The busy four lane road in front of our house is a decommissioned provincial highway, now a county road. Every once in a while, when the old pavement is cracked beyond repair, they repave it. Step one is to reduce traffic to one lane in each direction. Then they rebuild the storm sewers. Then they wait for the paving company to have some time to do it. That takes a couple of weeks. Finally comes stage three, when the old pavement is literally melted where it stands and taken away in dump trucks. Stage four is the actual repaving, followed by painting the lines, then removing the traffic cones. The whole thing took about a month. Today we have new pavement in front of our house, up to about a mile further towards Windsor.
Two paving machines worked in tandem to cover both northbound lanes today. A few days ago they did the southbound lanes.
Dump trucks full of hot asphalt are lined up down the road, waiting their turn.
As you can see, the excitement never stops around the old Homestead. Passing ships, birds at the feeder, grass growing--it's all here!
We have loaded a new (for us) PC game called 80 Days. Fogg and Passpartout set out from London and have 80 days to encircle the globe (or maybe 81). This is a simple 2D adventure game with a steampunk twist, and it is proving to be entertaining and challenging. The game as designed has virtually limitless replay possibilities, as they are nearly endless ways of traveling, each with their own twist. The following postcard shows us at our most recent destination.
We are playing on Steam, which carries reviews of the game by all of the previous players. Here is one review (complete) that cinched it for us and got us to play. "Spent 37 days dying in the North Pole because two gay lovers were sabotaging our vehicle because we weren't communists. 10/10" With a review like that how can one go wrong? This is a very promising game so far.
Turning to films, we have the usual mix of weird things we watch and enjoy. Including Deb's films (ha ha). I got to see the first complete (non-sound) version of her latest film. It is visually stunning and spellbinding and original and should make quite a splash at selected film festivals. She is now working on details and will soon be adding sound. Deb's website is at upper left in my margin. Here you can keep up with all her latest creations.
We watched an oldie directed by Robert Altman. A Wedding from 1978 is not the usual film title that interests us. Altman tackles a wedding between a rich American family's daughter and a mafioso's son. It is lavish and expensive, and the film opens in the church. Lots of people on the groom's side, and virtually no one on the bride's side. Altman's comedy is sometimes subtle and sometimes not. The old bishop is a family friend and has been called out of retirement to perform the ceremony. There are some very funny scenes here. The reception is at the mafia homestead, and a host of Altman's favourite actors are given recurring scenes, some funny and some not. Carol Burnett gets a lead role, getting hustled by a huge man who wants her to be his own. It is Carol's daughter who is getting married. There is an eccentric aunt who is anxiously awaiting the arrival of her very large gift. When it finally arrives she gathers everyone together for the unveiling of a portrait of the bride--a nude! Geraldine Chaplin is the organizer of events. Also starring Mia Farrow as the bride's nympho younger sister, Desi Arnaz, Jr, Vittorio Gassman and Lillian Gish. Actually well worth watching.
The Pervert's Guide To Ideology is a terrific documentary from 2013, narrated by the funny and zesty Slavoj Zizek. He uses scenes from films to illustrate the use and misuse of the term ideology, showing what it is and what it isn't. As he talks about a particular film and shows clips, he will insert himself into the location and continue his lecture as if he is on the actual movie set. His accent is pretty thick and it can be tricky to understand him at times, but what he says is always worth listening to. Also mixed in are news clips from demonstrations, riots and political propaganda events. Directed by Sophie Fiennes, this is a must see film for philosophy students and film students, or people like us who are both. Highly recommended, and worth more than one viewing.
Most recently we watched Saturday Fiction, a Chinese film directed by Lou Ye from 2019 that started out quite promising but then degenerated into a massive shoot-em-up, where virtually all the lead characters die. The story takes place in Shanghai a week before Pearl Harbour is attacked, and continues up to the very day. What we get is a spy story mixed in with preparing a political play for live performance. The two mesh well up to a point, until the film just breaks itself apart with mindless violence. Good acting, and the b & w film is beautifully photographed. In the end, though, it was disappointing. There is also an awful lot of cigarette smoking. How many films have started out great and ended badly? Too many to count. Are you listening Wim Wenders?
Streaming on Criterion until midnight July 31st.
Mapman Mike
No comments:
Post a Comment