Wednesday, March 13, 2013

BLACK SMOKE MEANS NO POPE





BLACK SMOKE
MEANS NO POPE
FROM SISTINE CHAPEL CHIMNEY



Well World, "We're still waiting for a New Pope in this Popeless World of ours. Who will he be, the new most Holy Father of The Catholic Church? Will he be Black, White, Asian, from Europe, Africa, South America, America, or somewhere in Latin-America, maybe Asia, the Phillappines, or where-ever? The World is anxiously waiting. We want a new Pope, and we're hoping some like Pope John Paul II the most beloved Pope of the past 50 years or so. And how bout those "Red Shoes?" Which Cardinal will were them? Do you know? Doubt it! Maybe tomorrow.










Creation of Adam
by God
Sistine Chapel
The Vatican


Tuesday, March 12, 2013

IL MULLINO "AWFUL MOST OVERRATED RESTAURANT In NEW YORK




"DON'T LET THE PICTURE FOOL YOU"

I Like Them Both, but Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama Don't Know Much About Italian Food. Sorry! They're Burger Guys! Nothing Wrong about that, but they're not gonna tell "Me" About Italian Food ...


Review:

IL MULINO DOESN't MAKE THE GRADE


Il Mulino is awful. Without question thee Most Overrated Restaurant in all New York .. Anyone who "Thinks" this place is good "Doesn't Know Jack" about Italian Food .. When I went there, I had been looking forward to going there for years. Got inside, Horrible Dark Ambiance" crowded table placement with Crappy Mechanical-Like Service .. The food was good, but far from great like those who no-nothing of Italian Food profess, "Overpriced" and Highly Disappointing. "DON'T GO" Go instead to Bar Pitti,  DeGrezia,  RAO'S, or Elio's if you want great Italian Food, "NOT Il Mulino" !!!!! Please!!!!!



BEST 3 ITALIAN RESTAURANTS in NEW YORK






BAR PITTI





DeGREZIA






"BUT YOU CAN'T GET IN"
Says FRANKIE NO !







Carbone on Urbanspoon

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

SINATRA







   Sinatra. The name? What does it that word, the name invoke? Well for me and millions of  Italian-Americans over the years, the name Sinatra conjures mostly love, Happiness,  good-times,  wonderful memories, and “Pride.” These emotions that are all one really need to be happy and content. That’s what is important. Along with good health and family togetherness. And, by the way, you don’t have to be Italian-American to love Sinatra, most everyone does.
    My love of Frank Sinatra, the man and his music began when I  was a young boy  growing up in East Rutherford,  New Jersey,  always in sight  of the wondrous skyline of my beloved New York City. As far back as I can remember,  my  mother used to play all her fine records  on her  RCA  Victor  Record Player. Songs like Strangers in The Night,  The  Summer  Wind, The Lady  is  a Tramp,  Fly Me to the Moon, Come Fly with  Me,  and  so many more. She played Sinatra all  the time, along with Sammy, Dino, Elvis, Al Martino,  Tony Bennett and  Nat King Cole. Those were her favorites and  Frank Sinatra was always  number one for the entire  Bellino Family, especially for Me, my Mother, Sister Barbara, and Uncle Frank.  
    Whether listening to a record or seeing the man live, this man  sang with so much emotion that you could  actually feel it within yourself, the feelings and emotions he  was trying  to convey.  He tried and he always succeeded, whether he was singing a fun happy  song  like  “Luck Be  a Lady,”  “I’ve  Got  the World on a  String”,  or the incredible  way  he sang a torch song,  and  sang  these songs in a way no other could.  Songs  of  lost love  and  Bittersweet  Romances like  “You  and Me,”  The  World  We Knew,  The Second Time  Around,  and  “If  I Had You,”  many others of  course.  You could  feel the pain of hurt and lost love. They say the reason he had  this very  special touch  with torch songs was because he was thinking  of,  and singing  about  the Greatest Love of  his life,  Ava Gardner, Frank’s proverbial Girl That Got Away.
    The man  had such a way with lyrics and music, he’d  take  those  songs  and  make  them his own. These  songs  were, still, are, and always will be wonderful  gifts  to his hundreds of millions of  fans, to The World, to the history of mankind, to the Millions Who Loved and adored him, Frank Sinatra.
   We Italian-Americans  are deeply proud that he was one  of our own.  He  was an Icon, The Twentieth Century’s  greatest  entertainer,  a National Treasure and source  of pride,  whom Italians looked-up-to and could brag  about, he was of Italian blood, same as us. That our roots  were from the same place (my family in particular the Bellino family came from the same town as Sinatra Family in Sicily, Lercara Friddi) as well as so many  of  our  forbearers  of  Italy to  precede us, people like Leonardo Da Vinci,  Brunelleschi, Giotto, Verrazano, Columbus,  Marconi, and Michael Angelo. In America we had Italian Americans like; Joe Di Maggio, Dean Martin (Dino Crochetti), Tony Bennett (Anthony Benedtto),  Al  Pacino,  Francis  Ford  Coppola,  Robert Mondavi,  Jake La  Motta, Rocky  Marciano,  and so many more, and of all those incredible people, Sinatra was tops. He still is.
   There are have  been all kinds of great singers in this  World,  people like  Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Dean Martin, Al Green, Pavarotti, and on-and-on, but never a performer quite like Sinatra.  His singing,  the way he handled  a song, was beyond compare. Frank sang with incredible feelings and emotions.
   If  you were fortunate to ever see Sinatra perform  live, it  was an experience like no  other. You know how he makes  you feel so good when  you listen to one  of  his many  great recordings?  Well  multiply  that  by 100  and  you just start  to  understand. The emotions  one  felt  at  a  Sinatra Concert.  Emotions quite similar to the magical  euphoric  feelings  you’d get  as  a child running down  to the  Christmas Tree,  opening  your presents on Christmas Day. You’d get that special toy you’d  been dreaming of, and. You are in Seventh Heaven. Euphoria!  Do you remember?
    For any great  Sinatra fan, seeing  the man perform live, being  at a  Sinatra  Concert, it’s akin to being a child again,  under that Christmas Tree,  to open that  special present, that’s a Sinatra  Concert. Better!
    When you went to a Sinatra Concert there would be so much love, joy,  happiness, and adulation for the man  that you could literally feel it in the air. It made  you shiver and sent chills up and down your spine, “Literally.” People would  be screaming out, “We love you  Frank”, both men  and women, and he’d reply back,  “I  love you too”,  in  a way,  only
Frank  could do. He truly did Love and appreciate his  fans and had such a fantastic rapport with his audience.
    Frank had  great  conversations with his audience. Guys felt as his pal,  and women his lover, these are messages he conveyed, and his fans adored him for it.
There have been so many great performers over the years, but there never was, there is not now, and there will never  ever be another  quite like that man, Francis Albert Sinatra. Never.
    I’ve been a tremendous fan of his since early childhood.  I grew  up listening  to the Beatles, Elvis, The Rolling Stones, all the great Motown and Philadelphia  Sound artists,  as well as many other Rock and Pop Stars.
   Along with the Pop, R&B, and Rock music that most  kids of  my  age  would  listen to at the time, I  added artists of my parent’s generation as well,  artist  like;  like Sinatra,  the rest of the Rat Pack,  Louis Armstrong,  Bobby Darin, and others. These artists that most  children and young adults didn’t  listen to  unless they  were the chosen few who had the good  taste and capacity to appreciate at tender young  ages, musicians like; Armstrong, Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald  and others. No matter that these older  artists were of their generation or not, their music was great, and even at such a young age, I could love and appreciate. Sammy, Sinatra, Dean and others were great performers  who made great music, and that all there was to it.
    When I was in high school, I had a few friends who  were heavily into Sinatra as well.  Most kids thought he  was “boring”  and  old-fashioned. We knew better!   We were all  of  Italian  ancestry and we were proud of  him  and of ourselves that although we were from another era, we were sophisticated enough, at such young ages to appreciate great performers of our parents and grandparents generation, we were Cool and  we  knew it!  Hey, Facts-Are-Facts, and that was a fact, “We Were Cool.” We looked  at  ourselves as The Jr. Rat Pack, Cool, Sophisticated, and Confident!!! Frank gave us that confidence and
Bravado! 
 The sad day in which Frank Sinatra passed away,
I  received four messages of condolence, one from my sister Barbara, one from my brother-in-law Noel, one  from  my friend Selena, and one from my good buddy Jimmy Starace.  That’s how much  I loved the man, what a big fan I was, and all my friends and family knew it, thus the messages of condolence. I  wouldn’t be surprised if that happened to a couple Million other Sinatra fans as well.
   We were blessed with his presence for a long time. We  still are, through all  his fabulous recordings (12   Hundred Songs )  and  the memories, they evoke
feelings of  girlfriends, Love, our  mothers,  fathers, and of Frank.
    I made sure that  I went to see the man perform live on seven extraordinary  occasions. These concerts hold many wonderful memories that I will have for the rest of my life, along with the numerous dinners  with friends and family spent listening to his incomparable recordings and having Sinatra Parties on  Saturday nights when WNEW AM in New York used to  have a  show every Saturday night for years called  “Saturday  with Sinatra”, well,  as only New Yorkers could do.
   New Yorkers being Franks most loyal fans. This
is  where he  got his start.  The show  was hosted by Sid Marx’s. Sid and some of his special guests would tell all sorts of wonderful stories about Frank. There would be guests who knew Frank personally, as well as listeners  who would call in and tell stories of how they  “Fell  in Love”  listening to Sinatra or how they met him one time, or of performances that they went to. The show was three hours of listening to Sinatra’s unrivaled music and of stories and antidotes of “The Man.” For Sinatara Fans, this weekly Saturday Night Show was pure bliss.
   Sinatra was loved all over the World, and people could tell you all sorts of interesting antidotes pertaining to all parts of the globe. I have a particular interesting memory of  him combined  with a great food and wine trip in Italy. I  was in the small wine town  of  Greve in Chianti  Classico, Italy having a nice  little  dinner  with  a  friend.  We  were in this
great  little Enoteca eating  the famed local Salumi
and Paparadelle  with Wild  Boar Ragu. We were a
bit surprised (I don’t know why) to hear both Sinatra  and  Billy Holiday  recordings playing at this little  place.  The owner  walked by  to  see how we were doing. I  gave him a thumbs-up and told him, “Great music”.
    “You  like Billy Holiday?” he inquired.  We had a nice little conversation with him about Billy, Sinatra, and wine.
    He told us that he had lived and worked for a few years  in New York.  This guy was  a big fan of Frank,
Billy Holliday, and New York City. So, that’s Sinatra, loved  the World over,  even in little towns like Greve in Chianti.






SINATRA Excerted from La TAVOLA by Daniel Bellino-Zwicke
 


http://www.amazon.com/La-TAVOLA-Adventures-Misadventures-American/dp/1463618123

Thursday, February 28, 2013

The POPE HAS LEFT THE BUILDING





POPE BENEDICT







POPE BENEDICT'S LAST TIME at St. PETER'S SQUARE 
and The VATICAN






THE POPE'S RED SHOES











POPE BENEDICT Leaves The VATICAN in HELICOPTER
Which TAKES HIM To CASTEL GANDOLFO 
The POPES SUMMER RESIDENCE




Monday, February 25, 2013

GROSSLY OVERRATED ARGO WINS BEST PICTURE OSCAR




ARGO IS GOOD
BUT FAR FROM BEING GREAT
And One of The WORST BEST PICTURES
of ALL-TIME




Word Association Game. You Say "Argo" I say Overrated. Argo Won The Oscar for Best Picture of The Year last Night. I saw the picture  it was good, maybe ever very good, but great as people have been throwing around for most, please give me a break. If Argo is the Best Picture of The Year for 2012 / 2013 then the Hollywood and the Motion Picture Industry is in trouble and serious delusional, as is a good part of the U.S. population who seem to be mostly followers who jump on each and every  Band-Wagon that comes along.
   Yes, I saw Argo. I like it. It was enjoyable and I felt I got my moneys worth. But it didn't bowl me over as being a great or phenomenal picture. Having heard the hoopla about the movie before I went, I felt myself sitting in the theater, waiting for greatness, excitement  something to move me and make me feel and say, "Yeah, this movie is great." Guess what ladies and gentlemen, I didn't. The movie was good, I liked it, the expectation were of greatness with all the press was saying, guess what, Argo is good and maybe even as High as Very-Good, but Great? Or The Best Picture of The Year, "Far From It my friends."
    In the past two months or so, I've really gotten tired of hearing all the over hyped BS about this movie being so good, "Great." Not !!! And give me a break about Affleck getting robbed by The Academy for not getting a Best Director Nomination. That was actually a good call by the Academy, the bad call came last night when Argo was awarded The Best Picture Oscar. Is this wheat Hollywood and the rest of the movie business calls Best Picture Quality? Sad! Very Sad. Let's hope Hollywood can come up with something a lot better next year, cause Argo just doesn't cut the mustard, despite what the masses of American "Followers" think. You need to do better guys (Hollywood).
 


Daniel Bellino-Zwicke









John Goodman,  Alan Arkin, and Ben Affleck

In ARGO

Friday, February 15, 2013

RUSSIAN METEOR & ASTEROIDS WORLD NOT ENDING


LARGE METEOR HITS RUSSIA
1,000 People Injured









EARTH And ASTEROID


Assteroid 2012 DA14 To Pass by EARTH TONIGHT 







Saturday, January 26, 2013

The Dudes Super Bowl Party Eats


Super Bowl Sunday, one of the biggest, most important days of the year. An unofficial American Holiday right up there with Thanksgiving and Christmas, with almost as much food and plenty of Beer. The biggest Beer Day of the year, and biggest day of the year for Potato Chips, Pretzels, Salsa, and Onion Dip too. Biggest day of the Year for Chili and Buffalo Chicken Wings.





Got Any Kahlua?



   And where are you watching the Super Bowl This Year? At a local bar, a friends house, your house? If at your house what are you gonna serve. Well some try to get fancy with all sorts of stuff, but nothing beats the Super Bowl Sunday Classic Eats like' Potato Chips, Dip, Pretzels, Nachos, Big Bowls of Chili, and Buffalo Chicken Wings. Are you entertaining yourself this year? Well if you are, there's something you might want to help you along the way. It's a Cookbook filled with just the recipes you'll need to help you throw the perfect Super Bowl Party. Well if not perfect, Dam Good and surely successful. A surprise book has emerged of late, as "The Go-To Cookbook For Super Bowl Sunday Eat." The book in question is The Dudes Big Lebowski Cookbook "Got Any Kahlua" The Collected Recipes of The Dude by cookbook author Daniel Zwicke .. Got Any Kahlua has been quite the big hit since it publication release in the Summer of 2012 ... Well the wonderful film which is the greatest cult movie of All-Time "The Big Lebowski" is almost sure to be a hit on it's own, simply from the throngs of fans (Fanatics) of this cult classic, people know in Dude & Lebowski Circles as "Achievers." 
    This little book, Got Any Kahlua? is quite a gem, filled with great easy to make recipes. The recipes are easy and amazingly tasty, and being of and about The Dude and The Big Lebowski, it's filled with wonderful little stories, quotes and quibbles that apply to the Achievers most cherished hero "The Dude." Got Any Kahlua was designed by renowned cookbook author Daniel Zwicke to be just and those things, to be filled with recipes that had to be and are all "Tasty and Quick and Easy to Make." The recipes had to be economical as well, all things that would appeal to The Dude and His Followers, the "Achievers."
     So, The Super Bowl, Super Bowl Parties, The Dude and his wonderful little cookbook, The Dudes Collected Recipes, it's Got Any Kahlua? Super Bowl Foods "Greatest Hits" in; The Dudes "Cowboy Chili," Buffalo Chicken Wings, as well as a Dude Original Recipe called "Crazy Wings," Guacamole, Tacos, and Burritos. they are all in there, and all quite wonderful, and of the recipes are of The Dude, and when it comes down to it, whose Recipes For Cowboy Chili and Buffalo iIngs would you rather use for your Super Bowl Party Eats, "The Dude" or Martha Stewart? The answer is quite obvious. Well, if not "All" to Millions anyway.


Article:  Ed Cullen






Got Any Kahlua?
Available in Paperback
and Kindle on Amazon.com