Author: Carol Colitti Levine

thesidetrek.com
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Politics Isn’t Beans Bag

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is scaring Democrats. Yay. Maybe they’ll stop drumming up delusional socialist schemes and formulate practical policies. So they can actually beat Trump. A moderate pragmatist is always my choice. Like Mike Bloomberg.

But. For the tax-dodging elitist media couple Mika & Joe to confront Schultz about the cost of Cheerios is rich. A guy who grew up in the projects of Brooklyn and achieved the American dream. Warren & AOC castigating him for being a billionaire. Really? Get a grip.

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Like Water for Roma

Roma should have been called Agua. Rain water. Hose water. Drain water. Water dripping from laundry. From awnings. Standing water. Muddy water. Swamp water. Tea water. Sea water. Water breaking. Okay. We get it. Water is the metaphor. For what? Life? Men running through women’s lives and leaving them alone?

The movie did achieve an intimate portrayal. Exquisite filmmaking. Beautiful period art piece. It will probably earn an Oscar for Cuarón.

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Air Space

Nancy held her ground. And the FAA made the day. Air traffic controllers the tipping point. Shut show is over. For now. Pelosi wins this round.

A Pablo Neruda stanza shared today evokes the vast air of loss.

Es una casa tan grande la ausencia
que pasarás en ella a través de los muros
y colgarás los cuadros en el aire

Absence is a house so vast that you will pass through it and its walls and hang paintings in the air       – my translation

 

No air space. Now it’s global.

 

 

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Chilly Tilt

A tilt in the winter air. Lunar eclipse could be seen by West Siders on a clear night. Yet. Nothing seems right.

Super Bowl teams decided by a bad call and a coin toss. HBO’s excellent Brexit with Benedict Cumberbatch sheds chilling light on what happened both there and here in 2016. The Mercer’s and Cambridge Analytica are responsible for it all. Steve Bannon, too. A must see.

True Detective music.    Season three.

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Toxic Misandry Alert!

Gillette Ad takes Toxic Misandry to new lows. When did men become bad? Those I know and have known are wonderful people. Bad behavior comes in many forms. It is not a gender.

Kirsten Gillibrand on becoming the newest Presidential candidate for 2020 – “The notion that all women are the same and that women should be judged on anything other than their own merit is just offensive and wrong.” Okay. I like that statement!

So. Maybe that’s why there is a NYC Women’s March on Saturday. And a competing protesting NYC Women’s Rally on Saturday. Yeesh.

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Field of Play

NFL Conference Playoffs set. Youth be served. Mahomes at 22 and McVay at 32. Yet. The experience of Belichick and Brady and their arsenal cannot be denied. The Pats look as sharp as they’ve ever been.

Ray Donovan’s season finale took on a grisly Fargo-esque end. Chainsaws and shovels were involved. Bridget earned her place in the family. Vengeances dealt. Rule of play. Never mess with Ray’s kids.

William Barr takes questions in his confirmation hearing to become AG in a most crucial time. He seems a perfect QB for the DOJ of today.

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La Dame aux Camélias

Novel and stage play by Alexandre Dumas, fils. Later adapted by Giuseppe Verdi to La Traviata. 

Tickets to the Metropolitan Opera. Christmas gift from our fils. Parterre box.

New production with James Levine’s replacement. Montreal’s Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Unique deathbed retrospective one venue set, it brings all of Violetta’s life into her room with the requisite pathos and an added Ballet Jeté ensemble just because. Bavarian soprano Diana Damrau cajoled Violetta’s lacrime in a controlled splendor. The crowd loved it and her.

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La Nuit Divine

O Night Divine. Gloriously sung in French by soprano Susanna Phillips at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Applause wafted up the aisle. Couldn’t help it. Capped off last night’s Christmas Eve service with choirs and horns and harps and a Paul Winter sax solo. And. The most haunting organ crescendo Harking the Herald of Angels. Transported. Second annual tradition with Ben.

Inclusive Episcopalian congregation. A little political. But. No kneeling!

Joyeux Noël