New York Urban Explorers: Art, Food, Museums, Walks, etc.

“Tower” - 1966 University of Texas Tower Shooting - Film History Livestream

We invite you to join us for a screening of “Tower”, a documentary on the 1966 University of Texas tower shooting.

Tower is a 2016 American mostly-animated documentary film about the 1966 shootings at the University of Texas at Austin directed and produced by Keith Maitland.
The film follows the shooting from the perspectives of several survivors, recreating their recounts via actors filmed and later animated in rotoscoping. The film premiered on March 13, 2016, at South by Southwest, before receiving a limited release by Kino Lorber in the United States on September 28, 2016. It was later aired on television on the PBS series Independent Lens.

On August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman rode the elevator to the top floor of the University of Texas Tower in Austin, Texas and opened fire, holding the campus hostage for 96 minutes. When the gunshots were finally silenced, the toll included 16 dead, three dozen wounded, and a shaken nation left trying to understand what had happened. Archival footage is combined with rotoscopic animation in a dynamic, never-before-seen way to illustrate the action-packed untold stories of the witnesses, heroes and survivors.

Our program will begin with a brief introduction including contextual information, things to look for, and historical accuracy (approximately 15 minutes) followed by a full screening of the film.
During and after the screening you’ll have the opportunity to discuss the film with fellow participants via Zoom.

Prado Museum - Madrid, Span: A Collection of Wonders Film Screening!

Let’s travel to one of my favorite places, Madrid, Spain, to see one of the world’s greatest art museums, the Prado. Our online/virtual adventure will feature a very brief overview of the museum followed by a full screening of the documentary film “The Prado Museum: A Collection of Wonders” hosted by Jeremy Irons (preview link below).

The Prado Museum (/ˈprɑːdoʊ/ PRAH-doh; Spanish: Museo del Prado), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th century, based on the former Spanish royal collection, and the single best collection of Spanish art. Founded as a museum of paintings and sculpture in 1819, it also contains important collections of other types of works. The Prado Museum is one of the most visited sites in the world and is considered one of the greatest art museums in the world. The numerous works by Francisco Goya, the single most extensively represented artist, as well as by Hieronymus Bosch, El Greco, Peter Paul Rubens, Titian, and Diego Velázquez, are some of the highlights of the collection. Velázquez and his keen eye and sensibility were also responsible for bringing much of the museum's fine collection of Italian masters to Spain, now one of the largest outside Italy.

The collection currently comprises around 8,200 drawings, 7,600 paintings, 4,800 prints, and 1,000 sculptures, in addition to many other works of art and historic documents. The Prado is one of the most-visited art museums in the world and is one of the largest museums in Spain.

The Prado, with the nearby Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the Museo Reina Sofía, forms Madrid's Golden Triangle of Art, which was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2021.

The Prado Museum: A Collection of Wonders

The first cinematic journey through the rooms, stories and emotions of one of the most visited museums in the world. ACADEMY AWARD® WINNER JEREMY IRONS will be guiding spectators on a discovery of a heritage of beauty and art.

Film Trailer:

Mr. Turner (J.M.W. Turner) - Art Film Livestream

Mr. Turner is a 2014 biographical drama film based on the last 25 years of the life of artist J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851). Written and directed by Mike Leigh, the film stars Timothy Spall in the title role, with Dorothy Atkinson, Paul Jesson, Marion Bailey, Lesley Manville, and Martin Savage. Leigh called Turner "a great artist: a radical, revolutionary painter", and said, "I felt there was scope for a film examining the tension between this very mortal, flawed individual, and the epic work, the spiritual way he had of distilling the world".
Mr. Turner premiered in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, where Spall won the award for Best Actor and Dick Pope received a special jury prize for the film's cinematography. The film was critically acclaimed and received four nominations each at the 87th Academy Awards and 68th British Academy Film Awards. Its soundtrack, by Gary Yerson, was also nominated for multiple awards.

Diana Ross, The Solo Years, 1970 - Present: Music History Livestream

Let’s travel back in time to hear the beautiful music of Diana Ross. This particular program will focus on Diana’s solo years, from 1970 to present, as we have a separate program that features Diana’s years with the Supremes. In addition to listening to great music we’ll also weave in other historical and cultural aspects from this area.
Our program coincides with Diana’s 81st birthday - March 26 (belated).
Group participation of the music with your fellow participants via Zoom.

Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. They remain the best-charting female group in history, with a total of 12 number-one pop singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

Following her departure from the Supremes in 1970, Ross embarked on a successful solo music career with the release of her eponymous debut solo album. She went on to release 26 studio albums, including Touch Me in the Morning (1973), Diana Ross (1976), Diana (1980), Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1981) and Swept Away (1984). Her singles "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "Touch Me in the Morning", "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)", "Love Hangover", "Upside Down" and "Endless Love", all topped the Billboard Hot Hot, making her the female solo act with the most number-one songs in the United States at the time. Her success continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s with global hits, including "I'm Coming Out", "Why Do Fools Fall in Love", "All of You", "Chain Reaction", "If We Hold on Together", and "When You Tell Me That You Love Me".

Ross has also achieved mainstream success and recognition as an actress. Her first role was her Golden Globe Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Billie Holiday in the film Lady Sings the Blues (1972), which made her the first African-American actress to receive an Academy Award nomination for a debut film performance. The film's soundtrack became her only solo album to reach number-one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. She also starred in two other feature films, Mahogany (1975) and The Wiz (1978), and later appeared in the television films Out of Darkness (1994), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and Double Platinum (1999).

Ross was named the "Female Entertainer of the Century" by Billboard in 1976. Since her solo career began in 1970, Ross has sold over 100 million records worldwide. She is the only female artist to have had U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles as a solo artist, as the other half of a duet, as a member of a trio, and as an ensemble member, a total of 18. In 2021, Billboard ranked her the 30th greatest Hot 100 artist of all time. Her hits as a Supreme and a solo artist combined put Ross among the top-five artists on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart from 1955 to 2018. She has scored a top 75 U.K. hit single for a record 33 consecutive years (1964–1996). In 1988, Ross was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Supremes, and is one of the rare performers to have two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She was the recipient of a Special Tony Award in 1977, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2007, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012 and 2023 (becoming the first woman to win the award twice, the latter as a member of the Supremes), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.

the Beach Boys.

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