More Travel

We are just back from another 2 week visit to London and vicinity.  While I had expected to be in Vienna in October, I gladly settled for London in late August and early September.  One of the reasons for the early travel (it was still high tourist season when we arrived) was because a film of Deb's was showing at a film festival that she has always wanted to visit.  The Women Over 50 had selected a film of hers for the fifth time, so we finally made the journey to Lewes to experience the event.  We had visited The Depot Cinema informally in May.  Deb came home with a runner up certificate for She Makes a Moving Picture, which received high praise from the judges.  The festival was a full one day affair, divided into blocks.  I attended the first block, where Deb's film screened, then literally headed into the hills for some spectacular downs walking.  Deb spent the entire day at the festival.

 

Another reason for our London trip was to continue our walking segments of the London Loop and the Capital Ring.  As in May, we completed one Loop segment and two Ring segments.  While only two Ring segments remain to complete, we still have four more of the longer Loop segments to do.  We also increased our cultural doings quite a bit this time, after a very slack attempt last May.  We visited the National Gallery, Apsley House, Courthauld Gallery, Guildhall, Temple and three Roman ruins within London.  In Eynsford we visited a Roman ruin and a castle ruin, while in Lewes I visited the ruins of a large priory.  We even saw several Banksy works of art, one of them in situ still and the others on pub walls.  Of course we managed to squeeze in a few pub visits as well, even discovering a new fabulous oasis for craft real ales.  

 

It was an exhausting trip with no days off, though a few times we returned early to the hotel for a quiet evening lying on a bed, feeling our feet tingling from much walking.  We flew with Air Canada from Windsor, leaving on a Wednesday and returning exactly two weeks later.  All flights went well except our final journey home from Toronto to Windsor, which ran just over two hours late.  Our final day was a 22 hour marathon of a very long bus ride and the two flights home.  Much more about the trip will be forthcoming over the next two weeks on the Travels Abroad blog, link in upper left margin.  We managed to meet with Caroline once; our second visit was cancelled due to bad weather and some transport problems for Caroline.

 

First photo of the trip, as we set out from Highgate on segment 12 of the Capital Ring.  Sadly we never got to try the whiskey.  This billboard was on the side of the Boogaloo Pub (not visited).

 

There are hardly any red box telephones remaining in London.  These are set up as an art display outside Smithfields Market. 

 

One of our relaxing evenings at the hotel we managed to watch a Criterion movie offering via Deb's phone and tablet.  She made it magically appear on the hotel TV and we lay in bed and watched the remarkable Ashes and Diamonds, a Polish film from 1958 directed by Andrzej Wadja.  Somehow,this masterpiece had slipped past us until now.  It is a totally amazing film from start to finish, with many moments of brilliance and genius.  The plot has to do with the assassination attempt on a pro-Russian (communist) speaker coming to a small town to try and convince the workers to join the communist party.  Opposition party members first fail in their attempt, killing two innocent men instead by mistake.  The film has plenty of tension and release, as the main assassin character falls in love with a barmaid at his hotel and nearly pulls out of the attempt.  This is a riveting film from start to finish, with superb writing and excellent photography supporting the good acting.  Highly recommended!

 

Now showing on Criterion.  The poster is a tribute to the film's best shot,

an upside down Christ on the cross.  

 

Thursday night, amidst loads of laundry, we watched an oddball film, deemed a "sunshine noir" by Criterion.  Violent Saturday is a 1955 film directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Victor Mature, Richard Egan, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin and several other recognizable character actors.  The action takes place in a small Arizona town (filmed in Bisbee, AZ, a place we have visited a few times).  The film is ostensibly about a bank heist to be undertaken by three out-of-town criminals, but it also partly a Douglas Sirk melodrama about various inhabitants of the mining town.  So, a film that is a cross between a soap opera and crime drama.  Results are mixed, but as it is filmed in Cinemascope with De Luxe colour, the film is always great to watch.  Mature plays the hero who stands up to the criminals, getting shot himself and rescued at the last moment by Borgnine, who plays a pitchfork wielding peace loving Amish farmer who is pushed over the edge by the criminals.  Definitely worth watching, especially on a 50" TV screen in a small room.

 

Leaving Criterion Sept. 30th. 

 

I'll be back with trip updates soon.  Check back in a few days.

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 

 
 

 

 

Movie Catch Up

As reported earlier, there are two Sherlock Holmes features and two silent films that we have recently viewed. The Holmes movies are showing on Prime, and were part of a planned series that never got further than these two offerings.  The Sign of Four is from 1983 and stars Ian Richardson and David Healy as the dynamic duo.  They both seem effective, and seemed chosen to resemble Rathbone and his Watson.  But Healy doesn't play the fool nearly as overboard as Nigel Bruce, and the paring works well here.  The story has a few discrepancies with the Homes canon, but not enough to raise eyebrows very high at all.  There are a few good scenes, and a few bad ones.  The Andaman native aspect is overplayed, and the two brothers who inherit a treasure from their father (but don't know where it is) are nothing too special.  The best scene is an extended one with Toby leading the chase as he sniffs out the creosote, with Holmes and Watson catching up on the case details as they go.  Worth a look for Holmes fans.

 

Showing on Prime Video. 

 

The same Holmes and Watson are back in the 1983 Hound of the Baskervilles.  This is one of those stories that fans of Holmes know down to the last detail.  Again we have a pretty decent attempt at bringing the tale to life, though there are a few changes once again.  Brian Blessed (over) plays the red herring.  In fact, everyone seems suspicious in this version and if you didn't know who the bad guy was you might never guess.  Stapleton is well played by Nicholas Clay (who also appears in the Brett series, as the doctor in The Resident Patient) (and Lancelot in Boorman's Excalibur).  Again this version is worth watching.  Holmes smiles and laughs a lot, and his sense of humour makes him seem a bit more human than many other players of the character.  Well worth watching, and reading, of course.  One of the best mystery stories ever written.

 

Now showing on Prime Video. 

 

Next were two very different silent films that we watched on Criterion.  Here is the channel's blurb:

 

WITHIN OUR GATES (1920) is the earliest surviving feature film by an African American director. It was Oscar Micheaux’s second film (after 1919’s THE HOMESTEADER, now lost), centering on an idealistic young woman named Sylvia Landry (Evelyn Preer, one of the first great stars of the race film) who attempts to raise money for an elementary school for black children. In the course of navigating the racial politics of both the black and white communities, Sylvia’s past is revealed in a series of flashbacks that contain the film’s most notorious sequence: the lynching of her parents by a white mob. Micheaux’s staging of the scene is startling in its bluntness and speaks volumes about the director’s fearlessness and willingness to address taboo subject matter. The film touches upon other themes that would recur throughout the controversial filmmaker’s career, such as the promise of rural life vs. the corrupting influence of the city, and the use of religion as a means of misleading the black community. 

 

Of interest mainly to film historians, especially of early Black American cinema, it features overacting and repetitive scenes.  It does have its chilling moments, however, and does not spare the Black man in its condemnation, even though it is the whites who are at the heart of this tragedy.

 

Streaming on Criterion. 

 

Lastly comes a very intense film from Sweden, starring and directed by Victor Sjostrom.  The Phantom Carriage is from 1921 and is quite sophisticated for its time.  A young Salvation army woman tries to save the soul of a local villain, but he is having none of it.  The carriage in question is driven by Death's servant, who must spend one year collecting bodies from where they died.  There are many striking scenes, including a drowning victim picked up by the carriage in the ocean moments after he dies.  More intense than A Christmas Carol, there is a resemblance between the two films in theme and in its use of ghosts and past events to get its point across.  Recommended.  Bergman was heavily influenced by this film, and the actor/director of it stars in the leading role in Bergman's Wild Strawberries.

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 

 

A Big Anniversary

Last Friday was our 50th wedding anniversary.  We spent a quiet day at home but plan to party hearty in a few weeks.  My surprise present to Deb will be revealed at that time.  In the meantime, here is a photo from the big day.  We were married at Our Lady of The Pines, a small church on Lake Penage.

 

The bridal party and family leave the church.  We were heading for boats to take us back to the camp.  For our honeymoon Deb and I took over the family camp for a week, doing canoe day trips and enjoying the late August weather with swimming and saunas.  We would leave for university very soon. 

 

Sunday was board game day.  We played a round of BBC's Doctor Who game, the classic doctor version.

 

Today's board game.  The player must protect locations with various versions of the Doctor, along with his companion allies.  The player must also try to attack the sites of his opponent with Daleks, Cybermen, Silurians, the Master and so on.  It is really a card game, not a board game. 

 

In other gaming news, PC related, I'm getting the hang of Tomb Raider 1.  My reaction times are improving, as is my swimming technique.  Still lots to work on, though.

 

All of the locations are based on actual archeological material, including the incredible dolphin pool.
 From the updated version of TR 1.

 

I'm also replaying Realmyst, and though the game itself is over I continue wandering around taking photos, waiting for the light to change and the day/night cycle.

 

Moonrise in Channelwood, Realmyst.

 

In this world, Selenitic, a number of sound puzzles must be solved.  Realmyst. 

 

Train Sim World continues to occupy a lot of my time.  So far I am driving trains on 35 different routes in several different countries.  I still have many routes I have not yet used. I add a new one about once per month.  Each route has 8-10 locomotives, each with their own timetable.  Even one route could keep me busy for a year.  I am now driving over 50 different types of locomotives.  Could I really drive them on real trains?  Yup, if I had the master key and reverser handle.  No problem!

 

Hauling freight in Montana.  American freight routes are the most challenging.

 

Hauling freight through the Austrian Alps.

 

Running a passenger service on the Ilse of Wight. 

 

We have played 80 Days twice now, winning one and losing one (each by a single day).  We will play a 3rd time soon, but not to win.  It's more fun just exploring and taking bizarre routes around the world.  This is a fun game, but if taken too seriously can lead to much frustration.  Just enjoy the journey!

 

 2 screenshots from 80 Days PC game. 

 

I'll be back soon with a 4-movie update: two Sherlock Holmes films and two silent pictures. 

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

Mid-August Briefing

Congratulations to England, which is finally getting some rain!  Maybe someday we'll get some here at the Homestead, too. The heat has been turned down a notch, but the humidity continues unabated.  As does the poor air quality as a result.  The air is often dead still.  A ten minute walk outside is like taking a bath.  Temps are in the mid to low 80s most days, and we have had some clouds.  But we need rain quite badly here.  The ground is cracked and very dry and nothing is growing unless it gets watered a lot.  There are both floods and fires not far from us, but we seem to be taking the middle ground.  So far our 30 year old air conditioner has been up to the challenge.  However, we keep the house at 77 F so as not to overtax it.  We needed a new dehumidifier for the basement, it's been running constantly and I've been dumping bucket after bucket of water.  Looking forward to autumn.  Summer is not a nice season in this area.

Piano pieces are coming along.  I nearly have all three Scriabin pieces memorized (along with one Bach, a Haydn sonata, March Wind, and one of two Glass pieces.  I will soon begin memorizing the 2nd Glass piece.  Not being memorized this time is the Bach Prelude and Fugue and the Chopin Nocturne, the latter still giving me pains as I try to master this incredible piece of very difficult music (Op 28 #2).

 

Deb has been switching most of her films to her Youtube channel, as well as fixing up an older film which she was never happy with.  We continue to view commercial films, so here's what we've been up to lately.

 

First, two from Kino Films Collection.  Regular readers of this blog will already know that we watch some pretty strange and weirdly wonderful films, so when I announce that we have watched a really strange one, I usually mean just that.  Legend of the Mountain is a fantasy/horror film from 1979 and directed by King Hu.  With a running time of over 3 hours and the film often moving quite slowly, this one takes a commitment to get through.  A traveling scholar is given an assignment, namely to copy an old manuscript with magical powers within its words.  The scholar is a bit of a goofy character.  Filmed in Taiwan, the landscape scenery is absolutely wonderful, and the fact that it is a wide screen movie helps a lot.  The scholar gets mixed up with a group of ghosts, most of them wanting to get their paws on the documents, which might help them gain more power.  There is no kung fu in the film, though there is some flying and a lot of disappearing.  Replacing kung fu are magic drums, and the good versus evil ones dual via drums.  The smoke and fog machine gets a good workout, and the settings inside and outside of old abandoned monasteries are quite eye-catching.   If you are looking for a weird Chinese movie that is actually quite watchable, this just might be it.  Mildly recommended, especially if you are tired of kung fu films.  Make sure you are watching the full version, all 3 hrs and 12' worth.

 

From Kino Films and showing on Amazon Prime. 

 

Also from Kino is another decently strange offering.  Paul Auster wrote, produced and directed The Inner Life of Martin Frost and it was released in 2007.  Auster's novels are not likely to appeal to a wide audience.  I have read his New York Trilogy and have mixed feelings, though I did really enjoy the first in the series.  It is unlikely that this film will have wide appeal, though I did, for the most part, like it.  A writer stays at a friend's secluded house while away, and hopes to recover from just having finished his most recent novel.  He awakens after his first night to find a young woman in bed beside him.  They gradually get to know one another, but she is not who whom she said she was.  Even so, Martin falls for her and they are soon in love.  He is suddenly alert and writing again.  The mysterious plot doesn't really thicken, but it remains quite mysterious throughout.  The film is only 90 minutes, though parts of it drag a bit.  The couple are separated when she is called back from whence she came, but there seems to be a way around their dilemma.  The film has a good beginning and a good ending, so it's more than halfway successful already.  Some of the middle bits seemed a bit padded, as if trying to stretch out a short story.  The film is very theatrical and should appeal to folks who like stage performances.  Recommended, though not highly.

 

Now showing on Kino Films. 

 

The remaining film was watched on the Criterion Channel.  Rams is a documentary from 2018 and directed by Gary Hustwit.  It chronicles the works of lead designer at Braun Dieter Rams.  Neither of us had heard of this man, but we were both fascinated by this film and the super super cool stuff that he designed.  Many of his designs out-Bauhaus the Bauhaus, though that school was certainly a major influence.  Record players, radios, shelving units, chairs... just about any kind of utensil one could think of was beautifully designed and expertly crafted during his time at Braun.  His lean design look matches his philosophy.  Nothing should be made that isn't simple and direct in appearance, and nothing extra should be added.  Not only that, but the item should be built to last and be easy to repair.  Not too many things manufactured today have that kind of outlook.  A truly wonderful film about a very brilliant (and useful!) man.  His ten principles of design are still studied by design students today.  Highly recommended.

 

Now streaming on Criterion. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

 

The Great Partial Eclipse Report

It was cloudy.  End of report.  In the last astronomy session, which ends in about 4 days, I have had one clear night.  The rest of the week and weekend will be cloudy.  It's been quite a year.  Our weather has been warm and very very humid, with poor air quality every day.  Indoor weather yet again.

In other news, there is none.  So let's get right on to movies watched ,with three to report.  Beginning with most recent, Beat is a 2000 film directed by Gary Walkow.  It gives the scoop on the early formative years of the three big beat generation writers: Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs.  Apart from the very poor sound quality, I found the film to be lifeless and mostly uninteresting.  Bill and Joan Burroughs are living in a dumpy apartment in Mexico City.  With two young children, their marriage is going nowhere.  Bill prefers young males in his bed to his wife, though for some reason she wants to stick by him.  That doesn't work out so well in the end.  Friends from New York visit and Joan goes on a road trip with them to see a volcano in Guatemala.  It is a very boring trip.  The film has loads of cigarettes and booze, some light sex scenes, but it literally goes nowhere, like the marriage.  Not even Courtney Love can save this one.  Give it a miss and read some beat literature instead.

 

Streaming on Criterion. 

Remembering Gene Wilder is a fun documentary from 2024 covering the eccentric actor's career from high school drama through to his major films.  Films like Young Frankenstein and Willy Wonka are still among our favourite films of all time.  There are interviews with many people who worked with Gene, including a lot of talk from Mel Brooks, who gave the actor his first big break.  There are many film clips and lots of interviews with gene himself.  Very sadly, his life ended with severe Alzheimer's Disease.  But what a legacy he has left behind.   Highly recommended! 

 

The film was showing on Kino, but no longer is. 

 

Finally comes one of the most entertaining films I have seen in a very long while.  The People Versus Larry Flynt is a comedy/drama from 1996, masterfully directed by Milos Forman.  Woody Harrelson plays the snake in the grass Flynt, Edward Norton as his greatly put upon lawyer, and Courtney Love as Flynt's young and sexy alcoholic drug-addicted wife.  The film comes together beautifully and works its magic upon viewers.  Flynt is a one-of-a-kind jerk, a total and complete asshole, but he easily gains our sympathy as he battles censorship in every shape and form.  He has a way of torpedoing his own defense in court, and the relationship between him and his lawyer is both highly amusing and very frustrating.  In his first trial a very sourpuss judge delights in the jury's guilty verdict and gives him the maximum sentence.  The judge is played by no less than the real Larry Flynt!  How he must have loved that role!  Courtney Love has never acted better, and Forman uses her almost too much.  She is in virtually every scene, sometimes just for a split second for a reaction shot.  But she is totally perfect in the role.  All in all this is a really really good film, even if you don't like Hustler magazine (who does?).  Highly recommended.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

The Odyssey

First, a summary of July weather.  It's been a pretty typical month of summer weather here in southwest Ontario.  Though we have had little rain there has been plenty of sunshine and warmth.  We managed to actually go outside and walk one time.  One morning it was cloudy and only 80 F (and humid, of course), so we took advantage of it and went for a short neighbourhood walk.  That's about our July average.  We had a total of nine days where the temperature hit 90 F or higher, and four days where it stopped at 88 or 89 F.  The coolest day saw the temp hit 75 F, while the hottest was 98, twice.  So, 13 days above 90 altogether since June 1st, and seven more at 88 or 89 F.  Like I said, about average, maybe a tad warmer.  Things sometimes cool down a bit in August.  One can always hope.  Places like Vienna, Austria, have been hotter than we are this summer, which is really really strange.  And I doubt this kind of weather will simply disappear next summer. In fact...

 

The paving project on our 4-lane road in front of the Homestead is now complete, and cars are once again zooming past, this time on brand new pavement.   We get our chance to try it out tomorrow, as Deb has some routine blood work to get through.

 

There are no new films to report.  Instead, we have been watching a 1968 8-part television series of The Odyssey.  We saw bits of this many many years ago on TVO (Ontario's public TV channel), but then lost track of it.  Well, it recently received a good update and is now available to all on Youtube.  Viewers have to play around a bit to get it translated, but we managed.  It was a Dino De Laurentiis production, thus big budget.  Filmed in Italy and Yugoslavia, it was aimed at a European audience.  Different directors helped out, including the gruesome cyclops episode by Mario Bava.  We have not seen the Nolan version, and aren't really that keen to do so.  Someday, no doubt.  But this one is top notch, and worth sitting through.  Costumes, sets, locations and acting are all quite fantastic, and the pace is measured when needed, and action packed when needed.  Probably the most faithful filming of the book.  Highly recommended!

 

All 8 episodes are on Youtube. 

 

We got through our first adventure in the PC game 80 Days.  The game is a cross between the old text adventures and more modern but economical 2D adventure games.  It is a delight to play.  We managed to get around the world in 79 days, winning the bet!  We are already on our second round, trying to take a totally different route.  The game has nearly endless possibilities.  I will play at least three times for now.  By coincidence I am currently reading a Jules Verne adventure story, The Children of Captain Grant.

 

We spent a night in Cairo on our way around the world. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

Highway To Heaven and Three Films

The busy four lane road in front of our house is a decommissioned provincial highway, now a county road.  Every once in a while, when the old pavement is cracked beyond repair, they repave it.  Step one is to reduce traffic to one lane in each direction.  Then they rebuild the storm sewers.  Then they wait for the paving company to have some time to do it.  That takes a couple of weeks.  Finally comes stage three, when the old pavement is literally melted where it stands and taken away in dump trucks.  Stage four is the actual repaving, followed by painting the lines, then removing the traffic cones.  The whole thing took about a month.  Today we have new pavement in front of our house, up to about a mile further towards Windsor.

 

This vast and noisy machine heats and strip off the old pavement, which is then hauled away for reuse.

 

In front is the old pavement; left behind is the base of the road.

 

Dump trucks pour hot asphalt into a "Roadtec" conveyor system, which loads up the paving machine.

Two paving machines worked in tandem to cover both northbound lanes today.  A few days ago they did the southbound lanes.

Dump trucks full of hot asphalt are lined up down the road, waiting their turn.

 

The conveyor loads one of the machines with fresh tar.

 

Rolling machines flatten out the new pavement.  The road should fully open later today.
 

As you can see, the excitement never stops around the old Homestead.  Passing ships, birds at the feeder, grass growing--it's all here!

 

We have loaded a new (for us) PC game called 80 Days.  Fogg and Passpartout set out from London and have 80 days to encircle the globe (or maybe 81).  This is a simple 2D adventure game with a steampunk twist, and it is proving to be entertaining and challenging.  The game as designed has virtually limitless replay possibilities, as they are nearly endless ways of traveling, each with their own twist.  The following postcard shows us at our most recent destination.

 

It is currently Day 37 of our 80-day voyage, and we are in Madras.  We have a good supply of funds, but we still have a very long way to go.  Beating the game isn't really the main idea of playing, however.  It's fun to visit the places, talk to different people, and enjoy the hilarious side adventures.  At one point we were clobbered by a nun and taken hostage to their nunnery.  We have promised to assist them in a particular scheme of theirs in exchange for our freedom. 

 

We are playing on Steam, which carries reviews of the game by all of the previous players.  Here is one review (complete) that cinched it for us and got us to play.  "Spent 37 days dying in the North Pole because two gay lovers were sabotaging our vehicle because we weren't communists. 10/10"  With a review like that how can one go wrong?  This is a very promising game so far.

 

Turning to films, we have the usual mix of weird things we watch and enjoy.  Including Deb's films (ha ha).  I got to see the first complete (non-sound) version of her latest film.  It is visually stunning and spellbinding and original and should make quite a splash at selected film festivals.  She is now working on details and will soon be adding sound.  Deb's website is at upper left in my margin.  Here you can keep up with all her latest creations.

 

We watched an oldie directed by Robert Altman.  A Wedding from 1978 is not the usual film title that interests us.  Altman tackles a wedding between a rich American family's daughter and a mafioso's son.  It is lavish and expensive, and the film opens in the church.  Lots of people on the groom's side, and virtually no one on the bride's side.  Altman's comedy is sometimes subtle and sometimes not.  The old bishop is a family friend and has been called out of retirement to perform the ceremony.  There are some very funny scenes here.  The reception is at the mafia homestead, and a host of Altman's favourite actors are given recurring scenes, some funny and some not.  Carol Burnett gets a lead role, getting hustled by a huge man who wants her to be his own.  It is Carol's daughter who is getting married.  There is an eccentric aunt who is anxiously awaiting the arrival of her very large gift.  When it finally arrives she gathers everyone together for the unveiling of a portrait of the bride--a nude!  Geraldine Chaplin is the organizer of events.  Also starring Mia Farrow as the bride's nympho younger sister, Desi Arnaz, Jr, Vittorio Gassman and Lillian Gish.  Actually well worth watching.

 

Streaming now on Criterion. 

 

The Pervert's Guide To Ideology is a terrific documentary from 2013, narrated by the funny and zesty Slavoj Zizek.  He uses scenes from films to illustrate the use and misuse of the term ideology, showing what it is and what it isn't.  As he talks about a particular film and shows clips, he will insert himself into the location and continue his lecture as if he is on the actual movie set.  His accent is pretty thick and it can be tricky to understand him at times, but what he says is always worth listening to.  Also mixed in are news clips from demonstrations, riots and political propaganda events.  Directed by Sophie Fiennes, this is a must see film for philosophy students and film students, or people like us who are both.  Highly recommended, and worth more than one viewing.

 

Now streaming on Kino. 

 

Most recently we watched Saturday Fiction, a Chinese film directed by Lou Ye from 2019 that started out quite promising but then degenerated into a massive shoot-em-up, where virtually all the lead characters die.  The story takes place in Shanghai a week before Pearl Harbour is attacked, and continues up to the very day.  What we get is a spy story mixed in with preparing a political play for live performance.  The two mesh well up to a point, until the film just breaks itself apart with mindless violence.  Good acting, and the b & w film is beautifully photographed.  In the end, though, it was disappointing.  There is also an awful lot of cigarette smoking.  How many films have started out great and ended badly?  Too many to count.  Are you listening Wim Wenders?

 

Streaming on Criterion until midnight July 31st. 

 

Mapman Mike