I really dislike it when NM is in the news. For one thing, the place is a secret, and I would like it kept from the masses at all costs. Secondly, the old adage often holds true: no news is good news. In this case, the news is bad. Not a shooting on a movie set this time. The drought in the Southwest USA is already legendary. We have seen the results of previous devastating fires in New Mexico, wiping out huge areas we would have loved to have explored, or have already explored and loved. The fire season used to be June and July, and that was bad enough. But since April the fires have been non stop, and still growing. Right now the largest fire in NM recorded history is still burning out of control, two fires joined into one, actually. It's burning in areas we are very familiar with. In fact, if you were passing on the Amtrak train or Interstate route from Colorado, you would be encountering smoke for about a hundred miles of travel. It's very bad. The winds are now blowing the fire directly into several of our most recent prime hiking areas in the Rocky Mtns. All I can do is sit at home and let it burn.
The May issue of National Geographic Magazine (one of our few remaining subscriptions) is all about forests and trees. It makes for fascinating and substantial reading, from old growth European Forests, Australian Forests, the Amazon, and North America. There isn't much good news, especially in areas experiencing prolonged dry spells. People who believe that we can simply plant 10 billion trees and everything will be alright again are in for a sad awakening. I was one of those believers. Periodic fires are generally good for forests and savannas. They allow for regrowth, usually. However, if the fire burns too hot, which it does during a drought due to the extreme dryness of the trees, the reproduction does not occur. There is simply too much damage to the cones and seeds, and they can't sprout. Also, if the fires happen too close together, the same thing happens, or rather, doesn't. Fires are not only becoming larger and burning hotter, but they are becoming more frequent. Even if the ground has been reseeded, a new fire can wipe them out. And that is what is happening. More fires, bigger fires, and hotter fires, due to drier trees and hotter climate. Even worse, these hotter fires are releasing more captured carbon into the atmosphere, from the soil where it is stored.
There is no doubt that the Southwest US, including much of California, will soon lose their entire upper altitude evergreen forests, which has some of the most beautiful landscape the planet has to offer. Of course the issue deals with more than just fire; trees are under tremendous stress today. Insects, clear cutting, and diseases are claiming more trees each year than are regrown. We are taking a net loss of trees each year. A bit sobering.
Last night was lunar eclipse night. It was cloudy. We got 1" of rain. There was no eclipse for Essex County. We had our party anyway. We needed the rain (Laughs hysterically). Our opera for this month was Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites a very fine musical setting of the murdering of the order of nuns by the Citizens during the French revolution Terror. The ending is absolutely devastating, and done to perfection.
In movie news, I am pretty far behind on my reporting. We had a run of pretty mediocre films, with one bright spot recently, thanks again to Steve Buscemi (and a few others).
Lone Wolf and Cub #4: Baby Cart in Peril, continues the massacre of bad guys in wide screen and blood gushing colour. In #3 Lone Wolf killed around 200 bad guys. He likely exceeded that in #4. This one had a beautiful tattooed girl on Lone Wolf's assassin list. She was out for revenge against the creep that raped her as a young girl. She gets her revenge, and then Lone Wolf gets her. And so the story goes. New to this one, Lone Wolf gets really, really angry. He is one guy you do not wish to anger; trust me.
Jitterbugs is from 1943, and stars Laurel and Hardy. While it isn't a laugh riot, and they are getting rather old, it has its moments of hilarity, and it was fun seeing the duo doing what they do best. They are a two-man band that performs in small towns. Their act is pretty good, too! They fall under the spell of a man selling gasoline pills, which claim to turn water into gasoline. They help out with the scam, not realizing it's a scam. Definitely some choice moments, some involving coal shoveling, and others involving bed springs. There are three unfortunate songs. At least the movie is very short.
Hot Saturday is from 1932, and stars Cary Grant and Randolph Scott, along with Nancy Carroll. A young woman has to make some important choices in a hurry. It costs her her job at the small town bank, but she finally makes a decision. Only it turns out to be the wrong one. Randolph Scott blows his big chance to win her. She finally takes off with carefree Cary Grant, leaving her small minded small town friends behind her for good. A fairly good story, with lots of pre code underwear and nighties in some scenes. And a great house on a lake owned by Grant.
In The Soup is a 1992 film starring Steve Buscemi, Jennifer Beals, and a truly wonderful Seymour Cassel. Buscemi lives in a slum apartment in New York, next door to waitress Beals, whom he loves. He writes a 500 page movie script, then places it for sale in the want ads. Cassel finds it, meets with Buscemi, tells him he will fund his film, and things begin to go off the rails from that moment on. The film won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance. A really fun film, and definitely the best of the bunch lately. Recommended. Buscemi plays it like always. Beals is pretty good, too. But Cassel really steals the film, in a fantastic performance as the "producer." There is a wonderful and funny duo cameo appearance by Jim Jarmusch and Carol Kane.
Mapman Mike
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