Notes

Short Content

Attending Indiewebcamp LA 2016. Today is Hack Day, where we build something. Today, I am improving some of my previous projects and enjoying the comraderie.

Went over to the Bethel Woods museum as part of a drive to see some of the Fall Foliage.

Through December 31st, they have a Special Exhibit on the photos of LIFE Magazine photographer Grey Villet that is worth seeing.  Apparently there is also a book of his photos that might be published. Villet photographed Batista and Castro, Martin Luther King, and more.

Their general exhibit on the history of Woodstock was also worth seeing. Woodstock began as a financial enterprise…..a music festival that had so many attendees show up that the organizers quickly realized they couldn’t possibly take tickets and made the concert free. Tickets cost $18 in advance and 186,000 tickets were sold, but more than double that amount actually showed up. It must have been an amazing sight.

Sat down to watch the 2nd Presidential Debate. I’m just depressed. The Candidates were supposed to interact with the public, right?

Today is Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day. It is a very beautiful country, and if you missed me writing about my last trip to Israel, you can relive my 10 part trip report.

Today is Yom Hazikaron, The Day of Remembrance for the Fallen Soldiers of Israel and Victims of Terrorism.

On this day in history, a man was born who would change the world…or rather our understanding of it. Isaac Newton was born December 25, 1642.

“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

neverforgetI’ve been watching reruns of Quincy M.E. on local TV and tuned in to an episode from 1982 called Stolen Tears, where Martin Balsam plays a Holocaust survivor fighting a Holocaust denier, played by Norman Lloyd. Somewhat ironically, Norman Lloyd(born Norman Perlmutter) is also Jewish. I was a fan of his work on St. Elsewhere.

It put me in mind of the 1991 TV movie, Never Forget, starring the late Leonard Nimoy as Mel Mermelstein, and directed by the late Joseph Sargent. Sargent, also director of the original Taking of Pelham One Two Three(which starred Martin Balsam), died a year ago tomorrow. So I bought a copy of the movie on Amazon’s video streaming service, which I haven’t seen since the 90s, and watched it.

In the movie, based on the actual story, Mel Mermelstein is a Holocaust survivor who has a small exhibit at his place of business, and goes to schools and other groups to talk about his experiences. He attracts attention from a Holocaust denying organization and feels the need to challenge them, despite  the fact that most Jewish organizations tell him to simply ignore it and not give the hate group any further ammunition. There are people who consider Nimoy’s portrayal of Mermelstein to be one of, if not his best dramatic performances.