Our second little blast of winter has gone the same way as the first one; all the snow has melted, and we are having modestly mild days. We are now inside our 6 weeks of darkness, being the three weeks before and after winter solstice. Of course our 42 degree latitude means it never really gets dark all the time here; even at the solstice we still manage 9 hours with the sun above the horizon. But it is relative, and it's plenty dark by 5:30 pm now. It is also time for the new astronomy session. I really lucked out in November, but will be lucky if I can grab one good night out of the deal this month. Any bit of wind combined with cold temps and I'm done, since I literally am out standing in a field.
Our county, Essex, is spending the week in the "red" zone, as we are breaking records for the number of Covid cases each day. Our hospitals are getting swamped, too. Green, yellow, orange, red, then lockdown. We were green just a few weeks ago, and have been proceeding through all the pretty colours since then. We hit red on Monday. By next week we will likely be in lockdown mode. To us it makes little difference. We are home except for groceries and pet food. It's becoming apparent that a vaccine will not end the pandemic, either. What will? Nothing humans could agree on. I wonder how tackling climate change will be possible, if we can't stay home and drive less for a major disease.
We have received our 3rd National Geographic magazine since subscribing. October was all about the latest dinosaur research, November was given over to Covid, including a lot about Detroit (where the disease is currently very subdued compared to the rest of the US), and December is given over to the Great Lakes. I was hoping it would come with a wall map of same, like in the good old days, but it was not to be.
In movie news we watched Antonio Gaudi, a film by Hiroshi Teshigahara. It's more like a visual poem, as it shows most of the architect's greatest work without an y talking, only music. It certainly got me interested in a return to Barcelona. It came with 3 extras, all quite good.
Now showing on Criterion.
That was Deb's final pick from her 3 for festival weekend. Now it was my turn for a single from the collection, followed by a pick from the movies leaving Criterion on December 31st. This will be followed by two for Deb, similarly chosen. I chose five short films featuring W. C. Fields, including his first one called The Pool Shark, from 1915. I really love this man, and had never seen any of his short films before now. I claim It's A Gift, his 1934 feature, to be the funniest film ever made. After the silent film we saw four talkies from the early 1930s: The Golf Specialist, where even after 20 minutes of trying he cannot get his shot off; The Fatal Glass of Beer, with a song of the same name which he sings, hilariously; The Pharmacist, which ends in his shop getting destroyed by a gunfight between police and a robber--Fields is saved by his daughter's boyfriend "Cuthbert"; and The Barber Shop, where we see and hear Fields perform on the double bass.
Leaving on Dec. 31st is The Awful Truth from 1937, a classic film starring Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, and Ralph Bellamy, a bedroom farce that apparently was mostly improvised rather than scripted and rehearsed. Cary Grant's face is priceless to watch, as he tries his best to scupper his wife's relationship with Ralph Bellamy. The couple are divorcing, but having more than second thoughts as time goes on. Lots of fun to watch, and to read about behind the scenes. Nominated for multiple Oscars, it won two.
Showing on Criterion until Dec. 31st.
I mentioned a while back that I would show part of a New Mexico map from time to time. This is part of a 1:24,000 quad I was recently studying. It appears to resemble one of Mandlebrot's perfect examples of a fractal. We heard him speak once at a large science convention in Detroit. It was a small room, pretty packed, and I had never heard of fractals. I have been keenly interested in them ever since, and have two computer programs to play with that generate them, colour them, and animate them.
In other news, a few days ago a large freighter got stranded in the shipping channel in Amherstburg. It was just freed today and sent on its way. Approximately 30 ships have been stacked up in the river and beyond, waiting for the channel to reopen. Tonight there is a parade of ships passing by, their low but audible rumble making our radiators vibrate, not to mention the walls. They will likely pass by all night. Luckily the river has no ice yet.
And finally, a photo from a Detroit newspaper, showing one of the falcons that live on and around the nearly 400' Ambassador Bridge, as it stares right into the live cam. An amazing photo!
Mapman Mike
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