We have been having tropical rain for a long time now, and it goes on and on. The grass is growing but much too wet to put the tractor on it. It's like a marsh. Yesterday was an all day rain event, and more is coming tomorrow and Friday. No baby birds yet, but they are expected any day now. Lots of budding trees. The furnace still comes on in the morning for a turn.
As I write this, I am also monitoring a 3D view of a flight from Paris approaching Detroit. Two flights a day to the French capital, and when they depart they often fly right over our house, as do the Amsterdam flights and London and Frankfurt. Because the winds are from the northeast today, landings and takeoffs are reversed, so I might see it on approach. Right now the flight is just passing Toronto, and just about to begin its descent. Fun to watch on Flight Radar, as are the ships that pass by. Yesterday a 1,000' ship went upstream, the equivalent of seeing a 110 story building float by. Very impressive on a rainy, foggy evening. And today a very cute little Italian tanker went downstream. Here is an internet photo of that one, looking very spic and span. Well done, deckhands!
There is an impressive cruise ship now touring the Great Lakes. I missed its upriver pass, on its way to Detroit, but I will try and catch it when it returns. The excitement never stops around here.
In movie news, the best film we have seen in a long while, and certainly one of the most colourful, was Frida, from 2002. It was showing on Roku, with commercials, but there were hardly any. My only gripe is that they glossed over the couple's Detroit visit. The art museum there has the only mural by Rivera in the US, though the film spends a lot of time with the New York mural, which was torn down before it was completed (the Chicago one was cancelled as a result). But Detroit managed to hold on to its prize, even through some rough tides. They spent time on Frida's miscarriage, which happened in Detroit, but the location is not mentioned. This is one superb film, and one feisty woman. Highly recommended, even for a 2nd viewing.
Carmen Jones, from 1954, stars an all black cast in an updated Americanized filming of Bizet's Carmen. Starring Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge, most of the singing is dubbed. The acting is good, and several of the ensemble numbers are outstanding, but, like the opera itself, there are long moments when the film lags and loses momentum. Instead of a bull fighter we have a prize fighter, but most of the plot is intact. A few non-Bizet numbers are truly bad (and a few of the Bizet ones, too). Oscar Hammerstein arranged and wrote some of the music. Pearl Bailey stars and sings a solo. Some of this movie works, and some doesn't. Dandridge makes a very fine Carmen.
We interrupt this blog to bring you an announcement on the inbound flight to Detroit from Paris. I just went to the front door and watched it fly past, across the river and heading south. Usually I do not see the approach, but the wind has forced the flight to come around and approach the airport from the south. Pretty cool! That was the Delta flight. The Air France one arrives later this afternoon. End of bulletin.
The final movie today is Resnais' Last Year At Marienbad, a film that continues to polarize viewers and critics. I found it very tedious, again since I really cared nothing about any of the three main characters in the film. Who cares if the main couple met last year and had an affair. Who cares if he is a ghost, or if she is imagining the whole thing. She is empty of soul and emotion, he is empty, and the possible husband is empty. The organ music is awful. As if to make up for the emptiness of the characters in the movie, the palace/hotel is a pretty fine sight. I liken the film to a bad Pepe Le Pew cartoon, with a man chasing a woman who always says no, and go away, and leave me alone, but he never does. My advice is to avoid this film and go look at some fine de Chirico pictures instead. End of rant.
Later.
Mapman Mike
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