It was a doozy of a cold, and I still have that cotton in my brain feeling two weeks later. My last cold was in December 2018, after returning from a sleepless but fun week in Vienna. Deb's last cold was literally decades ago. Her overcharged immune system has protected her till now. She is a few days behind me in her recovery, but doing well. We have both been sleeping a lot. Whenever I try to read, I fall asleep, so along with the travelling we did my October reading list will be on the short side. Deb's wrist seems to be healing well, with 3 weeks left to wear the cast. And her lung is slowly healing, too, with far fewer painful episodes. All will be well again someday soon.
We were away for 8 days instead of 17, so the piano program didn't suffer too much. I did light practice during the worst of my cold. Things are still a bit wobbly, but memorization of the Beethoven proceeds apace. I resumed some light physical exercise a week ago, including a few outdoor walks, some yard work, and cutting the grass. So only 50 more weeks until I get another chance at hiking in New Mexico. 5 of those 8 days we had were lots of fun; the last 3 not so much.
I have been working on the trip blog, and have the Cincinnati portion published. Look on the American Midwest blog link, upper left on this page. I am currently working on the second part, and might publish it by tomorrow. I did get some really good photos, even in Oklahoma. I haven't printed any yet, but soon.
In film news, some really good ones on which to report. But first, Deb's SF film is being shown this weekend in Manchester at their incredible SF festival. Her film was one of only 6 chosen from a thousand entries that will be shown during the main event, and is in competition. This looks like such a fun event, and we would love to attend, perhaps next year.
Mandalay is from 1934, and directed by Michael Curtiz. Quite a good picture, when a woman dumped by her criminal lover has to fend for herself, taking an unpleasant job as a night club hostess in SE Asia. She meets an alcoholic doctor and they seem to hit it off, until lover boy returns, expecting the woman to help him out. Kay Francis is a knockout beauty in this short feature.
The Coconuts is from 1929, and is the first appearance on screen of the Marx Brothers. While they are very funny, and their routines are well timed (the auction scene is one of their funniest), the movie screeches to a halt far too many times for some very lame songs, sung very lamely by others. Harpo's harp solo, on the other hand, is very good, as is Chico's piano solo. Fast forward during the other songs and all will be well.
Genghis Cohn is one of dozens of BBC films and filmed plays that were released as a multi-season anthology series called Screen Two. Prime seems to have picked up a half dozen or so of these films. This one is exceptionally good. From 1994, it features a Jewish comedian who is murdered by the Nazis in a mass killing of Jews during the war. His ghost comes back to haunt the commandant in charge of the killings, until he gets his sweet revenge. This could easily have been a horror story, or a really heavy drama. But it is actually more of a comedy! And it has some very funny moments, too. A real sleeper gem, and worth seeing more than once.
Another Screen Two BBC presentation on Prime was called Small Faces, from 1996. It takes place in Glasgow in 1968, with a young boy growing up amidst the violence and despair of life in a poor inner city. It was well acted, but the story it told could have happened anywhere, including Milan or St. Louis. Not really that memorable, unless, perhaps, viewers grew up in Glasgow in 1968.
Now showing on Prime.
Legend of the Red Dragon is a Chinese kung fu film from 2002. Despite the violence, it is mostly a comedy, as a small team of do gooders, led by Jet Li, takes on the evil folk in charge of the country. More a display of insane acrobatics than martial arts, it also features an invincible bad guy, who literally cannot be stopped. He drives an all-silver steam powered racing car! This one also features a group of young boys, including the hero's son. Five of the boys have part of a treasure map tattooed on their backs, which the bad guys are after. A very silly way to spend two hours.
Next came a mind bending SF film, which seems to really be a play that was filmed. Jerome Bixby's The Man From Earth is from 2007. From the description on Prime:
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