Yep, this is how I'll be playing it out tonight. Cucumber martinis. A warm weekend evening in the city and icy Hendrick's Gin... it can't get better—in the drinks department—than this. And, it will certainly make my still-sore-throat feel better.
Hendricks Gin on N Charles Street, Baltimore
With its touch of rose petals and hit of cucumber, I adore Hendrick's—and the actual cucumbers are fun, also, in a garnish sort of way.
A couple of weeks ago, I had the best Hendrick's martinis ever at Baltimore's landmark restaurant, The Prime Rib. I'm trying to duplicate their recipe and their method of making the drink. I'm fairly certain the drinks will come together.
The Prime Rib, Baltimore
If you don't hear back from me tonight, you can assume that my martini-perfecting process was fairly painless and totally successful.
Hendrick's Gin Website
I'm not affiliated with the company. I'm simply a huge fan of their product. And, their website is all kinds of fun. Visit them.
And remember to, as Nick and Nora Charles did, sip distinctly delicious drinks—but sip responsibly. Ok, not so much... have fun with a great cocktail.
On many fronts, 1937 wasn't altogether a great year. The United States was still attempting to recover from the Great Depression, Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared after taking off from New Guinea, Japan occupied Beijing, the Great Hong Kong Typhoon killed 11,000 people, Italy withdrew from the League of Nations. John D Rockefeller, George Gershwin, and Jean Harlow died. In April of 1937 German warplanes from the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion destroyed the Basque town of Guernica during what was reported as the first air bombardment of an undefended town in history; more than 1,600 civilians were killed.
And, the Baltimore News-Post ran this this headline in May:
Earlier that year WLS, Chicago's powerhouse of a radio station, dispatched announcer Herb Morrison and his engineer, Charlie Nelhsen, to cover the Hindenburg landing in Lakehurst, New Jersey. Morrison's report was to be recorded on a large acetate disk for later broadcast. Recording news and actualities was, in 1937, against all the rules of network radio broadcasting. Morrison's recorded report lead to a change of those rules, which at the time only allowed recordings to be used for sound effects in radio dramas. Morrison's report was so human and so compelling that NBC played the recording on it's network and it became the prototype for news actualities in the post war years.
Morrison was a slender, diminutive man with dark hair, dimples, and a strong chin. On the air, he sounded older than his years. He was dapper, and by all accounts he was exceedingly handsome. Prior to his dispatch to Lakehurst, the majority of his radio work had been as an announcer for live musical programming. For the Hindenburg report from Lakehurst he wore a blue serge suit and a tailored top coat.
Announcer, Herb Morrison
Today most people see, or remember, a newsreel of the Hindenburg disaster with Morrison's account as the voice-over. However, that's a later construction of how the actual reports were filed, seen, and heard.
Even in 1937 newsreels were a low-budget affair. Black and white cameras with no ability to record sound were used. And Morrison and his one-man crew were recording a transcription to a disk with no ability to add visuals. Think of what you remember seeing as one of the earliest audio-visual mashups.
Here is an actual (and yes, silent) newsreel from the time with post production, editing, and a certain amount of 'film touch-up' as performed by the releasing studio.
And this, from the Smithsonian, is Herb Morrison's radio report added to actual newsreel film, without any film reconstruction. The difference in film quality is all-telling.
According to WLS radio: Listeners in Chicago and across the country didn't hear Morrison's coverage of the disaster until the next day because his report wasn't broadcast live from Lakehurst. He and engineer Charley Nehlsen had been experimenting with field recordings on huge acetate discs. They realized the gravity of their recordings as they found themselves being followed by German SS Officers! After hiding out for a few hours, the two managed to make a clean getaway and get back across the country to WLS. The chilling account aired the next day on the station and was the first recorded radio news report to be broadcast nationally by NBC.
I've been fascinated by lighter-than-air craft, zeppelins, and blimps for as long as I can remember. In Baltimore we all see quite a few small blimps soaring over the city—Dish Network, MetLife, and yes, the Conan craft. I wondered what a zeppelin the size of the Hindenburg would have looked like flying over Baltimore. I wondered if it might have looked this:
Hindenburg Over Baltimore, MD
The Hindenburg explosion killed 35 of the 97 people on board and one person on the ground. A cause of the disaster has been widely speculated about and has created more conspiracy theories than the Kennedy assination, yet the true cause of the Hindenburg's demise has never been discovered.
Alternate title for this blog post: A Boy and His Photog.
Looking out of our windows, we see ever-changing theatre. We see sky shows with helicopters, bi-planes, and blimps soaring around—sometimes at eye-level. We see, and listen to, concerts courtesy of the Downtown Partnership and the myriad of vocal and instrumental artists who arrive ready to entertain for just our smiles and applause. We have Street Fairs, Farmer's Markets, and Art Shows.
And day and night, we see hundreds of different people doing hundreds of different things in hundreds of different windows.
Now and then we are treated to a special, more intimate show.
A Boy and His Photog 1 - Sheraton, Baltimore
A Boy and His Photog 2 - Sheraton, Baltimore
A Boy and His Photog 3 - Sheraton, Baltimore
Nude photo shoots in hotels seem to be very innocent—often comically-funny-from-a-distance—events to catch a glimpse of. It can take a longtime for the photographer to get all of the "living props" where they should be. Photographing nude models makes photographing fresh cut flowers, raw seafood and meat, and ready-to-serve food seem like child's play.
By the way, if this post seems off topic, I assure you that some of the poses that these models construct truly qualify them to be designated: Performing Artist. Hey, their poses almost qualify them to be in Cirque Du Soleil.
Ok then, that's all on this topic. Well, until the Fireman's Convention arrives in Baltimore, later this year.
CENTERSTAGE offering Executive Fellowship Exposed to all aspects of the administrative side of the theater as well as the administrative interface with artistic and production
Good luck with your submissions and check back here often. It's looking like a very busy season is just beginning for folks looking to work in the arts in Baltimore.
About GBCA: GBCA was born out of a series of conversations between 1998 and 2001, when the cultural community identified a need for a more unified and connected arts and cultural sector. In December 2001, founder Nancy Haragan incorporated Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance. Nancy Haragan stepped down as director in December 2009. J. Buck Jabaily served as executive director from January 2010 to January 2012, when he was succeeded by Jeannie L. Howe.
Since its launch, GBCA has served as both a catalyst and an incubator for various programs and initiatives in the region. GBCA promotes within and for the cultural community with BatlimoreFunGuide.com, Weekly FunSaver Emails, JobsPlus, and our weekly community newsletter. GBCA has sponsored and co-sponsored bothy symposia and the annual Mayor’s Town Hall Meeting, and offered a number of community convenings. GBCA has helped coordinate sector-wide participation in ambitious citywide festivals, such as VIVAT! (2003), Tour de Clay (2005), Free Fall Baltimore (2006, 2007, 2008), and The Maps Festival (2008), and completed several important sector-wide studies, including a Collaborative Arts Marketing Study. Other significant initiatives were GBCA serving as licensee for the Maryland Cultural Data Project (2007-2011), hosting RadarRedux.com (2008-2011), the Wealth Analysis (2007), and since 2008, our ongoing administration of the Baker Artists Awards on behalf of the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund. For more on current GBCA programs, click here.
[signed in script: A Merry X Mass to you all (Will)]
What ever you have to say about good ol' Will, you can't call him sentimental. And, he certainly wasn't into waxing bucolic.
No sir, no snowy scenes of Baltimore, no holiday theme, no close-ups of churches for Will. Nothing at all warm and fuzzy.
He appears to have been a cut-to-the chase kind of guy.
I wonder who he was? I wonder why he was in Baltimore? I wonder who his family was?
Vintage postcards fascinate me in much the same way that Twitter fascinates me. Both are forms of extremely short communication that can be read by most anyone who happens to see it. They both convey and publicly display personal messages, sell products, add to an organization's marketing mix, and many times carry photos along with bragging rights. Both forms of communication let friends know where you are, where you've been, and what you did there.
Fort McHenry Centennial Postcard, Baltimore 1912
Postcard writers and Twitter authors use a form of highly abbreviated writing that would almost never be acceptable in another format. The language for postcard writers is actually called Postcardese. And, both postcards and Twitter can create a highly charged impact; sometimes the message is vital and urgent.
The postcard business in the United States became a full-on craze between 1903 and 1915, reaching its zenith around 1906.
And a look back at some of the early postcards is just plain fun, if not educational. Here's a 2-and-a-half-minute look at old Baltimore via the picture postcard.
One day someone may look back at your Tweets and photos and make a fun little show like this one. Hey it could happen. Remember that...
...every public tweet, ever, since Twitter’s inception in March 2006, will be archived digitally at the Library of Congress. That’s a LOT of tweets, by the way: Twitter processes more than 50 million tweets every day, with the total numbering in the billions.
Enjoy. And that's song is a cute little ditty, yes?
A view from my home office on North Charles Street. Baltimore's winter sunsets are vibrant; Baltimore's summer skies are the best for photographing puffy, white clouds.
This is a pulic live stream event. To view the Q&A you DO NOT need to log into our website or RSVP online.
Get Involved! During the event, you can email questions to the moderator at LiveStream@sagfoundation.org or tweet to @SAGFoundation or #SAGF.
Dan Rather has covered virtually every major news event in the world in the past 50 years. His resume reads like a history book, from his unparalleled reporting on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, through the civil rights movement, to Watergate, and wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. (He has covered, on scene, in person, more than twenty wars, violent insurrections, uprisings, coups and riots all over the world—including the 1965 India-Pakistan War, the Rhodesian War of Independence and the Tiananmen Square uprising for freedom and democracy in China—earning the nickname “War Zone Dan”)
From his early days as the Associated Press reporter in Huntsville, Texas, in 1950, Rather has more than earned his reputation as the “hardest working man in broadcast journalism.”
Rather photo courtesy CBS
Now the anchor and managing editor of DAN RATHER REPORTS, which began broadcasting on HDNet in November, 2006, Rather served as anchor and managing editor of the CBS EVENING NEWS from March 9, 1981 to March 9, 2005, the longest such tenure in broadcast journalism history. He also served as anchor of the CBS program 48 HOURS and as a correspondent for 60 MINUTES and 60 MINUTES II.
Rather has interviewed every United States president from Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and virtually every major international leader of the past 30 years. He landed two world exclusive news-breaking interviews with Saddam Hussein, in 1990 and in 2003.
Rather has received virtually every honor in broadcast journalism, including numerous Emmy and Peabody Awards and citations from critical, scholarly, professional and charitable organizations.
This event will be moderated by Anthony DeRosa, Social Media Editor, Reuters.
About Anthony DeRosa: Anthony is the Reuters Social Media Editor, integrating the “ambient wire” that exists on social networks, where news now breaks before anywhere else, into Reuters platforms. As part of his mission, he helps Reuters journalists and editors use social media tools to monitor news, report news, and find leads. The New York Times declared him “The undisputed King of Tumblr” based on soupsoup.tumblr.com. Mashable named it one of the best tumblrs of 2008. On Feb 23, 2010, it cracked the Technorati Top 100. Soup was recently cited as a reliable source for news on ABC, NBC, CNN and by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. Connect with Anthony at twitter.com/antderosa.
He Walked by Night, released in 1948, is a Film Noir gem. When the film was released by Eagle Lion Films, the trade magazine Variety wrote, "He Walked by Night is a high-tension crime meller, supercharged with violence but sprung with finesse.
"Top credits for this film's wallop is shared equally by the several scripters, director Alfred Werker and a small, but superb cast headed by Richard Basehart...Starting in high gear, the film increases in momentum until the cumulative tension explodes in a powerful crime-doesn't pay climax.
"Striking effects are achieved through counterpoint of the slayer's ingenuity in eluding the cops and the police efficiency in bringing him to book. High-spot of the film is the final sequence which takes place in LA's storm drainage tunnel system where the killer tries to make his getaway.
"With this role, Basehart establishes himself as one of Hollywood's most talented finds in recent years. He heavily overshadows the rest of the cast, although Scott Brady, Roy Roberts and Jim Cardwell, as the detectives, deliver with high competence. Film is also marked by realistic camera work and a solid score."
He Walked by Night became a loose template for the radio and televison series, Dragnet. Dragnet premiered on NBC Radio on June 3, 1949 with an episode titled, Robbery.
Currently scheduled for a December 2011, or January 2012 opening, W.E. (Also, W./E.), tells the story of two fragile but determined women - Wally Winthrop (Abbie Cornish) and Wallis Simpson - separated by more than six decades.
In 1998, lonely New Yorker Winthrop is obsessed with what she perceives as the ultimate love story: King Edward VIII's abdication of the British throne for the woman he loved, American divorcee Wallis Simpson.
However Winthrop's research, including several visits to the Sotheby's auction of the Windsor Estate, reveals that the couple's life together was not as perfect as she thought.
Weaving back and forth in time, the film intertwines Wally's journey of discovery in New York with the story of Wallis (Andrea Riseborough) and Edward (James D'Arcy), from the glamorous early days of their romance to the slow unraveling of their lives in the decades that followed.
The early reviews of the film (some from private screenings, some from film festival screenings) are, to put it as nicely as possible, dicey.
Xan Brooks of The Guardian wrote: What an extraordinarily silly, preening, fatally mishandled film this is. It may even surpass 2008's 'Filth and Wisdom,' Madonna's calamitous first outing as a filmmaker. Her direction is so all over the shop that it barely qualifies as direction at all. 'W.E.' gives us slo-mo and jump cuts and a crawling crane shot up a tree in Balmoral, but they are all just tricks without a purpose.
Oliver Lyttelton, for The Playlist, wrote: The script is the first problem. Co-written with Alek Keshishian, it's laden with clichés and clunky exposition from the off, with some moments drawing laughs from the Venice audience. More fatally, the structure works against what's trying to be achieved. There aren't really any similarities between the characters in the parallel stories, so the one isn't enlightened or embellished by the other.
Leslie Felperin wrote in Variety: Before it preemed in Venice, advance word on 'W.E.,' Madonna's sophomore feature about Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII, was that it was better than her debut, 'Filth and Wisdom.' Indeed it is, though that's not saying much: Burdened with risible dialogue and weak performances, pic doesn't have much going for it apart from lavish production design and terrific, well-researched costumes — and it's in focus, which is more than can be said for the script. Nevertheless, interest in the subject and her Madgesty alone will ensure substantial royalties internationally.
Seats are available to you. Yes, you. Any telvision or film fan (or photographer or bllogger) may bid on bleacher seats right on the Red Carpet.
SAG Awards Coverage courtesy AP
The Screen Actors Guild Awards online auction to benefit the SAG Foundation is offering Red Carpet Fan Bleacher Seats at www.sagawards.org/auction through Nov. 28th.
The first auction in this year’s series, features 70 seats from which fans can see their favorite stars walk the SAG Awards red carpet, take pictures and request autographs.
New to this year’s Bleacher Seat Auction is the combination of bleacher seat sets with hotel stays, dinners, makeovers, SAG Awards Backstage Tours and more.
Proceeds from the Screen Actors Guild Awards Auctions will benefit the SAG Foundation to help sustain their award winning children's literacy programs: BookPALS (Performing Artists for Literacy in Schools), reading to over 600,000 children monthly in classrooms and hospitals nationwide, and Storyline Online, reaching an average of 2 million views globally each month.
The auction also supports the Foundation's Catastrophic Health Fund and emergency services, the Actors Center, and the video preservation of the creative legacy of professional actors. For additional information, please visit http://www.sagfoundation.org.
About SAG:
Screen Actors Guild is the nation’s largest labor union representing working actors. Established in 1933, SAG has a rich history in the American labor movement, from standing up to studios to break long-term engagement contracts in the 1940s to fighting for artists’ rights amid the digital revolution sweeping the entertainment industry in the 21st century.
With 20 branches nationwide, SAG represents more than 125,000 actors who work in film and digital theatrical motion pictures and television programs, commercials, video games, industrials, Internet and all new media formats. The Guild exists to enhance actors’ working conditions, compensation and benefits and to be a powerful, unified voice on behalf of artists’ rights. Headquartered in Los Angeles, SAG is a proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO.
I'm writing this as an open letter to you about your freelance movie reviewer, Mark Rabinowitz.
I have never taken on a movie reviewer in my life. I've never reviewed a reviewer.
I understand that no review of any kind, on any subject, will please everyone and I know that a reviewer's job is not as easy as it would seem at first blush.
Mark Rabinowitz, Freelance Movie Reviewer at CNN
To set this up properly you need to know, CNN, that I'm not a newcomer to the entertainment industry. I received my 40-year Screen Actors Guild membership card just this month. Last summer I received a nice little retirement package from Directors Guild of America. I have served on blue ribbon judging panels for the EMMYS as a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
I respect reviewers who know their stuff and support their reviews with facts, experience, and decent reasoning. While often entertainment in their own right, smart and literate reviews—good or bad—need to be written as a service to the reader.
And as ticket prices for all forms of entertainment increase, the reviewers' level of responsibility and fairness also increase dramatically.
That brings me, CNN, to your freelance reviewer, Mark Rabinowitz.
Yesterday I was reading various early reviews of the new Clint Eastwood film, J. Edgar. When I came to the Rabinowitz review on your website, I couldn't believe what I was reading. Did I miss the joke? I read his review again.
CNN, your reviewer seems angry. Rabinowitz's writing titled, 'J Edgar' is as dull as dishwater, is not a review it's a full-on attack. Here's an excerpt that contains more vitriol than I believe I've ever seen in any review of the performing arts:
"In portraying Hoover's long-time companion Clyde Tolson, Armie Hammer looks like a burn victim in his later years."
What does that comment tell us? Does Rabinowitz have an ax to grind? Did Armie Hammer turn down his advances once? Was Rabinowitz snubbed by one of the J. Edgar makeup artists, Sian Grigg possibly?
Rabinowitz doesn't develop his analogies; they make little sense:
"There you have an incredibly complex man and while the movie touches on many of these aspects, they leave it at that. It's like offering someone a steak without mentioning the cut, accompaniments, quality of the meat, cooking method, etc."
Over the past six months or so, Rabinowitz has written at some length in his reviews about story development. I wish he'd spent that energy and time developing his own work.
Mark Rabinowitz's writing came to my attention years ago by way of a blog he used to write. It was called the Rabbi Report and carried the tag line, "Young Girls and Gin May Be the Cure."
While he's toned his act down a tad for his CNN pieces, his tone has consistently been too hostile for my taste.
And his writing remains that way in his work for you, CNN. As a network, and news and information outlet, you owe your readers and viewers more than I believe Rabinowitz can deliver.
Fri Nov 11 8pm $16, $11 members, veterans & active duty personnel - tickets available on the Creative Alliance website
The second annual Veteran’s Day Celebration at the Creative Alliance by Highlandtown’s Veteran Artist Program includes a first time collaboration with Michael Beresh, composer and creator of Letters to Baltimore from the War.
Mr. Beresh composes fresh songs based on the stories told by members of the cast of Telling: Baltimore, a play produced by VAP and The Telling Project, accompanied by the guitar talents of Jeff Hardwick and Marq-Paul LaRose, both VAP musicians from the 2010 Veteran’s Day show, Home. A stirring evening to consider war, peace, and remembering.
About Veteran Artist Program:
VAP takes artists, who are also veterans, and propels their works and careers into the mainstream creative arts community through networking, mentorship, collaboration with professional artists, and original productions. We are based in the Baltimore-Washington area and looking forward to connecting with other like-minded organizations and expanding the network of veteran artists througout the country.
Countless veterans made the brave decision to step away from their art and be part of something larger than themselves and fight for their country. VAP provides the resources, tools, and networking necessary to take the intentional artist to the next level. We want you to be part of our work in all the artistic disciplines.
We are about collaboration in all genres of art with an emphasis on bringing together the Veteran and Artistic communities. We are about the Artist, both veteran and non-veteran, coming together to tell a story.
I'm going out on a limb here. This movie, J Edgar, will either be a huge bang, or a silent bust. I'm going with award winning, although I don't see it as a big money maker.
J. Edgar, movie poster, 2011
I've only read small segments of the script and while it's well written, the outcome of the box-office projections tend to fall on the shoulders of a single actor and a single department. DiCaprop and makeup, in that order. That's a dicey proposition for a big star, a big director, and Warner Bros.
Leonardo DiCaprio has to be J. Edgar and the supporting cast must believe that he is.
I'm not sure that director, Clint Eastwood, is on track with the homosexuality aspect of the relationship between J. Edgar Hoover and Clyde Tolson.
However, Dame Judy Dench and Ken Howard are in the movie. That's good enough for me.
J. Edgar opens in Baltimore at Landmark Theatres, Harbor East
Friday, November 11th
645 S. President Street Baltimore, MD 21202 (410) 244-6636
Be there, or be investigated...
By the way, I'll give J. Edgar my vote for best movie poster of the year.
We're holding auditions a non-union commercial on 11/7 & 11/8 for Giant Foods and need real families.
Mom & dad should be late 20's-30's and kids ages 2-10. Parents & kids must be comfortable being themselves on camera.
Audition consists of mom talking about how Giant fits into your lives and saves you money, so you must be real Giant shopper and use the Giant Savings Card &/or Gas rewards.
To audition, you MUST live within a 10 mile radius of Timonium, MD.
If you are cast, they will shoot in your real home so it has to be within the specified area.
Pay: $2,500/family Shoot Date: February 2012
If you qualify, please email: agents@taylorroyall.com
Subject line: Giant Food Body:
name
ethnicity
town that you live in
members of family & ages (include a family photo if possible)
We will reply with further details if we want to schedule you for an audition.
