Fiscal Year 2024 New York State Council on the Arts Grants for Chenango County
CHENANGO RIVER THEATRE, INC | Theatre | $30,000
Earlville Opera House, Inc. | Senate Initiative Grants | $500,000
Total: $530,000
Fiscal Year 2024 New York State Council on the Arts Grants for Oneida County
4 Elements Studio, Inc. | State & Local Partnership | $49,500
BROADWAY THEATRE LEAGUE OF UTICA | Arts Education | $40,000
Capitol Civic Center, Inc. | Electronic Media and Film | $49,500
Central NY Community Arts Council | State & Local Partnership | $40,000
Chamber Music Society of Utica | Presenting | $25,000
Children's Museum-Nat Hist/Science | Museum | $49,500
KEYS Corp. | Music | $49,500
KIRKLAND ART CENTER | State & Local Partnership | $49,500
Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute | Museum | $49,500
Rome Art and Community Center | State & Local Partnership | $40,000
Sculpture Space, Inc. | Visual Arts | $49,500
Sculpture Space, Inc. | Individual Artists | $10,000
Trustees of Hamilton College | Presenting | $25,000
UPTOWN THEATER FOR CREATIVE ARTS, INC. | Multidisciplinary | $25,000
Total:$ 551,500
Fiscal Year 2024 New York State Council on the Arts Grants for Madison County
Arts at the Palace. Inc. | Presenting | $20,000
CazArts Inc. | Multidisciplinary | $15,000
Colgate University (Friday night film series?) | Electronic Media and Film | $20,339
Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, Inc. | Visual Arts | $40,000
Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, Inc. | Individual Artists | $10,000
Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, Inc. | Individual Artists | $10,000
Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, Inc. | Individual Artists | $10,000
Total: $125,339
Fiscal Year 2024 New York State Council on the Arts Grants for Herkimer County
Arts Guild of Old Forge , Inc. | State & Local Partnership | $40,000
Old Forge Library Association | State & Local Partnership | $40,000
Total: $80,000
Movies Watched -- The Honeymoon Killers (1970)
115 minutes … interesting backstory to this movie… Warren Steibel (Jewish, of Firing Line fame) always wanted to make a movie and got his buddy Leon Levy (Jewish, of Oppenheimer funds fame) to put up $150,000. Leon Kastle, a Jewish composer, wrote the script and ended up directing the movie after the first director they hired, someone named Marty Scorsese, was unable to work with a small budget … anyway, the movie, originally titled “Dear Martha,” was about a con man and his obese lover who, in the late 1940s, ended up not just defrauding various lonely women, but also killing several of them, as well as a child. They were executed at Sing Sing.
It is a dark and depressing movie, clearly low budget, but well made. Kastle said that he was so disgusted by Bonnie and Clyde, which romanticized and glamorized that story, that he was driven to make a truer depiction on killers. I guess the movie is now considered a “cult classic.” You should see it if you’re not easily disturbed.
Movies Watched -- The Power of the Dog (2021)
127 minute running time, so 30 minutes too long … I was too dense to understand what this movie was about and forgot all about the kid’s prologue blurb … I only got it after reading this. I understood the gay cowboy thing, but not young lurch as killer to protect his ma. Campion likes to film stringy muscular cowboys cavorting in the nude … she even included a token black cowboy! No wonder John Farr recommended it (“underneath Phil’s swagger we sense emotional turbulence and a painful vulnerability,” oh spare me). I wasn’t thrilled, obviously. How many cruel gay cowboy movies do we need?
So subtle, Jane!
Movies Watched -- All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
148 minute running time … another in the War is Hell genre… looks like Netflix spent big money making this one … it was slick, but too long and sort of pat (contrived) in some ways: think of the German general tossing his wine on the floor and throwing scraps to his massive Hund, or the cheerfully oblivious schoolboys marching to their doom … Come and See remains the best War is Hell movie (though about WWII not WWI) … this was a John Farr reco and my sister also said she loved it, but not a green-go from me (given its length). Oscar, schmoscar … try cramming WWI into a 100 minute movie next time.
Ten Essentials
Movies Watched -- Dogfight (1991)
89 minute running time so the right length, but the story wasn’t very good … I like Lili Taylor (born in 1967, GenX), she’s spunky and has an interesting face (not an “ugly duckling”) … River Bottom is exactly my age (born in 1970), but he dropped dead at the ripe old age of 23 after going on a coke and heroin binge … the soundtrack was the best thing about this movie, which tells you something. No idea how this ended up in my queue… Oh, it’s inexplicably a John Farr recommendation.
