Ramblin' with Roger

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

DreamWorks

Trying to support the local cinema, my wife and I went to the Madison Theatre to watch Puss In Boots: The Last Wish. Once again, the film was NOT on the marquee but was listed online.

I had seen the first two Shrek movies, the second (2004) of which introduced our feline hero. But I had not watched the third Shrek film (2007) nor the first Puss In Boots (2011).

First, the new movie often looks marvelous. There’s an IMBd review that addresses this. It “goes full Into the Spiderverse once a fight breaks out. Glorious 12 frames per second, hyper stylized with all the filters and gimmicks necessary to elevate the big set-pieces to something truly special and memorable.” This is different from what was used in previous films.

Second, the storyline works at one level for kids – and there were about a dozen of them during that week after Christmas – and quite another for the adults.

If you saw the trailer, you know the cat has only one of his nine lives left. But if he can find the Wishing Star…

First, Puss In Boots (voiced once again by the wonderful Antonio Banderas) has to regain his mojo, helped by an unlikely cat, er, dog Perrito (Harvey Guillen). He also has to deal with rivals for the prize, including his old companion Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek).

More rivals

Others seeking the Wishing Star are Goldie (Florence Pugh) and the Three Bears (Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, Samson Kayo), and the amoral Jack Horner (John Mulaney). But the greatest threat to Puss is the Wolf (Wagner Moura) and what he represents.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is visually impressive but, more surprising, quite touching in dealing with mistakes and misunderstandings made in relationships. It’s no surprise that it was nominated for various awards and 96% of the Rotten Tomatoes critics liked it.

It is my favorite 2022 movie so far.

Born in February 1953

Steenbergen, Raddatz, Ebersole, Doe, Krugman

As I noted last month, I am going to note some folks born in February 1953, so they are turning 70. I don’t have a full post. This is a one-year offering.

Mary Steenbergen (8th): I’ve seen her in a LOT of her early films. Time After Time (1979), followed by Melvin and Howard (1980), for which she won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress. After that, A Midsummer’s Night Sex Comedy (1982), Parenthood (1989), Back To The Future Part III (1990), What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), Philadelphia (1993), and Nixon (1995). Nothing else on film except The Help (2011).

She’s been married to Ted Danson since 1995. They met during the filming of the 1993 movie Pontiac Moon.

Here’s a seven-minute video of Mary on IMDb.

ABC News

Martha Raddatz (14th) has been on ABC News since 1999, initially covering the State Department. She became ABC’s senior national security correspondent in 2003, reporting extensively from Iraq. She’s been Chief Global Affairs Correspondent since 2008.

Also, she’s the co-anchor of the Sunday morning program This Week. I find her ability to herd the talking heads much better than the chief anchor, George Stephanopoulos.

She wrote the bestseller The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family. The book about the siege of Sadr City, Iraq, became a TV miniseries in 2017 on NatGeo.

Raddatz and Anderson Cooper were co-moderators for the second presidential debate in 2016 between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Many appreciated “their ‘no-nonsense approach’ and ‘aggressive style” though Raddatz was criticized for a challenge to one of Trump’s statements, which some journalists felt ‘fell outside of her mandate as moderator.'” As a viewer, I thought she was great.

More than SNL

Christine Ebersole (21st) has appeared in films I’ve seen, from Tootsie (1982) to Licorice Pizza (2021). She’s done episodic television; since 2019, she’s been a regular on Bob Hearts Abishola. She was a regular on Saturday Night Live from 1981-1982.

But her greatest success was on the stage. Her IBDb notes her Tonys for 42nd Street (2001) and Grey Gardens (2007), plus two more nominations.

X

Back in 2014, I wrote a post about the band X featuring John Doe (25th). (I have refreshed some of the links.)

In 2020, X put out its first album in 35 years, Alphabetland.

Economist

I’ve noted that people either admire or loathe economist Paul Krugman (28th). I’m in the former camp.

On Krugman’s Wikipedia page, economist J. Peter Neary contends that “‘no discussion of his work could fail to mention his transition from Academic Superstar to Public Intellectual. Through his extensive writings, including a regular column for The New York Times, monographs and textbooks at every level, and books on economics and current affairs for the general public … he has probably done more than any other writer to explain economic principles to a wide audience.”

For instance, he tweeted on January 20, 2023: “One thing I’ve been noticing in my correspondence is how many people think inflation is still running wild; the big deceleration in the 2nd half of 2022 hasn’t broken through to public consciousness.”

Sunday Stealing: Three things

Not Rome, NY

The Sunday Stealing involves three things, like the Trinity or the number of angles in a triangle, a numeric value greater than two but less than four. There are Three Bears, Three Little Pigs, and Three Dog Night, whose drummer, Floyd Sneed, died in January 2023.

Three names you go by other than your given name:

Some people say Rog, which is fine. I had a coworker who called me Raji, which sounded too much like the diminutive Rogey for my tastes.

My father sometimes used o call me Sport, which was neither here nor there.

The name I’m most often called incorrectly is George. It happened three days ago. I explained this phenomenon here.

Three things you like about yourself:

My passion for music; My analytical mind; My compulsion to post on this here blog daily.

Three things you don’t like about yourself:

My ability to brood; my weight, though I lost 25 pounds last year; my inability to get my cough drop wrappers into the garbage can.

Three parts of your heritage:

OK! Ireland, Nigeria, Cameroon

Three things you are wearing right now:

Long-sleeved T-shirt (it was below zero Fahrenheit wind chill outside when I wrote this); pants; slippers (I always need slippers indoors).

Three favorite bands/musical artists:

Too hard. OK, The Beatles; the Temptations; Johnny Cash.

Three favorite songs:

Oh, please. The first three that came to mind are God Only Knows by the Beach Boys; Baby, Now That I Found You by Alison Krauss; I Don’t Remember by Peter Gabriel. A silly exercise. What I’ve listened to recently has had a significant impact.

Doesn’t everyone?

Three things you want in a relationship:

Good conversation, intelligence, and patience.

Three of your favorite hobbies:

Genealogy; coin collecting, which I used to be more into when I was a kid before someone stole my half dollars, and I KNEW who it was, but I couldn’t prove it; reading.

Three things that scare you:

Racism, sexism, homophobia.

Three of your everyday essentials:

Wordle (I’m 334-2); putting my current blog post on Facebook (it’s SUPPOSED to do so automatically, but it rarely does); flossing my teeth.

Three places you want to go on vacation:

Hawaii; Alaska (before the glaciers all disappear); Rome (Italy, not New York – no offense to Rome, NY)

Three careers you have considered/are considering:

Minister; lawyer; bon vivant.

Three things you want to do before you die:

Figure out some genealogical puzzles; visit all of the states in the US (I’ve only been to 31); meet a few of these bloggers I’ve known online for years but never met in person (I’ve met one in Chicago).

Three things you want to do really badly right now:

Write five blog posts about movies I’ve seen recently; clear the floor in my office (it’s better now than it was yesterday); take a shower.

The prewar #1 hits of 1913

Peg O’ My Heart also charted in 1964!

Some of the #1 hits of 1913 are very familiar to me.

Before getting into those songs, some technology news. This is according to Joel Whitburn’s A Century of Popular Music.

Thomas Edison introduced the Edison Diamond Disc Phonograph and records in 1913. “Their sound was hailed as the finest ever heard to this date, but because the phonograph would only play ‘hill-and-dale’ vertically-grooved records and not the laterally-cut discs made by Victor and Columbia, their popularity would be limited.

1913 was also the peak year of ballroom dancing nationwide, “symbolized by the team of Vernon and Irene Castle… This was also the year that the era’s biggest dance craze, the fox-trot, was introduced. “

Seven weeks at #1

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling – Chauncey Olcott (Columbia). Lyrics by Chauncey Olcott and Geo. Graff, Jr.; Music by Ernest R. Ball. Here are the lyrics. Henry MacDonough went to #3 that year with the same song.

When I Lost You – Henry Burr (Victor). “Written by Irving Berlin after his wife of five months passed away. He was unable to write for some time after the tragedy until he found the strength to compose this song. “

Peg O’ My Heart – Charles Harrison (Victor). The song was featured in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1913. Henry Burr went to #2 that year with the same song. It charted for Walter Van Brunt, #7, in 1914. It went to #1 thrice in 1947 for Jerry Murad’s Harmonicats, Buddy Clark, and The Three Suns. Also that year, #4 for Art Lund, #8 for Clark Dennis, and #5 for Ted Weems. Additionally, #64 pop and #13 adult contemporary for Robert Maxwell in 1964. Written by Alfred Bryan and Fred Fischer.

You Made Me Love You, I Didn’t Want To Do It – Al Jolson (Columbia), gold record. From the stage musical “The Honeymoon Express” in which Jolson starred. He re-recorded it in the 1940s. Written by James V. Monaco and Joseph McCarthy.

Six weeks at #1

Last Night Was The End Of The World – Henry Burr (Victor). Written by Harry Von Tilzer and Andrew B. Sterling.

When The Midnight Choo Choo Leaves for Alabam’ – Arthur Collins and Byron Harlan (Columbia). This became an Irving Berlin standard.

A comedy track, five weeks at #1

The Spaniard That Blighted My Life – Al Jolson (Victor). Recorded in the 1940s by Jolson with Bing Crosby. Lyricist: Billy Merson

Three weeks at #1

The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine – Henry Burr and Albert Campbell (Columbia). Covered by Laurel and Hardy in ‘Way Out West’ in 1937. Written by Harry Carroll.

Till The Sands Of The Desert Grow Cold – Alan Turner (Victor). Lyrics: George Graff. Music: Ernest R. Ball

Row! Row! Row! – Ada Jones (Victor). From “Ziegfeld Follies of 1912”. Composed by William Jerome and James Monaco.

Two weeks at #1

Sympathy – Walter Van Brunt and Helen Clark (Victor). Written by Rudolf Friml, Otto Harbach and Gus Kahn.

Education of Black Children in 19th Century Albany

Albany School for Educating People of Color

While looking for something else, I came across something very interesting on the Albany County, NY webpage. It was a document titled The Struggle for Education of Black Children in 19th Century Albany.

“Albany Common Council laws were rigid in their allowances of land and financial aid for schools for ‘children of color,’ so leaders in the black community decided to use their own land and places of worship for this purpose.

“In 1811, Benjamin Lattimore [Sr.] purchased a lot on Malcolm Street (now known as Broad Street) from Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, the widow of
Alexander Hamilton. On this lot, the first ‘Albany School for Educating People of Color’ was established.” Other schools followed. The article documented the work of Lattimore, Thomas Paul Junior, and John Quincy Allen.

“By July 1845, a new public elementary school house for black children was built at 37 Chestnut Street at a cost of $830 to the city. The Wilberforce School, named after a British abolitionist, became the only public school that black children could attend until 1873, when the law was changed to accept them into the Albany Public School system…

“The Wilberforce School closed in 1873, after desegregation of New York State schools. It was renamed School 16 and was located where the Empire State Plaza is currently located. In 1906, the school was moved to the Pine Hills neighborhood and is now the Pine Hills Elementary School.”

This was a fascinating piece of local history I had not come across. School 16 was torn down in 2005 and replaced by the current Pine Hills Elementary School, which my daughter attended from first through sixth grade.

Today

I went to the New York State Department of Education website to retrieve current data about the Albany City School District.

In the 2020-2021 school year, the most recent data provided, I found this:

AMERICAN INDIAN OR ALASKA NATIVE – 23(0%)

BLACK OR AFRICAN AMERICAN – 3,737 (45%)

HISPANIC OR LATINO – 1,613 (20%)

ASIAN OR NATIVE HAWAIIAN/OTHER PACIFIC ISLANDER – 740 (9%)

WHITE – 1,565 (19%)

MULTIRACIAL – 553 (7%)

Yet the Census data for 2020 notes that the population breakdown for the city of Albany is 52% white, 26% black, and 7% Asian. Hispanics, who can be of any race, are 10% of the population.

Albany has 98,617 people (2020 Census), 11.9% of which were under 18 but over 5, or about 11,735 children of school age. The Albany City School District had 8,610 kids.

One of the quirks of Albany is that it has long had several nonpublic schools. There are data for this that my computer won’t open, but one can infer the trendline. A bit of irony, I think.