Though unrelated to the current, actual ghost world outside my window right now, the movie that Deb picked for this week follows on the heels of the same director's Art School Confidential. We have seen Ghost World many years ago, but remembered very little of it. It's the story of two misfit girls who have just graduated high school, and their attempt to enter into a different, more mature lifestyle. But one of the girls needs to pick up an art credit at summer school. The plot doesn't even matter; watching these girls go through their life is entertainment enough, especially when the artistic one comes under the spell of the record collecting character played perfectly by Steve Buscemi. The picture is priceless from start to finish. His earlier film, Crumb, is also in the queue.
Now showing on Criterion.
And speaking of the real ghost world, it's a brave new world out there, folks. There has never been a better time for people with indoor hobbies! I still have too many for the time allotted me in a single day. But I have made a vow to finish my second Valeria novel before all this is said and done, namely before my next trip to Detroit (which I anxiously await). So I will be trying to write several hundred words per day from now on, until the novel is completed. It's a race against the cure!
We are continuing our near-daily walks, and are encountering many families (and their dogs) out walking or riding their bikes. It's a new time for bonding. The weather here is still not that great, but once it warms up I'm sure the streets and sidewalks will be too busy. For now it is manageable. Gasoline prices have dropped to 76 cents per litre, down from around $1.25 normally.
It had been 8 days since our last grocery run, so I headed out alone today to get some fresh veg and fruit. No problems were encountered, and everything was well stocked, except meat, dairy, bread, and of course, toilet paper. We are doing fine, with at least a 14-day supply of food, but the fresh stuff will need replenishing again in a week or so.
So no real hardships for us so far. Next week Deb is concerned about having to go into a crowded medical clinic and have her bi-monthly blood work done. She has a mask she's been saving, but big deal. The nurse administering the test has come into contact with so many people. Deb's RA nurse is checking with her doctor to see if she can skip the test this time around.
Time now for a lovely and very calm landscape, guaranteed to ease frayed nerves and lower blood pressure (a little).
River Landscape, 1643, Salomon van Ruysdael. Dutch, ca. 1600-1670.
Oil on canvas, 39" x 54". Collection Detroit Institute of Arts.
Uncle to the more famous painter with Ruisdael, he was interested in capturing what he saw in a naturalistic and very unemotional way. We are looking at an everyday scene, with absolutely nothing special going on. People in the 17th C. also led hectic and busy lives, and were likely to have been just as keen to pause for a moment to catch their breath as we are today. These fairly large paintings serve as window panes into another time, and into another world, and standing before one in a museum is to take a journey back. It is as if we entered a time machine, in a very real sense. We are witnessing drama, of the quieter sort.
Detail of left side, above. A major painting in itself.
Detail of center, above,
Detail of right side.
Stay calm. Stay busy. Stay home.
Mapman Mike
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