Monday, September 29, 2014

Day #22,929

Walk km 17,715-17,729 (5201 to go): to Stoutenburg and return

gardener's produce stand
approx km 17,722 Stoutenburg

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Day #22,928

Walk km 17,702-17,715: Amersfoort, Nijkerk, Harderwijk to Ermelo, Zwolle

Sunday afternoon street scene
approx km 17,713 Zwolle

Movie #2561: Redd Inc (2012, Daniel Krige)

I think they had a pretty decent plot idea here. The execution was botched due to the fact that they had to make everything as gore splattered as possible. A serious remake might be in order. 

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Day #22,927

Walk km 17,682-17,695: Amersfoort to Soest
Walk km 17,695-17,702: the classical music streets

signpost marking the start of Soest
approx km 17,691 Birkstaat

Movie #2560: The Amateurs (2005, Michael Traeger)

This movie was buried by the producers and the director was never allowed to direct again. I liked it.
They were trying to get another quirky character for Jeff Bridges. This is only a pale imitation of The Dude but that's OK by me. At least they tried.
The only crappy part was the maudlin happy ending. They could have scrapped that.

Friday, September 26, 2014

Day #22,926

Walk km 17,676-17,678: to the laundromat
Walk km 17,678-17,682: around Amersfoort

Book #511: Kittyhawk Down (2004, Garry Disher)

Once again, it's a regular Peyton Place in Waterloo, Victoria, Australia. It's a crime novel but the criminals have to step aside to give the sordid private lives of the police their fair share of the commentary. An excellent idea by Disher is to blur the lines between police and criminals. Nobody's all white or all black.

Movie #2558: The Rocking Horse Winner (1949, Anthony Pelissier)

Very interesting movie for 1949. Not your standard Hollywood fare. We have a couple of upper class twits. The father is a noaccount who loses his job and gambles their money away at cards and claims he just has bad luck. The mother was born rich and refuses to believe that they have no money and must stop living the life of the rich. Her idea is to ignore that they have no money. Their son picks up their vibes and starts betting the horses based on who his rocking horse tells him will win. He is determined to get money for his mother so she can continue her fantasy life.Even the normally level headed uncle and gardener get caught up in this lunacy. No good can come of this situation.

Movie #2559: We Are The Best (2013, Lukas Moodysson)
 
This one doesn't really make it. His "Together" was great due to the closing scene where everybody throws off their daily concerns and learn to live as children again. Here there are 3 children who act goofy for a couple of hours and then decide that they really like each other at the end. That's OK but not really the same thing. 

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Day #22,924-925

Walk km 17,661-17,663: Rotterdam
Walk km 17,663-17,670: Amersfoort

bull statue
approx km 17,666 Amersfoort ring road

TV episode #124: The Simpsons  - I, (Annoyed Grunt) bot (2004)
According to the wikipedia this is The Simpsons version of The Twilight Zone's "Steel". Not really. Homer enters a bot war TV episode by hiding inside a mail box.

Movie #2557: Hickey & Boggs (1972, Robert Culp)

Another one where the screenwriter may be more important than the director. It was Walter Hill who wrote this three years before he made his debut as a director (Hard Times). And it is quite a complicated plot with clues dropping from time to time until you get to see the whole picture by the end (I was still scratching my head).

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Day #22,923

Walk km 17,655-17,661: walk in Hoorn

water, water, everywhere
approx km 17,658 Hoorn Holland

TV episode #122: Twilight Zone - Steel (1963, Don Weis)
TV Episode #123 I Married Joan - New House (1954, Ezra Stone)

Steel is one of the most famous of the Twilight Zone episodes: Lee Marvin fights a B7 when his B2 breaks down and cannot fight. He gets beaten to a pulp.
Then I looked on IMDB to see what was Don Weis' first ever TV directing credit. They said the "New House" episode of  "I Married Joan". So, I watched it but the credit was displayed as Ezra Stone not Don Weis. BTW, I Married Joan was a clunker.

Monday, September 22, 2014

Day #22,922

Walk km 17,640-17,649: to Crooswijk cemetery

graves
approx km 17,644 Crooswijk cemetery

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Day #22,921

Walk 17,631-17,638: across Nieuwe Mass
Walk 17,638-17,640: to train station

remember, architecture and drinking do not mix
approx km 17,639 Mauritsweg street 

TV episode #111: Suspense Theatre - Charlie, He Couldn't Kill A Fly (Bernard Girard, 1964)
Interesting premise of blowhard falsely accused of murder. After he learns that the victim was a drug dealer, he wants to take credit.
It appears that in 1964 users of illegal drugs were not portrayed as deviants. 


Saturday, September 20, 2014

Day #22,920

Walk km 17,612-17,621: Rotterdam to Oude Plantage
Walk km 17,621-16,631: around Kralingse Plas

green waterways
approx km 17,617 Groene Wetering Rotterdam

lakeside
approx km 17,626 Kralingse Plas

Friday, September 19, 2014

Day #22,918-919

Walk km 17,605-17,612: downtown Rotterdam

my Rotterdam apartment
approx km 17,608 Urban Residences (downtown Rotterdam)

Book #510: Steel Spring (1968, Per Wahloo)

Once again Per Wahloo clubs us over the head with his political views. A good thing that he met Maj Sjowall right after this and learned a little subtlety.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Day #22917

Walk km 17,595-17,605: to the solidarity bridge and back

Book #509: .Book Case (1991, Stephen Greenleaf)

Greenleaf is one of the best. This one starts a little slow because the case his private eye is engaged in is not a matter of life and death. .In fact, he's called into a case where no crime was actually committed. However, Greenleaf does get things rolling after awhile and he never lets up. Greenleaf probably could have not got things rolling at all and it would still be a good book.

Movie #2556: Hero (1992, Stephen Frears)

Frears does it again. Geena Davis is drop-dead gorgeous. Dustin Hoffman is fun to watch. Storyline kinda reminded me of Meet John Doe (but sorta inside-out). Wonderful 2 hours.




Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Day #22,916

Walk km 17,586-17,595:  "new town" Warsaw

reconstructed old style buildings
approx km 17,592 new town

Monday, September 15, 2014

Day #22,915

Walk km 17,577-17,586: from Raszyniska Street back to the apartment

tram #24 headed downtown
km 17,577 Washington Street

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Day #22,914

Walk km 17,564-17,570: neighbourhood walk
Walk km 17,570-17,577: Praga Poludnie


typical Sunday morning street scene
approx km 17,567 Dabrowiecka Street

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Day #22,913

Walk km 17,560-17,564: a walk in the park

boozehounds delight: ALKOHOLE 24H
approx km 17,561 Washington Street

Movie #2555: It Was You Charlie (2013, Emmanuel Shirinian)

The feel-bad movie of the year. I shouldn't watch this sort of thing when I have a cold. Maybe it would have been more enjoyable if I was healthy. Maybe.
Oh yeah, there was nobody named Charlie in this movie. So who was Charlie? I'm thinkin' Charlie The Tuna.  Like the lead character in this movie, Charlie The Tuna was always trying to commit suicide but failed every time.

Friday, September 12, 2014

Day #22,912

Walk km 17,547-17,551: walk in the park
Walk km 17,551-17,560: to downtown and back
the shore of the Wisla River
approx km 17,554 from the bridge on Washington Road

Movie #2554: The Sting (1973, George Roy Hill)

Don't like period pieces but this one does have horse racing and poker (sort of).
But, if I was setting up a sting I wouldn't hire anyone from this movie: a 3 to 1 horse does not pay $6!

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Day #22,911

Walk km 17,545-17,547: from bus stop to apartment (Warsaw)

Movie #2552: The Argyle Secrets (1947, Cy Endfield)

Tested out my Warsaw wifi with this one from YouTube. Played with no problem. This was made on Hollywood's poverty row by the laughingly named Film Classics. The main character tries to be Humphrey Bogart while there is also a fake Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. Endfield was later run out of the USA by HUAC and made his name in England.
 
Movie #2553: C.H.U.D. (1984, Douglas Cheek)

Then I tested the wifi on this 720p  epic on VIOOZ. Played just fine. The government is storing nuclear waste in the sewer system below New York City. It's turning the homeless who live there into radioactive monsters. Not bad. The little guys (a policeman, a soup kitchen cook and a photographer) take on the powers that be and win (but not before quite a few New Yorkers are chomped on by the monsters). Surprisingly, this is Douglas Cheek's one and only feature film.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Day #22,910

Walk km 17,541-17,545: to Gare Du Nord

Movie #2551: Who Killed Teddy Bear (1965, Joseph Cates)

Sexploitation goes mainstream. Sal Mineo, Juliette Prowse and Jan Murray star in a film about the seamy side of NYC. Without the stars this would have played 42nd street and then would have been forgotten.
Will make you want to take a shower after viewing.

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Day #22,909

Walk km 17,527-17,641: Metro Bel-Air to Arc De Triomphe to Pigalle

detail of building
approx km 17,533 part of Louvre(?)

Movie #2549: The Wayward Bus (1957, Victor Vicas)

From the John Steinbeck novel that I read when I was a youngster. Poor film quality (YouTube) that detracts from what was probably a pretty good film. The story is still great and the concept of gathering together a few characters in a confined space and then watching them react never fails.

Movie #2550: Girl In Trouble (1963, Brandon Chase)

Another one from YouTube. A New Orleans sexploitation film about a small town girl going to be big city and having her life head straight downhill even before she hits the city limits. Pretty dull stuff with no plot and no acting. The peeping tom clerk in the fleabag hotel was my favourite.
Lots of street scenes from 1963 New Orleans but I didn't see Lee Harvey Oswald anywhere. 

Monday, September 8, 2014

Day #22,906-908

Walk km 17,504-17,525: weekend walks (Deep Cove and to Army & Navy)
Walk km 17,525-17,527: walk near hotel
Paris in the evening
approx km 17,526 Notre Dame De Lorette

Movie #2548: Blended (2014, Frank Coraci)
What to watch on a plane? Don't want to watch anything good because the plane experience will ruin it. How about Adam Sandler? Good choice. Empty entertainment.  Is this a remake of The Brady Bunch? Better than the last Sandler I saw (GrownUps) but it's hard to imagine he could get any worse. Lots of standard family values crap (although it was nice to see the oddball Vancouver couple be portrayed as "good guys"). And good to see Drew Barrymore is still around. Those celebrity childhoods have a way of screwing up a life. Good for a plane - you'd have to be pretty bored to enjoy this in any other setting).

TV episodes #109-10: two more 30 Rocks on a plane.

Friday, September 5, 2014

Day #22,904-905

Walk km 17,497-14,500: to Safeway
Walk km 17,500-17,504 (5402 to go): running errands

Book #508: Dead Man (1994, Jon A Jackson)

Pretty decent crime novel. A bit too much attention to detail concerning the state of Montana. It seems Mr Jackson moved from Detroit to Montana and his fictional policeman has been dragged along as well. 


Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Day #22,901-903

Walk km 17,479-17,482: looking for food
Walk km 17,482-17,497: Burnaby Lake

trail through the trees
approx km 17,493 Burnaby Lake Park

Movie #2547: La Collectionneuse (1967, Eric Rohmer)

I've avoided this Rohmer guy because I seem to remember (from back in the 70s) that he was the leader of the dull/pretentious group.
In this one, the idle rich lounge about and tell us all about their airheaded motivations for the things they do (like why they are just lounging about). I believe my first impression was correct.