THC and the Mrs have received both vaccine doses (Pfizer) and now that a couple of weeks have passed since the second are resuming some semblance of normal existence. Had lunch (outside) at a restaurant last week for the first time in a year.
It looks like about 1/3 of adults in Arizona have received at least one dose and a little under 20% have received both.
We got the shots at State Farm Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals, located on the far side of the metro area from us. It is a very efficient operation. First time took about an hour from entering the parking lot to leaving after our 15 minute observation period after the injection, while the second took only 30 minutes from entrance to exit. Below is an aerial view of the setup (it was never as crowded when we were there).
Sometimes you finally get around to watching what you've heard is a great film and end up disappointed. This happened to us last year viewing The Rules of the Game (1939) by Jean Renoir, a movie on many Top Ten greatest film lists. It was boring, pretentious, and way too obvious in its themes.
And then there is The Night of the Hunter, which we viewed last night and one of the finest films I've ever seen. Released in 1955 and the only movie directed by actor Charles Laughton, The Night of the Hunter stars Robert Mitchum and Lillian Gish, the great silent film star, in one of her few sound picture appearances.
Set in West Virginia during the Depression, Mitchum plays an itinerant preacher who has devised his own religion, based on a twisted interpretation of Christianity, while marrying widows, killing them and stealing their money. With L-O-V-E tattooed on the knuckles of his right hand and H-A-T-E on the left he charms small town folk and mesmerizes his intended victims. In this case, he plans to shake loose the secret location of a hidden $10,000 from the two young children of his newest wife (played by Shelly Winters with much more restraint than usual). After murdering the woman he sets off to track down the children who have fled. Lillian Gish plays the children's protector, a deeply religious woman who represents love in the struggle against hate.
This is an eerie and terrifying movie. As AO Scott remarks in the video below, "While you're watching this movie you are like a child in the grip of a nightmare". Mitchum is frightening whether charming, threatening, or both at the same time. The film is shot using techniques from German expressionist films of the silent era, giving it a dreamlike quality. The scenes and images from this film will stay with you for a long time.
A unique and unforgettable film, it was a commercial failure at the time and Laughton never directed another movie. You can watch the cast and crew talk about the making of the film here.
Jonathan Winters used to do a routine about the old movies of primitive
tribes drumming in the background and one of the characters shouting "I
can't take it anymore! Those drums, drums, drums! They're making me
crazy!" and another character saying quietly "It's when the drums stop
that we should worry."
In the late 1960s, Canned Heat became popular playing blues based songs - I saw them at Woodstock. Their most popular was Going Up The Country. Other hits were On The Road Again and Let's Work Together. Like so many bands of that era they could not resist the temptation of drugs and the two founders, Alan Wilson and Bob Hite, both died of overdoses.
Though I knew their songs were based on older blues, until recently I'd not heard the song that inspired Going Up The Country. It was Bull Doze Blues by Henry Thomas and Canned Heat closely followed the original musically, though Wilson rewrote the lyrics. Thomas, born in 1874 to parents who were formerly slaves, was a hobo and itinerant singer who recorded 24 songs between 1927 and 1929. Along with Bull Doze Blues, Thomas also recorded Honey Won't You Allow Me One More Chance (later adapted and recorded by Bob Dylan; this is Declan O'Connell performing the Dylan version) and Fishin' Blues, which THC featured in a post on Taj Mahal last fall, though I didn't know Thomas was the composer at the time.
Thomas is believed to have died in 1930 though no one knows for certain.
Until sometime in the 1980s there was only one library in Shanghai containing "forbidden" books; those that contravened Party doctrine and were unsuitable or even dangerous for the masses to be exposed to. Access was limited to a small group authorized by the government. Books could be taken out by those authorized though they were carefully tracked to ensure return. If you knew one of that favored group, and they were willing to take a little risk, they could pass on a "forbidden" book to you to read and then return to them for return to the library.
If you wanted to reread the book and since there were no copy machines, you had one option - make a handwritten copy for yourself.
Told this by a friend who lived there and read some of those books.
Something to keep in mind as we look at the future.
Well, I love you so much
That it's all I can do
Just to keep myself from telling you
That I never felt so alone before
The saddest of love songs from The Band. Composed by Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko on the plaintive lead vocal, and Garth Hudson on the little saxophone.
