The title of this blog is named after a fascinating documentary we watched on Prime, hosted by Professor Jim Al-Kalili. Programs such as this are an astronomer and science lover's best friend on cloudy nights. He simply and brilliantly encapsulates the history of physics, focusing on the perceived emptiness of a vacuum. Worth repeated viewing, at least once per year.
I have had two clear nights in a row, driving 37 miles each way to get into a reasonable dark sky. That's almost 150 miles of driving just to get somewhere decent to observe. Luckily, it is worth the drive. I enjoy satellite radio on both vehicles, so I generally listen to either Symphony Hall on Sirius XM, or public radio for the incredible talk shows. So the time goes fairly quickly. Best of all, I only have three traffic lights in those 37 miles, and traffic is generally quite light on the roads I take. Monday night I was at my windmill sight for five hours. No cars went past. Tuesday night I was there for four hours--one vehicle went past. It's good to have a night off to recuperate, however. Thursday is promising to be clear once again, so I should be ready.
Deb's movie choice last week was a little oddity called Fiend Without A Face. A classic 1950s SF paranoia film, it supposedly takes place in Manitoba, at a remote US air base. Nice mountains they have there in Manitoba! These old movies are truly great. For one thing, despite four or five grisly murders, no outside police are called in. There is no RCMP even mentioned, though the FBI is always used for info. Pretty funny stuff. In essence, radioactivity (of course) and a nearly mad professor's experiments (of course) combine to give us some of the most unique monsters in the history of cinema. They are walking brains, using the attached spinal cords to locomote. Nifty and scary as hell, too. Well worth a watch, I don't really know how I missed this one growing up. Now showing on Criterion. It comes with a six minute short discussing the opening of this 1958 treasure. It opened in Detroit on a double bill with a Karloff feature, at the classy Adams Theatre downtown. Thereby hangs a tale, and a pretty funny one.
A recent view, showing on the Criterion Channel.
A local fiend (without a face) attacks the beautiful assistant to the professor.
In other news, Deb has had her 2nd and final shot of Shingrix, to prevent the onset of shingles. Her arm is red, hot, and painful two days later, but the fever and flu-like symptoms that seem to accompany it have retreated. And she has won two awards recently, one from the Women Over 50 Film Festival in Brighton, England (a 3rd place, I believe), and a Best Director award for her dance film, "Joyfully." So Huzzah once again!!
And just tonight I got slaughtered in a friendly game of Carcassonne. I just could never pick up the correct tile, while you-know-who got virtually every one she needed. I think I got my use of bad and fearful language out of the way for the week. We played a variant called "Flying Machine," where you can fly short distances to nearby tiles. Just like in real medieval times.
Mapman Mike
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