February

It will be one to remember.  For two weeks now we have been in a snowy deep freeze.  After Monday night's 9" snowfall, we now have over a foot on the ground.  The good news is that there is enough snow to snowshoe.  The bad news is that we are too tired from shovelling to do much else physically.  I have shovelled every day this week so far, and it is snowing again right now.  The temps are supposed to go above freezing on Monday, which will make 17 days in a row staying below 0 C, not counting wind chills.  But the temps are not going to reach the daily average well into March, so we are staying below normal for a long time yet.  Wednesday's low of -22.5C broke the record here for that day.  Remember, folks, this is extreme southern Canada, not the great white north.

I had fun watching all the tension during the Mars landing today.  Personally I thought the mission would fail, due to its complexity.  But it went off (so far) without a hitch, and it was a real thrill once that confirmation came that all was well.  We have the NASA TV channel on our system, so we watched in on big screen TV.  Can't wait for the science to start now.

We have been using Skype to talk with Deb's mom, who is still in the hospital, two weeks now.  We also talked with my parents the other night, the first time I've seen them in nearly 15 months.  So if anyone out there reading this wants to Skype with us, let us know.  We are good to go.

In Mogollon news, his right eye has been changing almost daily, but at least it is not causing him any discomfort.  It grew to the size of a green grape last week, before shrinking down to the size of a pea.  We send regular photo updates to the vet.  He has an appetite, purrs a lot, and is now even coming upstairs to nap with me in the afternoon.  Drops only go in his good eye now, as his bad one is quite dead, though still physically changing.

 

In movie news, Deb's choice from the 'leaving February 28th' list was a wonky film directed by Stanley Donen called The Grass Is Greener, from 1960.  Starring Cary grant, Robert Mitchum, Deborah Kerr, and Jean Simmons, the best thing about the film is the hilarious opening credits sequence, though it has absolutely nothing to do with the film itself.  Billed as a 'sparkling bedroom farce,' I would consider the film a farce, at least.  I found it quite distasteful, with Mitchum too old as the rude intruder who falls for Kerr.  And why does she fall for him in the first place?  Cary Grant seems to sleepwalk through his role, with Simmons providing the only spark to the film.  Give it a miss. 

Leaving Criterion Feb. 28th. 

 

My main choice for the week consisted of several short films, totally about 95 minutes. Four of the films were by Ghanian director Akosua Adoma Owusu.  From 2005 came Adjube Kete, a six minute film following a day in the life of a young village girl, who is bullied by her family as she goes about her daily chores.  Next, from 2010 comes Drexciya, a brilliant 12 minute film about an abandoned swimming pool.  Here is the blurb for the film..... 

"Akosua Adoma Owusu draws on the Afrofuturist legends propagated by the underground Detroit-based band Drexciya—about a mythical underwater subcontinent populated by the unborn children of African women thrown overboard during the Transatlantic slave trade—for her portrait of a once-grand, now abandoned public swimming facility in Accra, Ghana."   

I think that J. G. Ballard would have loved this film.  I really liked it myself.  Next up was Kwaku Ananse, a 26 minute film from 2013, telling about a young African American woman visiting Ghana for her father's funeral.  It veers off into local folklore, and enters some lovely landscape.  Quite well done.  Lastly from this director came her Mi Brone Ba, from 2009.  This is a funny look at hair braiding, using an African tradition of practicing on little white dolls.  It is 22 minutes long, and ends with a joke that is very funny.  After these four films, I want to visit Accra even more now.  I spent a lot of time last summer wandering the streets and visiting markets using Google Maps, and I keep an eye on flights coming and going from Amsterdam, which is directly connected to Detroit.

 

Next was Touch, directed by Shola Amoo, a British director.  From 2013, it is a 12 minute SF film about a beautiful android falling in love.  A very simple film, of the kind one sees so often at film festivals.  Lastly came The Lonedale Operator, directed in 2018 by American filmmaker Michael Almereyda, lasting 15 minutes.  It is an interview with the aged poet John Ashbery.  Extremely well done and fun to watch, it is illustrated with clips from several old movies.  

 

My leaving Feb. 28th film for tonight is Dr. Strangelove.  It's been way too long....  It's also DSO night, with a Brahms chamber piece on the program.

 

For today's art image, I have chosen a favourite image of Deb taken at the Nelson Atkins Art Museum in Kansas City.  Taken a few years ago when Deb still had long hair.

 

Deb visits Kansas City, and meets a friend.  

 

Mapman Mike

 

Gaudi

Our second little blast of winter has gone the same way as the first one; all the snow has melted, and we are having modestly mild days.  We are now inside our 6 weeks of darkness, being the three weeks before and after winter solstice.  Of course our 42 degree latitude means it never really gets dark all the time here; even at the solstice we still manage 9 hours with the sun above the horizon.  But it is relative, and it's plenty dark by 5:30 pm now.  It is also time for the new astronomy session.  I really lucked out in November, but will be lucky if I can grab one good night out of the deal this month.  Any bit of wind combined with cold temps and I'm done, since I literally am out standing in a field.

 

Our county, Essex, is spending the week in the "red" zone, as we are breaking records for the number of Covid cases each day.  Our hospitals are getting swamped, too.  Green, yellow, orange, red, then lockdown.  We were green just a few weeks ago, and have been proceeding through all the pretty colours since then.  We hit red on Monday.  By next week we will likely be in lockdown mode.  To us it makes little difference.  We are home except for groceries and pet food.  It's becoming apparent that a vaccine will not end the pandemic, either.  What will?  Nothing humans could agree on.  I wonder how tackling climate change will be possible, if we can't stay home and drive less for a major disease.

 

We have received our 3rd National Geographic magazine since subscribing.  October was all about the latest dinosaur research, November was given over to Covid, including a lot about Detroit (where the disease is currently very subdued compared to the rest of the US), and December is given over to the Great Lakes.  I was hoping it would come with a wall map of same, like in the good old days, but it was not to be. 

 

In movie news we watched Antonio Gaudi, a film by Hiroshi Teshigahara.  It's more like a visual poem, as it shows most of the architect's greatest work without an y talking, only music.  It certainly got me interested in a return to Barcelona.  It came with 3 extras, all quite good.

 

Now showing on Criterion.  

 

That was Deb's final pick from her 3 for festival weekend. Now it was my turn for a single from the collection, followed by a pick from the movies leaving Criterion on December 31st. This will be followed by two for Deb, similarly chosen.  I chose five short films featuring W. C. Fields, including his first one called The Pool Shark, from 1915.  I really love this man, and had never seen any of his short films before now.  I claim It's A Gift, his 1934 feature, to be the funniest film ever made.  After the silent film we saw four talkies from the early 1930s: The Golf Specialist, where even after 20 minutes of trying he cannot get his shot off; The Fatal Glass of Beer, with a song of the same name which he sings, hilariously; The Pharmacist, which ends in his shop getting destroyed by a gunfight between police and a robber--Fields is saved by his daughter's boyfriend "Cuthbert"; and The Barber Shop, where we see and hear Fields perform on the double bass.

 

Leaving on Dec. 31st is The Awful Truth from 1937, a classic film starring Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, and Ralph Bellamy, a bedroom farce that apparently was mostly improvised rather than scripted and rehearsed.  Cary Grant's face is priceless to watch, as he tries his best to scupper his wife's relationship with Ralph Bellamy.  The couple are divorcing, but having more than second thoughts as time goes on.  Lots of fun to watch, and to read about behind the scenes.  Nominated for multiple Oscars, it won two.

 

Showing on Criterion until Dec. 31st.  

 

I mentioned a while back that I would show part of a New Mexico map from time to time.  This is part of a 1:24,000 quad I was recently studying.  It appears to resemble one of Mandlebrot's perfect examples of a fractal.  We heard him speak once at a large science convention in Detroit.  It was a small room, pretty packed, and I had never heard of fractals.  I have been keenly interested in them ever since, and have two computer programs to play with that generate them, colour them, and animate them.

 

Part of a NM topo map, showing canyons, mesas, streams, and very rough roads.  I love spending time exploring these maps, and several of them have been the basis for some incredible hiking trips. 

 

In other news, a few days ago a large freighter got stranded in the shipping channel in Amherstburg.  It was just freed today and sent on its way.  Approximately 30 ships have been stacked up in the river and beyond, waiting for the channel to reopen.  Tonight there is a parade of ships passing by, their low but audible rumble making our radiators vibrate, not to mention the walls.  They will likely pass by all night.  Luckily the river has no ice yet.

 

And finally, a photo from a Detroit newspaper, showing one of the falcons that live on and around the nearly 400' Ambassador Bridge, as it stares right into the live cam.  An amazing photo!

 

 

 Mapman Mike