Frozen in Time

We are entering week 2 of some of the coldest temps I have ever experienced down here in the deep south of Canada.  How cold?  We hit -10 F last weekend.  It hasn't improved very much, and will remain cold into early February at the least.  We were supposed to dodge the major storm that hit the US and Toronto really hard.  When the forecast got updated we were in the 1" to 3" of new snow.  When it got updated again we were in the 3" to 6" category.  We ended up getting about 4" of snow on Sunday, and I spent Monday taking the shoveling in small stages.  It is so cold out that even being outside for a short time fully dressed for weather is unpleasant.  At least the shoveling keeps the body heat coming.  I burned some serious calories today!

Charles Herold is a man who used to write PC game reviews for the New York Times.  Before he landed that job he and I had met on-line somewhere to discuss and argue about games.  Though we agreed on many game-related topics, we also disagreed on several fronts.  I remember really liking the PC game RAMA, for example, while he found it a waste of time.  Anyway, I found him on FB and we have reconnected, already having some decent discussions about games.  He really did not like Syberia, and though I wasn't crazy about the 2nd and 3rd games in that series, the newest one is terrific.  I also really liked the first one.  Latest topics are adventure game frustrations, which are legion in many games.  Good to hear from you again, Charles!

 

We are replaying MYST III at the moment, and I've been going through my vast adventure game collection.  I have an enormous CD/DVD collection of games, as well as a whole slew stored on Steam and more on Humble Bundle.  Though we have continued to play PC games over the years, my interest seems to be peaking once again.  It seems to be the golden age of PC adventure games, with some absolutely stunning video games coming out recently.

 

In TV and movie news we are now watching Season 2 of Foundation.  It seems to be stuck in a rut, and is tending towards Star Wars and Star Trek more and more often.  We shall see.  It doesn't seem to bear a lot of resemblance to anything Asimov wrote.

 

A Traveler's Needs is a 2024 film from South Korea directed by Hong Sang-Soo and starring Isabel Huppert.  Much of the film is painfully bad cinema, as a woman from France with apparently no reason to be in Korea is taken in by a sympathetic student to share his small flat.  She has two women who wish to learn French and she sets out to teach them.  With no idea how to teach, or any pedagogical basis for what she is doing, she hungrily takes their cash and gives them ridiculously bad lessons.  When the young man's mother visits him and discovers he is sheltering a strange older woman from France, she freaks out.  This is probably the best part of the film, the confrontation between her and her son.  The film drags on with a second student, as the woman and her husband extend warm hospitality to her and show her some sights around Seoul.  A movie to avoid.

 

Showing on Mubi. 

 

Next came two shlocky feautures from our DVD collection.  Welcome To Blood City is a 1977 SF/Western film, a collaboration between Canada and the UK.  It stars Jack Palance in one of his standard heavy breathing bad guy roles, Keir Dullea, Samantha Eggar and Barry Morse.  A psychological experiment is taking place, and Dullea has been inserted into a deadly role to see if he can stand the heat and solve problems on his feet.  A futuristic man is needed to help get the world out of trouble, and the search for such a leader is on-going.  Mostly the film is a western, filmed in Ontario near Kleinburg.  There are lots of men hanging around with nothing to do.  The saloon is always packed.  There is plenty of killing, lots of saloon girls, slaves who aren't citizens yet, and any number of bullies just asking for it.  Eggar plays a female scientist who inserts herself into the scenario to influence the outcome.  Tiresome and often jaw-dropping in its badness, this one must have gone straight to the video shelves on stores.

 

A great poster probably helped video rentals.  From our collection. 

 

Future Hunters (1988) was another direct to video release.  The spear that pierced Jesus is sought by many people, including a scientist.  One of his female students and her boyfriend get caught up in a frenzy of travel and action.  Though filmed mostly in the Philipines, setting include the US, Hong Kong (some location shots were taken here) and Manila and surrounding jungle.  There are so many many "Huh?" moments in this film, including a sudden transition during a car chase from night to broad daylight.  The heroine, a slender California blonde, manages to run through the jungle in high heels, fight and defeat a much stronger Amazon warrior, and most impressive of all she manages to mostly keep her sole white dress on through much of the film.  It is a bit tattered by the end.  There are some good scenes in Hong Kong with Bruce Li kicking some kung fu butt, but overall this is an empty imitation of Mad Max at the beginning, and Indiana Jones throughout.  Why does the evil bad guy always laugh at everything?  The film is from our 50 DVD collection called Sci-fi Invasion.

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 

 

Nordic Noir

We had a quiet indoor birthday party for Deb on Monday.  As usual for her big day it was very cold outside, with winds gusting to 40 mph.  We enjoyed an all-day indoor party with food and movies on the agenda, along with some fine ale, whiskey and Scotch.  The movies were four b & w crime films, two from Denmark and two from Sweden.  First up was Death Is A Caress, from 1949.  For the most part it was a pretty standard plot.  A young mechanic is engaged to a bright and sweet young woman one moment, then is in love with an older married woman (not very attractive) in the next.  She gets a divorce, they get married, they quarrel often and he eventually strangles her (good riddance to her, too).  Yawn.  Not really a noir film at all.

 

Death Is A Caress.  Showing on Criterion. 

 

Next came the best of the four!  Girl With Hyacinths is from 1950.  It is extremely well written, well presented, and quite fascinating to watch.  Eva Henning is the lovely starlet at the center of the picture, portraying a lonely woman hiding a secret.  It begins with her suicide, hanging from a hook in the living room.  The neighbours find her.  She has left her belongings to them, even though they did not know one another well at all.  She was more than once in love but now can no longer commit to anyone.  Her story is told in flashbacks, as the neighbours try to piece together what happened to cause her suicide.  Eva's soldier husband, jealous at a letter she receives from "Alex" in Paris, divorces her.  Strike one for her.  She takes up with an artist, who does a haunting portrait of her.  Though she loves him he feels that she is constraining his artistic powers and sends her on her way.  Strike two for her.  Lots of night scenes here, and jazz clubs.  We finally get to meet Alex near the end of the film, and as Eva's eyes are now more open than when she fell in love as a schoolgirl, she is crushed to see what Alex had become, essentially a Nazi collaborator.  Strike three; she can handle no more disappointment.  Highly recommended.  It was worth slogging through the other 3 films to find this one.

 

Girl With Hyacinths, a must see film showing on Criterion.

 

Two Minutes Late is from 1952, about a man accused of murder.  We don't really know for awhile if he did it or not, but by the time he has been cleared, the phone call telling him that happy fact comes two minutes late; he has just murdered his insanely jealous wife.  This film is way too long and could be much improved by judicious editing.  The story and characters are interesting enough, but the pace is so slow.  A bookstore and a clock store feature in the film, and a purse left behind at one of them.  Who murdered the girl found dead in the back of the bookshop?  Watch and find out, or pay me to tell you.

 

Two Minutes Late, showing now on Criterion. 

 

Finally comes Hidden In The Fog from 1953, again starring Eva Henning in the title roll.  At the beginning she shoots her husband several times and he collapses onto the floor.  She goes on the run.  The first part of this film is quite good, but the second half is a bit of a letdown.  Once the police find her she admits to shooting her husband.  However, in an Agatha Christie twist, he was already dead from arsenic poisoning before she shot him.  No charges are brought against her.  The second part is total Agatha Christie.  The detective in charge claims to know who dunnit, and all the suspects are brought together for the final denouement.  As expected, the guilty one (somehow) turns out all the lights in the room and runs through a glass siding door (ouch), before being apprehended by waiting police outside.  To tell you the truth I've already forgotten who the murderer was.  Some guy.  An okay film, but a bit of a deflated second half.

 

Hidden In the Fog is showing on Criterion. 

 

In foot news I was able to do 15 minutes on the treadmill today, pain free.  I had been walking regularly on it before my surgery, but it always hurt.  The pain seems to be gone, though the toe is still sensitive.  I see the doctor tomorrow.  Hopefully the news will be good.  I felt so happy about my foot that we have been searching flights and trains to various locations, all non-USA destinations.  How sad to live one mile from a once favourite country and not wish to visit.  Times are strange and getting even stranger.

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January Rules the World

The hit count for this blog is currently at 147,059 since its inception on Dec. 20th 2017!  Keep those hits coming and I'll keep writing.  Views come in from virtually every country on the planet.  Now back to our regular programming.

 

January has taken over the Homestead and surrounding area.  It's very cold with worse to come, there is snow on the ground and the boiler is working hard to keep us happy.  We have entered the coldest part of January not only statistically but actually.  This happens from time to time and must be endured, but as we have already had many January days in December it's all getting to be a bit much.  We should have about three weeks of true winter left, but since weather is no longer predictable, this could go on till June.  We shall see.

 

My foot is healing up well.  I will see the doctor in three days to get an official medical opinion, but I am optimistic.  It still hurts to put shoes on, so I am unable to resume walking.  The toe is likely still swollen.  

 

My new piano pieces have now had ten hours of work put into them.  In other words, I am still nowhere.  I will give a more detailed report after the first month.  Deb is inching along on her newest short film, and is ready to commission her composer from Mexico City.  So we both have plenty to keep us busy.  We recently finished playing "Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles," a PC game from 2010.  It is packed with puzzles, many of them quite easy while others are nearly impossible to solve unless one randomly hits upon the solution.  It was actually quite fun to play, even though its relationship to Doyle's book is pretty sketchy.  Graphics were quite well done, as well as the story.

 

 

2 screenshots from the Holmes PC game. 

 

We have begun a replay of Myst III, having recently undertaken the most updated versions of Myst and Riven.  This one badly needs an update.  From 2001 we are now playing the game on Steam rather than loading 4 CDs and having to keep switching them.  At the time, this game was rendered in 640 x 480 graphics!  Hard to believe, as I still think of it as a modern game.

 

2 screenshots from Myst III. 

 

There are two movies to report, and a 9-part SF series.  First the series.  Dark Matter is from 2024 and based on a novel by Blake Crouch.  It stars Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly.  It has an interesting premise that eventually collapses in upon itself, and the series and its many tropes had us cursing the production several times.  Overall it is watchable, especially the episodes where they are traveling within The Box, a room that allows access to different realities, though closely related to the existing one.  It's fun seeing Chicago buried in snow, burnt to a crisp, covered in sand dunes, and looking very sleek and modern in a far future version of itself.  There are many loopholes in the story, and the ending, which we both liked, sure left a heck of a mess behind in present day Chicago.  Recommended, though not highly.

 

Showing on Apple TV. 

 

Two Chinese films round out this portion of today's blog.  It was inevitable that we would watch Chinese Ghost Story 3 from 1991.  Pretty much the same cast returns for pretty much the same story, along with similar scenes of utter grossness, and the familiar farcical humour.  I still recommend the first in the series.

 

Leaving Criterion this month. 

 

Wong Kar Wai has long led in the category of Chinese art film, and his 2004 film 2046 keeps that tradition alive, if not all well.  I found the film overlong and actually on the boring side, despite all the fine photography.  Billed as a romantic drama, that it is.  A man (played by Tony Leung) has many affairs with beautiful women but will not commit to any of them.  Not even the beautiful Gong Li, who comes to love him madly and deeply.  We eventually learn why he is like he is.  There was a woman for him, but she left and seems to have disappeared.  My question is this: can't a person change?  Not this guy, apparently.  The movie is stylish and great to look at, and despite the SF glimmer to the plot the number 2046 refers to a rooming house number, one which he can't seem to leave.  Watchable though not a truly great film (like so many other art films.....).

 

Showing on Criterion. 

 

Coming next: A winter birthday celebration and a 4-film festival of early Nordic noir cinema.  With the weather expected to worsen, the next post should come fairly soon.

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking Back at 2025: Part 3

First the news update. Today I began the somewhat agonizing work of starting new pieces.  Though not all of them are new to me, it has been a while since I have played those.  About 80% of the program is new, and at least three of the pieces are of a challenging level of difficulty.  It's back to basics for me this time, with some Bach, Haydn, Scriabin, Chopin and MacDowell.  If there is time I will add another Philip Glass piece, but for now I am quite busy during my allotted two hours per day.

 

In foot news, it's been six days since my surgery.  There is still some pain, but I can put a shoe on now.  Tonight is grocery shopping night, my first real outing since last Wednesday.  It hasn't bothered me too much, and I am hoping to get back to walking in a few more days.

 

In weather news January will soon return, with another streak of very cold weather on its way.  At least it is finally coming at the correct time of year, so I am not allowed to complain this time.

 

The final 2025 review concerns some of the best books read during the past year.  I read 95 books! My Avon/Equinox project is 99% finished.  I continue to read three long series by two of those authors; two series by E C Tubb and one by Bulmer. I have a lot of unread books by Michael Moorcock, but I am in no rush to read any more of his work right now.  Most of my reading has been of older historical authors, mainly from the 2nd half of the 19th Century and the first half of the 20th.  I own about 50 complete works of various authors, collected from the Delphi Classics series on Kindle.  These are unbeatable bargains of authors in the public domain.  However, I do read more contemporary novels, too, and this will gradually increase as time goes on.  Meanwhile, here is what was most enjoyed from last year.

 

In no particular order:

The Lieutenant and Others, short stories by Sapper McNeil.  Heartbreaking alternates with very funny.

Evan Herrington, an odd novel by George Meredith, whom I first encountered in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series.  The author skews the British class system with glee and much wit.  Truly fun!

Piranesi is a stunning work of fantasy by Susan Clarke, with images that will remain with a reader for a long time.  We both read this one.

Kwei Quartey is a Ghanian writer I came across last year.  He writes crime novels set in Ghana, and while he may not be as good as Tony Hillerman, his books are enjoyable and eye-opening.

The Moth is a storyteller's paradise.  True stories told by everyday people who relate unusual experiences they have undergone.  This is a mind-blowing source of great stories and anecdotes, with many of them on-line.  Check them out!

The Three Mulamulgars by Walter de la Mare is on a solid footing with The Hobbit. Children's fantasy at its finest.

On The Calculation of Volume so far has produced three volumes, read by Deb only.  She loved the first book, less so the second, and had pretty much had it by the third.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern was read by Deb only, though I hope to get to it later this month.

The Starless Sea was also only read by Deb. 

Starmaker by Olaf Stapledon is the SF novel to end all SF novels.  Though the prose can be a bit tiring and overwhelming if too much is read too quickly, this is one of the most influential SF books ever written, and one of the most fascinating.  The author has the imagination of a god, and the patience to write it all down for us.  Deb read this many years ago.

The Wheels of Chance by H G Wells is a humourous bicycle adventure story.

The Complete Fairy Tales by Jacob Joseph.  The title says it all.  Extensive and interesting footnotes.  A mammoth undertaking for a reader.  I read it in segments over two or three years.

Lady Windemere's Fan by Oscar Wilde.  Wit at its finest.

Cornell Woolrich is a new author to me, though I have seen many filmizations of his works.  His novels will appear regularly in this blog from now on.  I read Cover Charge.

Whit is not one of Ian Banks' best novels, but it is still a great novel.  It begins very slowly, but constantly gathers steam.  No one else I know has ever written about the baryton!

The Education of Uncle Paul by Algernon Blackwood is another book we both read.  This one has its fantasy elements as well as day to day life.  The first 80% of the book offers superb writing, though the ending drags itself down into a spiritual world that simply doesn't fit well with this reader.  Still well worth seeking out for its extreme oddity of theme.

In Search Of Wonder by Damon Knight remains the best collection of critical essays about the classic years of SF writing and its writers. 

Heart's Desire by Emmerson Hough is a period story about early days in a tiny New Mexico settlement, before the railroad came and changed everything.  A most enjoyable read.  Witty and offers great insight into a character that defined the western expansion of the US.  Not the cowboy of Hollywood, I liked these men much better.

The Cords of Vanity by James Branch Cabell is yet another example of this man's superior writing skills and unbounded wit.  Misunderstood during his time, his novels just get better and better with time.

Ashes of Empire is the final book of three in Robert Chambers' Prussian War against France series.  All are superb reading.  Historical fiction with a vengeance.

Typhoon by Conrad gives by far the best description of a terrible storm at sea ever put to paper.  This man is the best!

The Poison Belt is an end-of-the-world SF classic by Arthur Conan Doyle that is still great fun to read.  The ending is spoiled but most of the book is eye opening and ahead of its time.

Mirgorod consists of four short stories by Gogol, including the fantasy/horror tale "Viy".  Terrific stuff!  It also includes "Taras Bulba."

Clock Without Hands by Carson McCullins is a tale of the deep southern US in the 1950s.  Don't miss this tale of a pharmacist given a death sentence from leukemia.  Fabulous writing, with memorable and very moody characters.

Dream Days by Kenneth Grahame continues his unforgivably good tales of childhood, but written for adults.  Like his previous Golden Age stories, many are unforgettable.  The final one is a real tear-jerker.

Maltese Falcon by Dashiel Hammett is one of those iconic stories that rewards readers as much as the film based on the novel.  Fun from start to finish. 

 

There you have it!  Other books could be mentioned too, but I'll leave these up as the best that I read in 2025.  Happy reading!

 

Mapman Mike 

 

News Update

In weather news, we have had a week of March, including rain and wind and some very mild temps.  However, January seems to have temporarily returned, to be followed again by March by Tuesday.  And so it goes.  There is no snow here; just a seasonal brownish-grey landscape.  Each year the seasons become more scrambled.

 

Loyal readers will remember that my foot was badly injured last June, during a late night astronomy session.  Four doctors looked at it.  I had two rounds of x-rays, ultrasound, and two nuclear medicine tests.  All that showed up was that my foot was injured and it was trying to heal.  Next I saw a foot care nurse who snipped away a small piece of in-grown toenail.  She said I was likely to lose the big toenail.  My new GP recommended I see a podiatrist.  I saw her last Wednesday, and the first thing she said was "That nail has to come off.  I can do it now or you can reschedule."  I chose the first option.  So for the past four days I've been limping around with only 9 toe nails to my name.  It might grow back; it might not grow back.  The pain was quite severe after the freezing wore off on Wednesday.  But the worse part came about 5 hours after the surgery when I had to remove the gauze bandage and soak the foot.  Peeling off the bandage was among the worst pain I have ever had to endure.  It took about an hour to get the blood soaked bandage off, pulling it up a half millimeter at a time.  The foot is finally healing, but still has to be soaked twice daily.  Hopefully this will be the end of the foot episode part of my life, and I can soon return to normal walking in the near future.  The injury seriously affected our 2025 travel plans.

 

In piano news, Saturday was recital day.  Six friends dropped by to hear me play, making for 8 of us inside.  I am grateful to them for it was a lousy weather day with some rain, some freezing rain and some snow.  My playing was messier than I would have liked, but some of the pieces went off quite splendidly.  The first half was all harpsichord, with music by Scarlatti and Couperin, while the second half featured two works by Philip Glass, 3 by Scriabin, several by Bartok and a Prelude by Debussy.  Today is a somewhat relaxing day and I can return to normal routines (such as blogging and doing laundry).  My 3rd 'looking back at 2025' blog should be forthcoming soon.

 

The Maestro hard at work.

 

Part of the enraptured audience.  The house was cozy on a

late winter afternoon, and we managed to fit 8 people inside.

Thanks to Randy G. for the photos. 

 

In movie news there are three to report, all of them quite short.  Most recently was a mess of a picture from Godard. Oh Woe Is Me is from 1993 and is quite beloved by some critics and many fans of the French director.  For me it's just painful to watch actors say and act lines that they have no idea about.  Depardieu acts as if he is in a normal film, but this is not a normal film.  I'm not quite sure what it is, exactly.  It is watchable, though barely, and as the credits finally role and most people get up to leave, there is a coda, nearly as meaningless as the rest of the film.  The film seems to be an honest attempt to film poetry, which is spouted by various male and female characters throughout the film.  Some of the poetry is good and some of it isn't.  Occasionally image and poetry do merge nicely, but often it's like a bad music video.  Deb says the movie is deliberately abstruse, and I would have to agree.  Europe has a strong history of intellectual cinema, often the kind where if you don't get it you are considered a cretin.  Thus many people are afraid to say anything negative.  This could be one of those films.  If it takes a 1000 word essay to explain a film to me I am not likely to be too interested in watching it.  Of course there is some gratuitous female nudity; this is a French film, after all.  Unless you have 90 minutes to kill with nothing else in the world to do I would not recommend this film.  Reading the script might be acceptable, but I would not watch this one again.

 

Showing on Mubi. 

 

Before that came two movies from the 1930s from our DVD collection of "Comedy Classics."  Swing High, Swing Low is from 1937 and features an all-star cast including Carole Lombard and Fred McMurray.  This movie is somewhat painful to watch.  Lombard falls in love with crumb bum musician McMurray.  They meet and live in Panama, where they get married.  He heads for New York and hits the big time.  He more or less totally forgets about his wife, who he is supposed to send money back for her passage to New York.  Instead he lives the high life and gambles much of his money away.  When she shows up in New York she thinks he has been sleeping with another woman (he wasn't).  Even so, he had more or less forgotten about her.  When she files for divorce and intends to marry another guy he (MacMurray) falls apart and ends up in the gutter.  We are supposed to suddenly feel sorry for him now, but it doesn't work well, at least with more modern audiences.  All of a sudden he can't play trumpet any more.  All of a sudden he can't live without her.  Why not?  He managed fine for many months.  But when she wants a divorce, then it's skid row time.  But don't worry; she still loves him and helps him get his groove back.  Oh yay.  It's a tough pill to swallow.

 

 

From our DVD collection. 

 

Three Broadway Girls is from 1932, and though billed as a comedy (there are moments) this is basically a film about how mean and cruel female friends can be.  Based on a Broadway play ("The Greeks Had a Word For Them"), three young women try striking it rich by teaming up with rich guys.  One of the girls is a queen bitch and does everything she can to spoil the fortunes of her "friends".  It is quite aggravating, actually.  They all make up at the end.  It paved the way for better films on the same theme, including "How To Marry a Millionaire."

 

From our DVD collection.  

 

More very soon.

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking Back Part 2: Film and TV

Winter in Sudbury, likely 1968 or 69.  My brother Steve stands at the end of our driveway, which lies buried in snow. I grew up here, leaving age 22.  I've been living in southwest Ontario ever since.  Can you guess why?  It's probably -20 or -25 C at the time.

The year's TV watching was dominated by a lot of Star Trek, including the final season of Next Generation, the 3-season series Picard, and season 2 of Discovery.  However, our very favourite series was Lower Decks, an animated series that is probably the best Star Trek thing ever done.  There are five seasons of this must-see show.

Life in the (very) slow lane was provided by Canal Boat Diaries, and we enjoyed Monsieur Spade, a crime drama that takes place in a small town in France.  We also watched the first 10 episodes of Foundation, with 20 more to go (and more on the way).  We got to see all the episodes of Dr. Who with Ncuti  Gatwa, finding him to be one of the better doctors of the series.

We watched a Netflix drama called House of Guinness with my mom in Sudbury.  We didn't realize at the time that there was a series 2 in the planning stage, and the otherwise pretty good show ended rather stupidly.  We also saw an excellent documentary series called The Victorians, a fabulous BBC series that looks at that age through its paintings.

Deb watched many series on her own, including one she would recommend called Ludwig. 

In movie watching for the year, regular readers of this blog will know that we watch a lot of movies in a year.   Well over a hundred.  So I will list some of the best ones we saw for the first time, leaving out many old favourites that we enjoy watching again.

 

Ripley's Game starring John Malkovich was a highlight for me, as was Sicario by Denis Villeneuve.  Both are crime thrillers at the top of their class.  The Truman Show starring Jim Carrey and directed by Peter Weir was also quite amazing.  An Asian film by Hou Hsiao-Hsien called The Assassin was also quite extraordinary All are highly recommended.

 

The top prize goes to a very strange but extremely fun to watch film called Grand Theft Hamlet.  This film is a must see, not only for gamers and lovers of Shakespeare, but by just about anyone who has obsessed over something in their life.  This is an eminently brilliant film, one of a kind, and one of the best things to come out of the Covid restrictions.

 

All films mentioned here can be searched within the blog (use the tiny search form at the top left of the blog).  Other films worth mentioning and seeing were Viy, a film based on a Gogol horror story; The Tube With The Hat and Plastic Semiotica, two film shorts by Radu Jude; The Sargasso Manuscript; Demon Pond; Crazy Ray (Rene Clair); An Accidental Studio (a doc about Handmade Films); Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson); a mid-length indie short feature called Call of Cthulhu;

All The President's Men (about Watergate); Throw Down (Johnnie To); Oh Moon, a very special Turkish film; Only The River Flows by Wei Shu Jun; and two films by Bi Gan: Kailie Blues, his first feature; and Long Day's Journey Into Night (his 2nd feature).  His third feature is now out in selected theatres.

 

In local news, we have now had 25 days where the temperature has not risen above 0, or even to 0.  However, relief is on the way, and the ten day forecast calls for more normal temps, and even a bit above on some days, so we should get above 0 C a lot in the next while.  Just as we approach the time of year when it should begin to get cold, lo and behold it turns mild.  We have the tiniest amount of snow, which will likely be gone on the first mild and sunny day.

 

Our quiet holidays have come to a quiet end.  We celebrated the New Year with London UK, watching the fireworks and uncorking our champagne at 7 pm EST.  Saturday night was a full moon night, so we partied some more.  We finished up our PC game called Slice of Sea.  While it is a fun game, there are so many areas that require remembering how to get back to them, as inventory items are scattered helter-skelter across the game, that it is best to have a walk-thru handy.  Otherwise, you end up wandering through landscape after landscape trying to find your way back to where your new inventory piece fits.  The art is terrific in this one, and the game is well worth playing.  We are now playing Sherlock Holmes and The Hound of the Baskervilles, an old game but still quite fun.  We have played about an hour so far.

 

We did have one social occasion during the holidays, a very welcome visit from Amanda L.  She arrived with gifts of dark beer and coffee beans, so we had to admit her to the hallowed halls of the Homestead.  Amanda lives in Toronto (she is from A'burg and her family still lives in the area) in a house share, and she is desperate to get her own place there.  We always enjoy visits with her, and we did get to have dinner with her in Toronto on our visit there last year.  I got to run through my piano program for her, which helped me a lot.  I will perform it for a few friends on Saturday, before deciding whether to record the pieces or just start new ones.

 

Next time I'll mention some of the best books read last year.  Check back soon. 

 

Mapman Mike 

2025: Looking Back Part 1

It's been a very cold holiday here near the Homestead.  As of today (Jan. 1st) we have had 22 days with the mercury remaining below freezing.  This morning when I went out to feed the birds it was 12 F.  And of course it came with a stiff breeze.  With the holidays winding down (we still have a full moon party to go on Saturday!) it's almost time to return to our normal programming: practicing piano, reading, writing, gaming, studying maps, watching movies and (for Deb) making short films.  Which is pretty much what we did over the holidays, but with more food.  Here is a photo of my 8th or perhaps 9th Christmas morning.  Dig those curtains and that TV!!

 I got some missiles and rockets for Christmas.  It was that era (c. 1961).

2025 was a fairly cruel year for us, with little to no traveling accomplished.  Deb had two surgeries for kidney stones and I injured my foot in June.  The foot is still quite bad, with my walking limited to slow speeds and short duration.  I will see a podiatrist this month, so hoping for some relief.  Regular medical science has been no help, other than telling me that I have an injured foot.  So health problems kept us close to home.

 

Travel was restricted to two journeys to Sudbury by car.  We now break the drive north up into two days and have been exploring a part of Ontario new to us on the way.  We still come home in one go, about 8 hours of solid driving, plus any stops.  As long as Mom is still there to visit these twice yearly trips will likely continue.  Afterwards, who can say.  We also had a short but fun excursion to Toronto, as Deb was invited to a film festival there that was showing one of her films (Once Upon A Time That Never Was).  We went by train, traveling first class, and stayed at a fancy hotel near the station.  We got to have dinner with Amanda and meet her boyfriend, and also got to see Dino (my best man) and Bill, another good friend.  And that sums up 2025 travel news.

 

Turning to major acquisitions for the year, we purchased a 27 CD set of the Rameau operas; I bought new ice skates and used them a lot; we bought a new very fast gaming computer (Acer Nitro 60) and we got a 55" TV.  Of course a lot of Kindle books were purchased, too, but those I talk about in my monthly reading summaries.

 

In other major news two upgrades to our property were completed: a new back deck and a resurfacing of our very long and very old paved driveway.  In music news I played a Spring recital series (Simple Ingredients) and Deb's poster for "Just a Peek" won an award.  She had three films in competition over the year: Once Upon A Time..., Just a Peek and She Makes A Moving Picture.

 

Being home so much made it a great year for PC gaming.  I played a very old game called "Road To India."  Together we played a beautiful Japanese fold out picture book game called "Tengami."  We played a very challenging SF game called "J.U.L.I.A of the Stars."  A big event was the playing of MYST 2024, the latest version of the game.  Though it had some lows, overall it was the best version of the game I have played, with some big improvements to several ages, including the new Arctic one.  Last year the revised version of Riven blew us away, too.

Of course Train Simworld (6) has been a big hit with me.  I am driving trains in real time and real weather, with seasonal changes in England, Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the US.  It is such an amazing experience I can't even begin to describe how much this game has been.

Now we come to a true masterpiece of a game, "Everybody's Gone To The Rapture," with music by Jessica Curry.  It's a SF game set in a small English village in 1984, and has to be the most poignant game we have ever played, as well as one of the most beautiful.  The game takes place over one long day, from dawn till dark.  The player explores a vast area indoors and out, trying to figure out what has happened to all of the people, who have mysteriously vanished but left traces of their existence and conversations behind.  The music is as good as the game.  This is a must play game for all gamers.  Brought to you by the people (Chinese Room) that brought us another favourite game, "Dear Esther."

 

I will continue with my look back next time, discussing either best films of the year or best books.  Check back soon.

 

In the meantime there are two recent films to share.  The Color Wheel is from 2011, an American Indie film directed by Alex Ross Perry.  Filmed in b & w and 16 mm, it is billed on Mubi as a very fun road movie comedy.  While there is some driving and even a few funny moments, most of the film is a waste of time and film.  A brother and sister head out on the road to collect her things in a place where she was living with her college professor.  They have broken up.  Along the way they stay in an ultra Christian-run motel, get involved in a scene at the professor's apartment, attend a party held by old high school friends, and head back home, stopping off along the way to talk sister to brother, and to have sex with each other.  A real laugh riot.  I would avoid this one if I were you reading this.

 

Showing on Mubi.
 

 We have a number of films by Wong Kar Wai in the Criterion queue, and so far have watched a very early one (As Tears Go By).  Next came another early one a much later one.  The Grandmaster is ostensible a kung fu film from 2013.  However, this is the true story of Ip Man, one of the greatest exponents of kung fu (and Bruce Lee's first teacher).  Played perfectly by Tony Leung, the film is artistic in look, quiet in tone and beautifully photographed.  The kung fu fights are still way over the top and too long, but quite toned down from the usual wuxia martial arts films that often come out of Hong Kong.  A bit of Chinese history is given out, too, beginning just before the Japanese invasion previous to WW II.  A great looking film, sensibly paced and with costumes and sets to gawk at, as well as great looking male and female leads.  Highly recommended.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

I'll be back soon.

 

Mapman Mike