End of Beginning of Summer

June, like many months before it, has swooshed past.  If I didn't write these posts occasionally I would never remember a single thing I did.  We finally got a good soaking this morning (Saturday), which was badly needed.  This was our first major rain in many weeks,  However, we paid for it with a very warm and extremely humid day.  Tomorrow comes actual chilly air, and with it (hopefully!) clear skies.  I plan to head out tomorrow night with the scope if it is clear.  I am doing some summer observing in Hercules and Ophiuchus this year.

 

I have decided to finally attempt to perform my year-old piano program, which I began learning last July 10th.  My right ear impairment put things off a while, as did our travelling to New Orleans for a week, and then twice to Sudbury for two weeks.  Getting back into shape after several absences is very hard work.  I wish my piano technique matched my self discipline.  I've just finished Week One of three to put final touches on the pieces.  A few of them actually improved, while others actually got worse (practicing them too fast--must slow down).

 

In movie news, it's my festival weekend.  After my usual two choices I get three festival picks.  We've watched one of mine, but before discussing that we'll have a quick look at Deb's two choices, and an earlier one of mine.  French Cancan is a Jean Renoir film from 1955.  It is a nearly perfect 'entertainment' film, in bright colour and filled with music, dancing, comedy, and motion.  If one is ever to use a lighter film for having great examples of mise en scene, this would be my choice.  The staging is wonderful, with the director having to handle so many complex scenes is smaller spaces.  There are many tender scenes, but the film will likely be remembered for its flamboyant style, especially the grand finale musical Cancan number.  Great fun, and highly recommended.  Gabin is a joy to watch, and he can dance, too!

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Deb's leaving choice was from Mubi, and Indian film called Trijya from 2019.  Many recent Indian films deal with individuals struggling within their meagre means to achieve some form of quality of life, though their lives are mostly pure labour with small reward, both financial and spiritual.  This film is quite different.  We follow a young man trained as a journalist languishing and wasted at a silly newspaper job in Pune.  We see him at a cafe table with a fellow worker.  He has to write the paper's horoscope column that week, as the normal guy is off.  The column becomes very popular, even though he dictated it off the top of his head.  His boss wants him to continue in the role, but he wants no such nonsense.  He ends up leaving Pune, going back and forth to visit his family, and then finally just going walkabout through rural India.  This is an extraordinary fine film, very different in its outlook from nearly every other Indian film I have seen.  Highly recommended.

 

Leaving Mubi soon.

Before that I had one more film chosen that has not been discussed here.  Ken Russell's Salome's Last Dance from 1988 is a fun-filled over the top version of Oscar Wilde's play, showing the author attending a private performance.  We first saw it in Detroit at the short-lived Tele Arts Theatre downtown.  Like Jean Renoir's film, above, this one is very colourful, quite funny, and unlike the Renoir, seriously demented.  Not for every taste, but if you like Ken Russel (we mostly do) and Oscar Wilde (for sure!), then this film will be found to be most enjoyable.  Lust as you've never seen it before!  And it's right from the Bible.  So it must be okay for families, right?

Leaving Criterion June 30th. 

 

Now we turn to our most recently watched film, a SF directed by Claire Denis.  High Life is from 2018, a French/German production.  If it wasn't for all the violence, the film would be worth watching more than once.  A crew consisting of death row inmates is sent on a suicidal mission to the nearest black hole, in an experiment to see if its energy can in any way be harnessed (I would submit that solar energy would be far more feasible and much cheaper).  Despite the stupid premise (would a government really spend billions on a space mission and then send out death row inmates to fulfill it?  I mean, there would be more than enough volunteers from society, would there not?  The hero of the tale was doing time for killing a friend who killed his dog.  Juliette Binoche plays a doctor who murdered her two children and her husband.  When the film opens the only survivors are our hero and his baby daughter.  The story of how the other crew members perished is told in flashback.  By the end of the film the baby has grown up to become a teenager who looks a lot like Juliette.  The film contains a plethora of shots of bodily fluids, another drawback to repeated viewing.  I liked the concept of the film, a man trying to raise a baby on an empty starship, heading towards a black hole.  Rather unique in my experience.  Recommended for SF fans, but watch out for the violence, which includes rape.

 

Leaving Mubi soon.  

 

I'll be back very soon with the June reading summary.  I am just finishing up a novel.

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

Winter's Non-Arrival

It's more like mid-November here at the Homestead this week (and next).  No snow anywhere to speak of.  Green grass, plants still growing in the garden.  Anyway, Happy Solstice!  Our all day fire was still on for Friday, beginning at sunrise and lasting till sunset (8-5).  It's going to get warm in here, though.  We have a ton of good food laid in for the holidays, both of the snack variety and the full meal kind.  More and more plant based items appear at the grocery stores nearly every time we go there.

 

Thursday we managed another walk on the trail.  It was a crisp autumn day.  Tomorrow will be similar, but it will be a crisp winter day.  Go figure.  We also stocked up on birdseed, and Deb managed to buy paint for the room redecoration (new windows, after all) on sale for 60% off the regular price at the same store.  She is currently stripping a 5" border from around the top near the ceiling before repainting the walls and ceiling.  Wednesday was Wal-Mart day.  We usually do our shopping there when a prescription refill is needed at the pharmacy.  We were expecting horrible crowds, but it was a actually quiet and a mostly tolerable experience.  Tuesday was Deb's infusion day.  All went well.  Before that we ate at Copper Branch, a plant based restaurant with a wide and delicious menu that is about two minutes walk from Deb's doctor.  We came home with a mint chocolate nanaimo bar and a wonderful cinnamon bun.  We'll be back in two months, when her next infusion is due.

 

I am off from Iaido for a few weeks now, and even longer if the weather does turn nasty.  I plan to practice in the garage a few times, though.  I have finally relearned all of the material from black belt level.  If I can polish that up a bit, I can move on to relearn all the material for 2nd degree black belt.  Then I'll be back to where I was five years or so ago.

 

In film news, Mubi sent us a neat little retrospective of all the movies we watched last year on the channel.  There were a lot of them.  They show a short clip from each movie watched, and categorize it as drama, comedy, fantasy, etc.  We just finished watching another one from that channel.  It has been many years since we've seen The Bicycle Thieves, from 1948.  The movie still packs the same punch, about the dehumanizing of the human spirit when someone wants to work but cannot find a job.  The man in the film does find a job, but it requires a bicycle.  No bike, no job.  His bike is in the pawn shop.  His wife gathers up their sheets and then cash them in to get the bike back.  The shot of their sheets being stored is one of the most unforgettable shots in cinema history.  The first day on the job someone steals his bike.  The largest part of the movie shows him, his friends, and his little son (probably the best son any man could ever hope to have|) searching fruitlessly for the bike.  A powerful film, and still relevant today in too many parts of the world.

 

 

Leaving Mubi Dec. 31st. 

 

 Before that came Perfect Blue, an animated film from 2000 by Satoshi Kon.  A young girl leaves her budding pop singing trio to become an actress.  Another very violent animated film, this one really manipulates the viewer.  We watch many entire scenes, only to find out that the girl has either dreamed them or imagined them.  She is being stalked, too.  And there is a mass murderer on the loose.  And she gets some pretty hideous parts for her start in acting.  A bit too convoluted for my taste, and much too manipulative.

Showing on Prime Video. 

 

Before that, Deb chose two from Criterion, both films leaving this month.  The most recent view was Grand Illusion, Jean Renoir's 1937 film about WW1 prisoners of the Germans, trying constantly to escape.  Starring Jean Gabin as one of two men who finally get an opportunity to make a dash for it, the real star of the film is Erich Von Stroheim.  He is the German commandant of the prison, and proves to be, like one of the captive officers, a soldier and a gentleman.  It's strange to see a German officer portrayed as being an actual human being, instead of (as per WW2) a sadistic torturer.  His performance is flawless.  Hailed as one of the truly great films of all time, it did not seem to make it on the Sight and Sound top 100 list.  The script is amazing, as are the settings and the handling of many characters within a scene.  Still gripping from end to end.  Highly recommended.

 

 

Leaving Criterion this month. 

Last comes another gem of a film, called Summer 1993, directed by Carla Simon in 2017.  Frida is six years old (I had guessed 7, based on the actress used, who might have even been 8).  Both her parents are dead, probably from AIDS.  She is adopted into her uncle's family, her mother's brother, and raised by him and his wife.  They have a little girl already, around 3 or 4.  Frida shows no emotion at all during the film, until the very end, which must have been a challenge for the director and the little actress.  In many ways she is just a typical kid, often doing stupid and thoughtless things; however, she does have her problems.  Obviously autobiographical (there is a dedication at the end to her 2nd mother), the film can be challenging at times to watch, as there are situations that could have ended differently and more tragically.  Overall it is a very good film, with the little three year old stealing many scenes.  It also makes me happy that I don't have to deal with kids any more.

Leaving Criterion Dec. 31st. 

 

Mapman Mike

Getting Caught Up

Summer heat blasted us until Sept. 21st, which was last Wed.  It was 87 F.  then someone literally pulled the switch to "Autumn" setting.  Boom.  Sept. 22nd it was 20 F cooler, and it has stayed that way, and will stay that way.  A really, really strange entry into fall, and exactly in tune with the calendar.  That never happens here.  Summer usually lingers into Thanksgiving weekend, the 2nd weekend in October.  We watched the house temperature drop all weekend, from 77 F Thursday afternoon (lingering heat in the house from the day before) to today, when it is 67 F inside, and a lot colder outside.

Our Equinox celebration went on for a few days, as it was a clear sky on the Thursday.  We changed our artwork around to autumn pictures, and changed the fireplace lights.  We took our final Tarot cards of the Celtic year, and finished up Wagner's Die Walkure.  It such an emotionally powerful opera, and the orchestration is among the heaviest ever written to accompany singers.  What a blast!  We also are continuing some readings from Tolkien's Book of Lost Tales 1, which contain the earliest versions of many of the stories from Silmarillion.

I share a birthday with the first day of Autumn (22nd), along with Bilbo and Frodo, so my mind always turns to Tolkien in the fall.  But for my birthday this year I bought a box set of the complete works of Haydn!  160 CDs!!  I have been gently dipping into it for the past week, and enjoying the performances immensely.  This means that I can now dispose of a huge number of LP record box sets, freeing up some space in the basement.

In the world of the mundane, I have three appointments this week, making it an unusual week for me.  Very early tomorrow morning I will bring the car to VW for some necessary work.  an hour later I have a specialist appointment regarding my injured shoulder.  I hurt it a year ago trying to pull debris from our creek, and ended up tearing a rotator cuff.  It's likely not serious enough for the surgeon to repair, but I have some questions for him.  And Friday morning it's another trip to the dentist, this time for routine cleaning and check up.

And then comes Saturday.  Philip Adamson, my occasional piano instructor, will play another all-Beethoven program, as he tries to push through to the end of performing all the sonatas.  Looking forward to my first live concert (other than my own) in years!

Meanwhile, Deb is preparing for her mother's Celebration of Life in a few weeks.  She is assembling a short film of stills that show her mom as a little girl and morphing through to recent images of her.  It's been an incredible amount of work preparing a two minute film of stills.  She will also be the main speaker.

We have been watching a lot of films (and episodes of series), I just haven't had the time the report on them.  I will list the ones I remember, with perhaps a comment or two about some of them.

Yoyo, by Pierre Etaix, is from 1965.  A funny and touching comedy of life about the son of very rich parents who suddenly lose everything and become poor.  He runs away and joins the circus.  A minor masterpiece of comedy and drama.

Milky Way, by Luis Bunuel, is from 1969.  His scathing attack on religion and dogma.

Niagara, from 1953, was directed by Henry Hathaway and stars Marilyn Monroe.  It's a tale of murder and revenge, all filmed gloriously in Niagara Falls.  Worth watching just for the scenery.

The Other Side of Hope, by Aki Kaurismaki, is from 2017.  It's a terrific minor tale of refugees in Finland trying to make a life.

Showing on Criterion. 

Swamp Water, Jean Renoir's first American picture, is from 1941.  Depraved doings in the great swamp in Georgia.  Lots of humid atmosphere.

Showing on Criterion. 

Paris Calligrammes is a film by Ulrike Ottinger, who spent the 1960s in Paris.  The film is a terrific documentary of the times and her personal experiences, and for any lovers of that great city this film is a must see.  We than looked up an early film of hers, and found Ticket of No Return from 1979.  Starring Tabea Blumenschein as the beautiful woman who goes on a holiday tour of Berlin.  She does it sumptuous evening clothes (chosen and designed by the designer/actress).  But this tour is soaked with alcohol, and mostly covers the divey bars and back streets.  Some very funny scenes and some very tragic ones, too.  Well worth gawking at.

Man of the West was directed by Anthony Mann, and is from 1958.  Gary Cooper stars as a reformed bank robber who gets caught by his old gang after a failed train robbery.  Very high drama, and many unusual scenes.

Deb chose some films from Prime to watch.  One was The Duke, a small but very fun film from 2021, about a man who plots to steal a painting from the National Gallery.  He plans to hold it hostage until the government agrees to pay for the TV licenses (a British thing) of seniors and veterans.  Highly entertaining, as it is whenever the little guy wins against the big guy.  Based on a true story.  The Man Who Knew Infinity is another excellent story based on a real person.  Released in 2016 it tells the mostly unhappy story of a brilliant mathematician from India who is brought to England to work.  He has to overcome incessant racism and professional ridicule, but with the help of Jeremy Irons and Stephen Fry, his short life is rewarded with several professional and mathematical victories.  Hard hitting but excellent film.

Lastly (but not leastly) is The Illusionist, a film from 2006.  It's turn of the century Vienna, and this story is about a great magician who performs there, but is soon censored by the local police and government.  He meets a young woman whom he knew as a child, who is far beyond his meager station in life.  They fall in love all over again.  This is a pretty decent film, and very easy to watch.  Can the little guy overcome the big guy?  You won't know until the very end.  Recommended.

Showing on Prime. 

Mapman Mike

 

 

Dark Days Are Here

From the end of November until the middle of January, northern latitudes are at their darkest.  Daylight hours are greatly reduced, even in the southernmost part of Canada (Essex County).  Add to that fact that our area is at its cloudiest, and you have the makings of a depressing time of year.  It's a time of year that one really appreciates quality indoor activities, such as practicing piano, reading, watching great films, gaming, and even more writing.  The walking program is still in effect.  No more snow is forecast here in the near future, though Sudbury got walloped yesterday.

It's been nearly a week since Deb's first laser treatment.  No benefits noted yet, and she returns in 3 weeks for the second one.  The first one seems to have mostly healed, at any rate.  For my part, my right ear began plugging up just before the Sudbury trip, and is now mostly plugged once again.  It will likely remain that way until I give up all hope, then suddenly it will begin to clear again. 

We watched two movies of interest this past week.  Deb's weekly choice was "Boudu Saved From Drowning," an early film by Jean Renoir.  Michel Simon plays what might be one of the most easy to hate characters in all of film.  He plays a tramp who is saved from a suicidal drowning by a bourgeouis book seller, who lives with his wife and their maid.  Boudu proves to not only be ungrateful for the assistance they give him, but he turns all their lives upside down.  He is like a small cyclone that comes into their lives, disrupting everything, before heading back onto the street to live.  The film brings up the interesting question of how many homeless people, who, due either to mental illness or an unwillingness to conform to society's standards, do not fit in, never will fit in, and thus can never be confined to a house.  Many relatives of such people have tried many different ways to care for them, but without success.  It's a problem few people seriously talk about, but Boudu is the poster boy for this type of homeless person.  Anyway, the film cannot be said to be entertaining, as Boudu grates on everyone's nerves after a while, and needs to be punched.  But there are many amazing scenes, and several laugh out loud moments.

 Now showing on Criterion. 

My film choice was called Plucking the Daisy, and goes a long way to show why sexism is still alive and well in France today.  If people were brought up on movies such as this one, they can almost be excused their boorish behaviour towards women.  Roger Vadim scripted it, and Brigitte Bardot is the star.  She plays the part of a sweet young girl from Vichy, daughter of a strict general, who leaves town for the big city, and through one mishap and other ends up in a burlesque show stripping contest.  However, she has published a scandalous book under the name of A.D.  Yup, just the kind of plot I would have thought up.

The film turns out to be a screwball comedy, and there are some very funny moments.  Her brother left the family to become a painter in Paris, telling them he has struck it rich, but he actually works as a low paid guard in the Balzac Museum.  His quick tour with a group of tourists through the museum is quite funny.  Bardot's striptease is actually very funny, too, and done just the way this girl would have done it (in the end, she has to be pushed out onto the stage).  But overall, I do not think I have seen a picture so blatantly sexist in all my life.  The director, Marc Allegret, also directed the 2nd Marius film.  When released, it was the 20th most popular French film of all time, mostly because of Bardot, no doubt.

 Not the least bit sensationalist. 

We are home for two days, then off to Windsor on Sunday.  Deb has an appointment with a heart specialist at 1:15, and then my piano instructor, Philip Adamson, is performing the 6th concert in his Beethoven Sonata series.  Jenn may be coming from Cambridge to hear him play again, and even Amanda is in town and will meet up with us that day.

M.