Once Upon A Time That Never Was

I've been busy lately, driving trains.  Train Sim 5 is pretty cool and lots of fun.  My runs for Southeastern and Thameslink between Dartford and Gillingham, Faversham and Rainham now run pretty much on time.  I'm providing "good service" now, as they say.  I'm still trying to get the hang of the high speed run between St. Pancras and Ashford International.  Once they are going those trains are hard to stop.  So far my top speed has been about 205 kph.  Different viewpoints are allowed during the journey, and I can even watch my train zoom past from any location.  So if I haven't blogged too much lately, it's because I have such a busy timetable to keep.  Deb and I had once built a small HO layout with a desert setting, and I would run trains there.  But this is much more realistic.  In fact it's quite scary how realistic it all is.  There is a very slow speed limit in and around Rochester station, especially crossing the rail bridge over the River Medway.  But in the background once can see Rochester Castle and the cathedral.  Great fun!

In film news, Deb has just released her latest short film.  It's a music video called "The Once Upon a Time that Never Was", and it has just received its first (of many, no doubt) film festival acceptances.  The singer is from Argentina, and has an incredible voice.  The film features Deb's usual assortment of stunning and very original visuals.

 

Deb's latest short film.  It can be found on her website (see upper left margin here). 

 

In film watching news, there are several to report.  Beginning with the earliest viewings, Deb chose two films from Criterion.  One of my choices was also from Criterion.  The Cry of Granuile had a promising premise, but the film ended up just getting muddied, muddled, and muffled.  From 2022 Irish director Donal Foreman, the film attempts to link an Irish-American woman filmmaker researching an Irish legend for a possible film, with the local scenery and folk that she encounters.  However, things just go astray, and the film ends up being about nothing, really.  Any truths behind the legend of Granuile (a 16th C. pirate queen) are unreachable, and the female filmmaker ends up using completely fictional stories about her from modern times.  The main reason to watch the film is for some very fine landscape photography.

 

Leaving Criterion May 31st. 

 

Demon Pond is a  Japanese fantasy film from 1979, and can be called the Japanese version of The Last Wave.  A village stricken by drought is fed up with a local custom of ringing a ceremonial bell 3x daily so that the village never floods.  Legends say that a nearby pond contains a demon that is pacified by the bell, and that if the bell is not rung the demon will escape the pond and flood the land.  With some usual bad choices made, the pond eventually does flood, and a catastrophe ensues.  A second plot concerns a man on holiday out exploring the countryside.  He encounters a long lost friend who had up and disappeared one day many years ago.  He is the current bell ringer, along with his enchanted female companion.  Her part is played by Tamasaburo Bando, a male Kabuki actor known for his female roles.  A very odd film and no doubt rarely shown until now, this is certainly one to look out for.  It is showing on Criterion.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Dario Argento's Deep Red is from 1975, and is almost a very good film.  David Hemmings plays a jazz pianist who witnesses a murder and then becomes involved in solving it.  The first half of the film is a masterpiece of composition, setting, and atmosphere.  The second half is filled with animal torture and more graphic violence than probably any other film from the 1970s.  While this kind of violence usually works fine in a manga, on the screen it becomes a bit much, even laughable at times.  And it quickly becomes apparent that the murderer (not revealed until near the end) would have been incapable of getting to most of the places where he/she does the killings.  And then getting in quietly and in perfect position to commit the murders, one time with a three foot robot!  How did they get behind that curtain?  How did they get to the mansion, and the school?  Anyway, the first half of the film is great, and likely, if the director had not been so warped, could have been a decent and perhaps masterpiece murder-mystery.  But then he would have only been half as famous.  Leaving Criterion May 31st.

 

David Hemmings makes all the usual horror movie mistakes, and the director puts in all of the expected horror movie tropes.

 

The weather so far in 2025 has been mostly uncooperative towards amateur astronomers.  Tonight looks hopeful; so have many other nights, until the time actually arrives, as do the clouds.  But I am eternally hopeful!

 

Mapman Mike.

 

 

 

Still Dodging Winter Storms

So far we continue to dodge winter bullets.  The big storm that just passed us was a rain event, whereas further north it is currently an ice, sleet, and snow one.  Score one for the Homestead!  Our temps are chilly, and it is very damp, but we have been getting above freezing during daytime hours consistently so far (today we are way above freezing, till tomorrow).  As long as daytime highs rise above freezing, I don't complain very much.  However, next week and lasting almost to the New Year we are supposed to get a true blast of Siberian air, with temps remaining well below freezing for 8-10 days.  I strongly dislike those days, though my brother in Sudbury, by contrast, is cheering on the snow and cold so he can drive around in the bush on his snowmobile.  Whatever floats one's boat.  I prefer a mostly brown winter, though it was nice to see photos of Britain with people out enjoying the snow on their sleds, skis, and making snowmen in their yards.  It rarely snows in London, and it never lasts, but it did snow this past week, with the usual transport chaos that ensues.  We have not had sunshine here now for almost two weeks, and the astronomy forecast for the next two weeks is a grim one.

We continue to hibernate, however, and the Homestead programs continue as before.  My time is spent practicing music and listening to it, reading, exercising (2 1/2 years strong now!!), studying maps of New Mexico, and watching films, mostly on the Criterion streaming service.  And there is the Wondrium channel, with three college lecture courses always going on here (hundreds to choose from).  We also have weekly gaming sessions, and I am trying to finish a game for PC.  I'm also replaying Riven.  We could cross to Detroit whenever we wish, but for now the urge is not there.  We are happy at home.

Deb's main film choice last week was The Third Man, a film that is fun to watch many times over.  It rates #63 on the S & S list of best movies.  It is filmed with wonky music, and a female lead that needs a good slap to get her head straightened out, but otherwise it is an excellent film, about post war Vienna and the trade in watered-down antibiotics.  Orson Welles is the villain who is responsible for the deaths and trauma of many children. An accurate depiction of post war Austria, with four countries policing the area.  Part of the film was shot at the Prater.  We recognized at least one war torn area of the city, a church we had visited.

Now showing on Criterion. 

Her leaving choice this month choice was a documentary about the Ireland troubles.  The Image You Missed is from 2018, as the young filmmaker tries to follow the trail of his father, who abandoned him and his mother when he was very young.  The documentary is a confusing mix of the son trying to understand his father's life (he was also a filmmaker, who made the important film The Patriot Game in 1979), and a brief history of Northern Ireland's struggle against the British loyalists.  It isn't really good at one or the other, but there is some truly amazing footage, with several unforgettable scenes, such as a small boy trying to find something to play with near a bombed out overturned vehicle, with barbed wire and soldiers in the background.  It did well at festivals, likely bringing unknown history to Americans.  Getting a full understanding of what was going on and why can be a tricky business, but the film does serve as a primer for the Irish troubles.

Leaving Criterion Dec. 31st. 

Following up on my last film choice, I selected Chocolat by Claire Denis, from 1988.  We have seen the film before, likely around 1988 at the Detroit Film Theater at the DIA.  I think the film has even more resonance today than it did back then, as the truth of damage done by colonialism hits a much more aware public.  Thus the film hasn't aged itself at all by telling the story of a very young girl (Denis herself) growing up in French Cameroon while under French rule.  Her relationship with the house boy is a close one, and she knows nor thinks nothing of racism.  He is her best friend, and also a teacher to her.  At least until mommy starts having strange desires for him.  The film is gentle, but it pierces the soul nonetheless.  Though the house boy (he is not a boy, but a very handsome and strong man) is treated well (they even say please and thank you to him), he is still not anywhere near being treated as well as he should be.  And the fact that he accepts his demeaning treatment and does not fight against it also shows his limited choices in life.  Of course he could rebel, but then where would he be?  A thoughtful film, and very well done. 

Now showing on Criterion. 

So far we have seen 2 1/2 episodes of English, and two of Interview With A Vampire.  Both are quite good, though violent beyond belief.  I have more and more trouble with realistic violence in contemporary cinema and series.  It seems we will never be civilized as the glorification of sudden violence is so much in demand by modern audiences.  So far in English there seem to be no decent people in America, only murderers, rapists, and greedy capitalists.  While that might or might not be a true realization, it makes for a very predictable series.  And with a modern vampire tale one might expect violence and blood, this series seems to want to outdo itself.

One of the ships I regularly watch for is called the Mesabi Miner, a massive 1,000' monolith that ends its journey in Duluth.  There is a Facebook group of Great Lakes ship enthusiasts, and the person who runs it lives in Duluth. Here is a great shot of the Miner coming into port in Duluth, with a few December kayakers watching it come in.  Due to gales on the lakes today, many ships are currently waiting in safe harbours.

A terrific shot of the Mesabi Miner arriving in Duluth, Minnesota recently.  So far this season the Miner has passed our house across from Detroit 13 times.  Those little ducks out there in the water are actually kayakers. 

Mapman Mike