Tony Dagnery SIMBIOSIS Consulting

03/09/2025

I’ve been meaning to watch “The Summer Soul”since Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2022. The film documents the Harlem Cultural Festival that took place during the Summer of 1969.

The documentary is about great music of course but it’s also about a time and place. The time was an era of intense cultural and political change. The place was the great Big Apple—New York City.

The lineup included Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, The 5th Dimension, Ray Barretto and the great Nina Simone.

For those of us that are inspired by the way culture, history, music and politics can blend to impact the way we feel, think and live, this is a must see.

Watch the new trailer for Summer of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised), A Questlove Jawn. Director Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson presents ...

07/14/2023

This extremely interesting article by David Brooks, from The New York Times’ Opinion Section, about the current impact and future of Artificial Intelligence, has made me look into the subject with a much more critical eye. It’s a rich and complex topic that I am just starting to decipher although it’s been around since the 1940s & 50s in association with the first computers. Does anyone remember Hal 9000 from “2001, a Space Odyssey”?

Douglas Hofstadter is re-examining his stance on artificial intelligence.

04/14/2023

The TV ju**ie that I was, and still am, included the fantasy of one day being a background ensemble actor on a favorite show. That chance came in 2018.

So today in honor of season 5 of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”, I share some photos from the filming of episode 4, season 2.

We filmed for three days in Queens and Brooklyn and true to many famous debuts, most of the footage I was in ended up on the cutting room floor. Except for about 5 seconds somewhere in the middle of the episode during an extended ballroom scene where Midge runs into her ex-husband Joel and meets up with soon-to-be fiancé Benjamin Ettenberg.

I had a “marvelous” time, I worked long hours, met some fascinating people (who I am still in touch with), got dressed up in vintage clothes and became very familiar with craft services (snacks and fantastic catered lunches and dinners).

There have been many outstanding shows in the last, say, 10-20 years; “Six Feet Under”, “Breaking Bad”, “The Sopranos”, “Game of Thrones”, “Succession” and the incredible “Mad Men” immediately come to mind. But for some reason, for me, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” stands apart in terms of capturing a specific essence of time and place (New York, New York), and a cultural richness that made, and makes, the “city” great.

I look forward to watching the last season of a true original whose creativity, production scope & value, performances, ensemble acting, and a devastatingly complex and groundbreaking female character and lead, I will never forget.

01/27/2023

This is a historical gesture, even though it should not have been historical.

For the first time, the German Bundestag dedicated its annual Holocaust remembrance to LGBTQ+ people who were killed under Hitler's rule.

08/19/2020

“If you want to build a truly inclusive culture–one that leverages every individual’s passion, commitment, and innovation, and elevates employee engagement, empowerment, and authenticity–you should be willing to break down the narrow walls that surround diversity and inclusion, and limit their reach. If you don’t know where to start, ask your millennials. Every one of them wants to be heard.”

Diversity and inclusion are more than just buzzwords or boxes to check. Millennials believe they are essential to business success.

08/14/2020

I have to admit I still use Hispanic most, followed by Latino. But I like LatinX. I think it sounds modern, forward thinking and inclusive.

New research shows "Latinx" hasn't really caught on among U.S. adults in that heritage group: While one in four have heard of the term, only 3% use it.

09/30/2019

Facebook family and friends. I am very excited to be conducting a workshop on presentation skills at Bucks County Community College, Newtown Pennsylvania Campus, this coming Saturday October 5th. There is still time to register. Details are below. If you know someone in the Bucks County area that would find this workshop useful and might be interested in signing up, please feel free to share. Thank you. Saludos and warm wishes to all.

09/20/2018

There was the Paleogene period, the Jurassic period, Paleozoic..and then there will be the Amazon age.

Sensors and computer-vision technology detect what shoppers take and bills them automatically, eliminating checkout lines.

09/20/2018

“We want to compete with the mainstream media market,” Saldana said. “We want to continue to grow and bring as many Latinx voices into the industry as possible.”

Zoe Saldana received the 2018 Excellence in Leadership Award during the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce National Convention.

09/10/2018

After doing Ancestry and analyzing my results (nothing too surprising except for some English DNA I had no idea was there), I have been interested on how our own history may lurk underneath who we are today. I have delved into Spain's fascinating background, specifically the Al-Andalus period, to which I feel a significant connection to, as well as Catholicism, how I was raised. Complex indeed. Don't have any answers yet. Another post (or maybe various).

For the first time in nearly a century, Santa Fe has canceled the Entrada, the re-enactment of the victorious Spanish reconquest of New Mexico in 1692.

08/31/2018

All I can say is that it would be so cool to have space at WeWork at 1WTC.
https://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20180829/REAL_ESTATE/180829871/wework-close-to-large-lease-at-1-world-trade-center