A New Leader, Some Mistakes in Presentation, and a Rededication to My Project

On my Youtube site is a list of the most popular shows. Show # 4: Civita di Bagnoregio has been # 1 on the list for a long time, but today it was surpassed by Show # 28: The Roman Forum with Professor Eve D'Ambra. That show nudged ahead after a steady increase in viewers. It nows stands at Show # 28: 838 views and # 4: 836. Eve also did Show # 32 with 200 views, so that the Professor from Vassar College now has over one thousand views in the past 1 1/2 years!

Meanwhile, Riffman 42, one of my viewers indicates to me that two of my photos from Show # 90 were misidentified. One photo which I indicate as the city of Positano is really Amalfi, and another which I identify as Mt. Vesuvius is really Mt. Etna. I checked back with the book I used for the photos and he is exactly correct. What makes me feel badly is not that I made the mistake, but that I failed to go back and review my notes, because in the book I used it is very clearly labeled as he indicates. My apologies to him and to my audience. It is clear that I am too busy. Teaching at the college, writing a book, working out at the YMCA, writing this blog, and also doing this TV show appears to be too much. I have just finished my book, so things should ease up a bit. Another problem here is that when I stray too far from what I am most acquainted, I tend to "wing it" a bit too much. When I do a Florence show or one related to Venice, Lake Como, Tuscany, Rome, and Umbria, I am in my milieu. However, in trying to show pictures of the Amalfi Coast and Sorrento, I have strayed a bit too far afield from my main expertise. I have only been to the Amalfi Coast once in my life for 4 days back in 2006. Once to Sorrento as well back in 1998, and never to Sicily where I would have been able to identify Mt Etna. I apologize, but you can well imagine trying to produce a show of this type every week or even, as now is broadcast, once a month can be very difficult. Nonetheless, without offering too many excuses, I certainly do apologize for the mislabeling.

This is one of the reasons we will be returning to Italy to gather more information focusing on Cinque Terre again, Western Tuscany, Florence, and Lake Como. This 12 day trip should gather together, I hope, about 15 - 20 new shows for your viewing pleasure. Meanwhile my next two shows concentrate on first My Favorite Streets in Florence (of which I am well acquainted), and Photos of Italy taken from above, from towers, hills, etc. I call that show, Italy, Top to Bottom. Then there will be a month long hiatus, and when I return in mid-June I will spend an entire show talking about the trip we just will have taken. I will start with the planning stage, how I created this trip from scratch, the process of planning, and then a brief synopsis and preview of what will be coming during the next 12 months of broadcasts with special emphasis on what I consider to be have been the highlights, yet unknown. Part of the plan will be to document the as yet undetermined drive from the autostrade to the town of Monterosso. Despite my already anxiety over this ride, I will ask Laura, my photographer and videographer, to videotape the ride, which should be spectacular. I will also try to do some interviews with hoteliers and restauranteurs. Those have always been very popular. Lidia has promised to drive us to some beautiful towns near her home in Western Tuscany, and Luca will be taking us to Medici Villas, such as Villa Artimino, Poggio ai Caiano, etc. We will also photograph a villa on Lake Como we have yet to see, Villa Melzi just south of Bellagio. I will then spend the summer getting everything together, that's 2 months to download, edit the photos, and create shows to last the year. I return to the college on August 28, so I will have over 2 months to plan.

That's the news. Congratulations to Prof D'Ambra, apologies and thanks to Riffman42, and a renewed dedication to my wonderful and dedicated audience.

The Then and Now Series Comes to a Close

I saved the best for last. After three shows featuring 19th century photos of Italy, I saved perhaps the most interesting for this last broadcast featuring material from Rome, Milan, Venice, Pompeii, Mt Vesuvius, Bologna, Bergamo, and Verona. This pretty much consumes my supply of photos from the several books I bought while in Florence at the bookstore which used to be the Alinari Brother's workshop and studio. When I return to Florence in a few weeks, I will once again visit this amazing store, but right now, I would like to discover other interesting off-beat locations for further shows. For that I would need Luca, a native Florentine, to assist me.

Meanwhile, I felt that I needed to begin tonight's broadcast by explaining to my audience why we are only producing a show a month instead of my promised twice a month or my four times a month that we did for the first two years. I indicated that my material has gone down in size and needs to be replenished by what I anticipate to be as many as 20 new show from our next trip to Italy in May and June. These new shows will focus on small towns in Cinque Terre, Western Tuscany, and larger cities such as Florence. We will also feature our favorite restaurant in the Lake Como village of Varenna.

Tonight Ellen struggled with several problems related to the live broadcast causing dark frames, sometimes poor quality images, sound issues, and who knows what else. As more and more people use the public access studio, there materialize more and more problems. Amateurs are switching things around for seemingly no reason causing Ellen, a pro, to experience all kinds of issues. Some of these problems are manifest on the Youtube video, but the lion's share, a 70 second strange screen has been edited out by me after the upload to my channel. I hope there are are not too many distractions because the actual 56 minutes broadcast was fascinating. I was quite relaxed and meandered through 19th century Italy making my usual comparisons to the 20th and 21st century versions. The photos of scenes with a mother and her children were to me the most beautiful.

I told Ellen that I would attempt to get back on a semi-monthly format of shows if I could get into the process of creation of shows during the next two weeks. I have pretty much finished my book, and my college teaching is in a two week lull right for spring recess. I do have some ideas, but need to take the time to develop shows around them. That will occupy my time for the next few weeks, but when I return from Italy, that is when I should have a large number of photos which will form the basis for a year's worth of new shows.

Happy Birthday to Me

Yes indeed. I was born at 4 PM, on April 4, 1948. 4/4/48. I have led a privileged life of good health and great friends and family. I have traveled to Italy 21 times and brought back thousands of pictures and many, many fond recollections. I have produced a cable access TV show which helps me to express my passion for Italy, and I have this blog as yet another outlet for my profound feelings about Italy. Yes, I am a lucky guy.

I am thinking about our next trip in May/June and even begun thinking about the one after that in 2015. When I get back from Italy in June, I will really put my mind to preparing TV shows for the next year with perhaps as many as 15 - 20 new projects. Once a month is not enough, and I will set my goal to return to an every other week format. I have already begun planning, but much of that has to wait until I get to Italy to see where that takes me. I will report back sometime in June.

In the meantime I have Italy, Then and Now planned for Friday, April 18, my next live broadcast. This will be the final chapter of the four part series on the 19th century photos of Italy. I am planning to go to the bookstore again with Luca in Florence and find more material, something different perhaps from just places of interest, nut sure yet. All up in the air, but tune in to Youtube on April 19 to see the show.

Thank you for reading my blog for the past two and a half years.

Best wishes,

Alan Greenhalgh

I Owe You Big Time

After a rather long hiatus, the longest during the time I have been writing this blog, I am now back on the horse. To my loyal readers I say, thank you for waiting and now I owe it to you to give you some details of my "Alan's Italy Life". Well, I must start by saying that four weeks go very quickly, and it hardly seems that so long a period of time has elapsed. During this time I had hoped to attempt to develop a lot of new shows, but, alas, I only worked on two of them, one that appeared last night, and the next, and last, one in the "Then and Now"series. The one last night, Tuscany, Then and Now, continues the theme with part 3, after the very successful Florence, Then and Now, Parts 1 and 2. I used one of the Alinari photo journals focusing on Tuscany, and although Florence is of course a part of Tuscany and was included in the book, after two shows, I tried to stayed away from that subject. Instead I planned to start with Pisa, continue through Lucca, Siena, San Gimignano, Pistoia, Volterra, Livorno, Pitigliano, Montepulciano, Carrara, and the rolling hills of Central Tuscany. I worked diligently scanning photos, trying to find the 21st century counterparts, and then performing the necessary function on my MacBook Pro to create the side-by-side image that gives the viewer such a fine chance to find the changes that occurred during the intervening 150 years. I honed the final draft almost right up to air time. I also included on the broadcast several photos of people at work at various occupations during the 19th century, a really fascinating look at how people made a living 150 years ago visually represented.

At the studio, of course, it surely felt good to be back, say hello to Ellen, and get started. Alas, and of course, since nothing in that place ever goes smoothly, the phone rang at 4:59. Some producer who had used the studio right before our show lost her cell phone and had to come back into the studio to attempt to find it. After Ellen's modest attempt to dissuade her, during the opening theme which lasts about 2 minutes and 30 seconds, the door to the studio swung open and she entered rummaging about the console area making me very annoyed. When she finally left and I was very into the opening, she returned doing basically the same thing. This time I felt like strangling her. She finally left and the show continued unabated. I made a few mistakes, as is quite normal for me after a lapse of time, but was generally pleased with the broadcast. The highlight for my granddaughter, Sofia, will be the 5 minute segment at the beginning with Flat Stanley (you will have to view that segment to see what that is if you do not already know).

At home I realized that there is a one minute period of dead space on the DVD until the show actually starts, but when it does, I like the way it eventually developed. It was downloaded to my computer, uploaded to Youtube, and I made copies for Sofia, and two for the carousel, which plays the live versions in repeat mode. The final stage, writing this blog, is now being executed. So Alan's Italy Show # 89, Tuscany, Then and Now, is there for the viewing!

Meanwhile, I continue to labor to create new shows with hardly any material left. I do an Italy, Then and Now, featuring 19th century photos from all over Italy, next sometime in April, and then I have two distinctly Florence shows, one on shopping and the other on the Streets of Florence, Part 2 (Part 1 was via della Scala). This time rather than focusing on just one street, I will concentrate on several. Then I have a very sketchy album that I started many months ago on Verona, but really not enough for a full show. Either I will get some more off the Internet or just add two others Veneto cities, Vicenza and Padua, all three comprising what I call the "Big Three" diversions from a long visit to Venice. I have actually made two reservations at the well-known Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, but once I arrive in Venice, I really have a very hard time extricating myself. By then we will have returned from our next trip to Italy with a lot of new material which then must be categorized to form new shows, not an easy job. After we return from the trip that will take at least a month for Laura to edit the photos and for me to fashion them into viable presentations. I will do a separate blog post which describes that two week trip in great detail.

I continue to do my real passion of teaching mathematics at the college level enjoying it more and more as the times goes on. I am already half way through the spring term. Imagine that! How quickly the time flies by. I have also finished my book on my 42 year career which will now face the final editing by me before submitting the manuscript to the online publishing company, XLibris.

So thanks for being patient and I shall return!

After a Week of Decision Making, a Great Show

After a week of thinking about how to modify the broadcast schedule to allow for the fact that I am running low on ideas for shows, and the time to think creatively, I nonetheless had a great show. First the dilemma. I am almost totally into my college teaching, sending e mails to students with progress reports, preparing lessons, traveling into the city, etc. I also work out the Y, am writing a book which is kindly being edited by one of my oldest friends, so the show has taken a back seat. I will be working most of today developing shows for the next few months. I have about 5 or 6 ideas, so if I did one a month I could then get to Italy and back with enough photos and fresh ideas to continue. Ellen told me I could cut back, so right now that appears to be the best way to go. I was reluctant to tell her because I know how much she likes to engineer the project. After today I will know more about the future.

Meanwhile, I finally did the show using the Alinari photos of 19th century Florence after a year and a half hiatus. Show # 24, Florence, Then and Now focused on the comparison of how places looked back then compared to how they look today. It is a fascinating concept to examine photos of a specific location and try to analyze how they changed and why. Part of the reason is obviously the passage of time, modern improvements, and social and political issues. Trying to research which of these considerations is the reason is the best part. Trying to recall all this during a live show, in front of the camera, and with very limited notes (my fault), it is very daunting. I still get stressed doing a show, and this after 88 now. I come off much more relaxed than I am, believe me. It has been and always will be a struggle.

So this was part 2 of the 4-part story of 19th century Italy, with Florence well represented in the first two shows. My next one will focus on Tuscany in general outside of Florence, and then all of Italy. Now I have to get to work, so for now, ciao.

Always Something New and Different with which to Cope

If anyone was actually waiting with bated breath to see Alan's Italy Show # 88 - Florence, Then and Now, Part 2, please be advised that after about 10 minutes into the broadcast my computer malfunctioned causing the decision to cancel. We will try again next week. While I was zooming in and then out of my close-up shot of the empty space on the front portico of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence where Michelanelgelo's David stood for 371 years, from 1502 - 1873. The statue, perhaps the most famous in Florentine History, was removed from the spot chosen by the famous committee in 1502 (Botticelli, Leonardo daVinci among others), was moved to the Galleria Accademia where it has been ever since. In its place at the Palazzo Vecchio in 1910 was placed the copy we all see now. So, for a period of 512 years, except for the 37 year period between 1873 and 1910, there was no statue on that spot. The photo I showed was obviously taken during that period. This always fascinated me, so I did a close-up of that spot, and then as I was "backing up", the screen froze, never to return to normal. Yet another problem with the concept of live broadcast on public access cable television. Just add to the list that I have compiled since Dec 9, 2011 when we began.

Actually Ellen agreed to begin the show10 minutes early so I could end early enough to attend a birthday party for a friend of ours. By the time my computer returned to normal, it was too late to broadcast the show and then get home and then to the party, so we ditched the whole concept. Normally, we just would have continued along starting and ending later than usual. Therefore, other than my computer, the party was the real issue. I will call Apple and see what could be done, but I have already taken steps to correct the problem. I had a lot of other programs opened at the time I was using IPhoto so that could have been the problem. I also took a screen shot of the "empty space" on the Pal Vecchio so there will not be a need to zoom in and out, which I hate doing on the air anyway. I will also rearrange the presentation as I have other ideas now as well. I think the new version should be better than the original. We shall see. Stay tuned.

Horrible Weather with a Hopeful Future

I just wanted my following of readers to know that due to the incredibly terrible weather, we are having difficulties producing additional TV shows, and barring that, the blogs have been sparse as well. It snowed yesterday again as I went into NYC to teach my college students, but returned to a snowy and icy car. Today it snowed again, however the temperatures are supposed to climb for a few days so we may have a respite. With that in mind I am planning to broadcast this Friday, Feb 21. The show is still planned to be Florence, Then and Now, Part 2.

As many of you know one of my great interests is 19th century photography of Italy and the next three shows will focus on that theme with amazing 150 yr old photos of Florence, Tuscany, and Italy in general. Most of this interest has been inspired by my friend and native Tuscan, Luca, who gave me as a gift a photo book two years ago. This past year he brought me to the bookstore which used to serve as the workshop for the Alinari Brothers (Fratelli Alinari) who were the forerunners of 19th century Italian photography. The purchases I made in that store form the basis for the next three shows, Alan's Italy Show # 88, 89, and 90.

I hope you tune in, and apparently a continuous run of views have pushed the total views since the inception of my Youtube Channel to close to 12,000, an astounding number considering the esoteric nature of the material. I am gratified that so many people have taken an interest and will try very hard to get back on the air.