Movie Review: Sherlock Jr. (1924)

Sherlock Jr. (1924) directed by Buster Keaton

A projectionist (Buster Keaton) also wants to be a detective, so he reads a book about it during his job's downtime. The theater manager berates him for not sweeping up. The projectionist (he never gets a name) sweeps the trash outside and sees the candy shop next door. He scrounges up some money to buy a box of chocolates for his girl (Kathryn McGuire). When he goes to see her, a rival (Ward Crane) shows up with a nicer box of chocolates. The rival could afford it because he swiped her father's pocket watch and sold it. The theft is discovered and the projectionist is on the case. He bumbles through searching everyone as the rival slips the pawn shop receipt into the projectionist's pocket. It's soon discovered and the father berates the projectionist and forbids him to come back. He goes to the theater where he falls asleep in the projection booth. His sleeping self gets up and walks into the film that's showing, where a similar plot is playing out with a stolen string of pearls. He has a rough time at first, because he stays in the same place on screen as the scenes change, resulting in some comic pratfalls. The camera eventually pans in and returns to the main story, the stolen pearls. The projectionist is now the famous detective Sherlock Jr. who tries to catch the bad guys while the bad guys try to kill him.

The plot is fairly simple and standard Keaton fare. He plays a beleaguered romantic who bumbles his way into adventures and heroics, besting his rivals not with direct conflict but by being a decent person or performing some fantastic stunt. The movie is a vehicle for lots of stunts and some amazing editing. His walking into the movie looks obviously like there's a set in place of the movie screen. But then the movie changes and Buster doesn't. The sequence of edits from the house to the street to the ocean to a snowscape and so forth is amazing to watch. The creative and technical genius of the film is unrivaled. And it's almost one hundred years old!

Highly recommended--this is in contention with The General for Keaton's best film.

Cute Kid Pix September 2022

More pictures that didn't make their own post...

One of the birthday celebrations had our youngest getting some weaponry from Hyrule (the land where The Legend of Zelda series is set).

Ready for action!

Our oldest son joined the marching band at his high school, which means we are going to football games on Friday nights. 

Half-time performance

End-of-game performance

Our friends were out of town and let us pick up their weekly farm allowance from the Gorman Farms CSA. The have a full share which meant a counterful of vegetables. The peppers would have outnumbered the tomatoes except we received two pints of cherry tomatoes!

Many veg!

I volunteered at another Baltimore Ravens game, handing out programs and flags to game attendees. The Miami Dolphins fans did not want a Ravens flag though most took the program. It was fun, if tiring. Since it was the home-opener, the stadium had no extra seats to offer to the volunteers. I went home, which is just as well since the Ravens lost  42-38.

Tailgaters across from the stadium (at 9:30 a.m.!)

Me and my credentials

When I finished, the first quarter just ended, so only cheerleaders on the field

Me and Johnny Unitas

TV Review: Midnight Mass (2021)

Midnight Mass (2021) co-written and directed by Mike Flanagan

An isolated fishing village on Crockett Island has two new arrivals. First is Riley Flynn (Zach Guilford), just out of prison for drunken vehicular manslaughter. He comes back to his parents and brother trying to make sense of his life and deal with the guilt of accidentally killing a young woman four years earlier. He reconnects with childhood friend Erin Greene (Kate Siegel) who has left an abusive husband and is pregnant. She returned a few months ago and is teaching at the one school on the island. She lives in her dead mom's house.

The other new arrival is Father Paul Hill (Hamish Linkletter) who has come as a substitute for their regular priest who fell ill during a Holy Land pilgrimage. Father Paul is dynamic and engaging in his preaching at Saint Patrick's and his pastoral care around the island. He goes to the local doctor's house to offer Mass for her home-bound elderly mother. He starts an AA meeting at the church hall so Riley doesn't have to take the hour-and-a-half ferry (each way) to the mainland. The event that really shakes the community is when Father Paul asks wheel-chair-bound teen Leeza (Annarah Cymone) to get up and walk. She does. And that's just the first miracle that happens on the island.

The town has been having a tough time. Beyond the hardship of a fishing life, the locals dealt with an oil spill years before the start of the show. In the first episode, a lot of mutilated cats from a smaller nearby island wash up on the shore after a storm. During the storm, Riley thinks he sees the old priest walking through the storm, which is impossible since he's recuperating on the mainland. The start of the miracles brings a ray of hope to the people that is not so encouraging for the viewers. Father Paul brought a person-sized trunk with him and starts having a lot of health difficulties. 

The mystery and horror slowly build over the seven episodes of the series. The show begins with a lot of character introductions and development, showing a very diverse community on the island. The sheriff is a Muslim who is also a relatively recent arrival. His son is bored and shows interest in the church, which does not sit comfortably with the sheriff. The doctor is more of a materialist and has a girlfriend on the mainland who seems to be in the story only to establish that she's a lesbian. Bev Keane (Samantha Sloyan) is the most active member of St. Patrick's, but she is more of a crazy fanatic who wants to control other people and has misused finances in the past. Other parishioners, like Riley's family, Erin, Leeza and her family, are more normal and much better people than Bev. Father Paul seems very sincere but viewers quickly discover that he has problems and is misguided about some key things. By the end, things have gotten crazy for everyone.

But also by the end, everyone has talked about how they feel about their religious interactions and about dying and death. The show bends over backwards to include every possible view point and winds up more in favor of an empty, emotionally overwrought pantheism. I was rolling my eyes a lot at the pseudo-profundity in the final episode. Still, I was surprised to find so much discussion and candor about religion in what is a horror story. 

The story has quite a bit of gore sprinkled throughout the episodes, with a lot more at the end. Occasional jump-scares don't fit in with the melancholic tone of the show and are more jarring than frightening. When the show takes its time, the terror works much better, even for cliched moments like visions of two glowing eyes in the dark or a barely seen figure peeking in a window.

Like Flanagan's other shows (Haunting of Hill House and Haunting of Bly Manor), the show has a strong cast of well-developed characters, some good creepy moments, and a finale that's not entirely satisfying.

Mildly recommended.

This show is streaming on Netflix.

Book Review: Maryland Legends by Trevor J. Blank and David J. Puglia

Maryland Legends: Folklore from the Old Line State by Trevor J. Blank and David J. Puglia

The stories about Maryland cover a wide range of history, from the colonial days right up to the 2000s. The authors are professional researchers and folklorists. They have combed a lot of archives and talked to many people to gather these legendary stories. The book is divided into three sections.

The first section looks at supernatural sites and sightings. Hell House is an abandoned seminary in Ellicott City. People assume some hidden scandal caused the closure in the 1950s and stories of Satanic rituals and shenanigans grew (both as the cause of the closure and as what happened on the grounds after the closure). The situation became worse with a groundskeeper who used violence to keep the curious (even teenagers) out. Other stories are more mundane, like the demise of the Enchanted Forest, an amusement park that went out of business. Its fairy tale buildings took on a sinister tone with their dilapidation, making it a popular spot for seekers of the weird. The section ends with a selection of superstitions from the University of Maryland in College Park, from rubbing a terrapin statue for good luck to hearing former resident bumping around in buildings dating back to the 1800s.

The second section covers various unnatural and undocumented animals (or are they human/animal hybrids?). The Snallygaster is a reptilian bird that attacked people (mostly African-Americans) in the early 1900s. A local newspaper printed the stories. The accounts are clearly fictitious but that did not stop the legend from popping up again and again in subsequent years. The Goatman is a more famous monster that harassed people (especially cars) crossing his country road bridge. There might be some basis in an old, grumpy guy, but the tale moved to other bridges and roads across the state. Some phantom dogs (one more like a werewolf) and a The College Park Cuddler (a normal human who harassed coeds while sleeping) round out the section.

The third section describes some historic stories. Most people think the nickname "Old Line State" refers to the Mason-Dixon Line that separates Maryland from Pennsylvania. The name actually derives from a militia unit in the American Revolution. On Long Island as part of General George Washington's army, they held the line as other units retreated from an overwhelming Redcoat advance. Another famous tale is the defiance of Barbara Fritchie. As the Confederate Army marched through Frederick in 1862, she flew the Union flag. General "Stonewall" Jackson allegedly order the troops to open fire on the flag. She took up the flag and shouted at the soldiers. Jackson then ordered his men to leave her alone. Historically, Jackson came through town at night and his route did not pass Fritchie's house. Nonetheless, the story was relayed by a cousin to John Greenleaf Whittier who wrote Barbara Frietchie as a tribute. The poem's story became the received wisdom. The final tale is of the Poe Toaster, a mysterious figure who came each year from 1949 to 2009 to the grave of Edgar Allan Poe on the anniversary of his death. The figure would drink some cognac, whisper a few words, and leave three red roses. The figure never identified himself though it is clear that a new person took up the task in the 1990s. The Toaster was left unmolested by the crowds that increased through the years. The odd and macabre action fits well with Poe's literary style. 

The book does a good job relating the stories. As scholarly folklorists, the authors do not embellish the tales. They provide some insights on how folklore develops and changes through oral and literary traditions and use these tales as examples. There's a wealth of pictures and a detailed bibliography for those who want to read more, either in general of about specific subjects.

Recommended--it's scholarly without being stuffy and detailed without being sensationalistic.

Book Review: Spy x Family Vols. 3 and 4 by Tatsuya Endo

Spy x Family Volume 3 by Tatsuya Endo

The visit of Yor's younger brother gets resolved pretty quickly if not entirely satisfactorily. The family moves back to the regular challenge--getting six-year old Anya to excel at school. She has no interests other than watching her spy cartoon, so it's hard to motivate her. She does not have a lot of skills either, other than the mind-reading. When her class is part of a dodgeball tournament, her lone skill comes in handy since she can dodge shots knowing where they are supposed to go. She tries out some public service to mixed results. She's not good at cleaning up but she can telepathically hear someone drowning, so she gets a school star for saving a life. And what's the reward she wants from her family? A pet!

This had plenty of laugh out loud moments. The violence has been toned down since the last volume, so that's good. The bonus content at the end has dad and mom going on a date with a lot of comedy thrown in.

Recommended.

Spy x Family Volume 4 by Tatsuya Endo

As a reward for achieving her first Stella Star at school, Anya has chosen to get a puppy. The choice isn't so popular with Loid and Yor. Loid takes them to a dog kennel that's a front for his spy operation but all the dogs are too aggressive or ugly (they are "retired" from spy work!). As they go to a big pet adoption fair, Loid is drawn off to work against an assassination attempt. Thankfully, Yor is not involved. The assassins plan to use dogs with bombs attached to kill their target, so readers know that Anya will get crossed up in the situation.

The story has some nice surprises and action along with the typical goofy humor of the series.

Recommended.

Movie Review: Father Stu (2022)

Father Stu (2022) written and directed by Rosalind Ross

Stuart Long (Mark Wahlberg) lives a hard life. He grew up with a very difficult father (Mel Gibson) and decided to be a boxer. His boxing career is going nowhere. After a fight, he is diagnosed with an ailment that stops him from boxing. Not one to give up (especially on himself), Stuart moves to Los Angeles to become a movie star. He gets a job in a supermarket where he sees a beautiful young woman name Carmen (Teresa Ruiz) who has no interest in him because he is not Catholic. Not one to give up, he starts showing up at church and even gives becoming a Christian a try. He still leads a rough life and has a hard relationship with his parents. Then he crashes his motorcycle, causing some severe injuries. He has a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary who comforts him and tells him he still has a purpose. After much prayer and thought, Stu decides he is being called to the priesthood. Carmen laughs at him and the seminary rector (Malcolm McDowell) initially turns him down. Not one to give up, he argues his way into seminary and out of a potential wedding. He doesn't fit in well with the other seminarians but continues on.

The movie is based on a true story and exemplifies a certain character that pops up again and again in church history--the fallen man who becomes a Godly man. Francis of Assisi wanted to be a soldier fighting in glorious wars; Ignatius of Loyola fought in wars and was forced, during the boredom of recuperation, to read the Bible and the lives of the saints. Stu is in this tradition and we get a good gander at the brokenness of his life. He's invested in himself and wants to be a self-made man. He's slowly taken away from himself, at first using his selfishness to get him to do things that are outside of himself, like getting baptized. The movie does a good job portraying his genuine conversion and his struggles, both with himself and with everyone else. He understands his own problems, which enables him to help others. He can see their brokenness and has the moral authority of his own experience to share with them and to provide genuine counsel. It's a moving conversion story.

Just a warning, it's also a R-rated conversion story, with a lot of cussing and bodily injuries (from boxing and from the bike accident). There's also one very discreet sex scene and some sexual references. This movie is for adults, not for family movie night.

Recommended.

Ice Cream Summer Part X

Some more ice cream recipes in the period after I thought I was done with making ice cream for the summer (see other flavors here), assuming that summer ends with Labor Day (a very American assumption). As this publishes (September 22, 2022), autumn has officially begun. It's nice to end with a ten posts, right?

Inspired during a visit to the grocery store, we made banana pudding ice cream. We did not make banana pudding, we just food-processed two bananas (one was brown and spotty, the other was straight yellow) and half a cup of Nilla Wafers (what we spotted at the store). The bananas and the wafers went into the food processor separately and were added during the last five minutes of vanilla ice cream stirring. The banana soup raised the temperature of the cream. It looked like it was melting back into a pure liquid for a short while! The mixer recovered and the results were delicious.

Pretty yummy though hard to tell it is banana visually!

Our next concoction was the classic mint chocolate chip. The ingredients were quite simple, just some mint extract and a chocolate bar. We thought about using chocolate chips like for cookies, but decided to go with our favorite flavor of chocolate bar...

Not much to add to the vanilla recipe

The only change to the basic vanilla recipe was swapping out vanilla extract for peppermint extract (and, of course, the extra malted milk powder). We chopped up the chocolate bar into little chunks with a kitchen knife since the food processor would probably have turned it into chocolate powder. As usual, the chunks were put into the machine for the last five minutes of mixing. One chocolate bar was the perfect amount for our batch.

The usual two containers

The flavor came out well. We chose not to add green dye because it isn't really necessary. Mint is a flavor, not a color!

We went to a local ice cream shop that makes its own flavors. My youngest had graham cracker and peanut butter. That flavor was especially liked by my wife, so we tried it out at home.  

We didn't even have to make a special trip to the grocery!

Our previous experience with peanut butter-flavored ice cream had too much peanut butter, so we scaled back. Also, we did not put the peanut butter into the ice cream machine. Instead, we put the food-processed graham crackers in for the last five minutes. Then, as we scooped the ice cream into the container, we layered in the peanut butter. It was not as hard as layering marshmallow fluff, especially with a spoon that was flatter than a normal spoon. The process was a little laborious but the results were good to look at.

You can see the peanut butter on the side

The smaller container had no peanut butter for those in the family who do not like peanut butter. Both flavors came out well, with high marks given for imitating the store-bought flavor.

Book Review: Thomas Aquinas: Spiritual Master by Robert Barron

Thomas Aquinas: Spiritual Master by Robert Barron

Anyone reading Thomas Aquinas's writings can be forgiven if they find the writings very dry and impenetrable. The academic style of the 1200s has not been in fashion for a long time. Many of the texts are distillations of public academic disputes that were probably more interesting as live discussions than as transcripts. Casual readers are tempted to see his works as "pure theology," a lot of information without any spiritual inspiration or guidance for the typical Christian. Bishop Robert Barron argue that Thomas is a spiritual writer and his works are centered on the key mystery of salvation history--the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity as the man Jesus Christ. 

Jesus is Someone we know almost entirely through Sacred Scriptures. Thomas starts the Summa Theologiae (his most famous work) with a discussion of revelation and human reason. While human reason can discover truths about God, revelation is given as a more sure and easier way to come to know and love the Supreme Being. Barron points out the discussion of God's existence is not called "proofs" by Thomas, but "ways." These are various ways that we come to know God, which is really the point of having the knowledge. It's not that we get there on our own, but that we get there. With God is where we belong. It's what God wants. He wants it so much that He became a man in order to lead us to a more full union with God, not just intellectually but personally. 

And yet, God is beyond our comprehension. Thomas next discusses various attributes of God, which are ultimately negations of limitations or human understandings. God is present to all of the world as its creator. God does not stay in one spot, making it easy for us to avoid him. As its creator, He is present not only in all of three-dimensional space, He is also present at every moment in time, i.e. He is eternal. These ideas lead to the notion that God is truly transcendent. He's not someone to be bargained with (e.g., I'll give you 10 percent of my grain if You guarantee next year's harvest). He's not a co-equal principle with whatever causes evil. He makes everything, everywhere, at all times, without input from others. We can't put God in a box and make Him do what we want. This understanding helps us to avoid lots of errors.

Barron concludes with Thomas's look at human happiness. The human mind has the ability to know anything; the human will can desire anything that it sees as good. Only an infinite good can satisfy these human powers. Wealth is only desirable to get other thing. Fame and power easily slip away from those who seek them. We always want more because we can always imagine more or see the limitations of the finite things we have. The only truly satisfaction is by knowing and loving God.

Barron looks at Thomas's writings as an attempt to draw the reader closer to God, by logic or persuasion. Thomas knows that such union is our ultimate purpose in life. While not autobiographical like Therese of Lisieux or poetic like John of the Cross, Thomas is a spiritual master who can lead his readers closer to their heavenly home. A reader needs to take a bit more care to see the deeper purpose of Thomas.

Recommended. 

TV Review: Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1995)

Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1995) series developed by Eric Radomski and Bruce Timm and based on the comic created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger 

This thirty-year old series is one of the more influential incarnations of Batman. After the big success of Tim Burton's Batman movie, a new television incarnation seemed like a logical next step. The series producers, Eric Radomski and Bruce Timm, used more than the Burton film for inspiration. Life-long superhero fans, they wanted to imitate the style of the Max Fleischer Superman cartoons from the 1940s. The show is a fascinating blend of the score and darker aesthetic from the movie with the art deco style of the cartoons. Since it's Batman, the shiny brilliance of art deco is toned down by the film noir depiction of Gotham (most of the scenes are set at night, so little sunshine on display). As a creature of the night, Batman has plenty of shadows to hide in and to cast on overconfident villains. The Japanese animation studio the producers worked with was on board with the style choices and worked hard to make the show look very good, which it does.

The real gem is the writing. The creators made a show that's okay for kids to watch but does not dumb down things or leave things at a superficial level. The stories include normal criminals, like the organized crime figures that show up in corrupt cities (not something you'd see in Saturday morning fare). They also include classic villains like The Joker and Catwoman. The Joker is brilliantly written and played by Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker!). He has the sinister malevolence of a dangerous killer, the wicked sense of humor, and a disturbing laugh. Catwoman is a more sympathetic robber who still has romantic flirtations with Batman, not something you'd see in kids' cartoons. In the commentaries, the producers explain that they told everyone (the writers, the actors, the animators) to think that they were making short movies in an animated style, not kids cartoons to watch after coming home from school.

A lot of the secondary villains are given more backstory and pathos, they aren't just cackling fiends with crazy plans. Mister Freeze is made into more than an ice-gadgety Otto Preminger. He becomes a scientist working in cryogenics (partly to try and save his dying wife) who is horribly altered when his company breaks up his research literally. Mister Freeze is more interested in revenge against the company than in fighting Batman or causing random mayhem. Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face has much better depth than any other version of his character (yes, even The Dark Knight depiction). Harley Quinn was invented during the series as a more colorful henchgal for The Joker. She is at turns comic and brutal without the silly hypersexualization of her later incarnations. The attention to characters is good, the show isn't just a vehicle for action and jokes (or to sell a line of toys).

With the good writing and the animation style and tone from the 1940s (they have black and white TV and dirigibles), the show has a timeless quality that makes it still enjoyable even three decades after it originally aired on television.

Highly recommended.

Book Review: X-Men Milestones: The Fall of the Mutants by C. Claremont et al.

X-Men Milestones: The Fall of the Mutants written by Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson, pencils by Mark Silvestri, Walter Simonson, and Bret Blevins, and inked by Dan Green, Bob Wiacek, and Terry Austin

In a late 1980s semi-crossover event, The Fall of the Mutants story appeared in Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, and The New Mutants. While thematically tied together as earth-shaking events for each group of mutants, the stories did not intertwine (though events in each are mentioned in the others). They could be read separately without loosing the continuity of storytelling but they are offered as a group in a trade paperback.

In Uncanny X-Men, the X-Men (led by Wolverine and featuring Colossus, Havok, Rogue, Psylocke, Dazzler, and Longshot) go to Dallas, Texas, where they search for their missing leader Storm. They go to Eagle Tower, a building that's home to Forge, a mutant whose ability is to construct technology. He and Storm have escaped to another dimension where they hope to get Storm's powers back. But in the normal world, Dallas is falling into chaos. Dinosaurs, prehistoric men, Native Americans, and humans from the future are pouring in and fight with each other and with the current-day Texans. If that was not enough, another group of mutants called the Freedom Force have shown up to arrest the X-Men. Freedom Force is led by Mystique and includes a lot of former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants members. So the two teams are natural opponents until they realize the bigger problems they all face. Then they cooperate to fix things. The story is fairly epic but suffers from the excessive verbosity of Claremont and the retreading of the same themes (X-Men as oppressed, misunderstood outsiders) with nothing new to show. I found it only mildly interesting, more like reading a re-run than a new story.

In The New Mutants, Magneto is in charge of Xavier's School, though the children are quite rebellious even though at this point in the story Magneto is a good guy. Most of the mutant children head off with Bird Brain, a half-human/half-bird that wants to return to his home and free the other animal-hybrids living there. They have all been created by a mad scientist who wants to build a slave race to menial work, freeing regular humans for the good life. The battle is very hard and costs one of the Mutants' lives. The roster of mutants was mostly unfamiliar to me so the story wasn't as impactful. Otherwise it was a fine adventure.

In X-Factor, the classic X-Men (Jean Grey, Cyclops, Beast, Iceman) face off against Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen who are about to wipe out Manhattan. Apocalypse has a surprise fourth Horseman--former X-man Angel, whom he has refashioned with new metal wings and named Death. The mutants spend their time fighting and getting angsty over whether mutants and humans can live together in peace. Apocalypse doesn't think they can live in peace so he is making war on humans to drive the two groups farther apart. The X-Men make the argument that mutants are humans too, though they have a hard time convincing the humans of the X-Men's humanity. Things work out in the end without any really earthshaking changes, other than the return of Angel and an upbeat ending for the downtrodden group.

The group I knew the least about, the New Mutants, had the most interesting story. They play hooky to help a friend and get embroiled in a plot that is almost too big for them. The story had some suspense and a different, more fatherly take on Magneto. The other stories are fine but did not have the substance I was looking for. They were more like typical stories than milestones.

Mildly recommended.

Movie Review: The Bride Wore Black (1968)

The Bride Wore Black (1968) co-written and directed by Francois Truffaut

Julie Kohler (Jeanne Moreau) is stopped from throwing herself out a window by her mother. The mother convinces her to get away for a while. Julie goes to the train station with a young friend, gets on the train for Paris, and then exits the other side. She stalks a guy at his high-rise apartment, eventually getting herself into his engagement party. She asks him out to the balcony where she contrives to push him off to his death. She races away and later crosses off a name in her little black book. Thus begins the revenge killing spree of a deeply disturbed (but somewhat sympathetic) woman.

Francois Truffaut made the film as a homage to Alfred Hitchcock, even using long-time Hitchcock collaborator Bernard Herrmann for the score. It shares a lot of Hitchcock's mannerisms, like lingering shots or action happening just off screen. The movie also inspired others, most obviously Quentin Tarentino's Kill Bill films. The plot is fairly basic and the movie stands on its style. Moreau does a good job with the character, making the self-justified serial killer someone to root for rather than to blame. The circumstances of her husband's death on their wedding day make her attitude plausible. The five guys involved have scattered so the movie goes from murder to murder with Kohler as the only connecting thread. The style holds a viewer's interest but it's not as great as Hitchcock's films.

Mildly recommended.

Geocaching August 2022

The first cache of August was toward the middle (due to being busy and not having holes in the calendar). Finally on the 11th, we found When You Need One #3, part of a series we've been working our way through. This was an easy find while going to the library. Not easy was extracting the log from the tiny bullet container. I failed, so I didn't sign the log. The cache owner hasn't deleted my online log, so I guess I am good.

View from the cache, not to the cache

The next day I found ....2017.... which I hadn't found on a previous visit because of high weeds. The weeds were still pretty bad but I made the find.

Least helpful "view from the cache" ever

The next day I found When You Need One #4, which is noteworthy because it's across the street from a house where Dwight Eisenhower stayed for part of his training assignment to Fort Meade in 1919. 

The Ike House

After an illness-induced hiatus, I was back on track with The Black Cache... which was an easy find on the way to the grocery store!

View from the cache

SWEET 16 is a cache and dash behind a local hotel.

Going in mid-morning means no one is watching?

I finally finished out the When You Need One series with #2, which was the most stressful find because a muggle walked up and asked if he could help! I had a little chat with him. He did not quite seem convinced that geocaching was a real thing. I told him everybody has hobbies and he seemed satisfied. He did not help with the find, which was out in the open but so small only an experienced eye would see it.

Somewhere on that building

20 Reviewers Challenge is a mystery cache where the finder needs to have found caches placed by at least 20 different geocachers. With my 600+ finds, it was a sure thing that I found that many different caches. The big trick is getting a list to prove it. Fortunately, someone made Project-GC where data from geocaching.com can be crunched in different ways. The site even has specific searches custom-crafted for various challenges like this hide. 

Nice trees near the cache

I found another random act of kindness cache, RAKMD12:tape change to a vending machine. The cache was just off a trail on a hillside with plenty of green vegetation on a sunny, late August afternoon.

A cool and refreshing area

Next was RAKMD13:bring a healthy snack to the office which is less appropriate than it was before Covid! This hide was off a trail near #12 above.

You've seen one woods, you've seen them all

My next find was Splinter's Hideout, which is a reference to the trainer of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. One of his relatives is the container!

The hideout's neighborhood

Not in the hideout

The last find of the month was another mystery cache, HAPPY NEW YEAR GEOCACHERS. The whole post on the web site is in caps (with a lot of bold!). The find was fairly easy, just off the road.

Near ground zero

Another rodent!

The month ends with six days without finds, for which I blame getting Covid--I was knocked out for a key week when I hadn't geocached before. Still, I got the month total under ten days without cacheing, which is my goal for this year, so I am satisfied. September has twenty-one empty days, so look for a lot of activity next month!

Game Review: Unsurmountable by Button Shy Games

Unsurmountable: A Scott Almes Solo Game published by Button Shy Games

Unsurmountable challenges the player to build a continuous path up a mountain. The game only has eighteen cards, so resources are limited (one of the cards is a rescue helicopter). Play starts with a "base camp" which is a row of five face-up cards. The rules are simple. The player can either place the leftmost card of the base camp on the mountain or use an ability listed on the other cards (the card with the ability gets discarded, so use wisely). The mountain is built up as a triangle--cards can only go on higher levels if there are two adjacent cards beneath it. The bottom row has a limit of four cards, the next a limit of three, the next a limit of two, and only one on the top.

A completed mountain with base camp

As the cards are put down, the paths don't have to connect. It's okay to have dead ends or cards that are not part of the ascent. The path has to start from the bottom edge of the mountain and go all the way up to the middle of the top card (the top card does not need the path exiting on the very top). The helicopter is set aside as a one-use ability--the player can take a base camp card and put it on the bottom of the draw deck. The challenge of the game is to plan ahead in using the cards to build the path or switch things around with the abilities.

Once a player is more familiar with the cards (both the types of paths and the various abilities), the game offers higher levels of difficulty, e.g. starting with a four-card base camp or having no repeating features on each level or each edge. The cards have a feature icon at the top of the ability, an image of either a yeti, a mountain, a lake, a camp, or a tree. See the samples below.

Click to enlarge

When I bought the game, I also purchased two expansions: Big Climb and Dual Peaks.

Expansions!

Big Climb adds six cards with new symbols (flags and seracs, which are icy crags). The player has to build a mountain with a five-card mountain base, adding an extra level and thus more challenge.

Finished, even with a four-card base camp!

Dual Peaks provides two extra cards and a different challenge, starting with a five-card mountain base but finishing with trails connecting to two different peaks. The trails can overlap but don't have to. The solution below has both trails ending unnecessarily off the top of the peaks. Also, each trail could start at the same point and use the second-row, third-from-the-left card to connect both mountain tops. It's okay to go down and then back up to get around!

A Dual Peak solution

The game plays quickly (in about ten minutes) and is a lot of fun, especially trying to plan ahead with the cards. Making a trail isn't too hard until you start using the other limitations (like only one type of card per level or per side), adding more things to plan ahead for. I found myself not using the helicopter. It's nice thematically but the base camp would have to have be a bad combination to make it feel necessary.

Recommended for some solo gaming fun!

Book Review: Death Note Vols. 5, 6, and 7 by T. Ohba and T. Obata

Death Note Volume 5: Whiteout story by Tsugumi Ohba and art Takeshi Obata

In a bold move, Light has voluntarily had himself put in prison to prove he's innocent of the crimes he has committed. In a bolder move, he signals to Ryuk (the shinagami that gave him the Death Note) to take back the Death Note, thereby erasing all of Light's memories in reference to the Death Note and what he has done with it. Now Light is sincerely convinced that he is innocent. Too bad the killings stopped as soon as he was imprisoned, meaning L and the investigators all think Light is guilty. Relief comes when a new killing spree starts. A group of bankers has a Death Note (though it is not clear which one) and they use it to make their bank more profitable. Can L and Light figure out who this new Kira is?

The story takes an intriguing twist as the Death Note passes on to someone with a different agenda. I thought the character Misa was dropping out of the story but L is too convinced she is the second Kira (which she is) to let her have her freedom. Her shinagami, Rem, is working with the bankers, so that leaves Light's shinagami unaccounted for (and probably due to reappear soon). In the investigation, some people make guesses about what's going on that seem like large, unjustified leaps, except that readers know the guesses are right. I have mixed feelings about those jumps. The book isn't reading as clever as at the beginning, but I will keep going.

Mildly recommended.

Death Note Volume 6: Give-and-Take story by Tsugumi Ohba and art Takeshi Obata

L and Light hatch a scheme to catch the new Kira who is working for the bank (well, really for himself). They use Misa to infiltrate the group, along with a con-man and a tech expert. The elaborate plan is designed to reveal not only the identity of this latest Kira but also how Kira kills. A lot of information comes out by the end of this volume which also includes an action-packed chase scene.

The story has picked up some momentum and interest for me. My initial disinterest in the corporate baddies has changed thanks to the writing. The balance of drama and action is good since the drama is less compelling. There's hints that Light has been planning how things are turning out, leading the reader to expect a return of the Death Note to him soon.

Recommended.

Death Note Volume 7: Zero story by Tsugumi Ohba and art Takeshi Obata

The police have run down the third Kira, corporate executive Higuchi. As they bring him into custody after a car chase, a lot of the police officers handle Higuchi's Death Note, including L and Light. So they all see Higuchi's shinigami (the other-dimension demon who is connected to the Death Note). In yet another added Death Note rule, Light gets his memories back while he's holding the notebook. He remembers his plan and cleverly kills Higuchi before he can reveal too much more about the Death Note. L now has a lot more information to process which puts him very close to the truth. Light's plan has been thoroughly worked out, leading him to new safety and the ability to become Kira again.

As I read this, I felt there were too many arbitrary rules added just for the sake of drama. The story did not naturally unfold, the development felt forced. The big surprise in this volume caught me off-guard, though the resolution of the twist felt more like a reset than a step forward in the story.

Mildly recommended--the story is starting to collapse under the weight of its own complications.

Book Review: Campfire Tales by William F. Forgey

Campfire Tales: Ghoulies, Ghosties, and Long-Leggety Beasties by William F. Forgey

This anthology is written by a Scout leader who has told many tales around campfires. The introduction provides some general guidance for selecting and delivering such tales. The advice is taken from a previous book, Campfire Stories, by the same author. Some of the stories in this collection have a short paragraph at the beginning about adapting the story for campfire telling. All of the stories at the end have an outline of the major story beats to aid memorizing (because one does not want to read a story out loud but tell the story from memory).

The stories run the gamut from tales crafted by the author or author's friends, stories adapted by the author from other authors, and stories by other authors, including famous ones like Jack London, Ambrose Bierce, and Algernon Blackwood. They have varying ranges of supernatural elements and creepiness. I found most of the stories are more appropriate for the Troop level of scouts (sixth- to twelfth-graders) since they get a bit gruesome and involve things like suicide and cannibalism that I would not feel comfortable telling to elementary-school kids.

Mildly recommended--this is better as a primer for a storyteller than for general reading enjoyment.

Movie Review: Thelma & Louise (1991)

Thelma & Louise (1991) directed by Ridley Scott

Thelma (Geena Davis) is a mousy housewife with an overbearing husband named Darryl (Christopher McDonald) who keeps her at home on a short leash. She's made plans with her friend Louise (Susan Sarandon) to go on a weekend vacation in the mountains. Louise works at a diner as a waitress and has loyal, undemanding live-in boyfriend Jimmy (Michael Madsen). Thelma is on the verge of asking Darryl for permission to go when he storms off to work. She decides to leave him a note with a beer and a microwave dinner. Thelma and Louise head out in Louise's convertible. Louise has packed the bare minimum of stuff; Thelma has packed way too much, including the gun Darryl gave her for self-defense that she has never used. There might be bears or some other creatures in the mountains, right? On their way, they stop off at a road house for a drink since Thelma has never gotten to do that. Louise just wants to push on to the cabin but agrees. One of the regulars, Harlan (Timothy Carhart), flirts with the ladies. Thelma is charmed; Louise is repulsed. After a too few many drinks, Harlan convinces Thelma to go outside. He tries to rape her in the parking lot; Louise shows up with the gun and tells him to stop. The ladies back away and Harlan keeps taunting them. Louise shoots Harlan in the heart; the drunken pair flee in the convertible. At first, Thelma wants to go to the police to explain what happened. Louise is sure the authorities will put the blame on Thelma for encouraging Harlan. Louise isn't sure what to do. They keep driving till they can figure out a plan. Meanwhile, the police start investigating, led by Hal (Harvey Keitel), who is giving the ladies the benefit of the doubt. The story becomes an extended road trip and car chase.

The movie examines how their circumstances and bad decisions make the situation increasingly bad. Louise is a person with a lot of life experience, giving her a cynicism that works against her. Thelma is very sheltered and wants to have a fun time, making her go overboard in situations where she should be more cautious. Their travels provide a lot of opportunities that could go well or poorly for them. They become outlaw folk heroes somewhere in the gray moral area between Robin Hood and Jesse James. The performances and writing are so good that a viewer easily understands and sympathizes with the ladies' plight while seeing what they do as wrong. 

The very end is a famous image that has become iconic in movies, much like King Kong swatting at biplanes or Scarlett O'Hara shaking her fist and claiming "I'll never go hungry again." The movie is well-crafted visually, with a realistic style that gives weight to a very weighty situation. 

Recommended.

The movie is discussed on A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast #290.

Cute Kid Pix August 2022

Some more pictures that did not make their own post...

My daughter and I did our last day of volunteering at the school garden, pulling weeds, watering plants, and harvesting some stuff for home.

The harvest

Turning on the water

Our dance studio had a sock hop-themed party. We even had our picture with a celebrity!

Elvis had not left the building

Us in action

One of the children had a birthday and we celebrated with cake!

One more to go!

We went to an outdoor concert featuring the Columbia Big Band that was a lot of fun until it got rained out half way through.

Almost front row seats

As a treat before returning to school, we went out for ice cream at a new place and saw a bench swing nearby!

Having fun