I managed to make use of another incredible clear night last night. It looked hopeless, as moist, very humid and warm air began to settle over the area. As I drove out to my windmill site, it seemed to be getting hazy and foggy. Upon arrival, it was completely overcast. Not one star, despite predictions to the contrary. I was not expecting a great night, but this? But by 9 pm, after sitting in my vehicle glowering for nearly an hour, it miraculously cleared up! I spent a heavenly (pun intended) five hours at the eyepiece! It will take days to write up all the notes, but it is supposed to be cloudy now anyway. That makes four very good nights of observing for this session, and I was able to take advantage of all four.
It was Deb's film festival choice for the weekend, and we ended up watching films by American director Richard Lester, mostly from the 1960s. Lester worked mainly in the UK, making such iconic films as Hard Days Night and Help! with the Beatles, along with two Musketeer pictures.
We began with a throwback to the Goon Show, an 11 minute film from 1959 by Lester and Peter Sellers. It is all sketch comedy, with no talking. If you wish to seek the roots of Monty Python's Flying Circus, then seek the Goon Show. Even Leo McKern joins in. It was filmed over two Sundays for only 70 pounds. It won an Oscar nomination!
Showing on Criterion Channel.
Next, from 1965, came The Knack, and How To Get It. If you were too young to have lived through the Sixties, or are older and have forgotten how weird those times were, this film will refresh your memory. A young teacher has problems identifying with women, and asks his worldly tenant for help. A third male tenant arrives, and a young woman simultaneously arrives in London looking for adventure. The films concerns itself mainly with these four characters. The storytelling is jumbled but effective, and the movie mostly survives on its wonderful visuals and rapid cuts. Many scenes are quite embarrassing to watch now, including the young woman (Rita Tushingham) crying Rape! for about ten minutes of the film (though she cannot manage it in front of a policeman), when, indeed, nothing of the sort has occurred, but the film won major European film festival awards when it came out, including the Palme D'Or at Cannes, and Grand Prix in Belgium. I think nowadays the film plays more as a curiosity, though perhaps it might be better to watch it while high. One viewing is enough for me.
The 1960s of London is on full display, in a way.
Next for us came Petulia, from 1968, starring Julie Christie, Richard Chamberlain, and George C. Scott. The film is mostly about Christie, who has been beaten by her mentally unstable husband (Richard Chamberlain), falling for a doctor whom she meets at a charity event (Scott). Scott is just divorcing his wife, for no apparent reason. He, like Christie, is unfulfilled, and has trouble having any kind of feelings any more. Reluctant at first to have anything to do with her, Scott eventually comes to love her.
Filmed in San Francisco (photography by Nicholas Roeg), the visuals are stunning and sometimes steal the show from the wonderful acting. This is a really complex film, and one screening does not do it justice. It was set to feature at Cannes in 1968, but the festival was cancelled that year due to severe social unrest in France.
Lastly, from 1969, comes the weirdest film of them all. The Bed Sitting Room from 1969 has one of the most impressive casts I have ever seen in a British film, though they are mostly wasted. It is a black comedy about the years after England has been decimated by an atomic war. I loved the opening scenes that take place on the Circle Line, which is still running underground, and I loved most of the post-apocalyptic sets and locations, which would work amazingly well in a more serious movie about post-apocalypse days. I found the visuals to be the best thing about the whole film, though some of the jokes are priceless. Based on an absurdist play of the same name, it hints at what was going on in some places in the London theatre scene of the day. This is a difficult film to sit through in one go--it is about 90 minutes long and we split it up into three equal segments. Once is enough.
This conlcuded our film festival weekeend, featuring films by Richard Lester.
I managed to read 13 books in September, with a 14th finished today, October 1st. I managed to complete another iteration of my Avon/Equinox authors, so I will be starting the list of them again. Here are just the highlights. I began the month with One Step From Earth, a book of loosely linked shorter stories by Harry Harrison on the theme of matter transmission. Of the ten stories included, five are top notch. A good start to the month!
Next came a very intelligent and promising story by Kenneth Bulmer, called Cycle of Nemesis. The Nemesis has been chained up in Iraq for 7000 years, but it is now breaking its bonds and causing havoc in the world. Although the story ultimately suffers from too many monsters, it is a great tale, based strongly on mythology, fast-paced and difficult to put down. Next came a taut and action-packed story by E. C. Tubb, a man who could write so well when he chose. S.T.A.R. Flight tells of an Earth conquered by arrogant aliens, and one man's attempt to stop them. Tubb has created a very chilling scenario, and one that could end up happening to us.
I wouldn't have thought that a 1956 cold war thriller by S.B. Hough, called Extinction Bomber, would have been that thrilling to read. But Hough has turned into a major discovery for me, and this story about a British bomber sent to drop one bomb on a Russian factory is one of the best cold war reads I have ever undertaken. Wow! An oldie but a goodie. Hal Clement's The Nitrogen Fix is a very odd little novel about post-apocalypse life. We follow a family of traders that live on a raft, existing on a planet where no other life forms have survived, except plants under cultivation. Observed by curious and benevolent aliens, the family must survive their greatest challenge so far--teenage juvenile delinquent gangs that want to return oxygen to the atmosphere. Quite violent, as Clement can sometimes be, but an engrossing tale and which you will never find the like elsewhere.
I read the 2nd chronicle of Jerry Cornelius, called A Cure For Cancer. Cracks from reality break through in the chapter titles, as Jerry continues his imaginary existence as the hero of all time and space. I love these stories! I finished reading the Moebius comic variation, called The Airtight Garage, and am looking forward to reading the sequel to it soon, on-line. Then came Ballard's High Rise, a book I found less than fascinating. Like his Concrete Island, it would have worked better as a short story or novella. But stretched out to novel length, it grows thinner and thinner as it goes on. I was fascinated at the start, but lost interest as it dragged on.
I had much better luck with Barry Malzberg's The Falling Astronauts, about two Apollo astronauts that crack up while on their separate moon missions. While the narrative is great and engrossing, it is the way that Malzberg gets inside the heads of mentally ill people that is most astounding. I'm glad there is so much more of this author waiting to be read by me. And I just finished James Blish's Jack of Eagles, probably the best book about psi doings that was ever written. From 1952, it is not dated much, and except for the shortage of female psi characters, this is damn near a perfect novel.
In addition to the Moebius comic strips, I read two outside books, both of them fascinating. On the flip side of an Ace Double featuring a very poor Jack Williamson story, I happily came across The Paradox Men, by Charles L. Harness. This is a major SF achievement, on the scale of a good book by Blish! Aside from the sadistic psychiatrist who gruesomely tortures both men and women, this is a highly enjoyable book, and one I would have never come across. It more than made up for the disappointing novel this month by Williamson.
Finally came the comic to end all comics, The Watchmen by Alan Moore. My hefty bright yellow omnibus contains all 12 issues of this fascinating and must-read series, along with pages and pages of text written to go in-between each issue for this editon. Literally one of the best things I have ever read, and I will reread it soon now, knowing what I know.
That's all for now, folks. My movie choice for this week is a strange one called Judex. More on that after the screening on Wednesday night.
Mapman Mike
Next came a very intelligent and promising story by Kenneth Bulmer, called Cycle of Nemesis. The Nemesis has been chained up in Iraq for 7000 years, but it is now breaking its bonds and causing havoc in the world. Although the story ultimately suffers from too many monsters, it is a great tale, based strongly on mythology, fast-paced and difficult to put down. Next came a taut and action-packed story by E. C. Tubb, a man who could write so well when he chose. S.T.A.R. Flight tells of an Earth conquered by arrogant aliens, and one man's attempt to stop them. Tubb has created a very chilling scenario, and one that could end up happening to us.
I wouldn't have thought that a 1956 cold war thriller by S.B. Hough, called Extinction Bomber, would have been that thrilling to read. But Hough has turned into a major discovery for me, and this story about a British bomber sent to drop one bomb on a Russian factory is one of the best cold war reads I have ever undertaken. Wow! An oldie but a goodie. Hal Clement's The Nitrogen Fix is a very odd little novel about post-apocalypse life. We follow a family of traders that live on a raft, existing on a planet where no other life forms have survived, except plants under cultivation. Observed by curious and benevolent aliens, the family must survive their greatest challenge so far--teenage juvenile delinquent gangs that want to return oxygen to the atmosphere. Quite violent, as Clement can sometimes be, but an engrossing tale and which you will never find the like elsewhere.
I read the 2nd chronicle of Jerry Cornelius, called A Cure For Cancer. Cracks from reality break through in the chapter titles, as Jerry continues his imaginary existence as the hero of all time and space. I love these stories! I finished reading the Moebius comic variation, called The Airtight Garage, and am looking forward to reading the sequel to it soon, on-line. Then came Ballard's High Rise, a book I found less than fascinating. Like his Concrete Island, it would have worked better as a short story or novella. But stretched out to novel length, it grows thinner and thinner as it goes on. I was fascinated at the start, but lost interest as it dragged on.
I had much better luck with Barry Malzberg's The Falling Astronauts, about two Apollo astronauts that crack up while on their separate moon missions. While the narrative is great and engrossing, it is the way that Malzberg gets inside the heads of mentally ill people that is most astounding. I'm glad there is so much more of this author waiting to be read by me. And I just finished James Blish's Jack of Eagles, probably the best book about psi doings that was ever written. From 1952, it is not dated much, and except for the shortage of female psi characters, this is damn near a perfect novel.
In addition to the Moebius comic strips, I read two outside books, both of them fascinating. On the flip side of an Ace Double featuring a very poor Jack Williamson story, I happily came across The Paradox Men, by Charles L. Harness. This is a major SF achievement, on the scale of a good book by Blish! Aside from the sadistic psychiatrist who gruesomely tortures both men and women, this is a highly enjoyable book, and one I would have never come across. It more than made up for the disappointing novel this month by Williamson.
Finally came the comic to end all comics, The Watchmen by Alan Moore. My hefty bright yellow omnibus contains all 12 issues of this fascinating and must-read series, along with pages and pages of text written to go in-between each issue for this editon. Literally one of the best things I have ever read, and I will reread it soon now, knowing what I know.
That's all for now, folks. My movie choice for this week is a strange one called Judex. More on that after the screening on Wednesday night.
Mapman Mike
No comments:
Post a Comment