Siddhartha

Siddhartha is a 1972 film based on the Hermann Hesse novel by the same name. Beautiful. Peaceful. Inspiring. I loved this movie. I also love the book, which can be read online here. I can highly recommend both the movie and the book as well worth your time.

Roger Ebert says, "Conrad Rooks’ “Siddhartha” is a film of great grace and beauty, but somehow it failed to move me" and blames the film's length as too long for the material. Rotten Tomatoes has a 59% rating.

A Voice in the Night

A Voice in the Night is the 20th book in the Inspector Montalbano detective series by Andrea Camilleri. I'm reading these in order, as the characters and their relationships evolve through time. I never tire of them.

from the back of the book:

Two deaths lead Inspector Montalbano into investigations of corruption and power in the twentieth installment of the New York Times bestselling series.

Inspector Montalbano investigates a robbery at a supermarket, a standard case that takes a sharp turn when manager Guido Borsellino is later found hanging in his office. Was it a suicide? The inspector and the coroner have their doubts, and further investigation leads to the director of a powerful local company.

Meanwhile, a girl is found brutally murdered in Giovanni Strangio's apartment. Giovanni has a flawless alibi, but it's no coincidence that his father is the president of the province. As he delves deeper into these two cases, Montalbano finds himself in a difficult spot where political power is enmeshed with the mafia underworld.

Kirkus Reviews says, "while this tale may have overarching themes, the small clues and revelations are what make it special. Camilleri’s trusty inspector keeps things lighthearted while catching powerful men with their pants down; you can trust in his razor-sharp investigative mind even as basic skills amusingly escape him." Publishers Weekly says, "Like some of the Sicilian delicacies that provide the inspector a brief respite from his labors, Camilleri’s mix of the harrowing and the humorous is at times an acquired taste".

I've read these others:

1. The Shape of Water
2. The Terra-Cotta Dog
3. The Snack Thief
4. Voice of the Violin
5. Excursion to Tindari
6. The Smell of Night
7. Rounding the Mark
8. The Patience of the Spider
9. The Paper Moon
10. August Heat
11. The Wings of the Sphinx
12. The Track of Sand
13. The Potter's Field
14. The Age of Doubt
15. Dance of the Seagull
16. Treasure Hunt
17. Angelica's Smile
18. A Game of Mirrors
19. A Beam of Light

I Was Born, But...

I Was Born, But... is a 1932 award-winning Japanese silent film directed by Yasujirō Ozu. The story is of an office worker whose two young sons think their father is too subservient to his boss. A sweet, light comedy with substance.

via Youtube:

The Last Night of the World

The Last Night of the World is a 1951 science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury. You can read it online here. It begins,

"What would you do if you knew this was the last night of the world?"

"What would I do; you mean, seriously?"

"Yes, seriously."

"I don't know — I hadn't thought. She turned the handle of the silver coffeepot toward him and placed the two cups in their saucers.

He poured some coffee. In the background, the two small girls were playing blocks on the parlor rug in the light of the green hurricane lamps. There was an easy, clean aroma of brewed coffee in the evening air.

"Well, better start thinking about it," he said.

I remember discovering Bradbury when I was young. I've always found his work thought-provoking.

Lady in White

Lady in White is a 1988 horror movie ghost story based on a legend. It's predictable, but I prefer ghost stories to slasher films and movies with torture, so this -even though it includes child-endangerment- suits my taste.

via Youtube:

The New York Times opens their review with this:

Ghosts are rarely as intriguing as the people they haunt, so ''Lady in White'' has a shrewdly chosen focus. Its sympathetic, engaging, haunted hero is Frankie Scarlatti, a 9-year-old boy who sees the ghost of a murdered 10-year-old girl. Frankie is locked in a spooky school cloakroom on Halloween night in 1962, when he sees the apparition of Melissa and is nearly strangled himself. Though he is rescued, in the next months Melissa reappears, and their mysterious attacker, suspected of killing 11 children in a decade, is still on the loose.

Moria gives it 4 stars, calls it "a remarkable and haunting ghost story," and "beautifully tender and haunting". Roger Ebert gives it 3 out of 4 stars and opens with this: "“Lady in White” tells a classic ghost story in such an everyday way that the ghost is almost believable, and the story is actually scarier than it might have been with a more gruesome approach." Rotten Tomatoes has a critics score of 64%.

Champagne for One

Champagne for One is a 1958 Nero Wolfe novel by Rex Stout. Was it suicide or murder? Archie Goodwin says murder, and he was watching when it happened. Who did it is another question entirely. This story takes place in March. The entire series is great fun.

from the back of the book:

Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe

A grand master of the form, Rex Stout is one of America's greatest mystery writers, and his literary creation Nero Wolfe is one of the greatest fictional detectives of ll time. Together, Stout and Wolfe have entertained -and puzzled- millions of mystery fans around the world. Now with his perambulatory man-about-town, Archie Goodwin, the arrogant, gourmandizing, sedentary sleuth is back in the original seventy-three cases of crime and detection written by the inimitable master himself, Rex Stout.

Champagne for One

Faith Usher had a decidedly morbid personality. She talked about taking her life, and kept cyanide in her purse. So when she collapses and dies from a lethal champagne cocktail in the middle of a high society dinner party, everyone calls it suicide -including the police. But Archie was watching it all, and suspects it was murder. So does Nero Wolfe, especially after he's warned by four men against taking the case. For the world's most formidable detective it is a tantalizing puzzle involving an unlikely combination of philanthropy, deception, blackmail, and an unrepentant killer who just may have committed the perfect crime.

This book has been adapted for television with Mauray Chaykin and Timothy Hutton.

Happy Birthday, Jyoti Bhatt

Jyoti Bhatt, born in 1934, celebrated a birthday yesterday. Wikipedia describes him as "an Indian artist best known for his modernist work in painting and printmaking and also his photographic documentation of rural Indian culture". WikiArt has examples of his striking work.

I see a teapot in the piece at the top of the post and am sharing it with the participants in T is for Tuesday hosted by Bleubeard and Elizabeth.

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ATCs

I used an old Pick-a-Stick challenge (extend, add lace, use a map) to inspire this card (outside first, then the inside):

The prompts for these were Purple and Green:

This is a pair:

suitable for the T Stand for Tuesday gathering.

These were just random:

Both of these were inspired by the prompt Vehicle:

Clean and simple, and two colors:

but I don't think I had enough paint on the brush for the "clean" part. These little ATCs take more paint than I'd have thought.

These used backgrounds I made using prompts I found online:

The prompt for the left background was Echo and for the right Chaos.

Round:

That card itself is shaped, with a rounded top.

This card:

uses a background created using an Orange prompt.

Leverage 42

Dialogue in the episode "The Experimental Job" from the television series Leverage:

Check about 15 minutes in for the specific quote,

Student: I play for the school.

Parker: Oh, yeah. What number are you?

Student: My number's 42, baby, the real deal.

Parker: 42. That's the number of days I've been off my meds.

The Curse of the Doll People

The Curse of the Doll People is a 1961 Mexican horror film. The special effects in this are wonderful. The masks the "doll people" wear are very creepy.

DVD Talk calls it "surprisingly good" and "surprising and effective in several respects". Horrorpedia has screen shots

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a 2011 award-winning animated short film (15 minutes) about a young man who becomes the caretaker of a library of flying books. You'll be really missing something if you don't watch this.

The Dark Tower

The Dark Tower is the award-winning seventh and last book in Stephen King's Dark Tower series. I'm glad I've read them, but I'm glad I've finished with them. This book is 830 pages long.

from the back of the book:

Set in a world of extraordinary circumstances, filled with stunning visual imagery and unforgettable characters, The Dark Tower series is unlike anything you have ever read. The final book opens like a door to the uttermost reaches of Stephen King's imagination. You've come this far. Come a little farther. Come all the way. The sound you hear may be the slamming of the door behind you. Welcome to The Dark Tower.

favorite quotes:

So much you did and so much more you would have done, aye, and all without a check or a qualm, and so will the world end, I think, a victim of love rather than hate. For love's ever been the more destructive weapon, sure.

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They did not come out in Narnia.

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"never's the word God listens for when he needs a laugh."

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"the folks who end up living the lives they expected are more often than not the ones who end up takin sleeping pills or stickin the barrel of a gun in their mouths and pullin the trigger."

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Publishers Weekly says,

a closer look at the brilliant complexity of his Dark Tower world should explain why this bestselling author has finally been recognized for his contribution to the contemporary literary canon. With the conclusion of this tale, ostensibly the last published work of his career, King has certainly reached the top of his game.

The New York Times review concludes with this: "If we've learned anything about King by the close of this series, it's that he's terrified of endings." Kirkus Reviews seems disappointed. January Magazine says, "it is Stephen King at the top of his form."

The Admiral: Roaring Currents

The Admiral: Roaring Currents is a 2014 epic South Korean film about the sea Battle of Myeongnyang. A gorgeous movie, it broke records and won awards.


trailer:

The Hollywood Reporter has a positive review. The New York Times faults the lack of character development, but honestly, how much character development do you need in an epic film about a historic sea battle? The LA Times calls it "thrilling".

The Cactus

The Cactus is an 1882 O. Henry short story. You can read it online here or here. It begins,

The most notable thing about Time is that it is so purely relative. A large amount of reminiscence is, by common consent, conceded to the drowning man; and it is not past belief that one may review an entire courtship while removing one's gloves.

That is what Trysdale was doing, standing by a table in his bachelor apartments. On the table stood a singular-looking green plant in a red earthen jar. The plant was one of the species of cacti, and was provided with long, tentacular leaves that perpetually swayed with the slightest breeze with a peculiar beckoning motion.

Trysdale's friend, the brother of the bride, stood at a sideboard complaining at being allowed to drink alone. Both men were in evening dress. White favors like stars upon their coats shone through the gloom of the apartment.

As he slowly unbuttoned his gloves, there passed through Trysdale's mind a swift, scarifying retrospect of the last few hours. It seemed that in his nostrils was still the scent of the flowers that had been banked in odorous masses about the church, and in his ears the lowpitched hum of a thousand well-bred voices, the rustle of crisp garments, and, most insistently recurring, the drawling words of the minister irrevocably binding her to another.

From this last hopeless point of view he still strove, as if it had become a habit of his mind, to reach some conjecture as to why and how he had lost her.

You can have it read to you here:

Bend of the River

Coffee around the camp fire

Would you like to join me for a cuppa joe while I watch Bend of the River? It is a 1952 western film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart, Arthur Kennedy, Julie Adams, Rock Hudson, Stepin Fetchit, Harry Morgan, Jack Lambert, Howard Petrie, Royal Dano, and Frances Bavier. This is a traditional western with Stewart as a wagon train scout trying to get settlers situated with food and supplies when the miners, who can pay more for it, want the food too.

DVD Talk says, "Some critics think this is the best of the Mann/Stewart Westerns." 100% of the Rotten Tomatoes critics like it.

I'll be joining the weekly T Stands for Tuesday blogger gathering, and you'd be welcome to share a drink with us there.

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ATCs

The prompt for this one was Mysterious:

and it's a mystery how this ATC came from that word.

These are specific to the United Methodist Church and the current mess it's gotten itself into:

and are meant to be a comfort during these trying and schismatic times.

A card inspired by a Kitchen/Cooking/Baking theme:

since one of the favorite foods around here is pizza.

The prompt for this card was Jeans:

and this one was Grid:

where there was supposed to be a single focal point and white space.

The prompt for this one was Cone:

Cityscape:

Women:

Windows:

Hard Day on the Planet

Hard Day on the Planet:

by Loudon Wainwright III.

lyrics excerpt:

It's business as usual; some things never change
It's unfair, it's tough, unkind and it's strange
We don't seem to learn; we can't seem to stop
Maybe some explosions would close up the shop
You know, maybe that would be fine: we would be off the hook
We resolved all our problems, never mind what it took
And it all would be over, finito, the end
Until the survivors started up all over again

and by popular request from the comments below:

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Sin City: A Dame to Die For is a 2014 film directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller. It stars Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rosario Dawson, Bruce Willis, Eva Green, Powers Boothe, Dennis Haysbert, Ray Liotta, Jaime King, and Christopher Lloyd. It was a box office failure, but I liked it.

trailer:

Rolling Stone gives it 2 out of 4 stars and says, "The upshot is that Sin City: A Dame To Kill For is forced to trade on the kick the first film gave us. And that kick now suffers from stiff joints." Variety is not a fan.

Roger Ebert's site concludes,

"Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" doesn't have the electricity of the original, mainly because we've seen it all once before. Nothing new is really revealed here, either through story or style. But Rodriguez and Miller are completely committed to their vision, such as it is, and its ferocity can't be easily dismissed.

Rotten Tomatoes has a critics score of 43%.

Dusty Springfield

"I'm biased but I just think she was the greatest white singer there ever has been..." -Elton John

Dusty Springfield was an English blue-eyed soul singer who died on this date in 1999 at 59 from breast cancer. I heard her songs when I was in elementary school and have fond memories of listening to her on my little transistor radio.

My favorites:

I Only Want to Be with You (1963)

Wishin' and Hopin' (1964)

You Don't Have to Say You Love Me (1966)

Son of a Preacher Man (1968)

In 1968 she came to Memphis, TN, to record the Grammy Award-winning album Dusty in Memphis. You can listen to it at Spotify:

The Hired Hand

The Hired Hand is a 1971 Western directed by Peter Fonda (his debut as film director) and starring Fonda, Warren Oates, and Verna Bloom. This is slow, meditative. Don't start it thinking it's a typical action shoot-em-up.

The Guardian calls it "a lean, spare classic of the genre: an intimate chamber work to treasure along with the big orchestral pieces." BBC concludes, "A work dear to Fonda's heart, he has often spoken of his wish for this film to be his epitaph. It's one that would do any director proud." The New Yorker calls it "a lyrical flight—ninety minutes of impassioned imagery about marital and fraternal loyalty, manhood, and (what’s rarer for a Western) womanhood, too."

Roger Ebert says it "doesn't pay off for audiences looking for a Western". Rotten Tomatoes has a critics score of 92%.

The Daughters of the Moon

photo from Wikipedia

The Daughters of the Moon is a 1968 short story by Italo Calvino. In it, the narrator describes the effect of a dying and crumbling moon on an Earth-like planet. You can read it online here. It begins,

The moon is old, Qfwfq agreed, pitted with holes, worn out. Rolling naked through the skies, it erodes and loses its flesh like a bone that’s been gnawed. This is not the first time that such a thing has happened. I remember moons that were even older and more battered than this one; I’ve seen loads of these moons, seen them being born and running across the sky and dying out, one punctured by hail from shooting stars, another exploding from all its craters, and yet another oozing drops of topaz-colored sweat that evaporated immediately, then being covered by greenish clouds and reduced to a dried-up, spongy shell.

What happens on the earth when a moon dies is not easy to describe; I’ll try to do it by referring to the last instance I can remember.

The Public Voice

The Public Voice is a 1988 Danish short film (11 minutes). This is a fascinating film with an intriguing sound track.

Apocalypse Later Films has a positive review.