This is the time of year that Winter usually cranks up the volume. While it has been rather chilly here of late, and will remain so for the foreseeable future, it has not been Earth-shattering. We are at about seasonable temps for this time of year, though the snow is still missing. One of those giant winter storms is currently passing well south of us today.
Our New Year celebrations began last Tuesday night as we watched London UK ring in the new year with their usual spectacular fireworks at and in the London Eye. New Years day we listened to a very long opera by Rameau, his Hypolyte and Aricie. I gave myself two presents for this holiday, one of them being a 27 CD set of the Rameau operas. This is part of my music education I have been neglecting for too long. I love his harpsichord works, and have even performed several of them. But his operas are his crowning achievement, and though not fully appreciated in his time, are now seen as the masterworks that they are.
In gaming news we have played some Bob Ross, Scrabble, and a Dr. Who card game recently. The card game is a good game, but the rules are written so poorly that one has to play several times to fully catch on. We continue to make progress with Tengami, the Japanese paper folding PC game, and I finished playing a much older game. My 2 CD set of Road To India was damaged, so it became a bit frustrating. With the help of online saved game files I was able to skip over parts that didn't play well, to finally conclude the game. I managed to save the girl. It's a pretty lame game.
Back to self-bought presents: my 2nd purchase was a new set of ice skates. I used to skate a few times a year as a teacher, as the kids would go to the local arena monthly in winter for skating time. Which means that the last time I was on ice skates was 2010. Anyway, I am going to a public skating event this afternoon at our newest local arena. and am really looking forward to it.
In film news, there are three to report on. At the beginning of each month the Criterion Channel posts which films are leaving at the end of the month, and which are just arriving. We usually concentrate on the leaving list. Some months there are only a few of interest, but this month the list is long and quite interesting. So for now we are watching Criterion channel films leaving on January 31st. Mubi does a similar thing, but for now we are all caught up there. First up was Deja Vu, a SF film by Tony Scott, Ridley's younger brother. Denzel Washington plays an ATF agent investigating a terrorist act in New Orleans (creepy timing). As he is drawn deeper into the case, he is inducted into a special team that can see events as they happened four days earlier. Now they can catch the killer. But Denzel wants to do more; he wants to prevent the bombing of the ferry in the first place. This is a classic big budget Hollywood thriller, with insane car driving, lots of violence, terrific special effects, and fine acting. The SF twist makes it all bearable, though the plot eventually ends up with more holes in it than Swiss cheese. No matter, it's just a fun roller coast ride. Hold on and enjoy the best you can.
John Turturro has a large presence on Criterion, including giving short intros to films they show there. We watched one of his directed films, Romance and Cigarettes from 2005. Produced by the Coen Brothers, it is John's 3rd directorial effort. It's a delightfully odd comedy/musical, with several pop songs (two by Tom Jones, one by Springfield, etc.) serving as musical dance numbers in the middle of the story. It is quite an engaging film and well acted. It stars James Gandolfini and Susan Saradon as a middle aged couple breaking up. He is having an affair with a red-haired Kate Winslet, who is using a hilarious flat Midlands accent. Their three daughters have formed a rock band and they practice in the backyard. It's a difficult task to describe the film, but it resembles Dennis Potter's Pennies From Heaven, only funnier. Highly recommended.
I was attracted to a 1952 film called Strange Fascination. Written, directed, produced, and acted by Hugo Haas, it's the old story of a concert pianist leaving Europe to try and conquer America. He has a rich female patron, and begins his tour in Columbus, Ohio, as he attempts to work his way towards Carnegie Hall. He plays Chopin. He meets a very young bleached blonde, and they seem to hit it off. She is a nightclub dancer heading to New York, where they meet up again. They fall in love and get married, and after that his career seems to fall apart. A Midwest flood forces cancellation of the rest of his tour, and he goes broke. They live in a small room together, but his jealousy keeps her indoors and away from jobs she could have. This tragedy manages to somehow avoid all the cliches that films about pianists have, as well as films about a young bleach blonde wife to a much older man. She does love him, and she is a decent person. To cash in on an insurance policy, he sticks his hand in a printing press machine. Life can't get much worse. except his wife leaves him and he pines for Europe again. In the final scene he is playing one-handed boogie woogie in an AA meeting for a bunch of sobering up skid row men. But wait, at the very end, his original patroness appears at the door... and smiles at him. He smiles back. End of movie, about as happy an ending as could be imagined for this film. An odd film worth a look.
Criterion Jan. 31st.
Mapman Mike
