Saturday, April 19, 2014

181 Chrystie Street, NYC, then and now

By Jack Brummet,NYC Metro Ed.


Rivington Street at The Bowery, photo by Armondo Moreschi.  This shot is from about four years before I lived there, just around the corner from my second place in NYC—a loft at 181 Chrystie Street, a few doors down from the legendary Sammy's Roumanian Steak House. 

They've buffed up the old loft, built on the vacant lot next door, and covered up the great mural.  The place we used to rent for $500 (split three ways)  now goes for $6,000 a month.


This is how it looks today.  Sammy's is still there and looks to be doing very well. Our place, right above the Pronto Store has obviously been Frenched out.  When we lived there, it was far more basic and industrial. 



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Friday, April 18, 2014

ATIT Reheated: Photos and video from Santa Via Cruces in Bucerias, Nayarit (the Good Friday procession)

By Jack Brummet, Mexico Travel Ed

We first saw Santa Via Cruces maybe six years ago.  Many towns and cities have a full blown pageant on Good Friday.  This is more a religious instructional exercise than any sort of entertainment.  Probably 150-200 people followed the procession as it wound its way up the hill.  The procession stopped 12 times for song and prayer at each of 12 stations of the cross along the way.













Station of The Cross Stop No. 8
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Lord Buckely's Story of the life of Jesus: The Nazz

By Jack Brummet

Lord Buckley's tribute to "the sweetest, gonest, wailingest cat that ever stomped on this sweet swinging sphere.  And they called this cat The Nazz.  He was a carpenter kitty..."   Lord Buckley covers Jesus with love.  My favorite part is the scene of Jesus stomping across the water of Galilee.   Or when he performs his miracle on the "cat with the bent frame."   This is one of the Lord's greatest performances...

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NSA: Sometimes breaking things is all we have

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Ed.

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Thursday, April 17, 2014

Painting: the fool and the King

By Jack Brummet
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Was Adolf Hitler lopsided, a/k/a one grape short?

By Mona Goldwater, European Affairs Ed.





An account by a German army medic confirms what the world long suspected: Hitler was lopsided, or, one grape short.  War vet Johan Jambor revealed the secret to a priest in the '60s.  The Priest wrote it down, according to The Sun, and his account surfaced 23 years after Jambor's death.

This seems to confirm an alleged Soviet autopsy on Hitler's remains made shortly after the war claimed Hitler was short one testicle. Most historians dismiss this reference as Commie propaganda.

Records do show Hitler was wounded in the groin in 1916 during the Battle of the Somme, and 
The Fuhrer's missing testicle has been mocked for years in a British song:


Hitler has only got one ball,
The other is on the kitchen wall,
His mother, the dirty bugger,
Chopped it off when he was small. 

She threw it over Germany,
It landed in the deep blue sea,
The fishes got out their dishes,
And had scallops and bollocks for tea. 

Frankfurt has only one beer hall,
Stuttgart, die München all on call,
Munich, vee lift our tunich,
To show vee "Cherman" have no balls at all.
 

Until then, there was never actually proof Hitler was asymmetrical Down There. The priest wrote that Jambor saw the evidence with his own eyes. Johan Jambor's friend Blassius Hanczuch confirmed that the medic had indeed saved Hitler’s life in 1916, but alas not the missing ball.
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Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Rethinking the Bellamy Salute

By Mona Goldwater, Symbols & Gesture Ed.


The U.S. Pledge of Allegiance is usually accompanied by a hand-gesture, or salute. The first salute, adopted in 1892, is known as the Bellamy Salute.


The similarity of the Bellamy salute to the Nazi salute (which scholars think was directly inspired by from the U.S. salute), led Congress to mandate the hand-over-the-heart salute we now use (civilians anyhow) when saying the Pledge of Allegiance or singing the national anthem.  The Bellamy salute was decommissioned on December 22, 1942, one year after the U.S. declared war on Germany and Japan.

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Painting: Map 12

By Jack Brummet

click to enlarge
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Bathroom Mirror Selfie

By Jack Brummet

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Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Mary & Gretl, a 1917 stop motion video by animator Howard S. Moss

By Jack Brummet, Archives Ed.

In the film Mary & Gretl, a fairy brings two dolls to life.  This is from a series of stop-motion puppet movies by the animator Howard S. Moss.

The book, "Origin of American Animation 1900-1921" describes the film: “Alice in Wonderland meets the Garden of Eden…[a] surreal fable of a drunk rabbit, bowling dwarfs, and the two bewildered girls..."


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Monday, April 14, 2014

KeeKee's horror film star turn

By Jack Brummet, Cinema Ed.

Here are some of the screen captures from Keelin's appearance in the student film "Dead End." The zombie mom.

click to enlarge
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