So much to talk about…wasn’t there? We heard the news, read the newspapers, gathered round the water cooler, telephoned our friends, banged out texts, updated our status on FaceBook.
These are some of the “things” New Yorkers talked about in 2011. Excerpted from article The 75 Things New Yorkers Talked About in 2011.
There was lots and lots of buzz around town this year; Baseball, America’s pastime brought fans to their TV’s and knees September 28th as the Yankees lost their chance to be in the World Series.
“Till death do us part” was the new montra of the Gay community when New York legalized Gay marriages. And then of course there was KK who apparently did not take it too seriously.
For weeks, an obscure park in downtown Manhattan became a tourist mecca and home to the 99%’ers. Not to mention the Arab Spring when dictators toppled like so many weeble wobbles.
It was as always a memorable year, some awe-inspiring, some laughable.
- The GOP debates, best reality show not on Bravo
- Serena Williams had a meltdown at the US Open
- Kate Middleton‘s wedding gown
- Meryl Streep, nailing the accent perfectly (once again) in Iron Lady
- A hearty farewell to Bin Laden, Quadaffi and Kim Jong-il
- Anthony Weiner resigns after Tweeted naked photos of him surface
- The 10th anniversary of 9/11
- Andy Rooney signs off for the last time
- The up-to-12 hour waits to see a naked Marina Abramovic at MOMA
- Planking
- The Netflix debacle
- Keith Oberman leaves MSNBC, joins Current TV and is never heard from again
- Chas Bono on DWTS – a transgender star is born
- Oprah takes a year and three finale shows to say goodbye
- The 2 day waits to buy iPad2
- Elizabeth Taylor passes. Her gowns and jewelry bring $156M much going to AIDS research
- The heat wave in July, the hurricane in August, blizzard in October-Mother Nature is angry
- Splits: Arnold and Maria, Ashton and Demi, Scarlett and Ryan
- The best moment of the debates – “Oops”
- Al Sharpton gets a TV show on MSNBC
- Steve Jobs dies and people learn about his death on their iPhones.
New Reality TV Show
- Regis Philbin calls it quits after 28 years
- The Alexander McQueen show at the Met, almost as popular at King Tut
- Cathie Black’s shocking short stint as New York schools chancellor
Bill Ding and his band of clowns are the security patrol for this blog site. He is a favorite toy from the 50*s. By the way sometimes a blog is just an ego-maniacal stream of conscience.
Pbenjay's Blog 
Movie Time! 3 Days-3 Movies-Third One’s The Charm!!
Posted in BY THE WAY, From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books on December 21, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Lots of things come in three’s and this week it was movies. We’ve seen HUGO 3D, WarHorse, and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
We went to see HUGO 3D and enjoyed the imagery and of course the “new” 3D technology. Everyone we know who went to see this movie, raved about it so we were prepped to see a Scorsese masterpiece. We didn’t. IF it was meant to be just a children’s film, then I guess you could overlook the fact that Hugo as a character was endowed with such specialness, he might as well have been on Dora The Explorer. He was too unreal for me and perhaps that’s what distracted me from some of the film’s attributes. I alternated between thinking of Hugo as Harry Potter and Hermione when he spent time with Isabella. She was so like Hermione. And then, he would bring to mind the young boy, Trevor in Pay It Forward
The movie was about movies and Scorsese meant to show us just how much he loves movies and making them. Don’t you think it’s odd that this homage to hand-cranked cameras and hand-tinted frames was presented to us in stereoscopic digital 3D?
Next we went to see War Horse. Peter was hesitant about going and I was a little apprehensive because neither of us wants to watch any form of animal cruelty. Of course we know it’s “just a movie and no horses got hurt” but of they did get hurt and killed in the war and so just watching it was probably going to be upsetting.
Again, everyone who had seen the play was raving about how moving it was. Well of course it was moving…it’s easy to get an audience to care and cry about a beautiful horse who overcomes every obstacle and is a character so special, it becomes fantasy and not at all believable . In my opinion, the characters were trite; the drunken Irish farmer, the pragmatic and loyal working-her-fingers-to-the-bone wife, the dutiful son, the evil landlord and his snotty kid – they were all present. The horse was a magnificent animal just like Lassie was a beautiful dog. Honestly, the movie was pretty reminiscent of Lassie Come Home.
No question that the acting was fine, the cinematography was beautiful, the editing, superb. However, the movie itself, was just so predictable. The scene where the British soldier and the German one free the horse from barbed wire was a little over the top. And I mean, really…the horse actually ends up on the battlefield where his former owner is recuperating from an injury incurred during the attack??
Two down and two thumbs down – The Third One’s The Charm!
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