he made a famous remark: “Fine, fine, that’s awful.”
• White is the color of innocence. Someone just beginning to study a martial art wears a white belt. In time, and with much use, the belt becomes darker and darker, almost black. Later, with much more use, the belt frays and grows light in color again, signifying a return to innocence—something much prized in Zen. By the way, you can learn by teaching. This is well understood in the martial arts—the dojo, the place where the martial arts are taught and practiced, is known traditionally as the “Place of Enlightenment.” Also by the way, Bernie Bernheim began to study karate when he was 57. At the age of 61, he earned his black belt.
• Geoff Edwards, who now lives in Whangarei, New Zealand, was a 13-year-old student in London in 1953—when teachers were strict and often gave as punishment a whack with a cane on a student’s left hand. He remembers, “John Smith often got a whack. One day in a science lesson on gravity, John kept dropping things on the floor, laughing, and blaming gravity. The teacher, who was also our sports teacher, opened the window, grabbed Smith from his seat and dangled him head-first out of the second-storey window, holding him by the ankles. Then he shouted, ‘Now, Smith, do you understand the GRAVITY of the situation?’”
• As a teenager, future ballerina Patricia Bowman took lessons from the great choreographer Michel Fokine. She says that he taught in percentages. For example, she would hold her leg in a certain position, and he might say, “Your leg is only 35 percent. Could I have maybe 65?” Or he might say, “That’s very good, but could I have 100 percent?” By the way, dancers sometimes resort to odd ways of making money. Lar Lubovitch, a dancer and choreographer of note, worked early in his career as a go-go dancer at Trude Heller’s Greenwich Village nightclub. He danced on a narrow ledge and held onto a doorknob for balance.
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***
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Presenting
Michael Egan
replied:
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: “Corazón de Ora” [“Heart of Pray”]
Album: TALES FROM THE POP PUNK WORLD: VOLUME 4
Artist: Landia
Artist Location: Madrid, Spain
Record Company: RTTB Records [Ramone to the Bone Records]
Record Company Location: SH, Germany
Info:
RTTB Records has 10 compilations of pop punk tracks. Bruce has all of them.
Price: Name Your Price (Includes FREE) for 103 tracks by various artists!
If you like the track and Landia, check out 174517 - LADO B, the album the track originally appeared: €10 (EURO) for 13 tracks.
Genre: Punk Pop. Pop.
Links:
TALES FROM THE POP PUNK WORLD: VOLUME 4
174517 - LADO B
RTTB Records on Bandcamp
Landia on Bandcamp
Landia on YouTube
Other Links:
Bruce’s Music Recommendations: FREE pdfs
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
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David Bruce's Blog #3
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
New Venture
Michael Egan
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
Ukraine
Other Links:
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
David Bruce's Blog #3
davidbrucebooks: EDUCATE YOURSELF - Free PDFs
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sun broke through mid-afternoon and the defective rooster was taking credit.
Sings For Ukraine
Julian Lennon
Julian Lennon once vowed to never perform his late father John Lennon's song "Imagine," but the war in Ukraine led him to make an exception to that promise.
The 59-year-old singer sang a stunning rendition of the song as part of Global Citizen’s social media rally, Stand Up For Ukraine, which is working to raise money for the embattled country amid Russia's brutal war. Lennon was accompanied by Nuno Bettencourt on guitar as they performed in a dark room illuminated by dozens of candles.
"The War on Ukraine is an unimaginable tragedy... As a human, and as an artist, I felt compelled to respond in the most significant way I could," Lennon wrote. "So today, for the first time ever, I publicly performed my Dad’s song, IMAGINE. Why now, after all these years? — I had always said, that the only time I would ever consider singing ‘IMAGINE’ would be if it was the ‘End of the World’…But also because his lyrics reflect our collective desire for peace worldwide.”
Lennon is the son of John Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia Lennon. The couple wed in August 1962, but split six years later in November 1968 when their son was only five years old. The former Beatle married Yoko Ono in 1969 and the couple had a son, Sean Ono Lennon, in 1975.
Julian Lennon
Weekend Box Office
“Sonic the Hedgehog 2”
“Sonic the Hedgehog 2” sped to the top of the charts in its opening weekend, earning an impressive $71 million according to studio estimates Sunday. Paramount’s PG-rated sequel easily bested the weekend’s other major newcomer, Michael Bay’s “Ambulance,” which faltered in theaters.
“Sonic 2,” which brings back the first film’s director, writers and cast, including James Marsden, Jim Carrey and Ben Schwartz, who voices the blue video game character, opened in 4,234 locations and actually surpassed its predecessor’s opening weekend. The first “Sonic the Hedgehog” opened over the Presidents Day holiday weekend in February 2020, earning $58 million in its first three days.
Meanwhile, “Ambulance” got off to a bumpy start in its first weekend. With an estimated $8.7 million in grosses, it opened behind Sony’s “Morbius,” down 74% in weekend two, and “The Lost City.” Bay’s nail-biter about a botched bank robbery was released by Universal and stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Eiza González.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” $71 million.
2. “Morbius,” $10.2 million.
3. “The Lost City,” $9.2 million.
4. “Ambulance,” $8.7 million.
5. “The Batman,” $6.5 million.
6. “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” $6.1 million.
7. “Uncharted,” $2.7 million.
8. “Jujutsu Kaisen 0,” $825,000.
9. “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” $625,000.
10. “RRR,” $570,000.
“Sonic the Hedgehog 2”
Bryan Cranston & Aaron Paul Confirmed
‘Better Call Saul’
During today’s Deadline Contenders panel, Better Call Saul star Jonathan Banks jokingly took a swipe at Bryan Cranston about him potentially reprising his role as Walter White.
It’s now official: Cranston and Aaron Paul, who played Jesse Pinkman in Better Call Saul predecessor Breaking Bad will be back.
Co-creator Peter Gould unveiled the news at a Paleyfest event and AMC confirmed the news, noting ‘They’re coming back’.
The sixth and final season of Better Call Saul is broken into two parts. It kicks off on April 18 and runs until late May, before picking up again in early July.
‘Better Call Saul’
Apologizes
Sam Elliott
Sam Elliott on Sunday apologized for the comments he made last month about the film The Power of the Dog on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast and had a special message for Jane Campion, who won the Oscar for directing the Western drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
“I told the WTF podcaster that I thought Jane Campion was a brilliant director, and I want to apologize to the cast of The Power of the Dog, brilliant actors all,” Elliott said. “And in particular Benedict Cumberbatch. I can only say that I’m sorry and I am. I am.”
While speaking during Deadline’s Contenders TV event Sunday to promote 1883 on Paramount+, Elliott began his mea culpa with a semi-serious warning. “First, don’t do a podcast with the call letters WTF.” He then said the movie “struck a chord with me” and wanted to talk to Maron about “how I felt about the film.”
“I wasn’t very articulate about it. I didn’t articulate it very well,” Elliott said, in what were his first public comments since the March 1 podcast. “And I said some things that hurt people and I feel terrible about that. The gay community has been incredible to me my entire career. And I mean my entire career, from before I got started in this town. Friends on every level and every job description up until today. I’m sorry I hurt any of those friends and someone that I loved. And anyone else by the words that I used.”
Sam Elliott
Even Shadier than It Sounds
‘Shadow Docket’
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court gave the go-ahead for a business-friendly and anti-environment Trump-era regulation. That this conservative Supreme Court ruled in this way is par for the course. But what was somewhat unusual about the ruling was that the court used what is called its “shadow docket” to do so. This secretive, irregular, and unreasoned ruling from the Supreme Court has unfortunately become more common in the past few years.
To understand the “shadow docket” and what is so problematic about the Supreme Court’s use of it, you have to first think about how the court typically decides its cases. For those cases, after two lower courts have ruled in the case, a party appeals to the Supreme Court. There are briefs from both sides arguing whether the Supreme Court should take the case. Then, if the Supreme Court decides to hear the case, the parties file new briefs asking the court to rule in their favor. Other people and groups can also file what are called “amicus briefs” giving their outside view on the matter. The court then hears oral argument in the case, where the lawyers argue their position to the Justices. Then, after deliberating on the matter and then taking several months to reason through the legal issues, the court renders its ruling accompanied by lengthy opinions explaining the basis of the ruling and any disagreements the Justices might have.
This normal order of things takes time, sometimes multiple years, but that time is the result of a transparent process that allows for reasoned decision-making based on the full participation of the parties and even the public. It is this orderly process that, in theory, gives the court its legitimacy. And it is the court’s legitimacy that makes people in this country follow what the court says and respect its decisions, even if they disagree with them.
The shadow docket runs afoul of everything that gives the Supreme Court its legitimacy in the normal process. At its least controversial, the shadow docket is used for cases that present true emergencies. Think a death row appeal where the prisoner is going to be executed within hours if the court doesn’t act. The shadow docket allows the court to decide true emergencies like this without the lengthy process that ordinary cases take. For these types of cases, the shadow docket makes sense.
However, as scholars have documented, since the start of the Trump grifter's presidency, the Supreme Court has been using the shadow docket to decide high profile controversial issues that do not present the same level of emergency as an impending death sentence. And for this growing number of cases, the court rushes everything and changes almost all of its procedures.
‘Shadow Docket’
Police Try To Censor Video
California
Police in southern California were caught playing songs from popular Disney films such as Mulan,T oy Story and Encanto in an apparent attempt at censorship.
On Monday, YouTube user Santa Ana Audits said they came across what looked like the end of a car chase after half a dozen police cars arrived in the neighbourhood.
Not long into the clip, the song “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from the 1995 Disney classic Toy Story can be heard playing loudly from a police car.
The much-beloved track is followed “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Encanto and “Reflection” from Mulan, with the YouTube user asking (in Spanish) an officer for Santa Ana Police Department if they “get paid to listen to music”.
Videos posted to YouTube and other online platforms with copyrighted music are censored and often removed to prevent claims – leading to police departments across the US using songs to stop video footage from their activity going online.
California
Only Texas
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania school districts have banned books on 456 occasions over the last nine months, the second-highest total in the United States.
The Central York School District is responsible for 441 of them, but eight other Pennsylvania districts banned books between last July and the end of March, according to an analysis from Pen America, an organization that seeks to protect freedom of speech for writers.
The 1,586 bans counted nationwide – which span 86 school districts across 26 states – include removals from libraries and classroom prohibitions, as well as titles temporarily banned from circulation while districts investigate complaints.
Pennsylvania is behind only Texas, where 16 districts instituted 713 book bans. Florida ranks third, with seven districts implementing 204 bans. New Jersey districts banned books three times.
Pennsylvania
Private Taxidermy Museum
Spain
Spain’s Civil Guard says it is investigating a businessman in the eastern Valencia region who owned a private taxidermy collection with more than 1,000 stuffed animals, including just over 400 from protected species and at least one specimen of a North African oryx, already extinct.
The collection would fetch 29 million euros ($31.5 million) on the black market, the Civil Guard said Sunday in a statement, adding that its owner could be charged with trafficking and other crimes against the environment.
Investigating agents found the stuffed animals in two warehouses extending over 50,000 square meters on the outskirts of Bétera, a small town north of the eastern coastal city of Valencia.
Of the 1,090 stuffed animals found, 405 belonged to specimens protected by the CITES convention on wildlife protection.
They included the scimitar oryx, also known as the Sahara oryx, which the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, declared extinct in the wild in 2000, and at least two more species nearly extinct: the addax, or white antelope, originally from the Sahara desert and the Bengal tiger.
Spain
North Dakota
Tanis Site
Scientists claim to have found a fossil of a dinosaur killed on the day an extinction asteroid struck the Earth 66 million years ago.
Scientists say that the perfectly preserved leg of a Thescelosaurus dinosaur, complete with scaly skin, can be dated back to the mass extinction event because of the presence of debris from the impact, the BBC said.
It is widely believed that when the 7.5 mile-wide asteroid, approximately the size of Mount Everest, hit the Gulf of Mexico, all non-avian dinosaurs on earth were wiped out.
An upcoming BBC documentary looks at a slew of fossils found at the Tanis site in North Dakota. It includes the Thescelosaurus leg, seen in a video here, and the skin of a triceratops, pictured above.
Scientists believe that tiny glass-like particles of molten rock lodged in the gills of fish fossils found at the site were kicked up by the asteroid's explosive impact, the BBC said.
Tanis Site
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