Opua: King of Bohemia
Opua: King of Bohemia
Today was a rain day, my first off since I hauled out two weeks ago tomorrow. I’ve never liked five day work weeks, and I’ve always thought you should live your life in a manner so you don’t need holidays. I don’t have much more work to do. The preparation has taken 35 hours, but the painting will take only a couple of hours a coat. I might get one on tomorrow. If not, the weekend looks promising. The yard has to get the rudder bearing and the rudder back on the boat and I’m free again.
One of the problems with being in a boat yard is that you lose control of your life. That is the primary reason that if I sail around the world again I won’t go through Panama. I won’t give up my boat or life to pilots ever again.
I spent a quiet day, reading CITY OF FALLEN ANGELS, by John Brendt, who became rich and famous with MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL. CITY OF FALLEN ANGELS is about Venice, and as such lacks a compelling story line, though it does have some interesting characters.
Many of the most visually beautiful movies I have seen lately have been Asian. HERO, Chinese; SPRING, SUMMER, WINTER, FALL, Korean; THE BOY WHO PLAYED WITH BUDDHAS, about Afghanistan though I think made by Europeans; and last night, THE ROAD HOME, Chinese. In it a man living in a city learns that his father, who was a village school teacher, has died, and he returns for the funeral. The movie begins in black and white, but turns to color when it flashes back to how his father and mother met in, as a calendar in one shot reveals, 1958. Young love, beauty, innocence. And, for some reason, the movie made me think that learning is one of the greatest pleasures. Learning and discovering something new of beauty: a movie; a book; a poem; a piece of music; a hill side. A fine movie.
‘The King of Bohemia’ is a song sung by Linda Ronstadt in an album, Adieu False Heart, that I bought from iTunes Music not long before I left Evanston. I’ve listened to it several times today. Once more and I’m going to bed.
Thursday, November 30, 2006