We watched much of the parade at a perch on 5th Avenue, north of 8th Street, then walked up to 27th Street to gather and then march with the Quakers.
Here is a video diary of a lot of all that!
Got a close up of comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander. I love how he and Zohran Mamdani cross-endorsed each other in the ranked voting primary.
The New York Times compiled a list of the 100 greatest movies of the 21st century. More than 500 filmmakers, stars and influential film fans were asked to vote for the 10 best movies (however they chose to define that) released since Jan. 1, 2000. Perusing some of the individual ballots reveals a wide variety of choices and tastes and often precious little overlap. Still, from all that data a ranked list of 100 was compiled.
And I am pleased to note I have seen 95 of the chosen 100 (and am pleased with most of those being singled out this way).
At the bottom of this post you can find all 95 of those films listed in a more legible fashion than in the above screenshot.
The five films below are the ones on the list I have yet to see but now especially feel I should. Four of them are films I am wary or even scared to watch… but I will get to them … sometime.
Readers can also create their own ballot of 10 (in no ranking order). With only 10 slots it was wrenching to leave certain films off, but I will refrain from saying which or go into any further rationalizations and explanations.
For what it’s worth, six of my top ten are also in the NYT top 100.
I think being part of the 100 is more important than what exact ranking a film received. Still this list of the 95 I’ve seen does indicate the ranking order, except for missing the five films I have not seen …
We gathered with the Quakers near Bryant Park. There were so many people joining the march that it took hours before we actually got onto the march proper on 5th avenue.
So the first set of pics and vids are from the gathering, the next set from the march proper.
If you look closely, you’ll notice this is a different moneybags figure from the one pictured above (that one smiles, this one frowns). There are sometimes similar or duplicate statuettes on both uptown and downtown platforms.
Last Thursday the Brooklyn Botanic Garden sponsored Hanami Nights in celebration of cherry blossom season. Hanami translates to “flower viewing”.
I have posted pictures of the cherry blossoms before, but this is the first year the BBG organized their special celebration in the evening, allowing for pictures in dusk and spotlight enhanced night.
There are also pics and videos of traditional Japanese folk dancing.
I have been busy acting in several handfuls of short films (and other projects) lately.
One of the short films shot early March in an upper class Upper East Side townhouse. It was a night shoot.
I played a sleazy manservant.
Here is a photo album of the shoot, but mostly of that town house. It was fascinatingly idiosyncratic.
A crew member laying down track for a dolly shot.
Notice the wall paper. Every room had what looked to me like bespoke wallpaper.
When I leaned my head against the wall, I realized the wallpaper was cushioned. Not as thickly as a padded cell, but still soft and comfy to the touch.
Notes from a Composer 