Books Read May 2025 and Annual Summary

 This month marks the end of 9 years of reading using the Avon/Equinox SF Rediscovery Series as my base.  Beginning with 24 authors, I am now down to three on a regular basis.  I occasionally pick up a novel or two recently published by authors with whom I have otherwise completed.  I now have Michael Moorcock, E. C. Tubb, and Kenneth Bulmer remaining.  After reading one of their books each every month, the rest is up for free reading.  My free reading these days is mostly taken from the Delphi Classics series for e-readers.

 

I read 47 books this past year whose authors were part of the Avon/Equinox SF series, bringing that total over 9 years to 876 books.  I also read 64 books unrelated to any series, which I call my 'free' reading.  That 9 year total now stands at 290.  So last year from June 1st to may 31st I read 111 books!  And reviewed them all, at least briefly. 

 

"Green Shadows" is a short story by Ken Bulmer from 1983, first published in "If" magazine.  It is 9 pages long and quite a poor representation of what the Dray Prescott series is all about.  It doesn't fit into the current part of the series, but it was written around the same time.  Forgettable.  Read the novels!

Talons of Scorpio is #30 in the Dray Prescott series, which I must have began reading some 30 months ago.  It is from 1983 and is 142 pages long.  Dray Prescott continues his adventures (away from Delia, of course) in Pandahem, and with his fellow warrior is trying to put a wrench into the workings of the Silver Leem religion.  So far they are doing a fine job!  More little girls are saved from a fate worse than a quick death, and one of the main bad guys bites the dust.  Even better, his gold is stolen by Dray and his sailor friends, thus ending the funding of an enemy invasion of Vallia, Dray's home country.

Even better, though, is that Dray finally gets to say his piece to his rogue daughter, eventually convincing her that she has been used and lied to by the enemy.  Though still not entirely convinced by the end of the novel, she is making progress in the right direction.  They could be reconciled soon.

The usual amount of action is mixed with some fine humour, making this book a strong entry in the series.

 

Bulmer's Dray Prescott and Tubb's Earl Dumarest are similar supermen, though their creators write very different stories.  The characters also differ in some important ways.  Tubb's hero is a loner, while Bulmer's values friendship to a high degree.  Dumarest is often humourless and down to business, while Dray Prescott takes time to realize the humour in many of the situations in which he finds himself.  Dumarest takes part in adventures that are barely linked--he must find Earth; and he is pursued by cyborgs, who are after information he carries in his memory.  Dray Prescott's adventures follow in sequence, and the novels are often direct continuations of the previous ones.  Dumarest never seems any closer to his goal, while Dray Prescott's adventures often come to a satisfying ending before a new adventure begins.

It's actually fun to compare the two heroes, and many more differences could be listed.  The similarities are more than obvious--they are both strong he-men who never seem to lose a fight.  If they do, or if they are captured, they readily regain control of the situation.  Neither man enjoys killing, though they do it often enough.  And both men are driven by adventure, and don't seem the type to sit around at home and read novels.

 

In Eyes of the Zodiac, his latest adventure (1975; 176 pages long) Dumarest is once again befriended by a sexy female, only this gal turns out to be quite different.  By the end of the novel, after she has betrayed Dumarest, we find that she hates being a woman and ogled by men.  If she could afford a sex change she would be very happy!  Dumarest once again heads off into some very hostile mountains, in search of the First People, hoping to learn something about Earth.  By the end of the adventure, he actually does learn something.  He learns the name of several of the bright stars near to Earth, as well as their distance from it.  Helpful?  Readers don't know yet.  It's still rather early in the series to get too many clues, at least by Tubb's reckoning.  As far as this reader is concerned, it's more than high time he gets to Earth, and then let's see what happens.  What is Earth like?  Could Dumarest help it in any way?  Nope, not going to happen.  Instead we will continue to pinball between planet after planet, being teased by the author.  This could have become so much better had Tubb had the courage to get Dumarest to Earth.  And so on we go....

 

Lightly updated in 2004, the bulk of WIZARDRY & WILD ROMANCE: A STUDY OF EPIC FANTASY, this slim volume is from 1988.  The main content is 135 pages, supplemented by two guest essays and some book reviews by Moorcock.  The book title is misnamed--it is hardly a "study" at all, but rather a fast running glimpse of the field up to that time.  Moorcock cannot even manage to discuss Lin Carter's Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series from the 60s and 70s.  His main purpose in writing this book is to yet again tear into Tolkien, going on and on about how terrible a writer he is.  I wonder if Moorcock has read any of his own fiction much lately.  Though he has written some mighty fine novels, he has also turned out loads and loads of turd.  It's difficult to say exactly what he finds objectionable about Tolkien--could it be that Tolkien is read 100x more often than Moorcock?  Moorcock, like most people (including Peter Jackson), entirely miss the message that Tolkien delivers to us vias LOR (which, incidentally, he never wished to write).  Essentially it is this:  From small things (Hobbits, in this case) can come great deeds.  By the time that the Hobbits have managed to help save the world and return home, they are more than equipped to deal with the nasty state of affairs that have occurred while they were absent.  No Gandalf to help them, nor elves nor dwarves.  No Aragorn.  No magic.  They do it themselves.  By venturing out into the world that seemed so inhospitable to them at the beginning of the story and by gaining experience and life skills as they travelled afar, they have become almost like superheroes once back home.  Venturing abroad might not be such a bad thing for folk who live otherwise quiet village lives.  Moorcock claims that Tolkien is a children's writer.  Hmm.  I have seen children as young as ten reading LOR.  I've always wondered what they get out of it.  Probably about as much as they would get from an Elric novel.  That would be very little beyond the battles.  Moorcock also claims that Tolkien is a humourless writer.  Did he read the chapter about Bilbo's birthday, or just skip it?  The Ents and their Entmoots?  Humourless? And he claims that Tolkien knows nothing of women.  Did Moorcock not encounter Eowyn in the later part of the story?  Now there is one fine woman, my friends.  He also manages to put down Evangeline Walton, whose four books tell the Mabinogian epic in language most people can understand. 

About half of this very short "study" is made of long excerpts from (too) many fantasy novels.  Reading so many passages out of context to prove one of his points becomes very tiresome.  As with the Bible, one can find quotes that will justify just about any action a human might undertake, or just as easily damn such an action.  This reviewer could pull many long passages that prove Tolkien is a fabulous writer.  Moorcock is only interested in ones that show a weakness, if indeed his choice of passages really does show weakness.

I found the "study" tiresome, with far too many fantasy books "discussed" in far too few pages.  And trying to find passages to suit his chapter titles had me skipping over the latter ones very quickly.  I must say that I agree with much of what Moorcock says, but his so-called research (he did call his book a "Study") is very slack and makes for a pretty boring read.  I had probably heard of at least half of the writers mentioned, and I did jot down a few others for further reading.  We did agree on Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword to be one of the best fantasy novels ever written, and we also share a realization of the genius of Fritz Leiber.  But all in all I found this book to be mostly a put down of some of the great fantasy writers (Cabell, William Morris, and many others), and, to balance his outlook the holding up of several contemporary fantasy writers, many of whom have disappeared into obscurity.  It's one thing to give one's opinion on a novel or writer.  I do that here, in fact.  But I dare not call this blog a "Study."  My opinion is that we need a much better book than this to discuss the best and the worst fantasy writing.

 

For my first free-read of the month it was time for another novel by Jules Verne.  The Adventures of Captain Hatteras is from 1866, detailing the first successful attempt at reaching the North Pole.  The first part of the book, where the expedition is being outfitted and sets out, can also serve as a history of the exploration of the northwest seas.  Virtually every explorer of any significance is mentioned in the story.  Verne does not soft pedal the hardships of northern travel, and his expedition goes through freezing hell in their attempt to reach the pole.  As far as accurately describing and expedition (in 1861) to reach the pole, this is about as realistic as it gets.  Since Hatteras is English and wants to be the first to reach the pole, it doesn't help his temperament when they rescue an American captain and end up taking him with them.  Although in Verne's tale it is the British who reach the pole first, ironically (for Verne) it was an American.  Either Cook in 1908 (he gets my vote) or Peary in 1909.

Having read a book on recent discoveries pertaining to the Franklin expedition, it is interesting to see that unfortunate explorer encased in the story here, and some of the graves of Franklin's men discovered (of Franklin there is, and was, no sign back then).

Hatteras has his own problems, with bears, food shortages, a crew that mutinies and that pesky American explorer.  However, he has a faithful dog (Dick at the beginning, then Duk later on--it's the same dog, so I don't know what's going on here).  He also has the doctor, ship's carpenter, and the boatswain forever at his side.  If you are a reader than enjoys adventures on the chilly side, then this one is for you.  Never having explored the far north, I now have a good understanding of what it takes.  I haven't got it.

Of course Verne can be forgiven for placing an active volcano at the pole, but like Mount Doom in another great story, it adds some colour and pizzazz for the finale.  A fun read. 

 

 

The Council of Justice is from 1908, and Edgar Wallace gives us the second installment of his "4 Just Men" series of crime fiction.  In the first novel one of the four was killed off, so only three remain and they now refer to themselves as a "Council".  There are vigilantes who eliminate the worst criminals that have escaped the justice system for one reason or another, and they are very smart, quite rich, and extremely efficient. In this story the leader is captured by the police, though much of the force is greatly indebted to their work.  There is a trial and the leader is found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging.  The sub-plot is involved with the "Red Hundred", a group of anarchists who meet and plan quite openly in London, due to lax laws allowing freedom of speech.  The female leader of this group is the one who eventually turns the tables on the leader of the vigilantes.  Will he hang?  Will he be pardoned?  Will he escape somehow?  This is quite an entertaining read, right up to the ironic and somewhat humourous, if harrowing, ending.

 

From 1896 comes H. G. Wells' The Wheels of Chance, about a draper's assistant using his annual 10-day vacation to embark on a cycling tour in southern England.  The novel came out four years before Jerome Jerome's very funny similarly themed novel.  Though humourous and light-hearted, the author is at his wicked best as he takes on the dreaded English class system.  I have never read a better condemnation of English mores and customs than in this, at first glance, simple and charming novel.  Mr. Hoopdriver is a 23 year old draper's assistant, virtually a slave to his boss.  However, he is embarking on his annual ten-day holiday and has decided he will undertake a bicycling tour of the south.  The first few chapters are quite hilarious as he attempts to learn to properly mount and dismount.  The joy he experiences on his first day out is heart warming, though his ignorance of nature never dampens his love for being outdoors.  One of his first encounters is with a young lady in grey, also a cyclist.  This first chance meeting sets up the remainder of the story as the plot thickens.  By the time the novel is finished, we are begging for more.  Hoopdriver has returned to his old job, but he is a very different person than the one who set out ten days earlier.  His character has undergone a thorough examination and big changes are imminent.  Still, the underlying sadness of the ending is heart-breaking.  Wells's command of the language and his understanding of human nature, especially of the working class man, is almost unbelievable.  Very highly recommended.

 

 

 

Death At The Voyager Hotel is a short mystery novel by Kwei Quartey.  From 2013 it is the third novel by this writer, who is originally from Ghana.  Though not related to his two series detective stories, this one gets us deep enough into the lives of several people and a school for poor children that we feel as if we have known them all along.  Quartey has an easy going writing style that belies the plot material seriousness.  This is certainly not hard-boiled detective writing, though neither is it cozy mystery writing.  The books (so far) have dealt with serious problems facing this tropical African country, such as the poverty, crime, the lives of children, and the difficulties authorities face in trying to solve complex problems.  And though local people may feel that continuing grants from foreign countries are a bad thing, if put to good use they are still badly needed and much appreciated.  The story concerns the death of a young American woman,  a volunteer at the school.  She is well liked and a sensible, reliable sort.  So when her naked body is found at the swimming pool at the hotel where she stays, and a post mortem shows a high alcohol blood content, the police write it off as an accidental drowning due to alcohol.  But Paula, her boss and the school principal, knows that Heather was not the type to drink to excess, nor to swim naked in a pool.  She goes on the hunt for the truth in this fun and exciting story set entirely in Accra.  I look forward to the next book by this writer.

 

The Pusher is the 3rd novel in Ed McBain's 87th Precinct crime novel series.  From 1956, it deals with heroin addicts and pushers.  One of the addicts is the teenage son of the lieutenant in charge of the 87th detectives.  And one of the popular detectives, recently married, is shot three times.  He featured in the first novel, went on his honeymoon in the 2nd one, and now gets badly shot up in the third.  This is a hard boiled series, with no punches pulled.  It's violence is matched by its grittiness, and the setting in a very cold lead up to Christmas has all the cheer of a doused campfire.  With three murders to solve, the precinct detective squad has its hands full.  It's a mystery to me why the detective tracking down "Gonzo" didn't realize who he was.  Most readers would guess right away.  Why not a top notch detective?  Anyway, the writing is taut and mostly believable (for the 1950s).  It's mostly about men, with most of the women in the story either the wives of the detectives, or victims of crime.  The TV show Dragnet took a lot from these books.

 

Next comes another detective story by The Old Sleuth.  It is called The Twin Ventriloquists and is from 1895.  It is #11 in a series of 101 crime stories published in New York by Nickel Weekly.  this is the third story I have read, of seven that I currently own on Kindle.  All of the stories are amusing and quite odd, to say the least.  In this story two master ventriloquists meet at the Metropolitan Museum, and from here their friendship blossoms.  Ike and Jack have a mind to do good deeds and take on bullies and criminals, and they are aided by a New York detective.  The young boys use their vocal skills to trap robbers and to poke fun at anyone who pesters them.  The main mystery surrounds a young woman who has been left alone in the world.  She is robbed of her valuables and Ike immediately decides to help her.  The plot thickens by including a long lost uncle (who is also robbed), a portrait that looks remarkably like the young woman, and a mysterious miser who lives alone in a mansion that is going to ruin.  So far all three stories have been fun to read.

 

Lastly comes Joseph Jacobs' Complete Fairy Tales, which I have been reading on and off for several years now.  The volume was published in 2013 and contains no less than 6 books by Jacobs.  English Fairy Tales is from 1890; Celtic Fairy Tales is from 1892; More English Fairy Tales is from 1894; More Celtic Fairy Tales is also from 1894; Indian Fairy Tales is from 1912; and European Fairy Tales is from 1916.  Though actually six books, I am counting it as one.  There are 1750 pages.  Each story is accompanied by a scholarly discussion of its origins and its similarity to other tales, or actual other versions.  The book can be used to read to children, or to explore the wealth of material that has spread across many lands over time.  Hearing the truest version of Snow White, for example, is a revelation, as is the story of Cinderella.  The book can be read from cover to cover, as I did, or can be sampled at random.  Readers can also read the different versions of a single tale with a bit of help from the index.  This is an indispensable collection for lovers of fantasy literature.  Available on Kindle for $3.07 Can.

 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

New Piano Pieces, One Month In

The first month of learning new pieces is like cutting through a jungle with a dull machete.  In this case, the jungle is the formidable array of unfamiliar notes staring at me from the page.  The dull machete is, of course, my brain.  Going from a pianist that can actually play a full program reasonably well to a stumbling and bumbling beginner is always a humbling experience.  Since I limit myself to two hours a day of practice, time is always in critical shortage at the beginning.  Take my first hour: 7 short pieces that have only 50 minutes total time (5 minutes of each hour is used for technical warmup).  Divided evenly that is 7 minutes per piece. Not bad, you say.  Try it some time.  With 14 pages to learn, that's now down to 31/2 minutes per page.

 

Surprisingly, after one month, things begin to slowly fall together.  It will be another 6-8 weeks before I can really play any of them well and then begin to memorize them (another entire basket of troubles).  My program will open with two Scarlatti sonatas, one of which I have learned a very long time ago.  Neither piece is difficult, but they are oh so fine!  I love Scarlatti and have been ignoring his music of late.  Next come five pieces by Couperin, all new to me.

 

My second half is still not fully settled.  Currently I am working on three preludes Op 11 by Scriabin, all new to me.  Then I am reviving a favourite set by Bartok, his 6 Roumanian Folk Dances.  The last two are difficult and must be played at a furious tempo, but having learned them many years ago will help with the muscle memory motions.  Currently those 9 pieces take up my entire second hour of practice.  I'm hoping there will soon be room to add in another Philip Glass Etude, as well as a previously learned Debussy Prelude (to be determined).  We will see where I am in another month.

 

In further piano news, Deb has been painstakingly attempting to rescue all my previous recordings.  From 1994 to about 1999 I routinely recorded all my programs, and had them copied to cassettes at Aldon Studio in Windsor.  Those tapes are seriously degrading, and Deb is using software to try and save at least some of the pieces.  If she is able to do that I will try and post them somewhere on line, perhaps here on a separate music blog.

 

In film watching news we managed to last through ten episodes of a 2019 Japanese TV show called The Real Thing.  Due to the weakness and uncertainty of the two main characters the show can be very frustrating to watch most of the time.  A young man saves a young woman's life at a train crossing, and from then on their lives keep crossing and causing interference.  Though things more or less work out okay in the end, so many bad decisions by the characters are being made throughout the series that one wonders just how the writers figured that a happy ending could actually work.  It's difficult for Westerners to deal with Japanese ways of thinking, and this series highlights this fact.  If you enjoy watching a series that frustrates you, I can recommend this one.

 

The series leaves Mubi May 31st. 

 

 

Mifune is a Danish/Swedish film from 1999.  Here is the capsule from Criterion:

 

Directed by Søren Kragh-Jacobsen • 1999 • Denmark, Sweden

Starring Iben Hjejle, Anders W. Berthelsen, Jesper Asholt

The third film made in accordance with the Dogme 95 movement’s so-called “vows of chastity” is an offbeat, darkly comic romance in which Kresten (Anders W. Berthelsen), a successful, newly married businessman in Copenhagen, finds his life turned upside down after his father dies and he must return to his rural hometown to help care for his childlike, UFO-obsessed brother (Jesper Asholt). As he struggles to adjust to the not-so-simple-life in the country, a budding relationship with his new housekeeper (Iben Hjejle), who is actually a call girl on the run, forces Kresten to reexamine everything. 

The film is a brilliant look at a city boy returning home to the farm where he grew up.  When he was young he found his mother hanging from a tree.  Since then, and as his father aged and cared for his simple-minded brother, the farm and house gradually fell apart.  He wants to keep his family a secret from his wife.  The scene of their wedding night together is one of the funniest sex episodes I have ever seen on film.  From there on the marriage quickly runs downhill.  When the wife pays a surprise visit to the farm, she stays about 30 seconds before deciding to get a divorce.  The highlight of the film is the simple-minded brother, brilliantly acted by Jesper Asholt.  He steals virtually every scene he is in.  A lot of screwball material is inserted at times, but the picture is best in its quieter moments.  It won a Silver Bear in Berlin.

 

Leaving Criterion May 31st. 

 

Lastly comes Witches, a 2024 documentary by Elizabeth Sankey.  Using interviews with women who had suffered from post-partum mental health issues, as well as relating her own harrowing experiences after giving birth to her son, the film offers a new take on the burning and hanging of witches over the past 5 centuries.  With its generous use of clips from Hollywood and other films showing women with mental health issues, a strong case is made for exploring an issue which most women never talk about, to their detriment.  Broken into five chapters, the film has hair raising moments when the women reveal their actual feelings at the time.  They tell their stories through tears, some of them expressing feelings on camera that they have never shared before with anyone.  This is a film that should be required viewing for all family and ER doctors, not to mention pregnant women.  Harrowing and fascinating, and at times almost unbelievable, the film should create a lot of discussion and hopefully some healing.  Required viewing.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

May reading summary coming this weekend!  

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once Upon A Time That Never Was

I've been busy lately, driving trains.  Train Sim 5 is pretty cool and lots of fun.  My runs for Southeastern and Thameslink between Dartford and Gillingham, Faversham and Rainham now run pretty much on time.  I'm providing "good service" now, as they say.  I'm still trying to get the hang of the high speed run between St. Pancras and Ashford International.  Once they are going those trains are hard to stop.  So far my top speed has been about 205 kph.  Different viewpoints are allowed during the journey, and I can even watch my train zoom past from any location.  So if I haven't blogged too much lately, it's because I have such a busy timetable to keep.  Deb and I had once built a small HO layout with a desert setting, and I would run trains there.  But this is much more realistic.  In fact it's quite scary how realistic it all is.  There is a very slow speed limit in and around Rochester station, especially crossing the rail bridge over the River Medway.  But in the background once can see Rochester Castle and the cathedral.  Great fun!

In film news, Deb has just released her latest short film.  It's a music video called "The Once Upon a Time that Never Was", and it has just received its first (of many, no doubt) film festival acceptances.  The singer is from Argentina, and has an incredible voice.  The film features Deb's usual assortment of stunning and very original visuals.

 

Deb's latest short film.  It can be found on her website (see upper left margin here). 

 

In film watching news, there are several to report.  Beginning with the earliest viewings, Deb chose two films from Criterion.  One of my choices was also from Criterion.  The Cry of Granuile had a promising premise, but the film ended up just getting muddied, muddled, and muffled.  From 2022 Irish director Donal Foreman, the film attempts to link an Irish-American woman filmmaker researching an Irish legend for a possible film, with the local scenery and folk that she encounters.  However, things just go astray, and the film ends up being about nothing, really.  Any truths behind the legend of Granuile (a 16th C. pirate queen) are unreachable, and the female filmmaker ends up using completely fictional stories about her from modern times.  The main reason to watch the film is for some very fine landscape photography.

 

Leaving Criterion May 31st. 

 

Demon Pond is a  Japanese fantasy film from 1979, and can be called the Japanese version of The Last Wave.  A village stricken by drought is fed up with a local custom of ringing a ceremonial bell 3x daily so that the village never floods.  Legends say that a nearby pond contains a demon that is pacified by the bell, and that if the bell is not rung the demon will escape the pond and flood the land.  With some usual bad choices made, the pond eventually does flood, and a catastrophe ensues.  A second plot concerns a man on holiday out exploring the countryside.  He encounters a long lost friend who had up and disappeared one day many years ago.  He is the current bell ringer, along with his enchanted female companion.  Her part is played by Tamasaburo Bando, a male Kabuki actor known for his female roles.  A very odd film and no doubt rarely shown until now, this is certainly one to look out for.  It is showing on Criterion.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Dario Argento's Deep Red is from 1975, and is almost a very good film.  David Hemmings plays a jazz pianist who witnesses a murder and then becomes involved in solving it.  The first half of the film is a masterpiece of composition, setting, and atmosphere.  The second half is filled with animal torture and more graphic violence than probably any other film from the 1970s.  While this kind of violence usually works fine in a manga, on the screen it becomes a bit much, even laughable at times.  And it quickly becomes apparent that the murderer (not revealed until near the end) would have been incapable of getting to most of the places where he/she does the killings.  And then getting in quietly and in perfect position to commit the murders, one time with a three foot robot!  How did they get behind that curtain?  How did they get to the mansion, and the school?  Anyway, the first half of the film is great, and likely, if the director had not been so warped, could have been a decent and perhaps masterpiece murder-mystery.  But then he would have only been half as famous.  Leaving Criterion May 31st.

 

David Hemmings makes all the usual horror movie mistakes, and the director puts in all of the expected horror movie tropes.

 

The weather so far in 2025 has been mostly uncooperative towards amateur astronomers.  Tonight looks hopeful; so have many other nights, until the time actually arrives, as do the clouds.  But I am eternally hopeful!

 

Mapman Mike.

 

 

 

A Trip To Sudbury

May 11th was Mothers' Day.  It was also mom's 96th birthday!  We left home on Wednesday May 7th.  We drove back roads about 60% of the way, spending the night in Midland after visiting some breweries in Collingwood.  It was our first visit to this area, on the south shore of Lake Huron.  On Thursday we continued our drive north to Sudbury, and stayed until Tuesday morning, the 13th.  We managed the drive home in one go, taking about 7 1/2 hours.  Traffic and road construction did not hamper our journey.  

We ended up purchasing a new AC unit in Sudbury for the upstairs room, and we installed it this afternoon.  It's much smaller than the older one, which was 10,000 BTUs.  This one is only 6,000 BTUs.  It will get a trial run tomorrow and Friday, which are supposed to be pretty warm days.  We also came home with some fine ales from breweries along the way, as well as a restocking of Mead.

 

Trilliums were in bloom, and we stopped near Ridgetown to view some.

 

A quiet forest and some lovely trilliums.

 

Located in Alvinston ON, this has become a regular stop on the way north.  Our vehicle sits in the parking area.

 

The tap list at Northwinds Brewery in Collingwood.  We brought home some Nosey Parker and some Milk Run.

 

Just around the corner was Endswell Brewery, with some terrific English style ales on handpull!  There was also a separate pizza business inside with vegan pizzas, so we stayed a while and had our dinner.

The two beer engine handles are on Deb's right.  Both cask ales were superb!

 

Two ales were on cask at Endwell Brewery.  We will be back!

  

This is the final lock on the Port Severn/Trent canal.  After this lock boaters find themselves with access to Georgian Bay and the upper Great Lakes.

 

We hiked at Port Severn on the way up to Sudbury next day.  There were two dams, two waterfalls, and the canal lock.

 

The lake at Port Severn, which sits just above Georgian Bay.

 

One of the waterfalls scurries beneath a bridge at Port Severn.

 

Meanwhile in Sudbury a mining train crosses the Regent Street Trestle.  The trestle crosses two roads, three train tracks (two of which are mainline) and Junction Creek.  Trains pass about 100 meters from where my family lives, and where I grew up.

 

A quiet path leads from the hill near the family home to a vegan paradise corner in Sudbury.  There is a vegan Mexican restaurant, a vegan cafe and bakery, and, in season, a vegan ice cream shop.  The trail emerges at the railroad trestle, seen above.

 

Family dinner.  Deb's right hand on left edge.  Lynne, my sister-in-law; Emma Lee, my youngest niece; my brother Steve; Joe, partner to my oldest niece Alicia; mom.

 

Emma Lee created this masterpiece vegan black forest cake for our dessert.

 

Emma Lee puts the finishing touches on her creation. 

 

Since the family in Sudbury subscribes to Netflix and Disney+ (which we do not), we were able to continue watching the newest Dr. Who series.  We managed to finish Season One (much better writing, and some really fun stories), watched the most recent Christmas Special, and then caught the first episode of Season Two.  We also watched most of the rest of Season One of the newest version of Lost In Space.  We have one episode remaining in the first season.  Much like the old series, the adventures are mostly ruined by Dr. Smith.  This time it's a she, and she is evil through and through.  There could easily have been enough story opportunity without the miserable character of the doctor.  After a while one wishes to just stop watching, which is what we did.  The other characters are great, including the three kids.  Ruined by overuse of Dr. Smith; sound familiar?

 

In film news, there are two to report on that we watched before our journey north.   The Assassin is a film from 2015, split between Hong Kong and Taiwan.  Director Hou Hsiao-Hsien has created a masterpiece of cinema, a far cry from the acrobatic and violence filled Wuzia film type many have become accustomed to.  This film, by contrast, is mostly quiet and reflective, with occasional bursts of lightning fast fights that sometimes end with both combatants simply walking away.  The photography is stunning, the acting is restrained, and the sets are lush and a bit other worldly, with frequent use of filmy curtains.  The film won Best Director at Cannes!  It's easy to see why.  Worth more than a single viewing, this film is highly recommended.

 

The film is leaving Criterion May 31st.   

 

Antonioni's 1957 Il Grido follows a man who has been spurned by his wife.  She leaves him suddenly, though obviously things have been building for a while.  He keeps charge of his young daughter, and together they leave home and travel while he searches for work and a place to live.  The film is ruined by a totally stupid ending, but otherwise is quite good.  When he ends up at a lonely gas station with a beautiful woman who runs it, he has a grand opportunity to settle down and start a new life.  However, his problem is that he loves no other woman except his wife.  He thus throws away an opportunity that might have saved him.

The film rambles a bit, and the settings and locations are as bleak as the man's life.  One feels sorry for the little girl, whom he doesn't seem to really love or cherish.  She seems more like a stray dog to him that he picked up on his travels, and he treats her as such.  We meet many interesting characters along the way, including a former girlfriend who would also have liked him to stay with her.  He doesn't stay, choosing instead to move on like the proverbial wandering cowboy.

Though not a particularly great film, it has moments that are memorable and unique.  The frustration for viewers when he finally returns to his home village and sees his wife but fails to go and see and talk to her, are off the scale.  Then comes the stupidest ending of almost any film I have seen.  An early film by the master that his fans should seek out.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

Spring Woodland Wildflower Walk

This long-awaited event usually happens on May 1st, the day after Beltane.  This year it occurred on May 2nd, due to wet weather on the 1st.  Beltane itself was a pretty good party, with music, our final indoor wood fire of the season, and Deb's highly anticipated return to normal eating by ordering a pizza from Armandos.  They offer several vegan style pizzas, and Deb had her first chew in many months.  Her jaw, which had stopped her from all solid foods, seems to be healing now, enough at least to have the occasional pizza.  In general her health has improved nearly 100% since Spring Equinox, including her bladder and kidney issues and those nasty blood clots in her lung.

 

The woodland walk was at a nearby conservation area that encompasses a large woodlot just northeast of the town of Essex.  This is a favourite location for our Spring walks, as it is usually filled with wildflowers.  This year was no exception, and we saw acres of them, with huge amounts of both wild ginger and jack-in-the-pulpits.  Of course spring beauties were everywhere, and violets in three colours.  A lot of buttercups were also seen.  The only important spring flower that this site doesn't have is the trillium.  At least in our adventures here we have never come across any of them.

 

 

Spring beauties up close.

 

A carpet of beauties surround a stump.  They seemed to be singing to it.

A sighting of the rare red-headed forest walker wildflower! 

 

 

 Wild violets up close.

 

 Wild violets not so close.

Wild ginger flowers are remarkably beautiful, but they are shy.  They usually hide beneath the broad leaves.

 

Things were happening in the woods today.

 

 

Part of the trail is on a boardwalk.  There was a lot of standing water today in places, and the mosquitoes won't be too far behind.

A buttercup. 

 

 

Part of our trail as it skirts open farmland.

There were some beautiful mosses seen today, always a favourite of mine.

 

In movie news there are a few to report.  Grand Tour is a Portuguese film from 2024 and directed by Miguel Gomes.  A man in Burma is about to meet his fiancee, arriving on a ship from England.  He gets cold feet and heads for the hills.  He goes to Bangkok, then Singapore, then into Chinese back country.  Though the year is 1917, the director uses modern scenes to describe much of the story.  In some cases budget restraints work wonderfully well if creatively handled, as does this film.  There is very little acting to do in the film, which is as much a travelogue as it is a story.  The narrator and filmed scenes of various cities and their street life present the story, often with much humour.  The film, mostly in b & w, reminded us often of the films of Guy Maddin, though this director's vision is far saner and more easily viewable.  Just when one thinks that are no new ways left to tell a story, here is a brand new and very effective way.  Highly recommended viewing.

 

Now showing on Mubi. 

 

Next came five short films by Romanian director Radu Jude.  The Tube With A Hat is a heartbreaking story of a poor family trying to get their old TV set repaired.   From 2006 it features a father and son all day trek (in the rain) to visit a TV repair shop in the city.  They carry the beast all the way there and all the way back.  Hiking, hitch hiking, and riding the bus eventually get them there and back.  However, the man drops the repaired set as they near their home again, slipping in the mud.  Will the TV work when they get it back inside their leaky-roofed home?  The film is 23 minutes of pure father-son adventure.

Shadow of a Cloud is from 2013 and is 30 minutes long.  A Bucharest priest is called to the side of a dying woman.  He begins to administer the last rites, as the woman is clearly dying.  However, the daughter of the dying woman interrupts him and tells him no, they want a prayer of healing.  He complies and leaves.  When the woman dies shortly afterwards, the daughter blames him entirely for the death, and his second visit does not go well.  An odd but effective film, very slowly paced.

The Marshall's Two Executions is from 2018 and is 10 minutes long.  Using actual b & w footage from a 1960s 4-man execution by firing squad in Romania, the director pairs the actual killings (which were filmed at the time) with a later colour film that also recreates events as they happened.  Thus we get to see a very grim part of Romanian history not once, but twice.  Gruesome and sad.

Plastic Semiotic is from 2021 and is 22 minutes long.  It is an hommage to childhood toys, many of them plastic.  Instead of using stop motion, the director sets ups dozens of tableaux featuring the toys, including some hilarious ones of toys having sex with each other.  This is as very fun film to watch, and the toy variety and quality are astounding.  Worth many viewings.

Caracturana is a 10 minute film that highlights graphic works by Daumier in a very unique manner.  The director organizes the film around hand gestures of the characters in the prints.  Quite fun, especially the prints themselves.

The Potemkinists is from 2022 and is 18 minutes long.  More Romanian history is detailed, having to do with the crew of the Potemkin.  They were actually accepted into Romania during the revolution, thus thwarting Russia's attempts to bring them all to justice.  A giant monument to the men stands on a high hill overlooking the Danube canal in Romania, but the bottom parts have been vandalized and removed by scrap thieves.  The film is about the historical events, but at the same time we see a man trying to convince a female bureaucrat to get the government to fund a repair job.  She is not convinced at first, but he manages to alter his vision slightly and get her on his side.  A fascinating bit of forgotten history.

 

Following our enjoyment of his small films, we attempted to watch a feature called Do Not Expect Too Much From The End of Time, from 2023.  Despite its success in festivals and high ratings from critics, it was not our cup of tea.  We bailed after about 20 minutes.  I see a lot of positive reviews from male writers, but female critics (where I am looking) seem absent.  Small wonder.  The profanity and misogyny are off the scale here.  Sure it might turn out differently, but in the meantime who wants to sit around and listen to a "friend" of Andrew Tate spout off about what he "knows" about women.  Boys may laugh (though I sincerely hope not), but I highly doubt that girls would.

 

Mapman Mike