My World of Religion, Politics, Entertainment and Social Issues

  My New Year resolution for 2023 is to keep my promise of bowing out of political commentaries. These have taken up a lot of my time during the past few years, and life is short. I predict the immediate political future of our country will be dreary and bordering on a fine line between fascism and democracy. My hope is that younger generations will run for public office for the right reasons, and not for the purpose of fulfilling inflated egos. My political predictions for the next two years are as follows: 1.) Donald Trump will fade from the political landscape. We probably won't see him land in jail. However, he will be carrying too much baggage to become the GOP's presidential nominee in 2024. 2.) I predict Ron DeSantis will be the GOP's presidential nominee in 2024 if he decides to enter the race. On the Democratic side, I expect that despite his age, Joe Biden will run for reelection, even though I would like to see a younger candidate, especially if Ron DeSanti...

  I recently wrote a lengthy review of the movie, TAR. My focus was primarily on the performances, the narrative of the story, and my expectation that there will be Oscar nominations for best film and best actress (Cate Blanchett). Since I have studied the art of conducting in the past, in addition to the fact that I continue to follow the careers of conductors I admire (wanted to be one once-upon-time), a musician friend asked me what I thought of Cate Blanchett's character and how I felt about the manner in which classical music is treated in this film. So, I will address these issues now. It is important to state that Lydia Tar is a fictitious conductor. Cate Blanchett carries the role very well, and I guarantee she will send chills up and down the spines of viewers. That said, from a musical standpoint, I felt that the movie did an injustice to conductors in general, especially women conductors. The best conductors know how to collaborate well with orchestra musicians. I...