It's more like mid-November here at the Homestead this week (and next). No snow anywhere to speak of. Green grass, plants still growing in the garden. Anyway, Happy Solstice! Our all day fire was still on for Friday, beginning at sunrise and lasting till sunset (8-5). It's going to get warm in here, though. We have a ton of good food laid in for the holidays, both of the snack variety and the full meal kind. More and more plant based items appear at the grocery stores nearly every time we go there.
Thursday we managed another walk on the trail. It was a crisp autumn day. Tomorrow will be similar, but it will be a crisp winter day. Go figure. We also stocked up on birdseed, and Deb managed to buy paint for the room redecoration (new windows, after all) on sale for 60% off the regular price at the same store. She is currently stripping a 5" border from around the top near the ceiling before repainting the walls and ceiling. Wednesday was Wal-Mart day. We usually do our shopping there when a prescription refill is needed at the pharmacy. We were expecting horrible crowds, but it was a actually quiet and a mostly tolerable experience. Tuesday was Deb's infusion day. All went well. Before that we ate at Copper Branch, a plant based restaurant with a wide and delicious menu that is about two minutes walk from Deb's doctor. We came home with a mint chocolate nanaimo bar and a wonderful cinnamon bun. We'll be back in two months, when her next infusion is due.
I am off from Iaido for a few weeks now, and even longer if the weather does turn nasty. I plan to practice in the garage a few times, though. I have finally relearned all of the material from black belt level. If I can polish that up a bit, I can move on to relearn all the material for 2nd degree black belt. Then I'll be back to where I was five years or so ago.
In film news, Mubi sent us a neat little retrospective of all the movies we watched last year on the channel. There were a lot of them. They show a short clip from each movie watched, and categorize it as drama, comedy, fantasy, etc. We just finished watching another one from that channel. It has been many years since we've seen The Bicycle Thieves, from 1948. The movie still packs the same punch, about the dehumanizing of the human spirit when someone wants to work but cannot find a job. The man in the film does find a job, but it requires a bicycle. No bike, no job. His bike is in the pawn shop. His wife gathers up their sheets and then cash them in to get the bike back. The shot of their sheets being stored is one of the most unforgettable shots in cinema history. The first day on the job someone steals his bike. The largest part of the movie shows him, his friends, and his little son (probably the best son any man could ever hope to have|) searching fruitlessly for the bike. A powerful film, and still relevant today in too many parts of the world.
Before that came Perfect Blue, an animated film from 2000 by Satoshi Kon. A young girl leaves her budding pop singing trio to become an actress. Another very violent animated film, this one really manipulates the viewer. We watch many entire scenes, only to find out that the girl has either dreamed them or imagined them. She is being stalked, too. And there is a mass murderer on the loose. And she gets some pretty hideous parts for her start in acting. A bit too convoluted for my taste, and much too manipulative.
Before that, Deb chose two from Criterion, both films leaving this month. The most recent view was Grand Illusion, Jean Renoir's 1937 film about WW1 prisoners of the Germans, trying constantly to escape. Starring Jean Gabin as one of two men who finally get an opportunity to make a dash for it, the real star of the film is Erich Von Stroheim. He is the German commandant of the prison, and proves to be, like one of the captive officers, a soldier and a gentleman. It's strange to see a German officer portrayed as being an actual human being, instead of (as per WW2) a sadistic torturer. His performance is flawless. Hailed as one of the truly great films of all time, it did not seem to make it on the Sight and Sound top 100 list. The script is amazing, as are the settings and the handling of many characters within a scene. Still gripping from end to end. Highly recommended.
Leaving Criterion this month.
Last comes another gem of a film, called Summer 1993, directed by Carla Simon in 2017. Frida is six years old (I had guessed 7, based on the actress used, who might have even been 8). Both her parents are dead, probably from AIDS. She is adopted into her uncle's family, her mother's brother, and raised by him and his wife. They have a little girl already, around 3 or 4. Frida shows no emotion at all during the film, until the very end, which must have been a challenge for the director and the little actress. In many ways she is just a typical kid, often doing stupid and thoughtless things; however, she does have her problems. Obviously autobiographical (there is a dedication at the end to her 2nd mother), the film can be challenging at times to watch, as there are situations that could have ended differently and more tragically. Overall it is a very good film, with the little three year old stealing many scenes. It also makes me happy that I don't have to deal with kids any more.
Mapman Mike
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