NASA Solar Orbiter press conference streams from this morning.
For the geeks….
Parker Solar Probe carries a smaller payload than Solar Orbiter and goes closer to 'touch' the Sun.
Broadway Barks is for the first time virtual tonight (Thurs July 16, 7.30pm) - an annual animal charity event held in New York City to promote the adoption of shelter animals. Founded by Bernadette Peters and Mary Tyler Moore the event has been held every July in Shubert Alley since 1999. [still available to stream]
Is 3h of cute furry 4-legs just too much:)? As Bernadette Peters noted/questioned, there weren't that many animal shelters back in 1999 as there are now. Often sole individuals, famous and not, who took it upon themselves to create a safe house for creatures wandering the streets.
One shelter noted, not all strays [referring to cats] can be 'domesticated' and thence needs be released back to their 'crib' streets. I've met a lot those stray cats: so so frightened of a human presence. One had clearly once been a 'great guy' and hadn't 'pooped' on anything I'd covered up (where he'd sleep in the winter) going to the fence to 'poop' and cover. But something terrible had happened to that cat to make him so wary.
Then again, a lot of humans don't so much like other human presences either. Debra Granik's film Leave No Trace is all about how the system and/or humans can so often alienate so as finally folk wish and sustain a life like creatures in the wild. Who's to judge and say they are not happy, or rather, happier?
Ironic that we humans teach animals to trust as we nurse them back to 'life'. Yet they also have proven that they can teach us to trust again and return to 'life'. (referenced this NYT article many times). Such a long time ago, but there was a doc about a Mr. Takahashi (probably misspell) who devoted his life in Japan to teaching injured cranes how to fly. And most probably himself, also.
Once I sat on a bench in Central Park (NYC) and a woman with her dog alighted. Not to be beside. Just to sit. I started 'talking' to the dog, and when 'it' showed interest simply I gave a little stroke or too. Not making this up, but the woman then stridently said: get your own dog and soon departed.
Every human is different, every creature is different. It's a huge commitment to adopt an animal. Not sure that 'the love' is ever unconditional either way. There's 'the rub' as Shakespeare would say. Rupert Sheldrake wrote many books about how so uncanny is animal behavior. There's a lot 'unsaid' in the animal kingdom, as in the human 'kingdom'. How do birds know when there is an earthquake about to happen?
One can't divorce an animal as easily as one can a partner but our significant creature knows when to finally ask a divorce from us. Often their voice is an almost silent one.
Missing Kansas dog makes 50-mile trip to old home in Missouri
As part of their Broadway At Home series, Great Performances will keep the theatrical spirit alive by broadcasting a theatre favorite every week on PBS, beginning on Friday, July 24 and available for 1 week only, with She Loves Me, followed by Present Laughter, In the Heights: Chasing Broadway Dreams, Much Ado About Nothing, and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I.
New York City Center's American Ballerinas series is curated and hosted by dance critic and historian Alastair Macaulay. Episode 1 is available only until Wed July 22 (don't know why that is).
PBS's Great Performances streams the Met's 2019 Porgy and Bess (no indication of an expiry date)
Superstar tenor Jonas Kaufmann debuts the Metropolitan Opera’s Met Stars Live in Concert at 1pm Sat July 18 from the 1770's Polling Abbey outside Munich, Germany. Tickets are $20. Renée Fleming is on August 1. Each performance in the series is available as a scheduled live event, and will remain available on demand for 12 days.
PBS will also stream Anna Deavere Smith's drama Twilight: Los Angeles (through August 7) that explores the aftermath of the 1992 Rodney King riots in Los Angeles. She interviews her subjects in great depth, then recreates the transcript word for word, pause for pause. Her work is truly amazing, in no way 'agitprop', and not to be missed.
Microscope Galley has another fascinating online exhibition presence where video games "are reinterpreted by the artists to highlight the representation of gender in virtual reality, as well as the abstracted and subdued depictions of violence with their ramifications in real life, and the possibilities for more human and empathetic gaming models." A small rental fee to view and participate in the live chat.
Deborah Henson-Conant's fantastic 'electro-harp-rock' Invention & Alchemy with the Grand Rapids Symphony has extended its stream until July 31 (although the site also says it finishes tonight July 18).
But the world is a darker enough place for even a little flicker to be welcome.
Morality tale: This hydrangea was bought dirt cheap end of season about 3-4 years ago. My gardening gene needed some time to be activated over the years;) The poor plant was planted in a terrible spot (well, sort of) but I thought it could feed off the longevity of the massive forsythia growth and there was some noon-day sun despite all the tree foliage. Anyhow, it was basically left for dead- no special water/fertilizer/care only some weed barrier. Then for the first time a few days ago there was this little blue flower.
