Apparently the gods read my blog! After last Sunday's lament about cloudy weather, it was bright and sunny next day. And again the following Saturday. We have been nearly blinded by light. But today is the first January-like day we've had so far, as regards temperature. It has been mainly mild in our area, and will resume that pattern again beginning Monday. We still have no snow, and the river is ice free.
Today the Sault Locks will close for the winter, so the last of the upper lakes shipping is on its way south. It looks like the lower lakes will see year round shipping, however. I mostly watch two ships, the CSL Laurentien out of Quebec, and the 1,000' giant Mesabi Miner. The CSL ship passed our house 38 times this past season, on its 19 round trip journeys between Quebec and Thunder Bay. That's a lot of mileage! The Miner passed 32 times, on 16 round trips between Duluth and Cleveland/Toledo. It is too long to navigate the locks at Niagara, so it never gets to Lake Ontario or the St. Lawrence Seaway. I will hopefully be seeing them again in a few months.
Two days ago I began to (finally) memorize most of my piano pieces. I have 3 of 7 Bach pieces locked in, and about 20% of the Grieg Lyric Pieces. So we'll see where we are with that project by mid-February. Practicing is going well, and I am looking forward to the first meeting of our new performance group on the 31st.
Last Tuesday we had a salesman come to the house from Centennial Windows. We want the bathroom and kitchen windows replaced. So far they have done 5 of our windows, and two doors. A while back we had the 4 basement windows upgraded by a different company. After this project, there are only two more windows to replace. Tuesday also saw the piano get tuned. It is always a treat to practice on a newly tuned piano. Not only does it sound different, but because the strings have been tightened, it even feels better to play it.
In film news, we have knocked off two more from the Sight and Sound list. In The Mood For Love is from Hong Kong and the year 2000. Coming in at #5 all time best movie, it is a fairly empty exercise in cool camera shots, as well as a minor fashion show for the lead actress, who wears a different dress in each scene. The emotional involvement of the leads is virtually non-existent. They talk quietly, mostly in monotone, and become friends, as their own husband and wife are off having an affair. They don't wish to succumb to the same feelings, so keep their relationship platonic. That's it. While it is a decent enough film in its own way, it does not belong on any top 100 list, even from the 2000s. But #5 all time best? Really? Nada.
Close Up is an Iranian film from 1990, coming in at the #17 spot. Again, hardly. There are two ways to approach this film. The first is to see it as one of the most boring films ever made. The other is to see it as a curiosity, a film unique in the canon, and worth a look for its insider's peek at a weird sort of criminal case in Tehran. Either way (we did mostly enjoy it), it is not a film one would wish to see twice. Nor is the previous love story. So as we are discovering, the Sight and Sound list is a pretty useless measurement of how great a film is. There are so many better Iranian films to choose from,and Chinese ones as well. But what do we know?
My leaving in January choice from Criterion was a better film by far than either of the two previous ones. Charlie's Country is an Australian film from 2013 starring David Gilpilil as a senior Aborigine, trying to come to terms with white people who have stolen his land. The film is by turns very funny, extremely touching, spiritually engaging, upbeat, downbeat, and every other beat. It is a truly wonderful film, one that we almost missed out on seeing. Highly recommended. The opening act where Charlie and his old friend go hunting is one of the funniest and best openings to any movie I have ever seen. And the rest is no disappointment, either.
We are nearing the end of the series on Prime called English, but we have given up on AMC's Interview With A Vampire. There isn't a single character worth caring about in this film, and it isn't worth putting up with the mindless violence (often meant to be funny). So we left after perhaps 4 episodes. English is very violent, too, but at least the two main characters are interesting.
Mapman Mike
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