News Update

So much news it's difficult to know where to begin.  Deb's latest animated SF short continues to rack up the prizes.  Still a few festivals to hear from, too.  Her latest win comes from Italy's "8 1/2 Film Festival."  That group also has set up a booth at Cannes, and will be featuring Deb's film. 

In ship watching news, I watch 5 ships on a regular basis through a live shipping website.  Four of them are on the Great Lakes, and the other one travels the world, occasionally passing our house on the Detroit River.  One of the Great Lakes ships recently had some electronic problems and ended up grounded off Belle Isle in Detroit.  Though they are unstuck now, they are currently dead in the water while repairs are made.  Their cargo is salt.

 

The Mark W Barker pays an unexpected visit to Detroit's Belle Isle.  Photo is from the Detroit Free Fress.  Ironically, the ship grounded right in front of the island's Great Lakes Shipping Museum, which has a live cam that watches ships pass.  The whole thing was caught on the live cam.

 

In other news, I am committed to a hiking journey to New Mexico this fall.  My main goal (subject to change without notice) is to make a 2nd attempt at climbing Jicarita Peak.  Our first attempt was thwarted by a mismatched water purification bottle.  The mountain is southeast of Taos, atop one of the finest and most scenic ranges in the whole state.  A few other major hikes are planned alongside this one.

Jicarita Peak, NM.  Aim high and see how far one gets.  Training in earnest will begin mid-August. Author's photo from October 2016.  Though the mountain is probably still there, some of this beautiful forest has burned in more recent wildfires.

 

In music news, the next piano get together is in two weeks.  It sounds as if six members will be in attendance.  Practicing here at the Homestead goes on (and on).  I'm still hoping to trade in the piano I now have for a Yamaha keyboard, deluxe model.  Watch here for details.

 

So far this session I have had four clear nights (make that five), but smoke from Alberta wildfires has been milking up our sky.  One of those nights I stayed home; the other time I went out but should have stayed home.  It's supposed to be clear tonight, but smoke is forecast.  Tomorrow looks better.  If I get a fifth outing I will be very happy, though it really cuts into my evening reading time.

 

Now on to movie news.  We wrapped up the final 2 episodes of the French TV series The Middleman.  I can report that the fish had a happy ending.  The series mostly takes place in a run down Parisian apartment building, and the hero (with the possible aid of the fish) travels between the present and a time in the past when he was a child.  It is an amusing series, and well worth catching.

 

We also watched another incredible Seijun Suzuki yakuza film, Branded To Kill from 1967.  This is one of the best 60s films I have ever seen, though it makes little sense and has very little plot to it.  The director was reportedly fired after this film came out, and went on to do TV work before returning to films more than a decade later.  In this very watchable but screwy film about a hired killer, things get really weird when he becomes the hunted.  More gunfights then the average western.  Starring our favourite chipmunk-cheeked hero, Joe Shishido.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Deb chose a documentary called Spettacolo, from 2017.  It follows the population of a small town in Tuscany as they try to mount their latest annual theatrical presentation.  With the young people no longer present in great numbers, more and more work falls upon the aging population.  Viewers wonder why they are continuing to torment themselves in this way.  Give it a rest, or perhaps consider doing things every two years.  Preparations for the spectacle begin in the winter, with discussion about what the topic will be for the performance this year.  Spring and summer show the readings, rehearsals, staging, etc., until opening night finally arrives.  The festival has a huge following in Italy.  However, the amount of volunteer labour involved is quite ridiculous.  Not always riveting cinema, it does show the dedication of several people taken to extreme lengths.  The project began as a way to socialize in the summer evenings, and to tackle subjects important to the people of the village.  I strongly suspect that it won't carry on for much longer, however.

Now showing on Criterion.  From 2017.  

 

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