We are having a week of heat more suited to late June or anytime in July. And though storms are nearby, it's been extremely dry for the past two weeks. We are in need of rain, badly. Lots of it. In hot water news, our tank was installed last Tuesday. After waiting five days to shower, it sure felt good. And the seasonal war of weeds versus us is in full swing. We are holding our own, but in this heat they will undoubtedly win again. Our flowering trees and shrubs are having a banner year; it must have been a perfect Spring for them. Our house is surrounded by flowering things of many varieties.
Some good news for Deb and I on the vaccine front. Next week we are scheduled to receive our 2nd dose of Covid vaccines. Woo hoo! Because we are considered care givers for Deb's mom in LTC, we are eligible. My interval between shots will be exactly 7 weeks; Deb's will only be two days longer. Considering that only 50% of Canadians have received the first shot, we are fortunate indeed! Not that we'll be booking any holidays in Brazil or India, but it will open up a few options for us, at least.
In movie news, Deb chose a German film as her going away choice last weekend. Goodbye, Lenin is from 2003, and directed by Wolfgang Becker. Though it strains credulity to the extreme, it is an engaging film thanks to some good acting. Set in East Berlin just before reunification, a mother and solid party member is in a coma for 8 months during the startling events of 1989. When she awakens, the doctor warns the family than any kind of emotional shock could kill her. Her teenage son decides to hide the truth from her about reunification, going to extreme and farcical methods to hide the truth from her. There are some hilarious scenes, and some which are very moving. A pretty solid film.
My main film choice last week was another viewing of Kurosawa's Ran, his version of King Lear. It is an astounding film of greed, stupidity, treachery, and human fallibility, with outstanding performances by all, wonderful location photography, intense battle scenes, and costumes to die for. One of his best films, and certainly one of Shakespeare's best plays, too. Oddly, this film is not contained in our 25 movie set of Kurosawa's films, nor is it showing of Criterion. We watched it on Prime, of all places.
This is a long weekend holiday in Canada, as we celebrate (seriously) Queen Victoria's birthday. It is also the kickoff of our viewing of M*A*S*H, and the sipping of gin martinis, traditional held on Friday at 5 pm, and continuing on until Autumnal Equinox. Believe it or not, this is the 20th year of this homespun tradition. We watch half a season per year, and then reruns as necessary, and we are now halfway through Season 10. However, this year we did things a bit differently. Instead of watching the TV series, we watched the Robert Altman movie. While it is quite difficult to get past the overt sexism of the time, and sometimes one shudders as one laughs, it still is a brilliant film, though probably seriously in need of a remake. From 1970, it was filmed during the Vietnam War, and has more to say about 1970 then it does about the Korean conflict. The film is showing for one month only on Criterion, so I chose it as my going away feature of the week. Of course not only does the film demean women (but only really the true army ones), it also takes a comical poke at suicide. Definitely a product of its time, it would be amusing to sit through this with an audience of today's younger adults, watching the effect it has.
Mapman Mike
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