Eastshade: A Game For PC

Gaming has fallen by the wayside around here in the past several months.  No board or card games, and no computer gaming, other than to wander around old stand-bys like Myst, Riven, and Uru.  I got bogged down in Botanicula, where I completed certain goals but the game never let me advance.  So we loaded Eastshade, a game built for people who loved Myst.  One wanders around a truly beautiful landscape as a painter, often selling art for cash or favours, without fear of dying.  Goals are clearly laid out, the inventory menu is clear and easy to use, and the scenery is breathtaking.  There are seaside landscapes to explore, and villages, hilltops, forests, rivers, and mountains.  Days are sunny, with an eclipse each day that changes the light and mood.  Nights are cold, and you have to have shelter by the time it is dark, or else have a glass of mead with you as you wander about.  Best of all, the items players need to gather are easy to find and clearly differentiated from the surrounding flora and fauna.  Walking here is very restful.  Here are a few screenshots.

4 screenshots from Eastshade, a game for PC.  After painting a picture, it can be exported to your desktop. 

 

Last Friday was the third gathering of the newly formed Windsor/Essex piano performance fellowship.  We met at Paula's home and studio.  Four turned out this time, the largest gathering so far.  There are seven of us now, including three doctors.  Next meeting is at Dr. Rob's home, where we will get to play on his Fazioli piano!!!!!!!!!  Everyone is looking forward to that!!!!!!

 

Astronomy begins this week, and with the start time bumped up to around 10 pm, my entire schedule will be thrown off again when a clear spell arrives.  Thursday morning our tree person will be here to clean up storm damage from February, and of course it looks to be clear Wednesday night.  Not much sleep ahead, I am afraid.  It also bumps heavily into my reading time.  But I love being out at night with the telescope.  There is nothing quite like it.

 

My April film festival finished up with another Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi.  Sansho The Bailiff is from 1954, and ranks 75th on the Sight and Sound best 100 films list.  It is a retelling of an old oral folktale about slavery in medieval Japan, and is quite a dark film.  Well acted for the most part, and beautifully photographed again, the film would seem to have much to say to most of civilization, even today.  While it's discouraging to see so few kind males in the film (they are all brutes), most of the women are portrayed with greater sensitivity and positive human-like qualities.  Definitely a recommended film to watch (our 2nd time, at least), but doubtful as to whether or not it would make our top 100 film list.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Now that the festival choices were complete (3 films along with 10 short docs accompanying them), I still had my two regular choices remaining.  One choice can be from any source, while the 2nd choice must come from the leaving soon list from either Criterion or Mubi.  My first pic was a truly crazy animated feature called Mind Game, from 2004.  From Japan and directed by Masaaki Juasa, it is a mix of styles and techniques.  This would be a good contender for the animated equivalent of "Everything, Everywhere, All At Once," only it came out 17 years ago, and it works for animation.  The story is simple; a group of three people (a guy, his girlfriend, and her sister) run from the yakuza after killing one of their hit men.  Their speeding car goes off a bridge and they are swallowed by a whale.  Inside the whale, an old man is living comfortably, after having been caught 30 years earlier.  This is one of the wackiest features ever made, and often very funny.  Often you just sit back and watch some of the weirdest imagery and nonsense flash before your eyes.  Needless to say, the credits are long for this one.  Highly recommended.

 

Mind Game is showing on Mubi. 

 

More movie news next time.  Next time may be delayed by clear skies.

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

May Flowers

We have certainly had the April showers.  But the first two days of May have been more like late March, with cold wind and rain.  We are still running the boiler in May.  Then, suddenly, we will be at 85 F and turning on the A. C.  We were out walking last Friday, and the farm fields were completely waterlogged.  We've had plenty more rain since last Friday.  Frogs were singing away in the ditches.  Though our grass is high enough to cut, it's been too wet.

 

This Friday is the 3rd piano performance group get together.  So far, three is the magic number.  The first gathering I was with Alde and Nadia, while at the second I was with our two newest members, Rob B. and Rob S.  They are both working physicians (internal medicine) but fine piano players.  I've known Rob B since he was a small boy, winning all the local piano competitions.  We reconnected on FB and he expressed interest in coming out, and enticed another doctor to join him.  This Friday we are at Paula's studio, and it looks like three of us again.  I doubt we will ever have all six together at once, but perhaps someday.  Paula just signed on to the group recently because she and her husband spend the winters in Florida.  She will be with us until late October. 

 

We are hoping to get to Detroit this week, if the weather offers us an opportunity.  John King Books, a brewery or three, and perhaps a bookstore and a cafe, along with a walk somewhere.  Next week the new astronomy session begins, which will mean very late nights for me, and if it is clear then very little daytime activity will be planned.  No other big plans for the next few weeks.  A trip to visit family is forthcoming, however.

In film news, there are three to report.  Deb's final pick was a short animated feature called Our Sound, from 2019.  It's a weird and strange comedy about three high school boys suddenly starting up a rock band.  They have two bass guitars and a partial drum set.  From Japan, it captures a lot of the tropes about such spontaneous bands, and treats them with humour and a kind of oblique sensitivity.  Recommended.  Watch for the brief Abbey Road tribute.

Showing on Criterion.

The band in action. 

 

Next came the end of the month film festival, which is still in progress.  My theme this time was the same as two months ago--films showing on Criterion from the Sight and Sound survey of top 100 films of all time.  Up till now I have chosen unseen films, but this time I chose films that we have seen, but not lately.  First up was Ugetsu, from 1953 and directed by Kenji Mizoguchi.  As is usual with Criterion, there were extras to watch afterwards, too.  The story is about two men who are overcome with greed during a period of war and civil unrest.  One man wants more than anything to become a samurai, while his friend simply wants more money.  They are both led astray, with the money man being seduced by a ghost woman.  A sad film in many ways, the ending is unexpected and more than a bit unsatisfying, almost as if the message was not to try and rise above your station in life.  That was perhaps true in medieval times anywhere, though. The movie is very good, but it would not appear on my top 100 list.  There are several unforgettable moody scenes, including the man's first visit to the ghost castle, and a ferry trip across a river in the fog.

Showing on Criterion, and tied for 90th spot in the most recent Sight and Sound survey.

Next came a movie from Roberto Rossellini called Journey To Italy.  From 1954, it would not even make my own top 1000 list.  Starring Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders as a married couple heading soon for a divorce, they drive to Italy (Naples) to sell off an inherited house.  By day she goes sightseeing.  He has no interest in anything much.  They squabble constantly.  Finally, near the end, they go together to Pompeii.  They see the uncovering of an adult couple who died in each other's arms during the catastrophe.  They go back to Naples, get caught up in a religious festival, and suddenly are in love with one another.  Some nice travelogue stuff about Naples here, but not much else.  Sanders is like a piece of wood or a stone.  Why would she suddenly fall in love with him?  Desperation and insecurity at being alone?  Not a great film by any measure, Scorsese and a few others swear by it.  It did break from the Italian neorealism school and start a new direction for film.  While it might be important for film history buffs, it is far from being a good movie.  Listed as the 73rd best film of all time, it is at the same rank as L'Avventura.  Really?

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

The 3rd and final film in my festival starts tonight.  Until next time....

 

Mapman Mike