Late June and the first half of July have brought summer weather full force into our area. After a bitterly cold winter, and a depressingly cold and wet spring, the weather has been non-stop blue skies and hot temps. More of the same is predicted for the rest of July. Though we have not had any extreme temps, it will turn out to be one of the hottest Julys on record, and that is saying something.
Work in the basement proceeds apace, with some new flooring added and many books reshelved. Even my old Edgar Rice Burroughs collection, with fabulous cover art by Frazetta and Krenkel, are back out on shelves. Mostly art books still to unpack, but I need another shelf and more bookends.
It has now been six weeks since Deb's surgery, and 10 days since beginning some basic at home physio exercises without her arm sling (it is officially retired). This week she returns to the physio room, to ramp things up a bit more. I have a routine medical check up on Tuesday.
In film news, Deb's work has been accepted once again at the major film festival in Cincinnati, Cindependent. She sent in three short films, hoping that one would be accepted. It was, but so were the other two! We will be heading south the last weekend in August, hopefully with a complimentary room downtown once again....
My choice of film for last week was a silly British comedy starring Alec Guinness. He plays the captain of a passenger/cargo boat that travels regularly between Gibraltar and North Africa. He has a wife in each port, and lives very different lives with them. In Africa he is married to Yvonne De Carlo, and they eat out and go dancing and drinking every night. He brings her flowers each time, and they drink champagne. In Gibraltar he is married to Celia Johnson. He is in bed every night at 10 pm, doesn't go out for dinner, and buys his wife domestic presents like a vacuum cleaner and sewing machine. The movie becomes funnier when De Carlo wants to become more domestic, and his British wife wants to start living life a lot more. A very sexist film that likely could not be easily watched by a younger generation, but it has some fine moments of true comedy. Nicholas Phipps is wonderful as the first officer. The film is on the Criterion Channel.
The Crown Prince is a three hour drama showing on Prime, detailing the short life of Rudolf, crown prince of the the Austria-Hungarian Empire. If you want to see some stunning locations, costumes, and some decent historical drama, this makes a nice change from all of the British history lessons we get. Though it focuses more on the Prince's love life than his ill-fated political career, he was so hampered that he could not have done anything much anyway. The three hours or so goes by very quickly.
Deb's Criterion choice for last week was a film noir neither of us had seen. From 1951, Robert Ryan plays a city cop that is getting too rough with the scum he has to deal with every night. He is warned by his colleagues and his superior, but continues on his mean streak until the captain sends out of town to help solve a murder. The movie, which has so far been gritty and urban, shifts to the snowy mountains, where the local sheriff and a posse are hunting down someone who murdered a young girl coming home from school. Soon the chase is on. It is an unusual noir in that the movie completely changes gear halfway through, and the ending, though not perfect, is more satisfying than most noir films. Directed by Nicholas Ray, he became ill during filming and Ida Lupino, who plays the blind sister to the murderer, helped direct some of the final scenes. Definitely worth a look.
I am halfway through July, where I am trying to memorize four of my piano pieces. I seem to be on track, and have really been putting in the hours, so I should make it. I will report back at the end of the month, but so far so good.
Mapman Mike
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