If you participated in or attended today’s Boston Marathon and saw anything that may be helpful to the police, please call:
1-800-494-TIPS
They are particularly looking for video of the explosion.
If you’d like to donate blood, please contact the Boston Blood Donation Center at (800) 733-2767. And if you live in the Boston area, police recommend that you return to your homes.
Our thoughts are with you.
Posted in History, Holiday, Life, News, Politics, Sports
Tagged blood, Boston Blood Donation Center, Boston Marathon, Boston Police, donate blood, explosion, explosion video, Health, history, Holiday, life, news, police, running
Happy 40th Birthday, Cellphone!
That’s right. Forty years ago today, Motorola engineer Martin Cooper made the first cellphone call — to one of his rival engineers at Bell Labs, no less — and made telecommunications history.
Looking at your ‘baby photo’ at left — a cellphone model that I see turn up in old movies and television sitcom reruns all the time — I can honestly say…
You look even younger today.
(You really do.)
Posted in History, Humor, Life, Museums, Technology, Television
Tagged 40th birthday, baby photo, Bell Labs, cellphone, engineer, history, Humor, life, Martin Cooper, mobile phone, Motorola, museum, old movies, redial, technology, telecommunications, television reruns
When I shared yesterday’s post on Chateauform Schloss Löwenstein — my castle-hotel near Frankfurt that evokes Downton Abbey — my sister asked, “Have you seen a Matthew look-a-like?”
Sadly, no.
But there is a prince living here.
Alois Konstantin is the ninth Prince of Löwenstein. He and his wife Anastasia, Princess of Prussia, occupy one wing of the castle.
The Prince works in the financial services industry in Frankfurt and manages the family’s assets.
And while I have not seen him during my stay, I must say –
Doesn’t he look a bit like Mr. Carson?
Posted in Entertainment, History, Humor, Life, Television, Travel, TV
Tagged Alois Konstantin, Castle, Chateauform Schloss Lowenstein, Downton Abbey, family assets, financial services, Frankfurt, Germany, history, hotel, Humor, life, Matthew Crawley, Mr. Carson, PBS, prince, Prince of Lowenstein, Princess of Prussia, royal family, royalty, Television, Travel, TV
Celebrate ‘em today!
Posted in Family, Friends, History, Holiday, Life, Relationships
Tagged family, friends, history, Holiday, International Women's Day, life, March 8, Relationships
Friends ask if I’ve seen the movie Lincoln. I haven’t.
It feels like homework.
But on this President’s Day holiday, I will celebrate the greatest president in our nation’s history by going to see Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated film.
A big thank you to AMC Theatres for having a $5 movie special in honor of the holiday.
(That might have tipped the scales a bit in the movie’s favor.)
Posted in Academy Awards, Entertainment, History, Holiday, Humor, Life, Movies, Politics, President's Day
Tagged Academy Awards, AMC theatres, Best Picture nominee, entertainment, history, Holiday, Humor, life, Lincoln movie, movie, Oscars, politics, President's Day, Steven Spielberg
Don’t you miss the Cold War?
I didn’t think so either.
But then I started watching The Americans on FX.
Have you seen it?
The Americans is set during the Reagan presidency. Two KGB spies live in Washington D.C., posing as your typical American married couple with two kids. Their neighbors think they’re travel agents. Their kids do, too. But they are really working with a network of spies and informants to further the cause of Mother Russia in the States.
It is so cool.
Only three episodes have aired, and I am totally hooked. My neighbor Margo Martindale — of Justified fame — popped up last night as a KGB officer. I mean, come on! You simply have to watch.
They’ll know if you don’t.
Posted in Commentary, Entertainment, History, Humor, Life, Politics, Television, TV
Tagged Cold War, commentary, entertainment, FX, FX Network, history, Humor, informants, Justified tv show, KGB, life, Margo Martindale, married couple, moose and squirrel, Mother Russia, politics, Ronald Reagan, spies, spy network, Television, The Americans tv show, travel agents, TV, Washington DC
Remember the very first scene of Downton Abbey in Season 1, when the operator learns the Titanic has sunk by reading the telegraph machine’s paper tape?
Is reading Twitter really all that different?
On Sunday evening, I was one of maybe 10 people on the planet who wasn’t watching the Grammys.
(Doing so would only highlight how little I know about music. Plus, Downton Abbey was on. Please.)
Of course, I was checking Twitter while I was watching PBS. And by evening’s end, it felt like I had watched the Grammys…because every news outlets, friend and celebrity I follow had blabbed all the details from the ceremony.
The Twitter version, that is — 140 characters or less. So I had been reading a kind of modern version of the telegraph tape.
Look how far we’ve come in 100 years!
Posted in Commentary, Entertainment, History, Humor, Internet, Music, Television, TV
Tagged awards ceremony, commentary, Downton Abbey, entertainment, Grammy Awards, Grammys, history, Internet, Music, telegraph, telegraph machine, telegraph operator, telegraph tape, Television, Titanic, TV, tweet, Twitter
Like everyone, I was surprised by the news of the Pope’s resignation.
But how did I miss the documentary Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God?
It was released in November of last year. But yesterday’s headlines from Rome brought director Alex Gibney’s film back to the forefront. It’s available on HBO OnDemand, so I’ve already watched it.
What a revelation.
Gibney examines pedophilia in the Catholic Church, beginning with the first known clerical sexual abuse at a deaf school in Milwaukee in the late 1950′s, and traces it all the way to the Vatican.
Of particular interest, the documentary documents the role Benedict played in the sex-abuse scandals — both as a bishop in Germany and as Cardinal Ratzinger, where he headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which handles such cases.
Under his leadership, the church shielded priests accused of child molestation and hid their behavior from the authorities, obstructing criminal prosecution.
It’s not an easy film to watch, but the bravery of these deaf students — now grown men — is inspiring.
Their voices have finally been heard.
Posted in Commentary, Education, History, Life, Movies, News, Religion
Tagged Alex Gibney, bischop, Cardinal Ratzinger, Catholic Church, child molestation, commentary, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, deaf school, documentary, education, film, HBO, HBO OnDemand, history, life, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, Milwaukee, movie, news, pedophilia, Pope, Pope Benedict, Pope's resignation, religion, Rome, sexual abuse, Vatican
Matinee
One of the many advantages of a) working from home and b) having HBO is being able to watch Oscar-nominated documentaries during lunch.
Today’s featured selection: The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossoms.
Director Lucy Walker chronicles the tsunami that devastated Japan on March 11, 2011. Survivors share their stories of loss, and work together to rebuild their communities — already making progress a mere month after the storm hit.
And what are the ‘cherry blossoms’ in the title, you ask? I’ll let you watch the film and find out.
It is a vital part of their history and culture, and one reason a tsunami could never break the Japanese people.
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Posted in Academy Awards, Commentary, Entertainment, History, Life, Love, Movies, Oscars, Travel, Weather
Tagged Academy Awards, cherry blossoms, commentary, documentary, entertainment, HBO, HBO OnDemand, history, Japan, Japanese people, life, love, Lucy Walker, movie director, Movies, Oscars, The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossoms, Travel, tsumani, weather