Family Snapshot Mary and her family (Pat, Neil, Shawn, Holly, Emily and Rachel - Sarah missing) spent the July long weekend at our cottage on the French River - and it was very hot. The island was hit by lightning, knocking out the phone line and starting a fire near the back door. Was a good thing they were there - though someone is usually there on that weekend. Son John turned 29 but I couldn't reach him as he was fighting forest fires around Sudbury. My niece Katlyn and husband Jon adopted a baby boy - Camden, adding to their family of four boys. We began phase two of the opening from covid with hair salons and restaurants returning but with restrictions. We are close to the mandatory wearing of face masks in all public places. Niece Andrea and husband Tim Melton welcome their fourth child - son Eli born July 17. A few weeks ago I had a dream about an earthquake in Ethiopia. I check the earthquake map often. This day there are very few and this is unusual - but there was a minor one south of Ethiopia in Burundi. I’m thinking the tectonic plate tension is building - is a big one coming? Will update this entry - and then later - nothing out of the usual (a good thing I guess). Reasons to Blog Writing is an excellent mental exercise - it makes you reflect and this may prevent or postpone Alzheimers. It may improve your grammar, punctuation, sentence structure skills - etc (technical aspects) This is clear when you begin to read your own work - but don’t be afraid - just do it! It provides historical reference for you and yours - places you’ve been, books you've read, movies you watch - and it will make interesting reading for your grandchildren - if you are so lucky. It allows you to watch yourself - see your own evolution. Is your ego running wild? I do daily updates, or when something happens I wish to note. You cannot blog, as I do once a month, and only write the day before you post. Heat Wave July 7 - 10 in Windsor with humidex 41C or 106F. These high temperatures continued throughout the month. The Great Lakes are reaching record high water levels and temperatures - at the same time. Read Brave Men Ernie Pyle 1944 FTW “Europe was in the throes of World War II, and when America joined the fighting, Ernie Pyle went along. Long before television beamed daily images of combat into our living rooms, Pyle’s on-the-spot reporting gave the American public a firsthand view of what war was like for the boys on the front. Pyle followed the soldiers into the trenches, battlefields, ships, planes, tanks, artillery positions, field hospitals, and beleaguered cities of Europe. This collection of columns details the fighting in Europe in 1943–44 and brings that war—and the living, and dying, moments of history—home to us once again”. Most of these soldiers ranged in age from 18 - 25, just boys really. Part of Pyle’s popularity was that in all his dispatches he would name the soldiers he encountered and the towns or cities they were from. What they witnessed changed them forever, but unfortunately it did not change those who make wars. Someday this will read like science fiction, but not yet. Interestingly I asked my Dad who has full blown Alzheimers if he had ever heard of Ernie Pyle, He answered quickly and strongly - “Yes, the wartime correspondent”. I take it that Pyle was a household name. Pyle was killed in action in the Pacific in April of 1945. Goodreads link here The Education of Oversoul Seven Jane Roberts 1987 This story is used to explain some of the concepts about the nature of reality - time, space, past lives, as put forward by the entity known as “Seth” (channeled by Jane). It helps if you can accept some of the teachings, and it’s also something of a mental workout - keeping the various individuals separate. I’d read the series before, this is the first of 3 books. Goodreads link here. Watched - a lot of movies Stateless 2020 - FTW: “The series centres on four strangers in an immigration detention centre in the Australian desert: an airline hostess escaping a suburban cult, an Afghan refugee fleeing persecution, a young Australian father escaping a dead-end job and a bureaucrat caught up in a national scandal. When their lives intersect they are pushed to the brink of sanity, yet unlikely and profound emotional connections are made amongst the group.” It starts a little slow - you have to get to know the various characters. It becomes a very emotional ride by the end - apparently based on a true story. Highly recommended. Trailer here. City Beneath the Sea 1953 FTW: In Jamaica, salvage divers Brad and Tony (Robert Ryan and Anthony Quinn) are hired by Dwight Trevor (Karel Stepanek) to find The Lady Luck, a ship that was supposedly sunk with all hands and $1,000,000 in gold bullion. There is no trace of the sunken ship, but there is a sunken city, the city of Port Royal (near Kingston) that was destroyed in an earthquake in 1692. The $1,000,000 in gold bullion was in fact lost in a modern-day quake and is part of an insurance fraud by Trevor. He does not want the divers to find the gold and will stop at nothing to ensure the success of his plan. Typical for it’s time - a reflection and a look back from where we have come. Trailer here Damascus Cover FTW: A 2017 political thriller based upon the 1977 novel of the same name, by Howard Kaplan. It stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Olivia Thirlby, Jürgen Prochnow, Igal Naor, Navid Negahban and John Hurt. Meyers' character, Ari Sion, must get an Israeli spy out of Syria but realises he's part of a much bigger plan. I like Meyers and enjoy almost everything he’s in. This proved to be Hurt's final film appearance before his death. The film was dedicated to his memory. Trailer here Dying of the Light FTW: A 2014 American psychological thriller starring Nicolas Cage, Anton Yelchin and Irène Jacob about a government agent who must track down and kill a terrorist before he loses his full memory from dementia. I have found most recent work of Cage forgettable, this was almost that, but kept me watching. Trailer here Color of Space FTW: a 2019 American science fiction cosmic horror film based on the short story "The Colour Out of Space" by H. P. Lovecraft. It stars Nicolas Cage, Joely Richardson, Madeleine Arthur, Q'orianka Kilcher and Tommy Chong. This is Stanley's first feature film directed since his firing from The Island of Dr. Moreau According to Stanley, it is the first film in a trilogy of Lovecraft adaptations, which he hopes to follow up with an adaptation of "The Dunwich Horror". Not that good - silly really. Trailer here Hostiles FTW: Circa 1892, settler Rosalee Quaid (Rosamund Pike) and her family are attacked by a Comanche war group who kill her husband and three children. Rosalee escapes by hiding under a rock outcrop. In Fort Berringer, New Mexico, soon-to-retire Captain Joseph Blocker (Christian Bale) is ordered to escort Yellow Hawk (Wesley Studi), a Cheyenne war chief who is dying of cancer, and four members of his family back to their tribal lands in Montana. Blocker, who loathes Native Americans, initially refuses the assignment as Yellow Hawk had been responsible for the deaths of several of his soldiers during a battle. However, under threat of court-martial and loss of his pension, Blocker is forced to accept the orders. Interesting, maybe went a bit too long. Trailer here. MEG 2018 - remake of Jaws, but this time with bigger sharks. Trailer here Human Capital 2019 A remake of an Italian film. A smart and engaging drama about real lives, real situations, real people finding themselves in trouble and how they cope. Something of an art film - I recommend this one. Trailer here. The Gentlemen What a cast! FTW: A 2019 action comedy film written, directed and produced by Guy Ritchie, from a story by Ivan Atkinson, Marn Davies, and Ritchie. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy) , Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey), Jeremy Strong (interesting bad guy), Eddie Marsan, Colin Farrell and Hugh Grant. It follows an American marijuana kingpin in England who is looking to sell his business, setting off a chain of blackmail and schemes to undermine him. Has the feel of "The Usual Suspects" to it. Trailer here Gracie and Frankie Returned to watch some more - season four. Warrior Nun A silly bit of fun. Like Lost in Space, I didn't think I’d like it, but I did - refreshing. FTW: "An American fantasy drama web television series created by Simon Barry based on the comic book character Warrior Nun Areala by Ben Dunn. Originally developed as a feature film adaptation, the idea was re-imagined as a television series for Netflix when the service had given the production a series order for a first season. Filming takes place in multiple locations in Spain. The series is narrated and led by Portuguese actress Alba Baptista in the role of Ava Silva, a tetraplegic orphan who discovers she now has supernatural powers which force her to join an ancient order of warrior nuns. The series marks Baptista's English-language debut. The cast also features Toya Turner, Thekla Reuten, Lorena Andrea, Kristina Tonteri-Young and Tristan Ulloa. The series debuted on July 2, 2020 on Netflix, to positive reviews". Great cliffhanger ending to the first season. Trailer here Old Guard a 2020 American superhero film starring Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Harry Melling, Van Veronica Ngo and Chiwetel Ejiofor. It follows a team of immortal mercenaries on a revenge mission and appears set for a sequel or three. The action flows quick enough to keep it from being boring. Having said that, I stopped half way through and finished the next night. Trailer here The Siege of Jadotville 2016. Film about an Irish Army unit's role in the UN peacekeeping mission in the Congo in September 1961. A true story. Danny Sapani who plays Moise Tshombe (the dictator) is very convincing. We also see (for me a second account) the death of Dag Hammarskjold, at the time the head of the UN - shot down in his plane while trying to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in the Congo. To this day though unproven, it is believed Tshombe ordered it. There is a film (found here) which sheds light on the subject and raises even more troubling questions. Trailer for Jadotville here Returned to Source John Lewis (1940 American politician and civil-rights leader who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020 from pancreatic cancer) Peter Green (1946 - founder of Fleetwood Mac)
0 Comments
|
AuthorI believe we are what we think. What we think depends on what we feed our brains. This is a partial record of what my brain has been eating. Archives
February 2023
Categories
|