Helene

 Hurricane Helene has dispersed.  Its winds reached us this morning and continue tonight as I type.  The devastation it has caused the deep south is virtually unprecedented, and it will take weeks to assess and begin to repair the damage.  40 dead so far, and counting.  We are expecting some rain tomorrow and Sunday from it.  Needless to say that the first week of my newest astronomy session hasn't gone well.

 

The fourth week of our mountain hiking fitness program has begun.  It doesn't feel as if I will be ready to climb mountains in two weeks (three, actually, as it takes us a week to get there; we hike on the way, making it our 6th week of training).  But the program is tried and true, so I must believe.  Three high altitude hikes are planned, including the Texas state highpoint.  That first one, a tough one to be sure, is on the sixth day after our departure from the low flatlands.  It will be a major test for me, and without passing it I cannot think about hiking the big one, NM's Jicarita Peak.  So a Plan B is being formed in case Guadalupe Peak gets the better of me.  Not having hiked in the mountains for six years now, failure is a distinct possibility.

 

Deb is finishing up her Hound of the Baskerville film project, which she is using mostly as a learning experience for her newest animation software purchase. The film stars yours truly as the evil Stapleton, toying with women in the part, much like I do in real life.

 

Last night we had an incredible sunset, moving from yellow through pink, orange, and red.  Here is a photo taken near the final phase.

 

Sunset photo taken from our front yard, with the sky reflecting upon the Detroit River. 

 

In film watching news, I will begin with last weekend's pick, and move towards the most recent pick.  Twentieth Century is from 1934.  Directed by Howard Hawks it stars Carole Lombard and John Barrymore.  He plays a theatre director, and she is his latest acting discovery.  A romance blossoms, then wilts, as she finally deserts him and heads for Hollywood.  While they both just happen to be on the same train from Chicago to New York (the Twentieth Century), he gets a chance to win her back.  Barrymore is in top form, and often quite hilarious as the manipulating man that will do anything to score another Broadway success.  Lombard, not quite so successful in her role (she screams a lot), plays the young put upon actress trying to put up with Barrymore's eccentric and overbearing ways.  Somehow or other we had both missed seeing this film before.  it's worth it to watch Barrymore, almost playing himself at times.

Leaving Criterion Sept. 30th. 

 

Following was next, A Christopher Nolan film from 1998.  From the Mubi description:  Driven by boredom, a writer randomly shadows strangers on London’s bustling streets. What starts as fictional research becomes an unsettling journey when he’s confronted by a burglar named Cobb. Drawn into Cobb’s world of crime, the writer treads a perilous path, entangled in obsession and danger.

Stay away from bad guys.  One would think by now, after all the movies and novels that have contained this message, that people would follow that simple maxim.  But no.  Instead, they are attracted and seduced by bad guys, to their inevitable undoing.  An almost harmless hobby (follow a person once, but never again) soon turns into a crime spree, and then a deadly crime spree.  As the poor victim becomes more deeply involved with this film's version of Faust, his demise becomes more and more certain.  An original film to be sure, and in b & w.  Worth a look at the director's earlier smaller scale work.

 

Now showing on Mubi. 

 

Most recently came Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion, a 1970 Spanish thriller.  Though light on murdered bodies, it is heavy on sexual sadism.  Filled with suspense movie tropes, it isn't too hard to guess what is going on, though a few surprises remain at the end.  A woman begins to think she is going crazy, as there is no evidence of the insane man, she says, who is causing her grief.  Of course some of the tricks used by the bad people trying to drive her crazy are never explained (the apartment she takes her husband and the police to is suddenly empty of all its furnishings and looks old and unused--it hadn't been rented in over a year.  No explanation of how that one was done).  The movie features the most futuristic 1970 furnishings and women's outfits for the time--it often reminded me of one of those sexy spy movies that proliferated for a time after the Bond films became successful.  If you enjoy seeing an innocent woman totally gaslighted, then you should like this film.  If not, oh well.  She does live happily ever after, though.  Sort of like a Dickens novel, I guess.  The bad guys get all the breaks, until the final minute.

Leaving Mubi Sept. 30th. 

 

I have resumed working with my Spirograph set.  Perhaps if you get lucky I will post some more images of my work next time.

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

Dreary Days

I suppose the dreary weather is helping people to remain indoors.  It's been mostly gloomy for two weeks now, though the flowers and trees seem to like the colder weather.  Our last pleasure outing was March 10th, so we are 7 weeks into staying home.  It's been good news for the piano repertoire.  Memory work is actually a bit ahead of schedule, and most pieces should be inside my head by the end of May.  It's also good news for Deb's film making, as well as my reading and listening program.  Three astronomy nights have helped me keep my sanity, too.  With the moon waxing now, my session possibilities are nearly at an end.

We've also been getting some yard work done.  That includes getting the lawn tractor started and all three lawns cut at last.  The remains of last year's leaves got chopped up, and things are beginning to look halfway civilized.  Last Thursday we picked up our first on-line grocery order.  Though they were out of some things and substituted others, we did well enough to try it again next week.  You simply drive up to a special parking area at the store, phone them, open your trunk, and someone comes out with your groceries and puts in the vehicle.  I might get used to shopping this way in the future, too.

Deb's movie choice last week was Ball of Fire, starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck.  From 1941 and directed by Howard Hawks, it concerns a group of professors writing an encyclopedia, and a young singer with dubious connections who assists them with the section on slang.  She brings a breath of fresh air to the study, and the 8 professors take a fancy to her.  It's a light comedy, with Gary Cooper getting to show a different side to his acting ability.  The 7 older professors are played by some of cinema's finest character actors, giving some depth to this adventure.  Miss Stanwyck gets to sing a song at the start, backed by Gene Krupa and his band.

From 1941, and showing on Criterion Channel. 

Today's artwork is a photograph from the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts.  Here is a quote about this important photograph from their website:

“Brig upon the Water” created a sensation when it was first exhibited at the Photographic Society of London in December 1856, because it was reported to have been printed from one negative. Such an achievement was considered extraordinary, because the light sensitivity of the materials used was very uneven and typically yielded either well-defined scenes with completely washed-out skies or very dark, unreadable scenes with well-developed skies. To fuse the sky with the scene the photographer usually either in-painted clouds by hand or printed twice, using one negative for the sky and another for the scene. Perhaps Le Gray succeeded with this seascape because he kept the composition simple. Here the exposure time for the sky and water was equal, and the brig, while dark indeed, appears as an appealing silhouette."

 Brig Upon The Water, Gustave Le Gray, French (1820-1882).  Albumen print, ca. 1856.  13" x 16".

This is a stunning photo, a difficult enough subject to pull off today!  I do not remember seeing this, though I will watch for it during any upcoming photography exhibits from the collection.  There is a gallery devoted to photography at the DIA.

Detail of above.  

It's film festival weekend, my choice.  I have selected three films by Claude Autant-Lara.  More later.

Mapman Mike