Covid Lockdown: For Real This Time

 We have passed yellow, red, and then grey for lockdown.  Now we are in double lockdown, or something as ridiculous. Things are still open, but unless they are "essential", they must close at 8 pm.  Now that's real tough measures, let me tell you.  Traffic continues to roar past our house.  Anyway, for Deb and I nothing has changed.  Out for food once every two weeks, and out for medical appointments as needed.

I now have about 60% hearing in my right ear, and I am ecstatic to hear the piano properly once again.  Except that it is getting badly out of tune (it's been a year, instead of 6 months).  I never really noticed before, but now I sure do.

As far as winter goes, by the calendar we are now in the coldest, deepest part of it.  That phase will last until early February, when it begins to get a lot lighter and marginally less cold.  Except that winter hasn't arrived in our area yet.  Aside from three days in a row that stayed below freezing right at Christmas, we have made it above 0C virtually every day.  We have no snow on the ground.  The long range forecast shows nothing too strenuous.  Since we are staying home anyway, I say bring on the snow.  But no one listens to me.

Deb chose two movies over the weekend, the first one from the complete Criterion list and the 2nd one from the leaving January 31st list.  The first one was an experimental film from 2012 from Black American director Terrance Nance.  It was called An Oversimplification of Her Beauty.  I fell asleep twice.  I'll include the blurb here: 

"Terence Nance announced his arrival as one of the most exciting voices in American independent cinema with his bracingly original, endlessly inventive debut feature. With arresting insight, vulnerability, and a playful sense of humor, this one-of-a-kind, confessional multimedia collage uses a kaleidoscopic mix of live action, animation, and unchained surrealism to capture the relationship between Terence (Nance) and a young woman (Namik Minter) as it teeters on the divide between platonic and romantic." 

Now that that has been established, I just could not get into the film at all.  It is like a wacked out version of warped reality, as we see the same events from somewhat different perspectives, with scenes often ending with the question "How would you feel?"  My answer was always the same: bored.  I found the "romantic" conversations quite insipid and juvenile.  Definitely not geared for grumpy 67 year old males.  It was original.

 Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Next up was a film called The Wise Kids, another debut film, this one by Stephen Cone from 2011.  It began worse than the previous film, and as I began rolling my eyes and looking at the time, I figured I would last five minutes at most.  The blurb:

"Stephen Cone established himself as one of American independent cinema’s most sensitive and perceptive voices with his critical breakthrough, a radiantly empathetic look at coming of age in the Bible Belt. Over the course of their final summer in Charleston, South Carolina, before college, gay teen Tim (Tyler Ross) and his best friends Laura (Allison Torem) and Brea (Molly Kunz) grapple with crises of faith, friendship, love, and sexuality as they find themselves questioning the fundamentalist Baptist beliefs of their families. Casting light on a segment of American society rarely depicted on-screen, Cone offers an illuminating perspective on the intersection of queer identity and modern religion."

Brea is the girl losing her faith; Laura is the lord's shepherd personified; and Torem is the gay guy who wants to keep his faith.  The three kids are actually so good in their roles that I was soon drawn in to their struggles.  There are some adult issues, too, including a minister who is married and gay, and more or less stuck in a scary rut.  The whole thing is so honest and presented to viewers in such a straight forward manner that it's easy to get caught up in their little drama.  Watch for Cone's 2nd film, as Deb will choose it next weekend.

 

    Now showing on Criterion.  Great acting, decent story, and a highly unusual setting for a film. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

In Memorium: John Hannah, Pianist and Teacher

 

John was my 2nd formal piano teacher, after Stephen Sword.  Stephen got me (quickly) to Gr. 5 piano.  Over the summer I fiddled with some Gr. 6 pieces, then met John as my new teacher at Cambrian College.  He started me in Gr. 7 piano, and by June of the following year I took my Gr. 8 exam.  A year after that came Gr. 10, and a year after that came my ARCT level recital.  I worked hard for John, and there are several reasons why.  The three years I spent studying music at Cambrian College in Sudbury were the most intense years of study I have ever done.  The college program was perfect for students like me, who had very little music background, but wanted one very badly.

John was a serious teacher and a quiet man, though he had some wonderful quirks and laughed easily.  He played along with students on his own 2nd piano at lessons, and sang constantly (peem peem pum peem peem pum...And now we're HERE, and now we're THERE...).  By the end of a weekly lesson I had more than enough work to keep me busy in the practice rooms.  John influenced many of us in ways that are difficult to pin down.  Sure we studied repertoire with him (and I studied harmony with him, too), and he taught us much in the way of technique, interpretation, and musicianship.  But in his own quiet way he was also an inspiration.  No one wanted to disappoint John at a lesson, so we would practice furiously all week.  When things didn't go so well at lessons you would never be scolded, only encouraged.  He had an uncanny way of finding pieces perfectly suited to each student.  He chose wonderfully for me, pieces I would never have had the courage to learn on my own, such as Beethoven's Tempest Sonata, Listz's Hungarian Rhapsody #13, Bach's Prelude and Fugue in C# Major (!), a Chopin Polonaise, Bartok, and so on.  He opened doors for me that, as a very late starter on piano (18 years), I thought would never be open.  

He pushed us into festivals (I won prizes!), TV appearances (I performed twice, once as soloist and once as accompanist), and community concerts.  I performed the Liszt Rhapsody for a full house (over 800) at Laurentian University.  I would have done none of those things without John shoving me into them.  He would say at your lesson "You will play that on TV next week," or "I think you should enter all your pieces in the music festival," or "you will play your Liszt at this concert next Sunday."  After giving your head a shake you would say yes, and then go home and not sleep for a week prior to whatever you'd signed up for.

At our graduation party in spring of 1976, the graduating class (about 8 of us--it was a very small, intimate college music program, the absolute best) got together to purchase a gift for John.  It was a bust of Beethoven.  As he was unwrapping it from its box he exclaimed "It's the head of someone."  We all nearly died laughing.  John had his way with words, and with teaching.

Mom called me today to tell me about John's obituary (see below).  In an instant a flood of memories came washing over me.  My closest fellow student/friends at the time were Maxime W., Claude B, and Lois B.  I've heard nothing of Lois since graduation.  I went to New Brunswick and PEI many years ago to visit with Maxime and Claude and their families.  

I was dating Deb at the time I studied with John (she was in a very nearby high school), and she spent nearly as much time at Cambrian as me.  I would eat dinner at her house often, then return to the college at night for more piano.

John was also a piano performer, both as soloist and accompanist.  His concerts were always well attended, very well prepared, and anxiously awaited by his students and the community.  There wasn't much classical music in Sudbury; the college provided most of it.  Even the symphony rehearsed there, and I joined as clarinetist for two years, and Deb as violinist.  They were intense, busy years, but among the happiest of my life.  And John was at the center of it, since love of piano was my main focus.

I returned to Sudbury after university to play my grad recital again at Cambrian, organized by John for me.  And one other later time I gave a concert there, again helped by John.  I had hoped to reconnect with him and Marion over the summer of 2020, which was thwarted by Covid, so perhaps in the summer of 2021, to again perform a recital, mostly for family and friends this time.  So I am left shocked and deeply saddened by John's passing.  I will hopefully be in touch soon with Marion, and perhaps Max and Claude, too.

Here follows the text of the official obit, from which the above photo was taken.  I have no pictures of John from my student days, at least none that I know of.  How sad is that?

John Douglas Hannah

October 14, 1943 - January 4, 2021 

The family of John Hannah regretfully announces his passing at home on Monday, January 4, 2021 after a lengthy period of declining health; he was 77 years of age. He was the beloved husband and musical partner of his wife, Marion Harvey Hannah and constant loving father of his daughter, Amy (Kevin). He was a dear brother of Don (Doug) with whom he shared a love of music and literature. A special brother-in-law to Mary Lou (Colin) and uncle to nephews Robert and Andrew. John was predeceased by his parents, Douglas and Marion (nee Gillard) Hannah, brother Scott (Susan), and leaves behind many cousins. John was raised in Shediac, New Brunswick and pursued studies in piano performance at Acadia University and Boston University. Upon completion of his studies, he taught piano privately in Saint John, New Brunswick where he was very well known in the community and he also assumed the position of organist at St. John's (Stone) Church. Following this period, he held part-time teaching positions at Mount Allison and Acadia Universities. In 1973, John moved to Sudbury where he became the Head of Piano Studies at Cambrian College until he retired in 2001. He was the organist and choir director at the Church of the Epiphany for close to twenty years. Through his countless performances and associations with other musicians, John touched the lives of many with his skill and artistry on the piano and organ. Those who knew and worked with John found him to be an easy-going, practical man, dependable and generous, helpful to everyone. He was dedicated to his art and enjoyed a deep artistic life. He will be greatly missed by close friends and members of the community. His family wishes to acknowledge the many acts of kindness from friends over the course of his illness, the support of the nursing and personal care workers from the North East LHIN, and the care from the team of Dr. Christine Pun. In lieu of flowers, donations to Cambrian College Music Program - John Hannah Memorial Fund (www.cambriancollege.ca/givetoday) would be appreciated to continue his work of supporting young musical talent in the Sudbury area. A Memorial Service will be held at a later time for John at the Church of the Epiphany when provincial restrictions allow. Arrangements have been entrusted to Ranger's Cremation and Burial Services Ltd. Online condolences can be posted at www.RangersSudbury.com

Mapman Mike 

Local Covid Update, and Some CDs

Per capita our little county has the highest rate of Covid infection in Canada, though still behind California, Arizona, and the UK.  Our hospitals have had to send patients to hospitals far and wide, as they are beyond full.  The nursing home death numbers have become outrageous, and the vaccine roll out is not going very well.  We've been staying home for 10 months now, remaining firmly grounded and not acting any crazier than normal.  Deb's newest films are being accepted into festivals, and of course winning prizes.  She is now at work on Yorick Season 3, with a little help from yours truly, who did the voice over of the narrator.

I am just beginning to wrap my poor little head around the Beethoven CD collection recently purchased.  The listening program is still pleasantly mired in his earliest works, written mostly for friends and social gatherings in Bonn, his birth city which he left at age 22.  With multiple recordings of many of the later pieces by different artists/orchestras, this is a project that will carry on long past the 250th anniversary of his birth.  And so, what did we do after purchasing 123 Beethoven CDs?  We bought the Bach set of 222 CDs.

 

 We got the last edition of the set available in Canada (with free shipping!).  It was very expensive, but much less money than spending a holiday weekend in Cleveland or Cincinnati or Chicago.  The box is twice the size of the enormous Beethoven one, and twice as heavy.  We've already started into it, in a less formal way than the Beethoven project.  We are starting with the "Over 50 CDs of alternate recordings..."  The first thing we heard was a recording of the Brandenburg Concerto #1 from 1935, recorded at Abbey Road Studio, London!  There will likely be some Bach heard in our house everyday for the next year at least.  Fun times!

Our most recent film watched was Bill Forsythe's Housekeeping, a film from 1987 we have seen and enjoyed on two previous occasions.  It had been many years, but the 3rd viewing was just as entrancing as the first two.  Great story, great acting, and filmed in beautiful British Columbia.  It is leaving Criterion at the end of the month.  There is a really haunting quality about this film, as it explores the relationship between a shy teenage outcast and her freestyle but caring aunt.  Highly recommended viewing, and more than once.

We continue to watch a number of series as well.  On Prime we are watching Tony Robinson's Walking Through History series, and I am about to begin a five hour WW 1 documentary series there.  On Britbox we are watching Tom Baker's Dr. Who years, the first seasons of Red Dwarf and Black Adder, and the 3rd season of Upstart Crow.  And Season 7 of Elementary has just become available on Prime, so here we go.  Lots of viewing going on at the moment, though only about 2 hrs per day right now.

Time for a painting from the DIA.  Today its a landscape (aren't they all?) by Jan Weenix, called Italian Peasants Among Ruins.  The painting shows northern European viewers not only how ancient and beautiful and pleasant Italy is, but also how those peasants down there lead nearly ideal lives.  Mothers and babies are healthy and well-fed, and foreign travellers stop to chat with the friendly locals.  Imagine living in Holland and seeing such images of sunny hills and ancient ruins.  Imagine living in Essex County in January, just as flat as Holland and much colder, and seeing such an image.  I can almost imagine such a thing.

 

Italian Peasants Among Ruins, Jan Weenix, Dutch, 1621-1659,  ca 1649.  Oil on canvas, 26" x         31.5".  Collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts.  

 

Detail of left side.  That is one fat baby.

 

Detail of right side, with dog drinking.  A painting within a painting.  

 

Signing off till next time.  Hope you are enjoying the American insurrectionists getting caught one by one as much as I am.  Hopefully you-know-who is next.

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meniere's Update, and Some Politics

 I saw Dr. Ling again yesterday for a followup, after two months of taking the prescribed medicine for my Meniere's attacks.  I haven't had a vertigo episode or dizzy spell since October, and some of the hearing in my right ear has returned.  I was taking three pills a day, and it really helped, especially in removing the feeling of intense pressure in the ear.  That feeling is rare now.  So I am cutting back the meds to 2 pills a day, and if that seems to work, I can cut to one a day, then one every other day, and then none.  Or go back to three a day if needed.  Progress.  I will see the doctor again in early July.  Interestingly enough we spent about 7 minutes discussing my ear, then we got sidetracked on piano.  After telling him I was a pianist and happy to have my hearing return, he told me he was, too.  So we spent the next 15 minutes discussing Chopin, Beethoven, etc.  I deeply apologize to all the waiting patients, but it was pretty cool.

Turning to political news, as I write this police are still trying to clear rioters from the Capitol Building in Washington.  That is actually of minor importance at the moment--the big news is that the Democrats have won both Georgia Senate seats, meaning that the good guys control both the House and the Senate, at least for the next two years.  Huzzah!!  The rioting will get sorted, some of them will be charged with federal crimes, and Trump has sealed his doom, politically and personally.  Things actually couldn't get any better!  Funny, I never thought I'd share a border with a banana republic, even temporarily.

In movie news, I'll begin with the most recent film watched, Palermo Shooting by Wim Wenders, from 2008.  The movie begins badly, and it seemed for a short time that we would not get through it.  However, after a stretch of bad music and following the nearly pointless life of a big league art and fashion photographer, the film gained steam, getting better and better.  Once in Palermo (capital city of Sicily), the film really rocked.  It doesn't get any better than many of the dream sequences included in this film, or having Dennis Hopper play the figure of Death!  Never take a photo of Death!  Worth more than one viewing, and highly recommended.

                        Now showing on Criterion Channel, a film by Wim Wenders from 2008.

Earlier, we watched Kirikou and The Men and Women, from 2012, Deb's main pick for the week.  This is our 2nd Kirikou film (one more is still out there somewhere).  This hilarious and artistically successful animation stars the amazing baby boy named Kirikou, living with his mother and tribe in West Africa, and getting into several unique adventures.  The evil sorceress is back, with her hilarious fetishes to do her bidding.  This film is a compilation of four shorter tales, each one a treasure and a delight to watch.  Don't miss!

                                        From 2012, now showing on the Criterion Channel. 

 

Earliest was Deb's pick from films leaving January 31st.  She chose King of the Hill from 1993, directed by Steven Soderbergh.  Purported to be from on the memoirs of A. E. Hotchner, the screenplay is by Soderbergh.  However, despite being a well-liked film, I see Hollywood written all over it.  The lead child actor is good, if a bit too well scrubbed for depression era St. Louis, and the period autos are just a bit too clean and sparkling and highly waxed.  The bad cop and bad bellboy, who both get their comeuppence at the end (thanks, Hollywood, we feel better now), to the over dramatization of the downhill car scene, all seems to be laid on a bit thick for my tastes.  Even so there are some lovely moments, as the boy dances with a female friend who has epilepsy, and almost any scene with his little brother, who is even cuter than the lead boy.  There are many harsh moments, including a harrowing encounter with a man who used to live down the hall from the boy, now living rough and looking totally defeated and helpless.  Of course there is a happy ending for our boy hero, as the separated family reunites and lives happily ever after.

 

                                        Showing on Criterion Channel until the end of January.  

 

Coming soon, an update about our local fateful fight with covid, and some art from the DIA.  And likely one more film.

 

Mapman Mike

 

December Books Read

 2021 is well underway--the newest wall calendars are in place, and a new crop of Criterion movies are arriving (and leaving).  And Britain is free of Europe, and the US is almost free of Trump.  And we are all still stuck with covid for a long time yet.

In movie news, we watched a fascinating Egyptian film from 1969 called The Night Of Counting Years.  A while back we had watched a short film by the same director, based on an ancient papyrus scroll that was found and translated.  In this full length feature, the director tackles an episode in 1881, where the Cairo authorities are trying to locate the tombs and mummies from the 21st dynasty for preservation and knowledge.  A fierce mountain tribe has located the horde, and has been systematically robbing the tombs and selling pieces on the black market.  The picture is a quiet one, with stunning location photography and settings.  The film has been restored and looks positively breathtaking.  So many great films, and we actually have time for some of them!

                                                            Now showing on Criterion.  

 

Next came The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, a movie I have likely seen at least 20 times, mostly at the Plaza Theatre in Sudbury, where I would attend a triple feature every Saturday, for 25 cents.  This was Harry Harryhausen's first colour feature, and it's a special effects circus.  There are cyclops, a dragon, a dancing snake woman, a baby two-headed roc, a mama roc, a sword fighting skeleton, a magic lamp with genie, a shrunken princess, and the wonderfully evil magician, Sokura.  There are parts of this film that terrified me as a child, when I would sneak out to the candy counter for a 5 cent treat, taking just long enough to miss the offending scene.  Criterion had a wonderful print of the movie to show us, but it is now left the building.  We waited till the last minute to watch it.

                                    This film showed on Criterion Channel until Dec. 31st/20

 

 Turning now to books read last month, I managed to get through 11 tales related to my Avon/Equinox SF Rediscovery Series project.  In addition, I read two "outside" books, and four more chapters of Beethoven's biography by Jan Swafford.  By reading count was higher this month, as there was virtually no astronomy program due to cloudy nights.

 

I began and ended the month with works by Robert Silverberg.  First came Across A Billion Years, an unusual story of space age archaeology.  A group of scientists are exploring a site of The Old Ones, a mysterious civilization that vanished millions of years ago.  Their artifacts, which remain puzzling and unexplainable, keep turning up of different planets.  A young digger hits the motherlode object, which opens up the field of study like nothing ever before.

 

Silverberg is famous for his books on archaeology, and in fact it was through one of his science books that he first came to my attention as a young reader.  He knows a lot about the subject, and obviously has fun with this well written adventure story.  The ending disappointed me, as it was bound to do when dealing with such a subject, but I really enjoyed the book.  At the end of December I read my 2nd Silverberg story of the month, called Three Survived.  As the author explains in his introduction to my volume, he was asked to write a book for the Pacemaker Series in the late 1960s.  This series of books was aimed at poor readers who wanted access to fun stories.  So Silverberg took a story he'd written many years earlier and reworked it for young but willing readers.  It is actually a novella, and not too bad a one, at that, with several good points to make.  My only complaint, a frequent one with Silverberg and other authors of the time, is that there is not a single female character in the entire story!  Obviously the book was intended for male readers, an opportunity missed yet again to involve females in the genre.  The character Leswick could easily have been switched to female.

 

Next came Blue Adept by Piers Anthony, Book 2 of his Apprentice Adept series.  Anthony tries to build a bridge between SF and Fantasy genres, and while he can be praised for trying something new, the book (and series so far) is more successful as fantasy.  The chapters alternate between two worlds, one where rich people rule a planet decimated by pollution, living under domes and enjoying The Games, and its opposite world, where magic rules and things are still very green.  In my opinion, since discovering his preference for writing fantasy (which at the time was vastly outselling SF), Anthony has been on a downhill treadmill.  One reads him, enjoying certain situations, characters, and settings, but overall it is just a matter of passing time.  I enjoyed the 2nd book more than the first one, but nothing would inspire me to reread either book.

 

Harry Harrison's thrill-a-minute conclusion to his 3-book series To The Stars was up next.  The series (for me) began badly with a frustrating ending to book 1.  However, things improved vastly in the 2nd book, and continued on in like manner till the final page of book 3.   This book deals with the rebellion of the outer planets against Earth, and is a nail-biting story in the best pulp tradition.  There are several highlights, including the author's comparison of how the UK works compared to the USA, and an older, wise black character that owns one of the last great hidden libraries of books, amidst the slums of LA.  A recommended series, after you are finished throwing book one against a wall after reading it.

 

Bulmer's Blazon in a tale of extremely violent and cruel aliens suddenly attacking Earth colonies, and ruthlessly destroying people, animals, crops, etc.  At first Earth is helpless against this unlooked for enemy, and their finest ships go down to defeat in any face to face encounter.  Time for a secret weapon, one that can destroy the aliens and bring peace to the galaxy.   From 1971, the story continues Bulmer's tradition of writing a good tale, and then something beyond.  He always has something interesting to say about humans in his stories, both good and bad.  In this story, the ultimate weapon gets a bit out of control, causing as much of a problem as the alien enemy once did.

 

My readings of E C Tubb have lately centred around books of his that were unpublished in his lifetime, but have finally seen print more recently.  The Freedom Army is from 1953, and is a good old fashioned pulp novel.  Debracey's Drug has caused all humans who take it to lose their emotions and unwilling to tolerate any level of freedom.  The original purpose of the drug was quite different, a story all too familiar today with many fine drugs on the market.  Three freedom loving men are trapped in a bunker, being bombarded to death by the raging mob who hates them.  Luckily (or we wouldn't have had a story at all) one of these men is a brilliant old professor, who is just finishing up his invention, which can lead them all to safety by sending into a different dimension.  Same planet, but different.  Away they go!  To land in the fire from the frying pan they just left behind.  Cruel aliens rule this Earth, and must be defeated and killed.  Again, no females in this story at all.  Sad but true.  A good example of traditional SF pulp, it is one breathless adventurous moment after another.

 

Rogue Star, by Jack Williamson and Fred Pohl, is the concluding novel of their Starchild trilogy.  This volume can be read without any knowledge of the first two books, as it takes place centuries after those stories, in a time when the past events are considered more myth than fact.  In this story, star loves girl, girl hates star, star vows revenge on its elders (other stars).  This is certainly one of the most unique stories I have ever read, and most certainly the strangest love story I have ever come across!  There are some fine moments here, though overall it is a pulp SF novel at heart, with plenty of action, explosions, and heart-thudding adventures.  The hero is quite a comical figure, like something out of an Iain Banks novel.  I had expected the ending to somehow be twisted into a happy one (like so many Star Trek episodes), but I was pleasantly surprised at how original and suitable it really was.  A good read if you want something off the beaten path.

 

The Distant Suns, a novel, and Flux, a 35 page story, were next, authored by Michael Moorcock.  The novel is from 1975, but is a throwback to the pulp era.  Three people leave for Alpha Centauri to find a planet suitable for overcrowded Earth to colonize.  With references to the Morlock and to Neil Armstrong, and a hero named Jerry Cornelius and his wife Catherine, this is a fun read.  There are some inexplicable moments (Asians came to the planet they discover first, many centuries earlier), but overall this is a fun SF novel, filled with strange people and things, and first rate adventure.  Flux is Moorcock's tribute to H. G. Wells' The Time Machine, and in it he reveals the true secret of time travel.  Quite a good story, which covers a lot of ground in very few pages.

 

Next came Miracles of Life, Ballard's autobiography.  At last we get to separate fact from fiction.  Ballard writes as well here as in any of his novels, and his sense of humour keeps things from becoming too serious.  Completed just a year or so before his death, it is essential reading for fans of the author.  His Shanghai experiences during WW II have seeped into every aspect of most of his novels, but he had many other experiences that also deepened his outlook, no the least of which was the death of his young wife.  It is not a book that should be read before his major novels, but it is one I will come back to again.

 

The month's crowning achievement was reading Barry Malzberg's Herovit's World, a novel about a SF pulp writer slowly going crazy.  All of Malzberg's novels feature someone going off the deep end, but this one really takes the cake!  One of his best works, it is dark, very funny, and all too true.  It is a book that should be read by every SF author (it likely has been!) and fan of the genre.  Too incredible, and a must-read!  Book of the month, if not the year!

 

Concluding my cycle of Avon/Equinox books (before starting over with Silverberg--see above) was James Blish's All The Stars A Stage, about a generational life ship heading for the stars with its hopeful human colonists.  The story is slow to begin, but once in space things pick up a lot.  First one planet is visited, but hope is abandoned after several unforeseeable obstacles prevent them from staying.  One of these obstacles concerns insects, and is quite a fascinating take on alien life.  A second planet is reached, again with not much hope of colonizing.  The reasons this time are military, but too late the crew realizes that they could have made this one work.  Will there be a third planet?  By now most of the original crew have passed away, and it is the 2nd generation running things now.  A good, solid SF story, sometimes reminding me of Aniara.

 

I had time for two books off of my 'normal' shelf of books to read.  The first was given to me by Amanda, finally managing to work its way to the top of the pile, after a wait of several years.  The Map and The Territory, a novel by Michel Houellebecq, concerns a successful artist and his sad life.  The character is bland, uninteresting, and unemotional, and halfway through the book I didn't think I would finish it.  He is supposed to be a great author, so I won't judge him by this book.  But it seems to be a stinker.  The book is so unmoving and uninvolving that suddenly, about two thirds of the way through, it becomes a murder mystery.  Even the author must have realized he had dug himself into a nasty hole.  Not recommended.

 

I finished off the month with a wonderful youth novel, Black Jack by Leon Garfield.  This is a first rate adventure novel for young readers (early teens), and I ordered the book a while back after seeing the excellent film based on the book.  Some authors are just so good at writing for young people that it makes me want to give up in despair.  A joy to read!

 

Finally, in art news, I will begin the new year pretty much like the old one ended, with a Utopian painting that allows me some escape from this brown winter, where we are mostly stuck inside the house.  This one involves the sea at sunset, with a ship waiting to take us away from here (though in this case, 'here' doesn't seem too bad).

 

        A Seaport At Sunset, 1643, Claude Gellee, French (1600-1682),  Oil on copper; 16" x 21".  

 

                                                                    Detail of left side.

 

        Detail of right side.  I can see Jan Brueghel and David Teniers enjoying this painting.

 

I have two astronomy articles to write before my next post here, and another challenging vocal task for one of Deb's film series.  After tackling these, I will return with more time filling excitement.  Happy New Year!

 

Mapman Mike 

 

December Film Festival

 It's all over for December.  The regular end of the month film festival enjoyed capacity crowds (2), and the celebration went on until well after 10 pm.  At about that time it began to snow again, though when we awoke this morning it was raining, and the snow had already vanished.  Last night was also full moon party time.  Deb baked a totally awesome chocolate cake, and I lit a totally awesome fire, and we had a totally awesome time.  The cake is still awesome today, but the fire is quite done.

Last week I chose a film about Mishima, a controversial Japanese writer and public figure if there ever was one.  That film, directed by Paul Schrader, included parts from three of his novels.  In addition, Criterion is also showing two feature films (Japanese, and both in wide screen b & w), based on novels of Mishima.  First came Conflagration, from 1958, and directed by Kon Ichikawa, based on the novel The Golden Temple.  Essentially, the beautiful temple is being used as a money making tourist attraction by the monks who care for it.  A stuttering young monk falls in love with the temple, and eventually causes its destruction.  The film opens at the police station, where the monk has been apprehended and charged with destroying a national treasure.  The rest of the story is told in flashback.  This story was also used in Schrader's  later film.

Conflagration is now showing on the Criterion Channel, from a novel by Yukio Mishima. 

Next up was a 1967 Japanese New Wave film directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara called Thirst For Love, based on the Mishima novel of the same title.  The story concerns a widowed woman still living with her father-in-law, becoming his mistress.  However, she craves the attention and the body of an underage gardener and handyman, eventually destroying herself in the attempt to win him over to her.  She is a seriously warped female, one of the top five I have ever seen in film!  Her scheming and her sexual desires go way off the chart into mighty strange territory, making for fascinating viewing.  The photography is outstanding.

             Thirst For Love, now showing on the Criterion Channel, based on Mishima's novel.

 For the third film, in keeping with the Japanese theme (but not, alas, Mishima), we watched Zatoichi's Pilgrimage, from 1966.  The film began in a promising way, as the blind swordsman sets off on a pilgrimage of 88 temples, to atone for all the killing he has done.  However, early on in the pilgrimage the usual story pops back up like a bad penny.  Village and beautiful girl need his help to thwart the bad boss who wants to take over the farming valley for his own profit.  And the body count is as high as ever.  Poor Zatoichi will have to spend his entire life on this pilgrimage, to no avail.  An average potboiler for the series, with not much new added.

Now showing on the Criterion Channel, and #14 in the long running series of the blind swordsman. 

 

I still have my regular pick of the week to go.  And tomorrow, or New Year's Day at the latest, I will return with my December reading summary.  And some more art from the DIA.

Mapman Mike

Post-Christmas Message

 It began snowing on Christmas Eve, and continued all throughout Christmas Day.  It was also as cold as January, and still is.  We were promised one cold day, but this is the 3rd in a row.  So we have been even more inside than usual, if that is even possible.  I still make 2 trips outside every day, to feed the birds and squirrels.  We've had cardinals, a flock of goldfinches, nuthatches, sparrows, pigeons, and chickadees, along with every squirrel within ten square miles.  They eat voraciously when there is snow on the ground and it is really cold outside.  So do I.

I talked briefly with my parents on Friday, and Deb talked with Lynne, my brother's wife.  And today I talked at length with Amanda, who is in town to visit her family from Toronto.  As I write this blog entry the newest lockdown restrictions are in effect Ontario-wide, and will remain so until late January.  We'll see if that slows down the disease.  Already the newer strain has arrived here.

In addition to movies, we are watching Season 3 of Upstart Crow on Britbox, as well as watching Black Adder again from the beginning.  And we continue to watch Sir Tony Robinson's Walking Through History on Prime.  It's my turn to choose a threesome for this weekend's end of the month film festival, so stay tuned for that important announcement later in the week.  The show begins tonight at 6:45 pm.

Recently watched Criterion films include my two most recent choices.  The first was part 3 of Fassbinder's fascinating and fun TV series 8 Hours Don't Make A Day.  At 1 hr 45 min each, the five part series requires some serious set-aside time.  But it's worth it, as Fassbinder tackles the work-a-day world of a German industrial city in the 1970s.  Next came a short film from the leaving list, called Our Dancing Daughters.  From 1928, it is a silent film starring Joan Crawford as a carefree flapper, wondering why serious guys don't pick her for keeps.  The soundtrack is quite good, featuring music, sound effects, and even songs appearing over top emotional scenes. The ending is pure Hollywood cliche, but is fun nonetheless.  Bad characters who are really, really drunk should not try to negotiate a really long, high staircase.  Take it from me.

Showing until Dec. 31st on criterion.

The stunning Ms. Crawford in 1928.

The infamous staircase of doom.  

 

Deb chose to see what a city looks like with no clothes on.  From 1948 comes Jules Dassin's stunning crime drama The Naked City.  It was the first big Hollywood film to shoot on location in New York City, and it's fun to watch for several reasons.  The main crime story is quite good, and of course the outdoor and indoor photography is excellent.  One of the short features that accompany the film takes a tour of several locations used in filming.  The picture has a narrator, and he talks viewers through a typical workday in Manhattan, with the camera going into places never before seen, including the actual city morgue, and inside police headquarters, where various departments and labs are shown doing their jobs.  We have seen it before, years ago, but this was, of course, a newly restored print, which makes all the difference.  A solid film, worth catching.

 

Now showing on Criterion, with many extra shorts to support it.

Filmed on location in NYC, this was the first big American film to do so.  

Turning to painting, I chose yet another Arcadia image, this one even richer and more enticing than the last time.  This is a fun painting to gaze at when the snow is blowing and the weather is frightful.  It's even fun to look at when the weather is lovely.  I like these paintings because nothing seems to be going on.  Everyone knows that in the Golden Age no one had to work, or be anywhere at any specific time.  You could just loll around all day and eat grapes.  We could all use a few such days in our busy lives.  Even in a nearly one-year stay-at-home life, I am still far too busy.  This is a large painting, but because of the horizontal path, it is more difficult to enter the picture.  But the calmness and sereneness make up for that; we should not be wandering too far off anyway, as it is too taxing.
 

Landscape Of Ancient Greece, 1786, Pierre Henri de Valenciennes, French 1750-1819.  Oil on canvas, 39.5" x 59.5".  Collection Detroit Institute of Arts.

 

Detail of left side.

 

Detail of right side.

 

Further detail, right side.

 

Your loveliness goes on and on...

See you all next time, after the film festival weekend festivities have ended.

Mapman Mike