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My brother came up for a Hobie Cat regatta this weekend. Not sure if he got any sailing in. There were no races on Saturday, because there was no wind. I haven't heard if yesterday was any better. Anyway, we hung out Friday and Saturday night, and I got caught up on life in Corvallis. Lots of talk about my nephew's recent drunken pratfall, with many details that changed the shape of the story. (E.g., he didn't just jump out the window but was hanging by his fingers for a bit first.) My brother is totally focused on his boys at this point in his life. It's going to be a big transition for him when they've both moved out of the house, although that's a few years away still.
I worked in the yard both Saturday and Sunday. Finally bought some shears to hack back the shrub in by the house. And I do mean hack. It looks pretty forlorn now. Did more work on the raspberry bed, too, and I'm hoping the raspberries recover now that the gum tree is gone and they'll get more sunlight. I also got some work down on the Corflu Zed regress report, including editorial exchanges with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
holyoutlaw. On Sunday I met with Andy and carl to talk about the next issue of Chunga. A nice excuse to sit on the deck at Andy's house and listen to the maniac bird that hangs out at the back of their yard. Also chatted with Sharee and started making plans for my next trip up to Vancouver Island. This time the idea is to take the Victoria Clipper to Victoria, where she'll pick me up with the van, rather than renting a car and taking it across on the Tsawwassen ferry. Still not sure which weekend though. Next weekend I'm going to Oregon for Mother's Day.
Last night I watched Black Narcissus (1947) for the first time. I've always thought from what I've read that I'd like this movie, and it was true. I finally picked it up in the wake of the death of Jack Cardiff, who was the cinematographer, and renowned for his Technicolor work on this film and The Red Shoes and others. Black Narcissus is utterly, erotically beautiful in its use of Technicolor. That's one big plus. It's also a completely studio-bound recreation of a Himalayan setting. I LOVE studio-bound productions. The creation of worlds within studios is a great act of artistry on so many levels, involving so many crafts. I love the artifice of it, the sense of the infinite world in miniature, the sense that all the stage is a world. Finally the story itself -- about Anglican nuns setting up a new convent in a former brothel of sorts in the Himalayas -- is nonsensical, exotic, exaggerated, melodramatic, not to mention half-baked and over-heated. It's about repressed feelings and the distortions and explosions that result. Exactly the kind of territory I love to see explored in films. It connected for me to any number of different movies, from Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) (the heights, and the church bell), Ridley Scott's Legend (1985) (Lili seems to be an offspring of Sister Ruth, and I'm guessing that Sir Ridley worships at the altar of Cardiff's lighting schemes), Almodovar's twisted, humanistic nun movie, Dark Habits (1983), and even Takashi Miike's The Bird People in China (1998), which is also about repressed creatures of civilization coming apart at the seams in an exotic, lush, magical mountain location.
I worked in the yard both Saturday and Sunday. Finally bought some shears to hack back the shrub in by the house. And I do mean hack. It looks pretty forlorn now. Did more work on the raspberry bed, too, and I'm hoping the raspberries recover now that the gum tree is gone and they'll get more sunlight. I also got some work down on the Corflu Zed regress report, including editorial exchanges with
holyoutlaw. On Sunday I met with Andy and carl to talk about the next issue of Chunga. A nice excuse to sit on the deck at Andy's house and listen to the maniac bird that hangs out at the back of their yard. Also chatted with Sharee and started making plans for my next trip up to Vancouver Island. This time the idea is to take the Victoria Clipper to Victoria, where she'll pick me up with the van, rather than renting a car and taking it across on the Tsawwassen ferry. Still not sure which weekend though. Next weekend I'm going to Oregon for Mother's Day.Last night I watched Black Narcissus (1947) for the first time. I've always thought from what I've read that I'd like this movie, and it was true. I finally picked it up in the wake of the death of Jack Cardiff, who was the cinematographer, and renowned for his Technicolor work on this film and The Red Shoes and others. Black Narcissus is utterly, erotically beautiful in its use of Technicolor. That's one big plus. It's also a completely studio-bound recreation of a Himalayan setting. I LOVE studio-bound productions. The creation of worlds within studios is a great act of artistry on so many levels, involving so many crafts. I love the artifice of it, the sense of the infinite world in miniature, the sense that all the stage is a world. Finally the story itself -- about Anglican nuns setting up a new convent in a former brothel of sorts in the Himalayas -- is nonsensical, exotic, exaggerated, melodramatic, not to mention half-baked and over-heated. It's about repressed feelings and the distortions and explosions that result. Exactly the kind of territory I love to see explored in films. It connected for me to any number of different movies, from Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) (the heights, and the church bell), Ridley Scott's Legend (1985) (Lili seems to be an offspring of Sister Ruth, and I'm guessing that Sir Ridley worships at the altar of Cardiff's lighting schemes), Almodovar's twisted, humanistic nun movie, Dark Habits (1983), and even Takashi Miike's The Bird People in China (1998), which is also about repressed creatures of civilization coming apart at the seams in an exotic, lush, magical mountain location.
