The Kid

The Kid, also known as Kid Cheung and My Son A-Chang is a 1950 Bruce Lee film, one of his first. 10-year-old Lee stars with his father in this story based on a comic book character.

I can't find a version online with English subtitles. Significant only for Bruce Lee's presence, the broad strokes of the story are easy enough to follow without subtitles for the chance to see him as a child. I saw enough to satisfy myself of Lee's cuteness but didn't watch the entire film.

clip via youtube:



Love HK Film says, "The story essentially boils down to a morality tale about taking responsibility for your life, leaving a life of crime behind, and getting a real job to become a useful person in society. It’s a message that hasn’t gone out of style".

Flashback

The Daughter and I went to Flashback the other day. They always have wonderful things, but I was looking for a cup and saucer this time and didn't see anything I wanted. The last time I was there I bought this purse:

It's the perfect go-to-church purse.

Count to a Trillian

Count to a Trillion is the first book in a science fiction series by John C. Wright. I picked it up at my local bookstore on a whim, looking for a new space opera. The writing drew me in at the beginning, but that didn't last. I don't like any of the characters and don't care what happens to them. There's much too much explanatory material, info-dumps on mathematics and history of this future Earth that go on for pages with one character waxing eloquent occasionally interrupted by another character asking for further explanation. The book seems much too long in general, considering how little actually happens.

I also find much not to like from a feminist perspective. Whether the author is a sexist pig or just his characters are, I tired of it quickly. One example:

"That's the second time you've said you were above me, little lady, and I won't stand it. I've a mind to turn you over my knee!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Well, I am flattered by the offer of a spanking, but I am your superior officer, and your sovereign, and higher on the ladder of evolution than you, and I have a fully armed starship, and several armed forces at my command, not to mention I can flick one of my hairpins up your nose. So any horseplay could turn out badly for you. Besides, what would my husband say if you assumed his privileges?"

I'll give my copy away and not read the rest of the series.

from the back of the book:

Hundreds of years in the future, Menelaus Illation Montrose grows up in postapocalypse Texas as a gunslinger for hire. But Montrose is also a mathematical genius and this earns him a place on an interstellar mission to the Monument, an alien artifact inscribed with data so complex, only a posthuman mind can decipher it. So Montrose does the unthinkable: he injects himself with a dangerous drug designed to boost his already formidable intellect to superhuman intelligence. It drives him mad.

Two centuries later, Montrose is awakened from cryosuspension with no memory of his posthuman actions, to find Earth strangely transformed. But the Monument still carries a secret he must decode —one that will define humanity’s true future in the universe.

Strange Horizons says, "If all this leads you to understand that much of Count to a Trillion occurs as dialogue, and that much of the dialogue occurs as sermon, screed, or rhetoric, then you'd be right" and closes with this: "The blank prose and blanker soul of this novel leads the reader to experience what it must be like to follow the imperative of its title: it feels a long way from its beginning to its end." Kirkus Reviews thinks it needs work and describes it as "often grindingly didactic, with no narrative flow and three genius protagonists all unpleasantly cold and unsympathetic". The New York Journal of Books says, "it falls into the trap of being overburdened with exposition (much of which is pure techno-babble); and the first part of the novel in particular feels slow and tedious as various characters fill the hero in on what he missed while he was asleep". SF Crowsnest says, "I felt the book was overly long with rather verbose descriptions when they were not really required."

Out of the Past

It had been years since I last saw this film, but The Younger Son put it in to watch over lunch one day recently and I joined in. Out of the Past is a 1947 film noir directed by Jacques Tourneur (Cat People, I Walked With a Zombie). It stars Robert Mitchum, a favorite of mine, and Kirk Douglas as a sleazy bad guy. We think Klingons would like this film because everybody dies and nobody makes a profit. This movie is well worth watching and is good for many repeat viewings.

I think this is one of Mitchum's best, and Kirk Douglas is also priceless.

trailer:



Bright Lights Film Journal calls it "riveting" and says it is "usually ranked as one of the best of the genre". Images Journal says it is "An essential noir and one of the great archetypal noirs." FilmReference.com says,

there is little dispute that the particular combination of talents displayed in Out of the Past —significant among them the iconic screen presences of Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, and Jane Greer— resulted in a distinguished contribution to another genre tradition, film noir , for which Out of the Past has become ... a primary measure of excellence and source of resonance.

It's one of Time's 100 Best Films, where they say, "It has the smartest dialogue and the most persuasively labyrinthine plot of any film noir". DVD Talk opens with this:

In every genre or category of movies there are films that transcend academic pigeonholing, and Jacques Tourneur's Out of the Past is a prime example. One leaves a screening of this doomed romance with a profound appreciation of a key awareness behind film noir: Disillusion and despair in a corrupt but seductive world.

The book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die says it "may be the masterpiece of film noir" and that it "leaves us with the enigmas of fatal desires, the ambiguities of loves faced with fear". Roger Ebert has it on his list of "great movies," calling it "one of the greatest of all film noirs". Rotten Tomatoes gives it a critics score of 96%.

Walker (1987)

Walker is a 1987 Acid Western, starring Ed Harris (as Walker), Peter Boyle (in little more than a cameo), René Auberjonois (who has a Star Trek: Deep Space 9 connection), Keith Szarabajka (Star Trek:Voyager and Enterprise connections), Gerrit Graham (ST:Deep Space 9 and Voyager), Bennet Guillory (ST:DS9) and Biff Yeager (ST:TNG) and is directed by Alex Cox.

It's based on the life of William Walker, who became the president of Nicaragua for a year as part of an attempt to start English-speaking colonies in Latin America under his own control. He planned to have them join the U.S.A. as slave states. Our president at the time even recognized his government as the legitimate Nicaraguan government. Walker was born and raised here in Tennessee, in Nashville. He is mentioned in Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. I don't remember having heard of him before seeing this film.

Our country surely has spawned more than its fair share of fruit-cakes.

quote from the film:

Think of it, Sir, from ocean to ocean. And the women, Colonel, My God, the women! Bare-breasted beauties under trees laden with fruit. Think of it. Seven to every man.

Manifest Destiny, indeed.

Some of it is amusing, and the political parallel it draws is compelling, but I do not recommend it. If you want political satire, watch Being There or The President's Analyst or Duck Soup. If you want an acid western, watch Dead Man or Zachariah or Dead Man's Bounty.

via youtube:



from Wikipedia:

Alex Cox's Walker incorporates many of the signposts of William Walker's life and exploits, from his original excursions into northern Mexico to his trial and acquittal on breaking the neutrality act to the triumph of his assault on Nicaragua and his execution.

Slant Magazine says,

The film was shot in the late 1980s, right in the middle of an illegal U.S.-sponsored war against Nicaragua and remains topical today as a scandalous portrait of nightmarish American arrogance in the name of expansion and gobbling up resources. The film is equally cutting in its evisceration of Christian values in the name of mass violence, and of Western self-willed ignorance of other cultures.

Senses of Cinema also discusses its politics. DVD Talk calls it a "black comedy" and says, "Walker's Gonzo approach to its subject found few friends among critics." Roger Ebert closes by saying, "this movie's poverty of imagination has to be seen to be believed." Rotten Tomatoes has a critics score of 40%.

Talk Like Yoda Day

Talk like Yoda you will. Feel silly you will, yes, but worry about what others might think do not. If assistance you need, check out the yodaspeak converter you may. Directions here there are. A Facebook event there is.

Skipping this fun observance, are you? Beware the boring side. Once you start down the boring path, forever will it dominate your destiny.

From OrangeBeard the photo above is.

Jasmine Tea

The Daughter and I went to the Chinese grocery recently. I was looking for good green tea bags. She had never been and was curious. She found a few fun things, including a great little glass tea pot with a metal infuser insert. I bought a box of Stassen Pure Jasmine Green Tea.

I don't care for this tea at all. Much too strong a flavor to suit me, and it's nothing like the mild Jasmine tea I've had in Chinese restaurants. I'll give the rest of the box to The Daughter. Maybe she'll like it.

I've had this cup for years. There are no markings on the bottom, and I can't remember where I got it.

The Island of the Day Before

I read The Island of the Day Before, the 1994 novel by Umberto Eco, thinking it was a fantasy of sorts or at least had fantasy elements. It's not a fantasy in the usual sense of the word, though much of the action takes place in the protagonist's mind and is treated in a way as if it really happened. It's an odd book. It's more enjoyable as an intellectual exercise than as a novel. I didn't enjoy the sections that dwelt on philosophical Astronomy and the concept of longitude, and that was much of the book. I found those sections tedious and caught myself skimming them. I liked the last part of the book more.

my favorite quotes from late in the book:

So here I am illuding myself with the illusion of an illusion -I, an illusion myself? I who was to lose everything, happened on this vessel lost in the Antipodes only to realize there was nothing to lose? But, understanding this, do I not perhaps gain everything, because I become the one thinking point at which the Universe recognizes its own illusion?

and

But in the final analysis, what is this I that I believe thinks me? Have I not said that it is only the awareness of the Void, identical to extension, has of itself in this particular composite? Therefore I am not I who thinks, but I am the Void, or extension, that thinks me. And so this composite is an accident, in which Void and extension linger for the blink of an eye, to be able afterwards to return to thinking otherwise. In this great Void of the Void, the one thing that truly is, is the history of this evolution in numberless transitory compositions. . . . Compositions of what? Of the one great Nothingness, which is the Substance of the whole.

Substance governed by a majestic necessity, which leads it to create and destroy worlds, to weace our pale lives. I must accept this, succeed in loving this Necessity, return to it, and bow to its future will, for this is the condition of Happiness. Only by accepting its law will I find my freedom. To flow back into It will be Salvation, fleeing from passions into the sole passion, the Intellectual Love of God.

If I truly succeeded in understanding this, I would be the one man who has found the True Philosophy, and I would know everything about God that is hidden. But who would have the heart to go about the world and proclaim such a philosophy?

from the back of the book:

I am, I believe, alone of all our race, the only man in human memory to have been shipwrecked and cast up upon a deserted ship.

So begin the journals of Roberto della Griva, a seventeenth-century nobleman who finds himself on board a mysterious ship anchored in the bay of a beautiful island he cannot reach. The story of how he got there, and what he finds on board, are just a part of this exquisitely crafted novel that celebrates the romance, war, politics, philosophy, and science of the Baroque period in all its lush and colorful detail

There is a reading group guide with discussion questions here. The review at The Guardian says it put him to sleep and closes with this:

On the marooned ship Daphne, Father Caspar and Roberto debate ad nauseam the implications of parallel worlds. There appears to be a world in which Eco is regarded as a significant and influential writer. If it is this one, I'd like to relocate.

Kirkus Reviews ends by saying, "Though weighted here and there by the longueurs of whimsy, this is on balance an intriguing and entertaining theoretical rompa kind of Borgesian Robinson Crusoe."

PhiloBiblios calls it "difficult to review" and says,

I read through the entire book thinking that surely something would happen soon, that there was some missing element that would make itself known and make the book pop like some of Eco's others have for me. And that never happened

but says Eco's books are all worth reading for their interesting explorations of philosophical and historical issues.

Creature From The Haunted Sea

Creature From The Haunted Sea is a 1961 Roger Corman film, a parody of monster and spy/thriller movies. Priceless. Honestly. If you've ever seen a spy movie or a monster movie, I don't see how you can sit through this with a straight face. Fred Katz did the music, which is wonderful.

via youtube:



1000 Misspent Hours doesn't like it and says,

To be honest, Creature from the Haunted Sea doesn’t work anywhere near as well as The Little Shop of Horrors, and it is often funnier by accident than it is on purpose. A lot of the gags fall rather flat, and derive most of their amusement value from the fact that somebody somehow thought they were funny.

Million Monkey Theater says, "As with most every Corman movie, overall it's excruciatingly terrible, but there are some good moments of crackin' dialogue and inspired emotion. And it's a comedy, who knew?" The Spinning Image says, "It may look like it was casually filmed on holiday, but the movie is amusing enough, and doesn't take anything seriously." TCM has some information.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) is, quite probably, the funniest film ever made. Is there anyone who hasn't already seen it? I love this one! It stars Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Jack Gilford, Buster Keaton, Michael Hordern, Roy Kinnear, Jon Pertwee and Ingrid Pitt. The music is by Stephen Sondheim.

trailer:




TCM has an overview. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a score of 82%.

Golf Course 42

I wonder how many of the golfers are ever in a position to see it. But you can see it just fine from the street side.

Harakiri

I saw Harakiri (1962) recently at the Brooks Museum. I hadn't seen this period samurai film before, and was so glad to have this opportunity. The director is Masaki Kobayash, who also did Kwaidan, a wonderful anthology horror film from 1964.

It's well worth watching and is available online here:



Kung Fu Cinema closes with this:

HARAKIRI may start out somewhat slow. However, once the plot twists are revealed, one can only be satisfied with the tragic character of Hanshiro Tsugumo, who goes from loyal samurai to regular man to an avenger of sorts. A true Japanese samurai eiga classic!

The Spinning Image says, "It is a deft lightning strike at its target, and as such delivers a killer blow." Slant Magazine gives it 4 out of 5 stars and says, "Set in the early days of shogun supremacy, Masaki Kobayashi's film sets out to show the system was corrupt from its inception." Roger Ebert considers it a "great film". Rotten Tomatoes has a critics score of 100%.

Thankful for Antibiotics!

The Grandmother hadn't been feeling as well for several days, so I was grateful she had a regular check-up with her internist scheduled for that week. When he saw her in the office, he said he could do tests there but that it would take a while to get the results. He sent her to the hospital for the tests, and they found pneumonia. She was in the hospital for a week and is now in a skilled nursing facility for rehab to try and get her ready to go back to her apartment.

The facility is well-recommended, and she will get great therapy there.

The scary thing is she's taking this chance to declare herself free from doctors and Boost Plus from now on. She said she's "done with all that." I said, "over my dead body!" I didn't really say that, but, honestly, I'll have to have a come-to-Jesus meeting with her about what going back to an independent living apartment will mean; and refusing doctor visits and nutritional supplements isn't included in that plan.

Sweden at the Memphis Botanic Garden

Sweden is the country being honored in this year's Memphis in May celebration, and the Botanic Garden is highlighting "a smorgasbord of Swedish-style botanicals".

They also have an art exhibit of photos of Icehotel. Icehotel is fascinating. I think of ice as a fleeting phenomenon and remember with awe the only time I was able to stand on a frozen lake. To have a building and furnishings made from ice that lasts for months? Wow!

Did you know that Sweden is the most socially advanced country?

Last Year in Marienbad

Last Year in Marienbad is a 1961 French film. It's directed by Alain Resnais. There continues to be controversy over the film. Is it a dream? Does it all take place in one of the characters' minds? If so, which one? Is it a tale of madness? A ghost story? A re-telling of Orpheus and Eurydice? Can it be seen as having any kind of linear plot? Was there a rape? Was someone killed? Are they all delusional? It begs to be seen again.

I know it has been available in a Criterion edition, but this movie seems to be out of print right now.

via youtube:



Senses of Cinema claims it's based on a science fiction story. Slant Magazine says, "Whatever else it may or may not be, Last Year at Marienbad is a mystery thriller, using the latter term perhaps a trifle loosely, bearing more than a few trappings of the horror genre." DVD Talk calls it "one of the most important films of the mid 20th century" and concludes, "it is a uniquely provocative piece that will make you think about it, whether or not you want to. Anyone who values their own knowledge of film must take the time to see Marienbad at least once in their lives." The book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die says, "Nowhere else in cinema have the labyrinth workings of consciousness and memory been evoked more forcefully or explored more resonantly." The Guardian calls it "more brilliant than ever – profoundly mysterious and disturbing, a para-surrealist masterpiece". DVD Bearer says it's "Not just a defining work of the French New Wave but one of the great, lasting mysteries of modern art". Roger Ebert considers it one of the "great movies". Rotten Tomatoes gives it a critics score of 95%.

Sunny Antiquing

The Daughter and I headed out to antique shops one day recently. I was looking for cups and saucers. She was looking for decorations that featured the Sun. I struck out. She found this wonderfully cheerful piece:

at the Antique Warehouse Mall on Summer Avenue.

Neither of us had been there before. They have large spaces both inside and out. We found a Wonder Horse looking for an adoptive family. We still have The Daughter's Wonder Horse living with us, so we can't help this poor animal.

I didn't see anything I wanted to buy. Maybe next time.

Privateers

Privateers is a 1985 science fiction novel by Ben Bova, whose science fiction credentials are impressive. I say that because I want to make it clear that I know what a big deal the man is.

I had a lot of trouble wading through this book. The oppressive misogynism is topped only by the blatant, heavy-handed preaching of far right-wing conservative political ideology. The man has an agenda and is not afraid to use it. Not a page went by that I didn't feel beat to death with it. Fine. I got it. Can we move on? No? Really? The characters were fine, the plot was fine, but they were drowned in the misogyny and the political dreck. Every time I got to thinking I might be able to get involved, Bova got out that stick again and I swear it's brutal. I hate books that serve as a tool to advance an author's agenda, and this seems to me a prime example.

2 examples from the book of the kind of material I'm talking about:

The first is from page 33:

A meek tapping at the door to the outer office caught his attention. His secretary did not wait for an answer, but opened the door a crack and announced timidly, "The maintenance man is here?" She was a strkingly lovely redhead, a stunning decoration for the office, but she made every sentence into a question, as though begging permission to exist. "To see about the leak"?

Dan nodded. "About time. Send him right in. I was just leaving anyway."

"The Hernandez reception?" the secretary said. "It starts at five?"

"I know. The phone just reminded me."

A potbellied, swarthy Venezuelan in grease-staned green coveralls frowned his way past the secretary. He waddled across the carpeting and went straight to the window, gazed down at the growing puddle, then looked up at the top of the window. He heaved a great wheezing, grunting sigh.

"I'm leaving," Dan said to his secretary. He patted her rump as he went by her, and she smiled compliantly.

"You're going to dress for the party?" she asked.

"Right." Dan glanced at his wristwatch. More than enough time. "Want to help me?"

She shrugged deliciously and wrinkled her nose for him. Without waiting to see if she were following, Dan headed for the private elevator that went down to his apartment, thinking happily of what the Russian's face would look like if he knew that Astro Manufacturing had just taken the first step toward tapping the mineral resources of the asteroids, resources that were thousands of times richer than the ores the Russians could scrape from the powdery surface of the Moon.

The secretary scampered after him and made it into the elevator just before the doors slid shut. She smiled sweetly for Dan. He wished he could remember her name. She had just started working for him a week ago. And she would be gone before long, he knew. Just like all the others.

The second example is from page 62:

"But how much profit do you make?" Malik [the Russian] asked, his smile looking slightly sardonic now.

"As much as the [Venezuelan] government allows."

"And how much is that?"

"Ask Senor Hernandez. He has the figures."

Malik would not be deterred. "Enough to feed the poor people living in those miserable hovels outside the city? Would you say that your profits could help to feed the poor, rather than making a very rich man even richer?"

"The operation makes jobs for thousands..."

"Of engineers and tax accountants."

"And butchers, bakers, telescope makers" -Dan found himself enjoying the challenge of argument- "cooks, babysitters, auto mechanics, salespeople of all kinds, gardeners, truck drivers -you name it. We bring money into this country, and every bolivar that space operations produces gets spent eight or ten times over, within the country's internal economy. That's a considerable multiplier, and it's fed more Venzuelans than all the damned welfare programs the government's ever funded!"

Malik laughed derisively. "And yet there are still many hungry people, while you live in luxery."

Dan started to reply, but held himself in check for a moment. He saw something in Malik's eyes, something crafty and dangerous. The other Russians were watching the two of them; even those who claimed they could not understand English could see the sparks that the two men struck off each other.

"You really want to feed those hungry people? Dan asked cooly.

"Yes, certainly."

"Then lower the prices you charge us and the other Third World space operations."

That caught Malik by surprise. "Lower the prices for the ores we mine from the Moon?"

"Right," Dan said with a grin. "All the Third World space manufacturers -even the Japanese- have to buy their raw materials from the Soviet Union. You control the lunar mines and you set the prices for the ores."

Malik nodded. The smile was gone from his face, replaced by a skeptical, almost worried expression.

"Lower the prices for our raw materials, and we can lower the prices for the finished manufactured products. That means we'll be able to sell more of our products. Which means we can increase production. Increased production means more jobs. So if you really want to feed those hungry squatters..."

"No, no, no!" Malik waggled a finger in Dan's face. "You would not hire those unskilled men and women to be astronauts or engineers."

"Maybe not. But we'd hire some of them to drive trucks and do maintenance work. Others would get all sorts of jobs in the city, working in restaurants, driving taxicabs, all sorts of things. And we could help to build schools for their children, so that they could become astronauts and engineers."

"Capitalist propaganda." Malik smirked.

Dan laughed. "Propaganda or not, friend, that system has produced more wealth for more people than all the Socialist planning in the world."

The Russian shook his head.

"Try it! Dan urged. "Try it for one year. Just twelve months. Lower the prices you make us pay for the lunar ores, and I guarantee you that those shacks on the hills will start to disappear."

"No," Malik said. "That is not the way to end poverty."

Page after page, chapter after chapter, without relief. I have another book of his in my TBR pile, so I hope it's better.

from the back of the book:

America Has Ceded The Heavens To The Tyrants - And The Renegades.

The U.S. has abandoned its quest for the stars, and an old enemy has moved in to fill the void. The potential wealth of the universe is now in malevolent hands. Rebel billionaire Dan Randolph -possessor of the largest privately owned company in space- intends to weaken the stranglehold the new despotic masters of the solar system have on the lucrative ore industry. But when the mineral-rich asteroid he sets in orbit around the Earth is commandeered by the enemy, and his unarmed workers are slaughtered in cold blood, the course of Randolph's life is changed forever. Now cataclysm is aimed at the exposed heart of America -a potential catastrophe that Randolph himself inadvertently set in motion. And the maverick entrepreneur must use his skills, cunning, and vast resources to strike out at his foes hard, fast and with ruthless precision - and wear proudly the mantle that fate thrust upon him: space pirate!

Kirkus Reviews calls it "One of Bova's best, then, and the fans by now will be familiar with his Cold War posture and anti-Russian rhetoric." SF Reviews says, "It's awful. There's exciting stuff happening - there's nothing particularly wrong with the plot (except its predictability) but the dismal writing steam-rollers along burying all characterization and subtlety."

The picture at the top of the post is from Amazon.com, where you can read more reviews.

Public Art Flamingo-Style

I saw this on the side of a building in mid-town.

Massacre Time

Massacre Time is a 1966 Spaghetti Western directed by Lucio Fulci, who is better known for his horror films. It stars Franco Nero, who played the lead in the 1966 Django and in Keoma and was a bad guy in Die Hard 2. In this film he is a prospector coming home to find his brother's land, along with the rest of his hometown, taken over by a family of bad guys. I like spaghetti westerns. The music is nice, with a theme song that actually leads nicely into the plot. I'm proud to say I guessed the plot twist fairly early. This is hard to watch in places even considering how used to violence in film I am, but it's interesting to see these people at a crucial point in their careers.

via youtube dubbed in English (I'd much rather have the original voices and subtitles):



The Spinning Image says this

revenge-based scenario unfolds in nebulous fashion but packs a pretty potent, game-changing twist. Though slow in spots, the film remains compelling and erupts in fits of memorably frenzied action in the third act while Fulci proves he could tell a coherent story when the mood took him and does well by the affecting family drama.

Spaghetti-Western.net says, "the film is beautifully shot and Fulci's framings are often remarkable, making Massacre Time one of the best-looking films in the genre" and makes note of some controversy over the violence:

Today the violence of Massacre Time is no longer an issue, but at the time of its release, it certainly was. The Italian censors ordered Fulci to make cuts in both the opening sequence (a man devoured by dogs) and the bullwhip sequence, and to remove a close-up of the two murdered Carradine girls.

Fistful of Pasta concludes, "With crisp directing, considerable star power, and ample amounts of good action, I would recommend it to both Fulci and Spaghetti Western fans alike."