June Readings

 The reality of trying to make a living as a professional writer in the 1960s is on full display in this Robert Silverberg 1965 soft-core porn novel Killer, originally called Passion Killer.  For a decent SF writer to have to resort to writing this stuff is not only sad, but also not very surprising.  Its 156 pages contain a short story about a hired killer about to double cross the man who hired him to kill his wife, but in the end someone else also gets double crossed.  The actual story is about 40 pages long; the rest consists of people having sex nearly every which way.  And the top heavy females, who just love to have sex, consist of a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead.  All bases covered.  The basic story is okay, similar to any number of crime story plots from so many novels and or films.  The sex described in the book, which was probably sold under the counter in those days in certain types of book shops, is likely milder than in most best sellers of today.  Some may call this progress.  I call it something else.

From 1979 comes the next volume in the Dray Prescott series. A Life For Kregen is #19 in the series.  Bulmer seems to be having a lot of fun destroying the country where Dray is now Emperor, and seeing the locals fight to win it back from the enemy.  Vallia always depended on mercenary soldiers to defend its borders.  That didn't work so well when those soldiers were paid higher to revolt.  So now the average Vallian citizen is learning how to fight, something never seen before in the country. 

Bulmer may have created the best longest running fantasy series ever written.  It is essentially a story of battles against evil rulers, and Dray's attempts, often futile, to abolish slavery.  This volume is no exception.  But another theme continually emerges in the later books, that of Dray's family.  His wife and at least one daughter belong to a mysterious women only cult, which trains women warriors, among other things.  Dray rescues Jillian (see smaller cover, below), a new and fun character added to the many friends Dray has made during his stay on Kregen.  But one of his daughters is still out to kill him and help overthrow Vallia, though we don't know why.  She hates her father and thinks he is a coward.  Obviously she does not know him.

Though the book is filled with some thrilling battles and daring rescues, it's often at its best when Dray is thinking about things, wondering why things are happening the way they are, and figuring out how best to proceed with his plans to restore Vallia to its former glory.  The author's sense of humour is now always on display, and the proceedings, though often dire, are often relieved by moments of fun.  The books are more complex than anything I have ever read, with the amount of different countries, cities, mountains, deserts, seas, creatures, birds, and various races of people being very hard to keep track of.  And each book is obviously well planned before it is written.  Bulmer continues to succeed with this fun and everlasting series.  As a final note, once again he is not against killing off an important character.

 

The 4th entry in the SF series Cap Kennedy by E C Tubb is actually quite good.  In #4, Enemy Within The Skull, Cap Kennedy must stop a mad alien from using a powerful new concoction that brings out the worst violent nature in humans when exposed to it.  The alien plans to administer massive doses to people on Earth, in the hope that they will turn violently on each other, thus dooming the human race (not really needed, if he knew anything about humans).  As usual, the alien finds a receptive planet all too willing to believe his lies, which promises them untold power and riches once his plan succeeds.  Not too likely.

This is a lively entry in the series.  Cap usually works with a small team, like Doc Savage, and these people are finally being characterized more deeply as we come to know them better.  One of them is the giant man depicted on the original cover, below.  I think Tubb is borrowing a bit from the Doc Savage team, but not enough that it seems like a ripoff.

 

Cover by Jack Gaughan. 

 

Though better written than the previous Elric story, The White Wolf's Son by Michael Moorcock still has several problems.  In this story, published in 2005 and 339 pages long, Moorcock attempts to unite many of his favourite characters, including Elric, Bastable, Lord Renyard (the fox), Corum, and others from different series.  Oona is back (the Dreamthief's daughter), as is our trusty bad guys, Gaynor and his sidekick Klosterheim.  New to the story is Oonagh, the 12 year old granddaughter of Oona.  It's all quite confusing, especially if you haven't read the Corum series books in a while.  Those same events are seen now from a different perspective.

While Moorcock makes a heroic effort to bring so many previous characters into one book, his plot is still mostly fantasy nonsense.  Of course the bad guys get their way until the final twenty pages or so, and the great climax of the story is a sword fight between Gaynor and Elric (how original, I comments dryly, rolling my eyes).  And the problem of having a 12 year old as the central character, is that we know deep down that nothing bad will really happen to her.  She does lose some blood for a sacrifice, but as she is telling the story, she obviously survives.  She is plucky and smart, and is actually a welcome character compared to the morose people usually found in Moorcock's fantasy novels.

Now for the plot. The two bad guys have worked for hundreds of years for their chance to destroy everything, or rule everything, or something (big yawn).  Their plot can't miss (remember "The Master" from Dr. Who?).  Well, here is a spoiler.  They fail again.  What a surprise ending indeed.

I get the feeling that the author was trying to wrap up his Elric tales with this book.  We shall see....

 

Published in 2007, Barry Malzberg's Breakfast In The Ruins is a direct sequel to Engines of the Night.  Published in 2007, Engines is included (see last month's reading blog) for a total page count of 396.  Each book is thus close to 198 pages.  More essays on SF can be found here, dating from the 80s and 90s mostly.  Often Malzberg's writing does not get to much of a point, while at other times he scores direct hits.  His essay on Ballard is an example of both in one, as the text seems to wander about for a while before zeroing in on why Ballard's writing matters, and what effect it had on later writers.  However, he totally dismisses the early novels, such as The Crystal World, as being too derivative of early British SF disaster writing.  Hmm.  Not quite, Mr. Malzberg.

Many writers and editors are discussed, and the name dropping is quite astonishing.  It was a small world indeed for SF writers back in the day when almost all stories were first published in magazines, and everyone knew everyone.  The history of SF writing is not so very complicated, as separate essays on Asimov and Campbell illustrate.  Those two writers/editors largely influenced most of the SF that was written in the 50s, for example.  For anyone well read in older SF, this book will be a treasure to keep and reread.  Highly recommended, especially if you get the edition with both collections.

Engines ended with a fictional short story about a characteristic SF writer from the 50s, as he ages and realizes that what he has done with his life has little or no meaning (written well before Kindle editions of practically everything ever published began to come out).  In Breakfast he writes a sequel to that story, taking the writer to his final bedroom scene, where he exits, forever.  The two stories neatly summarize what it must have been like to have been a SF pulp writer.  One doesn't even need to read the essays to find out.  But do read them.

 

Turning now to (mostly) Delphi Classics, I began with a wonderful novel called Gallantry, by James Branch Cabell and published in 1907.  Each of the ten stories relates an episode that illustrates the title term.  Most of them have overlapping characters, and should be read in sequence, but this is not your ordinary novel.  Cabell at his best (which is pretty much always) cannot really be described well by this writer.  This novel is like being presented with ten of the finest bon bons or aperitifs ever created.  They should not be gobbled down, but rather first looked at, then lightly sniffed, then touched, and finally bitten in to and carefully chewed and swallowed.  And low and behold, those flavours!  Witty delicacies tell only part of the magic that await readers of Cabell.  There is more solid fare, too, but it is delivered in a seemingly harmless and off hand manner, so that the reader must be careful when things appear to become frivolous;  they really are not.  A wonderful collection of examples of men and women fulfilling their roles in magnificently human ways.  A treasure!

 

Next came Robert Chambers' next novel dealing with the Franco-Prussian War.  Lorraine was published in 1897.  Previous novels and short stories of his dealt with things from inside Paris.  However, this time we are in Lorraine, a province of France that borders Germany, Luxembourg, and Belgium.  The German attack comes through Lorraine first, and it is devastating.  The war lasted from 1870 thru 1871, and the French suffered terribly.  Chambers mixes in a love story between Lorraine, a young girl raised in a castle, and Marche, an American whose aunt and uncle own a big chateau not far from the castle.  Though he quickly falls in love with the young French girl, she takes a lot longer to fall in love with him.  Lorraine comes with a history, one that she will never fully learn.  She is a very simple character, her childhood formed by having no mother, and a father who chooses to work on his scientific projects rather than spend time with his daughter.  The relationship between Marche and girl, and the girl and her father, are handled well by the author, but it is his recounting of the beginning of the war that really shines here.  Chambers lists his sources and military advisors.  Though overlaid with a fictional plot, the war events are accurate.  The brutality and senselessness of war is brought home time and again, and the civilians and soldiers who survive are left permanently scarred by events, not to mention any wounds incurred.  While a 'happy' ending might seem a bit naive to readers today, this reader was very glad to come across it.  Any war, anywhere, and at any period of history, is a violent and shameful event.  The fact that wars are still being fought in 2024 tells us that no one learns very much from history.  In this case, the Prussians might have 'won' the war, but they too suffered terrible losses.  Despite much gloom and doom, this is a very rewarding novel to read.  Highly recommended.  It can be read for free on-line at Project Gutenberg, but I can highly recommend the Delphi Classics version.

1897 edition. 

 

Jump ahead 42 years and we arrive at Raymond Chandler's crime thriller The Big Sleep, published in 1939.  It isn't a complicated novel, and most actions have an equal reaction.  I've seen both movies many times, the 1978 version staring Robert Mitchum being the most recent screeening.  This film (there is a 1946 Bogart one, too) closely follows the written word, not leaving out very much of the plot.  Philip Marlowe isn't really much of a hero.  He has had experience with life, and has learned to only trust himself.  He is brave, somewhat stupid from time to time, but at least he is on the up and up.  He doesn't take advantage of clients, only charges $25 a day (plus expenses), and seems to keeps his hands off of girls.  He often does not carry a gun, though he ends up collecting some as the story moves along.

An old man hires Marlowe to keeps his two daughters out of trouble.  One is separated from her husband and likes to play roulette.  The other one, much younger, is not only big trouble, but also certifiable as insane. The body count is soon rising.  To my surprise, Marlowe only becomes unconscious once, and is never hit on the back of the head.  Movies and TV detective shows like these sort of tropes, but Chandler doesn't much go in for them.  The story continues to wind like a California Pacific Coast road, taking sharp turns again and again.  It's easy to get lost if you are not paying attention, or have set the book aside for several days.  It's best to read this one quickly.

It's quite well done, though the writing never gets much higher than average pulp fiction standard.  And Marlowe is not a very charismatic hero.  Enjoyable but not essential reading.

 

The Club of Queer Trades is a collection of six stories by Chesterton published in 1905.  The title, as explained in an introduction, examines 6 different and completely unique ways of earning a living.  The prospective member must earn his living in a job never seen before.  It must be different from others in significant ways, not merely a variation on an existing occupation.  We read about six different achievements by members of the club.  Imagine having to come up with no less than six unique occupations, one per story.  The stories are often humourous, and any violence turns out to be mostly unnecessary and quite comic.  The stories show Chesterton to be both highly intelligent and very witty.  He slyly pokes fun at Holmes and Watson, using three main characters that recur in each story.  And at the very end he brings all the characters from each story together for a wonderful conclusion.  Highly recommended fun for lovers of unusual mystery stories, as we never learn the occupation of an individual until the end of each story.

 

Next to last came Iain Banks' 2002 novel Dead Air.  Though a bit of a pot boiler, as if the author owed his publisher a book but wasn't really feeling it, the story nevertheless eventually becomes interesting, if a bit far fetched and over the top.  The main character, Kenneth McNutt ("two Ts"), is a type of morning radio show shock jock.  You have to like a character that describes himself late in the book as "a fuckwit with his thumb superglued to his personal self-destruct button."  Don't we all feel that way sometimes.  Ken gets in way over his head when he begins to secretly meet with the wife of a London crime boss for sex.  Yes, he could have chosen a safer partner, but Ceel is one of a kind.  The novel has several characters that are merely there to fill space, so there is no 'dead air' on the pages.  However, one of my favourite characters is a friend of Ken's called Ed.  Ed is a black DJ who lives at home with his mom in a tarted up old house and drives a black Hummer with blacked out windows.  Try to imagine what it might be like to drive a Hummer through the streets of London, or virtually any European city.  In one funny sequence Ken is doing just that with Ed.  The Hummer is a left hand drive, making it even weirder to drive in London.  Ken says to Ed, who is driving, that he is surprised they haven't been pulled over yet by the police.  And Ed replies, "That's cuz they think you're driving, Mate."  The book is a long one, and takes a lot of time to build up steam.  It all takes place in London, and I think Banks was writing for a London audience (and London press reviews).  It would not be a book I would recommend to someone who has never read Banks, but it does allow the author to have his say on many topics, from Nazis and holocaust deniers to what the Jews were doing to the Palestinians (and vice versa) back in 2002.  Banks likely had to go back and rewrite some of it after the 911 bombings, which are part of the backdrop of the story, though not a major part of it.  Though a mediocre effort from Banks, I did enjoy much of the book.

 

The final book of the month was Kate Chopin's second and final novel, The Awakening, from 1899.  It was her final book, since most publishers disowned her afterwards, due to its themes of sexuality and freedom for the female lead character.  And Edna Pontellies is a very troublesome character.  Modern in many ways, more than a little selfish, she is a Kentucky girl who married into a Catholic Creole family.  She lives in New Orleans, but the story opens in Grand Isle, a summer resort on the Gulf Coast for well to do families escaping the summer heat in the city.  Edna is 28 and has two children.  She comes to realize that she does not love her husband, nor wish to be around him very much.  It is fortunate for her that he travels a lot.  She falls in love with Robert, whose mother runs the summer camp on the Isle.  Robert is 25, and very much appreciates the company of Edna.  They become splendid friends over the summer, and Edna slowly awakens to her feelings of love for the young man, the first time she has felt such feelings.  When Robert realizes what is happening, he heads to Mexico looking for work.  We spend a lot of time inside Edna's head, and truly there isn't a lot going on there except confusion.  She certainly has no precedent, so help from friends in any shape or form is not available.  When Robert returns several months later, he does his best to keep his distance.  Edna's passion for him now totally consumes her.

Critics (male) found Edna to be mostly a repulsive character, mostly for not being satisfied with a loveless marriage and her two children.  Though she loves her children, she is happiest when away from them.  Look to Ibsen for similar themes, and much later Woolf.  But a strongly Catholic outlook at the time had no sympathy for a female character like Edna.  Critics were mostly ruthless, though she did find some support, mostly from women.  She never was allowed to publish again.  Another great victory for a patriarchal society tied to the church.  The only revenge we can have today is to read the novel and marvel at Chopin's strength for writing such a story at that time.  And we might also continue to support women writers, film directors, artists, etc.

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

 

End of Beginning of Summer

June, like many months before it, has swooshed past.  If I didn't write these posts occasionally I would never remember a single thing I did.  We finally got a good soaking this morning (Saturday), which was badly needed.  This was our first major rain in many weeks,  However, we paid for it with a very warm and extremely humid day.  Tomorrow comes actual chilly air, and with it (hopefully!) clear skies.  I plan to head out tomorrow night with the scope if it is clear.  I am doing some summer observing in Hercules and Ophiuchus this year.

 

I have decided to finally attempt to perform my year-old piano program, which I began learning last July 10th.  My right ear impairment put things off a while, as did our travelling to New Orleans for a week, and then twice to Sudbury for two weeks.  Getting back into shape after several absences is very hard work.  I wish my piano technique matched my self discipline.  I've just finished Week One of three to put final touches on the pieces.  A few of them actually improved, while others actually got worse (practicing them too fast--must slow down).

 

In movie news, it's my festival weekend.  After my usual two choices I get three festival picks.  We've watched one of mine, but before discussing that we'll have a quick look at Deb's two choices, and an earlier one of mine.  French Cancan is a Jean Renoir film from 1955.  It is a nearly perfect 'entertainment' film, in bright colour and filled with music, dancing, comedy, and motion.  If one is ever to use a lighter film for having great examples of mise en scene, this would be my choice.  The staging is wonderful, with the director having to handle so many complex scenes is smaller spaces.  There are many tender scenes, but the film will likely be remembered for its flamboyant style, especially the grand finale musical Cancan number.  Great fun, and highly recommended.  Gabin is a joy to watch, and he can dance, too!

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Deb's leaving choice was from Mubi, and Indian film called Trijya from 2019.  Many recent Indian films deal with individuals struggling within their meagre means to achieve some form of quality of life, though their lives are mostly pure labour with small reward, both financial and spiritual.  This film is quite different.  We follow a young man trained as a journalist languishing and wasted at a silly newspaper job in Pune.  We see him at a cafe table with a fellow worker.  He has to write the paper's horoscope column that week, as the normal guy is off.  The column becomes very popular, even though he dictated it off the top of his head.  His boss wants him to continue in the role, but he wants no such nonsense.  He ends up leaving Pune, going back and forth to visit his family, and then finally just going walkabout through rural India.  This is an extraordinary fine film, very different in its outlook from nearly every other Indian film I have seen.  Highly recommended.

 

Leaving Mubi soon.

Before that I had one more film chosen that has not been discussed here.  Ken Russell's Salome's Last Dance from 1988 is a fun-filled over the top version of Oscar Wilde's play, showing the author attending a private performance.  We first saw it in Detroit at the short-lived Tele Arts Theatre downtown.  Like Jean Renoir's film, above, this one is very colourful, quite funny, and unlike the Renoir, seriously demented.  Not for every taste, but if you like Ken Russel (we mostly do) and Oscar Wilde (for sure!), then this film will be found to be most enjoyable.  Lust as you've never seen it before!  And it's right from the Bible.  So it must be okay for families, right?

Leaving Criterion June 30th. 

 

Now we turn to our most recently watched film, a SF directed by Claire Denis.  High Life is from 2018, a French/German production.  If it wasn't for all the violence, the film would be worth watching more than once.  A crew consisting of death row inmates is sent on a suicidal mission to the nearest black hole, in an experiment to see if its energy can in any way be harnessed (I would submit that solar energy would be far more feasible and much cheaper).  Despite the stupid premise (would a government really spend billions on a space mission and then send out death row inmates to fulfill it?  I mean, there would be more than enough volunteers from society, would there not?  The hero of the tale was doing time for killing a friend who killed his dog.  Juliette Binoche plays a doctor who murdered her two children and her husband.  When the film opens the only survivors are our hero and his baby daughter.  The story of how the other crew members perished is told in flashback.  By the end of the film the baby has grown up to become a teenager who looks a lot like Juliette.  The film contains a plethora of shots of bodily fluids, another drawback to repeated viewing.  I liked the concept of the film, a man trying to raise a baby on an empty starship, heading towards a black hole.  Rather unique in my experience.  Recommended for SF fans, but watch out for the violence, which includes rape.

 

Leaving Mubi soon.  

 

I'll be back very soon with the June reading summary.  I am just finishing up a novel.

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

First Heatwave

It lasted a week, and though the temps did not get as high as predicted, the extreme humidity made up for it.  We get a two day respite (82 F today), then more heat, then a longer break in the pattern.  Solstice day was a warm one.  We will often take a drive along the lake somewhere and have a picnic.  This year celebrations were indoors.  June was always a most unpleasant month to be a teacher here, with classrooms often getting several degrees warmer than outside temperatures.  It must have been a miserable week for many.  There was plenty of rain in the form of intense storms all around us, but we got bypassed.  It is quite dry here at the Homestead.

Deb had some medical tests to undergo last Tuesday, the only day we went outside.  They were supposed to take several hours.  I dropped her off in Windsor and met Randy G. for lunch.  We got partly caught up, as we haven't got together in a very long time.  The chosen restaurant was permanently closed.  As I looked around the plaza, there were five others to choose from.  Sigh.  No wonder it closed.

In film news, there are a few to report.  We have now finished the 2nd season of Detective Anna, all 40 episodes (there were 56 in the first season), and have now turned our attention to watching Picard, of which there are 30 episodes.  We just subscribed to Paramount Plus, which has every Star Trek movie and series in its streaming base.  It will take a while to get through.  We now have paid subscriptions to Criterion, Mubi, Prime, The Great Courses, and Paramount.  In addition, we get hundreds of free channels (many with ads) on Roku.  I've been watching Danger Man over time, with The Avengers ready to go as well.

Most recently we watched a spaghetti western called Keoma.  It isn't often that a decent film is completely ruined by the musical score.  In this case it features a female singer/narrator who just will not shut up.  She sings what we see happening on the screen, very very often.  She sings in a high soprano voice, and it is immediately obvious that she is an alto.  It is extremely painful to hear her screech out high notes.  From 1976, the film features the charismatic actor Franco Nero, who, unfortunately, also attempts to sing the narration from time to time.  In reading reviews of the film, hardly anyone mentions the music.  One critic said the score was "tone deaf," but another said it was the best part of the film.  Really!!?  Speaking of tone deaf...  We had to put the subtitles on and mute the film when the singing began.  The subtitles indicated when the singing was over, and it was safe to put the sound back on.

 

Leaving Mubi soon. 

Before that came Deb's two picks.  The first was a BBC film from 1984 called Threads.  It is a very graphic depiction of the aftermath of a nuclear war, using Sheffield England as its centre of gravity.  The story mostly follows two families before and after.  A young man gets his girlfriend pregnant and they decide to get married.  We meet the families (one working class, one a higher white collar class).  They choose an apartment and begin to redecorate.  In the background are newscasts telling of increasing conflict in the Middle East.  Things continue to bubble until the unthinkable happens.  Sheffield, as not only an important manufacturing district but also a NATO airbase, takes a direct hit.  We get a front row seat, and it isn't pretty.  Not much is held back from viewers, as the realism hits home many many times.  This is the kind of film that should be required viewing for anyone wishing to become a politician.  Of course nuclear war is still a very real possibility, especially with so many unstable leaders of countries with bombs.  But it seems as if our demise will not be a sudden holocaust, but a slow, burning death, as the planet continues to heat.

 

The film is leaving Criterion June 30th. 

 

Deb's 2nd film choice was considerably lighter in theme.  Called Camera Buff, it is a Polish film from 1979.  A worker and his wife are expecting a baby.  He buys an 8 mm camera to record the baby, but soon gets hooked into doing a film for the company where he works.  As he gets deeper and deeper into his hobby, his wife thinks that he is neglecting her and the baby.  His little film gets entered into a festival.  He attends and wins third prize, which includes a nice lump of cash.  His wife is horrified, as she realizes that he will never stop now.  She ends up leaving him, but as he now has access to a 16 mm camera, he manages to survive the breakup.  A low level comedy that might hit home to camera buffs, and other buffs as well.  Sometimes balancing work, family,  and play can be tricky.

Showing on Criterion, with a ton of the director's other films. 

 

When Jenn was over for a visit a while back, we told her about our rediscovery of the Utne Reader.  It was a brilliant and influential magazine from the 80s and 90s that we used to read a lot.  Of course it died as a print version a while back, but there is an on-line presence.  I have read three articles on line so far.  However, their Facebook page has not been updated for over two years.  I fear the online version may be going away, too.  I highly recommend that readers check it out.

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

A Visit To Detroit

 We haven't been to Detroit since December 10th!  We used to go every week!  I'd say our habits have changed since Covid.  Not a little.  Anyway, it was a perfect day, with cooler temps, lots of sun, and a sky filled with enormous feathery clouds.  Donald Trump was also in Detroit today, but we managed to miss that event.  The Cass Corridor, our usual hangout, was quietly bustling, just the way we like it.  Nearly every block has new apartments under construction, usually from converted older buildings.  This year for the first time in a very long time, Detroit's population actually rose.  It's easy to believe when you see all the new things continually happening.

 

We began our day at John King Books, an easy place to spend an hour.  I spent a lot of time looking through a 1945 Collier's world atlas.  We had that atlas in our house when I was growing up, and I spent many hours perusing it as a child, planning on where I would visit.  I also invented solo person games to play using the atlas.  No interstates!  I nearly bought it; I should have.  I inherited a really fine up to date National Geographic world atlas from my dad recently.  He loved that atlas.  I can see where I get my interest from, at any rate.  After King we went to Fire Ass Vegan.  Yup.  A very catchy name.  It is one of half a dozen or so new vegan places popping up everywhere, though this one had the best hours.  We had take out wraps, and sat at a shady table on Wayne State University campus.  Next was a visit to West Canfield St., where both sides are lined with very funky shops, breweries, and restaurants.  There is a place to buy our favourite soaps, and we bought one.  Then on to Source Booksellers, where I usually buy something, but I didn't.  I did buy a book at King, though.  It's called "The Mammouth Book of Tales from the Road:  Tales of Life on the Move," filled with short essays by different writers, including Kerouac, Moorcock, Ballard, and many others.  Looks like good reading before a road trip!

 

Next up was a new (for us) brewery, in a very up and coming neighbourhood.  Many of these places used to be no go zones, but they are now welcoming and fun to visit.  there are discoveries to be made around every corner.  Nain Rouge Brewery had 10 taps of their beer, of which we tried 4.  It is a total gem of a place to sit and sip, surrounded by restaurants and an game arcade that also serves ales.  Our final stop was for coffee at a newer cafe/grocery store called Seasons Market and Cafe.  They serve coffee roasted in Ann Arbor.  We took our coffee (and vegan brownie) to the little oasis of a park adjacent, finding the most perfect table shaded by trees that one could ever hope to find.  We also bought a bag of Guatemalen coffee beans, from the roastery (called Hyperion).

 

After that it was back into the car.  In Detroit the parking is by zone #.  For the entire afternoon we were able to park anywhere in the zone, after paying once (2$ per two hours!).  We had a long wait at Canada Customs, due to an unusually long stop for a car ahead of us.  When that finally cleared, it was shift change, so we waited another ten minutes. 

 

West Canfield is a very fun street to explore in Detroit.  Just off to the right is Shinola.

A little park leads to Nain Rouge Brewery.  I've been wanting to get here for some time now.

We sat indoors and sampled four of their ten ale offerings.  A very cool spot, adjacent to restaurants, an arcade, and a pretty new apartment building.

Inside Nain Rouge Brewery on a lazy Saturday afternoon.  Temps were mid 70s, a perfect day for strolling the neighbourhood.

The small park adjacent to Seasons Market and Cafe.  We are at the world's most perfect table, surrounded by deep and welcoming shade from trees.  That table in front of us was soon occupied.  The entrance to the park, across the way, is through an old water tank, the kind that used to sit atop buildings here.  It has been cut open and now serves as the official park entrance. 

 

In my last post I celebrated the fact that we had not yet had a heatwave.  Well, the party ends tomorrow.  Here is a look at what is in store for next week.  Tuesday is the only day we need to go out.

 

Current temp as I write this is 72 F.  Tomorrow it begins.  I would say the weatherman is understating by saying "warm."  Add the humidity and I would say "ugly."

 

In film news there are two to report, both from Mubi.   Deb chose one called Funny Pages, directed by Owen Kline and from 2022.  A young cartoonist comes into contact with a former colour separator from an older comic series, and tries to get him to teach him.  This off beat comedy is mostly stolen by actor Matthew Maher, who plays the completely psychotic former cartoonist.  Sometimes brutally funny, the film is one to look out for, especially for those of us into graphic novels, comics, and funnies.  Daniel Zolghadri plays the hapless young man who wants to learn.  He also appeared in episodes of the unforgettable series called Tales From The Loop, which is still showing on Amazon Prime.

Now showing on Mubi. 

 

The teacher and pupil, from Funny Pages, 2022. 

 

The Third Murder, a Japanese film from 2017 and directed by Hirokazu Koreeda, is an entirely different sort of experience.  This is a taut and involving tale that goes deeply into what begins as a simple case of brutal murder.  As the plot and characters develop, however, it becomes more a tale of what Truth is, and isn't.  I am currently reading a light-hearted though elegant and purposeful book called "Gallantry" by one of my favourite authors, James Branch Cabell.  While Cabell's version of gallantry has many aspects to it, The Third Murder might still fit into the definition of that word per Cabell.  As the young woman at the heart of the film says near the end, "No one tells the truth."  A thought provoking film, and a true sleeper.  Highly recommended.

 

Now showing on Mubi. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

The Approach of Summer

We have yet to have an extended period of heat, to which teachers county wide are likely most thankful.  Today it might reach 90 F before afternoon storms hit us, but that is nothing too severe for this area in June.  At the Homestead, because of lots of rainfall so far this Spring, the weeds etc are pretty much out of control one again.  Mosquitoes are out in force, but so are the evening fireflies!  Lots of them this year.

I forgot to mention some of the things we watched while we were in Sudbury last month.  They get many channels which we do not subscribe to.  One of them is Netflix, which has three seasons of a  recent Lost In Space series, with a female Dr. Smith who is truly evil.  We have only watched three episodes so far, but it is quite good.  Far better than the new season of Dr. Who, at any rate, showing on Disney.  We got caught up on the newest series (up to the Welsh horror episode), and while we both like the new Doctor a lot, as well as his companion, the writing has been less than thrilling.  The worst episode of anything we have ever seen on TV was "The Devil's Chord."  It was unforgivably bad.  "73 yards", the Welsh horror episode, made absolutely no sense, leaving unanswered far too many questions.  We will (likely) watch the final four episodes on our next journey to Sudbury.  But so far, the Lost In Space series blows the Doctor's newest season out of the water. 

 

In local watching news, there are two films to report.  Liquid Sky, from 1982, was Deb's leaving choice last weekend.  This remains one of the most offbeat films ever to hit the circuit, and still provides laughs and thrills today. We saw the film in the way back days, but remembered little.  The film contains hard drug use, sexual violence (much), and lots and lots of bright colours and fun but often ridiculous outfits.  There are club scenes and street scenes, but the best parts of the film are set in a penthouse apartment overlooking the Empire State Building.  Anne Carlisle plays two parts, a girl and a boy, and is always fun to watch.  The opening scene of the film sets the stage, as a flying saucer is seen approaching NYC, getting closer and closer until it finally lands on the roof of the penthouse.  Seen in scale, it turns out to be tiny, no bigger than a large dinner plate.  The alien inside gets off on a certain chemical found in heroin highs, but also in orgasms.  There you have the plot.  A German scientist is trying to study the alien.  I was often reminded of more innocent films and times, such as Beach Blanket Bingo with Annette and Frankie.  We seem to have come so far, but not in any profitable direction.  Though a fun film, several scenes are difficult to watch.

 

Leaving Criterion soon. 

 

By contrast, my leaving choice this week, also from Criterion, was The Rainbow, directed by Ken Russell and loosely based on the novel by D. H. Lawrence.  With a stellar cast of British actors, the film focuses on young Ursula (Sammi Davis) and her attempt to steer clear of conventions and predictability.  More than anything, she wants to earn her own way in life, something her father tries to discourage.  She has a brief sexual relationship with one of her teachers (Amanda Donohoe), and then with a young military engineer.  Her early attempts at being a teacher in a local school are not exactly disastrous, but any first year teacher will recognize the situation.  Though Ms Davis might not be top star material, or as proficient as some other young actresses, she brings a fiery temperament and a restrained eagerness to the role.  Her somewhat musical voice might put some people off, but her lines get delivered effectively.  There are some lovely costumes in the film, not to mention one of the finest doors I have ever seen.  Pretty restrained for Russell, and certainly worth a look.

Leaving Criterion June 30th. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

Film Catch Up

We had an afternoon visit from Jenn G. last week.  It had been a long time, and there was some catching up to do.  She had been to New York recently, and we had been to New Orleans.  She is currently driving west through the US, heading towards Rossland, B.C., where she has a home she rents out.  It is in need of some work, and she won't be back till mid August.  In astronomy news, it has been an abysmal Spring session.  There have only been two clear nights, and I have used both of them.  It means getting to bed just before 3 am, which kind of messes up the next day for me.  But if the skies are good, as they were, it's worth all the hassle to see the sky through the eyepiece of a 12" telescope!

 

There are four films we have watched recently, with at least one of them surprising us with its shocking ending.  We'll begin with that one.  Try and Get Me is a crime thriller from 1950, directed by Cy Enfield.  Originally called Sound and Fury, it is based on real events from 1933, when a mob lynched two men who confessed to killing an heiress.  Much of the blame falls upon the local newspaper, with its sensationalist reportings.  Though much of the film is quite unremarkable, including the acting, the final scenes when the mob breaks into the prison seem to hit pretty hard, especially in light of the attack on Congress in January 2020.  Definitely worth looking at.  Based on the book by Jo Pagano, called The Condemned, written in 1947.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Before that came Beijing Watermelon, a film from 1989 by Obayashi.  This one is also based on a real life story, as a Japanese owner of a small family grocery store takes a number of poor and hungry Chinese university students under his wing, offering them discounts at first.  He then becomes more and more involved with them, until they begin to call him their Japanese father.  As cinema goes it's not a very entrancing film, but it is a wonderful story of one man's attempt to show friendship to Chinese people.  In later years he is rewarded, as they invite him to China to visit.  The final part of the film breaks down the 4th wall of cinema quite neatly, as we learn that it was impossible during filming to go to China.  However, the students were brought back to Japan to film the last sequences.  There are many chaotic group scenes that must have taxed the director and cameraman to the limit.  The family scenes (he has a wife, a son, and a daughter) are very well handled.

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Those last two films were my choices for the week.  Before that came Deb's two.  She chose two that are leaving Criterion this month, a SF oldie and a documentary about a female artist.  The Quiet Earth is a New Zealand remake of the 1959 film The World, the Flesh and The Devil.  The remake is from 1985.  There are differences between the two films, but they are in essence the same.  The best parts of these movies is when the person is all alone at the beginning.  They stay interesting when a second character is added, usually a female (Adam first, then Eve).  But things often go down slippery slopes once the third person is added, always a male.  In the newer film, a secret project has not only destroyed most of life on Earth, but has neatly disposed of the bodies.  The very odd ending makes no sense at all, and is probably the most annoying part of the film.  It is well acted, and the setting is finally away from well known major cities.  With a better ending this could have been a much more effective film.

 

Leaving Criterion soon. 

 

Beyond The Visible--Hilma af Klint is a documentary about a major female artist no one every heard of until recently.  From 2019, the film details the life of the artist.  She was a Swedish painter, trained at the art academy there, and a person interested in forming a union between spiritualism and art.  A contemporary of Kandinsky, she painted hundreds of works that were mostly never exhibited, and bequeathed to a nephew.  Many of them border on abstract long before Kandinsky created his version of abstract painting.  They were not allowed to be sold.  The nephew was rather flabbergasted, and didn't really know what to do with them.  Despite the art being very good, no gallery wanted them because Klint was not in the art history books.  MoMa refused to even look at them.  Well, things have apparently changed.  Over 2 million people saw the exhibit of her works at the Guggenheim, and finally, after decades of being ignored, the works are finding an audience.  She painted enormous canvases in series', and also smaller and more intimate works.  Though based on natural forms, her use of bright colour and the juxtaposition of her biomorphic forms in her pictures leave one quite astounded.  A major talent finally receiving her due.  She died in 1944, and was born in 1862.

Leaving Criterion soon. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

Detroit Symphony Live Broadcast

Saturday was Detroit Symphony Live night once again.  Superstar violinist Nemanja Radulović gave an energetic and lively performance of the Katchaturian Concerto in D Minor.  A superb violinist, he actively listened to the orchestra as he played, giving them much credit at the end for their own hard work in this monstrously difficult piece.  After intermission the orchestra tackled Strauss's Alpine Symphony.  Their numbers had swollen to nearly 120 instrumental performers on stage, up significantly from their usual 80-90 players.  This is quite an amazing piece, describing a hike in the Alps to a high summit, and back down again.  22 micro-movements describe the adventure in detail, including a storm on the descent.  The piece begins with night, followed by sunrise, followed by the hike and its return at sunset, followed again by night.  This might be the only piece by Richard Strauss that I really like.

 

In film news, there are three to report.  It's Deb's festival weekend, so she gets five picks in a row.  So far so good with her picks.  My two picks before hers were lumped into one gigantic film, lasting 7 hours and 19 minutes.  Yup.  This is a film that scores 9.2 on IMDB.  Don't let that fool you into thinking you are seeing a great film, my friends.  Satantango is from 1994, directed by Bela Tarr, a Hungarian.  The film describes the dismal life during the autumn rainy season of the inhabitants at a farm collective.  The very thin plot actually makes very little sense.  The essence of this film is its photography.  The landscape is flat and nearly featureless, the farm buildings are badly run down, and it is constantly raining and muddy.  Life goes on, if this is life.  It seems more like Hell itself, especially after we see the title dance not once, but twice, in the pub.  But the everlasting camera shots grow wearisome very soon.  Watching a person walk down a straight road into the distance, in real time, and then walk back again, is hardly wonderful cinema.  There seems to be no editing in the picture.  Cutting it down to two hours, the film still would not make much sense, except that the farmers are tricked out of all their money by one of their own.  I won't even talk about the most controversial part of this film, the infamous cat torturing and cat poisoning scene, which the director insists was necessary to the film (it wasn't).  There are no really decent characters in the film; most of them live closer to the animal kingdom than the human one.  I may be the only one saying so, but avoid this film if at all possible.  Do not get fooled into thinking this is some kind of cinematic masterpiece of art; it isn't.  Rather I'd say the director has pulled the wool over many eyes (like a certain past president of the US).

The poster image sums up the film nicely--an empty wasteland. 

The film has now left Mubi.

 

Deb's first three choices were as follows.  Seeing The Lunchbox right after Satantango was like restoring my faith in film as an art form, and clearing my head of the mud it had accumulated during the previous screening.  From 2013 and directed by Ritesh Batra, the action takes place in Mumbai.  The system of getting lunch boxes from the cook to the intended person involves an intricate system that flawless delivers food day after day.  The film opens showing a lunch being cooked, packaged, sent out for delivery, the journey it takes and who gets involved, and the successful appearance on the right desk just before lunch.  When a woman's cooked lunch meant for her husband is delivered to the wrong man, the film really begins.  This is a totally entrancing comedy, featuring mostly the two people.  "Auntie", the older woman in an upstairs apartment, is always heard by never seen.  It is her secret recipe that is supposed to win the day, helping the young wife get back her husband's interest.  Instead, it goes to an accountant who is just about to retire after 30 years.  Though the two characters never actually meet during the film, by the end we know that they will, soon.  A life affirming film, this one is a joy to watch.

 

This film is showing on Mubi. 

 

Though falling far below Lunch Box (though far above Satantango), Flight of The Red Balloon still has some very fine moments.  Directed by Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-hsien, it all takes place in Paris.  From 2007, it is a slice of life film that shows the struggles of a single mother trying to raise her young boy.  Her schedule is so busy that she hires a Chinese nanny to help out.  As the red balloon bounces about town, it (and we) follows the daily routines of the boy and his adult caregivers.  It's nice to see a young boy depicted in films who isn't a holy terror.  The boy is quiet, sensitive, and besides playing piano he enjoys pinball and his Gameboy.  The two bedroom flat is a highlight of the film, crammed as it is with books, records, and cds.  The film does not promise to deliver more than it gives.  It is a kind of film I would imagine French people might enjoy seeing.  Juliette Binoche gives a winning performance as the mother who occupation is to supply the voices for puppets during performances.  The red balloon significance comes from the Chinese girl who babysits the boy; she is studying film in Paris and is fascinated by the 1956 French fantasy film The Red Balloon.  This can be considered an hommage to that film.

Now showing on Mubi. 

 

In astronomy news, it's been pretty cloudy and rainy this cycle.  I have had one very fine night so far, but that may be it.  And piano practice is ramping up, as I try to prepare for some upcoming performances.  Nearly there.

 

Mapman Mike