It's been a very strange Spring, with temps varying from highs of 39 F to 72 F. We've had rain, snow, and winds. Astronomy has been a total bust, with the one usable night far too cold to venture out. The temps have finally settled down, so we are finally getting outdoors. We walked rails to trails segments yesterday and today (Thursday), and hope to continue on until it gets too hot. Deb isn't walking fast, but she is walking. She has a big medical appointment in two weeks, and we should know then if she is fit to travel.
In movie news there are three to report. Have you seen a good documentary lately about moths? We have. Nocturnes is a 2024 film from India directed by Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan. It follows the night research exploits of a young female scientist who is trying to determine how climate change is affecting moths. She collects them on a plastic sheet, attracting them with bright lights. When they land and spread their wings they are photographed (the sheet has a grid pattern) and measured. An overwhelming number of moths are viewed, so she has to limit herself to studying only hawk moths. The research was conducted at different altitudes in the rain forest mountains of northern India near the border with Bhutan. The photography, both of moths and of landscape, are absolutely riveting and spellbinding. A must see film for nature lovers and for people who like sit within nature and simply watch what happens.
Next came two black and white classic Hollywood films, both leaving Criterion this month. Barbary Coast is from 1935, and purports to tell the tale of San Francisco in the early days of the gold rush era. It stars Edward G Robinson as the brutal owner of the main restaurant, saloon and casino. He owns the town and lets everyone know it. Miriam Hopkins is the first "white" woman to arrive in town (there are Mexicans), and she causes quite a stir. Her fiancee was murdered so she is taken in by Robinson and set to work as hostess on his crooked roulette wheel. She meets innocent gold hunter Joel McCrea and they hit it off. Robinson goes insanely jealous. A fun filmn to watch, with lots of mud, fog and rain.
Lastly came a Fritz Lang film we had never seen. It's called The Blue Gardenia and it's from 1953. It's a murder mystery film with not very much new to say to fans of the genre. Anne Baxter is dumped by her soldier boyfriend who is over in Korea, and she gets mixed up with Raymond Burr, a lecherous artist. She gets so drunk that she passes out. He is murdered. Did the sweet girl do it? Since we are told nothing at all until the very end, of course she did it. But of course she didn't. Not a great example of noir film, it was written by Vera Caspary, perhaps better known for Laura. It is good enough to watch, though.
Leaving Criterion April 30th.
We have started to replay a very old PC game called Zork Nemesis, from all the way back to 1996. We had some problems getting it to run on Steam, but it seems to be mostly working now. This was always one of my favourite games, a a very dark cousin to the much lighter Zork games. It was the first game I played that offered a 360 degree field of view, which is what caused the Steam problem at first. Luckily there are always geeks out there who figure out what to do when things go wrong. Hopefully we can continue to play trouble free, though the cursor and sound sometimes give trouble.
Mapman Mike
No comments:
Post a Comment