A Matter of Size, is a fun Israeli comedy, about the revolt of overweight people who find their new positive self-image and self confidence as Sumo wrestlers, yes, Sumo wrestlers in Israel. Sumo is a sport where fat people are honored.

This comedy is so perfectly over the top that we frequently squirmed as we laughed: the scene at a Weight Watchers type meeting led by an hysterical raving critical monster of a group leader was any one’s nightmare! And funny! Sumo wrestlers walking barefoot in their Sumo “diapers” followed by the pe0ple of the small town taking photos with their cells was hilarious.

This film could travel and be enjoyed by audiences here in the US, we  just need  Americans to agree to read sub-titles; it is a well-made comedy.

In contrast, Fiestaremos, is an intimate, moving portrait of  the musician and musicologist, Judith Frankel. This is an American film. Judith Frankel painstakingly researched Sephardic songs sung in Ladino,  by meeting with families and learning their songs, pronunciation and building long-term friendships.

This personal collecting in the field is a  very specialized form of musicology, and Frankel was a fine singer and guitarist, who was able to collect and play these songs beautifully. It was a complete pleasure to be  embraced by this warm and lovely film. The American Sephardi Federation/Sephardic House had her excellent CDs on sale and we have been enjoying listening to them.

Fiestaremos and A Matter of Size were both screened at The Sephardic Film Festival of 2010, and illustrate well the spectrum of films which were shown.

This is a small, but fine festival which I would recommend you put on your list for next year.

It seems that twice a month, on the first and last Tuesday of each month,  the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History presents a new show especially targeted toward a very special audience – one that truly loves astronomy and appreciates learning about new discoveries in the field. Lily and I really had a wonderful time at the Hayden Planetarium last week.

The one hour show,  The Farthest Reaches of the Cosmic Ocean with Jason Kendall, which began at 6:30, focused on bigness.  Jason Kendall is “an ambassador of NASA”  and he was expertly knowledgeable and a charming narrator. In the Planetarium’s first show after it’s renovation, Tom Hanks show narrated the wonder of the super small morphing into the small, morphing into the visible, morphing into big, then super big and then utterly colossally big, all in one program.

This show, however, by intention and design, completely ignored the micro, and guided us into the universe of the macro.  We started out examining our own planet and moon, then quickly zoomed out to the inner planets, then further out to the outer planets, then further out till the sun shrank to the size of the other points of light we call stars, then further zoomed out to constellations, then further out to the limits of our galaxy, the Milky Way, then further out to nearby galaxies, then to farther galaxies, then to a universe of galaxies, to the horizon of our vision and knowledge.

Jason Kendall skillfully narrated and projected the astronomical images, speeding us through space, light-years and time, all the way back to 13-½ billion years ago, to the point of the Big Bang.  Throughout the presentation, the stars on the dome zoomed further and further away from us, some stars speeding as fast as a racing locomotive, others passing by more slowly.

The effect was that of 3-D without the need for Red/Green glasses.  It was an astounding production. It was visually glorious.

The audience, consisted of people of all ages – even children, and seemed especially sophisticated. In the Q and A period, they asked keen and challenging questions. One such challenge was: “If the Big Bang occurred 13 ½ billion years ago, then what was there 14 billion years ago? Could it not have been a previous universe imploding upon itself, crushing all its matter into a single point which then exploded into the current universe, with this expansion and contraction having been happening for all of time?”  The answers were similarly challenging: “There was no 14 billion years ago.  All space and all time started 13 ½ billion years ago.” The narrator suggested that the questioner google “Chaotic Inflation” for a deeper analysis of that proposition.

In its former incarnation, the old Hayden Planetarium building was like a second home for me when I was a member of its Junior Astronomers Club.  I remember the awe of their shows in which we took imaginary voyages to the planets. In the Voyage to Mars, the red planet loomed larger and larger inside the dome, giving the effect of we in the audience falling faster and faster toward the surface of the fourth planet of our solar system.  Likewise, other shows featured similar trips to Jupiter and Saturn.

In short, the new Hayden Planetarium takes us even further, indeed, fulfilling my hopeful vision for it – that of exciting the imagination and opening up a world of possibilities and ideas. We are all the richer for it.

Jeff French Segall

Guest Author

Come hear award-winning teen writers read their newest pieces;

The award-winning teen writers and rising stars of Writopia Lab will read excerpts from their newest prose at Barnes & Noble at 82nd Street and Broadway on Thursday February, 4th at 5pm.

This remarkable group of young people have revised and polished stunning pieces of fiction and memoir, and they are thrilled to share their work with you.

Buy Books and B & N Will Make a Donation to Writopia Lab

Also, please hold off on any book purchases you’re about to make–when you buy books the night of the reading (at that location), 10% of the purchase price will be donated to Writopia!

Just make sure to tell the cashier you’re buying books as part of the Writopia Lab book fair.

ReelAbilities film festival is a completely unique festival and describes itself as “devoted to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with different disabilities.

They will screen award winning films in various locations throughout the NYC metropolitan area. Discussions and programs are also planned.

GothamGirl attended the screening of one of the films in this festival which was included in the  recent Jewish Film Festival at the Walter Reade Theater, and if this film  is any indication of the quality of the films in this festival, then select a few to see.

We saw MARY & MAX, a claymated, award-winning,  feature film by Adam Elliot. Claymation is a demanding form of stop-motion animation and this film is a absolutely terrific example of the technique.

New York City, Australia the characters etc, etc are all formed of “clay” and the result is it’s own unique universe of action. If you go to the film’s site, there is a section which shows their behind-the-scenes technique.

It is based on a story of pen-pal  friendship between two very different people; Mary Dinkle, a  lonely, eight year old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max Horovitz, a 44 year old, lonely Jewish man with Aspergers Syndrome, living on his own, coping as best as he can with his situation,  in New York City. We see NYC through his eyes. He is “voiced” by Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Mary and Max’s friendship endures for 20 years, and the story explores the nature of friendship, autism, and communication. It also mentions: taxidermy, psychiatry, alcoholism, where babies come from, kleptomania, sexual difference, depression, trust, agoraphobia and more.

Try not to miss this one but please remember that this is a film for adults.

This is a sad film and it is not for children.

Please see the ReelAbilities site for tickets, showtimes, programs and venue.

Travel through the  the COSMIC OCEAN at the Hayden Planetarium Space Theater at the AMNH with their program: Virtual Universe: The Farthest Reaches of the Cosmic Ocean with Jason Kendall.

The museum says that this is the  world’s largest cosmic atlas, and that we can cruise through intergalactic space, and explore the immense distances between galaxies,  learning about the universe and how it has changed with time. We New Yorkers will just have to accept that the program begins and ends in the Himalayas and not in Manhattan.

Virtual Universe, travels through our solar system and beyond in live, interactive programs that include question-and-answer on the first Tuesday of each month.

A preview is available on YouTube.  Some of the viewers comments on YouTube following the Virtual Universe video are so inane and weird that they seem to map the inner  infinity of the universe of human strangeness, you may enjoy those too.

Tuesday, February 2, 6:30 pm, $15 Adults $13.50 Members, students, seniors

The bloggers who came to be in the audience do not seem to be a political or edgy bunch but are very domestic: mom’s who write about motherhood, grandmothers about their grandchildren, and urban gardening. Many say they hope to promote their blogs, and others hope to receive gifts.

I heard no politicos or discussion about what a blog is, or the effect of blogs on news and society…not in the audience nor on stage.

We were welcomed and treated very cordially, as guests, and it was really fun to attend this show.

The atmosphere  is a very special and refined small slice of mild living. A welcome one hour vacation  from the current reality of terrible world news and problems.

Martha carefully crafted with focus: gluing “left-over” yarn onto decorations…but there is nothing left-over about the show. It is fascinating to watch this relaxed, successful, pleasant woman promote her enterprises.

After the show, and off-camera, Martha took several questions from the audience. Very nice.

A perfectly frosted and sliced piece of cake has been served!

And we all enjoyed it.

Thank you, Martha. You are a perfect host.

The Susan Eley Fine Art Gallery, which is our favorite West Side art gallery, is featured on the cover of Gallery Guide for their new exhibit called A Semblance: Paintings by Rachelle Krieger & Anne Sherwood Pundyk. Please click on the gallery site for further show details and be sure not to miss this.

***************************

And we received this from WritopiaLab.

These young writers are always a great pleasure and surprise.

GothamGirl  is fortunate to receive many invitations, most are to film festivals, concerts, art openings, museum shows and restaurants. Recently we were surprised by an invitation from The Martha Stewart show asking us to join the audience  on January 14 in New York City.

The topic is bloggers and blogging, and they have requested that all of the invited bloggers come ready to blog live during the broadcast. This sounded like just too much fun to pass up and I will be there on Thursday all ready to blog live.

Rebecca-Wallace Segall, the founder and director of WritopiaLab will be there as well. The WritopiaLab’s blog is excellent: it is the spectacular work of the young writers of WritopiaLab. Rebecca is the  Scholastic Golden Apple National Award winner (2008 and 2009).

It seems to be film festival season. Don’t mix this festival up with the NY Jewish Film Festival (see previous posts),  the Sephardic festival is the only  annual film festival in America devoted solely to the rich and colorful stories, customs and culture of Sephardic Jewry. Thirteen films, including three American and seven New York premieres will be shown. Also, there are talk backs with directors scheduled.

We always enjoy this festival, especial the variety of countries encountered, the music in the films, Sephardim in the audience greeting each other with warm smiles, and the variety of languages, this year: English, Hebrew, Ladino, Amharic, French, Japanese, Bulgarian, Moraccan, Spanish, etc …Yiddish….. ok, ok,  probably not Yiddish. But some of us are “Ashke-Phardic ” and enjoy all of the possibilities.

Please see The Sephardic Film for screening details and tickets.

Sponsored by the  American Sephardi Federation/Sephardic House (ASF) and Yeshiva University Museum. Supported by the Consulate General of Israel in New York. Here is their schedule at a glance.

Protektor, a film by Marek Najbrt, is a sophisticated, artful and  intelligent film which takes place in Prague during the Nazi occupation. It is an unusually nuanced film which feels truer to what it must have felt like to live through that time period…it is heads and shoulders above the many films produced in a “heroic”, or even worse , the new “vengeful mode” .

The cross currents of the love story intertwined with the severe time period, the ambivalence of some of the characters, and the aspect of chance in life is completely absorbing. Also, this film has a film-within-a-film,  which evokes the films of the 40’s perfectly. The film visually makes reference to art of the 40’s, and is in Czech.

I would put Protektor on my must-see list.

********

Leap of Faith, a documentary About Converting to Orthodox Judaism in America, follows four diverse families, who live in the United States, as they consider conversion to Orthodox Judaism.

Since Judaism does not seeks converts,  those of us who were born Jewish are frequently fascinated by converts to Judaism and want to know a great deal about their attraction, decision, experiences and the reaction of their families. This film will satisfy a some of that interest, without having to be tempted to be rude and actually ask a convert you may know any overly personal questions.   The film examines only a very specific part of the story: converts to Orthodox Judaism in the  US. This particular scope is quite understandable considering that the film-makers themselves are Orthodox Jews married to women who have converted to Judaism.

We meet  a lovely Trinidadian woman raised in a warm religious Christian home.  Her loving family, her story of attraction to Judaism, her personal struggle,  and the reactions and kindness of her supportive family are a lovely example of the best of family values. There is a single mother and her son, an elderly couple, and a once devout Christian family with teenage children who all convert.

All of the families are fascinating to watch. In one family, we meet a woman so upset by the conversation of a relative, that she asks the interviewer “What do you call your religion” and she says that even the name “sounds ugly” to her. Makes you squirm, we really do not expect such a blatant anti-Semitic remark.

The most revealing question of all is never verbally answered: the interviewer asks one of the Hasidic Rabbis involved in the conversions if he would like a child of his to marry a convert.

I left with the feeling that although this is a fascinating and worthwhile film, I had seen only an extremely limited picture of people who convert to Judaism in the US.

These films are included in the current 19th Annual New York Jewish Film Festival at the Reade Theater in Lincoln Center. More details are on the festival site.

This sounds like much more fun than the usual movies and Chinese food for Christmas! The Museum at Eldridge Street, 12 Eldridge Street (in the Eldridge Street Synagogue), Between Canal & Division Streets is having this fun family concert. This is also a good opportunity to visit this restored, historic building, it is truly stunning.

Sing, dance, learn Yiddish and “get married” at our annual family concert. Clarinetist Greg Wall and his band Klezmerfest lead the audience on a musical tour of Eastern European Jewish culture. The program ends with an audience-enacted shtetle wedding with children taking on the roles of bride, groom and wedding guests.

$12 adults; $8 students and seniors

RSVP to: hgriff(at)eldridgestreet.org or call 212.219.0888 x 205

The Museum at Eldridge Street presents the culture, history and traditions of the great wave of Jewish immigrants to the Lower East Side drawing parallels with the diverse cultural communities that have settled in America. The Museum at Eldridge Street is located within the Eldridge Street Synagogue, which opened its doors in 1887

Eyes Wide Open (Eynaim Pekukhot) directed by Haim Tabakman opens the viewers eyes, with insight, to see into the attitudes and complications of being gay within the ultra-Orthodox community in contemporary Jerusalem.  There is no possible hiding from the eyes of this community or from ones’ family. No light ever enters this film which could guide a path to acceptance which includes remaining within the community. The attitude towards gayness in this community is not identical with the attitude among ultra-right wing Christians. In the ultra-orthodox community, gayness is not a “sin” but an “evil urge” which should be resisted.

This fine point does not help much at all to relieve an individual’s suffering , especially when you consider how any scandal, shame or any myriad of other problems can have a terrible effect on the future acceptance and happiness of a person’s innocent children and other family members within the ultra-orthodox community.

In Jewish tradition, lesbians are not even mentioned as a possibility, (and therefore sexual relationships between women are not prohibited), and this film makes very little reference to women at all. We meet a long-suffering, kind wife and a young women marrying a man she does not love. We see the face of the extremists of this community and the kindness and caring of others, including the Rabbi.

This is a strong, quiet and painful film, well acted and well made, starring Zohar Strauss and Ran Danker.

In an interview, Haim Tabakman is quoted as saying, “The film can be part of the evolution in the orthodox world”.

Let’s hope so.

This will be shown at the Jewish Film Festival on January 19 (at the Manhattan JCC) and January 23rd (at the Walter Reade Theater). See schedule in my previous post and buy tickets in advance.

The snow has stopped: we seem to have  gotten about a foot of snow from the storm last night. The side streets seem not to have plowed, some traffic is moving slowly on the avenues, and my NY Times was  delivered this morning as usual. I do not see any side street car traffic,  people are walking in the streets, shoveling the sidewalks and running in Central Park. The skies are quiet, I assume that the airports are still closed.

Must be time to listen to the hysteria-filled weather reports on the TV, and enjoy fresh coffee with an omelet.

It is a lovely, quiet morning. All will be back to normal very soon.

GothamGirl received this invitation from the The Interfaith Assembly, the West -Side Campaign Against Hunger, New York Cares and Lauren Flanigan and Stars from the Metropolitan  Opera and the New York City Opera and we recommend that you attend and bring a donation as suggested.

Symphony Space Marque

Comfort Ye – the Fifteenth Annual Concert to Benefit the Homeless

Monday, December 21, 2009

7:30 PM

Peter J.  Sharp Theater

Symphony Space

95^th Street & Broadway

Admission:

5 or more cans of food items or 1 clean used overcoat or 1 clean blanket or

5 packages infant/toddler diapers or Cash Donation of $40

All funds raised will  benefit the Interfaith Assembly and their programs. If you have attended this concert in the past you know what a treat it is. If you have not, you owe it to yourself to come – You will not be disappointed.  And BE SURE TO INVITE YOUR FRIENDS – they will surely thank you!

During these difficult times, the Assembly and their partners are working hard to help those who have been homeless to rebuild their lives, and establish more  equitable public policies for those in our city who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. See their webite for more details on the work they do and about this event.

http://www.iahh.org/events/comfort-ye-2009

This is a performance of Handel’s Messiah, not a sing-along, and the soloists, chorus and musicians made it all truly worthwhile. The countertenor, Daniel Taylor was stunning, a clear beautiful voice with such clear diction that one could understand the words as they were sung. The Bass is a singer originally from China with just one name, Shenyang , and he was excellent as was the James Taylor (not THAT tenor named James Taylor, silly), the soprano, Annette Dasch was very fine. We all loved the trumpets featuring Philip Smith, one of our favorite NY Phil musicians. The chorus is the Gachinger Kantorei Stuttgart and they were an excellent chorus, blending as one voice and forming clear sectional parts.  This runs through Saturday, December 19, 2009.

It is most interesting to examine the text of the oratorio, just like a cut and paste, a line from here and a line from there from Isaiah, the psalms, and the Christian bible, which has been interpreted and arranged  to “tell”  the story of  the nativity, suffering  and crucifixion.  How different these lines sound when they are sung or chanted in Hebrew with the traditional Jewish cantilation. There are no trumpets in my synagogue.

And then there is the question of whether the audience should stand, supposedly as did the King of England for reasons unknown, or should remain seated for the splendid Hallelujah chorus. I sat, my friend was the first in the audience to stand.

There are so many seasonal music events in New York City and last week we were at  another holiday concert: A Twisted Christmas at the Nokia theater on Times Square, by our favorite metal band, Twisted Sister. This was a lot, lot, lot of fun.  They performed old and new songs and their metal versions of Christmas songs, and the stage show was a riot. This is not at all the Radio City version of Christmas. They have done a Christmas show each year for the last four or five years. Look for it next year.

It is tremendous fun to take in a wide sample of musical styles, so break out of your rut and see something very different.

We always enjoy this film festival immensely and would encourage you to get your tickets to the screening in advance since many screenings sellout.  GothamGirl will be attending some preview screenings and write about them shortly.

Presented by The Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Jewish Museum, Jan. 13-28

Here is a preview of their schedule:

Screenings at the Walter Reade Theater unless otherwise indicated.

165 West 65th Street close to Amsterdam Avenue

Wednesday, Jan. 13

1:00          Saviors in the Night

3:45          Gruber’s Journey

6:15          Saviors in the Night

9:00          Gruber’s Journey

Thursday, Jan. 14

1:15          Bar Mitzvah

3:30          Gruber’s Journey

6:15          Ahead of Time with Making the Crooked Straight

9:00          Ajami

Saturday, Jan. 16

6:30          Ajami

9:15          The Jazz Baroness

Sunday, Jan. 17

1:30          The Axe of Wandsbek

4:15          The Jazz Baroness

6:30          Happy End with Point of View

9:00          Protector with With a Little Patience

Monday, Jan. 18

12:30        Leon Blum with Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness

3:30          Protector with With a Little Patience

6:15          Forgotten Transports: To Poland

8:30          The Jazz Baroness

Tuesday, Jan. 19

1:00          Happy End with Point of View

3:30          Protector with With a Little Patience

6:15          Happy End with Point of View

7:30          Eyes Wide Open with Kallah*

8:45          Leon Blum with Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness

Wednesday, Jan. 20

1:00          Forgotten Transports: To Poland

3:30          Leon Blum with Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness

6:30          Einsatzgruppen

Thursday, Jan. 21

1:00          Human Failure

3:30          Berlin ’36

6:15          Human Failure

8:45          The Peretzniks with Happy Jews

Saturday, Jan. 23

6:30          Eyes Wide Open with Kallah

9:00          Mary and Max

Sunday, Jan. 24

1:00          Bar Mitzvah

3:15          Berlin ’36

6:00          Eyes Wide Open with Kallah

8:45          Mary and Max

Monday, Jan. 25

1:00          Gevald! with Chronicle of a Kidnap

3:00          Valentina’s Mother with Pinhas**

3:30          Leap of Faith

6:15          Gevald! with Chronicle of a Kidnap

8:30          Leap of Faith

Tuesday, Jan. 26

1:30          Valentina’s Mother with Pinhas

4:00          Human Failure

6:30          A History of Israeli Cinema

Wednesday, Jan. 27

1:00          Within the Whirlwind

3:30          The Peretzniks with Happy Jews

6:15          Valentina’s Mother with Pinhas

8:45          The Peretzniks with Happy Jews

Thursday, Jan. 28

1:00          Ultimatum with Prrrride

3:45          Within the Whirlwind

6:15          Ultimatum with Prrrride

8:45          Within the Whirlwind

*At The JCC in Manhattan

334 Amsterdam Avenue at West 76th Street

646.505.5708

www.jccmanhattan.org

Tuesday, Jan. 19

7:30          Eyes Wide Open with Kallah

**At The Jewish Museum

1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street

www.TheJewishMuseum.org

Monday, Jan. 25

3:00          Valentina’s Mother with Pinhas

There is quite a lot of interest in 535 West End Avenue if we judge by the traffic GothamGirl receives on the previous posts regarding this new construction. So here it is, the latest according to a very reliable source. The owners claim that the building is 65% sold, our source says that this is no way near the truth. This building, like so many others is having trouble with sales in this still poor economy. This is not surprising and it does not mean that this building is any worse off than any other, just that their claimed percentage of sales is not so accurate. Construction continues.

The same source says that they will consider bids which are much, much lower than the offering prices we have originally heard of in the past.  I do not think this is so surprising but either, but thought that you might like to know.

Here are some simple, creative ideas for this strained financial time: go towards quality and enjoyment of life.

The most wonderful DVD we have seen and heard is by Jazz at Lincoln Center: Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis Play the Music of Ray Charles. Norah Jones appears and sings like a sweet angel. “Hit the Road Jack”, “Unchain My Heart”, Hallelujah I Love Her So”…mmmm…..just music magic…This was filmed excellently at the concert at the Rose Hall in Lincoln Center, it feels very intimate, and it is a pure pleasure.   I saw this on Blue Ray, it is luscious in sound and beautifully filmed. Give this to someone!

Give a gift membership to the MoMA, Jewish Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art or any other museum, usually about $75 for annual single membership.

Give a gift membership to Symphony Space, or the Film Society/Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center.

This excellent exhibit is now open through August 15, 2009 and it is worth taking the journey along this important old trade route,  and bringing children. This is a fine exhibit: beautifully presented and rich in content. The focus is on 4 major cities on the cross continent route.

Just a mention of the old Silk Road evokes a romanticized  journey in the imagination and this exhibit gives detailed  shape, substance ,  historical context and is aesthetically quite satisfying.

Highlights include LIVE silkworms and an explanation of how silk thread is made and then woven into fabric, old Asian musical instruments ( Sunday afternoons musicians play up-dated versions of these instruments, check the Museum schedule) , a spice market, technical  instruments which are great for both sea and desert navigation by the stars, a lovely large model of a trading ship, an update on the cities covered in the exhibit.

This exhibit works very well if you just want a quick look and is even better if you would want more depth and understanding.

The American  Museum of  Natural History is on Central Park West between 77th Street and 81st Street.

The annual balloon inflation for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade starts this afternoon on the Upper West Side. It is an Upper west Side street party which starts off this holiday weekend.

Starting at about 2 pm, (officially at 6 pm) you can watch the big balloons being inflated by hard working, good spirited crews from Macy’s on  West 81s St, and West 77th St  between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, and Central Park West in front of the American Museum of Natural History.. . This goes on through the evening and attracts loads of people of all ages.

The delicious Spiderman balloon and a few others have been inflated on 77th Street and small groups are there enjoying the event at this  time…(3 pm), crowds will come later.

Various street vendors add to the atmosphere, and don’t forget to walk by the New York Historical Society on CPW and 77 th Street. In the past, they have had people dressed in early American period costumes and hot cider. I do not know if they will do this tonight.

Please remember that you can see just about nothing if you try to drive by and peer out of your car windows- you would be adding to the street congestion and not make the kiddies happy at all. Park somewhere else and walk around, there will be plenty to see and do.. and please see last year’s entry for more details and photos.

Also, stop in at the local restaurants up and down Columbus Avenue, all are family friendly tonight.

And  in case you are visiting America for the first time in this season and did not know: Thanksgiving is the holiday most celebrated by the largest number of Americans.

Happy, Happy Thanksgiving.

Each year the Park West 90th Street Park Association  organizes a lovely, welcoming event for children and adults who would love to enjoy seeing the kids have a great time.

West 90th Street between CentralPark West and Columbus Avenue will be filled with spooky decorations, glowing carved pumpkins on brownstone stoops, lighted displays, and a welcome table in front of #35. The residents of the block , many in costume, give out candy in front of the buildings. A few lobbies welcome trick or treat visitors inside as well.

This  has the wonderful, old-fashioned spirit of a child’s Halloween party and attracts many, many neighborhood families. It is  also a lovely display of the variety of families who live on the Upper West Side.

Many of the doggies on the block turn out in costume as well. Please remember: do not let the dogs eat chocolate. These are the same dogs who take part in the West 90th Street Dog Parade during the clean-up/planting party each Spring.

The street will be closed to traffic at 4 pm. Residents will decorate the block from that time on and  from 5:30 to 7pm  the goblins etc are welcome.

Reinventing Ritual at the Jewish Museum is a compelling, multi-media exhibit of artists from around the world, exploring Judaism and its symbols as a comtemporary vital force.

I will add details and photos to this post after Rosh ha Shanah ends on Sunday evening. 

The Jewish New Year 5770 starts at sunset today. How is this the year 5770? Don’t ask…I have to continue holiday preparations. Hopefully, by Passover I’ll have some time to answer.

I wish you a New Year of peace, health,  happiness and creativity to all.

Bright Star , the film by Jane Campion, is not to be missed. It is a beautifully made film which seems to suspend time.

The actors, Ben Wishaw as the Romantic poet John Keats is completely perfect and engrossing.  I hope that someone will please feed that talented, compelling boy some rich food and put some weight on his bones to keep him around for a long, long time. Abbie Cornish as his love, Fannie Brawne ,  gives a stunning performance.  All of the cast is wonderful.

This film deserves a large audience and  to win many awards but it will have to be seen if such a different, and movingly intimate movie can find a mass audience.

You will want to stay through the entire credits at the end of the film and enjoy Ben Winshaw’s wonderful reading of Keats poetry. Here are two of John Keats poems to enjoy.

I would assume that  the “bright star ” of the poem refers to Venus, the symbol of beauty and longing.

BRIGHT STAR, WOULD I WERE STEDFAST

By John Keats

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art—
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors—
No—yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillowed upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever—or else swoon in death.

1819

***

Ode to A Nightingale

by John Keats

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
    My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
    One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
‘Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
    But being too happy in thine happiness, -
        That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees,
                In some melodious plot
    Of beechen green and shadows numberless,
        Singest of summer in full-throated ease.

O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been
    Cool’d a long age in the deep-delved earth,
Tasting of Flora and the country green,
    Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!
O for a beaker full of the warm South,
    Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
        With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
                And purple-stained mouth;
    That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
        And with thee fade away into the forest dim:

Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget
    What thou among the leaves hast never known,
The weariness, the fever, and the fret
    Here, where men sit and hear each other groan;
Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs,
    Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies;
        Where but to think is to be full of sorrow
                And leaden-eyed despairs,
    Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,
        Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.

Away! away! for I will fly to thee,
    Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
    Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:
Already with thee! tender is the night,
    And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
        Cluster’d around by all her starry Fays;
                But here there is no light,
    Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown
        Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.

I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
    Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,
But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet
    Wherewith the seasonable month endows
The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;
    White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;
        Fast fading violets cover’d up in leaves;
                And mid-May’s eldest child,
    The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,
        The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.

Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
    I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call’d him soft names in many a mused rhyme,
    To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
    To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
        While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
                In such an ecstasy!
    Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain -
        To thy high requiem become a sod.

Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!
    No hungry generations tread thee down;
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
    In ancient days by emperor and clown:
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
    Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,
        She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
                The same that oft-times hath
    Charm’d magic casements, opening on the foam
        Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.

Forlorn! the very word is like a bell
    To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
    As she is fam’d to do, deceiving elf.
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades
    Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
        Up the hill-side; and now ’tis buried deep
                In the next valley-glades:
    Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
        Fled is that music: – Do I wake or sleep?

In case you missed this news, on August 18, 2009, Central Park was it by an intense storm with of winds up to 80 miles per hour.

This short,  intense event damaged about 1000 trees north of 90th Street, and 400 hundred trees were completely lost. The oldest tree which was removed  was 159 years old and the tallest was 100 feet tall.

The Central Park Conservancy says that, “Many of the trees removed were among the tallest, largest, and finest specimens in Central Park.”  Their site has many photos and details about the storm.

Now is the time to step up and help restore our well-loved park by volunteering and /or donating.

We must do our part now so that  future generations will have a lovely park, just as we enjoy today.

Please see the Central Park Conservancy site for more details and photos about the storm, the damage, and to learn about volunteering/donation.