Swamped

It's been busy around the old Homestead lately, but things are getting back on track.  On top of everything else, we lost internet for two days due to a faulty modem.  A new one was sent out and we are back to normal.  Astronomy has died for this lunar cycle, as a week of clouds and rain settled in last Sunday.  New moons around here always seem to be cloudy and hopeless.  I've come to expect things to go that way.  However, I managed to get out 5 times in April, and each one was a fun and exciting outing.  One of those outings was quite breezy, and I got to use my vast repertoire of profanity that night.  But the others were perfect, and even warm!

And the road trip blog is now complete.  Just click on the Road Trip link in the left margin to read a 5-part blog about our recent travel adventures.  Two new pictures were added to part 4 last night.  Many parts of the trip still resonate nicely, as any good trip should. 

In Homestead news, routine medical appointments are on going.  Deb's new glasses are ready for pick up tomorrow.  Our furnace got repaired to the tune of nearly $500.  Deb purchased a new computer for her film work, and donated the old one for our desk top use.  Everything has been transferred over thanks to her.  And I have a new cell phone, again thanks to Deb's patience with technological affairs.  The old land line in the house is now gone, with that number transferred to my phone.  We are actually saving money by doing this.  And speaking of phones, the new American phone worked perfectly on our trip.  American monthly plans allow users to save data not used each month, so we had plenty of data to use on our trip.  This meant keeping an eye on traffic buildup and construction, as well as weather.  So for now, our technological existence is going well.

In film news, here is the latest.... Deb still had a couple of choices left from her festival.  First up was a very delightful tale called Hunt For The Wilderpeople, from 2016.  A man and a large boy head for the bush when the boy is threatened with being taken back into social care.  They are chased by authorities, but find lots of sympathetic helpers along the way. The movie is funny, well acted, and well written.  Being a film from new Zealand, some of the dialogue is a little tricky to understand, but the movie is highly recommended, even though it goes a bit over the top at times.

Leaving Criterion April 30th. 

Next came another film by Douglas Sirk. All I Desire is from 1953, and is held together by more fine acting by Barbara Stanwyck.  It's a soapy tale of a woman who left her marriage and small town to try and make it big on the stage.  Invited back by her daughter to see her high school play, she has to come to grips with the different feelings her visit entails.  It's pretty good overall, but without Stanwyck it likely would not be.  She seems to melt into the role like some people fit perfectly into jeans.

 

Leaving Criterion April 30th. 

 

I stepped up to the plate with In a Lonely Place starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame in a 1950 film directed by Nicholas Ray.  It was as good as it sounds, too.  Bogart is a writer for Hollywood films.  He seems to be bi-polar, and has fits of extreme violence that he cannot control.  Grahame falls in love with him, even after he has been accused of murder.  It sounds like it might be the old story of woman clings to man no matter what.  But not here.  The ending is very dark and downbeat, perfect for the movie but so very rare in Hollywood.  Definitely off the beaten track, and worth tracking down.  Bogart can be one scary guy.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Finally, another of Deb's picks, this time from Prime.  Three Thousand Years of Longing is an adult fantasy film starring Idris Elba as a Djinn, and Tilda Swinton as the woman who releases him from his bottle.  From 2022, this surprisingly good film was directed by George Miller.  This is about as far from Mad Max as a film can get, which is probably why it garners a lot of lukewarm reviews.  The special effects are truly wonderful, and the whole thing has the feel of the Arabian Nights tales.  Very highly recommended for adult fantasy fans.  Elba is just too perfect as a Djinn with a sorrowful past.

Now showing on Prime. 

 

Until next time.

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn Again

 We have just finished up with another two weeks of summer, with mostly very warm temps.  Today it is cool and windy, and we had over 2.5" of rain on Friday and overnight Friday into Saturday.  So far we have needed no heat turned on, and other than the furnace test on September 22nd, our system is resting up for the big winter job.  Thursday Deb had a dentist appointment in Windsor, near the main riverfront trail.  I went for a very warm walk (it was 82 F) while she had her smile cleaned. I didn't see any ships, but one was docked at the Detroit terminal.  The bridge was heavy with trucks.

Geese on the Detroit River, seen from my riverfront walk Thursday.

Trucks on the bridge.  Detroit seen across the river.

  Looking towards downtown Detroit from Windsor's riverwalk.  It was a summery day. 

 

Three of the four ships I have been watching all this year are now on the upper Great Lakes.  I am watching two lake freighters, one Canadian and one American, and two salties, both registered under the flag of Marshall Islands.  One of the salties recently stopped in Detroit, coming from Rotterdam.  It is now way up the lakes somewhere, and I will watch for its return.  The other salty is currently in Vera Cruz, Mexico, and I'm hoping it makes at least one more passage past the Homestead before the season ends.  Though it's been a busy shipping season, it is about to get a whole lot busier, as grain shipments from recent harvests make their way past us on their way across the world.  With our trees properly trimmed, I now have an excellent view of the river again from home.

 

There are three recent films seen to mention briefly.  First, the Fassbinder project continues, this time with Satan's Brew, from 1976.  It's an avant garde comedy, and one that has some serious problems.  Despite the problems, it still has some very funny moments, including the physical appearance of Margit Carstensen, looking hilarious in short, curly hair, thick eye glasses making her eyes look gigantic, and a long, tight skirt and jacket that emphasizes her thinness.  It reminds me of some of the Richard Lester movies I have seen.  Though Deb quit watching early on, I persevered.  The two main problems is that his usual actors have little or no sense of how to act in comedy.  However, they get better as the story goes along, and by the end appear to be enjoying themselves in their bizarre roles.  The second problem is the on-going overt sexism, which is amazing in its outrageousness from today's standpoint.  Worth viewing?  Probably, but mostly for Fassbinder fans who want to see everything he has done.

Now showing on Criterion, the story of a writer who is not quite all there, and always in need of cash. 

 

Red-Headed Woman stars Jean Harlow, and is from 1932.  Especially in period Hollywood films, one is used to seeing bad guys and bad gals get their comeuppence at the end of the movie.  Well, Jean is a bad one, out to get a rich man away from his wife no matter what it takes.  She is a truly revolting gold digger who knows exactly how to tempt a man.  But no comeuppance.  She gets away with everything, including attempted murder.  I guess some girls are lucky that way.  Not a great film, but Una Merkel plays her part well, as Jean's loyal girlfriend.

 

Leaving Criterion soon. 

 

Lastly came Across The Pacific, a 1942 wartime adventure film starring Bogart, Greenstreet, and Mary Astor.  The action takes places just prior to Pearl Harbour, when the Japanese were trying to time their assault with a crippling explosion along the Panama Canal.  Luck for us that Bogart is ready to tackle the problem head on, despite first getting beat up so badly he would be in the hospital for a month.  No problem for our hero, who grabs a gattling gun and saves the western world.  Too bad he wasn't at Pearl Harbour, too.  Most of the adventure takes place aboard a small ship, which Bogart calls a boat.  Mary Astor has a great role with some very fun lines as the romantic interest, as well as having some private business to attend in Panama.  Greenstreet is perfect as the evil enabler of the Japanese.

An early film for John Huston, just after he directed Maltese Falcon.

Suited to today's weather, and the beginning of dangerous fall gale season on the Great Lakes, is this print by Claude Gellee in the DIA.

The Wreck, between 1635-36.  Claude Gellee, French (1600-82).  Etching printed in black ink, 5" x 7".  Collection Detroit Institute of Arts. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

4 Recent Films

Actually, there are five.  But we'll get to that one a bit later.  First the Criterion Channel viewing.  We haven't seen Bergman's The 7th Seal in so many years.  Deb chose it for her weekly viewing, and we were both mesmerized by it.  It's worth the price of admission just to stare at Max Von Sydow as a knight just returned from the Crusades.  He and his squire are disillusioned men, returning to find their homeland ravaged by plague, and crackpot Christians doing everything but helping.  We had forgotten the moments of humour the film offers, remembering it only as grim and unrelenting.  But it isn't, as the final dance of death affirms.  This is one of two images of the film that sticks in the viewer's mind, the other being the chess game.  This is one of the best movies about medieval times I have ever seen.

Now showing of Criterion. 

Her leaving Oct. 31st choice was The African Queen, directed by John Huston and starring Bogart and Hepburn as two unlikely allied fighters in Africa against the Germans.  This is a great adventure film, always fun to watch.  Filmed in Africa, the role won Bogey his only Oscar.

A Hollywood classic, and a great film, too.  Showing on Criterion. 

I chose Point Blank, an unrelenting crime story starring Lee Marvin and Angie Dickinson, and directed by John Boorman.  Marvin is double crossed and is shot and left for dead during a heist.  His pal and crime partner also leaves with Marvin's wife.  When Marvin survives he goes after his $93,000.  And nothing is going to stop him from getting it.  Marvin is pure ice as he goes after big guy after big guy, until the final showdown.  Not to everyone's taste, and there are some brutally violent scenes, but Marvin never once actually kills anyone, and I really liked the pacing of the film.

Lee is da man.  Showing on Criterion. 

 A lot of John Huston films are leaving October 31st, so we will be watching a lot of them.  My going away choice was called Fat City, starring Stacy Keach, Jeff Bridges, and, in an Oscar-nominated role as a soused barfly, the unforgettable Susan Tyrell.  As a rule, I try to avoid boxing films.  For example, I have never seen any of the Rocky pictures.  This is a boxing picture, but it is just so good in all its detail that I easily watched the entire thing, including some pretty gruesome fight scenes.  Keach is fantastic in a role that Huston wanted Brando for, giving the right amount of burnout and emptiness to the performance, as well as having some hope for a better future.  When we see him give up alcohol, return to the ring, train to get into shape,and then finally win a fight, he is given $100 for his effort from his manager.  This reality check sets him back forever, and the image below is from the final scene of the film.  There are so many good performances and wonderful small moments in the film that it is pure enjoyment and enlightenment from the get-go.

A still from the final scene of Fat City, showing on Criterion until Oct. 31st.  

And now on to the mystery 5th film.  I watched Apollo 13 in Sudbury with my brother and sister-in-law last weekend, and really enjoyed it.  I remember the events well, though I was in high school at the time, and a lot happened during the night.  There were no all-news channels, only bulletins and updates on the regular news.  The things that went wrong on that flight, and how they managed to fix them, would never be believed if this was a SF film or novel.  Truth is certainly stranger than fiction.  An excellent film.

I think we watched this in Sudbury on Netflix. 

Look for another update by the weekend.  My next project is to write the October article for our astronomy club's newsletter, which I hope to begin working on tonight.  things are slowly coming back into focus for me, as we have had a barrage of cloudy, rainy nights, with more of the same on the way.  While it is disappointing not to have any more clear nights this lunar cycle, it is also good to have my life back again.

Mapman Mike 

 

 

Harry Dean's Big Break

As usual, we watched three very different films lately.  We hadn't seen Paris, Texas in many years.  While the film has many fine moments, overall it just doesn't hang that well any more.  The first half of the film, up to where Travis gets to LA, is really good.  But after this point (there was no script after this) things go downhill slowly but steadily.  I have never met a film buff who does not love Harry Dean Stanton, and he is the perfect choice for this film.  Also turning in a very strong performance is Dean Stockwell.  And Nastassya Kinski turns in a solid performance, as does the little boy.  Problems develop when the film should be reaching a climax.  Instead, we are treated to very long and boring monologues inside a peepshow booth.  The mysterious story we've been waiting so long to hear about is painfully uninteresting and banal (he was a jealous alcoholic who blacked out for four years after hitting his wife (who was about 35 years younger than he was!).  The ending itself is quite ridiculous, as the absent father, after reuniting the boy with his mother, takes off again, leaving her to figure out what the hell to do now.  A film made by males for males.  Even Wenders admits that he is terrible at constructing endings.  Harry Dean was furious when he discovered that the family would not be staying together at the end, and wanted to punch the director.  Even a simple "I will see you again," at the end would have been better than what was given audiences, who for some reason loved it at the time.  So 4 stars for the first half, and 2 stars for the second half (which I would never watch again).  The opening scene, with Travis walking alone in the desert, is one of the great openings of a film.  It's too bad that Wenders couldn't have come up with a better ending.  Sam Shepherd wrote the final monologues in one night, and it shows.  The film has about two hours of extras to watch, which we are still finishing up.

 Now showing on Criterion Channel.

Next up was a film noir, part of a package of this type of film from Columbia that Criterion is currently showing.  We watched Dead Reckoning, with Bogart getting beaten up and shoved around for awhile.  The plot is all over the place, and the dame, Lizabeth Scott, is either the best liar in the world, or she really loves Bogart.  Which is it?  That's about the only interest here, and the ending, though surprising in some ways, is expected in others.  Deb claims it to be the most misogynistic film she has ever seen.  Right up there with Paris, Texas, in my reckoning.

 Now showing on Criterion. 

And now for something completely different.  In other words, something I would not let my mother watch.  Adan Jodorowsky's short film (27') The Voice Thief is stylish and edgy, and was obviously made for the film festival circuit.  It would likely do well at many festivals.  A man chokes his singing wife, who loses her voice.  He then sets out on a dark mission to capture other voices and give them to his wife, hoping she will be able to sing again.  Sets, use of colour, and camera work are quite incredible, though the subject matter often becomes very disturbing and uncomfortable.  Deb thought he pushed boundaries too far, while I thought that if it had gone any further, I would have jumped ship.  An interesting experiment, in the tradition of Eraserhead and its ilk.

 Disturbing short film showing on Criterion.  

On the home front things are going well here, as they are in Sudbury (my family) and Lindsay (Deb's mom).  We are not bored, still barely finding enough time in a day to get things done--practicing, writing, walking, yard work, watching films, making films, reading, gaming--there is no end of things to do at this location.  I think I should qualify for a long space voyage, if I can take my house with me and all belongings.

It's the new astronomy session, and so far it's been a bust.  I'm hoping for at least 3 good nights, but my hopes are dimming as we approach last quarter moon.  The weather here is very windy and very cold, so even if skies were clear, conditions are not good enough to get me driving 75 miles round trip.

And speaking of the moon and night time, here is a wonderful painting from the DIA, long a favourite of mine.

Matlock Tor By Moonlight, Joseph Wright of Derby, English, 1734-97.  Painted between 1778-1780.  Oil on canvas, 24" x 30", collection Detroit Institute of Arts.  

We have a Sam Fuller movie lined up, more episodes of season 5 Elementary, lots more to read, and my 2nd Valeria novel, which is bouncing along nicely.  I write at least one new page every day, plus some rewriting and editing.  Hoping to have it complete by the end of May, and sooner if I have to stop piano for awhile due to my blocked right ear.

My next outing is scheduled for Thursday, for some fresh food.  We already have an on-line order, to be picked up, for the following week.  And a big order of vitamins etc is due any time from Wal Mart.  So we are venturing out even less frequently than before.  All is good at Lone Mountain Homestead.  Though I am pining for New Mexico a lot.  And my craft beer supply is getting dangerously low.

Mapman Mike

Late February Ramble

Of course I'll ramble about movies, art, and music.  But there might even be a few surprises, so read on.  My film choice for last week was called Law of the Border, a film from 1966 Turkey that was presumed lost.  The restoration came from the only remaining print, and that was missing a reel and in terrible shape.  After a military coup, all prints were thought destroyed.  It is a strange film, taking place on the border (Iran?).  A poor village survives by smuggling, and the film reminds me of a Mexican western.  There is a lot of gunfire and shoot outs, though the setting is 1960s Turkey.  The border is now fenced and bobby trapped with land mines, and so the missions become more and more dangerous.  This is an eye-opening look into desperate poverty.  The government wants to open a school and hopefully save some of the next generation, but the smugglers fear that the teacher will get wind of what is happening and report them.  Lots of action, but also lots of realism and starkness.  They try farming, but the land is poor, and the competing smugglers run a herd of sheep over the plantings, destroying the crop.  Not a heart warming tale, but it is essential viewing.  The lead actor is totally amazing, and steals every scene he is in.

 Law of the Border, 1966, Turkey.  Now showing on Criterion.

Part of Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project.

 A still from the film. 

Deb's film choice was Marked Woman, starring Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart, from 1937.  Five prostitutes stand up to an untouchable gangster to bring charges of murder and mayhem against him.  This is a hard hitting flic, not a soap opera.  And it is highly ironic that we finished watching it on the day that Harvey Weinstein was found guilty on two of five charges brought against him, including 3rd degree rape (and I don't even want to know what that charge stands for).  The battle will go on, and it began a lot earlier than 1937.

 Now showing on Criterion. 

 Eventually, five women stand up for what is right.

Bogart as the prosecutor, puts away the bad guys. 

In weather news, we are getting more Spring-like days than Winter ones.  However, we are still getting winter ones, about 3 out of 7.  More snow and cold are on the way, after a mild weekend.  There were 5 incredibly clear nights in a row, something that boggles my mind.  I was able to get out for the final two with my telescope.  The first two nights were way too cold, far below my threshold of enjoyment while standing around in an open field.  The third night was a howling wind storm.  There was still wind on my two nights out, but I did get some observing done.  I'm still working on my notes.

In music listening news, we have now listened to 92 Haydn Symphonies, as well as works up to Op 92 for Brahms and Britten.  It's quite a ride, with a new Haydn work coming up later tonight.  And I have been practicing my newest piano pieces for three weeks now.  The first month is very frustrating, but things should improve a lot over March.

Today's artwork is brought to you by German Romanticism, a style of painting that I really love.  Sadly, Detroit has virtually no major work in this area, despite the vast and famous collection of German Expressionist art.

The Waterfall, Karl Blechen.  German, 1798-1840.  Oil on canvas.

Unframed, 15" x 11".  Undated work.  Detroit Institute of Arts.

The location is not specified, but it is not difficult to think of The Final Problem, where Holmes encounters Moriarty.  It's worth it to Google some of his other pictures, especially something like Mountain Canyon In Winter.  Great stuff!!

While we still hope to jet off to San Diego next week, we are keeping a close watch on the latest Corona virus developments.   Other than the fact that this might be the end of humanity, and the economy is tanking too, along with our RSPs it just might be a good idea to go ahead with the journey and see one more Bruegel painting before we expire.  We have cancellation insurance that be used at will, but I really want to make this trip.  

Mapman Mike