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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Humble Bus Stop

After waiting seven months, our local bus stop received its permanent sign.  I got sick of calling people about it, so I finally gave up.  Then it magically appeared, one for northbound (Windsor), and one for southbound (A'burg).  Bus stops are a big deal, though most people don't recognize the fact.  Most people have cars to get them where they want to go.  From my bus stop, I can get to virtually any other bus stop in the world, including Caroline's, in London, UK, for example.  In fact, I have two ways of getting there.  I would need to bring a backpack, though.

Method One sees me catch the bus to Windsor literally in front of my house.  Once there, I transfer at the west terminal to the #1C Windsor bus.  That takes me downtown to the main bus terminal.  Then get on the #8 bus (all of this is included in my fare paid near home) and head to the Windsor Airport.  Fly to Toronto, then fly to London.  Take the Piccadilly Tube, and transfer to the Jubilee Line at Green Park Station.  At Canada Water Station, transfer to the #381 bus.  Get off at Shipwright Road stop, and walk the short distance to Caroline's flat.

Method Two is the same until I reach the main Windsor downtown bus terminal.  From there I transfer to the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel Bus, get off at the main Detroit bus depot, and catch the SMART Fast Service #261 to Detroit Metro Airport.  Fly to Heathrow, and follow the same directions as above.  Flying from Detroit eliminates Toronto Pearson Airport, usually a good thing. 

 

My bus stop, just outside my door.  A gateway to the whole wide world.

Caroline's bus stop in London, UK, is much fancier than mine--she has a bench, a shelter, and a garbage receptacle.  But we are now indirectly connected across the globe, thanks to public transport! 

Anyway, I'm glad that our signs are now up.  The temporary signs always blew away in the first gale.  We are now officially on the map!  I've only used the service once, in a trial run for coffee and beer to Windsor last fall.  But now I plan to use it a little more often.  Maybe even go visit Caroline again some time.

In other Homestead news, Titan Tree Service finally made it here to clean up our mess from the late February ice storm.  All is now well once more, though we have an awful lot of wood chips and firewood lying around.  And the lilacs this year are insanely numerous and beautiful.  We have both purple and white lilacs.  Both are fragrant in the heavenly sense.

 

The backyard purple lilacs.

The backyard white lilacs. 

 

Good friend (through both astronomy and music) Randy G. stopped by for a welcome visit this afternoon.  Lucky for him he happened upon a day when Deb had made blueberry scones for breakfast!  There were even some left over for his afternoon visit.  I am hoping to see him out at my windmill observing site one of these days.  He brought us a book of poems by his sister recently published, and getting very warm reviews.  Looking forward to reading it! 

Now on to recently viewed films.  Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter was directed by Frank Tashlin, who had his hand in cartoons before he turned to movies.  From 1957, it stars Tony Randall and Jayne Mansfield in a pretty funny story about an advertising man getting the idea of asking a movie star to endorse a lipstick company.  The opening pre-credit scene is a classic Tashlin touch, among many others seen throughout this film.

Leaving Criterion May 31st. 

 

Deb started her two choices with a drama direct by Ernest Lubitsch.  From 1932 and starring Lionel Barrymore comes Broken Lullaby.  It's about a French soldier, a musician, who kills a German soldier during the war, also a musician, and, driven by extreme guilt, goes to Germany to tell the family what happened.  Quite a good story, and often well acted.  Barrymore plays the dead German boy's father.  Set in a small German town following the war, the French are not very welcome.

 

Showing on Criterion until May 31st.
 

Deb's main choice was an oddball film from Thailand/Spain called Uncle Boonmee Who can Recall His Past Lives.  It won the Palme D'Or in 2010.  The uncle is dying of kidney failure, and his illness brings ghosts and other spirits to him and his family in their quiet home on the outskirts of the jungle.  They mostly sit and talk quietly with them.  Definitely worth checking out.

 

Now showing on Mubi.  Most unusual. 

 

Switching back to two of my choices, first up was the uniquely named feature from Japan called Detective Bureau 2-3: Go To Hell Bastards, from 1963 and directed by Seijun Suzuki.  The movie is as stupid as its title, but fun to watch regardless.  A private detective in Tokyo infiltrates the yakuza who are raining terror upon the city.  Gunfights like you wouldn't believe!  Hilarious and more than a bit far-fetched, as 1960s Tokyo tries to emulate and outdo 1930s Chicago.

Now showing on Criterion.  For real. 

 

Still in the realm of the bizarre, the funny, and the 'way the hell out there' kind of film, I chose the first two parts of a 4-part French TV series from 2019 called The Middleman.  Each episode is around 45 minutes long, so we will finish it up later this week.  Here is the Criterion blurb about it, as it's kind of difficult to describe it in my own words.  The world's biggest loser tries to keep his life from completely falling apart, but it's way too late for that.

 

"Cocreated and codirected for French television by celebrated Israeli author Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen, THE MIDDLEMAN is a drolly offbeat four-part miniseries set in a captivatingly surreal universe. Mathieu Amalric, the hangdog everyman of Gallic cinema, stars as Olivier, a divorced real estate agent desperate to repair his strained relationship with his daughter and so broke he camps out in the apartments he is supposed to be selling. The death of his mother brings many surprises, including a very unexpected inheritance: a building on the outskirts of Paris. But what at first seems to be a windfall soon turns out to be a run-down money pit that only compounds our hapless hero’s problems. Luckily, Olivier has just the friend to guide him through these troubled times: a talking goldfish who turns out to be a most valuable confidant."  

 

Leaving Criterion May 31st.  

 

Back over to Deb's pick for one final film for this blog entry.  Kedi is a 2016 film from Turkey about the local cat population of Istanbul.  A charming documentary, it follows the daily lives of eight different cats and how they survive on the streets.  Many cats are very well looked after by the locals, but it still is a ridiculous situation that will only get more ridiculous as time goes on.  Warning: there are a lot of cats in this film.  It would be fun to visit some of them someday.

Now showing on Mubi.

Wrapping things up for this weekend, it was Mothers' Day today.  I spoke with my mom, and managed to get her to see the following photo, from about 1965.

Happy Mothers' Day, Mom! 

 

Mapman Mike