Another Walking Day

 Two days before our 2nd snow event arrives (Monday will not be a nice day), I headed back out on the trail, this time hiking into McGregor from the other end.  Deb dropped me off again and met me not far from the town.  I still have one segment left to walk on the A/burg to Essex trail.  All I need is another nice day before winter really strikes a blow.  I ended up walking only 3.25 miles today, but it still felt good to get some fresh air and sunshine, though the sun is quite low, even at noon.

 

The road goes ever on, again.

 

Some of Detroit's skyscrapers can be seen in the far background of this telephoto shot.  It was a very clear day.

 

There are currently two trails in Essex County; this is where they intersect. I just came from the trail on the left side of photo, and I am heading in the opposite direction.  The cross trail is the longer one, being about 42 km.  My trail is about 22 km, and I hope to finish it in one more walk.

 

This is a free public bike repair shop, with a rack to sit the bike on, an air pump, and various wrenches and tools.  Pretty neat! 

 

In movie news, there are several to report.  This is Deb's film festival weekend, so even more reporting will come again soon.  And it's almost the end of the month, which means it's nearly time to review my books read in November.  But first on to films.

 

My choice was Big City Blues, a film from 1932 directed by Mervyn Leroy.  It's a hard hitting pre-code film about a young innocent man going to New York to seek his fortune, from his small town in Indiana.  We follow him from the train station, a mere whistle stop, until his return.  He leaves full of optimism and fantasies, and returns a bit less innocent and a lot wiser.  He has not given up, though, and hopes to save enough money to give it a second try.  Meanwhile in New York, he is accosted by a mooching uncle, led into a weekend booze fest in his hotel room, which leads to an accidental murder.  Quite a lot happens in just over 60 minutes; some of these old movies keep up the frantic momentum from start to finish.  Joan Blondell is the chorus girl who falls for the innocent guy from Indiana.  Rather strange film, but eminently worth watching.

 

 

Showing until Nov. 30th on Criterion.

 

A while back we watched an Iranian film called Where Is My Friend's House, a wonderful feature about a young boy trying to return a homework book he mistakenly picked up after school.  In this film, called And Life Goes On, using the 1990 Iran earthquake (one of the worst ones anywhere) as a background, the director goes in search of the boys, in hopes of finding them safe.  The movie blends fiction and fact, and becomes a meditative road movie as we venture into the earthquake zone, enduring traffic jams, blocked roads, and ruined towns and villages.  Getting to the village of Koker is nearly impossible, especially in the little car used by the director-actor.  Quite good, especially if you have seen the first film.

 

 

Now showing on Criterion.

 

Deb's next pick was a French animated film scripted by Jacques Prevert called The King and the Bird.  I mentioned awhile back how great it was to have a streaming channel that shows beautiful prints of classic films.  Well, that same channel has introduced us to the most wonderful animated features, too, this being the fourth or fifth absolutely incredibly imaginative one so far.  The story concerns a supremely narcissistic king trying to steal a lovely shepherdess away from the chimney sweep whom she loves.  They are aided by a talky bird, a pride of lions, a blind organ grinder, and a massive robot.  The animation is really good, though not the same style throughout, and the castle has Gormenghastian proportions.  The film took 30 years to complete, and Prevert died in 1977, just before completion.  It is loosely based on a story by Hans Christian Andersen.  Highly recommended.

 

 

Now showing on Criterion.

Mapman Mike
 

 

Summer To Winter (In One Weekend)

 Friday afternoon I undertook my epic walk, with lots of sunshine and temps in the mid 60s F.  It was a beautiful day.  But we awoke to Sunday morning to the fact that it really was late autumn!  Needless to say we stayed indoors, except to feed the birds and squirrels.

We awoke to this scene Sunday morning.  It snowed most of the day, but today it has already vanished.

And now, back to movie news.  Deb chose The Uninvited, a ghost story from 1944 starring Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey, Donald Crisp, and the radiant young Gail Russell.  One of two films we watched last week about a composer, this one decides to buy a house on the coast, along with his sister.  The house proves to be quite haunted, and is likely the first Hollywood film to treat ghosts in a serious vein.  Having said that, there are some lighter moments, too.  Watching the young Miss Russell, and then learning about her tragically short and troubled life, in the movie extra shown with the film on Criterion, was a sad thing to hear about.  Though not really a very talented actress, she had soft, beautiful eyes that drew viewers to her face each time she appeared on screen.  The film is quite good, though the ending is the usual hokey Hollywood one.  Based on a novel by Dorothy Macardle, called "Uneasy Freehold."  Worth watching out for.

 

The art studio, the most haunted room in the old house.

Gail Russell, with her dead grandfather and the ghost of her mother approaching.   

Spellbound was another pick by Deb, this one from 2002, following 8 young contestants in the annual American spelling bee. 249 kids eventually win their way to the finals in Washington, D.C., and compete for the grand prize.  The film zooms in on 8 of the contestants, which include some of the nicest kids one could ever hope to meet, along with a few strange ones.  The words these kids are asked to spell range from the impossible to ones I actually knew.  The film could also be called "How to Prepare For A Spelling Contest."

And the winner is:  2nd from right.  A pretty fine documentary, showing on Criterion until Nov. 30th.

I chose a silent film from 1919 by Maurice Tourneur, recently restored.  Called The Broken Butterfly, it was unseen for 100 years.  It is barely an hour long, and details the tragic relationship between an American composer visiting Canada to work, and the young orphan peasant girl he falls in love with.  Definitely worth seeing.  I have seen very few films from such an early time, and this one seems ahead of its time.

                        The original poster for this restored gem, now showing on Criterion.

As the feature was so short in duration, I also chose a 20' film from Cairo called The Eloquent Peasant.  The film is a dramatization of an actual papyrus scroll recorded in ancient Egypt, in which a peasant gifted with golden gab seeks justice for a wrong that has been committed against him.  From 1970, it was also recently restored.  It is a truly wonderful thing to be hooked into a film channel that shows newly restored films from around the world, many of them thanks to Martin Scorsese.

Lastly came 1933's Duck Soup, starring the Marx Brothers.  Groucho saves Freedonia from an invading army in one of the group's classic films.  There are more one-liners per minute here than in any good stand up comedy routine.  The film also contains one of the funniest comedy sketches ever filmed, as Groucho and Chico pair off as if in front of a mirror, with Chico trying to convince Groucho that he (Chico) is the reflection.  A very funny film, and this was perhaps our 10th viewing, though it has been awhile.
 

And now we will turn our serious side over to the DIA, for another work of art from my favourite and best known art collection.  The museum doesn't just hold painting, sculpture, and graphic arts, but also art from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Italy, Africa, early Americas, decorative art, and Oriental art, thus echoing in many ways the great Kunsthistoriches in Vienna.  For now I am mostly focussed on landscape art, but that will likely change someday, maybe.

Yves Tanguy's Shadow Country is one of a small but very select surrealist paintings from the collection.  This painting was constantly in mind as I was reading "The Drought" by J. G. Ballard a while back, and it is a work that stays with you after seeing it a few times.  Less a physical landscape and more a picture of the unconscious mind, for me it remains a key image from this fascinating artist movement.  Tanguy was a favourite artist of Ballard, too, which is not surprising.  Together they make quite a team.

 

Shadow Country, 1927, by Yves Tanguy, French (1900-1955).  Oil on canvas, 39" x 32", unframed. 

Sweet dreams!

Mapman Mike  

 

 

Pleasure Outings

 Pleasure outings have been virtually non-existent, with shopping for food and attending medical appointments comprising our only outings.  One exception was our Day of the Dead day trip to a few county cemeteries.  I had forgotten about the photos I took that early November day, but recently rediscovered them.  Here are a few...

 

Lake Erie is in the background.

I love the carved plant on this one! 

 

Mary was 13 years old when Beethoven was born, and outlived him by far.

 

Another exception was yesterday, a day that was sunny and in the mid 60s F.  I undertook my epic walk along the rails to trails pathway, leaving from the small town of McGregor and walking towards Amherstburg to the trails end.  It's only 6.3 miles, but it was my longest walk in over two years.  Deb walked the first part with me, returned to the car and drove to the end point to meet me.  She ended up walking about 3.2 miles today, not wanting to do the entire thing.  At her infusion last week her weight was down by 2 kg from two months ago, as we have been walking this trail in short segments lately.  Here are some photos of the exciting landscape on this mostly straight pathway.

 

Near the start, in McGregor, a small farming community near Amherstburg.

The leaves are all down, after last week's major wind storm.

There are three bridges over water along the path.  This is Turkey Creek, with the bridge railing shadow showing at the bottom.

 

90% of the harvest is complete.  

There is still some corn in a few fields.

The road goes ever on....

 

Half and half.

 

I would not be parking my vehicle next to that barn!

 

The 3rd bridge along the pathway, crossing Big Creek, or the Great Amherstburg Fen.  With the leaves down, the entire extent of the marsh can be seen.  

Mapman Mike

 

 

Approaching Darkness

 I've never been a fan of year round exercise.  Rather, I do it when I have to, usually for 6-9 weeks before a major hiking trip to New Mexico.  For upcoming city walking, 4-6 weeks usually does it.  However, since our sidewalks became rather busy in the Spring due to so many people being home, I have been indoors on the treadmill and the weight bench.  This has been going on since early June now, and I have maintained fitness since then, adding stretches and neck exercises to the light weights, walking (including uphill, as the treadmill has that option), and stomach exercises.  As a result I am probably more generally fit now than ever before in my adult life.  This Friday I hope to undertake the first of my longer walks, following our local rails to trails for 6 miles.  Mild, sunny weather is predicted.  Deb will walk part way with me, return for the car, then meet me at the end about 2 1/2 hours later.  Looking forward to my first long walk in ages.

In blog news, here are some stats for my 3 most popular blogs:

1) Deep Sky NGC (my astronomy blog) has had a total of 14,469 views to date.  This is by far my most popular blog, with 129 posts.

2) Lone Mountain Homestead (my everyday blog) has had a total of 7,595 views, with a total of 228 posts.

3) Avon/Equinox SF Rediscovery Series has had 5,824 views, with 24 entries.  However, each entry has had multiple updates as I continue to read books by these authors.

We received our first issue of National Geographic Magazine today, all all-Corona Virus issue.  I reported earlier that I subscribed so that I could view their entire pull-out map collection on line.  I am slowly studying many of the maps.  Most recently I was studying a world map that was released in 1941, based on 1939 data.  There are many fascinating elements to this beautiful creation, but I was particularly enchanted with a small sidebar map which I include, below.  It is self-explanatory.

An early world map created by National Geographic Magazine back in 1941.  This is a small sidebar map featured near the top.

 

I also am continuing with my study of every topo map of New Mexico, and will try to include part of one in the near future.

 

In film-watching news, Deb had two choices recently, and both were really good.  First up was Vincente Minelli's 1955 Cinemascope creation called The Cobweb.  Starring Richard Widmark as a forward thinking doctor in a sanitarium for people who have had breakdowns and cannot cope with the outside world, it also stars Lauren Bacall, Lillian Gish, Charles Boyer, and Gloria Grahame!  Wonderful acting and a pretty good story that revolves around putting new drapes in the hospital library windows.  You've never seen a movie before than depended so much on curtains!  Good stuff!

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Next up was The Heiress, from 1949 and starring Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, and Ralph Richardson.  Based on Henry James' Washington Square, Ms de Havilland gives a tour de force performance as an awkward, unattractive, and shy young woman who lives with her physician father.  Father dislikes her, always comparing her unfavourably to his deceased wife, who was apparently the world's most perfect woman.  A suitor convinces her that he loves her.  But does he, or does he only want her inheritance?  Take a wild guess.  An excellent film!

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

I chose Part 2 of Fassbinder's TV series, called Eight Hours Don't Make a Day. This episode is concerned with grandma's (Oma's) need to escape the home of her daughter and son-in-law, where she lives. She has found a boyfriend, and they scheme to get an apartment together.  It's a very funny episode, as they end up opening a day care centre.  Starring many of Rainer's usual stock of actors and actresses, this series was made in 1972.  Most enjoyable so far.

 

Lastly comes 1933's Footlight Parade, another Busby Berkeley showcase.  The difference this time is that the star is Jimmy Cagney.  He plays his part at a breakneck speed, cracking one-liners alongside Joan Blondell, his secretary who loves him, but it is unrequited.  She makes a perfect partner for him in this film, and they make an amazing team.  Ruby Keeler starts out wearing glasses and playing the part of a likeable nerd, but soon enough she is awkwardly dancing her way to stardom, as she usually does.  Dick Powell is there to croon.  Fun to watch, with many hilarious moments, including a singing duet between two lovers, being demonstrated to the showgirls by two men.  The one playing the female role sings while puffing on a cigar, curled up in Dick Powell's arms.  The two big show stop numbers are "By a Waterfall," a favourite song of Bugs Bunny when in the shower, and "Shanghai Lil", with Ruby Keeler dressed and made up as a Chinese girl.

 

Now showing on Criterion.
 

 I haven't forgotten about the DIA.  Perhaps next time.

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 

Friday the 13th

 Usually a lucky day for us witches and warlocks, we'll see if the skies clear and another astronomy observing night presents itself.  I've had four nights so far in less than a week, and anticipating a 5th one.  Usually November is dark, wet, and dreary.  However, like this year, it does occasionally surprise.  I leave home around 5:15 pm and return around 11 pm, so observing at this time of year does not mess up the body clock.  However, I have to drive through some heavy traffic to get there at that time.

In other news, I saw my specialist regarding my vertigo.  He has me full time on beta-histine.  It's been a week now and it might be helping--no attacks in over 10 days now.  My recent record is 13 days, so I'm hoping to break that one.  The air pressure seems to be easing up a bit, too, and the tinnitus is reduced.  So things seems to be improving.

My days are filled with writing up my astronomy notes, maintaining my piano program, reading, and watching movies.  As usual I'm a bit behind on our movie watching, so here goes.  Deb's most recent choice was the 1974 Swallows and Amazons.  We had seen it many years ago, and tuned in to see it again.  It's amazing how slow moving this wonderful children's picture seems in 2020, with nearly all kids movies these days moving at lightning speed.  Imagine kids sitting down today and watching a movie about kids sailing around a lake, camping out without adults on an island, and exploring.  I don't think the average child of today would last 10 minutes in front of this film.  Anyway, I still liked it, and would be willing to read more by Arthur Ransome.  I have not seen a more recent film version of this book, but will watch out for it.

The 1974 version, now showing on Criterion. 

 

Deb also chose Dames, a Busby Berkeley film from 1934.  Starring Ruby Keeler, Joan Blondell, and Dick Powell, it's pretty much a snoozer until the frivolous frolicking begins.  The expense of doing those final dance numbers must have been atrociously expensive.  Girls in bed waking up, girls ironing in their undies, girls in bathtubs--good old pre-code Busby.

 

 Scene from Dames, now showing on Criterion (until November 30th).  The movement of the dancers and the set up is pure Escher. 

 

I chose a series of short films by John and Faith Hubley, which included an interview with their four children talking about growing up in the household. Two boys and tow girls, the boys being oldest were used in several of the films. Our favourite is called The Moonbird, from 1959, and features the boys (ages 6 and 3) talking and singing in an improvised story about the two of them going out at night to capture a moonbird.  We were laughing all the way through. The older boy knew the story, but the youngest just sings and talks his way to stardom in this 10 minute short film.  Another really good one is called The Hole.  In it, Dizzy Gillespie and George Matthews improvise a conversation between two labourers in NYC working down in a hole.  Again it is very funny, but also projects the fears of 1962 regarding atomic war.  Others viewed include Tender Game, Date With Dizzy, and a documentary entitled Of Stars and Men.  All are good, and the animation is very distinct and original.

 

Now showing on Criterion.  Scene from Of Stars and Men, showing the Hubley family.  

 

Scene from Moonbird.

My next choice was from 2011, called Almayer's Folly. Directed by Chantal Akerman, this is probably the best filming of a Joseph Conrad story that I've ever seen.  Set in the 1950s in Vietnam, it deals with the same colonial issues that Conrad wrote about in his first novel in 1895.  The story follows the novel closely, and Akerman dwells long on many of her fine shots, allowing the full psychological impact of the situation to sink into her characters and her viewers.  A truly amazing film, and I am sorry it's leaving on November 30th.  I will read the book soon (complete works of Conrad for $1.99, now on my Kindle reader), and would love to see the film again.  A great film!  I used to read so much Conrad back in the day, and really loved his writing.  It's been awhile.

 

 

Nina, as played by Aurora Marion, whose life is destroyed when she is taken from her wilderness home to be educated in a white boarding school.  On Criterion until the end of November. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

September in November

It's been a warm start to November, and sunny, too.  But not clear enough for astronomy, as high haze has dampened my spirits all day today, the first one of the new session.  Tomorrow will likely be a repeat.  So I'm stuck at home watching for confirmation of Biden's win over The Monster.  Should happen tonight.

 

I saw my specialist yesterday, re: my vertigo. Hearing test came out as expected, with the left ear mostly normal and the right one--well, let's just say the hearing aid will continue to come in handy.  He put me on betahistine, 16 mg 3X daily, which is supposed to ease up things a bit as far as attacks of dizziness go.  Since cutting out most caffeine and all alcohol, and lowering my salt intake, I'm down to only about an attack a week right now (instead of one every five years or so, previously).  I am continuing with the exercise program, though it is mostly maintenance right now, until we can hike again.  We have been outside walking segments at a time of the local rails to trails pathway.  I have lost weight, especially in the middle area, and feel quite good these days, most of the time.

 

We both have had our flu shots now, though Deb is a week ahead of me as far as immunity goes.  And Gustav's ashes were available to us today, so he is currently sitting in a small velvet pouch on our Day of the Dead altar.  Usually our Samhain stuff is put away by now, but we extended it by a week.  Piano practicing continues, and if the drug helps hold off further attacks of vertigo, I will re-invite a few friends at a time over to hear the pieces.

 

In film news, we watched an amazing animated feature called Kirikou And The Sorceress.  From 1998, it incorporates several West African folk tales in a colourful and very fun story for all ages, as a unique new born baby faces off against all manner of dangers and tribulations, including the aforementioned sorceress.  This one is highly recommended!

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

That was Deb's pick, followed by end of the month film festival.  I chose only one film, but it was four hours and 47 minutes long.  Wim Wenders' Until The End of the World was first released in 1991, and he was forced to cut it to 3 hours.  We saw that version and didn't like it very much.  The director's restored version adds nearly two hours to the film, and though still with flaws, it was a much better epic to watch in this version.  If you saw the earlier version, then don't judge the movie yet--try and watch the longer one.  Though we had to break it up into several sessions, the time flew past.  The story gets really interesting when all the characters are assembled in an oasis in the Australian desert, at an Aboriginal cultural centre.  This part is among the best film segments I have ever seen!  Sadly, the movie (a SF) loses its focus and changes gears, getting involved with recording dreams, which become addictive to the dreamer/viewer of such material.  But up till that point (Wenders cannot end a movie satisfactorily in most cases), it is really quite amazing.  The world wide locations and photography are astounding, with the best parts set in Japan and Australia.

 

 

Next, we began a new TV series by Fassbinder called Eight Hours Don't Make a Day. Each episode is an hour and 47 minutes long, and seems to be a German version of East Enders, only more intelligent. The first episode was pretty decent, and stars a lot of the usual Fassbinder acting clan. Grandma's birthday is quite memorable, as is grandma! Seems promising enough to stay with it.

 

Now showing on Criterion.

 

After that came Jan Svankmeyer's Alice, a film we saw many years ago.  It's a flawed masterpiece, with some truly genius work being done here.  It is easily the strangest Alice adventure ever made, though it follows the story very closely most of the time.  It is very funny, very sad, scary, and very, very strange.  It is fitting that the Quay brothers paid tribute to the director with one of their own films.  Definitely worth repeated viewings.  No drugs needed.

 

Ending November 30th on the criterion Channel. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

October Books Read

 I read 11 books last month, 10 from my Avon Equinox project and one unrelated.  I also squeezed in five chapters (with lots of footnote reading, too) of the 1,000 page Beethoven biography.  28 chapters to go!  The unrelated book was the first SF novel written by Vernor Vinge, called Grimm's World.  From the 1960s, it was quite a good and unusual planetary adventure/romance, written on a big scale.  Lots of room for sequels, but there were none.  An interesting ending for the main character, too.

I managed to get through a full cycle of Avon Equinox novels, though I began the month at #2 author Piers Anthony.  As of November 1st I am back where I started, again beginning the month with one of his tales.  I began the October session with his restored 532 page Mute, a novel that ends up being a bad imitation of a cross between Wizard of Oz and a James Bond adventure.  When Anthony is on, he is one of the best SF writers out there.  But when he goes off, he can really spoil things.  Often a victim of his own ego, he delights in carrying things far beyond the material's ability to be stretched any further.  The story feels like a writer's exercise, as he delights in putting his hero in danger, then seeing how he can get him out of it.  And he puts him in danger about every 3rd page, so after several dozen of these situations, this reader gets glassy-eyed.  So, not a good start to the month.

Next came the usually reliable Harry Harrison.  I read Homeworld, the first book of his To The Stars trilogy.  Harrison is a fabulous writer, and his sense of humour is unparalleled.  But this story is dark and without humour.  Way too dark.  I was quite surprised at how much he put his hero through, only to have him suffer even worse at the very end.   To end the first book of a trilogy in this manner is not to encourage sales of book 2, in my opinion.  I don't mind darkness and horror, but there should be a little bit of light at the end of a story.  Not this one.  The darkness becomes so overwhelming that I am not looking forward to the 2nd novel very much.  There is nothing that could happen now that would make amends to the lead character of book one; Dickens did this quite often, too.  Most of his characters would have been psychological basket cases before the happy ending, and so it is with Harrison's hero.  He is toast, shattered, no matter what the author might do to save him.

Next came Kandar, by Kenneth Bulmer, his homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard.  It is a sweeping sword and sorcery epic that also reminded me of works by Fritz Leiber and Michael Moorcock.  I really enjoyed this original take on a familiar theme, and wish there had been more Kandar stories.  Bulmer hit a bullseye with this one, and displays his sense of humour nicely!

Temple of Death by E. C. Tubb was also a good read, in the tradition of the best pulp novels.  An Earthman is hired to investigate the secretive religion of native Martians, who do not allow any trespassing onto their religious areas by colonists from Earth, and no questions about it, either.  This is a good adventure story, with a hair-raising ending.  Bad Martians!  Good humans! Great fun!

Next up was the first book of yet another SF trilogy, this one written by Jack Williamson and Frederik Pohl.  The Reefs Of Space is the first novel in their Starchild trilogy.  Similar to the later Harrison trilogy mentioned above, this one also features a bleak future world, where people are totally controlled and dominated by an oppressive government.  Some very nasty things are going on in this good but very dark story, not all of them making me very happy at all.  Unlike Harrison, however, some light is allowed to enter near the end of book 1.  It is not a fast paced novel, but takes its time to develop the characters and setting, allowing the reader to do some thinking along the way.  I am very much looking forward to book 2 later this month.

The Ice Schooner by Michael Moorcock was next, a tale that takes place in a bleak arctic future.  The atmosphere of perpetual winter is beautifully handled by the author, and joins other great wintry novels by such writers as John Christopher and Robert Silverberg, among others.  If you like cold adventures, then this one is for you.  A really great story and setting.

Millenium People by J. G. Ballard is one of his best novels, recounting the ridiculous but sincere rebellion of some middle class people in London.  The story opens with a devastating bomb blast at Heathrow Airport's baggage claim, killing the ex-wife of the novel's hero.  He spends the rest of the nearly 300 pages trying to track down the bomber, and coming to terms with his own psychological problems.  One of the great themes of the novel is violence for the sake of violence.  Nothing unnerves people more than a vicious act that has no motive.  We can come to terms with evil acts a bit better once we know why they were done in the first place.  But what if there is no rational reason?  Excellent reading and highly recommended.

The Men Inside by Barry Malzberg may be the weirdest novel I have ever read.  Believe me when I say that is quite something.  In the future, medical advances have allowed for early detection of cancers and the ability to rid the body of them.  But only if you are rich enough to afford the procedure.  What is the procedure?  It involves shrinking a technician to miniature size to get inside the victim and remove the cancer.  The technician/hero of our story is quite mad to begin with, but is completely driven over the edge by what he has become since taking on this job.  Strange, strange, strange writing.  But quite fascinating.

Next came James Blish's Welcome To Mars, my 2nd visit to the red planet this month (not counting my real visits via my telescope).  Written for late high school readers, the first part of this novel gets quite technical, thus making it fodder mostly for science geeks.  However, once the story gets off the ground, so to speak, things get really entertaining.  A 17 old boy discovers an anti-gravity drive and leaves for Mars.  He becomes stranded, and his very smart 17 year old female friend attempts a rescue, which leaves them both stranded on Mars.  Some witty conversations between the teenagers enliven this fun SF novel, in the tradition of Rex Gordon's First On Mars and Andy Weir's The Martian.  I doubt kids today would read it, but I really enjoyed it.

Lastly, I began again at the beginning of my pile of awaiting books, and read Robert Silverberg's The Masks of Time.  A man from 2999 AD returns to Earth in 1998 AD, in Silverberg's attempt to write a literary book (according to his foreword).  No harm in trying, but I found the book quite boring, the hero like a piece of damp cardboard, and it took some doing to finish it up.  It becomes a basic Messiah story, but nowhere near as good as Farmer's Jesus of Mars, or even Spinrad's later take, called He Walked Among Us.

I'll save movie news for next time, but as promised here is a much beloved piece of cat art from the DIA.

Cat, by Raymond Duchamps-Villon, French (1876-1918).  Carved and stained oak; 27" x 25" x 3 1/2".

 

Mapman Mike