London Weather Arrives In Amherstburg

Indeed it has.  After finally crawling out of the deep freeze, temps have rebounded to around 50 F, and not even going below freezing during the night.  One week ago it was certain death to be outside for any length of time, while today we managed a drizzly and warm long walk outdoors.  It felt like our past walks did in London during the month of November.  No snow or cold forecast through next week.  The coast guard ice breakers have been busy, however.  Last Thursday night the river was ice free, but by Saturday morning it was jammed up tight.  Early in the week a strong south wind drove the ice up into the shipping channel in the Detroit River, and several ships got stuck.  Everything is finally moving normally today, as the ice is rotting quickly now.  It's been an interesting week of weather; we no longer have any snow left.  

I am just finishing up my 14th novel for December.  It's been a good month for reading, with the usual amount of gems being stumbled across.  My next blog entry, likely the first one of 2023, will deal with material read in December.  Piano pieces continue to improve, though some of them very slowly.  I am once again trying to form a group of dedicated pianists to meet informally in the new year to try out pieces for one another.  Some of my audience these days is not that literate musically, though they do love and appreciate hearing classical pieces.  It's a different experience to play in front of colleagues, and in some ways more rewarding.  So we'll see if anything comes of that.  I am playing around with the idea of working on a major Beethoven Sonata, too, once the current set of pieces has been mastered and performed.  At first it would take up all of my daily two hour practice sessions, so it is a major commitment.

In viewing news, there are four films to report.  The first one is Isle of the Dead, from 1945 and starring Boris Karloff.  A small group of people have to quarantine on Bocklin's famous island, due to an outbreak of plague.  Superstition battles science, with Karloff siding with superstition.  The film has a creepy atmosphere and good cast, and the writing is fairly intelligent.  Black and white has never looked better, either.

Showing on Criterion for two more days. 

Ghostbusters Afterlife was released in 2021, and is great fun to watch, especially for fans of the original movies.  The granddaughter of one of the originals takes up arms against evil spirits in this very funny and somewhat scary hommage to Harold Ramis.  She is 12, and is aided by Podcast, who is also 12.  big brother also helps out, and his female friend.  By the end, the original boys are back for the final showdown.  Not to be missed!

 

Streaming on Prime Video.    

 

We rewatched Gattaca, a SF film from 1997.  We had not seen it in many years.  Ethan Hawke plays the part of an in-valid, someone who had a natural birth with no genetic interference.  He wants to become an astronaut, which is impossible under current rules, restricting upper level tasks to valids, those who have a much more perfect genetic makeup.  Lots of ethical questions arise from this film, and it was well worth seeing over again.

Now streaming on CTV. 

 

Next came Tokyo Story, from 1953 and directed by Yasujiro Ozu.  It is rated as #4 on the recent Sight and Sound best movies poll.  It is one very good film.  The story is very simple; elderly mom and dad visit two of their children in Tokyo.  The man is a doctor and the woman is a hair dresser.  Both are married, and the doctor has two boys.  Also there is a daughter in law, whose husband (youngest son) was killed in the war.  As it turns out, the two Tokyo children have no time to spare for the visitors, so the daughter in law takes them around Tokyo.  Upon returning to their hometown after their Tokyo adventure, mom becomes ill and dies.  Again, after the funeral no one has much time to spare for dad except youngest daughter, a teacher who lives at home, and the daughter in law.  Another son, a railroad worker, is also a busy guy.  Probably the best picture ever made about a typical family, this one happens to take place in post war Japan but could just as easily be transplanted to anywhere.  The themes, problems, and issues are all the same.  Everyone is busy with their lives once leaving home.  The acting is superb, the camera work outstanding, and the simple story will leave viewers with lingering memories for a long time to come.

 

Now streaming on Criterion.

 

We are currently amidst my Ozu 3-film festival.  The next two are earlier works from the 30s, one a silent film.  More later.

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

Music, Art, Movies

 In other words, life continues under the new normal.  But first, a word about my hearing.  My right ear has improved somewhat since November, when it was about 90% blocked.  Then, after taking Serc for many weeks, it rose to about 50% of normal.  Today it improved slightly again, perhaps up to about 70% of normal.  I noticed it right away at the piano this morning.  The high notes (my right side) were louder, clearer, and more bell-like.  I have cut the meds from 48 mg per day to 32 mg per day.  So far so good.

Work on my "old" piano program continues, along with two pieces of the new one.  The first program is completely memorized, while one piece on the next program is getting there.  The Schubert Impromptu Op 90 #3 is coming along nicely, with two pages remaining to be memorized.  It's possible that this piece will be included in my "old" program, whenever it gets performed.  The Beethoven Variations Op 34 will require a long time yet before it is publicly playable, but it shouldn't be too hard to memorize, at least.  I have not learned a new Beethoven piece for several years now, being so involved with Haydn, but this seemed the year to do it.

In cat news, Mogollon has gone through a crisis, as his glaucoma suddenly worsened.  His right eye is now totally blind, and has gone white.  He was in a type of migraine pain for many days.  A trip to the vet, and subsequent e-mails and phone calls have relieved the pain, but he is now totally blind in one eye.  He seems more normal and relaxed today, and is eating well.

In movie news, I had two picks last week, and this weekend is Deb's 3-film festival.  Kagemusha (1980) is a late Kurosawa film, not showing onthe Criterion Channel.  Instead, we used our DVD box set (Criterion) for this one.  Not having watched DVDs for a long time, we immediately noticed the poorer image quality as compared to recent streaming.  The film is based on historical events in the early and middle 1570s, when one clan was wiped off the map by another clan who used muskets (hundreds and hundreds of muskets).  While overall the 3 hour film is quite good, and time flies as we watch, two things make it less than a perfect film.  One is the music, which is western style, with lots of trumpets, and does not fit the scenario at all.  I understand that Western influences changed the course of Japanese history and marked the end of the samurai era, but this music is really terrible, often spoiling the wonderful images it is supposed to enhance.  The second thing is the ending, when Kurosawa shows the aftermath of the slaughter of hundreds of men and horses.  We get it.  War is terrible, and not very pretty.  But the images of horses struggling to stand (after obviously being drugged for the scene) go on and on and on.  Enough.

                                    We watched our own DVD copy of the film, from Criterion. 

Next up is one of the quirkiest noirish films ever made.  We had seen The Seventh Victim (1943) before, though not for many years, and had completely forgotten it.  A senior schoolgirl is told by administration that her sister has stopped sending tuition money.  She sets off for New York to find out what is going on.  And just what is going on?  Her sister has sold her cosmetics business and has been taken into a satanic cult, where she is manipulated and brain washed.  When she attempts to leave the cult, they make attempts to kill her.  The film is very hard to describe.  Produced by Val Lewton, it has many of his trademark elements, such as a lone female in heels on the street alone at night, being pursued by a killer.  Not entirely successful, it still is a fascinating film to watch.  Nothing happens the way one expects, and viewers are kept continually wondering just what exactly is going on.  The ending is truly amazing and unexpected, especially for a Hollywood film.  Definitely one for the books, and unique in film history.  Kim Hunter gives a really good performance of the younger sister.

                                        Showing only until Sunday on the Criterion Channel.  

 

Turning to art from the DIA, and continuing with our landscape theme, we turn to a favourite painting of mine by Corot.  Corot lived from 1800-1875, and this painting is from 1875.  We see a peaceful scene, painted in most monochromatic style, with small splashes of brighter colour reserved for the tall maiden's skirt.  The children accompanying her blend completely with their surroundings.  This is a meditative painting, one that invites quiet reflection, and while it doesn't reveal any great truths or require much interpretation, it does show humans interacting with nature in a way that makes us realize what we are missing when away from such pleasures.  The fact that it doesn't show a dramatic mountain, nor a splashy sunset, or a threatening storm or deep, dark, mysterious woods, also speaks of its gentle quality.  This is a place similar to those we have all visited at some time.  Not surprisingly, it is a popular painting in the museum.

 

Gathering Fruit At Mortefontaine, Jean Batiste Camille Corot, French.  Oil on canvas, 24.5" x 17.5", unframed.  Collection Detroit Institute of Arts.  

 

Detail of bottom right.

 

And that wraps up another blogging session.  Back to my exciting life!

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

Day Of The Dead

We paid our annual visit to some local cemeteries.  Usually we go to Woodlawn in Detroit (see last year's post), but this year we visited a few we had last seen on June 21st (see that post), as well as two new (for us) ones along the same Highway #3.  The highway is pretty scenic, as it follows the north shore of Lake Erie.  With a mixture of sun and clouds yesterday the lake looked very dramatic.  However, our mission was cemeteries, so we stayed away from the lake.

First up was the New Glasgow Pioneer Cemetery, which we have driven past many times without stopping.  Virtually all the headstones have Scottish names, with many of the settlers dying in their 30s.  Of course there are always a number of children, between 0 and ten years, also in these old cemeteries.  It was a very cold day, with temperatures averaging what they normally do in early December.  It was also quite breezy, making our stops brief, though very atmospheric. 

 New Glasgow Pioneer Cemetery, along Hwy #3 in Elgin County.

 A broken tomb pinnacle sits under a tree at New Glasgow Pioneer Cemetery.

A second new cemetery for us was the Ford Cemetery.

 Ford Cemetery.

 Abandoned house, autumn.

 Morpeth Cemetery, a personal favourite of ours for many years.

 The Morpeth Cemetery overlooks a steep ravine and creek. 

We also stopped at the Archibald Lampman cemetery, but I didn't use my digital camera there.  The film I was using finally got used up, so I will someday soon have a photo of that cemetery, too.

Back at home we had an evening visit from our young next door neighbours.  They brought over a freshly baked apple crisp.  We supplied beer and coffee!  Amanda was once a music student of mine, both at school and privately.  She was a very decent trombone player.  They also attended my last solo recital here in March.  With everyone leading busy lives, we don't see them all that often, except to wave to out in the yard.

Last weekend was my choice of films for our monthly festival.  I focused on producer Val Lewton.  We watched two of his films, as well as a TCM documentary about him, narrated by Martin Scorsese, as well as one other horror film.  First up was The Leopard Man, directed by Jacques Tourneur in 1943.  An escaped black leopard terrorizes a small New Mexican village, killing young girls.  Or it is really the leopard?  Does the title give anything away?  A suitably creepy tale, with an early, very horrifying scene of a young girl being killed as she bangs on the door of her house, with her mother slow to open it.

This film from 1943 was first up in our mini-festival last weekend. 

Next up was a French film from 1943, and directed by Maurice Tourneur, Jacques son. La Main Du Diable turned out to be an amazing little film, which neither of us had previously seen.  A painter sells his soul to become successful, but ends up fighting against the evil one, played by an amiable (at first) little man in a black suit.  The story is told in flashback, as the desperate man arrives at a secluded hotel in the Alps, searching for a ruined abbey and the grave of the man who started the chain of events in which he now finds him ensnared.  The movie is really quite good, with lots of humourous touches, some very cool surreal scenes, and movie art that isn't too bad to look at.  A sleeper gem.

Also from 1943.  

The 3rd film was called The Curse Of The Cat People, a favourite of ours not seen in a very long while.  All of the prints were pristine that we watched, thanks to the Criterion Channel, which is showing them all.  This movie is a very, very loose sequel to Lewton's Cat People, but is actually based on Robert Louis Stevenson's Aimee and Her Friend.  Lewton wanted to call it that, but the studio forced the current title upon him.  Aimee is in kindergarten and going through some childhood issues.  She invents a friend to be with her and to play with her.  A fascinating look inside the mind of a child, and an overall wonderful picture to view.

A really decent movie about childhood, at least for those of us that never really fit in.

Aimee (right) and her friend.  

Last up was a documentary about Val Lewton, who made some of the greatest b & w films ever.  He never shows the monster, but uses the viewer's imagination to help create suspense and horror.  All of his films are worth watching, and another festival of his works will likely be forthcoming.

 Lastly, we watched this TCM documentary, narrated by Martin Scorsese.  It showed

clips and talked about every film Lewton produced.

We have scheduled a long overdue Detroit day tomorrow, including a visit to the DIA to see the Day of the Dead exhibit.  So I should be reporting again, hopefully Monday evening.  Until then, signing off.

Mapman Mike

A Day In The County

Specifically, we went to Kingsville, billed as Canada's most southerly town.  Tuesday and Wednesday were both sunny days (but cloudy nights), but the wind was too strong to lure me outside much.  Some yard clean up continues, though nothing too strenuous.  Thursday was a lovely day, so we finally had an outing in Essex County.  It has been postponed since early September.  I have a beer passport (purchased for $25) that gets me a flight of samples from many breweries in the city and county.  Three of them are in Kingsville, so I managed to get one new stamp.

We ate lunch downtown there at a cafe with several vegan options.  We had soup, and split an order of gnocchi.  We had enough gnocchi to bring home for dinner.  Next we went down to the lake, where the town has a large, beautiful park right on the lake (Erie).  We walked around a bit, took some photos, enjoyed the beautiful weather and hazy sunshine, then headed back downtown for coffee (and beer).  The Banded Goose Brewery is also home to a coffee lounge, so we hit two geese with one stop.  Kingsville is the home to Jack Miner, which is now a bird sanctuary, so there is a lot of goose related stuff in town.

I had a four serving sampler.  It would normally have cost around $12, nearly half of my passport price.  But the flight was complimentary.  Their samples are 7 oz imperial, so there was a lot of ale to drink.  It took me awhile, but I managed.  I also left the premises with a very large can of one of their offerings I hadn't yet tried.  I'm saving it for Samhain.

 Two shots of Lake Erie, into the Sun, from Kingsville.

Different location.  Same lake, same Sun.

One of three craft taprooms in downtown Kingsville.  The Banded Goose is also a cafe, serving Chance coffee.

Looking out.  Another brewery taproom sits right across the street.  A new one is opening soon nearby.

Our table overlooks the brewing tanks.  French press coffee has arrived; the beer is on its way.

Two of my four samples:  the ginger beer, and the coffee one.

Tap list.  I had Kicka Ginger, Purple Haze, Brain Damage, and Cool Beanz.  I took home an enormous can of The Quaker Oatmeal Stout.  

We have a trip to Detroit planned next week, to visit a brand new brewery, as well as a viewing of the Day of the Dead exhibit at the DIA.  The excitement never stops around here.

Deb's movie pic this week was a 1968 cult movie called Girl On A Motorcycle.  Marianne Faithful isn't hard to look at when she was 22 years old.  Neither is Alain Delon at 33 years.  But there isn't much more to do than that when watching this film.  Marianne rides her motorcycle a lot, and we see her get up early, sneak off from her teacher/husband, and go to Heidelberg to meet her lover.  Since she has flashbacks on her journey from France to Germany, we often see her travelling there, over and over.  Some of the photography is quite lovely.  But then comes the inevitable psychedelic patterns over scenes of her riding, making love, and even skiing.  Though it is a drug-free movie (except for alcohol and tobacco), I'm guessing that the director expected lots of high audience members, so he tried to accommodate them.  Or something.  Well, anyway, Marianne sure is pretty, and Alain is really handsome.

One of many posters for the film.  Now showing on Criterion.  

And speaking of Criterion, this is film festival weekend!  My choice this time, and I have picked three Val Lewton b & w classics.  More later.

Mapman Mike