April Arrives

 

Though it's colder than it was in early March, April is here!  Birds are tweeting (the real kind of tweeting), flowers are blooming (and freezing cold), and the Great Total Eclipse of the Sun is six days away.  Our house gets a 99% eclipse, so will head south to Ohio on the day of.  Weather so far looks cloudy.  We shall see.

 

I've decided to post a picture of Dad on every blog written in April, and maybe then some.  Today's picture is from his ski trip to the French Alps.  As a travel agent he was able to score many free trips, more than he could actually take.  So he could pick and choose, and he mostly chose well.  Dad was a skier (as was I), and he had his chance at the big leagues.  On this trip he was even given a helicopter ride to the top of a mountain, skiing down with a small, select group of skiers.  How cool is that?

 

Dad (3rd from r, no hat) in the French Alps.  

 

Brother Steve and sister-in-law Lynne have a cruise booked for April, so Deb and I will visit Mom for a week while they are away.  Hopefully it will warm up some before we arrive.  Sudbury is expecting a snowstorm tonight and tomorrow.  Sudbury has at least one good brewery, a vegan restaurant, a vegan cafe/bakery, and large hills for streets that we enjoy training on.  So there will be good eating and drinking, and enough exercise to wear it all off.  The drive is long, however, and involves bypassing Toronto, always a nail-biting event.

In movie news, there are three to report since returning from New Orleans.  The Marriage Circle is a film by Ernest Lubitsch from 1924, and one that we expected much more from.  It is a melodrama about a vamp trying to seduce a respectable doctor, who is happily married to his wife.  Meanwhile, his partner is putting the moves on his happily married wife.  And so it goes.  Expecting a comedy, there are virtually no laughs here.

 

The movie has left Mubi by now. 

 

We had better luck with Black Cat, White Cat, a Yugoslavian film from 1998.  Imagine Tex Avery making a feature live action film about small time grifters and gangsters, all of them quite mad.  The characters take time to warm to, but once they are ensconced in your brain, it's time to sit back and watch the madcap adventures.  Nearly every scene is like a wild cartoon ride.  The plot, such as it is, involves a gangster wanting to see his diminutive sister married.  Also, a grandfather wants to see his grandson married.  A Shakespearean comedy of errors and mismatches follows, until, at the very end, all's well that ends well.  We nearly gave up on this film after the first fifteen minutes, but went back to it and had a great time.  The director, Emir Kursturica, won the Silver Lion in Venice for this film, a followup to one he made that won at Cannes previously.

 

The film has left Mubi by now. 

 

Lastly came a Noir from William Castle called When Strangers Marry.  From 1944 it stars Dean Jagger, Robert Mitchum, and Kay Francis, along with Commissioner Gordon from Batman, Neil Hamilton.  Mitchum stars in one of his earliest films.  He couldn't be the bad guy, because he has a cute little doggie as a pet.  Or could he?  But Dean Jagger sure looks and acts like he murdered somebody.  But did he?  Kim Hunter loves him anyway, and aids and abets his escape and hiding.  the police don't seem to mind that she did this at all.  Not one of the great 40s crime films, but the little dog is cute, and so is Kim.

 

When Strangers Marry was also released under this title.  

Leaving Criterion April 30th. 

 

In piano news, my program, mostly memorized and complete, has been put on simmer for a time.  We were away 8 days to New Orleans, and will also be away again later in the month.  There is a performance group gathering this Saturday, but I will have to miss it this time (and likely next time).  So I am just trying to maintain the program for now.  In reading news, I have began the month again with Silverberg.  I have no more of his SF to read, so have switched to his pulp crime fiction for a few books.  I also found a Kindle copy of one of his historical books, the one about the Pueblo Revolt against the Spanish in New Mexico.  More than 90% of my reading is now done on Kindle.  

 

More news as it happens.

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

The Humble Bus Stop

After waiting seven months, our local bus stop received its permanent sign.  I got sick of calling people about it, so I finally gave up.  Then it magically appeared, one for northbound (Windsor), and one for southbound (A'burg).  Bus stops are a big deal, though most people don't recognize the fact.  Most people have cars to get them where they want to go.  From my bus stop, I can get to virtually any other bus stop in the world, including Caroline's, in London, UK, for example.  In fact, I have two ways of getting there.  I would need to bring a backpack, though.

Method One sees me catch the bus to Windsor literally in front of my house.  Once there, I transfer at the west terminal to the #1C Windsor bus.  That takes me downtown to the main bus terminal.  Then get on the #8 bus (all of this is included in my fare paid near home) and head to the Windsor Airport.  Fly to Toronto, then fly to London.  Take the Piccadilly Tube, and transfer to the Jubilee Line at Green Park Station.  At Canada Water Station, transfer to the #381 bus.  Get off at Shipwright Road stop, and walk the short distance to Caroline's flat.

Method Two is the same until I reach the main Windsor downtown bus terminal.  From there I transfer to the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel Bus, get off at the main Detroit bus depot, and catch the SMART Fast Service #261 to Detroit Metro Airport.  Fly to Heathrow, and follow the same directions as above.  Flying from Detroit eliminates Toronto Pearson Airport, usually a good thing. 

 

My bus stop, just outside my door.  A gateway to the whole wide world.

Caroline's bus stop in London, UK, is much fancier than mine--she has a bench, a shelter, and a garbage receptacle.  But we are now indirectly connected across the globe, thanks to public transport! 

Anyway, I'm glad that our signs are now up.  The temporary signs always blew away in the first gale.  We are now officially on the map!  I've only used the service once, in a trial run for coffee and beer to Windsor last fall.  But now I plan to use it a little more often.  Maybe even go visit Caroline again some time.

In other Homestead news, Titan Tree Service finally made it here to clean up our mess from the late February ice storm.  All is now well once more, though we have an awful lot of wood chips and firewood lying around.  And the lilacs this year are insanely numerous and beautiful.  We have both purple and white lilacs.  Both are fragrant in the heavenly sense.

 

The backyard purple lilacs.

The backyard white lilacs. 

 

Good friend (through both astronomy and music) Randy G. stopped by for a welcome visit this afternoon.  Lucky for him he happened upon a day when Deb had made blueberry scones for breakfast!  There were even some left over for his afternoon visit.  I am hoping to see him out at my windmill observing site one of these days.  He brought us a book of poems by his sister recently published, and getting very warm reviews.  Looking forward to reading it! 

Now on to recently viewed films.  Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter was directed by Frank Tashlin, who had his hand in cartoons before he turned to movies.  From 1957, it stars Tony Randall and Jayne Mansfield in a pretty funny story about an advertising man getting the idea of asking a movie star to endorse a lipstick company.  The opening pre-credit scene is a classic Tashlin touch, among many others seen throughout this film.

Leaving Criterion May 31st. 

 

Deb started her two choices with a drama direct by Ernest Lubitsch.  From 1932 and starring Lionel Barrymore comes Broken Lullaby.  It's about a French soldier, a musician, who kills a German soldier during the war, also a musician, and, driven by extreme guilt, goes to Germany to tell the family what happened.  Quite a good story, and often well acted.  Barrymore plays the dead German boy's father.  Set in a small German town following the war, the French are not very welcome.

 

Showing on Criterion until May 31st.
 

Deb's main choice was an oddball film from Thailand/Spain called Uncle Boonmee Who can Recall His Past Lives.  It won the Palme D'Or in 2010.  The uncle is dying of kidney failure, and his illness brings ghosts and other spirits to him and his family in their quiet home on the outskirts of the jungle.  They mostly sit and talk quietly with them.  Definitely worth checking out.

 

Now showing on Mubi.  Most unusual. 

 

Switching back to two of my choices, first up was the uniquely named feature from Japan called Detective Bureau 2-3: Go To Hell Bastards, from 1963 and directed by Seijun Suzuki.  The movie is as stupid as its title, but fun to watch regardless.  A private detective in Tokyo infiltrates the yakuza who are raining terror upon the city.  Gunfights like you wouldn't believe!  Hilarious and more than a bit far-fetched, as 1960s Tokyo tries to emulate and outdo 1930s Chicago.

Now showing on Criterion.  For real. 

 

Still in the realm of the bizarre, the funny, and the 'way the hell out there' kind of film, I chose the first two parts of a 4-part French TV series from 2019 called The Middleman.  Each episode is around 45 minutes long, so we will finish it up later this week.  Here is the Criterion blurb about it, as it's kind of difficult to describe it in my own words.  The world's biggest loser tries to keep his life from completely falling apart, but it's way too late for that.

 

"Cocreated and codirected for French television by celebrated Israeli author Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen, THE MIDDLEMAN is a drolly offbeat four-part miniseries set in a captivatingly surreal universe. Mathieu Amalric, the hangdog everyman of Gallic cinema, stars as Olivier, a divorced real estate agent desperate to repair his strained relationship with his daughter and so broke he camps out in the apartments he is supposed to be selling. The death of his mother brings many surprises, including a very unexpected inheritance: a building on the outskirts of Paris. But what at first seems to be a windfall soon turns out to be a run-down money pit that only compounds our hapless hero’s problems. Luckily, Olivier has just the friend to guide him through these troubled times: a talking goldfish who turns out to be a most valuable confidant."  

 

Leaving Criterion May 31st.  

 

Back over to Deb's pick for one final film for this blog entry.  Kedi is a 2016 film from Turkey about the local cat population of Istanbul.  A charming documentary, it follows the daily lives of eight different cats and how they survive on the streets.  Many cats are very well looked after by the locals, but it still is a ridiculous situation that will only get more ridiculous as time goes on.  Warning: there are a lot of cats in this film.  It would be fun to visit some of them someday.

Now showing on Mubi.

Wrapping things up for this weekend, it was Mothers' Day today.  I spoke with my mom, and managed to get her to see the following photo, from about 1965.

Happy Mothers' Day, Mom! 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ice Storm

It's been awhile since we have had a major ice storm.  Wednesday morning it was rain mixed with sleet.  This went on all day.  It then got a degree or two colder, and the sleet became steadier.  It continued, and by early afternoon trees, branches, and hydro wires were coming down everywhere.  We listened to the county fire channel, to the hundreds of call-outs.  Our power went off and then back on again quickly several times during that day and night.  It would often flicker.  But miraculously, it remained on for us.  Not so lucky were many other people in Windsor and Essex County.  The hydro outage map still shows dozens of local outages, including several schools.  Here is the outage map from Wednesday evening.  The numbers indicate how many separate outages there were, not the number of customers affected.  Each outage affected a few or dozens of homes and businesses  The chart does not cover Windsor or Lasalle, which have different power companies.  It also doesn't cover Detroit, but all these areas got hit hard.

By that evening all trees and wires were thickly coated in ice, and the problem continued to worsen.  Our evergreen trees were sagging piteously, as were our long-lived cedars.  There was nothing one could do.  Touch a branch to shake off the ice and the branch would snap off.  I stayed awake till 1:30 am, and the fire calls never slowed down.

Next morning I went for a brief damage check, but it was still too dangerous to be around the trees, as branches were still crashing down.  The temperature was hovering near but below freezing, so nothing was melting yet.  Our tree damage was significant, and will cost somewhere around $3000 for the cleanup.  One of our trees went into the neighbour's yard, as did many huge branches in a different neighbour's yard.  Sigh.

Sure looks pretty, doesn't it?  But standing amidst natural devastation of our trees, it didn't appear so to me at the time.

Our evergreens suffered a lot.  They aren't supposed to look like this.  In the top picture you can see where part of a deciduous tree broke off.  These are quick snaps, because it was still dangerous to be outside.
 

 

Some clean up required.

This last photo was taken around 5 pm Thursday, when the ice had finally all melted. 

Later on Thursday it began to warm up.  The sun even came out.  Have you ever tried to contact a tree service after a big storm?  Nathan is supposed to stop by tomorrow for a look.  Methinks he will have other errands to run.

At least nothing hit the house, or any neighbour's house.  And our power remained on, even though we can handle a failure for a certain amount of time.  But today at noon (Friday), power is still out in dozens of areas, and will remain so for a long time.  Michigan is saying Sunday will see 95% restored.  No such estimate here, but hopefully sooner.  Anyway, that's the Homestead news for now.  On to films....

Deb has finished the main work on her latest film, and has put up a trailer on her webpage (link at left).  I began writing a SF short story many years ago, called "Will Ye No Come Back Again?" based on a Scottish song we have heard played on bagpipes.  It's about a lone technician stuck on a hostile planet, way up high in the mountains and surrounded by telecommunication towers.  I never finished the story, but after Deb expressed interest in making an animated film about it, I finally finished the story.  Then we completely rewrote it.  A voice actor was hired, as was a bagpipe player.  Now she is working on tuning up some of the scenes, as well as working on getting the soundtrack ready for professional equalizing.  In about six weeks the short film might be ready to go live.  Here is the poster...

 

Coming soon to film festivals worldwide.

Deb's film choice for leaving Criterion Feb. 28th was a beautifully done documentary about Hans and Margaret Rey.  Called Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George's Creators.  From 2017, it continues the trend of recent docs to be among the most creative films being made today.  The Rey's story is a long and fascinating one, and it is told with the help of animating the two people, inserting them into newsreel footage of the day, and bringing them from Hamburg to Paris to Lisbon to Brazil and finally to New York.  They left Hamburg in 1933 as the Nazis came to power (they were Jewish), and fled Paris on bicycles just ahead of the Nazi invasion of that city.  With them they carried their manuscript of the first George book.  Not only did they create the several George books, but Hans was also an amateur astronomer, and created the indispensable book called The Stars: A New Way To See Them, which is in our astronomy library.  An excellent film, and highly recommended.

Showing on Criterion till Feb. 28th. 

My film choices for the past week began with the newest film by Park Chan-Wook.  From 2022, it is called Decision To Leave, and is a tribute to the Noir films of the 40s.  here is a short synopsis from Mubi: "From a mountain peak in South Korea, a man plummets to his death. Did he jump, or was he pushed? When detective Hae-joon arrives on the scene, he begins to suspect the dead man’s wife Seo-rae. But as he digs deeper into the investigation, he finds himself trapped in a web of deception and desire.  Here also is their take on the film: In this seductively twisted, modern romantic thriller, obsession is taken to wondrous and vertiginous extremes. Without a doubt one of the most electrifying minds working in cinema today, Park Chan-wook won the Best Director award at Cannes for his sumptuous, Hitchcockian masterwork.  There certainly is a lot of Hitchcock here, but also many other influences from crime film dramas.  But mostly, it is a highly original film, using new ways to tell stories, such as the insertion of dream-like memories and expectations to fill in the plot.  This film also has a lot of comedic touches, along with beautifully cinematic photography (the night scene with snow falling as human ashes are scattered; the seaside finale; and of course the vertiginous mountaintop scenes all stand out).  And the foot chase scene is one of the best in cinema.  The film needs more than a single viewing to catch all of the subtleties.  Highly recommended.

Now showing on Mubi. 

My leaving choice was a 1938 comedy film directed by Ernest Lubitsch called Bluebeard's Eighth Wife, and stars Gary Cooper and Claudette Colbert.  David Niven has a very funny small role.  The film is a woman's answer to Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, as Colbert sets out to teach Cooper a lesson.  He is a multi-millionaire who has been married 7 times and divorced. When she agrees to marry him, she does not know this about his background.  Some very funny moments in a fast paced film.  Cooper's using the Shakespeare play for guidance in taming his wife is hilarious, as is the extended double scene with the private detective.

Showing on Criterion until Feb. 28th. 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

News Fit To Print

 It's been a pretty calm week around the Homestead, and we are both hoping for more of the same.  Weather continues to be autumnal, and it's one of the greenest holiday periods we've ever seen.  We had a lot of rain on Christmas Day, spoiling my chance for an afternoon of hiking at Point Pelee National Park.  Deb wanted to spend a longer time with her mom on Saturday, so I had plans for a shorter visit, and then to go hiking.  Instead, I came home for a few hours, then drove back to pick up Deb in Kingsville.  Today it is bright and sunny.  Of course.

I spoke with my parents at length both on Christmas Eve and Christmas night.  They are both fine and doing quite well, though Dad is still barely mobile due to a bad knee.  As our local Covid cases surge, it looks like we will be hunkered down in January.  It's usually a good month for such activity anyway.  And of course it has been continually cloudy at night, so astronomy has been a no go.  At least I've been practicing piano regularly, and doing a lot of reading.  I usually read about 2 1/2 hours each day, and practice piano about 1 1/2 hours each day.  The exercise program continues as well, around 2 1/2 hours per week, until more is needed.

The shipping channels over here are as busy as ever, but the northern locks will likely close soon.  I have seen shipping continue year round once or twice, and this might be another year for it.  The Amherstburg coast guard ice breaker is in place, but there is no ice in sight yet.  I read a fun article yesterday, on the Accu Weather website, about the tradition of wanting a "white" Christmas, referring to fresh, fluffy snow on the ground.  I always wondered who to blame for such nonsense, and it seems I now have my target in sight.  It likely all started with Charles Dickens, but since then it's gotten way out of hand.  Kind of like ground hog day.  People seem starved for any time of "tradition", rather than trying to establish their own, or observe the real ones that have been around for millennia, such as the solstices.  It's a funny world peopled by funny people.

Our own Solstice Day celebration was a blast.  It was just barely cold enough to warrant an indoor wood fire, though it was of shorter duration than other years.  We sampled the first disc (of four) of Philip Glass' Music In Twelve Parts, and then listened to the CD called Glassworks, and another one called Philip Glass-Piano Works, performed by Vikingur Olafsson.  He is a favourite pianist whom we heard perform in London several years ago.  I already chose a piece from this collection to perform on my next next recital (probably late 2022).  And tonight we will give Einstein on the Beach a go.  We purchased a Blue Ray disc of the opera in early December, from Germany, and it arrived Dec. 22nd.

Just as the pandemic was getting underway in the late winter of 2020, we had booked flights to San Diego.  We had to cancel at the last minute, as Deb wasn't feeling well.  That week the disease exploded in California, so it's just as well we didn't travel then.  We had full insurance to cancel (through Orbitz) and got a full refund on our flight, hotel, and car.  So imagine my surprise when I looked at our Orbitz account recently and found out that we each have $373 in Delta flight credits, good until December 2022.  I don't know if it's a mistake, or why they are there.  We were refunded by the insurance company, and yet the flights are still available to us.  Hopefully we will get a chance to use these credits in 2022.

Other than movie talk, that's all the news for now.  So, on to movies. 

My two choices last week were Heaven Can Wait, directed by Lubitsch and from 1943, and Belladonna of Sadness, an animated feature from 1973 Japan.  Of the two, I preferred the Lubitsch, a gentle comedy about a man dying, meeting the devil, and telling him his life story, before being sentenced.  It was in colour, and had some wonderful lines.

Showing on Criterion until Friday night.

Belladonna is an adult animated feature, purportedly taking place in medieval times.  On her wedding day, a young woman is raped by the lord of the manor and his friends.  The movie is graphically sexual, though largely through symbolic images, and violent.  It doesn't pull any punches, as the woman survives and slowly becomes corrupted by vengeance.  The film is sometimes hard to watch because of flickering imagery, and should have come with an epilepsy warning.  Some of the animation techniques created some truly beautiful and stunning imagery, often seemingly at odds with the unrelenting horror of the material.  A very strange film from the psychedelic era.

Showing on Criterion through Friday.  

Deb's two choices were also from the Leaving Dec. 31st film list, and just as opposite one another as my two choices.  First up was The Mummy, from 1932, starring Boris Karloff as the reactivated man in love with his princess.  It is remarkable how easily he adjusted to life in 20th C. Cairo, after having been asleep since around 1700 B C.  He also has a very stylish apartment, with an indoor pool of water that gets remarkably good reception on various live channels, as well as ones from thousands of years ago.  Some creepy moments, but mostly still fun, in a dusty sort of way.

One of the great movie posters of the 30s!  Showing until Friday on Criterion. 

Eat A Bowl of Tea is from 1989, by director Wang Wang.  Based on a novel by Louis Chu, the setting is 1949 New York, just as the American government is finally allowing Chinese immigrants to return to China and bring women and families back to live.  With the current local population totally male, a young man makes the journey back to China, finds a bride, and returns with her to new York.  Dad immediately wants a grandson, but there is trouble on the horizon, as the son cannot seem to consummate the marriage.  Mostly a funny glance back at a very weird time, there is enough drama to satisfy those without a sense of humour.  Well acted, especially by the old timers.

Showing on Criterion until Friday. 

Mapman Mike

 

 

Another November

While it's not unusual here for months to become reversed as to climate, this December is definitely wackier than most.  We are amidst a strong streak of mild weather more suited to late October and early November, as we race towards Winter Solstice.  The vicious tornadoes that ravaged Kentucky and Illinois overnight Friday manifested themselves here as very high winds and thunderstorms with heavy downpours.  We got 1.2" of rain.  None of our trees blew down, and our power stayed on.  However, there were many trees and poles down in the county and city, with plenty of short term power outages.  Most Great lakes shipping came to a standstill, as the captains wisely steered their vessels into sheltered coves.  Things are back to normal today, and it is sunny, mild, but still breezy.

In domestic news, our fridge died on Thursday.  We had a $90 repair bill to tell us that the fridge had lost its freon due to a leak, and was no longer any good.  After another $2300 spent we have a new fridge, the best one we have ever owned.  However, it didn't fit through the door into the kitchen.  I don't wish to go into any details at this time, as they are too painful to recall, but the fridge is now in its place and working like a charm.  In upcoming domestic news, we also need a new washing machine.  Look for an update on this topic next week.  It's a good thing that we don't have any travel expenses these days.  We still have a $3000 tree to be cut down in our far back yard, though after the recent wind storm our tree guy will likely be far behind again, with us pushed back to the bottom of his list.

In art news, I came across this tiny print by one of the German Romantic artists.  It's the only piece in the Detroit collection by him, but we have seen some of his wonderful landscape paintings, mostly in a travelling exhibit held in Toronto many years ago now.  The image below is larger than its actual size.  Deb is thinking of using it as a location in one of her upcoming short films.  If ever a set for a fairy tale was etched on to paper, this is it.

Old Chapel Under The Trees Surrounded By A Wall, 19th C.  Carl Friedrich Lessing, German (1808-1880).  Etching printed in black ink on woven paper, 3 3/4" x 4 7/8". 

 I have two movies that need reporting, both black and white and both shown on Criterion.  The first one was a tale of highway robbery, starring James Mason and feisty Margaret Lockwood as two swashbuckling highway robbers.  Called The Wicked Lady (great title!), it is from 1945 and was directed by Leslie Arliss.  From the blurb on Criterion's website: "This nasty, subversive treat was the most commercially successful of all the Gainsborough melodramas."  And it's just in time for Christmas!  There is a 1983 remake floating around somewhere, starring Faye Dunaway.

Now showing on the Criterion Channel.

My going away choice (yes, Wicked Lady was my choice!) was called Cluny Brown, from 1946 and directed by Ernest Lubitsch.  Though we had seen it before, it had been many years.  This is a very funny movie starring Charles Boyer and Jennifer Jones, about a young woman who must "find her place" in English society.  Boyer plays a Czech writer fleeing the Nazis just before the war, and Jones is a free spirit who loves working as a plumber.  She gets a job as a maid in a quiet household, and finds out the hard way that Boyer, whom she had met earlier and hit it off with, is a guest at the house.  The picture is a complete send up of the British class system, and is quite hilarious in places, while making its point about how one should behave and not behave.  Boyer is great in this role, one of the few times I really enjoyed his acting.  Movies this good never seem to age, either.  Una O'Connor has no speaking lines, but contributes some very funny moments, making the most of her small role.

Showing on Criterion until Dec. 31st/21 

Mapman Mike