We wait for this event beginning at Winter Solstice. Well, it's here. A bit anti-climactic this year, since we have had the warmest winter ever recorded. In fact it's snowing today, breezy, and quite chilly. That's a novelty this winter. There haven't been too many complaints about winter not fully arriving, let alone sticking around. We had one severe cold spell in January. Nine days of winter, out of about 50 usual ones. We have a full blossom of daffs, trying to survive some very cold nights. Time to head somewhere a bit warmer, perhaps?
There are two movies to report, though we have been watching episodes of Detective Anna, and we finished the 8 episodes of Broadchurch. It ended where it should have, and we have no interest in watching Seasons 2 or 3. We'll leave it at that. The films were both leaving this month choices, mine from Mubi and deb's from Criterion. My choice was called What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael. A documentary from 2018, the best thing about this film about the famous film critic are the film clips that are shown. I was never a fan of her writing, and nothing I saw in this film changed my mind. In fact if anything it solidified my opinion of her as a nasty person who took personal vendettas against directors. She did get a taste of her own medicine from another critic, and it devastated her. Good.
We didn't have much luck with Deb's pick, either, a bloated Hollywood film called The Great Sinner, from 1949. Starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardener, and everyone else, it takes place at a fancy European health resort, though it's the casino that attracts the most attention. Loosely based on Dostoyevsky's story "The Gambler", Peck begins the film as a respectable writer who suddenly falls for a woman he sits with on a train (Gardener, looking quite ravishing). She and her father are gamblers, and Peck tries to lure her away from the gaming tables. Eventually he gets around to trying the vice for himself, and ends up breaking the casino bank. Of course he loses it all next day at the table, but he is now an addict and eventually signs away his author loyalties to the casino, and ends up with the usual brain fever, quite the contagious thing in 19th C literature. Somehow, however, she has kicked the habit, and thanks to a few moments he spends in a church, they both survive and live happily ever after. Definitely not on my recommended list.
Leaving Criterion March 31st.
In piano news, most of the pieces are up and ready to meet the public. Next piano social is April 6th, which will be my last for some time. Not sure what I might play; I will have a broad choice. Some time after that we will likely head to Sudbury for a few days to visit my parents. My brother and his wife are heading for a cruise, so we will take over the taxi service to medical appointments for them. Once we get back then I can begin to think of a concert date for my program, likely the first half of May. Before that, we have one major trip to get through, and a full astronomy session that will await our return.
In reading news, I have finished my five required SF authors, and am now just finishing up a novel by SF author Olaf Stapledon. Next comes one by Jules Verne, and then H. G. Wells. A fun time lies ahead! Time now to visit the bayou. Back soon.
Mapman Mike
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