Weather in the Tries: Oh my goodness gracious sakes alive! The highs this coming week, according to my phone, are all in the 80s! With the night lows dipping as low as 59, but most at 60. In other words, we have reached perfection!
Something Different: I figured y’all were probably not looking forward to any more one-legged happy dances, besides which I overdid it this last week, and I’m doing my Happy Dance sitting in my chair. You know, waving my arms. Oh, sigh, at my age, one would think I’d know better. I don’t. But I do get my stitches out in a couple hours;-)
I’ve spent the last few days at my computer, wondering what to write about besides my personal happies or woes, and it wasn’t until last night that I saw the most fascinating video on YouTube that it dawned on me. So, yes, a shorter blog, but a longer video. It’s something like 28 minutes long, but I was spell bound the whole time, and hope you are equally fascinated by “the process of making a cello. A high-end Japanese cello crafted by one artisan in six months.”
One of my all-time favorite movies is Departures. It’s a delightful Japanese romcom about a young man who buys an expensive cello and then learns the orchestra in which he plays is being disbanded. He and his wife move back to his hometown and his late mother’s tea shop. He answers an ad for a job for ‘departures’ thinking it’s with a travel agency or travel-related job. He shows up, and is hired on the spot, and it’s for a mortuary, the ad had a typo—it should have read ‘departed’. If you don’t know, Asians have a real phobia of touching/dealing with corpses. (I saw an interview of the ME of a large and populous county in Florida (Dade?). She was Asian (Chinese?) and when asked how her family accepted her profession, she laughed and said they didn’t know. They thought she was a practicing physician. Fortunately, she said, they lived in Canada and didn’t watch American tv.
Back to the movie, if you like cello music, you really ought to look for it. As of this writing, I think YouTube is streaming it as well as Apple TV. Possibly other places. However, if you would like to see how cellos are made, clickhere.
Photos of the Week: Watch the video. Pour a cuppa, settle in, and watch.
from the desk of the ferocious guard dog; I don’t understand you humans. you sit around watching a screen all day, and if you were outside, you could watch birds and squirrels, and if you got your nose closer to the ground you could smell the most delightful messages from other dogs. my human doesn’t even walk right. she needs to get down on all fours and have fun.
Weather in the Tries: We may get rain today, Monday. 50% chance. Our high will be 68, but by Sunday it will be up to 80 with sunshine every day from Tuesday on. Lows will be in the high 40s, low 50s. Perfect sleeping weather.
A Bit on Politics Written in the Font of Snark:
Today is Thursday, 28 Sep 23, and Washington DC is gearing up for a Government Shutdown. I have a possible solution: Don’t pay Congress during the shutdown! Odd, isn’t it, that the Pro-Lifers who want all abortion stopped no matter the reason, won’t put limits on gun ownership, or fund families and single mothers who need assistance so they can feed and clothe their children, let alone afford the burial when one (or more) of their children die from prevented trauma. You know, like malnutrition, starvation, lead poisoning from an AR 15, lack of medical care.
And our Military? Oh, why in the world would they want, let alone need, to be paid? After all, they can eat in the chow halls and sleep in the barracks. But, what about their dependents? Yes, I know, if the Military had wanted them to have dependents, dependents would have been issued at the end of Basic/Boot Training.
I really hope by the time Monday rolls around, and CBE is published, the shut-down has been avoided. But then I remember I stopped believing in miracles years ago.
And the old farts and fartesses on Social Security? Actually, as I understand it, we continue to be paid as it is mandated by law and financed through a payroll tax. But mothers with young children will be hurt by the Pro-Life Party Shutdown.
Alright! This is too freaking much! As of today, Friday, FAT BEAR WEEK is in jeopardy! Yes, If Washington gridlock pushes the country into a government shutdown on Saturday, the Fat Bears will be furloughed, as well as the Park Rangers. Fat Bears are considerably more important than a few tantrum-throwing-juvenile-Congressmen! Feed tantrum-throwing-juvenile-Congressmen to the Bears!!! (Make sure those juvies have no communicable diseases first.) Save Fat Bears!!!! What? What did you ask? You don’t know about Fat Bears? Oh, you are merely ignorant, and that’s treatable, unlike stupid which cannot be treated. The stupid diagnosis belongs to tantrum-throwing-juvenile-Congressmen. To include Sen Tuberville!
Saturday night:
Well, goodness gracious sakes alive! There were enough young adults in Congress to pass a short-term funding bill with bi partisan support. Unfortunately, no additional funding for Ukraine. Young adults don’t understand all that much about freedom and democracy, yet, and think Papa Putin really likes them. But 45 days is better than no days to get them some learning. And Fat Bear Week goes on….!!!
Doula:
I did watch An Honest Death: A Palliative Care Doctor’s Final Days. The Dr. had a terminal prognosis, and asked NHK (Japanese News Service) to film his final days. The movie is less than an hour, and very interesting. There was a part in the middle where there was no sound, but there were subtitles to read. The Dr. and his wife were both end of life doctors, and he was a Buddhist Priest. I didn’t cry near as much in this one as I did in It’s My Party. There is something in the Buddhist philosophy that brings about peaceful deaths, an acceptance, though he did want and received Continuous Deep Sedation –sleep state, usually done when the patient has less than 2 weeks to live and is in severe pain. The person passes away in their sleep.
We discussed what movies we watched over and over and over that were about death. I think my favorite is Departures. A Japanese film. And, yes, I still watch The NeverEnding Story. I cry in both of these movies. And in this series, Navillera. It’s a 12-episode Korean series about a 70-year-old man who retires and wants to learn to dance ballet. (I also cry during some commercials, but that’s another story.) And there are two songs that make me cry—Ed Ames (or anyone else) singing Who Will Answer and Bette Midler singing Wind Beneath My Wings. We all need something that will bring forth tears on demand, preferably under our control. Sometimes a good cry is just what the doctor ordered, but it’s difficult to cry on cue.
Speaking of the Buddhist thoughts on Death, a friend sent me some information for Death, Love & Wisdom Summit, A Free Online Event October 12-16. You can read about it, and sign up if you’re interested, at https://tinyurl.com/bdf68n4k. The classes will last a total of around 3 hrs a day as I understand it. Maybe more if there are longer meditations.
Photos from the past, some claw and fang of Nature:
Two of my favorite photos from road trips. The Coyote was taken in Yellowstone NP, we’re pretty sure she was a she with cubs up on the hill. She came up the hill from the river to stop by the road to let us go first. We stopped, rolled down the window, and I took this picture. As soon as we drove on, she quickly crossed the road and went up the hill. If you look, you can see blood from her kill that morning on her fur. I gave a framed copy to Patricia Briggs, author of the Mercy Thompson Hauptmann books of weres, vampires, and other assorted shapeshifters.
The alligator was in Florida. I don’t want to get snuggly close to one, but they look so happy, like they just got the joke! And the reason they are so far away is because Sammy Brave Dog, aka The Big Chihuahua, keeps them there. Or at least out of our pond! Isn’t he a good dog?
From the Paws of the Big Chihuahua:
Does my human have any idea how BIG the mouth and teeth are on both of those critters? And she expects me to keep the ‘gator out of our pond??? Well, so far, but if that guy ever comes for a visit, I’m leaving. Keeping the Hippopotamuses out of the parking slots is bad enough. But she thinks I do it, and she’s proud of me, so please don’t tell her otherwise. Okay? I love this fall weather, except for the zombie leaves, but so far they aren’t around much. Maybe the wind is keeping them away? Yes?
Marie Osmond Talks About Dada Sound Poetry, a 2:37 video that is gobs of fun. And perhaps something to think about for opening your front door the last night of October 😉
“Teacher means “to be born before”.” ~quote from An Honest Death.
And, if I can remember how to upload a tape, I will have three new poems in Spoken Word. I have the World’s BESTEST computer Guru for this blog! She is patient, knowledgeable, and a good friend!!
DVD, Studio Ghibli (Japan) Anime July 29, 1989 Fantasy English Subtitles 103m
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
No English dubbing on this one, and the menu showed subtitles as undetermined. They were in excellent English. Yes, I do prefer the original language and subtitles. I had seen this one before, and it’s great fun. A young witch leaves her home at age 13 to go somewhere else for a year to study her specialty. Kiki and her cat, Jiji who she can understand, leave her family and friends. She wants to go to a seaside town, to see the ocean. After being blown off course, they arrive at a city on a hillside overlooking the sea. She is having a hard time in the city, having never been in one. She nearly causes accidents, and finally ends up outside a bakery on the hillside. A woman with a baby in a pram leaves the bakery and the owner’s wife come out trying to stop her, she’d left the baby’s pacifier. Kiki takes it, flies to the woman, returns the pacifier, thereby quieting the baby, and starting her new job. She goes to work for the bakery, delivering baked goods, and works for anyone else who comes to her with something to be delivered, until she realizes she can no longer understand Jiji, who would rather be with the white cat a couple houses away. And then she can no longer fly her broom, which breaks. She becomes depressed. A friend is hanging onto a rope attached to a blimp that broke away from its moorings. She must fly. She must save her friend. Oh, come on, this is a kid’s show, you know it’s gonna have a happy ever after ending. That’s why I bought the collection. You know if you have young people in your household, it’s safe for them to watch anything from Studio Ghibli, and better if you join them.
DVD, Studio Ghibli (Japan) Anime 2 August 1986 Fantasy English dubbing, excellent 124m
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
The movie opens in an airship, similar but not quite, like a blimp. There is a young girl, Sheeta, unhappy, and an evil man in the same room. She looks out and sees pirates coming for the air ship. She knocks out the man, reaches in his pocket for a necklace, puts it on, and escapes out the window.
The pirates want her. The government wants her. Or, rather, they want the necklace she’s wearing as it holds magical powers, of which she is not yet aware. Rescued by a young boy, they take off on the run trying to evade the government men, the pirates, and anyone else who wants her crystal necklace. Laputa is an old country that ‘floats’ above the earth, in the eye of a great storm, unable to be seen from Earth.
People want to find Laputa, steal its riches, especially the technology so they can rule earth. Some know Sheeta is descended from Laputa’s royalty, they want her and her crystal. And will stop at nothing to have them both.No one does these movies like Studio Ghibli. Inspired by the book, Gulliver’s Travels by Dr. Jonathan Swift.
“The Earth speaks to all of us, and if we listen, we can understand,”—Uncle Pom
DVD, Studio Ghibli Animation, loosely based on the books by Ursula Le Guin Fantasy English dubbing, very good 115m
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Studio Ghibli animated and produced my all-time favorite movies, but this one fell a little flat for me. It could be I had a choice of watching it in Japanese or English, there were no subtitles. I’m a subtitle geek, I love hearing the story in its original language and reading the subtitles. I know. I’m strange.
The story is loosely, very loosely, based on the Earthsea books by Ursula K. Le Guin. I remember reading them when they first came out many years ago. I barely remember them, but this story didn’t fit my memory at all. Some judicial internet searches, and voila! I know why.
One of the nice things about Studio Ghibli movies, they can be enjoyed by any age group. The English dubbing is by top notch actors—Timothy Dalton, Matt Levin, Mariska Hargitay, Cheech Marin, Willem Dafoe, and others. Watch the movie, see if you can recognize the voices.
Arren, the runaway prince, comes back to the castle and kills his father, the king, stealing his magicked sword, and runs away again. Sparrowhawk, the Arch Mage, rescues Arren from various horrible things, including a slaver. Arren rescues a girl who is not grateful, and when Sparrowhawk takes him to visit an old friend, there is the girl. Eventually, the evil wizard gets the old friend, Sparrowhawk, and Arren under his control, and the girl takes Arren’s sword to him in the castle of Cob, where she learns his true name, and tells him hers.
It’s a fairy tale, it’s meant for kids as well as adults. You know it’s going to have my kind of ending, relax and enjoy the story.
Our hero, Sanjuro, the ronin returns in this second movie of the duology. Kurosawa and Mifune team up yet again for a delightful romp through Japan of the late 1800s. In both Yojimbo and Sanjuro, Mifune’s character is Sanjuro, which means 30 years old. He quips that he’s going on 40, and we’re never to hear his first name as when asked, he looks around and gives the name of whatever vegetation he sees and likes. In this movie he’s Sanjuro Tsubaki (camellia), in the prior movie he’s Sanjuro Kuwabatake (mulberry field).
Sanjuro makes his entrance by overhearing, and entering, a meeting of clan samurai who are fairly young, hot headed, and determined to clean the upper ranks of perfidy, real or imagined. Sanjuro explains the error of their thoughts, saves them from a planned assassination, and helps them achieve their goals. Again, lots of good swordfights, with the final fight showing the horror of swordfights for all to understand. And again, Kurosawa’s choreography of the fights is pure art and gorgeous.
If you miss the irony in the movie, watch it until you understand.
DVD, Criterion Collection Toho Co. Film, 1961 110m
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
One of the many Akira Kurosawa, Toshiro Mifune movies, and the first of the duology of Yojimbo and Sanjuro. Kurosawa and Mifune made something like 16 movies together before parting ways, and every one of them are fantastic.
Mifune play the title character of this movie, and is quite believable as a ronin samurai, who, like all samurai of the final years of the Edo period is down on his luck. (Samurai were disbanded in 1876) He wanders into a village where two men are fighting each other and hiring gangs to fight for them.
Mifune, being a crafty ronin, sets it up so the two gangs will fight each other and kill each other. Alas, a government official comes, and the two warring gangs must appear to be getting along. Ah, the best laid plans of mice and ronin.
Lots of swordfights, although Mifune prefers to talk when possible. He saves a kidnapped woman, her husband, and their son. The husband lost everything, including his wife to gambling, and Mifune gets them reunited and they almost don’t make it out as they keep bowing to Mifune instead of running away. This, of course, causes some consternation with Ushitora as he wanted to keep her.
If you liked A Fistful of Dollars, you’ll love the original, Yojimbo 😉
