More Deb, and More Harold Lloyd

Deb had her first big outing today.  We went downtown Windsor this afternoon for coffee, and a long walk along the riverfront.  We followed up with a visit to Fred's Farm Fresh Market, and came home.  She was pretty tired, but she survived.  Her next outing will be Wednesday, when we see her surgeon for a post-op check-up.  I'm sure he will be happy with her progress.  She is off the pain meds now, and we are keeping up the ice and light arm exercises 4x each day.  The sling only comes off for a few minutes each time.

Deb's Criterion movie choice this week was a Harold Lloyd feature called "Movie Crazy."  Though I prefer him and his style of humour in the shorter films, this one is pretty funny.

 A talking feature film from 1931.  

Harold Hall is from small town Kansas, and he heads to Hollywood to become an actor.  He has sent his photo in and received a positive response from Planet Pictures, asking him to come out for a screen test.  Of course the wrong photo was sent; the studio is expecting a good looking hunk of man, and instead they get Harold.  Like the shorter films, this one has a continuous series of sight gags, pratfalls, and misfortunes.  In this case, running jokes can be kept going longer, such as the one that has to do with a straw hat.  Constance Cummings is completely amazing, playing two roles to keep Harold confused.  He falls in love with her Spanish movie star persona.  She has befriended Harold in her normal persona, but uses her other self to test his love and loyalty to her.  Anyway, it's a recommended pic to see, as are all of his shorter films.

And now I finally get to resume my DIA studies.  Today's artist is Gherardo Cibo (Italian, 1512-1600).  He was not a professional artist, but an amateur botanist.  His minor drawing in the museum's collection (one of two) reminds us of nature studies by Leonardo and Durer.  There is no background, just the oddly shaped shrubs and trees, very delicately depicted in pen and ink.

 Cibo's "Study of Trees," 1568-1570, 5" x 8".  Brush and red ink with white highlights, on blue paper.  The inscription reads "trees beneath the woods Cesane Dalla Civita."  

  I'm sure there aren't too many blogs out there with Harold Lloyd and Cibo in the same entry.  One never knows in these pages.  In other news, some farmers are finally out in their fields.  It hasn't rained in three days now!  However, it is supposed to rain a lot tonight and tomorrow.  Hoping they can get a lot done before then.

Mapman Mike

Mapman Mike

 

Post-Surgery Update

Deb's first full day at home with her full-time sling passed a bit better than expected.  The pain arrived mid-morning and continued to grow all day.  So far it is manageable with half dosage of the pain meds.  Tonight we will increase the dosage in the hope of getting a bit more sleep than last night.  We removed the sling several times today so that she can excercise her fingers, wrist, and elbow.  We also began using the new, fancy ice machine.  It works really well, but her bandages are so thick on her shoulder than the cold doesn't fully penetrate.  Those bandages don't come off until Wednesday.  On that happy day she can also have a shower!

Speaking of showers, it really hasn't stopped raining since about 2:15 pm (it is currently 10:30 pm).  We've also had some wicked lightning and a bit of wind.  But mostly it is just rain, which is just adding insult to injury.  Over 1" so far today.  The only day this week it didn't rain was Friday.

It's Deb's month to choose a film festival theme for the weekend (we do a festival each month, in addition to the usual two movies per week).  She choose the Hal Roach/Harold Lloyd shorts.  Criterion has nine of them, lasting anywhere from 13 minutes to 27 minutes.  We watched Billy Blazes, Esq., Captain Kidd's Kids, Ask Father, and the terrifying but very funny High and Dizzy.  His female costar is often Bebe Daniels, who plays the lead in the 1930s film 42nd Street.  There are amazing sight gags, incredible stunts (no doubles, no nets), very funny situations, and a racist gag as well.  Considering the films date from 1919 and 1920, I suppose this is to be expected.  Nothing is mean spirited in Lloyd films, and these racist jokes are probably ones that are still being perpetuated today in many cro magnon circles.  It's interesting to note that High and Dizzy was made in 1920, three years before his more famous "Safety Last," on the same theme.

 A still from High and Dizzy.  You get the idea.  

Though I liked all four films so far, my favourites were Billy Blazes, Esq., in which Harold (always called "The Boy" tames a western town and wins "The Girl;" and Ask Father, filmed with several classic, fast paced sight gags.

Mapman Mike