Rich Monetti
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I am, I write.
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A Few Memorable Moments that Could Only Happen in Plattsburgh
Movie Night Hawkins Hall We all probably had that one person at Plattsburgh who we were totally in sync with. We knew what the other person was thinking before they did. One such couple in my group outshone us all. In this case, movie night did the telling, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom had the rest of us rocking in our shoes. Of course, our boys were hitting on all cylinders, and there were just as many laughs from the screen as there were from our seats. The preeminent moment took place as Indy and Willie began acting on the obvious sexual tension and did their dance all those years ago. “I'm a scientist. I like doing research on certain "nocturnal activities,” Harrison Ford is all cool.
By Rich Monetti6 years ago in Education
The Monetta's Settle in America
The Monetti’s as we know them date back to the Province of Salerno in the the Campania region. Carman Monetta and my great-great grandmother Michela (Magra) Magro obviously hung a different vowel at the end of the family name and begins on a chestnut farm in the town of Ponte di Cagnano.
By Rich Monetti6 years ago in Families
1973-1979 : My Athletes of the Year
Yankee Stadium Photo by Eric Beato Photo by Jim Accordino 1973 : Bobby Murcer 1973 was my first year watching sports. The second Yankee game I ever attended was versus the Royals in July. Bobby Murcer his three home run into the Bleachers, where I sat with my brother, father and grandfather. I knew the record was four in a game, and the stadium sat perched for history. But Bobby weakly ground back to the pitcher. The Yankees did win 5-1 on the heels of Mel Stottlemyre’s arm, and Bobby Murcer easily earned his place. But the fireworks weren't over yet. After the game, two drunk Royal fans who were sitting right next to us, jumped over the wall and went after Murcer. The cops dispatched the duo as easily as the 1973 Orioles did the Yankees.
By Rich Monetti6 years ago in Unbalanced
Princess Long Long Gets Around the World with Her Many Talents
Princess Long Long is a multi-talented singing star and personality who performs in off-Broadway venues, television and movies and A-List Venues on the national and international stage. So she definitely gets around. This has had her recently singing during the opening ceremony at Cannes, winning the Monaco Royal Voice competition at the Monte Carlo Country Club in 2017 and swooning souls as a Blue Carpet VIP at Harrah’s Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel in Concert. Obviously Princess Long Long’s voice puts her on a globe trot that few can match. But her real secret may be that she’s never in anyone’s sights look enough to pin her down to a single look or perspective.
By Rich Monetti6 years ago in Beat
Snippets of Plattsburgh Professors
Dr. Carol Leonard I was always fascinated by Russia. So when I finally had a chance to take an elective in my sophomore year, Russian History until 1863 was a no brainer. Dr. Leonard was a young professor who was passionate about her discipline. She also had a very special place in her heart for Catherine the Great but not in a good way. I still remember the ire she brought over the deadly coup Catherine engineered to unseat her husband Peter. Nonetheless, this was no easy course, and the reading material followed suit. In fact, one afternoon she couldn’t resist levying a criticism on us. “I have a real problem with the class,” she implored. “Too many of you are listening to my lectures and reading the text and just accepting it. I need students to disagree and question.”
By Rich Monetti6 years ago in Education
Uncut Gems Sends You Over the Edge
Studio : A24, Netflix Poster An online search of the word fuck yields 57 hits on Ronald Bronstein's screenplay of Uncut Gems. The number actually seems low. Nonetheless, I’m no Puritan and a targetted search on my daily dialogue would go well beyond that tally. But the four letter onslaught does a pretty good number on your sensibilities and helps makes this 2019 film painful to watch. Of course, the profanity that follows the tenuous life a gambling addict is far from the only excess that makes this boisterous cut hard to endure.
By Rich Monetti6 years ago in Geeks
Part II : The Inspiration for Spock and Other Star Trek Staples
Photo by Charles Kremenak Vulcans and Spock Spock and Vulcans have a very unlikely origin indeed. The impetus dates to Roddenberry’s time in the LAPD and his close friendship with Police Chief William Parker. Suprisingly, the top law enforcement officer in Los Angeles is best remembered for his explanation for the Watts Riots. “One person threw a rock,” Parker explained, “and then like monkeys in a zoo, others started throwing rocks.”
By Rich Monetti6 years ago in Futurism
Who was the First MLB Player with an Agent and other Yankee Tidbits
Photo by Rubenstein A 56 game hitting streak, 714 homers and 27 World Championships - we all know the larger details of Yankee history. But I think it’s also telling to know the little things. Here’s a few good ones.
By Rich Monetti6 years ago in Unbalanced
Mt. Vernon Native Compiles Sports Heroes and Legends from his Hometown
Mark Twain obviously went to some pretty exotic places as a writer, but the American legend never forgot how his humble beginnings shaped his entire life. “All the me in me is from that tiny little town in Missouri," once said the sage. For his part, Bruce Fabricant knows the feeling. The unleashing just took longer for Fabricant to commit to paper. So now on his fourth Mount Vernon based book, he hopes his hometown feels as good about reading the latest offering as he did writing it.
By Rich Monetti6 years ago in Unbalanced
Black Lives Matter : Why is it So Hard to Infer the Meaning Behind This Simple Phrase
Photo by Chris Henry Inference : Deduce or conclude from evidence and reasoning rather than from explicit statements. Seizing on the latter part, I’m amazed by how much vitriol has exploded over a simple inference : Black Lives Matter. Oh my, this Blue Lives Matter rally really captures the rage. I wonder what William Shakespeare himself would think of our inabiltiy to grasp a basic linguistic vehicle and have the ugly residue spread like Murder Hornets. On the other hand, in the interest of calm, let me give the dispossessed, angry hordes the tools that they need to get by.
By Rich Monetti6 years ago in The Swamp
John Jay's Samantha Gisonni Opens a Hole in the Roof at Pace Basketball Tournament
There's nothing like it in sports. The defense collapses around the ball, the court opens up, a pass or two puts the perimeter players on the run, and someone is left open at the top of the three-point arc. Then - oblivious to the laws of motion, gravity and planetary physics - you wait until the centripetal force in consideration nestles in the nylon and blows the roof off Madison Square Garden.
By Rich Monetti6 years ago in Unbalanced
Katonah's Katherine Vockins Brings Incarcerated People Back with her Rehabilitation Through Arts Program
25 years ago, Katherine Vockins and her husband Hans Hallundbaek had successful business careers. But when Hans had what she called, “a midlife correction,” everything changed. He began seminary studies, and the curriculum brought him inside Sing Sing. The future Director of the Interfaith Prison Partnership became a prison reform activist, and his interest soon had her following. However, Vockins didn’t do so to found the Rehabilitation Through Arts Program, which has her participants shattering the nation’s 50% recidivism rate. Instead, Vockins' entrance into this amazing life of service hit much closer to home.
By Rich Monetti6 years ago in Criminal
