Another Number One

Today started well with “Bardsongs” a trio of sung folktales set in India, Mali and Ladakh which is actually India but closer to Tibet in culture. Each tale conveys a moral or life lesson. Dutch filmmaker Sander Francken has lovingly captured the beauty of these exotic places with charm and humor. As the boob tube used to say, “Two thumbs enthusiastically up.” “Acquainted With The Night” is an exploration of after-dark phenomena from across the globe. Michael McNamara explores millions of bats in Austin, TX, bottle rockets in Greece, the Northern Lights, the 9/11 memorial in NYC and the drunken revelers of Toronto’s “Clubland.” It reminded me of the film “Chronos” and even had a similar soundtrack. “Dossier K” was next in today’s line-up and plays the noir thriller theme with virtuosic precision. Vincke and his team investigate the murder of a John Doe who turns out to have been a member of an Albanian clan involved an escalating blood feud. The true villains are not revealed until the end but the roller-coaster ride through the dark streets of Antwerp and the rugged, barren Albanian mountains will keep you riveted. My last film today was “The Drummond Will,” another turkey. It wasn’t as bad as “Ceremony” but almost and for very similar reasons. The guy behind me loved it. He SCREAMED with laughter at all the lame jokes and then some. He may have contributed significantly to my discomfort with this British peculiarity.

Self-indulgence

I was wondering when I would finally be subjected to a bad film. Ceremony fit the bill nicely. A self-indulgent writer/director shoots a film about self-indulgent characters and casts a bunch of self-indulgent actors to play [?] the roles. Don’t bother with this turkey.
On the other hand The Light Thief, a little film from Kyrgyzstan, was a charming tale of an honorable man of diminutive stature with an enormous heart. I started the day leaving my pass at home and not realizing it until I was about to turn off the freeway. Unable to see a film without it and reluctant to return to get it I headed for the wonderland known as Desert Hills Premium Outlets. It is certainly the largest outlet mall I have ever scene. If you can’t get rid of all your money at Brooks Bros., Barney’s or Zegna you can go right next door to the Morongo Casino.

Kusadasi/Ephesus

We arrive at Kusadasi, Turkey on Sunday 23 August at 7AM the ship departs at 7PM.
Kuşadası is a resort town on Turkey's Aegean coast. The primary industry is tourism. The city stands on a bay with the Guvercin Ada peninsula sticking at one end, and the Kaz Dağı Mountain at the other. The name comes from 'kuş' (bird) and 'ada' (island) as the peninsula has the shape of a bird's head (as seen from the sea). Since Byzantine times it has been known as Ephesus Neopolis, Scala Nuova, becoming Kush-Adasi at the beginning of the 20th century. We will take a private tour of Ephesus. Ephesus was a city of ancient Anatolia. During Greece’s Classical Period it was located in Ionia, where the Cayster River flows into the Aegean Sea. It belonged to the Ionian League. Ephesus was one of the seven churches of Asia cited in the Book of Revelation. The Gospel of John might have been written here. It is also the site of a large gladiator graveyard. The city was famed for the Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), which was destroyed by the Goths in 263. The emperor Constantine I rebuilt much of the city and erected a new public bath. The town was again partially destroyed by an earthquake in 614. The importance of the city as a commercial centre declined as the harbour slowly filled with silt from the river. Today the archaeological site lies 3 kilometers south of the Selçuk. The ruins of Ephesus are a favorite international and local tourist attraction, partly owing to their easy accessibility. Ephesus contains the largest collection of Roman ruins East of the Mediterranean. Only an estimated 15% has been excavated. The ruins that are visible give some idea of the city's original splendor, and the names associated with the ruins are evocative of its former life. The theater dominates the view down Harbor Street which leads to the long silted-up harbor. The Library of Celsus, whose facade has been carefully reconstructed from all original pieces, was built ca. AD 125 by Gaius Julius Aquila in memory of his father, and once held nearly 12,000 scrolls. Designed with an exaggerated entrance — so as to enhance its perceived size, speculate many historians — the building faces east so that the reading rooms could make best use of the morning light. A part of the site, St. John's Basilica, was built in the 6th century AD, under emperor Justinian I over the supposed site of the apostle's tomb. It is now surrounded by Selçuk. The Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, is represented only by one inconspicuous column, revealed during an archaeological excavation by the British Museum in the 1870s. Some fragments of the frieze (which are insufficient to suggest the form of the original) and other small finds were removed – some to London and some to the Archaeological Museum in Istanbul. Other other features we will try to visit include The Odeon - a small roofed theatre constructed by Vedius Antonius and his wife in around 150 A.D. It was a small salon for plays and concerts, seating about 1,500 people. There were 22 stairs in the theater. The upper part of the theatre was decorated with red granite pillars in the Corinthian style. The entrances were at both sides of the stage and reached by a few steps. The Temple of Hadrian dates from the 2nd century but underwent repairs in the 4th century and has been re-erected from the surviving architectural fragments. The reliefs in the upper sections are casts, the originals being now exhibited in the Selçuk Archaeological Museum. A number of figures are depicted in the reliefs, including the emperor Theodisius I with his wife and eldest son. The Temple of Domitian was one of the largest temples on the city. It was erected on a pseudodipteral plan with 8 x 13 columns. The temple and its statue are some of the few remains connected with Domitian. The Theater, at an estimated 44,000 seating capacity, it is believed to be the largest outdoor theater in the ancient world. The Tomb/Fountain of Pollio - erected by a grateful city in 97 AD in honor of C. Sextilius Pollio, who constructed the Marnas aqueduct, by Offilius Proculus. It has a concave facade. There were two agoras, one for commercial and one for state business.