It's been a mild Winter, with very little snow, but Winter is hanging around. We were supposed to get two measurable snowfalls this week, the first one predicted to be 3"-6", and the second was to be 3"-5". Total snowfall for the week was about 1". Not complaining, but that's pretty bad forecasting. February will turn out to be colder than January, unless something drastic happens near the end of the month. But here we are, halfway through it, and winter will continue to bite (though not very hard) for a while longer. Tonight, tomorrow, and Friday night will see the temperature plunge to its coldest of the season, as we get our first blast of real Arctic air. But it will all be gone by Saturday. The really good news is that the Great Lakes largely remain unfrozen, meaning that we might have a warm Spring. And some of that very high water stands a better chance of evaporating, without the ice to block it. Our creek still runs backwards, away from the Detroit River, on windy days.
Deb's movie choice was another epic Wuxia film (Chinese martial arts) directed by King Hu. We last saw a King Hu film a few months ago, called Dragon Inn. This one is called A Touch Of Zen, and comes from 1971. It is three hours long, and has about two hours of extras to watch with it. It is almost the same story as Dragon Inn, and stars many of the same actors. The setting this time is an overgrown, abandoned fort, and much later, a bamboo forest. Filmed mostly in Taiwan, the scenery is totally incredible! King Hu raised the lowly martial arts movie to great artistic heights, and the photography and locations are lifted from and inspired by old landscape scroll paintings. Set in the Ming Dynasty, there are about three stories going on here. This was a very watchable film, but eventually let us down by the usual thing; namely a bad guy who never practices his martial arts, never even walks anywhere but gets carried about in a sedan chair, and still manages to be better than the well-trained and very well practiced good guys and girl. This is a flaw in many Chinese Wuxia movies, which pretty much spoils things after a while, and is totally different than Westerm movie bad guys, who usually have underlings to do the actual dirty work. The movie is about an hour too long, and goes off in a strange tangent after it should have ended. Still, it is well worth seeing for the scenery, camera work, mood, settings, and a very beautiful and deadly leading lady.
Now showing on Criterion Channel.
Speaking of China, let's have a look at a landscape on a Meissen teapot, from the collection of the DIA. One cannot get a more authentic Chinese experience that drinking tea, and gazing at the image painted on this pot.
Teapot, 1723 or 24. Porcelain, enamel, gold; silver-gilt mounts. Meissen Porcelain Factory, Germany. Decorator was Johann Gregor Horoldt, 1696-1775. Collection Detroit Institute of Arts. Love that spout!
Detail of above, showing a Westerner in center, with a wig, enjoying the scenery one fine day.
Landscape painting is everywhere in the museum!
The new piano program practice schedule has been in full swing for just over a week now. The pieces are technically easier than the last batch, and will come up quickly. I will likely add a few more pieces when time permits, likely after I can play the current set reasonably well. So far there are 7 pieces, but they all all pretty short. At least two more will be added.
I am currently reading a book by P. G. Wodehouse, one of his Blanding Castle entries. Tears are falling down my face as I laugh my way through it. Fun stuff to read, and a nice break from my Equinox project.
Mapman Mike
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