The Month That Was - May 2022

Endless activity -- most of which is out of bounds for this blog.  I will say the day job has gotten quite crazy.  It is really bizarre to be at this late stage in my career and suddenly to be working madly like I was 25 again.  I've had more upheaval in my day job in the last few months than in the entire previous 28 years.  So far it is working in favor of my career so I am kind of trying to roll with it.  

Coupled with further upheaval in my personal relationships (not bad, just more demanding of my time), my writing has suffered.  I am about two thirds done with the final review of my next novel prior to it hitting Kindle and I literally can't find the appropriate time to finish.  At least I am close enough to know it's the last review.  I have changed nothing during an in depth reading of the first 60-70%.

Meanwhile Spring proceeds -- the bikes are tuned-up and ready to ride, the garden beds have been mulched, and short sleeves are all I need. 

[Travel] Back to the Island

[Movies] No Way Home

[TV] Better Call Saul

[Travel] Back to the Island

I can't remember the first time I visited Mackinac Island.  Likely shortly before the turn of the century.   It is utterly timeless.  Oh, a restaurant or two has been replaced.  We went from three ferry lines to two.  They upgraded the pool at the Grand Hotel.  The biggest change I can think of in the last 20 years has been the addition of one new hotel.  And yet, though I have traipsed all over the island I often stumble on things I have not encountered before: a trail on the bluff, a hidden view of the lake, a new microbrew.

I often visit the island for a race and this trip was no exception.  The Fort2Fort Five Mile Run is run in early-mid May, before Memorial Day, and before the island gets crazy busy, which it will be from Memorial Day through Labor Day, and only slightly less busy through Halloween.  This early in the season, some of the businesses are just starting to open and finding their way, but the workers who will be worn and jaded by the end of season are fresh and bright.

I do recommend the race if you are a runner.  Of the four races held each year on the island, this is the shortest.  It passes quite a few of the key landmarks on the interior of the island and is walker friendly so if you want to just use it as an excuse for a walking tour you can. It's net uphill for the first 3.5 miles to the highest point on the island, then a sweet downhill to the finish.  It's also the newest race having been inaugurated in 2019 (I think).  I believe I have done every one of them.

The place I used to go all the time was Las Vegas.  I visited at least once a year for probably 15 years.  I knew what to do and where to go and it made for some great vacations. Personal circumstances and the pandemic have conspired to keep me from Vegas for nearly 5 years. I fear I may be a bit of a stranger when I do get back.  It seems Mackinac Island has stepped up in its place.  I know the island very well.  I know what to do and where to go. Perhaps it makes sense for a man of my years to downshift from Vegas glitz to the Mackinac pastoral vibe.  Or I could be making a lot more of this than I should.

I do think Mackinac Island is worth visiting for just about everyone.  For those of us in the Midwest, it's a great road trip.  For others I would recommend it as a two or three night segment of a larger Great Lakes vacation.  The areas surrounding the northern parts of Lake Huron and Lake Michigan are about as perfect a place for a summer getaway as you can imagine.  I guess you could call it Summertime Lake Culture.  I know when I finally move down south, I will turn backflips to spend time back in Michigan when the mercury rises.

But, Mackinac Island is truly timeless.  The famous Grand Hotel may have added a water park, but you still have to be in coat-and-tie for dinner.  Brewpubs may have replaced homestyle cooking, but folks still gather and socialize in the bars.  E-bikes are (controversially) banned and the dominant sound is still the clip-clop of horses. The waterfront streets are ever more crowded, but the interior trails are quiet and calm.  Cruise ships visit more often, but they still fire off the fort cannon and play taps at sunset. Tulips and Lilacs still bloom in the spring.

One of these days I shall rent a house on the lisand for a full month. I'll get one with plenty of bedrooms.  Then all my friends can come and visit.  One day.

[Movies] No Way Home

Bluntly put, Marvel has been putting out crap since Endgame -- clearly Infinity War was a high water mark.  They've managed to retire, or in some cases degrade, the characters we loved. They've neutered the Hulk, turned Loki into a tool, and turned Hawkeye into a retiree. They've produced new characters that have zero resonance. I mean, who the hell is Ms. Marvel?  Who are The Eternals?  Where are The Fantastic Four, The Silver Surfer -- the household names?  The scripts are dreary and lame and filled with exposition. The casting pales in comparison to the brilliant use of RDJ, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Holland, Scarlet Johannson.  I used to joke about how bad DC was in comparison to Marvel, but none of the Marvel series could hold a candle to Peacemaker.

Then along comes No Way Home and it's really good.  Through some unusual circumstances I actually saw this twice in a movie theater.  At least once there was a great deal of cheering and demonstrative behavior.  If you've ever seen YouTubes of theaters during scenes from the big battle in Endgame, where everyone is cheering and shouting -- it was like that.  In fact, see it here.  I won't recap it as I'm sure you have heard about the gist of the plot, but I'll note that the cinematic dark arts of Pacing and Tone rang true throughout.  If you get those right you're more than 60% of the way to a great film.  If you nail the casting, you begin to push 90% and, of course, when you have nothing but established characters and the iconic actors that made them famous, greatness becomes a lock.  

So yeah, go see it and enjoy it.  You can think of it as a throwback to when Marvel was hitting non-stop home runs instead of grounding out to second every time.

Now I will extend my rant.  Feel free to move on.

One of the most gratifying scenes in No Way Home was the now famous Matt Murdoch scene with Charlie Cox.  The acknowledgment of the Netflix Daredevil series from 5 years past raised hope for a restart of that character.  In fact, Disney+ even created a special class of "adult" content so they could stream it without offending their child-oriented demographic. I'm a fan of that DD series and a few years ago I would have loved to see what Marvel could have done with it.  Now that they seem to have confirmed their intention to do just that, my prior is that they will screw it up somehow.  The Netflix show, despite its flaws, was vastly superior to any TV series Marvel has put out.

And I've heard little good about the latest Dr. Strange.

I know it's silly for a grown-ass man to go on about this but as I have stated before, I do have a deep nostalgic affinity for Marvel from my tween years of buying comics off the spinning rack for 15¢. And perhaps I should temper my negativity a bit because the new Thor trailer looks pretty cool.  That's Taika Waititi at it again.  

Ah well.  As a grown-ass man I know nothing good lasts forever.  Like the heroic age of pantheon TV before it, the heroic age of action movie craftsmanship appears to be coming to an end.  I guess we'll see what's next.  I hope it's not the heroic age of TikTok.

[TV] Better Call Saul

Speaking of the heroic age of television, its last gasp is happening now with Better Call Saul. It's just stunning to watch this.  I am going to get hopelessly superior-minded about this, so stand back.

From a dramatic standpoint, it puts everything else on TV to shame.  The bulk of the world won't see the quality and depth.  Just like most people saw Mad Men as a soap opera with a nostalgia gimmick, people will see this as just another crime drama with an ambulance chaser gimmick, but the character studies going on here are miles deeper than anything anyone else is doing now.  The absence of exposition alone blows my mind.

The series as a whole can almost be split into two segments.  In the first half we got Jimmy (Saul) and his brother battling in a way the only family can battle -- decades of baggage and resentments driving their actions to an ultimate tragedy.  The second half we get Jimmy and Kim battling their inner instincts.  Jimmy claims his actions are out of an injustice done to his brother, Kim feels her actions are a response to the injustice of the system.  Or are they both making excuses to yield to their sociopathology?  Or are they just playing games for their own entertainment?  Whatever the source, events are driven to harrowing extremes by their characters.  Greek tragedies indeed.

We are now in a brief pause before the last six episodes air.  In Breaking Bad, showrunner Vince Gilligan used the last few episodes to settle the moral questions of the series.  I thought it was a bad decision that dinged what was otherwise a masterpiece.  I hope he ends Saul leaving the moral uncertainty in place.

In any event, this probably marks the end of quality TV in my lifetime.  I'm glad I can restream it as needed.