February Blahs.

We were promised spring-like weather this week.  Ha, I say.  Not so fast.  Suddenly one awakens one morning and the ten day forecast has mysteriously been changed.  Cold.  Ice and freezing rain.  A snowstorm.  More cold.  Meteorologist paychecks are still drawn, despite the forecast being conveniently rearranged at the last minute.

Regardless of Spring or Winter, indoor activities continue here at the Homestead.  Deb continues to befuddle medical science, but she is still breathing, eating, and walking around.  I had my teeth cleaned last week, and I have now been ice skating 5 times without falling down.  There is also an indoor walking track where I skate, so Deb was able to do some laps there while I prepared for my winter olympic debut.

 

I have been thinking a lot about last October's hiking trip, especially the big hike to the Texas highpoint atop Guadalupe Peak.  Here are a few photos, previously unpublished, of that hike.  Looking at mountain hiking photos later on, I am always astounded that I was actually there.  Sometimes the hikes are so strenuous that memory of many views is completely obliterated, so that without photos much of the grandeur is not only forgotten, but personally disbelieved.  But the photos do testify that yes, I was certainly "there."

 

Even if I had only hiked to this point, the rewards were more than generous.  But this was still early on in my trek to the summit. 

Two panorama shots (six photos in all) giving nearly 360 degree views from the top of Guadalupe Peak.  Clicking on the photos should give a larger image. 

 

At least until astronomy weather returns I have taken up my pencil drawing hobby again.  I am just working with the basic shapes for now; squares, rectangles, cones and so forth.  But soon I shall be drawing elephants!  Watch for it here.  I am still making my way through the Spirograph set, still learning what each wheel combination can do.  The basic set gives hundreds of geometric designs, many of them worth colouring, but some time later, combinations of combinations will give a nearly infinite amount of possibilities.  Here are a few I created and like.

 

This one is pretty trippy.  I was getting nervous near the end, as the pencil had slipped on earlier attempts to complete this.

 

Some Spirograph work from previous sessions. The numbers refer to which wheels 

were used, and in which position.

 

In reading news, I am on my fourth and final Avon/Equinox authors' book for the month, after which I can resume free style reading.  Next up is a long novel by William Morris, a fantasy sequel to his House Of The Wolfings, which I read about a year ago.  It will be a long novel, and will likely take up much of my remaining February reading time.

 

In film news, we watched a strange little number from West Africa (Ivory Coast) called In The Name of Christ.  From 1993, it is about a man who craves power over other people, setting himself up as the cousin of Christ.  Using religion for one's own personal gain is hardly a new concept, but for western viewers this will be a refreshingly different take on a man who demands reverence and worship from his beguiled followers.  I could do without the pig slaughtering scene, and the one with a drowning chicken.  Christianity meets local pagan cults in one of its nearly limitless possibilities.  Parts are hard to watch, and despite being billed as a comedy by Mubi, it is hardly such.

 

Now showing on Mubi. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

Movies and Spirograph Creations

 I will soon be embarking on my second astronomy observing session of this lunar cycle.  Last Saturday was also clear, and also very warm and fairly humid.  Tonight will be even warmer (mid 70s) and slightly more humid due to heavy rain yesterday (not here, but out in the county).  Summer observing is as bit of a pain, due to the very late hours necessary to obtain a dark sky.  I skipped out on a previous night, but will take this one.

 

In piano news I am now 3 weeks into my newest pieces.  A fuller report will come after one more week, but things are beginning to move forward.  Only one piece remains stagnant, the Bach 3-part invention.  But it will come, with time.

 

In Spirograph news, I am still learning what the different wheels can do for me.  Some have very similar patterns with only subtle differences, while others change the landscape totally.  I now have a set of ten coloured pens and a set of 24 markers.  The markers have two ends, a sort of paint brush on one end and a very fine tip on the other.  I will display more of the creations here soon.

 

First try at a central addition; not quite centred.

Central spire is now truly central.

Still lots to learn.  I am colouring with crude markers in these images, just trying out colour schemes.
 

We are halfway through Deb's movie picks, which this week includes her festival choices.  We have two Polish films remaining to view.  My final choice before Deb took over was another Screen One selection from BBC.  Called Meat, it is from 1994 and stars a very young Johnny Lee Miller.  He is just released from juvenile prison for a series of b & es, scraping the bottom of the barrel for jobs.  He washes dishes somewhere for a while, then moves on to a waiter in a rundown cafe.  If you don't think that London has seedy areas, this film may convince you otherwise.  "Charlie" soon becomes involved with a young female prostitute, getting her pregnant.  When she is hit by a car she loses the baby and he deserts her, becoming a male prostitute.  Rather a nasty story (Danny Boyle) directed by John Madden.  If you want to be depressed and angry, then this film is for you.  Not so much for me.

 

Now showing on Prime, Meat starring Johnny Lee Miller. 

 

The next four choices are Deb's, two of which we have just seen.  They both were viewed on Criterion.  Drive My Car is a Japanese film from 2021 directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi.  It's a long film (3 hours), and not all of it works.  Driving around in a car for much of a Japanese film is a new experience for this viewer.  Still, it is compelling to watch, even though we are often on bland freeways and long tunnels.  It is presented in nine languages and adapted from Haruki Murakami stories—about an experimental staging of an Anton Chekhov play.  It might have helped considerably if I knew Uncle Vanya well, but I don't know it at all.  I found much of the film cold and emotionless, even when the characters were revealing the most horrendous tragedies that had happened to them.  The two main characters are the male theatre director and former actor.  He recently lost his wife to a brain hemorrhage, and earlier a young daughter to pneumonia.  He is assigned a female driver when he comes to Hiroshima to direct the play, a young woman with her own cruel history.  By the end the two of them have become friends, in a father/daughter way.  His own daughter would have been her age if she had survived.  I didn't find the play readings at all inspiring, the director insisting on low emotional involvement, but then demanding that the actors literally become the part they have been assigned.  It's like telling musicians to play without emotion, but also to put themselves totally inside the piece.  The play relates directly to the lives of some of the people involved, but that could also be said of any truly good play being performed.  Despite the torn up lives (one of the actors is removed from the play and charged with killing a man in a fight), the film remains calm and cool, without hardly anyone smiling or showing anger.  We do see some tears near the end, though.  Deb liked the film much more than I did, though I didn't really mind watching it.  But I won't be running out and buying a copy of the play anytime soon.  And I was not a fan of actors speaking different languages (including sign), forcing the audience to read the play on a subtitled screen behind and above the actors.  An interesting idea, perhaps, but one that viewers would tire of quickly.

Leaving Criterion August 31st. 

 

Will-o'-the-Wisp is a Portuguese film from 2022, taking place about 50 years later.  A young prince wishes to be a firefighter, and joins a local brigade.  When his father dies he has to give up his dream and assume the role destiny has laid out for him.  The gay sex and nudity is way overdone, taking up about half of the film.  More penises per minute than any other film, it might even be in the Guinness Book of Records by now.  There is one decent scene, when the brigade does an ensemble dance in the nearly empty fire station.  The rest is mostly gay sex, with a fado song thrown in at the end during a funeral.  The first part had some clever 4th wall scenes of the royal family at the dinner table.  It is a very short film.

 

Leaving Criterion Aug. 31st. 

Mapman Mike

 

 

Picard, Spirograph, and Some Film Discussion (and a snake)

The film discussion goes without saying, but I begin with Season One of Picard, the three-season 30 episode series starring Patrick Stewart.  I will begin by saying that he is old; very old.  The first season is one large story.  It concerns non-human life and its right to exist.  The Romulans wish to destroy the final outpost of AI creation, because of a legend they believe in that says destruction of other intelligent lifeforms will follow.  Captain Picard, however, believes otherwise.  The best thing about this series is that it actually wraps up at the end; there is no cliffhanger demanding that we run out and watch Season Two to find out what happens.  Many of the major characters from Next Generation (most of them) are back, including 7 of 9, Data (who is dead), and Will Riker (now married to Deanna Troy).  But new characters are also introduced, and we end up with a very motley but fun crew by the end of the season.  Without saying too much about the story, it is Star Trek through and through, with Picard getting to order Earl Grey tea, and to say "Engage," and things like that.  There is also closure relating back to Data's death in the original series.  Despite the many tropes, it was fun to watch.  I cannot think of another TV series where the lead character is so old.  Nice to see.  We will most certainly watch Season Two, after we watch the rest of Season One Discovery (15 episodes).

 

One of the toys I really wanted as an older child but never got was a Spirograph set.  There are now many different kinds and sizes of them, but I recently bought myself the original set.  Though there is not an infinite number of designs available in it, there is nearly an infinite number of designs.  So far I have barely managed to figure how to use it, and I am experimenting with single wheel designs.  One uses a tooth smaller wheel inside (or outside) a larger wheel, also toothed.  It takes a bit of practice to ensure smooth movement so the lines don't mess up.  My set includes two larger wheels, called rings, 15 wheels to use with them, 4 non-round shaped wheels (haven't got to those yet), 8 coloured markers, paper, and putty to hold down the larger rings.  Here are my earliest successes, very simple designs done with a single wheel.  Each wheel has several holes which change the design slightly when used.

 

Mine came with 8 markers.

My kit.
 

Four of my early attempts at being a Spirograph technician, first rank.  Right now I am not of any rank at all. 

 

In other Homestead news, we had a visitor to our front door this afternoon.  Deb went to see if an expected package had arrived yet, and instead found this critter looking for some shade (it is very warm and sunny today).

 

 

We were visited by an Eastern Fox Snake today.  Gorgeous critter! 

 

In film news, it was a Latin American Festival, of sorts.  Two Cuban films and one from Mexico ended up in our watch list, all of them leaving Mubi soon.  But let us begin with a Czech fantasy film called The Cassandra Cat, a colour film from 1963 and directed by Voytech Jasny.  A small town (Telc, a very famous town now) is visited by a travelling road show.  It contains a magical cat that reveals to all a person's true colour when it is not wearing its protective glasses.  Suddenly people are exposed as their true selves, and it mostly does not go down well with the locals.  This is a pretty strange film, starring a class of third graders (so cute!) who end up saving the cat from being destroyed by impinged humans.  Red people are in love; yellow and purple people are liars, unfaithful to their spouses, envious, or otherwise flawed.  Part of the Czech New Wave, it is certainly worth seeking out.  There are some fun classroom art scenes, and some very funny lines.  Children should definitely like the film, if they can sit still anymore.

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

And now to Japan.  The Black Report is from 1963, and was directed by Yasuzo Masumru.  It is a depressing crime film where a guilty man is set free, thanks to the craftiness of his defense attorney, and a rather inept and unskilled prosecutor.  It is as bit like an intense episode of Law and Order.  A bit unbelievable, as every single witness suddenly changes their testimony when they get on the stand (they were bribed and threatened by the defense lawyer).  The three sitting judges don't seem to think anything is amiss, and the prosecutor doesn't even do much about it except scratch his head.  The film goes out of its way to show that evidence doesn't matter (they had hair and fingerprints from the scene that matched the suspect), and signed and witnessed statements don't matter; only what is said on the stand matters.  And everyone knows that people don't lie.  A good ending, anyway, as the prosecutor loses his promotion and is sent to the boonies to learn something about prosecuting.

 

Leaving Mubi in 3 days. 

 

Finally, on to Cuba.  Stronger Than Love is from 1955, directed by Tulio Demicheli and filmed entirely in Cuba.  It's a distinctly Latino version of The Taming of the Shrew, and in some ways quite an interesting look at machismo culture, which is still going nowhere today.  Despite this, it's still a fun film, with doses of humour and passion, the kind of melodrama not seen anymore.  It's well acted, and the settings in the local tavern are fun to watch.  A totally forgotten film, back in the circuit.  Miroslava, the female lead, is quite a knock out, and suitably grouchy and passionate, alternately.

Leaving Mubi in 3 days. 

 

Lastly comes a Mexican melodrama directed by a female!  Streetwalker is from 1951, directed by Matilde Landeta.  I'm sure that (male) audiences in 1951 expected some kind of sleazy look at the underbelly of Mexico City, and those that trod there.  Instead we are given a feminist film that not only shows the reality of life on the streets as a single woman, but sympathizes entirely with them.  It is by no means a great film, and there are several quite terrible songs.  But it certainly is different in its outlook!  Try to find another film like it from the 1950s.  The ending turned out differently than expected, but the story does come to an interesting conclusion.  Sadly, viewers are left wondering if the woman who is not in love with her rich husband should have stayed with him.  In this case, I think yes.  But love is a strange little thing, and can make people do all sorts of illogical deeds.  Another rarity back on screen, and with Miroslava!

 

Leaving Mubi in 3 days.

Mapman Mike