More Winter

If you want to know what it is like to live next to Mordor and Sauron, just ask President Zelensky of the Ukraine.  If you want to know what it's like to live next to an insane Saruman from Orthanc, ask any Canadian, especially one living near that crumbling empire (that is Michigan in the photo below, across the river from our Homestead).  We continue to gaze at the downfall of a once great country, with jaws suitably dropping, heads shaking slowly, and eyes rolling.

 

This is turning into a long and cold winter here in the southernmost county in Canada, which is fairly unusual.  Things often wrap up by mid-February, but the forecast looks much grimmer for next week and beyond.  Still no snow to speak of here, with about 1/2" falling yesterday, out of an expected 2-4".  However, our first major winter storm is predicted for Wednesday.  Stay tuned to this station for updates.  The river is iced over, though ice breakers are keeping the shipping lane open for the occasional tanker that passes by.  Temps remain below average for this time of year,. and skies have been mostly grey.  No snowshoeing again this year, due to lack of snow.  And it's been too cold and/or windy for any astronomy outings.  So indoor activities continue to rule our lives.

 

The Detroit River is frozen up this year.  The open shipping lane can be seen in the background, near the buoy.  That buoy has a name; Ballard! 

 

I've talked with my mother (she lives in Sudbury) several times this week.  Last Monday she had all her top teeth removed, and several from the bottom, and now has dentures.  At any age that would be a tough climb back, but at nearly 96, I find it hard to fathom.  She has had a rough week, and her gums are still very tender.  Thinking of you, mom.  Hope you feel better soon.  She sees her denturist again on Thursday for a check up.  Needless to say it's been very cold and somewhat snowy in the north.

 

In film watching news, there were a couple I missed last time, so this blog will deal with four films, from the most recently viewed to oldest viewed. 

Momma's Man is from 2008 and was directed by Azazel Jacobs.  A married man now living in California with his wife and baby visits his parents back in New York, in the loft where he grew up.  The mother and father are played by the director's real parents, and they are quite amazing.  Their loft, where the man grew up, is a maze of corridors lined with high shelves filled with old junk.  His old bedroom is in a cubby hole reached via ladder, while they sleep on the main floor amidst their collected goods.  The poster shows a very funny scene where the three of them are in bed watching Monsieur Verdoux, a later Chaplin film.  The man/boy realizes that he does not wish to return to California, and ends up staying with his parents trying to recapture the security, innocence and good times of his youth.  He tries connecting with a few old friends.  He tries falling down a large flight of stairs.  He does not return his wife's increasingly frantic and desperate phone calls.  In short, he cannot face being an adult and having responsibilities.  As a person he is a zero on a rating scale of ten.  Though a very slowly paced film, its message is a clear one.  Realizing how many young men and women still live with their parents today is a shocking statistic, though this time it is only temporary.  After eventually sitting on his mother's knee and have a good cry, he is finally ready to resume adulthood and returns to California.  Not a bad film, if you have the patience to put up with this guy.

 

The film is leaving Criterion Feb. 28th. 

 

Ten Cents A Dance is from 1931, irected by Lionel Barrymore and stars Barbara Stanwyck as a dance hostess at a busy club.  She ends up marrying a louse and sticks by him faithfully until he makes the ultimate mistake, by accusing her of sleeping with a rich guy to get money he so badly needed.  That was the final straw, and he gets both barrels of her wrath and she finally leaves him.  Ms. Stanwyck is terrific as the big hearted girl who only wants to break free from her life of aching feet, but pulls no punches when her character is attacked.  With a happy ending (for her and the man who truly loves her), this is a likeable picture where the wormy guy gets his comeuppance, and the decent guy gets the more than decent girl.

 

Leaving Criterion Feb 28th. 

 

The animated version of The Addams Family is from 2019 and, as expected, is flashy, very fast paced, and extremely violent.  The violence is likely more intense than the early Bugs Bunny and Road Runner cartoons, but seldom as funny.  In its attempt to be subversive, it pretty much follows the lead of most animated films today.  Children are heroes, adults are either evil or not up to the task at hand, and anything to do with white suburbia is bad and must be eliminated or controlled.  There are some prized moments in the film, and the character of Lurch is particularly well done.  The voice of Uncle Fester is close to the original actor's, and the end credits feature the original TV series song.  Not a classic by any means, but it goes by so fast that it isn't hard to watch.

 

Now showing on Prime. 

 

Archie Mayo directed one of our favourite films, called Petrified Forest.  We turn now to his 1942 Moontide, in its way nearly as odd and offbeat as that other film.  Jean Gabin stars as an aimless sailor, mostly out for a good time, and a man who drinks far too much and too often.  He saves a young Ida Lupino from drowning, and they become a couple.  They work at selling bait out of an old shack, and are befriended by Claude Rains, a nightwatchman.  Gabin, Lupino, and Rains make a great trio.  The seaside locations and foggy nights make for a great setting, along with the bare bones bait shop shack where the couple live.  Gabin's evil and jealous sailor friend does everything he can to separate the couple and get Gabin away to another port.  When he steps way over the line, Gabin goes after him.  Moody and often unpredictable, the film was a neat little find, a true sleeper and worth seeking.  But see Petrified Forest first!

 

Leaving Criterion February 28th. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter Bites

We are just coming out of a prolonged spell of very cold air.  No records were set but teeth were set chattering throughout the area.  This satellite photo gives a decent indication of what it was like around the Homestead these past few weeks.  Despite the cold, we have had very little snow.

 

Cold air sends snow squalls from the Great Lakes across land.  Many areas got feet of snow, while other areas (like us) were spared. 

 

 

Two cold January sunsets, taken four days apart.  The Detroit River is frozen solid.  Notice how the sun has moved to the right in the second photo, taken only 4 days later.  The sun is roaring back towards Equinox.  Hang in there; winter is on the way out. 

 

Indoor activities continue here at the Homestead, including board games and PC games.  We have reloaded a game we played for a time and then gave up on, and are giving it another go.  Called J.U.L.I.A. Among The Stars, it's a pretty decent SF game with several mysterious happening occurring at science stations scattered on several planets in a distant solar system.  Only one human is left alive.  She is aided by the probe's on-board computer (with a faulty memory) and Mobot, a drone that is able to go down to the planets to find out what happened.  We also played Tokaido, and then again with a new add-on that allows for more choices at every stop along the road.  We have three games remaining from the pile I brought upstairs for the Winter solstice party.  We should get through those before our end of winter party, this year tentatively set for February 12th (unless there is a snowstorm).

 

Left side and right side of the Tokaido board.  The top photo shows the expansion set above the main board, on left.  Despite looking quite complicated, the game is easy to learn.  Travel the famous road and stop along the way at hot springs, shops, inns, temples, and scenic overlooks.

 

We have been watching the only two Doctor Who seasons we have never seen.  The sixth doctor was played by Colin Baker, with his mousy and whiny assistant Peri Brown.  Season 22 Series 4 is called The Two Doctors, and features Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines, and we are in the middle of it just now.  It's wonderful to see Troughton again, in his final appearance before his death two years later.  The Sontarans are in Seville, and soon so are the two doctors.  Season 22 consisted of 45 minute episodes, and this installment has three episodes.  I don't mind Colin Blake as the Doctor, at least so far.

In film news there are two to report.  Run Lola Run is a very silly, if not stupid, fantasy film in which his and her scumbags keep getting another chance to live and find a solution to their untimely, if deserved, deaths.  From Germany in 1998, it shares its theme of how small alterations in our daily life can change the future with several other and much better films.  Try the 1987 Polish film Blind Chance, or the 2008 Doctor Who episode called "Turn Left," for a somewhat better look at the theme.  True to it's title, Lola does run.  In fact, she runs a lot.  In fact, she runs just a bit too much for my liking.  A very thin plot, with little to no character (a girl who can scream at a very high pitch for a long time is about as deep as we get into Lola), it's short running time hints that may be the film is too long for a short, and too short for a feature.  Give it a miss.

Leaving Criterion in a few days. 

 

The Hard Way is a melodrama from 1943 that stars Ida Lupino who wants to make her kid sister something big, something that will take them out of their dreary small town.  Her sister (Joan Leslie can look and act 18) does show talent, and by luck and hard choices, she becomes a big star on Broadway.  Despite her climb to the top, her non-supportive husband kills himself because she won't quit and have ten kids with him. This pretty much ruins the bright lights for the girl.  Republicans and so called Christian viewers would likely think that the lessons learned here are the real truth.  Stay at home, ladies, and have babies.  Everyone will be better off.  One would hope that those days are gone forever, but it's not likely.  Good acting, but near the end I was ready to throw things at various people in the film.

 

Leaving Criterion soon. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

Three Odd Film Noir

By definition all film noir are odd, but we have recently watched three that are Odd (note capitalization).  In January the Criterion streaming channel has a whole bunch of films we would like to see, so we have now watched 6 films in a row leaving January 31st.  Most recently have been three "B" pictures worth noting, all in beautiful b & w.  Most recent came The Man I Love, a 1946 film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Ida Lupino.  Though it has some soap opera moments, this drama jumps all over the place, telling three stories during the course of the movie.  What is most interesting about this film, however, is how strong a woman Lupino is.  The film centres on her, and she handles the part with a solid type of acting seldom seen in female characters, especially in the noir genre.  She is tough and tender, smart and talented, as she sings her way into top nightclubs.  She falls for a down and out jazz pianist, and they almost make a go of it.  By the end it appears as if they are not totally washed up, but still might manage to get together later.  Robert Alda plays the owner of the nightclub where Lupino sings, and manages to create one of the creepiest creeps who ever crept into a movie.  A dizzy blonde, mother of twin babies and wife to husband Johnny, also manages to upset audiences with her lifestyle.  An unusual film, and worth a peek for Lupino's performance.

Leaving Criterion January 31st. 

 

Before that came Pickup Alley, a 1956 film starring Victor Mature as a globetrotting cop on the trail of bad guy Trevor Howard, who is being assisted by Anita Ekberg.  A few things make this film unusual for a film noir.  First of all, it is filmed in Cinemascope.  Secondly, we get to travel the world, instead of only staying in New York or LA.  The sleazy film title has nothing to do with this film, made fun because the police are looking for Trevor Howard but don't know what he looks like.  London, Paris, Rome, and Athens all feature somewhere in this fairly fast paced thriller.  Sadly, Mature hardly makes it as a hero cop.  He seems to do very little acting in this film, going through his lines like an amateur.  Ekberg is, of course, rather cute, though her part is not very demanding.  Can she act?  We would hardly know for sure from this film.

 

Leaving Criterion January 31st.

Earliest of the three came Human Desire, an American Fritz Lang directed remake from 1954 of La Bete Humaine, from a story by Emil Zola.  Glenn Ford stars as a passenger train engineer who runs headlong into trouble when he falls for a married woman, played by Gloria Grahame.  Her overbearing husband, played by Broderick Crawford, is a jealous man, and an alcoholic who lets off too much steam and is fired from his job at the railroad yard.  The film, especially at the very beginning, features some of the worst background matting this viewer has ever seen.  Glenn Ford guides his train through the mountains, across bridges, and into tunnels, though when the camera pans to him we see Midwest flat farmland in behind him out his cab window.  Weird.  Ford is mostly emotionless in this picture, hardly acting at all.  Grahame is okay as she goes through the motions of loving Ford to help her get rid of her husband.  We learn that her past is a sordid one, beginning when she was 16.  Will Ford, freshly back from Korea, kill her husband for her?  Good tension is built up to this climax.  I much prefer the earlier French film starring Jean Gabin, but this one has its moments.

Leaving Criterion January 31st. 

 

In local news, I did some fun things this week.  Last Sunday I went ice skating for the first time in 14 years.  Public skating at the local arena is on Sunday at 5 pm.   I managed to skate for 30 minutes without falling or crashing into someone (It was rather crowded).  Seniors can skate on Wednesday afternoons, but our schedule is currently too filled with medical appointments, so I will stick to Sundays for now.  On Tuesday morning I dropped Deb off at her physio appointment (for TMJ) in Amherstburg, then went on to walk a segment of the local rails to trails path.  It was a very cold day (about 25 F) with a nasty little breeze, but once I was into the forest it was okay.  It was strange to be walking here in January, but we had had no snow.  The marsh was frozen over and could have been travelled on skates.  We haven't gone above 30 F for nine days now, and some of the nights have been bitter.  Then on Thursday morning I went over to Dr. Seski's home and put in an hour on his incredible 7' Fazioli piano.  I was able to run through my entire program, and it went pretty well.  He played a Brahms Intermezzo for me.  I may be back into the piano group on occasions when they have smaller gatherings.  Last time there were only three of them.

 

From my trail walk on Tuesday morning.  The marsh is frozen solid.

 

Tonight (Friday) it is snowing, our first real snow event this season.  We might get 2" or a bit more, so we should awaken to a white winter wonderland.  If so I will take some pics tomorrow morning and add them here. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

Catching Up

Today I enjoyed my first full 2-hr. piano practice since my eye problems last weekend.  The pieces are so large and require so much stretching that I have to go easy again for a few days.  I am still trying to meet my memorization deadline of having four pieces in my head by next Wednesday.  I plan to add two more pieces to memory in August.

It has been 8 weeks since Deb's surgery.  There is still 4X that left to go, and her healing should be well advanced.  About the time my piano program is memorized.  She returns to physio on Thursday.  We both saw doctors last week: I saw my M.D. and Optometrist on Monday, then my Optometrist again on Thursday.  I am taking drops for another five days in the right eye.  Deb had a regular check-in with her new M.D.  We both seem happy with our G.P.s, and I've always liked my optometrist.

I'll try to do a quick film watching catch up here.  We are currently amidst our fourth weekend film festival since signing on to the Criterion Channel.  This time around we are watching a trio of b & w films from the 30s, directed by Alexander Korda.  More on those at the end of the weekend.

Recently seen films include The Garden of Women, directed by Keisuke Kinoshita, a very long movie b & w film from 1954.  It started out as a bit of a soap opera in an all-girls' college dormitory, but it soon evolved into something much better.

 Garden of Women, a Japanese film from 1954. 

The main conflict of the film is between the girls, who want freedom to live.  The school keeps them locked up, their mail is read in-going and out-going, they cannot study after lights out, and having a boyfriend is definitely out.  At times the film is hard to watch, as some faces need serious slapping.  The film ends with a girl's suicide, with each side blaming the other.  In my opinion neither the students nor the staff could really be wholly blamed for her death, as she was quite mad all along.  A good film, and definitely worth a watch, despite the long running time.

The Hitch-Hiker is a silly noir film from 1953, directed and co-written by Ida Lupino.  An escaped murder hitch hikes to escape, killing as he goes.  For some reason he kidnaps two able-bodied men, but doesn't kill them.  Instead, he keeps them at gunpoint for several days.  they seem neither able to take advantage of him, nor escape, and it just gets dumber and dumber as the film boils itself away into the desert.

 From 1953 and now showing on Criterion.  This was the only American noir film directed by a woman.  

The locales and cinematography are excellent.  There is a lone Mexican policeman that is tracking the three men, and of course all the way through the film the viewer assumes that he will die in a gunfight at the end.  However, the ending is pretty good, and definitely seems to have a woman's touch and instinct.  The last five minutes are probably the best part of the movie.

Lastly comes a really strange and wonderful film called A Canterbury Tale.  From 1944, it was written, produced, and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

A memorable British film from 1944. 

Sheila Sim is probably the freshest face and most "girl next door" film actress you could ever set your eyes upon.  A stage actress, this was her first film role.  Also giving a quite astounding performance is Sgt. John Sweet, US Army, starring as Bob Johnson, from Oregon.  A small group of people come to know one another during war time in the village of Chillingbourne, along the Pilgrim's Road to nearby Canterbury.  That is the main plot, and it works quite well.  There is a silly sub-plot about the glue man, who pours glue on village women's hair if they are out after dark, in a twisted effort to keep them away from nearby soldiers, who are encamped nearby.  We see rural England at its best, and we do eventually get to Canterbury and the cathedral.

 A still from the film, a key scene featuring Sheila Sim and Eric Portman.

There are a number of short films attached to the Criterion presentation, including long interviews both with Ms Sim and John Sweet.  There is also the amazing documentary called "Listen To Britain," made during the war, showing scenes and presenting sounds from Britain in the 1940s.  Quite remarkable.  The film is definitely worth a view, especially if you are watching the British version.  We got to see parts of the American version, with a different beginning and ending, as well as shorter cuts in some of the scenes.  Skip the American version if possible.

Mapman Mike