Bluff City Coffee

The Daughter and I walked down to Bluff City Coffee on one of our downtown excursions. They have food there (menus online), but we had just eaten lunch so weren't hungry. We had coffee instead. She had an Americano, and I had a double espresso:

Their espresso is very good. I couldn't have asked for better. They had nice seating inside, but we sat outside it was such a pretty day.

A couple passed by, and the man commented that we had been seeing each other all over downtown that day. He asked me where we were from, and I said, "Here!" He laughed. I think we look like tourists when we take pictures of everything. While The Daughter and I were sitting at our table we watched a man taking pictures. Then we saw another man take a picture of him while he was taking a picture. Then I took a picture of the both of them while they were taking their pictures:

We were all 3 documenting photography in Memphis. I lost sight of the 2nd photographer, but the 1st one got into a car with Shelby County tags, so my guess is we were all local. Fun!

The Memphis Foodie blog likes this coffee shop. The I Love Memphis blog has instructions for making their brownies. Yelp gives Bluff City Coffee 4 out of 5 stars with 48 reviews. Urban Spoon gives them a score of 92% with 105 votes.

Join the others at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's link haven for T-Tuesday.

Going Back to Memphis

Going Back to Memphis:

by the Memphis Jug Band, a jazz band featuring jug and kazoo that was active from the mid-1920s through the late 1950s.

Lyrics:

I'm leaving here, mama, don't you wanna go
I'm leaving here, mama, don't you wanna go
Because I'm sick and tired of all this ice and snow

When I get back to Memphis, you can bet I'll stay
When I get back to Memphis, you can bet I'll stay
And I ain't gonna leave until that judgment day

I love old Memphis, the place where I was born
I love old Memphis, the place where I was born
Wear my box-back suit, and drink my bottle of corn

I wrote my gal a letter, way down in Tennessee
I wrote my gal a letter, way down in Tennessee
Told her I was up here hungry, hurry up and send for me

I'm gonna walk and walk 'til I walk out all my shoes
I'm gonna walk and walk 'til I walk out all my shoes
Because I've got what they call them leaving here blues

Cancer Sucks!

Specifically non-Hodgkins Lymphoma sucks. I don't have it, but a family member does, and the fact that it's curable is the only bright spot. Admittedly, that's a hugely blindingly bright bright spot! It's a shame when you have a cure that makes you feel worse before it cures you, but it's such a blessing that it does cure you. We're feeling extremely grateful for that right now.

An online chapel with a 20-minute guided contemplative prayer video is here at ContemplativePrayer.net. Sometimes I find it helpful.

Oddly, I keep worrying about how I'm going to keep Mother from finding out. Since Mother died about 4 months ago, this makes no sense at all.

Happy Tabletop Day!

Tabletop Day is here! I know I still have my Trophy of Awesome around here somewhere, but if I can't find it I can print off another one.

I kinda looked around last year but found no local events. This year I see there's an all day International Tabletop Day celebration at the University of Memphis. This event is co-sponsored by the Memphis Role Playing Association and the Mid-South Board Gaming Club. We'll probably just play at home since the site warns about limited space and a first-come first-served policy that makes me think it'll be too crowded to suit me.

Here's the flyer for the local event:

The main board games I remember playing as a child were Yahtzee, Monopoly, Checkers, Tic-Tac-Toe, Chinese Checkers, Clue, and Parcheesi. I liked cards so much, Daddy taught me solitaire when I was fairly young so I could play cards when he got tired of it. When my kids were growing up, they enjoyed the same games, and we added some new ones along the way. We don't play games much any more. I'm not sure why that is, but TableTop is a good influence on me. I've discovered some new games through them.

Brimstone and Treacle

Brimstone and Treacle is a 1976 horror teleplay starring Michael Kitchen as a demon in human form. Denholm Elliott stars as the father of a young woman rendered helpless by an accident. Considered too disturbing to air, it wasn't televised until 1987. This is another film which shows the striking effect a stranger can have on the lives of the unsuspecting -never quite what you would expect.

BFI Screen Online says this "darkly comic religious fable remains powerful without ever being gratuitous." BritishTelevisionDrama.org says, "Brimstone and Treacle is a product of the time in which it was made, but because it was never transmitted at the time it should have been, sadly it can never be truly assessed as social commentary." Fright calls it " A deeply subversive essay on the allure—and possible beneficial effects—of evil, it’s a dark and provocative treat...."

It was remade with Sting in the Michael Kitchen role in 1982.

Caliban's War

Caliban's War is 2nd in the Expanse trilogy by James S. A. Corey, which is the pen name of 2 authors working in concert on this creative endeavor. This space opera is great fun -solid, engaging fun. The world-building includes everything I wanted, and characters were diverse and nicely filled-out. The plot included inter-personal relationships, political intrigue and action -something for everybody. I'm looking forward to the 3rd (which is ready on my shelf) and am hoping this author collaboration continues to write. Do read these in order; this is a trilogy in the traditional sense.

from the back of the book:

WE ARE NOT ALONE.

On Ganymede, breadbasket of the outer planets, a Martian marine watches as her platoon is slaughtered by a monstrous supersoldier. On Earth, a high-level politician struggles to prevent inter-planetary war. And on Venus, an alien protomolecule has overrun the planet, wreaking massive, mysterious changes and threatening to spread out into the solar system.

In the vast wilderness of space, James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante have been keeping the peace for the Outer Planets Alliance. When they agree to help a scientist search war-torn Ganymede for a missing child, the future of humanity rests on whether a single ship can prevent an alien invasion that may have already begun...

SF Signal calls it "solidly entertaining space opera". Kirkus Reviews describes it as "Part two of the topnotch space opera begun with Leviathan Wakes". The Little Red Reviewer praises it, saying, "the plotting, pacing, characterization and dialog are spot on perfect. Striking a balance between space opera, adventure, and horror, if you’re looking for a new science fiction series to get hooked on, look no further because this is it." Wired closes its review with this:

Great characters, excellent dialogue, memorable fights, freakish experiments, and twisty-turny mysteries — sometimes you’re lucky to get a few of those in a good book series. Only an excellent book series can pull them all off, and The Expanse will definitely be added to the short list of science fiction tales that manage to do so.

A Man, a Horse, a Gun

A Man, a Horse, a Gun is a 1967 spaghetti western. Oh, I do hope I never run out of spaghetti westerns! This one stars Tony Anthony in the 2nd of the 4 Stranger movies. Dan Vadis, Marco Guglielmi and Ettore Manni are also in this film. The score is by Stelvio Cipriani and adds a lot to the watching of the movie. I'm unfamiliar with this series, but after seeing this one I'll be looking for all of them.

via youtube:

Spaghetti-Western.net calls it "an enjoyable story of greed, double cross and violence presented with odd humour and taciturn dialogues."

April Fools Day

This may be my least favorite day of the year. I truly do hate April Fools' Day! I grew up dreading it not because of the tricks the kids at school would play (I mean how upset can you get over, "Your slip is showing," "There's a spider on you," and such). No, I hated it because my mother took an odd glee in the day. And somehow I always fell for it.

One year she woke me up telling me my favorite cousins had come during the night and were sleeping in the living room. I was so excited! I rushed to the living room to the tune of laughter and "April Fool!"

Every year she got me.

Once after I married, in the days before cell phones, she called me to tell me she had tried to drive up to see us but had gotten lost on the way. At the time, we lived off of a road that was off of a rural 2-lane highway. We lived way out in the middle of nowhere, and getting lost out there would not have been hard to do. Mother said she had found a pay phone but had no idea where she was. Lost and confused, she said she had used her last coin to call me and didn't see any sign of people and no sign of civilization other than the pay phone she was using. I was headed out the door in tears to look for her before she finally said, "April Fool". She had never left her house.

I just never learned! I'm a bit slow on the uptake, ya think?

That was the year I told her I would never again see or talk to her in person or on the phone on that day. She was honestly dumbfounded -for her it was just funny little gags- but I had reached the point where I didn't want to play that game any more. I prefer jokes that we share. She had a good sense of humor, but on this type of joke we were definitely at odds.

One of the pacts The Husband and I made early on was No April Fool Jokes Of Any Kind. Call me a fuddy-duddy stick-in-the-mud if you will, but we still abide by it.

And so, on this day I offer you a soothing cup of chamomile tea and nothing else. No tricks, no jokes, no stress, no nothing except that soothing cuppa. I'm hiding from the jokesters today, Folks; and my tea and I are in a secure, undisclosed location. Shhhhh

Enjoy your beverage -with or without tricks as suits you best- in peace with Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T(ea) Tuesday linky.

Rocket 88

Rocket 88:

Recorded in 1951 at Memphis' Sun Studio, it was credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats, who were actually Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm. This is the first ever rock 'n' roll record.

lyrics:

You women have heard of jalopies,
You heard the noise they make,
Well, let me introduce my new Rocket '88.
Yes it's straight, just won't wait,
Everybody likes my Rocket '88.
Baby will ride in style,
Movin' all along.

V-8 motor and this modern design,
Black convertible top and the gals don't mind
Sportin' with me, ridin' all around town for joy.

Blow your horn, Raymond, blow!

Step in my Rocket and don't be late,
Baby, we're pullin' out about half past eight.
Goin' round the corner and get a fifth
Everybody in my car's gonna take a little nip.
Ooh, goin' out,
Boozin' and cruisin' along.

Death Race

Death Race is a 2008 Paul Anderson-directed science fiction action film starring Jason Statham. It's a remake (or perhaps prequel, depending on who you ask) of Death Race 2000. This is a fun-enough action movie. Jason Statham is always worth watching, and his character here is a wrongly convicted doting dad, which is a nice touch. The action is steady with plenty of car chases and resultant explosions, but that action is about all there is.

trailer:

Moria doesn't like it but has some praise for Statham and Joan Allen, who plays the warden. SF Gate pans it, comparing it unfavorably to the original. Empire Online gives it 3 out of 5 stars and concludes, "It’s nothing more than an enjoyable, ridiculously macho B-movie romp, but it’s Anderson’s best movie since the underrated Event Horizon". EW gives it a B+ and says, "Soft sexual and racial jabs replace the more daring political commentary of the original, ... That was the anarchic '70s, baby; this is the conservative now". Rotten Tomatoes has a critics score of 43%.

Dog Sculpture

I saw this sculpture downtown but saw no plaque or any indication of who placed it there or who the artist was. I got a kick out of seeing these playful puppies.

Free parking is harder to find downtown than it used it be. Lately, I've given up looking and started parking here:

It's called Parking Can Be Fun, which I'm not buying, but it is fun to see a business make an effort to be a bit different.

The garage is centrally located and easy to get in and out of.

King Kong (1933)

The Husband is having some health issues lately and has taken comfort in some old movie favorites. Thus: King Kong, the original 1933 monster movie/love story. This has always been one of his favorites, but it's been a while since I watched it. It never gets old.

Moria opens by calling it "perhaps the greatest of all fantasy films, it is certainly the greatest monster movie ever made." 1000 Misspent Hours says, "The most important thing to keep in mind about King Kong is what a revolutionary movie it was." DVD Talk says, "I hold no grudge whatsoever against Peter Jackson's 2005 remake but there's no substitute for an original work of popular art -the '33 Kong is the one that activates the subconscious, stirs one's imagination and remains a masterpiece of spectacle, horror and adventure." Classic-Horror.com says,

One of the outstanding things about King Kong is that it truly and successfully has something for everyone. It has at least a little bit of everything—action, adventure, horror, sci-fi, drama, love, even humor—and they somehow combine well despite the disparity. ... There are few films that everyone should see, but this is one of them.

Senses of Cinema says, "The continuing success of King Kong is due not only to its spectacular special effects, but also to the exemplary economy with which the filmmakers handled the screenplay, filming and editing." Empire Online calls it a "collossus of a film" and "a brilliantly structured adventure movie". Time Out praises "the remarkable technical achievements of Willis O'Brien's animation work, and the superbly matched score of Max Steiner." FilmSite.org has quite a lot of information, including a lengthy description of the plot. Roger Ebert considers it a "great movie" and says,

But "King Kong" is more than a technical achievement. It is also a curiously touching fable in which the beast is seen, not as a monster of destruction, but as a creature that in its own way wants to do the right thing. Unlike the extraterrestrial spiders in the "Alien" pictures, which embody single-minded aggression, Kong cares for his captive human female, protects her, attacks only when provoked, and would be perfectly happy to be left alone on his Pacific Island. It is the greed of a Hollywood showman that unleashes Kong's rage...

Rotten Tomatoes gives it a critics score of 98%.

When We Were Orphans

When We Were Orphans is a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. Not judged his best book, it was still shortlisted for the 2000 Man Booker Prize. It's considered a detective story, and I'm shelving my copy with my mysteries.

Reading some authors is to me like sitting in a row boat and going down the river. I'm swept along gently by his prose. I think this author is especially good at foreshadowing that doesn't give away too much.

from the back of the book:

Renowned London detective Christopher Banks was born in Shanghai at the beginning of the twentieth century, and lived there relatively happily until he was orphaned by the disappearance of his father and mother. Now, more than twenty years after leaving Shanghai, he is a celebrated figure in London society; yet the criminal expertise that has garnered him fame has done little to illuminate his understanding of the circumstances of his parents' alleged kidnappings. Banks travels back to the seething, labyrinthine city of his memory in hopes of recovering all he has lost, only to find that the Sino-Japanese war is ravaging Shanghai beyond recognition - and that his own recollections are proving as difficult to trust as the people around him. Masterfully suspenseful and psychologically acute, When We Were Orphans offers a profound meditation on the shifting quality of memory, and the possibility of avenging one's past.

Kirkus Reviews ends its review by saying,

Elegiac, meditative, ultimately emotionally devastating, and the purest expression yet of the author’s obsessive theme: the buried life unearthed by its contingent interconnection with the passions, secrets, and priorities of unignorable other lives.

The Guardian says, "The single problem with the book is the prose, which, for the first time, is so lacking in local colour as to be entirely inappropriate to the task in hand. One can't only admire a book's structure."

Salon.com closes with this:

The reason to read the book is Ishiguro’s gorgeous, perhaps matchless, prose. And that’s more than enough until (maybe with his next novel) Ishiguro manages to build a fictional vessel that can contain his formidable command of both the architectonic and the surreal.

There's a reading group guide here.

Hell-Fire Austin

Hell-Fire Austin is a 1932 Western starring Ken Maynard. It's only about an hour long, and how can you resist a horse named "Tarzan"? It's a bit cute for my tastes and I'm not a fan of singing cowboys, but still, there's a horse called "Tarzan"!

via youtube:

Online reviewers have pretty much ignored it, but that's not uncommon for Westerns this old.

Makin' Coffee

Makin' Coffee:

an Allan Sherman song parody of Makin' Whoopee.

Lyrics excerpt:

Each weekday morning at 10:15
I see my favorite vending machine
It stands there waitin' and percolatin'
Just makin' coffee
...

I never get coffee from vending machines these days. Are there still coffee vending machines around? I can't remember the last time I saw one, much less one that had a tea option. (Vending machine hot tea was dreadful!) Now coffee seems readily available in carafes on hot plates, and the vending machines have soft drinks and bottled water. And tea? Never!

These days I hear more talk of the best way to make coffee so that the flavor is enhanced, the best quality coffee, the best machine for making coffee or grinding beans, etc. And with tea, I hear talk of the highest quality leaf and the best blends. Sometimes I think the coffee and tea of my youth is lost. If vending machine coffee/tea is an example of what was typical back in the day, that may be a blessing!

Enjoy your beverage of choice (whether from a vending machine or not) with the tea-partiers hosted by Bleubeard and Elizabeth.

My Babe

My Babe:

sung by Mississippi Fred McDowell, who moved to Memphis as a young man in 1926 and died here in 1972 at age 68. This is a performance from late in his life.

lyrics:

My baby don't stand no cheatin'
My baby don't stand no cheatin'
My babe she don't stand no cheatin'

My babe, she says she loves me
My baby says she loves me
Says she loves me

Kakuryu wins his first sumo tournament!

Kakuryu has won!

Here's the bout that did it for him, from Jason's All-Sumo Youtube channel:

Mainichi opens with this: "OSAKA (Kyodo) -- Kakuryu defeated rival ozeki Kotoshogiku to capture his first career championship on the final day of the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament Sunday, defying the odds to all but secure his promotion to sumo's highest rank of yokozuna." Asia & Japan Watch says, "One of the keys to Kakuryu’s recent success has been his face-off--calm and focused. Against Kotoshogiku, Kakuryu put that new attack on display, absorbing his opponent’s onslaught and keeping his cool". from The Japan News: "Chances are high Kakuryu will be promoted to yokozuna ... If Kakuryu, 28, receives the promotion, he will be the third active Mongolian-born yokozuna and fourth overall."

Happy in Memphis

Yes!

locations pictured in the video:

Rendezvous Alley
Gibson’s Donuts in East Memphis
The Pyramid
Beale Street Landing
Binghampton Park
Autozone Park
Trolley tracks downtown
Caritas Village
Mural outside Double J Smokehouse
Brookhaven Circle
Jerry’s Sno Cones
Gus’s downtown
Levitt Shell
Sun Studio
“I love Memphis” mural in Cooper Young
Tiger Lane at Liberty Bowl Stadium
Huey’s Midtown
Brooks Museum of Art
Shelby Farms – Woodland Discovery Playground
Peabody roof
Harding Academy (East Memphis and Cordova locations)

The Cotton Museum

The Daughter and I had neither one been to the Cotton Museum. It opened back in 2006 and provides historical and cultural exhibits, including displays in glass cases, videos which explore the history and influence of the cotton industry, and features that were present in the original Cotton Exchange. It's not a large museum, and we toured it in less than an hour, but it was definitely worth the visit.

The photo from Wikipedia shows more of the building that my photo does:

You can see photos of some of the exhibits and hear an overview here:

Tennessee Crossroads explored this museum:

Cotton was King, and understanding it's place in the city's history is important to an understanding of the city itself.

The Woman in the Dunes

The Woman in the Dunes is a 1964 Japanese film based on the book by Kobo Abe. Hiroshi Teshigahara directs. He was nominated for an Oscar for best director but lost to Robert Wise (The Sound of Music). It stars Eiji Okada (Hiroshima mon amour) and Kyōko Kishida. This film won the Special Jury Prize at Cannes. This is a fascinating movie -thought-provoking. It's a picture of people trapped in a life, in this case physically trapped, and what their different responses are. It's a beautiful film to watch. Sand doesn't often receive such careful visual treatment. The sound track by legendary composer Toru Takemitsu is the perfect complement to the picture.

Woman Of The Dunes from Umbrella Entertainment on Vimeo.

Time Out calls it "a tour de force of visual style, and a knockout as an unusually cruel thriller". Chicago Reader says it's "A bizarre film, distinguished ... by Teshigahara's arresting visual style of extreme depth of focus, immaculate detail, and graceful eroticism." Roger Ebert has it on his list of "Great Movies" and says, "Unlike some parables that are powerful the first time but merely pious when revisited, "Woman in the Dunes” retains its power because it is a perfect union of subject, style and idea." It has a critics rating of 100% at Rotten Tomatoes.

A Fairly Honourable Defeat

A Fairly Honourable Defeat is a 1970 Iris Murdoch novel. I've liked all her novels that I've read so far, so it's not surprising that I like this one. This book focuses on relationships and the ease with which they can be disrupted. Some people are heartless and some are stupid. Life is good; or is it? The story is told through dialog; there's not much description.

from the back of the book:

Rupert and Hilda are perfectly matched.

Their only worries are a drop-out son and Morgan, Hilda's unstable sister, just back from America.

Enter Julius, Morgan's ex-lover, determined to give Rupert and Hilda's seemingly impregnable marriage a mild jolt. He finds an unexpectedly spirited opponent in Morgan's husband, Tallis...

This is a tale of the struggle between two demonic beings, one good, one evil. The evil one wins, but the defeat of the good is a fairly honourable one...

The Guardian says this book "marvellously retells the story of Much Ado About Nothing with a modern-day Christ and Satan added, in South Kensington."

Rio Conchos

Rio Conchos is a 1964 Western starring Stuart Whitman, Richard Boone, Jim Brown, Edmund O'Brien and Tony Franciosa. The music is by the prolific Jerry Goldsmith. Director Gordon Douglas, who began his film career as a child actor, has directoral credits from 1934 to 1977. This is another fine Western. Why are there so many good Westerns I've never heard of? Sad. But discovering them is fun.

via youtube:

DVD Talk says, "Rio Conchos on the surface may look like a mid-sized studio Western with second-tier stars, but it's surprising hefty when it comes to mixing ideas and action." TCM has an overview. It has a 40% critics rating at Rotten Tomatoes.

Truly Evil

Evil characters have always populated the literary world, but some stand out. My choice for a real stand-out, beyond the pale, truly evil character is Dolores Umbridge from the Harry Potter series. A more cruel, self-righteous piece of work would be hard to name. She is humorless, delights in torturing others, is cowardly, and has no -and I really mean no- redeeming qualities.

She does drink tea, but we won't hold that against the tea, surely, any more than we'll hold her attraction to cats against the cats.

Here are video clips from some of her scenes, but you have to watch the movie The Order of the Phoenix and see her wickedness unfold through the film to appreciate the depth of her depravity:

Let's join Bleubeard and Elizabeth for tea and leave Umbridge out of our fellowship, shall we?

The photo at the top of the post is from the Harry Potter Wiki.

Tiptoe

Tiptoe:

by Devil Train, Memphis musicians.

Spring Comes to the Botanic Gardens

There was no sun and it was a bit breezy, but it was warm enough to venture forth in search of Spring! The Memphis Botanic Gardens provided hope that the season was headed for change. The daffodils above and the star magnolia below looked cheery.

The fish seem more active as the weather warms. It won't be long now they'll let us start feeding them again. It's too early for that still.

The Daughter and I had a nice afternoon wandering around the grounds. I always enjoy time spent at these gardens.

The Demon Tree

I had been wanting a picture of this tree for some time and finally had a chance to get one when The Daughter was with me in the car.

Bunker Palace Hotel

Bunker Palace Hotel is a 1989 French post-apocalyptic film directed by Enki Bilal, better known for his 2004 film Immortal. In movies, that is. Apparently he's really known as a graphic artist, but I'm not familiar with that field. This movie is not what you'd call "action-packed" but is definitely worth watching.

trailer:

Moria concludes, "What you could accuse Bunker Palace Hotel of being is a film with a fascinating background in which nothing interesting happens." Quiet Earth says "it makes for a wholly original viewing experience." FilmJournal.net says it is "never less than intriguing" and "Certainly worth tracking". Films de France opens with this: "This is a stunningly imaginative film with a strong vein or two of distinctly black comedy, offering a disturbingly credible vision of a future world." Rotten Tomatoes has no critic reviews, and the audience score is 50%.

One for the Money

One for the Money is the first in the Stephanie Plum mystery series by Janet Evanovich. Wikipedia describes them as "a light-hearted series of mysteries starring barely competent bounty hunter Stephanie Plum". This was fun, mindless entertainment, and I'll certainly read more from the series as I come across them. Since there are 21 so far and the author is still writing them, I'm set for reading material for some time to come.

from the back of the book:

ONE FINE MESS

Welcome to Trenton, New Jersey, home to wiseguys, average Joes, and Stephanie Plum, who sports a big attitude and even bigger money problems (since losing her job as a lingerie buyer for a department store). Stephanie needs cash-fast-but times are tough, and soon she's forced to turn to the last resort of the truly desperate: family...

ONE FALSE MOVE

Stephanie lands a gig at her sleazy cousin Vinnie's bail bonding company. She's got no experience. But that doesn't matter. As does the fact that the bail jumper in question is local vice cop Joe Morelli. From the time he first looked up her dress to the time he first got into her pants, to the time Steph hit him with her father's Buick, M-o-r-e-l-l-i has spelled t-r-o-u-b-l-e. And now the hot guy is in hot water-wanted for murder...

ONE FOR THE MONEY

Abject poverty is a great motivator for learning new skills, but being trained in the school of hard knocks by people like psycho prizefighter Benito Ramirez isn't. Still, if Stephanie can nab Morelli in a week, she'll make a cool ten grand. All she has to do is become an expert bounty hunter overnight-and keep herself from getting killed before she gets her man...

It's been adapted for film to negative reviews. I won't be looking for the movie.

Kirkus Reviews closes with this: "A smartly paced debut with an irresistible heroine who, despite trouble getting her man, will have readers hooked by page three. Trenton is about to become the comic mystery's most improbable hot spot."

Don't Come Knocking

Don't Come Knocking is a 2005 Wim Wenders film about a Western film actor who rides off on a horse from the movie set seeking some meaning for his life. He's followed by an agent of the company insuring the film. It stars Sam Shepard, Jessica Lange, Tim Roth and Eva Marie Saint. I'm glad I've seen it but won't watch it again. Male mid-life crisis, much angst... just not my thing, I guess.

via youtube:

Slant Magazine gives it 2 out of 4 stars, condemning it as "just another male menopause movie, marred by unlikely dialogue and hokey theatrical symbolism." DVD Talk describes it as "120 minutes of uneventful storytelling." Bright Lights Film Journal compares it unfavorably to Wenders' early films and says,

Wenders has a great visual eye, and the look of the film can't be overpraised: ... The clean, pristine images from cinematographer Frantz Lutzig of these settings are magnificent — but if only Wenders had trusted his visual strengths and dispensed with the redundant, wordier parts of his screenplay.

Spirituality and Practice says, "Don't Come Knocking has the quirky characters we've come to expect and relish in a movie directed by Wim Wenders." Roger Ebert concludes, ""Don't Come Knocking" finally doesn't work for me, because instead of embodying its themes it seems to be regarding them from outside, with awe, as if it is the high school production of itself." It was not popular with critics and has a critics score of 42% at Rotten Tomatoes.

Douglas Adams' Birthday

via Tsaiera Blog

I never (well, now I'll have to say, "almost never") observe the birthdays of people who have died. I prefer to observe the anniversary of the death for various reasons. Today, however, is both T(ea) Tuesday and Douglas Adams' birthday, so I thought I'd share this quote from the screenplay to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

“A cup of tea would restore my normality."

Yes! Yes, indeed! Sometimes a cup of tea is all that's needed to restore normality, and sometimes normality really needs to be restored.

Douglas Adams' books are great fun, and I highly recommend them if you like science fiction with a bit of humor. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is his best-known and most readily available work. You can order it from a Memphis bookstore here.

Please join T(ea) Tuesday with Bleubeard and Elizabeth.

The Abyss

The Abyss:

by Alex da Ponte, Memphis musician.

Lyrics:

Woke up earlier than I should
I would get up if I only could
But something heavy is weighing me down

Wrote a letter that you’ll never see
I guess I really wrote it for me
‘Cause the abyss is calling me

You said it wouldn’t take too long
But I think now that you were wrong
I’ve had enough time to write you a sad sad song

Will I be happy or is this it?
Or have I had all I’m gonna get?
You said I’d be fine, I guess you don’t know shit

Can you feel me?
Can you feel me?
Am I still here

You’re like a werewolf after the change
I’m screaming please just remember your name
Look in my eyes and see I’m the same

I’m in this tunnel and I can’t see
There’s no light at the end for me
The abyss is calling me

Can you feel me?
Can you feel me?
Am I still here

Picnic At Hanging Rock

Picnic at Hanging Rock is a 1975 Peter Weir film based on a book supposedly based on a true story -but not actually based on a true story. It's fascinating, a mystery without a solution with an eerie feel and a definite sexual subtext. I had seen this one several times (The Boys here don't like it at all), but this time I watched it with The Daughter. She liked it, and we enjoyed talking about possible solutions. What really happened?

trailer:

Moria calls it "an incredible and haunting film" and "a film that resonates with a sense of enigma that continues to work the mind long after many of its individual details have faded in memory" and says, "The combination of haunting unsolved mystery and broodingly sinister symbolism creates an atmosphere that is spellbinding." DVD Talk calls it "unnervingly mysterious" and "unique" and "a disturbing but unforgettable viewing experience" and closes their review with this:

Beyond setting up the mystery of Hanging Rock, Weir's film also works as a finely observed, and at times heartbreaking, period drama. Uniformly excellent acting and characterization expertly communicate the inevitable sense of sadness and tragedy that pervades this film on a number of different levels. Top-notch cinematography, art direction and costume design work serve to complete the compelling picture found here.

Empire Online gives it 5 out of 5 stars and calls it "A fascinating film that is by turns fascinating and mysterious." It's on Roger Ebert's list of Great Movies, and he calls it "a film of haunting mystery and buried sexual hysteria." Rotten Tomatoes has a critics score of 91%.

The Red Shoes

The Red Shoes is a 1948 Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger film. The ballet in the film is called The Red Shoes and is based on the Hans Christian Andersen story by that name. I've seen it several times, but this time I watched it with The Daughter who had never seen it before. I'm happy to say she liked it; I was hoping she would.

That makes the 3rd ballet-based movie I've seen lately: The Black Swan and Etoile are the others.

trailer:

Senses of Cinema says,

The Red Shoes was a landmark dance film because it was the first film to transcend dance’s theatricality and move into “pure cinema”. As a mise-en-abyme, the film’s structure and production provided a concrete example of how films about dance productions could be interpreted more evocatively.

Slant Magazine opens its review by saying,

To paraphrase Macbeth, the cinema hath bubbles—a select few works of art so rare in their beauty, delicacy, and refinement that you fear they will vanish in front of your eyes before your retinas have fully gorged themselves on the visual splendor before you. The Red Shoes is one such film.

It's #5 on the Time Out list of 100 best British films. DVD Talk says, "If The Red Shoes is The Archers' (Powell/Pressburger) most popular film, it is because it has inspired an audience beyond the fans of creative cinema." Roger Ebert has it on his list of great movies and says, "The film is voluptuous in its beauty and passionate in its storytelling. You don't watch it, you bathe in it". Rotten Tomatoes has a critics score of 98%. It's listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.

The Bitch

La Chienne (The Bitch) is a 1931 French film, the second sound film directed by Jean Renoir. Poor Maurice is an unhappily married cashier who is an amateur painter. He meets Lulu by accident. Not realizing she's a prostitute, he falls in love with her. She and her pimp milk Maurice for everything. It doesn't end well for anybody.

Fritz Lang remade it as Scarlet Street with Edward G. Robinson.

via youtube:

TimeOut calls it "Wonderfully moving, with great performances." Films de France calls it "authentic and emotionally involving" and says, "it represents something of a landmark in cinema." FilmRef.com says, "Jean Renoir creates an incisive, provocative, and excoriating commentary on human behavior, class structure, and social conduct". Rotten Tomatoes has a critics score of 100%.

Redshirts

John Scalzi has become one of my go-to authors for enjoyable reading. The Husband bought me Redshirts for Christmas, and it was great fun. Being a Star Trek fan from way back (which was a bit hard with my mother making sure I could never watch Kirk and Company on TV because she disapproved of science fiction), I loved the connection with that series. I would think it would help you appreciate the fun more if you're familiar with the Star Trek meme the red shirt:

but it's certainly not necessary. There's plenty here to consider if you are of a more philosophical bent.

The book won the 2013 Hugo Award for best novel. You can read the first 5 chapters here.

from the back of the book:

THEY WERE EXPENDABLE...

UNTIL THEY STARTED COMPARING NOTES

Ensign Andrew Dahl had just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory.

Life couldn’t be better...until Andrew begins to pick up on the fact that (1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces, (2) the ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations, and (3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.

Not surprisingly, a great deal of energy belowdecks is expended on avoiding, at all costs, being assigned to an Away Mission. Then Andrew stumbles on information that completely transforms his and his colleagues’ understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is...and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives.

The review at The British Science Fiction Association closes with this: "Once again John Scalzi has written a novel that surprises and entertains but that also sticks with you long after you’ve finished reading it. Well recommended in my humble opinion." Wired calls it "a brilliantly funny book with an unexpected amount of emotional heft". io9 says, "It's one part Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, one part "Below Decks," and one part geeky nitpicking about the bad science in science fiction television. With a dash of Cabin in the Woods." SFReviews.net concludes,

SF might not be the genre you think of when it comes to "you'll laugh, you'll cry" entertainment. But if we must have stories like that, I'm happy to have John Scalzi be the guy writing them. Just as long as he remembers to throw in a few ice sharks and Borgovian Land Worms.

SF Signal gives it 4 out of 5 stars and says the book "accomplishes exactly what it was intended to do: entertain the science fiction fan. In that respect, the book wildly succeeds". Kirkus Reviews does not like it at all and says, "It's all vaguely amusing in a sophomoric sort of way, which is fine if you're an easily diverted sophomore with a couple of hours to kill." SFSite.com says, "Not only does Redshirts work as a novel, but Scalzi is able to make the characters come alive." Forbes closes its review with this:

You don’t have to be a hardcore sci-fi fan to enjoy Redshirts, though there are plenty of Easter Eggs for those who are. And the beauty of the book is that it works on multiple levels. If you’re looking for a breezy, fun read for the beach, this is your book. If you want to go down a level and read it as a surreal meditation on character and genre like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, this is your book. If you’re looking for a deeper interplay about the intersections between story and our lives, well, this is your book, too. Suffice to say, I highly recommend it.

Django, Prepare a Coffin

Django, Prepare a Coffin is another in a long line of films connected only by the inclusion of the name "Django" in the title. Not an official sequel, this one is from 1968 and stars Terrence Hill as Django. The plot involves the title character being betrayed by a friend. The resulting death of Django's wife sets Django on the road to a vengeance which brings to life the saying that "revenge is a dish best served cold." I enjoy spaghetti westerns, and this is a good one.

via youtube:

This review at Spaghetti-Western.net praises Hill in the lead and says,

The film itself is probably the closest to a genuine Django sequel or prequel that was ever made but, in truth, has sufficient continuity holes in relation to the original to ensure it can never really be taken completely as such. It does have a Django ‘feel’ to it though and has the machine gun and coffin scene to cement its claim. Like the original it also boasts two villains and the twin talents of George Eastman and Horst Frank are a happy bonus indeed. Eastman exuding malice as the swaggering outlaw boss while Frank maintains the usual level of malevolent arrogance that made him such an icon of European westerns.

Another review at Spaghetti-Western.net says, "A lot of stalwart spaghetti western actors have cameos, turning the movie into a real plethora of familiar faces. The score ... is a special one." 10kBullets says it is "not only one of the finest and most faithful takes on the “Django” mythos ever released, but one of the most enjoyable Spaghetti Westerns to mix the crazy and the cool into one fantastically successful package."

Tear-Water Tea

I remember how much The Kids and I loved the Arnold Lobel books. I used to read his books aloud when The Kids were little, and I'm an expressive reader if I do say so myself. The story Tear-Water Tea came to mind for a couple of reasons: 1) It's in the book Owl at Home, and we have owls on the brain around here lately; and 2) Tea, of course!

The story Tearwater Tea has Owl crying into a teapot, shedding tears over all the sadnesses in his life. Then he heats the tears and makes tea: "It tastes a little bit salty," he said, "but tear-water tea is always good." It's a delightfully comforting story.

Pull up a cozy seat and a cup of something hot to drink, and hear the story for yourself, narrated by a "Missy Tingles":

"Songs that cannot be sung," said Owl, "because the words have been forgotten." It brings a tear to my eye even now.

Join the rest of the T(ea) Tuesday bunch over at hosts Bleubeard and Elizabeth's weekly blog gathering, where the Mardi Gras beads are looking festive.

(I saw the picture at the top of the post at several different websites but don't remember which one I got it from.)

Conversion by blog comment?

To the guy who keeps commenting on my posts to tell me I am doomed and headed for Hell:

You know your comments go straight to my spam filter, right? 

I only see them when I check the spam filter to see if a real comment has been trapped there by mistake. 

This is not a way to win converts to your particular brand of Christianity. 

Just sayin'.

Anyone Can Do It

Anyone Can Do It:



by John Paul Keith and The One Four Fives, Memphis musicians.

lyric excerpt:

Well, if you want to be a hero
Not a rock and roll zero
Even you can have a hit sound
If you let 'em find you face down
Yeah there's really nothin' to it
Anyone can do it.

50 Best Romantic Comedies of All Time

Paste Magazine has a list of the 50 Best Romantic Comedies of All Time:

1. Annie Hall
2. When Harry Met Sally
3. Amélie
4. The Princess Bride
5. Manhattan
6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
7. Say Anything
8. The Philadelphia Story
9. High Fidelity
10. Four Weddings and a Funeral
11. The Apartment
12. Moonrise Kingdom
13. Harold and Maude
14. Sixteen Candles
15. Pretty Woman
16. Love Actually (on the shelf, not yet watched)
17. The Shop Around the Corner
18. Knocked Up
19. Bridget Jones’s Diary
20. Chasing Amy
21. The Graduate
22. His Girl Friday
23. (500) Days of Summer
24. Bringing Up Baby
25. Silver Linings Playbook
26. The Purple Rose of Cairo
27. Juno
28. Sleepless in Seattle (on the shelf, unwatched)
29. Waitress
30. The Wedding Banquet
31. Wall-E
32. The African Queen
33. Jerry Maguire
34. Groundhog Day
35. Pretty in Pink
36. Punch-Drunk Love
37. As Good as It Gets
38. The 40-Year-Old Virgin
39. It Happened One Night
40. About a Boy
41. Lars and the Real Girl
42. Notting Hill
43. The Lady Eve
44. 10 Things I Hate About You
45. Roxanne
46. You’ve Got Mail (it's on the shelf, just not watched yet)
47. Hitch
48. Clueless
49. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
50. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

I've seen the 18 in bold print. I don't tend to like "romantic comedies". Typically, they're too sweet/sappy for me, and I prefer the quirkier ones.

Flying Fish

The Daughter and I recently had lunch at the Flying Fish restaurant downtown. It's part of a small Southern chain with other locations in Arkansas and Texas. You order at the counter and then pick your food up when they buzz you. We each had the 2 filet fish basket and lemonade. It was very good. You can see their menu here. We sat at the counter looking out on the street. It's open-air, and it was a beautiful day:

They provide a service, too, in offering a home for unwanted Billy Bass plaques:

Yelp gives them 4 out of 5 stars with 104 reviews. Urban Spoon has a rating of 94% with 553 votes. The I Love Memphis blog likes it. East Memphis Moms gives it a positive review as does Memphis Gastroblog.

Teorema

Teorema is a 1968 Pier Paolo Pasolini film. I'll need to see it again to get a better feel for it. I'd tend to agree with the folks who claim it's a condemnation of bourgeois lives, but what do I know. There's lots of off-screen sex. Everybody does really want that visitor. And he seems happy to oblige. And lives are changed.

Beware the subtitles. They are not much help.

Watching the film, you see each member of the household affected by the visitor in the same way, and yet the result is radically different. Each person changes as a result of their encounter; each person ends up entirely re-made -a new person, in no way the same as before- but also in no way akin to the others in the house.

Is the visitor a Christ figure?

It would definitely be worth watching again.

via youtube:

Moria tentatively classifies it as a fantasy. DVD Talk says, "Finding a film one does not understand can be a positive experience, but Teorema doesn't give us much reason to care. I certainly am not inspired to search for more meaning in the picture". Slant Magazine gives it 2 1/2 out of 4 stars, but I'm not sure why they rated it that high when some of their comments are, "any five minutes of any Buñuel film would make short work of Teorema," "It's all very grand and vague and shapeless ... but indulgent and fairly meaningless," and calls it "overrated and idiotic".

Roger Ebert says he doesn't know what to think about it but does venture this: "My guess is that "Teorema" is a watershed of some kind, a film out of its own time, a film nothing has prepared us for, but a film that in years to come will be seen as a turning point like early Godard" and adds this in his closing paragraph:

The sort of moviegoer who thinks all movies must make sense -obvious common sense, that is- should avoid "Teorema." Those who go anyway will be mystified, confused, perhaps indignant. But here is a film that needs additional thought.

Rotten Tomatoes has an 89% critics rating.

Barn Blind

Barn Blind is a 1980 novel by Jane Smiley. The main character is a woman so obsessed with her horses and the dreams surrounding their training that she sees nothing else -not her husband, or her children or their needs, or anything but her horses and her own agenda for achieving her own goals. I guess most of us have blind spots, but this woman is a picture of the harm and lasting pain that such blindness can cause.

from the back of the book:

The verdant pastures of a farm in Illinois have the placid charm of a landscape painting. But the horses that graze there have become the obsession of a woman who sees them as the fulfillment of every wish: to win, to be honored, to be the best. Her ambition is the galvanizing force in Jane Smiley's first novel, a force that will drive a wedge between her and her family, and bring them all to tragedy. Written with the grace and quiet beauty of her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, A Thousand Acres, Barn Blind is a spellbinding story on the classic American themes of work, love, and duty, and the excesses we commit to achieve success.

Kirkus Reviews calls it "A devastating probe ... special -but deep-driving." The Paris Review says, "It’s like a horse book for grown-ups."

Ride Clear of Diablo

Ride Clear of Diablo is a 1954 Audie Murphy Western. Also in this is recently deceased Russell Johnson (best known as The Professor in Gilligan's Island). Jack Elam and Denver Pyle are in this, too. This is standard fare: Murphy plays the son who comes back when he hears his father and brother were killed and their cattle stolen. Ah, revenge! The plot that keeps on giving.

via youtube:

The Examiner gives it 4 out of 5 stars, calls it "underrated" and says it "became a definitive Audie Murphy film that swiftly cemented his likable screen persona and jump-started the golden era of his career during the mid to late '50s."

Eagle Nest Cam

Baby eagles! What more is there to say? There's a pair of non-releaseable bald eagles here in Tennessee who are raising a sweet pair of babies, and you can watch the live feed here at this site. Enjoy your cuppa while you watch this sweet family. The babies are learning to fly.

Join Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T(ea) Tuesday party. There's all kinds of fun happenin' out there!

I found the photo at the top of the post on several sites, but don't know who to credit it to.

Afraid to Look

Afraid to Look:

by John Paul Keith.

lyrics excerpt:

How many bucks do I have in the bank?
I'm afraid to look.
How much gas do I have in the tank?
I'm afraid to look.
Are my eyes still red, is my face still white?
I'm afraid to look.
...

Fast and Furious 6

I got Fast and Furious 6 as a Christmas present from The Younger Son. I'm a big Vin Diesel fan, though I'll admit it took me a while to learn to appreciate that first film in this series. This one is great fun, and I continue to look forward to any of these that are released with Vin Diesel in the cast.

trailer:

Empire Online gives it 3 out of 5 stars and calls it "a big screen no-brainer that’s objectively terrible but undeniably pleasurable". EW gives it a B+, calling it "a borderline ridiculous, over-the-top demolition derby that also happens to be a perfectly constructed low-IQ blast". Slant Magazine doesn't like it, giving it 1 star and saying, "To call the film stupid would be misleading, as it's built on technical intellect, from the stunts to the visual effects to the sound team. No, Fast & Furious 6 is far more smug than stupid, luxuriating in its cynicism and insubstantiality." DVD Talk calls it "popcorn film of the highest order". Roger Ebert's site has a mixed review, calling it "not a great action movie" but "solid entertainment". Rotten Tomatoes has a critics score of only 69%, but audience ratings are much better.

10 Greatest Books Ever

Open Culture has a list from 2007 of a list compiled from lists submitted by 125 modern writers. The formation of this 2007 list is described this way:

“The participants could pick any work, by any writer, by any time period…. After awarding ten points to each first-place pick, nine to second-place picks, and so on, the results were tabulated to create the Top Top Ten List – the very best of the best.”

The list:

1. Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
2. Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert
3. War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy
4. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
6. Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
7. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
8. In Search of Lost Time, by Marcel Proust
9. The Stories of Anton Chekhov (some of them, but I'm not sure I've read them all)
10. Middlemarch, by George Eliot

I did great on this list! 8+ out of 10. I imagine most folks would find it hard to argue that the books on this list aren't important reading.

A Hometown in Heart

A Hometown in Heart is a 1949 Korean film. KoreaFilm.org describes it this way: " the film unfolds the everyday lives of three generations: the head monk, a young monk, and a little child monk against the backdrop of a quiet temple in the mountains." The young boy longs for maternal affection. I haven't seen much Korean film, but I'll look for more. This was beautiful!

via youtube:

Wonders in the Dark closes their review by saying, "Superbly photographed, it’s been too long neglected in the archives and should, in time, become recognised as one of the best humanist films from outside of Japan." Yes Asia (where you can order the DVD) says it is "one of the first and most important films made in Korea after its liberation from Japan".

Concerning the Spiritual in Art

Concerning the Spiritual in Art leapt up from the shelf and into my hand before I knew what had happened. Actually, I think the name of author Wassily Kandinsky leapt up and caught my eye and my hand couldn't resist making the connection physical. I knew Kandinsky as an artist and hadn't realized he had written anything. You can read it online here.

from the back of the book:

A pioneering work in the movement to free art from its traditional bonds to material reality, this book is one of the most important documents in the history of modern art. Written by the famous nonobjective painter Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), it explains Kandinsky's own theory of painting and crystalizes the ideas that were influencing many other modern artists of the period. Along with his own ground-breaking paintings, this book had a tremendous impact on the development of modern art.

Kandinsky's ideas are presented in two parts. The first part, called "About General Aesthetic," issues a call for the spiritual revolution in painting that will let artists express their own inner lives in abstract, non-material terms. Just as musicians do not depend upon the material world for their music, so artists should not have to depend upon the material world for their art. In the second part, "About Painting," Kandinsky discusses the psychology of colors, the language of form and color, and the responsibilities of the artist. An introduction by the translator, Michael T. H. Sadler, offers additional explanation of Kandinsky's art and theories, while a new Preface by Richard Stratton discusses Kandinsky's career as a whole and the impact of the book. Making the book even more valuable are nine woodcuts by Kandinsky himself that appear at the chapter headings.

This English translation of Über das Geistige in der Kunst was a significant contribution to the understanding of nonobjectivism in art. It continues to be a stimulating and necessary reading experience for every artist, art student, and art patron concerned with the direction of twentieth-century painting.

There is a 2011 paper here that re-evaluates the work on the occasion of its 100th anniversary in which the author claims, "What I am arguing is that the spiritual crisis of the contemporary artist is greater than Kandinsky's. Kandinsky knew art was in spiritual crisis, whereas today's materialistic artist doesn't see any spiritual crisis. All that matters is materialistic success." The Guardian explains how Kandinsky's book is as relevant now as when it was written.

True Grit (1969)

True Grit is a 1969 John Wayne Western. It also stars Glen Campbell, Kim Darby, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper and Strother Martin. This is a classic. It's received a reportedly respectful remake, but I haven't seen that one.

trailer:

John Wayne and Red Skelton explore "true grit":

Deep Focus closes with this:

When compared to Wayne’s work with Ford, well, there’s no comparison at all. Ford’s Westerns were about the setting and the story, whereas Hathaway has no intent on making his movie about anything else than Wayne’s memorable role. If only he had given the performance in a better movie.

Roger Ebert gives it 4 out of 4 stars and calls it "one of the most delightful, joyous scary movies of all time" and "the Western you should see if you only see one Western every three years". It gets a 90% critics rating at Rotten Tomatoes.