notjustaboutsex

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La Viuda...a strange tale

[notjustaboutsex]

admiration not fandom

not a review, nor an essay.. an admission

I am too old to have a crush on Ryan Gosling. These days I have crushes on specific flavors of ice cream and a brand of English muffins from Citarrella. But heaven help me, afrer watching that little guy play a Jewish Neo-Nazi, I have been infatuated with his acting. It’s as if his essence is always there, but he adapts himself to every character in such specific ways that make for a delicious…

[notjustaboutsex]

Musical works

this is primarily for a workshop on musical theatre application

these are example of musical pieces written with dave ogrin Chicken Man aka The Hunger By Nancy Cohen Instructions to the reader: In many cities prior to PETA, one could often find a bit of entertainment called the dancing chicken… usually found down dark alleys, there’s be a chicken in a cage and a slot where the audience would slip in a coin. Lights would come up, electric coils heated, under…

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Tuesdays with Morrie

c Jeremy Varner I can’t remember if I ever watched Morrie Schwartz on the Ted Koppel show as I may have confused him with Andy Rooney who signed off on 60 Minutes. But the book Tuesdays with Morrie was very familiar. It was written by Mitch Albom and explores his very close friendship in the last year of Morrie’s life, when Morrie lay “living” with ALS. This memory play produced by Sea Dog…

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TRIPPING ON LIFE

performance by Lin Shaye We need narratives and we need to tell our own stories as both lessons for others and feedback for ourselves. By putting these stories out publicly, it offers us a chance to reflect on events, re live them and also re-invent them if need be. I have no idea how much of Tripping on Life, written and performed by Lin Shaye, was historically accurate, but her emotional…

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The Corner Office film

The Corner Office is as far from the television show The Office as you can get. Jon Haam, (Orson) sporting an Oliver Reed moustache, climbs the steps to the fortress which will be his new work place, an industrial edifice, cold and foreboding. Orson is excited about his new possibility of employment, talking to himself the whole time about how he might appear to others while raking up his own…

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SOME GOOD THINGS

Who would guess that when going to the back doctor I would discover a bakery that brings their fab goods right to the hospital… Well, if you live in Long Island, you can pick them up there…but Gemmies Bakery is unique and worth the wait for delivery. So far I’ve only had their English Muffins made with their own yeast…who knew yeast would make such a difference, but these are truly worth waking…

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Heaven

Fishamble Theatre Company from Dublin has brought the wonderful Heaven by playwright, novelist, and screenwriter Eugene O’Brien to Origin Theatre’s 1st Irish play festival at 59 east 59th Street Theatres. Heaven at first seems like a simple story. Mairead (Janet Moran) in her fifties, now living in Limerick with her husband Mal (Andrew Bennett), has come back for a wedding. She shares with us…

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POEM OF THE DAY

POEM OF THE DAY

SLEPT LATISH woke to a podcast about breast cancer, Touched self…still present and accounted for… both. Quietly passed gas. The true sign of morning. Left foot stiff, strangled by a sock at foot of bed. hate when that happens. Pooch still snoring. Hmm. Maybe too early to face the day

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Unidentified Objects

review nancy cohen koan There are moments in this eerie road movie that really feel like you’ve been on the road a bit too long, when your back hurts from sitting, you’ve eaten too much junk food and your companion drives you insane That’s one of the things I like about Unidentified Objects. It’s painfully real at times and so uncomfortable. But the destination, a promised escape to outer space,…

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In honor of unsung 9/11 heros

In honor of unsung 9/11 heros

 DOG IS GOD SPELLED BACKWARDS By Nancy Cohen koan written originally a month after 9/11 commissioned for a magazine…never published as I needed more time to incorporate all the dogs. As the statues for the dogs are ready to be unveiled, I admit to having always loved them. Dogs love unconditionally and unless they’re owned by lawyers in San Francisco,…

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April is national poetry month

April is national poetry month

MADONNA, MADONNA, IS SHE OR IS SHE?Oye, is she Jewish, they all asked in a mob,secretly sizing her nose as a job.No, said Yonkel, she’s much too faire,I’m sure she’s a shiksa,.I swear, I swear..Still, for Kabballah, she fought and fought.,Zoom calls with Moses from her kosher yacht.Her Talmudic humor, not lost on her fans,with opinions on everything, just like a man..As the mom of Jesus, she…

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Chronicles of Covid, 444, I'm back.

Chronicles of Covid, 444, I’m back.

I ‘m finally sticking my head out of the parapet to breathe. The saga of my seclusion now must include my television binging, which to be fair, only happens after first doing a full day’s work of mouse chasing, online vitamin browsing and contemplation of my meal plans. By the time that is all finished, I sit down to join my family. This family is abundant, unlike my own, crazy in ways much…

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CHRONICLES OF COVID, episode 2007...setting free

CHRONICLES OF COVID, episode 2007…setting free

photo Nkoan

 As the city is opening up, I’m closing down. The over three months of virtually being a prisoner in my apartment has hit hard. I’m in a tiny space, filled to the brim with the world’s most important items (WMII) that cannot, on any terms, be let go of. Darling my pooch and I have taken to walking backwards from each other, when one of us has to pass through the narrow ravine…

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CHRONICLES OF COVID, episode 1000

CHRONICLES OF COVID, episode 1000

photos by NCohen-koan

I’ve been taking bigger and bigger walks in preparation for an appointment with my pain management doctor whose office is far.  I realize that sounds contradictory, but I’m still holding off on taking public transport and I want to be pain-free. I dragged my pup along on this practice walk. She gets to ride side saddle so we make faster time, and then I let her walk…

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CHRONICLES OF COVID, episode 96

CHRONICLES OF COVID, episode 96

One of the new habits I’ve acquired over Covid Time, is succumbing to the IGOS syndrome, known by me and possibly thousands of other homebound folks, as Immediate Gratification Obsessional Shopping. Countless hours spent logging onto Facebook flushes the brain with things you can’t live without…items to awaken one’s deepest security needs rooted out by robots and marketed back to us during the…

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CHRONICLES OF COVID, episode 1717

CHRONICLES OF COVID, episode 1717

I didn’t think I’d have much to write about for a few days. There are so many planetary positions in retrograde, that I figured it could be quiet. And just when you think it’s safe to come out of the cave, the shadowy side of our collective psyches reminds, not just yet.

My upstate friend had invited me to join her group of artists Art2hrtSoho take 2painting on the wooden planks used to…