Happy New Year to Readers of Bruce's Journal

I wish all readers of Bruce's Journal a happy and healthy new year.  I appreciate your stopping by whether I know you or not or if you are a regular reader.

Hofstra 75 NJIT 64 in Men's Basketball

It is unusual when the NJIT Highlanders come to NYC or Long Island to play, but they faced the Hofstra Pride last night at the Mack Arena.  So we drove over to see the game.  Since it was played during the Christmas-New Years break, the crowd was small.  The Highlanders got off to a slow start as Hofstra scored 9 unanswered points to start the game.  I felt that NJIT was not penetrating and was relying too much on 3 point shots.  They trailed during the entire game, but late in the game cut Hofstra's lead to one point.

Game Summary

I was able to take a photo of the Hofstra mascot seen below as he circulated throughout the stands.

The NJIT Highlander mascot seen below was not at the game.  Perhaps he was on vacation.  Maybe I'll run into him when I return to work.

It Wasn't Rocky Balboa vs Jake Lamotta

In 1980 Robert De Niro starred as Jake Lamotta in the film Raging Bull.  Likewise beginning in 1976 Sylvester Stallone starred in several Rocky movies.  Since it was raining so hard today we decided to go over to the local multiplex to see Grudge Match where De Niro and Stallone starred as fictional boxers Billy "The Kid" McDonnen and Razor Sharp.  They originally fought each other 30 years ago, but came out of retirement to fight each other again.

During the movie an inconsiderate person started to use her smartphone which created some visual discomfort in a darkened theater.  I asked the person to put it away.  When she persisted Karen went out to get the theater manager to stop her.  If you want to surf the web or text message, why go to the movies?  Just stay home.  I guess some people are just addicted to their phones.

College Basketball at Barclays Center Today

There was a college basketball tripleheader at Barclay's Center.  In the first game St. Johns faced Columbia in a battle of locals.  The defenses were very tight as there were many forced shots coming shortly before the 35 second shot clock expired.  I was impressed on how Columbia stayed in the game but the Red Storm held on to win 65-59.

Recap

The second game was a blowout as Kansas State beat Tulane 72-41

Recap

We did not stay for the third game which featured Virginia Commonwealth against Boston College.

I do think that a festival like this should feature 6 schools from the NYC region as attendance at this event was very low.  Most of the fans left after the St. Johns/Columiba game. I think there are likely few alumni of Kansas State or Tulane who live close by and would come to Brooklyn to see the game.

Jewish Museum Today - Art Spiegelman and Marc Chagall

If I remember correctly Karen and I vistited the Jewish Museum last year just after Christmas Day.  We went today to specifically see Co-Mix, a retrospective of Art Spiegelman and Chagall: Love War and Exile.  When we got to the museum just before opening time at 11 AM there was already a line of people wanting to get in.  Art Spiegelman grew up in Rego Park as I did and was only a year older than I.  I vaguely remember his name back then, but I was not acquainted with him.  He is noted for writing the book Maus using comic book characters to tell the story of his parents in the holocaust.  The exhibit featured other works of his.

Marc Chagall was a Jewish artist born in Russia who emigrated to France after the revolution.  Many of his paintings wer shown. I was surprised to see how crowded the museum was especially at the Chagall exhibit.

The upper floors were permanent exhibits that we saw last year, so we did just took a quick look.

The exhibits are described in detail at http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/Exhibitions

Boxing Day for Me

It was a pretty active day for me since I am off from work until January 2. Karen and I went to the bank to move money from one account to another.  It is a shame that the interest rates are so low these days.  The rate for our savings account is only 0.2%.  We set up a 5 year CD with some money for 1.5% interest which is still very low, but it is the safest investment possible.

When I went home I did some reading and viewing of Bob Dylan's Never Ending Tour.  I read a few chapters of this book was on my Kindle:

Muir, A. (2013). One more night: Bob Dylan's never ending tour. S.l.: Createspace

I also went into my library of DVDs and dug out the following:

Watson, W., Dylan, B., Garnier, T., Jackson, J., Baxter, B., Gilbert, J., Rivera, S., ... MVD Visual (Firm). (2009). Bob Dylan never ending tour diaries: Drummer Winston Watson's incredible journey. Oaks, Pa.?: MVDvisual

After that I watched Who Wants to be a Millionaire with Cedric the Entertainer.

From there I drove out to Douglaston and walked around Little Neck Bay.  We ate dinner at Ben's Deli in Bayside.

On and off throughout the day I listened to Rewound Radio featuring the top 77 as voted by the listeners.  I am not a "survey guy" as I believe that if I like a recording, I don't care what number it is.  I commend Tom Natoli, Mike Riccio, Frank Thomas, Allan Sniffen, and Bob Radil ( I apologize if I omitted anybody) for all the hard work they put into this programming.  I am especially impressed by the anecdotes about each of the songs that made the survey.  I was please to see that Like a Rolling Stone was voted #15.  The important thing was that this was an honest compilation of the actual votes. Many commercial radio stations do surveys, but the results are obviously "fudged" so that songs consistant with the stations format make the survey.

Being Jewish at Christmas

You can read what is in the picture above or read what I have to say.  I always have that "funny feeling" of being left out at Christmas time.  We don't open up gifts on Christmas or have a large family gathering.  Many gentiles do forget the significance of the holiday as it commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ.

I remember back in the 1970s before I was married there was always a Jewish singles dance on Christmas Day or Eve.  It was your last chance to get a date for New Year's Eve.  In the mid 1970s when I lived in New Brunswick, NJ there was a group called the Dunhams that held such an event.  We called it a JAP Festival. (JAP=Jewish American Princess).  That expression and singles dances have become passe over the years.

I will take in a movie tomorrow, but pass on the Chinese food.  It will be nice to be off from work until January 2.