Day #22,441-442

Walk km 14,024-14,026: to Whole Foods
Walk km 14,026-14,029: to T&T

Movie #2279: A Global Affair (1964, Jack Arnold)

Bob Hope works for the UN. A baby is left abandoned at the UN so it's his job to decide in which country it should be raised. He has a hard time deciding because he finds that all the countries of the world are a great place to raise a child..... except the USSR of course - they would put the kid in a state institution!
Western propaganda with jokes. But the jokes aren't funny.
Crap.

Movie #2280: Holiday In Seoul (1956, Yong-min Lee)

Not sure if this one is any good or not. The way the story is told is very odd even though it's just about a bunch of neighbours in Seoul and what they do on a stat holiday.
However, because of it's unusual nature, it 's quite entertaining.

Day #22,439-440

Walk km 14,013-14,017: running errands
Walk km 14,017-14,024 (8416 to go): Capilano Pacific Trail

trees and moss
approx km 14,020 Capilano Pacific Trail

Day #22,438

Walk km 14,008-14,013: to Portside Park

cruise ship
approx km 14,010 Canada Place

Movie #2278: Exit Speed (2008, Scott Ziehl)

Not a very good movie but that doesn't matter.
Bus full of oddball characters is attacked by a gang of bikers. Each character on the bus has a character flaw which is cured by fighting off the bad guys. It's like shooting fish in a barrel.
Entertaining as all hell despite the fact that you know you're being manipulated.

Day #22,435-437

Walk km 13,996-13,998: running errands
Walk km 13,998-14,005: running errands
Walk km 14,005-14,008: VCC Clark walk

Book #457: Port Vila Blues (1996, Garry Disher)

Not so good. This is a big step down from Blood Moon. Those two were written 13 years apart so it looks like Disher has improved considerably over those years. Been studying the Scandis?
This is a standard crime caper thing with lead character Wyatt being Australia's answer to Parker. 

Day #22,433-434

Walk km 13,982-13,992: Kaymar Creek Ravine Park walk
Walk km 13,992-13,995: to T&T

Movie rewatch: The Petrified Forest (1936, Archie Mayo)

About once a year I'll actually watch a movie on TV instead of something recorded. I noticed that this was about to start so what better way to spend 90 minutes than watch Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis and Leslie Howard chewing the fat in that last chance gas station/restaurant out in the middle of nowhere.

Day #22,432

Walk km 13,971,13,973: to Safeway
Walk km 13,973-13,982: wall mural walk

Movie #2277: Diary Of A Shinjuku Thief (1969, Nagisa Oshima)

Ah yes, the sixties. The weirder the better then. This one is quite weird but not really weird enough. Good try.

Day #22,431

Walk km 13,954-13,956: to the library
Walk km 13,956-13,971 (8460 to go): SFU to Columbia Station

Movie #2276: Sporting Blood (1940, S Sylvan Simon)

The 2nd of 2 S Sylvan Simon movies I recorded off of TCM. This one is just as sappy as the first but for some reason this one held my attention throughout. Maybe I just like horse racing stories. 

Day #22,428-430

Walk km 13,918-13,929: Meetup walk Nanaimo Station to 41st Ave Station
Walk km 13,929-13,941: Meetup walk to see the horses in Southlands
Walk km 13,941-13,954 (8476 to go): Meetup walk Metrotown to Yaletown

Book #456: Blood Moon (2009, Garry Disher)

There must be some Scandi blood in this Garry Disher fellow. Claims to be Australian but the police in this book are just as screwed up as in the best of the Swedish crime novels. The police have their troubles, the criminals have theirs and so the reader couldn't be happier. The reader always comes off smelling like a rose compared to the characters in this book.
One thing I really liked: one character will do something (and we get an explanation of why they did it) and someone will notice it and get the motivation totally wrong.
Anyway, if you like Mankell and Sjowall/Wahloo and Fossum then this is for you.

Movie #2275: Spring Madness (1938, S Sylvan Simon)

Comedy that tries to explain that romance is the only thing of importance in the world.
It's good pace and Burgess Meredith's mugging for the camera are it's only two plus points.
Very run-of-the-mill.

Day #22,427

Walk km 13,916-13,918: running errands

Movie #2274: The Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954, Jack Arnold)

Not much. Main claim to fame is a lot of nice underwater scenes.
Always interesting to see what they thought of women in these 50s horror flix. This one follows the pattern exactly: Julie Adams may play a scientist but once they're on the expedition all she's good for is looking good in a bathing suit and screaming. The men keep telling her where to go so that she'll be safest. It seems that in the 50s women were totally useless airheads.

Day #22,426

Walk km 13,906-13,916 (8510 to go): Meetup walk in Green Timbers park

Movie #2273: Searching For Sugar Man (2012, Malik Bendjelloul)

Rodriguez was touring New Zealand when I was there and they had a news story about him on one of the local newscasts. I'd heard his stuff before (it's available on eMusic) but only thought it was OK. Strange thing is that when these LPs came out, I always read Creem magazine which was from Detroit and I don't remember any mention of this guy.
As for the film, it does have an air of being faked and after reading the comments on IMDB, it appears that it was. However, it does keep you glued to the screen throughout.

Day #22,425

Walk km 13,892-13,906: Meetup walk in Lynn Canyon Park

Movie rewatch: Holiday (1938, George Cukor)

Anti-capitalism movie that's like shooting fish in a barrel. Capitalist stereotypes are like cardboard cutouts.
Still, it's heart is in the right place and Hepburn and Grant are wonderful.

Day #22,423-424

Walk km 13,859-13,872: walk in Stanley Park
Walk km 13,872-13,892: Lake City Way Station to 29th Ave Station

walking path with archway
approx km 13,880 Robert Burnaby Park

Movie #2271: Indestructible Man (1956, Jack Pollexfen)

Strange combination of "police procedural" and "mad scientist" genres.
The LAPD is on the lookout for executed killer who was brought back to life by doctor using 280,000 volts of electricity.
Lon Chaney wrecks havoc while police follow up the leads. Amazingly, it's hohum given the premise.

Movie #2272: The Strangler (1964, Burt Topper)

Surprisingly good B-movie with Victor Buono in the lead role. Good work from director Topper but it's Victor Buono who makes this one work. He's super creepy in every scene. Without him on screen the film becomes just another crime movie. With him on screen, you can't look away.

Day #22,422

Walk km 13,848-13,859 (8563 to go): Meetup walk around airport

walking path
approx km 13,849 right in front of YVR airport

Day #22,421

Walk km 13,835-13,848: Meetup walk in Capilano and Stanley parks

Burrard Inlet
approx km 13,842 from Lion's Gate bridge

Day #22,419-420

Walk km 13,801-13,819: Meetup walk Holdom to New Westminster stations
Walk km 13,819-13,835: Meetup walk across Richmond

a farm
approx km 13,825 Cambie Road in Richmond

Day #22,418

Walk km 13,781-13,801 (8617 to go): Edmonds Station to Waterfront Station

Book #455: Rising Sun (1992, Michael Crichton)

Suffers from "Moby Dick" syndrome. Half of this book is a story and the other half is Michael Crichton explaining to us how American-Japanese relations work. If I wanted to learn about American-Japanese relations, I would have read a book about that. This was supposed to be a novel. A novel may teach us something about the author (and by seeing the same in ourselves, something about ourselves). But it's not supposed to teach us about American-Japanese relations (or whales).
It goes to ridiculous lengths having the main character utter a bunch of "you mean that.....". or "I didn't know that...." in order to keep the flow of useless information coming.  A useless book.
 

Day #22,417

Walk km 13,765-13,767: to Safeway
Walk km 13,767-13,769: to library
Walk km 13,769-13,781: Meetup walk Steveston to Brighouse Station

Movie #2269: The Gangster (1947, Gordon Wiles)

a soda shop full of losers

No doubt about it: great. This is why a person keeps watching junky movies day after day: there's always the chance that you'll stumble across a movie like "The Gangster".
Barry Sullivan plays the title role. Crime is all he knows. He's been involved so long that there's nothing else he can do. But he's not smart enough or tough enough to make it in that world. He's doomed.
This is is 84 minutes of watching a guy come crashing down. When he finally gets gunned down, I'm sure it's a relief to him.
Watch this movie. 

Day #22,415-416

Walk km 13,740-13,752 Meetup walk to Steveston
Walk km 13,752-13,765 (8651 to go): Meetup to Port Coquitlam

a guy and his dog playing in the water
approx km 13764 Coquitlam River

Movie #2268: The Steel Helmet (1951, Sam Fuller)

Interesting picture but I wasn't quite sure where Sam stood on this one. No reason is given for the war. The lead character is a bit of a knucklehead. The commie POW makes some valid points (I didn't get to hear the African-American's reply (DVD glich) but the Japanese-American's reply was pretty stupid). Interesting but left me scatching my head.

Day #22,413-414

Walk km 13,709-13,726: Meetup walk Vancouver to Surrey
Walk km 13,726-13,740 (8674 to go): Meetup walk False Creek and Stanley Park