I'm Still Here

It's been a very busy time for me here at the Homestead.  The main reason is that I have been out with the telescope for the last four nights out of six.  Those in-between nights were also clear, but I needed to rest my eyes and body a bit.  All in all I had the best month of observing so far in 2026 and tried to make the best of it. 

 

There has also been Iaido training, a piano group get-together and a visit from Amanda.  With clouds settling in for the long term, astronomy is likely over until November.  Being our Thanksgiving weekend there is no Iaido training.  It appears I may be able to catch up with myself and my blogging at last.

 

In astronomy news I am tracking down galaxies right now in two constellations, Pisces and Cetus.  Neither constellation is very impressive to the human eye, but add a decent sized telescope and suddenly there are hundreds of objects to look for.  I've added over 12 pages of notes to my observing log this past week.  My drive to dark skies is 50 minutes each way, so I've also been driving for 400 minutes (at night).  Harvest season is just beginning, but I managed to dodge the worst of the tractors so far.  They now use headlights so bright that even if they are two miles away I can see my shadow.

 

In piano news Jim P. and Rob B. came by last week.  We haven't been together for ages.  It's always great for me to sit back and hear my instrument played so well.  Jim played a long piece by Bach, followed by an etude by Philip Glass.  Rob played the Chopin Barcarolle, a piece that he has had for a long time, but is always appreciated when he does perform.  I played three short pieces, one each by Haydn, Beethoven and MacDowell.  We will try one more meeting before Christmas.

 

Amanda came by last weekend for a five hour catch up.  Since we last saw her in early Spring she has been to Scotland and London and we have been to London twice.  She has also moved into her own apartment in Toronto, finally escaping a house-sharing situation with others over many years.  Her place looks and sounds really great!  She also brought us some sacred coffee beans and pencils for my collection from Loch Lomond and the Tate.

 

Amherstburg has a fairly new conservation area open to the public and we paid our first visit earlier in the week.  It's adjacent to River Canard, which we drive over each time we go to Windsor.  For 35 years we have driven past this vast marsh, once in private hands but now open to the public.  The trail is just over 2 km long and it was a surreal experience to see the highway bridge from this perspective.  The marsh and small lake are filled with water birds and turtles.  We will be back, especially when the water lilies bloom in the Spring.   Here are a few snaps of our first walk here.  It is a very short drive from our house to this location.

 

This is a new and classy area to hang out in Amherstburg. 

 

The CR 20 highway bridge over the Canard River. 

 

Salt brine was once extracted from this area.  River Canard on left and the wetlands are on the right.

The trail circles the area,which is quite large.

 

There were swans, herons and other water birds. 

 

7 turtles in the sun.  Snappers and softshells share the area. 

 

There are leftover structures from mining days. 

 

Turning now to films, there are three to report.  Most recently we watched Close To Vermeer, a documentary from 2023 detailing the preparation for the world's largest gathering of paintings by the master.  Only 34 or so are known to be by his hand, and the Rijskmuseum managed to snag 27 of them for the exhibit.  This is an excellent film, on par with the one we saw recently about the Bosch exhibit.  While the paintings speak for themselves, the dialogue is informative and often entertaining.  This was showing on the Kino streaming channel.

 

Now streaming on Kino. 

 

From Criterion we watched Aventurera, a Mexican film directed by Alberto Gout.  It is from 1950 and stars the queen of Mexican cabaret Ninon Sevilla.  Here is the blurb from Criterion:

"A darkly glittering feminist revenge tale played at fever-pitch delirium, this oft-cited pinnacle of the popular Mexican cine de rumberas genre—dizzyingly plotted “fallen women” melodramas studded with showstopping musical numbers—stars Ninón Sevilla in one of her defining roles: as Elena, a young woman whose happy life shatters abruptly when her mother walks out for another man and her father commits suicide. Reduced to poverty and taken merciless advantage of by a villainous nightclub owner (Andrea Palma), Elena reinvents herself as a cabaret star. But she never forgets the people who wronged her, and when a chance to exact vengeance presents itself, Elena seizes the opportunity."

 

The plot is a bit dizzying, and while Sevilla can sing and dance, she does both with a sort of almost clumsy ungainliness that brings back memories of Ruby Keeler in 42nd Street.  Filmed in b & w.  While usually at the heart of every wronged girl's problems there is a cad of a man, this girl was mostly wronged by her mother and her eventual mother-in-law.  A weird but likable movie, like the starlet herself.  Poor Rengo, who saves the girl but loses her to her true love.

 

Streaming on Criterion. 

 

We also saw another film staring Joanne Woodward, starring alongside Tony Randall, Jeffrey Hunter (Captain Pike!) and Cameron Mitchell in No Down Payment.  From 1957 this b & w CinemaScope film was directed by Martin Ritt.  It's a suburban soap opera, as several post war couples share alcohol and BBQ in their newly acquired homes and adjoining back yards in a subdivision in LA.  The writer, Ben Maddow, was blacklisted in Hollywood back in the good old days, and another writer fronted for him here.  The story is rich in happenings as we get into the lives and marriages of four main couples.  Woodward plays an emotionally wounded woman who had to give her baby up for adoption.  She is married to brutish Mitchell, who actually rapes Hunter's wife when he is away.  There are some hard hitting moments, but alcohol and cigarettes get top billing here.  Randall is suitably pathetic as a used car salesman.  A peek into late 1940s lower middle class LA, if anyone is interested.

 

The film has now left Criterion. 

 

That's all for now.  Happy Thanksgiving!  Except for the remnants of Hurricane Isaias, Sunday should be a fun day.  Lots of cooking and baking going on here tomorrow.

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More DSO

We've been back for a week now and routines have been going well.  Deb is hard at it on a new film, my piano practice has resumed and I've even been gifted with two clear nights for observing.  This time of year it's mostly galaxy viewing and I've seen some beauties lately.  I'm also at work on the London blog, with 3 posts up already and many more on the way.  A two week visit seems just right for us.  It was long enough to feel part of the great city again, and by the end we had pretty well worn ourselves out.

 

There are three films to report.  My book reviews will return in late May or early June.  But first, we watched another Detroit Symphony Live broadcast last night.  While there was no Mahler on the program, we did get Handel, Bach and Haydn.  After the Fireworks music I got to hear my favourite Brandenburg Concerto (#3), all all-string work featuring some of the best counterpoint ever written.  There is no 2nd movement, but the lead violinist improvised a bit before the cadence leading to the 3rd movement.  It was a superb performance.  These almost weekly broadcasts are free and can be watched on Youtube or the DSO website.  If on the website and you set up a free account you gain access to the DSO performance library, going back several years.  We will use this library when our Mahler project lifts off (see previous blog entry) as four of the 9 symphonies are available by the DSO.

 

Next came my favourite Haydn Symphony, #104, his last.  This work is truly a summation of all that Haydn stands for:  brilliant writing, engaging themes, all new material, four terrific varied movements and his characteristic optimism.  While nearly any one of the 104 symphonies could easily fill this list of achievements, 104 seems to do everything just a bit better than any of the others.  This was a performance to treasure, as conducted by Dame Jane Glover, a Baroque music specialist.  Hopefully these performances will be included in the DSO library.

 

While in London we usually have early nights.  For the first week we didn't turn on the telly, but we did the second week.  It was pretty grim offerings without any ad-free channels available.  However, Deb was able to get us into our Criterion account on her tablet and we watched a movie on the hotel TV screen.  I call it wizardry, but Deb seemed to pull it off easily.  The Heroic Trio is the first of a two part series.  From 1993 and directed by Johnnie To, he gives us a Hong Kong trio of female super heroines to treasure.  We have Thief Catcher, Wonder Woman and Invisible Girl battling bad guys everywhere they trod.  The action is practically nonstop and silly, but the stunts are quite amazing.  A baby snatching eunuch is terrorizing the city, but the gals at first are all opposed and fighting each other until they finally unite to defeat the evil in their midst.

 

Showing on Criterion. 

 

The 2nd film in the series is Executioners, also from 1993 and directed by To.  The same gals are back, but this film is quite different.  There is a level of violence more intense than the previous film, some of it so over the top as to be highly questionable and not inspiring a lot of confidence in the sanity of the director.  This one is set after a nuclear war.  The search for clean water is on, with the bad guys controlling the supply and constantly raising prices.  While the first film was enjoyable on a comic book level, this one wasn't.  Too much gratuitous violence spoils the recipe for a good campy film.  Many of the jokes fall flat as a result.  The stunts are as good as ever and the gals dish out the kicks and punches and receive it right back.  If you liked the first film you might consider giving this one a miss.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Lucia is a collection of three short films by Cuban director Humberto Solas from 1968.  Like many serious Criterion films this one comes with extras: a short intro by Martin Scorcese and a documentary about the film featuring interviews with the director and actors.  Here is the Criterion blurb:

 

A breathtaking vision of Cuban revolutionary history wrought with white-hot intensity by Humberto Solás, this operatic epic tells the story of a changing country through the eyes of three women, each named Lucía. In 1895, she is a tragic noblewoman who inadvertently betrays her country for love during the war of independence. In 1932, she is the daughter of a bourgeois family drawn into the workers’ uprising against the dictatorship of Gerardo Machado. And in the postrevolutionary 1960s, she is a newlywed farm girl fighting against patriarchal oppression. A formally dazzling landmark of postcolonial cinema, LUCÍA is both a senses-stunning visual experience and a fiercely feminist portrait of a society journeying toward liberation.

 

The first two films are quite good.  The photography is outstanding, especially when scenes of chaos are being depicted.  Battle scenes, the raping of several nuns and scenes of a crazy woman in the village (whom we learn was one of the nuns) are all handled with masterly acumen.  The end of the first film, when Lucia realizes she has betrayed her brother, she goes mad and seeks revenge on her false lover.  Once her madness is made manifest the director uses overexposure of film to enhance the effect.  It is brilliant (no pun intended)!  The third film is very hard to swallow, as the director tries to break the ice with his countrymen's overbearing machismo.  He chooses one of the worst characters in cinematic history who isn't by definition a criminal.  Lucia, as his new bride, is kept locked indoors whether he is there or out working.  She wants to work (as the revolution dictates she should) but he refuses to let her out of the house.  She finally rebels but doesn't seem to get very far.  This is supposedly a light-hearted film, but it is anything but.

 

Now showing on Criterion as part of Martin Scorcese's 

World Cinema Project.  All films in this series are worth watching. 

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 

 

Black Mirror (1) Review: Piano Repertoire 8 Week Update

 A lot happens between posts, most of which does not get reported.  We added one more cold day, bringing our season total to 51.  Hopefully that is all behind us now.  We had some snowdrops blooming on the 28th of February.  Their numbers are increasing daily.  Crocuses and daffs are also on the rise.  Astronomy season has begun once again, after a three month hiatus.  Rain and clouds are in the forecast.  Sigh.  Deb also had her second and final iron transfusion.  It seems to be working and she is hard at work on her most recent short film.

 

We finished watching season one of Mlle. Holmes, a French series in 6 parts.  Four of the programs weren't too bad.  The worst one was the finale, called (of course) The Final Problem.  It was almost unwatchable, as a woman who had competently solved crimes for five weeks suddenly falls apart completely when she realizes that Mlle. Moriarty is framing her for shooting her grandfather.  The frame up is so bad and amateurish that sixth graders I have known could have easily got out of being blamed.  Supposedly part of a crime fighting police team, she goes it all alone, as so many TV character tropes do.  She hides evidence, she loses her ability to think, and she acts completely selfishly.  Of course she has no Sherlock blood in her veins; only Moriarty's and her mother's, after they had a brief affair.  Or something.  Moriarty would be ashamed of her.  Anyway, it was a bad way to finish the season.  Not to mention that she commits murder at the end.  Grandpa wakes up at the conclusion, after being in a coma throughout the entire episode, unable to tell anyone who shot him.  No trope there.

 

In addition to being hard at work watching the final ten episodes of Foundation, we watched a new film by a favourite (up till now) director.  Dracula is a 2025 film by director Radu Jude, who turns his creative block towards AI, chatting with it about the Dracula myth and letting AI come up with its own version of it.  Thus it is a series of short films connected by the director's chats with AI, and loosely connected to the Dracula myth.  The main story that seems to run through this very long film (170 minutes) is quite good.  A sort of Dracula low budget stage event sees Dracula and the girl he seduces performing in front of a group of tourists in Romania.  At the end of the play the audience gets to chase them around the village with long wooden stakes, after giving the villains a one minute start.  Other shorter films are less and less successful, finally becoming too comically raunchy to even sit through unless the viewer has a bad fever and is mildly hallucinating.  Anyone who has used AI for creative purposes has a fair idea of how badly things can turn out.  While the film has some terrific scenes, it also has far too many which are beneath most intelligent people's dignity to view.  I can recommend the first half, though it contains an overlong love story that ends in a bizarre enough way.  Another later story concerns the first Dracula novel published in Romania.  The movie goes downhill the longer one watches.  See it at your own peril.

 

Radu Jude and AI take on the undying legend.  

Showing on Mubi. 

 

Moving on to PC gaming, we replayed Black Mirror, a horror adventure game published by The Adventure Company in October 2003.  I first played it in December of 2005, though it took me four months to get through it (25 hours of playtime).  I remembered almost nothing of the game, other than it rained a lot, so this was like playing it for the first time.  Deb and I played it together.  Even so, we needed to look up some things.  More on that later.

 

Overall Black Mirror remains a pretty decent game.  It spawned two sequels (both played) and a new and updated version of this first game, still awaiting me in my Steam library.  Samuel Gordon returns to his ancestral home (Black Mirror Castle) upon the suicide death of William Gordon, his grandfather.  He soon becomes embroiled in a family curse, and works to solve a great mystery surrounding William's death.  The story is okay, at least until it is revealed who the killer is.  That revelation defies all logic.

 

The game plays out in six chapters.  Locations are gradually added as the game progresses, but it begins inside the castle and on the grounds.  There are several people to speak with, and many rooms to explore.  The first two chapters include the nearby village and a church.  Chapter 3 takes players to another ancestral home in Wales.  This chapter is like a game unto itself.  Chapter 4 adds underground locations including beneath the church and Black Mirror Castle itself, as well as an old mine.  Next come many chilling visits to the morgue, an ancient stone ring and a lighthouse.  Many locations are seen in late autumn daylight and during night and dark thunderstorms. I was correct; it does rain a lot in this game.  And yet Samuel never wears a hat or carries an umbrella--perhaps he is crazy).  Presentation is via an enhanced slideshow format, where Samuel walks across the view.  Sometimes the on-screen scenario can be extended by walking further or to one side.  Let's look at some images now.

 

 

Black Mirror Castle. 

 

The main entrance hall within the castle. 

 

The castle greenhouse.

 

Churchyard cemetery.  There are several cemeteries in this game.

 

Entrance gate to the house in Wales. 

  

The local map showing all locations (except Wales).  Once acquired players can click on the map and transport there. 

 

The very creepy Morgue.

 

To escape from the old mine we must shoot and kill a wolf (boo, hiss) in a timed sequence set up to make players fail. 

 

My favourite screenshot, taken beneath the parish church. 

 

Same cemetery as above, at night.  There are at least four in the game.

 

The final problem, so to speak.  This is close to the end of the game, in Chapter Six. 

 

As the images hopefully demonstrate, I have no quibbles with the graphics.  Again played in 640 x 480, Steam has done a good job of keeping this old game looking good.  Not having to constantly switch CDs is a good thing, too.  Anyway, the body count continues to mount during the game.  In addition to William and the wolf, the castle gardener is murdered, a young boy (boo, hiss), Samuel's uncle and his cousin (?) James.  Besides a few too many murders, what else is there to dislike about the game?

 

Well, there are very few actual puzzles.  Assemble a torn photo, unscramble some riddles, solve a 4 x 4 sliding puzzle, figure out how to open a jewel box with a puzzle along with a few other examples, this game is mostly about pixel hunting.  Hot spots appear red when the cursor is placed on them.  Very often spots that have been checked 101 times and not shown up will turn red later, after a certain conversation or action has taken place.  Inventory can become crowded at times.  Worst of all, some hot spots must be left clicked and right clicked, or else.  Yes, players can "die" in this game.  After Samuel gets killed a few times by a wolf, and his head sliced off, it is a good thing to save often.  This brings me to my main complaint.  If you don't save often you get a much more immersive experience in the game.  But if you don't save often and you die (not if but when) then a lot of replaying must take place.  If you do save often, you totally lose the immersive experience of being in the game.  Developers never really get this.  It seems a necessity to kill the player many times, to prove how stupid players are and how clever the developers are.

 

Things I liked were the fact that Samuel would not leave a place if there was still more to do there.  That was very handy.  And many of the map locations could not be visited if they were no longer needed.  Very helpful.  Sadly, however, the game lacked flow.  As soon as one puzzle was solved, one thought that the way ahead would be clear for a time.  Usually another obstacle was encountered almost immediately.  And now we come to the game's conclusion.  Once we know who the killer is, we also realize that it would be virtually impossible for that person to have committed all the crimes.  For so many reasons (no blood anywhere on him, for one).  Perhaps this will be explained better in the second game, which I've also played but forgotten.

 

I can recommend the game, though it falls beneath most games where players cannot die.  Good graphics and highly atmospheric locations, a decent enough story (until the end).  But beware that right click option. We played for a total of 24 hours, taking solutions where needed and seemingly stuck.

 

In piano news, the first 8 weeks are usually crucial to further development.  Practice is very slow, as the pianist attempts to teach his body what to do when and where.  Being a naturally slow learner, 8 weeks usually doesn't get me very far.  However, I can now play the Invention in D by Bach, and the Haydn sonata (a small one, albeit) is coming along nicely.  I have even began to memorize it.  The Bach Prelude in D from Book 1 is still very slow going.  Though mostly a piece for right hand, it has more tricky places than a typical mine field.  The fugue, though, is progressing well.  It should be ready to play in another four weeks.  I have yet to begin the final piece on the first half, a short work by Beethoven.

 

The second half of the program is dominated by a very difficult Chopin Nocturne, Op. 27 #2.  I nearly gave up during week 5, and I might still pack it in.  Despite getting 40' a day to itself, it still sounds like I am sight reading it.  If after another four weeks it is still going nowhere, I will switch it off for a different piece.  The pieces by Scriabin range in difficulty from fairly easy to quite difficult, are developing as expected.  One of them is fully playable while the other two slowly improve each week.  Lastly comes a difficult piece that I learned several years ago, March Wind by MacDowell.  It is coming back to me quite fast and should be memorized and playable in four weeks time.  I will report again at that time.

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 

 

 

Piano Repertoire

 February is off to a brutally cold start, though we are still very limited in the amount of snow we have received this year.  I'm sure that will arrive later in the month.  Still, we are hopeful that things will begin to end by the middle of the month.  It went briefly above freezing yesterday, before crashing to today's brutal tempts.  46 days so far with no rise above freezing, and several more in a row coming up this weekend.  Even if we did have a lot of snow it would be too cold to snowshoe.

 

I have a new family doctor, since my doctor moved away.  He is very thorough.  He sent me for a heart stress test and it went well yesterday.  Everything seems to be working as it should.  Huzzah!  Deb is urgently awaiting an iron transfusion, one of two that she needs asap.  We are still waiting for an appointment, hopefully early in the coming week.  She is very tired and run down and her breathing worsens weekly.  She is able to work on her film, but far less intensely than before.  Fingers crossed.

 

In gaming news we are currently playing two games on PC.  TR-49 is a brand new game where the player has to get a very old computer working again.  It has jumbled a lot of books and information and we are supposed to unscramble things.  We have uncovered about a fifth of what we need to do.  It's quite interesting in some ways, and quite boring in others.  There is no travel--you sit in front of an old computer (the Bletchley one, lying forgotten and disused) and do research.  The other game is the original Black Mirror from 2003.  I played it many years ago and am replaying it now.  There are two sequels which are also quite good, and a remaster of the one I'm now playing which I also look forward to trying.  This is Deb's first time, though she undoubtedly helped me with some puzzles in my original playthrough.

 

This is how the screen looks in TR-49.  Our score is at the top right.  Notes are kept by the game automatically (below right).  We are down in a basement, possibly inside the machine.  A man is upstairs telling us to work fast and urgently.  It's mostly all a great mystery to the player so far.

 

A screenshot from Black Mirror showing the great manor house where much of the game is played. 

 

In movie news there are three to report.  One is a really terrible SF film from our DVD collection called The Creeping Terror from 1964.  It's a low budget brain killer.  Instead of trying to survive watching the film as delivered, we chose to watch it on MST-3K, with Mike and the bots joking as the film proceeds.  A spaceship crashes and an alien comes out and begins eating people.  The people never run away, and sometimes have to insert themselves into the creature.  It is too ridiculous.  However, the MST episode is very funny and makes even this film quite palatable.

 

From our DVD collection.  Do not watch the original version; instead, watch the MST-3K episode, from Season Six. 

 

Days of Being Wild is a 1990 film by Wong Kar-Wai.  A selfish and spoiled young man uses women until he tires of them and then moves on, often leaving them emotionally scarred.  Though far from being a great film, it does introduce a lot of the director's signature themes, which are developed more maturely in his later films.  The young man is searching for his birth mother (not too diligently) while living with the woman who adopted him.  A local policeman gives the viewer some hope that something decent may yet come from a relationship he had with one of the young man's cast away girlfriends, though the film ends before a true ending is revealed.  Odd and disjointed at times, and the young man is a true piece of turd, so the film isn't that pleasurable to watch.

 

Showing on Criterion. 

 

Misericordia, a French, Portuguese, Spanish film from 2024 is even less fun to watch.  A young man returns to the tiny French village where he grew up to attend the funeral of a man whom he once worked for in the village bakery.  His arrival sparks jealousy in the dead man's son, who wants him to leave right after the funeral.  For no apparent reason the young man stays on, and is then accused by the son of trying to bed his mother.  They have several fights, and in their final one in a remote part of the forest the young man who returned kills the son in a fit of rage.  He buries the body and his worries commence.  The film might have had some credibility without a murder.  But of course there is a murder.  Why?  Can no one make a film without a major crime in it anymore?  The police know he did it but can't prove it.  The local priest knows he did it and helps him cover up the crime, even moving the body from the forest to the church cemetery in the middle of the night.  How this film ever made it to Cannes and Tiff is beyond me.  It's a below average crime film with some not very impressive acting.  The scenery, however, is lush and gorgeous, mid-autumn in the mountains.  The wide screen aspect works well outdoors, but the many indoor shots look quite silly.  Not recommended.

 

Showing on Criterion.  Give it a miss. 

 

I have now put in four intense weeks of practice on the newest piano repertoire.  It sounds like I'm still at the sight reading level.  Progress is grim.  42 hours practice and not really much to show for it.  I can barely play any of the pieces.  It's always so disheartening at the beginning.  In four more weeks I hope to have made at least a dent in the pieces.  The first half features three works by my favourite composer, Bach.  Two Part Invention in D Major will open the program, a fairly dense and very contrapuntal piece, and not as easy as it looks.  That is followed by the Prelude and Fugue in D Major from Book 1 of Bach's Well Tempered Clavier.  The Prelude is a jaunty number that gives the right hand a decent workout, with both hands jumping in for the finale.  The Fugue is a little French Overture, one of the composer's least learned fugues.  It promises to be a fun piece, and shouldn't be too difficult to learn.  We'll see.  All of the Bach is now being played (slowly) hands together, after many hours of hands separate practice.

 

Next comes a sonata by another top favourite composer of mine, Haydn.  It is a miniature piece in three movements, with the first being a theme and variations.  There is nothing too difficult here, and I am hoping it will sound okay in four more weeks.  The second movement is a very short minuet (without trio!), and the third is a rousing finale, a crowd pleaser if there ever was one.  It is the most concentrated and brief version of sonata form I have ever encountered.  I will finish the half with a bagatelle by Beethoven, Op. 119 #1 in g minor.  This is a favourite of mine and I haven't played it in many years.  I have yet to begin this piece.

 

The second half opens with three (more) preludes from Op 11 by Scriabin, #s 4, 5 and 6.  I have yet to begin work on #6, the most difficult one. The first two are slow and the third is madcap fast, in octaves.  Next comes a Chopin nocturne, the most difficult piece on the program.  The Op 27 Nocturnes are among the finest things he ever wrote.  I played #1 years ago and thought I might learn it again, as it is my favourite Chopin piece.  But I decided to give #2 a try.  I can barely play the thing hands separately right now.  This one will require much more time per day than I have been giving it so far.  I likely made a mistake in choosing this one.  Time will tell.

 

I will finish the program with a rousing etude by MacDowell called March Wind.  It's a very effective showpiece, one I have played before.  But I am excited to play it on the grand now!  I'll report back in a month on my progress, if any. 

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 

 

 
 

2nd Recital

I had a 2nd opportunity to perform my latest recital pieces today.  Thank you to Randy, Kate, and Peter for coming by to hear what I've been up to since last July.  The chance to perform is always a welcome one, and twice in one week is even better.  When Paula and Jenn are back from their travels I will run through the pieces again.  All went pretty well, with occasional slips and lapses.  The first Bach piece went really well, and overall the Haydn was quite fresh and zippy.  The Chopin Prelude, on its own, is a powerful little piece.  The Gnossienne also went really well, as did the Debussy and Glass.  So not a lot to complain about, though I know it could have been even better.  Such is life, and such is live performance.  Here is the program:

 

Michael Ethier

Piano Recital April 2025

"Simple Ingredients"

2-part Invention #9 in f minor

3-part Invention #9 in f minor..........................................J S Bach

Sonata in C major (HOB. XVI/35; L.48)

Allegro con brio

Adagio

Finale: Allegro.........................................................F J Haydn

***********************************************

Prelude #20 in c minor.....................................................F Chopin

Third Gymnopedie

Third Gnossienne.............................................................E Satie

Prelude #6 Bk 1 (..Des pas sur la neige)........................C Debussy

Etude #20.........................................................................P Glass

Mysterious Barricades.....................................................F Couperin

 

The only piece here that I have ever performed before this month was the Couperin.  When I begin working on the new program, the first half will be all Couperin, and on the harpsichord.

 

Deb is still feeling poorly, and likely will be until the concluding half of her medical procedure is undertaken.  Next week the stent will be removed, and hopefully that will end months of pain and infections.  In the meantime, she just has to hang in there, and take a happy pill as needed.

 

As full moon approaches, we have a perfect night tonight, with clear, dry skies.  Useless, though, as far as observing with a telescope goes, thanks to the brightness of the moon.  It's been a bad year so far, with only two usable nights to date.  I have so much work I would love to accomplish before I'm too old to lift the telescope and set it up and take it down.

 

In movie news, there are two to report, as well as Season Two of Picard.  Try to imagine a scenario where Wesley Crusher, Q and the Borg come out looking okay.  All this and more, folks, believe it or not.  Crusher, Q, and the Borg provided some of the most tropy and unwanted moments in Next Generation, and the writers stretched themselves to the limit in Picard to make them come out looking pretty clean and decent.  Unfortunately, there was overuse in Season Two of Picard's childhood background, with his insane mother who ended up killing herself.  There are so many flashback scenes to his boyhood that they ended up dragging down the series.  We get to see Data's creator, and he is evil in Season Two.  I imagine he will return, but hopefully not.  One more season to go, though we will wait awhile before viewing it.  We are still also immersed in Dark Winds and Monsieur Spade.

 

L'Innocente is a costumer by Visconti from 1976.  The main reason to watch the film is to view the parade of women's dresses on display.  Most of the film's budget must have been spent on costumes.  Here is the blurb from MUBI:

In late-19th century Italy, Tullio, an insatiable aristocrat, grows bored with his wife Giuliana and neglects her for his more exciting mistress, the wealthy widow Countess Teresa Raffo. After learning that Giuliana is having an affair of her own, he becomes tormented and descends into madness. 

It's quite a long film, mostly watchable but not always.  High society shows itself, yet again, for what it really is; empty.  Tullio is a hideous character, another less than fine male role model to follow.  To make matters worse, Giannini wears one expression throughout the entire movie, his grim face.  The camera work is excellent, as are the sets, lighting, and mise-en-scene, also spot on.  Visconti is a master director, and all of his skills and artistry are on display in this extravagant film.  I won't say it's the most engaging film I've ever seen, but it's certainly one of the better looking films.  Recommended if you enjoy beautiful women in incredible clothing.

 

The film was showing on Mubi, but has now departed. 

 

The Love Witch, written, directed, and produced by Anna Biller, is a 2016 murder/horror film that tries to emulate films from the 1960s.  Drenched in rich colours, mostly reds, and filmed with humourous parodies of Hammer films and such, the movie is great fun to watch.  A beautiful female California witch uses magic potions and rituals to try to land a faithful and loving boyfriend/husband.  Her spells are successful, but she tends to overdo them, driving the male crazy after a time.  Once she realizes that he is not the guy for her after all, there is only one way to rid herself of them.  The film succeeds on many levels, and its 125 minutes running time passes quickly.  The visuals are stunning, and the lead actress is both beautiful and funny, even though she acts the sincere part, playing it pretty straight.  A must view for fans of early 60s colour horror films!  My only complaint is that she should have been a redhead.

 

Leaving Mubi in three days. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

Dog Days of Summer

Though it has not been an exceptionally hot summer, there have been many uncomfortable days.  Today is one, where heat and humidity (and pollution) make it difficult to breathe outdoors.  Green things are going brown, as they often do this time of year, due to burning sun and infrequent rain.  We are considering a day trip to Detroit on Thursday.  We shall see.

6 pm Update:  We just had a deluge of rain!  Looks like grass cutting is on for tomorrow.

 

I have embarked on my 2nd week of piano on the newest pieces.  These works, two of which I have previously learned (decades ago), should come up fairly fast.  The program will open with Bach's 2-Part Invention in F Minor.  He wrote 15 of these pieces, each one in a different key.  When I graduated from university one of the first piano projects I undertook was learning all 15 inventions.  These works provide a wide variety of 2-part writing, and remain among my favouite keyboard works to this day.  The 2nd piece on the program is a big step up in difficulty, Bach's 3-Part Invention (Sinfonia) in F Minor.  Simply put, this is one of Bach's greatest works, and until now I have always put off learning it.  It is quite daunting in its minimalist manner, with three notes essentially repeating and being varied throughout the entire work.  Unlike the 2-part one in the same key, it is not really an audience pleaser.  Rather, it is a meditation for the performer.

 

Concluding the first half of the program is Haydn's Sonata in C (#35), probably his happiest and most joyful work.  It's a piece someone in the practice room at university is always learning (at least the first movement), but I have never wanted to play it until now.  It will provide the major contrast in mood between the Bach pieces, which are somber, and the 2ndf half, which are very somber.  There are three movements.  The 2nd movement is slow, very melodic, and exceedingly well written and beautiful.  The final movement is moderately quick, and quite short.

 

The 2nd half of the program contains (so far) only three works: Gnossienne #3 by Satie, Footprints in the Snow by Debussy, and Etude #20 by Philip Glass.  The Satie piece is inspired by the mythology and art of Knossos, and is slow and reflective.  The Debussy piece, like the Bach 3-Part Invention, is pure minimalism, this time toned down to mostly two notes that hold the piece together.  The Glass etude is the most difficult piece on the program, mostly due to its large stretch requirements.  It is my favourite of the 20 etudes, and I look forward to performing it.

 

In film news, here's the latest report.  Chinese Odyssey 2002 is a Chinese wuxia film, one of the best we have seen.  It is ridiculously funny, and whoever did the translations from Chinese to English did a great job.  With its cross-dressing heroine disguised as a man, the Shakespearean element is noted and admired.  A restless young emperor and his sister want to head out into the world and seek adventure, but escaping the palace and the Empress Dowager is no easy task.  Meanwhile, in a village far from the palace lives 'Bully the Kid" and his sister.  He has been away causing mischief, but has returned, much to the chagrin of the locals who fear him.  This is an irresistible film, and great fun from start to finish.  There is very little fighting, but plenty of action and laughs.  Highly recommended.  It is part of a series, but stands alone just fine.

Showing on Criterion. 

 

Death In the Garden is from 1956, an overlooked gem by Luis Bunuel.  A group of miners in South America are being bullied and run off the land by government soldiers, and a bloody and deadly dispute carries the first half of the picture.  Filmed in Eastmancolor.  There are a lot of major characters stirring up the pot, and once we know who they are they are on the run from the law.  They hijack a boat and head for the border with Brazil, and freedom from capture.  One of the men was accused of murdering a soldier, and despite his innocence he is forced to flee with his deaf-mute daughter.  Along comes the local priest, also in trouble; a rogue of an adventurer; and a local sex worker.  Their time in the jungle, once they leave their boat, is like no other walk through the jungle we have ever seen.  The ending is a surprise, along with a few other surprises along the way.  A memorable and pretty great film, actually, that virtually no one has heard of, let alone seen.  Thank you Mubi!

 

Leaving Mubi soon. 

 

In the 1970s American TV was saturated by really bad TV movies, from all genres.  Inspector Ike, from 2020, is a spoof of the Columbo type of mystery of the week TV movie.  There is bad music, bad acting, a bad plot, and the great detective Ike.  Ike is a great character, and can somehow appear at just the right moment to remove all tension from a scene, making viewers feel that they are being looked after, as well as the innocent people threatened by the murderer.  This is a laugh-out-loud film, and sure to please fans of earlier TV dramas.  Anyone feel like having some chile con carne tonight?

 

Now showing on Mubi.  This is a great poster! 

 

The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales is a Mexican film from 1960.  It has all the makings and trimmings of a cult classic, as a tormented husband finally does the deed, killing his wacko and puritanical wife.  She is surrounded by friends and a priest who believe it is she who is being tortured and beaten by her husband.  The husband is a taxidermist, and is well prepared to handle the aftermath of the killing.  Even the killing is done using a tool of the trade, so to speak.  This is definitely one of those pictures where you hope that the husband will get away with murder.  There are several very funny moments of dark humour.  One example is when the wife goes out, leaving her husband alone with the young maid.  As soon as she is gone he sneaks up to the maid's room, where she awaits him with big smiles.  Just when you think the worst of him, it turns out that he wants her to cook him a big thick steak.  His eating meat disgusts his wife, and when she is gone he can indulge in a big meal.  Another is after he has killed her and is preparing to get rid of the body.  She always insisted on him washing his hands with alcohol before he touched his food, or came near her.  At the last second he remembers her wishes and washes his hands.  In black and white, this is a one of a kind film.  Recommended for gothic horror fans.

Showing on Mubi.  It got a screening one year at Tiff! 

 

Next time, a look at the first season of Picard.  See you then.

 

Mapman Mike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roger Corman and Poe

We are just about to begin our third week of training, as those sizable western mountains loom closer and closer to us.  Will I be ready to climb some really big mountains in three weeks?  Nope.  Not a chance.  During our 2nd week of training we had to make some switches, mostly due to extreme heat and humidity.  Our long walk Tuesday was shortened not by the weather, though, but by swarms of very hungry mosquitoes on the path.  We fled, resorting to treadmill work at home instead, in a nice and cool basement.  And because of recent rains (it never stops around here) we had to move our cross training day to today.  Cross training day means yard cleanup, mostly weeding.  We have seen an enormous increase this year in poison ivy, and for the 2nd summer in a row my skin has made contact with the nasty plant.  It caught me at the edge of the glove on my right wrist this time, a very narrow strip about 1/4" wide and about 1" long.  The skin turns bright red, and some of it boils.  The itch goes bone deep.  But this year I tried a new medication, and it works really well.  My symptoms began Sunday night, and are still going as of today (Friday).  But the ointment really works, and I can sleep in heavenly peace.  Unlike last year's batch, which was more widespread.  Anyway, back to yard work later today.

 

In piano news, I have slowly begun to use more and more features of my new Yamaha Avantgrand piano.  I am just starting to use the recording feature now, and have already used the transposition feature and a different scale tuning to help simulate the sound of Baroque keyboard music on its harpsichord setting.  I should have 4 short pieces to perform at our next gathering, on the 23rd.  I practice exclusively with headphones now, and really like it a lot.

 

In music listening news, we are finally getting serious with the 222 Bach CDs.  We are currently getting through the organ music.  And on Sunday mornings we continue to listen to a different Cantata each week.  It will take some time.  We are also deeply into the Haydn box set, too.  We are now on our 3rd go around of the complete (104) Haydn symphonies.  This CD set was recorded in the Haydn room at Esterhazy, where all the concerts were originally presented.  And we continue to get through the LP record collection, weaning as we go.  We are currently listening to all of the Liszt records.

 

Turning now to films, all of the Corman/Poe films are leaving Criterion this month.  We hope to get through most of them by then.  First up was the best of the set, Masque of the Red Death.  From 1964, we saw it in a beautiful print.  Jane Asher's hair never looked so red!  Price is not too hammy in this one, and his presence in nearly every scene holds the picture together quite well.  Skip Martin is also very good as Hop Toad, who seeks a terrible vengeance on a thoughtless aristocrat.  Hazel Court has a bad dream, and brands herself with an upside down crucifix.  Shares of red paint went up quite a bit that year, too.  Atmospheric, and undoubtedly influenced by earlier Hammer horror efforts.  A classic that still holds up well today.  Nicholas Roeg did the photography!

 

Leaving Criterion Sept. 30th. 

 

Next came a much earlier picture, Corman's The House of Usher. Though atmospheric, this film does not entirely succeed.  For one thing, there are only four characters, and it is filmed almost like a play.  In parts it is very slow moving.  By taking a short story and dragging it out to feature length, too much depends on the acting.  Aside from Price, who is great in the role of big brother not wanting his young sister to leave home (incest being a taboo subject not only in Poe's time, but also Corman's), the other actors barely manage to make it to the adequate stage of acting.  Definitely watch this one, but not right after Masque.

 

Leaving Criterion Sept. 30th.  

 

Leaving Corman and Poe for a time (they will be back here soon), but staying withing the realm of fantasy and horror, comes a neat little independent film by Hal Hartley.  His 2001 feature is called No Such Thing, and is a modern version of Beauty and the Beast, or Beowulf if you prefer, with a difference.  A monster that has lived forever and cannot be killed, lives a lonely existence in remote coastal Iceland.  A young woman goes in search of her fiancee, who was believed killed by the monster.  Their first meeting is a bit rough, but they gradually come to respect and like each other.  Robert John Burke plays the most memorable monster in our recent film watching experience.  Sarah Polley plays the fearless and enterprising young woman (looking much like a schoolgirl most of the time, but not always).  Helen Mirren plays a news editor for a shlocky New York news service, and Julie Cristie (!) plays a doctor that helps Beatrice (Sara P.) recover from an accident.  While parts of the film are quite hammy (Mirren's role as editor, a mad scientist who may be able to kill the monster, and a sadistic research scientist), others are humourous and serious as needed.  Though the film overall is very good, there are some scenes that could have been excluded or improved, such as the Willy Wonka-like press interview, Beatrice's nights long sex rampages, and the entire plane crash thing.  The monster torture scenes and beatings are a bit overdone, too.  I would have spent more time and energy on the relationship between the monster and the young woman.  Highly recommended, but uneven.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

Election is Over: Huzzah!

It's been pretty quiet around the Homestead since our return from Kalamazoo.  Deb is deeply involved with her series 2 films, using brand new software.  I continue to practice piano, read, and pretend I'm an amateur astronomer.  It began clear on Sunday evening, but after 90 minutes I was forced to close down due to incoming clouds (not predicted).  It's been very cloudy since, and doesn't look promising for the rest of the session, either.  Perhaps one upcoming night, but I'll believe it when I experience it.  I literally spend more time preparing what to see than actually observing.

Our election is over and done with for now, even as Brexit and Trump doings drag on elsewhere.  We are fortunate that things, for now, continue to run somewhat smoothly and normally.  I am happy that the election phone calls will stop, and the signs will be gone from lawns.  We voted early Monday morning, getting right up to our poll with no delay.  Right afterwards we went to Tecumseh where Deb had her bi-monthly infusion.  All is well.  Next up are flu shots.

The listening program went through the 75s tonight.  Haydn's Symphony #75 was up first.  Gustav the Cat loves Haydn, as do I.  He is the perfect everyday composer, with just the right balance of art, beauty, emotion, craft, and good taste, something we should all experience every day of our lives.  Brahms' duets Op 75 were up next, four short songs based on very different poetry.  #1 was based on a very old Scottish ballad, and was a highlight, and the last, Walpurgis Night, is a classic poem and beautifully handled by Brahms as a song. Last came Britten's Op 75, written in 1965 for the 20th anniversary of the UN.  He took quotes about peace from many different sources and wrote a gentle piece for choirs and organ.

Getting back to my landscape painting project from the DIA, thoughts turn to Venice this time, and a great painting from Canaletto, who specialized in Venetian scenes.  His portrayal of the famous piazza takes some liberties with what one can see all at once, but it is an accurate description of the space before Napoleon did some renovations and alterations.

 The Piazza San Marco, Venice, ca 1736-67, Canaletto.

Oil on canvas, 29" x 47".  Detroit Institute of Arts.

 Detail of central area.  

We did conclude season one of Carnival Row.  Not much to say about it, except that the creators seemed to take their story ideas from Game of Thrones, or at least their overall outlook.  It is a dismal existence for most people, especially anyone with wings or horns.  Anyway, I survived, and am not really looking forward to Season Two, if there is one.  It's a Prime original, and if the look of the show is anything to go by, then the upcoming Tolkien production (now filming in nNew Zealand) should be at least as spectacular.

Tonight we watched Padre Padrone, a film from from 1977, by the Taviani brothers.  From an autobiography by Gavino Ledda, it was published only in 1974.  Medieval times carried on in parts of Italy well in the 20th C., and this bizarre film takes us to many places and situations we wish we had never seen nor heard of.  In that sense, it is unforgettable.  Somehow the author managed to not only survive such a brutal and empty upbringing (a lonely shepherd, terrorized and beaten by his father), but to transcend it and return to accept not what happened to him, but to acknowledge his roots in the landscape where he spent so many years.  The film won the Palme d'Or from Cannes that year.  Brutally honest and unflinching, there are moments when one wonders how Ledda managed to survive, and eventually to soar, above his upbringing.  With a father like his, who needs Satan.

 

Tonight's Criterion film. 

There are two more films available by the directors, as well as a 50 minute documentary about them.  Right now, I need some time off from the Tavianis.

Mapman Mike