October is a great month on the East End. I saw “Small Things Like These” at the 32nd Hamptons International Film Festival on October 5th to kick off the month. It was the North American Premiere of the narrative feature starring last year’s Academy Award winning Best Actor Cillian Murphy. Murphy won his Oscar for his portrayal of J. Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan’s 2023 film “Oppeheimer” Nolan won the Best Director Oscar and “Oppenheimer” won the Best Picture Oscar. Cillian Murphy again gives a powerful performance as Bill Furlong a coal merchant in 1985 Ireland. Furlong discovers startling secrets in his town’s convent. The film reveals truths about Ireland’s infamous Magdalene Laundries, horrific asylums run by Roman Catholic institutions from the 1820s until 1996. The film captures the torture and horror surrounding the Laundries. Murphy’s “less is more” acting is perfect for the role of a tortured and devoted father during Christmas in 1985 Ireland. Look for Murphy to be nominated again for Best Actor in the upcoming awards season. “Small Things Like These” opens in theaters Friday November 8th.
I traveled up island on Wednesday October 9th to Citi Field to watch the NY Mets play their first ever series clinching game in their ballpark opened on April 13, 2009. With the Mets trailing the Philadelphia Phillies 1-0 in the sixth inning, I was there for the most monumental moment in the 15 year old ballpark. Francisco Lindor lifted the Mets to victory over the Phillies with a grand slam. The game ended with Edwin Diaz striking out Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber with two runners on base. At 8:26pm the fireworks exploded as the Mets moved on to the NLCS against the LA Dodgers!
On the final day of the HIFF I saw two excellent documentaries. The first was “Whatever It Takes.” Jenny Carchman’s cyberstalking documentary about eBay security personnel terrorizing Ina and David Steiner in Natick, MA in 2019. The documentary went straight to the top of eBay. Implicating CEO Devin Wenig who shared a link to a post Ina had written about his annual pay and eBay’s chief communications officer, Steve Wymer response “we are going to crush this lady.” A month later Wenig texted “take her down.”Carchman nails the terror the Silicon Valley giant rained down on the middle aged couple. They received deliveries of live spiders, cockroaches, a funeral wreath and a bloody pig mask. Pornography was sent to their neighbors but was addressed to David. Carchman wraps her documentary up with the public humiliation, firings and jail time for the underlings while Wenig resigned in September of 2019 with a $57 million exit package! Wymer who was fired for cause by eBay runs the Boys and Girls Club of Silicon Valley! I asked Carchman after the film about civil litigation which is still ongoing. The second documentary was an encore screening of “Martha.” Alina Cho introduced the R.J. Cutler documentary by telling the story of how she put Martha Stewart and R.J. Cutler together by inviting Martha to dinner at Cutler’s Amagansett house. Alina definitely deserves her Producer credit on this definitive documentary of Martha Stewart. It’s also told by Martha. Make sure to watch this Netflix release.
On Friday October 18th I was back at Citi Field for game 5 of the NLCS. Once again the Mets did not disappoint. This time it was Pete Alonso who catapulted the Mets to victory with a first inning home run. Alonso took Jack Flaherty’s slider which was barely a foot off the ground and deposited it in the centerfield section affectionately known as the 7 Line because the fans wear orange uniforms that are a tribute to the 7 Line subway to Citi Field. The Mets went on to outslug LA 12-6! Edwin Diaz secured the victory with two innings of relief and at 8:16pm the fireworks exploded when Starling Marte caught the final out.
The next day I headed up the Hudson Valley to the US Military Academy at West Point, NY. Army came into the game against East Carolina ranked no.23 in the Associated Press poll. It was the first time they were ranked in the top 25 since 2020. The Black Knights were undefeated 6-0 (5-0 in conference). They dominated the EC Pirates on an idyllic fall day in front of a packed sold out Michie Stadium. Army’s star quarterback Bryson Daily set two single season records in the game. One for most rushing touchdowns in a season and one for most overall rushing and passing touchdowns. His 6 touchdowns in the game (5 rushing 1 passing) tied Elmer Oliphant’s record from 1916!
Daily is a special player. He had 171 yards rushing on 31 carries and he passed for 147 yards on 7-10 passing attempts. That’s 318 yards of offense from one player! His go to receiver is Casey Reynolds from Cold Spring Harbor Long Island. Reynolds caught a 37 yard reception down the middle to help set up Army’s first score and the Black Knights never looked back. Reynolds ended the game with 85 yards of receptions. The Black Knights smoked the Pirates 45-28. For his performance Daily became the first Army quarterback ever to earn the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback of the Week award. Bryson also was selected for the Manning Award for Quarterback of the Week. It was his second time being selected this season. If you get a chance to watch Bryson Daily play do it! I also got to see West Point through the eyes of alumni, current students and employees. I watched most of the game with Colonel John R. Martin (USMA class of 1974) and his Wife, longtime family friend, Marsha Martin (Ladycliff College class of 1974.) The former college closed in 1980. It was located adjacent to the US Military Academy at West Point until the USMA acquired it. Marsha and Colonel Martin showed me how they support past and current Academy members at their tailgate. It’s setup across from Michie Stadium on the Lusk Reservoir. The memory of current and past USMA graduates, students, employees and civilians coming together after the game will be engraved in my mind forever. God Bless America!
