Yes, it's astronomy season again. Reading and sleeping have gone by the wayside. This past week saw 5 clear nights in a row. I was able to use three of them, as I need a day in between to recover from late nights. Also, it is a 50 minute drive each way, which can be tiring. But I have satellite radio and usually listen to NPR, CBC, or BBC World, so the time passes relatively quickly. I might snag one more night before the moon is too bright. Although we have a clubhouse and observatory slightly closer to home, the light pollution is so bad there now that I seldom even consider going there. Instead, I park my self between two giant windmills on a narrow dirt road amidst soybean fields. When harvest comes around I have to scoot elsewhere, or be blinded by combine lights. No one has ever bothered me out there, not even the coyotes that often howl as they pass by. I recently cleaned the mirror and reset it in its casing. It made a huge difference this week to my observing program, too. The mirror eventually gets coated by dust and loses some of its ability to gather light, so periodic cleaning is necessary.
As I said above, my reading time goes out the window during a run of clear nights like this. At night I am under the stars, and my afternoon reading time is usually spent napping. So I am still reading the first book, a non fiction by Silverberg.
In other news, film festival weekend has arrived, and is now being spread over two weekends. As things work out I get five choices in a row. We began with a strange little 1960 Italian film starring Marcello called Il bell'Antonio, about a handsome man who attracts women to him. He thinks he will never marry until he sees a photo of his supposed intended, played by Claudia Cardinale (21 years old in the picture). He falls madly in love for the first time in his life and the wedding takes place. However, because he is really in love with her, he is unable to consummate the marriage. No problems with flirts and whores and even the maid, but not his wife. This is really an oddball film, attacking society, the church, and marriage itself. To Marcello, making love to his young wife would be like making it with a real angel. He is unable to get past his sexual block when with her. Of course annulment comes soon afterwards, and he is ridiculed. There are several lighter moments, too, and the film was shot mostly in Sicily. Well worth a look, especially the restored version.
Now showing on Criterion.
One of the house rules for film selection is that at least one choice must come from the "leaving soon" selection on either Mubi or Criterion. I chose a 1943 comedy directed by George Stevens called The More The Merrier, starring Joel McCrea, Jean Arthur, and Charles Coburn. Not only is there a shortage of men in wartime Washington, D.C., but a critical shortage of housing, too. The film has a lot of fun with both shortages when Jean Arthur sublets a bedroom in her apartment. Watch how Coburn walks past the long line of people waiting outside to interview for the room at 5 pm, and takes the place for himself. Today, exactly the same gag could be done with people staring at their phones as they wait; in 1943 they are all standing there reading their newspapers. This is one of many funny gags. Coburn's missing pants provide another. Coburn then ends up letting half of his bedroom to McCrea. Quite a fun picture.
Lastly came out first viewing of Blow Up in five or six years. Criterion just got it, along with La Dolce Vita (see next blog). Antonioni created a cultural icon with his 1966 film, still one of the best looks at swinging London ever put on film. Though the main story about a photographer that unwittingly captures a murder on film is still the central element, there are so many distractive scenes and sidelines that one always discovers something new. Such scenes include, but are not limited to, the visit to the old pawnshop and the purchase of a giant propeller, the sexually playful scenes with the young girls who want to be models (Jane Birkin is the blonde; she was 20 but could easily pass for 16), and the brilliant Yardbirds club scene. These all contribute hugely to the overall effect of the film, though not directly involved in the plot. Because of being over budget many scenes relating to the plot and its explanation were left out. Thank goodness. The film is a masterpiece as it stands. One of my favourite films of all time. Can you hear the tennis ball at the very end of the film?
Mapman Mike
