A Trip To Sudbury

We are just back from an 8-day visit north to visit family.  We drove a total of 1001 miles!  My mom has had some back problems but seems to be doing much better now.  Last Sunday we drove north as far as Collingwood, staying over before continuing on next day to Sudbury.  We came home express yesterday.  There is road construction on Hwy 69 north of Parry Sound, so we opted for an alternate route north on Monday.  Our return was on a Sunday and there was no construction delay.

We visited a lot of breweries and cafes, some of them new to us.  Our trunk carried a fresh supply of good ales back home, now chilling in the dark basement.  Munro Meadery is closed on Sundays (!??!), much to our surprise.  So we moved on and made our first visit to St. Mary's, a small city north of London.  Known for its rock quarries, the small downtown is thus known for its historic stone buildings.  We stopped at Snapping Turtle Coffee for lunch and a pound of beans.  We strolled the downtown on a quiet Sunday, with only restaurants open.  A small railroad station building just outside of town serves as home base for Broken Rail Brewery.  We made a quick stop before moving on towards Collingwood.

 

One of several impressive historic buildings in downtown St. Mary's, made from local stone.

 

The Thames River passes beneath a bridge in downtown St. Mary's.
 

 

Broken Rail Brewery, St Mary's. 

 

Collingwood is home to several breweries.  We are familiar with two of them, and added a third on this trip.  Side Launch Brewing is an enormous place, and their live music event this Sunday afternoon was very well patronized.  They were selling plenty of beer on a magnificent day of weather.  We picked up some ales before checking into the Comfort Inn, perfectly situated for our next two breweries.  Endswell Beer might be our favourite Ontario pub, with real English style ales on hand pull and excellent vegan pizzas.  We settled in for a late afternoon session, greatly enjoying the atmosphere (it's very small and cozy) and summer breeze from the open doors.  100 meters away is Northwinds Brewhouse.  We had a flight here and left with a few cans.

 

Two home brews were on hand pull. 

 

Next day we headed off to North Bay, with Trestle Brewery our first stop.  Here we had to decide whether to take a roundabout route to Sudbury or try our luck with road construction delays.  We chose the roundabout route and scored big.  Hwy 124 between Parry Sound and Sundridge is a beautiful rural drive, passing many lakes and a most impressive dam and waterfall. We joined Hwy 11 and followed it to North Bay, discovering Gateway Brewing, an-all vegan brewery.  We picked up some cans of ale and pushed on towards Sudbury, following Hwy 17 (Trans-Canada Highway) west.  We stopped for coffee and some sight seeing at Sturgeon Falls before arriving at the Maple Street family home.  My brother Steve lives there with his wife Lynne and daughter Emma-Lee in a downstairs apartment, while Mom lives upstairs.  She is very well looked after by the family.  She was still in hospital rehab when we arrived, so we went next day to visit her with Emma-Lee.  Mom was ready to come home and had been promised to be released on Wednesday.

 

For the first time ever we saw a train crossing the Parry Sound Trestle, from Trestle Brewing.  A truck on rails (not shown) was pulling a work train, with caboose!

 

Highway bridge on 124 crosses the dangerous rapids of the Knoefli Falls.

 

Looking upstream from the bridge towards the dam.

 

Deb spotted trilliums growing near the waterfall.

Sturgeon Falls coffee stop was at Twiggs.

 

View of the Sturgeon River from the dock at the cafe, which sits below the local waterfalls.

 

Sturgeon Falls and dam, along Hwy 17 between North Bay and Sudbury. 

 

Mom did come home Wednesday morning and we got to visit with her there for four days.  We watched some TV with her, including two movies and a 7-part series on Netflix.  We also managed to get her to play a round of Carcassonne with us, and she easily beat both me and Deb.  Deb and I enjoyed daily walks, largely uphill and downhill in Sudbury, as well as coffee at Beard's Bakery (all vegan) and then downtown at Kuppajo Espresso Bar.  We paid a quick visit to 46 North Brewery for some take home cans.  We also had some interesting talks with Emma-Lee, who will be a high school senior next year and is trying to decide what to do with her life.

 

Our only Sudbury photo shows the underside of the famous west end train trestle near the family home.  It is still well used by mining trains. 

 

All in all it was good to get back home to Amherstburg.  Of the past 6 weeks we have been away for 3 of them.  Deb is in the middle of a new film and I am trying to memorize a piano program.  We both need to focus for the next month at least.

 

We got some news from Amanda, who is moving into her own apartment for the first time.  She lives in Toronto and has finally had enough of house sharing, at least for now.  Wishing her the very best with all that extra room she will soon have all to herself!  I would expect some book collecting might commence, among other things.

 

Turning finally to recently watched movies, we saw A Haunting in Venice from 2023, one of three Poirot films directed by Kenneth Branagh.  He also plays the role of Poirot.  Though it's a typical Agatha Christie mystery plot (choose the least likely suspects and they will turn out to be the criminals), it is very stylish with beautiful photography in Venice.  Though we are promised a haunting, what we get is a pretty much down to earth murder mystery story.  It's still fun, if not too memorable.

 

Now showing on Prime. 

 

Next came the 4th Ghostbusters movie, Frozen Empire from 2024.  It's not a great entry in the series, being mostly standard by now.  New York is threatened by an ancient evil spirit that talks very much like most ancient evil spirits, and even acts like them, too.  The city is also threatened by a mayor who wants to be rid of the Ghostbusters.  I wish they had left and gone to Cleveland for awhile, leaving New York on its own to fight the great evil.  Fun effects, a few snappy lines, with appearances by three of the original cast members to liven thing up even more.  Not a favourite with this writer.

 

Showing on Prime. 

 

Because they get Netflix and we don't, I searched and searched and searched for something to watch that wasn't 9 seasons long.  I discovered Queen's Gambit from 2020, an award-winning 7 part series produced by Netflix about a female chess player.  Based on a 1983 novel by Walter Tevis, the series was directed by Scott Frank.  Anya Taylor-Joy stars as the female chess player out to conquer the world.  We follow her progress from ground zero (9 years old and taught how to play by the janitor at the orphanage to which she is sent when her mother dies) to when she wins the world championship in Moscow.  It is quite a journey.  Though the actual story is somewhat realistic, her win at the end once again proving the superiority of Americans over the rest of us poor shmucks is a bit hard to swallow.  Still, we both loved the series and especially the actress.  Watch for her outfit near the end, as she dresses like the white chess queen.  Highly recommended, even for non chess players.

 

Showing on Netflix. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

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 having 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, directed 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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fa-la-la-la-la

Tomorrow (Friday) is Solstice Eve.  We are looking forward to our usual celebration of all things dark.  There should be fresh snow on the ground by Saturday, and it will be very cold.  We will be up for sunrise, and will keep a wood fire going all day, until sunset (don't ask why, it's just fun to do).  There will be plenty of eats and drinks, and lots of music.  For the full moon last Saturday we listened to Acis and Galatea, the opera by Handel.  It is a really great piece of music, and we hadn't listened to it since 2005.  For Solstice Saturday we will try hearing all or most of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurenberg.  We've never heard the full opera, only some excerpts.

 

We are done with medical appointments until the new year, though Deb might try to get to a physio session.  Today (Thursday) she saw an oral surgeon for her TMJ problem.  She is now on a soft food diet for a month, along with taking some physio for the symptoms.  Something is very inflamed in there, and it needs to calm down.  An MRI was also requested, though that may take months.  The doctor won't consider doing anything invasive until he sees the MRI result.

 

With three appointments for Deb this past week, my reading time is doing just fine.  However, my piano practice is suffering a bit.  I had hoped to have the program memorized by Solstice.  It pretty much is!  A bit of remedial work near the end of the Debussy Prelude, and some mid-score work on the Philip Glass Etude, and all will be confined to the space between my ears.  The Haydn and Satie are pretty secure.  The Bach will not be memorized; it's too contrupuntal for my brain.

 

In movie news there are three to report.  Most recently we watched Del Toro's 2021 remake of  Nightmare Alley.   The original b & w film is one of the best, and I hardly think a remake was necessary.  Do we need a remake of Casablanca, too?  Having said that, Del Toro does a fine job with William Lindsay Gresham, the author of the 1946 novel.  Sets, costumes, CGI, and the unique use of colour shades enhance the film for modern viewers, many of whom know nothing of the original film.  Bradley Cooper stars as the con man, with Toni Collette as his assistant.  Together they come up with a winning psychic nightclub act, but when a chance comes up to make a lot of money pretending to put rich people in touch with their dead loved ones, things quickly get out of control.  Cate Blanchett stars as the therapist who outsmarts Mr. Smartypants.  Once one knows the ending, from seeing the earlier film, much of the fun of watching is removed.  Still, it is a stylish and very well done picture.  Recommended, especially if you haven't seen the original, or read the novel.

 

Now showing on Prime Video. 

 

Before that we watched Miller's Crossing, a 1920s gangster film by the Coen brothers from 1990.  Albert Finney stars as the successful Irish mobster boss, with the mayor and police chief in his pocket.  His right hand man is played by Gabriel Byrne, and the opposing Italian crime boss by John Polito.  The acting is very good, the script varies from comical to high drama, and the story itself is engrossing.  John Turturro gets a plumb role and milks it for all it's worth.  Byrne's character is the ultimate in laissez-faire lifestyle.  Whether he is getting beaten up for not paying his gambling debts, or being marched off to be executed by a rival mobster, or telling his boss to his face that he is sleeping with his (the boss's) girlfriend, he just lets what is to come happen, without fuss.  He is the picture's central character, and he pulls it off really well.  The violence is of the comic book variety, with machine guns, explosives, beatings, and threatening stares, and there is plenty of it.  Still a good picture to watch, even 34 years later.

We recently finished two Great Courses lecture series.  Both Understanding Gravity (24 lectures) and Mystery Fiction (36 lectures) were highly worthwhile projects.  We usually watch an episode at 6 pm, time permitting.  We are now embarking on two new courses.  Formal Logic and Geological Wonders are up next.

Mapman Mike 

Kidney Update and a Return of Heat

The crisis seems to have passed early in the week, though I have experienced pain today, the first since last Monday.  It would seem that there were three stones: a big one and two smaller ones.  Or the main stone broke into 3 pieces.  Whatever, I hope it is over, though there may be another small stone to come.  It all comes down to drinking more water.  Simple, isn't it?  There is no way to describe pain like that.  It is off the chart.  I am back to piano practice and exercising, and all normal duties.  In two weeks I begin the mountain hiking training program, designed for flatlanders who have little recourse to higher elevations.  And the new astronomy session begins in about three days time.  We had to cancel our visit to Sudbury last week, so it is now postponed indefinitely.

We have begun watching a newer series called The Peripheral, based on a novel by William Gibson.  After two episodes it seems promising, and isn't any more violent or sadistic than Star Trek Discovery.  It is showing on Prime.  More later.

 

In film news there are four to report.  Cairo Station is a hard hitting Egyptian film from 1958, directed by Youssef Chahine.  The film is centred around a vast train station in Cairo, with several stories intertwining, along with the mostly lowlife characters.  A newspaper agent takes pity on a crippled man and gives him a job selling papers.  But the man is obsessed with girly mags and is in love with one of the girls that sells pop (without a license) on trains.  The story seems to follow the old trope of bad body/bad mind.  Another story concerns a man trying to organize the porters into a union.  The men are run by a tyrant now, who takes most of their income for allowing them to work there.  The film becomes increasingly tense as the crippled man really goes off the rails, becoming violent and totally insane.  Quite a good film, the first to make the director well known outside of his home country.

 

Showing on Criterion. 

 

Deb then picked a silly movie, a Chines kung fu comedy called Dirty Ho, from 1979.  As much a modern dance film as it is kung fu, many of the routines are totally amazing.  In one of them, the hero (Prince #11), manipulates a young female musician against an enemy, making it seem like she knows kung fu.  He manipulates her arms, legs, head, and feet against an opponent in an astonishing sequence worth many viewings.  It must have taken hours of rehearsal!  In another he fights on one leg, as he has been wounded.  More jaw-dropping routines!  The film is quite funny, too, but as usual the final fight scene just goes on way too long.  As a result, the film ends very abruptly, and we never get to see the real villain (Prince #4) punished.  We can assume it is coming, however.  Fun and very colourful.  Quite a high budget film.

Now showing on Mubi.

 

Next came Breaking the Waves, a very strange film from Lars von Trier from 1996.  In many ways it is a terrific film, and the actress Emily Watson is absolutely riveting in her role as a child-like young woman who marries a rugged man that works on oil rigs.  Filmed in Scotland, the photography and landscapes are most impressive.  She lives in an isolated community, and the religious elders hold sway over much of the doings.  Women have no say in religious matters, and are not allowed to speak in church or to attend funerals.  Bess, the young woman, talks to God out loud, and he answers her in her voice, lowered in pitch.  After a week together after marriage, he has to return to the rig, and will be gone two months.  This sets off a breakdown in Bess, who loves her man dearly.  When she tells God that she wants him home, he obliges.  Her husband returns with a serious head injury incurred on the rig, and is a paraplegic.  Essentially a bizarre soap opera, Bess becomes more and more unhinged as the story progresses.  The most bizarre part of the film is the ending, where we find out (spoiler alert) that yes, God really was listening to her and replying.  The ending turns the film into a religious fantasy that must have sent pleasurable shivers to everyone who talks to God.  After all, observing the world as it is we know that prayer works just fine, doesn't it?  And of course sympathetic magic.  Or maybe for you but not for someone else?  An unsettling film that is very well done, though the ending is just too ridiculous to take seriously.

Leaving Mubi soon. 

 

Lastly comes a fairy tale called Innocence, a French film from 2004 directed by Lucile Hadžihalilović.  This is a highly unusual, very poetic, and very special treat.  Though vastly different from Spirit of the Beehive and Picnic At Hanging Rock, they share some kind of common ground with Innocents.  A secluded and walled boarding school for young girls aged about 5 or 6 to 10 or 11 becomes one of the most fascinating experiments in education that this viewer has ever seen.  Part idyllic and part prison, the girls are well cared for.  Their method of arriving at the school at the youngest age, and departing it when at their oldest, is as mysterious and secretive as their program of learning.  All of the children (25 of them in five houses, surrounding the central building) study ballet, and presumably core subjects.  They have free time, mostly spent outdoors and they are largely unsupervised on the vast grounds.  The photography is stunning, and some twilight and evening shots are among the most effective I have ever seen.  The girls mostly get along, and wear hair ribbons denoting their Year (RoyGBiv, with red being the youngest and violet the oldest).  The two hour film is paced slowly.  The opening scene is a minor miracle of openings, and the ending is a perfect one.  The film is based on a novella from 1903 called Mine-Haha, Or The Bodily Education of Young Girls, by Frank Wedekind.  The film is unforgettable, and it's amazing that the director could pull it off so masterfully.  Not to be missed.

Leaving Mubi soon. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

First Heatwave

It lasted a week, and though the temps did not get as high as predicted, the extreme humidity made up for it.  We get a two day respite (82 F today), then more heat, then a longer break in the pattern.  Solstice day was a warm one.  We will often take a drive along the lake somewhere and have a picnic.  This year celebrations were indoors.  June was always a most unpleasant month to be a teacher here, with classrooms often getting several degrees warmer than outside temperatures.  It must have been a miserable week for many.  There was plenty of rain in the form of intense storms all around us, but we got bypassed.  It is quite dry here at the Homestead.

Deb had some medical tests to undergo last Tuesday, the only day we went outside.  They were supposed to take several hours.  I dropped her off in Windsor and met Randy G. for lunch.  We got partly caught up, as we haven't got together in a very long time.  The chosen restaurant was permanently closed.  As I looked around the plaza, there were five others to choose from.  Sigh.  No wonder it closed.

In film news, there are a few to report.  We have now finished the 2nd season of Detective Anna, all 40 episodes (there were 56 in the first season), and have now turned our attention to watching Picard, of which there are 30 episodes.  We just subscribed to Paramount Plus, which has every Star Trek movie and series in its streaming base.  It will take a while to get through.  We now have paid subscriptions to Criterion, Mubi, Prime, The Great Courses, and Paramount.  In addition, we get hundreds of free channels (many with ads) on Roku.  I've been watching Danger Man over time, with The Avengers ready to go as well.

Most recently we watched a spaghetti western called Keoma.  It isn't often that a decent film is completely ruined by the musical score.  In this case it features a female singer/narrator who just will not shut up.  She sings what we see happening on the screen, very very often.  She sings in a high soprano voice, and it is immediately obvious that she is an alto.  It is extremely painful to hear her screech out high notes.  From 1976, the film features the charismatic actor Franco Nero, who, unfortunately, also attempts to sing the narration from time to time.  In reading reviews of the film, hardly anyone mentions the music.  One critic said the score was "tone deaf," but another said it was the best part of the film.  Really!!?  Speaking of tone deaf...  We had to put the subtitles on and mute the film when the singing began.  The subtitles indicated when the singing was over, and it was safe to put the sound back on.

 

Leaving Mubi soon. 

Before that came Deb's two picks.  The first was a BBC film from 1984 called Threads.  It is a very graphic depiction of the aftermath of a nuclear war, using Sheffield England as its centre of gravity.  The story mostly follows two families before and after.  A young man gets his girlfriend pregnant and they decide to get married.  We meet the families (one working class, one a higher white collar class).  They choose an apartment and begin to redecorate.  In the background are newscasts telling of increasing conflict in the Middle East.  Things continue to bubble until the unthinkable happens.  Sheffield, as not only an important manufacturing district but also a NATO airbase, takes a direct hit.  We get a front row seat, and it isn't pretty.  Not much is held back from viewers, as the realism hits home many many times.  This is the kind of film that should be required viewing for anyone wishing to become a politician.  Of course nuclear war is still a very real possibility, especially with so many unstable leaders of countries with bombs.  But it seems as if our demise will not be a sudden holocaust, but a slow, burning death, as the planet continues to heat.

 

The film is leaving Criterion June 30th. 

 

Deb's 2nd film choice was considerably lighter in theme.  Called Camera Buff, it is a Polish film from 1979.  A worker and his wife are expecting a baby.  He buys an 8 mm camera to record the baby, but soon gets hooked into doing a film for the company where he works.  As he gets deeper and deeper into his hobby, his wife thinks that he is neglecting her and the baby.  His little film gets entered into a festival.  He attends and wins third prize, which includes a nice lump of cash.  His wife is horrified, as she realizes that he will never stop now.  She ends up leaving him, but as he now has access to a 16 mm camera, he manages to survive the breakup.  A low level comedy that might hit home to camera buffs, and other buffs as well.  Sometimes balancing work, family,  and play can be tricky.

Showing on Criterion, with a ton of the director's other films. 

 

When Jenn was over for a visit a while back, we told her about our rediscovery of the Utne Reader.  It was a brilliant and influential magazine from the 80s and 90s that we used to read a lot.  Of course it died as a print version a while back, but there is an on-line presence.  I have read three articles on line so far.  However, their Facebook page has not been updated for over two years.  I fear the online version may be going away, too.  I highly recommend that readers check it out.

 

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

Lone Mtn Film Festival Results

It's been a week.  We are now through most of it, with only grocery shopping tonight, and Deb to physio today.  Yesterday we were early for her 8:30 am appointment at the Met hospital in Windsor, to see if her wrist had healed.  The good news is that yes, it has healed, and she no longer wears her cast. The bad news is that just over two weeks ago, the five hospitals in Windsor and surrounding areas were hacked by dark web ransom pirates.  Needless to say no money was paid out, but all computer systems are down and will have to be rebuilt from scratch.  Cancer treatments had to be scrubbed, but have slowly resumed.  So everything is currently being done on paper, including registration, diagnosis, etc.  So it took a long time for Deb to see the doctor giving her the all clear.

Monday she went for the x-ray in nearby Lasalle.  That went very quickly.  Later that morning we got our Covid boosters in Amherstburg.  That also went quickly.  Afterwards, we had another financial meeting at our bank, as we are transferring our mutual fund assets there from Primerica.  Now all of our assets will be in one place.  Until they are hacked, and we lose everything.  On Tuesday Deb got her new orthotics.  Right afterwards we went for a long walk, and they seemed to work fine for her feet.  So all is slowly becoming well and back to normal.  Next week is Deb's flu shot, and also I have a doctor appointment.  So a relatively light week ahead for us.

In film news, there are several to report.  My festival choices this month were all unrelated to each other, as no theme was chosen.  First up was number #59 on the most recent Sight and Sound top 100 movies choice.  Sans Soleil is from 1983.  Here is the blurb from Criterion, where it is showing:

Chris Marker, filmmaker, poet, novelist, photographer, editor, and now videographer and digital multimedia artist, has been challenging moviegoers, philosophers, and himself for years with his complex queries about time, memory, and the rapid advancement of life on this planet. SANS SOLEIL is his mind-bending free-form travelogue that journeys from Africa to Japan. 

Here is a quote from the director, from Wikipedia:

"On a more matter-of-fact level, I could tell you that the film intended to be, and is nothing more than, a home movie. I really think that my main talent has been to find people to pay for my home movies. Were I born rich, I guess I would have made more or less the same films, at least the traveling kind, but nobody would have heard of them except my friends and visitors."^[3] 

 

The film reminds me of something stoned people might have gone to see in the 60s or early 70s.  On certain types of drugs, the film might appear to be deep and philosophical.  But without drugs, it is actually pretty empty, perplexing, incoherent, and sometimes downright confusing.  There are so many better documentaries out there, it is hard to believe that this one has pulled the wool over so many eyes.  What most viewers take for depth is really a mostly empty look at somebody's home movies.  The gratuitous scene of a hunter killing a giraffe is inexcusable, another reason not to watch this mess of a film.

 

Now showing on Criterion.

 

Next up was a series of short films watched on Mubi.  I came across an early David Lynch film, 30' in length, starring Harry Dean Stanton.  So I chose it and decided to fill in the time of one full length feature with other shorts.  The Cowboy and the Frenchman is from 1988, and has to be one of the worst films we have ever seen.  It is pointless, humourless, and completely unredeeming.  Deb tried watching some of the director's early animation attempts, and pronounced them to abysmal to continue.  Avoid this short film, or watch it at your own peril.

 

David Lynch at his worst, now on Mubi.

Green Vinyl is from 2004, a short Brazilian fantasy film about a little girl left home alone by her working mother.  She is told not to play a certain green children's record, and the girl promises not to listen.  Of course as soon as mother leaves, she plays the record.  Mother comes home that night with an arm missing.  And so on.  Truly bizarre and unsettling, it is still a fun film to watch.  It blows Lynch out of the water, anyway.

 

Now showing on Mubi.

 

All The Crows In The World is a Hong Kong short from 2021.  It won the Palme D'Or at Cannes for best short.  A young woman goes to a party filled with middle aged, sexist men.  This is a very fun film, with lots of off kilter attitude and bizarre situations.  She ends up making friends with the one man who does not come on to her.  But he ends up being gay.  So much for male heterosexuals; this film tears them apart, with glee.  Recommended.

 

Showing on Mubi.

Ein Sof is a Mexican film from 2021.  It is 4 minutes long.  It purports to be an avant garde film, but it's just a 4 minute music video with some very strange fashions.  Even so, it is still better than the Lynch film.

 

Showing on Mubi.

Less and Less is a short film from France from 2010.  It follows the history of coin operated machines in Paris from the 60s and onward.  Tres amusant.  The one and only bagel dispensing machine is a highlight.

We finished with a Woody Allen feature film from 2014 called Magic In The Moonlight.  An arrogant magician is taken down a peg or three by his old friend, and along the way he falls in love with a young medium.  At first he is fooled into believing that she is the real thing, despite his attempts to prove her a fake.  An okay film, but nothing terribly special here, though we do get to see an elephant disappear from the stage.  Costumes and period cars (1920s) are also very good.

Now showing on Prime. 

 

And one last image before signing off for today--this is a weather map of the area just north of us from yesterday.  I think every possible form of precipitation is shown in one area of Michigan and Ontario:  green, yellow, and red for rain; pink and purple for ice storm; and blue for snow.  Very pretty.  The deep red shows heavy rain and possible hail.  I wonder how they enjoyed their day in those areas.

 

We are south of Detroit and west of Kingsville. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Fading

Peak autumn colours have passed quickly, and as November roars in (more like December this past week, with actual snow flurries on Halloween), Nature begins to fade into browns and greys.  Early autumn and late autumn are really two completely different seasons here at the Homestead.  This coming weekend we lose our later daylight as we switch back to Standard time (which I would prefer to have year round).  Our Tuesday walk on the Greenway Trail was so different from the one a week ago.  For one thing, it was freezing, with a blustery breeze and 39 F.  For another, more fields had been harvested, leaving a brown and empty landscape surrounding us.  And for another, most of the leaves had blown down from around the trail.  A stark difference from65 F last week, and peak autumn colours.

 

We had our usual great Samhain festival here at home.  The decorations went up last Saturday, and will remain up until at least Sunday.  There was a wood fire, homemade pumpkin pie, great music, and the annual Tarot reading.  We each pick 9 cards from a shuffled deck.  Deb goes first, then after her reading is done the cards are placed back and reshuffled for my reading.  For the first time since we've been doing this (2004?), we both selected the same card as our year card.  I will post it here soon; it's perfect for us at the moment, at least.  In addition, we each have card that helps guide us through the 8 quarters and cross quarters of the year.  We mainly use the Arthurian Tarot, which is quite brilliantly adapted from the tradition Waite deck, but this year we will also use the Waite cards corresponding to our Arthurian picks, to deepen our reading.  The cards are never used as predictions of any sort, but rather give us something to think about for the 6 weeks that they stay out (except for the year card, which gives us something to think about for a year).

 

Here are a few phone pics of our inside decor this year.

 

These are all low light photos.  Deb was unable to carve the pumpkin this year, because of her cast.  So guess who did the honours?

Deb's rather crowded Day of Dead altar set up.  Yorick himself is sitting on a chair near centre.  The black centerpiece at the rear is a mirror covered in black cloth, a traditional Offrenda feature.

Our wood fire burns cheerily.  It was very welcome this year, as it was a cold and windy night.

This skeleton was a gift from my cousin Cathy.

 

Henry the Halloween Cat and Bruno the Gorilla team up every year for the festivities.

An old artwork of Deb's comes out but once a year.  Other art on our walls are also changed at this time.  

 

In health news, I got my flu shot last Thursday.  This Monday we both return for our Covid booster, followed by Deb's flu shot about a week later.  She is limited to the time when she can get such shots due to her infusion months.  Also next Monday Deb returns for follow up x-rays of her wrist.  Tuesday she returns to her podiatrist to get her new orthotics.  Then it's back to the hospital Wednesday morning, hopefully to get the okay to remove her cast.  Today she had to get her bi-monthly blood work done.  Afterwards, we met with our financial planner, whom we will see again on Monday.  On it goes.  If all goes well, we will go to Detroit with friends on Saturday, mainly to see the Offrenda exhibit this year before it closes.  Sunday is supposed to be the next piano get together, but I am a bit too flustered to concentrate much on piano performance just now.  I am practicing, though.

 

In film news, there are three to report.  Deb chose Lynch/Oz, a film from 2022 that explores the connections between many of Lynch's films with the 1939 version of Wizard of Oz.  This is a fun documentary, narrated by several different leading independent film directors, and copiously illustrated with scenes from Oz and most of Lynch's major works.  It makes if worthwhile to go back and see some more Lynch films.

 

Now showing on Criterion.

 

DHH is an Indian film from 2017, my leaving choice for the week.  It is a comedy drama about three young boys, about 5th grade, who hope to use magic to help them pass their exams.  One of the boys has failed three times already, and is old enough to drive a scooter.  They frequently skip out on class, and usually perform at the very bottom of their peer group.  It is a long, but highly watchable film.  Do they manage to use magic to help them pass?  You bet they do.

 

This film has since left Mubi. 

 

My main choice for the week was Company of Wolves, from 1985, and based on stories and the screenplay by Angela Carter.  Now showing on Prime/Shudder, this was probably our sixth or seventh view of the film, which tackles the darker side of folk tales very nicely.  A good cast, great sets and lighting and costumes, and decent effects for the time enhance this tale of a young girl brutally coming of age.  If you have never seen it, then I highly recommend it.  If you have, then you should know that it is well worth more than a single viewing.

 

Now showing on Prime/Shudder. 

Mapman Mike