Well, It Finally Happened…

https://youtu.be/44wDwMQVqCc Turn up your radioAnd let me hear the song On Thursday, July 16, I went out for a 10a grocery pick up at Walmart. I also needed to pick up some meds waiting for me. I left Mom sitting at the kitchen table: fed, caffeinated, medicated and listening to the radio. I was gone …

Chess Sets Used by Jews During the Holocaust

From Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, a collection of chess sets used by Jews during the Holocaust . Some of the sets predate the war while others were made and used in camps and in hiding. Playing chess helped to alleviate the suffering of Jews and allowed them a …

It’s Been A While…

But I'm Back... I want to share this music video with you because it’s so good. Also, it sparks a memory for me. When the Talking Heads’ movie Stop Making Sense, was released in 1984, I was living in NYC and was engaged to be married to Abby. My fiancé and I went to a …

Short documentary about why championship chess sets are so expensive

When the narrator says "less than 10 people are entrusted to carve the knights for world championship sets ", one's mind may wander to the fact that chess authorities are among the most blatantly corrupt sporting bodies on Earth, so perhaps something hinky is at hand. — Read the rest Source: Short documentary about why …

Drash: Balak: A Fable.

My name is Sylvia, but I'm better known as Balaam's she-ass. It's a blow to my ego to be a mere supporting character in his story, but, as my mother used to say, it is what it is. Balaam and I go way back. We were born the same year in Pethor on the banks …

Gramophone, 4/14/21: Creativity and friendship: Sir Tom Stoppard and André Previn

On the occasion of a retrospective of Andre Previn, Gramophone has posted on Previn's creative relationship with Stoppard. Very good and highly recommended. Nunn, Stoppard, and Previn Sir Tom Stoppard and André Previn collaborated in a daring innovation of ground-breaking originality when they created Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, which premiered at London’s Royal Festival …

Two Jabs Accomplished!

(Sorry, no musical theme this time.) Mom and I got our second doses of the Covid vaccine and everything went smoothly just like the first time. I was impressed by the organization of the operation. And we had no side effects whatsoever. But this will have little to no effect on our lifestyle. We're secluded …

Chess in film: “Casablanca”

For more than 70 years, the 1942 film Casablanca has made lovers — and those who want to be lovers — dream. In 2002, the American Film Institute voted it the best American love story of all time and, in 2007, it was voted the third best American Film of All Time. Source: Chess in …

Happy Birthday, Mom

We're Having a Party https://youtu.be/Cs5vUfddkT8 My mother's birthday is today. She turned 88-years-old. Happy birthday, Mom! Let me confess: I held something back from my last update. I've come to a deeper understanding of this new chapter of my life. I'm here in Arkansas taking care of my mother and I made the decision to …

The New Yorker, 2/22/2021: Tom Stoppard’s Charmed and Haunted Life

A new biography enables us to see beneath the intellectual dazzle of the playwright’s work. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/03/01/tom-stoppards-charmed-and-haunted-life