We are just about to begin our third week of training, as those sizable western mountains loom closer and closer to us. Will I be ready to climb some really big mountains in three weeks? Nope. Not a chance. During our 2nd week of training we had to make some switches, mostly due to extreme heat and humidity. Our long walk Tuesday was shortened not by the weather, though, but by swarms of very hungry mosquitoes on the path. We fled, resorting to treadmill work at home instead, in a nice and cool basement. And because of recent rains (it never stops around here) we had to move our cross training day to today. Cross training day means yard cleanup, mostly weeding. We have seen an enormous increase this year in poison ivy, and for the 2nd summer in a row my skin has made contact with the nasty plant. It caught me at the edge of the glove on my right wrist this time, a very narrow strip about 1/4" wide and about 1" long. The skin turns bright red, and some of it boils. The itch goes bone deep. But this year I tried a new medication, and it works really well. My symptoms began Sunday night, and are still going as of today (Friday). But the ointment really works, and I can sleep in heavenly peace. Unlike last year's batch, which was more widespread. Anyway, back to yard work later today.
In piano news, I have slowly begun to use more and more features of my new Yamaha Avantgrand piano. I am just starting to use the recording feature now, and have already used the transposition feature and a different scale tuning to help simulate the sound of Baroque keyboard music on its harpsichord setting. I should have 4 short pieces to perform at our next gathering, on the 23rd. I practice exclusively with headphones now, and really like it a lot.
In music listening news, we are finally getting serious with the 222 Bach CDs. We are currently getting through the organ music. And on Sunday mornings we continue to listen to a different Cantata each week. It will take some time. We are also deeply into the Haydn box set, too. We are now on our 3rd go around of the complete (104) Haydn symphonies. This CD set was recorded in the Haydn room at Esterhazy, where all the concerts were originally presented. And we continue to get through the LP record collection, weaning as we go. We are currently listening to all of the Liszt records.
Turning now to films, all of the Corman/Poe films are leaving Criterion this month. We hope to get through most of them by then. First up was the best of the set, Masque of the Red Death. From 1964, we saw it in a beautiful print. Jane Asher's hair never looked so red! Price is not too hammy in this one, and his presence in nearly every scene holds the picture together quite well. Skip Martin is also very good as Hop Toad, who seeks a terrible vengeance on a thoughtless aristocrat. Hazel Court has a bad dream, and brands herself with an upside down crucifix. Shares of red paint went up quite a bit that year, too. Atmospheric, and undoubtedly influenced by earlier Hammer horror efforts. A classic that still holds up well today. Nicholas Roeg did the photography!
Next came a much earlier picture, Corman's The House of Usher. Though atmospheric, this film does not entirely succeed. For one thing, there are only four characters, and it is filmed almost like a play. In parts it is very slow moving. By taking a short story and dragging it out to feature length, too much depends on the acting. Aside from Price, who is great in the role of big brother not wanting his young sister to leave home (incest being a taboo subject not only in Poe's time, but also Corman's), the other actors barely manage to make it to the adequate stage of acting. Definitely watch this one, but not right after Masque.
Leaving Corman and Poe for a time (they will be back here soon), but staying withing the realm of fantasy and horror, comes a neat little independent film by Hal Hartley. His 2001 feature is called No Such Thing, and is a modern version of Beauty and the Beast, or Beowulf if you prefer, with a difference. A monster that has lived forever and cannot be killed, lives a lonely existence in remote coastal Iceland. A young woman goes in search of her fiancee, who was believed killed by the monster. Their first meeting is a bit rough, but they gradually come to respect and like each other. Robert John Burke plays the most memorable monster in our recent film watching experience. Sarah Polley plays the fearless and enterprising young woman (looking much like a schoolgirl most of the time, but not always). Helen Mirren plays a news editor for a shlocky New York news service, and Julie Cristie (!) plays a doctor that helps Beatrice (Sara P.) recover from an accident. While parts of the film are quite hammy (Mirren's role as editor, a mad scientist who may be able to kill the monster, and a sadistic research scientist), others are humourous and serious as needed. Though the film overall is very good, there are some scenes that could have been excluded or improved, such as the Willy Wonka-like press interview, Beatrice's nights long sex rampages, and the entire plane crash thing. The monster torture scenes and beatings are a bit overdone, too. I would have spent more time and energy on the relationship between the monster and the young woman. Highly recommended, but uneven.
Mapman Mike
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