Chess Master Mikie

 Yes, I have taken up the game again, dusting off my old 2 CD game, which includes tons of lessons, puzzles, and games to play.  I gave up chess years ago, realizing that I was quite hopeless.  So I need to be reminded again that I am hopeless, so here we go.  I only have about 30 minutes per day right now, so it will take me a few weeks at least to beat the computer at the Grand Master level.  I'll let you know when that happens....

Today was a real January day.  It was pretty cold, and very sunny and bright.  I go out twice each day to feed the birds and squirrels, but today I also did a bit of yard work, cleaning up some tree shoots that have to go.  And there is snow in the forecast!  1"-3" predicted for Monday night.  No sleep Monday, with the plows going past.  We have a four lane main road to our west, and a two lane main road to our south.  Thus the plow has to pass six times to clean the roads.  They sound like Smaug attacking Laketown when they pass.

I am considerably behind in movie news, so here goes.  Most recently we watched The President's Analyst, starring James Coburn as a psychiatrist who is recruited to be on call for the President.  It takes a lot out of him, and he tries to run away after awhile.  However, he knows too much, and spies are out to nab him, and his own government wants him dead.  This is quite a funny film from 1967, a spoof on spy movies, hippies, and government (and telephone company) surveillance.  Coburn is perfect in the role.

                                        Showing on Criterion Channel until January 31st.

Before that we watched My Life In Cinema: Akira Kurosawa.  From 1993, the master is interviewed for 90 minutes by Japanese director Nagisa Oshima.  It's a low tech straight forward 90 minutes of talking, but there are many fascinating moments, such as when Kurosawa talks about his early days as a director's assistant, and starting up his own production company.  We only have two of his films left to watch, and thus Ran will be coming up next week (already seen years ago).  I also want to see the films of Oshima, of which Criterion has many.

Before that came two picks of Deb's.  The Picture of Dorian Gray, from 1945, is a classic horror movie.  Though I have seen it many years ago, I had forgotten how much of Wilde's witty dialogue had made it into the film.  Many zinger lines come so fast and furious that it's hard to keep up, and if you laugh out loud, which is hard to avoid, you miss the next one.  Hatfield is suitably creepy as the man who loses control of his soul, and George Sanders is totally amazing as the bored aristocrat who starts the whole ball rolling, so to speak.

                                        Showing on the Criterion Channel until January 31st. 

 

Before that came Yi Yi (2000) by Edward Yang.  Filmed in Taipei and Tokyo, the epic film follows the life of a family through a wedding, a funeral, and day to day crap that most families have to endure.  There is the 8 year old boy, and we see many of his strange adventures at home, school and beyond.  His older sister is Ting Ting, and she becomes involved in her first (disastrous) romance.  The mother has a breakdown because she basically has no life and no personality.  She heads off to a mountain monastery retreat.  Dad heads to Tokyo to try and land a big business deal, hooking up with a woman he loved and should have married 30 years ago.  The film is episodic, and not always fascinating, but overall it's a winner and worth seeing.  The peek inside such a family, and in such locations is a real treat.  There is a lot of humour, but it is well balanced with drama and day to day happenings.

 

                                            A very long movie, now showing on Criterion.
 

Before that came my 3rd viewing of Local Hero, from 1983.  This is one of my all time favourite films.  Burt Lancaster is great as a Texas oil tycoon who is distracted by the night sky, and wants to discover a comet.  Peter Capaldi is hilarious as a Scottish assistant to an American junior executive sent over to acquire a Scottish village and a pristine northern beach, in order to build a storage facility for oil.  A wonderful picture from start to finish, episodic and quirky, but becoming more and more charming as it goes along.

 

                                                Showing on Criterion until January 31st. 

 

Lastly came part 4 of Fassbinder's eminently watchable series for German TV, called Eight Hours Don't Make A Day.  It's described as a working class family drama.  With only one part remaining to view, I am going to miss this series and the people who inhabit it.  It's hard to believe that this is from the same director as Berlin Alexanderplatz.

Turning to a pair of paintings (one this time, and the other one next time), I can clearly remember when these works entered the collection in 1980.  The first painting is loud in every sense of the word, from the bright colours and perfect day of weather, to the musicians playing full out for the vigorous dance.  Though the picture is attractive in its own weird way, like many fine paintings the greatest pleasure comes from observing the details.  The artist certainly focuses on music and dance, but all the five senses are meant to be engaged here.  One can almost smell the sea, not to mention the market fish on display.  As for touch, that sword fish sword appears irresistible!  I may have featured this work in an earlier blog post, but it's worth looking at again.

Tarantella at Mergellina, ca. 1750, Filippo Falciatore, Italian (active 1718-1768).  Oil on Canvas.  One of a pair, Detroit Institute of Arts.  30" x 40" unframed.

 

 

Detail of central focus.

Detail of left side, lower.

 Detail of lower right side.

 Detail of upper right side.  

Of course there is more to say, but I must save some for next time.

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

Local Covid Update, and Some CDs

Per capita our little county has the highest rate of Covid infection in Canada, though still behind California, Arizona, and the UK.  Our hospitals have had to send patients to hospitals far and wide, as they are beyond full.  The nursing home death numbers have become outrageous, and the vaccine roll out is not going very well.  We've been staying home for 10 months now, remaining firmly grounded and not acting any crazier than normal.  Deb's newest films are being accepted into festivals, and of course winning prizes.  She is now at work on Yorick Season 3, with a little help from yours truly, who did the voice over of the narrator.

I am just beginning to wrap my poor little head around the Beethoven CD collection recently purchased.  The listening program is still pleasantly mired in his earliest works, written mostly for friends and social gatherings in Bonn, his birth city which he left at age 22.  With multiple recordings of many of the later pieces by different artists/orchestras, this is a project that will carry on long past the 250th anniversary of his birth.  And so, what did we do after purchasing 123 Beethoven CDs?  We bought the Bach set of 222 CDs.

 

 We got the last edition of the set available in Canada (with free shipping!).  It was very expensive, but much less money than spending a holiday weekend in Cleveland or Cincinnati or Chicago.  The box is twice the size of the enormous Beethoven one, and twice as heavy.  We've already started into it, in a less formal way than the Beethoven project.  We are starting with the "Over 50 CDs of alternate recordings..."  The first thing we heard was a recording of the Brandenburg Concerto #1 from 1935, recorded at Abbey Road Studio, London!  There will likely be some Bach heard in our house everyday for the next year at least.  Fun times!

Our most recent film watched was Bill Forsythe's Housekeeping, a film from 1987 we have seen and enjoyed on two previous occasions.  It had been many years, but the 3rd viewing was just as entrancing as the first two.  Great story, great acting, and filmed in beautiful British Columbia.  It is leaving Criterion at the end of the month.  There is a really haunting quality about this film, as it explores the relationship between a shy teenage outcast and her freestyle but caring aunt.  Highly recommended viewing, and more than once.

We continue to watch a number of series as well.  On Prime we are watching Tony Robinson's Walking Through History series, and I am about to begin a five hour WW 1 documentary series there.  On Britbox we are watching Tom Baker's Dr. Who years, the first seasons of Red Dwarf and Black Adder, and the 3rd season of Upstart Crow.  And Season 7 of Elementary has just become available on Prime, so here we go.  Lots of viewing going on at the moment, though only about 2 hrs per day right now.

Time for a painting from the DIA.  Today its a landscape (aren't they all?) by Jan Weenix, called Italian Peasants Among Ruins.  The painting shows northern European viewers not only how ancient and beautiful and pleasant Italy is, but also how those peasants down there lead nearly ideal lives.  Mothers and babies are healthy and well-fed, and foreign travellers stop to chat with the friendly locals.  Imagine living in Holland and seeing such images of sunny hills and ancient ruins.  Imagine living in Essex County in January, just as flat as Holland and much colder, and seeing such an image.  I can almost imagine such a thing.

 

Italian Peasants Among Ruins, Jan Weenix, Dutch, 1621-1659,  ca 1649.  Oil on canvas, 26" x         31.5".  Collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts.  

 

Detail of left side.  That is one fat baby.

 

Detail of right side, with dog drinking.  A painting within a painting.  

 

Signing off till next time.  Hope you are enjoying the American insurrectionists getting caught one by one as much as I am.  Hopefully you-know-who is next.

Mapman Mike