Heat and humidity, minus the storms, have been with us long enough now to declare it a heatwave, the first long one of the summer. Even sitting outside is uncomfortable, never mind having to actually work out there. I cut the grass earlier in the week, but the Lone Mountain jungle continues to spread unabated. A lot of outdoor work will have to happen when it does cool down, supposedly this coming Sunday. Tomorrow will be the hottest day of the season, with strong storms promised.
Monday night I got to run through my piano program, finally, after a ten month delay. I was originally going to perform it last October, but Covid started up again. So at last I got to play it right through for someone. Paula M., good music friend and former private teaching colleague (both of us now retired) came over last night to hear my program, and to perform four piano pieces she has been working on. It was a fun evening, and as usual from any given performance, I learned a lot. My next play-thru will be at Deb's mom's retirement home, possibly next Monday. After that, I will likely invite a friend or two at a time to come hear it, if they are indisposed. Then I can finally put the pieces away and concentrate of some newer ones. My brain is becoming numbed by the current pieces.
Deb continues to have her films accepted in some mighty important film festivals, including the Poe Festival in New York (she also made their 2022 Poe Festival calendar, March's photo being devoted to her film). And she just had two of her films accepted for a festival in Detroit, called Shetown Festival. She continues work on her latest (last?) Yorick adventure, an underwater one starring a singing mermaid and a lute playing octopus.
In listening news, we are just about ready to hear Beethoven's Op 13 piano sonata, one of his more revolutionary works. Slowly getting there, though it will take at least two years to hear his complete works. And I continue to read Swafford's 1000 page bio of the composer, a most entertaining read. In reading news, I just finished the complete short stories of Ballard, and am reading another excellent novel by Malzberg.
In movie news, Deb's two most recent picks are as follows. Delirious was shown at Sundance, and stars Steve Buscemi as a paparazzi ("No, I'm a licensed professional.") who takes in a temporarily homeless young man and begins to teach him the business. It's a fun film to watch, as the young man works his up to eventually becoming the hottest day time soap star on TV.
Her leaving August 31st choice was a 2018 Indian film called Naal, starring a happy young boy of six or seven years who is told by a visiting uncle that he is adopted. This fact changes his entire outlook on life. While the film (and young star) is charming, it is perhaps overlong by about 15 minutes. There is some lovely photography, with the action mostly taking place in one small farming village near a river. We get a direct view of local village life far from buses and trains, in a world that seems out of time with the rest of not only India, but the world. Acting is very good, and the slim story is fleshed out nicely. Definitely worth a peek, though seeing the little boy's face in closeup, expressive as it is, may becoming tiring after a time.
Sorry, no art today. Next time.
Mapman Mike
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