Holidays

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house not a creature was stirring, except maybe a mouse.  And the house looked like there had been one hell of a party at Solstice.  Yes, it was another memorable fireside holiday here at the Homestead.  Most unusual was that it was clear skies all day and overnight.  So we were up to see dawn break, then sunrise, and 9 hours later a very fine sunset.  The wood lasted till dusk, and the house was very warm all day.  There was food, fine beverages (with a dark ale theme), gummies, music and more.  The music was Act I to Gotterdammerung, which we will conclude as the holiday goes on.  The Prelude and Act I last for 5 1/2 LP sides!  When completed, we will have played all of the finished operas of Wagner.  This might be our fourth time through The Ring.

 

Deb had her last medical appointment of 2025, a record year for such events.  She had an ultrasound on her kidneys to see how many more stones might be taking up residence there.  We will know more next Monday. 

 

In TV news we just finished a very interesting and well presented 4-part documentary series called The Victorians: Their Story in Pictures.  Presented by Jeremy Paxman, he takes the works of Victorian era painters to give a concise history of the period.  It is from 2009, but we just discovered it recently on one of our streaming channels.  Highly recommended, Paxman pulls no punches in telling it like it was imagined to be and how it really was.

 

Showing on BBC Select in Canada. 

 

In film news, here is the latest.  We have discovered a new Christmas movie favourite.  Christmas, Again is a 2014 film by American Charles Poekel.  Here is Mubi's blurb:

 

Need an antidote to the too-often terrible sub-genre of Christmas movies? Look no further than Charles Poekel’s debut: A gem that ignores the schlocky, capitalist veneer of holiday culture, but rather attends to the emotional and economic nuances brought about by the wintry, consumerist season.

 

A young man who lost recently lost his girlfriend (we are given no details) is back for the 5th year selling live trees for Christmas on a New York City corner.  Most of the film takes place on the corner or within the trailer used for sleep and warming.  We meet his business partners, a male/female pair that take the 12 hour day shift, while he manages the 12 hour night shift.  The film is mostly quiet, sometimes funny but mostly not.  Well acted and surprisingly engaging, I can easily recommend it.

 

Showing on Mubi. 

 

As Tears Go By is an early film (1988) by Wong Kar-Wai.  It tells the story of three gangster brothers who try to survive in a low life part of Kowloon.  Violence, revenge, and macho stupidity dominate the lives of most characters, though the older brother does have redeeming qualities.  His main problem is middle brother, a reckless tear-away.  When a female cousin from the island stays overnight with him to easier access hospital medical tests, his life begins to change.  Despite her good influence, however, he can't seem to break from his past life (middle brother again and again).  The ending seems to echo the message of many noir and crime films: crime doesn't really pay.  The tragic ending is expected.  Not a great film, but impressive enough for a debut feature.  Lots of forgettable pop music included.

 

Now showing on Mubi. 

 

The Last Mile (1932) begins as a hard and heart-rending look at 8 men on death row.  They are housed in separate cells in one room, and can't even see each other, though they do develop relationships between them.  The main character is a rather meek mother's boy who was wrongly convicted of murder and is due to be electrocuted soon.  The second half changes gears completely, as the prisoners, led by a brutish man called "Killer", manage to get hold of a guard's gun and keys.  Though trapped in the cell room, they engage in gunfights with guards.  They get killed off one by one until only the innocent man remains alive.  A stark drama indeed.  From a play by John Wexley.

 

From our vast DVD collection. 

 

Happy Holidays to everyone who reads this!

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 

Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy: An Apple TV Event

Winter is taking a brief respite today and tomorrow.  It's been cold.  How cold?  So far this season we have already had 16 days where the temp did not go above 0 C.  Some years we don't get that many cold days in an entire winter!  And it's still Autumn for another few days.  Often we don't get any until early to mid-January.  So it has been cold, though mostly snowless.  We've had an inch here and a half inch there, but not enough to ski or toboggan.  It's mostly gone now, and it will rain tomorrow.

Solstice preparations are made as we await the big event.  Hopefully we will see a sunrise and a sunset, though it's a very cloudy time of year over here.  Special food was brought in last night, and I only have one more small log to chop into firewood for the all day fire.  Aside from food and drink there will be music, this year the opera "Gotterdammerung", Act 1.  We'll hear Act 2 New Years Eve, and Act 3 at the full moon just after that date.  There might be some gaming, too.  Deb bought a new board game recently, adding to our already vast collection.  "Classic Art" is for 2-5 people.  More about it after we've played it.  We also have a Carcassonne tournament in progress, with Deb ahead 3 games to 2 in our best of 7 series.

 

With a lack of medical appointments of late we've been able to stay home a lot.  As a result the piano pieces are nearly ready for prime time, and Deb has been progressing with her latest film.  Tomorrow is actual filming day.  Yours truly will be the camera man for some of it.  My foot still bothers me, but slowly improves.  I am walking about 4 miles per week on the treadie just now, increasing the distance ever so slowly.  On soft ground I can walk for much longer, but on pavement I am still quite limited.

 

In film news there are three to report, before getting on to Foundation.  We watched Bi Gan's 2nd feature film, called Long Days Journey Into Night.  From 2018, here is the blurb from Criterion:

 

Bi Gan’s dazzling sophomore feature is a hallucinatory, noir-tinged stunner about a lost soul (Huang Jue) on a quest to find a missing woman from his past (Tang Wei). Following leads across Guizhou province, he crosses paths with a series of colorful characters, among them a prickly hairdresser played by Taiwanese superstar Sylvia Chang. When the search leads him to a dingy movie theater, the film launches him—and us—into an epic, gravity-defying sequence, an immersive, hour-long odyssey through a labyrinthine dreamscape that ranks as one of the true marvels of modern cinema. China’s biggest art-house hit of all time, LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT confirms Bi as one the most daring and exciting auteurs working today. 

 

Deb really took to the film, while I remain a bit cool towards it.  The photography is amazing, as are the locations used.  I liked his first film more than this one, though I would certainly watch this again.  We are anxious to see his 3rd and latest film, now out in a few theatres, called Ressurection.

 

Now showing on Criterion, along with his first film Kaili Blues. 

 

Only The River Flows is a Chinese film from 2023, directed by Wei Shujun.  The Criterion caption:

 

When a woman’s body washes up on the shore in small-town China in the 1990s, the local chief of police, Ma Zhe (Zhu Yilong), is tasked with leading the investigation. An obvious suspect leads to a hasty arrest, though the mystery lingers in Ma Zhe’s mind. What kind of darkness is truly at play here? As torrents of rain envelop the town, Ma Zhe will be drawn to the edge of madness in pursuit of truth. Both a tantalizing cinematic puzzle and a sharp-edged portrait of provincial paranoia, Wei Shujun’s ultra-atmospheric, retro-stylized noir captures the pulpy proceedings in gritty, textured film grain that goes beyond period recreation to fully evoke the look and feel of a bygone era.

 

I liked the film for its portrayal of a cop who is psychologically damaged by the case he is on.  With more bodies piling up then in an episode of Morse, each twist of the plot causes the detective to go a bit further off the deep end.  By the finish he is hallucinating and having lucid dreams, in one of which he shoots the murderer four times.  When he tells his superior that he has shot the criminal, he is asked to empty his gun.  It is still full of bullets. He is also having some domestic issues, with he pregnant wife having a good chance of delivering a seriously damaged child.  The scene with the cold and time-pressed female doctor is only one unforgettable scene among many.  Again situated far from the capital or well known Chinese city, the climate can only be described as horrendous, as heavy rains occur almost daily.  Well worth catching for crime film fans.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Mariner of the Mountains is a Brazil/France film from 2021 by Karim Anouiz.  His father came from a mountain village in Algeria and his mother from Brazil.  He was born in Algeria, but left when very young with his mother to Brazil.  Dad was supposed to follow but never did.  He now lives in France.  Karim travels from Marseilles to Algiers by boat, exploring the city for his first time.  Then he moves on to his father's village where he meets some relatives.  This is a very personal documentary about one man's search for his roots, and really doesn't involve us very much.  Having said that, the photography of Algiers and the few villages we visit, including many of the people, is nothing less than transcending.  Far from being a travelogue, many of the images are memorable and the people photogenic.  We do for a time feel as if we are a silent partner on this journey, though we eventually get left behind.  At its root it is a home movie of a man's search for part of himself, though of course it is much more than that.  Well worth catching if you have wished to visit Algiers (my hand gets raised).

 

Now showing on Mubi. 

 

Lastly, we have watched 5 episodes of Apple TV's Foundation series, based on the 3 volumes of stories and novellas by Isaac Asimov.  I read the series in late high school years, when I was devouring everything "trilogy".  I remember practically nothing about the books except that I quite liked it.  So a reread is obviously in order.  There are three seasons worth of TV viewing (a 4th is in the works), ten episodes per season, and about an hour per episode.  We have traveled through 5 hours of 30 so far, being halfway through Season One.  It is big budget stuff, having to match effects with Rings of Power and Game of Thrones.  Of course it is all dead serious stuff, with some recreational sex thrown in, I suppose, to lighten the mood.  It doesn't help much.  Even the sex is too serious.  The current Foundation (all humans--no aliens in the books) is ruled by clones of the original Emperor: one is older and has passed power over to the middle clone, with a young one on hand to watch things for when it is his turn.  These clones have offered nothing new in hundreds of years and the society, especially in the outer regions of the planetary collective, is growing restless and resistive.  So we have terrorists attacking the Empire, which rules mostly by fear and punishment.  Watching the terrorists take down the Empire so easily makes one wonder how they have been able to have control for so long.  Two bombs and the miles high sky bridge that leads into orbit is destroyed, and later one shot from a space canon takes down a massive Empire warship.  Though the upcoming fall of the Empire has been mathematically proved, it is mostly disbelieved.  However, a 2nd Foundation is being set up to try and help survivors when the first Foundation does crumble.  So far its pretty good, especially in the looks department.  As I don't recall the Asimov version I can't say right now how close the books are being followed.  We will, at the very least, finish off Season One.

 

We are halfway through Season One. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

A Very Early Winter

Snow, cold, wind.  It arrived more than a month early this year.  We appear to be having our January instead of December.  Currently hovering just above freezing, that will once again change overnight to some pretty severe cold for this part of the south.  There have been a few pretty nice sunsets, however, and before all the leaves came tumbling down there were some lovely scenes from the garden.  But now it's just harsh winter, though in a week it looks as if we may return to more seasonal weather, just in time for Solstice.

 

One of those sunsets we see from our southwest window. 

 

We have had snow on the ground since late November.  The leaves are now long gone. 

 

Last week I had a chance to play my newest piano program on Dr. Seski's Fazioli piano.  There were a few memory spots that needed brushing up.  Tomorrow I take the program to Chatham to play them on Jim P.'s 9' Steinway!  Though it's much less stressful to play on one's own instrument, by playing pieces on a different piano one quickly learns how to adapt to different situations.  For example, the treble range of the Fazioli is not as powerful as my Yamaha, but the bass notes are stronger.  So balance is a problem that has to be adjusted for each and every piece.  Similar problems will arise tomorrow on the Steinway, not to mention that each piano has a totally different touch to it, and subtleties of expression must be adjusted second by second as one plays.  In short, if the pieces come off pretty well on a different piano, then they should be easier to play afterwards on the home instrument.  I will try and get a few photos tomorrow; I completely forgot to take some of the Fazioli.

 

Deb took her first injection today of her new RA drug.  It is a very expensive drug, costing just over $1000.00 each month, and is self administered bi-weekly.  First time went well.  Two months will tell her how well it is working.  The previous drug, taken as a daily pill, worked well for her RA symptoms, but seemed to cause her shortness of breath to worsen and her dry cough to increase.

 

In movie news there are three to report.  Kaili Blues is a Chinese film from 2015 and directed by Bi Gan.  Fascinating in its own way, it takes us to a region of China few westerners have seen or heard about.  With good reason.  It is a damp sub topical climate, and the outlying villages appear to be very poor and badly built.  Grey crumbling concrete dominates the architectural landscape, and people live inside very run down housing, doing business from very run down storefronts.  The plot, such as it is, serves mostly to take us deep into the river valley and forest where people form a nearly continuous population up and down the river.  We are not in Kaili City for long, as one of two brothers leaves to find his young nephew, whom his younger brother was going to sell.  Instead, a friend took the boy away and put him in school, but the uncle wants to raise him and goes in search.  The film is noted for a continuous tracking shot of just over 40', and it is a remarkable deep dive into the lives of poorer people living along the river, seemingly far away from modern civilization.  We have one more film of Bi Gan to watch, as this one has piqued our interest.  A very offbeat film, and easy to watch for the most part.  Very little happens except people living their lives.  The young generation of males appears to be completely lost to the world.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Before that came Silvia Prieto, a 1999 film from Argentina.  Billed as a deadpan comedy, it does have its moments.  Silvia decides to abruptly change her life, and quits using cannabis and leaves her barista job.  She buys a canary but doesn't want one that sings.  She discovers that there is another Silvia Prieto in Buenos Aires and feels compelled to contact and meet with her.  At times the film is brutally cold, with characters not showing much emotion.  At other times we simply watch in wonder as Silvia gets a temporary job handing out free powdered soap samples with another woman her age.  They end up dating each other's ex-husbands.  The final shot of the movie is a bizarre documentary section that gathers several women together in a living room, all of them named Silvia Prieto, and we hear a bit about each of their lives.   Not a great film, and seemingly as pointless as the lives of the characters within it, though it does have a few sparkling moments.

 

Now showing on Mubi. 

 

Before that came an even more rambling and pointless film, though this one was a bit more fun to watch.  92 in the Shade is a 1975 film directed by (and written by) Thomas McShane.  What makes this one fun to watch is the cast.  The film stars Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Margot Kidder, Harry Dean Stanton, Elisabeth Ashley and Burgess Meredith.  Fonda wants to run a fishing guide business in Florida, but he runs into problems with Oates, just released from jail, who doesn't want the competition.  After they play a mean trick on Fonda, he blows up Oates' fishing boat to even the score.  Fonda is good in the role of a young man trying to wiggle his way into the world, while Burgess Meredith is hilarious as his off-his-rocker grandfather.  Of the two endings filmed at the time we saw the one where Oates gets his ultimate revenge on Fonda.  In the unseen ending they both end up becoming friends.  Not recommended, but if you do see it it's good enough to sit through once.

 

Leaving Criterion Dec. 31st. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

More Doctors and More Movies

In weather news, it's way too cold, December or not.  Today's high was a sunny 24 F.  Of course we had to drive all over the place, too.  And there is still a lot of road construction, which should have ended a month ago.  Tonight's full moon is called The Cold Moon.  No kidding.

 

First stop today was Deb's rheumatologist.  Deb has been having some significant side effects to her new RA meds.  So she is now off that one and we are on to a biologic drug, which will have to be self-injected every two weeks.  After that we went to see her heart specialist, following up on some tests from a few weeks ago.  All clear on the heart front.  Deb is now free of medical appointments for almost three weeks, when she gets an ultra-sound to see if any more kidney stones are in the works.

 

After the two medical appointments we went to Best Buy.  Our brand new computer has been in for repair almost since the day we bought it back in early October.  Today they gave us a brand new one, since the previous one could not be repaired (?).  We will get it going over the weekend.

 

In an update to my foot problem, which has kept me from walking since last June, things are on the upswing.  I had another radioactive test to determine if I had any kind of bone infection.  As I have heard nothing from my GP, I will assume there is no infection.  On Wednesday I went to a foot care nurse in A'burg who managed to free me from a painful ingrowing toenail.  She seemed to think that the impact from last June jammed my toenail back into my foot.  She took care of that in about 20 minutes and I am already feeling much better.  We'll see how the treadmill walking goes tomorrow, but I am feeling confident that things are finally on the mend.  On Monday I will see my new GP.  Dr. Shen is Deb's physician and he has agreed to take me on as a patient since my doctor moved much farther away from me.  Medical news now complete.

 

In movie news there are four to report.  First come two films from one of my DVD classic films pack.  Giants of Rome is from 1964, a sword and sandal film set in the Punic wars.  Four hand picked soldiers (and a young kid stowaway) are tasked with taking out an enemy secret weapon (a giant fire throwing catapult), leading up to the famous Battle of Alesia.  Julius Caesar is under great pressure to win this one for Rome, and that pressure is transferred to the four warriors.  This is a pretty good adventure film, as the four are captured and imprisoned, break out and are then pursued by the enemy.  The climatic scene sees the weapon destroyed and Caesar marches on to victory.  Mixing actual history with fiction works pretty well in this case.

 

From my classic 50 DVD collection "Warriors." 

 

From the same collection, and also a pretty decent film for its day, comes Herod The Great, from 1959.  Herod was a cruel leader unloved by his people, and when he joins forces against Rome with Anthony and Cleopatra, his doom appears to be sealed.  But he sets out to meet his conqueror, Augustus, to convince him that he, Herod, is a valuable man to keep Rome's interests at heart back in his kingdom.  He is allowed to live and serve Rome.  Here on in it becomes a film more related to Othello, as his best friend is tortured for being unfaithful,and his wife is stoned to death.  All this happens as a famous "star" appears in the heavens, and news of the birth of a new king of Judea is announced.  Realizing that he has erred, Herod dies.  Not a great film ,but it does have its moments, and Edmund Purdom as Herod is quite good in the role.

 

From my classic 50 DVD collection "Warriors." 

 

We got to see one more Johnnie To film before they left Criterion.  Throw Down is from 2004 and is the director's hommage to Kurosawa, a director whom he reveres.  Watching a Chinese film about Judo (a Japanese martial art) can be a bit disconcerting, but this is a really fun film to watch.  Filled with humour, some incredible Judo matches (I studied Judo for a year before giving it up for Karate), it is a film without gun play, though there is plenty of action.  The three main characters consist of a young Judo expert who wishes to fight against one of the greats, though that person has fallen into gambling and alcohol addiction.  The third character is a young female singer trying hard to make it in Hong Kong.  The three characters are totally different, but they somehow bond.  There are several scenes which can be called classic ones, including the opening scene when the young girl is getting thrown out of her apartment for not paying rent; the all out Judo fight in the bar; and the scene near the end involving a red balloon.  Pretty much a terrific film, and recommended.

 

 

Throw Down, a Johnnie To film that left Criterion Nov. 30th. 

 

Lastly comes a restored version of a 1988 film from Turkey.  From the Mubi website:

 

Eleven-year-old Yekta lives in a crumbling island mansion with her strict aunts and ailing grandfather, yearning for her absent mother. As dreams and surreal visions shape her solitude, she sets out in search of a mythical seagull with a child’s head.

A cult hit in Turkey, Reha Erdem’s poetic and surreal first feature was impressively shot on an ultra-low budget yet is entirely virtuosic. Loosely based on an Istanbul myth, and shot on black and white film, with Oh, Moon! Erdem proved both his resourcefulness and his lucid cinematic vision.

 

This is a spellbinding b & w film that relates images of angels with only heads and wings, often seen in Baroque paintings, to a young girl's search for her long dead mother.  Offbeat does not begin to tell the tale here.  There are four main characters, which include the girl, her two aunts, and an older young man who for a time befriends the girl.  He is also a photographer searching for "the bird with wings and a baby's head."  A fifth character is an old man, the caretaker at an abandoned monastery, who witnesses the final ascension of the girl on the hilltop where the monastery sits.  Largely set in a crumbling and lonely mansion, the film borders on surreal at times, and at others gives unsettling views of loneliness and disconnectedness.  With its startling ending, almost echoing Picnic at Hanging Rock, this is a must film for those that love unusual but highly watchable classic films.

 

Oh Moon is currently showing on Mubi. 

Mapman Mike