[via StamptheWax]

(it won’t be this one, but ::melt:: all the same…)

‘Natalie Hepburn,’ the work of George Chamoun.

This guy does an incredible job of melding the Golden Age of Hollywood with the new. Almost makes today’s celeb-worshiping culture seem not so bad… (Told you I was going to class up the place!)

I actually just watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s the other day for the first time in years… Easy to see why she’s so iconic. Plus, you’ve got the respect the woman if only for her charity work…

“Taking care of children has nothing to do with politics. I think perhaps with time, instead of there being a politicisation of humanitarian aid, there will be a humanisation of politics.”

As a teacher, the notion of providing aid to children speaks strongly to me. But as citizens and human beings, the idea of a humanization of politics, a radical realigning of our priorities to place people over profit and human need over greed, should speak strongly to us all. Our world is in dire need of that at the moment, and I can appreciate a public figure that puts their celebrity to constructive use, be it Brad Pitt and Make It Right or Audrey Hepburn and UNICEF. It says something about us as a culture that we love and admire folks for acting on a screen, portraying fictional characters, but we’re so quick to dismiss and at times even chastise them for acting on convictions, and showing us their true character (a-la Sean Penn, Danny Glover, Rosie O’donnell, et al.).

Anywho, my next Music Mix will contain a clip from Tiffany’s. (Oh, btw, did you Kentuckians-by-way-of-D.C. folk hear that Tiffany’s — the jewelry manufacturer — is opening a factory in Lexington? </sidebar>) I’d provide an audio clip but my tumbl-upload-limit has already been reached for the day…

John Sebastian - Welcome Back (1976)

Hi friends —

It’s been about 2 months since I’ve last posted, two months of ups & downs and significant life changes. For one, I’ve left D.C. and moved back to “My Old Kentucky Home” — not an entirely unforeseen development, but still not exactly what I would have predicted a year ago. These changes could all be for the better, however. It appears as if I might begin teaching again, shortly (and thus the “Welcome Back, Kotter” theme).

But one change I’d like to devote some conscious effort towards is staying better connected and in-touch with all my friends, both online and off, particularly since so many of you are now located so far away. Therefore, in the spirit of improved communication and keeping current & up-to-date, I’m hereby undertaking a “reboot” of my blogs and online presence more generally in hopes of keeping the conversations going. Feel free to comment, submit, & participate, as always, and be sure to check out my other blogs: DevinduVillage for Politics, devinrf: Blog-a-Book (a new venue where I’ll posting excerpts from the books I’m currently reading - think of it as a virtual Book Club), and of course my Music Mixes (which have been severely neglected for some time now and all need to be re-uploaded, I’m told. My apologies.)

So anyway, in short, I’m alive and well, in spite of my absence, and I’m going to see what I can’t do about sprucing up this place! I hope you’ll stick around & participate. 

Cheers,

~ D

“Sometimes I Feel So Sick At The State of the World I Can’t Even Finish My Second Apple Pie”

Simply brilliant. (pun intended)

8-year-old Jonny Mizzone on banjo (with brothers Robbie Mizzone, 12, on fiddle and Tommy Mizzone, 13, on guitar) of the Sleepy Man Banjo Boys practicing Earl Skrugg’s Flint Hill Special.

Here they are even younger.

Dananananaykroyd - America Runs on Duncan

Something with a little “pep” to help those haggard patriots return to work this morning after late-night fireworks & festivities…

A Post-Fireworks Bonus:

Kelis (feat. DJ Ammo) doing her best impression of Lady Liberty.