Best of the Web This Week

Welcome to the weekend and the end of a tumultuous week of stunning events that climaxed in the dramatic events broadcast live nationwide all day yesterday.  The week began with the Boston Marathon Bombing which killed three people and wounded 170 others, progressed through poisonous Ricin laced letters to a Republican Senator and President Obama, then came the fertilizer plant explosion in West, TX that killed 14, injured hundreds more and damaged or destroyed a large part of the small Texas town.  The events culminated in an intensive manhunt that was dramatically played out on TV as the nation watched from late evening Thursday until late in the evening on Friday.  The events of Thursday/Friday were preceded by the release of video of the suspects at Monday's Marathon Bombing by the FBI.  That video resulted in a massive response that resulted in the identification of the suspects as the Brothers Tsarnaev, 26 year old Tamerlan and 19 year old Dzohkhar.  Tamerlan was killed in a hail of gunfire in the early stages of the manhunt while Dzohkhar (nicknamed Jahar) escaped initially by vehicle and later on foot.  This resulted in the lock down of everything in the Boston area including schools, colleges and universities, commercial activity and all means of  transportation.  An intense house to house, street to street search for the 19 year old fugitive in the Watertown suburb north across the Charles River from Boston was reluctantly called off early in the evening and the lock down ended when a Watertown resident a block and half outside the cordoned off area called law enforcement officials saying he believed the suspect was hiding in the boat in his backyard and the manhunt was back on.  The events climaxed in the standoff on Portland Street in Watertown with the capture of the suspect who was wounded.  He was transported under heavy guard to an undisclosed medical facility where he remains under that heavy guard at this hour.  Residents of Watertown lined the streets and cheered vociferously as law enforcement teams left the area last night, ending the taut, nerve wracking manhunt which played out on national TV for more than 24 hours.  I was watching when the capture was made and rejoice with the people of Boston that this nightmare week is finally over and the perpetrators are either dead or in custody.

That brings us to the somewhat trivial, in light of the week's events, photographic review of the Best of the Web This Week.  I retained the fixed number of photographs at 60 that I initiated last week, which required intense scrutiny of the over 2000 photographs I collected this week to determine those that truly are the finest examples of art in the male form from that collection.  To accompany your leisurely examination and appreciation of the art on display, your Musical Moment for the weekend features the music of Antonio Vivaldi with his Concerti for Transverse Flute.  The works included are Concerto for Transverse Flute, Strings and Basso Continuo in E minor RV 432, Concerto for Transverse Flute, Strings and Basso Continuo in G major RV 436, Concerto for Transverse Flute, Strings and Basso Continuo in D major RV 429, Concerto for Transverse Flute, Strings and Basso Continuo in A minor RV 440, Concerto for 2 Transverse Flutes, Strings and Basso Continuo in C major RV 533, Concerto for Transverse Flute, Strings and Basso Continuo in G major RV 438, Concerto for Transverse Flute, Strings and Basso Continuo in G major RV 438 "bis", Concerto for Transverse Flute, Strings and Basso Continuo in D major RV 427 and Concerto for Transverse Flute, Strings and Basso Continuo in E minor RV 431.  Today's performance is by Academia Montis Regalis, Barthold Kuijken [transverse, conductor] and featuring Paolo Cantamessa (spala), Paola Nervi, Gabriele Steinfeld, Lorenzo Biangini [violins 1], Laura Toffetti (spala), Marco Alderuccio, Elia Facchi, Maurizio Lillo [violins 2], Maurizio Borzone, Pasquale Lepore [violas], Emilia Gliozzi, Rebecca Ferri [cellos], Roberto Bevilacqua [double bass], Elena Bianchi [bassoon RV 438, RV 438 "bis", RV 533], Marcello Gatti [transverse flute solo RV 533] and Giorgio Paronuzzi [harpsichord].  Thanks for spending part of your weekend here at Nichevo.  We will gather once again on Monday on what we all should hope would be a less tumultuous week.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!