Hello and welcome back to Circles In Space for Five Bullet Friday, where each Friday I share some interesting stuff I collected during the week.
Good Morning Everyone!
It’s been a dreary cloudy and rainy week here in New York City, perfect weather for reading and catching up on some movies.
Before we get into this week’s topics, I’d like to take a moment to celebrate the birthday of jazz drummer Max Roach on January 10th, 1924 and also to celebrate the life of influential guitarist Jeff Beck who passed away this week. I always struggle to include these kinds of events in the newsletter because I don’t want to leave anyone out!
On to this week’s bullets:
In celebration of Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail’s first public electric telegraph demonstration on January 11, 1838, here’s an oddly funny but informative military training video on how to use Morse Code. Our present-day interconnected world of high-speed communication can be traced to the invention of the telegraph.
This week I finished reading Michael Crichton’s The Great Train Robbery, a historical fiction novel based on The Great Gold Robbery of 1855. Set in Victorian-era London, Crichton brings to life the contrasting worlds of the ‘civilized’ wealthy upper class alongside the criminal underworld and abject poverty of the lower classes as protagonist Edward Pierce plots a gold heist aboard a train, the symbol of Victorian progress. Crichton wrote and directed a film adaptation starring Sean Connery which I will be checking out soon.
Recently I viewed Knives Out, writer/director Rian Johnson’s 2019 murder mystery film about a mystery writer’s murder. I was surprised to learn that the film wasn’t based on a book! The film feels like an Agatha Christie novel, complete with a quirky detective, Benoit Blanc (a la Hercule Poirot). I caught Johnson’s recent interview with NPR in which he spoke about his writing process and latest film Glass Onion.
Trapped in the Trenches in Ukraine written by The New Yorker’s Luke Mogelson, details the reconnaissance missions of a team of members from the International Legion - volunteers from across the world who are fighting in Ukraine. Among them are an ex-Marine and former Google Employee codenamed Doc and a U.S Army veteran codenamed Herring, who operates a drone to gather intel on Russian troop and tank movements. The article offers a ‘micro’ perspective at how the World War II-style battles of trench warfare, artillery and tanks are playing out; the article Arming Ukraine, discussed in my Friday 12.9.22 newsletter, offers a ‘macro’ perspective. Both are essential to having a better sense of how the war is playing out.
NYC Winter JazzFest begins this weekend! Over the next week, 500 musicians will bring the sounds of the wide-ranging idiom of jazz to 17 venues across Manhattan and Brooklyn. JazzFest is a musical highlight of winter in New York City - the chance to see so many amazing performers on the same night from venue to venue is not to be missed. Among this year’s acts are Makaya McCraven, Avishai Cohen, and Brandee Younger.
Got something to share? Leave me a comment! I’m always on the lookout for something new to dive into.
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That's all for this week!
As always, thanks for reading and have a great weekend!
Until next time,
KW