2nd Recital

I had a 2nd opportunity to perform my latest recital pieces today.  Thank you to Randy, Kate, and Peter for coming by to hear what I've been up to since last July.  The chance to perform is always a welcome one, and twice in one week is even better.  When Paula and Jenn are back from their travels I will run through the pieces again.  All went pretty well, with occasional slips and lapses.  The first Bach piece went really well, and overall the Haydn was quite fresh and zippy.  The Chopin Prelude, on its own, is a powerful little piece.  The Gnossienne also went really well, as did the Debussy and Glass.  So not a lot to complain about, though I know it could have been even better.  Such is life, and such is live performance.  Here is the program:

 

Michael Ethier

Piano Recital April 2025

"Simple Ingredients"

2-part Invention #9 in f minor

3-part Invention #9 in f minor..........................................J S Bach

Sonata in C major (HOB. XVI/35; L.48)

Allegro con brio

Adagio

Finale: Allegro.........................................................F J Haydn

***********************************************

Prelude #20 in c minor.....................................................F Chopin

Third Gymnopedie

Third Gnossienne.............................................................E Satie

Prelude #6 Bk 1 (..Des pas sur la neige)........................C Debussy

Etude #20.........................................................................P Glass

Mysterious Barricades.....................................................F Couperin

 

The only piece here that I have ever performed before this month was the Couperin.  When I begin working on the new program, the first half will be all Couperin, and on the harpsichord.

 

Deb is still feeling poorly, and likely will be until the concluding half of her medical procedure is undertaken.  Next week the stent will be removed, and hopefully that will end months of pain and infections.  In the meantime, she just has to hang in there, and take a happy pill as needed.

 

As full moon approaches, we have a perfect night tonight, with clear, dry skies.  Useless, though, as far as observing with a telescope goes, thanks to the brightness of the moon.  It's been a bad year so far, with only two usable nights to date.  I have so much work I would love to accomplish before I'm too old to lift the telescope and set it up and take it down.

 

In movie news, there are two to report, as well as Season Two of Picard.  Try to imagine a scenario where Wesley Crusher, Q and the Borg come out looking okay.  All this and more, folks, believe it or not.  Crusher, Q, and the Borg provided some of the most tropy and unwanted moments in Next Generation, and the writers stretched themselves to the limit in Picard to make them come out looking pretty clean and decent.  Unfortunately, there was overuse in Season Two of Picard's childhood background, with his insane mother who ended up killing herself.  There are so many flashback scenes to his boyhood that they ended up dragging down the series.  We get to see Data's creator, and he is evil in Season Two.  I imagine he will return, but hopefully not.  One more season to go, though we will wait awhile before viewing it.  We are still also immersed in Dark Winds and Monsieur Spade.

 

L'Innocente is a costumer by Visconti from 1976.  The main reason to watch the film is to view the parade of women's dresses on display.  Most of the film's budget must have been spent on costumes.  Here is the blurb from MUBI:

In late-19th century Italy, Tullio, an insatiable aristocrat, grows bored with his wife Giuliana and neglects her for his more exciting mistress, the wealthy widow Countess Teresa Raffo. After learning that Giuliana is having an affair of her own, he becomes tormented and descends into madness. 

It's quite a long film, mostly watchable but not always.  High society shows itself, yet again, for what it really is; empty.  Tullio is a hideous character, another less than fine male role model to follow.  To make matters worse, Giannini wears one expression throughout the entire movie, his grim face.  The camera work is excellent, as are the sets, lighting, and mise-en-scene, also spot on.  Visconti is a master director, and all of his skills and artistry are on display in this extravagant film.  I won't say it's the most engaging film I've ever seen, but it's certainly one of the better looking films.  Recommended if you enjoy beautiful women in incredible clothing.

 

The film was showing on Mubi, but has now departed. 

 

The Love Witch, written, directed, and produced by Anna Biller, is a 2016 murder/horror film that tries to emulate films from the 1960s.  Drenched in rich colours, mostly reds, and filmed with humourous parodies of Hammer films and such, the movie is great fun to watch.  A beautiful female California witch uses magic potions and rituals to try to land a faithful and loving boyfriend/husband.  Her spells are successful, but she tends to overdo them, driving the male crazy after a time.  Once she realizes that he is not the guy for her after all, there is only one way to rid herself of them.  The film succeeds on many levels, and its 125 minutes running time passes quickly.  The visuals are stunning, and the lead actress is both beautiful and funny, even though she acts the sincere part, playing it pretty straight.  A must view for fans of early 60s colour horror films!  My only complaint is that she should have been a redhead.

 

Leaving Mubi in three days. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

Changing Over

We are now knee deep in late autumn weather, which is a bit of a jolt after last week's sunny and very mild spell.  We are due for our first taste of snow tonight and tomorrow, which is never a welcome event here at the Homestead.  I leave water out for the birds to drink, and it was frozen for two days.  I finally was able to break the ice up today and insert the small heater that keeps the water open through most of our cold weather.  The birds are fed twice each day, and a small flock of blue jays always quietly awaits my appearance each morning.  They prefer peanuts, while the squirrels really like sunflower seeds.  The other birds eat birdseed mostly.  It's getting really expensive now to buy birdseed.  Not surprising, as most food, especially fresh fruit and vegetables, are being priced sky high.  Our inflation rate dropped to 3.1% recently, but that is only due to cheaper gasoline prices.  Everything else is going up and up.

 

With the arrival of the full moon Sunday and Monday, I am already looking forward to the December astronomy session.  Clear nights are rare in December, and if we get a few, it's usually bone chillingly cold.  But November turned into such a great session that I have some hopes for December.

 

Not much news from here at the Homestead.  Movies, reading, Deb working on her next film and me practicing piano, it's business as usual.  A week from today is supposed to be our next piano gathering.  I don't even know yet what I will perform.  Possibly Bach.  Possibly Beethoven.  Possibly Chopin.  Possibly nothing.  Lots of possibilities, anyway.

 

I'll take the film reviews here in reverse order, beginning with one that we just finished.  Deb gets five picks in a row, because it's her festival weekend.  Here are her first three.  West Is West is from 1987, and was directed by David Rathod.  Vikram comes to California from Bombay in hopes of attending university.  But his Indian sponsors are dealing with a family tragedy and are away from home.  So Vikram arrives with no place to stay.  He ends up in a small hotel (in San Francisco) run by an Indian lady.  His application is turned down by the university, and he is about to be deported.  He has been forming a friendship with a young female artist, rebelling against her family, and they manage to team up to make things eventually work.  But not in a way one might expect.  The lead actor is okay in the role of hard luck wannabe student, and the girl pulls off her role quite well, too.  Their Bollywood scene together is a very nice touch.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Before that we watched Powwow Highway again.  It seems quite popular around here.  It has many classic scenes and lines, scenes and lines that have become part of who we are and what we represent here at the Homestead.  Based on a fabulous novel by David Seals, the movie pulls few punches about life on a reservation, and the way that Whites are continually trying to exploit the resources there.  Starring Gary Farmer in a role that was meant only for him.  Highly recommended.

Still showing on Criterion. 

 

Before that came a concert performance film called Tripping With Nils Frahm, from 2020.  While I found the music quite good, the film shows Nils creating the sounds with a vast array of electronic equipment, including several keyboards.  My main problem was that he was moving around to different places so much to get the incredible effects he was producing that it greatly interfered with listening to the music.  So I gave up partway through the film, but will be sure to check out his stuff on Spotify this week.  He has also scored a few films.

 

Now showing on Mubi.  I recommend only listening, rather than viewing.
 

Before that came my two film picks.  The 2nd one was leaving Mubi soon.  It is called Bellissima, a 1951 film by Visconti.  It stars Anna Magnani as a very poor mother sacrificing everything, even her marriage, to get her five year old daughter into a film.  When auditions are called for slightly older children to play a part in an upcoming film, dozens of mothers show up with their daughters.  Anna shows up with her tiny 5 year old, telling the movie people that she is 7 and small for her age.  This is Magnani's film, and her pace and style are manic and non stop.  She talks, moves, carries on, argues, fights, and travels all in a whirlwind of motion and words.  I honestly don't know how she would ever rehearse her scenes, so perhaps she was improvising a lot.  The scene at the ballet school, for one, is priceless.  Though the ending cops out and becomes unbelievable (first that they would actually chose her little girl, with a manic mother like that, and second that she would ultimately refuse to let her daughter do the part), this is an unforgettable glimpse into post war Italy (neo realism) and the struggles that people faced to survive and try to get ahead.  Definitely worth a look.

Leaving Mubi soon.

My main choice for last week was The Crow, from 1994, and starring the late Brandon Lee.   From graphic novel to film, the transformation looks pretty good.  The story is simplistic, with good guy seeking revenge on bad guys.  There is the expected climactic duel at the end between good and evil, with a princess that needs to be rescued.  This takes place on top of a cathedral during a storm.  While more suited to comic book pages than cinema (was this film really worth dying for?), it is good eye candy.  It's not too hard to spot the bad guys, but at least the look of the film, and the constant night scenes and falling rain, give it a kind of distinction.  There are nearly as many killings as in one of the Lone Wolf and Cub or Zatoichi films, though nowhere near the subtlety those martial arts films can display at times.

Now showing on Prime. 

 

It's nice to hear that David Tenant is back as Dr. Who for a short revisit, along with  Catherine Tate.  Sadly, we will never get to see any of them, as they show only on Disney, which we will have no part of.  Streaming channels can be very good; streaming channels can be very bad.

 

Mapman Mike

 

Ice On The Birdbath

 It's been a very damp and chilly Spring so far.  It was snowing in Sudbury yesterday when I talked to my folks, and we are supposed to get some tomorrow in our area.  Meanwhile, the new astronomy session begins Wednesday.  March was a total washout, so I missed out completely on my winter constellation program.  I just checked the 7 day clear sky forecast, and the first good chance is next Saturday.  Not surprised.  Last night was the full moon (and thus Easter is today).  We could have enjoyed a wood fire, as it was cold, grey, and windy.  We did keep up with the opera listening tradition, though, and we had a moon cake!  The opera was Leonore, Beethoven's first attempt at writing opera.  Composed in 1805, it would eventually be rewritten many times, finally emerging (in 1814) as Fidelio.  But last night we heard the original version.  So we are now up to 1805 in our comprehensive Beethoven listening project!

Our Easter breakfast consisted of homemade cinnamon rolls, black cherry juice, and tea.  Along with it came the Sunday morning Bach Cantata.  We have now listened to 14 CDs worth of Bach sacred Cantatas, as well as a few of the secular ones.  Another lifelong project, ongoing and fun.  This one dealt with the disappearance of Jesus when he left his family and couldn't be found for a time.  I'll have a bit more to say about Jesus in a moment or two, when I turn to discussing movies watched.

Deb's home made cinnamon rolls.  I made tea, and poured juice (sorry, no photo available).  This is how many rolls remain after we had breakfast!  She also made icing for mine.

Turning to a more serious topic, I am finally coming around to the fact that our lives will never be the same again.  As the waves of intense Covid infections roll on (this is our 6th wave, by someone's count), we continue to avoid crowds, indoors and out.  Air travel will likely not be possible for us ever again.  Since the new strains can re-infect, sometimes in less than a month, and the risk of long Covid increases each time one catches the virus, it is something we are not prepared to gamble with.  Covid now hits the vaccinated as much as the other group, and only N95 masks will give some protection.  Herd immunity is now a myth, and cannot be achieved.

So staying home as much as possible is still going to be the norm around here.  If Deb didn't have to visit her mom in Kingsville (where there is another outbreak going on in the LTC home), she would be home except for medical appointments and groceries, which is basically what I do.  My one trip to Detroit went well, and there were no crowds.  It's always easy to find quieter places in Detroit.  Even so, it is just me going over, and only once per month, for now.  Though we had high hopes for revisiting Vienna, and getting to Berlin, that now seems a pipe dream.  It would be impossible for Deb to fly.

There has been a silver lining.  Since we haven't travelled in two years, we have undertaken some very costly repairs and upgrades to our house that might have been pushed way back otherwise.  And we really do have everything we need or could want near to us (much of thanks to Detroit).  Except for two things; the desert and the mountains.  But we can reach New Mexico, Colorado, etc by car, and by camping most of the time we can even avoid hotels and motels.  So any travelling we might undertake will likely be in a car.

In final Covid news, my brother in Sudbury came home Thursday feeling very poorly.  He tested positive, and is now isolating and suffering at home.  He works at the service desk of a large Ford car dealership, and though he is triple vaxed, wears a mask and face shield, here we are.  I just messaged my sister in law.  She hasn't seen Steve in 2 days.  Of course this puts her at risk, and Emma-Lee (13 years), and both of my parents, who live upstairs.  And I'm hoping to visit in early May (laughs maniacally).

I finished my required Avon/Equinox reading for the month of April yesterday (8 books), so I am now in my free reading period, still trying to empty my book shelf filled (for years, in some cases) with miscellaneous books.  I am currently reading Catspaw by Joan Vinge, a 450 page epic that so far reads like a 1950s pulp story.  After that, I will delve back into my Delphi Classics series.

In movie news, we have watched four since my last blog.  We had high hopes for Senso, a technicolor feature by Visconti from 1954.  Considered one of the all time classics of Italian cinema, we found it to be a dud.  The main problem with the film, which is rich in costumes and details, is that we didn't care at all about the two main characters, a selfish countess and a selfish Austrian officer in occupied Italy.  If one doesn't care about the the two main characters, and the entire film is about them, then the film is lost before it gets very far.  When their world crumbles around them, viewers had expected it.  But really, we didn't care.

Showing on Criterion in a restored version. 

Next up was a musical variety movie, with a silly plot starring Sonia Henie as a totally obnoxious young woman trying to land a husband.  Besides the decent musical numbers, there is a lot of fake skiing, and some skating.  The Glenn Miller Orchestra introduced The Chattanooga Choo-choo song, and the Nicholas Brothers sing and dance with Dorothy Dandridge. 

Leaving Criterion April 30th. 

Next was a very unusual sleeper, The Angel Levine, produced by and starring Harry Belafonte, along with Zero Mostel.  This might be Mostel's finest role, as he masterfully plays an elderly Jewish tailor trying to care for his dying wife.  Belafonte appears in his kitchen one day, claiming to be an angel.  If he is one, then he is a very troubled one.  He brings a mix of discord, enchantment, and comfort to Mostel, who always appears to be at the end of his wits with anyone and everything he encounters.  This is a very strange but compelling film by the Czech director of The Shop On Main Street, which we saw at the end of February.  Is he a real angel, or just a hood looking for some kind of redemption?  Recommended viewing.

Showing until April 30th on Criterion. 

Sticking with the angel theme, next came Pasolini's The Gospel According to St. Matthew, in a fully restored version.  We had seen it many years ago in a terrible print, where the subtitles could hardly be read.  The filming is a mixture of authentic faces of village desert people, and the incredible and barren landscapes.  Jesus also preaches a lot. The best three faces are those of the androgynous angel that appears from time to time, such as the annunciation and the resurrection, Mary in her youth, and the face of Jesus.  All were extremely well cast.  It is an earnest film, and pretty true to the scripture.  The climax is the crucifixion itself, with lamentation scenes straight from Renaissance art.  It seemed a fitting movie to watch during Holy Week.

Pasolini's annunciate angel.

Now showing on Criterion in a fully restored b & w version.

 

The Face of Jesus.

The young Mary, explaining to Joseph about virgin births and angels. 

That brings everyone up to date on doings at the Homestead.  Deb's newest film has been uploaded and will soon be entering the festival circuit.  Catch it on Vimeo; search for "A Fable for Four Voices".  You won't be sorry.

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

Summer Temperatures

 It is going to get very warm later in the week, with temperatures usually seen in July.  It's time to install the upstairs air conditioner, and test the main system.  Hopefully it will switch on, but if it doesn't, it's best to find out now.  In other news, we had our windows washed today, along with the cleaning of the eave troughs.  And we are well into our fourth day with no hot water, other than that boiled in a kettle.  At least we can wash our hair properly, but bathing has been limited to rough camping style, a la wet wipes.  Tomorrow, hopefully, the new tank will be installed.

Not much in the way of other news at the moment.  Piano practice, reading, and movie watching continue to occupy our time.  The May astronomy session has ended, and I made it outdoors twice.  My search for dark skies takes me quite far from home.  It was different when we had two vehicles.  With Deb visiting her mom 3x each week now, the gasoline fuel usage has shot way up for April and May.  We never used to buy gas in Ontario, preferring to fill up in Detroit instead.  Those days are still gone, so we pay the price for living in Canada.  Gas is about 40% cheaper in Detroit than Windsor, mostly due to taxes and our lousy dollar.

In movie news, my going away choice for last week was called The Damned, an eye-popping film from Visconti about the rise of the Nazis in Germany in 1933.  The story follows the (mis) fortunes of an industrial family as the politics around them continues to change radically.  The film goes way over the top, yet doesn't show anything that didn't happen at the time.  There is sex, including incest between mother and son, pedophilia x 2, a drunken debauched homosexual orgy (followed by a massacre of them by the Nazis).  There is killing, backstabbing, suicides (x3, including a six year girl victim of sex abuse)--in short, everything one needs to make a great film.  Or not.  I believe that the title tells it all.  We are in Hell, witnessing the events that put all these people there in the first place.  The opening shot, with steam, smoke, and lots of red colour, gives it all away (as does the title of the movie).  Weird, disturbing, shocking, and even quite distasteful, the movie is a must see event.  Cut down to 2 1/2 hours from its original 4 hours, one can only gasp at the thought of a longer version, though it would explain some of the abrupt shifts in the story.  Sets, costumes, camera work, and lighting are all top knotch.  No German would have ever made this 1969 film about Germany.  It took an Italian, with an international cast, to pull it off.  It amazes me to think that people salivate over the politics in stories like Game of Thrones.  Reality, folks, is much stranger and more fascinating than fiction.  And much, much sicker.

Showing on Criterion till May 31st.  Be warned. 

Deb's first weekend movie choice was Dance Girl, Dance, from 1940 and starring Maureen O'Hara and Lucille Ball.  It's a solid film about two dancers, one destined to be a showgirl (Ball), and the other to be a serious dancer (O'Hara).  In the film's highlight, O'Hara gets to stand in front of an audience of rowdy men in a burlesque hall and shame them for their behaviour and attitude towards women.  Score!  O'Hara is gorgeous, and her character and that of Bubbles (Ball) make a perfect contrast, keeping the film lively and fun throughout.Now showing on Criterion. 

Mapman Mike